The Bad Samaritan
John 4:3-14
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/badsamaritan.html
You’ve heard of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help a man in need. In our text, Jesus confronts a bad Samaritan, a sinful woman, and God’s grace worked in her life wonderfully.
Last time we looked in chapter 3 at Jesus’ confrontation of Nicodemus. Let’s contrast him with the Samaritan woman in chapter 4:
Nic was a man, she was a woman.
Nic was a Jew, she was a Samaritan.
Nic was a respected ruler, she was a social outcast.
Nic was a ’moral person,’ she was immoral.
Nic came at night, this happened in daylight.
Nic was an up and comer, she was down and out, and as far from Beverly Hills as you can get.
These two are so different, and yet so similar. For they were both encouraged to put their faith and trust in the same Savior. Rich people get saved the same way poor people get saved. Men get saved the same way women get saved. And ’good’ people get saved the same way ’bad’ people do.
If a rich man dies without Christ and a poor man dies without Christ, they both go to the same hell. There are no class systems in hell. These two stories are quite different, and yet they are the same.
1. A momentous confrontation.
a. A willing servant.
vv. 3-4 ’must needs’ = ’had to’. There was a divine plan He was following. He was on His Father’s timetable. He said, "My will is to do the will of Him that sent me." We should want to say, "My will is to do the will of Him that saved me."
And just as Jesus reached this woman for heaven because He was a willing servant, there is someone God wants for you to reach if you will live each day following His divine plan. He has made some appointments for each of us if we would consult His calendar and follow His leading.
ill.--recently my wife was shopping in the makeup aisle, and felt led to invite another woman to church. She obeyed God’s prompting and that woman is here today for the third straight week!
b. A weary Savior.
v. 6 Jacob’s well still exists in the holy land, and is one of the few Biblical sites about which there is no dispute of its authenticity.
Jesus arrives at the well hot, tired, dusty, and thirsty. He is God, but in human form, and He is weary. "Sometimes we grow weary IN the work of God, but we must never grow weary OF the work of God."
Galatians 6:9
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
He is God, so He could just teleport all those many miles, but I’m glad Jesus was willing to become weary in order to win souls. Are you willing to work at it, even ’til worn out? We all want souls to be saved...but what if it meant we had to be inconvenienced? We feel noble for clicking ’Like’ on a spiritual online post, but that’s kind of akin to holding up a John 3:16 sign between the goal posts. God’s way requires work...God rewards work, and there’s no easy way around it.
"Lord, I want to be used, even if it costs me a lot."
ill.--David Livingstone was the first missionary to penetrate the heart of deep Africa. He suffered pneumonia, cholera, tropical ulcers, starvation, and attacks by lions and savages. One day he received a message that there were some men who wanted to come assist him in the work...but they would need to find a good road to get to his location. He replied, "If you have men who will come only if there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come even if there is no road at all."
Opportunities to share the living water are found at the well of willingness...the well of weariness.
willing servant, weary Savior...
c. A wayward sinner.
v. 7a Her face shows traces of her fading beauty. More obvious is her disillusionment, disappointment, pain, and emptiness. She is the town outcast. In a culture which rarely saw divorce, she had been divorced four times, and now is living with a man. What a momentous confrontation this is, because what she needs is to meet Jesus Christ! Only Jesus can forgive her sins, erase her guilt, and give her a brand new life worth living, and at the very moment she comes to draw water, there sits Jesus.
HE CAME TO ME Squire Parsons
The gulf that separated me from Christ my Lord
It was so vast, the crossing I could never ford
From where I was to His demands it seemed so far
I cried, “Dear Lord, I cannot come to where you are.”
He came to me; He came to me
When I could not come to where He was
He came to me
That’s why He died on Calvary
When I could not come to where He was
He came to me
Jesus sought her out.
We call the day of salvation ’When I found Jesus.’ Technically, theologically, we don’t find Him...He finds us!
