Well, good morning church and happy winter break for all of you students that are out there. I'm sure that the wifi in the area from all the gaming and streaming this week is going to be taxed. Amen. it's gonna be a great week this week for you guys and for all the rest of you, thank you for being here. We know you've been up since four this morning chasing all your patio furniture into the neighbor's yard, like the rest of us. But it was a kind of a dicey night, was it not? Well, listen, I am in, I'm incredibly excited about our text today. So if you got a copy of scripture, go ahead and turn with me to John chapter four. John Chapter four is where we're gonna land today, and we're gonna do the same thing as we've been doing every week, the last five weeks.
And we're just gonna allow the Apostle John himself to continually lead us in this journey to introduce us even more to who Jesus is. In fact, in week one of the series, in chapter one, that's what he did. He introduced us to Jesus. That is the Messiah, the one, the king of kings, the Word and the God that is with us. In chapter two, we got to see Jesus' miracle powers. John showed us him as he created water, or he created wine from water, not just for just little bitty wedding event, but to show us that he is God. In late chapter two, we saw Jesus flipping the tables over in the temple to show us that it is about the worship of the Father and not the worship of ourselves, and that we are the temple of God. And then last week, chip brought an incredibly dimming message last week.
If you were here, you know what that means on Nicodemus last week. Some of you're like, what does that mean? That just means you weren't here. 'cause Last week, Chip had a great illustration about sending our lives, and he really showed us and walked us through this text in John chapter three on the idea that us to be born again is the most incredible piece of what Christ wants to happen in our lives. Well, listen, church, I hope you're seeing as we walk through this gospel that really and truly the theme of this gospel is Jesus. It's about us falling in love with Jesus, us seeing who Jesus really is, and us surrendering our hearts and lives over to him in full belief so that we can walk with him. So far, every moment that we've walked through in this story has been Jesus in these encounters with people.
And one of two things have take place. Either A, on this side, the person's life is radically changed as they meet Jesus and they begin to walk with Jesus and fall in love with Jesus and trust Jesus. Or B, their relationship with Jesus has been totally solidified to where they're willing to lay down their lives, willing to lay down the things that hold them back, and willing to walk with him with everything in them. That's one of the most beautiful pieces of John's gospel. He shows us these real life accounts with real life peoples from his eyewitness testimony. And he says, this is exactly what Jesus wants to do in you. Now, a big part of John's gospel is a major, major principle of scripture that I just want to teach you today, remind you of today, and then I wanna show it to you in our text today.
You know, in every one of these accounts that we see Jesus meet somebody, or Jesus be introduced to somebody, or Jesus heals somebody. What you begin to see over and over again in these Jesus encounters is the idea that when Jesus meets somebody and they submit their hearts and lives fully to him, that their lives are totally transform. And this is why. All right? This is why I want you to write a principle down, and then we're gonna talk through it for a few minutes today. Here's the principle that John is showing us over and over again. The reality is, is what you truly believe about Jesus. And I put this in your notes, it shapes every part of who you are. Okay? What you truly believe about Jesus. If you don't hear anything else today, all right? Hear this, what you truly believe about Jesus, it shapes every part of who you are.
You say, well, Matt, what does that mean? Now, I don't know, I'm kind of pushing back on that a little bit. Here's what it means. It means that you can't separate Jesus out from the other parts of your life. It means that what you believe about Jesus bleeds into, seeps into every other area. There, in no reality is no such thing as secular parts and spiritual parts. There's no such things as churchy parts in other parts. There really should be no such things as these relationships and those relationships because what you believe about Jesus should shape everything about you. And it does. In fact, let me show you a quick picture today that's gonna kind of bring this point to mind. I use this picture a lot when I'm teaching this point, and so I use it a couple years ago, but I love it in this context.
I want you to look at this picture of Jesus right here. Right here. All right? See it. You can laugh. It's okay. Alright. It's okay. In fact, if you have this picture at your house, you can laugh. All right? It is. Okay. Take a selfie of it. Send it to me today. Here's what I want you to see about this picture. All right? This is how so many of us see Jesus in our minds. For some reason, this is how so many of us sees are really the question is, can this guy in this picture do anything for me? So many times we default. I don't know why we default to seeing Jesus in our minds as this ethereal or as this otherly transcendence separated from anything being that is just kind of 100% out there and soft and floating all above Jesus. I mean, look at this.
Look at this picture right here, for goodness sake. I mean, first off, we got the little creepy baby ring around the top. I don't really know what that's about. Don't, don't write me if you do. I don't care. I also, secondly, I think he has lipstick on, I'm not sure, but I think he does with blush. I might add fresh perm right there. And, and he's a Jewish guy from the Middle East that's white with green eyes. I don't know how that works in your mind. But it really can't work, right? We can laugh at that, but, but the reality is this, for so many of us in our minds, when we see Jesus, we see Jesus like this as this otherly or untouchable Jesus, that in all reality, why would I bring any of my stuff to him? Because how could he even relate, right?
How could he even know where I am? I can't take anything to him. How could he understand me anyway? And look, I hate this. I mean, not that particular picture if you have it, no offense, right? Because here's the deal. If, if Jesus is gonna radically transform our lives and radically redeem us and set us on a path to worship him, we have got to see that Jesus is all powerful. He is all Lord, and he is always right in the middle of the mess with us. Yes sir. That's the difference. But yet, when we close our eyes, if we just see him as this otherly thing that is just out there and nothing like me, then we can't. Well, this morning in the account in John chapter four, it is gonna show us this point incredibly, incredibly well this morning we've got a front row seat to Jesus having one of the most incredible displays of his divine providence.
That's kind of how he orders the universe and of his imminence. That's just kind of his closeness to us and how he's involved with even the details of our lives. And we have this front row seat to how loving and how graceful and how merciful and how right in the middle of the mess Jesus really is and really wants to be. So this is what I want you to do today. I need you to hold on today, alright? I'm not gonna apologize for it. I'm just gonna tell you I need you to hold on. We got a lot of ground to cover in John chapter four today. I want you to remember that John is the apostle John. He's the beloved of Jesus. 90% of the material in the gospel of John is new material that is not in the other gospel. So we need to pay attention to it.
Also, it is written in a style that has these long discourses with people that show us that Jesus did spend these moments really dialing into people's lives. And we're gonna see one today that is life changing and shows us the power of Jesus as well as the closeness of Jesus. And here's my prayer today that it changes your perception of who Jesus is. Now, here we go, John, chapter four. We're gonna start in verse one. Here we go. Here's what it says. We're gonna let scripture teach us. It says, now Jesus learned in the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now, verse three is important for context, but hey, all scripture we really need to know about and what it's saying.
So what is it saying? Understanding it is big. Jesus, once again, he leaves a town where he is starting to get this popularity where he is starting to get this following where he is starting to see all of these people like turn to him and actually be baptized. But notice John kind of steps in right here and sets us straight. And he's like, Hey, but you need to know that Jesus didn't baptize people. You're like, well, Matt, why in the world would that even matter? Well, we're really not totally sure why it would matter, but I can speculate and just say that here's the deal. If I was baptized by Jesus and you were baptized by, I don't know, let's say Nathaniel or one of the lower disciples, right? I, I would be like, ha, take that! Right? You know what I'm saying? Maybe that's it.
I don't know. I don't know. But the point is, he didn't baptize. But what is it saying he does? Jesus hears that the Pharisees are getting upset at this popularity and at this following and of these people that are turning to trust in him. But Jesus knows that it's not his time to confront them, although he will later on in the gospels. We know that He knows that it's not the time to do that. So what does he do? He just leaves. In fact, in verse three, it tells us that he left. That word left in verse three is a really, really particular word that literally means that he just left quietly without causing a scene. That's what it really means. In other words, Jesus got done with a party and he just kind of Irish exited out. Anybody got an Amen on that? You know how that goes?
He didn't cause a scene. He didn't ride a donkey out of there. There was no triumphant exit, no parade for Jesus. He was just like, Hey, I hear what's going on. It's not the time to do this. So at the high point of Jesus's ministry right here, it's just one of the top points. All these people are turning to him. But what does Jesus do? Jesus leaves these people and he begins to head north toward Galilee. All right? Look at verse four. Here's what it says. Now he had to go through Samaria. Now you're like, man, what does that matter? Oh, it matters what this word had to go or pass through Samaria. You may wanna underline that or put a circle around it. It's incredibly interesting. We're gonna circle back to it later. But I what? But what I want you to feel right now for it is that that nobody was forcing Jesus to do this, alright?
Nobody was making him. Nobody was like dragging him. Nobody was just like, like, we gotta go. No, no, no. In Jesus's spirit right here, even though thousands were turning to him, he knew that there was a moment that there was a calling and encounter for him to have with this lady that we're about to meet in just a second. And thank God he did. 'cause Watch what happens in verse five. It says, so he came to a town in Samaria called Sidecar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph Jacob's well was there and Jesus tired as he was from the journey. He sat down by the well for it was about noon. Now, the spot that we're looking at right here is a huge, huge, hugely important historic place. Actually, in Jewish heritage way before Jesus this place right here is a famous place. Right around where this well is
and right at this well is actually where God called Abraham to be, the father of Israel, the father of the nation of Israel. Also right at this well is where Abraham was sacrifi- was going to sacrifice Isaac, but God provided a way. Right around this hill was where Abraham's servant met Rebecca and she became Isaac's future wife. There was all these marriages that started at this well, where Jacob met his wife, Rebecca, to which all of you single people like you just finally looked up from your phone to which it was like, Hey, tell me where this well is. Good news, it's still there today. Actually, you can go with us on our next trip to Israel and drink out of Jacob's well with us. I don't know what it does for your love life, but it's a huge, huge, huge day in life.
So, Jesus, all right, get back to the story that was not part of the deal. Jesus comes in. Jesus comes to this. Well, he's tired, right? He's tired from the journey from when he's been walking in the middle of the day. And he needs water, right? He needs water. Stop him by the qt. Look at verse seven. Here it is. He said, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink for Jews? Do not associate with Samaritans. Now, after that nine verses, I just want you to pause for just a minute because I wanna show you what John has just beautifully done. John has snuck in some incredibly transforming core characteristics of Jesus that if we can just grab hold of them, I can promise you it can begin to shape your image away from ethereal Jesus that we just saw into the life of Jesus that wants to step right into the middle of the mess with you.
In fact, lemme point 'em out to you. Here's the first one. It's in your notes. Number one core characteristic of Jesus is that Jesus, we just saw it. Jesus steps into the places that others avoid to reach those who need him. It's what we just saw in the text, right? In fact, watch this incredible truth about this incarnation or this coming to Jesus in the text in verse four, it literally just said, I pointed it out a minute ago. Now I'll read it again. It literally said that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Now, the reality is he doesn't have to. He doesn't have to. Why? In fact, most Jews would not have gone through Samaria. In other words, most Jews would not have done what Jesus is doing. You're like, Matt, what in the world? Why does all this matter? Oh, it matters why?
Alright, so listen. If you were to go to the back of your Bible and pull out one of those maps, you will see really quickly that yes, what Jesus is doing is Jesus is in the South, he's going towards the north, and he a, he actually is taking the most direct route to where he needs to go. But the reality is, Jews did not do this. Most Jews especially most rabbis, would've left where they were. They would've gone left across the Jordan River. They would've gone north through the desert. They would've swung back around the top side adding three days to their journey to do what Jesus is doing here by just cutting the corner off. But you said, well, Matt, why would they do that? They would do that because the Jews hated the Samaritans. They hated them. They did it because 700 years earlier, when the northern and the southern kingdoms were, were separated, the Assyrians, stay with me for just a minute.
The Assyrians came in and conquered the northern kingdom. They took all the males out of the northern kingdom back to Assyria. They brought in Assyrian males to the northern Kingdom. And out of loneliness, out of spite and out of taken over the country, the Assyrian males began to impregnate the Hebrew Israelite ladies to create this half race of Assyrian Jews, to which nobody liked at this point, but they controlled. Now, these Assyrian Jews grew up in a pluralistic society. That's a big word to say this. On one side, they worshiped as the Assyrians did, which was polytheistic, which worshiped animals, which had children's sacrifices. But on the other side, they tried their best to still worship God, to still have their worshiping of the true God. And as a result of this, everybody despised them. Everybody hated them, especially the true Jews that looked at them as just perverting the true God that they worshiped.
