John 3:22-4:26 — Damian Kyle

Jesus and His Disciples Baptize in Judea

John's Gospel chapter 3. We're left off in completing verse 21 and so we'll pick it up in verse 22 tonight. I mean you can just feel the gold wearing off the pages can't you? Hear that sound in here? The rustling of the Bibles.

Verse 22, after these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea. Remember he had met with Nicodemus in the city of Jerusalem so now he leaves Jerusalem comes into the land of Judea which is the southern portion of Israel where Jerusalem is situated and he remained with them and baptized.

Now we're going to find out in chapter 4 that Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples baptized. Now John, that is John the Baptist, was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there so we understand that baptism as it was being practiced by John the Baptist and by Jesus's disciples was by immersion.

I have no war that I'm interested in fighting over it I just make note of it but I'm right. I mean why else would I bring it up? I brought it up for your edification. We have a baptism coming up in a couple of weeks and and you know one of the questions that people ask a lot is they say well I was baptized as a kid well I was baptized as a kid and I was baptized under my mother's orders at a time where she could still whip me so I went and got baptized that night at the little church that we attended and then later on I reached a point in life where I knew I was truly born again by the Holy Spirit and then I wanted the baptism to be of my own choosing and sometimes people say I was you know sprinkled and all these things and all as a kid in the day but as soon as I've been born again and I know that now I've got my own relationship with God it's time to be water baptized and we'll be dunking you out in the pool out there at Faith Home Ranch in the spirit of John chapter 3 and so they came and they were baptized for John had not yet been thrown into prison and then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews now the Apostle John and writing this gospel by the Holy Spirit most often when he refers to the Jews he's not speaking of them as a people or as a nation he's referring to the Jewish religious leaders.

That's how that's how he refers to them and so you most likely have the Jewish religious leaders they're disputing with John's disciples about purification and this has to do with this baptism. And there were and and the Jews of course baptized in their history long before John the Baptist began to baptize there were what was called ceremonially ceremonial ceremonial pools associated with worship of the temple.

They're called mikvahs. They were filled with water and they would go in and immerse themselves in the water come up out of the water and it was a symbol of kind of a cleansing and now coming before God to offer their sacrifices in a repentant and a cleansed state before God.

And so they're discussing now the nuances between what the Jewish religious leaders thought this purification baptism was about and what John the Baptist and his disciples what what baptism represented to them and to John the Baptist and his disciples they were baptizing in order that people might have a point of reference of turning away from their sinful past in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

Of course the Messiah is now on the scene. So they have this discussion that's going on. And then they that is the Jewish religious leaders they came to John himself. Apparently they were dissatisfied with the outcome of the discussion with his disciples.

And they said to him rabbi he that is speaking of Jesus who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you've testified that this is the Messiah. Behold he's baptizing and then notice this and all are coming to him.

You cannot have five words more carefully designed to provoke fear in the heart of a leader or in a minister than to hear that all are going to him or coming to him. That's the attempt that they're trying to make here.

Listen you had a nice congregation going you had a nice thing going. Didn't you John the baptizer and everything. This guy comes along and you're being perfectly nice about it. I mean you told people the truth about him and everything.

And what does he do. He goes and steals your sheep like this is designed to produce a fear within him. And God never directs his people by a fleshly fear. He directs his people by his word by his Holy Spirit.

He directs him by his peace. Colossians 3 15. So wherever there's guilt and condemnation you ever walk along in your Christian life and you're serving the Lord. And also there's this irrational fear has no basis in reality.

I mean fears bad enough dangerous enough when it has a basis in reality. But then when it has no basis in reality and all sudden there it is in and now there's this tremendous temptation to begin to make quick decisions and everything on on the basis of fear.

And that's something that that we ought to be very very wise about that the Lord doesn't use that to drive and to motivate his his people hasn't given us a spirit of fear but of power love and a sound like the fear of man.

It's a snare doesn't use these as as means to direct his people. And so they come with this though and they know that whole apparently this whole divide and conquered kind of thing if that's what they're aiming at and in John the Baptist is he's it doesn't affect him.

John the Baptist Decreases as Jesus Increases

John answered in verse 27. And a man and he said a man can receive nothing unless it's been given to him from heaven. John in essence says to him to them what God does with other people how he blesses other people.

That's not my business he can do exactly what he wants through other people. And he can move people and change people and do all the that's that's all up to God. And you remember as as Paul writes later to the Corinthians and in first Corinthians chapter 12 and then in 14 concerning the spiritual gifts all of us are different.

We all have different spiritual gifts. God calls us all to do different things. And so because you know the Lord has raised us up to do what he's raised us up to do that's that's his dealing. And if he wants to make one thing one thing and another thing another thing and do and all that's entirely up to God.

And that's what John the Baptist says. Listen don't bring me in the loop of this. God's free to do this kind of stuff again. As Paul would later write to the Corinthians he said for what makes you to differ from another.

And what do you have that you have not received now if you did receive it by do you glorious. If you had not received it these people had all come to John the baptizer under what the direction of the Holy Spirit.

And now when that same Holy Spirit moves them now to Jesus which was the intent then it's the same Holy Spirit at work and John isn't threatened by it. And so he speaks to them. And then he said you bear you yourselves bear me witness that I said I am NOT the Christ but I have been sent before him.

So he uses this opportunity to tell them once again that Jesus is the Christ to testify that Jesus is the Messiah once again. And so he says listen I told you that I wasn't the Messiah. So when people don't come to me but they go to the Messiah instead I'm not troubled by that.

That's my ministry. That's what I've been been called to. And then he uses a illustration from marriage and in the wedding ceremony in order to bring perspective to all of it. He said he who has the bride is the bridegroom.

But the friend of the bridegroom or we would say the best man of the bridegroom who stands and hears the groom rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore his joy this joy of mine is fulfilled.

And so he uses the imagery and and kind of beats the Apostle Paul here by the Spirit of God of the imagery of Jesus is the groom and the body of Christ Christians being the bride of Christ. And so he says to them listen you're trying to make me feel threatened because the bride has goo goo eyes for the groom.

The bride supposed to have goo goo eyes for the groom and not for the best man. Hello. It is a bad scene if the bride has goo goo eyes for the best man. You get my drift here on all of this. And so the best man is standing there with the groom at the wedding ceremony.

And he's not threatened that the groom ends up with the bride at the end of the ceremony. You're not bummed about that. That's what he came to see. So they come and say this is what's happening. He says I'm not bummed about it.

This is what I came to see. This is what I'm about. I'm glad for the groom and I'm glad for the bride sorry about that goo goo eye thing and all of that. But you do what you can. So he says I rejoice over all of this.

Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase but I must decrease. And that was the ministry of John the Baptist. As the ministry of Jesus grew his it was. It was in essence a testimony of the effectiveness of John the Baptist ministry.

And so as Jesus increased John of necessity had to decrease and he recognized that. And then he continues to testify concerning Jesus. He who comes from above is above all. And he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.

He who comes from heaven is above all. And so John says listen Jesus is above me. He's above all of us. I'm not threatened by him. How could I compete with him if I even wanted to. And what he has seen and heard he testifies and no one receives his testimony.

John the Baptist says listen I get my message from heaven. He comes from heaven with a message. He declares what he has seen and heard with his own eyes and his own ears. Then he kind of doesn't get necessarily a dig in but he's trying to bring conviction to them.

He comes as God the Son the eyewitness of the heavenly scene. And you won't accept his testimony. He's rebuking their unbelief. And he who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. I've received Jesus's testimony and I certify tonight that it's true.

Been tested by one life mine many more lives than that. But I'll tell you he has been everything that he said he would be. And he is everything that he says he is in a human life. I testify to it. And I know you have the same testimony.

For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure. Jesus had the Holy Spirit upon him in a way that no other person ever did or ever will. And the father loves the son.

And this is what these religious leaders needed to hear. Listen. They thought they were just opposing. The son comes in. It says listen there's a relationship between the father and the son. You are rejecting one who is loved by the father and has given all things into his hand.

