Savior of the World (John 4:27-42)

We're gonna be in John chapter 4, starting in verse 27.

John 4 · chapter mention

Really picking up where we left off last week.

This is the second part of the woman at the well in Samaria that we've been talking about.

This will be kind of part two of that message that we're in here this morning.

And if you missed it last week, I just encourage you to listen back to that because we're not going to be able to recap everything we we covered in order for this to make sense here this morning.

But hopefully it does if you were not here last week.

So if you're able, let's all stand for the reading of God's Word.

John chapter 4, starting in verse 27.

John 4 · chapter mention

Just then his disciples arrived, and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman.

Yet no one said, What do you want?

Or why are you talking with her?

Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.

Could this be the Messiah?

They left the town and made their way to him.

In the meantime, the disciples kept urging him, Rabbi, eat something.

But he said, I have food to eat that you don't know about.

The disciples said to one another, Could someone have brought him something to eat?

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work, Jesus told them.

Don't you say there are still four more months, and then comes the harvest?

Listen to what I'm telling you.

Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.

The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.

For in this case the saying is true: one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to to reap what you didn't labor for.

Others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.

Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, He told me everything I ever did.

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

Many more believed because of what he said.

And they told a woman, We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.

Let's pray.

Lord, as we do every week, we thank you for your word.

Lord, we thank you that we can we can hold it in our hands and that we can go to it whenever we desire.

We thank you for leaving your word for us for that reason.

So Lord, I pray as as we go through these verses here this morning that we would approach you in all humility, with our hearts and our minds, our eyes and our ears open to all the things that you have for us here this morning.

So Lord, would you soften our hearts?

Would you accomplish the work that you desire in us as individuals?

But Lord, as a church as a whole, Lord, we give all of this to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So there are times as we read through the Gospels that Jesus' disciples get really confused.

And sometimes it's almost comical because they can seem so inept.

And I think this is one of those times where Jesus turns everything that they think they know on its head, and they're just left in bewilderment.

And two things in particular in our passage this morning.

First, Jesus was speaking to this Samaritan woman.

And we'll see they are still thinking in terms of cultural Judaism.

And then he will speak to them about things from above.

We keep seeing that word in the Gospel of John, things from above.

And we'll see that they are still thinking in very earthly terms.

And Jesus is about to blow their minds on both fronts.

So we're going to be seeing that here today.

And on top of that, we're going to talk about how our spiritual food is doing God's will.

And why that's so hard for each one of us to do sometimes.

And also the importance of our own testimony, of being able to express what God has done in our own life to others.

So, like I said, today is really a continuation of last week, of Ben's teaching on the woman at the well.

And if you missed last week, like I said, I encourage you to jump in because we're not going to be able to recount all of those things.

But let's start with verse 27 here.

Just then his disciples arrived and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman.

Yet no one said, What do you want?

or why are you talking with her?

So, as mentioned last week, a man talking to a woman was already strange in this culture.

But the fact that it was a Samaritan woman made it even more strange.

And the disciples probably thought even inappropriate for Jesus to be doing this.

And these disciples are in such bewilderment that they don't even say anything.

I think part of that is they're getting to know Jesus enough that they just stop asking questions when they're bewildered and they just wait till later.

And then they ask Jesus, you know, what in the world just happened?

Can you please explain that parable or that miracle or whatever we just witnessed?

But look at verse 28.

Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people.

So why was the woman first at the well?

It was to get water, wasn't it?

But John notes that she left her jar there.

You know, that's really a detail that only an eyewitness would probably add in right now.

But this woman meets Jesus, and all of a sudden, the everyday needs are not as concerning as they once were to her.

Because she just met the living water.

And this is also a sign that she knew she was going to be right back, that she was going to be coming back to Jesus, right?

So she heads into town.

Look at verse 29.

Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.

Could this be the Messiah?

They left the town and made their way to him.

So the Jews and apparently the Samaritans as well believed the Messiah would be able to do things like this.

Like she just experienced.

Jesus telling her everything she had ever done.

And it's most likely based off of the prophecy that we see in Isaiah 11, verses 1 and 2, which say, Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1

The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

So Jesus just demonstrated this prophecy to her, and this is what she used to get these other people to come out and see Jesus for themselves.

He told me everything I ever did.

Now, obviously, Jesus didn't have time to recount all of the years of every moment of this woman's life, but he demonstrated that he could, that he knew everything, including the dark stuff, including her sin.

