True worship is not tied to a physical location but is an experience of the spirit and truth offered to God the Father through Jesus Christ. The sermon emphasizes that while activity and service are important, worship is the highest priority for believers, drawing examples from Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah to show how God brings individuals into His presence before calling them to service. The teaching, delivered to a Samaritan woman at the well, highlights that worship involves the whole person—body, soul, and spirit—and is empowered by the Holy Spirit, resulting in a fragrant offering of praise and thanksgiving. The ultimate confession of worship is found in Thomas's declaration, "My Lord and my God," recognizing Christ's deity and lordship.
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Shall we read, please, in the Gospel by John chapter four. John's Gospel chapter four. And we'll read verse nineteen. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that there are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the ark cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet of Jerusalem worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the ark cometh now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiahs cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he.
May God add his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. I thought tonight for a few minutes I would like to speak of the tremendous importance of the priority of worship. The passage that we have read together, we find the word worship or worshipper ten times. in the course of a few verses. And it is the most important passage in the whole of the Word of God concerning worship. And the Lord here lays down some principles connected with it that I want to speak about for a few minutes tonight. The world in which we live today is very active and busy.
And even among the servants of God and those that are seeking to do the work of the Lord today, we're active from morning to night. Now, I believe that activity is important, and I believe that service is important. As a matter of fact, we have tried honestly and sincerely to give her life to this work. And as we look back over a period of fifty-two years, since we have been in the full-time service of the Lord, we're awfully thankful for the opportunity of being able to serve the Lord full-time. If I had my life to live over again, I would do exactly the same thing.
We have no regrets about that at all. I was twenty-one years of age when I went in to the work full-time to take the gospel among people who had never heard it. And if I were back, At twenty-one years of age again tonight, I would do exactly the same thing. Absolutely. No regrets about that. But there is one regret, and it's this. It was a long, long time before I realized that the greatest priority in life is not service. Not the preaching of the gospel. That is important. And we have tried to give our life to it.
But the most important thing in the Christian's life is worship. And that's what I want to speak about tonight. We have to get our priorities right. And if we do, if we get our priorities right, I think that everything else will fall into its proper place. I know a dear brother who's a full-time evangelist at the present time, and for a long time he has never shown up. at the breaking of bread meeting, the worship meeting on a Sunday morning. He will turn up sometimes at the eleven o'clock family Bible hour. But as far as the worship meeting is concerned, he's very, very seldom there.
And I think that this is characteristic of so many of God's people. They don't think it's important. We have a young man in the part of the world. We live. And he's always talking about witness. Witness, witness, witness. He has very little use for worship. He doesn't think it's important at all. But I do believe that every one of us, every believer, should realize that the teaching of the Word of God is that God wants our worship. Now, when he gets this... When he gets our hearts and he gets our worship, I think that everything else will fall into its proper place.
And for that reason, I thought, just for a few minutes tonight, I would like to speak particularly of the teaching of our Lord himself concerning this most important theme. You would notice in the Old Testament and also in the New that when God calls a man out into his work, The first thing he does with him is bring him into his presence and give him a vision of his glory unto his majesty. You think, for instance, of the first land where we get a detailed account of his call in Holy Scripture, that is, Abraham. Stephen tells us in Acts chapter seven that the God of glory appeared unto him.
It was the God of glory that appeared to Abraham when he was an idolater in Ur of the Caldas, and when he obeyed God. On the door to the land of Canaan, you remember again and again, at the critical periods of his life, the first thing he did was build an altar, and he offered his sacrifice upon it. These were the critical periods in his life. On as long as Abraham lived, he always was characterized by the altar and by the tent. God taught him right from the very commencement the tremendous importance of worship. We get exactly the same thing with Moses.
You remember after forty years of preparation in the land of Egypt, we were told again by Stephen that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in word and deed. These three angles of his character were perfectly developed by that education that he had in the land of Egypt. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. It's what we would call today a PhD, a man who was thoroughly educated in everything that Egypt had to offer him. probably educated in the Temple of the Sun in Haileoplius, there in Egypt.
It was the place where men were educated in that day. On being the heir to the throne, he probably was educated in the highest school of learning that Egypt had to offer. He was mighty in word. Not only did he have a good classical education, but he was able to give it up. He was able to talk. He was an orator, mighty in word. And then he was mighty indeed. The practical side of his character was thoroughly developed as well. Now, we would think a man who had all this background for forty years In the greatest civilization in the world, at that time he was equipped for carrying on the work of God.
