John Series Part 19 The Subject Of Worship John 4:19-24 Series

The Subject of Worship, 4:19–24

(4:19–24) Introduction: man’s whole concept and approach to worship is changed by Jesus in this passage.

1. The woman was troubled (vv.19–20).

2. Fact 1: the place of worship is not what is important (v.21).

3. Fact 2: true worship and salvation are from the Jews (through the Messiah Jesus Christ) (v.22).

4. Fact 3: true worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth (vv.23–24).

1 (4:19–20) Conviction, Response to: the woman was troubled. Jesus had confronted her with her sin (v.15–18), and she could either respond or react. She could have reacted by …

• being angry

• ignoring

• neglecting

• arguing

• counting it as foolishness

However, she did not react. Instead, she was stirred and convicted, and she sensed two things.

a. She sensed that Jesus was a prophet, a man who was in touch with God; therefore, Jesus was a man who could help her.

b. She sensed her sin and the need to take care of her sin, to truly worship God. But where was she to worship? There was a dispute about where God’s presence really was, a dispute about where a person could truly meet God. The Samaritans said that God’s presence was in Mount Gerizim; the Jews said He dwelt in Jerusalem (see note—Jn. 4:5).

Standing before her was the prophet who wrought the piercing conviction in her that she was to worship. He was a prophet; therefore, He could help and direct her, so she asked Him where to worship. Where could she find help from God?

Thought 1. The woman was under a powerful conviction. She knew that she had to worship God, to make sacrifice for her sin. When a man is stirred and convicted, he needs to turn to God immediately. If he does not know how to turn to God, he needs to ask a person who is in touch with God.

2 (4:21) Worship: first, the place of worship is not what is important. Note three things.

a. Note the phrase “the hour cometh.” Jesus said that an hour was coming that would change the whole nature of worship. The way men approached God was going to experience a volcanic eruption. Worship of God was going to be radically and completely changed. There was an hour, an historical event coming that would change it. Jesus was, of course, referring to His death and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The place of worship is no longer the temple or any other particular location on earth. God’s presence now dwells in the hearts and lives of His people. His people worship Him wherever they are, and they can worship Him every day all day long.

“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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Co. 6:19–20).

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (Jn. 14:16–17).

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Ro. 8:9–10).

“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 Jn. 2:27).

“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Eze. 36:27).

b. The place of worship is not what is important. Some do worship in Mount Gerizim and some worship in Jerusalem, but the place is not what is important.

c. What is important is the object of worship, being sure one is truly worshipping the Father, God Himself. A person may be in the temple worshipping, and yet not be worshipping the Father: “Ye worship ye know not what” (v.22). A man’s whole being must be focused upon the only true and living God, the Father Himself, to be truly worshipping.

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me” (Is. 43:10).