John 5:16-23

John 5:16-23 PODCAST
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16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.  John 5:16-23

According to v.16, in response to the Lord Jesus healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, the religious leaders persecute Him. In v.17, the Lord Jesus responds to the religious leaders of Israel by saying, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”  Here, He is saying that He is on par with the Father, and they are livid.

According to v.18, "the Jews sought all the more to kill the Lord Jesus, because He not only broke the Sabbath, He also called God his Father, making himself equal with God." Due to their investment in the study of the word of God, these Jewish religious leaders should have been poised to recognize the Messiah. Yet, they missed Him. They missed Him because He didn't bow His will to theirs. Despite the fact that they had witnessed a man who had been lame for 38 years healed and made whole by the Lord Jesus. Their reaction to the Lord Jesus was that of disgust and anger.

Through the answer the Lord Jesus gives in v.19-23, we are given the key to discovering meaning in life. The key is finding out what God is doing in any context and cooperating with Him, as He does His work. In fact, the believer must be in the habit of entering a room and within his heart ask God, "how are you working here and how do I fit in with what you are doing?" 

In v.19, the Lord Jesus mercifully engages these hard-hearted, lifeless leaders in a conversation. In doing so, He leaves open the possibility that they may come to faith in Him as the God who created everything. 

He begins by saying, "the Son can do nothing by himself." This statement gives us the first step in being in sync with God in this world. Here, we learn that a recognition that any effort made to use God's resources for our own benefit will leave us lacking substance, hollow and empty. But, when we yield our will to Him, the sky is the limit. It is at this point that we discover our greatest desire: the desire to bring glory to this One who has opened our eyes.

The Lord Jesus never chose to exercise His resources for His own benefit. God gives His resources to those who will not use them for their own benefit. That is one of the most profound secrets in the Scripture and in life. Jesus starts there: "the Son can do nothing by himself."

According to the latter part of v.19. the Lord Jesus gives us the key to walking in the Spirit. He says He observes the Father and follows suit. What we learn from His words and the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians  is: Nothing comes from us, everything comes from the Father. And, we have the same relationship with the Father as the Lord Jesus. God's leading is like the wind on the sails of a sailboat. When we set our sail His wind will move us rapidly over the water, according to His will.

In v.21-23 we see the Lord Jesus' explanation of the "greater works" mentioned in v.20. His claim is life belongs to Him. He only loans it, for a while, to us. Our lives are not ours. We were handed it by God. He claims not only to possess the power to give physical life, but spiritual life as well. The Bible calls this spiritual life, "eternal" life, which is a quality of life that has the touch of eternity on it. It cannot be diminished by circumstances or ended by death. It is described by the Apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians, as the life with the view from the spiritual realm.

The Lord Jesus alone has the power to give eternal life. Since the Lord Jesus gives "to whom he pleases," that makes Him the arbiter of the destiny of human beings: He is the Judge of all men. If the Lord Jesus gives us life, then we are on our way to a personal relationship with the Father which will culminate in heaven. If He gives us eternal life we will never taste the emptiness and awful loneliness of death. We will immediately have a fuller experience of life than we have ever had before. 

The religious leaders were resistant to the Lord Jesus because they were not willing to bow their will to the will of God. They also were not ready for someone to capture their hearts to the point that they were willing to let Him make them uncomfortable. They did not want to be filled with an awe which is so captivating that would have led them to consider a wild, unpredictable and dangerous life worth living. 

Unlike them, are we ready for the opposite of the dull and boring? Are we ready for a faith that is considered “dangerous” by our predictable and monotonous and self-centered culture? Let us set sail and ride off into the unpredictable, the scary, the unknown with a God who is worth the pursuit of our hearts.

Corrie Ten Boom put it this way, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

John 5:10-15

JOHN 5:10-15 PODCAST

10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.  John 5:10-15

Today, we jump back into a context where Jesus had just healed a lame man of 38 years on the Sabbath. God gave to man the Sabbath for man's benefit. God meant for the practice of observing the Sabbath to be about observing Him. He didn't mean for us to have a relationship with the Sabbath, He meant for the Sabbath to serve us in relating with Him. 

Yet, according to today's text, the religious community revealed they didn't get that this life isn't about all of the means, it is about the person. They valued the practice of observing the Sabbath more than the person of God and this man. The religious leaders came down on the formerly lame man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The real motive of their hearts is obvious when the man says to them, "The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.'" Their reaction, "Who is the guy who told you to disobey one of our regulations?" This reveals them for the religious bigots they were, intent on the letter of the Law, but totally unconcerned about the person made in the image of God.

According to the religious leaders' interpretation of the Law of Moses, stoning was prescribed for anyone caught working or bearing a burden on the Sabbath. This punishment was not often carried out, but still the man is in real trouble. Notice that the minute this man gets in trouble, according to v.13-14, the Lord Jesus sought him out and finds him in the Temple.


Now, the Lord Jesus healed and disappeared before the man could find out His name. He didn’t know who healed him. According to v.13, the reason the LordJesus walked away from the man was due to the large crowd. Had He stayed there after healing one man, many would have clamored around Him for a miracle. 

The man had gone to the temple because the Law required that one who had been healed had to make a thanksgiving offering. The Lord Jesus knew he would be in the Temples He goes there to find him..

Notice what the Lord Jesus says to him in v.14, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." The Lord Jesus calls the man's attention to the fact that not only had he been physically healed, he had been spiritually healed. He was well, his sins had been forgiven; he had been cleansed; he was a new man, physically and spiritually. To that person who has received the gift of wholeness from God, without any merit or earning on his part, to that person, Jesus says, "Stopped sinning."

For 38 years some sin was sapping the life out of his life. We do not know what sin. Perhaps it was bitterness. The response of the Lord Jesus is not that the man sin should not more, the issue was that he no longer do certain sins that harms him. The goal of the healing was holiness or wholeness, not health. Jesus' aim in healing him was the healing of his soul, and the health of his soul influences the health of his body.

According to v.15, the man identifies the Lord Jesus as his healer to the religious leaders. Think with me. If the man had gotten into the pool and had been healed, who would have been given credit for healing him? Let's assume that most, including the religious leaders, believe God healed him. Here is the root of the problem with the religious leaders: they were not willing to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as God. Since the Lord Jesus is God He could heal and He is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not created for God but for man. This means He is not under that which He created. God has never rested from being God on the Sabbath. According to the Genesis account, God rested from creating, not being God.

The implications are great: IS JESUS GOD? IS HE OUR GOD? If He is, He must be the One who our lives are ordered around. He is the center of the universe and He is the One who gives life to our mortal lives. The problem is that instead of turning to God and letting Him fill our souls, we turn to other things, pleasure, fame, money, sex, or drugs and alcohol. Some people even turn to false sources, hoping these will lead them to the truth and fill the empty place in their lives. For a time, they may think they’ve found what they were looking for, but in the end, they’re just as empty as they ever were. Tragically, some will even discover that they’ve almost destroyed their lives.

Only God can satisfy our inner hunger, and He will, as we turn to Him and by faith open our hearts and lives to Christ’s transforming power. God doesn’t want us to wander through life, constantly wondering who we are or why we’re here. Instead, Christ came into the world to bring us back to God, and He will, as we commit our lives to Him.

John 5:1-9

John 5:1-9 Podcast

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath. John 5:1-9

John 5 introduces a new division in John's Gospel. In John 1-4, John introduces the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah. In John 5, John begins to chronicle the growing rejection, by the Jews, of the claims of the Lord Jesus. 

Today, we consider the healing of the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda. This pool was lost until recently, therefore many have used its seeming non-existence to disprove the Bible. However, in 2005, this pool was discovered, and with its discovery the critics were silenced. No one has ever proven the Bible to be anything other than the word of God through archeological discoveries. No, every archeological finding has proven and substantiated the claims of the Bible.

The pool of Bethesda, like many pools in the Jerusalem area, is an intermittent spring. At times water is released in surges from hidden reservoirs in the hills around the city, causing these springs to rise and fall suddenly. This is what gave rise to the superstition about an angel troubling the pool as mentioned in v.4. 

This man at the pool at Bethesda had been burdened with this illness for 38 years. He was weak, feeble, and unable to stand. In any event his disease made him unable to walk for 38 years.

So here was a great crowd of people, paralyzed, blind, lame, sick, all waiting for the water to be troubled. Out of that crowd the Lord Jesus picked out one lone man to be the recipient of His grace. He did not heal everybody that was in need of healing that day. 

In John 5:6, the Lord Jesus asks the man, "Do you want to get well?" This a strange question to ask of a man who had been ill for 38 years! " The Lord Jesus had to pose this question to this man. Of course, He already knew the answer before the man uttered it. So, why ask it?

Many people today do not want to be healed of their infirmity. They do not want to receive divine help with their problems. They do not want to be helped out of their weakness. They love their helplessness. They are always craving the attention of others through their helplessness. And, they cannot be helped if they do not want to be helped. 

Some, perhaps, may not have yet reached the place this man had reached. They are not helpless enough yet. They are not ready to give up on human efforts to solve their problems. They are not ready to admit they cannot make it on their own. They are still determined to get into the water when it is troubled. The Lord Jesus can do nothing for them.

The sick man answered the Lord Jesus in v.7. In essence, he says, "I want to be healed, but I cannot. I've tried, I've done everything I know how. I want to get into that water, I want to be healed, but I lack the ability; I've no one to help me."

Notice the Lord's response in v.8: "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." It is obvious that it was Jesus' will that this man should be healed. However, the Lord Jesus required this man to act on his faith in the word of the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus did not merely say, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." The Lord Jesus is essentially saying: "Get rid of that mat that will tempt you to depend upon it tomorrow. Let it be known that your faith is firmly in the Lord Jesus."

Then the Lord Jesus tells this man to "walk." Many want to be carried, even after they have been healed. But if the Lord Jesus gives the power to get up and walk, we must obey His word. The Lord Jesus is the One who gives us the power to rise up and to keep going. The key is He is the One we focus our attention upon. Our eyes must not behold any other resource that distracts us from Him.

If my dad said it once to me, he said it a thousand times when he said, "Son, some people are so narrow minded they could look through a key hole with both eyes." This man had to redirect his focus, especially due to the fact that he had been focused as he was for 38 years.

This true story of this lame man at the pool at Bethesda is an illustration of how God accomplishes His will for and through our yielded lives. It does not happen automatically, we must decide to follow Him and be defined by Him. We must come to an end of our emptiness and receive His fullness. 

  

John 4:43-54

JOHN 4:43-54 PODCAST 

43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. 46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” 49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. John 4:43-54

The Lord Jesus once again travels to Galilee, where the once unbelieving Galileans welcomed Him, according to v.45. They now believe because of the miracles they had seen His miracles in Jerusalem. Then the Lord Jesus specifically returns to Cana where He had turned the water into wine.

Twenty miles away, over in Capernaum, there was a Nobleman, a father whose young son was sick with a fever and about to die. Hearing that the Lord Jesus was in Cana, this man rode the whole way on horseback to beg Jesus to come and heal his son.

The Lord Jesus' responds in v.48, by saying, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." It seems the Lord Jesus exhibits a cold shoulder to the man. But, He is not addressing these words to the father, He spoke in the plural, not in the singular. He actually said, "Unless ''y'all' see signs and wonders 'y'all' will not believe." He was not addressing this to the anguished father, it was clearly directed to the people who, for the most part, were in opposition to His ministry. 

Now, in v.49, this desperate father pleads with the Lord Jesus, "Sir, come down before my child dies!." There is agony in the father's voice. This Nobleman believes Jesus is some type of a miracle worker, his faith is desperate. He has no other hope than in this Rabbi from Galilee.

In v.50, Jesus says, “Go your way; your son lives.” Literally, the Greek says, "Your son is living; he lives." The Lord Jesus is both answering and denying the father at the same time. The man was begging Him to come to Capernaum but the Lord Jesus doesn't go to the boy. Yet, He heals the little boy.

Then, at the end of v.50, we read, "So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way." 

