Biblical Worldview Foundations

Acceptable Worship - Part 4

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Biblical Worldview

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2003-12-14

Synopsis: In this fourth message on acceptable worship from John 4, John Weaver contrasts Gerizim worship (sincere but ignorant) with Jerusalem worship (truthful but dead) and explains that true worship must be in spirit and in truth. He emphasizes that God is spirit, so worship must engage the human spirit—mind, heart, and will—with understanding and wholehearted devotion. True worship is a result of the Father's seeking grace and the full revelation in Christ, not mere formalism or ignorant sincerity. Applications stress that we come to church to give God honor, not merely to receive a blessing.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bible today to the book of John chapter 4, and everyone in here should know that we've been dealing with John chapter 4 for the last three weeks, and this is the fourth message on acceptable worship. John chapter 4, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. John 4 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 said unto 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. 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. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, who is called Christ.

[John Weaver] When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Let me take just a few moments and kind of give a broad overview of what we've covered for the last three weeks. And the first message I pointed out, first of all, that it is our duty and our obligation to worship God. We are duty bound and obligated to worship him, not only by virtue of creation, He is the Creator and we are the creature. So there is a creation right. We're also duty bound and obligated to worship Him because of a providential right that He has.

[John Weaver] This is providence that sustains us and preserves us and protects us. We're also duty bound because of a redemption right. He has redeemed us. We are His people. And then we're also duty bound to worship Him because of a kingship right. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. and deserves all of our worship.

[John Weaver] Secondly, I pointed out that God is not indifferent as to how we worship Him, because many times in Scripture God says, I hate, I despise, I will not have your sacrifice and your worship. Thirdly, I pointed out that acceptable worship is a matter of divine revelation. That is, we must worship God, not just any old way we please, not by subjectivism, rationalism, sentimentalism, pragmatism, but based upon the Word of God. And then I pointed out, fourthly, that acceptable worship is a fruit of the work of Jesus Christ. And then we began to look at the proper object of worship, and we saw that the proper object of worship, first of all, was the One True and the Living God. But not just simply worshiping God in a general theistic sense. We must worship the one true and the living God as he's revealed himself in the totality of scripture. And we saw, first of all, that he's revealed himself as the father of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mystery of the Godhead.

[John Weaver] And let me say this again. When Jesus Christ called God father. It was not in the same sense that we call him father. When Jesus Christ referred to God as His Father, it was an acknowledgment of His oneness, the sameness of essence, that He was saying that He Himself was and is God. And of course, that's what He said in John 10 in verse 30, I and my Father are one. So God has revealed Himself as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. I took you through Scripture, and I showed you how in the New Testament the early Christians worshipped God, as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, how that He was the Father of believers in the marvels of His grace.

[John Weaver] We went to Galatians chapter 4, when we found that in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And then He said, and because you are sons, He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, whereby you cry, Abba, Father. So very obviously then we are now sons in the marbles of His grace. And then last week I pointed out how that we must worship the one true and living God who is in and of Himself Spirit.

[John Weaver] I tried to show you there's a difference between a relationship and the essence of an individual. When we refer to God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ or the Father of believers, those two refer to a relationship. But when you worship God who is spirit, that is what God is in and of himself. That is his essence. God is spirit. Now there are a lot of things that I tried to point out last night or last week in relationship to this. First of all, since God is spirit, he is invisible. He's referred to over and over as the invisible God.

[John Weaver] Secondly, I pointed out, God is also immaterial, that is, incorporeal. He does not have a body. He does not have bodily parts or passions. I read to you not only from the Westminster Confession of Faith, but also from the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. And whenever you read about the eyes of God, or the hand of God, or the right arm of God, those are anthropomorphic terms. Anthropos is the Greek word for man, morphe is the Greek word for form, so anthropomorphic just simply means man-form speaking. It's just putting it in language that you and I can grasp and understand. So when you read about the eye of God, it refers to God's omniscience. When you read about the right hand or the right arm of God, it refers to God's omnipotence, His power.

[John Weaver] When you refer to the feet of God, it is the omnipresence of God, that God is everywhere at once in the totality of His being. So we must understand in some sense of the word that God is Spirit. He's not just simply the one true and the living God. He is the God who is the Father of the Lord Jesus, the Father of believers, but in and of Himself, He is Spirit. Now, any worship that does not come to God, in the totality of scriptural revelation, that is, as the one true and living God, as the Father of the Lord Jesus, as the Father of believers, and as the God who is in and of himself Spirit, would be classified as unacceptable worship.

[John Weaver] Now, I have in my library a two-volume set of Stephen Charnock's books entitled The Existence and the Attributes of God. I want to just give you just a short paragraph or two of what Stephen Charnock wrote. Charnock was a Puritan. He's been dead for hundreds of years. But here is what he said. Listen carefully. He said, We cannot have an adequate or a suitable conception of God. He, that is God, dwells in inaccessible light, inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy as well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conception must be as infinite as His nature. Now let me just stop right there.

[John Weaver] Let me ask that you look in your Bibles to Matthew 11 and verse 27. I pointed this out last week. I'm going to point it out again this week because it's vitally important. Look in Matthew 11, verse 27. And let me re-read just the latter part of that sentence of Charnock. Listen to what he says. If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conceptions must be as infinite as His nature. What is he saying? He's saying if we can have thoughts of God the way He should be thought of, then we would have to be God ourselves. Because only God can comprehend God. That's why in Matthew 11, verse 27, our Lord says, All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Now watch carefully. And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. So only the Son knows the Father, and only the Father knows the Son totally, completely, fully.

[John Weaver] Why? Because the Father is God, and the Son is God. So this is what Charnock is saying. If we were to have thoughts as excellent as His nature is, we would have to be as infinite as His nature. Alright?

[John Weaver] Now, let me just stop and emphasize one thing. Let me show you The greatness, the absolute greatness of the one true and living God. One of our problems on this earth is that we don't understand some things. OK, another problem we have is that we are forgetful. Extremely forgetful. Like when you walk into the other room and you think, why did I come here? I mean, you know, you understand that. But now stop and think about this with me.

[John Weaver] When the eternal state comes and we are in resurrected, glorified bodies with perfect minds and perfect memories, that means whatever we hear, we will understand. We will comprehend and we will never, ever forget it. In eternity, we will be forever learning truth about our great and glorious God, and yet never, ever fully comprehending Him.

[John Weaver] Now you think about that. An eternity of knowing truth of retaining truth, never forgetting truth, and yet never, ever fully comprehending God. Because only God can comprehend God.

[John Weaver] Now listen to what Charnock says. He says, All of our imaginations of Him cannot represent Him, because every created species is finite. It cannot therefore represent to us a full and substantial notion to one who is infinite. Just stop and think about that one thought. If every individual who has ever lived, that is now living and shall ever live, if every individual could have an accurate imagination and an accurate thought of God, and you put all of those imaginations and accurate thoughts together, it still would not be a total or full or complete imagination or portrayal of God. Why? Because all of us are finite and God is infinite. And the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Now listen to what he says, this is the important part. Though we cannot have an adequate conception of God, we must not content ourselves without any conception of Him. He says just because you cannot comprehend God fully, totally and completely does not mean that you cannot have any conception of Him. Now listen, it is our sin not to endeavor after a true notion of Him.

[John Weaver] It is our weakness that we cannot attain a full notion of Him. Angels cannot entertain a full knowledge of God even though they have not sinned. It is their nature as angels not to be able to have a full knowledge of Him, but they can have an accurate knowledge of Him of what they do know. So what Charnock is saying is this, we have to realize on the one hand that we will never ever fully, totally, completely comprehend God. Now he said, although we cannot have a perfect knowledge of him, that does not mean we cannot have an accurate knowledge of him of what we do know. He said, it is our sin not to seek after that true knowledge of God. It is our weakness that we cannot attain a full knowledge of God. And then, of course, he gives you the angels who have never sinned, and yet they do not have a full knowledge of God.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to John chapter 4, because our Lord said in verse 24 that God is spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now, we may not be able to comprehend God fully as he is, but we must never fancy him for what he is not. God is spirit. So now we've given the proper object of worship, the one true and the living God, listen, who has revealed himself as the father of the Lord Jesus, the father of believers, and the God who is spirit. He is immaterial. He is invisible.

[John Weaver] He is incorporeal, that is, he does not have bodily parts. Now that we know who is the proper object of worship, what is the proper sphere of worship?

[John Weaver] Now, watch carefully, verse 21, Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain, that is Mount Gerizim, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Now verse 21 refers to a geographical sphere. Our Lord is saying the true sphere of worship has nothing to do with geography. It is not where we worship, but who we worship that counts. It is not when we worship, but how we worship that counts. In other words, our Lord is saying it has to do with our understanding, it has to do with our attitude, where He says God is spirit and they that worship Him, watch now, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to show you just today one of these truths. But the true worship of God is bounded by spirit, worship in spirit, and worship in truth. So God has said, here's the direction in which you are to go to give me my proper worship. You must worship on the one hand in spirit, and you must worship on the other hand in truth. Now let me show you how important this is.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles in verse 23. Our Lord says, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Now note, the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Did you notice the same truth is repeated twice? in two distinct verses. Verse 23, he says, the Father seeketh such to worship him in spirit and truth. And then he says in verse 24, they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make just several casual observations before I get down to explaining the text for today. The first one is based upon verse 23. Our Lord says, but the hour cometh. Look what he says. And now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him. Now, worship in spirit and truth is the result of the final revelation of God in Christ. He says the hour is coming. And then he says, and now is.

[John Weaver] Now, you've got to understand that before Jesus Christ came, all of the Old Testament, which I've pointed out, especially in relationship to the tabernacle and the temple, all these things were types. They were emblems. They were shadows. They were not reality. Look in your Bibles very quickly, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 1, whole John 4. Well, look in Hebrews chapter 1. And let me show you, beginning there with verses 1 through 3. Look what the Bible says. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. The Bible says, God, who at sundry times and in divers or different manners, spake in time past in the fathers by the prophets.

[John Weaver] Now, just stop and think. How did God speak in times past to the people through the prophets. Well, sometimes he gave the message directly to the prophets. Sometimes there were visions. Sometimes there were dreams. I mean, just all kinds of ways God spoke to those prophets. Now, here's my question. Is God doing the same thing today? And the answer is no. Watch. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, different ways, spake in time passing that follows by the prophets, had in these last days spoken us by His Son, with the appointed heir of all things, by whom He also made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory, and the expressed image

[John Weaver] of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Now, how has God spoken us in these last days? Through His Son.

[John Weaver] Now, what am I trying to say? Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. There is no other revelation to come. Anyone who will not trust in Jesus Christ will never be converted, will never be saved. There is no other Savior, nor will there be any additional Saviors or additional revelations. Jesus Christ is the full, final revelation of God.

[John Weaver] Now, our Lord was alive when He was talking in John 4. He said, woman, believe me, the hour is coming. It's not yet here because I'm still alive. I have not yet given myself as a sacrifice. I have not yet completed my Father's mission. But the hour is coming and now He is. I'm here to complete it. When the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Why?

[John Weaver] Because Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. Look in Hebrews chapter 10, if you would. There's so many passages I could read nine, but look in chapter 10, verse 1. He says, For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continue to make the comers therein too perfect. So those ceremonial laws never made anyone perfect.

[John Weaver] They were merely types, they were merely emblems, they were merely shadows. If you look in verse 9, he says, Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that it may establish the second. So all of those Old Testament ceremonies around the tabernacle and the temple were done away with. Why? Because now we have reality in Christ. We have the fullness of truth in Jesus Christ. So he is saying that worship in spirit and in truth is a direct result of the full and final revelation of God in Jesus Christ. So he said in John 4, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

[John Weaver] Now watch, here's the second Casual observation before we get started today. Go back in verse 23 of John 4. He says, but 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. Let me say this very clearly. True worship. And true worshipers are a fruit of the father's seeking grace. It is the Father who seeks true worship. It is the Father who seeks true worshipers. By the way, this whole story about the woman at the well stems from this one truth. Go back in your Bibles to John chapter 4 and look at verse 3. John 4 verse 3.

[John Weaver] He that is Christ left Judea and departed again to Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Why must he needs go through Samaria to find this woman? She wasn't seeking him. She didn't even know who he was. When he asked her for a drink of water, she said, how is it that you being a Judahite asked to drink of me, a woman of Samaria, for the Judahites have no dealing with the Samaritans. He said, woman, if you knew who it was who said give me water to drink, you would have asked of me living water. But see, she didn't even know who he was. She was not seeking him. He was seeking her.

[John Weaver] I remember I was preaching in a church in Greenville, South Carolina, and I got there a little bit early, as I always try to do. And there was a woman behind the pulpit Singing because she was going to sing a special that night. She had a very beautiful voice and she was singing a song and I suppose it was the course. It went like this. I found him. I found him. Beautiful voice.

[John Weaver] I stood there and I listened. When she got through singing, I said, you know, there's only one thing wrong with that song. She said, what is it? I said, it's unscriptural. You didn't find him. You weren't even looking for him. Read Romans Chapter 3. There's none that doeth good. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way. No, not one. Oh, in that case, then, and she started singing, He found me. Now you've got it right. He found you. You didn't find Him. You remember Luke Chapter 15? Luke 19? Look in Luke Chapter 19.

[John Weaver] Watch what is said there. Look at Luke 19. Our Lord says this very plainly in verse 10. Help me out now. Luke 19, verse 10. Watch carefully. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. The Son of Man does not simply do the saving. He does the seeking as well. And what did He do in Luke 15? He went after that one lost sheep.

[John Weaver] And he sought it, how long did he found it? And then he brought it home. You see, the truth of matters is, folks, true worship is a result of the father's seeking grace. Let me give you. Two theological terms. Monarchism and synergism. Synergism is a heresy. Synergism, sin, SYN means together, ergo is the Greek word to work. Synergism just simply means that the sinner works together with God in order to his salvation. Mono means one or alone, and ergo is to work. Monergism means that God works alone in salvation. Who was it that initiated, that planned, that determined salvation? It was God.

[John Weaver] Who was it that sent Christ? It was God the Father. Who was it that redeemed us? It was God, through His Son Jesus Christ. Who is it that convicts us? It's God the Holy Spirit. The work of salvation is the work of God. Yes, we may respond to God's grace and we may respond to God's salvation and we may come willingly when He convicts us and when He regenerates us, but we do not help Him save us. Salvation is the work of God. In fact, Jonah 2 says that salvation is of the Lord. So very obviously, It is the Father who seeks true worship and true worshipers. Then if you look back in your Bibles at John chapter 4 and verse 24, the Bible says God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So here is the absolute necessity of spiritual and truthful worship. Those who worship God acceptably must do so by worshiping him in spirit and in truth.

