Well, turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter four.

There’s an often used illustration that goes that a church member once met the pastor after a church service and had to complain to the pastor that the songs that we sang today, they just weren’t my favorite songs. I wish we could sing songs that I really enjoyed a little more and they were more my favorites. And so the pastor smiled and looked back at this church member and said, well, it’s a good thing we’re not here to worship you today.

We are talking about worship this morning, and we’re going to revisit a passage that we went over last week. We’ve been in John chapter four for several weeks now, and we’ve seen this encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. We focused on the significance of the fact that these two were even talking given their cultural differences. And last week we saw that Jesus evangelized this woman. He shared the good news with her. We saw that Jesus told her that he is a source, the source of living water. And that if she drinks from his living water, she would never thirst again. She said that she wanted this water. And so Jesus proceeded to show her exactly how it is that she could partake of his living water, how she could receive it. And what he did next gives us a model for evangelism.

He pointed out her sin to her. He told her to call her husband. And he knew that that was going to be a revealing area in her life. She admitted that she had no husband and Jesus filled in the rest. He brought up that she previously had five husbands and the man she was now with was not, in fact, her husband. And we saw the woman admit her sin. One of the essential elements in receiving forgiveness and salvation, she admitted her sin. She acknowledged that Jesus was correct by saying that he must be a prophet. And then as the conversation continues, eventually the woman brings up the Messiah and Jesus reveals to her that this Messiah was standing right in front of her. Not only that, but Jesus’ response to her comments on the Messiah was that I am. He is the great I am. He is the I am who revealed himself to Moses before he redeemed the Israelites out of Egypt.

This great deliverer of his people was standing before her. Jesus had effectively shown this woman her sin, but he didn’t leave her there. He also showed her the Messiah himself, the one who could save her from that very sin. He could give her this living water, this water that would well up inside of her to eternal life. And we’ll see in the coming weeks how she responds to this encounter with her Savior. But what I want to do this morning is rewind a little bit to something that Jesus said in his conversation with this woman. I want to focus on Jesus’ response to this woman’s question about worship. Because although Jesus remained focused on the target of this woman’s heart, his answer is very informative for us.

The title of this message is Spirit and Truth. And that is how Jesus said that true worshipers must worship God. If we are to be true worshipers of God, we must understand what Jesus meant. when he said that true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth. Our text for this morning is in John chapter 4, and it’s verses 20 through 24. And what I want to look at from this text are really three principles of what true worship is, what Jesus reveals to this woman and to us that worship is. First of all, We’ll see three things, and first of all, we’ll see that, number one, worship must be, or that is that worship is essential. Worship must be. And then number two, worship must be in spirit. And lastly, worship must be in truth. And we’ll look at all three of these things individually.

But first, let me read John chapter four, verses 20 through 24. This is the word of the Lord. The woman responds to Jesus, our fathers worshiped on this mountain. And you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

So to begin with, we see this Samaritan woman recognize that she’s speaking to a spiritual authority. And she says in verse 19 that, I see that you are a prophet. And then she follows that up with a statement about worship. So she’s been convicted of her sin and she needs forgiveness. And having agreed with Jesus about her sin, at least repenting mentally about what her sin is, seeing it as what Jesus says it is, the woman wonders where she should go to worship God. where she should seek his grace and salvation. And Jesus was obviously a prophet of God. And she figured that he would know. So again, she says, our fathers worshiped on this mountain. And you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. She highlights one of the major points of contention between the Jews and the Samaritans. Besides all of the ethnic differences, one of their main differences was how they worshiped. You see, the Samaritans and the Jews both believed that God had instructed them to find the right place to worship him. Because they both believed in the book of Deuteronomy.

