May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the Gospel
of John chapter 4 and read verse 4. The Gospel of John chapter
4 and reading verse 4. And he must needs go through
Samaria. No doubt most of us are familiar
with this account. It is a very wonderful and a
very beautiful account. And we, as we read the account,
we see how wonderful it was that this woman, this unknown woman,
this unnamed woman, this woman of Samaria was blessed indeed. and the account clearly demonstrates
to us the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit of God and how there
was an appointed time for this woman to receive that call by
the Holy Spirit. and how wonderful we might think,
well isn't it amazing that Jesus should come and sit at the well
and this woman should approach and come to the well and the
Lord should speak to her and through that means that she was
a converted person. Well of course it was but in
reality the same happens in every believer's life. Every believer
has a similar occurrence to this. Not perhaps in quite the same
vivid way, and perhaps not in the way that we might always
remember in some detail. But nonetheless, there will be
in our lives, as there was in this woman's life, a time when
the Lord came, when the Lord spoke. And the effect of that
was to Give us that knowledge of life in the soul. And as this woman was blessed
indeed, when the Lord spoke to her, and the Lord does speak
to his people today, we should not think that we live in an
age when the Lord does not speak. We live in an age, bless God,
when he still does speak. And when we hear His Word, and
when that Word comes directly unto us. And the last verse that
we read together, that 42nd verse, we read, the people said, now
we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him
ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour
of the world. Well, it would be a great blessing,
you know, if all of us here tonight can testify such a truth as this. Just like these people were able
to say, we have heard him ourselves. That word of the Lord speaking
to our hearts and giving us the evidence, the Lord has spoken. It is a wonderful encouragement.
It's a wonderful blessing to know that the Lord has been mindful
of us. He's come to us. He's called
us out of darkness into his marvelous light. In just the same way,
the Lord came to this woman. The Lord must needs go through
Samaria. He had a journey to make to meet
with this woman. My friends, as Jesus had a journey
to make, as it were, to come to you and to me, and has met
us. This woman got up in the morning,
went about her duties, came to the well to draw water, never
thinking, never anticipating that this was the day when salvation
was to come to her soul, Well, I wonder if we have a day. Now, sometimes there aren't always
those days. There may be a period of time
when the Lord causes us to hear his voice and various things,
as it were, work together so that we have the evidence that
the Spirit's movement within our soul. But nevertheless, to
know that there has been a time Perhaps it may have been a specific
moment. It may have been a period. But
nonetheless, to all the Church of God, there is a time when
they are made aware of the work of the Holy Spirit. And it's
when they look back. When we look back in our lives,
it's then that we observe God's work. At the time, we may not
realize God's working in our hearts. We may not perhaps have
realized that God has spoken to us. time will come as we are
able to ponder the work of God and to examine ourselves, whether
we are in the faith or not. It's a good exercise, it's a
good thing to do, to examine ourselves. Yes, we might think,
well, other people should examine us. No, the Spirit tells us to
examine ourselves, because it's only what you know and what I
know in my heart in your heart that we need to examine. Other
people aren't able to examine that. They don't know what's
there. They don't know what work the Holy Spirit has done. But
bless God, the individual knows as he looks back and observes
the gracious and wonderful work of the Spirit in our hearts,
so that we have the evidence of that work And we're able to
come and say, really in these words, perhaps not exactly the
same, but the tenor of them anyway, for we have heard him ourselves
and know that this is indeed the Christ. The truth is that
we must know Christ. We must know our need. We must
know, like this woman, she had a thirst, and she needed the
Lord to give her that living water. And how attractive it
was when the Lord told her that she would therefore never thirst
again. Initially, she could only think
of it as a natural thirst. But the Lord went on, and the
Lord moved and spoke to her so that she realized it was the
Lord speaking to her. maybe like that in your life
and my life. When the Lord comes and proves
to us that it is his work, it is his voice that is speaking. In this woman's case, the Lord
asked her a very simple question. He knew what the answer was.
