“46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.” John 4:46-53

The Scriptures tell us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). What does this mean? It means faith takes hold of things promised to us in God’s Word even though we can’t see them yet with our eyes. And, indeed, we as Christians “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7; cf. Hab. 2:4).

God promises to all of us who trust in Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross His pardon and forgiveness for all our sins. Can you see this forgiveness? Do the heavens open, and does God’s voice sound audibly from heaven saying, “I forgive you all your sins”? No, we have only the word of the gospel in our Bibles and preached by God’s ministers telling us it is so.

When we are sick and facing our mortality, do we see Jesus on His throne of glory and God’s angels descending from heaven to carry us home? No, we have only God’s promise that His angels will carry our souls into the bosom of Abraham because Jesus died for our sins and rose again (cf. Luke 16:22; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:21-23).

Many do not believe in God’s promises because they can’t see them with their eyes or understand them with their minds. But Jesus would have us trust Him and His Word and live by faith in His promises.

Consider the nobleman who came to Jesus while at Cana in Galilee. He came to Jesus from Capernaum (in the valley along the Sea of Galilee) because his son was deathly ill, and he asked Jesus to come down to Capernaum and heal his son.

But what did Jesus say? “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”

The nobleman had heard of Jesus and thought Jesus could help in this hour of desperate need — if Jesus came down to Capernaum and to his house. But did Jesus, the eternal Son of God who created all things by His almighty word, need to go and be visibly present in this man’s home? Jesus desired this man to have faith in His words even if he could not yet see their fulfillment with his eyes. Jesus told him, “Go thy way; thy son liveth.”

A remarkable thing happened. This man who had begged Jesus to come down before his son died now believed and returned to his house. Jesus’ words not only expressed a miraculous truth; they had power — the power to create faith in this nobleman. The nobleman now believed and walked by faith all the way down to Capernaum (about 20 miles), where his eyes saw the truthfulness of what he had believed. As a result, both he and his household came to believe and trust in Jesus as the Son of God and their Savior!

The Word of God tells us Jesus is none other than God Himself in human flesh, who came into this world to redeem us from sin and eternal death. The Word of God tells us that He died as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world — in John the Baptist’s words, Jesus is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The Word of God tells us Jesus not only died for our sins but then rose from the dead on the third day and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. The Word of God promises us pardon and forgiveness through faith in Jesus and His cross, and the Word of God promises all who trust in Jesus a place in God’s everlasting kingdom (John 3:14-16; 5:24; 14:1-6).

Can you see it? Does Jesus prove it before our eyes with modern-day signs and wonders? No, He tells us it is so in His Word. And that Word has power.

St. Paul writes in Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” In Romans 10:17, the Bible says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

As we live our lives in this world, Jesus would have us walk by faith and not by sight. He would have us take Him at His Word and not have to see signs and wonders before we will believe.

And, like the nobleman, when we get home, we will see with our eyes the truthfulness of His Word. When we are received into the glories of our eternal home through faith alone in the merits of Christ, we will see that indeed Christ did atone for all our sins, that God accepted His atonement as His resurrection proves, that when we have God-wrought faith in Christ all our sins are pardoned and forgiven and that, through faith in Christ, the eternal joys of heaven are indeed ours!

O God, graciously grant that we walk by faith in Your Word and not by sight, for only through faith in Christ will our eyes ever come to see the blessings that are offered and given to us in Him! Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:33-36

Many think all is well with their souls because of their religious heritage or their membership in a church or denomination. They are convinced that God certainly loves and accepts them as His children because of their church affiliation and their religious works and service.

Jesus said this was far from true. He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever.” If one continues in sin, he is a servant of sin, and servants of sin, though they may be outwardly connected with a church or religious gathering, will not continue to be connected with God’s church and family.

Jesus explains this in his parables of the wheat and the tares and of the dragnet (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; 13:47-50). It is as Jesus said, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. … As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:30,40-42); and, “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” Matt. 13:49-50).

It is not enough to be a good Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, etc. One needs to be set free by the Son of God, who abides forever in God’s kingdom. If He who establishes and rules over God’s kingdom sets you free, making you a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus and His cross rather than a servant of sin, you shall be free indeed and have an inheritance in God’s everlasting kingdom (cf. Gal. 3-4).

