Alright, let's turn back to John
chapter 4 again. John chapter 4, we've been going
through the book of John, and our text this morning will begin
with verse 11, but let's read the first 10 verses leading up
to it, okay? John chapter 4, verse 1. when therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John. Though Jesus Himself baptized
not but His disciples, He left Judea and departed again into
Galilee. And He must needs go through
Samaria. 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. 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 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. 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." Now, I hope and pray
that the Lord will allow us to enter into this. This woman is
from Samaria. And our Lord asked her to give
him a drink of water. And verse 9 says, 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. No dealings. None at all. Now, what I'm about to tell us
is going to shed a lot of light on the story of the Good Samaritan.
And we're not going to look at that. But it's going to shed
a lot of light on that story. The Samaritans were heathens. And what that means is they were
foreigners. They were strangers. They were
descendants of foreign colonists. And they claimed to have a share
in the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. That's what they
wanted. They tried to claim something that they had no right to. And the Jews wouldn't allow it. So the Samaritans hated the Jews. Hated them. And they said, we're going to
build our own temple. And they built this temple on
a mountain called Mount Gerizim. And it was a rival temple. That's what the dictionary said
about this. A rival temple. The Samaritans and the Jews were
strong opponents of each other. Now turn over to Matthew chapter
10. Matthew chapter 10 verse 1 says, And when He had called unto Him
His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits,
to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles
are these, the first, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his
brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip
and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of
Alphaeus, and Labaius, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the
Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him, These
twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not
into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not." That's hardcore, isn't it? Don't go to the Samaritans. Isn't that amazing? Don't go there. Turn over to
Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, look at verse
51. It says, And it came to pass, when the time was come that he
should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
and sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered
into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they
did not receive him. because His face was as though
He would go to Jerusalem. And when His disciples, James
and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command
fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah
did? But He turned and He rebuked
them and said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. Apparently, He hadn't told them
that verse, The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
of God. The Samaritans would not receive
Him. They were a hateful people. Hateful. But our God, who is rich in mercy on every nation, every tribe,
every kindred, He even had mercy on the Samaritans. Turn over
to Luke 17. Verse 11 says, And it came to
pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst
of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said
unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came
to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud
voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet,
giving Him thanks." And he was a Samaritan. Our God is good. So good. Our Lord came for the worst of
the worst. As our Lord was leaving this
earth, getting ready to be received
back up into glory, don't turn there, and Acts chapter
1 verse 80 told His disciples, You shall be witnesses unto Me
both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria. and unto the
uttermost part of the earth. Send the gospel to every nation. I want you to go preach this
gospel, this good news, even to the Samaritans. You know,
they probably thought, are you serious? Alright, so back in
our text, John chapter 4, verse 9 says, 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. 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." Now our Lord, in kindness,
in forbearance, and in love, He's about to have a conversation
with a Samaritan woman. And I'll be honest with you,
I love this story. This is one of my favorite conversations
ever. I adore this story. What He's
doing here is He's calling out a sheep. We're about to watch how the
Lord calls out a sheep. We constantly ask the Lord, call
out your sheep. Lord, bring them into this fold.
If it be Thy will to bless Your Word and call out a sheep, please
do so. We're about to watch how the
Lord calls out a sheep. He spelled out for us what happens
during conversion. This is wonderful. Verse 11 begins
with where this woman is spiritually. And I'm going to tell you where
she is. She has no idea where she is. She's lost. Alright? Verse 10 says, He 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. Now watch verse 11. 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? This is what a person believes
who has no idea who God is. Are you ready? This is what a
person believes who absolutely has no idea who God is. God has
no hands but your hands. She said, Sir, thou hast nothing
to draw with. and the well is deep, from whence
then hast thou that living water?" I'm the one with the bucket. You have no bucket but my bucket.
That's unbelief, isn't it? Sir, if anything's going to be
done, ultimately I'm going to be the one that has to do it.
I've got the bucket. I appreciate it, but the well
is deep. You say you have living water
and you can give this water to me. I don't believe that. You don't even have a bucket. She doesn't know who God is,
does she? It's the same God who told Moses, you just touch that
water with your stick and He took the ocean. What do you think
could have shot out of that well? I brought my own bucket because
God helps those who help themselves. In verse 10, our Lord said, you
don't know who God is, do you? 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 think you have a part in
this, don't you? You think I need your bucket,
don't you? You think there's something you
have to do, don't you? You don't know the gift of God,
do you? Verse 12, she said, "...Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle?" Do you know everybody by nature
is an idol worshiper? Everybody. Everybody worships something. She said, Are thou greater than
our father Jacob? The trickster? The supplanter? That sinner? The first thing our Lord has
revealed is this woman is trusting in her own ability and she's
worshiping the wrong God. And that's what everybody else
is doing out there whom God hasn't revealed Himself to yet. They're
trusting in their own ability, and they're worshiping the wrong
God. Don't turn. In Exodus chapter
20, our Lord said, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. This woman is lost. Lost. Verse 13. Jesus answered and
said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing
up into everlasting life." What does that mean? What does that mean? It means if your eternal life
depends on your works, your living right, your profession,
your baptism, your works, then there will be no end to your
attempts to satisfy God. I didn't sin one time today.
Great, you've got to not sin tomorrow and the next day and
the next day. But the fact that you told me that is the greatest
sin you could have possibly made today. Pride, number one thing. If your eternal life depends
on your works, then there's going to be no end to your attempts
at satisfying God. No end. And when it's all over,
and you go to meet Him, you'll find out that you still didn't
satisfy what He demands. And you're going to die in your
works. That's what He's telling this woman. You're going to die
in your works. Your works are useless. Do them all you want to, but
they're useless. Your righteousness is nothing
more than a filthy rag. The best you have to offer is
stinking in God's nostrils. But, if I give you living water,
a living work, If the Lord Jesus Christ gives
a sinner His living water, His work of salvation, if a sinner
ever gets a, as Irene likes to say, delicious and satisfying
taste of these three words, it is finished. That tastes good. That sinner will never thirst
again. He'll never long or feel the
need for his own works ever again. Every time the issue of God's
holiness and His judgment comes up, These three little words
are going to satisfy a fearful soul. It is finished. You know, we start every message
off looking at ourselves and our sin, usually. And you know,
we get scared almost every time. We think, oh, I missed something. And then we realize, nope, he
paid it off. Oh, that tastes good. Verse 15, the woman said unto
him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw. She sees her inability. Now what
we're about to talk about here for a second is an important
part of this message. She sees her inability. She sees
that her works are not sufficient. She wants this living water.
She sees her need of it. Is she worthy of it? Is she worthy
of it? 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. In that thou
saidst truly." Do you know what he's saying
to her? You, my dear, are a sinner. Let's be honest. You are a sinner. You're going about life not too
worried about it. I'm going to show it to you. I'm going to prove it to you.
I'm going to bring it before your eyes and before your mind
and before your heart. That is a painful part of conversion. Painful. Every single one of
God's children will become well acquainted with his own sin. When the Lord breaks a sinner
down, it's painful. Verse 19, the woman said unto
him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. It seems to me
you know something about doctrine. You must be some kind of prophet. She said in verse 20, Our fathers
worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is
the place where men ought to worship. You remember the Samaritans
built that temple up on Mount Gerizim, that rival temple. Our
fathers say that we're supposed to worship on this mountain,
and you say it's supposed to be in Jerusalem. Now let me get
my mind around all this. Our doctrine. Our traditions. The things that our dads and
our granddads said. The things they told us to believe. What we call our doctrine. Seems
to be different from yours. Verse 21, Jesus saith unto her,
Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship
you know not what. 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." Do you
know what he just told her? Not only are you a sinner, you're
ignorant. You're ignorant. That is a tough
thing for a human being to hear. You know that? You talk about
no room to glory. That's where every sinner is. That's where every sinner has
been since birth. And when the Lord opens a sinner's
eyes, that's the first thing that he's going to see about
himself. I'm a sinner? And I don't know God. I'm ignorant.
Verse 22, you worship, you know not what. We go to church, what
are you really worshiping? I don't know. Jesus? I don't know. Verse 24 says, God
is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth. They don't worship an idea. They don't worship an emotion.
They don't worship morality. They don't worship themselves.
