I have found His grace is all complete, He supplies every need. While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet, I am free, yes, free indeed. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. All the help has never yet been told. I have found the pleasure I once crave. It is joy and peace within. What a wondrous blessing I am saved from the awful gift of sin. It is joy, unspeakable and full of glory. full of glory, full of glory. It is joy, unspeakable, and full of glory. Oh, the half has never yet been so. I have found that hope so bright and clear, living in the realm of grace. Oh, the Savior's presence is so near, I can see his smiling face. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. has never yet been told. I have found the joy no tongue can tell how its waves of glory roll. It is like a great or flowing well, stringing up within my soul. It is joy unthinkable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unthinkable and full of glory. Oh, the half has never yet been told. We want to turn this morning in our Bibles to the fourth chapter of John, John's Gospel account, chapter four. I want to thank the quartet for that great number that extols the grace of God. It's a verse that ran through my mind as they were singing Ephesians chapter two. I think it's verse six. Verse seven that says that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. When we look back over the past ages of God's blessing of His people, each age was more blessed than the preceding one. And when we look forward, the scripture says, in the ages to come, He's going to show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. What a prospect. The half has not been told. Friends, one millionth has not been told of the glory that awaits us with our blessed Lord. And it's the will of God that we are there for our Lord prayed. And he said, Father, I will, that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Oh, what a prospect we have. Now from the fourth chapter of John, we shall begin reading at verse nineteen. where we have the encounter of our Lord with the woman of Samaria. And this begins in the opening verses of the chapter. And he's still in the discussion with this woman, and we're picking up at verse nineteen. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour 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 hour 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. and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Now may the Lord bless his words. Let us pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the privilege of opening your word. And we ask you now to open our heart. Deliver us from anything that would detract from the glory that you deserve and that our Lord Jesus Christ deserves. Grant that we may know the power of the Spirit and that you will minister to each of us. We would say like Samuel of old with sincerity, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. and in speaking to my heart speak to all who are gathered and will praise you in his worthy name even our Lord Jesus Christ amen I am scheduled to be with you the Lord's days in November and in the eight sessions that I'm going to be ministering beginning this morning I'm going to take up one subject the subject of worship and we're going to carry it through successively through each of the sessions. What I want to do is ask a question, an overall question, and seek to answer this question from the encounter that our Lord had with this woman of Samaria as recorded in John four. The main question is, why did God save you? Why did God save you? Why did he save me? Now, a lot of people might say, well, that's quite an unusual question, but it's a most important question. The Lord Jesus is speaking to a sinful woman in John chapter four, a woman who had had five husbands. The one she was living with was not her husband. And to her, he said, give me a drink when they were by the Jacob's well there at Psyker. And it is to her that he expounds the great doctrines of worship. He says more about worship to this sinful woman than he does anywhere else in the Word of God. If you were to take a pen and just underline the times that the word worship appears in the few verses that are recorded here in John four, you'll find that he speaks of worship at least ten times to this woman. Why did God save us? To keep us out of hell? Not necessarily. Now that may shock you. Now thank God the fires of hell I'll never see. But the objective of God saving us is to make us a worshiping people in His holy presence. And when you go through the Bible, we find that worship is found in the opening chapters of Genesis. When we get to the book of the Revelation, the last chapter of the Bible, we find that the whole history of man culminates in a saved, redeemed people around the throne of God engaged in worship, worship of him who is worthy. Even our God reveals in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead body, and we are complete in him. Does it often bother you, as it does me, that many people profess to get saved, but they have no time for worship? Worship is, well, they can or they can't. It doesn't matter. May I suggest to you this morning, it does matter. Isn't it strange that the whole of God's activity on earth is going to culminate in a redeemed people around the throne of God who are going to be worshiping forever? And yet these people are so happy they're going to escape hell and go to heaven but have no time to worship now while they're on the way. You think it through. Why did God save you? Are you saved? To be saved is the greatest privilege on earth. The more that I examine the Word of God concerning the great salvation that is ours in Christ, the more excited I get about the fact that I'm saved, that I belong to the Lord, that I'm in the family of God. Now the order of