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Living Water
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John 4:1-26
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Transcript
Mirages of Fulfillment: Thirst and Spiritual Pursuits
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Several years ago, researchers studied survival situations, those people who were dropped out in the middle of the desert trying to survive. They found something fascinating that the more consumed somebody was by thirst, the more they began to imagine seeing water.
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They would see a mirage just on the other side of the next hill. They failed to realize the difference between that mirage and actual water because you see one merely looks to satisfy when the other actually gives real life.
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I thought about that this week as we jump into John chapter four. This same exact thing can happen spiritually in your life and in my life. We find ourselves chasing relationships.
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We chase success. hobbies, money, pleasure, recognition, comfort, and even religion.
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Hoping that one of these things will somehow satisfy that ache that's inside of us. Yet that satisfaction never lasts.
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That excitement fades. That accomplishment loses its shine. I thought about that this morning as I turned on the news and saw that the New York Knicks won.
The Samaritan Woman: A Quest for Satisfaction
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I should just end the sermon right there. What a sad day. they interviewed this young fellow and he just said, this is my life's dream to win.
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And I thought to myself, he's at the pinnacle of what he's wanted to do. And in two weeks from now, that ex excitement will fade.
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I'm reminded this week that we live in a culture overflowing, if I can put it that way, overflowing with options. That isn't the problem. The problem is we live in a culture that is starving for fulfillment.
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John chapter four of brothers and sisters today introduces us to a woman who knows exactly what this feels like. She spent years searching for satisfaction in all the wrong places.
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And if I knew that Kenny Rogers song, I would sing the lyrics right now, looking for love. Is it Kenny Rogers? In all the wrong places. This lady on an ordinary day, going to an ordinary well, performing an ordinary task,
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has an extraordinary encounter with the Messiah, who knows everything about her and loves her in spite of herself.
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What Jesus offered this woman is the very thing he offers you and I today.
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I've been excited for John chapter 4 for about a month and a half. Somebody asked me a couple weeks ago, ah my good friend, ah Brother Ken, Ken Ansell that I have coffee with on Mondays.
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He said, how far out are you on your sermon prep? This is what pastors do, right? Are you are you preparing for the next Sunday? I said, no, believe it or not, I'm about four and a half months out right now, which is fantastic for me, y'all.
00:03:34
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I just feel every week I feel less stressed because I've already prepped. I just have to review. But when I knew so this Sunday was chapter four, I'm going to just tell you what, I'm so excited because even if you've only had a cursory understanding, if I can put it that way, a surface level understanding of this story, it's just fantastic.
00:03:54
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But my hope this morning is to oh reveal something to you that maybe you haven't seen before, to let you know what's happening underneath that surface level meaning, to give you some context to this story that will hopefully open your eyes to what the Lord would have for you in real tangible application today.
Jesus's Journey Through Samaria: Purposeful Encounters
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I'm excited for it. Let's begin chapter four, verse one. The story picks up saying, Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John.
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Though Jesus himself did not baptize them, his disciples did. And so he loved Judea and he returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way.
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Let's pause there. Right off the bat, Context. Context, context, context. Jesus, we're told, is in this group that are baptizing, and he realizes I have to get out of Judea and I have to go to Galilee.
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It says that he has to leave there and go through Samaria. Now, if you don't understand your geography or what's happening here, and let me fill in this story just a little bit.
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Verse 4 says that he had to pass through Samaria. This word, had to. is from the Greek word day, D-E-I, meaning it's more than just a geographical convenience.
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This is indeed the shortest route from Judea to Galilee is that you would have to go through Samaria.
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But this doesn't mean geographical convenience. This means its divine necessity. Jesus has to go through Galilee because there's a purpose that God wants him to accomplish.
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There's somebody he has to meet. It's this woman at the well. The interesting thing, if you read this story you didn't understand the geography or what's going on, you probably would just gloss right over this.
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But if you were a Jewish person back in Jesus' time, you would do everything in your possibility to not go through Samaria. You'd go out and away from Samaria. Because you have to understand the backstory on what's going on with the Jewish people and the Samaritans, right?
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The Jews despised the Samaritans because you'll remember back in 722, the Assyrians came in and they and and they invaded the Jews, right? and They took them over. And when an enemy beats you, the best way they can defeat you is first militarily and then they breed you out.
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This is what's happened in in Assyria. They took over the Jewish people and then they started intermingling and intermarrying and those offspring are the Samaritans. Half Jew, half Assyrian, half breed.
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The Jews lovingly called the Samaritans dogs. Don't you love that? Impure ethnically, impure religiously, they were seen as corrupt.
