Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: I have faith in the Holy Spirit. And I recognize that the Holy Spirit with wisdom beyond ours, knowing the hearts and the circumstances and the lives and the context and the cries and the crises of all of our lives, knows the moment that is ripe to awaken in a heart a reception to the word of truth.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares the second half of a lesson from John chapter 4.

Dr. Chapell further investigates the story of Jesus with the woman at the well. The grace that Jesus shows to this woman is an example of how we both need and should show grace to others. You can find this lesson and many others when you visit UnlimitedGrace.com.

While you're there, look for this wonderful resource from Dr. Chapell, *Holiness by Grace*. In this book, Pastor Bryan will guide you through reassuring scripture passages to discover how works and obedience are not a means of establishing or maintaining salvation, but a grateful response to God's mercy. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson, "The Mirror in the Well."

Bryan Chapell: Jesus has just spoken to a woman at the well about living water that will lead to eternal life. That has got her attention. And Jesus continues the conversation. Verse 16 of John 4.

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Verse 39 continues the account as it deals with her. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony: "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, this word indeed is from and of the Savior of the world. And with that knowledge, we recognize not only the goodness of his provision for us of this mercy that exceeds our sin, but we recognize also the privilege, the wonder, the goodness of being able to say it to other people.

We don't have to have lives straightened up to do that. Here we have a woman, Father, who recognized mercy because of her great sin. And yet, because she knew a greater love for her, she became one of the great instruments of the gospel in the Bible. So help us to take encouragement from her and from the acceptance of our Savior of her, that we too might be instruments of your grace. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Even as Jesus is moving toward this woman in all these ways, as he's crossing barriers, as he's showing care before she's become convinced of anything, at the same time, when the moment is ripe, he is willing to stand firm. Even as he is moving toward her relationally, there are certain things that he's willing to stand firm upon. Among those things are the nature of sin, the nature of salvation, and who he is.

If you have taken into account the nature of sin, you recognize that Jesus has not tap danced here. He has not minced words. When he says to the woman, after she confesses in verse 17, "I have no husband," he says in the same verse, "You are right in saying 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is quite true."

What did he make plain? She knows the consequence. She knows that by having all these husbands and now living with a man who is not her husband, that she is in that society well identified as a sinner. And he simply does not avoid that. When the time is ripe, what I do recognize is Jesus is willing to say, "You're wrong. This is sin."

At the same time, he identifies salvation clearly, particularly its source. I want to spend a little time here and recognize the amazing thing that happens in terms of its relevance to our age. The woman, having had her sin identified, says, "Sir, I can perceive you're a prophet. After all, you know what's going on in my life."

And then verse 20, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." What is that? Here is this whatever of modern culture in ancient terms. She's saying, "Well, okay, maybe I've done something wrong. But after all, some people say we ought to worship there, some people say we ought to worship. Who knows what's right?"

Jesus says to her, "Listen, you worship what you do not know. Your worshiping on this mountain is wrong because salvation is from the Jews." There has been a plan of God from Adam to Abraham to David to the lineage of David that results in Jesus. And Jesus says that is the path of salvation. Salvation is through the Jews.

There are not many roads. There are not many Messiahs. It's not just your faith is as good as their faith, your religion is as good as their religion. He says something as politically incorrect as saying, "There is no other name given among men under heaven by which you must be saved than mine."

And that reality of seeming intolerance is just going to be received as bigotry in her age as much as it is in our age, right? If you say Jesus is the only way, people will say to you, "What a very unloving and unkind thing to say." And they are exactly right, unless what I just said is true.

If he is the only way, if he is the Messiah, if he is the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world for the world, then to point people to anything other than Jesus is faulty, unfair, unkind, and ungracious. To say he's the one as he is the one is the most gracious thing to do. And what Jesus is willing to say is not only just that the path is the path from the Jews, but that he is the fulfillment of that path. He is the Messiah.

Is that difficult to say today? Recognize when this woman is saying, "Well, maybe it's that religion, maybe it's that religion, well, who knows." Does that sound like any era you know?

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. God instructs us in his word to be holy as he is holy. How can God expect us to be as holy as he is?

Such a standard seems either to ignore our frailty or to impose certain failure. That is, until we understand how God views us. In this challenging yet heartwarming book, *Holiness by Grace*, Dr. Bryan Chapell illustrates the principles of grace, the practices of faith, and the motives of love in living a life of holiness.

Pastor Bryan will guide you through reassuring scripture passages to discover how works and obedience are not a means of establishing or maintaining salvation, but a grateful response to God's mercy. *Holiness by Grace* draws straight from the heart of God, as Pastor Bryan's encouraging words will help you understand that your holiness is not so much a matter of what you achieve as it is the grace that God provides—a grace so rich as to make the pursuit of his holiness your soul's deepest delight.

You can request your copy of *Holiness by Grace* when you go online to UnlimitedGrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: If you're just going to say those things, standing firm—sin is real, and salvation is of the Jews, and Jesus is the Messiah—you have to understand you're going to face rejection. Why would anybody risk that? Because of what Jesus says.

Verse 23, "The hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." Jesus is testifying to the work of the Holy Spirit. That those who are truly captured by God, whose hearts are united to him, aren't just united by some physical ritual, this mountain or that mountain, this church or that church.

The physicality is not the point, he's saying. Nor are they people who are simply captured by words and propositions. No, he's saying those who are united to God are those who are united in spirit and truth.

There is an operation that is supernatural by which the spirit that is within us is united to the Holy Spirit of God by his work, working by and with the word, spirit and truth. But nonetheless the work of the Holy Spirit begins to happen. And the reason we would say what is true, standing firm, is because we believe what Jesus believed. He trusted in the spirit to do what was beyond human truth, to do what was beyond human effort and endeavor, to actually believe that the spirit was at work.

I think of it in experience of some years ago. I was pastoring a church in another part of the state, and at that point a man invited me to come to his house for dinner. Great, what would you like me to bring? "Well, just bring your Bible," he said, "because my son is here on leave from the Navy and I want you to save him."

I thought that might be a little beyond me. I don't have those words. I don't personally have the truth, the convincing argument, whatever it is that's supposed to just change the heart of somebody. But what do I have? I have faith in the Holy Spirit.

And I recognize that the Holy Spirit with wisdom beyond ours, knowing the hearts and the circumstances and the lives and the context and the cries and the crises of all of our lives, knows the moment that is ripe to awaken in a heart a reception to the word of truth.

And I recognize that if I'm willing to stand firm and speak what is true, I am not alone. That the Holy Spirit is the helper, is the one who is there to take words and make them penetrate hearts in the way that my argument, my logic, whatever it is, doesn't do.

And that's the great wonder that if we are moving toward people and saying what is true, that hearts can open to the gospel in ways that we can hardly fathom. A few weeks ago in this church, there was a couple that visited. And they wrote me later, and you'll love this. This was great.

The man wrote and he said, "My wife and I truly enjoyed our visit at Grace last Sunday. I can't remember the last time we visited a church where the congregation was so genuinely friendly." Hey, he's talking about this church! "From the time we entered the sanctuary, we were made to feel as if we were long-time members. A gentleman came up to us prior to your greeting and introduced himself, complimented my family, offered us a gift from the Grace praise team."

"Probably the thing that impressed us the most was the elderly lady that sat in front of us. She was wonderful. She introduced herself, her husband talked with our daughter, her husband and our son, as if she'd known us forever."

Now, I want you to recognize what happened was just the most ordinary of moving toward somebody. Some of you would recognize about this couple not everything right in their life. But as somebody simply moved toward and offered a heart for the gospel, the gospel was understood to be present in a way that moved forward with power.

We're not alone. If I think of people in my life, if you think of people in your life—and I'm going to ask that you do that, even right now—you begin to think of people that you're scared to talk to because they know you too well. They know your faults, they know your flaws, they know how you don't always live up to the gospel you yourself affirm. And you think, "How can I possibly be a witness?"

Well, to move toward and stand firm for truth does not mean you've reached perfection. It means that you're willing to say, "I believe in the work of the spirit that's greater than me, and that's why moving forward and saying what's true."

The evidence of that kind of work of the spirit is what happens through this woman's testimony. Do you remember, as Jesus was talking to her in verse 26 saying, "I who speak to you am he, that Messiah," the disciples come back and they're kind of confused about why he's talking to this Samaritan woman?

So verse 28, "So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?'" They went out of the town and were coming to him. Verse 39 picks up a little bit more: "Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony: 'He told me all that I ever did.'"

Now, I want you to think about—this is really amazing. She's at the well, and she hears from Jesus, and she goes back to her town. And in that little journey, she gets a seminary degree and an education that teaches her all the theology she ever... Is that what happened?

That didn't happen. There's a number of shocking things that are going on all at once. One is simply this. We don't pick it up because we're not in that culture. It simply says she left her water jar at the well. Now, these were large water jars, and they are the connection to life for the people of that culture.

It's drinking water, it's purification water, it's cleaning water. It's all that the family needs to survive day to day. To leave this at the well—it's kind of like a lawyer saying, "I left my laptop at the library," or a woman saying, "I left my purse at the grocery store," or somebody who's traveling saying, "I left my passport at the ticket counter."

I have done that, by the way. Suddenly you're panicked. This is the very thing I need to survive. I've got to have this. And yet she is so shocked that the evidence of it is she leaves her water jar and goes. What's the shock? The first shock is that Jesus knows the worst about her and is there for her.

"Let me tell you about somebody who knows everything I ever did, but claims he's the Christ. If he knows everything I ever did, that's a miracle in itself. And if he's here for us with me, that's a miracle too." And it's so shocking to her, and you get the sense that she's just kind of bathing in the wonder of this.

Now, if that's the case, if you kind of bathe in the wonder of the gospel, what happens next? Well, you rinse and then you repeat, right? You rinse in the wonder of he knows the worst about me but is here for me, and then what do you do? You repeat it. You tell somebody else.

And that's what she does. She goes to the town and says, "Let me tell you about this man who knows everything I ever did, and could it be the Christ who's here for me?" And even the wondering question is another shock revealed in that her having established that the Messiah is here for her, then says it's true. And the next miracle is they listen to her. They listen to her!

And they come to the town. Ultimately you must recognize that Jesus follows the pattern too of repeating. They say to this same Jesus, "Would you stay with us a while?" And the Jewish rabbi stays in the Samaritan town for two days.

He's still overcoming barriers. He's still caring before convincing. And the fact that he's willing to repeat and her repeat what's happened means that the gospel is multiplying. "Let me tell you about somebody who's helped me, didn't deserve it, but he came for me."

Folks, we can do this. This is a matter of just identifying what would tend to push us the other way and saying, "I'm going to move toward instead." And having moved toward, stand firm to say you're thirsty with the paths that you've gone down.

There's another path. It's the path with Jesus, and he's the Savior. And he can by his grace offer an end to your sin and shame and your thirst for satisfaction in these wells that have already come up empty.

And if there's question about the validity of that, then the last thing you can do is say, "I know it, because this is what he did for me." I think of the power of Jesus instructing people, "Just say what happened to you."

It doesn't have to be a great theology lesson. You don't have to have all the verses memorized. Do you remember in Mark 5, there is that demon-possessed man who lives naked among the tombstones and is so filled with demonic power that everyone's afraid of him?

They can't even constrain him with chains; he just breaks them. He's the most disreputable, not credible person you could imagine. But when Jesus has healed him, has brought mercy into his life, what does Jesus say to this man? These simple, simple words: "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you."

Isn't that great? You don't have to have it all straightened out. You don't have to have your life all fixed. Will you just go home and tell people there what God has done for you through Jesus?

You know, the people who actually studied it, the most classic study on this was done by two researchers, Win and Charles Arn, father-son. And they looked at churches across this country and simply asked people the question, "Why are you here?"

90 percent plus of the people said because a friend or family member told me about Jesus. It wasn't the preacher. It wasn't the radio program. It wasn't a wonderful tract. It wasn't a great theology. It was because a friend or family member told me.

Even more recent study has been done in the northeast, the urban northeast particularly in Connecticut, where only 4 percent of the people there claim to be Bible-believing Christians. It's virtually a non-Christian culture that we can imagine in any other part of the world.

And yet where 4 percent are Bible-believing Christians, 75 percent even of them in churches, when asked why are you here, say a friend or family member told me about Jesus. True power in that.

If a friend is saying, "Listen, I don't have all the answers. I don't have my life straightened up. But I can tell you this: he was gracious to me, and I'm not thirsty anymore the way I used to be." If we can say that, the Holy Spirit can use it and the gospel can progress.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you would like to hear more from Dr. Chapell, you can find a collection of valuable resources at UnlimitedGrace.com.

When you visit, you will find today's message and many others from Pastor Bryan. Also, be sure to request a copy of Dr. Chapell's book, *Holiness by Grace*. We'll send you this book right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support.

Once again, go to UnlimitedGrace.com, or you can give by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.