Thank you to he wasn't. God had to take him to the back side of the desert for another forty years. He became a father and he became a shepherd. But I don't know of any discipline in a person's life that would develop the character of any man than to raise a family. And at the back side of the desert for forty years... Moses, he became a father, and then he was a shepherd with a rod in his hand. And at the end of that period, the end of eighty years, again the God of glory appeared. And in the burning bush, you remember, God spoke to him, revealed his name to him, and he told him, Moses, take the shoes from off your feet.
The place where on your standing is holy ground. That's the very first time in the Bible we get the word holy. And God brought him into his presence, revealed himself to him, revealed his name to him, and then equipped him and sent him and called him into the work that he had for him. Now we could go on and on about these men in the Old Testament. Think again of Isaiah. In the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah is calling down curses on different ones all around. Looking at various categories of people among the people of Israel at that time, he had some very on-kind things to say about them.
But in chapter six, Isaiah is brought into God's presence. He sealed the Lord high and lifted up, and His glory filled the temple. And at the end of that great vision of Almighty God, of Jehovah, upon His throne, He said, Woes me, for I am undone. After that, His ministry entirely changed. Instead of calling down Anathemas on other people, He speaks there about Christ. on one of the greatest expositions of the person of Christ anywhere in Holy Scripture we find in that lovely book, the book of the prophet Isaiah.
But the point is this, when God speaks to a man and wants them to do some specific work, he always brings them into his presence. and reveals himself to him, and teaches him the majesty and the glory of the God with whom he had to do. Now, this is the principle we find both in the Old Testament and in the New. And, beloved brethren, here tonight, I believe that in this world in which we live today, full of activity, full of business, what people call the right race today. I think that what we all need is to get into the presence of God and learn what worship really is.
Now, without going into any more detail about the different phases, of how God spoke to men in a bygone day, I want to confine myself particularly to this lovely passage in John chapter four, where the Lord speaks about worship and some of the great principles that he taught the woman sitting at the well. The amazing thing to me is this, that the teaching is not given to the theologian in John chapter three. Nicodemus was the teacher of Israel. The Lord, in speaking to him, he said, thou being the teacher, definite Ardell, the teacher of Israel.
Don't you know these things? I understand that there were three outstanding men in the Sanhedrin in that day. The president was the high priest at that time, likely Caiaphas. And then there was the vice president. We don't know his name. But the third most important man in the Jewish Sanhedrin at that time was the teacher. He was the man who had the responsibility of interpreting the law. And Nicodemus apparently occupying that position. And yet, our Lord, in speaking to him, it's not to him that he gives the tremendous teaching concerning worship, but it's to a poor fallen woman at the well.
I would love this evening to speak a little bit about the beginning of the chapter on the gracious, kindly way in which our Lord revealed himself to that woman. You know, there's a tremendous study here in psychology, in how to approach a person, and how the Lord so graciously and kindly overcame every difficulty, and then he probed her heart. After he had awakened her interest, after he had asked her for a favor, and by the way, if you ever want to make a friend of a person, ask them to do something for you. I think there's a very important point there.
Would you please give me a drink? And then the woman, of course, she raised the racial question. Why, you're a Jew, and I'm a woman of Samaria, and the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. By the way, the first difficulty he got over was a natural difficulty, a physical difficulty, where he was weary with his journey. Many years ago, it was pointed out to me that the Lord possibly had walked about forty miles to get to Siberia. And when he got there, he sat thus by the well. Oh, weiried with his journey.
I love that. I love that expression. He got over that difficulty, the physical difficulty, in spite of the fact that he was tired and he was thirsty. Then he got over the racial difficulty, he got over the social difficulty, because the disciples, when they came, they wondered that he even spoke to the woman. She's what we would probably call a fallen woman today. I think a woman with a character that wasn't very palatable. But in any case, he got over all the difficulties. On the final thing he did, he probed her heart. Now, he said, you go and fetch her husband. Oh, she said, I don't have a husband.