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The Jewish people would do everything in their possibility to go around Samaria, but we're told here Jesus does just the opposite. He intentionally walks. right into the place that other people avoided.
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He intentionally broke cultural norms. He intentionally left the 99 to find the one.
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All because there was somebody he intended to meet. He had this divine appointment. Brothers and sisters, this upcoming week here at Vacation Bible School, we've got at least 100 divine appointments waiting for you and I.
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So if you're taking notes in your notes section there today, the first thing I want you to write down is this. Jesus seeks out the lost. And he often uses you and I in that process.
Breaking Barriers: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman's Dialogue
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The gospel never merely about people finding God. Often that's a misconception. lot of people who are non-believers will tell you, I'm seeking God, or I'm in the process of my journey of seeking out God, and it couldn't be further from the truth.
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God is the one who pursues us. As fallen man, we want nothing to do with God. Matter of fact, we're in full rebellion to God.
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We're enemies of God. It's he who searches us up. From Genesis to Revelation, God is the one who seeks. He sought Adam in the garden. He sought Moses in the wilderness.
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He sought short little Zacchaeus in the tree.
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And here he seeks this Samaritan woman at a well.
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I'll put just as a note to myself of application, which by the way, we're going to apply as we go today.
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If God is sovereign, meaning if he is over everything and everything is under his purview, there are no coincidences. There are no accidents. If that is the truth, have you ever considered that perhaps you're here today Because God wanted you here today.
00:09:11
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That he's pursuing you right now. That he's drawing you back here this morning. That he cleared off that pew just for you to sit in it. Which by the way if you're visiting let me just tell you you may very well be sitting in somebody else's pew right now.
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Perhaps this morning is your divine appointment.
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Let's continue on. Boy I love this story. Verse 5. Look with me.
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Eventually, he came to the Samaritan village Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.
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Let's keep going. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to please give me a drink. And he was alone at that time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. And the woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans.
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And she said to Jesus, you are a Jew and I am Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink? Let's pause there.
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Once again, context. Just details galore. If you're reading this, some notes I put to myself, some observations I put. Why Jacob? Why as well? Maybe I should investigate that.
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That's what I put in my notes. Why noon? Why does the author find it so important to to mention it's noontime?
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Did you notice it says Jesus is tired?
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Interesting, right? It's hot outside. And oftentimes we think Jesus is the Son of Man, God. Brothers sisters, he's also human, and he's tired, and it's hot outside, and he's just walked a long way.
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It says he's tired, and he's sitting here, and it's noon. Why are all these details included? What's the author doing giving us all this information? they They're clues to tell us what's going on in the story.
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John specifically says that this woman is going to come here to the well at about the sixth hour, which is noon time. It's the hottest part of the day.
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Women at this time, in Jesus' time, would call each other on their cell phone.
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Loretta would call Vicki. Vicki would call Becky. Becky would call Aaron. Hey, it's 8 a.m., m it's cool outside, let's get to our buckets and let's go get some water.
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Ladies would congregate together for fellowship and to share the load and for protection. They would all go to get water together at the early time of the day when it's still cool out.
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All of this being told, we now have the understanding John's saying something's going on at noon. It's the hottest part of the day. What in the world is this lady doing out here by this well all by herself?
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It hints at some type of social isolation, all these clues, all these red flags should be going off in your head, and then the unthinkable happens. Jesus says to her, give me a drink.
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right the The simplest of requests, it's hot outside, Jesus is no doubt tired, he is no doubt thirsty, can you please give me a drink? And in that single sentence, he shatters cultural expectations.
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A Jewish man would never talk to a woman, even a Jewish woman, if she was all by herself.
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Not to say Samaritan woman. Not to say a Samaritan woman all by herself at the well at noon.
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Chuck Swindoll had a note when he preached this, and I wrote it in my Bible when he when he did this exact same exposition at Dallas Seminary. He said, Jesus would never have been caught dead with this lady in an elevator all by himself.
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And yet he's here on a divine appointment at noon at the hottest part of the day with the Samaritan woman. And then Swindoll says, scandalous.
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And the Samaritan woman knew it. She knew the significance because she says, how is it that you being a Jew are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? The author is telling us something here in just this first couple of clues here. He's giving us all these barriers, cultural barriers.
00:13:48
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It's a racial barrier. He's Jewish, she's Samaritan. There's a religious barrier. There's a gender barrier. All these barriers, but yet Jesus puts all that aside because he wants to speak to this woman.
00:14:07
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Not as a problem, not as some project he's trying to solve, but as a person created in the image of God.
