[PRINT HERE] John 4 (6-7-17) Lecture Notes

St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church

Wed Night Bible Study

JOHN 4:27-38

Dr. E.C. Gregory, PhD – Bible Facilitator                                6-7-17                                 Dr. H.T. Rhim, Pastor

JESUS’ INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS DISCIPLES 

(While At The Well)

John 4:27-38 (NLT) 
²⁷  Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?”
²⁸  The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone,
²⁹  “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?”
³⁰  So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
³¹  Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
³²  But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”
³³  “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.
³⁴  Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.
³⁵  You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.
³⁶  The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!
³⁷  You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true.
³⁸  I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”

4:27-30. The woman, excited by Jesus’ statement about Himself and because of the arrival of the disciples, left and wentto the village. In her joy of discovery she forgot her water jar. It was more important to her now to share her new faith.

1. Could this be the Christ?

4:31-32. As the disciples spoke with Jesus, they sensed something had happened. Before, He was tired and thirsty. But now food and drink were not important to Him. His mood had changed. They offered Him food, but He gave them instruction.

2. I have food to eat that you know nothing about…

4:33-34. As usual, the disciples were insisting on thinking materialistically. Jesus said, My food… is to do the will of Him who sent Me. This does not mean Jesus had no need of physical food, but rather that His great passion and desire was to do God’s will (cf. 5:30; 8:29). His priority is spiritual, not material. It is the Father’s work which must be done (cf. John 17:4).

3. Mistake of thinking physical instead of spiritual

4:35. Farmers have a period of waiting between their sowing and their reaping. Four months more and then the harvest was probably a local saying among the farmers. But in the spiritual realm there is no long wait. If the disciples would look around, they would see people with spiritual hunger. The Samaritans in their white garments coming from the village (v. 30) may have looked like a wheat field ripe for harvest.

4. We are sent to the harvest

4:36-38. As reapers, the disciples had the great and rewarding privilege of leading people to faith in Christ. Others had already done the work of sowing. Both kinds of workers—the sower and the reaper—get their reward from Christ.Reapers harvest the crop for eternal life, that is, Jesus’ disciples were involved in ministry to others, in the issue of death and life (2 Cor. 2:15-16).

5. Sharing the WORD; evangelizing the lost.

John 4 (8-3-17) Lecture Notes

St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church

Wed Night Bible Study

JOHN 4:39-42

Dr. E.C. Gregory, PhD – Bible Facilitator                                8-3-17                                Dr. H.T. Rhim, Pastor

MANY SAMARITANS BELIEVED 

(While At The Well)

John 4:39-42 (NLT) 
³⁹  Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!”
⁴⁰  When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days,
⁴¹  long enough for many more to hear his message and believe.
⁴²  Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”

4:39. The little revival among the Samaritans is notable because the theme of natural rejection by Israel had been sounded (1:11). The testimony of the woman was effective. That Jesus knows what is in a person and that He has comprehensive knowledge of one’s life is an indication of His deity (Ps. 139; John 1:47-49; 2:24-25).

John 1:11 (NLT) 
¹¹  He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.

4:40-41. The witness of the woman led to the Samaritans’ personal confrontation with Jesus. He stayed with them two days. The word “stayed” (from menō, “to remain, to abide”) is a favorite Gospel of John theological term (cf. 3:36; 6:56; 15:4). Because of His words many more became believers. “Words” is singular in Greek (“His word”).

 Jesus’ message was the cause of their faith.

Personal testimony plus the message of Jesus is still God’s means of salvation.

4:42. Faith based simply on the testimony of another person is only secondary. True faith moves to its own experience and confrontation with Jesus. We have heard for ourselves is the more adequate basis. Jesus is the Savior of the world, not in the sense that everyone will be saved (universalism) but that His light shines for all (1:9). The light is not limited to the nation Israel, but is for “every nation, tribe, people, and language” (Rev. 7:9).

The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty.