Jesus Journey Through Samaria - Living Water part 1

If you would take your Bible this morning, turn with me to John. John chapter 4. I trust that what we've been looking at through the Gospel of John has been speaking to you. I always enjoy your input. I enjoy hearing the things that you've been studying. I enjoy hearing how it's been speaking. Usually I hear those comments and questions from you and those things just to remind me, those times remind me of how it is vastly important, terribly important, that we stay in the Word over the long haul to let the Word of God do its work in our hearts. We are still in our journey through the Gospel of John.

We've been here for quite a while and we will be for quite some time. But if he's been speaking to you like he's been speaking to me, I believe that God is working. I'm thankful and I appreciate your patience. Well this morning we're going to be in chapter 4. If you study ahead or you're familiar with where we are in this book, you know that we are transitioning not only into a new chapter, but we are transitioning into a new situation in the earthly ministry of Jesus.

I want to encourage you as you study, just read and study and maybe read more than one translation, read it more than one time, so that you'll begin to see the different things that are there. And what I mean by that, you'll see Jesus transition. You'll see different peoples and there's so much there. And we're seeing going into chapter 4, this transition into a different time in the ministry of Jesus. Now we should know, and I'll repeat it from time to time, we should know the theme of the book, it's from John chapter 20 verse 31.

The verse reads, "But these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." That's the theme verse. That's the heart of John all throughout this book. Now as we venture into chapter 4, we will see John, the Apostle John, being true to this theme. John presents Jesus really as an evangelist, desiring that people may believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Son of God. Jesus is so direct in His approach in chapter 4 that in verse 26, He does confess openly that He is the Messiah.

Now this is the first time Jesus confesses to be the promised Messiah. And we will see that He does not do this. Now notice in Jerusalem with Nicodemus, remember Nicodemus was the Jew of Jews, but he does this in Samaria, and he does this to a woman. Now in chapter 4, we see that Jesus, He leaves Judea, the Judean countryside, and verse 1 and 2 tells us that He leaves for Galilee. But on His way to Galilee, verse 4 says that He has to pass through Samaria. Now this is a stark contrast from where He had previously been. Now let me show you some of the contrast here.

Before in chapter 3, chapter 2, He and His disciples had been in Jerusalem, and now He's going to Samaria. Some of you might not realize the significance, but you will as we progress through the message, and in the next few messages. Before Jesus, He administered to Nicodemus, who was the Jew of Jews, he was Israel's teacher, and soon he will be ministering to a Samaritan woman. Before Jesus and His disciples had been surrounded by Jews, they were at the really the high point of the Jewish calendar, that was Passover, but now He will find Himself surrounded by Samaritans. This is a big transition in the ministry of Jesus.

And like I said earlier, really He is evangelizing, but we will see that Jesus is evangelizing where some thought He should not be evangelizing. So, I want to give you the title of the message this morning, and that is Jesus Journey Through Samaria. Jesus Journey Through Samaria, and we will look at Living Water, part 1. We will cover verses 1 through 14 of John chapter 4. And we will be dealing with the Samaritan woman, Jesus in Samaria, and we will see first a new setting, the new setting in verses 1 through 6. Number 2, the first contact, that's with the woman, the Samaritan woman, that's verses 7 through 9.

Then number 3, the offer of living water, that's verses 10 through 12. And then number 4, the effects of living water, verses 13 through 14. I don't mean to be lengthy with these main truths, but I want you to write them down, take the time to study them in your own personal time, as I repeat all the time, so that you could get what the Lord wants you to get. So let's look at the scripture together. We're going to start in verse 1. We're going to go on down to verse 14, and then we will pick up with verse 15 next time we meet in the Gospel of John. John chapter 4, starting in verse 1.

"When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making, and baptizing more the disciples than John, although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were, verse 3, he," that's Jesus, "left Judea, and he departed again to Galilee." If you remember, where was that first miracle performed? It was in Cana of Galilee, so where do we see? He is again going back to Galilee. Verse 4, "And he had a pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria named Sakhar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, and Jacob's well was there.

Jesus therefore, being wearied from his journey, was sitting thus by the well." It was about the sixth hour. Verse 7, "There came a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, 'How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?' Now the New American has this phrase in parentheses that says, 'For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.' Verse 10, "Jesus answered and he 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.' Jesus said to him, or 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 are not greater than our father Jacob, are you, who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?' And Jesus answered and he said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.'" Now I've already given you the main truths that we're going to look at in these verses, but let's start off with main truth number one, the new setting. Jesus is in a new setting.

Now all of the translations that we study from read the same thing in these verses, verses 1 through 6. Now we learned previously in chapter 3 verse 22 that Jesus spent a lengthy period of time in Judea. Remember some commentators believe that it could have been a period of a few months. Now what was Jesus doing? Jesus was baptizing, but we know that it was his disciples that were baptizing because of what we have just read under Jesus' authority. Now logical deduction tells us that he was preaching the word, there were converts, and he spent a lengthy period of time discipling his disciples and preaching the word and baptizing converts.

Now in chapter 3 verse 26 and right here in chapter 4 verse 1 we see that Jesus' popularity with the crowds was growing. After some investigation by the Pharisees, Jesus leaves Judea, that's the countryside, for Galilee, not as much as because of the presence of the Pharisees, but we're going to see it was mostly because he was compelled to go to Galilee. So we have a new setting. I want to show you some things right here in the verse, or these verses. First, there's the issue of the Pharisees.

Verse 1 says, "When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more the disciples than John." There's this issue of the Pharisees. Now it seems here that there was an investigation by the Pharisees. We remember that the Pharisees came and they investigated John, did he not? Remember there was a delegation of those religious leaders that came to investigate John the Baptist. Now no doubt they heard that Jesus' ministry was growing, and no doubt there must have been some type of investigation by the Pharisees. But second, he left for Galilee. He left Judea for Galilee.

Verse 3 tells us that, "Now there is no indication given in the text as to why Jesus leaves for Galilee. Some writers say it was because he did not want any competition between his ministry and John the Baptist's ministry. But after reading through the chapter, I believe we will see that Jesus had more of a compelling to go to Samaria and on to Galilee more so than it was physical circumstances. But he left Judea for Galilee. The third thing, we see that he had to go through Samaria. I want you to look at verse 4 again, and he had to pass through Samaria. It's a short verse, but it's very interesting and very important that we notice this.

Now going through Samaria to get to Galilee really was not a must. It was not a necessity. Let me explain. If you look at the map of the region, you will see that Galilee was north of where Jesus was, but to get to Galilee they would have had to go through Samaria to take a direct route. But there were several routes which could have been taken by Jesus and by many of the Jews to go through Samaria to Galilee. But there was another route. There was an eastern route. There was a route on the eastern side of the shore of the Jordan River.

In taking this route from Judea where Jesus was, one would have to cross to the eastern side of the Jordan, then travel up the eastern side of the Jordan River, and then come back across the Jordan River over in the Galilee, which was to the north. Now although many Jews would travel through Samaria, the more conservative, the more orthodox Jews would take this long route. Why? Because they wanted to avoid all contact with the Samaritans. Now a question. Who were the Samaritans? Now racially there is some debate as to who the Samaritans were, but the most accepted explanation is that they were half Jew and half Gentile.

If we go back and we study our Old Testament, we will see that there was a time when God judged the nation of Israel and they were taken into Babylonian captivity. It was the prophet Jeremiah that prophesied that God was going to judge them. And the Babylonians would come and they would take the choice people of the nation, they would ransack the nation, take the choice people into exile to make them thoroughly Babylonian, but they left some behind.

And we understand and we believe, and most conservative theologians believe, that those Jews who remained there, they intermingled with the Gentile populations and they adopted their Gentile gods and Gentile customs, but yet they held on to a form of Judaism, therefore producing Samaritans are half Jews and half Gentiles. And there was always animosity between these Jews and the Samaritans and we will learn the reasons a little while through the message. So this is the setting. Jesus, he had to go through Samaria.

And then the fourth thing, he came to Jacob's well, verse 6 tells us, "Now according to tradition, Jacob's well is located just to the south of this city that's mentioned, Sakhar. Today, even today, they know where that well is and it is believed to still be in use and it is near an orthodox church even as we speak." Now, I want you to notice something out of verse 6. I want you to notice the timing of his arrival. The New American says that he arrived in the sixth hour. The Jews called 6 a.m. in the morning the time of sunrise. So if you do the math, this would have been right up at the noon day hour. And this is the setting.

