Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Omniscient Grace of the Savior (John 4:17)

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The Omniscient Grace of the Savior (John 4:17) · Reformed Thinking

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You know, when we think about this idea of being known by
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another person, there is almost always this built in expectation
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of presenting our best selves. I mean, think about getting
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ready for a first date or walking into a high stakes job
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interview. You put on your Sherpa suit, you
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Polish your resume until it shines, and you know you
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practice your answers in the mirror.
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Oh yeah, You carefully curate the narrative you want the other
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person to see. Yeah.
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We are constantly engaged in personal public relations.
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It is a highly managed release of information.
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We only give out the data points that make us look competent and
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put together and righteous. A highly managed release.
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That is a great way to put it. It feels safe, you know?
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We love to control the narrative because we want to be known, but
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only the parts of us that are acceptable to society.
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Yes, we hide the failures, the fractured relationships, the
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secret habits. Right.
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But then you step into the biblical text, specifically into
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the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and suddenly that entire
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public relations campaign falls apart completely.
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We are looking at a spiritual landscape where all those
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carefully constructed lifelong defenses are completely stripped
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away in an instant. Welcome to Reformed thinking.
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Today we are taking a deep dive into an intensive examination of
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a single highly significant verse, which is John 4.1 scene.
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It is the absolute definition of having your soul laid completely
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bare before the creator of the universe.
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There is nowhere to hide and no spin you can put on the facts.
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So let us unpack this. Our mission for this deep dive
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is to focus entirely on this one exchange for you, the listener.
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We want to bring you right into the center of the action.
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Yeah, we are setting the scene at Jacob's Well in the town of
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Sucker. It is high noon, Jesus meets a
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Samaritan woman and we are relying on 2 comprehensive
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theological analysis to dissect the intense moment where she
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utters 4 terse words in English, which are I have no husband.
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What is so fascinating here is the central theological tension
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established in the material we are reviewing.
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We are looking at a massive cosmic clash.
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Well, on one side you have the universal human instinct to hide
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sin. That instinct is hardwired into
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us. On the other side, you have a
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divine omniscience that exposes that very sin in order to save
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the Sinner. We are looking at the absolute
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necessity of rigorous, unvarnished truth existing in
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the presence of grace. You cannot have the grace
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without first having the exposure of the truth.
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Yes. And to understand the gravity of
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that clash, to really feel the weight of what is happening at
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that well, we have to start with the physical and cultural
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setting. The environment of this story is
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not just incidental background noise.
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No, the historical context is crucial.
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The scholars we are referencing spend a significant amount of
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time unpacking the severe ethnic and religious hostility forming
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the backdrop of this encounter. We are talking about the
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visceral animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans.
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Yeah. So if we connect this to the
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broader historical picture, this hostility was not some recent
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political disagreement over taxes or borders.
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This was ancient, entrenched hatred.
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The texts trace the roots of this division back hundreds of
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years, specifically to the Assyrian conquest of the
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northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC.
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OK, it's a way back. Yeah.
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The Assyrian Empire had a very specific strategy for dealing
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with conquered nations. They did not just occupy the
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land, they deported the native population and resettled the
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area with Pagan foreigners from other conquered territories.
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So the idea was to completely break the national identity of
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the conquered people so they would not rebel.
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They scattered the Israelites across the Assyrian Empire and
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brought in various foreign groups and over the generations
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those Pagan foreigners intermarried with the small
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Jewish remnant that was left behind the northern region.
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The descendants of those mixed unions became known as the
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Samaritans. I see they had a mixed ethnicity
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and a heavily mixed religion. They tried to worship the God of
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Israel alongside the Pagan deities their ancestors brought
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with them. And Orthodox Jews in the
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Southern Kingdom down in Judea viewed them with absolute
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contempt. Complete and utter contempt.
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By the 1st century, the Jews viewed the Samaritans as
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ritually unclean half breeds. They saw them as the ultimate
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theological compromisers. Yeah, and the Samaritans had
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compounded this massive schism centuries later by establishing
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their own rival temple on Mount Jerusalem.
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They completely rejected the Davidic covenant that
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centralized all legitimate worship in Jerusalem.
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Furthermore, they only accepted the first five books of Moses.
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You know, the Pentateuch as their canonical scripture.
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They threw out the prophets, the Psalms, all of it.
