Transcript of a published Bible study by Rev. Roger Spaugh, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
The Text: A Woman at Jacob's Well
- He turns to John 4 and reads from verse 3: Jesus leaves Judea for Galilee, must needs go through Samaria, and comes to Sychar, to Jacob's well, where he sits wearied with his journey at the sixth hour.
- A woman of Samaria comes to draw water and Jesus asks her for a drink, though, as she says, the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
- He also reads the story's end (verse 40): the Samaritans beg Jesus to stay with them, and he abides there two days.
- The subject is announced: reaching those that seem unreachable, undesirable, or that we are not comfortable with.
- This opens a mini-series, 'Loving the Unloved or Reaching the Unreached'; the next lesson will ask, 'Who is my neighbor?'
Scriptures: John 4
The Gospel Is for Whosoever Will
- The last three lessons covered God's great plan of salvation; this gospel is for whosoever will, for everyone and anyone that desires it.
- Peter wrote that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise but longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- In Mark 16:15 Jesus commissioned his followers to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, not only to those we want, like, or call friends.
- It is not enough to be saved ourselves; believers must be willing to reach out, including those far from what we would deem Christian or even desirable.
- God is no respecter of persons and we are to be none either; the series highlights the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
Scriptures: 2 Peter 3:9; Mark 16:15
Samaria: They Feared the Lord and Served Their Own Gods
- Samaria lay between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north and contained most of the territory of the northern ten tribes of Israel, including their capital.
- After the nation split following Solomon's reign, the ten tribes were carried away in 722 BC and Gentiles were settled in their place; the Assyrian king sent a Jewish priest to teach the settlers, who had only the first five books of the Bible.
- The settlers intermarried with the Jews left in the land and came to consider themselves true Israelites, descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh.
- Their worship of Jehovah was mixed: they feared the Lord but served their own gods after the manner of the nations, though Jesus made clear no one can serve two masters.
- When Judah's captivity ended in 538 BC, conflict sharpened: Nehemiah separated the returned Jews from foreign marriages, 'Samaritan' became an insult, intermarriage was forbidden, and socializing was heavily restricted.
- About 400 BC the Samaritans built a temple on Mount Gerizim and said worship need not go to Jerusalem, cementing centuries of prejudice, hatred, and violence between the Jews and the Samaritans.
Scriptures: 2 Kings 17:33
'He Must Needs Go Through Samaria'
- Jesus was leaving Jerusalem because of what was going on with the Pharisees and returning to Galilee; most Jews would travel all the way around Samaria, about a six-day journey, rather than cross it, while the direct route took about three days.
- 'Must needs' is the language of obligation or compulsion, not simple choice — the same word 'must' as in John 3, 'Ye must be born again,' where there is no option.
- The compulsion was spiritual: Jesus had to go through Samaria regardless of social conventions, racial prejudice, or religious differences.
- To reach others, we must be led by the Spirit and also follow the Spirit, even when the urging takes us out of our way or somewhere we would not choose.
- The Great Commission says 'Go': the gospel is carried to people; Jesus did not tell them to come out of the world to hear it.
Scriptures: John 3
'Give Me to Drink': A Conversation That Broke the Rules
- Jesus sent all twelve disciples into the village to buy food and sat alone on the well; he was setting the stage for an encounter with someone he knew was coming.
- At about noon the Samaritan woman came; Jesus, wearied, thirsty, and with nothing to draw with, asked her for a drink — asking for her help.
- Social convention forbade a man to speak to a woman in public, compounded by their being alone; from his accent and clothing she knew he was a Jew, and a typical Jew would rather go thirsty than drink from a Samaritan's jug.
- She points out both barriers in her own question: how is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
- God challenges us not to be typical: no one is won with a holier-than-thou attitude, and it must never be said that the church has no dealings with sinners; the Pharisees objected that Jesus ate with sinners, and he answered that he came for those who need him.
- The woman came alone at noon, though village women usually went in groups; Sychar had its own water source, yet she walked the distance to Jacob's well — clear evidence she was a social outcast whom the other women would not be seen with.
- Jesus did not confront her with that evidence; her gender, ancestry, social status, questionable past, and beliefs made no difference to him, because everyone needs to hear the gospel.
Living Water: They Cannot Ask If They Have Not Heard
- Jesus answers that if she knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to her, 'Give me to drink,' then she would have asked of him, and he would have given her living water. The promise's only conditions are knowing who he is and asking.
- She did not know who he was, did not know what he was offering, and barely knew she needed it — and if the world does not know Jesus and that salvation is available, it will never ask for it.
- Paul brings it home in Romans 10:14: how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, believe in him of whom they have not heard, and hear without a preacher? We must share the gospel so others will hear and believe.
- The meeting was far from an accident; Jesus revealed himself in steps rather than sudden enlightenment, leading her along instead of unloading everything at once.
- Expect resistance in sharing the gospel: some believe immediately, some take months or years of sowing and watering, and some never come — 'he that winneth souls is wise,' knowing when to press on and when to back off.
- She objects that he has nothing to draw with and the well is deep — at least 75 feet, a rain-fed cistern rather than a spring — 'living water' properly means water from a spring, which this well does not have.
- She challenges him with Jacob — are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well? — a claim at the center of Samaritan religion, that they carried the pure worship of Jehovah as Jacob's descendants.
- Jesus did not take the bait: it is not our responsibility to argue doctrine with those we are reaching; we can explain and talk about the Bible, but the commission is to bring them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
- The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God — they are foolishness to him because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14); once people are saved, the Spirit leads them into truth.
- Jesus taught spiritually through natural pictures — 'ye must be born again' to Nicodemus, living water here, the sower's seed — and his contrast stands: drink of Jacob's well and thirst again; drink of his water and never thirst, a well springing up within.
Scriptures: Romans 10:14; 1 Corinthians 2:14
'Go, Call Thy Husband': Experience Is Not Enough
- Still thinking in natural terms, she asks for the water so she will not thirst or have to come to draw — many people look for an experience but not for a relationship.
- Experience alone never gets anyone to heaven: without truly repenting and expressing faith in the work of the cross, without knowing who Jesus is and what he did, the experience — even seeking the Holy Ghost — is never enough.
- At her request Jesus probes deeper: 'Go, call thy husband.' She has had five husbands, and the man she is living with is not her husband; in saying she had none, she told the truth.
- A relationship with Jesus must begin with confronting our sin; repentance is to change the mind, to turn from sin and toward God, and unless people understand their need of salvation they will never understand their need of a Savior — the subject seldom starts a conversation, but it must be addressed.
- She perceives something new — 'Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet' — an incomplete understanding that also puts her on the defensive, and she raises the old dispute: our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but you Jews say Jerusalem is the place.
- Jesus will not debate the place: the hour comes when worship is neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem; true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for God is a Spirit and seeks such to worship him.
'I That Speak unto Thee Am He'
- She tries to end the argument: she knows there is a Messiah coming, he is called Christ, and when he has come he will tell them all things — the agree-to-disagree impasse; do not give up, for we are called to plant and water, but only God can give the increase.
- Seeing her desire to end it, Jesus reveals himself: 'I that speak unto thee am he.' Knowing who he was changed the entire conversation.
- Before the cross Jesus rarely named himself the Messiah — to Pilate it was 'thou sayest,' and Peter, who discerned it, was told to tell no one — yet he tells a woman of Samaria, because if you know who it is and ask, you will receive.
- The Samaritans' theological distance actually made them readier to believe: with only the five books they held the promise of Genesis 3:15, the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head, and Deuteronomy 18, where God promised Moses a prophet like him to be raised up.
- The Jews had Isaiah, Micah, and the Psalms besides, but expected a political and military Messiah who would restore David's throne and throw off Rome, and so were not ready to receive him.
- We may never know whether a seed we plant will spring up and bloom when the time is right; our part is to do our part and keep watering.
Scriptures: Genesis 3:15; Deuteronomy 18
She Left Her Waterpot: Witnesses in Samaria
- On receiving the revelation, she left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 'Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?'
- She forgot her daily chores, the racial and doctrinal differences, her lowly standing, and the lifestyle no one would talk to her about; God does not need a theological scholar, a celebrity, or a pillar of the community — just someone excited about who he is.
- Many of the Samaritans believed because of her testimony; the men came out to the well, invited Jesus to stay — something totally unheard of — and after two days many more believed that he was the Christ, the Savior of the world.
- In his instructions to the twelve in Matthew, Jesus had said to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and not to the Samaritans, yet he himself went out of his way to show the value of Samaritan lives and the evil of the social and religious hatred between them; no prejudice dictated the limits of his ministry.
- Before the ascension (Acts 1:8) Jesus told the disciples they would receive power when the Holy Ghost came and would be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria — Samaria singled out — and to the uttermost part of the earth.
- The one society sees as least desirable may be just the one God is calling you to reach; you never know when you will meet a woman at the well who brings revival to an entire community — one woman has brought in her family, then neighbors, until there were a hundred souls.
Scriptures: Matthew (book-only, as spoken); Acts 1:8
Scripture index: John 4; 2 Peter 3:9; Mark 16:15; 2 Kings 17:33; John 3; Romans 10:14; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Genesis 3:15; Deuteronomy 18; Matthew (book-only, as spoken); Acts 1:8.
you may be seated we're going to turn to his word this morning and we're going to look to john chapter 4. very familiar story to many of us i'm going to begin reading at verse 3. i'll read a portion of it here and then we'll go back and go through the this story from the word of god john chapter 4 and verse 3 jesus leaves judea and he heads again into galilee and the bible says this and he must needs go through samaria then cometh he to the city of samaria which is a city of
samaria which is called psychar near the parcel of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph now jacob's well was there and jesus therefore being wearied with his journey sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour there cometh a woman of samaria to draw water and jesus said unto her give me to drink for his disciples were gone away into this city to buy meat then saith the woman of samaria unto him how is it that you being a jew asked of me which of a woman of samaria for the jews
have no dealings with the samaritans jumping down to the end of the story in verse 40 it says this so when the samaritans were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days i'm going to talk today about reaching those that seem unreachable reaching those that are seem undesirable or those that we're not comfortable with the last three lessons have discussed to the gospel of god's great plan of salvation the bible makes it clear that this gospel this good news this message is for whosoever will it's
for everyone anyone that desires it anyone that will want it peter wrote in ii peter 3 9 the lord is not slack concerning the promises he made as some men count slackness he's long suffering toward us and then he said he is not willing that any should perish that's not his desire but here's what he is willing that all should come to repentance and as believers we have been conv commissioned by god himself by jesus told us in mark 16 15 go into all the world and preach the gospel to those that you want to
preach it to or that you like or that a friend now he said go to everyone to every creature it's not enough to be saved ourselves but we have to be willing to reach pastor brad others we've got to be willing to reach out and that includes those who are far from what we would deem christian or that we would even deem desirable so the next couple of lessons the lessons this month are going to deal with this mini series titled loving the unloved or reaching the unreached we're examining the great love jesus has for
people whether they're overlooked whether they seem unimportant whether the scene is outcast for society even sometimes hated or marginalized by others but jesus loved those who others refuse to love and we're called to show his love without discrimination right we can't pick and choose the bible says over and over that god is no respecter of persons and we are to have no respect for a person so this series helps to highlight the command of jesus to love your neighbor as yourself and we're going to focus today on this story from john we usually call the
woman at the well in our next lesson we will seek to answer the question who is my neighbor or who should i be reaching for to set the stage samaria was a roman province a palestine located between judea where bethlehem was the southern end and and where jerusalem was the southern end of israel to the south and galilee which is up toward the north closer to syria so it was right in the middle it contained most of the territory that the northern 10 tribes of israel had during when the nation of israel was split after
the reign of solomon it contained their capital city it became the capital city of israel if you will was there and judah of course was in jerusalem we know from history and we know from the the books of the kings and chronicles that israel that 10 tribes were carried away into syria in 722 bc they were moved out of that country and they were deported and after they were deported many gentiles were settled in many other people this is what the syrians would do they would take people out of their homeland and then they would
send them somewhere else and then they'd attack another place and send the people from there to this kind of mix it all up if you will and so they had sent gentiles into samaria a lot of things went on there and so finally the assyrian king actually sent a jewish priest to educate those in samaria now or in that area in the law of the jews only they went there with only the first five books of the bible and so these new settlers were there we're learning the jewish traditions and laws the pentateuch if you
will the first five books of the bibles they were learning that but these new settlers intermarried with the jews that were left in the land they eventually considered themselves to be true israelites they were descendants of the tribes ephraim and manasseh the bible tells us at least they felt that way however like the king of israel before them and those that god had already removed from there their worship of jehovah was mixed the bible says this a very interesting verse in second kings 17 33 it said they feared the lord the word there and capital
they feared jehovah they feared him but they served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from fence so they were serving god yet at the same time they were serving other gods of course jesus made it clear he can't do that right can't serve two masters but they were attempting to do that and so when the babylonian captivity of judah the bottom two tribes when that ended in 538 bc the samaritans came into conflict with those returning jews in fact if you remember the story when nehemiah rebuilt the wall
from the jews that had moved back to jerusalem after that was all done if you read the rest of the book nehemiah has to go in there and tell them you can't be marrying all these strangers and all these gentiles from in fact he made them get divorces and separated them he said you know their children were learning languages of these other nations and he said no we are jews and he wanted to keep that that way and so to call someone a samaritan it was a great insult if you were a jew because they
looked it down on them and so so we see that there is a real animosity here because we're the right jews and the ones in samaria say no we're the people of israel we're the people of god and so they were really at odds with one another regarding laws of separation and temple worship the samaritans were treated as gentiles and of course among the jews in jerusalem intermarriage was forbidden and socializing was great really restricted you didn't hang around those people and so this um animosity continued in 400 bc the samaritans built a temple on
mount gerism in in samaria and they said you don't have to go to jerusalem to worship you can just do it here and of course this again caused a backdrop of centuries of prejudice and hatred and violence between jesus and these or between the jews and these samaritans so when we open our text today the bible tells us that jesus decided to move his base if you will or to leave jerusalem because of the the what was going on with the pharisees and he said we're going to go back to galilee so we're going to
leave jerusalem here in the south and we're going to go back on the other side of samaria to the northern part of israel back to galilee the bible tells us that and he must needs go through samaria that's an interesting way to say that we don't normally use those kind of words in in everyday language at least put them together that way but the specific word in this verse indicates a an obligation or a coercion if you will rather than just a simple choice most jews would not go through samaria if they needed to go
to galilee they would walk all the way around samaria or ride or whatever they were doing all the way around it to get to the north never go through some area you know this this is an area we just avoid at all cost and yet this emphasis on this must need is the word must it is a necessity it's something in which there is no choice it's the same word that is used in the chapter 3 of john where john where jesus is talking to nicodemus and jesus said you must be born again now we
don't look at that and say well that's an option if you don't like it you know choose it one way or no must there's no choice and so when it said jesus must go through samaria no doubt the spirit was compelling him to go through samaria the direct route was about a three day journey going through samaria the route around was about six days but it was a route that very few would do the must needs does not indicate there was no other way but that jesus was acting on a spiritual compulsion i've got to
go there regardless of social conventions the racial prejudice the religious differences i've got to go to samaria and here's what we get from that as we seek to reach others we must be led by the spirit and not only led by the spirit but we got to follow the spirit right sometimes the spirit's leading and we're not following or trying to lead and it's saying you go here and i don't know about that god don't you know i want to be a missionary but lord don't send me that country i want to go over here
send me a missionary to hawaii or something you know we kind of reach out we got to listen to the urging to go out of our way to share the gospel with others to those god directs us to jesus needed to go through samaria and like him we must go regardless of social conventions of racial prejudice or religious differences it shouldn't matter if the spirit says go go take the gospel the second word that strikes me as he said he must needs go go when the spirit directs go you ever notice the the great commission
go ye therefore into all the world preach the gospel i know we come in here and we preach the gospel and we say boy they ought to come well we've got to go he didn't say go out of the world and tell him to come so you can hear the gospel he said go so he must needs go can we do less church than to go and to reach those around us when he reaches jacob's well it's on the outskirts of cyclar it's probably a little over a quarter of a mile or a little over
a half a mile away he sent his disciples into the village to purchase food he sat down on the well i don't think it took all of the disciples to go buy food he just wanted to be left alone he knew what he was there for in some area and so he said okay there's 12 of you all you all go buy food and i'll sit here and wait they went to buy food jesus was setting the stage for his encounter with someone he knew was gonna arrive in verse six now jacob's well was there
jesus was weary he sat down about the twelfth hour or about the sixth hour or about noon time and there comes a woman of samaria to draw and jesus said unto her give me to drink when a samaritan woman came to fill her jug jesus said give me a drink and so here begins this story this interaction between this woman and jesus actually asking for her help if you will will you give me a drink this was not some artificial advice i don't think just to start a conversation although i do think that was part
of it he was hungry he was thirsty he said he was weird from the journey he had nothing to draw with and he asked for a drink now the interesting thing was social convention forbade a man to speak to a woman in public where they were that time of day you just didn't do that it was compounded by the fact that they were alone at the well it just didn't look good and so it was something you normally wouldn't do and from jesus accent no doubt from the clothing he was wearing she could tell that
he was a jew and she knew she said in verse 9 well i understand jews have no dealings with samaritans what are you asking me for you don't have any dealings with us she knew a typical jew would rather go thirsty than to drink from a samaritan's water jug not going to defile themselves or do those things however we understand jesus wasn't a typical jew was he god challenges us not to be typical in our responses to others well i know how you christians are you think you're this you think we can't be that way
if someone has a need or if someone is there or someone is there to albert we need to reach out to them and rather to look on us someone in sin with disdain we need to look for a point of contact you know no one has ever won to the lord when you come with a holier-than-thou attitude you come to him well you're just a sinner and i've been saved bless god well guess what they'll probably remain a sinner and i'm not so sure you'll be saved but better watch it right so the woman says
unto him how is it that you being a jew asked me for a drink what are you doing this just doesn't happen i'm a woman of samaria so she's pointing out both things first off you're a jew and you don't have dealings with samaria the second thing is i'm a woman and you really shouldn't even be talking to me we shouldn't be having this conversation and the jews have no dealings with samaritans the very fact that jesus asked from a drink shocked her she couldn't understand why a jew would ask a samaritan woman for a
drink i wonder how shocked those around us would be if christians would actually have a meaning conversation with them would we be willing to approach those whose lifestyle just says sin all over it yet be willing to treat them with respect are you willing to go and look and say you know what come talk to me or i want to talk to you our attitude toward others will go a long way to reaching them for jesus christ how we approach them let it never be said the church has no dealings with sinners man that's what
the pharisees said they wanted to be so right in their religiousity and make sure everything we do is exactly right and we do this and we serve god and we won't have a part of that we're not going to be unclean and go fellowship here and there and jesus came and they said well we don't like you because he eats with sinners that's who i came for i didn't come for you that aren't sick or don't think you're sick i'm coming for those that need me the church must never be said we have no dealings
with samaritan with sinners the samaritan woman came alone to the well at about noon the whole story is very unusual on sev several points first off the women of the village would usually go as a group to provide each other company to be a protection as we said women weren't allowed and men weren't allowed to speak with one another in that culture and so it would be a very lonely trip to be going by yourself they had to transport enough water for their families large clay jugs i think a gallon of water is eight pounds
just stick it in a jug and carry it back as we said this this well was about over a half mile outside of the city and so they would have to go to there it was very deep well history tells us that cycar actually had its own sore source of water yet this woman would walk more than a mile round trip to go to jacob's well the clear evidence is she was a social outcast she didn't want to be seen or another one wanted to be seen with her and like the other woman of the
village probably would have nothing to do with her notice that jesus did not confront her with that evidence instead he treated her as if her gender and her ancestry and her social status and questionable past and beliefs it made no difference to him he didn't care take this gospel to everyone doesn't matter who they are everyone needs to hear the gospel message and so she said how is it that you being a jew how is it that you come to me and jesus answered her and said and i want to point out how this verse
is written he said first if you knew the gift of god and who it is that said it to you give me to drink then you would have asked of me and i would have given the living water if you knew the gift if you knew who it was then you would have asked him he promised she known who he was she would have asked of him and he would have given her the living water his promise didn't come with any conditions except those two know who i am and then ask for this water but
not only did she not know who he was she didn't know what he was offering and it most only had a vague idea that she even needs it and here's the thing that we learned from that if the world does not know about jesus they will never ask about salvation if they don't know that it is available they will never ask for it paul brings it home to us in romans 10 14 he said how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him if they
haven't even heard and how shall they hear if there's not somebody go preach it to them they have to know who jesus is we must share the gospel with others so they will hear the gospel and believe you see this meeting between jesus and this woman it was far from an accident and every step of the way jesus is leading trying to reveal himself to her that he might meet her need of salvation now notice he did not reveal himself immediately until she was ready to receive that his revelation came in steps rather than sudden
enlightenment you know you can't go into someone that knows nothing about god and say well here's what it you've got to do this and you need to do that you need to repent you need to you need to straighten this out in your life and they'll look and say who are you you've got to lead right you got to introduce them to jesus each step of the way and in most of these steps jesus isn't with resistance from her expectation of what should have been happening you know there are very few people who respond to
the gospel message the first time you hear it you ever notice that even people that come to church and the fiery service and conviction grips their heart many times they'll leave they'll run out though whatever but they'll come back jesus said this behold i'm going to send you forth you're going to be a sheep in the midst of wolves be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves we will meet resistance in sharing the gospel but you're not told to give up trying right there are some who will believe immediately there's people say well this
is just exactly what i've been looking for i'm thankful and and immediately they they get a hold of the gospel message there are some that it may take months or even years before they come to christ you got to work and you got to keep sowing and you got to keep watering and yes there are some who will never come we understand that seed falls on good ground it falls on stony ground it falls on on by the wayside wisdom will guide us into knowing when to press on and when to say okay i need
