TV 1726 | True Worshippers Part One

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. Now is the time to trim your lamps and get ready for the coming of the Lord. Stay tuned for the Midnight Cry broadcast. Well praise God, praise the Lord for his amazing faithfulness. Now the thoughts that I've had on my mind this morning, many of them will fall into the category of, well we've heard that before, but I am more and more conscious the further I go of how much I need not just the letter of the Word, but it needs to become real. And I've had thoughts, I guess my Bible reading right now is in the beginning of the Gospels. And one scripture that I read the other day was from John chapter 4. And that kind of, there was something that was said in there, in a very familiar scripture that kind of triggered my mind in a slightly different way. And you remember that was when Jesus was going through Samaria on the way back to Galilee. And he waited at a well while his disciples went into a village to try to buy food for them. So he was sitting there in the middle of the day. And a woman came out, and it makes it plain that she was not exactly welcome even in Samaritan society, Samaritan society, because she had been rather free with her affections and had several husbands and was living with somebody now that wasn't her husband. And so she couldn't come out with the rest of them. So there she was in the middle of the day, the heat of the day, trying to get some water. And she fell into a conversation with Jesus. I'm not going through a lot of that, but basically it came down to a point where Jesus was making himself known to her, and he did it by telling her things about herself he couldn't have known. And so she immediately says, you're a prophet. And so then she had a question. In verse 20, our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. And so this is where, well, let me backtrack just a little bit.

I'm not going to go into the details of the history, but the people who lived in the region that was called Samaria went back to a time in Israel's history when the 10 tribes whose capital was the city of Samaria were so in such need of judgment that God finally allowed the Assyrian emperor to scatter them throughout his empire. And what he did to destroy the cohesiveness of any group that would have opposed him was to take communities of Israelites and send them off to the middle of Asia and bring people from Asia and settle them in what had been Israel, and just mixed up all the peoples. And people in that era, in a particular way, had this sense that every region of the earth had their gods. We've talked about this before. And I believe with all my heart that was part of Satan's kingdom where he had literal spirits that were ruling over certain areas. And they presented themselves to the people one way or another as gods. And boy, you better bow down to me. You better worship me. You better do what I say. If you don't, you're going to be cursed. If you do, maybe I'll bless you and be with you in battle and so forth. So there was this mentality with everybody. We better pay attention to the gods who rule here. And I don't know if you remember the history. I won't go into the details. But when the people from Central Asia arrived in Israel, they ran into some troubles. And so they said, we better find out what the gods here require. And so they actually acquired some Jewish rabbis, teachers, I guess, priests, I think. And they came and they began to tell about Israel's god. And so what happened was you had a people who had come down through history with a certain amount of heathen religion and a certain amount of knowledge of God. And so that's where she was saying, our fathers said, this is where we're supposed to worship. And they even, but they still had a knowledge of the true God, a sort of.

It was mixed up, but it wasn't real. But nonetheless, the idea also was that worship had to do with a place. It was a place you were supposed to do it. It was all tied to geography. And now Jesus says, woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. It's not going to have anything to do with geography. God didn't come down to set up an earthly kingdom, and maybe will, in this earth. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. God had used, up to this point, God had used the Jewish nation to introduce himself to the world, and ultimately that's where he founded his kingdom, through the remnant, and then that, the word has gone to the ends of the earth, all right? Our salvation is from the Jews, yet a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. So this is about true worshipers. God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth, okay? And then this is where she, you know, talks about the Messiah, and realizes that he says that's who he is, and so forth. It goes on in the story. But true worshipers, it's interesting because we had a television broadcast last month, I believe, that was based on a message a year ago, on true worship. Now what do you think of when you think of worship? Well, yeah, you're jumping ahead of me there, but you're right, it's exactly what it is. We think of it as music, words, emotions, all put together to offer praise and worship to God. That's part of it, for sure. But that wasn't exactly what, you know, the idea of worship before that was not just about what David came up with, which became part of it, but it had to do with sacrifice.

It had to do with the worthiness of the one that they were worshiping to be served, to bow down in adoration and submission to him. So it had more to do with sacrifice, laying down your life before this one, than it had to do with just the activity of outward worship. And so my mind went back to that, and folks, that's what the Lord has called his people to. It's not just an activity we can learn. God wants lives that are laid down before him. Think of what he said in Matthew chapter 16. It really ties in with this. When you came to the point where Jesus asked the disciples, who do people say that I am? That kind of leads into what he's going to say. And they had all kinds of opinions, and Peter came up with the reality that you're the Messiah, the son of the living God. So Peter had some genuine spiritual knowledge, didn't he? Okay? All right? Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood. That becomes the key. But I tell you that you are Peter, you're a stone. That's what Peter meant. But on this rock, it's not Peter, it's the rock of revelation. When God reveals something to the heart, that's where the church is founded. You can go out and recruit people to a religious organization, but that has nothing to do with it. Jesus is absolutely revealing himself and the Father to a heart, and that heart bowing down in surrender. That's what the true worshiper is all about, being a true worshiper is all about, is surrender. Okay?

