Title: Satisfaction for the Thirsty Soul
Bible Book: John 4 : 1-30
Author: Adrian Rogers
Subject: Worship; Satisfaction in Life; Thristy Soul; Woman at the Well
Objective:
Introduction
In John chapter 4 we’re going to see something and study something that will help you to meet a very real need that you have. I don’t know all about you, but I know one thing about you: You have a need in your life, you have a thirst in your life, that can only be satisfied a certain way.
Have you ever been out perhaps working in the garden, or bicycling, or playing touch football, or cutting the grass, or something, and you’re very thirsty? And there will be a box of soft drinks;; I won’t mention any brand names, but you drink one, and it tastes so good, and it just seems to hit the spot;; and you go back out to your activity, and after a while you’re aware that you’re thirsty again. And you go for another one, and you drink that, and it seems so good, and it seems to satisfy. Then after a while, you’re thirsty again. And then you say, “I know what I need.” And you go back to that good ol’ Adam’s ale, that water, and you get you a big tall glass of water, and you drink it, and that satisfies you.
Now, why? Well, if you look at that bottle of soda pop, or whatever it is that you’ve been drinking, you’ll see that it says “artificially colored,” and “artificially flavored,” and for most of us, “artificially sweetened,” and there’s just something there that doesn’t have that touch of authenticity and reality.
Now there are a lot of us who are trying to satisfy and to slake our thirst with things that are artificially colored, things that are artificially sweetened, and artificially flavored, and what we need is the water of life;; we need to learn how to worship God in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) I’m going to be speaking tonight on this subject: “Satisfaction for the Thirsty Soul.”
Now, look here in John chapter 4, verse 1: “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though
Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” See, they had the problem of prejudice way back then.
“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands;; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”
And then she starts to ask a question about her true thirst: “Our fathers worshipped 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 in 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 Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” (John 4:1–30)
And we’ll stop the reading right there, but I think many of you know that story. But you need to hear it again. This is the story of a thirsty woman;; and she didn’t really know what she was thirsty for, and so she was trying to satisfy her thirst in all kinds of ways. And she had gone from husband to husband, from sexual escapade to sexual escapade, trying to satisfy the thirst that she had within her. She was longing, searching, seeking, and she really did not know what was bothering her on the inside, and why she couldn’t settle down, and why nothing seemed to satisfy her. Of course Jesus knew that down deep she had a thirst that only God could satisfy. This poor woman, our heart goes out to her. She had been married five times. If she had been alive today, they probably would have sent her to Hollywood and given her an Oscar for her performance. But here was a woman that the Lord Jesus loved in spite of her sin.
And so Jesus spoke to her a wonderful, marvelous lesson about the way to worship. And, oh, if you learn it tonight, you’re going to learn something wonderful about your own heart, because as I’ve said by way of intro, I don’t know all about you, but I know this much about you: God created you to worship Him;; and until you learn how to worship Him, truly reverence Him, truly praise Him, truly love Him, truly adore Him, truly have communion with Him, there will always be in your heart and in your spirit a God-shaped vacuum. So I want you to pay attention, because we’re going to learn tonight from the Word of God how to worship Him.
And, you know, if I were to talk to you tonight about prophecy, you would be sitting on the edge of your mat. And incidentally, I’ve got some messages percolating around about that volcano, and some other things that I think fit in with prophecy. And if I were to announce that tonight, oh, you’d hunch up and get your notes, and you’d say, “I want to take this down”;; but if I talk to you about worship, you say, “Oh, worship: that doesn’t seem exciting;; that’s just sort of an ordinary subject. But, friend, you listen to me. There is nothing more exciting than real worship, and there is nothing that will meet your need and your heart hunger like real worship;; and you have a thirst—a God-given, a God-created thirst—that nothing can satisfy apart from worship in spirit and in truth. I’m not talking about a worship service;; I’m not even talking about a church service, as such;; but I am talking about a genuine encounter with God in Holy Spirit worship.
Now tonight I want you to notice three things in this passage of Scripture that we’re looking at. First of all, I want you to notice the motive for worship: why should we worship. Secondly, I want you to look at the manner of worship: how should we worship. And then, thirdly, I want us to look at the mandate of worship: what will worship cause us to do when we truly do worship.
I. The Motive for Worship
Now, first of all, what is the motive for worship? Look again in chapter 4 and verse 23. Jesus said, “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.” What is the motive for worship?