1. A momentous confrontation...
2. A marvelous conversation.
v. 7 Jesus started the conversation. She’s not gonna talk to a stranger, who is a man, and a Jew. She probably approached quietly and made no eye contact. Jesus takes the initiative, and like a skilled surgeon with a spiritual scalpel He lays bare her heart. He takes a bitter, hateful, prejudiced, disillusioned woman and in a matter of minutes she is spilling her guts.
This woman had two things which are dangerous when mixed: A quick wit and a sharp tongue. She was a bundle of shame and prejudice and it boils over.
a. A liberating word.
v. 7b Here’s the man who just days earlier turned water into wine, and he’s asking this woman for a drink. He created all the water there is, and He’s asking her for some of it. She gives a hateful, snappy answer.
v. 9 Samaritans were despised by the Jews, and they knew it. They were a mixed a race...part Gentile, as a result of the Assyrian captivity. So, the Samaritans established their own temple on Mt. Gerizim. The Jews’ hatred for the Samaritans was so intense that the Pharisees used to pray that no Samaritan would be raised in the resurrection!
What a momentous confrontation. "I MUST NEEDS go thru Samaria." That’s not the normal route a Jew would take. Jesus is on foot, heading due north, which is the shortest route. But usually a Jew would go far out of his way to avoid Samaria. East across the Jordan, up thru Perea, then back over to Galilee.
ill.--it’s like going from the church to Mt. Zion. The shortest route is across the ’stinky bridge’ [viaduct at Staleys]. But we will go out of our way several blocks just to not have to hold our breath!
Prejudice is an ugly thing...and is not becoming of a child of God! If you think you are superior or they are inferior because of skin color, you need to read the Bible and get right with God! There is one race...the human race, God is no respecter of persons, nor should we be! We cannot educate people out of prejudice, only Jesus can break down those barriers! Only Jesus can change hearts like yours and mine, and allow us to see in love the people for whom Christ died!
ill.-- Jacob DeShazer was in a military mess hall when he heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and he picked up a baked potato, smashed it against the wall, and promised to do the same with the Japanese people. He dedicated his life to the purpose of killing Japanese. He got his wish, becoming a bombardier on the infamous Doolittle raid, which was a one way trip. He and his cohorts made a long trip, deep into Japanese territory, dropped their fierce arsenal, and then had to ditch their planes over China. He was injured as they parachuted into a cemetery. They were taken captive for the remainder of the war, over three years, where they were tortured and starved, and some were executed. Somewhere in that period, Jacob got a hold of a Bible for three weeks. It was enough to see him saved, his heart changed, and his new purpose of loving and reaching his very captors, the Japanese. Released at the end of the war, he went to Bible college, returned as a missionary, and had gospel tracts printed in Japanese featuring his conversion story. One day on a street corner one of those tracts made it into the hands of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese pilot who led the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor. Fuchida became a born again Christian as a result, and went on to be an evangelist in Japan himself. Here’s a picture of Jacob DeShazer and Mitsuo Fuchida meeting and fellowshipping over the Bible before going out to preach crusades together in Japan! Only Jesus can accomplish this kind of racial healing.
Jesus speaking to this woman was a liberating word. And that word is for someone listening right now, still bound by chains of prejudice.
b. An invigorating word.
v. 10 Jesus shifts gears here. He transitions the conversation to a spiritual level. But she doesn’t get it yet.
v. 11-14 Know why this world is so miserable? Because they keep drawing from the well of the world and not getting what really satisfies. They are trying to get more out of the well of the world than it has to offer. There’s no peace, joy, fulfillment, or contentment in the well of the world. We live in America, the most prosperous well on the planet, and inside it looks wet, but it is empty!
Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Our society today is educated beyond good sense, and thinks they have life all figured out, but it doesn’t hold water!
Man needs air, food, and water to live. And Jesus is the breath of life, the bread of life, and the water of life...He’s all we need!
v. 10 ’the gift of God’ = salvation is free! You cannot pay for the water of life. "The gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord!"
"...that not of yourself, it is the gift of God."
"Jesus paid it all!"
"Like the woman at the well, I was seeking..."
