Readings
 

International Sunday School Lesson:  John 4 -- Feb. 27, 2005; Romans 5:1-11 -- Mar. 20, 2005

Quotes & Notes on:     John 4:10    John Wesley's Notes:  If thou hadst known the gift-The living water; and who it is-He who alone is able to give it: thou wouldst have asked of him-On those words the stress lies. Water-In like manner he draws the allegory from bread, Joh 6:27, and from light, Joh 8:12; the first, the most simple, necessary, common, and salutary things in nature. Living water-The Spirit and its fruits. But she might the more easily mistake his meaning, because living water was a common phrase among the Jews for spring water.   Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: * If. Joh 3:16; Isa 9:6; 42:6; 49:6-8; Lu 11:13; Ro 8:32; 1Co 1:30; 2Co 9:15 Eph 2:8 * and who. Joh 4:25; 9:35-38; 16:3; 17:3; 1Jo 5:20 * thou wouldest. 2Ch 33:12,13,18,19; Ps 10:17; Isa 55:6-9; Lu 11:8-10; 18:13,14 Lu 23:42,43; Ac 9:11; Re 3:17,18 * living. Joh 4:14; 6:35; 7:37-39; Ex 17:6; Ps 36:8; 46:4; Isa 12:3; 35:6 Isa 41:17; 43:20; 44:3; 49:10; 55:1-3; Jer 2:13; Eze 47:1-9 Zec 13:1; 14:8; 1Co 10:4; Re 7:17; 21:6; 22:1,2,17   Adam Clarke's Commentary:   If thou knewest the gift of God] dwrean signifies a free gift. A gift is any thing that is given, for which no equivalent has been or is to be returned: a free gift is that which has been given without asking or entreaty. Such a gift of kindness was Jesus Christ to the world, Joh 3:16; and through him comes the gift of the Spirit, which those who believe on his name were to receive. Christ was not an object of desire to the world-no man asked for him; and God, moved thereto by his own eternal mercy, freely gave him. Through this great gift comes the Holy Spirit, and all other gifts which are necessary to the salvation of a lost world. Living water.] By this expression, which was common to the inhabitants both of the east and of the west, is always meant spring water, in opposition to dead, stagnant water contained in ponds, pools, tanks, or cisterns; and what our Lord means by it is evidently the Holy Spirit, as may be seen, Joh 7:38,39. As water quenches the thirst, refreshes and invigorates the body, purifies things defiled, and renders the earth fruitful, so it is an apt emblem of the gift of the Holy Ghost, which so satisfies the souls that receive it that they thirst no more for earthly good: it purifies also from all spiritual defilement, on which account it is emphatically styled the Holy Spirit; and it makes those who receive it fruitful in every good word and work.   Family Bible Notes:  The gift of God; the Saviour, and the blessings which he is ready to bestow. Living water; under the figure of living water, that is, the flowing water of a fountain in contrast with the stagnant water of a pool or cistern, he means the Holy Spirit, who purifies, refreshes, and invigorates the soul. Compare chap. Joh 7:37-39.   1599 Geneva Bible Notes: By this word "the" we are shown that Christ speaks of some excellent gift, that is to say, even about himself, whom his Father offered to this woman. This everlasting water, that is to say, the exceeding love of God, is called "living" or "of life", to make a difference between it and the water that should be drawn out of a well: and these metaphors are frequently used by the Jews.   People's New Testament Commentary:    If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink. The great gift of God is not water, not even peace of soul, but Christ himself, God's "unspeakable gift" [2Co 9:15], "God gave his only begotten Son" [Joh 3:16]. Had she known, the Savior declares, "Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Observe: (1) That Christ asks a favor in order to confer a greater one. (2) The well and the water suggest the thirst of the soul and the waters of life. Living water. Water of life. The woman thought he meant running water.   Robertson's Word Pictures:  Answered and said (apekrithê kai eipen). As often (redundant) in John. The first aorist passive (apekrithê) is deponent, no longer passive in sense. If thou knewest (ei êideis). Condition of second class, determined as unfulfilled, ei and past perfect êideis (used as imperfect) in condition and an and aorist active indicative in conclusion (an êitêsas kai an edôken, note repetition of an, not always done). The gift of God (tên dôrean tou theou). Naturally the gift mentioned in Joh 3:16 (Westcott), the inexpressible gift (2Co 9:15). Some take it to refer to the living water below, but that is another allusion (metaphor) to Joh 3:16. See Eph 4:7 for Paul's use of both charis and dôrea (from didômi, to give). Who it is (tis estin). She only knew that he was a Jew. This Messianic self-consciousness of Jesus is plain in John, but it is early in the Synoptics also. Living water (hudôr zôn). Running water like a spring or well supplied by springs. This Jacob's Well was filled by water from rains percolating through, a sort of cistern, good water, but not equal to a real spring which was always preferred (Ge 26:19; Le 14:5; Nu 19:17). Jesus, of course, is symbolically referring to himself as the Living Water though he does not say it in plain words as he does about the Living Bread (Joh 6:51). The phrase "the fountain of life" occurs in Pr 13:14. Jesus supplies the water of life Joh 7:39). Cf. Re 7:17; 22:1.   Albert Barnes' Commentary:   The gift of God. The word gift, here denotes favour. It may refer to Jesus himself, as the gift of God to the world, given to save men from death Joh 3:16; 2Co 9:15 or it may refer to the opportunity then afforded her of seeking salvation. If thou knewest how favourable an opportunity God now gives thee to gain a knowledge of himself, &c. And who it is, &c. If thou knewest that the Messiah was speaking. Living water. The Jews used the expression living water to denote springs, fountains, or running streams, in opposition to dead and stagnant water. Jesus here means to denote by it his doctrine, or his grace and religion, in opposition to the impure and dead notions of the Jews and the Samaritans. Joh 4:14. This was one of the many instances in which he took occasion from common topics of conversation to introduce religious discourse. None ever did it so happily as he did, but, by studying his example and manner, we may learn also to do it. One way to acquire the art is to have the mind full of the subject; to make religion our first and main thing; to carry it with us into all employments and into all society; to look upon everything in a religious light, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, Mt 12:34. {e} "the gift of God" Eph 2:8 {f} "living water" Isa 12:3; 41:17,18; Jer 2:13; Zec 13:1; 14:8; Re 22:17   Jamieson-Faussett Brown: If thou knewest, &c.--that is, "In Me thou seest only a petitioner to thee but if thou knewest who that Petitioner is, and the Gift that God is giving to men, thou wouldst have changed places with Him, gladly suing of Him living water--nor shouldst thou have sued in vain" (gently reflecting on her for not immediately meeting His request).   Spurgeon Commentary:  Mark the connection, "Thou wouldest have asked, and he would have given." It is always so, asking and giving are riveted together. Who would not ask, when the answer is so sure and the boon so precious?   William Burkitt's Notes: The Samaritan woman had refused Christ a draught of water in the former verse, he offers her the water of life in this verse. O! how kindly doth Christ deal with those that dealt unkindly with him! If thou knowest the gift of God, &e. Here observe, 1. The mercy which Christ had for, and was so desirous to bestow upon, this poor woman: it was the gift of God; that is, himself, his Holy Spirit, in the sanctifying gifts, and saving graces of it. All which are compared to water, in regard of their effects and operations, which are to purify the unclean , and to satisfy the thirsty. Observe, 2. The way and course which this woman and every lost sinner ought to take, in order to the obtaining of this inestimable gift; and that it is by asking it, Thou wouldst have asked, and he would have given thee living water. Learn hence, That Christ himself, his Holy Spirit; with all the sanctifying graces of it, must be earnestly sought of God, and such as do unfeignedly seek them, shall certainly obtain them. Observe, 3. The true cause and reason assigned, why sinners ask not for, and seek not after, Jesus Christ, and the graces of the Holy Spirit; and that is ignorance of the worth of Christ, and insensibleness of the want of him, that makes persons so indifferent in their desires after him, and so remiss in their endeavours for the obtaining of him. Oh sinners! did you but know who and what Christ is, that is offered to you, did you but see his beauty, fulness, and suitableness, and were you but sensible of the worth and want of him, all the world could not keep you from him; you would break through all difficulities and dangers through all sufferings and reproaches, to come unto the enjoyment of him!   Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:  (No comment on this verse).   The Fourfold Gospel:   Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Jesus is himself the Gift of God (Joh 3:16; 2Co 9:15). But she knew not that God had bestowed a special Gift, and much less that the one to whom she spoke was that Gift. Had she known she would have understood that though physically Jesus was the object of her charity, spiritually their cases were reversed, and she was the needy one, as Jesus intimates. "Living water" would mean literally running or spring water, as contrasted with still or cistern water (Ge 26:19; Le 14:5). Jesus here uses it in the spiritual sense. He fills us with his grace and truth (Joh 1:14) and grants unto us continual, untold refreshing (Re 7:17). The reviving and regenerating effects of the Holy Spirit are likewise called living water (Joh 7:37-39). Related Quotes:   "He that winneth souls is wise." - Proverbs. 11:30   On seeing and hearing our Lord, the faith of those who had already believed on the woman's testimony was abundantly confirmed; and, besides those, may others believed who had not heard the woman speak. - Clarke, Adam, Adam Clarke's Commentary, John 4:42    The Romans so termed their emperors and the New Testament so calls Christ - Robertson's Word Pictures, John 4:42   The incident comprised in this section presents the expansiveness of Christianity in a threefold aspect; namely: 1, we see it breaking down the walls of racial prejudice; 2, we observe it elevating woman, and certifying her fitness to receive the very highest spiritual instruction; 3, we behold it lifting up the degraded and sinful, and supplying them from the fountains of grace. Such is real Christianity--the Christianity of Christ. - Four-fold Gospel, John 4:42   George Fox, Wesley, Finney, Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, James Caughey, and William Booth who became the Founder of our great Salvation Army, each and all had a definite personal experience that made them apostles of fire, prophets of God and saviours of men. They did not guess that they were saved, nor hope that they were saved, but they knew whom they had believed, and knew that they had ‘passed from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.’ - Samuel Logan Brengle, Soul Winner

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Gospel Harmony Event 035:  Woman at the Well

• The Soul-Winner Spurgeon Book
•  Method in Soul-Winning (1): Gospel, Evangelism, Salvation
•  National Soul Winner's Sunday
•  SPIRITUAL_EQUIP
•  Circuit rider Cartwright's Methodist fists
•  Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1834-1892: The Soul Winner
•  crosshome- Your Christian home on the Net!
•  Who Is Your Theophilus? - Dr. Ernest E. James
•  HARRY DENMAN
•  Samuel Marsden - Giants of the Missionary Trail by Eugene M. Harrison
•  Certification in Evangelism (United Methodist Church)
•  Relating to Personal Evangelism
•  Evangelism Made Personal (Executable Outlines)
•  5 Clicks to Sharing your Faith - Campus Crusade for Christ
•  World Evangelism History
•  The Foundation for Evangelism

• We bring each other into fellowship with Christ.
• Meet with Jesus ourselves.
• Relate to people the way Jesus teaches us.
• Invite people into relationship with Christ.
• Extend to everyone around us the same inviting graciousness we have been experiencing in Christian fellowship.

1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according
     to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them,
     Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou
     hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod,
     wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come
     water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and
     because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

Psalm 95

1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not
     known my ways:
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Romans 5:1-11

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
     unto us.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
     shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
     atonement.

John 4:5-42

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son
     Joseph.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the
     sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of
     Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;
     thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that
     living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his
     cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
     him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,
     worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
     Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all
     things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou?
     or, Why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look
     on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
     may rejoice together.
37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all
     that ever I did.
40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there
     two days.
41 And many more believed because of his own word;
42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know
     that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.