John's Gospel chapter 3.
We're left off in completing verse 21 and
so we'll pick it up in verse 22
tonight.
I mean you can just feel the gold
wearing off the pages can't you?
Hear that sound in here?
The rustling of the Bibles.
Verse 22, after these things Jesus and his
disciples came into the land of Judea.
Remember he had met with Nicodemus in the
city of Jerusalem.
So now he leaves Jerusalem, comes into the
land of Judea, which is the southern portion
of Israel where Jerusalem is situated, and he
remained with them and baptized.
Now we're going to find out in chapter
4 that Jesus himself did not baptize but
his disciples baptized.
Now John, that is John the Baptist, was
baptizing in Aenon near Selim because there was
much water there.
So we understand that baptism as it was
being practiced by John the Baptist and by
Jesus's disciples was by immersion.
I have no war that I'm interested in
fighting over, I just make note of it,
but I'm right.
I mean why else would I bring it
up?
I brought it up for your edification.
We have a baptism coming up in a
couple of weeks and and you know one
of the questions that people ask a lot
is they say, well I was baptized as
a kid.
Well I was baptized as a kid and
I was baptized under my mother's orders at
a time where she could still whip me.
So I went and got baptized that night
at the little church that we attended and
then later on I reached a point in
life where I knew I was truly born
again by the Holy Spirit and then I
wanted the baptism to be of my own
choosing.
And sometimes people say I was you know
sprinkled and all these things and all as
a kid.
But as soon as I've been born again
and I know that now I've got my
own relationship with God it's time to be
water baptized and we'll be dunking you out
in the pool out there at Faith Home
Ranch in the spirit of John chapter 3.
And so they and they were baptized.
For John had not yet been thrown into
prison and then there arose a dispute between
some of John's disciples and the Jews.
Now the Apostle John in writing this gospel
by the Holy Spirit most often when he
refers to the Jews he's not speaking of
them as a people or as a nation
he's referring to the Jewish religious leaders.
That's how that's how he refers to them.
And so you most likely have the Jewish
religious leaders they're disputing with John's disciples about
purification and this has to do with this
baptism.
And the Jews of course baptized in their
history long before John the Baptist began to
baptize.
There were what was called ceremonially ceremonial pools
associated with worship of the temple.
They're called mikvahs.
They were filled with water and they would
go in and immerse themselves in the water
come up out of the water and it
was a symbol of kind of a cleansing
and now coming before God to offer their
sacrifices in a repentant and a cleansed state
before God.
And so they're discussing now the nuances between
what the Jewish religious leaders thought this purification
baptism was about and what John the Baptist
and his disciples what what baptism represented to
them and to John the Baptist and his
disciples they were baptizing in order that people
might have a point of reference of turning
away from their sinful past in preparation for
the coming of the Messiah.
Of course the Messiah is now on the
scene.
So they have this discussion that's going on
and then they that is the Jewish religious
leaders they came to John himself.
Apparently they were dissatisfied with the outcome of
the discussion with his disciples and they said
to him Rabbi he that is speaking of
Jesus who was with you beyond the Jordan
to whom you've testified that this is the
Messiah behold he's baptizing and then notice this
and all are coming to him.
You cannot have five words more carefully designed
to provoke fear in the heart of a
leader or in a minister than to hear
that all are going to him or coming
to him.
That's the attempt that they're trying to make
here.
Listen you had a nice congregation going you
had a nice thing going didn't you John
the baptizer and everything this guy comes along
and you're being perfectly nice about it I
mean you told people the truth about him
and everything and what does he do he
goes and steals your sheep like this.
It's designed to produce a fear within him
and God never directs his people by a
fleshly fear he directs his people by his
word by his Holy Spirit he directs him
by his peace Colossians 3 15 so wherever
there's guilt and condemnation you ever walk along
in your Christian life and you're serving the
Lord and also there's this irrational fear has
no basis in reality.
I mean fears bad enough dangerous enough when
it has a basis in reality but then
when it has no basis in reality and
all sudden there it is and and now
there's this tremendous temptation to begin to make
quick decisions and everything on on the basis
of fear and that's something that that we
ought to be very very wise about that
the Lord doesn't use that to drive and
to motivate his his people he hasn't given
us a spirit of fear but of power
love and a sound way the fear of
man it's a snare doesn't use these as
as means to direct his people and so
they come with this though and they know
that whole apparently this whole divide and conquered
kind of thing if that's what they're aiming
at and in John the Baptist is he's
there's an effect him John answered in verse
27 in a man and he said a
man can receive nothing unless it's been given
to him from heaven John in essence says
to him to them what God does with
other people how he blesses other people that's
not my business he can do exactly what
he wants through other people and he can
move people and change people and do all
the that's that's all up to God and
you remember as as a Paul writes later
to the Corinthians and in first Corinthians chapter
12 and then in 14 concerning the spiritual
gifts all of us are different we all
have different spiritual gifts God calls us all
to do different things and so because you
know the Lord has raised us up to
do what he's raised us up to do
that's that's his dealing and if he wants
to make one thing one thing and another
thing another thing and do and all that's
entirely up to God and that's what John
the Baptist says listen don't bring me in
the loop of this that's free to do
this kind of stuff again as Paul would
later write to the Corinthians he said for
what makes you to differ from another and
what do you have that you have not
received now if you did receive it by
due glories if you had not received it
these people had all come to John the
baptizer under what the direction of the Holy
Spirit and now when that same Holy Spirit
moves them now to Jesus which was the
intent then it's the same Holy Spirit at
work and John isn't threatened by it and
so he speaks to them and then he
said you bear you yourselves bear me witness
that I said I am not the Christ
but I have been sent before him so
he uses this opportunity to tell them once
again that Jesus is the Christ to testify
that Jesus is the Messiah once again and
so he says listen I told you that
I wasn't the Messiah so when people don't
come to me but they go to the
Messiah instead I'm not troubled by that that's
my ministry that's what I've been been called
to and then uses a illustration from marriage
and in the wedding ceremony in order to
bring perspective to all of it he said
he who has the bride is the bridegroom
but the friend of the bridegroom or we
would say the best man of the bridegroom
who stands and hears the groom rejoices greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice therefore his joy
this joy of mine is fulfilled and so
he uses the imagery and and kind of
beats the Apostle Paul here by the Spirit
of God of the imagery of Jesus is
the groom and the body of Christ Christians
being the bride of Christ and so he
says to them listen you're trying to make
me feel threatened because the bride has goo
goo eyes for the groom the bride supposed
to have goo goo eyes for the groom
and not for the best man hello it
is a bad scene if the bride has
goo goo eyes for the best man you
get my drift here on all of this
and so the best man is standing there
with the groom at the wedding ceremony and
he's not threatened that the groom ends up
with the bride at the end of the
ceremony you're not bummed about that that's what
he came to see so they come and
say this is what's happening he says I'm
not bummed about it this is what I
came to see this is what I'm about
I'm glad for the groom and I'm glad
for the bride sorry about that goo goo
eye thing and all of that but you
do what you can so he says I
rejoice over all of this therefore this joy
of mine is fulfilled he must increase but
I must decrease and that was the ministry
of John the Baptist as the ministry of
Jesus grew his it was it was in
essence a testimony of the effectiveness of John
the Baptist ministry and so as Jesus increased
John of necessity had to decrease and he
recognized that and then he continues to testify
concerning Jesus he who comes from above is
above all and he who is of the
earth is earthly and speaks of the earth
he who comes from heaven is above all
and so John says listen Jesus is above
me he's above all of us I'm not
threatened by him how could I compete with
him if I even wanted to and what
he has seen and heard he testifies and
no one receives his testimony John the Baptist
says listen I get my message from heaven
he comes from heaven with a message he
declares what he has seen and heard with
his own eyes and his own ears then
he kind of doesn't get necessarily a dig
in but he's trying to bring conviction to
them he comes as God the Son the
eyewitness of the heavenly scene and you won't
accept his testimony he's rebuking their unbelief and
he who has received his testimony has certified
that God is true I've received Jesus's testimony
and I certify tonight that it's true been
tested by one life mine many more lives
than that but I tell you he has
been everything that he said he would be
and he is everything that he says he
is in a human life I testify to
it and I know you have the same
testimony for he whom God has sent speaks
the words of God for God does not
give the spirit by measure Jesus had the
Holy Spirit upon him in a way that
no other person ever did or ever will
and the father loves the son and this
is what these religious leaders needed to hear
listen they thought they were just opposing the
son comes in it says listen there's a
relationship between the father and the son you
are rejecting one who is loved by the
father and has given all things into his
hand and he who believes and there's that
great word of the gospel according to John
again isn't it he who believes in the
son has everlasting life and he who does
not believe or trust in the son shall
not see life of the wrath of God
abides in him we just can't make it
any clearer than that can you then he
does right there everlasting life and everlasting damnation
is based upon one single thing and that
is what I decide to do with the
father's son and what I decide to do
with the father's son I will be held
responsible for and so the importance of believing
in him unto salvation otherwise the wrath of
God that abides on me it just sits
on me it's a life that's cursed in
chapter 4 and therefore when Jesus knew that
the Pharisees had heard look when the Lord
knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
made and baptized more disciples than John though
Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples
he left Judea and Judea is in the
south again and he departed again to Galilee
and Galilee is in the north of of
Israel so he doesn't want to be a
part of this whole competitive thing and the
Pharisees kind of pitting Jesus and his disciples
John the Baptist and his disciples and all
so he just leaves Judea now the area
of Israel we have states for the United
States and in all and maybe the illustration
might be better to use as a county
but the nation of Israel was at that
time divided into three areas it is it
is indeed to this day the northern region
or we would say the northern county so
to speak is the Galilee the southernmost region
in the area of Jerusalem that's Judea and
then between these two is an area that
was known in ancient times as the region
of Samaria so you kind of have three
counties that make up this this or three
states that make up this this country now
Samaria is known in modern times as you
read your newspaper today as the West Bank
that is Samaria so Jesus now is making
his way from the south Judea and he
is heading to the north Galilee and of
necessity he needed to go through Samaria now
it's interesting and I think that the entire
passage one of the key words in all
of this is that word needed but he
needed to go through Samaria that word needed
is an interesting one Samaria being that section
of land between Galilee to the north and
Judea to the south there was not a
physical need for Jesus to go through Samaria
because the Jews went north and south all
of the time without ever going through Samaria
the Jews as we'll get to in a
moment had no interest in walking through the
region of Samaria and so when there was
travel to the north and to the south
if you were up in the northern area
of the Galilee what you would do is
you would cross over the Jordan River in
the north you would walk all the way
down to Judea in the south on the
Jordanian side it was not Jordanian in those
days but you would walk down on that
eastern side of the of the Jordan River
and then you would cross back over the
Jordan to come in into Judea and Jews
they they did that all of the time
nobody needed to go through Samaria for purely
physical reasons and and so if the need
wasn't a physical one then it must have
been a spiritual one and so it was
the reason he goes through the region of
Samaria is because he wants to reach a
certain woman there and he wants to reach
a certain village there with a gospel now
the history between the Jews and the Samaritans
is an interesting one there have been problems
in the Middle East for a long time
and they're not going to be solved until
I can get President Bush to accept my
peace plan for the Middle East I sense
a spirit of unbelief in this room Paul
are you with me on that there's not
going to be peace in the Middle East
until as the old saying goes the Prince
of Peace comes back and establishes it doesn't
mean that things ought not to every effort
be made in the ways that they're being
made but we understand what the Bible says
but at the time that Jesus is heading
into the region of Samaria there is tremendous
hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans 700
years before this time the northern kingdom of
Israel and this was when Israel was divided
into the northern kingdom of Israel the southern
kingdom of Judah following you know Solomon's son
and the whole mess that he made of
things in and the northern kingdom of Israel
they get they began to engage in the
sin of the nations to a degree that
the southern kingdom of Judah did not and
so 700 years before this time the Assyrians
the world ruling empire of that time came
into the northern kingdom of Israel and conquered
it now the Assyrians had an interesting way
of dealing with conquered nations they were unable
to conquer Judah because Judah at this time
was still walking with some semblance with the
Lord they would be later conquered by the
Babylonians but the method of the Assyrians was
this that when they conquered a people they
would remove almost entirely the native population transport
them to another part of their kingdom and
then bring a foreign population into the conquered
area and what it did was it kept
the whole empire kind of in terms of
native populations unstable to unstable to revolt against
the Assyrian Empire this was their methodology and
so when they conquered the Jews they cleared
the land of Jews not entirely but almost
entirely and they brought in people from all
over the Assyrian Empire and planted them there
in Israel and the trouble is they didn't
just come physically they came with all of
their gods their false gods they came into
Israel you remember perhaps the passage from the
Old Testament they come in and the lions
begin to eat them up and snakes bite
them and all this kind of stuff is
going on and they say our gods are
powerless against you know these things here in
Israel and so send back some of those
Jews to teach us about you know the
God that has authority over this area of
the world and they're superstitious people and so
Jews were sent back and they mixed the
worship of Jehovah with the worship of these
these false gods until they came up with
this man-made kind of thing that was
was very very far from the worship of
the Lord and so then at the end
of their captivity in Assyria when the Jews
came back into Israel they discovered that the
Samaritans kind of liked that Mediterranean climate and
kind of like that part of the world
and they had kind of settled down and
had roots and now a generation or two
of Samaritans in the land and they weren't
interested in in leaving and so here the
Jews coming back from that captivity and here
are these people who are occupying their land
the land that had been promised to them
by God and if as if it couldn't
get worse these people were worshipping some kind
of a hybrid religion that involved Jehovah and
they had now taken the Jacob of Jacob
you know Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fame and
claimed Jacob one of the patriarchs as one
of their own and the Jews looked at
the Samaritans and they viewed them as spiritual
half-breeds.
These Johnny-come-latelys that have just come
into the land and now they're not leaving
and all they're holding on to land that
is ours we have deeds for this is
our land this is our home this was
once our and all of this and these
people weren't leaving and also there was a
tremendous hostility on the part of the Jews
toward the Samaritans and so great was the
Jewish hatred of the Samaritan that a Jew
would not walk through Samaria because he wouldn't
even want their dust on his sandals.
Now I say that we say all right
interesting historical fact wait a second put yourself
in the frame of mind where you hate
a people so much that you don't even
want their dust on you.
You don't even want to take one speck
of dust from them because you don't want
to owe them anything.
Well now because the Jews hated the Samaritans
the Samaritans as is the case with a
persecuted people they in turn hated the Jews
and for over 700 years this has been
going on in Samaria.
These people are firmly entrenched in both their
camps they hate each other there's no bringing
them together.
What does Jesus do?
And so divided the situation.
He goes to the Jew and then he
goes to the Samaritan.
He goes to both of them and one
of the fascinating things to me about this
passage if we ever get to it tonight
is that when he goes into the area
of Samaria he doesn't go in alone but
he takes his 12 very Jewish very bigoted
very nationalistic disciples with him in order that
he might teach them that he is the
Savior of the world and he is a
lover of all of mankind.
And so he comes now in and he
comes to a city of Sychar in Samaria
near the plot of ground that Jacob gave
to his son Joseph.
So it has Old Testament kind of historical
base.
You can't go to Sychar that very well
sits in the city of Sychar to this
day but it's all under Arab control you
can't get in there and get out alive
or with the windows and the buses.
And so but that this is one of
the few sites where you can go and
say that was the very place.
Now Jacob's well was there and Jesus therefore
being wearied from his journey so here we
have the humanity of Jesus it pictured here
he grew tired though all God all man
all at the same time and he sat
thus by the well in this weary condition
it was about the sixth hour was noon.
Now not this last trip but the trip
before to Israel that was a hot trip
those of you who were on it I
think we lost over the course of the
trip about half of the group at least
one day to digestive problems just purely because
you couldn't stay hydrated it was so hot
it was the hottest September in 30 years
and I took God's people to the Holy
Land and I mean there were places where
we went in and the idea here is
that this is a dry arid part of
the world I mean you walk in it
you can get tired and you can get
hot and there were places that we went
and you come onto the bus and the
bus drivers they kind of supplement their income
by selling a bottle of water for a
dollar it's a convenience to us and and
they make enough off of it to buy
their meals in the course of the day
and a villa somewhere in Greece and I
mean on that trip when we got on
that bus if he was charging ten dollars
a bottle we would have bought it by
the time we got on there was hot
you can get hot there water is is
is a real premium thing you really get
get tired so Jesus is there and and
he comes there and he sits at the
well and I think it's a beautiful pic
I think it's a beautiful picture before the
woman ever shows up because he's sitting there
waiting for an appointment he's waiting for this
woman he has an appointment with this woman
my meat is to all is to do
the will of the father he is there
because he is sent there now to meet
with this woman and reach a village so
there he sits there he waits for her
to come and so she comes he watches
her coming now to the well it's about
noon now noon is an odd hour to
be drawing water especially in the hot part
of the year they're in a hotter part
of the year at this time they would
always draw the water in the morning when
it was cool and then they would draw
it in the evening when it was cool
just like us if we didn't have water
and air-conditioned and these kinds of things
that we had to get it we get
it in the morning and we get it
in the evening wouldn't we we see people
walking all over town they do it in
the morning in the evening there's a little
bit cooler but she comes dead in the
day the heat of the day the reason
that she comes in the heat of the
day is because of her background getting water
was woman's work in those days and she
is the kind of woman who does not
want to show up at the well when
the other women from the city are there
we're going to see in a moment that
she's been married five times and now she's
given up completely on the institution of marriage
apparently and now she's just living with men
or living at least with one man she's
living in fornication and that kind of woman
can be a danger to other women danger
to men certainly and so here she is
rather than deal with all of the things
of meeting with these women perhaps some of
these husbands are remarried under these other women
all these kind of thing and so it
even though it's cooler at other times of
the day it's not worth the aggravation of
all that she goes through because of her
past to show up there at that time
and so she goes when she knows there
won't be a single woman around nobody around
she was at noon the woman of Samaria
a woman of Samaria came to drink came
to draw water and Jesus said to her
give me a drink now it's not as
hard in that culture as it sounds you're
going to see her response reveals that the
woman's not offended that Jesus asked for a
drink she shocked that he is a Jew
would even talk with her so Jesus asks
her for a drink of of water he
makes himself vulnerable to her to either do
it or not do it the same way
that he's made himself vulnerable to man the
accepting of the rejecting of his salvation give
me a drink for his disciples had gone
away into the city to buy food and
then the woman of Samaria said to him
how is it that you being a Jew
asks a drink of me a Samaritan woman
that sounds like a dr.
Seuss book doesn't it but but here here's
this very strong contrast between you and me
what does she do she's very very concise
I have I have no gift for that
but I appreciate it and other people my
wife has it and so here she does
what does she do in one sentence she
encapsulates seven hundred years of history for him
I don't know who you are but Jews
don't ask Samaritans especially Samaritan women for water
what are you doing here for Jews have
no dealings with Samaritans and Jesus answered and
said to her if you knew the gift
of God and who it and who it
is who says to you give me a
drink you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water now he
knows that she has no chance of understanding
the depth of what he's talking about immediately
he's talking about spiritual things that she's going
to stay on a physical wavelength for quite
a while just like you and I would
do in this conversation but I love Jesus's
methodology with her kind of that Jesus style
of witnessing here he just begins to talk
with her about just something daily in life
he asks for a drink of water she
responds in a certain way he brings it
back to water I mean is there anything
more daily in life than than water just
talking about water just kind of going back
and forth and he begins to move this
kind of conversation about water towards spiritual things
so he he begins to you know strike
up a conversation find a common ground with
her and begins to talk with her and
it's an effective way to minister to people
witness to them who is it ever hot
today might say to somebody boy it sure
is you say it's not nearly as hot
as hell's gonna be if you know I
mean I mean Jesus is a little bit
you have to pace yourself in all of
this and so Jesus is he's he's working
on this but but it is that now
with Nicodemus he really cuts to the chase
there's just like this thing in Jesus looks
at him and says unless a man be
born again he shall not you know see
the kingdom of God and when someone has
a religious background as we saw last week
you can cut to the chase you can
assume a base of knowledge with them but
here here he doesn't do that just begins
to talk with her a little bit about
water and he knows we can talk about
water we can talk about wells we can
talk of mountains we can talk about anything
and I can begin to talk to you
about the kingdom of God and your need
for me but it but it centers around
around water and the woman said to him
sir you have nothing to draw with and
the well is deep where then do you
get that living water she's completely shocked here
at Jesus's talking with with her and all
of this and and and and she's also
equally notices here the fact that he's ill
-equipped now to to you know get any
water out of this well much less to
provide living water what Jesus is telling her
there in verse 10 is you're shocked over
a Jew speaking to a Samaritan but you
don't know half the story about who you're
really talking to and who you're really talking
to is going to be able to provide
you with living water in your life and
in her mind when she thinks about living
water she's thinking about spring water not well
water she understands that Jesus is promising her
a source of water she's thinking of it
physically she he's thinking of it spiritually but
spring water in that area of the world
is water that is the purest water it's
alive there's nothing stagnant in it there's no
mosquito eggs in it nothing like that it
comes up from out of the ground it
flows continually it's fresh it seems like it
has no end in terms of its its
source and that's what Jesus is talking about
here for her spiritually but she she's thinking
of it in terms of water and she's
eager to have it but she notices you
didn't even bring anything to get water out
of a well and and where are you
going to get this this living water from
that you're speaking about are you
greater than our father Jacob who gave us
the well and drank from it himself as
well as his sons and his livestock and
that well was a well that Jacob himself
his family drank from and the water their
animals from it there's a history to that
to that well so she says she says
to Jesus in essence listen this well has
a couple things going for it it can
be traced all the way back to one
of the great patriarchs of Israel and it
is supplied for the physical thirst of men
and women for hundreds of years how can
you top that mr.
living water man was it you know she's
been married five times she doesn't know who
he is yet she's living with a man
she understands men talking results like listen anybody
can say anything but come on what do
you let's let's see it here now Jesus
isn't offended by any of this he's very
very patient I sense that he was equally
patient and bringing you to him myself and
Jesus answered and said to her whoever drinks
of this water will thirst again but whoever
drinks of the water that I shall give
him will never thirst but the water that
I shall him will become in him a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life
now Jesus all sudden turns a corner it's
clear that he's talking about spiritual things at
this point everlasting life associated with the water
and all of this we're no longer just
talking about water and he declares concerning that
water that she was drinking from in that
water says whoever drinks of this water will
thirst again that well could never provide long
-term satisfaction the life of a person you
drink of it in the morning and then
what happens you drink it and then you
get thirsty again and you have to drink
some more when Jesus is speaking of that
well as a picture of everything in life
apart from being in relationship with God and
having God's Holy Spirit within our lives and
then coming forth from our lives John chapter
7 is a torrent of living water nothing
else in life can satisfy but that relationship
and so that's why sometimes when I see
someone before they come to know the Lord
they get into this thing and they get
into that thing and then they're into this
and then this hobby and then they're over
here selling this and then they've got this
deal and all that and I'm looking at
somebody and so often you look and you
think these are flaky people not necessarily they
can be but sometimes it's just these are
people who are searching they're just going from
one place to the next place to the
next place in order to try and find
the meaning to life to where okay if
I do this I'll finally be satisfied that
empty place in my heart will be filled
and there is that proverbial place in every
single heart that cross-shaped empty spot in
the heart that you can pour the entirety
of the world into and it will never
be satisfied until the cross is placed there
until I'm in a relationship with God that's
the way that it is with with all
of the things of life they satisfy they
satisfy for a short period of time the
reason that they can never satisfy over the
long term is that because we have been
made for fellowship with God and until we're
engaged in what we have been created for
we cannot be satisfied we cannot be fulfilled
so if you're here tonight and you've gone
from one thing to the other to the
other to the other to the other thing
it's all right I'll do this or whatever
it might be and then then I'll be
satisfied this woman her deal was interesting her
deal was relationships from one relationship to another
maybe it was sex I don't know what
you know I I don't know her personally
but she obviously had a very kind of
fast movement kind of life she moved around
on on on stuff and she's looking she's
looking Jesus knows that she's looking for the
meaning of life for the purpose of life
she's just looking in the wrong places for
that and I think it's important for us
as Christians to understand here she is she
is a Samaritan she is a Samaritan woman
she is an immoral Samaritan woman she is
as low as you can get on the
social totem pole not only in the eyes
of Jews but in the eyes of the
Samaritans but Jesus isn't put off by her
because he recognizes that even though she is
looking in sinful places for satisfaction she's looking
for satisfaction and so often we can look
at people and we can see the degraded
kind of places that they go in life
and we assume that they're just perverts or
they're just you know this kind of whatever
kind of low life whatever we want to
call the deal and we don't realize that
you can look at them and say there
is a seeker in their own way that
person is searching and Jesus looked and he
saw though her sexual immorality was great this
is a person is looking for the meaning
of life Jesus said
verse 14 whoever drinks of the water that
I shall give him will never thirst but
the water that I shall give him will
become in him a fountain of water springing
up into everlasting life he spoke of it
in an arid part of the world where
a source of water that bubbled up out
of the ground I mean that was really
something to get a hold of and tap
into he's promising her that kind of a
source spiritually though she still is an understanding
you notice in verse 15 the woman said
to him sir give me this water that
I may not thirst nor come here to
draw she's still thinking in the physical realm
oh if I could get a source of
water like that and not have to come
down here you know at noon and at
midnight whatever her other time was for coming
down then Jesus abruptly changes the whole conversation
verse 16 and he says to her go
call your husband and come here now this
when you read through this you think this
is the cruelest thing in the world that
Jesus could ever do to this woman I
mean he knows her history but he says
to her you go call your husband and
come here you think wow why in the
world would he be so cruel as to
do something like that to bring her sinful
past you know right out into the open
the woman answered and said I have no
husband that was the truth wasn't it but
was it the whole truth the whole truth
and the interesting thing is she has no
husband yes I have no husband I have
had five and I'm living with men now
but listen and she's waxing like a lawyer
here I have no husband on a technicality
really I could I can't really obey what
you're having to say and when she says
I have no husband it's her shortest response
in the entire conversation she's obviously eager to
change the subject or feel bad or anything
like that and so come here to me
you're born again no that's not Jesus said
to her you've well said I have no
husband very accurate as far as it goes
there's a bit more to the story isn't
it for you have had five husbands and
the one that you now have is not
your husband and that you spoke truly and
Jesus brings all of her sinful past out
into the open you've told the truth and
that you're not you have no husband now
but it isn't the whole truth let's tell
the whole truth you've been married five times
and now you're living in sexual immorality fornication
and sooner or later in all witnessing even
as Jesus witnesses there has to address the
issue of sin I don't recognize my sinfulness
then why in the world would I ever
see a need for a Savior so Jesus
confronts her with with her sin now why
does he confront her with her sin and
the full ugliness of her past so that
when he forgives her and saves her that
she will know forever that it was not
because he only knew half the story about
her but that when he loved her and
saved her he loved her and saved her
knowing all about her he knew what he
was getting he knew he was getting a
sinner when he saved her and when he
saved you and me but if he had
not confronted her with the fullness of her
past there would always be that sense that
he likes me or he saves me but
if he really knew what I was like
if he really knew where I've been what
I've done what I've seen he'd never save
me and Jesus perhaps designed to spare her
of what the devil would one day whisper
in her ear following in her following her
salvation comes and says let's put it all
out into the open and when I forgive
you you'll know that I knew what I
was getting when I called you and when
I saved you and I knew who I
was loving when I loved you and came
to seek you out when a person understands
that God loves them knowing everything about them
what's the result of a praise Thanksgiving directed
to the Lord we love him why because
he first loved us he loves us not
because we're lovely but because he is love
this week I have a chance to hear
that beautiful old hymn sung again amazing grace
amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me was all God ever
saves are wretches I know that that's what
he saved when he saved me saved a
wretch and when I sing about the fact
that God saved a wretch and saving me
does it tumble me down into condemnation or
anything like that no I know it to
be the truth and I just wondered his
love I wondered how deep and how broad
his forgiveness is that he would ever want
to associate his name with me and yet
he did and yet he does I know
everything about you Samaritan woman I know the
whole story and I still love you but
I still want to save you and she
said in verse 19 sir I perceive that
you are a prophet now she's getting there
by degrees first she calls him a Jew
now she declares him to be a prophet
well he's both is more than both those
things but they get to the they get
to the right conclusion at the end of
this thing and then she raises a theological
question our fathers worshiped on this mountain and
you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the
place where one ought to worship and so
she raises this kind of theological question and
and we don't really know whether it's an
honest question or kind of a dishonest kind
of thing love gives the benefit of the
doubt she may be uncomfortable with the situation
and now begins that you ever witnessed to
somebody and and all sudden it's dealing with
their sin it's uncomfortable and then all sudden
they say well yeah but I mean what
what what's the right church to go to
I mean where's the right place to worship
they're trying to move away from the thing
or she should should just could be thinking
listen we've got somebody who knows more than
anyone I've talked to before on these issues
and so I'm going to ask him the
question that's been batted back and forth between
the Jews and the Samaritans forever and that
is should we mount should we worship as
the Jews say in in in Jerusalem or
on Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans worship and
Jesus said to her woman believe me the
hour is coming when you will neither on
this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father
she's asking about what's the right place to
worship God Jesus is going to say in
just a moment Jerusalem's the right place but
not for long because what was going to
happen following the death and the burial and
the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the birth
of the church on the day of Pentecost
was that the temple was no longer going
to be a physical building in one place
the temple of the Holy Spirit was going
to become a living temple made up of
living stones us in other words God can
be worshiped anywhere where two or more gathered
in his name and so it isn't an
issue of locale what's going to happen is
it is worship will be able to happen
anywhere and Jesus then said to her in
verse 22 you worship what you do not
know and so he plainly confronts her and
the religion of the Samaritans as something that's
wrong they are in error in their teaching
and in their doctrine and he comes and
he says you don't know what you're worshiping
you ever sometimes ask somebody and say why
do you why do you do that or
why does your religion do that I don't
have the slightest idea we've done it forever
leave me alone and it's easy to kind
of get into that kind of a mode
and so Jesus comes along and says you
worship what you don't know we know what
we worship for salvation is of the Jews
the Jews are right the Samaritans are wrong
and this issue you ask me the question
I tell you the answer to it Jerusalem
is the place to worship at this point
in time but the hour is coming and
now is when the true worshippers will worship
the father in spirit and in truth for
the father is seeking such to worship him
and when he speaks about being worshipped in
spirit and in truth he is addressing at
that point both the Jews and the Samaritans
the hour is coming and now is when
the true worshippers will worship the father in
spirit with all of their heart with all
of their mind the religious system of the
Jews at this time completely bogged down in
tradition and ritual the mind is disengaged the
heart is disengaged it's just this mindless soulless
soulless activity that's going on and so he
rebukes this this whole thing in terms of
no spirit and the Jews worship of the
Lord but then he says the Lord has
to be worshipped in truth and what the
Samaritans lack was truth this whole religious system
that they had devised it was air and
so he speaks to both of them and
says both of them are wrong for the
worship of God it has to be based
there has to be a heart reality in
it and that has to have biblical accuracy
for the father is seeking such to worship
him with those combinations he wants us to
worship him with all of our hearts he
wants it to be emotionally wants it to
be real but also to love him with
all of our hearts with all of our
minds it needs to be based in truth
the truth of the Word of God and
all of our soul and all of our
strength and God is spirit and those who
worship must worship him in spirit and in
truth in these ways and then Jesus said
to her I who speak to you am
he and now she reveals he reveals to
her now clearly and plainly that he is
the Messiah we'll stop there tonight we'll pick
it up next week with the disciples because
when they come back and they see Jesus
not only was Samaritan dust on his feet
but he is talking to a Samaritan woman
and if they ever hear about this in
Jerusalem this is going to be trouble but
Jesus has a method behind all of it
there's something that he is wanting to teach
them and all of this but that is
the second great lesson of the passage I
think that so often in this passage of
the Samaritan woman we think of it almost
exclusively as an evangelistic passage and it is
that but it contains also one of the
most important lessons for Christians to know and
to stay conscious of in our service to
the Lord all the way until he returns