ST. CHARLES | BOB INGLE

March 9, 2025
John 4:1-19

“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John-- although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.” John 4:1-4 (NIV)

“Now he HAD to go through Samaria.” John 4:4 (NIV)

“So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.” John 4:5-6 (NIV)

* To Save ‘Samantha’ the Sinner…

1. JESUS REJECTED THE SOCIAL BARRIER.

“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.” John 4:7-9a (NIV)

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

* To Save ‘Samantha’ the Sinner…

2. JESUS REMOVED THE RACIAL BARRIER.

“The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)” John 4:9 (NIV)

“People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b (NLT)

“If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.” Galatians 6:3 (NIV)

“My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?...Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” James 2:1, 8-10 (NLT)

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10 (NKJV)

* To Save ‘Samantha’ the Sinner…

3. JESUS RECOGNIZED THE MORTAL BARRIER.

“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.” John 4:10 (NIV)

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the 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 livestock?” John 4:11-12 (NIV)

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 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.” John 4:13-15 (NIV)

* To Save ‘Samantha’ the Sinner…

4. JESUS RESOLVED THE SPIRITUAL BARRIER.

“Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly. “Sir,” the woman said, “I perceive that you are a prophet.” John 4:16-19 (NKJV)

“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” John 4:28-30 (NIV)

--> Being saved by Jesus is not a blind LEAP into the dark; it is a humble STEP into the light.