We have the Pharisees coming to investigate. Jesus leaves Judea for Galilee. He goes through Samaria. The text says he has to go through Samaria, although he could have gone around the long way. He comes to Jacob's well. They're in Samaria. And what do we see? A change of scenery, a change of setting. Jesus has gone from, notice the progression, from Jerusalem to Judea and now into Samaria on his way to Galilee. Now, there's a lot that I can say here in application, but I'm going to hold on to that because as we progress through the text, the application about this new setting will really come to light.

So let's move on now that we have the setting or the new situation in our minds. Let's move on to truth number two. I want us to notice the first contact, the first contact. And we see that with verse 7 on into verse 9. "There came a woman of Samaria to draw water." Remember, he's sitting at this well. "Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' For his disciples," verse 8, "had gone away into the city to buy food." Verse 9, "What does it say?

The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, 'How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan?'" And I said earlier, the New American has this in parentheses, "For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." This is the first contact, and you might want to write down, this is the first contact with this woman. Now, in these verses, we will see the initial contact that Jesus has with this woman. And it seems that Jesus even wants to get rid of the disciples. I like how the King James deals with verse 8, because it's almost like it's just stuck in there. What does it say?

"Therefore, or there came a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' And then the text deviates, 'For the disciples had gone away to buy food.'" The King James puts that verse in parentheses. "They had gone away, but we see Jesus is at the well, and this woman comes, and what do we see?" This is this first contact with this woman. Now, I want us to see three things out of these verses. First, the Samaritan woman arrives, according to verse 7. This woman arrives, you might say, "Pastor, you've already said that," but we must see some things about this arrival.

There are truths here about this woman that we can learn from this verse, because what does it say? "There came a woman of Samaria to draw water." It was about the sixth hour we've already learned. Now, what do we see by this? Notice it is at noon, the noon time. If you do a little research, you will find the custom of the day. Well, the custom of the day was for the woman to either go early or go late to draw water. So clearly, she comes at an odd time coming at noon time. Notice also that she was alone. Again, if you do some research into the custom, the customs were that the women would go to the wells together. They would go in groups.

So get that imagery in your mind. The women would gather together. They would go early. They would go late to draw water from the well for their needs. But what do we see? This woman arrives alone. This woman arrives at an odd time. It was the noon daytime. Now, this is the first indication of her being an outcast in society, even Samaritan society. One of the commentators I used said, he even noted that she could have gone to get the water at a closer well to town, but she traveled a great distance. And in his opinion, it indicated that she was an outcast.

So when we look at this Samaritan woman arriving, if we notice details, there's a lot that indicates the type of woman this was. The second thing I want you to see is Jesus asks her for a drink. Jesus asks her for a drink. Simplistically, what does he say? Give me a drink. Now, this was a purposeful contact by Jesus. Jesus' contact, he initiated contact on purpose and with a purpose. Now, this might seem simple. For us, it might seem like no big deal. But this was a serious break of many social rules. At that day, men did not speak to women in public. As a matter of fact, they would not even speak to their wives in public.

Also, in that day, rabbinical teachers did not speak to women of a bad reputation. And the obvious was that Jews avoided all contact with Samaritans. Does she not allude to this? What does she say? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. So what do we see? Jesus initiates contact. And it was a purposeful contact that he initiated. The third thing is that the woman states the obvious. Verse 9 tells us that. She states the first and most obvious rule that was broken. Jesus broke the rule of the day by speaking to a woman. And even if they did travel through some area, Jews did not associate with any Samaritan. So what do we see?

This woman states the obvious. You're talking to me? And it was an obvious thing that anyone would have seen. Now, all of this was more intense than one might know. What I mean is, our culture is so much different than that culture. For there was bitter, bitter animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans going back centuries, as I have already said. When the Jews came back from Babylonian captivity, what do we see? They were rebuilding a temple. They were rebuilding the walls of the city. But what do we see?

