True worship is the primary purpose for which God saves believers, not merely to keep them out of hell. It explores the nature of worship through Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4, contrasting true worship in spirit and truth with the woman's initial understanding and Martha's over-busyness with service. The core lesson is that worship is the essential element of Christian life, the reverse of ministry, and the divine order begins with worship, followed by a walk with God, and then work for God. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that failing to worship God continuously on earth will lead to shame in glory, as God is the only one worthy of adoration.
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again we turn tonight to the gospel by john chapter four and we want to begin reading at verse nineteen we're exploring the to some extent the theme of worship in these times that we're together and we're going to deal with a subject like link sausage every time that our time is gone We're just going to cut it off and come back to where we left off and follow through at the next meeting. So we're dealing with the great subject of worship. John chapter four, verse nineteen, our Lord's encounter with a woman of Samaria, the woman at the well.
I don't like to use that expression, the woman at the well. I usually like the expression, the woman with the well. For she received the well of waters within that springs up into everlasting life. And she went away with the well, the well on the inside. And that's the position of us as believers. We have the well on the inside, the well of water that springs up into everlasting life. and truly he that hath the Son hath life. But nevertheless, we're in the process here of seeing how our Lord encountered this woman and what the result was, and administrate to her on the great subject of worship.
Verse nineteen, the woman saith unto him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worship in this mountains, and ye say that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the ark cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at 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 and 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 in thee that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, and he. Let the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let us pray. Father, one more time. we would say to these, with humility of heart, with an earnest desire to seek thy faith, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And in speaking to my heart, speak to all who are gathered in thy holy presence, and will praise you through him who loved us and gave himself for us, even our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. We're using the question in these days, why did God save you and why did God save me? And the answer to this, He saved us in order that we might worship Him. The message of the Bible from the book of Genesis through the book of the Revelation, where we see the redeemed company in the presence of God, worshiping Him, giving honor and glory to the Lamb who sits upon the throne. we find that the theme is the worship of the Lord. Worship to the believer is what an engine is to an automobile.
Worship to the believer is what a mainspring is to a watch. It is the very heart of our activity. It is the essential element. It is the heart of life. To worship God, to be a worshiper, in his presence. Worship, beloved, is the affirmation of the reality of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is our adoration of him as Lord, and this is what Christian living is all about. Our adoration of him as Lord, learning who he is and acknowledging this truth.
The blessed man of Psalm one is the one who meditates day and night in the law of the Lord if I were to ask you how did you learn to meditate what would you answer are you a meditator do you meditate day and night in the law of the Lord now most of you know that by trade I'm an electrician there was a time when I used to get my hands dirty and I still do once in a while, not often, but nevertheless, when I worked at the trade, it was my privilege one year to work in a church building on the north of Lebanon, and he had a godly preacher there.
His name was Richard Dunwoody, and he had a serious heart attack. His life was in the balance for a number of weeks. as he was lying in the hospital. But God brought him through, and he wrote a book called God Bless Me with a Heart Attack. But while we were working at the church, he'd come over every day and we'd have fellowship together. And I remember one day he came over because in those days I would read the Word of God in the morning before I'd go to work. And all day long my mind would meditate on what I read.
I would bring it to mind. I would think about what I read and I'd work it over in my mind. That is meditation. Meditation. And I remember one morning I came in, I was working at a large circuit breaker panel connecting the wires. And he came in and he said, Phil, what did the Lord give you this morning? What are you meditating on? And I said, I'm meditating on First Timothy, two, fifteen. two five excuse me first Timothy two five you know what it says for there is one God and one mediator between God and man and men the man Christ Jesus and I said what I'm doing in my mind as I'm working here I can hardly contain myself I'm making an acrostic on the word meta on the word mediator in my mind That's what I'm doing.
Because our text says there's, that text says that there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. What kind of a man is he? Well, first of all, that word, M, he's a man. He's a man who is touched with a feeling of our infirmity. He knows all about us. He's a man. Now, what kind of a man is he? M, E. He's not only a man of time, he's a man from eternity. He's the one who ever was. And oh, how you can dwell on the eternality of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And E, D, and I went down over the lip, over the word mediator. And this preacher, he looked at me. His mouth dropped open. He said, my. You got more here at work than many men get in a half a day in their study. The thing is this, meditation. The blessed man meditates day and night in the law of the Lord. I wish I could get Christians to think in the word of God. Day by day, moment by moment, this is what worship is all about you.
