Jesus Journey Through Samaria - Living Water part 2

We'll take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the gospel of John, John chapter four. We are still marching down the road in our journey through the gospel of John and the title of the series is Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. We saw last week that Jesus is really exhibiting an evangelistic heart in that he is desiring to take the gospel to all types of people. Now last week we transitioned, or the previous week when we were in the gospel of John, we transitioned into a new setting in the earthly ministry of Jesus.

We learn in our message in verses one through 14 that Jesus is ministering in a new place and that place is Samaria. Now in his journey north from Judea we know that he had left Jerusalem, he spent an extended amount of time in Judea, baptizing, preaching, ministering to his disciples and in his journey from Judea to Galilee verse four tells us that he had to pass through Samaria. Now was there pressure from the Pharisees? We really don't know. We do know that verse one tells us that the Pharisees did investigate Jesus' growing popularity, Jesus' growing ministry and some have proposed the idea that there was pressure from the Pharisees.

No doubt Jesus did experience the pressure from the Pharisees many times but yet we know that he did not do anything out of external pressure. Maybe there was a factor in that, we don't know, but we know that Jesus was compelled by the Father to go to Galilee by way of Samaria. Verse 34 tells us that, verse 34 says, Jesus says, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." What is he saying? "I had to go through Samaria to accomplish the work of my Father." So there is this new setting in a new place with strange people in a obvious, strange situation with this Samaritan woman.

Now as Jesus interacted with this Samaritan woman, we learned that Jesus was in the process of offering her living water or eternal life. Jesus offered her living water in verses 10 through 12 and then he explains the effects of this living water in verses 13 through 14. Now it's important for you to see that this is just part of the entire story. It's a part one, it's a part two, and we're going to get the whole story, the whole situation, the whole sermon, the whole experience between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

But previously in verses 1 through 14, it's just part of the story, part of the account where Jesus is ministering to and offering eternal life to the Samaritan woman. Now before we get into the second part of this message, I want us to see some similarities between Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman and Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus. Now we are not too far removed from chapter 3 where you would need much reminding. We know that Jesus spent an extended period of time with Nicodemus.

He was the Jew of Jews, the Pharisee of Pharisees, Israel's teacher, and he, Jesus, gives him the offer of eternal life and he preaches the word to Nicodemus. Now we know that they're very different, but I want you to notice some similarities between the interaction with the Samaritan woman and the interaction with Nicodemus. First of all, notice that both are lengthy interactions. Jesus spent quite a bit of time there with Nicodemus. He put quite a bit of truth in his lap. It seems like he took a little more time to lay out for Nicodemus' eternal life. And he does the same thing with this Samaritan woman.

He listens to the Samaritan woman, he meets the Samaritan woman right where she was, and he spends a lengthy amount of time giving her the truth of the word. Second, we see that Jesus met both of them right where they were. Think about the differences, but yet the similar approach by Jesus. Jesus goes to Nicodemus and where does he meet him? He meets him in the middle of his Judaism. And the fact that he was the Jew of Jews, a leader in Israel, and he knew the Old Testament scriptures. He picked up with the Old Testament and he presented what? The promised Messiah and he laid out eternal life from where Nicodemus was.

Now what does Jesus do with the Samaritan woman? He meets her at the well and they're talking about physical water, and then he moves quickly into talking about eternal water, living water, Christ Jesus himself. He met them right where they were. Also, they both struggle for understanding. We know that Jesus goes back and forth with Nicodemus and he basically says to him, "You are Israel's teacher and you do not understand what I'm teaching you?" And we see the Samaritan woman, she struggled to understand. And then the last similarity is both do come to faith in Christ. Now why do I take the time to compare both situations?

When we look at the situation with the Samaritan woman, the situation with Nicodemus, and when we see Jesus approach, we see the evangelistic heart of Christ, the love of Christ, as he desires to reach both Jew and Gentile and to present to them the new birth, eternal life, living water. Now I've already said that this is a part two, and we're going to be looking at this morning Jesus' journey through Samaria, living water, part two. We will be in verses 15 through 26. Previously, we looked at verses 1 through 14, and this morning we will really just pick up right in the middle of this interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

Let's look at our scripture together. Let's read the text together, and then we will look at the main truths that really come to the surface out of this text. Verse 15, "The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.'" Remember, he's dealing with her about physical water, but he's moving to talk about eternal water, the living water.