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/badsamaritan.html
The Bad Samaritan, pt. 2
John 4:16-42
The woman at the well was looking for love in all the wrong places. Married and divorced five times, and now living with a man. Greater than her physical thirst which drove her to the well was her emotional thirst which couldn’t be quenched by the well of the world. And her soul was spiritually thirsty.
It was a momentous confrontation, because Samaritans were despised by the Jews, and Jesus went out of His way because He said He ’must needs’ go to where she was. If only adults could be as color blind as little children are!
ill.--NYC missionary kid [hilarious story in audio version]
Oh that we could see everyone as part of the one race, the human race, for whom Christ died!
Jesus began a marvelous conversation:
Jesus offered this woman a well springing up into everlasting life so she would never thirst. The first thing this woman says is in v. 15. Give it to me! She doesn’t get it yet. She’s not yet ready to get saved. Jesus didn’t plant the seed of the gospel now into this shallow soil...He waits and cultivates the ground of her heart further so it will be real!
3. A Meaningful Conviction.
a. A penetrating word.
v. 16-18 She was soooo blown away. How could this stranger from far away know this? And it’s one thing to think it, but did you just say that out loud? You just dragged the darkness of my sin right into the light!
ill.--A few years ago a new brand of greeting card was born: The Secret Lover Collection. They are all on the theme of loving that ’other’ person, even though they have to share them. They are, of course, targeting those having adulterous affairs. Around 1/2 of all adults have been unfaithful to their spouse. But the cards were criticized, and not for the reasons you might think. They said they shouldn’t make them because the very nature of a secret love is keeping it a secret...not talking about it or putting something in writing...keep it in the dark...don’t highlight it in any way!
John 3:19
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
If I am in a dark room and someone bursts in and throws on the light, there’s only one reason I could be ashamed--if I’m doing something wrong in there! [ever walked in on your kid at the computer and they quickly make a few clicks, rock back in their chair, try to smile thru panicked panting and say, "Hey, what’s up?"]
Now, why does Jesus put her in this awkward moment? Because: THERE CAN BE NO CONVERSION WITHOUT CONVICTION!
Jesus died for our SIN, and until we admit we are sinners, there’s no need for a Savior! Gospel means good news, and there can be no good news unless there is bad news.
ill.--You are on vacation and your neighbor calls you and says, "Good news, your house is not on fire." What? Oh, there’s more to this story. While on vacation you remembered you left a gas stove on, you called your neighbor to go turn it off if your house is even still there. Now when they call you understand this good news, because there was a strong possibility of bad news.
The gospel is good news because if we aren’t saved and on our way to heaven, we are lost and on our way to hell! I crack up at today’s modern gospel which has no sin and no hell. Then what are we being saved from?!
THERE CAN BE NO CONVERSION WITHOUT CONVICTION!
The only way to sow the seed of the Word in the soil of the heart is to plow over it with conviction.
We suppress our sin and pack it down like clay and our hearts harden...so we need the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to come along and rough us up and the water of the Word to moisten our dry bones so we can receive the good news!
Jesus asks her to get her husband, knowing full well where the conversation would go.
This is the exact opposite of what many preachers do today. They don’t name sin, and don’t go negative...might make people feel badly.
We need to get back to naming sin like Jesus did!
v. 17 "I have no husband." Four little words. She’s been pretty lippy up to this point, but no longer. Jesus hit a sore spot, and she’s under conviction, sort of, but is telling a half truth to make herself feel better. And we all do this...rationalizing and sugar coating our situation so we can see ourselves in a better light. Romans 3 talks of some who SHOULD be under conviction but they are not. It says, "whose mouths must be stopped." They feel pretty good about themselves and can’t be easily corrected. "If there IS a heaven and if ANYONE is going, I am!" Their mouth must be stopped. "I’m no worse than them church people!" Their mouth must be stopped. "I never killed anyone." Their mouth must be stopped. [Ever heard your kid try to cover one lie by telling another which leads to another? "You need to stop talking!"]
We must address sin directly. DIRECT ADDRESS! We can preach a feel good God all day long and we might build a crowd but no one will be saved.
ill.--ever had the doctor press on different quadrants of your abdomen, looking for a problem? "Does it hurt here?" No. "Here?" No. "Here?" Yowza! He hit the sore spot!
a. A penetrating word.
b. An elevating word.
v. 18-19 Very perceptive!
v. 20 Remember, the Samaritans worshiped other gods on Mt. Gerizim because the Jews wouldn’t let them do so in Jerusalem. She is using a diversion...changing the subject.
ill.--what about bigfoot?!
I can be right in the middle of witnessing to a person and they say, "Yeah, but where did Cain get his wife?" You know, if he was happy with her I’m happy with her, but that’s not what we’re talking about. I just say Sir, you ought not be asking about other men’s wives!
v. 21-24 Jesus is revealing her spiritual ignorance. "You don’t know how/who to worship, let alone where to worship." And I say, if you don’t have a personal relationship with Christ, the least of your worries is where you should go to church.
Jesus is saying, Not all religions can be right. You’d better make sure you are worshiping the one and only, true and living God! He’s Father God, His name is Jehovah, the one and only, and I’m gonna hold off for a moment before I let you know that I’m His Son!
Does that sound too narrow a view of God? For everything real there is a counterfeit. Try passing off a fake $100 bill at your bank. They call you on it. Do you say, "Don’t be so narrow minded!"
Since there is a real God, should it surprise us that there are counterfeit Gods? [real way to heaven / real plan of salvation]
Say amen if you are experiencing the ’real thing’!
v. 25-26 "You’re looking at Him!"
This is why we were left here...to introduce people to Jesus! Only Jesus can satisfy their soul, so only Jesus will do.
this meaningful conviction now leads to a...
4. A Miraculous Conversion.
v. 28-30 That means that she believed on Him! She put her faith in Him and was converted.
She wasn’t saved by cleaning up her life / doing good works / wasn’t baptized in that well / there wasn’t holy water inside it / didn’t say a prayer or ask Jesus into her heart. She believed!
And because of her testimony many others believed too!
v. 39 After she met the Christ and believed on Him, the first thing she did was run back to town to get others to come and meet Him too.
If you were once a lost sinner say ’I was.’ If you met the Christ and believed say, ’I did.’ If you agree that you ought to introduce others to Him say, ’I should.’ And if you commit with God’s help to have the boldness to do it this week say, ’I will’. [You can! You can do all things thru Christ!]
We are to be walking billboards, advertising for the living water!
ill.--1931, the Hustead family moved to a tiny desert town of 231 people. The husband had just graduated as a pharmacist, and wanted to start a little drug store. But it was the Great Depression! And then drought hit the area, followed by a dust bowl and a plague of grasshoppers which wiped out any crops that remained. For about 5 years they struggled, barely making it as a drug store, because everyone was in survival mode, focusing on their needs only, and all anyone really needed was water. They were about to go under.
It had been over 100 degrees for 10 days in a row in the days when A/C didn’t exist in homes or cars. The wife went home to take a nap. She came back an hour later. "Did you sleep?" her husband asked. "I couldn’t, because of all the jalopies on the highway." Then she said this, "But it gave me an idea: If you are going down the highway in this kind of heat, what would you want more than anything?" Ice water! They began putting up signs for free ice water on the highway. Every few miles there was a sign, counting down how many miles to go to the free ice water. "You’re almost there!"
[Ever traveled down I-44 out of St. Louis toward Meramec Caverns? All those signs and barn roofs telling you how many miles to Jesse James hideout? No wonder they found him!]
Anyway, the first day the Hustead’s put up signs they couldn’t believe how many people came in. And they didn’t just take the free ice water. They would get ice cream and soda, and snacks and supplies that they needed. Today, Wall Drug in the desert of South Dakota is the busiest, largest drug store in the world! Billboards line the roads for over 500 miles.
20,000 visitors per day / cafeteria seats 520 / museum / novelty shops
Oh the value of advertising something as satisfying as free ice water! And you and I have something far more precious to advertise - living water of eternal life. We live on a desert of a dust ball and thirsty souls cry out all around us. They are missing something in their life and they don’t know what it is...but we do! We must introduce them to Jesus who satisfies!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/badsamaritan.html
