Awaken: Honesty

[0:00] Well, good morning again, everyone, and as we're here together this morning, if you have your Bibles, let's turn together to the book of John, the Gospel of John in the New Testament, chapter number 4.

[0:16] And today we're going to be talking about one of the non-negotiables in the Word of God and in our worship, and that is honesty.

[0:28] Honesty. What we're going to be doing is looking at the account of Jesus speaking with a particular individual, and we're going to talk about how important honesty before God is.

[0:43] And this is one of the things that I believe is extremely important because God dealt with in the Old Testament. Jesus deals with it in the New Testament as well. And I would like to posit this, that I believe that it's possible for us to be in church every Sunday of our entire life and never meaningfully engage with the person of Jesus Christ.

[1:07] There is a subtly dangerous thing for us to think that we're worshiping and never fully engage with Jesus Christ.

[1:21] And I have to say this morning that if we understand who we are in Jesus Christ and understand what the Word of God teaches us about Jesus and realize that God wants us to be honest with Him, honest with our sin, honest with our doubts, honest with everything, then we will truly be able to receive from Him the forgiveness, receive from Him the power that we need to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

[1:52] And I want us to look this morning at the account of Jesus dealing with an individual that we will call a spiritual pretender. And to see some characteristics this morning about those who are spiritual pretenders, pretending that they know what they really don't know.

[2:13] And I want us to all this morning, whether you've been a Christian for 50 years, 60 years, or if you're a new believer, to ask yourself, are any of these characteristics present in my life and present in my worship?

[2:27] And this conversation we're going to be looking at took place in a little small town outside of the town called Sychar. And this individual that Jesus will be speaking with was marginalized in her culture.

[2:43] She was an outcast, and that is why she comes at the time of day that she comes. And this is why she comes alone, because of the things that have been going on in her life. This was a woman of faith, but her faith had left her empty.

[2:58] So we see a conversation about honesty in worship. John chapter 4, and let's begin with verse number 13. John chapter 4, verse 13.

[3:09] Jesus answered and said to her, The woman said to her, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands.

[3:45] And the woman said to him, Sir, I perceive you are a prophet. Or Jesus said, You have five husbands. The one you have now is not your husband, in that you spoke truly. Verse 19.

[3:56] The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is a place where one ought to worship.

[4:06] Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither worship on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know.

[4:19] We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

[4:31] God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things.

[4:44] Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. Let's pray. Father, this morning we ask that you would show us who you really are, and that we might see Jesus as He really is, and understand that you want us to be honest in our worship this morning.

[5:02] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. First thing as we see, as we look at these four characteristics of spiritual pretenders, the first thing that we see, the first characteristic is someone trying to worship without being honest with God, without being honest with God.

[5:20] And here's a conversation Jesus is having with this woman, and He's talking to her about water. He's talking to her about living water. He's talking to her about He can provide water, that if a person partakes of this water, that they will be completely satisfied forever.

[5:42] And she misunderstands, and then what we see is her in her not quite being totally honest with Jesus, trying to evade what is going on.

[5:58] She dodges the question. So what we have is an abrupt transition in about verse number 16. So they're talking about water, and she says, I want some of this water so that I don't have, I'm not thirsty again, and I don't come here to draw.

[6:15] So she misunderstands Jesus. But then Jesus says something in verse 16 that is extremely unusual. It's almost like, Jesus, this is not follow.

[6:26] Where did this come from? So verse 16, we pick up the conversation. Jesus says to her, go, call your husband, and come here. And what does she do?

[6:39] Notice what we see in verse 17. She evades the question. She says, the woman answered and said to him, I have no husband.

[6:50] So what does she do? She's not being totally honest with Jesus here. And so then what Jesus says, you have well said, I have no husband.

[7:01] For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband, in that you spoke truly.

[7:12] So what's happening here? The thing that's happening here is what we see all throughout Scripture and all throughout our lives too.

[7:23] Because what happens? Here she is, they're talking about water, and Jesus says, go get your husband. She says, well, I don't have a husband. And that's where she leaves it. And Jesus said, you're right, you don't have a husband.

[7:37] You've had five of them. And the one that you're living with now, he's not your husband. And so he calls her on the carpet and says, woman, you're not being honest with me.

[7:51] But that's nothing new. Let's go back to the Old Testament. Let's go back to the first book of the Bible and see what we're prone to do. Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 6.

[8:03] What happens is, the serpent comes into the garden. Eve looks at that fruit that God says, don't eat of it, because in the day that you eat, you're going to surely die. Serpent comes in, says to the woman, no, you're not.

[8:16] That's not what God really said. That's not what God meant. And so she takes it, and she eats the fruit, gives it to her husband. He partakes the fruit. And then they go hide, and then God comes looking for them.

[8:28] Verse 6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

[8:40] The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

[8:57] Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.

[9:08] And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Then the man said, The woman that you gave me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.

[9:23] And the Lord God said to the woman, What is it that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field.

[9:37] On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And so dodging honesty is nothing new.

[9:52] So what do we see happen here? God says, What's going on, guys? Did you eat of the fruit that I told you not to eat?

[10:03] And what does Adam do? Instead of being honest and say, Yep, God, I did it. What does he say? He passes the buck. He said, God, the woman you gave me, she gave me some, and I eat it.

[10:14] And then he goes to Eve. Eve, did you do it? Well, God, to be honest, the serpent came, and he twisted, and I didn't know up from down, and he tricked me, and I ate it.

[10:30] What was happening? They were being evasive, and they were not being honest. Now that's the first book of the Bible. Let's go to the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi.

[10:43] Malachi is pretty easy to find. You go to Matthew and turn left. One book, it's there. If you want to, you can go through all the minor prophets and get there the roundabout way, but there it is, the last book of the Old Testament.

[10:57] And the difference between today and Malachi is, God had said, there's a way that you worship me. In the Old Testament, you bring animals, you bring lambs, and I want the best.

[11:11] They can't have any defect, they can't be blind, they can't be sterile. They have to be the best of your flock that you bring to me. And so now God is speaking to his people directly about worship in Malachi 1.

[11:26] Look at verse 6 of Malachi 1. A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor?

[11:37] If I am a master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts, to you priests who despise my name. He's talking to God's people, the priests and the leaders, who weren't being honest in their worship.

[11:53] He says, and yet you say, in what have we despised your name? Then God answers, you offer defiled food on my altar. But say, in what way have we defiled you?

[12:05] What do you mean, God? Where did we go wrong? And he says, by saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil?

[12:16] When you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Will he accept you favorably? Says the Lord of hosts. But now entreat God's favor, that he may be gracious to us while this is being done by your hands.

[12:32] Will he accept you favorably? Says the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain?

[12:43] I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. So what we see is God's very serious about honesty in worship.

[12:54] God says, bring me the best. And they didn't. God says, what are you doing? You haven't brought me the best. And they have the audacity to say, what do you mean, God? Where did we go wrong?

[13:08] So God is very serious about honesty in our corporate worship. Let's look at Malachi 2.3. So how does God deal with this? What does God say?

[13:19] He says in verse 3 of Malachi 2, behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread the refuse. Now get this. Spread the awful.

[13:30] Maybe your translation says, that's dung. He says, behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread dung on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feast, and one will take you away with it.

[13:51] Wow. That's some pretty rough language. God says, either you be honest with me in your worship, or I'll take you out with the refuse.

[14:02] And so God is saying, be honest with me. God takes honesty very, very seriously. Now when we get to John chapter 4, and he's talking to this woman about receiving water that will satisfy, receiving something from him that will satisfy forever, we see Jesus confronting head on the sin in this woman's life.

[14:29] And she's asking about the water of life that he's talking about, but then he says, go get your husband. Well, that was a sore subject for her. How do we know that?

[14:40] Because of the time of day that she came to draw water. She came alone. She didn't come with the other women when they came to draw water because what would she hear when the other women were around her? They were whispering about all the things that they were talking about her.

[14:57] And so what does Jesus do? He goes right to her sin. Now we might say to ourselves, well, you know, that's God of the Old Testament. Yeah. But that's not very Jesus-like.

[15:08] You know, Jesus, we thought you were all about mercy and forgiveness. And Jesus, you're being mean. Here she is asking about how to get living water.

[15:20] And you poke your finger and say, you're sinning. You are sinning. So why would Jesus be all in her face like that? And I believe for two reasons.

[15:32] The first reason, Jesus desires not only to confront our sin, but Jesus desires to cover our sin. Jesus desires to cover our sin.

[15:42] We see that all over Scripture. God wants to take care of our sin. Now we have to understand this. Every one of us in this room are sinners.

[15:53] Without exception. Every single one of us. Now we have two choices. We can either try to cover our own sin or let God do it by the blood of Jesus.

[16:06] Those are only two choices. We can either try by being good or bringing sacrifices and try to cover our own sin or be honest with God and say, God, I'm a sinner and let God's grace and mercy through the blood of Jesus Christ, His royal blood that He shed on the cross of Calvary, died in our place and allow Him to cover our sin by His blood.

[16:32] And the beauty is God's taken the initiative in the person of Jesus Christ and come to us and He says, I want to expose your sin so that I can cover it with my blood.

[16:43] What God does is He delights in taking the dirtiest of sinners and cleansing them with the blood of Jesus Christ. But understand this, God will not be mocked.

[16:54] What if we come into this place or any other place where we're worshiping and not being honest with God and trying to say, well, God, you know, my sin is not that bad. You know, it's not that big of a deal.

[17:08] And try to bargain with God. We see people in Scripture bargaining with God and saying, God, it's not that bad. And are we any different? Oftentimes, no.

[17:19] Because we may come in here holding a grudge or we may come in here having impure thoughts or having lied to someone or mistreating someone and we ignore it.

[17:34] What does the New Testament say? If you come in and you have an ought against a brother or sister in Christ, He says, just leave worship and go get it taken care of. Get it right. And then you can come.

[17:45] Why does He do that? Because He wants to be honest before Him and not try to cover over our own sin. A gentleman by the name of Cornelius Plantinga said this about honesty and worship.

[17:59] He says, For the Christian church, even in its recently popular worship trends, for the Christian church to ignore, euphemize, or otherwise mute the lethality or the lethal reality of sin is to cut the nerve of the gospel.

[18:16] For the sober truth is that without full disclosure of sin, the gospel of grace becomes impertinent, unnecessary, and ultimately uninteresting.

[18:27] And here's what happens. When we come into worship and we don't deal with our sin and we're not honest with God and saying, God, you know what? I'm just not feeling it this morning.

[18:40] You know, I'm mad at you or I'm mad at somebody else and this is just terrible and to say, and I've heard preachers say this, I've heard worship leaders say this, you know, when we come together to worship, let's just leave all of our worries and all of our worldly cares outside and let's come in here, this place we call a sanctuary, and let's just worship.

[19:02] That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard because we can't worship if we leave our dirty laundry outside. We're to bring it in here, bring it before God and say, God, God, I'm a mess.

[19:14] God, I'm hurting. God, I don't feel like worshiping today. And God says, I know, just take that pack off your back, leave it to me, cast your care upon me and what does the Bible say?

[19:28] He will, he'll care for us. So I think what we need to do is not leave our problems outside. We need to bring our problems in here and lay them at the feet of God when we worship and say, God, I need you.

[19:42] God, I don't feel like worshiping today. God, you know what? I've been praying for something and you haven't answered me. And I'm having a difficult time with that. Some people say, well, you know what? I'm going to wait until I feel like worshiping before I come to worship.

[19:56] Well, I would dare say that's when we really need to worship because that's when we need God the most. That's when we need God to say, I understand. I understand what it's like to hurt.

[20:07] I understand what it's like to be hurt by someone else. Give it to me and I'll take care of it. and then we can worship or then you can worship me.

[20:17] So first of all, we see God desires to take care of our sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. But secondly, I think what we see is God desires to comfort us in our sorrow.

[20:29] Jesus wanted to comfort this woman. Well, we say, well, how are you comforting because you took what was the sorest issue in her life and you just threw it right in her face.

[20:41] Well, I think what Jesus wants us to do is to be honest with him and to realize that he really wants to do is he wants to comfort us. Take our heaviest burden, give it to him and allow him to take care of that.

[20:56] I think he exposed her sin, not just simply because he wanted to expose it, but because of her sin, her deepest hurt. And he, she had tried satisfaction in this guy.

[21:07] She had tried satisfaction in that guy. She had tried satisfaction in that guy. And obviously, she couldn't find any. Why? Because now she was with another guy. And Jesus was telling her, you're not going to find satisfaction in this guy either.

[21:20] You know, sometimes you might have a friend or acquaintance of yours and you want to tell him the same thing. You're seeking for love in all the wrong places. And I think what Jesus was wanting to show to her, this living water that I've been telling you about, that's the only thing that'll satisfy you.

