“Going Through Samaria” - Part 1
11/26/2000 a.m. (John 4:1-29) Rodgers Park Baptist Church
You’ll notice that Jesus and the Pharisees had a little scrap in the first verses of John chapter four. The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus because He baptized more disciples than John the Baptist. (Sort of the way Baptist churches do today over who baptizes more in a given year). Actually, Jesus did not do the baptizing. The Bible says that His disciples did. That wasn’t the true reason they were jealous: it was just an excuse. They could have probably cared less about Jesus baptizing more disciples than John. They hated Jesus because He was bad for business. People were following Him instead of them. They were looking up to Him instead of them. That was the real issue here.
So, Jesus left that region and went to another. The story in the gospel account takes a strange turn. Instead of going to a popular Jewish town or city, Jesus went straight into the heart of forbidden territory. He went to Samaria. This was forbidden for the Jews because of the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews had never had anything to do with the Samaritans because of a century old feud. The Samaritans were a mixture of Jews and Gentiles by intermarriage of the Jews left in the land with colonists from Babylon and other regions sent by Shalmaneser, (2Chr. 30:6, 10; 34:9). The Jews considered them to be a half-breed. You might say they were bigoted because of their race.
APP: A person cannot help the color of their skin. They were born that way. They did not choose to be the color they are. As Christians, we must not be bigoted because of the color of a person’s skin. However, the color of a person’s skin and the choice of a person’s sin are two different matters. We have been accused of being bigoted against the homosexuals because of their preference. I want to be emphatic. Homosexuality is not a condition one is born with, but rather a choice one makes. It’s not a matter of skin, but a matter of sin. That’s the issue. That’s what we have to deal with.
Now, I want to share some principles with you on how Jesus dealt with the lost. I want you to understand this principle primarily.
BI - “Jesus will go to any length and to any place to reach the lost with the truth of the gospel. Shouldn’t we?”
Please notice first:
I. The Convoy of Hope - (verse 4)
“And he must needs go through Samaria.”
A. To a Particular Place - Samaria
1. Sychar - (ancient Shechem)
2. Jacob’s Well - (a 100’ deep cistern dug by Jacob a few thousand years prior)
B. At a Particular Time - 6th hour, 12:00 noon (Jewish time)
A time when the sun was at it’s peak, high noon. There was about to be a show-down at the well, but instead of someone getting hurt, they were about to be helped.
C. For a Particular Person -
Someone would be coming to draw water from the well. There was a divine appointment awaiting her, but she did not realize it. She would draw from a well, but it wouldn’t be Jacob’s well. It would be from another that would be much more satisfying.
That was the Convoy of Hope - Jesus passed through Samaria
II. The Contact with Heaven - (verse 6-7)
Joh 4:6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
A. The Savior Sat by the Well -
It’s hard to imagine Jesus being weary from anything, but He was. Remember, He was the God-Man. He was 100% God and 100% man. He was a much God as though He were not a man, and He was as much man as though He were not God. That is the uniqueness of Jesus. He experienced everything we will experience in life with the exception of sin. So He was weary. But in His weariness there is purpose. Notice also:
B. A Stranger Came to the Well -
Now, this woman was no stranger to Samaria, but she was to Jesus. That is, He had never had any contact with her before. He knew about her, but their paths had never crossed.
APP: Dear friends, Jesus is omniscient God. There is no one in the sanctuary today that Jesus doesn’t know about. However, there may be some here today that are strangers to Jesus because your paths have not crossed to this point. Today is a divine appointment for you. Today Jesus can become your Savior instead of being a stranger to you. You may experience contact from Heaven this very hour.
The Convoy of Hope - Jesus passed through Samaria, the Contact with Heaven - Jesus personally met the stranger at the well,
III. The Conversation with the Holy - (verses 7-9)
Joh 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
The conversation begins with:
A. Favor - “Give me to drink.”
Imagine, God asking man, or in this case woman, for a favor. The truth is, God needs no favors. The biggest favor to be performed was to her advantage, not Jesus’.
APP: If God ever asks you to do anything, remember this. It is far more for your good that you do it. Jesus is about to open the water of life to a thirsty sinner, and so He asks a favor.
It continues with:
B. Fascination -
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
She cannot believe that this Jewish man would want to have a conversation with her. She cannot believe He would want to have contact with her. She is a Samaritan - a mixture of Jew and Gentile. He is a Jew, from Abraham’s seed. That has caught here attention. She is fascinated it.
APP: That holy God would have contact or conversation with any of us is a fascination. None of us deserve His favor. The Bible reminds us that there is none that seek after God. We are all like sheep that have gone astray, and yet He seeks conversation and contact with us. Wonder of wonders!
The Convoy of Hope - Jesus passed through Samaria, the Contact from Heaven - Jesus personally met the stranger at the well, The Conversation with the Holy - Jesus offering favor to the woman,
IV. The Curiosity of the Hearer - (verse 10 -12)
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Her curiosity concerned the:
A. Absence of a Jar -
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
The question is: “What will He use?”
To this point she did not get it. She supposed their conversation was about the physical, when it had never been about the physical. Jesus simply used something she could understand to teach her about something she needed to understand.
She wanted to know how He intended to draw water form the well without a device to do so. What she did not know was the One who had stirred her curiosity could stir the waters in the well if need be. She wanted to know how He intended get water to quench His physical thirst, when all along He wanted to give her water that would quench her spiritual thirst.
APP: Most people don’t get it today. They think it is all about the physical. That’s why Jesus left us here. We are here to show them that it’s not about the physical, but the spiritual. We are here to point them to the life beyond the house payments, car payments, hospital bills and good health.
We are here to show them that the physical element of life is only temporary and that each individual needs to prepare for what awaits them beyond. We are here to share with them that there is an eternity where every individual will spend either with God in Heaven or Satan in Hell.
To the world the church may appear to be an organization trying to draw water for the thirsty without any devices, but the truth is that we don’t need devices, we have God. That’s what matters. That’s Who they need.
Her curiosity was over the absence of a jar. Secondly, it was over the:
B. Authority of Jesus -
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Casting the first question aside, she turned to another question. This time it is not a matter of device, but of authority. She wanted to know, “Who does He think He is?”
Again, she did not know with Whom she was conversing. Had she known, Jesus said she would have asked Him and He would given her living water.
The Convoy of Hope - Jesus passed through Samaria, the Contact with Heaven - Jesus personally met the stranger at the well, the Conversation with the Holy - Jesus offered favor to the woman, the Curiosity of the Hearer - She wanted to know how He was going to meet her need and Who He was.
BI - “Jesus will go to any length and to any place to reach the lost with the truth of the gospel. Shouldn’t we?”
