John 4:21-42 21 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Last week we talked about the Lord Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman. We saw God’s great love and mercy, He fully accepted a sinful woman. Today we study the second part. The Lord Jesus told a very important truth to this Samaritan woman: God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. What does this mean? Let’s look at the following verses first:
8 These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. (Matthew 15:8-9)
Here the Lord Jesus quoted the Old Testament Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Pharisees, that they honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far away from God. They taught people human rules, not the truth of God. Therefore, to worship God in spirit and in truth means to worship God with our spirit, with our heart, according to the truth, according to the truth of the Bible, and according to the truth of God.
When the Samaritan woman mentioned about the Messiah, Christ, the Lord Jesus told her that he was the Christ. In the Bible, the Lord Jesus rarely took the initiative to tell people that he was the Christ. When the disciples came back from buying the food and gave some to the Lord Jesus, he said: My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
The Lord Jesus here is talking about the spiritual

John 4:1-20 1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. ⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” ¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” ¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” ¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” ¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 

Here it says that the Lord Jesus left Judea and went to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria, Samaritans are Gentiles, Jews had no association with them. Jesus was tired from the journey, so he sat down by the well. Here we see that the Lord Jesus as a human being also got tired. At this time, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. The Lord Jesus asked her for a drink, then he talked about the living water. What does the living water represent? The living water represents the Holy Spirit received when a person believes in the Lord and is baptized. The Holy Spirit lives in the person as the living water which makes him no longer hunger and thirst, and the living water flows to eternal life. The Lord Jesus is God. He knows everything. He knew that this woman had had five husbands, but the man she had then was not her husband.  This woman was not satisfied with her life, and the Lord Jesus promised her the living water that would satisfy her. With the living water, the Holy Spirit in one’s life, he will no longer hunger and thirst, and he will be satisfied. A person will have an abundant life, a life with the presence of the Lord, the presence of the Holy Spirit. From this passage we see God’s great love and mercy, he is willingness to accept the sinners. He does not look at a person’s past sins and gives people a chance to repent.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 3:31-36 ³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³ Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴ For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Here it says: The one who comes from above is above all, Jesus comes from above, from heaven, he was with God the Father from the beginning. He is the Son of God and is above all. He is the King of kings, the Lord of the lords.
The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. Jesus comes from heaven, and he testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Those who accept his testimony and believe in him become children of God. The Lord Jesus said earlier: I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? He speaks what God the Father told him, God gives him the Holy Spirit without limit, because he is the Son of God, and God never gives anyone Holy Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and and has placed everything in his hands. Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, and those who do not believe in the Son don’t have eternal life. Other versions of the Bible say that those who reject the Son, those who disobey the Son don’t have eternal life.
 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Here we see that believe, faith is important. Those who do not have faith cannot please God. Those who believe in God, those who seek God will be rewarded by Him.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 3:22-30 ²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” ²⁷ To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.

Here it says that Jesus and his disciples went to Judea and baptized there. In fact, Jesus did not baptize people himself. It was his disciples who baptized people. At this time, Jesus had not yet ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit had not been given at baptism. Therefore, the baptism was water baptism, not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  John was also baptizing, asked people to repent. John’s disciples told John that everyone was going to Jesus. John said that he was not the Messiah, he was preparing the way for Christ, which was prophesied in the Old Testament:
The voice of one calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3)
The prophecy here is about John the Baptist.
John went on to say that Jesus is the bridegroom and he is the bridegroom’s friend. The Bible says that Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. Christ is the head of the church, and the church is the body of Christ, just as the husband is the head of the wife and the wife is the body of the husband.
John the Baptist continued to say that Jesus must become greater; he must become less. He wanted to bring people to Jesus, not to himself. We saw earlier that he brought his disciples to Jesus and became disciples of Jesus.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

God so loved the world, in order to save the world, he sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ to the world. In order for Jesus to save the world, Jesus Christ was crucified and became a sin offering to redeem the world. All those who believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world through him, people in the world have eternal life by believing in him. God is love, God’s nature is love. He wants all the people to believe in Him, turn to Him, and know Him.

Light has come into the world, we said earlier that Jesus is the light, he is the light of the world. Whoever lives by the truth comes to the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. Jesus is the truth, and those who love the truth will come to Jesus, those who live by the truth will come to Jesus, and those who obey God and obey God’s commandments will come to Jesus. Living by the truth does not rely on one’s own strength or ability, but by trusting in God.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 3:1-15 1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” ⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. ¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

There was a Pharisee called Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, he came to see Jesus at night, He saw the miracles Jesus performed and knew that God was with him. The Lord Jesus told him that unless someone is born again, they cannot see the kingdom of God, if they are not born of water and the Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God. So what does it mean being born again? Being born again means that when a person believes in the Lord and is baptized, he receives the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells, lives in the person. Here the Lord Jesus said that only when a person is born again and be saved, can he see and enter the kingdom of God.
The Lord Jesus said: You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
The Lord Jesus said that the wind, you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going, but you can hear the sound of the wind. Similarly, you don’t know how the Holy Spirit regenerate a person, but you know the working of the Holy Spirit in a regenerated person, you can see the effect of the Holy Spirit’s working in the lives of a regenerated person.
The Lord Jesus said: I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
We don’t know how the Holy Spirit regenerate a person, but the working of the Holy Spirit in a regenerated person can be seen and heard. When the Lord Jesus talked about earthly things, people didn’t believe it, how could people believe if he talked about heavenly things?
The Lord Jesus said: No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Here the Lord Jesus said that he—the Son of Man came from heaven, that means that he was in heaven, and came from heaven. We mentioned earlier that he was with God from the

John 2:13-25 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

Here we see that the Passover of the Jews is approaching, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He saw people selling cattle, sheep and doves in the temple courts, and money changers sitting there. At that time, those people selling animals used for the sacrifice and people used the money exchanged to pay for the temple tax. The Lord Jesus entered the temple courts, drove out all the traders in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the stools of the dove sellers, and said, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’ ” The temple of God is a place for prayer, a place where people worship God and listen to God’s word, not a market place. What Jesus did made the disciples remember what the Old Testament said: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (Psalm 69:9), showing zeal for the house. The Jews asked him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. His body is the temple. In order to save the world, the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected three days later. After the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the church came into existence. The church is the temple of God, the body of Jesus Christ, and Christ is the head of the church.
When Jesus celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem, he performed many miracles to heal the sick. Many people believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, because he is the Son of God, he knows everything, he knows the hearts of all people. The purpose of the miracles of the Lord Jesus was to make people believe in him, turn to him, and be his disciples.
We rarely see the Lord Jesus doing things like cleaning the temple. He was merciful to the tax collectors and sinners, they repented after they came to him and listened to his teachings, and he was severe to the self-righteous Pharisees, who saw many miracles Jesus performed, but still opposed him. Only the Lord has the authority to judge, and we cannot stand in his position to judge others.
May God bless you and your family.

John 2:1-11 2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” ⁴ “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” ¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Here we see that a wedding took place in Cana, Galilee, Jesus’ mother was invited, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the feast. The wedding at that time sometimes lasted for several days. The wine was gone, which was embarrassing to the host. Jesus’ mother was very concerned and told Jesus about it and was expecting him to perform miracles. The Lord Jesus hadn’t planned to perform miracles, but he did it anyway because of her mother’s request. Here we see the importance of prayer and the importance of intercession. Sometimes the Lord did not intend to do it, because of our intercession, He did it. This was the first miracle performed by Jesus, which was to turn water into wine, and his disciples believed in him. The purpose of the miracles of the Lord Jesus is to make people believe in Him.

In the original Greek, the Lord Jesus called his mother Mary “woman”. This is not disrespectful. Let’s look at the following verses:
²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:26-27)
Here we see that when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, once again called his mother “woman” , and told his disciple John that Mary was his mother, and he told Mary that John was her son. So Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, but also the mother of Jesus’ disciples.
May God bless you and your family. 😊

John 1:35-51 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” 50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Here we see that two of John’s disciples followed Jesus. John the Baptist drew people to the Lord Jesus, not to himself. Two disciples who heard John’s words and followed Jesus, one of them was Simon Peter’s brother Andrew. He told his brother Simon: “We have found the Messiah.” Messiah means Christ, the Anointed one, the one anointed with oil, the one anointed with the Spirit of God, Messiah means the Savior. The Old Testament prophesied the coming of the Messiah. Micah 5:2 prophesied the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:23 tells us that the Lord Jesus grew up in Nazareth, Galilee. The Old Testament prophesied that he was called Jesus of Nazareth. The Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but grew up in Nazareth. When Philip went to Nathanael and told him that they have met the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael said, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael said this because the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, not in Nazareth. But when the Lord Jesus told Nathanael that before he saw him, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” He believed, because he knew that the Lord Jesus knew everything. Jesus said to him: “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” The Son of Man here is the Lord Jesus, who is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. As mentioned earlier, he was with God from the beginning, and he is both God and man. Then what does it mean when the Lord Jesus said “you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” Let’s look at the following verses:
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway