CCSB_430403

Good morning to you all. It is just a great blessing and a privilege to be with you here in Santa Barbara this morning. I was thinking about it last night after I got up here. If my wife and I were to make a list of five people that we absolutely love spending time with, David and Ingalo Guzik would be right at the top of our list for certain. I am just blessed any chance that I get to spend time with David, to sit and talk and fellowship in the Lord with him.

Actually, you may not know this about your pastor, but two of his great heroes in the faith inspired him to name the middle names of his sons after Luther and Spurgeon. My firstborn son’s middle name is David, after David Guzik. So, he is a good friend, and I look up to Pastor David.

Also, if my wife and I had a choice of anywhere we could come and spend a weekend, Santa Barbara would again be at the top of that list. We come up here every year for our anniversary, and we just love to visit this city and this community. I am absolutely sure that if you came and visited Escondido, you would say the same about Escondido. Maybe not, but I’d like to think so.

As Pastor David shared, I am the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Escondido in North San Diego County. I took over the ministry there about four years ago, after serving for a year in Germany with David about seven years ago. The Lord opened the door for me to go over there. I had never met him or Ingalo before, but God made the way open, and I was really privileged to teach at the school there and get to know the ministry team.

I was so blessed when Dave shared with me a couple of years ago that he was going to be returning here to Santa Barbara. My wife and I live in Escondido. That is my wife's name. We have two-and-a-half kids: a son, Ethan, who is two-and-a-half years old; a daughter, Addison, who is one-and-a-half; and another daughter, Caitlin, who is on the way and will be here in December. We are looking forward to that, so pray for me because if Caitlin is anything like Addison, we are in trouble.

God is doing great things, I hear, from Santa Barbara, great things through your church. It is great to see a team of so many going down to Costa Rica. I love world missions, and I love to see what God is doing in other parts of the world.

I love to be a part of what God is doing here in America and overseas. I wanted to take a moment to look at a passage this morning where we see God, our God, as a missionary God reaching out.

Would you open your Bibles to two places? First, Hebrews chapter 11, and then also John chapter 4. If you want to keep your finger in John chapter 4, turn to Hebrews 11. Would you mind standing with me for the reading of God's Word? We'll stand for the Word of God and sit for the Word of the Preacher.

Hebrews chapter 11, a verse you may know very well, states: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him."

Now, turn from there to John chapter 4. In John chapter 4, we begin reading at verse 3. It says, "Jesus left Judea and departed again unto Galilee, and He must needs go through Samaria. And He came to the 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, and Jesus, being wearied with His journey, sat on the well, and it was about the sixth hour of the day. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus said unto her, 'Give me a drink.' For His disciples were gone into the city to buy food. Then said the woman of Samaria, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask of me, a woman of Samaria, for a drink of water? For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.' And Jesus answered and said unto her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, "Give me a drink," then you would have asked, and He would have given you living water.'"

Father, we are thankful for the great grace that You have given to us.

Lord, thank You that You have graced us with Your Word and revealed Yourself to us, desiring that we would know You, Your nature, and Your character. As we have worshipped You already this morning through song, we want to worship You through the study of Your Word. Here, You reveal Yourself to us, and we see You glorified. We see You in all Your grace and truth. Would You, by Your Word, stir us to be in awe of You today, the way You work and who You are? We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

The Gospel of John is just a spectacular picture of our Lord Jesus. We are given four beautiful portraits of the Lord in the New Testament where we get to know Him. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar; the picture we see of Jesus is consistent in each of those books. However, the Gospel of John stands alone in a whole other category.

In the Gospel of John, unlike the first three Gospels, we get to see these intimate moments of Jesus communicating one-on-one with individuals. Whether it's with Philip in John 2, Nicodemus in John 3, the woman at the well in John 4, or Jesus' interaction with Pilate in John 18 and 19, it's a wonderful picture. We see Jesus talking with these people in the way that He reveals Himself, because the Gospels reveal Jesus. He is the Gospel; He is the good news.

In John 3, you see Jesus speaking to a very religious individual. In John 18, He speaks to a very powerful man, Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. But here in John 4, Jesus is speaking to a woman who is in desperate need of what He has and who He is. She is just lost and in need. When I think about this Samaritan woman, I believe she is very similar to just about any person that we would bump into.

Out and about in our community, day in and day out, there are so many Samaritan women, if you will, people like her in the community of Santa Barbara that we regularly bump into. The way that Jesus speaks with her, the way that Jesus interacts with her, is, to me, insightful and instructive. It shows me, it shows us how we ought to be when we encounter these people.

