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John 4 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00John chapter 4 verse 1. Therefore, when
0:02the Lord knew that the Pharisees had
0:04heard that Jesus was making and
0:06baptizing more disciples [music] than
0:08John, although Jesus himself was not
0:10baptizing, but his disciples were,
0:13he left Judea and went away again into
0:16Galilee.
0:18And he had to pass through Samaria.
0:21So, he came to a city of Samaria called
0:24Sychar,
0:25near the parcel of ground that Jacob
0:28gave to his son Joseph.
0:31And Jacob's well was there.
0:33So, Jesus, [music]
0:34being wearied from his journey,
0:37was sitting thus by the well.
0:39It was about the sixth hour.
0:42This story is already fascinating
0:45>> [music]
0:45>> because
0:47one,
0:49the writer wants us to know that it's a
0:51remarkable thing that Jesus had to go
0:53[music] into Samaria. You will remember
0:55that Samaria no longer simply describes
0:58[music]
0:59one of the main areas of Israel, but
1:02instead, it describes [music]
1:05the northern region of Israel that had
1:07been conquered and all the Jewish people
1:10had been exiled and sent out of there,
1:13and foreigners had been transplanted
1:16into there with their foreign beliefs
1:19and their foreign gods, and then a
1:22handful, about 3% Jews, were added back
1:25to the mix to teach them the ways of the
1:29Jew the local Jews.
1:31And so, [music] the Samaritans were a
1:33completely different ethnicity, and they
1:36were a different faith.
1:38They were totally different. [music]
1:40They were as different from the Jews
1:42uh theologically as Mormons are from
1:45Baptists,
1:46>> [music]
1:46>> and they were as different from the Jews
1:49ethnically as Africans are from Anglos.
1:54They were [music] totally different.
1:56And it's powerful that in all of Jesus'
2:00teaching, he's hitting at the prejudice
2:03and the bigotry that lives in the Jews
2:05toward the Samaritans.
2:08And so, it's a big deal for him to go
2:10into this quasi hostile region and sit
2:14down at a well at around noon.
2:17It's also fascinating that John tells us
2:19that Jesus is weary from the journey.
2:22This is highlighting his humanity.
2:25He's not without our hurts, wants,
2:27tiredness. He sleeps in a boat, and he's
2:31tired, and he sits under the shade at a
2:33well to get a drink.
2:37And it's at Jacob's well,
2:39>> [music]
2:39>> and it's the sixth hour. There came a
2:41woman of Samaria
2:44to draw water.
2:46Jesus said to her,
2:48"Give me a drink."
2:53For his disciples had gone away into the
2:56city to buy food.
2:59Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to
3:01him, "How is it that you,
3:05being a Jew,
3:07ask me for a drink, since I am a
3:11Samaritan woman?"
3:13And then John adds this little
3:15parenthetical, "For Jews have no
3:18dealings with Samaritans."
3:22Jesus answered and said to her,
3:25"If you knew the gift of God
3:29and who it is who says to you, 'Give me
3:32a drink,' you would have asked him,
3:35and he would have given you living
3:37water."
3:39She said to him, "Sir,
3:41you have nothing to draw with, and the
3:44well is deep. Where then do you get that
3:47living water?
3:49You are not greater than our father
3:51Jacob, are you, who gave us this well
3:54and drank of it himself and his sons and
3:56his cattle?"
3:58Jesus answered and said to her,
4:01"Everyone who drinks of this water will
4:03thirst again,
4:05but whoever drinks of the water that I
4:07will give him shall never thirst, but
4:10the water that I will give him will
4:12become in him a well of water springing
4:16up
4:17to eternal life."
4:20So,
4:22he comes,
4:23the disciples are buying food, he's
4:25sitting at the well,
4:27and the woman walks up,
4:29and he doesn't say, "How is your day?"
4:32or "Hello, I'm from Judea."
4:35He makes a demand.
4:38Just like Elijah did with the widow of
4:42Zarephath, also a foreigner, not of the
4:45covenant of Israel.
