LISTEN TO JESUS: NEVER THIRST AGAIN

LISTEN TO JESUS

NEVER THIRST AGAIN

John 4:11-12 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? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Susie: Sometimes when I read the Bible, I am tempted to think, “How dense were these people?!” I forget that since I grew up mostly in church, I know the rest of the story. This woman was talking to a total stranger who seems to be talking in code . . .

Susan: . . . that she is currently unable to crack. She does not yet have the 6^th sense of the Holy Spirit interpreting things for her.

Susie: Therefore, she wonders how He can offer her water when He has no bucket to lower into the well.  After all, He originally asked her to give Him a drink. 

Susan: She wonders if He thinks He is greater than the patriarch Jacob who established the well in the first place. 

Susie: Both Jews and Samaritans revered Jacob as an important forefather of their people. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the pillars of their culture and their belief system.

John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Susie: Obviously, Jesus is not talking about actual, liquid water. 

Susan: Jesus is using a spring of water to represent the presence of the Spirit of God evident in the life of the believer. 

Susie: His Holy Spirit flows in, thru, and from us when we commit our lives to His saving care. He speaks of eternal life, the thing we should really thirst after. Once we belong to Jesus, we need never thirst for God again because He is with us always in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Living Water.

John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

John 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Susie: Okay, once He spoke of eternal life, I really think she should have had a clue that He was not talking about quenching her physical thirst. I’ve heard preached that she may have jumped at the idea of not needing to come to the well because her reputation would have drawn scorn from the other women there. 

Susan: Instead of gossip at the water cooler, it was gossip at the water well. 

Susie: Never being thirsty would be an excellent benefit, but Jesus was offering her so much more!

Ways we can apply this to our lives:

·     We often seek the temporal things we need—food, clothing, shelter—and God graciously supplies these. However, our deepest need is to be freed from sin and death by the grace of God.

·     Living Water, having an intimate relationship with God because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is available to all who trust in Jesus.

·     Living Water is an internal reality for those who believe in and trust Jesus as the Son of God.

·     We need to “tap into” the Spirit in order to have abundant life in Jesus

LISTEN TO JESUS: LIVING WATER

LISTEN TO JESUS

LIVING WATER

John 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

Susie: The Jews did not like the Samaritans and would sometimes take the long way around rather than travel through that region. When the Northern Kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrians, a small group was left behind. The Assyrians brought in other groups to live there, and the Jews who remained intermarried with them. Therefore, the Samaritans were despised as “half-breeds” and idol worshippers. They had also built a temple on Mt. Gerizim and worshipped there rather than traveling to Jerusalem.

Susan: An extreme mutual prejudice persisted between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews did not consider the Samaritans to be genuine worshippers of the one true God. The Samaritans were loathsome to the Jews and vice versa.

Susie: There were other routes to Galilee that Jesus could have taken as many other Jews did, but he “needed” to go through Samaria. This could have been because it was the shortest route, or more likely it was that He knew of the divine appointment waiting for Him at Jacob’s well. 

Susan: Jesus knew He was about to embark on a life changing encounter, not just for one woman but for an entire community.

John 4:5-6 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. 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.

Susan: Jesus exhibited the frailty of His humanity as He was exhausted from traveling. 

Susie: He experienced hunger and thirst just as we do, so He sent the disciples to buy food. As we learned in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh.” He was completely human, willingly limiting His powers as God.

Philippians 2:6 (Phillips) For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man.

John 4:7-9 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 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.

Reformation Study Bible:

4:9 Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. This phrase could also be translated, “Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans,” referring to the legislation that forbade a Jew to eat or drink with Samaritans, who were more lax in their understanding of ritual cleanness. The surprise was not so much that Jesus would speak with a Samaritan, but that He would drink from a Samaritan vessel.

Susan: This is reminiscent of the separate drinking fountains for “White” and “Colored” . . . 

Susie: . . . which I even remember seeing as a child in the late 1950’s and early sixties.  

Susan: How sad that these kinds of behaviors were still present and tolerated in our lifetimes.

Susie: However, the separation between the Jews and the Samaritans was due more to religious views than the race issue. The Samaritan woman was shocked that Jesus, a Jew, would talk to a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman. 

Susan: At that time women were not seen as equal to men and were treated like property.  Women had very few rights, and their husbands were in control of all property.

Susie: It was even more astounding that He would be willing to drink out of her water jug since it might not be “ceremonially clean” according to Jewish standards! He was definitely stepping outside the social norms of the day.

John 4:10 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.

Susie: Jesus, who would later die on the cross to give us the gift of forgiveness of sin and eternity with God, says, “If you only knew who you were talking to!”  

Susan: He basically says, “You don’t know this yet, but you should be the one asking Me for drink.” 

Susie: Jesus IS the gift of God and has the power to give the gift of the indwelling Spirit to those who believe on His name. He speaks of “living water” which goes whoosh over her head because, like Nicodemus, she is thinking literally rather than figuratively. 

Susan: She is only processing His words in terms of her five senses.

Reformation Study Bible:

4:10 the gift of God. This expression emphasizes that salvation is not earned but given (Eph. 2:8). Jesus Himself is the gift of God (3:16; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:25). living water. In the Old Testament, living or running water was employed figuratively as a reference to divine activity (Jer. 2:13; Zech. 14:8). See also v. 14 and 7:37–39.

Ways we can apply this to our lives: Although there is no direct application in these verses, we can draw some conclusions.

1.               Jesus does not harbor prejudice against any people. Nor should we.  “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-35).

2.               Jesus gives us far more than He asks of us. He asked for water but offered the woman eternal life.

LISTEN TO JESUS: COME TO THE LIGHT

LISTEN TO JESUS

COME TO THE LIGHT

John 3:19-21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Susan: The English Standard Version translates the word “condemnation” as “verdict.” According to Webster, one definition of verdict is “Decision; judgment; opinion pronounced; as, to be condemned by the verdict of the public.” 

Susie: We love to think of Jesus as the One who saves the world, but He is also the only one qualified to pronounce a verdict on its sin since He Himself was sinless. Jesus is the One who shines a light on the true motives of people. He did not come to actively condemn people because they had already condemned themselves due to their unbelief and actions. He puts a spotlight on our hearts which will enable those who believe to see their true condition and their need of Jesus to rescue them from it. 

Susan: Those who do not believe and trust in the saving grace of Jesus’ death on the cross in their place fear exposure of their true selves and especially exposure by the Light of Christ. In contrast, those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus, have no reason to fear . . .

Susie: . . . because Jesus has paid the price in full for their wrongdoing. 

Susan: Substitutionary atonement is a fancy phrase meaning Jesus died in their place to pay their debt.

Susie:  When God looks at those of us who believe, He does not see our thick file of bad stuff, but instead sees the righteousness of His Son.

Philippians 3:9 (NIV) …and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Susie: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” This old hymn says it well. Jesus is the only One who can enable us to stand in the light without fear.

Ways we can apply this to our lives:

·      Does the Light of Jesus make you feel naked and exposed? Jesus died literally naked on the cross to save you from the wrath of God and remove that guilt and shame from you.

·       Have you accepted His free gift of salvation? If so, you are covered in His righteousness and enabled by Him to turn from sin to an intimate relationship with the God who created everything!

·      If you have not yet experienced the saving grace of God, pray asking Him to open your eyes to the truth of His word. You may contact us for more details via our website: www.preciousjewelsministries.org

LISTEN TO JESUS: BORN AGAIN INTO GOD'S FOREVER FAMILY

LISTEN TO JESUS

BORN AGAIN

INTO GOD’S FOREVER FAMILY

Susie: Now for the verse you memorized in Sunday School when you were a wee lass or lad. That is, if you lived in Scotland. My heritage is coming out.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Susie: Let’s look at this extremely familiar verse (probably the one most likely to be committed to memory) in the Amplified version:

John 3:16 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

Susie: The world in this instance means all kinds of people in the world, Jews and Gentiles, from all over the world, living under the fallen “world system.” In other words, sinners of all kinds. God gave His “only begotten Son.” We as Christians are adopted into God’s family, but Jesus was actually God’s Son born of the virgin Mary, conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. Believing in Jesus is much more than intellectually acknowledging His existence. 

Susan: Trusting Jesus means  understanding that we must completely lean into and depend upon Jesus for all that we are, all that we have, and all that we ever will be. We must make a total surrender of our will to His.

Susie: It is a total surrender of our lives to His care by faith that He is the only way to the Father as Jesus Himself clarifies later in the Gospel of John:

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 15:5 (ESV) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Susie: Jesus is the source and sustainer of our lives both now and forever when we trust in Him.

John 3:17-18 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Reformation Study Bible:

Jesus comes into a world that is already condemned because of its rejection of God’s self-revelation (Rom. 1:18–32).

