Okay, I'll be preaching from John chapter 4 Starting at verse 15 if you don't have a Bible that's fine You should find today's text on the back of your order of worship. So I say unto all of you hear the word of God Starting in verse 15 The woman said to him Sir give me this water so that I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw He said to her Go call your husband and come here The woman answered and said I have no husband and Jesus said to her you have correctly said I have no husband for you have had five husbands in the one who you now have is not your husband This you have said truly The woman said to him sir. I perceive that you are a prophet Our father's worship in this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men are to worship Jesus said to her woman Believe me An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father You worship what you do not know we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth For such people the father seeks to be his worshippers God is spirit and those who worship him must worship and spirit and in truth The woman said to him. I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called the Christ When that one comes he will declare to us all things In Jesus said to her I who speak to you and he Let me pray Father, I just thank you that you have seen fit to reveal yourself in the person of your son that we might Embrace him and so I pray that you would open the eyes of the blind the ears of the deaf even now I pray that you would be in my head and in my thinking and in my heart and in my understanding and in my mouth and in my speaking Your name we pray all of these things. Amen and amen Well, this is the second part of Preaching through John this little section that's the woman at the well And before I get into it. I sort of need to tell you where I was last week and this past week I was speaking at One of the largest youth camps in our denomination in Orlando, Florida had about 700 kids And I'm not used to I almost never speak to you if I can't remember the last time I did it. Maybe you've 10 years ago and so I wasn't sure what to expect and it was this huge Crowd and the guy who actually was the director of the camp that asked me to come do this I have known for about 10 years. He knows who I am and what he wanted me to do And so I got there and on the first night of this camp I got up and and just preached Right, and it was fine And the kids seem to enjoy it and all this kind of thing and afterwards You know when you're a camp speaker everyone patch on the back. It's a good job. Good job speaker Good job. Good job And when everyone had gone the lights were down and I met with Jeff the director of the camp Um, I said so Jeff how did you think it went tonight? And he said you know, I was just a little disappointed But really And I said why was that? And he said why brought you here Because I wanted you to come here and just let loose Said I feel like you were holding back. I feel like you weren't giving it everything that I know you can do and I said Jeff, you know Did these kids come from pretty conservative churches and he said You know what I just want you to come to make these kids have to deal with Jesus. I want you to let loose I said well, if that's what you want. That's what you got And I let loose Many kids did become Christian other kids. I think we're just maniacs want three guys actually shave their heads in my honor
with big razors And ask me to sign them So three kids that church now who are cranium bald and their parents are staring at my name and Praying in precatory psalms. I'm sure But you know, we're looking at this gospel of John if you look at the gospels It's very interesting because there are four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and John's gospel is the one Where he lets loose You see if you look at all four of these guys all of them that you sort of look at Jesus and you have ethical teaching Right, you have discernment on the mount and you have Jesus addressing things. You have to have Jesus think you know Don't tell people who I am don't do that John. Let's loose. There's no ethical teaching in John None The other gospels have parables where Jesus is you know the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed and all these kinds of things The people say I don't get it John no parables In John what John does is he just lets loose Period he gives you Jesus and he claims remember at the end of the book of John He says that I write these things so that those of you who read it might believe and believing in him might have life in his name And so as you look at the gospel of John what you see is just claim after claim after claim that Jesus makes And they all revolve around this statement I am Right I am what I am the bread of life remember the Jews come to him after he said 5,000 They said give us some more of that magic bread and Jesus says I am the bread That's not good enough. He says I am the light of the world He says I am the door for the sheep you can't even get into a relationship with God without me And they say we're looking for God our spirit and he says what? I am they're good shepherd Right Lazarus his buddy dies Jesus raises him from the dead and and Martha's worried and Jesus has don't worry about it saying why I am the resurrection and the life Jesus what is the truth? I am the truth the way and the life And the last thing he says is I am divine you are the branches apart from me you can do nothing now all of those things I'm pretty crazy if you just read him if you'd never consider Christianity, but the one that's the most crazy of all is in John chapter 8 because he says In other