Now in this scripture that I
read a moment ago, the Lord had crossed the path of a sinner,
a person just like you and me,
called the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. And he had
created in her an interest in living water. He created in her
an interest in what he was talking about, living water, eternal
waters of peace. She had no peace, and he was
talking about eternal peace and joy, real joy. She had no real
joy. She had times of pleasure. There's pleasure in sin for a
season, but she had no joy. He was talking to her about a
rest in the soul, a quietness of the spirit, eternally, never
thirst. He created an interest, and I
would say that I'm interested in these things. I feel that
most of you are. You wouldn't be here. And then he talked about, she
said, well, the well's deep. You have nothing to draw with.
He said, now, anyone who drinks from this water, We'll thirst
again. Our Lord's talking there about
the waters of the world, whatever they may be. You'll thirst again and again
and again. You can find some satisfaction
along the way, but you'll thirst again. You can find temporary
relief, but you'll thirst again. You can find pleasure for a while,
but you'll thirst again. Thirst still abides. It stays
there. It's never satisfied. Solomon
talked about this in the book of Ecclesiastes. He said he tried
everything. He tried fame, and he found it
most pleasurable but fleeting. He tried wine. He tried wealth. He tried flesh,
all of these things, and in them he found For a time, some satisfaction,
but nothing lasting, nothing permanent. There was always a
thirst, a need felt. What our Lord was talking to
the woman about, He said, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I
give him shall never thirst again. Not for what this water does,
for peace, real peace and joy, real joy, love, real love, communion,
fellowship with God, real communion, rest. Not that you won't thirst
for the other. He's not saying that, but you'll
not thirst for what this water does, for the need it meets.
The waters of the world meet a need, but only temporary. You
even thirst again for that. It doesn't even effectually satisfy
that. I'll drink this water now, but
when I get home I'll drink another glass, and in the morning I'll
wake up so thirsty and I'll drink another. The same thing's true
of anything material or physical. It meets a need for the moment.
I can get enough water at a time. but not forever. And so what
he's saying is that this living water shall be in him. It's not
something that's poured continually, poured in him like this, but
it springs up in him. There's an artesian well. His
nature's given a new nature, a new heart, a new spirit that
produces a satisfying rest and peace and joy because Christ
lives within. Christ is that source. Christ
is that root. Christ is that well. And when
He dwells in us, He said, I, my Father, will come and take
up our abode in you. And that's where it comes from.
He walks with me. He lives in my heart, the songwriter
said. Well, a woman was interested.
But then our Lord dealt with the cause of her state, the cause
of her state, and exposed it. He said, go call your husband.
Well, she said, I don't have a husband. He said, that's true.
And this is the cause of your unhappiness. You're seeing. Not
just the fact you don't have a husband or have had five and
living with one who's not your husband. That's just one of the
problems along the way. But that which causes your unhappiness
is seeing. That which robbed man of his
peace and his joy and his happiness is seeing. Adam was perfectly
content in the garden before he fell. We've never known any
perfect contentment since then. Adam had love and joy and peace
and rest and faith and all these things before he fell, but since
then we've had none toward God, toward others, toward ourselves. You're not happy with yourself.
You're not happy with anybody else. You're not happy with God.
There's been a disruption. He said, your sins, like a cloud,
have separated you from God. And that's the cause of the whole
thing. The cause is not that God withdrew. We withdrew. That's our problem. That's the
whole thing. And he dealt with this thing,
with this woman. He dealt with the source of her problem. He
dealt with her heart and her soul. What's her reaction? This is amazing. Verse 20. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain. You say that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to
worship. Here our Lord is dealing with a woman about eternal peace
and joy and happiness and rest. An inward fellowship and relationship
with God. He's dealing with a woman about
the things of this world and their insufficiency and their
vanity. Vanity of vanity, all is vanity,
Solomon, who knew what he was talking about, said. He was talking
to her about her sin, the awful nature and condition of her soul
that drove her from this place to this place to this place,
seeking something. And her response is to talk about
going to a holy place, or a shrine, or an altar, or keeping a day,
or going through the motions of religion. She didn't want
to face spiritual truth. She didn't want to face spiritual
truth dealing with her heart, but she finds a way to avoid
it by changing and turning the attention of herself and the
Master to her church. And you sit down and talk with
an individual today. about this thing of joy and peace
and forgiveness of sin, eternal life. He said, well, I go to
church. I go to church. I've been going to the 13th Street
Baptist Church for years. And my father before me went
there. Are we Baptists? What are you? Are you Methodists?
Are you Presbyterian? Well, I'm a Catholic. This is
what this woman's doing right here. Well, I'm saved now, preacher. We start talking about peace
and joy and a relationship with God. I've done this so many times
and had somebody stand across the desk or sit across the desk
and say, well, I'm saved. I was saved when I was 12 years
old. Well, tell me about it. Well, we was having a revival
down at the old church and I just felt like it was time for me
to join the church and to be baptized. And so I did. The carnal
heart wants nothing to do with spiritual truth, but finds a
way to avoid it by dealing with outward duties and symbols and
forms and ceremony and ritualism, holy days, holy places, holy
customs. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain. You Jews say you're supposed to worship in Jerusalem.
And then our Lord looked at her and he said, your fathers worshipped
in ignorance. in ignorance. There's no reason
for you to continue in ignorance. Your father's worshiped in ignorance. At least the Jews know what they
worship and who they worship. They have a reason for doing
what they're doing. They have a reason for the temple.
They have a reason for the veil. They have a reason for the table
of shewbread. They have a reason for the Ark
of the Covenant. They have a reason for the altar.
They have a reason for the burning of incense. At least we do have
a reason for those things. Those are types and symbols of
real worship. Salvation is of the Jews. But
I'm telling you this, he said, verse 23, the hour cometh and
now is. when the true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeketh
such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. My friends,
let's learn something about worship. Let's learn something about coming
to God. Let's learn something about communion
and fellowship with the living God that's not met in these things
and places and ceremonies and deeds and ritualism. And I think four words, there
are four words in these two verses. Now this is no ordinary preacher,
this is the Lord speaking. This is no ordinary sermon, this
is Christ dealing with true worship and he ought to know. And if
I can learn from him here, if I can find out what he's saying,
I won't find it in my denominational catechism, I won't find it in
my book of common prayer, I won't find it in my church constitution
or covenant, I'll only find it here in God's Word. What is true
worship? And if there's anything under
heaven I'm interested in, it's true worship, coming to God,
coming to God, and God coming to me. There are four words. You can underscore them if you
want to. We're going to think on these four words briefly.
The first word is true. True worshipers. True worshipers. He put that in there for a reason.
The second word is father. Father. The third word is spirit. And the fourth word is truth.
Now we can find out something about these four words. At least
in our heads we'll know what true worship is. First of all,
Christ said the true worshipers, our Savior made the distinction
himself. I don't want to be a religious
crank or fanatic or radical that finds something wrong with everybody
that doesn't walk with me. One time the disciples came to
our Lord and they said, this fellow over here casting out
devils in your name. You want us to call down fire
from heaven on him? Christ rebuked them and He said,
He that's not against me is for me. He that's not for me is against
me. How do I know who's for the Lord
and who's against Him? I do not know men's hearts. But
our Lord made the distinction here. This is Christ speaking.
He said, true worshipers. This isn't my territory. This
is His alone who knows the hearts of men. He knows our hearts.
He says, I don't look on the outward countenance, I look on
the heart. Look over one page at John chapter 2. Just back
one page, John chapter 2 verse 23. It says in verse 23, when
he was in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did, but Jesus
did not commit himself unto them. He knew all men. He knew their hearts and thoughts.
He did not need that any should testify of man. He knew what
was in man. I don't, and you don't either.
I don't know who the true worshipers are, but our Lord makes a distinction
here. He says they're worshipers, and
then they're true worshipers. He says that many times. He says,
they draw near unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me. He said to this woman, you worship, you know not what.
When he gave that parable of the Pharisee and the publican,
he said the Pharisee prayed thus with himself, not to God, but
with himself. In John 5, 42, he said, you know
not God, you have not the love of God in you, It's not ours
to try to determine who the true worshipers are. That's not our
business. But our Lord doesn't hesitate
to observe a distinction. He says there are true worshipers. Now, most men who go about this
business of worship, they stand or kneel in a place of worship.
There are places of worship today all over the world. You can start
over there in Iran. Doris and I have been watching
every night at 11.30 this special on ABC for Moran, and we see
so often these people bowing. They've got a machine gun on
their back, but they're bowing. Doing the same thing I'm doing
right now. They're bowing. And they're praying. And they're
calling on God. You say, but it's a false god.
Now wait a minute. Wait just a minute. They're calling
on the God of Ishmael. who was the son of Abraham, they're
calling on the God of Jacob, they're calling on the God of
creation, the God of providence, they talk about God, call Him
Allah or whatever, but they're calling on God. And they're bowing
the head, they're bending the knee, they're kneeling, they're
repeating words that we use, Oh God, all over this world, but amid
all of this religion and this ceremonies and rituals, there
are people today who are standing around with candles in magnificent
cathedrals counting beads, but they're talking to God. And they're
going through a form of worship. They're praying, they're preaching,
they're saying words, sometimes the same words we're saying.
And somebody is worshipping and somebody's not worshipping. That's
what Christ said, true worshippers. This woman here said, our father
Jacob gave us this well. Here she was talking a Jew and
a Samaritan. She says the Jews don't have
anything to do with Samaritans, Samaritans don't have anything
to do with Jews, we got the same father that built this well. You worship in Jerusalem, we
worship in the mountain. You call on God, we call on God.
And our Lord said, true worshipers. I'll write the second word. He
said, true worshipers shall worship, and here's a key here, the Father.
The Father. Now this word's used twice in
this same verse. Worship the Father, for the Father
seeketh such to worship Him. Now, let's see if I can help
you on this, or myself too. True worshipers, like false worshipers,
or anybody that worships, recognize God as the Creator. All men who
worship have to recognize God as God, as the Creator. He made all things by the word
of His power. I recognize that, and most everybody
else does. Secondly, True worshipers praise
God as the keeper or preserver of all things. In Him we live
and move and have our being. He's King of kings and Lord of
lords. He's the great God. They said
over there in Iran on that building the other day, God is great! And He sure is. He sure is. God is great. The God of true
worshipers is great, and the God of false worshipers is great.
The God of the dead and the living is great. One of our local churches had
on their bulletin board two years ago, God's great in 78. Maybe He's not so great in 79 to them,
but He's great in 78. True worshipers come to God in
thanksgiving. They come to God in praise. because
God's the giver of every gift. We thank thee, O God. People offer grace at the table. Grace is thanksgiving. You suppose
that every grace offered at every table is true worship? We say,
thank you, Lord. Thank you for the food. Thank you for daily bread. Thank
you for the sun that shines. But true worshipers Worship,
not just God as Creator, are you listening? And God as Preserver,
and God as the Great God and Lord, they worship the Father. There's a difference. The Father. The Father. Our Lord said, when
you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven. John 20, verse
17, he said, I go, I'll send to my Father and to your Father. Brethren, what I'm saying is
this, that true believers recognize that there's a relationship between
them and God that did not exist before. Through Jesus Christ
the Lord, they have come to know God as Father. They are now sons
of God by His sacrifice and by His blood. Turn to 1 John. Let me show you two or three
verses. Now, no true worship. There is no coming to God except
in Christ. And to come to God in Christ
is to come to God as a Father. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the privilege, the power, the right to become sons of God,
to those that believe on Christ. Now watch it. Christ said, No
man cometh to the Father but by Me. And if we come through
Christ, we come to Him as a Father, not just as a creator, or a great
God, or a preserver of all things, or a giver of good gifts. We
come to Him as our Father. I John chapter 3, what does it
say? Verse 1, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
sons of God. Sons of God? Therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. So true worship, first
of all, is having a relationship with God as Father that permits
you to come to him. You're not permitted to come
otherwise. Show us the Father. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. I and my Father are one. No man
cometh to the Father but by me. And what John writes right here
is this, from the lips of our Lord. True worshipers worship
Him as Father. As Father. Let me show you something. This is something that never
occurred to me until I got on this point. Don't turn to all
of these scriptures. I'm just going to turn quickly.
