Ephesians 4:20-21

Life is a school and we’re always learning something new; something new about ourselves and about our world and about other people. But the most important lessons we can learn have to do with the most important person in the world the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way Paul puts it in Ephesians 4:20-21, “But you have not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus.” Notice he doesn’t say you learn about Christ. He says you learn Christ. “But you have not so learned Christ.” It’s very personal. When I was a teenager, I went to confirmation class and learned about Christ. I did not know Him. I had been in Sunday school practically all of my life, and I had learned about Christ. I did not know Him.

Paul is saying to learn Christ means to get to know Him personally. Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him,” not know about Him. The word translated “learned” gives us our word “disciple.” It means to learn as a disciple. Not just to learn by listening to lectures. Not just to learn about Christ by reading a book. No, to learn Christ by living with Him as a disciple. He’s talking here about discipleship, not scholarship. He says practicing the Word of God, learning new truths and getting to know Jesus Christ better. Here’s an amazing thing: Jesus Christ is not only the teacher; He is the Lesson. I attended a number of classes in the course of my education. I never had one instructor who himself or herself was the lesson. No, she or he taught the lesson. The Lord Jesus says learn of Me. “I am meek and lowly in heart: you shall find rest unto your soul” (Matthew 11:29).

That’s why we go through the experiences of life. Today we’re going to go through some experiences that will either cause us to look to Christ and learn more about Him and what He can do for us, or we’ll look away from Him and we won’t trust Him. Whatever happens today learn Christ. He is the Teacher. He is the Lesson, and the greatest truth that ever we can learn is the truth that is in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4:17-19

Emptiness, darkness, blindness and greediness. Not a very pretty picture is it? But it’s the picture that Paul paints of the unsaved person’s life. In Ephesians 4:17-19, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk [that means unbelievers], in the vanity of their mind.” The word “vanity” means emptiness, empty minded. It doesn’t mean they don’t have intelligence. Perhaps they can fix automobiles or run computers or invent amazing things. It means that their minds are empty as far as spiritual truth is concerned. Not only emptiness, but darkness. “Having the understanding darkened,” he says in verse 18. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not.”

Satan doesn’t want people to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, when you have emptiness and darkness, add to that blindness, “being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart.” The word can also mean hardness. The hardness of their heart. Hardening their heart against the things of God. Emptiness, darkness, blindness. My, how can they walk through this world? Well, they’re walking without the Lord Jesus Christ. “Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.” My, what a picture! Emptiness, darkness, blindness, greediness, lasciviousness, uncleanness. Greediness in sin. They just have to have more and more sin and the reason? They’re dead.

And because they’re dead they’re decaying. What they need is faith in Jesus Christ. They are alienated from the life of God. The Lord Jesus comes and the light shines into your mind and heart. You see the truth. You believe on the Lord Jesus. You surrender yourself to Him, and then all of this changes. Emptiness becomes fullness and darkness becomes light and blindness becomes sight and greediness becomes a great desire to live for the Lord Jesus and to serve Him completely.

John 4:36-38

One of the great words in the Christian vocabulary is the word “together.” You know the devil’s pulling things apart. There are two forces at work in this world today. The force of sin and Satan pulling things apart, pulling bodies apart, pulling homes and churches apart, pulling life to pieces. But Jesus Christ is at work in this world putting things together. John chapter 4 verse 36 the Lord Jesus says, “And he that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal: that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. And here is that saying true, ‘One sows another reaps.’ I sent you to reap on that which you bestowed no labor; other men labored, and you are entered into their labors.” He’s talking here about working together.

Oh how important that is. Working together. Each of us has a job to do in the harvest field. Some people are plowing up the soil, preparing hearts for the seed. Others are out sowing that seed faithfully. Some are pulling the weeds. Some are watering that seed with their prayers. We sow and we reap and we do it together. Each of us has a job to do. We reap where others have sown. Many times I’ve led people to Christ that I had nothing to do with the sowing of the seed! Somebody else did it. Other times people have reaped where I have sown. What difference does it make? We’re working together and Jesus says we “rejoice together.” That “he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together.” We do it by faith. We rejoice together now. We believe that God is going to bring the harvest and we’re going to rejoice together in the future when we stand before the Lord.

