STUDIES IN JOHN’S GOSPEL

A young man went from paper to paper trying to get a job as a cartoonist, but he was rejected and told he had no talent. Finally, a pastor hired him to draw advertising for the church events. It was a poor paying job, and he had no place to stay, and so he was allowed to sleep in the old church manse. One morning as the sun rose he was awakened by the noise of scurrying mice, and this gave him an idea. He began to sketch one of those church mice, and that morning one of the most famous of fictional characters was born‑Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney always looked back on that morning as the dawn of his career. Amazing and wondrous things happen in history, and in our physical world when the Sun, the light of our world, rises.

Everyday is a new adventure in life as we rise from the darkness of night, and walk into the light where God promises His mercies are new every morning. What a wondrous thing is light. The poet said,

Out of the scabbard of the night

By God's hand drawn,

Flashes his shining sword of light,

And lo‑the dawn.

Every dawn is a wonder, but never has there been a more wondrous dawn than that on which the sun arose for the first time on this planet when it's creator was one of the inhabitants. Through Him all things were made and now He is a part of His own creation. The artist has entered his own painting. The author has become a character in his own drama. It is a wonder beyond all wonders for on that first Christmas dawn the light of our physical world was shining down on the light of our spiritual world. It was a dawn of a new day in a new way, for never before in history had the sun ever risen on Him who is the origin of all light.

John was so dazzled by the light of Christ that he became the apostle of light and used the word light in his Gospel more than all the others put together. In this opening chapter of his Gospel he gives us some of the most amazing revelation about this light that came into the world on that first Christmas. The first thing we want to look at is‑

I. THE WONDER OF HIS LIGHT.

John makes some statements here about Jesus that are as mysterious and beyond comprehension as physical light is to science. Light is the very essence of science, and everything that is wondrous about science revolves around light. Science and theology have this in common for all theology also revolves around light.

In verse 4 John says, the life of Jesus was the light of men, and then in verse 9 he says, the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. Later in John, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. The more you know about the wonders of light, the more you know about the wonder of God's Christmas light‑His only begotten Son.

Light and Jesus have so much in common. It is as if light is an expression of His image. For centuries scientists debated the nature of light just as theologians debated the nature of Christ. Was light a wave or a particle? It was so hard to decide because light was so creative it could be either. In 1905 Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for his paper on light. He proved that the whole controversy over light was nonsense, for light did not have to be one or the other. It could be, and it was, both. Light, he proved, has a dual nature.

So also, theologians have debated the issue‑was Jesus God or man? Oceans of ink have been used on both sides. But the Bible makes it clear that this too is nonsense. Jesus, like light, has a dual nature. He is not God or man, but both God and man. The Word who was God became flesh and lived among us. Just as scientists had to face up to the reality that light has a dual nature which is contradictory, so theologians had to face up to the reality that the light of the world is both God and man. It may not be easy to grasp, but light does not have to be logical. It is the absolute of science and theology, and man has to bow to it's power to be dual in nature.

The very first thing that God called good was light. He began the process of creation of all order by saying, "let there be light." Then He said the light was good. Everything else that He made He made in the light and He made all life dependent upon light.

Christmas marks the beginning of a new creation. When Jesus was born God was saying for the second time, let there be light. Thus began the creation of a new order based on the light of His Son. The wonder of this Christmas Light is that it is as universal as the physical light of the sun. John says Jesus is the true light that gives light to every man. Christmas is the most universal of holidays, for even the most worldly people get involved, even if they do not know it's true meaning. Light shines on all men even if they are blind and cannot see it. Christmas is the most unique of all holidays because God gives His light to all men even if they are not aware of it. The wonder is that every human being on this planet has a right to receive God's gift of light, and thus, become a child of God.

Spurgeon said, "The most despotic monarch cannot enclose the light for himself. The meanest beggar takes a royal share. It cannot be monopolized, but pays its gladsome visits to all alike. Even thus Scriptures reveal the freeness of divine grace and experience shows that it shines on the poorest and the simplest, and it enlightens the foolish and the ignorant." Take away light and you take away life for darkness cannot produce life or sustain it. Only light can give life. There is no power in the universe like the power of light. It is the source, not only of life, but of joy, pleasure and healing and all that makes life worthwhile. Jesus is all of this to the spiritual life of man. And the wonder of it is that it comes to us like the light of the sun, not like the thunder, but quietly.

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given.

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

Light is the greatest power in the universe yet it works so gently. A thread has more power to stop you than millions of rays of light. We can pass through them with no resistance at all, and feel no pressure as they flood our bodies with life‑giving power. Jesus is the wondrous light that can silently enter our lives and give us victory over the power of darkness.

In one December issue of Discover, there is an article about physicist John Asmus and his wonderful flashblaster. He travels around the world with a light machine which can clean corroded works of art. It restores them to their original white marble. Chemicals of all kinds have been used, but they do damage to the marble. To art conservators around the world, Asmus is a sort of technical missionary saving works of art by means of light. He can focus an intense flash of light‑millions of watts packed into a spot smaller than a dime‑which heats a black crust of gypsum to as much as 3 thousand degrees. Then with a pop it is vaporized in a millionth of a second leaving the surface clean. Beautiful works of art in museums and churches all over Europe, which have turned black by centuries of pollution, are being restored to their original white beauty by his flashblaster.

God gave the world a spiritual flashblaster on that first Christmas. Jesus is the only light that can cleanse God's highest and most noble work of art‑man. Man has been corroded by sin and has lost the luster of his original purity. Nothing can restore him but the light of Christ. John says, "If we confess our sin He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The light of the world working in total silence can focus on our sins and vaporize them, and leave us clean in an instant. Thank God for this wondrous gift of light at Christmas.

Man will go on discovering wondrous ways to use light. The plan is for a garbage disposal system where a laser will simply vaporize all of our garbage. But on the spiritual level there can be no improvement for Jesus is our light, and He can vaporize our spiritual garbage right now.

John Asmus, who developed the flashbaster, also worked on 6 devices for Star Wars. Modern man knows that light is the key to the best weapons of the future. H. G Wells, long ago, wrote, The War Of The Worlds and told of the Martian invasion of earth with their mysterious swords of light. They could drop men in their tracks and make lead run like water, and flash any substance into a mass of flame. Modern science is making this fantasy a reality by means of laser beams. But the Christian has had this weapon of light all along in spiritual warfare. By means of the Sword Of The Spirit, Christians have penetrated the world of darkness everywhere with the power of light. This wondrous power sets the prisoner of darkness free and ushers then into the kingdom of light.

When the baby Jesus was brought to the temple in Jerusalem, Simeon took the child into his arms and praised God saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." This little baby was already being declared the light of the world. He is the light that saves, that cleanses, that heals and that guides.

As the light of the world Jesus is also the hope of the world. Light is the hope that every form of evil can be defeated. In the physical realm light is man's hope for defeating the negatives of life. William J. Young, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, uses the laser to detect if a painting is authentic or a fake. For example, the laser revealed that a 16th century painting had zinc in the paint. This proved it was a fake because zinc was not used in paint until 1820. Light reveals the fake and that is why the Christian is to test all things by the light of Christ and His Word. Any idea or practice that cannot look good in the light of Christ is a fake. Paul makes a major issue of this to the Ephesians in 5:8‑9, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth." These are the kinds of gifts God wants to give the world through Christians who are children of light.

When God gave His Son as the light of world, He began a whole new family called sons of the light. In I Thess. 5:5 he writes of Christians, "You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness." Peter put it this way in I Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

The wonder of this wonderful light is that we are welcome to walk in it and like the angels, the shepherds, and wise men, become witnesses of that light God gave at Christmas. That is the next point we want to look at‑

II. THE WITNESS TO HIS LIGHT.

John the Baptist was not the light, says verse 8, but he came as a witness to the light. That can be said of all other persons involved in the Christmas story. The angels broke into time and space and when they did the glory of the Lord shone around them. This was a light in the darkness the shepherds would never forget, but they did not bow to the angels or set up a monument to them. They went to the manger, for the light of the angels was not the light God sent into the world. It was only a witness to the Light.

The star that led the wise men to Jesus had to be a spectacular light to get their attention, but they did not worship the star. Its light was to lead them to the light of the world, and so it's purpose was to be a witness to that light. What we need to see is that this is the case with all lights. They are all to point us to Him who is the True Light, and the source of all of lights wonders.

As children of light, all Christians are to be witnesses to the True Light. This is the greatest challenge of the Christian life,, and there are more ways to fail than can be counted. We try the laid back approach of just being nice people, and we seldom see anybody come to the True Light. We are often like bald men trying to sell hair tonic. We do not impress people very intensely with the product we give witness to. On the other hand, there are Christians who blaze like a tumble weed for awhile and then burn out. Their witness is also negative for they are soon back in darkness. Others come on so strong they scare those in darkness.

Don Richardson in Peace Child, tells of he and his family moving into a hut among the Sawi people. As natives often do, they surrounded his house and filled the porch and were peeking in the windows. Dan, thinking nothing of it, pumped up his kerosene pressure lamp and turned it on. Listen to his description of the effects‑

"...forgetting that this was the first

time I had used such a device among the Sawi. There was

a mad scramble as the unexpected burst of light struck their

eyes. No one took the time to find the stairs‑they simply

abandoned ship by leaping over the railings. Fortunately the

level of our porch was only five feet above ground.

Outside, the drumming came to a sudden halt, and the

chanting boiled over into a wail. There was an unmistakable

sound of hundreds of feet stampeding into the night. Setting

the lamp on a counter, I hurried outside to reassure the people.

Then I saw why they had fled. Our entire home was agleam

with light like some gigantic, awesome jack‑o‑lantern. Through

hundreds of cracks in sago‑frond walls, through every door

and window, the blinding light of the little five‑hundred‑

candlepower silk mantle was stabbing into the darkness."

Slowly he was able to get them to return and not be afraid. As children of the light and witnesses to the true light, we need to be sensitive to the fact that people in darkness are not impressed by a dim light, and they are not attracted by a light so bright that it frightens them. Light that is attractive has to be of an intensity that is pleasant and revealing. It has to give people hope in their darkness that there is a way out: That there is a power available that can cleanse and heal and set people free from the bondage to darkness. That is what motivates people at Christmas. All the lights and beauty give people hope that life can be beautiful, and darkness can be overcome.

God's plan is that we, as children of light, bear witness to the Light that can save and heal and give life. Jesus is the Lord of Light but He is also the Lord of the lesser lights which He uses to point to the greater. We are those lesser lights. A Danish author tells the true story of a widow and her child who were going to be put out of their home because of a debt. Her husband had paid off most of the debt to a friend who loaned him the money. But a plague took both he and his friend, and the heir of the friend had no record of any payments, and he demanded the full value of the debt. Without any record of payments she had no proof and was forced to lose her home. The night before she was to leave, a fire fly came into her bedroom where she was earnestly praying for God to help her find a solution to her dilemma. She did not want this creature in her house, and she began to chase it. It went behind a big chest that stood against the wall. She could not reach it so she pulled the chest out a bit. Something wedged between the wall and the chest fell to the floor. She pulled it out, and to her great delight it was the book in which her husband had receipts for all his payments. God answered her prayers by the tiniest little light. This little light of mine, we sing‑I'm going to let it shine. Why? Because God can use our little light to answer major prayers and lead people to the Light of the world.

In 1979, a crew of physicists and astronomers from Minnesota were up near Winnipeg with a large array of scientific equipment. They were there to study a complete solar eclipse. Peter Fribley was one of them and he gives this account‑

It was the most errie sight I have ever

seen or likely ever will: fifteen degrees

drop in temperature in minutes, sudden

high winds, the long skip of night com‑

munications coming up midday, birds

nesting as if it were night, and most

awesome of all, a 360‑degree sunset. And

then darkness.

And yet, all the while, light, the ring of

refracted light from behind the blotting

moon. Thus even during the time of so‑

called total eclipse, "the light shone in the

darkness, and the darkness did not over‑

come it."

On the cross, the Light of the world went through His total eclipse, and for three hours there was darkness over the land. But as with the sun of our solar system, it was only a temporary eclipse, for darkness at it's worst cannot conquer light. The cross is not a very popular Christmas symbol, but it should be, for Jesus as the Light of the world is God's greatest gift to man. On the cross Jesus continued to shine when evil was doing it's worst. Love was stronger than hate and forgiveness was stronger than sin. In this Christmas season, let us thank God often for His gift of the True Light.

2. THE WORD BECAME FLESH Based on John 1:1‑14

Everybody in the world has a birthday. It doesn't make any difference if they are rich or poor, black or white, or educated or uneducated. Everybody has one in every age. Methuselah had 969 of them before he died, and that was the world record until Jesus came. Jesus only had 33 birthdays before He died on the cross, but He conquered death and rose again after 3 days, and so He has never really missed a birthday since He was born in that manger of Bethlehem. He has had about 2000 of them, which is over twice as many as Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived. That makes Jesus the record holder for birthdays.

But the birthday of Jesus is not just the greatest because it is the oldest, but because there is no other birthday like it in history. His is the only birthday where we all receive a gift greater than anything we can give to Him whose birthday it is. At many birthday parties the guests receive prizes and get small gifts, but who ever heard of the guest getting more and greater gifts than the one whose birthday is being celebrated? Only at Christmas does this happen, and that is why it is such a joyous birthday.

Now what is it that we all receive from God on Christmas? John tells us that God gave us a Word. A word doesn't sound like much of a gift does it? If all I had to give was words it would be cheap and easy task to do my Christmas shopping. I wouldn't have to leave the house. I could just say great words like love, joy and peace to each one in my family and I would be done. A word would be a very disappointing gift. All of you would be sad this Christmas if all you got was a word. Why then is the Word that God gave us the greatest gift in the world? It is because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word was the name of Jesus before He became a child in the manger. He was with God forever in the past, and He was just like God, for He was invisible. God had wonderful thoughts for man back then when Jesus was the Word. God thought, "I love man even though he is sinful. I love him and want to save him. I want to make it possible for his sin to be forgiven so he can enter my presence in peace, and have fellowship with me."

Now all of those great thoughts did not do man any good until God put His thoughts into action. Parents might think of how nice it would be to get Billy a new bike, but what Billy really wants is to see the new bike. Good thoughts are not enough for us, and so it is with God's good thoughts. So God sent His good thoughts into the world wrapped in swaddling clothes. His Word became flesh where we could see, hear and feel His love. Gifts are words we can see and touch. In your mind you have a thought that you love your child. It is a good word you have in your mind, but then you take action so that your word becomes a gift that your child can see and touch, and then they can experience the reality of your thought.

God so loved the world, but He didn't just say so, for that would be the Word staying as a word. God so loved that He gave His Son, and that was the Word becoming flesh. God gave us a Person on Christmas, and there is no greater gift than that. God gave us himself and all His love in Jesus. If we receive Jesus, we have the best that God can give. We have His best thought, which was His Christmas thought. It was His thought that He loves us and will save us if we receive His Word.

3. PART ONE OF THE WEDDING OF CANA JOHN 2:1-11

INTRODUCTION:

CANA OF GALILEE

Nathanael, one of Jesus's first disciples is called in John 21:2 "Nathanael from Cana in Galilee." This was his home town and he no doubt knew many of the people.

This was a very small village about three hours journey from Nazareth. It is not named in the Old Testament nor in Josephus. Jesus did his first miracle in a very obscure place.

Jesus's mother was there. There is no reference to Joseph. Tradition says he died when Jesus was 16 years old. In verse 12 we read that the brothers of Jesus were there also. This bride and groom must have been close friends of the family of Jesus. This means Jesus began the use of His miracle powers for friendship.

Why is John the only one of the Gospel writers to record this first miracle? It is because John was the only one of the writers who was there. It was a very secret miracle known only to a few. After the cross Mary lived with John, her sisters son, and they no doubt talked of this first miracle often.

MIRACLES

There are 35 miracles in the Gospels. Matthew tells of 20, Mark of 18, Luke of 20, and John of only 7.

This was the first miracle of Jesus. 30 years as the Son of God on earth and He did not use His supernatural power. Satan tempted Him to use it before this but He refused. He even starts here very cautiously and quietly.

A miracle is a manifestation of power that is greater than nature, indicating a Creator above the creation, and a Law Maker above the law.

People today have a low view of miracles because the word is used so loosely. You have miracles everywhere in the grocery store. You have miracle whip, miracle suds, miracle bandages, and a host of miracle gadgets. You can buy products that work miracles on your hair, complexion, grass, or the engine of your car. This word no longer stands for a direct and visible act of God that cannot be explained by science or reason. It now means anything that is amazing or wonderful that can be produced by the intelligence of man and explained by science.

Even Christians no longer use the word in the proper way. A group of youth were out in a boat off the coast of Miami when a storm came up and the engine stopped. The waves were so high they began to sink the boat. It was miles out of the regular route of the coast guard but they came that way for the first time and they rescued the youth. It was called a miracle, but this really fits into another category. There are three ways that God works in history. The first is called PROVIDENCE. This is the general guidance that God gives which is fully in conformity with natural laws. The second is SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. This is when God works within law, but with such amazing timing that it is quite awesome. Life may be spared because of split second timing, or of circumstances that are out of the ordinary, but which is not impossible to have happen. The third is MIRACLE. This is when God goes beyond any law and just breaks into time and does what cannot be done or explained by any law or knowledge known to man. It is clearly supernatural. Some object and say God has to work through law, but this is to make law superior to God. He made the laws and He can go around them whenever He chooses. He seldom does, but just because a man has gone through his front door coming home from work every day for twenty years does not mean he cannot choose to go through the back door. God can at any time do what is not according to the laws of nature, for He is the Lord of nature and not its servant.

An example of these three ways God works would be‑

You get in an accident and you are not hurt=Providence.

You get thrown out of your car and land in a haystack=Special Providence

You get smashed and broken and are nearly dead, but suddenly you rise up and walk away with no injury whatever=Miracle.

VERSE 1

WEDDING

As marriage was the first institution of God, so marriage became the scene of Christ's power revealed on earth. This first miracle brought pleasure and joy to life and this was the purpose in all of the miracles of Jesus. He came to give life abundant and His miracles gave life from death and health from sickness and produced faith to overcome doubt.

By His presence here we see Jesus breaking down the wall between the sacred and the secular. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do we are to do all to the glory of God. Jesus starts His life of miracles in a secular setting for God is to be glorified there as well as in the temple‑where we see next that He was not.

Wedding: Jesus the Bridegroom of the Church begins his public ministry at a wedding. He ends history also at the wedding of the Lamb. The primary focus of the ministry of Jesus is joy. He came to give life abundant and eternal joy at God's right hand. Victory over all evil and sorrow is his ultimate goal. Valid pleasure is a vital part of the Kingdom of God. God wants His children to have pleasure just as we want that for our children. Gloom is not godliness and sourness is not saintliness.

Long wrote, "There is a time to laugh as well as a time to weep, and the Son of Man, who shared our tears on the way to the grave of Lazarus and the cross of Calvary, shared also our mirth at the feast of Cana. All the faculties of life are to be, not suspected, but redeemed from evil by the Christian; and one of the richest and happiest is the faculty of earth. Our duty is not to check its brightness, but to keep its innocence; and surely in the laughter that is like the laughter of the child, of the sunlight and the birds, God is well pleased."

In the first coming of Jesus He entered into fellowship with men to redeem all aspects of life. He made birth, marriage, and death all more sacred and meaningful. In a small town like Cana a wedding like this could be the social event of the year, and Jesus was glad to play a major role in making it successful.

Jesus was opposed to asceticism. For Jesus self denial did not mean isolation, unsociableness, and refraining from the common pleasures of life. Jesus was going forth to bear the burden of the world's sin, and he did not want the seriousness of His task to make men feel He did not approve of the laughter and joy of life. He begins on a happy note to make this clear.

VERSE2

Jesus never turned down an invitation that we have any record of. He even accepted the invitation of a Pharisee. Rich or poor, well‑known or obscure, Jesus never refused to eat with anyone. He even invited himself over to a rejects house‑that of Zacchaeus.

VERSE3

Mary was apparently in charge of refreshments, and as sometimes happens the committee did not anticipate so large a crowd. They had not prepared enough. This happens to the best of people and committees. But why tell a guest that a host is caught in an embarrassing situation? Mary is now on the spot, and she knows her son has power beyond the ordinary. She has confidence that He can find a way to solve her problem. We can't assume that she expected Him to do a miracle. Calvin thought she wanted Jesus to speak and thus entertain the guests making them forget the lack of wine. This is not likely. Most see her as the person of faith behind the miracle. Faith is almost always connected with miracles, and it is her faith that gets Jesus to do His first one. With Joseph dead Jesus was the man of the house and she was use to coming to Jesus for His help. She may not have known He would do a miracle, but she knew He would do something.

Hospitality was very important and to run out of wine would be very embarrassing. Mary seeks to prevent this embarrassment before anyone is aware of the lack of wine. Prevention is wise. To help people avoid embarrassment is an act of love.

This story is told in the biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson. A young boy who faced the difficult problem of getting a stubborn calf into the barn enlisted the aid of Emerson. They tried to figure a way to persuade the calf to go into the barn. The boy tugged on rope fastened around the animal's neck. Emerson applied his shoulders to the rear and shoved, but with all the pushing and pulling nothing was accomplished, and the calf maintained his status quo. Then an Irish maidservant came out on a neighboring porch, and watching the spectacle, laughed loud and long. Sauntering over, she dipped a finger in a pail of milk, stuck the finger into the calf's mouth, and without effort, lead the now happy animal into the barn. Whereupon, we are told, Emerson walked into the house, wiping the perspiration off his face and thinking deeply. Then he sat down at his desk and wrote in his immortal journal: "I love people who can DO things."

Mary brought her problem to Jesus because Jesus was able to do things.

Trench said, "He who made wine out of water might have made bread out of stones; but he will do nothing at the suggestion of Satan, though all at the suggestion of love."

WINE =Oinos. It was the ordinary wine of the day common at weddings. There was no way to refrigerate in that day and so no way to keep wine from fermenting. Many have tried to argue that this was not fermented but they have not convinced the majority who study the subject. It is not a stamp of approval on drinking alcohol if Jesus made fermented wine. All forms of drunkenness are clearly forbidden in the Bible, and there are numerous warnings about the dangers of drinking. This was an occasion where wine was a part of the social joy and Jesus entered into that joy.

John Laidlaw wrote " It is an insult to the common sense of any plain reader of Scripture to ask him to believe that the wines of the Bible were not intoxicating when used to excess." But it is also plain to see Jesus did not okay excess by this act any more than He did by making wine possible in the first place as Creator.

William Barclay writes, "for a Jewish feast wine was essential. "Without wine," said the Rabbis, "there is no joy." It was not that people were drunken, but in the East wine was an essential. Drunkenness was in fact a great disgrace, and they actually drank their wine in a mixture composed of two parts of wine to three parts of water. At any time the failure of provisions would have been a problem, for hospitality in the East is a sacred duty, but for the provisions to fail at a wedding would be a terrible shame for the bride and the bridegroom. That indeed would have been a humiliation."

Charles Spurgeon said on this wine issue, "I do not think that I should do any good if I were to enter upon the discussion as to what sort of wine our Lord Jesus made on this occasion. It was wine, and I am quite sure it was very good wine, for He would produce nothing but the best. Was it wine such as men understand by that word now? It was wine, but there are very few people in this country who ever see, much less drink, any of that beverage. That which goes under the name wine is not true wine, but a fiery, brandied concoction of which I feel sure that Jesus would not have tasted a drop. The fire‑waters and blazing spirits of modern wine manufacturers are very different articles from the juice of the grape, mildly exhilarating, which was the usual wine of more sober centuries. As to the wine such as is commonly used in the East, a person must drink inordinately before he would become intoxicated with it. It would be possible, for there were cases in which men were intoxicated with wine, but, as a rule, intoxication was a rare vice in the Saviors times and in the preceding ages. Had our great Exemplar lived under our present circumstances, surrounded by a sea of deadly drink, which is running tens of thousands, I know how He would have acted. I am sure He would not have contributed by word or deed to the rivers of poisonous beverages in which bodies and souls are now being destroyed wholesale. The kind of wine which He made was such that, if there had been no stronger drink in the world, nobody would have thought it necessary to enter any protest against drinking it. It would have done nobody any hurt, be sure of that, or else Jesus our loving Savior would not have made it." ......................................." I abstain myself from alcoholic drink in every form, and I think others would be wise to do the same; but of this each one must be a guide unto himself."

J.C. Ryle said, "If our Lord Jesus Christ actually worked a miracle in order to supply wine at a marriage feast, it seems to me impossible, by any ingenuity, to prove that drinking wine is sinful." Most agree that the wine was normal wine which if taken to excess would be intoxicating. If the wedding took place between June and September when the grapes were ripening, it would be possible this was just fresh grape juice, but the fact that the taster says this is the best wine that is usually given first implies it was not just juice but fermented wine that could deaden the senses to the lesser fermented wine to be given later.

Those who accept this as fermented wine do not, however, see it as a stamp of approval on drinking. Jesus puts his stamp of approval on marriage but not on the drinking of alcohol which often is a destroyer of marriage.

VERSE 4

WOMAN The NIV has dear woman to sound less disrespectful, but all commentators recognize this was a positive way to address your mother or any woman. The Greeks addressed queens and women of distinction by this word. William Barclay writes of this word, "in Homer it is the title by which Odysseus addresses Penelope, his well‑loved wife. It is a title by which Augustus, the Roman Empire, addressed Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian Queen. So far from being a rough and discourteous way of address, it was a title of respect. We have no way of speaking in English which is exactly renders it; but it is better to translate it lady which gives at least the courtesy in it."

Some get a kick out of the fact that woman in Greek is gune. I told a young man this and he used it to tease the girls. He was fortunate that I did not tell them that the Hebrew for man is ish. Ish and gune do not sound good to our ears, but they were fine sounding words to the Greeks and Hebrews.

William Barclay writes, "it means: "don't worry; you don't quite understand what is going on; leave things to me, and I will settle them in my own way."

TIME NOT YET COME:

Jesus is saying do not expect me to do a spectacular show here to please you and all at this party. My hour for public show of power is not yet. Jesus is only refusing to do a full public miracle like feeding the five thousand.

TIMING:

Timing was always important to Jesus. His very coming was in the fullness of time and His death and resurrection were planned according to precise timing. Jesus did a secret miracle here because it was not the right timing for a public display of His power. Mary knew He was the Messiah and must have thought this would be the perfect occasion to make it public, but she was wrong. Only Jesus could know what was the right time.

Jesus did not want to get involved in this problem it seems, at least to the degree that Mary wanted him to. There are good reasons why people do not want to get involved

in problems. It can be in conflict with goals that are greater and more significant. It can be an area of life where you are not qualified to do any good. Nobody can do everything. Even Jesus had limitations and could not do everything, and so many problems were all around him which he did not solve. We all have to face our limitations.

This was not a miracle of necessity but of luxury. It was to meet a felt need but not a desperate need. It was for the sake of pleasure and pleasantness, and not for survival. This makes it a very unusual miracle for Jesus. Most of His miracles were to meet very serious needs. Jesus was first tempted to use His miracle power to turn stones into bread to meet a personal necessity. But Jesus did not start his use of divine power by meeting a self need, but rather by meeting a luxury need of others. Spurgeon sees this as significant. He would not meet His own necessity for bread but would meet others need for luxury. This illustrates that divine power is primarily for service and not self gain. Most of Jesus miracles are to add joy to the lives of others. This first one is a key sign that He is the Joy Bringer. We see here that not all of life is a battle. There are times to enjoy the victories of battles won. Jesus starts His ministry on a positive note before He begins His battles with the leaders of Israel.

Let us keep in mind that not all godly people are like Jesus in every way. John the Baptist would never be here at a wedding. He was the funeral type of believer. His focus was on the judgement and not on the joy of life. It was of God too and he was a great man of God. Not all believers need to be wedding type people. It is the ideal but the fact is some are just made for the more solemn realities of life like John was.

Jesus was not too busy to be at a wedding. He had a short pubic ministry yet he had time for family and friends and their times of joy. He was not a workaholic but could get away and enjoy a feast and time of fellowship. He teaches that the balanced life is the best life. Some Christians feel guilty if they are not always engaged in something serious. They need to see Jesus with only three and a half years to live taking time out to enjoy a feast.

Mine hour is not yet come This expression is used 6 times in John, and reveals just how important timing was to Jesus. There was a clear plan and Jesus was going to follow the plan and not blow the timing of his revelation. Turner says Jesus is saying, "The time of my self‑revelation is in the future; leave this situation to my judgement."

There is an interpretation that is interesting. Mary could be saying there is no wine left, you just as well leave, and Jesus is saying it is not my time to leave yet. I am going to stay and do something about it. This is not likely but you can see it can seem to fit.

CONTINUED IN PART 2

4. PART 2 OF THE WEDDING OF CANA IN JOHN 2:1-11

VERSE5

Mary is satisfied Jesus will do what is best and so submits to Him and tells the servants to do the same. She understands his need to time things right and is content to leave him in control of the decision. She is no control freak who has to have it her way. She can let go and let God. Barclay writes, "Even when Mary did not understand what Jesus was going to do, even when it seemed that He had refused her request, Mary still believed in Him so much that she turned to the serving folk and told them to do what ever Jesus told them to do. Mary had the faith, which could trust even when it did not understand. She did not know what Jesus was going to do, but she was quite sure that He would do the right thing."

Mary did not read into what Jesus said, a no, forget it, I won't help, but rather, give me time to figure it out. She said, fine, you guys do what He says when He comes up with a solution.

John E. Large writes, "Among all the words ever recorded the whole human history of the worlds literature, can you conceive of a wiser command or of a lovelier valedictory?"

Obedience is a key idea here. The miracle took place in an environment of complete obedience to the will of Jesus. Obedience is a key subject all through the Bible.

We see here PERFECT OBEDIENCE‑WHAT EVER

PRACTICAL OBEDIENCE‑DO

PERSONAL OBEDIENCE‑HE TELLS YOU

Whatsoever He bids you, do it,

Though you may not understand:

Yield to Him complete obedience,

Then you'll see His mighty hand;

"Fill the water pots with water,"

Fill them to the very brim;

He will honor all your trusting‑

Leave the miracle to Him!

Oh, ye Christians, learn the lesson!

Are you struggling all the way?

Cease your trying, change to trusting;

Then you'll triumph every day!

"Whatsoever He bids you, do it,"

Fill the water pots to brim;

But remember, 'tis His battle‑

Leave the miracle to Him!

Thomas Allan

The forces of nature obeyed Jesus:

At Cana first His power is shown

His might the blushing waters own

And, changing as He speaks the word,

Flow wine, obedient to their Lord.

The servants would not see how filling these jars with water was relevant to the need. Everyone had already washed and that is why they were empty. Why do the irrelevant? All they had to do was obey Jesus and it would become clear that there was a purpose. Just do your best and let Him do the rest. Jesus could have done it without their help, but He always likes to have some human cooperation in all of His miracles. Jesus does not expect men to do miracles, but He does expect them to do what they can do, such as filling water pots.