to back off because the bible tells us this he that wineth souls is wise and so we can see in jesus example he requests for water and he was met with well wait a minute you're a jew this doesn't sound right his offers offers the living water and she looks at him and said sir you don't have anything to draw with confrontational how are you going to give me living water you don't even have a bucket you can't get there the well is deep jacob's well they say is at least 75 feet deep so it's
a shaft in the ground and they said it is 75 feet deep or more said a lot of debris in the bottom said it was probably deeper than that at one time it also said it is not fed by a natural spring but it's rain water that will seep into it so it is almost more like a a cistern she looked at him and said the well is deep and where are you going to get living water now when they use the phrase living water they usually refer to a well that had a spring in
it that would would stay full this wasn't living water it was a cistern and she said well how can you get water you don't have a bucket and this well doesn't have any living water in it anyway how are you going to do that the mention of living water as i said implies water from a spring how confused she must have been when jesus said if you had asked i'd give you something real something alive something living and she reminds him that you can't do that where do you have living water definitely not here even
if you could get it and so then she asked him okay you said you can bring living water i understand the well's deep you don't have anything to draw with it's not living water anyway and she said so who do you think you are are you greater than jacob that gave us this well he drank up in himself and his cattle and his children you're talking about living water from a spring and and this was good enough for jacob why isn't it good enough for you i think she was challenging jesus with a claim that
most jews would not have allowed to pass wait a minute was central to the religious claims of the samaritans that they were the descendants of jacob through the sons of joseph they felt they carried the pure religion of jehovah while the jews had adulterated it by their adoption of culture from babylon captivity and to the samaritans the jews you have no claim on jacob's well you have no claim on jehovah you don't have any part of this but jesus just kept on he didn't take that bait he didn't get upset with her until she understood
who jesus was he knew that she would not hear the truth so here's what we get from that it's not our responsibility to argue doctrine when you're trying to reach others we can explain we can talk about the bible but don't argue doctrine bring them to a knowledge of jesus christ you see it's easy to get bogged down arguing doctrine but our commission is to preach the gospel to proclaim the good news of jesus christ i think you will win very few people if all you want to do is argue doctrine with them i'm not
saying doctrine's not important it is of utmost importance that's why we have classes like this because we believe in doctrine and teaching of the word of god but there are certain truths here's what we must understand that cannot just be taught anywhere to anyone there is a depth that cannot merely be accepted but we have to discover and we have to be led by the spirit paul said it this way in first corinthians 2 14 the natural man is not going to receive the things of the spirit of god they don't make sense they're foolishness
to him they can't be under he cannot know them and here's why he said they are spiritually discerned so until the holy ghost is leading and guiding into all truth you can argue doctrine all day and some people are never going to get it but when they get the spirit of god in their life suddenly things are going to start opening up to him so when reaching others we need to keep our eyes on the end game right the goal is to not make a scholar out of those you're witnessing to or a theologian it's
to share the gospel in hoping they come into a relationship with jesus christ that's what it's all about once they are saved the spirit will lead them into that truth and jesus was using the same technique here with the samaritan woman as it used with nicodemus in the previous chapter jesus began with a spiritual statement but it was couched in allegorical terms with nicodemus he said you must be born again that doesn't make sense i can't crawl back in my mother's womb be born again jesus was pointing out something spiritual but talking through something natural
here jesus begins saying i have living water and she's thinking water of a well and he's thinking from a spring and he's thinking no it's a spiritual water that you don't know anything about so he explains he continues to expand on this symbolism not deliberately obscuring it but peaking her attention to paint a picture jesus is a master notice that of taking something familiar to his off audience and then turning it to spiritual matters see that farmer out there planting seed we just mentioned you know he's throwing it down some of it's going on good
ground some what's that all about well let me explain something to you good ground are people that receive the word of god that that hard ground is ground where it falls by on stony ground and it tries to grow and it gets choked out by cares of the world and some of it just goes by the wayside and it doesn't do anything the birds come and get it i understand what the farmer's doing i never put it in that perspective right so he would do that constantly and and no doubt she had a great regard
for this well that was dug thousands of years earlier but this guy is offering something else and he he turns to he doesn't stop there he said well whoever drinks of this water is gonna thirst again you drink from jacob's well you're gonna be thirsty you're gonna be back here tomorrow or the next day you're going to be drawn again but if you drink of the water that i will give you you'll never thirst but the water that i give you will be a well of water springing up not a dead cistern that you're drawing
from there's going to be something alive right he said another place out of his belly will flow rivers of living water something is going to happen that's an offer that just sounded too good right but still thinking of natural things she says sir give me this water and that way i don't have to come back i won't thirst and i'll neither come here there to draw okay if that's what you say then give it to me now here's what i want to point out we said earlier jesus said if you knew who it was that
said this to you and you asked he would give it to you well she still doesn't know who he is but she's asking many people are looking for an experience but not for a relationship give me the water but i really don't want to know all about what it takes to have that relationship with god experience alone will not get you into heaven it takes a relationship it takes knowing who jesus is and knowing him as your lord and your savior and her her goal was to get water so she wouldn't have to come back
to the well some people seek the holy ghost seek the spirit thinking the experience is all they will need to ensure salvation and while that is a necessary step without truly repenting and without expressing faith in the work of the cross without knowing who jesus is what he did for us that experience is never enough at her request he then begins notice it is at this point he begins to probe deeper into her life and he looks at her and he says okay here's what i want you you want the water here's what you got
to do go get your husband and come back he knew what he was doing she said sir um i don't have a husband yeah i know you're right you've had five already and the guy you're living with he's not your husband in that you told the truth you say relationship with jesus and this is this is the hard part sometime must always begin with confronting our sin we taught a few weeks ago about repentance right repentance is to change your mind to turn from sin and turn towards god and it's getting if you will the
carp before the horse if we re if we approach god in any other way the woman said i want this water and jesus said wait a minute you're living in adultery i want what you guys are talking about well wait a minute you're choosing to live a sinful lifestyle you haven't repented it you don't even know the power of course the cross wasn't there yet but in in our day and age you don't even know what jesus did to take care of that sin there is a time and this is the hard part in our
reaching for others that we must approach the subject of sin to do less is really to do a great injustice of those you're reaching now i will say seldom should the conversation start there you'll probably drive more people away if it does you sinner i need to talk to you about god i'm good but i've said it before unless you understand your need of salvation you'll never understand your need for a savior that's why we have to address sin and when the woman heard this statement by jesus she understood now something different about this guy
how does he know about my other five husbands how does he know i'm living with this guy right now he was no longer just some thirsty drew jew who happened to be traveling at the well and at the same time she was and she looked and said you must be a prophet brilliant right it was a incomplete understanding but it was enough to stir her thinking but it was also enough to put her on the defensive just because others start to see the truth of the gospel doesn't mean they're ready to accept it see it
takes a long time sometimes to get through old beliefs and old things that we've we've already and so she immediately said you must be a prophet and she goes on the defensive well if you're a prophet let me tell you something our father's worshipped here in this mountain we had a temple here on mount gerizim we worshiped here and you jews you say that jerusalem is the place you ought to worship that ye there is a plural word meaning she's putting jesus with all the other jews you guys think it's this way i've heard all
your own arguments before nothing you're saying is new to me you know it's easy to get caught up in debate when one is confronted with the gospel abraham isaac and jacob they all worshiped in the mountains and it wasn't until the time of david that the tabernacle went to jerusalem and so she felt justifying and saying you say that here there is the place we say here is the place jesus stopped at that point and he said you know what we're not even going to go there here's what it is in verse 21 jesus said
woman believe me the hour is coming it's not going to be in this mountain it's not going to be in jerusalem as we mentioned in the beginning of this service it's not going to be anywhere either of those that you worship the father you're worshiping what you don't understand we know what we're worshiping salvation is coming from the jews that's neither here nor there here's what matters the hour cometh it now is true worshipers are going to worship the father in spirit and in truth that's what he's seeking not jerusalem not mount gerism he speaks
seeks those that will worship him in spirit and church god is a spirit and they that worship him must worship in jerusalem no in spirit and in truth no not the conversation that got the point the woman had nothing else to argue well i've always believed it this way and this is where i was taught and this is where i'm going to worship god you say this you say that stranger had not only addressed her prejudice and not only pointed out that she was in sin she he not only talked about all that and so
she i think she was attempting to end the conversation okay okay i know there's a messiah coming he's called christ and when he's come he'll tell us all things we'll just wait till he gets here he'll straighten all this matter out sir you're saying one thing i believe something else and when the messiah comes he's going to straighten out there are times when we're witnessing that it seems we come to an impasse you ever you ever heard somebody say to you well we just have to agree to disagree you do it your way i'll do
it mine you know we'll figure it out later when that happens don't give up you see sometimes you just have to let god reveal to them what they need to know here's the thing we're called to plant and we're called to water but only god can give the increase and upon seeing her desire to end the argument jesus now is ready to reveal himself he looks at her and he said you know what i that speak to you in he that changed everything when she realized who jesus was it changed the entire conversation here she's
ready to walk away you guys believe that i believe that when messiah comes so straight now okay i'm here think about it the samaritan woman was privileged beyond most people who come in contact with jesus during his ministry before the cross jesus didn't tell anyone he was the messiah in fact when when pilate are you the messiah you the king of the jews well you said it who do men say that i am well some say you're this some said that well who do you think i am peter figures it out you're the christ don't
tell anybody but he tells a woman of samaria why because if you know who it is and you ask you'll receive although others testified and one seldom re he didn't reveal his identity as the messiah and the interesting thing about this is the very theological distance differences between the jews that to hate the samaritans made the samaritans more likely to believe they only had five books of the bible and those five books had very little about the messiah genesis 3 15 said that talked about a serpent that was or the seed of the woman that
was going to crush the serpent's head there was a promise there of a messiah and in deuteronomy 18 god through moses said i will raise up a prophet like unto moses and through him and so they saw a messiah they didn't have isaiah where he talked about unto us a child is born a son is given the samaritans didn't have that they didn't have micah that said he was going to be born in bethlehem they didn't have any of these scriptures they didn't have the psalms that talked about that they only had five books the
jews on the other hand all of this and because they were expecting the messiah to come and be a political military figure that would throw off the throne of david or restore the throne of david throw off rome they were not ready to receive but someone else was because they understood there's somebody coming and it's that revelation of the identity of jesus is what made the difference we may never know if a seed we plant in a life will spring forth and bloom when the time is right we just do our part and continue to
water and let god give the increase notice what happened verses 28 and 29 upon receiving the revelation of who jesus was he's the messiah her the first thought was i'm going to take this and tell somebody else he left the water pot he went her way into the city that half mile journey she went to the men come see a man which told me everything i ever did is this not the christ she forgot about her daily chores she forgot about the racial and doctrinal differences that separated her she's bringing a bunch of puritans out
to come talk to a jew because he's the messiah she forgot her lowly social standing she forgot the sinful lifestyle that nobody wanted to talk to her about she only knew she found something nobody else had left her water pot carried the news of this well of living water springing up her testimony was a simple one based on her experience and understanding who he was god doesn't need a theological scholar he doesn't need a celebrated recognized celebrity he doesn't meet a pillar of a community a spiritual giant to testify him all he needs is someone
that just gets excited about who he is to go out and to reach others and he went and the whole city said you know what let's come let's reach out the bible clearly states that many of the samaritans of the village believed on jesus because of her testimony the men of the village not only went out to the well to meet jesus but they also said hey why don't you stay for a couple days totally unheard of something that would never happen invited you come and stay with us you're the messiah he stayed there for
two days in which many more believed and indeed that he was he said the christ the savior of the world that one apparently random meeting with a stranger become the catalyst of salvation for an entire village jesus demonstrated by his words and his deeds he recognized the falsehood of their system of belief he understood that and in his instructions of the 12 disciples in matthew before he sent them out he specifically said go to the lost sheep of the house of israel but don't go to the samaritans but in contrast he himself went out of
his way to show the value of samaritan lives and the evil of the social and religious hatred that was there between them he would not allow any prejudices to dictate the limits of his ministry he felt compared to go to samaria to meet a samaritan woman who was even excluded by the outcast of her own societies and to sum it up it's this as ambassadors for christ we must be willing to take this gospel to everyone right before the resurrection in acts 1 and 8 not the resurrection the ascension jesus said to his disciples you're
going to receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you you shall be witnesses unto me where in jerusalem in judea the southern couple tribes and in samaria and then to the uttermost part of the earth notice he singled out samaria those society sees is the least desirable and here's what we must understand may be just the one god is calling you to reach why them god go there and here's what you need to remember you never know when you will meet a woman at the well who's going to bring revival to an entire
community i've heard people testify of that over and over see this you've seen missionaries do it home missionaries and they'll put it on the screen see that lady right there we went and worked with her since she got the holy ghost she brought in her family then she turned around she brought in four neighbors and then they brought in this and there's a hundred souls because this one lady you never know reach out stop at the well when you don't think anybody wants you there or it isn't going to work out and let god work
through you let's stand this morning reaching
Scripture references as spoken: John 4; 2 Peter 3:9; Mark 16:15; 2 Kings 17:33; John 3; Romans 10:14; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Genesis 3:15; Deuteronomy 18; Matthew (book-only, as spoken); Acts 1:8.