[John Weaver] Now, let me give you what I'm going to call the inherent meaning of this term. God says that we must worship him in spirit. In order to understand what our Lord is giving us, we must compare Gerizim worship and Jerusalem worship. Notice, if you would please, what our Lord said in verse 21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain, that's Gerizim, that's where the Samaritans worship, you shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father. So our Lord here is giving us a comparison between Gerizim worship and Jerusalem worship. Now let me ask, what was the mark of Gerizim worship.

[John Weaver] Let me just tell you. It was sincere, but ignorant worship. Look what our Lord said in verse 22. He told the woman, you worship, you know not what. I mean, she may be sincere, but you're totally ignorant when it comes to worship. Gerizim worship is sincere, but ignorant worship. When the Samaritan's Temple was destroyed, they continued to worship on Mount Gerizim. They continued to sacrifice there. They continued with their own priesthood. And I told you earlier that the Samaritans only received the Pentateuch as the Word of God.

[John Weaver] That is the first five books of Moses. They rejected the historical books. They rejected the minor prophets, the major prophets. And so our Lord says, you worship, you know not what. So what then is the mark of Gerizim worship? It is sincere but ignorant worship. It is zeal without knowledge. It is sincerity without truth. I've heard all my life people say, well, you know, it doesn't really matter what you believe just so you're sincere. You ever heard that?

[John Weaver] I'll tell you what I can do. I can put some strychnine in a Coca-Cola and hand it to you. And you can sincerely believe that you're drinking Coca-Cola. But in just a little while, you're going to be sincerely dead. Your sincerity does not help you. One of my favorite stories, it was one related by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones. Years ago, I got to meet Dr. Jones before he died.

[John Weaver] He was from England and a tremendous scholar, a preacher. He was a medical doctor and God called him to preach. And then he went to preaching one of the greatest expositors. of Scripture that I've ever known, never read behind. But he told about this huge fire that happened in a warehouse in London, and people formed a bucket brigade and they were passing buckets of water trying to put out the fire. And one man who happened to be a blacksmith ran into the building with his blacksmith hammer, big sledgehammer, and started beating on an iron beam that was already hot, by the way. And finally, one man stopped him and said, what are you doing? Well, he said, I'm trying to bend this beam. He said, man, he said, if you succeed in bending that beam, you're going to bring this building down upon us. What are you doing? Said the blacksmith kind of stopped. He said, well, I don't really know.

[John Weaver] But under the circumstances, I thought I ought to be doing something. Well, that's a picture of what you and I would call Gerizim worship. It's truth. It is sincerity without truth. It is sincerity, but absolutely ignorant.

[John Weaver] Now, let me stop before I make some comparisons. What was Jerusalem worship? Jerusalem worship was intelligent worship. He said in verse 22, he said, we know what we worship. It was truth without heart. Truth without sincerity. Truth without genuineness. Maybe orthodox. Maybe fundamental. But no reality. Do you remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Both groups were really wrong. But if you were to ask which was the group that was the most fundamental, you'd have to say the Pharisees. The Sadducees did not even believe in the resurrection from the dead. They didn't believe in angels. Well, the Pharisees believed in both. And so here you have Jerusalem worship. They may have had the truth. But they perverted it. They may have professed to believe the truth.

[John Weaver] But they never applied it. And what did the Pharisees do? They gave, but only to be seen of men. They prayed, but only to be heard of men. They fasted, but only for show. They had a form of the truth, but they lacked the heart, they lacked the power of the truth. So on the one hand, you have Gerizim worship, which is sincere but ignorant. On the other hand, you have Jerusalem worship, which is truth, but dead truth.

[John Weaver] Now, The woman says, you're a prophet. You can tell us where's the right place to worship. Do we worship here in Gerizim or do we worship at Jerusalem? Our Lord said, woman, believe me. The hour is coming and now is when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You don't even know what you're worshiping. We know what we worship. But the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The right sphere of worship is not sincere but ignorant worship. It is not truth but dead worship. He said the right sphere is when you worship in spirit and in truth.

[John Weaver] There must be a going out of a heart and not just a lifting up of the hands. There must be a pouring forth of the spirit and not just words. There must be a lifting up of the mind and soul. In other words, the spirit of man must be active. What are you saying is this? The scriptures, they teach us who to worship and when to worship and what to worship. But they also teach us how to worship. Therefore, all formalism, all hypocrisy, all ritualism, all ceremonialism, all churchism must go. And you must have real, genuine worship.

[John Weaver] No sentimentalism, no ignorance, No idolatry, no traditionalism. No, you must worship the Father in spirit. Now watch. If I were to ask you, what are the two greatest hindrances to true worship? I hope you would come up with two simple words. One is obvious, idolatry. Idolatry is one of the greatest hindrances to true worship. The second one is formalism. Gerizim and Jerusalem are symbolic of all that is abominable and unacceptable to God. You had sincere but ignorant worship, and you had truth but dead worship.

[John Weaver] Now you just stop and think with me. Of the people who worship sincerely but ignorantly. Look at the Mormons. Some of those folks are some of the most moral, kind, gracious folks that exist today. But they believe that Jesus Christ and Satan were brothers. And they believe that somehow they're going to be their own God. Look at the Roman Catholics. Did you know some of those Roman Catholics, and I realize there's probably not some in this country like that, but you go to some of the other pagan countries, they pierce themselves.

[John Weaver] They crawl on crushed glass. Some of them even crucify themselves or have themselves crucified. trying to atone for their own sins. Look at the Muslims. They pray five times a day. They are sincere. But it is totally ignorant worship and unacceptable because it is not to the one true and living God who has revealed Himself as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of believers, and the God who is Spirit.

[John Weaver] No, it's not to Him. And they're ignorant of Him, and they're ignorant of His Word. They may be sincere, but they are in ignorance. Usually, in all of these groups, you will find either a rejection of Scripture, or a rejection of part of the Scripture, or you will find an adding to Scripture. Hold John 4, look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 23. Let me show you. Look in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23.

[John Weaver] Notice if you would please begin in verse 29. Jeremiah 23, verse 29. Watch carefully. God says, Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh rock in pieces? God's word is truth. Now watch. Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. That is, they're taking from the word of God. Verse 31. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith, That is adding to the word of God. Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams of the Lord and do tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their likeness.

[John Weaver] Yet I sent them not nor commanded them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, said the Lord. That is substituting for the word of God. So God said, I'm against those who take from my word. I'm against those who add to my word. I'm against those who substitute for my word. You look at all these other groups. They either add to, take from, or substitute for. Nelson, I'm against all of those. You see, folks, our Lord is saying that real, genuine worship is worship in spirit. It is not garrison worship sincerely, but ignorantly. It's not Jerusalem worship.

[John Weaver] Oh, we've got truth, but you're cold and dead and barren. I marvel at the fact that there are so many churches in this country that profess to be Christian churches and profess to love the Lord and love the truth And they are so absolutely eat up with ignorance of the Bible. It is pathetic. How in the world can you please God if you don't even know who he is or what pleases him? And how in the world do you think that God, who is spirit, He's going to be satisfied with plopping our bodies on a pew and pitching in a quarter and singing to Him and listening to a sermon and going out just as unaffected and unmoved as when we came in. How in the world do we think that could ever please God?

[John Weaver] I just had a good friend write me a letter about what I said last week. He listened to the tape about music. He said, I don't want any of this cold, dead music either. Well, that's true. Let me tell you something, folks. You may have a hymn and it may be grounded in theology, but that does not mean that you have to sing it formally, coldly, deadly.

[John Weaver] If you understood truth, as I'm going to show you today, you would be worshiping God in spirit. Now, I'm not saying Experience at any cost. I'm not saying that at all, but I'm going to tell you this. We are not to have rigid formalism at any cost either. We must have what our Lord talks about worship in spirit and truth. Let me give you the implication of this. Let me explain what it is to worship in spirit. Since God is spirit. That means we must worship him And that part of our being which is most like Him. What is that part of our being which is most like Him? It's our spirit.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23.

[John Weaver] Watch carefully and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. That part of us, which is non material. That part of us, which is the moral image of God, our spirits. That is with which we are to worship the God who is spirit. We must draw near to him with our spirit, for he is spirit.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. Let me make a distinction for you. Look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter one. I don't suppose there was a greater preacher than the Apostle Paul, other than our Lord himself. But I want you to note what the Apostle Paul said. And let me try to give you an illustration that will help you understand. He said in verse eight of Romans chapter one, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. See, Paul was a southerner. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Now, look what he says. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit.

[John Weaver] And the gospel of his son that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers. Let me ask you. Paul said he served God with his spirit. Do you think Paul just kind of floated around the Roman Empire? Well, of course not. If Paul got where he was going, he walked or he rode a horse or he rode a chariot. He used his legs. He used his body.

[John Weaver] It was his physical voice that was doing the preaching. It was his physical hands that were doing the ministering. But Paul said, although I'm using my body, I'm serving God with my spirit. There was a spiritual energy. There was a totality of his being that was motivating and pushing his body. You understand that? So when we worship God in our spirit, it's not that we just sit there and say, well, I'm going to let my little spirit do it today.

[John Weaver] I don't have to do anything. Oh, no, no, no. It's our spirit that moves our bodies, that motivates our mind. I've quoted this verse to you so many times, but let me quote it again. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Now listen carefully. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. See, God doesn't want you to just quit fornicating and lying and stealing. Those are works of the flesh. He doesn't want you to just simply quit getting drunk. That's a work of the flesh.

[John Weaver] He wants your attitude right. He wants your disposition right. Let me tell you something, folks. I've seen some of the straightest Christians with the most ugly and hateful attitude you've ever seen in your life. And I'd much prefer to be around some of the unsaved than I had to be around them.

[John Weaver] Now, what is God saying? God is saying it's not just our external that must be right. It is our internal as well. So having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the sphere of God. in the fear of God. So, the sphere of true worship, first and foremost, means that we worship in spirit. That means this, that we are holy and totally and completely engaged in our worship of God.

[John Weaver] Our mind, our heart, our will. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 103. I love this verse. Psalm 103. And notice if you would, verse 1. Psalm 103, verse one. Look what David says. Watch now, David said in Psalm 103 in verse one, bless the Lord, oh, my soul. And all that is within me bless his holy name. What's David say? Let's suppose David happened to be at the tabernacle. He says, I've got my body in the right place.

[John Weaver] This is where I should be. But now, I must worship God with my spirit. So bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, everything that I am, will, spirit, soul, mind, by everything, I'm going to worship God. I'm not going to sit there like a nut on a lock. Do you understand that when we worship God, our minds are active. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 47.

[John Weaver] I often quote this passage. Let me just show you. Verse one, to begin with. Look what the psalmist said, Psalm 47, verse one, Oh, clap your hands, all you people shouting to God with the voice of triumph.

[John Weaver] Now, that's expressive, isn't it? I mean, man clapping, shouting. Well. Skip down to verse five, God is going up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Well, that's expressive. Watch verse six. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises. Well, that's expressive too. Ah, but look at verse 7. For God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with what? It doesn't do you a bit of good to sing and shout if there's no understanding.

[John Weaver] If you don't know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're saying. and if your spirit's not involved in it. Sing you praises with understanding. In other words, if we're going to give God praise, if we're going to worship God in our spirit, we must understand something. We must understand something about His person. You know, the Bible says God is great and God is greatly to be feared. How in the world Can you praise God who is in and of Himself great without knowing some of His greatness? How in the world can you praise God for His mighty works, which the Bible says that we're to do? How can we praise Him if we don't even know what those works are?

[John Weaver] Not just creation, but providence, redemption. We need to praise Him because of His approach that He's given us. Look in Hebrews 10. Let me just show you. In other words, when I come to praise God, if my spirit is involved, it means my mind is active. Look in Hebrews 10. Begin reading there in Hebrews 10. Verse 19,"...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He had consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having a high priesthood over the house of God, let us draw near with a

[John Weaver] true heart and full assurance." Now just stop and think. The Old Testament saints did not have what we have. They could not run into the tabernacle. They could not enter into the holiest of all. Neither those in the temple could do that. But here, under the new covenant, under the blood of Jesus Christ, we may boldly approach God the Father. Can't you understand that when we worship God, we not only need to think of God's person and God's works, but we can also meditate upon the way of approach that He's given to us.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Psalm 86. Psalm 86. Just showing you several things that your mind and your spirit could be engaged in. Look in Psalm 86. And notice if you would be getting there with verse 5. Psalm 86 verse 5. I like this passage, too. I can assure you. Psalm 86 verse 5. For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive. Thank God for that. For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Now watch. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications. And the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works.

[John Weaver] Do you see what the psalmist is doing? He's praising God. He's meditating upon God. He says there's no God like you. There's no works like your works. Verse 9, All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee. There's God's sovereignty. There's God's providential control. O Lord, thou and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great and doest wondrous things. For thou art God alone. Teach me, O Lord. And I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart to fear thy name." He said, God, don't let me give you any half-hearted worship. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Let me praise you, Lord, with all of my heart. I'm going to tell you, the curse of this day and age among the Christians is that we are rendering to God a half-hearted worship. You compare What your experience at church is like. With what your experience at a football game is like. Now, let me tell you something, if you go to a football game and if you are as serious as most folks are about football.

[John Weaver] You know that when they go there, they stand, they cheer, they root, they cry, they beg, they pray, they go crazy. They want that team to win more than anything else. And then they come to church and they just. Well, I'm here. There's no going out of the spirit. There's no concentrating in the mind upon the word of God or the attributes of God. There's no considering his providential blessing and control. They just sit there. People give greater worship to a football than they do God.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm not saying we're to have a stomping, hand clapping, pew climbing service. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is this, our spirits, our hearts, the totality of our being ought to be so engaged in our worship. Like when you come from a football game, you are exhilarated, especially if you're team one. And you're exhausted. And when you get through with church, you ought to be exhilarated because you worship God and you ought to also be exhausted.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. There is no work. Like mental work. I'd rather dig a ditch any day than have to exercise my mind and study and dig. And if you really force your mind. In a service, when you get through, you're going to be tired. You're going to be exhausted.

[John Weaver] Now, let me give you three prerequisites for spiritual worship. The first one is very obvious. You must be spiritually alive. Ephesians 2 verse 1, And you have be quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. You cannot give God the worship that he deserves, nor can you worship in spirit unless you have been quickened by the spirit. What did our Lord tell Nicodemus? Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again.

[John Weaver] But the Greek word is anathema. You must be born from above. He says no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless he's born from above. So you cannot give God the worship that He demands unless you've been made alive in Jesus Christ. So the call to worship In reality, it's also a call to repentance and faith, a call to turn from your sins and to believe in Jesus Christ. So you must be spiritually alive. Secondly, you must be spiritually assisted.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. Whose responsibility is it to worship God or right? Yours. Now, how many of you, in and of yourself, can worship him or write? None. Help me out. Our Lord said something in John 15 that went like this. Without me, you can do how much? Nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. You know what the Bible says in Romans 8 about the Spirit? Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself makes an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. What does the Holy Spirit do? He enables us. He helps us.

