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@ PastorGary
2024-11-21 06:55:31Hey everyone and welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
“The Christ of John’s Gospel” is the theme for the coming Sunday morning teachings that focus on John’s unique portrayal of the Christ.
We will continue this series through to the end of the year.
Today we are discussing, A Meeting with the Master.
Text
John 4:6-7 NKJV
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
Scripture Reading
John 4:1-42 NKJV
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
The Whitened Harvest
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Amen.
One of the significant features of Jesus’ ministry was His meetings with people.
Jesus had an interest in individuals and He still does today.
The Lord was not so preoccupied with the multitudes that he lost concern for individuals.
Jesus met with many people.
One of His most significant meetings with a sinful woman at Jacobs well.
Let us look today at some fascinating facets of this famous interview.
- The perplexing problems.
Jesus’ meeting with the woman of Samaria was full of problems.
Do you understand the difficulties, we must understand some geography and history of Israel.
The pious Jew would not go through the land of Samaria.
Following the northern kingdom of Israel's captivity in 722 BC by the Assyrians, the land was inhabited by Israelites and foreigners.
The intermarried, which was repulsive to Pius Jews, and therefore the Pious Jews avoided Samaria.
Regarding Jesus, John said in John 4:4, But He needed to go through Samaria.
Various barriers existed for Jesus and the woman.
There was an ethnic barrier.
Jews were somewhat tolerant of other races, but the Samaritans were contemptible to the Jews.
When the woman met the Lord, she emphasised this barrier, she said how is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?
There was a gender barrier.
Rabbis were forbidden to greet a woman in public, but Jesus cross this barrier.
Not only did the Lord cross this barrier, but he chose to talk with a notoriously immoral woman.
And of course there was a religious barrier.
There is a wide religious gap between the Jews and the Samaritans.
The Samaritans worshipped at Mount Ebal, and the Jews worship at Mount Gerizim.
- The Master’s proposal.
Jesus had the interpersonal skills to overcome these barriers.
Let us follow the strategy of the Master in how He made the meeting with the woman meaningful.
Jesus asked for a common necessity.
When the woman came to the well, He asked for a drink.
Jesus was thirsty, and the woman was thirsty.
Even though the two were different in race, gender, and religion, they had a common need to drink.
Jesus aroused the woman’s curiosity.
After He talked about His and her physical thirst, He mentioned something about “living water.”
Immediately the woman began to ask questions.
“From where does the living water come?”
The woman realised that Jesus was speaking of another type of water.
Jesus awakened the woman’s conscience.
The woman did not grasp everything about the living water, so Jesus appealed to her conscience.
“Go call your husband, and come here.”
Jesus wanted the woman to see that He knew the errors of her life.
With her conscience awakened, the woman wanted to talk about her relationship with God.
John 4:19-20 NKJV
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus acknowledged Himself as the Messiah.
Skilfully and masterfully, Jesus led the woman to the fact that He was the Messiah.
At the appropriate moment, He made the messianic disclosure, “I who speak to you and He.”
- The woman’s proclamation.
After the interview with Jesus, the woman left for the city of Samaria.
She told the people about the Lord.
John 4:29 NKJV
29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
The woman had been changed because of her encounter with Jesus Christ.
A careful study of her attitude and actions reflects a radical change in character.
The woman also had a new concern for her life.
She left the water pots and went into the city.
Her primary concerns had been the sensual things of life.
After her life transforming experience, she was concerned for the spiritual condition of an entire village.
Why don’t you have a meeting with the Master?
Let Him tell you about His character and His ability to change people.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer. Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
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2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS
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