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The religious, ethnic and social divide was absolute.
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It really was. The commentators mentioned the
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geographical realities of this divide and it is honestly
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staggering to think about. Judea is in the South, Galilee
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is in the north. Samaria is situated right in the
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middle. So the most direct route from
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Judea to Galilee is straight N through Samaria.
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But strict 1st century Jews would literally cross the Jordan
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River to the east. Walk all the way N up the hot,
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punishing Jordan River Valley through Paria.
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Yeah, and then cross the Jordan River a second time just to
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enter Galilee. It is crazy they would add days
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to their travel, walking through intense heat simply to prevent
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their sandals from touching the dirt of Samaria.
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Because they believed the very dust of Samaria would defile
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them. There are rabbinic writings from
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that era suggesting that Samaritan women were considered
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to be in a perpetual state of ritual impurity from the cradle.
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Oh wow, from the cradle. Yeah, so an Orthodox Jew would
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never speak to one, let alone drink from a vessel she had
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touched. Yet the text says Jesus had to
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pass through Samaria. He intentionally travels right
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through this region. He does not take the bypass.
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No, he walks straight into the center of the tension.
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He positions himself right at Jacob's well and that brings us
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to the micro historical historical reality of the woman
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herself. The text points out that she
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comes to draw water at the 6th hour.
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Which, according to Jewish time keeping, is high noon.
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Yeah, it is the hottest, most punishing part of the day in the
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ancient Aries. Which is incredibly unusual and
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it tells us everything we need to know about her social
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standing in the village of Sikar.
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I always try to picture this using a modern equivalent.
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Think of a middle school cafeteria, or maybe a tight knit
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corporate office. You have that one person who
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sits completely isolated at the corner table long after everyone
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else has eaten, or someone who avoids the break room entirely.
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They do this specifically to avoid the whispers, the sideways
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glances, and the blatant stares of their peers.
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Yeah, that makes sense. In the ancient Near Eastern
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culture, drawing water was a communal social event for the
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women of the village. It happened in the cool of the
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early morning or the late evening.
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They would gather, talk and share the news of the day.
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So for a woman to haul heavy clay jars of water at high noon
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completely alone in the blistering sun illustrates
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severe, deliberate social ostracization.
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Exactly. She is an outcast among
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outcasts. She is a woman whose life is
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heavily marked by public shame, and when we consider the
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cultural realities of marriage and divorce in the 1st century
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Greco, Roman and Jewish world, her isolation makes total sense.
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Divorce was permitted under the Mosaic Law, usually initiated by
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the husband. But a woman who had been married
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and divorced five times and was now living with a man outside of
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marriage had exhausted all societal norms of
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respectability. She was a pariah.
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The other women wanted nothing to do with her.
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Nothing at all. I want to push back a little on
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how the original audience would have read this.
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We are so used to the story of the woman at the well.
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It is a Sunday School classic, but how shocking would this
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entire scenario have been to a 1st century Jewish reader?
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Oh. Incredibly shocking.
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You have a Jewish rabbi, a recognized teacher, initiating a
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private theological conversation with an outcast Samaritan woman
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alone at high noon, asking her for a drink from her water jar.
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It shatters every single conceivable rabbinic tradition.
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A rabbi would not speak to a woman in public, not even his
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own wife. Wait, really?
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Yeah, and ask for a drink from a Samaritan woman.
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Woman's vessel would render him ceremonially unclaim.
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What John is showing us is that the sovereign grace of the Son
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of God knows no ethnic bounds, no gender bounds, and no bounds
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of social respectability. It proves that redemption enters
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actual messy history. It does not happen in a neat,
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pristine mythological setting. Yeah, Christ, the holy and
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Immaculate Lamb of God, sits weary and thirsty at a well and
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intentionally intercepts a woman who is utterly rejected by
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polite society. It is an amazing scene that.
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Historical context is brilliant, but it is just the first layer
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of contrast. To grasp the full theological
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weight of this encounter, the commentators point out that we
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have to look at how the apostle John structurally placed the
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story within his gospel. Right, we have to look at the
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literary architecture of Chapters 3 and 4.
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Yeah, John's gospel is meticulously structured.
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He does not just throw stories together chronologically without
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a theological purpose. No, there is a massive
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deliberate contrast between John chapter 3 and John chapter 4.
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In chapter 3 we have the story of Jesus meeting with Nicodemus,
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then immediately following that in chapter 4 we have the
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encounter with the Samaritan woman.
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The juxtaposition is amazing when you break it down side by
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side. Nicodemus is male.
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The Samaritan is female. Nicodemus is a pure blooded
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Orthodox Jew. She is a hated mixed race
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outsider. Nicodemus is highly educated, a
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member of the Sanhedrin, a recognized teacher of Israel.
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She's completely uneducated. Nicodemus is a respected moral
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elite. She is a despised, immoral
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outcast. And look at the timing of their
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respective approaches to Jesus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus under
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the cover of night. He does this to protect his
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flawless, pristine reputation among the Pharisees.
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The Samaritan woman comes to the well by the bright light of day
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because she has absolutely no reputation left to protect.
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I see this dynamic constantly in modern society.
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We love to categorize people. We mentally put people in the
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respectable citizens bucket and we put others in the lost causes
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bucket. We assume the respectable
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citizen. You know the person who pays
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their taxes, goes to a respectable church, and has a
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spotless public record is somehow closer to God.
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Yeah, and we assume the lost cause, the addict, the person
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with a string of broken marriages, the person with a
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criminal record, is farther away.
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But John's Gospel completely flattens that hierarchy.
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He puts a university theologian and a scandal ridden outcast on
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the exact same desperate footing before a holy God.
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This raises a massive question about the core of human nature,
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which is answered by pointing to the doctrine of total depravity.
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Right. John is showing us that neither
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the moralism of the Jewish elite nor the licentiousness of the
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Samaritan outcast can earn salvation.
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Nicodemus's rule keeping could not save him, and the woman's
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rule breaking did not put her beyond reach.
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Yeah, they both require the same monarchistic regeneration.
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They both must be born from above.
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Religious status cannot replace regeneration, and moral ruin
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cannot prevent it. OK, let us pause right there.
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You use the phrase monarchistic regeneration, which sounds
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incredibly dense for someone who might just be listening while
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commuting to work. Fair enough.
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Can you unpack that? What does that actually mean in
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the context of these two very different people?
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That is a great clarifying question.
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Comes from 2 Greek words, mono meaning 1 and ergon meaning
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work. It means that in the act of
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spiritual rebirth, God is the sole actor.
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OK, so God alone. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the one
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doing the work of bringing a spiritually dead heart back to
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life. It is not synergism, which would
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be a cooperative effort where God does His part and we do our
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part. Nicodemus thought salvation was
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synergistic. He thought his good works
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contributed to his standing before God.
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The woman at the well probably thought she was too far gone for
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any kind of salvation. Yeah, that makes sense.
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But Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again, born of the
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Spirit. He is saying your resume means
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nothing, you need a new heart and only God can give it.
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The same applies to the woman. So God alone is doing the saving
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work. The material we are studying
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also uses this structural placement to offer a strong
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critique of modern liberal theology.
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Yes, it does. There is a strong tendency today
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to look at the story of the woman at the well and
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mischaracterized Jesus as just a social revolutionary fighting
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for the marginalized. People say, look, Jesus is
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breaking down patriarchal structures.
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He is affirming the oppressed. Right.
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And while he absolutely does minister to the outcast and
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cross social boundaries, his primary objective here is not
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political or structural reform. You know, his primary objective
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is spiritual regeneration. He did not come to SYCAR to
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start a water rights campaign or a social justice movement for
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divorced women. He came to give her eternal
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life. Yeah, the forgiveness of sins
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and reconciliation with the Father is the main event.
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If you reduce Jesus to a you're a social activist, you
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completely miss the cosmic scale of what he is doing.
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Spot on. Recognizing this desperate,
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universal need for regeneration brings us to the actual
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mechanics of the conversation at the well, This is where the
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tension spikes. Jesus aggressively diagnosis the
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woman's specific spiritual disease and the way he does it
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is brilliant. It really is.
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The conversation up to this point has been metaphorical.
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Jesus has been talking to her about living water.
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He offers her water that will become a spring of water welling
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up to eternal life. She is intrigued.
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She wants this water, even if she still thinks of it in
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physical terms. She says, Sir, give me this
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water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to
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draw water. But then Jesus changes the
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direction of the dialogue completely.
