Well, speaking of the word tonight, if you will turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter four, we're gonna be looking at just six verses, John four verses 25 through 30. We're in the middle of this encounter that Jesus has with the Samaritan woman. And you perhaps noticed it in my prayer and it's on my mind because it's going to be a major theme of my teaching the gospel of John over the next week is this theme verse or purpose statement that the Apostle John wrote at the end of his book in chapter 20 when he says these things are written in other words these things in this gospel are written that you might know that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you might have life in his name. And so with that in mind we come to this chapter where Jesus is encountering this woman at the well in the place called Samaria. And of course, you cannot get any more blatant about Jesus being the Christ than in this passage that we're going to read tonight. And it is given to someone considered on the lowest strata of society. In their society, Jewish rabbis were not expected to ever speak to a woman. in public. It was just not done. Not only that, but we looked last week at how Samaritans were certainly not beloved by the Jews. In fact, a rabbi would usually, in this case, go completely around the territory of Samaria just to avoid encountering Samaritans. And so here he is at this well speaking to a woman, shocking development, We've already seen how she has looked at him and interacted with him, and we'll get a little bit into that again tonight, but we pick it up at 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. Just then his disciples came back, They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, what do you seek or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to him. As we consider this short passage, let us turn briefly to the Lord in prayer. May you guide our ears to hear your word by your spirit. May you give us hearts to understand your word. May we apply it by that same spirit to our lives. That we might be teachable, we might learn, and we might grow with you. And Father, we pray that anything said, done, or thought here that is inconsistent with your word shall pass away, never to be heard from again. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, imagine the joy of the gospel when you have heard it for the first time and you have believed those words. The joy of the gospel is all through the New Testament. In fact, earlier in this book of John in chapter three, Jesus had the opportunity to share the gospel, the pure gospel of faith in Jesus Christ with the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Now, we don't know whether Nicodemus came to faith We tend to think that perhaps he did because we encounter him again at the very end of the book at Jesus' crucifixion. Here was Jesus telling someone who knew all about the law. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He knew everything about the Old Testament, particularly the first five books of the Bible, which he likely had memorized. And so he was someone who knew all these things of the Old Testament, and Jesus had the privilege of sharing with him the gospel. And of course, part of this was John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And hopefully, Nicodemus received the joy of salvation. Later on in the book of Acts, Philip the Evangelist, one of the early deacons in the early church, He had the privilege of being sent by the spirit to a chariot where an Ethiopian eunuch was riding down in this chariot while reading the book of Isaiah. And this man turned to Philip and he said, can you help me understand these words? And here, Philip had the great opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, showing that Jesus was the Christ from the book of Isaiah. to the Ethiopian eunuch. And here in this chapter, Jesus encounters someone very different. This was a Samaritan woman, again, an outcast because the Jewish people did not accept the Samaritans in their religion. She also seemed to be an outcast because here she had In this circumstance, she was going to this well in the heat of the day when the other women would not be around, when she was alone because of her unethical or immoral reputation. She was an outcast in society, and so here she was, perhaps the lowest of the low, and Jesus has the opportunity to share with her the core truth of the gospel. that he is the Messiah or the Christ. And of course, this woman, like the other Samaritans, they actually only accepted the first five books of the Bible. They threw out the prophets. They threw out the history books of the Old Testament. And of course, at this point, the New Testament wasn't written yet. And so here, even to those with no true scriptural knowledge, at least of all of its content, Jesus had the opportunity to share the gospel with. And so here is the situation. We're going to look, first of all, at the Samaritan woman's pondering. Secondly, we're going to look at the Messiah's clear claim. And finally, we'll look at the Samaritan woman's evangelism when she came to faith. First of all, the Samaritan woman's pondering. Just to get a refresher a little bit about this conversation. Jesus encountered her at this well. His disciples had gone into town to get some supplies. And so here he was, this woman was coming to the well, and he engaged her in conversation. And her first response in verse nine is this. How is it that you, speaking to Jesus, of course, a Jew, asked for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no associations or dealings with Samaritans. This was a reminder that she understood the circumstances. She knew somehow, we don't know exactly whether it was dress or custom or his dialect or what it might have been, but she recognized immediately he was Jewish. And so her first response to him is that this is a shockingly crazy Jew. He is someone who is doing absolutely beyond what tradition would expect. He's not only talking to a Samaritan, he's talking to this Samaritan woman. And then as they engage in this conversation, he begins to talk about the well and about living water and about how if she knew who he was, she would ask him for living water. And so by verse 12, here is her next response. Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock because she only Like the other Samaritans that accepted the first five books of the Bible, rejected everything else, the most important historical figures in their religious tradition would have been individuals like the patriarchs and like Moses and so forth. And so here, how could this man, by claiming to have living water, some kind of water that was better than the water you could get from this well, which was dug by Jacob, a couple thousand years previously, how could this arrogant Jew really be better than Jacob? So she goes from thinking he's a shockingly crazy Jew to thinking that he's an arrogant Jew, even perhaps placing himself on a level above the patriarch, Jacob, the man by which Israel was named. And so they continue the conversation. He talks about this water that if you get this water from him, it will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And then verse 15 reveals to us that by this time she finds that he's an intriguing man. She says, sir, give me this water that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. In other words, she desires what he has to offer and here she begins to change her perception of him. And of course, we know the shocking thing that happens next. Jesus tells her to call her husband. She answers and says, I have no husband. And then he reveals to her the knowledge he has. Remember, they're complete strangers up to this point. And he says to her, you are right in saying, I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true. So what is the next thing the woman ponders about this man? First of all, she thinks he's crazy. Secondly, she thinks he's arrogant. Thirdly, she finds a desirable thing that he has to offer. She's intrigued by him. Now she looks at that and she wonders how in the world he could possibly know all those things about her. And she says, I see that you are a prophet. This is perhaps one of the highest commendations she could have given anyone. at this point is to say that someone was a prophet. She's indicating that this knowledge she has of the intimate details of her life could not be acquired anywhere else but by divine revelation. And so she says you are a prophet in verse 19. And then they have this discussion because she doesn't want she wants to change the topic. She don't want to talk about her sin and her immoral history and all the problems that she's had and so they've turned to it. She begins asking questions about worship and the great debate between the Samaritans and the Jews and so forth. Verse 24, we were reminded in 23 and 24, Jesus says, true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth. Verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. And so then you think, well, this might be the end of the conversation. And the woman says to him, again, kind of leading to another topic, I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Here, you kind of get where she's pondering now. After he revealed that the intimate knowledge of her life and her sin and her background, and then when he had such wonderful answers to this debate about whether the Samaritans or the Jews were right in their worship practices, she begins to ponder maybe this person is more than a prophet, and so she tests the waters a little bit, and she says, could this be something more? I know Messiah, why is she thinking about Messiah? Because she sees something in Jesus that seems to be even more than a prophet. And here's her knowledge of the Messiah. What is her knowledge? Remember, she's a Samaritan. The Samaritans reject the psalms they wouldn't have had or they wouldn't have taught. Psalm 2 being a messianic psalm pointing to Jesus. They wouldn't have had the teaching about David and the line of David and the historical books which point to the fact that Jesus promised someone from the line of David would be on the throne forever. They didn't have that. They only had the vague and unclear messianic portions of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. But somehow she was still taught, Messiah is coming. She recognized that there was a Savior coming. Perhaps she heard those words about the star coming or the scepter coming out of Judah and the star and all of those vague and unclear references about a Messiah to come. But somehow she recognized as a Samaritan with these first five books of the Bible that a Messiah was coming, a Christ, a Savior. She also recognized this. The Messiah will announce to us all things. Now, where does she get that? In fact, the only place we can really kind of clearly understand that is in Deuteronomy 18, verses 18 and 19, where Moses said to the people, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. and whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him." In other words, there was someone coming who was like Moses in that he was a prophet, he would do amazing things, he would be a spokesperson for God himself, and yet that person demanded obedience. God through Moses inspired him to write these words that everyone must obey him. And so likely these are some of the teachings that they would have had amongst the Samaritans to suggest that a Christ is coming. And so this woman is pondering is this man perhaps that Messiah or that Christ? I have to say everyone who ponders one thing or another It may be that we might have a cursory knowledge of a subject. I found myself at a theatrical performance here a couple weeks ago with one of Xander's friends that was in this theatrical performance and I began to remember my days as a theater minor in college. And as I watched the show, I was wondering about the choreography and the scenery and all of the costuming and all of those things. And I began to think about those interactions I had in theater, engaged in those things, even remembering those days, I probably couldn't do it now, remembering how to put stage makeup on my face and all of those things. I thought, you know, if I were to go and I would try to give advice to that theatrical ensemble, of what they should do or how they should do it. I just had a cursory knowledge now. In fact some of the ways in which they do stage construction are very different. Back when I was in college we didn't have a part of the set being a digital screen doing different animations or different pictures or things that are in the back. The lights aren't all now not things you have to go adjust and all those things now it's all a digital and that kind of thing. So I have some knowledge but if I were to go there and share all those things that I knew it wouldn't be enough would it? You see we all see dimly. before we come to faith in Jesus Christ. We have some knowledge. We have some things we know are true or some things we take to be true. But especially with those who only have a general knowledge, who do not have the specific knowledge of the scriptures, that the scriptures reveal that Jesus is the Christ, that in Christ alone is salvation. Unless we have these things, then we will just be simply pondering who Jesus might be. Was he a good man? Was he someone that was an example for others? Is he someone that was a good teacher, perhaps, or all of those things? But here is Jesus' response. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you, am he. You see, this is the Messiah's clear claim. He says, and this is a literal translation from the Greek, the I is emphasized, In fact, when you use that verb of being, that statement, I am, it's implied, this word I is implied, but the word ego or I is also included in this passage. And so it says, I, I am the one speaking to you. You see, Jesus here first is claiming to be the Christ. When she said, I know that Messiah is coming, and he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I, the one speaking to you, I am. Our ESV translation here supplies the word he here to remind us that he's referring to himself. Jesus is claiming to be the Christ or the Messiah. And this is a no doubt claim. And the most interesting thing that all the people he could have revealed this to, even his disciples, he chooses the Samaritan woman. This is according to the gospels, at least the record we have. Of course, we don't have all of the words that Jesus spoke in his ministry, but in recording, in the recording of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this is the only public claim of Jesus before his trial to be the Christ. And he does it to the Samaritan woman, an unnamed individual who seems to be on the lowest strata of society. But Jesus not only claims to be the Messiah, he also claims the divine name. You notice those words, perhaps. I am. If you remember your Old Testament history, you know that when Moses was at the burning bush and he asked God, as God was trying to send him off to Egypt to be the instrument of God's rescue of the Israelite people from Egypt. He said, well, who should I say is sending me? And God said to him, his name, tell them that I am, or Jehovah has sent you. And he revealed his name, the divine name of God, which is the verb of being, I am. In other words, it stresses particularly that he has an unending a time period of existence. There is no beginning. There is no end. He always exists. He always is. And so here Jesus claims the divine name. He says I am the one speaking to you. Me. And it's safe to do this in Samaria. Because the Samaritans don't have as full an understanding of the scriptures. and they're outcasts from the courts in Jerusalem. And yet we know that when Jesus makes this claim in other places, it is unsafe among the Jews. In chapter eight, verse 58, he says, before Abraham was, I am. And you know what the Jewish people did? They picked up stones to stone him because they recognized he was claiming the divine name and being of God. In chapter 10 verse 30, when he makes this statement, I and the father are one, what is the response? The Jews pick up the stones to try and stone him because they recognize he's claiming to be God himself. But here with the Samaritan woman, He makes this claim, I am. And yet, the Samaritan woman is revealed an eternal truth about Jesus, our Savior. Now, of course, the disciples, verse 27, come back. It seems to be that perhaps they came back right after he made this statement. They don't seem to necessarily engage in this particular truth at this particular time. Again, what happened? They marveled that he was talking with a woman. Of course, the tradition of the rabbis was such that they would never talk to a woman in public. It was considered uncouth and damaging to their reputation that they might even have considered, especially in this case, Jesus having been alone with a woman there while they were coming back from town. And yet notice this. They recognize his authority. They don't ask the woman, what do you see? And they don't ask Jesus, why are you talking with her? This is because they have truly understood that as his disciples, as he is their rabbi, and as they have experienced the experiences of Jesus up to this point, they are in submission to him. But think about these traditions. Tradition of the rabbi here not to speak with a woman. the tradition that some share about other things. I remember growing up, we would always visit, every year when we lived in Iowa, we would visit my grandmother in Pennsylvania. But we would always stop by in Ohio to visit my great Aunt Helen. And my great Aunt Helen grew up in a more fundamentalist situation when some of the Presbyterian churches had many more rules than we have today, necessarily. And I remember my father and others were taught when they were growing up, you're not supposed to go to movies, you're not supposed to do a lot of different things, and you're not supposed to play with cards. In fact, evidently the idea was that playing cards with the king and the queen and the jack, the face cards, they considered to be evil for one reason or another. And so when we went to my great aunt Helen's house, then she would get out her other cards. She didn't have the cards, the regular pack of cards with all the face cards. She had ones with just numbers on them. And we would play what was called flinch or muggins. And we would play those games because they were considered not evil. She even had a card shuffler because she didn't want to shuffle the cards. And I thought that was fascinating as a boy. But the tradition was, You couldn't do the other things because they considered them evil. And yet here, even those raised in the household of God may inadvertently have had improper knowledge or tradition. That in this case, Jesus, the Christ, is breaking that tradition, not because he wants to be considered someone with a damaged reputation, or not because he just does it for the sake of doing it, but because he has a greater purpose and he understands that this woman needs the gospel more than he needs those who would say it's so bad to talk to a woman in public. And so here it is, he shares with her this core truth about himself that no one else is going to receive in his ministry as recorded in the gospels. He says, I am the Messiah. And so what does she do? Remember, she thought he was crazy. She thought he was arrogant. She thought he may have had an intriguing offer. Then she realized he was at least a prophet. Then she introduced the topic of the Messiah. Here he now says, I am the Messiah. So what does she do? She left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? You see, She immediately wanted to tell others about Jesus. When she understood he was the Messiah, she believed it. In fact she was so joyful about having found this Messiah she forgot her being an outcast and she had this urgency to tell others so much so she left her water jar at the well. Now perhaps that's because she intended to come back but perhaps it's also because this was such important news that she forgot all about her reason for being there to begin with. All she could think about was telling somebody else. and think about the simplicity of the message. Again, she didn't have a perfect knowledge of the history of God's work with his people. She didn't know, especially the scriptures from Joshua through Malachi. She didn't know those. She wasn't familiar with all those things. She wasn't a theologian. She wasn't a called leader, a teacher amongst the people. All she did in the simplicity of her message is first of all, she says basically, Come see this omniscient man or this man that knows everything. He says see a man who told me all that I ever did. You know this is this is the basic knowledge she has about him. He's claiming to be the Messiah and she understands that he at least has the power of God to know her innermost secrets. And so she just shares the incomplete knowledge that she has. And then she asked them a question. Is this one not the Christ? In our English translation, it says here, can this be the Christ? But the literal sense here is, is this one not the Christ? In other words, she's inviting them to say, I believe he's the Christ, but maybe you can go and prove me wrong. So she has this evangelistic fervor of urgency and yet simplicity. And it's basically this. Come and see for yourselves. She inspired others to see for themselves. You see, I think this is so often the best evangelism is when just an everyday person who comes to a knowledge of saving grace, who knows that their sins are forgiven in Christ, who knows that in him because of their faith in him, they have eternal life. They may not have all the theology straight. They may not have all the details about how the Christ is proven from the Old Testament to be Jesus. They might not know all those things. They simply say, come and see. You know, one person I'm going to really miss over the next few years is Alan Thornton. And Alan Thornton would tell you he's no teacher. He'd been a Christian only a short time. He became a Christian as an adult, not only as an adult, but after he had been an adult for many years. He'd gone to church for many years and suddenly one time in church, he realized that he was not a believer and he came to believe in Christ as his savior. But you know, one of the things that Alan would do is he would invite people to come and see. One of those people, was an individual we had the opportunity to hear, see, come to faith in Jesus Christ. And I had the opportunity to see that woman come and be baptized here in our church. And then I had the opportunity to have the privilege to sit with her as she was dying of cancer. And you know, the one thing she wanted more than anything else was for her husband to come and see. You see, that is evangelism. to know how much you love the Savior for what he has done for you. Even in that first implication that you know for the first time that Jesus is the Christ, the simplicity, the simplicity of the gospel is not necessarily bad. And sometimes the simplicity of the statement to just simply say, come and see. And of course, what are they to see? That Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, What did the people do? Remember, she'd been an outcast. She was alone. She was someone that had a bad reputation, and yet she was so filled with joy and so urgent upon them, the people began to go out of the town and come to him. And they could hear for themselves, see for themselves who Jesus was. You see, Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is the son of the living God. And the joy we have when we understand he has saved us from our sins. He's given us eternal life when we don't deserve it. The invitation then is to invite others to see those things. You don't have to have all the theology straight. You don't have to have all the right answers. Sometimes the appropriate thing is first of all, go in the Bible and see for yourself. Read the book of John, for example. Or perhaps it's come with me to church. We'll worship God together and come and see the words of truth about Jesus Christ because it points not to yourself. She's not saying look at me. I'm a different person. She's saying come and see him because he is the Christ. So here is our duty and our responsibility and our joy. to share with others. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, who was to come. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your sending Jesus to the Samaritan woman, even indicating, as Jesus said, it was necessary to go through Samaria. He had this divine appointment to share the gospel that he is the Christ with this woman, unnamed in history, and yet whom we shall meet in heaven by your grace. Father, we pray that we too might have this joyful, evangelistic attitude that we might invite others to come and see. We pray all these things in Jesus' name.