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Jan 22, 2023

Woman at the Well

Woman at the Well

Passage: John 4:1-29

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: The Transformed Life

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: heaven, church, worship, faith, jesus, mercy, god, ministry, christian, bible, christ, gospel, hope, gospel of john, grace, doubt, believe, jesus christ, messiah, the bible, lord, christianity, transform, bible study, blessed, woman at the well, personality, inspirational, overcome, gods plan, face to face, transformed life, bible stories, follow god, jesus loves me, believe in god, change your life, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, jesus image

We continue our sermon series called the Transformed Life where we’re looking at the lives of people from scripture and how their lives were changed after coming face-to-face with Jesus. We are studying John chapter four and the woman at the well. We learn that how we perceive Jesus will shape everything about us. Jesus fully sympathized with what this woman was going through, and he fully sympathizes with us too. In fact, Jesus desires to reach into the deepest depths of our souls so that he can heal us from the inside out, and the good news is that he saves people who no one else would normally think are worthy to be saved. Thank God that we have such a merciful and wonderful savior! Have you found the life of dignity, meaning, and kingdom purpose that Jesus promises? Have you been saved? Do you want to know more about this compassionate and merciful Jesus? We’d love to answer any questions and take time to pray with you, so reach out today. You can always take the next step by visiting – burnthickory.com/next.

Well church, as you can see from the video today across all of America, churches are joining together in what is called Sanctity of life Sunday to where we give honor, we give credit, and we give some incredibly paused, praying moments on behalf of children and the unborn across our nation. You know, I know when we begin to talk about things like abortion and things like that, I can kind of feel the tension in the room of Matt, why are we going to be political? Why are we choosing political parties? But let me just say this. Today is not about politics and it's not about political parties. Today is where churches can stand and voice a prayer on behalf of the unborn, on behalf of children across this world that are in situations where they have no choice. And today, we pray for those that do. We pray that God shows them that those babies are valuable. We pray that God shows them that those babies are born in the image of God and that they too, one day can grow up as glorifying God following children. Would you join me in just a moment of prayer today? Lord Jesus, we do recognize today that there are so many people in incredibly hard situations that we don't even fathom. But God, one thing would you show them today that life matters? Would you show them today that those babies are created in your image? Would you give them peace today? Would you give provision for them today? Would you speak to their hearts today? And would you rise up believers across this nation to come behind those that are hurting. Lord Jesus we're so thankful that our mothers chose life and God, may we stand in the gap for those who cannot speak for themselves. And it's in your name. Jesus, that we pray. Amen. And Amen.

Church, It is so, so honoring to be part of a body of believers who love people literally from the womb all the way to the tomb. We are in a series as the screens are going to show you this morning called The Transformed Life, where what we're doing and these weeks at the beginning of this year is we're looking into some accounts where people come face to face with Jesus, where they meet Jesus for the first time, or they have a new encounter with Jesus where something happens in their soul that changes them. The reality in all of these accounts is that you cannot have a true encounter with Jesus and walk away the same. Something in your life is going to change. There's going to be a fresh ness in your walk with Jesus. You're going to be set free from something. You'll be healed from something. You'll be given life that you have never had.

Now we're studying these accounts not just to give us more biblical knowledge, but to show us exactly what it is that Christ wants to do in us. How He wants to grow us, to heal us, to set us free, to move into our hearts and to give us a way that we can call out to the Messiah Jesus. So far, we've looked at two accounts. We started the whole series with this man that was born blind, and we watched Jesus not just give him physical eyesight, but we watched Jesus open up the eyes of his heart and show us that when we are desperate, that when we call out to Jesus, he's one word away, he's one calling away. And we said the whole week that Jesus reaches the desperate. Last week we looked at John the Baptist's life. There was so much we could have picked out of it. But we picked his prison account that he had been in prison for his faith. But after a year of it, he hit this moment in his faith where he asked Jesus the question, Are you the one? And Jesus emphatically spoke back to him and said, Yes, I am the one and I am the one that will save you and give you life and give you hope. We saw last week that even in our moments of doubt that Jesus loves us enough when we reach out to Him to give us life, to solidify our faith in him. You know, these moments have had one thing in common, and that is that these transformation moments with Jesus in both of those accounts and in the ones that we're going to look at today, have shown us that their perceptions of who Jesus is radically changed. It radically moved in a different direction or something in their spirit was solidified in who Jesus is. And listen, that is a big deal, because here's what I know about you and about me and about every human being. And in fact, I want you to write this principle down just as an overarching statement for the whole morning, this morning.

