Okay, our message tonight is
going to be in John chapter 4, but I want you to turn first
off to Matthew chapter 17. I've got a few things there with
me. Verse 1, it says, After six days
Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before
them. And his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias, that's Elijah, talking
with him. Then answered Peter, and said
unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt,
let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias. Now, in what Peter began to say
here, and really truthfully in Peter's spirit here, there was
probably nothing that he said that he didn't mean for good.
Absolutely nothing. Verse 4, Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord. That's a good way to address
Him. Lord, that's who He is. Nothing
wrong with that. He said unto him, Lord, it's
good for us to be here. That was true. It was good for
them to be there. Then answered Peter to Jesus
and said, Lord, it's good for us to be here, if thou wilt.
That's the proper way to ask, if thou wilt. Nothing wrong with
that whatsoever. Then answered Peter, said unto
Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here, if thou wilt. Let
us make. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Here's the beginning of our problem
in everything. Everything. Let us make. What Peter says next is why this
is the beginning of error in everything. He says, let us make
here three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one
for Elijah. As sincere and as well-meaning
as Peter is here, as all the disciples were that stood there
with him, if they had been left to do what they desired to do, they would have worshipped, first
of all, what they built. What they built. Their tabernacles. Christ is the tabernacle. He is the dwelling place of His
people, wherein we dwell in perfect completion in Christ. He does the building. In all
regards, He does the building. That's the honor that's been
given to Him of the Father. He does the building. And He
makes us to dwell in Him, and He builds His church, and He
makes others to dwell in Him. Does He use us to do that? There's a glorious oneness in
the way that He does that. And any way you look at it from
any angle, there's nothing but good in it. But He does it. He does it. Well, the second
thing, because they would have worshipped what they built, they
would have also worshipped the law and the prophets, Moses and
Elijah. That is, if my tabernacle began
because I built it, I'll worship my knowledge of
the law and of the prophets, of the scriptures. There may be a tabernacle that
goes by the name of Christ. They would have been there if
they had built those, wouldn't they? But it would all be worshipping
me. If I build it. Same with Peter
here. If he was allowed to do this,
and James and John were allowed to do this, they would be worshipping
themselves. There would be no worship of
Christ whatsoever. Whatsoever. And they meant well,
but here's how we're kept from our well-meaning error, however
well-meaning it be. Here's how we're kept from it.
If I have ever in my life preached the truth to you, and am certain the Lord has given
it to me, it is the past three or four messages. especially
Thursday night, Sunday morning, and tonight. And it's come from
a year, a year of trial that's been parallel with other needy
brethren's trial. And I'm seeing what the trial's
about. I'm seeing what the issue is
with myself and with this church. And I've never been as convinced
that God has given me the message. And I urge you, listen to those
messages again. We don't hear them the first
time. And to think that we do is just haughty arrogance. We don't hear them the first
time. I sent you all some messages this past week that blessed my
heart that another pastor preached. And if you've listened to them
and been blessed by them yourself, you'll probably find this amazing.
The first time I listened to them, I got nothing from them. partly because I was looking
at the man, and partly because I took offense with the man.
But I went back and listened to him over and over and over,
and it has just been, I have just heard something dear to
my heart, and it's just been the Lord talking to me, to me. So go back and listen and listen.
There's not a single word I have spoken in any of the messages
I've preached Thursday night or Sunday morning that I take
back. Not a single word. And I went
back and listened to them myself. Not a single word. I don't get
up here and speak. Flippantly and off the cuff I
get up here and speak what I have laid down and begged God to give
me and I've never laid down and begged God and been just laid
out to where he didn't give me anything like I have been for
about the past month or so So that when it came It came in
such a way, in such an hour, that I knew I didn't get this. This didn't come of me. It just
didn't. But it's needful. It's very needful. And it's exactly what's needful
for the hour. And I know, without a doubt,
it won't return unto the Lord void. It will not. It never does,
and it won't. It just won't. Now here's how
we're going to be saved from what we say and what's well-meaning. But we'll divide and separate
if left to ourselves. Verse 5, while he yet spake. Oh, thank the Lord for divine
interruption. Right in the middle of speaking.
While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud. overshadowed them. That's how they were led in the
wilderness. That's how we're led now. A bright
cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which
said, this is my beloved son. In whom? In whom? The one. In whom? I am. God who is I am. Well pleased. Here. Here. Ghee. Him. Him. Now I'm thankful for
that. And I look at verse 6. And when
the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore
afraid. They trembled. They fell on their
face. And that's when we're strong.
That's when we're strong. When we're so afraid, that we
can't even dare lift up our face off the ground. We are spent
and just laid out in utter weakness. That's when we're going to be
the strongest. Well, once he does that, how then are we going
to be safe from looking to ourselves and hearing ourselves and making
ourselves the standard whereby everything is right or wrong?
How are we going to do that? Verse 7, And Jesus came and touched them. One was talking, but he touched
all of them, because that's what they was all thinking. Touched
them, and he said, he came, he touched them, and he said, arise,
be not afraid. How many times have we heard
that phrase? We heard it Thursday night, we
heard it Sunday, we heard it right now. Be not afraid. Not
afraid. And when they lifted up their
eyes, They saw no man, not Moses, not
Elijah, Jesus only. Now you turn with me, if you
will, to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. The title of
the message tonight is, Who is speaking to me? Who is speaking to me? John chapter
4 verse 5. Then cometh Christ to a city
of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Remember, I pointed out to you
Sunday, that the taking away and giving to the firstborn was
not the taking away from the rest of the children in that
earthly father's house. It was the salvation of all the
children in the house. And Jacob took the double portion
from the son who was literally born first. That was Reuben.
He took it from him because Reuben was unstable as water. And he
gave the firstborn to him that was literally born after Reuben,
but who really all along was the firstborn son. And that was
Joseph. And that was the salvation of
all the true children in Jacob's house. And what we learn from
that is God took the right of the firstborn from that first
one who appeared to be the firstborn son, who was Adam, because he
was unstable as water. And if he would have left it
in his hand and left us under the dominion of Adam, we died. We died in him and it would have
been division and separation and nothing but death. But he
took it out of his hand before he ever gave it into Adam's hand
and gave it to the one who was born after Adam who appeared
to be the one born second, but who all along was the firstborn
son. And that was Christ Jesus, the
head, the savior, the son of God, the Lord, the one who is
the bishop and shepherd of our souls. And by God doing that
from before the foundation of the world, it was the salvation
of all the true children of God, the chosen elect children of
God, chosen in Him before time ever began. And so we see, brethren,
from that. He's teaching us that when we
have been given a heart where Christ is first, no matter what
it is that we give to Him, it's because He's first given it to
us. And we haven't given Him anything
that He hasn't already given to us. And it's not the taking
away from our children. It's not the taking away from
the others that may be suffering amongst us right here. It is
indeed that which is going to save us and be the furtherance
of us and the help we need for ever and ever. If a husband is
sick and a child is sick in the house, which one is it just the
order and the most important to tend to, to minister to, to
help to get well? Not neglecting the child at all,
not at all. But if the child's gonna have
bread brought home by the father and given to them, which is gonna
be the strength and perpetual strength of that child for as
long as they, you know, are under his roof, then it's gonna be,
the important thing is, is that that head be nourished, that
husband be nourished, and that that food be given. That sounds
backwards to us, and that sounds like they're taking away to us,
but it's not, because honor is, Christ. Do you see? See? See
that? Christ is given. He's given. And He's going to give the faith
to where we're going to give to Him and know that He's the
one that's given. Now, all this time later, here's how we see
that this is so. All this time later, here is
a well. Look at the next verse. Now Jacob's
well was there. Are we talking about that physical
well? No. Well, yeah, it was there, but
Jacob's well was there. The one who was the well to Jacob. The one who was the firstborn
to Jacob. The one who was the reason why
Jacob took that from Reuben and gave it to Joseph. The reason
why he took all and gave it into the hands of Christ. He was there. This is Christ. Jacob's well,
the well of water, the well of life. This is Christ and He's
there. But He's literally in that place.
He's literally in that very place where Jacob literally took that
physical and gave it to his firstborn son. And now all these many years
later, He comes to Samaria near the parcel of ground that Jacob
gave to his son Joseph and now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied
with his journey, set 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. You remember Sunday when we saw
Elijah, the servant of God, was sent to that widow woman in Sarepta,
and all he said to her at first was, Give me to drink. You know
Jacob's well was there too. Christ was speaking to that woman
at Sarepta, just as real as He was speaking to this woman right
here at this well. Verse 8, get this, for His disciples
were gone away into the city to buy meat. I want to give you
three things here on this. Right here in the midst of others,
as we hear the Gospel preached, sometimes He makes us hit our
face right here while we're sitting without moving a muscle. He makes
us hit our face just like he did Peter and James and John.