And he said to her, go, call thy husband and come hither. And the woman answered, I have
no husband. No doubt she thought that was
an adequate answer. No doubt she thought that that
would stop any further questioning. But you see, the Lord knows everything
in your life and my life. And when sometimes we might have
a question put to us and we might not want to answer it honestly
because we would know how condemning the answer would be, The Lord spoke, and he said,
Thou hast well said, I have no husband. For thou hast had five
husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband in that
sense thou truly." What occurred? The arrow of conviction from
the Holy Spirit entered into this woman. She could not prevaricate. She could not make excuses. She
knew it was true. And therefore she said, sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. And it's the same, you know,
in our lives today to have the evidence that God knows all about
us. And when God shoots that arrow
of conviction into our heart, it will have an effect. it will have a blessed effect. We may not appreciate it as such
at the time. We may feel very uneasy with that arrow of conviction. We may wish it hadn't happened.
We may not be able to get rid of it. There it is perhaps, night
and day, nagging at our heart, showing us our true condition
and our true state. We didn't want that to be revealed.
But, bless God, if we have the evidence of the work of the Holy
Spirit, because we will not be able to resist the work of the
Holy Spirit. God willing, next Tuesday we're
going to speak on that third point of Calvinism, which is
irresistible grace. What that means very simply is,
that when the Lord calls us, we cannot resist. We cannot resist
the power of the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes you may
endeavor to do so because you don't want your life spoiled
as you think. You don't want your life changed
as you think. But my friends, God's grace to
you, bless God, it's irresistible. and so this woman knew the favour
of it and she was able to declare, you see her mind was stirred
And she said, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers
worshipped in this mountain. And ye say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. Obviously, in this
account, we haven't got all the details of what the Lord spoke,
but here was the evidence of it. And Jesus then spoke to a
woman, a direct point, direct question, direct statement, woman,
believe me, And that's the great blessed truth that you and I
are brought to that place to believe the words of the Lord
Jesus. Believe me. We don't have to
believe anybody else. We have to believe what the Lord
says. And so here was this statement. 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. And it may be so very true, it
may have been true, it may be true even today, that we don't
know what we're worshipping. We don't really understand. It's
mysterious. So it is, until the Holy Spirit
brings light, shines light into our hearts. And then there is
that revelation of the truth of God, which we never understood,
we never observed. And we can bless God for his
great and glorious work, his work. And so this statement was
made, ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship
for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is.
when the true worshippers, oh what a blessing my friends, to
be numbered amongst the true worshippers. You know everyone
here tonight is either a true worshipper or a false worshipper. We are either a real believer
or we are a hypocrite. 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 what a statement
this was to this woman what a wonderful occasion wasn't it the lord must
needs go through samaria to meet this woman to preach this sermon
to this individual And sometimes it's like that, you know. As
we may hear a sermon, it's as though the word of God is coming
just to us. It's a personal word. It's a
personal application. And so it was here to this woman. What a blessing then, if it comes
to us directly and arrests us. and that we therefore are able
to examine ourselves and see whether we come within this description
as the true worshippers that worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. And again, it's a wonderful blessing
when the Spirit of God reveals our need of the evidence of this
in our spiritual lives, so that we do not just come, as it were,
come and go, and come and go from times of worship and just
think, well, I've done my duty, I've ticked the box, and I've
done that. Just a mere formality with no
reality in it. What a blessing, what a wonderful
blessing if the Holy Spirit convinces us of the falseness of just a
traditional worship and directs us into the reality of such a
statement as this, that we come and worship the Lord in spirit
and in truth. And the Lord says, God is a spirit
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth. You see, real religion is a spiritual
thing. It's not something which is tangible
to our natural mind. It's something which is tangible
to our spiritual mind when the Lord quickens us into life, life
eternal. It's then that the blessed understanding
comes into our hearts and we recognize the wonder of being
able to come and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Well, the woman's moved, isn't
she, further. We see the effect of such statements
to this woman. The light is shining into her
heart. And what does she say? She says,
I know that Messiah's cometh. That's a great statement, wasn't
it? I know. Why should she know? A Samaritan,
not a Jew. Outside of the favoured church
of God in those days, We know the Lord did call. He called
Ruth Amoebitus and he called this woman. But you see, she's
able to come and to say, I know the Messiah is cometh, which
is called Christ. And when he has come, he will
tell us all things. Yes, she believed the truth of
God. Do you and I believe the truth
of God? And then the Lord spoke. these powerful words, I that
speak unto thee am he. Oh, it was God himself speaking
to this woman. And we see how really we might
think the Lord allured her. Yes, he brought her to this understanding. We see the purpose and the words
that the Lord spoke to bring her to this place. I that speak unto thee am he. Now be a wonderful blessing for
us, my friends, if we know and have the evidence in our heart
the Lord has spoken to us. You know, I hope if I was to
ask you tonight to put your hand up if the Lord has spoken to
you, would you be able to do that? Would you be able to say yes?
By the grace of God and through the infinite favour of our God,
He has spoken to me. I have the evidence of that in
my soul. The evidence that has changed
my darkness to light. From death to life. I'm a new
creature. I'm a changed person. I'm born
again of the Spirit of God. Well here was the wonderful effect
of the work of the Spirit on this woman. Now we see how it
began. He needs to go through Samaria
and the Lord has a need to come to all of his people and he does
come to them. He doesn't leave them to wander
on in their own devices. It may appear so. It may appear
perhaps the Lord is unmindful of his people, but he's not.
He knows their every movement. He knows their every thought.
And the appointed time rolls on apace, not to propose, but
call by grace. It's not a proposition. It's
a call. And that call is irresistible. And do we not thank God for the
truth of that wonderful fact that we cannot resist God's grace,
his unmerited favor when it comes into our hearts and he must, needs go through
Samaria. Well, just tracking back a little
on this then, the Lord came to this woman and the disciples
had gone away. Jesus was by himself with this
woman and it's like that, you know, in our spiritual life.
It's as though there's no one else. It's the Lord speaking. Lord speaking to our soul. And
it's as though we lose sight of everything else. It's as though
we're standing or sitting or lying, wherever it may be, in
the presence of Almighty God. And we have the realisation that
God is holy and we're unholy. and that we're sinful and that
we don't deserve any mercy. And therefore the Holy Spirit
puts that cry into our heart for mercy, a cry and a prayer
which we continue to pray throughout our life. Once that Holy Spirit
has convinced us of our lost condition and of our need of
a saviour, We have to cry, we have to plead for mercy. Because
we continue to sin, sadly we have a fallen nature, an evil
heart, a sinful heart, and we need to plead for mercy again
and again. We understand the words of the
hymn writer, mercy is welcome news indeed to those that guilty
stand. To know that the Lord is a merciful
God. He doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve, otherwise
we wouldn't be here. His mercy is great. Yes, wonderful
thing to know the mercy of the Lord. So here was the Lord then
coming to this woman. He came and sat on the well,
he was wearied. He had a natural human being as well as being
God and he was weary with his journey. He sat on the well and
along came this woman and he asked the question, give me to
drink. The woman was surprised that
the Lord should speak to her because the Jews didn't speak
to the Samaritans. And I believe it has some truth
in our spiritual lives, you may be surprised. that God should
take notice of us, that God should perhaps speak to us. Surprised he should come to such
a bad person, such an evil person, and speak to us. The Lord came
and spoke to this woman. The woman was surprised and the
Lord 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. The gift of God. What is the greatest gift of
God? To unbelieving sinners, it's the gift of eternal life. No greater gift than that because
it is eternal. We never fade, never vanish away
when the Lord gives us freely this gift of eternal life. It is a blessing so great beyond
anything else that you and I could ever comprehend. We had the whole
world, it would pale into insignificance by comparison with the great
and glorious gift of eternal life. And you see that gift of
eternal life is really set forth here by the gift of this water
of life, this water of life which the Lord gives that we drink.
and we are favoured to know it is that wonderful blessing of
life, life eternal. 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 woman saith, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with. the natural
mind coming into play. We so often operate in the same
way. We just use our natural senses
to try and work out the conclusion. Whereas these things are not
natural, they are spiritual. They are higher than our natural
mind can contemplate or work out. They are spiritual blessings.
