John 4:15

 John 4:15 says, The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.  The woman asked Him for this living water, but she was still just thinking in earthly terms.  She wouldn't have to come draw water anymore.  Sometimes, that is all we want of Jesus, that our physical needs be met.  We need to claim what He really came to give us: everlasting life secure in His protection.  Verse sixteen adds, Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.  Then, Jesus told her to go get her husband,  Verse seventeen continues, The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: She said she had no husband.  Verse eighteen states, For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.  Jesus told her that she had told the truth, as far as it went that day.  Jesus was not trying to embarrass her.  He was leading her to understand that even though He knew her past, He was still inviting her to share in the everlasting life He offered.  Even though God knows our past, He still invites us to be His followers.  We simply need to confess our faults and accept His forgiveness and restoration.  Verse nineteen adds, The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.  The woman at the well told Jesus that she perceived He was a prophet.  How else could He know so much about her life.  Once more, if we see Jesus only as another prophet, then we miss the truth of Who He really is.  Verse twenty continues, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.  She then raised the question of where people worshipped.  She said the Samaritans worshipped on this mountain and the Jews said people should worship in Jerusalem.  We today have different places to worship, and some feel that theirs is the only true place of worship.  When we gather as a local church or a denomination, we need to realize that we are not the only ones worshipping God. Verse twenty-one says, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.  Jesus told her to believe Him, that the time was coming when people would neither worship God on this mountain or in Jerusalem.   Verse twenty-two adds, Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews Then, He said the Samaritans did not know Who they worshipped. They did not understand Who God really is, and though the Jews didn't always understand everything about God, they did worship the true Heavenly Father. Salvation was to come through the Jews.  There are many devout people who gather faithfully each week to worship, but they do not know God.  Jesus did not mean that people would quit worshipping, only that the place of worship would not matter.  This does not mean that we should quit gathering together to worship, but that we can worship wherever we gather in His name.  Verse twenty-three continues, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  Jesus said the hour was coming, and was already there, when people would worship God in spirit and in truth, and those are the ones God sought. When we gather in God's name, we need to be worshipping Him not by the physical act of gathering together, but by the spiritual act of allowing our spirit to be attuned to His will. Verse twenty-four concludes, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.  Jesus said that God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. 

John 4:13

John 4:13 says, Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: Verse fourteen adds, But whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water I shall give him shall be in him a well of living water springing up into everlasting life."  No matter how great we may think the things of this life are, they will be like the water from Jacob's well.  They will never satisfy, and we will want more.  We will never find fulfillment through material things.  What Jesus offers us is so much better than what the world can ever offer.  He offers everlasting satisfaction of our every need.

John 4:9

John 4:9 says, Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The woman at the well had a question for Jesus.  She asked Jesus how it was that He being a Jew, asked her, a woman of Samaria for a drink, since the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. When she looked at Christ, she simply saw a Jewish man.  When we first encounter Christ, we may wonder why He is even talking to us.  Now, we won't encounter Him physically, but He will make Himself known to us, and we have to wonder why He cares about sinners. We cannot bridge the gap to God, so He did.  Verse ten adds, Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.  Jesus said that if she knew the gift of God, she could have asked, and He would have given thee living water.  When we first encounter Jesus, we may not understand Who He is.  We may question what He wants from us.  He is here to offer us living water, and we are still looking through worldly eyes at first.  We, like the woman at the well, may ask how Jesus can give us something better than the world has to offer.  Verse eleven continues, The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?  Verse twelve concludes, Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?  In verses eleven and twelve, she pointed out that He had no bucket, and the well was deep and had been given to them by Jacob.  Was Jesus claiming to be better than Jacob?  We often fail to do the will of God because we have no bucket.  We limit God to what we can see instead of what He has promised.  We can also limit Him because of what Christians did in the past.  Jacob was a great man, but he was simply a man.  The woman questioned Jesus because she didn't know Who He really was.  The question is why do we question Him when we, as His followers, know Who He is? 