[21:37] I'm the only thing that can ever satisfy you completely. And so what he does is he takes this and he shows her that she is a sinner, but he shows her that he's offering the answer to that.

[21:53] So the purpose is not to leave our hurts and our cares and our worries outside. They're to bring them together as we worship corporately. Lift each other up. Encourage one another.

[22:04] Sometimes it's just put a hand on someone's shoulder and saying, I'm here for you. I'm here with you. And we bring it before him.

[22:14] But we live in the Bible Belt. And what do we do? We put on a face. We put on our good, happy face. And we come in like, there's nothing wrong. I'm good.

[22:25] I'm okay. I'm fine. And not to let others on that we're hurting inside. We're hurting inside. I saw someone yesterday, the first time in my knowing him for over 12 years was honest.

[22:41] Honest with his feelings. We hugged, held on to me for about a minute or so, just sobbing almost. First time, being honest with how he really felt.

[22:54] So sometimes we just need to be honest with God and say, God, I'm hurting. This is what he does with this woman. But we also, not only do we see that sometimes people try to worship God without being honest.

[23:07] She tried to evade his question. And here he says, she says, I have no husband. Jesus says, you're right, you don't have a husband. You've got five of them and the one you're dealing with, you're living with now is not your husband.

[23:23] So he wanted to take care of her sin. He wanted to comfort her in her sin. So sometimes we're not honest with God, but sometimes spiritual pretenders limit worship to a certain place.

[23:36] Limit worship to a certain place. Look at verse number 19. So here's Jesus. He says, go get your husband.

[23:47] She says, I don't have a husband. He says, you're right. You've had five of them. And the one you're living with now is not your husband. And so what she does, remember, she's been evading so far.

[23:58] And so she's like, all right, since we're on the subject of all my husbands, I've got a theological question for you. Where do we worship?

[24:08] On this mountain or on your mountain? Here he is. She's evading. She's doing everything she can, not to be honest with this guy that she is talking to. She says, verse 19, the woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

[24:21] Our fathers worshipped on this mountain and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is a place where one ought to worship. So often people will limit worship to a certain place and what we do is we tend to misdefine worship according to external circumstances.

[24:45] Now what was happening with the Samaritans, this was a Samaritan woman, the Samaritans took the Old Testament and stopped at Deuteronomy.

[24:56] They followed the first five books. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. So they stopped at Deuteronomy and Jesus is saying like, you know what, a lot of stuff took place.

[25:08] My father was really busy after Deuteronomy in the prophets and the Psalms and all these other things. He says you stop there. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 5, the Bible talks about God saying, I will put my name in a certain place that I will let you know.

[25:27] Well it wasn't until later that God says, it's in Jerusalem. It's through the line of David. And salvation is through the Jews. What did he mean by that?

[25:39] Through David, Jesus would be born. And the temple would be built by David's son Solomon in Jerusalem. And that's where I'll put my name. But the Samaritans didn't get that far.

[25:51] And what they did was they went back into Genesis where, remember Abraham and he offers that sacrifice in Shechem being overlooked by Mount Gerizim. And so they said, well, our father Abraham worshipped at the foot of Mount Gerizim.

[26:06] And so that's where we're going to worship. So here is the background with this woman saying, we worship on this mountain, Mount Gerizim in Samaria. You guys, you Jews, you worship in Jerusalem.

[26:20] Which one's right? And Jesus totally, he evades the question because it wasn't important anymore because he came to take care of their sin.

[26:31] They misdefine, sometimes we misdefine worship according to external circumstances. Jesus redefines worship. Look at verse 21.

[26:42] Jesus said, woman, believe me, the hour's coming when you will neither worship on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. He says, worship the father.

[26:54] Worship the father. You know, we don't need to come into this building to worship. We could do it on the front yard. We could do it anywhere. Because what we're going to see in just a moment is it's the internal stuff that really matters.

[27:10] And what happens in churches today, oftentimes we discuss all the stuff that's the externals and we leave out the internals. She was worried about, well, where do we worship?

[27:21] Jesus says, the hour's coming. And when was that? When he would be hanging on the cross. He says, the hour's coming when the place won't matter. He says, it's not the external and the reality of his presence.

[27:38] Look at our next. it's the reality. Jesus redefines worship according to internal, internal circumstances. And then we see the reality.

[27:50] It's the reality of his presence. Jesus says, you don't need a place to worship. He says, you need a person. And it's me. It's me. He says to the woman, the hour's coming when you will neither worship on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

[28:04] Place won't matter. He says, worship the Father. Worship the Father. All the externals. When we think worship, what do we often think?

[28:16] You know, we think of building like this. We think of chairs put around and a platform, music, musical instruments, screens, air conditioning, and all these things.

[28:30] We think about being part of worship. And what does Jesus say? It's not important. As a matter of fact, the New Testament is extremely indifferent to the externals of worship.

[28:44] It says nothing in the New Testament about where, with what, or how we worship, just that it's all about Jesus.

[28:54] So we misdefine worship based on external circumstances. Jesus redefines worship and he says it's the internals that matter. And the reality is my presence.

[29:08] In John chapter 2, you don't have to turn there. Remember when Jesus overturns the tables in the temple? Takes out that whip and he overturns the temples and he says, zeal for my house has consumed me.

[29:19] And the Jews respond to that. Who gave you the authority to do all this stuff? And you remember he says, you tear down this temple and I will raise it up again in three days.

[29:33] Jews are thinking, it took 46 years to build this temple and you're saying, tear it down and you're going to build it in three days? We can't believe that. What does his disciples say later?

[29:45] Well, he was referring to his body. He was referring to himself. So what was Jesus saying to these Jews? He says, you don't need a place to worship. He says, all you need is a person and the person is me.

[29:57] We can worship anywhere as long as we have the reality of his presence. Where Jesus is present, worship can take place. And we know we bring Jesus with us through his Holy Spirit.

[30:11] But then we see it's the response of our hearts. It's the response of our hearts. Let's go to Matthew 5. Do I have that one up there? In Matthew 5, we see he tells us verse 23, he tells us verse 15, and also in Matthew 15, that it's the response of our hearts that matter.

[30:33] It's not where we are. It's the reality of his presence and it's the response of our hearts when we worship because he says in verse 23 of John 4, he says, the hour is coming now when the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth.

[30:52] Matthew 15, he was talking about folks not giving, taking care of their elderly parents. He says, then he need not honor his father or mother because they said this gift was for the church or for God.

[31:09] He says, thus you have made the commandment, verse 6 of Matthew 15, of God no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well, did Isaiah the prophet prophesy about you saying, these people draw near to me with their mouth, honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

[31:29] We sang, what, four songs earlier today, four or five songs? Do you know that it was possible for us to draw near to God with our lips and sing these songs, but yet our heart not be anywhere involved?

[31:43] So Jesus says, it's about a person and it's about the response of our hearts that really matter. Spiritual pretenders limit God to a certain place.

[31:56] And then next we see, they try to worship a God they do not know. They try to worship a God they don't know. Look at verse 22 back in John chapter 4.

[32:06] He says, you worship what you what? What you do not know. He says, first of all, he says, what you're doing is you're not being honest with me. I want your undying honesty when you come before me.

[32:21] She was evading the question and she was not being honest with Jesus. And then she limited worship to a particular place. Jesus says, it's not about a place, it's about a person, it's about me.

[32:32] And then Jesus says, spiritual pretenders try to worship what they do not know. You worship what you do not know. We know that, we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.

[32:46] Remember we say that the Spiritans camped out in Genesis through Deuteronomy. God did a lot after that and they missed out and ignored his word.

[32:56] And that's what brings us to the next point. Our worship is hollow if it's disconnected from the word of God. Our worship is empty if we don't worship God according to what he said.

[33:10] He worshiped in spirit and truth. In spirit and truth. He says, this is extremely important. And what we might be saying is it's important that we know what God said.

[33:30] because otherwise we might be involved in idol worship. You say, well, pastor, I don't worship any idols. Well, what is an idol? It's not just a statue.

[33:42] An idol is anything that we place before God or make to look like God or to replace God. The reality is everybody worships. Everybody on planet Earth worships something.

[33:53] It might be a celestial being. They might worship their family. They might worship their boat. They might worship their car. They might worship fame or they might worship fortune.

[34:05] And some people say, well, you know what? I think God and then they fill in the blank. You know what? We don't have that luxury to create God in our own image. What we do is we go to the word of God because God has revealed himself in the Bible.

[34:20] You want to know how God wants us to honor him, obey him, serve him? Well, look in the word and he tells us. So what he's saying is our worship is hollow if it's disconnected from the word.

[34:36] You guys, you Samaritans are worshiping someone you don't even know because you stopped in Deuteronomy. You haven't been searching the scripture to know about the God that we worship.

