You can turn in your Bibles to John 4. John 4. Tonight I wanted to just direct our attention evangelistically a little bit. Give us all, hopefully, an encouragement to boldness, to sharing the Gospel message that we've been entrusted with, with those who don't know. So I wanted to look at the life of Jesus and to see an interaction He had. And I think what serves as a pretty good model for sharing the Gospel message. So we're going to do that tonight out of John 4. So let's just read the text here. John 4. I'll read verses 1-26. Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were. He left Judea and went away again into Galilee, and he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, being wearied from his journey, Sitting thus by the well, it was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 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. She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? You're not greater than our father Jacob, are you? Who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle. Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. He said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have correctly said I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, Believe me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people, the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming. He was called Christ. When that one comes, he will declare all things to us. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you and he. Father God, we ask that you would take these words of scripture and plant them deeply within our hearts. Thank you for this record of this incredible interaction between our Lord and the Samaritan woman who was so needy. Lord, I pray from it we would learn the principles of evangelism, principles of sharing Christ and sharing the hope of the Gospel with those who need it. We ask this now for Your glory in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, the setting here, let's talk a little bit about that. The setting is given for us in verses 1-6. Jesus and His disciples were baptizing and many were coming to Him. This gained the attention of the of not only John's disciples but the attention of the Pharisees as well. They were keeping track of the numbers and recognizing that Jesus was gaining in popularity and this had them very worried. So Jesus skirts the heat a little bit and leaves Judea to go into Galilee to the north. The most direct route from Jerusalem to Galilee was to go through Samaria. Samaria was a region of Israel populated by half-blooded Jews. At the time of the Assyrian captivity, the Jews of this area, the men of this area, were carried away and the area, as was customary, was repopulated with foreigners. So you had male Jews carted out and non-Jewish males carted in. And they, of course, intermarried with the population that remained. And the result was that you had this half-Jewish, half-Gentile population known as Samaritans. The result of this community within Israel of half-blooded Jews with very pagan beliefs, an amalgamation, a syncretistic putting together of Jewish beliefs along with pagan beliefs was that there was no love lost between Samaritans and the rest of Israel, the Jewish population. They did not care for each other. They avoided each other at all costs. In the Jewish mind, to be a Samaritan was to be very low on the social chain. Jews avoided Samaritans whenever possible, and they avoided certainly going through Samaria in order to avoid Samaritans. But here is Jesus, and He's headed north to Galilee, and He says we must go through Samaria. Jesus had designs and intentions, I believe, for staying in the city, for visiting it, and those designs and intentions, I think, become very clear. as he confronts this woman in her sin, shares with her the gospel, and as a result, she not only believes, but a great number of the Samaritans come to faith in Christ as well as a result. So here at high noon, in this unlikely place, with an unlikely conversation, Jesus shares the gospel. And so as we look at this passage tonight, I want us to see together four actions of Christ. which serve as four fundamental elements of sharing the gospel. Four actions of Christ which serve for us as four fundamental elements for sharing the gospel. You and I, no doubt, have folks in our lives who need to hear the gospel. They're lost. They are in their sin. And unless they hear the gospel message and respond to it in faith, they will spend an eternity in hell. That is a reality we need to remind ourselves of on a regular basis. I think we all get caught up in our own lives and our own existence and we sometimes forget the real life and death eternal issues that we really should be thinking about on a daily basis. And so if you're going to share the gospel, what is it you need to share? Well, I think we see here these four fundamental elements for sharing the gospel. Well, first of all, we see that Jesus reaches out. Verses seven through nine, Jesus reaches out. That's the first element or lesson we can learn from how Jesus shared the gospel. He reached out to those around him. This woman comes to the well alone at high noon. This is not a normal thing. That's not when you typically went for water. Women normally came to wells in groups and normally either in the early morning or in the late evening, but certainly not at noon during what is ramping up to be one of the hotter parts of the day. She did so probably because of the shame she lived under continually. She was very likely an ostracized part of society. She came alone. She did not come with a group. She came by herself. And she came at an off time when she did not have to worry about the possibility of a confrontation, worry