 Amen. Good evening, everyone. It's good to see you. I have to concur with the thoughts and prayers of the brothers that today was a really good day. It was just a really tremendous, tremendous blessing. I really love to hear the testimonies. I've had multiple people come up to me and say that that's something we should do every Sunday from here on out, so that would be great. It was just a tremendous blessing. So, and it is a joy to concluding that, now to come and to consider God's word again together. And tonight, we have the blessing of considering what is a really important subject and a subject that is largely lost on the modern church and difficult for some to navigate, and that's the subject of the regulative principle of worship. So, we are continuing our series on Sunday evenings on the essentials of church practice, church doctrine, the practice and worship of the church. And so, part two of the essential series, and we come now to these doctrines that deal with the worship of the church, and in particular tonight, the regulative principle of worship. So, we'll have to think. We need to put on our thinking caps when we come to this subject. And I wanna give you what will be just a very basic introduction to this subject tonight. And so, if you wanna take notes, maybe jot some texts down, and then you'll have opportunity, I pray, in your own study. And in further conversations as the church, we'll be able to further flesh this subject out and consider it more as time goes by. So, let's begin tonight. The title of our sermon, The Regulative Principle of Worship, and our text this evening, John chapter four. If you will, turn to John chapter four. Our text is verses seven through 26. So, the title of our sermon this evening, The Regulative Principle of Worship, from John chapter four, verses seven through 26. Hear the word of God. A woman of 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. And then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says 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 with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you've well said I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. You Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such 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 who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. It is necessary that God who is spirit be worshiped in spirit and in truth. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we're so grateful to you for the Bible, for your word. And in particular Lord for this account, what a tremendous display of your grace and of your mercy and of the extent of your saving work among the nations of men and how gracious and good and kind you are. So grateful. There's so much to learn in a text like this, Lord, I often feel as though we're just scratching the surface, but I pray Lord that you'll help us tonight to consider that you seek worshipers. And those worshipers that you seek are those who would worship you in spirit and in truth. And for us, Lord, through your word in consideration of this text, that you'll help us to understand what it is more, what it is to worship you in spirit and in truth. Our desire, Lord, is to worship you in the way that you have ordained and decreed that you should be worshiped. We know, Lord, that you have the authority to regulate your worship and it's our desire, our intent, Lord, our heart's desire to worship you in that way in which you've ordained that we should worship you. Help us, Lord, to learn. Help us to think. Help us to be meticulously faithful to you in these things for your glory. Lord, you are worthy of our worship, worthy of our praise, worthy of worship that is in spirit and in truth. Help us, Lord, by your spirit to praise you and to worship you in that way. And it's for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the glory of your name that we pray all these things. Amen. In the title of our sermon this evening, The Regular Principle of Worship, John chapter four, verses seven through 26. Well, at the request of Martin Busser in 1543, John Calvin authored a concise statement summarizing the necessity and the urgency for the Protestant Reformation. In his summary entitled, In this necessity of reforming the church, Calvin distinguishes that worship which is in spirit and in truth. Quote, the rule that distinguishes pure worship of God from its corrupt form is universal. We must not mix in what has seemed good to us but must observe what he requires who alone has the authority to command. Therefore, if we want him to approve our worship, we must carefully keep this law that he enforces with utmost severity. The reason is twofold that the Lord by forbidding and condemning all manmade worship calls us back to obedience to his voice alone. For one, this greatly applies to establishing his authority so that we may not serve our own wills but rely entirely on his will. And two, we are so proud that if freedom is left to us, we can do nothing but go astray. Moreover, once we have turned aside from the way, afterward there is no end as long as we are buried in a multitude of superstitions. Therefore, the Lord, so that he may claim the full right of Lordship for himself rightly commands us to do what he wills so that he refuses whatever humans have devised that is beyond his command. He also rightly does this because he blocks off limits for us with his mouth lest by inventing corrupt worship we provoke God's wrath toward us. This is so difficult to persuade the world of. God disapproves of all worship that has been established beyond his word. Instead, this persuasion prevails and is, as it were, formed in the bones and marrow of all people. Whatever they do, they have sufficiently just approval for it provided they display some zeal for the glory of God and the doing of it. But since God not only considers empty but also openly hates what we support for worshiping him beyond his command, what do we profit by doing anything to the contrary? These are the clear and distinct words of God. Obedience is better than sacrifice. He is worshiped in vain through the commandments of men. Whatever is added to his word is a lie, especially in regard to mere will worship, which is emptiness. Once the judge has made a pronouncement, there is no longer any time for dispute. So Calvin speaking of both the necessity and the urgency of reforming the church and in particular the necessity and the urgency of reforming the worship of the Lord's church. The principle that Calvin is arguing for in this statement is called the Regulative Principle of Worship. Notice the concern with me. The concern of the Regulative Principle of Worship is to distinguish between that worship which is according to the commandment of God and worship that does not go beyond his word and that so-called worship that is the fruit of man's devising. Worship in the way that God has decreed and that so-called worship that is the fruit of man's imagination. The former is ordained by God. The latter is disdained by God. The former is worshiped in spirit and in truth. The latter is the devising of sinful man and is a lie. Now the Regulative Principle then is a very natural counterpart to the Reformation Commitment to Soloscriptura or scripture alone. Our worship should be regulated by the word of God and the word of God alone. The conviction is that we should order all of our faith and practice by scripture alone and not by scripture plus the traditions of men as we see very commonly in the Roman Catholic church for example. As with everything else, the doctrines and traditions of men have corrupted and perverted the pure worship of God. The only acceptable way in which we are to faithfully worship God will be clearly and expressly laid out in the word of God, the Bible, the scriptures. And if it is not commanded by law, if it is not commended by example, then we mustn't do it. We have no express warrant, no express authority to do so. This is the Regulative Principle of Scripture. If you think about it in that way, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? That the worship of God should be regulated by the scriptures. We see that very explicitly, very clearly in the Old Testament, don't we? Half the book of Exodus and into the book of Leviticus is God laying down biblical principles for how he is to be worshiped. And if you just read that section of text, God is meticulously careful about the way in which we are supposed to worship him such that if you don't worship God in exactly the way that he is prescribed, there is a death penalty enjoined to that false worship. God is very serious about the way in which he is to be worshiped. If it is not commanded by law or commended by example, we are not to do it. We have no express warrant, no express authority to do so. Now the assertion of some in consideration of the Regulative Principle of Worship was that this principle should only apply to matters of doctrine. That it wouldn't apply to the worship of the church, the practice of the church, but only to the doctrine of the church. So that in anything respecting church practice or church government, the church has freedom and the church has authority. Anything that is not prohibited in scripture then is permitted in worship. The name of that principle is the Normative Principle of Worship and groups like the Lutherans and the Anglicans have held to the Normative Principle of Worship as did the Roman Catholics before them. The most egregious example of this Normative Principle of Worship would be the Roman Catholic Church. And frankly, every contemporary church worship model since then, including them. For example, the Anglican church, the Anglicans holding to this view in their Articles of Faith, the 39 Articles of the Church of England, listen to this. Quote, the church has power to decree rights or ceremonies and the church has authority in controversies of faith and yet it is not lawful for the church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's word written. So in other words, the church has the power, the church has the authority to decree whatever rights or ceremonies they want to decree as long as it doesn't contradict God's word and later they would say is, and so that it doesn't upset the peace and the unity of the church. As long as it doesn't contradict the word of God or upset our peace and unity, it's okay to do it. And the church has authority to decree those rights and ceremonies as they will. And we can see that bearing fruit in the Anglican church, can't we, in Anglican worship. The Lutherans hold to the same principle as do obviously the Roman Catholics. So what the normative principle of worship would say is that we have the authority to do everything, whatever we wanna do. We can do whatever we wanna do as long as it doesn't contradict the Bible, contradicts scripture, upset the peace or unity of the church. Let me ask you the question though, where do we ever see in the Bible that authority given to the church? Simply not in scripture. We don't ever see the church given that authority. It's a violation of soloscriptura and it is ripe for ritualistic, superstitious, heartless traditions of men, ripe for traditions of men. Calvin would say when that freedom is left to us or if that freedom were given to us, we can do nothing but go astray and history bears that out in the church. Whenever a church, whenever a group has assumed for themselves that authority, you see that group trailing off into error and rapidly so, right? Human reason has and will continue to lead us astray. Our worship, our