This is the call to worship this
morning, John chapter four. The gospel of John chapter four.
We'll begin in verse 14. 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. Then, in verse 23, the hour cometh
and now is, right now, in this very hour, when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we confess
that if there's to be true worship, it must come from within as the
living water springing up from the heart. But we also confess
our complete inability because of sin, apart from your spirit
and truth. So we pray, Lord, quicken us
now that you might receive our worship in and through the pure
life-giving waters of the person and finished work of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be pleased to send your spirit
now, we pray, that here and in every place where the gospel
is preached, we might worship you in spirit and in truth. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn 239 from the hardback teminal. 239, Art Thou
Weary. Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and come
in thee at rest. The path He marks to lead me
to Him, if He be my guide. In His sweet hand, hands are
wound, Prince, at His side. His there diadem as monarch at
his brow adorns, Yea, a crown in very surety but of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask Him to receive me, will
He say the name? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Binding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. Thank you, Scott, for that scripture
reading. I have come to love John chapter
4 more and more over these past several weeks as we've considered
our Lord dealing with this woman at the well. Come to love her
and to see in her more of a picture
of myself. And more importantly, I've come
to love our savior and what he did to show her his mercy. And now this morning, we've come
to that place where she has left her water pot. The disciples
have come back to the well, having gone down into the town of Sychar
to buy food. And when they came back, they
saw our Lord talking with this Samaritan woman and they dared
not ask him, why are you talking to her? Who were they? They didn't understand it, but
they wouldn't, they wouldn't dare question him. Notice that they didn't bring
anybody back with them from Sychar. These men knew who the Lord Jesus
was. There was no question in their
hearts. They knew that this was the Christ, the son of the living
God. They knew that he was the savior
of sinners and they didn't breathe a word of it. He was right there
just on the outskirts of town. and they were planning to go
back. They'd gotten the food and brought no one with them.
This woman on the other hand, this sinful woman who had met
our Lord in extravagant mercy, left her water pot, ran back
down into town. Now remember the reason why she's
at the well in the middle of the day is because she's the
scorn of town. She'd been married five times
and the man she was living with was not her husband and this
wasn't a big city. No telling how many homes she
had wrecked. No telling how the other women
treated her. who would have gone to the well
early in the morning in the cool of the day and made a social
affair out of it, she wasn't welcome. She wasn't welcome. She had to go in the heat of
the day when there was no one else around. Exact time that the Lord purposed
to meet her. Now, in contrast to her shame
that she knew before, she runs back down into Sychar and she
begins to announce, come, come, meet a man who told me everything
whatsoever I did. Is not this the Christ? And in
the rest of this chapter, She brings a whole bunch of folks
from Sychar. That's the difference. They that
have been forgiven much love much. This woman had a love for Christ
that at this point at least the disciples didn't know anything
about. The depth of her love The desire of her love was greater
than theirs. And she just wanted everybody
else to know. Here we are in verse 29. Come, come see a man which told
me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? then they went out of the city and came unto him. Notice in verse 42, verse 41,
and many more believe because of his own word 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 Savior of the world. Oh, we don't want men to believe
based on our word. All we can do is be the voice
of one crying in the wilderness. All we can do is be the one who
says, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of
the world. All we can do is be the audible voice that speaks
to men of Christ. The Lord Jesus himself must speak
to the heart. There is an outward call, a general
call. And that's what we're doing right
now. And that's what we do every time we preach the gospel. And
every time you share with your friends and family members, you
are extending an outward call. Come, come, see a man who told
me all things that ever I did. But like these men of Sychar,
if their faith is based on our word and our experience, it won't
last. What we can talk a person into,
someone else will talk them out of. But when they're taught of
God, there's no unteaching that. When a man's taught of God, he's
learned and nothing can change his mind. When God gives repentance,
when God gives faith, when God gives a changed mind, when God
speaks, His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him. And it doesn't
matter what the world says or what they believe or what they
do. If God before me, who can be against me? Oh, our faith
must be based on His Word, no one else's, His Word. But this
woman is a faithful witness, does what we do. Come, come,
and she extends this outward general call. Who is this call for? Who's it
for? It's for whoever will. Whoever will. Let him take of the water of
life freely. Turn with me to Revelation 22. Verse 17, and the Spirit, that's
the Holy Spirit. He's the only one that can make
the call of God effectual and irresistible. He's the one we
pray for to come and take these audible sounds and make them
so much louder than any voice of a man. The Spirit And the bride, that's
the church, that's what we're doing right now. We're participating
together in the declaration of the gospel. And what does the
spirit and the bride say? Come. Come. Let him that heareth say come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will. Let him take of the water of
life freely. Now there's the problem, there's
the problem, men are not willing to be saved freely. Men are not willing to be saved
in such a way that Christ gets all the glory. Men by nature
would rob him of his glory and take some credit for something
that they did. A prayer that they prayed, a
work that they performed, something they abstained from. You listen
to your religious friends. They tell you, what do they tell
you? They tell you what they're doing for God. They tell you
when they got saved. They tell you how they, you know,
well, I did this and I, their testimony always begins with
I, doesn't it? That's the way we are by nature. We have set ourselves up on the
throne of God and God has sent a strong delusion so that men
believe the lie and the lie goes all the way back to the garden.
When Satan said to Eve, God doesn't want you to eat the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he knows
on the day in which you eat of it, your eyes will be opened
and you'll become like God. You mean I can be like God? I can
be God? Yep. Men have had a God complex
ever since. You come into this world with
a God complex. You come into this world with
your fists raised to heaven. I'll not have that man reign
over me. I'm going to have it my way. That's how we all come
into this world, and only by the grace of God does he cause
us to bow. Come. Take the water of life
freely, freely, without money and without price. Nothing in
my hand I bring, only to thy cross I cling. Oh, the Lord Jesus
gets all the credit and all the glory and all the praise. And
God's people want it that way. They want it that way. God has
made them willing. He's made them willing in the
day of his power. Who can come? Anyone that wants
to come. Notice, you have to hear. What
do you have to hear? You have to hear all the doctrine
and stories and theology of the Bible. You have to go to a seminary
or a Bible school and you have to acquire a bunch of knowledge
before you can come. I love what John Newton said
on his deathbed. He said, when I was a young man,
He's the one that wrote Amazing Grace. He said, when I was a
young man, I thought I knew a lot of things. But now that I'm old,
there's only two things I know for absolute certainty. I'm a
great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. Have you heard that? Let him who heareth. That's what
we hear. That's the declaration of the
gospel. That you're a sinner, and by that I don't mean, and
the Bible doesn't mean that you've done some bad things. It means
that everything about you is sinful. It means that when you're
brought by the grace of God into the presence of God, you come
to one conclusion. There's nothing in me like Him. Everything in me, every thought
I've ever had, every deed I've ever performed, Every word I've
ever spoken falls short of His glory. And there's the definition
of sin. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I'm a great sinner. Everything
about me is sinful. I have no ability to produce
anything in myself that would merit me any favor whatsoever
with God. I can't produce any righteousness
I can't offer up any atoning sacrifice for my sins. I can't earn my salvation. And Christ is a great savior.
And that's what he came to do. And he didn't come to make himself
an offer to me. Then there would be something
for me to do except to reject the offer. Well, I made a decision. I prayed a prayer. I did this,
I did that. No, the Lord Jesus came into this world to make
himself an offering for the sins of his people. And the father
saw the travail of his soul and the father said, I'm satisfied.
And you're satisfied with what God's satisfied with. That's
what faith is. Christ is a great savior. He
was successful in what he came to do. He put away the sins of
his people. I've heard, and I'm thirsty. Let him who hear it and let him
who's a thirst. God has made me thirsty. I've
been eating the dry husk of the food that the swines do eat far
too long. I've been trying to find water
in broken cisterns far too long. I've been drinking of the wells
of this world far too much and I'm thirsty. Nothing has satisfied. I need a well that I can drink
from so that I don't have to find water anywhere else, anywhere
else. And the Lord Jesus said in John
chapter 7, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and out
of his belly, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. So that this water goes with
us wherever we go. We go in the power of the Spirit
of God and every time we find ourselves breathing the dry dust
of this world and drinking from the polluted wells of this world
where the Spirit of God causes us again and again and again
to come to Christ. Come. Come, see a man. Let him who hears. Hears what? You're a sinner and Christ is
a savior, the only savior. Thirsty? The Lord said in the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew chapter five, blessed are they who hunger
and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. And
the Lord wasn't saying I will bless you with a filling if you
can develop a thirst and a hunger for righteousness. No, the blessing
from God is the thirsting and hunger for righteousness. That's
the blessing of God. And everyone that God blesses
with that spirit of grace will be filled, will be filled, every
single one. Oh, Lord, give me your spirit.
Lord, cause me, cause me to thirst after Christ. Cause me to need
him. And whosoever is willing to take
up the water of life freely, freely, or I don't have anything
to offer. It's got to be free or I can't
be saved. Come. That's the call. Come. Come. Do we ever stop coming? No. You say, why do we come? Well, come, number one, because
God commanded you to come. And anything less than coming
to Christ is rebellion against God. Come, number two, because
you have a need. A need to be saved. A need to have your sins put
away. A need to be made right with God. A need for an atonement
that you can't produce. You have a need. Spiritually,
you're dead and dry and you have a need for life. People come only when they have
a need. And let me say this about that
need. because I've watched it over the years and I see it manifested
in my own life. If my need for God is anything
less than my sin, that circumstance is gonna change. And if therein
lies my need, then there'll come a time when I won't need him
anymore. Oh, I've seen people going through some great trial
Whatever it might be, divorce, disease, troubles, family troubles,
like we talked about the first hour. And in their time of trouble
and need, they get very interested in the things of God. And within
a little while, that need changes, that need goes away. And when
it goes away, so does their need for God. No, when God gives us a need
because of our sin, that problem never goes away. Lord, I bear
this body of death. Lord, this unbelief, this sin
that doth so easily beset me is always with me. It never goes
away. And I'm always in need of a Savior
because of my sin. That's why we come. Now, if the
Lord might use a difficult circumstance to cause us to come initially
and to hear and to have an interest, but if that need never goes beyond
those circumstances, then we'll lose that need. Thirdly, We come because God
commanded it, we come because we have a need, and we come because
we've got no place else to go. I love that. I love it when God
shuts you up to Christ, shuts me up to Christ. I've got no
other options. I'm out of choices. Lord, take
away my choices. Will you lead me also? Isn't
that what the Lord said to the disciples? The Lord said to those
5,000, you're following me, and this goes back to what I just
said. You're following me that you might have your bellies full.
He just fed them. But if you really want to be
my disciple, you must take up your cross, identify yourself
with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, deny yourself, Deny that
you had any part in your salvation and follow after me. And they went home. Well, that's
not what we bargained for. That's not what we thought we
were buying into. We just wanted some help in our
earthly problems and earthly matters. And the Lord looked at his disciples
and essentially said to them, aren't you gonna go with them?
Aren't you gonna go with them? There's the door. Aren't you
gonna follow them? I think it's incredible that,
you know, here in religion, preachers beg men to come to Christ. And, you know, we issue, we appeal
with men, we tell them what God says, But we don't try to manipulate
men, promise them like a politician, a goat under every tree. We're not gonna make those kind
of empty promises to people. We say to people, coming to Christ,
that's your life. That's death. That's spiritual
life. That's looking to Christ forever
from now on and following after him. And the Lord presents the
gospel that he said to, aren't you, go, go. Lord, where should we go? We
don't have any other place to go. You're the only one that
has the words of eternal life. And we are certain that you're
the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's why salvation is never
a decision. It's not a choice. It's when God puts you in a place
where you're all out of choices. That's who comes. Those who've
heard the voice of God, those who have been made thirsty, those
who have a need, and those who have no place else to go. Come. Come. Meet a man. Now, you still have your Bibles
open to Revelation 22. Let me point out one thing in
Revelation 22. Look at verse 16. I, Jesus, have
sent mine angel. An angel is a messenger. I hope
that I'm just being a faithful messenger right now. I have sent
mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David. The son of David. Yes, King David,
the one we've been looking at now for a couple of months and
all of his sin and shortcomings. The Lord Jesus came into this
world through the lineage of a man, of a man. Yes, without sin. conceived of a virgin by the
Holy Ghost. God made him who knew no sin
to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. But the point here that I want
us to see is she says in Sychar, come see a man. See a man. And the Lord Jesus
at the close of the Bible says, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel
to testify unto me, I am the root and the offspring of David,
a man. Men by nature, as I've already
said, set themselves up on the throne of God. To do that, they
must deny God his sovereignty and his deity. And that's what
the whole world has done. The Lord said in the Psalms,
he said, you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself. I'm God and there's none like
me. I'm the same yesterday, today and forever. Our God is sovereign
He's holy, He's omnipotent, and most of the names that are given
to Him in the Bible have to do with that very thing. He's the
Alpha, He was there with the Father in the covenant of grace
before time ever was, and He is the Omega. He's the one that
will bring everything to its culmination in eternity future. He is the King of all Kings. He is Lord of Lords. He is Emmanuel,
God with us. He is the Son of God. He is Jehovah. And we must make emphasis of
that. You cannot exalt Him high enough. But in doing so, And I'm speaking
to myself. In doing so, let us be careful
not to caricature the Lord Jesus. You know, you go to the fair
and they draw a picture, the artist there draws a picture
of you and he takes one feature of your face and he blows it
out of proportion and What he hands you in the end is a distorted
view of yourself. You can still tell it's you but
it really doesn't look anything like you because one particular
feature is distorted to the exclusion of others. I am not suggesting
that we lower in any way the declaration of who the Lord Jesus
is. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Yes, he's fully God and he is
fully man. Come see a man. I, Jesus, the common name of
a man, What is the point here? The point here is that the Lord
Jesus is accessible. The worship of Mary came about
in the Catholic Church because over time, In their attempt,
their early years, in their attempt to separate themselves from those
who taught, emphasized the humanity of Christ and denied his deity,
they had the Lord Jesus in a place where no one could relate to
him and so they had to bring in Mary and now you have to go
through Mary to get to him because she can relate to you. but he
can't, he's just God. That's blasphemy. Let me show
you that. Turn with me to Hebrews 2. Hebrews
2. Verse 16. This is so important,
brethren. This is so important. Yes, he's
God. And as God, he is He is powerful
and successful. Oh, he's sovereign. He accomplished
what he came to do. Is anything too hard for him? No, no. Verse 16, Hebrews chapter two,
for verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he
took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
that he might make reconciliation for the sins of his people. For
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to
succor." to supply help, to sympathize with them that are tempted. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4 verse 15. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. This
is so important. And I'm preaching to myself.
I don't want to caricature our Lord. I don't want to speak one
aspect of his character to the denial of his other. Seeing then,
verse 14, Hebrews chapter four, that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, His humanity, the Son
of God, His deity, let us hold fast our profession. He is able
to save to the uttermost. That's our profession. For we
have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Let us therefore Don't be reluctant
to come to Christ because of his glory and his deity and his
sovereignty and his power. Come to him as the God-man. Come see a man. I, Jesus, a man. Let us therefore come Boldly. And that word boldly
means confidently. Confident that he understands
my afflictions. Confident that he understands
my sin. Confident that he is not only
able to save, but willing to save. And compassionately. Because
he's a man. And not just any man. He's God's perfect man. And he's
man's perfect God. He is the eternal God-man. Let us come to the throne of
grace to find help in our time of need. Come, see a man, see a man. What is there about this man
that wants us to come to him? Go back with me to our text. Verse 29 of John chapter 4. Which
told me all things that ever I did. Sin and the shame and guilt of it
will cause every single one of us to do what Adam did in the
garden, hide from God. And where did Adam hide? He hid
among the trees. Now, The Bible speaks of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ as a tree. The trees of righteousness,
which are the plantings of the Lord. The olive tree that was
cut down and grafted in with a wild olive tree, the Jewish
nation, now the Gentile church. The fig tree that produces its
fruit in its season. The cedar tree which is stately
and provides shelter for the birds of the air. The palm tree
which flourishes. All of these trees are representative
in the Bible of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where
was Adam hiding? Where do men hide today? They hide in plain view. They hide amongst the trees of
God. And they think that by being
there everybody else will think that they're just a tree like
all the other trees. And we have no way of knowing. But what happens? What happens
when the Holy Ghost speaks effectually? to our hearts. He tells us all
things that ever we did. He exposes us. He uncovers us. You see, what we try to cover,
God uncovers. God uncovers. And what God uncovers, God covers. What a blessing. What a blessing
it is not to hide anymore. This woman had been hiding. She'd
been avoiding the ridicule of others. She had been trying desperately
to escape her shame. She'd been doing everything she
could to try to impress other men. Men by nature love the praise
of men more than the praise of God. And men will draw their
dying breath in fear of man more than the fear of God. The thief on the cross, the one
that was brought to faith in Christ, looked at the other one.
When he was agreeing with the crowd, casting aspersions against
the Lord Jesus, the thief that was believing on Christ said
to him, don't you fear God? He didn't fear God. He feared
the crowd. And he drew his, you would think
a man dying would have better sense about him. No, no. We by nature will go to our grave
fearing the opinions of men more than the opinions of God. And what a blessing it is when
God does for us what he did to this woman at the well. Come,
come see a man who exposed me. He showed me everything that
ever I did. He knows every thought that I've
thought. He knows every word that I've
spoken. Read it in Psalm 139, we won't
take the time this morning. But in Psalm 139, David says,
he knows my words before I speak them. He knows the thoughts and
the intents of my heart. He searched me, he's known me.
There's no place I can go to hide from him. You know, I've
been hiding from men. I've been hiding from God. You
know, I've been like an ignorant little child who thinks, well,
if I just pull the covers up over my face, they won't be able
to see me. If I can't see him, he can't
see me. And we hide among the trees. And God says, okay. That's it. And all the shame is gone, why?
Because the Lord Jesus bore all that shame. I don't care now
what other people think. People refuse to be baptized
because they're afraid of what other people will think. When
the Lord exposes you, you just say, truth Lord, what would you
have me to do? I don't care what anybody else
thinks anymore. Doesn't matter what anybody else
thinks. It matters what you think. Come meet a man, see a man who
told me all things that ever I did. He knows everything that I've
ever done and he put it all away. He covered it by his shed blood. And now He has taken all things
whatsoever He has done and credited that to my account. So that His life is my life,
His righteousness is my righteousness, His death is my death, His resurrection
is my resurrection, His ascension is my ascension. He has told
me now everything. And as far as God's concerned,
what the Lord Jesus did, I did it. I did it. The mind of Christ, the thoughts. The Lord Jesus never had a thought
that wasn't holy. Oh, how vain and empty our thoughts
are, how wicked our thoughts are. You can stand before God
Almighty and have all the holy, pure, perfect thoughts that the
Lord Jesus Christ thought and every sinless word that He ever
spoke and every glorious work that He ever performed and every
law that He ever kept. Presented as if you did it. And it's not as if. When the
Lord Jesus came, he did it. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. This is such a glory. I quote
this verse often, but I just quote a portion of it. I should
be better at quoting the whole thing. 1 John 4, look at verse
17. Herein is our love made perfect,
and perfect love casteth out fear. Perfect love casteth out fear.
If God loves me, what do I fear man for anymore? Herein is our love made perfect,
where? And herein gives us boldness
in the day of judgment. How can I come before the throne
of grace boldly as we read in Hebrews chapter four? How can
I come confidently? How can I come knowing that I'll
be accepted before a holy God? Because the God-man lived his
life for me. The God-man fulfilled the law
for me. The God-man died for me. The God-man ascended, raised
from the dead for me. So that, look at the last phrase
in this verse, as he is, so are we in this world right now before
God Almighty. He told me all things that ever
I did and everything I've done is sin. And everything that he
did is perfect righteousness. And I can come into the presence
of a holy God. Is not this the Christ? Can anyone do this but him? And Christ in the Bible is not
the Lord Jesus' last name. It's not his surname. We say
Jesus Christ, but it's really Jesus the Christ, the anointed
one. And that title means the God
who became man, the God-man, the word that was made flesh,
the one who dwelt among us, Emmanuel. God with us. Come. You ever need? Thirsty? Willing? Come. Come. It's really light. No qualifications. Except that you'd be a sinner.
Except that your hands are empty. Except that you have nothing
to bring. Except that Christ is all in your salvation. And
that by faith. See, that's the very definition
of not having anything, I don't have anything. Come, see a man,
he's a man. He's able to sympathize with
the weaknesses of our infirmities, the shame, the guilt, the power
of sin that we struggle with in our old man. He knew it to
its infinite degree. Because when he bore our sins
in his body upon that tree, that's what he knew. He was cut off
from his father, forsaken of God. And he charged to the accounts
of his people his perfect righteousness. So that in the day of judgment,
this is our boldness before God. As He is, so are we, so are we. What a Savior. Oh, Tom, 199,
let's stand together. ? Sinners Jesus will receive ?
Sound this word of grace to all ? Through the heavenly pathway
lead ? All who linger, all who fall ? Sing it o'er and o'er
again ? Christ receive his sinful pen Make the message clear and
plain, Christ we see with sinful men. ? Come and He will give
you rest ? Trust Him for His word is plain ? He will take
the sinful rest ? Christ receiveth sinful men ? Sing adore and adore
again ? Christ receiveth sinful men Make the message clear and
plain, Christ, receive a sinful man. Now my heart condemns me
not, Pure before the law I stand. He who cleansed me from all spot,
Satisfied its last demand, Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive the sinful man,
Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive us in hope. Christ, receive the sinful man,
even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain,
heaven with him I enter in. Sing adore! Christ, receive the sinful man,
Make the message clear and plain, Christ received sinful men.