Tag A Friend - 2

TAG A FRIEND

Part 2

"A Conversation With A Shady Lady"

John 4:1-30; 39-42

Last time we began a series of talks focusing on conversations various people in the Bible had with Jesus.

Each week we're going to meet someone who met Jesus face to face.

Some of the stories you will recognize and others might be new to you.

2000 years have passed since Jesus walked on the earth, but His words to these people remain incredibly relevant!

I have noticed that, though times may change, the human heart remains exactly the same.

We have the same hopes and fears and dreams and doubts that the people in the Bible did.

And we still struggle with the same problems....

A few I've noticed in the Bible are: Uncontrolled anger, foolish choices, misplaced priorities, hypocrisy, guilt, indifference, misguided ambition, shaky faith, convenient excuses, nagging doubt, compulsive busyness, broken dreams, personal failure...

Now, today we're going to look at the story of a woman Jesus met at a well in the heat of the day.

We don't know her name or her age, yet her conversation with the Lord is His longest one-on-one chat recorded in the Bible.

____________________________________

Right off the bat this woman had THREE STRIKES against her.

STRIKE ONE she was a woman, and a good Jewish rabbi was not supposed to talk to a woman alone.

STRIKE TWO, she was a Samaritan, which Jews of that day shunned.

It’s hard for us to imagine the level of animosity that existed between these two groups.

Think of the Palestinians and Israelis of today, and you’ve got the right idea.

And STRIKE THREE, she was living in sin!

The story reveals she had been married five times and was shacking up with a sixth man at the time she met Jesus.

_____________________________________

Now, the plot thickens when we see that she came to draw water at "the sixth hour."

There was nothing unusual about a woman coming out to the well to draw water.

But it WAS unusual for a woman to come out there at that hour--the sixth hour.

_________________________________________

The sixth hour would have been around NOON, and at this time of year it was scorching hot.

Most women would come out to the well earlier in the morning, before the heat of the day set in.

But this woman didn’t go at that time.

She went when she wouldn’t have to deal with other people....

...When she wouldn’t have to endure all the stares and gossip, even if it meant going there under the hot sun.

So bottom line, in the time of Jesus this Samaritan woman at the well was considered a shady lady, an immoral woman, ostracized from her community, and loaded down with shame and guilt.

________________________________________

Now, let me draw some things out of this account and bring it home to us today...

FIRST, we are reading about what I like to call...

I. A Divine Encounter

Notice how we're told in verse four that Jesus, "HAD TO go through Samaria."

But why did Jesus “HAVE TO” go through Samaria when the Jews either didn’t go there at all, or rushed through as quickly as they could?

The answer is powerful and moving---Jesus went because he INTENDED to meet this woman.

Don't forget, Jesus was God in flesh...and being God, He already knew all about her...

...and knowing all about her, He intentionally orchestrated this Divine Encounter!

He KNEW she would be coming to the well at the exact moment He was sitting there.

In other words, He knew just where to find her!

_____________________________________

The Bible reveals that God often chooses to show up in our every day, same old, same old, mundane activities, when we least expect it.

When Gideon was threshing wheat, hard at work, the Angel suddenly appeared and called him "mighty man of valor!"

When Moses was herding sheep in the wilderness on just another day, the voice of God called to him from the burning bush!

When Peter and John were coming in from just another day of fishing, Jesus appeared and said, "Follow Me!"

This woman wasn’t looking for Jesus, but He was looking for her!

All she wanted was WATER, but He knew she had far deeper needs.

Though she didn't know it, this ostracized, lonely, shady lady had a date with destiny---her life was about to be totally changed!

______________________________________

SECOND....we see in this story that:

II. Witnessing is not always comfortable, pleasant, or easy.

Our shady lady was not an easy case!

Jesus had to pull down three walls just to get her attention--the GENDER wall, the RACIAL wall, and the SHAME wall.

But notice how He patiently stayed with her until the walls came down, one by one.

Jesus did whatever it took to reach her!

And keep in mind, the Bible says He was WEARY from His journey and it was very hot out, so this was not a convenient time!

Yet Jesus took the time and trouble to reach this woman!

_____________________________________

Also, this story shows us that you have to go where people are if you want to reach them.

Inconvenience on our part is not what matters!

ILLUS: The firefighter goes into the burning house to rescue those inside.

He can’t stand outside and say, “Come on out before the house burns down.”

Jesus intended to save this woman so he went where she was.

ILLUS: Jewish man and garage

_____________________________________

THIRD, we see Jesus' witnessing technique:

III. Rather than preaching AT her, Jesus talked TO her about her deepest need...

Listen to the conversation:

Jesus said to 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.”

Now she's confused---she’s thinking of H2O, the only water she knows anything about!

She replied, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?”

________________________________________

So next, Jesus takes her deeper:

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus here is talking about spiritual thirst and what happens when we're born again.

At the moment of salvation a WELL is dug, as it were, deep inside our soul out of which flows the presence and life of the Holy Spirit----"springing up into everlasting life."

She still doesn't fully get it, but now she's at least intrigued!

The woman replies, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

In other words, If you can swing it where I don't have to walk down to this well anymore, that'd be fantastic!

_______________________________________

Next we see that...

III. Sin must be faced and forgiven...

Until our sin is faced and forgiven, there is no access to the living waters.

Jesus knew that this woman had led a scandalous, sinful life; so with his Supernatural insight, he gently moves in on the target of her troubles:

"Go get your husband."

Perhaps starting to squirm a bit, she replies, "I have no husband."

Then Jesus goes straight to the bullseye:

"You have rightly said, 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and you're living with a sixth man without being married."

______________________________________

Now, why did Jesus have to go here? Why bring up something so uncomfortable?

Because she was loaded down with guilt and shame, and The Lord knew it had to be dealt with.

_____________________________________

FACT: Read your Bible and you will see that Jesus was all about calling sinners to repentance...

Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

I think by now this woman is starting to get a clue about where Jesus is going with all this talk about "living water" and never thirsting again.

She’s tired of living with her shame and guilt, and she’s sensing that Jesus just may be able to help her.

So she says to Jesus, "I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things."

Jesus looked her right in the eye and said, "I Who speak to you am He!" (4: 26)

And He would soon follow through with this word by going to the Cross for her and for us all!

_____________________________________

You recall that there on the Cross, Jesus said, “I THIRST.”

He thirsted so that our deepest thirst could be quenched!

The sinless Son of God endured the physical agony of the crucifixion...

He took upon Himself "the iniquity of us all."

His sacrificial death purchased forgiveness for all our sins...

And His death and resurrection paved the way for Pentecost where the living water, the Holy Spirit, was poured out onto His new church!

This is why in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

_______________________________________

So, are you thirsty today? Do you know your need for Him?

Whether you have one, two, or three strikes against you, Jesus wants to talk to you today, just like he talked to the Samaritan woman at the well.

_____________________________________

In closing, I want us to notice today what the Samaritan woman did once Jesus gave her the living water.

In her joy and excitement, she ran back to town and told others,

"Come see a Man who told me all things I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (4:29)

The result of her testimony was a genuine revival where, "The people came streaming out of the village to see Him...and many of the Samaritans of the city believed on Him...and He stayed there two days!" (4:30; 39-40)

______________________________________

So maybe you know some thirsty people in your life who could use this living water that Jesus gives.

We're believing that on November 9, many will come to say what those Samaritans who came to Jesus through this woman:

“We know that this is indeed the Savior of the world" (4:42).

__________________________________________

Let me summarize what we have learned from this awesome story:

a)No one is too sinful to be saved.

b)No one is so lost that the Lord cannot find him.

c)No one can be saved without facing his sinful past.

d)No one who faces his sinful past will be turned away by Jesus.

e)No one who meets Jesus will ever be the same again.

__________________________________________

Let's stand and sing this old hymn together, "Fill my cup, Lord..."

Like the woman at the well I was seeking

For things that could not satisfy

And then I heard my Savior speaking,

“Draw from the well that never shall run dry.”

And the chorus was very simple:

Fill my cup, Lord

I lift it up, Lord.

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul

Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more.

Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.

LET'S PRAY