Thirteenth Meeting
(February 9, 1964 A.M.)
We are
going to read again the fourth chapter of the Gospel by
John. (And the reader will benefit from reading this
chapter). I want to turn you again, especially to verse
twenty-three in that chapter:
"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth: for the Father doth seek such to be His
worshippers."
I want
to put alongside of that passage a verse from the Letter
to the Hebrews, the fourth chapter, verse twelve:
"For the Word of God is living, and active, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to
the dividing of soul and spirit" (ASV).
We have
been noting during the past week that the teaching and
the acts of the Lord Jesus all related to a time of
transition from one old order to a new. Jesus stood
between these two orders, the old order which was passing
and the new order which He was bringing in. And this
fourth chapter of the Gospel by John stands in a very
real way in that transition period. In this chapter the
two things are meeting, and here we find the state that
is not by any means clear.
Let us
look at some of the features. It was not just an accident
that Jesus went through Samaria and met that woman. It
was all a part of one great whole of this gospel. Jesus
is in Samaria, and Jesus meets this Samaritan woman. Now
if you know anything about the Samaritans, you know that
they were a mixed race. When Jerusalem had been invaded
by a foreign country, and the whole land of Israel had
been overrun by those foreigners, many of the Jews were
taken away into captivity. But some remained in the land,
and they married the foreigners. Jews married those who
were not Jews. So, the Samaritans were a mixed blood
people. They were neither one thing nor another. That is
why they were hated by the Jews, as it is said, "The
Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." The
Samaritans were a mixture in their very makeup (John
4:4-9).
Then it
was at the well that the Lord met this Samaritan woman.
And you notice that it was Jacob's well, and that Jacob
gave this land to his son Joseph. So here in this mixed
situation is something of old Israel: Jacob and Joseph
are here. And you notice that that well never satisfied
this woman. She came out every day to draw water from
that well but was never satisfied. Jesus said to her,
'Those who drink of the water of this well will just be
coming, and coming, and coming again. They will never be
satisfied.' That is the old dispensation. It never
satisfied anybody.
You
remember all the millions of sacrifices that were offered
in Israel in the Old Testament. Sacrifices were offered
morning and evening every day for hundreds of years. And
still there had to be more sacrifices because they never
made anything perfect. The priests went into the
tabernacle or the temple and offered their prayers every
day. But all their praying every day never brought
anything to perfection. The law of Moses was read to the
people continually, but it never made any difference to
their character. It never brought satisfaction to their
hearts. And that is just how things were in the old
dispensation, and this well where Jacob and Joseph are
found represents the old dispensation. You may come and
drink of it every day of your life and you are not
satisfied. Because as the New Testament writer says, 'The
law could make nothing perfect.' So that this poor woman
came out every day to get her water and had to do it
all her life and was never satisfied. Well, we have got
the Samaritan woman. She represents a mixture of two
things, nothing distinct or nothing clear, neither one
thing nor the other. And we have got the well, and it
speaks of the disappointment of the Old Testament.
What
about these disciples? We read that the disciples went
away into the town to buy bread. They left Jesus alone.
The woman was not there when they went into the town. But
while they were gone, the woman came out of the town to
the well. And then there commenced this conversation
between Jesus and the woman. When the disciples came
back, and saw Jesus talking to this woman, of course,
they did not know what kind of woman she was, they did
not know all about her sinful life. They only knew that
she was a Samaritan woman. And they were very shocked
when they saw Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman. They
were Jews. The Jews have nothing to do with the
Samaritans. And here is their Master talking in a
friendly way to a Samaritan woman. They thought that was
a terrible thing. Why? Just because they were Jews, they
belong to the Old Testament, where Jews and Gentiles have
nothing to do with each other. They are still on Old
Testament ground. They have their Old Testament
prejudices, and they thought this was a terrible thing,
so they had better break in on this.
And so
they brought their bread, 'Master, here is the bread we
went to buy. You must eat.' They thought they would just
break up this little conversation. They said,
"Master, eat." Jesus said, "I have meat to
eat that you know not of." Once again, they were
found to be people without new understanding. They said,
'Has anybody brought Him food?' They can only think in
terms of the material and not of the spiritual. Jesus
said, 'My meat and My drink is to do the will of My
Father' (John 4:27-38).
Now you
can see that in almost every feature of this story, on
the one side, there is mixture. Nothing is distinct. It
is neither one thing or the other. But when you move over
onto the side of Jesus, there is no mixture here. The
water that He says He will give is quite clear water.
There is no mixture in that water. It is the water of
Life. And it brings perfect satisfaction. IT IS THE WATER
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Now you
know our verse, verse twenty-three. It is interesting
that although this woman was such a great sinner, Jesus
said, 'You have had five husbands; and you have got
somebody now who is not your husband.' Although she was
such a sinner, Jesus is speaking to her about some of the
most wonderful things in the Bible. Why I say that, is
this: Some people may think that the things that I am
going to say this morning are for advanced Christians,
that they are not for beginners. But I want to say that
what I am saying is right at the very foundation of true
Christianity. This is not something for those who have
been on the way for many years. Although I think that
many people who have been on the way for many years need
to go back and learn the first lesson. But here is a
woman right back there at the beginning of the Christian
life. And Jesus is saying to her this one thing.
Everything in this story points to this one thing. The
beginning of the Christian life, like all the rest of the
Christian life, must be absolutely clear as crystal. Now
all the old Christians as well as the young ones can take
notice of this. The Bible reveals that there is one thing
that God hates. It is the one thing that God will not
accept and will not bless, and that is mixture. Mixture
is the bringing together of two contrary things. A
situation where you bring in something that is not of God
and try to link it up with something that is of God. That
is mixture. That is what the devil did at the beginning
and God hates it. He will never accept mixture.
There is
an Old Testament illustration of this. One of the
commands of the Lord to Israel was this, 'Thou shalt not
wear a garment made of two kinds of materials. Thou shalt
not wear a garment made of wool and cotton.' Of course,
today a lot of people do that. There are various kinds of
materials that are made up into our garments. But God
said to Israel, You are not to wear a garment made of
wool and cotton together. You see, that is an Old
Testament parable. It is an outward story with an inward
meaning. What did God mean by that? Well, there are not
many people in this hall this morning wearing woolen
garments. And I think in a few weeks time, there will not
be many people in this whole city wearing woolen
garments. Why is that? Because wool makes you perspire.
The heat of your own body is brought out. The natural
life expresses itself in wools. But most of you this
morning are wearing cotton. Why are you wearing cotton?
Because cotton keeps down the natural heat.
Now you
see God's lesson. You cannot bring together in your own
person that which is of the flesh and that which is of
the Spirit. You see, clothes speak of our character.
Perhaps not so much in this country, but if you were to
go to the West, you would see how people dress there. You
would say of this person, 'Well, I do not think much of
her.' Or you might say about someone else, 'What an
extraordinary person!' You would be judging their
character by their dress. And dress is usually an
expression of character. So God in His Old Testament
parable says, 'You cannot have two characters, if you are
a true Israelite. My people must be one thing or the
other. I cannot have mixture.'
But God
did not leave it there. He added something else to it. He
says, 'Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass
together.' What is the difference? Well, the ox in the
Old Testament is a clean beast. It is included among the
clean beasts. You are allowed to eat the ox. Its flesh is
clean. The ass is included amongst the unclean creatures
of the Old Testament. That was particularly the case in
Israel. Now God says, 'You shall not bring into your work
for Me this contradiction.' The plow is the symbol of
work. And God, by His parable says, 'When you do My work,
you must not do it with two things that are of
contradictions. I will not have a mixture of what is
spiritual and what is carnal in My work. I will not allow
there to be what is the flesh and what is the Spirit
brought together in My work.' I think I have said enough
about God's parables in the Old Testament. It shows how
God will not have mixture. Everything with God must be
quite pure. It must be one clear thing. There must be no
contradiction in life or in service.
Now we
come back to our chapter in John. We have seen that on
the one side, everything was mixture; and therefore, it
was all disappointing. It did not go through. It just
went so far and then it failed. But there is the other
side. There is the side of the Lord Jesus. What is He
talking about when He speaks about the water that He will
give? Well, He is only illustrating these words, spirit
and truth. He says: "The hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in
spirit and in truth." The Holy Spirit is the
characteristic of this new dispensation. I think it would
be a good thing if you have not done so; if you would
just take this gospel by John and go through it looking
for the Holy Spirit. You will find that the Holy Spirit
is mentioned thirty times in this gospel. And the Lord
Jesus gives large sections of His teaching to this matter
of the Holy Spirit. You see, the movement is from the old
to the new. AND THE NEW IS THE LIFE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
May I
just for the moment speak about the nature of our new
birth. Perhaps the young people need to have this made
clear, and we all need to be reminded of it. You know we
all have a human spirit, and we all have a human soul,
and of course, we all have a human body. But not many
people understand or know the difference between our
spirit and our soul. Our spirit is that which God gave in
order that we might have fellowship with Him Who is
Spirit. Jesus said to the woman, "God is Spirit, and
those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in
truth."
Now God
gave Adam a spirit as well as a soul and a body. Before
Adam was disobedient, he had fellowship with God in his
spirit. God was able to speak to him because Adam's
spirit was alive to God. Adam had the faculty in him for
receiving things from God. When Adam sinned, his spirit
died unto God, that is, he was separated from God in his
spirit - the link between himself and God ceased to be.
