Good morning. It's really a pleasure
for Robin and I to be here again after quite a few years. We're thankful. We're thankful
for the Lord's people and for the blessing and encouragement
you are to us. This morning I'd like us to look
at the Word of God in John chapter 4. So if you would turn there,
John chapter 4. Let me just read through this
passage. It's a passage I think we're
all very familiar with. This is one of those comfortable
passages and as we do, let's just remind ourselves of what
happened here and then I'll come back and we'll look through here
and see what the Lord would have us to learn by His grace this
morning. But I'll just begin and we'll
be speaking from verse 5 on down, but let me begin in verse And
we read, therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees
had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than
John, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples,
he left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But he needed to
go through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob
gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. And
Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by
the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give
me a drink. For his disciples had gone away
into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said
to him, how is it that you being a Jew ask a drink of me as Samaritan
woman? For Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her,
if you knew the gift of God, And who it is who says to you,
give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given
you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you
have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then
do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father
Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as well
as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her,
whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. but whoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but
the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain
of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him,
sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here
to draw. Jesus said to her, go call your
husband and come here. Woman answered and said, I have
no husband. Jesus said to her, "'You have
well said, I have no husband, "'for you have five husbands,
"'and the one whom you now have is not your husband. "'In that
you spoke truly.' "'The woman said to him, "'Sir, I perceive
that you are a prophet. "'Our fathers worshiped on this
mountain, "'and you Jews say that in Jerusalem "'is the place
where one ought to worship.' "'Jesus said to her, "'Woman,
believe me, the hour is coming "'when we will neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what
you do not know. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now
is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth. The woman said to him, I know
the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes,
he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak
to you, am he. Now in this passage, we find
a man portrayed to us sitting beside a well in Samaria, weary,
hungry, thirsty, with the burning heat of the noonday sun beating
upon his skin, and he arrives on foot, the dust of the earth
clinging to his feet. And we read there, in verse 5,
that he come to the city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near
this plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jesus,
being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well, sat in
a weary way. It was about the sixth hour.
Now, who is this man? Why is he there? What is he doing? He doesn't look very impressive.
Who is this man? Well, in Job, and in the Psalms
in particular, but in all the Word of God, we're given a picture
of this majestic person laying the foundations of the earth,
striding among the innumerable hosts of stars of heaven, calling
each one by name, unbounded by space and time, this eternal
being. So wondrous was this sight, You'll
remember that the angelic hosts were overcome by the glory and
the wisdom and the power, the dominion of such an awesome being
as he brought forth this marvelous creation that they shouted for
joy. And you would have to. He is
the fairest of 10,000. He's the Lion of Judah, the Mighty
King, traveling in the greatness of His strength. The mountains
shake and tremble at His presence. Heaven is His throne, and earth
is His footstool. Who would believe that this is
the same person? Where is His divine nature? Right there. Sitting by the well. Here he is, clothed in human
flesh. Perfect humanity. Here too, perfect
divinity. For in him dwells all, not some,
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the glory, the majesty,
the power, the wisdom, this infinite being, eternal, holy, justice,
goodness, truth, all found in all its fullness in this man
sitting beside this well. Two distinct natures and one
person forever, forever. This is the man that sits upon
the throne of glory. And we read that as the disciples
looked upon this man, as they witnessed his ministry and experienced
the fellowship of this man, John tells us in the first chapter
of John, he says, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Who would
believe that this man beside the well is the eternal son of
God? Who would believe that he made
himself of no reputation, took the form of a servant, and came
in the likeness of men? Who would believe that he came
to atone for sin? Isaiah Rice, doesn't he? Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, not impressive, as a root out of the dry ground.
He has no former comeliness. And when we see him, when they
looked upon him, there was no beauty, no beauty that we should
desire him. Who would believe? Well, this
woman of Samaria is about to do just that, isn't she? She's
gonna believe. In verse seven, we read, a woman
of Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, give me
a drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy
food. Now, this woman of Samaria, she
comes out in the middle of the day to draw water. And think
of this now. She awoke that morning, having
no idea, no idea that this day would be unlike any day in her
entire life. She would never forget this day,
would she? Not only in this life, but in the life to come. She
would look back upon this day with joy and gladness and rejoicing. What a day. Think of this, think
of this. as the Lord went to the cross
in the appointed time and suffered and died. And then the disciples
went throughout all Judea and Samaria preaching the gospel
of the kingdom. At first, when she heard of the
death of Christ, like so many of the disciples, she must have
been uncertain, confused. But when that glorious revelation
was manifest in its fullness and she heard this, What rejoicing
that would have caused in her heart. But this is the day that
she would remember, isn't it? She's the reason that Jesus is
there at this particular place in time. He's come to find this
woman. He's come to save this woman.
He knows her. He's known her from all eternity. He's known her before He strode
through the heavens creating all those stars. This morning,
I'd like to have you see something that is revealed throughout the
Scriptures. That Jesus is a seeking Savior. He's a seeking Savior. You know, many years ago, my
father told me, as he goes out to the villages, he's always
optimistic. You know, and when you're beginning
a missionary work, you know, you go out to preach to dead
bones, don't you? You go out to preach to people
dead in sin. And he says, you know, it doesn't
matter, rain, sun. He says, I'm always optimistic. in preaching the gospel because
he said, you never know. This may be the day when the
Lord speaks to one of his lost sheep and calls them out, whether
now or later. And I've always remembered that.
And that strengthened me in the ministry of the gospel. You never
know when Christ is going to appear. You never know when the
Holy Spirit is going to descend and work powerfully in the heart
to reveal sin, reveal Christ, reveal the righteousness of God,
and grant this gift of repentance and faith. You never know. You
know, I'll... Turn over to Ezekiel, chapter
16. Again, this is a text, keep your
place here in John, but this is a, for every believer, this
is just blessed passage, rich in the grace of God. And I was,
oh, many, many years ago, I was at a church gathering while several
churches had gone down. In fact, it was the area that
Samson is from, at Soyanga. And I was preaching there. And
we scheduled several meetings. And Bernie Crozier, a co-worker,
was there for a visit. And we'd hiked down there. And
I'll never forget it. It was an evening meeting. And
there was the kerosene pressure lantern. throbbing and hissing
and look out and all of these faces just looking at me in this
reflection of this light as I preach the gospel. And why do I remember
it so clearly? Because this is one of those
days where the presence of the Lord was powerful in the preaching
of the word. And we long for those days. We
wish it was every day, don't we? But if it was, we'd probably
think it had something to do with us. Wouldn't we? Isn't that
what we do? But nevertheless, this was one
of those times, and I preach from this passage, speaking about
the... Who are we? Here we are, sinners, born in sin. without any hope,
born, what, really born to die, nothing less, cast out. Here,
look, just remind ourselves of this passage, beginning there
in verse one again. The word of the Lord came to
me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
and say, thus says the Lord God of Jerusalem, your birth and
nativity was from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite,
and your mother a Hittite. As for your nativity, on the
day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you
washed in water to cleanse you. You were not rubbed with salt,
nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. No, I pitied you. to do any of
these things for you, to have compassion on you, but you were
thrown out into the open field when you yourself were loathed
on the day that you were born. That's every one of us apart
from Christ, isn't it? Born in sin, that's our nativity. Enemies of God from the Amorites
and the Hittites. Enemies of God. Born in sin and
wickedness. An abomination. Cast out. Born to what? Born to die. Born dead. What? Loathed on the day that you were
born. Perishing in your own blood. Until what? Until Christ passed
by. And when I passed by you and
saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your
blood, live. Yes, I said to you in your blood,
live. And I was preaching from this
passage, and the believers there were just so
blessed by the thought of the grace of God to them. And their
tears were coursing down their face. And there were many unbelievers
there also. And many were moved in tears. And after the meeting, Bernie
Crozier said, you know, I think we'll hear that the Lord has
called out some of his people in this time. And you know, I looked, I waited
to hear. Time went by. This is what you
desire, isn't it? Salvation of the Lord's people. Didn't hear anything. As years went by, I forgot all
about it. And you know, there's something
to learn from this too. All the feelings, all the tears,
none of that saves. None of that saves. I'll tell
you, over the years of ministry, I've seen people moved, I've
seen tears coursing down cheeks, but until the Lord passes by,
tears don't save, sorrow doesn't save, nothing saves until the
Lord passes by. And about 10 years after that,
I was over preaching in one of the churches and they said this
woman, this young woman, newly married, the daughter of one
of the preachers in the church, gave her testimony. And she said
she was a young child, I'm guessing maybe 10 or 12, at this point
in time. And she said that the Lord kept
that That message in her mind all those years until his appointed
time. And he impressed it upon her
heart and saved her. And I'll tell you, it's an encouragement,
isn't it? in the work, and we know that's
true of each one of us. When the Lord passes by, that's
what makes the difference. Well, here is the Lord, and He's
come to this woman, hasn't He? He's passing by. And this story
of this woman of Samaria, it's remarkable. It's remarkable,
but it's the story of every blood-bought sinner saved by grace. It's the
story of you and I, if you know Christ. What's the first thing
that Jesus says to her? Let's look through this now.
