Subject One Hundred One

THE NEED OF THE LOWER CLASS

Scripture: John 4:3-32

1. Jesus went to Samaria
   1. Samaria was a place no one cared for—it was an undesirable and disliked region. In that place different nationalities and races were interbred and mixed. Thus, they were confused.
   2. The Lord went to Samaria to the well. Water comes out from the well, so it represents something to quench man’s thirst. The Lord went to Samaria, which was a low (vile, base) and thirsty place. The important point seen about Samaria is the well. This shows us that the problem with the lower class is thirst.
2. The Savior—Jesus—related to the lower class
   1. The Lord sat on the well and was waiting.
   2. This lower class woman was confronted by the Lord. Their confrontation was because of the Lord’s waiting; it was not an accident or a coincidence.
   3. Why did the Savior, Jesus, go to this well and wait for the Samaritan woman?
      1. The Savior needs the sinner.
      2. The sinner needs the Savior.
   The Savior went to the well because of His thirst, as did the woman. The place where they met was the well. The subject of their conversation was the water, the cure for their thirst.
   4. The position of the lower class as seen in the woman.
      1. She is one who has no morality. No one has any respect for this kind of person. She has had five husbands and now is living with another man who is not her husband.
      2. She is the “scum of the earth.”
      3. She is probably not educated.
      4. She is probably not too old.
      5. She does not fear God.
   5. The higher class person, Nicodemus, went to find the Lord at night, while the lower class person came to the Lord in the daytime, at noon. The higher class person talked about proper behavior while the lower class person talked about the quenching of her thirst.
3. The realization of her need and knowledge of the Savior
   1. Jesus asked the woman for some water to drink. Why? He did this to make her aware of her own need that she might then realize the Savior, Jesus, and His salvation. When the Lord first asked for water, she only knew that He was Jewish. She was offended that He, a Jew, asked for water from a Samaritan. Then Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God, and Who it is that says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” When Jesus spoke this, He wanted her to realize her need and then also to see who He was. The woman said, “Sir, give me this water...” Jesus told her first to call her husband. With this, she realized that He was a prophet, and finally that He was the Messiah, the Christ.
   2. The Lord caused her to realize how to know the Savior and how to quench her thirst.
4. How to meet the need
   1. The Lord caused her to know her sinfulness. When she saw her need for the living water and also realized that Jesus was the giver of this water, only then did she ask for the water. Then Jesus asked her concerning her husband. “Husband” represented the history of her sinful life.
   2. She talked to the Lord Jesus about worshipping God. The Lord showed her that to really touch God one needs to be in the spirit.
5. The outcome of their conversation—she received the living water
   1. When the Samaritan woman got the living water, she immediately left her waterpot and departed from the well.
   2. From that time on, she never could depend upon her own way to satisfy her thirst. Because of her past life, the fact that she had become fully satisfied was now a wonderful testimony to Jesus Christ.