John 3:3-39 Encountering God A defining conversation with Jesus

Think back into your life. Do you remember certain conversations you have had that changed the course of your life?

Facts of life conversation.

A friends heart to heart

A broken relationship

Gospel of John records a number of conversations that changed people’s lives.

I. The conversation: Initiated by Jesus John 4:3-6a

A. Commonly in unlikely ways John 4:3-4

(ESV) John 4 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria.

1. Closest way / but not the normal Jewish way

B. Always in intentional ways John 4:3-6a

(ESV) John 4 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; …

1. ‘had to’

C. In the normal process of life John 4:6b

(ESV) John 4 6 … so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour (noon).

II. The conversation: Comes to unlikely persons

A. Fringe people John 4:7-8

(ESV) John 4 7 A woman from 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.)

B. People with bad reputations John 4:6b-8

(ESV) John 4 6 … It was about the sixth hour (noon). 7 A woman from 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.)

C. People with strange beliefs John 4:9

(ESV) John 4 9 The Samaritan womansaid to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

III. The conversation: Offers that which satisfies

A. Beyond one’s experience John 4:10

(ESV) John 4 10 Jesus answered 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.”

1. A living satisfaction

B. A removal of longing John 4:11-14a

(ESV) John 4 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. …

C. An eternal refreshment John 4:14b-15

(ESV) John 4 14 … The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

IV. The conversation: Requires dealing with sin

A. Jesus knows of sin John 4:16-18

(ESV) John 4 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

B. We need to acknowledge sin

(ESV) John 4 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

V. The conversation: About embracing the true God

A. Not about religion John 4:20-21

(ESV) John 4 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalemwill you worship the Father.

B. About genuine worship of the real God John 4:22-24

(ESV) John 4 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

C. About trusting Christ John 4:25-26

(ESV) John 4 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us allthings.” 26 Jesussaid to her, “I (I AM) who speak to you am he.”

VI. The conversation: Produces a transformed life

A. Other things suddenly less important John 4:28

(ESV) John 4 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

B. Driven to tell others John 4:29

(ESV) John 4 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

C. Others drawn to Christ John 4:30-42

(ESV) John 4 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

(ESV) John 4 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, … 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”