When man's resources run out and come to an end the story is never over. Jesus can step in and supply what man cannot. The law could get man just so far, but only grace could get him into the abundant life. Water can only become wine by the grace of God: law can never do it.

VERSE6

Lloyd C. Douglas, author of the Robe, wrote an earlier book called Those Disturbing Miracles. In it he wrote, "Surely he is a very unfortunate reader of this epic who gets himself so distracted by all those stone water pots that he misses the real and only point at issue, which is the simple fact that Jesus bears a transforming power, that He turns water into wine, frowns into smiles, whispers of fear into anthems of hope, deserts into gardens, and sin‑blistered souls into valorous saints by the catalyzing alchemy of a selfless love."

We read in Mark 7:3, "The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders." These six jars would hold anywhere from 120 to 180 gallons. This does not mean that Jesus made all of the water in these jars into wine. Some feel that as the smaller vessel was dipped into one of these jars it was changed to wine. Some feel it was only the vessel dipped into the well after the jars were filled that was turned to wine. The fact is nobody knows how much wine was created.

VERSE8

Draw out now=a debatable image. Did they draw out of the 6 waterpots or out of the well? If out of the well then it was only the wine in their small containers that was turned into wine. This would mean a very limited amount of wine. If out of the water pots it could mean Jesus changed all the water into wine in those six pots and this would be an enormous amount of wine. Most believe the wine was made just for that occasion to fill a need near the end of the celebration and that there was no need for an enormous amount.

VERSE9

The ruler of the feast=not the master of ceremonies but the man in charge of the arrangement of the room and the food and drink. He was the wine steward or the hear waiter. He was responsible for tasting the wine.

Jesus could have made wine out of nothing, but He chose to change the lower to the higher. He takes what is and lifts it to what it can be. He takes the lowly life and transforms it into a higher life.

The master of the banquet did not know there was a problem being solved. The guests did not know there was a problem. If everybody knew Jesus did a miracle to supply wine the bride and groom would still be embarrassed which would defeat the purpose of the miracle.

VERSE10

Drunk freely=Turner says the word here means to become intoxicated. They are now less alert to taste and so can take watered down wine and not notice is the point.

Barclay writes that he probably spoke in jest saying, "most people served the good wine first; and then, when the guests have drunk a good deal, and when their palates are dulled and when they are not in much of a condition to appreciate what they are drinking, they serve the inferior wine, but you have kept the best until now."

Barclay writes again, "Every story John tells us, not of something Jesus did once and never did again, but of something Jesus is forever and eternally doing. ...........and what John wants us to see here is not that Jesus once on a day turned some waterpots of water into wine; he wants us to see that whenever Jesus comes into life, there comes a new quality which it like turning water into wine."

Quesnel writes, "God gave at first the old wine of the law, without strength, spirit or taste; and in the fullness of time He gave the new wine, of a strong and powerful taste, which enables us to fulfill the law, which inebriates the heart in a holy manner..."

Dear Friend! whose presence in the house

Whose gracious word benign,

Could once, at Cana's wedding‑feast

Change water into wine.

Come, visit us, and when dull work

Grows weary, line on line,

Revive our souls, and make us see

Life's water glow as wine.

Gay mirth shall deepen into joy,

Earth's hopes shall grow divine,

When Jesus visits us, to turn

Life's water into wine.

Transforming the commonplace into the glorious is the work Jesus loves to do. He takes moral waste and turns it into moral wealth, says Clovis Chappell. Luther Burbank said every weed is a potential flower and he proved it by turning many weeds into flowers. He made the cactus bloom. It is a godly work to take the commonplace and glorify it. Jesus took the churches greatest menace‑Saul, and turned him into the churches greatest missionary‑Paul.

THE WORST FOR THE LAST:

There is a certain amount of social deception in all of life, and here is a case of economy and planning so as to use even the poor quality wine. If it is done at the right time nobody will notice. You hide the poor to give the impression there is no poor. Any good host wants to make a good impression. The problem is this is the world's system. It offers a lot of fun at the beginning and does not tell you of the worst for last. In contrast Jesus may call you to take up the cross at the beginning but He offers the best for the last. John Bunyan in Pilgrims Progress has Christian go through great trial, but at last he comes to the land of eternal bliss and cries out, "O Jesus, Jesus, Jesus thou hast indeed kept the best wine until now." Satan has the worst at last, but the Savior has the best.

Quality is important to our Lord. He does not make the good, or the better only, but He makes the best.

Such is thy banquet, dearest Lord;

O give us grace, to cast

Our lot with Thine, to trust Thy word,

And keep our best till last.

John Keble

The Pulpit Commentary says, "It is a Christian act to increase the innocent pleasures of the world. Where the cup of gladness is not full, Jesus will fill it. The good of this miracle is made manifest as one considers what an effectual protest it is against those who would make religion the necessary enemy of deep‑rooted social customs."

The Pulpit Commentary says, "God's grace is progressively revealed in the individual experience of Christians. The longer Jesus is known, the more are His benefits realized, and the more He is valued."

VERSE11

FIRST

F.W. Robertson writes, "This was the "beginning of miracles" which Jesus did, and yet He was now 30 years of age. For 30 years He had done no miracle; and that is in itself almost worthy to be called a miracle. That He abstained for 30 years from the expression of His wonder‑working power is as marvelous as that He possessed for 3 years the power to exert. He was content to live long in deep obscurity.................................He could bide His time. He had the strength to wait." "In all the works of God there is a conspicuous absence of haste and hurry."

SIGN

It leads the spectator's eye off from the deed to the doer. The signs point to Jesus.We are not to get so into the sign that we forget the one to whom it points.

Barclay writes, "To John miracles were the signs of the love of God. In any miracle, then, there are three things. There is the wonder, which leaves men dazzled, astonished, aghast. There is the power, which is effective, which can deal with and mend a broken body, and unhinged mind, a bruised heart, a power, which can do things. There is the sign which tells of the love in the heart of God who does such things for men."

Manifested his glory=(doxa) It occurs twenty times in John's Gospel. The verb to glorify is used 22 times, more than any other Gospel. This sign was to glorify Jesus, and that means to make him honorable in our sight. Origen, the church father says the main significance of this miracle is in its symbolizing that to the Christian Jesus is the source of joy.

Barclay writes, " it was in sympathy, in kindness, in understanding for simple folk that Jesus acted. Nearly everyone can do the big thing on the big occasion; but it takes Jesus to do the big thing on a simple, homely occasion like this. There is a kind of natural human maliciousness which rather enjoys the misfortune of others, and which delights to make a good story of them over the teacups. But Jesus, the Lord of all life, and the King of Glory, use His power to save a simple Galilaean lad and lass from shame and humiliation. It is just by such deeds of understanding, simple kindliness that we too can show that we are followers of Jesus Christ."

It is the glory of anything to be true to its nature. There is the glory of the Sun and the glory of the moon and the glory of the stars. Each is glorious as they are true to their nature. Jesus is glorified by being true to His nature. He is a caring, loving Savior who will do what He can in any situation to add to the joy of life. It is His nature to do so. We see in the next passage that it was also His nature to reject and resist injustice and do what he could to prevent it. He was glorified in anger as well as in this positive miracle. F. W. Robertson says it was also His glory to sanctify all things natural and all natural relationships.

Glory Of The Common

Glory In His Concern

Glory In His Control

The Pulpit Commentary says, "Does it seem to the reader of this simple narrative that this language is somewhat strained‑is pitched rather to high? And obscure village, a homely festival, a peasant's party;‑are these suggestive of, harmonious with, this great word "glory"? Ah! let us not be deceived by outward appearances; but rather remember that, as the world judges, there was no glory in Jesus anymore than in His surroundings, His associates."

Beginnings are important for they contain the seed of all that is to follow. You can see some of the future by looking at the beginning. The Gospel is good news and so from the very beginning Jesus does what is good and joy producing. Jesus has some terrible things to say about judgement and hell, but these things were said to those who rejected his good news. They were not his message but rather the consequence of not receiving his message. They are valid truths of Jesus but they are not his Gospel. Jesus wins the lost with good news of salvation and only gives the negative warnings to those who will not receive the good news.

His disciples put their faith in Him. This was really very much a secret miracle. Nobody said, "Listen everybody, for your entertainment and pleasure Jesus is going to turn water into wine. It was a secret sign to the disciples and not to the crowd of wedding guests.

Jesus was not a showman or opportunist who used His miracles like magic to make money or draw crowds for entertainment. The Apocryphal gospels have Jesus all sorts of things like making clay birds and then making them fly away, or lengthening boards that were too short as a carpenter. Jesus used miracles only for the benefit of others and to be signs of His deity.

Faith can grow. It is like all living things. Give it more evidence and it gets stronger. The disciples did not start with a full‑grown faith and neither do we. Our faith is to see and hear more and more of what Jesus can do and get stronger and stronger. Faith is progressive and gets stronger as revelation progresses. The disciples were fairly new in their faith and this first miracle gave them strong confirmation they were truly following the Messiah. They were not just impressed with the gift but with the Giver.

12. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and

brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went

up to Jerusalem.

14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and

doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.

15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the

temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the

money‑changers and overturned their tables.

16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How

dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your

house will consume me." {Psalm 69:9}

18 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign

can you

show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise

it again in three days."

20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty‑six years to build

this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?"

21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled

what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

23. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many

people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. {Or and believed in him}

24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all

men.

25 He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

VERSE13

PASSOVER:

This was to Israel what Christmas is to us. A large part of the yearly income came from this season of celebration. A million or more people came to Jerusalem during this seven‑day celebration. Wherever there is a lot of money to be made people come up with ways to do it. Greed takes over and people sell for five dollars what is worth five cents. Jesus lived in a world where religion was used as a racket to make money off people. History does not change. Jesus was angered by those who take advantage of others in the area of economics. Jesus knew this was a popular time for the masses and he chose this time on purpose for he knew the value of advertising and the appeal to the crowds. You have to get the attention of people to make an impact.

VERSE14

The second sign Jesus would show was here in the temple. First the home and then the temple. These two places are where all men need to sense the presence of God. The foundation for any nation is in the home and the church. The secular and the sacred life have this in common‑they both need the power and the presence of God.

MONEY CHANGERS:

The Roman coins with the image of the Emperor on them could not be used in the temple, and so they needed to be exchanged for Jewish coins. Morgan says they were also there to make religion easy and less expensive. You could change your large coins for smaller ones so you did not have to give as much. You could also buy a lamb or small pigeons there and not have to bring your own. This made religion much more convenient and less demanding

VERSE 15

This is the only record of Jesus using force. It had to be an unusual situation calling for force to motivate this unusual response of Jesus. This act of anger was out of

the ordinary for Him.

Arthur Pink writes, "We think of the Lord Jesus as the gentle and compassionate One. And such He was and still is. But this is not all He is.......................................Scripture speaks of "The wrath of the Lamb," And our lesson furnishes us with a solemn illustration of this. The unresisting money‑changers and cattle‑dealers, fleeing in terror before His flashing eye and upraised hand, give warning of what shall happen when the wicked stand before the throne of His judgement."

Whip=this was a whip commonly used to flog those being crucified. The Egyptian Pharaohs of the New Kingdom Period were sculptured holding across the chest a similar scourge as a symbol of their authority.

Sheep and cattle: You can imagine the noise and stench that people experienced as they entered this area. George Turner writes, " The temple "market' was indefensible whether from the standpoint of aesthetics, reverence, hygiene, or justice."

Adrienne von Speyr writes, "It was an elemental action; he gave no warning, preached no sermon, and gave no counsel: it was a storm that cleared the atmosphere. In other circumstances he was always ready to receive the sinner, but in this case there was no alternative. They were shopkeepers wanting in taste, in sense, in understanding, entirely preoccupied with material concerns and there was no point of contact with them.

Jesus reveals that sometimes the negative must come before the positive can work. You have to get rid of the negative for the positive to make sense.

VERSE 16

DOVES C.S. Lovett writes," Cattle could be driven and later collected, so nothing is lost, neither is there any hurt. Money thrown to the ground could be regathered. But loosed doves would fly away, so he merely orders them taken away. Even in anger, Christ acts prudently. He rebukes all, yet none is injured, nothing is lost. What an example! It was prophesied, "behold my servant shall deal wisely!" (Isa.52:13).

Ronald Ward writes, "Our Lord did not overturn the tables bearing the birds in their cages, for fear of hurting them. His anger against men did not include His other creatures. Even the animal creation benefits from His coming (Rom.8:19‑22).

The priorities got all twisted around. It started as a convenience for worshippers to have the moneychangers there and the sacrifices, but this convenience came to be the primary

business of the temple. Worship was put on the back shelf and especially for the Gentile.

Business took precedence over worship and this is sacrilege to Jesus. The church is to make worship the first priority and be different from the world and its pursuits. When this is not the case materialism dominates spirituality and men lose the essence of worship and the sense of God's presence.

My Father's house. Here is a direct claim to his Messiahship. God, the God of this temple was his Father. This was the basis for his authority.

MARKET OR DEN OF THEIVES:

Arthur Pink writes quoting Dr. Dods, "The poor was shamefully cheated, and the worship of God was hindered and impoverished instead of being facilitated and enriched. The worshiper who came to the temple seeking quiet and fellowship with God had to push his way through the touts of dealers, and have his devotional temper dissipated by the wrangling and shouting of a cattle market. Yet although many must have lamented this, no one had been bold enough to rebuke and abolish the glaring profanation."

George Hutcheson writes, "Things lawful, being done in a wrong time and place, become sin;..." Merchandise selling is perfectly legitimate but not in this context where it hinders worship which is the primary purpose of the temple.

Barclay writes, "He acted as he did because Gods house was being desecrated. In the temple there was worship without reverence. Reverence is an instinctive thing. Edward Seago, the artist, tells how he took two gypsy children on a visit to a cathedral in England. They were wild enough children at ordinary times. But, he tells us, from the moment he came into the cathedral they were strangely still and quiet: All the way home they were unusually solemn; And it was not until the evening time that they returned to their normal boisterousness. Instinctive reverence was in their uninstructed hearts. Worship without reverence can be terrible thing.

The court of the gentiles was the only place a gentile could worship in the temple. With all of the noise of the animals and the shouts of the hucksters and the racket of business there was no way a gentile could experience reverence. This angered Jesus because men who were seeking God were prevented from experiencing His presence. It is a severe evil to rob people of the chance to experience reverence.

VERSE 17

The quote is from Psalm 69:9. This is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. The references to vicarious suffering make it a distinctive messianic message.

When the Messiah came He would be filled with zeal for the house of God. When they saw Jesus with such zeal it was confirmed in their mind that He was indeed the Messiah.

VERSE 18

The Jewish leaders were fanatics for signs, but they could not see one even when it bit them in the nose. Jesus was giving them signs all the time, yet they were forever asking him for a sign. After he healed a demon possessed man who was blind and mute we read in Matt. 12:38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him,'Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you'" After he fed the five thousand they say to him in John 6:30, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?" They lacked the spiritual discernment to see that Jesus was the Son of God.

They were ever seeking for that which was ever present before them. (See stories of those who seek far and wide for what is at their fingertips.)

Mark 14:58 says, "I will destroy this Temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands." Barclay writes, "Now clearly what Jesus really meant was that His coming had put an end to all this man‑made, man‑arranged way of worshiping God, and had put in it's place a spiritual worship; that he had put an end to all this business of animal sacrifice and priestly ritual, and had put in its place a direct approach of our spirit to the spirit of God which did not need an elaborate man‑made temple and a ritual of incense and sacrifice offered by the hands of men......................................

I have come to destroy this temple in Jerusalem and to make the whole round earth the temple where men can approach and know the presence of the living God."

VERSE 19

The temple they thought he was talking about was the one nearby which Herod the Great had begun to build in 20 B.C. It had been under construction for 46 years and was not completed until 64A.D. just 6 years before it was destroyed in 70A.D.

George Hutcheson writes, "Christ did foreknow all His sufferings, and would not hinder, but willingly permitted them to come on, and under went them; for "destroy this temple, " is not a command of Christ, but a prediction for telling their malice, and a permission to them to do their uttermost." From the start of His ministry Jesus knew that the Cross was His destiny.

Jay Styles writes, "The dignity of our Lord's body. The bodies of believers are called temples because God dwells in them by a communication of grace, but the humanity of Christ is Gods temple by a substantial inhabitation, immediately and personally‑"in Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead." God dwells in the church as a King among His subjects, in Christ's humanity as a King in His royal palace.

"The essential idea of a temple is that of a place where God manifests Himself to man." Jesus was the temple in which the fullness of God dwelt. His death and resurrection was the sign of His ultimate authority.

VERSE 20

C.S. Lovett writes, "their vision is restricted to the symbolical temple on Zion, whereas the body of Christ was the true dwelling of God. The shekinah glory, which formerly graced the most holy place of the tabernacle, now had two legs and walked among them. His glory was wonderfully manifested by this act of cleansing the temple, but they didn't get it."

The Jewish leaders were such literalists in their interpretation, and that is why they were not able to understand much of what Jesus taught. Interpretation must come up with the meaning the speaker had in mind or it is not really interpretation but mere speculation.

VERSE 21

George Hutcheson writes, "Christ's body is the truth of that type of the temple; for as God did declare the temple to be His dwelling place, so in Him dwelleth the fullest of the God head bodily."

VERSE22

RECALLED

George Hutcheson writes, "even true disciples may be such babes in knowledge that for a long time they will little understand what Christ saith: for it was long before the disciples took up the meaning of this passage............................ Disciples may hear that at one time, the understanding and benefit whereof may be reserved to be gotten by them at another time, ........."

VERSE 23

Many believed= the masses of common people had more discernment than did the leaders. They saw the signs of Jesus and believed for it was obvious to them that he was who he claimed to be. There had been no miracles in Israel like his since the time of the prophet Elisha centuries before this.

VERSE 24

Jesus was skeptical of their belief, however, for he knew that faith that is based on the spectacular can wither fast when the miracles do not continue. People want bread every day or they will forget the miracle. What has he done for me lately will soon surface and they will look for another hero. Being popular was not the goal of Jesus. He could achieve this easily and that is what Satan tempted him to do, but this is not lasting commitment to get people to love you for the amazing. It makes you a performer and your popularity only last as long as you keep performing. People won by miracles need more and more miracles to keep them faithful.

Arthur W. Pink writes, "The Lord's example here is a warning for us. We do well to remember that all is not gold that glitters. It is not wise to trust in appearances of friendliness on short acquaintance. The discreet man will be kind to all, but intimate with few.

George Hutcheson writes, "it is a clear evidence of unsoundness when Christ works are the chief thing drawing men to profess faith, and not His word."

Jesus knew human nature and knew these people would soon be looking for another magic act to follow. He placed little confidence in people who only believe when there is a miracle to focus on. This kind of belief is based on emotion alone and is not an adequate commitment. True belief says that though I get no miracle and have to suffer I will say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

Barclay writes, "He knew quite well there were many who would have followed him while he continued to produce miracles and wonders and signs, but if he had begun to talk to them about service and self‑denial, if he had begun to talk to them about self‑surrender to the will of God, if he had begun to talk to them about a cross and about carrying a cross, they would have stared at him with blank incomprehension and would have left him on the spot. It is the great characteristic of Jesus that he did not receive followers unless these followers clearly knew and definitely accepted that which was involved in following him. He refused‑in the modern phrase‑to cash in on a moments popularity................................................He knew how human nature hungers for sensations. He wanted, not a crowd of men cheering they knew not what, but a small company who knew what they were doing and who were prepared to follow to the end."

Paul encountered this fickle faith of the crowd in Lystra. He healed a man lame from birth and we read in Acts. 14:11 " When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" They were instant believers based on the miracle. But just a few verses later we read in verse 19, "Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead." He was a god one day and a man to be despised and killed the next. Faith based on miracles is not a very reliable faith.

VERSE 25

John stresses that Jesus knew human nature well and that is why he was skeptical and did not buy into the superficial. It is part of being Christ like to be skeptical of human nature. It is fallen and not to be trusted based on the superficial.

John tells the story of Nicodemus next because in contrast to those who had a superficial belief, Nicodemus had a deep desire to know Jesus and Jesus knew it and let him come and learn true faith. He knew the heart of this man was sincere and was not just an emotional thing caused by the miracles.

THE WEDDING OF CANA Based on John 2:1‑11

BY GLENN PEASE

A WEDDING TOOK PLACE THE THIRD DAY,

IN CANA OF GALILEE.

MARY WAS THERE AS A MAINSTAY,

JESUS JOINED THIS GAIETY.

HE AND HIS DISCIPLES WERE GUESTS,

SUDDENLY THE WINE WAS GONE;

MARY CAME MAKING A REQUEST

TO HELP THIS GREAT FEAST GO ON.

SHE SAID, "THERE IS NOW NO MORE WINE."

HE REPLIED, "WHY INVOLVE ME?"

"DEAR WOMAN, ITS NOT MY DESIGN

TO REVEAL ALL THAT WILL BE."

HE SAID, "MY TIME HAS NOT YET COME."

THEN SHE DID THIS PLAN PURSUE.

HER ORDER WAS NOT BURDENSOME.

"DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU."

THERE STOOD SIX WATER JARS OF STONE,

USED FOR WASHING BY THE JEWS.

THEIR CLEANSING WAS A CORNERSTONE,

FROM THESE GALLONS THEY COULD CHOOSE.

JESUS SAID UNTO THE SERVANTS,

"FILL THESE JARS UP TO THE BRIM.

THEN DRAW SOME OUT AS OBSERVANTS.."

THEY COMPLETELY OBEYED HIM.

TAKE TO MASTER OF THE BANQUET

THEY OBEYED AND THEY DID SO.

HE TASTING SAID, "I MUST ADMIT,

WHERE THIS CAME FROM I DON'T KNOW.

THEN HE CALLED THE BRIDEGROOM ASIDE

SAYING, " MOST GIVE THE BEST FIRST,

BUT THIS CHOICE WINE YOU CHOSE TO HIDE

UNTIL GUESTS HAD QUENCHED THEIR THIRST.

"YOU HAVE SAVED THE BEST UNTIL LAST,

NOT THE USUAL WAY TO GO."

JESUS BY THIS BREAK FROM HIS PAST

DID HIS SECRET GLORY SHOW.

THIS WAS HIS FIRST MIRACLE SIGN.

HIS GLORY WAS THUS REVEALED.

THIS TURNING WATER INTO WINE,

HIS DISCIPLES FAITH CONGEALED.

5. CONFRONTING THE SCANDAL OF OUR PREJUDICES 4

Billy Graham has preached the Gospel around the world to every race. In an interview with Diane Sawyer he was asked this question: "If you could wave your hand and make one problem in this world go away, what would it be?" Without hesitation he replied, "Racial division and strive." This world is filled with civil wars based on race and religion all because people have a deep‑seated prejudice against other people who are different. Hate crimes abound for the same reason. If this was the limit of the impact of prejudice in our world, it would be the number one sin of mankind according to Billy Graham and many others. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Prejudice of one kind or another poisons the heart of just about everyone. Masses of people do not experience racial prejudice because they have no contact with any but their own race. But nobody escapes all forms of prejudice.

The issue of male‑female prejudice touches almost everyone. Class prejudice is also nearly universal. Religious prejudice, not only between the religious and non‑religious, but between the many religions of the world and the many denominations of each religion. We could go on endlessly listing areas of prejudice down to such trivialities as right‑handers against left‑handers and cassettes lovers against CD lovers. There does not appear to be anyone who can escape all forms of prejudice, and so to some degree we are all a part of the problem.

The Apostle John tells us that he did not record all that Jesus did, for the world could not contain it if everything was recorded. But he did record the confrontation of Jesus with the woman at the well, and he gave us a lot of detail. The reason for it is because in this encounter Jesus demonstrates that He was free from, and uncontaminated by the prejudice that dominated the fallen hearts of men. Jesus rejects all the major prejudices of men in this account. Racial, religious, and sexual prejudice are rejected in this encounter. No two people could be more in contrast to each other than Jesus and this woman, and yet we see Jesus reaching out to break down all the walls of prejudice in relating to her.

It is hard for us to grasp the audacity of Jesus in this situation, and to understand why the disciples were so surprised to see Him talking with her. But just imagine if you walked into a McDonalds and saw Billy Graham in a booth talking to a black prostitute whom you knew had just started her own cult in the area, and Graham is asking her to go get him a glass of water. If that scene would not surprise you and draw out some feelings of prejudice, you are ready for the rapture. Most Christians would be shocked just as the disciples were shocked at Jesus. Why? It was because they were prejudice. They were products of their culture, and so they had the typical sexual, racial, and religious prejudices of their day.

Jesus uses prejudice people like His disciples because that was His only choice. They wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy the Samaritans. They wanted no part of eating with Gentiles, and they were even prejudice against little children, for they wanted mothers to keep their kids away from Jesus. He rebuked them and told them to let the little children come, for of such is the kingdom of God. Jesus had to fight all kinds of prejudice in His disciples, and the fight goes on all through history for Christians are full of all the prejudices that are popular in the culture in which they live.

Jesus came to buck the system and to reject the prejudices in all its forms. He goes against the grain of His culture and dares to love all people equally. It is His dream that His disciples will be people of the same spirit. It took a long time for Jesus to get His disciples free of prejudice. Peter, even long after Pentecost, could not bring himself to eat with Gentiles. It was a deep prejudice in him, and even the Holy Spirit could not cleanse him of it. God had to speak to him in a dream and tell him not to call anything unclean that he had made clean. He finally got Peter to go and eat with the Gentile Centurion Cornelius in Acts 10. It was one of Peter's hardest spiritual battles in letting go of his prejudice against Gentiles.

It is good that his battle is recorded, for we do not want to give the impression that prejudice is easy to eliminate. It is very hard to do so, and often the best Christians can do in the short range is to recognize that they have prejudice, and to keep it under control so it does not do damage. I know Christian leaders who are prejudice against others, but they know it and face it honestly, and they do not let it block their Christ‑like response to others. It is there, but it is Christ who is controlling their actions.

Overcoming the power of prejudice may be the hardest battle many Christians will fight. Lavonne and I are grateful for our mostly prejudice free upbringing. We have very seldom felt the power of prejudices in our lives, and we have not found it hard to love people of a wide variety of differences. This has not been the case for many Christians, and the result is they have a perpetual fight with the power of prejudice. Bad circumstances that lead you to suffer because of other people's behavior leads to prejudice.

I read a funny story that illustrates this point. A Jewish painter in Tel Avive was hired to paint a church. The ladder began to slip when he was painting the ceiling, and he fell into the baptismal fount and was knocked out. The priest passed by and tried to revive him, but he could not do it. He made the sign of the cross over him and uttered a few Latin phrases. He was about to leave when Mr. Feldman awoke. He asked, "What happened? Where am I?" The priest said, "You are in a church and I just bestowed a blessing on you. You are now a Christian." Feldman went home feeling very shaky, and he called out to his wife, "Rachel do you want to hear what happened to me today?" She shot back from the kitchen, "No time! I'm late for my tennis game. Supper is on the table." He went to his daughter's door and said, "Marian, do you want to hear what happened to me at work today?" She came bursting out of the door saying, no time! I hear Don honking the horn for us. Bye." He walked down the hall to his 17‑year‑old sons room, and before he could even ask his son he came out clutching his basketball and said, "Hi dad. The guys are waiting to get started. I'll see you tonight." Feldman sat down on the living room couch and thought to himself, "I'm a Christian only a few hours and already I hate three Jews."

The point is, if you are in some way mistreated by a person who is of another race, class, sex, or religion, you will tend to hold all people in that category accountable for your suffering, and that is prejudice. Let one woman driver do something stupid and almost cause you to have an accident and you will say, "Those awful women drivers," and condemn the whole class because of the mistake of one. Then every time you see a female driver you have the preconceived judgment that she is a menace on the road.

Prejudice is based on magnifying a particular experience into a universal principle. I know a Mexican who will not get out and get a job. Therefore, all Mexicans are lazy. I know an Irishman who drinks too much. Therefore, all Irishmen are drunks. We could go on endlessly describing how people make universals out of particulars. Jesus refused to do this, and instead, he treated all people as individuals without judging them as a part of a class. Other Rabbis would be saying that you do not talk to a woman because they are uneducated and ignorant. Jesus did not assume such a thing, and the result was that He found her to be quite intelligent. Jesus did not assume anything, but He treated her as an individual with as much worth as any other individual.

Jesus did the same thing with Zachaeus. Others were prejudice against this little man, for he was a tax collector. He was pre‑judged as being a scoundrel with no potential to be an asset to society. Jesus did not prejudge him, but He loved him and treated him with respect. Because of this He won him as a disciple. Jesus did not right anybody off as having no potential to be a part of His kingdom. Gentiles, women, children, publicans and prostitutes, and even Pharisees were welcome. Jesus never shut the door on any individual, for He was prejudice free. This is the goal for every believer.

Jesus lived in a world filled with all forms of prejudice. The Jews hated Samaritans, and both hated Romans. The Jewish and Gentile conflict was perpetual. All of these conflicts are still a part of that area of the world. Jesus did not change that at all but He produced a kingdom within the world where prejudice is not allowed. In the kingdom of God there is no Jew or Gentile, bound or free, male or female, but all are one in Christ. In the kingdom of God all prejudice is eliminated. When Christians do have prejudice it is because they are conforming to the world, and they are letting the values of their culture control their lives. They are not praying that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Christian is to be in world but not of it. When they are both in and of it they no longer represent the kingdom of God. There would be no point in the Lord's Prayer being prayed: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," if this was automatic. It is not, and the Christian can refuse to let the kingdom come, and instead let prejudice be a controlling factor in their lives. At this point they are just like the world, and this explains why there is so much conflict in the Christian world. When we operate in Christ, and His spirit dominates us, then we are in conflict with the value system of the world. If other Christians are not in Christ, but are in the world, they will be prejudiced against us.

Take D. L. Moody as an example. He was so full of the love of Christ for all people that he was severely criticized by many Christians. Moody loved the ragged poor kids of Chicago, and this made the rich Christians angry at his folly in focusing on them. Moody loved famous theologians like George Adams Smith and Henry Drummond. They were too liberal for many Christians, and they were angry at Moody for loving them. Moody was friendly with certain Roman Catholics in a day when this was very offensive to many Protestants. When his son Paul Moody wrote about how prejudice free his father was he was savagely attacked by other Christians. Why? Because the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world are in conflict, and if you have the mind of Christ and live free of the scandal of prejudice, you will be in conflict with all people who thrive on prejudice.

I have a hunch that the large majority of Christian conflict with other Christians is a matter of prejudice. When the Christian does not have the mind of Christ, but is thinking like the world, there will be inevitable conflict with Christians who do have the mind of Christ. If you are prejudice free you will not only be bucking the world system, but the Christian population who is influenced more by that system then by the Spirit of Christ. This means that to be really Christ like you have break out of your comfort zone, and, like Paul, rebuke Peter for his prejudice against Gentiles. It is hard to risk the disfavor of other Christians, but it is a duty to point out the scandal of a Christian having prejudice attitudes. Peter responded to the rebuke by overcoming his prejudice, but not all will respond this way.

