My message tonight has four texts. Four texts, they're all found
in the Gospel of John, and each of the four texts are all written
in red. If you have a Bible that has
the red letters of Christ, the Bible printed with the words
of Christ in red letters, and the common word in each one of
these texts tonight is the word true. So let's begin first of all in
John chapter 17 and verse 3. And this is life eternal. that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. The true God. Now, in these words
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we recognize that he acknowledges
that there's only one true God. Someone might ask, well, Is there
more than one God? Is there more than one God? Well,
the scripture is very clear, there's only one true God. But we know that man have invented
many different gods. One preacher one time said our
brain, the brain that God has given us is a God manufacturing
plant. We just manufacture a God to
suit ourselves, men do. No, there's only one true God. When you read through the Old
Testament, you recognize that almost every nation, almost every
nation, I assume every nation, I said almost, but every nation
had their own God. We run into gods by the name
of Dagon, remember the god of the Philistines, There was a
God of Shemosh, the God of Baal. Remember the contest that Elijah
had on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal, the God of
Baal, named B-A-A-L, Baal. If Baal be God, serve him. And
his prophets, you know, they prayed to him, didn't they? They
cut themselves. They prayed for a long time.
begging their god Baal to answer by fire from heaven. But there
was no answer. But why? Because Baal is no god. And then there was a god of Baal,
B-E-L. That's the god of the Babylonians.
And we find him especially in the book of Isaiah. There's a
verse in Isaiah that speaks about men making a God, making an idol,
but they refer to it as a God. And it always strikes me when
I read through that passage of scripture, when it says they
put Him in His place. They put Him, their God, they've
made Him. They've cut down a tree, they've
got a workman to fashion it, they've overlaid it with gold
or silver, decorated it up, and then they put it in his place. Well, he's not going to move.
He's not going to leave his place. One time many years ago, Brother
Gruber and I had a film, and we would attract people in Pueblos
to come out and hear us, hear us preach the gospel. We only
had one film. Walter had this film, and it
was, oh, it was so sad. One time, I remember we were
together, and it was so bad, I told Walter, I said, what can
I preach after this? He said, preach against this
film. But I remember it dealt with a, not an earthquake, a
volcano eruption in Italy, I believe it was. And people were carrying
their gods, and that term, poor god, poor god, they had to take
him, you know, they were fleeing, carrying their god. There are
many false gods, and there's a goddess that's also prominent
in the Old Testament, Ashtaroth. She was a goddess, and you know,
in the book of Jeremiah, now Jeremiah, He prophesied before
and up to Babylon defeating and ransacking and burning Jerusalem
and carrying them into captivity. But one of the things that you
find there in the book of Jeremiah is they were sacrificing, they
were baking cakes to the queen of heaven, the queen of heaven. That's the main reason that we
know of that God chastised the nation of Israel like He did
because of their idolatry. You know, in Jeremiah, I believe
it's the second or third chapter, God says, this is something strange. No nation has ever changed their
gods, but Israel did. Now, what he meant by that, other
nations, they would hear of another God and they would just incorporate
that God into their worship. But no nation ever just completely
forgot their God or turned away from their God. But that's what
God accused the nation of Israel of doing, of forsaking the fountain
of living waters and hewing out broken cisterns which could hold
no water. He's talking about false deities,
false gods. What are some of the truths about
the only true God? Well, first of all, He's the
only living God. He's the only living God. All
others are dead. All others are dumb. All others
are the product of the works of men. Psalm 115, verses five
through seven, the psalmist said, they have mouths, but they can't
speak. Eyes have they, yeah, but they
cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot
hear. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not, neither speak them through their throat. He, God alone,
thou art the true God, the Lord Jesus Christ said. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God. He's the only all-powerful God. Now, if He's all-powerful, there
cannot be a rival. There cannot be a rival God.
He is not only all-powerful, but omnipresent, because the
scriptures reveal unto us that He fills heaven and earth. And
I know the omnipresence of God, of all the attributes of God,
they're all, let me say, mysterious. They're so above our ability
to comprehend, but to realize that God is in every place at
the same time. And all of him is in this place
tonight, and all of him is outside. Can you understand that? Well,
I can't. But, you know, like we've often
said, if we could comprehend with this little peanut brain
that we have, if we could comprehend all that is revealed to us about
God, the greatness of God. I love to think about His greatness,
don't you? I love to hear and I love for
us to sing that hymn, How Great Thou Art. Isn't that beautiful? I mean the words of that hymn.