It got so bad that Nehemiah banned the Samaritans for working on the wall of Jerusalem when they were rebuilding it. It got so bad that a hundred years prior to this event that Jesus is walking here, that an Assyrian man or a Jewish man married an a, a, a, Assyrian lady, got got in my mind here. And actually created their own temple to worship that mirrored the real temple. And as a result of this, the Jews just despised them. They thought of them as so unclean that even if they got in their shadow, that as a Jew you were looked at as a sinner. So what does Jesus do? Jesus does what none of the rest of the Jewish religious people does, and he goes right through the middle of it. You see, well, Matt, why would he go right through the middle of it when he had thousands of people that were believing him?
You're about to see in just a minute, he went right through the middle of it to reach this lady that needed him. Man, church, I don't know if you're feeling the weight of this like I have this week, but how incredibly glorious is it that we serve a God that goes right through the middle of where we are and doesn't walk around us? Yes, sir. That's what he's showing us right here, all to reach this lady on a micro level. This whole story is about the fact that Jesus went to reach this lady. But what about on a macro level? What about on a worldly level? How amazing is it that we have a God that is so loving, that is so graceful, that is so about salvation. Here it is that he left the compounds of heaven. He came to sinful earth. He took on flesh as a human being, all to reach me, the unreachable.
You see, so listen, this is not just a micro story about this lady at the well. This is the story of humanity and what Christ has done for all of us. Amen. Now, so what does Jesus do? He goes through Samaria, and I want you to see this for reference real quick, but as he did, he, he got into Samaria after walking all day long it, the Bible just says it seems like a kind of a moot point. The Bible says that he, that he rested, right? But this is no small point, right? You see, when we look at Jesus, we tend to think of Jesus like our picture that we just saw, right? As otherly or as as cheating his humanity. We, we tend to think of Jesus as never getting tired, never getting hungry, never getting frustrated, never getting mad, which we're gonna continue to see through the book of John is not true.
In fact, what did verse four, just tell us, it says this about Jesus. I wanna point this out real quick. It says, Jesus tired as he was from the journey, he sat down by the well for it was about noon. Now, honestly, when you read that, you just kind of fast forward through it. You're like, okay, whatever. I got through it, whatever. It's just a big deal. Let me get to the main point. But listen, most of us think of Jesus as really not human. But I want you to see right here that Jesus gets tired. He gets tired in the text, seems like an add-on, but it's not. I just want you to feel the weight of this, that he is all God. But when he came to the earth, he became all man. He walked in everything we walked so that this, write this second principle down about Jesus, that John is teaching us that Jesus fully feels what you feel and he completely understands what you face.
Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about these details of scripture? These moments in scripture are Jesus feeling what you feel? Do you realize what this means? This means that Jesus doesn't just see your pain. He felt it. Jesus doesn't see you walk. He walked as you walk. This gives us even so much more reason to bring our stuff to Jesus, to bring our request to Jesus, to bring our issues to Jesus. And listen, he understand. Hebrews four tells us, for we do not have a high priest, Hebrews four 18, who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who's been tempted in all things yet as we are yet without sin. Man, have you ever thought about this? How amazing is it? Stay in context with me now just for a minute. How amazing is it that you can bring your exhaustion to Jesus?
Have you ever thought about that? How amazing is it on a physical level? If you're thirsty, that's one thing. But how amazing when your soul is quenched that you can bring that to Jesus and he relates to you. That's good news. He relates to you. How amazing is it that we have a God that is not separated from humanity. He's not ethereal. He is not out there. He is not surrounded by baby little angels all around him. No, he is a God that walked as we walked, and now he is sitting by the heavenly Father interceding on your behalf, and he knows you. He knows you. Incredible characteristic of Jesus that we need to grab onto. So number one, he goes where most people don't go. Number two, he reaches into who we are and he relates to us. But number three, write this down.
