R1628 Learning From The Master

The Easter celebration of our risen Lord continues with today's edition of The Encouraging Word, Learning from the Master. This is the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton, and today, Learning from the Master will take us to John Chapter 4. And while we're here, know that we'd love to connect with you on our website at www.tewonline.org.

Now, Dr. Don Wilton. Now, open your Bibles with me to John's Gospel, Chapter 4. I'm going to read to you one of the most amazing encounters in all of Scripture.

And we're going to learn from the Master today. I love this passage, and I tell you, it's a humdinger. This is Jesus. So Jesus, just to put it into its rightful perspective, Jesus is about to go up to Galilee. Galilee is in the northern part of Israel, up toward the Syrian and Iraqi borders. And Galilee is a beautiful region. And, you know, when Jesus traveled anywhere, he had to go through people groups. He had to pass through highways and neighborhoods and encounter people.

Listen to what happened here. So verse 4 of John's Gospel in Chapter 4. Now, Jesus had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. And Jacob's will was there. And Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the will.

It was about the sixth hour. And when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, would you give me something to drink? His disciples, by the way, had gone into town to Walmart to get food. The Samaritan woman said to him, you're a Jew. And I'm a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?

The Jews do not associate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with and this well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and his herds? Jesus answered, everyone who drinks the water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give him will become in that person a spring of water welling up to eternal life. So the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. So he said to her, go and call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. And Jesus said to her, you're right when you say you have no husbands, the fact is you've had five husbands.

And the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but the Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus declared, believe me, woman, the time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. And the woman said, I know that the Messiah, called the Christ, is coming. And when he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus said, I who speak to you am he. Now, may the Lord just write that word on our hearts.

Learning from the Master. I love this and I'm sure you do. This is an incredible encounter. You know, right throughout the scriptures, we find the Lord Jesus.

And then, of course, also his disciples leaving the church precinct, leaving the gathered body and going out among the people. It's wonderful to be among people. We are every day of our lives, aren't we? You see the people, people, people, people everywhere, people everywhere. And you always encounter people. And the world is made up of people, lots of people out there. And everywhere you go, there's people. By the way, have you noticed how much more traffic there is in the city in which we live alone?

I mean, it's just people everywhere. Jesus went out among the people because he loves you. You mean everything to him. He went out among the people because he came and gave his life for you.

That's why. And this picture that we have here is amazing. And what I'm just going to simply present to us, all of us today, and I know the Lord is going to grip your heart and he's going to inspire you, is what can we learn from the master himself? What does Jesus teach us about going among the people?

How did he relate? You and I sometimes battle so much basic things. You know, many don't even know how to say thank you anymore.

Please, thank you, may I. We drop the basic courtesies of life. Sometimes we forfeit our friendliness and our disposition. Jesus showed us some incredible things in this encounter with this woman. So I'm just going to extrapolate some things that we learn from the master and God is going to speak to you. And in the final analysis, I'm inviting you to sit at the feet of Jesus and to give your life to Christ. I'm inviting you to trust this Jesus, put your faith in him because God loves you so much.

What can we learn from the master? Number one, what did Jesus do? He set out purposefully. You know, verse four tells us that Jesus was going to Galilee and that he had to go through Samaria.

By the way, the word there in the text means that he deliberately and purposefully went through Samaria. Now, many of us have been there. We're going back to Israel. You know, right now we're supposed to go with a big group in June and then again at the end of December and people are clamoring to get back and walk where Jesus walked and it's exciting. And when we're there and we'll show you, you know, I love going and standing, for example, on Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is this mount, obviously, where Elijah the prophet had his encounter with the prophets of Baal. And when you stand on Mount Carmel, you're looking down into the valley of Armageddon. And, you know, on a clear day from the top of Mount Carmel, you can look across and see Jerusalem way over there. But in order to see Jerusalem, you've got to look through Samaria. So if you go from Mount Carmel to Jerusalem, you go straight through Samaria. But you could also, if you wanted to, you can skip Samaria. You can actually go down toward the Jordan River and kind of go this way instead of that way. It's like taking the 85 bypass instead of sticking on the real thing.

And by the way, I'm just dropping this in. It's quicker if you take the bypass. So Jesus could have taken any way that he wanted. If he was in Jerusalem here, he could have turned right and sort of hugged along the mountains and the Jordan Valley and ended up in Galilee. And somewhat maybe about the same timeframe, he didn't have to go through Samaria, but he set out purposefully. Sharing the love of Christ is purposeful. It's actually doing something.

You and I see people everywhere who don't know Jesus. You've got to be purposeful. Jesus set out purposefully. He went strategically. Strategically. Verse 5 and 6 said not only did he have great purpose, but strategically he went to Jacob's will.

That's a strategy. Now why would Jesus have gone to a will? Because that's where water is. People drink water.