4:46Elijah told the widow, "Give me
4:48something to eat." Jesus tells this
4:50woman, "Give me a drink."
4:53And the suggestion is that
4:56God invites us into the moment of his
5:03grace and his giving
5:06by asking something of us first.
5:09By asking us to give, by asking us to
5:12sacrifice, by asking us to extend
5:15ourselves toward him first.
5:19And she's not very willing.
5:21She points out that Jews don't have any
5:23dealings,
5:25and she kind of mocks him. She says,
5:27"You have nothing to draw with, and the
5:29well is deep. Where then do you get the
5:31living water?
5:34You are not greater than our father
5:35Jacob." And in when she soon as she does
5:38that, she locks it in to the theological
5:41tension. You Jews think you've got it,
5:45but we're staying faithful to old father
5:47Jacob, and he gave us this well.
5:50You're not special. We have a
5:52inheritance, too."
5:55And Jesus answered and said to her,
5:57"Everyone who drinks of this water will
5:59thirst again, but whoever drinks of the
6:01water that I will give him never
6:03thirst." Now, it's interesting that in
6:05the tense, the way I read it,
6:09what he's saying is whoever drinks and
6:11keeps drinking of the water I will give
6:14will never thirst. And you say, "Well,
6:16what does that mean? Of course, if you
6:18keep drinking, you're not going to
6:20thirst."
6:21But what he's saying is if you'll keep
6:23drinking of a water that I will give,
6:27you won't have a desire for anything but
6:30that water.
6:31Cuz what he's getting at is not how much
6:34water she pulls from the well, but
6:36desires in her life that keep changing
6:39and leading her into pain and
6:41brokenness.
6:43So, he's saying, "I do have a water
6:45source that will meet the needs of your
6:47life."
6:49And then he says, "If you'll drink of
6:51the water, the grace that I'm going to
6:53give, that water will become in you
6:58an artesian spring.
7:01You won't have to dig deep, it will
7:04spring up and flow out of you
7:08like a fountain."
7:10She's just said the well is deep, and
7:12he's just said, "My water wants to
7:14spring out of you."
7:16The woman said to him, "Sir,
7:19give me this water, so I will not be
7:21thirsty, nor come all the way here to
7:24draw." She's mocking him. She's
7:26sarcastic.
7:28This expresses how jaded she is, how
7:31reluctant to believe in grace, in a
7:34miracle, in the kindness of God. One of
7:37the most powerful lines in this whole
7:38passage is when he says, "If you knew
7:40the gift of God."
7:43If you knew what God is offering you,
7:45you would be asking.
7:49She's sarcastic. "Give me this water."
7:51So, he said to her,
7:53because he's not talking about
7:56physical water, he's talking about needs
7:58in your life. So, he he's really tapping
8:01into the water issue. He says, "Go call
8:04your husband and come here."
8:07The woman answered and said, "I have no
8:09husband."
8:12Jesus said to her,
8:14"You have correctly said, 'I have no
8:17husband,'
8:19for you have had five husbands,
8:22and the one whom you now have is not
8:24your husband.
8:25This
8:27you have said truly."
8:32He's just stating it as a matter of
8:34fact.
8:35But the multiplicity
8:38of her husbands is indicating that she's
8:41going from need to need to need. She's
8:46not being satisfied.
8:48And that's [clears throat] what he was
8:49referring to. If you'll drink of the
8:51water I give,
8:54you won't ever go after anything else,
8:57but you'll still have to keep drinking
8:59from it.
9:00It's not a one-time sip.
9:03And he says, "This you have said truly,"
9:05as if to say everything else that you've
9:07said is not true,
9:10but you're now finally being honest.
9:13The woman said to him, "Sir."
9:17Ooh, that's a different word altogether.
9:20>> [snorts]
9:23>> The literal is Lord.
9:25"Lord,
9:27I perceive that you are a prophet."
