John 4:15-29 (Teaching)

[0:00] morning back in the Gospel of John this morning we wasn't here last week so the Johnson City breached in a church down there we skipped a week but those of you that were here a couple of Sundays ago you'll recall we began John chapter 4 and this is the account John chapter 4 is known most of all for the account with the woman at the well that's where we're at right now as far as the scripture goes just a real quick recap from from a couple of Sundays ago you remember Jesus the Bible said that he had need to go that route and he and the disciples went there went to this little place called Sakhar there in

[1:03] Samaria and he met the woman at the well he asked the woman or he actually told the woman he said give me the drink and of course she began with questions immediately and we went on through the scriptures there and she she had her question for every time Jesus had something to say it's saying when he said give me the drink she said how is it that you being a Jew and of course parenthetically me being a Samaritan how can you ask me for a drink and the questions just continued from there when Jesus brought up the water that he could give she she asked another question from whence do you have this water where does it come from and so we've gone through all this in the scripture and I believe I said then we would pick back up at verse 15 I know we've already read through this so I'm not really going to teach in depth on verses 15 through I believe it was verse 19 maybe we stopped that but I do want to begin at verse 15 now verse 14 Jesus tells the lady that you know who whoever drinks the water that he shall give him shall never thirst so John chapter 4 and verse 15 says the woman saith unto him sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come here to draw Jesus saith unto her call thy husband and come hither the woman answered and said I have no husband Jesus said unto her thou has well said I have no husband for thou has had five husbands and he who thou thou now has is not thy husband in that said thou truly the woman said unto him sir I perceive that thou art a prophet our fathers worshipped in this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship and we're gonna stop right there for just a moment now again I'm not going to reteach these few verses here that we did a couple of Sundays ago but this when Jesus tells the woman or when the woman says to Jesus I'm sorry sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw what I believe we touched on a couple of Sundays ago you know she she was getting an idea of what was going on but she still still in the dark so to speak but there was just a little speck of light that was shining in so give me this water where whereas everything up to this point had begun with a question every time Jesus would say something she would ask a question how and when and and these other things that she says up to this point but now she makes a statement give me this water she's pretty much reaching the end of herself here but Jesus sees that she's not not quite there and that's why he answers her the way that that he does but if you know some verse 16 or verse 15 she says that I thirst not neither come hither to draw it was all about her she was she was concerned about her she was concerned about the physical things she was starting to kind of sort of see what was going on but she was concerned more about her her physical needs as opposed to her spiritual needs but Jesus sees this as an opportunity to seize on what the real problem was and what was the real problem it was the same problem with you and it was the same problem with me our sin had to be exposed and that's exactly what Jesus shoots for here in these verses when he says when he tells her to call her husband says Jesus say a thunders her go call thy husband and come hither now in this verse here and I don't believe I hit this couple Sundays ago and I should have but this is actually quite amazing what we read here he says go call thy husband and come hither so he's telling her to go go call your husband but then he invites her back there's an invitation there go and call your husband go and do this thing and he is exposing her sin to her and saying this and they say and then come hither come hither for what come hither for a confession come come hither to me and this and when he says go and call your husband the first day it's gonna pop in her mind is exactly what she answered I have no husband and

[5:52] Jesus says you've answered this correctly you've answered this truly even though you've had five which is past tense meaning that she now has none even though you've had five you now have none and the one that you're with now isn't even your husband Jesus is saying so he's digging down deep into her heart here he's exposing her sin to her and it's not that she needed that that that exposing does she knew what her sin was but she needed to know that Jesus Christ knew what her sin was and it was the same way with me and it was the same way with you if you've never been convicted of your sin friend you've never been saved if you've never been shown how rotten you really are on the inside how true the words of Jeremiah are when he says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it if you've never been shown that about yourself you have never been saved and he was showing this woman just how dark her heart was just how empty her life was just how sinful of a creature she was and he showed me the same thing before he saved me and if you're sitting here saved he showed you the same thing before he saved you we've got to be brought to the very end of ourselves where we can put nothing forward nothing else for and this is another comparison with Nicodemus we done that a couple of

[7:17] Sundays ago in the previous chapter Jesus was showing him you've got all of your religion you've got your ceremony you've got you've got your orthodoxy you've got this and you've got that but that has nothing to do with salvation you must be born again this is what he told Nicodemus and what he was telling this woman here is it was it was the same thing he was exposing Nicodemus's sin to him his sin was he was depending on his own works he was depending on his religion he was depending on his own actions instead of depending upon God and he was showing this woman here the exact same thing so the woman saith unto him sir I perceive that thou art a prophet then she quickly changes the subject matter our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship well when did Jesus ever say that in this conversation that they're having here he didn't she's talking about there was an ongoing debate between the Samaritans and the Jews and the Samaritan said that we are to worship and Mount Gerrison that's exactly what what they thought that's what they because the Samaritans they only depended upon the Torah the first five books of the Bible the five books of Moses they didn't care about the Psalms they didn't care about the prophets they didn't care about the historical books or Jo over any of these other books that we have they they relied strictly and only on the Torah the first five books the five books of

[8:46] Moses that are in the Bible and you find what she's talking about here in the book of Deuteronomy but you also find in the Bible that the Jews were to worship at Jerusalem but she says our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship what she's saying is we Samaritan say that we're to worship in this mountain but you Jews you all say that you're to worship in Jerusalem in Jerusalem Jesus saith under her woman believe me the hour cometh when you show neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father you worship you know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews in a real compact nut shell here Jesus is telling her the Jews have it right and the Samaritans have it wrong that's exactly what he's saying here he says you worship you know not what you don't even know what you're worshiping but you know the place that you're supposed to worship you know the you know this mount that you're talking about Mount

[9:50] Gershom where the Samaritans went to worship you know about this and the Jews were no different though and Jesus knew that the Jews thought hey if I go to Jerusalem if I go up to Solomon's temple and all of its splendor and all of its glory or up to Herod's temple or whatever the case was if I go to the temple and I bring my offering then God should be satisfied with me that was the Jewish mindset and the Samaritan mindset was if I go up into the mount where I'm supposed to go and I do this and I do that for God then God should be satisfied with me and Jesus is saying they're both wrong in that respect and we get into that here in just the next few verses but I wanted y'all to be clear on what the woman was getting at and saying our father's worshipped in this mountain but you and your people the Jewish people they say they meant her to worship at Jerusalem but what did she say right before this she said I perceive that they are to profit she say she and in her mind I believe she was saying since you're a prophet since you're a man of God maybe you can answer this question for me and Jesus answered it for her saying saying in effect that the Jews had it right being at Jerusalem and the Samaritans had it wrong there at the mountain but but he says he says woman believe me the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father but notice how he phrases that when ye shall neither worship in this mountain nor Jerusalem ye being plural not just the woman but anybody the woman's associated with namely the Samaritans is what he was talking about but remember she was also talking about the Jews as well the Samaritans worship in this mountain but you people the Jews say you're supposed to worship it in

[11:44] Jerusalem so what he's saying is is the hour is coming when it's not going to matter where you worship it doesn't matter right now where you worship but the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem Jesus says here he says nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father ye worship you know not what we you know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews and this is the phrase where he's telling her you're wrong in your assumptions you're wrong in saying that you must go up into Mount Gerrissum and and worship he says salvation is of the Jews and folks that has been God's plan since before God ever created the universe since before the dawn of time that was God's plan that salvation would come and would be of the Jews salvation is the very is the very person that was having this conversation with this woman here salvation was sitting here with her he was sitting on a well the one that was able to provide salvation the one that was able to give her forgiveness for the sin that he had exposed in her life he was having a conversation with her on this well here in the city of Sychar he says you you worship you know not what what we were we know what we worship for or because salvation is of the Jews so salvation is of my people we know what we're worshiping we and remember I told y'all the Samaritans they only paid attention to the first five books of the Bible but the Jews they had the prophets and they had the historical books and they had the poetic books they had the history they had all these things and when you're only concentrating on Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy oh there's a whole bunch of stuff that you're missing after that you're missing Joshua you're missing them actually getting into the promised land you're missing you're missing the books of kings and the books of chronicles you're missing all the prophetic books that show you know what struggles that the Jews had now you might catch some of that in the book of Deuteronomy you might catch some of it in the book of Exodus but you're not gonna get the whole story and that's why he was telling this woman you don't even know what you're worshiping you don't know why you're worshiping why redemption hadn't quite come yet and the

[14:20] Samaritans while they while they paid attention to the book of Exodus and and they knew the book of Exodus redemption still hadn't come the Jews though they had the book of Exodus and all the books thereafter plus the book of Genesis they had all these things that were explaining the book of Exodus that were explaining why God brought them up out of Egypt why he parted the Red Sea why he set them out there in the wilderness and put them on the path to the promised land they had all these things but the Samaritans all they knew was that God had delivered some people out of Egypt he had let them wander around in the wilderness for 40 years till they all died out if you remember God told the Jews when he finally got fed up with all their wine and complaining and moaning he said that's it he said your carcasses will rot in this wilderness and your children from the from the ages of 20 years and below they will be the ones to go into the promised land but this is where the Samaritans left it so that's why he's saying you worship what you what you know not you don't even know who you're worshiping or why you're worshiping this is very much like Paul when he was in Athens I believe that's X 17 if I'm not mistaken when he was in Athens and he was preaching to those people and he told me said I've been wandering around these streets and you've got all these monuments and all these temples and and and all these things set up for these gods and I noticed that you've got this one altar set up for the unknown God and he and he commences to telling them who that unknown God is and that is

[15:57] Jehovah God that was the God of Paul that was the God of Peter it was the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob he starts to tell them who this unknown God is because they had all these things set up and they and they didn't know who to worship or for what reason and the one that they should have been worshiping is the one that they weren't but that was they were worshiping what they knew not just like this just like Jesus was telling this woman of Samaria that the Samaritans done they worship what they knew what they knew not verse 23 the hour again the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father and Spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him there's a whole lot of people that take this verse here when Jesus Christ says that the true worshipers would worship God and Spirit and in truth and they make enormous elaborate presentations about it about what exactly it is to worship God and Spirit and truth and I'll tell you what it is very simply and so that you can remember it very easily if you worship God and Spirit you're worshiping

[17:04] God spiritually if you worship God in truth you're worshiping God truly spiritually is from within spiritually it is with your heart it's from from that inward man the the holy ghost that's living on the inside of every born-again believer folks if you're not born again you can't worship God it's an impossibility for you to worship God you can't worship God you can't praise God you might lift your hands up in the air you might sing some some songs or whatever the case is but if you're not born again it is an impossibility for you to worship God but those of us that are born again we worship God and Spirit meaning we worship him spiritually mean that we worship him from within now from within we'll pour out to the outside in one way shape form or fashion it will come out of us some people will sit in their pews or in their seats they might cry tears some people might stand up and shout some people might run the owls some people might raise their hands and scream hallelujah whatever the case is but if it's coming from within that is true worship and that is spiritual worship and that is worshiping God in spirit and in truth now if we worship

[18:23] God outside of Jesus Christ we worship him in a fleshly manner according to the outward man that's not worshiping God truly Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life so we must worship God through Jesus Christ just as we must talk to God and we must pray to God and make our petitions and our supplications known unto God if we're trying to do them by way of the outward man it will never reach God it must be done through Jesus Christ he is the the only mediator between God and man he's the only one that can get those prayers through to God the Father and I thank God for that I thank God for that that he can do that they say it but Jesus says again the hour come with and now is when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seek of such to worship him now just before this he told this woman you worship what you know not but now he's telling her that true worshipers the hour is coming when true worshipers will worship the Father but he just told her you don't even know what you're worshiping they say you're going to be worshiping the Father folks that's a not-in-day difference between not knowing what you're worshiping or whom you're worshiping or what are the cases turning that into worshiping the Father and this is an that's an amazing another amazing thing that's brought up here the hour come with and now is so when he says the hour come with it's coming not quite there yet but the hour come with but then he says and now is so it's not only present but it's also coming in the future folks you got to remember when Jesus Christ was speaking these words the temple will still stand and tall and pretty there in Jerusalem but when John wrote his gospel the temple had been torn down the readers of John's gospel would have recognized what was going on here and these words in John chapter 4 when you would no longer be able to go to Jerusalem to worship God because the temple's not even there anymore not one stone was left upon another when the in 70 AD when Titus came in and ransacked and raced the city so the readers of John's gospel this would have been a whole lot more to then than it would then it would have had the current disciples of Jesus been around instead of down in the town buying food at this time if they had been around listening to this they were so why wouldn't we go to Jerusalem to worship

[21:03] God that's where the temple is but the readers of this gospel years after the temple was tore down years after it was I said ransacked and robbed everything by Titus years after that they would have understood that they would have understood what Jesus was saying so the father seeketh such to worship him and you know what the father still seeks such to worship him church houses are full of people that don't truly worship God and they don't spiritually worship God they do not worship God and spirit and truth and I'm not saying that you know it's like that at every church I hope it's not like that here and several other churches I can think of but unfortunately there's people that have been led that if you just sing along to our songs and you raise your hands in the air God will accept that as worship no no that's not the case that's not the case people will say if you'll come to our elaborate building with our elaborate stained glass and folks I ain't saying there's anything wrong with that but there's people that put that that concentrate more on the building and more on the music and more on the singing and more on everything that is outwardly appearing I would rather meet with a bunch of people that loved God and worshiped him and spirit and truth and a shack beside the road or under a tent out in the woods somewhere and worship God with those people as to have the most elaborate sound system and the most elaborate decorations and in the incense burning and anything else that you can think of that are doing it all outwardly to worship God and spirit and in truth is not has nothing to do with those things I'd rather listen to someone that sing a song that couldn't carry a tune in a bucket but they were worshiping God by singing that song as to hear someone with the most beautiful voice that didn't have a bit of spirit in them I ten times rather hear that and I've heard that before I've heard some people that like I said couldn't carry a tune in the bucket but boy they get up and they'd sing for the Lord it's in chills all down you they they'd sing in 18 different keys in that song and not repeat a one of them but you knew they were singing under God and you knew that they loved the Lord and that's why they were singing that's the kind of people I want to worship with not the ones that are trying to impress the crowd or trying to impress the congregation and

[23:45] I've been to some services like that and I'm sure you all have to where you know they're trying to show show off their talent instead of trying to worship God that's not worshiping God and spirit and truth that's desiring and wanting the worship of man to get up and do that but anyway verse 24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him spirit and truth there's no two ways about it folks there's no other way about it no five ways no ten ways no two ways they that worship him must worship him and spirit and truth and these two chapters in John 3 which we've gone back to several times making comparisons when Nicodemus and this woman at the whale but in John chapter 3 and John chapter 4 we read about three musts two of them are in chapter chapter 3 when

[24:45] Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again there's no other way to go about salvation he must be born again and Jesus Christ also told Nicodemus the Son of Man must be lifted up he must be sacrificed he must be raised up as the certain as Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness the Son of Man must be lifted up and folks that was that was a must there was no other way to work salvation that must happen and here we have a must they that worship God must worship him and spirit and in truth otherwise God will not recognize your worship there may be some little G gods out there in this world that are recognized your worship and that'll try and claim it but Almighty God God the Father he will not recognize that worship unless it is done in spirit which is spiritually and in truth which is truly God is the spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth the woman saith unto him I know that Messiah is cometh which is called Christ when he has come he will tell us all things this is a little spark of hope here we read the first spark when this woman says give me this water to drink please give me this water that you speak of but then she says that that I don't thirst and that I don't have to come here to draw so it was all she's making it all about her but here here's just another little spark of hope when she says I know that Messiah is coming I know that there's been one promised in the Scriptures and folks praise God he was the Messiah he was promised even in the Torah what this woman was accustomed to even in the first five books of Moses it spoke of a deliverer beginning at

[26:30] Genesis chapter 3 and several more times throughout the chapter the chapter that Messiah is the very one that God promised would be the seed of the woman that would bruise the head of the serpent so she would have known that Messiah was coming but she says the woman or the Bible says the woman saith unto him I know that Messiah's comeeth which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things so she has faith that there's a deliverer coming that's what a Messiah was and that's what a Messiah is he's a deliverer she had faith that there was a deliverer coming but she still just didn't see it in Jesus Christ she said I pursue sir I perceive that they're a prophet she saw him as a man of God saw him as an intelligent fellow saw him as a future teller saw him as someone that could see down inside of her soul and inside of her heart but she still didn't recognize him as Messiah how many lost souls have been brought to Jesus Christ through this very same method that Jesus Christ is using here in little steps little bits and little pieces they're brought to they're brought to Jesus once again we've got to be brought to the very end of ourselves where we cannot depend upon ourselves we can't depend like this woman was depending on what she had been taught about the Samaritans and how they were to worship and all these other things we must be brought to the end of ourselves and that's exactly where Jesus Christ was getting her to and it was little steps and you see these little steps in her answers and in her questions before that but you see these little steps toward Christ but she says

[28:11] I know that Messiah is coming which is called Christ when he has come he will tell us all things so in other words I don't think she was real happy with Christ's response when he said you all worship what you know not you know and there's coming a day when you're not gonna worship this mountain the Jews ain't gonna worship in Jerusalem when those things won't matter she says well when Messiah comes he'll tell us all about it he'll tell us what we're supposed to do then Jesus Jesus says it's under her I that speak unto thee am he I'm the very Messiah that you're speaking of so once again he brought her to the very end of herself he brought her to a place where she would recognize whom he was and he done the same thing with me and he done the same thing with you when when when he saved our souls folks if we wouldn't have recognized him if we if we had not recognized our need for a savior when Jesus was speaking these these words they the worship God must worship him in spirit and truth do you think this was making a whole lot of sense to this woman no do you think it made sense to her that she'd been told all of her life and her father had been told all of his life and her grandfather had been told all of his life we worship him Mount garrison that's where we go because we're Samaritans and that's where where we're supposed to go that's where we go to worship God yes it's the same God that the Jews had but the Jews have got it all wrong and now here's some Jew telling her that she's got it all wrong after she's had this this this problem with the Jews all of her life she's had this prejudice against the Jews all of her life and the Jews have had prejudice against her as well she wasn't happy with his response so she says well when Messiah comes he's going to straighten all this out for us and Jesus says I'm he the one that's sitting here on this well having this conversation with you the one that just told you that one of these days even though now you don't know what you worship that you're going to worship the Father praise God in spirit and in truth I'm he that you speak of I am that Messiah and I'm setting things right right now in your heart and in your mind I told you the truth remember John chapter 14 I'm the way the truth in the life the he can only speak truth and he was telling this woman here I am he I am that Messiah Jesus says under her eye that speak unto the em he verse 27 kind of ruins the whole account with the woman at the well to me not really not scripturally but there's a part of me that wishes that there was 50 more verses between Jesus speaking with that woman in other words I wish that he would continue to speak but this is the way the Holy Spirit wanted it the disciples bust in they come upon the scene who are the disciples there are a bunch of Jews hanging around with Jesus walking with Jesus going with Jesus ministering with Jesus ministering to

[31:27] Jesus he says and upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman yet no man said what seek us now or why talk us though with her they marveled they was talking with this one why again they were Jews and not only was she a Samaritan but culturally a man generally didn't speak to a woman if she was by herself that was taboo and Jew in Jewish culture and you don't necessarily read about that in Scripture but you can read about that in Jewish history and if you study up on their culture but it says they marveled that he talked with the woman yet no man said what seek us now or why talk us though with her so they marveled they were amazed that Jesus being a Jew being Messiah being the one that had handpicked them to come out on his ministry and and preach and heal and do all these other things they were marveling that Christ was talking not only with a woman but with a Samaritan woman but it says no yet no man said what seek us now or why talk us though with her so they marveled that if they were amazed by it but none of them dared ask Jesus about it none of them said what do you think you're doing and

[32:48] I don't really blame them for that the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and say it to the man come see a man which told me all things that I ever did is not this the Christ so it says the woman left her water pot now her Charlie Fraser preach a wonderful sermon on this very verse here one time the woman left her water pot and that's what the entire sermon was based on the woman left her water pot she turned her water pot in for a well of salvation that's that was the whole message of the sermon but that's exactly what happened here she left her water pot she left what she had showed up to crossed with she and folks it wasn't just that but she runs into the city and she goes to the men of the city she goes to the people of the city she says come see a man that told me everything I've ever done come see this man is not this the Christ she believed at that point she believed and she was testifying off her belief and that's why I say that if anybody truly gets born again if anybody walks an island goes to an altar and gets saved in the church service or they walk an hour they get saved in a tent meeting and they get saved at home or work like I was or wherever it is it won't be long for your testifying of the grace of God that has taken place in your life it won't be long before you testify that your sins have been forgiven that God Almighty has moved in on the inside this woman wasted no time once that belief hit her she went into the city and testified remember this woman showed up at this whale and we all know what her reputation was and that's why she was there alone and that's why she was there at the time of day that she was because she knew nobody else would be there drawing that that warm to hot water up out of that well at that time of day but now she was going into the city and she was telling everybody strangers she was telling the man the women anybody that would listen to her she's saying come see a man that told me everything about myself is not this the Christ is this not the Messiah and remember just a few verses before this she said when Messiah comes he'll straighten all this out for us when Messiah comes he'll tell us all things and all it took was Christ to tell her because he done showed her he had already showed her he was Messiah and then he told her I am he he that's talking to you he that's sitting here with you he that's sitting out here in this Sun sitting on this well that has yet to have a drink of the water from the well that we're sitting on I am he and she goes into the city and she starts telling everybody is not this the Christ folks we will testify the goodness of Christ to our families to our friends to our co-workers to anybody we meet why because we've been brought from death under life we were spiritually dead and our trespasses in sin and God lifted lifted that curse off of us and he placed life within us he placed eternal life within us live and more abundant life according to the scriptures God give us that why would we not testify of it the folks there's confession that needs to be made of Jesus Christ confession needs to be made by Christians of the goodness of Jesus Christ confession needs to be made to the world hey listen I was a sinner but now I'm saved I was lost but now I'm found I was blind but now I see confession needs to be made of the goodness of God but when we're trying to win souls to Christ when we're trying to lead souls to cross we we don't have power to save anybody and I don't think anybody in here believes that we do but just to reiterate that we can't say but we can point them to the one that came we can show them the one that came but when we testifying of these things and we're trying to lead someone to the Lord whether they're in our family whether they're a friend or co-worker whatever the case is we need to take the same approach that cross did not only hear with this woman at the well but with Nicodemus people have got to be shown that their sinners I ain't saying that you throw somebody on the floor and you kick them and slap them around and just tell them that they need Jesus because they're a sinner but they have to know that they're lost that's why the greatest way to present the gospel of Jesus Christ there is a road of law that leads up to the gospel we have got to show people the law before we can present the gospel because without the law they'll never know that they're lost they'll never know that their centers so we present the law then we present the gospel this woman knew the law the law was given the main parts of the law will say the moral law was given in Exodus chapter 20 she was familiar with Exodus that's in the first five books of the Bible she was shown the law she was shown her sin and then she was then it was revealed to her who Jesus Christ was

[38:03] Jesus revealed it himself whom he was and folks that's that's what salvation is the law and our sin is revealed to us and then Christ has revealed us and his saving power Christ has revealed us and his forgiveness Christ has revealed us and his love and the suffering that he done that he put up with and went through for us Christ is revealed just as he revealed himself to Nicodemus and just as he revealed himself to this woman here at the well and I'm gonna cut it off right there I don't like to waste that much time Sunday school I don't really want to go any deeper right now anybody got any questions or comments on any of that alright God bless y'all I appreciate you