A. God Desires Worship
Number one: God desires it. God wants you to worship Him. Look at that verse: “The Father seeketh such to worship him.” The great desire of the heart of God Almighty is that you worship. Sometimes if we were to ask people, “Why did God make us? Why did God create us? Why are we who we are and what we are?” someone who would be thinking carelessly would say, “Well, God created us to serve Him.” Well, not altogether, dear friend—and not primarily. You see, if God wanted servants, He could get better servants than we are. God could create billions of angels just like that—and they do a much better service than we would. Oh, how wise, how intelligent, how strong would be these angels! You see, God is not looking merely for servants. God wants us to worship Him.
Do you think that your primary duty is to work for God—like God needs your labor? It will be a great day in America;; it will be a great day in our churches, when we learn the lesson that worship is more important than work, and worship always comes before work. And before our Lord said, “Go ye,” (Matthew 28:19) our Lord said, “Tarry ye.” (Luke 24:49) And our first obligation is not to spread the gospel—contrary to popular opinion. Now our obligation is to spread the gospel;; but our first obligation is to worship God;; our first obligation is through worship to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we are worthy and able to spread the gospel.
Do you know what the first commandment is? The first commandment is not the Great Commission. The first commandment is this—Mark chapter 12 and verse 30:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30) There is nothing more important than just loving God. In Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 26 we read where the writer of Proverbs says, “My son, give me thine heart.” (Proverbs 23:26) Now I believe that Solomon is speaking to his own son, but I also believe that it is indicative of what God through Solomon is saying to everyone of us: “My child, give me your heart.” There is only one thing that God needs and God wants—and it is your heart. Can you imagine Almighty God saying to you, “Give me”? God needs nothing from you apart from your love;; it is your love that God wants.
You see, if you were to give God your riches, you couldn’t make God any richer, because He owns it all. If you were to give God your strength, you couldn’t make God any stronger, because He is omnipotent. If you were to give God your wisdom, you couldn’t make God any wiser, because God is omniscient. If you were to give God your glory, you couldn’t make God any more glorious, for God is all-glorious. If you were to give God your power, God would be no more powerful, because He is already all-powerful. What I’m saying, dear friend: The thing that God wants from you is your love: “The Father seeketh such to worship him.” God is saying to you tonight, “I’m not looking for your money. I’m not looking for your labor. I’m not looking for your strength. I’m not looking for your glory. I want your heart.” “The Father seeketh such to worship him.”
And listen to me. If you’re not worshipping Him, but you’re serving Him—so you think—you’re making a big mistake. To pray without worship is mockery;; to sing without worship is sounding brass;; to work without worship is an insult to God;; to teach without worship is ignorance;; to serve without worship is hypocrisy;; and to witness without worship is perjury. God wants your worship. “The Father seeketh such to worship him.” And here is the exciting thing about it. Worship is really the love of God—just loving God. And do you know there are other people who may be able to give more than you can give, and there may be people who can pray better than you can pray, and there may be those who can sing more sweetly than you can sing, and there may be those who can teach better than you can teach, and there may be those who can witness with more ability than you can witness;; but, bless God, no one can love Him more than you can love Him? Isn’t that wonderful? And that’s what He wants more than anything else. I tell you, that’s a tremendous thought. Everyone here can love the Lord equally, and you’re not behind the door when it comes to being able to love God if you want to. And that, above all things, is what the Father seeks.
“My son,” He says, “give me your heart.” That’s what God wants. God is a God of love. And what good is it to be a God of love unless there’s someone that you may love and someone who can love you in return?
B. God Deserves Worship
And so, the motive for worship, number one: God desires it. The motive for worship, number two: God deserves it. Now Jesus said—look at that verse again in verse 23— “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.” Do you know what the word worship means? Well, you can almost hear it in the word worship: it means “worth-ship.” It means that when we worship God, we are giving to Him and attributing to Him and assigning to Him our estimation of His worth. You see, God is God, and God deserves that we worship Him, because there is no other God. It is God who made us. It is God who created us. It is God who sustains us. It is God who is all glory. Not only does He desire worship, but He deserves worship, because there is no other like Him.
Have you ever thought about God being called a jealous God? Now sometimes when we talk about God being called a jealous God, people say, “Well, I just don’t think God ought to be a jealous God,” because we’ve always been taught that jealousy is wrong. Jealousy is not always wrong. There are certain instances where jealousy may be very right and acceptable. You know, the Bible says about God in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 14, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34:14) Did you know one of the names of God is Jealous? “The God whose name is Jealous is a jealous God.”