Believing in the Son for Everlasting Life

And he who believes and there's that great word of the gospel according to John again isn't it he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe or trust in the Son shall not see life.

But the wrath of God abides in him. We just can't make it any clearer than that. Can you. Then he does right there everlasting life and everlasting damnation is based upon one single thing. And that is what I decide to do with a father's son.

And what I decide to do with the father's son I will be held responsible for and so the importance of believing in him unto salvation otherwise the wrath of God that abides on me it just sits on me. It's a life that's cursed.

Jesus Travels Through Samaria to Reach the Samaritan Woman

Chapter 4. And therefore when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard look when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John though Jesus himself did not baptize but as disciples he left Judea and Judea is in the south again and he departed again to Galilee and Galilee is in the north of of Israel.

So he doesn't want to be a part of this whole competitive thing. And and the Pharisees kind of pitting Jesus and his disciples John the Baptist and his disciples and all. So he just leaves Judea now the area of Israel.

We have states for the United States and in all and maybe the illustration might be better to use as a county. But the the nation of Israel was at that time divided into three areas. It is it is indeed to this day the northern region or we would say the northern county so to speak is the Galilee the southernmost region in the area of Jerusalem that's Judea and then between these two is an area that was known in ancient times as the region of Samaria.

So you kind of have three counties that make up this this or three states that make up this this country. Now Samaria is known in modern times as you read your newspaper today as the West Bank that is Samaria.

So Jesus now is making his way from the south Judea and he is heading to the north Galilee and of necessity he needed to go through Samaria now it's interesting and I think that the entire passage one of the key words in all of this is that word needed but he needed to go through Samaria.

That word needed is an interesting one. Samaria being that section of land between Galilee to the north and Judea to the south. There was not a physical need for Jesus to go through Samaria because the Jews went north and south all of the time without ever going through Samaria.

The Jews as we'll get to in a moment had no interest in walking through the region of Samaria. And so when there was travel to the north and to the south if you were up in the northern area of the Galilee what you would do is you would cross over the Jordan River in the north.

You would walk all the way down to Judea in the south on the Jordanian side it was not Jordanian in those days. But you would walk down on that eastern side of the of the Jordan River and then you would cross back over the Jordan to come in into Judea and Jews.

They they did that all of the time nobody needed to go through Samaria for purely physical reasons and and so if the need wasn't a physical one then it must have been a spiritual one. And so it was. The reason he goes through the region of Samaria is because he wants to reach a certain woman there and he wants to reach a certain village there with a gospel.

Now the history between the Jews and the Samaritans is an interesting one. There have been problems in the Middle East for a long time and they're not going to be solved until I can get President Bush to accept my peace plan for the Middle East.

I sense a spirit of unbelief in this room. Paul are you with me on that there's not going to be peace in the Middle East until as the old saying goes the Prince of Peace comes back and establishes. It doesn't mean that things not to every effort be made in the ways that they're being made.

But we understand what the Bible says. But at the time that Jesus is heading into the region of Samaria there is tremendous hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans 700 years before this time the northern kingdom of Israel.

And this was when Israel was divided into the northern kingdom of Israel the southern kingdom of Judah following you know Solomon's son and the whole mess that he made of things in and the northern kingdom of Israel they gave.

They began to engage in the sin of the nations to a degree that the southern kingdom of Judah did not. And so 700 years before this time the Assyrians the world-ruling empire of that time came into the northern kingdom of Israel and conquered it.

Now the Assyrians had an interesting way of dealing with conquered nations. They were unable to conquer Judah because Judah at this time was still walking with some semblance with the Lord they would be later conquered by the Babylonians.

But the method of the Assyrians was this that when they conquered a people they would remove almost entirely the native population transport them to another part of their kingdom and then bring a foreign population into the conquered area.

And what it did was it kept the whole empire kind of in terms of native populations unstable too unstable to revolt against the Assyrian Empire. This was their methodology. And so when they conquered the Jews they cleared the land of Jews not entirely but almost entirely.

And they brought in people from all over the Assyrian Empire and planted them there in Israel. And the trouble is they didn't just come physically. They came with all of their gods their false gods. They came into Israel you remember perhaps the passage from the Old Testament they come in and the lions begin to eat them up and snakes bite them and all this kind of stuff is going on and they say our gods are powerless against you know these things here in Israel and so send back some of those Jews to teach us about you know the God that has authority over this area of the world and they're superstitious people.

And so Jews were sent back and they mixed the worship of Jehovah with the worship of these these false gods until they came up with this man-made kind of thing that was was very very far from the worship of the Lord.

And so then at the end of their captivity in Assyria when the Jews came back into Israel they discovered that the Samaritans kind of like that Mediterranean climate and kind of like that part of the world and they had kind of settled down had roots and now a generation or two of Samaritans in the land and they weren't interested in in leaving.

And so here the Jews coming back from that captivity and here are these people who are occupying their land the land that had been promised to them by God and if as if it couldn't get worse these people were worshiping some kind of a hybrid religion that involved Jehovah and they had now taken the Jacob of Jacob you know Abraham Isaac and Jacob fame and claimed Jacob one of the patriarchs as one of their own.

And the Jews looked at the Samaritans and they viewed them as spiritual half-breeds. These Johnny come lately's that have just come into the land and now they're not leaving and all they're holding on to land that is ours we have deeds for this is our land this is our home.

This was one's are and all of this and these people weren't leaving. And also there was a tremendous hostility on the part of the Jews toward the Samaritans and so great was the Jewish hatred of the Samaritan that a Jew would not walk through Samaria because he wouldn't even want their dust on his sandals.

Now I say that we say all right interesting historical fact. Wait a second put yourself in the frame of mind where you hate a people so much that you don't even want their dust on you. You don't even want to take one speck of dust from them because you don't want to owe them anything.

Well now because the Jews hated the Samaritans the Samaritans as is the case with a persecuted people they in turn hated the Jews. And for over 700 years this has been going on in Samaria. These people are firmly entrenched in both their camps.

They hate each other. There's no bringing them together. What does Jesus do. And so divided the situation. He goes to the Jew and then he goes to the Samaritan. He goes to both of them. And one of the fascinating things to me about this passage if we ever get to it tonight is that when he goes into the area of Samaria he doesn't go in alone but he takes his 12 very Jewish very bigoted very nationalistic disciples with him in order that he might teach them that he is the Savior of the world and he is a lover of all of mankind.

And so he comes now in and he comes to a city of Sychar in Samaria near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. So it has Old Testament kind of historical base. You can't go to Sychar that very well sits in the city of Sychar to this day.

But it's all under Arab control. You can't get in there and get out alive or with the windows and the buses and and so but that this is one of the few sites where you can go and say that was the very place now Jacob's well was there and Jesus therefore being wearied from his journey.

So here we have the humanity of Jesus it pictured here. He grew tired though all God all man all at the same time. And he sat thus by the well in this weary condition. It was about the sixth hour was noon now not this last trip but the trip before to Israel that was a hot trip.

Those of you who were on it I think we lost over the course of the trip about half of the group at least one day to digestive problems just purely because you couldn't stay hydrated. It was so hot. It was the hottest September in 30 years.

And I took God's people to the Holy Land. And I mean there were places where we went in and the idea here is that this is a dry arid part of the world. I mean you walk in it you can get tired and you can get hot.

And there were places that we went and you come on to the bus. And the bus drivers they kind of supplement their income by selling you a bottle of water for a dollar. It's a convenience to us and and they make enough off of it to buy their meals in the course of the day.

And a villa somewhere in Greece. And I mean on that trip when we got on that bus if he was charging $10 a bottle we would have bought it by the time we got on there was hot. You can get hot there. Water is is a real premium thing.

You really get get tired. So Jesus is there and and he comes there and he sits at the well and I think it's a beautiful I think it's a beautiful picture before the woman ever shows up because he's sitting there waiting for an appointment.

He's waiting for this woman. He has an appointment with this woman. My meat is to all is to do the will of the Father. He is there because he is sent there now to meet with this woman and reach a village.

