Regina Conference: 1999, Contrast of Judaism and Christianity (13:13)
Address—C. Hendricks
Start by reading a verse in John 7. John Chapter 7. Verse 37 In the last day, that great day of the feast. Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow. Rivers of living water. But this fakie of the Spirit. Which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given. Because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And then a verse in Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13, and verse 13. Let us go forth therefore unto him. Without the camp. Bearing his reproach this exhortation in Hebrews. We've often read it had it before us. And I've often thought, how can we know what it means? What is the camp that he's talking about? At the end of this epistle, where he set forth the. Greater things, the superior things of Christianity in contrast with Judaism. At the end of the very end chapter he says, Let us go forth therefore unto him. We had before us in the readings, that Christianity is a person, and the blessed Lord Himself, and here we're told to go forth to him. Without or outside the camp. Bearing his reproach. Well, in the setting in which it's found, here in Hebrews, the camp is Judaism. That's what it was at the time that Paul wrote this. Judaism and he's writing to Jews. Who had outwardly embraced Christ as the Messiah, and there was always a danger that. Some of them might not continue. But might go back to Judaism. And. And apostatize from the Christian faith. And you get a lot of warnings in this epistle with that in mind. But to those who are. In this profession of faith in Jesus. The final exhortation is to go forth unto him without the camp. To abandon the camp of Judaism in favor of the blessedness of Christianity. That's basically what he's saying. Well, what does that mean to us today? Is there any application that we can make today for ourselves? We don't go to the synagogue. No, Christians go to the synagogue. They don't worship in the in the Jewish temple. If there was 1. In the 1St century, there still was. Until 70 AD, when it was destroyed by the Romans. The early Christians used to. Used to go to the temple. Look at Acts chapter. Chapter 2. Book of Acts. Chapter 2 and verse 46. And they, well, I'm going to read from verse 42, so you'll get the setting. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together and had all things common. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they continually continuing daily with 1 accord in the temple. And breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Now chapter 3. Now when Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer being the 9th hour, and so on. In those early days. You have the church. Was composed of Jewish believers. But they had not separated from Judaism. They still went to the temple. And there were other Jews in the Temple going on with the Jewish order of things, but the time had not yet come for a clear break.
Between Judaism and the church, Oregon the Christians, the only difference. He had two kinds of Jews. You had Jews that did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and you had Jews that did. It seems inconsistent. We even have difficulty thinking of how how that actually happened. But the early Christians who believed in the Lord Jesus. They went into the temple. There was not a break yet with Judaism. That's why the Epistle to the Hebrews was written in that last chapter. He says to the Jews now that had embraced Jesus as the Messiah. Now let us go forth unto him outside the camp, outside the system of Judaism to which they had been attached and into which they had been born as Jews, and to make a clean break with Judaism. God bore with this for quite a while, and it took a good deal of time. Before they made that separation in the 5th chapter. Or is it the 6th chapter? In the 6th chapter of Acts verse 7 And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. In the. In the 15th chapter. Of the Book of Acts. Verse one. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said. That they had come down from Judea to Antioch, which was a Gentile assembly. And here these Jews had come now from Jerusalem. And they said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, she cannot be saved. When, therefore, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. Verse 4 says, When they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. And there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. So there was still that situation in Jerusalem where? There was a great company of the priests that believed, and now there's certain ones of the Pharisees that believed and they were trying to put the Gentiles under law. And the decision was made there at Jerusalem that the Gentiles were not to be put under law, but they were to abide by 4 things. Verse 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. That she abstained from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, From which, if you keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch. And when they had gathered the multitude together, they read the epistle. They delivered the epistle, which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. Now if you turn to the 21St chapter, when Paul goes to Jerusalem. Paul goes to Jerusalem and it says verse 17, when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. Now he's talking when he says the brethren there, he's talking about those that were Jews at Jerusalem that had embraced. Christ as the Messiah. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James. Now this James was the brother, the half brother of the Lord. Who, When the Lord was here on earth, His brethren didn't believe in Him. We get that in John 7. But they had come to faith after the resurrection. And James his brother was the Lord's brother, was a prominent leader. He was not an apostle, but he was a prominent leader, chief men among the brethren there at Jerusalem. And so as Paul went in with us unto James, he's by the way, the author of the epistle of James and his his other brother Jude authored the epistle of Jude. We have two epistles authored by.
