Calvary Road Baptist Church
“COME, SEE A
MAN”
John 4.4-29
I bring to you a message from God’s
Word about the Savior, and the Savior’s dealings with a woman. She was not a
good woman. She was not well thought of. She was not a particularly
accomplished woman. For the most part, she was a woman that other women shunned
and men were far too casual with. Additionally, she was a Samaritan.
Just a few words about Samaritans. Jewish
people despised them. Jewish people avoided them whenever possible. When
traveling between Galilee to the north and Jerusalem in Judah to the south,
Jewish people would invariably pass along the Mediterranean coast or along the
bank of the Jordan River to avoid all contact with Samaritans. Following the
death of King Solomon the nation of Israel divided along tribal loyalties, with
the southern kingdom of Judah dominated by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and
the northern kingdom of Israel consisting of the other ten tribes, the city of
Samaria becoming its capital city. That division took place nine centuries
before Christ’s birth. About seven centuries before Christ’s birth, Assyria
invaded and carried off the men of Israel, replacing them with Gentile men from
other lands they had conquered. The Gentile men in that region, intermarried
with the Jewish women remaining there, resulted in an ethnically mixed and
religiously confused people known as Samaritans, or taking the former capital
of Israel, Samarians. The Samaritans’ religious views were a conglomeration of
Judaism and Gentile beliefs, with Samaritans embracing the first five books of
the Hebrew scriptures, known as the Pentateuch, but rejecting everything else. Additionally,
Samaritans rejected the Jewish priesthood and the system of worship and
sacrifices that was centered in Jerusalem. Jewish people and Samaritans could
tell each other’s identities at a distance by the style of clothing they
typically wore, as well as the geographical regions where each was likely to be
found. At close range their word pronunciation distinguished them.
Imagine a woman thoroughly confused
about spiritual matters. Imagine a woman with a decided bias against Jewish
people. Imagine a woman who, in turn, would be very sensitive to the decided
bias of Jewish people against her. On top of all that, imagine a woman who was
terribly lonely. I am convinced that most all human beings are social
creatures, enjoying and needing the stimulation that comes from interacting
with other people. However, I am convinced that women tend to be more
gregarious than men, and feel loneliness even more than most men when deprived
of social intercourse. Why was this Samaritan woman lonely? She was lonely
because she was isolated from other women. She was isolated from other women
because they did not trust her to be anywhere near their men. In fact, for
whatever reason, she had had dealings with a great many men. Those experiences
were not at all satisfying, leaving her with guilt, emptiness, and a great deal
of heartache.
Life in general was hard in our Lord
Jesus’ day. For a woman, life was harder. For a Samaritan woman, life was even
more difficult. For this Samaritan woman, life was almost
unbearable. Many of her difficulties resulted from the general condition of
mankind. However, her lot in life was especially tragic as a direct result of
her own individual choices, tragic choices, foolish choices, terrible choices,
and in some cases choices that were simply wicked. I imagine her to have had
serious difficulties with men, despite the fact that the women were the ones
who shunned her. I conceive her to have had a worthless and unaffectionate
father and antagonistic brothers, unless she was raised by a single mom. Early
on, I suppose, she began attracting the attention of men, was tragically naive
about men, and was taken advantage of by men until she became cynical about all
men. How long has she been a discouraged and cynical woman? It had to be years.
Then, one day, she met a man. Turn to
John chapter 4, where we begin reading from verse 4. When you find that verse,
stand for the reading of God’s Word:
4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
5 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.
6 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.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus
saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy
meat.)
9 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.
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.
11 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?
12 Art
thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
again:
14 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.
15 The
woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw.
16 Jesus
saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The
woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well
said, I have no husband:
18 For
thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in
that saidst thou truly.
19 The
woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our
fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye
worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the
Jews.
23 But
the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God
is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth.
25 The
woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when
he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 And
upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet
no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
28 The
woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the
men,
29 Come,
see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
We know from verse 6 and the reference
to the sixth hour that this encounter took place at midday, the hottest portion
of the day. Much of what I have mentioned about the woman’s loneliness is
deduced from her appearance at the well at midday, during the heat of the day,
by herself, and with no companions. The women of her town would come for water
in the cool of the morning and as the heat subsided in the evening. However,
this woman comes when she knows no other women will be there, when she will be
safe from unkind comments and hurtful gestures.
The passage we have read is saturated
with food for thought and grist for the mill, but for our purposes today we
will confine our considerations to four things the Lord Jesus did which
obliterated the woman’s cynicism, healed the woman’s many emotional wounds, and
forever altered the woman’s destiny.
First, THE LORD JESUS SOUGHT HER
Not that this Samaritan woman had not
been sought by men before. Considering the conversation we have just read, I
would not be at all surprised if the woman had been inappropriately sought by
her own father when she still lived at home, or some other trusted brother,
cousin, or man. It is often the case with women who are promiscuous that some
type of violation or abuse of trust has taken place during her childhood. Sometimes
a promiscuous woman seeks the approval of men after never having received the
approval of her own father or the nearby guy her single mom foolishly keeps
around. At any rate, early on she likely began receiving attention from men who
sought her for the wrong reasons. Whatever the specific details, it cannot be
imagined that a woman of that era who was married five times and who was living
with a man she was not married to was not sought by men, and for the wrong
reasons. The result was a predictable cynicism concerning men, and about what she
considered the motives of all men; at least just about every man she had ever
met. Thus, when she approached the well and saw the Lord Jesus sitting there,
recognizing Him to be a Jew and no doubt drawing conclusions about Jewish men
based on her previous experiences with men, she was suspicious to say the
least. Perhaps she expected this Man to notice her face or her figure. Perhaps
she expected Him to pay attention to the way she walked. After all, each man
she had known focused on some aspect of her appearance, which is why she paid
so much attention to her appearance. She knew the effect she had on men, and
she encouraged it despite the pain that resulted.
However, she had never been sought by
this Man before. We know the Lord Jesus sought this woman, because He came to
Samaria (verse 4), to Sychar in Samaria, to the parcel of ground that Jacob
gave to Joseph (verse 5), to Jacob’s well, and all this at midday (verse 6). The
specific place the Lord Jesus journeyed to, arriving at the necessary time of
the day, and after dismissing His disciples to fetch food, was for the purpose
of meeting and speaking to this woman alone. He alone knew everything about
her, her hurts, her suspicions, and above all her self-inflicted spiritual and
emotional wounds. Of all the men she had ever met, He was the only one who
wanted nothing from her, but sought her out that He might do something for her.
Throughout her life men had repeatedly told her that they loved her, but this
Man was different from any man she had ever known in that He really did love
her, and He would show her His love. In this, the Lord Jesus established the
pattern for all Christian men’s love for their women, love being a matter of
giving to the object of your love and not taking from the woman you love.
Next, HE TAUGHT HER
It was necessary for the Lord Jesus to
teach this woman some things, because she was woefully ignorant and therefore
confused about many crucial issues. Being a Samaritan, and therefore rejecting
the entire Old Testament apart from the five books of Moses, there can be no
doubt that her views and understanding of most things spiritual were distorted
and perverse. Therefore, so that she might receive faith from Him, the Lord
Jesus had to instruct her. For now, let me highlight some of what He taught her
about herself and then what He taught her about Himself:
First, what the Lord Jesus taught her
about herself. There can be no doubt that the woman at the well did not have a
high opinion of herself. Her opinion of herself was, no doubt, a low one. However,
it was not low enough. Being all too human, she had certainly reserved for
herself some semblance of self-respect and a measure of commendation of herself
by herself. The Lord Jesus would very properly take that away from her. First,
He drives home to her that she is ignorant. She is ignorant about God, about
the gift of God, about the Lord Jesus Himself, and about what He is able to do
for her, verse 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.”
Next, He drives home to her that she is sinful. In verse 16,
He said,
“Go, call thy husband, and come
hither.”