Verse 16, "And he said to her, 'Go call your husband and come here.' The woman answered, and she said, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You have well 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 truly said.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.' But Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father.

You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be His followers.'" Verse 24, "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 who is called Christ. When the one comes, He will declare all things to us.' And Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.'" Now we're going to look at four truths out of these verses.

Truth number one, we're going to notice her understanding. That's out of verse 15 and over into verse 19. Then we're going to notice her sin is exposed, verse 16 and 18 through 18. Then her misguided worship, verse 20 through 24. And then last, his revelation, verse 25 through 26. This is just a continuation of Jesus' journey through Samaria offering living water to this Samaritan woman. So let's look at main truth number two in our outline. Her misunderstanding. Her misunderstanding. Look at verse 15 again. The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water.

Saul will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.' And then he said to her, he deals with her sin. But what do we see here in verse 15? She is talking about physical things and he is talking about spiritual things. Let me move on down to verse 19. The woman said to him, 'Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Her father's, the woman said to him, 'Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.' She did not understand who he was. She did not understand the totality of the situation at hand. The woman's response reveals that she obviously did not understand what was being said, nor who was talking to her.

Now remember that I said earlier that she is much like Nicodemus being slow to understand what is being brought before her. Remember Nicodemus? We saw his failure to understand in verse 4 and verse 9 of chapter 3 and then in verse 10 Jesus confronts him and says, 'You do not understand these things.' And she does not understand, verse 19, who this man is and she does not understand what he is teaching from verse 15. Now I want you to see there are three basic things that this woman failed to understand. First that Jesus was speaking of spiritual matters. Verse 15, what does she do?

She talks about physical water and Jesus has been talking about spiritual water. Now Jesus uses physical water as a teaching tool. It's an introduction to the spiritual teaching. It is meeting her right where she was, but she did not understand that Jesus was speaking about spiritual matters. Second, she did not understand that she had deep spiritual problems. We see that beginning in verse 16 and we're going to look at that in our next main truth. But what do we see? She did not understand that she had extremely deep spiritual problems. And then third, she did not understand exactly who Jesus was. What does she say in verse 19?

She basically says, 'I perceive that you're a prophet.' So what do we see? This woman simply lacks spiritual understanding in the entire situation that was before her. Not just the message, but the messenger. And not just the message and the messenger, but her own spiritual condition. This is a total lack of understanding of everything that is before her, even her own heart and her own life. So that is her misunderstanding. Let's move on. I want us to see number two, her sin is exposed. Her sin is exposed. Let's look at verse 16. We'll go on down to verse 18.

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 said, 'Well, I have no husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.' So what do we see? Jesus, he shifts in his approach with this woman. Previously, he had been teaching on living water. Now I'll say it like this. That was the sermon in verses 1 through 14. He had this sermon about living water. Now we see Jesus go into what I call the application of the sermon.

He gets into applying it to her own life, and in so doing, he dives right into exposing her sin. Some might think this is very abrupt. Some might think this is very bold and rude, but this is a necessity that we will see. I like how MacArthur describes Jesus' approach. He says Jesus moved the conversation to her need for repentance and salvation from sin. See, it wasn't enough to talk with her about eternal life. He had to move into dealing with her actual condition. So let's break down these verses. First, Jesus called out her sin. Isn't that what we see in verse 16? Go call your husband and come here. He knew her condition.

He knew the situation. The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said, "You've answered well. You have had five, and the one you're with now is not your husband." So what do we see? Jesus boldly, almost rudely calls out her sin. Right here in this verse, we see that Jesus had a full knowledge of the condition of this woman. This is Jesus' deity, God in the flesh, because he fully knew exactly what this woman was and what she had done and how she had lived. Haven't we already learned that Jesus has full knowledge at times? Haven't we already seen this in the seven churches there in the book of Revelation?

With each of those churches we have learned, he says, "I know, I know. I know your condition. I know your deeds. I know where you are. I know your sin." Jesus fully knew those seven churches. And right here is the same thing. He fully understands the situation of this woman. Now I want to ask you a question. How does this issue of her sin relate to the previous offer of living water? We must answer that question, because if we do not answer that question properly, we can have a fundamental error that will cause us to fall into heresy. Jesus could not offer this woman eternal life without first dealing with her sin and her sinful condition.

We must understand what the Word says, people. The Word of God does not teach that man can have salvation without repentance. We see the Word of God teaches that a man and a young person and a woman, any person that comes to faith in Christ, must first deal with their sin and deal with repentance and bring about full repentance in their life to receive eternal life. I give you some scripture references for your own study. Acts 26, verse 19 through 20, verse Thessalonians 1.9, teach this truth that no man can come and receive eternal life without fully repenting of their sin.

And for Jesus to offer her eternal life without dealing with her sin would mean that Jesus would have been unbiblical in his own personal evangelism. That's why he had to call out her sin, because he had to be truthful and true to God's way. Jesus called out her sin. Second, I want us to see that she was honest, but honest to a certain degree. Look at verse 17. The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said, "You have well said." What do we see here? She was honest, but only honest to a certain degree. In her response, we see that she does approach Christ with a level of honesty. She told the truth, but only part of the truth.

I like what the Bible commentator D.A. Carson says. It's almost like he's trying to get into her reasoning behind her response. He says her intention was to ward off any further probing of the sensitive area of her life while masking the guilt and hurt. Maybe that's the case. We don't know what's going on in her mind. We don't know her motives behind this response, but we do see some honesty, but only to a certain degree. Let's continue. Third, let's see that Jesus explains the depth of her sin. He explains the depth of her sin. Go back to verse 17. We'll read on down to verse 18.

The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said that you have no husband." Here starting in verse 18, he gets into the depth of it. "For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly." Now, what do we see here? Jesus goes in a progression. She reveals her sin. He calls out her sin. She responds in an honest way. She was honest and truthful, at least to a degree. He does not rebuff her in that, but he moves on to explain not just her sin, but the depth of her sin. Jesus commens her almost for her truthfulness, although it was only partial truth.

But Jesus clearly condemns her current situation of cohabitation, as well as her previous five husbands. It is condemnation all the way around. There is no indication as to what happened to these other husbands. We don't know if there was a divorce. We don't know if there was death. But Jesus clearly condemns her behavior present and past. It wasn't enough that she was in immorality currently. He basically says, "You've been living a lifestyle of immorality." So what do we see? Jesus is exposing her sin, her current sin, her present sin, but her past sin, and he's getting to the very depth of who this woman was.

So truth number one, we see her misunderstanding of the situation and even Christ. Now we see her sin is exposed. But then it gets a little deeper. Let's look at truth number three. We see her misguided worship. Her misguided worship. Verse 19, "The woman said to her, 'Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet.'" So what is she doing? She's acknowledging that something is there, although she misunderstands Christ. And then she goes off into her own Samaritan religion. Verse 20, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to worship.

And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is. When the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.'" And then he goes on with this verse that most of us know.

Verse 24, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Now this is a lengthy passage of Scripture, but here in these verses we will see much spiritual truth as well as differences between the Samaritan's approach and the Jew's approach in worshiping the one true God. First, notice the Samaritans and their worship. The Samaritans and their worship. Now in her response, she brings out in the open one of the most heated differences between Jews and Samaritans, and that was the proper place of worship. That's the first thing she brought to the surface. See the Samaritans chose to worship God at Mount Gerizim.

Now many of you are probably not familiar with that particular place, but Abraham worshiped near Shechem and at Mount Gerizim, the Jews proclaimed a devotion to God's commandments. We see this in Genesis chapter 12 verses 6 through 7. But what we have here is a purposeful choice that comes from the fact that the Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament. Bible commentators call this the Pentateuch. They rejected the prophets, they rejected the Psalms, and the Samaritans only ascribed authority to the first five books of the Bible.

And so they chose Mount Gerizim by looking in these places like Genesis as a place of worship. But second, I want you to see the Jews and their worship. The Jews worshiped at Jerusalem, as we know, there in the temple. It was in Jerusalem where King Solomon built the first temple for God. Do we know our Old Testament history? Was it not King David who wanted to build a temple for God? What did he say? He said to the living God, "God, I live in a palace, but yet you reside in a tent." See how he had the right heart for God to build a temple for God, but it fell upon King Solomon, his son, to build a temple there in Jerusalem.

Now notice, according to the commandments and instructions of God. Now why the different places of worship? See the Jews ascribed authority to all of the Old Testament. And we see in 2 Chronicles 6 what? The commandment to worship in Jerusalem. And there are other scriptures that reference that. Psalm 48 verses 1 and 2, Psalm 78 starting in verse 68, Psalm 132 verse 13. All of these deal with the Jews worshipping in Jerusalem. So in a nutshell, what do we see? The greatest source of contention between them was the fact that the Samaritans worship somewhere besides Jerusalem.

