Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, January 31, 2016 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister MESSAGE 4 in The White Unto Harvest Sermon Series on Evangelism When Will You Have The Conversation? John 4:1-18; 28-30; 39-42 (NKJV) Today as we continue with our WHITE UNTO HARVEST sermon series on Evangelism I would like for you to please open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter four. We will be getting to our text in just a few moments. **************** Each and every day you and I have conversations with people. In fact, you have probably had one or more conversations since you arrived at Church this morning. We talk to family, we talk to friends, we talk to people we work with, we talk with classmates at school, we even talk with complete strangers at the grocery store or at Wal-Mart. We walk about the latest news...we talk about the weather... we talk about sports...we talk about politics...we talk about hunting and fishing...we talk about our favorite TV show... and we talk about things we see posted on FACEBOOK. But as freely as we converse about everything under the sun, it seems that most of us cannot bring ourselves to have The Conversation.
I'm talking about the conversation we just keep putting off and putting off... the conversation that has been weighing on our hearts for a long, long time... the conversation that has been on the tip of our tongue a thousand times but we just couldn't seem to get the words to come out. I'm talking about the conversation we have needed to have with that lost loved one, or lost friend, or lost co-worker that could get them off the road to eternal destruction and on the road to eternal life. *What if they get angry with me? *What if they mock me? *What if they point out all my sins and short-comings? *What if they ask me a question I can't answer? *What if they bring up all the hypocrites in our Church? *What if this ruins our relationship? *What if they flat out reject me? We have hundreds of excuses as to why we haven't had the conversation...none of them valid...none of them carry any weight with the LORD. ********************************* Here in the fourth chapter of John's gospel we find a detailed account of the conversation Jesus had with a Samaritan woman one day...the conversation that changed her eternal destiny. Follow along with me as we read the first six verses of John chapter four.
John 4:1-6 (NKJV) 1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (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. 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. These verses provide us with the setting for this encounter Jesus had with the Samaritan woman. Jesus had been ministering in Judea for some time and for the most part His teachings had been rejected. In fact, the Pharisees were closely monitoring the ministry of Jesus and looking for an opportunity to imprison Him or possibly even kill Him. Because His time was not yet at hand Jesus left Judea to head north to Galilee. But pay particular attention to verse 4, But He needed to go through Samaria. Now what is so significant about that? Well, you remember the Jews and Samaritans hated each other. The Samaritans were not full-blooded Jews, they were a mixed race of people. And typically Jews traveling from Judea to Galilee or vise versa would NOT travel through Samaria.
They would either travel east into the land of Perea and cross the Jordan river into Galilee or they would travel west along the coast of Palestine and miss Samaria. But John tells us JESUS NEEDED TO GO THROUGH SAMARIA. He doesn't mean Jesus had to travel through Samaria because He had no other route, but rather HE NEEDED TO GO THROUGH SAMARIA because He had a divine appointment with a lost soul. Let me just make a brief point here: Sometimes when we need to talk with someone about their salvation we may have to travel out of our way to see them or we might have to inconvenience ourselves in some way, as Jesus did. Around noon, Jesus and His disciples came to the Samaritan city of Sychar, located thirty miles north of Jerusalem. Jesus sent His disciples into the city to buy some food, while he went to rest at Jacob's well, a landmark that had stood for over 1,900 years. But Jesus didn't go to that well just to rest, He went there to WAIT for His divine appointment with a sinful woman. First of all I would have you to notice...
I. The CONVERSATION (vs. 7-15) John 4:7-15 (NKJV) 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 15 The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. 1. The fact that this woman came to the well at noon means nothing to us, but in the Jewish culture it is very significant.
2. Typically Jewish women went to draw water from the well early in the morning or late in the evening when it was cooler. And typically they would travel together in groups and use the time to socialize. 3. The fact that this woman came to the well alone at high noon or right in the hottest part of the day tells us she was an outcast in the community. She was not welcome in the company of the other women. In fact, she was probably the topic of a lot of their gossip at the well. 4. Now I want you to notice that it is JESUS who initiates the conversation. That's another valuable lesson you and I need to learn. If you and I wait for our lost loved ones or friends to bring up the subject of salvation, the conversation will likely never happen. We must initiate the conversation. 5. Notice the subject of their conversation. They talked about WELLS and WATER. Jesus didn't get into a deep theological discussion with this woman. He talked to her about something they could both relate to. 6. We learn in verse 11 that Jesus didn't have any means to draw water from the well, and the well was very deep. In fact, according to historical records, Jacob's well was about 100' feet deep.