John 4:4

John 4:4 says, And he must needs go through Samaria.  We are told that Jesus must needs go through Samaria.  Jews didn't like to be in contact with Samaritans.  They didn't want to be contaminated by those that lived there, whom they viewed as inferior even to the Gentiles.  Our journey for Christ may take us into areas that we don't want to go, but we must always go where God says we need to go.  Verse five adds, Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. He came to Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph. Verse six continues, Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.  Jesus was thirsty, so He sat down by the well called Jacob's well.  The Samaritans, though despised by the Jews, considered the Jews ancestors to be theirs also, but they had changed their practice from the Jewish religious practices.  We may encounter people today who practice a religion that grew out of Christianity, but they have subverted it with their own requirements, traditions, and places of worship.  Verse seven states, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. When a Samaritan woman came to the well, He said to her, "Give me to drink."  Not only was Jesus talking to a Samaritan, but He was talking to a Samaritan woman and asking something from her.  We should never feel so superior to the lost of the world that we stop talking to them.  Verse eight adds, (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)  Jesus' disciples had gone to buy meat and Jesus was weary.  He was indeed truly human.  He got hungry, thirsty, and tired.  Still, even as He was asking for water, He was looking to the spiritual needs of the woman.  When we are hungry, thirsty, or tired, we still need to be concerned about the needs of those around us.  Jesus did not allow prejudice to stop Him from interacting with people.  We must follow His example and start seeing individuals instead of ethnic or religious classifications.  Christ died for all people, and that is who we are to reach out to. 

John 1:1

 

 John 4:1 says, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, John continues to discuss Jesus's baptizing people.  First, we see that the Pharisees had heard about it and that Jesus was baptizing more than John.  When people hear about great things being done by God through His people, those who oppose God are going to take particular notice.  We need to make sure that it isn't the people of God who are opposing Him, as were the Pharisees.  Verse two adds, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)  Next, we see that Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but that His disciples were baptizing for Him.  God carries out His work through His people, and Jesus was preparing His disciples to carry on His work.  Also, had He baptized some they could have felt superior to others.  There may be some today who are baptized more because of who is doing the baptizing than because of why they are being baptized.  Jesus did not give people that chance to boast.  He baptized all believers in the Holy Spirit after His death, burial and resurrection, so no can make a claim of a special baptism.  Verse three continues, He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.  Jesus decided to leave Judaea and go again to Galilee.  He did not leave because of a fear of the Pharisees.  He left because He still had work to do before the confrontation that would lead to His death.  We must never leave the place we are working for God out of fear, but neither should we be unwillingly to leave because of success.  Jesus, through His disciples, was baptizing many people, but it was not why He came.  He came to seek and save those who were lost, and it was time to continue on that mission.  We must realize that those being baptized at this time were being baptized to show repentance.  Our baptism must be more than just to show repentance.  It must be to show death to the old self and being resurrected to a new life in Christ. 

John 3:31

 John 3:31 says, He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.  John said that He that is from above is above all things.  There is only One Who is from above, Jesus Christ.  He is the One we point people to, that He might be glorified.  We must never put ourselves above Christ.  John the Baptist again distinguishes between Jesus and every other person to walk the earth, even John himself.  He states, "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all."  The reason the gospel is so simple is so that the simplest of mankind can understand it.  When we attempt to understand everything about God, we are doomed to failure.  We spend a lot of time trying to know things about God that we can never understand in this life but must simply accept by faith.  Jesus Himself said if He told us earthly things, and we do not understand, how will we understand if He tells us heavenly things.  We are blessed that all we have to know is the gospel and all we have to do is accept it by faith and then let God have control.  Verse thirty-two adds, And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony   Verse thirty-three continues, He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.  Jesus testified to what He had seen and heard.  The prophets, and even John himself, could only speak of things they had been told, and the same is true for us today.  Jesus not only knew the truth, but He was and is the Truth, yet people will not believe.  We react to what we believe to be the truth instead of listening to the Truth. Yet, for those who do believe, God seals them as His own.  Verses thirty-four says, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.  Jesus is the only way to salvation.  Verse thirty-five adds, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.  He did not have limited ability, but the full power of God.  The Father sent the Son and put salvation in His sacrifice.  Verse thirty-six continues, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him   Those who believe have everlasting life, and those who refuse to believe have not life, but the wrath of God abiding in Him.  The gospel is simple, so we can understand it.  Heavenly things are complex, and we will never understand them in this world.  We cannot force the Bible to conform to our understanding but must simply follow God by faith.  All things will be revealed in His time, and we are told not to worry about them.  We are simply to follow Him, understanding the important things He has told us first, and that is that He died for our sins, and we are to live for Him by faith.