Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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"Anything you believe could be a lie, as far as you know." So said Preacher Clark in his sermon.
After Jesus' famous conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well outside the ancient city of Sychar (Jn. 4), the woman ran into the city of Sychar and told everyone of her life-changing experience. "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman who testified, 'He told me all that I ever did.' " This kind of believing, however, is worthwhile only if it is pursued, so that the believer comes to know that what he has believed is indeed true.
To believe because someone else has personally experienced something is insufficient, and the Samaritans who heard the woman's testimony did not remain in the city while the Savior sat by the well. We are told "When the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them. And he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world' " (Jn. 4:39-42).
Those who come to God "must believe that he exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). Believing that God is "out there" somewhere is a good start, but a personal knowledge of God must be pursued! We must not remain in the city when Jesus is outside, sitting by the well. If you remain in the city, content merely to believe that Jesus is the Christ, you will never know whether or not you are believing a lie. Until you come to Jesus, until you have your own experiences with him, you cannot know that what you believe is true. You can only hope that it is. Until you act on the testimony of those who have met him, the way the Samaritans acted on the testimony of the woman, until you go to the Savior and meet him for yourself, everything you believe about him could be a lie, as far as you know.
The Christian doctrine of "salvation by faith alone" keeps people inside the city of Sychar because it teaches them that their only need is to believe, that there is no need to go to Jesus to find out if what they have believed about him is true. The effect of that doctrine is to hinder people from seeking God so that they might experience Him for themselves and know that what they believe is not a lie.
Jesus is still sitting beside the well. He is outside all the cities men have built: the cities of Catholicism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Methodistism, Baptistism, and all the other Christian cities of man's vain imaginations. The pastors whom those cities have hired and ordained for their service are telling their citizens that, yes, Jesus is there, but no, there is no reason for them to go out to the well and seek his will because they already believe. But the Bible tells us that we can seek to know the Lord only after we believe that he is there. Believing that Jesus is Lord merely lets us know where to go for forgiveness of our sins; it does not make us forgiven. Remaining in the city and believing Jesus is there does not make us a part of the body of Christ. We must go to him.
The woman at the well was not made a Pentecostal or a "Charismatic" by her experience with Jesus. How do I know that? I know that because she did not do what Pentecostals do. Pentecostals are they who hungered for God so much that they could not remain inside the city; they had to know Jesus for themselves. They went out of the city; they met Jesus and heard his voice. They were baptized by the real Spirit of God, but then they returned to the City of Sin and told people that there is no need for them to go out to Jesus at the well. Pentecostals will not confess that life is at the well, not in the city. This is Pentecostalism, the religion that says to the people of Sychar, "You do not need the baptism of the holy Ghost that I have from Jesus. You are right with God without it." It says, "We were refreshed by the waters of life, but you don't need it. Just believe he is out there, and you will be fine." Pentecostals have met the real Jesus, and then told others that they don't need to meet him. The woman at the well did not do this.
Jesus told the woman at the well that if she drank the water he gave, she would live forever. Do you know why he told her that? Because she had come out of the city; she was at the well! She was thirsty; she had left the dusty city of dry sermons and dead rituals and had gone to the well where Jesus sits. She had obeyed the ancient call of Isaiah: "Ho! Everyone that thirsteth! Come ye to the waters!" And when she drank, she felt different. She went back to town and confessed to everyone that the real Messiah was outside the city, sitting by a well! She knew there was a difference between somebody who had been to Jesus at the well and somebody who had not.
What will God do with those who know that Jesus is sitting by the well but are silent about it? What will He do to the ones who have been beyond the walls of Christianity and have "taken of the water of life freely", but then have returned to the parched city and sat with thirsty congregations, silent about the Savior sitting by the well? What should be done to those who drink living water for themselves, but when they return within that city's barren walls, they say little or nothing about it to thirsty people? This is Pentecostalism, and it is an abomination not only to God but to all who know Him, to all who have remained with Jesus at the well long enough to learn to love him and his living water of truth.