What has the story about the Samaritan woman at the well taught you?

Imagine what would have happened to the woman had Christ yelled His disgust at her for her promiscuity. She had had five husbands and the guy that she was shacked up with at the time was not her husband. But Jesus never condemned her. No finger-wagging. No accusation, condemnation or disqualification as this is the job of Satan the accuser. No "You'd better stop sinning or else you will rot in hell." None of all that because Saviour from sins is Christ's job description as it is written in Matthew 1:21-

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

God knows (and man still struggles with the truth) that we are utterly powerless to save ourselves from sin/ungodliness aka imperfection. Because He loved us so, even in our obstinate ignorance, He sent His Son to save us from them all, no matter how vile.

The arm of flesh (human effort at being godly aka perfect in every way like God) will fail. Through his seemingly holy agents that are manning some pulpits, Satan the accuser points out and accuses one of sins/imperfection (aka ungodliness) such as porn addiction or even one's inability to cook. Based on your imperfections, he then tries to disqualify you for some roles or benefits, including your ability to have a relationship with and receive living water from Christ in your so, so sinful state that they love to remind you about. Such antichrist pastors ask:

“How can God look at you or consider you for His gift of living water and other blessings when you are still mired in your sins and imperfections? He is far from you. You have to rid yourself of your dirty sins and be godly before He will deign to look at you or dignify your request to chat with a response.”

This is definitely not representative of Jesus Christ “the same yesterday, today and forever” as we see in His encounter with the woman that was caught in adultery, Zacchaeus the thieving tax collector and all who received from Him, including the promiscuous Samaritan woman. Christ was going to Galilee. For her sake, He took the shorter route that every religious Jew avoided on their journey to Galilee. He sought out a woman whom many in the church today would shun. See John 4:

“3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph”

Christ needed to go through Samaria. For the sake of this promiscuous Samaritan woman, Christ passed through Samaria to get to Galilee, a route which most Jews shunned in order to avoid being tainted by the Samaritans whom they saw as unclean. If that woman were alive today - and many among us are in her shoes right now - her own pastor might tell her that her sins make her unworthy of having such an encounter with and receiving blessings from Christ who is Saviour from sins. Good luck figuring out how having cancer (sins) disqualifies a patient from getting help from an oncologist (Saviour from sins.)

But Christ never drew near to the religious Pharisees who whose lives were all about obeying God's law, suppressing sins and doing their best to be godly aka be like God. The spirit of the antichrist is not necessarily anti-God. It is one that promotes dependence on human effort for the attainment of godliness as Eve was deceived into doing in Eden. It seeks to remove Jesus Christ the Tree of Life and His crucifixion from the sinner's equation of salvation.

Such antichrist “pastors" tell you to go and make yourself godly (be like God) by your human effort aka arm of flesh that will fail based on a list of what is good and what is evil - the same way their master Satan deceived Eve in Eden. But beloved of God, don't be deceived. God is utter Perfection. Any deviation from perfection is ungodliness. So you use drugs indiscriminately or cannot cook when it is expected of you? Well, that is not like God because God can do all things and is not addicted to drugs. But antichrist pastors often limit ungodliness to sins like fornication, murder and theft. Such make you smugly believe that you are "still okay" because you are not committing "big" sins like murder and adultery. These ones are no different from the Pharisees who could not cast the first stone at the adulteress that they condemned for her “big" sin.

Believer, any deviation from the utter perfection of God is ungodliness. This is Good News for the imperfect/ungodly who knows that even his inability to cook when it is required of him is ungodliness and looks utterly to Christ for salvation; God's word says that God justifies the ungodly, not people who think they have even an iota of good in them by themselves- Romans 4:5-

"But to the one who does not work [that is, the one who does not try to earn his salvation by doing good], but believes and completely trusts in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)."

And in Christ, we never remain the same. In Him, God washes and fills us with His Goodness (godliness) to overflowing so much that with what is spilling over, we cannot help but live a godly life and be a blessing to those around us- enriching lives and pointing others to our Source: Salvation Himself- Jesus Christ. Never the arm of flesh that will fail.

Believer, Christ does not accuse, condemn, disqualify or give you a list of things to do in order to be godly aka be like God; this has been Satan's work since Eden. Christ is Saviour from ungodliness. He is our Advocate. He defends; took our guilt, condemnation and death.

Where religious folk saw the Samaritan woman's promiscuity and her thirst for immorality, Christ saw her thirst for salvation from rejection and being unloved. This was not a case of Christ pretending that her sins did not exist. He showed her that He was aware of her sinful state by telling her about the men in her life. He showed her that He cared for her in spite of her sins. He then offered her living water to quench her thirst forever. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Still loving. Still saving. Only trust Him and put no confidence in your self/arm of flesh.

Recall that Christ first asked the Samaritan woman for water before He made His own offer of living water? That was God demanding something of man. Christ shows us here that God asking things of us is not because He needs us to produce good (keep the Law) for Him. He gave the demands of the law to show us how utterly lacking we are to produce good or meet His demands (the Law) by ourselves. The Law (God's demands) was not given for us to keep. Rather, the law was given to show us how utterly guilty and lacking in good we are of ourselves. See this spelt out in Romans 3-

"19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins."

The law was given to show us our utter need for God's saving Grace- Christ Himself. He saved the Samaritan woman and she became an evangelist, telling her city about Jesus.

Beloved of God, are you sick, depressed, distressed, discontent, in debt, oppressed, viewed as promiscuous, lazy, addicted to porn, drugs or your phone....less than perfect? Of ourselves, we all are less than perfect. Don't make the mistake of being smug in the thought that your own sins are not that bad. James 2:10 says:

"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."

Apart from God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ, the one who only lied about his location on the phone for an ethical reason is in the same boat of ungodliness/unrighteousness as the homosexual, gluttonous, pedophile serial murderer. Not fair... until, like Peter who denied Christ thrice after knowing that he could never do something like that, we realise that no sin is beneath anybody. The flesh in any pastor is exactly the same as the flesh that was in Hitler and given the vagaries of Time and Chance and Satan's sifting, anyone can commit the most heinous of crimes. As it was with Peter before he denied Christ and the scales fell of his eyes, God's mercy is the skeleton that is still restraining those who trust in the flesh (human effort at curbing sins and doing right) from crumpling into the sins-ridden mass of flesh that man is of himself. His word addresses this truth in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) devolved into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

If God lifted off His restraining hand that restrains us from devolving into committing heinous sins and let us rely on our human effort and will-power at keeping the law in order to be saved, godly or for whatever reason, we would all devolve into heinous sin and see how utterly lacking in good we are of ourselves. God sees how helpless we are to save ourselves. So He sent His own Son to take our place and die the death that is the wages of sin, because He loves us so. Romans 5:19 says:

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

One man (Adam's) disobedience brought about all of these things; brought sin into the world. One Man's obedience, Christ's, is what makes us righteous and live in triumph over sin and death according to God's word in Romans 5:17-19.

"One Man's obedience" and not knowledge of good and evil-based rules and regulations (law-keeping) done in order to be godly as Eve was deceived into doing by Satan. We are transformed by believing Jesus and not our useless human/arm of flesh-driven efforts at trying to be godly aka be like God. Only ONE thing is needful for you to be made whole and bear the fruit of godly living: look to Christ as the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent in the wilderness. John 3:14-17:

“14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

The snakebite victims who looked to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up lived; saved from the snake sting (sin nature inherited from Adam) and its deathly effects/symptoms (acts of sin that lead to death.) Likewise, anyone who has the sting of death aka sin (all have sinned!) and looks utterly to Christ lifted up for salvation gets delivered from the sin nature and all of its symptoms - acts of sin/ungodliness that lead to death. Fear, sickness, depression, lack, oppression, unemployment, every earthly ill are all "death begun."

No matter how little or how far the snake sting had spread or the damage done (today, the magnitude of sin and its effects in one's life,) without looking utterly to the bronze serpent for salvation, the Israelites would have developed more symptoms and diedsin . No matter how well they kept the law, how many sacrifices they offered, good deeds they did, fasts or church toilets washed, without looking at Christ lifted up for our salvation from sin and death, all these "good deeds" would be an effort in futility. In fact, to do these law-keeping things would mean looking away from the bronze serpent: but without looking at the serpent, death was certain. Same thing with us in Christ today. See Galatians 5:4-

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the law that many are trying to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG.) Sin strengthens its grip over those who depend on their ability to keep the law (treat their sin nature symptoms of acts of sin) to make them whole -

"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.

But many teach this verse in reverse.

Like the Samaritan woman at the well who had had five husbands and was living with a sixth who was not her husband, all of us were born married to five husbands: Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch and Hearing. These elements of the flesh/old nature or sin nature inherited from Adam controlled us. Recall Romans 5:19-

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

This old/sin nature is one that strives to be righteous/godly by human effort at keeping the law, rejecting God's gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might freely have. Trying to curb sins in order to be whole/godly is akin to the Israelites refusing to look at the bronze serpent and doing the seemingly good thing of treating their snakebite symptoms by themselves. It seems like the right thing to do, but as it was with Eve who was deceived into doing the seemingly good thing of trying to attain godliness by human effort, it is the way that Proverbs 14:12 talks about:

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

On this broad road of dependence on human effort at curbing sins and living a godly life by obeying the law which many churchogers are on, all efforts at producing good amount to nothing. Recall man's five husbands of Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch andHearing. These elements of the flesh/old nature or sin nature inherited from Adam controlled us. Depending on them (human effort) to keep the law in order to be godly only causes sins to increase. See this in Romans 7:5-

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.”

Believer, like the woman and her five ex-husbands, these five senses of the flesh (human effort) that we were married to are subject to Mr. Law. We were married to Mr. Law who condemns the best of us. We had the old nature. With Mr. Law, our fate was death because “all have sinned.” Nothing we did by our human sense could ever amount to anything with Mr. Law. The more one tries to do His bidding, the more that one's faults and failures become evident-

“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” Romans 3:20.

Under Mr. Law, we were destined for death: Hebrews 9—

“27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.”

Then Christ found us. He died for us and as us and with His one death, paid in full the wages of sin that Mr. Law demanded for our imperfection. As believers in Christ, we are dead to Mr. Law and are now married to Mr. Grace. Beloved of God, God's Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Remember in Christ we are not under Law but under Grace: "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14. Many have this verse backwards.

Romans 7:1–6 tells us that getting back under our ex-husband (Mr. Law) for anything at all while claiming marriage to Mr. Grace is ADULTERY. It does not matter whether one is using the Law as "guiding principles for morality" or for "moral excellence" or "as a reference point for good and evil" like the tree of same name or for whatever: it is adultery to sustain ANY kind of relationship with Mr. Law while claiming marriage to Christ- Mr. Grace.

See the typology of the forbidden fruit as a picture of the law that many churchgoers are feeding off in their quest for godliness in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG). Dependence on the law (human effort at being godly) for even an iota of goodness is akin to Adam saying to God:

"Yes, I know that You made Eve and I in your likeness (like God) but we have to at least eat a bit of the tree that you asked me to not eat of in order to be godly like You."

Adam and Eve were like God when Satan deceived Eve. Remember Genesis 1:27 tells us how God made them:

"So God created human beings in His own likeness. He created them to be like Himself. He created them as male and female."

They were already like God but Satan deceived them as he is deceiving many today. We who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have an even better covenant than Adam and Eve. We are children of God and joint heirs with Christ. For all who believe in Jesus, Christ suffered and died to make us godly. Like God. Believer, God Himself provided the Way for us to be godly, like Himself; the Way has got nothing to do with our puny efforts at feeding on the Law which gives the knowledge of good and evil and kills like a certain tree. Isaiah prophesied about the Way in the suffering of Christ in Isaiah 53. See the result of His suffering for us in Isaiah 53:11-

"After He has suffered, He will see the light of life. And He will be satisfied. My godly servant will make many people godly because of what He will accomplish. He will be punished for their sins."

Christ suffered and died to make us godly. In Him, we are a new creation. Created anew to be like God. Satan, through his ministers who promote the seemingly good act of striving for godliness and eternal life via human effort, is still going about trying to blind believers to this truth of godliness in Christ as he did Eve; trying to cause many to reject what God has made all who believe to be in Christ and pointing man to the law for the attainment of godliness that Christ died for us to freely have. Believer, by God's Grace, let's not fall for the same con of Satan. His ministers say we who have died to the power of Mr. Law and are now the bride of Christ should continue a marriage relationship with our ex-husband and use him to get the same moral excellence and everything else that we need to live a life of godliness which Christ has lavished on us in abundance! What a con! 1 Peter 2:3 tells us of our Husband Jesus Christ:

"By His divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the One who called us by His own honor and glory.”

Believer, we don't have to "cheat on Grace" with the Law in order to bear the fruit of morality and godly living. Everything we need to live a life of moral excellence is added to us freely under Grace - like a poor and immoral woman that marries a rich and powerful Man who has the power to transform her to be like Himself (2 Corinthians 3:18) and literally died for her because He loves her so. But many are yet to see how immoral we all are of ourselves; how poor we are in righteousness of ourselves. The Bible says of ourselves, we have none! Romans 3:10.

Recall that the sixth man that the Samaritan woman was living with was not her husband? Likewise, many churchgoers today profess to be married to Christ but are going under and trying to have children (bear fruit) with a man who is not their husband. His name is Mr. Law. These ones claim to be for Christ but still depend on their fleshly/human effort-driven five senses (having the old nature) to obey God and produce righteous works. They do not believe Romans 5:9—

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Such are still seeking their righteousness from Mr. Law who utterly rejects and condemns all who eat of him as he cannot stand an iota of sin. Such feel that God's wrath will fall on them for whatever reason. But the very law that such are trying to keep in order to get the benefits of being in Christ and bear fruit to God arouses evil desires in them that causes sin to have dominion over them. See Romans 7:5-

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.”

Also Romans 6:14- “For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace.”

Even worse, those who hold the belief that we who are the bride of Christ have to maintain a relationship with or go under Mr. Law in order to bear the fruit ofgodliness and moral excellence imply that our Bridegroom Jesus Christ who is Grace and Moral Excellence-personified does not have any morals and so is impotent to cause us to bear the fruit of godly living! Think of this in terms of what it is: a marriage. Such are saying that Grace cannot cause His bride to bear the fruit of godly living; to live a morally upright life!

The letter kills but the Spirit gives life, and with the Spirit of the Lord, it is neither by human might nor power. Why would I go to another man (who will kill me at the slightest misstep) to teach me how to race-drive and for my life too, if my husband was Louis Hamilton's personal trainer who loves me and wanted to be my personal trainer/see me perform well and win so much that He gave His life for these reasons?

Would you really share your wife with another man (who will kill your wife at the slightest error) or ask him to help you impregnate your wife so that she can bear the fruit of morality (live a life of moral excellence) when YOU are the very definition of moral excellence? But these false doctrine people who push for believers to look to the Law as a guiding principle for morality with their endless list of rules and regulations imply that Grace-personified, Jesus Christ, cannot save you from your sins and will cause you to live a life of immorality! The same Grace of Whom it is said in Titus 2:14—

“He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Verse 6 of the same Romans 7 says: "Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners."

No way to enjoy salvation from sin and death (sickness, stress, etc) and bear fruit to God if you are trying to achieve these things by keeping the law. It is by Grace. All we have to do is look to Christ aka believe. No additives on our part. No trying to treat the snakebite symptoms of sin on our own, aka the various things we do in order to get into God's good books or receive from Him. Imagine the Israelites rushing off to offer sacrifices to God and promising to be good and keep the law in order to be saved from death when they got bitten by the snakes! It would be an effort in futility, much like whatever human effort we put into "serving God" and keeping the law so that He can help us. Only one thing is needful and He is Christ alone. In Him, we don't have to do God's will; we get to do God's will. See Philippians 2:13.

Good works and godly living are the evidences of our salvation in Christ. They are not conditions. Look to Christ alone. He will make you whole, including give you victory over sin and death. He hung on the cross for us all, like the bronze serpent with the Israelites. By God's grace, keep your eyes on Him alone and enjoy salvatiom from the sting of death that is sin nature and its deathly symptoms aka acts of sin that lead to death.

So, here is a snapshot of the Samaritan woman's relationships as it pertains to our life in Christ today-

• Five husbands: the flesh aka human effort at attaining godliness which is driven by the five senses. The arm of flesh will fail.
• A sixth man who was not a husband at all: having a relationship with the law while claiming to be under Grace. This part-law and part-Grace mixture is the “neither cold nor hot” that Christ speaks of in Revelation 3- neither under Law nor under Grace.
• And along came the Seventh and Perfect Man: Jesus Christ who is Grace-personified.

Grace Himself lovingly sought out and freely quenched the thirst for salvation from rejection and a loveless life that this woman had. In order to escape the stares and giggles of the self(righteous) among those who would be at the well in the cool of the morning, the Samaritan woman went to the well during the heat of the day (the sixth hour aka 12 noon) when there would likely be no one at the well due to the intense middle eastern sun and heat. And in the heat of her helplessness, shame and disgrace, she saw Grace: Christ Himself who transformed her life and made her into an evangelist. She abandoned her waterpot (self-effort) for Christ's living water, no longer weighed down by her past deeds but boldly telling the men in her city about Jesus:

“28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.”

It is Christ's “neither do I condem you" makes us “Go and sin no more.”

Right believing always produces right living.