Sometimes the Lord teaches us
what we have need of learning through a parable. He taught
the people by parables. And sometimes the Lord teaches
us and instructs us through his dealings with the people that
are recorded for us here in scripture. We saw that with Jacob this morning
and many examples of the patriarchs And we see that this morning
with the woman at the well in John chapter 4. And this well, the water of this
well, and this well is an important thing here in this account. because
this well represents life for this woman. If this well wasn't
there, those people wouldn't have been there. And it represented
life and it represented sustenance and the quenching of thirst for
this woman and for the people of her village that also came
to that well. You know, they had a lot of confidence
in that well. And that's what it pictures.
It pictures the works of man, the confidence of man, the traditions
of man are all pictured, all captured here in this well. This woman, we're told, came
to the well at 6, the sixth hour, which as I understand it, the
Jews would count the time of day from when the sun would rise. And so that's typically around
6 AM. And so this is around noon. And
that's not the normal time. As I understand it, that's not
the normal time when people would go to a well to get water. in
the heat of the day, they would go in the morning or in the evening.
And so this woman was obviously not well liked, didn't have necessarily
a good reputation in the village, and so she would go when there
wouldn't be other people there. And our Lord, again, thinking
of this well, what it pictures here, the confidence of man,
the traditions of man, the hope and life of man. Our Lord sat
right on that well. He went right to that well, and
regarding that well, he addressed that woman with his word. That
very thing that she was trusting in. You know, she was a different
woman. She went at a different time.
And people think that they're different from one another. The
way they wear their hair today, or their clothes, or what they
put on their body, or how they talk, or who they run with in
their crowd. But we're all the same. Everyone
in that village came to that well. for that water and had
confidence in that well. Because she says to the Lord,
Jacob, our father gave us this well, and he drank from it, and
his family drank from it, and the cattle of Jacob, they drank
from this well. And she had confidence in that.
That was her confidence. And Christ sat there. He came
to that well and sat on that well, and there addressed her
of her greatest need. Because what she was hoping in
and what she was trusting in, that's not life. That's not salvation. And that's what the Lord does
for every one of his people. We're all lost sinners on the
outside. And by the things we do, we act
and think that we're different from everybody else. And what
I'm trusting in is right and good. And what they're trusting
in is wrong. If it ain't Christ, it's all
wrong. It's all wrong. It doesn't matter
how close it is to the truth. If it's not Christ and Christ
alone, it's not the truth. You're trusting in the vain traditions
of man. And what the Lord does for this
woman here is what he does for every one of his children. And if you're his, you're going
to leave your water pot of hope behind. You're going to depart
from those confidences and you're going to find your all in Christ
because that's what the Lord does for His people. And so we'll see here that as
the Lord did for this woman, so he does for us. And the first
thing our Lord shows us here is that he has chosen vessels
of grace whom he will save, whom he must save because he chose
them for salvation. Every one of God's people were
chosen by God in eternity before this world was laid. Our God chose a people. It says
in Ephesians 1 that our salvation is according as God hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. In love, our Lord
said to his disciples, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. And man naturally thinks he chooses
God. And because he chose God, God
chooses him. But the Lord corrects that. He
meets us right at that well of our confidence. He sits right
on that well and speaks his word and says, no, I chose you. You didn't choose me. You follow
me because I chose you. I chose to be gracious to you.
And so we see that in John 4, just look at verses 3 and 4 with
me here. It says that our Lord left Judea
and departed again into Galilee. So he's heading north now. And
he must, needs, go through Samaria. Why must the Lord go through
Samaria? He could have gone other ways,
but as we'll learn, he has one of his chosen vessels there. One of his sheep is there who's
lost. Who's lost. And that's what the
Lord is bringing us all to see. I'm lost. And the one who finds
us and brings us into the light of his salvation is God. Our God. Our Savior came for
a people and He calls them His sheep. And He uses that term
sheep to distinguish us from the other term which is goats
and that's all those that the Lord did not come to save. Turn over to John chapter 10.
Let's just see this truth here that our Lord has a people, a
chosen people who are called His sheep. John 10, and we'll
pick up in verse 14. This is our Lord's words. He
says, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, and am known
of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Four things we can take from
that. First, our Lord speaks of election
here to his hearers. He speaks of election. And I've
been asked before, why do you preach election? Why do you emphasize
that? Why do you speak of God's election?
Well, because it shakes natural man. It shakes the things that
the natural man is trusting in. It makes him to know, I'm not
God. There is a true and living God,
whom I'm to hear. And he chooses whom he will. And that truth of God's election,
of God's choosing, it reveals them that are the Lord's. They
hear that. They cry, Lord, save me. Lord,
please don't pass me by. You have a people whom you love,
whom you chose. Lord, let me be found in that
people. Have mercy on me. And those that
are trusting their works, they hate the election of God, because
they want to be in control, and they want to know that what I
do determines my salvation. that I can choose when I want
to choose, and I can do what I want to do, and that's going
to save me. So it's only those that hate
God that hate election. And so that's why the Lord speaks
of election, because it shakes the foundation of man and what
he's trusting in. And if we're trusting in our
works and our traditions and what we know, we're not trusting
in the truth. We're not trusting in him who
is the way, the truth, and the life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's one thing. The second thing we see here
is that the Lord has his sheep. He has a people whom he calls
his sheep, and he is their shepherd. And as a shepherd provides for
his sheep and protects his sheep, so our Lord provides for his
sheep and protects his sheep, and does the things that we need
for life and salvation. He does them for us. Third, our
Lord tells us that he lays down his life for the sheep. And that says that Christ is
not a failure. He came for the people given
to him by the Father, and for them he shed his blood. And for the goats, those that
are not his sheep, he did not shed his blood for them. He shed
it for the sheep. And that says he's the successful
Savior. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And you that believe him, that's
great comfort and great confidence because it says he didn't fail.
He cannot fail. If Christ died for everyone and
there's someone in hell, that means that his blood failed.
And he's saying, no, I didn't die for them. That's why they're
in hell. They're in hell for their sin. But my sin, my blood
didn't deliver them from that. But for those I shed my blood,
they are delivered. They are delivered. I lay down
my life for the sheep. And so that's comforting to the
people of God, those that believe Christ. And fourth thing here,
he reveals that not all his sheep weren't just in the Jews, but
he had a people outside of the Jews. He had his people among
the Gentiles. He had his people among the Samaritans,
like this woman that he meets there at the well. And what he's
showing us there is that there's one salvation, one Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he died for his sheep that
are of the Jews and for his sheep of the Gentiles. And that's why
the song of redemption that the children of God sing in heaven,
worshiping God, is saying, thou art worthy to take the book and
to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tribe, people,
and nation, or kindred, tongue, people, and nation. And so it
shows that the Lord has a people that are all his sheep, one flock,
one people, all saved by the blood of Christ that one way.
Drop down to John 10, verse 24. Here, our Lord shows how he distinguishes
his sheep from the goats. And what he does is he reveals
faith in them. His sheep believe Christ, and
trust Christ, and follow Christ. That's his sheep. That's how
he makes known those that are his. Then came the Jews, round
about him, and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to
doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. And so these Jews here
questioning the Lord, they didn't receive the gift of faith. God
hadn't given them faith in Christ. They continued. He left them
to themselves in unbelief. He left them to themselves, trusting
their own works. And two things the Lord's showing
us in that. The reason why the Lord gives
that to us here is he's showing us the exceeding sinfulness of
sin. He's showing us what we are by
nature. And that left to ourselves, we
hate God. We are enemies of God. Our nature
is enmity against the true and living God. And so he's showing
us examples here that, left to ourselves, were corrupt and defiled
and ruined and destroyed. And then it shows you that belief
also, that how great His grace is. That His grace was able to
save you, take you out of darkness, and bring you into the light
of Christ. It shows us how wonderful His
salvation is, how gracious He is that He could have left us
all in darkness. And yet He saved His sheep who
were given to Him by the Father. If Christ didn't do this, none
of us would be saved. Naturally, though, we think that
it's by our hand. And he's showing us, no, it's
by my power, my spirit. I save. I save my people, and
I don't fail. And so he says, verse 27, my
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. If you believe Christ, if you're
a sinner, and you need him, you see in him all your salvation,
you believe him, you don't have to wonder, am I his sheep? Because
faith that looks to him is the gift of God, which he gives to
his child, turning us from dead things that cannot save and turning
us to the true and living God. Therefore, be encouraged and
follow him. Keep following him, because his
sheep follow him. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. And so the eternal life that
he's speaking of here, we know it. We know that we have eternal
life because that eternal life is faith. He gives you faith
whereby you know he's given me life. He is life. He's salvation. And I know that through the faith
which he's given unto me. And so what our Lord's showing
us here so far in this passage, verse 4, he must needs go through
Samaria. Our Lord has a people given to
him by the Father, and he saves them without fail. He's going to bring his word.
And so that brings us to where? Where we see our Lord here, well,
let me just say this, too, that I believe he did it now. Because
you might think, well, why did he do it now? Why did he save
this Samaritan woman now? Why didn't he leave her till
after the resurrection when the apostles will go out preaching?
Well, one, it shows the apostles, go and preach this gospel to
every creature. Sometimes we look at somebody
and we think, they won't hear. They won't believe. They don't
think like I do, so I'll just keep my mouth shut. Now we've
become judges of them. Now we're saying they won't believe. Well, how do you know? It's just
like this woman. She was the last one in the village
that people would have thought would believe Christ. She's the
most unscrupulous, the most wicked of them, it seems, at least in
the opinions of the people and of herself. And yet, she's the
one whom the Lord came to. And she's the one that heard
the Lord at first in that village there. And so we see that the
Lord's teaching his disciples, preach to all men. Don't judge them just because
they're a Samaritan or a Gentile or a Jew. Preach it to all creatures. And second, I think it was to
further provoke the Jews. When they heard of this in Jerusalem,
they would just seethe all the more and be all the more angry
with him and want to put him to death. And so it would be
a cause for them to fulfill the determinant counsel and will
of God against him and taking him by wicked hands and crucifying
him for the redemption of his people. And so our Lord goes
through Samaria. And we're gonna see him come
right to the place of her hope and confidence. And he's gonna
sit right there and speak his word to her. And it's a picture
of what the Lord does for us. He meets us right where we are
and speaks his word and it dismantles those things that we're trusting
and have confidence in that cannot save. So let's read verse five. Then cometh he 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. So it's about noon. There
cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto
her, give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away
unto the city to buy meat. Then the woman of Samaria said
unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? And we're told a little background,
for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. They looked
at the Samaritans as half breeds, as wicked people, people who
didn't worship God in spirit and in truth. They didn't come
down to the temple that the Lord had built, where the people of
God worship the Lord, they didn't come down there. They continued
in their own idolatry. And so they didn't have any dealings
with the Samaritans. And so in this, we see here a
picture of us. And this strange woman, it pictures
us. And the Lord addresses us. as
strange women, right? The church is his bride, and
when he finds us, we're lost, we're strange women, we're estranged
from the Lord. And he speaks his word to her,
give me to drink, and it's surprising. It's surprising to her, because
she wasn't expecting it. She wasn't thinking the Lord
was going to address her. And this speaks to a lot of people. We've known people who have expressed
that when they just go near a church, they won't go into a church,
and they won't even go near a church, because when they do, they tremble,
and they're fearful, and afraid, and think, God won't speak to
me. And yet here the Lord does come and speak to this sinful
woman who wasn't expecting why the Lord should speak to me.
I mean, she didn't even know that he was the Lord at this
time, but that's what the Lord does. We naturally assume the
Lord would never speak to me. When we've been away from the
Lord, when we've done foolishly, when we see our sin, we don't
expect the Lord to draw near to us. And yet that's exactly
what the Lord has done. He draws near. to this sinful
woman, and it's a picture of how he draws near to his people
and meets us right where we need to be met, at that well of our
hope to deliver us from that foolishness, that wicked thought
that we have to save ourselves. And what's amazing about this
woman here, when you think about it, as we learn what she is,
that she is a sinful woman, You know, the Lord can save anyone,
but we see him so often revealing himself to the sinner, as if
to say there's more hope for you that are sinners than for
you that think you have a righteousness by your own works. because the
rich man is hardly ever saved. You that are rich in your works
and thinking, this is my salvation, this is my confidence, they won't
hear Christ, because they have salvation. But here, you that
are sinners, the reason why the Lord makes us to know we're sinners,
because that sinner will hear. That sinner has a need, and that's
what the Lord does. He brings us to see our need. And the reality is, all of God's
sheep, all of the Lord's sheep are lost when he finds them.
Every one of us is a lost sinner. And some don't realize it. Some do. And some don't even
realize how lost they really are because they have a righteousness
that they're trusting in. But the Lord, he shows us here
that he addresses his people with his word. And that's what
he did. He addressed this woman with
his word. Give me to drink. And what he's doing here is he
knows our need. And he's making us to know our
need in doing that. Look at John 4, verse 10. Jesus
answered and said unto her, right, so she's questioned him, how
is it that you're talking to me? And he said, if you knew,
if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water. You know, here again, the Lord's
confronting us at this well. We think by nature that I've
got to give something to God. And if I don't give something
to God, then he can't give me salvation. He can't give me what
I need. He won't be able to save me. And so the way the Lord enters
this is he says, give me to drink. And it begins this conversation. And she's thinking, well, first
of all, how is it that you're talking to me? And it shows us
that we don't expect the Lord to be speaking to us, but he
does speak to us. And then he keeps on speaking
to her to show her, because it's with purpose, he's showing her
it's not what we give to the Lord, it's what the Lord gives
to us. And what we need isn't what we
can give first. We need a gracious God who saves
us entirely from beginning to end. Because we don't have what
we must give to the Lord. We can't pay off our debt. We
need the Lord to satisfy everything for us. And so the Lord really
is showing, you know, He's weary here, but He's moving past all
that. He's moving past all that. He
doesn't need anything from us. He gives what we need. And so the Lord's teaching, salvation's
not conditioned on something you give first. Salvation is
of the Lord. It's of his hand and that's what
he's bringing her to see and speaking to her. His questions
here are making her to know, it's bringing her to see that
she needs him to give her the drink. She needs him to give
her life and salvation. She's trusting in this drink.
And this drink in the well of Jacob is not the life and salvation
that she thinks it is. She needs what Christ has. And
you need what Christ has. We need what Christ has. We need
that living water. Because the things of this earth,
the wells that we go to by nature, are not life, they're not eternal
life, they're not salvation. And so the Lord's making her
to know her need that he might relieve her of the burden, saying,
if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water. Ask him. You that need salvation,
ask him. That's what he's bringing us
to know. He brings us to hear this word.
He meets us at the well of our hope and says, that's not your
salvation. Look to me. Ask Him. Ask Him. Third, his word addresses all
our unbelief and all our questions and all our doubts about God. And this woman's questions were
all misplaced, right? Because she didn't know God.
And so they're all misplaced. They all reveal her blindness
and darkness and what kept her from coming to God and faith,
verse 11 and 12. 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? You don't have what's necessary
for you to do what you're saying you can do. You don't have the
power to give me this word. You don't have anything to do
it. You need something from me. Surely you need something from
me because you don't have it. Where are you going to get this
living water from? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and
his children and his cattle? You see, her hope is in this
well. This is her living water, but
it's not living water. This is her water, this is her
confidence, this is what she's trusting in, even though she's
not with all the other people, she comes at a different time,
she's a different person, and yet they all come to this well
and trust in this well of man's works, of man's doing. And so
it pictures us. We trust in natural things. We trust in earthly things. We
trust in the things of the flesh. And so she's looking and saying,
how can you give me this water? And it exposes the trust. Most
people wonder, how can God save me by grace without me doing
something first? How can God do that? If I'm not
worthy, if I haven't done what I need to do, how can God have
mercy upon me? With the Lord showing us that
I don't need your cooperation. I don't need your consent. My
people are made willing in the day of my power. He brings that
salvation powerfully by His Spirit making His word effectual in
our hearts. God is able to bring it to pass
and He does. He does. We are spiritually dead
sinners like this woman. We're unbelieving fools. We don't
think God can do it. We don't believe that God saves
by grace. apart from the functions and
the works of man. God is able, by His Word, to
conquer our hearts and to give us life and salvation. This living
water that he's speaking of is the Holy Ghost. He gives his
spirit that regenerates us. He gives his spirit that gives
us life and sight and understanding and faith in the true and living
God. He makes us to hear his word
by faith in the new man. He gives us an ear that's now
tuned to Christ. He opens our mouth to confess
Christ. He gives us a heart that believes
that God has raised Him from the dead and that He did the
whole work of salvation apart from us. Not because we're worthy. Not because we did something
to save ourselves. Not because we got ourselves
saved and got ourselves under the blood of Christ. It's all
we find His work, His grace, His power that does it. And though
we don't see the instruments that we would use, yet the Lord
does it. He gives that living water. And
He makes it effectual to us. Now here it is, he speaks of
this in verse 13 and 14. Jesus answered and said unto
her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. It's
not going to quench your thirst in the day of judgment, the earthly
things you're trusting in. 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. And so what our Lord does, because
of His redemption, because of what He did on the cross for
His people in putting away our sins, He gives the gift of life. He gives His Holy Spirit to make
these things known unto us. And she, by grace and power,
she heard the word. She heard what He said, and having
heard it by faith, She cries the cry of faith. She begins
to cry that cry of the living soul, a living child of God.
Verse 15, the woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water
that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. And it's a picture,
brethren. We go to that well to draw life
for ourselves. We keep coming back to the well
of man's traditions, of man's works, and we think, this is
it. Naturally, this is how I save
myself. And that's where we go. until
the Lord makes us to hear, until He gives us that living water,
then we cease going to that well of man's vain traditions, and
man's competences, and man's self-righteousness, and we look
to Christ. We have that water of His grace
dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit, which is an everlasting, ever-flowing
well of water that quenches our thirst. Meaning, when Christ
is your righteousness, you won't keep going to other things thinking,
this is my righteousness, and I gotta do this, or else I can't
be saved, or I gotta do it this way, or else I can't be saved,
or I better do this, or else I'm not righteous. He's going
to settle us in Christ. He puts our eyes upon Christ
to know He is all my righteousness. And that well that we cease going
to is the well of man's traditions, man's self-righteousness, man's
works. Because now we have that living
water in us. That's what the Lord does for
us just like he did for this woman. And he reveals this through
his word. He spoke to this woman. Just
like he's speaking to you this morning through this word. And
we see this as the third thing. that when our Lord calls His
lost sheep, He's going to continue to grow them in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Verse 16 Jesus
saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The
woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her,
Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five
husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and
that saidst thou truly. Our Lord knew all her sins. When
the Lord calls us, he knows everything about us. There's nothing like,
oh, when he finds out what I've done, then he'll surely cast
me away. He already knows what you are.
He knows what we are by nature. And yet he calls sinners to himself
to believe him. And this woman understood then.
She said, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. And so the
Lord does it. He is our prophet. Christ is
our prophet. And He speaks to us, and one
of the things He shows us, and you that follow the Lord know
this, we see our sin more and more. We see what we are. More and more, the longer we
stay in Christ, the more and more we see, I've not gotten
better. I see what a great sinner Christ
has saved. And I thought I knew what I was,
but now I see I'm actually worse than what I thought I was. Christ
really saved a great sinner. And then, again, he shows us
again, no, he really saved a great sinner. Now I see it more and
more, and the Lord shows us what we are by nature, just like he
revealed to this woman after he spoke of the living water
in himself that he gives. Now he teaches her more here
let's see this in verse 20 this is her speaking now her words
our fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. You see how the Lord
begins he starts to to just deconstruct all her hope all her vain confidences. He's just picking them apart,
because we do grow. We do grow. When we first come
to the Lord, we don't know all things. We just know He's salvation,
and the Lord just keeps teaching us, patiently teaching us, and
separating us from false hopes. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh where ye shall neither in this mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know
not. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and 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. The Lord
doesn't lay on any pilgrimages on us. We don't have to go back
there. to find the Lord. We don't have to do anything
like that at all. Right here, right now, by His
grace and power, by His Spirit, through faith, we worship Him.
We worship the true and living God in spirit and in truth. Because we worship Christ. That's
worshiping God in spirit and in truth. It's being made alive
by His Spirit, confessing Christ. And so, salvation is not of our
carnal works. It's not of our doing. And men
still today drive themselves crazy trying to do everything
just right so that they can feel righteous and feel like they've
done what they needed to do. I pray you never feel like you've
done what you needed to do except to be in Christ alone. I pray
that you find Christ and rest in Him and trust Him and that's
it, that you trust Him and trust Him to work all things in you.
But we go to the left, to the right, all over the place trying
to get salvation for ourselves and the Lord's showing us it's
not by your works. Christ has provided all that
we need and so He's taking her eyes off of the physical things
that man naturally looks to and turning us to the spiritual things,
which is Christ. And then he makes his people
to find their all in him. Verse 25 and 26, the woman saith
unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I am. I that speak unto thee am he. And with that word, He delivered
her from her bondage. He delivered her once and for
all from the things that she was holding on to and trusting
Him. He made her to know that He is
all. And that's what the Lord is showing
us in this word. Christ is all. He's all our salvation. Stop going to the well of man's
works and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And by that he bore fruit
in her. It says, verse 28, the woman
then left her water pot. That device, that carnal device
that she used to draw up the water that she believed was her
life and salvation, she left it. If that was still precious
to her, she would not have left that behind. She would have taken
it with her, but she left it. And that's what the Lord does.
He turns us from trusting our works, our water pot, and makes
us to put that thing down and to go and tell others what Christ
has done for us. And so it's a picture of her
leaving false religion, idolatry behind. And she 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? You know,
there's a picture in that, too. This woman, who didn't want to
be around the others, and the others didn't want to be around
her. There was no love there. Now there's love. Now there's
the fruit of love. She heard, and she goes and tells
those people that were against her. She tells them, I found
him, the Messiah. Come and see. This man told me
everything, everything about me. He knows everything about
me, and yet he speaks to me. He speaks to me, come, come and
hear him. And they went out of the city and came unto him. And that's what the Lord does.
When we hear Christ, he bears fruit. and the fruit we bear
is His workmanship. And that's what He does. He turns
us from carnal things and He turns us to life and light and
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I say to you, put down your
water pot, put down the things that you're trusting in, put
down your carnal hopes, your vain, dead hopes, and look to
Christ. He's the one that gives living
water. He's the one that saved His people
by the sacrifice of Himself. He's the one that gives life
by the giving of His Spirit, who manifests and bears fruits
of righteousness in you, faith love and hope in him. I pray
the Lord bless that word to your hearts. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we do thank
you for your grace. We thank you for coming to us and sitting right
on the well of our hope and speaking your word to us undeserving sinners. and making us to hear your word,
that we would put down the water pot of our vain fleshly hopes,
that we would receive your water by your grace and power, your
living water, that we would never thirst again looking for righteousness
in the things we do or in other saviors, but that we would find
our all in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask that you would bless this
word to the hearts of your people, of your lost sheep, Lord, and
make us to find our all in Christ as this woman did. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen.