John chapter 4. John chapter
4. As I said, no Thursday night
service. We plan on going in and celebrating
my mother's 90th birthday, which was supposed to be a surprise,
but she's watching this morning. I forgot. So much for that. Well, I'd just sooner be listening
to me this morning than be surprised. The title of this message is
Christ Reveals Himself to a Sinner. Or if you knew who is speaking
to you this morning, you would ask Him. You would ask Him for
a drink. You'd ask Him for life. You'd
ask Him for forgiveness. You'd ask Him for mercy if you
knew who's speaking this morning. And I pray God it's not me, that
it's Him speaking through me. Now, our Lord left Judea to go
to Galilee. But it says he first must needs
go through Samaria to a city named Sychar, which, you know,
most Jews went around that place. He purposely went through it.
Now, I know you've heard several messages from this, but I never
get tired preaching from it. I love preaching from familiar
portions of Scripture. I love it. I enjoy it. So He
must need. There were certain things that
our Lord must do. He said the Son of Man must suffer.
He must suffer. He must go to Jerusalem. But
here He must. It's an absolute must. It cannot
be changed. He must go through Samaria. You
see, He has a meeting there set up. He has appointed. He has appointed. He's the only
one who knows about it. But he had set up a meeting there with
a sinner, this woman, a notorious woman, a woman that no one really
wanted anything to do with, even in Samaria. But he set this meeting up. He
set it up before the foundation of the world. That well dug there
on purpose. There are no accidental meetings
with the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be. I thought about this
sitting here. It may be. Someone's come here this morning,
totally uninterested, totally just oblivious to Christ, and
will meet the Savior. Christ will reveal Himself. That's
my hope in preaching. My hope in preaching is the Lord
will make Himself known. He did to me. He did to some
of you. I hope He still does to others
here. I do. I pray that He does. Now you'll
notice in verse 8, the Lord sends His disciples away to get some
food. It says, For His disciples were
gone away into the city to buy meat. There comes a time, there
comes a time, if God's going to save a sinner, If He's going
to save that sinner, there comes a time when all others must get
out of the way. They've got to get out of the
way. Because it's going to be just Christ and that sinner. And the Lord's going to deal
in the heart of that sinner. And the pastor, the preacher,
has got to get out of the way. And he sent his disciples out
of the way. And one of the reasons also is
this. Look in verse 9. Then saith the
woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew,
hast drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans. They would have been too prejudiced.
They would have been too prejudiced to have spoken to her. They would
have ran her off. If they could have now, if they
could have, they would have ran her off. So he got that out of
the way. He got that out of the way. And
he deals with her. And you'll notice in verse 7
how the Lord starts the conversation. I'm going to jump down to verse
7. He says, now he's there at Jacob's
well, and he's weary with his journey, which shows his humanity.
He's weary, he's thirsty. You know, he didn't bring water
out of the rock for himself. He did that for the children
of Israel in the wilderness. The water out of the rock is
for us, but he never did any miracle to relieve himself of
any suffering in any way, shape, or form. He didn't make the stones
into bread when he was hungry in the wilderness. He didn't
do any of that. So he starts this conversation, and this is
interesting here. It says, "...there cometh a woman
of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith unto her, Give me
to drink." You know what He does? He asks her for what she needed
and what He's going to give to her. He's going to bring out
this matter of her sins and her need of the water of life. And
he's thirsty, so he asks her for what she really needed. So he begins to reveal himself. He says here, now listen, and
his disciples are gone away, and she asked him in verse 9,
she said, how is it you're dealing with me? I'm a, you know, Jews
don't have any dealings with us Samaritans. And Jesus answered
and said unto her, He doesn't get into this controversy she
has. She's saying, how is it you being a Jew, you're asking
me for a drink of water because you know we don't have anything
to do with each other. He doesn't go there. He doesn't go there. What he does say is this, if
you knew. Woman, if you knew. I say that
to every person, if you knew. If thou knewest the gift of God, What is the gift of God? Who
is the gift of God? You know, it says eternal life
is the gift of God, but you know eternal life is a person? Eternal
life is a person. It's not the length of it, it's
the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is eternal life. You can see
that over in 1 John 1. If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, who is talking to thee, who is
asking for a drink of water, and who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have given thee
living water. He wouldn't deny it. Jesus Christ
has never, ever, ever denied any sinner who came for mercy.
