Arizona sun., 1947-01-24

| Racial and social prejudice divide
mankind although they are really
one family by the creation OF God.
Speaking "a thousand or more
tongues and countless dialects; iv-
ing in separated areas; suffering un-
der or priding themselves in Gas the
case may be- certain social order,
and disagreeing even about the
things of God, they manage to build
up formidable barriers between their
various groups.
The Word Of God by both precept
and practical example teaches just
the opposite.
I. Barriers Broken (vv. 4-0.
Contrast the woman of Samaria
with Nicodemus, whose coming to
Christ we studied last week. He was
rich; she was poor. He was Jew;
she was of the mixed race Of Samar-
itans. He was a man Of character
and high position; she was immoral
and uneducated. He sought Jesus;
Jesus sought her. 4
In doing so, he cut straight across
the barriers Of race, tradition, social
position, education, everything. He
was interested in her souls saliva
ton and nothing could stand in his
way. We would do well to follow
his example.
Every Christian Is by his very
calling a soul-winner. We dare not
delegate this responsibility to the
pastor or missionary. AS soul-win-
ners we are vitally interested in our
Lords approach to this woman who
was far from God, apparently hope
lessly involved in sinful associations,
a citizen of hostile nation and an
adherent Of another religious faith.
BY asking a favor Of her, Christ
tactfully placed himself Gas does any
petitioner), for the moment. on her
own plane. He was not distant,
learned religious leader deigning to
cast bit of religious philosophy to
her. He was a tired, thirsty man
asking for drink Of water.
But he was more! He was the
gracious Son of God, declaring to
her that he was ready to give to
her the water Of life.
III. Problems Solved (vv. 9. 10,
27-3O).
The first problem this poor woman
had to face was her sin problem. Is
not that true of all of us?
She first tried to avoid it by rails
ing the race problem, and the reply
of Jesus told her of the water of
life. Her quick desire to escape the
drudgery of carrying water, gave
him opportunity to face her with her
sin. She could never find peace and
| Joy until there was frank and open
facing of sin in her life.
Let us make no mistake at this
point, for the moral law of God is
the same now as it was on that far
off day when Jesus brought the
woman of Samaria face to face with
'her own sin.
Possibly in an effort to evade her
moral problem by theological discus
sion "a common practice in our day.
too!), and partly because of her ig-
norance cf true worship, she asked
a question about a controversial
matter relating to outward cere-
mony. Is it not a singular thing
how men who know nothing of spir-
itual life delight in the propagation
and defense of organizations and in
the conduct of outward religious ex-
! ercises?
True worship is revealed ". 23)
as being first "in spirit" We do
not cast aside all external helps to
worship, but real worship goes
through and beyond both place and
| symbol to real soul communion
with God, second. ''in truth"
The disciples were wise enough
not to interfere with what Jesus was
doing (personal workers take noteD,
and it was not long before the wom-
an saw Jesus as the Christ! Observe
how quickly she went to tell others.
III. Salvation Declared wv. 39-42).
Jesus honors this poor fallen wom-
an by making to her his first dec
| laration of himself as the Messiah
(vv. 26, 20. He is the high and
exalted One, but he is at the same
time the friend of sinners. To Nico-
demus. the learned ruler of the
Jews, he spoke of the new birth. To
the poor woman of Samaria he de-
clared his Messiahship. He is no
respecter of persons. and neither
are those who truly follow him.
Those whom the woman brought to
Jesus saw and heard for themselves. Il.
and many of them believed. Per-
sonal testimony is wonderful thing,
but the ultimate purpose of such wit
ness is to get men to come by faith
into the presence of the Lord Jesus
himself.
A personal experience with Christ
leads to real assurance; without
which there can be no spiritual
growth or usefulness.
May many who read these words.
and who have so often heard and
read about Jesus, come to him to-
day so that they may say: Nov we