The Samaritan Woman (1)

It is our desire, with the Lord's help, in the coming months, to bring you the well-known story of the Samaritan woman. We hope to follow the Lord Jesus on the journey that took Him through Samaria. We will see that He “must needs go through Samaria.” Christ had to go through this land because there was one living there who was known by the Father. There was one who would come to know a hunger and a thirst for the living waters. We will try to unfold for you the blessed truths that God has given in this portion of Scripture. May the Lord bless it to our hearts.

The scripture portion begins by speaking about the Pharisees. They were the religious instructors of the people during that time. They were also people who hated the Lord Jesus Christ and His work. Thus you can see how it is possible to be religious, to have religion, and yet to know nothing of the sinner's life. You can be religious and yet not know anything of needing a Savior. In other words, we can know much pertaining to our religion and yet know nothing that is needful on the way to eternity. This is not to say that learning and intelligence are not wonderful things to have in life. No, they are blessings, if applied in the right way. But we need more than that. We need to know and experience being a lost sinner who cries to the Lord for grace and mercy.

The first verse tells us that the Lord knew about the Pharisees. What a solemn thought! If we apply this to ourselves, then we have to stand still a moment. The Lord knows our hearts. He knows each and every one of us. He knows how we sit under the preaching of the Word. He knows how we spend our life when we are not in church. He knows what keeps us busy from day to day. Do you ever think about that? Are we enemies of Jesus, or have we been awakened by Him? It is either one way or the other; it cannot be both. It is the difference between life and death.

The Lord knew what the Pharisees were thinking. He knew that they had heard about Him. You would say that it is a blessing when you may hear about Jesus. It is a wonderful privilege when, in the preaching, a minister may tell us about the Way, the Truth, and the Life. These people had heard about Him. But it makes a difference how we listen. When you have a flower blooming beautifully in the garden, then you will see bees and spiders coming onto the flower. The one leaves again with his own poison, but the other takes honey from it. So it is also under the preaching of the blessed Word of God. There are those who find no benefit in the flower of the gospel. However, there are also those who may receive the Word, saying that it is sweeter than honey.

It was the same with the preaching of John the Baptist, who went before Christ. The Pharisees came unto him, filled with enmity, because he preached that they must repent of their sins. “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance… And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees” (Luke 3:7- 9). Their proud hearts rose up against such preaching.

By nature we do not want to hear such a message, either. But, by grace, there is room made for it. There is a place for it when the Lord makes a place for it in the heart. Then the proud heart is brought down. Then in the beginning they come to experience something of the love of God; how that works humility and a bowing down before Him. Those people come to realize that it is only through the blood of Christ that they can be cleansed from their sins and iniquities. Oh, it is that precious doctrine of free and sovereign grace! That doctrine speaks of a one-sided work of God. That doctrine is not to make a person irresponsible. If you become irresponsible under the preaching of a one-sided work of God, then it is the devil working in your heart, and nothing else.

God will hold us responsible for every word that He has brought to us. He says in Revelation 3:30, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Did you ever try to open that door? You will then realize how tightly it is shut. We have locked it in our deep fall and have added many more locks during our lives. But there is a people who lie at that door as beggars, saying, “Lord, I cannot open the door.” The love of God melts the locks, and the door opens a little. Then, through the opening, he sorrows after God. It opens a little more in His mercy, and then he may see the precious blood of Christ that has been shed for sins and iniquities.

The Pharisees heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John did. But it says in verse two that “Jesus Himself baptized not.” Why not? Why did Christ not administer the sacrament of baptism? We have the reason given by John the Baptist: “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Luke 3:16). So you see, my friends, that the sacrament of baptism is administered by His servants, but it is blessed to the heart by Christ. Only Christ, by the Holy Spirit, can bless it to the hearts of poor sinners.

John the Baptist had drawn many people to him. All those people had left the synagogues and followed after him. And now Jesus came and drew even more people, and made even more disciples. Many people followed the Lord Jesus. This made the Pharisees bitter when they saw the church of God increasing. There are still many such people today. It always will be so, because the fight is against the church of God.

— to be continued —

Time and Manner and Place Appointed

'Twas fixed in God's eternal mind When His dear sons should mercy find; From everlasting He decreed When every good should be conveyed.

Determined was the manner how Eternal favors He'd bestow; Yea, He decreed the very place Where He would show triumphant grace.

Also the means were fixed upon Through which His sovereign love should run; So time and place, yea, means and mode, Were all determined by our God.

Vast were the settlements of grace On millions of the human race; And every favor, richly given, Flows from the high decree of heaven.

— Burnham

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