the chapters in John's Gospel is most exciting when you study it. Last year we spent a little time in the Lord's days that I was with you. We spent some time in the mornings, you'll remember, on the doctrine of the new birth. We examined Bible doctrine. We were in John's Gospel, chapter three. The new birth determines a family relationship. To Nicodemus the religious Jew, our Lord spoke of relationship, for he said to him, Except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And we had a little formula that we used a year ago. And the formula was, birth determines nature. A bullfrog acts like a bullfrog because it was born one. And man by nature has been born a sinner. The wicked we, the Bible says, are estranged from the womb. They go astray speaking lies. The Bible says that man by nature is a sinner. Why is he a sinner? He was born that way. A horse is a horse because it was born a horse. Birth determines nature. Nature determines appetite. The things that you feed upon are determined by what you are. birth determines nature, nature determines appetite, appetite determines character, and character determines vision. Now this was a little formula that we worked out of last year when expounding the doctrine of the new birth, that great work which is all of God, which God performs in quickening dead sinners to life. The new birth, friends, is of God. John one and twelve. To as many as receive him, to them he gives a right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, who are born. Not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. So when a person is born of God, they now possess a new relationship because they possess a new nature. Second Peter one, verse four, tells us that we are partakers of the divine nature. We now have a new nature. Now we have a new relationship. So since we have a new relationship, this relationship culminates in something. A person cannot see the kingdom of God apart from the new birth, and that's what it means to be saved. And once we are saved, In the family of God, now there is that inner desire in the believer to worship Him. That's why God saved us. He saved us to worship. Now, may I say very kindly and yet emphatically, God will not countenance any competition for His people's worship. God will not come in and be in competition with anything for your worship if you're a child of God. God will not put up with it. He will not do it. This is understood in the first two commandments that he gave to the children of Israel. In the book of Exodus chapter twenty, the first commandment says, I am the Lord thy God that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of Bondi. Thou shalt have no other God before me. Now the second commandment that God gave, he said, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, the likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, but keeping mercy for thousands of them who love me and keep my commandments. God will not countenance any competition for his people's worship. This is seen in the first two commandments. In other words, God will not take second place to your car. He will not take second place to your bed. He will not take second place to anything else or anyone else. God must be God. This is why God tells us in the fourteenth chapter of Luke, where he lays down in that fourteenth chapter the requirement of discipleship. Discipleship, he says, if any man will come after me and hate not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, he cannot be my disciple. Now there's no contradiction in the Bible. The word of God that says that we should love our wives, that tells us that we're to love our children and bring them up in the fear of the Lord, it also tells us that God must be supreme. And the word therefore hate could be translated love less. God must be supreme. This is a test of discipleship to the child of God. God is not going to take second place in your life and he's not going to take second place in mind. Now the passage that we read from John chapter four is the most definitive and clear New Testament passage on the subject of worship. Now the theme of worship enhances the whole of the Word of God. The book of Genesis, by the way, begins with worship. We have Adam and Eve worshiping God in the garden as he comes down to fellowship with them. In the cool of the day, they meet with God and they worship. In other words, the first division in life was a result of faulty worship. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden because of faulty worship. Eve substituted something else. for God. And when their children came to offer, we find that faulty worship resulted in the death of Abel. For Cain was angry with Abel over the subject of worship, because Abel was accepted, but Cain wasn't. Now, what is worship? We want to define our term, what is worship? I like what Dr. Paul Van Gorder said when he was with us in January, and he got it from Dr. Armarding, Dr. Carl Armarding. They were together at a conference, and he said Dr. Carl Armarding warmed our heart on the subject of worship, and he said he gave the best definition that he ever heard. And this is Dr. Armarding's definition according to Paul Van Gorder, he said, Worship is the overflow of a thankful heart that makes no request. The overflow of a thankful heart that makes no request. That's Worship. A more simple definition, we could say, Worship is is honor and adoration given to God. That's worship. Worship is honor and adoration that is given to God. Now, the words translated worship in the New Testament are quite interesting. The Greek word, proskaneo, is the word that is used most often. It appears sixty times in the New Testament. And it literally means to kiss twore. like the hand of one that you want to honor. You kiss. It means not only to kiss toward or to kiss the hand. It has the thought