7. So Jesus initiates the conversation by asking the woman to Give Him a drink of water. Well she is completely taken back that Jesus has even spoken to her, let alone asked her for a drink. For one, in the eastern culture of that day, men did not speak to women in public; and two, a Jew would never speak to a lowly Samaritan. Jesus had crossed over two social barriers by speaking to this woman. 8. After asking for a drink of water, Jesus then offered her a drink of living water. The Samaritan woman doesn't realize it yet, but Jesus has just taken the conversation to a deeper level. He has now moved from the physical realm to the spiritual. 9. The Samaritan woman thinks Jesus is still talking about water from Jacob's well, but in fact He is now talking to her about eternal life. Notice Jesus' emphasis on eternal life being a gift. v. 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.
10. In verses 13, 14 Jesus goes on to explain the difference between physical water and living water. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that she can drink water from Jacob's Well every day and she will still get thirsty and have to come back to the well over and over again. But when one drinks of the living water he or she will never thirst again. In other words, once one accepts the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, He will be like an eternal fountain of joy and peace and salvation satisfying the soul's deepest needs. 11. Notice the woman's response in verse 15... Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. I think its obvious at this point the Samaritan woman is still trying to sort out the difference between physical water and living water. But she understands enough to know that Jesus is offering her something no one has ever offered her before. 12. Its at this point the conversation takes a whole different turn. Moving on to verses 16-18 we see...
II. The CONFRONTATION (vs. 16-18) John 4:16-18 (NKJV) 16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. 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. 1. Though Jesus realized the Samaritan woman was eager to take hold of the living water He was offering her, Jesus knew there was a very urgent matter that needed to be addressed first and that was the matter of her sinful life. 2. I want you to notice how Jesus approached this matter of her sin. He didn't condemn the woman or even judge her. But He did CONFRONT her with her sins. 3. When Jesus asked her to go get her husband don't you know His request pricked her conscience? That request awakened her conscience to her wretched spiritual condition and the emptiness of her soul.
4. Perhaps out of guilt, shame and embarrassment, she tells Jesus a half truth. She said, I I have no husband. Well that was true, she didn't have a husband, but she did have a man in her life. 5. Notice Jesus doesn't condemn her for not telling the whole truth, but He does reveal to her His knowledge of the real facts: which was that she had been married five times and was currently living with a man she wasn't married to. Some of her husbands may have died, but the implication is that some of her marriages had ended in divorce. 6. Though Jesus confronted the woman's sinfulness in a gentle manner, He brought her to a keen awareness of her need for a Savior. 7. She wasn't an evil woman, she was an empty woman who had tried to fill a void in her life by jumping from one relationship into another. 8. Likewise our lost loved ones and lost friends are not evil people, they are empty people who have tried to satisfy the thirst of their soul with something other than Jesus Christ. They need our compassion not our condemnation.
We have looked at THE CONVERSATION and THE CONFRONTATION. Finally, let's consider... III. The CONVERSION 1. We are not given any specific details about the conversion of this Samaritan woman, but it is certainly implied. John 4:28-30 (NKJV) 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. And then move down to verses 39-42 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told me all that I ever did. 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ,[a] the Savior of the world. 2. The soul of the Samaritan woman was so stirred by her conversation with Jesus that she forgot all about why she had come to the well. She had gotten a taste of the living water and forgot all about her water pot.
3. And I want you to notice what she did next. She went and told others about Jesus. She did exactly what each and everyone of us are to do. We are to go tell others! C O N C L U S I O N In today's message we have seen how one conversation changed the eternal destiny of the sinful woman of Samaria. Perhaps the conversation took no more than 20-30 minutes, but it was the difference between heaven and hell. At some point in your life someone had the conversation with you that changed your eternal destiny. Aren't you thankful that someone cared enough for your soul to tell you about the One who died to save you from your sins? The question is, do you care enough about your lost loved one or friend to have the conversation that could change their eternal destiny? You have nothing to lose if you do, but they have everything to lose if you don't! When Will You Have The Conversation?