Another Chance

Another Chance

GNLCC 10-6-2003 Isaiah 29:13-16 John 4:1-26

Have you ever been in a situation in which you really wanted something to work out but it didn’t, and you felt like, if I just had a second chance I know I could make this thing work right? Well sometimes, a second chance is just what we need, but there are other times, when we need something more than just another chance. Sometimes we need a change.

I want you to meet Lisa. Lisa is a very attractive young lady. It appears she has just about everything going her way. What the girls woudn’t give to have her beautiful eyes, her gorgeous hair, and her shape that had all the curves in all the right places. Lisa’ voice seemed as though it could melt the guys, and if she asked them to do something, they were eager to do it. What guy wouldn’t want to be with Lisa. As soon as she was old enough to get married, the proposals were streaming her way.

One day Robert descends into her life. Lisa is sure, this is the man of her dreams. They get married. It’s a disaster. There’s a divorce. Lisa is determined not to make that mistake again. James comes upon the scene. He promises her the world. She goes for it. For the second time she walks the aisle. It doesn’t work out. She finds herself divorced again.

Then there was Reggie. Good looking and sweet talking Reggie. Lisa decides to walk the aisle again. The family members, are saying, “what that girl is getting married again.” The wedding takes place. Something happens during the marriage,and Reggie is history.

Everybody was saying, three strikes and you’re out. But then when John came into town and saw Lisa. He knew he had to have that good looking woman. Lisa’s hoping this is going to be it for a lifetime. They get married. It too doesn’t work out. This fourth husband is now gone.

Lisa decided if she got just one more chance, she would be in a marriage that would last the rest of her life. When David came a calling, she took her time with him. All the women were already talking about her, putting her down, and hating on her. She had gone through more husbands, than many of them had boyfriends. She agreed to marry David. It started well, but whatever it was that led to the collapse of the earlier marriages, led to the downfall of this one.

After five husbands, Lisa decides, that’s it. I’m not going to get married again. But then Ronald shows up. Ronald’s not interested in getting married. He does not want to be tied down. He’s just looking for a woman to meet his needs as he calls them. Lisa decides to move in with Ronald. They’re just living together or shacking up. Lisa is the gossip in her little town of Sychar. The other women do not want here around them and they certainly do not want her around their men. What do you think God thinks of Lisa’s behavior? What do you think God thinks of Lisa?

Let’s look in our Bibles and find out. Turn to John chapter four. We find Jesus about to make a journey from the southern part of the country Judea, to the northern part of the country Galilee.

Verse 4 says: John 4:4 “Now he had to go through Samaria.” Let me give you some background on Samaria. When Israel was split into nations after King Solomon, you had the nations of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. All the people were still called Jews in each nation.

The Jews of Israel in the north were quick to disobey God, and God used the nation of Assyria to defeat them in battle. The king of Assyria, moved most of the people out of the country of Israel and settled them in a far away lands. He took people from far away lands and settled them in the country of Israel.

Now these people came into Israel with their own gods. But they started to intermarry with some of the Jews who had not been sent away. The Jews were not suppose to intermarry with foreigners, but they did anyways. The people who were the result of the intermarriages, eventually became called Samaritans, because that part of the country was called Samaria.

A hatred and hostility developed between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews saw the Samaritans as outside of the promises of God because they were half-breeds in their eyes. The Samaritans despised the Jews for always putting them down. This hatred grew so strong, that they stopped having anything to with each other. It was racial prejudice at its worse. A good Jew would not even travel though Samaria to get home. He would take the longer route of crossing the Jordan River to the east, and go down through Perea, and then cross the river again to get back on course.