Do You Know Who You Worship

Q: What does the Bible say about true worship?

The Bible emphasizes that true worship arises from knowing God as revealed in scripture, particularly in John 4:19-22, where Jesus speaks of worshiping the Father in spirit and truth. In John 4:19-22, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that true worship is not confined to physical locations or traditions but is centered on the knowledge of God as revealed in Christ. He asserts that salvation comes from knowing who God is and how He has chosen to redeem His people. True worship is rooted in a personal relationship with God, avoiding the pitfalls of idolatry and false religion that depend on human works. Furthermore, true worship is characterized by a response to divine revelation and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. As Romans 1:20 expresses, God's character is evident in creation, yet true worship only arises from an understanding of Him through His Word and through Christ. Thus, worship must be guided by the truth of scripture rather than the preferences of men, emphasizing God's sovereignty in salvation.

Q: How do we know salvation is only through Christ?

Salvation is only through Christ, as He claims in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth, and the life, affirming that no one comes to the Father except through Him. In John 14:6, Jesus emphatically states that He is the exclusive way to the Father, confirming that no one can achieve salvation outside of a relationship with Him. This statement underlines the unique and singular nature of Christ's redemptive work. Throughout the New Testament, the apostles reinforced this truth, proclaiming that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Historic Reformed theology firmly teaches that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This doctrine underscores the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, highlighting that human merit or works cannot contribute to or assure salvation. As Romans 3:23-24 describes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, acknowledging Christ as the sole source of salvation is fundamental to knowing God and receiving eternal life.

Q: Why is knowing God important for Christians?

Knowing God is crucial for Christians as it forms the basis of true faith and worship, impacting one's life, hope, and salvation. For Christians, knowing God is foundational to their faith and worship. As articulated in John 4:22, Jesus highlights that true worshippers must worship in spirit and truth, which implies a personal and accurate understanding of God Himself. Misinformation or ignorance about God's character leads to false worship and ultimately spiritual emptiness. Hence, knowing God influences one's understanding of grace and the nature of salvation. Moreover, a genuine knowledge of God equips believers to engage in the world with both confidence and humility. As expressed in Philippians 3:10, Paul desires to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, implying that such knowledge transforms Christian living. The more we understand God through His Word, the more we recognize our reliance on His grace rather than our works, ensuring true peace and assurance in our relationship with Him. In contrast, ignorance or false knowledge of God breeds spiritual peril, leaving individuals vulnerable to idolatry and false doctrines.

