Good morning. If you will open
your Bibles with me to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John chapter
4. John chapter 4 and our text will
be found in verse 29. Let's read that verse together.
John 4 29 says, Come, see a man which told me all things that
ever I did is not this, the Christ. What is our message? What is the gospel that we so
endeavor to preach? Come, see a man. You can put
capital M on that word, man. Come see a man. Is not this the
Christ? Paul said, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord. We preach a man. We preach a
man. We preach Christ and him crucified. He is the gospel. He is the good
news for sinners. He is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. We must come and see him if we're
to have any hope of eternal life. For our message this morning,
I want us to consider this verse, this saying, come see a man,
is not this the cross? I want us to see who said this,
why they said it, and what happened as a result of that message being
declared. First, who said this? I'm sure
some of us know who said this. Well, look back at verse, in
verse 28, it says, the woman, the woman saith to the man. Well,
what woman? Look back at verse seven. John
4 verse 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. We have a woman of Samaria. That's who this is. Well, who
was she? I'm gonna show you a few things about this woman, and
I'm gonna try to be brief. There's a lot in this chapter,
and I've got about 30 minutes, so I'm gonna try to be very brief.
Look down with me at verse 16. Who is this woman? 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. In that saidst
thou truly. Who was this Samaritan woman?
She was an adulteress. She was a fornicator. She was
a sinner. And you know what God's justice
demands for such an one? The law says such should be stoned,
is that right? The wages of sin is death. She was a sinner. You
know, I can't help but think of that woman caught in the act
over in John chapter eight. The Pharisees brought her to
the Lord. They said, Lord, not Lord. They said, we caught her
in the act of adultery. The law says she should be stoned.
What do you say? And you remember he just stooped down, wrote on
the ground and they kept on and on and stooped down again. I
can just see him write mercy. I will have mercy. I will have
compassion. He sent her home forgiven. No man condemned her. What's
our Lord gonna do with this woman? What's he gonna do with this
guilty, adulterous woman? Well, he points out her sin here.
We just read it in verse 18. Well, look what happened next
in verse 19. What was her response to that? The woman saith unto
him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. How did you know
that about me? How did you know? And look at verse 20. She said,
our fathers worshiped in this mountain. And you say that in
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. You know
what she did? The Lord pointed out her sin
and she does what we all are prone to do. Had to show her religious side.
Well, I've got my profession. Our fathers worshiped. And you
see, I know it may look like I'm a sinner, but really I come
from a good Christian family. I am a Christian, okay? Well, let's see what the Lord
had to say about this woman's profession. And keep in mind, this is all
of us until God saves us by His grace. Look at verse 20, 21.
Jesus saith unto her, 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. He just told her, you don't know
what you worship. I can't read this passage. I
can't read these verses of scripture and not wonder how many people
this day sit in a pew just like we do, no clue what they worship. Jesus. Well, who is he? He's the Lord. What has he done? He saved his people from their
sins. Where is he now? He's up there
trying to save people. Oh no, the Lord thy God omnipotent
reigneth. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father on high and he's saving his people and they shall
be saved. The Lord went on and he said,
we know what we worship for salvation is of or for the Jews, spiritual
Israel. Look at verse 23. 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. Not only
did our Lord call out this woman's sin, he called out her religion
for what it is, false worship. He said, you're not a true worshiper. Everything about what you believe,
everything, all the lies you've been told, it's all false. The
true worshipers, there are some true worshipers by the grace
of God, and they worship Him in spirit and in truth. You know,
where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He
is in the midst of us. We come here. begging the Spirit
to descend upon us. We come here and gather around
this book. You know, it came to my attention
the other day, some churches don't even open the Bible, and
they make all these new translations. We have the Word of God, we have
a more sure word of prophecy. We gather around God's Word,
begging the Lord to speak the truth, capital T, to this heart. Christ, who is the truth, Look
back with me at verse nine. The Lord told this woman, you're
lost, you're lost. And here we'll see it again 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? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Now see this, verse 10. Jesus
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 wouldst
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
This woman, you know, we simply repeat the words that the Lord
spoke to this woman, and this flesh just gets so angry. The Lord gave this woman much
grace to not just run away. Well, we know that he kept her,
don't we? He kept her. She had to hear
what he had to say to her. Well, here he tells her, you
don't know the gift of God. You don't know who it is that
is speaking unto you or else you would have asked of him and
he would have given thee living water. Praise God, in spite of
her, he was gonna give her living water anyway. What is the gift
of God? The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God's unspeakable gift, the gift
of Christ. He is God's gift. Again, in spite
of this woman, in spite of her sin, in spite of her false religion,
her attempt to please God, I want to show you the goodness of God
that is about to lead this poor woman to repentance. Look up
at verse four. or verse three rather, the Lord
Jesus, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee and he must,
needs, go through Samaria. Why? Why must God, why must he go
through Samaria? Why must Christ take that path?