You say, “Well, I always thought jealousy was a bad attribute.” Well, it all depends. Now for me to be jealous of another preacher would be wrong. For Brother Lane to be jealous of another singer would be wrong. For you to be jealous of another athlete, or whatever, would be wrong.
I remember reading about Leonardo da Vinci, who was a great artist and greatly talented of the Lord, and the Roman government asked Leonardo da Vinci to design some buildings, and at about the same time they turned around and asked another young artist, Michelangelo, to design some buildings, too. And it almost did Leonardo da Vinci in, because he was envious and he was jealous of Michelangelo. Now Leonardo da Vinci had no right to be jealous of Michelangelo. Why? Because he wasn’t the only artist in the world.
I have no right to be jealous of another preacher, because I’m not the only preacher in the world. I don’t own preaching. Tommy has no right to be jealous of other singers, because he doesn’t own music. There are other singers in the world. An athlete doesn’t have a right to be jealous of another athlete, because he doesn’t own athletics. There is more than one preacher. There is more than one singer. There is more than one businessman. But there’s only one God, and therefore He has every right to be jealous of the worship and the adoration and the praise that has come to Him. He deserves it.
You put yourself in God’s place—you’re the one who made heaven and earth—and then imagine people worshipping a frog, or a beetle, or money, or sports, or family, or their own intellect, or their denomination, or their church—and then you’d understand why the Bible says, “I the LORD thy God am a jealous God”;; (Exodus 20:5) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
C. He Demands Worship
There is only one God. He desires worship. He deserves worship. But I’ll tell you the third motive for worship: He demands worship. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:10;; Luke 4:8) And if you fail to worship Him, you’re not just missing a blessing;; you are sinning against Him;; you are in rebellion. And there is no greater sin than to fail to worship Him.
I remember talking to a man one day trying to get him to become a Christian, and this man began to stick out his chest and tell me what a good man he was: how he did this thing and how he did that thing, and how he didn’t lie, and how he didn’t steal, and how he didn’t drink, and how he took care of his family. And then he said, “And what fault do you find in me?” I said, “I charge you with high treason against your King for failing to worship God.”
There is no greater sin. Listen. What is the first commandment? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, with all thy strength.” Dear friend, if that’s the first commandment, to break it is the greatest sin. It’s a greater sin than rape, a greater sin than murder, a greater sin than perversion, to fail to worship God. God desires it. God deserves it. God demands it. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” And, oh, it’s about time that we came back to see how important this matter of worship is!
And because God demands it, God is not going to bless anybody who doesn’t worship. You’ve got to learn how to worship, if you want power. You can read in your Bible that when people started to worship, God started to move. You remember King Jehoshaphat and the armies of Moab and Mount Seir were out there and surrounded the armies of Israel, and Jehoshaphat came to the Lord and he said, “Lord, what shall we do?” And the Lord said, “Jehoshaphat, I want you to appoint some praisers just to go out and worship me in the beauty of holiness.” And these men, this army, went against the army of Jehoshaphat and all of these men armed with all sorts of armor. And they went forth just praising the Lord, just singing the Lord’s praises. And God gave victory, because they worshipped Him. (2 Chronicles 20:1–30)
I can think about Joshua walking around the walls of Jericho, worshipping the Lord, praising the Lord, giving the shout of praise, and the walls fell down. (Joshua 6) I don’t even have time to get into that. But I tell you, when we begin to worship, then God begins to work. And there is nothing that will wipe the devil out;; there is nothing that will cause iron gates to yield, like worship and praising the Lord! And, friend, if it seems like God is not real to you;; if it seems like when you pray your prayers are dry and juiceless, try worship, try praise, and you’ll have an ocean to swim in. Worship the Lord! Praise the Lord! Give Him the glory due to His name!
Go home and get the book of Psalms, and when you start to read the book of Psalms, every time there’s an injunction to praise the Lord, or sing unto the Lord, or give the Lord glory, or worship the Lord, underscore it. It will amaze you, dear friend, that God has demanded that we worship Him. And when we begin to worship, I want to tell you that God begins to work. And it’s time that we pull some of the groans out of our prayers and shoved in a few hallelujahs and learned how to worship the Lord!
