"If You Only Knew..."
John 4:1-42
John 4:1-10
1 Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
Jesus went through Samaria on His way to Galilee. In the village of Sycar, He sat by Jacob’s well. When a Samaritan woman came to get water from the well, Jesus spoke to her, breaking the manmade division of Jews and Samaritans.
When Jesus gently confronted the Samaritan woman about her sin, she responded to Him with the truth. Through that, she created a personal relationship with Him.
In the same way, we cannot have a relationship with God unless we’re totally honest with Him. The best accountability for that is to continuously tell people about Jesus—because you won’t want a life full of sin if you do that.
Psalm 32:5 — Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
Proverbs 28:13 — People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
Hebrews 4:13 — Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
1 John 1:9 — But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
If we focus on putting Jesus in our lives, we will naturally take sin out. We’ll want to live right by God, which means, in our pursuit to follow God’s word, we need to leave behind what the world says we should do.
Romans 12:2 — Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
1 John 3:13-14 — 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life.
James 3:13 — If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.
When our identity is in Christ, we’re not confined to all the new ways the world comes up with to divide people.
Which brings us to the pastor’s key: “As God’s people, we must rise above the groups created by man. When we are whole in Christ, we will not be defined by every group division that comes about, yet we will remain focused on the Kingdom of God. We cannot afford to be confined by small, earthly thinking.”
If you woke up this morning, it’s not too late.
Grace & peace,
Michelle Kampmeier
**Note: This series of posts on the book of John come from notes and previous writings based on my church’s sermon series on this book. Check out the playlist for all of the sermon videos by clicking here.