John 4:1-30 (Part 2)

Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

Reading this passage and getting into our study of it, allow me a few moments to recap, to either serve your memory or, if you were unable to be with us this past Sunday, to catch you up.

Now, in rather unique form, I gave you two outlines last week.

Normally how we tend to do this, but we're going to continue those two outlines into this week.

The first of those was looking at the way that Jesus is presented in the text.

He's presented in four ways.

Firstly, as the living water, verses 4 through 15.

Secondly, as the prophet, verses 16 through 19.

Thirdly, and we'll pick up today, as savior of the world, verses 20 through 24.

And fourthly, as the Messiah.

Verses 25 through 30.

Now, I said to you last week, this was the very evident outline for the text.

You can kind of walk through it and see these declarations, whether Jesus is making them or the Samaritan woman is making them,

of him as the living water, the prophet, the savior of the world, and the Messiah.

But then we talked a bit about its literary structure.

And I presented to you a second outline.

Sort of a lens through which to view the rest of the text.

Or perhaps you could just say the other outline being viewed through another.

And it was as follows.

Firstly, the greatness of our sin.

And secondly, the surpassing greatness of Jesus' mercy.

Now, we got there by talking a bit about chiastic structure.

And I really hope that this isn't boring to you.

It's such good, good stuff.

It comes from the Greek letter chi, which was their X.

And so you want to think about these texts that have this literary structure and it being able to be folded over on top of each other.

So the thing that begins first and the thing that is last correspond to each other.

And then the second thing and the second to last thing correspond to one another.

We don't want to be looking for these structures where they do not exist.

But they are found everywhere in Hebrew and Greek.

literature, including in the Bible.

The authors of the Bible seemed to think in this literary structure.

It's not everywhere, but it is in a lot of places.

Why?

Because it's a very useful device for the memorization and transmission of thought.

In an age that written word existed but was pretty rare.

Where storying was a common thing.

This is a mnemonic device that helped its original hearers to memorize it and therefore pass it along.

Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the literary structure where it meets in the middle.

The central point of the text is being made.

Or a significant turning point happens.

Or a phrase that helps the reading of the rest of the passage is presented.

It's used powerfully to communicate in this way.

And so we should look for these when they exist.

And we should take up that central bit of passage as a lens.

Something to look through to help us interpret the rest of the passage.

Now I'm going to leave off talking about chiastic structure after reminding you of the central point of the text that is before us.

But settle your minds into this idea.

Prepare yourselves to hear me use this word, chiastic or chiasm, quite a bit in our study of the book of John.

Because not only are verses 4-30 chiastic, but they sit within chapters 2-4, which has a very clear chiastic structure.

Our current total text corresponds with the story of Nicodemus.

And you may see some of that as we work through it together.

And the entirety of John's gospel is chiastic.

I look forward to showing you that and showing you the central, the pivotal point in John's gospel.

John means I will argue.

For us to see the literary structure.

Not just amuse at it.

That's not the point.

Not just to go, look at how amazing.

And it is amazing.

But to draw our attention as we ascertain the meaning of each passage.

It's a literary structure helping us to arrive at the conclusions that he wants us to arrive at.

The entirety of the book of John is aiming at helping us believe that Jesus is the Christ.

That we might have eternal life by faith in him.

And he's going to use this brilliant writing under the inspiration of the Spirit to this very end.

So if you'll look with me just briefly.

Let me bring you to the central point in our text today.

If you first look at it, I'm going to walk us to that central point.

Just with some examples.

I skipped over a bunch of this last week for the sake of time.

But look first at verse 15.

And then also at verse 19.

And notice a repeated phrase.

So here's what I'm talking about as we're looking at things that correspond to one another.

At the beginning of verse 15, you see the phrase.

The woman said to him,

Sir.

And then she makes a request.

Right?

In the case of verse 15.

Give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

She grossly misunderstands what Jesus is trying to teach her about himself.

Him being the living water.

She has no idea what he's talking about.

He's talking about spiritual life and spiritual satisfaction.

And she still thinks he's talking about physical water.

Verse 19.

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.

And we'll talk about this in a moment.

But again here, a huge misunderstanding about what worship is.

So you see how they correspond.

Then if you look at verse 16 and the last part of verse 17 and into 18.

First in verse 16.

Jesus changes the subject, it would seem.