And he comes right where we are and he touches us and he says,
fear not. And he raises our eyes and we
look up and we don't see any man. We see Jesus Christ only. The man, Jesus Christ. But sometimes,
at first, all we see is a man. An earthen vessel. And sometimes
the Lord waits until literally all the disciples have gone away.
And then He uses the word that He delivered to make me hear His voice. and
hit my face and to know it's just me and him. And it's been
him talking to me the whole time. And he does that to make me and
you know that while we're away buying meat and thinking we're
giving something to him and we're going to do something for him,
he's doing everything. He's doing everything. They weren't
even there. They weren't even there. All
right, verse 9. Let's see that. Let's see how
that works, just exactly. He's going to give us a personal
illustration of it, just like he did Thursday night with Peter,
just like he did Sunday with the widow at Serepta. 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
truth? Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. What did the widow woman see
when Elijah spoke to her? She saw a man who was a Jew speaking
to her, a woman who was a Gentile. What did this woman see? She
saw the same thing. She did question herself, she
questioned the one standing before her, because she thought this
was just a man standing before her. You know that widow at Sarepta
said, as the Lord God liveth, I don't have a cake, I have a
handful of meal in a barrel. He didn't ask her to give anything
that wasn't in the barrel. He didn't beseech her to give
anything that wasn't in the barrel. He said, just give me what's
in the barrel. Faith was trusting that what was in the barrel wouldn't
ever stop being in the barrel. She said, I'm gathering two sticks
that I might go in and dress it for me and my son that we
may eat and die. Both questioned the one standing
right before them, but both questioned the same one. the Lord God to master Himself. Verse 10, Jesus answered and
said unto her, here's where we get our title, 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 Lord often allows us the
space He allowed this woman right here, the space He allowed that
widow at Sarepta, the space He's allowed us time and time again
in this place and will continue to allow us in this place. Not
that it's an excuse for any believer to question Him. It doesn't excuse
it. But the Lord often does this
to make us to see just how slow we are to know that Christ, the
gift of God, eternal life, the well, the water, the bread, the
meal that is there, that shall never perish nor be diminished,
to make us know that He's the One that's been speaking to us
all along. You know, when men heard the
Word of the Lord through His prophets, we found them replying
this way sometimes. They gathered themselves together
against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, You take
too much upon you. Seeing, it's always It's always
a problem when we think that somebody's taking too much upon
them. Seeing, they're looking with these eyes, well not just
these eyes, seeing, seeing all the congregation are holy, every
one of them, and the Lord is among them, wherefore then lift
ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. That's how the word
preached is always received. It's either received as it truly
is, or it's received as a man just trying to lift himself up
above the congregation. That's how it's received. And
God lets us receive it both ways sometimes to teach us what we
need to be taught. You know, Moses answered when
they said that. He said, what's Aaron that you're
murmuring against him? Why are you murmuring against
Aaron? He's just a servant of the Lord. Moses defended him. You
know, not very long before that in Numbers chapter 12, you know
who it was murmuring against Moses who said the exact same
thing and said, we're all holy and you take too much upon yourself?
It was Aaron saying it to Moses. Is it surprising that unbelieving
sinners said what they said to Christ and doubted Him? Is it
surprising that Aaron, a believer, did that to God's messenger? Listen to what this woman at
the well says to Christ, the Son of God, who is the Master,
and listen to what she says to him face to face. Verse 11, 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? who gave us this well and drank thereof himself and
his children and his cattle." Does that sound like what I just
said to you? Wherefore lift ye up yourselves
above the congregation of the Lord. You know the disciples,
we just saw the disciples in the mount speaking, just speaking
hastily. How many times do we see the
believer meaning well in what they said, but doing the same
thing? Philip had walked with him. Philip had heard him preach.
Philip had been blessed by him. Philip had heard him and rejoiced
and said, this is the Son of God speaking to me. And yet,
face to face, Philip turned to him and he said, Lord, show us
the Father and it sufficeth us. We'll believe you. They said that to the Lord Himself.
