“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4: 23, 24 KJV).
Since there are true worshippers there must be false worshippers. Each person must determine if they’re a true or a false worshipper.
“God is a Spirit” simply means that in essence God is Spirit; God is spiritual with no material element in His Being. We worship by faith the Spiritual Being revealed to us in Holy Scripture. We worship God as He has revealed Himself to be, not as we imagine Him to be.
To be a true worshipper and our worship to be true and accepted by God we must worship God “in spirit and in truth.” To worship in “spirit” is not synonymous with uncontrolled sentiment, or with spontaneous combustion. The “spirit” is the rational and immortal soul. In “spirit” is with true inward reverence, as distinguished from mere outward observance. One preacher wrote that “Spirit is the name in the N.T. of the highest and most god-like faculties of the soul. Our Lord means, therefore, that God is the supreme understanding, knowledge, reason, will, love, holiness, etc., and hence must be worshipped with the corresponding faculties of the human soul, which is also spirit, as made in His image.”
To worship in “truth” is to worship the God of revelation. Our worship to be true worship must be in keeping of the truth as revealed in God’s Word. Truth also implies sincerity on the part of the worshipper (Ps. 51: 6). Truth is not just correct belief but also practical piety. Jesus is the personification of truth (Jn. 14: 6).
Our worship can be false and can become sin if we like Israel (Is. 1: 10ff) worship like God’s people on Sunday but live like heathens the rest of the week; if we honor God with our lips but our heart is far from Him (Is. 29: 13; Mt. 15: 8).
“We must realize that God despises rituals without reality, sacrifices without obedience, and gifts without the giver.” As long as God’s people live in sin their worship is an insult to a thrice-holy God and they are not true worshippers and therefore do not experience God’s presence and power.