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He doesn't care about cultural expectations. Matter of fact, I think Jesus took some pleasure in breaking these norms.
Living Water: Spiritual vs. Earthly Fulfillment
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Friday, and I were up at the church. It was hot outside. Stick with me. This might be a long example here. It was hot outside. I'm not saying that she and I were looking for a well to drink some water, but it was hot. we had I had shorts and a t-shirt on.
00:14:42
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And when it's hot outside and we're dragging stuff in for vacation Bible school, we're getting ready because BBS decoration was decoration time was that night. Everybody was coming from all these different churches. And I'll be completely honest with you. Those of you who've seen me at the gym from time to time, I'll have my hair in a ponytail in the gym because it's hot and I don't want my hair falling in my face.
00:15:01
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And I wish Jared still had his hair cut like me. He would relate to this story. but Bear with me. I really didn't remember that I had my hair in a ponytail, but I came up here that night and there's everybody else's there, all these people from different churches and we're all doing decorations. And this gentleman, and he will rename nameless, from a different church, just shook his head at me.
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And I first thought he was joking and he said, no pastor should ever have his hair in a ponytail. And y'all, he was serious. And I thought to myself for a second, gain your composure,
00:15:37
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Put your pastoral face on. And the fastest, most witty thing I could think to say to this gentleman was, well, you're not my demographic. I'm not looking to win you over.
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Because I have a whole church that looks like you. Seriously, y'all. Just look around. We all look the same. Here. And I say that with a loving pastoral heart.
00:16:03
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Jesus ate and drank with sinners.
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He could care less if they had ponytails or tattoos or if they ate bacon.
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And it drove the religious elite crazy.
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Because Jesus didn't fit their cultural expectation of who the Messiah would be. Just like this gentleman somehow thought I didn't fit his cultural expectation of what a pastor's hair should look like.
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And I know some of you are shaking your head right now going, I wish he'd cut his hair.
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Two things came about from that example that night. It reminded me, Jesus is probably looking down on us and just shaking his head sometimes, thinking, boy, are they missing it.
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And second, people often avoid maybe the very people Christ is seeking.
00:17:03
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The gospel crosses every dividing barrier that somehow humanity decides to create. it's my expectation that us at this church, we reach out to people who don't look like us, who don't talk like us, who don't dress like us, because those are the very people Christ is seeking.
00:17:24
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And we might just have a divine appointment this upcoming week at Vacation Bible School with people who don't look like us, who don't drive cars like we drive, but who are seeking who need Christ.
00:17:39
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A remarkable thing about this exchange here is a Samaritan woman is not simply that Jesus sought her out at a well in her most lonely time, but he offers her something that's mind-blowing.
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He knew her deepest need Ever before she ever admits it. let Let's look here. Keep going. Verse 10 with me. Jesus says, if you only knew the gift that God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water.
00:18:15
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But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket, which I just love. right Very practical here this late And she said, and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well?
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How could you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoy? But Jesus replied, anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.
00:18:51
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Please, sir, the woman said, give me this water, then I'll never be thirsty again. And if we just paused right there, you would think, yes, she gets it. But you've got to finish the rest of that sentence. And then she says, I won't have to come here to get water again. Brothers and sisters, she's still thinking in the physical.
00:19:07
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Can you give me some water? Jesus is like, I'm not talking physical here, I'm talking spiritual. you only knew, Jesus says, the gift of
00:19:19
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I will give you living water, right? This word living water has kind of a double meaning. It refers to fresh flowing water from a spring. Jesus using this imagery to say, what I give you is from the Holy Spirit, is something eternal life.
00:19:35
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It will transform you. You won't have to come here to see me to have this everlasting life. Notice the promise Jesus gives. Whoever drinks of this water, meaning the water he gives, will never thirst forever.
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Again, literally translating, will certainly never thirst again.
00:20:00
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He promises that the deepest thirst of the human soul will find its ultimate satisfaction in him. So the second note I want you to write down is Jesus quenches our deepest thirst. Jesus quenches our deepest thirst.
00:20:14
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Every human being is created with this God-shaped longing in their heart. And nothing we can try to fit in there will permanently satisfy the way the Creator can satisfy us.
00:20:31
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Augustine famously wrote this. He said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you, our Savior. So i put this week as an application for us. What am I expecting to satisfy that will never satisfy?
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What in my life am expecting to satisfy that will never carry that type of weight in my life? Because what we end up doing, brothers and sisters, is we stack all these temporary things that we think are gonna satisfy us, and we're expecting eternal results from that, and it just will never happen.
