Bad Girls of the Bible: Delilah

Bad Girls of the Bible: Delilah

Judges 16:1-30

Bad Girls:       Bad to the Bone- Not a single kind word was ever spoken about them in scripture; a pattern of sinning; no evidence of remorse, repentance, or a desire to change; they sinned with gusto. Made in the image of God, so not truly bad to the core—they just behaved that way.

                        Bad for a Moment- Women who made one huge, colossal, life changing blooper that was recorded in scripture to teach everyone else a lesson. Seem to be believers in the one true God at the start but when forced to make a decision, chose disastrously.

                        Bad for a Season, but not Forever- Sins in their past, but were willing to change and be changed.

Intro: Tonight we’re going to be studying Delilah but you can’t understand the depths of Delilah if you don’t have a grasp of her co-star Samson. Samson and Delilah are cats that live in the same house I do, but for those of you who don’t know, they are actually Biblical characters, too. Without getting too in depth, an angel of the LORD appeared to Samson’s mom and dad and proclaimed that they were going to have a son who will be a judge over Israel. A judge at that time was the head honcho over the entire country. He also said that he would be a Nazirite from the womb, and that she should drink no wine or strong drink. A Nazirite was someone who had taken a special vow for a period of time, usually 1-3 months, where they didn’t drink any wine, come into contact with a dead body, or cut their hair, which was the earthly source of Samson’s strength. Samson was different because 1) He didn’t choose to take the vow; 2) The vow was from birth and lasted until death. On a side note, the angel declared that he would be a Nazirite from the womb and that his mother, who was not yet pregnant, could not drink wine. This is a great Bible verse that proves that life begins at conception. Samson, however, was not the greatest example of a Nazirite.

            Samson had super hero strength and mad fighting skills. As a kid I always pictured him as a WWF wrestler because of his huge muscles and long hair. I guess he always seemed like caricature. Now for someone who couldn’t touch dead bodies, he sure made a lot of them. Samson ripped a lion apart with his bare hands on the way to meet his philistine fiancé, and then didn’t tell anybody about it. I would be telling everyone about it. Later when he went back to marry her, he found bees had made a honey comb in the dead lion so he ate some of it. He wasn’t supposed to touch a dead body. After this he challenged the men of the town to a riddle. The men threatened to kill the fiancé and her dad if she didn’t find out the answer to the riddle from Samson. She persuaded him to tell her, Samson lost the bet, and went to another philistine town, and killed thirty men to pay off the bet.

            A little later Samson finds out that his father-in-law gave his wife to the best man at the wedding. In anger he caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together, put a torch between them, and set them loose in the Philistine town’s barley fields. After that he killed a thousand Philistines with a fresh jawbone of a donkey.

            Another time Samson went and visited a Philistine prostitute. The people of the city waited for him by the gate to kill him. When Samson came out he grabbed the entire gate and carried it about 40 miles. Samson could not be defeated by any man.

            It would take a woman.

Judges 16:4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

                Delilah was a valley girl. In Arabic Delilah means “flirt.” Delilah’s charm worked on him because it says that Samson loved her. There is no scripture indicating that she ever loved him. But we do know that he loved her because he trusted her and stayed there quite often, unlike the prostitute and his wife, whom he was not even aware that she was given to someone else in marriage. Both of those women were nameless, but Delilah has a name. We don’t know much else about her, though.

            She’s from the Valley of Sorek, which borders Philistia and Israel. We don’t know if she was an Israelite who betrayed her country, or a Philistine who managed to infiltrate their greatest enemy. She had her own house, which was odd for a woman. Was she a widow? Was she rich? If she was rich, why was she enticed by the money? Was she a prostitute? If she was why wasn’t she addressed as such like the prostitute earlier? If she was a prostitute, how did she find time to spend with Samson?

            Delilah must have been quite the looker, because Samson could have had any woman he wanted and he wanted her, even though we see no evidence of charm, wit, compassion, or affection. Samson’s weakness wasn’t his long hair. It was Delilah.   

            Scriptures define Delilah as “woman.” Since then commentators have called her a harlot, a prostitute, low down and mean, the Judas of the Old Testament. A kinder term might simply be, “pawn.”

Judges 16:5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

            Betraying Samson wasn’t Delilah’s idea. One may ask if she chose to be with Samson and was then approached about betraying him, or was she out to betray him the whole time? We will never know this side of heaven, but it’s interesting to think about.

            She must have had a reputation of being able to lure men, as her name “flirt” would suggest. They realized that Samson’s strength was super human and wasn’t just because he worked out, or maintained a healthy diet. They wanted to know what it was.

            It is also worthy to note that the men didn’t appeal to Delilah’s patriotism (again we don’t know her nationality), or her intellect. They waved a lot of cold hard cash in front of her nose. They each were to give her 1,100 shekels of silver. That is 34 pounds of silver each. Times several men. An average man might work all year for 10 shekels.

            Before we condemn Delilah, let’s compare some notes here. On one hand she could stay with a large, hairy, violent and secretive man with a rocky reputation and a history of sleeping around, someone that we don’t even know she loved. Or she could take the money, and stay well fed, and well dressed for the rest of her life.

Judges 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

            She shot it to him straight. She didn’t water it down or appeal to his male ego, “What makes you so strong big boy?” and even added “So you can be subdued” at the end. The world asks, “How did she say it?” Did she say it teasingly? Brazenly? With a kittenish pout? A playful wink? We don’t know. However she did it, she did it well. Remember Samson has a history of riddles, and his girls getting the answers out of him. This may not have seemed so strange to him. So Samson plays along.

Judges 16:7-16  Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” ¹¹ And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” ¹⁴ So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.^[a] And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
¹⁵ And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶ And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
            It’s weird how Delilah is the one who is always accused of deception when she has been nothing but honest; Samson is the one who has been lying. The difference is their intention. He lied for fun. She lied for cash.
            But Delilah was as persistent as her sister, Mrs. Potiphar, in seduction. She never professed love for him but used his love for her as a cattle prod, “You say you love me but….” At this point Delilah was whining. There’s no way to read those words without whining. Whine whine whine whine whine. Ugh. Remember Samson’s wife whined him into revealing his riddle’s answer. By verse 16 Samson had had enough. Scripture even says he was “vexed to death.”

Judges 16:17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

            So three times he tells her an answer and three times she has Philistines ready to pounce on him—why would he allow the possibility for a fourth time?

Judges 16:18-21 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. ²¹ And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

            It’s hard not to compare Delilah and Judas. Both betrayed someone for silver. Judas for thirty pieces of silver, and Delilah for 110 year’s worth of wages times several people worth of silver. It’s not the amount that matters, it’s the sin, treachery, and deceit that matters. I heard a story about a man who asked a woman to have sex with him for a million dollars. She said “yes.” Then he asked her if she would for a dollar. She said, “What kind of person do you think I am?” He replied, “We already know that. Now we’re just haggling over price.”

            The comparing and contrasting of Judas and Delilah will go on, but for now we move ahead.

Judges 16:22-30 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

²³ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” ²⁴ And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”^{[b] 25} And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶ And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰ And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

            Why did they not shave his head, oh I don’t know, every hour?

            Delilah disappeared from scriptures never to be seen again. What happened to her? Did she take the money and run? Did she live a happy content life? Did she live with regret and remorse like Judas did? What I really want to know is if when they invited everyone in town to mock Samson at the temple if they brought Delilah in as the star of the show, the woman who brought down the strongest man in the world? There is no way to know for sure, but I believe she was there, and I believe she died with him before she could spend a single shekel of silver.

            Judas overcome with remorse returned the thirty pieces of silver and hung himself. I believe both received blood money and both died without experiencing the joy it was supposed to have brought them.

            I like the way Lizz Curtis Higgs finishes up this section, “Maybe Delilah left town long before that disastrous day. Or maybe the last thing she saw before her eyes closed for eternity was the strong hero she’d once brought to his knees, lifting up his eyes to heavens, calling on a God she would never know. Of all Delilah’s shortcomings, this was by far the greatest: not that she was rich in silver, but that she was poor in spirit.”

Application: Delilah was Bad to the Bone because she showed no signs of repentance or remorse, and no good thing was ever recorded about her. Remember Judas, overcome with remorse for betraying Jesus, an innocent man, so much so that he killed himself? There’s a difference in godly sorrow, and worldly sorrow. Paul describes the difference in 2^nd Corinthians 7:10. Godly sorrow leads to repentance which leads to salvation. Worldly sorrow leads to death. Judas was sorrowful, but that sorrow should have led him to the foot of the cross where he could have found forgiveness and salvation. Instead he went to another tree and hung himself, separating himself from God for all of eternity.

            Sorrow is good. Remorse is good. We should feel sorrow and remorse for our sin which should lead us to the cross. We are sinners separated from God and in a world of hurt. Sin doesn’t make us bad, sin makes us dead. We don’t need to feel better about ourselves, or need a pep talk. We need forgiveness which can only come from Christ.      

   

Bad Girls of the Bible: The Woman at the Well

Bad Girls of the Bible: The Woman at the Well

John 4:1-34,39-42

*Much of this is taken from Lizz Curtis Higgs book Bad Girls of the Bible. Any references not cited is due to laziness, not thievery.