It's not just a big show. They worship Him in spirit and
in truth. His Word. The true Word. They worship Him as He has declared
Himself to be in His Word. I love my Father, and thanks
be to God, my Father is a grace preacher. But I don't care what
my Father has to say. All I want to know is what does
God say about Himself. And thanks be to God, my Father
and I agree on it. Verse 25, The woman said unto
Him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When
He is come, He will tell us all things." She still has no idea
who she's talking to. Isn't that amazing? Now, think
about that. Think about that. She's starting to sound like
a believer, but she still has no idea who she's talking to.
The Lord has revealed a lot of things to her, given her some
light on some things. Her inability, her idolatry,
her insufficiency, her sin, her ignorance. But do you know what
she still has not seen? Christ. She still hasn't seen
Christ. Knowing my inability is not salvation. I got my brain wrapped around
all five points. Well, knowing my inability is
not salvation. Humility is not salvation. Knowing that my works cannot
save me is not salvation. Knowing my sin is not salvation. There are prisons full of men
and women who deep down know their sin. They know what they
did. Knowing the difference in what
men call the doctrines of grace and false doctrine is not salvation. Salvation. is knowing Jesus Christ. There's a difference in there.
I must know who this Christ is. And the only way that can happen,
the only way I'm going to know Him is if He knows me first and
He comes to me where I am. Did it just so happen that the
Lord was wearied in His journey at the exact moment in time this
woman was coming to draw water from this well? No. Let me tell you where I am in
my flesh. I'm ignorant. I'm an idolater
who is self-righteous in my own eyes. I think I'm a good person who is good enough to dwell in
the presence of this holy God of heaven. I have myself fooled. Deep down, every molecule of
my being, every piece of me is full of deadly, rotting, vile
sin, and I don't even know that. My thinking is backwards. It's
wrong. I'm a false worshiper without
the Spirit of God. The only way I can know Him,
can, no man can come to me, the only way I can know Him is if
He first knows me. and graciously, and lovingly,
and willfully, and mercifully comes to me where I am, in all
my wrong, and speaks peace to me, and causes His face to shine
upon me, and reveals His goodness and kindness to me in what He's
already accomplished for me. The Gospel is called Good News.
News is not a prediction. It's about what happened yesterday.
It's already finished. If He reveals it is finished,
that is salvation. Verse 25, the woman said unto
Him, I know that Messiah's cometh which is called Christ. When
He is come, He will tell us all things. And Jesus saith unto
her, I that speak unto thee am He. Salvation just opened her
eyes. Conversion just took place as
soon as she saw Jesus Christ as everything. Conversion took
place. When that happens, a change comes. A change of mind, it's called
repentance. It's real, isn't it? It's a real
change of mind. Verse 27 says, 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? Then the woman left her waterpot, and went her way into
the city. Our Lord said, whoever I give
this to will never thirst again. She left her works right where
they were standing. She left her water pot and ran
into the city. Why? She had to run and tell
how great things the Lord had done for her. That's the response. Verse 28, the woman then left
her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the
men, Come see a man. Don't see a mountain. Don't see
a temple. Don't see the people. Don't see
the things. Come see a man. which told me all things that
ever I did. He revealed my sin to me, and
He revealed my salvation to me. Is not this the Christ? As soon as a person sees that
this man Jesus is the Christ, conversion is taking place. She said, I found the truth. I found the truth. I'm not going
to play religion anymore. I'm not working my way to heaven
anymore. I found the truth. Actually,
men, the truth found me. And the truth has set me free. Verse 30 says, Then they went
out of the city and came unto Him. And our Lord tells another
story from verses 31 to 38. And verse 39 continues our story
by saying, 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. So when the Samaritans were come
unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them, and
He abode there two days. 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." He's
revealed my inability to me. I heard about your inability,
now I see my inability. He's revealed my self-righteousness
to me. And my sin and my ignorance,
He's revealed Himself and His voice to me. Mine eyes have seen
the glory of the coming of the Lord. Verse 42, and they 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. Brothers and sisters,
as we read this book, and as we see Him revealed in this Word,
we know, don't we? We know. I don't think. We know that this is the Christ. This is the Savior of the world. Lord, reveal Yourself to us. Refresh us, satisfy us, let us
taste and see that it is finished. I pray the Lord would reveal
that to me again today, to you again today, and to as many people
as He will in this community. Alright, stand together with
me.