[John Weaver] He assists us in prayer. He assists us in study. He assists us in worship. The psalmist said in Psalm 80 and verse 18, Quicken us, and we shall call upon thy name. Quicken us! Many times the psalmist said, Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned. I got news for you folks. If God doesn't turn you, you don't get turned. And if God doesn't quicken you, you do not get quickened. We must come to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Spirit. And the true worshippers, he said in Philippians 3 and verse 3, are those who worship Him in the Spirit. Now, we must be spiritually alive. We must be spiritually assisted. And thirdly, we must be spiritually active. Now, listen carefully. The divine energy of the spirit.

[John Weaver] And our human activity or the human activity of the saint or concurrent realities, concurrent simply means they happen at the same time. Philippians 2, the apostle says, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, verse 12. But the next verse, verse 13, says this, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. God works it in. We work it out. You can't work it out unless God is working it in.

[John Weaver] Now, what am I trying to say? It means that when we get here physically, we must then consciously and deliberately turn our minds from things from objects, from trying to plan what we're going to do tomorrow, next week, we must deliberately turn our minds and focus our minds upon God, upon His Word, upon His truth, asking God to assist us, to enable us, to give Him the honor and the glory that He deserves.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. Listen carefully. I know many times we do not get to see each other for once a week and we want to fellowship and fellowship is wonderful. And conversing with each other is wonderful. But there comes a time we have to cut out the conversation. We have to cut out the fellowship and say, I came to worship God. And you have to say, Lord, I want to give you my thoughts. I want to give you my spirit.

[John Weaver] I'm going to deal with this later. Well, let me tell you something. Physical weariness. will always cause a spiritual sluggishness. And I'll tell you this before I close this series. I've always, always gone to bed early on Saturday nights. Unless I've been providentially hindered. My wife tells you I'll go to bed early every night. Well, that's true. I'm more of a morning person. I'm not a night person.

[John Weaver] But I even told my girls, when they were courting, I said, you be in by 11 o'clock. You're not staying out all night. Especially on Saturday night. Because I want to be fresh for Sunday morning. Because you cannot concentrate when you haven't had any sleep. And I tell you, I've seen people sleep in service. I've seen some sleep here.

[John Weaver] Now, it's one thing if some of you doctors, you know, have been out on an emergency call or are doing some emergency work. That's one thing. But just because you stayed up to watch the Late Late Show, that's a horse of a different color. I've had people in time past that. Pastor, forgive me, I was so sleepy today. My unusual response is, well, I will if God will. I mean, God knows why you were sleepy.

[John Weaver] But you see what I'm saying? When we come, it involves the totality of our being. You say, well, I don't know a bunch of Scripture. Well, you ought to learn some. I don't know about God's attributes. Well, you ought to learn some. Well, I don't know too much. Well, I'll tell you what you can do. You can at least praise God and be thankful that you're not in the hospital, that you're not in the morgue, that you're not sick, that you've got a family, that you've got a husband and a wife. You can thank Him that you've got food and clothing and you're still in your right mind.

[John Weaver] I mean, there's enough that we can concentrate upon and bless the Lord of my soul with all my being, with everything that I am. Now, let me make just a couple of applications. And the first one is this, and I do want to make sure you understand this. I've heard it all my life. They said, well, Pastor, you know, if you go to church to get a blessing, you will go away with a blessing.

[John Weaver] I don't doubt that we're blessed when we worship God. I don't doubt that for a moment. But let me tell you something, folks. You don't come to church to be blessed. Did that shock you? You don't come to church to be entertained. Why do you come? You come to worship. You come not to get, but to give. You come to give God His honor, His glory, His due. Whether you get anything out of the service or not is really immaterial. You come to give God His worship, His honor, His glory.

[John Weaver] David said over and over in Psalm 116, I will pay my vows now in the presence of all thy people. What's he saying? I owe God something and I won't get together with all of God's people. I'm going to pay God what I owe him. I'm going to give him the honor and the glory that's due unto his name.

[John Weaver] Now, I began by reading a quote from Stephen Charnock, and I want to end with a quote from Stephen Charnock. Listen to what he said. You don't have something that ought to humble you. He said, To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage of myself, that is, I come to be blessed. I come to have a good time. To pretend homage to God and intend only honor to myself is rather to mock God than to worship Him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified, We set God below ourselves and imagine that he should submit his own honor to our advantage. We make ourselves more glorious than God as though we were not made for him, but that he was made for us. A spiritual worshiper performs not worship for some hopes of carnal advantage. He uses ordinances to bring God and his soul together to be more fitted to honor God in the world and in his particular calling. Did you hear that? To pretend to honor God and intend only my own advantage is to mock God rather than to honor Him.

[John Weaver] We do not come to get. We come to give. Now it is true, and blessed be His holy name, that in giving, we always get. That is true. You cannot honor God the way God deserves to be honored without being blessed by God for doing so. But you don't come to get the blessing. You come to give God the worship and the honor that's due under His holy name.

[John Weaver] If we understood that, we would never take the attitude, It's Sunday morning. I've got to get up and go to church or everybody's going to think I'm backslidden. Oh, no. If you understood this, you would say, blessed be God. It's the Lord's Day. I get to give God public worship and public honor and public glory. Because He deserves it. He's the only one true and living God And beside Him, there's none other. Let's pray.

[John Weaver] Father, once again, we bow to Thee and we come to Thee in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And we come in the Holy Spirit asking You to teach us, to help us. Oh God, make us true worshipers. May we learn what it is to worship God with the entirety of our being, with our minds engaged with our affections warmed, our wills wrapped up in Thee, blessing the Lord with all that is within us. Give us grace, Lord, to serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. And may we honor Thee and worship Thee in spirit and in truth. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Acceptable Worship - Part 4

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	121703112313
Subject	Biblical Worldview
Course	Biblical Worldview Foundations
Genre	Sermon
Date	2003-12-14
Dictation Name
Book	Book 167: Acceptable Worship — Chapter 4
Source Timed Segments	94

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Let's open our Bible today to the book of John chapter 4, and everyone in here should know that we've been dealing with John chapter 4 for the last three weeks, and this is the fourth message on acceptable worship. John chapter 4, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. John 4 verse 19,

Scripture Reading — John 4:19-26

"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 said unto 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. 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. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, who is called Christ."

Review of Previous Messages

Weaver recaps the first three messages: our duty to worship God by creation, providence, redemption, and kingship; God's hatred of unacceptable worship; worship must be based on divine revelation; and the proper object of worship is the one true God revealed as Father of Christ, Father of believers, and Spirit.

When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Let me take just a few moments and kind of give a broad overview of what we've covered for the last three weeks. And the first message I pointed out, first of all, that it is our duty and our obligation to worship God. We are duty bound and obligated to worship him, not only by virtue of creation—He is the Creator and we are the creature. So there is a creation right. We're also duty bound and obligated to worship Him because of a providential right that He has.

This is providence that sustains us and preserves us and protects us. We're also duty bound because of a redemption right. He has redeemed us. We are His people. And then we're also duty bound to worship Him because of a kingship right. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and deserves all of our worship. Secondly, I pointed out that God is not indifferent as to how we worship Him, because many times in Scripture God says, "I hate, I despise, I will not have your sacrifice and your worship." Thirdly, I pointed out that acceptable worship is a matter of divine revelation. That is, we must worship God, not just any old way we please, not by subjectivism, rationalism, sentimentalism, pragmatism, but based upon the Word of God. And then I pointed out, fourthly, that acceptable worship is a fruit of the work of Jesus Christ. And then we began to look at the proper object of worship, and we saw that the proper object of worship, first of all, was the One True and the Living God. But not just simply worshiping God in a general theistic sense. We must worship the one true and the living God as he's revealed himself in the totality of scripture. And we saw, first of all, that he's revealed himself as the father of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mystery of the Godhead.

And let me say this again. When Jesus Christ called God father, it was not in the same sense that we call him father. When Jesus Christ referred to God as His Father, it was an acknowledgment of His oneness, the sameness of essence, that He was saying that He Himself was and is God. And of course, that's what He said in John 10 in verse 30,

Scripture Reading — John 10:30

"I and my Father are one."

So God has revealed Himself as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. I took you through Scripture, and I showed you how in the New Testament the early Christians worshipped God as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, how that He was the Father of believers in the marvels of His grace. We went to Galatians chapter 4, when we found that in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And then He said, and because you are sons, He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, whereby you cry, Abba, Father. So very obviously then we are now sons in the marvels of His grace. And then last week I pointed out how that we must worship the one true and living God who is in and of Himself Spirit.

The Incomprehensibility of God and Our Need for True Conceptions

Citing Stephen Charnock, Weaver explains that while we cannot fully comprehend God, we must seek accurate knowledge of Him. It is sin not to pursue a true notion of God, even though finite beings cannot fully grasp the infinite.

Now, I have in my library a two-volume set of Stephen Charnock's books entitled The Existence and the Attributes of God. I want to just give you just a short paragraph or two of what Stephen Charnock wrote. Charnock was a Puritan. He's been dead for hundreds of years. But here is what he said. Listen carefully. He said, "We cannot have an adequate or a suitable conception of God. He, that is God, dwells in inaccessible light, inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy as well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conception must be as infinite as His nature." Now let me just stop right there.

Let me ask that you look in your Bibles to Matthew 11 and verse 27. I pointed this out last week. I'm going to point it out again this week because it's vitally important. Look in Matthew 11, verse 27. And let me re-read just the latter part of that sentence of Charnock. Listen to what he says. "If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conceptions must be as infinite as His nature." What is he saying? He's saying if we can have thoughts of God the way He should be thought of, then we would have to be God ourselves. Because only God can comprehend God. That's why in Matthew 11, verse 27, our Lord says,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:27

"All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Now watch carefully. And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

So only the Son knows the Father, and only the Father knows the Son totally, completely, fully.

Why? Because the Father is God, and the Son is God. So this is what Charnock is saying. If we were to have thoughts as excellent as His nature is, we would have to be as infinite as His nature. Alright?

Now, let me just stop and emphasize one thing. Let me show you the greatness, the absolute greatness of the one true and living God. One of our problems on this earth is that we don't understand some things. OK, another problem we have is that we are forgetful. Extremely forgetful. Like when you walk into the other room and you think, why did I come here? I mean, you know, you understand that. But now stop and think about this with me.

When the eternal state comes and we are in resurrected, glorified bodies with perfect minds and perfect memories, that means whatever we hear, we will understand. We will comprehend and we will never, ever forget it. In eternity, we will be forever learning truth about our great and glorious God, and yet never, ever fully comprehending Him. Now you think about that. An eternity of knowing truth, of retaining truth, never forgetting truth, and yet never, ever fully comprehending God. Because only God can comprehend God.

Now listen to what Charnock says. He says, "All of our imaginations of Him cannot represent Him, because every created species is finite. It cannot therefore represent to us a full and substantial notion to one who is infinite." Just stop and think about that one thought. If every individual who has ever lived, that is now living and shall ever live, if every individual could have an accurate imagination and an accurate thought of God, and you put all of those imaginations and accurate thoughts together, it still would not be a total or full or complete imagination or portrayal of God. Why? Because all of us are finite and God is infinite. And the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Now listen to what he says, this is the important part. "Though we cannot have an adequate conception of God, we must not content ourselves without any conception of Him." He says just because you cannot comprehend God fully, totally and completely does not mean that you cannot have any conception of Him. Now listen, it is our sin not to endeavor after a true notion of Him.

It is our weakness that we cannot attain a full notion of Him. Angels cannot entertain a full knowledge of God even though they have not sinned. It is their nature as angels not to be able to have a full knowledge of Him, but they can have an accurate knowledge of Him of what they do know. So what Charnock is saying is this, we have to realize on the one hand that we will never ever fully, totally, completely comprehend God. Now he said, although we cannot have a perfect knowledge of him, that does not mean we cannot have an accurate knowledge of him of what we do know. He said, it is our sin not to seek after that true knowledge of God. It is our weakness that we cannot attain a full knowledge of God. And then, of course, he gives you the angels who have never sinned, and yet they do not have a full knowledge of God.

Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to John chapter 4, because our Lord said in verse 24 that God is spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now, we may not be able to comprehend God fully as he is, but we must never fancy him for what he is not. God is spirit. So now we've given the proper object of worship, the one true and the living God, listen, who has revealed himself as the father of the Lord Jesus, the father of believers, and the God who is spirit. He is immaterial. He is invisible.

The Proper Sphere of Worship: Not Geography but Spirit and Truth

Jesus declares that true worship is not tied to Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem. The sphere of worship is spiritual and truthful, not geographical. The Father seeks worshipers who worship in spirit and truth.

Now, watch carefully, verse 21, "Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain," that is Mount Gerizim, "nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." Now verse 21 refers to a geographical sphere. Our Lord is saying the true sphere of worship has nothing to do with geography. It is not where we worship, but who we worship that counts. It is not when we worship, but how we worship that counts. In other words, our Lord is saying it has to do with our understanding, it has to do with our attitude, where He says God is spirit and they that worship Him, watch now, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Now, I'm going to show you just today one of these truths. But the true worship of God is bounded by spirit, worship in spirit, and worship in truth. So God has said, here's the direction in which you are to go to give me my proper worship. You must worship on the one hand in spirit, and you must worship on the other hand in truth. Now let me show you how important this is. Look in your Bibles in verse 23. Our Lord says, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Now note, the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. "For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Did you notice the same truth is repeated twice? In two distinct verses. Verse 23, he says, "the Father seeketh such to worship him in spirit and truth." And then he says in verse 24, "they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Now, let me make just several casual observations before I get down to explaining the text for today. The first one is based upon verse 23. Our Lord says, "but the hour cometh." Look what he says. "And now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him." Now, worship in spirit and truth is the result of the final revelation of God in Christ. He says the hour is coming. And then he says, "and now is."

Worship in Spirit and Truth as the Result of Christ's Final Revelation

The hour of true worship is now because Christ is the full and final revelation of God. Old Testament ceremonies were shadows; Christ brings reality. True worshipers worship through the completed work of Christ.

Now, you've got to understand that before Jesus Christ came, all of the Old Testament, which I've pointed out, especially in relationship to the tabernacle and the temple, all these things were types. They were emblems. They were shadows. They were not reality. Look in your Bibles very quickly, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 1, hold John 4. Well, look in Hebrews chapter 1. And let me show you, beginning there with verses 1 through 3. Look what the Bible says. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. The Bible says, "God, who at sundry times and in divers or different manners, spake in time past in the fathers by the prophets."