But nearly every epistle, nearly every epistle, and the epistles
are written to believers, to the church, nearly every one
of them begin this way, Grace be to you and peace, see so from
God the Father. That's Galatians. Ephesians,
listen to it. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father. That's Ephesians, Philippians. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father. That's Philippians, Colossians.
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father. There ain't no
grace or peace anywhere else. That's right. You just keep going
through all those epistles. That's the relationship. And
when we worship, and there is no worship otherwise, true worshipers
worship not a Great Spirit. False worshipers worship a Great
Spirit. True worshipers worship a Father. True worshipers do not worship
what they call a One God or Supreme Being. or an influence, or a
great power out yonder, or the man upstairs, or somebody up
there, two worshipers. Worship the Father. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. If He's not your Father, you
can't worship Him. Because to begin with, you can't
come in His presence except through Christ, and if you have Christ,
He's your Father. You see that? Isn't that clear?
I just never saw that before. I studied this. The thing, my friends,
let me tell you something that is so important and where preachers
today are miserably failing. You can't wrap this thing of
a relationship with God up in a package and fix it up and give
it to a fellow in one service or one revival meeting or even
one year. This thing of coming to know
God, this relationship, this experience, this thing of salvation,
is line upon line and precept upon precept and truth upon truth
and revelation upon revelation, day by day, as God is pleased
to deal with you. And each day is a new discovery. Each opening of the Bible is
a new discovery. Each moment of prayer is a new
discovery. Each day walking with him is
a new discovery. And how miserably, miserably
preachers and congregations are failing one another today. Get
fixed up for salvation. Get fixed up for heaven. Come
down. You trust God? Repeat this prayer after me.
God be merciful, me a sinner. Save me for Jesus' sake. You're
saved. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Write his name
down. Send him a book. Sign him up.
Give him a job. Poor fellow. I feel sorry for
you. You got your package all right,
but it's going to blow up in your face. He wrapped you up
a package, but it's poison. It's got a skull and crossbones
on it. That's right. I've been in this book a pretty
good while now. I've been preaching a pretty
good while, 32 years. And I came here and preached
the first sermon right over at Pollard in 1947. And that's the
first time I've ever seen that right there. I've read it 175 times and preached
nearly that many sermons for it. True worshippers shall worship
the Father! Not just a God, Not just a supreme
being, but there's no way, my friend, no way to come before
God except in Christ. No man, he said, cometh to the
Father but by me. I am the door. By me, if any man entereth. And
if I come through Christ and by Christ, I'm a son. And if
I come as a son, I come to a father. We're children of God. Romans
8. Turn over here just a moment.
Romans chapter 8. And what I'm saying to you, now
you go get fixed up. If you can find somebody to make
you feel good and you're satisfied with that, go ahead. If you want
religion in a nice easy package, it won't interfere with your
work or style of life or job or companions or friends or direction
you're now going, go somewhere else. And the sooner you go,
the better. But if you want to sit at the
feet of Christ, if you want to sit at the feet of the Holy Spirit,
if you want to lay down your pride and arrogance and haughty
spirit and say, God, I'm a child, I'm an empty vessel, fill me,
teach me, open my eyes, reveal thyself to me, I don't know anything.