So there he sits there they waits for her to come and so she comes. He watches her coming now to the well. It's about noon now. Noon is an odd hour to be drawing water especially in the hot part of the year.

And they're in a hotter part of the year. At this time they would always draw the water in the morning when it was cool. And then they would draw it in the evening when it was cool. Just like us if we didn't have water and air-conditioned and these kinds of things that we had to get it we'd get it in the morning.

And we'd get it in the evening. Wouldn't we. We see people walking all over town. They do it in the morning. In the evening there's a little bit cooler. But she comes dead in the middle of the day the heat of the day.

The reason that she comes in the heat of the day is because of her background. Getting water was woman's work in those days. And she is the kind of woman who does not want to show up at the well when the other women from the city are there.

We're going to see in a moment that she's been married five times and now she's given up completely on the institution of marriage apparently. And now she's just living with men or living at least with one man.

She's living in fornication. And that kind of woman can be a danger to other women. Danger to men. Certainly. And so here she is. Rather than deal with all of the things of meeting with these women perhaps some of these husbands have remarried under these other women all these kind of thing.

And so it even though it's cooler at other times of the day it's not worth the aggravation of all that she goes through because of her past to show up there at that time. And so she goes when she knows there won't be a single woman around.

Nobody around she goes at noon. The woman of Samaria. A woman of Samaria came to drink. I came to draw water and Jesus said to her give me a drink. Now it's not as hard in that culture as it sounds as you're going to see.

Her response reveals that the woman's not offended that Jesus asked for a drink. She shocked that he is a Jew would even talk with her. So Jesus asks her for a drink of of water. He makes himself vulnerable to her to either do it or not do it.

The same way that he's made himself vulnerable to man. The accepting of the rejecting of his salvation. Give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. And then the woman of Samaria said to him how is it that you being a Jew asks a drink of me.

A Samaritan woman that sounds like a dr. Seuss book doesn't it. But but here here's this very strong contrast between you and me. What does she do. She's very very concise. I have I have no gift for that.

But I appreciate it in other people. My wife has it. And so here she does. What does she do. In one sentence she encapsulates 700 years of history for him. I don't know who you are but Jews don't ask Samaritans especially Samaritan women for water.

What are you doing here. For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus answered and said to her if you knew the gift of God and who it and who it is who says to you give me a drink. You would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

Jesus Uses Living Water to Begin Spiritual Conversation

Now he knows that she has no chance of understanding the depth of what he's talking about immediately. He's talking about spiritual things that she's going to stay on a physical wavelength for quite a while just like you and I would do in this conversation.

But I love Jesus's methodology with her kind of that Jesus style of witnessing here he just begins to talk with her about just something daily in life. He asked for a drink of water. She responds in a certain way he brings it back to water.

I mean is there anything more daily in life than than water. Just talking about water just kind of going back and forth. And he begins to move this kind of conversation about water towards spiritual things.

So he he begins to you know strike up a conversation find a common ground with her and begins to talk with her. And it's an effective way to win us to minister to people witness to them. Who is it ever hot today might say to somebody boy it sure is.

You say it's not nearly as hot as hell's gonna be if you know. I mean I mean Jesus is a little bit he see you have to pace yourself in all of this. And so Jesus is he's he's working on this. But but it is that now with Nicodemus he really cuts to the chase.

There's just like this thing and Jesus looks at him as this. Unless a man be born again he shall not you know see the kingdom of God. And when someone has a religious background as we saw last week you can cut to the chase you can assume a base of knowledge with them.

But here here he doesn't do that just begins to talk with her a little bit about water. And he knows we can talk about water we can talk about wells we can talk of mountains we can talk about anything.

And I can begin to talk to you about the kingdom of God and your need for me. But it centers around around water. And the woman said to him sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water.

She's completely shocked here at Jesus is talking with with her and all of this. And and and she's also equally notices here the fact that he's ill-equipped now to to you know get any water out of this well.

Much less to provide living water. What Jesus is telling her there in verse 10 is you're shocked over a Jew speaking to a Samaritan. But you don't know half the story about who you're really talking to and who you're really talking to is going to be able to provide you with living water in your life.

And in her mind when she thinks about living water she's thinking about spring water not well water. She understands that Jesus is promising her a source of water. She's thinking of it physically. She he's thinking of it spiritually.

But spring water in that area of the world is water that is the purest water. It's alive. There's nothing stagnant in it. There's no mosquito eggs in it. Nothing like that. It comes up from out of the ground.

It flows continually. It's fresh. It seems like it has no end in terms of its its source. And that's what Jesus is talking about here for her spiritually. But she she's thinking of it in terms of water.

And she's eager to have it. But she notices you didn't even bring anything to get water out of a well. And and where are you going to get this this living water from that you're speaking about. Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as his sons and his livestock.

And that well was a well that Jacob himself his family drank from in the water their animals from it. There's a history to that to that well. So she says she says to Jesus in essence listen this well has a couple things going for it.

It can be traced all the way back to one of the great patriarchs of Israel. And it is supplied for the physical thirst of men and women for hundreds of years. How can you top that mr. living water. Man was it.

You know she's been married five times. She doesn't know who he is yet. She's living with a man. She understands men talking results like listen anybody can say anything. But come on. What do you. Let's let's see it here now.

Jesus isn't offended by any of this. He's very very patient. I sense that he was equally patient and bringing you to him myself. And Jesus answered and said to her whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Now Jesus all sudden turns a corner.

It's clear that he's talking about spiritual things at this point everlasting life associated with the water and all of this. We're no longer just talking about water. And he declares concerning that water that she was drinking from in that water says whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

That well could never provide long-term satisfaction the life of a person. You drink of it in the morning and then what happens. You drink it and then you get thirsty again and you have to drink some more.

And Jesus is speaking of that well as a picture of everything in life apart from being in relationship with God and having God's Holy Spirit within our lives and then coming forth from our lives. John chapter 7 is a torrent of living water.

Nothing else in life can satisfy but that relationship. And so that's why sometimes when I see someone before they come to know the Lord they get into this thing and they get into that thing. And then they're into this and then this hobby.

And then they're over here selling this and then they've got this deal and all that. And I'm looking at somebody. And so often you look and you think these are flaky people. No this is not necessarily they can be but but sometimes it's just these are people who are searching.

They're just going from one place to the next place to the next place in order to try and find the meaning to life to where. Okay. If I do this I'll finally be satisfied. That empty place in my heart will be filled.

And there is that proverbial place in every single heart that cross-shaped empty spot in the heart that you can pour the entirety of the world into. And it will never be satisfied until the cross is placed there until I'm in a relationship with God.

That's the way that it is with with all of the things of life they satisfy. They satisfy for a short period of time. The reason that they can never satisfy over the long term is that because we have been made for fellowship with God and until we're engaged in what we have been created for we cannot be satisfied.

We cannot be fulfilled. So if you're here tonight you've gone from one thing to the other to the other to the other to the other thing. It's all right. I'll do this or whatever it might be and then then I'll be satisfied.

Jesus Confronts Sin and Offers Saving Grace

This woman her deal was interesting. Her deal was relationships from one relationship to another. Maybe it was sex. I don't know what you know I I don't know her personally but she obviously had a very kind of fast movement kind of life.

She moved around on on on stuff and she's looking. She's looking. Jesus knows that she's looking for the meaning of life for the purpose of life. She's just looking in the wrong places for that. And I think it's important for us as Christians to understand here she is.

She is a Samaritan. She is a Samaritan woman. She is an immoral Samaritan woman. She is as low as you can get on the social totem pole. Not only in the eyes of Jews but in the eyes of the Samaritans. But Jesus isn't put off by her because he recognizes that even though she is looking in sinful places for satisfaction she's looking for satisfaction.

And so often we can look at people and we can see the degraded kind of places that they go in life. And we assume that they're just perverts or they're just you know this kind of whatever kind of low life whatever we want to call the deal.

And we don't realize that you can look at them and say there is a seeker in their own way. That person is searching. And Jesus looked and he saw though her sexual immorality was great. This is a person that's looking for the meaning of life.