So anyway, on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom and so forth, whatever you bind on earth. Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Interesting. He didn't go on an advertising campaign saying, I'm the Messiah, come hear me. He was dependent on God to draw those who could be drawn from the heart. Folks, that's all we need. We don't need to see how big a church we can build by natural means. We need God to reveal himself to hearts. Thank God he's promised to do that. All right? From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, that he must be killed and on the third day raised to life. This is the point where Jesus begins to say, hey, this is the course that God has called me to walk. I'm going to lay down my life, but I'm going to, he's going to give it back to me. Well, Peter is the one who's going to speak. up again. Jesus turned and, wait a minute, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, this shall never happen to you. Now where is Peter's thinking coming from? This is entirely natural thinking. We're going to build the kingdom, man, we're not going to let them kill you. You're the key to everything. He had no idea what God's plan was. Folks, I don't think we realize how little we know about the things of God. That's something I'm becoming more aware of. We think we do, but oh my, we need Him, don't we? We need to lay down our lives, all right? So Peter's response to him was not really to address Peter. He said, get behind me, Satan. He addressed the source of that supposed wisdom. Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. Boy, I'll tell you, the battles we fight, that's where it's at. We're talking about Earth's wisdom,

human wisdom, driven by Satan and God's wisdom. Praise God, I need His. I want His purpose. But His purpose is the polar opposite of what this world is about. So he says, then Jesus said to His disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Now the cross was well known as an instrument of death. You want to follow me, you're going to die, okay? For whosoever, whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? By the way, that whoever wants to save their life, actually the Greek word there is soul as well. You're talking about something that a lot of people think, oh, the soul is immortal. Well, I'll tell you, it's not. The only way I'm going to have any immortality is through the gospel. When His life comes in, now I got something that is capable of living forever. Folks, people don't, the people of this world do not realize what's going on and where they're headed, all right? Well, what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? He talks about the Lord coming in judgment, following. I'll tell you, the kingdom of God is obviously not about this world. It's not about the wisdom of this world. My mind went back, and I've mentioned this a number of times, and I just want to put this out there because I remember growing up, as I said, we grew up in a missionary-oriented group, and one of the things I remember very often throughout the year would be what we called missionary rallies. And a missionary who was home on what we called furlough, they would maybe serve for four or five years, then they'd come back for a year, and part of that time they were traveling around talking about their mission. And so we would hear a report about the mission, but always the message, often, the message was to the young people in particular, and the message was, surrender your life to the Lord. You need to surrender. Folks, this is the gospel, not just some elite version of Christianity to which we're, you know, some people are called, and other people can just slide through and get forgiven and go to heaven. God has called everyone who would follow Him to lay down their lives, to lay everything on the altar. That's what, that's what the

true worshiper does. If they were doing it to heathen gods, how much more do we do it to the God of all, who's over all? You remember what worship means. It has to do with worth. What's He worth to you? Is He worthy? We sing the song about Jesus being worthy. How about the Father, for whom all things come? Though even the name Jesus means God saves. God absolutely sent His Son. What did it cost Him to do what He did? From an earthly standpoint, was there anything on earth that He clung to and hung on to? He let it all go. If God has called you into His kingdom, He has called you to lay everything on the altar. Praise God to renounce ownership of our own lives and give them to Him. And that means everything we have. Now that doesn't mean we throw it all out the door and go live in a cave. But it means that it's not mine to do with as I please. It's not meant to serve me. It's not what I can acquire. and all the things I can do in this life that the world does, to please my own nature, to see what I can have and how much I can enjoy, and all the values for which the world operates. It's, Lord, I lay everything on the altar, show me what to do with it, and I become a servant. I become a, what's the word, a caretaker, somebody who takes all that and oversees it, but it's not mine. You remember the parable that Jesus talked about, about when he would come and how he had given, it was a rich man who had given his servants a charge over his possessions. Now the servants didn't possess those things, but they were given a responsibility as to what to do with them. And the charge was, take my property and invest it, use it, and gain more. You see the imagery there of people who were given great privilege and the rule over stuff, but it wasn't theirs. Folks, if you, I'll tell you, the young people, I want to encourage you, because you're facing all kinds of questions and issues in your lives. What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? What kind of job or career am I going to pursue?

