Salvation and Worship

Order of Service

• Bible Study / Teaching — John 4
• Benediction (Closing Prayer)

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Sermon Title: Salvation and Worship

Scripture: John 4

I. Background: Two Contrasting Encounters Introducing Jesus's Ministry to Humanity

A. John's Gospel builds sequentially: John 1 establishes Jesus as God and introduces John the Baptist; John 2 begins his public ministry; John 3 records the encounter with Nicodemus

B. At the end of John 2, Jesus does not entrust himself to men because he knows what is in man — setting up the encounters in chapters 3 and 4

C. Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman represent opposite ends of the social spectrum

1. Nicodemus: Jewish, Pharisee, member of the Sanhedrin, educated in Greek, morally upright, came to Jesus at night to protect his reputation
2. Samaritan woman: no religious standing, immoral (five husbands, living with a man not her husband), came to the well at noon to avoid others
3. What they shared: both were spiritually lost and did not know it

D. The point: salvation spans the full spectrum of humanity — no one is too high or too low to be saved

II. Jesus Seeks the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1–9)

A. Jesus deliberately traveled through Samaria rather than taking the customary route through Perea east of the Jordan — he came to find this woman

B. He was waiting at Jacob's Well near Sychar at the sixth hour (noon) when she arrived

C. His request — "Give me a drink" — initiated the conversation, startling her given Jewish-Samaritan hostility

D. Foreshadowing: the thirsty Jesus at the well anticipates his cry "I thirst" from the cross, dying for her sins

III. Living Water (John 4:10–15)

A. Jesus offers "living water" — the woman, like Nicodemus with the new birth, interprets his words literally

B. Jesus's promise: the water he gives becomes a spring welling up to eternal life — not a static well but a perpetual source

C. Application: Christians sometimes try to suppress that inner spring through disobedience, but God does not give up; only he can keep that water pure

IV. Confronting Sin (John 4:16–19)

A. "Go, call your husband" — the turning point; Jesus exposes her sin directly

B. He reveals knowledge of her five husbands and her current situation, and she recognizes she is speaking with a prophet

C. Brief note on the allegorical interpretation (five cities of 2 Kings 17:24 representing five husbands): considered and rejected — seven gods are listed across the five cities, and the allegory misidentifies God as the illicit partner

V. True Worship (John 4:20–24)

A. The woman pivots to a question about the correct place of worship: Mount Gerizim (Samaritan temple, built c. 420 BC) versus Jerusalem

B. Jesus gives a direct, non-ecumenical answer

1. "You worship what you do not know" — the Samaritan religion was syncretistic, mixing Yahweh-worship with the gods of five resettled nations (2 Kings 17:29–33); the Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, rejecting the Prophets
2. "Salvation is from the Jews" — the entire Old Testament sacrificial system, priesthood, and prophetic promise came through Israel; the only path to God for Gentiles was through the Jewish covenant
3. Examples of Gentiles saved through Israel: Ruth's confession to Naomi ("your people shall be my people, your God my God") and Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5), who requested two mule-loads of Israelite soil on which to pray and worship Yahweh
4. "The hour is coming, and is now here" — Jesus himself is the fulfillment; with his coming, place-based worship is superseded

C. Worship in spirit and truth

1. "Worship" derives from the Old English worthship — ascribing worth to God
2. Humanity is body, soul, and spirit; true worship engages the spirit, not merely physical presence, ritual, or emotion
3. William Barclay: "True worship is when the spirit — the immortal and invisible part of man — speaks to and meets with God who is immortal and invisible"
4. C.S. Lewis: "As long as you notice and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance" — worship must move beyond self-conscious performance to genuine intimacy with God
5. Philippians 3:3 — true worshipers "worship by the Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3)

VI. The Woman's Testimony and the Response of the Town (John 4:28–42)

A. Leaving her water jar, the woman returned to Sychar and testified: "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did — could this be the Messiah?"

B. Her transformed life was itself a witness; the townspeople came and believed

C. Their conclusion (John 4:42): "We know that this is indeed the Savior of the world"

D. Contrast with Nicodemus: the woman openly confessed Christ and brought others to him; Nicodemus's salvation, while likely, is never explicitly recorded — the true believer confesses with the heart that Jesus is Lord