I wanted to take a few minutes today to break it apart and see what we might learn from this passage as Jesus ministers in this beautiful way. He is leaving Judea; we read in chapter 3 that He has been ministering in Jerusalem and just outside of Jerusalem. Now, He is on His way back to Galilee, where most of Jesus' ministry took place. He has been in the southern part of the nation, and now He is going back to the north. Right in between Judea and Galilee is the region of Samaria.

Most of the Jews in Jesus' day didn't like to go through Samaria. They were called by God to come to Jerusalem to appear before Him three times a year: at Passover, at Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. Those who lived in the northern part of the nation in Galilee found that the fastest route was through Samaria. However, the most religious Jews did not want to go to Samaria. In fact, they would cross the Jordan River to the east, go around Samaria, and then come back up into Jerusalem to avoid it.

The reality is, if we are honest, there is a Samaria in every single one of our lives. There are those places where we just don't want to go. I was shocked and a little bothered when my wife told me that she grew up about 20 minutes down the freeway in a town called Poway. Poway is just a little more affluent than Escondido, where I grew up and have been attending Calvary Chapel Escondido since I was 11 years old.

I was stunned when she told me one time, "You know, when I grew up, Arthur, we didn't like Escondido." It was the joke that none of us ever wanted to live in Escondido. I just figured, well, God has a sense of humor; He brought you to Escondido. But we all have those Samarias. We all have those places.

In the first century, they didn't have Purell to wash off after going through certain areas. Jews didn't want to go there; they looked down upon the Samaritans and wanted nothing to do with them. They felt that if they went through Samaria, they would taint themselves because they were very religious and holy, consecrated to God.

What we see in this story, and perhaps you might want to note it down, is that Jesus went to the places no one else wanted to go. He sought to reach out to people that no one else would reach out to. This is an insight into the character of our God, but it's also an instruction for us. God often calls us to step out into places where, at first, we may not want to go.

He must needs go through Samaria, as verse 4 tells us. He came to the city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, and Jacob's well was there. Notice this: Jesus was weary from His journey, and He sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour of the day, around noon. Although Jesus is fully God, He was also fully man. In His humanity, He experienced the same kind of weariness that we sometimes feel.

We are told in verse 8 that Jesus' disciples went into the city of Sychar to buy food, indicating that Jesus was tired and hungry. Now, how many of you today will be honest and say that when you're tired and hungry, you're a little bit cranky? We all have a tendency to revert to our carnal, sinful condition when we are tired and hungry.

To be quite honest, I think short-term mission trips are great for bringing us to that place. I guarantee you, if you ask any of the 60 kids and leaders who went to Costa Rica, after they traveled down to LAX and flew to Costa Rica, they probably smelled a little bad, were tired, and were a bit hungry. They were out of their comfort zone, and there is the temptation to default back to our carnal, sinful nature and be cranky towards each other. But you're on a mission trip, and you can't be.

You're there on behalf of God, and so you have to die to that. That's why mission trips are so great. When we're here in Santa Barbara and we've had a long day, we go home, we're comfortable, and we can be cranky with our families. When people come to the door, we might think, "I don't want to talk to you." When people call right around dinner time, we might say, "Why are you calling me? Call me later," and then hang up.

But when you're on a mission trip and you're representing Jesus, you have to die to that. I believe it's a great opportunity for God to teach us how we are to be at all times. Could you imagine Jesus? He is fully God. He's in heaven, and he steps out of his comfort zone, stepping down into humanity. He takes on the form of man. Philippians chapter 2 tells us that if he were like you or me, he would have walked around with a chip on his shoulder. Since he had all the power of God, that could have been dangerous. It's a good thing we don't have that same kind of power.

But there is Jesus, full of grace and full of truth. He doesn't display the frustration that we might. He is not short with the woman when she comes to him. Jesus is there, tired and hungry, and a woman of Samaria comes to draw water. He speaks to her with great grace and simply says, "Give me a drink."

He positions himself where needy people are. He goes where unbelievers are and seeks to interact with people about the gospel, even when he is tired and hungry. When we might say, "No, now's not a good time," Jesus seeks to minister to people. He is willing to step outside of his comfort zone and into those places that others probably wouldn't go.

When Jesus says to this woman, "Would you give me a drink?" she responds in a very interesting way. She looks at him and says, "How is it that you, a Jew,"—he was clearly a Jewish man by the way that he looked, the way that he dressed, and perhaps the way that he spoke—"are speaking to me, a Samaritan woman? You asked me to give you something to drink."