practice, our government must be ordained, must be regulated by God's word. Our confession of faith, the second London Baptist confession of faith of 1689 in chapter 22, article one says this. The light of nature shows that there is a God who at the Lordship and sovereignty over all is just, good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in and served with all the heart and all the soul and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by God himself and so limited by his own revealed will and that revealed will given to us in the Bible that he may not be worshiped according to the imagination and devices of men nor the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations or in any other way not prescribed in the holy scriptures. We are to worship God according to what God's word teaches. False worship then not only includes that worship which is condemned, false worship also includes that which is not expressly commanded or commended. If you don't find it commanded or commended in the Bible, it doesn't belong in your worship of God, right? That's an easy way to summarize the regulative principle. If you don't find it commanded or commended in scripture, it doesn't belong in your worship of God. Give you an example, right? If you're going to build something out of the box you use the parts and the instructions that are in the box, right? If you're going to build that thing the way it's intended to be built, if you're to, if that thing is to work the way it's intended to work, you're going to use the parts that are in the box and you're going to use the instructions that come with the box. You're not going to pull in extra parts or take away parts and expect that that thing is going to work the way it's supposed to. Makes sense, doesn't it? Common sense would tell us that that is so. In the same way, God regulates his worship. We're to use the parts, so to speak, that come to us in the box. We're to worship in a way that is given to us by instruction and that God is worthy of that worship, right? We need to be careful to give him the worship that he has called us to give him. In the time that we have remaining, I want to take a look at a text that gives us a basic introduction to this biblical principle. And we could look at several texts in the Bible. There are several texts in the Bible that address this issue. And I want to encourage you to look at some of those texts for further study. This is an important study to undertake. But I want to introduce this subject from one particular text in the Bible, and that's the text read in your hearing, John chapter four. John chapter four, the Lord has departed Judea and he's on his way to Galilee, right? Where verse four, using the language of divine necessity, verse four tells us that he must go through Samaria. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ has a divine appointment waiting for him with a woman at a well in Samaria. And the Lord must go through Samaria. Now, the Lord has just explained to Nicodemus, John chapter three, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And here we see an example of that very truth as Jesus Christ goes to Samaria to a people who were despised by the Jews. And the Lord is going to preach the gospel to this woman at the well. There's going to be a Samaritan awakening, if you will, very soon here. The Lord's going to preach the gospel there. In verse seven, the Lord meets this woman at the well and we pick up their conversation then in verse 19. Look at verse 19 with me. This woman at the well said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. You Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem to worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Now follow along with me. From this text, I want us to consider two things. I want us to consider the basis for the regulative principle in verses 19 through 22. And I want us to consider the purpose of the regulative principle in verses 23 through 24. First, consider with me the basis of the regulative principle. Note with me, chapter four, verse 19. This Samaritan woman is stunned. She's shocked. The Lord has talked to her of living water springing up into everlasting life. The fact that the Lord is speaking to a Samaritan woman in the first place stuns her, shocks her. Then the Lord begins to talk to her of spiritual realities talking to her of living water springing up into everlasting life. She replies, sir, understanding what he's talking about. Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst or come here to draw. In other words, she gets it. She gets it. The Lord is speaking of spiritual realities. But then speaking to her of spiritual realities, the Lord lays open her heart and points to her sin. Go and call your husband. Call your husband and come here. Now in her own words, if you look at verse 29, Jesus then proceeds to tell her all things she ever did. He lays open her heart as only Jesus Christ can do. And so she rightly, although it is partially, she perceives him to be a prophet. Jesus Christ is far more than a prophet. But then she moves immediately to the subject of worship. Now notice her emphasis on the external forms of worship of their worship in verse 20, their external forms of worship. Verse 20, our fathers worshiped on this mountain. You Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. In other words, now think with me, from her perspective, she's saying the Samaritans and the Jews, we each have our own religious forms and traditions. The Jews say this, the Samaritans say that. You speak to me of everlasting life, but I'm a Samaritan and you're a Jew. We come from two different religious planets, two different religious mountains, you could say. How can you, Jesus, how can you reconcile that for me? What warrant could I possibly