Sit down, let's study together. Let's find out who He is and
who we are and who Christ is and what salvation is. Let's
see if we can get ready for the time that they come and knock
on the door and say, the Master is calling for you. He's calling
for you. In Romans chapter 8, Verse 15,
you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry,
Abba, Father, that's a loving, enduring term in the Hebrew,
Abba, Father, Father, the Spirit himself beareth witness with
our spirit that we're children of God, and if we're children,
we're heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus.
You're not a true worshipper unless you're a son. No sir,
unless you're a son. And you're not a son unless you're
in Christ. And you've got no privilege, no right, no open
door to come before the God of heaven at all. You're a false
worshipper if you do not know the Son. That's true. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
telling you the truth. The truth, Paul said, if I become
your enemy, because I tell you the truth. Men don't want to
hear the truth. That's a shame. They'd rather
hear tradition than truth. They'd rather hear what they
think, what they've always heard, than the truth. But that's the
way it was in the days of Christ. He said, I come in my Father's
name, and you won't hear me. Let another come in his own name
with a little bit of truth, and him you'll hear. Our nation's gone, religious
part of our nation's gone wild over Evangelist Billy Graham. And there he was marching in
the funeral procession of Bishop Sheen last week. Let me tell you something, the
greatest curse that's ever fallen on the church, the visible local
church, what we call the churches in the world, and listen to me,
The greatest curse that's ever fallen on the church is potpourri
and priesthood. That's the greatest curse that's
ever fallen, that God's ever permitted to fall on our churches,
is these men who walk around in these gaudy, ugly robes and
profess to be intercessors and advocates with God, who offer
up the Mass, which is a killing Jesus Christ again every Sunday
morning. That's what the Mass is. Did you know that? who claimed
to turn the wine. This man, Sheen, claims to turn
the wine into the blood of Christ, and when he breaks that bread,
he's crucifying Christ again. And when you eat that bread,
you're eating the body of Jesus Christ. That's transubstantiation.
That's what they teach. Those men are apostates. They're not great spiritual leaders.
They're apostates. And to teach that Mary is an
intercessor, that she is a mediator, is a lie. And men cannot come
to God through Mary, they come through Christ. These men are
heretics and apostates and for Bill Graham to say that the Pope
John Paul is the greatest spiritual leader of this century is for
him to betray people who support him. That's not the truth. The man is a pagan. One old pope years ago said this,
when I was a priest I had some hope of being saved. When I became
a Cardinal, he said, I had little hope of ever knowing God. When
I became the Pope, I lost all hope of ever knowing God. That's a fact. And yet, I don't know where we're headed.
I do know where we're headed. I'm sorry we're headed in that
direction. But this book will stand. They that worship the
Father, worship the Father. Father. Alright, let's go to
the next word. before our time runs out. Now watch this, true
worshippers, we're talking about true worshippers, you play games
if you want to, I want to be a true worshipper. And true worshippers
worship the Father, and they worship the Father, watch this,
in spirit. Now, my friends, if God were
material, see he says in verse 24, God is a spirit. If God were
material, it might be right to worship God with material substance. All right, dress up, put the
preacher on a long robe with identifying marks of his clerical
accomplishments around him and some funny looking thing around
his neck. If God's material, fix him up. And fix up your building
with crosses and stained glass windows and candles burning and
all of these impressive outward, if God's material, then we can
worship God with material substance. If God is like ourselves, if
God's a man, it might be well for us to go through all of this
manner of human forms and human rituals, but if God is pure spirit, then true worshipers worship
God in spirit. Now think about this. I can sit
and get... I've been in Notre Dame in Paris. That's one of the biggest. One
of the finest. I was impressed. I'm telling
you. I saw that window that they took down during the German invasion. That's something. Now, I gazed
on that thing, the magnificent houses of worship. I'm impressed. You reckon God's impressed? Now,
think a minute. He who laid the foundations of
the earth. He who hung the sun in space
and the moon in place and the stars in space. And he that says
the earth and the people there are a drop in the bucket. You
reckon he's impressed with that window? That's just so many rocks
piled together. And I can appreciate works of
art on the ceiling. You know, these fellows that
got on the platform and spent their whole lives painting all
of those funny-looking naked folks up there on top of that
big cathedral. And God and the Holy Spirit,
and I can, that's great. But my friend, I wonder just
how impressed God is with that. We go in with, we take our hats
off and go in in awe and solemn wonder and stare and gaze at
all these things. One, God is a pure spirit. What
possible effect could that have on God? And I can appreciate
great choirs. I turn on the television, here's
this choir with four, five, six hundred voices. Mighty orchestras
and organ music by talented people. I wonder just what that sounds
like at the throne. He who hears the angel sing. I tell you what it sounds like.
