John | Chapter 4 – Scripture Supply

John 4:1-26

“The road less traveled”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 1-6 The need to go

III. Vs. 7-15 Better water

IV. Vs. 16-26 Woman believe Me

Intro.

John was an eye witness of some of this and Jesus must have told the disciples of the conversation afterward. It is interesting to note that Jesus departure from Jerusalem and from there went to Judea and now into Samaria, finally He will arrive in Galilee (the end of the earth) is the same route that Jesus will exhort his disciples to travel after receiving the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8. So? Well I rather think that it is not where He went as much as it is how He went that we are to follow the same path as He did and it is in this that we will draw our application this morning.

Vs. 1-6 The need to go

Vs. 1-6 The first six verses serve as a background to the story at hand and John reveals three reasons for Jesus departure of Judea.

“When the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John”: Notice the words, “When the Lord knew…He left…but needed to go through Samaria” The word “left” in verse 3 sheds light on one of the reasons Jesus left as it only occurs here in the N.T. and it means an “intentional break or departure” “send away or to dismiss”. Else where in Greek literature the word is rendered “abandoned”. Jesus abandoned Judea as the Pharisees were making Him popularity an issue. We see one of the most remarkable things about Jesus has to do with His priorities. This being early on in His earthly ministry Jesus was on the verge of national popularity which had reached the Pharisees yet He takes leave of them and instead heads back home to Galilee. Oh mind you it was the easiest and quickest route but because it went through Samaria it was a road never traveled. So why did He “need to go through Samaria”? Well there was an ostracized Samaritan woman by a well late in the day after all others have gone that He needed to speak with. Jesus was never concerned with popularity, His only concern is for people (any and all people), it was this that directed His route in life!
“He needed to go through Samaria”: Jesus could have taken one of three routes: Along the coast, Across the Jordan and then up through Perea, or straight through Samaria. Jews would never go through Samaria as they had a great racial hatred of the Samaritans. The Samaritans grew out of the Assyrian Captivity of the 10 northern tribes that were rejected by the Jews because they could no longer trace their ancestral heritage. When the Babylonians conquered the nation they took only the best people leaving the lower class people who inter mixed with the people brought there originally by the Assyrians. Because of this rejection they established their own form of worship because they were bared from the temple in Jerusalem. They built their own temple on Mount Gerizim and although they still believed in the first five books of Moses they changed the stories, according to them the Garden of Eden was on Mount Gerizim, Noah’s ark landed on Mount Gerizim and Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Gerizim. The name Samaritan is what they will call Jesus in chapter 8:48 and us such we know that it became a swear world. This is more that just a revelation of the route taken, as there was racial and religious prejudice between these two groups. So Jesus traveling this direction was setting a clear signal of where He stood on this sort of thing, HE brought people together not tore them apart. You see Jesus cut through the narrow minded bigotry that occupied people’s hearts.
“Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well”: Finally John takes us to the location in which this story took place right below the twin mountains of Gerizim and Ebal where every year the Jews gathered and read the blessings and curses of the law. Jesus didn’t “need” to go through Samaria geographically nor politically but He needed to do so relationally. “He needed to go through Samaria”, NEEDED a strong word. Geographically the quickest way but not the normal way Jews would go to Galilee. So His NEED was a need brought about by the reason of another’s NEED.

Vs. 7-15 Better water

Vs. 7 Several things makes this women by the well unusual. Typically women would travel together in the morning to get water for the day, further more their would have been a well in Sychar but we see her having to come alone outside of the city in a time of day when no other person would be gathering water and she had done so for some time. We note that she is woman not a young girl any longer but a woman, her youthful foolish decisions have more than caught up to her she has lived a life styled that now causes her to carry the burden of her choices everyday. All of this suggests that this woman was an outcast among a people of outcasts; she has been shunned by people who had been shunned. It would no doubt take her an hour or so to walk one way along that dusty dirty road alone with her thoughts, oh how heavy those foot steps must have been. She had been through five husbands and now she is with a man not her husband. What that tells us is that she has not learned from those foolish choices instead she is left just carrying those choices.

As she came to this well because of her own foolish choices but this time there was someone sitting by the well of those choices, Jesus. Oh do not pass by the reality of this my friend, maybe you have come today to the well of your foolish choices that you haven’t learned from and now you aren’t young any more. Your impetuous dreams of being someone famous and important have long ago been swallowed up by the choices you have made. Don’t get me wrong I’m not here saying that you made the choices because you just wanted to screw up your life. You didn’t sit down one day and say I think I’ll mess up my life, I think I’ll do drugs become an addict have children outside of marriage, go to jail, but that is where you are now an outcast living outside of outcasts coming each day to the same pit to get a little something to quench the heartache. But this day Jesus is sitting at the well and He is waiting for you and what you haven’t seen is that He has been at the well everyday of your life but this day you have seen Him.

Jesus seeks out folks just like this woman those that because of their own failings society has deemed unworthy of attention and love and He finds them in their station alone in life parched having adapted a lifestyle around their sinful choices. Notice that Jesus gave this woman by the well the opportunity to turn Him down, He gave her that choice it wasn’t Him that didn’t want her it would be her choice not to want Him. Do you not know that right this moment Jesus is sitting on the well of your choices giving you the opportunity to stop coming to that well all together but it will be your choice.

One of the vaccinating things to observe in this passage of scripture is this women’s growing understanding of who Jesus is. In verse 9 she calls Him a “Jew”, then in verses 11 she is more respectful calling Him “Sir”. Next in verse 12 she asks if He is greater than the patriarch “Jacob”, in verse 19 she calls Him a “prophet” and finally in verse 25 she alludes to the fact that He is the “Messiah”. This completed progression all took place in a matter of minutes as she saw His heart towards her. I wonder if she ever gave Him that drink (verse 28 says that she left her water pot but it never says that she filled it) but there is an indication that received His “living water”.

Vs. 8-10 The fact that the disciples were in town buying supplies from Samaritans shows us that clearly the Jews did have some dealings with Samaritans. His words shocked the woman, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” She had two strikes against her, one she was a woman and no respectable Rabbi would speak to a woman in public not even their own wife and she was a Samaritan and no Jew would ever drink from a cup of a Samaritan, Jews did not offer or accept hospitality from them. Something that Jesus will say again in Luke 10:33 in the parable of the “Good Samaritan”. In Matt. 8:13 Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance”, so we like this women by the well qualify. Jesus told her that she was ignorant of three things:

1. Who He is “If you knew the Gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink”: She had question how it was that He being a Jew would ask a favor from a Samaritan woman and Jesus says, “You don’t know who I am, that is why you question Me.” This woman had been around men, she knew men, she knew what they wanted and here she has come to a well and yet another man asks for something. He had asked her for some of the water that she had to drink, He wanted her to give to Him all that she (yes by her own making) had been drinking year after year and she said, “What are you saying, you want to drink from my cup an outcast of outcasts?” Then Jesus said if you knew the “gift of God and who it is that says to you”. She had probably know many men at least six of them that had thought they were the “gift of God” if you know what I mean. Maybe she thought, “Oh I’ve heard that line before!”

2. What He offered “He would have given you living water”: He had asked for water from her and what He wanted was to give her that which would satisfy the longing of her heart. This woman had religion but she didn’t know that her problem was spiritual and she didn’t realize what He was offering yet as she was ignorant of both the gift and the giver. Combine two things in this story verse 7 “Give me a drink” and verse 16 “go call your husband” then I will give you living water. Do you see that? As we give to Jesus that which can not satisfy as the well is to deep, give to Him our sin our substitute for Him and in so doing He will replace it with Himself.

3. How to receive it “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep”. Here before her was the living God offering her an exchange of her daily trip to that which never satisfied for that which if she would receive it would forever satisfy. She seems to be concerned with “where…do you get that living water” (verse 11) instead of simply asking for a drink of it.

Vs. 11-15 Jacob’s well today is around 150 feet deep, I find it odd that in most every other case it is Jesus who is the one giving and serving but here in this story he invites the Samaritan woman to get Him a drink. Though this is not strange for mankind it is for Jesus, so what is behind this request? Well in this case it was demonstrating to her that He was not against her that He saw her as valuable. Jesus always reached people where they were at to an aging Nicodemus He spoke of being born again, to fishermen He spoke of making them fisher of men and to this woman by a well He spoke of her about living water.

Oh this poor woman she can’t seem to move beyond the physical, she has been seeking drinking from the physical world to satisfy what only the spiritual “Living Water” can satisfy. Oh how many of us have lowered down our rope day after day into that pit only to find it dry? The need is to get people away from the watering holes that the world offers and into the fresh streams of living water. The she asks, “Are you greater than our Father Jacob” and Jesus could have answered, “Hem let me think, I know I’m a better wrestler than Jacob, I know that Jacob liked to sleep at the bottom of my latter. Yeh I’m greater than Jacob, you may know Jacob’s well but I know Jacob well!”

But that is not how Jesus answered instead He went right back to her need as he sat on the lip of the well “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again”, “You keep coming back to this well and it well never satisfy you”, Jesus said. Then He tells her that His living water is superior in three ways to what the world has been giving her:

Content “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.” Living water is superior in that it quenches what the world can not satisfy.
Location And it “will become in him a fountain of water”: Secondly it will be a source of refreshment from the inside so that a person will never have to seek refreshment from the outside, from what the world offers again. Jesus is speaking of availability of water not that there will never in this body a thirst but when there is water will be instantly available.
Duration “springing up into everlasting life”: Thirdly, Jesus says that it is superior as it will never end, she will be fulfilled forever.