Here's the principle I want you to remember how you see or how you perceive Jesus will shape everything about you. It'll shape everything about you. And here's what that means. How you see or how you perceive Jesus is going to shape not just your kind of religious life, but it bleeds into every single part of our lives. Our walk with Jesus is not a segmented portion of who we are. It is, in fact, what shapes our worldview. It shapes our thoughts. It shapes our actions. It shapes our health. It shapes our relationships. It shapes everything about us and how we see Jesus. How we perceive Jesus is what does that inside of us. You see, I want to I want to kind of prove my point by showing you a picture this morning. I want to show you a picture of Jesus this morning right here on the screen. All right. Now, this picture of Jesus is quite funny. All right? We can laugh at it. I know you didn't know, like, whether to laugh or somebody would judge you just right if you laughed. Right. You can laugh at this picture, by the way. This is on your wall. I'm sorry. All right. You can take it down later. But here's the thing. The reality is, in a lot of our minds, when we close our eyes and kind of see Jesus, for some reason, this is what we see. Right? This is kind of what is in the back of our minds. But the question is, can that guy help you with anything? Right. I mean, look at him just for a minute in this picture, just despite the fact that there's these weird, like, kids looking at him. But look at the picture just for a minute, right? Look. Look at this thing. I'm pretty sure he's got blush on maybe a little lipstick. And look at those locks, right? I mean, those things are flowing. That's a fresh perm right there. I mean, and his hands, I don't know, are doing something weird with his hands. I mean, we can see the nail scars. I kind of get that his heart, but the reality is, when you see this picture that in our minds, maybe not this one, but something like that is our image of who Jesus is, that Jesus is this ethereal that is floating above the earth or this just kind of other than photo. And as a result of that, seeing that transcendent soft floating Jesus with the flowing locks. The reality is, when we have something in our lives that we need to bring to Jesus, we don't because he thinks we think this about him. He'll never relate to where I am. He doesn't know where I am. He doesn't know what I'm thinking. And here's the thing. If that's your image of Jesus, he's not going to know what you're thinking.

But here's what I want to show you this morning. If Jesus is going to radically transform our hearts and that's the that's the hope of all of us, then we're going to have to stop seeing him as this otherly figure and begin to see Jesus for who he really is, that he is Lord, that He is Savior, that He is mighty to save, and that He is right in the middle of the mess with you. That's who Jesus is. Jesus isn't this floating on earth like little glints back at you smile with the hair wrapping around from whatever. That's not even who he is. Who he is a person that steps right in the middle of our messes and wants to walk with us and transform us? And this morning, we're going to see an account this morning where Jesus steps right into the middle of the mess. And we're going to see this incredible display of his divine providence, of how he orders our steps. We're going to see how his imminence that's his smallness of how he steps into our personal lives is incredible. And we're going to see the grace that extends to our hearts in this account in John chapter four this morning, if you got a copy of scripture, I want you to turn with me to John chapter four. John Chapter four. And we're going to see this account where Jesus meets the lady, the woman at the well this morning. I know this is a fan favorite. A lot of you express that. I won't make you stand up and recited or anything. But this story shows us who Jesus is and it shows us what Jesus wants to do in us. And here's my prayer. I'm going to put it on the table before we get any farther. I am praying today that your image of Jesus begins to see Him as not this otherly God that is outside the universe. But He is with you in the middle of your mess this morning. Now, John, chapter four is obviously written by John. John is the beloved of Jesus, kind of that best friend of Jesus. When you read the book of John, you'll see that 90% in this Gospel of John is unique material. It's written in these long formats to show you the heart of the person that John is talking about. And we get to see more than anything in the book of John, just the identity of the deity of Jesus, that, yes, he walks this earth, but equally, yes, that he is the Messiah, that he is God in flesh.

And we're going to get to see it this morning. Here's what we're going to do. All right. We're going to read scripture. We're going to talk about it, give you a couple of principles, and that's all we're going to do. You know what? Because that's all I know how to do. All right. Here we go, John. Chapter four, verse one. Here's what it says now. Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. So, he left Judea and he went back once more to Galilee. Now stop there and let me kind of give you a little bit of context. This really has nothing to do the grandiose but all scripture. We need to know it. Jesus once again has an incredibly big following around him. People are following him. The Bible says that people are getting saved. People are getting baptized. There is a lot of people in the movement. This is one of the most popular times in Jesus's life. He's seen amazing things happen. And then the Bible says that Jesus didn't baptize people, although a lot of people were being baptized, which is a really weird thing to say. Right. But when you really think about it, it's true. Do you know why Jesus didn't baptized people? Because can you imagine the level of pride that somebody had that Jesus baptized you and you got Peter, right? I mean, that's just doesn't even make sense, right? So, the Bible tells us Jesus didn't baptize people, his disciples baptized people. And in this kind of mix of ministry that's going on, this revival moment, Jesus hears that his disciples are hearing, and he is hearing that these religious leaders, these Pharisees are upset, they're incredibly angry. But Jesus knows that the time to confront them is not yet here. This is not it. He knows that he and his plan, he and his providence, he's going to do it. But this is not the time to do it. So, what happens in verse three? The Bible says that he left, that he left, which means that Jesus just kind of kind of saw what was going on and he just kind of gave it the old Irish exit. You know what I'm talking about, right? You're at the party. You don't want to be there anymore. You don't walk around shaking everybody and make a big old scene of it. You just kind of exit slowly. I may or may not be one of the pros of that in my life, right? This is what Jesus does. The word left simply means right here, a simple departure. There was no prayer. There was no announcement, there was no triumphal exit. Jesus just slowly backs out because he's not interested in the star power right here. He's not interested in comparing his ministry to John's ministry. And in many ways, this is this so counterintuitive to many of us, which is that we want the notoriety for the things that we do. Right.

But Jesus is like, no, no, I'm out. So, at the high point of Jesus' ministry, he leaves, and he begins to head north towards Galilee. All right. Verse four, check it out. Says this now. He had to go through Samaria. Maybe he says he had to pass through Samaria. Either way. Works right. Same word. But I want you to underline that phrase because it's incredibly interesting. We're going to circle back to it in a minute. There's a back story, but this indication that he had to go doesn't mean that kind of somebody had kind of made him do it. All right. Nobody's making Jesus do anything. Jesus just knew in his spirit that there was an encounter to be had, and praise God that it happened right. There was an encounter. There was something in his spirit that was saying, Hey, there is a lady that you need to meet. There is a lady that I need to get to. So, Jesus leaves the thousands, and He begins to go towards the lady that we're about to meet in verse five. Check it out. Says this. So, we came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. Now this place that Jesus goes is an incredibly historic place. In Jewish heritage, way before Jesus. In fact, this place is where Abraham kind of sacrificed to God, where the children of Israel, the nation of Israel was born. This is a place, and the promised land was kind of promised to Abraham in this place that he's at this well, there was so many marriages that started right there. Abraham's servants met Rebecca there when she became kind of Isaac's future wife. You'll see that Jacob met his future wife, Rebecca. I mean, Rachel at this place, which says quiet, singles, listen, this is a great place, right, to go. Here's the good news. The next time we go to Israel, you get to visit this place, singles. All right, you get to go to this well. You drink out of this well. I don't know what that does for your love life, but it's one of my top favorite places in all of Israel. Right? But Jesus, he's tired from the journey and the middle of the day, he needs some water and watch what he does. Verse seven. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into town to buy food, and the Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman.

How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews don't associate with Samaritans. Now I want you to stop right there. Don't worry. We're going to get the rest of the text. But. But in these first nine verses, we're shown some incredible transforming truths about the character of who Jesus is and how our perception of Jesus can shape us. So, here's my prayer. When we walk through some of these characteristics. These characteristics are not just for this lady. They're for all of us. And I want to point that out to you, because they can change your perception of Jesus. Number one, write this down. Jesus goes out of his way to reach people. Jesus goes out of his way to reach people. Look at this truth about this incarnation of coming of Jesus in the text. Verse four it said that he had to go through Samaria. He had to go through Samaria. But here's the reality. He didn't have to. In fact, most Jews would not have gone this way. If you pull out one of those maps in the back of your Bible that you're always wondering, why are they there? You'll see that Jesus did in fact go the most direct route. He left where he was. He went straight north. But the reality is, no respectable Jew, especially no respectable rabbi, would have ever done this because they hated the Samaritans. Most Jews would kind of leave the South. They would cross over the Jordan, they would go through the desert around, and they would add three days to the journey because they hated the Samaritans so much. You want to talk about racial tension, you want to talk about judgmentalness, you want to talk about the fact that I am putting my nose up to you. It was terrible in this day. Who are these Samaritans? Well, 700 years earlier, when the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdoms split, the Assyrians came in and overtook the Northern Kingdom. They took all the men from the area back to Assyria, put them in slavery, and they leave the ladies, they leave the children. And after a while, the ladies begin to kind of break down whether out of fear or just whether out of we're desperate. They begin to marry the Assyrian men. And here's what happened because of that a half-breed of Jewish Assyrian people were created and nobody liked them. The Assyrians didn't like them because they were half Jewish. The Jewish didn't like them because they were half Assyrian, and because of that they didn't know what culture they belonged to. They were hated by everything. They didn't even know what to worship and how to worship. They worshiped on one day the God, Yahweh, Jehovah. They would try their best to worship him, but on the other day they would follow the Assyrian gods, the Polytheistic thinking of worshiping whatever was the worship of the day. The Jews hated them so much that even in the Old Testament, Nehemiah banned them from helping in the temple. The hate got so bad that a hundred years earlier than the scene that we're looking at right here, they decided to build their own place of worship on Mount Garrison. And so now they had their own temple with this weird worship, this mixture of worshiping culture, worshiping animals, worshiping God and all this stuff together. But Jesus went out of his way. Jesus went out of his way. Do you realize what Jesus did right here? He leaves the thousands of worshipers because in his spirit, he knows there was a lady to reach. There was a lady that needed him. But I want you to think about this on a macro level.

You see the micro-level as Jesus leaves this crowd and he goes to reach this lady. On a macro level, listen to this. Isn't this exactly what Jesus did for us? He left the confines of heaven where everybody worships him. He left the confines of heaven, where everything is set apart. And he left and came to this earth to live in a defiled place, to give us salvation, to take on our sins. How kind is Jesus? How loving is Jesus that he leaves heaven to save us? He's doing the same thing for us. He goes out of his way. So, Jesus goes out of his way. But then in verse six, we get notice this little bitty truth that we kind of skip through a lot and that is that Jesus just kind of needed a rest. Now, we don't really think about this a lot because we kind of bring Jesus down into the earthly level, but we never really stamp him as being fully human. Buddy, he was right. We don't think of Jesus as getting hungry and getting mad and getting sleepy. But I want you to look at verse six. What does it say? It says Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, he sat down by the well for it was about noon. Now think about this. Jesus is fully human, all right? He's fully human. What does that mean? That means that Jesus gets tired. He gets tired. But do you know what kind of that means in a in a principle format? Look at this. Write this down. Number two, about Jesus, because this is so important. This means that Jesus fully sympathizes with all that you go through. That's what it means. It means that Jesus, whatever you are walking through in your life, when you see that Jesus got tired and hungry, Jesus got sleepy, Jesus even got a little upset a couple times. That means that Jesus is not this high priest that is out there, that's ethereal. That doesn't know what you're walking through. Do you know what this means for me and you? That means that when Jesus tells you to bring him your burdens to him, right? He says all you who are weary and weary and labored. I will take your pain. Come to me and I will give you rest. This means that when Jesus says that He knows what we're walking through, Hebrews 4:15 says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who has been tempted in all things. Yet he is without sin. He's without sin. Now, let's keep this in the context, because I think this is important for especially where we live. All right. Do you know what this means for us? This means that you can bring Jesus your exhaustion today and he knows exactly what you're walking through. You can bring it to him. You can bring Jesus the fact that you are at the end of your rope, and you don't know what to do, and he knows exactly where you're at. You don't think Jesus felt exhaustion on the cross when he took on the sins of the world? You don't think Jesus felt the loneliness of being isolated when He took upon the sins of the world? You don't think when the Father God turned his back on Jesus, that Jesus doesn't know what pain and shame and hurt and loneliness felt like?

Church Listen, He is not an ethereal God. That is in some crazy picture like we showed earlier. He's a guy that's in the middle of your mess and he fully sympathizes with you. He knows what you're walking through, and he wants to walk with you. So, listen, instead of running away from Jesus and our exhaustion and our pain and our loneliness and our wondering what our identity is, why don't we run to him? Why don't we run to him? Because Jesus understands and he's showing this lady he understands. But here's number three characteristic of Jesus. Number three is that Jesus is willing to be seen with the lost, or you can even write the word hurting beside that if you want him to engage them with the Gospel, Jesus is willing to be seen with the lost to engage them with the Gospel. Now what does this mean? Now hear me right. Jesus never sinned. But He did meet with sinners. He did have relationships with people who were not like them. Jesus was not a frozen chosen that ran away from everybody that was not like Him. Jesus wanted people to know God, and as a result of that, Jesus spoke into people's lives. Jesus met people where they were. And that's exactly what we're seeing in this lady. Look at four seven. It said this. Jesus says to her, Will you give me a drink? Will you give me a drink? What does Jesus do? He asks the lady for a drink. Now, this is a big deal. You're like, Man, it's not a big deal. Just ask him for a cup of water. It's a huge deal. And here's what a Jewish person would never drink out of a cup that a Samaritan person drank out of. You want to talk about just racist, right? They were never in fact, history tells us that if a Jewish person came to a party and they were not 100% sure about who was hosting the party, that they would bring their own dishes. That's how bad it was. They would bring their own stuff because they did not want to be seen as unclean. As a Jewish rabbi, If somebody would have seen Jesus doing what he's doing right here, he would have been barred from the temple. But what did Jesus do? Jesus looked at this lady. He's like, Oh, no, no, no, I can drink from your bucket because, hey, I'm thirsty. And B, I know where this conversation is going. And C, I am the Lamb of God who takes away the uncleanliness of the world. That's what he's showing this lady. We are seeing the gospel in this lady's story all the way from Sychar. So, in a way, stay with me. Jesus takes on the on cleanliness of this lady on himself to offer her later on the living water that only he can offer. Isn't this the same thing that Jesus did for us on the cross? Did not Jesus take on the uncleanliness of the world to make me cleansed? Didn't Jesus wear the weight of all sin and become sin? God made Him Jesus who had no sin to become sin on my behalf so that I may become the righteousness of God.

That's what we're seeing Jesus do. He is willing to meet us where we are, to take on our pain, to take on our shame. And on the cross he gave us a way to be set free. God demonstrates from Romans five eight his love in this, though we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. See, this lady's not looking for Jesus. Jesus is not lost. Jesus shows up in Sychar looking for this one specific lady. And I have to believe that there are some people that are listening to this message. That's exactly what he's doing for you. He is stepping into your soul. There is something being birthed inside of you even right now that you know that you know that you don't have a relationship with Jesus. But I'm praying that you are seeing a new side and your eyes of your heart are being open and that you are seeing that Jesus is the one who sympathizes, and He wants to set you free is what we're seeing in the story. Jesus goes out of his way to reach people. Jesus fully sympathizes where we are. Three, Jesus is willing to be seen with the lost, to reach the lost.

Now look at number four. Jesus saves people who no one else would normally save. He saves people who no one else would normally save. Let's move to the back half of the story. I want you to keep reading. The back half is all scripture I'm telling you right now, Bible just lays it out. Here we go. Verse ten Jesus answered her If you knew the gift of God and who it is that ask you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with from the well and it is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself? As Jesus did, as he did also his sons and his livestock. What's this lady doing? She's trying to show Jesus that, hey, I'm part of the family. I'm part of Jacob's family. That was my great, great, great, great, great, great grandpappy on my mom's side. That's who it is, right? Verse 13. Jesus answers. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Man, you need to hear that. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them. You might want to circle this. A spring of water welling up to eternity. Now what is the difference between a pond of water and a spring of water? A pond, that is all the water you get. That's all culture can give you. It can say, Here we are, here's who you are, what Jesus wants to give you is a spring of water that is always present, that is always cool, that is always refreshing, that it's always clean and it will never run out. If you keep chasing the water in the well, it is never going to satisfy. But Jesus says, If you chase what I gave you, it'll never run out. It'll always be here. Verse 15, the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I don't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. He told her, Go and call your husband and come back. Now, pause, because this is just weird, right?

At first glance here, it really seems like Jesus is entirely narrow minded, doesn't it? I mean, why doesn't Jesus just take the win? Right? It seems like this evangelistic conversation is going in a good, good direction. The lady's listening and Jesus is talking. He's got an object lesson. He's drawing her into the gospel. If you were sitting at Starbucks and you were hearing this conversation from the table beside you, don't lie. You know, you do it right. You would go, man, Jesus, that's a little harsh. You had her. She was moving in the right direction. And now, Jesus, you're going to press into this wound of this poor lady. I mean, you shared the gospel, the yes is there. You are almost there. You are moving in the right direction. But here's the deal. Jesus is not a jerk. We know that about Jesus. Right? Here's what he's doing. Write this principle down, that Jesus desires to reach into the deepest depths of our soul so he can heal us from the inside out. That's what he's doing. You see, Jesus had no desire to kind of surface-level talk this lady into making some quasi-conversation and decision. Jesus reaches down into what got this lady into this situation to begin with, why this lady is at the well during the middle of the afternoon to begin with, and Jesus has no desire in him with her or us. Catch this just to kind of find us in our sins kind of put us back on our feet a little bit, dust us off and send us down the road with some good religion. That's not what Jesus wants. Jesus wants our hearts. He wants our lives, He wants our souls, and he wants to put us in a new direction. Watch what happens in verse 17. The Lady answers. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, You were right when you say you have no husband, the fact is you have had five husbands and the man you have now is not your husband. What you said is quite true. Now, look, we're really not sure how this lady got to this point in her life. I mean, he she may have been just crazy promiscuous, right? I mean, just crazy ran around on five different husbands. She may have. She may have been widowed five times. Right. And the last guy was like, I ain't marrying that death trap. We're just going to date. I don't know. All right. I don't I don't know where this lady is. Right. But what we do know is, is she's had a rough go at it. She's had a rough go at it. We're not making excuses, but we know that she has had a rough life. She's an outcast because of her decisions or because of life.

She was avoiding everyone. And now Jesus steps into her life and watch what happens. Verse 19 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem now. It's really confusing, but it's not. When you think about it, this lady's life is actually brilliant in in like debate. Here's what she does. Jesus begins to press into this lady's soul. She begins to start to feel convicted and begin to see what's in her soul and how dark her soul is. And she moves the conversation away from her personal life to say this, Hey, let's talk about everybody's life. But isn't that what we do as good Christian people? A lot of times when there's something in our hearts that we know we need to deal with, we kind of make it and justify and go, Well, I'm not as bad as those people. All right. That's what she did right. But watch this. Watch this theology conversation that Jesus has with this woman. In verse 21, Jesus replied, Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know, but we worship what we do know. For salvation is from the Jews, yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth. There's a whole message there. But we're going to keep moving. For they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. So, what would Jesus do? He satisfies her theology question right here, he says, It's not about location of your worship. It is about the you worship me that you know me, that you know God. And when this whole thing begins to settle in, you begin to see an incredible encounter with a holy God with a lady that is hurting.

Now, look, we don't know much about this lady. We don't know her family. We don't know her vocation, and we don't know how old she was. But we do know that she is a Samaritan, right? She's from the hated race of the day. We do know that she is a woman, which in that day was just a couple steps above being a indentured servant. We know that. I love the fact the Bible points out a lot of times that God values ladies and he does it right here. We do know that this lady's poor. You say Matt, how do you know that? Well, she is at the well, a servant of hers is not there. We know that about her. We do know that she has been living in sin. We know that. You say Matt, how would you know that? Well, look at the time of day that she's at the well, she's there in the afternoon. And you don't go outside in the Middle East during the afternoon. You go out in the mornings; you go out at night. And the well was the Starbucks of the day for the ladies. That's where they kind of gossiped about their husbands or they found out about all the news. But she was hiding in the middle of the day because she was an outcast. She wasn't in the girl's club. We know that this lady is spiritual in some ways. In verse 19, she talks about worship a little bit even. But here's what we do know about her. She's about to move from death to life. She's about to move and be transformed in her heart. And she knows right now that the Messiah Jesus is standing in front of her. Watch what happens, because Jesus gives this lady living water for her soul. But let me ask you this. How many of us feel like this sometimes? How many of us feel so rejected by society and others that we automatically feel like that's God's heart for us? But Jesus is about to show us that nobody is too far, nobody is too far removed, nobody is too damaged, nobody is too ashamed, nobody is past the qualifications of knowing me.

Watch what Jesus does in verse 25. The woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ is coming, and when He comes, he will explain everything to us. Here it comes. Ready? Verse 26. Then Jesus declared, I the one speaking to you, am he. I am he. Church listen, I don't know if you realize this, but this statement right here, I am He is the clearest claim that Jesus was in fact God. He was Messiah in the whole Bible. In the whole Bible. And it's the first one He makes. I want you to know this. Jesus didn't make the statement to Nicodemus in the last chapter. Jesus didn't make the statement first to the disciples. Listen to what happens. Jesus gave this poor outcast lady, this outcast from even her own culture, the honor right here of making her see him as who he is. Jesus saves people that we would never save. And here's number five Jesus promises a life of dignity, meaning, and kingdom purpose. Dignity, meaning, and kingdom purpose. Watch the transformation in this lady's life. Verse 28. It says this. Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to town and said to the people, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? Verse 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him, and many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because the woman's testimony of he told me everything I did. Do you see it? The transformation. Many in the town gave their hearts to Jesus. This radical change, this lady went from hiding in the middle of the day to leaving her village. What a moment of the broken, isolated, historically adulterous lady right here. The now has new purpose and a new heart.

Let me ask you a couple of questions this morning as we close. Do you need a new heart this morning? Do you need Jesus to intersect your life at a well moment and say, here I am, here I am? You know, the reality of this, is this lady wasn't expecting this, but when Jesus shows up, you always know it. You always know when Jesus steps into the chaos. You always know it. But my question this morning is this Is today your well moment? You might have walked into this place today fully expecting God to do nothing in you, but is something inside of you today looking at this story going, that's where I am, I need the living water? I need the living water, I need the living water. Or maybe number two, maybe you do know Jesus today. Maybe you've walked with Jesus for a long time, but there is something in your life right now that you just need Jesus to do something to give you that purpose back, to bring you from isolation and puts you back in a spot where you know what community looks like. You know what living for Jesus looks like. You know what engaging in Jesus looks like. Do you need Jesus today just to say, Hey, daughter, son, I'm with you?

Lord, today I don't know where this room is. I don't know where people are walking with you or not walking with you. But God, I do know this. We have a God that is not ethereal, that is not so out there that you don't want to sit right with us. God, this morning, this event has shown us that you will meet us right in the middle of our pain. Right in the middle of our shame. Right in the middle of our heartache. And God, you're the only one that can offer us life that flourishes. Jesus, move in people's hearts this morning. Show us that you are King and Lord and Savior, Master. And God, I just have to wonder this morning if there's people here that just need to submit their lives to you. Jesus, for the first time, for real, just need to say something like Lord Jesus, come into my heart and forgive me. Give me new life, satisfy my soul and make me yours. If that's you today, let me just tell you, this is the greatest decision that you'll ever make. It's the water that never runs dry. It's the grace that is greater than all of our sin. It's the hope this far better than any other hope that this world can offer. Do you need Jesus today? If that's you this morning, I'm just going to encourage you in just a second. As soon as we start singing and worshiping in the song this morning, then I'd love for you whatever room you're in, just to walk to the front of your room. If you're online, you can hit the next steps button and it'll walk you through this. Walk to the front of your room and look at one of the counselors and just say this, Hey, today, like the woman at the well, I need Jesus to change me. We'd love to pray with you and walk with you. Show you what it looks like to give your heart to Jesus. But maybe this morning you are a believer. You just need Jesus to refresh your soul, man take advantage of this next couple of minutes. Lord, we love you. Thank you today for loving us like the woman at the well. It's in your name. Amen. Amen.

Stand with us in worship. If you need to make a decision, I'll be right over here.

 

Follow Along with the Message

Woman at the Well

January 22, 2023

PRINCIPLE: How you see or how you perceive Jesus will everything about you.

John 4:1–3
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John — 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
John 4:4
Now he had to go through Samaria.
John 4:5–6
5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
John 4:7–9
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
5 Transforming Characteristics of Jesus

1. Jesus out of His way to reach people.

John 4:6
…Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

2. Jesus fully sympathizes with that we go through.

Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

3. Jesus is to be seen with the lost to engage them with the Gospel.

John 4:7
“Will you give me a drink?”

4. Jesus people who no one else would normally save.

John 4:10–12
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
John 4:13–16
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

PRINCIPLE: Jesus desires to reach into the depths of our soul so that He can heal us from the inside out.

John 4:17–18
17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
John 4:19–20
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
John 4:21–24
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:25–26
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you — I am He.”

5. Jesus a life of dignity, meaning, and kingdom purpose.

John 4:28–30, 39
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him…39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

Additional Notes

 

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