John 4:1 -26

Good morning and greetings from Calvary Sunrise in Murrieta. My name is Bruce Thompson and I serve the Assistant Pastor at Calvary Sunrise. My wife of 39 years, Jayne is with me today and we have two children and 7 granddaughters. Lot’s of estrogen in our family. Your pastor Ruben has honored me in allowing me to share with you today as he is on a mission to India, as I am sure you are aware. Ruben and I are both students of Professor Justin Alfred whom you were blessed to hear from last Sunday.

So as we begin let us stand as we go to God in prayer:

Thank you,

Praise you Lord

Ruben

Speak to us

Remind us, reveal to us, teach us things we could not know except by your Spirit.

Give us ears to hear what Your Spirit is saying to your church

In Jesus mighty name we pray, Amen

So this morning I wanted to bring you a message from the Gospel of John chapter 4. This passage has so much to say to us today about how we can communicate our faith and powerfully interact with the unsaved of this world.

Follow with me, beginning at verse 1, reading from the New King James Version:

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than  (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

Have you ever had someplace you needed to go, or perhaps someone you needed to see?

Maybe, you had an important Job interview that you had to get to or had to pick someone up at a certain time or make a connecting flight.

In our story today we see Jesus needing to make it to such an appointment. As I mentioned earlier, Pastor Ruben and myself are studying Greek with Professor Justin Alfred, and one of the things you learn about Greek is that often a word is placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis sake. Here the word “needed” is the first word in the original Greek, which tells us Jesus had to get to this meeting.

Well, where was he going?

If you know something of the Geography of Israel you would recognize that Judea was in the south and Galilee was in the north. But there was a problem. In between Judea and Galilee was Samaria where the Samaritans lived.

To say it mildly, the Jews hated the Samaritans! As a matter of fact any self respecting Jew would detour around the whole region heading East across the Jordan River and then North and the West back over the Jordan to get to Galilee. They wouldn’t even consider taking the straight route through Samaria. Why you ask?

Well, you bible students might remember that, under King Rehoboam, after his father Solomon died, the Kingdom of Israel was split in two. Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Of course the Temple was in Jerusalem which is where under the OT system God required sacrifices and worship. Over time however the Northern Kingdom set up altars and idols in the North and ultimately they were judged by God conquered by the Assyrians who made it their practice to take conquered people groups and settle them elsewhere and bring other conquered people to replace them.

So long story short the new people and their customs and gods intermingled with the Jewish remnant that with left and what was left was a nation of mongrels, or half breeds.

To make it worse the Jews would not allow them to worship in Jerusalem, and considered the Samaritans to be lower than low.

As a matter of fact when you hear the story of the “Good Samaritan” it was an oxymoron to the Jew. (two opposites put together, Jumbo Shrimp) Because no Samaritan could be good.

Who are the Samaritans today, they are the one Jesus mentions in the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew

The New King James Version Chapter 22

8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.

They are the uninvited, the sinners and the poor, both good and bad. People just like us. Recently I was on a missions trip to El Salvador to work with a Ministry that is serving the revival among the MS13 and 18th St gangs. These guys are hungry for Jesus. We tend to want the beautiful people but God’s heart is with the poor and downtrodden.

We continue;

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Now, we are not told how long the trip took but Sychar (which is ancient Shechem) is about 40 miles north of Jerusalem. What we are told is that Jesus is tired and He has made a “beeline” to a specific well and that it was about noon time. Hebrew time was counted from sunrise forward - 6th hour. It is as if Jesus had scheduled a meeting at that very spot.

7 A woman of 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.

Jesus is met at the well by a lone Samaritan women. This seems innocent enough but culturally this says something about this particular women. Women of that day would go to the well in the mornings and evenings in groups not just for the water but to meet socially. It would be highly unusual for a women to get water in the heat of the day especially by herself.

We will learn that this women had a back story that clarifies the reason why she was all alone which will be revealed later.

Jesus, surprises her, and asks for a drink. In that day you didn’t just turn on a faucet, you had go down into the well with a water jar and bring it out.

Jesus the master evangelist uses this occasion to begin a life changing encounter with her.

9 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.

This women as we will soon see is no young thing. She knows the cultural norms, she know who the players are and how the game is played. Men don’t talk to women and especially a Jewish Rabbi’s don’t have anything to do with a Samaritan let alone a Samaritan women.

“The strict Rabbis forbade a Rabbi to greet a woman in public. A Rabbi might not even speak to his own wife or daughter or sister in public. There were even Pharisees who were called ‘the bruised and bleeding Pharisees’ because they shut their eyes when they saw a woman on the street and so walked into walls and houses!” (Barclay)

10 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.”

A person of that time understood living water to be fresh spring water, sort of bubbling up out of the ground. But living water also would remind one of YHWH from the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV

13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

This really is the question we all have for our unsaved friends and family, if you only knew the gift of God? We pray and long for them to come to Christ. We see their lives in a mess, addictions, adultery, depression and the like. If only they knew; if only they would hear.

Add to all that if they only knew who was speaking to them! Jesus said “My sheep hear My voice and they follow me.” Do you hear His voice this morning? You can..

Have you noticed you can’t make anyone come to Christ? The bible says in “no one can come unless the Father who sent Me draws him. (that word “draws” in Greek can be translated drag.) The bottom line is we cannot do it, it is a work of the Spirit.

When the disciples had been sent out by Jesus they came back all excited because they had seen demons come and great healings, but Jesus told them don’t get so excited about the miracles you have seen the greater miracle is that your name is written in heaven. Think about it, if you are born again this morning the God who created the Heavens and the Earth choose you before the world was made. Somehow He called you and you heard the call.

In our story, we see the Master change the conversation from one about physical thirst to the spiritual.

11 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? 12 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?”

Here we sense that she is still on the physical plane and doesn’t yet get that Jesus is talking about the spiritual. I love how Jesus handles her question about Jacob, he ignores it as it is just a detour from the main point. You might have noticed its easy to talk about religion but it gets very uncomfortable when you bring up Jesus.

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 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.”

You know thirst is an interesting thing. When you consider the things in life, the material life, we must admit that the things we wanted as a child would not satisfy us any longer. I remember as a kid a wanted a Schwinn Stingray bike. It was called the Apple Krate and had a banana seat and a stick shift, candie apple red. Awesome. I don’t want that any more. Other things make me thirsty but nothing of this world ever satisfies for the long run.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that God has put eternity in our hearts meaning each one born has a God shaped hole that only God can fill.

John writing in his first epistle;

The New King James Version Chapter 2

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:16 NKJV

16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

John is zeroing in on this Samaritan woman's real thirst and its not men or water.

is zeroing in on this Samaritan Womans real thirst.

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

She is still not taking this completely seriously, almost jokingly. As she is calling a bluff, she is saying if you really have it give to me! Imagine how embarrassed she will be when she learns who she is talking to.

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

Here Jesus now begins to remove the tough Facade, the Mask this women is wearing and touches who she really is.

There is a moment in every ones life when our real self, our sin is revealed. The bible says in Romans that all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God and in They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

They have together become corrupt;

Guess what all means in the original languages? All

There is none who does good,

No, not one.

Jesus told us, John 16, that when the HS would come He would convict the world of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgement. Maybe you sense the finger of God touching your area of shame this morning.

17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

All of a sudden she realizes she is no longer talking about water. She thinks. How can He know this about me? You might be thinking when I go to church it as if the Preacher know all about me. He doesn’t but the Holy Spirit does.

You see there is a reason she was at the well by herself at mid-day. She had most likely been shunned by the women of the community. She was the type that could handle men, use men to get what she wanted. She had that look.

The other women were perhaps afraid of her ability to get men; perhaps fearing for their own marriages they stayed away from her.

We have all had the dream that we are in room, perhaps school or work and we find that have no clothes. We’re naked. That’s how it feels when God reveals Himself to you. You see yourself as you really are. The book of Hebrews tells us

The New King James Version Chapter 4

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

She responds with a diversion;

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

When you get the opportunity to have a real conversation with someone about Jesus Christ often when they feel the Finger of God touching them they will attempt to change the subject.

For instance, when getting close to issue of Jesus Christ you might get a question about UFO’s or Gay rights. Jesus gives us a great example of getting the conversation back on course.

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

Because the Samaritans had a historical connection to the people of Israel, their faith was a combination of commands and rituals from the Law of Moses, put together with various superstitions. Most of the Jews in Jesus’ time despised the Samaritans, disliking them even more than Gentiles – because they were, religiously speaking, “half-breeds” who had an eclectic, mongrel faith. The Samaritans built their own temple to Yahweh on Mount Gerizim, but the Jews burned it around 128 b.c.

We as human beings tend to think of God’s presence as having what we call locality. In other words, we come to Church because that is where we think we can find God; but actually God’s presence is where ever believers are. The mystery of the ages is that God by His Holy Spirit lives in us. That knowledge alone will keep you from sin!

Jesus then says something pretty politically incorrect, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

This is the problem all around the world people have an inner need to worship but the do not know who. They blindly reach out with religious exercise but really do not know God. The Jews were no better than anyone else except that they had the truth all along and didn’t recognize it Salvation came by the Jews because Jesus came by the Jews.

I love to study the OT because it’s all about Jesus. You just have to look. John 5;

The New King James Version Chapter 5

39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me

Jesus continues;

23 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. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Lot’s of people are worshipping, but the true worshipers are worshipping in Spirit and Truth. It is possible to be a false worshiper.

How would you know?, are you worshiping God according to the truth, His Word, Jesus said My word is Truth. But that’s not all.

We must worship in Truth but also in the Spirit. Jesus said in John

The New King James Version Chapter 3

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

If you haven’t been born again by His Spirit He is seeking you today to know him. Not like, I know about Him, but really know Him!

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Messiah is the Hebrew word and Christ comes from Greek,Christos for the same word. The women reveals that she knew about the coming Messiah maybe Sunday School.

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Imagine her shock. This is one of two times recorded in the NT where Jesus directly reveals that He is the messiah. The Greek here does not have the word He here.

It actually says, I am that is speaking to you. For you bible students that is the same, I am, from the burning bush, the Greek (Ἐγώ εἰμι) I AM,God Himself.

In this story we see a progression of revelation that is common to all people on their journey toward God. Jesus is at first just a man, then a Jew, then a prophet, (just a teacher, like Buddah or Mohammed) but finally He reveals to you He is Messiah and God.

If you don’t know Him in yet Messiah, Your Saviour ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

Pray with me.