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He. Issues a piercing imperative in
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John 4 point Hunstein. Go call your husband and come
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here room. Just like that.
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Yeah, this represents the absolute necessity of the Law
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preceding the Gospel in evangelism.
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The commentators are very firm on this sequence.
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The living water of salvation cannot be poured into a vessel
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that is filled to the brim with unconfessed sin.
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Christ does not offer her a self help program or simple
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behavioral modification. He has to dismantle her
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psychological and spiritual defenses.
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The needle of the Law must Pierce the conscience before the
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throat of the gospel can follow and sew up the wound.
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He demands that she call her husband, and her response is an
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absolute master class In evasion.
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She says I have no husband. The scholars jump into the
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original Greek here, and the syntax is fascinating.
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The phrase in Greek is Andra. The Greek syntax reveals
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everything about her defensive mindset.
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The word honor or Andra in the accusative case is a flexible
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word. Like it can have multiple
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meanings. Yeah, it can mean man
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generically, or it can mean husband specifically, depending
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entirely on the context. In quindelig, the normal word
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order would put the verb first, but by placing Andra in the
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emphatic first position of the sentence, she creates A terse,
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legally precise defense. She literally says a husband not
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I have. I love looking at the psychology
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of this. It is like watching a hostile
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witness in a courtroom or a slick politician underoath
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giving a carefully worded, factually accurate answer that
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is specifically designed to completely mislead the jury.
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That is a great analogy. She is giving a fraction of the
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truth. She lacks a legal husband, yes,
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but she deliberately omits the massive fact that she does not
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lack a man in her life. She is currently living with a
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man who is not her husband. She is hoping Jesus will just
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accept her brief statement, assume she is a widow or single,
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and not demand the rest of the story.
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If we connect this to the broader framework of Reformed
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theology, this points directly to the doctrine of total
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inability. How so?
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Well, the unregenerate human heart will fight, deflect, and
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deceive to maintain its autonomy.
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We see the universal human instinct to hide from the holy
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Presence of God. The theologians trace this
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instinct all the way back to the book of Genesis, to Adam and Eve
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sewing fig leaves together in the Garden of Eden.
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After they rebelled, their immediate reaction was not
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repentance, it was concealment. They hid among the trees.
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The natural man defaults to evasion.
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Wait, let me stop you there. The research mentions that this
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specific interaction acts as a major critique of Arminianism.
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For someone who is not familiar with all the theological camps,
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what is Arminianism and how does this first challenge it?
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Arminianism is a theological system that argues, among other
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things, the humans possess the free will to initiate a move
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toward God, often assisted by what they call prevenient grace.
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They suggest that the Sinner has the capacity to take the first
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step in salvation. But the Reformed view
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highlighted by this text contradicts that completely.
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The Samaritan woman did not wake up that morning seeking the
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Jewish Messiah. No, definitely not.
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She did not have a small spark of divine desire.
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She woke up seeking literal water, trying to avoid the other
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women in town. The unregenerate heart will not
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voluntarily submit to the light of truth because the light
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exposes its evil deeds. The Sinner has to be cornered by
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grace. Christ must initiate.
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The confrontation with a Sinner will run forever.
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So she has thrown up her defensive shield.
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She's given her brilliant, legally precise half truth.
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I have no husband. Yeah, think about this.
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Against a normal person, a normal rabbi or normal traveler
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at the well, that maneuver works.
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Florida State. The conversation hits a dead
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end. He accepts her answer and she
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walks away with her dark secrets entirely intact.
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But she was not speaking to a normal traveler.
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She was speaking to the omniscient creator of the
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universe. And that brings us to the
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omniscient scalpel of Christ. Jesus responds in verse 17 by
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saying, you have correctly said I have no husband, for you have
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had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your
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husband. The genius of his conversational
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tactic here is astounding. Let us look closer at how he
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handles her evasion. He starts by validating her
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statement. He says Kalius Ebas, which
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translates to correctly said or you have said.
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Well, OK, he affirms the technical truth of her words.
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Notice that he does not yell at her.
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He does not accuse her of outright lying.
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He acknowledges the sliver of truth she offered.
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Right. But then he uses the explanatory
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conjunction gar, which means for to unleash the full terrifying
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weight of his divine knowledge. He repeats her exact phrase back
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to her, but he shifts the semantic emphasis.
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He plays upon her use of the word anew.
