I'm walking a little gingerly
because I tripped while I was running Friday, and I was hoping
I wouldn't be limping anymore, but I still am, so that's why
I'm limping. When we were driving here this
morning, I said to Lynn, I love the timelessness of scripture. It's a timeless book. I hate
it when preachers talk about being able to make the Bible
relevant. You're irrelevant if you say
something like that. This book is a timeless book.
Now, there are a lot of titles I could have given this message.
The Woman of Samaria. The Woman at the Well. If you knew the gift of God,
to never thirst again, true worship. He told me all things that ever
I did, the Savior of the world. And there are many others as
we read this chapter, but I've entitled this message, I Know
Who You Are. I know who you are. Verse 16, Jesus said unto her,
go call thy husband and come hither. Now he obviously knew
that she had already had five husbands and that she was cohabiting
with one who was not her husband. He knew this already. Yet he says, 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 now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst
thou truly." I've heard preachers say that
this was him confronting her. with the sin that was in her
life. I wouldn't say that's not altogether
true, but I'd also say this, how easily could he confront
me and you with the sin that's in our life right now? I believe more than anything
else, he's telling this very likable woman, and she is very
likable, I know who you are. I know who you are. Look in verse one, John chapter
four, 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 unto Galilee."
Now here we're having an issue, who's having the most numerical
success? Who's baptizing the most people? Kind of a spiritual
competition. Who is God using the most? You
know what the Lord did? He departed. He left. He's not going to have anything
to do with that kind of thinking. Verse four, and he must needs
go through Samaria. Now listen to this. There's only
one reason why he must needs do anything. He said, I must
be about my father's business. You see, one of his elect was
there and he was going to call her to himself. Now, some people say, well, he
had to go that way to get to Samaria. I repeat, the only reason
he must need to do anything is he must do his father's will. And he must needs go through
Samaria. Verse five. 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 and you know, it's still here, still here, still
exists today. Jacob's well. It was given 1200
years before this took place. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well and it was about the six hour. Jesus being wearied with his
journey. Do you know he had the same physical
limitations that you and I have? He became weary. What happens when you become
weary? I've heard someone once say,
you know, he never hit his thumb when he was hammering a nail.
I kind of doubt that. I'd say he probably did because
he has the same physical limitations that you and I have. Yes, he's
God. Omnipotent. And he is the man, Christ Jesus. Samaria was a place a good Jew
would not go. Why? Because the Samaritans were
there. Do you remember when The Pharisees
were criticizing the Lord in John chapter eight, and they
said, say, is we not well, that thou hast a Samaritan, thou art
a Samaritan. That's the lowest thing they
could call him. So they thought you're a Samaritan and you have
a devil, you're demon possessed. The Lord goes to Samaria and
sets thus on the well. He had an appointment to keep. He was waiting on someone to
get there. A woman that he had loved before
time began. A woman that he had come to die
for. And he sat thus on the well,
being wearied with his journey. And it was about noon. Verse
seven, 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." Now, this is significant. Noon, hottest
time of the day. When women would draw water for
the day's activities, and that was a lot of water, it would
be just a bucketful. It was a real job. They would
get there early in the morning before the heat of the day. Now, this woman comes at noon. Why? This is conjecture, but
I believe it's because she knew nobody would be there. You see,
through her life, she had made herself an object of judgment,
criticism, and ridicule. I've already read where this
woman had been married five times. And the person she was currently
with, she was not married to. And because of her life, I'm
sure that when the women would get together, they'd say, there
she is. And they would make disparaging comments with regard to this
woman. And no doubt, she had issues. I mean, if you've been married
five times, I'd say you have some issues. And somebody says,
well, it was the spouse's fault. Well, maybe, but you still got
issues. Five times she was married. And we read, there cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me
to drink. And I'm sure she was shocked
when this Jewish man said this to her. She'd not had a Jewish
man say, give me to the drink. Give me something to drink. For
his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Verse
nine, then said the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it that
thou being a Jew ask us drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Things haven't
changed, have they? you're always gonna have one
group that considers itself to be superior to another group. The Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans, and this pretty much makes up the fabric of human
activity. One group feeling that they're
better than another group, and taking advantage of another group,
or mistreating another group, Racism. Racism. One supposed race considering
it to be superior to another race. You know, racism is really
stupid because there's only one race. We have this in the wealthy crushing
the poor. We have this in religion, one
religion feeling itself to be superior to another religion.