Not only did he go to places that no one else would go, but now he is interacting with someone that probably no one else would interact with. A Jewish man in the first century would never interact with a woman, especially one-on-one, who was not his wife or a very close relative. And yet, Jesus begins to interact with this woman alone.

And not only is she just a woman, she's a Samaritan woman. The Jews had no dealings with Samaritans; they hated the Samaritans. Their racism was wrong, but they hated them. Jesus, however, was different. This woman questions Him, saying, "You've made a blunder. You're not supposed to talk to me. How is it that you're talking to me?" Yet, being full of grace and truth, Jesus reaches out with the love of God to those who are unlovely.

It is interesting that this woman came to draw water at the well in the middle of the day by herself. Many commentators, although it is speculation, suggest that this woman was likely an outcast in her community. The women of the day typically went to get water in groups and early in the morning. However, this woman comes alone and at an unusual time, indicating that she was very possibly an outcast. As we go through this passage, we will learn more about her.

Jesus speaks to this Samaritan woman, an outcast, and He wants to reveal something great to her as she comes to this place. If you can grasp it, the place where they were is essentially like a Starbucks; it is the well, the watering hole. Jesus met her in the community. The fact is, most non-believers and non-followers of Jesus are not going to come here, even though it is a beautiful building with great music and climate control. They are probably not going to come on a Sunday morning.

But you and I will interact with them; we will meet with them when we are at Starbucks or out and about in the community. The problem is that we often find ourselves out of our comfort zone. It is comfortable here; it is easy to talk about Jesus in this setting. However, when we are out there, we are out of our comfort zone. Many times, when we go to Starbucks, we are rushed, tired, hungry, and cranky.

I was in a Starbucks not too long ago, and when I got up to the counter to order my drink, I noticed how it is. Perhaps we have some baristas here who work at coffee shops. The people at Starbucks seem to drink too much of their own coffee because the workers are way too happy. The guy behind the counter asked, "Hey, how are you doing?" I replied, "I'm okay." Then he asked, "What can I get for you today? What can I get started?" I just wanted one of those things in that cup, please. Talk to me.

That's how we tend to be, and so we're not ready to interact. A couple of months ago, I was at a Starbucks when I stepped up to the counter. There was a girl making drinks, and she looked up and said, "Pastor Miles!" As a pastor, I sometimes get a little weirded out by that. When I'm at the church, it's just normal, but when I'm in the community, I don't always expect it. I had never met this girl; she knew who I was, but I didn't know who she was.

She continued, "Pastor Miles, I've been going to your church." The guy who was getting ready to take my order then looked at me and said, "You're a pastor?" He looked at me like I was some sort of criminal. Instantly, he asked, "You're a pastor?" I replied, "Yes, I am." He followed up with, "A pastor of a church?" I confirmed, "Yes." He asked, "What church?" I pointed to one right over there and said, "You should come." He responded, "Oh, I haven't been to church in a long time." It's amazing how just mentioning that word can elicit such a reaction. The same thing happens when you tell someone you're a Christian.

This reminds me of Jesus in a first-century Starbucks, striking up a conversation with a barista. He asks, "Hey, can I get a drink?" She responds, "You have fallen into a blunder. You're not supposed to talk to me." I want you to note something here because this is the same thing that often happens to us when we begin to talk about the things of Christ and the Scriptures with nonbelievers in the world around us. She seeks to bring Jesus into a political discussion, saying, "You're not supposed to talk with me. Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."

When you start to talk with people about the things of Christ, they often want to discuss the politics of religion and the politics of the day. We can quickly get drawn into that kind of political discussion. However, Jesus is not distracted by the political drama, and I think that's instructive for us. We ought not to be distracted either.

In John chapter 18, Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." Today, we have bumper stickers that say "not of this world," and they even make jeans now that are labeled as "not of this world," along with all kinds of other merchandise. But do we really recognize that we are of another world? We belong to another kingdom. Yet, we are so quickly drawn into political discussions that distract us from the kingdom of God. I believe the enemy often uses that to divert us from what is truly important. But Jesus is not brought into this political debate.

This political discussion involves a woman who is engaged in a conversation with Jesus. He continues to speak without interruption, emphasizing that she is not supposed to talk with him. Yet, Jesus answers and says unto her, "If you knew"—and this is an important verse, verse 10—"the gift of God," and "who it is that speaks to you, the giver of the gift, then you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water."

He informs this unnamed woman that she is ignorant of two very important things: the gift of God and the giver of that gift. Over the next verses, Jesus will beautifully and strategically reveal what the gift of God is, bringing her to a place where she desires it. Then, he will reveal to her who he is. Once she comes to that recognition, a great thing takes place. This is what God has called us to as well. In the community, at Starbucks, on State Street, and in our daily lives—wherever we are, at work or at play—we should be ready to bring people the knowledge of the gift of God and the giver of the gift. This world is in desperate need of both.

