The Woman at the Well (2)

Have you ever been wrapped in a sin that seemed to bring you so far away from God that you could not feel Him anymore. Have you ever been in sin so far to where you would be in a bright room full of smiling people, but all you could feel was dark and down cast? I believe that we have all been in that place to a degree. The Bible tells us that God is light, and in Him there is NO darkness. When we are born again, when we are saved from our s

in by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are new creature. We are sons and daughters of the living God. Children of the light, and not darkness. When the darkness (sin) creeps in, it causes us internal turmoil. The light is trying to push out the dark as the dark desperately tries to sink its claws in. We know that in the end the war is already won, but battles can seem to drag on for a long time, and seem to run us ragged. We need to remember who freed us, and what He freed us from.

Today we will read a story about a woman who was going through her darkest days until she met the Lord of Light.

Now this is a long story. 42 verses in total, so I will not make you guys stand through them but we will find the story in John 4.

The first thing that I want to point out is that Jesus knows where you are at:

I love hide and go seek when I was younger. Now my joints hurt too bad to get into the places that I would like to hide, but I still enough the game. We play underground church here some nights, and it is basically a game of hide and seek with a spiritual underlay. You have a group of Christians who are hiding from Roman’s because Christianity has been made illegal by the emperor. So if a Christian is found, they are taken to jail. There is also a safe house where Christian’s are supposed to meet up at. When either all Christian’s are in jail or they are all in jail, the game is over, and depending on where they are located depends on who won the game. It is a game of strategy that sheds a little light on what it might be like to have to worship God in the shadows. But we would go all out to win this game. Dressed in dark clothes head to toe, making ourselves seemingly invisible in the darkness, picking out spots that defied logic. It was always a fun night.

You know the first game of hide and seek was played in the garden of eden. Adam and Eve hid themselves from God out of shame for failing to keep His one command. God indulged their foolery by asking where they were at. God knew precisely where they were they were at. He was making an emphasis on the situation by calling attention to the game they were playing by hiding in shame. Inevitably forcing them to give up their hiding and explain themselves.

God knows where you are, and He meets you where you are at. There is no fixing yourself up, no coming on your own terms. God initiates the relationship, and God regenerates the person.

In verse 4 we see this little 3 letter word had. Jesus HAD to pass through Samaria. Most of you have heard the term “There is more ways to skin a cat.” Meaning there are more ways than 1 to do something. I always found it funny when people would say “there is no other option” or “this is the only way.” It may be the only desirable way, but there is always another way. The only instance where I could see that there was only one way to go about things was when I comes to spiritual matters. Especially that of salvation. There is only one way to be saved, and that is through Jesus Christ Himself.

Which we are talking about here. Jesus could have gone around Samaria.

Israel had 3 parts. Galilee to the north, Judea to the south, and Samaria right in the middle of both. You do not hear a lot about Samaria in the gospels. This is because the people of Samaria were looked down on. They intermarried with people of other races and religions which God had forbade. Now before you believe that God was in some way a racist let me read you a few scriptures from the OT and NT and explain.

Deuteronomy 7:3–4 “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.”‌

2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Keeping the Jews from marrying people of other religions had nothing to do with color of skin or nationality. It had all to do with the heart of man being turned from God. God made it a law so that His people would remain spiritually pure… which they did not. Samaritans were notorious for intermarrying after they fell into captivity of the Assyrians, and they of course then turned from the Lord spiritually, just as He had warned.

Strict Jews would go as far as to travel out of their way to bypass Samaria, going to the east or the west adding a day or two to their traveling distance.

Jesus did not have to go through Samaria but He HAD to go through Samaria. This was because He had spiritual business to attend to. He knew there was a woman in Samaria that He needed to talk to, and He knew she would be coming to the well at very certain point throughout the day, and He positioned Himself so that she would have an encounter with Him, and change the trajectory of her life forever.

The Jesus we serve today is the same Jesus that met with this woman at the well. Just as powerful, and just as observant. He knows where to meet you and I as well. Now the God of the universe will never stoop to our level, but He will find us where we are at, where we have ran to no matter how far, and He will bring us back home.

Jesus knows what you are doing, and He knows what you have done:‌

It is around noon at this point. People draw water in the cool of the morning or evening. This woman came in the heat of the day, but it was by design. You see, she was not one that was really liked in the town. This woman had a bit of a reputation. One that others were cautioned to steer clear of her. For this reason, she was pressured wherever she went. Thus why she is drawing water at noon.

She comes to the well and Jesus immediately asks her for a drink of water. This caught her off guard because, as previously stated, Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Then she explained that Jesus did not have anything to draw water with, to which His reply was the reason for Him being there. He told her that if she knew who He was then she would be the one asking Him for a drink of living water, and the water that He gives leads to eternal life. As she was amazed at this proposition of eternal water (She did not fully understand what He was offering yet) she asked Him for this water and Jesus responded with this “Go get your husband.” We know from the story that we have likely heard many times that if this woman was to go get her husband, she would have options to choose from. She did not have a husband, and Jesus knew that. She had had 5 husbands, and Jesus knew that. He also knew that the man she was living with was not her husband, and they were committing immorality together.

You see, Jesus is Omniscient. That means that He is all knowing. He sees everything, He knows everything. You can fool a lot of people, but you will never fool God. Everything you think, everything you say, everything you do. Even when you are completely alone, God knows. He knows, and He loves you.

Despite it all, Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you:

Jesus never scolded this woman. He revealed to her His omniscience, and He revealed to her His sovereign power over eternal life, which in her understanding of scripture revealed that He was the sought after Messiah.

What does the Messiah do? He takes away the sins of the world. Not specific sins. There is not a hierarchy of sins that Jesus’s blood cannot nullify. When Jesus sets someone free, they are free indeed.

Whatever you have done, whenever it was (Past, present, or if it happens in the future) knows this: Jesus

I don’t know your opinions on the matter, but I believe this world is becoming a dark and desolate place. The people are angry, and bitter. They’re corrupt and filthy. Everyone seems to look to their own agenda and desires over that of others. It’s going in the opposite direction as to where scripture calls for man to go.

But if we are being honest, sometimes we are not much better. There is a joke circulating around the internet that says “Would you take this deal? You receive $5,000, but your worst enemy receives $100,000.” — the top comment was from a young man who said “Absolutely. Why would I not want $150,000?”

Sometimes we find ourselves staring in the mirror and wondering why it is that we have become what we have, or why we have done what we did. Jesus knows where you are at, He knows what you have done, and He loves you in spite of all the messes that we have made.

He invites you to come to the well that never runs dry. The lady of Samaria was in grave need of a savior. She was a societal outcast. One that people would cross a street to simply to walk the sidewalk free of her.

Jesus made sure that He was at the well at t he exact moment she would be. Then He offered her this. A drink of living water from a well that would never run dry.A drink that you never let her thirst anymore. This is not some magical water that you drink and never become physically thirsty again. This was a drink from the spiritual well of Jesus that would never leave you longing for more.

Jesus offered her a new life. The chance to hit the reset button, and start over anew.

I don’t know what you have done. I do not know how far you have strayed, but I do know this: Jesus is the one who offers you a fresh start. Jesus is the one that makes a fresh start possible, and it does not matter how big of a mess you have created Jesus can always set the pathway straight.

A positive encounter with Jesus always merits a positive reaction:

This woman woke up dreading too face the town that ridiculed her daily, and now we see at the end of the story she is racing back to bring out those who live around her out to see Jesus. She didn’t remember her past. She didn’t remember the faces that people made at her. She didn’t hesitate because of the dark past she had in the city, she raced towards it so quickly that she left her water jug behind.

That is what Jesus does. He changes peoples lives. They drop their old selves and walk I away new creatures.

Conclusion:

I don’t know where you are at this morning. You might be running from the Lord, you might be in a place where you think everything is hidden, maybe you are wearing a smile but on the inside you know that there is something wrong.

You need one of 2 things, you need to either give your life to Him for the very first time, and allow Him to make all things new.

OR you need to come back to the relationship that you once had with Him. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, and hold you there longer than you want to be, but Jesus will free you from that sin. Come back to Him.

Maybe you have gotten so caught up and bogged down by this world that you no longer joyously live your life for the Lord. Maybe your enthusiasm is not there anymore. Rekindle your first love.