Classic Christianity – Book of John Part 13 (04-29-19)
Bob George explains from the book of John what it means to be born again. When you are born again, scripture tells us that Spirit of God comes to live in you. In Romans, you read that without the Spirit of God you do not belong to Him.
Romans 8:9
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
You cannot be born again unless born of the Spirit.
John 3:34
For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
Jesus came to this earth, as God in the flesh, totally emptying himself of his divine attributes in order to show us what full dependence on the holy Spirit as a man looks like. Still fully God, Jesus came to speak the words of God.
When you are born again, the Spirit comes to live inside you. The Spirit of God places you into the body of Christ, Christ in you and you in Christ. You have been placed into the body of Christ. So when you are born again, you are part of his body.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
The apostle Peter spoke of a baptism that saves as a baptism not through water but a spiritual baptism of being placed in the body of Christ. Spiritual baptism is something only Jesus can do.
1 Peter 3:21-22
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
That spiritual baptism, spiritually placing you into his body, is the same baptism spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12 and in John.
When the Spirit comes into you, then you are going to be a part of his body. The body of Christ is all over the world at the same time. When Jesus walked the earth, the Spirit was only in Jesus, and Jesus confined himself to Israel. This is why Jesus said this to the Jews.
John 16:7
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Only until after Jesus died, rose again, and went back to His Father, was the Holy Spirit sent all over the world to dwell in men who put their total trust in him. The Holy Spirit dwelling in men is man’s only hope.
Colossians 1:27
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You have professors and you have possessors. You have people who have come to know and understand truth of the Messiah. Then you have people who follow other doctrines that sound close, even using the name of Jesus. There are those who diligently study the scripture yet fail to come to Christ to have life. There are also those who are trusting in miracles, presumably done through them, as their basis for eternal life? There are those who trust in what they can do, the best they can, their particular religious denomination, or their philosophy, to enter heaven.
John 5:38-40
38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Matthew 7:22-23
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
In every case, Jesus is saying, “I do not know you”. You say you are doing the right stuff, but Jesus replies, “”I do not know you”. You say you have the right religion, but Jesus replies, “I do not know you”. Do you believe in Christ alone, in his finished work through his death, burial and resurrection? If you fail to come to Christ alone for life, His resurrected life, Jesus is saying to you, “You are not one of mine”.
For those who were seeking miracles, but not coming to Christ for life, we read this account from the gospel of John about Jesus not entrusting himself to men, knowing what is in every man, which is the inherited sin of Adam.
John 2:23-25
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
There is only one person who knows you are saved and that is you. There is also one person who knows if you are not saved, and that is you. The only person who knows for sure is you. You know if you have bent your knees and said “apart from you I cannot enter heaven”. Total dependence for heaven is not the church. Your total dependence is on what Jesus alone did for you. You know you did not earn it or deserve it. If you believe Jesus is not the one to let you in heaven then you will not be there. That is the dependency you have to have in your heart to be born again. You are not dependent on Jesus plus going to church, Jesus plus baptism, Jesus plus sacraments, or Jesus plus anything. God sent Jesus to tell us what God has said.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
1 John 5:10-13
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Baptism that saves is not in water but in the Son.
The Spirit testifies that you are a child of God. Your spirit testifies. If you do not have the spirit testifying then you have a problem.
Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
We see a picture of this testimony of the Spirit of God when Jesus stops to talk to a Samaritan woman in the gospel of John. We see the picture of a woman in total spiritual darkness come to accept the message of God through Jesus. The spirit is drawing the woman to himself, to belief in him. We read about her testimony that Jesus is the promised Messiah who has come into this world.
John 4:4-26
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.
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.[a])
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.”
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.”
Bob George provided a little background concerning the attitude of the Jews and Samaritans toward one another. They hated each other. The Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid going through Samaria. The Jews considered the Samaritans a half-breed sect. The Samaritans hated the Jews and the Jews hated the Samaritans.
Jesus went through Samaria, and came to a town called Sychar, where Jacob’s well was. Jesus, in his humanity, was tired from his journey and was thirsty. Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. In that day, the Jews would not even use a dish a Samaritan had used, such was the hatred. The attitude was like saying “If you have eaten off the plate, I am not eating off of it.” Jesus, not acting like other Jews, asks her for a drink of water. That explains the unusual reaction by the Samaritan woman.
John 4:9
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?”
Jesus then turns the conversation towards explaining spiritual truth in physical terms.
John 4:10
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?”
Jesus contrasts physical water with living water.
As you read the account yourself, you sense that the Samaritan woman is not understanding what Jesus is talking about but is definitely interested in receiving this living water Jesus offers her. Jesus proceeds to tell the Samaritan woman about having five husbands and the one she is living with is not her husband. She was quite taken aback when confronted with such truth by a stranger who must be some kind of prophet to know such things about her. She is probably uncomfortable and wanting to change the subject. Yet Jesus spoke such truth with her but not to condemn her. Jesus spoke no words of condemnation but just told her about her spiritual condition in sin, the same spiritual condition in all men. Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world through him. He offered eternal life to her before he even spoke about her state in sin. He came not for the righteous, for there is no one who is righteous, but he came for us all to speak a message of hope and new life in Him.
Yet, often times, people today, and even then, considered adultery an unpardonable sin. In their day, the punishment for adultery was stoning to death. Jesus did not speak about stoning her to death.
In this conversation with this Samaritan woman, there was this conversation about worshiping on Mount Gerizim, where Samaritans worship, instead of worshiping in Jerusalem. Jesus explained to her what true worship is. It is not about seeking an experience, or a certain place where you go. The worshipers God seeks is those who worship in spirit and in truth. Jesus is the walking example of a man with the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit. The trinity, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit are one person. So when Jesus rose again from the dead and went back to the Father, he gave His Holy Spirit to anyone who put their total trust in Him. By faith in Christ alone, the Holy Spirit, that new life in man, is received. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. The Holy Spirit reveals truth to men, truth from heaven that Jesus came to speak what he heard from God.
People often express: “I want to find something, an experience. I want to feel something.” Have you seen people like that? “People who ask: “I want proof. I want to get healed for proof.” Jesus said, “If you drink my water, you will not get thirsty again.” When you have tasted living water, then nothing to thirst over again.
There is no one to seek. You do not seek the Father when you have seen the Father. Recall Jesus conversation with Phillip in John 14:6-11.
John 14:6-11
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves
Do not seek Jesus for there is nothing to seek. He lives in you. There is nothing to seek when you already have it. You do not seek your heart. You do not seek your eyes. You already have them. When you have Christ Jesus you have everything you need for life and godliness. There is nothing else to seek. You drink of my water, you will never never be thirsty again.
2 Peter 1:3
3 According to his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue:
You will notice also that Jesus did not say to her that since she had five husbands, she is living in adultery. Jesus did not call her a scum bag or that she was done for. Jesus did not say he do not know why he was bothering to talk to her. Did Jesus say any of those things? No. Did he condemn her? No. Was what she did right? No. Was it God’s will for her to have five husbands? No. Was it God’s will for her to be living with someone not her husband? No. God said He sent Jesus not to condemn the world but to save the world through him.
John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Is that not why Jesus came to earth? Jesus, in essence is saying, “What you have done you have done. I am going to the cross to take that sin away to never be remembered again.
Is adultery an unpardonable sin? No. Adultery is certainly not God’s will. But the consequence of sin is death since the fall of Adam in the garden of Eden. That is precisely why Jesus came, to take away the cause of sin, which is death.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
When sin entered the world, sin and death entered the world. Jesus came to die for sinful people for there are no righteous people.
Notice also that the Samaritan woman was trying to get off this subject of having five husbands. Can you see how we do things when confronted with truth that exposes our sin. Do we not try to get off on another subject? “You Jews claim we must worship in Jerusalem.” In those days, David had established a temple mount, where sacrifices of animals were performed. The forefathers of the Samaritans, as we read from Omri in 1 Kings, established a sacred site on Mount Gerazim, close to the city of Shechem, 30 mile north of Jerusalem. Temple built there by Omri, and that is where the Samaritans went to worship just as the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem. What God did they worship? We do not know. They may have been worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Deuteronomy 11:29
When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.
Deuteronomy 27:12
When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin.
1 Kings 16:23
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the name of the former owner of the hill.
Jesus came to bless people. How fitting to meet a Samaritan woman to proclaim the promised blessing as foretold in Deuteronomy. The real blessing is Christ himself, the promised Messiah.
Jesus answered, “Neither on this mount or in Jerusalem.” It is not where you worship but who you worship. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. Jesus told her that salvation is from the Jews. Salvation came through Jesus Christ who was Jewish. The film of Mel Gibson on the life of Jesus, was erroneously spoken about as being anti-Semitic. How can it be anti-Semitic when Jews are killing Jews? The Jews did not like what Jesus, a Jew, was saying. True worshipers have to worship a true God, not one you make up, but a true God. Is Jesus not born of a virgin? Is that a true Jesus? No. Jesus had to be born of a virgin so as not to have the sin of Adam. Jesus is truly God in the flesh, who always is! Is God someone who once was a man who elevated himself to God a true God? No, that is a made up one. Is the true Jesus the one who died only for certain sins but not all of them? No. Is the true Jesus someone who just opened a door so that man has to continue on participating in sacraments to ensure their own salvation? No.
Jesus said to her, “You are worshiping what you do not know.” How many of you went to church and claimed to have a faith in Jesus but you did not know Jesus from a flag pole? He is the Son of God. You may have heard that but have no clue what that means nor even thought much about it. At one time you may have thought: “Maybe he had a baby, but I do not know.” Nor did you really care much to ask questions or think much about it.
Jesus said, “True worshipers worship in Spirit and truth. Those are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” You must worship him in Spirit and in truth.
Hebrews 10:26-27
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
John writes letters to a woman who is steeped in truth. When you have the truth, the truth will be in you forever.
2 John 1-3
To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever; 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
Jesus identified himself as the way and the truth.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
You cannot separate truth from Jesus any more than you can separate grace from truth. You cannot put flesh and blood on the Spirit. All we know is that he manifested himself to us as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. A Jewish boy came up with something to describe the Trinity. Like a three-pronged fork through card board, you look at it by one angle, you see one prong, and at another angle, it looks like three prongs.
The Samaritan woman said to Jesus that when the Christ comes he will explain everything. Jesus answered her, “I who speak to you am He.” He identified himself as the Messiah. The Samaritans studied and knew some things and knew that when he comes he will explain everything. Jesus identified himself as the Messiah, the prince of peace, and the one who takes away the sins of the world.
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
A time is coming when you will not be worshiping God on any of these mountains but wherever you are. It is not what you do in a place but somewhere we make ourselves available to God to live in us and through us.