In Deuteronomy 12 verse five, it says this. Moses instructing the people of Israel as they will go into the promised land without him. He gives these instructions. He says, you shall seek Yahweh at the place which Yahweh your God will choose from all your tribes. To establish his name there for his dwelling, there you shall come. So Moses says, you need to worship God where God tells you to. So they both have that part right. They need to find the right place. But the Samaritans, if you remember, they only believed in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. So they had to find a place in those five books where God ought to be worshiped. And so they settled on Mount Gerizim. Because in Deuteronomy chapter 11, Verse 29, it says this, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebon. So as far as they had it, they did follow what they believed God had said. But the Jews had the rest of the Old Testament. They believed in all that God had revealed in his word. So they knew what God said to the Israelites and to David. For example, in 2 Chronicles 6, verse six, God says, I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there. And I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

So the Jews rightly found that Jerusalem was the place where God wanted to be worshiped. And not only did they believe God, they believed in all of God’s revelation, at least on this issue. And so Jesus answers this woman. And he said to her, woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. And it is ironic. that as this Samaritan woman stands beside this well, that’s neither in Jerusalem or in Mount Gerizim, but as she stands there, she is standing closer to the place where God is to be worshiped than she ever has. She was standing before the true temple of God and the true revelation from the Father. But as Jesus reveals to her, this issue of location of worship, was soon going to be irrelevant. Not only because of the revelation of the new covenant, but also physically irrelevant. Several decades later in AD 70, during the Jewish revolt against Rome, the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed.

So that option’s gonna be off the table. But also, thousands of Samaritans were slaughtered on Mount Gerizim. So the place of worship, the options that she saw before her were both going to be irrelevant soon enough. But even more importantly than that, as Jesus reveals in the new covenant, all external ceremonies and rituals, whether they’re Jewish or Samaritan, would be obsolete. He was coming to reveal the new covenant. Before moving on, Jesus does correct this woman’s faulty understanding. In verse 22, she says, or he says, Jesus says to her, you worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. Jesus says the Jews were right about the place of worship at that time. And Samaritans worship what they do not know. They worship a God they don’t even know because they reject his word. His word that revealed to them the things that the Jews understood.

And he says to her that salvation is from the Jews. It was always going to be from the Jews. All of God’s promises of salvation came through the Messiah that he would be sent through the Jews. His lineage is traced back all the way through the Jewish nation. From the lineage of the Messiah to God’s word revealed, all of it came through the Jews. And Jesus says that she needs to trust in what God has revealed. She needs to trust the whole Word of God, and she would know this. And we can learn something from the Samaritan problem here. The Samaritans’ problem was that they rejected parts of the Word of God. They accepted the parts they wanted to and rejected the rest.

And that is so relevant to the church today. Because whether we admit it or not, this happens in the church at large, so many of the issues in the church today would be solved by believing all of the Word of God. You can look at many examples. One of the examples that’s at the forefront today is the disagreement over the issue of female pastors. Can a woman be a pastor? There are a lot of churches that have female pastors. There’s a lot of churches in this town that have female pastors. But God’s Word addresses that very specifically. In 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet. There are other places I could go, but that one’s pretty clear.

And you often hear, well, that was cultural. Women can be gifted speakers too, but that’s just not equal treatment. Do we believe all of God’s word or not? That’s the issue. What did he say? Do we believe God’s word or not? And people that attend these churches are either ignorant of God’s word or indifferent to it. And both have terrifying consequences. And the same could be said for other issues in the church. Things that you see in churches today or what call themselves churches. Issues like what to do about homosexuality or transgenderism, adultery, fornication. Practicing church discipline. Do we believe all of God’s word or not? That’s what it comes down to.

And this was the same problem the Samaritans had. Although it looked differently, they didn’t believe all of God’s word. So after answering this woman’s question as to the place of worship and cluing her in that this place of worship would be irrelevant, Here is where we see the three principles Jesus gives us about worship. The first principle that we must acknowledge from this text is that worship must be, or that worship is essential. We must be worshiping. And that might seem obvious to you if you have been a Christian for any amount of time, but it’s something we still need to be reminded of. One of the realities of being God’s people is that we worship Him. That is what God’s people do. In fact, verse 23 here says that the Father seeks people to be His worshipers. We are made to worship God.

The Westminster Catechism rightly states in the very first question, question one, what is the chief end of man? The answer is, man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Correct. That is a correct and true statement, and that is what we were made for. This is the answer to the existential question, why do I even exist? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

1 Corinthians 10.31, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do all to the glory of God. Romans 11 verse 36, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. You could say, therefore, to Him be the glory forever. Amen. These are the great doxologies of Scripture. This is what we are here for, to glorify and worship our God. The reality is that because we were created to worship God, we are by nature worshipers. The problem is we don’t always worship God. It’s not that we don’t worship. We do worship. We are going to worship something. The question is what do we worship or who do we worship?

John Calvin said that the heart is an idol factory. What that means is we are going to worship something, whether it’s the true God or an idol of our own making. The question is not whether or not we worship, it’s what do we worship? We were designed to worship, and the first thing that we must get right is that we must worship God. God’s people must worship him. That word must, as we’ve seen, is an important word for John. You see it in verse 24. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. If we are God’s people, we worship him. And verse 23, backing up a little bit, says, true worshipers will worship the Father. Not ought to, not should. True worshipers will worship the Father. That’s what qualifies what a true worshiper is. They worship the Father.

Again, this is another must statement in John’s Gospel. John’s been dropping these must statements from the lips of Jesus. We see in John chapter 3 verse 7, you must be born again. And then in verse 14 of John chapter 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And here again in chapter four, those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. These are absolute truths that John is sharing with us. So as surely as you must be born again to be a Christian, and as surely as he must be lifted up for you to be saved, just as surely those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

You see, true worship is an essential part of being a Christian. It’s what we must do. Paul in Philippians chapter 3 lists for us three essentials of what it is to be a Christian. If you want to turn there, Philippians chapter 3 verse 3, and this is the very same essentials that John just shared with us in these must statements, only he reverses the order. But Philippians chapter 3 verse 3, for we are the circumcision, comma, who worship in the spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Three essentials of what it is to be the people of God. He says we are the circumcision. That’s what he means. We are the true people of God. And what makes us the true people of God? Number one, we worship in the spirit of God. Or as John says, we must worship in spirit and truth. The second essential Paul shares with us is that we boast in Jesus Christ, the same Jesus Christ who must be lifted up. We boast in him because it is by his work we are saved. We have nothing to boast in ourselves. We boast in Him. And lastly, Paul says, who put no confidence in the flesh. Or you could say, who must be born again. Because we cannot put confidence in our own flesh. Because we can do nothing to save ourselves. We are dead in our own flesh. So we put no confidence in it. Paul’s essentials of being the true people of God are the very same as John’s musts. And one of those essential musts is that we must worship God in spirit and in truth. So true worship is essential to being a Christian. It is important that we get worship right. So this first principle we see is that worship must be. Worship is essential.

Secondly, we see that worship must be in spirit. Worship must be in spirit. Again, verses 23 and 24, but an hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For such people, the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit. and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Again, Jesus had just pointed out to this woman that under the new covenant, the place of worship, the physical location is not an issue. Here he clarifies what is important in worship. True worshipers will worship the Father and they’ll worship in spirit and in truth. There’s different opinions as to what the spirit means here. Some think it means the spirit of God, but I think it just means the human spirit.

We worship in spirit. It means that worship must be internal and not just external. It’s not just following ceremonies and rituals. It must be from the heart, from our spirit. God cares about our heart in our worship. He’s not just concerned about what we do, He’s concerned about why. Why are we doing it? Why do you come to church to worship on Sunday? Why are you singing His praises? Why are you listening to His Word being preached? Is it because you think you have to? Is it because you think you’re being a good Christian by doing this? If those are the reasons why you worship, you’re not a true worshiper. You should be worshiping Him in response to all that He’s done.

Your worship should be overflowing out of your heart in reflection to what He’s already done for you. You should worship Him because you want more of Him. God wants your heart. And this passage says, He seeks it. He seeks true worshipers who worship in spirit. He worshiped from the heart. And that only comes from true believers. Those who have been made spiritually alive. You can’t worship in spirit if you’re spiritually dead. And this has always been an issue with God’s people. We need to worship from the heart, in spirit. Listen to what God says to Israel in the Old Testament about their worship. Turn to Isaiah chapter one. The nation of Israel was worshiping. They were going through the rites and the rituals. They were even going to the right place, as we saw earlier. but they were not worshiping in spirit and in truth.