He departs from this living water teaching and he says,

Go call your husband and come here.

She answers.

Verse 17.

The beginning of verse 17.

And his response, again here's the thing that corresponds.

You are right in saying, I have no husband.

Why?

Why?

Verse 18.

For you have had five husbands.

And the one you now have is not your husband.

So five failed marriages.

Now an adulterous marriage.

To be, or excuse me, a living situation.

To be sure.

And so the central phrase is the woman saying,

I have no husband.

Her sinfulness exposed.

He's been saying to her,

You are dry.

You're spiritually dry.

And you have need of deep, spiritual, forever satisfaction.

And I'm here to give it to you.

And she entirely misses the point.

And so what does Jesus do?

He exposes her.

And her spiritual need.

I have no husband.

Which is why we started that second outline.

The greatness of our sin.

We're looking at this woman, but we also want to see ourselves in this text.

You may not have been married five times and have a live-in boyfriend.

I don't think anybody in the room checks those particular boxes.

But we also have great sin.

And it's good for us to be laid bare that we might look for spiritual water.

And so that we might understand what true worship really is.

So see how we pick it up and we use it as a lens to help us see the rest of the text.

So let me pray for us.

And then I'll begin reading in verse one.

Father, we are grateful for your word this morning.

We're so very glad that you have spoken to people before us by it to us today.

And that you will continue to build your church through your word by the power of your spirit.

Help us, we pray, as we take it up this morning.

To rightly understand it.

We want to understand it.

We want to know what you mean to communicate to us by it.

We humbly recognize that it was written for your glory.

Firstly, for your glory.

That you might be known as a necessary consequence for our good.

That we would know you by it.

And we pray that you would help us to believe its promises and obey its commands.

And to have affection for you, its author.

We ask that you would help us to do this.

In Christ's name.

Amen.

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 for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

For Jews had no dealings with Samaritans.

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 his livestock.

Jesus said to her,

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty 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 town,

and said to the people,

Come see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Can this be the Christ?

They went out of the town,

and were coming to him.

So,

again,

where we left off last week,

the Samaritan woman,

astounded that Jesus has knowledge of her five failed marriages,

and her current live-in boyfriend says,

Sir,

I perceive that you are a prophet.

That's where we left off.

But then she poses an implied question,

maybe in the form of a statement.

Perhaps it could have been punctuated with a question mark.

I think that was kind of how I read it in verse 20.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,

but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

She knows that Jesus is someone of significance,

someone worth listening to,

someone worth asking an important question of.

She has said,

I perceive that you are a prophet.

But then,

once again,

just like before,

when we leave behind the conversation about living water,

it seems like she just abandons what's going on altogether.

Like,

she thinks,

if I do a little juke here,

I might get around the conversation that we're having right now.

I don't think that's what's going on.

I think she's asking a question that's important on her mind,

following the exposure of her sin.

But note the nature of it.

She's concerned with the physical location of worship.

Worship.

Geography is what matters to her in this moment.

Having her sin exposed,

having been laid bare,

her attention turns toward worship.

But as we'll see,

it doesn't rightly turn toward worship.

Where should I worship?

Is the question that she asks.

You're aware of my sins.

I must make sacrifice.

Where?

Where do I go to make the sacrifice?

I think that's the question that she's pressing at and putting before Jesus.

Do I do it on Mount Gerizim?

This is where the Samaritans,

their fathers before,

had worshiped.

Or on Mount Moriah,

Jerusalem,

where the temple was built.

Which place?

Where do I go

for the forgiveness of my sin?

I think she's moving in the right direction

in this moment.

The greatness of our sin

ought to press us in that way.

Even if we don't get the question right,

what do we do

when we realize

we have such

great

sin?

When we have offended

a holy God.

All mankind has God's law

written on their hearts

and know

that there is a creator.

They can deny it all they want to,

but down in the middle

they know that there's a creator

and that something must be done

to reconcile them

with a creator.

All of the world's religions

seek to do this,

but fail.

Islam,

Judaism,

Buddhism,

Hinduism,

like you go on and on

and on.

Concerned with

the earning of salvation,

the outward expression

of worship,

rather in the mosque

or the synagogue

or in the temple.

people.

But beloved,

this is not far from us

where we are,

deep south,

Bible belt

kind of

people.