II. The Manner of Worship
All right, what is the motive for worship? We’ve given it to you. Now, let’s go on and think about the manner of worship. I want us to continue to read—look in verse 19— we’re in John 4, verse 19: “The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;;”—and she’s talking about Mount Gerizim there in Samaria—“and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place”—Mount Zion— “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.” (John 4:19–24)
Now we’ve talked about the motive of worship;; let’s talk about the manner of worship. How should we worship? There are three things I want you to learn about worship.
A. Worship Must Not Be Localized
Number one: Worship must not be localized. That is, you must not have some particular place where you say, “This is where I worship God.” Now that was this woman’s hang-up. She was saying, “Now, where is the right place to worship? Do we worship God here on Mount Gerizim like the Samaritans say, or do we worship God down in Jerusalem like the Jews say? And Jesus said unto her, “Woman, you need to understand that real worship is not tied up in a place;; it is tied up in a person.”
Now I want you to learn that, dear friend, if your worship is wrapped up in a place, you need revival. Now I’m not saying we cannot come to a place like this to worship. I would not be so foolish as to pray against church attendance. I believe in church attendance. The Bible says we’re not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.” (Hebrews 10:25) I believe in coming together. But I want to tell you, dear friend, that when you learn what true worship is, you will learn that there is no ground that is not holy ground, and there is no time that is not a sacred time, and there is no place where God will not meet man. And that’s an exciting thing. There are so many people that have their worship tied up in places and buildings and shrines, and they think that they have to go to that place, and suddenly they have to get in sort of a stained-glass atmosphere in order to worship God. And they think they’re worshipping God, when they’re worshipping a place.
Have you been into any of the great cathedrals? I have. I think many of you have been in Notre Dame, or Westminster Abbey, or some of these places, these great, beautiful churches;; and when you walk in, almost invariably you start to whisper. Oh, it is so beautiful! It is so impressive! It’s just, oh, inspiring! But, friend, getting quiet in an imposing building is not worshipping God. You might be worshipping architecture, you might be worshipping sunlight coming through stained glass windows, and you might get a very wonderful feeling. And I’m not putting down the buildings—don’t get me wrong—but I’m just telling you that if you have to go to a building like that to get a spooky feeling, you don’t know anything about worship.
When you study the Bible, you’ll find out that Abraham worshipped God under a tree. Moses worshipped God by a bush in the wilderness. Noah worshipped God in an ark. Adam worshipped God in a garden. Jonah worshipped God in a fish. Paul worshipped God by a roadside. Jacob worshipped God with his head upon a stone. Zacchaeus worshipped God when he was up a tree—out on a limb, worshipping God.
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you’re going to find out that every day is a holy day, every place is a sacred place, and there is no time and no place where you cannot worship God. It’s not in that mountain;; it’s not in this mountain;; for God is a Spirit, and a Spirit is everywhere. Hallelujah! Driving down the road with my car, I’d say most of the time, you’re going to find me worshipping God, just a chapel on wheels. I even sing, Tommy, to myself, with the windows rolled up. And I’m just praising the Lord and worshipping the Lord.
Oh, we make a mistake sometimes: we come into our buildings, you know, and all the sudden we turn it on;; and then we get outside the buildings, and we turn it off. The thing that bothers me is to have a preacher stand up, and all of the sudden when he gets behind what he calls “the sacred desk,” he puts on his preaching voice and preaching mannerisms, and he sounds like he has a steeple stuck in his throat. And he gets up there and sort of puts it on. And when he goes out, he turns it off again. And there are people, you know, who wouldn’t think of smoking a cigarette in here, who wouldn’t think of smoking a cigar in here, and who walk out there and smoke a cigarette, walk out there and smoke a cigar.
Friend, listen. This building is not the temple. You are the temple of God. Don’t you know that? Now I don’t want you to smoke in here. But that’s not the point. The point is: If you’re going to desecrate anything, it would be better to desecrate this building than to desecrate your body, amen? “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and you are not your own? for you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20) Everywhere—any time, any place: worship must not be localized. And if you have to go to any place to get near to God, you need a revival.
B. Worship Must Not Be Formalized
Now, the second thing that Jesus taught about worship: Worship not only must not be localized, but worship must not be formalized. For Jesus went on to say, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Well, what happens when you worship God in spirit? When you worship God in spirit, there’s liberty, not formalism;; not ritualism, but liberty. Put in your margin 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) I want to tell you something, friend: Formalism and true worship are two things. The more aesthetic a person is, the more they tend toward formalism. And everybody likes to have a pretty service. And I don’t mind telling you, I like to have a pretty service, and I like a service that has form;; but I don’t like a service that has formalism. There’s a difference. I don’t mean that we have to be hokey or we have to be country. You can get off the reservation on either side. We don’t have to freeze in formalism. We don’t have to fry in fanaticism. But I’m saying that, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
And when you’re worshipping the Lord, it’s not just always real quiet music and everybody sitting still and nobody smiling and nobody laughing and nobody shouting— no joy. That’s not worship. Someone says, “Well, that’s dignity.” But as I’ve said before, they don’t know the difference between dignity and rigor mortis. Listen, friend. If you study worship in the Bible, you’ll find out that worship in the Bible was marked with brightness;; it was marked with spontaneity;; it was marked with joy.
I was just sitting up there on the platform and the Lord put a scripture in my mind. And I want you to turn to it in Revelation chapter 5. I was thinking to myself—we were having such a good time tonight in the song service, and you look so happy—and I was thinking, “Is that right or wrong?” And of course I knew it was right. And I turned to Revelation chapter 5, verse 11, and it talks about a worship service in heaven. Now, folks, if anybody knows how to worship and when to worship, they ought to know about worship in heaven. And I want you to begin here in Revelation 5, verse 11: “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;;”—people say, “Well, I don’t like a big worship service.” I don’t know what you’re going to do when you get to heaven, mister. All right, look—“saying with a loud voice…”—somebody said, “I just don’t like that loud singing”—“saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen.” It doesn’t hurt you to say amen in the church. “And the four and twenty elders fell down”—that is, they fell on their faces—“and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.” (Revelation 5:11–14)
Don’t you want to be in that worship service? It’s going to come to pass when we worship the Lord. I mean, saying, “honor and glory and blessing, hallelujah, amen,” as we bow before the great God with loud voices. And I tell you, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” And the Bible says we are to worship Him in spirit. There is nothing deader than a worship service without the Spirit of God. Those early Christians had something that fire could not burn, that swords could not kill, that water could not drown, that jails could not hold;; and therefore they were attractive to other people. Listen. There are few things that will be as attractive to get the lost to come to Bellevue Church as worship services. I was just thinking again when we had that great song service that Dr. Lane led us in;; I was just thinking, you know, there’s nothing like this in all of the Mid-South that I know of, where you just come and hear that kind of music and participate in it, and be with these people—and, you know, that has an attraction to it. And you people are so happy, and you’re shaking hands and praising God, and you’ve got your Bibles, and you’re listening to the Word of God. And listen, friend. That’s wonderful. And that has such an appeal.
Here’s a woman sometimes in one of these cold, dry, formal churches, and she tries, she begs her husband to come to church, and he’s an unsaved man. He finally says, “All right, I’ll come this one time, but don’t you ever ask me to come again.” And then, suppose he comes. He sits back there on the back row and he folds his arms and looks out under his eyebrows and says, “All right, do your stuff.” And then, suppose they come out, and they have a song service, and they sing in Latin, and he can’t understand it. And then the congregational service sounds like a couple of calves dying in a hailstorm, and nobody is singing. And then the preacher comes out and he gives some soliloquy, some book review, something like that;; and the people sit there stone cold. He can hardly wait to get out of that place.
But you let him come to a service where the Spirit of the Lord is, where there’s liberty;; and you let that choir stand up and get their faces out of that songbook that they’re singing from, and sing with the glory of God on their face, and sing in the Spirit of God;; and you let the people as one mighty congregation sing unto the Lord, and give Him the glory due to His name, and let the man of God stand behind the desk of God, and open the book of God, and preach the Christ of God, in the Spirit of God, and the people of God say amen;; and that man is going to look around and say, “These folks believe that stuff.” I’m going to tell you something. Before long, he’ll be believing it, too. It is caught as well as taught. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Formalism is the death knell of evangelism. I’m not talking about a service that doesn’t have form, for the Bible says, “Let everything be done decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:40) You get up and start walking around while I’m preaching, I just may call you down. If you disturb the service, I may say, “Sir, you’re out of order.” I’m telling you, on the other hand, there needs to be that joy, that civility, that spontaneity, that brightness, that life, that comes from the Spirit of God.
