Worship \’In Spirit and in Truth.\’ (iii)
SCRIPTURE: \’The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in Spirit and in truth; for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God is a
Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.\’–John 4: 23,
24.
\’We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Phil. 3: 3.
\’In Spirit and in Truth.\’ Such a worship in Spirit is worship in Truth. Just as the words in
Spirit do not mean internal as contrasted with external observances,
- It is Spiritual, inwrought by God\’s Spirit, as opposed to what man\’s natural power can
effect, (so the words in Truth do not mean hearty, sincere, upright.) - In all the worship of the Old Testament saints, they knew that God sought Truth in the
inward parts; they sought Him with their whole hearts, and most uprightly, and yet they
attained not to that worship in Spirit and Truth, which Jesus brought us when He rent the vail
of the flesh. - Truth here means the substance, the reality, the actual possession of all that the worship of
God implies, both in what it demands and what it promises. John speaks of Jesus as \’the Only
Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.\’ And he adds, \’For the Law was given by
Moses ; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.\’
If we take truth as opposed to falsehood, the law of Moses was just as true as the Gospel of
Jesus; they both came from God. But if we understand what it means, that the law gave only a
shadow of \’ good things to come, and that Christ brought us the things themselves, their very
substance, we see how He was full of truth, because He was Himself the Truth, the reality,
the very Life and Love and Power of God imparting itself to us. We then also see how it is
only a worship in Spirit that can be a worship in Truth, in the actual enjoyment of that Divine
Power, which is Christ\’s own life and fellowship with the Father, revealed and maintained
within us by the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: PRAY FOR this REALITY IN ALL BRETHREN that the Lord brings you
in touch. IT IS THE LACK OF OR THE ABSENCE OF THIS ESSENCE THAT HAS
CAUSED SO MUCH FAKE AND FLESHLY MINISTRY.