Today I hope he will give you
grace to hear a message this generation desperately needs
to hear. My text is John chapter 4 verses
19 through 22. Some years ago, I used to regularly
get visits from young Campbellite preachers. I guess in their school
here, they had a class called Rose Dawn 101. I don't know,
but I used to regularly get visits from them every fall. Some of
them would come around and want to debate. Of course, you know,
Campbellites, they'd crawl across their belly on glass to debate
somebody over anything. I mean, I refused to do so. I just refused to engage in their
foolishness. But this young preacher came
to the office one day and sat down and chatted a little bit.
After just a little while, he said, well, I guess we could
agree on one thing. I said, what's that? He said, we can't both
be saved. I said, you're dead right about that. We can't both
be saved. No possibility. No possibility. Oh, but don't they believe in
Jesus? They say so. But don't they believe in God?
They say so. But don't they preach from the Bible? They say so.
Yes, sir. But they don't know God. Either
they don't or we don't. There's no alternative. There's
no alternative. For they worship a different
God, a different Savior, by a different spirit, and they claim salvation
by a different grace. The grace they talk about is
grace that requires your works. It requires something from you
to be contributed to make the grace effectual. I said, absolutely,
you're dead right. We can't both be saved. No possibility. This is exactly what our Lord
says to this woman here in John chapter 4. Beginning in verse
19. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus seems to have stopped her
right dead in her tracks. He seems to have just stopped
right there and butted in. Jesus saith to her, Woman, Believe
me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know
not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. Now this old gal was now thoroughly
confused. She perceived that the Lord Jesus
was indeed a prophet, a teacher come from God. But she didn't
understand a word of what he was saying to her. She knew that
the Jews' religion excluded the possibility of her being saved
because she worshipped a different God in a different place, at
a different altar, in different ways than the Jews. And yet the
Lord Jesus was talking to her now about salvation, eternal
life, acceptance with God. And still in the same breath,
he told her that her religion was a religion of uselessness,
ignorance, and idolatry. Man, you talk about leaving a
gal standing with a blank look on her face. But you've been
talking to me about salvation. You've been talking to me about
eternal life. You've been talking to me about living water. And
now you tell me that my religion is totally without acceptance
before God? You see, our Lord Jesus never
went to Bible college or seminary. So he wasn't trained either in
being a politician or a preacher. He never learned the fine art
of compromise or the trick of talking out of both sides of
his mouth at the same time. These days, when preachers are
confronted with such plain, stark contrast in religion and in religious
opinions, they usually appeal to some vague spirit of ecumenism
And they attempt to point to areas of agreements. Agreement
between mutually opposing ideas. What foolishness. But you know,
preachers today are gentlemen. Preachers these days are nice. So sweet. So sweet. Their talks are nice. They wouldn't
offend you for the world. Even if it means you go to hell.
Wouldn't offend you for the world. Our Lord Jesus wasn't such a
man. In fact, by the standards of modern religion and political
correctness, he would be considered a rude, uncouth bigot. Instead of dodging the issue,
he faced it head on. Instead of attempting to be polite,
he seems to have stopped this woman right in the middle of
her words to drive home the truth of God to her heart. He shoots
a straight arrow at the very core of her hope, He lays the
act to the root of the tree under which she attempts to hide from
God. He rips down the veneer walls
of her refuge in which she was hiding and tears the foundation
of her house right out from under her. He says to this woman, as
she is attempting to defend herself and her religion, we know. I
know you're a prophet, but now we say that we worship over here,
and you say we ought to worship over there. And the Lord Jesus
said, you don't know anything. You know not what you worship.
You don't know what you worship. He grants you have religion.
He grants you are a worshiper. He grants you are a woman with
religious knowledge, but you know not what you worship. In
other words, he said, woman, I'm telling you this, you don't
know God or anything about God, his worship, his people, or his
salvation. And that's exactly what I'm endeavoring
to tell this generation wherever I go. Wherever I go. Radio, television,
printed word, however God gives us means. We live in a generation
that no more knows God than a billy goat. Has no idea who God is. Has no idea what God requires
of me and has no idea what God has done. Knows nothing about
the worship of God, the ways of God. They know the manner
of the gods of this land, but they don't know God. They don't
know God. Our Lord then proceeds to tell this woman, all who truly
worship God, all who obtain his salvation know who he is. You
see, faith, I don't know how to get this across to this generation,
faith is not a leap in the dark. I don't know where on earth folks
get the idea faith is a leap in the dark. That's religion,
but it's not faith. Faith is based upon knowledge.
Faith is walking in the light. True worship, now listen and
get this, true worship, is based upon and arises from revealed
knowledge. It is the revealed knowledge
of God himself by his word in Christ by the power of his spirit
in you. Christ revealed in you. And you
can't believe him unless he's revealed to you. You can't believe