He says, give me a drink. Well, that doesn't seem too profound,
does it? Give me a drink. All he does is ask her for a
drink of water, simply that. And why does Jesus do this? He
begins this conversation with her, communicating with her,
and he'll use this then to turn her thoughts to spiritual things.
to the water of life, and there's a world of wisdom in that simplicity,
isn't there? You know, we tend to make things
so complicated, so complicated, but the reality of it is, is
even though the gospel is so profound, so full and rich with
the truth of God's grace, and wisdom, and power, and all of
these things, and truth. It's a simple gospel with all
that in it. And Christ, he begins with this
simplicity, and he says, and give me a drink. Well, how does
the woman respond? Does she give Jesus a drink?
No. Then the woman, verse nine, then
the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you being
a Jew ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings
with Samaritans. Well, here's this stranger. He's
traveling through Samaria in the heat of the day and the woman
can see that he's tired and he's thirsty. And she shows no care,
no honor, no respect. She doesn't even give him a drink
of water. Think of that. But she answers
sharply and with disdain. How is it that you, being a Jew,
ask me, the Samaritan woman, for a drink of water? And we know the reason. The Jews
viewed the Samaritans with repugnance, didn't they? They were definitely
less, less in every way. They had no communion with them,
and the Samaritans were viewed as unclean. The Jews had a choice
word for the Samaritan. Dog. They were called dogs. And that's why this woman is
responding in this way. Yeah, well, here, what, you're
asking me this dog for a drink of water? but consider the kindness and
the love and the goodness and the grace in the answer which
Christ gives. He just ignores all that. He
ignores it all. This woman will not be converted
by a sectarian discussion of the merits of the Jews versus
the Samaritans. or any sectarian discussion,
but she will be converted by the gospel. And what does Jesus
say? Jesus answered and said to her,
if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give
me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you
living water. Jesus turns her attention away
from his need of a drink of water, natural water, to her need of
living water. And this living water is not
found in a well. This living water is of God. This living water is a gift of
God. And more than that, what does
he say? The gift of God is a person. This person is the very one who's
standing before her eyes, before the eyes of this woman of Samaria,
if you knew the gift of God. If you knew the gift of God.
The person is the very one who is standing there speaking to
her, the very one that is asking her for a drink of water. He's
this living water. You see, the Gospel does not
tell us about something that God offers to us. You know, we
often speak about that, don't we? We speak about the free offer
of the gospel. And I know that that's a wonderful
truth. It is. But the gospel isn't an
offer. Isn't an offer. The gospel is
a promise, isn't it? The gospel is a promise. The gospel tells us of the promise
of God. The gospel tells us of something
that God has done not something that God will do. The gospel
tells us of a gift, the promise of a gift that's been given to
a particular people. Think of this. God does not offer
to send his son to be a propitiation for sin. He gave his son to be
a propitiation for sin. God does not offer redemption
through his blood. Christ came and with his own
blood he entered the most holy place, once for all having obtained
eternal redemption. Christ doesn't offer to put away
sin. How you hear that everywhere?
Christ doesn't offer to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Christ appeared and by the sacrifice
of himself, he put away sin and brought in an everlasting righteousness. The gospel is a promise, is a
promise. And here's the testimony. This
is what John says. This is the testimony that God
has given to us eternal life. And this life is what? It's in
his son. He who has the son has life. This is the promise, isn't it?
This is the gift of God. But here is the great tragedy
of the human condition. This is what Jesus says to this
woman. If you knew the gift of God, you would have asked Him.
This woman will never ask for something she has no knowledge
of. She will never ask for the gift of God. She will never ask
for Christ. And neither will you and I. Romans 3 tells us who we are. There is none righteous. No,
not one. There is none who understand. None who understand. Listen, there is none who seek
after God. None. But if you're one for whom Christ
died, He will seek for you and He'll ask for you. In Isaiah
65, the first verse, we read these wonderful words of life. I was sought by those who did
not ask for me. Don't ask for him, but sought
nevertheless. I was found by those who did
not seek me. If you're asking, if you're asking,
then you've already been sought by God. If you're truly seeking
Him, Then he's already found you. If you know him. If you know him. Why is that?
Because he's already given you an understanding. John continues there in that
fifth chapter, and we know that the Son of God has come. This
is the testimony of every sinner saved by grace, isn't it? We
know, we know that the Son of God has come and has given us
an understanding that we may know Him who is true. But the
woman of Samaria does not know the gift of God, If she would
have asked him, if she knew, she would have asked him and
he would have given her living water. How does this woman respond? Verse 11, look there. The woman
said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well
is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater
than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it
himself as well as his sons and his livestock? Now there's no possibility this
woman could have misunderstood that Jesus wasn't speaking about
this literal water in the well. He was speaking about this gift
of God in spiritual, spiritual water. There's no way she could
have misunderstood that. But the woman intentionally twists
the words of Christ back into this literal water of the well.
Really? Really? Where are you going to
get this water? I don't see your pail. How are
you going to get water out of this well? Where's your water
pot? And then the woman makes what she believes to be a very
cutting point. Now we know the Jews put great
stock in their posterity, didn't they? They revered their ancestors. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, didn't
that? Weren't they so proud to claim
that they were children of Abraham in a natural sense? They revered
these men, and rightfully so. She says, are you greater than
our father Jacob, asked the woman. He gave us this water, he gave
us this well, he drank from it himself. Is the water that you
give better than the water that Jacob gives? She thinks she has Jesus, doesn't
she? What Jew would dare say, are you greater than our father
Jacob? What Jew would dare say, yes. But how graciously, how kindly
and patiently the Lord continues to deal with this woman. Again,
he ignores her question. Again, he speaks to her, what? Precious truths, precious gospel
truths. Verse 13, Jesus answered her
and said, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But
the world is just drinking that natural water, aren't they? and they'll thirst again. If
that's all we're drinking, we'll thirst again. The things of this
life will never provide satisfaction. You know how deceived we are
if we think they will. Never! If your interest is in
the things of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, you will thirst again. You can have all things. You
can have all things. All things in this world and
it'll never, never quench the thirst of the soul. Never, no
satisfaction. Everything will be out of joint
in every part of life until God makes you right with him. And
what a powerful and sobering picture Christ gives us in that narrative of the rich
man and Lazarus. That's what he's portraying before
us. Look, here is this rich man, and he's in hell. A man, we're
told, Jesus says, he ate sumptuously every day, every day. He was
a man lacking nothing, nothing, whatever he wanted. And here
he is in hell, and he has this roaring and raging thirst. And he lifts his eyes and cries
out, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me and send Lazarus that
he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.
Just a drop of water. He doesn't even have a drop of
water. The thirst of the rich man will
never be quenched. Never satisfied. Not in 10,000
years. Not in 10,000 times 10,000 years. Not for eternity. Never be satisfied. Never be quenched. But listen,
verse 14. But whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I
shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing
up into everlasting life. What truth! What grace! Christ Jesus gives Himself. And through His Spirit, He becomes
in us a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. In Him, in Him alone is found
full, complete satisfaction. In all circumstances of life. It's true, isn't it? It's true. Well, what of this woman of Samaria? She's gonna be moved, isn't she?