And the Lord said, you have well said, you don't have a husband because you have had five husbands and the man you're living with today is not your husband at all. You have well said, I have no husband. You know, some years ago I was on board a ship coming down West Africa. And there was a man was taking a church service on a Sunday morning. My wife and I went along, and he spoke in John chapter four. And the way he lined up his subject was this. He said, what the Lord always did was to find out what good was about a person until he always developed that. Find out what good there was about the person, and then he worked on that and developed that.
He said, you might say, what good was that about this woman? Well, he said, there must have been something good about her if she acted was able to attract five men, and here she was living with the sixth one. That was the distance of his message. Now, that, I believe, is an absolutely upside-down interpretation. You know, what the Lord did was probe her heart. He revealed her heart to her, and always he showed her the kind of a person, the person that she was. And then, of course, she said, I perceive that you're a prophet. And then she started to talk religion. She said, our fathers worship in this mountain, but you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place for a man not to worship.
And then there comes this great, great revelation. As we look at the passage, And look at the number of times we get the word worship here. The Lord is developing a subject. I believe that can be a tremendous blessing and help to us at the present time. Now the first thing that the Lord speaks about here is the place, the place of worship. And the second thing he speaks about is the person whom we worship. And the third thing that he opens up here is the principles of worship. We worship in spirit and in truth. Now, just a word about the first one of these things that the Lord speaks about here, the place of worship.
The woman said, You Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship, but we have our place of worship here too. In Gerizan. This is where we have our temple. This is where we worship. I'm not going to occupy time here tonight in speaking about the Samaritans and their background and the form of worship that they had. You probably know that they were imported into the land after the captivity when Nebuchadnezzar carried the people out of the land. And people that were of a mongrel race. were imported into the land so that it wouldn't be overcome by wild animals.
These people were a Mongol race. But when they came into the land, they formed a worship. The Jews would have nothing to do with them, but they had their temple there on Mount Gerizim, and they had a sacrificial worship. The commentaries tell us that they believed in the inspiration of the Pentateuch. but they refuse to accept the writings of the prophets or any other portion of the Old Testament scriptures. Over in Israel, a few years ago when I was over there, I went to Samaria. I had an interview with the Samaritan high priest. I understand that they had a very valuable document there, the Samaritan Pentateuch.
I thought I would like to see it. And the old gentleman was very kind. He went into his home and he brought out that very, very ancient document, the Samaritan Pentateuch, one of the most ancient in the world today after the Dead Sea Scroll. He allowed me to take a photograph of it. And I had a very nice little conversation with him afterwards. But here was a man representative of a false worship. They worship. The Lord said, you worship, you know not what. It was a false worship. And then on the other hand, she said that the Jews, they say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Now here are two forms of worship. One is a false worship, and the other is an obsolete worship. You know, the Lord here, he speaks about a change of dispensation. He said, the ark cometh on our ways when neither a Jerusalem nor in any other place shall men worship the Father, worship him in spirit and in truth. The Lord is giving a revelation here concerning the place where we worship. You know, to look at the rest of the New Testament concerning the revelation that the Lord gave here, we would need to look at the Epistle to the Hebrews.
I believe the Epistle to the Hebrews is a commentary on what the Lord is speaking about here, the place of our worship. You remember in Hebrews, we read there about a priest, we read about a sanctuary, and we read about a sacrifice. The whole of the Epistle to the Hebrews is about the person of Christ, is high priestly word. And by the way, all worship is based on priesthood. It's based on priesthood. That is the basic truth connected with our worship. You know, these Jews that were suffering at the time when the Epistle of the Hebrews was written, we read about that suffering in chapter ten.
The Apostle in speaking to them, he said, After ye were illuminated, I love that word, after ye were illuminated, the light shone in. He says, You endured a great fight of affliction. Not only were they a gazing stock, not only had they lost all their earthly goods, but they were associating themselves with people that were passing through similar difficulty. Now these Jews, their enemies were saying, you don't have a sanctuary, you don't have a priest, you don't have a sacrifice.
On the whole of the epistle of the Hebrews, I believe, is a commentary of what the Lord is speaking about here. He's speaking about the sanctuary. He's speaking about the priest. And he's speaking about a sacrifice. And for worship, we need all three. We need a sanctuary. We need a priest. And we need a sacrifice. Some little time ago, I was in one part of the country. There was a group of young men putting up a very, very beautiful building, beautiful chapel. It was in the colonial style. I happened to be there at the time just before it was open.
