I invite your attention to the
Gospel according to John, chapter 4. The Gospel according to John,
chapter 4, and today we will continue our exposition of verses
1 through 43 in this fourth chapter of John's Gospel, looking at
the subject of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. We will continue our exposition
from verse number 7, but I'm going to read the entire passage. John chapter 4, verses 1 through
43. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard, that Jesus made and baptized
more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but
his disciples. He left Judea and departed again
into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh
he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of
Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, And who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink? Thou wouldst have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep. From whence then hast thou that
living water? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob? which gave us the well, and drank
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle, Jesus answered
and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this well shall thirst
again. But 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. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call
thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and 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 hast is not thy husband, in that saidst thou
truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh When ye shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father, ye worship ye know
not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshiper 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. The woman saith unto him, I know
that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come,
he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples,
and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, What
seekest thou, or what talkest thou with her? The woman then
left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith
to the men, 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. In the meanwhile,
his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto
them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said
the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him all
to eat? Jesus saith unto him, My meat
is to do the will of him that sent me. And to finish his work,
say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest.
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the
fields, for they are white already to the harvest. And he that reapeth
receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that
both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true,
one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon
ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored and ye are
entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him. For the saying of the woman which
testified, he told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans
were come unto 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, For we have heard him ourselves,
and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the
world. Now after two days he departed
thence, and went into Galilee. We're going to continue our exposition
of this passage from verse number 7 today. But before we do, I
want you to go back to verse number 2 when I was looking over
my notes this past week, I realized there was something about verse
number 2 that just really made an impression on me, and I think
that you may find it a profit to you as well. That phrase,
Jesus himself baptized not. Now that is an interesting expression.
Jesus did not baptize people. His disciples did. At His word,
in His name, He did not baptize them. Now that's interesting
because of this. There are many who say that in order to receive salvation,
you must be baptized. Some say, you cannot be regenerated
until you are baptized. You cannot be saved until you're
baptized. You may believe, you may repent,
but until you are baptized, you are still in your sins, you are
not saved. Now that is probably, well, a
great part of professing Christianity. The Church of Rome, disciples
of Alexander Campbell, some Protestants believe it, that until you are
baptized, you're lost. You are not saved until you're
baptized, they say. Do we not read in the Scriptures
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners? Does not the Scripture say that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners? If sinners are
saved through baptism, then it would be necessary for He who
came to save sinners would be baptizing them. But He did not
do so. Jesus did not baptize for the
simple reason that baptism does not save you. It
is the confession of faith Indeed, it is our confession of faith
in baptism, but it does not save us. Paul the Apostle makes much
the same confession when he says, Christ did not send me to baptize. Well, if that's true, then you're
not saved through baptism. because it would be necessary
for Paul to baptize. What does Paul say? Christ did
not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. What happens in the preaching
of the gospel? That is how God saves sinners. Through the preaching of the
gospel to them that believe, God saves sinners. Jesus Christ came. Paul imitated him. Jesus Christ
came to preach the gospel and told his disciples, baptize these
who have believed. Paul the apostle has done the
same. He preached the gospel. and told
his associates to baptize these who believe. Jesus did not baptize
because your baptism will not save you, will not save you at
all. You are saved through believing
the gospel of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now we come to
verse number 7. At this point, Jesus is sitting
on the well in Samaria. He has walked 30 miles from Jerusalem
to Sychar, the city that was known as Shechem in Old Testament
days. He has probably walked 20 miles
the day before, found some place to sleep on the ground overnight. He has walked another 10 miles
and now he has reached Sychar at high noon. The sun is at its
zenith, and Jesus, having humanity like yours and
mine, is weary, and He's hungry, and He's thirsty, and He sits
there on the well at high noon. There's no one at the well but
Jesus. because the disciples have gone
to find some food he's at the well all by himself sitting on
the well and he's thirsty and here she comes here she comes he's looking for her he had to
go through Samaria because he had to be at a predestined place,
at a predestined time, to meet a predestined woman, and here
she comes. It's high noon. We read in verse
number 7 that there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. When does she come? High noon. The sun is at its zenith. It
is the hottest part of the day. It is that one part of the day
when people do not go to the well to draw water unless you
are this woman. There's a reason why she's coming
at high noon. Other people would come to draw
water In the cruel hours of the early morning, in the cruel hours
of the late evening, they would come when the weather was cool
and they would not perspire, break into a sweat where drawing
the water might be a bit easier. At high noon the well is deserted
except for Jesus waiting for her who's coming now toward him. Why is she coming to the well? at high noon because of her immoral character. She does not come early morning.
Oh, you can imagine what it would be like. Oh, look who's here
with us now. It's her. She has come to draw
water. They're going to talk about her.
If she comes in the early morning, if she comes in the late evening,
They're going to be looking at her. Are we sure we want to drink
the same water she's drinking? No. She comes at high noon. She's going to have the well
all to herself, except on this day. There's a man at that well. He's waiting for her because,
as I just said, he was at the predestined place at the predestined
time to meet the predestined woman because God does everything
on purpose. Remember, he had to go through
Samaria. It's on purpose. Evangelist Roth
Barnard was asked many years, of course he's been dead for
many years, but he was asked once, do you think God gives
every man a chance to be saved? And Ralph Barnard said, God does
nothing by chance. Everything he does is on purpose. Well, there's a purpose at this
well. And here is this woman coming
to meet the man that is at that well. She's coming high noon
because of her immoral character. And he's waiting on her. And
she arrives at the well. And then we read, Jesus saith
unto her, Give me to drink. He starts the conversation. Give
me to drink. Earlier, we looked at Jesus' humility. He did not baptize. He let others
do it. He's a man of humility. We looked
at His mission. He came to preach. We considered, furthermore, the
humanity of Jesus. He's tired. He's thirsty. He's weary. He's sitting on the
well. Now we consider His condescension. Oh, what condescension! No one
ever condescended like Jesus Christ did, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself
of no reputation, came in the form of a servant, served men, died for sinners, and he who had been on the throne of
heaven was eventually found in a tomb in the earth. What condescension! What condescension! No one ever
condescended like Jesus Christ did. And here's another example
of his condescension. He had sat on the throne of heaven, ruler over all the universe. It is His right by the very authority
of whom He is and what He is. Very God of very God. He sits
from eternity on the throne of heaven and from the day of creation
angels gathered all around His throne. That's who He is. One
day He's sitting on the throne of heaven, attended by angels
who do His will. And the next day, He's sitting
on a well in Samaria, asking a woman there, an immoral woman,
give me a drink of water. What condescension! This is such
great condescension. This is the condescension of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here's another aspect of his
condescension. He does not stand aloof from
even the lowliest sinner who comes to him. He is not like
those who say, stand by yourself, get away from me, I am holier
than thou. It is interesting that in the
scriptures we find the word holy many times. We find the word
holiest many times with regard to the tabernacle and in the
temple, the holiest of all. Only one time in all the scriptures
do we find the word holier, only once. And God hates those who say it.
I am holier than thou. Here comes a woman of Samaria.
approaching the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
and she's coming and He does not say, Woman, I'm at the well
right now, you should stand over yonder until I'm through. None
of that! No. He says, Woman, come to the
well, draw some water, and then give me a drink of it. What condescension
is this? He does not stand aloof from
even the lowliest sinner. I will say to you, I will say
to you, He'll not stand aloof from you if you come to Him. Matters not what your character
is, matters not how moral or immoral you are, matters not
how unrighteous or self-righteous you are, He does not stand aloof. You come to Jesus, He'll put
no barrier in the way. He'll turn none away. Christ
receiveth sinful men. This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. Well, here this man receiveth
sinners, and asked her for a glass of her water. Woman, give me
to drink. Notice here that Jesus does not
despise even the least service we can do for Him. What is easier
and simpler than just a glass of water? Our brother this morning
read from the Gospel of Matthew that a cup of water in the name
of a disciple has its reward. And here is Jesus. He does not
refuse even the slightest service you may do for Him. You may not
Be wealthy. You may not be healthy. You may
not be able to go this place and go that place and afford
this or that, but whatever service you can do. The widow's mite
is not forsaken. The widow's mite has its reward. The glass of water has its reward. The lowest service you do for
Jesus has its reward. Verse 8, for his disciples were
gone away unto the city to buy food. Providence is again at work. I want you to notice everything
about this meeting is providentially arranged. He arrives in Sychar
at the precise moment high noon. He tells the disciples go buy
some food. Then he waits for the woman to
show up and his disciples are not there when she arrives. Now
that was providentially arranged. It was providentially arranged
that Jesus and this woman would be the only people at this well
at that time. No other disciples were there
and of the other residents of Sychar were there. There's a
reason for that. Jesus was just about to expose
her immorality. Oh, He would do it tenderly,
but firmly, gently, and persuasively. And He is about to reveal to
her whom and what He is. When He exposes her ignorance
and her immorality, There is no one else there to hear it. It is he and she alone. The best time to talk to Jesus
is alone. Go to your closet. Go to your room. Go where you can be alone with
him. Go where you can tell Him what you do not want anyone else
to know. Confess to Him the sins that
you hope no one else ever knows about. Do it alone. Do it alone. And if He should rebuke you,
let it be in your closet. Let it be in your closet when
there's no one there but you and He. Jesus has arranged providentially
that he would expose her sinfulness and she would expose her ignorance
when there's no one there but her and Jesus. Private conversations
with Jesus are the best, are the best. Verse 9, Then saith
the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a
Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans." Interesting point here. How did she know he was a Jew? Well, his garment may have been
a bit different. Undoubtedly his accent was different. I spent some time in hospital
in that room talking to that CNA, that nurse, that doctor,
this and that and the other, and quite often, you know, where
are you from? You're not from around here,
are you? And I keep having to explain to them, no, everybody
has an accent but me. I talk normal, okay? But you
know, they can say, you're from the southeast, aren't you? Yes,
yes, I am. She could probably tell, even
when he said, give me to drink, she could say, you're not from
around here. You're a Jew, aren't you? There is something about Jesus.
that lets you know whom and what He is. And when He comes to you
for the first time, you'll know it's Him. You'll know it's Him. You'll recognize the voice. It
is the voice of the shepherd. It is not the voice of the harling.
When Jesus comes to you, you'll recognize that voice. She knew
Him to be A Jew, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink
of me, which am a woman of Samaria? You are a man of the Jews, I
am a woman of the Samaritans. We're not supposed to be having
this conversation. For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. The Samaritans would probably
have the dealings with the Jews, but the Jews would not have those
dealings with the Samaritans. This woman saw Jesus as a Jew
who customarily would not talk with a Samaritan woman and especially
would not drink water from her pot. She did not yet see him
as the Messiah. She saw him only as a Jew. If
she had seen him as the Messiah, she would have seen him as the
one who receives people regardless, irregardless of whom and what
they are, Gentiles, Jews, or even Samaritans. The Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans. Well, this is no ordinary Jew. erect ethnic and social barriers
between themselves. They put barriers that they are
not supposed to cross. They enforce man-made prohibitions
against each other. But Jesus ignores their barriers. He ignores their prohibitions. Their protocols are not His. He goes across their barriers. even to talk with a Samaritan
woman. She knew there was something
different about this man. You Jews have no dealings with
us Samaritans, but you're asking me for a drink of water. You're
not the common ordinary man, are you? Well, no, he is not. Verse 10. By the way, let me stress this
point as well. We should imitate Jesus in that
regard, crossing man-made barriers. We should not observe the ethnic,
the political, the moral, whatever barriers there are. We are followers
of Jesus Christ. Man-made barriers and prohibitions
do not apply to us. We cross them. We follow our
Savior in doing so. But now we come to verse number
10. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, thou would have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water." Sinners, by nature, do
not know God. They, therefore, do not understand
the spiritual truths. She could not know this threefold
gift of God to sinners that Jesus here will speak to her about. If you knew The gift of God. What is the gift of God? We can
look at the gift of God in a threefold aspect. First, is Jesus Christ. He is God's gift. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. When you
give something, it is a gift. Men do not merit it. They do
not earn it. God gave it. Paul speaks of him
as God's indescribable gift. 2 Corinthians 9.13 How do you
describe Jesus Christ? You cannot. He is an indescribable
gift. Second is salvation, which is
by God's grace, apart from our works, which is received by faith,
which also is the gift of God and not of works. Ephesians 2,
verses 8 and 9. Now, I want you to notice something.
You know the verse very well. Well, how does it read? For by
grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God. not of works, lest anyone should
boast. So how are sinners saved? First, by God's free and sovereign
grace. For by grace you have been saved. It's freely. You did not merit
it. You did not earn it. There was
nothing in yourself by which God should say, I need to be
saving that one. I owe him salvation. No, no,
no. It is by grace. For by grace we therefore say
salvation is by grace alone. Salvation is by faith alone. For by grace you have been saved
through faith. not by legal obedience, not by
keeping the law, not by any work that you have done, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but by God's mercy and
by His grace He has saved us, by grace through faith. Now, faith alone will not save
you if all you have is the faith. It must be in the right object. For by grace you have been saved
through faith, that faith must be in Christ. It is not so much
your faith that saves you, but the object of your faith. Because if you put your faith
in the baptistry, if you put your faith in the altar, If you
put your faith in the Eucharist or in the sacrament, there's
no salvation in that. It must be by grace through faith
in Christ, and this faith is not of yourselves. You did not
manufacture it. Faith is not like a jar you have
in your heart. in a shelf of your heart, you
know, and you got this faith and one day you decide, you know
what, I think I'm going to open up that jar of faith and do some
believing. It's not that way at all. It
is not that way at all. You do not have it until God
gives it to you. God must grant the faith. This
faith is the gift of God expressly. Now, some people will say, well,
it is salvation that is the gift. Well, that's true. That's true. But even the faith with which
you believe the gospel is the gift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast. No one can march around saying,
I believed. Yeah, well where did your faith
come from? God has granted faith to the Gentiles. God has granted
repentance to the Gentiles. Both repentance and faith necessary
in salvation. Where did it come from? God gives
it. Salvation is God's gift. Faith
is God's gift. Christ is God's gift. And here
is another one. Third is the living water. the
living water. It's the Holy Spirit. We are now looking at progressive
revelation. God reveals himself progressively. Doctrine is revealed unto us
progressively. When God created Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden, He did not put the whole compendium
of theology in front of them and say, now study this and learn
it. No, no, no, no. Bit by bit, line
upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.
Jesus is now introducing living waters. All the prophets had
mentioned it. They said it's coming. Jesus
said, I'm the one who gives it. If you knew the gift of God,
you would have asked Him, He would have given you living water. Living water. What is this living
water? It is the Holy Spirit within
you, bubbling like a fountain and
flowing like a river. Living water. It is living water
in that it is not dead. It is not dead water. It is not the water of a cistern. No, no, no. It's bubbling, springing,
coming up. It is flowing, living water. It is interesting that living
water was used in the worship of God, even from the days of
the tabernacle. That priest had to have water
there. He was making sacrifices to God,
blood on his hands. How's he going to get his hands
clean? Living water. There's a laborer
right there beside him. He does not put his hands down
into the water and wash them? No, no, no. They turn the water
on with a handle and it flows over his hands. It's living water. It's not dead. Jesus says, there's a gift for you. Now,
I am God's indescribable gift. Salvation is His gift and those who have
it have the Holy Spirit bubbling up living water. Living water,
no death in it. Living water in that it both
gives life and sustains life. The Holy Spirit, the water of
God, gives life and sustains life. The woman saith unto him,
verse 11, the woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to
draw with, and the world is deep from whence thou hast that living
water. This living water It's not faith
made in man-made wells. The only water of which she knows
is down in the well that Jacob dug. Jesus talks to her about living
water, and she says, you came to my well, didn't you, because
you do not have one. Where are you going to get this
living water? She did not realize that this living water is not
made in man-made wells. And I'm going to tell you this,
neither is salvation found in man-made religions. The prophet speaks of man-made
religion as a broken cistern. or a mud puddle, if you will. You will not find salvation in
man-made religions. Religions dig wells that are
dry holes. But here is living water that
Jesus will give. Sinners must come to Jesus Christ
for this living water. John 7, verses 37 and 39, Jesus stood and cried in Jerusalem. Stood and cried in Jerusalem,
which means it is one of the annual feasts of the Jews, three
of them. Jesus goes from Galilee down
to Jerusalem thrice annually. And at one of them, or at all
of them actually, he teaches probably in the portico of the
temple of Solomon there. But on this occasion the scripture
says he stood and cried, shouted. What did he shout? If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. And he's not standing beside
a well when he says it. He ascertained that everyone
heard. If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. Jesus has water that men cannot
perceive. Jesus has water of which they
know nothing. He then said, He that believeth
on me. Oh, the audacity of this man,
Jesus. Do you want to know why people
hated him so much? because of the exclusiveness
of his doctrine. You must follow me, not someone
else. You must come to me, not to someone
else. You must believe in me, not to
someone else. And even today in churchianity,
Jesus Christ is hated because of that same exclusive aspect
concerning himself. And they're not going to care
too much for us, neither. Why, what do we say? Salvation
is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And apart
from this, you cannot be saved. I keep Sabbath, does you no good. Been baptized, did you no good. Came down to the altar, did you
no good. There is an exclusiveness in
Christ, an exclusiveness in the gospel that men just naturally
hate. If any man thirst, let him come
to me. He that believeth in me, as the
scripture hath said. Well, now he's got somebody's
attention. Oh, this man is going to fulfill
scripture now. Yes, he is. That's what he came
to do. Everything that Jesus did on
this earth was a fulfillment of the scripture. And now they're
thinking, yeah, we remember there's something about the prophets
telling us that there's living water coming. This man claims
he's got the living water. They understood him. That's why
the religious authorities hated this man. He that believeth on
me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly, Out of His
inmost being shall flow rivers of living water." Notice, rivers. An abundance of it. God is not stingy in His gifts. Not stingy in His gifts. I have read of men who were multimillionaires,
perhaps billionaires, amassed a great amount of wealth in this
life, and then let their children know that when I'm gone, you're
not getting this. Oh, I'll give you some. I'll
see that you know you have. enough to take care of your basic
needs, but I'm not letting you have all my wealth. I'm going
to give it to this and to that, maybe this charity, that cause
or whatever. And that is perhaps a wise decision. Many young people have ruined
their lives by inheriting so much more than they ever thought
they could spend. So it may be wise among men to
not let their heirs have everything that they have amassed, but not
so with God. No. He just gives it all. He just gives every bit of it.
There'll be rivers of living water flowing in these. And this He spake at the Holy
Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive. We're
going to pause at that point. Except to give this admonition. He's still standing. He's still shouting. Come to me. Oh, ye that are thirsty. come
to me. If any man thirst, let him come
to me. I'll not only give him water,
I'll put a spring in him that will give forth living waters. It'll give life to him. It'll
sustain his life. And there's a preacher today
standing in front of you asking you, are you thirsty?
Are you thirsty? You can drink the water of that
religion and the water of that religion and the water of this
sect and the water of that faith and it'll not satisfy your thirst. I believe, Brother Mitch, you
told me about going to this place, looking for something, and you
just come out thirsty, all right? And you try another place. Some
of you folks have done the same thing. You went to this place,
you were thirsting for something, and you went in and took a drink. What they were giving you is
enough. It didn't work. Didn't work. And then I found some preacher
by the name of John R. Mitchell. who had water that
the others did not have. And they drank and satisfied
their thirst, this water of Jesus Christ. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Come to Christ. Drink. He'll give you living
water. And O God, our Father, be pleased,
we pray, to bless your Word, to the glory of your Son, the
salvation of your people, and the edification of your Zion. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.