Surely this woman will be spoken to. At this point in time, she'll
receive these spiritual gifts, won't she? No, no. What does
the woman say? 15, the woman said to him, sir,
give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. Again, natural things. He's not speaking about natural,
this water here. He's made this abundantly clear,
whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. Thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never
thirst. And the woman mockingly says,
oh, okay, all right, go ahead, give me this water. Look, I have
to come out here and do all this work every day. Give me this
water and then I won't have to come out here to draw water continually. This woman is hard, isn't she? She's hard. She's past feeling. The Word of God describes
not only her, but every one of us, naturally. In Ephesians 4,
the Apostle Paul says, who walk in the futility of their minds,
having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
hardening of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given
themselves over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness. And
that's you and I, apart from the grace of God. This is every
man apart from Christ. The wonderful words of God's
grace in Christ fall upon our ears is nothing. Is nothing. We can sit in a church
where the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached in power
and in clarity. but it'll fall upon a hard heart
and deaf ears unless God works in mercy." Worse, we'll twist these words
just like this woman. We'll twist these very words
of truth and mock the gospel in our hearts if it's not in
our mouths. Look, just turn over to John
6, and quickly, let's just see. We have a perfect parallel, a
perfect parallel there. In John 6, and let me remind
you, Christ has performed this marvelous miracle of feeding
the 5,000. And as you know, He went across
the sea, and a great multitude followed Him. And this is where
we find them, in John 6, in verse 30. and read there. And Jesus, he
speaks about them seeking not the food for eternal life, but
they come after him. Why? Because their bellies had
been filled with the bread. And Jesus says, and 30 there, they said to him,
what sign will you perform then that we may see it and believe
you? What work will you do? And they're saying this because
they've asked, well, what work of God will we do? And Jesus
said, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom
he sent. And so their answer is, well,
why should we believe in you? What work will you do? Do something
to show us. Well, let me remind you, they
just heard the preaching of the greatest preacher the world had
ever known and will ever know. They'd heard the word preached
in power. The presence of Christ right
there. This is what we long for, isn't
it? You don't want to hear me. You want to hear Christ. But
these people had heard Christ. And they'd seen him perform this
wonderful miracle. Did they believe? No. What do they say? What sign will
you perform for us? That's the hardness and inability
of natural man to do anything good. Natural man will not come
to Christ. Natural man will not believe.
Look as we go on. Then Jesus said to them, verse
31, they continue, our fathers ate the man in the desert. As
it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. And then
Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give
you bread from heaven, but my father gives the true bread from
heaven. You see, just like Christ speaking
about the water of this world versus the water of life, the
bread of this world versus the bread that the father gives.
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives
life to the world. And they said to him, Lord, give
us this bread always. Just like the Samaritan woman.
And Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall
never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But
I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. Natural man will not come to
Christ. He will not. Why? Because men love darkness rather
than light. Always will. This is our nature. That's what Nicodemus, that's
what Jesus told Nicodemus, isn't it? Men love darkness rather
than light. Light, light, the glorious light
of life has come into this world, but men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. Well, what hope is
there? None in you, none in me, none
in this woman. This woman is willful and she's
unwilling. She will not come to Christ. But look at verse 37. All that the Father gives me
will come to me. And the one who comes to me,
I will by no means cast out. This woman, turn back to John
4, this woman will be made willing. This, for her, is the day of
His power. She will come to the Lord, and
she'll come in repentance and faith. Not only that, but she'll
come with joy and rejoicing. She'll come, too, with mourning,
won't she? Mourning for her sin. Do you know anything of this?
I hope you do. In Hosea, we read, come, let
us return to the Lord for he has torn, he is torn, but he
will heal us. He is stricken, but he will bind
us up. And that's exactly what the Lord
is gonna do right now with this woman. He's gonna tear her soul.
He's gonna expose her sin and he's gonna strike her proud heart.
In verse 16, Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come
here. And the woman answered, I have
no husband. And Jesus said to her, you have
well said you have no husband. You have had five husbands, and
the one you're living with now is not your husband. In this
you spoke truly. And now we see why the woman
is coming all alone, not in the cool of the morning when all
the women come to fill up their pots and wash their dishes and
return. She comes out alone because she's
She's a disreputable woman, a wicked woman, a woman frowned upon by
society. She's an outcast. And what's
Christ doing here? He's speaking to her about her
sin, as only He can. He's revealing her sin to her. He's demonstrating that he knows
every secret thought and intent of her heart, and he does of
you and I. How deceived we are, aren't we?
So often. He knows every thought, every
intent of the thoughts of our heart. He knows all things. Now, this is the first time that
the Lord clearly reveals to this woman that there's a supernatural
element at work here. He is not just any man. No, no. He is no ordinary man. And this
is the case for every man. He'll be unmoved by the greatest
preaching of the gospel until the Spirit moves in his heart.
And then, then the softest voice of the gospel will shake him
to the very core of his being. And the woman of Samaria is clearly
shaken. You see, why? Because God is
working in her heart. Christ speaks, and God works,
and the woman says, her whole demeanor changes. She says, sir,
I perceive you are a prophet. She's shaken by the knowledge
that he has of her. He's ripped her to the very core. And what does she find? What
does she find? Sin. Sin. Her sins held up before
her eyes. Sir, I perceive you are a prophet. And for the first time, the woman
begins to think seriously about spiritual things. She understands
that the man speaking to her is from God. That's what a prophet
is, isn't it? This man is from God. She knows
that only God can know all these things about her. Unless a man sees his sin, he'll
never come to Christ. No, he won't. How true this is. But a man must not only see his
sin, he must believe that Christ put away his sin by the sacrifice
of himself. There's so many that do. They
do come to a point to see their sin, in a sense. And out of fear,
out of all sorts of reasons, they make some profession. But
when a man sees his sin and sees Christ, is that great sacrifice
to put away sin, his sin, by the sacrifice of himself and
bring in an everlasting righteousness. Well, how can he know this? It's only received by revelation,
isn't it? Only by revelation. This woman
is pricked in her conscience. She's shaken by the sight of
her sin, but that's not enough. That's not enough. What is the
great refuge for natural man when his conscience is awakened?
Have you thought about that? What's the great refuge? It's religion. It's religion. Here are the first stirrings
of conscience in this woman, and what does she turn to? Religion,
verse 20. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain. This is her response to Jesus. Our fathers worshiped
in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the
place where one ought to worship. You see, the woman turns even
now. She turns aside from the inward
spiritual truths that Christ has been speaking to her about.
She turns away from her inward corruption, burying it in religion. The woman turns toward the outward
forms of religion, place of worship, the controversy of religion.
Don't we see that continually? I do in the ministry of the gospel
in New Guinea. You're speaking to someone and
this is exactly what they do. Exactly what they do. Without
Christ, this is all that man will ever know or do. But he'll
never do the one thing that he must do, and that's stop doing
and believe in Jesus. Well, what does Jesus do? He
does what every preacher should do. He keeps preaching the gospel. You know, this is where I fail,
see? This is the response I get. Then I get into all the controversy.
Well, what help is that gonna be to this woman? What help would
it be to anyone? Christ keeps preaching the gospel. Jesus said to her, verse 21,
woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither
on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship
what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation
is of the Jews. Now Jesus makes this very strong
statement. He says, woman, believe me. And
he again pulls her away from these things and directs her
to the spiritual reality that the place of worship is inconsequential. We're not talking about these
physical things. There's coming a time when the
place of worship will be of no consequence. But two, Christ
doesn't allow her to lump together the worship of the Jews with
the worship of the Samaritans, as if both are equal. This too
is so much in evidence everywhere today. Here on the mission field,
we hear this, well, doctrine doesn't matter. Yes, it does. Or we hear this all the time. All the time. We all worship
the same God. No, we don't. No, we don't. And
Jesus doesn't allow this to go by. soundly condemns the religion
of the Samaritans. They'd not only corrupted their
relationship to the Israelites by intermarriage with all of
these heathen nations round about, but they've also corrupted the
religion that God had delivered to the nation of Israel for that
particular time, for a particular work, until the seed should come.
And that's what Jesus says. You worship what you do not know.
