Here is a teaching of part 2 of chapter 4 of the book of John. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
Part 2 of John Chapter 4:
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." 19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." 25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
So I'm just going to stop right here real quick and discuss a few things with you guys. In those days, whenever there was a woman at a well and man was talking to her, the appropriate thing to do would be to have her husband there too. Jesus already knew she didn't have a husband. Whenever she told him she didn't have a husband and he said that he knew, and he told her all the things she's ever done and that the person that she's with now isn't her husband, that was him showing that he was the Messiah. She said she knew that he was a prophet based on what he said and then she tried to change the subject, because he had brought up something that was an issue. He had said that she had had five different husbands and now the person that she's with isn't even her husband, and that was something that was very frowned upon in those days to be with someone that you're not married to. It's still like that in these days, but it's more socially acceptable in this world today, the way that the world is. But, in those days that was a very big issue. So she changed the subject and talked about worship to try and avoid the issue that he had brought up.
So then here in verse 23, where he says "a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth," true worship in spirit is not worship focused on outward sacrifices and different things like that. It's focused on the spirit, the Holy spirit, and worshiping from the inside. Now worshiping in truth is worshiping according to God's words and in light of the new Testament revelation. So that's what Jesus is talking about here when he says "true worshipers are going to worship in spirit and in truth." Then the woman says that the Messiah is coming and he's going to reveal everything when he comes and Jesus reveals herself to her and says, "I who speak to you am he." I just want to point out, this woman is a sinner and Jesus reveals himself to sinners. It doesn't matter what you've done in your past, we're all sinners. That's why God sent his only son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins; he knew we were sinners. It doesn't matter what we've done in our past and the sins that we've committed, Jesus will reveal himself to us and he loves every single one of us.
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
So Jesus' disciples returned and they found him talking to a woman, but they didn't ask about anything because they knew that they believed in him and trusted in him, so they weren't going to ask about it. The woman went out to her town to tell everybody about this man that could be Christ that told her everything that she ever did. So then the Samaritans came out of their town to make their way towards him. Well, in the meantime, his disciples had urged him to eat something. They went out to buy food, they wanted him to eat something, but he said that he had food to eat, that they know nothing about. Then his disciples were like, well did someone bring him food? Like they were so confused. So he went on to say that his food is to do the will of him who sent him and to finish his work. So Jesus' true satisfaction was doing the will of God, his Father, and finishing his work. Jesus came onto this earth with a mission, he knew exactly what he came to do. He came to save the world. We will see in the further chapters a verse that says "it is finished." So he came to do the will of God and to finish his work, that's his true satisfaction. That's his spiritual food. Just like we talked about last week, about spiritual food and water, this is the spiritual food of Jesus, doing God's will and finishing his work.
Then Jesus talks to his disciples about the harvest and reaping and sowing. So the idea of the harvest meant that there were many people that were ready to receive the kingdom of God and he wanted his disciples to not wait or delay, but he wanted them to reap the harvest. He said, "look at the field " and that was an interpretation of the people that were ready to receive Christ. So there's three different things here that Jesus says to his disciples about the harvest and reaping and sowing. He says that their work in the harvest will be rewarded, the good of their work would last forever, and every worker is gonna rejoice together in their work. Jesus says, "thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true," because he sent them to reap for what they haven't worked for. John the Baptist and Jesus sowed the seeds. John the Baptist testified about Jesus Christ, was baptizing people and letting everyone know about Jesus. Then whenever Jesus came down from heaven and walked on the earth, he was performing these miraculous signs and many people were starting to believe. So they had sown the seeds, now Jesus was giving his disciples the opportunity to go and reap.
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
Alright, I'm going to discuss these last versus what you guys here. So because of the woman's testimony, a lot of Samaritans believed and they asked Jesus to come stay with them. Jesus stayed with them for two days. Now, remember from part one of chapter four of John, that Jews didn't associate with Samaritans at all. The fact that he even went through Samaria was something that was almost unheard of for Jews to do. But if they did, they very quickly went through Samaria to get wherever they needed to go, they wouldn't have stayed. Jesus stayed for two days because he knew he had work to be done there. He was on a mission to save lives and a lot of people put their faith in him. Because of his good works and everything that he did while he was in Samaria for those two days, the Samaritans no longer just believed because of the testimony of the woman, but they put their faith and trust in him because of what they saw while he was there. Just like I said last week in that Bible study, that just goes to show that there's going to be places that are uncomfortable for us or that other people may tell us that we shouldn't go to, to spread the gospel and let other people know about Jesus Christ, but we have to do that because there are people that we may have never even thought would come to Christ, that will come to Christ and believe in him. We will never know that if we don't get out of our comfort zone and spread the gospel to people that we would have never spread the gospel to, or stay in places that are uncomfortable for us.
John Ch 4. Part 2 Study Guide
Why did the woman say that she could see that Jesus was a prophet?
Why did the woman change the subject to talk about worship?
What does true worship in spirit and truth focus on?
What was the food that Jesus was talking about to his disciples?
Why did Jesus tell his disciples to “look at the field?”
What are the three things that Jesus says to his disciples about the harvest and reaping and sowing?
Who sowed the seeds that Jesus is telling his disciples to reap?
Why did many Samaritans believe in Jesus?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible Study?
Before I let you guys go, I did want to say a quick prayer. Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person listening to this right now. Lord, I pray that you open up their eyes to see the truth of your words. I pray that you open up their hearts, their mind, and their spirit to you, Lord. I pray that they see the truth of your words, that they get out of their comfort zone and let other people know about you and how amazing you are. I pray that they're able to discern their truth, the truth that you want them to see, and that they let other people know about it and show other people how you've changed their life and the amazing things that you've done. I love you so much, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
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