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Guest (Male): Can't you see the smile on Jesus' face right now? Because she's right. You don't talk to us. We don't talk to you. You're not supposed to talk to women in public, all alone like this. Jesus, I can see him smile. If you knew who I was, if you knew who just asked you for a drink of water, you would be asking for me to give you living water.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply his word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. Jesus has a conversation with the Samaritan woman as our study of John continues in chapter 4. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: When therefore the Lord Jesus knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize his disciples. He left Judea and departed again unto Galilee. So now he's headed north from the south. And he must needs go through Samaria.

The growth of Jesus' ministry began to draw attention, more attention from the spiritual leaders of Israel. They were all over John saying why are you doing this, trying to get him to quit it. And now Jesus is doing it, and it's bigger than John's. The Pharisees began to take notice. Remember the very holy, the very holy, the holiest that Israel had. The hypocrites.

The crowds following Jesus were getting bigger and bigger, and the crowds following John were getting smaller and smaller. And the Pharisees now really took pretty much their attention off John and started focusing on this Jesus character who now he's got the big crowds. Jesus wasn't doing any baptizing, right? We just read that. But he was doing the teaching and the preaching.

And Jesus understands something that every one of us needs to grasp and understand. Jesus understands that the spiritual leaders are already rejecting him and his message. They don't like it that people are following him. They didn't like it people were following John. Why are you out here in the weird nowhere dressed like that and eating that kind of bugs and things? What's wrong with you?

Now, what happens is Jesus' ministry begins to grow a little bit, John's is slowing. John will be put in prison pretty soon. But he understands the spiritual leaders are already rejecting him. They don't even listen to him at first. They just know they don't want him around. So here's what he does. He simply leaves the area of Judea and heads up north toward the Galilee region.

Now the shortest, the most direct route from Judea to Galilee would be straight through the area called Samaria. But few Jews ever took that route because they hated the Samaritans, and as well as the Samaritans hated them. They did not speak. They had nothing to do with one another. Few Jews ever went straight through because they're going to have to go through unclean land. The Samaritans are unclean.

Now the Samaritans, I'm sure you recall, they call Abraham their father also, Jacob is their father also, but they despised the Jews, and the Jews despised them. They did not speak. They had nothing to do with one another. The Samaritans were considered and called half-breeds or mixed-breeds. They weren't pure Jews. They were people who in that area had begun to marry outside the faith, and they were marrying some Gentiles.

So they're part Jew and part Gentile, which was against the Mosaic law. They were considered because of that unclean. You didn't want to be around them. You certainly didn't talk to them. You didn't touch them. They're unclean. Jesus chose to go directly through from Judah straight up through the area called Samaria and then into the Galilee region.

And the language says he must needs go through. The language doesn't mean he has no choice. The language just means that's what he decided he wanted to do. Everybody would normally take the long way out and around and back. He just going to go straight on through. I know why. You do too if you think about it. There's somebody he wants to talk to on the way.

Right? God just doesn't waste his time. He doesn't waste his energy. He knows what he's doing. There's a lady he's going to have to, he wants to talk to. So he's going to walk through. Here we come, look at verse 5. Then he came, he and his disciples, to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey sat thus at the well, and it was about the sixth hour. They're walking and now they had been walking for hours and hours in the hot sun. And they come to a little village called Sychar, close to the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. That well that he dig or dug.

And they were right outside of this village. And it was the sixth hour. That to you and to me would be high noon. It's a very warm part of the day, nearly the hottest part of the day. They've been traveling for miles and miles. Weary. Jesus was weary, physically tired and, you'll see in a moment, thirsty. And he sat down by that well.

He has no rope. He's got no buckets. If he had a rope, he's got no bucket. He's got no way to get the water out of the well. But he's tired and he's thirsty. He waited there, I've already read verse 8, I'll read it to you in a moment, but he waited there while his disciples went into the little village to purchase some food, some victuals, some supplies.

Now the Bible says God never grows weary. God never ever gets tired. Jesus Christ is God Almighty, but he willingly took upon himself human flesh. And when you humans get out there and walk in the hot sun for 20, 30, 40 miles, you're tired and thirsty. And Jesus was the very same. So that means Jesus knows what it feels like when you are physically exhausted.

Physically tired, physically thirsty and you just really wouldn't mind sitting down and find a little bit of shade and sitting down and resting for a little bit. That is not a sin, Christians. Jesus never sinned, but he did sit down to rest. He knows what it feels like to be worn out. To be weary physically and mentally and emotionally. He knows.

And there he is sitting there. The disciples are going to walk into town. It's not that far. And he's going to wait. The disciples don't know it, neither does this lady, but Jesus has an appointment and he never misses an appointment. We do. We say I'm too tired to read my Bible. I'm too tired. I'm too tired for church. Church is boring anymore. I'm this, I'm that. But Jesus never misses.

Where two or three gather, he is there. Think about that. What happened as he's sitting there? There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus spoke to her and said, "Give me to drink." For his disciples were gone away to the city to buy food. As Jesus is sitting there by that well around noon, he's tired, he's weary, he's thirsty.

A lady from the village comes out to draw water from the well. Now when she gets to the well, Jesus, don't misunderstand the King James language, Jesus is very respectful. The language is something like this, "May I have a drink of water?" Now Jesus had no rope, had no bucket, had no way to get the water, but he certainly could have done a little miracle, a little presto, and just had a cool glass of water while he's waiting for the boys.

Could have, true? But he didn't. And he says, "Ma'am, would you give me a drink, please? May I have a drink of water?" He humbly asks this lady for help. And he didn't need help. God Almighty spoke to a Samaritan woman. The Jews won't speak with them. God will. You know why? He loves everybody. And so he speaks to this woman.

Most scholars are agreed on the fact that this is 12:00 noon, sixth hour. First hour is 6:00 in the morning. You got noon-time, sixth hour. It is commonly known throughout not just Samaria but throughout that whole region that the women would carry the water while the men would work in the fields or doing whatever the men would be doing. The women would carry the water.

And they would normally show up twice a day. And the women just would avoid the heat, so they would normally show up pretty early in the morning where it's cool and then right before it's too late in the evening. But this lady came out in the heat of the day when others would have been staying home in the shade maybe sewing or relaxing doing what they could do without being out in the sun.

But this one was all alone. There's something about her that the women don't want to be around her. And so she just goes when she knows for sure none of the ladies are going to be there to talk and to point, etcetera. Something is wrong with this lady and we'll learn quickly what it is. Look at verse 9. Then said the woman, Jesus just said may I have a drink of water?

Then saith the Samaritan woman unto him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." Jesus answered and said unto her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that said to you give me a drink, please may I have a drink, you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water."

Boy, does he get right to the point or what? She would have recognized Jesus even at a distance as she's looking because the Jews, you know the tunic that he would have worn, the Jewish would wear, they would have a little blue trim around the edge, around the edge of the sleeves and of the bottom. Blue. And that's the way the Jewish men would have done that, especially a rabbi or a teacher.

So she would have recognized him right away as a Jewish man even from a distance. That's odd. You know, who is that? What is that? I'm used to coming out here and having this all to myself getting water and heading on back. The Samaritans, see they claim to be direct descendants of Jacob. But they had intermarried and were not considered Jewish by the Jews because they were part this and part that.

So she is not being disrespectful to Jesus. That is not disrespectful. It is shock. She is surprised. He said may I have a drink of water? Would you give me a drink of water, please? He's a very respectful, polite way to ask that. And she's shocked. She's not being rude. She says, "You're speaking to me. First of all, a woman. And second of all, a Samaritan woman. You Jews just don't talk to us. I'm just surprised."

I mean I'm not saying yes or no yet to the water, but I'm just surprised. Jesus, I can see him smile. If you knew who I was, if you knew who just asked you for a drink of water, you would be asking for me to give you living water. Now that makes no sense to anybody, especially a Samaritan woman who's out there and all she wants to do is get her water and get out of there.

Because she doesn't want to deal with any of the people. They don't like her. How many of you are there now? Or even the Christians at church. You'll feel okay if you really weren't here. You're not just our kind of, you know, yeah. Oh, if you knew who was talking to you and asking you for help, you'd be asking him for help for living water. So verse 11.

The woman said to him, "Sir," she doesn't know anything about this guy. She doesn't know this is God. She doesn't know anything about this man. He's Jewish, she knows that. She said to him, "Sir," because he said you'd ask me for living water. Okay, water? She's thinking physical, right? Remember, Jesus speaks spiritually, we think physically because that's where we're at.

She says, "You're talking to me? You want me to give you? You're speaking to a woman, a Samaritan woman? If you knew who I was, you'd be asking me for water, living water." Okay, she's thinking physical. She says to him what does she say? "Sir, you have nothing to draw the water with. The well is deep. From where then you're going to get this living water? Where would you get?"

"You're asking me for help. Where are you going to come up with living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well and he drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle?" "You must think you're something because Jacob drank from this and he's dead and his kids and they're dead and his cattle and they're dead. That was a long time ago."

Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinks of the water," he's talking about that I will get or this water, I'm sorry, will thirst again. This water in the well. "But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." Never means never ever again for all eternity. Never. "But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Boy, does he get right to the point? He wants to give her, he says, eternal life. He wants to give that to everyone of the Jews. Already a lot of them are thinking he's crazy. Now he's walking along and he's with this one individual. The lady says living water, huh? You don't even have a rope or a bucket or anything to get the water out. This is a deep well. How are you going to give me something to drink?

Some living water. How are you going to get it? And then she goes on and helps try to help him understand. I do that sometimes when I'm praying, do you? Try to help Jesus understand how bad the problem is and what the deal is here. She says, "Our father Jacob, he dig this well. He gave this to us. Are you greater than he is? See if Jacob had to come back and forth to dig this well and come back and forth to get water."

"You're greater than he is? You don't have to do that?" Basically, who do you think you are to say I'll never be thirsty again? Doesn't even make sense. Jesus calmly says this, and this really grabs her attention, though she's thinking physically and he's speaking spiritually. He says, "Whoever drinks from this well right here, ma'am, is going to be thirsty again and again and again."

"But whoever drinks of the water that I will give them will never thirst again. In fact, that water will overflow from your heart and fill your entire being, springing up into everlasting eternal life." Meaning that the benefits of the water which Jesus Christ would give this lady and you and me are not limited to the earth but will go on forever and ever all throughout eternity.

You'll never thirst again spiritually. Verse 15. The woman said to him, "Sir," and no hesitation here. She's not being rude. She says, "You could do that, okay? Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come here to draw." "I'll take it. I want it. I don't ever want to come back and draw water here ever again." She's not getting it.

Jesus said to her, "Go and call your husband and come back." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband. I am not married." Jesus said to her, "Thou hast well said." In our language, he said, "You've spoken the truth. Thank you for saying. Well said. You said I have no husband, that's good." He said, "Because you have had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband."

"In that you spoke the truth. You've had five husbands and the one you're living with right now is not your husband. No matter what you call him, what you call her, they're not married." Jesus said so. Okay, how did he know? He is God and there is no keeping anything from God. There is no keeping it. You can tell all your friends one thing.

I can tell all my friends the other. We can all say this, this, this, this, but God knows. He just knows. So verse 19 says this. The woman saith unto him, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." "You're no ordinary guy. I perceive you're a prophet." A prophet is a spokesman directly from God, true? "In other words, you're directly from God."

Oh, if she going to learn in a moment, he is God. And so what she does, and this is what I'm probably sure I would have done, maybe you too, okay, so now you know I'm a weasel. Now you know I'm a weasel. Now you know I'm a sinner and of the worst kind according to the neighborhood. So she does what I think is pretty standard. She tries to change the conversation.

"Let's deflect here. Let's talk about something else. Oh, you're a man of God. Let's talk about religious stuff." The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain and you say you Jews that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." In other words, she's saying who's right? Let's talk religion. When you try to share Jesus with people, don't they do that?