The Lord's brothers. All right, it says, Paul went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present, and when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. Now they had decided in the 15th of Acts that the Gentiles were not to be put under law. So we have an anomalous situation. We have part of the church. The Jewish part was under law. And the Gentile part was not. Now God bore with that for some time, but it had to be rectified. And that's why the Epistle to the Hebrews was written. And that's why he tells these Hebrew believers, go forth unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. But notice verse the end of verse 19. He declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles. By his ministry and when? They heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they're all zealous of the law. So they weren't delivered from the law. The decision in Acts 15 was that the Gentiles were not to be put under it, but no change was made. As to the Jewish believers, you have to remember that God gave them the law of Moses, and it was not, it was not like a Pagan religion. It was a religion that was established by God in the beginning, and He gave them that law. And they had the visible sign of the Lord's presence in their midst. The pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night. And they had the the ritual that had been established in the law. They had the priesthood, they had the sacrifices, they had the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the temple in the land, and this was owned of God. For many, many years. Now for the Jew to quit that. In favor of something new, altogether new, altogether different. The Jewish religion was an earthly religion. They had an earthly Tabernacle and temple and an earthly priesthood and and their their worship was all done after an earthly manner. And now they are being introduced to A to a Christ. And it was very difficult for the Jew to. Accept Christianity because they were looking for a deliverer. They were looking for a Messiah that would come in power and glory and destroy their enemies and establish his Kingdom here. And Israel would be the head and the Gentiles would be the tail. And even to his own disciples when he was crucified, they could not. Understand it even John the Baptist, who had said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Everything went contrary to his beliefs and his expectations. Here he was the forerunner, the heralder of the Messiah, and he's put in prison. And the Lord is rejected. And he sent a message, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? And the Lord sends a beautiful sweet answer, rebuking him slightly, but not hard. And he said, The blind sea, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed. And blessed is he whosoever is not not offended in me. And that was a word for John. His faith failed. As sometimes when things turn out just the opposite. To what we expect, you can put yourself in those in the shoes of the Jews. And this was the this was the hardest thing for Jews to accept is that Jesus, a crucified Messiah, a crucified Messiah. Some of the we were talking about this in the reading some of the Christian apologists in dealing with the Jews. They would go to their Old Testament scriptures and show them from their own scriptures that the Messiah would be rejected.
