Good morning. We got about another minute.
So let me just give an So Michelle and I are going to
go to Kentucky and see Alexis and Addie and Aaron and then
there. But I don't know if I'll be back
in time for the message on Wednesday. So I've asked Arvin and he's
happy to come up and preach to you that Wednesday night. So
that's March 17th and then he'll be staying with the Moors. Um,
He said I'll come up Tuesday night and then head back home
Thursday morning. All right, so two nights basically. I'll try and remember to announce
that again later in the next service. And I'll try and get
it in the bulletin as well just to remind you all on March 17th
there. All right, so we're probably
good now. Testing, testing, all right,
there it is. Okay, brethren, let's go to John chapter four. John chapter four, this morning. And we'll be looking at verses
one through 10, and This is kind of the first part
of that section of where the Lord speaks to the woman, the
Samaritan woman at the well. But I want to look at the first
10 verses with you now. And in this portion of our scripture
here, of this account of Christ speaking to the woman at the
well, We have another account of how it is that the Lord saves
a sinner. This is how he saves his people
and saves sinners. Now, you'll recall that back
in chapter 3 when our Lord was speaking to Nicodemus, He came
right out and said to him, ye must be born again. But that's not the words that
he chose to use here with this unnamed Samaritan woman. But
the truth still applies. She had to be spiritually born. She had to be born again. But
his approach is somewhat different. You know, with Nicodemus, he
was a Jew. and he was highly favored among
the people and he was highly respected as a religious man. He was a learned man and he had
a lot of knowledge about the Jewish religion and I'm sure
he was esteemed in their eyes and he was a moral man. He was a moral, fine, upstanding
citizen there in Judea. he likely had a high rank, right? He was an important figure there
in Israel. And we see him seeking out Christ,
but we know that he was seeking Christ in his own self-righteousness. He wasn't coming to Christ for
salvation. He was a student himself of the
word, and so he was looking for this Jesus of Nazareth to give
him a little extra teaching. He said, we know that you're
a teacher sent from God. He was looking for some instruction
from this rabbi, this Jesus of Nazareth. And yet the Lord told
him plainly, you're coming to me for some teaching, for some
learning, but you must be born again. You've got to be spiritually
born again. And it's something, it's a work
that God must do for the sinner. You're not going to acquire or
accumulate a little extra facts or improve your doctrine. You
need the Spirit of God to give you spiritual life. And so with
this Samaritan woman at the well, we know she also lacks spiritual
life. That's true of every one of us. And yet Christ addresses her
differently than he did to Nicodemus. Now, what we see is she's a pretty
tough woman. She's a tough woman, and she'll
speak her mind. She will give you her opinion,
and it's likely her opinion has angered people. She's been open
and shared her opinion about things growing up there in that
area of Samaria. And it would appear that she's
made some unsavory life choices. Things that have turned people
off from her or put her in a bad light. And so she's acquired
a bad reputation in those parts. She's acquired a bad reputation.
And we could say she's a person, she's poor. She's not wealthy. She's not educated. She's a person
of low esteem and low degree among those people there. And
she would be counted a Gentile sinner. As I understand it, the
Samaritans were half-Jew and half-Gentile. They were a mixed
breed, and so they were looked down upon by the Jews. And I'm
sure that no one in her life really gave her anything. What
she had, she had to work for herself. She had to work hard
for everything that she had. And so our Lord, when he speaks
to her, he speaks to her about the gift of God. Her need was
the gift of God. And this would be very different
from anything she's heard or received in her life. And so
what the Lord's teaching us here this morning about this is that
he alone is the savior of sinners. He saves sinners. He does for
us what we cannot do for ourselves, and he's not going to fail. He's
sovereign God doing what he is purposed to do in the hearts
of his people. And so this whole passage here,
What it speaks of is what we'll be looking at today is Christ
seeks out a sinner. He seeks out sinners for himself. And then when we come back to
this passage next week, we'll see that the reason why Christ
seeks out sinners is they're all spiritually ignorant. Every
one of us is spiritually ignorant. We're not seeking him for salvation,
we're seeking him In nature, we're seeking Him so that we
know how to get ourselves saved. We're just looking to Him as
a guidepost in nature. And then we'll see Him reveal
sin to the sinner. He reveals the sinner's sin to
them, and then we see him destroying the refuges that man and women
flee to, to hide themselves from the light. We all love darkness,
and we want to keep the things that we want to keep hidden,
we want to keep them hidden. The things we don't want our
Lord to bring up to our attention, we want to keep that on the down-low,
and the Lord, by His power, and his glory, he shines a light
into those dark corners that we hide in by nature. And then at the end, we see him
revealing himself to this woman. He makes himself known that he
is her salvation. And that's what he's going to
do for every one of us. He's going to seek us out. He's going
to make our need known to us. He's gonna reveal to each one
of us that we're a sinner. He's gonna destroy the refuges
that we hide in, right? They're all the same, but they're
different, right? We all have our different crevices that we
like to crawl into, but the Lord destroys those things, and he
makes himself known to us. This is his salvation. He loves
his people, and he's going to bless us with salvation. So this
morning's title is The Gift of God. The gift of God. The first thing we see is our
Lord seeking out His lost sheep. Some, when you speak to many
in religion, when you speak to many in religion, they speak
of salvation. They speak of Christ as going
out and looking to save anyone. Is there anyone out there who
will just believe on me? And they speak of salvation.
You know, of sinners, they're saying, I hope you make a good
choice. I hope you make the right choice to believe on Him for
salvation. And so they speak of salvation
as something that is in the hands of the sinners. And there is
an open door of salvation. We do preach Christ. who is able
and willing to save the sinner. But the reality is no one wants
salvation. None of us by nature has any
interest in the salvation of God. We don't hear it. We don't
believe it. We refuse and reject what God
has revealed concerning us and who his salvation is. And so
none will come except by the grace of God delivering them
from that bondage of sin darkness all right and so Christ isn't
out there just begging people hoping that someone would just
believe on him so that his blood doesn't go to waste rather he
in purpose he moves with purpose he does everything on purpose
what he does and what he does is successful and he shall save
his people from their sins now The Scriptures, therefore, they're
revealing to us a sovereign God who is successful in his salvation. Now, we're told in verses one
and two, it says, when therefore, this is John 4, one and two,
when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that
Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, right, though
it wasn't himself, but his disciples baptizing, we're told that he
left Judea and What was going on there is that the Pharisees,
they had heard who John testified of, that this one was the Christ. They had heard that, and this
thing wasn't dying. And they looked at each other
and said, fellas, we got to do something about this, because
if we don't, this man's ministry, as we can see, is taking off.
It's increasing. He's growing, and it's not going
away. And if we don't do something
about this, then Rome is going to do something about it, and
they're going to take away our position and our power and our
authority, and they're going to give it to someone else to
rule over this unruly people here. And so they were plotting. They were plotting to destroy
the Lord. They were plotting to take this
Jesus of Nazareth out. And so knowing this, recognizing
he knows what's in the heart of man, he departed from them.
He left them so that they couldn't do what they intended to do at
that time because it wasn't time for the Lord to be taken by the
will of man. And if you remember when he spoke
to Mary in Cain of Galilee, he said, woman, what do I have to
do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. And
he was saying there, my hour in which I will be taken by the
will of wicked man who will do to me whatsoever they will has
not yet come. It's not my hour to lay down
my life yet and be subjected to the wicked will of evil men. And so that's what he's doing
here. He's departing from them so that
they can't take him and destroy him. Verse three says, he left
Judea and departed again into Galilee. And that is a solemn
word. for us. We've seen that in Mark. And when you go through the gospels,
there's those solemn moments in which the Lord just passes
by a city. He doesn't stop there. He doesn't
minister to them. And here he's actually departing
from them. He's leaving those there in Judea. He's taking his gospel and he's
bringing it up to Galilee. He's leaving the people there
in darkness. And so the solemn word for us
is that we don't want to be careless. You that don't believe on the
Lord, you that have no hope in the Lord, it's a solemn word
to hear him. Don't mock the Lord. Don't refuse
what he's saying. Don't block out your hearing
of his word because this is what we need. We need
the gospel. We need to hear his gospel and
his grace. And, you know, many young people
and a lot of people, they despise the word of God and they don't
care. They think it's a joke and they
think it has no part for them. And what they're testifying in
their refusal to hear what God is saying is, it's okay, I've
got this. You know, I'm depending on my
own works. I'm depending on my own wisdom.
I'm depending on what I see around me. And it's very foolish because
we know God has testified that he shall destroy the earth. He
did it the first time with water, yet he saved eight souls. The
next time will be complete and it'll be by fire and that'll
be it for us. You know, as a human race here,
this time so the Lord will will destroy it and so we should hear
it and he says actually in Proverbs 1 23 through 26 he says turn
you at my reproof behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I
will make known my words unto you right you that are that know
that you're sinners. And you that hear his word, he
says, I'll be gracious to you. You seek me, I'll pour out my
spirit upon you. I'll make known to you my salvation. But because I have called, he
says to the wicked, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand,
and no man regarded. But ye have said it not, all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh
at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
Now the amazing thing about that is the child of God shudders,
right? The child of God thinks, this
is, God's gonna mock me. But they're the ones who are
afraid and they seek God and they cry out to the Lord and
say, Lord have mercy on me. And it's the wicked who should,
who need to hear it, who say, they don't even hear it. It just
goes right on by them and they think nothing of it. And so the
hardness of man is that he wants to do things his way, he wants
salvation on his terms. and he doesn't want to hear of
Christ. He doesn't want to behold and
believe what God has testified concerning us, that our salvation
is not in the things we do or don't do. It's not in our will,
which is in bondage to sin and darkness by nature, but our salvation
is his son, Jesus Christ. And that's the hope of the believer.
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. I can't save myself, but you've
provided everything necessary for me in your son, Jesus Christ. And that's our hope, all right?
We look at our works and we see disappointment in ourselves,
but we look to his work, his son, and we say, there is my
hope. He's my rest, my all, my glory. Lord, I trust him. I believe
you what you're saying, what you said about your son. All
right. So our Lord is faithful to reveal that to his people,
his people hear that. And we receive that. All right.
And we know we're not perfect in ourselves in this flesh. Well,
no good thing, but Lord, I believe your testimony. I believe that
he is all my all in all. And that in him, I shall stand
before your throne faultless. And so we rejoice in that because
His grace overcomes our hard heart. It destroys, you know,
our unwilling heart. It takes away our blindness and
our hardness of heart and our deafness. our being unable to
hear, he communicates that to the heart. He gets through and
communicates that to our heart. Next we're told that Christ is
going to Galilee. In verse four it says, and he
must, needs go through Samaria. Now, he didn't have to go to
Samaria, technically, to get to Galilee. There were other
routes around Samaria, but it was the most direct, but he didn't
have to go through Samaria just to get to Galilee, right? But the scripture says he did
have to go through Galilee, and that's because the Lord's teaching
us that he is sovereign and he's predestinated a people, right? He's elected a people for himself
and he's determined to save this people at this time, in this
manner. And so Christ must go through
Samaria to save his people. And the people there are Samaritans. They're half-breeds, if you will,
right? They're people that are despised
by the Jewish people. And it's an example of what our
Lord said in John 10, 16, when he said, other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. I've got to
bring them to here and under my wing, under my care and protection. And he says, they shall hear
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. There's not different
nations of people of God, there's one nation, there's one people
under God, under his salvation, and we're all saved one way.
It's by the blood of Jesus Christ. All right, now in verses five
and six. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
which I believe they believe that to be Shechem. Shechem,
which is spoken of in Genesis, And it's near 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 one thing we see there
is the humanity of our Savior, right? He grew tired. You grow tired, I grow tired
from a hard day's labor, and it takes less labor now as I
get older to wear me out, but we grow weary and we grow tired,
and that's true of our Lord. weary and and I think the beauty
in that is is that you know we we let I let myself get sidetracked
sometimes when I get tired and and Plans I had earlier in the
day go by the wayside as I wear out as the day goes but what
we see in our Lord is in spite of his humanity in spite of the
weakness of his flesh and He always did that which was needful
and he sought the Lord's people even when he was weary and tired
and could have done for himself. He laid down his life for the
people. He's fulfilling the purpose of
God in seeking this woman out. And now we're told here that
it was about the sixth hour, and that would mean it's when
the Jews speak of you know, the hour of the day, they're taking,
that hour begins at sunrise. So typically about 6 a.m., so
it would be about noon right now. The sixth hour is about
noon. Verses seven and eight, there cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water, and Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. For
his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. And
so here's our Lord there alone. And conveniently, you know, on
purpose, he sent his disciples away so that he would be there
alone. And here comes this woman at
this hour. Now this is a productive hour
in the day. People are usually selling their
goods and their wares at the market. And here comes this woman
at a time Because there's not going to be people there. Most
people would go there in the morning for their water, for
what they've got to prepare and cook and do for the day. And
then they would return at night, perhaps, and gather more water. Plus, that's where they fellowshiped. That's where the townspeople
came together and spoke with one another. And it's like gathering
around the water cooler. And they're talking about the
things that are going on. But she comes. at a time when no
one else is typically there. She's coming there on purpose
so that others aren't there. And yet our Lord knew, and he
went there on purpose right at that hour where she would be. And we see there in that just
the grace of our God to meet us, not just in location, right? But he meets us where we're burdened
down with our sin, where we're troubled, and breaking under
the weight of the load and the burden that we carry. And he
comes to meet us there and to minister to us, to minister to
his people in love and grace and in kindness. And so he's
seeking out this woman. In Isaiah 65, 1, it says, I am
sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. And so our Lord is
making himself, he's gonna make himself known to this woman and
he does it by asking her for a favor. He said, give me to
drink. And this is where we see a bit
of this woman's demeanor, right? She feels free now to let her
opinion be known. She's gonna give him some lip
here, and she says in verse nine, then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? And John tells us, for the Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans. And so what this woman is saying
is, oh, you guys don't wanna talk to us Samaritans, you don't
have any dealings with us, but now when you need something,
when you need a drink, and you see I'm here with this bucket
to draw water up from the well, now you're gonna ask me for a
drink. When it's convenient and nice
for you, you're gonna ask a favor of me. And so we see a bit about
her, right? She's giving him a bit of a fight. And so our Lord, I'm sure He's
thirsty because He's a man, right? He's in the flesh. He's fully
man and fully God. And so I'm sure He's being weary
with the journey. He was thirsty. But what He's
doing in her is He's creating a thirst in her. He's revealing
her need of salvation. And so that's what he's getting
at here. She needs the gift of God and
he's making that known to her in this passage here. And so
our Lord is, he's the one who's got to give us what we need. He's the one who's got to make
known to us our need of what he alone can and must provide. And so, Our Lord is gonna minister
that word. He's gonna bring that word with
power and he's gonna reach each one of his sheep. He's gonna
talk to us the way he will speak to us to deliver us from that
bondage and make us to feel our need of him. Not all of us are
like Nicodemus, not all of us are like this woman at the well,
but he, is skillful. He's wise and powerful and mighty
to save his people. And so those for whom he's going
to save, he's going to reach your hearts and he's going to
make known to you your need of grace. And man left to himself,
he's always going to refuse the truth of God. He's always going
to do things his way and And there's many that our Lord leaves
behind and takes his gospel away. But there's also many whom he
loves and whom he set his affection upon in eternity past. And he
shall have them and he shall deliver you from your sins and
your condemnation. And that's his mercy, right? When he brings you here and keeps
you here and keeps drawing you back to himself ever. because he loves you and and
he will have your heart and and you shall have him in your heart
by faith and you shall know him and and rejoice in him all right
and our lord says in verse 10 he answered and said unto her
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 and You know, he's using water. It's a, it's a picture. We all
need water and we can go a lot longer without food than we can
without water. And we go out of our minds. If
you go enough days without fresh, you know, good, good, healthy
water, you can really lose it. But, but like water, we need
salvation and the Lord's going to make us to to feel it and
to know our need of him. And so he speaks of this living
water and that it's the gift of God. And so like all sinners,
she's spiritually ignorant. She doesn't realize what he's
even saying. She doesn't even know to ask
for it because she's in darkness, but our Lord knows you need it.
And so he's going to bring you to ask him. We wouldn't ask him
by nature, but he's going to bring us to seek him, and to
desire him, and to call out upon him, Lord, have mercy on me,
a sinner. Or like that woman of Syrophoenicia
who said, help me, Lord. He brings us to cry out to him
and ask him for salvation, to ask him for mercy to cover us
with the blood of Christ. Even though the works are already
finished, they're done. But He brings it home to your
heart, causes you to need Him, causes you to cry out to Him,
and to seek Him, and to find rest for your souls in Him. And so, that's the gift of God,
to bless you with Christ. He took care of everything. He
adopted you in eternity past. He chose you to salvation. He
sent His Son to redeem you. with the purchase of his own
blood shed for his people to put away their sin on the cross. And he put away our condemnation,
and he delivered us from our death and the punishment that
we deserve. And he gives us the gift of the
Holy Spirit, whereby we're taken out, that darkness which is over
our hearts and minds is removed, and he shines the light of Christ
into our dark hearts. And we're made to cry out to
him so that he reveals himself to you. And so that's all the
work of God. That's the gift of his salvation
to make you know what he has accomplished for you and who
your savior is. And so he does that. So Paul
would say in another letter to the Corinthians, thanks be unto
God for our unspeakable gift, right? Or for his unspeakable
gift to us. And so I pray the Lord bless
that word to your hearts and cause you to rest in him and
to see his great, gracious work of salvation in seeking you out
and delivering you. And so rejoice in him, brethren.
All right, let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your unspeakable gift, for your gift of salvation
and for your water of life. Lord, that you should fill our
hearts, that you should dwell in our hearts by faith and springing
up in us as an eternal well of salvation. Lord, we thank you
for this. We thank you for what you do
for us. Though we are undeserving sinners,
desperately in need of your grace, Lord, you are so kind to pour
it out upon us, all the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Father, we thank you for that, and we pray for our brethren.
Lord, continue to stir our hearts up for one another. Help us to
remember one another and to help one another as Lord, make us
able to do it. Even when we are tired and weary,
help us, Lord, to remember one another and to set our hearts
upon you and your kingdom and the people of your kingdom, that
your name would be glorified and praised among us. It's in
the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray these things.
Amen. All right, brethren. So we'll
come back at the top of the hour at 11 o'clock.