him unless you know him. You can't believe him unless
he makes himself known to you. A preacher, that means by religion
When I didn't know God was false? Well, of course it does. That
means my experience of salvation was a delusion? Of course it
does. Preacher, that means my family's
all lost. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Now, you talk about getting on
somebody's bad side. That'll get on their bad side
in a hurry. I've got a question for you, you who are listening
to me now. I want you to answer it and answer
it honestly for your soul's sake. You're going to meet God soon.
Do you know who you worship? Is your religion nothing more
than that which has been passed along to you by flesh and blood,
by human tradition, by religious ceremony? Or do you know the
living God? Is your religion the result of
you being taught by a man and taught into something by a man? Or is it a result of you being
taught of God Almighty? Let me make just two statements.
I pray God will enable me to be crystal clear. Number one,
there are many, many, many, many, many, there are many false religions
by which the souls of men and women are deceived and forever
damned. This woman's religion was the
religion of the world. The Samaritans were a mongrel
race with a mongrel religion. Now, in these days, there's nothing
wrong with the mongrel race, but there's something wrong with
the mongrel religion. You can see this in the passage we read
earlier in 2 Kings 17. About 750 years before this event
took place, The Assyrians came and took captive
the ten northern tribes of the Jewish nation, the nation of
Israel. They were taken captive by the
Assyrians and the Assyrians gathered them up and took them out of
the land of Samaria back up into Babylon, back up into Assyria
where they could hold them captive. But you can't always, as a matter
of fact you can't ever get everybody out of the land. It's just impossible
to carry the whole nation away. So there's some stragglers around
down in Samaria. And the king of Assyria sent
people from five different places, five different city kingdoms
to go down and inhabit and possess the land of Samaria. And these
people from their five different nations and kingdoms brought
with them their five different gods. They brought all their
gods with them and they dwelt in the land. The Jews who were
left in the land intermarried with these folks who dwelt in
Samaria, and not only did they intermarry with them, contrary
to the word of God, because intermarrying with them was not just a racial
thing, it was a spiritual thing. It was a denial of God's grace,
of God's covenant, and of God's worship. They intermarried with
them, and when they did, they took upon themselves and incorporated
to themselves the worship of their gods. Now, they never forsook
the worship of God. No sir read. No sir. They never
said, we no longer worship Jehovah. Never. Not one time. Not one
time. Matter of fact, Rex said, fight
you tooth and toenail defending the worship of Jehovah. They
feared the Lord. They feared the Lord worshipping
chickens. They feared the Lord worshipping
at the altar of a jackass. They feared the Lord worshipping
the stars of heaven, the moon and the sun. They never once,
never once said we don't worship God. What they did is they incorporated
the gods of the heathen, and the ways of the heathen, and
the gods of the land into the worship of God, and called it
worshiping the Lord. God called it idolatry. God called it forsaking the Lord
altogether. These five gods, like the five
husbands this Samaritan woman had, were all false gods, gods
of whoredom. As soon as men, these men, this
woman had used her, got what they wanted from her, they left
her. Left her empty, left her high
and dry. They provided nothing for her. Nothing. That's not
what a husband does. A husband provides for and cares
for and gives. A husband protects, a husband
takes a woman under his wings and cares for her and embraces
her and takes care of her needs. A husband loves a woman. But
these fellas just took, just took, just took. And you women
listen to me, you young girls, listen to this preacher. I try
my best to be so plain, you can't possibly misunderstand me. In
this age of promiscuity and harlotry and fornication and adultery,
when men and women everywhere look at things and say, well
that's alright, everybody's doing it. A man who just takes from
you, doesn't love you, he's not your husband. A man who loves
you, gives himself in the entirety and totality of his life, and
you're blessed of God to have such a man. Don't settle for
anything less. But this woman had these five
husbands, and it's not accidental that our Lord calls attention
to this particular thing. Because she comes from a land
where people worshiped five gods. And as none of those men were
her husbands, none of these gods are God. They were no husband
to her soul. After a while, the southern tribes
of the nation were also taken captive, taken captive now by
the Babylonians, and they spent 70 years in Babylonian captivity.
But the southern tribes, the nation of Judah, never lost their
distinct identity as Jews. They never gave it up. And while
they were affected by the idolatry of the land, they never embraced
and were overcome by the idolatry of the land. And so when Judah
was delivered from Babylon and the Lord set them free, they
began to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem about 450 BC. And
when they did, the mongrel Samaritans came over and they said, let's
help you. We're brethren. Let's build the
temple together. We've got our mortar and we'll
mix our mortar with your mortar. We've got our bricks and we'll
mix our bricks with your bricks. We've got our gold and we'll
mix our gold with your gold and we'll all worship God together.
And Judah said, not on your life. Not on your life. No, sir. No,
sir. They refused their help, and
the Samaritans, in anger, in a rage, built themselves their
own temple. They said, well, you won't receive
us like we are. We'll go build us a temple to
God. We'll show you. And they built a temple in Mount
Gerizim. And the Jews and the Samaritans from that day forward
had no dealings with one another. That's what was stated in the
opening of this chapter. You see, with the Samaritans
this was a matter of offended pride. The Jews refused to accept
them, refused to accept them as the people of God. refuse
to embrace them as their brethren and refuse to cooperate with
them in their religion. Now nothing more enrages men
and women than to be told plainly while they hold a Bible in their
hand and have a song on their lips and have religious religiosity
running out their ears to be told plainly they're lost as
a goose in a snowstorm. to be told plainly that their
religion is the religion of idolatry, that their God is an idol, and
the gods of their fathers are idols, too. You talk about having
a fight on your hands. You've got a fight on your hands.
It's not going to go over easy, I promise you. With the Jews,
at least, when this rift first began, it was a matter of spiritual
integrity. You see, the Jews had no dealings
with the Samaritans, Bobby, because they couldn't. Not without embracing
their religion. Not without giving credibility
to their gods. Not without themselves becoming
idolaters. The Samaritans, like the people
of this world, had many gods, many religious ceremonies, and
many different names for their religions. Let's get it down here where
we live. Let's put it right where we live. They had Baptist churches
and Buddhist shrines and Catholic temples and Jewish temples. They
had everything. They had Presbyterians and Pentecostals.
They had lots of gods and lots of ceremonies, liberals and conservatives. They had folks who said we believe
the book to the letter and others said we believe in the spirit
of the book. They had everything. And yet, like the many religions
of the world today, all the Samaritans embraced one another as brethren. And they said, we all worship
the Lord. Isn't that sweet? We all worship the Lord. Though
they refused to worship in God's temple, they refused to hear
God's word, they refused to bow at God's altar, They refused
to worship through God's sacrifice. They refused to worship by God's
priest. Sound familiar to you? Though they wore many names and
had different religious symbols. Some of them had robes and Funny
looking costumes, kind of like they do today. Some of them wore
big crosses, some of them little crosses. Some of them carried
big Bibles and had their pockets stuffed full of tracts and some
of them carried little Bibles and didn't carry tracts. They
had many gods and many forms of religion and many different
names and symbols and ceremonies. The religions of the Samaritans
were all essentially the same. Let me show you. Turn to Proverbs
chapter 12. Or Proverbs chapter 14 rather,
verse 12. You see, the religions of men
are all the same. They're all the same. It doesn't
matter what divides them, they're all the same. All the same. If
you don't believe me, if you don't believe me, go to one of
these religious protests, one of these religious rallies where
folks are marching against, oh, let's say they're marching against
abortion or marching against Larry Flynn. It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter. So aren't you opposed to those
things? Yes, sir. But I ain't about to join those
fellas. I ain't about to join them. How come? Because they're
all the same. I'm different. They're gods all
the same. I'm different. Go watch them.
You got fellas who are conservative and liberal. Fellas who are Catholics
and Protestants and Baptist and otherwise. There's everybody
there. And you go over there and tell them. Just stop the
process and say, now fellas, fellas let me tell you, let me
tell you who Jesus Christ is. Let me tell you how God saves
sinners. Let me tell you about God's sovereign
dominion over everything. They'll start lining up. Pretty soon you're standing out
in the crowd by yourself. How come? Because their religion's
all the same. It's all the same. Proverbs 14
verse 12. These words are repeated exactly
in chapter 16. There is a way, a way, not ways,
a way, which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways,
plural, of death. In other words, Merle, men and
women take a lot of roads to hell, but it's all the same road. It's all the same road. What
on earth are you saying, John? The religions of Samaria, like
the religions of Danville, Kentucky, were the religions that were
based upon human merit, not divine mercy. Being of human origin,
all the religions of Samaria, like the religions of this world,
like the religions of this tale, were man-centered. They were
designed to please men, entertain men, and indulge the lust of
men. And I lay that charge, Gary,
to the door of all religion outside Christ. All of it. All religion. It is of human origin. And therefore
it is designed, it is by design, everything that is done is by
design to please men, to entertain men, and to indulge the lust
of men. Now you read your newspaper next
Friday and see the advertisements of churches in town and see if
I'm lying or telling you the truth. Just find out. Just in case you missed what
I'm saying. Let me say plainly, all free will works religion,
all of it, is idolatrous and damning. That is just idolatrous and damning.
The adherence of such religion They may claim to fear the Lord,
they may walk in moral integrity, they may talk incessantly about
Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit and blood redemption and salvation
by grace, but every man, every woman, every preacher, every
church, every doctrine which makes salvation to be dependent
upon or in any way determined by something you do, I don't
care whether it's your will, you're kneeling down at some