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace. Was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. A suffering Messiah They did not. In fact, they even had come up with the theory that there were two Messiahs. There was a suffering Messiah, but the one they were looking for was a reigning Messiah. They didn't. They wouldn't even put the two into one person. And that's how difficult it was for the Jewish mindset to accept this. And so it was no easy thing for a Jew to abandon, to abandon Judaism and to cling to the Messiah, especially since the Messiah they were clinging to had been crucified. He had been rejected. That was a stumbling block to the Jew. Foolishness to the Greek. Foolishness to the Greek mind that God's salvation can come through a man crucified on a cross. Ridiculous. Absurd. That would be their response. But to the Jew, it was a stumbling block. They were looking for a king reigning in righteousness. And they didn't know the difference between his first coming and his second coming, when he will come in power and glory, the same one. Now let's turn to the Gospel of John. We're going to just step our way through it. Don't know how far we'll get, but John, John's Gospel is unique from the three synoptic gospels in that it gives us truth and ministry. Which was for that new order of things. Which would be introduced founded upon the Lord's death. And resurrection and more. His ascension to heaven. His ascension to heaven. Now most Christians, I would say all Christendom knows about his death, His birth, of course they celebrate that more than anything. But his death. And his resurrection. And his ascension. But they seem to stop there if they get that far. Yemen of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? They were on the Mount of Olives, and here the Lord ascends. Acts 1. He ascends. Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus shall so come in like manners. Ye have seen him go, But what his present function is, what his present work is in heaven, they know little about almost nothing. That verse we read in John 7. The Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. That means that. The Spirit hadn't been given when the Lord was here on earth. You read in the caption in your King James Bible put in there by the translators who did not understand the truth that I'm bringing out right now and that we understand. So when the church was born was on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, they didn't understand that. And they will head up certain chapters that have to do with Israel and the prophets and so on, and they'll say the church does this and the church does that. You see that as the heading of some of the Psalms and some of the prophecies. They did not understand that the church did not exist in the Old Testament. You can ask a Baptist and say when did your church begin? And many of them, if they're really strict Baptists, they will say with John the Baptist, well, that's a mistake because the church didn't exist when John the Baptist was here. When the Lord was here didn't exist after he rose from the dead. He was 40 days a risen man on earth. The church did not exist yet. And then he ascended. Then he ascended. Sat down in the right hand of the majesty on high, and then. He sent. The Holy Spirit. A divine person. Sent down, and he formed by his baptism on the day of Pentecost. One body. And he formed the House of God. Where he dwells. In these last 2000 years, it's a parenthesis. It's a parenthesis in which we've been living from. When the Lord was here on earth, he preached the gospel of the Kingdom. After we're gone, his disciples at that coming day and the messengers will preach the same thing. They'll take up where he left off. But we're living in this parenthesis. We don't preach the gospel of the Kingdom. We preach the gospel of the grace of God.
Salvation by grace, salvation of the soul, the gospel of the Kingdom is there is a king coming? And he's going to establish his rights in this world. That's what was preached by the Lord John the Baptist when he was here the first time. That was interrupted by his death. The resurrection and you'll notice in the first chapters of Acts Peter says in the 3rd chapter we didn't look at it but he says to them if they would repent he would return and set up. The Kingdom, they did not repent. He has not returned. Instead, the Spirit of God has been given. And a new order of things altogether has been formed. We were singing. We're not of this world now. A Jew couldn't sing this. A Jew had a religion that was of this world. Suited to this world. A religion suited to man after the flesh. That's what Judaism was, and it was given of God. And a perfect law, if they had kept it, they would have lived forever in this Kingdom on earth. Would have been a wonderful time. But they didn't keep it. And they ended up. Crucifying their Messiah. Crucifying the Lord of glory. Their own scriptures testified to all this. 22nd Psalm many passages. They shall look on me, it says in Zachariah, whom they have pierced. And then they shall mourn for him as they realize. What they have done? To their Messiah. When Adolf Hitler slaughtered the Jews, put them in gas chambers. Some of them said what have we done? To deserve this. What have we done? They crucified their Messiah. Serious indeed. What we sow, we reap. Well, in John's Gospel, turn back to the first chapter. This gospel is unique. In that it gives us truth. All the way through. The contrast. The comparison, but mostly its contrast between Christianity and Judaism. Now, when this was written, Christianity had not yet been established, but all the ministry in John's Gospel is looking forward to its establishment, founded upon his death and resurrection. Chapter one in John's Gospel and verse 17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth. Came by Jesus Christ. Here you have two comparisons. 2 Contrasts. You have the law contrasted with grace and truth. You have Moses contrasted with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lawgivers, Moses, grace and truth. By Jesus Christ, the truth of God acting in grace. Not law, not the law principle anymore, but that God is the God of all grace. Wonderful, tremendous, majestic truth that God is dealing with us today. In sovereign grace, bringing us into blessing and taking the vilest. The most undeserving, the most unworthy. Of mankind and bringing them into blessing, grace and truth. Came by Jesus Christ and altogether new manner of dealing. No longer God requiring obedience from His servants. And blessing based upon obedience, but God blessing man out of the fullness of his own heart of love. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now back up to the 10th verse. He was in the world. And the world was made by him. Young people, don't ever forget this. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. The world did not know him then. The world does not know him now. It has not changed. Yet it may be more educated and more enlightened in all this, but the world does not know him.
By the world, I'm talking about those who are not the Lords, those who are just part of this world. But he says of us. We sang, we're not of the world which passeth away. We're not of that company, that class of people that do not know him. We do know him. Tremendous, tremendous blessing. No matter what you know and how little you know as far as man's learning is concerned, if you know him, if you know him, you know one who world system. They don't know him. And don't expect truth. Truth, morally and spiritually to come from such a source. It will not come from such a source. The world knew him not. He came unto his own. Now here is a special selection, his own, his own people, his own nation, Israel and his own received him not. It's not, doesn't say they didn't know him. In the 12TH of Mark he says I have. Having therefore one son, my beloved, I will send him also. He had sent his other servants. They had mistreated them, they injured them. And put some to death, he said. I will send my son. They will respect. They will have reverence. For my son and when they saw him. They said this is the air. They knew who he was. As he says in John 7, ye both know me, and ye know whence I am. He says, let us kill him and seize on the inheritance. And they did so. He came unto his own. His own received him not so you have the world that doesn't know him. You have those that were Jews that recognized him, but wouldn't have him, but as many as received him. That's you and me. That's us in this crowd. I trust it's true of everyone here. As many as received him to them gave he power of the right to the authority to become the sons of God or literally the children of God. John always talks about the children of God. It's unfortunate it's been rendered sons here. It's a little different thought. Children of God, those who have been born of God gives gives them the right the power to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now how do you get into this? You see a Jew in order to become an Israelite and a member. The people of God in the Old Testament, all he had to do was to be born into it naturally. If you were a Jew and a Jewish and you had a child, your child would be an Israelite. They were born into it naturally. Not so in the Christian order of things, this new order of things it says, which were born not of blood. Young people, you're not in this blessing because your parents are saved. It's not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh. You can't will it for yourself, this new birth that he's talking about here. Nor of the will of man. Someone else can't will it for you. I can't will it for you. I can present to you the gospel. I can present to you the Word, and so can others. But we can't effect the new birth, but born of God. Born of God. That's a sovereign act of God as he communicates divine life to the soul. And if a person doesn't have that new life, if he hasn't been born of God, he does not know God. He might be brought up in a Christian family even, but if he hasn't been born of God. I'm talking about those that have reached the age of accountability. They are. In darkness. Now he's going to talk more about that in the 3rd chapter. Let's turn to that right now in chapter 3. So in order to be in the family of God today, one has to be born again. He has to be born of God. He has to have a new life. Chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher, come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. That professor in the university that you might be attending, if he hasn't been born again, he's absolutely blind to the things of the Kingdom of God. He cannot see them. He does not have, he does not have spiritual eyes to see those things. Except a man be born again. You cannot see the Kingdom of God. You see, this is an altogether new concept that was not presented to the Jews in the Old Testament. They were. There were those that were born again, but it wasn't explained. It wasn't a requirement. You didn't have to be born again to be an Israelite.
You just had to be born naturally into the Israelites family and you were an Israelite. Well, we were talking about the camp and that's one of the characteristic features of the camp. First one is law principle of law. And there are those that are under the ******* of law. In Christendom today, the whole epistle to the Galatians was written to. Deliver Christians from the law principle, but there are many that are under law. That's what characterizes the camp. Grace and truth characterizes Christianity. And new birth is a requirement to be in God's family today. It wasn't so in the Old Testament. So you're not. Part of God's family just because you were born into a Christian family and go to meaning every week. No, there has to be a new birth take place, a communication of new life to your soul. So that's another distinction. If you have, and there are many of them of this kind, you have a church in Christendom that has members of the church. I know membership of a local church is not scriptural, but this is the language of the camp, the language of Christendom around us. So I'm adopting it. Membership in the church. And if you're not, there's some that are born again that are members, others that are not born again and yet they're members. And as far as membership in the church and the say in the in the in the church, they have just as much say as those who haven't been born again. What is that? Well, it's not the camp as such which was Judaism, but it's a model patterned after the camp. It's an imitation of the camp, and as you look around this, as we look around this in Christendom, we see this imitation in the Christian circles. And what we see that we call Christian is really a mixture of Christianity and Judaism and some paganism mixed in with it. That's confusion, but if we're going to go forth unto him outside the camp, then these features that characterize true Christianity, grace and truth, not the law and the new birth is absolutely necessary in order to even see the Kingdom of God and to enter it. Notice he goes on to say Nicodemus can't understand his words, though he was a a teacher, a master in Israel. Verse 4 Nicodemus. Unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born He he didn't have the foggiest idea of what the Lord was talking about. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, He expands this expression. Born again, now born of water and the Spirit, now the water has no reference whatsoever to baptism, not a bit of it. Water baptism, Christian baptism, didn't even exist at the time when the Lord Jesus spoke these words. Christianity didn't exist yet. Didn't exist until after his death, resurrection and ascension to heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2. But here we have truth that would apply after the church was established and formed. So what does it mean to be born of water? Well, Peter tells us, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The water is symbolical of the word of God, which the Spirit of God uses. To affect the new birth word of God is presented to a soul. The Spirit of God uses that. The soul believes that, and he's born again, born of water and of the spirit. The water is the means used. The spirit is the agent, the power. It says except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Doesn't matter what your education is, it doesn't matter how many letters you have after your name. They won't get you in. You need the new birth. You need in order to enter this spiritual Kingdom. Nicodemus didn't understand. He was talking about a different kind of Kingdom, not an earthly Kingdom. Here though, new birth is necessary to enter the earthly Kingdom as well as the heavenly Kingdom cannot see the Kingdom of God without this new life, and you can't enter it either.
Then verse 6 he says that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You can train it, you can educate it, you can give it every possible advantage such as the Jews had in the Old Testament. But did that convert them? No. They crucified their Messiah when he came. Persecuted him. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, partaking of the nature of the Source. Flesh is still flesh no matter what you do to it, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Powerful not that I said unto thee. Now he switches from the V which is singular, to the ye which is plural. Ye must be born again. What is he saying to Nicodemus? He's not just saying that thou, Nicodemus must be born again, which is true. He says you Jews, all of you need a new birth. They were used to saying we have Abraham for our father. And he's saying that won't do. You need to be born afresh, anew, a new source. Born of the Spirit of God by the Word of God. And then you will see, and then you will enter. The Kingdom of God. He unfolds, he says a little, he says in. Verse 9 Nicodemus saith unto answered, and said to him, How can these things be? Here he was a teacher of Israel. He didn't understand. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou master of Israel, and knoweth not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak, that we do know. And testify that we have seen and you receive, not our witness. I'm just going to pause. I don't want dwell on this verse, but it's the most profound verse in all of John's gospel. Notice the change from the singular to the plural. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. And then he changes to we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen. And you receive not our witness. And then he switches back to the singular. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall you believe? If I tell you of heavenly things, the necessity of the new birth even to enter the earthly Kingdom was an earthly thing. And now he says, if I unfold to you heavenly things, how are you going to grasp that if you can't grasp the simplest of the earthly things? Well, who is the we in verse 11? It's the Godhead. It's the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Lord is speaking here as a divine person. We speak that we do know. We cannot say we know like God can. We learn, we think. But to say we know absolutely, only God can say that, and so He speaks as one of the persons of the Godhead, we. The Father, the Son, Holy Spirit, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen. And you receive not our witness. And when you realize who the we and the our is. In this verse it is most solemn. The way it ends. Ye receive not our witness. They didn't just refuse his witness. They refused, in doing so the witness of the Godhead. And that leaves one outside of all blessing, doesn't it? Solemn thing. Verse 13 No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Even the son of man which is in heaven now he's giving them some heavenly truth. This one that came down from heaven and ascended up and will ascend up to heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That's the cross. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. We spoke a little of that this morning. Eternal life. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life, everlasting or eternal life. Well. These are things that apply today. These are things that are characteristic truths of Christianity. It was not even required. The new birth was not even required of an Israelite for him to be a member of the Israelite ish community. But to be really a part of this church that Christ is building. Where the Spirit of God dwells, one must be born again. Now in the 4th chapter.
The Lord meets a woman of Samaria. And he says in verse 7 to her, give me to drink. The woman says to him, How is it that thou being a Jew, ask us drink of Maine, which am a woman of Samaria? The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou newest the gift of God. If you only knew God as a giver, not one who was demanding obedience to a perfect law. There's nothing wrong with the law, it's wholly just and good. But man is not that way, and so he cannot obey it. But here, now she, he says to her, If you only knew God as a giver. Not a requirer. But if thou knewest the gift of God, the free giving of God. And who it is that saith to thee? Give me to drink. You only knew who you were talking to. Which devasted him. And he would have given the living water. Now the water in John 3 speaks of the water of the Word by which we're born. Again, here we have living water. It's a different figure. It's a type of the Holy Spirit. Living water, free flowing water. We saw in that 7th chapter when he spoke about rivers of living water flowing out of one's inmost being. That was a type of the Holy Spirit, and here it is too. But here it's water within the soul. Not flowing out to others, but notice what it says. He would have given the living water, the woman saith to him. Sir. Thou hast nothing to draw with. The well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank there of himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. Very strong negative shall never, never, never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well or a fountain of water. Springing up into everlasting life, notice again the everlasting life, eternal life, choose all through John's Gospel. And that speaks of of the new order, the new character of blessing that will be the part of those who believe in this present day, this present day. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water. Then I thirst not, neither come hit her to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband. And come hit her. He had awakened her desire for this living water. That was, that which would refresh her be an internal eternal source of refreshment Spirit of God. Figured under this figure. But he had to reach her conscience. So he says, go call thy husband. The woman answering said I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou hast is not thy husband, and that sets thou truly. He knew her through and through. He knew all about her. 139th Psalm says, Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. They understandest my thoughts afar off. The nothing hid from him. And she says, Sir, I perceive thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Now here we're going to have a change of worship. He doesn't own the worship of Samaria, never did. Never owned it. And Jerusalem worship is going to be set aside in favor of. Christian worship, he says in verse 22 to this woman, Ye worship, ye know not what. We know what we worship speaks as a Jew here, where salvation is of the Jews. But immediately goes on, passes that over and he says but the hour cometh. And now he is. That's the hour we're living in. When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Now, in Judaism they had. A choir. They had musical instruments. They had a priesthood. They had animal sacrifices. They had a ritual. They had a beautiful temple.
All of these wonderful. Things that they could show it you could, could, could bring a Gentile to Jerusalem and say I will show you. My religion, and they could show it to a stranger. This is our religion. And it was mentioned this morning when the Queen of Sheba came up, and she saw the the wonder and the grandeur of Solomon's temple, and, and the dress of his servants and all that. There was no more breath left in her. You can't do that. You can't show anyone your religion. Can't be seen with these eyes. He's in our midst, but you can't see him. You've never seen him. I've never seen him. Christianity is a faith system. We walk by faith, not by sight. Paul says when faith came. Something changed. The object of faith has come. He says in John 14, You believe in God, whom you have never seen. Believe also in me. We have never seen him either. Peter says, Whom having not seen ye love. In whom, though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. The Lord said to Thomas, he said, Except I see him put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And the next week there was the Lord appearing again, and Thomas this time was with them. And he said, Come here, Thomas, reach, hit her thy finger. Behold my side and my hands. And Thomas, a type of Israel who will come to faith when they see him. And they look upon him whom they have pierced. And the Lord says to us, to us, he says to Thomas, He says, Because you have seen me, ye have believed. Blessed are those that have not seen. And yet have believed that's us. That's you and me. We've never seen him. Christianity is all faith. You lay hold of it, Paul says in Hebrews 2. We see Jesus. How do we see him? By faith crowned with glory and honor. Without faith. It is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is. And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Paul says to the Thessalonians, all men. Have not faith. Aren't you glad you have faith? Aren't you glad that you can lay hold upon these precious things that you cannot touch? You cannot sense with your senses, you cannot see them, you cannot hear them, you cannot smell them. All this was true of Judaism. It's faith. We walk by faith. Not by sight. That made it difficult for the Jew to abandon Judaism, which he could see and touch and perceive with his senses. To abandon that for what? For something he could not, that was not tangible. Was only laid hold of. Faith. That's Christianity. The hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit. And in truth, you go to a church today, sign says come and worship with us. You go inside. You sit down. You hear a sermon. Hymns are sung. There's an orchestra or an organ or a piano or a choir. Not everyone in the choir is necessarily born again. Certain the piano isn't born again. The organ isn't born again. It has no spirit. The musical instruments cannot worship. That's Judaism. In principle, that's the camp. In principle, that's not Christian worship. Christian worship is in spirit. And in truth, it flows from hearts that are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, from souls that have been born again. That have eternal life. And the Spirit of God is in them as a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. And he produces worship. Philippians 33 says we are the circumcision. Which worship by the Spirit of God and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. You see, the camp is a system of things suited to the natural man.
A religion for man after the flesh for the natural man. Christianity is just the opposite. This idea of the judeo-christian tradition that you hear so much of. In Christendom. It gives the wrong impression that Christianity is just an extension of Judaism. Entirely different. Entirely new order of things. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. There is a new creation. Old things are passed away. If I was a Jew, I can say that's all passed. The Messianic Jew movement, composed of many true Christians. They believe Jesus is the Messiah. But the sad thing about that movement is they have brought Christianity. Down from a heavenly vantage point and made it an earthly thing. Completely miss the truth of the assembly, the truth of the heavenly. Truth of Christianity. They've made it just a. Sanctified Judaism, so to speak. That's not true worship. The hour cometh, and now is that's the hour in which we're living, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such. To worship them. Now I want to address this to my brethren. When we come together on Lord's Day morning. Do you remember the Lord in his death? The father is seeking. True worshippers. I'm addressing my brethren. The sisters are not allowed to pray audibly. They can pray privately, quietly. Do you ever? Have you ever? Gotten up. In that meeting. And worshipped him have has he ever heard your voice? I'm talking to the brethren. Has he ever heard your voice? You have the inestimable privilege. In this day of grace of being a true worshipper. Worshipping in spirit and in truth. Have you ever done it? That's an exercise not of gift, but of our priesthood. And we're all priests. We are all priests, from the youngest to the oldest. Have you ever? Worshipped him. Collectively. I don't just mean saying Amen to the hymns. To what? Another Thanksgiving that is given by another brother? But have you ever personally done it? He wants to hear your voice. He wants to exercise us that we exercise our priesthood. You don't have to be eloquent, Jesus. I thank thee for dying for me. If that's all you can say, say it. Thank him. He wants to hear your voice. I cannot understand. I cannot understand. We ought to come on Lord's Day morning with our baskets full to give him the praise. And week after week after week. We can go on for just one or two or three maybe. Will be the only ones that ever opened their mouth and praise. To the Lord Jesus on Lord's Day morning.