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HIS
SERVANTS' MINISTRY
www.hisservants.org
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Worship
In Spirit and Truth
John 4:23-24 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.
[24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (KJV) The conscience of the woman at the well
had been pricked by Jesus’ disclosing her
sin. He touched upon matters of great importance,
and her corrupted heart tried to jump back
as though He had stabbed her. Her carnal mind
tried to make excuses, like most people. Instead
of confessing her sin, she brought up outward
religion (where the right place for worship
was), trying to change the subject.
John 4:20 Our
fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye
say, that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. (KJV) The carnal
heart dreads any contact with spiritual truth,
and will always find a way to avoid it . .
. many times by asking "religious"
questions about holy places, holy times and
holy customs. But, our Lord told her that
her question was not really important! Jesus
told her that the time was coming and was
already here when true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and in truth,
meaning that external religion must stop, rituals
and ceremonies would be put away, and a pure,
simple, more spiritual worship would take its place.
The "religion" of which our Lord
was speaking would have to involve a great
change. Before, little difference could be
seen. Everyone that passed through the same
formal, outward form of worship, seemed to be true worshippers. My
friend, many (then and now) put on a show,
a false
front that is regarded as true worship. What Jesus was saying was that those
participating in any outward form of worship
were false worshippers, and only those who
pressed on into spiritual worship were true
worshippers. Can people around you tell the
difference? NO! But, my friend, our Lord can!
Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the
day of his coming? and who shall stand when
he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire,
and like fullers' sope: (KJV) He can discern
between true and false worshippers, and He
will never be wrong!
These worshippers can stand
side by side, both with heads bowed, both
possibly repeating the same words, but Jesus
knows the difference. There are false worshippers
(hypocrites), and there are true worshippers,
and only God alone knows the hearts of them
both.
There are some very serious
points to consider, that draws the line between
worship that is accepted by God and worship
that is shunned by God. Our Father in Heaven
does NOT want a dead, formal, ritualistic
worship under the guidance of the wicked one.
Our Lord, Jesus clearly tells us we are to worship God in
spirit and in truth.
-
We
no longer are to worship with the outward,
visible sacrifice of a bull, lamb or a
dove, BUT, inwardly trusting in Him who
IS the Lamb of God.
-
We
no longer are to worship with the sprinkled
blood of goats, BUT whole-heartedly relying
on the precious Blood of Jesus shed for
the sins of the whole world.
-
We
are no longer to worship going through
a priest, BUT go directly to our Father
in Heaven, made possible by Jesus, our
Priest! Our Saviour, Jesus the Christ
(Messiah), is the only Priest we will
ever need (Heb. 2:17; 4:14-15; 7:26).
There
is NO priest (or pope) higher than Jesus.
NO acts of outward bodily worship such as
a repetition of sitting, standing, kneeling,
bowing, sign of the cross, etc., are of ANY
value in God’s eyes. Religious rituals will
profit you NOTHING! Jesus
says that we must worship
him must worship in spirit and in truth, meaning totally spiritually; worship that
comes entirely from the heart and soul. It
must be true, inward feelings NOT mere, unfeeling,
outward signs! We must truly love Him with
our entire being (Mark 12:30). We must worship
Him and adore Him. Unless our heart and soul
really loves Him and adores Him, and sincerely
and humbly bows before Him, our worship will
be just as unacceptable as if it were the
outward, formal, ritualistic worship of false
worshippers.
True worship is of the "inner
man" and is inward, of the heart,
soul and spirit of the true believer, a true
child of God. False worship is outward, of
the body’s hand, foot and mouth. This worship
is practiced by millions of "professors"
of Christianity. They profess to be Christian, but do not possess Christ in their heart and life.
True
worship is signified by an inward passion,
earnestness, and eagerness to praise and
honor Almighty God through His Son, Jesus.
It
is a worship of a child towards his/her
Father in Heaven.
It
is worship brought about in us by the
Holy Spirit. This kind of worship goes
against the grain of the carnal man/woman.
As I stated above, the carnal
heart dreads any contact with spiritual truth,
and will always find a way to avoid it. Someone
who doesn’t know Jesus, and doesn’t appreciate
what He has done for us, someone who loves
this present world more that Him, CANNOT possibly
worship in spirit and in truth.
Many
people have religious habits they fall into:
They
go to a certain place to worship.
They
repeat prayers over and over.
They
repeat some "sacred" form every
morning and night.
They
may even read the Bible each day.
They
practice the outward form of worship noted
above; rituals, ceremonies, prayer, sit,
stand, kneel, bow, etc. etc.
