Seeking once again the Lord's
help to enable me to speak to you, I'd like you to turn with
me to the chapter that we read together, the Gospel according
to John, chapter 4, and the text you'll find in verse 10. Jesus
answered and said unto her, If thou knowest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, what
it has asked of him and he would have given the living water. Those of you who were here this
morning hopefully will remember that we looked at the lamentations
of Jeremiah and how he looked at the destruction that was before
him and he mourned over the destruction that was before him and yet he
remembered that that destruction came as an account of God's love
to the children of Israel. That he had warned them and warned
them and warned them. They had failed to listen and
therefore he disciplined them with a rod of the hand of men
and he took them to captivity and as Jeremiah looked at the
destruction he remembered all of his ministry and the harness
of the heart of the people that he acknowledged God's goodness
in all of it. And he said, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions, they
fail not. And we hopefully try to look
at that God was a covenant-keeping God. And even though his people
failed to keep their side of the covenant, yet he remained
faithful to what he had stated. And even today, we are reciprocants
of God's covenant-keeping. and that he made a covenant with
Noah 5,000 or so years ago and he still remains faithful to
that. And we can witness the rainbow that he puts in the sky
as his covenant that he made with Noah that will continue
to the end of the earth. And I try to relate that to you
with the water main. and how it failed. God's covenants don't fail, his
compassions don't fail, yet men are reliant upon God's covenant
and his grace. And the reason why we can have
all of these Utilities is because of God's favour, God's continued
blessing and often they fail. But God's covenants never fail,
his compassion never fails and there are multitudes, eight billion
people upon the face of the earth who are reliant upon God being
a covenant keeping God even today and then there are those of his
people who are reliant upon his covenant with Christ, who have
found safety in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is their head,
he is their saviour, he is their substitute, he is their mediator,
and in that covenant they are safe and they are secure in the
Lord Jesus Christ. trying to follow the theme, I
suppose, of the water main and how it has brought to our attention
our great frailty and our great need of relying on the infrastructure
that we have, and especially water. how that water is so necessary
for us to live and how it governs every aspect really of our lives.
We wake up in the morning, we clean our teeth, we wash our
faces, we have cups of tea, we go to work. We have drinks throughout the
day. We come home, we have showers,
we cook our dinners. And so our whole life revolves
around this provision of God. And when it's
taken away, it really exposes our dependence upon it. And although
we in Eastbourne do not have the problem, yet Elsie and I
and the family can relate to it. because we have had that
experience where water has disappeared and we realise how precious a
commodity it is in life. But throughout the scriptures
water is revealed to us not only just for washing but also the
Holy Spirit is referred to or likened to water, living water. And so this evening I'll try
and look at this verse 10 and this very well known story of
the woman at the well and the Lord Jesus Christ on his journey
becomes weary and his disciples are sent off into the town to
buy food and Jesus rests on the well. We know that it was one
of these divine appointments. The Lord Jesus knew that this
lady would come there. He knew that he must have a conversation
with her, expose her sin, reveal to her who he was, and then she
would be used as a messenger to take that message into the
town of Samaria to bring that news of the Lord Jesus Christ
to those people. And it's also one of these times
in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ where we see his humanity
and his deity. How we see him as a man and also
we see him as God. We see him as a man that his
body is weary with the journey, that he is tired and that he
needed a drink. We also see him looking into
the life of the lady and exposing her sin. She says to him that
she didn't have any husbands. And Jesus says, well, you're
right. You haven't got a husband for
you have had five husbands. And the one who you now have
is not your husband. And that statement that he made,
that truth that he made, reveals to this lady that this is a prophet. I perceive that thou art a prophet. And so it's one of those occasions
where we see both the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ
combined together, that we see him weary with the journey and
we see him then looking into the very mind and heart of this
lady and exposing her sin. We know that this lady, she had
obviously had a life of pleasure. She had indulged herself. We
could say that she had been drinking from the pleasures of this world
and she had come to the well at midday. I've said to you before
that normally the time for drawing water is morning and evening.
Not many people go to the dams or to the well at midday so it
could be that this lady because of her lifestyle was rejected
or was rejected or used as a gossiped against and
so she kept herself to herself and so she goes to the well at
midday to draw water and there she finds the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus asks her a question, give
me to drink. She is surprised. her being a
Samaritan and the Lord Jesus Christ being a Jew. She is surprised
that he would strike up a conversation with such a person as her. And
we know, as we looked at the other day, the way in which the
Samaritans knew that they were despised by the Jews. When the
lady came to the Lord Jesus that time and she had her daughter
who was possessed with the devil and she asked the Lord Jesus
to cast out that devil, she asked the disciples to cast out the
devil and they complained and asked Jesus to send her away
and she cried Lord, Lord help me and she needed that help,
she was in desperate need of the help of the Lord Jesus and
he tells her that he's not sent except to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel And she says, yes, the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from the master's table. And so the relationship between
the Jew and the Samaritan was non-existent. The Jews thought
them as dogs. We know they bypassed their cities,
they were unclean, they despised them and yet the Lord Jesus Christ
he had to go to this lady. She was a woman who was rejected
by her own society at the well alone yet not rejected by the
Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the Lord Jesus tells
us that he did not come for the righteous but he came for sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners and this lady was one of those sinners who he came
to bear her sin and to be her substitute and he must come and
reveal himself to her. We know that in the life of every
believer There is that time when Christ is revealed. He comes
to them when they're in their sin. No matter how sinful they
are, no matter what depth of sin they have gone into, the
Lord Jesus Christ meets them where they are and he reveals
himself to them. He's not ashamed. to go into
the depths of society to pull out a lost sheep. He's not ashamed
to go into the bars and the nightclubs and other places of this world
to bring out his lost sheep. He goes to where they are and
he meets them and he reveals himself to them and he reveals
themselves to themselves. He exposes their sin and their
need of the Lord Jesus Christ because he is the gift of God. Jesus answered and said unto
her if you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee
give me to drink I would have asked him and he would have given
thee living water. Now on the preceding, the chapter
before in John 3, 16 there is the famous verse of the gift
of God, the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And so
he says to her if you knew the gift of God He says, if you knew
me, I am the gift of God, you would have asked me the greater
question. You wouldn't ask me for normal
water. You would ask me for living water. Christ is the gift that God gave
to the world. Without Christ, the world is
nothing. be without hope. We could just
have continued on in sin and all of us would have dropped
into hell at the end of our lives under God's wrath but God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son the gift
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Zachariah chapter 13. We read that in that
day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. And so Christ is the gift of
God given to this world as a fountain, a fountain that would be opened
for sin and for uncleanness, to wash away the sin of his people. This lady, as we have read, she'd
had five husbands, lived an immoral life. The Bible tells us that
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin. matter the depth of depravity
that a person has been in the love of God in Christ Jesus is
enough to put away all manner of evil and you may think or
you may have been listening to the words of Satan and he may
have been telling you well you are indeed too sinful You are
too wicked, you are too unclean to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He would not want such a person as you. Your sin is so deep,
it is so stained, it could never ever be washed away. So why does
the Bible then give us such examples of such people who are so deprived
and so stooped in their sin? It gives us these examples so
that there is hope. so that we can look at them and
think, well, if God saved them, then he can save me. Look at
the thief on the cross. Why was he there? Because he
was a thief. Not only was he a thief, but
they have said that he probably committed a violent act of theft,
maybe even a murder. And so they crucified him. Yet
there was hope for him. Whosoever shall believe upon
the Lord Jesus Christ shall have everlasting life. He is the gift
of God. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 55,
ho, stop and listen for a moment. Listen to what I'm about to say.
It's like saying, oy, listen, everybody that thirsteth Come
ye to the waters. He that has no money come ye
buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Shouts out for this wonderful
salvation. Those who are thirsty, those
who are dried up, have been drinking of the pleasures of this world
and are not satisfied. They're indulging themselves
in all manner of sin and all manner of evil and yet they find
that they're still not satisfied. They're still thirsty. And so
he's crying out to those who are thirsty. Those who are not
satisfied by the things of this world. She'd had one husband
and she'd had another and another and another and another. She
was not satisfied. that she was continually drinking
of the pleasures of this world and it didn't satisfy her. And
there are so many like that. drinking of the pleasures of
this world and it doesn't satisfy. And so they try and indulge themselves
even more and even more and even more and then they hear the voice,
oh stop. And they listen, those of you
who are thirsty, those of you who have been drinking and drinking
and drinking and yet you are unsatisfied, come and taste of
something better. some spiritual water that can
quench the dry and barren soul. And it's free. It doesn't cost
anything. It was costly but it doesn't
cost anything to receive. It is a free and sovereign grace. What it requires is a thirst. Do you have a thirst? for spiritual
things? Do you have a thirst to know
God? Do you have a thirst to know
Christ? Has this world not satisfied
you? Do you come day by day with a
dry mouth, drinking and drinking and drinking, no quenching? Well then you're looking in the
wrong place, aren't you? You're drinking the wrong drink,
aren't you? There are some drinks that you
can drink. Naturally speaking they don't satisfy, they don't
quench the thirst. You need a good drink of water,
cold water from salvation's well. Come ye to the waters and he
that hath no money come and buy and eat. It's free. to those who ask, to those who
feel their need. And so this lady had come to
the well for some real water but she met with the Lord Jesus
Christ and he offered her a spiritual water. She first, she didn't
understand what he was talking about. She was hoping that he
was going to do some miracle, that she would drink and then
she wouldn't ever be thirsty again and wouldn't have to come
to the well. But Jesus says that he has a
special water. but whosoever shall drink 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. John 3 and chapter 5 it says,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is
flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof.
But I cannot tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth. So is every
one that is born of the Spirit. In John chapter 7, the Lord Jesus
again, when he is at a feast, speaks of this water. John 7 verse 37, in the last
day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And he that
believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. John gives us that explanation.
But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus
was not yet glorified. And so this living water that
is being spoken about is the Holy Spirit of God, that he is
the one who births into new life, he is the one who enters into
and enables those to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, he
is the one who causes people to be unsatisfied
with the things of this world, to be thirsty for something more
and then it draws them to the Lord Jesus Christ and enables
them to drink of that living fountain, that fountain which
is open for sin and for uncleanness. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. The scripture tells us in Corinthians
that do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you? And so the believer becomes a
dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, that their body becomes a temple
of the Holy Ghost. and that great and vital work
that he does. And so as Christ is the gift
to the world, the Holy Spirit is Christ's gift to the church. Jesus tells us in the gospel
according to John chapter 15 and 16 about the Holy
Spirit and the work that he was going to do. That as Christ was
telling his disciples that he was going to go away, he promised
them the Comforter who was going to come, the Spirit of Truth,
the Comforter. He would guide them in all truth
will not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear shall
he speak and he will show you of things to come. shall glorify
me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All
things that the father hath are mine therefore said I they shall
take of mine and show them unto you. And so the spirit was going
to come in his fullness after Christ had ascended and as we
looked at a few weeks ago we saw that the spirit descended
in his fullness on the day of Pentecost and the multitude that
was saved and we saw that in one moment God can accomplish
a work which no man can do in a moment of time. Multitudes
are born again of his spirit as his spirit enters into those
people, breaks open their hearts and causes them to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be dissatisfied, to be thirsty, to be made thirsty
by the things of this world and to be satisfied only by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so Christ's gift to the church
