Jesus Christ Loves All God's Children

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As God's child, the Creator of everything is your Heavenly Father.
His Son, Jesus Christ, is your loving Big Brother and Very Best Friend.
His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is your All Powerful Helper and Faithful Guide.

L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.

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DAY 4

JESUS MAKES BROKEN PEOPLE NEW

JOHN 4:13-14

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

Easy Print .PDF Version of Day 4. International Bible Study Commentary on John 4. International Bible Study Commentaries on John.

When Jesus left Jerusalem for Galilee, He needed to travel through Samaria. Why? Because He needed to see a broken woman and He wanted to make her new. And then, after He made her new, He wanted to see all the broken people in her broken town. Jesus wanted to make everyone and their town new. He wants to do the same for us and every town, and He often does.

When the Samaritan woman went to Jacob's well to draw water, she met Jesus.  When He gave her some examples of her broken life, she admitted the truth about her past and recognized her brokenness. Jesus did not tell her these facts to condemn her or make her feel badly, for Jesus did not come into our world to condemn us but to save us. Jesus came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, which includes our sin, which we also need to admit. Jesus wanted to begin the process of making her a new person, which He wants to do for all of us.

Though she was a Samaritan and not a Jew, she did know the truth about prophets. When Jesus told her that He knew certain truths about her life, she replied, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.” Learning Jesus was a prophet, she asked Jesus about Samaritan worship and Jewish worship on different mountains. But rather than talk about locations for worship, Jesus replied that she worshipped what she did not know.

Jesus also told her that salvation is from the Jews, meaning that the Savior would be a Jew. Hearing this, the woman told Jesus what she knew about the Jews and salvation. She told Jesus that she knew that the Messiah was coming, and He would proclaim or teach all things to them when He came. In reply, Jesus told her directly the truth about himself, saying, “I am He. The one who is speaking to you.” Thus, Jesus began to heal Her brokenness, remake her, and make her new.

In making the Samaritan woman new, Jesus promised her that He would give her water that would become in her a spring of water that would gush up to eternal life. This water would work in her and make her a new person and bring blessings to other people too as she shared this water with others. Previously, she had no water, no spiritual water, no spiritual life. Jesus would give her spiritual water that would increase within her and become a never-ending spring of water that would gush forth in such abundance that she could share this water with others and never run dry.

But how could she receive this water? How can we receive this eternal water that will bless us and give us eternal life and bless others for the rest of our lives and theirs?

Jesus gave her the answer, and through her story He has given it to us too.

First, Jesus told her “Believe me,” and then He gave her more reasons to believe Him and believe in Him. To become new people, we must first believe Jesus. We must believe what Jesus says, and we must believe that what Jesus says is true, THE TRUTH. From the words and actions of Jesus, throughout the New Testament God gives and shows us many good reasons to believe Jesus. Jesus did not say, “Just believe me.” Jesus went on to give her good reasons to believe Him. Today, the Bible and the Holy Spirit do the same for us.

Second, we must believe Jesus’ promises. We must believe the promises that Jesus gave the woman, and we must believe that Jesus fulfilled His promises to her and will also fulfill His promises for us.

Third, we must believe that what Jesus has revealed in word and deed in the Bible reveals the true God to us — the God we cannot know apart from knowing Jesus. The Samaritan woman did not know God or true worship until after she talked to Jesus. In the Bible, Jesus tells us how to worship the true God and find salvation, and through the work of His Spirit, Jesus will heal of our brokenness and make us new people who will live in the Family of God forever.

Within the hour of learning and believing the truth about Jesus, the Samaritan woman began to worship God “in spirit and truth” right at the well with Jesus.

We can become true worshippers of God, just as this woman did, just as Jesus promised her. We can learn that God is our Father, the true God is our Father and all who believe in Jesus as their Savior and Lord can become God’s children.

When she believed Jesus, Jesus gave the woman the Spirit of God, as God had given the prophets of old, so she could worship God in Spirit and Truth. The Spirit of God was the living water she needed, and the Spirit of God made her a new person. The Spirit of God would then enable her to tell others in her town about Jesus in ways that would lead them to seek Jesus as the Messiah and their Savior too. What Jesus did for her is beyond our understanding, but we know the prophets in the Old Testament were taught by God about God, and they were led by the Holy Spirit, and they taught the words of God. But they did not receive the Holy Spirit as completely as the first followers of Jesus received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. They did not receive the Holy Spirit as completely as the Holy Spirit works within God’s children, in those who trust in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus died and rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, since the Day of Pentecost Jesus gives those who believe in Him a complete filling of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit empowers them to love Jesus, live for Jesus, and serve others. As followers of Jesus, we become new people because the Holy Spirit begins living within us. When we learn the truth about God and believe the truth about the Father and His Son, the Holy Spirit and the Truth make us new people —eventually we will become the people God wants us to become for eternity.

When the Samaritan woman learned and believed the truths Jesus taught her, she ran back to tell others in her town. She did so because she believed and had received the spiritual water that gushes up to give her eternal life. What Jesus told her she could share with others in the power of the Holy Spirit so they could believe in Jesus too and receive living water and eternal life from Jesus. Because many believed in Him, Jesus stayed two more days in their town to teach these new believers more truths about God and to heal any brokenness in the people who came to Him. Those who learned and believed came to know Jesus as their Savior and the Savior of the world. In John 4:42, we read, “They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.’”

Read John 4:13-14, 21-26

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,  (John 4:13)

but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."  (John 4:14)

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  (John 4:21)

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  (John 4:22)

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  (John 4:23)

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."  (John 4:24)

The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."  (John 4:25)

Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."  (John 4:26)

Ideal for Personal Study, Home and Mid-week Bible Groups, and Sunday Schools!
Proceed at YOUR Own Pace Week-by-Week!