Turn to Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah chapter one. And right from the beginning, God has something to address with his people. And he starts in chapter one, verse two, after the introduction of of who’s writing, but in verse two, this is what he says to his people. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for Yahweh speaks. Sons, I have reared up and raised up, but they transgressed against me. An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manager, but Israel does not know. My people do not perceive. Alas, sinful nation, people heavy with iniquity, seed of evildoers, sons who act corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh. They have spurned the Holy One of Israel. They have become estranged from Him.”

The people of God don’t even know Him. That’s the problem here. An ox knows its owner and a donkey knows its master, but Israel doesn’t know its God. They are spiritually dead, so they cannot be spiritual worshipers. But listen to what they’re doing a few verses down as Isaiah now confronts their worship, God speaking through the mouth of Isaiah. He just revealed that they don’t know him. But they’re going through the motions in their worship.

Verse 11, what are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says Yahweh? I’ve had enough of burnt offerings and rams, and the fat of fed cattle, and the blood of bulls and lambs or goats. I take no pleasure. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of convocation. I cannot endure wickedness in the solemn assembly. My soul hates your new moon festivals and your appointed times. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Indeed, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.

These people are worshiping. They’re doing all the things. They’re making all the sacrifices. They’re coming to the right temple. They’re doing the festivals and the feasts. They were even praying. What does God say? I’ve had enough. Stop it. I don’t want your fake worship. God is not a vending machine that you put in a little worship and get what you want. That’s how they were treating him. If we do all the things and we dance the dance and walk the walk, then God will give us all the good things. They didn’t want God, they wanted what they thought they could get from God. And the sad truth is that many, many people treat God this very same way today. Like God is some ATM in the sky. If I do the right things, if I walk the walk, if I talk the talk, If I go to church on Sunday and I put my money in the plate and I sound like a Christian, then God will give me what I want. Then God has no reason not to give me what I ask for, because I’m doing all the things. They think worship is like punching in the right code on your ATM. That’s when we get to the good stuff, after I’ve done all the right things.

But that is not what worship is supposed to be. That is false worship. Worship must be in spirit. It must be sincere. It must be an overflow of our heart or it’s not worship. That is what Jesus is saying when he says our worship must be in spirit and in truth. Again, he doesn’t say it should be or it ought to be. It must be in spirit or it’s not true worship. And one point we must clarify here is what some people often think in spirit means. Many people will speak of worship and say, oh, well, we need to get in the spirit. And you’ll hear worshipers call for the Holy Spirit to fall upon the worshipers. And you’ll hear incredibly shallow songs that just repeat and repeat and repeat the same lines in an effort to drum up this spiritual feeling. And then people will believe, okay, now we’re in the spirit. Let me just tell you, being in the spirit is not a mode or a feeling. It’s not an emotional state. that you can bring about. And what happens in these so-called worship experiences is just an elevated heart rate and adrenaline.

They do the very same things at dance clubs and raves. They do it intentionally to work up the right feeling. And if unbelievers can do it, It has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. You don’t need to get in the Spirit to worship. If you’re a Christian, you’re in the Spirit, period. We are gifted the Holy Spirit at the moment we trust Christ as our Savior. We are not given different levels of the Holy Spirit based on how we call him down. The only variation to being filled with the Spirit is in relation to our obedience to His Word. And it’s our actions that can be more or less filled with the Spirit, depending on how well we obey His will. But we as believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, period. And Jesus’ reference to worshiping in spirit has nothing to do with what is often called getting in the spirit in our worship.

Worshiping him in spirit has to do with our sincerity of heart. Do we worship him sincerely? Is it from the heart? Do we mean the words that come across our lips? Do we even think about the words that come across our lips? Does it reflect how we feel about God in our hearts? Do we worship Him because we love Him and adore Him and we want more of Him? That is worshiping Him in spirit. The third principle we see here is that worship must be in truth. Verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Worshiping in truth calls for a heart of worship that is consistent with what God’s word teaches. Your word is truth. God’s word is the standard of truth. It is the standard of truth by which we measure everything else. If you want to know if something is true or not, measure it first by the word of God. Our worship in truth is centered on Jesus Christ, the incarnate word.

You see this phrase here that God is spirit. This is the biblical definition of God’s nature. God is not just an exalted man. He doesn’t have a body like we do. And this is seen in the words of Jesus as he’s proving to people after his resurrection that he’s not just a spirit. In Luke 24 verse 39, see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. But God, apart from the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He is the invisible God. He is a spirit.

1 Timothy chapter 6 says, He dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. God is a spirit. And His worship cannot just be physical rites and rituals and going through the motions. He must be worshipped according to how He truly is, in spirit and truth. And the fact was that neither the Samaritans nor the Jews worshiped in spirit and truth. Even though the Jews had a better understanding of the truth, both of these groups focused on external worship, the things you do, the regulations and the rituals and the sacrifices. But the time had come because the Messiah was here. that true worshipers would no longer be identified with where they worship. True worshipers are those who worship the Father in spirit and truth.

Our worship needs to be in line with what the Bible says. We worship the way God says we worship. This includes the words of our songs that we sing. There’s a lot of bad worship songs. A lot of what you hear on Christian radio today. When you hear a worship song, do you ever ask, is that biblical? Is that line that I just heard biblical? Is that what the Bible says? Now, I could quote a lot of songs with a lot of bad lyrics. Songs about reckless love or God’s sloppy wet kisses or God not wanting heaven without us. But you get the idea. Do we ask, is this biblical? Is the line of that song true? Is that what God’s word tells me about God?

We must be worshiping in truth. And that means we are worshiping according to what the Bible says. That means all of our worship, not just the songs we sing. But we do sing according to what the Bible says. We read according to what the Bible says. We gather according to what the Bible says. We take the Lord’s Supper the way the Bible says to. We baptize the way the Bible says to. Jesus Christ and his word must be central to all that we do. As we read earlier in the service, in the book of Colossians, Paul gives us instruction on our worship and what it should contain.

In Colossians chapter three, verses 16 and 17, he starts with, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In his instructions about how we are to worship, he starts with, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through Him. So again, first of all, our worship should reflect that the Word of Christ dwells in us richly. That means we need to read it, and we need to know it, and we need to learn it. Everything we do should be drenched in the Bible.

And then Paul lists some ways that the Word of God can dwell in us richly in our worship. He says teaching and admonishing and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, all of those things must be filled with the Word of Christ. And twice he mentions gratefulness and thankfulness. Our worship should be from a heart of thankfulness. So, as Paul says, our worship should be characterized by thankfulness in the word. Or, you could say, in spirit and in truth. This is exactly what Jesus is saying to this woman. True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father seeks these people to be his worshipers. So true worship is not about performing religious standards and rituals. True worship comes from our hearts, from our inner spirit. And it’s all according to the word of God, the way he has revealed himself to us in his word.

So there really are two extremes that we need to avoid in our worship. We need to be avoiding the extreme of worshiping with all truth and no spirit. Where we know all the right things, but our worship is all about going through the motions and not from the sincerity of our heart. But we also must avoid being all spirit and no truth. where worship is just whatever we feel is right to us. And it has nothing to do with what the Bible says. So we need to avoid those two extremes, being all truth and no spirit, and being all spirit and no truth. But we aren’t looking to be somewhere in the middle where we have some spirit and some truth. We must worship God fully. in spirit and in truth. Christ is our Savior and our Lord. He died to pay for our sins and bring us to himself, the worshipers that God seeks. Jesus Christ is worthy of getting worship right. He says what goes. And he says we are to worship him sincerely and according to his word.

Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer. Our God and Father in heaven, we thank you. We are filled with gratefulness and hearts of thankfulness because of who you are. Because of what you have done, you sent your only son for us. He came and was born and lived as a human, as part of his creation. He humbled himself so that he could save sinners like us. God, we thank you. We thank you for doing what you didn’t have to do. And we pray that our worship would come from hearts that are overflowing with that thankfulness for who you are and what you’ve done. And we pray that our worship would be according to what your word says. Lord, reveal to us. where we are out of step with your word, whether it be in our worship on Sundays or in our day-to-day lives. Wherever we are not living according to what your word says, show that to us. Convict us of that. Help us to change, to be more in line with your word and more in the image of your son. God, we thank you. We praise you. We worship you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.