What you're worshiping, who knows? But the Jews worship what they
do know. And this is what he meant. The
Jews worshipped according to the religion given to them by
God. They had the scriptures, the covenants, the law, the promises,
the service of God. They had all of that. The Israelites
knew, they knew what they worshipped. They worshipped the true God,
didn't they? We know what we worship, that's true. This wasn't
the failure of the Jews, was it? What was the great failure
of the Jews? Unbelief. Unbelief. They did not believe in the one
whom God had sent. Nevertheless, Jesus tells her,
even these outward forms of worship given by God for the worship
of the Jews were at an end. At an end, verse 23, we're almost
done. But the hour is coming, and now
is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and in truth. All the ceremonies, the priesthood,
the sacrifices, the Sabbaths, all would be ended. True worship
was never in these outward things. And every faithful Israelite
knew that. These were merely copies of the
things in heaven, copies of the true. True worshipers, Jesus
says, worship God spiritually and in truth. Why? Because God
is spirit. God is spirit. how we need to
remember that. God is not found in temples made
with hands. He's not church buildings. He's
not all these outward things that we do too, we do too, but
we can be distracted by these things. This was one of the final points
Stephen made in that message just before he was martyred.
He speaks about the fact that our fathers, he said, had the
tabernacle in the wilderness, as God appointed, until the time
of David. And David, you know, he so desired
to build the temple of God, didn't he? But God didn't allow it. He had appointed it for his son
Solomon. And Solomon built what is spoken of as a magnificent
temple. A magnificent temple. But listen. Listen what Stephen says, however,
the most high does not dwell in temples made with hands. That's
man's religion. The most high does not dwell
in temples made with hands. As the prophet says, heaven is
my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for
me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? And this
is one of the great distinctions between true religion and false
religion. True religion is not made with
hands. Not made with hands. And in Hebrews
this point is stressed so powerfully. Christ came as the high priest
of good things to come. Of the greater and more perfect
tabernacle. Not made with hands. Not made
with hands. That is not of this creation. God is spirit. God is spirit. And those who worship him must
worship him in spirit and truth. And what's the truth that God
has revealed? Well, this is the testimony. This is God's message. This is His witness. This is
the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life
is in His Son. God testifies of His Son, doesn't
He? You know, how can we not see
that? He who has the Son has life,
and he who does not have the Son does not have life. Do you
have the Son? Do you have the Son? That's all
that matters. The truth that God has revealed
is His Son, and all true worship is through His Son. And Jesus
says, the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Well, we would
never seek for God. We would never seek for God.
But what a blessing to know that the Savior seeks lost sinners. He's seeking. He's seeking such
to worship Him. And the father sent his son to
do what? The son of man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. And this is the very thing he's
doing as he speaks to this woman by the well. He's come to seek
and he's come to save this poor woman. Well, what does she say? In verse 23, the woman said to
him, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called the Christ.
And when he comes, he will tell us all things, all things. Now the woman, you see, now her
thoughts are running in the right direction. She's thinking spiritual
thoughts. She understands that Jesus is
speaking to her about the coming Messiah. It's apparent that she
has some understanding of the Scriptures, of the truth, of
these promises. And amazingly, she understands
that the Messiah will have a full and complete, perfect revelation
of God. He'll tell us all things. See,
all these prophets have come and they've spoken to us the
Word of God, but this Messiah, He's going to come and He's going
to tell us all things about ourselves and about God. What could we say? The son of
righteousness is arising in her heart, isn't it? And he's coming
with healing in his wings. He's torn, but he'll heal. And
Jesus said to her, yes, yeah. I who speak to you in me. What
a glorious revelation. There is no more marvelous thing
in all the world ever than to have this knowledge of Christ,
to have Christ reveal himself to you. Remember what she said to Jesus? She said, are you greater than
our father Jacob? Well, now she has her answer,
doesn't she? He's greater than Jacob. He's
greater than Abraham. He's greater than that great
King David. He's greater than Solomon in
all his wisdom. He's greater than the temple.
Yes, yes. Are you greater than our father
Jacob? Yes, he is. Yes, he is. He who speaks to
her is the gift of God. He's the water of life that will
become in her a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life. Amen.