Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the Gospel according to John, chapter 4. John, chapter
4. I'd like to look at verses 27
to 30. Before we begin, let's ask our
Lord's blessing. the blessedness of this day,
the wonder that, Lord, that you would allow us the privilege
to be able to come and to hear the glorious gospel of God. And we ask you that you bless
the Word, bless it to our understanding, bless it to our comfort, our
peace. Lord, we know that we have not because we ask not.
We don't have the ability to create anything, any peace or
any comfort or life. Lord, without you we can do nothing. Help us today, we pray, for Christ's
sake. Amen. I have tried to go very
slowly through this particular passage of Scripture, this discourse
between our Lord and this woman of Samaria. The reason that I
tried to take time, it is absolutely one of the most amazing passages
of Scripture. concerning God's sovereignty,
long-suffering, mercy, compassion. When you listen to how this woman
ignorantly talked to our Lord, and how gentle He was with her,
and you behold the indescribable grace of God, as he calls out
his own. And he spoke with her back and
forth. They talked. It was amazing. This woman had all kinds of questions
about, why are you talking to me? That was an amazing thing
to her. You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans don't have
anything to do with each other. The Lord said, go get your husband. She said, I don't have a husband. He said, that's right, you're
well set, well set. He said, you've had five husbands
and the one you're living with right now is not your husband. She wanted to start talking about
places to worship and this is how Man, by nature, he wants
to start talking religion, you know. He wants to sound religious. She said, well, when the Messiah
comes, he's going to tell us all these things, straighten
the sound. And the Lord said, I that speak
unto thee, am he. Miracle of all miracles. He calls this woman to see, to
hear, and to know. We're going to deal with that
passage, Lord willing, this morning. This is life eternal. This is what our Lord prayed
to His Father in His high priesthood prayer, John 17, that they might
know That they might learn or come
to know. That's what it means. That they
might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. To know the Lord Jesus Christ. To know God in that scriptural
way is more than a speculative knowledge. of his existence. The scripture reveals that it
takes divine revelation. Man by nature does not know God. It takes a new heart. It takes
a new man. It takes a new birth. It's that impartation of life,
and the evidence of that imparted life is that there is now a love,
and a reverence, and a gratitude for Almighty God. And that man,
that woman that is caused or made to know And here again,
it's by regenerating grace and power. It's not by being able
to explain something. You can take scriptures and it's
amazing how you can read a passage of scripture and you would think
that's so understandable. How can you miss that? They don't care. It takes a new heart, but I will
tell you this. Those that know Him, those that
know Him as He's revealed in these scriptures, know Him as
the Sovereign. No man knows God that doesn't
know Him as as the electing God, predestinating God. That's who
God is. That's who He's revealed Himself
to be. Someone that says, well, I know, I know who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. You're going to listen, they're
going to explain to you who He is. And they start telling you
about someone that came into the world to make salvation possible. He came into this world and He
was made a man and He lived before God and He died on the cross
and He paid everybody's sin debt. sin of all the world, of every
man, without exception. All the world's sin was laid
on him. He wasn't actually made sin,
they say, but he paid the debt of it and made salvation possible. And now if you will accept it,
your acceptance makes God And he saves you and then writes
your name that day in the Lamb's Book of Life by the recording
angel. A believer listens to that and
says, ìThatís not the God that I know. Thatís not the God that
I serve. Thatís not the God of this Bible.î This is life eternal, that they
may know thee, the only true God. and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent." When the Lord Jesus Christ told this woman, I that
speak unto thee am he, something happened that this world knows
nothing about. The Lord told the woman who he
was, and obviously We pick up in verse 27, and the
scripture says, And upon this, right after verse 26, Jesus says
unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his
disciples, and marveled that he talked with a woman, yet no
man said, What seekest thou? As soon as the Lord spoke the
word of His deity, as soon as Messiah comes, she said, and
the Lord says, I'm He. As soon as He revealed to her
who He was, they came back from buying meat. Scripture reveals
that they marveled that He talked with this woman. That was so
out of character. Number one, for a man to be speaking
to a woman outside, especially though a Jew speaking to a Samaritan,
that just, they marveled, they wondered. Scripture says the
Pharisees marveled because of our Lord's association with publicans
and sinners. Christians marveled when Saul
of Tarsus was called out of darkness, converted. Men marvel at that
which they don't understand. Marveled. But I'll tell you something that
is amazing to me. The Scripture speaks of our Lord. marveling. The word to marvel
means to wonder or to admire. To wonder or to admire and marvel. I began to look at the things
that our Lord marveled at. The scripture says in Matthew
8, 10, when Jesus heard of the faith, centurion. It says, when he heard
it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I
say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Same word, same word, marvel. The Pharisees marveled. His disciples
marveled. The Scriptures reveal the Lord
Jesus Christ marveled. He admired. They wondered. He
admired. Same word. But the context tells
us the difference. But though the disciples—and
I'm going to speak of another thing the Lord marveled at in
a second—but though the disciples marveled at what our Lord did
no man said, What seekest thou, or why talkest thou of her?" God's people. We may have no light or understanding
concerning His dealings in this world, but we've got sense enough
to know we don't question His sovereign work. We don't question
his ways. He said, my ways are not your
ways. Why would God Almighty do what he does? Because it pleased
him. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. It's sad to say, but most of
the time you're going to find that whenever things come our
way, caused by weakness and unbelief. We marvel at the things that
the Lord does. We wonder. Here's the sad part. We marvel
when the Lord does call somebody under darkness. You know why? Because we don't expect him to
do it. Sad to say, and I'm just confessing
myself, how many times have I thought to myself, you're not going to
believe this. Man's dead in trespasses and
sins. You're not going to believe this.
And I think, Marvin, you're so foolish. Did the Lord call you
out of darkness? Did he call me? what is to expect, but that God
Almighty is going to do what God Almighty is pleased to do.
I pray the Lord saves somebody today. I pray God calls somebody today
in this congregation out of darkness. I pray God have mercy and reveal
Himself. The Scripture says that the Lord
marveled Number one, that so great faith in that centurion. Lord, you speak the word. I'm a man of authority. I've
got these soldiers here. I say this when you go, he goes,
you come, he comes. Lord, if you just speak the word.
And the Lord marveled. I've not seen so great faith,
no, not in all of Israel. In Matthew 11.25 the scripture
says, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babies. He
thanked his Father for revealing The Scripture says he also marveled
at unbelief. He marveled at great faith, and
he marveled, the Scripture says, at unbelief. Now listen to this
Scripture that reveals what the Lord Jesus Christ marveled at. And you know as sure as we are
standing here, sitting here, When the scripture says He marveled,
now as God Almighty, as Deity, He marveled never. But as the Son of Man, He wondered and admired. Someone
says, can you explain that to me? No. No, I cannot. But I can tell you that He was
in all points. life as we are, yet without sin. He perfectly, now these disciples,
they marveled, wondered, and didn't understand. And he perfectly
understood. And marveled, marveled at belief,
admired belief. And then he marveled at unbelief. Listen to this, Mark 6, 5 and
6. And the scripture says, And he
could there do no mighty work, but that he laid his hands upon
a few such sick folk, and healed them, and he marveled because
of their unbelief, and he went round about the villages teaching. Now I look at what was said,
he could there do no mighty work. This I do know. It was not because
he didn't have the I know that unbelief does not
thwart the power of Almighty God. I'm looking at some evidences
of that right here. You think unbelief is going to
stop the Lord Jesus Christ? You think that our ability to
resist Him is going to stop Him? That's what Arminianism preaches.
He wants to do it, but he can't do it, because you won't let
him. You know that's not so. Unbelief
stopped the Son of God, the Son of Man? No! But it wasn't proper. That's
what it meant. It wasn't permitted. It wasn't proper. Not because he didn't have the
power to do so. He said, I do always only those
things that please my Father. He had a work to do, his Father's
will, and he would do his Father's will. You remember when the Spirit
of God didn't allow the preachers Paul and them to go into Asia?
No, they were restrained. No. Paul said, I wanted to go,
but the Holy Ghost, we were left, we were stopped. He could do no mighty work there,
save he laid his hands on a few sick folks. And he marveled because
of their unbelief. Those that did not believe him,
didn't believe him because they didn't want to believe him. And
Almighty God, the Scripture reveals to us that God Almighty does
not permit the gospel to be preached. He
restrained Paul. And where that gospel is not
preached, where that gospel is not heard, Whose fault is it,
the cause of unbelief? It's man's. You say that doesn't make sense.
This is the God of this Bible. And He does what He will, as
He will, when He will, with whom He will. A man said, I think that that sounds
a little bit unfair to me. Who art thou, O man, that replies
against God? Does he that has been created
have the right to say to the Creator, why have you made me
thus? Don't argue with God. I'm telling
you, you bow. There are some things that I
will readily admit I cannot explain concerning his dealings I was reading a little bit in
the book of Ecclesiastes the other day, and it was talking
about a time to plant, a time to harvest, a time to speak,
and a time to be silent. Boy, I tell you, I pray God teach
me something about that. Almighty God, He's God in heaven
and earth. So having seen the marvel of
our Lord's dealing with these sinners, I want you to look at
the effect. They marvel. Men may marvel because
of the Scripture's revelation of the simplicity of the preaching
of Christ. Men say, I don't see how in the
world. I don't see how in the world that's enough. I don't
see how that... Men marvel at God's sovereignty.
Believers marvel at the wonder of it. They buy into it. Lord, is it enough? Is it enough? Is it enough that I preach the
gospel of Christ? Is it enough that I preach the
sovereignty of God? Is it enough that I proclaim
Almighty God who is? Is it enough? It's enough. That's enough. What are we going
to do? We're going to believe God. Eternal
souls at stake. I don't know who are the lords. I don't know. But I do know this. If he's going to call one out
in this, he's going to call him out under the preaching of his
son. You hear him. Well, the scripture says, when
he told her, I'm who? Verse 28-29 says, The woman then
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? This Samaritan woman came to
this well to give her some water. That's on the reason she came. Obviously she had no thought
of her eternal soul, and the Lord was pleased to give her
a new heart, a new love, a new hope. And that which once was her interest,
I thought about that, she left her water pot there. We don't know anything about
it. Maybe it was the only one she had. Maybe it was inexpensive. Maybe it was the family heirloom. What difference did it make? There was one thing that mattered
to her. You come see a man that told
me all the things ever I did. This woman Number one was honest. He was honest. Isn't it amazing
how when God calls somebody out of darkness how honest they get?
Yeah, that is the way I am. Yeah, that's me. Yeah, he told
me. He told me. Well, he told me
about my past marriages and he told me about the situation right
now. It revealed Himself to me that He was the Christ. I think
about the quickening power of Almighty God. And as Jesus passed
forth, the Scripture says in Matthew 9-9, from thence He saw
a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of customs, and He
saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. Isn't it amazing when you see
the power of God to call somebody in right now. I remember a time
in my life when I began to hear. I started, and there was a period
of time when I started seeing some things. I don't know, I
can't tell you, as I've told you before, I can't tell you
exactly when the Lord called me out of darkness. Oh, but how wonderful is the
beholding of the effects of life. This woman left her water pot. I'm not saying that she didn't
come back and get it later. I'm not saying she never came
to get water again. I don't doubt for one second
she came back and got some real water again. That's not the point. The point was, the only thing
that mattered, She left that water pot. Paul the Apostle says, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. This woman was concerned with
the Master, and everything else played second fiddle. that the Lord uses in calling
his sheep to himself. This woman said, come see a man
who has told me all things that ever I did is not this to Christ. She was just a woman. A woman that based on our Lord's conversation
with her, Probably her standard of living
was questionable. She didn't have a great reputation,
I can tell you that. But Almighty God blessed the
words from her mouth. The scripture says in verse 30,
when she said to them, come see a man who told me all things
that ever I did, it's not just the Christ, then they went out
of the city and came unto him. Now I can tell you this, and
you've read this, in the next few verses, there were some of
them that believed too. Zechariah 4.10 says, Who hath
despised the day of small things? Invite somebody to come. Invite
somebody. What did this woman say? Come,
see a man, which told me all things. Who knows? The Lord may
bless it. He made blessed. 1 Corinthians 1.27 says, But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. This woman was persuaded by the
Lord Jesus Christ that He was the Messiah. She believed Him,
left her waterpot, And she went and told some others. She told
them what great things the Lord had done for her. If Almighty God is pleased to
bless the gospel of His grace, He's going to do so in power
under the preaching of the honor of Almighty God in Christ alone. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart and cause us to see that it is Christ only that
matters.