9:33God has shot past
9:36all of her shallow
9:38pretexts and pretenses and her put-offs
9:43and put-downs and ways of side-stepping
9:45the uncomfortable.
9:47And he's just showed her
9:50that she doesn't have satisfaction in
9:52her life.
9:55"Lord, I perceive that you are a
9:57prophet.
9:59But, she's still caught in her old
10:00frame, so she tries to pull it back into
10:04the your religion versus my religion
10:06talk.
10:07Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,
10:10and you people say that in Jerusalem is
10:12the place where men ought to worship.
10:14It's like, we Catholics do it like this,
10:16and you Pentecostals do it like that.
10:19Your way and my way, each to his own
10:21way. It's like, this would be a good
10:23time to back away from the well, is what
10:25she's thinking.
10:27Jesus said to her,
10:29"Woman,
10:31believe me.
10:34An hour is coming
10:37when neither in this mountain nor in
10:39Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
10:45You worship what you do not know.
10:50We worship what we know,
10:53for salvation is from the Jews.
10:58But, an hour is coming
11:00and now is
11:03when the true [snorts] worshippers
11:05will worship the Father
11:07in spirit
11:09and truth.
11:11For such people the Father seeks to be
11:15his worshippers.
11:17God is spirit, and those who worship him
11:23must worship in spirit and in truth."
11:29Wow.
11:31First, he shows her respect.
11:33She's a Gentile, but he refers to her as
11:37woman.
11:39And then he says, "An hour is coming
11:42when the Samaritan way of worshipping is
11:44going to be gone,
11:46and the Jewish way of worshipping is
11:48going to be gone. Jesus is not
11:50suggesting that there's going to be some
11:52stone temple in Jerusalem where we're
11:54all going to worship again.
11:55He said they're going to worship neither
11:57on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
12:01Then he tells her something that's very
12:03blunt. He says, "You You worship what
12:06you don't know.
12:08But, in this Jesus endorses the Jewish
12:10view of God. He said salvation belongs
12:13to the Jews because of their view of
12:16God, because they know whom they
12:18worship.
12:19Shema Yisrael, Yahweh Elohim, Yahweh
12:23Echad.
12:24The Lord is one Lord. We worship what we
12:27know.
12:29He's got a lot of problems with the
12:30Jews, but the one thing the Jews have
12:32right is they know who God is.
12:35And that the Samaritans do not have
12:37right. Their Gentile multiplicity of
12:41divinities has got them all confused.
12:45But then he says, "An hour is coming and
12:46now is when the true worshippers You
12:50know what that means? The true Jews.
12:53Because worshipper, the word worshipper
12:56is Yehudim.
12:58So, he's saying, "If you want to be a
13:00true Jew, you can be one even as a
13:04Samaritan, because the true Yehudim are
13:07going to worship the Father in spirit
13:11and in truth, not in this mountain and
13:14not in Jerusalem, but in spirit and in
13:17truth.
13:19For the Father is seeking such people to
13:23be his worshippers." And in that he's
13:25telling her,
13:27"Don't isolate yourself, because I'm
13:29here at this well seeking for you to
13:33become a true worshipper,
13:35and you can become one of them. You can
13:37be part of the true Yehudim."
13:41Then he makes this categorical
13:43statement. He says, "God is spirit. God
13:47is not a person. God is not three
13:49persons. God is spirit. And those who
13:53worship him must worship in spirit and
13:57truth."
13:58The woman said to him,
14:01"I know that Messiah is coming."
14:04Wow.
14:06What a statement.
14:08She's sensing something. She's already
14:11beginning to feel the spirit, and out of
14:14her mouth is coming a confession. "I
14:16know that Messiah is coming, he who is
14:19called Christ.
14:21When that one comes, he [snorts] will
14:24declare all things to us."
14:28She's like, "I I know it's going to
14:29happen.
14:30The Jews know it's going to happen. We
14:32know it's going to happen.
14:33But, when he comes,
14:35we'll figure all this out."
14:37It's so typical of the sectarian Jewish
14:40mindset. "Well, I know when the Lord
14:42comes, he'll explain it all to us. God
14:45bless you, brother."
14:47But, Jesus keeps drilling down to this
14:49moment right here, right now.
14:52Jesus said to her,
14:53"I who speak to you am he."
14:57He does not say that so bluntly
15:00to anyone. He says it almost that blunt
15:03in chapter 9 to the man who was born
15:04blind, but
15:06he does not confess it like that to
15:08almost anyone.
15:10But, he can just say it to her. She's a
15:12Gentile. She's not trying to fit him
15:15into some cubbyhole
15:17of preconceived notions. She's not full
15:19of offense. She actually confesses that
15:23the Messiah is coming, and he's going to
15:25explain everything, and so she can
15:28discover he's here.
15:30At this point, his disciples came,
15:33and they [clears throat] were amazed
15:36that he had been speaking with a woman.
15:39Yet, no one said,
15:41"What do you seek, car? Why do you speak
15:43with her?"
15:45So, the woman left her water pot and
15:47went into the city and said to the men,
15:52"Come,
15:53see a man
15:54who told me all the things that I have
15:57done.
15:59This is not the Messiah, is it?"
16:04She left her water pot.
16:08She left her old way of drawing
16:10nourishment and trying to meet her
16:12needs,
16:14and she went with faith and a confession
16:17that this is the Messiah.
16:19It's interesting that the when the
16:21disciples come, they are astonished.
16:24They are gobsmacked that Jesus is alone
16:28speaking to a woman, which says what the
16:30customs were,
16:32what was appropriate for the people of
16:35the Bible. It was not to be alone with a
16:37woman.
16:38But, they no one dared say, "What do you
16:40seek, car? Why do you speak with her?"
16:43They don't even mention that it's a
16:45Samaritan. It's just that it's a woman
16:47is astonishing to them.
16:50So, she goes and tells them
16:53that she found someone who told her all
16:56the things I have done.
16:59They went out of the city and were
17:01coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples
17:04were urging him saying, "Rabbi, eat."
17:08They went to the store. They bought some
17:10food. Come on, guys.
17:12But, he said to them,
17:14"I have food to eat that you do not know
17:17about."
17:18So, the disciples were saying to one
17:20another,
17:21"No one brought him anything to eat, did
17:23he?"
17:24Jesus said to them,
17:26"My food
17:28is to do the will of him who sent me and
17:31to accomplish his work.
17:34Do not say,
17:36'There are yet four months, and then
17:38comes the harvest.'
17:40Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes
17:43and look on the fields, that they are
17:45white for harvest.
17:48Already, he who reaps is receiving wages
17:53and is gathering fruit for life eternal,
17:56so that he who sows and he who reaps may
18:00rejoice together.
18:03For in this case, the saying is true,
18:05one sows and another reaps.
18:08I sent you to reap that for which you
18:11have not labored.
18:13Others have labored, and you have
18:15entered into their labor."
18:18So, in this, Jesus is telling them,
18:22"You
18:23feel cranky
18:25and peckish,
18:27and you want something to eat, and you
18:29have a good meal and you feel satisfied
18:31and happy.
18:32But, he said, 'What makes me satisfied
18:35is to do God's will.'
18:37There's a nourishment of soul.
18:40There's a repose and satisfaction that I
18:43don't get
18:45any other way
18:47than ministering to people and helping
18:49people, giving the love of Jesus,
18:51giving the love of the Father to someone
18:54like this Samaritan woman."
18:56And then he gives them this metaphor
18:57about the work of ministry.
19:00He says, "Don't say,
19:04'In four months, the harvest is going to
19:05come,' cuz that's how long it takes for
19:07wheat. You plant it, and you say, 'Well,
19:09in four months, we ought to have a big
19:12harvest of wheat.' He says, 'Don't say
19:13that,
19:14because the reaper is overtaking the
19:17sower. God is changing lives so quick
19:21that those who have barely finished
19:23sowing
19:24are going to have not even left the
19:26field before others are going to come in
19:28and start helping bring in the harvest.
19:31This is happening much faster. He says,
19:34'Lift up your eyes. Don't think about
19:36yourself. Look out a little ways. Look
19:39out beyond Galilee. Look out beyond
19:41Judea. Look over into the fields of
19:43Samaria, and already there's white
19:46fields out there. This is not a long
19:48thing. God's going to do something much
19:51faster than you might expect.
19:53From that city, many of the Samaritans
19:56believed in him because of the word of
19:57the woman who testified,
20:00"He told me all things that I have
20:01done."
20:04Now, let me ask you, why does she say he
20:06told me all things that I have done? Or
20:09as one translation, "He told me
20:11everything I've ever done."
20:14Jesus did not tell her everything she'd
20:16ever done. He told her the mechanism
20:20that ruled her life, that she didn't
20:22know how to find lasting fulfillment.
20:25So, she was hopping from one thing to
20:27the next to the next to the next and
20:29being more broken every time.
20:32And that described everything she'd ever
20:33done.
20:36So, when the Samaritans came to Jesus,
20:38they were asking him to stay with them,
20:40and he stayed there 2 days. Many more
20:42believed because of his word.
20:45And they were saying to the woman, "It
20:47is no longer because of what you said
20:49that we believe, for we have heard for
20:51ourselves and know that this one is
20:54indeed the savior of the world."
20:59I mean, this is a better confession that
21:01he has found anywhere in Judea.
21:04After the 2 days, he went forth from
21:06there into Galilee, for Jesus himself
21:09testified that a prophet has no honor in
21:13his own country. So, he goes straight
21:15from the Samaritans, where they love him
21:18and they rejoice [music] and they're
21:19converted, and then he goes back into
21:21Galilee and he says, "But I'm not going
21:24to have honor here."
21:26So, when he came to Galilee, the
21:27Galileans received him, having seen all
21:29the things that he did in Jerusalem at
21:31the feast, for they themselves also went
21:34to the feast.
21:35Therefore, he came again to Cana of
21:37Galilee, where he had made the water
21:39wine, and there was a royal official
21:41whose son was sick at Capernaum.
21:44When he heard that Jesus had come out of
21:46Judea [music] into Galilee, he went to
21:48him and was imploring him to come down
21:50and heal his son,
21:52for he was at [music] the point of
21:53death. So, Jesus said to him, "Unless
21:56you people see signs and wonders, you
21:58simply will not believe."
22:00The royal official said to him, "Sir,
22:02come down before my child dies." Jesus
22:05said to him, "Go,
22:07>> [music]
22:07>> your son lives."
22:08The man believed the word that Jesus
22:10spoke to him and started off.
22:13As he was now going down, his slaves met
22:16him saying that his son was living. So,
22:19he inquired of them the hour when he
22:21began to get better. Then they said to
22:23him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the
22:26fever left him." 1:00 in the afternoon.
22:29It's pretty specific.
22:31So, the father knew that it was at that
22:33[music] hour in which Jesus had said to
22:35him, "Your son lives."
22:38And he himself believed [music]
22:39and his whole household.
22:41This is again a second sign that Jesus
22:44performed
22:45when he had come out of Judea into
22:47Galilee.
22:48But there is a contrast. Even though it
22:50sounds like miracles are happening in
22:52Galilee
22:52>> [music]
22:52>> and we have something to be encouraged
22:54about, there were no miracles mentioned
22:56in Samaria,
22:58except the miracle
23:00of speaking the secrets of hearts,
23:02of exposing [music] the wrong kind of
23:04seeking and the wrong kind of empty
23:06satisfaction.
23:07And they were believing just by the
23:10ministry that was going to their hearts.
23:12But over in Galilee,
23:14they were more reluctant and they wanted
23:16signs, they wanted miracles.
23:18And God was using that, but it does show
23:21a reluctance on their part.
23:24Quite a story, huh?

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