All people need water. This was a strategy. He knew that people would come to the will. He went purposefully through Samaria, but strategically he went to the will. And by the way, when he got to the will, the Bible says even though he was worn out and all the rest of him, he still sat down. This is a strategy. He sat down at the will. Now that's very simple, isn't it?

But we know what ended up happening. You don't think Jesus doesn't see you purposefully. He's got a strategy. He comes and he sits down. He walks by. He visits you.

He positions you. This lady didn't get it all, didn't understand it initially, but God was positioning her. You're not listening to this.

You really think you decided to listen this morning? Well, of course we did. You know, God is just so precious. You know, when you look back at your testimony and you think how strategic God must have known because you just happened to be and you just happened to hear and you just happened to meet. He set out purposefully and he went strategically. And number three, he connected winsomely.

You know, he connected winsomely. You know, I wish I could have seen this for myself, but I can feel it. Jesus sat down there and I'm going to get to the awkwardness of this in a minute because this was awkward, folks.

This is like serious awkward. You know, first of all, she was a Samaritan. Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. Second of all, she was she, a woman. This was in Jesus' time.

You talk about discrimination. This was the day and age in which some of the self-righteous men would stand up and beat their chests and say, thank God I'm not a woman. That sounds horrendous, but that actually happened.

And with all the abuse that goes on even in our world today, can you imagine what happened then? And yet Jesus connected winsomely. He sat down and he said, excuse me, ma'am, would you give me something to drink?

Now, connect all the dots. He was at a well. He was sitting down and a lady came by and he asked her, would you give me something to drink? He was very winsome about it. He started out at the right place. You need to be just winsome. Talk to people. Jesus just said, hey, what's up?

Could you possibly give me something to drink? It's just so simple. But he entered her heart. He touched her. She connected with that.

It was a joy. I'm telling you, it doesn't matter who people are out there. People will respond to you when you winsome. You go out there and act like you some major dipstick. People are not going to listen to you. I didn't call anybody a dipstick. I'm just suggesting. That means you're long, tall, thin and you're just covered with grease.

Or maybe you're short and not so thin and still covered with grease. He just connected winsomely. Number four, he engaged personally.

Isn't that beautiful? You know, from verse nine and following, he just engaged her personally. He didn't throw up his arms. If you analyze the content of this conversation, I mean, he spoke to her in a very personable way. He didn't throw bullets at her. He didn't sit there and say, hmm. You know, despite the fact that you're a Samaritan, I'm going to tolerate that for a minute and you can give me something to drink. There was no haughtiness in what he said. He didn't drive a wedge.

Spoke to her personally. This encounter was amazing because this was in Samaria. Don't have time to do a history lesson, but this goes way back to the time of Jacob. Remember, Jacob had 12 sons. One of them was Joseph.

Go back and read the blessing of Joseph and then his sons. And then you can fast forward through all the history of this region and the dividing of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And the northern kingdom's headquarters were Samaria and the southern kingdom, and I'm being simplistic, was Jerusalem. They were like this.

They were like neighbors. The northern kingdom, Samaria, the southern kingdom, Jerusalem. And remember, the southern kingdom, the Jews around that area got cast into exile, the Babylonian exile where they lived under suppression and finally they were released. And some 40,000 of them went back to Jerusalem under Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. Well, the people in the northern kingdom, they didn't support this repatriation of these Jews from Babylon.

They didn't like that. And I'll tell you something else about the Samaritans. The Samaritans, to a large extent, worshiped pagan gods. The Jews were monotheistic. Mono means one, theist god. If you say monotheist, it means they worshiped one god, Yahweh, Yahweh. They were monotheistic, all right? They worshiped one god.

The pagans were not. They had many gods. That's why even just a little bit further on from Samaria, you get Mount Carmel and you remember the big encounter there between Elijah, monotheistic god, creator, and the prophets of Baal. The many gods of the Baals, the prophets of Baal, and there was this massive clash between them. And remember how the prophets of Baal cried out and went ballistic trying to call on their gods to come and to pour down fire. And finally, Elijah called out to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and he sent fire from heaven.

And he completely vanquished everything. And they took those false prophets down from the mountain into the valley of Armageddon. And there they killed them all, these false prophets.

You got a picture there of what takes place in the book of Revelation, the final battle, the battle of Armageddon. It's all right there at the beginning of the Old Testament. So there was this big division between the Samaritans and the Jews, those who worshiped God.

God creator, Yahweh, Jehovah, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Samaritans who worshiped many gods. And not only that, because of their religious disposition and the license they had, they also had permission to marry foreigners. So they all became mixed up. The Jews didn't believe that. So you got all these cross-cultural things.

This was horrendous. What? You mean Jesus would sit down at a well and ask a Samaritan, oh, a woman?

I get it. But in those days, you didn't even talk to a woman. He set out purposefully and went strategically and he connected winsomely and he engaged her personally. He talked to her as an equal, as a human being.

Hello, how are you? One on one. One person to the other. Jesus did that with everyone. He had no color in his eyes. He had no gender in his eyes.

He had no politics in his framework. He treated all people the same because he loved them. Number five, he captured curiosity. Verse 10, he captured her curiosity.

Well, I love this. I mean, what a question. She says to him, you know, wait a minute, you're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan.

I'm a woman. You want me to give you something to drink? What does Jesus say? He says, if you knew the drink of God who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him.

He would have given you life-giving water. That's kind of like a statement, a question. It's a humdinger.

It's like dropping a little thundercracker right in front of her. Like what? You talk about curiosity. What did you say? You mean you can give me something and I'll never die?

What does that mean? That's curiosity. Aren't you interested in knowing how it is that you can know that actually when you die, you won't die? Can I just tell you something? Just by the way, I just want you to listen up. Do you know when you give your heart to Jesus, the moment you take that final breath, you're just picked up by the angels and you're taken into the presence of Jesus.

By the way, just get this. I've got to tell you this because I don't want you to miss this. Did you know this, that there is not one person who has ever died that's dead? Did you know that? It's like, what are you doing? What?

That's what's possible. In Christ, we're made alive. Yes, made alive in Christ. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton and we'll be back with the rest of today's message, Learning from the Master. But right now, we want you to know about something very unique that's an opportunity to spend time in God's Word every single day. The Daily Encouraging Word is a daily devotional made available in a quarterly booklet or delivered each morning in your email inbox. If you would like to request this free devotional, please call 866-899-WORD or visit our website at theencouragingword.org. We are confident that it will be a blessing to you. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry.

Thank you for listening today. Do hope you'll sign up for the Daily Encouraging Word online at www.tewonline.org. Great place to also sign up for Dr. Wilton's latest book, Saturdays with Billy.

That's all online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. He captured her curiosity.

Number six, he listened attentively. She came back then in verse 11 and she wanted to get through all of this. Jesus didn't interrupt her. By the way, some of us interrupt too much. Or look at me for a minute. Just stop talking so much. And all of you are looking at me saying, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. You don't have to nod like that. I get it.

My big challenge is just to, you know, let somebody else actually have something to say. I mean, he listened attentively. Didn't just bulldoze her. Number seven, he answered pointedly. When she talked, she said then verse 13, boom, he answered pointedly. Went straight to the point. He said, yep. He said, I give you water to drink, you'll never thirst again.

You will have eternal life. That's pointed. Do you know sometimes when we talk to people about Jesus, we beat around the bush so much we forget what bush we're beating around. I'm all for having a cup of tea with someone to lead them to Jesus.

But I think sometimes you've just drunk enough tea. Don't overspend making friends for Christ. Get on and lead people to Christ. I think that's what Jesus is saying here. But in the right way, he answered pointedly, then he loved unconditionally.

I love point number eight. He loved unconditionally because he just, he said, go and get your husband. Of course, this is Jesus. Jesus looked at her and he said, you're right.

Jesus knew exactly. Do you know how many people, folks, listen to this. Do you know what we tend to do? We tend to wipe people out of God's book because of sin or because of the condition of their life or because of the jail sentence or because of what they've gone through. We make that decision. Jesus doesn't.

So if you look at it and try and boil it down, there's somebody out there said, well, I don't know about that, you know, we just decided. I mean, wait a minute, you know, divorce is just the worst thing. Well, this lady had had five husbands. By the way, the one she was, she wasn't even living right when she spoke.

She was living in sin because living together without marriage is not an option according to the scripture. And then finally, but not conclusively, he pointed to himself unapologetically. I love that last verse. Jesus declared, I'm the one.

I mean, you know, he just pointed to himself unconditionally. Here's what I'd like to recommend that we take away with ourselves. I'm going to suggest to you and to me, you ask God to give you four things, to do four things for you. Number one, ask God to give you a wide view. Number two, ask God to give you an inclusive embrace. Ask God to give you an engaging attitude.

One more, here's one more. Ask God to give you a straight message. I pray that you know the straight message from God is that he loves you.

He has a plan for your life, a purpose for your life, and a place for you in heaven. But it all starts with a personal relationship with Jesus. Would you open your heart to what our pastor and chief encourager here on The Encouraging Word, Dr. Don Wilton, has to say next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Jesus Christ, praying with Dr. Wilton moments ago, or rededicate your life, Dr. Wilton has resources he wants you to have for free if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. We'd love to connect with you and connect with great resources that will help you grow in your faith. That's online at www.tewonline.org. And finally, have a blessed day.