True and false worship

John

John 4 ESV

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Jesus invites a woman to drink the living WATER

Jesus invites a woman to drink the living WATER

Give me a drink.

Jesus was reaching out to this woman. He formed a conversation with her.

He broke through many barriers

Ethnic

Religious

Gender

Social

Notice how religion builds up and maintains prejudice. Us versus them.

is different.

If you knew the gift of God.

Many do not know. Our job to tell them.

John 4:13–15 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Jn 4.

He can give you living water.

He can give you living water.

Living water - becoming a spring of water welling up/bubbling up into eternal life.

Many are longing today for the living water. Kate Spade, Anthony Bordaie.

The living water is the Holy Spirit

John 7:37–39 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

A person’s deepest spiritual longing to know God personally will amazingly be satisfied forever.

John 4:15 ESV

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Jesus reveals to the WOMAN her obstacle to receiving the living water.

John 4:16 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

Jesus begins to get personal. he now begins to speak into her life, address her.

If we want the spring of living water, there are issues in our lives we have to address.

John 4:17–18 ESV

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Jn.4.17

He shows her her problem, her sin, her hindrance to receiving the living water.

What stands between man and God? Sin.

Our sins have separated us from God - whether you are a Christian or not.

As you sit here today, The Holy Spirit is revealing to you things in your life that you have to deal with, take control of, receive deliverance from so you can move forward in your walk with God.

Don’t harden your heart when God speaks to you.

But what does this woman do when Jesus exposes her sin?

Jesus enlightens her about true WORSHIP

She immediately turns to religion. She hides behind her religion.

John 4:19–20 ESV

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

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She makes a religious defense, or should I say offers up one of the common platitudes of the day.

This was a controversial matter.

Don’t talk about my sin. I am OK with God, I have my religion. we have our religion, our belief system, you have yours.

What would people say today?

There is no God

The Bible is full of errors

Why would God allow suffering

All religions are the same. Many paths to one God.

It doesn’t matter what you belief, just be sincere.

900 + people who followed Jim Jones and drank Kool-Aid were sincere. They are now sincerely dead.

Did Jesus back down? Did He say, “I’ll stop here so I don’t offend her”?

No He gives her the truth.

John 4:21–22 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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.

Jn. 4.21-22

1) Worship is not about a specific place, one temple. Worship is about the heart.

2) You don’t even know who you are worshiping. Christians, do you know the God you are worshiping?

3) Salvation is of the Jews.

John 4:23–24 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

You want to know about worship. I’ll tell you what true worship is.

You want to know about worship. I’ll tell you what true worship is.

Implication - there is FALSE worship.

All worship is not true worship. All worship is not acceptable to God.

Isaiah 1:10–15 ESV

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

: 10

God is seeking worshipers.

God deserves to be worshiped. God is honored when we worship. God is pleased when we worship.

He is so pleased, He actually comes down and inhabits our praise.

Tabernacle and temple - He came down in His glory.

God is seeking true worshipers.

He is seeking such people to worship Him.

God is seeking those who worship in spirit.

Spirit versus physical. We can come to church well-dressed, sing loudly, dance until sweating, make long prayers, give a big offering but your heart still is not fully devoted to God. God wants your heart.

Spirit-enabled worship. Worship led, anointed, empowered by the Spirit of God.

God is seeking those who worship in truth.

Truth from a doctrinal perspective.

The greatest battle in the world is the battle for truth. Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. He was a liar from the very beginning. “Did God really say?”

Thy Word is truth

Jn. 14.6

JW- Jesus is not God. The Holy Spirit is the active force of God

Mormonism - There are many gods. We will be like God. Joses Smith and the golden plates.

Some say Jesus did not die on the cross. No crucifixion so obviously no resurrection.

Reincarnation.

Truth from a moral perspective.

Are we living a life that is consistent with God’s Word?

Double life? Lies. Cheat. Adultery. Lust. Stealing.

Things are beginning to click for her now. His words are touching her heart. Logically this makes sense. I cannot hide behind my religion. I have to live according to truth and righteousness.

Jn.4.

John 4:25–26 ESV

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

She speaks about her longing and the longing of those around her for the coming of the Messiah when truth will be revealed.

Jesus says to her “I am He.” She is the first person Jesus reveals His true identity to.

Why? Her heart was open.

The Woman becomes a WITNESS

John 4:28–29 ESV

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

She is so excited. Her heart was touched.

:) Come see a man - “Oh no, not another man!”

This man was different. Like none she ever met before.

John 4:39–42 ESV

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

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