You know, David Gusig points out something in his commentary that I think is worth noting here.

He said, Jesus impressed and attracted her, even though he confronted her with her sin.

Think about that.

Jesus impressed and attracted her, even though he confronted her with her sin.

You know, conviction of sin should lead to repentance.

And it should lead us to be closer to Jesus.

You know, it goes back to Jesus being the light.

So I want you to turn back maybe a page or so to John chapter 3, verse 17.

John 3:17

You know, in our passage today, we're getting to see firsthand what John already told us in chapter 3 about why Jesus came and about Jesus exposing sin and being the light.

So John chapter 3 and verse 17, you can read along with me.

John 3 · chapter mention

It says, For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

This is the judgment.

The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.

He came to what?

He came to save the world and not condemn it.

He came to save this woman, not condemn her.

We need to notice that he didn't embarrass her and he didn't shame her.

You know, those that place their faith in Jesus allow Jesus to expose their evil and they come toward the light, as we just read.

Because there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

You see, when we're in Christ, there's a trust that Jesus will shine his light on our sin, yet still accept us.

Because he not only shines light on it, but he forgives it and he washes it away.

This woman just had probably her deepest, darkest sins exposed.

And she couldn't wait to come back to the light and to bring others with her to come toward the light.

And if we are followers of Christ, we should be doing the same thing.

We should be telling people, hey, come toward the light with me.

He knows everything that you've ever done, but let him expose those things so that he can also wash away those very same things.

And so this crowd follows this woman towards the light.

Now look at chapter 4, verse 31.

In the meantime, the disciples kept urging him, Rabbi, eat something.

Every time I read this verse, an Italian accent comes out of my head, eat the something, you know.

It's part of my heritage, I think.

But remember why they left in the first place to go get food.

And Jesus must have been very hungry at this time.

But God was doing something else in this moment.

And Jesus saw the opportunity to teach his disciples a lesson from above when they were still focused on the earthly.

Look at verse 32.

But he said, I have food to eat that you don't know about.

Your translation maybe may say, I have food to eat that you know nothing about.

So Jesus is not talking about physical food that is hidden, but spiritual food that the disciples know nothing about.

You know, throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus foregoing food.

We see him foregoing rest.

We see him foregoing sleep.

We see him getting up early to be with the Lord, to do the will of the Father.

Now, conversely, we see multiple times the disciples asleep or fall um or trying to find times to rest.

But Jesus was taking those same times to pray and to be with the Father.

You see, Jesus didn't find his strength in food and sleep like his disciples did.

He found those things in God.

And he prioritized the strength that he found in God over the strength that he found in these physical necessities.

And this is not to say we don't need food and drink and rest and all of those things.

Those are all good things that the Lord has provided for us.

This is saying it's more important to find your strength, to find your sustenance, to find everything you need in God first and not in these earthly physical things.

Look at verse 33 with me.

The disciples said to one another, could someone have brought him something to eat?

So again, the disciples are thinking still earthly when Jesus is trying to speak to them about things from above.

As Jesus will explain in verse 34, he says, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work, Jesus told them.

Physical food is the second most important thing that we need for survival on this earth.

And it's only after water.

And here in chapter 4, Jesus tells us the most important thing from above for spiritual survival is living water.

And then in chapter 6, he's going to talk about the bread of life as well.

Both of which Jesus says he is.

He's saying, I am the living water.

I am the breath, the bread of life.

And if his food is to do the will of him who sent him, then that needs to be our food as well.

That needs to be the disciples' food as well.

You know, Jesus' ultimate goal that led to his perfect, sinless life, was to do the will of the Father.

And we need to be careful that we don't turn this into works if we're applying this to ourselves.

Because we need to be doing the will of the Father as well.

This can easily turn into I do and God bless us.

This here speaks of a desire that Jesus had to be one with the Father, which Jesus did perfectly.

That's where he found everything that he needed was in the Father.

And it should be our goal as well to be actively involved in the process of becoming one with Jesus Christ, our bridegroom.

And that's how in our spiritual lives we can never hunger or thirst again.

It's to be one with Jesus, to find everything that we need in Him.

Yet, our old man, our flesh, whether we admit it or not, hungers and thirsts for something else.

And that's the battle that we're caught in as Christians that prevents us from that perfect oneness with God.

And our flesh and the world tries to fill those voids, tries to satisfy that hunger that we have with everything except God.

And those things may satisfy, those sinful things may satisfy us for a moment, but it only leads to a greater hunger in the next moment.

Things like getting drunk, sexual relationships outside of marriage, pornography, gossip, hatred, bitterness, anger, acquiring more things.

But those things, even when they're attained, they only want us, or they only leave us wanting more, hungering more, with a greater appetite for whatever that thing is.

It's never satisfied.

You know, when our goal is riches and acquiring more and trying to find happiness, that's never satisfied.

When you get the next thing, it's never satisfied.

When John D.

Rockefeller Sr.

was at the peak of his riches, he owned 1% of the US economy.

Way richer than any Musk or Gates or Bezos or whoever we can think of.

And somebody asked him one time how much money it would take to make a man happy.

To which Rockefeller famously replied, just a little bit more.

You know, in today's terms, he would have been a multi-trillionaire.

And he still wasn't satisfied.

And that is just like sin, leaving our appetites wanting more.

You know, if we want to shrink our normal everyday food appetite, what do we have to do?

We need to deprive our hunger pains a little at a time until our stomach shrinks, right?

We don't binge on food and then hope that that satisfies us forever, do we?

That only stretches our stomach and makes our appetite worse the next time we get hungry.

Yet with sin, I think we can start to have this attitude of, you know, if I just get this out of my system, then I'm going to be done with it.

I just need to kind of go binge and then I'm going to be done with it.

I just need to get drunk one more time and get that urge out of my system and then I'll be good.

I just need to have sex with that one person, and then that urge will be out of my system, and then I'll be good.

You know, I just need to get that one car, that one house, that one piece of clothing, whatever it might be, and then I'll finally be happy and I'll be content, and I won't covet anything else for the rest of my life.

And it's a lie from the enemy.

What Jesus is saying about never thirsting again and never hungering again is that true satisfaction, that true contentment is only gonna come from abiding in Him.

Becoming one with Him as He is one with the Father.

He's the only one that we can consume and give our passion and desires to, and then find actual satisfaction.

Actually find contentment.

And if we drink of the living water and eat of the bread of life, you know what happens?

Our sinful desires start to decrease.

The only way that we will ever find victory in sin is by loving Jesus more than our sin.

It's not white knuckling it and trying harder because that only leads to binging and then white knuckling it and trying harder and then binging, and then white-knuckling it and trying harder, and it's this never-ending cycle that we find ourselves in.

It's only by loving Jesus more than our sin that we can break out of that cycle.

Finding our true satisfaction in Him, and then that leading to obedience.

You know, obedience is the worship that God desires from us more than anything else.

Doing his will.

And we learned about that in 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 22.

1 Samuel 15:22

Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?

Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.

And then what did Jesus say right here in verse 34?

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

That's where Jesus found his true, his lasting satisfaction.

Where he found his true spiritual sustenance in his worshiping God through obedience to the end.

And what did he cry from the cross?

It is finished.

Now, Jesus will tell them the urgency behind doing the Father's will.

Look at verse 35.

Don't you say there are still four months and then comes the harvest.

You know, the way that this is quoted right here, and the way Jesus says, don't you say, leads us to believe that Jesus is quoting a proverb of this time that basically means, what's the rush?

Like, we have time.

What's your hurry?

There's still four months before harvest.

Why are you getting all excited?

But look at what Jesus says here.

Second part of verse 35.

Listen to what I'm telling you.

Open your eyes and look at the fields because they are ready for harvest.

Your translation may say, are already white for harvest.

You know, as grain ripens, it lightens.

You know, a way to tell if a field was ripe was to just look at it and see how light it had gotten.

You know, Jesus, we see him often in the Gospels, he liked to use everyday things that people could relate to and really understand on the physical level to get his point across.

And there might have been fields around him, you know, that are white for harvest that he's using.

Or maybe these people, this crowd that's coming out of Samaria, had to walk through some of those fields or around some of those fields on their way to the well.

But the point is, Jesus is with them.

The Messiah has come.

And it was time to get busy doing the will of the Father.

They didn't have four months to harvest.

Harvest was now.

It was harvest time in this moment.

And it's not even a couple days away.

The harvest crew has already started.

Look at verse 36.

The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.

You know, harvest time is a really exciting time for farmers.

It's a busy time, but it is Literally the fruit of their labor that's coming to fruition.