Bad Girls:      Bad to the Bone- Not a single kind word was ever spoken about them in scripture; a pattern of sinning; no evidence of remorse, repentance, or a desire to change; they sinned with gusto. Made in the image of God, so not truly bad to the core—they just behaved that way.

                        Bad for a Moment- Women who made one huge, colossal, life changing blooper that was recorded in scripture to teach everyone else a lesson. Seem to be believers in the one true God at the start but when forced to make a decision, chose disastrously.

                        Bad for a Season, but not Forever- Sins in their past, but were willing to change and be changed.

Intro: Today we will be looking at our fourth Bad Girl of the Bible, and the third in a row that is nameless. This woman was not known by her husband’s name like Lot’s wife or Potiphar’s wife, but she was known by her location—more specifically her location and her ethnicity. The Bad Girl we’re going to be studying is known as the “woman at the well,” or the Samaritan woman at the well.

            In the previous chapter we find Jesus having His discussion at night with the Pharisee Nicodemus, who seems to be seeking the truth. Following that we find a story of Jesus’s disciples baptizing people in the Jordan River just like JBAP was doing. JBAP’s disciples were upset that the disciples were baptizing and becoming more popular than JBAP. JBAP on the other hand was excited because he knew that his job was to prepare the way for Jesus and his work, in that regard, was almost done. He said his joy was fulfilled and Jesus must increase and I must decrease.

Scripture: John 4:1-4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria.

            At this point we need to look at the relationship between Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans. A Jew is a person born in the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A Gentile is anyone not a Jew. And a Samaritan was a mixture of Jew and Gentile. Jews hated Gentiles. Gentiles hated Jews. And both Jews and Gentiles hated the Samaritans. When Jews traveled outside of Israel they would do their best to avoid travelling through Samaria. If they must travel through it, as soon as they crossed the border back into Israel, they stopped and shook the sand and dirt off of their feet, sandals, and clothes so they wouldn’t pollute Israel. But when Jesus left from Judea to Galilee he pretty much had to travel through Samaria to get there.

John 4:5-6 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

            Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans alike, all get thirsty. The body is made up of about 50-60% water. If you go without water for a period of time you get dehydrated. If your brain isn’t hydrated enough, you’ll get headaches. You also will get bags under your eyes, and you lips start to dry out and chap. If you go to long without water your organs will dry up and shutdown. Water is an absolute necessity.

            Jesus, fully God yet fully man was exhausted from the travel and needed some water to drink. He sent His disciples into town to buy lunch, but He stuck behind for his divine appointment with the Samaritan woman. Jesus’ Ironman wrist watch said it was high noon. Right on time, the woman shows up.

John 4:7-9 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

            Notice who initiates the conversation. I imagine the woman came to the well with her head down, minding her own business, not wanting to talk with anyone. I imagine Jesus reached out to her, maybe touched her shoulder to get her attention. In the same way Jesus is always reaching out to us.

            Noon was not the time to go to the well to get water. Women and shepherds alike would have gathered at the well in the cool of the evening rather than in the blistering heat of the noon-day sun. She needed water but wanted to go to the well at a time where no one else would be there. She didn’t want to face the judgmental stares of the men and women who would have drawn from that well. She wasn’t expecting to see anyone, but Jesus was expecting to see her. Otherwise, He would have joined the disciples in town buying food.

            Jesus makes the transition from physical to spiritual. He used a physical need to address a spiritual problem.

John 4:10-12  Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

            Either the spiritual message was lost on her, or she chose to shove it aside and continue down the physical side. Ever try to steer a conversation in a spiritual direction and the other person keeps pushing it back towards the physical side? I imagine that this was what this woman was doing. She was smart, intelligent, and does not seem to be shy. She comments that he doesn’t have a bucket, or anything else to drink with. She also points out that they were at Jacob’s well, a well that collected rain water, which is more suitable for sheep than for people. In other words, where and how would he get this living water?

John 4:13-15 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.^[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

            How many of you have ever been thirsty before? And then you drank some water. Were you ever thirsty again? The woman at the well sees this as an opportunity to not only meet a physical need (being thirsty) but also a spiritual need (she doesn’t want to ever come back to that well again and face her peers). Jesus knew that she had a physical and spiritual need that needed to be taken care. One need could be filled by simply drawing up the water from the well. The other need would need to be exposed before it could be addressed.

John 4:16-18 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

            Jesus was not calling this woman out as being a sinner. Jesus knew everything about her already. He obviously knew that she wasn’t married. It was inappropriate for a woman to be speaking to a man in that culture without her husband being there. Jesus was honoring tradition, and honoring her by recognizing that she was not a prostitute. By telling her to go get her husband, He was letting her know that He was interested in her spiritually and not carnally.

            The woman at the well probably spends every day hoping to avoid the sentence that Jesus uttered, “Go call your husband and come here.” In much the same way parents of prodigal kids hate it when people ask them how their kids are doing. Cake has a song with a line in it, “All the dishes rattle in the cupboard when the elephant arrives.” The saying “elephant in the kitchen” means that there is obviously something going on, but the home owner pretends there is nothing out of the ordinary going on, and tries to avoid talking about it at all costs.

            The elephant in this woman’s kitchen is that she has had 5 husbands and the one she has now is not even her husband. Yes it’s true that this woman was currently living in sin, she was living with a man as if they were married without being married, but let’s not look too deep into the other five marriages. We don’t know what happened to the other five. We do know that the woman feels shame and is probably ridiculed by the people in her community. Is that because of her past, or because of her present living situation? The Bible doesn’t tell us how the other relationships ended. Maybe she was an adulteress. If she was, she would have had a difficult time securing husbands 2-6 based on her reputation. Perhaps the previous five died. Then maybe the town’s people looked at her as bad luck. We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say, and we should not just assume that she was an adulteress.

            The woman, probably embarrassed and ashamed, hung her head and said very quietly, “I have no husband.” She recognized that whoever this was she was talking to was someone special. Jesus acknowledged the accuracy of her statement. This must have been a little bit of relief to the woman, until he says, “You have had five husbands and the one you are with is not your husband.” Then she knew that He knew. Five times she went to the altar with hope and expectancy of the marriage only to have it dashed and broken into pieces as each of those five came to an end for whatever reason. A married woman was protected and provided for. It’s not hard for us to see why she may not have wanted to get her hopes up by marrying for the sixth time. It’s not right, but we can understand, can’t we?

            It was good that the disciples weren’t there for this conversation. The disciples not known for their compassion on Samaritans (See Luke 9, Matt 15), would have yelled out, “BOOM! Someone’s dropping dimes all over this place!”

            After meeting Jesus face to face and having her sin exposed to Him, did she bow down and beg for forgiveness? Rend her garments? Reach for the sack cloth and ashes? Nope.

John 4:19-24 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

            No, she’s too feisty to give in just like that, so she tries again to steer the conversation away from her sin. She recognized Jesus was a prophet, but then started a theological discussion over where the proper place to worship God is. Jesus had struck a nerve with her so she used words that pushed Him away. She used words like “you Jews,” and “our fathers,” and spoke of concepts that were corporate like “worship,” rather than personal like “sin.” She also spoke of places, “Jerusalem” that were far away rather than frighteningly close like her soul.

            Jesus may have been physically tired but He was spiritually awake. He started off with “Woman, believe me” which set the tone for His response. Never mind Jerusalem or Samaria, God has another throne in mind, the woman’s very own heart.

            Perhaps she was staggered from this man’s debating skills, or maybe she was weary of arguing with Him, so she said…

John 4:25-26 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things. ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

            Perhaps in her mind, her opinion sounded good, but His did too. She may have been confused, but nevertheless, the Messiah is coming and He will answer all of our questions. Rather than letting her dismiss the entire conversation Jesus revealed His calling, ministry, and identity to her. A Samaritan, a woman, and a sinner. Three strikes against her. Jesus looked past her hard exterior and saw that she was seeking truth and He gave her Living Water. When He identified Himself He used the same words God used in the burning bush to Moses leaving zero doubt that He was claiming to be God.

John 4:27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

            It was at this point the disciples returned from Publix with their reusable canvas grocery bags. They all wondered at the scene of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman, but fortunately none of them said anything because they probably would have said something stupid.

John 4:28-30 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

            Immediately she forsook her current need, getting the water, and started evangelizing to the community. Two things happen when meet our Savior: 1) We confess our sins openly; 2) We tell others about Him.

John 4:31-34 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.   

            The disciples still didn’t get it. They have been with Jesus every day for a while now, but I bet they didn’t mention Jesus at the grocery store while they were there. But here is a Samaritan woman rushing all over town, that can’t stop telling people about Jesus, while they’re thinking of their bellies.

John 4:39-42 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Application: This woman, who was bad for a season but not forever, came face to face with her savior, her sin was exposed, she believed in Him who could set her free, and she ran and told everyone about Him sharing her testimony along the way. The Bible says that everything done in secret will eventually be made known in the light. That means that all of our sin will one day be exposed. But the good news is that we can still meet our savior, it may not be face to face, but it’s even more effective, and He can still set us free.

            The good news is so good because the bad news is so bad. The bad news is that we are dead in our transgressions. Sin doesn’t make us bad, it makes us dead. And dead people can’t do anything. Dead people don’t need a self-help program or a pep rally. Dead people need to be made alive again. The good news is that Jesus died for our sins and 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.” Our old sinful selves are dead and the new creation is here to stay.