The Heavenly Groom’s Unlikely Bride

John chapter 4, verses 1 through 42.

John 4:1–42

And as you hear this, believe that this is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.

And it's given for you, beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I'm done reading this sermon text for today, I'll say this is the Word of God.

And you respond, thanks be to God.

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John,

although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples,

he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

And he had to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there.

So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.

It was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus said to her, give me a drink.

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask me for a drink, since I'm a Samaritan woman?

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him,

and he would have given you living water.

The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.

Where do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob?

He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and all his livestock.

Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again.

The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

Jesus said to her, go, call your husband and come here.

The woman answered him, I have no husband.

Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true.

The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

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 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 the town and said to the people,

Come, see a man who told me all about what I ever did.

Can this be the Christ?

They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat.

But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about.

So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat?

Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest?

Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life,

so that the sower and the reaper might rejoice together.

For here the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.

Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

He told me all that I ever did.

So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

And many more believed because of his word.

They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe,

for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

And this is the word of God.

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

Let's pray.

Our gracious God, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth.

Please make us hungry now for your heavenly food,

that you may nourish us again today, Lord,

in the way of eternal life made possible through Jesus Christ, who is the bread of heaven.

Amen.

Cause us, Lord, to behold the heavenliness of Jesus Christ, who came to save his bride, the church.

Amen.

Well, when it comes to the big wedding day, the groom has one mission.

You know what that is?

It's to get his bride.

That's what the groom has to get.

And you'd be surprised how many men have messed up the very few requirements on the wedding day.

You have to be there at the right time.

You have to show up on the right day.

And you have to marry the right bride.

Well, the Bible says in Genesis 2,

Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast or cling to his wife,

and they shall become one flesh.

The picture of a wedding is really mysterious.

But this is exactly what John the Baptist said Christ is coming to do.

So wedding is really given as a sign.

It's showing us that there will be a union.

Through the flesh of Jesus Christ, God himself who took on flesh,

he will be made one with his bride.

We saw last time how, in the words of John the Baptizer,

Jesus is the groom from heaven.

And this heavenly groom, number one, cares about purity.

Remember, he was baptizing where there were waters,

and he was cleansing those who believed by the Spirit.

He cares about purity.

Number two, he has an identifiable groomsman.

And John the Baptizer is one of those groomsmen who points to Christ,

who bears witness and stands for him.

Number three, the heavenly groom attracts his bride.

They heard the sweet voice of the groom,

and all the people were going to Christ.

Number four, through the work of Christ,

there is an exchanging of seals between the son as the groom

and his church, the bride.

Jesus sets his seal upon the believer.

It's the Holy Spirit put in you the seal of God on your life.

And then Jesus commands his believers to set your seal to this,

that God is true.

Well, today we will see now the mission of this heavenly groom.

And he gets it perfectly right.

He accomplishes his mission.

He shows up on the right day at the right time.

And he does get the right bride.

However, if we're reading this correctly,

we should be shocked at what this reveals to us about his bride.

His bride, you could say, is the most unlikely bride in the history of humanity.

So let's begin by looking at verses 1, 2, and 3

to set our context for today's wedding picture.

Verses 1, 2, and 3, we read that this heavenly groom has a mission.

The Pharisees see that he's getting too much attention,

more than John the baptizer even,

so he's becoming a big threat down in the southern tribes in Judea.

And his mission requires now that he leave that area.

And the Holy Spirit will guide him to the right place,

the right time,

to meet the one the Father had prepared for him.

And we're going to see, look at verse 6,

that this meeting will take place between Jesus

and the representative bride

at a place of significance.

Look at verse 6.

We're told that Jacob's well was there.

And you'll remember the patriarchs,

the promise that to Abraham, to your seed,

will come salvation,

not just for you, but for all the nations.

So Abraham's got his eye on his physical seed, Isaac.

Well, Isaac, he gets his bride

through God bringing the right bride to the well.

And then Jacob, how does he meet his bride for the first time?

Jacob meets his wife, his bride, at the well also.

So when we're told that Jesus has been traveling,

he sits down by this well,

we're building anticipation.

We should know something good is coming.

In the attachment to Jacob,

okay, this is where brides meet their groom.

Could it be that the promised seed of Abraham

would meet his representative bride at this well?

And if so, what type of bride could possibly deserve

such a heavenly groom?