mourner's bench, you're coming down to the front of the church,
anything depends on you. It's idolatry. And the God of
such religion is a false God. You see, those who seek to establish
righteousness by something they do, don't do so by accident. It's not by accident that you
refuse to trust Christ. That's not accidental. No, sir.
No, sir, folks who say, well, I'm not going to give up my baptism. I'm not going to do that. No,
that means something to me. I'm not going to give up my going
to church. I'm not going to give up my Bible reading. I'm not going
to give up my righteousness. It's because they think they've
got some. It's exactly right. I'm not going to give up my works.
It's because they think by their works they can actually make
themselves acceptable to God. It's exactly right. Read the
9th chapter of Romans. They go about to establish their
own righteousness and refuse to submit to the righteousness
of God in Christ because they're ignorant of God's righteousness.
They don't have any idea who God is or what he requires. And
they don't have any idea who Christ is or what he's done.
If we would be married to Christ, we must be made to see that the
gods of this world are false gods. And the religion of this
world is wicked, abominable, and adulterous. There is no salvation
for any sinner who refuses to repent of his dead works, whose
conscience is not purged from his dead works of human religion
by the blood of Jesus Christ. No Pharisee can ever be saved
until he's made to see, as the Apostle Paul declares, that his
righteousnesses are just filthy rags and dung. Louis Farrakhan got in trouble,
folks still talking about it, because he said the Jews' religion
is a gutter religion. I got news for you. I got news
for you. Most Baptist religion, worse
than that, is outhouse religion. It's just dumb. Read Philippians
chapter 3 and find out. It's just dumb. Well, preacher,
shouldn't we respect other people's religious opinions? Not on your
life. No, sir. No, sir. No, sir. Count it dumb. You do men no
good. You do men no good attempting
to mollycoddle them and somehow make them feel good about idolatry. And you do yourself no good clinging
to it. It's time for you, like this Samaritan woman, to repent
and be purged by the blood of Christ from your dead work. What
do you mean, preacher? What do you mean? Many of you, about everybody
here, about everybody here, and most people in this town, around
this country, have been engaged in religion, been in religion
most of your lives. These days, if you live down
here in the Bible belt, we live where the buckle is. You live
down here, you can't get past kindergarten without being baptized
and brought in some kind of church. They're going to get you to make
a profession of faith. You believe in Jesus? Oh yeah. Mama always
told me about him. You want to go to hell? No! No. No, did you ever tell a lie? Yeah, I did that. Well, you're
going to have to trust Christ. Will you trust him? Well, everything's
all right now. You've been deceived, lied to,
shot a curve, and manipulated, talked into religion, you cling
to it and you think you're going to heaven and you're going to
hell. You're going to hell. It's not Christianity! It's idolatry. It's just idolatry. How do you
know that? How can you say that? Let me
give you a test beyond the word of God. Let me give you a test
beyond the word of God. Not above it, just beyond it. Do you really, when you go to
bed at night, when you go to bed at night and you think about
judgment and eternity, and you think about meeting God Almighty
in judgment, and you go back to your little profession of
faith, your little religious foolishness. Are you really prepared
to meet God with it? Come on. Are you really prepared
to meet God with your religious nonsense? Are you really prepared
to meet God with that filthy, stinking, moldy rag on your back
you call righteousness? Huh? You really prepared to meet
God with the atonement you've made with your hands? Well, let me tell you something. You're looking at a sinner. Vile, obnoxious, base, hell-bent,
hell-deserving sinner by nature. Mark Henson who's prepared to
meet God Almighty. My conscience has been purged
from those old dead works. And I repent of them. I repent
of them. I repent of my religion just
as much as I repent of drunkenness. I repent of my deeds of goodness
and modality as strongly as I repent of my vilest, most obnoxious
deeds. It's all just idolatry. Only the blood of Christ can
purge your hearts and your conscience as you repent of your dead works.
That's what Hebrews 9.14 calls your religion. It's what it calls
just dead works. The dead works of dead men and
dead religion under a pretense, under the curse of God. Give you this one statement and
I'll send you home. There's only one true religion. Only one. Only one. And that is the Christ. who's standing here talking to
this woman, who said, you don't know what you worship. We know
what we worship. Salvations of the Jews. You're
looking at him. You're looking at him. I am the
way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the father but
by me. The only way any sinner on this
earth will ever be accepted of God is through the blood and
righteousness of God's dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through
his blood alone, his righteousness alone, his merit alone, his grace
alone. Oh, may God give you grace now
to trust him for Christ's sake. Amen. Could you come listen to him,
please?

Do You Know Who You Worship

What does the Bible say about true worship?

How do we know salvation is only through Christ?

Why is knowing God important for Christians?

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Do You Know Who You Worship

What does the Bible say about true worship?

How do we know salvation is only through Christ?

Why is knowing God important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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