Right. Let's take our Bibles. OK. Let's take our Bibles and
turn to John, Chapter 4. John, Chapter 4. I'd like for us to look. this morning at a couple of verses,
verses 25 and 26. Before we begin reading and looking
into our Lord's Scriptures, let's ask His blessing. Our Father, it's so good to be
able to call upon You in the name of the Lord Jesus. How wonderful! to consider that we can, by Him,
enter into Your presence. Lord, we're trying to pray. We're trying to worship. We're
trying to be honorable. And we struggle. We thank You that we can consider
that Your love toward us is that which casteth out fear." Perfect
love casteth out fear. It's Your love toward us whereby
we can rest. Would You bless the Word today
to our understanding and our comfort and our peace for Christ's
sake? Amen. And just stop for a minute and
consider this. We're reading the account concerning
when God Almighty, He who inhabits eternity, the boundless God of
all creation and mercy, God Almighty, He who is beyond our ability
to comprehend. He who has everlastingly loved
a people and loved the order of man and was not going to allow
the order of man to perish from this earth. All the other orders. angels and flying birds and fish
and four-footed beasts. There was no redemption only for man. God loved the order
of man. And in the indescribable mercy
of Almighty God, we were made in God's image before
mankind was ever brought into existence. God Almighty beheld the blessed
Christ before He actually came and took upon Himself The likeness
of His people, made in their likeness. We were made in His
likeness, remember. We weren't first. He was first. That's just too high for me.
God loved that order. And God Himself united with humanity. And now we're reading about it.
He actually walked on this earth and he met this woman, a woman
that obviously he had everlastingly loved, one that he had to go
through Samaria to cross paths with her. He was going to cross
her path. He was going to draw her to himself. And now, here He is talking to
her. And she's actually listening
to the voice of Him who is our Savior. Oh, the longsuffering of our
God. He's telling her about worship.
What it is to truly worship God. I think about that blessed Word. And I mean that when I was talking
a while ago when we were praying. We're trying to worship. We see
that Word. We consider that truth. Actually, when you look up that
Word, it means to lick the hand like a dog. a dog that would
lick its master's hand. We're trying to be honorable.
We're trying to be considerate. We're trying to be respectful. And all the while we're trying
to be respectful, we realize just how much trouble we deal
with, trouble within, trouble without. And this woman that
he's talking to, Every time she opened her mouth, this woman revealed her ignorance. Every attempt that she gave as
far as an argument to our Lord's conversation, he was long-suffering
and merciful to her. It's one of His own. The Lord asked her for some water.
She said, how is it that you being a Jew ask a drink of me,
a Samaritan? How is that? He said that He would give her
living water. And she said, well, sir, thou
hast nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Obviously,
you don't realize the logistics of this well. You don't even
have a bucket. And do you know how deep this
well is? Jacob, our father, dug this well. He drank from this well himself.
Let me ask you this, sir. Are you greater than our father
Jacob? Now you just consider the long-suffering
of our God. Think of how merciful He has
been to His people. Think how merciful He was to
you. You that know Him. You that believe
Him. You that trust Him. How merciful. Think of all of
the arguments that we've come up with. Think of all of the
silly excuses. Think of all of the silly reasons
that we give Him. Oh, the longsuffering of God. Our Lord asked her about her
husband. Revealed that situation that she was in. And then she
wanted to start talking religion. Started talking about where you're
supposed to worship. Then He revealed to her the true
nature of the God that rules in rain. God is Spirit. And now the last of her rebellions
are going to be overcome. When our Lord told her in verse
24, God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and truth. There is one acceptable way in which God is worshiped. And it is in the heart, in spirit,
by the Holy Spirit, internally, according to truth, in and by
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's truly a heart worship. Now, right now, you're listening.
You're sitting here and you're listening. See, I can't see what's
going on inside. You don't really know what's
going on inside me. I mean, there's something that
is amazing about worship. God Almighty sends His Word. And the Spirit of God takes that
Word and blesses that Word to the new heart, to the new man,
to the new mind. And God Almighty reveals by His
Spirit the truth of this. And something happens internally. There is worship. And it's the giving of praise
and honor and thanksgiving. And there's respect. And all the while, in the midst
of that worship, God's people are still struggling. And they're
worshiping. And they see something of themselves. And they think that there's coming
a time when the body of this death, this body of sin, is not
going to be here anymore. And there will be unrestricted
worship. But they have a glimpse of it
right now. They know something about it right now. The nature
that resides within that new man, that new life, the life
of Christ, you're going to go through eternity
with that life. That's life. That's Christ. Christ in you.
And you'll be in heaven eternally with this nature. And you have
it. The Spirit of God has given you
the earnest of your salvation. The down payment. The first of
it. And you have it. You possess
it right now. And you know something about
worship. And you want to worship. You want to honor Him. Well,
this woman. Here's the Lord. He's talking
to this woman in all wisdom. And the woman says in verse 25,
unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When He has come, He will tell
us all things. I cannot get over how longsuffering
our Lord is to us. Now here's a woman, and he's
talking to her, and still in deadness of heart, she's talking
about truth that she does not truly understand. The quickening power of God's
Spirit has not revealed to her, this is life eternal. This is
life eternal. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 17 that they may know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. This woman is talking to him and she doesn't know him.
She doesn't know who he is. She doesn't realize him. She
knows about him. We know that when Messiah is
coming, which is called Christ, when He has come, she has some
understanding of God's Word. But the light that this woman
had was darkness. Man by nature can talk about
the Lord Jesus Christ and not know Him. I know that Messiah is cometh.
Call Christ. You see, the Samaritans, I read,
knew something of the promised Messiah. And what they knew was
based upon the first five books of the Holy Scriptures. So this
woman said, we know that God is going to send a Messiah. Well,
Genesis 3.15 concerning the Lord speaking to Satan, the one that
would crush him, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head. thou
shalt bruise his heel." She knew that a Messiah was coming. She
knew that Christ. So the Samaritans knew that the
Messiah was promised and concerning all the things that she knew, she still didn't realize that
He was the Messiah. When He has come, she said, He'll
tell us all things. How did she know that? Well,
Deuteronomy 18, 18, I will raise them up a prophet from among
their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak unto him all that I shall command
him. She had been taught to acknowledge
verbally. I know that Messiah is coming
and when He comes, He's going to make all this stuff clear
about worship. All these things we're going
to understand. He's going to straighten all of this stuff
up. And we've got to remember that
this woman is still speaking out of a dead heart. She does
not know who He is. The only thing she knows is that
Messiah is coming. She's trying to justify herself,
and the more she talks, the more she expresses her ignorance of
Him. But listen to the word of mercy,
the voice of the shepherd as he calls out one of his own.
Verse 26, Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am. He is in italics there. I that
speak unto thee, I am. The amazing truth of that scripture
is this, those words can be heard by many. Just a few words. I that speak
unto thee, am he. But when the Spirit of God blesses
those words to an object of His mercy, God
Almighty does something that only God Almighty can do. The object of God's mercy, He
hears. He hears in power. And everything
else doesn't matter anymore. Why is it that one heard the
same words? One heard in truth and power
and grace and the other didn't. Why? because the Spirit of God
blows where he listeth." And you hear the sound thereof. But
what God does, God does. I that speak unto thee. The time
of love had come to this woman. I know, based on verse 29, that
this woman, she says to these men that she will look at Lord
willing next time. Come see a man which told me
all things that ever I did." Is not this the Christ? I know, I know that Almighty
God called this woman out of darkness. Nothing more was needed
to be said. I that speak unto thee am He. God wrought power, mercy, gave
her a new heart, removed that heart of rebellion It didn't
rain anymore. Presence of sin there. The rule
of sin, the reigning of sin, not anymore. The Savior of sinners had revealed
Himself to the object of this mercy. No more arguments, no
more debates, no more questions. When He calls His people here,
they come. These words that he spoke to
this woman were exactly the setting forth of the title. When God
Almighty said to Moses, He told him, He said, you go down and
you tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Well, Moses said, when I
go down, who shall I say sent me? Exodus 3, 13, 14, Moses said
unto God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and
shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto
you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall
I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. When Messiah comes, he's going
to tell us all things. And the Lord said to her, I am.
Can you imagine the arresting power
of God Almighty? What an answer to that question
that she had formerly given. Are you greater than our father
Jacob? That answer came to her heart
when Almighty God gave her a new heart. Yeah, yeah, you're greater
than our Father Jacob. Our Lord's discourse with this
woman set forth four amazing, indescribable points. Number one, His indescribable
mercy. This woman, adulterous rebel
before God, no different than you or I. What's the difference
in me or you? What's the difference in this
woman? What's the difference? Humanly speaking, nothing. We're
dug out of the same pit. There's not an ounce of difference.
Does God have the right to take out of the same lump one vessel
unto honor Another vessel under dishonor. God has a right to
do that. Consider the mercy of God. Secondly, His indescribable
wisdom. He didn't lash out at this woman.
Tell her how stupid she was, how ignorant she was. Lashing
out, fussing, fighting. Nobody has ever been called out
of darkness. by arguments. The Spirit of God blessed the
Word of God. Here's the amazing thing. It
is not the volume of which I speak. It's not the amount. It's like the Lord says, they
think that they'll be heard for their much speaking. Here is the bottom line. If God
is pleased to bless the truth concerning Christ, here is God
Almighty, the Savior of sinners, and He blessed this Word, He
spoke concerning her need, oh, may we learn to emulate Him. Tell a man, tell a woman what
they are before God. Needy sinners. What's the word of hope? Look
and live. I know that I'm not able to,
I can't impart that word in your heart. I know that. Only Almighty
God can bless that word. Lord, would you be pleased to
bless the word today? Thirdly, His indescribable patience. Oh, what ignorance this woman
displayed. How ignorant are we. Oh, the
long-suffering of Almighty God. He was not willing that this
woman should perish. In her dead state, argument,
concerned with everything else, she was concerned Not having
to come back to that well anymore. Not wanting to drink anymore.
Trying to argue with Him on where's the best place to worship. Stuff
like that. Isn't it amazing how when God
calls somebody out of darkness, that the only thing that matters
is Christ. Everything else revolves around
Him. He's it. He doesn't play second
fiddle to anybody. And then fourthly, his indescribable
power. I know this based on Scripture. Somebody would say, well, you
just don't know her heart. Well, I know what the Scriptures
say concerning man by nature. So I can make this statement
based on what I know Scripture says. I know that if this woman
would have been left to herself, No change. If the Lord Jesus
Christ, and this is an impossibility, but as men say, everybody has
a free will. But if this woman would have
been left to herself to receive or reject His Word by her so-called
free will, she would have perished. I know
that. You say, well, how do you know?
John 6, verse 44. No man can come to Me. No man has the ability. No man has the power. No man
has the will. No man can. No man can come. I know that they won't come,
but no man can come. except the Father which hath
sent me, draw him, powerfully draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day." I know that she would not come. No man can come. I told you about somebody asking
me one time, what if someone truly wanted to come? They truly wanted to come. And
they're not one of God's elect. I said, well, I can tell you
this. They won't want to come. They will not want to come. No man seeks after God. Men that are dead spiritually,
that means that they have no ability, no desire. See, the
only problem is man by nature does not realize when the Scripture
talks about the dead heart. Men are dead in trespass. They
don't believe they're really dead. They just think that that's maybe
just some word that you just throw in. You understand dead,
physical death, and you see the impossibility of anything happening. It's just not going to happen.
Why? They're dead. They're dead. Life is gone. It's not there
anymore. Spiritual death. No man can. But what's going to happen when
God does draw? What will happen? Psalm 110, 3. I'll just read
it. Here's what the Scripture says.
Thy people shall be, again, it's in italics.
Here's what it's saying. Thy people willing in the day
of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of
the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth." Thy people willing. God's people want to come. They desire to come. They must
come. I must have Him. He accomplished
in this woman exactly what God the Father sent Him to do. seeking
to save that which is lost. All that the Father has given
me shall come to me. They shall come to me. Only those that God has given
Christ are going to come. As long as there is breath in
the lungs, never despair, though, that God may show mercy. I heard someone say one time
concerning those two thieves on either side of our Lord. Here
is what we do know. One of them, both of them at
one time, railing on him, but then just the Scriptures
It just, all of a sudden, the whole tone of one of them just
changed. One of them started telling the
other one, wait a minute, we're getting exactly what we deserve. This man's done nothing. Lord,
when you enter into your kingdom, would you remember me? getting ready to die. Both those
men died. Just not very long after this came through, they
broke both their legs. They couldn't hold themselves anymore. They
died. Two things we know. Two thieves on the cross. Never
presume that God Almighty will do anything. Never presume that. But never despair that He might
not show mercy. I'm telling you, ask Him. Ask Him. Daily. Daily. I ask God to have mercy on my
kids. On my grandkids. On this church. On me. Help me. He said you don't have
because you don't ask. You say, but isn't God Almighty
going to do that which He's pleased to do? He who is pleased to do
what He's going to do also is pleased to use the means. He may be pleased to show mercy
to one of your kids, and He'll give you a heart to ask Him for.
I will be inquired of these things. I'm going to be. I will, I will,
I shall, Ezekiel 36. I will, yet for all these things
will I be inquired of. Ask Him. Ask Him to have mercy
on your kids and grandkids, on your parents. Ask Him. The Scripture says, peradventure,
God might show mercy. Perhaps is what that means. Here was a woman. She was an
adulterous woman. Unfaithful. Had five husbands. She's living with a man right
now who wasn't her husband. Almighty God showed mercy. You think, could God show mercy
to one like that? Gone through her life acting
like that? He showed mercy to me. He showed mercy to some of
you. May God have mercy on our hearts
for Christ's sake.