Because the very same thing

happens in various

forms of Christianity,

even

evangelical

Christianity.

Looking for

the right

set of things

to do,

the proper

liturgies,

the showing up

and the checking

of the boxes.

True worship of God

is not about

geography.

I'm not saying

we ought not gather

together as a local church.

Don't hear me saying

that at all.

But if us

or a synagogue

or a temple

or in a church building,

we're sadly

mistaken.

we invite people here

to repent of their sin

and put their faith

in Jesus Christ

all the

time.

But you will never

hear us give an

altar call here.

Or if we have a guest

speaker and they do,

that will be the last

time that they do it.

You know why?

There is no altar

in this building.

You don't have to

come here

to receive

God's

grace

for salvation.

Should you come here?

Yes, of course you should.

You should come and meet

with the church.

But this is not

somehow a set aside

place

for which that

happens.

Jesus Christ

died

once

for all.

The sacrifice

has

been

made.

Jesus

is the one

who mediates

between you

and God.

Certainly

not

me.

I am not

worthy

for such a

task.

So repent

and believe.

Turn from your

sin.

Turn to

the surpassing

greatness

of Jesus'

mercy.

No matter how

great our sin,

Jesus'

mercy

is

greater.

It overcomes

it

by faith

in Christ.

Notice in the text,

Jesus

turns her

attention.

What a

kindness to

her.

She seems

to be not

getting it

again.

Maybe a step

in the right

direction,

but she still

is missing

the point.

And yet he

mercifully

turns her

attention away

from the

question of

where

geography

to

the questions

of whom

and how.

Or who

and how

if you

prefer.

Somebody

better

in English

than me,

tell me

later.

I think

whom.

Whom

and

how.

Notice what

he says,

verse 21.

Jesus said to

her,

woman,

believe me,

the hour

is coming.

Something's

passing,

something else

is coming,

and he's

going to say

in a few

verses,

and is

now,

because the

hour is

coming,

when neither

on this

mountain,

nor in

Jerusalem,

not a question

of geography,

will you

worship

the Father?

Now I think

when we read

verse 21,

New Testament

people,

we see

the Father

at the end

of verse 21,

and we think

very little

of it.

Now we

certainly read

the Bible

on multiple

levels.

We read

the Bible

so often

as those

who have

read the

entirety

of the

Bible.

We have

the whole

salvific

narrative

laid

before us.

We see

God being

used

interchangeably

with the

Father

all the

time.

But we

need to

also do

the work

to think

about the

original

hearers,

not only

those who

received it

written,

but also

those who

heard it

in this

moment,

who was

at this

well,

at this

time,

it was

Jesus,

and it

was the

Samaritan

woman.

So why

did he

say,

Father,

and not

God?

I think

it's a bit

curious that

he chose

to say,

location's

not the

thing,

right?

That's

passing

away.

You

have to

worship

the

Father.

Father.

I think

a couple

things are

going on

here.

Firstly,

she seems

previously in

our text

to be

concerned

with the

Father's

tradition at

play there.

And Jesus,

I think,

is seeking

to turn

her attention

away from

the

tradition of

the Father.

She says

in verse

20,

our

fathers

worshipped

on this

mountain.

And prior

to that,

in verse

12,

are you

greater

than

our

father

Jacob?

I think

he's trying

to get

her head

and turn

it away

from

this

attention

to a

greater

attention

to

the

Father.

The

definitive

article is

there.

You

will

worship

the

Father.

Secondly,

calling

God

Father

assumes

that he

has

children.

I'm

a

father.

I

would

not

be

a

father

if

I

didn't

have

children.

And I

hope

that her

mind

started

to

swim

with

this

idea.

He's

talking

about

worship.

He

must

be

talking

about

God,

but

he's

called

him

father.

And if

he

called

him

father,

then he

must

have

children.

And the

question at

hand for

her should

be,

am I

a

child

of

God?

If

the

mountains

don't

matter

anymore,

then how

am I

to

worship

the

father?

Well,

I must

start

by being

a

child.

So again,

for us,

this may

be very

obvious,

but I

don't

know that

it would

have

been so

to

her.

Previously

in

John's

Gospel,

chapter

1,

beginning

in

verse

11,

says,

Jesus

came to

his

own,

and his

own

people

did

not

receive

him.

But

to

all

who

did

receive

him,

who

believed

in

his

name,

he

gave

the

right

to

become

children

of

God,

blood,

nor

of

the

will

of

the

flesh,

nor

of

the

will

of

man,

but

of

God.

Lastly,

I think

Jesus uses

this term

because,

again,

here we are,

we're reading

it on

two levels,

referring to

God as

the

father

assumes

the

son.

It

assumes

the

son,

right?

Previously,

that the

father has

children,

sons,

but it

assumes

the

son.

John

connects

the

father

and

the

son

over

and

over

and

over

again

in this

book.

So when

we see

the

father,

we

should

also

see

the

son.

She

has

him

standing

right

before

her.

John

chapter

three,

verse

thirty-five,

the

father

loves

the

son

and

has

given

all

things

into

his

hand.

John

chapter

five

and

verse

twenty,

for

the

father

loves

the

son

and

shows

him

works

in

these

will

he

show

him

so

that

you

may

marvel.

And

then

chapter

five

and

verse

twenty-six,

for

as

the

father

has

life

in

himself,

so

he

has

granted

the

son

also

to

have

life

in

himself.

So

again

and

again

and

again,

father,

son,

father,

son,

father,

son.

If

the

son

is

not

worshipped,

Then

the

father

is

not

worshipped.

This

truth

is so

readily

compromised

in our

pluralistic,

relativistic

day.

People

want to

abandon

the thing

that Jesus

said

of

himself.

John

14

and

verse

six,

I

am

the

way

and

the

truth.

Definitive

article

in the

original,

the

way

and

the

truth

and

the

life.

life.

No

one

comes

to

the

father

except

through

me.

We

cannot

rightly

worship

God

apart

from

the

son.

It's the

way we

gain

access

to

him.

Faith

in

Jesus,

person

and

work,

believing

who he

is and

all that

he's

accomplished

and

everything

that

he said.

we

must

have

Jesus

on

his

terms.

You

cannot

make

up a

Jesus

that

you

particularly

like.

Some

of you

may be

old

enough

to

remember

the

Jesus

is

my

homeboy

trend.

No,

he's

not.

We

must

have

Jesus

on

his

terms.

And

just a

few

short

chapters.

John

John 6 · chapter mention

chapter

6

and

verse

60.

Jesus

is

talking

about

eating

his

flesh

and

drinking

his

blood.

And

there

we

see

many

of

his

disciples

when

they

heard

it

they

said

this

is

a

hard

saying

who

can

listen

to

it?

And

he

goes

on

to

say

some

things

that

we're

going

to

unpack

in

some

coming

months.

He

says

in

verse

66

after

this

John

records

many

of

his

disciples

turned

back

and

no

longer

walked

with

him.

Jesus

said

things

they

didn't

like

and

they

abandoned

Jesus

as a

result.

Beloved

in our

day

so

many

people

don't

like

something

Jesus

says

they

don't

abandon

him

altogether

but

they

make

him

they

shape

him

a

way

that

they

want

him

to

look

something

that

they're

more

comfortable

with.

You

cannot

rightly

worship

the

father

without

rightly

worshiping

the

son.

You

must

have

him

on

his

terms.

Jesus

goes

on

verse

22

bit

of a

perplexing

verse

you

worship

what

you

do

not

know

what

a

stark

statement

we

worship

what

we

know

for

salvation

is

from

the

Jews.

I

think

he's

saying

to

her

to

a

Samaritan

woman

you're

worshipping

wrongly

and therefore

you do

not know

who you

worship.

I think

it's

that

matter

of

fact

the

first

part

of

that

verse

you

worship

what

you

do

not

know.

But

what

could

be

meant

by

the

rest

of

verse

20

new?

He

turns

right

from

that

and

he

says

we

worship

what

we

know.

He's

talking

about

Israel.

He's

talking

about

Jewish

people

for

salvation.

Though

we

can't

understand

that

this

means

that

the

Jewish

people

will

save

the

Samaritan

people.

It

can't

be

what

it

means.

That's

not

what

he's

talking

about

at

all.

Or

any

other

peoples

for

that

matter.

They

themselves

are

going

to be

the

salvation

of

other

peoples.

But

does

it

mean

that

all

Jewish

people

were

saved

and

therefore

that

they

rightly

worshipped?

We can

also

answer

that

with

a

definitive

!

No!

If we

look at

John

John 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

and

verse

19,

this

is

a

questioning

of

the

Pharisees,

the

religious

of

the

day.

They

asked

him,

where

is

your

father?

And

Jesus

answered,

you

know

neither

me

nor

my

father.

If

you

knew

me,

you

would

know

my

father

also.

So

the

Pharisees,

the

religious

elite

of

the

day,

those

who

had

the

Old

Testament

scriptures

memorized,

if

anybody's

getting

it

right,

it

should

have

been

them.

And

Jesus

says,

you

don't

know

me

or

my

father.

Another

text,

John

5

in

verse 39

and 40,

makes

that point

further.

There he

says to

the

Pharisees,

you

search the

scriptures

because you

think that

in them

you have

eternal

life.

And

it

is

they

that

bear

witness

about

me.

Yet

you

refuse

to

come

to

me

that

you

may

have

life.

Search

the

scriptures

by all

means,

but

search

the

scriptures

to

arrive

at

the

son,

at

the

Christ.

Christ.

So it

can't

mean that

all

Jewish

people

were

saved

and

that

they

therefore

rightly

worshipped.

So what

does it

mean?

I think

it's

right to

think that

Jesus

means that

the

Jewish

people

had the

Pentateuch,

which is the

first five

books of

the Old

Testament,

and what

were called

the

writings,

the book

of history

and wisdom

and poetry,

and the

prophets.

They had

what we

call the

Old

Testament

in its

totality,

which all

points

to Jesus.

John 5,

John 5:39

verse 39,

they bear

witness about

me.

The

Samaritans

only used

the

Pentateuch.

It was

the only

five books

that they

studied.

So,

the Jews

had all

the prophecies,

right?

They had all

of the

foreshadowing,

all of the

knowledge,

all of

this

witness

of

the

Old

Testament.

And

additionally,

and I

think very

importantly,

Jesus was

the Christ.

He's from

the family

of David.

He was

the promised

Jewish

Messiah.

And I

think that's

what he

means there,

the last

part of

verse 22.

But the

point of it

is,

is that

her worship

was not

proper

worship.

Perhaps

aimed at

the right

God,

but he

says to

her,

you

don't

know

him.

And then

he begins

to be

instructive,

didactic,

but the

hour is

coming

and is

now

here.

When the

true

worshipers

worship

the

Father

in

spirit

and

truth,

for the

Father is

seeking

such

people

to

worship

him.

The

hour is

coming

and it

has

arrived.

he's

right here

before you.

Right?

The physical

temple will

be torn

down.

Jesus

will

raise

it

up

on

the

third

day.

The

spiritual

place

of

worship

will be

found

in

Christ.

True

worshipers

worship

the

Father

in

spirit

and

truth.

Now

when we

see this

phrase

in

spirit

and

truth

let's

break it

into the

two

constituent

parts

spirit

there's

no

definitive

article

in

Greek

so it's

correct

to say

in

spirit

not

in

the

spirit

however

he's

talking

about

spiritual

worship

but

do you

remember

what

Jesus

said

to

Nicodemus

in

chapter

three

we

studied

it

not

too

long

ago

and

it

corresponds

chiastically

I told you

I wasn't

going to

talk about

it

anymore

and

here

I am

talking

about

it

it

corresponds

there

but

what

did

say

in

chapter

three

in

verse

six

that

which

is

born

of

the

flesh

is

flesh

and

that

which

is

born

of

the

spirit

is

spirit

and

now

he's

saying

true

worshipers

worship

the

Father

in

spirit

and

truth

and

so

we

must

be

born

of

the

spirit

if

we're

to

worship

in

spirit

true

worshipers

will have

their spirits

quickened

by

the

spirit

they will be

regenerate

made alive

in

Christ

and then

offer

themselves

to God

in

worship

worship

now

you have

to

know

I

hope

you

know

that

what

Jesus

is

talking

about

here

is

is

not

music

that's

not

what

he's

talking

about

although

it

certainly

can

and I

would

argue

should

include

music

but what

he

is

talking

about

is

whole

self

Godward

oriented

living

does it

include

the

gathering

of

Christian

people

on a

Sunday

morning

of

course

it

does

we

often

call

this

corporate

worship

but it

also

includes

private

worship

not just

time set