Be Holy And Separate — Randy Krahn

Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us and quicken your Word, that it would speak to our spirits, not into our heads, Lord. We would come to an understanding of knowing you and the power of your resurrection, that we would grow spiritually speaking, and we're grateful for what you have done, but Lord, we lack and we ask for more in Jesus' name.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

So I was wanting to read from John in chapter 4, verse 1,. And therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. There's a changing of the guard here.

John is decreasing and Jesus Christ is increasing, yet it says Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples did. And it's interesting, we've had baptism services and people say, well, we want this brother to baptize, or we want that brother to baptize, but Jesus didn't do any baptizing.

He sent a bunch of guys who didn't have the Holy Spirit, yet they were just very zealous for Jesus and their best understanding. They were doing the baptizing. And after the resurrection and once the Holy Spirit came, they didn't re-baptize them.

They didn't have to find certain Peter, like, oh, I want to be baptized by Paul, or I have to be baptized by Peter. They all baptized one another, all 5 ,000 were added, they baptized one another. We can get hung up on religious things.

And God's not pleased by that. And that's why there's some clarification here. And he goes on from there. He left Judea and he departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to a city in Samaria, which is called Saqqara, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.

Now Jacob's well was there and Jesus, therefore being wearied from his journey, he sat by the well and it was about the six hour. So he's going on this journey and he's going where the father told him to go and he's going through Samaria and Jesus is tired.

He's weary. He's physically exhausted and he's thirsty. And it says that his disciples went to go buy bread or to get some food. And Jesus is sitting there and here comes this woman and she's got her water pot and she's by Jacob's well.

And she's drawing water and the father speaks to Jesus while he's there, just recovering from his journey. So this woman of Samaria comes. She's drawing water. And Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

And then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you being a Jew ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink? For Jews have absolutely no dealings with Samaritans. Now, some of us, you know, we're spiritual Jews, we're Christians and the Bible is very clear that we're not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers and what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness.

Separation From Worldly Fellowship

And he says also in 2 Corinthians 6 that we need to come out from among them and be separate, not to touch unclean things. This is very clear. This is one of the very first things the Lord showed me that when I came to the Lord, I had to be able to walk away from my old life.

And that included old friends, family relationships that were not healthy, that were unclean, and even Christian people that I used to hang out with that were not walking with Jesus. And it's very important that we are obedient to that, otherwise we'll never break free from the old life to follow Jesus.

So it's very important the fellowship that you keep. We're not perfect, but if we enjoy associating with sinful people, then we're going to find ourselves not making them holy, but us becoming defiled by them, laughing at things that we shouldn't laugh at, talking about things that drag us down.

And so he says, come out from among them and be separate. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. The promise is, I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

So there's this principle in Jeremiah, in chapter 15 and 19, where Jeremiah is suffering and all the nation, God's people are all unclean, they're all wicked, they're all doing evil. And even Jeremiah himself is suffering, and he feels afflicted by God and smitten, so to speak.

And he's grumbling to the Lord in his heart, and the Lord says, if you remove the precious from the vial, then you're going to be my mouthpiece. If you take that which is pure, and that which is holy, and you extract that from that which is worthless, you will be my mouthpiece, you'll be my spokesman.

I'll put my words in your mouth. You're not to go to them, they have to come to you. And it's important that we learn that principle. You don't go to them, they come to you. In other words, you don't go to the bars, the nightclubs, you don't go to the movie huts, you don't go to those places to go find fellowship with them, they need to come out from what they're practicing and go and maybe have a coffee with you.

And this is where I went astray in my early life. I thought I could go with my friends, be a designated driver, I would be that source, that beacon of light, we'd go to Finnegan's Pub, and they would all be drinking, within three weeks they were driving me home.

And I had to repent, because I didn't understand that I needed to extract the precious from the vial, and then I could become a mouthpiece. A lot of us, we want to be Christians, we get the Word of God in us, but we also love other things.

And if you want to be useful to God, and you want to fulfill the purpose and the call of God on your life, then we need to take heed to the things that we've heard, lest we drift away. But here now, Jesus is sitting at this well, and this woman of Samaria is there, and he asks her a drink, and she knows right straight away that Jews don't go at no dealings with Samaritans, they're uncleans.

But the father spoke to Jesus to tell the woman, give me a drink, and Jesus obeyed, because Jesus didn't do anything or say anything unless he heard from his father. And she's curious about this thing, what in the world, not only is it that he's a Jew, but he's a man, and these types of things just don't happen, we have to be careful with how men interact with women and how women interact with men.

We have liberty, but these liberties can lead to sin. What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? If God has called us to be a set-apart people, then what fellowship do we have defiling ourselves with uncleanness, specifically uncleanness in sexual sense, or with men and women?

It's the number one sin, because every sin is outside the body, but someone who sins sexually sins against the temple, because the scripture says, you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them.

And when we go and we have fellowship with an unbeliever or someone in that sense, we are inviting sexual activity with the Holy Spirit, and we're asking the Holy Spirit to have a threesome. This is the disgusting.

The Holy Spirit will not stay, I don't care what doctrine you hold. The Holy Spirit will not participate in this. And here's the woman at the well, she's as unclean as anything, and Jesus knows it, because the Father's revealed it, and he's speaking with her.

And Jesus is not ashamed to speak with her, because he holds the words of eternal life. Why are you speaking with me? Jews have absolutely no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God, and if you knew who it was who was asking you, give me a drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.

If you knew the gift of God, if we had this revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ, the lover of my soul, the one who gave his life as a ransom for me, so that I could get free from this prison house that I'm in, the one who can satisfy all the longing and thirsting of my soul, that I've given myself and defiled myself completely, and done things that I'm ashamed of and I can't change.

Yet Jesus still has need of me. He's still asking of me a drink. He still wants me to serve him. He hasn't cast me away. I'm as a Samaritan as anything, but he's willing to become like a Samaritan to me, to help me as I'm bleeding on the side of the road, to bandage me up, to pour oil and wine on me, and to give me this living water.

Christ's Living Water and the End of Spiritual Thirst

Is it true? Do you believe that the living water is for you? Can you have this living water free, without cost? Come buy and eat free without cost. Can you have it, really have it? Or is it just a fable?

Or is it just something out there? Is it just for good people or religious people? Jesus said in the great day of the feast in John 7, he got up, I don't know if he stood on the table, but he stood up and he cried out in the temple and he said, all you who thirst, come to me and drink.

He says he cried out, come to me.

You're thirsting for everything, but you're not thirsting for me. Do you want living water? Or you got a spare water pot at home and the one under your arm? You ain't gonna, they'll have to fight you for it.

You touch my calf, I'll kill you. That water pot is what I use to get what I need to keep me going. Because I'm thirsty. And he goes on from there to talk to this woman. And this woman says, sir, where are you gonna get this living water?

Where are you getting this water? The well is deep and you have nothing to draw with. You don't have a water pot. I'm the one with the water pot. This well, this Jacob's well is deep. Where are you gonna, how are you gonna get in there and get some of this living water?

Where then do you get this living water? Obviously, it's not from this well. It's gotta be from another source. When she was speaking that the well is deep, it's a picture of the woman's soul. It speaks in Proverbs that a woman is a narrow pit.

One who gives herself to uncleanness. Yet Jesus is willing to go there. And not just to go there, to go deep down in there. To go deep down in there. This well where Jesus was gonna get this living water was gonna become a fountain inside of her.

And it was gonna well up. This love for Jesus, this passion for Christ, this longing and thirsting for everything she ever wanted in life. Love would come from Jesus. Not in the six men or the five men that she had as husbands and the one that she was shacked up with.

Wasn't coming from them. Was coming from a man who told her everything about her. And he loved her in spite of it all. He loved her in spite of it all. For God so loved the world that he gave his son.

And whosoever should believe in him should not perish at that well drawing out of that deep narrow tavern. A lot of people sitting in the pubs just swilling at the tavern trying to drown their sorrows.

They keep going back to that well and it always leaves them empty and with shame. But Jesus said if you thirst, come to me and drink. Out of your innermost being will flow. Life. And he spoke this concerning the Holy Spirit.

Because a spirit-filled life is satisfying to the most longing and thirsting of our souls. Where do you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well? Who drank from it himself and he gave to his livestock.

And Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst. That I don't have to come here to draw. This is a gut cry. This is a heart cry. I spent enough of my life chasing after things that don't satisfy.

Leaving me empty and burdened. And longing for more that doesn't satisfy. This woman is at the end of herself and she says, Jesus, I want all of what you have to give me of this life. This living water.

This life that's in Christ. I want it all. It's very simple. Brother Dan shared, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened. If a father is there and his son asks him for bread, is he going to give him a scorpion?

If he asks for an egg, is he going to give him a spider? How much more being evil is your heavenly father going to give good gifts? The Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Ask him for the Holy Spirit. Say, Lord, I don't want to keep thirsting for the old life.

For the things that don't satisfy. For those relationships that leave me more hurt and more in pain and more in torment. I want you, Jesus. Jesus, you're enough for me. You are all I need. Make Jesus your only desire.

Repentance and the Cost of Living Water

She said, give me this water so I don't have to come here to draw. Now Jesus, in a loving way, puts his finger on a sensitive topic. On the issue. He puts the nail right on the head. The hammer right on the nail.

And he says this. He says, call your husband and come here. You want this living water? Go get your husband and bring him here. Well, how's she going to answer? She wants a living water, but now there's a cost to count.

Now she's in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There's a valid decision. Will she be one of the marked? One in ten is marked. Will she be one that's marked? Will she make a decision to go all the way with Jesus?

Do I tell him about my past? Will he still give me this living water? What do I do? And Jesus answers for her. She said, I have no husband. Well, she's had many husbands and she's shacked up with a guy.

But not at the moment does she have a husband. And so he says this. Jesus said, you have said to her, you have answered. Well, you have no husband for you have had five husbands. And the one whom you now have is not your husband in that you've spoken truly.

And the woman said to her, Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. Our fathers worship on this mountain. And you say that's in Jerusalem. That's the place where we ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming.

Worshiping in Spirit and Truth

And now is when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the father for you worship what you do not know. But we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming.

And now is when true worshipers will worship the father in the spirit and in the truth. For the father is seeking such to worship him. So we go from I don't have a husband. Your life's messed up. This well that you're drawing from it.

You're just going deeper and deeper to try to draw from it. Thinking that somehow you're going to be okay and you're just hanging on. But now you're getting a revelation. If you want this living water, you need a revelation of Jesus is the Christ.

You need to become a worshiper of God. Do we worship on this mountain? That's where the Samaritans worship. Do we go to Jerusalem? Where do I need to go to worship? And Jesus said true worship is in the spirit and in the truth.

God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. The best way I can describe this is like a train track. There's a lot of people who are afraid of the spirit because there's many deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons out there.

And so they stick with the word. That's one track on which the train travels. And it's good that we study to show ourselves approved to God. And we hide the word of God in our hearts. We don't sin against him.

And we come to an understanding of the truth of the word of God. But that alone does not save us. We need the Holy Spirit so that it become life to us. The Pharisees searched the scriptures thinking in them they had life.

But they wouldn't come to Jesus to have the life. And the other track is the spirit. I saw a video yesterday of some revival in Las Vegas. And they're pushing people over and laughing and howling and feet shaking in the air.

This is not the Holy Spirit. This is another spirit for sure. But not the Holy One. There's no love for the word. There's just a movement of God which is not from God. It's another gospel in a different Jesus.

And we get caught up into the spirit, spirit, spirit. Because there's excitement there. We get tingles. Our hair stands up. But there's no conviction of the word. If you want to be a true worshiper, you need to worship in the spirit and in the truth.

Otherwise the train will not take you where you need to go. When you're looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus himself says true worship is in the spirit and in the truth. We need to love the word.

The word always proves that it's the right spirit. And the Holy Spirit quickens us to what is going on in the spirit right now. And the word will confirm it. You'll see it was written. It is written. Even if you don't have understanding of it.

Every time I took a decision of faith and I walked in the spirit. And then all of a sudden I went home in the evening. And I found out it was always written. I just never had a knowledge of it. And it confirmed that the spirit was leading me and guiding me into all truth.

You can't be a true worshiper if you're just in the word. And you don't receive the Holy Spirit. And you cannot be a true worshiper if you're all about the spirit. And you don't like the word of God. And your spirit is not lining up with what the word of God says.

They always are in agreement. Even if we don't always understand, the spirit will show us. Rightly dividing the word of truth. Oh, this is the way walking. God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Jesus Reveals Himself as the Messiah

The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming. Who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, here's the revelation. I who speak to you am he. He didn't say that to too many people.

When the Pharisees asked him, he many times didn't answer them. Except when he stood before Pilate. Or before the chief priest there. At the last, very few people had the revelation that Jesus was Christ.

He didn't even tell the disciples. Peter got the revelation. You are the Christ. Who do men say that I am? Here he tells this most unclean woman. Because she's pulling the life out of him. She's drawing it.

She wants it. She wants the life. She wants to worship God. She doesn't know God. She doesn't know where to worship God. She doesn't know how to worship God. Your life's a mess. And Jesus said, he says, when the Christ comes, he's going to tell me what to do.

He's going to tell us all what to do. And he said, I am he. Look what happens next. At this point, the disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with the woman. Yet no one dared say, what do you seek?

Or why are you talking to this woman? The woman leaves her water pot. And she runs into town. And she said to all the men. All the men knew who she was. What kind of life she lived. She went to the men and she said, come and see a man.

She was infatuated with a new man. The seventh man. Jesus Christ. Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ? Could this be the Christ? Here's a revelation to Samaritans that Jesus is the Christ.

Right in the beginning of John. Then they went to the city and they came to him. In the meantime, the disciples urged Jesus and said, Rabbi, eat. And Jesus says to them, I have food to eat that you know not of.

He was tired and weary from his journey. He was longing for a drink from the woman. It doesn't ever say he got one. He shares with this woman the living water which comes from heaven. It came out of him and she received it.

A Personal Testimony That Brings Revival

She drops her water pot. She runs to the city and she's spreading the gospel to everyone about Jesus is the Christ. Could this be the Christ? Come and see. Come and see. And here they come. They're coming from town to come and meet a man.

Not just her. All this living water is pouring out of her. And everyone says, we know this woman. What's happened to this woman? We got to find out what's going on here. And here they all come to meet Jesus.

You want revival to break out in your church? You want it to break out in your town, your village? Then you need to drink a living water and you go tell them about a man. When we go up to the creek, we go there and we tell them about a man.

What he did for us. Told me everything that I ever did. Loved me in spite of me. And gave me living water. So I don't have to thirst. He gives us all things richly to enjoy, but we don't thirst for things.

We thirst for God. My soul thirsts for God. As the deer pants for the water brook, so longs my soul for God. Ask God to give you a thirst for Jesus. A passion for Christ. A longing to spend time, not just to read scripture, but to hear from God when you read scripture.

That he would speak to you. Not to pack your head more full of knowledge, but to fill your heart full of the love of God that people will see and come to know the living Christ. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

I have food to eat that you know not of. That woman grabbed hold of Jesus. Grabbed hold of the words that he had, which were full of life. And here come the folks now. Do not say it's four months until the harvest.

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields. You can see the people running through the fields, coming to where Jesus is. Running to Jesus. For the harvest is white, ready. And he who reaps receives wages.

And the one who gathers fruit unto eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this saying, one sows and another reap. I went to reap for that which you have not labored.

Others have labored and I've entered into their labors. And many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus. Because of the words of the woman who testified, who said, I told you everything I ever did.

He told me everything I ever did. And so when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of Jesus's own words. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, but we ourselves have heard him.

And we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. Every individual person, when we go somewhere, we share a testimony of Jesus. But every individual person has to receive this revelation from Jesus himself.

You have to come to know Jesus for yourself, to receive that living water for yourself. You have to come to just be so in love with Jesus that you abandon your water pot. That the thing just is not important like it once was.

That water pot was life and death. You don't have a water pot, you're not making it. But just reckless abandonment through faith in Jesus Christ. How shall they call upon him in whom they've not believed?

And how shall they hear except this woman preacher? You say, woman preacher? Yes, the scripture is against women preachers. But God used a Samaritan woman to proclaim the good news to the town. His ways are not my ways, they're higher.

And here they come running to receive the words of Jesus. Not because of the woman's testimony alone, but because of what Jesus has said. Let Jesus minister to you in your deep inner man. Start to extract that which is precious from all that is vile.

So that you can become his mouthpiece. This woman became a mouthpiece for God. Out of you will flow living water, rivers. Wherever you go, oh, you're radiant, you're glowing. What's going on? It's Jesus.

What's going on? Tell me. He did this for me, did that for me, told me. And he loved me in spite of it all. He delivered me in spite of it all. And I'm leaving it all behind now. For the one who loves me, who gave himself for me.

Will you give yourself entirely to Jesus? Will you recklessly abandon your water pot? Will you say, Lord, make me a vessel? Make me an instrument, an offering that is clean and useful for you. In Jesus' name, amen.