Fellowship with God, which is always spiritual, was
destroyed, and the spirit sank down into subjection to
man's soul. The soul came to dominate the spirit! What is
the soul? Well, it is our reason, it is our emotion, and
it is our will. Everybody has that, more or less. You
have a reason. That is why you argue about things. And
you have a will. Some people have a stronger will than
others, but we all have a will. And you have feelings.
You have strong emotion. All that makes up your soul. But
that only has to do with this world. It has nothing to do
with God. And, of course, I need not say anything about
the body. We all know that we have a body. And until we
are born again, we cannot understand the things of God.
We cannot hear God speaking in our spirit. We cannot have
fellowship with God. Now what happens when we are born
again? That spirit in us, which has been separated from
God, is brought back into life. Then God becomes alive to
us again. We are able to hear God speak to us. We are
able to begin to understand the things of God. We now
call God "Father." Before, if ever we spoke of
Him, we thought of Him just as Almighty God. Now He is
our Father and is very near. The spirit in us which died,
which was separated from God, has been brought into life.
And now we are called upon to live in fellowship with God
in the Spirit.
But
there is another thing that happens when we are born
again. The Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of God comes
into our new spirit. We do not hear God speaking out from
heaven to us. But we know that God speaks in our hearts.
We know that the Holy Spirit in our spirit tells us when
we are wrong, and gives us the joy of the Lord when we
are right. That is the order of this new dispensation.
Does it sound very difficult to you young people? Really
it is very simple. I think this is one of the first
lessons that ever I learned in the Christian life. I used
to do certain things before I was born again. I did not
see any harm in it at all. Indeed, I would argue with
this soul of mine, 'What is wrong about that?' I will not
tell you what those things were. They are just the things
that all the people of this world do, and the places to
which they go.
Well, I
used to do those things before I was born again. Then I
had a very real experience of the Lord. No one said to
me, 'Now you are a Christian, you may not do those
things.' But one day I just did one of those old things,
and do you know - all the joy went out of my heart. I had
been able to do that for years and not be troubled about
it. Now when I did it, I lost all my joy. Everything
seemed to have gone wrong, and I had to go home and go
into my room and got down on my knees, and ask the Lord
what had happened. Why do I feel so miserable, what does
this mean? And the Lord simply said, 'You are bringing
over the old life into the new. And I cannot have this
mixture. You are now a new creation in Christ, and the
old things are passed away.'
Now I
say that was one of the first lessons I learned in the
Christian life. This was very real then. I was born
again, the Holy Spirit had come in, and He was just
teaching me what the Lord was pleased with, and what the
Lord was not pleased with. You can all understand that, I
am sure. That is how it ought to be at the beginning of
the Christian life. But it ought to be like that all the
way through the Christian life. You, my dear friends,
along with myself, who have known the Lord for a long
time, who have worked for the Lord for a long time, we
must remember that these laws of the beginning remain to
the end. We may not bring into our Christian character
the old life. We may not be two things, a Christian, and
something else. The Lord will not have it. His blessing
will not be upon that. In our Christian work, we may not
bring that which is of the world alongside of that which
is of Christ. There must be no worldly methods in our
Christian work. God will not have that mixture. Sooner or
later it will all be brought to confusion. The Lord will
never have mixture in life or in work. He says, "Come
ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch no
unholy thing, and I will be a Father to you, and you
shall be My sons and My daughters" (II Cor.
6:17,18).
So you
see the great lesson that the Lord was teaching the
simple woman of Samaria: Everything around her and in her
spoke of mixture. But the Lord spoke to her about THE
WATER OF LIFE in which there is no mixture. You know
when you get to the end of the Bible, to the last
chapters of the Book of the Revelation, we have another
great parable of God, another great illustration. It is
the heavenly Jerusalem. It is just a representation of
the perfected work of God in the Church. GOD'S PERFECTED
WORK IN HIS NEW HEAVENLY ISRAEL. It is a new spiritual
Jerusalem. And it says that right in the center of that
city is the river of THE WATER OF LIFE, clear as
crystal. There is no mud in that river. You can look into
it, and look right through it, it is so clear. It is the
river of THE WATER OF LIFE. And in that, God is
saying that in the end, all defilement will have been
removed! All mixture will have been put away and
everything will be perfectly clear and pure. So the Lord
is calling us to a life of holiness. And holiness just
means everything is of God and nothing else, not some of
us and some of the Lord, not some of the Lord and some of
the world, but ALL and only of the Lord. That is
the meaning of our verse: "The hour cometh, and
now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth."