Please open up your Bibles this morning to the book of John, and we will be in chapter 4 this morning.
We're going to read the story of the woman of Samaria.
So it's going to be John chapter 4, verse 1, all the way through verse 42.
If you would, follow with me as I read.
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John,
although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples,
he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
And he had to pass through Samaria.
So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.
It was about the sixth hour.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
Give me a drink.
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?
For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered her,
If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink,
you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.
The woman said to him,
Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.
Where do you get that living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob?
He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.
Jesus said to her,
Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.
The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
The woman said to him,
Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
Go, call your husband and come here.
The woman answered him,
I have no husband.
Jesus said to her,
You are right in saying,
I have no husband.
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you now have is not your husband.
What you have said is true.
The woman said to him,
Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped on this mountain,
but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.
Jesus said to her,
Woman, believe me,
the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know.
We worship what we know.
For salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming and is now here
when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.
God is spirit.
And those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
The woman said to Him,
I know that Messiah is coming,
He who is called Christ.
When He comes, He will tell us all things.
Jesus said to her,
I who speak to you am He.
Just then His disciples came back.
They marveled that He was talking with a woman,
but no one said,
What do you seek?
Or why are you talking with her?
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.
Can this be the Christ?
They went out of the town and were coming to Him.
Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Him, saying,
Rabbi, eat.
But He said to them,
I have food to eat that you do not know about.
So the disciples said to one another,
Has anyone brought Him something to eat?
Jesus said to them,
My food is to do the will of Him who sent me,
and to accomplish His work.
Do you not say,
There are yet four months,
then comes the harvest?
Look, I tell you,
Lift up your eyes and see
that the fields are white for harvest.
Already the one who reaps is receiving wages
and gathering fruit for eternal life,
so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
For here the saying holds true,
One sows and another reaps.
I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.
Others have labored,
and you have entered into their labor.
Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him
because of the woman's testimony.
He told me all that I ever did.
So when the Samaritans came to Him,
they asked Him to stay with them,
and He stayed there two days.
And many more believed because of His word.
They said to the woman,
It is no longer because of what you said that we believe,
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
This is God's word.
Let's bow once more.
Lord, what a beautiful story.
Powerful.
We pray now that you would open our eyes and ears to understand it,
and to respond to it as you would desire us to.
We pray in Christ's name.
Amen.
There are two crucial questions that everyone in the world ought to know the answer to.
Who is Jesus?
And what did He come into the world to do?
Who is Jesus?
And what did He come to do?
Last week, we closed out chapter 3 with four ways that Jesus Christ is distinct from every other individual on the planet,
every other man, every other religious figure.
So we saw that Christ alone is distinct in His supremacy.
He is distinct in sight and speech.
He is distinct in His measure of the Spirit.
He is distinct in His sonship.
And all of this together, we saw that it tells us that this man, Jesus, is not another teacher.
He is the Son of God in the flesh.
As we see what we just read in the story with the Samaritan woman this morning,
Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
So last week, we saw very clearly who Jesus is.
This morning, as we see this incredible encounter with the Messiah and this woman from Samaria,
the sinful, rejected woman, we see why Jesus has come.
Why Jesus has come.
See, Jesus Christ is a man on a mission.
He has come with purpose.
Jesus Christ came to magnify the glory of God.
This was His primary mission in coming to earth as the Messiah.
His mission is our mission.
So we're going to see this in five ways this morning.
Five reasons the Messiah has come.
This will be our outline this morning if you're taking notes.
Five reasons the Messiah has come.
First, Jesus Christ has come submitting to the plan of God.
Jesus has come submitting to the plan of God.
Look there to verse 1, chapter 4.
It says,
When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that He was making and baptizing more disciples than John,
although Jesus Himself did not baptize but only His disciples,
He didn't stick around.
He wasn't chasing after their approval or popularity or their influence.
He didn't stick around.
He was on a mission.
Verse 3 says,
He left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
And what does it say?
It says,
He had to pass through Samaria.
Now this phrase is very, very interesting.
He had to pass through Samaria.
Why?
Of course, this was geographically the quickest route.
I use maps on my phone anytime I want to go anywhere.
I can't get anywhere without it.
And always I click the quickest route available.
I want to get there as soon as possible.
Well, geographically, the quickest route from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north
was a straight path that took you right through Samaria in the middle.
And some took that path, the direct route.
But you didn't have to.
In fact, many Jews did not go the quickest route.
If you were a strict Jew, they put into their maps the setting,
Avoid All Samaritans.
So they would go from the south.
And instead of going straight up through Samaria,
they would go around, cross over the Jordan River,
avoid Samaria entirely,
and take the long route up to Galilee.
But it says here Jesus had to pass through Samaria.
Why?
Well, this was not a matter of geographic necessity.
It was a matter of divine necessity.
Providential necessity.
This same word here is the same thing John said just a few verses earlier last week.
He must increase.
I must decrease.
It's the same word that Jesus used when he told Nicodemus,
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
It must happen.
It is necessary.
John chapter 20, verse 9, it says,
As of yet, the disciples did not understand the Scriptures,
that the Son of Man, that he must rise from the dead.
In other words, God had a plan,
and Jesus, being the perfect, obedient Son,
gladly submits to the plan.
He had to pass through Samaria,
because God in his wisdom had ordained that Jesus go,
so that he might grow weary,
sit down at a well,
be thirsty,
so that a woman might come at just the right time in the day,
just the right time in her life,
so that this providential conversation might happen,
might take place,
so that through this conversation,
this woman might be changed,
so that through her transformation,
she might bear witness in Samaria,
so that so many in Samaria might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
See, there are no accidents in God's plan of redemption.
There are no coincidences in God's plan of redemption.
Every detail down to every step that Jesus took was all part of the plan,
and it delighted Jesus to fulfill it perfectly.
This is what he says down in verse 32 to his disciples, isn't it?
Look there.
He says to his disciples,
I have food to eat that you don't know about.
What was his food?
What sustained Jesus?
What gave him nourishment?
What kept him going?
What was his primary concern?
It's not physical sustenance,
but the sustaining,
strengthening food of obedience to the will of God.
My food is to do the will of him who sent me,
and to accomplish his work.
I have heard legend,
maybe you have too,
of some people being so focused on their job,
on a task at hand,
that they just work right through lunch.
I don't know anything about that myself,
but some people I've heard,
they don't even think about stopping to eat food.
Why?
Because they're so zeroed in on the task at hand.
They're so focused,
so motivated.
That task is what's sustaining them.
Well, for Jesus,
this was all the time.
Of course,
he got hungry.
He ate.
Of course,
he got thirsty.
He drank.
He slept.
He had physical need,
but what kept him going,
was obedience to the plan of God the Father.
This is what he craved.
This is what he hungered and thirsted for.
I just want an ounce of that zeal,
that hunger for obedience,
don't you?
Well,
what was that work that Christ was committed to do?
It was to come,
to live,
and to die,
and to rise for sinners.
This is our second point this morning.
Second,
Jesus has come seeking and saving the lost.
Verse 5 says,
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob's well was there,
so Jesus,
wearied as he was from his journey,
was sitting beside the well.
It was about the sixth hour,
which is 12 in the afternoon.
This is the hottest part of the day,
and Jesus,
fully God,
yet fully man,
in a picture of his full humanity,
he was tired.
He was worn out.
He had just traveled a long journey.
He was weak.
12 o'clock was not a time when most people were coming out to the well.
Most of the time,
the women,
they would come early in the morning,
before the sun got too high,
before it got too hot.
Most of the time,
they came out in groups,
rarely alone.
But here in God's providence,
again,
Jesus just so happens to sit down at the well,
to be waiting there,
when a woman from Samaria came,
to drink water.
Jesus said to her,
give me a drink,
for his disciples,
they had gone off into the city,
to buy some food.
Now,
I wish I could have been there,
to see the look on this woman's face.
And look how she responds.
In verse 9,
it says,
the Samaritan woman said to him,
how is it that you,
a Jew,
would ask me for a drink of water?
A woman,
of Samaria.
She was shocked,
because she had three things working against her,
here,
socially,
in this situation.
Three things.
For one,
she was a woman.
Culturally,
this put her in a lower social class than Jesus.
A male,
it would not be normal for him to approach her in this way.
But not only that,
second,
she was a Samaritan woman.
A Samaritan woman.
The Jews hated the Samaritans.
This hatred,
it goes back all the way to the divided kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament.
The southern kingdom had Jerusalem as their capital.
The northern kingdom took Samaria as their capital.
Well,
in 722,
the Assyrians,
they overtook the northern kingdom.
They took most of the Jews out.
They filled the city up with a bunch of pagans.
And what happened was that these two groups eventually began to mix.
They mixed their religious practices.
They intermarried.
They had children.
And those people eventually became the Samaritans.
These people were hated by the Jews.
They weren't really well received by the Gentiles either.
They were just generally despised.
The Jews,
they saw the Samaritans as dirty.
Half-breeds.
They saw them as perpetually,
constantly unclean.
This is why she says Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Why?
Because they wouldn't even share a dish for fear
that touching an object
might make them unclean.
But not just this.
Third,
she was deeply,
deeply sinful.
And she knew it.
Here she is,
coming to the well alone
at the hottest part of the day.
Why?
Five husbands.
One she's living with
is not her husband.
She had been ostracized
from her own community.
She carried her shame
and her guilt
everywhere she went.
She was hated by Jews,
hated by Gentiles,
hated by Samaritans.
And in her mind,
I'm sure she's thinking,
if this man only knew who I was,
he wouldn't be caught dead
with me here,
asking me
for a drink of water.
But here was Jesus
reaching out to her,
initiating to her,
asking her to take on the role
of one of his disciples,
asking her to serve him
with her own water pot.
Not afraid of her uncleanness,
not ashamed,
not bothered by her social status,
not afraid of her sexual history.
Why would he do this?
Because this is exactly
why he's come.
Jesus did not come
to seek out the very best,
the most impressive,
the most self-righteous,
the most religious.
Jesus came to seek
and to save the lost.
I heard a story this week
about a man named Joshua
who moved to Hollywood
to become an actor.
He had aspirations
to become an actor,
but he had a hard time
finding reliable work
and he had to pay the bills.
And so through a series
of terrible decisions,
he wound up entering
into the adult acting industry
for the sake of the children
in the room.
And he was very successful.
He made a lot of money.
He won awards,
but according to his testimony,
he will tell you
all of his success.
It only served
to illuminate his brokenness
because at the end of the day,
none of it satisfied him.
And so in God's providence,
he quit.
And in God's providence,
he met a girl
that he was interested in dating.
And so he asked her out
and he took the risky step
of explaining to her
and telling her
all about his history.
Here's what happened.
She began to share
the gospel with him.
She wasn't afraid
of his sinfulness,
wasn't afraid
of his history.
She saw a providential
opportunity of God
to share the love of Christ.
She took him to church.
He heard the gospel
clearly explained
and he gave his life to Christ.
The Lord saved him.
They wound up getting married
and now he serves
as a pastor in Iowa
and giving his life
to spread the good news
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Don't tell me
that anyone you know
is hopeless.
Too far gone
for the grace of God.
The gospel is the power of God
for salvation
to any who believe.
Any who believe.
And Jesus Christ
did not come
to seek out
the most impressive,
put together people
of the world
and praise God.
Right?
Praise God.
We are not Christians
because we have it all together.
We are Christians
because by the grace of God,
Christ Jesus came
to seek
and to save
the lost.
There is no one,
no matter how sinful,
no matter how far gone,
who can out-sin
the grace of God.
God.
I think that,
in fact,
this is why John,
the author,
pairs together
this story
of the Samaritan woman
right next to the story
of Nicodemus,
don't you?
You think about
the contrast here.
You could not imagine
two more different people
than Nicodemus
and this woman
from Samaria.
Nicodemus was
a Jewish man,
well-educated,
well-respected,
well-liked,
intelligent,
a teacher of Israel,
a member of the Sanhedrin,
a child of Abraham,
and here is this
Samaritan woman,
we don't even know her name.
Sinful,
hated,
sexually immoral,
ostracized,
rejected,
unworthy.
Here's the lesson.
I want you to get this.
If Nicodemus
can't earn
eternal life
despite his knowledge,
despite his heritage,
then no one can.
But if this Samaritan woman
can receive
eternal life
despite her sinfulness,
despite her brokenness,
despite her past,
anyone can,
church.
This is why
Christ has come
to seek out the lost
and third,
to satisfy
the thirsty soul.
Christ has come
to satisfy
the thirsty
soul.
Jesus answered her,
verse 10,
if you knew the gift of God
and who it is
that's saying to you,
give me a drink,
then you would have asked him
and he would have given you
living water.
If you knew who I was
and if you knew
what I came to do,
you would ask me
and I would give you
living water.
Well, she and Nicodemus
did have one thing
in common,
didn't they?
They both responded
to Jesus
with physical understanding.
Look what she says.
She says,
Sir, you have nothing
to draw water with
and this well is deep.
Where do you get
that living water?
Are you greater
than Jacob?
He gave us this well.
He drank from it.
His sons drank from it.
In fact,
it had been there
for over a thousand years.
But Jesus pressed in further.
He said to her,
For everyone who drinks
of this water
will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks
of the water
that I will give him
will never be thirsty again.
The water that I will give him
will become in him
a spring of water
welling up
to eternal life.
What is he saying here?
Well, Jesus,
as he often does,
he's making a spiritual lesson
out of a physical example.
Water satisfies.
Water gives life.
You know what it's like
to be thirsty
at a hard day's work
out in the sun.
Your face is dripping sweat.
You're exhausted.
And you come inside
and you get a cold glass of water.
What does that do for you?
It satisfies.
It gives you life.
But Jesus says here,
even the best water
will run out.
And even,
no matter how much
you drink of it,
you will be thirsty again.
He's making a spiritual application
here for this woman
and for us.
So often throughout
the scriptures,
water, thirst, dryness,
hunger, drought, famine,
they are interconnected.
They point us.
They're indicators.
They represent spiritual lack.
Spiritual thirst,
spiritual hunger,
spiritual drought,
spiritual dryness.
Here is this woman
who has tried
and tried
to satisfy herself
with sexual pleasure.
Six men and counting.
But Jesus says,
you will be thirsty again.
Why?
Because your soul
was made
to be satisfied
in God.
Not these trifles.
We often think
that more money
will satisfy us,
more health,
a healthier body,
more me time
will satisfy us.
Maybe like this woman,
we think more sexual satisfaction
will satisfy us.
but we will be thirsty again.
Nothing can satisfy
the desires of our soul
except that for which
we were made
to delight ourselves
in the living water
that Jesus Christ alone
can offer.
What is this water?
Well,
it's the soul-satisfying gift
of the Holy Spirit.
The soul-satisfying gift
of the Holy Spirit.
John chapter 7,
you don't have to turn there now,
mark this down
for later.
In John chapter 7,
Jesus stood up
at the feast of booths
and he cried out,
if anyone thirsts,
let him come to me
and drink.
Whoever believes in me
as the scriptures
has said,
out of his heart
will flow rivers
of living water.
Does that sound familiar?
Now he said this
about the Spirit
whom those who believed in him
were to receive.
The Holy Spirit
is like water
in the lives
of believers.
We need to understand
the ministry
of the Holy Spirit,
don't we?
The Holy Spirit
is not some mystical,
magical,
mysterious force
that just makes us emotional
and does cool tricks
and impresses us.
The primary work
of the Holy Spirit
in the lives
of believers
is to give us life
by satisfying
our soul
in Christ.
Let's say that again.
I want you to get it.
The primary work
of the Holy Spirit
in the lives
of believers
is to satisfy
our soul
in Christ
and in so doing
to give us
life.
Eternal
life.
This is the ministry
of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
is working in us
to magnify
the greatness
of Jesus Christ.
He's working in us
to cause us
to see His goodness
more clearly,
to cause sin
to taste bitter,
and to cause Christ
to taste sweet
to our souls.
Sweeter
and sweeter
and sweeter,
welling up
to eternal life
when we enter in
to the fullness
of joy
in the presence
of God.
And Jesus,
here,
He promises
that Spirit
to any
who believes
in Him.
Any
who would come
to Him
in faith.
This is why
He has
come.
Are you thirsty?
I know
that even
in a room
this size
there are
some here
who are thirsty
or spiritually
dry
this morning.
I know
that maybe
some of you
even know
that you
are seeking
satisfaction
other places
besides the
fount of
living waters.
Well,
He says
to the Samaritan
woman and to
us this morning,
church,
if you are
tired of
coming again
and again
to the same
streams of water
that promise
satisfaction
yet never
deliver,
simply come
to Christ
and ask
and He
will give
you exactly
what you
need.
He came
to satisfy
the thirsty
soul.
Why?
In order
that we
might delight
to worship
Him.
This is the
fourth reason
He has come.
Fourth,
Jesus has
come securing
true
worship.
Securing
true
worship.
The Samaritan
woman,
she's no
fool.