have for worshiping God acceptably as a Samaritan? Do you get the question that she's now asking? Where this is going? So verse 21, Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. Now remember, we're talking about the basis for the regulative principle, okay? She says, the Lord says to her, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. In other words, those old forms of worship, those old traditional forms, so to speak, those old perspectives concerning worship are going away, right? They're going away. The hour is coming, the Lord says, and now is when worshiping God will not be thought of in terms of mountains and locations and temples and ceremonies and priests and rituals and sacrifices, right? The hour is coming and now is when all of those things are going away. Those old covenant types and shadows are going away. That's what they are. They're old covenant types and shadows. Those old covenant types and shadows fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ and those types and shadows swallowed up in spiritual realities, those types and shadows are now going away, right? Now notice, he doesn't let the Samaritans off the hook for their idolatrous worship. Look at verse 22. He tells her, essentially, you worship in ignorance on this mountain. We know how it is we are to worship. Salvation is of the Jews. The Jews have been given the very oracles of God. He says, we know how we are to worship. Worship is of the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. You worship in ignorance on this mountain. However, verse 23, however, the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers, as opposed to false worshipers, won't worship God according to those old Testament and old covenant forms and traditions. Do you see the point that the Lord is making with her, right? That those old forms, those old trappings, traditions, rituals, ceremonies, they're all going away with the fulfillment of the old covenant, with the going away of that obsolete old covenant replaced by the new covenant. All those forms and traditions are going away also. New covenant worshipers will be those worshipers who will worship God in spirit and in truth. And God is seeking for himself that kind of worshiper. So that kind of worship becomes incredibly important, doesn't it? In other words, we're not to worship according to old covenant conventions. We now as new covenant believers by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are to worship according to new covenant spiritual realities. Those old forms are going away. What is the Lord referring to here? The basis for proper worship informed by those new covenant realities associated with the coming of the Messiah cannot possibly be the old covenant forms and rituals and ceremonies and traditions that were all meant to point to the coming of the Messiah. You see, our worship, the basis of our worship can't be the old covenant any longer. Can't be the old covenant. The old covenant was meant to point to Jesus Christ. Now he's sitting there talking to this woman at the well and she's like when Messiah comes, he'll teach us all about these things and I love that statement of Jesus Christ. I who speak to you am. You notice the he's and italics there. I who speak to you am. Just an awesome like that to have been there at that well and overheard that conversation would have been thrilling. We get to overhear it on the pages of scripture, but it's awesome. In other words, the basis for proper new covenant worship will be the new covenant realities now ushered in by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ raised from the dead to reach back as it were into the past then and to pull forward those types and shadows would make no sense. Why would we do that? Why would we ever do that? Reach back into the old covenant and pull forward those types and shadows to inform our understanding of new covenant worship. We wouldn't do that. That would make no sense. The Lord Jesus Christ again makes this point in Matthew chapter nine verse 16. It's the meaning of a statement there when he says this verse 16. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch pulls away from the garment and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins or else the wineskins break. The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined but they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved. Ever read that statement or heard that statement and weren't sure what the Lord was speaking about there? I have. This is what the Lord is talking about that statement in Matthew chapter nine. You can't fit new covenant realities, new covenant truths, new covenant worship into old covenant forms and rituals and ceremonies and traditions into old covenant types and shadows. You put new wine into new wineskins. Do you see the basis for our worship and therefore the basis for the regulative principle of worship is new covenant revelation. Where do we get new covenant revelation? We get new covenant revelation from the New Testament, from the Bible, from the Bible. Where do we find divine warrant? Where do we find divine authority for our worship? We find it in new covenant revelation, your New Testament. Let's be clear. We're not talking about those principles of worship that transcend the old covenant. Someone might come along and say, right? Well, we shouldn't have a Christian Sabbath then because you don't find teaching particularly about the Christian Sabbath in the New Testament. I would disagree with that statement. However, they would say that it goes away because it's not clearly given to us in the New Testament or we don't practice tithing anymore. There's no practice of tithing because the principle of tithing isn't upheld in the New Testament. I would disagree with that statement. It is most