It is the acknowledgement and the affirmation that Jesus Christ is Lord, and it's the adoration of him as Lord that makes life worth living. Now this is the theme of our Lord's encounter with a woman of Samaria. The Samaritans were a half-breed race. By that we mean they were made up of the Jewish people who were not taken into the captivity. When the Assyrians conquered Israel, they weren't taken into captivity. They were the poor people of the land. And instead of remaining faithful, they intermarried with the other people that lived in that land who were non-Jews.
And therefore, these people were called Samaritans, and the Jewish people had no dealings with the Samaritans. They looked on their nose, as our brother said this morning, in the Sunday school class. They looked on the Jews, looked on their nose at the Samaritan. Our Lord, on the other hand, when this woman came to draw water, he said to her, give me a drink. Give me a drink. What was he really saying? He said to her, I'm willing to drink out of your cup. This is what astonished her. Our Lord says, I'm willing to drink out of your cup.
He had none. For she looked at him and she said, you have nothing to draw with. And the well is deep. From whence do you have this living water? Oh, if I don't have to come here to draw anymore, I'll be happy. And she was thinking of physical water. Our Lord was talking about spiritual water, but he identified and he said, I'm willing to drink out of your cup. And she was utterly amazed. And immediately he had her ear. And then our Lord revealed something to her. He said to her, go call your husband.
And she said, I don't have one. She said, you've already had five. and he whom Nana has is not your husband. And she realized that here she was in the presence of divine omniscience. And she felt very uncomfortable around one who knew everything about her. He knew everything about her. There wasn't anything hidden. He knew it all. And that's what the word of God says about you and me. It says, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. For all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Oh, yes, we can hide things from each other.
But it's not with each other that we have to do. It's with God. We cannot hide anything from him. And the fact that God knows everything about you, does it comfort you? Or does it convict you? The psalmist in the hundred thirty-nine psalms says, Lord, now I searched me and known me. Now understandeth my down sitting and my uprising. My thoughts are far off. There isn't a word in my tongue. But, O Lord, I knoweth it all together. And after going through that searching in the presence of God, he said, Lord, search me some more. Search me and know my heart. Try me and know my ways.
It's comforting to know that God knows all about me. It's the most comforting thing there is. Because ten thousand years after being in the presence of the Lord, there isn't a skeleton going to come tumbling out of the closet that will ever embarrass God or ever embarrass me. For he knew all about them when he saved me. He knew about every one of them. Past and future. He knew about them all. And he still loved me. That's one of the most amazing things with the love of God. Romans eleven twenty nine, the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. This woman of Sumeria, she acknowledged the presence of divine omnipotence.
And her response was, I perceive that thou art a prophet. And this is a message of spiritual truth. And the reason she said, I perceive that thou art a prophet, she recognized that this one saw what it was humanly impossible to receive and perceive. She realized this. And immediately she recognizes that she's a sinner. She does not possess everlasting life. And that she is a stranger to the best that there is. And a person who's out of Christ. is a stranger to the best that there is.
She's a stranger to the truth of God. She's apart from truth. She's apart from life. She's apart from righteousness. And her immediately, her immediate response is, I want to get things right. I want to set things right. And in verse twenty nine, she says to the men of the city come see a man. which told me all things whatever I did is not this the Christ. Now in setting things right, she asked concerning worship. She opened the subject. She said, our fathers worship in this mountain, Mount Gerizim.
But the Jews say that Jerusalem is a place to worship. Who's right? You see, these Samaritans, they only had the first five books of the law, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They didn't have the historical books. They didn't have the Psalms. They didn't have the prophets. And therefore, their men said, Monterison is a place to worship. The Jews said Jerusalem. She said, who's right? Who am I to believe? And I believe the woman was sincere. And our Lord explains to her the truth of worshipers and the truth of worship.
And in verses twenty-three and twenty-four, our Lord has something to say to her. He says to her, the hour come after now is when the true worshipers, now that word true worshipers must be contrasted with false worshipers. If there's such a thing as true worshipers, there must be such a thing as false worship. He says the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. And we want to dwell on this tonight. The Father is seeking worshipers. You and I in the evangelical church in We are big on ministry, and we are small on worship.