Jesus cared about this Samaritan woman as much as He cared about any other person. She was of a mongrel race, which was a race of Jews that had intermarried with the hated Assyrians. She was of a corrupt religion, and her personal life was a disaster of broken relationships. If anybody Jesus ever met should have been ignored or rejected, here was the prime candidate. But Jesus gives her more than the time of day. He gives her the water of life, and she became one of the greatest evangelists of the New Testament as she brought many others to Christ. There are dozens of reasons why this was all wrong from the point of view of prejudice, but none of these reasons had any effect on Jesus. He broke down all relational walls so that there was no such thing as a person who was treated with any kind of prejudice.

The greatest enemies of Christ were the Pharisees, and the most violent of them all was Saul of Tarus. And yet Jesus chose this enemy to be His Apostle to the Gentiles. He converted him, filled him with His spirit, and sent him into the world to break down walls, and to be an agent of reconciliation. Saul, the embodiment of prejudice, and a man filled with bitter hatred toward those who were different, became Paul the embodiment of Christ‑likeness with a prejudice free spirit. This is the dream of Jesus for all who follow Him. Jesus did not approve of this woman's divorce record, nor did He put any stamp of approval on her living with a man out of wedlock. He did not okay her unorthodox religious views either. Being loving and unprejudiced towards others is not the same thing as acceptance of all others do or believe. Jesus was very narrow in His perspective. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me."

Jesus had many deep and absolute convictions. But He was able to accept all persons regardless of how they may differ from Him. He did not say, "You are a woman, and so I'll not waste my time talking to you. You are a Samaritan, and so I'll not make any effort to break down that wall. You are immoral, and so I'll not try to show you a better way." A prejudice free spirit says that anybody and everybody is worth relating to, for they have the freedom to choose the will of God for their life. Being prejudice free does not mean you like or accept everything about another person, but that you accept the person, and do not let what you don't like hinder your treating them with respect.

To do this is a far greater sign that you are filled with the Spirit than speaking in tongues, or healing of diseases. You can do wonders galore, but if you do not have love you are, as Paul says, nothing. Without the prejudice free Spirit of Christ that enables you to love all people you cannot fulfill His dreams for you. Gandhi in his Autobiography tells of how he was beaten and forced by officials to leave his first class place on the train in South Africa, even though he had a first class ticket. The whites refused to let a colored man have equal accommodations with them. He refused to cooperate with their prejudice, and they had to take him off the train by force. He fought this kind of prejudice and inspired many around the world to do so. A lot has changed because of his influence, but the spirit of prejudice is still alive everywhere.

The Christian is to go beyond the law and really care about people of all races. By law the world has to treat people better, but if the Christian does not rise above that level they are still sub‑Christian. Christians are to love and not just tolerate, and until they do they are not prejudice free, and until we are prejudice free we are still a part of the scandal that is so contrary to the Spirit of Christ.

6. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Based on John 4:1f

The unexpected is the source of so much of the joy of life. Our three year old granddaughter, Jennifer, was praying at the table a couple of weeks ago. I noticed she was going faster than usual, and she came to the end saying, "In Jesus name, amen." Then she shouted, "I win." It was so unexpected that we were all shocked into laughter, and we realized at that point, she and Jason had a thing going as to who could finish first. It was a whole new concept to me, the concept of competitive prayer.

We expected the commonplace, and we were surprised by the unexpected. God does this a lot, as you study His handiwork. God has so designed natural life that it can only exist by means of the exceptional and the unexpected. It is a law of nature that as a liquid cools its density increases, and it gets heavier. But is water followed this law, the ice that formed on the top of lakes would sink to the bottom, and eventually the whole lake would be solid ice. But fortunately, water is an exception to this law. It is expands when it freezes, and ice becomes lighter than water, and it floats. If God had not made water an exception, life would be greatly limited on this planet, and may have been impossible.

It is surprising how many exceptions are necessary for life on earth. If the law of gravity had no exceptions, the heavy gas would be at the bottom, and the lighter gas at the top. This would mean the whole earth would be under a layer of carbon dioxide, and this would make life as we know it impossible. But the law of gravity is defied by the law of diffusion of gases, and so oxygen can be available for all of life on the surface of the earth.

God is not a legalist, even in His laws for governing the universe. He has variety and flexibility, and unique unexpected exceptions. Beware of locking God in and saying, He always does this, or never does that. God is the God of surprises, and the God of the unexpected. Those who study any aspect of His creation soon learn this, and it is true in the study of His Word as well. No where is this more evident than in John chapter 4, where we see the encounter of Jesus with the woman at the well. It is literally loaded with exceptions and surprises. Let's look at some of them to get the flavor of the whole passage.

1. Ordinarily you run to success, but this text tells us Jesus had to flee from it. His disciples were baptizing more people than John the Baptist. His movement was growing like wildfire, and so he packed up and left. A very unexpected reaction to success, but he had to escape the conflict this was going to produce with the Pharisees. His time was not yet, and so he fled success.

2. Also unusual is the verse which tells us Jesus did not baptize people. John did, but Jesus let His disciples do the baptizing. As far as we know, Jesus never baptized anyone, and that is surprising.

3. Jesus took the route to Galilee that was the unusual route. Most Jews went around Samaria because of the hostility of these two peoples. Jesus is the exception, and He takes the unexpected way, right through this alien territory.

4. His disciples go into town to buy food, which is a surprise, because, as the woman at the well says in verse 9, the Jews do not associate with the Samaritans. Here is another exception.

5. The woman of Samaria is one surprise after another. She is the only woman in the Bible, that we know of, who had five husbands, and the only one we know of who was living with a man out of wedlock. This may not be uncommon in our day, but it was the unusual and unexpected than. Jesus only took one trip through Samaria, and He runs into the only woman with her particular record.

6. It was a surprise that anybody would be at the well at high noon. This is the hottest part of the day. Most would come in the cool of the morning or evening, but she was there at the unexpected time.

7. It was unexpected that a rabbi would talk to any woman in public. But here we are surprised, for Jesus not only talks with her, He shares with her the deepest insights into the nature of God. He gives her the clearest revelation of who He is, as the Messiah.

You would expect a teacher of the caliber of Jesus to reveal His most profound truths to the highest leaders of the land, or at least some leaders in some formal setting. But Jesus is full of surprises, and He gives this lowly nobody insights of the greatest depth. There is no rule to cover this. This is just another great exception.

8. Finally, you do not expect a woman to be one of the first successful witnesses, but her testimony led crowds of Samaritans to believe in Jesus, and become His disciples. Jesus did not chose any woman to be one of the twelve, but long before any of the twelve were effective evangelists, this woman led a multitude to Jesus.

This whole account is an exception to the rule. When Jesus sent out His twelve, we read that He gave them these instructions in Matt. 10:5‑6, "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." Here He is doing the very thing He forbids them to do, and by so doing, He has the biggest harvest of fruit He ever had in His ministry. The bottom line of all this is, expect the unexpected when you follow Jesus. The disciples of Jesus never expected to see Him talking with a woman. Verse 27 implies they were embarrassed by the whole scene. It was a surprise, and so unexpected, and they could not handle this exceptional situation. The text tells us, "No one asked what do you want, or why are you talking with her?" Their minds were full of questions, but they were shocked into silence, and did not know how to deal with this unique situations.

They were not expecting the unexpected, nor were they open to the unusual and exceptional. This is one of the basic principles of evangelism, and they had to learn it, and we have to learn it, to be effective tools for Christ. After all, if Jesus sent His church into all the world to make disciples, then He expects His church to be ready for an infinite variety of possibilities. My father use to say, "It doesn't take all kinds to make a world, but we've got them anyway." We have to face reality and recognize, the world we are trying to reach is full of diversity, variety, and the unusual. If you do not expect the unexpected, you will be closed to both God and the world He wants you to reach. Part of what it means to walk in the spirit is to expect the unexpected.

Jesus expected prostitutes, tax collectors, and people that nobody else ever dreamed of reaching, to respond to the Gospel, and become a part of the kingdom of God. Jesus expected that this Samaritan woman would respond to His acceptance, and that the kingdom of God would be extended into territory that no Jew would ever even try to reach. In Acts 1:8 we read that Jesus said to His Apostles, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Do you think the Apostles would have taken that serious, that they were to witness in Samaria, unless they had seen with their own eyes the results of this encounter with the woman of Samaria? They had to be eye witnesses of this exceptional, and totally unexpected event, or they never would have been able to go to Samaria with any expectation at all. The result is, in Acts 8 we read that Philip had a marvelous ministry in Samaria. And Peter and John preached the Gospel in many Samaritan villages.

My point is, this never would have happened, and all the evangelism that took place, and all the lives of the Samaritans changed forever, never would have happened had Jesus not prepared the way by helping His disciples learn to expect the unexpected. They were slow learners, for He taught them to expect the cross and resurrection too, but they were not open to it, and had to learn the hard way. One of the main reasons why many people are not evangelized is because of Christians who have never learned to expect the unexpected. Almost every pastor who has been in the ministry any length of time could tell a story similar to that of Dr. Dino Pedrone, who pastored in Pennsylvania.

A woman came to him for counseling, and in the course of their conversation he asked her about her husband. She said he was a good man, but he was not a Christian. When the pastor asked if he could come and talk to him about the Lord, she said it wouldn't do any good, for he will never become a Christian. The next Saturday he went to see the husband. He discovered that though he was hard and indifferent to spiritual things in relation to his wife, he was hungry to know God. The wife was shocked when her husband opened his heart to Christ. Soon he was baptized and a part of the church.

The next time this wife came for counseling, he asked about her children. She told him she had a son who was a rebel, and was always in trouble. He asked if anybody had ever talked to him about the Lord. She said that she knew her son would never trust in Christ. The next Tuesday some people from the church called on the son, and her son received Christ. After that she came to the pastor with a list of her relatives. Not all of them responded to the Gospel, but some did, because she had finally learned to expect the unexpected.

Until we learn this basic principle, we determine what God will, or will not do, and we never even try that which seems unusual, for we do not give the exceptional a chance to happen. This is what quenching the spirit is all about. We refuse to be available to the Holy Spirit to do what is unusual and unexpected. We are just like the Jews who rejected Jesus. They expected a Messiah like David the warrior, who would lead them to victory over Rome. They did not expect the unexpected, and that is exactly what Jesus was. Jesus did the unexpected, because He expected God to use the unexpected to change lives, and God honored that expectation. When we talk about being like Jesus, let us not forget this aspect of His character.

God moves in mysterious ways, was not just a saying or a song for Jesus, it was a philosophy of life. He did not live in conformity to what was expected, but in His passion for people, He reached out to touch them any way He could, and to let them know they were loved, and were invited to be a part of the family of God. The world seeks to force us into its mold. It says conform and avoid being an exception. But the call of Christ is to be a non‑conformer. Be different, be unusual, and be the exception. Be open to the unexpected, for these are the people God uses to open up new worlds, as Jesus opened up the world of Samaria to the kingdom of God.

One of the most Christian nations of the world today is Korea. The largest church in the world is there, along with many other great churches. It all began with an exception. Robert J. Thomas was a Welshman working in China for the Scottish Bible Society. He learned that the Korean language was based on the Chinese, and so the Korean intellectuals could read the Chinese Bible. Nobody had any interest in Korea, but he was determined these people would have the Bible. He got on an American ship, the General Sherman, and sailed to Korea. When the ship got near the port a fight broke out with a Korean ship, and the American vessel was set on fire, and all the passengers were killed. Thomas was so determined to finish his mission that he took some of his Bibles, and leaped into the sea. He struggled to the shore, and staggered out of the water. He thrust the Bibles into the hand of the Koreans, who clubbed him to death. That is how the Gospel first came to Korea in 1866. It was not a very promising beginning, nobody would expect anything to come of such a tragic event. But God used this exceptional event to produce one of the greatest harvests of history.

William Carrey said, "Attempt great things for God and expect great things from God." If you never attempt to do anything but the usual and the expected, you will never know if God will use you to do the unexpected. We have to stop thinking that our friends and neighbors are too unusual and different, and use that to justify our refusal to witness to them. We must expect the unexpected and share the good news with them. If the disciples would have watched this encounter of Jesus and the woman at the well, you can count on it, they would have been betting that Jesus would have had and easier time getting Satan to make stones into bread, than of getting this woman to supply Him with water. She was there at noon in the hot Sun because she was not welcome by the other women who came at cooler times. She was not a very sociable person, and to serve a Jew was not likely her cup of tea. She just was not a likely prospect for getting a cup of cold water, let alone a prospect for evangelism. She would not have gotten a single vote if Jesus would have operated on the majority rule, and taken a vote on it.

Jesus had passion, and he had a procedure, and now we want to look at‑

HIS PROSPECTS FOR EVANGELISM.

For Jesus, every person who crossed His path was a prospect for evangelism. Jesus, like the Good Samaritan, considered every man he met with a need as His neighbor. Now Jesus confronts a bad Samaritan, and He has the same spirit. This woman at the well was robbed by Satan, and beaten out of a life of love. She was as helpless to help herself as was the man who was beaten who was found by the Good Samaritan. Jesus is now stopping to help this bad Samaritan because she is His neighbor.

One of the most amazing things about this great rescue is that it was all done by words. There is no miracle in this passage anywhere. Jesus could have had her jar float down into the well, and return without the use of a robe. He could have added the Cana touch, and made the water turn to wine. He could have done all sorts of miracles to convince her He was the Messiah, but He needed none of that. The Jews saw wonder after wonder, and still would not believe. But here is one of the so‑called heretic Samaritans, and she only hears the words of Jesus, and does not see a single wonder of His miracle working power, and she believes. The masses came and believed as well, with no record of a single miracle in the two days He stayed there. Note verse 41, "And because of His words many more became believers." They went on to give Jesus the title, the Savior of the World in verse 42.

This, from Samaritan people who were enemies of the Jews, and on whom James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy. No wonder Jesus rebuked them, for He did not see the Samaritans as His enemies. He saw them as prospects for evangelism. He did not write them off, for He expected the unexpected. He expected these despised people to become a part of His family. The day you label any person of any class or race as being no prospect for evangelism, is the day you cease to have the mind of Christ. This whole account, which is so unusual and full of the unexpected, is designed to make it clear to Christians all through history that our Lord expects us to expect the unexpected, and never write anyone off as a prospect for evangelism.

This is the Jesus version of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. It is mission impossible. This passage of scripture is surely designed to demonstrate but the Gospel is for everybody. There is no such thing as a hopeless case. The lease likely people in this world can become children of God, and can become leaders in the kingdom, as did this Samaritan sinner.

Alfred Noble was a Swedish chemist who made a fortune by inventing powerful explosives, which he sold to governments around the world, so they could make weapons and blow people and things to pieces. He was not the kind of man you would expect to have compassion for suffering humanity. But one day his brother died, and the newspaper by accident published his obituary instead of his brothers. It is not often a man gets to read his own obituary. It had a shocking impact on Alfred, for he was identified in the obituary as the man who made a fortune by enabling armies to achieve new levels of mass destruction. He was going to be remembered as a merchant of death, and he hated it.

So he took his fortune and established awards to be given in various fields to people whose work was a benefit to humanity. Today he is remembered, not as the destroyer, but as a benefactor to man. The man least likely to be so remembered is so remembered. The point is, people can change, and time can change, and circumstances can change, and, therefore, anything is possible. So let's stop assuming that Samaritans are not good prospects for evangelism.

Whom do you never expect to be a child of God? Whom do you never expect to be used of God to touch others for Christ? What is the most unexpected change Christ could make in another's life by your influence? Faith is simply expecting that these unexpected events can become a reality. Thoreau wrote, "I learned this, at least, by my experiment: That if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

Do you have any dreams about what might be if the world was more hopeful, if life was more simple, if you had more control of what happens? Don't wait for life to level off and even out, but go for your dream now, expecting the unexpected. Have you ever wondered why it is why collectors have so many rare coins, or stamps, or bottles? If they are so rare and unusual, how can anybody have a collection of them? It is because they are people who go through life looking for the unusual. They expect the unexpected. The non‑collector walks pass treasures all the time and does not see them. Collectors see them, because they expect to see them, and they are always looking for the unlikely.

Our environment is loaded with people who are lost. They are hidden treasures, like this sinful Samaritan woman, but we pass them by, because we don't expect Christ to ever find these lost sheep, at least not through us. As long as we think this way, we will be right, and we get what we expect‑nothing. The only way we will ever be used to win the lost is to live with the mind of Christ, a mind that expected the unexpected.

We are not trying to deny the reality of Murphy's Law, for it to is a part of life. Who of us has not decided to watch a TV series, which we haven't watched for 6 months, only to discover it is a rerun of the one other time we decided to watch it? Or who of us has not been on vacation watching a program, only to suddenly see it end with the words, to be continued? No setting is so solemn that it scares away Murphy's Law. Stewart Briscoe told of one of his associate pastors at the funeral of a war veteran. The pastor was to lead his military friends out through a side door, but he chose the wrong door. With military precision they marched into a storage closet in full view of mourners. The effect was somewhat marred when they had to beat a hasty retreat in confusion. The unexpected is not always good, and what we would hope for, but to have the mind of Christ we need to expect good unexpected things to happen, when we care about every person we meet, enough to share the love of Christ.

You will never meet a person who does not need Christ. You will never meet a person for whom Christ did not die. You will never meet a person who cannot come to Christ. Therefore, no matter how unlikely it is, expect people to be won into the kingdom of God, and expect God to use you to be a key factor in making that happen. So let us go into our Samaria with the mind of Christ, and expect the unexpected.

7. THE WELL WITHIN Based on John 4:1‑26

Keith Miller in his book The Scent Of Love tells of the young intern who was brilliant and competitive, and wanted to get his hands on the toughest cases that came into the hospital. One day a man was brought in very sick. His temperature was high, his blood count was down, and his fluids were out of balance. He was in bad shape, and this young doctor said, "I'll take him." He started working on the sick man and got his temperature down. Then he got his blood count up, and his fluids in balance. Everything was going quite well, but suddenly the patient died.

The supervising physician came by just as the intern was covering the patient, and he noticed he was furious. He watched unobserved from the hall as the young doctor grabbed the chart at the front of the bed, took a pen out of his pocket, and scrawled something across it. Then he stormed angrily out passed the supervisor, and never said a word. The older physician could not resist going into to see what he had written. It said, "This patient was in better condition when he died then when he first came to me." This is in the same category with the statement, "The operation was a success, but the patient died." It sounds strange, but this is the goal of the physician of the soul‑to make sure people are in better condition when they die.

Corrie Ten Boom got the warning that a Jewish orphanage was to be raided, and all the babies killed. She quickly got some of her Dutch boys dressed up in Nazi uniforms, and sent them to the orphanage to demand that the babies be turned over to them. With tears they were handed over. The people did not realize that they were really saving the babies. All were given to families to raise. One of the boys involved in this clever rescue said to Corrie that he believed the most important work of his life was the saving of those babies. Corrie said to him that as important as it was, the more important work is saving people forever by telling them of Jesus. She put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Pete, every Christian is called to be a soul winner for Jesus.....and in your life there will come a times when you will see that as the most important work for you.

Six months later he was arrested, and given one week to live. The day before he was executed he wrote this letter to Corrie. "All the boys in my cell are sentenced to death. I am so glad that I could tell them about Jesus and they have accepted Him. I know that when they shoot us tomorrow, we will all go to heaven, because we have brought our sins to Jesus and He has made us all children of God. We know that the house of the Father with many mansions is our very close future. I see now that the most important work for a Christian is to win souls for eternity. Like the young doctor, this young physician of the soul could have written their death certificates with these words: "These boys were in better condition when they died then when they came to me." Jesus could have written this concerning the thief on the cross as well.

This is the ultimate need of all mankind. We cannot solve the problems of the world. It will be a fallen world until Jesus comes again, and it will be a world of unsolvable problems and crooked paths we cannot make straight. But we can make sure that the victims of this fallen world are in better condition when they die, then ever before. That is the great human need that Jesus addresses in John 4. He does not offer the woman at the well marriage counseling, or some advice on self‑esteem therapy. After being rejected by five husbands, she no doubt had a head full of psychological problems. Jesus did not inquire if there were children involved, and offer her family guidance, or legal advice on how she could get out of Samaria and start a new life. This woman may have had more problems than we could imagine, but all Jesus offered her was a spring of water that would well up to eternal life. He was not solving all her problems, but He was offering her the chance to be in better condition when she died, than she ever was before she met the Messiah.

The point I am getting at it this: Man's greatest need is for eternal life. There are a great many studies on man's basic needs. He needs food, air, water, shelter, clothing, and he needs love and security, self‑esteem, and a host of other things for the ideal and balanced life. But the bottom line Biblically is, man needs God. He needs to know he is a child of God, and a part of a family that never ends. This woman at the well had five families that ended, and we do not know what state she was in with her present family. Jesus offers her a chance to be a part of a family where she will be loved permanently. Her wells kept running dry, but Jesus offers her a well that will never run dry. He offers her a place where she will always belong. This meets her basic need for love, acceptance, and security.

This whole passage is about meeting needs, and it leads us to focus on another principle truth about evangelism‑the purpose of evangelism. Let's review the key truth that Jesus is teaching us in John 4. We have looked at‑

1. HIS PASSION FOR EVANGELISM.

2. HIS PROCEDURE IN EVANGELISM.

3. HIS PROSPECTS FOR EVANGELISM.

4. HIS PURPOSE IN EVANGELISM.

This last one is our focus now. There are literally thousands of definitions of what evangelism is. I have written a couple myself. Here are some of the most famous:

1. The Madras Foreign Missions Council, "Evangelism is so to present Jesus Christ to the world in the power of the Holy Spirit that men shall come to put their trust in God through Him, accept them as their Savior and serve Him as their Lord in the fellowship of His church."

2. The World Council Of Churches, "Evangelism is so making Christ known to men that each is confronted with the necessity of a personal decision, yes or no."

3. Toyohiko Kagawa, "Evangelism means the conversion of people from worldliness to Christlike godliness."

4. Albert W. Beaven, "Evangelism is simply the contagion of enthusiasm for Jesus Christ.

The methods which we employ are only channels through which this enthusiasm flows."

5. Archbishop Temple, "Evangelism is the winning of men to acknowledge Christ as their Savior and King, so that they may give themselves to His service in the fellowship of His church."

6. Samuel Boon of Siam, "Evangelism means living, doing, and talking for Christ."

There are many ways to say it, but when you reduce it to its essence, evangelism is simply meeting mans basic need for salvation, or the need for eternal life. When this purpose is achieved, there will be many changes in time, but the ultimate value will be, people will be in better condition when they die than they were before they met the Great Physician. As we watch the Master at work in fulfilling the purpose of evangelism, we see how the entire process is need oriented.

Jesus deals with each person He encounters according to their need. Find a need and meet it was His strategy. In John 3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." This analogy of coming into the kingdom of God by the process of a new birth has so dominated the minds of modern Christians that they have completely ignored the fact that Jesus never once referred to it in dealing with the woman at the well. His analogy here is tailored to meet her need, and He uses the analogy of drinking at a fountain that never runs dry. For Nicodemus, and millions of others, the concept of being born anew is just what they need to grasp the Gospel. But for others, the need is to see being saved is like finding a fountain of water that quenches the thirst for love, meaning, and acceptance. Still others need to see it as being a lost sheep found by a loving shepherd, and being returned to the fold.

There are different analogies used in the Bible to describe the experience of being saved, because the people who need to be saved have a variety of individual differences. Jesus did not treat people like pieces of plastic coming along in a assembly line, all alike, and all needing the same label attached, or the same hole drilled in the same place. People are all different, and though they all have the same ultimate need, they have very different temporal needs, and these need to be addressed in witnessing to them, and leading them to have their needs met in Christ. We should all have a sort of canned presentation of the Gospel prepared, but we need to be aware of the importance of being flexible, and not so locked in to a specific presentation that we ignore people's differences.

If all you ever say to people is, you must be born again, you are not being Christ like, for He only used that as one of several analogies of salvation. So use them all, and vary them with the circumstances, and the nature of the people you are dealing with. This woman was at the well in the heat of the day, and she was obviously in great need of water, so Jesus takes this need and builds His presentation of the Gospel around that need. Jesus said you need living water, and this got her attention, for that was her most relevant need just then. A wise witness will observe and listen so as to know something of the needs of the person he is witnessing to. If the Gospel does not speak to a felt need, you can count on it,

it will seem irrelevant to the person you are talking to. If the purpose of evangelism is to meet a basic need, then you have to be dealing with a persons need to get anywhere in achieving this goal.

You can never catch fish unless you appeal to a need. They need food, and so you offer them bait, and a variety of bait for appeal to different fish. You also have to appeal to a need to be a fisher of men. That is why Jesus has so many different names and titles in the Bible. Each one makes Him just what people need at a particular time in their life.

To the lonely, Jesus is the friend.

To the lost, Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

To the sick, Jesus is the Great Physician.

To the ignorant Jesus is the teacher.

There are many other examples, and the point is, Jesus is what people need, but He has to be presented according to the specific needs of the individual, and that is why we need to pay attention to people's needs, for they are the doors of opportunity to share the good news of Jesus. All that Jesus is doing in this context revolves around need. He exposes her record of failed relationships, not to embarrass or condemn her, but to make it quite clear that she has a need for love and acceptance, which she just can not quench. She has been trying to satisfy her thirst for love by one relationship after another, always hoping the next one will meet her need. We do not know the details of why five men divorced her, but he chances are good that it was because she could never be satisfied, and was always looking for another man. She could have been like many in our day who expect to find love

and life's meaning in sex alone.

We do not want to minimize the value of sex, and its place in God's plan, and try to pretend it is not a major need. We are just pointing out that people who become obsessed with sex make it an idol, and destroy all their relationships by an insatiable quest to quench their thirst for love at this one well. People need a love that is more powerful and more permanent than sex. That is what this woman needed, and that is what all need, and that is the love that Jesus offered her, and offers to all.

This woman went from man to man expecting her thirst to be quenched, if she could just find the right man. Jesus did not question her need, and say it was not legitimate. He did not say she did not need love and satisfaction. He just said she was drinking from the wrong well, and seeking to satisfy her need by means of externals. The only water that can satisfy is living water, and that comes from a well from within. This is the very essence of what the Gospel is all about. It is about the inner life. The world system is a system of externals. The meaning of life is in what you can see, feel, hear, smell, and taste, and so it makes sense that they drink at the wells of sensualism and materialism.

The people we contact every day in the world are people who are thirsty, and who are seeking to quench that thirst by getting all the pleasure they can if that means drinking at the well of immorality, then so be it, it is the only well they know. The purpose of evangelism is to help them see a better well. A well that can meet their deepest needs, and save them from a futile search that makes them slaves rather than liberated people. Jesus came to give this woman life and life abundant. That is, a life set free from the slavery of being compelled to go from one relationship to another, always looking for that external setting that would satisfy. When we find our deepest needs met by water within, we are free from this external compulsion. Jesus is that well that provides the living water, and when He is in our lives, we can find satisfaction from within. We can know we are loved and accepted, and feel secure without the constant reinforcement of externals.

We thank thee, Lord, for Pilgrim days,

When desert springs were dry,

When first we knew what depths of need

Thy love could satisfy.

The purpose of evangelism is to help people change their focus so they find their needs met by the kingdom of God which is within them, when they receive Christ as Savior. The Well Within is the goal. The well without is the focus of the world, as it was with this woman. What she needed most, and what all people need most is, The Well Within‑an inner source of the water of life that meets our deepest needs and quenches our thirst for love. The purpose of evangelism is to point to Jesus as this Well Within, and make Him so appealing that people want to open their lives and welcome Him in.

Those who drink of this well will never thirst again Jesus said. This does not mean people who take Jesus as their Savior never feel thirsty. Jesus Himself felt thirsty, and asked for a drink. The needs of life go on, and we all need external water, and we all need external love, acceptance, and the materialism of the secular life is still an important part of the Christian life. But the ultimate need is met in Christ, and we no longer need to live under the delusion that some external can satisfy the meaning of life. The need for God,

for love, and for eternal life are all met in Christ, and we never need to thirst again for these needs to be met.

This woman had plenty of needs after she welcomed Christ into her life as her Messiah. She still needed to come to the well and get water. She still needed to bring her sex life under the control of God's law, and make a commitment to the man she was living with.

She had a list of needs she had to meet in the external world. But she had a well within that satisfied her ultimate need for love and life in God. Billy Sunday, the great evangelist, once wrote to the mayor of the city where he was going for a campaign. He asked him to send him the names of citizens in special need of prayer. The mayor sent him the city directory. Everybody is in need of prayer, and everybody always will be, as long as history lasts. Just knowing this need makes it easier to witness to all people.

The Gospel is not, come to Jesus and you will never need to come to the well again; you will never need human love again; you will never need the acceptance of society again; you will never need a job, food, a place to live, and friends again. Not at all! These needs go on for all people, as they did for this woman at the well. The Gospel is, you don't have to look for the meaning of life in all of the wrong places, for you have found it in your relationship to Christ. The meaning of life is found in Jesus, who by His death for your sin has reconciled you to God, and given you eternal life. The good news is, you will be in better condition when you die than you ever were before you came to Christ, and began to drink from the well within.

Jesus did not scold this woman for her futile search for water to quench her thirst. Nor is it our calling to blast people for their foolish quest to find the fountain of life in all of the externals of the world. Our calling is to witness to a source of water that quenches the thirst for meaning, and sets people free from the slavery to externals. All people have a deep need for a relationship with God. Back in the days of the death of God movement someone said, "Isn't it strange, we've gotten rid of God, and yet something is still missing." There is a thirst in man that can never be quenched until he feels right with God. Even atheist feel this. Bertrand Russell was one of the most famous atheists of this century. Listen to what he wrote, "Even when one feels nearest to other people, something in one seems obstinately to belong to God, and to refuse to enter into any earthy communion‑at least that is how I should express it if I thought there was a God. It is odd isn't it? I care passionately for this world and many things and people in it, and yet...what is it all? There must be something more important, one feels, though I don't believe there is."

He didn't even believe in God, but he admitted he had a thirst for God, and a need for God to make sense of life, and to make it complete. Everyone you know and meet has this basic an ultimate need to know God, and to be reconciled to Him. Every need people have is a door by which we can enter into their lives, and point out their greater need. If you want to make the Gospel relevant, make it need centered. Find a need and meet it. The purpose of evangelism is to do what Jesus did with this woman at the well. Appeal to the need for water that satisfy people's thirst, and then point them to the only water that can meet that need, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be to all who receive Him, The Well Within.

8. THE PROBLEMS IN EVANGELISM Based on John 4:1‑26

James McGinley had a woman come forward in one of his meetings, and he took her into the counseling room and shared the Gospel with her, and then he prayed. She then asked him what he thought about a Protestant marrying a Catholic. He said it can often be very difficult for both, and he asked her why she asked him that. She told him that her boyfriend was out in the audience, and that she wanted to leave her husband and two children to marry him, but thought she should get converted first. She wanted Christ to okay her sinful decision, and put His stamp of approval on it, so she would be off the hook. She did not want freedom from her sin, but freedom from the guilt of it.