It sounds like a little boy trying to learn to play the violin.
Just discord. Sin, sin in the voices, and sin
in the silly smiles, and sin in all of this phony humility,
and sin in all of this presentation of our worldly glamour. What
notes of discord in the ears of God! and our gaudy possessions
with our uniforms and robes. Now a woman who's interested
in sewing and making gowns, I can see why all those fellas walking
around in their red funny looking hats and all these robes and
these little boys in these white robes running along behind them,
you know, with a pillar with something on it. I can see why
a woman would say, look at that needlework. Look at those stitches,
or look at those colors, or look at how that blue and white and
red, but I can't see the living God being impressed with that.
Just so many worms and grasshoppers prancing about. Let me tell you something. You
want me to tell you something about the worship of God that I know? I don't think God pays any attention
to the pouring and sprinklings and washings of water, but I
believe God sees one tear in the eye of a penitent sinner.
I believe God sees that. If I could come before God, not
with my big orchestra and fine organs and music and multitude
of voices, but if I could come with a genuine tear on my cheek
because of my sin. I believe God see it. I know
He heard that publican. He heard that publican. God be
merciful to me. I know He heard that thief on
the cross. I know that. Lord remember me. Oh, I know
He heard old blind Bartimaeus. God that I might see. If there
could be God sees a tear, God, not the chanting of trained choirs,
but the genuine cry of a broken heart! God, be merciful! Oh, boy. Not the boasting of our mouths
of what we've done and the crowds to which we've preached and the
souls we've won to Jesus and the missionaries we've sent out,
but God sees the beating of a sincere heart of love. Christ, I love
you. Christ, I love you. I'm so glad
you love me and died for me. The Lord is not known to those
who build great cathedrals. He's known to them of a broken
heart. That's what the Bible says. God does not save such as establish
great ecclesiastical empires. He saveth they that be of a contrite
heart. The sacrifices of God are not
all of the great works of religion. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart. My son, my son, give me your
heart. God looks not on the outward
appearance. God seeth not as a man seeth. God looks on the
heart. Keep thy heart out of it of the
issues of life. True worshipers are going to
worship the Father. from their hearts. Where did
all this stuff start that we're in today, all this outward show?
It started with two boys named Cain and Abel. There was one
boy named Abel. Now, brother, let me tell you
something. There's not much way you can
dress up death. There's not much way you can
make bloodshedding appealing to the human eye. There's not
much way you can make Here's a boy who brings a lamb. He goes
to his flock and picks out the best lamb of all. And he has
a fire going. He's got some rocks. And he has
an altar built. And he takes that little lamb
and pulls its neck back and with a sharp knife splits its throat
and then hangs it up for the blood to run down. He catches
it in a basin. And then he roasts the body of
the lamb and eats it. And then he brings the blood
and pours it on that altar. There ain't too many ways you
can make that pretty, Bob. Not too many ways. But that was
coming to God. Now, but his brother, his brother
was a man of taste. His brother was a 20th century
religionist. He was a graduate of Princeton
and Yale and schools of divinity. And he wasn't going to have anything
to do with that simple ceremony of bloodshedding. He wasn't going
to have anything to do with that base, deplorable, scandalous
slaughterhouse religion. He went out to his field and
he found the finest cluster of grapes that you could purple.
They were so purple that they were shining. And he put those,
he fixed him a nice table. He didn't get that old rough
rocks and stones where you put blood on it. He made him a table
in remembrance of me, or IHS, or with a cross, and he spread
a scarlet velvet tablecloth on it. with pretty design. And he
put those grapes right in the middle. He went and got the finest
apples, shiny and beautiful, and scrubbed them up and waxed
them and put them around. And then he got colorful oranges
and set them, and then some bananas out. And then he went and got
him some mums and some beautiful roses and flowers, and he really
fixed that altar up. It was beautiful! Now that's
the way to worship. That's the way, see that makes
you feel good, that's pretty. And the roses had a drop of dew
on them, like a drop of dew on the lip of a rose petal. And
then he got him, oh that's not enough, he put him four, no seven
candles, that's the number of God, he wants to be orthodox.
He got him seven candles and he put them on, and he lit them
right in the twilight time of evening, and then he got him
a, I apologize, a guitar. And he began to strum soft music. You see, it made him feel so
good. And he lit his candles and then he began to sing. Just
a closer walk with thee. And he smiled. Now that's worship.
And there was old Abel over there with his hand dripping with blood
by gruesome. crying out, God, my sins, cover
my sins with the blood, make an atonement of reconciliation
for my offense before a holy God, I plead my guilt. I wonder
which church you'd join. You're a mayor of the town or
enterprising young businessman and you're somebody, maybe a
doctor, Would you go line up with old Abel over there with
his dead sheep, dead lamb, standing there in his rough clothing,
crying with tears streaming down his cheek. Oh, that's much prettier
music over there with Cain. And I mean old Cain, he's got
it. He's fixed that thing up that's,
well, if you're going to be religious, I mean, after all, have taste.
That's where it all started. That's where it all started.
But that fellow Cain, he had taste, but he didn't have grace. He killed that boy over there.
He's going to put him out of business. See, those two religions
can't exist together, Charlie. It's one or the other. Abel didn't kill Cain. He was
willing for Cain to play church. That's all right with him. But
it wasn't all right with King. King was going to put him out
of business. And he did. All right, it said,
they that worship the Father, worship the Father in spirit.
In spirit. Maybe we ought to go back to
the old barns. Maybe we ought to go back to the caves. Maybe
we ought to go back to the fields. Maybe we'd get a hold of God.
Maybe we would. Maybe we ought to lose all this.
Somebody said it would be terrible if America fell into a depression
I don't know, it might be physically and materially, but I don't think
it would be spiritually. I don't think it hurt us at all.
I don't think it hurt us. I worship God in truth. You know what this means, the
truth about God. Who is God? His power, His holiness,
the truth of my fall and sinfulness. Let's face the truth of it. What
am I? Who am I? Who is God? How can
a man be just with God? How can man that's born of a
woman be clean in God's sight? How? Well, you learn the truth
about Christ, you know how. His sacrifice. The lamb has died. No, I don't bring a lamb like
Abel did. No, I don't cut a lamb's throat
and catch the blood and pour it on the altar. My Lord did
that 2,000 years ago. The spotless, precious lamb of
God has died. But I sing about it, and I think
about it, and I rejoice in it, And I preach it, and I rest in
it, and when I come to God in worship, I say, Lord, don't look
at me, look at the cross, look at the Lamb, taketh away my sin. The truth of the Spirit's call
and grace, the truth of my position in Christ, I have no right to
come to God, except in Christ. And God has no obligation to
hear me, except in Christ. But oh, if I can get hold of
the horns of the altar, If I can lay hold on the presence of God
and plead the merits of Christ as a son before the Father with
a heart, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, my pride
and arrogance broken, I'll worship and I'll be heard. I believe
that. True worshipers. Our Father in
heaven We're thankful for this portion of Thy Word.