in it of bowing down. We get the word prostrate from it. Praskaneu is the word that's translated worship. But there's a second word that is translated worship in the New Testament. It is the word Latria. It appears five times in our New Testament. And the thought here is to render due service to God. Latria. To render due service to God. And we get our religious word, liturgy, from the word Latria. That's where the word originates when we speak of the, this is a liturgical church where they have a long liturgy. Usually it's found in the hymn book and it's followed. I was in one of the churches to a funeral and we were told in the bulletin that we got where to turn in the hymn book and there was a person sitting near me. They noticed that I was continuously fiddling the hymn book. I wasn't only reading the service that we had. I wanted to read what they had for other services. And this lady pointed to me that I was at the wrong place. I was supposed to go back to somewhere else. We have the word liturgy. Now, when we consider this, we find that worship, in its basic meaning, has reference to something that we do for God. You and I are living in the midst of a Christianity that has the idea that God is to be visually doing for us. We want him to do this and to do that and to do something else for us. But what we need to do is understand that there is a balance in the Christian life and the balance lies at the heart of worship. Worship touches this very area, that which we give to God. That which we give to God. Now when we examine this, we find that worship is our proper response to God. Turn over with me, if you will, to Romans chapter twelve. We want to look at Romans eleven first. Romans eleven on the subject of worship. The Book of Romans is the greatest doctrinal treatise in the Word of God. If you want Bible doctrine, you have to read the first eleven chapters of the Romans. It deals with the doctrine of soteriology or salvation. In theological terms, it's soteriology, the doctrine of the Savior. The Greek word sotir means Savior, and it's the doctrine of the Savior, that which outlines the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll find it in no greater array than in the book of Romans. So as he closes the section on doctrine, he has a great doxology. Let us read the doxology in verse thirty-three of Romans eleven. It says, Oh, the depths of the riches. both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out, for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things to whom be glory. For ever and ever, amen. Oh, what a doxology, beloved. Think of that last sentence, that last verse. Of him, through him, to him are all things. I would like to ask you humbly this morning, what do you have that you didn't receive? That's the question of First Corinthians chapter four, verse seven. What do you have that's really of yourself? Nothing. Of him, through him, to him, are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Happy is the soul of man who learns that all is of God. Now on the basis of this, he turns in chapter twelve in verse one, and he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren. by the mercies of God. And that's the way in which the Spirit of God describes the first eleven verses of Romans as the mercies of God, God's mercies to sinful men on the basis of what God has done for us. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. What does our Lord say in this passage? Present your bodies. And he says, this is your spiritual worship. The word service here could be translated worship. It is your spiritual worship. The thought here is that a worship. A living sacrifice that our body is supposed to be is the thought of here as a priestly act, giving to God in worship, presenting to him our bodies. Under the Old Testament economy, the bodies of many beasts were slain and placed upon the altar in sacrifice to God. It was worship. The worship ascended to him. The worshiper was identified in the offering that he presented to God. And you and I, according to Romans, the first eleven chapters, are presented in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. For of him and through him, And to him are all things. And what you and I have is because of a relationship to him. Not because of who we are or what we are or what we may think we are. But it's because of our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. And because of this, we now, we present not a dead sacrifice, but a living one, our body, or to present, be presented in holy worship. Now, holy and acceptable, as he's found in this passage, are terms of worship. Because worship is accepted by God. Abel's worship was accepted by God. And when you and I present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, it is holy. It is accepted by him. and it is acceptable as God's will, as we notice in verse two. By doing this, we prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now we have this same thought in first Peter. Turn with me to first Peter. In chapter one of first Peter, we have an outline of the gospel. In First Peter chapter one it tells us that we have been begotten unto a living hope in verse three by the resurrection from the dead. In verse eighteen it tells us that we were redeemed not with corruptible seed but incorruptible by the word of God. I'm getting ahead of myself. In verse eighteen it tells us that we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. The precious blood of Christ is brought to us In verse eighteen, and when you get to verse twenty-one, he says that, excuse me, in verse twenty-three, he tells us that we were born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. In other words, we can liken the first chapter of first Peter to John chapter three. We were born again by the work of God revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now