is the Holy Spirit. And he's referred to as water. Water is needed naturally for
life. How many billions of dollars
and pounds are spent trawling space to search for life? They think they find water and
then they're excited that because we found water, there's life. so water is needed to support
life we proved it over the weekend with the desperation of the burst
water main and the emergency response that takes place and
the millions or hundreds of thousands of bottles of water that are
distributed because they know that if people don't have water,
they're going to suffer or even die. And so we know that water
is needed for life. And the Holy Spirit is referred
to as water because without him there is no life. Without him
we are spiritually dead. We are walking in a barren land
seeking to satisfy ourselves with the things of this world
and we can never be satisfied. We are dead. But the Spirit comes
and he gives life, eternal life. He makes us alive. And we are
no longer walking as dead men but we're walking as living creatures
indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. Enabled to communicate with
God, to pray and to be satisfied by the Word. Water is needed
to satisfy our thirst. as we look around us and the
worry that there is regarding the water and the need to drink. And so the Holy Spirit has come
to satisfy the thirsty. The lady came to the well to
drink physical water but Jesus told her about a living water
that would be as a spring, springing up And Jesus tells us, as we
looked at in verse 7, that he that believeth on me, as the
scriptures said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,
totally satisfied by the Holy Spirit of God, totally drenched
and overflowing by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. And so the Spirit gives life
The Holy Spirit also satisfies the thirsty soul. Also the water
is needed for growth. We have the parable in Luke about the sower. and the different ground in which
the seed falls and we know that the one seed falls into good
ground but seed falling into good ground of itself will not
grow. It needs water, it needs moisture
and the Word of God preached accompanied by the Spirit of
God which is the water to that seed as it enters into the heart
causes it to grow and to bear fruit and so the Holy Spirit
is referred to as water because it is him that germinates the
seed of the word to enable it to bring forth fruit for the
honour and glory of God. as the vine, as Jesus says, I
am the vine and you are the branches. And there is that connection
needed to bear fruit. And the reason why there is that
connection is because the Spirit of God must be drawn up through
Christ and into his church, into his people, to get to the very
end of the branches so that those grapes swell. And those grapes
are our good works that bring honour and glory, our holy life
that brings honour and glory to our Father who is in heaven. Also, We need water for washing. That
is one thing which you notice when water stops. How quickly
you become, you feel unclean. How quickly you feel sticky and
how you feel that you need to wash. The Holy Spirit is described
as water because he is cleansing. He cleanses us. He applies the
finished work of Christ to our soul and cleanses us from all
uncleanness. As the Old Testament people had
to be very thorough in their ceremonial washing. And so the
Holy Spirit of God makes us ceremonially clean to face a holy God. And so Jesus says, if you had
asked me, I would have given you living water. Living water that satisfies for
time and for eternity. The Holy Spirit is also given
to the Lord's people as a seal or as a pledge. or a down payment
it can be said. In Corinthians chapter 1 verses
20 and 22 it says, for the promises of God are in him yea and in
him amen unto the glory of God. Now he which establishes us with
you in Christ and has anointed us is God who has also sealed
us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. That word earnest can be translated
as a pledge or a down payment that Christ who has purchased
his people, he has redeemed them for himself, he gives to them
his Holy Spirit as a confirmation that they are his It is like
a deposit that you are claimed, you are brought and that one
day he will come and he will collect you. Sometimes we have
to do that in life don't we? We pay a deposit on a car, we
secure it for ourselves or we put a deposit on renting a house,
we secure it and it becomes ours. And so Christ has given to his
people his Holy Spirit as a down payment, a seal, a pledge that
he will come again. It is an encouragement that we
are Christ's. The scripture tells us that if
we don't have the Holy Spirit of God, we don't belong to Christ. And so one of the evidences is
that we are born again. is that we are indwelt by the
Holy Spirit and we are sealed with his spirit. And so Christ, he purchased his
people on the cross. He redeemed them from sin and
from Satan and then he gives to them a pledge, a seal, now
you are mine. I've brought you out of darkness.
I've put you onto the narrow road that leads to life. You
belong to me. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm indwelling you with living
water. You don't have to worry about
trying to satisfy yourself with this world anymore. I'm enough.
