Would you open your Bibles to
John chapter 4 again this evening as we continue looking at this
blessed story of the Savior and the Samaritan woman. There are several things that
stand out in this story and we've got into at least a couple of
them. We said first of all, just to
kind of refresh your memory, that before a sinner comes to
the Savior, the Savior must come to the sinner. I would draw your
attention again to verse 4. The scripture says he must need
to go through Samaria. This was not a geographical need,
but a spiritual need. She needed him to come to Samaria. She's in pagan darkness. As are her friends that she will
later in this story, she'll go and tell them to come and see
this man and listen to him. They're in pagan darkness too.
If he doesn't go, they'll stay like that. They'll stay blind
to the glories of God revealed in Jesus Christ. She's a religious woman. She's
a superstitious woman. But she doesn't know God, and
she won't know God unless God the Son meets her. The Savior's
got to come to where the sinner is. And he draws her unto himself. This is not a geographical need. It's a spiritual need. It's a
divine purpose being fulfilled. I love the fact that our Savior
is indeed fulfilling God's eternal purpose, don't you? That all
things that happen, whether they're big things or little things,
Significant things, or what we would refer to as insignificant
things. That the Blessed Redeemer, He's
guiding everything to that end that He ordained before the world
began. And that is certainly a fact
in the things of creation. And it is certainly a fact in
the things of salvation. He draws this woman by his effectual
grace and she meets him at the well. The Lord regulates everything
to fulfill his will and for the good of his people. It isn't
difficult to understand why he must needs go through Samaria. Some of his elect are there.
He is the seeking and saving shepherd. He said to Zacchaeus
and those who were present when he effectually called Zacchaeus,
he said in Luke chapter 19 and verse 10, for the Son of Man
is come to seek and to save them that are lost. He comes to Samaria
in order to effectually draw those whom the Father had given
to Him from all eternity, and these He must save. And I will
tell you this, if you're one of the Lord's chosen vessels,
there is a divine necessity that He pass your way. He'll come
to you. It may not be tonight. It may
not be next week. But if you've been given to Christ
Jesus in electing grace by the Father, He will pursue you, and
He will arrest you, and He will bring you unto Himself. There is a divine necessity to
this. All of the sheep you see were
entrusted to the shepherd before the world began. If he loses
any of them, He'll lose His glory. He'll be going back on His Word.
That can't happen. Hold your place and look over
in John chapter 10. Listen to what he says here in
John chapter 10. Look at verse 16. And other sheep
I have which are not of this fold. Not of this immediate fold. Them also I must bring. I must bring them. And they shall
hear my voice. What is the voice of Jesus Christ? The gospel. The gospel. They shall hear my voice. They shall hear of me. They shall
hear of my accomplishments. They shall hear of my blood. They shall hear of my righteousness. They shall hear of my grace. They shall hear of my salvation. They shall hear my voice. And there shall be one foe and
one shepherd. He gathers his sheep into the
fold and here is the shepherd. And he goes into Samaria in order
to gather a sheep, one sheep first of all, into the fold and
then a few more. Then a few more. He crosses her
path. Here is the second thing that
we learn in this story. The first one, before a sinner
comes to the Savior, The Savior must come to the sinner, that's
verses 1-6. And then secondly in verses 7-15,
before a sinner comes to the Savior, the Lord must create
an interest. The woman comes to the well and
the Savior just simply says this, verse 7, give me to drink. Give me to drink. She had something to say to him. She says in verse 9, How is it
that thou, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, which I am a woman of
Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Why would you even ask anything
of me? As I've already said, it was
the custom of the day that you didn't speak to a woman. A man
didn't speak to a woman in public. And so she's shocked on that
account. And secondly, the fact that he
was a Jew and he would speak to her, that startled her even
more. And the Savior said in verse
10, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, Thou wouldest have asked of Him, and
He would have given thee living water." She didn't know the gift
of God, and she didn't know the one who could give it to her.
She didn't know the giver, and she didn't know the gift. Salvation
is a gift. It's not an offer. It's a gift. It's not something you bargain
for. It's a gift. It's not something you merit.
It's a gift. It's not something you work for.
It's a gift. He said, if you knew, if you
knew, the gift of God, the gift of God is eternal life. The gift
of God is the Lord Jesus Himself. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift is what the Apostle Paul said. If you knew, if you knew, If you knew the gift of God,
if you knew who it is that says this to you, you would have asked. And I would have given it to
you. But she doesn't ask. And she
won't have a thirst for Him. She won't have a desire for salvation. She won't have a desire for the
gift of life. She won't have a desire for the
gift of God. And she'll never ask until He
puts the desire in her heart. If you knew, and if you knew
the gift, and if you knew who's speaking to you, you would have
asked. I tell you, there's something
to be said about coming to the Lord and asking for and believing
His mercy. You know, you think about over
when the Israelites were thirsty and God told Moses, go smite
the rock. I'll give you water. And he did. That picture is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. He was smitten by the rod of
God's judgment. Our Lord Jesus was wounded and
bruised for our iniquities. Isaiah says the very chastisement
of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes were healed.
And God the Father took the rod of His justice, the rod of His
wrath, And He whipped His Son. And His Son took our whipping
for us. He took our beating for us. The
strokes of God's justice and of God's wrath against sin and
against iniquity and against transgressions will never fall
on His people because they fell upon our substitute. He was smitten. And then the second time they
were thirsty and God said, now Moses, tell them, Moses, you
speak to the rock. Speak to the rock. Rock's already
been smitten. Now you speak to the rock. And
of course Moses, like most preachers, get frustrated with people. He
said, must we fetch water for you rebels? And he just hauled
off and cracked that rock again. And water did come out. And God
said, that will cost you. That is going to cost you dearly
right there. Listen, Christ Jesus has been
spitting. Speak to the rock. Speak to the
rock. If you knew the gift, And if
you knew the giver, you would have spoken to the giver. He
would have given you the gift. That's what the Savior says here.
Oh may God put within us the desire to come to Jesus Christ
for mercy. Come to Him for grace. And I
don't care who you are, don't care what you've done, where
you are, where you're listening to this, if God creates a thirst
in your heart for Jesus Christ, let me tell you, He's the water
of life Himself! Come to Him! Speak to the Rock!
Oh God, show me mercy! Oh God, show me grace! Oh God,
forgive me through the blood. Oh God, I'm such a sinner. I'm
such a wretch. I'm nothing but unrighteousness.
I need the righteousness of Your dear Son. Oh God, save me for
Jesus' sake. See what happens. Just see what
happens then. I've taken the Savior's words
literally. He says, if you knew the gift,
And if you knew the One who says this to you, you would have asked,
and I would have given it. Don't tell me that you've come
to Him in sincerity, according to the truth, bowing before the
Sovereign Christ, and you've said, Lord, show me mercy, and
He refused to show you mercy. I don't believe it. He says,
you shall seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all
your heart. And I tell you, you search for
Him and seek for Him. Here is what you are going to
find. He is seeking you first. He is already coming after you.
And you will find out about it. He puts that thirst in your soul
and you come to Him, Oh God, save me for Christ's sake. And
God through His Word assures you, your sins, which are many,
are all washed away. And you're robed in my Son's
righteousness. You're accepted for Christ's
sake. If you knew, that's what He said, if you knew the gift
and the giver, you'd have asked. You'd have asked. I'd given it
to you. I would have given it to him.
I tell you, before a sinner comes to Christ, he's got to create
an interest. He's got to give the interest.
And the interest is in the water. It's in the water. That suggests several things.
See, water is a gift from God. Did you know? I'm talking about
just regular water. Go turn on the faucet, the spigot. I've moved to Michigan. I told
somebody, I said, all you got to do is open up the spigot and
the water comes. He said, what's a spigot? You
do know what a spigot is, I hope. I'm speaking southern language. God's not making any new water.
Did you know that? He's not making any new water.
