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Life-Study of Johnpor Witness Lee

ISBN: 0-7363-0957-8
Copia impresa: Living Stream Ministry disponible en línea

Actualmente disponible en: Capítulo 12 de 51 Sección 1 de 4

LIFE-STUDY OF JOHN

MESSAGE TWELVE

THE NEED OF THE IMMORAL—
LIFE’S SATISFYING

(2)

III. THE WAY TO TAKE THE LIVING WATER

In John 4:15-26 we see the way to take the living water. The living water is good, but if we do not have a way to take it, it means nothing to us. What good is it to have something marvelous and excellent in the heavens if we cannot reach it? But here we find the living water and the way to take it.

The Lord Jesus was a simple, brief, yet prevailing preacher. He did not give a sermon; He simply had a short talk with the Samaritan woman. By that short talk, she was attracted. I hope that all the young people will learn the way of preaching the gospel from John chapter four. This chapter is a good example of gospel preaching. We all must learn how to talk with a sinner.

A. The Sinner Asked for the Living Water

The Samaritan woman was attracted and asked the Lord for the living water. “The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water so I will not thirst, nor come here to draw” (4:15). The Lord was a good preacher. He seemed to say, “If you knew who I am and if you knew God’s gift, and if you knew the living water that I give, you would certainly ask for it.” The woman asked for it immediately. In our foolish talk with people, the more we talk, the more we keep them away. But the Lord Jesus spoke very briefly and the woman was attracted and asked for the living water.

B. The Savior Told Her the Way to Take It

1. To Repent of and Confess Her Sins—
“Husbands”

When the woman asked the Lord for the water, He did not rebuke her, telling her to repent and make a thorough confession of her sins. No, the Lord spoke softly and gently, saying, “Go, call your husband and come here” (4:16). The Lord seemed to be saying, “I want your husband. You ask Me for the living water, and I ask you for your husband. Let us trade. You trade your husband for the living water.” This word was intended to touch her conscience with her immoral history that she might repent of her sins. “The woman answered and said, I don’t have a husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I don’t have a husband; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you said truly.” Did the woman lie or tell the truth? It was a truth, yet it was a lie. She told a lie by speaking the truth. It was a truthful lie. This is the deceptive nature of fallen man. However, the Lord was gentle with her and did not rebuke her. He even appreciated her, saying, “You have well said, I don’t have a husband; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you said truly” (4:17-18). The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.” The Lord’s words frightened her. She seemed to say, “Isn’t this man a Jew? He has never lived in our town. How did he get to know my background? Who told him that I had five husbands and that the one I have now is not my husband?” This is the way to have a gospel talk. Do not talk vainly to people, but touch their conscience, not in the way of rebuking them, but in the way of unveiling them. By the Lord’s gracious and wise words that woman’s conscience was touched. The proper way to minister the gospel is to touch people’s conscience.

The thirst of this Samaritan woman had led her to many wrong things, such as having five husbands and living with a man who was not her husband. That was the kind of life she found herself in. She sought the physical things to satisfy her, but found only dissatisfaction. The six men represent the physical and material things, which could never satisfy people.

Besides the physical things, she also had sought satisfaction in religion. Although she was such a simple person, she was also religious. She was very weak, yet it is strange that she talked about religion. Mere religion can never help. Furthermore, she had tradition, for the well of Jacob represents the traditional things. She had a traditional heritage which she inherited from her forefathers. But soon she found emptiness in her tradition. Therefore, this Samaritan woman had three categories of things—the physical things, the religious things, and the traditional things. These three categories represent everything we can get out of human life. There is nothing else in human life other than that which is physical, religious, or traditional. None of these physical, religious, or traditional matters can ever satisfy people, for the more they get these things, the more they become thirsty. There is never an end to their thirst.

The husbands of this woman are a sign. Christ should be the only husband. In 2 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul told us that he has espoused us to Christ. In other words, he has engaged us to Christ. Christ is the real husband. But this woman had five husbands besides one other man. The reason this woman was wicked and immoral was because she was thirsty. Because her many husbands could not satisfy her, she remained dissatisfied. When the first husband did not satisfy her, she sought satisfaction from her second husband. But her second husband did not satisfy her inner thirst either. Then she married the third one, but this one also could not satisfy her; neither could her fourth and fifth husbands satisfy, because the living water was her only need. Regardless of how much she drank the earthly water in her many husbands, she still felt thirsty. Therefore, the Lord told her that whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. Anyone who drinks the water of physical, religious, and traditional things will thirst again. Only the Lord Jesus has the living water that can quench our thirst.

What do her husbands signify? They signify anything that is other than Christ. Anything outside of Christ may become sinful. If we depend upon anyone or anything other than Christ, that may be quite sinful. The husbands of the Samaritan woman became the history of her whole sinful life. As we have seen, the Lord touched her sinful history in a very wise way. He did not condemn her sinfulness as a sinner or legally make her repent and confess her sins practically as some evangelists would. Since the Lord knows everything, He simply touched her conscience by asking her to bring her husband. By this way, the Lord helped her to confess her sins and repent.

Because the Lord’s word about her husbands touched her conscience, she immediately changed the conversation to the matter of worship. She was quite clever in doing this. Although she was such an immoral woman, she still talked about the worship of God. This proves where religion is. People may discuss religion and still live in immorality. This woman did not confess her sins, but turned the subject from her husbands to that of worshipping God, saying, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship.” This change of subject was the subtlety of the Samaritan woman. The woman’s problem with the matter of worship, like the questions in 8:3-7 and 9:2-3, was a matter of yes or no, which belongs to the tree of knowledge; but the Lord turns her to the spirit (vv. 21-24), which belongs to the tree of life (cf. Gen. 2:9-17). When the woman changed the subject from her husband to worship, the Lord Jesus took the opportunity to reveal to her the proper way of receiving the living water.


Nota: Esperamos que muchos se beneficien de estas riquezas espirituales. Sin embargo, para evitar cualquier tipo de confusión, les pedimos que ninguno de estos materiales sean descargados o copiados y publicados en otro lugar, sea por medio electrónico o por cualquier otro medio. Living Stream Ministry mantiene todos los derechos de autor en estos materiales, y esperamos que ustedes los que nos visiten respeten esto.

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