A CONVERSATION WITH JESUS

JOHN 4

Sermon of the Week #200540—10-21-05

The number seven in the Bible is regarded as the perfect number. In the Fourth chapter of John, Jesus had a conversation with the woman at the well, and in that conversation the Lord said seven things to this woman. If seven is indeed the perfect number in scripture then this conversation that Jesus had with this woman was a perfect conversation.

The Apostle John said that the Lord and His Apostles were going from Judaea to Galilee and must pass through Samaria. In Samaria He came to the city of Sychar and being wearied with His journey sat thus by the well. The Apostles went away into the city to buy food, and while they were gone a Samaritan woman came to draw water at high noon and the following conversation with the seven statements took place. The first of the seven statements was, “Give Me to drink.”

GIVE ME TO DRINK

This meeting with this woman was no accident. John says that He must go through Samaria. Normally a Jew would go a day's journey around Samaria rather than go through it. The Samaritans were half-breed Jews and the purebred Jews had nothing to do with them. But in this case it is said, “He must go pass through Samaria.” The word must, was a significant word with Jesus and He often used it. He said, “He must go through Samaria. Ye must be born again. We must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Knew ye not that I must be in my Father's House. Today, I must abide at thy house.” These verses indicate that the sacrifice on the cross and resurrection was a must. Our attendance in the House of God is a must. Baptism into Christ is a must. Personal evangelism is a must. Perseverance for the individual is a must. He must needs pass through Samaria.”

The woman knew this was an unusual situation because she said, “How is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman?” Racial tension was great between Jews and Samaritans. Race is sometimes a barrier in relationships with other people. But whatever your race there is no barrier between you and Jesus. The song says, “Just as I Am, Thy love unknown has broken every barrier down.” If there is a barrier, it is you who is the barrier. In the Garden of Eden God did not put a six-foot barbed wire fence around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to keep them away from it. There was no barrier. And neither will God force you to do His will in your life. The only barrier that will keep you out of the Pearly Gates is your own stubborn will that says to God, “I won’t do it.”

Many things that seem to be accidental in our lives are not accidental at all. What we sometimes think just happened, may very well be part of the overall plan. It has been said that providence in our lives is God working in our lives anonymously. The fact that you may be listening to this broadcast at this moment could alter the course of your life. He must needs pass through Samaria.

IF THOU KNEWEST THE GIFT OF GOD

The second statement Jesus made in this conversation was when He said, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou woulds’t have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water.”

This statement of the Lord to the woman is suggestive. The Lord said, “If thou knewest, thou woulds’t have asked of Him.” That is true for many members of the human race. If they only knew some of the teaching of the scripture they would have believed. The sad thing is some of the most important doctrines of the Word of God have been withheld from the congregation and they live on in ignorance. Many a person has never heard the scriptural terms of pardon. If their preacher whom they trust would just tell them, they would obey. Many a preacher in the pulpit has avoided on purpose the terms of pardon as preached by Peter on the Day of Pentecost, and led thousands astray by telling them to bow their head and ask Jesus to come into their hearts. Jesus said, “If you knew.”

Jesus spoke to the woman about living water. The water we drink resembles the water of life. The water we drink comes down from above and so does the living water that Jesus gives. Then too, notice how there are some places where water is scarce. There are some spiritual deserts also. Then there are some places where the spiritual showers are in abundance. I know of people who have an abundance of Bibles and never drink of the water of life except on Sundays when the preacher says, “If you have your Bibles, turn to thus and such place.” Some look it up, take a sip of the water of life and make it last all week. I know of places where Bibles are scarce and people beg for them. There is a gospel song that would mean much to those who live in a spiritual desert, “Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need; Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.”

Notice how the Lord had the knack of turning every conversation around into something spiritual. He was sitting on a well and He speaks of the water of life. When He saw two fishermen casting a net into the sea, He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” When He fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, the next day He preached a sermon on the bread of life. We need to develop the same technique. Twist every conversation around into a spiritual meaning. That should not be difficult for some of you since you already have the knack of turning every conversation around into a sexual connotation.

WHOEVER DRINKS OF THIS WATER SHALL THIRST AGAIN

The third statement that Jesus made to the woman at the well was when He said, “Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”

That statement has an ominous suggestion. Everyone that drinks of this water shall thirst again. Jeremiah said that the people had forsaken the living water and made for themselves broken cisterns that would hold no water. If you thirst for money you will thirst again. One of America’s great billionaires was asked, “How much do you have to get to be satisfied?” He said, “Just a little bit more.” If you thirst for power, you will thirst for more. I asked one wife of a prominent leader why her husband continued to strive for prominence in an additional area and she said, “He wants one more thing to add to his resume.” Whatever we thirst for in this world we will continue to thirst.

One prominent movie star got out of the movies and went into politics. He was asked why and he said he was bored making movies. The very thing that most Americans would regard the pinnacle of success, the supreme achievement of life became boring to him. I had to agree with him. While I did not see his movies, if I had gone to see one, I would not have looked at the show more than fifteen minutes without being bored. I would have thought, “What in the world am I doing here looking at this stuff when I could be doing something worthwhile.”

But the ominous thing about those words regards a person who made money his god. Jesus told the story of a man who had it all. He should have been satisfied, but he died and continued to thirst. “He lifted up his eyes in Hades and being in torment called for Abraham to send Lazarus and dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am in anguish in this flame.” That is the worse thirst of all—thirsty in Hell forever for all the desires of the flesh and no outlet for satisfaction. But remember, Jesus said, “Those who drink of the water of life shall never thirst” One of the last statements in Revelation is when the Lord said, “Whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely.”

There is a reason a person will never thirst after drinking the water of life. Jesus said, “The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” That well that satisfies is not outside of the person who drinks it, but inside. Jesus said in John seven, “If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink and out of him shall flow rivers of living water.”

GO CALL THY HUSBAND

The fourth topic brought up in this conversation was, “Go, call thy husband.” She said, “I have no husband.” The woman wanted the water of life, but there was a little matter of her personal life that had to be cleared up first. Sometimes we sing that familiar gospel invitation song that says, “Just As I Am.” Without repentance and obedience, He will not accept you “Just as I Am”. Go call thy husband. We have to come to terms with the sin problem. What about that man or that woman you are living with? What about that bottle? What about that drug addiction? What about perversion? What about that pornography? Some think that Jesus died for them and that their sin had nothing to do with it. Just believe, come into the Church and drag all your sins in with you. God made you this way so enjoy and live like you always did.

Paul said, “Christ died for our sins”. In Romans He said, “What then shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we who have died to sin live any longer therein?” Jesus is still just as much alive as He ever was and we are dealing with One who can tell us all things that ever we did.

THOU HAST HAD FIVE HUSBANDS

And that brings on the fifth statement of Jesus in conversation when He told her, “Thou saidst well, I have no husband for thou has had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.”

When she returned to the City of Sychar she said, “Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did.” What this woman found out about Jesus is something that we all need to realize. Jesus is a person, who as John says, “…knows what is in man”. The Lord is just as much alive now as He was then and on that day when we have a personal encounter with Him, when we leave this world we are dealing with One who can tell us all things that ever we did. He can tell you all things that ever you thought. Nothing is hidden from His penetrating gaze. He sees us as we are. There is no hiding place down here or there. He is the One whose eyes are as a flame of fire.

WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

The sixth item that Jesus brought up to the woman at the well was in regards to worship. Jesus told the woman at the well that the Father is a Spirit. He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. It is impossible to worship God in spirit without the truth. Remember, the Lord said, “You must worship in spirit and in truth.” You must have the truth or the spirit you feel is not the Holy Spirit. It may be the spirit of enthusiasm, or the spirit of excitement and nothing more. John tells us that Jesus is full grace and truth. Jesus has grace and He will give us grace, but the grace must be combined with truth. There is no promise that the grace of God will reach us without obedience to the truth. God's grace is not cheap. The Lord also reminded the woman that sometimes we put the wrong emphasis on the place of worship, “Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father.” Some evidently think the great commission was to go into all the world and build buildings. For the first two hundred and fifty years the Church did not own a building. Look what happened to Solomon's Temple; the Babylonians tore it down. Look what happened to the second Temple; the Romans tore it down. Jesus said, “Not one stone would be left on another.” All other buildings will have the same fate. The Schoolhouse, the White House, the Hen house and the Church house all have the same fate. Not one stone will be left on another. The only building that will last is the real building that Peter told us about, “We are living stones, built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

And now the seventh statement Jesus made to the woman at the well in this perfect conversation was, “I that speak unto thee am He.”

I THAT SPEAK UNTO THEE AM HE

Jesus made the confession of Himself, “I that speak unto thee am He.” That statement is loaded with spiritual meaning. He said, “I that speak unto thee am He.” Who is it that speaks unto us through the pages of the New Testament? It is the Messiah who speaks. In some Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in red. Those red words are like a red flag, for those who are on the road to Hell. But remember, He told the Apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit unto them after He ascended back to Heaven and the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance all things that Jesus had said unto them. If red letters make the words of the New Testament any more authoritative, then the words of the Apostles should be printed in red also. They are all words of Jesus. At any place in the New Testament, any word you read is the word of Jesus. Every word of the New Testament, red or black, is the word of the Messiah, “I that speak unto thee am He.”

About forty writers wrote the Bible over a period of fifteen hundred years. Many of the writers lived at a different time, some in different centuries and many never knew each other. Yet they all wrote on the same theme. They told how Jesus was coming, or told how he did come, or told how He is coming again. I that speak unto thee am He.

At this juncture the conversation was ended because the Apostles returned with the bread they had gone to buy. The woman then went back to the city to tell the good news. She forgot the water pot because of her great desire to tell everybody about the coming of the Messiah; the man she described as the man who could tell her everything she had ever done. Now this in conclusion.

CONCLUSION

The people of Samaria came out to meet Jesus and they also believed that He was the Messiah. They besought Him to abide with them and He stayed two days. Many others believed and then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of thy teaching, but because we have seen for ourselves and know for ourselves that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.”

The concluding insight on the evangelistic zeal of the Son of God was what He said to the Apostles when He saw the Samaritans coming from Sychar, “Ye say there are yet four months and then cometh the harvest, behold but I say unto you lift up your eyes that they are already white unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal. Herein is the true saying, ‘One soweth and another reapeth.’ I sent you to reap that whereon ye did not sow; others have labored, and ye have entered into their labor.”

Knowles Shaw a Church of Christ evangelist of the late nineteenth century led thousands to Christ. He wrote a gospel song based on this event, “Sowing in the morning; Sowing seeds of kindness; Sowing in the noon-time and the dewy eve; Waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping; We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves.”

Through this broadcast we continue to send out the message to all the Churches of Christ and Christian Churches, “Stop playing church; forget dressing like you are going to a picnic unless it is the best you have; show the same respect for the Lord that you show on Monday for the public in business; forget the donuts, the coffee, the balloons, the games you play, the entertainment, and lift up your eyes upon the fields that they are already white unto harvest.” He that soweth and he that reapeth gathereth fruit unto life eternal.