This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our look together at John chapter 4 in Daily Drive Time Devotions.
This is day 3 of our look at this chapter, verses 19 to 30. We're in the midst
of this conversation of Jesus and a woman at the well.

Jesus has appealed to this woman's heart. He's appealed to her curiosities,
begun to get her to answer questions, and he's appealed to the harsh realities
in her life, and yesterday we left her standing there. What's she going to do?

Jesus has opened the door to her heart. He's shown her that he could give living
water for her life. He said to her, "I can meet the greatest desires in your
life," and he's also pointed out the greatest sin in her life.

It's not a secret anymore. What's she going to do? How does she respond?

Well, she does what we've all done. Listen to her first response in verses 19 to
20. "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem. " Jesus has just talked to her about her
greatest sin, and she begins talking about places of worship. Instead of
deciding we've all done this, instead of deciding, she deflects and she diverts.

She's afraid, and so she tries to hide, and she teaches us a lot here, reminds
us of ourselves and how we respond to God when he challenges us in sensitive
areas of our lives. When God challenges my heart, when he challenges your heart
in a sensitive area, a place where it hurts for him to touch, to talk about, I
don't want to think about that. I don't want to even admit that that's true in
my life.

We deflect and we divert, and here's the first way that we do that. We say this,
"Let's talk religion. " I mean, I'm talking to Jesus, I'm talking about God, so
let's talk religion.

Jesus points out her guilt, and immediately she wants to talk about the
difference between Jewish and Samaritan places of worship. There are a couple of
reasons we do this, this "let's talk religion" moment. One is we feel guilty
when someone points out our sin.

Maybe it's in a sermon at a church, maybe it's a tape or a podcast that you're
listening to, maybe it's a book that you're reading. We feel guilty, and so we
often attack the nearest target. Let me argue with somebody because I'm feeling
guilty right now, but the other reason is it's a lot more comfortable to discuss
religion than it is to face your sins, and a lot of people, a lot of people use
religion to hide from their guilt, to change the subject that God is bringing up
in their hearts.

When someone pushes back or seems to be inviting an argument or asks too many
questions when you're trying to share with them the good news, it may be because
they've rejected the good news, or it might be they just don't understand yet,
or it might be because they're afraid of facing the truth about themselves. And
when you find yourself arguing and rejecting and pushing away, it's often
because we're afraid of facing the truth, admitting it, because it means we'd
have to do something about it. Jesus doesn't get drawn into this argument we're
going to see in just a moment.

The lesson here is when you're thirsty, you don't study your thirst, you look
for water. It's almost as if this woman says, "I'm thirsty," and Jesus says,
"Here's water," and the woman says, "Well, let's talk about the philosophy of
water. " No, what do you do?

You take a drink in that moment. Look at Jesus' answer, verses 21 to 24. It
shows us the heart and the wisdom of Jesus.

Jesus declared, believe me, woman, "A 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 worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth. They are the kind of worshipers that the Father
seeks, God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. "
Notice Jesus' answer.

Jesus doesn't ignore her question. He answers her question. Jesus doesn't even
shame her for asking her question.

He doesn't twist the truth as he talks in answer to this question to gain her
sympathy somehow. He says, "The mountain in Jerusalem or here isn't the point.
Truth is the point," and he lets her know, "You've been a victim of partial
truth.

" When he talks about salvation coming through the Jews, he's saying that the
plan of God is that through the Jewish people, the Messiah is going to come. He
didn't lie to her about that to get her to decide, to get her to like him.
Salvation is from the Jews.

He was very honest about that, but he also, in the midst of being very blunt and
honest, he's able in the compassion that only God could have to answer the
question in a way that brings her back to her need. She says, "Should we worship
in this mountain or in that mountain? " And Jesus says, "Well, let me say a
little bit about mountains.

Now that I've said that, let's get back to worship, because that's the point.
What about worship? Worship God in spirit and in truth.

" She wanted to talk about where to worship. Jesus talked about who and how to
worship. She wanted to talk about history.

Jesus encouraged her to talk about now, talk about you. She wanted to talk about
how her fathers worship. Jesus taught her how to worship the Father, and he
said, "You worship God in spirit and truth.

" And when you first hear that, for many people, that's a strange phrase. What
does that mean? When Jesus says we're to worship God in spirit and in truth, it
means it takes both.

It takes both. If you worship God with a wonderful spirit, you have a great
emotion, a great feeling of even a connection with God, but you're worshiping
the wrong God, it's not truth. That's not worship.

It's not worship at all. What if you worship the right God, but there's no heart
in it, there's no spirit in it, there's no connection to God in it? You come to
a worship service, but you don't really connect with God.