Now, just stop and think. How did God speak in times past to the people through the prophets? Well, sometimes he gave the message directly to the prophets. Sometimes there were visions. Sometimes there were dreams. I mean, just all kinds of ways God spoke to those prophets. Now, here's my question. Is God doing the same thing today? And the answer is no. Watch. "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, different ways, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the expressed image

of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Now, how has God spoken to us in these last days? Through His Son. Now, what am I trying to say? Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. There is no other revelation to come. Anyone who will not trust in Jesus Christ will never be converted, will never be saved. There is no other Savior, nor will there be any additional Saviors or additional revelations. Jesus Christ is the full, final revelation of God.

Now, our Lord was alive when He was talking in John 4. He said, "woman, believe me, the hour is coming." It's not yet here because I'm still alive. I have not yet given myself as a sacrifice. I have not yet completed my Father's mission. But the hour is coming and now He is. I'm here to complete it. When the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Why?

Because Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. Look in Hebrews chapter 10, if you would. There's so many passages I could read nine, but look in chapter 10, verse 1. He says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:1,9

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continue to make the comers therein too perfect."

So those ceremonial laws never made anyone perfect. They were merely types, they were merely emblems, they were merely shadows. If you look in verse 9, he says, "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that it may establish the second." So all of those Old Testament ceremonies around the tabernacle and the temple were done away with. Why? Because now we have reality in Christ. We have the fullness of truth in Jesus Christ. So he is saying that worship in spirit and in truth is a direct result of the full and final revelation of God in Jesus Christ. So he said in John 4, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."

Now watch, here's the second casual observation before we get started today. Go back in verse 23 of John 4. He says, "but 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." Let me say this very clearly. True worship and true worshipers are a fruit of the father's seeking grace. It is the Father who seeks true worship. It is the Father who seeks true worshipers. By the way, this whole story about the woman at the well stems from this one truth. Go back in your Bibles to John chapter 4 and look at verse 3. John 4 verse 3.

He that is Christ left Judea and departed again to Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Why must he needs go through Samaria to find this woman? She wasn't seeking him. She didn't even know who he was. When he asked her for a drink of water, she said, "how is it that you being a Judahite asked to drink of me, a woman of Samaria, for the Judahites have no dealing with the Samaritans." He said, "woman, if you knew who it was who said give me water to drink, you would have asked of me living water." But see, she didn't even know who he was. She was not seeking him. He was seeking her.

True Worship as a Fruit of the Father's Seeking Grace

The Father seeks true worshipers. The woman at the well was not seeking Christ; He sought her. Salvation is monergistic—God works alone. True worship originates in God's initiative.

I remember I was preaching in a church in Greenville, South Carolina, and I got there a little bit early, as I always try to do. And there was a woman behind the pulpit singing because she was going to sing a special that night. She had a very beautiful voice and she was singing a song and I suppose it was the chorus. It went like this. "I found him. I found him." Beautiful voice. I stood there and I listened. When she got through singing, I said, "you know, there's only one thing wrong with that song." She said, "what is it?" I said,

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:10-12

"it's unscriptural. You didn't find him. You weren't even looking for him. Read Romans Chapter 3. There's none that doeth good. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way. No, not one."

Oh, in that case, then, and she started singing, "He found me." Now you've got it right. He found you. You didn't find Him. You remember Luke Chapter 15? Luke 19? Look in Luke Chapter 19.

Watch what is said there. Look at Luke 19. Our Lord says this very plainly in verse 10. Help me out now. Luke 19, verse 10. Watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — Luke 19:10

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost."

The Son of Man does not simply do the saving. He does the seeking as well. And what did He do in Luke 15? He went after that one lost sheep.

And he sought it, how long did he found it? And then he brought it home. You see, the truth of matters is, folks, true worship is a result of the father's seeking grace. Let me give you two theological terms. Monergism and synergism. Synergism is a heresy. Synergism, sin, SYN means together, ergo is the Greek word to work. Synergism just simply means that the sinner works together with God in order to his salvation. Mono means one or alone, and ergo is to work. Monergism means that God works alone in salvation. Who was it that initiated, that planned, that determined salvation? It was God.

Who was it that sent Christ? It was God the Father. Who was it that redeemed us? It was God, through His Son Jesus Christ. Who is it that convicts us? It's God the Holy Spirit. The work of salvation is the work of God. Yes, we may respond to God's grace and we may respond to God's salvation and we may come willingly when He convicts us and when He regenerates us, but we do not help Him save us. Salvation is the work of God. In fact, Jonah 2 says that salvation is of the Lord. So very obviously, it is the Father who seeks true worship and true worshipers. Then if you look back in your Bibles at John chapter 4 and verse 24, the Bible says God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So here is the absolute necessity of spiritual and truthful worship. Those who worship God acceptably must do so by worshiping him in spirit and in truth.

Contrasting Gerizim and Jerusalem Worship

Gerizim worship is sincere but ignorant (zeal without knowledge). Jerusalem worship is intelligent but dead (truth without heart). Both are unacceptable. True worship combines spirit (heart engagement) and truth (accurate knowledge).

Let me just tell you. It was sincere, but ignorant worship. Look what our Lord said in verse 22. He told the woman, "you worship, you know not what." I mean, she may be sincere, but you're totally ignorant when it comes to worship. Gerizim worship is sincere, but ignorant worship. When the Samaritan's Temple was destroyed, they continued to worship on Mount Gerizim. They continued to sacrifice there. They continued with their own priesthood. And I told you earlier that the Samaritans only received the Pentateuch as the Word of God.

That is the first five books of Moses. They rejected the historical books. They rejected the minor prophets, the major prophets. And so our Lord says, "you worship, you know not what." So what then is the mark of Gerizim worship? It is sincere but ignorant worship. It is zeal without knowledge. It is sincerity without truth. I've heard all my life people say, "well, you know, it doesn't really matter what you believe just so you're sincere." You ever heard that?

I'll tell you what I can do. I can put some strychnine in a Coca-Cola and hand it to you. And you can sincerely believe that you're drinking Coca-Cola. But in just a little while, you're going to be sincerely dead. Your sincerity does not help you. One of my favorite stories, it was one related by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones. Years ago, I got to meet Dr. Jones before he died.

He was from England and a tremendous scholar, a preacher. He was a medical doctor and God called him to preach. And then he went to preaching one of the greatest expositors of Scripture that I've ever known, never read behind. But he told about this huge fire that happened in a warehouse in London, and people formed a bucket brigade and they were passing buckets of water trying to put out the fire. And one man who happened to be a blacksmith ran into the building with his blacksmith hammer, big sledgehammer, and started beating on an iron beam that was already hot, by the way. And finally, one man stopped him and said, "what are you doing?" Well, he said, "I'm trying to bend this beam." He said, "man, he said, if you succeed in bending that beam, you're going to bring this building down upon us. What are you doing?" Said the blacksmith kind of stopped. He said, "well, I don't really know.

But under the circumstances, I thought I ought to be doing something." Well, that's a picture of what you and I would call Gerizim worship. It's truth. It is sincerity without truth. It is sincerity, but absolutely ignorant.

Now, let me stop before I make some comparisons. What was Jerusalem worship? Jerusalem worship was intelligent worship. He said in verse 22, he said, "we know what we worship." It was truth without heart. Truth without sincerity. Truth without genuineness. Maybe orthodox. Maybe fundamental. But no reality. Do you remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Both groups were really wrong. But if you were to ask which was the group that was the most fundamental, you'd have to say the Pharisees. The Sadducees did not even believe in the resurrection from the dead. They didn't believe in angels. Well, the Pharisees believed in both. And so here you have Jerusalem worship. They may have had the truth. But they perverted it. They may have professed to believe the truth.

But they never applied it. And what did the Pharisees do? They gave, but only to be seen of men. They prayed, but only to be heard of men. They fasted, but only for show. They had a form of the truth, but they lacked the heart, they lacked the power of the truth. So on the one hand, you have Gerizim worship, which is sincere but ignorant. On the other hand, you have Jerusalem worship, which is truth, but dead truth.

Now, the woman says, "you're a prophet. You can tell us where's the right place to worship. Do we worship here in Gerizim or do we worship at Jerusalem?" Our Lord said, "woman, believe me. The hour is coming and now is when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You don't even know what you're worshiping. We know what we worship. But the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." The right sphere of worship is not sincere but ignorant worship. It is not truth but dead worship. He said the right sphere is when you worship in spirit and in truth.

What It Means to Worship in Spirit

Since God is spirit, we must worship with our spirit—the part of us most like Him. This involves the totality of our being: mind, heart, and will actively engaged. Examples from Paul and the Psalms show whole-souled worship.

Look in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23.

Watch carefully "and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." That part of us, which is non material. That part of us, which is the moral image of God, our spirits. That is with which we are to worship the God who is spirit. We must draw near to him with our spirit, for he is spirit.

Now, let me show you. Let me make a distinction for you. Look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter one. I don't suppose there was a greater preacher than the Apostle Paul, other than our Lord himself. But I want you to note what the Apostle Paul said. And let me try to give you an illustration that will help you understand. He said in verse eight of Romans chapter one, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all." See, Paul was a southerner. "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." Now, look what he says. "For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit.

And the gospel of his son that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers." Let me ask you. Paul said he served God with his spirit. Do you think Paul just kind of floated around the Roman Empire? Well, of course not. If Paul got where he was going, he walked or he rode a horse or he rode a chariot. He used his legs. He used his body.

It was his physical voice that was doing the preaching. It was his physical hands that were doing the ministering. But Paul said, although I'm using my body, I'm serving God with my spirit. There was a spiritual energy. There was a totality of his being that was motivating and pushing his body. You understand that? So when we worship God in our spirit, it's not that we just sit there and say, well, I'm going to let my little spirit do it today.

I don't have to do anything. Oh, no, no, no. It's our spirit that moves our bodies, that motivates our mind. I've quoted this verse to you so many times, but let me quote it again. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Now listen carefully. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." See, God doesn't want you to just quit fornicating and lying and stealing. Those are works of the flesh. He doesn't want you to just simply quit getting drunk. That's a work of the flesh.

He wants your attitude right. He wants your disposition right. Let me tell you something, folks. I've seen some of the straightest Christians with the most ugly and hateful attitude you've ever seen in your life. And I'd much prefer to be around some of the unsaved than I had to be around them.

Now, what is God saying? God is saying it's not just our external that must be right. It is our internal as well. So having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So, the sphere of true worship, first and foremost, means that we worship in spirit. That means this, that we are holy and totally and completely engaged in our worship of God. Our mind, our heart, our will. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 103. I love this verse. Psalm 103. And notice if you would, verse 1. Psalm 103, verse one. Look what David says. Watch now, David said in Psalm 103 in verse one, "Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me bless his holy name." What's David say? Let's suppose David happened to be at the tabernacle. He says, I've got my body in the right place.

This is where I should be. But now, I must worship God with my spirit. So

Scripture Reading — Psalm 103:1

bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me,

everything that I am, will, spirit, soul, mind, by everything, I'm going to worship God. I'm not going to sit there like a nut on a lock. Do you understand that when we worship God, our minds are active. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 47. I often quote this passage. Let me just show you. Verse one, to begin with. Look what the psalmist said, Psalm 47, verse one, "Oh, clap your hands, all you people shouting to God with the voice of triumph."

Now, that's expressive, isn't it? I mean, man clapping, shouting. Well. Skip down to verse five, "God is going up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." Well, that's expressive. Watch verse six. "Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises." Well, that's expressive too. Ah, but look at verse 7. "For God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with what?" It doesn't do you a bit of good to sing and shout if there's no understanding.

If you don't know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're saying. And if your spirit's not involved in it. "Sing you praises with understanding." In other words, if we're going to give God praise, if we're going to worship God in our spirit, we must understand something. We must understand something about His person. You know, the Bible says God is great and God is greatly to be feared. How in the world can you praise God who is in and of Himself great without knowing some of His greatness? How in the world can you praise God for His mighty works, which the Bible says that we're to do? How can we praise Him if we don't even know what those works are?

Not just creation, but providence, redemption. We need to praise Him because of His approach that He's given us. Look in Hebrews 10. Let me just show you. In other words, when I come to praise God, if my spirit is involved, it means my mind is active. Look in Hebrews 10. Begin reading there in Hebrews 10. Verse 19, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He had consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having a high priesthood over the house of God, let us draw near with a

true heart and full assurance." Now just stop and think. The Old Testament saints did not have what we have. They could not run into the tabernacle. They could not enter into the holiest of all. Neither those in the temple could do that. But here, under the new covenant, under the blood of Jesus Christ, we may boldly approach God the Father. Can't you understand that when we worship God, we not only need to think of God's person and God's works, but we can also meditate upon the way of approach that He's given to us.

Look in your Bibles to Psalm 86. Psalm 86. Just showing you several things that your mind and your spirit could be engaged in. Look in Psalm 86. And notice if you would be getting there with verse 5. Psalm 86 verse 5. I like this passage, too. I can assure you. Psalm 86 verse 5. "For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive." Thank God for that. "For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Now watch. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications. And the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works."

Do you see what the psalmist is doing? He's praising God. He's meditating upon God. He says there's no God like you. There's no works like your works. Verse 9, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee." There's God's sovereignty. There's God's providential control. "O Lord, thou and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great and doest wondrous things. For thou art God alone. Teach me, O Lord. And I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart to fear thy name." He said, God, don't let me give you any half-hearted worship. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Let me praise you, Lord, with all of my heart. I'm going to tell you, the curse of this day and age among the Christians is that we are rendering to God a half-hearted worship. You compare what your experience at church is like with what your experience at a football game is like. Now, let me tell you something, if you go to a football game and if you are as serious as most folks are about football.

Prerequisites for Spiritual Worship

Three prerequisites: we must be spiritually alive (born again), spiritually assisted (the Holy Spirit enables us), and spiritually active (we deliberately engage our minds and wills in worship).

Now, let me give you three prerequisites for spiritual worship. The first one is very obvious. You must be spiritually alive. Ephesians 2 verse 1, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins." You cannot give God the worship that he deserves, nor can you worship in spirit unless you have been quickened by the spirit. What did our Lord tell Nicodemus? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again."

But the Greek word is anothen. You must be born from above. He says no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless he's born from above. So you cannot give God the worship that He demands unless you've been made alive in Jesus Christ. So the call to worship in reality, it's also a call to repentance and faith, a call to turn from your sins and to believe in Jesus Christ. So you must be spiritually alive. Secondly, you must be spiritually assisted.

Scripture Reading — John 15:5

Now, let me ask you a question. Whose responsibility is it to worship God aright? Yours. Now, how many of you, in and of yourself, can worship him aright? None. Help me out. Our Lord said something in John 15 that went like this. "Without me, you can do how much? Nothing. Without me, you can do nothing." You know what the Bible says in Romans 8 about the Spirit? "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself makes an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." What does the Holy Spirit do? He enables us. He helps us.

He assists us in prayer. He assists us in study. He assists us in worship. The psalmist said in Psalm 80 and verse 18, "Quicken us, and we shall call upon thy name." Quicken us! Many times the psalmist said, "Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned." I got news for you folks. If God doesn't turn you, you don't get turned. And if God doesn't quicken you, you do not get quickened. We must come to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Spirit. And the true worshippers, he said in Philippians 3 and verse 3, are those who worship Him in the Spirit. Now, we must be spiritually alive. We must be spiritually assisted. And thirdly, we must be spiritually active. Now, listen carefully. The divine energy of the spirit.

And our human activity or the human activity of the saint are concurrent realities, concurrent simply means they happen at the same time. Philippians 2, the apostle says,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:12-13

"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,"

verse 12. But the next verse, verse 13, says this,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:12-13

"for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure."

God works it in. We work it out. You can't work it out unless God is working it in.

Now, what am I trying to say? It means that when we get here physically, we must then consciously and deliberately turn our minds from things, from objects, from trying to plan what we're going to do tomorrow, next week, we must deliberately turn our minds and focus our minds upon God, upon His Word, upon His truth, asking God to assist us, to enable us, to give Him the honor and the glory that He deserves. Let me tell you something, folks. Listen carefully. I know many times we do not get to see each other for once a week and we want to fellowship and fellowship is wonderful. And conversing with each other is wonderful. But there comes a time we have to cut out the conversation. We have to cut out the fellowship and say, I came to worship God. And you have to say, Lord, I want to give you my thoughts. I want to give you my spirit.

Applications: Worship as Giving, Not Getting

We come to church to give God honor, not merely to be blessed. To seek only personal advantage is to mock God. True worship intends God's glory, and in giving we receive blessing.

I don't doubt that we're blessed when we worship God. I don't doubt that for a moment. But let me tell you something, folks. You don't come to church to be blessed. Did that shock you? You don't come to church to be entertained. Why do you come? You come to worship. You come not to get, but to give. You come to give God His honor, His glory, His due. Whether you get anything out of the service or not is really immaterial. You come to give God His worship, His honor, His glory.

David said over and over in Psalm 116, "I will pay my vows now in the presence of all thy people." What's he saying? I owe God something and I won't get together with all of God's people. I'm going to pay God what I owe him. I'm going to give him the honor and the glory that's due unto his name.

Now, I began by reading a quote from Stephen Charnock, and I want to end with a quote from Stephen Charnock. Listen to what he said. You don't have something that ought to humble you. He said, "To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage of myself, that is, I come to be blessed. I come to have a good time. To pretend homage to God and intend only honor to myself is rather to mock God than to worship Him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified, we set God below ourselves and imagine that he should submit his own honor to our advantage. We make ourselves more glorious than God as though we were not made for him, but that he was made for us. A spiritual worshiper performs not worship for some hopes of carnal advantage. He uses ordinances to bring God and his soul together to be more fitted to honor God in the world and in his particular calling." Did you hear that? To pretend to honor God and intend only my own advantage is to mock God rather than to honor Him.

We do not come to get. We come to give. Now it is true, and blessed be His holy name, that in giving, we always get. That is true. You cannot honor God the way God deserves to be honored without being blessed by God for doing so. But you don't come to get the blessing. You come to give God the worship and the honor that's due under His holy name.

If we understood that, we would never take the attitude, "It's Sunday morning. I've got to get up and go to church or everybody's going to think I'm backslidden." Oh, no. If you understood this, you would say, "blessed be God. It's the Lord's Day. I get to give God public worship and public honor and public glory. Because He deserves it. He's the only one true and living God and beside Him, there's none other." Let's pray.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Nature of God as Spirit

Summary: God is spirit—invisible, immaterial, incorporeal. Worship must correspond to His essence by engaging the human spirit.

Evidence: Weaver explains that God is spirit (John 4:24), meaning He has no body or parts. Anthropomorphic terms are accommodations. Worship must be in spirit because God is spirit.

The Incomprehensibility of God

Summary: Finite humans cannot fully comprehend an infinite God, but we must seek accurate knowledge of Him. It is sin to neglect this pursuit.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Charnock: 'If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conceptions must be as infinite as His nature.' Only God can comprehend God (Matthew 11:27).

Worship in Spirit and Truth

Summary: True worship combines heartfelt engagement (spirit) with accurate knowledge of God (truth). Neither ignorant sincerity nor dead orthodoxy is acceptable.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Gerizim worship (sincere but ignorant) and Jerusalem worship (truthful but dead). Jesus says true worshipers worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).

The Father's Seeking Grace

Summary: True worshipers are produced by God's sovereign initiative. The Father seeks such worshipers; salvation is monergistic.

Evidence: Weaver points to John 4:23 ('the Father seeketh such') and the woman at the well as an example of Christ seeking the lost. He contrasts monergism with synergism.

Wholehearted Engagement in Worship

Summary: Worship must involve the totality of our being—mind, heart, will. Half-hearted worship is a curse of the modern church.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 103:1 ('all that is within me'), Psalm 47:7 ('sing ye praises with understanding'), and Paul's example of serving God with his spirit (Romans 1:9).

Worship as Giving, Not Getting

Summary: The primary purpose of worship is to give God honor, not to receive a blessing. Seeking personal advantage mocks God.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Charnock: 'To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage of myself... is rather to mock God than to worship Him.'

Key Arguments

God is not indifferent to how He is worshiped

Summary: Scripture shows God hates and despises worship that is not according to His will. Acceptable worship is a matter of divine revelation.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'God is not indifferent as to how we worship Him, because many times in Scripture God says, "I hate, I despise, I will not have your sacrifice and your worship."'

True worship is bounded by spirit and truth

Summary: Jesus' words in John 4:23-24 establish that acceptable worship must be both spiritual (heartfelt) and truthful (according to God's revelation).

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the true worship of God is bounded by spirit, worship in spirit, and worship in truth.' He notes the repetition in verses 23 and 24.

Christ's coming inaugurated true worship

Summary: The 'hour' Jesus speaks of is the era of His completed work. Old Testament shadows are replaced by reality in Christ.

Evidence: Weaver explains Hebrews 1:1-3 and 10:1,9, showing that God has spoken finally through His Son and taken away the first covenant to establish the second.

Salvation is monergistic, not synergistic

Summary: God alone initiates and accomplishes salvation. True worshipers are the product of the Father's seeking grace, not human effort.

Evidence: Weaver defines monergism and synergism, citing John 4:3-4 (Jesus 'must needs go through Samaria'), Luke 19:10, and Jonah 2:9.

Both ignorant sincerity and dead orthodoxy are unacceptable

Summary: Gerizim worship represents zeal without knowledge; Jerusalem worship represents truth without heart. God rejects both extremes.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Gerizim and Jerusalem are symbolic of all that is abominable and unacceptable to God.' He gives examples of Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, and Pharisees.

Worship requires spiritual life, assistance, and activity

Summary: One must be born again, enabled by the Holy Spirit, and deliberately engage the mind and will in worship.

Evidence: Weaver cites Ephesians 2:1, John 15:5, Romans 8:26, and Philippians 2:12-13 to show the necessity of divine enablement and human responsibility.

Scripture References

John 4:19-26

Context: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman about true worship.

John 10:30

Context: Cited to show that when Jesus called God Father, He was claiming equality with God: 'I and my Father are one.'

Galatians 4:4-6

Context: Referenced to show believers are adopted as sons and cry 'Abba, Father' by the Spirit.

Matthew 11:27

Context: Quoted to demonstrate that only the Son knows the Father fully, and only the Father knows the Son fully.

Hebrews 1:1-3

Context: Read to show that God has spoken finally through His Son, who is the brightness of His glory and express image of His person.

Hebrews 10:1,9

Context: Cited to show the law was a shadow; Christ came to do God's will and take away the first covenant to establish the second.

John 4:3-4

Context: Referenced to show Jesus 'must needs go through Samaria' to seek the woman, illustrating the Father's seeking grace.

Romans 3:10-12

Context: Alluded to ('There is none that seeketh after God') to argue that no one seeks God apart from His grace.

Luke 19:10

Context: Quoted: 'For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.'

Jeremiah 23:29-32

Context: Read to show God is against those who steal, add to, or substitute for His Word.

Ephesians 4:23-24

Context: Read to show believers are renewed in the spirit of their mind and created in righteousness and true holiness.

Romans 1:8-9

Context: Quoted to show Paul served God 'with my spirit' in the gospel, indicating spiritual engagement.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Context: Quoted: 'Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'

Psalm 103:1

Context: Quoted: 'Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.'

Psalm 47:1,5-7

Context: Read to show expressive praise, culminating in 'sing ye praises with understanding.'

Hebrews 10:19-22

Context: Read to show believers have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus and should draw near with a true heart.

Psalm 86:5-11

Context: Read to illustrate meditation on God's attributes and a prayer for an undivided heart to fear His name.

Ephesians 2:1

Context: Cited: 'And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.'

John 15:5

Context: Quoted: 'Without me ye can do nothing.'

Philippians 2:12-13

Context: Cited to show the concurrence of divine working and human activity: 'Work out your own salvation... for it is God which worketh in you.'

Historical References

Stephen Charnock (Puritan author)

Context: Weaver quotes from Charnock's 'The Existence and the Attributes of God' on the incomprehensibility of God and the sin of not seeking true knowledge of Him.

Westminster Confession of Faith and Philadelphia Confession of Faith

Context: Mentioned as sources affirming God's immateriality and that anthropomorphic terms are figures of speech.

Martin Lloyd-Jones

Context: Weaver recounts a story from Dr. Lloyd-Jones about a blacksmith who felt he 'ought to be doing something' during a fire, illustrating ignorant sincerity.

Samaritan worship on Mount Gerizim

Context: Historical background: Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, rejected other Scriptures, and continued worship on Gerizim after their temple was destroyed.

Important Quotes

We cannot have an adequate or a suitable conception of God. He, that is God, dwells in inaccessible light, inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy as well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conception must be as infinite as His nature.

Significance: Charnock's quote establishes the infinite gap between God's nature and human understanding, underscoring the need for humility and revelation in worship.

Though we cannot have an adequate conception of God, we must not content ourselves without any conception of Him.

Significance: Charnock balances God's incomprehensibility with our duty to seek true knowledge of Him, making ignorance a sin.

You worship you know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

Significance: Jesus' words contrasting ignorant Samaritan worship with the knowledge possessed by the Jews, setting up the need for worship in truth.

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Significance: Psalm 103:1 is used as a model of wholehearted, spirit-engaged worship involving the totality of one's being.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean that God is spirit, and how should that affect the way we worship?

Context: Weaver explains that God is invisible, immaterial, and incorporeal, so worship must engage our spirit—the part of us most like Him.

How can we balance the truth that God is incomprehensible with the command to know Him?

Context: Charnock's quotes highlight that while we cannot fully comprehend God, it is sin not to seek accurate knowledge of Him.

In what ways might our worship resemble Gerizim worship (sincere but ignorant) or Jerusalem worship (truthful but dead)?

Context: Weaver contrasts these two types of unacceptable worship and calls for worship in spirit and truth.

What does it mean to worship 'in spirit'? How can we cultivate wholehearted engagement in corporate worship?

Context: Weaver describes worship in spirit as involving the mind, heart, and will actively focused on God, not mere physical presence.

How does understanding that the Father seeks true worshipers change our view of salvation and worship?

Context: Weaver emphasizes monergism—that God alone initiates salvation and seeks worshipers, as seen in the woman at the well.

What are practical ways to prepare ourselves physically and spiritually for worship?

Context: Weaver mentions the need for rest, turning our minds from distractions, and deliberately focusing on God's attributes and works.

How does the idea that we come to worship to give rather than to get challenge common attitudes about church attendance?

Context: Weaver argues that the primary purpose of worship is to give God honor, not to be blessed or entertained.

Applications

Seek accurate knowledge of God

Summary: Though we cannot fully comprehend God, we must diligently study Scripture to know Him truly. Ignorance is not an excuse; it is sin not to pursue a true notion of God.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Charnock: 'It is our sin not to endeavor after a true notion of Him.' He urges learning about God's attributes and works.

Engage the whole self in worship

Summary: Worship must involve the mind, heart, and will. Believers should consciously turn from distractions and focus on God's person, works, and approach through Christ.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 103:1 and explains that our spirit must move our bodies and minds in worship, not just sit passively.

Prepare physically and spiritually for corporate worship

Summary: Physical weariness leads to spiritual sluggishness. Believers should get adequate rest, especially on Saturday night, to be alert and engaged on the Lord's Day.

Evidence: Weaver shares his personal practice of going to bed early and instructing his children to be home by 11 p.m. on Saturdays.

Come to worship to give, not to get

Summary: The primary purpose of worship is to give God the honor and glory due His name. Seeking personal blessing as the main goal mocks God.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Charnock: 'To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage of myself... is rather to mock God than to worship Him.'

Reject both ignorant sincerity and dead orthodoxy

Summary: Believers must avoid the extremes of zeal without knowledge (like the Samaritans) and truth without heart (like the Pharisees). True worship combines spirit and truth.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Gerizim and Jerusalem worship and warns against formalism, ritualism, and sentimentalism.

Depend on the Holy Spirit's assistance

Summary: We cannot worship aright in our own strength. We must ask the Holy Spirit to enable and assist us in prayer, study, and worship.

Evidence: Weaver cites John 15:5 and Romans 8:26, emphasizing that the Spirit helps our infirmities and intercedes for us.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:44:30Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:59:56Z

Clean Transcript

Acceptable Worship - Part 4

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let's open our Bible today to the book of John chapter 4, and everyone in here should know that we've been dealing with John chapter 4 for the last three weeks, and this is the fourth message on acceptable worship. John chapter 4, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. John 4 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 said unto 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. 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. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, who is called Christ."
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When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Let me take just a few moments and kind of give a broad overview of what we've covered for the last three weeks. And the first message I pointed out, first of all, that it is our duty and our obligation to worship God. We are duty bound and obligated to worship him, not only by virtue of creation—He is the Creator and we are the creature. So there is a creation right. We're also duty bound and obligated to worship Him because of a providential right that He has.
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This is providence that sustains us and preserves us and protects us. We're also duty bound because of a redemption right. He has redeemed us. We are His people. And then we're also duty bound to worship Him because of a kingship right. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and deserves all of our worship.
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Secondly, I pointed out that God is not indifferent as to how we worship Him, because many times in Scripture God says, "I hate, I despise, I will not have your sacrifice and your worship." Thirdly, I pointed out that acceptable worship is a matter of divine revelation. That is, we must worship God, not just any old way we please, not by subjectivism, rationalism, sentimentalism, pragmatism, but based upon the Word of God. And then I pointed out, fourthly, that acceptable worship is a fruit of the work of Jesus Christ. And then we began to look at the proper object of worship, and we saw that the proper object of worship, first of all, was the One True and the Living God. But not just simply worshiping God in a general theistic sense. We must worship the one true and the living God as he's revealed himself in the totality of scripture. And we saw, first of all, that he's revealed himself as the father of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mystery of the Godhead.
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And let me say this again. When Jesus Christ called God father, it was not in the same sense that we call him father. When Jesus Christ referred to God as His Father, it was an acknowledgment of His oneness, the sameness of essence, that He was saying that He Himself was and is God. And of course, that's what He said in John 10 in verse 30, "I and my Father are one." So God has revealed Himself as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. I took you through Scripture, and I showed you how in the New Testament the early Christians worshipped God as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, how that He was the Father of believers in the marvels of His grace.
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We went to Galatians chapter 4, when we found that in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And then He said, and because you are sons, He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, whereby you cry, Abba, Father. So very obviously then we are now sons in the marvels of His grace. And then last week I pointed out how that we must worship the one true and living God who is in and of Himself Spirit.
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I tried to show you there's a difference between a relationship and the essence of an individual. When we refer to God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ or the Father of believers, those two refer to a relationship. But when you worship God who is spirit, that is what God is in and of himself. That is his essence. God is spirit. Now there are a lot of things that I tried to point out last night or last week in relationship to this. First of all, since God is spirit, he is invisible. He's referred to over and over as the invisible God.
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Secondly, I pointed out, God is also immaterial, that is, incorporeal. He does not have a body. He does not have bodily parts or passions. I read to you not only from the Westminster Confession of Faith, but also from the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. And whenever you read about the eyes of God, or the hand of God, or the right arm of God, those are anthropomorphic terms. Anthropos is the Greek word for man, morphe is the Greek word for form, so anthropomorphic just simply means man-form speaking. It's just putting it in language that you and I can grasp and understand. So when you read about the eye of God, it refers to God's omniscience. When you read about the right hand or the right arm of God, it refers to God's omnipotence, His power.
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When you refer to the feet of God, it is the omnipresence of God, that God is everywhere at once in the totality of His being. So we must understand in some sense of the word that God is Spirit. He's not just simply the one true and the living God. He is the God who is the Father of the Lord Jesus, the Father of believers, but in and of Himself, He is Spirit. Now, any worship that does not come to God in the totality of scriptural revelation, that is, as the one true and living God, as the Father of the Lord Jesus, as the Father of believers, and as the God who is in and of himself Spirit, would be classified as unacceptable worship.
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Now, I have in my library a two-volume set of Stephen Charnock's books entitled The Existence and the Attributes of God. I want to just give you just a short paragraph or two of what Stephen Charnock wrote. Charnock was a Puritan. He's been dead for hundreds of years. But here is what he said. Listen carefully. He said, "We cannot have an adequate or a suitable conception of God. He, that is God, dwells in inaccessible light, inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy as well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conception must be as infinite as His nature." Now let me just stop right there.
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Let me ask that you look in your Bibles to Matthew 11 and verse 27. I pointed this out last week. I'm going to point it out again this week because it's vitally important. Look in Matthew 11, verse 27. And let me re-read just the latter part of that sentence of Charnock. Listen to what he says. "If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conceptions must be as infinite as His nature." What is he saying? He's saying if we can have thoughts of God the way He should be thought of, then we would have to be God ourselves. Because only God can comprehend God. That's why in Matthew 11, verse 27, our Lord says, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Now watch carefully. And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." So only the Son knows the Father, and only the Father knows the Son totally, completely, fully.
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Why? Because the Father is God, and the Son is God. So this is what Charnock is saying. If we were to have thoughts as excellent as His nature is, we would have to be as infinite as His nature. Alright?
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Now, let me just stop and emphasize one thing. Let me show you the greatness, the absolute greatness of the one true and living God. One of our problems on this earth is that we don't understand some things. OK, another problem we have is that we are forgetful. Extremely forgetful. Like when you walk into the other room and you think, why did I come here? I mean, you know, you understand that. But now stop and think about this with me.
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When the eternal state comes and we are in resurrected, glorified bodies with perfect minds and perfect memories, that means whatever we hear, we will understand. We will comprehend and we will never, ever forget it. In eternity, we will be forever learning truth about our great and glorious God, and yet never, ever fully comprehending Him.
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Now you think about that. An eternity of knowing truth, of retaining truth, never forgetting truth, and yet never, ever fully comprehending God. Because only God can comprehend God.
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Now listen to what Charnock says. He says, "All of our imaginations of Him cannot represent Him, because every created species is finite. It cannot therefore represent to us a full and substantial notion to one who is infinite." Just stop and think about that one thought. If every individual who has ever lived, that is now living and shall ever live, if every individual could have an accurate imagination and an accurate thought of God, and you put all of those imaginations and accurate thoughts together, it still would not be a total or full or complete imagination or portrayal of God. Why? Because all of us are finite and God is infinite. And the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Now listen to what he says, this is the important part. "Though we cannot have an adequate conception of God, we must not content ourselves without any conception of Him." He says just because you cannot comprehend God fully, totally and completely does not mean that you cannot have any conception of Him. Now listen, it is our sin not to endeavor after a true notion of Him.
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It is our weakness that we cannot attain a full notion of Him. Angels cannot entertain a full knowledge of God even though they have not sinned. It is their nature as angels not to be able to have a full knowledge of Him, but they can have an accurate knowledge of Him of what they do know. So what Charnock is saying is this, we have to realize on the one hand that we will never ever fully, totally, completely comprehend God. Now he said, although we cannot have a perfect knowledge of him, that does not mean we cannot have an accurate knowledge of him of what we do know. He said, it is our sin not to seek after that true knowledge of God. It is our weakness that we cannot attain a full knowledge of God. And then, of course, he gives you the angels who have never sinned, and yet they do not have a full knowledge of God.
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Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to John chapter 4, because our Lord said in verse 24 that God is spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now, we may not be able to comprehend God fully as he is, but we must never fancy him for what he is not. God is spirit. So now we've given the proper object of worship, the one true and the living God, listen, who has revealed himself as the father of the Lord Jesus, the father of believers, and the God who is spirit. He is immaterial. He is invisible.
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He is incorporeal, that is, he does not have bodily parts. Now that we know who is the proper object of worship, what is the proper sphere of worship?
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Now, watch carefully, verse 21, "Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain," that is Mount Gerizim, "nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." Now verse 21 refers to a geographical sphere. Our Lord is saying the true sphere of worship has nothing to do with geography. It is not where we worship, but who we worship that counts. It is not when we worship, but how we worship that counts. In other words, our Lord is saying it has to do with our understanding, it has to do with our attitude, where He says God is spirit and they that worship Him, watch now, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
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Now, I'm going to show you just today one of these truths. But the true worship of God is bounded by spirit, worship in spirit, and worship in truth. So God has said, here's the direction in which you are to go to give me my proper worship. You must worship on the one hand in spirit, and you must worship on the other hand in truth. Now let me show you how important this is.
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Look in your Bibles in verse 23. Our Lord says, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Now note, the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. "For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Did you notice the same truth is repeated twice? In two distinct verses. Verse 23, he says, "the Father seeketh such to worship him in spirit and truth." And then he says in verse 24, "they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
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Now, let me make just several casual observations before I get down to explaining the text for today. The first one is based upon verse 23. Our Lord says, "but the hour cometh." Look what he says. "And now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him." Now, worship in spirit and truth is the result of the final revelation of God in Christ. He says the hour is coming. And then he says, "and now is."
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Now, you've got to understand that before Jesus Christ came, all of the Old Testament, which I've pointed out, especially in relationship to the tabernacle and the temple, all these things were types. They were emblems. They were shadows. They were not reality. Look in your Bibles very quickly, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 1, hold John 4. Well, look in Hebrews chapter 1. And let me show you, beginning there with verses 1 through 3. Look what the Bible says. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. The Bible says, "God, who at sundry times and in divers or different manners, spake in time past in the fathers by the prophets."
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Now, just stop and think. How did God speak in times past to the people through the prophets? Well, sometimes he gave the message directly to the prophets. Sometimes there were visions. Sometimes there were dreams. I mean, just all kinds of ways God spoke to those prophets. Now, here's my question. Is God doing the same thing today? And the answer is no. Watch. "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, different ways, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the expressed image
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of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Now, how has God spoken to us in these last days? Through His Son.
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Now, what am I trying to say? Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. There is no other revelation to come. Anyone who will not trust in Jesus Christ will never be converted, will never be saved. There is no other Savior, nor will there be any additional Saviors or additional revelations. Jesus Christ is the full, final revelation of God.
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Now, our Lord was alive when He was talking in John 4. He said, "woman, believe me, the hour is coming." It's not yet here because I'm still alive. I have not yet given myself as a sacrifice. I have not yet completed my Father's mission. But the hour is coming and now He is. I'm here to complete it. When the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Why?
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Because Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. Look in Hebrews chapter 10, if you would. There's so many passages I could read nine, but look in chapter 10, verse 1. He says, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continue to make the comers therein too perfect." So those ceremonial laws never made anyone perfect.
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They were merely types, they were merely emblems, they were merely shadows. If you look in verse 9, he says, "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that it may establish the second." So all of those Old Testament ceremonies around the tabernacle and the temple were done away with. Why? Because now we have reality in Christ. We have the fullness of truth in Jesus Christ. So he is saying that worship in spirit and in truth is a direct result of the full and final revelation of God in Jesus Christ. So he said in John 4, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
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Now watch, here's the second casual observation before we get started today. Go back in verse 23 of John 4. He says, "but 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." Let me say this very clearly. True worship and true worshipers are a fruit of the father's seeking grace. It is the Father who seeks true worship. It is the Father who seeks true worshipers. By the way, this whole story about the woman at the well stems from this one truth. Go back in your Bibles to John chapter 4 and look at verse 3. John 4 verse 3.
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He that is Christ left Judea and departed again to Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Why must he needs go through Samaria to find this woman? She wasn't seeking him. She didn't even know who he was. When he asked her for a drink of water, she said, "how is it that you being a Judahite asked to drink of me, a woman of Samaria, for the Judahites have no dealing with the Samaritans." He said, "woman, if you knew who it was who said give me water to drink, you would have asked of me living water." But see, she didn't even know who he was. She was not seeking him. He was seeking her.
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I remember I was preaching in a church in Greenville, South Carolina, and I got there a little bit early, as I always try to do. And there was a woman behind the pulpit singing because she was going to sing a special that night. She had a very beautiful voice and she was singing a song and I suppose it was the chorus. It went like this. "I found him. I found him." Beautiful voice.
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I stood there and I listened. When she got through singing, I said, "you know, there's only one thing wrong with that song." She said, "what is it?" I said, "it's unscriptural. You didn't find him. You weren't even looking for him. Read Romans Chapter 3. There's none that doeth good. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way. No, not one." Oh, in that case, then, and she started singing, "He found me." Now you've got it right. He found you. You didn't find Him. You remember Luke Chapter 15? Luke 19? Look in Luke Chapter 19.
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Watch what is said there. Look at Luke 19. Our Lord says this very plainly in verse 10. Help me out now. Luke 19, verse 10. Watch carefully. "For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." The Son of Man does not simply do the saving. He does the seeking as well. And what did He do in Luke 15? He went after that one lost sheep.
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And he sought it, how long did he found it? And then he brought it home. You see, the truth of matters is, folks, true worship is a result of the father's seeking grace. Let me give you two theological terms. Monergism and synergism. Synergism is a heresy. Synergism, sin, SYN means together, ergo is the Greek word to work. Synergism just simply means that the sinner works together with God in order to his salvation. Mono means one or alone, and ergo is to work. Monergism means that God works alone in salvation. Who was it that initiated, that planned, that determined salvation? It was God.
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Who was it that sent Christ? It was God the Father. Who was it that redeemed us? It was God, through His Son Jesus Christ. Who is it that convicts us? It's God the Holy Spirit. The work of salvation is the work of God. Yes, we may respond to God's grace and we may respond to God's salvation and we may come willingly when He convicts us and when He regenerates us, but we do not help Him save us. Salvation is the work of God. In fact, Jonah 2 says that salvation is of the Lord. So very obviously, it is the Father who seeks true worship and true worshipers. Then if you look back in your Bibles at John chapter 4 and verse 24, the Bible says God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So here is the absolute necessity of spiritual and truthful worship. Those who worship God acceptably must do so by worshiping him in spirit and in truth.
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Now, let me give you what I'm going to call the inherent meaning of this term. God says that we must worship him in spirit. In order to understand what our Lord is giving us, we must compare Gerizim worship and Jerusalem worship. Notice, if you would please, what our Lord said in verse 21. "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain," that's Gerizim, that's where the Samaritans worship, "you shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father." So our Lord here is giving us a comparison between Gerizim worship and Jerusalem worship. Now let me ask, what was the mark of Gerizim worship?
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Let me just tell you. It was sincere, but ignorant worship. Look what our Lord said in verse 22. He told the woman, "you worship, you know not what." I mean, she may be sincere, but you're totally ignorant when it comes to worship. Gerizim worship is sincere, but ignorant worship. When the Samaritan's Temple was destroyed, they continued to worship on Mount Gerizim. They continued to sacrifice there. They continued with their own priesthood. And I told you earlier that the Samaritans only received the Pentateuch as the Word of God.
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That is the first five books of Moses. They rejected the historical books. They rejected the minor prophets, the major prophets. And so our Lord says, "you worship, you know not what." So what then is the mark of Gerizim worship? It is sincere but ignorant worship. It is zeal without knowledge. It is sincerity without truth. I've heard all my life people say, "well, you know, it doesn't really matter what you believe just so you're sincere." You ever heard that?
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I'll tell you what I can do. I can put some strychnine in a Coca-Cola and hand it to you. And you can sincerely believe that you're drinking Coca-Cola. But in just a little while, you're going to be sincerely dead. Your sincerity does not help you. One of my favorite stories, it was one related by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones. Years ago, I got to meet Dr. Jones before he died.
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He was from England and a tremendous scholar, a preacher. He was a medical doctor and God called him to preach. And then he went to preaching one of the greatest expositors of Scripture that I've ever known, never read behind. But he told about this huge fire that happened in a warehouse in London, and people formed a bucket brigade and they were passing buckets of water trying to put out the fire. And one man who happened to be a blacksmith ran into the building with his blacksmith hammer, big sledgehammer, and started beating on an iron beam that was already hot, by the way. And finally, one man stopped him and said, "what are you doing?" Well, he said, "I'm trying to bend this beam." He said, "man, he said, if you succeed in bending that beam, you're going to bring this building down upon us. What are you doing?" Said the blacksmith kind of stopped. He said, "well, I don't really know.
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But under the circumstances, I thought I ought to be doing something." Well, that's a picture of what you and I would call Gerizim worship. It's truth. It is sincerity without truth. It is sincerity, but absolutely ignorant.
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Now, let me stop before I make some comparisons. What was Jerusalem worship? Jerusalem worship was intelligent worship. He said in verse 22, he said, "we know what we worship." It was truth without heart. Truth without sincerity. Truth without genuineness. Maybe orthodox. Maybe fundamental. But no reality. Do you remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Both groups were really wrong. But if you were to ask which was the group that was the most fundamental, you'd have to say the Pharisees. The Sadducees did not even believe in the resurrection from the dead. They didn't believe in angels. Well, the Pharisees believed in both. And so here you have Jerusalem worship. They may have had the truth. But they perverted it. They may have professed to believe the truth.
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But they never applied it. And what did the Pharisees do? They gave, but only to be seen of men. They prayed, but only to be heard of men. They fasted, but only for show. They had a form of the truth, but they lacked the heart, they lacked the power of the truth. So on the one hand, you have Gerizim worship, which is sincere but ignorant. On the other hand, you have Jerusalem worship, which is truth, but dead truth.
