[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Our progress continues today in John 3, and we are at the place after after Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus, and discussing how God so loved the world. John chapter 3, verse 22: “After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison)” (ESV).

       After Jesus’ conversation wherein Nicodemus sought him out, to ask the all-important question, after that, he and his disciples venture into the wilderness. For the first time, they are seen to be practicing water baptism, just like John the Baptist had been doing in all the preceding period. In fact, we can bring to mind that John had even water baptized Jesus. Now, as it stands, John’s ministry is starting to fade away, and Jesus’ ministry is on the rise. Yet, at this particular juncture, they are both baptizing. Remember John’s baptism shows the need to be cleansed from sin. That’s what the water baptism represented. And was Jesus’ baptism at this juncture the same idea as John’s, or is this more of a beginning form of the New Testament water baptism that we see in The Book of Acts with the early church? Discernibly, it appears that Jesus’ water baptism has the concept the view of the Messiah saving individuals from their sins. Thus, it is in the vein of the New Testament thought. John’s baptism was to “prepare” people for Jesus’ appearing on the scene. This second form of baptism is in view of the fact that Jesus is already on the earth.

       Verse 25: “Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

       John and Jesus are in two different areas. Up and to this point, John’s ministry is still working itself out. Later it is to be fizzled out, but hadn’t by this time, at least, completely. So perhaps this Jewish fellow who approached John’s disciples was relaying to them that they should fold shop, that the Messiah was on the other side of the lake. Maybe there was concern on the part of John’s disciples regarding their ministry, and concerning their minister, John, having such a strong competitor as Jesus. However, John understands what is the plan already, and he puts them in their place. An explanation is put forth. The first detail is that Jesus has come from Heaven, though, he doesn’t come out and directly say that. The second point is that he never said he was the Christ in the first place, but simply his forerunner. The third factor is that the bride, which represents the Jewish people, need to locate the ‘real’ groom, who is Jesus. He says he’s simply a ‘friend’ of this ‘bridegroom.’ The fourth point is that he was happy the bridegroom has now appeared and that his work has truly been accomplished. The fifth fact is that his ministry is about to go out of business, and fizzle down, while the bridegroom’s is on its way up.

       Verse 31: “He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (ESV).

       This section of the text, again, is like last week beginning in John 3:16, where theologians differ on who is believed to actually be speaking. These remarks may still be conversation from John the Baptist, or perhaps it is the commentary of the Apostle John again. That’s going to have to be left up for you, the listener, to decide.

       Nevertheless, we observe that the One coming to the earth, the One appeared on the scene, he is noted as above all. In essence, he is God himself. And being God, his words are different. This contrasts with the next sentence, which notes that people who are of earthly origin speak from that perspective. Since they aren’t like God, they don’t compare as pertains to insight and understanding into spiritual matters. Our words, even as Christian followers, are limited compared to God’s words. It says that Jesus, “bears witness to what he has seen and heard.” A presumption could be made that the Father is speaking with the Son in verbal conversation wherein he learns things during his private prayer time. Or, it could be thought that the Son has divine knowledge of this from his pre-incarnate condition as God the Son. That is, he remembered things before he actually descended to the earth. Either option is plausible. Regardless, to these divine insights persons do choose to freely believe, and become Jesus’ disciples. The text says that a person “sets his seal” to these words, and thereby agrees that God is the True God. That phrase, “sets his seal” is the image of the old practice of stamping a seal with a signet ring. It parallels with a signature for us. To sign the dotted-line as it is often said is what they did, and it’s what we do when we believe. This is why salvation is irrevocable. Once that dotted-line is signed, that’s it. Salvation is guaranteed, and cannot be taken away from us.

       The text has afore to mentioned some happenings set in place for the future. The first of that is that Jesus “gives the Spirit without measure.” “[G]ives the Spirit without measure.” From our perspective, we know that no disciple is going to be indwelled by the Spirit of God until Pentecost, during the early first church, after Jesus’ ascension to Heaven. It’s unnecessary at this stage, as Jesus will say later in John, because he is currently on the earth. When he departs, then it will become necessary for the disciples, which even today includes us. The text also says, secondly, that “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand” (ESV). Once more, we understand this hasn’t happened yet at this point in time. Jesus will say this later, as recorded in Matthew for instance, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18, ESV). This doesn’t happen until his death and resurrection from death. That’s when true authority is gained. Third, we note that everyone who believes in Jesus is given the gift of eternal life in the future. Really, this ‘eternal’ life is also had beginning currently, since it begins in the ‘now.’ Though, it also pertains to the future as that’s when that vast majority of it will be experienced. In the last sentence, it is noted how to distinguish a person who actually doesn’t have eternal life, and that’s through disobedience. With the true Christian, there is always obedience to God’s Word, a following after Jesus, in what pleases him.

       Let’s take into account the last phrase regarding disobedience, wherein it says, “the wrath of God remains on him” (ESV). Laid out for us is the truth that there is no other way to be saved in the spiritual world. If one wants to be saved from God’s wrath, the One True God’s wrath, from Hell, the only possible way for that to happen, again, is through believing on God the Son. Dependence on his sacrifice for sins and resurrection from the dead, which at this point, hadn’t happened yet. For us today, that is where it stands still yet. Other ways, even if they produce good emotions, even if they seemingly produce some good fruit, the other ways fall short in dealing with the sin-problem. They do not provide the ultimate victory of being re-united perfectly with the true God, both in the here and now, and later in the world to come.

       Continuing on. John chapter 4, verse 1: “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” (ESV).

The reasoning behind Jesus’ decision to leave the area where his disciples were baptizing that was close to John the Baptist, is because he was concerned about the Pharisees coming and giving him problems. It wasn’t fear that drove Jesus away, but rather staying wouldn’t have been conducive to what God wanted to accomplish through him with his preaching and teaching. If Jesus had gotten arrested this early on, look at how much wouldn’t have gotten recorded. Short Gospel accounts, like epistles, would have shined forth. So the decision is made to move away from the area. Possible also was the factor of competitive energies arising between Jesus’ disciples and John’s disciples, since God hadn’t completely ended John’s ministry yet. We all know how competitive, at least, Jesus’ disciples could get at times, unfortunately, just as churches can get today.

       Verse 4: “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.”

       Reasoning is lacking behind why the Apostle John states, “he had to pass through Samaria.” Theologians will note that there were a couple other roadways he could have taken that did not go through Samaria. Perhaps some type of issue blocking those roadways, like road construction, as we would call it, or something of that nature? John simply doesn’t record it for us. Knowledge is present that this roadway through Samaria was the fastest route to Galilee, the final destination. Jesus and his disciples stop in Sychar, and in this town is basically a monument that was known as Jacob’s well. It would have been a national site, such as we have today, for our idea of national monuments and the such is nothing new. Maybe they are more formal and better tended to, but it’s nothing new. In all of this we get to see the human side of Jesus, when it says he was “wearied… from his journey.” For some reason, that’s hard for the mind to imagine, Jesus wearied. Not sure what it is, but as we know he’s God it just seems like he would possess unlimited strength or something like that. However, God the Son had come in human flesh, and so he experienced the same kind of situations and tiredness that all of us face. Our minds can often forget that fact. That’s why he is able to know what we are feeling, and his care for us is a real care, as he’s been there and done that a lot of times.

       Verse 7: “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” (ESV).

       A unique scene unfolds, wherein as Jesus is sitting there by himself, a Samaritan woman approaches the well to fetch some water. Fetching water for the household no doubt. The way of things before running water. The conversation is striking as apparently Jewish people had the practice of setting themselves higher up on the social ladder in comparison with the Samaritans. We can recall that the Samaritans were Jewish people of race that had intermixed with Gentiles. So, they weren’t a hundred of Jewish blood. The speaker himself is an extreme Samaritan, for there is a little Jewish blood residing in the flesh, but almost entirely Gentile blood. Anyway, the question arises on the part of the woman as to why Jesus is asking her for water because of the fact of the racial division, and the lack of interactions between the two people groups. The request must have confused her greatly. Howbeit, Jesus’ uses the opportunity, which likely was not planned by God or certainly himself, he uses the opportunity to witness the truth to her. This then amounts to a fantastic example of making the most of every opportunity we are presented with, as the Apostle Paul alluded to. Jesus gives us a good example.

       Recently, to try to draw a parallel to this, there was the opportunity on the speaker’s part to have somewhat of a similar situation. Indeed, the speaker had stopped by a coffee shop to work on writing, writing for this very series actually, and after ordering a coffee, he stood there and waited for it to be served. Upon standing there, it was noticed that besides the high school girl who had taken the order, there were a couple other individuals working. One was a young guy, probably early twenties, and the other was a younger girl with a head covering, also high school-aged. It’s not the type of covering you’re probably thinking, but it was a full, black head covering, wrapping even underneath the chin. It was typical for the Muslim religion. Anyway, upon the first name being called and the coffee received, it as realized that creamer had forgotten to be asked for. Looking up from the counter, the Muslim girl was standing a few feet directly to the front of the eyesight, with the young guy standing further off to the right. And believe it or not, the speaker, with raised voice, asked the further away younger fellow for some creamer. The Muslim girl, then quickly taking some creamer in hand, said with a helpful, yet offended tone, “I can get it for you,” and she poured it in the coffee. Indeed, total failure that day. Unconsciously, the coffee creamer had been asked for from the more familiar person, which left the other person hurt in the process. The speaker felt terribly bad thereafter and had difficultly writing.

       Jesus doesn’t take that approach. Rather, he is seeking to offer what he has to offer even to one who is different. He doesn’t look at the woman, and think, “Because she’s a Samaritan I have no dealings with her.” He doesn’t do that. He talks about this living water. What is the living water? Let’s continue in the passage.

       Verse 11: “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” (ESV).

       Jesus doesn’t even address the part about how great Jacob was, and the fact that it was his well. That part is totally skipped over. That’s what we do, as humans, a societal people, we raise up certain individuals as special and basically create monuments about them. But Jesus sort of covertly tells us that’s not what it’s all about in the end. People are simply people, no matter what they have done, no matter how great or famous they may seem. They are just people; that’s what they are, sin-nature and all. Jesus stays on track to the purpose of his conversation, and says he has something to tell her that’s different, different than anything she’s ever heard. It’s something that he has to give, and upon giving this, it will grow up and compound and eventually lead to eternal life. Sounds like a pretty good infomercial. On a serious note, what he has to offer is real, and not something material. In a way, this has happened to all of us. This is how we were saved in the first place. Someone, somewhere came to offer us this “living water.” They offered us a drink, somewhere back on our timelines, and we accepted it. Sure, the offer may not have been in the form of a one-on-one conversation, but it was in the form of some type of communication. This how we all have become saved.

       Verse 15: “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 isn’t grasping it, as she thinks the water is a physical water that is going to be used for physical, human needs. She isn’t following what Jesus is saying. Perhaps it’s at that point that a miracle is injected to Jesus, wherein he gains supernatural knowledge of her past, and tells it to her. Now, it could be that Jesus originally didn’t have this knowledge, and that’s why he asked her to go call her husband. Perhaps, at that moment, the Spirit of God spoke to his heart and told him the situation. That’s possible. Or, it could have been he divinely possessed this knowledge all along. Whatever the case, he reveals to her that he is aware she’s living in sin, with a man which is not her husband, a cohabitation, and on top of that, she’s been married five times in the past. An extreme example, it might seem to us. The speaker himself cannot recall anyone he’s met that’s been married five times. Four, but not five, not five.

       Thankfully, as the woman originally relayed to him the truth, no offense is had by his response. If a lie had been told, perhaps she would have offended. Yet, she continues, verse 19: “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped 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 worshipers 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 first detail to bring to our attention is that, “for salvation is from the Jews.“ “[S]alvation is from the Jews.” A universal truth, applying to the entirety of the world. No matter what country or people group is considered, this is the truth. In short, Jesus is explaining that it is the Jewish God that is the real God. No other god can deliver; no other god can bring salvation to his people. The Jewish God can. Even from a Christian perspective, “salvation is from the Jews.” That’s what Christianity really is, the completion of the Jewish religion. This is why Jesus stated, in sequence before that statement, “we worship what we know.” That’s the consequence going all the way back, since God chose a people for himself. Starting with Abraham, those individuals worshiped the real God, the only true God, howbeit, they certainly did not perform that perfectly. And in sequence before that statement, Jesus said, “You worship what you do not know.” The woman had Gentile ancestors, and the Samaritans weren’t considered purely Jewish. Yet, worship is still given to the true God, but before the cross of Jesus, before that mission is accomplished, salvation is viewed more in a collective sense, belonging to God’s people-group Israel.

       “[T]he true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” This pronouncement marks the change from following the Old Testament Law to following the new way of the Spirit. To worship the Father in spirit draws a connection with the fact that individuals will individually worship him from their hearts. The focus of salvation is now set on each individual independently, and it will depend on whether their heart is right before God. That concept also ties in with the Truth. Notice that these true worshipers are people God is “seeking… to worship him.” They aren’t people of which are automatically drawn to him, as if they lacked choice in the matter. God is actively looking for those who will willingly choose to come into relationship with him, and thus worship him. And that’s the only way. For Jesus says that a person who wants to worship the Father, in essence a person who wants to be part of the saved, that the person “must… worship in spirit and truth.” Pay attention to the word “must.” No other way exists. It’s not that all people of any religion can worship the Father and will go to Heaven if they are good. That’s not the way it works. The heart must be right, and that right heart must be aligned with truth, and there is only one truth.

       Our final verses for today. Verse 25: “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.”

       A couple important facts are observed in this section. We learn that the Samaritans themselves are looking for, watching for the Messiah to come, and they expected that he would help them as well. We also learn that at this period in Jesus’ earthly life, at this point he understands that he is the Messiah. Of this big point, grasping the specific details as to the how and when this has occurred doesn’t seem possible. Was it simply a divine revelation one day by the Father? Or, perhaps as Jesus read the Old Testament and considered his own life, he determined that he matched what the Messiah was to be like, and maybe the Father revealed this to him at some point in prayer? Prayer likely had something to do with it. After all, we understand Jesus prayed a lot, and obtained a deep communion with the Father. An interesting parallel with Luke’s account, when after Luke’s recording of Jesus’ temptations, we see the scene of him in Nazareth at the synagogue. Remember? In that instance, at the beginning of his ministry, he already understands he’s the Christ, that he’s the Messiah, for he stands up in the synagogue on the Sabbath day and reads the scroll from Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2. So, Jesus recognizes his mission and purpose from the beginning of his earthly ministry.

       The culmination of all this is that the first person Jesus directly tells, as recorded by John, is this Samaritan women at the well. That’s the first human being he directly relays his ‘secret’ to. Nathanael was informed back in John 1, but that was more indirect. Jesus picks a woman to tell first, and it’s someone who isn’t even a Jewish woman. It’s possible that if he had told the Jews directly that he was the Messiah, that they might have wanted to go ahead an make him king by force, as we see they desire to do in John 6. However, there seems to be further possible explanation, as Jesus again is signaling the change from the Old to the New. In the new way, it is the individual that matters, and it’s not that women are lesser than men, though perhaps a lot of people probably thought that by this time. The signaling by Jesus is that it doesn’t matter if a person is male or female, that all can and should be saved by their faith in God’s provision. And also, one more thing, we can note that the “he” at the end of his statement was added by the translators for clarity. Actually, the statement should read ““I who speak to you am.” ““I who speak to you am.” This has a similar ring to when Jesus will say in John 8:58, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” He is showing himself to be God.

- Daniel Litton