She tries
to throw
Jesus off
her trail,
doesn't she?
And change
the subject
away from
her own
personal
history and
instead to
the most
hotly debated
theological
topic that
she could
think of,
which is
the question
of worship.
See,
the split
between the
two kingdoms
of Israel,
it resulted
in a split
of religious
history and
religious practice.
So the
Samaritans,
again,
in the north,
they only
accepted the
first five
books of
the Bible.
They rejected
anything else.
Essentially,
they rejected
anything that
mentioned
Jerusalem at
all.
And they
established
their own
temple.
Instead of
the temple
in Jerusalem,
they established
their own
place of
worship on
Mount
Gezerim.
And as
you can
imagine,
this was a
major point
of tension
between these
two people
groups.
And she
would rather
talk about
that than
anything to
do with
her own
personal
history.
And so
she says
in verse
19,
Sir,
I perceive
that you
are a
prophet.
Our
fathers
worshipped
on this
mountain.
But you
say that
Jerusalem
is the
place where
people ought
to worship.
So,
which is
it?
But look
at what
Jesus says,
verse 21.
Jesus said
to her,
Woman,
believe me,
the hour
is coming
when neither
on this
mountain nor
in Jerusalem
will you
worship the
Father.
You worship
what you do
not know.
We worship
what we know
for salvation
is from the
Jews.
But the hour
is coming
and is
now here
when the
true
worshippers
will worship
the Father
in spirit
and in truth
for the
Father is
seeking such
people to
worship Him.
Jesus
doesn't
take the
bait.
He doesn't
engage in
this theological
discussion
of this
mountain
or that
mountain,
this tradition
or that
tradition.
Instead,
He says,
I have
come to
bring something
entirely
different.
I have
come to
usher in
the age
of true
worship
for the
glory
of God.
That time
is coming
and is
now
here.
a time
when
worship
will no
longer
be
connected
to a
specific
place
but rather
to a
person.
See,
there is
no
Christian
Mecca.
We know
Muslims,
millions and
millions of
Muslims make
their pilgrimage
every year
in July
to perform
the Hajj
in Mecca.
The Koran,
it commands
it that every
capable adult,
every healthy
Muslim who is
financially and
physically capable,
they must
travel to
Mecca to
perform the
Hajj at
least once
in their
lifetime because
to them,
this place,
this physical
location is
holy,
this time of
year is
holy,
this physical
area is
holy,
but Christianity
has no
holy place.
Some of you,
I know,
have traveled
to Israel
and gone to
see some
of the very
places that
we're reading
about here
in Scripture.
I hope to
go someday
myself.
I think that
that would
be fascinating,
but not
to get
closer to
God.
Church,
we live
in an
incredible
time.
We live
in the
age of
the church,
the age
of physically
unbound,
unrestricted
worship.
We live
in the age
of the
Holy Spirit.
And the
Spirit of
God is
what makes
God-honoring
worship
possible,
not a
place.
And that
Spirit,
because of
what Christ
has come
to do,
does not
dwell in
any one
place.
Church,
He dwells
in us.
If the
Spirit of
Christ is
in us,
then there
is no
place on
earth that
we can
go to
be closer
to God
than where
you are
right now,
here,
in
Allendall,
South Carolina,
wherever you
might be
tomorrow,
if the
Spirit is
in you,
He is
what makes
true worship
possible.
We live
in the
age of
Spirit-empowered,
God-glorifying
worship for
the entire
world.
Just think
about how
this magnifies
God's glory.
How this
magnifies
His glory.
The Holy
Spirit,
He exponentially
increases the
glory and the
honor that is
given to God.
True worship
is no longer
limited to
one geographic
region of the
world or
another.
It's no longer
limited to one
particular people
group or
another.
It's no longer
mediated by one
class of people.
Christ has
come that
God's glory
might be
known and
exalted by
anyone,
anywhere,
in any
place,
from Allendall
to Kenya,
to Jordan,
to the
uttermost
ends of
the earth,
so long
as they
worship in
Spirit and
in truth.
Two very
important qualifiers
He gives us,
aren't they?
For true
worship in
Spirit and
in truth.
True
worshipers must
worship in
Spirit and
in truth.
He says,
God is
Spirit and
those who
worship Him
must worship
in Spirit
and in
truth.
And one of
the most
American
individualistic
lies that we
tend to
believe is
that we can
worship however
we see fit.