In the Book of Ezra, those Samaritans stepped up and they pronounced that they worshipped the one true God and they pronounced that they would assist in rebuilding the city. But the Jews refused their help. Bitter animosity. If you do some reading, one of the resources I have I've used for years is by a man named Josephus. Josephus was a Hebrew historian. And what he did was, he told us about what went on in Jesus' day in that time and that culture. As a matter of fact, he was a Pharisee by trade. And he tells us that historically there was bitter opposition between Jews and Samaritans. But in the midst of this, we have this first contact.

Simple words, "Give me a drink." Jesus is at the well at the sixth hour. She comes and he says, "Give me a drink." And she blurts out the obvious. And so what do we see? We see a new setting, a new set of circumstances, and Jesus initiates this contact all alone because the disciples had gone to buy food. Let's move on. Let's look at main truth number three. Let's notice the offer of living water. The offer of living water. Look at verse 10. We're going to be in verse 10 through 12.

Jesus answered and he 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." Verse 11 is her response. She said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get the living water?" Verse 12, "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you, who gave us this well and he drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle." And what do we see in these verses? Notice Jesus changes the conversation. Jesus moves quickly from physical water to spiritual water.

He moves from asking for physical water to offering spiritual water and this takes place real quickly. First, notice his offer. Look at verse 10 with me. I want us to read this text again. 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." He makes an offer right here in this verse. Notice some things about this offer. Notice he is revealing his identity. It's suddenly, it's indirect almost. She would not have understood it but notice he is alluding to his identity. Notice he is offering eternal life.

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. So he is revealing subtly, pointing to his identity. Also he is offering eternal life. This living water is symbolic language which describes the new birth, being born of the Spirit, being born of God, which can only come through Jesus. So this is an offer really on the beginning or in the beginning stages. Second thing, notice her response. Two verses, verse 11 and 12. She said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get the living water?

You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and he drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle." It's a question. This is her response. Notice that she is still speaking of physical water. That's the way the conversation started. Jesus talking about physical water. He moves quickly into spiritual matters. But notice she is still speaking of physical water. Also notice that she is inquiring of his identity in verse 11 and in verse 12. She is inquiring, "Who are you?" Now, in the Scriptures, in the Old Testament, there is no record of who dug this well or of Jacob digging this well. He did move into the area.

Genesis chapter 33 tells us, "This is probably an ancient tradition concerning the origin of the well." But notice a word she uses that deals with her response. Verse 11 says she uses the word "Sir." And in using the word "Sir," she is not saying that she thinks she knows who he is. She is not picking up on what he is trying to move towards. His identity and his offer. So what do we see? Her response. She's speaking of physical water. She is inquiring of this identity. There is not necessarily any Old Testament teaching that speaks of the origin of this well. She is saying, "Sir," because she does not really know who he is.

Now, what do we see? This woman's comparison of Jesus to Jacob would have been expected. This was a normal reaction by Samaritan. Being that they claim worship of the one true God, they had a reverence for the patriarchs. They had a reverence for those Old Testament saints. Now, this was an altered view of worship, mind you. They did not have an accurate view. She was wrong. I like what Carson says. He says she misunderstood the situation in two ways. First, she misunderstood the seeming offer of living water and she misunderstood who Jesus was. She operated from the premise from which she had as a Samaritan. A faulty view of Judaism.

So there's this offer of living water in the elementary stages, mind you. Let's move on. Let's look at truth number four. Notice the effects of living water. The effects of living water. Verse 13 through 14. Jesus answered and he said to her, "I am the one who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." Now, this woman did not understand Jesus' teaching on the front end. But Jesus continues to explain this teaching on living water. This is a lot like Nicodemus.

Remember, Nicodemus did not understand the teaching of the new birth, but Jesus continued to teach the truth and she needed further explanation about this living water. And Jesus meets this need and continues to teach. Now, we're talking about the effects of this living water. Notice the effects of this living water. First, it can quench your thirst. Verse 15 through 14. "But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." This water, this living water, it can quench her thirst.

When we progress through these verses in the message to come, we'll see that this woman tried to quench her thirst in sinful living, did she not? She tried to quench her thirst outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews, which Jesus had just left, they tried to quench their thirst in Jewish legalism and formal religion, but this woman, she tried to quench her thirst in immoral, sinful living. But Jesus says, "The water that I give you, it can quench your thirst." Another effect, second, is that it can provide eternal life. Isn't that what the second portion of verse 14 says?

