Back to the song this woman wrote,
I Sought the Lord. The reason I chose this song
is because it so closely fits John chapter four. John chapter
four, and today we're going to look at that. And the title of
our message today is Give Me to Drink, the words the Lord
Jesus told this woman. But in this song, I Sought the
Lord, it says in the last verse, I find, I walk, I love, but oh,
the whole of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee. For Thou wert
long beforehand with my soul. Always, always Thou lovest me. Now, if you remember those words,
the Lord was long beforehand with my soul. Always, always
He loved me. That is a commentary on John
chapter 4, isn't it? There's another song in the fourth
verse of this song that says, Oh, that He, the Lord Jesus,
O that he fulfilled, may see, the travail of his soul in me,
and with his work contented be, and I with my dear Saviour."
I like those words. The emphasis here is on the Lord
Jesus Christ, what He wanted, what He wanted, what seems good
to Him. what pleased Him, what He thirsted
for. I also want to read this text
of Scripture to you in Hosea chapter 3. I mentioned this recently
before, but these things are worth re-mentioning over and
over. Listen to these words of the Lord to the prophet Hosea.
And Hosea, the name Hosea, is the same name as Joshua, which
is the same name as Jesus in the Old Testament. So, see in
Hosea, the prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ in type. It says
in chapter three, verse one, then said the Lord to me. Now
remember, the Lord Jesus Christ is God over all, the Son of God. And yet, as man, his father is
his God, And he says, then said the Lord to me. Notice what he
says. This is God's will. This is his
directive to his son in our nature. Go, yet. Love a woman, beloved
of her friend, yet an adulteress according to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel. According to the love of the
Lord for the children of Israel. Who look to other gods and love
flagons of wine, And the prophet said this, so I bought her. So I bought her. That's the story
of Christ's love for his people. John chapter four, the setting
here is a woman in Samaria. A woman of notable immoral character. Even among her own people, she
was shamed. She felt ashamed, and no doubt
that is the reason why she came to the well at noontime, the
sixth hour of the day. But Jesus had come there before
her. He had determined to come there
before she came, so much so that he must needs go through Samaria,
and nobody lays a must on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, but his own will. He works all things according
to the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1, verse 11. The Lord
purposes, the Lord speaks, and the Lord brings about his word
and his will. We know this from many scriptures.
Isaiah 46, for example, verse 10 and 11 says, I have spoken
it, I will also bring it to pass. So whatever the Lord Jesus wanted
to do, that is what compelled him. And what he wanted was his
father's will. Above everything else, he wanted
his father's will. Now, we think in terms of human
sinfulness, we think, well, how could someone be selfish as to
want what they want? But understand that with God,
when he wants something, it's always good. And notice, as I
tried to emphasize last time, When we look at this chapter
in the opening part, when God does what He wants, when He does
what He pleases, what did He do? He gave His only begotten
Son for sinners. I want the God of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I want
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to do whatever He wants,
don't you? Because when he does what he
wants, he saves his people from their sins. And I am a sinner
and I need him to save me. So when we look at this, we see
this intensity, this compelling force that drove Christ to this
woman. It was his own desire, his desire
to do the will of God. And that will of God was for
him to come to this woman to save her. Amazing grace. So we read this in John chapter
four, the first few verses up to verse four. It says in verse
five, 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 loved Joseph, you know
that he did, and he made him a coat of many colors. He loved
him so much that his other sons, Joseph's other brothers, they
knew that their father loved Joseph above them. When we read
these words here, that Jacob gave a parcel of ground to Joseph,
that's recorded in the latter part of the book of Genesis.