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Now, the woman says, "you're a prophet. You can tell us where's the right place to worship. Do we worship here in Gerizim or do we worship at Jerusalem?" Our Lord said, "woman, believe me. The hour is coming and now is when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You don't even know what you're worshiping. We know what we worship. But the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." The right sphere of worship is not sincere but ignorant worship. It is not truth but dead worship. He said the right sphere is when you worship in spirit and in truth.
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There must be a going out of a heart and not just a lifting up of the hands. There must be a pouring forth of the spirit and not just words. There must be a lifting up of the mind and soul. In other words, the spirit of man must be active. What are you saying is this? The scriptures, they teach us who to worship and when to worship and what to worship. But they also teach us how to worship. Therefore, all formalism, all hypocrisy, all ritualism, all ceremonialism, all churchism must go. And you must have real, genuine worship.
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No sentimentalism, no ignorance, no idolatry, no traditionalism. No, you must worship the Father in spirit. Now watch. If I were to ask you, what are the two greatest hindrances to true worship? I hope you would come up with two simple words. One is obvious, idolatry. Idolatry is one of the greatest hindrances to true worship. The second one is formalism. Gerizim and Jerusalem are symbolic of all that is abominable and unacceptable to God. You had sincere but ignorant worship, and you had truth but dead worship.
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Now you just stop and think with me. Of the people who worship sincerely but ignorantly. Look at the Mormons. Some of those folks are some of the most moral, kind, gracious folks that exist today. But they believe that Jesus Christ and Satan were brothers. And they believe that somehow they're going to be their own God. Look at the Roman Catholics. Did you know some of those Roman Catholics, and I realize there's probably not some in this country like that, but you go to some of the other pagan countries, they pierce themselves.
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They crawl on crushed glass. Some of them even crucify themselves or have themselves crucified, trying to atone for their own sins. Look at the Muslims. They pray five times a day. They are sincere. But it is totally ignorant worship and unacceptable because it is not to the one true and living God who has revealed Himself as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of believers, and the God who is Spirit.
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No, it's not to Him. And they're ignorant of Him, and they're ignorant of His Word. They may be sincere, but they are in ignorance. Usually, in all of these groups, you will find either a rejection of Scripture, or a rejection of part of the Scripture, or you will find an adding to Scripture. Hold John 4, look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 23. Let me show you. Look in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23.
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Notice if you would please begin in verse 29. Jeremiah 23, verse 29. Watch carefully. God says, "Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh rock in pieces?" God's word is truth. Now watch. "Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor." That is, they're taking from the word of God. Verse 31. "Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith," That is adding to the word of God. "Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams of the Lord and do tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their likeness.
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Yet I sent them not nor commanded them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, said the Lord." That is substituting for the word of God. So God said, I'm against those who take from my word. I'm against those who add to my word. I'm against those who substitute for my word. You look at all these other groups. They either add to, take from, or substitute for. Nelson, I'm against all of those. You see, folks, our Lord is saying that real, genuine worship is worship in spirit. It is not Gerizim worship sincerely, but ignorantly. It's not Jerusalem worship.
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Oh, we've got truth, but you're cold and dead and barren. I marvel at the fact that there are so many churches in this country that profess to be Christian churches and profess to love the Lord and love the truth. And they are so absolutely eat up with ignorance of the Bible. It is pathetic. How in the world can you please God if you don't even know who he is or what pleases him? And how in the world do you think that God, who is spirit, He's going to be satisfied with plopping our bodies on a pew and pitching in a quarter and singing to Him and listening to a sermon and going out just as unaffected and unmoved as when we came in. How in the world do we think that could ever please God?
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I just had a good friend write me a letter about what I said last week. He listened to the tape about music. He said, "I don't want any of this cold, dead music either." Well, that's true. Let me tell you something, folks. You may have a hymn and it may be grounded in theology, but that does not mean that you have to sing it formally, coldly, deadly.
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If you understood truth, as I'm going to show you today, you would be worshiping God in spirit. Now, I'm not saying experience at any cost. I'm not saying that at all, but I'm going to tell you this. We are not to have rigid formalism at any cost either. We must have what our Lord talks about worship in spirit and truth. Let me give you the implication of this. Let me explain what it is to worship in spirit. Since God is spirit, that means we must worship him in that part of our being which is most like Him. What is that part of our being which is most like Him? It's our spirit.
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Look in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23.
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Watch carefully "and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." That part of us, which is non material. That part of us, which is the moral image of God, our spirits. That is with which we are to worship the God who is spirit. We must draw near to him with our spirit, for he is spirit.
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Now, let me show you. Let me make a distinction for you. Look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter one. I don't suppose there was a greater preacher than the Apostle Paul, other than our Lord himself. But I want you to note what the Apostle Paul said. And let me try to give you an illustration that will help you understand. He said in verse eight of Romans chapter one, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all." See, Paul was a southerner. "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." Now, look what he says. "For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit.
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And the gospel of his son that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers." Let me ask you. Paul said he served God with his spirit. Do you think Paul just kind of floated around the Roman Empire? Well, of course not. If Paul got where he was going, he walked or he rode a horse or he rode a chariot. He used his legs. He used his body.
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It was his physical voice that was doing the preaching. It was his physical hands that were doing the ministering. But Paul said, although I'm using my body, I'm serving God with my spirit. There was a spiritual energy. There was a totality of his being that was motivating and pushing his body. You understand that? So when we worship God in our spirit, it's not that we just sit there and say, well, I'm going to let my little spirit do it today.
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I don't have to do anything. Oh, no, no, no. It's our spirit that moves our bodies, that motivates our mind. I've quoted this verse to you so many times, but let me quote it again. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Now listen carefully. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." See, God doesn't want you to just quit fornicating and lying and stealing. Those are works of the flesh. He doesn't want you to just simply quit getting drunk. That's a work of the flesh.
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He wants your attitude right. He wants your disposition right. Let me tell you something, folks. I've seen some of the straightest Christians with the most ugly and hateful attitude you've ever seen in your life. And I'd much prefer to be around some of the unsaved than I had to be around them.
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Now, what is God saying? God is saying it's not just our external that must be right. It is our internal as well. So having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So, the sphere of true worship, first and foremost, means that we worship in spirit. That means this, that we are holy and totally and completely engaged in our worship of God.
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Our mind, our heart, our will. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 103. I love this verse. Psalm 103. And notice if you would, verse 1. Psalm 103, verse one. Look what David says. Watch now, David said in Psalm 103 in verse one, "Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me bless his holy name." What's David say? Let's suppose David happened to be at the tabernacle. He says, I've got my body in the right place.
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This is where I should be. But now, I must worship God with my spirit. So bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, everything that I am, will, spirit, soul, mind, by everything, I'm going to worship God. I'm not going to sit there like a nut on a lock. Do you understand that when we worship God, our minds are active. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 47.
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I often quote this passage. Let me just show you. Verse one, to begin with. Look what the psalmist said, Psalm 47, verse one, "Oh, clap your hands, all you people shouting to God with the voice of triumph."
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Now, that's expressive, isn't it? I mean, man clapping, shouting. Well. Skip down to verse five, "God is going up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." Well, that's expressive. Watch verse six. "Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises." Well, that's expressive too. Ah, but look at verse 7. "For God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with what?" It doesn't do you a bit of good to sing and shout if there's no understanding.
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If you don't know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're saying. And if your spirit's not involved in it. "Sing you praises with understanding." In other words, if we're going to give God praise, if we're going to worship God in our spirit, we must understand something. We must understand something about His person. You know, the Bible says God is great and God is greatly to be feared. How in the world can you praise God who is in and of Himself great without knowing some of His greatness? How in the world can you praise God for His mighty works, which the Bible says that we're to do? How can we praise Him if we don't even know what those works are?
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Not just creation, but providence, redemption. We need to praise Him because of His approach that He's given us. Look in Hebrews 10. Let me just show you. In other words, when I come to praise God, if my spirit is involved, it means my mind is active. Look in Hebrews 10. Begin reading there in Hebrews 10. Verse 19, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He had consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having a high priesthood over the house of God, let us draw near with a
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true heart and full assurance." Now just stop and think. The Old Testament saints did not have what we have. They could not run into the tabernacle. They could not enter into the holiest of all. Neither those in the temple could do that. But here, under the new covenant, under the blood of Jesus Christ, we may boldly approach God the Father. Can't you understand that when we worship God, we not only need to think of God's person and God's works, but we can also meditate upon the way of approach that He's given to us.
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Look in your Bibles to Psalm 86. Psalm 86. Just showing you several things that your mind and your spirit could be engaged in. Look in Psalm 86. And notice if you would be getting there with verse 5. Psalm 86 verse 5. I like this passage, too. I can assure you. Psalm 86 verse 5. "For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive." Thank God for that. "For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Now watch. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications. And the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works."
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Do you see what the psalmist is doing? He's praising God. He's meditating upon God. He says there's no God like you. There's no works like your works. Verse 9, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee." There's God's sovereignty. There's God's providential control. "O Lord, thou and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great and doest wondrous things. For thou art God alone. Teach me, O Lord. And I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart to fear thy name." He said, God, don't let me give you any half-hearted worship. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Let me praise you, Lord, with all of my heart. I'm going to tell you, the curse of this day and age among the Christians is that we are rendering to God a half-hearted worship. You compare what your experience at church is like with what your experience at a football game is like. Now, let me tell you something, if you go to a football game and if you are as serious as most folks are about football.
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You know that when they go there, they stand, they cheer, they root, they cry, they beg, they pray, they go crazy. They want that team to win more than anything else. And then they come to church and they just. Well, I'm here. There's no going out of the spirit. There's no concentrating in the mind upon the word of God or the attributes of God. There's no considering his providential blessing and control. They just sit there. People give greater worship to a football than they do God.
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Now, I'm not saying we're to have a stomping, hand clapping, pew climbing service. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is this, our spirits, our hearts, the totality of our being ought to be so engaged in our worship. Like when you come from a football game, you are exhilarated, especially if you're team one. And you're exhausted. And when you get through with church, you ought to be exhilarated because you worship God and you ought to also be exhausted.
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Let me tell you something, folks. There is no work like mental work. I'd rather dig a ditch any day than have to exercise my mind and study and dig. And if you really force your mind in a service, when you get through, you're going to be tired. You're going to be exhausted.
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Now, let me give you three prerequisites for spiritual worship. The first one is very obvious. You must be spiritually alive. Ephesians 2 verse 1, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins." You cannot give God the worship that he deserves, nor can you worship in spirit unless you have been quickened by the spirit. What did our Lord tell Nicodemus? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again."
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But the Greek word is anothen. You must be born from above. He says no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless he's born from above. So you cannot give God the worship that He demands unless you've been made alive in Jesus Christ. So the call to worship in reality, it's also a call to repentance and faith, a call to turn from your sins and to believe in Jesus Christ. So you must be spiritually alive. Secondly, you must be spiritually assisted.
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Now, let me ask you a question. Whose responsibility is it to worship God aright? Yours. Now, how many of you, in and of yourself, can worship him aright? None. Help me out. Our Lord said something in John 15 that went like this. "Without me, you can do how much? Nothing. Without me, you can do nothing." You know what the Bible says in Romans 8 about the Spirit? "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself makes an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." What does the Holy Spirit do? He enables us. He helps us.
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He assists us in prayer. He assists us in study. He assists us in worship. The psalmist said in Psalm 80 and verse 18, "Quicken us, and we shall call upon thy name." Quicken us! Many times the psalmist said, "Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned." I got news for you folks. If God doesn't turn you, you don't get turned. And if God doesn't quicken you, you do not get quickened. We must come to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Spirit. And the true worshippers, he said in Philippians 3 and verse 3, are those who worship Him in the Spirit. Now, we must be spiritually alive. We must be spiritually assisted. And thirdly, we must be spiritually active. Now, listen carefully. The divine energy of the spirit.
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And our human activity or the human activity of the saint are concurrent realities, concurrent simply means they happen at the same time. Philippians 2, the apostle says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling," verse 12. But the next verse, verse 13, says this, "for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure." God works it in. We work it out. You can't work it out unless God is working it in.
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Now, what am I trying to say? It means that when we get here physically, we must then consciously and deliberately turn our minds from things, from objects, from trying to plan what we're going to do tomorrow, next week, we must deliberately turn our minds and focus our minds upon God, upon His Word, upon His truth, asking God to assist us, to enable us, to give Him the honor and the glory that He deserves.
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Let me tell you something, folks. Listen carefully. I know many times we do not get to see each other for once a week and we want to fellowship and fellowship is wonderful. And conversing with each other is wonderful. But there comes a time we have to cut out the conversation. We have to cut out the fellowship and say, I came to worship God. And you have to say, Lord, I want to give you my thoughts. I want to give you my spirit.
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I'm going to deal with this later. Well, let me tell you something. Physical weariness will always cause a spiritual sluggishness. And I'll tell you this before I close this series. I've always, always gone to bed early on Saturday nights. Unless I've been providentially hindered. My wife tells you I'll go to bed early every night. Well, that's true. I'm more of a morning person. I'm not a night person.
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But I even told my girls, when they were courting, I said, you be in by 11 o'clock. You're not staying out all night. Especially on Saturday night. Because I want to be fresh for Sunday morning. Because you cannot concentrate when you haven't had any sleep. And I tell you, I've seen people sleep in service. I've seen some sleep here.
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Now, it's one thing if some of you doctors, you know, have been out on an emergency call or are doing some emergency work. That's one thing. But just because you stayed up to watch the Late Late Show, that's a horse of a different color. I've had people in time past that. Pastor, forgive me, I was so sleepy today. My unusual response is, well, I will if God will. I mean, God knows why you were sleepy.
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But you see what I'm saying? When we come, it involves the totality of our being. You say, well, I don't know a bunch of Scripture. Well, you ought to learn some. I don't know about God's attributes. Well, you ought to learn some. Well, I don't know too much. Well, I'll tell you what you can do. You can at least praise God and be thankful that you're not in the hospital, that you're not in the morgue, that you're not sick, that you've got a family, that you've got a husband and a wife. You can thank Him that you've got food and clothing and you're still in your right mind.
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I mean, there's enough that we can concentrate upon and bless the Lord of my soul with all my being, with everything that I am. Now, let me make just a couple of applications. And the first one is this, and I do want to make sure you understand this. I've heard it all my life. They said, well, Pastor, you know, if you go to church to get a blessing, you will go away with a blessing.
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I don't doubt that we're blessed when we worship God. I don't doubt that for a moment. But let me tell you something, folks. You don't come to church to be blessed. Did that shock you? You don't come to church to be entertained. Why do you come? You come to worship. You come not to get, but to give. You come to give God His honor, His glory, His due. Whether you get anything out of the service or not is really immaterial. You come to give God His worship, His honor, His glory.
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David said over and over in Psalm 116, "I will pay my vows now in the presence of all thy people." What's he saying? I owe God something and I won't get together with all of God's people. I'm going to pay God what I owe him. I'm going to give him the honor and the glory that's due unto his name.
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Now, I began by reading a quote from Stephen Charnock, and I want to end with a quote from Stephen Charnock. Listen to what he said. You don't have something that ought to humble you. He said, "To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage of myself, that is, I come to be blessed. I come to have a good time. To pretend homage to God and intend only honor to myself is rather to mock God than to worship Him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified, we set God below ourselves and imagine that he should submit his own honor to our advantage. We make ourselves more glorious than God as though we were not made for him, but that he was made for us. A spiritual worshiper performs not worship for some hopes of carnal advantage. He uses ordinances to bring God and his soul together to be more fitted to honor God in the world and in his particular calling." Did you hear that? To pretend to honor God and intend only my own advantage is to mock God rather than to honor Him.
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We do not come to get. We come to give. Now it is true, and blessed be His holy name, that in giving, we always get. That is true. You cannot honor God the way God deserves to be honored without being blessed by God for doing so. But you don't come to get the blessing. You come to give God the worship and the honor that's due under His holy name.
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If we understood that, we would never take the attitude, "It's Sunday morning. I've got to get up and go to church or everybody's going to think I'm backslidden." Oh, no. If you understood this, you would say, "blessed be God. It's the Lord's Day. I get to give God public worship and public honor and public glory. Because He deserves it. He's the only one true and living God and beside Him, there's none other." Let's pray.
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Father, once again, we bow to Thee and we come to Thee in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And we come in the Holy Spirit asking You to teach us, to help us. Oh God, make us true worshipers. May we learn what it is to worship God with the entirety of our being, with our minds engaged with our affections warmed, our wills wrapped up in Thee, blessing the Lord with all that is within us. Give us grace, Lord, to serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. And may we honor Thee and worship Thee in spirit and in truth. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:44:30Z

