Ask Questions & Seek God

An American man visits the Holy Land with his wife and mother-in-law. Sadly the mother-in-law died. When seeing the local Israeli undertaker, it was explained that they could ship the body home for $5,000. But if they buried her locally it would cost only $150. The man said to the undertaker "We'll ship her home." The undertaker asked "Are you sure? It's an awfully big expense and we can do a very nice burial here." The man replied "look, 2000 years ago they buried a guy here and three days later he rose from the dead. I can't take that chance."

Historical/Cultural Context -

The Gospel of John was written between 90 AD and 100 AD. Scholars also believe that John wrote the three Epistles and the book of Revelation around the same time-frame as he wrote this Gospel. The Gospel of John was written after Matthew, Mark, & Luke had been written and circulated. John has been dubbed by most scholars as “The Spiritual Gospel.”

Biblical Text -

John 4:1–26 NKJV

Therefore, 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 departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, 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.” 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? 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?” 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 give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle -

Life Point- Let Go Of The World & Cling What Is Good

Exegetical -

John 4:1–12 NLT

Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”

Homiletical -

Jesus’ disciples had been baptizing in His name and making more disciples than John.

John made a lot of disciples which is why the religious leaders even noticed John in the first place. Now Jesus is making more than him.

The Pharisees got wind of this and for whatever reason Jesus didn’t confront them at this time. He simply left to Galilee. Now between Him and Galilee was the land called Samaria.

Samarias is an interesting land. You see the Jews were at one time conquered by Babylon. So what the Babylonian king did was remove the Jews of any importance, leaving only the most impoverished of Jews in the area and carried them away to Babylon.

Then the king would bring in a new group into the area that had no ties with God or the land. These people intermarried with the Jews that were left and they mostly resided in Samaria.

Now if we go forward in time, the Jews were lead back to the promised land, though not everyone returned some chose to stay. They come into the area and find these half-breed Jews and they despise them for it. The Jews were God’s people and so they were to remain pure at this time and they didn’t.

So there is this animosity amongst the Jews and the Samaritans that lasted even up to Jesus’s time.

A really good Jew would choose to travel around Samaria so they wouldn’t have to deal with the Samaritans. Jesus chooses not to do this, but to go right through Samaria to get to Galilee as it was the shortest route.

You see that racial separation stuff didn’t play well with Jesus. He broke down the wall of separation between Jew and everyone else through the New Covenant in His blood.

Ephesians 2:11–18 NLT

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

Galatians 3:26–29 BSB

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

So Jesus is traveling through Samaria and he comes to a town named Sychar where there is a well that was dug by Jacob hundreds of years before. He is tired and weary and sitting there and this lady shows up so he asks her for water.

She is shocked by this because of the bitterness that existed between Jews and Samaritans at the time.

Now Jesus starts speaking to her about spiritual things and she is hung up on the physical things. He talks about living water, eternal life, the power of God inside a believer. But she is focused on the water that is needed for physical life.

Is this her fault?

Just as Nicodemus without the revelation that is given by the Holy Spirit cannot comprehend what is going on and to what he is talking about, neither can she.

1 Corinthians 2:13–16 NLT

When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

So she is going on about a bucket that Jesus doesn’t have and then she asks a question. Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well?

Anyone else would have to say no. Because Jacob was chosen by God. The common saying was “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” So she was expecting a no, but that’s not what she got. Nor did she get a yes.

Jesus simply demonstrates that He is greater than Jacob.

When we get all hung up on the flesh and things of this world we miss the spiritual that is going on around us. Let us make sure that we aren’t so caught up on the physical things of this world that we miss the spiritual things of God going on around us.

People like to say they don’t hear God or see Him work. That might be because they are focused too much on the physical trappings of this world to really see what He is doing. Ask God to reveal what He is doing and you will see His work all around you.

But this only applies to the Christian, not the unsaved individual. Because they can’t see God work, they have not been given the mind of Christ yet nor does the Holy Spirit reside in them yet.

The good news is that they can get those things by surrendering all of themselves to Jesus and let Him change them from the inside out.

Life Point - Keep Seeking God

Exegetical -

John 4:13–26 NLT

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”

Homiletical -

What a picture of salvation that is given here. The idea of a spring that brings eternal life.

John 4:13–14 NLT

If we think of salvation as a spring within us then the power of God is constantly at work in our lives. God’s work is not a static work, but one that is constantly going forth from within us. If you go static then you need to ask yourself a question.

Are you sure your saved? If so, what is blocking the spring so that new life isn’t pouring out of you into other people’s lives

Then Jesus tells her to go get her husband. She replies that she doesn’t have one. So Jesus showing how much more important He is than Jacob or anyone else starts reading her life back to her.

It is like he opened her diary and read it. He says you are right, you are living with some guy and you have been married five times.

So this dear woman, thinks a second and says “you must be a prophet.”

I think I would perceive that too if I were in her shoes, don’t you?

So now she has another question for Him. Where should we worship? Should we worship on the top of the mount or go to the temple?

You see the Samaritans and the Jews didn’t get along so much that the Samaritans didn’t worship in the temple.

So Jesus goes back to the spiritual. The time is coming when we will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.

What does it mean to worship in the Spirit and in Truth?

There are multiple answers to this question. However, I want to focus on just two aspects.

To worship in the Spirit is a spiritual experience and is something that must be experienced to fully understand. But you cannot divorce truth from the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15–18 NLT

“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.

1 John 4:6 NLT

But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

To worship in the Spirit is not just some ecstatic jump around session with a bunch of hype. To worship in the Spirit is a way of living.

A way of living where one is compelled to live a righteous life. You are driven to get rid of sin in your life. Your are driven to live your life by what is written in the scriptures.

These people who think they can live whatever way they want and still be in the Spirit are fooling themselves and others. God calls us to holiness of living.

1 Peter 1:16 NLT

For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

I understand that we are going to sin and fail, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. Why? Because he said to be Holy. That is why we keep going.

Proverbs 24:16 NLT

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

Keep getting up, keep seeking God for holiness.

Luke 11:9–10 NLT

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Life Principle–

Call to Action – altar call….

Related Media

Related Sermons