What is Jesus’ point? Don’t trust in your religious heritage, your church membership, or your charitable deeds. As such, you remain enslaved in sin and will find yourself cast out of God’s kingdom. Instead, turn from your sinful ways and look to God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for mercy, forgiveness, and a place in God’s eternal church and kingdom. Through faith in Jesus and His cross, you will be set free from the guilt and bondage of your sins, be accepted as God’s child, and be an heir with Abraham and all others who place their faith and hope in Jesus and His cross.

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26-29).

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Dear Son of God and my Savior, forgive my sins in Your blood, shed on the cross for the sins of the world, and make me a child of God and an heir of the everlasting joys of Your kingdom. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 (Read v. 19-24)

Psalm 95 directs us to worship the LORD: “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms” (Psalm 95:1-2).

But how are we to worship? What kind of worship does God desire? Should it be with liturgy and organ or with contemporary song and guitar? Should it be in a beautiful church or cathedral or in a steel building or barn?

These questions are not much different than the question posed by the woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria when she perceived Jesus was a prophet because of His knowledge of her life and relationships. “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,” she said (John 4:20).

And she raised a valid question because the Samaritans, who accepted only the first five books of Moses and had altered parts of them, claimed they were to worship on Mt. Gerizim and had worshiped there for centuries and continued to worship there even after the Jewish ruler Hyrcanus destroyed their temple a little more than 100 years before Christ’s birth. The Jews, on the other hand, said that Jerusalem was the only place where people should worship (Deut. 12:5ff.; 16:5-6; 1 Kings 8:12ff.; 12:25ff.).

Jesus pointed out to this woman the time was coming when God’s people would neither worship in Mt. Gerizim nor at Jerusalem. As He said elsewhere, the temple would soon be destroyed (cf. Matt. 24:1-2, Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-6), and God’s people would be scattered all over the world preaching the Gospel and would, in many places, join together with fellow believers in worship (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

Sadly, though the Samaritans sought to worship, they did not know the true God because of their admixture of error and false teaching (2 Kings 17:24ff.). They rejected most of the Old Testament Scriptures, including many of the promises of a Messiah and Savior who would bear the sins of the people and redeem them from sin and eternal death (cf. Isaiah 53; Psalm 130). The Jews, on the other hand, had the Scriptures and the promises of the Messiah and Savior.

Jesus said (John 4:23-24), “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

He pointed out to this woman and to us today that true worshipers would worship “in spirit and in truth,” meaning that true worship is not dependent upon where we worship or the form or liturgy used. Instead, it flows from a regenerated (or born-again) spirit in man and truly glorifies and praises God.

And so, what constitutes worshiping in spirit and in truth? First and foremost, true worship flows from faith in Jesus as God the Son, the Messiah and Savior of the world. Jesus, Himself, said that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that no one can come to Father apart from Him (John 14:6). He also said we can do nothing pleasing to God in regard to good works and service toward God apart from faith in Him (John 15:4-5).

Jesus said, “All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:23; cf. 1 John 2:22-23). And, indeed, it is only through the atoning sacrifice of the Son that we can approach the throne of God with our prayers, praises and petitions (cf. Heb. 10:19-25; 1 John 5:11-15).

True worship, then, can only come from a heart regenerated by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63; cf. John 15:1ff.; 3:3,5-6).

True worship must not be idolatry like that of the Samaritans (cf. Ex. 20:1ff.; Deut. 6:13-15). It brings no glory to God if we do not worship the Triune God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. (Cf. Deut. 6:4ff.; Matt. 28:19; 1 Pet. 1:1-5.) Jesus said, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:10).

True worship holds fast to the Bible’s teaching (1 Tim. 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 3:12-17; John 8:31-32; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:42). God hates false doctrine and any adulterating of His Word. Therefore, worship that contradicts the Scripture’s teaching is not true and pleasing to God (cf. Isaiah 8:20; Deut. 4:2; 13:1ff.; Matt. 7:21ff.; Jer. 23:28).

And, finally, true worship is exactly that: true worship. It is not merely going through the outward motions or using certain forms or liturgies. It is not vain repetitions of which Jesus speaks in His Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matt. 6:7). It is worship that comes from the heart of a believer and is genuine and sincere. It gives glory to God and thanks and praises Him for His goodness and mercy toward us in Christ Jesus.

It is as David writes in Psalm 103:1: “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”

O Lord, grant that we worship You in spirit and in truth — that we, from our hearts, glorify Your holy name for the gift of the Son and His atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32

How can we know the truth? Where can we find it? People look for truth in many places but, as we’ve seen, especially in recent times, even sources that should be trustworthy have become dishonest and slanted, often hiding the truth.

But “Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

What truth does Jesus reveal in His Word? To His Jewish hearers, His Word revealed their sinfulness and their guilt and condemnation under the Law. Jesus told His hearers: “Ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). He told them, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36). Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. … He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:14-16,18).

The truth Jesus revealed to His hearers is that it wasn’t enough to be children of Abraham and entrusted with God’s law. Their heritage did not make them true children of Abraham because they were guilty under the law of God and were servants of sin. Unless they repented of their sinful ways and looked in faith to Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, they would die in their sins and be lost forever!

The message for us is the same. It will do us no good to claim a place in God’s kingdom because of our Christian heritage or church affiliation. Like the Jews who believed in Jesus, Jesus invites us to continue in His Word so that we might learn the truth and that the truth might set us free.

And what is that truth? What does God’s Word reveal to us as it shines its bright light of truth upon us?

I think of the words of the Apostle John in his first epistle (1 John 1:8 — 2:2): “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. … And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

What truth do we learn from the Scriptures? As we read and study God’s law, we see our utter sinfulness before God. We see our failures to measure up to God’s standards. We stand guilty and condemned before God. But we see in the gospel that God sent His only-begotten Son into this world, a true man, to fulfill the demands of God’s law for us and then to bear upon the cross the full and just punishment for our sins and the sins of all that we might look to Him in faith and be justified, forgiven and counted righteous and acceptable in God’s eyes. We see that, through faith in Jesus, we have been made “accepted in the beloved,” that “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:6,7).

And this truth sets us free from the guilt and condemnation of God’s law. It gives us the assurance that through faith in the Son, we have forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting!

Dear Lord Jesus, grant that we might continue in Your life-giving Word, learn the truth, and be made free through faith in You as our God and Savior. We ask this for the sake of Your blood, shed on the cross for our sins. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“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; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14 (Read John 4:1-14)

Though the Jews usually had no dealings with Samaritans because they were a mixed people and had corrupted the Old Testament Scriptures to justify their erring religious beliefs, Jesus showed compassion on this immoral Samaritan woman and offered her living water — water that gives spiritual and eternal life.

He offered her life-giving water, but she didn’t understand. She thought only of water to quench her earthly thirst and wondered how Jesus could give her such water since He had nothing with which to draw water from Jacob’s well.

Jesus told her that anyone drinking from the well of Jacob would thirst again. This water could only temporarily quench one’s thirst and need for water. But the water Jesus offered and desired to give her was different. It was a water that would satisfy her spiritual thirst — forever! The water Jesus offered and still gives would become “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

What Jesus was offering this woman, and what He offers to us as well, is Himself, the Messiah and Savior of the world, and eternal salvation through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world (cf. Isaiah 12).

Jesus said in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

In John 7:37-39, Jesus said: “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.” And John explained: “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.”

Water is, of course, necessary to sustain life, and the people living in the arid parts of Israel knew what it was to thirst.

Jesus and the forgiveness and life He won for all by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross are needed by all of us as well so that we might have eternal life.

He desires to give everyone this living water that springs up into everlasting life, for He wants no one to perish and be lost forever. He wants to quench our ongoing need for forgiveness of sins and for life in fellowship with God our Maker. He wants us to partake of Him and His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world by faith and live!

It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see Jesus for who He really is: the Son of God and our Savior. It is the Spirit, working through God’s Word, who assures us that God is gracious to us and offers us forgiveness for our sins for the sake of Jesus’ holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our stead. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to trust in Jesus for forgiveness and life, and He strengthens us through the promises of His Word and keeps us trusting in Jesus.

God’s Spirit also moves and enables us to share our faith and tell others about Jesus and what He has done for us. He moves and enables us to share the water of life we have received with others so that their spiritual thirst, too, might be quenched forever!

All who come to know and trust in Jesus as Savior have the gift of God’s indwelling Spirit, who not only brings them to such faith and conviction but also keeps them trusting in Jesus and moves them to share their faith with others who thirst spiritually

The life-giving water that Jesus gives is, in all believers, a well of water springing up and quenching our spiritual thirst and giving us everlasting life. It satisfies us for eternity and continues to well up within us so that we might share it with others so that they, too, might have everlasting life through faith in Jesus!

O dearest Jesus, grant us Your Spirit and the forgiveness and life You have won for us by Your holy life and innocent sufferings and death on the cross in our stead. Preserve and keep us in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting and enable us to share this water of life with other thirsty souls. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]