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He exposes the game she is playing.
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He tells her, in effect, you are right, you have had five legal
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husbands and the man you currently possess is not your
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husband. Try to imagine the shock of that
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moment for her. It is terrifying to think about
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being fully exposed like that. It is like a forensic auditor
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showing up at your door unannounced, opening his
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briefcase and laying out every single hidden receipt, every
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secret offshore account, every buried transaction you ever
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made. Oh well.
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Everything you thought was safely buried in the dark is
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suddenly laid out on the table in the blazing sun.
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But the commentators are quick to clarify that Christ operates
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as a great physician here, not just an auditor.
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That is a crucial distinction. An auditor or exposes you to
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penalize you. The Great Physician exposes you
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to heal you right. He is not bringing her past out
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into the light to mock her, to shame her in front of a crowd,
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or to destroy her. He uses the scalpel of his
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omniscience precisely on the most diseased, infected area of
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her life. He has to cut away the dead
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tissue to prepare the wound for the healing of the Gospel.
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Furthermore, the theologians note that this unmasking is an
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unmediated, direct manifestation of Christ's inherent divine
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omniscience. He is the Creator, intimately
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knowing the creature. The analysts make a rigorous
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cessationist argument right here regarding how Jesus knew this
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information. Let us explain what that means.
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Yeah, let us break that down. Cessationism is the belief that
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the miraculous signed gifts of the Apostolic age.
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Things like speaking in tongues, physical healings, and direct
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prophetic revelation ceased with the closing of the biblical
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Canon. OK.
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In contrast, charismatic theology often claims that
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believers today can receive direct divine revelation about
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other people's private lives, which they call a word of
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knowledge. So a charismatic preacher might
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stand on a stage, point to someone in the crowd and say God
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is telling me you have a secret addiction based on a sudden
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mental impression. Correct, but the Reformed
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scholars reject the notion that modern individuals can replicate
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what Jesus did at the well right.
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They stress that claiming modern believers can receive psychic
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like impressions about a person's private life completely
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blurs the creator creature distinction.
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This moment at the well is an exclusive demonstration of
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Christ's deity. It is the hypostatic union in
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action, His divine nature knowing all things.
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It is not a transferable spiritual gift meant to be
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replicated by modern prognosticators or church
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leaders. Christ possesses the absolute
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holiness to perfectly diagnose her sin, and simultaneously, the
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grace to offer himself is the remedy.
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Yes. And as we examine the specific
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details of her sin, the five husbands, the current illicit
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partner, we realize that Christ's perfect knowledge of
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her personal history is not just about her.
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It echoes the history of God's relationship with his people
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throughout the entire Old Testament.
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This is where we see the Christological typology emerge
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from the text. The commentators unpack how this
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passage fulfills biblical typology, presenting Christ
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operating simultaneously in his three distinct offices, which
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are prophet, priest, and king. As a prophet, he brings the
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piercing light of divine revelation to bear upon her
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hidden life, speaking the truth of God.
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As a king, he issues the authoritative sovereign command
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to go call your husband. And as a priest, he exposes her
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sin in order to eventually bear that very sin on the cross,
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acting as the mediator between God and man.
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The Old Testament echoes here are impossible to ignore once
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you see them. The scholars bring up the
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prophet Hosea. God literally commanded Hosea to
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marry a woman named Gomer, who was a woman of whoredom, a
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prostitute. Yeah, it is a wild story.
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This shocking marriage was meant to visually demonstrate Yahweh's
22:19
relentless, heartbreaking pursuit of the unfaithful,
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idolatrous nation of Israel. Israel had chased after multiple
22:27
false gods, playing the spiritual harlot.
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Right now in John 4, you have the Incarnate Yahweh sitting
22:33
weary at a well, pursuing a woman who embodies that exact
22:36
spiritual and physical adultery. She is Gummer the.
22:39
Parallels are striking. The texts also bring in the
22:41
powerful imagery of Jeremiah 2.13, where God rebukes his
22:45
people. What does that verse say?
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He says my people have committed 2 evils.
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They've forsaken me, the fountain of the living waters,
22:51
and hewed out cisterns for themselves.
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Broken cisterns that can hold no water.
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Oh wow, that imagery fits perfectly.
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This woman has spent her entire life seeking satisfaction,
23:01
security, and identity in five broken cisterns, which are her
23:05
five previous marriages. She kept going back to the well
23:09
of human relationships, hoping the next man would fix the void
23:13
in her soul. The cisterns were broken, they
23:15
held no water, and the 6th man she is currently living with
23:18
cannot hold water either. He cannot save her.
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He cannot offer her peace. This leads to a staggering
23:24
Christological connection. Jesus presents himself to her as
23:28
the 7th man in her life. The 7th man.
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Yes, in biblical numerology, 7 is the number of divine
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perfection, completion, and Sabbath rest, right?
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Jesus is the ultimate sinless bridegroom, right?
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He's the one who will not use her and discard her like the
23:42
other men in her life, cleanse her to wash her in the water of
23:45
the Word, and to offer her the eternal rest she's been
23:48
frantically searching for. Think about the massive.
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Redemptive historical shift occurring right here.
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How does this specific interaction at a Samaritan well
23:56
signal a change in the way God deals with humanity?
23:59
Jesus is. Operating at the tail end of the
24:02
Old Covenant era. But by intentionally engaging
24:05
with a Samaritan, he is prophetically anticipating the
24:09
impending Church Age. It's signaling that the era of
24:13
the Jewish ethnic monopoly on God's revelation is ending.
24:16
He is moving redemptive history away from localized physical
24:20
worship centered at the Temple in Jerusalem.
24:23
He is pointing toward the universal spiritual worship,
24:26
worship in spirit and truth that will define the New Covenant.
24:29
He tells her directly. That salvation is from the Jews,
24:32
acknowledging the historical reality of God's covenant with
24:35
Israel. But he immediately adds that the
24:37
hour is coming when true worshippers will worship the
24:39
Father in spirit and truth, regardless of their geographical
24:43
location on a map. You will not need to go to Mount
24:45
Gerizim or Mount Zion. He is breaking down the
24:48
dividing. Wall of hostility that the
24:50
apostle Paul writes about later in Ephesians.
24:52
He's proving that the gospel is not constrained by geography,
24:55
ethnic boundaries or rigid rabbinic tradition.
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Yeah, the living water is going to flow to the Gentiles starting
25:01
right here in Samaria. OK, while this theology.
25:04
Is staggering and the historical connections are brilliant, the
25:06
scholars insist we cannot simply leave this story safely locked
25:09
in the 1st century. No, we got.
25:12
This passage demands. Direct piercing application for
25:15
you, the listener living today. The researchers bring up some
25:18
very specific, jarring modern statistics regarding the
25:22
biblical law and our current cultural moment.
25:25
The material addresses. The modern epidemic of
25:27
cohabitation outside of biblical marriage.
25:31
The text cites statistics indicating that roughly 59% of
25:34
adults between the ages of 18 and 44 have cohabited it at some
25:39
point in their lives. Wow, 59.
25:40
Percent, yeah, currently there. Are over 18,000,000 unmarried
25:44
partners living together in the United States alone?
25:46
Our modern culture. Has completely normalized what
25:49
the biblical text identifies as a violation of the marriage
25:51
covenant. Society might call it an
25:53
economically sound arrangement or a way to test compatibility
25:57
before making a legal commitment, but the analysts
25:59
assert that the true Jesus of the Bible confronts this reality
26:02
head on. The commentators.
26:04
Use these numbers to draw a sharp contrast between the
26:07
biblical Jesus and modern seeker sensitive church movements.
26:10
Tell me more about that. Well, the seeker sensitive
26:12
model. Which grew massively over the
26:14
last few decades, often operates on the premise that making the
26:17
unchurched person feel comfortable is the highest
26:19
priority. Therefore, they often tiptoe
26:22
around glaring sins like cohabitation, divorce, or greed
26:26
out of fear that speaking plainly will negatively impact
26:29
attendance or giving. But the Jesus we see at the well
26:33
attacks the sin directly. True grace requires absolute
26:38
truth. You cannot bypass the repentance
26:40
of sin to get to the comfort of grace.
26:43
I completely agree. And we have to expand this
26:45
application beyond the specific sin of the woman to the
26:47
universal sin of concealment. We have to ask you, the
26:51
listener, to consider your own life with the same scrutiny.
26:54
What hidden addictions are you harboring?
26:57
What private animosities or bitter grudges are you nursing?