I am enough for you, I will satisfy you for time and for eternity
and out of you will spring living water, evidences of spiritual
life coming forth day by day. Think of the fruits of the spirit
which are listed in Galatians and those evidences there. that are meant to be seen, that
the Holy Spirit is in us. By the fruit of the Spirit, love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance
against such, there is no law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts If we live
in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit or walk in step
with the Spirit. And so Jesus says, I will give
you living water. And that living water is going
to be in you like a spring bubbling up. The evidences will be seen
of eternal life in your soul and in your life. The evidences
of my Spirit which are the attributes of God manifesting themselves
in the lives of his people. We know that it is a constant
battle and that within the life of a believer it can often be difficult to see
the evidences of the spirit but they should be there. We should
be at work. He should be at work in us, putting
to death the lusts of the flesh so that His glory is seen in
us. If thou knew the gift of God,
Christ, do you know the gift of God? Maybe you know about
Him, but do you know Him? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ
as your Saviour? Or do you know just about Him?
Have you come to him and you're asking him for the wrong thing
maybe? We looked at recently before sometimes people come
to Christ and they're only worried about the SOS. The problems and
the difficulties and the troubles of life and they forget about
the much needed problem which is sin. The living water, the Holy Spirit
that is needed. Are you thirsty? Has this world not satisfied
you? Do you just go on day by day
drinking and drinking and drinking and it doesn't satisfy you? It's
because you're drinking at the wrong well. You need to come
to this living fountain. Ho everyone that is thirsty come
to the living fountain of Christ which is open for sin and uncleanness. nothing but the blood of Jesus
can wash away our sin. Are you thirsty for God? Are you thirsty for Christ? Has this world made you dry? This lady, she tried the pleasures
but she wasn't satisfied but then she met with the Lord Jesus
Christ And he revealed to her, this is why you are like you
are, because you're going to the wrong well. You haven't come
to me. You're going to the natural well.
You need to come to the spiritual well and to draw from me that
living water. And she says, from where then
has thou this living water? Jesus answered her, whosoever
shall drink of this water shall thirst again but whosoever shall
drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but
the water that I shall give him shall be as in him a well of
water springing up unto everlasting life. Sir, give me this water. Maybe or hopefully that is your
prayer this evening hour. Sir, dear Lord Jesus, give me
this water. This world is not my home. It
doesn't satisfy me anymore. I'm fed up with being thirsty. I need the living water that
can only come from above. I'm fed up with my sin. I want
to be washed and made whiter than snow. Sir, give me this
water. Well he will and he has. Thy sins which are many are all
forgiven. David said, wash me and make
me whiter than snow. It is only the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ that can cleanse a person from their sin and make
them whiter than snow. It is only the blood and the
sacrifice of Christ that can put our sin behind God's back
and he can remember it no more and this lady five husbands,
a sinful life, yet Christ must go to her and show himself to
her and show herself to herself that she may see her need of
the Lord Jesus and she says, come and see a man that told
me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ? That's
the response, it cannot be hidden. must tell. If you think of our
situation that we're in at the moment and the need of water
and those who are thirsty, where do they go? They come to the
Asda car park to get the water that they need. They've heard
the news. There's water at Asda and they
go there and they are satisfied. And so this lady, she had to
tell the news. There's water in Salvation's
Well. There's water in Christ. And she went and declared it.
and they came and they also drank and they also received this living
water. They believed upon the Lord Jesus
Christ and they were saved. Well may we be enabled then today
to drink of this water and to be saved for all eternity. And may the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. as we sing our final hymn number
20 from hymns for worship to the tune 422 number 20 glory
to thee my god this night for the blessings of the light keep
me oh keep me king of kings beneath thine own almighty wings number
20 from hymns for worship ? For all the blessings of the
light ? ? The King and Heavenly King of peace be with us forevermore
? The angel that o'er his day hath
done, That with the world, myself, and thee, A'er thy sleep at peace
may be. Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep,
sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. God from whom all blessings flow,
praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly
host. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee for Thy Word that Thou hast given to us and for
the revelation of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the work
of Thy Holy Spirit. And we pray that Thy Holy Spirit
may water the Word that has been spoken this day, that it may
bear fruit in our lives for Thy honour and for Thy glory. Do
dismiss us we pray with thy blessing and do be with those who will
meet around thy table. We pray that our minds may be
focused upon thy beloved Son and his finished work on the
cross. Do then dismiss us with thy blessing and now may the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father
with the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit to be with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.