[34:47] We know that God said salvation is from the Jews. the Bible talks about in the Old Testament looking forward to Jesus Christ, the Savior. And so in spirit and in truth, and I want us to understand this, that the word without the heart, the word without heart, remember we said we need to know the word of God in spirit and in truth.

[35:12] We need to know the word of God, but our heart response to him is important as well because the word without the heart makes us fighters. You ever heard the saying fighting fundamental?

[35:25] Or fighting fundy? What it means is sometimes when we're too focused on the word of God and trying to say, you know what, I am a champion for the word of God and I understand the word of God, but when we don't have the heart of God to go along with it, then we argue about this, we argue about that, and we fight about this and we fight about that and most of the time it's fighting about all the externals.

[35:54] So, knowing God's word without love being attached, without having the heart of God, you see, when we have the heart of God, we can be honest and expose someone's sin and do it in love because we want people to be drawn back to God.

[36:14] So, the word without the heart makes us fighters, but also, the next thing is, the heart without the word makes us, and I was looking for something that, with an F, makes us flighty. You can say flaky too.

[36:25] What happens is, when we allow our emotions to run wild when we worship and our worship is not based on the truth of God's word, then what's happened is we don't have freedom in worship because we become captive to our emotions.

[36:41] And what happens, people will say, you know what, worship just didn't feel good this morning. Or, I wasn't able to worship today because the worship team, you know, they were flat today.

[36:56] Or, I didn't like the song that they sang and so therefore, I was not able to worship. Well, we base it upon our emotions rather than the word of God. Sometimes people will say, you know what, I'm not getting fed.

[37:10] I didn't get anything in worship today. You know how I would respond to that? What did you put into worship all week? Did you spend time in God's word? Did you spend time learning about what God wants and what God expects?

[37:27] And so we come to Him empty and void of His truth and void of His truth and expect to feel worship. reality is our worship needs to be based on truth and allow the Holy Spirit of God to go from there, to go beyond that point.

[37:48] It doesn't matter how we feel. And I want to say this. We won't always come to corporate worship with red-hot zeal and passion for Jesus.

[38:01] because there will be sometimes you come sad. You come hurting. It might be a physical ailment. It might be a relationship.

[38:12] It might be something that happened in your life the previous week and you just don't feel it today. the important thing to realize is sometimes it's when we are at our lowest that our worship can go the deepest because when we come to God and we bring Him our hurts and we bring Him our pain and our sadness that He is able to reach down and say I'm here for you.

[38:42] And that's sometimes when worship is the sweetest is when we're hurting the most. And I've heard people say well you know what I just don't feel like worshiping today.

[38:52] I just don't feel like going to church. Why? Because they feel sad or they don't feel close to God. What happened was they had the heart without the Word and didn't feel like it so therefore didn't worship.

[39:07] And so God is saying you need my truth. In spirit it's not in spirit or in truth but it's spirit and in truth.

[39:18] then lastly what we see spiritual pretenders do is they tend to put off worship until another time.

[39:29] Tend to put off worship until another time. Look at verse 25 in Matthew excuse me in John chapter 4. Then the woman said to him so here is this woman so far he's talking about water and he says go get your husband and come back.

[39:53] She said I don't have a husband. He says you're right. You have five of them. The one you're with is not your husband. And then she evades again and says well where's the right place to worship?

[40:05] And Jesus says it's not about externals it's about internals it's not about this mountain or that mountain. When you've got me that's all you need. Remember he was staying in line with what he was teaching she just hadn't gotten it yet.

[40:17] And then what does she do? I find this rather amusing in verse 25. The woman said to him I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ.

[40:28] When he comes he will tell us all things. So what is she doing here? Can you imagine later on and she's thinking to herself oh my I will be remembered forever as the person who told Jesus that I was going to wait till the Messiah came.

[40:52] And so here he is she's saying I'm going to wait till another time and so she is still evading and she's putting it off. What do people do? What do we do sometimes? Well God you know I'll wait till later to take care of that.

[41:03] I'll wait till later to come to you. I'll wait till later to turn my heart over to Jesus. I'll wait till later to take care of that. and I'll deal with it someday. And what Jesus is saying is I'm here.

[41:16] I'm here in front of you. Notice look at his answer. What did Jesus say to her in verse 26? I who speak to you am he.

[41:29] And if you look in your Bible you probably have the name the pronoun he italicized. first it's italicized for a reason because in the original language when Jesus spoke pretty much what he was saying was I who speak to you I am.

[41:50] That's what he literally said. He says the one who's speaking to you I am. And that's in keeping with the gospel of John. Remember the great I am.

[42:03] Jesus is saying I'm I'm the I'm God. I am God the son. I am. So what he's telling her is you don't have to wait till another time.

[42:15] I'm right here in front of you. You can worship me today. And that's what he does. Spiritual pretenders sometimes are content to go week after week.

[42:29] Come into worship and not really be honest with God. today. But the beautiful thing about this text is she finally realizes that Jesus is who he says he is.

[42:45] And what she does is she understands that Jesus really was talking about water that satisfied eternally. And then what she does is she understands that Jesus had come to satisfy us eternally.

[43:03] Look at verses 28 to 30. What did the woman do when she got it? The Messiah is in front of me.

[43:16] He came to show me that he can satisfy me. The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the man, come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

[43:28] That was a little bit of an exaggeration, but to her he did. Could this be the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came to him.

[43:41] The woman left her water pot and went and told folks in the city, look at, go down to verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.

[43:54] He told me everything that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with him. He stayed there two days, and many more believed because of his own word.

[44:07] Then they said to the woman, now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

[44:21] Not only is her soul satisfied in Christ, but now we see this most unlikely of individuals. Someone who had practiced serial adultery, now living in adultery, becomes a fountain of water for the rest of her town.

[44:42] And she shares Jesus with the rest of her town folk. This is a picture of corporate worship. Jesus comes to satisfy us eternally. Now let's close with this.

[44:53] The Father has chosen to seek us personally. The Father has chosen to seek us personally. Look at verse 23. Look at verse 23 of John chapter 4.

[45:06] But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is what? Seeking such to worship him.

[45:19] I'm so glad it doesn't depend on me. for people to trust Christ. And I'm sure you're glad. It doesn't depend on you, because what does God do?

[45:31] God is the one who draws. God, through his Holy Spirit, draws us to him. So the Father has chosen to seek us personally. And the question that I might ask this morning is, are you being honest with Jesus this morning?

[45:48] Do you know for sure that you've trusted Jesus alone as being the full payment for your sin? Or are you still coming before God and saying, God, I'm a good person?

[46:00] Or God, I'm trying to be a good person. He wants us to know that there is none righteous, no, not one. And he says, I have come to seek and to save that which is lost.

[46:17] He's saying, you have the opportunity right now to receive the gift of everlasting life by simply trusting in me.

[46:28] If we're honest with God, honest with our sin, allow him to expose our sin, and then allow him to cover it with his blood, we can be part of his family.

[46:41] But have we come together this morning and we're not being honest with God this morning, maybe thinking, I'm hurting God. There's some pain in my life. I need you.

[46:53] I need you, Father. And you know, that's when he runs to us and says, I got you covered. I got it. Let me take care of it.

[47:04] Let's be honest enough with our Heavenly Father to let him know that we need him, we're hurting, and he will take care of us. So this woman at the well, he comes to her, talks about living water that only he can satisfy, and then she evades.

[47:21] One time after, she keeps evading the truth, not being honest with him, until finally she realizes, oh, wait a minute, this water he's been talking about, ah, it's him.

[47:34] It's a relationship with the Messiah of the universe. So when we come together, let's just be honest. Honest with one another, honest with him.

[47:45] And I think that's when we'll truly be able to connect personally and intimately with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[47:57] Let's pray. Father, this morning, we're so thankful for you allowing us to be here together today, and for teaching us what honesty with you really, really means.

[48:12] It's about allowing you to come into our lives, come into our minds, come into our hearts, and showing us how important it is for us to not evade, but be honest.

[48:30] Honest and open, willing, ready to confess before you anything that might be in the way of us worshiping you and having a relationship with you today.

[48:43] God, help us to know and understand and to worship you in spirit and truth. Father, if there's anyone here this morning that's hurting, Father, please, I ask that you would give them the ability, the freedom to cast all their cares upon you, and knowing that you will care for them.

[49:14] Father, even maybe we may not be here today just really excited and jumping up for joy, but if we come here today and say, God, I just need you, I'm not feeling it today, that we would allow our heavenly father to come in and to pick us up and carry us.

[49:40] Father, we leave all this in your mighty, capable hands. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all say.