All the water he made, he made back there in Genesis chapter
1. It goes through a process of evaporation. Water is old. We say, give me a glass of fresh
water. Well, in a sense it is fresh,
but in another sense it is old. It is 6,000 years old. Say that
to the waitress next time when she says, what would you like
to drink? I would like a glass of 6,000 year old water, thank
you. Or you can call it Adam's ale. I worked for UPS driving a truck
for a few years, and I was really hot and sweaty and went in an
old-time pharmacy where they still had fixed-year lemonade
and limeade. Go up to like the bar, you know. I stepped up there, and I was
hot, and I needed a signature from the man who owned the pharmacy. And he said, boy, you look really
hot. Of course, I was sweating. My brown uniform was wet. He
said, would you like an Adam's Ale? I said, I'm driving. I'm driving. He said, oh, you'll
like this. He gave me a cup of ice water. He said, that's Adam's
Ale. Adam's Ale. Water is a gift from
God. You can't create water. In fact, we can't create anything.
Only God's the creator. We're dependent upon God for
water. It's especially so with the water
of salvation, with the water of life, with the water of Jesus
Christ, with the water of the Spirit. Because water can apply
to several things in the Scripture, but overall really we just say
it's the water of salvation because that includes the work of the
Savior on the cross, the work of the Spirit. It includes this
great work of redemption, the work of regeneration. Water is
a gift from God. a gift from God. And I'll go
back to that illustration. When Israel was in the wilderness
and they needed water, they couldn't create it. They couldn't mix
something together and get water. They were thirsting and Moses
said, Lord, what shall I do? He said, smite the rock. The
water is a gift from God and it flows from Calvary's mountain. That's where it flows from. Salvation
comes forth from the cross. That's where it's made known.
But it issues forth from... This is where the fountainhead
is, the very throne of God. That's where the water comes
from. It comes from the throne of God. Water is a gift from
God. Number two, water is vital. It's vital. It's not a luxury,
it's a necessity. We can't live without water. It's equally so with God's salvation. You can't live without Christ.
You can't live without salvation. Without God's salvation and Jesus
Christ, you're going to perish in your sins, and that's called
an eternal death. Thirdly, water meets a universal
need. Everybody needs water. Go anywhere
in the world, any country, any city, any village, any town,
most populated area, the least populated area, everybody needs
water. And I'll tell you this, everybody
needs Christ Jesus. Everybody needs God's salvation. Everybody doesn't know they need
Him. We don't know we need Him, but we do need Him. You need
it. I need it. Water meets a universal
need. And number four, water is that
which first descends from the heavens. It's not a product of
the earth. It came down from above. So it is with salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. And water is a blessed benefit.
Well, you think of water. It quenches thirst, causes our crops to grow, while we die without water. Water
is a blessed benefit. It refreshes. You go out and
work in your garden or wherever it is you work and you labor
and you go inside, most of us would say this, he'd say, well
you look so thirsty, what would you like to drink? Water, just
give me a glass of water. We need the water of God's salvation,
that's what we need, it's a blessed benefit. It cools the fevered
brow, it refreshes, it satisfies, And no message refreshes and
satisfies like the gospel of God's free grace, the water of
life. Doesn't it refresh you? Isn't this water refreshing to
you? It's not because of who is setting
it before you, but because of the intrinsic value of the water
itself. Whenever we gather together in
this place, we're just coming and we're saying, Preacher, give
me another drink of water. And we drink. And we're refreshed. It helps us. It nourishes us.
And if we don't get this water, let's say we miss coming to a
worship service and we don't have an opportunity to hear the
gospel. you'll say in your heart, I've
got to go back and have that water. I miss my water. I miss my water. I've got to
go get another drink of water. And water is something of which
we never get tired of. Water every morning. First thing
I do, I get up in the morning, I go in, drink a big glass of
water and a glass of kefir. That's the second thing down.
Go out and get the newspaper and fix myself a cup of coffee
and read the newspaper. First thing down. A doctor told
me this years ago and this is free advice for you and this
is no extra. He said the first thing you ought
to send down in the morning is a big tall glass of water. That's
the best thing you can do for yourself. It's the best thing you can do
for yourself spiritually too. Drink enough glass of water.
Take in the gospel. The gospel of God's grace. I don't ever get tired of hearing
about electing grace. Do you? I don't ever get tired
of hearing about redeeming blood. I don't ever get tired of hearing
about imputed righteousness. I don't ever get tired of hearing
about salvation by grace. They keep on preaching it to
me. I'm drinking. I'm drinking. Sometimes the preacher
gives it out so fast, I say, boy, I'm having a guzzle now. Fresh water. It's old. It's old as God. But it's always
fresh when the Spirit of God gives it to us. It's like a cool,
refreshing, it's like cool, refreshing spring water. Nancy's daddy had
a farm in Virginia about About 127 acres. And we go up in the
mountains, come across a couple little streams up there, springs. And I tell you, that cold water
coming out of that mountain, over those rocks, and just dip
down, just get down and lap it up. It's just nothing more refreshing. And some of y'all know what I'm
talking about, just real spring water. Oh, it's so good. And
the real gospel, you just can't beat it. Just can't beat it. Just so refreshes your soul.
And I'll tell you this, and then I'll move on. This water, it's distributed according to
God's sovereign will. In some places, there's an abundance
of the water. In other places, not too many places you can find
it. And in others, there's none at all. That's the way it is
with God's salvation. In some nations that have been
visited by the day spring from on high, there's an abundance. In others, there are few who
pass from death unto life. God sends His water where He
will. It's like in the summertime. You know, you can get a good
rain on your garden and you call somebody up and you say, boy,
there's a good rain on the garden one day. They say, what are you
talking about? We didn't get a drop over here. Oh, the Lord refreshed
my garden. And that's the way it is with
God's salvation. That's the way it is with God's
grace. He sends a refreshing, life-giving shower over here,
and this place over here just remains hard ground. That's God's
business, isn't it? He sends the water where He will.
Well, here's the next thing. Before a sinner will come to
Christ, personal guilt must be brought to light. That is verses
15-18. The woman said to him, look at
verse 15. She said, Sir, give me this water
that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. And Jesus said
unto her, Go, call a husband and come hither." And the woman
answered, see he's putting his finger on the problem. She said, I have no husband.
Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that thou
settest truly." Our Lord pinpointed her guilt. You see, before a
sinner can be clothed, he's got to be stripped. The Lord said,
I kill, then I make alive. He's got to kill self-righteousness
before it makes us alive and reveals the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. He's got to kill our God, our
false God, before He brings us to salvation. Now I know that
the Lord shows us inward guilt, no question about that. But generally
He begins by putting His finger of conviction upon some specific
outward sin that we've committed. Something unusual, something
that, or it may not even be unusual, but something that He makes us
sensitive about. And from there He teaches us
that the reason you do that is because of an inward problem.
But he usually begins, he puts his finger on something outward.
He touches you. He shows you then that sin is
an inward disease that manifests itself outwardly. Because this
matter of sin, it isn't merely what you do. It's really what
we are. We are sin. That's the reason
what comes out of us and what we do is sin, because that's
what we are. And then here's the fourth thing,
before a sinner will come to Christ, every false refuge has
got to be destroyed. Well, as soon as he said that,
she starts talking about worship. She said in verse 19, I perceive
that you're a prophet, and by the way, this is verses 19 through
24. She said, our fathers worshipped in this mountain and you say
that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to worship. She
runs to her refuge. I'm a religious person. I may be an adulteress, but I'm
a religious adulteress. That's what she said. She changes
the subject as quickly as she can from her divorces and from
her current immoral lifestyle to her religion. And the Lord goes on to expose
the fact that her religion is no good. It's a refuge of lies. All false religion is a refuge
of lies. Jesus said to her, verse 21,
Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. The Samaritans
worshipped in that mountain as a matter of superstition. The
Jews worshipped in Jerusalem as a matter of ceremonialism
or ritualism. He said, Woman, believe me, the
hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem
worship the Father. You worship, you don't know what
you worship. It's a worship of ignorance. Boy, isn't that, that's
a good way to express what religion is. It's a religion of ignorance.
Ignorance. Tomorrow, I read in the newspaper
this morning, tomorrow at IHOP, no, Friday at IHOP, they're going
to start dragging the cross, the wooden cross, without wheels
it said that. And they're going to take turns
dragging on out 23 to Where is it? North Shore or South Shore,
whatever it's called. Wow! I said, what's the good
of that? Well, it makes people feel religious. It's a refuge. It's a false refuge. People do it. People love to
do things. See, the reason the gospel of
God's sovereign grace is so despised because it makes salvation conditioned
solely upon the grace of God through the doing and the dying
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And man wants to make some contribution. Here, let me carry that cross
a while. It's blasphemy. That's what it
is. It's blasphemy. They don't know what they worship. He says, the hour cometh and
now is when true worshippers... Oh, that's what I want to be,
a true worshipper. I want to be a true worshipper.
There is a difference between a worshipper and a true worshipper. A true worshipper worships God,
verse 24, in spirit and in truth. That's a true worshipper. By
the power of the Spirit, from the Spirit of man, from the heart
of man, according to the truth of God's Word. True worship. And then here's the fifth thing,
and I'll go quickly. Before a sinner will come to
Christ, there must be a revelation of the Lord's person to their
heart. Verses 25 and 26. Watch this now. The woman saith
unto him, I know that Messiah is coming. I know that He cometh
which is called Christ. And when He has come, He will
tell us all things." Now, Jesus saith unto her, here is that
climactic moment. Jesus saith unto her, and not
just to these ears, but to her heart. He gave her eyes to see
and ears to hear, spiritual eyesight and spiritual hearing. Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He. I am He. I am the One. I am the One. He revealed His person to her
heart. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 52. Isaiah chapter 52 verse 6. Isaiah 52 verse 6. Isaiah 52 verse 6. Therefore
my people shall know my name. She is one of His people. She
is going to find out who He is. Therefore my people shall know
my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day, in that day of revelation, in that day of His quickening
power, the Son giveth life to whom He will. They shall know
in that day that I am He that doth speak. Behold, it is I! And that's exactly what's happening
right here in John chapter 4 in this passage. He's saying, Behold,
it is I! And her eyes are open and her
ears are open. She finds out who He is. He brings
her to Himself. Go back to our text. I'll give
you one more thing. And this is the last thing, verses
28 to 42. After a sinner comes to Christ,
they always want others to come too. It's always that way. Let me read it to you, verse
28. The woman, of course the disciples, they came back and
they marveled, verse 27, that he talked with the woman. But
no man said anything. They didn't verbalize anything.
What seekest thou? Or why do you talk with her?
They didn't dare say that. And the woman then left her water
pot. She dropped her water pot. All
of a sudden, the things of this world, even the necessities of
life became insignificant to her. Dropped her water pot. Have you left your water pots? You are so taken by the glories
of Jesus Christ, you just drop your water pot. She left her water pot, she went
her way into the city and said to the man, come see a man which
told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ? She came to the Savior, and then
she wanted others to come. And isn't that the way it is?
Sure, that's the way it is. Then they went out of the city
and came unto Him. And then, of course, the disciples
have got something to say to the Savior, and then He's got
something to say. But I jump down to verse 39. And many of
the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the
woman which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So that
when the Samaritans would come to Him, they besought Him that
He would tarry with them, and He abode there two days. And
many more believed because of His own Word and said unto the
woman, Now we believe. Not because of thy saying. Now
you did tell us. And you told us right. But now
we believe not just because you said so. But we believe because we've
heard Him ourselves. And we know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world, the Savior of sinners.
Now we know. We know it first hand. Because
we've been to Him. And we've now been refreshed
by the water of life too. Well, let's sing a closing song.