C. Worship Must Not Be Fantasized
Now, look. Jesus taught this woman that worship must not be localized. Jesus taught this woman that worship must not be formalized. And Jesus taught this woman that worship must not be fantasized. What do I mean by that? He says we’re to worship the Lord not only in spirit, but in truth. It’s not enough to worship, if the worship is just a fantasy of your mind, some God that you have conjured up out of your own mind. You need truth. There is a theology of worship. In verse 22, we find out that this woman was worshipping, but she didn’t know what she was worshipping. Jesus said, “Ye worship ye know not what.” She was worshipping an unknown God. It’s not enough to be sincere. No worship is acceptable to God unless it is worship in the truth. And Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) And even this woman knew that to truly worship God she must worship God through the Messiah. And Jesus said to her, “I am the Messiah.”
The way to worship God, therefore, is to worship God through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way. You cannot fantasize your worship. You cannot just try to worship in your own way. You must come to the Bible and worship the Bible way;; and you must worship God in the Spirit through the Son;; and that’s the way the Father seeks you to worship Him. Worship must not be localized. Worship must not be formalized. Worship must not be fantasized. It must be in spirit and in truth.
III. The Mandate of Worship
Now, one last thing: I want you to notice not only the motive for worship;; and I want you to notice not only the manner of worship;; but I want you to notice the mandate of worship—because it is not enough, ladies and gentleman, to worship God. You must worship God. You should worship God. But any real worship will show itself in evangelism and service. That’s what Jesus told the devil when the devil tempted Him to bow down and worship him. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 10, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew 4:10)
Now I want you to notice Jesus links worship and service together. And any socalled worship that is not the blood brother of evangelism is false worship. Now, you know, there are some people who say, “Well, you know, I just wish we had more worship services;; I don’t like these evangelistic services.” Well, let me tell you something, friend. I don’t know whether you realize it or not, but I preach very little evangelism;; and yet it’s amazing, when people talk about Bellevue Church, they talk about an evangelistic church. But if you think back, most preaching I do is verse by verse right on through the Bible on all manner of subjects, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and I’m preaching primarily on the Christian life, just like I’m doing tonight;; but when I finish preaching, I tell them about Jesus and how to get saved, and I give an invitation. And there’s nothing that I preach that somehow, some way, I cannot put an evangelistic bar on the end of it. I’m not just standing up here preaching, “Hell hot, heaven sweet, sin black, judgment sure, and Jesus saves,” although that’s a pretty good outline. But I’m preaching all manner of truths. But I’m saying this: Anything that I preach that deals with worship and the Christian life that is not the blood brother of evangelism, there’s something wrong with it.
And people talk about worship service: Mister, I want to tell you, one of the times I worship God the best and the most is when people are getting saved, when people are coming to Jesus. And I want to tell you, there’s glory in heaven when people are coming to Jesus, and glory is being given to God when people are coming to Jesus. And never let it be thought that you choose between worship and evangelism. That is foolishness.
Real worship always results in evangelism. And when this woman learned about worship, she went and got a whole city to come out and meet the Messiah. And, friend, “They that wait upon the Lord shall run.” (Isaiah 40:31) You, when you worship, you’re going to witness;; but when you do witness, you’re going to witness with a new power—because when you’ve been tarrying before the Lord, you’re going to meet Him, and your witness and your service will be different. You’ll not be burning the wick anymore;; you’ll be burning the oil. And it makes a big difference when you start to burn the oil rather than the wick: you don’t smoke the chimney so much, and you last a whole lot longer. The oil is the oil of the Holy Spirit of God, and He anoints us as we worship Him.
A man was in one of these old-fashioned Quaker meetings. You know, the Quakers just kind of sit around and they’re quiet in their meetings. And the man came in, and they were all just sitting there;; and so the man who had never been in a Quaker meeting opened his mouth and he said, “When does the service begin?” And the old Quaker said, “As soon as the meeting is over.”
Conclusion
Now, friend, when a real worship service is over, the service begins. We talk about going to the services;; well, we’ve come to the worship service: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” There is a mandate to worship. And any worship that is not the blood brother of evangelism and service to God is not true worship. And you can only worship God through Jesus in the Spirit. And it is the worship of God alone that will satisfy the longing of your heart. And it is the worship of God alone that will satisfy the longing of the Father’s heart. God thirsts for your worship just as you thirst to worship Him. What fools we are if we don’t learn how to worship!