And they did it because they only received the first five books of the Bible, therefore they would have rejected what? The book of 2 Chronicles. And there were major differences between the Jews and between the Samaritans. And the Jews worshipped in Jerusalem because of adhering to the Old Testament Scriptures. But the third thing I want us to see is that Jesus explains true worship. We must notice the differences first. If we're not careful, we will zoom right into Jesus' explanation. But understanding the differences come to light when we start applying the text. So I want us to notice that Jesus explains true worship.

In verses 21 through 24, Jesus begins to speak of future events as it pertains to true and accurate worship. He even refers to current events dealing with himself. Jesus begins to speak of, now listen close, the new covenant which is through his death and his sacrifice and the cross. I want us to go back to these verses. Let's look at verse 21. Remember she brought up in verse 20 their differences in worship. And Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father." Jesus is just dealing with those differences. But notice what he says.

"You worship that which you do not know." Why? Ignorance. They did not adhere to the Scripture. We worship what we do know. They adhere to the Old Testament Scriptures in their totality. For salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be his worshippers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Now in dealing with Jesus explaining true worship, I want you to notice several things. Notice first, in the future, the place of worship physically will be obsolete. Isn't that what we see?

In verse 21, Jesus says, "You worship on a mountain. We worship in Jerusalem, but there's going to come a day when that does not matter." And what does he say? The place of worship in all of the ceremonies and rituals, all of these will become null and void. Second, he says that the coming Messiah will come from the Jews. Look at verse 22, "You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we do know. For salvation is from the Jews." Now I hope you understand that Jesus was a Jew and he was of the Jewish people. And what do we see? For generations, the promised Messiah was a prophesied.

I like how Carson deals with the difference between the Samaritans and their understanding and the Jews and their understanding and this situation. He says this, "The Jews stood within a stream of God's saving revelation while the Samaritans stood outside the stream of God's revelation." Do you understand that? The Jews, Jesus was able to say, "Salvation comes from us because we see that in the scripture, but he says you are ignorant and you are outside of that revelation of truth because you do not adhere to the scripture." And Jesus is saying that the Messiah will come from the Jews.

Notice also, third, he says, "Worship will be in spirit." Verse 23, "But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." What is he saying? He is saying that the true nature of worship is going to change. He is saying that the worship of the one true God, it is in an internal heart worship, not an outward participation in religious rituals and being hung up on a geographical location. You see? He is speaking of true worship, which is a spirit worship. And this is the heart of true worship and it is not adhering to a place and a form of legalism and rituals and religious expectations.

And what do we see? That worship will be in spirit, not on these physical things. And then the fourth thing we see, notice, worship will be in truth. When an hour is coming, verse 23, "When the worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Not in a physical location, but by a new nature. But what do we see? This is a worship which stems from the truth of the Word of God. At the time of Jesus, Jewish worship had grown into an adherence of rules and regulations written by man while the Samaritans, their worship came from only a portion of the Word of God and both were in error.

Neither group had worship which stemmed from, now notice, the truth. Because if they had, they would have known who Jesus was. What do we see? Jesus is dispelling her misguided worship. It was a faulty worship. It was based on partial truth. Jesus then tells what true worship will look like through faith in Him, the promised Messiah. It will no longer be outward adherence to religious rules and rituals, but a worship of the heart which comes from this living water which is Christ. It comes from the new birth, a new nature, a new heart, a new covenant. You see? He had misguided worship. Let's continue to move on.

Let's look at the last main truth, truth number four, His revelation. His revelation. Verse 25, "The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming. He is the one who is called Christ, and when that one comes, He will declare all things to us.' And Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.'" Now as Jesus begins to wrap up this application of His sermon to the woman, we see two very powerful truths in these verses. First, she had a yearning for the Messiah. Do we not see that in verse 25? The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming.

He is the Christ, and when that one comes, He will declare all these things to us." In other words, He will explain these things to me. See, the Samaritans did have an understanding and a yearning for the promised Messiah. They would have understood verses like Deuteronomy 18, 18, Deuteronomy 24, 10. They would have seen its teaching concerning the promised Messiah. Now it is unclear how much she understood about this, who truly Jesus was. Verse 19 says that she saw Him as a prophet.

Now there are some who debate the language here, and some say that in the original language that it could read, verse 19, "I can see that you are the prophet." But we don't understand. We do not know how much she fully understood. But we do know that the Samaritans did yearn for the promised Messiah. But we do not understand how much she understood. But we do know that she had a yearning for the Messiah. The second thing we see is that Jesus purposefully reveals His identity. Jesus reveals His identity. What do we see in verse 26?

Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." This is the first time that Jesus reveals Himself as the Messiah directly. We've already discussed that. He avoided such direct revelation with the Jews, but here with this woman, the Samaritan woman, He directly reveals Himself as the promised Christ. And here we see a direct revelation to this woman, a Samaritan woman. If she was sketchy in her understanding of the Messiah, He puts those misunderstandings away by saying, "The Messiah you were hungry for and you were thinking about, I am He." Now what do we see?

I said previously that I see this portion of the text as the application of the sermon. I see verses 1 through 14, Jesus entering this new setting, and Jesus begins to preach a sermon about living water and eternal life to this woman. And then He transitions rather abruptly to making application to this woman and who she was. Now as we move away from this text, as we begin to make application and conclude the message, I want you to really listen to how relevant this situation and these truths are to where we are today. First, the issue of spiritual understanding. She misunderstood the teaching and who Jesus was. What does she have?

She has Jesus the Son of God, eternal life right before her, talking and speaking of eternal things, eternal water that could cure her of her problem. But she misunderstood. She didn't see. She couldn't grasp. I want us to see people that today we are surrounded by people who misunderstand Bible teaching and who Christ actually is. I'll give you an example, two examples. I remember several years ago, my line of work put me in contact with some people that I knew and I just so happened to be around this particular person's extended family.

And I found myself talking to an older individual who had been involved in the life of the church and Baptist work for years. Clearly they were leaders in the life of the church, taught Sunday school, taught children for years. They were in their retirement years. And this was back in the time during the presidential election when Mitt Romney was running for office. Remember that great debate that was in the mainstream media about him being Mormon? And there was debate in the life of the church as to the morality of voting for a Mormon.

But in the conversation about current events, I'll never forget this particular lady who they were leaders in the life of the church. And she began to explain that she thought Mitt Romney was a good Christian man. And when I posed questions and thoughts and statements about his Mormonism, she clearly did not understand the difference between Mormonism and Christianity. A total misunderstanding of Bible Christianity. Years of being in the life of the church, years of teaching Sunday school, years of their husband being a leader in the life of the church, but a misunderstanding of the same magnitude and level of the Samaritan woman.

Leading in the pew, leading in the church, but did not understand Bible Christianity. And that tells me that she did not understand even Christ himself. I know I referenced this example, but one of the ministers that I keep up with and do ministry with and like and love sent me one of these text messages about two weeks ago.

And briefly, the text message was, "Harrison is alive and well in my church." When he said that, my curiosity perked up and I thought, "Wow, what's going on in his church?" He began to explain how in the life of his church, there was an elderly lady, a grandmother, a loving lady, a leader in the church, a Sunday school teacher for over 30 years. She had declared that she had never seen and believed that Jesus was the promised son of God, deity in the flesh, God in the flesh. I immediately thought that the fact that in our study of John chapter 1 verses 1 through 11, dispelled that.

A total lack of understanding of Bible Christianity, proper Christology. She did not know who Christ was, a leader in the church sitting in the pew. And look, we must understand that there are people in our family, there are people in our pews, there are people in our so-called Christian culture. They are exactly like this woman. They do not understand Bible Christianity and who Christ truly is. That's why we have so many people who can declare that they love God and live contradictory lifestyles. They do not understand Bible Christianity. That's why we have people in our families who say one thing and do another.

They are not faithful to the life of the church. They are not faithful to the holy living. Why? Because they do not even understand what the Bible says, much less know God. And we need to see that there are people around us exactly like her. Now what's the answer to this failure to understand? What was her answer? She needed, now listen, truth revealed, lies dispelled, and Christ revealed. Let me say that again. She needed truth revealed. Isn't that what Jesus did? He revealed truth. Lies dispelled. He dealt with her Samaritan fallacies and himself revealed. She needed to see who Christ was.