What a joy it’s going to be to see the harvest brought in, bringing in the sheaves, when we stand before the Lord. And Jesus says, “We shall be rewarded together.” Now we don’t work that we might get rewards, but the Lord is gracious and He’s going to give rewards to those who are faithful and He’s going to give us His “well done” if we’ve done His will as we should. Let’s make today a day of togetherness; working together and rejoicing together and being rewarded together to the glory of the Lord.

John 4:35

No two people see the same thing in the same way. An artist might look at a landscape and see a beautiful picture. A real estate agent would look at that same landscape and see a housing development. A naturalist might see a beautiful place for a park. When Jesus lifted up His eyes, what did He see? Well, you find the answer in John chapter 4 verse 35. He says to His disciples, “Do you not say, ‘there are yet four months and then comes harvest’? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” At what were they looking? They were looking at that woman who had gone into the village, witnessed for the Lord Jesus and now she was leading the men out to the well there at Sychar. And the Lord Jesus said, “Do you see those people coming down that road? Do you see all those people who are following that new believer? What do you see there? Do you just see people, Samaritans, enemies?” The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. “No,” says the Lord Jesus. “You ought to see a harvest.”

What do you see when you look at people? Jesus looked at people and saw sheep that had no shepherd. He saw sheep that were being exploited and harassed. I think we have four instructions given to us from this verse. One, lift up your eyes and look. Two, lift up your heart and pray. Pray the Lord of the harvest that He’ll send laborers into the harvest field. Three, lift up your hands and work. There’s a job to be done. Four, lift up your feet and go. I wonder if someone listening to me right now hasn’t been spoken to by the Holy Spirit and He wants you out in that harvest! Lift up your eyes and look. Oh, do you see the great opportunity we have today to lead people to Christ? Never before has the opportunity been greater, the harvest been whiter.

Lift up your heart and pray. Are you praying for laborers? I hope that you are. Lift up your hands and give and work and lift up your feet and go. Oh how desperately we need laborers in the harvest field today. When you look at people today, what will you see? I hope you will see a harvest, and I hope you’ll get busy reaping the harvest.

John 4:31-34

The Lord Jesus Christ was weary, thirsty and hungry. He had made a long trip to Sychar, and He had just led a woman to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, He came to that well, forgot all about His hunger and His thirst and His weariness and He witnessed to that woman and finally she was saved. Off she went to witness to the men in the village and to bring them to meet the Lord Jesus. That’s what all Christians ought to do. Just go out and tell people what the Lord has done for us, and then bring them to the Lord Jesus.

About that time the disciples showed up and they said, “‘Master, eat.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know of.’ And so the disciples said, ‘Has any man brought Him anything to eat?'” Now listen to this great statement from John 4:34, The Lord Jesus says, “‘My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.'” Jesus Christ compared the will of God to food. Now some people would say the will of God is like medicine. The way they approach the will of God, it must be like medicine or poison. You can recall when you were a child and mother or dad had to give you medicine. I don’t want it! It tastes terrible. Many people have that attitude toward God’s will. Jesus didn’t. Jesus said, “The will of God is like food for me.” What does food do? It nourishes you. The will of God is nourishment. The will of God is satisfaction. If you are satisfied with anything other than the will of God, there’s something wrong with your spiritual appetite. There is no substitute for the will of God.

“I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is yet day” (John 9:4). Jesus said that. He also said, “I’m going to finish His work because I am nourishing myself on His word and His will.” We cannot do God’s work. We cannot finish God’s work unless we feed on God’s will. How do you do that? Through God’s Word. The Lord Jesus was telling His disciples it’s good to have physical food, but “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Is the will of God nourishment to you today? Do you rejoice in it and find satisfaction?

John 4:28-30

When I was a youngster, I rode my sister’s bike to the barber shop one day, oh maybe a mile or so from our home, and I walked home. Now don’t ask me why I left the bike behind, but I walked home. I guess I just wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t paying any attention. You know we leave things behind. Hats and gloves and umbrellas. Every church has a place. Sometimes it’s the pulpit where all the Bibles that are left behind and the gloves and things like that are stored.