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse

Susie: Jesus did not come to condemn the world because it was already condemned due to rejecting God’s revelation in nature and perpetually giving in to the sin nature within them. The point is that He came to bring them the only offer of salvation they would receive from God. 

Susan: Jesus’s purpose was not to condemn but to redeem. To redeem is to buy back as from slavery. 

Susie: We were slaves to sin. 

Susan: The price of our redemption was His death on the cross. God was willing to give His pride and joy to redeem those unworthy of His love in order to adopt them into His forever family to enjoy His presence eternally. 

Susie: Believing and trusting in the saving power of Jesus transforms us from hopeless sinners into precious saints, something impossible for people to do on their own.

Ways we can apply this to our lives:

·     Eternal life with God is offered only by His grace in giving Jesus to redeem us – He is the only way to peace with God

·     No matter how hard we try to be perfect, we cannot reach God by perfection – we must place our trust in Jesus

·     Surrendering our lives to Jesus’s control brings about the total transformation from being dead in our sin to being alive in Him.

Ephesians 2:1 (AMP)  And you [He made alive when you] were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of your transgressions and sins.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.  

LISTEN TO JESUS: OUR LORD LIFTED UP

LISTEN TO JESUS

OUR LORD LIFTED UP

John 3:11-12 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

The MacArthur Bible Commentary:

John 3:11-12 “Jesus focused on the idea that unbelief is the cause of ignorance. At heart, Nicodemus’ failure to understand Jesus’ words centered not so much in his intellect, but in his failure to believe Jesus’ witness.”

Susie: As we have stated before, Nicodemus is trying to analyze everything intellectually rather than just believing Jesus at face value. 

Susan: He was missing the faith factor. For example: I am fully convinced that Jesus is our healer in every sense of the word, but healing of my cerebral palsy has not been physically manifested in my body. However, I know that I have been healed in the most important manner, the healing of my heart. I have faith that I will be completely, physically healed when I am with the Lord if not before. What an exciting day that will be! However, I am blessed and privileged beyond measure that every day that I wake up I have the honor and pleasure of being the Lord’s mouthpiece to share His word and truth around the world.  

Susie: Jesus was explaining that “birth from above” was transacted by God’s grace through faith and was not something to be achieved by man’s own power. 

Susan: Self-effort will not and cannot get you to Heaven, where you will be in God’s presence eternally. 

Susie: No matter how hard I might try, I cannot in my own strength, in my own abilities, be good enough to merit a relationship with the perfect, almighty God.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Susie: Jesus is the One sent from God to provide the way for us to enter Heaven. He is the only one who was in Heaven and came down to earth to reveal truth to us. Paul stated that man was not permitted to speak of such things when recording his vision of being caught up into Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). After Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the Apostle John was instructed to write the Revelation given to him of Heaven, but this was after the time that Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus. Of course, one must be listening with ears of faith to understand that Jesus is the Son of God and equally the Son of Man.

John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Reformation Study Bible

3:14 Moses. Num. 21:4–9 records the story of the rebellious Israelites, who murmured and complained. God sent fiery serpents into their midst to punish them. Then God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole, with the promise that whoever looked at it would live.

must . . . be lifted up. Here is a key term in this Gospel (8:28; 12:32, 34) which carries the double meaning of crucifixion and exaltation. Christ’s death on the cross, His resurrection, and His glorification together reveal the glory of God. The word “must” points to God’s sovereign purpose. The crucifixion was the keystone of God’s eternal plan to save His people (Acts 4:27, 28).

Susie: Jesus’ crucifixion was not some cosmic tragedy but was God’s plan for salvation all along. 

Susan: When Jesus says He must be “lifted up,” the phrase has a layered meaning. It refers to Jesus’s suffering and being displayed naked on the cross for all to see. . .

Susie: . . . the worst humiliation for a Jew since Deuteronomy 21:23 says that one who is hanged on a tree is “accursed of God.” 

Susan: The second layer of the term “lifted up” is that Jesus must be exalted. 

Susie: He must be recognized as fully equal with God and given all the glory due Him.

The American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828

EXALT'ED, pp. Raised to a lofty height; elevated; honored with office or rank; extolled; magnified; refined; dignified; sublime.

Philippians 2:8-11 (ESV) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Ways we can apply this to our lives:

·     We must believe that Jesus is fully divine (God) as well as fully human – He is the God-Man

·     In order to be saved, we must look to the cross by believing that Jesus died in our place and was raised from the dead

·     We should exalt Jesus, bring glory to His name (reputation) in all we do and say