Jesus purposefully spends time with the lost to share his love purposefully. Now, hear me right here. Jesus did not sin. Jesus did not sin. Don't take this as me saying he sinned. But Jesus did meet and eat and hang out and build relationship with sinners and tax collectors and people that were not like him. Jesus did not put his hands up in the air to people that did not believe like he believes. He brought them into his world. Not only did he bring him into into His world, he closely associated with them to show them who he is. In fact, look at the story with us just for a minute. He gets close to this lady in verse seven. He gets so close to this lady, he looks at her in verse seven, and this should never happen. He looks at her in out loud, speaks to this lady in public, which never happened in their day and said this, will you give me a drink?
Will you give me a drink? He asked this lady for a drink. Now, in our minds we're thinking, that's not a big deal. He's thirsty. She's got a cup. She'll do it. But in their, it was a huge deal in their mind. Why? Because a Jew would've never drank from the cup of a Samaritan. Actually history, not religious history, but just history tells us that if you were a Jew, you did not associate with a Samaritan. And if even you were in a place that a Samaritan may be, you brought your own silverware. You brought your own dishes to a party just in case a Samaritan had eaten off of it at some point in life. But Jesus, he cuts through all of that mess and says, Hey, number one, I can drink from your cup, number one 'cause I'm thirsty. Number two, because I know the conversation it's gonna lead to.
And number three, Jesus looks at her and says, I can drink from it because I'm the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world no matter who you think you are. In such a way, what does Jesus do? And he's taken on the uncleanliness of himself to offer her the living water. Church is the same thing. Once again, that's the micro level. What's the macro level? The macro level is that Jesus came from heaven to earth, to sinful earth, to take on the sin of the world, to offer us forgiveness, to offer us his living water and to give us his life. It's exactly the same thing. In a way. When we touch something that's unclean, we become unclean. When Jesus touches something that is unclean, it becomes clean. Love it. Hallelujah. That's what it's showing us. Yes, sir. We see in Romans five eight, it says that God demonstrated his in love, that we were yet sinners.
Christ died for us. This woman at the well is about to experience this. Jesus is not lost. He comes into Samaria to find this lady, and it's the same he's done for you. Amen. Man, he's looking for us. Steps into the places we avoid. He feels everything we feel, spends time with the lost, and look at number four, Jesus often saves people who are rejected by man. He often saves people who are rejected by man. Actually, this is the rest of the story. Lemme just read it to you. It says this. Let's move to the back half of the minute. It says this in verse 10. It says, Jesus answered her. If you knew the gift of God and who it was that was given, who it was that was asking you for a drink, you would've asked him and he would've given you living water.
Sir, the woman said, I love this line. You have nothing to draw with, and that well is deep. Man she claps back at him, doesn't she? Where can you get this living water? Verse 12, are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, as did his sons and his life stock? So what's she trying to do? She's trying to show Jesus, Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I hear what you're saying. And actually you better watch what you're saying to me because I am actually part of the family that dug this well. She's almost like, Hey, my grand, great, great, great grand pappi on my mama's side, that was Jacob, right? That's what she's trying to say. I'm part of the family. She's clearly not getting what Jesus is offering. But watch it keeps going.
Watch what Jesus does in verse 13. I would've already been frustrated if I was Jesus, but we've already been through the fact that I should never be Jesus. All right. Here it is. Jesus answered. Everyone who drinks the water, drinks this water will be thirsty again. Oh man, great verse. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them here it is, will become in them a spring of water that is welling up to eternal life. You know the difference between a spring and a pond right? A pond becomes gross, a pond gets warm, a pond grows, algae. A spring is always fresh. It's always flowing. It's always new. It's always clean. That's what Jesus is saying. He is like, Hey, you can come over here all you want to. You can come dipping this thing all you want to. It might be there.
It might not. A drought come, a drought may not, but when you get me, it is there forever. It is there on purpose. It is there. It is clean and it cleans you. That's what he says. I will give you a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Watch this. The woman, verse 15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I won't go thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. He told her, go and call your husband and come back. Now, pause there because this seems like one of the most narrow minded moments of Jesus's whole ministry to me, right? Why? Here's why. Because if you've ever been in an evangelism class or if you've ever taught an evangelism class, you will know once you get into the evangelistic message and the saving message of Jesus, if anybody starts to draw in and see who Jesus is and take steps towards giving their life to Jesus, man, let's close the deal.
Let's offer them the hope of Jesus. But if you were sitting at a coffee table behind these people listening to them, don't tell me you don't. You know you do. And if you were listening to this conversation behind you, and you are hearing Jesus with this lady, you're thinking, come on, Jesus. You got her. Come on, Jesus. She's doing it. Come on, Jesus. She's walking. She's almost there. And then Jesus begins to put his finger in the wound of this lady in this very moment, and you're like, ah, you lost her. Oh, no. But he didn't lose her. He didn't lose her. And Jesus is no jerk. You see, Jesus teaches us something right here. I want you to write down number five. Jesus desires to reach into the depths of our life to heal us. Here it is from the inside out. You see, here's what Jesus is not concerned with.
Jesus is not concerned with some flippant decision that you may or may not have made at some point in your life. Jesus is not concerned with some emotional context that doesn't change you from your core. Jesus is not concerned with some religious attitude. He's not concerned with some religiosity for you to have all the right answers. But Jesus' concern with is him moving into your soul and begin to heal you at your deepest wounds. Your deepest hurts, your deepest harsh moments, and for him to give you the living water that washes that and leads you to him. That's what Jesus wants to happen. He has no desire to just dust you off and put you up on the track again. He knows this lady's hurting. He knows what she's in the middle of. And so he challenges this lady and now watch what the lady says. 'cause She claps back again. Watch this. Verse 17. Here it is. She says, look, I have no husband. She replied, Jesus said to her, you were right. When you say you have no husband, could you imagine debating Jesus just for a minute, right?
Crazy. You're right. When you say you have no husband, the fact is you've had five husbands and the man that you now have is not your husband. What you have said Jesus said is quite true. Now, look, we're really not sure how this woman got to this point in her life, all right? We're we're not sure. She may have been crazy promiscuous, right, and have run around on the first five husbands, right? I'll leave it at that. Or she may have been widowed five times and now this last guy that she's shacking up with is like, I ain't marrying that death trap. I don't know. All right? I'm not. I'm not really sure. Let's just date right. All we know for sure, all we know for sure is that she is in a very promiscuous, adulterous relationship that she should not be in. We do know that for sure.
We know that for sure. We know that she's had a rough life. We know that she's an outcast. We know that she's not in the girls club. We know that she's avoiding all the other ladies. We know that from the context. So watch what happens after Jesus challenged her. Verse 19, sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you, Jews, you claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. This lady is brilliant in debate. She's brilliant. You say, how is she brilliant? Well, she does what so many of us do when Jesus begins to push into those hard spots, when Jesus begins to convict us, she deflects from her life and begins to look at the grandiose state of worship in all of her people. Don't we do that? Right? That's what this lady does.
She shifts from her problems to the culture problems. She turns her vulnerable moment into a theology conversation. You ever been there? Right? But Jesus, once again, I'm not Jesus 'cause I'd of been, lady listen, no, no, no, no lady, he doesn't do it. Jesus actually answers your question and watch what he does. Verse 21 says, woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain. That's the fake temple or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans, Jesus said, you worship what you do not know, but we worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time, Jesus says, is coming and now has come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Now, look, that's a whole nother message for a whole nother day in that chunk of scripture. But Jesus satisfies her theology question here about saying it's not about the location of worship. It's about the true person that you should worship. But Jesus begins to turn it back even again to show us this amazing interaction with this lady in the story. Now, I want you to think about the lady again. We don't know her family. We don't know her name. We don't know her vocation. All we know about her is that she's the exact opposite of who Nicodemus was last week. She's a lady. He was a man. A lady was a second class citizen in this time period. She was poor. How do we know she's poor? She's the one at the well. She doesn't have a servant at the well. In fact, she's at the well at noon.
What does that tell us? She's sinner. A sinner enough to be absolutely outcast from the girls group. We know that she's living in open sin. Whereas last week, Nicodemus was pious. He was rich as a pharisee. We look at this lady and we see her through the eyes of not the rich religious Pharisee of last week that Jesus said, born again. But we look at this lady where Jesus presses into the core of absolutely who she is, and he looks at her and says, you are not beyond my love and grace. That's what he says to this lady. Man, I love this. You know what question? Hit me all week this week. How many of us have felt so rejected by man that that's how we have felt, that God feels about us? Amen. That's what Jesus is showing this lady, he's like, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
That's not how it works. Jesus says, nobody's too far, too damaged, too ashamed for the grace of God. In fact, watch what Jesus does next, verse 25, 26, some of the most famous verses right here, the woman said, I know that the Messiah called Christ is coming, and when he comes, he will explain everything to us. Verse 26, underline it. Then Jesus declared, I am the one speaking to you. And he, man, do you see the, do you see what just happened? This is probably the clearest claim in all the Bible that Jesus looked through the noise, he looked through the mess, he looked through the scene, he looked through everything, and he said, I am God and I am the Messiah. And I want you to notice here that Jesus didn't reveal this in Nicodemus last week. He didn't reveal it to the people at the wedding.
He didn't reveal it to the disciples yet he didn't reveal it to his mother at the wedding. Yet he revealed it to this lady, this poor outcast lady from another culture that was opening up her soul that was damaged. And Jesus was saying, I have the power to give you life and to give you living water that will never run dry church. This is the Messiah. The Messiah is not that guy you saw on that screen. The Messiah is powerful enough to create the earth, but personal enough to step into the mess with us. And he wants to, but he doesn't just wanna save us. Write this last one down and we're gonna close it up. He wants to give us living water, so number six, and he invites us into a life of joy and of purpose and of kingdom impact. You see the reason that Jesus didn't slap a sticker on this lady and say, you're saved and go home.
Was he wanted to show her what it looks like to have meaning, what it looks like to have him and what it looks like to have an identity that can stand in full confidence knowing that you have been redeemed and you're standing in the light love and the blood washed body of Jesus. Look at the transformation. Verse four, I mean, verse 28, it says, when leaving, then leaving her water jar, the woman back went back to the town and said to the people, oh, here it is. Come and see a man who's told me everything I did. Could this be the Messiah? They came out of the town and they made their way to them. And listen, many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him 'cause of the woman's testimony that he told me everything I did. Church, are you seeing this? Not only has this lady now given her life to Christ, not only has this lady been delivered from darkness, delivered from being at the well alone, delivered from a life of isolation and hurt and pain, but now what a moment that Jesus has taken this broken, isolated, adulterous, unqualified ladies.
He's put new life in her. He is put the living water in her, and now he's given her a purpose that is way beyond anything this world can offer. And listen, that's what he wants to do for you. This story is not just about a lady. The story is about mankind and the offer of King Jesus that has stepped into this earth that he has made for you and he's made for me. But here's the question. Will you submit to him? Do you know my prayer today? My prayer today is that today is a well moment in so many of our lives. Listen, for some of you today, you need to surrender your heart to Jesus and allow him to put his life in you. For some of you today, you know Jesus, but you need to wrap him to wrap his loving arms around you and to remind you that I've put the living water in you and you can walk with me. Would you pray with me this morning? Lord Jesus, today, as we close this message out today, Lord Jesus, our heart for these next couple of minutes is the God you would meet us right where we are. Lord, we're not standing at the well of sidecar, but we're standing at that same decision moment in this very second Lord. There are people in this room that need to surrender their heart to you. They're dealing with it. God, you're pursuing him.
God, could this be the day that they just looked to you and said, come into my heart, Jesus, cleanse my life. Forgive my sins. Give me the living water and be my Savior and my Lord. Is that you today? Do you need to ask Jesus to come into your life? Maybe today you are a believer. You have, you know that you have been cleansed by Christ. You've given him your heart. But oh, today, you can relate so well from the feelings of this lady at the well. Maybe today you just needed to ask Jesus to remind you of what he saved you to.