Well, let me tell you about a woman who left something behind. You find the record in John chapter 4 verses 28 through 30. “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?’ Then they went out of the city and came unto Him.” Now why did she leave the waterpot behind? Well, we can only speculate, but let’s do that. I think first of all, she had such joy in her heart she wanted to share it and off she went. Joyful haste.

We’ve done that, haven’t we? We’ve had good news. We’ve had a great experience and off we go to tell somebody about it. In her joyful haste she left the waterpot behind. But something else is true. She didn’t need the waterpot. She now had the water within her. Jesus said, “The water that I shall give you shall be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” A friend of mine says “she left the waterpot behind and picked up the whole well and went into the city.”

Also, I think she didn’t want to be encumbered. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “lay aside every weight.” She was out witnessing for the Lord and did not need that waterpot. Furthermore, she expected to come back. She knew that God was going to bless her witness, and the men in the city would turn right around and go back with her; and then she could pick up her waterpot. That’s faith.

I’m wondering too if she didn’t leave it there for Jesus to use. He didn’t have any way of getting water out of the well, and He was thirsty. Perhaps she said, “I’ll leave it for Him. He’s given me a drink of water and I’m satisfied. The least I can do is give Him a drink of water.” This woman found Christ as her Savior and that so captivated her, she left her waterpot behind.

John 4:25-27

The Lord Jesus had been witnessing to a woman who desperately needed salvation. You find the story in John chapter 4. Finally, she came to a point of conviction, and this is what she says in verse 25, “‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He has come, He will tell us all things.'” I wonder who told her that? Throughout this conversation she’s had to face up to her sin and her need. The Lord has talked to her about water. He’s talked to her about worship. He wants to talk to her about salvation, and she says to Him, “I know that the Messiah is coming.”

I wonder who told her that? It’s possible she heard John the Baptist say it. John the Baptist had done some ministry up near that area. Or perhaps years ago when she was a little girl someone may have told her the story about the Messiah; that in Genesis 3:15 God had promised that a Redeemer was going to come. That this Redeemer would be born and He would come and bring salvation. I don’t know who told her that but that seed that had been planted now begins to take root and bear fruit.

That’s an encouragement to me. You plant the seed of the Word of God as you witness. You wonder, whatever happens to this seed? God knows what happens to it. God watches over His Word and He sees to it that there one day will be a harvest. Why did she remember this? I think she was looking forward to something better in the future. I wonder if during the day she didn’t say to herself, I wish Messiah would come. I don’t like the life I’m living but it’s all I know! Oh, I wish the Messiah would come. And there He was.

Jesus says, “I that speak to you am He.” And she believed! Here is God coming speaking to this woman and she believes and she’s born again and immediately she goes to bear witness that Jesus is the Son of God. Now this says to me, don’t be weary in well-doing. Don’t be afraid or worried about sowing the seed. Just sow as much seed as you can. Plant it in the hearts. One day, the Holy Spirit of God will cause that seed to germinate. People will believe and be saved.

John 4:23-24

“God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” That profound statement was made by Jesus Christ, talking to a sinful woman at a well in Sychar in Samaria. You find it in John chapter 4 verse 24. What is God? Oh, we use the word God so loosely. Well, “God is Spirit” and “God is love,” 1 John 4:6. And “God is light,” 1 John 1:5. Hebrews 12:29 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.” God is great, God is good, God is gracious, God is longsuffering. Jesus says, “God is Spirit, and therefore if we’re going to worship Him, we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.”

You see God desires worship. The highest and the holiest thing you and I can do is to worship God. Oh you say, “Working for God is more important!” No, worshiping God. All of our work comes out of worship. Isn’t it important to witness for Him? Yes it is, but our witness comes out of our worship. Walking with Him? Absolutely, but our witness and our walk and our work all come from our worship. If we don’t meet with God and worship Him and get caught up in the greatness of all that He is, nothing else that we do is going to be what it ought to be.

How do you worship God? Well, in spirit. He’s talking here about the Holy Spirit working in our spirit so that we lift our inner being and we adore and worship God. In our flesh we cannot worship God. It takes the Spirit of God working within us through the Word of God, in Spirit and in truth. God is light. We can’t bring darkness to Him. God is truth. We can’t come with lies.

And so today we have the joy no matter where we are of worshiping the Lord. You can be standing in the supermarket line and just lift your heart in the Holy Spirit and worship God. The highest and holiest thing we can do is to worship and praise our great God. God is seeking worshipers today. Let’s take time to be holy.

John 4:19-22

Let me give you Wiersbe’s Law. You say what in the world is Wiersbe’s Law? Wiersbe’s Law is this: whenever you talk to people about salvation, they want to talk about religion. That’s Wiersbe’s Law and it works almost every time. You’re witnessing to someone about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they begin to discuss religion.

You find this happening in John chapter 4 verses 19 through 22 where Jesus is talking to the woman at the well. She says to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Now our fathers worshiped in this mountain, [Mount Gerizem] and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Here she was talking to the very Son of God arguing about religion. Now she did say a good word about the Lord Jesus. “I perceive that you are a prophet.” She’s really making progress. Back in verse 9 she says, “Oh, you’re a Jew.” Verse 12, “Are you greater than Jacob?” Now she says, “Oh, you’re a prophet.” Ultimately, she’s going to say, “He is the Christ,” but she hadn’t gotten there yet. She was saying a good word about the Lord Jesus. She was defending and promoting religion, but you know what? She was still a lost sinner.

It’s amazing how people can discuss religion. It’s amazing how people can say a good word about the Lord Jesus and still be lost sinners without the Word of life and the Water of life in their hearts. I know when I talk to people about the Lord, they say, “Oh yea, you’re a preacher. You’re supposed to do this!” And I try to tell them, “No, I do it because this is the thing you need! You need to trust the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, the hour is coming when neither in Jerusalem or Mount Gerizem you’re going to worship the Lord.” Where ever you are you can worship the Lord. The trouble is, “You worship you know not what: [ignorant worship] we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” Did you know that? If your salvation did not come through the Jews, you aren’t saved! Salvation comes through the Jews. The Bible is a Jewish book. The Lord Jesus came through the Jewish nation. Oh, there is a difference in religions. Christianity is not religion; it’s life, and this life comes when you trust Jesus Christ.

John 4:15-18

The Lord Jesus was chatting with a sinful woman at the well in Sychar in Samaria. She was really interested in what He was saying. In fact, she wanted the living water that He was offering her. You find the story in John chapter 4 verses 15 through 18, “The woman says to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw.'” You see she was eager for the water, but she was ignorant of why she needed it. She wanted the Lord Jesus to make life easier for her. I’m sure that with her reputation, she perhaps did not have too many friends and perhaps she came down to the well when the well was rather lonely so nobody would talk to her. Here she was living with a man who was not her husband. She had been through five marriages and none of them had satisfied. And here she was, wanting this water but she didn’t know why she needed it.

A lot of people want to trust the Lord Jesus just so He can make life easier for them. Oh, she said, “Give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw.” It’d be wonderful to take a drink and never have to drink water again! She was eager, but she was ignorant. She was a sinner, but she was not repentant. In fact, Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” And she said, “I have no husband.” That’s the shortest speech she makes in this whole conversation. “I have no husband.” She would not admit her sin. You see the thirst that she had was a physical thirst. She had a spiritual thirst within, and she would not admit it. She was a sinner, but she was not repentant. Here she was facing the greatest opportunity of life, and she was not really being honest. She was making excuses. “I have no husband.” And the Lord Jesus pinned her down and said, “Yes, I know you have no husband; you’ve had five husbands, and the one you’re now living with is not your husband.” He revealed to her that not only did He know her need, He knew her sin.

The Lord Jesus Christ offers to us today living water. Water that springs up to everlasting life. The thing that keeps us from receiving that water is sin. The only way to get rid of sin is to trust Jesus Christ as Savior. Have you received the living water? Are you honest with Him?