Even within, quote, Christianity, we have denominations, each denomination
thinking they have a little bit more answer than the other, a
little bit closer to God, a little bit better. Men believing themselves
to be better than others. The Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans. I'm just a woman of Samaria.
I'm sure she'd never Seen this happen and she was shocked. What
are you doing? Asking water of me. Verse 10. She was given an answer that
she wasn't expecting. Jesus answered and said unto
her. If thou knewest the gift of God. You know, no natural man knows
that salvation is a free gift. Not one. But he says to this
woman, and I'm sure she wasn't expecting this. 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. If you knew, you'd ask and he
would give. And I say this to everybody in
here, including myself. If we know we will ask and he
will give living water. Now here's the state of the natural
man. We're ignorant. Ignorant. That's the only word
to describe us. Ignorant. The natural man does
not understand the character of God, nor the character of
salvation being a gift. A gift given by God, a gift with
no strings attached. We can't comprehend that. A gift
with absolutely no strings attached. The gift of God. Salvation is a gift. It's called
the free gift. There's nothing you need to pay
for this gift. It's a gift that cannot be bought. You remember when Peter said
to Simon Magus, you thought the gift of God could be purchased
with money. This gift is infinitely above
anything that you could ever give to pay for it. You can just
take that way of thinking away. Christ is the gift of God. God
so loved the world that he gave. His only begotten Son. He's called the unspeakable gift
in Corinthians. This is a gift so glorious, so
high that human language cannot be used to describe this gift.
You know, one of the reasons that A painting on a portrait
of Christ on canvas is so ridiculous. It's idolatry. Could we put his
character on a canvas? Can't be done. He's the unspeakable
gift. A spiritual gift. A gift by grace. I love this,
the gift of righteousness. The gift of righteousness. Now, righteousness is not something
you can do to be. It's a gift that he gives. The gift of righteousness. Did you know that faith is called
the gift of God? If you exercise faith, he gave
it to you. That's why you believe. Repentance
is called the gift of God. If you repent, it's because He
gave it to you. That's why you're repenting. Eternal life is the gift of God,
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Oh, the gift of God. Now, if you knew the gift of
God and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink. This
is no mere man. This is not just a Jew. This is the creator of the universe. This is the God man. This is
the second person of the blessed Trinity. This is the one who
has the power and the ability to give you this gift. Aren't you interested in having
this gift? Well, I sure am. Whatever gift he has to give,
I want it because I know he has the power to give. You know,
I can say, I'll give you this and I'll give you that. Well,
it might just be pie in the sky and I might not be able to give
that gift, but he does because of who he is. If you knew the
gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, get me to drink,
you'd ask. You have not because you ask
not. If you know who he is, you'll ask. If you don't ask, you don't
know who he is. If you know who he is, you'll
ask. You'd ask and he would have given
you this living water. And that's not simply talking
about H2O as we'll see. Verse 11. The woman saith unto him, sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with in the wells deep, 135 feet deep,
not like a 12 or 13 story building. That's how deep this water is.
You don't have anything to draw with. You don't have a bucket. From whence then hast thou that
living water? She still didn't know what he
was talking about. Are thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us this well and drank thereof himself and
his children and his cattle? Oh, he's infinitely greater.
He's infinitely greater. She didn't understand that at
this time. Verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again. You drink this
water, you're gonna be thirsty tomorrow. You will thirst again. And you know that can be said
of anything in this life. You will thirst again. If you get everything you want,
you'll be thirsty again. If you try to find your satisfaction
in your job, in your marriage, in your family, I don't care
how good it may seem, you will thirst again. With regard to
anything in this life, you will thirst again. That is a promise. You will thirst again. But 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. If the Lord gives you the water
of his grace, You know what you won't do? You won't thirst for
anything else. You know, I've seen religious
people so many times, even responding to the message they hear, they
say, there's got to be something more than that. You ain't heard. The only thing that will absolutely
satisfy anybody to where they're not thirsting for anything else
is to trust Christ alone. I trust him alone as my righteousness
before God. I trust him alone as my sin payment. I'm not looking anywhere to myself
for anything, but I look to everything to Christ only and I have nothing
else. I'm plumb satisfied with that.
I'm just satisfied. You give me anything else. I'm
starting to thirst. Lord said, if any man thirst,
let him come to me and drink. Now this living water, the gospel,
Jesus Christ is all in my salvation. All! I'm not thirsting for anything
else. Colossians 2, 10 says, In him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are
complete. There's nothing to thirst for.
You are complete, lacking nothing in Him. Now, the only way I can
be satisfied is if I lack nothing. In Christ, I lack nothing. He says, but the water that I
shall give Him shall be in Him, a well of water springing up
into everlasting life. Now, this is talking about the
new birth. The Holy Spirit. The new man
in Christ Jesus, you know, it'll never die. You'll die physically,
but that new man you have will never die. Eternal life. That same life you'll have in
heaven. Somebody says, well, it doesn't seem that good to
me. Well, I know it's because you got the flesh right now,
but one of these days when the flesh is gone, Do you know you won't
be more holy in heaven than you are right now? Your holiness is Christ. And
that's going to be a everlasting water springing up into everlasting
life. Verse 15. The woman saith unto
him, Sir, give me this water thy thirst not and come not hither
to draw. Now she still didn't know what
he was talking about. All she knew is if I have this
water, can you imagine what a hassle it must have been every morning
for a woman to get up early in the morning and go and bring
all the water for the day's activities for her family back? And she
thought, I won't have to do that anymore. It sounds good to me. And I won't be thirsty anymore.
That sounds good to me. That's all she could understand.
Verse 16. Jesus saith unto her, go call
thy husband and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, I love the way he says
this. Thou has well said, I have no
husband. You've stated this very accurately
for thou has had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is
not thy husband, in that saidst thou truly." What the Lord is
saying is, I know who you are. I know exactly who you are. The woman's perception, verse
19, the woman saith unto him, sir, I perceive that thou art
a prophet. Now she'd never met him, and
he tells her that she's had five husbands. She did have five husbands.
And he tells her the one that she's currently with is not her
husband. He was telling the truth. And she makes a perception that
you and I would make too, that he must be a prophet. I mean,
I've never met him. Don't know anything about him.
And here he makes this statement with regard to me. He must be
a prophet. And so she reverts to religion. Verse 20, Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain. You say that in Jerusalem is
the place where men ought to worship. Now, she was talking
about the difference between their denominational distinctives. Now, the Samaritans, we think
the only proper place of worship is in this mountain right here
where I am. And you Jews, you say the place is in Jerusalem. That's the place. She was starting
talking about the differences between religions, her religious
mumbo-jumbo. matter, but she, I guess, starts
talking religious, kind of like when somebody hears that I'm
a preacher, you know, if I'm talking to somebody and they
find out I'm a preacher, they talk differently, they'll talk
religious. And I'm just sitting there thinking, please don't
do that. But that is what takes place, religion. And she Start
her religious mumbo-jumbo. What is the place you ought to
worship? Now, we have contemporary worship, but there's traditional
worship over here. We have traditional music, and we've got a rock and
roll band at this church. I mean, take your pick. You know,
they're talking about all these denominational distinctives. I love the way the Lord answered
this. Verse 21, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me. And there is a reason why she
believed. The Lord commanded her to. That's where her faith
came from. You know the Lord never offers
salvation. I hate it. I hate it when people
talk about any aspect of salvation being God offering you something. God's offering you the forgiveness
of sins. God's offering you eternal life. That makes your salvation dependent
upon your acceptance or your rejection of God's offer. God does not offer, God does. Always. Woman, believe me. You know what that woman did? She believed him. The hour cometh. when you shall
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the
Father." Places are not even an issue. Now it was under the
Old Testament economy, you were to worship toward Jerusalem.
And the sacrifice was in Jerusalem. And that's to teach us that salvation
is in Christ. But what our Lord is telling
us at this time, the Old Testament is now being done away with.
Jerusalem is not the place to worship. Worship is not a building
of bricks and stones and mortar. Worship is in every child of
God in their heart. Let's go on reading. Woman, believe
me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know
not what. Your worship is ignorant worship. You've got all kinds of religion
and it's meaningless. You worship, you know not what
we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now, when he
says salvation is of the Jews, he's not talking about that physical
nation. They were just as lost as the Samaritans were. Every
believer is the true Jew. Let me back that up with scripture.
I turned to Romans two. Verse 28, for he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. Now, how many different ways
are there to take that? He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. Romans 9. Salvation is of the Jews. Verse six, it's not as though
the word of God has taken none effect for they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall
the seed be called. That is they, which are the children
of the flesh, fleshly Jews. These are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. One other scripture Philippians
three. Verse three. For we are the circumcision. We're the people truly circumcised. The circumcision of the heart.
And he gives this threefold description, which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now there's the true Jew. He
worships God in the spirit. If I have not been born from
above, worship is impossible. I can't worship God except I
be born of the Spirit. It's the spiritual man that worships. You know, I've made reference
this Wednesday night, people talk, well, I'm a spiritual person.
They usually mean that by, I'm not exactly religious, but I'm
spiritual. I've got a lot of depth to my soul. I care about
things. No. The only spiritual person
is the one who's been born of the spirit. The natural man doesn't
even have a spirit. That's what died. In the day
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He has a body and a soul,
but he doesn't have a spirit. But when someone's born from
above, born again, they're given this spiritual nature. And it's
that spiritual nature that rejoices in Christ Jesus. They look only
to Christ for everything in their salvation, not looking for anything
else. They have no confidence in the
flesh. And go back to John chapter four.
Salvation, we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.
Remember how the Lord said to the Syrophoenician woman, I'm
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't
come to save everybody. I've come to save the lost sheep
at the house of Israel. That's who he came to save, the
true Jew. The Samaritan woman will soon
be, or maybe she already is a true Jew. Verse 23, but the hour cometh. And now he is when the true worshipers,
a lot of false worship in there. When the true worshipers shall
worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seek
as such to worship him. Now, worship is worship of the
father. There isn't any worship without
worshiping the father. God as He's revealed in His Word. And the Lord said, No man cometh
to the Father, but by Me. Now, He says true worshipers shall worship
the Father. You know, when we pray, we're
taught to pray our Father. who aren't in heaven. He's not
everybody's father. Remember that group, he said,
you're of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father,
you'll do. That's what he said. He's not everybody's father.
He's only father to those who believe his son. They said, we
have Abraham for our father. And he said, if Abraham were
your father, you'd love me. The hour cometh and now is when
the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit, by the
Holy spirit, by the being birthed of the spirit, the spiritual
nature, and in truth, according to the truth of the gospel. For
the father seeketh such to worship him. Do you want to be somebody
he's seeking? I do. I want to be one of these people. God is
spirit. He's not bound by space. He's
not bound by time. God is Spirit. He's omnipresent in the universe
and He's omnipresent outside the universe. You cannot go anywhere
where He is not in His fullness. God is Spirit. He's not made of parts. He's
spirit. And they that worship him must. This is absolutely necessary. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. You know, God doesn't use error.
You hear that? Why should he? Somebody says,
well, he can use error if he wants to. No, he won't. He's
a God of truth without iniquity. God only uses the truth of the
gospel. No one is born of the spirit
apart from the word of truth. God is spirit and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Verse 25, the woman
saith unto him, you know, still at this point, she didn't have
any idea what he's talking about. She was in the dark and she knew
it. The woman sayeth unto him, I
know the Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he has
come, he'll tell us all things. I have no idea what you're talking
about. When the Messiah comes, he'll tell us all things. And
the Lord says something to her that he never said to anybody
else. I that speak unto thee, am he. He didn't say that to anyone
else. He gave this woman such assurance with regard to who
he is. My dear friend's faith is believing
who he is. And he revealed to this woman,
this very likable woman, who he is. I that speak unto thee And he,
verse 27, upon this came his disciples and marveled that he
talked with the woman. They wouldn't have spoken with
her yet. No man said, what seeketh thou?
Why talkest thou with her? You know, they had learned, I
think by experience that they better not say something to the
Lord like that. Uh, they kept their mouth shut. And that was
wise at that time for them to keep their mouth shut. Verse 28, the woman then left
her water pot. That's what she brought to draw
the water with, but somehow she forgot the importance of it.
She left her water pot 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. Now, let's think
about this woman's testimony. Let's think about her message.
Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Now,
is she just talking about, he told me I had five marriages,
and he was right, and he didn't know me. Well, yeah, that's included. But when she says he told me
all things I ever did, listen to this real carefully, and this
is the gospel. Have you all seen that commercial,
Jesus Gets Us? I cringe when I see that commercial.
It's a marketing effort to make Jesus more marketable. He gets us. He gets us. Yeah, he gets us. Not like what
they're saying. This woman came to understand
that all things she ever did was sin. All things. You haven't understood
sin until you've seen everything you've ever done. Everything
is sin. If it's got your fingerprints
on it, it's sin. There is none righteous, no,
not one. Yeah, things are bad in our day.
Things have just gone down, gone down. You're the bad one. I'm the bad one. She learned
that everything she had ever done, even the good things, it
was sin. But you know what else she learned? that everything she'd ever done
was absolutely sinless and perfect. How's that? You said everything
she did was sin. It's called the gospel. It's
called justification. You see, Christ took her sin
and put it away and gave her his righteousness. And she now
has a new history and it's all good. It's sinless. You remember that publican cried,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. What did Christ testify of that
man? I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified,
sinless. without guilt. Now there you've
learned the gospel when you've learned all things you've ever
done. All things you've ever done are
sin. This sermon I'm preaching to
you, you know what it is? It's the truth. I'm preaching
the gospel, but I am well aware of the fact that because I'm
in it, there's sin in it. Now God the Holy Spirit will
bless His word, not because of me. Because who he is, if I did
it, there's sin. But this is also true with regard
to me. I've never sinned. When the Lord
said to that woman at the well, not at the well, but who was
taken in adultery, woman, where are those odd accusers? Hath
no man condemned thee? She said, no man, Lord. He said,
neither do I. Why? There's nothing to condemn
her for. That's what Christ accomplished on Calvary's tree. He put away
my sin so that I now am sinless. Truly, this man, the Christ,
he's told me all things. that ever I did. Then they went out of the city
and came to him. In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying,
Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have
meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus
saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me and to finish his work. Say not ye, and I know he's referring
to this Samaritan. 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, all
ready to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gather fruit unto life eternal, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. Herein is that
saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that
whereon you bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and you are
entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans, here's
the end of the story. Lord willing, I'd like to go
back and look at certain sections of it and maybe preach five or
six messages out of, uh, this, but I just wanted to look at
the whole story right now. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him for the saying of the woman was testified.
He told me all that ever I 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. They heard the Christ preach.
And they said to 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. Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. He's a prophet, the prophet,
like no other prophet. He didn't say, thus the Lord,
saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. He's
a priest like no other priest. He doesn't bring the blood of
an animal that could never take away sin. He brings his own blood
into the presence of the Father. He's a king like no other king.
Every other king has borrowed power. They're actually his pawns.
He's the one who has all power, controlling all things. This is indeed the Christ, the
savior of the world. Now, if you'll be saved, it'll
be because he saved you. He is the savior of the world. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word, how we thank you for your salvation for Samaritans like
us, how we thank you for the living
water that you give, your gospel that causes us to not thirst. Lord, enable us to see by your
spirit, by your grace, for your glory, what this woman and these
Samaritans saw, that your son is your Christ, the savior of
the world. Enable us to believe on him. In his name we pray, amen.