We'll begin this morning's message
in the book of Acts chapter 17 if you'd like to turn in your
Bibles there this morning. Acts chapter 17. There's a joke going around on the internet.
You got Charlie Brown and you know that girlfriend of his,
Lucy. And they're leaning up against
a tree, and it's one of those moments that the cartoonist puts
something together that's profound. You know, and Lucy says to Charlie,
she says, do all the fairy tales, do they always begin with once
upon a time? You know, and Charlie, in his
wisdom, says, well, in today's world, it begins with if you'll
just elect me. Isn't that something? We all
laugh about that, but, you know, a lot of times what we laugh
about is truth. Isn't it something that we live
in a world today where it's expected? Oh, we know this one got to be
where he is because he lied better than the other. Isn't that what
it's all about in our world around us today? It's not just expected. It's okay. It's alright if you
lie a little bit now. You'll be able to do something
better for the country later on when you do get the power. If the world only knew as God
has revealed to us the truth of man's depravity. We wouldn't put up with that
stuff anymore. It wouldn't be allowed. In the world we walk in today,
it really does seem hard to tell what's true and what's not, doesn't
it? We just spent a little over a week with a young lady from
Australia, 25 years old, and I bring that up for age because
I have a granddaughter who's 25 years old. She has a baby that's a year
old. And I've watched over my lifetime,
and some of you who've had children and have families of your own,
you've seen the same thing, I'm sure. I've seen how that idea
that it's okay, it's okay to bring out something that's not
true. It's alright, whatever you think
is true can be true. That idea has gone from the time
when I was a kid, and my dad used to say this too, so I know
it's not been just from my time, it's gone back for a long time,
folks. Lying and telling untruths has
gone back all the way to the devil when he met with Ab and
Eve in the Garden of Eden. And it's gotten worse and worse
and worse and worse to this very day. I wonder what truths my
granddaughter will know. In a world where they try to
teach you if you're a boy, you can be a girl if you want to
be. And I'm not trying to get political here. I'm bringing
out the ironic point of what it is that we allow as a people. Are we surprised about this?
If you know God's Word, you shouldn't be. I know it kind of takes us back
in time, like, I can't believe it's getting this bad, but God's
Word warns us over and over again, it'll wax worse and worse and
worse, till the day He returns. And it all gets burned up. I can tell you this. It makes me more thankful. It makes me more thankful of
the blessings of my Lord and shining his truth in a new heart. A heart that was once dead and
would be right there with all of those who still love lies. Because that's where each and
every one of us would be right now if it wasn't for the grace of
our God. If it wasn't for His love that He had for us from
before the world was, we would be right there lost, dead in
trespasses and sin. And we know this because we were
blind to those very truths at one time. Every one of us were.
I've not been bashful to you over these last few months in
declaring that I was once blind and I know I was blind because
now I see. How thankful can a child of the
true and living God be knowing where it is that we can find
truth in a world full of lies. Is it any wonder that there are
so many different religions in this world? Is it any wonder
that so many different Christian religions, when men interpret
the Holy Word of God according to their own desire? Oh, I like
this part of the Bible. I like the part that says, my
God rules over everything. I like the part where it says,
He loves. Oh, I don't like that part. It
says He hates. I'm going to change that. I'm
going to change that to where He loves less. I ask you something. Does the
God you see in Holy Scriptures do anything less than perfect? No. The God I see in Scriptures
He loves with perfection and He hates with perfection. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. That's what His Word says, right?
I'm not going to interpret that to my own destruction. I'm going
to let God's Word tell me what it is. And what it is, He will
destroy the wicked. But He has given those that He
has loved from before the world was, a substitute. One who has already taken that
destruction for each and every one that God the Father gave
Him before the world began. Every single child of God that
our Savior went to that cross for shall be saved. That's what
it says. All that the Father gave me shall
come to me. Is that what it says? Oh, what it is to know truth in a
world of lies. That we, who would have, if it
was not for the grace of God, beyond that path to destruction,
interpreting scriptures to our own destruction. Ask your brother
Mike sometime about that. He'll tell you all about it.
He's got a great testimony on how the Lord took him out of
that interpretation stuff. When you take the truth of God
and you bend it to fit what you think is right, you can come
up with anything out of Scripture. And that is just what dead men
have done since the fall of Adam. That's exactly what everyone
here has done at one point or another in our lifetime. That's
what people who are dead spiritually, dead in trespasses and sin, do.