Without faith, the author of the Book of Hebrews says, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is the giver of the gift and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Jesus wasted no time identifying this woman's problem, and notice he didn't worry about offending her. This is instructive. We live in a climate that is so focused on political correctness that we often hesitate to say anything that might ruffle someone's feathers. However, he straightforwardly tells her, "Listen, you're ignorant of something. You don't know something that is extremely important. You need to know the gift of God and who I am. If you knew who I was, then you would ask for that gift, and I would freely give it to you."

Now, in verse 11, the woman responds to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank thereof himself and his children and his livestock? Are you greater than Jacob?" Clearly, the answer to that question is yes. Yes, I am. Now, he is going to first reveal the gift.

So he's not going to jump to the giver of the gift, who He is, His identity quite yet. But yes, I am greater than Jacob, and I want you to come to know this. Notice that she ascribes to Jesus her own limitations. She says to Him, "Where are you going to get this living water? This well is deep," thinking that what He is talking about comes from an earthly source. However, Jesus is going to reveal that this gift is not of this earth. It cannot be found here.

Although there are many worldviews, many religions, and many ideas about where fulfillment and salvation can come from, it is not of this world. So it's not going to be found in that thing. She says, "Well, you don't have anything to draw water out of here. That's why you're asking me for a drink. So where are you going to get this gift that you're telling me is so important? Are you greater than our father, Jacob?"

This is another question that we are confronted with when we begin to share about Christ out in the world. People look at us and say, "Wait a minute, are you telling me that your way is better than my way?" Isn't that something we are confronted with? We live in a pluralistic society today, where everybody has their own truth. Everyone has a different basis for that truth.

When you meet people and begin to tell them about Jesus, they often try to distract you from the point of the gospel by saying, "What, are you so arrogant to say that your way is better than my way? You have your truth, I have my truth. My truth is equally as important as your truth." Well, is it? Or is there just one way and one truth, as the Scriptures reveal?

Jesus doesn't take the bait in this debate about her way being better than His way or His way being better than her way. Some of you here today have had ongoing conversations with friends, family members, and coworkers that have been going on for years. Every time you get together with them, you go back into the same conversation again, trying to show how your way is better than their way.

In reality, we need to show the gift and the giver of the gift and bring that to a lost and dying world, rather than getting into the debate about why our way is better. The reality is that none of the other ways of this world bring everlasting life. They might bring some form of satisfaction or pleasure for a time, but they will not bring everlasting life. There is but one way.

And so Jesus told her in verse 10.

You don't know the gift; you don't know the giver of the gift. Now, here in verses 13 and 14, Jesus begins to reveal what that gift is. Remember, He is showing her what these things she is ignorant of are.

In verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinks of this water, the water that you're drawing from this well, shall thirst again. All the wells of this world will leave you unsatisfied. Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give..." He is making a very clear contrast between this source, this well, and Himself as the source, another otherworldly well. "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him as a well springing up unto everlasting life."

We recognize that we must have earthly water to sustain physical life, but Jesus says if you do not have the water that I give, you will not have spiritual life, everlasting life. If you drink what I can give to you, says Jesus, you will never thirst again. It will satisfy to the deepest need. Well, who wouldn't want that?

In verse 15, the woman said unto Him, "Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come here to draw." In verse 10, Jesus said, "If you asked me, I would give." Yet here, He doesn't give yet. Why? He has only revealed the gift and not yet the giver of the gift. When He reveals the gift, she says, "I want that. Give it to me so that I don't have to come out to this well anymore, so that I don't thirst anymore."

See again, she is thinking more at a human level, an earthly level. Every single day, she would have to come outside of the city of Sychar to that well. She would have to lower down her pot of water and pull it up very heavy, over 100 feet out of that well, and then carry it back to the city. She says, "I don't want to do that anymore. So you give me this water so I don't have to do this anymore."

But Jesus doesn't give it to her. I believe the reason that He doesn't give it to her is revealed to us by James. In James chapter 4, verse 3, James says, "You ask and you do not receive." She asked and she did not receive. "You ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss, that you might consume it on your own desires, your own lust." You're asking for the wrong reason.

And so Jesus has revealed the gift to this woman, and now he begins to reveal the giver. In verse 16, look at how he does this. This is impressive. Jesus says to the woman, "Go and call your husband and come here."