The world knows this.

The world knows that if you're Prince Ali,

glory is he.

He's going to come in on the parade

and there better be a princess worthy of such a prince, right?

That's what the world thinks.

But Jesus shows, look, this heavenly prince,

the king of glory himself,

takes on flesh.

Here's a portrait of his bride.

So when we walk through two observations

on this biblical portrait we have

of the most unlikely bride.

Number one,

the bride was from a corrupted line.

Her bloodline was corrupted.

If his was heavenly and he's the promised seed from Abraham,

promised seed all the way from Eve

that Satan's been trying to destroy at every opportunity,

hers could not be more twisted and broken and corrupted.

Look at verse 7.

This woman was from Samaria.

Samaria.

See, Samaria, that's the land of the ten northern tribes.

And you remember how all of Israel,

the twelve tribes, got taken into exile.

But Israel, the first ten tribes,

the northern tribes, they fell much sooner.

They barely had a shot.

When Joshua brought them into the land,

they were already intermarrying

and taking on the idols of the people that lived there.

They never were devoted to the Lord.

And so when the Lord banished them from the land,

the Assyrians then took other people groups

from other regions that they had conquered.

And it was a brilliant military tactic.

It was to intermingle them.

They can't get organized.

They can't have any sense of identity.

And so they sent these other people groups,

forced them to move and live in this region

that's now called Samaria.

So now, even after the exile from Assyria,

when the people come back into the northern tribes,

they are intermarrying and the idolatry never stopped.

Not for one moment.

And the people of the south had tried to help them

even build their own temple further north

because they didn't like the power struggle

of having to travel all the way down to Jerusalem.

They were so proud and hostile that they refused that help.

Civil war broke out at different points

between Samaritans and the rest of the nation of Israel,

the Jews, especially in the south closer to Jerusalem.

And Israelites would not even share a vessel.

You would never sit down for a meal.

You'd never break bread or use the same utensils or plate

that a Samaritan has used.

They were considered defiled, impure.

And don't you dare intermingle

because you'll be going down that slippery slope.

That was the caution and the warning in 2 Chronicles 20, 13.

They had enticed God's people and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom.

Look at verse 9.

This is so shocking that that's the reaction we get from the Samaritan woman.

She said to Jesus,

How is it that you, a Jew, ask me for a drink, a woman of Samaria?

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

So the portrait of the most unlikely bride is that her bloodline is corrupted.

Number two, this bride was further corrupted by her own sin.

So you picture the most defiled region in all of the promised land.

That's Samaria, hands down.

Easy decision there.

And you picture the most corrupted person within Samaria.

And it's this woman who shows up to the well.

Look at verse 6.

How do we know so much about her?

Verse 6 says,

What time of day was it?

It was about the sixth hour.

And the way of counting time is you start counting the first hour is the first hour after the sun comes up.

So the sixth hour puts you right at high noon.

It's the hottest time of day.

And it was custom in that time to never go to get water to the well alone.

So you read these accounts with Jacob, with Isaac.

I mean, that's where you could easily have robbers and bullies, you know, take stuff.

So you'd never send anyone alone to the well.

You'd go as a group and much less a woman to go alone.

And because it's so hot, it's a long trip carrying the heavy weight of the water.

You would want to be going as a group in the cool of the day, beginning of the day or at the end of the day.

And here, high noon, hot sun, so hot that Jesus is weary and his disciples are fatigued and hungry.

And here comes a woman all alone.

She's isolated.

No one wants to be seen with her, associated with her.

Now look at verse 15.

When he first hints that he has something to offer, even a woman like her, look at verse 15.

Her reaction is, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty.

Or, look at the next few words, or have to come here to draw water.

It would be enough of a reason to spare me the social shame, having to walk past everyone in the village.

Everyone kind of skirts away, pretends like they don't see me, and then they gossip behind my back.

I can't stand the social shame anymore.

She was sick of it.

Now Jesus, he does not lower the standard for holiness.

He communicates the law of the holy God.

Look at verse 18.

He's saying, you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.

He's not saying that to hurt her feelings.

He can handle the truth, and he wants her to know that.

I mean, your temptation, if you're feeling such social shame, is going to be to put some makeup on,

try to present your prettiest version of yourself,

to tell your story in such a way that he might be willing to be kind to you.

And Jesus says, disclose it all.

I know.

And the guy you've got now, I mean, it sounds like a friend.

You know, someone's got a really bad boyfriend or girlfriend,

and their true friends are like, you need to stop this, you know.

This guy's probably the biggest loser of them all.

The man you have now is not your husband.

And he just gets right to the heart.

You know, I know.

See, I think this is so significant,

because this Samaritan fornicator,

she represents unfaithful Israel.

And Israel is a picture of the people of God.

It's a picture of the church.

And until you see yourself as that woman,

you won't see the heavenliness of the groom.

The unlikeliness of the bride,

it reveals and confirms the heavenliness of the groom.

This is otherworldly.

What a gift we have with this story.

See, Israel had been unfaithful to their God.

Their God took them as slaves in Egypt.

He purchased their freedom with mighty acts.

He made a covenant with them.

We read it every Lord's Day.

I will be your God.

You will be my people.

Here's my law.

Here's what pleases me.

And he gives them the Ten Commandments.

But in Jeremiah, a few generations later,

Jeremiah 3, 1 through 3.

Now remember, Jeremiah is preaching to Jerusalem now.

It's gone horribly wrong in the northern tribes.

It's now bad in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah was the prophet at the time

when Daniel was carried away to Babylon.

So it's all going down in the south as well.

And here's the word that the Holy Spirit gave Jeremiah.

And it's a warning to Israel and Judea.

If a man's wife goes from him

and becomes another man's wife,

will he return to her?

In other words, the bride turns her back

on the husband who's loving her,

and she wants to have an affair and cheat.

You would never expect that husband

to have grace and compassion.

I mean, that would be unexpected.

But now look what God says.

He says that land would be greatly polluted

if that's how families conducted themselves.

You, Israel.

You, Jerusalem.

You have played the whore with many lovers.

And would you now return to me, declares the Lord?

See, the bride had corrupted herself even further.

Her bloodline was corrupted.

Her life was corrupted.

And that's exactly the picture of Israel.

Why do we have here this portrait

of the most unlikely bride?

Well, remember, Jesus got out of Judea

because of the Pharisees.

If they were getting so much attention,

they were going to kill him right there.

And he had to fulfill the law.

He had to show us who he's coming to save.

The church is not made up of self-righteous Pharisees.

The true church is made up of people

who view their soul, their standing before God,

like the Samaritan woman.

And really, if we keep reading Isaiah 65 1,

this is exactly how Jesus fulfills this promise.

So Isaiah 65 says,

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me.

I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

Jesus finds his bride.

He goes out and seeks her.

And if you have encountered Christ in such a way,

you know when he gave you a new heart.

You know how he comes after you still today.

When you turn to other idols

and your heart starts wondering,

he comes after his bride over and over again

because he is the heavenly groom.

And see, the church also is saved

out of Adam's corrupt line.

At our past Friday Bible study,

we were looking in Romans chapter 5

Romans 5 · chapter mention

and verse 18 through 21.

We read how the trespass of Adam,

the one man, the representative head.

Everyone comes from the bloodline of Adam.

His trespass led to condemnation for all men.

And because we are all now under the curse of Adam,

because of that one man's disobedience,

all were made sinners.

So the church is saved out of Adam's corrupted bloodline.

Number two, every true Christian

is brought under conviction

of how their own sins

have corrupted them even further,

even more than the corruption

that they inherited from Adam.

Romans 5.20 says,

the law came in to increase the trespasses.

So we all are born under Adam's sin

and we have the law of God,

you know, our conscience,

and in the scripture,

it exposes our sin even further.

It multiplies our trespasses before God.

But here's the promise.

As sin reigned in death,

grace also can now reign through righteousness,

leading to eternal life

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And here's what Paul says in Romans 5,

where sin increased,

grace abounded all the more.

That's what this story tells us.

If sin, if your view of sin is low,

then your view of your need for grace

is going to be in proportion to that.

But where the law comes

and your sin abounds,

you're expanding your view of your own sin,

you realize how much grace

you need from the Lord.

And the more grace you realize

you need from the Lord,

the more glory He gets in your salvation.

The more unlikely the bride,

the more glorious and heavenly is the groom.

That's the promise we have in Christ.

And that's why we can sing the song,

Come, O sinner,

come rejoice.

Mercy fills this place of scorn.

That well and that trip through the village

at high noon was a trip of scorn for the woman.

But Christ died to save His enemies,

that all, all, all from Samaria,

all those who have committed the worst sins

in the most public way,

that all may draw near to Christ

and know His peace.

So that's our portrait

of the most unlikely bride.

And I feel like I could just stop right now.

But I also want to show you

how in this same story,

we have the groom's mission.

I mean, this is the mission,

but it's also a foreshadowing

of His greater mission.

Just like I believe this woman of Samaria

is a representative of the church.

What is the greater mission of Christ

and how is it foreshadowed

in this beautiful encounter?

So I want to show you,

I know you're supposed to only have three main points,

but I got five

because that's how many are in the passage.

I couldn't cut it down.

So five, five ways in which the mission

of the groom is foreshadowed

in the same passage.

Let's read through it one more time

with that lens now.

Number one,

Christ left His Father's throne

to get His bride.

Look at verse four.

We read in verse four

that Jesus underlined those, those words.

He had.

He had to pass through Samaria.

The person of Jesus Christ

in the flesh,

filled with the Holy Spirit.

He was under divine compulsion

to go exactly where the Lord,

His Father was sending Him

to accomplish the will

and the mission of the Lord.

And that's where God would reveal to him

a type or a picture of His bride.

See, in Genesis 29, 10,

Jacob, we're told Jacob left his father's land

and traveled to meet his bride at a well.

And now the greater Jacob,

the greater Israel,

the greater Son of God,

left his father's heavenly kingdom

and traveled to earth

and to the promised land

and to Samaria

and to that well

to meet his representative bride.

Look at verse seven.

A woman from Samaria

came to draw water

and Jesus said to her,

Give me a drink.

Women could not bear witness in a court.

They were considered almost subhuman,

and especially a woman with her reputation.

And knowing that Jews would not share a meal

or let the same utensil that one had used

be used even after it had been washed,

He wants to talk to her.

He's seated.

He wants to greet her

and show her kindness.

And He wants to drink

and let that vessel touch His lips

that she drinks from as well.

Her uncleanness can't contaminate Him.

And you can just picture His eyes

and His smile.

He came to reveal the kindness

and the love of the Father.

He would never treat her as a dirty reject.

And the Samaritan woman,

understandably,

can't even believe what's going on.

She says,

How is this?

But in her loneliness,

when no one else would walk with her

or even be seen with her,

Jesus showed her love.

Number two,

our Lord Jesus Christ

causes this unlikely bride

to desire

what only He can give her.

He causes her to desire that thing.

So she cannot know

the truth of God

unless the Messiah reveals it.

And she knows that.

Look at verse 10.

Jesus says,

If you knew the gift of God,

in other words,

you don't know

and you can't know

the gift of God

unless God reveals this to you.

But if you knew,

and what is the gift

that He's referring to?

He is the gift.

He who it is

that is saying to you,

give me a drink.

If you knew who I am,

you would have asked me

and I would have given you

living water.

Okay, so living water

is significant as well.

The geography of Israel,

according to what I've studied

and learned,

I would love for us

to maybe go there someday

all together in person.

Wouldn't that be amazing?

But it's really similar to Colorado.

And so there are parts

where you'll see, you know,

trees growing up

around the water,

but there are other parts

that are desert

and it's arid.

So you have like a cluster

of trees and shade

and nice air and abundance

and springs and, you know,

and then you go to other places

and you're just in the wilderness.

That's how Israel is.

And so the fact

that they're having to travel

quite a ways

to come to a well,

to take the water,

carry it back,

this shows we're

in a more arid place.

Now,

May has been to Israel

three times

and she said

that in Jerusalem,

old Jerusalem,

they've excavated

and discovered

a well

that is

living water.

And what that means

is that

deep down

in old Jerusalem,

King David,

you know,

when he took over

this Jebusite fort,

this fortified

walled city,

down below

is a spring.

So if it got surrounded

on the outside

in a siege,

they would never

run out of water.

And they said

she got to see it

and down below

it's gushing forth.

So you come out

of these desert areas

but in Jerusalem

from where

the Messiah

and the priest,

from where that will rule,

comes these gushing

living waters.

Remember,

Jesus just traveled up

from Judea

and it's like

he's bringing

that imagery

that's in his mind.

Remember,

on his way

he was baptizing

where there was

an abundance of waters

and the spirits working

and Jesus wasn't

even the one doing it,

it was the disciples

baptizing.

Because the power

of God

is flowing

through Jesus

and he's calling

people to repentance

and that power

of the Holy Spirit

is working

and that's the image

of living waters.

It's fulfilled

in Jerusalem,

you know,

the picture

of the throne

of God

where the office

of priest and king

is joined together

in one person,

the seed of David

and now Jesus

is bringing

these living waters

to the dry area

in Samaria.

You only have

three options

for water.

One is a well

and that's like

pulling water up

from the dirt

but it's stagnant water,

it's sitting there.

The other is even worse.

We have no hope of water,

you're going to basically

try to collect water.

Anywhere that it rains,

you're going to collect it

onto a little pool

but it gets stale quick.

It's way worse quality

than a well.

So he's telling her,

don't worry,

it's not going to get worse,

it's going to be

living waters

for you.

Now you picture,

you hear these words,

it's moving,

it's living,

it's energizing,

it's life-giving.

That's the image

of living waters

springing up.

I couldn't help

but think of how

the Word of God

has those same descriptions.

The Word of God

is living,

it's active

and it brings life.

It does not return void.

It flows over the desert

and new life springs up

and there's a great abundance

and harvest.

Now look at verse 14.

Whoever drinks of the water

that I will give him

will never thirst again.

The water that I will give him

will soon become

in him

spring of water

welling up

to eternal life.

Do you remember

when Jesus first used

the phrase eternal life?

And it translated

from the Greek

it really means

you're going to have now

the life that belongs

to the age to come.

It's the life of the age to come

now put inside of you.

That's how he's describing

the work of the Holy Spirit.

But remember Christ

had to cause

this unlikely bride

to desire

that which only

he could give.

He said if you only knew.

She couldn't know.

She was thirsty

in her soul

but she had been

trying to fill

that thirst

of her soul

with all kinds

of different things

with man

after man

and none of those men

could satisfy.

And that's the prayer

we pray.

You have loved ones

that don't know the Lord

you need to pray

that God will give them

a desire

for the thing

that only he can give

which is the spirit

inside of them.

Cambridge Declaration

on the Doctrines of Grace

states what the Bible

teaches this way.

Human beings

are born

spiritually dead.

That's the curse of Adam.

And they are incapable

even of cooperating

with regenerating grace.

It's Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

You are dead

until the spirit

breathes life in you.

That's what Jesus

told Nicodemus

you must be born again.

You must be regenerated.

And Christ had to make her

realize that there was

a deeper thirst

in her soul.

A thirst for God.

And that's exactly

what she has in mind.

She responds by saying

well should we worship

on this mountain

that you guys

didn't help us build

or should we go

all the way to Jerusalem?

She's bringing up

their political

their religious

their cultural stuff.

And Jesus knows

okay her heart

her heart is thirsty

for God.

Because worship

is really about communion.

And her own people

have rejected her.

And I'm going to

promise her now

that she can have

communion.

She can have acceptance

with God himself.

Through Christ

her soul's true longing

that he awakened in her

would be satisfied.

And if you remember

the end of chapter 3

John the baptizer

I think he's setting

the stage for this

encounter.

And he said

that Jesus will give

the spirit without measure.

It's like how do you

even quantify how much

water is available

from a spring?

It never stops.

It never stops bubbling up.

It's the spirit

is the same way.

It's without measure.

It's in abundance.

And God will

well up in your soul

a spring of living water

of the life of the age

to come

once he has caused you

to desire it

which only he can do.

And ask him for that.

Number three

Christ makes the

impossible wedding

come true.

I don't know

that this woman

of Samaria

would have ever

dreamed

that she could be

part of the church

of the Messiah.

She could be

the bride.

She could belong

to this kingdom.

But if she was

in middle school

and had a crush

I mean

it would be like

the most impossible

wedding

she could have

dreamed of.

look at verse 21

Jesus tells her

you

yes you

Samaritan woman

the most unlikely

of them all

you will worship

the father.

He's hinting

and he's foreshadowing

how because of his

life and work

for her

look at verse 22

through him

salvation

it is from the Jews

he will fulfill

the law

given to the Jews

but it won't

stop with the Jews

it will be fulfilled

in him

the promised son

of David

the king of Judah

who will unite

all Israel

all 12 tribes

once again

and he will call

into that number

all the Gentiles

all the nations

of the world

like he promised

to do to Abraham

and all the way

back with Eve.

Verse 23

the hour

is now here

it's here

it's not

something you need

to only long for

you can experience

this now

it's here for you

true worshipers

will worship

the father

in spirit

and truth

for the father

is seeking

such people

to worship

him

verse 24

God is spirit

and those who

worship him

must worship

in spirit

and in truth

all of the

Samaritan woman

all of her reactions

up to this point

have been

maybe sarcastic

you know

pushing it off

changing the subject

she's tough

she does not

know about all this

and what he just

said here

that God

is spirit

and true

worshipers

will worship

in spirit

and in truth

this is beyond

comprehension

I think she'll be

speechless by this

point

and what he's

about to tell her

next is really

the climax

of this whole

passage

verse 25

she says

the Messiah

who is called

Christ

she knows

he's the one

the only one

who could unveil

these mysteries

that you're

talking about

and who is

the promised

Messiah

who is the

Christ

look at verse

26

here's the

peak

the whole

peak

of this

discourse

Jesus said

I who speak

to you

am he

in the Greek

the order of

these words

is like this

Jesus said

I am

who is speaking

to you

in verse 27

right then

the disciples

show up

you see how

it brings you

to that climate

and she's

it's above

comprehension

it's the spirit

working in a way

in her soul

and it's the hunger

and the thirst

of her soul

there's no more

words for it

number four

because of his

sacrifice

Jesus Christ

the heavenly groom

gets his bride

see how it's

the sacrifice

of the groom

that gets him

his bride

and how is that

foreshadowed here

well in this story

it's at his

weakest point

according to his

human nature

in his weakness

he is powerfully

working spiritually

so when

Jesus Christ

one person

according to his

divine nature

is working

powerfully

he's regenerating

he's causing

her eyes to be

open

he's meeting

the longing

of her soul

spiritually

according to his

divine nature

he's saving

this woman

now according

to his physical

nature

he's weak

fully God

fully human

I want to show

you how Christ's

sacrificial weakness

is foreshadowed

here

in his human

nature

look at verse 27

I am

who speaks

to you

just then

his disciples

came back

and they marveled

that he was

talking with a

woman

this is so

unlikely

but no one

said anything

so maybe

they read the

moment as well

something powerful

just happened

spiritually

Christ revealed

who he is

to her

they don't

say anything

verse 6

we told

way back

in verse 6

we're told

that Jesus

wearied as he

was from his

journey

was sitting

beside the

well

and it was

about the

sixth hour

so he's been

traveling

it's very hot

he is thirsty

the disciples

are hungry

and thirsty

we never read

here that she

gave him water

in fact it says

she just left

her jar

and ran back

to her village

and the

disciples

says look

at verse 8

they had gone

into the city

to buy food

and now look

at verse 31

the disciples

were urging

him

urging him

come on

rabbi

teacher

eat

look at verse

32

they said

he said

to them

I have

food to eat

that you

do not

know

about

see how

physically

he's not

getting water

even though

he's thirsty

he's not

taking food

even though

physically

he's hungry

when Christ

was most

weak

physically

he was

working

most

mightily

spiritually

reminds me

of the hymn

see from

his head

his hands

his feet

sorrow

and love

flow

mingled

down

did

air

such

love

and sorrow

meet

or

thorns

compose

so rich

a crown

but Christ

was satisfied

spiritually

he was

fed

in his

soul

he was

filled

he was

strengthened

enlivened

pumped up

he's

the groom

who's

getting

his

bride

and he

looks up

to

Samaria

and he

says

there's

more

that's

what's

feeding

his

soul

verse

34

Jesus

says

my

food

is to

do

the

will

of

him

who

sent

me

and

to

accomplish

that

work

this

is so

important

Christ

did

not

die

on the

cross

to

hypothetically

save

anyone

he

came

to

accomplish

the

mission

the

father

gave

him

look

that's

what

it

says

right

there

verse

36

35

34

that's

exactly

what

he's

saying

I

came

to

accomplish

the

will

of

my

father

and

this

feeds

me

this

is

my

food

Christ

was

full

from

obeying

his

father's

mission

to

save

the

least

likely

and

there

are

more

verse

35

I

tell

you

lift

up

your

eyes

see

that

the

fields

are

white

for

harvest

and

where

is

Christ

looking

and

where

is

he

pointing

the

eyes

of

his

disciples

to

the

Samaritans

it's

to

these

unclean

people

that's

where

the

fields

are

ripe

now

see

the

Samaritans

are being

prepared

by

God

to

repent

of

sin

to

believe

in

Christ

as

the

promised

Savior

to

just

like

we're

doing

in

Judea

where

you're

baptizing

many

as

God

brought

them

that's

what is

my

food

is to

see

the

kingdom

of

heaven

coming

through

my

work

now

look at

verse

36

he's

giving

us

a

glimpse

into

the

inner

relationship

between

Father

Son

and

Holy

Spirit

look at

verse

36

already

the

one

who

reaps

is

receiving

wages

and

gathering

fruit

for

eternal

life

see

Christ

is

looking

forward

to

the

age

to

come

also

this

is

a

soul

that

will

be

united

with

him

for

eternity

this

unlikely

Samaritan

believer

was

Christ's

reward

for

the

age

to

come

and

Jesus

says

so

now

sower

and

reaper

may

rejoice

together

the

Samaritan

woman

having

her

eyes

open

to

behold

that

Jesus

is

the

Messiah

he

is

God

come

to

save

her

this

is

the

reward

of

Christ

reaping

what

the

Holy

Spirit

had

sown

and

prepared

this

fills

him

this

is

his

joy

the

joy

of

God

the

Father

Son

and

Spirit

is

to

see

the

lost

coming

to

him

through

Christ

and

he

says

you

get

to

be

part

of

this

too

disciples

and

you

get

to

be

part

of

this

church

I

send

you

to

reap

he

says

as

the

Father

sent

the

Son

so

I

send

you

you

go

out

and

reap

that

for

which

you

did

not

labor

that's

why

living

on

mission

within

Christ's

kingdom

it's

a joy

it's

not

labor

he

does

all

the

heavy

lifting

it's

his

spirit

who's

working

and

we

get

to

see

him

draw

more

and

more

to

the

banquet

feast

it's

the

spirit's

labor

through

his

people

so

here

Christ

has

blessed

this

most

unclean

and

undeserving

sinner

he

shows

us

that

the

more

grace

that

she

received

the

more

he

is

glorified

the

more

unlikely

is

this

bride

the

more

heavenly

we

see

the

groom

to

be

I

can't

skip

over

number

five

which

is

Christ

is

undeniable

by

those

who

thirst

to

see

him

remember

he's

the

one

who

puts

the

desire

for

that

water

in

you

he

puts

the

desire

of

your

soul

for

Christ

himself

and

when

he

gives

you

that

desire

he's

undeniable

we

we

can't

persuade

anyone

to

open

their

spiritual

eyes

but

when

God

puts

the

desire

for

Christ

in

the

soul

regenerates

they

can't

help

but

acknowledge

him

yes

this

is

Christ

my

Lord

and

my

God

look

at

verse

29

when

the

Lord

opened

her

eyes

what

did

the

Samaritan

woman

do

she

ran

back

to

her

village

and

she

only

says

two

words

what

are

they

come

see

that

reminds

you of

John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter

1

that's

exactly

what

the

disciples

said

come

see

we

found

him

it's

Christ

it's

the

promised

Messiah

now

look

at

verse

40

the

Samaritans

came

to

him

and

asked

him

to

stay

with

them

that's

what

the

disciples

did

remember

where

are

you

staying

can

we

be

with

you

and

he

stayed

there

two

days

not

only

will

he

drink

water

from

their

well

and

share

a

vessel

he'll

live

with

them

he'll

dwell

with

these

Samaritans

he's

not

afraid

of

them

polluting

him

verse

41

and

many

more

believed

because

of

his

word

not

all

many

more

verse

42

we

have

heard

for

ourselves

and

we

know

that

this

is

indeed

the

savior

of

the

world

see

Christ

only

has

one

bride

and

it's

all

those

who

know

they

are

undeserving

who

know

they

have

been

adulterous

in

heart

but

who

have

heard

his

joy

evoking

voice

that's

how

John

the

Baptist

described

him

I

hear

his

voice

and

it

brings

me

joy

they

get

to

be

with

the

one

when