Who am I going to marry? Every single choice that we make in our lives needs to be surrendered to him. He knows what we have need of, and he's not out to make people poor necessarily. They're rich people he uses. Most, I mean, most of us can't stand to be rich because it would begin to affect us. We need to stay a little bit on the, toward the poor side, don't we? I'll tell you, God can give us grace, but I'll tell you what God is looking for from a surrendered person. A surrendered person is content. Paul talked about being content when he had a lot or when he had little, because he knew that he was, he had conveyed his, he had given everything into the Lord's hands, and there was a practical trust that he was engaged in. He literally trusted God in a practical sense, and I wonder how often we do that. We all know the ideas that we're talking about, but I'll tell you, I see so much need starting in me for God to work what He's talking about, what He talked about to the woman in the well. What does a true worshiper look like? I mean, God's got a job to make me a true worshiper. It doesn't matter how well I could sing or play or the words that I say or all that. I'll tell you, God is looking for people whose lives praise Him. You know, what J.P. jumped in and said is exactly right. If we're not worshiping Him the way we live, what difference does the other make? Go back and read Amos chapter 5 again where, by the way, Amos chapter 5 was written to the people who lived in and around Samaria. This was back before all that stuff where they got shipped everywhere. And the Lord said, take away, quit all this nonsense you're doing about all your festivals. They're supposedly worshiping me, forget about it. I don't care about that, and as far as your music's concerned, please shut up. That's putting it in our way. I'm tired of hearing it. Why would He say such a thing?

Because their lives were completely the opposite. And He immediately pointed out and said, let justice roll down like waters and so forth. It was their lives. What difference does it make if you go through a forum and say, oh, we're worshiping you. We're doing what you want. God, help every one of us to come to a place where our lives have been laid down. I get that it's a process of the actual changes that need to be made. I'm more and more aware of that. But I'll tell you, we serve a God who is faithful, but He is, what's He looking for? Again, what does a true worshiper look like? Well my mind was brought back to the things that Jesus said. They must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now if I asked you, is what's in the Bible true? I think most of you would say, would jump up and say, yes, that's truth. And so if we just learn more and more about what the Bible says and we declare, yes, that's true and that's true and that's true, praise God we got it. We don't got it. Because what good does it do to say this is truth, but yet it doesn't really have a practical power in our lives? You know, what good does it say, do to acknowledge that God over and over and over in the Word says fear not, and then we go around afraid. Not doing as much good. You can assert the truth of that in a theoretical sense. But what God is seeking to do with me and with all of us is to take these words and so make them live in and through us that that becomes our truth. The problem is we all have minds that have been corrupted by living in the world. Satan has absolutely woven a web of lies, I guess is the way to put it, for every single one of us in one way or another. It's caused us to believe certain things to be true in a practical everyday sense. And for God to untangle that web, He's got a job on His hands.

And yet we will go along and have a knowledge of correct theology. We know what we believe. But if that belief doesn't replace in an everyday sense what's going on in here, what good is it? Is that what God is looking for as theology students who can pass a test? No, He's looking for people that He can plant His Word and change the way that we look at everything. I'm so conscious more and more lately of the need in me and all of us to begin to see things through God's eyes. I mean all the things that actually control my life. I mean I'm fighting battles this morning. We know what the Word says about not being anxious. Is there anybody here who's not anxious? Is the Word true or isn't it? Are we willing to step out and actually treat that as if it were true? You see we're worshiping Him in spirit and in truth is a lot more than we think it is. I want to be able to declare His worth. It's worth everything to be born again. It's worth everything to know Him. It's worth everything to treat what He says as truth in a practical sense. I get that I need help doing that. But that's what God is doing for every single one of us if we'll let Him do it. Sin shall not have dominion over you. I died at the cross. There are a lot of truths that are wonderful. We can see them in here. We can assert them and we should. But how much control does that really have in our minds? Have we really ... Has it transformed the way we think and the way we see ourselves? God says, I've chosen you before the foundation of the world.

You're my special chosen people. I love you. And all the things He says about us, do we actually treat that as if it's the truth? Or do we listen to the lies, the web of lies the devil has put in here? You're just a ... You're no good. These wonderful truths, yeah, they apply to everybody else but not you. Who are you to think so highly of yourself? I don't care what ... I mean what God says, yes, that's true, that's true, but not for you. Or you've got to do this in order to earn the position where then, okay, then it'll be true. There's a web of lies that all work together and Satan has programmed our minds with the wisdom so-called of this world and how it works and what it's about. That's how he is ruling over the human race. This has been the Midnight Cry broadcast. If you would like a DVD or CD of today's message in its entirety, please request it by program number. While it is not required, a donation of $10 for DVDs and $5 for CDs is suggested to help with expenses. Also for those who request it, we will send you our quarterly publication, the Midnight Cry Messenger, free and postage paid. Send your requests to Midnight Cry Ministries. Thank you. Southern Pines, North Carolina 28388 We invite you to join us again next week at the same time,