"Our fathers worshipped in the mountain and you say that it's in Jerusalem, you Jews, the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, ma'am, believe me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father. It's got nothing to do with this mountain, got nothing to do with Jerusalem."

"And is now, in fact." He's looking at her right in the eye. "When the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship him." He says to her, "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." What did she have to do first? She had to acknowledge that she needs a savior.

She had to acknowledge all that back there, that sin. All that back there is sin. Messiah, and she's looking for Messiah, watch this, she's looking for. She says Messiah's going to take care of all that. "We worship at the mountain, Mount Gerizim up there in the area of Samaria. And the Jews say Jerusalem."

Jesus says, "Ma'am, it's all about the worship of God Almighty. It's not where, it's how. You Samaritans worship, but you don't know what you worship. You don't understand. We worship what we know because salvation comes through the Jews. Messiah will come through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, think about it Samaritan lady, Jacob, through King David, remember? Through the Jewish lineage."

And he says, "The Lord is looking for those who will worship him over here, over there, no doesn't matter, who will worship him in spirit and from the heart, in reality, in truth. God is spirit, therefore those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. There must be no pretend or hypocrisy or on-off kind of thing."

"This week I'm saved but when I go on vacation, you put all that behind, you come back. Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot I'm saved again." And he says, "No, it's got to be from the heart." Notice here the woman is looking for something. Let me read it. The woman saith, verse 25, saith unto him, "I know that Messiah is coming," which is called Christ.

Mashiach, Christ. "When he is come, he will tell us these things. These are the very things I want to know. I mean, where do we worship?" He says, "Right here is a place to worship. It's not the mountain, it's not the, it's from your heart. It's in reality. Give your heart to the Lord in other words." And Jesus, she says when Messiah comes he will tell us all things.

Jesus saith unto her, "I that speak unto thee am he." He didn't tell, he didn't tell the Jews yet. He hasn't told the, the disciples know, they don't understand it, but they, but he's not telling a lot of people who he is. He tells a despised Samaritan woman who he is. Jesus says the Lord God is looking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

That's you and me. That's anybody who would call upon the name of the Lord. She believing in the next few verses, she is a true believer. And she'll be the evangelist to her whole city. And a lot of people will get saved because a woman humbled herself and recognized she needed Jesus and he's talking to her.

Notice this. He says God is looking for those who worship him in spirit and truth from their hearts. And God is spirit, therefore worship him in spirit and in truth. No pretend, no hypocrisy. Come to God and walk with him by God's grace. Notice the woman is looking for the coming of Messiah. See, they have the scriptures.

They're through the lineage of Jacob. They've just intermarried, intermingled, and now they're not pure Jewish or pure Gentile, they're just mixed up. But does God love them? If he didn't we wouldn't be here, true? Yeah. Well look. She's looking for the Messiah, and I love what she says. "When Messiah comes he's going to tell us these things."

How right is she? Oh my goodness. Now Jesus' literal words, I like it, the King James says "I that speak unto thee am he." But listen to the original in the Greek. Jesus' literal words to this woman are this. She said, "When Messiah comes he'll teach us these things." He said, "I who speak to you am." "I am. I who speak to you am." "When Messiah comes he'll tell us these things."

"I'm telling you. I that speak to you am." And that's when she got, I think that's when she got it. That's amazing to me that she just like me and just like you, before I can be saved, before you can be saved, before she could be saved, we've got to admit there's a need to be saved. If you think the Pharisees say we're fine, we're doing what God wants us to do, and what did Jesus say?

"Then I'm not here for you. I'm here for the lost." He says, "I'm the great physician. I'm here for the sick." And they say, "Well we're not sick." He goes, "Then I'm not here for you. You've got to admit that you need help. You've got to realize that it's sin and that there is no hope without Jesus. If you want the water, that living water, then you've got to come to him and say just as I am I surrender."

I mean I had five of these and 20 of those and I can't fix that and I can't go back and do it, but Jesus Christ can.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies.

That's northcountrychapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851.

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