about the possibility of someone making fun of her or deriding her or looking down upon her. She didn't want to deal with any of that. So she says, fine, I'll go when nobody else is there and I'll go alone. So Jesus is there. His disciples have departed to go buy food there in Samaria. And he just waits by the well and here comes this lady and he asks her for a drink. Now, that may not seem strange to us. It may seem perfectly normal to us. But again, this is highly unusual. In fact, it is scandalous. Scandalous enough for a man to talk to a woman that he doesn't know while they're alone. Scandal is added by the fact that he is a Jew and this woman is a Samaritan. A Samaritan female. A Jewish male asking a Samaritan female if he can take a drink from her cup. He has nothing on him. He's going to drink from her utensil. That's outrageous for the day. It's crazy. But Jesus is not just thirsty for water. He is, I believe, also thirsty for water. Don't cut that short. Jesus is fully human. It's the heat of the day. He's thirsty. He asked for a drink. Why? Well, in part, because He's thirsty. But in part, because it's an opportunity to engage this woman and meet her real needs. Jesus is intentionally drawing her into conversation. And the scandal, the true scandal of the moment is seen by her response. Notice what she says. How is it? How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink? Verse 9. How can that be? What's wrong with you? You're not playing by the rules. You're not following the normal customs. Now, while we wouldn't want to make too much of the fact that John says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria, it's certainly true that he knew of this woman before he ever met her and that he had a divine appointment with her that was unbeknownst to her. God is no respecter of persons and Jesus was not either. He spent his life with the dregs of society. He did not typically go to the honorific. but went to those who were dishonorable. He spent his time with the tax collectors and the prostitutes and the sinners. And in this case, the Samaritan women. Samaritan women who in their own community were the lowest of the low. So from this we can see that Jesus is seeking out an opportunity. He makes the most of the opportunity. He turns and directs a very natural, normal conversation into spiritual things. Am I looking for and seeking opportunities to do that in conversation with folks? Am I seeking opportunities to share Christ with others? Make the most of every conversation and try to turn it Christward, especially when I'm dealing with an unbeliever. Do I have an outreach mentality? Am I aware of the lost people all around me, whether it's at work, at home, in the neighborhood, maybe in your own family? The lady at the beauty shop, the man at the garage, the guy in the next cubicle. The family down the street, the kid across the classroom. Where is your next divine appointment? Where is the place that you need to go in order to stir up a conversation that needs to be had? I think we all need to be more intentional about that. Think, how could I be involved in a conversation with a lost person? Some of us need to be creative about creating those opportunities. Because frankly, we just aren't around lost people at all. Me and my family, that's difficult. Our life revolves around this church, and for the most part, except for a few of you out there, you're all believers. A few of you out there I have real doubts about. But we have to be serious and intentional about that. Creating opportunities. I get my hair cut at a pretty ritzy place. I'm a little embarrassed to tell you that. It's called Kitty Cutters. It's right down here. Actually, it's designed for kids. There's a rocking horse as you enter and you can sit in the fire truck to get your hair cut and things like that. I like the race car myself. No, but they cut adult hair too. And it just happens to be very convenient. And it's nine bucks, you know, so. And I know you're amazed. I only spend nine dollars on this coif of mine. But, you know, when I get my haircut, that's I'm probably coming into contact with a lost person. Now, some of you say, well, that's, you know, You think about that? Well, yeah. Because again, I don't have that many interactions. We have some unbelieving neighbors. So those opportunities are important. And on one particular day, I was able to have a great conversation with two of the ladies in there. We were the only people in the place. And they know who I am. They know what I do. And they asked me about Armageddon. Do you believe in Armageddon? Well, that's a little bit of a weighty theological topic, but it lends itself perfectly for the gospel. It's an opportunity to say, you know what? Yeah, I believe in it. The Bible teaches it. It's coming. It's all related to the judgment of God for sin. But there's a way to avoid being anywhere near any of that. And that's through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have an outreach mentality? Do you look for opportunities to reach out to unbelievers around you? And who are those unbelievers? Can you think of a name right now? You don't need to blurt it out or anything. But what is the name of a person that maybe you've been continually burdened about, that you need to reach out to them? You need to reestablish contact. You need to go have lunch together Do some activity together or go down and help them with some yard work or something. Some kind of reaching out, some stepping across that you need to do in order to have the context, the opportunity to share the message of the gospel. So the first thing we learn is that Jesus reaches out. Second thing we can see is that Jesus reveals truth. Jesus reveals truth. Verses 10 through 15. Jesus takes her shock at his even asking to have a drink. He turns her shock inside out. In essence, he says, look, I'm the one who should be shocked here. For if you knew who I was, you'd be asking me for the drink. He's pointing to himself. He's revealing, beginning to reveal truth in a very crafty way, I'd have to say. Jesus here continually uses this word living water, this phrase living water. He speaks to her using this metaphor of water. Obviously, they're around a well. He takes what is a common everyday element and uses it to direct the conversation spiritually. Water is vital to us, even today, obviously. But its abundance and availability keeps us from understanding the depth of what Jesus was saying. It wasn't as abundant. It wasn't as available. If you wanted water, you had to go get it. Water isn't light. It's heavy. It's a task. It's a chore. And it was a daily task. A daily effort. Up until the last 75 or 100 years, much of life centered around finding, transporting, holding, and preserving water. Especially in dry, arid regions like that of Palestine. Water is used as a metaphor in the scriptures for God. God refers to Himself as the fountain of living waters in Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 12. It's a fairly common Old Testament metaphor for salvation in God as well. Isaiah chapter 12 verse 3 says, Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation. It's a picture of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 44, verses 3 through 4. It says, I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants, and they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water. In the book of Ezekiel, water is used as a picture of cleansing from sin. Ezekiel 36.25, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. This metaphor of water speaks of God's provision, His strengthening, His fruitfulness, His flourishing, His cleansing. Jesus later in John's Gospel will say this in John 7, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. This metaphor of water, of spiritual blessing, of salvation, of cleansing, of strengthening, of refreshment, of satisfaction, all of it is packed into what Jesus is conveying when He talks about Himself as being living water. He is that source of satisfaction. He is that source of cleansing. He is the one who can quench the thirst of the soul. The significance of Jesus' statement, though, seems lost on her. She says in verse 11, you have nothing to draw with. How will you get to the living water? Looks like you're out of luck, Chuck. You don't have anything to draw with. You know, you're Big Talker Betty Crocker. You don't have anything to get it with. You can't access it. It's a little bit like Nicodemus previous chapter of the Gospel of John. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night and Jesus says, you must be born again. And Nicodemus says, born again? Come again? What? Born again? Am I supposed to get back in my mother's womb? What are you talking about? A little bit of feigning ignorance here, I think, maybe drawing out the conversation and saying, look, you're getting at something deeper, but I don't know what you're talking about. The woman asks if Jesus is greater than Jacob who gave them this well. Jesus points out the inferiority of Jacob's well and of the water that was contained within it. He says, look, you've got to keep coming back to this water. This water doesn't satisfy. This water doesn't really take care of any problem except the immediate thirst. Everyone who drinks of this water, he says in verse 13, will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. Jesus here pictures the life of a believer. The one who drinks the living water It is a life of continual satisfaction, a life of irrepressible vitality. Like Jesus says in John 10.10, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. This idea of a well springing up, it's a source of satisfaction that never runs dry. It's always there in abundance. That's the picture. Springing up to eternal life. But she still doesn't get it. She still thinks that Jesus is talking about H2O. She says, Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. This sounds great. Water that just sort of Self-perpetuating, you know, that never runs dry. I like it. I don't have to come to the well anymore. I don't have to go through the shame of gathering where everyone gathers. I don't have to go through the hard work and sweat and toil of putting water together. This sounds great. Sign me up. Well, Jesus here is revealing truth to her, though she has yet to really grasp the truth. Jesus is nonetheless revealing truth about himself. Truth about her need. Truth about satisfaction that can be found only in him. His conversation centered around the realities of the gospel and the satisfaction to be had in him. When we share the gospel, we've got to make sure that the gospel is actually shared. that we're sharing divine truth. Our presentation has to have the right content. It's got to include the truth of God's holiness. It's got to include the truth of man's sin. It's got to include the truth of Christ's sacrifice for that sin because of God's holiness. And it's got to include the need for response, the need for repentance and faith. Some of us like to share our testimonies when we share about faith in Christ, and that can be a very effective way of communicating the gospel. It can be a very ineffective way of communicating the gospel, however. You know, if we simply say, you know, well, you know, I was I'm not proud of my life before, but then I met Jesus and everything's been better ever since then. Well, that all may be true, and that's a good, very short summary of realities, but it doesn't communicate gospel truth. It doesn't convict them of their own sin. It doesn't show them their need of a Savior. It doesn't present the holiness of God and the eternal judgment that awaits those who remain outside of Christ. It doesn't present Christ as the only way of salvation. It doesn't present the need to respond in faith to God's revelation of His Son. When we present the gospel, we've got to make sure we present the gospel. Another lesson we can learn from this interaction of Jesus is that He refutes error. He not only reveals truth about Himself, but He refutes error, verses 16-24. Jesus immediately forces her deeper into the conversation. She's all about water still. She wants some water. She wants this water that never runs dry. So she won't have to come back to the well ever again. So verse 16, Jesus shifts gears a little bit and takes the conversation deeper. Now He's going to get into heart issues. He said to her, go, call your husband and come here. You want this water? Bring your husband. Bring him here. Jesus begins to confront error in her life. He first confronts the error of immorality, verses 16 through 18. The error of immorality. Go get your husband. She replies, technically accurately, I have no husband. What husband? And Jesus fills in the blanks that she conveniently left empty. You say correctly, you have no husband. In fact, you've had five husbands and are now living with another man who is not your husband. That's a good one. is trying to regain control of the conversation. Notice what she says. The woman answered and said, verse 17, I have no husband. She said to her, if you've said correctly, I have no husband. Verse 19, the woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Wow! You pulled that out of a hat. Now look, notice verse 20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Let's sanitize this conversation a little bit and talk theology. You've pointed out some problems in my life, but let's talk on a higher level about who's right in this Jew-Samaritan debate about where we ought to worship. She's trying desperately to redirect the conversation. Since you're a prophet, let's talk theology, because I really don't care to discuss the subject we've just been on, my own sin. Let's intellectually sterilize the conversation. Jesus, having confronted the error of her immorality, now moves on to confronting the error of religion, verses 19-24. She asked the question, is God to be worshipped on Gerizim or in Jerusalem? Jesus says, I don't care. He didn't quite say that. Jesus says that both mountains are obsolete. It's not about mountains, worshipping on mountains. You want to draw me into this theological debate, this Bailerwick, You know, theological pickle. I'm not going to be drawn into that. In fact, I'm going to use your question that is, I believe, designed to get off the subject that she was very uncomfortable with. And he's going to use it and turn it right back around and bring it to a hard issue. Jesus says both mountains are obsolete. That is that they have little to do with worship at all. The place of worship makes no difference. What is important is not the where of worship, but the whom of worship and the how of worship. Jesus says here that your worship has to be done in spirit and in truth. Her worship has been done in ignorance. They have not accepted as Samaritans. The full picture of God is presented completely in the Old Testament and is mediated through the Jewish nation. Samaritans rejected all of the Old Testament except for the first five books, the Pentateuch. They rejected the rest of it. They even established their own temple for some time. But God had mediated His salvation through the Jewish nation, through the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. The Messiah is a Jew. True worshipers, however, will worship in spirit and in truth. with intensity and with integrity. Neither lifeless orthodoxy nor passionate heresy is what God is seeking. God is seeking one who is passionate, but whose passions are informed by truth. That's what God wants. He wants this perfect melding of truth and heat. Light and heat. This is in keeping with God's nature. God is spirit, as Jesus said. And those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. So Jesus says, look, it's not about location. It's not about Gerizim. It's not about Jerusalem. It's not about Jew or Samaritan. It is not about religion. It's not about who's right and who's wrong. It's about giving the Father what He seeks. True worship. worship in spirit and in truth. Now, some people get very emotional about God when they talk about Him, but their talk is not in accord with truth. They get very excited about God, but their understanding of God has not been informed by truth. Others get very excited about truth, but their excitement about truth doesn't translate into passion for God. Theirs tends to be a lifeless orthodoxy. Both are evidences of an empty religion. Part of sharing the gospel is refuting error, refuting wrong thinking, wrong beliefs, and refuting it with truth. That's exactly what Jesus is doing here. He takes her attempt to get the conversation off into a different setting. He doesn't render a verdict on whether Jerusalem or Gerizim ultimately is the place. He says, look, you're asking the wrong question. The issue is, are you a worshipper of God in spirit and in truth? Because that's the kind of worshipper that God is seeking. Final lesson we can learn from Jesus tonight, as He shares with the Samaritan woman, is that Jesus reestablishes His rightful place, verses 25 and 26. Jesus reestablishes His rightful place. She again seems to not like where things are going. Verse 25, the woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming. He was called Christ. When that one comes, he will declare all things to us. Oh, Jesus, I've heard you out. Thank you for clarifying my question, you know, about whether it's this mountain or that mountain. Appreciate what you said very much. You know, I just take time out and say, you know what, we're going to have to leave that for Messiah when he comes. When he comes, he'll answer all our questions. I think you've done a nice job of trying to attempt to answer my deep question, but we'll wait for Messiah to come. When He gets here, I'll take a number and ask Him. He's going to declare all things to us. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. One of the clearest, clearest instances where Jesus claims unabashedly, irrefutably, to be the Messiah. He isn't presenting himself here as merely a rabbi, some great teacher, some moral leader, a political activist, anything like that. He presents himself to be the Messiah. Here he declares who he truly is. Not merely an unusual Jewish male who was willing to spark up a conversation with a Samaritan woman. He's not merely a prophet. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Chosen One of God who will take away the sins of the world, the sins of the Jews, the sins of the Samaritans, the sins of the Gentiles. He is the giver of living water. He is Himself that living water. This is the only place outside of Christ's later trials that He so distinctly and clearly declares His Messiahship. Probably because He's speaking alone with a peasant girl from Samaria. You see, Jesus clarifies, makes it crystal clear what the issue is. The issue isn't about Gerizim or Jerusalem The issue is about who He is. His identity. And is she going to accept that? Is she going to believe that and submit her life accordingly? Jesus is not one of many options. He's not merely a great man. He's not merely a great prophet, a great teacher. He is Messiah. God's Son. He is the living water. Jesus declares His rightful position with the Samaritan woman. And we must declare Christ's rightful place with unbelievers around us. That's what it has to come down to. And that's why, ultimately, the Gospel is, in some sense, confrontational. The Gospel, when truly presented, presents a person with a dilemma. A choice. Am I going to continue on as I have before I ever had this conversation and heard this truth? Am I going to continue along my merry way even though this person has just told me that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation? Or am I going to recognize Jesus for who He claimed to be? Am I going to surrender my life? Am I going to repent of my sin and trust in Him and follow Him all my days? Every true gospel presentation, I believe, must at the end present a fork in the road. We must declare Christ's rightful place as Lord of all. And we must present the reality of what it means to fail to acknowledge Christ as Lord and the judgment that awaits. Jesus shared the Gospel with this woman. He reached out to her looking for an opportunity, taking and seizing that opportunity and pointing the conversation toward spiritual truth He then revealed that truth to her, sharing Scripture, sharing himself. He refuted her error, the error of her immorality, the error of her theology. And he re-established his rightful place as the Messiah, the Christ. Not one option among many. The reality is that what we do with Christ has eternal consequences. Well, what happened? Well, let's read on. Verse 27, at this point, his disciples came and they were amazed that he'd been speaking with a woman. Yet no one said, what do you seek? Why do you speak with her? So the woman left her water pot and went into the city and said to the man, come, see a man who told me all things that I have done. This is not the Christ, is it? They went out to the city and were coming to Him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But He said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples were saying to one another, no one brought Him anything to eat, did He? Somebody slipped the Lord a sandwich. Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say they are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case, the saying is true. One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored, that others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Verse 39, from that city, many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told me all things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them. And He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word. And they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe. For we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world." Jesus reached out to one woman. And as a result, an entire community was impacted. Heavenly Father, burden for the lost, a burden that makes us hungry for opportunities to share the truth of Christ, that makes us willing to, even though we're terrified and scared and not sure what to say, makes us willing to open our mouths with a holy boldness to speak forth the truth of the Gospel Lord, give us wisdom in directing conversations spiritually. Help us in our conversations to be bold enough to speak truth, to confront error. Help us to make sure that we do share the true gospel of a holy God, a sinful race of human beings, a sinless Christ, A saving sacrifice. Lord, thank you for saving us. For removing our guilt and our sin. For reconciling us to our God and Father. For placing within us a hope of eternal life. Indeed, eternal life that is ours already. Already now. We have this spring within us bubbling up unto eternal life. Thank You for the satisfaction that we can have through You and in You. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.