Whatever
makes us
feel good,
whatever our
preferences are,
whatever moves
me, as long as
it moves me,
then that's
what I can
do.
That is
simply not
true.
We must
worship in
Spirit and
in truth.
In Spirit,
that is
internal,
not external,
not a matter
of religious
practice,
not a matter
of external
behavior,
but a matter
of your
inner spirit,
yourself,
your inner
self.
You all know
how easy it
is to worship
externally only,
but nothing
you do on
the outside
can honor
the Lord
if your
spirit is
not engaged
in worship.
Charles Spurgeon,
the great
preacher,
he once said,
God does
not regard
our voices,
he hears
our hearts,
and if our
hearts do
not sing,
we have not
sung at all.
We want to
worship,
we want our
hearts to
sing,
not just
our lips,
but doesn't
it matter
who we
sing to?
Doesn't it
matter what
we sing
about,
what we
proclaim
about the
God that
we worship?
Of course
it does,
which is
why we
must also
worship
in truth.
How could
we worship
a God
that we
know nothing
about?
Any
worship
that would
please God,
it must
spring out
of the
truth of
what he
has revealed
in his
perfect
word?
The
true
worship,
it requires
true
knowledge
about the
truth of
God.
It is
truth that
cannot be
learned any
other way
than by the
word of
God.
We must
worship
according to
his
word.
How then
will the
nations hear
the truth?
How then
will the
unreached
peoples of
India and
Afghanistan,
even those
here in
Allendal and
Mount Pleasant
and our
community,
how will
they know
the truth
of God's
word that
they too
might worship
him?
Church,
they must
hear it
from us.
They must
hear it
from us.
Fifth,
and finally,
Jesus Christ
has come
sending
his
disciples
to sow
and to
reap.
Jesus has
come sending
his
disciples to
sow
and to
reap.
One of the
most amazing
truths of
the gospel
is that we
who have
believed it
now get to
experience the
joy of
spreading it.
This message
of life and
hope and
satisfaction is
spread by the
lips of his
disciples.
We are
commissioned as
disciples of
Christ to
go and to
follow the
example of
our master.
Have you
noticed over
the past
several weeks
how we have
seen Jesus
go from
Jerusalem
now to
Judea and
now to
Samaria and
in the coming
weeks to
the Gentiles?
Does that
sound familiar
to you?
In that
same way he
has sent
his disciples
you will
receive power
when the
Holy Spirit
has come
upon you
and you
will be my
witnesses in
Jerusalem and
Judea and
Samaria and
to the ends
of the earth.
You see that
call the
missions of
Christ it was
not just for
these disciples
but for any
and all who
would claim to
be disciples of
Christ we
too must go
and share
the message
of salvation
in the name
of Jesus.
Two things
convinced this
woman of who
Jesus was.
Do you see
it?
For one it
was the
clear testimony
of Christ.
Look there to
verse 25.
This woman
clearly was
impressed even
curious about
who Jesus
might be.
We see in
verse 25 she
said to him
I know
that Messiah
is coming
he who is
called Christ
and when he
comes he
will tell us
all things
and here Jesus
does what he
rarely does.
He speaks
clearly and
directly to
this woman and
reveals in no
uncertain terms
who he is.
And I
who speak
to you
am he.
But you
know something
else added
to that
testimony.
Do you see
it?
Look there
to verse 27.
It says
just then his
disciples came
back.
They marveled
that he was
talking with a
woman although
they didn't
know the half
of it.
Right?
They didn't
know the half
of what was
going on.
But no one
said what do
you seek or
why are you
talking with
her?
No one
doubted the
integrity of
his master.
No one
questioned his
motives.
No one
criticized this
woman.
Maybe for the
first time in
her life.
No one
cast shame
upon her.
And it
was this
two-fold
testimony.
The words
of Christ
and the
trusting
obedience
of the
disciples
that had
her convinced.
She left
her water
jar, went
back into
the town,
back into
the crowd
of people
she once
avoided,
back into
the place
of her
shame,
and she
proclaimed
to any
and all
who would
listen,
come see
a man
who told
me all
that I
ever did.
Can this
be the
Christ?
You know,
so often
we think
that we
need more
training to
be an
effective
evangelist.
We're
intimidated by
the task of
evangelism.
We don't
think we
know enough.
I hope
that the
Samaritan
woman can
convince you
that that
is simply
not true.
We just
need to
be convinced
of the
message
and moved
by the
harvest.
The message
is simple.
The Messiah
has come.
Come.
Come see.
Come hear
his word.
Come drink
the waters
of everlasting
joy and
life.
We don't
need to be
experts.
We just
need to be
faithful.
Like the
woman from
Samaria.
She didn't
stick around
to learn
much more,
did she?
Right away.
She didn't
go to
seminary.
She didn't
read a
book.
She didn't
ask for
more knowledge.
Right away
she moved
to proclaim
the message
of the
gospel.
And as
the woman
left on
her way,
Jesus took
this opportunity
to teach
the disciples
a lesson.
He says,
Do you not
say there
are yet
four months
and then
comes the
harvest?
Look,
I tell you,
lift up your
eyes and
see that the
fields are
white.
for harvest.
Already the
one who
reaps is
receiving wages
and gathering
fruit for
eternal life
so that
sower and
reaper may
rejoice together.
For here the
saying holds
true,
one sows and
another reaps.
I sent you
to reap that
for which you
did not
labor.
Others have
labored and
you have
entered in
to their
labor.
Jesus is
telling the
disciples and
us that he
has come to
usher in the
age of the
harvest.
So many
have come
before us
to prepare
the way for
this time.
Prophets,
martyrs,
apostles,
sowing seed,
scattering seed,
but now in
the coming of
Christ, the
age of
reaping has
begun.
The age of
the harvest
has begun and
the harvest is
plentiful.
Church, we
have the
incredible
privilege of
being used
by God to
bring in the
harvest of
those who
would become
his disciples.
If only we
would go and
share the
news of the
gospel.
There are
men and
women all
around us
every day
who are
thirsty for
what only
Christ Jesus
can provide.
Do you
realize that
God has
appointed men
and women
to eternal
life all
around us?
If only we
would go and
open our
mouths and
proclaim the
message of
the gospel
that they
might hear
and believe
and become
his disciples.
The harvest
is plentiful,
but the
laborers are
few.
Church,
the mission
of Christ
is our
mission.
We follow
in his
footsteps.
He has
come submitting
to the
plan of
God,
so we
go submitting
to God's
plan for
the salvation
of those
in our
household,
for the
salvation of
those in
our community,
that we,
the church,
would go and
call them to
come and see
the man who
told me all I
ever did.
Come and see
the Messiah.
Come and see
the man who
has lived and
died and risen
for my salvation.
Christ has
come seeking
the lost,
so we go,
not caring
about physical
appearance,
external social
status,
sinfulness,
but scattering
the seed
faithfully and
broadly and
trusting the
Lord to bring
the growth.
Christ has
come satisfying
the thirsty
soul,
and so we
go proclaiming
that we have
tasted and
seen that the
Lord is good.
Come to the
waters.
Come and drink.
Come find
satisfaction for
your soul,
the soul that
was satisfied,
that was created
to be satisfied
in Christ.
He came
zealous to
restore worship
for the glory
of God.
So church,
we must go
with this one
ultimate mission
to magnify the
glory of God
in the gospel
of Jesus
Christ.
This was his
mission,
so church,
it must be
ours.
Here at the
close of this
story,
we see a
glimpse of
the harvest.
John says
in verse 29,
many Samaritans
from that town
believed in him
because of the
woman's testimony.
He told me all
that I ever did.
So when the
Samaritans came
to him,
they asked him
to stay with
them,
and he stayed
there two days,
and many more
believed because
of his word.
They said to
the woman,
it is no longer
because of what
you said that we
believe,
for we have
heard for
ourselves,
and we know
that this is
indeed the
Savior of the
world.
This is what we
long to see,
church.
This is what we
long to see.
Who will you
share this with?
who will you
bring this
message to?
Who around
you is thirsty
for living
water?
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank
you for this
promise of
eternal
satisfaction,
eternal life.
It's a free
gift that you
alone have
purchased that
we can only
find in you,
and Lord,
our souls were
made to delight
in you.
We pray,
God, that as
we consider what
you've done,
as we consider
the work of
Christ, that it
wouldn't be
information only,
that it would
move us out
of these doors
to spread the
message of the
gospel to any
who would hear.
And we pray,
Lord, that you
would bring death
to life through
the faithful witness
of this congregation.
We pray in
Christ's name.
Amen.