A lot that goes on today under the name of worship could be classified by men as we're interested in, quote, what works, unquote. So we have our gadgets and our gimmicks to get people in. And if we have a large crowd, we're happy. But have we worshiped? have we worshiped. This is what is important. We want our formulas and we want our gimmicks. And in the process of it all, in our fast pace, instant coffee, instant tea, instant food, instant credit society, we're concerned about what works.
And beloved, this is not what the New Testament or the Old Testament is about. Ministry is important. Let us consider it for a moment. Ministry is that which comes down from the Father, through the Holy Spirit, and is presented through the human instrument. That is ministry. Ministry is that which we get from God. It comes down from the Father, in the power of the Spirit, through the human instrument. Worship, on the other hand... Starts in the human instrument, and by the power of the Holy Spirit it ascends to the Father.
Worship is the reverse of ministry. Now in the Old Testament we had two things. We had the prophet and we had the priest. The prophet, he brought the word of God to the people in ministry. The prophet spoke for God. On the other hand, we had the priest. And the priesthood, in the priest, he went into God and he spoke to God on behalf of the people. And First Peter two, verse five, tells us that in this age, the redeemed of the Lord are a holy priesthood. It is our happy privilege to draw near with a true heart, with full assurance of faith, and to worship his presence we can be big on ministry and we can be short on worship our activity in worship now you and I have to be balanced we need to balance that the word of God places between ministry and worship but then the emphasis is
not on ministry the emphasis is on worship now we want to use a biblical illustration of this turn to John twelve for a moment John chapter twelve where we read in the opening verses then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead whom he raised from the dead there they made him a supper And Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him, then took Mary upon the ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
Get the picture. Martha is serving. Mary is worshiping. She broke the costly box of ointment. She gave it to the Lord. She worshipped. Now, as she worshipped, I want you to notice the record here. She wiped the feet of the Savior with her hair. The hair of Mary. It's her glory. The feet of a man. They're not glorious. In those days they became dusty and dirty from the road that they traveled.
And Mary broke that box of ointment. Scholars tell us it was a year's wages. The cost of the pound of spikenard. That's why the disciples through Judas became very pragmatic all of a sudden they said why the waste and our Lord had to say let her alone let her alone now when we take the other passage where this is presented in Luke chapter ten let us notice this for a moment let us turn to Luke ten verses thirty eight through forty two in the tenth of Luke and verse forty eight we read this thirty eight excuse me it says now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house and she had a sister called Mary which also and I'd like you to emphasize that little word also Usually we give Martha
the wrong light. We see her in the wrong light. But it says, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word? The problem with Martha is in the next verse. There is nothing wrong with her sitting at Jesus' feet. That is what Mary is commended for. But remember, Martha also did. A lot of times we see Martha as just serving. but she also sat at his feet and heard his word. Never forget that. But the problem was she was cumbered with much serving. She was cumbered. It became a cumbersome thing to her, and she was all worked up over it.
Ever meet anybody like that? I have. I've met people that get all... in a dither over a little service. And they don't know what it is to sit at Jesus' feet and enjoy him. This was Martha's problem. She didn't hold the balance between worship and service and ministry. She didn't have the balance. And we read Martha's Cumbert about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her, therefore, that she may help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part. What is needful? Worship. Worship. To be in the presence of the Lord, one thing is needful. Are you acquainted with Psalm twenty-seven, verse four? The psalmist said, One thing have I desired of the Lord. That will I seek after, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord and inquire in his temple.
What is he saying? He's saying, One thing have I desired, that I may dwell in order, that I might seek thee in adoration, in worship. that I may see thee, and that I may adore in thy presence, and worship him who is indeed worthy. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is an interesting chapter. It's a list of the heroes of faith. It begins with Abel. And the one thing that marked the life of Abel was he worshipped. By faith Abel offered unto God. A more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
He worshipped at first. Next comes Enoch. What do you know about Enoch? He walked with God. Enoch walked. Able worship. Enoch walked. And the next one mentioned is Noah. And the thing that we know about Noah, he worked. A hundred and twenty years he labored building an ark. He worked for God. Now this is the divine order. There is first of all worship. There's a walk. And then there's a work. It seems in the evangelical church today we have the reverse. Oh yes.
We want to work. We want to work. And we're so busy. I remember when we had Brother Paul Van Gorter with us. He made the statement. He said no I'm a come from a Baptist background. And he said, we're so busy. We're so busy. We're so cumbered with working that we know so little about worship. And he said, the little poem says it so well. Mary had a little lamb. It should have been a sheep. But it had joined a Baptist church and died for lack of sleep.