People want Jesus to save them from the consequences of their sin, but they do not want to be His disciples. They are not looking for a commitment, but just an easy way out. Almost everybody in evangelism can tell stories of people who come forward to be delivered from the messes their sins have created, but who have no intent on becoming followers of Christ. They don't want in on anything, they just want out of something that is a problem. They are like fish who want the bait, but when they see they are hooked and being taken out of their environment, they resist like mad. If they can dive into the reeds and create a slack in the line so they can snap it, they can escape, and that is what they do. They want what they can get out of Christ, but they don't want to be taken captive by Christ.

Fishing is full of problems because the fish have a different agenda than the fishermen, and so it is with fishing for men. We need to face this reality up front, for those who go with the illusion that fish love to be taken out of the water and into the boat will soon be disillusioned by discovering that sinners often fight to stay in the kingdom of darkness, and resist coming into the kingdom of light. The Christian has to recognize that evangelism has many of the same problems as fishing, and you need to know, not only a lot about bait, but about how to be patient, and how to let the hooked fish run and feel free at times, and other times to keep the tension on. Fishing for men is sometimes as easy as catching fish, and sometimes it is as hard, and we have to be prepared to deal with the problems.

If Jesus would have wanted us to think it was a snap to make disciples, He would not have made it a point to call attention to the problems of evangelism. Problems are a part of life, and there is no escape, even when you are doing what most pleases God. This whole account in John 4 is problem oriented. Jesus was at the well in Samaria because of a problem. He had to get out of Judea because of the opposition of the Pharisees. If He had no problems, He probably would not have there in the first place. But Jesus never let a problem blind Him to opportunity. He never would have been in the world if it was not for a problem, that men are lost without a Savior.

I. The first problem of evangelism is that we let problems blind us to opportunity.

Most of us go through life thinking that problems are obstacles to our being a witness for Christ. The fact is, most people only come to Christ because of some problem. Problems are what open people up to hear the good news. They only feel the need of it when they have a problem. You problems should make you sensitive to the problems of others. Every interruption and foul up in our life's plan should open your eyes to see it as an opportunity to touch another life.

Jesus was being rejected by the leaders of Israel, and now He sees a woman at the well at noon, and He know she is a woman who has suffered much rejection. He has the same problem she has. He has been rejected by the people that should love Him, and she has been rejected by five husbands. A common problem has brought these two together. If Jesus would not have been rejected He would not be in Samaria at this point, and if she had not been rejected by her husbands, she would never have been here at noon. She would have come with the other women in the cool of the day.

Problems are not always barriers to evangelism, but are often the reason there is an opportunity for evangelism. We need to stop seeing problems as only problems, and see them as opportunities. The early Christians did this, there is a fascinating parallel to John 4 in Acts 8. There was great persecution in Jerusalem, and many of the Christians had to flee. Acts 8:1 says the Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but the lay people scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Verse 4 says they preached the Word wherever they went, and then it tells of how Philip went to Samaria and had a great ministry. It is almost a rerun of John 4. The problems of Christians led to great blessing and evangelism for the people in Samaria.

The lesson is clear. People with an eye for evangelism do not see problems in their lives, or the lives of others, as obstacles, but as opportunities. We need to see every problem as a door of opportunity to touch some life that we could never touch had the problem not taken us in a new direction that led us to cross their path. Jim Spady, a missionary in Nigaria, was interrupted one day by shouts that an elephant was coming. It was rare in those parts, and so everybody, including the police, were running to see. It was learned that the beast had escaped from a reserve area the day before. And it had killed a man. The police began to fire and it ran at them, and Jim found himself up a tree with many others. The police lined up and fired together, and the elephant dropped. One of the policeman was injured in this dangerous situation, and was taken to the hospital. The missionary visited him, gave him a New Testament, and to make a long story short, this Muslim policeman came to Christ.

Had this problem, that brought them together, ever happen, there's not likely any way he would have witnessed to this man. The problem, however, provided a way by which they could share, and because he used the problem to this end, he won a man to Christ. So it was with the woman at the well, and so it is with millions who come into the kingdom of God because of Christians who see problems as opportunities, rather than obstacles. Man an injured Christian has ended up in the hospital where they witnessed to others, and turned mutual tragedy into mutual triumph.

If you have got a problem, be aware of the people it may bring you into contact with, and be alert to how your problem may be the providence of God in opening up a door of opportunity to witness. If you see the problems of others, do not only sympathize, but look for a chance to evangelize. This does not mean you pounce on others when they are down, and force yourself on them. It means you graciously open the door to help them see their greatest need is Christ. Every problem in life can be a fragment of the will of God, and a light beckoning us to go in a certain direction, and find in it an opportunity to touch some life for Christ.

II. The second problem in evangelism is blindness of the prospects for evangelism.

People can die of thirst with the water of life at their finger tips. Jesus said to the Samaria woman in verse 10, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." Jesus is saying, everything you have ever searched for is yours for the asking, but in your ignorance, you blindly walk right pass the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The providence of God has presented you with the winning ticket to the greatest prize ever given‑eternal life. But you are so hung up on this Jew‑Samaritan prejudice, you are letting it slip through your fingers.

She didn't know she was conversing with the Messiah, and people just do not realize that when they hear the Gospel they are being offered the greatest opportunity of their life. Fortunately, Jesus did not just say, you are right lady, I as a Jew should not be asking a Samaritan for a drink, and then just let her go away. The story would be one of the great tragedy of the New Testament, just like that of the rich young ruler, had that been the case. Jesus does not let her go, but keeps the conversation going until the light breaks through her darkness. If people are blind to the value of what can be theirs in Christ, you have to be persistent in your presentation if you expect to see them enlightened.

If you are going to let the blindness, the stubbornness, and the prejudice of the sinner cause you to give up, you will not pursue many people for very long. Your chances of being an effective fisher of men will be about as slim as your chance of catching fish by their leaping into your boat. It is because sinners are blind to the wealth you offer them, that you need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Because of the problem of blindness, and all sorts of negative feelings on the part of the lost, the Christlike witness needs to develop tact. Tact is the discernment of what is appropriate to do so say in dealing with others. It is the ability to be delicate and sympathetic, even in difficult situations, so as not to give offense.

No where do we see Jesus as the Master of tact more effective than here in John 4. He knew this woman's past, and her present violation of the law of God. He could have taken a totally different approach to her. He could have said, don't you dare question my asking you for a drink, and pretend that you are somehow bound by such drivel as the prejudice between Jew and Samaritan. You care nothing for the law of God, and you defy it by your life style, which deserves more severe judgment than the isolation you receive from your community. You deserve the flames of hell where there will be no well, and not a drop of water to cool the tongue of the likes of you.

This approach would not be theologically incorrect, but by no stretch of the imagination would it be good news. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the distinction between the Gospel and judgment. The Gospel is good news, and judgment is the result of rejecting the good news. Too often Christians what to get right to part 2, and skip past the good news, and just pronounce judgment on the sinner. This was not the approach of Jesus. He offered the sinner good news first, and only after the light was rejected, did He warn of judgment. Judgment is not the Gospel.

This woman had already been through much judgment, as she had likely been through 5 divorces. She had been proclaimed an unfit wife, and suffered, who knows how much, public condemnation. A person like her would be very sensitive to criticism. Jesus knew that, and so He is extremely tactful with her. This is a key element in overcoming the problem of the blindness of the sinner in evangelism. Jesus approaches her in a spirit of need and humility, and not a spirit of superiority. In human warfare you want your opponent to think you are stronger than they are, and so you make a show of force to impress them with your superiority. In spiritual warfare, where you are trying to invade the kingdom of darkness and set its captives free, you reverse that psychology. You come in weakness and try to make your opponent feel superior, or at least, equal to you.

You do not intimidate, but you eliminate any reason for provoking their defenses. You do not want their guard to go up, but to come down, and the only way to do this is to approach them without an air of superiority, but one of humility. Jesus said, I need your help to get a drink. He did not say I am the Messiah woman, get me a drink! He put her in control by asking her to help Him. She could respond to His need, or reject it. She was not threatened by Jesus, for she was in a position to threaten Him, and say get your own drink.

So often we are afraid to witness because we feel we have to be superior to those we witness to. In reality, we will be effective only when we make them feel equal to us, or even superior. This is a New Testament principle. Listen to Paul in Phil. 2:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Anybody can do this if they will, but we tend to be too proud to do it. But in the context, Paul says Jesus is the best example of this, and we see it here in John 4. J. C. Macaulay in his book Personal Evangelism wrote, "We must rid our minds of any sense of superiority. If that exists, it cannot be hidden, and we are defeated before we begin. No man is going to accept our superiority, not even the derelict on skid row."

He tells of Evangeline Booth, of Salvation Army Fame. She always looked for something in others she could affirm, even if it was only that they were superior to her in their knowledge of sin. That is why she won so many to Christ. We tend to think we have to impress the sinner with how great we are, when in reality, we have to impress them with how valuable they are. Jesus said to this woman, if you would have asked I would have given you living water. This is pure grace and unconditional love, as you will find it no where in the Bible more clearly. Jesus did not say to her, if you give up the man you are living with, and beg for mercy, I'll see what I can do to reduce your judgment. He said to her, eternal life is just waiting for you for the asking. There is not one iota of law here. This is grace as pure as it comes.

This is how Jesus penetrates the blindness of the sinner. He does not treat her like dirt as the Pharisees did, nor does he come demanding all kinds of reformations before they qualify for His love. He comes saying you are somebody, somebody I even need, and you are so loved and valued that I will give you all that anyone could ever hope to receive to quench their thirst for love and meaning, and it is yours just for the asking.

It is a strange paradox that the saint and the sinner have some of the same fears. The saint is fearful because they feel weak and inadequate, and so full of need themselves. They are afraid to be exposed as needy people, and so they hold back in their witness, lest it be thrown in their face‑physician heal thyself. The sinner, on the other hand, is also fearful of being exposed. They do not want to have their sin and failure known. They want to put on a good front so as to be acceptable.

Jesus is the example of how to solve both of these problems. First of all, the Christian needs to stop pretending they are not needy. He had needs, and did not hesitate to let it be known to the prospect. Keith Miller made a great breakthrough in the Christian world when he demanded that Christians quit playing the game of pretending they do not have problems. The common testimony use to be, I had a life of problems, and then I accepted Jesus, and now my problems are gone. He challenged that fantasy with the facts. He had plenty of problems before his conversion, but he also had plenty of them after, and he found this to be true of the Christians he knew. Assurance of eternal life in Christ did not solve all his problems. He was still selfish, proud, resentful, lustful, and all sorts of sub‑Christian things. He was saved, and he loved the Lord, but he was far from problem free.

What he discovered was that this was not a liability but an asset in witnessing, for it was his problems that enabled the lost to identify with him, and have hope that they could still be saved, even with a host of problems. Not many people can identify with a problem free life, and so don't pretend you have one. Let your problems and needs be evident, and you will be a more effective witness. That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well.

The second thing He did was to help her overcome her pride. Pride is what makes us hide our problems. Jesus let her know very tactfully that He knew all about her shady past, and sordid present, and yet He did not reject her. He had already told her He was willing to give her living water. He had already made it clear she was a candidate to receive His best gift. You and I cannot know people as Jesus knew this woman. We do not know their hurts and how much rejection they have experienced, and how much failure they have survived. But we can still let people know that even if we knew the worst about them, our goal is not to hurt, but to help them, and heal them.

This woman was damaged goods, but Jesus made it clear she had nothing to fear, for even though He knew the worst side of her story, He intended to offer her a solution to her deepest need. The best counselors; the best Christian friends; the best soul‑winners, and disciple makers, are people who can convey to sinners the message that nothing I can know about you will alter my determination to help you find God's best. The best and most loving Christian witness is one where you acknowledge problems, and use them to so relate to the lost, that they become an aid to bringing the lost to finding a solution to their greatest problem‑the living water, the Lord Jesus Christ.

9. ONE IS ENOUGH Based on John 4:1‑30

It is hard to believe, but one man determined how we as Americans pronounce and spell words. When we began as a new and independent nation, Noah Webster thought is was only right that we stop be a copy of the English, and develop our own original ways of spelling words. Andrew Jackson said, "It is a mighty poor mind that can't think of more than one way to spell a word." This was no joke, but was taken seriously by our forefathers, and this nation began with an unbelievable variety of words spellings. It was a sort of creative phonetics in which each writer sounded out the word, and used the letters that best suited his pronunciation. One could find general spelled jinerll, and February as febrewarie.

Webster said that we need some rules for unity, and to inspire pride in our own national language. In 1803 he gave up journalism and teaching, and he shut himself away from the world for 3 years. He then published a dictionary that had 5 thousand words that had never been in any dictionary. Then he spent the next 20 years laboring on his larger work An American Dictionary Of The English Language. He published it in 1828, and it is the grandfather of all American dictionaries.

If you wonder why you write theater rather than theatre, it is because of Webster. He threw out most of our old endings, and he made words like honor just end in or rather in our. The point is, one man determined to make the American language unique, and distinct from old English, accomplished that goal, and now for over 150 years millions of people speak and write in conformity to this one man's choice. Words are now called right or wrong because of this one man's decision as to how they should be spelled.

True stories of one man crusaders to change the lives of millions are a fascinating part of history. If you read the history of Alaska, you will discover that one Presbyterian missionary by the name of Sheldon Jackson made Alaska what it is. He built schools and churches all over Alaska. He single handedly hounded the U. S. Congress until they passed bills to fund education for the natives. Congress appointed him U. S. Commissioner of Education for Alaska. He became a one man army to save Alaskans from the suffering due to ignorance. There were fleets of exploiters who recklessly slaughtered their game, and many Eskimos were dying. Jackson took it upon himself to raise money from the churches in the United States.

Jackson brought 16 reindeer from Liberia, and by this move he made the Eskimos self‑supporting, and sure of food. It was so successful that congress gave him money to get more, and the whole history of the Eskimos was changed and made secure. We can't list the many other things this one man did for a people he dearly loved, but he proves again that one man is enough to make a world changing difference.

One woman is also enough, as we see in the case of our text. It is amazing that in a male dominated world, like the New Testament times, that a woman should be revealed to be the most successful witness Jesus ever had in His lifetime. We have no record of anyone, not even any of the 12, or even of all of them put together, ever becoming such fruitful witnesses for Christ, as we see in this woman at the well. Not only is she a woman, which was two strikes against her already, but she was something less than honorable. She was the kind of woman who would be read about more in a Hollywood gossip column than in the society page of the temple news letter. She had been with 5 husbands, and was then living with a man she was not married to.

This woman was no quitter, that is for sure, but none the less she was not the kind of woman you would like to be the chairperson of your evangelism committee. Jesus did not, of course, make her anything. He just convinced her that He was the Messiah, and she went back to town and became a powerful witness. So much so that we read in verse 39, "Many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman's testimony." We do not know how many this many was, but Jesus in verse 35 said to His disciples, as the crowd came out of the city to see for themselves, "I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest." You get a picture of a vast crowd of people coming with their white robes flowing like grain in the wind, and Jesus says that they are ripe for harvest.

Verse 41 says that many more believed in Him because of His word. The woman's testimony got them there, but their personal contact with Jesus convinced them He was the Savior of the world. Do you know of any other witness for Christ in His earthly ministry that had such an impact on people. One woman changed the history of her people, and she brought them into the kingdom of God. They were outcasts in Israel, but in the kingdom of God they were in on the ground floor because of one woman. It was not because of the 12 who were more concerned about lunch that lost Samaritans, but because of one very lost Samaritan woman who was found by Christ, and who was a motivator of others. She was only one, but one was enough.

Jesus never left the one for a crowd. He did not say to Nicodemus, who came alone at night, "Join the crowd in the morning, and I'll answer your questions with the group." He never said to Zaccheus, "Come down and join the crowd." Jesus, instead, said, "Come down, for I am going to your house to deal with you one on one." Jesus left the crowd for the one, but never the one for the crowd. By His life and teaching Jesus made it clear that one is enough. He said the good shepherd will leave the 99, and go out after the one. One is of enough value to take risks for, and to put forth great effort to save.

Sometimes our biggest problem is that we think too big. We want to save the world, and this is very noble, but it is an ineffective goal. We need to narrow our scope, and devote our lives and resources to reaching just the one. If you have two tennis balls coming at you, and you try to get both, you usually miss both. You need to concentrate on the one. If several ducks or pheasants fly up in front of you, and you try to shoot them all, you will likely get none of them. You need to focus on just one. This is true in the world of evangelism as well.

Mr. Vincent was a wealthy retired planter in Dublin, Ireland. He went to hear the great D. L. Moody, and he received Jesus Christ as his Savior. He had a friend by the name of Edward Studd, and he invited him to come to hear Moody. That is all we know about Mr. Vincent. He was a new Christian who invited one friend to hear Moody. That is not much of biography is it? Wrong! His concern for this one man changed the history of millions. Edward Studd came to Christ because of his friends persuasion, and though he only lived 2 years after his conversion he touched the life of his son Charles Studd. Charles became one of the great cricket players of all time in England.

Charles had all the glory and fame of a celebrity. He was not an active Christian, but he lived for the pleasures of the world. But when his brother nearly died he was made to realize the vanity of worldly pleasure. He was revived in his faith, and in his desire to bring others to Christ. He had great opportunity, for he was popular with everyone because of his skill in cricket. His friends were willing to listen to his testimony and respond. He wrote, "I cannot tell you what joy it gave me to bring the first soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have tasted almost all the pleasures that this world can give...but I can tell you that those pleasures were as nothing compared to the joy that the saving of that one soul gave me."

He decided to give up his fame and devote his life to preaching the Gospel. As the leading cricket player in England, his fame opened up doors, and he got good press. Thousands of students flocked to hear him. One of them was F. B. Meyer who was so turned on for Christ that he became one of the great preachers of English history. I have read many of his books that have touched millions. He was just one who was touched by C. T. Studd, and we could follow that road to see where his influence went, but we need to press on, for there is no end to the possible detours.

Studd inherited a fortune from his father, but he gave it all away. He gave the money that enables D. L. Moody to start the Moody Bible Institute. He gave to help George Muller in his famous orphanage work, and to General Booth to strengthen his Salvation Army. His gifts alone changed the history of millions. He went off to China where he again reached thousands, bad health brought him back to England where he was still popular, and revival broke out in the universities where he spoke. The Student Volunteer Movement was started, which has had world wide impact ever since. Great movements were everywhere around him, but he still focused on the need for one on one, and the idea of each one reach one. He said, "I'd sooner save one soul than be Queen Victoria." Nobody else can be the Queen, but everybody else can be one who reaches one for Christ.

C. T. Studd went on to become one of the most famous and successful missionaries in China, in India, and in Africa. There will be a multitude out of many nations singing the praise of Christ for all eternity because of this one man. And remember where it all began. Mr. Vincent had one friend he wanted to see saved, and by his efforts to touch this one man he changed time and eternity for multiplied millions.

Does it make any difference if we reach only one person? Satan deceives us, and he makes us think it is no big deal. The world will not be changed by one person. What difference does it make if you and I help one person to come to Christ? It seems so insignificant, and so we neglect the most important goal of our lives. We hope that some day we will be able to do something big for God, but we see nothing big in trying to touch one person. The fact is, there is probably nothing we can do more important than reaching that one person for Christ.

One of the greatest evangelists in the history of England and America was Gypsy Smith. He may never have been a part of Christian history had a working man neighbor not helped his father become a Christian. We do not even know this man's name, but had he not sought to win this one neighbor, tens of thousands of names now in the Lamb's book of life may never have been touched for Christ. One is enough to motivate us if we see the importance of one. But since one is the smallest number we are psychologically brain washed into to thinking that one is not enough, and it is not a worthy goal.

A young boy asked his father, "What is a millionaire?" The father said, "Well, its somebody who has a million dollars." The little guy thought for a moment, and then said proudly, "Well, I'm a oneaire." He may have been proud of his one dollar, but being a oneaire does not impress us. In some circles even one million is a basis for pity. In our materialistic culture it is almost an embarrassment to admit that you only have one car, or one house, or one of anything. One is just not an impressive number in a world where abundance of possessions is the measure of success. But Christians so easily take their eyes off Jesus and His love for the individual. They let the culture be their value guide, and the result is that even the best of Christians fail to feel the real value of one.

When Robert Moffat, the Scottish missionary to South Africa, came back to England to recruit helpers he was greeted by a cold British winter. Only a small group braved the elements to come to church, and he was disturbed that most of them were old ladies. All the young people were safely sheltered in their homes while the old ladies were risking their lives to go hear a missionary. Dr. Moffat was discouraged, and who wouldn't be? There was no one there to go to the mission field, and so it was a total flop. That is except for the fact that there was a small boy there who was pumping the bellows for the organ. He was so touched by the call to missions that he went on to school, and he got a degree in medicine.

He spent the rest of his life ministering to the unreached tribes of Africa. His name was David Livingston. Only one little boy, and that was all the fruit there was for Moffat, but that one little boy he touched made an impact on Africa beyond anything he could ever dream. Never say only one with a tone of pessimism, for so often in history one is enough. In the light of what God has done in history through one person time and time again, it should be considered swearing for a Christian to ever say in an negative way‑only one.

Billy Graham preached a sermon titled All It Takes Is One back in 1976. In it he traces God's plan through the ages, and he demonstrates that for God one is always enough. One righteous man by the name of Noah was all he needed to save the human race. One righteous man by the name of Abraham was all he needed to start a new nation, and a special people. All he needed was one righteous man by the name of Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. On and on the record goes through the terrible time of the Judges. One Gideon, or one Deborah was all God needed to save His people. Right down to that single seed of Abraham‑that One of all ones; that single son of David by which God saved the world, the Lord Jesus Christ‑one has been enough.

G. K. Chesterton, that one in million authors, wrote a poem in which he expressed the mind of the many single heroes of history.

Though giant reign put out the sun,

Here stand I for a sign.

Though Earth be filled with waters dark,

My cup is filled with wine.

Tell to the trembling priests

Under the deluge rod, that here

One Nameless, tattered, broken man

Stood up and drank to God.

This poem fits Martin Luther perfectly, for he stood alone against the majority for the cause of Christ, and he changed all of history by doing so. Somebody years ago wrote, "I asked why doesn't somebody do something? Then I realized I was somebody." Everybody is somebody because they are one, and one is enough to make a world of difference.

God, of course, is One. The essence of Jewish theology is Deut. 6:4, "Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." The essence of Christian theology is that there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There is only one way to God, and He is that one way. One way is enough, for it is a way that is open to all. One is enough is a very accurate theological statement. One is enough to hurt the whole of mankind, or one is enough to heal the whole of mankind. Paul in Rom. 5:19 sums up his whole argument, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." All it takes is one to lose or save a world. One is enough to open the door of heaven or hell.

It is true that John Quincy Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes both became president of the United States by one vote. But it is also true that one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi party in 1923. One is enough for great good or great evil. One traitor by the name of Judas blots the family of the Apostles. One log can create a massive log jam, and one uncooperative spirit can hold up the flow of the Spirit in the life of a church. One is a powerful number for both the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.

The king of France sent 6 coffee plants to Brazil, but only one of them survived the violent storm. But from that one single plant came the vast coffee plantations that fill half the coffee cups of the world. Cups of blessings overflow in this world as well because one is enough. Channing Pollock in his book One Man Power develops the theme that everything of importance in the world was begun by one man, or by one woman. Trace every victory over evil in this life back to its beginning, and you will discover one man or one woman who was the key to that victory.

In Acts 8 Philip is having a revival in Samaria, but God calls him to leave the crowds and go to the desert to share the Gospel with one Ethiopian Eunuch. Only one foreigner, and yet God calls him away from the crowds for that one guy. He responds to the Gospel, and he goes back to Ethiopia, and the church there to this day traces its origin back to this one man. God did not save a group of Ethiopians, but only one, for one was enough to change the history of that land.

I trust you get the point, for there is not two or three points, for this is a one point message, for one is enough. The call of God to you and to me is not to change the world, or to change our country, or state, or city. The call of God is to reach one. Not only is this a worthy goal, and one you are more likely to achieve, it is by means of reaching one that you are most likely to change the world.

One can blow it;

One can bless it.

One can make or

One can mess it.

One has power‑one has might;

One can turn the dark to light.

One is more than a part.

One is a whole.

One can heal your aching heart;

One can even save your soul.

One is all we are for sure,

And being one can seem so tough,

But in this truth we have a cure‑

One is enough.

Author unknown

"O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise," we sing, but the fact is, God only gave us one tongue because one is enough. The sins of men are so varied and multiplied, but we have only one Savior, and one mediator between God and man, because one is enough. There were 12 Apostles, but God chose Paul to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. The Gentile world was far more vast and varied than the Jewish world, but God chose only one, because one was enough. Paul recognized this in his own life when he said, "This one thing I do." We would all be better Christians, and we would all accomplish more for the glory of Christ if we would learn to focus on one thing, and recognize this basic truth that one is enough.

10. THE GREATEST FREEDOM Based on John 8:31‑36

The battle for freedom of some kind is being fought around the world. Here in our own land there are constant battles for freedom of religion. Minorities all over the world are fighting for freedom. Years ago Heine said, "Freedom is the new religion; the religion of our time." The possibility of freedom is becoming known to all people because the world has gotten smaller and people everywhere can see that some other people have attained it, and they want it also. Once they have seen what can be, what is becomes intolerable to them. The words of Patrick Henry in 1775 expressed the feelings and minds of millions. He concluded his address by saying, "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty powers! I know not what cause others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death." Moore puts the same idea into poetry.

Better to dwell in freedom's hall,

With a cold damp floor and moldering wall

Then bow the head and bend the knee

In the proudest palace of slavery.

Men everywhere are recognizing they were made to be free, and they want to be able to sing with the patriots of America, "My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing." They want to boast with the patriots of Columbia, "And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, while the earth bears a plant, or the sea roles its waves. Men want to be free and stay free. Lord Acton said, "History is the record of man's struggle to be free." What is of interest for us to notice is that in this struggle men are concentrating on only the lesser of two kinds of freedom. There is a freedom of external restraint, and a freedom from internal bondage. Man is giving himself to battle for the first, but is hardly even aware of the second kind of freedom.

It is the second kind of freedom that brought the Son of God into the world to become the great Emancipator and Liberator from sin. Jesus would not think lightly of political freedom, but this was not the freedom He came to give. The Apostles would not be indifferent to man's political oppression, but this was not the message they proclaimed. Man is in a greater bondage than that which man can make. He is in bondage to sin, Satan, and his own fallen nature. What can set him free from these tyrants is the greatest freedom. Jesus stands alone as the one who is able to lead men into this greatest of freedoms. This means the church is the most relevant body of people in the world, for it alone has the answer for escape from the bondage to sin. We want to look at three aspects of Christ's teaching concerning this greatest freedom.

I. THE CONDITION NECESSARY TO RECEIVE IT. v. 31

Jesus had been speaking to a crowd of Jews who were not His followers, but as He was speaking some of them believed, and so He addresses those who had just made their declaration of independence from the crowd, and Jewish leaders. Jesus made it clear to them that it is not the start that counts, but the continuing. Anybody can make a commitment on the basis of a good sermon or idea shared, but the real test comes when you continue on and discover truths that you didn't agree with at the time of the commitment. This happens to so many people. They get started, but they do not keep going. Israel was happy to leave Egypt and escape their bondage. They were off to a wonderful start, but it didn't last, for soon they were longing to return.

Someone has said that if all the Christians who looked back to their sinful life with a sense of longing to return were turned into salt, like Lot's wife who looked back, there would be a great many more pillars in the church, and they would be literally the salt of the earth. Jesus came to make us free, and free indeed, but if we do not fulfill the condition of pressing on, and of continuing in His Word, we will forfeit the goal. Jesus says that only those who continue in His Word are true disciples. A disciple is defined here as one who continues in the Word of Christ.

He is no true follower of Christ who only follows when the Master walks where the follower wants to go. He is no true believer who only believes when the Lord teaches what he agrees with. Jesus did not encourage any superficial discipleship. He told those who believed right on the spot that when they made a commitment to Him it was absolute and permanent, for it was of no value. Calvin said, "Here Christ warns them in the first place, that it is not enough for anyone to have begun well, if there progress to the end does not correspond with it." Just as man's bondage to sin is due to his continuance in sinning, so also our hope for freedom from those powers depends on continuing in the Word of Christ. Jesus was saying this to believers. The distinction between one who is a believer and a disciple is that a believer is one who has begun, but a disciple is one who has continued. Discipleship is the condition for receiving the greatest freedom.

II. THE CAUSE OF RECEIVING IT. v. 32

Discipleship, which has been defined as continuing in the Word of Christ, leads to the discernment of the truth. Jesus says that if you continue in it you shall know the truth. It is not maybe, but you shall know it. It is a promise, and it will be the knowing of the truth that shall liberate you. The greater the discernment of truth, the greater the freedom. All ignorance is bondage, but none if more so costly as the ignorance of the truth of Christ. Men will go to the battlefield to kill and be killed for national freedom, but they will not take the time to study the Word of Christ that they might gain and maintain the greater freedom from the bondage to sin. All other freedoms lose their value to the degree that one does not possess this greatest freedom.

J. C. Ryle said, "All political liberty, however useful for many purposes is worthless, unless we are children of God, and heirs of the kingdom by faith in Jesus." The problem is that one cannot even discern this truth unless he fulfills the condition and continues in the Word. It is only by continuing that one can find the truth, and only as one has the truth can he be free. Truth is the battering ram by which we smash down the gate of ignorance and escape into the light from the dungeon of error. Truth is what sets us free because it is only by knowing the truth that we even become aware that we are in bondage. The Jews to whom Jesus talked were not even aware of their bondage. Like men today they considered only the external factors and never thought of the tyranny within. They were surprised and probably indignant at his statement that the truth would set them free.

In verse 33 they reply that they are Abraham's seed and never were in bondage to anyone. Jesus did not argue their claim about never being in bondage even though he could have easily won the debate, for they had been in bondage to Egypt, Babylon, and now to the Romans. Jesus is not concern about winning an argument about external bondage. He is concerned about the worst bondage and the greatest tyrant that man faces. So in verse 34 Jesus comes out with a clear statement that He is talking about spiritual bondage and slavery to sin. A good many Americans would be offended just as these proud Jews were, if you told them they were slaves and not free. Many who sing of liberty are in greater bondage than they realize. They do not know that they are captives of their sinful nature. It is the job of the church to help those who live in our great land of liberty to realize that they still need to be set free through the truth of Christ. No person is truly free until they have found the greatest liberty in Jesus.

III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF RECEIVING IT. v. 35‑36

On the 4th of July, 1779 this proclamation was made: "This day being the anniversary of our glorious independence, will be commemorated by the firing of 13 cannon from West Point at 1 o'clock P. M. The Commander‑in‑Chief thinks proper to grant a general pardon to all prisoners in the army, under sentence of death. They are to be released from confinement accordingly." Certainly it would b