I invite your attention to the
gospel according to John chapter 4 verses 23 and 24. John chapter 4 verses 23 and
24 are my text along with some other texts that I'll be giving
to you directly, but this morning's lesson is titled, It Was Good
to have been in the house of the Lord. Verse 23, Jesus said to the woman
of Samaria at the well, but the hour is coming and now is when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit,
and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. You have the synopsis in the
form of a tract inside your bulletin. You may follow along with me
even from that introductory paragraph. The audience anxiously awaits
their entertainment. Their entertainers will not disappoint. The drummer skillfully uses every
component in his set to produce a rousing tempo. Instrumentalists
join in, and soon amplified music reverberates throughout the house. The vocalists begin singing their
songs. The audience stands and sways
and jumps. Dancers on the stage please all
with their sensuous movements. Throughout the event, the audience
gives rounds of applause and voices their praise to the performers. They afterwards say, it was good
to have been in the house of the Lord. Yes, I just described
a worship service in many circles. No, it does not at all resemble
a worship service in the churches of Jesus Christ. And worship
services in the churches of Jesus Christ must not imitate the world
or resemble the activities found in nightclubs, dance halls, and
houses of ill repute. I think you will agree with me
that what I have just described is very rampant around us. There's a church on another island, one time was a sound church, and Then they called a new pastor. And this new pastor wanted to
make the church grow and he was very, very successful. He has
brought in just about every kind of entertainment you can imagine. They even have dance classes
for little girls and for young girls and they teach them how
to dance and do their choreography and their sensual movements and
he shows pictures on his website of men looking at the girls and
they seem to very much enjoy what they see. And you can find many church
services that are very much like a rock concert. You can find
people that are, well, in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul
would say, people would call you mad. And yet, that's what
they call the worship of Jesus Christ. They say that's what
it is. I want us to consider today,
what it truly would be to be like in the house of the Lord
and to be able to say at the end of a service it was good
to have been in the house of the Lord. These are the major points in
the lesson for today. First, we must worship according
to biblical guidelines. Second, we must worship in all
that we do in our services. Third, we must not worship in
the manner of the world. Those are the major points and
we're going to break them down individually. Consider that first
point. We must worship according to
biblical guidelines. Consider that word worship for
a moment. It is an abbreviated form of
an older English word That simply meant worth-ship. Just put the
letters TH in the middle of worship and you've got it. Worth-ship. That's what worship means. Worth-ship. And this English word translates
the Hebrew word meaning to bow down. and the Greek word meaning
to make obeisance to, do reverence to. This is what the word for
worship means. It shows an humbling of the person
before another. It shows reverence of one toward
another. It shows the action of indicating
to another how much he is worth. and that He's worthy of our worship. And therefore, we come with worship. We have come to worship Him.
We sing the hymn. We have come into His house and
gathered in His name to worship Him. We commence every Lord's
Day service by singing, come let us worship and bow down. And we've been doing that now
for months, if not some years. But we are indicating by that,
that we have come here to show our worship That is how much
He is worthy, our God is worthy, and we come in the hope that
everything we do or say will let Him know that He is worthy
of our adoration and our praise and everything that we say and
do in this service. Bear in mind also that worship
is primarily, and first of all, an activity of your soul. But, if we apply this reverence
of God, this adoration of God, this humbling before God in our
soul, if we apply this to our bodies, we can surely say afterward,
we have truly worshiped Him. Worship is first of all a matter
of the soul, but since it is a matter of the soul our bodies
should reflect what we say and do in our souls. So let's consider
under this first point we must worship according to biblical
guidelines four truths. First, we must worship spiritually
and truthfully. Second, we must worship holily. Third, we must worship reverently. And fourth, we must worship decently
and orderly. Now these are under four points
because we look at four texts. But if you'll see, there is here
more than Four words, six words describe
our worship, spiritually, truthfully. holily, reverently, decently,
and orderly. Those are the words that should
describe our worship of our God. All right, consider that first
sub-point. We must worship spiritually and
truthfully. This is our text we read a moment
ago, John chapter four, verses 23 and 24. Jesus said, true worshipers,
and observe that adjective, true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth, there it is, in spirit and truth, for
the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit. The King James adds the indefinite
article a in front of spirit, strike it out, it should not
be there. God is spirit. Jesus is not saying that God
is a spirit, one among many, but rather he's speaking of the
nature of God. God is spirit in his being and
in his nature. and those who worship him must
worship in spirit and truth. Jesus twice stresses that truth. God must be worshiped in spirit
and in truth. Now what does that mean? What
is it to worship God spiritually and truthfully? Well, consider
first of all spiritual worship. Spiritual worship is designed
to please God who is spirit, not man who is flesh. And that's why we have come here
today. We have come here to worship
the spirit of our God and God who is spirit. We have not come
to satisfy our flesh, to make a show in the flesh, to do things
in a fleshly manner. We have come to please God, who
is spirit. Furthermore, spiritual worship
is directed to God's heart, not to man's eyes and ears. Look around at our building,
if you will, for just a moment. There is nothing here that should
draw attention away from the worship of our God. We have no
idols, we have no icons, no pictures of Jesus. We have made the building
attractive, I think. You know, the walls are painted.
It's plain and it's simple. But we're letting people know
that the object of our worship is God, and our worship is not
intended to please your eyes and ears, but rather it is intended
to please God's heart. Everything that we do is directed
to our God. We are speaking to His heart
as we come to worship Him. through His Son and by the power
of His Holy Spirit. Furthermore, spiritual worship
has its source in the new heart and spirit God puts into His
people, not in those whose hearts follow the desires for their
detestable things and their abominations. Our reference here is in Ezekiel
11, verses 19 and 20 and verse 21. God must give us a new heart
in order for us to worship Him in spirit. That old heart we
have, it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That old heart we have, has a
proclivity to idolatry and to that which is blasphemous before
God. We cannot worship God unless
He removes that cold, hard, stony heart from us and then puts in
us a new, living, beating heart of flesh. And that's the way
He describes it. He says, I will take that old,
cold, dead, stony heart out and I'm going to put a new heart
in you. A living heart. A heart of flesh
that beats with His love. Well, you cannot worship God
unless you have that heart that He gives. because spiritual worship
has its source in the new heart and spirit God puts into his
people. Furthermore, spiritual worship
is primarily an exercise of the heart. Paul has let us know this
in Ephesians chapter 5 and in verse number 19. Ephesians 5
verse 19. Paul says, speaking to one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart. to the Lord. I want you to see
this, that our singing first, before it even reaches our lips,
our singing is in our hearts. We are singing and making melody
in our hearts unto the Lord. Paul says much the same thing
also in Colossians chapter 3 and in verse number 16. He says,
let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. Observe that true worship, it
springs from that new heart that God gives to us. It does not
spring from our mind. It does not spring from our nature. It's in that heart. This is what
true and acceptable worship to our God is. It springs from a
heart that knows His grace, singing and making melody with grace
in your hearts unto the Lord. It is not done of the flesh. Furthermore, spiritual worship
is done by those who worship God and the Holy Spirit. Paul
says in Philippians 3 verse 3, not those who are enabled and
led by the spirit of error from Satan as we read him described
in 1 John chapter 4 verse 6. We have come here today to worship.
And unless God leads us to do it, we cannot do it. Thankfully,
He gives His Spirit. His Spirit enables us to worship
Him arightly. His Spirit leads us and guides
us. That's why we've come into this
house and we have prayed, lead us by Your Spirit that we may
please and honor Your name and bring glory to You. If the Spirit
of God does not lead us, the spirit of error will, and therefore
true worship is spiritual. Furthermore, second sub-point
under we must worship spiritually and truthfully is that truthful
worship is worship that is full of truth. That's what the word
truthful means. When you say that someone is
truthful, what you're saying is, he is full of truth. There
is no error in him. I would hope that that would
be true of every one of us. That we would be known as truthful
people. And that we worship God in a
truthful manner. That worship is most truthful,
that is fullest of Christ, who is himself the truth, the very
thing related to God. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
by me. Jesus Christ is the very embodiment
of everything that is true with regards to God. In him there
is no lie, we read. Therefore, that worship is most
truthful that is fullest of Christ, who is himself the truth of everything
related to God, and who alone must be preeminent in our worship. Now consider that point for just
a moment. Jesus Christ must be preeminent
in our worship. When you really get down to it. A worship service as described
in the New Testament is very simple and really there is not
much to it with regards to components. Of what does it consist? Singing, praying, teaching and preaching, and the
observance of the ordinances of our God. This is virtually everything
that is said in the scriptures regarding what true worship is
in our singing. Let us sing those hymns. that
are fullest of Christ. I endeavor to do that, and I'm
sure the other song leaders do as well. If the song does not
speak of Christ, and if it does not tell the truth
regarding Him, let's not sing it. Let's not sing it. I have seen a hymnal There are
some, and in fact I'll say this, there are some hymns, at least
one or two in our own hymnal that should not be sung. But
I have seen hymns and hymnals that were acceptable for worship
and the name of Christ and even of God was not even mentioned
in them. you ever heard that song work
for the night is coming read it sometime read it work for
the night is coming there's no reference of God or of Christ
in it now that might be a good song for your husband's boss
to play on the PA system at work, okay? That might be good. It
might be acceptable there. But is it acceptable when we