00:21:11
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Nicodemus in chapter 3, you'll remember Nicodemus came to Jesus in the middle of the night, remember, and he asked the same question, why do I have to be born again? It's the same contrast. If you want to do some homework this week, this is what I would suggest you do. Look back at John chapter 3.
00:21:27
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Look at the story of Nicodemus. Look at how he's contrasted with this woman at the well. It's beautifully written in just this way. I'll give you just a few hints.
00:21:39
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He was a Jew, she's a Samaritan.
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He was a religious leader, she is not. He was moral, she is immoral.
00:21:52
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He was seeking, she's pretty indifferent in this story. In spite of all these differences between Nicodemus and this lady at the well, both both of these people need Jesus.
00:22:05
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Both of these people need to be born again.
00:22:09
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I've put, just as a note to myself, as reading this past week, how patient Jesus is with this lady. We're going see this exchange that goes back and forth between him and her.
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And i thought to myself, isn't this the pattern of we see all throughout the gospel? Jesus is so patient with people.
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He meets them right where they're at, and he kind gradually leads them along as they spiritually mature.
Uncovering True Needs: From Idols to Transformation
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And I'm reminded that these people that we're going to meet this week at Vacation Bible School, many of them will not know the Lord.
00:22:40
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Matter of fact, many of them will be in opposition to the Lord. And they may have doubts, and they may have questions, and they may have some off-the-wall comments. My prayer is that I want you to be encouraged to have spiritual conversations with these people, but but be patient with them.
00:22:56
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to take understanding. It's going to take patience. But Jesus will meet them exactly where they're at. And he'll meet you exactly where you're at to have those type of conversations. Now look, probably the best two verses in this entire section, verse 16 and on.
00:23:17
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By the way, verse 16 is in in red if you have your red letter Bible. Jesus tells her, go and get your husband. To which she says, I don't have husband. Jesus said, you're right you don't have a husband, for you've had five husbands.
00:23:32
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you aren't even married to the man that you're living with now. You've certainly spoken the truth.
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Go and call your husband, right? This sudden shift in conversation. Jesus, give me this water that you've promised me.
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Hold on, go get your husband for me.
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I want you to know what Jesus is doing here, but also what he's not doing here. He's not shaming her for having five husbands, nor is he shaming her for living with a guy currently who's not her husband.
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What he is doing is he's uncovering the place where she's seeking fulfillment.
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She's finding it all the wrong places. She's finding it in relationships.
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It's misplaced worship. It's misplaced affection. And she's been drawing from broken wills. And Jesus, Jesus is cutting to the point, but he's doing it in a loving way.
00:24:38
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He's not like, woman, go get me your husbands. Go show me your husbands. That's not what Jesus is doing. He's like, hey, tell me about the situation at home. that's That's the demeanor here.
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Tell me what's going on at at your house.
00:24:53
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John does this progression, and if you're somebody wants to write down ah some more homework this week, look at verse 7 through 15 of this chapter. And look at verse 16 through 25. Both of these are paralleled together. That's 7 through 15 and 16 through 25. John is intentional here. he's He's showing this progression.
00:25:15
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There's water, then there's thirst. There's a relationship, then there's worship. And at the end of both of these is the Messiah, the only one who can satisfy.
00:25:26
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He moves from this, John moves from this picture of service level, actual water to this ultimate reality that you need this living water within you. And he's telling this lady, you've got to leave behind those useless temporary idols, those useless temporary relations, and you need to start putting your trust in the one who can provide an ultimate reality, an ultimate place where you can you can rightly put those affections.
00:25:58
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Let's put a note, Jesus still does this to you and I today. He still shakes us from depending on idols. put Perhaps you've lost a job recently.
00:26:10
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By the way, if if Jesus is sovereign, he has caused that to happen, or he has allowed that to happen. Perhaps you have made that job an idol, that you found some recognition in that.
00:26:26
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Perhaps he's exposed something that you've now elevated above him in your life. And he's going to take that and he's going to shake that from you. He's not going to leave those idols unchallenged in your life because he loves you too much.
00:26:40
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He wants to expose that which we trust other than him so that he can replace it with something better.
00:26:48
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Jesus saying, you seek some physical water, but woman, I have something much better for you.
00:26:55
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Obviously, this point of the story, this lady realizes Jesus is just not some guy. He's just not some Jewish guy at the well. She knows he's he's a prophet. Look look on verse 19. Sir, you must be a prophet.
00:27:08
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Now, love this. he he He simply tells her before this, go get your husband. I'm going expose what you're really
Revelation and Worship: Jesus as Messiah
00:27:15
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desiring. And she says, hold on a second, verse 20. Let me insert this other little diversion.