And to think his son not sparing that he sent him to die for us. Oh, how great he is. One of the
writers likened these attributes or characteristics of God to
the rays of the sun. Each one, each ray sparkles His
holiness, His purity, His faithfulness, His truthfulness, His mercy,
His grace. We love to think about that,
don't we? And sing about that and rejoice in the fact that
He is a gracious God. And He's a merciful God. And
the scripture says, he delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. His justice, he's a just God. That passage in Isaiah where
he said, look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth, for I am God and there is no other, a just God and a
savior. If we confess our sins unto him,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. He's just and faithful. In other words, no sin is ever
forgiven that has not been atoned. He's faithful and he is just. And then we think about his righteousness.
And yes, we think about his anger, because the scripture reveals
that he is a God of anger. He stirs up his anger. That's
the way the scriptures refer to his anger and his wrath. He
stirs it up. Many people love to hear about
the love of God, but don't talk about the wrath of God. can't
believe that God is a God of mercy would send anyone to hell. He's such a God of mercy. But
think about it like this. If there was a judge in a court
of law here in Houston, Texas, and criminals were tried before
him and found guilty, and then he just turned them loose. Okay,
don't do it anymore. What would we think about that
judge? Well, we think that's not justice. That's not justice. We wouldn't want a judge like
that. And for God, if he was not a God of wrath, he wouldn't
be the holy God that he is. The true God is the only sovereign
God. I hear men quite often today
speak about the sovereignty of God. And most of them that I
hear, they're talking about God being sovereign in the affairs
of the world. They talk about, well, you know,
if so and so wins the election, God's still sovereign. He's still
sovereign. He's still ruling. And that's
true. Absolutely. But many men who
talk about and believe and speak about the sovereignty of God
in ruling and reigning in this world, they will admit that He's
sovereign in creation and in providence, but when it comes
to redemption, they balk. They balk, no. And yet the word
of God is very clear that He is sovereign. that he will be
gracious to whom he will be gracious. He will have mercy upon whom
he will have mercy. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. You know the truth there is no,
there was nothing in Jacob that produced God's love for him. God loved him because he would
love him. And the same is true of all of his children. He's a God of sovereign grace,
sovereign mercy, the true God. All right, let's look at another
text. Let's go back to John chapter four and verse 23. And you will see these two are
the words of Christ. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true, there's a word, when the true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship Him. Now, in these words of Christ,
They show us that while there are true worshipers, there are
also false worshipers, those who do not worship God in truth
and in spirit. They're not true worshipers. True worshipers are those who
worship the true God, not only with their body, not only presenting
themselves and going through certain ceremonies and things
like that. But no, the true worshipers are
those who worship God, first of all, in spirit. That is, being
born again of the spirit of God, he comes to live in us. And we
could not do anything. We couldn't pray, we couldn't
praise, we couldn't preach, not to the glory of God, apart from
the work of God the Holy Spirit. We can't even, listen, we can't
even think a right thought without God's help. Now that's true,
that's what the scriptures declare. Yes, they that worship God, true
worshipers, must worship Him in spirit and according to the
truth, according to His truth, which is the truth. according
to the truth of God. The true worshipers worship God
in truth. You know, when we think about
so-called Christianity today, if you look at the so-called
world's greatest religions, Christianity, I think, has the most adherence
of all the four great religions of the world. But you look at
so much of what is called Christianity today and how much has been brought
in to worship services that cannot possibly be supported from the
word of God. It's just things that make people
feel good or things people have imagined this would be a good
thing to do. I don't know about you, but I've
heard people say over the years, well, if I was going to be religious,
I'd be this. And the reason they say that,
because they see their services on television, and they are so
beautiful. They've got the robes. They've
got the processions. They've got the incense, the
smell. They've got everything to attract
to the senses. The senses, to seeing and hearing
and smelling, they have everything to attract the body to worship. But they that worship God must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. Look with me in Isaiah
chapter 66 for just a moment. You know, David, in his psalm
of repentance, Psalm 51, he said, what are the sacrifices of God?
A broken and contrite heart. You know those kings, a king
like Solomon, for instance, wealthy. I mean, we can't even begin to
imagine the wealth that man had. When he dedicated the temple,
how many sheep Did they slaughter? Did they offer and sacrifice? How many bullocks? It was nothing
to him. He could have multiplied that
number by 10. But does that impress God? Does that impress a true and
living God? Of course not. They that worship
God, the true worshipers, must worship Him in heart, in soul,
in spirit. and in truth. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne, the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
that you build unto me? And where is the place of my
rest? For all those things hath mine
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But
to this man will I look. How is he described? Is he rich? Is he proud? Is he conceited? Is he lifted up because of whatever
he sees in himself, his learning, his beauty? Does that impress
God Almighty? Is that the reason God will look
to him? Of course not. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When God begins a work
and God does a work in a person's heart, this is one of the sure
things that's gonna take place. He's gonna knock your feet out
from underneath you. He's gonna bring you down just
like he did Saul of Tarsus, right? Into the dust, to where you see
and recognize that you're poor, that you're needy. You can't
commend yourself to God. How would you do that? No, you
must throw yourself upon his mercy. God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. To this man, God said, I will
look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit. What
does that mean? A repentant spirit, knowing what
he is, knowing what he's done. A contrite spirit, not a proud,
haughty spirit. Just the opposite. and trembleth
at my word. Trembles at this word right here,
the word of God. I see two dangers today in worship,
and I suppose they've always been here, but it appears to
me that true worshipers must guard against these two things. You know, it's like you've fallen
to the ditch over here, or fallen to the ditch over here. The pendulum
swings over here, or it swings back over here. On one side,
you've got all the people that go through the ceremonies, the
religious rites, and all of that man-made stuff that impresses
men. Formalism doesn't impress God
at all. And then over here on the other
side, you've got irreverence, it seems to me, irreverence,
where you can't, they call it a worship service, but it's not
any different than going to the Houston, can't think of their name, Houston,
No, the football team. What? Texans. Yeah, there we
go. It's not any different than going
to a Houston Texan game. Everybody's clapping and jumping
and hollering and shouting and, oh, we're just having a good
time. And church is a place for fun. To me, that's extreme over
here, right? And over here, no, God, there
should be reverence, reverence in worshiping God, coming into
the presence of God. All right, let's go to a third
place, John chapter six, my third text, verse 32. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. The true bread here is contrasted
with the manna that God gave to Israel when they were in the
wilderness there for 40 years, how he fed them. Now, if you
look above that, the Jews, They ask of the Lord a sign. Verse
30, they said therefore unto him, what sign showest thou then
that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou do? Now what they're
saying is Moses, he gave us bread. When we were in the wilderness,
what a sign was that? Moses gave us bread. The Lord
Jesus Christ corrects them, Moses didn't give you that bread. My
father gave you that bread. And if you go back and look in
Exodus, the people were murmuring and they were complaining. They
were saying to Moses, you've brought us out here to kill us.
It'd been better if we'd stayed in Egypt. Moses didn't even suggest
that God would give them bread. No, God just said, I'll feed
you. I'll give you bread. Moses didn't
give you that bread. But our Lord is pointing out
here the true bread. That bread that they ate while
they were in the wilderness, it sustained life. It did, but
it couldn't give life. It sustained physical life. It
couldn't give physical life, and it sure couldn't give spiritual
life. No, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
is the true bread. Notice in the next verse, he
said, for the bread of God is he. You see, the bread of God
is a person. It's Christ. He later on in this
chapter says, except a person eat my flesh and drink my blood,
he hath no life in him. How does a person eat this bread,
drink this cup, the blood of Christ, by faith? by trusting
and looking to him. You know, they ask for a sign.
Some of these people in this group who are here asking for
a sign, the day before, the day before, the Lord Jesus Christ
had taken five loaves of bread, two small fish, and fed more
than 5,000 people. And some of the people that were
fed that day are these very people who were now asking for a sign. They had followed him into this
place. The true bread is the bread of
God, which comes down from heaven, that gives life unto the world. One other text, if you look in
John 15, verse one, And I'm not going to say much
about this. I may next week come back and bring
a message from this passage, but the Lord said, I am the true
vine. I am the true vine. Did you know
the nation of Israel was also called a vine, God's vine? And after everything that God
did for them, we are told he looked This is found in the prophecy
of Isaiah. He looked that it should bring
forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. A person could
be in that nation of Israel, could be a physical descendant
of Abraham, be circumcised the eighth day, everything the apostle
Paul said was true of him in the letter of Philippians, and
still not be in the true vine, the vine that brings forth fruit. A person must be in Christ, in
the vine. And everyone, listen, in closing,
everyone in this true vine brings forth fruit. I know the fruit
of the Spirit we think of most often, love and joy and peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faith, Yes, everyone
that is in the true vine brings forth fruit. And you know the
passage. Our Lord says if a branch doesn't
bring forth fruit, Father takes it away. He takes it away. It's fit for nothing but for
burning. Now everyone that is in the vine, every branch that's
in the vine and brings forth fruit, and the reason it brings
forth fruit is because it's in union with the vine. I pray the Lord would bless these
words to us here this evening.