He's never denied anyone who thirsted after righteousness,
who thirsted for forgiveness, who thirsted and hungered to
know God. He's never sent them away. Never. He said, if you knew who
was speaking to you, you would ask him and he'd give it. He
would give it. I hope that rings in our ears
this morning, if you only knew who's speaking here this morning.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them. And the woman said unto him,
Sir, she's respectful, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and
the well is deep. From whence, now tell me how
you're going to get the water, the living water. And she was
thinking of that water and that well as living water. Because
without it, she would die. Without water, you can live longer
without food than you can with water. Without water, you're
going to die. But she's still ignorant as to
this one who's speaking to her. All that she saw standing in
front of her was a man, one who had no beauty that she should
desire him. You see, until the Lord opens
your eyes and my eyes, there's no beauty, there's no reason
for me to have an interest in Him. There's nothing that attracts
me to Him. But oh, if He opens my eyes and
I see my need, He becomes altogether lovely. He becomes all together love.
He becomes everything. And she said, Thou hast nothing
to draw with. She's the one who has nothing
to draw with. She's the one who has nothing to draw with. She's
dead in trespasses and sins. He has everything to draw with.
He's God. He's God. And she says, The well
is deep. She keeps presenting a problem.
See, she keeps seeing a problem. She doesn't see the cure standing
in front of her. All she sees is a problem. Isn't that the
way it is with sinners? Always a problem, always presenting
a problem. The well is deep. They say that
well was about 100 feet deep. Whence hast thou this living
water? How'd you get this living water?
How'd you get it out of this well? Well, first of all, it
wasn't in that well. She said, how'd you get it out
of this well? You don't have a bucket? You don't have a bucket and a rope?
You don't have it. How did you get this? You see,
her mind is still on buckets and water. Her mind is on natural
things, material things, you know, not spiritual things. Christ
is speaking of spiritual things. She's talking about earthly things.
Her eyes have not yet been opened. And our Lord is speaking to her
of these spiritual matters. You see, this goes back to Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is going to ask some questions, and the Lord said,
You've got to be born again before you can see or understand the
things of the kingdom of God. She doesn't get it yet, but she
will. She will. The Lord never quits
on a sinner He starts on. He never quits on his work. And
she said, Art thou greater than our father Jacob? Are you greater
than Jacob, which gave us the whale, and drank thereof? Oh man, she just all tore up.
And drank thereof himself, and his children, and even his cattle
drank of this water. Are you greater than Jacob? She doesn't know what she's talking
about yet, but listen. Are you greater than our father
Jacob? You mean that deceiver? You mean that worm, Jacob? Thou
worm, Jacob? Is that the one you're talking
about? Are you greater than that deceiver? You see, we forget
our ancestry, don't we? We forget it. You take any relative
in the history of your family that you're the most proud of,
it's just still a rotten sinner. Rotten to the core, like everybody
else. You know, people get impressed
with these family trees and stuff. They never take the tree back
far enough. I guarantee you, they may be one person hanging
in that tree that has some nobility or some notoriety, but the others
hanging in there, they don't mention. It's like a thief and
a robber. I mean, you don't mention them. You don't mention Rahab the harlot,
do you? Our Lord did in his ancestry. There, Matthew, she's mentioned.
He didn't leave her out. Oh, you're greater than Jacob? Listen, here stands Jacob's God. Here stands Jacob's Redeemer. Jacob gave us this whale. No,
no, no. Jacob was only the means. Don't
get caught up with the means. We are so We are so prone to
get caught up with the mean. Jacob, listen, Jacob gave us
this well. God used Jacob to dig a hole
in the ground. Jacob did not put the water in
there. She's drawing that water out
of there like Jacob put the water in there. Jacob didn't put the
water in there. Water comes from heaven. All water comes from
heaven. Isn't that a... there's a message
in itself. The water of life has come from
heaven. And she's all caught up with
this well that Jacob dug. Water is very important, I admit
that, and Jacob dug the well, but now listen. That water in
that well is of God. And the water of life is of God.
It's of God. And what she's saying, are you
so much better than Jacob that you can give me better water?
Can you give me better water than what I'm drawing out of
this? Well, this is well water. You know, we drink well water. We don't drink city water or
chemical water, we drink this pure well water. That's all it
is though, it's well water. It's not the water of life. Because
I guarantee you, you're gonna come back here tomorrow and draw
again. And again, and again. It's not going to give you life. You see, Jacob drank of it, but
don't think that his drinking of it made it pure water. Don't
think that Jacob drinking of that water made it any better
water than any of the other wells around. You might as well go
under Catholicism and get holy water sprinkled on you. That's
nothing but spigot water. or wherever they get it, it's
just water. It's not holy water. God is holy. And listen, you
and I don't make anything more pure by our use of it. You know
that? We don't make it more pure. Jacob
didn't make that bed of water by drinking it. That's the same thing as when
Paul and Corinthians said, they said, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas. And some said, I'm of Christ.
And she's saying here, I drink of this well that Jacob drank.
I drink better water than anybody around here. No, you don't. Don't
let yourself get caught up in these things. It doesn't matter
who gave it. It doesn't matter who baptized
you. It doesn't make you any more saved, does it? Not at all. It's God who really gives us
all things to enjoy. It's God who gives us the true
water of life. It's God who does that. He's
the first cause, let's not get caught up in the second causes.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this
water shall thirst again, whatever circle we run in. It doesn't
matter if it's the group we run in outside of
here or politically. It doesn't matter what it is
in this life. It will leave you thirsty again.
You'll thirst again. Now let's take notice here how
the Lord is really starting to deal with this sinner. He intends
to stave. Now here's what He does. He stays
with the truth. He doesn't get caught up in her
ignorance. Don't get caught up in someone
else's ignorance. They start, well, doesn't the
Bible say, then you get going down the wrong road. If you cannot,
and I told this to someone, well, I told Jeremy yesterday, he's
talking to me about it. If you cannot give someone Scripture,
if you cannot speak to them from the Word of God, Get out of the
conversation. Talk about the weather. Just
get out of the conversation. I have learned this. If the Lord
is in it, He gives me liberty to use His Word because that's
what He's going to bless. That's the power. The power is
in the Word. It's not in my ability to convince
somebody of a doctrine or a position. Use the Word of God or get out
of the conversation. And our Lord does so. He stays
with the truth. Whoever drinks of this earthly
well, even though Jacob himself drank of it, even though he dug
it, it cannot save you. It cannot quench the thirst of
your soul. Only God who made it can quench
it. Only God can satisfy. Only God can give eternal life.
Only God can do that. Whatever we find pleasure in,
in this earthly life, will leave us thirsty again. The more money you make, I guarantee
you, this will happen. The more you make, the more you'll
want. It's the rule of this fallen
nature. The more money you make, the
more you'll want. I guarantee you, it works every
time. It works every time. And the rich man's rich, as Solomon
said, won't let him sleep. A poor man sleeps pretty good
because he labors. The rich man's riches won't. I've never in my
life, and I've known some rich men. I've known two or three
very rich men, and I've never heard them say it's enough. I
ran a company several years ago. I was a plant manager of a company.
And it's one thing I learned about being a plant manager,
and I never want to do it again. I never want to run another man's
company, ever, because it's never enough. I don't care if your
profit margin runs 50%, 60%. It's like, let's push it to 70%. It's never enough. Because it
doesn't satisfy. It doesn't satisfy. But our Lord
says in verse 15, But whosoever drinks 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. He's speaking here of Himself,
of the Spirit of God, the graces of the Spirit. It'll be in Him
springing up. It's not in the ground somewhere.
It's not in these things. It's spiritual. It's spiritual.
Here is satisfaction for the soul. Here is a well that is
springing up from within and it never runs dry. It can't. You know why it never runs dry?
God's the source of it. God is the source of it. And
when God's the source of it, it never runs dry. Never. You
see, salvation, now listen to this. Salvation is not only a
work for us. It is also a work in us. Not just for us. Eternal life
is in you. If God saves you, it's in you.
And it's springing up. It's springing up. But you notice here he says,
"...whosoever drinketh." The only way to quench my thirst
is to drink water. I can look at water all day long
and die of thirst. I can die of thirst, and I could
have water bottles sitting all over this place. But if I never
drink it, I'll die of thirst. And what he's saying here is
this. Christ is to be received into
the heart by faith. And faith is a gift of God. It's a gift of God. But salvation,
listen, salvation is not Jesus Christ in your presence. I believe he's present here in
spirit. I believe he's present. But that's not going to save
you. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's Christ in
you. Christ was in the presence of
a lot of people that perished. There were a lot of people who
partook of his miracle every day, and they perished. He fed
5,000 with a loaf of bread and a fish. All 5,000 of them were
not saved. But he fed them. He took care
of them. Does he not feed the world today?
There's 7 billion people in this world today. He will be the one
who will feed. But they're not all going to
be saved. And that's why he says here, he that drinketh. And that
word drinketh means continually. If I, you know, I can take a
drink, I can drink this water right now, but if I never drink
again, I'll die of thirst. It's that continual drinking
of Christ. And if that water of life is in you, you will drink
because it'll be a water, it'll be a spring bubbling up. It'll
be bubbling up. It's this water of life is the
gift of God. And he said, you'll never thirst
again. This is security. He's speaking here of security.