That's why he looked at her and said, "I am He." That's exactly what our loved ones need. They need the truth revealed, lies dispelled. But listen church, the only way that can happen is when Christ the Son of God is made known to them by the power and the work of the Spirit. Listen, we could argue with them and debate with them and talk with them and wrangle with them all day long. But until the truth is illuminated by the precious Son of God and truth is revealed, they will stay in their state of understanding, misunderstanding. The second issue was he dealt with their sinfulness, did he not? Isn't it amazing?

He preaches this nice, wonderful sermon. He cultivates a relationship, breaks all these barriers, racial, spiritual, religious barriers, cultural taboos he breaks to cultivate this relationship. And then as soon as he preaches a nice, warm message, he goes right to her sin. She had a greater problem than worshiping incorrectly. It was her condition and he knew it. He had to first deal with who she was. She was a wretch before God, a sinner to the core. And see, today the church does not deal with people as Jesus dealt with this woman. Listen, to properly give people the gospel, they must be first made to see their sinful state.

But see, we believe the lie in the life of the church today. We believe this lie, that if you deal with people's sin and you get into their lives and you mind their business, you will alienate people and you will run them off. If you alienate them and you run them off, they reject the truth. But see, Jesus' method was to deal with who she was first. That's the Bible way. And we must see that the church must preach on sin, must deal with the condition of mankind. That's why we took a break between John 2 and John 3 and what did we do? We dealt with what the Bible says about man.

No man, no woman, no young person will ever be converted until the Spirit of God reveals to them that they are a sinner, a wretch, and they deserve death and double damnation. What we've done is we've gotten people to accept Christ. What we've done is we've made Jesus an accessory. You know what an accessory is? We have them in our closets, do we not? We have them in belts and ties and shoes and socks. They're accessories. That's what we've done in the life of the church. See, we don't deal with people's sin. You just need a better life. You just need to add Jesus to your life. Pray and receive Christ and He'll help you with your problems.

That's not Jesus' way. He dealt with who she was. No man, no young person, no senior adult, no child will ever, ever be converted until the Spirit of God reveals to them that they are a wretch and they deserve to be thrown into a devil's hell right now. That's what He dealt with. I'm afraid in the life of the church, the seeker-friendly movement, the easy-believism that is so prevalent in the life of the church has caused us to develop a church culture that never deals with people with where they are.

Jesus was true to the Bible way, God's way, and that's why He went right to the heart of the matter and He said, "Woman, you've got a problem." The third issue was her misguided worship. This woman's worship was misguided. Think about the fact that she had been misled all of her life. Those Samaritan leaders misguided her. What the Samaritans did was incorrect. They had a wrong place of worship and listen, it was off. They were off. They worshipped in the wrong place. Why? They did not accept the Word of God. They only accepted part of the Word of God.

That's more relevant today than you know because today we have countless churches which adhere to and propagate misguided worship. We have countless churches which adhere to certain portions of the Word of God and they will be the ones who will raise up their Bible and say they believe all of it. Well if they believed all of it, they wouldn't do much of what they do in the life of the Scripture. I can't tell you how many churches that I know of and people in the lives of these churches and they have churches who are governed by unqualified, uncalled men.

If they got back to what the Word of God said, they would understand that the church is supposed to be governed and shepherded by God called elders. See what they've done is they're ignoring that portion of the Scripture. I know churches that they do not adhere to church discipline. Why? You know you just can't do that to people today they'll say. That just offends people. Well it's in the Scripture and we must be obedient to what the Scripture says. I can't tell you how many churches I know of. They move away from preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

But see that's unscriptural as well because the New Testament church was founded on what? Preaching the Word of God. What did Peter do on that great day when the Spirit of God was poured out? He preached the Word of God and then right after that what did he do? He preached the Word of God. But see that's not culturally relevant today. You got to entertain people. Move away from these archaic methods of preaching the Word of God. I hope you have a good memory.

Remember we took a lengthy amount of time to discuss and I preached on what I call the ten pillars of the church and I said emphatically that I would not pastor a church that would not adhere to these. Now listen. Bible fundamentals for the church. What are the ten pillars? Briefly, the first one is conversion. If we don't have conversion right we fill the church up full of goats. Second is the church adhering to the life of the church. It is Christ who's coming back for what? The church. What did he do when he left? He empowered those disciples to do what? To start and propagate the church.

In all, the center of God's work here on earth is the church. The church must propagate the gospel. The church must pray. The church must believe and stand on the Word of God. The church must evangelize. The church must be involved in missions. The church must be involved in godly leadership. Participate in church discipline and have a healthy Bible based church membership. The ten pillars. But how many churches ignore these truths? They're right there at their fingertips. Many of those men have seminary degrees, doctorates in theology, and they should know the Word of God. But you know what they are? They're exactly like the Samaritans.

They take certain portions that they like and discount the other. Churches today are exactly like the Samaritans. They have their own form of worship and they worship their own way according to the scripture that they like and they ignore the other. Many of us have come from churches like that. And I'm so thankful that I hear some of your hearts that you desire a church that is scripturally based. That's why we do what we do. That's why we strive to build a church that might not look like a lot of other churches. But we want to do it. Now listen, chapter and verse, chapter and verse, chapter and verse.

And you know the sad thing for me is when I deal with friends, people that I know who are involved in churches, listen in this misguided worship. They're suffering and they're hurting. They're malnourished spiritually because of misguided worship. And it's sad to say they're exactly like the Samaritan woman. The fourth issue we saw was personal revelation. This woman needed personal revelation. Did she not? It didn't wonderful to see the patience of Jesus. He comes to her and he meets her right where she is.

He starts talking about physical water, goes into eternal living water, deals with her sin and even deals with her misunderstandings about true, what the Bible says truly about how to worship and even deals with her yearning for the Messiah. And he gets all the way to the end and he said, let me tell you, woman, the Messiah you're looking for. I am He. That is the revelation of Christ to her. And today we have countless numbers of people within the life of the church and they have not experienced a personal revelation, a personal work of God Himself. They prayed a prayer. They've committed their life to church.

They've joined the church and they perform outwardly, but they've never met Christ. We say that again. We have so many people in the life of the church. They prayed a prayer. They joined the church. They've committed their life to Christ and they perform outwardly, but they've never met Christ. Let me tell you, Bible Christians have met Christ. It does not matter if they were nine or 19 or 29 or 89 when they were converted, they met Christ. Christ revealed Himself to them. It is supernatural. It is experiential. It is mystical and He reveals Himself to them. He reveals who they are, what they are and what they need.

And He saves them by the power and the work of the Spirit. That's exactly what happened. The Messiah was standing before that woman, meeting her right where she was, and He was saying, "The Messiah you're looking for, I am He." That's exactly what happens to all of us who were converted. I can take you back to the time, years ago, when God worked in my life and brought me to the place where He got me to the bottom of myself, He showed me my sin, and He mysteriously in an experiential fashion revealed Himself to me. And all Bible Christians, all born again people, can relate how Christ revealed Himself to them.

Many times it will be through religion. They'll talk about how they went to Sunday school. They'll talk about how maybe they went through Bible drill. They'll talk about how they were involved in the programs of the life of the church. They'll talk about how they were baptized and joined the church. Many times they'll talk about how they were baptized, but then God begins to work in their life and He begins to show them that it was all externals. It was all externals and it was nothing of the heart. And He begins to show them who they really were in their nature. And He saves them.

See, that's exactly what was going on with the Samaritan woman. She had a form of external religion. That wasn't enough. She needed personal revelation. So what do we see in Jesus' journey through Samaria? Living water. Isn't that wonderful? He meets this woman right here. The disciples are gone away. One-on-one meeting with this woman. And He meets her right where she is, dealing with water. He moves quickly into who she was and what she was. And He presents living water, the true Messiah, the promised Messiah through the Jews. And He presents the living water to this woman.

Previously, when we were in this chapter, I asked you two questions. Who and what are the Samaritans to you? God calls us to go to people who are not like us. And then the second question was, do you have this eternal life, this living water that can only come from Him in you? And as I close, I want to ask you the question, are you more so than you ever realized exactly like the Samaritan woman? Exactly there are people in our churches. There could be someone here this morning, exactly like the Samaritan woman. And you know what you need? A revelation of Christ, a work of Christ, a work that only He can do.

And that is to bring you, now listen, living water. Now as I close, I want to say this to you. If you are here today, your journey to the Nola Baptist Church is not by accident. It's purposeful. Jesus' journey through Samaria was not by accident. It was purposeful. And if you're here this morning and you are just like that Samaritan woman, you are here for this day, for this time, for this hour, and for this message. Living water. Jesus' journey through Samaria, giving living water. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for this message. Thank you for these truths. Thank you for this example.

Lord, I thank you that we can see that we are far more like this woman, this Samaritan woman than we know.