This man accepted the Lord Jesus' word and returned to his son. Though he was uncertain, he obeyed the word of Jesus. Such is the nature of faith. As Philip Yancey has said, “Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” 

I can only imagine how fast the man returned home, hoping the Lord Jesus had healed his little boy. According to v.51, as he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living. Then he asked his servants the hour his son improved, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”  

In John 2, there were six imperfect water pots filled to the brim. In John 4, the woman had six men, and she discovered the One who would complete her, her Seventh man. In our text today, at the seventh hour the Lord Jesus healed this Nobleman's little boy. When it dawned on this Nobleman that his little boy was healed at the precise moment when Jesus had said to him, "Your son is living; he lives," he discovered that the Lord Jesus was not limited by distance or time. When the man understood that, "he himself believed, and his whole household.  This is the same word for belief that was used of him before, but now it is used at a much higher level. This kind of human response is in response to divine persuasion.

Some have felt that this Nobleman, this official of the court, is referred to by name in Acts 13. Where there was great spiritual awakening in the city of Antioch. Seeing the tremendous possibilities of the hour, Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul and bring him back with him to minister there. That chapter declares there were a number of prophets in the church at Antioch, among them one named "Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod," (Acts 13:1). That would make him a "king's man," a member of the court. Though it is not certain that it is the same man, it is likely that this was the moment when Manaen came to Christ. He understood who He was, believed in the Lord Jesus, and together with all his household committed himself to the remarkable power and authority of Jesus.

The first miracle of the Lord Jesus was the changing of water into wine in John 2. That miracle shows the Lord Jesus had authority over the natural realm. This second sign tells us that Jesus had authority over illness. 

The Lord Jesus came to impart to the willing, faith. The Lord Jesus puts us through circumstances we do not want to go through; He makes us face things we do not like to face, in order to achieve what we have wanted with all our hearts all along. To do so requires the strengthening of faith through a stretching that is humanly unbearable.

This is similar to bulking up one's muscles. Before a muscle can grow stronger, weight lifting causes several microscopic tears to form in the fiber and connective tissue of the muscles. With proper rest and nutrients, the muscles slowly rebuild over the following days, but full repair can take a week or more. This repair causes the muscles to be stronger. Such is the case with our faith.

John 4:39-42

John 4:39-42 PODCAST

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” ~ John 4:39-42

Many come to believe in Christ by believing the testimony of others. For me, when I saw what God was doing in another man's life, I was moved. But that was not the end of my Christian growth. I continued to believe because what happened to my friend, happened to me, as well. We must never forget the incredible impact a life yielded to the Lord Jesus brings about in this world.

In today's text, after two days with the Lord Jesus the whole city was beginning to believe in Him. Jesus had not experienced this among the Jews. Here were these nobody Samaritans believing the Lord Jesus to be the Messiah. 

The Samaritans discovered the fountain of water springing up in their own souls due to the fascinating testimony of a woman with a past. How often has God been known to use our ugly past to help others believe. The woman’s word leads to faith. An unlikely woman becomes the means of an unlikely people turning to the Jewish Messiah, even though they were not even full-blooded Jews. 

Then Jesus’ word leads to more faith. This reminds me of Romans 10:17, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The word that is used here in Romans 10:17 for the word "word" is rhema, which is the "spoken word" of God. People do not believe because they do not hear and understand the spoken word of God. Rhema is the word of God that is associated with faith; faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God. So unless a person hears God’s voice and senses His Spirit when receiving the words from God, there is no rhema, there is no faith, and there is no life.

In out text, the people heard the word of Christ for they were with Him physically. For you and me, the Holy Spirit quickens God’s Word, He makes it real and personal to us. As we listen to His imparted spoken word, and we are receptive to it, faith is born. The Holy Spirit knows just the word we need at any given moment. He directs us to God’s Word and then He makes it come alive for us. When that happens, we have heard the very voice of the living God speaking to us through His word. As we listen to His voice, faith comes—faith for what we need, and for whatever God wants us to have at that time.

In contrast to this passage, there were times when people were not receptive to the presence of the Lord Jesus in their town. Such was the case in Matthew 8. Recorded there is the account of the two demon possessed men who were released from their possession. Matthew 8:34 reads, "And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region."

The Lord Jesus had delivered two men who had long been demon possessed. Then, the people of the town begged Jesus to leave. Why when Jesus offers us freedom from our bondage, forgiveness from our sins, and a future of eternal hope, why would we turn Him down?

Jesus disrupts and disorders our lives (which is really already messed up). He is going to change us. The pain of life change and the humility necessary to let someone else be Lord of our lives is scarier than the pain of bondage and the pride of staying in control. So rather than celebrate what Jesus did and ask Him to do more, they beg Him to leave.

Finally, notice the conclusion of the Samaritans. In John 4:52, we read, "They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." They acknowledged the Lord Jesus as "the Savior of the world." They looked beyond themselves to the world. When we come into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and we experience Him, our understanding of life naturally expands and we look for opportunities to tell the world of our Savior.

John 4:27-38

John 4:27-38 PODCAST

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” ~ John 4:27-38

Upon their arrival back from town to get food, the disciples of the Lord Jesus were utterly shocked that the Lord Jesus was talking with a Samaritan woman. In that day, men, especially Rabbis, did not publicly talk to women. Women were not treated, by and large, with respect in their culture.

But, the Lord Jesus treated women differently. He created men and women in His image, with equal value and dignity and differing, complementary, honorable roles. The Fall of Adam and Eve distorted God’s design in both. As has been always the case, wherever Christianity has become dominant in a culture, the treatment of women improves. 

In v.28, despite just moments before thirsting for water from the well, the Samaritan woman runs into the city to tell the residents that she had met the Messiah. She was so caught up in this that she left her water jar. She was oblivious to all but Him.

This once ashamed Samaritan woman told the townsfolk to come meet this man who told her everything she had ever done. Her words arrive with unusual power so that the crowd responds by coming to the Lord Jesus. 

While this is happening, according to v.31, the disciples return and urge the Lord Jesus to eat some of the food they had brought back from the city. After the Lord responds with, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about,” the disciples response to Him was similar to that of Nicodemus and this woman at the well, they do not get it. They do not understand the culture of the Lord Jesus. By the way, this is His goal in our lives today, to teach us His culture which is counter cultural to us.

According to v.32,34, the Lord Jesus speaks metaphorically about the will of the Father in heaven. He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." This brings up a very important issue for you and me. On a daily basis, we have the choice to feed the Spirit of God who dwells in our once dead and ashamed spirit, or we can feed the flesh (the evil desires that are still in us, even though we are born again). This is not to suggest the Lord Jesus could sin for He was without sin.

Since we have this tug of war going on in our souls, to feed the flesh or to feed the Spirit, what does it mean to feed the Spirit who has awakened our spirit to God? The food of the Spirit, as the Lord Jesus says here, is to do the will of God. When we are feeding the Spirit, we will embrace and realize God's will in our lives. The Spirit feeds on the word of God, prayer and spending time with God's people, which all aids us in doing the will of the Father.

The first thing Jesus taught the towns folk who came out to Him was that there is a deep satisfaction in coming into a personal relationship with Him, it is just like eating food: it fills you up, you feel satisfied, you feel fed. You will remember that in John 17, the Lord Jesus said this is the will of the Father: that we might know the Father.

In v.35-38, the Lord Jesus directs His disciples' attention to the people influenced by the once ashamed woman at the well. He draws a parallel. In their agrarian society, it took four months for the sowing to lead to the harvesting, but in the spiritual realm it happens immediately. Time is removed when you are dealing in the realm of the spirit. Though the order follows the same, the pattern is there, the time element is totally irrelevant.This explains how "the sower and the reaper can be happy together." Happy, Blessed, content because we have met our seventh man.

John 4:15-26

John 4:15-26 PODCAST

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you, I am he.” ~ John 4:15-26

The Lord Jesus needed to go through Samaria (John 4:4) because this empty lady was in need of the fullness that He longs to impart to those who are willing to receive from Him. And, He knew that there was something hindering this Samaritan woman. So, He passed through Samaria to deal with her emptiness. Her need defined the trajectory of the Lord Jesus. What a thought!

The Lord Jesus knew this lady had been married five times. He also knew that she was now living with a man without the benefit of the commitment of marriage. The Lord Jesus reveals to her that He knew all of this, and yet, He did not condemn her. He was there to help her with this gnawing incompleteness in her soul.

Numbers are significant in the Scriptures. The number seven is the number for completeness in the Scriptures. The number six is the number of incompleteness. Since, he was created on the sixth day, it is also the number of man. You will remember that this true story happened at the sixth hour. This woman was on her sixth man and she was unfulfilled. 

In v.16, the Lord Jesus says to this woman, "Go, call your husband." She admits that she has no husband, and he tells her she has had five, and is now living with another man. The Lord Jesus knew more about this woman than she did. He knew there was a thirst in her heart, a hunger for something more.

When I was younger, I was duped into believing that romance was the answer to life. The problem with this is: romance can not be maintained. What I thought was love is a mere image of true love. Romance introduces us to the deeper forms of love in life. This explains why so many get out of marriage, because it doesn't deliver as it did in the beginning of the relationship. Perhaps, this is why this woman was on her sixth man.

We hate pain, trouble, problems, and disappointment. In fact, we would almost do anything to avoid these "unwanteds." However, I have learned there is great value to these "unwanteds". Over and over in my life, I have arrived upon the fact that wounds render wisdom. Pain garners for us perspective. Lack leads us to the Lord.

The Samaritan woman's response in v.17-19, is honest and authentic. She admits that she is on her sixth guy. Then, without really knowing it, she asks an honest question: "Where do I go to get satisfaction for my soul?" We do not know how old this lady was but we get the idea that she had been searching for a long to find satisfaction, and it is obvious she is not content with her life.

The woman's question about where to worship in v.20 is honest and relevant. Our theology touches everything in our lives. And, what we worship is the key. The first time the word worship appears in the Bible (Genesis 22) is the first place the word love appears. That which we love, we worship, and the which we worship we love. And, as the Lord Jesus points out in v.21, geography is not the issue, what we give our hearts to is the issue. This is eternal life that we might know the Father (John 17), this is the life that all of mankind is searching for in this world.

On a side note, the first time love is used in the Scriptures is of the Father loving the Son. Then, the second time the word love is used in the Bible is in Genesis 24 where the son is loving his bride (Isaac and Rebekah). The Gospel is tucked in throughout the Old Testament, and ultimately all that is substantive comes from the Father through the Son.

As I, in October of 1981, this lady at the well in John 4, was the victim of a stunted understanding of the truth. In fact, she had some truth but she lacked a relationship with the One who was/is the truth standing in front of her. And, as a result, her understanding of love was stunted, as well.

In v.22-24, the Lord Jesus informs us that true worship is done by our spirit, out of our heart. Truth must inform our worship of God. It must be honest, as well. 

In v.25, the woman responds with "Yes, I know you are right, but we must wait until the Messiah comes. We cannot expect these kinds of things in our time." Her words drew an incredible response from the Lord Jesus in v.26. He essentially says, "You have searched the whole world over for true love. You have had six incomplete relationships with men whom you had hoped would deliver real satisfaction, to no avail." The Lord Jesus is saying, "I am your seventh man. I am the One who will deliver to your soul that which you have so longed for." The Lord Jesus is the seventh man who completes, who fulfills all who cry out to Him.

John 4:7-14

JOHN 4:7-14 PODCAST

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”  13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ~ John 4:7-14

The Lord Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi who was not to ever talk to a woman in public. In that culture women were regarded as totally unable to understand complicated subjects like theology and religion. Yet, this did not prevent the Lord Jesus from talking with this lady. In like manner, my sinfulness has never prevented Him from interacting with me. The Lord Jesus knows us better than we do ourselves, and He still likes us.

Now, 450 years before the events of our text took place, the Samaritans, who were a mix of Jewish and Assyrian, came back to Israel to populate the land now known as Samaria. The Samaritans believed in only the first five books of Moses as the word of God. And, they had mixed with the Law of Moses, practices that were not of the God of the Bible. In fact, they built a temple on Mt. Gerizim. This temple was not ordered by the God of the Bible.

As He interacts with this Samaritan woman, the Lord Jesus reads her heart. Here was a woman coming to draw water, and he said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The "gift of God" here is the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus speaks figuratively, using water to illustrate the Holy Spirit, but the Samaritan woman, like Nicodemus in the previous chapter, takes him literally and does not understand.

In v.11, she responds, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?" The well was at least 60 feet down to the water. Since the Lord Jesus did not have a long rope and a bucket, He could not access the water. It appears the Lord Jesus is the one lacking, yet as we will see throughout this Gospel, mankind are the ones lacking. His fullness is always poised to address our emptiness.

Notice her second question in v.12, "Are you greater than our father Jacob?" Here, recognizing the Lord Jesus as more than just any man, the Samaritan woman gets religious. When we do not truly know what life is really about, we make it about the things that are not that important. The Samaritans, who had the five books of Moses, looked to Jacob as their religious father. Her question indicates that she doesn't understand what the Lord Jesus means when she said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?" 

In v.13-14, the Lord Jesus answers, "I am not talking about the water in the well. Drink of that water and you will thirst again. But I will give you living water, and the one who drinks of the water I give will never thirst." The Lord Jesus is talking about something far more significant than literal water, He is addressing the yearnings of the soul. Many never seem to learn this truth. They never realize that there is an experience with God that addresses the deepest longings in our souls that the Lord Jesus is the only one who can address meaningfully.

The Lord Jesus is describing the transformation the Apostle Paul mentions in Romans 12:1-2. In that text, the Apostle Paul issues three commands. The first two are present middle imperatives meaning we are responsible for the outcomes (present our bodies and do not be conformed to this world's way of thinking). But the third command is written in the passive voice which means the Lord is responsible for the outcome or the transformation. The reason we struggle to understand the Lord Jesus often is He speaks of experiences with Him that only He can produce. And, given we have never experienced it, we are ignorant of it. Such is the life of faith that He has called us to experience.

In v.14, we read, "but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." He means the Spirit, which He gives, is a life-giving Spirit, that as one drinks of the Spirit, one experiences the quality of life which is called, eternal life. This eternal life is an experience with God Himself. You see, God's answer to all of mankind's needs has always been to give Himself to those who would receive. His presence has always been the remedy, be it breathing into man's nostrils His Spirit, or be it giving His Spirit to awaken our spirit to Him. His presence in our lives is the answer.

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John 4:1-6

JOHN 4:1-6 PODCAST

1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ~ John 4:1-6

Among many other themes in this gospel according to John is the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lacks nothing. Contrasted in today's text is the emptiness of mankind. I point you back to John 1:14, which reads, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

As we transition into John 4, we see this contrast demonstrated in the life of the woman at the well. But, before we consider this true story, we consider the first six verses of the chapter. According to v.1-3, the Lord Jesus leaves Judea because the Pharisees had heard of the growing popularity of the Lord Jesus. This story illustrates why we suffer from emptiness.

To date, the Pharisees had been given some evidence that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah, even one of their own went to the Lord Jesus with questions, yet they are not choosing to believe in Him. There is an important principle here that I must highlight. When God gives us revelation and we reject it, our hearts and our understanding of what is real will become more dull. 

Rejecting God's truth is a dangerous thing. As is eventually demonstrated among these religious leaders, the rejection of truth seals their bondage to the lie of the evil one. This lie says, "you can determine what is truth for yourself." This lie is embraced when we deny God's brilliance in our lives. When we deny God's definition of things, we will be defined by something else. Most often, we are that something else, and due to our fallen nature, we do not choose wisely.

We gain insight from a story in the Old Testament. After the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant in battle. They took the ark into the temple of their god Dagon. Initially, Dagon was found on his face in front of the ark – and what did the Philistines do? They ignored the evidence and put Dagon back on his pedestal in front of the ark. The next day Dagon is found on his face in front of the ark, but this time his hands and head were broken off. What did the people do? They again ignored the evidence and made the spot where the broken hands and head of Dagon were found a holy place. Then the people developed tumors, which they could not ignore, so they called a counsel to try and decide what to do, notice the discussion:

The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?” They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and pay honor to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way? (1 Samuel 6:4-6).

Back to John 4. In v.4 John informs us that the Lord Jesus needed to go though Samaria which lies between Judea and Galilee. This direct route from Judea to Galilee was about 70 miles, or two and a half days' walk. But many of the Jews chose not to go through Samaria. They traveled the hot desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and up the Jordan valley. Thus, because of the terrible prejudice that prevailed against the Samaritan people, they journeyed almost twice the distance on a much hotter and more uncomfortable road. The Lord Jesus cuts right through that ignorant, narrow-minded prejudice and went through Samaria.

In v.5, John tells us of the place where Jesus stopped. Jacob's well, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. The Israelites were commanded to read the Law of Moses every year from the tops of the twin mountains that span the valley that leads up to the city of Samaria, Mt. Gerizim on the east and Mt. Ebal on the west. Mt. Gerizim was the place where the blessings of the Law were read; while Mt. Ebal was where the curses of the Law were read to those who disobeyed it. There, about a half mile west of the village of Sychar, where Joseph's tomb is located, at the well which Jacob, in his day, had dug for his flocks and herds, Jesus sat down to rest.

It was "noon" when Jesus stopped at the well. As we will highlight tomorrow, the lady the Lord Jesus meets here was empty. She had not come to get water early in the morning, like the other ladies in the city. No, she came in the middle of the day, probably to avoid the women who probably spoke in condemning words and tones due to the fact that she was considered by them as a "less than". She was a "less than" because she allowed someone much lesser than the One known as "the truth" to define her.

If we live out of an identity based on how God sees us, we will no longer feel the need to find our worth in the lesser things of life. We will be free to live in a confident and secure manner, because the Perfect One will be our definer. And, as we experience life from His acceptance through His unconditional love, we will live confidently and boldly because we are being defined by Him rather than the lesser.

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John 3:31-36

JOHN 3:31-36 PODCAST

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.  John 3:31-36

John the Baptist continues with his appraisal of the Lord Jesus. He concludes the Lord Jesus operates out of an authentic relationship with God the Father and He must have the preeminence in all things. According to John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus has seen and heard God, thus He knows Him like none other. The Lord Jesus is, Himself, the Word of God, speaking into existence everything that exists.

The Apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

This truth, the fullness of Christ, is unfolding in every text throughout John's Gospel. John presents the Lord Jesus as being full of grace and truth. This is key, in light of the fact that mankind is empty apart from a personal relationship with God. The Lord Jesus came from God, full of all things good, seeking to fill the inner longings of all who would call on His name.

In v.31 a contrast is being penned, the contrast is between the Lord Jesus and mankind. The point here is the same as in John 3:6 where Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The point? Fallen man is in need of new birth through the Holy Spirit of God. 

In v.32, it is insinuated that the religious community, that Nicodemus comes from, does not represent the God of the Bible. The fact that they didn't recognize the Lord Jesus for who He was proves that they didn't have the relationship with God the Father. If they had a personal and authentic relationship with God, they would not have resisted the One and Only Son of God.

The point of v.32-35 is the Lord Jesus is from heaven, and He has come into the world, without sin, on a mission to rescue sinners. It is His goal not just to deliver us from sin, but to deliver us to a personal relationship with God the Father. The Lord Jesus came to enable us to have the same kind of relationship as the Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, with the Father. 

Note John's words in v.34 ... "for God gives the Spirit without limit." The giving of the Holy Spirit is synonymous with the giving of the kind of life that is influenced by the eternal. And, the sky is the limit when it comes to the capacity the believer has for an intimate relationship with the Father. The Holy Spirit aids us in our personal and potentially intimate relationship with the Father. The key is: will we act on the truth and promises of the word of God? Will our faith in the God of the Bible raise us to levels offered by Him in His word.

The bottom line is what do I do with the Lord Jesus? Do I receive Him and believe in His daily active involvement in my life? Or, do I reject Him? Of course, the only thing that enables any of us to have a relationship with Him is His performance on our behalf. But, now that we have a personal relationship with Him, how intimate, how deep in that relationship will we go? By the way, expect people to criticize this kind of faith. Due to the fact that they do not go deep with God, they will be unnerved by your willingness to go deep with Him.

The model of this kind of intimacy is the Trinity. The Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are all three found here in John 3. Our intimacy with God (and with each other) is ultimately a reflection of Gods intimacy within the members of the Trinity.  This means that intimacy is an essential part of the very nature of God and because we are made in His image, it is natural to us as well.  This is why we are capable of intimacy with others and with God.  It is in now our nature, now that we have come into a personal relationship with Him.

Augustine said it well so many years ago when he said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement."

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