That man who walked with Him and believed Him and knew Him.
And the Lord said, Have I been so long time with you, yet thou
hast not known Me, Philip? All of a sudden you act like
when you've been blessed all before, all of a sudden you act
like now I'm your enemy? That you don't even believe Me
and know Me? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, how saith then, show us the Father? He's God. Now,
the Lord told the disciples, it was written before, He said,
it's written before that you'll forsake me. And they all said,
that might be written about Him, but that's not written about
me. And they said that to the Lord Himself. This is our hope
to be patient and to wait. It's my hope to be patient and
to wait. I'm learning something now as
a pastor that I know my pastor was learning when he was trying
to pastor me. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, 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. She's going to know Anytime
that we're like this, we're going to know. We're going to know.
But sometimes we don't know at first. But we're going to know.
The believer's going to know. Now, God's going to interrupt
us as we're talking. He's going to interrupt us. Christ
is going to interrupt us. Look at verse 13. If we're His,
that's what's going to happen. Jesus answered, said unto her,
She just keeps talking, but he answered her. He interrupted
her. He said, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Talking about that earthly well
she saw. You realize that he asked her
to give him something. It wasn't even hers. You know,
with the widow at Sarepta, he used this demand to ask, not
to, let me back up. He's not asking. He didn't say,
go and ask the widow at Sarepta. He said, go tell her to do it. And he says, here, the Lord commanded
her. And the Lord said, the reason she gonna do it is because I've
commanded her. This is a sweet command. This is what he's doing
in this whole story right here that we're reading about, this
account we're reading about with this woman at the well. It's
what he did with the woman at Sarepta. But he's asked this
woman at the well to give something that wasn't even hers. He asked
that woman at Sarepta to give some meal that she felt like
was hers. But you know, in both cases,
either one was theirs. He'd given them both. Given them
both. He's given me mine, given you
yours, and it's not mine or yours. What do you have that you didn't
receive of Him? It's His. He's not said give
you something He hasn't given to you. When He comes in the
first hour, He don't say give me your heart first without giving
you the heart that He tells you then, now give me. That's right. And he don't say,
give him anything he's put in your hand, that he ain't first
put in your hand. Faith is trust in him who is
the giver. He said, if you knew the gift
of God, Christ is the gift of God. He is the gift of God. He said, if you knew it was him
speaking to you, you knew that. And he said to her, whosoever
drinketh this water, this earthly well, verse 13, he's gonna thirst
again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst. Never thirst. See, he's teaching
us something. He's teaching us, he uses earthly
things to teach us, you know, he didn't give us this earth
right here. to stomp on it and say, man, that earth is hard
and solid, so I'm just gonna lay down here and wrap my arms
around this old world and hang on to it with all I got, cause
this is terra firma, it's strong. No, he gave us this to give us
some understanding that he's the foundation. He's the one
that is more solid than this. It's going to perish and be burned
up. He's going to remain. He's going to remain. And that's
what he's doing with this earthly well, teaching. And that's what
he was doing with that physical meal with that woman at Sarepta.
He's saying, 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. It's
not going to be a well outside, it's going to be a well inside
you. And it's going to make every other well outside you to know,
when you look at it, you're going to say, that just reminds me
of the well inside me. That reminds me of the everlasting
water, Christ the well. This woman saith unto him, Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
And she hadn't quite understood the Master, had she? She thinks
he means that she won't have to come and draw out of that
physical well anymore when he gives her this water. Is that
going to be the case? No, she's going to have to do
that. She's going to have to work and come to that well and
let down the bucket and get water out of that well and take it
home and drink it just to have some physical life while he gives
that physical life to her on this earth. She doesn't understand what He
says at first. You know, that tells me, and
what I'm seeing here, men aren't going to understand this gospel
at first. Sometimes it takes a little while.
Sometimes it takes a long while. Sometimes it takes years and
years and years. But you think of the peace that
He gives. When He gives peace, you think how much more abundance
He gave that woman at Sarepta by giving him the peace that
He gives in the heart. He said, I don't give peace like
the world gives it, giving you my peace in the heart. Think
how much more in abundance He gave her when He made her to
know by faith that what she needed, as she needed it, would be given
by Him, rather than giving her more than
that so she could store it up in her barns. You know what a blessing that
was? When He does that, you know what happens? We start worrying
about how we're going to keep the barn, and how we're going
to keep everything in the barn, and how we're going to keep all
that. And you know what that is? They're not any peace in
it at all. It's nothing but worry and anxious
thought and trying to decide, how are we going to do this?
Because we think we're doing this. Think we're keeping it
in the barn. But he gave her something better
than that. He gave her the joy of a child. Think about this now. Do you
remember, you adults sitting here, Have you ever thought about
this and really thought, what was the joy? What was my real
joy that I had as a child in my father's house? What was it
that was the most joyful thing of all to me? I remember a day. I thought about
this today. I remember a day I was in college,
and I remember a day driving down the highway, and I worked
at two places. And the one place was a restaurant
right here that was a seafood restaurant. The other restaurant
was up about not even a quarter mile. You could see one from
the other, and it was a barbecue restaurant. And I worked in both.
One I worked in three days a week, and one I worked in every other
day. I was working in both, managing both of them. And I was driving
along one day, and something was bothering me, and I couldn't
figure out what it was. And I was driving between. I
remember this. I thought of this today. I remember
that. I was driving along, and I looked
at those two places, and it hit me. Clay, you don't have your
father. to provide for you anymore. You're
going to have to work the rest of your life to provide for yourself. Do you know what God does when
He enters into the heart? What Christ does when He enters
into the heart? And He makes us as children. And the joy and
the peace that He gives us, He makes us to know. You're under
the roof of your everlasting Father. And He's providing everything. He has and He is and He shall.
And the peace, unlike anything this world can give you, enters
the heart. And it does. The believer, God's
church, God's bride is given peace of the full provision.
My peace, Christ said, not as the world giveth, my peace. And
she follows after her husband, after her after the one who's
her provider, and you and I can tell of others of that peace,
but we dare not attempt, we dare not attempt to take it upon ourselves
to try to create that peace, or build something, or until
God has given that peace so that it's of Him and not of us. Now
this earthly water is only going to cease being our life when
Christ becomes the living water. And then we're going to come
to this earthly well and draw... I'm talking about this well right
here. This church right here, this
is the cruise, this is the barrel, this is the well. And we're going
to have to keep coming back to it and keep drawing out of it.
But he said, I'm going to always keep providing everything you
need in the barrel, in the cruise, in the well. Well, I thought
you said I was the well. and that He was the well of water
dwelling up in me. Oh yeah, all that too. We're talking about oneness.
We're talking about being inseparably united to Him and having everything
provided by Him. That's right. But then in the
midst of all of this, as we're coming to the well, we're like
those disciples who've gone off to buy Him something to eat.
A lot of times we get to thinking, Well, we need to go buy him something
to eat. And he makes us to see over and over. He causes us to
sort of lose that peace. But then he leaves us a little
space to start questioning, questioning, questioning. And he makes us
to know again the gift of God and who it is that's speaking
to us. So that we see that while we were away, in all our unbelief
and trying to buy meat for Him, give to Him, do for Him. While
we were away, He was doing some great things right there before
us. We didn't even know He was doing
it. Now let's go on and see what He does. First thing He's going
to do as He does all this, He's going to make us to know that
even though we deny what we really are, He knows what we really
are. But what we really are, is what
we are in Him. But He's going to make us to
know that He knows what we really are and what we really think
about ourselves. The first thing He's going to make us to know
is that He knows we're adulterers. Verse 16, Jesus said unto her,
Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and
said, I have no husband. She really don't know who she's
talking to, does she? This is God omniscient, all-knowing,
who knows everything. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said.
You have well said. I have no husband, for thou hast
had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.
You've said truly. She wasn't saying it to speak
truth. She was saying it to deceptively
hide what she was. But she said the truth. She said
the truth. I think I told you this one time
about my friend Brian. He was an early believer, and
he was talking to a fellow who knew everything there was to
know. And Brian didn't. He just was a new convert. He
was just telling this fellow what he knew. But what Brian
knew was enough to make this fellow get mad and angry. And
that fellow said, I can't believe what you've just told me. And
when Brian told me that, I said, and he spoke truly. He can't. She couldn't either. You and
I can't either. Then He's going to make us to
know that He knows that we think we're righteous by our religion.