And you know that can happen in any evangelical church. But you see, he was speaking as a Baptist. He was speaking as a Baptist, beloved. And I'm not pointing a finger at anyone in particular. That can happen to us, beloved. That can happen to us. We can become so occupied with doing this and doing that and doing something else that we miss the Lord. One thing of my desire to the Lord. And that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, that I may see the beauty of the Lord and inquire of His holiness. You and I can be programmed.
We can be informed. We can be busy. And we can miss worship. And oh, how numbers conscious we are today. We're so conscious of numbers. And how often does true acceptable worship. occupy our minds. How am I as I come into the presence of the Lord? Do I come to the heart that's indicting a good matter? Is my heart hot? That the vapors that ascend from it are acceptable to God, and they're going to glorify Him who bought me with His precious blood. You know the story is told of the explorer in the Amazon jungle.
And he was pressing on. And he had a number of natives bearing a lot of burdens. And he was pressing. And he was driving them to the Amazon. And he did this for three days. And the fourth day, when Daybreak came and the explorer, he was a real American. He was up and ready to go at it. But not one of the natives moved. They kept sitting on the ground the side of their burdens. And he wanted to go, and he was really chafing at the bit. And the chief of the natives said, the men won't move.
They're waiting for their souls to catch up to their bodies. Maybe that's what we need, beloved. Wait for our souls to catch up to our bodies. and all are rushing here and there in service without taking time to enjoy God in the quiet waiting upon him one thing and I'm going to be through turn with me to the book of Exodus Exodus chapter thirty in Exodus chapter thirty we have the order for the construction of a place of worship it begins in chapter twenty five of the book of exodus it begins with the construction of the ark and in verses thirty four through thirty eight of exodus chapter thirty we have something that is exceedingly interesting that you and i need to take the heart today and the lord said unto moses take unto these sweet spices Stakte
and Anika and Gilbanum, these three spices with pure frankincense of each, shall there be a like weight, and thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the Apothecary, tempered together pure and holy, and thou shalt beat some of it very small. and put it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation where I will meet with thee, and it shall be unto thee most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves, according to the composition thereof, it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord.
Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off, from his people. In other words, what he is saying here, in that sweet incense that is placed upon the golden altar, and the golden altar was immediately placed before the veil, and it speaks of worship that ascends to God from the hands of the priest. The psalmist said in another place, Let my prayer come before thee as incense, and the lifting up my hand as the evening sacrifice.
God said, Now when you make this, it's of sweet perfume. Be sure that you make it properly. And if anybody imitates it, I'll kill it. That's what God said. God says it's not for you, it's for me. And if you put it on yourself to make yourself smell good, I'll kill you. He's basically what God said. See, God does not countenance any competition for the worship of his people.
He's not going to be in competition with your car. With your bed, with anything else, or anyone else, this is holy for God. Does this grip our hearts? Let me ask you, why did God save you? What are you doing with that which belongs to God? Do we know something about worship?
Worship in his presence, bowing down to him, meditating upon him, rejoicing in him, praising him from a hot heart that's filled with adoration and praise. Now that brings us to our main theme, why did God save you? not simply to keep you out of hell. He saved you in order that you would worship Him. Beloved, a Christian who is taken home to glory, to worship forever and ever, who never took time out to worship on earth, is going to be ashamed before Him at His coming.
It would have to be that way. It would have to be that way. It couldn't be otherwise. If the purpose for which you and I are saved is that we might glorify God and enjoy him forever. And in the glorifying of God, it is worship. Then not to worship him continuously as a Lord's people is to dishonor him. who alone is worthy. God said concerning the making of the sweet incense that was placed on the altar daily with the lighting of the lamps.
Isn't that amazing that those two things are brought together? The incense was placed on the altar. When the lampstand was lit, the lampstand was tended. The Bible says if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin. We're back to Hebrews eleven. Worship, walk, work. Let's pray. Loving Father, quietly and calmly in thy presence, we would say to thee from the heart, Lord Jesus, I love you.
I know thou art mine, my rock and my fortress, my surety divine, my gracious Redeemer, my song shall be now, tis thou who art worthy, Lord Jesus, tis thou. Receive our worship, our thanksgiving, our praise, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.