because we are born of God, chapter two, he says, Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. You notice now it is birth that determines nature. He speaks in the clothes of being born again. Birth determines nature, and nature determines appetite. As we, as newborn babes in the family of God, we now desire something, the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby. So when we come to verse five, he says, Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable. This is what God accepts for man. He accepts our spiritual sacrifices as a holy priesthood. They are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. This is worship. This is the exercise of priesthood. This is our birthright. Priesthood, beloved, is our birthright. Don't sell your birthright. Don't sell it. And this matter of priesthood has everything to do with relationship. Under the Old Testament economy, Aaron was a priest. And Aaron's sons were priests. because they were born into the family of Aaron. They were priests because of relationship. Now when you come to the New Testament, our great high priest is Jesus Christ the Lord. This is taught in the great epistle to the Hebrews, beginning in chapter four and verse thirteen, where he says, we have a great high priest. that is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. And when you come through chapter five and chapter six and chapter seven and on into chapter eight, in chapter eight he says, Now the things which we have spoken, this is a sum. We have a great high priest. Christ is a high priest today. And we are a holy priesthood because of a relationship with him. We're born into the family. There's no other way to have it. Priesthood, beloved, is our birthright. And to present spiritual sacrifices to God, which are acceptable through Jesus Christ, is the birthright of everyone who's in the family of God. Why did God save you? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious blood at Calvary? not only to keep you out of hell, but all beloved, he shed his blood that he might make you a part of the family, that you may be a priest who can enter into the presence of God and present a holy sacrifice which he will accept. And when you come, he accepts what you bring. Now turn back to the book of Hebrews for a moment. The last two verses of chapter twelve. Hebrews chapter twelve. And we're thinking of that idea of being acceptable to God. What can I give to God which is acceptable to him? Hebrews twelve. Verse twenty eight says, Oh, I love this passage. It says, Wherefore receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. Oh, friends, you and I, by virtue of of the redemption that's in Christ Jesus or in a kingdom that will never pass away, a kingdom that can never be moved. Wherefore receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve, and that word serve could be translated worship, matriya, whereby we may worship God acceptably with reverence. And godly fear, for our God, is a consuming fire. In other words, because we've been saved, because we are part of a kingdom that can never be removed, everything on this earth is moving, friends. It's in a state of flux. But you and I, by divine grace, through the revelation of Christ to our heart, are possessors of a kingdom that will never be moved. It can never be moved. And in the meantime, we should have grace in order that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Why? Because of who God is. Our God is a consuming fire. In other words, from these texts, I learned something. I learned something that's very important. And we're going to develop it over the weeks. It is this. That worship is a way of life. for the believer. Worship is the immediate response to being saved. Worship is the response to the redemption that we possess in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is called for, yea, it is commanded in these various texts. Now we want to ask a question real quickly. What is involved in worship? What is involved in worship? How broad is this concept of worship in the Bible? How broad is it? Turn over to Romans fourteen. Romans fourteen. Remember, we're talking about that which is acceptable to God. Because a lot of Christians get bogged down at this point. They'll acknowledge, yes, I'm saved to worship. But what I accomplish is that really... acceptable to God. Romans, verse eighteen. Notice what it says. It says, For he that in these things serveth, here's the thought of worship. He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. In other words, The he here is spoken of as a believer. He's doing that, which is acceptable. And what is it? The fourteenth chapter of Romans is dealing with a weaker brother. That person who has all kinds of scruples over a lot of areas. And to be sensitive to the weaker brother. In other words, it is a sharing of love. It's a proper treatment of other believers. When we properly treat other believers in the family of God with a heart of love, with a desire for the welfare, is it acceptable to God? Because in the doing of it, we serve God and it's acceptable to him. Oh, this should give us a sensitive heart toward others. It's worship. It's worship. Let us move over to chapter fifteen of Romans, verse sixteen. Romans fifteen, verse sixteen. Paul writes, and he says, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Here I learned that the offering up of the Gentiles, Paul said, I go to the Gentiles and I preach the gospel to the Gentiles so that when the Gentiles in return give and make up an offering for the poor saints at Jerusalem, they're offering up what they're doing for others is acceptable to God. It is worship in His presence. Now we could go on and on. One more passage. I'd like to go with a few more, but I'm watching the clock. You might not think so, but I am. Philippians chapter one, excuse me, chapter four. Philippians four. Verse eighteen. Paul had received a love gift from the Philippian church while he was in prison in Rome. And he writes the little epistle of joy to the Philippians. And he says, concerning their gift that they gave him, he says, But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an order of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. What the Philippians did to Paul. He said it was like a sweet savor that comes off the altar and offends to God, and it was accepted by God as an odor of a sweet smell, giving to others. In other words, from these passages, we learn that worship is how we treat others, but it's also how we treat God. Let us put them both together. Hebrews Hebrews chapter thirteen, verses fifteen and sixteen. Hebrews thirteen, verses fifteen and sixteen, he says, By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. The fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. This is Godward. This is a heart of integrity, a heart of oneness, as it ascends to God in praise. That's what worship is to God. The forty-fifth psalm in the first verse says, My heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things as touching the king. My heart is indicting a good matter. It's boiling over. That's what praise is. Worship, friends. is a vapor that ascends from a hot heart. That's worship. Our innermost being is boiling over over what God has done for us and our praise ascends. It's a vapor that ascends from a hot heart. By the way, that's the thought in Luke twenty four, isn't it? The two in the road to Amaya said, did not our heart burn within us as he talked with us along the way and as he opened unto us the scriptures. May I ask you, do you know something about this? Do you know something about this? You see, Godward, it's Thanksgiving and praise right here. Manward, the next verse, verse sixteen. But to do good and to communicate, that's what we read about in Romans fourteen, Romans fifteen, Philippians four. But to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. To do good touches me. To share touches others. To praise touches God. And God accepts all three in the worship of his people. Now beloved, worship is a way of life. We live for one primary purpose in the world. The Presbyterian Church in the shorter Westminster Catechism, and I like it. I'd say ninety-eight percent of it I like very much. I wish more believers read the old Westminster Catechism, and especially the first question in the shorter Catechism. It says, what is the chief end of man? And the answer is the chief end of man is to glorify God. and to enjoy Him forever. So if I'm going to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, we live in this world with one primary purpose. And throughout all eternity is that we might glorify Him. A few years ago, a number of years ago, there was a statement on the wire services of a family. in New England, a very wealthy family. They had a baby, so they had a christening service for the baby. And after the christening service, they threw a party at their home. They invited all the relatives who had attended this baptizing of the infant, and of course all their friends. They were quite wealthy, so they had quite a party. And the mother had placed the child on the master bed. It was a very large bed in the master bedroom. And the guests were eating and drinking and having a good time. And all of a sudden, they said, where's the baby? Where's the baby? And in consternation, the mother ran to the master bedroom where she had laid the baby in the middle of the bed to sleep. And she found the baby was smothered by the coats of the guests that were piled on that bed. Beloved, why did God save you? I wonder, is God smothered with all your activity, with all the activity that's going on in Christianity? Is he smothered by the coats of the guests who come To pay him worship and never get to the throne of grace. Because our worship is not accepted by him. There's only one person that can worship. A redeemed heart. A heart that is hot. That the vapors of sin. Because of what they have in Christ. Is this yours? Why did God save you? Are you saved? Now my friend, listen. We're going to continue this tonight, and one of these days we're going to get as far as they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. What does this mean? To worship God in spirit. What does it mean that God is spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth? Here are the concepts that lead to that which I gave you this morning. That is why. The believer who presents his body as a living sacrifice is accepted by God. Let me ask you, are you born of God? It's wonderful to know that those who are saved will never go to hell. They'll never perish. Those who are saved possess eternal life. Those who are lost do not have life. But God has a purpose in saving us. And His purpose is... that we might be a worshiping people who find our joy are all in him who loved us and gave himself for us. Because everything in the universe is of him. Everything in the universe is through him. Everything in the universe is for him and it's by him. And the more we know of him, the more we can enjoy life. Is this what you want? This is what God has provided in Christ. And I'm here to help you. If you know him not. To receive him that you might have this life and have it abundantly. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this time together. And we ask you to receive our grateful thanks. For all that you provided for us. Oh, may the person of Christ not be smothered. by the coach of the guest, but rather our God. May we draw near and offer to thee the sacrifice of praise. For you are well pleased with us. Dismiss us, therefore, with our rich blessing. And may we ponder these truths in our heart for Jesus' sake. Amen.