That's not worship either. It takes both. It has to be the true God, but it also
means you have to put your whole heart into it.

You love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. You worship God
in spirit and in truth. This woman hears this, and she's not through deflecting
and diverting.

In verses 25 and 26, here's what she says. The woman said, "I know that Messiah,
called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

" And then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he. " The second response is
sort of a divided response. With part of her language, this woman is saying,
"Let's talk later.

Let's put this off. When the Messiah comes, he'll explain it to me. " That's
part of what she's thinking here.

And if that's most of what she's thinking, it's sure an indication of how many
of us think. The sharpest arrow in the enemy's quiver is delay. You put it off,
you procrastinate, you don't face the truth about yourself because it's just too
much work.

And I'm already tired from the day. Jesus' answer is, "I am he. " And when he
answers her, it's an indication to me that this woman also was asking a question
of Jesus.

He is there, and she recognizes maybe this is the Messiah. So she asks in a way
that might put it off, except for the fact that Jesus is there. And maybe you're
like that right now.

There's some things you're putting off. Some things about your life, some things
about change, some things about God's will, some things about hope, some things
about the future. You've been putting it off.

And you put it off for a long time, except for the fact that Jesus is here right
now. He's right there beside you. And in this crucial moment of your life, you
are not alone.

And he will give you the strength, the promised one. That's what Messiah means.
Christ is just the Greek for Messiah, which is the Hebrew.

The promised one is right there to give you the strength. Now it's interesting.
Right at this crucial moment, when Jesus says, "I'm the one," right at this
moment, the disciples return.

In verse 27, here's what happens. Just then, the disciples return, and they were
surprised to find that Jesus was talking with this woman. But no one asked him,
"What do you want, or why are you talking with her?

" We're going to find out tomorrow some more about the disciples. We're going to
get back to their story. But today, let's finish the story of this woman in
verse 28 to 30.

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town, and she said this
to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be
the Christ? " So they came out of the town, and they made their way toward him.

The third response that you see in this woman, in these verses we've read today,
is she first deflects and diverts, and then she asks a question that indicates
she thinks maybe this is the one, and then she tells someone else. She involves
other people. She leaves this water jug, and people have made a lot of that.

They want to know, "Was this a mistake? Did she forget? Did she leave it there
because she intended to return?

" Whatever. She'd found something more important than the water jug in that
moment. This woman with this immoral reputation goes back, and the whole town
listens to her and follows her to go and talk and see Jesus.

Something about the way that she said this. This is amazing to many people, that
this woman with a bad reputation, that the whole town would follow her to see
Jesus. There must have been something in her eyes.

I have to admit, I've always wondered. She's an immoral woman. If there are a
few men in the town who wanted to go and meet Jesus Christ to see what he might
know about them, I just have to admit, I've always wondered that.

But that wasn't the whole town. And this woman, the whole town came with her to
see Jesus. There was something in her eyes.

Could this be the Christ? She involved everyone else in her questions. She's no
longer asking them alone, and that is an important step.

If you've got questions about God's will in your life, God's direction in your
life, God's hope for your life, don't ask them alone. You may feel like, "I
can't find the answer right now. " Well, at least involve someone else.

Involve someone else in the questions that you're asking, the doubts that you
have. Because when you do that, you begin to find God's strength for the answer.
Now, as we pray today, maybe you're like this woman at the beginning of the
verses we looked at, holding off on a conversation with Jesus that would change
everything.

As we pray, tell him, tell him. That's where you start. In prayer, just say,
"Jesus Christ, here it is.

Here's what I'm facing. Here's the doubt that I'm facing. I haven't even maybe
even realized it till now.

And looking at these verses, you brought it to my mind. I've had a doubt about
this. " And whether you're just admitting it to yourself right now or you're
bringing something up that's been there a long time, just tell him, "Jesus,
here's the doubt.

Jesus, here's the hurt that I'm facing. Jesus, here's the temptation that's
besetting me. Here's the sin that I've committed.

" Tell him, "Jesus Christ, here's the disappointment that I've had. Here is the
dream that I have. " Tell him.

Start by telling him. And then ask him for strength. Say, "Jesus Christ, would
you give me the strength to involve someone else in this conversation?

" To let someone else know about the disappointment that I've had so that I can
look to you for hope. To let someone else know about the temptation that I'm
facing so that I can look to you for strength. To let someone else know about
the doubts that I'm having so that I can look to you for truth.

Jesus Christ, give me the strength to not face this alone. Bring someone
alongside me and help me to have the wisdom to know who that person is. Jesus
Christ, thank you that I can tell you that I can trust you.

In your name I pray, amen. Join us tomorrow. We're going to end our look at this
discussion of Jesus and the woman at the well in verses 31 to 42.