This well will never run dry. It will always spring up. Thoughts
of Christ arise without our effort. You know, I go throughout the
day, and I know this is the same for everyone who believes here.
You go throughout the day, and then you'll start to think of
Christ. you'll start to think of a scripture. I mean, that's
the water of life bubbling up without effort, without effort. You can't help but think of him
because the water of life's in you and it's bubbling up. And
you're continually either thinking upon him or reminded of him as
it bubbles up, as it bubbles up. And then here it says, it
not only speaks of security, but it also speaks of its fullness.
It's bubbling up. You know, I lived on a farm,
and back on the farm there was a spring, right on the top of
the hill. You wouldn't think a spring would
be on top of a hill, would you? You think of a spring, our natural
thinking is it'd be down where the creek is. This is a spring
on top of the hill with nobody pumping water up to it. And that
spring was full no matter what time of the year it was. The
hottest summer, you can go to that spring, and there it was. It was always full of water.
That's the same within a believer. That spring is always full because
God's the source of it. Always springing up. Always springing
up no matter the trial. This spring will always spring
up. Trials will not dry up this spring.
I don't care how hard they are. It doesn't matter how difficult
a trial is, it will not dry up this spring. It can't do it. It will never dry up because
God is its source. And the woman said unto him,
sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither
to drink. She's thinking about not coming
there in the middle of the day when it's hot. You see, everybody
else came in the morning, but she was so notorious, she had
to come in the afternoon and when it's that hot heat of the
day. And so she wanted this water basically at this time so she
wouldn't have to come there and draw water no more. That's the
only thing she thought of. The only thing this woman had
to work with was her natural mind. She couldn't comprehend
what he was saying at this time. But give me this water so I don't
have to come here again. All she's thinking of is her
comfort, her natural comfort. You see, most people have the
idea of heaven as not having to work again. It's either not
going to hell, I mean, which, if I give you an option, if you
don't go to hell and burn, or if you don't go to heaven and
never, never, and enjoy it, you know, it's just you never have
to work again, which one you gonna choose? It's not about that. It's not
about that. But most people think of heaven
as, it's just a better option. If God did not regenerate you,
you'd be miserable as could be in heaven. You'd be miserable
there because the lust of your flesh would be so strong and
you couldn't fulfill it. You couldn't fulfill it and you'd
be miserable there. It would not be a good vacation.
And that's the way most people look at it. But now the Lord
is going to do surgery on her. He says, here, she says, give
me this water. I want this water, this living
water, not just water, this living water you're talking about. He's
got her interest. This living water, give it to me. Now he's
going to do the surgery. I see this like a surgeon prepping,
you know, he's prepping the patient for surgery. He's been prepping
her for heart surgery. And he says, okay, go call your
husband and come back. You see, the Lord is going to
reveal her sin and her sinfulness. That's what He's going to do.
It's got to be dealt with. He's going to bring her to the light. And He's also, at the same time,
going to reveal His deity. No sinner is ever saved whose
sins are not dealt with. God's going to deal with your
sins, my sins. And she says, I have no husband. And the Lord,
you know, she told the truth, not the whole truth, nothing
but the truth, but she told the truth. I have no husband. You know, she wasn't going to
divulge any more than she had to. She told the truth and the Lord commended
her for it. He said, you're well spoken, you're right. Thou hast
had five husbands. And I bet her, I bet she just
drained, the life drained out of her. How did he know that? And I'll tell you what, back
in that day, I mean, you could have 50 husbands now, it don't
really matter in this country, but back in that day, oh, she
did not want to tell that. She did not want to tell that.
Go call your husband. She said, I don't have a husband.
He said, you're right, you've had five of them. And the one
you're with now, the one you're living with now is not your husband.
Boy, he just, boy, he just, I mean, he hit the mark. He met her right
where her problem was at. If God's going to save a sinner,
He's going to meet that sinner right where the major problem
is. Every time. She was an adulterous woman,
and the Lord reveals to her that He knows her. There's nothing
hid from Him. He knows everything about her,
everything about us. He knows everything. And she
said, I perceive you're a prophet. Now she's going to get religious.
You know, that's what you do. You just tell somebody I'm a
pastor. It works every time. They start getting religious
on me, or they'll try to behave themselves around me. And some
of it really chokes them to do it, but they try it. They give
it a try. And now she's going to get religious.
After this revelation of her heart, she realized she was in
the presence of one scent of God, but she did not realize
that she was in the presence of God. That's the difference. She said, I perceive you're a
prophet. No, he's that prophet that Moses said should come.