We make the Scriptures like man. We take a God who is above everything
that we can think of, whose ways are completely out from what
man's ways are, and we bring him down to us and make him our
way, instead of accepting him his way. You cannot walk in the newness
of life except you be given life to walk therein. Mankind, in
their spiritual deadness, have made up all kinds of gods with
their imagination. And in the 17th chapter of the
book of Acts, Paul was at Mars Hill, and he observed a token
that was dedicated to an unknown god. Look with me, if you would,
at Acts chapter 17, beginning at verse 22, and we read these
words. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill, and he said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that
in all things ye are too superstitious. Pope, Pope of the Roman Church,
I perceive that you are superstitious in your superstitious ways of
praying to mankind instead of the only one who can help you,
and that's Jesus Christ. Can you imagine me saying that
to him, to his face? Who do you think you are, John? I've been studying the book of
God longer than you've ever walked this earth. I perceive that in all things
ye are too superstitious. Verse 23, for as I pass by, and
beheld your devotions, here he's walking by, he's coming into
the town, and here he's walking by, and here's a God to this,
a God to that, a God to another, let's see, Catholic God, Mormon
God, Jehovah Witness Gods, or Watchtower, whatever you want
to call them, Seventh-day Adventist Gods, Baptist Gods, Oh, down
here on the very, very end, at the very end of that pillar,
what's he saying? For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. You're so superstitious that
not only do you have all these gods up in front of you, just
in case you miss one, you've got one down here that's marked
as the unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship Him, declare I unto you." Paul is about to declare to them
the unknown God. And they don't even know who
He is. You can't know who the Lord Jesus
Christ is unless He opens up the Scriptures and reveals Himself
to you. I don't care how much you study
it. I don't care how much you go to church on Sundays, I don't
care how many Bible studies you go to, unless God comes and does
a work in your heart. And you folks, I bring this out
to you because those of us who were blind once and can now see,
we see the grace of God in coming to us, don't we? And God's grace
in coming to us and giving us sight to see the truth of His
Word. Paul's about to tell them about
that very thing. He says in verse 24, God that
made the world. Can you think of anything less
than sovereign there? Oh, people make up a lot of gods
in their minds. I have a God who does this. I have a God who
does that. But He's not a God over my will. He's not a God over my decision.
That's mine. God hath made the world. Folks,
if he's God, then he's controller of everything. That's what Scriptures
will tell you. You read it throughout, anywhere
you want to go in God's Word. He is God of everything. Nothing
is outside the purpose of my Lord. God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with ash." He doesn't dwell
in all those fancy buildings. He doesn't dwell in this building.
He dwells in the hearts of men. New hearts. His chosen people's
hearts. Those that he has chosen to be
his children. Elect. Predestinated. I will be merciful unto whom
I will be merciful to." That's what he says. I like to say,
and Pastor Gene would say all the time, he says, I can understand
why God hated Esau. I can understand that really
well. I can't understand why he loved Jadab. I can understand
why God would hate wickedness. I can't understand why he loves
me. It gives us a little bit of an
inkling, a little view through that dark veil, that glass darkly
of His Son, the Lord Jesus. That's why. Nothing to do with
you, John. Nothing to do with you, Pauli
Mary. I know you're the sweetest thing that walked this earth,
but it's nothing to do with you. It's with our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 26, It hath made one blood
all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before, appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation. For in him, in this one, on whom
the world does not know, For in him we live and move and have
our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, for
we are also his offspring. Verse 29, for as much then as
we are of the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is likened to gold and silver and stone and graven art
and man's device. That's talking about idols. That's
talking about all those idols that we can put together with
our hands. Verse 30, in the times of this
ignorance God winked at. He winked at it for a while,
he overlooked it for a bit, but now he commandeth all men everywhere
to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man, that one whom the world
does not know, whom he hath ordained, wherefore he hath given assurance
to all men that in that he hath raised him from the dead. Now,
the true and living God is unknown to natural man. Paul used that
superstitious plaque to preach the true and living God to those
religious people. Folks, there is another Jesus
being preached in the world, a Jesus that doesn't even come
close to the true and living God. Paul tells us that in 2
Corinthians 11, verse 4, he says, For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, Was Cain not preaching another
Jesus? How do you think Abel knew to
bring a sacrifice? A lamb without blemish? How do
you think Abel knew that? Do you think Adam taught Abel? Cain was taught of his father
the same as Abel, yet he brought another Jesus. Hunting is just
not my way. I know that's God's way. God's way is bringing a sacrificial
lamb. My way, that's just not my way.
There's got to be something else I can do. Maybe I can come down
to the front of the church and pray a prayer. Maybe I can get
into the waters of baptism. Maybe I can come to the table.
Maybe I can do this or do that. That's another Jesus. The Jesus of Scripture says,
there are none that seeketh after me. There are none that cometh to
me. He told Simon Barjona, he says, blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed, revealed what?
That he was the Son of the living God. But my Father which is in heaven. What Cain was bringing was another
Jesus, when he came with an offering of his own works, and he came
not according to the Word of God given to him by his father
Adam. Men have taken the points they desire and corrupted the
true Word of God with their interpretations using their human logic, their
human feelings. Have you ever been to a charismatic
church before? It can get really crazy wild
in those places. I've been to one. God helped
me there and sent me to another one of those places. Not only
was there a guy dancing back and forth on the stage, doing
some weird stuff, and I asked the guy who was with me, I said,
what in the world is that guy doing? He goes, he's talking
in tongues. I said, oh, that's what that
is? Then other people were just moving
their hands around On the floor, crawling around and stuff, I
had to get up and leave. I didn't even want somebody to
think I was pretending to be worshipping with that. They make all kinds of gods out
of our own imagination. Gods that fit our way. I made a god that fit my way
when I was wandering through the world in darkness. He'd go
party on Sundays, do whatever he wanted. There was no God,
no fear of God in his heart. I'll bet each and every one of
you got some kind of a story like that. Maybe you were worshiping
the God that says you can't be saved unless you worship on Saturday. Or a God that says this, or a
God that does this. You're probably worshiping a
different Jesus at one time or another, weren't you? We make up all kinds of things.
And we interpret the truths of God's Word to our own destruction.
Look over at the book of Jude. That's right before Revelation.
Turn over to the book of Jude. Our Lord inspired the apostle
Jude to warn us of something. And I want you to see it for
your own eyes. I've quoted it before, but this
time I think you need to read it. Look at the third and fourth
verse of the book of Jude. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Now, listen to this. For there are certain men, specific
people, crept in unawares, they came
in, you didn't even know they were there and being in amongst
you, who were before of old, before a star ever twinkled in
the sky, ordained, prepared, sent to this condemnation, ungodly
men turning wickedness, evil, and denying
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They were taking
grace and mixing works with it. Oh, you can worship Jesus Christ
crucified, absolutely, but you've got to get circumcised. You think it's being done now
as first? No, they've been doing that for a long time, folks.
The devil's been at his work for a long, long, long, long
time. And he's pretty good at it. He's warning us that there are
men who come into the church and try to mix a little bit of
leaven. And you mix a little bit of leaven into a lump of
bread, it ruins the whole bread. Today is no different. There's
only one truth. Listen to the words of Deuteronomy
32 verse 4. This is the truth. This is God's
Word. You can't argue this. He is the
Rock. His work is perfect. God's not going to lose anybody,
folks. His blood covered every sin of His people perfectly.
It's done. It's finished. This is good news to us who are
sinners, is it not? Oh, you're so down, John. No.
If you're a sinner and you need salvation, this is great news. He is the rock. His work is perfect
for all His ways are judgment. He is a God of truth and without
iniquity, just and righteous. What is He? In 2 Samuel chapter 2 verse 6
we read these words, And now the Lord show kindness and truth
unto you. 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 24,
And the woman said unto Elijah, Now by this I know that thou
art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord is in thine
hand. Thy mouth is true. I don't know this for a fact. But
I also don't know if anybody ever preached the truth to me
before I came to here and heard it preached by Jean Harmon. I
don't know what those folks were preaching in all my days of being
raised, going to churches here, my biological father preaching.
I don't know. Maybe I didn't hear them. Maybe
I didn't hear them because they weren't preaching the truth. Maybe they had some other Jesus,
and it just made nonsense to me. This gal, she knew. She knew that the word of truth
was in the preacher's mouth. Psalms 225 verse 5, we read this,
it says, lead me in thy truth. And teach me, for Thou art the
God of my salvation. On Thee do I wait all the day. Psalm 33, 4, For the word of
the Lord is right, and all His works are done in truth. And
one more, if you would. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 12
and 13, That we should be to the praise of His glory, who
first trusted in Christ, whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit promise." My title this morning is just
that, in spirit and in truth. We must worship in truth or our
worship is vanity. That means worthless. Might as
well just go home and drink yourself to death. Or whatever else you
want to do. Natural man, the unconverted,
the unregenerate man, cannot worship in truth, for the truth
is enmity to our nature. We read in John chapter 3, verses
19 and 20 through 21, and this is the condemnation, that light
is coming to the world, And men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved." We won't come to Christ, why? Because
coming to Christ proves that it was His work. I don't do this anymore. I don't
do that anymore. See how good I am? I never killed
anybody. See how good I am? I did this or I did that. Mankind
don't want that. They don't want a God who has
done everything. The one God who has given them
life when they were dead in trespasses and sin. The one God who in His
grace came to us when we were all living in darkness and shined
His light in our hearts. We don't want that God. We want
to be gods ourselves. That's what the devil told Adam
and Eve. You shall be as gods. Little gods. Thinking more of
yourselves than what you are. Thinking of how good you are
in this world. Everyone that doeth evil, hateth
the light, neither cometh to the light. That's God's word,
not mine. Lest his deeds should be reproved, but he that doeth
truth. cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifested,
that they were wrought in God. In Romans 8, verses 5-8, we read
these words, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things
of the Spirit. For the carnally minded is death,
those who generated by the Holy Spirit.
Those who have not been converted by the Holy Spirit have the mind,
their mind is death. But to the spiritually minded,
one who has been given life, to the spiritually minded is
life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be, so then they that are of the flesh can not Please,
God, look over at John chapter four with me, if you would. John
chapter four. In John chapter 4, beginning
at verse 21, we read these words. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship
ye know not. Here's that God, that unknown
God. You don't even know what it is
you're worshiping. Those golden idols, those Sabbath days that
you're worshiping on Sabbath, you don't even know that the
Sabbath is standing right before you. He who will fulfill everything
for his chosen people is standing right before her. You know not
what you worship. We know that we worship for salvation
is of the Jews, but the hour cometh and is now is when the
true worshipers shall worship the Father in what? In spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him, God of spirit, and they that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. We must worship in spirit and
in truth. What is it to worship in the
spirit? Turn over to Matthew chapter 16. We're going to go
through a couple of verses here quite quickly. So, Matthew chapter
16. What is it to worship in the
Spirit? In Matthew chapter 16, we see
that it is to worship and it is to know the truth. Matthew
chapter 16, beginning at verse 13, we read these words. When
Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, saying, whom do men say that I am, that I, the Son
of Man, am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some say Elijah's, other Jeremiah's,
or one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven." What is it to worship in spirit? It's to worship
Him in truth. I didn't come to the Lord on
my own accord. My own accord ran from the Lord. And so did yours until the Lord
called you. How do I know He's the Son of
the Living God? God the Father revealed it to
me. He gave me a new heart to accept
Him for who He is, who now willingly, willingly come to my Lord because
He's made me willing in the day of His love. What is it to worship
in truth? Turn over to Romans chapter 3.
Romans chapter 3. To worship Him in truth is to
worship Him knowing the truth of our depravity. In Romans 3,
beginning at verse 9, we read these words. What then? Are we
better than they? No. No and no wise, for we have
before proved both Jews and Gentiles. We read this in Bible study.
It's funny how Bible study and the morning message go so close. Prove to both Jews and Gentiles
that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. How do we worship in spirit?
We worship the spirit in knowing the truth of our depravity. There
is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. What about my mom? What about
my grandma? She's the sweetest thing that
ever walked this earth. God's Word says, no, not one. I'm sorry if that offends you,
but that's God's Word. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of Asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift as shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes." What is it to worship in the
Spirit? Turn over to John, chapter 1. What is it? To worship in the
Spirit. It is to know the truth. It is
to know the truth of our depravity. It is to know the truth of His
grace. Our Lord's grace. In John chapter
14. I'm in the wrong chapter. Hang
on. I went to chapter 1. What did
I say? John chapter 1? Yeah, that's
right. No, I'm sorry. John chapter 1.
I got out of my notes here for a minute. Look at verse 14. It's to know the truth of His
grace, is what I said. I want to bring that out again.
Because over in the first couple of verses, we see that in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made. And then over in verse 14, we read these words, and
the Word was made flesh. Folks, do you see the grace of
God? Do you see God's grace? There's no other way to save
His people but to send us a substitute. Sin must be charged. Christ our Savior became a curse,
was made a curse for us. To know the truth of grace is
that God sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
should have everlasting life. Read the rest here. And the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.
The glory is the only begotten of the Father. And what's it
saying next here? Full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. What
does it mean to worship in spirit? to know the truth of who He is.
Now I'll turn over to chapter 14 of the same book. Chapter
14. Who is this One? Who is this
One that we call the Word? This One who created everything
there is. What is it to worship Him It's
to know who He is. Verse 5, Thomas saith unto him,
Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the
way? And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. If ye had known me, ye should
have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him,
and have seen him." They were standing there looking at Jesus. Is there any mixing of words
here? These folks knew exactly what
Jesus was saying. I and my father are one, that's
what he was saying. Go on, Philip says in verse 8, unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it suffices. And Jesus saith unto him, have
I been so long a time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?
Hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, if you
weren't clear what he said a moment ago, he's being much more clear
now. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father, how sayest thou
then, show us the Father? What is it to worship in the
Spirit? It's to know the truth. Know what is the truth. It's
to know the totalness of our depravity. It's to know the wonders
of His grace. It's to know who He is and why
He came. And the truth is also to know
what He has done. Look over at 1 John. 1 John,
over at the end of the book there, right before Jude. Look over
at 1 John. The first epistle of John. It's to know the truth of what
this One who became flesh came to do. 1 John 1, verses 5-7,
This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare
unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all. If we say that we follow Him
and that we fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie
and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanseth us from some of our sins? No, all sins. How does that feel, Brother Mike?
To know that even though we walk in this flesh and sin, our Lord
has cleansed it all. Not just what I've done today, what I'm going to do this afternoon,
what I'm going to do the next day until the Lord takes me out
of this body of death. Who shall save me from this body
of death? My Lord, that's who did. Our
Savior, Jesus Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords. I'm going
a little long here. Let me get through this for you. One more
section of verse here. Hebrews chapter 1. The truth
of where our Lord is right now. Hebrews chapter 1. Just a little
bit to the left there. I'm going to read 9 verses. God who at sundry times, verse
1 of chapter 1 of Hebrews, God who at sundry times in diverse
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of the
glory of the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." We all heard about this Jesus
who died in the tomb. You know, there's no real proof
of that. There's nothing substantial to
that statement. I know it's true. I know he sits on his throne
right now. I see his glorious hand in everything that's going
on around us. That day I laid in the hospital
with COVID, I saw his glorious hand wrapped around me. I thought
he was gonna take me home. But his hand was in that. My father's glorious hand is
involved with everything according to his purpose since the world
began for my sake and for yours. and for the sake of every one
of His people between now and the time He calls the end of
time. Ephesians 2, verse 4, we read
these words, But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together and made us to, what, sit in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Now turn over to Colossians chapter
3, please. And I have a question for you.
Colossians chapter 3. If God has given us a new spirit
to worship Him in truth, should we not put all the world behind
us as far as worship is concerned, and just worshiping Him? Should
we not put all that stuff that's going on around us, out in the
world, behind us? Read with me, if you would, verses
1-17 of Colossians chapter 3. If ye then be risen with Christ. Remember, Christ is sitting on
His throne right now. He just said, we just read in
Ephesians, That's with Him. Folks, we're
not going to be washed of sin sometime down the future. We
are washed right now. His blood was shed 2,000 years
ago, and it covers all of our sins. We are washed clean as
our Lord and Savior, white as snow, right now. If ye then be
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on
the things above, not on the things on the earth. For ye are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who
is our life, is Christ your life? I know we have to live here on
earth. We are in the earth, but we are
not of it anymore. This world is not our home. We
set our affections on the things above. You can have all the gold
in the world you want, it's not going to do you any good if you
don't have Christ. Set your affections on the things
above, not on the things of the earth, for ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Verse
5, mortified therefore your members. which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, contravenance, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. For which thing saith the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience?" You know why
Paul writes that in there to remind us? Because that's where
you and I belong. That's where we were. But for
the grace of God, there went I. And there I would go today
if it wasn't for his grace. Verse 7, in the which ye also
walked some time. See, that's God's Word. You thought
that was just mine, didn't you? In the which ye also walked some
time when ye lived in them. But now, ye also put off all
these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off all
the old man with his deeds. and have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. Where there is neither grief nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Satanian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all,
put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved bowels
of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness and long-suffering.
Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. And above all these things, put
on charity, which is love. Put on love, which is the bond
of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and
be ye thankful. 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, and whatsoever ye do, do in the
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father by Him." There's really nothing else for
a man to say to add to that, is there? You want to worship
in truth, spirit in truth? Worship God according to the
scriptures, not according to man's experience or man's desires. Worship Him according to the
scriptures. Son of the true and living God can only be revealed
to you by the Father. And blessed are you if He's revealed
that to you. Amen.