Kenneth Copeland - Don't Assume To Judge Anyone
— Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. And yesterday, forgive me, sir, I didn't introduce you. I just figured the whole world knows who you are. But this is Professor Greg Stephens, and he is an instructor, Kenneth Copeland Bible College and he has a certificate declaring him a Hebrew scholar. Now, he didn't say that and wouldn't, but I am I tell you, that excites me.
— That's the reason I drag him around with me all the time. And in order to correct me when I mentioned when I mess it up and so forth, but it's an amazing honor and privilege to have him on this broadcast because of his insight and concept of the Hebrew language and his study of that language over the years. And we're talking about the giving of thanks. So I want to go here in the fourth chapter of the Book of Ephesians, and then we'll go to the fourth chapter of John. Now, in this fourth chapter, he comes now that he ascended. What is it?... "He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" Now, if that's what it took to edify the body or build up the body of Christ back there then, it still does. So the Apostles Ministry is not done away with, the Prophets ministry is not done away with. Amen. And in that, you know, when I came up in Southern Baptist, there weren't but two evangelists and pastors because they had all passed away. But then they had missionaries. Those are apostles of their selves. So anyway... anyway, you continue to read this and put off concerning the former manner of life, the old man, which is corrupt.
— 22nd verse. Now you come down to the 29th, 28th verse and I won't talk about this before we get away from. "Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labor working with his hands the things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. I'm gonna park right there. It didn't say anything. Not one word about making a living. If any person, any believer looking for a job or that has a good job, if you are doing attitude adjustment here, why am I working? I am working that I may have to give to those that needeth. So, Father, I fully plan for You to prosper me beyond my living. This happened to Gloria and me when we didn't have anything. I was praying over the fact that we had very little. And the Word of the Lord came to the inside of me, and he said, "Look up". So I did. I heard it in here, but I looked up and he said, "You're praying about your needs being met according to my riches and glory". I said, "That's right, sir".
— He said, "Okay, look up. Look up". He said, "What about the needs of others"? He said, "If you put their needs first, then abundance will come and all of your needs will be swallowed up in that abundance. So that's the way Gloria and I began to pray in Ephesians 4. My God shall meet all of your needs, according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Well, manage, then... Since when you don't have anything, you need everything. And we just getting by but full of faith, the love for God. Right then, He brought that scripture to bear in our lives. So we looked above and brought the needs of other people into our prayer life and our personal income just jumped. And at that time, we were believing God to get out of debt. That's what did it.
— Amen.
— And so we just kept it there from then on. And it was for then, we were kind of doing like this. It just shot up there because that verse came into our lodge. Then he said, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edify"... You say verse 29 is part of 28. ..".That it may minister grace to the hearers. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed under the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice, be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, is forgiving you. Be ye there... I'm going to read this the way the Greek text reads it. "Be therefore imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and given himself for us an offering, a sacrifice to God for sweet smelling savor, But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. This is Thanksgiving week.
— That's right.
— And if your family comes together, bring these things up. We're not giving... We're not just giving thanks because of our national holiday. But look at the abundance. Even when we think we have a lot of lack in this country. All the baby food formula was missing. That was mismanagement. And nobody mentioned anything. But we've mentioned this before. Nobody mentioned anything about goat's milk. I dare say 99% of mothers today never heard of it. And probably if they ask their doctor about it. Oh, no. But the ones that are truthful will tell her. You find someone that can handle that cleanly. And you do it because it's the closest to a mother's natural milk there is. I don't even need formula, that all of that. Oh, it's terrible. Listen, sweet thing. There are people starving to death in this world.
— Yes.
— In the United States, I don't care who you are. Someone's going to see to it that you're fed. Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Eagle Mountain International Church, Operation Blessing. Samaritan's Purse.
— Right?
— Some organization in this country is going to feed you. And that's not like that everywhere. We have to be thankful for...
— So much
— We are so blessed. Now let's go to John.
— Verse 30 right there, grabbing out the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed under the day of the shield. That's your new covenant seal. That's how we're sealed. That's our covenant. So all those words right there are covenant?
— Yes, they are.
— Which means God will not alter.
— He has put his seal on us...
— Yes, sir.
— That means we are his forever.
— Yes, sir.
— Now, John, Chapter 4. Now you take this ship, Professor.
— Okay, well, we got to do a little history to figure out what's transpiring here. I first of all, I apologize. For years, I taught it wrong.
— And I did, too. And until today,
— Until I started seeing something in this. And I studied it, when I began to study from the Lord went to Rhema and all that, I said, I got to know and he took me to John 4 first place. This is where I want you to start studying. And he taught me how a man of God should treat women. And then I went to the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. And I had great examples of it. I just failed miserably at it in my life. And so he began to teach me there. And then that spurred all the things about being a disciple. But anyway, where this all happened and how this happened goes back to the time of David. Now Jesus is Son of David. Let's connect the dots.
— Yes.
— He's Son of David. He came to fulfill the law, not to destroy the law. So everything that he does, he's doing on purpose and he only does what the Father tells him to do. And so what happened after David, Solomon is there? The Lord tells Solomon that the kingdom is going to be divided, but it's not going to happen for your father's sake, because I gave my Word, my covenant Word to David. It's not going to happen to you, but it'll happen to your son. And so the kingdom will split in two. You'll have the much like now. This will sound a lot like America. You had the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, and they're divided and they were warring with each other. The Northern Kingdom is called Israel. The Southern Kingdom is called Judah. Jesus is from Judah. He's the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. So he's born of the Southern Kingdom, even though he lived his entire life in the Northern Kingdom. Now he's living in the Northern Kingdom. It was still divided in the time of Jesus, even though he's living north... God will use Caesar to get him to where he's supposed to be, to be born, because he has to fulfill David. He has to get to Bethlehem to be born.
— Micah prophesied that.
— Absolutely did. And so he has to be there to fulfill all of these things. So now the Jews is sandwiched in between going to Joseph's time. They bring the bones of Joseph back with them from Egypt. There's a little piece of land in between the Galilee in the time of Jesus and Judah in the south, where Jerusalem is. There's this little piece of land called Samaria. Samaria today is still disputed. It's what we call the West Bank today, largely, it's still the disputed territory. Jews would go around Samaria. They wouldn't go through Samaria. What happened is the king of the north built his own temple. He built his own place of worship, built his own way of doing things. He builds an altar at Tel Dan at the very northern part of the kingdom. He builds one at Bethel in the lower part of Israel that the Northern Kingdom, both kingdoms end up going into bondage, both ending and end up getting destroyed by the Babylonians, the Syrians. This is how you get Daniel. And all of these. This is Nehemiah going back to rebuild the wall. So some of the prophets were to the Northern Kingdom. Some of the prophets were to the Southern Kingdom. Two of the prophets we mentioned last week, we're called to the Gentiles, Jonah and so when... and this is what Jesus will say, "No sign will be given to this generation but the sign of Jonah. So he's fulfilling these things.
— It says... Let's pick it up. The Samaritan lands are sandwiched between the two was given to Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And they're situated within the borders of the land allotted to the sons of Joseph. Jesus is there to make peace. And John will give us some clues. "When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John," First two in parentheses... "Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples," So all the baptisms that were happening were done by his associate pastors. Put in modern terms. The disciples were doing it. He left Judea, in the south right and departed again into Galilee and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. Now we know the story of what happens. We get two warring groups of people. The Samaritans are Jewish, but they're not full blood Jews like Judea. They believed in the Torah. There are still Samaritan Jews today in that part of the world. They believe in the Torah. They just interpret the Torah differently than the South does. And both of them say they're heretics. The ones in the South say that they were.
— Jesus brought that up.
— And he will that will be part of the argument. And they'll say they're heretics. No, you have to worship in Jerusalem. No, we worship in this mountain. What mountain? Mount Gerizim, the blessing and the cursing mountain. Okay, so he's the difference between the two groups is not the Torah. They both believe the Torah must be obeyed. It's just how it's supposed to be obeyed. The Samaritans focus on Mt. Gerizim, and they're Israelites. But that's where they focus on this is. No, this is where the altar was built. This is where we said the blessing and the cursing. This is where we worship. That's what they believe. The Jews believed it's Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. All right. So that's the difference between the two. So here's the encounter. So he comes to this town. Now the text calls our attention to the location of the plot of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph. All right. If this is the same place, this is where they brought the bones of Joseph and buried them. This is where the well is. Is this the well that was at that same time? I think it is,
— Yes.
— I think it's in the same town. Now look what happens. Jacob's says that Jacob's well was there, so we know it is. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey set down at the well. It was about the sixth hour, noon. We've been taught that this woman comes because she's of ill repute and she's there because she's not accepted. And that's why she's there in the heat of the day, at noon. That's what I was taught. That's the way I taught it. That's the tradition. And maybe I don't know. But I don't think so. There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans". There's the racism card.
— Yes, sir.
— Played right there and a religious card played on it. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. John throughout his gospel points to this living water all the time. John says that over and over and over. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and 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 thereof 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; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. Now he's going somewhere with this. But let's strike down this time of day ill repute thing just where it goes here. If you would have said in the ninth hour that would have been even hotter. That's three in the afternoon. It doesn't say this was summertime.
— No, it doesn't.
— If this is wintertime in Samaria, we could have snow here. I mean, it's possible. So we can't take this and make it say, well...
— There's no reference. So just make your mind up.
— It's where it is and why it is where it is that's happening. So this is the place where we know because of the record here, that the bones of Joseph have been buried. This is the plot of ground that Jacob's well is at. So now that does place it between the blessing mountain and the cursing mountain where this is happening. And we have two related people that have been divided. The nation had been divided going into what we were talking about yesterday. The nation has been divided. And here this is. Now it only becomes clear when we see that the Samaritan woman, she has suffered much like Joseph did. Let's go on. Let me show you real quick. He says to go get her husband, right. Verse 17, The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You hast well said, I have no husband. She didn't lie to him. For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
— That was the whole idea. He wanted her to perceive that he's a prophet.
— That's it? Yeah.
— That was the message.
— He's not trying to condemn her. He's not trying to put her down. His words are spirit and life.
— Yes.
— He's getting to the crux of this, that he wants her to know he's a prophet. She's perceived that, she wants what he has. She wants that living water. Now she goes to this. Our father's worship in this mountain, which tells me they're there. And you say in Jerusalem. See, this goes all the way back to David. "...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". He's talking about our covenant, Brother Copeland.
— Yes he is.
— He's talking about what he's ushering. You worship, you know not what we know what we worship for. Salvation is of the Jews. He's identifying self and he's identifying himself as being a Judean of the House of David right there. 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. That's Tabernacle of David. That's restoring the tabernacle of David, which Amos prophesied would happen. God is the Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman said unto him, I know the Messias, since they believe in the Messias Cometh, which is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
— Now that in itself is amazing.
— Yeah.
— Because he very rarely said that.
— But he said it to a Samaritan.
— He did to her.
— There's so much more here. He's tired. He's thirsty. He's hungry. He's taking rest and he's going to sit down at this well. And she comes out there about midday and meets him. It doesn't mean that she's a woman of ill repute.
— That's what I assumed.
— Sure, we all did.
— Until I read what you wrote about this. Now go into that.
— All right. So we've always assumed that this woman changed husbands like we change our socks, but there's no indication of that in this text. Maybe she's experienced the death of several husbands. Maybe that's what's happened. Or she's had several husbands that were unfaithful to her.
— That's right.
— A woman in Samaria or in Judea cannot get a divorce on her own. Women at that time did not institute or instigate or start a divorce proceeding. It was always a man. This is why they quizzed Jesus about divorce. This is why Jesus and Paul are not at odds in Scripture concerning divorce and marriage and remarriage. They're not at odds. He answered the question exactly, it was opposed to him by the law. Anyway women didn't initiate it. Maybe that happened to her. But anyway, this is a broken woman. We know that.
— And we're out of time.
— And we're out of time. We'll pick it up.
— We'll bring her back in here tomorrow.