Jesus has brought her to her need that the water of this world has not satisfied her so. How was that possible is what she wanted to know, Jesus had said in verse 10 by way of the “Gift of God”. It is interesting to note that in 3:16 Jesus was described as the gift of God but so also is the Holy Spirit. And so it is when we are parched of soul we only need to turn to our living water source Jesus who promised us the Holy Spirit to quench the longing in our hearts. The word “Drinks” in verse 13 in the Greek is a continual action where as Jesus says, in verse 14 speaking of the water they He shall give the word for “Drink” is a completed action a one time sip. Jesus answers His superiority based upon what He offered when compared to what she had continually been drinking. Her twofold response is honest as she tells Jesus why she wants His water:

“That I may not thirst”: She is tried of living in serial relationships that never satisfy.
“Nor come to draw”: She tired have the outcome of her behavior as it has keep her from true companionship.

Vs. 16-26 Woman believe Me

Vs. 16-17a The only way to prepare this woman’s heart was dig up her sin as Jesus caused her to see and confess her failure. This was her shortest reply in the entire conversation, “I have no husband”. Jesus asked for her husband because there is no conversion without conviction and confession.

Notice that Jesus mentions the truth about her five husbands but doesn’t go into the sorted details; you see Jesus was into the gospel not into gossip and it would us all good to be into the same! There are those who want living water but not at the expense of their habitual traveling to the pit of stagnate water but you cannot have living water until you give what you are drawing for yourself to Him. She came back with one of those statements we do when convicted you know, “None of your business”. But Jesus loved her so that He made her His business no to ridicule her but to rid her of that which never satisfied.

Vs. 17b-22 Jesus now needs her to move her to conviction so He brings her to her personal sin. “Your right”, Jesus tells her. “You don’t currently have a husband but you’ve had five and the one you’re with now you can’t bring yourself to trust in another person so you’re just playing house without commitment.” So she was right she had no husband and Jesus says well you’re partly being honest. She then tried the theological shuffle to miss direct her need to which Jesus simply responded that worship is in the location of the heart not on the location of the body. Jesus says, “Let’s get beyond what OUR fathers said and move to what THE Father says about worship.” “Woman, believe Me”, He says. Oh how simple a life can be changed from emptiness if only people would trust in Jesus to satisfy the longing of the heart instead of the world.

Vs. 23-26 Then Jesus makes it personal as He says, “the hour is coming when YOU…the hour is coming and NOW is”. “The time is now and you are the person that I’ve come for”, Jesus tells her, “I’ve come to make you a true worshipper.” The well of the world was dug along ago and people have been coming to its water for far too long, why not now hear these words of Jesus to you, “I who speak to you am He”.

Don’t you find it interesting that Jesus says to her that those true worshippers are those who worship in Spirit and in truth? Oh dear saints don’t just read this and push it off as words spoken to an immoral woman you see Jesus is still seeking out people to worship the same. Look out at the landscape of Churches and you will see there are those who worship in the “Spirit” and when the service is over they will say, “Man the Spirit was moving, I got the Holy Ghost goose pimples”. Then there are other churches where they worship in the “truth” and any sign of emotion or enthusiasm is reserved for after church when the T.V. is turned on to watch the ball game. Hey folks Jesus spoke of “true worshippers” being balanced between the “Spirit of God and the Word of God”. Is it not a wonderful thing to realize that the Father is seeking those to worship Him? Have you gone through a time where you feel distant from God, perhaps a time when you’ve walked away from His love for you and you don’t know how to get back well He is seeking those that will worship so why not just start thanking Him and praising Him?

This is the first of Jesus’ I am statements and this one deals directly with Him being the Messiah. You can meet Him anywhere and everywhere if only you bring to Him that which you have been trying to medicate your life with so that He can replace it with that which heals. What did she do when Jesus said, “I who speak to you am He”? Well verse 28 says that she “left her waterpot”; she left the well and the waterpot for the living water.

John 4:27-42

“Look at the fields”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 27-30 The plowing

III. Vs. 31-38 The planting

IV. Vs. 39-42 The harvest

Intro.

John moves on to give us three different perspectives of the conversion of the women at the well.

Vs. 27-30 First we are given the immediate work in her and we are told that she left her waterpot, her illusions about life and in so doing she found the gift and the giver. She left her waterpot because she found in Jesus that which satisfied the longing of her heart. Folks, often times the heart or area that looks most hopeless for the gospel is the one most ready for the harvest.
Vs. 31-38 Second we are told that her conversion created an opportunity to teach His disciples. Reading this story causes me at times two wonder if these were not the “B” postles because they certainly didn’t act like the “A” postles. These fellows failed to realize that Jesus saved them in order for them to be useful in bring others to Him? Most often the trouble is not that the fields are not white to harvest but rather the problem is that the laborers are not ready.
Vs. 39-41 Finally the conversion of the women at the well revealed something about evangelism. That Jesus never hung out with sinners to go on with them in their ways, no He sought them out to win them from their ways. And if someone can spend 48 hours with Jesus they will not only learn to trust Him as their Savior they will come to see Him as the Savior not of just Israel, or Samaria but of everyone everywhere!

Vs. 27-30 The plowing

Vs. 27 I’m sure the disciples were shocked after all Rabbis, according to tradition, would never talk to a woman alone. But yet they didn’t dare say, why are You talking to her? Instead they were thinking it as they come at the point of her conversion they had two questions on their minds:

The first had to do with the woman: “What do you seek”, that is the right question it had been what was behind Jesus conversation with the woman, “What do you seek, what is it that you are trying to fill your life up with.” She had been trying to satisfy the longing of her heart with failed relationships with men. When she had first said to Jesus in verse 25 “I know that the Messiah…will tell us all things” she hadn’t realized that the “all things” would be the “all things she ever did”. Yet she had come into this Man’s love and she finds herself without her waterpot back into a city where they wanted nothing to do with her set free from the bondage of her own foolish choices. Ah but they didn’t ask the question because they didn’t mean it the same way that Jesus did, they meant it “What do you want?” That is why Jesus will speak to them about the “food He has to eat which they do not know” (verse 32).
The second question has to do with Jesus: “Why are You talking to her?” They didn’t see the need, He had left Judah at the beginning of His popularity moved away from the crowds and now was seen talking to an outcast woman by some forgotten well. Again it is the right question but not the way they meant it as they meant to say, “What’s the point!” “You left prominence and popularity for a spiritually and culturally confused woman”. Why would anyone leave something so promising for that which didn’t seem to hold any opportunity? And it will be this second question that Jesus will speak to in verse 35 “Do not say, There are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”

Vs. 28-29 Is it not great to see that immediately she wanted to share her faith others especially men. Her testimony was simple she had tried to get into a theological debate with Jesus (verse 20) but she only tells how meeting Him has transformed her life. She was the least likely prospect for salvation but it was her that Jesus would use to evangelize all who had rejected her prior. Two things are recorded for us: What this woman did and what she said as she came back into the city. First two things of note about what she did:

“The women left her waterpot”: She had came there that day as she had done countless times before willing to drop down her bucket 75 feet and pull out that which never satisfied it was a metaphor for her life as she had stated in verse 15 “give me this water”, she said so that I may not thirst, nor come her to draw. She was tired of drawing out in relationships that which never satisfied and she was tired of the consequences of those actions, “so she left her waterpot”. My friend this is the surest sign that we have met the Messiah that we leave behind that which we just to use to draw that which never satisfied from the world’s pit. Hey friend is it time to leave behind your waterpot?
“Went her way into the city, and said to men”: The city that had ostracized her, the city that didn’t want her around, She came back into that city. And to men, MEN? Men had been her vice; men had been her drug of choice. It has been well said that she went to the men as the women wanted nothing to do with her. Perhaps, but she went to them and said “I have met a man, and I won’t be needing you any more!” “Where’s your waterpot?” “Don’t need it any more, I’ve moved on and left it behind.” I suggest to you her statement of verse 29 would not have meant as much with out these two actions.

Vs. 30 The woman left her waterpot, she had received water, and she was never going to be thirsty again. I’m sure that the women weren’t talking to her as she had been a threat to every marriage in town. But the men, they all knew her and she said to the men, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that I ever did”, I imagine that worried them. She was the village fool but she had left her waterpot and confessed her sin in an open transparency. To this they had to come and see, she didn’t seek to cover up or make excuses of her failed life. Think of this, you’ve met someone who knows you completely, knows you’re ever fault and you’re happy, you’re so excited you have left your waterpot. The only way this makes since to our experience is if we understand that He who tells us “all things we have ever done” also loves us. That is what drove those folks from their city to Jesus. Christian it is what will drive people from their comfort zones to Jesus today if only we will leave our water pots and go to our cities and speak honestly about our failures and God’s love for us in spite of them. She says, “Is this not the Christ?” What other conclusion can one make when we consider the Lord who knows everything about us and yet loved us enough to take our sins (our rope and bucket)? So in verse 30 we are told that “they went out of the city and came to Him”. They never responded to her testimony before, but now they do, because God is working in her. Perhaps they went out to see Jesus to find out how much Jesus knew about them seeing that she had said that He had told her “all things that she had ever done” and she may have done some of them.