And she tries, listen, she tries to change the subject from herself
to religion, the difference between their religion. A sinner doesn't
like being forced to deal with her sins. We ain't talking about
Religion here, we're not talking, we're talking about you. You
ever start, you ever, somebody get the blame on something and
they start talking about somebody else who did it, well so-and-so did this. Well we ain't talking about so-and-so,
we're talking about you. I'll deal with so-and-so later
if so-and-so comes around, but right now it's just you. And
it's just him and her. Nobody else is that well. Nobody
else. It's just the Lord and you. You
know, Zoso did this, but that's all right. Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship. He didn't say that. Do you read
that? Did we read that? He didn't say
that. She's trying to introduce a controversy.
She's going to take him to task. She's getting him off of her. You had five husbands, and you're
shacked up with one now. And she's like, oh, I see you. You're a prophet. You know something
about me. Well, let's talk about religion. Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain. No, they didn't. You never worshipped
God in a place. God is worshipped in the heart.
And he's going to set this forth. Our father worshipped in this
mountain. You Jews say the place to worship is in Jerusalem. Oh, she's going to get this controversy
going. Which church you go to? What do you believe? I believe
God. Say that the next time somebody
asks you what you believe. I say, I believe God. Abraham
did. Abraham believed God. And it
was counted to him for righteousness. And our Lord said to her, and
I'll try to wind this down here. I know I'm taking too long. But
good food is worth sitting down and eating. I've never jumped
up from the table and took off from when I was eating good food.
If it's good, I'm hanging around. He said, the hour cometh when
all the ceremonies, the types, are going to vanish. Don't need
them to worship God. I don't need anything to worship
God but His Spirit, His Word, and a new heart. That's what
I need to worship God. You see, worship has to do with
a person, God. And God is spirit, and therefore
those who worship Him, worship Him in spirit and truth. We don't
worship Him... Paul said this in Acts. He's not worshipped
with men's hands. Now our hands can do things that
evidence is true worship in the heart, giving, caring, you know. But God is worshipped in spirit
and truth. He's worshipped in spirit and
truth. God is not worshiped in ignorance.
Nobody ignorantly worships God. It's in truth. And that's who
He seeks to worship Him. And our Lord said to her in verse
22, You worship you know not what. You don't know what you're
doing. That's what He's saying to her. Your worship is out of
ignorance. He's honest. He's not mean. He's
honest. You worship you know not what. We know what we worship
for salvation is of the Jews. He's saying to her, we, since
she said you Jews, and he says we know who we worship, because
God gave the types, the pictures, and all those things, he gave
his word to the Jews. He gave to Abraham, and out of
Abraham came the Jewish nation, and that's what he said. He didn't
give that to any other nation. Only one nation was given that. And that's why he says, we know
what we're talking about. We who do believe, those who
know the gospel, David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, he identifies himself
with those. We know, he says, for salvation
is of the Jew. He's a Jew. He's a Jew and he
is salvation. But the hour cometh, and now
is, the hour is here, when the true worshipper shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to
worship Him." We are the true circumcision, which worship God
in the spirit and have no confidence in His flesh. God has sent the
Gospel to us as well as to the Jews. God is spirit, and they
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And
the woman said to Him, I know when the Messiah cometh, now
she had She had learned something about the Messiah. Adulterous,
sinful, wicked woman. She still knew something. She's
still religious. All people are religious. Some are saved. Some are saved. But she, at this
time, the Lord was saving her and she didn't even know it.
You know, that's how it happens. Henry said, I don't know why
I believe, how I believe, the only explanation I can give is
this, it's the gift of God. God gave it to me. God gave it
to me. She said, I know the Messiah
when he comes, he'll tell us all things when he comes, he'll
tell us everything. And the Lord opened her eyes. This conversation goes on. He
deals with her sins. He exposes her. He makes her
to know He knows everything about her. He tells her He's the living
water. He said, I'll give you the living
water. And then He says to her, and here it is, and I wouldn't
have thought He'd say this to someone this morning, I that
speak to you am He. I'm the Savior. I'm the promised
Messiah. I am God incarnate. I am your
salvation. And you know what? She believed. She came to that well in the
heat of the day, totally unexpected to meet her real husband, her
real final husband. And buddy, when she went back
to town, we'll see this next time, she became a flaming witness. And she was not an adulteress
anymore. She didn't live like that no
more. Guarantee you. And she became a flaming witness
and everybody in that town was like, and they knew her. It was
like, wow, we got to go out and hear this one. All right.