00:27:23
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Tell me the Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim where our answers ancestors worshiped. Jesus replied, Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
00:27:42
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You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship while we Jews know all about it for salvation comes for the Jews. But the time is coming, indeed it is here now, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
00:27:57
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The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way, meaning in spirit and truth. For God is spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
00:28:08
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Verse 25, the woman said, I know the Messiah is coming, the one who is called to Christ, and when He comes, He will explain everything to us. To which Jesus says, ba-ba-ba-ba.
00:28:20
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I am. Ego a me in the Greek. I am the Messiah. The same way God exposed to Moses when Moses asked him in Exodus 3, 14, what are we supposed to call you?
00:28:36
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God says, ego a me. I am who I am. right Jesus is saying this exact same thing to this lady. The interesting thing to me in this, brothers sisters, is He doesn't choose some king to announce that he's the Messiah.
00:28:50
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He doesn't go to the Sadducees or the Pharisees and say, hey, I'm the Messiah. He comes to a Samaritan woman at the well, and he says, i am he.
00:29:02
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I am this one that you are searching out for.
00:29:07
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time For centuries, the Jews and Samaritans always argued about where proper worship was. What location is it supposed to be? Jesus says, that's unimportant. Stop focusing on the ponytail.
00:29:19
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It's not important.
00:29:22
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Stop focusing on the t-shirt, the jeans, the shoes. It's not important. What's important is that you come and you worship authentically in spirit and in truth.
00:29:38
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She's trying to shift the the conversation away from herself. i don't i don't I feel uncomfortable. Don't expose me about my husband. Let's focus on this whole worship location thing.
00:29:52
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Jesus says, all that stuff is nonsense. What matters is that you come and worship me authentically.
00:29:59
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In spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? If you're taking notes, that's a good thing to write down. That's what I wrote down again. Remind them about authentic worship in spirit and in truth.
00:30:12
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Spirit means that you worship that which comes from the inner person, empowered by the Holy Spirit, rather than something merely external. It's like saying, hey, I can't wait to come to church on Sunday to worship.
00:30:27
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And then you come to Sunday and you just sit here. And you don't sing. You don't give. You don't listen to God's word. You come and you're like, where's the donuts?
00:30:41
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Where's the coffee?
00:30:43
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We joke, but the question I wrote to myself is do we come Sunday expecting to deliver, because that's what our job is, to deliver authentic worship, to rightly exalt God's name?
00:30:57
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Or do we merely just show up to attend? Or do we even know the difference? Because one is a mirage and the other is actually life-giving.
00:31:11
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Jesus crosses racial, religious, and gender barriers to reveal that he is the Messiah to the most unlikely of individuals in this story. Brothers and sisters, we're gonna have 50 to 100 unlikely characters here this next week.
00:31:28
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Five to fifth grade. Five to fifth grade. Who don't look like us, but the gospel message is for those folks.
00:31:40
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the unlikely people who don't dress like us, who don't talk like us, who don't look like us, but they're broken, they're lost, they're doubters, and they're outcasts.
00:31:51
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We need to be reminded that grace often arrives in the most unexpected place, and no one, and I mean no one, is outside of Christ's reach.
00:32:03
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What if we took that perspective this week as we met these kids and these parents when they showed to VBS? What if we had our come and see t-shirts on? Kim's like, no, there's some VBS t-shirts. to go Don't get them off track.
00:32:21
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What if that's what they saw when they looked at First Baptist Church? Man, they saw Christ. They saw patience. They saw grace. They saw mercy. They saw an excitement to share the gospel with kids who don't know Jesus yet.
00:32:40
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Alright, application this week.
00:32:44
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Put to myself and for you, identify one well that you regularly run to for temporary satisfaction other than Christ. Write that down.
00:32:58
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And every morning this week, meaning beginning tomorrow morning, this whole week of EBS, what I suggest is you wake up and the first thing you do when you get out your Bible, turn to John 4, look at verse 13 through 14, those two verses,
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And pray this, Jesus, help me to seek satisfaction in you and only you.
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I don't want to seek it anywhere else.
00:33:22
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That simple daily habit for this next week will start beginning to redirect your affections back towards Jesus.
00:33:36
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Perhaps you're here today and you spent years away in the church.
00:33:42
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Drawing on wells that never satisfy. Success that has never satisfied you. Relationships that have never satisfied you. Religion that has hurt you and is not satisfying you.
00:33:54
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And you find yourself here this morning and you're still thirsty. As Judy plays, and I stand down front, Jesus is inviting you today.
00:34:05
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Whoever drinks of the water that I give will never thirst again.