There is a problem. When Jesus asks her to get her husband, the woman replies, "I don't have a husband." It is a nice, quick, simple answer. She does not want to talk about that. Have you ever had that experience? You start to talk with someone who is not a believer, and you push a button, and they say, "No, we're not going there." I have found that this often happens when I ask people, "Have you had an experience in church before?" They respond, "I don't want to go there. I don't want to talk about that."

This woman quickly gives a brief answer to try to get off the subject of her husband. If you know the story, you understand that her response is not entirely true. Jesus, if he had wanted to, could have said, "That's a lie." But he does not. In fact, he commends her on the truthfulness of what she says. He tells her, "You have well said that you have no husband, because you have had five husbands, and the one you are now with is not your husband."

When the woman heard this, she said, "Sir, I perceive you are a prophet." She recognizes that he is something more than just a guy hanging out at Starbucks. There is something a little different about him. She wonders how he knows that. She begins to understand that this man, who is speaking about the gift he just revealed to her, is not just a normal Jewish rabbi by a well outside her city.

So she gives a prophet's test. In verse 20, she says, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, Mount Gerizim, there in Samaria. You Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus responds, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship God. You worship what you do not know. You are worshiping something false in the wrong way. Yet we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews."

But the hour comes, and now is, when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Jesus reveals this great truth: there is a significant difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. He was ushering in the new covenant under the old covenant. We could only worship in one place and in one way. Yet, under the new covenant, God opens the doors and says, "Come in," so that we don't have to go to Jerusalem to worship Him. We can come to Santa Barbara.

A new thing is happening. Jesus says to this woman, and she responds in verse 25, "I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ. When He has come, He will teach us all things." She acknowledges that the anointed one, the one prophesied by the prophets in the old covenant, is coming. Jesus then says to her, "I that speak unto you am He."

In the original Greek, this actually reads, "I am speaks unto you." In Exodus chapter three, when Moses is commissioned by God to go down into Egypt to call forth the children of Israel, he asks God, "Who shall I tell them sent me?" God replies, "Tell them I am sent you." Here is Jesus, by this well in Samaria, telling the woman that she is ignorant of the gift of God and who He is. He says that if she knew who He was, she would ask, and He would give her the gift. He has revealed the gift, and although she has asked, she didn't receive. Now He says to her, "I am."

Look what happens next. Upon this, His disciples came and marveled that Jesus talked with the woman. Yet, no man asked, "What do you seek?" or "Why are you talking with her?" The woman—underline this in your Bible—left her water pot. She came for water, and yet now she left her water pot.

Look what she did. She went into the city and said to the men, "Come and see a man who told me all the things that I ever did." I'm sure there were some men in that city thinking, "That's not good." She continued, "Is not this the Christ?" They went out of the city and came to Him.

Jesus said to her, in John chapter four, verse 10, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, 'Give me a drink,'..."

You would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water. Then He goes on to reveal to her what the gift of God is. When she saw what the gift of God is, she said, "I want that." But then He said, "You need to know who I am, because there's only one source from which this gift comes." He is the well of living waters.

He revealed Himself to her as the Christ, the Messiah. He had not revealed Himself as the Christ to Nicodemus, the religious leader in Jerusalem, in John chapter three. He had not yet revealed Himself as the Christ to His own disciples, but to a sinful woman of Samaria. On that day, He said, "I am God." She left what she had been looking for. This doesn't mean that she never needed earthly physical water again, but she found that which truly answers every heart's cry in Him. Instantly, she became an evangelist. She went back into the city and said, "You need to come and see the Christ." This is the first indication that she was wholly saved.

This is what God has called us to as well. If we have come to the knowledge of the truth about the gift of God and the giver of the gift, Jesus Christ the righteous, I want you to go into this lost world and say, "I want to show you this one who is the source of everything that is truly needed."

One last thing before I close. In the fifth century, sixth century B.C., about 500 years before Jesus came, the nation of Israel was about to be judged. The people of Judah were about to be judged by God. God sent the prophet Jeremiah, and He gives the indictment to them as to why they are being judged. I want to read to you from Jeremiah chapter two, verse 13. This is why they were to be judged: "My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have cut out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

That is the testimony of this world. This world has forsaken the well of living water. God is the only source. They have gone and cut out other wells, other containment devices for something that is kind of like living water, but not fully that. They are broken and cannot bring eternal life. Our commission from God is to go out to Starbucks. See, the pastor at the church is telling you to go to Starbucks.

Not a bad thing. Go to Starbucks. But while you're there, tired, hungry, and in a rush, share with people about the well of living water. Jesus Christ, the righteous. Amen.

Let's pray.