They emanate from our great and glorious Spirit of God. And so
here was this woman, nothing to draw with. The well is deep,
from whence sows that living water. We might perhaps limit
God in our estimation of the blessing from him. We may draw
natural conclusions. My friends, we have a God who
is able to do far more and exceeding abundantly than you and I can
ask or even think. What a great God we have. How
needful it is that we have some understanding of the greatness
of God and that we sink into insignificance as we stand before
the majesty on high, if thou knewest the gift of God. She's then asked the question,
are thou greater than our father Jacob which gave us the well
and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle?
And then Jesus tells her, the wonder of this gift, whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but that
water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. Perhaps we've seen sometimes
on the hillside, perhaps a well, a well of water springing up. You know, all the rivers, they
have a beginning. They have a start. There's this
well of water springing up. My friend, it's like it is in
our spiritual life. It springs up from within. Yes,
and it's amazing. And it's there, and it never
ceases. That well of water springing
up, it flows. It never stops. What a wonderful
favour it is to be brought into this position and to know what
it is. And when we pass from death to
life, there is the evidence of it. Sometimes it may be dim,
our spiritual life. Sometimes it may appear to have
almost gone out. But my friends, a life will never
go out. Once the Lord has given that
life, it is an eternal life. And that which is eternal means
what it is. It goes on forever. On forever. What a favour it is to have that
wonderful blessing of that gift then of eternal life described
here like this, this well of water springing up into everlasting
life. That which the Spirit of God
implants within that new birth. Oh how important it is. You know,
the previous chapter, the third chapter, of course, in John,
speaks about the wonder of that new birth, doesn't it? The Lord
Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, and he told him, except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless he possesses
that new life, that well of water, as it were, springing up, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. There'll be no glory. There'll
be no eternal life. and Nicodemus, he couldn't understand
it and neither will we be able to naturally. How can a man be
born when he is old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, 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 the flesh is flesh. We're all born in the flesh.
We're all of the flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Well, it's those whom God calls
are born of the Spirit. And so he says, marvel not that
I said unto thee, ye must be born again. It's vital, isn't
it? It's not optional. You and I
need to have the evidence of this life within, this which
this woman was seeking after, this wonderful blessing and favour.
And so have the evidence in our hearts. that we possess this
new life, this new life within. Yes, now, my friends, the devil
will try and subdue it. He'll try and suppress it. He'll
try and get rid of it. He'll never be able to, because
it's like this well of water springing up. The devil will
never be able to stop it flowing. because it emanates from the
powerful work of the Holy Spirit of God. Yes, this is woman. She comes and says, woman says,
sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither
to draw. Jesus said unto her, go, call
thy husband. And so, as we've already spoken
on that, the Lord revealed to her the wonderful truth that
he knew all about her. We cannot hide anything from
Almighty God. We cannot hide anything. And
what a blessing it is when the Holy Spirit shows us, the Lord
looks into our heart, everything is revealed. Everything is revealed. Now, you know, the Lord had gone
through this land of Samaria, yes, and he'd come to this certain
point, He'd come to this place, Jacob's well, and it was at that
place the Lord was going to come and speak to this woman. And
the effect of this woman was so great that she forgot all
about her water pot. She'd come to draw water. But
you know, the things of the Spirit of God had overwhelmed her. They'd possessed her. So that
we read, she'd gone and the woman then
left her water pot and went her way into the city. She forgot
about those things which she was doing. And sometimes in our
spiritual life, the work of the Spirit of God is so powerful
that we almost forget what we're doing. We're able to perhaps
to continue with our work almost unknowing what we're doing because
we're overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. This
woman, you see, forgot what she was doing and she needed that
water, she wouldn't have come otherwise. She needed to come
and draw this water. But here she was, blessed by
the Holy Spirit of God, blessed with the work of God in her heart,
to such a degree that she left her water pot and went into the
city. And what happened then? Did she
forget what had happened? Was it something which had just
passed over her? Not at all. It had a great and glorious effect.
And what did she say? She went back into the city,
back into the place she'd come from, and she said, come, see
a man which told me. Remember, personal religion,
personal application, which told me. She had the evidence of the
life of God in her soul. Come see a man which told me
all things that ever I did is not this, the Christ. Testimony you see. She couldn't
hold it back. The life of God, the word of
God spoken to her soul in such a way that she came and spoke
in this way to the men and women of the city. and come see a man
that told me ever I did, is not this the Christ? And there was
a wonderful knock on effect, wasn't there? You see, this Lord,
the Lord had come to this place, Sychar. He met with this woman,
and you see, all in the purposes of Almighty God. And now you
see, this woman had spoken to the people in her own village,
her own town. And the people had gone out to
find Jesus. gone out to hear the good news
of what the Lord had spoken to this woman. It was an amazing
day, wasn't it? Wonderful blessing. It's a great
favour if you and I have known such a day in our heart when
the Holy Spirit has moved us and we have the evidence the
Lord has done it. There was a needs be. There was
a needs be. The Lord should come into Samaria. He must. Needs go through Samaria. Well, there is a needs be, my
friends, in all of our lives. And may we be able to bless God
this evening as we look into our lives to realise, yes, oh,
I can thank God from the bottom of my heart. That was a needs
be, that He came to me. He came to me and blessed me
with a wonderful gift of eternal life. See what a favour it is,
because if we possess the gift of eternal life, what will it
do? It will direct us to the Saviour, direct us to Him, and
we won't glory in ourselves, We're glorying His work, we're
glorying His word, we're glorying His finished work, because we
know that there our hope is based upon what Christ has done, not
what we have done. And as the Holy Spirit then directs
us to view the Saviour, fulfilling the holy law on our behalf, we
could not do that. We were dead in trespasses and
in sins. We could not keep God's holy
law. We were lost and ruined in the fall. And then to view
the Saviour as that great and glorious One who came to seek
and to save that which was lost. He come to seek and to save this
woman. And He comes to seek and to save
all His people. Bless God tonight if he's come
and sought us. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, there to save my soul from danger,
interposed his precious blood. Indeed, he interposed his atoning
blood, that blood which cleanses us from all sin, that blood which
fits and brings us into that condition of purity so that we're
ready to go and to be found in that holy place where there is
no sin. Heaven is that holy place without
sin. No sin can enter there. You and
I cannot enter into heaven with any sin. Oh my friends what a
favour it is to have that faith in God given faith to believe
that wonderful truth that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son
cleanses us from all sin, every sin. washed away, taken away,
not for any merit of ourselves, but because of His great love
toward us, love with an everlasting love. And what it will do is
this, make you and me amazed that God should have singled
us out, should have come and chosen us as we read in that
15th of John, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and
ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit should remain. It is the blessed, glorious work
of the Spirit of God." Well, what a wonderful thing it is
to realise that Lord Jesus on this occasion, he needs to go
through Samaria and to trace out in our lives the time, the
period when the Lord came to us, he must need come to us,
to call us, so that we are amongst those for whom he has shed his
blood, amongst those who one day will be with him in glory,
in that glorious abode, in heaven, around that throne of complete
unity, nothing to trouble us, nothing to upset us, no pain,
no sorrow, but peace and wonderful joy and happiness and that for
eternity what a blessing is then to be a partaker of this gift
of God of eternal life, which is springing up springing up
into Everlasting life. Well, the Lord must needs go
through Samaria and he was needs come to every one of his children
to show them their need and to direct them to himself as their
all-sufficient Saviour. Amen.