And he gave it to Joseph as both a reward for Joseph's humility
and love for his brethren and his affliction at their hand,
but also because Jacob just loved Joseph. He was of a high character,
of high quality. So the Lord, our God and Father,
loves his son because he is such a honorable, someone of such
great character that God himself loves him above all else. And he gave his son, Jacob gave
his son Joseph this parcel of ground and this well. So God,
our Father, has given to the Lord Jesus Christ to give himself
in order to have a people and to give them the inheritance,
an eternal inheritance of himself. Amazing grace, the well is Christ,
the water, the waters of salvation. And Christ shed his blood, a
fountain open for sin and for uncleanness that we might drink
and live. So he goes on here in verse seven
of John chapter four. Then there cometh a woman of
Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said to her, give me
to drink. Nothing in Scripture is in there
and in its place by accident. Everything here has a distinct
purpose to teach us the eternal will and work and mind of God
our Father. Here, the Lord Jesus tells this
woman first and foremost, give me to drink. Now, you will remember
that Elijah the prophet, when he came to a widow woman who
had but one son, he asked the widow woman first to give him
bread that she would have to make for her and her son. And
she said, I was about to make that last wafer for me and my
son, and we were going to eat it and die. And he said, yes,
I know, but first go make it for me. And so here in these
words, the Lord Jesus first asked the woman to give him to drink. She came for water to the well,
Jacob's well. All Israel drank from this well
that Jacob had dug so many years before. And Jesus tells the woman
coming to the well Jacob dug for Israel, no, you give me. He didn't say no, but he says,
give me to drink. He sets his own will, his own
commandment to her first and foremost. Why is that? Is it
because he's selfish? No, it's exactly the opposite. In order for us to drink, he
first must drink. In order for us to drink, he
must have this purpose of grace to give to us first and foremost. It has to come from him. The
water must come from him and his thirst must be satisfied
in giving us life. That's what this chapter is about.
It's about the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this well on purpose
with this purpose of grace to save a woman and not just this
woman. The book of John was given so
that we might see the Lord Jesus Christ. So coming to a sinner,
So well known for her sin and despised by her own people, how
much more by the Jews. And yet she was one whom Christ
loved and gave himself and in so giving himself for her and
giving himself to her in this account, saving her and thereby
himself drinking and finding satisfaction in what he did and
would do for her. amazing grace, that the Lord
of glory would take pleasure and satisfaction in giving himself
for sinners. That's the gospel, isn't it?
God acting for himself because he is love, because he is grace,
he's merciful, he's kind and gracious to sinners. And he does
all of this according to his great goodness. It says in verse
8, for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. So they didn't have anything
for him. He is the one who's doing this
work by himself. Verse 9, then saith the woman
of Samaria to 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." There was no one the woman would
have expected to condemn her more than a Jew. She was a Samaritan. In fact, she was a woman, and
he was a man. How much more, then, would he,
as a Jewish man, condemn her because she was a Samaritan?
And how much more if he knew what kind of woman she was? How
much more could she think of one who would condemn her than
this one who was a teacher, a master? of the Jews, and she knew the
Jews despised the Samaritans, so she expected him to condemn
her, didn't he? Didn't she? And how much more
would she have expected this from the one she finds out later
is the Lord, Christ. No wonder she asked this question.
How is it that you, being a Jew, ask us drink of me, which am
a woman of Samaria? She always had this natural tendency,
as we do as sinners, knowing the guilt of our sin and the
shame that it brings upon us to defend ourselves when we feel
threatened by an accusation or a condemnation. And yet here
the Lord of Glory is, the Prince of Life, the one who knew her
well, comes to her and speaks to her. And she's expecting nothing
but condemnation, isn't she? And so she puts up this defense.
But remember what Jesus said in the chapter before, this chapter,
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. That's our Savior. That's our Savior. He that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. This one who is the Son of God
is so good He came by the will of God, by the gift of God, of
His own will and out of His own love of grace and truth to save
sinners. How dare we not believe Him? You see, and so this woman puts
up a defense. And Jesus answered in verse 10,
Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew, if you knew the
gift of God and who it is, that's the gift, who? The one who is
the gift is the one speaking to her. If you knew the gift
of God and who it is that says to you, give me to drink, you
would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
You see, she put up a defense thinking nothing less than full
condemnation from a Jew, a teacher or the master. And even if he
was the Christ, the prophet, He didn't do that, did he? If
you knew the gift of God. Do you see how the Lord comes
to us in all of our hostility of mind against Him because we're
guilty? And He speaks not in words to
condemn, but to let us know who he is, to direct us to himself. First, give me to drink, that
directs us to him. Me, he said, give me to drink. She couldn't do it. She had nothing
to give him that would satisfy his thirst. Even though she was
thinking in terms of water, he had to come, he had to give himself
in order to give her to drink that she might then be to him
satisfaction and refreshing to his soul. And so he says to her,
if you knew the gift of God, you would have asked. You would
have asked me, and I would have given you living water. The fountain
of living water sitting on the well before her. She says, sir,
thou has nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence
then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Jacob dug this well, are you
greater than him? His children drank from it, he
himself drank from it, and all of his cattle. What kind of water
are you talking about? What kind of a bucket do you
have to draw water from this well? The water that Jacob gave
was a physical water for physical thirst. It was a well he dug. The Lord Jesus Christ, so much
greater than Jacob, that he dug a well so much deeper than the
well that Jacob dug with hands and tools, bringing forth water
so much more thirst-assuaging that it gives life, and not just
life, but eternal everlasting life. You see the contrast here? She's setting it up. Yes, greater
than Jacob. You think? Yes, greater than
him. Yes, water that's better than
his water. Even though all of that nation
of Israel drank from this well, There's another Israel which
is gonna drink from the wells of salvation. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the heavenly Jacob, the heavenly Israel would come and
dig. And he would dig it when he himself
gave himself for our sins. Amen, right? Verse 13, Jesus
answered and said to her, whoever drinks 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. The water that Christ gives is
a well in us and it springs up to everlasting life. And he says that if you drink
of this water that I give, you will never thirst again. What makes us thirsty? What are
we thirsty for? What water can possibly quench
that thirst that we're thirsty for? What is that thirst? What
is the thirst of every sinner? What is the thirst of every creature,
living creature made by God? Is it not to find in the eyes
of the uncompromising, holy, just and true God, acceptance
in His eyes? to see him and be satisfied in
his presence, knowing that I am accepted in the presence of his
glory, to be faultless and blameless and made so by his own work,
and he content with his own work would be, like we just read in
that song, that he might be fulfilled and content with his work for
me and his work in me. Isn't that the thirst? To know
that God Himself has made me the cause of His own satisfaction
in His work, to bring me into His presence, and to delight
over me because He has made me holy in the blood of His own
Son? Isn't that the thirst? You see,
what we read a moment ago in 2 Corinthians 1, where God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ has given His people His Spirit,
His own Spirit, and that this Spirit of God given to us is
a seal. Let me read this to you. He says,
"...who has sealed us and given the earnest of His Spirit in
our hearts." God gives His Spirit to His people, and that's what
the Lord Jesus is talking about here. He's the gift, but what
He gives is this living water, and the living water that He
gives is His own Spirit, and the Spirit of God given to us
does something. He causes us to be quenched in
our thirst to know the living God. and to be found in Christ
because He assures us, He comforts us, He constantly brings to us
through the water of the gospel the assurance that by Christ
and by His blood alone, by His righteousness alone, we have
been made holy and accepted in the eyes of God and He will present
us faultless. in the presence of His glory
without blame. That is the water springing up
to everlasting life, given to us to know Christ, to see Him
with eyes of faith, and to see His work for us, and His work
giving Himself to us to know Him. Isn't that it? That quenches
my thirst, doesn't it? To know I'm accepted by God for
Christ's sake, to know that he finds me in Christ because he
put me there and he received Christ for my sake. And the woman said, Sir, give
me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
At this point in time, she didn't know what she was asking for,
did she? She thought water, she couldn't help but think of Jacob
and the well and her bucket and the water here. And so the Lord
Jesus has to do something. He has to open her eyes to her
need. And in that need, he will show
himself to her. And in seeing him, in light of
her need, she will be so overwhelmed with confidence and assurance
and love that she will forget that she was even thirsty for
that water. It says here, Sir, give me this water that I thirst
not, neither come hither to draw. She didn't know her need. The
Lord had to make her need known. So sinful we are that not only
are we opposed to God, but we don't know our need. The Lord
did, that's why he's going to meet her need. She asked for
physical water, no doubt, and he was thinking of the everlasting
life and the water that comes from him because he was opened
and his spirit is given to us to know him and to trust him.
And it says in verse 16, Jesus said to her, this is where he
shows her that he knows her. Go call thy husband and come
hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said to 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. And you know what she thought
at this point? Yeah, he saw right through me.
He saw right through me. And she might have thought at
that point to shrink back, but he knew before. And so she said,
the woman said to him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. That's
very perceptive of her, isn't it? Verse 20, our fathers worshiped
in this mountain. And now here we see what every
sinner does naturally. First, we put up our defenses.
First, knowing that we deserve the condemnation of God because
we're guilty, we put up our defenses. And the second thing we do is
we hide behind our religion. And she says, our father's worshipped
in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship. The Lord doesn't, he doesn't
slam her for saying these things. What does he do? He takes her
words and he expounds more grace. Verse 21, Jesus said, woman,
believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father. It's not location.
God is not the God of a physical place. He is, but that's not
the issue. Our God is the God of the inner
person. He's the God who rules in the
heart. You don't worship God with your
physical body in a physical place at a physical time. You worship
him in spirit. And that's what he's about to
say. Verse 22, you worship, you know not what. It's a sad but
true fact. We don't know what we worship
until the Lord makes himself known to us. We know, he says
to her, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Here, not only does he expose
her ignorance, but he reveals the truth of worship. What lies
at the bottom of all true worship? Salvation. the salvation that
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when we see that God
has saved us from our sins, when we see that he has forgiven us
the debt we could never pay, and that we owe God, and that
we ought to be condemned, but that he doesn't condemn us, but
considers and receives Christ for us, then we see his salvation
and then we worship God, but not until then. Not until he
gives us faith, verse 23, but the hour cometh and now is when
the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Jesus had told Nicodemus, you
cannot see and you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you
are born of the Spirit of God. Here he says the same things
in spirit. Unless we're born of God the
Holy Spirit, unless our spirit has been raised from spiritual
death to spiritual life, born of God so that God's own spirit
is united with us in our spirit and we now are new creatures
in Christ. until he reveals Christ to us
as he did to Nicodemus and now is about to do to this woman,
we cannot worship God because our spiritual life, we have none. We're like that empty void darkness
of the waters in Genesis 1 until the Spirit of God came and moved
upon the waters and commanded the light to shine in the darkness,
we have no spiritual life. And he says, not only in spirit
but in truth. The truth of God. Jesus said
in John 17, 17, sanctify, make them holy by your truth. Thy
word is truth. And yet then in Hebrews 10.10
he says that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His offering, by the will
of God, has made His people holy by that will, by accomplishing
that will. So the truth of God is God's
word that tells how Christ has made His people holy by His own
blood. And here he says, you must worship
God in spirit and in truth. The truth of Christ and Him crucified,
made real to you by saving faith, given to you by the Spirit of
God. a constant need. It's not a one-time shot that
we do one time as religion would pretend that we somehow make
a decision and have a transaction with God and then we go on. No,
this is a continual flow of water in the soul of the saved person,
springing up to everlasting life, causing us by the Spirit of God
to seek Christ in truth and to make us know that Christ, by
His one offering, given to God for our sins has made us holy.
That's spirit. That is truth. I remember when
I was quite a bit younger, I asked a preacher, what does it mean
to worship God in spirit and in truth? And he said, it means
in spirit and truth. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean intensity. It doesn't mean sincerity on
our part. It means with the truth of Christ
made known to us by the miraculous, almighty operations of the Spirit
of God, given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who laid
his life down in order to give us life. The Spirit is life because
of righteousness, you see. Romans 8.10. So the Father, it
says, Jesus said, the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Does that mean God the Father is waiting to find someone who
just happens to have this going on inside of them? No, of course
not. If God seeks for it, then God
is gonna be doing it. He doesn't find anything he looks
for except what he does himself. He looked on all of creation,
and he was fully satisfied. And he said, very good. That's
why. He looked. He looked at his own
work. He was satisfied with that. God the Father, who created all
things by Jesus Christ, He's not an idol. We don't first give
to Him something. He first gives to us, of Him,
and through Him, and to Him, or all things. No one has first
given to Him. And it shall be recompensed to
him again. Romans 11, 35 and 36. No, God
is not worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything.
He gives to all life and breath and all things. Life, breath,
his spirit, in order that we might know him. That's what it
means when he seeks such to worship him. We worship him because he
blessed us. And he says in verse 24, God
is spirit. God is a spirit. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth by the Lord Jesus Christ,
because grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The woman said
to him, I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus said to her, notice, this
is a rare, a rare revelation, isn't it? I, that speak unto
thee, am he. That is very rare. How many times
in scripture did Jesus say to somebody, I am the Christ? Not
very many. How many times did he say to
somebody, I am the son of God? Not very many. He always referred
to himself as he did in the previous verse. He says, if you knew the
gift of God and who it is that says to thee. He spoke of himself
often in an indirect way, in the third person. Many times
people, his accusers would say, Tell us, are you the Christ?
And he would say, you said it. But how rare it was that he said
this in John chapter nine. Notice in John chapter nine in
verse 35, another delightful encounter. And this is all in
the book of John, which is written so that we might believe. He
says, to the blind man in John 9.35, Jesus heard that they had
cast him out. And when he had found this blind
man, born blind, healed, and made to see, Jesus said to him,
dost thou believe on the Son of God? And with such honesty
he answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe
on him? And Jesus said to him, Thou hast
both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said,
Lord, I believe. And notice, he worshipped him. He worshipped him. The Father
seeketh such to worship him. Here, the Lord Jesus Christ reveals
himself to the blind man and now to the woman, and what is
the reaction? He worshipped him, and so did she. I that speak unto thee am he,
the one she first asked, a Jew, really? You're talking to me,
a woman of Samaria? You can almost hear her in her
mind and thoughts continuing to say, did you come to condemn
me? Did you come to bring my sins
to remembrance? And what does he do? He first
tells her her great need, you need the water that only I can
give. He tells her how to get it, ask,
ask me. He tells her as a sinner, he
engages with her and talks with a sinner and directs her as a
sinner to himself and his will, give me to drink. And then he
shows her that as a sinner, she knows nothing of these things,
has no merit, nothing to contribute, no strength to do it. And she's
found in her sins by the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does he
do? Condemn her? No. He reveals himself to her.
Upon this, his disciples came his disciples and marveled that
he talked with a woman. Yet no man said, why seekest
thou? Or what seekest thou? Or why talkest thou with her?
The woman then, notice, after this revelation of Jesus to her
that he was the Christ, and having told her everything that she
had done, and yet giving her this water. Notice here, love
covers All sin. Here's a woman, known
by her own people, coming at noontime to hide her shame, to
the well in the heat of the day, finding there the Lord Jesus
had come before, seeking her. She was seeking, but not until
he sought her. and content with his work he
would be and drink he would. And she couldn't do it. She was
the object of grace, the object of saving grace. And then having
been given this truth of who he was, she's amazed. He knew all about me and yet
he made himself known. Do you see that thirst? that
she was thirsty, she didn't know what for, but to be found in
Christ, to be accepted by God for Christ's sake alone. And
here, knowing that he did not condemn her, but made himself
known to her. As this sinful woman, she runs
and forgets her water pot. Come see a man, she says, in
verse 29, which told me all things that ever I did, is not this
the Christ? He knew her, didn't he? But every
person in the deepest part of their conscience, whether they
know it or not, knows this, God knows me. But we see it in a
very dark way. I know you. I know what you're
doing. Isn't that the way we see it?
No. You see, grace comes to us. I
knew you before. Long beforehand thou wert with
my soul. Always, always thou lovedst me. If you ever loved me in the stream
of your love, there was a continuation that had no beginning and has
no end. Known unto God are all his works
from the foundation of the world. So she is one on whom the Lord's
name has been called. And he called her. He came to
her. He saved her. And she goes out now. She goes
to the city. And in the meantime, it says
in verse 31, the disciples come to the master and they say, master,
eat. And he said, I have meat to eat
that you know not of. You see, the hunger and thirst
of His soul brought Him from heaven to earth. The King of
glory came and stooped in order to take our sins in our nature
and bear them and bring us to glory with Himself. Verse 33,
therefore said the disciples one to another, hath any man
brought him out to eat? Jesus said, my meat is to do
the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And here
we have the drink from the woman that she could not provide. He
provided it, didn't he? He saved her. You see, everything
in Christ that he desires is satisfied when he gives himself
for us and to us. And what should we think about
this? Shouldn't we be overwhelmed with a sense of God's grace and
mercy to me, the condemned sinner, that He Himself would find it
in Himself to save me and to do it in a way that honors His
glory, His holiness, His justice, and His truth and righteousness,
that He would freely give to me without cause found in me,
because the cause is found in Him, and justify me freely by
His grace for the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's
what this is about. The work of Christ to do His
will the will of his father to save sinners and to find his
greatest pleasure and satisfaction in doing so. Look at a couple
of Old Testament scriptures with me before we close here. In the
Song of Solomon, and notice this in Song of Solomon, which is
after, just before Isaiah, just before Isaiah, in chapter five,
He says in verse one, Song of Solomon chapter five, verse one,
I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. You see, it's Christ who must
have the preeminence. He must first satisfy himself
by doing his will. And then notice what follows.
Eat, oh friends. Drink, yea, drink abundantly,
oh beloved. You see why she could drink from
the well? Because he first satisfied himself
and drank in saving her. Look at Proverbs chapter 5. in
Proverbs chapter 5 and verse 15. This is an instruction of
the Lord to a man, a married man, to be satisfied only with
his own wife and not to consider in any way another woman. He says in chapter
5 of Proverbs verse 15, Drink waters out of thine own
cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Do you see
that? The Lord Jesus Christ said to
the woman, give me to drink. She was his own. In chapter three,
John the Baptist said, he that hath a bride is the bridegroom. The woman was his bride. And
she's not just one, his bride is many. All those the Lord Jesus
came to save are his own. They are the fountain from which
he drinks. And you could go on and read
this here, Proverbs 5, 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed
abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only
thine own and not strangers with thee. In other words, your own
wife alone. Let thy fountain be blessed and
rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving
hind, a deer, and pleasant roe. Let her breast satisfy thee at
all times, and be thou ravished always with her love. What a stoop. The Lord Jesus
Christ ravished with the love of a sinner, all because he stooped
from heaven and came to us and gave himself that we might drink. What a blessing of grace. Let's
pray. Lord, have you done this for us who look to you by your
grace and by the warrant of your word to save us to the uttermost? And do we by your Spirit come
to you now, trusting only in your merit, asking you not to
consider all of our sin, but look upon our helplessness in
our sin, and save us when we have no strength. and are unprofitable
to you in every way, except that out of your own will and grace
and truth, according to your own righteousness and holiness,
you would save us by your own precious blood. What could be
a greater motive in all of eternity than the will of God the Father
and the will of Christ and the work than which there is no greater
than the work and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us
find our drink in this well, this eternal well, deeper than
the stain has gone, a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness.
May we always find our Savior to be a fountain of living water,
the wells of salvation, giving to us freely who in ourselves
are nothing but sin and stand condemned in the eyes of God's
justice. Yet you knew us. You knew us
in Yourself, though You saw us in our sin, You saw us first
in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. For Him we praise You
all our days, and we can't wait to stand before Your throne and
be satisfied, ourselves, fully satisfied, when we awake in Your
likeness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.