27:00
What carefully curated public personas are functioning as your
27:03
modern fig leaves? What are you desperately?
27:06
Trying to hide from God. The text brings to mind that
27:09
there is zero utility in hiding from omniscient.
27:12
God already knows the absolute worst facts about you.
27:15
Exactly the. Worldly pattern.
27:17
Is constant image management and damage control, but the biblical
27:21
call is radical, painful transparency before the Lord
27:25
there is a fascinating. Psychological tactic mentioned
27:28
in the research that I really want to highlight because we all
27:31
do it. It is called religious
27:32
diversion. Oh yes, watch what happens in
27:34
the text when Jesus completely exposes the woman's sin, when he
27:38
calmly lists her five husbands and the man she is currently
27:42
sleeping with. She is cornered.
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Totally cornered. So.
27:45
She immediately. Tries to pivot the conversation
27:47
away from her moral failure. She says, Sir, I perceive that
27:51
you are a prophet. And then she immediately
27:53
launches into a theological debate about whether people
27:55
should worship on the Samaritan mountain of Jerusalem or the
27:58
Jewish mountain in Jerusalem. She tries to start a debate
28:01
about religious real estate. Why do we do this?
28:05
Because fallen human. Beings will always prefer a
28:08
theological debate over personal repentance.
28:11
It is a defense mechanism. We will vigorously argue about
28:14
Calvinism versus Arminianism. We will debate contemporary
28:17
versus traditional worship styles.
28:19
We will dissect obscure moments in church history or argue about
28:23
eschatology. All to avoid the searing,
28:25
uncomfortable conviction of the Holy Spirit in our private moral
28:28
lives, we use religion as a shield against God.
28:32
The commentators offer a strict, sobering warning here.
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Sound doctrine must never become armor for an unrepentant heart
28:39
that hits so. Hard.
28:41
Let me repeat that concept. We can be completely orthodox in
28:44
our theology. We can have our systematic
28:46
theology textbooks highlighted and memorized.
28:48
We can win every debate on social media while remaining
28:51
completely hardened and unrepentant in our secret lives.
28:54
We really can. We can.
28:55
Use our knowledge of God. To hide from God.
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Spot on. And look at how Jesus handles
28:59
her diversity. Christ does not allow her to
29:01
remain hidden behind her theological question.
29:05
He does not take the bait and get bogged down in a historical
29:07
argument about Jerusalem. But he does dignify her by
29:10
answering the core of her question.
29:13
He brings her back to the reality of spiritual worship.
29:16
He refuses to be diverted from the truth of her spiritual
29:19
condition, but he deals with her patiently, guiding her back to
29:23
the fact that he is the Messiah she is looking for.
29:27
Let us review the progression. Of this deep dive for you, the
29:30
listener. We started by looking at a woman
29:33
at high noon, sitting completely isolated by a well, sweating in
29:37
the heat, trying to hide her deep shame behind a technically
29:40
accurate, legally precise half truth.
29:43
She said I have no husband. And we watched the omniscient
29:46
grace of Jesus Christ trip away those defenses.
29:49
He did not do it to crush her under the weight of the law, but
29:51
to prepare her to receive of the living water of salvation the
29:55
commentators point us to. First, John 1.9, which requires
29:57
bringing hidden things into the light.
30:00
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
30:03
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
30:06
Confession is absolutely. Necessary not because God needs
30:09
the information he already knows, just like He knew about
30:11
her five husbands, but because we need the healing that comes
30:14
from stepping into the light. It is the difference between an.
30:17
X-ray that just shows you the broken bone and leaves you in
30:19
agony, and a skilled surgeon who locates the break in order to
30:23
set it right and put you in a cast as we conclude our.
30:26
Time. There is one final piercing
30:29
consideration derived from the text that we want to leave you
30:32
with. If Christ's inherent omniscience
30:35
means he already knows the absolute, unvarnished worst
30:39
things about you, the thoughts you have never spoken aloud, the
30:43
secrets you have buried deep, how much of your current.
30:46
Religious routine is actually designed to hide from God rather
30:49
than truly commune with him. Are your church attendance, your
30:52
theological debates, and your public morality functioning as
30:55
fig leaves because the Jesus, the well is calling you to step
30:58
out from behind them? Thank you for joining us on.
30:59
Reformed thinking, We will see you next time.