sing a hymn in which Christ is not even mentioned? Our songs
should be full of Christ. Our prayers should be full of
Christ. We should come seeking the forgiveness
that is found in Christ, confessing our sins against Christ, seeking
the will of Christ, desiring that Christ be revealed unto
us. This is what our prayers should
be about. In our teaching, Christ should
be preeminent. I hope that that's even true
of the lesson that I'm bringing to you this morning. We started
out by indicating that this is what Jesus Christ said. These
were his words. This is what he has taught us. And we must worship God in truth,
and Christ is the truth. And I hope that throughout this
lesson, and we're not going to finish it today, but throughout
this lesson, we get this point. that even our prayers and our
teaching and our preaching must be about Jesus Christ. When we come to observe the ordinances,
and there are two, primarily two, baptism and the Lord's Supper,
and Christ should be worshipped in that. What are we doing in
baptism? Here is one who says, I have
died to the world. I have been buried with Christ. I will be raised in Christ. I will henceforth walk in newness
of life in Christ. Baptism is a believer's confession
of faith in Jesus Christ. In the Lord's Supper what do
we do? Jesus lets us know that in that
bread and in that wine, He is there. This bread is my body. This wine is my blood. This bread is my body that was
broken for you, my people. And this blood is the blood of
my new covenant. It is my covenant in this blood. shed for the remission of your
sins. And when we come to observe the
Lord's table, keep those points in mind. I try to stress them
to you every time we observe the table. What are we saying? This is His body that was broken
for us. This is His blood that was shed
for us and redeemed us from our sins. Paul says, that is often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do declare the
Lord's death till He comes. So that in the observance of
the Lord's table, what are we saying? We are declaring He died
for us. We proclaim the Lord's death. And what else are we saying?
We are saying He's coming for us. Jesus is coming for us. And therefore, in everything
we do, our hymns should be full of Christ. Our prayers should
be full of Christ. Our teaching should be full of
Christ. Our preaching should be full
of Christ. Our baptism should be full of
Christ. Our observance of the Lord's
table should be full of Christ. And I would hope that when we
leave here today, We can truthfully say, I worshiped God according
to the truth. God was looking for someone to
worship Him spiritually, and I did so from my very heart that
He gave me. God is looking for those who
worship Him truthfully, and I did so because I worshiped Him through
Jesus Christ, who is the truth. None can do so. except those
whom Jesus Christ calls true worshipers. Now if there are
true worshipers then of course there are false worshipers. Just because a congregation may call itself
a church of Christ does not mean they are. Just because a congregation
says they are a church of God does not mean they are. Churches
are to be judged according to what they do in their worship,
what they preach, what they teach, not by the name that they give
to themselves. There are true worshipers and
there are false worshipers, and Jesus here declares to us that
true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Now, I'm going to close this
point with this last sentence you see in that paragraph. Observe
it very carefully. Truthful worship is so rare that
Jesus said The Father is seeking true worshipers to worship Him. Think of that. God is, as it were this morning,
walking around this earth, visiting worship services, looking for
someone who's worshiping Him. The Father is seeking such to
worship Him. He can walk into many congregations
and hear them calling His name and doing some things in His
name, but then He would then conclude, not true worshipers. If there are true worshipers,
there are also false worshipers. And I hope And I pray, oh with
God as my witness, I hope that when the father comes into this building this
morning, when he walks up and down the
aisles and in the pews, when he When he looks into your heart
and your heart and to mine, I hope that he can say, I have found
a true worshiper. I hope, I hope that is what the
Father says of me. I have found a true worshipper. This worshipper is worshipping
me in spirit, in a spiritual manner, in a truly spiritual
manner, and this one is worshipping me truthfully through Jesus Christ
my Son. Oh, when the Father comes into
our congregation this morning, May he find some true worshipers. Has he found one in you? O God
our Father, be pleased we pray to bless this word to the glory
of your Son. Forgive us of all our past vain exercises. and claiming to worship you.
And oh, may this day we be found, when you come seeking true worshipers,
may we be found among them. And may henceforth from this
day forward, forever, we be found worshiping you in spirit and
in truth, until that day you receive us into glory. where
we shall never fail to do so. To your glory in Jesus' name
we humbly pray. Amen. You are dismissed.