Turn to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. Title of the message is True Worship. True Worship. that I will not scratch the surface
of this subject, but I sure hope we do it. I sure hope we worship
God in spirit and in truth tonight. If not, we may in vain. When God created Adam, he created
him for his own And he created him to be worshipped
by him. And Adam, in his innocence, worshipped
God. I mean, he worshipped God until
he fell. But it is only right to worship
God for who he is. It's only right to do that, to
worship God for who He is, as well as for all that He's given
us. What do you have that you did
not receive? Name it. Nothing. You and I have absolutely nothing that we have come up with ourselves.
God has given us our understanding, our intelligence, what health we have, everything. Faith, repentance, it's the gift
of God. And we worship Him for who He
is and what He's done for us and all that He's given us, especially
all that He's given us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given
us all that we need. In Him, you are complete. I don't
need, and you do not need, to provide anything. That's good
news. I have a hard enough time providing
for that place over there on Gusler Street and my family. let alone trying to please and
provide something that a holy God would be pleased with. This man can't come up with that,
but I know a man that can, and I know a man that has, the man
Christ Jesus. We thank God for that. But here's
a question that's on my mind, and I ask myself this these past
few days. What is true worship? What is
it to truly worship God? Now, when I say that, I automatically
think that to worship something, you have to be totally obsessed
with it. You have to be totally in love with it and just take
it up with it. It has your affection. It has
you. It's to recognize who God is
and give him the glory due unto his name. In short, that's what
it is to worship. That's just a scratch of the
surface, though. And have I ever truly, truly worshipped God? Have I ever truly fallen in the
dust, taken my place before God as a sinner, a sinful wretch,
and worshipped Him for who He is? I'll end this message with
a person that we have an example of in the Word of God. Recognizing
him for who he is, he can do with him as he will. Actually,
I'm going to end up with two people. What is true worship and have
I truly worshiped God? I know this, no one will enter
heaven who does not worship God in Christ. No one. Which, by the way, is the only
place God is worshipped, is in Christ. God is not worshipped
apart from Christ. He's not worshipped out in the
woods somewhere. He's not worshipped anywhere
but in Christ, in the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm going to start in verse
19. You know this story. You know this story. Our Lord
said He must need to go through Samaria because there is a woman
there, a lost sinner there that He's going to get. He's on the
trail of His sheep. He knows where everyone is at. And He knows it's time for birth. It's time for her birth. And
she's going to be born again. And listen, listen, listen to
this verse here. In verse 23. But the hour cometh,
and now he is, when the true worshipper shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. And that's what he's doing in
Samaria. He's seeking this woman who's one of his sheep. She doesn't
know it at that time, but she's going to. And she's going to
be one of those worshippers of God in spirit and in truth. This notorious woman, been through
five husbands. She must have been a tough one.
She must have been a tough, tough, notorious woman. And he said,
the one you're with now, you're not married to. But she's going to find her husband.
She's going to find her real last husband, because he's going
to seek her. He's going to reveal himself
to her. Now it says in verse 19, after our Lord had told her
that she had had five husbands, he said, go call your husband.
And she said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you well said.
Thou hast no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he
whom thou now hast is not thy husband. And that says thou truly. And woman says, I perceive, I
bet she did, I perceive you are a prophet. You are no ordinary
Jew. Yes, he is a prophet. He is that
prophet that Moses said should come. But he's more than a prophet. He's more than a prophet. He
is God manifest in the flesh. Standing in her presence is Almighty
God. People have their imaginations
of God, and it's always wrong. Our imagination of God is always
wrong. Because the human mind always
imagines God to be like ourselves. He said, you thought I was altogether
just like you. He's not. He's not. God is holy, just, gracious,
merciful, infinite in wisdom and knowledge. That's nothing
like us. Nothing like us. But I tell you this, we also
would not would not think of God being like Christ, meek and
lowly. Do you ever think of God Almighty
being meek and lowly? When you look at Christ, you
study Christ, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, you see God. I was thinking of
this today. If we left to ourselves, we never
imagined God to be like Christ. Meek and lowly and kind and gentle. Most people, it's like that one
man, he said, I thought you was a hard, austere man. And that's the reason I hid it
in the ground, the talents. Most people think of God as one
of two ways. He's either this sentimental,
mushy person that can't do anything, really, or this hard, cold, Law-strict man or being. But he's meek and lowly. Delights
to show mercy. A friend of sinners. You see,
the Pharisees couldn't get over the man. Pharisees could not
get over the fact that this man received the sinners and he's
with them. What kind of company? The company
he keeps, you wouldn't expect that. You know, most people would
think that God would walk into the synagogue and then the Pharisees
would all be right there with him and all. No, that was the
ones that hated him. They were the ones that hated
him. It was the sinners that felt comfortable in his presence.
They felt comfortable in his presence. So this woman's here,
she says, I perceive you are a prophet." Because he had told her about
her life. He revealed her life to her. She said, there's something different
about this man. As I said, he's more than a prophet.
He's God manifesting in the flesh. If he were only a prophet, listen,
he should not be worshipped. He should not be worshipped.
If that's all he is, he's a prophet. But if he's God, he's to be worshiped. That all the angels of God worship
him. And they do. They do. Now, she says in verse 20, our
fathers worshipped. Now, you notice from verse 20
to verse 24, the word worshipped, worship, worshipper. This is mentioned 10 times in
these next few verses, this word. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, but you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. After realizing she was in the
presence of a prophet, she becomes religious. She becomes real religious. This has happened to me so often,
when they find out I'm a pastor, a preacher. I mean, I've had
people that Just cussing and carry on and when they find out
I'm a pastor they quit that and they start talking about the
Bible. I had that happen after a while.
Guy was cussing and carrying on and he said after what I did
and I told him, next thing you know we were talking about the
Bible. That's what she does after realizing
she's in the presence of a prophet, she gets religious. She's going
to talk about religion. She wants to talk about worship,
religion, tradition, her fathers, her ancestry. But the Lord stops
her. He's going to deal with this
matter of worship. She said, our fathers worshipped
in this mountain. That's what she said. He's going
to deal with this matter of worship. Jesus said to her, woman, listen.
Woman, believe me. And you know what? She did. Later on here, as we go on, she
did. That's the only time throughout
the Gospels where the Lord said to a person, to a sinner, believe
me. He said, woman, believe me. And
she did. She did. What a statement. Believe me. Now, listen. This
is where worship begins. You don't worship someone you
don't believe. There's no way. This is where
it begins, it begins believing God, Abraham believed God and
it was counted to him for righteousness, no faith, no worship. I don't care what service or
ceremony you go through, no faith, no worship. The Pharisees did
not worship God. Our Lord said to them, you love
your father the devil. And they went through a so-called
worship service practically every day. But they never worshipped God.
Never worshipped him. And he says to her, the hour
is coming. It's coming, that hour. And listen,
that hour has come. That the place of worship will
not be an issue. The ceremonies and the tithes
will cease and there will not be a place for them anymore. Not in the mountain or at Jerusalem. You Samaritans! You know, you have to hear the
truth, don't you? And the truth, I tell you what, the truth is
offensive to the natural man. And he says, you worship, that
is, you Samaritans, you worship, you know not what, you don't
know what you're doing. May this never be said of us.
You don't know what you're doing. You cannot comprehend, you've
not comprehended what you are doing. You're going through the
motions. They're going through the ceremonies. He said, you
don't comprehend, you don't know what you're doing. So many today are worshiping
an unknown God. All false religions, all false religions are just
following tradition. They're just following tradition,
just like this woman. We know what we worship for salvation. is of the Jews. We know that
our Lord came through the Jewish bloodline. We know that. He was a Jew. We know that the
word of God was given to the Jews. We know that the pictures
and types were all given to the Jews. And that's why he said
here, we know what we worship. But you know, did all those Jews
know what they worship? Did those Pharisees know? Did
the scribes know? I believe our Lord is saying
this after looking at this today and yesterday. We know the true
Israel of God knows who they're worshiping. They know what they're
doing. You know what you're doing. You
know what you're doing here tonight. You know the one you're worshiping
tonight. You know that. You know that Israel of that
day and Israel over there now, they do not worship God. They reject and turn thumbs down
on Christ. They despise him. Salvation,
he says, is of the Jews. Everyone whom God saves is a
Jew. Do you know that? Everyone whom
God saves is a true Israelite. Turn over to Philippians chapter
3. Philippians chapter 3. Look in verse 3. Paul says, For we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh." We are the circumcision. We are
the true Israel of God. We are the Jews. We are the true
Jews who worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the
flesh. Turn over to Romans chapter 2. Look in verse 28. Now listen to this, it's powerful.
For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart and the
spirit and not in the latter, whose praise is not of men but
of God. Now who is the true Jew? Who
is the true Israel of God? It's everyone born of God. It's
everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
why he says salvation is of the Jews. It is. It is. Everyone whom God saves is a
true Jew. All Israel, he says, shall be
saved. But the hour cometh, and now is. When the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, will the Father
seek us such to worship Him?" She said, Our Father worshiped
in the mountains. Well, no they don't. They don't even
worship at Jerusalem. He came into His own, His own
received Him not. He came to the world, the world didn't want
anything to do with Him. But it gives us here the elements
of true worship. Without thee there is no worship. Without thee there is no worship. You must have the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that's what
he's talking about. Those who worship him must worship him
in spirit and the Holy Spirit. The worship service is not really
led by me. I mean, I am the leader of the
service here, as you can see. But now, truly, truly, the leader
of a worship service is the Holy Spirit of God. And He's the one who takes the
things of Christ, reveals them to us. And He's the one who gives
us a new heart, regenerates us, and He's the one who enables
us to worship God with understanding and in truth. You know what you're
doing. You're not just going through
the motions. You're not just like a night on a log. You're
engaged in it. But without Him, you're not engaged
in it, I guarantee you. That woman wanted to talk about
where to worship because she didn't know anything else. Our
Lord is telling her and us, not where, but how, in spirit and
in truth. True worship. is always in the
Spirit. And that doesn't mean you're
hollering and carrying on. It's not an emotional service. It's a spiritual service. It's
a spiritual service led by Him, the Holy Spirit. And there can
be no worship of God where the Holy Spirit is not the leader
of the worship service. The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals
who God is. He's the one who gives the right
understanding of God. God, it says here, God is spirit.
It means he has no form, no shape.
I know it says here God is a spirit, but I like the better translation,
God is spirit. He's not a spirit among many
spirits. He is spirit. That's why he's omnipresent. He says here in verse, let me
find my place here. He said, you worship you know
not what, we know what we worship for salvation of the Jews, but
the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. In John 3, it says, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that's all it ever will be.
And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Apart from
the new birth, there can be no worship of God. That old nature
never worships God, never will worship God. Hates God all the
way to the grave. That's why you must be born of
the Spirit, but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Listen,
we worship God under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit,
and we worship God in a new spirit. See, he said, I'll put within
you a new spirit, a new nature, a new heart. And in that heart,
that new heart, that new nature, that's where you worship God.
That's the one that worships God. That's the one that loves
God. That's the one that adores God.
That's the one that obeys God. And apart from that new birth,
there is no worship. We worship God in the spirit.
Worship is all spirit. Listen, it's all spiritual. There's
no flesh connected with it at all. There's no flesh connected
in worship, through worship. It's from the heart, that new
heart. It's from my heart to God. In
love with Him. Adoring Him. Worshipping Him. In spirit and in truth. And in truth. According to the
Scriptures. According as He revealed Himself
in the Scriptures. in truth. Over in John 17, look over in
John 17 here. He says in verse 17, sanctify
them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. God does not save apart from
his Word. The Holy Spirit takes the Word
of God and reveals God to the heart. And you cannot separate the Word
of God, the written Word of God, from the living Word of God because
he said this, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We worship
him in spirit, in the Holy Spirit. We worship him from the heart,
that new heart. We worship him according to truth, according
to the scriptures, in Christ who is the truth. That's how
we worship God. The true worship of God is the
action of the new nature seeking fellowship with God. David said, as the heart panteth
after the water brook, so panteth my heart after thee, O God. That is worship. That's worship. It is to be in love with the
object of that which you worship. Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me more than
these? Oh, I tell you, I think if there's
anything that we can kind of use as an example of worship,
I was thinking about this the last couple of days, it has to
be in this matter of love. When I first met Vicki, I thought about her all day. And I'm sure a lot of my mess-ups
at work was over that. I didn't have my mind on my job.
I thought about her all day. Could not wait to get off work
to go see her. And when I was with her, I didn't
want to go home. And when I was with her, I'm telling you, it
was like being on the cloud. Like floating. She's not here,
I can say all this. But I'm telling you. When I thought
about this today, and I thought about this matter of loving Christ. Peter, do you love me? I reckon
there's probably nothing that comes to my mind in worship more
than this matter of being absolutely in love with someone. And I thought of I thought of
Vicki today by dating her and us getting married. And it's
been a joy for 35 years. It has. Peter, do you love me? Is it
a joy to be here with me? Is it a joy? Is this something
you feel like you need to do to quiet your conscience or is
this something you want to do? I didn't quiet my conscience. I didn't
go see her because I had to quiet my conscience. I didn't think
she was going to be upset. I wanted to. I wanted to. Peter, do you love me? Do you
love me? Do you love? I remember Henry saying that
on television one time. It never crossed my mind. When I very
first heard the gospel, he said, do you love Christ? And that
just hit me like an arrow. I never thought of it that way
before. I heard you accept Him as your personal Savior and you
get baptized. But I'm going to tell you something. There's a difference in going
through the ceremonies and absolutely falling in love with someone.
Big difference. Makes a big difference in the
service too. And true worship is evidenced
by obedience. And Genesis 22 said to those
young men, he said, you all stay here, you guys stay here while
me and the lad go yonder and worships. And that's the first
time worship is used in the word of God. He said, we'll go yonder
and worship and we'll return. He knew he was coming back off
that mountain with Isaac. He knew God had promised him
a seed and Isaac And he received Isaac in like figure being raised
from the dead. So in Abraham's heart, in his
mind, heart, he believed God. And he said, we're going to go
up on that mountain. We're going to worship. You know what he's saying? We're
going to do just what God said to do. God said, Abraham, go
kill your son, your only son. And Abraham said, you know what
we're going to do, Isaac? We're going to go up there and
worship God. And how are we going to do that? obedience. We're
going to do just what he said. Just what he said. That's worship. Now to show you and close with
this, turn to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him. They didn't worship him.
They followed him, but they didn't worship him. I tell you what,
there was somebody there who was going to worship him. And
behold, take notice of this, there came a leper and worshipped
him. How do we know he worshipped
him? Matthew, how do you know this leper worshipped him? Well,
first of all, he recognized his lordship. You will not worship until you
worship a sovereign. I don't know who I heard say
this or I read it. Everyone else you'll bargain
with. But he recognized him as Lord. That's his Lord. And he recognized his sovereignty.
He said, if thou wilt. He was totally in the hands of
Christ. He was totally shut up to the
mercy of the Lord. Lord, if thou wilt. And notice
this, he recognizes his ability. You can make me clean. I do believe this. I believe that worship, true
worship happens and we don't even recognize it. You don't even recognize it when
it happens. That leper did not, he's not the one who said, I
worshipped him. Matthew said that. It was somebody
else that saw it, saw what was going on. He said, that leper
worshipped him. You know, in another version
of it, it says that he fell down at his feet. He fell into the
dust. And he said, Lord, If you will, I know you don't
have to. You can leave me alone. But if
you will, you can make me whole. He never left anybody alone that
ever came to him like that. Never, never. Turn over to Matthew 15. Here's another one that worshiped
the Lord, but didn't realize it, didn't recognize it. Verse 21, Then Jesus went forth
and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord. She recognized his lordship,
just like the leopard did. Thou son of David, she recognized
him as the Messiah, the Lord, the King. My daughter was grievously
vexed with the devil, but he answered her not a word. And
his disciples came and sought him, saying, Send her away, she
cries after us. She's crying after him. But he
answered and said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped
him. She didn't come and say, Lord,
I'm worshipping you. No, it was evidenced by what
she did and what she said, saying, Lord, help me, recognizing his
lordship, his ability to save, his willingness to save. And
she came to him. And he asked her and said, it's
not me to take the children's bread and cast it from the dome. This is one time he never, ever
gave this sinner an encouraging word. But I tell you what, there was
an encouraging person standing right in front of her, and she
was not going back down. And she said, truth! Worship
him in spirit and truth. Lord, you're telling me the truth. Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. And the Lord said, Jesus
answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Would any
of us have recognized that as great faith and true worship? Be it unto thee, even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. Who has your affections? Who
has my affections? Do I love Christ? If so, that's worship. Worship
is not something you muster up. It's not something you work up,
you muster up. I'm going to go to worship service. Well, it
better begin before you ever get there. No, it's something that you do
because when you leave that house to come here, you leave that
house in love with Christ. And you come here to hear about
him and to fellowship with his people. Worship happens, I believe, without
ever realizing it's happening. Have I really worshipped Him?
Do I love Him? Is Christ, is He the one who
has my affections? Is He the one who has my heart?
Is He the one who has my eye? Is He the apple of my eye? Is He the one I can't wait to
be with? That's worship. It's to be totally,
obsessed with the object of the one you love. Totally obsessed.