Because he had a lost sheep whom he came to save. You know, we know this to be
true. If we belong to Christ, God does everything just for
us. The Lord performeth all things for me. He was doing this just for this
poor woman, this sinner. So we see who this is. We see
who this is. We have a sinner, lost, religious
but lost, but one whom Christ came to save. So why did she
say, in verse 29, come, see a man? Why did she go out with this
message? Look at verse 25, John 4, 25. The woman saith unto him, I know
that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come,
he will tell us all things. Again, you see the fact that
she, I mean, she professed to be a Christian. I know that Messiah
coming. She was waiting on the Messiah. I love this, look at
verse 26. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am. I am. Whom shall I say sent me? Tell him I am, I have sent you.
What a name, what a name. That's our Lord's name. Jesus
Christ, the great I am before Abraham was I am. Something happened to this woman
to send her out with this message, this new message. The Lord revealed
himself to her. She didn't know. We just saw
that. The Lord said, you don't know me. He revealed himself
to her and in her. You know what my only hope is?
Christ in me, the hope of glory. Christ liveth in me. If Christ
does not live in me, if I'm not dead and my life is hid with
Christ in God, I have no hope. No hope. But when the Lord reveals
himself to and in a sinner, that changes everything. A new man,
scriptures say, he created us a new man in Christ Jesus. He
created a new woman and she didn't do a thing. What part does she
play in all of this? She just did the sinning. Jonathan
Edwards said, the only part I contribute to my salvation is the sin that
made it necessary. Is that not true? Just moments ago, this woman
did not know the gift of God. She did not know who was speaking
to her. She was waiting on the Messiah, but she didn't know
she was looking at the Messiah. Here she stands, face-to-face
with Christ her Savior. You know, we sing that song,
face-to-face with Christ, face-to-face with Christ my Savior, face-to-face,
what will it be? Don't you just wonder, what is
it gonna be? What's it gonna be like when
I'm standing face to face with Him. I tell you this, it'll be
wonderful. It'll be far greater than we
can imagine. I can't begin to imagine, but I know this, it'll
be well worth the wait. You know, we think this life
is so long. Oh, it's not. I'm 25 years old, I've got a
few years left, and I mean that, really, I mean that. I'll be
satisfied when I awake in His presence with His likeness. That's
what I'm waiting on. Look at verse 21 again. Jesus
saith unto her woman, believe me. You know, that's the commandment. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. This is his commandment, that
we believe on him and that we love one another. You see, she
didn't believe him. We skipped over it, but the Lord
had told her, well, I'll give you living water. She said, well,
you don't even have a bucket. The well's deep. How are you
going to give me water? I'm the one with the bucket,
you see. She said, are you greater than our father Jacob, which
gave us the well and drank thereof himself? Yeah, I'm the God of
Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I'm
their God. She did not believe him. Now she believes him. Now he gave her faith to believe
him and only him. How can we believe in him of
whom we have not heard? Can't. How shall we hear without
a preacher? This woman heard from the preacher. And not only that, she saw the
beautiful feet. How beautiful are the feet? Oh,
he brings glad tidings of good things, does he not? He who is
our peace. Beautiful feet. And she went
away knowing something. She didn't know anything before.
Now she goes away knowing this is the Christ. This is the Christ. She didn't know what she worshiped.
Now she knows whom she worships. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded that he is able to save even a sinner like me. I pray God would persuade us.
You know, we think we were persuaded last Sunday, don't we? Lord,
persuade me again. Oh, I'm so prone to wander. Lord, save me right now. Look at verse 26 again. Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he, I am. And upon this came his disciples,
and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what
seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then
left her water pot, and 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. Why did she proclaim this message?
It was just too good news to not go share with everybody.
Go tell everyone what great things the Lord hath done for thee.
And I love the fact that it tells us she left her water pot. You
know why that woman went out to the well, why she purposed
in her heart to go to that well at 12 o'clock. Many say that
she went at noon later than everyone else because she was ashamed,
she was embarrassed. Because people knew who she was. She
had a reputation. Is it just a coincidence the Lord was sitting
on that well when she came out at an unusual time? Oh no, oh
no, no. She went out there when she did
just to fill her bucket with water. And the Lord said, whosoever
drinks of this water is going to thirst again. She went out
there just to get some water. But that's not why our Lord went.
That's not why our Lord purposed for her to come to that well
when she did. She left without her water pot. Did she leave
without water? Did she leave without water?
She didn't have a bucket anymore, she left it. She left with the
water of life in her. The well of water that the Lord
said in verse 14 will be springing up in her. into everlasting life. Oh, she left with water. She
left with Christ, the water of life. She had told him in verse
11, oh, the well's deep. How are you going to give me
this living water? And in verse 15, she said, sir, give me this
water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. She didn't
want to have to come back to the well. We read a book, I think
in sixth grade, I don't remember it, but they said something about,
oh, the spring, if you drank the water, you'd live forever.
Well, she didn't know what he was saying when she said, give
me this water. You know, we want to live forever, we think. But
the Lord told her, I'm not talking about living here forever. I'm
talking about eternal life. The water that will give you
eternal life. But just as she said, the well
is deep. Truly, the well is deep. The well of our sin. The well
of my sin. Do we really know how far we've
fallen? Remember the pit from whence
we're dipped? We don't have a clue how deep the well is. But I rejoice
to know that though the well of my sin is deep, praise God for that blood which
reaches deeper than the stain has gone. There is a fountain
filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunge beneath that flood beneath his blood, lose all their guilty
stains. Praise God for that precious
blood of Christ that has removed our sins forever. You see, she
just came out for some water that was gonna make her thirst
again, but she went home forgiving all her sin against God. She
went home never to thirst again. Whosoever cometh to me shall
never hunger. Whosoever believeth on me shall
never thirst. That's the grace of God. That's
the grace of God. Lord, give me this water that
I thirst not. Oh, Lord, give me this water.
Is there anybody here that's thirsty? I'm not talking about
this kind of thirst. Does anybody thirst? Let him
that is a thirst come. Whosoever will, let him come. Take the water of life freely. God doesn't need our bucket.
God doesn't need anything from us. It's his word from start
to finish. Come take the water of life freely. By the grace
of God, that's exactly what she did. And so she went into the
city and declared, come see me. Come see a man. Now lastly, what
was the result of her declaration? Look at verse 39. And many of
the Samaritans of that city believed on him. For the saying of the
woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did, they believed on him. Many believed
on him when they heard her saying. And look at verse 40. So when
the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he
would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. What did
these Samaritans do when she came and brought this message?
Her message was, come see a man. You realize what it said in verse
40, so when they were come unto him, she said, come see a man. The Lord made them willing in
the day of his power, and here they come. Drawing them to himself,
here they come. And you know what they saw? They didn't just see a man. They
saw the man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made
flesh. And I love how it says that they
besought him that he would tarry with them. That means they came
to him. He, just like Joseph, made himself
known unto his brethren. The Lord made himself known unto
these men and women. And they said, Lord, would you
stay a couple days with us? Please, Lord. You know, Bartimaeus, when the
Lord saved him, gave him his sight, says straightway he received
his sight and he followed Jesus in the way. He wanted to just
follow him. And if God gives us faith, that's
what we do. We follow our Lord. Now thinking
about the Lord abiding with them for two days. I think of that
hymn, Lord, abide with me. O thou that changest not, would
you abide with me? Would you literally enter into
this heart that you've given me? Would you abide with me? Another thing I thought about
was the verse that says, one day with the Lord is as 1,000
years, and 1,000 years as one day. You think about that. One
day with the Lord is as 1,000 years. He gave these people two
days. And soon we're going to have
eternity with our Lord. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. I just mentioned face to face
with Christ our Savior. What will it be? What will it
be? What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the
one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand
and leads me to the promised land. What a day, glorious day
that will be. I long for that day. This is
the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. But you know why we can rejoice and be glad in it? Because we're
waiting for that day. We're looking unto that blessed hope and appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what a day that will be,
what a day. Lastly, look here at verse 41
and 42. It says, and many more believed because of his own word
and said unto the woman, now we believe not because of thy
saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this
is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. They heard her
saying, but they thought, I gotta get to him. You know what we
do when God speaks to us through his word, through his messenger?
I've got to get to Christ, come to Christ. Lord, draw me unto
yourself. Bring me to your feet and let
me hear your word. Let me worship you, Lord. I pray that today the Lord would
enable us, all of us, our children, to hear his voice. He's able. He's able. Oh, Lord, speak to
us. If we ever hear his voice, we
will say with Peter, Lord, we believe and we're sure that thou
art that Christ, the son of the living God. You know, a man can
tell us something We might believe a man. It pleads God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. He just might speak to us today.
He just might speak to us today and cause us to believe on Him
and give us a new message. It's all about Him. Come to Christ. Christ is all. You're complete
in Him. Come. Come. Praise God this woman heard His
voice. And you know what? She's never going to stop hearing
his voice. And neither will we if he speaks the word in power
to us. Come, see a man which told me all things that ever
I did. Is not this the Christ? Amen. You're dismissed.