I Know That Messiah is Coming

Well, if you turn with me, please to the gospel of John chapter 4 Gospel of John chapter 4 if you've been with us fairly regularly, you know that over the past number of months we have been Looking at texts of scripture that are At least partially contained in an ancient Christian manuscript a New Testament manuscript called papyrus 45 and we began in John chapter 10, we looked at John chapters 10 11 and Then cheating just a little bit.

I made the rules. So I guess it's not actually cheating but There are a few words on one tiny little fragment from John chapter 4 and John chapter 5 so it's all I needed and so we're looking at John chapters 4 and 5 and Then we will be forced by mere honesty To move onward into Matthew Mark Luke and Acts.

Which one first? Depends on where I am in my studies of the manuscript that makes it a little bit easier on me at least to have some Connection there. And so we are looking at John chapter 4 and specifically we are still in the extended Conversation that takes place between our Lord Jesus Christ and the woman at the well the woman from Sychar the Samaritan woman and last time together we got into the I would say the deepest part of the conversation between the woman and Jesus and specifically the conversation that takes place Between the Woman and Jesus regarding the place of Worship and you may have remembered that the reason for this was Jesus had shown a supernatural knowledge of the woman's life.

Specifically when he had instructed her to to go get her husband She had said that he she has no husband and Jesus response to her was You have well said that you not have a husband you have had five husbands and the one that you now have is Not your husband thus you have spoken truthfully in Verse 18 and so Jesus had shown supernatural knowledge of her situation.

He is a visitor to the area. It is it is somewhat humorous to me anyways to think of the ways that Mankind tries to get around The presence of the supernatural in New Testament writings, you know, Jesus didn't really walk on water he just knew where the submerged rocks were along the shore and you know that type of a that type of a thing and Sort of hard to figure this one out.

Well, the woman was so Famous that Jesus knew about her all the way up from Galilee or something like that. None of that makes The least bit of sense and yet mankind in his desperation frequently tries to go that that way.

The woman's response to her To him is to to say I see that you are a prophet. And exactly what that would have meant. There's a lot of different understandings of prophecy in that day. But as soon as she says this well now that we're gonna have religious conversation let's talk about what divides you as a Jew from me as a Samaritan and so she raises the issue of the place of worship.

The reason I remind you Being due to the fact that after the Jewish Samaritans split After the Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity By the Assyrians and they their their practice was to bring in other people groups to dilute Certain areas so as to try to hold down the possibility of rebellion.

They would export people take them someplace else. They conquered somebody else. They brought those people into where they had exported people, etc, etc to create mixed people groups. Mixed people groups don't tend.

They thought they theorized anyways to be quite as willing to rebel and to cause problems for them. Well. The irony is these mixed people groups now would start to make up their own traditions and their own stories and the process in Samaria was to in essence after they were Sort of put out of communion with the Jews upon their return from Babylon they were not allowed to be a part of these things you you had a division taking place between the Jews and the Samaritans and you had the creation of a whole new range of stories on the part of the Samaritans and and Part of that because Mount Gerizim had been the place if you remember back when we did the series on God's law.

We talked about the blessings and the cursings. Well, where'd the blessings come from? They came from Mount Gerizim and so this is where God pronounced blessings and so this must be the mountain that God had chosen and.

So they built a temple there which was destroyed a couple of hundred years before this event, but They built a temple there and they even proclaimed as a tradition. That Mount Gerizim was the highest mountain in the world.

That was a pretty tricky tradition to come up with because anybody with two eyeballs and a decent sense of proportion Could look at Mount Gerizim look right across the valley and I think that one over there is actually taller than this one over here.

But hey tradition can be a powerful thing. And it really does speak to us. I think that we need to be very careful to examine our traditions when they run right up against the reality. That's right in front of us but they had of course developed this tradition and so she wants to talk about this where we are to worship and we know that Jesus's response as we already got into Was to say to her believe me woman that an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor there neither in Jerusalem.

Will you worship the Father? And so at this point Jesus does not get into an argument. He does say That salvation is from the Jews and it is interesting to me that he uses that term. Ek it's not he doesn't use what what could be used as a.

He doesn't say salvation is Jewish. He says salvation is from the Jews and you at least to me. It seems to indicate that there is this emphasis upon the Jewish nature of the Messiah who he is about to announce himself to be.

But he'd and he does specifically say that the Samaritans are worshiping what they do not know and that we Identifying as a Jewish man himself worship what we do know that is Because the Samaritans had cut them all some of themselves off from the continuing flow of Revelation.

That was the Old Testament the rest of the Old Testament. They only had the Pentateuch. Then there was a level of ignorance that of necessity Resulted from there having cut themselves off in that way.

And so Jesus does not take the position that all religious opinions are equal. He would not have done well at most universities today Where the fundamental assertion is that oh, it's a religious idea.

You believe it. It's as good as anybody else's. We don't think that way in any other area in any other area of life, but that's the one area where we are taught Repeatedly by our society that anything you think in the realm of religion is equal to anyone else's thought.

In the realm of religion, that's almost a dogma today. Jesus does not follow that. He does not say it. There wasn't a continuing truth of Revelation to been giving to the Jews or anything like that. And that's this is in a book where he is going to be in constant conflict with the Jewish leaders.

But clearly it was only because of their Ignoring of God's Word. There is no anti-judaism. There is no anti-semitism in the Gospel of John along those lines at all and and everyone who has used it in that way and sadly we Should note in passing that there have been texts the Gospel of John that have been Horrifically abused and misused in the past and were in the run-up to World War two and The Holocaust.

These are obviously gross misreadings of the text. Very plainly if if a book can say salvation is from the Jews. If you can turn that into a reason to murder Jews, you've somehow completely Misinterpreted and misused the intention of that particular book and so he doesn't Speak with the spirit of this age.

There is a truth, but the truth that God has Announced in his keeping his promises to the Jewish people does not change the fact that something Incredible has happened and that is verse 23 an hour is coming and now is an hour is coming and now is and So as in so much of the New Testament There is the now and the not yet an hour is coming and now is so when we're looking at the fulfillment of these promises there is a there is a transitionary period and in some ways we can say yes, the kingdom has come and yes in some ways the kingdom is coming and God has established his kingdom and yet there is a Fulfillment of that kingdom which is yet to come.

There are many instances like this in the text of the New Testament. But Jesus's point to her is we don't need to argue about Gerizim versus Jerusalem. Because the father the the true worshipers Who are going to worship the father will worship him in spirit and in truth and we looked at that phrase spirit and in truth if you want a real identification of what sets Christian worship apart from anything else I Would say you have here it is spiritual and it is grounded in truth.

And if you don't have both you don't have Christian worship. Now, of course we hear the phrase spiritual and we think of that which is primarily emotional. But that would not be the case because he's about to say God is spirit.

He's not saying God is emotions. The point is that she is focused upon location. Whereas the worship that's going to be offered to God think this day. When I do the pastoral prayers I often reflect upon the fact that well I reflect upon something that I had never reflected upon before 2005 when doing any of the pastoral prayers.

Because yeah, 2003 is actually the first time I actually traveled overseas. I went down to Brazil, but 2005 was first time I went over to London and It's one thing to fly to the East Coast and have a three-hour or depending on what time of year it is to our Change in time.

But once you start going overseas. Going over to Germany Ukraine now. You starting up to seven eight nine hours, or if you really want to completely mess your mind up fly across the Pacific to Australia because.

Exactly. What is that you cross the date line? So do you go to the future? It's it's 17 hours. Different but it's only seven hours, but it's the next day and it's really confusing. Especially when you're jet-lagged you really can't figure out what time it is.

And so it's always crossed it started its cross of my mind much more since I started traveling internationally. That we're sort of late in the day. When you think of where the day started We're sort of at the end of the line of Christians who have been worshiping God on the Lord's Day specifically.

Because the only people left after us are the West Coast Alaska and a few folks stuck on some odd islands out in the out in the Pacific someplace the Australian brothers. Were worshiping the Lord while we were still up on Saturday as far as the Lord's Day services are concerned.

And so when you think in that fashion God's worship in the church must be spiritual. It must be God's intention for that church to spread all Over the earth the idea of limiting it to a particular place.

Can you imagine if you had to do pilgrimages? This is one of the problems that Islam faces today because one of the five pillars of Islam is hajj and.

Every.

Muslim individual if they are Healthy enough and have enough money It is incumbent upon them once in their life to go on hajj to go to Mecca and Medina. Only you'll have to at once but but you you are under obligation.

Well That was done in a day when that was established in a time when all the Muslims were within You know a couple days travel of Mecca and Medina. Now that it's a worldwide religion that causes a real major problem.

What's what's even more is They've run the numbers and there's so many Muslims today. Given the number of people that allowed in to do hajj each year. You couldn't do it. There are too many Muslims to be able to do it.

Even if you wanted to so one of the five pillars the religion is no longer Fulfillable now, of course all they do is now you do a hajj of desire and they've gotten around it fairly easily. But the point was there was no thinking ahead.

Islam did not have an acts 15 moment because of acts 15. We don't have that problem. The gospel goes into every culture. We're not tied to a particular building in a particular place. God is worshipped in spirit.

And so where God's people gather together, they are bound together by being indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and hence any place where God's people gather for the specific purpose of doing what the people of God do in worship the prayers the singing of songs spiritual songs the exhortation from the Word of God the Intention of being the church.

You've got elders. You've got discipline you've got the ordinances when God's people do that since God is spirit and We worship in spirit and truth then that church can be established anywhere. It is not limited to the locations.

That we had in this ancient context and so true worship is worship in Spirit, but it's also worship in truth. Now obviously we emphasize that very strongly we believe that God has spoken we believe you must take Seriously what God has said but to say that you must worship in truth is Not the same thing as saying that every single individual is going to believe the exact same thing about everything.

I Get scared because some of my good Beloved Reformed Brethren sometimes get to the point where Man, if you don't cross the T's and dot the I's just like me I've I've I've had some of my own Reformed Baptist Brethren look at me very strangely because I can preach in a Presbyterian Church and I can I can I can exhort even in a Presbyterian Church I can talk about the gospel and some my own Reformed Baptist Brother.

I don't know about that seems. You know that and I'm just like look I we must agree on the fundamentals of the faith if you don't believe in the Trinity and the deity of Christ and his Sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection and if you don't believe God has spoken in his word.

We we need to be debating one another not anything else, but look. There were differences you can see even between the local churches during the apostolic period and and if you go Well, I'm just gonna have to choose and see was it the Ephesians that were the true Christians or was it the or was it?

The Corinthians. I it can't be both because they seem to have some differences of opinion on things. No, that's not what truth means what it does mean is we actually confess there is truth my goodness.

What a radical idea that is today. How unusual in our day to say yes, God has spoken. He's given us his word. And I had a I had a exchange as an individual today this this past week. I made the mistake of saying something in social media about I Think it was about Roman Catholicism and the Reformers.

Why would I be thinking of anything like that these days? I can't imagine but. But and I and I apologize ahead of time by the way, I'm not gonna be here for Reformation Sunday I'm actually gonna be speaking someplace else.

I sort of feel badly about that. But I I hope you all do recognize that. The next Lord's Day is the closest Lord's Day to the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. I'm not putting any pressure on whoever might be preaching Next Sunday, but I hope there might be some reference to that particular Event, I mean we don't use a liturgical calendar, but it's only once in 500 years.

You know, it's not too far out of the range. I don't think but but anyway, this individual was just it did. You know, yeah, but but you disagree with this person. He brought up specifically. Dr. Kruger at RTS in Charlotte, and I Dr. Kruger is a brilliant mind and I've been so blessed especially by his books on Canon, but he is a Presbyterian.

And so this whole part this person's entire argument is that the Bible is not sufficient. We need something else because you disagree with dr Kruger on baptism and as I pointed out to him, well if we were to debate baptism We would both go to the exact same source.

We wouldn't go to different sources. We'd go to the same source and Yes in this in this this life that we're gonna have disagreements. But what we're absolutely agreed upon is there is a truth in this issue.

And we don't take the issue of baptism and just put aside and go. Oh, it doesn't matter I've done a number of debates on it. I'm not intending on doing anymore. But if the Lord puts it apart my heart or there's a specific need to do so the point is I think it is important it is worth discussing and We have the source to go to.

I think God has has given a revelation as to what his truth on that issue is. But it does not follow that if someone disagrees with you on a particular issue That means you're just simply to kick them out of the kingdom as if you had the authority to do so.

It's an important issue. We need to have a very clear idea of what defining issues are what very important issues are what Adi Afra? the things upon which there can be differences are. You might be shocked, but there might be different perspectives even amongst people in this room.

But what unites us is significantly more definitional than what might divide us spirit and truth. You lose the one and the other becomes ugly. When there is no longer any truth in Christian worship it devolves into mere sentimentalism or Formality or something that is far removed from the Christian faith.

You.

Remove the spirit and have only truth my goodness. You get not only formality, but when you take truth, and you make it devoid of God's spirit. It can be used as a weapon against others. It can be used as a means of self-promotion it can become a very very ugly thing and.

So God the Father is seeking such people who worship in spirit and truth to be his worshipers. And we at the last time we were together emphasized the fact that we want to be of that kind of worshiper.

We want to be worshipers in spirit and in truth. And of course then the emphasis the statement is made that God is spirit. Now you would think that this would be a basic obvious truth and. Certainly anyone who would take all of the Old Testament revelations seriously would have already recognized this fundamental reality.

But Jesus states it God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. It is Necessary same word that Jesus used that is necessary for him to go to Jerusalem. It is necessary to worship him in spirit and in truth.

That concept of worship so foreign so foreign to so many of our fellow citizens today. Let's be honest. For the majority of people who are now being raised within the educational system the United States the idea of a God.

Desiring.

Accepting let alone demanding worship Is offensive. It's offensive. You know what you would hear. You in fact, you know what you probably have heard more than once. I I just I can't conceive of why you would wish to To follow a God that demands worship.

I Mean what it's that's just an ego trip. What's with this guy? They have no concept. It quite admittedly was easier in a day when we had Kings and Queens and you had the sense of royalty you had the sense of of power.

Dare I even say the word privilege not anymore. You had that sense of someone who who because of their status had Particular rights over someone else. We don't have that anymore. You have such a radical individualism today that this idea of worship let alone necessary to worship in a particular way and You look at the Old Testament text you look at the law God prescribed this particular way to worship.

This is what's pleasing to him. My goodness the secular mind today So focused upon its own autonomy and its own self-worth finds this type of language should be absolutely offensive and Even more offensive is that someone in this society would actually wish to submit to the desires of this guy?

They find that to be offensive. But Jesus says God is spirit the ones who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth there is an entire worldview concept behind this that once you have a society that once had great light and has absolutely Not only shut its eyes, but seems to be intent upon sewing them closed so as to not see the light in Such detestation of the God that has blessed them so deeply.

I don't know how else I can explain what we see going on in our land today. I Don't I don't understand in Western society the willingness to go as far as people are going today other than our society hates the God that has blessed them so deeply and Truly a mind created in the image of God individual made in the image of God.

That becomes convinced that there is no God that there is no purpose there is no reality. I can't see a greater level of futility Than that mind and that resultant life Rebellion will be the inevitable conclusion and that's what we see in our lives in our society.

I'm sorry.

So.

Upon announcing these things to the woman She says to him Well, I know That Messiah is coming now. What's interesting is the Samaritans used a different term tahib of the one who was to come and When you think about the meaning of that particular term It refers to a returning one a one who would turn people back to the proper ways by explaining things primarily and Some have asked why?

This woman who's the natural terminology would be tahib and maybe maybe in providing the words here John is just simply giving us messias messiah. Or maybe she's using because she knows that's how the Jews refer to this one, but it's fascinating, isn't it?

That Jews and Samaritans even though they've been divided for hundreds of years both Have a tradition of one who was to come there was just this and they and they don't have Isaiah 9 they don't have all the the Emanuel text and Isaiah 7 through 12.

They don't have all those things. All they have is the Pentateuch and yet despite that they've still come up with a Messianic Idea, it just seems so plain when you think about it when you read the Hebrew Scriptures.

If you're just to read all the way through them and you get done with Malachi. Isn't it clear? There's something more to come. Isn't it sort of like that's the end. That can't be then it's it's. It's like a cliffhanger in a in a in a television series.

Some of you aren't old enough to remember this but. And I've forgotten who did shoot JR. I forgot. But there only if there but I just left all the Millennials out. They're going who shot what? You know, but that was one of the most famous cliffhangers of all time who shot JR.

I mean there were people wearing buttons if you can believe that that summer who shot JR. We're all Eventually found out was all a dream. Anyways, it was really weird. But anyway It's a cliffhanger you get that you get done it's like That that can't be it.

There's got to be there's got to be something more here. And indeed there was but fascinatingly enough you get down the Pentateuch and the Samaritans come to the conclusion. There's something more there is something more here and so when she says I know that The Messiah the one calling the one who is called the Christ Anointed one is coming and and when that one comes he will he'll explain all things and that was really part of the Samaritan emphasis was this this turning back is Through teaching and answering questions and explaining things there wasn't.

There were all sorts of different theories both amongst Samaritans and the Jews as to the nature of this coming one and as you can tell Some of those ideas were only partially true. Jesus had to deal with all sorts of inappropriate understandings of of his own ministry, but but She opens this door What Jesus has said up to this point how much of it could she grasp how much of it could she understand.

It's hard to say It's obviously left her somewhat Confused because she says well, you know when the Messiah comes he will explain all these things to us and Jesus's response is one of the reasons That if you go over to your local Bible College not all of them.

But most of them even even if you go to to even a conservative Bible College You'll be exposed to this even though hopefully a meaningful response will be given to it. But pretty much any school of religious teaching today Will look at verse 26 and say see this is why we feel that John was just sort of making all this up That these things never happened.

Why?

Well, she just said to her The one speaking to you I am it's it's literally a go. I mean I Am the one speaking to you and it said well Why don't we use that as one of the references the deed of Christ because it's all through John.

It's gonna be in John 8 should be John 13. It's gonna be John 18 what you know, why not this one? Well because when it's used in this fashion It's referring specifically to what comes immediately afterwards the one speaking to you.

I'm he I Am the Messiah that's specifically what he is saying and people would say you see. That Jesus didn't go around doing that. You look at Mark and it's called the Messianic secret Type so how in the world can you put together the Jesus of Mark who's going on?

Together with the Jesus of John. Oh, by the way, that's me. How do you put those two together? Well, unfortunately the standard response of many today is you just can't or you shouldn't even try. And that's because Mark's earlier and John's later and John's just making it all up.

Well, you know that I don't know about you. I find that to be a rather simplistic response I think maybe a little more thought Might be able to be put into it and when you put a little more thought into it Jesus is not in fact speaking to a Jewish woman he is speaking to a woman whose understanding or who whose traditions about the Messiah or the Tahib is not to be nearly as Complex or politically oriented.

As if he was standing in the middle of Jerusalem. So isn't it possible that the person you're talking to their background their religious experience? Their political alignments given that Messiah had all sorts of political ramifications.

I mean there been people who had come along said I'm the Messiah and the Romans didn't like these people because they generally went off and killed Roman soldiers and. So isn't it possible that all of that kind of stuff might have something to do about?

When Jesus would be clear and making a statement like this and when he would not I? Think obviously that it does and in fact the rest of what takes place. I think bears this out because Right at the time when Jesus says to the woman I am The Messiah I am the one that can explain all these things his disciples come and They are amazed that he is speaking with a woman they they.

They find this willingness to violate social taboos to be amazing now. They may have just struggled to be able to buy food. They may have not been treated real well, they may have experienced that division Between Jews and Samaritans that was a part of the of the experience.

Maybe that they had just come from that and to find Jesus now violating those.

Very.

Traditions causes them to be amazed but None of them dared to say what are you seeking or why you're speaking with her so? While they're amazed they keep their amazement to themselves and so once Jesus has said the woman and maybe the disciples approaching she recognizes that they're dressed in in a way that would indicate that they're Jewish as well or Maybe it's just plain that they were with this man or whatever.

She she abandons her water jug and She goes off into the the city To speak to the men. Now There's all sorts of allegorical interpretations That have been applied to this story. Some aren't really worth repeating, but one that just for some reason stuck in my mind was She abandons her water jar Which of course means That she was abandoning the Old Testament ceremonial practices For the new freedom that was hers in the Messiah.

I've just always found allegorical interpretation entertaining pretty much It makes me go wow you're very imaginative. I never would have seen that and and and that's really to be honest with you when you when you look at your chest You look at you look at origin people like that.

That's exactly why they liked allegorical interpretation is.

Any.

Plain old person can read the surface meaning and get that but. Coming up with what I've come up with takes a pretty bright mind you see. Okay, well whatever. I Personally would take the interpretation that she left her water jug at the well and ran into the city.

Because she was so excited to tell people the person that she had met that it didn't seem logical To try to get to the city while carrying a big old water jug. Forgive me for my low-level interpretation, but that does seem to be.

What is going on? So she goes to tell the people.

And.

She she says come look I've I've met a man. He's he's told me everything I've ever done that I don't think the conversation was quite that long. Okay, I don't think the disciples were away for quite that period of time so obviously there was a little bit of hyperbole here obviously since Jesus had demonstrated an understanding of Exactly how many men she had had?

This is what she means that that obviously if he knows that then probably knows everything else as well and so you need to you need to come and and and see this man and yet even then when she says that This couldn't be the Christ could it and and there's there's hesitancy here.

Is that hesitancy based upon Questioning what she had heard or just a misunderstanding of what the Messiah would be. It's it's hard to say but evidently the way in which she has Presented this causes many people to come out of the city, and they're Heading up toward the well everybody knows where it is and we want to come and meet This man so in the meantime his disciples Are encouraging him and exhorting him rabbi eat?

They know that they've probably. They probably didn't wait for the blessing the food. They were probably I snitched a few fries and out of the bag on the way up. They were hungry and so they figure he is too and So they're like rabbi eat.

But he says to them I have food to eat that you do not know of. And I you know I can I can sort of in my mind minds. I see him looking down the hill toward the people that are now coming out of the city and Heading up the hill toward him that maybe the disciples hadn't even noticed or weren't even thinking about.

But the disciples are confused by this and they're they're asking each other Did did anyone else bring him anything to eat? Did you did you come back early? You know there's some question amongst themselves is it just anybody else up here could have brought him something to eat.

No. So Jesus says that it says that my my food is is in order that I might do the will of the one who sent me.

And.

Complete bring to completion. Perfect his work and.

So.

Clearly what Jesus is referring to is the necessity of bringing his message To these Samaritan people and this would not have been the first thing in the disciples minds in fact to be perfectly honest with you.

Despite their amazement at his talking with the woman their first indication would be could we keep moving? Let you know how far can we get yet today? They're not thinking anything about sticking around in this area.

That's the last thing that they want to do. And then Jesus says he brings up a saying and The saying once again goes back to The fact that we're living well until the very very very modern age. Everyone is going to use agrarian Illustrations because that's what everyone experiences.

Even if you and even if you lived in major city even if you lived in Rome if you went just shortly outside the walls You'd be in the middle of farmland.

It's.

Only in the modern period that some of these Illustrations about harvest and seed time and things like that people are going. I'm I'm I don't really I don't really get that. But certainly throughout all of history These points would be would be made very very very clear.

You would know when the harvest was and and and you would say well, it's four months the harvest in other words you October fest. They were getting ready for October fest and we were over in Germany. That's that's a big big party time lots of German beer and things like that.

Well, where did that come from? Well The earth has been spinning fairly regularly in its orbit for a long time and and so crops crops mature pretty much same time each year and so you know when you're supposed to get your your harvest in and and.