words some he's arguing with some Jewish leaders and they come to him and say are you greater than our father Abraham? In Jesus said to them Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad They say pal yearning 50 years old and you're telling us you've seen Abraham And then he says to them before Abraham was born I am Bum bum bum they picked up rocks to stone him why? Because the only one who goes by the name of I am is God himself remember in the burning bush Moses shows up Take off your shoes you're on holy ground and Moses says please tell me your name And God says I am that I am And so when Jesus says I am the Jews know exactly what he's saying He's claiming to be very God a very God manifest in human flesh If you've ever read mere Christianity of CS Lewis as you've only got three options to the deal with these claims The first is you look at Jesus and ask the question is he a lunatic? Is he just a nutcase? He must be what kind of nutcase would just walk around saying I am the bread. I am the light I'm the resurrection or just to say even more I am God Is he crazy? And most people aren't willing to say that about Jesus they say well he's not crazy, but he's just a good teacher And Lewis would say well no he can't be a good teacher because he's a liar You say because he taught some things sermon on the mouth that I guess you could try and follow you won't be able to but you could try But you still got to deal with the claims that he made that he was God and if you don't believe those claims and in fact He's not a good moral teacher in fact. He's a bad evil liar So he's either a lunatic or he's a liar or the third one. He actually is who he says he is He is the Lord and the beauty of today's text is Jesus walks this woman through each one of those things She basically asked the question is he a lunatic? She gets her answer. Is he a liar? She gets her answer. Is he the Lord? She gets her answer So what took those three things the first thing we'll look at is simply this is Jesus a lunatic is he nuts In the verse team team The woman said to him sir give me this water so that I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw and he said to her Go call your husband and come here If you remember the background from last week Jesus started out making claims with this woman Remember we saw last week Jesus is this sort of for all intents that anyone would know He's just out of work rabbi. It's the middle of the day. It's noon He goes to sit by this well and the Samaritan woman shows up And we know that she was an outcast in one way shape or form because She wouldn't have come to the well at noon unless she was In other words the only time you would draw water if you were saying would be in the morning when it was cooler In the evening when it was cool, but if you wanted to avoid dealing with any other people You go at noon because no one in the right mind would be at the well at noon She goes to the well at noon in order to avoid people and who did she find Jesus and he says to a woman Give me a drink and remember we saw that she was a Samaritan but not the good Samaritan because she doesn't give him a drink She doesn't give him anything but lip she says to Jesus Who are you? A Jew asking me a Samaritan woman for a drink He says if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you give me a drink that you would have asked me for a drink and I would he would have given you living water Her response What do you think you're better than our father Jacob who gave us this well? You don't have a cup And he points where I assume he points at the well. He says whoever drinks of this water here We'll be thirsty again But whoever drinks of the water I give Will never thirst in fact the water I give will become in him a well of a turn springing up to eternal life And at this point the woman is completely sure that he is crazy He's crazy that's what she says because her he can almost sense the sarcasm in her voice. She says okay Why don't you give me some of this living water so I won't ever get thirsty again And I went up the walk all the way up here to get water He's a nut or maybe he's not You see if he's a fool. He's kind of fool. You find in King Lear because he asks Uh, he put he we have this sort of King Lear moment because she says won't he need some of that living water and he says okay? Well go get your husband Right. It was probably as silent there as it is here Go get your husband And what does she say she tells him the truth, but it's sort of a half-truth I don't have husband And the problem when you're dealing with someone who can see Through all of the things you are giving him half-truth really doesn't matter Right There's a festival every year in Baudel, Switzerland called the Fashknock, I think And they're it's sort of like Mardi Gras, but it's Protestant Mardi Gras, right? Mardi Gras when you do Uh, revelry and drunkenness and debauchery right before Lenton Fashknocks is when you do it during Lenton to make Catholic angry
So during Fashknocks everyone goes and they engage in sexual revelry and debauchery and drunkenness Except for there everyone wears a mask I was reading about this and I thought it was hilarious because what the salvation army does is they put posters all around the city That say uh if I can remember it was a German god God sees hinted dynamoska Right God sees behind your mask That's what happens with the woman, right? Jesus says go call your husband and come here She says I have no husband Imagine Jesus says he knows beautiful what you just said that's true That's true you say you have no husband because I you know you have five husbands and the guy you're living with now He's not your husband either You see she's put in this position of having to deal with something bigger than the claims of Jesus You know you can look at Jesus and you can say man He's making these crazy claims about himself and I'm just gonna write him off as a lunatic the problem with Jesus Is he not only makes claims about himself but he makes claims about you And the claims of that you are almost inescapable that he tells this woman you have had five husbands and then when you're living with now is not your husband The only reason she could have had five husbands or there could have been several reasons one is they could have all died Right she could have been sort of this black widow or if you've seen so I married an axe murder or she had a sister named rose Right who just kept knocking off her husband She kept remarrying and she wonder whether all dying on her That's one but at least she'd be very broken because of that The other could be that is that she committed adultery five times And her husband just got rid of her they divorced her the other thing could have been that her husband's committed adultery five times The other option could have been that all of them were committing adultery all the time And then another option according to Jewish law is people just got tired of her Either way she is sinful and broken and Jesus has pointed it out You see the problem with Jesus is not only the claims that he makes about himself You might go to write those off but the question is do you deal with the claims he makes about you and the claims It's about you and me is that we're all broken and sinful more than we could ever imagine And if the claim that he makes about you is true Then your only hope is that the claims that he makes about himself are true If you are broken and sinful Thank God that there is one who say I am the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world And you can either embrace that or you can try and avoid it and the woman of course tries to avoid it. He's not a liar Or lunatic rather So she tries to avoid it and the woman tries to avoid Dealing with her sin in the way that most people do Christians are really good at this she avoids dealing with her sin by using religion Figures in that she avoids Jesus by religion you see most people instead of using religion to find Jesus They use religion to avoid Jesus and that's what she does Right is he a liar? She doesn't think he's a liar either because she says I perceive that you're a prophet at the point She says sir I perceive that you're a prophet she doesn't say wow How did you know that I have five husbands you would think that right? Or you would think she would start crying instead she puts up that her defenses and tries to change the subject So I perceive you're a prophet. So let me ask you the most pressing religious question of the day It's sort of like you know, I remember when I was in college and you talked to people and say you know Let me tell you about Jesus you know point one that we're all simple and desperately in need of God You know point to Jesus died for sinners and they would say oh yeah, what about the innocent native in Africa That's what she's doing here Jesus is saying let me deal with your sin and she's saying let me ask you this pressing question about worship Right and problem is you can't you can't avoid Jesus when he's pursuing you And so Jesus is okay She says your father There are fathers say that we're to worship on this mountain she was on garrison That's where Abraham had sacrificed Isaac on all this stuff. She says but you people Say that it's Jerusalem and if you remember the Samaritans were sort of a bastardized version of the Jewish faith They only believed in the first five books of the old tenet and so they didn't have all of the prophets They didn't have all of the Psalms and all the wisdom literature So of course if they're only dealing with the first five books they would have thought that garrison where Abraham tried to sacrifice Isaac This is the place and the Jews of course they had the complete old testament and they said no it's Jerusalem I remember David gives volume in the money and we're happy to build a temple in Jerusalem and Jesus tells her that He says woman It's just a form of address by the way. He's not looking down her woman He says you know an hour is coming
There's a time coming where that's not going to matter but then he corrects her He says you know what you guys don't you worship what you don't know we worship what we do know because salvation is from the Jews He's setting her up why because she has already said you're a Jew your prophet. You're not a lunatic salvation is from the Jews and then he says something great He says woman the hour is coming and now it is When true worship but worship the father and spirit and in truth In other words Jesus is telling her you are asking the wrong question She tries to ask him a question instead of in order to avoid dealing with her sin And Jesus says you're asking the wrong question. You're asking where people should worship the real question is how people should worship And how people should worship is in spirit and in truth in other words woman you are concerned about externals God is concerned about internals And your problem is you just don't know God And you see that differentiates Christianity from every other religion You see every other religion when you worship you worship in order to carry the favor of the God or the God And if you worship correctly if you worship in the right place if you offer the right sacrifices You gain the favor of that God Now what Christianity says is that the sacrifices already been made the great prophet the great priest that even in The first five books of the Bible is looked forward to has offered the one time sacrifice Jesus on the cross And because that's the case Christians worship not in order to gain God's favor, but because they have God's favor Not in order to please God, but because God is pleased with them and so Christians can come to worship And they can raise their hands and say what thank you for all you've done They can rehearse his saving deeds in history. I remember I remember I remember and they look forward to when he will come again And he says the hour is coming But now is When people worship the father and spirit and in truth These are the kind of worshipers the father seek In other words, one God is the one who seeks you and it's not the other way around And you would think that you would go okay, wow Let me think about this it's not it's like it's not like it doesn't matter what place It's not external. It's internal. How do I worship in spirit or in truth? She does a typical diversionary tactic He's not a lunatic. I think she's clear on that. He's not lying because she said he's a prophet So what does she do? Did she say that's beautiful? How do I worship in spirit and in truth? She doesn't think that we say you know what I'll get my life together Sort of towards the end of it I'm not going to deal with Jesus now. I'll wait till I get a little older. I wait till I sort of show my wild oats I'll do all this she basically says to him you know when Messiah comes He's gonna tell us all things She sounds very pious. She sounds very religious. She sounds like she knows what she's talking about She doesn't sound like she wants to see this Messiah surprise surprise Right imagine her feeling when she gives him this sort of line and defers and says you know what Dealing with him is Lord when Messiah comes he'll tell us all things And then Jesus leaning over to her I speak to you on the one punk What was she supposed to do you see she stuck at that point Because Jesus has got her on the lunatic thing He's not crazy. He's not a liar because she said himself that he's a prophet now. He says I am Lord I mean if remember I give you the big I am stuff at the beginning That's what he says here that he at the end. I who speak to you and he that he really shouldn't be there Jesus in other words on one hand He is saying I am that Messiah on the other hand. He's saying something much bigger I can imagine him leaning over maybe with a smile on his face and saying I who speak to you comma I am like when the man asks who the man is the man says that I'm the man I'm the Messiah And she's stuck now now she has to respond We're gonna look next week at how she responds the question this morning is how you Right you slap Jesus in the face and call him a liar. Do you do you laugh at him as a lunatic? Where do you embrace him as Lord? You know this past week I went to a church in Orlando a very upscale Presbyterian church where the minister wears a robe and all of the people were suits and and I showed up and now here It was a great ironic time because I showed up this church gave us Lots of money to plant this church and I showed up. I'm the sort of their their golden boy church planter And I showed up with blue jeans and my white shirt and Birkenstock No one recognized me and that didn't hurt my feelings because you know I was just wanted to sit in the back and be left alone No one recognized me but no one recognized me as a church planner but no one even recognized me period I was expecting them to take me to the clothing closet at some point And so here I am in this church that actually supports us and I was actually sitting in the front and after the service No one had really greeted me the whole time and after the service the sweet little old lady came from one side of the room to the other and she came up me she had very sick glasses and she leaned over close to me And she said you look just like this man. I was praying for this morning That's a really what where's he from what to do? She said he's a church planner in Seattle and he's doing a great job and I leaned over And I said man I who speak to you
And he and she dove upon me She hugged me around the neck and smothered me with kisses and she said I was hoping I would get to meet you I assume she plans on dying She was very old she said I was hoping that I would get to meet you That's now you have thank you for praying for us of course I was crying And you see that's what is put before this woman today Jesus says I who speak to you am he I'm the one you keep telling me in some way shape of form that you're very interested in this stuff and I speak to you am he What are you going to do You slap him in the face do you laugh at him or do you embrace him You embrace him as you're saved you do you grab onto him and smother him with kisses And you know let me tell you what you would not be smothering Jesus with kisses and embracing him If you were not smothering you with kisses and embracing you first Think about that. Let me pray Father You are such a good God that your name and your great deeds are proclaimed among the nation And you have done great things for us and we're glad and I pray even this morning that many of us Whether or Christians or not would look at you and say why do we treat you as a lunatic? Why do we treat you as a liar when in fact you are the Lord? You are the one who seeks us and in doing so We are able to have a relationship and so I pray this morning even during the rest of the time that we would worship and spirit and in truth because of our relationship With you and all the work you have done in your name. We pray all of these things amen