Vs. 31-38 The planting

Vs. 31-38 Now we move to the second perspective from the conversion of the women at the well and this has to do with the disciples. Jesus teaches them three things about ministry:

Vs. 32-34 Satisfaction from obedience: “Rabbi eat!”, the disciples urged. “Eat”, Jesus replied, “Why I can’t cram in another bite”. They thought that Jesus was speaking of literal food and wondered where He got it. They were satisfied with bread from the village and He was satisfied with doing the Father’s will. They came to get food Jesus came to be food for the soul, oh if we in His church would only learn this lesson. It’s the familiar theme of “It’s not about us it’s about Him”. What the disciples hadn’t done when they went to the village Jesus returned a woman to take their place. The Rabbis had a statement that went like this, “Better the law be burned then given to a woman” but Jesus used her testimony to change a city. It is never the instrument that the Master uses that soothes the soul it is the Master’s skill in playing it. Nothing will fill you up like obeying God’s will in your life. Again they wondered, “What is He talking about food, who brought Him food.” To which Jesus answered what was in their heart, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”. Often I sit down with the Lord and request form Him things that are on my heart concerning this life of mine. “Oh my house Lord please bring in a buyer for it!” “Oh this and that Lord please work in this situation!” But as I was looking at this story in front of us I realized that I never approached prayer with, “Lord what is Your food, what is the work You want me to be involved with.” Asking that question and being obedient to the answer is our food in life!
Vs. 35-36 Lack of fruit is not a problem in the field it’s a problem of vision: In the natural life four months elapse between sowing and harvesting, but in the spiritual realm it can happen instantly. “Lift up your eyes look at the fields”, said Jesus. They saw fields empty not ready for harvest but Jesus said, no they are ripe and ready. They were weighing external things and using those as evaluations as to where people were. The disciples thought, “What a waste of space in this God forsaken place”, but God doesn’t forsake places people forsake God! It is interesting to note that where John the Baptist had been in 3:23 Aenon near Salim is close to Sychar, so John was still the forerunner to Jesus as he was preparing the soil. No place is a waste of time when the Lord calls you to it and latter on there would be even a greater harvest amongst the Samaritans. Jesus left popularity in Judah for an obscure Samaritan city because of fruitfulness. How many times have we walked away from a situation or stayed in a situation based upon our evaluation instead of “lifting up our eyes” and then looking at the fields? Oh to be certain their will times of sowing into the field but all will rejoice when the fruit is brought in. Far too much of my life is living as if the temporal world is the eternal world and the eternal world is the temporal. “Oh look at the fields they are already white for harvest”, Jesus said. There is an abundance of food in the field that we need not wait for. The field is right in front of us at Super One or the house right next to us. “Oh no they aren’t ready for Jesus, I’ve tried inviting them to church they won’t come.” Jesus came to love mankind into fellowship with the Father and work is not finished yet and are fullness in life Christian is when we are engaged in that harvest. Then Jesus said, “Do you not say, There are still four months and then comes the harvest?” There are two problems as it relates our reaching a world, the first Jesus already addressed the elevation of the temporal above the eternal the second is the faulty concept of time. We tend to look at the time involved in plowing a field, planting and watering a field before we can harvest and say it’s too much work but Jesus says you’re not looking at the right crop. Those disciples walked into a city full of people and walked out with nothing but food, Jesus took the hardest person in the city and turned her into an evangelist in a matter of a few minutes. And she went into that same city and led them to Jesus. So why the difference? Well it was not in the field (the world) it was not in the grain (people) it was in their view of these two things.
Vs. 37-38 We are all on the same team: Regardless of what God had called us to do plowing, sowing, watering or harvesting we are all on the same team. One time you may be involved in all the prep work the next time you are harvesting a soul it doesn’t matter as all are equally important. “Lift up your eyes” get them off of this world and look upon the fields of the Bitterroot where we have been placed and you find a harvest waiting of people. Latter on Jesus would say in Matthew 9:37,38 “Pray to the Lord of harvest, that He would send forth workers into the field. The harvest is plentiful, but the reapers are few”. Jesus doesn’t say that their aren’t seasons of sowing seed but He suggests that it doesn’t matter as these two jobs (sowing and reaping) have the same joy seeing those gathered to eternal life. We can be out in the field working throwing seed one minute and the next harvesting the crop. The prophets had sowed seed for generation, others had done the same and along comes the disciples to enter into what others had begun. That is true today isn’t it, we have been called to harvest what others have planted. Paul picked up on this in 1 Corinthians 3:7 when he said, “One sows, one plants, one waters and God gives the increase. So he that plants is nothing, neither he that waters but it is God who gives the increase.” Several years ago the Lord began speaking to me about a move He was going to do in my life as I had pioneered a new work He spoke to me from this verse, “I have sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.” The interesting thing is that the pastor who took over me could say the same thing.

What does this teach those disciples? Only that we are designed to be feed and satisfied from the spiritual above the physical. They had gone into a city to purchase a meal and saw only commerce all the while Jesus had sat down by a lonely well tired and in need of refreshment and He and the lady came away completely satisfied yet neither of them received what they initially requested. What a great lesson this is for you and I, as far too often we move around the physical world and are blind to the spiritual, to outcast women by wells and forgotten spiritual mixed up people of the city.

Vs. 39-42 The harvest

Vs. 39-42 We move now to the final perspective of the conversion of the women at the well as it deals with those whom the women testified to in the city. In verse 38 Jesus had spoke reaping that which they had not sown and then in verse 39 we are told that many “Samaritans” believed in Him because of the word of the woman. The disciples went into a city to purchase food and the changed woman came to “Men” (men had been her problem) and invited them to see a Man, see what a real man looks like, a man who told her “all things I ever did”. They could have asked, “Hey where is your waterpot?” “Oh I no longer need that old bucket and the rope, I’ve kicked the bucket, I’ve met a Man who is the Messiah!” Her testimony brought them out of the city and to Jesus to hear His words, her transformation brought to His feet and the out come was that they saw Him not as her Messiah, her savior but the Messiah and the Savior of the whole world. Oh what a glorious two days they had in this town and what changes had taken place. The city came to Christ by believing the testimony of women by the well. They saw what God has done in her life, they are affected by it and they believe but that was not the end of their story. They saw for themselves, they experienced what she had experienced and what was at one time her experience became theirs. Then after two days with Jesus the whole city was beginning to believe. Jesus had not experienced this among the Jews. The Samaritans moved from merely believing him to be the Messiah to come to the truth that was the “Savior of the world”, Savior of anybody, anywhere, anytime.

In Luke 9:51 Jesus will send His disciples to get some supplies from another Samaritan village and they didn’t want to do business with them James and John asked Jesus “Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” To which Jesus said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Then In Luke 17 Jesus will pass by Samaria again to another village where there would be 10 outcasts as they were lepers and they would all be cleansed but only the Samaritan fell down at Jesus feet to thank Him. Finally in Acts 8 :4 six years later God will send another to this spiritually and culturally lost people by sending Philip. Why did it take so long well I suggest that the harder work was not the hearts of the sinners of Samaria but rather the needed transformation in the hearts of His servants. There are people right now here in our area that are waiting for someone to sit by the well of their choices and offer them living water, “Oh Lord show us our women by the well”. Nothing causes the soil of hearts to be better cultivated for the Lord than brokenness. Daniel wrote in 12:3 “those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever” and Solomon said in Proverbs 11:30 “He that wins souls is wise”. Sounds like we all ought to be looking for Samaritans doesn’t it?

John 4:43-54

“A sign of trust”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 43-48 Come down

III. Vs. 49-54 Go your way

Intro.

Christian Tom Landry former coach of my beloved Dallas Cowboys once described the job of a coach as, “To make men do what they don’t want to do, in order to achieve what they really want.” That is what Jesus does, doesn’t He? He puts us through circumstances we do not want to go through; causes us face things we do not like to face, in order to achieve what we have wanted with all our hearts all along, a greater trust in Him. That is what the story at hand will teach us as Jesus continues on his journey departing from Samaria on His way to Galilee.

Vs. 43-48 Come down

Vs. 43-45 Apparently Jesus sole reason for going to Jerusalem was to attend the feast as we were told in chapter 2:13. And while there we are told that He did three things:

3:1 He did signs
3:2-21 Spoke to a religious leader in Nicodemus
4:45 And did so to reach the people from Galilee that need to witness His majesty

The Galileans were considered hicks; as there was a large gentile contention there but Jesus’ words in verse 44 aren’t a reference to Galilee but to 4:3 where we were told that He “Left Judea and departed again to Galilee” those words were pointing us back 2:23-24. Jesus was never identified with Judea even though he was from the tribe of Judah and was born in Bethlehem. And now at the beginning of His public ministry when people were curious but faith was shallow He left them to where He could truly minister. Jesus is back in the country of His up bringing having left the country of His birth, which He could not trust them as they didn’t trust Him. It is interesting to note that not one of Jesus disciples came from Judea; there would never be a significant work there, because “a prophet is with out honor in His own country”. Oh to be certain in Judea He was popular but none received Him as they did in Samaria and Galilee. There is a lesson in this Christian and it lies in the fact that God has not called us to be popular, He has not called us to be where the entire world gathers. No He has called us to go out into the highways and byways to seek and save that which is lost. The Galileans’ received him for now, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast but they too will not want Him as their Savior their interest will not be in who He was, but only in what He could do.

Hey saints, the world is interested in a person who will perform what they want when they want without intruding upon their lives but Jesus won’t commit Himself to that person, He departs from them and seeks out those who want transformation. I believe Jesus is leaving some areas and coming to others seeking out those who would be saved and often they are in the most unlikely territories. He left because a prophet is without honor in his own country. Jesus was prophet, priest and king but they didn’t want Him for that they wanted a side show, someone to amaze them but not someone who would “tell them all things they ever did”.

Vs. 46-47 There was a revival in Samaria and yet we are told here that Jesus leaves it for a Nobleman who has a need. Galilee was called “Galilee of the gentiles” as it was a dark area spiritually because this area was always the first place invading armies would come into and ransack. Yet according to Isaiah 9 it would this area of darkness and death that Jesus would come into to be a light. Are there areas of darkness and death in your life, places where the enemy always invades first? Well that is the very area Jesus wants to come into to shine His light upon, you may have given up on every seeing wholeness and victory in that area but rest assured Jesus wants to come and shine His light and love there.

Nazareth was only two or three mile from Cana and when Jesus arrived there was a noble man from Capernaum some 25 miles away seeking Him concerning his dying son. The word for “nobleman” in the Greek means “king’s man” which means he was an officer for the king one of Herod’s officials’. Most scholars feel he is related to Herod as he would not have been placed in a position of authority over people if he wasn’t. Many believe him to be Chuza, Herod’s steward the husband of Joanna mentioned in Luke 8:3. Others suggest that that his identity is to be found in Acts 31:1 when revival was breaking out in Antioch we are told of another “king’s man” named Manaen who had been brought up with Herod and some believe this to be this man. It matters not as who ever he was he came from a high position in society but there came into his life that which his position and wealth could not be changed by his earthly position. We are told in verse 47 “When he heard”, someone came to this father in Capernaum and told him that there was this Jewish carpenter that had performed some amazing miracles in Jerusalem but his son was near death he couldn’t be moved, perhaps if Jesus could be moved to the little boy.

Desperation had driven him out side of his comfort zone and travel to get help. Desperation has brought him to seek, it has brought many a person to seek as we all at one time have put our trust in our resources and have seen those exhausted. This man was popular, prominent, and powerful a man of Herod’s court and this may have bought him the best doctors, medicine and care of the day but no change in the condition of his son. It doesn’t matter how rich, powerful, or successful a person is sooner or later, we all experience sorrow and tragedy. So he begged Jesus, this proud man was reduced to begging a Galilean carpenter for help to heal his son.

There are those who tell us that it doesn’t matter what you place your faith in Buddha, Mohamed, or a door knob as it’s your faith that saves not the object of your faith, not so. You could have interviewed this man and asked him and he would not have said, “Oh it wasn’t Jesus I’m coming to trust in it is just a higher power.” A higher power was Herod but Herod could not bring back his son. You will recall that the Samaritans simply heard the Word and believed but the Jews wanted a sign or wonder before they would trust and this fellow wanted to give directions (instructions) to Jesus, “Come down before my son dies”; there will be a Roman Centurion who will say “Just speak the Word”. Why do I mention this? Well truth be told there are a great many times we would like to direct or instruct Jesus on how we want Him to work instead of leaving that up to Him, “Just say the Word Lord” that is all we need. Have you ever noticed how much of your prayer is giving directions and instructions to Jesus? “Lord, I’m not sure you know but I’m a little low on funds, so here is what I want you to do, bring in some bread so I can spend it”. “Lord I need an answer and the clock is ticking and this is the answer I want!” So what should we do? Well we should come to Him and say, “Lord here’s my heart, here’s my struggle change me, speak the Word”. So many of us hold to the saying “When all else fails, Pray” oh to learn to reverse this too, “Before everything fails, Pray”. “Oh, if You will travel with me 25 miles my son will live, he needs Your touch, I’ve heard what you can do.”, said the nobleman.

Vs. 48 Jesus words here seem almost harsh, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” But notice carefully the words “you people” is plural not singular as Jesus was not addressing the father with a broken heart but the class of people whom he belonged too the “kings men”. At Jesus’ trial Herod will want an audience with Jesus because of His miracles and signs hoping to see one. To this man Jesus corrects the order of belief as it is not first the sign and wonder then the belief but first the trust in the word then the sign or wonder. Signs and wonders can validate the messenger but they are not the sole basis of belief, they are not God’s way of proving Himself to His creation. It is easy to see how many times people have believed a sign or a wonder but not the God who produced them. Listen up, the foundation of our faith is not signs and wonders but His Word.

Hey Christian, putting your faith in signs and wonders or some formula is shallow and it puts the wrong object as the source of our belief the “outcome” instead of Jesus. To make our trust in Jesus dependant upon Him meeting our expectation or experience is to place our trust in ourselves instead of His character and nature. There are many in this world who would like to keep Jesus in a bottle so that upon needing His services they can let Him out to grant them their wishes but when He has done so they want Him back in the bottle so they can do life the way they want with out interference from Him. Simply put they want a Savior but not a Master and Jesus won’t be your savior if He isn’t your master.

Vs. 49-54 Go your way

Vs. 49 He is insistent saying, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” This grieving father begs Jesus to come down before his little boy dies, he doesn’t argue about the truth that some just want a performance out of Jesus; instead he insists that is not his motive. “I’m not look for a show, I need a miracle!” that was his plea. Desperation moved this father, desperation moves many a person having exhausted hope one finally turns to Jesus “come.. before my_____dies!” You can fill in the blank with marriage, business or loved one but it is desperation that has brought you to seek out Jesus. “Oh if Jesus will come to my situation, if he will only do that which I need the way I expect it then that which is dead will become alive again.”

Vs. 50 But look at Jesus words carefully as He didn’t do what this “king’s man” expected Jesus didn’t come down, He said instead, “Go your way; you son lives”. “Go my way; I have come that you would go my way!”, said this heart broke father. When Jesus said “Go your way; your son lives” He gave him no sign; Jesus didn’t do what he had asked for. “Come down”, he begged and Jesus didn’t respond the way he wanted instead Jesus said, “Go…your son lives”. “I’ll give you the help you asked for but not the way you want it.” “I won’t give you a sign, I’ll give you My Word and if your trust My Word you will receive a sign and a wonder!” That is the problem with a great many of us isn’t it, we come to Jesus seeking from Him a touch upon that which is dead but we can’t see Him doing so unless He does so our way. Oh how we limit Him, don’t we? You see Jesus refused to grant the request in the manor in which the father had wanted but didn’t refuse the need, “Your son lives”. What was greater for that father, Jesus doing what he wanted the way he wanted it as or the outcome? Don’t pass by this quickly as it is the key to us always seeing our prayer answered. “Lord I trust you to do that which is best the way in which you see is best!” Faith is to be founded upon Jesus Word not upon our experience. Oh to be sure our experience will inevitably prove that our trust in His Word was right but we are to never trust our experience above His word or make our trust conditional upon our experience. So Jesus gave him the opportunity to trust His word but to do so he would have to walk away from his experience.

Now remember they didn’t have cell phones and 25 miles was a long walk and with every step he was either moving away or closer to trust. Jesus has heard those words from parents praying for intervention for some child many times. He has sat up with us as we sought Him, cried out to him and in the stillness of those moments says, “Go your way; your son lives”. What did it take for this father to turn away from Jesus with tears in his eyes and trust even though it wasn’t going to be the way we thought Jesus should do something? Don’t miss this as this father simply responds to Jesus’ word not a sign or a wonder instead he followed in response to Jesus’ word. How many times fear and doubt must have came at him, what must have ran through his mind when he saw his servants at a distance? He would have had to continue to take the thoughts obedient to the Words of Jesus. “He believed Jesus Word and went his way”, Hey saints that is what life in this journey of ours will be like, believe His word and go our way!

This father showed which was more important by “believing the Word that Jesus spoke and going his way.” (verse 50) We come to Jesus, you and I, because we believe He is who He said He was but then we ask Him to do something our way then we will trust Him. Jesus will always correct us “Trust Me because of who I am, then you will see that your trust in me was right.” Friend’s, faith, isn’t measured by what you feel it is measured by what you do! Now notice that if this father hadn’t gone his way, left his method he would not have run into the results of the miracle on the road. Oh he still would have received the results but would not have done so with the joy of trusting obedience which is what led to the faith of his household (verse 54).

Vs. 51-54 This fellow made two errors concerning this:

A. Location: That Jesus had to be present to heal

B. Timing: That death would render the healing impossible

Jesus fixed these two errors by saying “Go your way; your son lives” which forced the man to trust His word not His location or timing. The father thought that the healing would be gradual when he inquired at what time his son “got better” but the servants corrected him saying that he was instantly better. His faith was confident, then it was confirmed finally it was contagious as his whole household believed.

The first miracle at Cana was one that showed that He was over time seeing that water would turn into wine but not instantaneous, this miracle shows Him over space as he need not be in the same location. Hey saint’s the distance of our circumstances is not a hindrance that God needs to overcome it is rather the distance of what we put our trust in. The first miracle Jesus preformed in this region was a time of celebration of gladness and here the 2^nd one is a time uncertainty and sadness that about covers the spectrum of our human experiences doesn’t it? And you know what Jesus is able to transform any heart if we simply trust His word; He can work at a wedding or a funeral in gladness or sadness! It is a wonderful thing to see how Jesus works with what little trust in Him we have and moves us along to where we trust Him more and more in our lives. There will be in this life a continual need to grow in our trust of Jesus and trials will do just that. We will never see God’s work done in our lives as long as we don’t trust Him. Amazing to me the things we trust in above Him, our own resources, intellect etc. Now notice that this man’s whole house was touched by his trust in Jesus. Hey Christian listen up our houses, neighbors’ workplace and friends are watching us to see if we truly trust in the One we proclaim or not and often it is our trust or lack of it that determines their trust.