And they asked me, what do you think we should call the auditorium? I said, what are you thinking of calling it? Well, they said, we thought we would call it the sanctuary. I said, the sanctuary? I said, no, no, no, no, no. Call it whatever you please, but please don't call it the sanctuary. There's only one sanctuary. And that sanctuary is no building made with hands down here. The Epistle to the Hebrews, it tells us about the sanctuary and the minister of the sanctuary. It's inside the veil. Now, again, beloved friends, don't misunderstand me here.
I do believe that the place where we meet in our church testimony should be comfortable, It should be a place where we could invite anyone and not be ashamed of it. I believe that that is only right. We mentioned that this morning. And I think it's honorable to the Lord of a nice, comfortable, clean, attractive, well-lit place where we can invite people to come. But the teaching of the Word of God is that the sanctuary is not down here. The place, the place of our worship, is neither on Mount Gerizim, neither is it in that temple in Jerusalem, because it had been laid aside.
You remember at the commencement of the ministry of our Lord, he went into the temple there in Jerusalem and worried that he found money changers. They had turned it into a den of thieves. And the Lord, he made a whip of small cards, and he drove them out. He said, this is my father's house. He called it my father's house at the beginning of his ministry, but at the end, at the end of his ministry, the last week, the Paschal week, just before he went to the cross, he went up officially to the temple and presented himself as the king.
But he was rejected. And as he leaves it sorrowfully, he said, Your heart is left unto you desolate. At the beginning it was my father's heart, but at the end Ichabod was written over it. And he said, Your heart is left unto you desolate. And from that point on there was a change of dispensation. And today the house of God, it's no material building down here, and the sanctuary, and the minister of the sanctuary is above, inside the veil. And when we gather together for our worship, we penetrate inside the veil, and we lift our heads in the presence of God, and we worship in spirit and in truth.
So the first great truth that the Lord teaches the woman here is the place of our worship. And again, let me repeat. It writes, Iqbal, over any building down here that people would call the sanctuary of God. The sanctuary is about in God's presence, and it's there in spirit and in truth that we penetrate into the presence of God. That is the sphere of our worship. And thank God we have a place. His priesthood is after the patron of Aaron, some phases of it, and it's also after the order of Melchizedek. There are only four passages in the New Testament that speak of the priesthood of all believers, and in all four it is a royal priesthood.
First Peter chapter two, we're told that we're a holy priesthood, and then we're told that it is a royal priesthood. And in the three places in the book of Revelation, where we find our priesthood mentioned there, we're told that we're both kings and priests. A royal priesthood. It's after the order of Melchizedek, and we're linked with our Lord Jesus Christ as king and priest, so that we do have a priest. And thank God we do have a sacrifice. We get that sacrifice in Hebrews chapter thirteen. By him, therefore... Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of her lips, giving thanks to his name. So the first great truth that the Lord teaches the woman here is the place of her worship. No place down here, but inside the veil, in the immediate presence of God. The minister of the sanctuary there is our great high priest, the Lord Jesus himself. Now the second truth that he teaches the woman is the person whom we worship. And twice here we're told that we worship the Father. And we're told that the Father seeks such to worship Him. All prayer and worship is directed to the Father.
through the mediatorship of the Son, and it is in the power and unction of the Holy Ghost. This, of course, is the overall picture in the New Testament scriptures. You know, in the Old Testament, the names that are used for God, in the Old Testament, about half a dozen of them altogether, were read of Elohim. That is the Creator God. Were read of Jehovah. that is the one who makes covenant with his people. Wurid of Adonai. Adonai is the sovereign Lord. Wurid of El Shadiai, the God who is all-sufficient.
These are the names for God in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospel according to John, it is the Father and the Son. Our Lord, He speaks again and again about revealing the name, the name of the Father. And over forty times in the Gospel according to John, there's this delightful relationship between the Father and the Son. And here He tells us that the person whom we worship is the Father. The person that worship is directed to is God the Father. through the mediatorship of the Son, and is done in the power and unction of the Holy Spirit.
I think I hear somebody say, shouldn't we worship the Son? Thank God we should. And every time I hear anybody addressing our Lord, Jesus Christ, addressing him personally in worship, it delights my heart. That is a perfectly legitimate scriptural thing to do. As a matter of fact, in the very next chapter, in chapter five, we read here about equal honor being given to the Son as to the Father. And again and again in the New Testament, we find that worship is directed and addressed to the Son.
You remember the blind man in John chapter nine? We read that when the Lord revealed himself to him, we read he worshipped him. And then when we turn over to the book of Revelation, again and again we find worship directed to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great climax, of course, is in Revelation chapter five, where we find the whole universe. In three different circles of praise, honor and worship and praise, it goes up to the Lamb, the Lamb that had been slain, the Lamb who appears there in the midst of the throng.
So that the overall picture is that worship and prayer is directed to the Father, Through the mediatorship, the high priestly work of Christ, the Son, on it is exercised in the power and function of the Holy Spirit. But also we read in Scripture that the Son, he should have equal honor with the Father, and it is a perfectly scriptural thing to direct worship to him as well. So here we get the person. And the third thing we get here are the principle. We're told here that we worship in spirit, unto truth.
Did you notice that the word spirit here is a small s? Now I would suggest that in this word that's used twice here, in spirit, unto truth, I don't think that the word here is the Holy Spirit. I'm not dogmatizing about this, but I feel personally, I feel quite sure that it is the human spirit that is used in worship. You know, each one of us here tonight, believers, we're tripartite. We're composed of body, soul, and spirit. And it's only man that God created in this way.
There's no animal in God's creation has a spirit. They have a body and a soul. With our body, we're world-conscious. With our soul, we're self-conscious. With our spirit, we're God-conscious. So to speak, man is in three stories. With our body, we're in contact with the earth. With our soul, that is love and affection and emotion, it characterizes the soul. But it's only man that has a spirit. And when God created man, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul.
And he has a spirit. And with that spirit, he knows God. And is in contact with God. Someone might say, is the body involved in worship? If we were to take time tonight to look at the various places where we find worship mentioned in Holy Scripture many, many times the body is involved. You remember the Apostle Paul, he speaks about bowing the knee. He said, I bow the knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read about Daniel. He too, three times a day, in his own room, in the privacy of his own room, he bowed the knee in the presence of God.
Again and again we read about bowing the head in God's presence. And again we find lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting. You know, I believe that in worship, and we're in the presence of God, I believe her body is involved. I don't think that a person, when they come to worship the Lord, should be careless about their posture. I think that we should be very careful when we come into God's presence that we do so in a reverential way. I have seen people chew gum at the Lord's Supper.
I have seen people fall asleep. And when the bread and cup came wrong, I have seen somebody having to nudge them to waken them up when the bread and the cup comes along. I think our body is involved, and I think that we should be reverent in our posture and not lounging as we sit in the presence of the Lord. I think we should be very careful about that. And then certainly the soul is involved in worship. Love and affection. And always we come into the presence of God, that love and affection in our heart, I believe it should be directed to God.
But the highest part of man's being is the Spirit. And it is in Spirit that we approach God in Spirit and in truth, the highest part of our being. You know, when we think of this, there are other passages in Scripture where one might turn over to point this out. But I think that it's important that it's with this Spirit the highest part of our being that we come into the presence of God and adore, and worship, and thank God for what he has done for us. And then secondly, in truth. Five times in the Old Testament Scriptures we get the word, all worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness.
I believe we should be careful in our worship to see that there's no covered sin or anything that would be clouded our spirits as we come into the presence of God to worship. I think we should have preparation of heart. as we come together to worship the Lord or even at home, and to see that there's nothing, that there's no cloud between. We worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. The Apostle Paul goes into this in some detail in First Corinthians chapter eleven. We'll have an opportunity of looking at that later on. But in any case, it's in spirit and in truth.
Now, another thing that I just want to mention, and it's this, that the power for our worship is the Holy Spirit of God. We have already mentioned that. Our worship goes up to God the Father through the mediatorship of the Son, but the Holy Spirit of God is the one that is the power, an unction, on the energy as we come into the presence of God to worship. I was thinking today about some lovely illustrations of worship and what it is. If we were to look at the forty-fifth Psalm, we find there the bubbling heart. My heart is inditing a good matter.
If we were to look at the twenty-third Psalm, we read there about the overflowing cup. My cup runneth over. Our heart is just like a little golden chalice. And when we come into the presence of the Lord, And the Lord pours in and pours in and pours in. Our hearts overflow in praise and thanksgiving to Himself, the overflowing cup. But I think one of the most delightful is the fragrance of worship that we get in John chapter twelve. You remember Mary with her alabaster box of ointment? She comes into the Lord's presence. Lazarus is sitting at the table.
Martha characteristically is serving, but read that Mary brings her pound of spikenard. She pours it upon his head and pours it upon his feet, and read that the whole house was filled with the odor of the ointment. We get here the powerful worship in John, but here is the perfume, the perfume of worship. Some time ago I picked up a book about the plants of the Bible, written by an expert. His name was Maldenke. He was a professor in one of the universities in New York City. And he wrote a book about the plants of the Bible.
And I was very much interested in his article on Spike Nar. Now, my time is so far gone that I can't go into detail about it. But there's just one or two things that he mentioned that can be a help. He said, all that was necessary in those days in the Middle East is to take a drop or two of spiknard and put it on the back of the hand or behind the ear. And he said, it was so powerful. This cosmetic, this perfume, he said, unless it was washed off, he said, it would last about a week.
You think of one week before our Lord was crucified, before he was maltreated, before men spat on his face, merely took not a drop or two, but the whole pond of spiked iron. She poured it upon his head, and she poured it upon his feet, and the whole house was filled with the odor of the ointment. And then Mary did a beautiful thing. She takes her glory, the hair of her head, and using her hair as a towel, she wiped his feet with her hair. Now, I believe our Lord. when he was in Pilate's judgment hall, and when men spat in his face and maltreated him, I believe he was surrounded by an aroma, perfume, merely his ointment was upon his person.
And I venture to believe, too, when he hung upon Calvary Strauss, I believe that that aroma that that perfume of Mary's ointment, I believe it lingered about his body. He said, she did it for my burial. But you know, for many a day afterwards, as Mary was walking up and down the streets at Bethany, people would be sniffing and saying, where's the perfume coming from? Where's the aroma, the fragrance coming from? It was coming from Mary's hair. I think she got an awful lot of it on her own hair. And for many a day afterwards, she was walking around in Bethany, I believe people would realize that she too was surrounded by that aroma, the perfume of worship.
You know, wherever anyone does this, goes into the presence of God and makes a habit of worshiping the Lord in the beauty of holiness, I believe it has an effect. It has a permanent effect upon the person, and there's that aroma, there's that perfume, there's that atmosphere that they carry around with them wherever they go. Just one word in conclusion. The peak of worship we get in John chapter twenty. You remember Thomas? He said, except I see, I will not believe. The Lord was very gracious and kind to his unbelieving servant.
As you remember, after eight days he appeared again in the upper room. He said, Peace be unto you. And then directing himself to Thomas, he said, Thomas, reach hither thy finger, put it into the print of the nails, reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side. Be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas here arises, so the highest peak of worship that we find anywhere in the Bible, he said, My Lord and my God. He confessed his lordship, and he also confessed his deity. That to me is the highest confession.
anywhere in Holy Scripture. Oh, what a wonderful picture we get here of what worship really is. When Thomas saw the Lord in resurrection, he didn't dare. to take his finger and put it in the print of the nails or thrust his hand into his thigh. But his heart writhed in praise and worship to the Lord himself, he said, My Lord, His Lordship, My God, His deity. I wonder what a Jehovah witness would do with that. You can't do away with it. Do you think that Thomas was wrong? Nothing of the kind.
He was perfectly right. And I think every one of us here tonight, if we had the opportunity, we would do exactly the same thing. And we would say, My Lord and My God. May God bless His Word. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, again we bow in thy presence in that worthy name of the Lord Jesus. And we do thank thee for the revelation of thy beloved Son that we have in thy word. We thank thee for these gracious words that he spoke to the fallen woman at the well. And our Father, we thank thee that we can look at them and read them and enjoy them.
We thank thee for that place inside the veil. We as priests can penetrate the day right into the immediate presence of God and lift our hearts and praise and worship to thyself. We thank thee too for that coming day when earth has passed and all the veils have been removed and we're in thine own immediate presence. We'll be able to worship and adore and in that day in a way that we never can down here. But, O our Father, in the meantime, we do pray that there may be something of the atmosphere of the perfume around us, too. And as we move in and out among man, we do pray, our Father, that there may be something about us that would be attractive, something that would attract them to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we commend us to the Blessed Thy Word, we do pray, and bless thy beloved people. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus.