JOHN 4:1-54 Last week, we saw the Lord Jesus Christ engaged in a conversation with Nicodemus. Today we see Him engaged in a conversation with a Samaritan woman. It s difficult to imagine a greater contrast between two persons than the contrast between the important and sophisticated and educated Nicodemus and the simple Samaritan woman. noon. He was a Jew; she was a Samaritan He was a Pharisee; she belonged to no religious party. He was a politician; she had no status whatever. He was a scholar; she was uneducated. He was highly moral; she was immoral. He had a name; she was nameless. He was a man; she was a woman. He came at night, to protect his good reputation; she, who had a bad reputation, came at He came seeking; she was sought by Jesus. Such a great contrast! Yet, one conclusion we can draw from both stories is that both the man and the woman needed the Gospel both were lost and they needed saving. And if Nicodemus is an example of the truth that no one can rise so high as to be above salvation, the woman is an example of the truth that none can sink too low. Verses 1-4 Let s just take a few minutes to remember who the Samaritans were. I know you all know the story, but I don t believe it ever hurts to review things that will help us to better understand the Word of God. And I believe in order for us to really understand some of the conversation between Jesus and this woman, we must understand the background. The Jews and the Samaritans did not get along. The Jews considered themselves superior to the Samaritans. And I want to just briefly share the reason for that After the death of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided into two different kingdoms ten tribes made up the Northern Kingdom of Israel with Samaria as its capital and the two remaining tribes made up the Southern kingdom of Judah Jerusalem being its capital. Both these kingdoms rebelled against God and went after other gods. Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was the first to fall in defeat. In 722 B.C. they fell to the Assyrians. Assyria was a vast empire and they had defeated a lot of people. Their custom was to take most of the people of the defeated nation into exile, leaving only a few of the poorer folks to remain and work the land. And this is what they did to Israel. The captive people were sent to various parts of the Assyrian Empire. By breaking up Israel s population into small groups and scattering them to different areas, the Assyrians would stop their ability to launch a rebellion and they would severely break their national spirit. But, added to this the Assyrians also brought large numbers of other people they had conquered and they placed them in Israel. Now, these folks were firmly entrenched in idolworship before they ever came to live in Israel. Page 1 of 9
If we took the time to go to 2 Kings 17, we would see that because these folks worshiped idols instead of Jehovah, Jehovah sent lions to kill these folks. Well, their gods were no match for Jehovah, so they complained to the king of Assyria and he sent a Jewish priest to teach them how to worship Jehovah. The thought behind this was that they just needed to be taught how to worship Jehovah and the lions would leave them alone. Well, if this had happened, the lions would have left them alone, but they didn t just worship Jehovah. They merely added Jehovah to their long list of false gods and worshiped Him along with all their other gods. Years passed and the Jews who had remained in Israel after it fell and the people the Assyrians had brought in to Israel intermarried. In the area of Samaria, the folks were no longer pure-bred Jews. They were only part Jew. And they were greatly despised by the Jews who had not intermarried. They were not considered to be Jews at all by them. In 605 B.C., the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon. After spending 70 years there, God used King Cyrus to allow the Jews to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple The Samaritans offered to help and were promptly told, Thanks, but no thanks. But as a result of that, the Samaritans became angry and built their own temple on Mount Gerazim in Samaria, and we re going to see the Samaritan woman refer to this in just a few moments. So, with all this in mind with all this as a reminder why even after all these years there was this atmosphere of bitterness and hostility that still prevailed during the time of our Lord Jesus let s see the rest of this passage of Scripture. Jesus left Judea to avoid a confrontation with the Pharisees. success of the Gospel always displeases unbelievers and He knew confrontation with them would occur again and again, but this time Jesus chose to leave the area and go to Galilee. Verse 4 tells us that Jesus had to (NAS) and must needs (KJV) pass through Samaria. WHY? Nothing would keep Jesus from His appointment. Man-made prejudice would not keep Jesus from His appointment. God loved the Samaritans and He sent His Son for them, too! Verses 5-8 Jesus saw His appointment coming toward Him with a waterpot. Twelve o clock noon was not the time of day that water was usually drawn. Drawing water was women s work and it was normally done at dawn or dusk when it was cooler. But this woman came at noon! WHY? Probably to avoid the remarks and glances of the women of the town who knew her lifestyle. And Jesus asked this Samaritan woman for a drink and we need to remember again that Jews didn t ask Samaritans for anything. Jesus had turned water into wine not long before. He could have certainly produced water from Himself, but Jesus didn t produce any miracles for Himself, did He? Page 2 of 9
This woman didn t know who He was, but He knew who she was where she came from and what was going on in her life! The same was true when He went out of His way to meet you and me! We weren t looking for Him, but He was looking for us! Verses 9-14 Doesn t Jesus always know how to get right to the heart of the matter? Jesus had told Nicodemus you must be born again He told him this because He wanted Nicodemus to really think about the need for spiritual birth. He knew what Nicodemus needed to spark his interest and make him think! Jesus always meets us at our point of need. This woman had come seeking water. So, Jesus told her about water that never runs out never dries up water that forever satisfies living water! Just as the term born again was at first lost on Nicodemus, so is the term living water lost on this woman. She was ignorant of - who Jesus was - what Jesus had to offer - how she could receive it! Jesus had aroused her interest, but at the same time if you look closely, you ll see two conversations going on here. Jesus is talking about spiritual things the woman at the well is talking about physical things. But, Jesus is so patient with her. He doesn t rebuke her. He doesn t give up on her. He just keeps telling her of this wonderful water that can be hers. The verb drinks in verses 13 and 14 are in two different tenses. The drinks in verse 13 is a continuous action verb. The drinks in verse 14 is indicates a once and for all action. Kenneth Wuest: The person who keeps on drinking from the wells of this world, lifeless, dull, brackish, polluted, stale will thirst again. The world with all its sin does not satisfy, it never can. But the person who takes one drink of the spring of eternal life never thirsts again. This doesn t mean that once someone has taken of the living water, he never reaches out for more. As a matter of fact, Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. But, this living water satisfies permanently our longing for salvation! When Bro. Huel Moseley was here as our minister of music, he used to sing a song that was actually taken from the Book of Isaiah I will pour water on him that is thirsty. I will pour floods upon the dry ground. Open your heart for the gift I am bringing. While you are seeking Me, I will be found. Come everyone that is thirsty in spirit, Come everyone that is weary and sad! Page 3 of 9
Come to the fountain, there s fullness in Jesus, All that you re longing for come and be glad! Verse 15 All of this is still passing right over her head, isn t it? She knows she must go and draw water day after day after day, yet this Jesus has just told her of a well of water springing up eternally She surely doesn t comprehend how this water can be given to her, but she surely does want it! She s still thinking of the temporal still thinking of the physical still not aware that there s so much more! Verse 16 Here we see Jesus dealing with sin. Salvation is available. Salvation is free But sin must be dealt with! What was Jesus doing when He said, Go, call your husband? He was forcing her to admit her sin there can be no conversion without conviction. There can be no salvation without repentance! A person must realize he or she is lost, before that person realizes their need for salvation! Verses 17-19 Though she had had five husbands, she had no husband at the present time. Though she was living with a man, she had no husband. Verse 20 Here the woman does what many folks do when being witnessed to she decides to discuss religion! How many times have you tried to witness to someone and they immediately begin to tell you what church they belong to or when they were baptized? They immediately begin talking about anything besides their relationship with Jesus. They believe that church talk proves they have religion. Religion, however, doesn t offer salvation, does it? First, this woman brings up the location of worship. Remember when we said the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim because they weren t allowed to help with the one at Jerusalem? Well, this temple had been destroyed, but they still worshiped at Mt. Gerizim. Verses 21 Jesus very quickly answered her and told her that there would come a day when there would be no worship in that mountain or in Jerusalem. The emphasis should never be the place of worship but the Person we worship. Verse 22 Jesus was very frank with her. The Samaritans refused to use anything except the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible) in their worship. They didn t include the whole revelation of God. They didn t study and live by the writings of David and Solomon and the prophets. The Samaritans said they worshiped the God of Israel, but they had turned their backs on much of God s Holy Scripture. We must know and believe the whole counsel of God. We don t have the right to take from or add to it. Page 4 of 9
We don t have the right to pick and choose what we want to believe from it. Could it be said of us that we worship that which we do not know? God has chosen to reveal Himself in His Word. Do we know this Book? Do we spend time in it daily? Are we getting to know the One we worship more and more because we re spending time in His Word and in prayer? True worship of our Lord flows from true knowledge of our Lord! Then Jesus says a very interesting thing Salvation is from the Jews The only faith that God will accept is that which comes through our Lord Jesus! And Jesus is of the Seed of Abraham from the Tribe of Judah of the Family of David. God chose this people for this purpose. All the faults and failings of the Jewish people could never alter this fact! The Jewish people have given us such a legacy our Savior, our salvation, our Scriptures! Verses 23-24 Jesus is saying that up until then the Jews had worshiped by ceremony, by sacrifices, by offerings, by feast days, by fast days, by circumcisions and that all that would soon be set aside for the worship in spirit and truth! Verses 25-26 Here we see a declaration of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is a wonderful passage to refute the heresy of those who would say that Jesus never claimed to be God. It s an interesting fact, as well, to note that this is the only time before His trial that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and look at the person He revealed this to an immoral woman. Doesn t this show us just how deep and wide and vast His love is? After she was confronted with her sin, then she was convicted of her sin and she was converted from her sin.! This woman didn t know all there was to know of Calvary but she believed what had been revealed to her by Jesus at the well, didn t she? That s all God holds us accountable for at any given time. We live in the light of what we know today but God wants us to reach out for more and more light and then live in obedience to that light!! Verses 28-29 She left her waterpot and went to share Jesus with the men of the city. This means she felt an urgency to go and share. Waterpots were a necessity in those days. She went to share with the men of the town. It was very likely that the women would have nothing to do with her. This woman did what all saved people are to do. She went to tell others what Jesus had just done for her! The love of Christ constrained her. And we ll see before we go home today just how effective her witness to these men was. Well, while the woman was in Sychar telling the men about Jesus, verse 27 tells us that the disciples came back from buying food. They came upon Jesus still speaking with the woman and they questioned Him about it. Page 5 of 9
These men still had so much to learn They must learn to submit their prejudices against the Samaritans as well as their prejudices against women to the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I was studying this week, I wondered Could it be that the disciples had passed this woman on the road as they went to buy food? Could it be that they had looked right past her because she was A woman, a Samaritan woman at that and may have been dressed in a manner that would reveal to others her lifestyle? Have we ever done that? What an example the Lord Jesus has just set for these men and also for you and me. Soon these men would not only know of her conversion, but they would also know of the fruit her conversion would bear. And then they began to try to get Jesus to eat Verses 31-34 What was this food Jesus was talking about? Jesus taught many times by using metaphors. A metaphor is a figure of speech that states an equivalence between two things. EX: Jesus said, I am the Bread of Life. Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth. And here, Jesus said, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me. My food is to accomplish His work. The only kind of food the disciples knew anything about was the kind they could eat the kind you put in your mouth and chew and swallow and satisfies our hunger and nourishes our body the kind the disciples had gone to buy But Jesus is saying Listen fellows, there is something infinitely more satisfying than feeding our physical hunger. Yes, I was weary and hungry when I got to this well, but, I ve been about My Father s business and the desire to rest and feed My body has been replaced by a greater desire the desire to do His will and now I m both satisfied and renewed because of what I ve seen take place in this woman s life. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That was the principle our Lord Jesus lived by, and that s the principle we should live by as well. There really is something more important than eating and drinking and that s doing God s will! I want to ask you Have you ever felt this kind of excitement? Have you ever felt this kind of preoccupation with God s will? Have you ever known the wonder of seeing someone give their heart to Jesus Christ because you have shared Jesus with them? When we re part of the sowing and planting of seeds don t we forget our own physical needs? Page 6 of 9
Verse 35-38 What was Jesus talking about here? Was He talking about farming? No! Jesus isn t directing His disciples to agriculture but to a harvest of souls! Also, I believe Jesus was drawing a contrast between literal farming and spiritual farming. Literal farming always requires a certain length of time between the planting and the harvest. Spiritual farming is different Sometimes we sow and have to wait, but often the harvest of a soul immediately follows the sowing. Jesus had only moments before sown seeds and He was about to see a great harvest, wasn t He? There is an urgency in spiritual farming that isn t present in literal farming because a soul is at risk! For example, Jesus didn t look upon the Samaritan woman as an impossible soul to reach, did He? He didn t hem and haw around He didn t shuffle His feet He didn t look for an excuse not to witness, did He? He didn t say, Well, I believe I ll wait a little while til she gets used to the idea of conversion, did He? NO! He set about from the time He saw her coming toward the well to draw water to win her to Himself! And look what happened as a result! In verse 36 Jesus continues with His metaphors What are the wages Jesus is speaking of here? I believe it speaks of the reward of knowing we ve brought a soul into the kingdom of God. I believe it also speaks of the reward of knowing we ve helped someone who is already God s child to grow in the will of God. One night on PRIMETIME I heard Diane Sawyer ask Billy Graham what he considered to be the greatest accomplishment the most notable achievement of his life. He answered and said that his most notable achievement would be hearing God say when he got to heaven, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. That s our wages We receive the joy of knowing we ve had a part in God s kingdom work here on earth, but also, when we get to heaven, God will receive us and we won t be ashamed before Him. Jesus goes on to say that there is no distinction between the sower and the reaper in God s eyes. In this life, so many times the evangelist or the preacher who gives the invitation that results in folks walking down the aisle is the one who gets the credit in human eyes. Page 7 of 9
But, for every person who comes forward in church or in a crusade, there was someone who sowed the seed. Maybe it was the evangelist or preacher But many times it was a praying dad, a praying mom, a Sunday School teacher who taught a little boy or little girl of the love of Jesus and that seed may have lain in that person s heart for a short time or a long time until someone else watered it and someone else reaped the harvest! There is no room or place for rivalry or jealousy in Christian service! Paul said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. The sower and reaper can both rejoice! It is God who causes the growth, not the sower or the reaper! But, what joy to be allowed by Almighty God just to have a small part! Verse 38 Let s think just for a moment of the others who have labored, and you have entered into their labor 1) it could speak of what had just happened Jesus had just won the woman at the well to Himself and even as Jesus spoke, there were many Samaritans on their way to be saved. 2) it could speak of the ministry of John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Lamb of God. 3) it could speak of the long ago prophets who prophesied for centuries of the coming of Jesus. In everything that we do, we are building on the foundation which has already been laid that foundation is Jesus Christ. We are walking through doors that He has already opened by His Holy Spirit and we are reaping in fields that He Himself has already prepared. Verses 39-42 In John 15, we will see the principle of fruit bearing and we see it here in the fruit produced by the witness of this Samaritan woman. Jesus tells us in John 15 that we re to bear fruit, more fruit and much fruit. Here in verse 39 we see that many believed fruit. Verse 41 tells us that many more believed more fruit. And from those believers no doubt, much fruit was produced. Many more believed because of His Word. What does it take to believe? FAITH! How do we get faith? HIS WORD! Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Can you imagine new Samaritan believers sitting at the feet of our Lord Jesus for two days? How do you suppose the disciples must have felt? Don t you think this truly taught them that indeed God is impartial that He s not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance? Page 8 of 9
The faith of these folks became grounded during these two days not upon someone else s witness, preaching or experience but on their own personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, our time is gone. We ll pick up here next week. Let s just draw a couple of conclusions and we ll be through The Lord Jesus saves regardless of - gender - race - social status - prior religious beliefs - prior moral or immoral behavior - He loves us so much He seeks us out. - He loves us so much He will teach us those things we are hungry to know. - He loves us so much He will allow us to be used to bring others to know Him. My prayer is that at some point this coming week, we will leave our waterpots we will stop what we are doing and tell someone else about Jesus. My prayer for this coming week is that just as this woman was, we will be filled with the overwhelming urgency to share Jesus. Page 9 of 9