But He's going to make us to behold the folly of that. Verse
19, The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art
a prophet. Now she's going to get real religious. Anytime somebody
here thinks that you're a preacher, Oh boy, the tune changes all
together then. I would sooner folks didn't know
I was a preacher when I'm talking to them because I can talk to
them and they will talk to me honestly and we can actually
have a conversation. When they hear, oh you're a preacher,
then the whole thing changes. Now there's no honesty coming
from them anymore. Now watch what she says. Our
fathers worshipped in this mountain. Oh, my daddy was a, he was, my
daddy's been, I've been, I come from a line of Baptist so far
back, way back. You say that in Jerusalem is
the place where men ought to worship. Well, now my family
worshiped this way. You say that they ought to worship
this other way, but now let me tell you, my family worshiped
this way too, you know. Jesus said unto her, woman, Woman,
this is an illustration of Christ of pride. This is an illustration
of each individual elect child of God. He says, woman, woman,
believe me. Stop looking to mom and daddy.
Stop looking to where they worshipped and in what mountain they worshipped.
Stop looking at all that. Believe Christ. The hour cometh. when ye shall neither in this
mountain," not that mountain she was in, in Samaria, where
Jacob worshipped, nor yet at Jerusalem, where Christ came
to. Neither one of those places,
because that earthly place is not the place to worship. It's
not the place we worship. You won't do that at this mountain
or at Jerusalem where you worship the Father. Verse 20, "'Ye worship
ye know not what, That's what he told her. That's hard, wasn't
it? That's what he's going to let us know in our heart when
he comes. You don't know what you're worshiping.
And he's going to do this over and over and over for us and
tell us, you don't know what you're worshiping! We know what we worship. There's just him standing there.
Who's he talking about? We. Just him. He's talking about
Him and everybody in whom He has revealed Himself. We know. We know. What we worship for
salvation is of the Jews. What does he mean by that? She
said, you're a Jew. How have you any dealings with
me who is a Samaritan? Because the Jews don't have a
thing in the world to do with Samaritans. You know what she couldn't see?
The way. She couldn't see the way. She couldn't see how that's
possible. Christ is King of the Jews. everybody that He creates
this well of water for in the heart where He cuts away that
old unbelieving, defiling, separating fleshly heart and gives a new
heart, a well of water springing up. He makes them, whether they
came out of Gentiles or they were physically Jews, He makes
them all true Jews. And He's the way that does that.
He's the only way that does that. Teach me, Lord, He's the only
way that does that. Cast forth the bread and wait. He's the only one that does this.
But the hour cometh, and it now is. It's coming, she's going
to believe, and it's right now. Listen, it's coming that she's
going to believe, but right now, because Christ is the faithful
one representing her to the Father, it's already fact. Though she
don't yet believe Him. You get that? The hour is coming,
and it now is. He's talking to her. The hour
is coming. You're fixing to believe, but
you're already perfectly faithful before God, because it is. Isn't
that what He's telling us? Listen. Thus saith the Lord, This well
shall never run dry. This barrel shall never be diminished. This shall be a well of living
water springing up, and every handful of meal you have is a
handful of meal filled full in your hand out of His hand, and
it is never going to diminish. The hour is coming, and it now
is. When the true worshipers 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. I'm looking
at earthly barrels and earthly wells and earthly meal and earthly
bread and earthly coins and earthly bank accounts and earthly houses
and earthly treasures and earthly so-called religious churches
that are Whatever, not looking at multitudes, look in one place! Christ! Christ, Christ, Christ,
Christ. I don't, well I can't see Him.
Oh, but can't you? Can't you? That's what faith
is. It is seeing. And one day, He's
going to make good on the promise He's made and we're going to
see Him with natural sight. And he's going to do the same
right here. He's going to say, take what I've put in the hand.
Not what I haven't put in the hand, what I have. It's not a
blind leap. The problem is, we know he's
put it there. We know we got it. And we say,
oh, but this is my life. That's the problem. No. Oh, no. No, no. You've got to
worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman said unto him,
I know that Messiah cometh which is called Christ." Any believer
right now in this day, when it comes right down to it, when
they're pressed down and spoken to directly like Jesus spoke
to this woman right here, will not every professing Christian
say, I know Christ is coming. That's my hope. Well, she knew that. But she
didn't know Christ. She didn't know Him. And He stood
right there in front of her. She said, I know that Messiah
cometh which is called Christ and when He's come He will tell
us all things. Jesus said unto her. He came to her. He touched her. And now He's ready to say something
to her. I that speak unto thee am. How much do I have to know to
be a believer. You have to know everything.
You have to know everything God says about Himself, everything
God has promised, everything God has said in this Word right
here. I better get studying it. I've
got a lot to memorize. I've got a lot to learn. You're
going to know every bit of it when Christ speaks in the heart
and He says, I that speak unto thee And you'll know everything. You'll know the peace. You'll
have all. Well, the fourth thing that Christ
is going to do in all this is He's going to make His disciples
who already believe Him to know that Christ is doing this work.
He's called us, and He's going to use us, but He's only going
to use us once He's made us to know that this is His work. Remember
Thursday night? They want to start looking at
those multitudes. That's what we want to start looking at.
He immediately separated them from the multitude. And He put
them on the Sea of Galilee, and He brought them into tribulation,
and then He brought them to the other side once He had taught
them that He is the one doing the work, and then He started
healing folks. But he had to do that first so they didn't
walk around over there like they was walking around after he fed
the 5,000. And the 5,000 started saying, hey, we like him. And
they started saying, sticking out their chest and going, well,
look, we. No, he brought them back down
from that to see, I'm the one doing the work. What did He do
here? Verse 27. Upon this came His
disciples. They come upon this whole situation
here where He's talking to this woman. And they marveled that
He talked with this woman. Yet no man said, What seekest
thou? or Why talkest thou with her? This is wisdom. They just stood still to see
and hear what it is Christ was doing here. 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? Then they went out of the city
and came unto him. Now all that was taking place.
That woman took off. Now he's going to tell his disciples
what he's been trying to show them or not trying. That's a
bad, bad word to say. He don't try anything. He's been
showing them all along. 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
said unto them, my meat is not going to be given me by
a man. You're not building me a tabernacle. If you did, you'd praise that
which you built, and you'd worship your knowledge, and you'd try
to build my church the same way. You ain't building it that way.
It's not gonna be built that way. My meat is to do the will
of Him that sent me and to finish His work. Christ receives not
from us, we receive all from Him. Christ's disciples receive
not from men, but receive all from Christ. Christ doesn't receive
anything from His preachers. His preacher receives everything
from Him. Christ's church receives nothing from men, but receives
everything from Christ. Christ has finished the work,
and He is now sending forth those whose meat is Christ. even as
His meat is pleasing the Father. And because He will accomplish
the work He has, He is, and He shall. And because He shall,
He won't receive meat that any man brings to Him when it's going
to interfere with Him doing the will of Him who sent Him. This woman at the well had to
be saved. The bride comes before the serpent. The bride comes before the servant. So this is the Master's words
for us before we take another step. While we know that just as Christ was a man
and He had to eat, just like I'm His servant, I have to eat.
So we know that he has to eat. So we know that the children
have to eat. So we know this is what we have
to remember first, first. While we're off buying food for
him, trying to buy food for him, he's making us to know that he's
the food of his dear children. I wonder if they tried to make
an excuse for not being there. They were, after all, doing everything
for Him, weren't they? They had every intention. That's
what they meant. That's what they were planning
to do. But He says to us, listen now, verse 35, Because this is His work, and
because now He's made them to see what that He, while they
were thinking they were doing something for Him, but indeed
if He would have allowed them to continue in it, it would have
just been interference and separation and them worshiping themselves
for what they had built, He stopped them. And now He's going to say,
now here's the lesson in all this. Say not ye there are yet
four months, and then cometh harvest. We're always planning, aren't
we? And we always got intentions to do. He says, don't say there's
four months and then come at the harvest. Behold, I say unto
you, lift up your eyes. Peter lifted up his eyes. Who'd
he see? Jesus only. Jesus only. The man Christ Jesus only. And
if you lift up your eyes and see him, you know what you're
going to see? Know what you're going to see? Look at the next
verse. And look on the fields. If you
look up and you see Christ first and you look on the fields, you're
going to see they're white already to harvest. His children have
already been redeemed. They're already white as snow.
They're already justified. They're already perfect with
the Father. You already have everything He's put in your hand.
You already have everything He's going to use. He's not telling
you He's going to give you something tomorrow to use for Him. He's
telling you what you've got now He's going to give you to use. And here's what he's doing to
teach us. He that reapeth. That's what you do when you go
and you harvest something. He that reapeth receiveth wages. You get a payment. What do you
get when you get that payment? You get fruit, don't you? When
you go out there and cut the bay leaves off the bay plant,
you get bay leaves. When you go out there and cut
the tomatoes off the tomatoes, fine, you get tomatoes. You get
a payment. And you gather fruit until life
eternal. Now, Paul said, it's not that
I desire a gift from you, but I desire fruit, the work of God's
grace in your heart that may abound to your account. Now look
at this, verse 36, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
may rejoice together. Are we going to rejoice? How
are we going to rejoice together with Christ? It will only be
as we see that it's not our providing, we're not sowing. Well, I thought
he said go forth and sow. What He's teaching us right here
is we're not sowing. But Christ is sowing and we're
receiving the wages, the fruit that's freely been already made
white and already been brought forth by Him. By Him. And herein, verse 37, is that
saying true? One soweth. Christ is that one. And another reapeth. That's the
work he's going to do through his bride, through his gospel,
through his disciples. Verse 38, I sent you to reap
that whereof you bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and
you're entered into their labors. Now to enhance the truth, that
this work is His, in the midst of teaching His disciples this,
He saved that woman and a bunch of others without them even being
around. Verse 39, Many of the Samaritans
of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman,
which testified, which went and said, He told me all that ever
I did. So when the Samaritans were coming to Him, they besought
Him that He would tarry with them, and He abode there two
days. And many more believed, but why did they believe? because
of His own Word. Because of His own Word. Who
is it that's speaking to me? Who's speaking to me? So let a man give himself to
Christ according to how Christ has prospered every man in his
own heart. according as Christ has spoken
the word into the man's heart, according as Christ has built
up the heart. If we do any building, it will
only be as Christ uses us to say this gospel to somebody else
to build up each other in this most holy, precious, separate
gift of God called Christ doing it all. Faith. Verse 42, And they 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. If I I have many things to say unto
you, but I can't right now. But let me ask you this. Who's the biggest giver in our
midst? When we know that, We will begin to reap what he
has already sown. I want you to take into consideration. Clay, we know you have a need And yet,
you've expressed that to us, and now it's almost like you're
telling us not to provide for that need. That's not it at all. But what you're telling us, Clay,
aren't you taking out of the mouth of your bride and out of
the mouth of your own children who could be provided for by
us? No. You see, the abundance and the
hope I have for that woman right there and for those children
right there is that Christ establishes this work and he makes this work
to prosper so that everybody knows it's his work that's doing
it. And if ever we begin to try to
build it ourself, it'll be divided and separated and it won't prosper. Now it may end up doing that
anyway, but what I've been trying to declare to you is this, God's
going to do it in such a way to where we have no doubt and
no other thing to say than that God did this. So, it's not Can
I talk you into doing this, or you into doing that, or let's
get together and talk about what this... No, that's not it. That's
not it. It's me and my own heart. I want to tell you a story. There
was a pastor I was talking to, and his wife, he and his wife
were needing a little more than what they were receiving. And
so he went, he expressed it to the men. And the men in the congregation
said, we'll do it. And it was substantial, substantial. They said, we'll do it. Each man in his own heart said,
I'll do it. And they said, tell her to go
tomorrow, put in her two week notice. And she, it was a few months
coming up before it was the end of the year. And she didn't want to leave
her employer like that, that quickly. So she said, I'm going
to work for him through the rest of the year to help get everything
in order. And this preacher and his wife
got the financial statement, looked at it each month. And the amount wasn't there. Next month, wasn't there. Next month, it wasn't there. So she didn't quit her job because
that wasn't there yet in the bank. Nope. She quit it. She quit it. From that day forward, it was
there. Who did that? God did that. I know that we're just like this
Samaritan woman. We know everything there is to
know. We want to build, but he's going to make us to know, like
he did his disciples. I'm building this work. I'm going
to use you, but I'm going to first use you only after you've
been made to know I'm doing it. And then you're going to do it
each one cheerfully and say, I'll do it. Not because as a
group effort, it was determined because it's all been agreed
in one. He's doing it. Now that's something he has to
teach us each in our heart. And when he does, he'll use us
all together. And as he does it, he'll use
us all together. All right.