May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of John and the fourth chapter, and we'll read the fourth
verse. The Gospel of John, chapter four,
and reading verse four. And he must needs go through Samaria. Such a statement is very simple,
isn't it? And very clear. But we should
realize that it was indeed ordained that the Lord Jesus Christ should
go through Samaria. And of course, there was a real
need for that and an important need. The disciples wouldn't
have realized what that was. But as we read down this chapter
together, we see how God's purposes were being fulfilled in a most
wonderful way. And so if Jesus had not gone
through Samaria, he would not have met this woman of Samaria. And this woman of Samaria wouldn't
have been able to go and tell the men of the city. And they
come out and hear what Jesus was to say and be blessed. So
we can recognize then a little verse like this is so relevant
to us. And so as we read, he must need
to go through Samaria. It wasn't just a chance thing. He had to go through there and
he went through there. And then you see, we're told
he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near
to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well. And it was about the sixth hour. And it's important for
us to realize that Jesus, when he came to live on this earth,
took on our form, our human form. There was no super form that
he had. He had our form, and therefore
he had tiredness, he had weakness, like we do. And so we see here,
he was wearied with his journey, and sat thus on the well. And well, his disciples, they'd
gone away, gone away to the city to buy meat. And we could conclude
from this that that Lord Jesus was not what we might think,
a strapping, big, strong man, but he was just an ordinary human
man who had the weaknesses upon him. And as we read in the word
of God, Jesus often spent his nights in prayer. Great and glorious
example for us. And again, we're told he didn't
have his own home, He didn't have any pillow to lay his head
upon. And therefore, no doubt when
the morning came, others would have been very refreshed. But
the Lord was probably often not so refreshed. And so we should
understand here was the great God of heaven and earth in this
form. And now at this time come to
this city called Sychar, sitting on the well, because he was tired,
because he was wearied. But it was, of course, not by
chance. Not by chance. There he was,
on the well, and this woman of Samaria came along. What a mercy
to realise that the Lord sat there for a divine purpose. A woman of Samaria to draw water. And then we're told Jesus then
asked her a question. Give me to drink. Again, it was a very simple statement. It's an example for us, is it
not? As I mentioned in prayer, it's an example for us. The Lord
spoke to this woman. He didn't wait for the woman
to speak to him. he spoke to the woman. And it
is an example for us today. Often, I suppose, we're timid.
Often we're perhaps embarrassed. Perhaps we're ashamed. Perhaps
we're cowardly. And we meet people and we don't
actually ask them perhaps a question which would lead on to the benefit
of being to speak to them about eternal things. Because Jesus
asked this obviously very carefully phrased question to her. We need to remember that in our
lives today. As we live in this world, to
be able to think when we meet people, well, what question can
we ask them? I remember, well, I know a man
who I know quite well who's travelled around a lot and he always used
to carry a small Bible in his bag so that if he met someone,
when he was able to read it, he obviously had another Bible
as well. But he always prayed for an opportunity to present
the person with the Bible, a copy of the Bible. And of course this
would have meant having a conversation. And we can be surprised sometimes,
we might think people will be upset and aggravated and annoyed,
but very often it's the opposite. Sometimes people have wanted
someone to come and to speak to them about the things of God. So what a blessing, what a privilege
it is if we are found in that position, and not to turn away
from opportunities. It's very easy to turn away from
opportunities. Well, perhaps we don't pray for
opportunities. I remember, I may have told you,
the late John Broome, who was a school teacher, and he told
me, he said, you know, Stephen, when I asked God to give me an
opportunity to speak to the students, he said, I always get an opportunity.
And so when I don't, he said, I don't get the opportunity.
Well, it's good, isn't it? To be able to speak to one another
who we come in contact with, especially as we may recognize,
and I hope we do, the value of a soul. And it's always important
to think of eternity and a lost eternity, and by comparison,
a blessed eternity. And such a consideration should
really encourage us to speak faithfully and lovingly. Remember, everything must always
be done in a loving spirit, not in anything which is sensorial
or trying to justify or trying to criticize. It's very easy
to do that. There's plenty of occasions to
do that. But on the other hand, if we
have a love for souls, it will temper the way we speak and what
we speak. The main reason will be that
such may come to a knowledge of the truth. What a blessing.
How much we should be thankful for. And the Word of God tells
us, he that winneth souls is wise. Well, we often forget that,
don't we? But there it is in the Word of
God for our encouragement. Don't forget, he that winneth
souls is wise. And so Jesus here was at this
well. And he therefore came and said
to this woman, give me to drink. The woman said she was quite
surprised because she was a Samaritan. Obviously, she realized that
Jesus was a Jew and she was surprised. And perhaps she said it in quite
a nasty way. We don't know. But she said,
how is it that thou being a Jew, ask this drink of me? which I'm a woman of Samaria.
The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. They didn't want
to speak to the Samaritans. Samaritans didn't believe, of
course, what the Jews believed in. The Samaritans didn't believe
in the resurrection. A number of things were different
and therefore the Jews had no truck with them and wouldn't
deal with them. But here we have the example,
don't we? The temptation for us surely is if we meet people,
perhaps if they're a Muslim or a Hindu or something, we think,
oh, we mustn't start talking to them. Well, we should perhaps
start talking to them. And I always remember Muhammad
from the Met Tab, who preaches there, who was, of course, a
Muslim. And he said, now, when you meet
a Muslim, What you are to do is to not criticize them, not
to speak against them, but tell them what God has done for you. Tell them how God has blessed
you. And that will have a far greater
effect than telling them where they're wrong and putting their
back up. Good words of wisdom, isn't it?
Good instruction for us today to remember such a testimony. Now, of course, if we haven't
got anything to say, it's a bit embarrassing, isn't it? But let's
pray that God will give us those things that we can testify of
what God has done for us and how he has blessed us and how
he has instructed us. And so this woman then was surprised
that Jesus should speak to her. fancy this Jew speaking to me
and probably also because she was a woman. A double aspect. Here was this Jew speaking to
a Samaritan and this male Jew speaking to a woman. But we see
how the Lord brought these things to bear on this woman for her
good. And so Jesus answered. He didn't answer her directly. It's interesting, isn't it? We
have this testimony before us. And the Lord didn't answer her
question. We don't have to answer somebody's
question. Sometimes questions can be very
difficult. And probably it's a good idea
to avoid them if they are difficult. But here was a good way that
the Lord graciously answered this woman. He said, 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. Well, of course, you and I wouldn't
be able to answer it in just the same way as that, because
here was the Lord himself. But nonetheless, We see here
the example which is set before us. And the first part, of course,
is true. If thou knewest the gift of God. Well, I hope we can answer that. What is the gift of God? The
greatest gift of God? It's the gift of eternal life. It's a wonderful opportunity
there, isn't it? If we would ask the question and people said,
well, what is that? What an opening for us to then
say the glorious gift of eternal life. See how the Lord can go
before us and hear them as this statement to this woman, if thou
knewest the gift of God, which he didn't and who it is, it saith
to thee, give me to drink, which he didn't. there would has asked
of me and he would have given me living water. And of course
living water really represents the great and glorious gift of
the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful gift that is.
What a wonderful blessing that is to receive. And so the woman
answers and of course she's questioning, and rightly so. She says, Sir,
there is nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence
then hast thou that living water? Well, you see, she couldn't understand
what Jesus was saying, and Jesus obviously asked this question
in this way so that she wouldn't be able to answer it in any satisfactory
way. What a mercy it is if God gives
us wisdom to ask right questions in this day and age in which
we live. You know, we are very clearly
spoken to in the Word of God, and that's about hiding our light.
Hiding our light. You know, it's very easy, isn't
it, to just turn away and, well, perhaps change the conversation
or ignore the questions. and talk about something totally
futile, of no real consequence, of no real value. How very easy
it is for us to do that. Well, the Lord has told us we're
not to hide our light. No, we're to display it. The
Lord uses the analogy of putting the candle on a candlestick so
it gives light all around. We're not going to cover it all
up so there's no light. And it's a wonderful blessing
to pass over or we kind of make excuses why we can't do this
or can't say this or can't refer to that. Well, if you and I value
our salvation, if you and I realize how enormously valuable it is
and how wonderfully gracious God has been to us, in coming
to us and shining His light into our souls, it must surely make
a difference. And again, as I've recently said,
ye are my witnesses. Let's not forget that. The Church
of God are God's witnesses. We are His witnesses. We are to witness. People turn
away from that word, don't they? They don't like to hear it because
they know it might be a bit costly. It might involve them in a discussion. And let me just say this, perhaps
you feel very inadequate to hold a discussion on these things.
Well, we need to pray to God that he will give us a right
knowledge of these things. and a right understanding of
these things. And if you don't know these things, you don't
know the truth of God's Word, then my friends, do study it.
Do read it. Do pray that the Lord will open
your understanding. So you'll really understand what
the scriptures say and what they teach. Let us not say, well,
of course, I don't understand. It's not a good excuse. It's
a very sad excuse. That was my excuse when I was
young. I was always afraid because I
didn't understand. Well, it's not a good excuse. And so here we have then this
woman in this situation and coming to Jesus and asking this question,
quite a reasonable question. when she says, 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, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but
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. Well, that's a wonderful
statement, isn't it? And again, it encompasses this
wonderful gospel word, whosoever. It's the words of the Savior. Don't throw it away. 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. And so the Lord, here you
see, touches on these vital considerations, the water of life, the gift of
the Holy Spirit, the blessed work of the Holy Spirit as this
water of life. And to think that once the Lord
gives us this, it is in our hearts and it springs up It swells up. Doesn't men just lie there? The Lord gives us that. And it
springs up, as he says. And if it's there, you see, spiritually,
our thirst will have been quenched, will have been met. We shall
obviously need further blessings from God. But here we see the
wonderful work of God, illustrated by this simple word of living
water. And what a mercy then for us
today, for us today, if we possess this wonderful gift that God
gives. And as Jesus says, who so ever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Natural water,
We'll always need more water while we're on this earth, and
we know, I'm sure, how necessary it is to have natural water to
drink. If you don't drink, we very soon
die of thirst. We need water to drink. And more importantly, you and
I need the water of life, the evidence of the work of the Holy
Spirit in our soul. We need that, and we must have
it. Otherwise we shall die. We shall
perish in our sins. Yes, what a solemn, terrible
condition that will be. And so let us recognize we have
the illustration of natural water to quench thirst, but also the
spiritual illustration of the water of life, the gift of the
Holy Spirit to give us the wonderful blessing of eternal life. How good, how necessary, how
important. And so the Lord says, the water
that I shall give him, it's not something, again, which I often
tell you that you and I can work for. We can't merit this great
and blessed gift from God. God gives it freely. freely,
what a mercy, to unworthy sinners, to receive, we receive this great
and glorious gift which God gives. And so we have this, I shall
give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting
life. And that means what it says,
once you and I possess, the blessed work of the Holy Spirit within
our hearts. It will never die. It's everlasting. It'll be with us through life
and into glory. See the value of it. See the
importance of it. See the wonder of it. That Almighty
God gives to his church this great and glorious gift, which
is springing up within us. You and I can't produce this
naturally. We can't produce it naturally
because we're dead. We're dead naturally in trespasses
and sins. What a wonder it is when God
blesses us then with this wonderful gift of eternal life. But now you see, having gone
that far, the Lord now speaks this woman and puts his finger
on something very important. Because what it does, it convicts
her of sin. We might say, well, this is back
to front. Surely God should have started
with that and then come on to this. Well, this is the Word
of God and this is how the Lord has moved through this time in
this place by this Word in Sychar. And so, we come now and He asks
and He says, Go, call thy husband. Seemed quite a simple statement,
didn't it? But now the woman says, I have
no husband. Well, as Jesus says, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands,
and him whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst
thou truly. Now, obviously, this had gone
home to this woman. She now realized this was no
ordinary man who knew all about her. This was something very
different. And my friends, what a blessing
is when God shows to you and me that he knows all about us. everything, every little thought
He knows about us. We cannot hide anything from
Almighty God. And what a good thing it is when
the Holy Spirit reveals to us this great truth and we then
stand before God as a guilty sinner without any hope in ourselves. The woman said unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. You see, when the Lord convicts
us of sin, we have to come and say, Lord, I perceive that thou
art the great God, because thou hast looked and spoken to me
and convicted me of those things which perhaps I thought were
hidden. Perhaps I thought no one knew anything about. Well,
this woman realized, here was someone who knew all about her. She goes on to say, our fathers
worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said unto a
woman, believe me, the hour cometh When ye shall neither in this
mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father, ye worship
ye know not what. Well, God knows today whether
that's true of us. Whether we perhaps worship we
know not what. We're not worshipping the true
God. We're worshipping we know not
what. We just think we should worship
something. This woman is the woman of Samaria. She worshipped,
but didn't worship the true God. Many people today worship a false
God. We know not what. Well, that's what the Lord said. Jesus said to the woman, Believe
me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor
yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship, ye know not
what. We know. What we worship for
salvation is of the Jews. Tonight, my friends, what a blessing
if you and I know who we worship and what we worship. Remember
perhaps the case of Jonah. You see, Jonah was a man of God,
and he'd been called by God to go and preach the Ninevites,
but he didn't fancy doing it. He thought it was a bit difficult,
so he ran away. And he found a boat to go in,
to disappear a long way away, and he had enough money, he paid
the fare, got in the boat, off went the boat, he went to sleep.
God knew where Jonah was. Jonah wasn't going to escape.
Jonah may have thought he had. And you and I can't escape. You might think, perhaps, if
this occurs or that occurs, well, I should be able, I should be
all right. I can escape. No, you and I can't escape from
Almighty God. And so here was Jonah. Jonah
had a work to do. Jonah was going to have to do
that work. And Jonah was going to learn a big lesson. I'm sure you remember, there
was a great storm arose. And the ship was lighting to
sink. The sailors on board did all they could to keep the ship
afloat and to row hard to bring it to shore without success. And then they said, well, let's
find Jonah. And Jonah was asleep. And they
said, why do you sleep, Jonah? And Jonah told them that he'd
run away from the Lord God. He still didn't want to do anything
with him. He said, throw me overboard.
He didn't want to, but eventually they had to. And they threw him
overboard. As I'm sure you know, there was
a whale which God had prepared to swallow Jonah. The whale did
swallow Jonah, and there he was, inside the whale, and we're told,
for three days and three nights. You can imagine, I'm sure, what
it was like, being there, absolute darkness, no chink of light at
all. And he described it, the weeds
were wrapped around his head, a pretty desperate condition,
wasn't it? There he was, there. And after three days and three
nights, We're told this. He then said, I will look again
towards thy holy hill. He then began to pray. And God heard his prayer. And he came to this position,
just like we've had here. What did he say? He said this,
salvation is of the Lord. Well, Jonah had to go through
a pretty horrendous time, didn't he? To come to this view. Sometimes we today have to go
through a pretty horrendous process to be able to come and say from
our heart, salvation is of the Lord. It's not something that
I've done or anybody else has done. God has given me this great
and glorious gift of salvation. Ye worship, you know not what,
we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. What a blessing for us tonight
if we can say from our heart, salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord has blessed me with
that wonderful knowledge of salvation. so that I can praise my God because
of it. And what is this gift of salvation? It is to know that we are a lost
and ruined sinner. It is to know that we have no
hope in ourselves, that we cannot save ourselves, we cannot redeem
ourselves and therefore to bring us to look out of ourselves to
the only One who can, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we come as the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus
to us as our Saviour. It's then we can exclaim in the
same way, salvation, the saving of my soul is of the Lord. And nowhere else, and no one
else can save me. Well, what a blessing then for
this woman to have this great truth explained to her. And that's the glory of the gospel,
isn't it? Salvation. Salvation. Joyful news. Good news. Wonderful news to an unworthy
sinner. who deserves eternal punishment. And so, here we have this statement. For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. Well, that's a great blessing,
isn't it? The hour cometh and now is. In our lives, has the
hour come in our hearts? Has the word come to us so that
we do worship? We do worship. We've all come
here tonight, we're all sat in chapel. Are we worshipping tonight? I don't know. I can look around
and I can see people attentive. I've no idea. Your mind may be
everywhere else. Are we worshipping God tonight? Are we therefore a true worshipper? You see, we fall into one of
two categories, only two. A true worshipper or a false
worshipper. One who does worship and one
who does not worship. It's a great mercy then, if the
God of all greats has given us this great and glorious gift
of eternal life, so that we are now a true worshipper. If we are, praise God, extol
the Lord, thank him for what he's done. And if not, praise
him earnestly, that he may reveal himself unto us, as it is not
unto the world, as our all-sufficient Saviour. Let us be clear. Religion is personal. It's between our soul and God. Our soul and God. It doesn't
matter about anybody else. In reality, it does matter what
our relationship is with Almighty God. Is He, then, our God? Is He our
Lord? Is He our Master? Is He our Saviour? Is He our great and glorious
Redeemer? Is He the One who has loved us
with everlasting love? Do we love Him? You know, it's
very easy to just make statements, isn't it? But real religion is
not a question of just vague statements. It's a question of
personal experience between our soul and our God. To know that we are passed from
death to life. To know that we possess the great
and glorious gift of the Holy Spirit. To know that we worship
God in spirit and in truth. There may have been many occasions
when that has not been so. The result has been, in reality,
that we've mocked God. We've pretended to worship, but
we haven't. What a blessing it is then, if
now there's been a wonderful change, and that change has been
brought about by the great work of the Spirit of God. And isn't
that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
humbling? Isn't that glorious? If you and
I have the evidence of it in our hearts, that Almighty God
has looked upon us and remembered us, and visited us, and come
to us, so that now it is true that we do 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. The Word of God is clear. The
Word of God is very positive. The Word of God doesn't produce
grey areas. It doesn't produce vague statements. It produces very true and very
wonderful statements. And so tonight, may it be so
in our little lives that we have the evidence that we are a true
worshipper who really worships God in our spirit and we are
truthful, we're honest before our God. You see, it doesn't
matter what people think, don't worry about that. It's what God
thinks. It's between your soul and my
soul and God. That's the great issue, isn't
it? See, we can look very beautiful and we can look very lovely,
We can appear to be a wonderful worshipper, but we can be no
worshipper. We can just be a lot of hypocritical
hot air. What a mercy if God then has
looked upon us and blessed us with the reality of true worship. And so the woman responds and
she says, I know that Messiah's cometh. You see, that was prophesied
throughout the Old Testament, that there would be a Redeemer,
the true Messiah who would come to save his people from their
sins. And right from the Garden of Eden, people have been looking
for the Messiah. And so far, he had not come. And so this woman says, I know that Messiah cometh, which
is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell
us all things. And what a response this woman
then receives. What a wonderful response. I
that speak unto thee am he. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that glorious? The Lord
shall come to us tonight and say, I that speak unto thee,
am he. We have the evidence that we've
met with Jesus, not physically, by faith. We have reason then
to rejoice and to praise our God. for this great and wonderful
blessing. Well, we see what happened to
this woman, you know. Yes, there she'd heard these
glorious words. Well, she'd come, she'd come
to draw water. She brought a water pot with her, she put it down.
And now with this wonderful news, we're told this. She says, the
woman then, left her water pot, she forgot about it, and went
away into the city and said to the men, come, see a man that
told me, which told me all things that ever I did, is not this
the Christ? It had a wonderful effect upon
her, didn't it? And may you and I know the wonderful effect of
the work of the Spirit of God in our lives, because it It produces
a change it must do. Whereas I was blind, now I see.
Whereas I was dead, now I have spiritual life. Yes, whereas
I was deaf, now I hear. It's all the work of the glorious
Spirit of God. What reason to rejoice? What reason to praise our God
for these things? And you see, this woman left
what she got, a water pot. She went into the town, and what
did she do? Did she go and sit in a little
chair in a corner? Not at all. She spoke to all
the people. She said, come, see a man. She told me all things that ever
I did. Is not this the Christ? This was the one they'd been
hoping for, the one they'd been expecting. And now she'd met
with a Lord who'd said, I am the Christ. What a revelation,
what a blessing. And so, you see, she'd gone then
and told The man is great and wonderful truth and we know,
as we read, the wonderful effect of this. It wasn't something
which was just casual. We're told that, and many of
the Samaritans in that city believed on him. For that which a woman
testified, he told me all things that ever I did. So when the
Samaritans would come unto him, they besought him that he would
tarry with them. And he abode within two days.
And many more believed because of his own word and said unto
the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, but we
have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the
Christ, the Savior of the world. It was a wonderful day, wasn't
it? It was a wonderful time. It was a wonderful work of the
Holy Spirit. And we see how it all was worked
out. The Lord came. He had to go through
Samaria and it was going to be a great blessing. What a wonderful
thing it is. If we observe a similar situation,
we see the Lord's glorious work. It had to occur and it has occurred
and there's been a great and a glorious and a wonderful effect. Not on this woman only, those
also she went to see to tell about it and in those also who
were able to tell others, and therefore there was a great effect
and a wonderful favour. Well, tonight, may we truly take
these things to heart as a blessed example for us in our day, and
to realise what a wonderful thing we have the same Saviour, the
Saviour that loved this woman, the Saviour that loves all His
people, because He would love us, not because of anything in
ourselves, What a mercy! If you and I had to justify the
love of God, we never would. All we could bring is a miserable
failure to Almighty God. The hymn writer says, Nothing
in my hand I bring, Nothing of any value, Simply to thy cross
I cling, Simply to the finished work of the Saviour, That's where
you and I must hold on to. And all my friends, may we hold
it fast and rejoice in it and go on our way rejoicing and praising
God for all his goodness and all his mercy and all his love,
his great grace to such unworthy sinners. And thank God, in this
case, he must needs go through Samaria. And thank God, he says,
there was a need to be these come to you and me, and met with
us. Glory to God, and praise Him
for His love and mercy. Amen.