The fruit that can be enjoyed by the farmer, or it can be sold, or it can be stored up for winter, or it can be preserved in some way.

And harvest time doesn't wait for anybody.

You know, I grew up the son of a farmer, and I never saw my dad yelling at his fields, I need one more week.

It doesn't happen that way.

When it's ready, it's ready.

And Jesus is telling them, it's ready.

Look at verse 37.

For in this case, the saying is true: one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to reap what you didn't labor for.

Others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 6 through 7, Paul writes, I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

You know, the prophets had been sent ahead to labor.

John the Baptist had been sent ahead to labor.

Jesus himself had been doing work.

And the disciples get the pleasure of harvesting all this work that had been done before them.

You know, in earthly terms, this would actually be stealing, wouldn't it?

You know, I sowed those seeds and you harvested them, give me my crop back.

But in God's economy, who cares?

As long as these people that are ripe are entering into the kingdom of God.

Even if they are Samaritans.

Who cares who planted, who cares who watered, and who harvested?

Because we don't harvest for ourselves, we harvest for the master.

And Jesus is about to show them that the harvest for their master is ripe by what happens next with these Samaritans that are coming to him.

Look at verse 39.

Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified.

He told me everything I ever did.

So, how did these people first come to believe in Jesus?

It's through her testimony.

This is what Jesus did in my life.

Testimonies are so powerful.

And we all have them.

Even if you think yours is boring, it's not.

I promise.

We all have testimonies, if we're followers of Christ, of what God has done in our life.

And I think what amazed this woman is not only that Jesus told her everything she did, but still loved her and desired her to enter into the kingdom of God.

And so she starts sharing this.

You know, it sounds like with anybody that would listen, this is what Jesus just did in my life.

And look what happens in verse 40.

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

This is a major thing.

It might not seem like it, but this is a major thing.

For not only a Jew to stay in Samaria, it was hard enough for them to even walk through it.

You know, they were always trying to avoid the people or walk around it if they could.

But for a Jewish rabbi to stay in Samaritan Samaria is an even bigger deal.

You know, it doesn't say, but I'd be willing to bet that the disciples were mortified and squirming right now.

No, no, no, no, no.

Like, we're halfway through.

Let's just keep going.

They're probably thinking, like, what if people find out, Jesus, that we're doing this?

Like, what are they going to be thinking of us?

And honestly, they probably didn't feel safe spiritually or physically staying in Samaria for two days.

So they're probably just losing their minds and they can't wait to get out of there.

And then on the other side of things, you know, Samaritans didn't like the Jews either.

Yet they asked him to stay, this Jewish rabbi.

And as Jesus stayed and taught them, look what happens in verse 41.

Many more believed because of what he said.

Jesus had this amazing way of breaking down social barriers and winning people through what he said.

You know, whether it was Samaritans, tax collectors, nationalist zealots, adulterers.

Sinners wanted to hang out with them.

And it wasn't because he was becoming more like them.

It was because he genuinely loved them and they could tell.

You know, as I've been prepping the sermon all week, I just keep praying, oh Lord, teach us how to do that.

Teach me how to do that.

Because I don't think I'm very good at it.

You know, as Ben mentioned last week, Jesus didn't come out of the gate with naming this woman sin and then yelling, repent or go to hell.

He first treated her like a human being, offered her living water, and then he addressed the sin issue in her life.

And he did all of that through love.

And with this larger Samaritan group that we're seeing, he traveled through their land.

He was willing to talk to them and to love them, and he was willing to stay with them.

And a Jewish rabbi was willing to teach this group of Samaritans in love.

Jesus is turning social norms on their head and doing it out of love.

And what does it say?

Many more believed.

Look at verse 42.

And they told the woman, so this larger group of Samaritans, and they told the woman, we no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.

As I already said, testimonies are amazing.

Because nobody can really argue with your testimony, can they?

You can tell people what Jesus has done in your life, and they can't sit there and say, no, he didn't.

They can't argue with them.

They might think you're crazy, but they can't argue with what Jesus has done in your life through your testimony, especially if they've witnessed the change in your life firsthand.

But the hope, like this woman, is that we can share our testimony of what Jesus has done, and that will lead to others believing in Jesus.

And that will lead, at least lead others to believe you about what Jesus has done in your life.

And they'll be able to see for themselves that Jesus is real.

Once they come, then they know firsthand what Jesus can do in their lives as well.

And that's, I think, what we're seeing here.

That's what these Samaritans did.

They heard a testimony and then they came to Jesus for themselves.

They believed the woman's testimony, and then they spent time with Jesus, and then they confessed that yes, this man really is the savior of the world.

And notice the language that they use here.

Not the savior of the Jews, not the savior of the Samaritans, but the savior of the world.

For God so loved the world.

For God so loved the Samaritans, the Romans, the people of North County San Luis Obispo, that he gave his one and only Son.

That whoever believes places their trust in him will be saved.

Places their trust in Jesus Christ will be saved.

Even the people that we deem as icky.

You know, if we're honest, I think we all have Samaritans in our life.

People that we see as like, I'm not hanging out with them.

I'm not gonna walk toward them, I'm not gonna show love toward them for whatever reason it might be, but we all have those prejudices in our life.

So I want to ask you all a question, and myself included.

Who are those people?

Who are the Samaritans in our own life?

Who do we deem as too icky to hang out with?

Too icky to stay with for a couple days?

Not to condone, but to love and to speak truth to in love.

To share our testimony with and share what Jesus has done in our life.

So I want to ask, who are the people that we walk around?

You see them before they see you, so you cross the street.

Or maybe you go down a different aisle in the grocery store.

So who are the Samaritans in our life?

And as a heads up, it's confession time, okay?

As I was preparing the sermon this week, Friday, I found myself in Smart and Final, grabbing some groceries for Mother's Day.

I was approaching the checkout line.

There was two lines, about equal, you know, uh distance to the checker.

But I noticed at the end of one line was a complete stranger, and at the end of another line was my neighbor, somebody that lives in our neighborhood.

And my interactions with this person have never been the greatest.

And I immediately just start going to the other line.

And I felt like the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and said, What are you teaching on this week?

So when I got in the other line out of obedience to what I felt the Holy Spirit was leading me to, and I get behind him and I keep thinking, don't turn around.

I just don't want this interaction right now.

And then he starts chatting it up with the woman that's in front of him, and then with the checker, and then he turns around.

I don't even know if he recognized me, but he starts chatting with me, and he's being super friendly.

Like, man, what's going on?

This doesn't seem like what I've experienced in the past.

And so we're going through, and then he pays for his stuff, and right before he leaves, he drops his 20 on the counter and says, put that towards his groceries, and he just walked away.

I was just like, I felt like it was the Lord saying, like, you need to walk toward these people that you typically want to walk around.

And I felt like it was a lesson of this own sermon of my life.

I was like, okay, Lord, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'll walk towards those people.

But who does God want us to walk toward instead of around?

You know, Jesus walked toward the outcasts, toward the cast-offs, the unclean, the rejected, the unloved, the unlovable, those that were rejected by everybody else are the people that Jesus walked toward.

So he could love and hopefully welcome those same people into the kingdom of God.

The people that others walked around Jesus walked toward.

And like this Samaritan woman whose sin was exposed, yet she walked toward him.

But he walked toward her first.

And if we want to be just like our rabbi, like Jesus, we need to walk towards those that need Jesus in love.

Not compromising the truth, not shying away from the fact that they are a sinner in need of forgiveness, but speaking truth because we love them so much.

So would you join me in praying that we would have a love for those that don't know Jesus?

A love that comes through just like Jesus as we share the truth with others.

Let's pray.

Lord, you were so good.

Lord, as I as I think about it, each one of us is an outcast.

Each one of us are people that others want to walk around.

But you came to us.

You convicted us of sin, and you offered for each one of us to wipe away that sin, to wash us with the blood that you spilled on the cross so that we could be white as snow.

Lord, help us to love others the same way that you have loved each one of us.

Whoever the Samaritans are in our life, Lord, I pray that you would convict us and that you would help us and show us how to walk towards those people in love, to share our testimony of what you have done in our life.

Lord, to let them know that they are a sinner in need of a Savior.

But that Savior loves them more than more than anything and loves them perfectly.

Lord, so can you help us in this to walk towards those people and to show them your love in all truth?

Lord, show us how you did it.

I want to know how you did it.

I want to know why the tax collectors wanted to eat with you and why the Samaritans asked you to stay with them for a couple days.

Lord, would you show us how to do that, how to love people and to walk towards those same people that you walk towards, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.