You might think she already knows she
is sinful, but her answer shows that like so many people do she evades the
reality of her sinfulness by equivocating. Notice verses 17-18:
17 The
woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well
said, I have no husband:
18 For
thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in
that saidst thou truly.
Lost people usually, and frequently
many Christians as well, think that such confrontation of sinners is cruel. However,
failure to drive home a sinner’s sinfulness is far more cruel in the long run,
in that sinners are left with a very superficial grasp of the sinfulness of
their sins. The Lord Jesus is here mercifully showing her that she is not
merely sinful, but that she is desperately sinful. As the conversation
progresses, our Lord brings out her ignorance of God, the nature of God, the
ways of God, and the worship of God. The goal, you see, is to bring her to the
realization that she is hopelessly lost . . . because she is hopelessly lost. To
leave any sinner short of comprehending that profound reality is eternally
cruel and shortsighted.
Then, the Lord Jesus taught her a bit
about the Father and about Himself. In verse 10, He brings her to the
realization that she has no idea who He is. By verse 12, she is questioning
whether He is greater than the patriarch Jacob. By verse 14, He informs her
that He is able to give her the water of life. By verse 19, after confronting
her about her many marriages and her current wicked live-in arrangement, she
recognizes that He is at least a prophet. However, that is not good enough. In
verse 21, she learns that God is the Father. This would be an astonishing
revelation to her, especially in light of her obvious man issues. Fathers are
given to families by God to represent Him in the home, though so many fathers
can only be described as misrepresenting Him in the home. You cannot
imagine the spiritual difficulties in the lives of girls that are directly
related to incompetent, irresponsible, or otherwise foolish fathers and
stepfathers. Then, in verses 23-24, He asserts that God is a spirit and that
His worship must be in spirit and in truth. Look at verses 25-26, and see where
He brings her to concerning His identity, nature, and relationship with God the
Father:
25 The
woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when
he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
This woman has not been taught many
things about herself, about God, and about the Lord Jesus Christ, but what He
has taught her is true and vital. She knows she is a sinner more surely and
more deeply than she ever did before. She knows God is a Spirit, that the Man
speaking to her is the Christ, the Messiah, and that He speaks for God. So, we
see that He has taught her. As an aside, do you see what is not present in this
interaction? There is no evidence that He is in any way angry with her, putting
to rest once and for all the ridiculous Roman Catholic lie that the Lord Jesus
Christ is angry with sinners as justification for seeking out the Virgin Mary.
Third, HE BOUGHT HER
Recognize that our text is a summary
of the conversation our Lord Jesus Christ had with the woman at the well, and
that John’s gospel does not record everything He said to her and she said to
Him. John 21.25 speaks to this matter:
“And there are also many other things
which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that
even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.
Amen.”
I bring this up to point out that
while our text does not record the Lord Jesus Christ has having said anything
to her about His approaching crucifixion, the fact that He is the Messiah and
has so identified Himself to her, very strongly suggests that the
substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah for sins would have been vital for her
to understand.
There are many passages in the Old
Testament that speak to the Messiah’s sacrificial death for sinners, but none
more complete than Isaiah 53 and none more pointed than Zechariah 12. Turn to
Isaiah 53. Obviously a prophecy about the coming Messiah, notice the verses
having to do with the substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah:
4 Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.
6 All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
7 He
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he
openeth not his mouth.
8 He
was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation?
for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my
people was he stricken.
9 And
he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet
it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him
to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their
iniquities.
12 Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.
Turn to Zechariah 12.10:
“And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn.”
Crucial to a right understanding of
the Jewish Messiah, so typically translated Christ in the New Testament, is His
death on the cross on behalf of sinners. Twice in First Corinthians, the
Apostle Paul remarks that Christians are “bought with a price,” in reference to
Christ’s shed blood of the cross of Calvary.[1] Thus,
it is very appropriate for me to say concerning this Samaritan woman the Lord
Jesus met at Jacob’s well outside the village of Sychar, He sought her, He
taught her, and He bought her. He shed His precious blood on Calvary’s cross to
redeem her from her sins.
Finally, HE GOT HER
Think about this (what appeared to be
a) chance meeting with a Jewish stranger. Little did this troubled woman
realize that the eternal Son of the living God had sought her out, had taken
such a personal interest in her spiritual welfare that He traveled to her
locale rather than summoning her to Him. There He spoke to her in private,
addressed her personal sin issues, instructed her about the very nature of the
God she thought she had worshipped (as well as His Son, Jesus Christ Himself),
in what amounts to a stopover on a journey that would lead Him to the cross
where He would shed His blood for her sins.
Is there any coercion here? No. Did
our Lord force Himself upon her? No. Did He seek in any way to intimidate her? No.
Was He in any way argumentative, attempting to confuse her and browbeat her
into submission to His will? No. Did He not rather treat her with respect while
confronting her with the unvarnished truth? Yes.
It would be safe to suggest that every
significant decision this woman had ever made was the wrong one. Who knows what
wrong decisions she made before each of her troubled marriages? It is certainly
safe to conclude that wrong decisions were intimately associated with her first
marriage, her second marriage, her third marriage, her fourth marriage, her
fifth marriage, and her current illicit relationship with a man she was not
married to.
Has this woman ever made a right
choice, ever made a sound decision, ever arrived at a reasonable and
well-thought-out conclusion about anything? It would not seem so from what we
know about her life situation. This woman is a walking, talking catastrophe. Yet
our Lord still does not seek to impose anything upon her against her will, but
rather engaged in wooing her with the truth and with His love.
The result? He sought her, He taught
her, He bought her, and then He got her. How do we know He got her? There is no
record in God’s Word of her conversion experience, of her justification by
faith. However, do not conclude that something unrecorded is the same as
something that did not occur, for her actions shout loudly concerning what took
place moments before. I read verses 28-29:
28 The
woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the
men,
29 Come,
see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
What is not recorded, but which is
evident from her behavior, is this woman’s faith in Jesus Christ. Notice three
things that are clear from verse 29: First, it is evident that a
different woman entered Sychar than left Sychar to fetch water some time
before. She came alone, but she left seeking out the audience of others. Why? Her
burdens were lifted. Her guilt is all gone. She has found forgiveness through
faith in Jesus Christ. However, notice, second, that she rather admits
than denies her sin.
“Come, see a man, which told me all
things that ever I did.”
My friends, this is First John 1.9
enacted decades before the verse was written:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”
She admits all. She denies nothing. Yet
she is free from the burden of her sins. Third, she testifies of Christ:
“is not this the Christ?” What boldness. What openness. What simplicity. What
life is displayed here.
What compassion the Savior had shown.
What interest He had displayed in her welfare. What did she have that He
wanted? Nothing besides her sins. What a wonderful Savior. Will you consider my
Savior? You see, you are no different than this woman. Not really. Your sins
may be the same as hers, or yours may be different. Either way, you are just as
needy a sinner as she was. As well, you are ignorant, just as she was.
My remarks to you who are lost end
with this statement: My Lord Jesus Christ sought her, taught her, bought her,
and then got her. Though since His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to
heaven, He is now pleased to use men to minister to others, the same can be
said of you by means of this message. The glorified and enthroned Savior sought
you, taught you, bought you, and if you are responsive to the gospel and come
to Christ it will be said that He got you.
My remarks to you who know Christ end
with this statement: My Lord Jesus Christ sought you, taught you, bought you,
and then got you. You are now a Christian. What is your response then to be? I
suggest to you that your response should be much the same as the Samaritan
woman’s response, since her experience and her subsequent response was recorded
by the inspired apostle for your benefit and to serve as your example. She went
to the people she knew and said, “Come, see a man, which told me all things
that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” You can essentially do the very same
thing by inviting people to church where they can sit under the preaching of
the gospel, the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Question? Comment?
Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Fill out the form below to send him an email. Thank you.