"But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." This water, this eternal water can provide eternal life. In this verse, we see that the source of this eternal life is only Christ. Verse 14, "But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him..." So what do we see? These are the effects of the living water. Her thirst would be quenched and eternal life would be provided. Folks, this is none other than the new birth. The birth from above. The new birth which Jesus explained to Nicodemus previously.

Jesus is using the physical teaching tool of water to explain eternal life and its effects on an individual. Simply speaking, man's physical thirst is a constant problem where man's spiritual thirst can be quenched once and for all in this living water which was Christ. And that's why he said in verse 10, "If you knew the gift and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would give you living water." This living water can only come from Christ. Now I'm not sure how much Old Testament knowledge this woman had.

Traditionally, the Samaritans only believed the first five books of the Bible, the Old Testament, and they did not believe in the prophets. But the Old Testament speaks of this inner satisfaction, this inner transformation. I'll read to you just a couple of verses. Isaiah 55 verse 1, the first portion of verse 1. "Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come by and eat." What is that? That is the thirst that only God can quench. Verse 3 says, "Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live." That same language, speaking of individuals coming to have their spiritual thirst quenched.

So what do we see? We see the effects of this living water. Now as we move towards the conclusion, I want us to take a step back from our notes, a step back from the truths that we've been in. What do we see? We see this new setting. Jesus leaves Judea. Jesus has to go to Galilee. He's compelled by God to go to Galilee. He must go through Samaria. He stops here at the well at the sixth hour. And he has this contact with this Samaritan woman. He starts off by talking of physical things, but quickly escalates into talking about spiritual things, this living water.

He begins to offer her this living water, because she does not understand nor understand who he is. And then he gets quickly into the effects of this living water. And what do we see? Jesus and the living water there in Samaria. Now as we move from the text, I want to begin to conclude by asking us two questions in application. And I want you to listen close. First question. Who is the Samaritan woman for you? We will see as we continue in the text, I guess I'm speeding ahead. When the disciples came back and they found him talking with a woman, a Samaritan woman, they were completely astonished. Because he was breaking every rule.

He was in Samaria talking to a Samaritan woman, and we will find out one of terrible reputation. And mind you, he was doing this alone. And they were appalled. They were insulted. They were rocked to the core. So my question is, who is the Samaritan woman for you? There is a great danger that can creep up on us in the life of the church today, in being the people of God, and I use this language frequently, in the house of God, doing the work of God, with the word of God, there is a great danger that can creep up on us, and we might not even know it. The danger of thinking that Jesus and the church is only for people just like us.

We can develop an exclusive attitude and an exclusive approach to ministry if we are not very careful. And that's exactly what the disciples had done. And if we're not careful, we can think that the church and the gospel and kingdom work is for people just like us. We must see that God's love transcends all prejudices and all barriers. God loves the black man, the brown man, the yellow man, and the white man. God loves the unchurched children just like he loves our own children. God loves the Muslim, God loves the Mormon, God loves the Hindu, and God even loves the cultural Christian who lives a total lie.

God shows no impartiality to any child or any adult or any people. Although we do know that God reveals Himself to certain people, and we do not understand the fact that God reveals Himself to some and not to some, but that does not negate God's love for humanity. So my question is, who is the Samaritan woman for you? You know that can be answered differently because we're all different. And we all come to the table, now listen, with different prejudices and different barriers. I mentioned one I remember years ago.

When I first went into the ministry, God called me in the ministry in 1996, and I went to school, went to seminary, and I can remember being in seminary class with a couple of guys from Lincoln County. I lived in Jones County at the time. I had no desire or idea that I would ever move to Brookhaven. But I remember distinctly a time I had a conversation with a young man who was born and raised in Lincoln County. Now I know we're in the edge of Lincoln County. We're in Lawrence County. I'll never forget this young man telling me how many churches in Lincoln County had what's called closed door policies. They had closed doors to blacks.

I've heard stories. I've heard stories of how in the past when people of an African American descent would come into the church, they would escort them out. What are they saying? They're saying the church is from me and people like us and not you. I'm so thankful we don't have that here. If you are prejudiced against any race in any way, shape, form, or fashion, it's sin. It needs to be repented of. That's just how this same mindset can be fleshed out. And what am I trying to show you? I'm trying to ask you a question. Who is the Samaritan woman for you?

The second question is, do you possess this well of living water springing up to eternal life in you? Or do you have empty tradition, formalism, legalism, like the Jews? Remember Jesus had just left the Jews in Jerusalem. What was Nicodemus dealing with? He was dealing with his traditions and his former religion, the law and legalism. He was dealing with his heritage. And there are a lot of people in the life of the church, that's what they hold on to. They hold on to their traditions, their formalism, their legalism, the fact that they are good Baptist folks. And all along they might be empty of this living water.

But you know, there are some people like the Samaritan woman. You might say, "Yes, preacher, there are people in the life of the church of ill repute." No, that's not what I mean. The Samaritans had a distorted view of God. Listen to me. They claimed to worship the one true God, but yet in their original condition, they worshiped the pagan gods of the Gentiles that they intermingled with. And as the Jews came back to the homeland, they claimed to leave those pagan gods behind and worship the one true God. But here's where they were wrong.

They only accepted the first five books of the Bible, and they refused to worship God in Jerusalem at the temple. They had their own place of worship, therefore contradicting the word. What am I showing you? They had a distorted view of Judaism. There are a lot of people in the life of the church. They're exactly like the Samaritan woman. And I'm not talking about of immoral reputation. A lot of people in the life of the church, they have a distorted unbiblical view of Christianity, and they hold on to that even in the face of true Bible preaching. I received a text message this week from a friend of mine.

He'd been serving on staff at a church for quite some time. And he sent me a text message, and he basically said, "Harrison is alive and well at my church." I was like, "Boy." He went on to tell me that there was an older lady, a sweet lady, a precious grandmother in the life of their church, had taught Sunday school for 30 years, and she openly confessed that she never believed that Jesus was deity, God in the flesh. That's heresy. I thought immediately the first few sermons, verses in John chapter 1, dealt with that. Did they not? A faulty view of Christianity.

So my question is, do you possess this well of living water springing up in you of eternal life, or are you like the Jews? You've got traditions, and you've got formalism, and you've got your own little religious box that you hold on to, or are you like this Samaritan woman? You've just got this distorted view of the truth, which is really not a truth at all. It's a lie. I've seen many people in the church today are just like these two groups.

And there are those who are satisfied with their traditions, their formalism, and their legalism, and there are those who are satisfied with their distorted view of Christianity, and all along they're dead. And you know, actually, this Samaritan woman was just as dead as Nicodemus, was she not? Was she not? Both dead. Both needing a new birth. Both needing a birth from above. Now as I close, I want to give you two examples. I thought about this last night as I was finalizing my message. I don't know if you realize it, but Brother Keith and I are right in the middle of this message.

I'm not sure if it was the AM message or the PM message, but when Brother Keith preached to my absence a couple of weeks ago, he referred to the fact that he is a "recovering Pharisee." I've heard him use that language before. What is he talking about? He's talking about that heritage. See, he was much like Nicodemus. He had the traditions. He had the formalism. He had this little box of Christianity that he lived. Because of his heritage and his roots, he was more so like this Nicodemus. He performed well on the outside.

All along he was dry and dead on the inside, and he did not have this well of living water springing up towards eternal life, much like Nicodemus. See, I was much like the Samaritan woman. I had a very faulty view of Christianity, a very distorted view of Christianity. You see? There are people all around us that are just like the Samaritan. So as I close those two questions, see, it's really a double-edged sword this morning. Who is the Samaritan woman for you? Sometimes that's the very person that God wants you to go to. Isn't that what God did for Paul? The Jew of Jews and Apostle of the Gentiles?

He had to go to those he never would have touched. Who is the Samaritan for you? And do you possess this living water springing up to eternal life, two very loaded questions that come right out of this text? What do we see? Jesus journey through Samaria. Very interesting. We had living water this morning, part one. We will pick up in verse 15 the next time we are in the Gospel of John together. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the truths in this message, the example in this message. Lord, these are verses that many of us are familiar with. We've read through the years, studied.