New Life Bible Fellowship Church
9-15-24
      • Bible Trivia
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      • Psalm 63:1–4NKJV

  • Make Me A Blessing
  • I'll Tell the World That I'm a Christian

      • Psalm 104NKJV

  • Introduction:

    We have seen in our trek through the gospel of John, that Jesus is the implementor of the New Covenant as declared in the Old Testament, replacing ceremonial washing, and the need for a physical temple, and the absolute must to be born from above in order to see the Kingdom of God. We also learned last week, that this new birth is not dependent upon a particular people, race, or creed, but it is for all humanity who will respond in repentance of sin, and trust in the true Messiah, Jesus Christ.
    This morning, we will continue where we left off last week, in Jesus Journey to Sychar - Part 2, in John 4:27-42, where we will see the response of Jesus’ disciples to his interaction with a person of question and what happens when this person of question receives the living water that Jesus provides.

    Text: John 4:27-42

    John 4:27–42 ESV
    27 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?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

    Main Idea: Since Jesus is the only one that can bring living water, those who have received this water will sow and reap his Gospel.

    I. The Response (27-30)

    Always note that whenever there is an interaction with Jesus the Christ, there will and must be a response…let’s look first at the response…

    A. Of the Disciples (27)

    (27) 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?”
    marveled. The disciples’ attitude reflects both the contempt of the Jews for the Samaritans and male chauvinism that regards giving instruction to a woman as a waste of time. During the first century, it was also a breach of propriety for a man to speak with a woman unrelated to him in public.
    but no one said, “What do you seek?” - The answer, had it been given, would have been, To receive from her physical water.
    but no one said, “Why are you talking with her?” - The answer, had it been given, would have been, To give her living water.
    Was he not a rabbi? Then how could he ignore the rabbinical rule: “Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no not with his own wife”?
    The disciples response therefore was the norm, the unbiblical prejudice of the culture, even of the religious culture…now let’s look at the response…

    B. Of the Woman (28-30)

    (28) So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
    the woman left her water jar - we see here that this woman’s priorities has changed, what is it that has happened that caused her to leave her physical needs behind, what is it that she has learned? I believe, in the context, that…
    First note that she did not forget her water jar but she purposely left it there. But why?
    I believe that having heard Jesus’ great declaration, and being now fully convinced that genuine worship is of an entirely spiritual nature and that accordingly there can be no basic objection to the idea of Jews and Samaritans drinking from the same pitcher, she purposely leaves the jar at the well, so that Jesus may quench his physical thirst, and so that he may know that she has taken to heart the lesson on true worship.
    (29) “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” -
    Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. - an acknowledgment of divine omniscience.
    Though we have no reason to doubt that in her own heart she is already convinced that Jesus is, indeed, the Christ, she very wisely formulates her question in such a manner that the people will have to arrive at their own answer. She said, “Can this be the Christ?”
    (30) They went out of the town and were coming to him. -
    They went out. Note that the witness of the woman is more effective than the visit of the twelve apostles (verses 8 & 27)
    When one is transformed by the saving power of the eternal living water, that transformation becomes evident to others.

    II. The Urging (31-38)

    We begin with the earthly, physical urging…

    A. Of the Disciples (31-33)

    (31) Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
    Meanwhile - Back at the well…
    the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” - the disciples seemingly unaware of that miraculous events that was happening around them, urges Jesus as any human would urge any other human…with the physical necessities of life.
    (32) But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
    food to eat. Jesus again brings together the physical and spiritual by speaking in terms of the physical world in order to teach the different realities of the unseen spiritual world…only God in the flesh could teach those in the flesh about God!
    (33) So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” - It is hard for them to imagine that in the land of the Samaritans anyone could have brought food to Jesus…the disciples continue to remain in the physical world, not able to discern the spiritual implication their master was teaching them.
    We now are shown the spiritual implications of all this in the spiritual urging…

    B. Of Jesus (34-38)

    (34) Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
    My food is to do the will of him who sent me - The accomplishment of Jesus’ mission is more important to him than physical food (cf. Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4; also Matt. 6:25; Mark 3:20–21).
    to accomplish his work - as the one commissioned by the father to do the work of redemption, Jesus will soon implicate his disciples in the harvest of this redemption as will be seen in John 14:12
    John 14:12 ESV
    12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
    Jesus now again uses the physical realm to teach a spiritual truth about this work…
    (35) Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
    Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’?
    In the physical realm, there is a period of time between sowing and harvesting.
    Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
    But in the spiritual realm, Jesus’ coming has already ushered in the end-time harvest in which sowing and reaping paradoxically coincide, so that the “crop” of believers is now being gathered into God’s kingdom. The immediate reference may be to the approaching Samaritans who are going to believe in Jesus, and reveals the scope of this crop of believers to include the despised gentile (cf. vv. 39–42).
    Though the grain-harvest may still be four months off, the soul-harvest is ripe for the plucking even now!
    (36) Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
    Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life. Already — not four months from now as is true with respect to the physical harvest — the reaper receives wages, a reward; and gathers fruit for everlasting life, he is gathering fruit destined for everlasting life.
    so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. Generally there is a considerable interval between sowing and reaping. But in this case hardly any time had elapsed between the sowing of the seed and the reaping of the harvest. Hence, in order that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. Christ, the Sower, and the disciples, as reapers, rejoice together.
    This statement is reminiscent of Amos 9:13, where the “treader of grapes” overtakes “him who sows the seed,”
    Amos 9:13 ESV
    13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
    Thus depicting the abundance and prosperity of the new age. Hence Jesus claims that he is ushering in the messianic age in which sowing and reaping coincide.
    rejoice together. There is a unique joy that comes from seeing others come to faith.
    (37) For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ (38) I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
    The others who have labored are Jesus and his predecessors, especially John the Baptist and his followers, but in a broader sense all the OT writers and prophets. Jesus’ followers are the beneficiaries of their work and will bring in the harvest.
    As part of the “case-and-point” of what Jesus was urging his disciples to do, we see the confession of those who were sown the seed of both the woman’s testimony, and Jesus word.

    III. The Confession (39-42)

    A. From the Woman’s Testimony (39-40)

    (39) Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
    Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony - the transforming message of the one who was transformed by Jesus, became the convincing proof that brought belief.
    “He told me all that I ever did.” - her acknowledgment of divine omniscience was undeniable in the exposure of her sin which may have been secret to everyone else.
    (40) So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
    So when the Samaritans came to him - the goal of every witness is not to focus on the one transformed, but to come into the presence of the one who transforms.
    they asked him to stay with them - the insatiable desire to know more about Jesus
    he stayed there two days - Jesus desire to make himself known.

    B. From Jesus’ Word (41-42)

    (41) And many more believed because of his word. (42) They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
    many more believed because of his word - note that it is the living word, Jesus, that brought this belief, not some conniving methods of human coercion.
    we have heard for ourselves - their personal encounter with Jesus, their messiah.
    we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. Not just of Jews. Jesus’ large-scale harvest among the Samaritans marks the first indication of the universal scope of his saving mission (cf. 10:16; 11:51–52). The early church engaged in a Samaritan mission as well (Acts 8:4–25). Hence the pattern of Jesus’ mission according to John—from Judea (Nicodemus, John John 3:1–15), to Samaria (4:1–42), to the Gentiles (4:46–54; cf. 12:20–33)—anticipates the post-Pentecost mission of the early church (cf. Acts 1:8).
    They recognize that Jesus is more than a prophet (vv. 19, 29, 39); He is the Savior (1 John 4:14).
    In summary of John 4:1-42, we learn the following important points:
    It was always God divine purpose and necessity to save people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
    The promise of living water can only come through Jesus, the Christ
    Salvation comes to those who acknowledge their sin, repent of it, and place their trust in Jesus Christ alone.
    Those who trust Christ, are now his sower of the gospel, and as a result, God will bring both sower and reaper together to rejoice in the work of God.

    So What?

    Do we understand the importance of living our lives with a spiritual focus, realizing that our earthly humanity is passing away and our hope is Immanuel, God with us?
    Do we take seriously our responsibility to sow the gospel so that God will use us to bring a harvest of souls through this eternal seed?

      • John 4:27–42ESV

      • John 4:27ESV

      • John 4:28–30ESV

      • John 4:31–33ESV

      • John 4:34–38ESV

      • John 14:12ESV

      • Amos 9:13ESV

      • John 4:39–40ESV

      • John 4:41–42ESV

  • People Need the Lord
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