absolutely upheld in the New Testament. They would say otherwise. And so because they don't see it explicitly laid out in the New Testament, we shouldn't be using it because it's right. In other words, how do we make this assertion without being inconsistent with our hermeneutic? Listen, those things transcend the old covenant. People will say today that that idea of not having women pastors is an antiquated old idea that should have died with the apostle Paul, should have died in the Old Testament with the patriarchy, went away with the old covenant. No, no, Paul roots the truth of that in the creation ordinances of God and those creation ordinances timeless, right? In other words, we're not talking about those principles of worship that transcend the old covenant. The old covenant and the rituals, the ceremonies that went away with the old covenant have gone away with the old covenant. We don't pull those back into new covenant worship. We're not talking about principles of worship that transcend the old covenant. The moral law of God, for example, is not a convention of the old covenant given to Moses. The moral law of God transcends the old covenant given to Moses. The moral law of God, the 10 commandments didn't go away with Moses, didn't go away with the old covenant. How do we know that? Because the moral law of God was written on the heart of Adam at creation. Created in the image of God, Adam had the law of God written on his heart. That law then given by a series of positive precepts eventually codified on tablets of stone under Moses. But that doesn't mean that when Moses and the old covenant go away, that the moral law of God goes away. No, marriage is not an old covenant reality. Marriage is a creation ordinance. Sabbath observance is rooted in creation and not rooted merely in the old covenant. Sabbath observance therefore transcends the old covenant and is therefore timeless. Homosexuality is not strictly an old covenant prohibition. Love getting into these arguments online with people who are trying to defend homosexuality and they'll say to you, listen, you're wearing polyester, you're eating shellfish, so stop talking to me about homosexuality from the Old Testament. No, no, God ordains this ordinance from creation and therefore homosexuality is an abomination to God. It violates God's creative order. Tithing is exemplified before the old covenant. Tithing is exemplified under the old covenant and tithing is exemplified after the old covenant. Male headship is not a function of an old covenant patriarchy. Male headship is a creation ordinance, right? So these things transcend the old covenant. In other words, they didn't go away when the old covenant went away, okay? So these are not antiquated cultural issues that died with the theocracy of Israel. Those who think they are would have a case if we weren't being consistent with our hermeneutics, but we are being very consistent with our hermeneutics. They are the ones who are not being consistent with our hermeneutics. So we have a case to make here. There is great continuity between the testaments. Let's think with me, okay? Think, keep up with me. The types and shadows of the Old Testament have been fulfilled. They've been swallowed up in the glorious realities now of the new covenant. An example is this. We were talking about the errors one night here in group, I remember correctly. We're talking about the errors of dispensationalism and thinking in particular of hyper dispensationalism, which is essentially hyper discontinuity. Dispensationalism is an error and it reflects discontinuity between the testaments and there is great continuity between the testaments. So hyper dispensationalism, which is a heresy, hyper dispensationalism could be defined as hyper discontinuity, right? A hyper chopping up of old and new. Well, someone asked that night about the opposite error. What would hyper continuity look like, right? There's continuity between the testaments, but what would too much continuity or what would hyper continuity then look like? And after thinking about that question for a period of time, it dawned on me, hyper continuity is Roman Catholicism. What you see if you have hyper continuity between the testaments is Roman Catholicism, reaching back into the types and shadows of the Old Covenant and pulling forward those religious trappings and forms as a basis for new covenant worship. So this hyper continuity between Old Testament or Old Covenant now and new shows up in Roman Catholicism and what do you get? You end up with priests and you end up with sacrificial rituals. That's what the mass is. You end up with a mixed multitude covenant community, outward forms of ceremony and ritual. Ultimately, what you end up with is the traditions of men, ritualistic, heartless worship. At the very least, think with me, at the very least what you end up with is infant baptism in the place of circumcision and a mixed community of both lost people and saved people in the same covenant. That's what you end up with. What does that sound like? That sounds like modern day Presbyterianism, right? Presbyterianism is a subtle form of hyper continuity. Presbyterians need to finish their reformation in separating from that Old Covenant form of worship in favor of worshiping in light of new covenant spiritual realities. Another example, the reformers, for example, at the time of the reformation began to have problems with grand cathedrals. These great and huge grand cathedrals, a tremendous amount of manpower, a tremendous amount of work, time, money poured into these huge cathedrals and what were they doing? They were carrying forward a form of temple worship. And what the reformers were trying to take a stand for was simplicity in worship, simplicity in worship. All this to say, the Old Covenant cannot be the basis on which we regulate new covenant worship. That doesn't only or simply refer to our doctrine, does it refers to our practice, the government of the church, the ordinances of the new covenant church, the liturgy of new covenant worship, the order of the services of the new covenant church, the mission of the church, the nature of new covenant worship, all should be regulated from the New Testament. Therefore, the basis of the regulative principle of worship is new covenant revelation. So, we've talked about the basis of the regulative principle. What about the purpose of the regulative principle? The purpose, look at verse 23. John chapter four, verse 23. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. What is the purpose? What is the reason for the regulative principle? The reason is this, God is seeking true worshipers. That's the reason, right? Worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth. The worship of God is why we were created. We were created in his image to worship him forever. It's the reason why Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners. Why has Jesus Christ come into the world to save sinners? Because God is seeking worshipers. Worshipers who will worship him in spirit and truth. It's the reason we preach the gospel. God seeks true worshipers. That worship, which is true worship, is characterized as worship that is in spirit and truth. This is called a hendiatis. It's a figure of speech. And a hendiatis is composed of three Greek words, one through two, hendia dus, hendiatis, one through two. A hendiatis is the use of two words to convey a single idea or a single concept. One idea, one concept through the use of two words, one through two. In John chapter 4, 24, verse 24, the hendiatis is spirit and truth. Two words, spirit and truth, to convey one idea, true worship. Two words to convey the character and the nature of one idea, new covenant worship. First, it's worship that is in spirit. That refers to worship that corresponds to God's nature as spirit. Worship that corresponds to God's nature as spirit. God is spirit, meaning that God is life. We serve the true and living God. We don't serve a dead God. Our God lives. Worship in spirit then is the opposite of dead worship. That's the contrast being set up. Worship in spirit is the opposite of dead worship. We can imagine, can't we, what dead worship looks like, right? It's not dead ritualism. It's not heartless worship. It's not heartless traditionalism. Heartless forms and trappings. You don't spin a wheel and empty your mind of anything, right? It's not a mystical superstitious, right? It's not dead worship that lays aside the commandments of God holding to the traditions of men. That's dead worship. These people honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him in vain they worship him, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. That's explaining dead worship. Colossians chapter two, verse 23, these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, but they are of no prophet. John chapter six, verse 63, it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. Worship in spirit then is worship that is the fruit of a lively, healthy, thriving, living, hopeful, faithful, working faith. Worship that is the fruit of life. Worship that is in spirit. In other words, it should be worship that is deeply and profoundly affectionate from a heart kindled in warmth and love and gratitude for these glorious truths that we understand in the gospel. The person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hearts in worship should be full of joy, full of rejoicing, right? Exuberant worship, enthusiastic worship. It should be a foretaste of the worship in heaven. And you and I, if we can just for a moment, imagine what worship must be like in heaven right now. It is anything but dead, anything but dead. You don't have anybody in worship in heaven like this. Never happens in heaven. No one's checking their watch. It is a joy filled, exuberant love filled worship. That's worship in spirit. Do you see? It's our spirit witnessing with his spirit, his spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are children of God. It is our amen to his truth. It's worship in spirit. The foretaste of heaven. You know, we have to, as the church, we have to pay attention to some external matters in our worship, right? The Lord, we are to worship in order. We're to have orderly worship because God is a God of order. But surely our text here is a warning to us against dead, heartless, ritualistic, formalistic, moralistic worship. And listen, we shouldn't let Charismaniacs rob us of fervent, heart filled, exuberant worship. Right? We were speaking with the brothers and sisters. We were coming back from the conference yesterday and we got on the subject of worship and Charismania and that hyped over-emotionalized worship that is not worship that is based upon the word of God. It's empty. It is shallow, shallow, empty. It's the husk of worship, but it is not worship that is in spirit and in truth, right? This is not based on the truth of God's word. It's hype. The music is hype. And most of that music is awful theology. Awful, it's not even approximating the truth. And they're singing that like they're singing to their boyfriend. And that is worship to them, right? Listen, that type of what is fake, disingenuous, superficial, hype up emotionalism on their part to the genuine Christian who worships in spirit and truth will come from a heart of love for the Lord Jesus Christ informed by His word and will be real. It'll be exuberant. It'll be the joy and rejoicing of our heart. So we should sing out, like we believe the truth that we sing. We should sing and praise and we should engage in a sermon knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one whom we are worshiping and He is worthy of that kind of worship. Our worship should be exuberant, should be heartfelt, affectionate, warm, deeply affectionate, loving, right? Fervent in our prayers, so many ways in which we could characterize that worship. Worship that is in spirit. Secondly, worship should be in truth. In other words, worship in truth is worship that accords with divine revelation. It accords with divine revelation. It is worship that is fueled and filled with new covenant realities revealed in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the opposite of that worship we were just talking about. It's the opposite of ignorant. It's the opposite of even uninformed so-called worship. He tells the woman at Samaria, doesn't he? He tells her, you worship what you do not know. Paul tells those academic elites on Mars Hill, you worship the unknown God. I'm here to tell you, you're worshiping what you do not know. The one whom you say you worship is the one I'm going to tell you about, right? Truth must always regulate the worship of God. We must believe the right things. We must understand the right things. We must be affirming the right things as we worship God. And our worship grows as we learn more and more of the right things, doesn't it? The more and more that we become informed, the more and more that we know the Lord Jesus Christ, the more that we can worship him in truth. We grow in our ability to worship. And listen, as we grow in our ability to worship him, our worship of him becomes even more in spirit, right? The more that I love him, the more that I see his excellency, the value of the Lord Jesus Christ, the preciousness of Christ, the glorious realities inherent in the gospel, the more that my worship will be in spirit and in truth, the amen of worship. Amen, let it be, right? Let it be the amen of faith, response. Our response to truth, we should be saying amen in our worship. We should be saying praise the Lord in our worship. We should be thanking God. Thank you Lord for that glorious truth that we just sang about, right? Amen to that truth that we just heard. That is the truth of the living God. And I worship him for that truth. So let it be, right? Amen, it condemns all worship, not carefully guided by that truth. Sam Waldron said this, and this is an important point. Worship in truth is not simply the opposite of worshiping with lies, but worshiping the opposite of those types and shadows contained in the old covenant. In other words, it's worshiping with new covenant realities, not worshiping with the trappings, the forms, traditions, the rituals of the old covenant that has gone away. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth, as opposed to shadow, came through Jesus Christ. Focus must be on the great realities of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not on sacrifices, not on those rituals and ceremonies that have been fulfilled in him like we see in Roman Catholicism and others. But for example, worship should be informed by those great new covenant realities that we see signified in the ordinances of the new covenant church. We just baptized a bunch of people here today. Awesome, those, the reality that is signified by that ordinance is a new covenant reality that expresses, displays, manifests the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is worship in accord with truth, in spirit and in truth. We see that in the Lord's supper that we will celebrate together here soon. Worship should be characterized by spirit and truth. We've talked about the basis for the regulative principle. We've talked about the purpose for the regulative principle. Why should our worship be regulated? Well, it's because of who and whose we are. We are the church, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood-bought possession of the living God. We are his people called by his name to worship him as he has ordained that we should worship him. God is the one and should be the only one who regulates the worship of his people. And he does that through his word. And if you just stop to think about it, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it? From the Bible. And from everything we know of the Bible, that makes perfect sense. First Timothy chapter three in verse 14, Paul writing to Timothy regarding the church of Ephesus, he says this, these things I write to you, Timothy, though I hope to come to you shortly, but if I am delayed, I write these things to you so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. It is the house that belongs to God. And Paul writes to Timothy, explaining to Timothy how we are to conduct ourselves as the house that belongs to God. The church of the living God, Paul says, the pillar and the ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. In other words, the Lord's church is subject to distinct regulation by God because of who we are, because of our identity. And our duty flows from our identity. We are His, praise God. Let us worship Him, brothers and sisters, then in spirit and in truth, amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we rejoice that we have been blood bought by our great redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice that we are now slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ having been redeemed and justified. And we rejoice, Lord, that we have your word to instruct us in how we are to worship you. And we rejoice that by your spirit we can worship you now in spirit and in truth. Help us, Lord, to do just that. We love you, we adore you, Lord. And we want to hallow your name, to see you high and lifted up. Help us to do that in our worship of you for your everlasting glory, for our everlasting blessedness. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.