Acceptable Worship - Part 4

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this fourth message on acceptable worship from John 4, John Weaver contrasts Gerizim worship (sincere but ignorant) with Jerusalem worship (truthful but dead) and explains that true worship must be in spirit and in truth. He emphasizes that God is spirit, so worship must engage the human spirit—mind, heart, and will—with understanding and wholehearted devotion. True worship is a result of the Father's seeking grace and the full revelation in Christ, not mere formalism or ignorant sincerity. Applications stress that we come to church to give God honor, not merely to receive a blessing.

Opening

Scripture Reading — John 4:19-26

"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 said unto 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. 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. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, who is called Christ."

Review of Previous Messages

Scripture Reading — John 10:30

"I and my Father are one."

The Incomprehensibility of God and Our Need for True Conceptions

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:27

"All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Now watch carefully. And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

So only the Son knows the Father, and only the Father knows the Son totally, completely, fully.

The Proper Sphere of Worship: Not Geography but Spirit and Truth

Worship in Spirit and Truth as the Result of Christ's Final Revelation

Because Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. Look in Hebrews chapter 10, if you would. There's so many passages I could read nine, but look in chapter 10, verse 1. He says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:1,9

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continue to make the comers therein too perfect."

True Worship as a Fruit of the Father's Seeking Grace

The Father seeks true worshipers. The woman at the well was not seeking Christ; He sought her. Salvation is monergistic—God works alone. True worship originates in God's initiative.

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:10-12

"it's unscriptural. You didn't find him. You weren't even looking for him. Read Romans Chapter 3. There's none that doeth good. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way. No, not one."

Oh, in that case, then, and she started singing, "He found me." Now you've got it right. He found you. You didn't find Him. You remember Luke Chapter 15? Luke 19? Look in Luke Chapter 19.

Watch what is said there. Look at Luke 19. Our Lord says this very plainly in verse 10. Help me out now. Luke 19, verse 10. Watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — Luke 19:10

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost."

The Son of Man does not simply do the saving. He does the seeking as well. And what did He do in Luke 15? He went after that one lost sheep.

Contrasting Gerizim and Jerusalem Worship

What It Means to Worship in Spirit

Look in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23. Ephesians 4 verse 23.

This is where I should be. But now, I must worship God with my spirit. So

Scripture Reading — Psalm 103:1

bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me,

Prerequisites for Spiritual Worship

Three prerequisites: we must be spiritually alive (born again), spiritually assisted (the Holy Spirit enables us), and spiritually active (we deliberately engage our minds and wills in worship).

Scripture Reading — John 15:5

Now, let me ask you a question. Whose responsibility is it to worship God aright? Yours. Now, how many of you, in and of yourself, can worship him aright? None. Help me out. Our Lord said something in John 15 that went like this. "Without me, you can do how much? Nothing. Without me, you can do nothing." You know what the Bible says in Romans 8 about the Spirit? "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself makes an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." What does the Holy Spirit do? He enables us. He helps us.

And our human activity or the human activity of the saint are concurrent realities, concurrent simply means they happen at the same time. Philippians 2, the apostle says,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:12-13

"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,"

verse 12. But the next verse, verse 13, says this,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:12-13

"for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure."

God works it in. We work it out. You can't work it out unless God is working it in.

Applications: Worship as Giving, Not Getting

We come to church to give God honor, not merely to be blessed. To seek only personal advantage is to mock God. True worship intends God's glory, and in giving we receive blessing.

Acceptable Worship - Part 4

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	121703112313
Subject	Biblical Worldview
Course	Biblical Worldview Foundations
Genre	Sermon
Date	2003-12-14
Dictation Name
Book	Book 167: Acceptable Worship — Chapter 4
Source Timed Segments	94

Lecture Guide

Outline

Review of Previous Messages: Weaver recaps the first three messages: our duty to worship God by creation, providence, redemption, and kingship; God's hatred of unacceptable worship; worship must be based on divine revelation; and the proper object of worship is the one true God revealed as Father of Christ, Father of believers, and Spirit.
The Incomprehensibility of God and Our Need for True Conceptions: Citing Stephen Charnock, Weaver explains that while we cannot fully comprehend God, we must seek accurate knowledge of Him. It is sin not to pursue a true notion of God, even though finite beings cannot fully grasp the infinite.
The Proper Sphere of Worship: Not Geography but Spirit and Truth: Jesus declares that true worship is not tied to Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem. The sphere of worship is spiritual and truthful, not geographical. The Father seeks worshipers who worship in spirit and truth.
Worship in Spirit and Truth as the Result of Christ's Final Revelation: The hour of true worship is now because Christ is the full and final revelation of God. Old Testament ceremonies were shadows; Christ brings reality. True worshipers worship through the completed work of Christ.
True Worship as a Fruit of the Father's Seeking Grace: The Father seeks true worshipers. The woman at the well was not seeking Christ; He sought her. Salvation is monergistic—God works alone. True worship originates in God's initiative.
Contrasting Gerizim and Jerusalem Worship: Gerizim worship is sincere but ignorant (zeal without knowledge). Jerusalem worship is intelligent but dead (truth without heart). Both are unacceptable. True worship combines spirit (heart engagement) and truth (accurate knowledge).
What It Means to Worship in Spirit: Since God is spirit, we must worship with our spirit—the part of us most like Him. This involves the totality of our being: mind, heart, and will actively engaged. Examples from Paul and the Psalms show whole-souled worship.
Prerequisites for Spiritual Worship: Three prerequisites: we must be spiritually alive (born again), spiritually assisted (the Holy Spirit enables us), and spiritually active (we deliberately engage our minds and wills in worship).
Applications: Worship as Giving, Not Getting: We come to church to give God honor, not merely to be blessed. To seek only personal advantage is to mock God. True worship intends God's glory, and in giving we receive blessing.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

God is not indifferent to how He is worshiped

Scripture shows God hates and despises worship that is not according to His will. Acceptable worship is a matter of divine revelation.

Weaver states, 'God is not indifferent as to how we worship Him, because many times in Scripture God says, "I hate, I despise, I will not have your sacrifice and your worship."'

True worship is bounded by spirit and truth

Jesus' words in John 4:23-24 establish that acceptable worship must be both spiritual (heartfelt) and truthful (according to God's revelation).

Weaver says, 'the true worship of God is bounded by spirit, worship in spirit, and worship in truth.' He notes the repetition in verses 23 and 24.

Christ's coming inaugurated true worship

The 'hour' Jesus speaks of is the era of His completed work. Old Testament shadows are replaced by reality in Christ.

Weaver explains Hebrews 1:1-3 and 10:1,9, showing that God has spoken finally through His Son and taken away the first covenant to establish the second.

Salvation is monergistic, not synergistic

God alone initiates and accomplishes salvation. True worshipers are the product of the Father's seeking grace, not human effort.

Weaver defines monergism and synergism, citing John 4:3-4 (Jesus 'must needs go through Samaria'), Luke 19:10, and Jonah 2:9.

Both ignorant sincerity and dead orthodoxy are unacceptable

Gerizim worship represents zeal without knowledge; Jerusalem worship represents truth without heart. God rejects both extremes.

Weaver says, 'Gerizim and Jerusalem are symbolic of all that is abominable and unacceptable to God.' He gives examples of Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, and Pharisees.

Worship requires spiritual life, assistance, and activity

One must be born again, enabled by the Holy Spirit, and deliberately engage the mind and will in worship.

Weaver cites Ephesians 2:1, John 15:5, Romans 8:26, and Philippians 2:12-13 to show the necessity of divine enablement and human responsibility.

Scripture References

John 4:19-26: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman about true worship.
John 10:30: Cited to show that when Jesus called God Father, He was claiming equality with God: 'I and my Father are one.'
Galatians 4:4-6: Referenced to show believers are adopted as sons and cry 'Abba, Father' by the Spirit.
Matthew 11:27: Quoted to demonstrate that only the Son knows the Father fully, and only the Father knows the Son fully.
Hebrews 1:1-3: Read to show that God has spoken finally through His Son, who is the brightness of His glory and express image of His person.
Hebrews 10:1,9: Cited to show the law was a shadow; Christ came to do God's will and take away the first covenant to establish the second.
John 4:3-4: Referenced to show Jesus 'must needs go through Samaria' to seek the woman, illustrating the Father's seeking grace.
Romans 3:10-12: Alluded to ('There is none that seeketh after God') to argue that no one seeks God apart from His grace.
Luke 19:10: Quoted: 'For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.'
Jeremiah 23:29-32: Read to show God is against those who steal, add to, or substitute for His Word.
Ephesians 4:23-24: Read to show believers are renewed in the spirit of their mind and created in righteousness and true holiness.
Romans 1:8-9: Quoted to show Paul served God 'with my spirit' in the gospel, indicating spiritual engagement.
2 Corinthians 7:1: Quoted: 'Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'
Psalm 103:1: Quoted: 'Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.'
Psalm 47:1,5-7: Read to show expressive praise, culminating in 'sing ye praises with understanding.'
Hebrews 10:19-22: Read to show believers have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus and should draw near with a true heart.
Psalm 86:5-11: Read to illustrate meditation on God's attributes and a prayer for an undivided heart to fear His name.
Ephesians 2:1: Cited: 'And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.'
John 15:5: Quoted: 'Without me ye can do nothing.'
Philippians 2:12-13: Cited to show the concurrence of divine working and human activity: 'Work out your own salvation... for it is God which worketh in you.'

Historical References

Stephen Charnock (Puritan author): Weaver quotes from Charnock's 'The Existence and the Attributes of God' on the incomprehensibility of God and the sin of not seeking true knowledge of Him.
Westminster Confession of Faith and Philadelphia Confession of Faith: Mentioned as sources affirming God's immateriality and that anthropomorphic terms are figures of speech.
Martin Lloyd-Jones: Weaver recounts a story from Dr. Lloyd-Jones about a blacksmith who felt he 'ought to be doing something' during a fire, illustrating ignorant sincerity.
Samaritan worship on Mount Gerizim: Historical background: Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, rejected other Scriptures, and continued worship on Gerizim after their temple was destroyed.

Important Quotes

We cannot have an adequate or a suitable conception of God. He, that is God, dwells in inaccessible light, inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy as well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of Him as high and as excellent as His nature, our conception must be as infinite as His nature.

Charnock's quote establishes the infinite gap between God's nature and human understanding, underscoring the need for humility and revelation in worship.

Though we cannot have an adequate conception of God, we must not content ourselves without any conception of Him.

Charnock balances God's incomprehensibility with our duty to seek true knowledge of Him, making ignorance a sin.

You worship you know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

Jesus' words contrasting ignorant Samaritan worship with the knowledge possessed by the Jews, setting up the need for worship in truth.

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Psalm 103:1 is used as a model of wholehearted, spirit-engaged worship involving the totality of one's being.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean that God is spirit, and how should that affect the way we worship?

[Context]

Weaver explains that God is invisible, immaterial, and incorporeal, so worship must engage our spirit—the part of us most like Him.

[Question]

How can we balance the truth that God is incomprehensible with the command to know Him?

[Context]

Charnock's quotes highlight that while we cannot fully comprehend God, it is sin not to seek accurate knowledge of Him.

[Question]

In what ways might our worship resemble Gerizim worship (sincere but ignorant) or Jerusalem worship (truthful but dead)?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts these two types of unacceptable worship and calls for worship in spirit and truth.

[Question]

What does it mean to worship 'in spirit'? How can we cultivate wholehearted engagement in corporate worship?

[Context]

Weaver describes worship in spirit as involving the mind, heart, and will actively focused on God, not mere physical presence.

[Question]

How does understanding that the Father seeks true worshipers change our view of salvation and worship?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes monergism—that God alone initiates salvation and seeks worshipers, as seen in the woman at the well.

[Question]

What are practical ways to prepare ourselves physically and spiritually for worship?

[Context]

Weaver mentions the need for rest, turning our minds from distractions, and deliberately focusing on God's attributes and works.

[Question]

How does the idea that we come to worship to give rather than to get challenge common attitudes about church attendance?

[Context]

Weaver argues that the primary purpose of worship is to give God honor, not to be blessed or entertained.

Applications

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