Transcript Be Alive The Bad Samaritan John 4

Be Alive
The Bad Samaritan
John 4
• Various kinds and classes of people
came to Jesus: the Samaritan woman
and her friends and nobleman
• The Samaritan woman
– Samaritans were a mixed race, part Jew
and part Gentile coming out of the Assyrian
captivity of Israel (10 tribes) in 727 B.C.
• Orthodox Jews avoided the Samaritans
• Samaritans established their own temples and
religious services on Mt. Gerizin
– Jesus was no respecter of person
• Nicodemus, a moral and religious Jewish leader
• Unnamed immoral Samaritan woman
– Interview with the Samaritan woman
• He is “a Jew” (7-10)
– Improper for any man including a rabbi to speak to a
strange woman, but Jesus was more concerned about
her soul
– “Living water”, no sales talk
– Ignorance: who he was, what He had to offer, and how
she could receive it
• “Greater than Jacob” (11-15)
– Confusion of material (literal) and spiritual
– Whosoever drink water will thirst again, but
whosoever drink of the water He gives will never
thirst.
» No satisfaction from the things of the world
– In hell people cry out “I thirst”
– Life: 36 times
» Jesus gives the living water of life
• “Prophet” (16-24)
– Preparing the soil - admission of sin
» Jesus - go and get your husband
– No conversion without conviction
» Conviction and repentance leads to saving faith
– She changed the subject – what’s the difference
between Jewish and Samaritan religion
» More comfortable to discuss religion than facing
one’s sins
» Spiritual ignorance: she did not know who to
worship, where to worship and how to worship
» Faith through Jewish is acceptable; the Bible is of
Jewish origins; our Savior is a Jew; first
Christians were Jews
» Worship is no longer limited to the temple;
• “The Christ” (25-30)
– The woman knew that Christ will come and reveal the
secrets of her heart
» “I am he that speak”
» She put her faith in Jesus and was converted
» Evidence: she dropped her waterpot and shared
with other Samaritans
» She was satisfied when she had the living water
– Jesus was patient working with her
– The disciples (4:31-38)
• “I have a meat that you know not of”
– Doing the will of God leading the woman to salvation
was a true nourishment for His soul
– The disciples were satisfied with bread while Jesus
was satisfied with accomplishing God’s work
– The will of God should be a source of strength and
satisfication
– “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is
within my heart” (Ps. 50:8); doing the will of God fed
and satisfied Him inwardly.
– The Samaritan woman was doing the will of God as
well as finding excitement and enrichment.
• Harvest: the source of food
– It applied to the ministry of winning the lost souls.
– We planted the seed of God’s Word in the hearts of
people who hear it and cultivate the the seed by love
and prayer. When the time comes, the seed may bear
fruit.
– The harvest was ready, or ripe and needed only the
faithful workers regardless of the discouraging
circumstances.
– No competition in the Lord’s harvest.
– One sows and another reaps, but each receives his
honest reward and God gets the glory (I Cor. 3: 6-9)
– An opportunity to witness is never a wasted time and
energy.
– Peter and John had worked in the harvest among the
Samaritans (Acts 8: 5-25)
– “Labor” in Greek means wearied (John 4: 38)
– Sowing, cultivating, and harvesting are difficult tasks
in both physical and spiritual realm.
– The Samaritans (4: 39-42)
• Many Samaritans believed because of the
woman’s testimony and many more believed when
they heard Jesus personally.
• The new converts be grounded in the Word.
• Samaritans declared Jesus as “the Savior of
the world”, not of Samaritans and Jews (4:42)
• Acts 1:8b - …and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth. (Underlined emphasizes)
• He was in Jerusalem (2:38), in Judea (3:22),
Samaria (4:4)
• The Samaritan woman was a faithful believer:
she bore fruit (many believed), more fruit (
many more believed), and today continues to
bear much fruit to the glory of God (15:1-5)
– The Nobleman 4: 43-54)
• After Samaria, Jesus went to
Galilee of Gentiles in Cana (4:3)
• He cultivated the seed. He
planted there when the wedding feast occurred.
• Nobleman from Capernaum met
Him (20 miles away)
• Nobleman: Jew or Gentile? What position?
• He believed that Jesus can heal his dying son
• Two mistakes:
– Jesus had to go to his hometown to save his son
– If the boy dies, it was too late.
• “Go thy (your) way; thy (your) son liveth.”
• He believed and returned home
• Faith:
– Crisis faith: the father was losing his sonand had no
other way to go except Jesus
– Confident faith: He believed Jesus’ words and had
peace in his heart. He returned knowing his boy was
out of danger
– Confirmed faith: He found out that his son was healed
when Jesus told him to go his way and that his son
lived
– Contagious faith: he shared experience with his
family and others
• Jesus’ performance:
– At distance: He healed nobleman’s son and centurion’s
servant from a distance (out of town)
– Over time: water into wine and healing of the
nobleman’s son; it didn’t take a season or time for
miracles. Jesus’ miracles were instantaneous copies of
Father's work (John 5:17)
– Power over space: Jesus was in Cana and the sick boy
in Capernaum.
– No limit for Jesus
– Matt 19:26 - But Jesus beheld them, and said unto
them, With men this is impossible; but with God all
things are possible.