WASHING OTHERS’ FEET THROUGH FORGIVING THOSE WHO WRONG YOU — Part 2
“So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (JOHN 13:12-15).
Let’s continue to consider forgiving others. Remember, as stated in the previous devotion, the born-again believer who corrupts themself with an unforgiving attitude can expect severe chastening from God the Father. When a disciple refuses to show pardon to an offending brother or sister, their heart becomes tormented by that unforgiving attitude. Furthermore, their life will undergo a serious correction by his holy Father. God is always angry at sin, including the sin of His children. He is especially offended at the sin of refusing to forgive someone who has wronged you, since you have been fully pardoned of all of your wrongs against Him. Obviously, the Lord will not condemn an unforgiving disciple if they are an authentic convert. However, this believer can be certain that, as their Father, God will discipline them severely.
Carefully observe these sobering words from the Lord Jesus answering Peter’s question about forgiving another brother: “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven (you shall forgive). Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he (the King) had begun to settle accounts, one (servant) was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his Master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the Master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.”
However, that was not the end of the example Jesus was giving: “But that servant (the very servant who had been forgiven so much) went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he (the servant who had been forgiven so much) would not, but went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their Master all that had been done. Then his Master, after He had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his Master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. (Then the Lord Jesus proclaimed), ‘So My heavenly Father also will do to YOU if each of YOU, from his heart, DOES NOT FORGIVE his brother his trespasses.’”
Jesus’ answer concerning forgiveness should shake and awaken us! This example was full of grace and mercy, but also of the unbelievable atrocity of refusing to forgive others who are guilty of the same sin you have been forgiven of. Notice that the one servant had been forgiven 10,000 talents, which approximately equals 3.5 billion dollars! That debt represented an incomprehensible sum that could never have been repaid. Of course, this ‘forgiven debt’ portrays the amazing forgiveness of our Lord and God, when He cancels the incalculable debt of our sins. Yet this man, who has been forgiven such a vast amount, was also owed an extremely small debt in comparison. The money owed him (by another servant) was equal to only three months of wages. However, notice the wicked attitude of the man who had been forgiven so vast an amount?
When that man went to collect the money owed him, he now heard the same plea for forgiveness from the debtor that he had cried out only a brief time ago. However, the servant who had been forgiven such a vast amount of debt refused to show compassion to the man who owed him but a little. He refused to be merciful after receiving an incredible amount of mercy.
Afterward, that unforgiving, merciless servant was brought before the Master who had forgiven him. The Master was absolutely infuriated with righteous indignation. In verse 34, the Master displayed his holy vengeance against this rebellious servant and chastened him severely. The Master delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him.
WASHING OTHERS’ FEET THROUGH FORGIVING THOSE WHO WRONG YOU — Part 1
“So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (JOHN 13:12-15).
Every born-again disciple experiences continual mercy and grace through “the Lord’s washing of their feet”, which we should be overwhelmingly grateful for. Now, this occurs through the child of God’s confession and forsaking of their sin, and the corresponding ‘parental forgiveness of our Heavenly Father’! Notice that the Lord Jesus continues to teach that if He washes our feet (through His loving forgiveness), then we ought to wash one another’s feet, through forgiving those who wrong us.
Paul emphasized this vital truth in Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Then recall the sermon on the mount that the Lord commanded those that belong to Him, saying, “love your enemies; bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us”. Then He continued by saying, “Forgive those who trespass against you.” Every genuine follower of Christ is given a divine mandate to be a channel of His mercy and forgiveness toward others, for the simple reason that we have experienced the Lord’s mercy in our own ‘initial judicial forgiveness, as well as His continual parental forgiveness’.
Certainly, the born-again believer should realize that they have been forgiven of such a towering mountain of sins. For that reason, when compared to that, a disciple should be willing to forgive relatively minor offenses committed against them. “The discretion of man makes him slow to anger; and his glory is to overlook a transgression” (Proverbs 19:11).
One of the most important principles in the life of an authentic disciple is the choice to forgive those who wrong you in some manner. For if you harbor any unforgiving mindset, it will eventually produce anger, resentment, and bitterness in your inner core. If it is allowed to fester, it will soon even produce hardness of heart. You can be certain that it will eventually poison your life and everyone around you! Furthermore, God warns an unforgiving disciple that He will deal with them just as they deal with others.
The Lord Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, when He said, “Forgive us our trespasses, AS, (in the same way) we forgive those who trespass against us.” So, the Lord commands us to confess our sins that we might obtain a day-to-day washing of our feet.” Friend, this is the very ‘parental forgiveness’ that our Father threatens to withhold from a justified believer if they refuse to walk in forgiveness toward others.
Observe the following: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses”. These are strong, instructive, and important words! If you refuse to walk in forgiveness toward a fellow believer who has sinned against you, then you cease to walk in mercy and grace. As a direct consequence, your prayer life will be immediately hindered. You cannot confidently come to the throne of grace while refusing to exhibit grace to others. You cannot ask for mercy or for help in a time of need if you are simultaneously not being merciful to someone else.
If you refuse to wash one another’s feet (through your commitment to demonstrate a loving forgiveness toward an offender), then your intimacy with the Lord (which should be rich and sweet) will become distant and cold! An unforgiving attitude will stop the flow of blessings from the Lord. A heart that is harboring an unforgiving demeanor will certainly plug the flow of answered prayer. This believer who develops an unforgiving attitude can expect the Lord's chastening in their life. “For whom the Lord loves (sets His love on) He chastens.”
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 12
“The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’ Then they went out of the city and came to Him” (John 4:28-30).
“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all that I ever did’. 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’” (John 4: 39 & 42).
This Samaritan sinner came to personally experience the reality of genuine worship. This woman, once ignorant of the Lord, entered into a saving knowledge of the sole Object of true and spiritual worship. As a direct result, this newly converted worshiper of the Lord immediately became a witness of the Lord! She left her water pot because she had now experienced a life-transforming drink of ‘living water’.
No sooner had this woman entered into a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ than she simultaneously entered upon the blessed work of leading others to His feet. The grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus set her captive will free from the bondage of sin. The Lord Jesus gave her beauty for ashes. He had graced her with the oil of joy, replacing her mourning. He had blessed her with the garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness. He cast her transgressions as far as the east is from the west, to remember them no more! He graciously covered her with the robe of HIs imputed righteousness. Because of this great gift, she became a living channel through which many others would be transformed from rebels into worshipers.
Consider her invitation to others: “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Her worship of the Lord Jesus Christ became the fuel that energized her to witness to others. She drank deeply from the well of salvation, so the springs of living water overflowed to bear the fruit of a desire and determination to see her people come to know and worship the Lord her God. This woman had been redeemed from destruction. She had been crowned with the loving kindness and tender mercies of her Lord and Savior. She had been utterly healed from the disease of the dominating tyranny of sin. As a result, she had been graced with a passion and purpose to fulfill the great commandment and the great commission. In other words, when she began to love the Lord her God with all of her heart, mind, soul, and strength, she also began to love her neighbors enough to witness to them.
How can the Lord use this new creation? Observe carefully how the Lord blessed in verse 39: “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.”
Amazingly, a mighty work of awakening began in Sychar, through the testimony of a converted adulteress! This woman, who had sunken into the depths of moral degradation, was now declaring the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus the Lord. Subsequently, many of her fellow townsmen who would have shunned her in public now believe because of her testimony. These Samaritans had learned from the lips of this redeemed woman that Jesus was the Christ. But now, they needed to discover for themselves that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior of the world who could meet their deepest need!
What a transformation! What a God-glorifying testimony. From the very day of her conversion to Christ, she became a missionary, for out of the abundance of her newly regenerated heart, her mouth spoke. Just as Andrew witnessed to his brother Peter, just as Philip told Nathanael that he had found the Messiah, and just as Saul of Tarsus immediately preached Christ, after his conversion on the Damascus Road.
In the same manner, the Samaritan woman said, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” She had learned no apologetics or intellectual arguments. She was not equipped with a class on debating pagan religions. Like the blind man in John 9, after Jesus gave him sight. He had to testify to what he knew about Jesus, saying, “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see”. This new believer could not contain herself; she simply testified of what she had “seen and heard in the Gospel”.
If you have been transformed from a rebel sinner into a worshiping saint, how can you not tell others what you have seen and heard? You should be taking opportunities and making opportunities to witness to the Person and the work of Jesus Christ to those within your sphere of influence.
Do you believe that the souls around you are perishing without Jesus Christ? Do you believe that Jesus Christ alone can save their eternal souls from hell? Then certainly, if you have truly been redeemed, you should possess an ever-growing, blazing burden to witness unto Christ Jesus the Lord. Lift up the eyes of your heart, and see that the fields are white for harvest! Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send laborers into the harvest. And then “GO” as one of those laborers as an answer to your prayers!
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 11
“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 in truth” (John 4: 23-24).
There is a biblical order that must be the proper structure for the Christian life. If you continue to read the remainder of John 4, you come to realize that ‘our worship of the Lord’ must precede ‘our witnessing for the Lord’! This woman (who had lived a life of spiritual death and defilement) was about to be transformed from a rebel sinner into a mighty witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. However, before she could become a faithful witness, she had to be transformed into a fervent worshiper!
Likewise, a careful study of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 will reveal something very interesting. Before receiving the Great Commission, in 18-20, you will notice that verse 17 declares, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him.” That word ‘saw’ means to observe the Lord Jesus with a discerning spiritual perception. In other words, they saw the Resurrected Lord, not just with their physical eyes, but with the spiritual eyes of faith! They fully recognized the Lord Jesus Christ for who He truly is: their risen and exalted Messiah; their victorious King; and their treasured Redeemer! So, how did they respond to this spiritual reception? “They worshiped Him.” Then they were commanded to “Go and make disciples”. So, this should be the life of anyone who has been evangelized and converted. We should also worship Him in spirit and truth!
The Lord Jesus was teaching this Samaritan woman that ‘true and spiritual worship should always be the proper response to a genuine perceiving of the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus with the spiritual eyes of faith”. Friends, before she can walk with Jesus, before she can work with Jesus, and before she can witness unto the Lord Jesus, she must first be found worshiping Him as the preeminent treasure of her heart and life!
So then, the ultimate priority of the born-again believer is not witnessing; it is to worship! Dear reader, true and spiritual worship of the Lord is a believer’s preeminent duty and should be their precious delight. Witnessing for and of the Lord Jesus must derive from a life of worship of our Lord Jesus. It is the overflow of our worship. The great passion of a born-again believer is to know the Lord in a lifestyle of true and spiritual worship, and then, to make Him known in a lifestyle of purposeful and passionate witnessing.
Who is the Father seeking? Jesus said, “For the Father is seeking such to worship Him”, the ones who will worship Him in spirit and truth. God the Son was not primarily seeking the Samaritan woman to be a ‘worker’. The Lord Jesus primarily sought to transform her into a ‘true and spiritual worshiper’, who would give the Lord her adoration and allegiance as the preeminent passion of her life. Oh, but when she was converted into a faithful and fervent worshiper, instinctively she became a faithful and fervent witness!
Additionally, please be acutely aware of this important principle: The primary purpose of evangelizing sinners is to populate this planet (and eventually Heaven) with more bona fide worshipers! The overarching reason for biblical evangelism is not to ‘hand out more fire insurance policies from hell’. That would be a ‘man-centered’ approach to evangelizing the lost.
Therefore, the primary reason for evangelism is to ‘bring glory to God’. “Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God (this includes evangelism).” The supreme motive for your faithful and fervent ‘witnessing unto the Living Water’ is so that the glory of God might be known and cherished by more and more bona fide worshipers!
Precious one, have you experienced a Divine life-transforming encounter with the “Living Water”? Is worshiping God the supreme priority of your life? Are you placing the totality of your life at His disposal? If the answers to these questions are yes, then you will be spiritually compelled to go into your sphere of influence and see others converted to Christ, so that they might join the throngs of true and spiritual worshipers.
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 10
“You worship what you do not know” (John 4:22a).
Hearing these words from the One she rightly perceived was a prophet could go one of two ways. For instance, if this happened to some of us (which it can when reading God’s word), some could completely shut down and be intimidated by such an accusation of our ignorance. On the other hand, these words could stir our curiosity about what Jesus was speaking about.
But Jesus has her full attention about her faulty definition of worship? What is false worship? It is any type of worship that is not rooted and grounded in the truths of the written Word of God, as well as the truth concerning the Person and the work of the Living Word of God. Now we know that a false worshiper may be extremely sincere in their religious activity. However, it is not enough to be sincere; for a person can obviously be sincerely wrong. “God’s word warns, “There is a way that SEEMS RIGHT to a man, but the end is destruction.”
Billions of worshipers across the world's religions are extraordinarily sincere. However, an earnest worshiper can be worshiping a deception, which is nothing more than “giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). In this divine appointment, we have discovered that the Lord Jesus was awakening this Samaritan woman to the stark reality that she had been attempting to worship in gross ignorance. And spiritual ignorance is the murderer of true and acceptable worship!
Observe these words again: “You worship what you do not know.” The Samaritans were attempting to worship God within a religious system that was utterly counterfeit, pieced together to look authentic. Therefore, like a skilled surgeon, the Lord Jesus must wound this sinful patient before He heals her. The Great Physician has made two precise incisions in the depths of her heart. He has confronted her with the reality that she had lived a life of blatant immorality, as well as a lifestyle of blasphemous idolatry.
Why does Jesus follow with this statement in 22b? “We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” As we progress forward, in this evangelistic encounter, notice that the Lord Jesus informed the Samaritan woman that the Jewish people possessed the truths that should have pointed them to worship the Messiah, truths that should have replaced their ignorance! When reading this controversial statement, “salvation is of the Jews,” the Lord makes, it immediately directs my thoughts to Romans 9:4-5. Paul, a Roman himself, wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: “who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”
Why does Jesus say, “Salvation is of the Jews”? Because the Old Testament states in Deuteronomy 7:6: “You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession”. The Lord had graced this very small nation with His calling and His covenant. It was the Jewish people whom God sovereignly selected as the recipients and stewards of the Old Testament scriptures. It was the Jewish nation that God delivered from Egyptian bondage. It was the Jewish nation to whom the Shekinah glory of God appeared. It was the Jewish nation to whom the entire ceremonial system of worship was given, with all the sacrifices, offerings, ceremonial washings, the priesthood, etc. Of course, all of these were only shadows and types that pointed to the coming of the Messiah, who would be the final fulfillment of it all. It was also to the Jewish nation that a Child would be born, and a Son would be given.
Consequently, if any Jew was a true and spiritual worshiper of God, they would have clearly recognized that the Lord Jesus was the long-awaited Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! Yet, even though they came “face to face” with the Lord Jesus Christ for over three years of astounding ministry, only a tiny remnant of physical Israel embraced Him in repentance and faith!
The Samaritans had failed to ‘worship God in truth’. But the vast majority of the Jews had failed to ‘worship God in spirit’. This Samaritan woman did not have a true perception of God (a right view of God). Her traditions and beliefs were empty and unbiblical.
But on the other hand, the Jews had the right place, the right scriptures, the right symbols, the right prophecies, and the right promises. However, the vast majority of them were missing the heart of true worship. They had been physically circumcised but had never been circumcised in the heart! They were, in point of fact, worshiping the ceremonies and symbols, but they lacked the substance of true worship. They were honoring God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him.
Next, Jesus said, “But the hour is coming and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father.” The Lord Jesus was drawing this woman’s mind away from the temples and the rituals, and placing the spotlight solely on the Person who must be the genuine object of true and spiritual worship! It is the life and the work of the Lord Jesus that brings about a glorious transformation in relation to our approach to God in worship!
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 9
“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father’” (John 4:21).
This indispensable truth that all must understand is beginning to unfold to this sinner. So the Lord Jesus begins to inform this needy sinner that the essential focus of worship is no longer bound to a specific location. Why? Because both locations would soon be obsolete.
Within a few decades after this encounter, the Roman Army would totally level the city of Jerusalem. The Roman General Titus would soon lead his forces to utterly obliterate the Jewish temple, so that not one stone was left upon another! Furthermore, the same Roman Army would head to Samaria, butchering thousands of the people on this very mountain. Once again, our Lord was demonstrating His omniscience in this prophecy of what would soon occur.
Therefore, the time was coming when all these controversies over the correct temple of worship would become irrelevant. Why? Because the reality and the need for both of them no longer exist. This was the Lord Jesus, the final fulfillment of all that the Old Testament pointed to, who was sitting at Jacob’s well with the Samaritan woman. He was declaring the words of eternal life to her.
Now, as a Samaritan, she was involved in a thoroughly polluted religion that had existed in spiritual ignorance. Then, on the other hand, the Jewish religious system had deteriorated into a ‘perverted version’ of Judaism, which was nothing but spiritual apostasy. Oh, but friends, both the idolatrous ways of worship of the Samaritans and the apostate worship of the Jews were about to pass away into oblivion.
Jesus then calls out her spiritual ignorance in verse 22a: “You worship what you do not know.” Already, the Lord Jesus confronted this Samaritan woman with her life of immorality. Now, He confronts her with another serious sin that she was committing against God. With these words, the Lord Jesus was basically saying, ‘Not only have you lived a life of blatant immorality, but you have lived a life of blasphemous idolatry!’ These are serious accusations, but accusations that were proven. Because she had been living within a system of worship that was a complete counterfeit. Not only had she been practicing a lifestyle of shattering the 7th commandment (You shall not commit adultery), she had broken the 1st and 2nd commandments for the entirety of her adult life. She was worshiping a lie, a man-made deception, which had been based on many disastrous and damning errors.
Thankfully, Jesus didn’t end with that. He continued, saying, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” The One who has come to seek and save the lost, the Lord Jesus, was proclaiming to her (and to us) that the entire focus of worship was about to be radically transformed.
How would it be transformed, and who would transform the worship of God? The saving work of the Messiah was going to change everything! Worship will no longer be centered on a mountain or in a temple. The nucleus of New Covenant worship would not be found in a place. New Covenant worship was going to be centered on a Person. Born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ were going to worship the Lord in “Spirit and in truth”. Their lifestyle of worship would be Christ-centered, Cross-centered, and Gospel-centered!
We must stop for a moment because this raises a question about your life. Have you been transformed from a rebel sinner into a worshiping saint? Is your worship centered in the Person of God the Father, and God the Son, empowered by God the Holy Spirit? Is your life worship Christ-centered? Is your worship Cross-centered and Gospel-centered? True worship keeps the spotlight on the person of Jesus Christ, not the place.
When the Lord Jesus Christ cried from the Cross, “It is finished”, God supernaturally shredded the veil of the Old Testament temple from top to bottom. This miraculous event signified the end of the entire Old Testament system of external and ceremonial worship. Friend, there are no more temples, no more priesthood, in the sense of the Old Testament period. There are no more altars or animal sacrifices. There are no more feast days. The need for all the shadows and symbols of the Old Covenant no longer exists. Because the One, who was evangelizing this Samaritan sinner, is the final fulfillment of them all.
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 8
“Jesus said, Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have 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’. ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a Prophet’” (John 4: 16-19).
The Samaritan woman had yet to realize that she was ‘face to face’ with the Great and Final Prophet, the Son of the Living God. She had not yet received the full illumination that this Man (who was telling her life story) was the Messiah. However, she had come to understand that this Stranger had been sent from God. The Lord Jesus possessed superhuman knowledge of her entire life history. He had lifted the curtain to expose her life of immorality. He challenged her with the startling reality that she had lived a life of stubborn rebellion against the God who gives her every breath!
Now, let’s pay careful attention to what occurs next, concerning this Divine encounter with this needy sinner. This exposed sinner attempts to change the subject. She said, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
I have a question for you! How does her question, concerning the correct locality of the worship of God, connect with the Lord's exposure of her five husbands and her present immoral relationship? You know the answer: “THERE IS NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER”! I believe this woman was responding the same way many sinners do today when the message gets a little too close for comfort. The Lord’s steering of this conversation was getting too painful and personal for her. Consequently, she desired to change the subject because the Lord Jesus confronted her with her wicked way of life. In a foolish attempt to get the Lord’s mind off that subject, and on to something less personal, less embarrassing, less humiliating, and less confrontational.
Have you noticed that unconverted sinners will seek to change the subject when it gets a little too close to their sin? This Samaritan woman was attempting to change the subject, shifting it away from the embarrassing issue of her life of sin. She retreats to talk about her religion and the ‘corrupted traditions of the Samaritan worship of God. However, fortunately for her, she was speaking to the omniscient Son of God. She was interacting with the all-knowing Lord who knew precisely what she was doing and what she needed to hear. The Giver of all languages knew how to guide this conversation to the essential issues she must confront. The Lord, with His divine wisdom and gracious loving kindness for her soul, even though she attempted to change the subject, He knew how to employ the change of subject to lead her to Himself!
Just what is her abrupt change of subject? She said in verse 20, “Our Fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” The woman was basically asking, “Which temple of worship is the correct one? Which one is the true temple? She had obviously heard all of the arguments. concerning the temple. She acknowledged that Jesus was obviously a Prophet, so maybe He can settle the dispute.
Howbeit, the Lord Jesus would not be diverted from this woman’s great need to be transformed from a rebel sinner into a worshiping saint. She needs to be saved from the penalty of sin. She needs to be delivered from the power of sin before she can truly worship the Lord God. So, the Lord Jesus gently and patiently removed every false refuge in which she was attempting to hide.
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 7
“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 have 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’” (John 4: 16-18).
It was critically important for Jesus, the ‘Master Evangelist’ to bring the ‘woman at the well’ to face the personal culpability of her life of sin, (John 3:18). Also, she must know the conviction of the weight of God’s divine wrath, which was abiding over her life, (John 3:36). The Lord Jesus had summoned her to go and retrieve her husband, purposefully for her to have to measure her rebellious life before the righteous requirements of the moral law of God.
In this summons, the Lord Jesus was subtly presenting the evidence that the Holy Spirit of God would use to prosecute this Samaritan sinner in the courtroom of God. This adulterous woman must come to see herself as a guilty, condemned, and desperately needy sinner before she will ever thirst for the salvation that only God the Son can provide. Moreover, the Giver of the moral law was taking the 7th commandment in hand to expose the true condition of her soul before the pristine holiness and inflexible justice of God.
Historians believe that the Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. They rejected the remainder of the Old Testament. However, there was plenty of evidence in Exodus to prosecute and convict this woman of her guilty condition. Friend, when reading these words, we should be starkly reminded that there must be a far deeper reality within her heart than a superficial desire to receive a ‘soul-satisfying blessing through a gift from God’. This woman must be confronted with her guilty condition before the holy law of God.
Consider what occurred when hearing those words: “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The omniscient Lord is fully aware of the entire history of this Samaritan woman. He knew her life story of continual iniquity in this area, marked by a multiplicity of marriages and divorces. In addition, the Lord was fully aware of her present living arrangement. This time, she was living with a man without being married. So, the Lord Jesus confronted her with the 7th commandment, to reveal God’s holy character; so that this would reveal God’s righteous requirements for her life; so then this would reveal that she had utterly failed to meet God’s requirements; so that this would reveal that she was a guilty, lost, and condemned criminal, who deserved the unmitigated wrath of God. Then it would expose that she was in desperate need of a Savior, a Deliverer, and a Redeemer!
Think of this conversation. It would not have been so devastating to her if the Lord had stopped by saying, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband’. But the light exposes the darkness. So, Jesus continued to expose the complete story. He continued by saying, “For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.”
Now, if the Lord had only presented the ‘good news of the gift of eternal life’ without confronting her with the ‘bad news of her guilt and condemnation, she would have never seen herself as lost in her own mind. She would have never been convinced by God’s law, convicted by law, or condemned by law! She would have fallen short of seeing her urgent need to repent and believe on the Messiah. It was absolutely essential that the moral law of God be presented to her, to unveil the true nature of her rebellious and wrath-deserving condition. But now, this woman could realistically identify herself as a defiled, destitute, and desperate sinner.
It is tragic to note that many contemporary Gospel presentations of today have deteriorated into an ‘offer to enjoy a full and meaningful life’, rather than revealing the ‘sinner’s desperate need to be made right with a Holy Lord God’. The modern Gospel has devolved into an offer of a ‘free ticket to Heaven’, rather than issuing an urgent warning for them to ‘flee from the wrath to come, through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’. However, friend, this is the sad symptom of a biblically ignorant outreach ministry, when the proclamation of ‘the bad news of the shattered law’ is considered unimportant.
The evangelical witnesses of 200 years ago always engaged the sinner with a preliminary ‘law work’. Even as recently as 1900, the evangelist, D.L. Moody, said, “It is a great mistake to give a person who has not been convicted of sin, certain passages that were never meant for him. The Law is what he needs. Do not offer the consolation of the Gospel until he first sees and KNOWS that he is a guilty sinner before God. I pity that the man who only preaches one side of the truth, always the Gospel, without ever mentioning the Law.”
A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THE LIVING WATER — Part 6
“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, saying, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have 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’” (John 4:15-18).
Notice that this woman’s natural mind was still preoccupied with material things. The Lord Jesus was speaking of Himself as He taught about the spiritual well of everlasting life. Yet, she was still focused on physical wells and drinking water. Moreover, she was being somewhat sarcastic. Basically, it is like she was sneering in her response as if to say, “Okay, give me this living water you claim will cause me to never thirst again. Considering the fact that you don’t even have a bucket, I really want to see this!”
Then, “Jesus said to her, ‘GO CALL YOUR HUSBAND, and come here.’” What prompted the Lord’s sudden and radical change of subject? Why did He abruptly give her an authoritative command to retrieve her husband and bring him back to the well? Why did the Lord Jesus bring up the concept of ‘a husband’ into the conversation? The reason is an important issue in this encounter. He initiated this subject because there was a major issue she needed to face: this woman had a sin problem. Her life of sin needed to be challenged so that she might come to the true realization of her urgent need for ‘the One who is the living water of everlasting life’”. If this adulterous woman is going to receive this glorious gift of eternal life, she must first come to the Source of living water, as an indicted, convicted, condemned, and contrite sinner!
The Lord Jesus knew that, if he evangelized her merely on the basis of a ‘gift to be received’ (as many do in modern evangelism), she would certainly sign up for a free gift. But she would gain nothing more than a false religious experience! This woman, like any other sinner, must feel the heavy burden from the weight of her countless sins against God. The iron fist of the moral law must bang on the door of her guilty heart, so that she might be awakened to the truth of her spiritually bankrupt condition before a Holy Lord God!
The woman answered, saying, “I have no husband.” Jesus replied, “You have 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.” Since she was unwilling to tell the Lord Jesus the unadulterated truth, Jesus employed His omniscience to confront her with the entire truth concerning her life of serial adultery. In doing so, the Master Evangelist confronted her with her thoroughly guilty and utterly condemned condition before the moral law of God. See, this indifferent rebel must be brought to the place of Holy Spirit conviction and contrition, concerning the startling reality of her wretched condition before the moral law of God in the pristine holiness of God, and the inflexible justice of the Lord God.
Let us never forget that the 'good news of the Gospel' never truly becomes ‘good news’ to the lost, until that sinner personally comprehends the 'bad news' of their terrible problem before the moral law of God! Observe Romans 1:16 and notice what immediately follows in that monumental epistle? Paul joyfully declared, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” Then immediately, Paul switched gears by proclaiming, “For the WRATH OF GOD is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The apostle heralded the glorious reality that there was ‘GOOD NEWS’. But then, quickly, he launched into 63 verses of BAD NEWS! Why did Paul proclaim so much bad news before returning to the good news? We see the answer in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become GUILTY before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of SIN.”
By Jesus saying, “Go call your husband,” the Lord was confronting the Samaritan woman with the fact that she had repeatedly shattered the moral law of God countless times. The 7th commandment of God’s moral law was the instrument by which God the Son used to bring this sinner to the realization of her spiritually bankrupt and needy condition. This woman must be drawn to the reality of her lostness before she will truly thirst for the Living Water Jesus was offering.
So the Giver of the moral law held up the mirror of the moral law, to reveal the immensity of her guilty, lost, and destitute condition; and her desperate and urgent need for salvation on His conditions!