But,
NOT once in their entire life have they ever
experienced the spiritual worship Jesus spoke
of to the woman at the well. This is well
expressed in the following:
Luke 18:11-14 The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank
thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
[12] I fast twice in the week, I give tithes
of all that I possess. [13] And the publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
[14] I tell you, this man went down to his
house justified rather than the other: for
every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (KJV) There
are millions of Pharisees in the world today!
Millions who practice outward worship as did
the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. God the Father
utterly despises this type of worship. But
when one like the publican (sinner), comes
before God with sincere and heartfelt sorrow
for the sins in their life, and realizes the
awesome privilege it is to come before His
throne, they cannot help but feel as a worthless
worm before the Presence of the Almighty Creator!
The publican couldn’t even lift up his eyes
to Heaven, but begged for mercy. This
is inward worship! This will be accepted by
God.
Matthew 23:12 And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he
that shall humble himself shall be exalted. (KJV)
James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and he shall lift you up. (KJV)
"Father,
I have sinned." This is the
first and basic guide of spiritual worship.
You must feel as the publican did. "Father,
be merciful to me, a sinner."
Your
spirit must feel it!
You
must mean what you say.
And
you must not go back to your old ways.
Your
spirit must rest completely upon God’s
appointed Sacrifice, Jesus.
You
must believe in Him and trust Him completely.
You
must praise Him for who He is and what
He has done for you.
You
must truly appreciate Him.
You
must love Him as you love no other.
You
must be grateful for what He has done
for you on the cross.
You
must reverence God’s way of salvation.
You
must thank Him that your sins are gone,
washed away by the precious Blood of Jesus
(1 Pet.1:18-19).
You
must treasure the fact and the privilege
that you are the child of Almighty God.
Your heart and soul must overflow with
gratefulness.
This
is true worship!
It doesn’t matter if you sing
in a congregation or sing alone, or if you
pray aloud or in silence, your heart and soul
must feel sincere gratitude to God for pardon
received and eternal life for it to be true
worship. Since God is Spirit, those who worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
We must worship an invisible God through His
Son, Jesus the Christ, deep within our heart
and soul, spiritually. And because our worship
is spiritual, our worship will not end at
our death, because absent from the body,
present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). We
will continue to worship God spiritually for
eternity for our soul is eternal. Our worship
does NOT depend upon our body, nor outward
signs of presumed reverence. Our outward man
will fail us, and with age decline in strength,
but our inner man (Eph.3:16) will
be strengthened with might by his Spirit.
It will grow stronger and stronger in love
and devotion for God. If we depend on our
outward body for worship, it will cease at
our death. Eccles. 12:7 Then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was: and
the spirit shall return unto God who gave
it. (KJV) Our body shall return to the
dust of the Earth (Gen.2:7; 3:19), from which
it came, but our soul (spirit) shall return
unto God who gave it.
We must worship God inwardly
with all our heart, mind and soul if we truly
love Him (Mat.22:37). This
kind of worship is readily accepted by Him. But an outward form of worship in buildings
costing millions of dollars (Mat.8:20), with
fancy robes, incense, rituals, sit, kneel,
stand, bow, repeating prayers in vain repetition
(Mat.6:7), kissing rings of bishops and popes,
etc., this is NOT accepted by God. It seems
that any worship except spiritual worship is what most people
want.
God
does NOT want worship of outward symbols
such as statues (idols).
God
does NOT want worship of rituals and ceremonies.
God
does NOT want worship of cold, indifferent
people who reverence superstition, which
is evil.
All through history, people
have fled from true spiritual worship of the
invisible God, and flee to bow to something
seen. Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
of any thing that is in heaven above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth: (KJV) Our good
and mighty God desires to be worshipped in
spirit and truth, NOT by outward symbols of
ANY kind.
Even the alter of olden times
is gone since the death of Christ on the cross.
We need NO other sacrifice other than trusting
in the Sacrifice of Jesus. The only sacrifice
we should offer is the sacrifice of praise (Heb.13:15). Children of God are temples of
the living God. See the verses below.
1 Cor. 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (KJV)
1 Cor. 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own? (KJV)
2 Cor. 6:16 And
what agreement hath the temple of God with
idols? for ye are the temple of the living
God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them,
and walk in them; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. (KJV)
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up
a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. (KJV)
What we do least, is what we
should do most, that being to tremble before God. Tremble . . .
means to be moved within, be afraid, stand
in awe of His majesty and power, to be roused
with fear by judgments He will make on the
wicked.
Psalm 2:11-12 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with
trembling. [12] Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and ye perish from the way, when his wrath
is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they
that put their trust in him. (KJV) To
"kiss the Son" means to
surrender completely to Him; submitting to
Him (cooperating voluntarily). Christ is not
only God’s chosen King, He should be the rightful
King of our hearts and lives. We should be
anxious and ready for His coming, we should
submit willingly and humbly to His leadership
every day.
Psalm 99:1-A The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble:
. . . (KJV)
Most
people will not submit to this kind of worship.
They
would much rather go to church or chapel
several times a week, dressed in their
finery, and repeat form prayers over and
over, and bow before a crucifix.
They
would much rather confess their sin to
a man and do so many Hail Marys as a supposed
penalty, than to repent of (turn away
from) their sin.
They
would much rather crawl on their knees
to some sort of shrine and think they
are religious.
NO
outward false religion is accepted by God.
He
wants the more difficult religion from His
TRUE children! He wants spiritual religion!
He wants to be worshipped in spirit and in
truth! To worship God spiritually means you
must part with your sins. Because God is holy
and righteous means He wants the same from
His children. To continue on in the same sin
after your worship service simply means you
are NOT a saved person. No outward worship;
baptism, taking communion, going forward to
join the church, can purify a person’s conscience.
He/she will be the same pleasure-lover and
worshipper of Mammon (worldly things, riches
Mat.6:24), that he/she was before worship
service.
To
worship God spiritually means your heart has
been touched by the Holy Spirit and you KNOW
you are a sinner, and you want forgiveness
desperately. You also feel an overwhelming
love for God in your heart that you must confess
as well. Worshipping God spiritually is not
singing beautiful hymns, saying prayers, sitting
in a luxurious sanctuary, and listening to
a sermon. True worship begins in your heart,
it is reverencing Him, realizing just who
this awesome Being is and what He is capable
of doing. It is your soul obeying Him, it
is the work of the Holy Spirit within your
soul. God will NEVER turn away from tears
shed in true repentance. He dearly loves the
precious faith (2 Pet.1:1) of His children
(Heb.11:6). True spiritual worship can take
place anywhere, any time! It does not have
to be in a fancy building with stained glass
windows.
Consider
the following verses carefully.
Psalm 41:4 I
said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul;
for I have sinned against thee. (KJV)
Psalm 86:3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry
unto thee daily. (KJV)
Joel 2:12-13 Therefore
also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to
me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning: [13]
And rend your heart, and not your garments,
and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
of great kindness, and repenteth him of the
evil. (KJV)
Psalm 13:5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart
shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psalm 27:7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice:
have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
(KJV)
Psalm 30:10 Hear,
O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou
my helper. (KJV)
Psalm 51:1 A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet
came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to
thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
(KJV)
Psalm 109:26 Help
me, O Lord my God: O save me according to
thy mercy: (KJV)
For
God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and in truth.
The
Father is looking for anyone who will worship
Him this way.
True
worship is NOT repeating rituals, ceremonies,
sacraments and pre-scheduled prayers over
and over. These physical things actually produce
a veil hindering us from getting close to
the Lord; keeping us from enjoying His awesome
spiritual Presence.
When
we worship in spirit and truth, we
worship COMPLETELY from our heart and soul.
We literally pour out our gratitude to God,
our hearts are actually bowing in awe to this
magnificent Being! We literally and clearly
express our appreciation of who He is and
what amazing love He has for His children,
what He is capable of, what He has done for
us in the past, and what He will continue
to do for us in the future.
Psalm 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in
thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right
hand there are pleasures for evermore.
[KJV] Only in
His Presence can we ever have fulness of joy!
The joy referred to here is NOT pleasures
and joys of this world, but of Heaven! Only
at His right Hand will we ever have pleasures
for ever more! And my friend, only our awesome
God can show us the path of life! All those
who love this temporary and fleeting world
and trust it to satisfy their desires and
longings are nothing but fools.
Matthew 6:19-21 Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal: [20] But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor
steal: [21] For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. (KJV)
Matthew 16:26 For what is a
man profited, if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul? or what shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? (KJV)
Many
people today do not believe that our soul
is eternal.
But,
the Bible clearly teaches this Truth.
Eccles. 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return
unto God who gave it. (KJV)
John 3:15-16 That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. (KJV)
John 3:36 He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life; but the wrath of God abideth
on him. (KJV)
1 John 5:10-12 He that believeth on the Son of God hath
the witness in himself: he that believeth
not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. [11]
And this is the record, that God hath given
to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. [12] He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
life. (KJV)
We
must believe what God states, and we must
worship Him in spirit and truth or we will
feel His wrath at the Judgment, and suffer
in Hell for eternity.
•
Everlasting punishment. Matthew 25:46
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Everlasting fire. Matthew 25:41
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A furnace of fire. Matthew 13:42, 50
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A lake of fire. Rev. 20:15
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Fire and brimstone. Rev. 14:10
•
Unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:12
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Prepared for the devil. Matthew 25:41.
HELL is a real place! It absolutely does exist!
See: Hell
is real
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