That's taken from Zechariah 13
and 1. It says, in that day there shall
be a fountain open to the house of David, to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. There is a fountain
filled with blood. Great, great hymn. John bore. The word fountain and well are
the same word in the scriptures. You know that? Exact same word. fountain and well. I didn't know
this until we had to dig a well years ago. I always had, we grew
up on city water, you know. But we had to dig a well, and
the well digger, driller, told me that it's not a pool of water
down there, it's a river. What you're doing is you're tapping
into running water. There's rivers of water running
underground. and a real well because if it were just a pool,
it would be stagnant water. It wouldn't be living water,
new water, running water. And this water, this well, this
fountain represents Christ who is the living water, the word
of God's living word. It's ever new, it's ever flowing,
your thirst to assuage. This whole story takes place
at a well. You know the story. We've looked
at it many times together. You've heard others preach it.
Familiar story. The whole story takes place at
a well. Water is mentioned over and over
and over again. The first several verses. This
woman had come for water. The Lord told her to give him
some water. And then he told her about living water. Christ
is the living water. He is the water. Water is first
mentioned in Genesis 1. Right? First few verses, over
and over and over and over. Water, water, water. This is
the only planet with life on it. Why? Because it's the only
planet with water. Okay? Genesis 1. Right in the
middle of the book, Isaiah 55. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the waters. Revelation 22 says, If any man
thirst, they come. Whosoever will, they take the
water of life freely. This whole book begins in the
middle and ends with water. It's all about Christ, the water
of life. There is no life. He that hath
the Son hath life. the water, my prayer, my hope
is the Lord will make someone thirsty this morning. They've
never had this thirst for Christ. That's my hope, my prayer, that
he will give this water of life. If not, I hope you'll refresh
those who do. That's my hope, water of life. We can't live without it. There
is no life without water. Christ is the water of life.
Christ is the living water. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the need for Christ,
are you with me? He that needs Jesus Christ comes
to the well. This was at a well. This woman
came to this well. There were wells in every city.
As of now, there are wells. Isaiah 12 talks about they shall
draw water out of the wells of salvation. It's His church. It's where Christ is found. That's
where Christ promised to be, and the water of life is preached. And who's thirsty? Amen, thirsts. Chapter 4 here in our text, verse
3, He left Judea and departed into Galilee. He spent so much
time in Galilee. these little villages and towns.
That's where he spent most of his time. Aren't you grateful? Aren't you thankful? He must needs go through Samaria.
Not because it was the shortest route, but he must needs go through
there because there's someone he needs to see. Not that he
needs her, he doesn't need anything from her, but she needs him. She doesn't know it yet, but
she's going to. She's just coming for water like
every other day. He came for her. He must see this woman. He must bring her to Himself. Our Lord said that in His prayer.
Other sheep I have, John 10, other sheep I have which are
not of this foal, them also I must bring. This is a predestined
appointment with her. She needs him but doesn't know
him, and she's going to find him. This is the Lord. This is
her great shepherd. This is the one who came to seek
and to save his lost sheep, who left the ninety and nine for
this one worthless woman. This is her Lord. This is her
God. This is her Maker. This is her husband. This is
her true husband, like Hosea was to Gomer. He came to marry
her. He came to find her and marry
her, because he had betrothed her to himself. And he's going
to discover her lewdness to her. He's going to reveal to her,
it's not your lovers, they're not, they haven't been your husbands
at all. I am. Her maker was her husband,
and here he comes for her. Isn't that what we hope and pray
for our lost loved ones, our children, our daughters, our
spouses. Verse 5 says he was weary. Verse
5, he came to this well that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
You know why this well was dug years ago? You know why this
well was there? So Jesus Christ could come sit
on it and meet this woman. The Lord
predestined, purposed this well to be done a thousand years before
this. It was at a well that Isaac's
servant, Abraham's servant, met Rebekah. Remember, it was at
a well. It was at a well that Jacob met Rachel. It was at this
well that Jacob's Lord came for his bride. He had this well dug so he could
come and sit upon it and wait on this woman. I thought of Isaiah
30. It says that your strength is
to sit still. In returning and rest, you shall
be saved. And quietness and confidence
shall be your strength. But you would not. No. You ran
on horses. You went. But it goes on to say
that the Lord will wait. He's going to be waiting to be
gracious unto you. And that's what we're waiting
on it. That's what we're hoping. We're waiting on the Lord. Watching
and waiting at His gates and hoping that the Lord will bring
one of our own to this well where He'll be waiting and show grace. Is that your hope? Is it? Now, verse 6 says he was wearied. He wearied himself. He traveled.
He walked everywhere except when he was on the ship. But he wearied
himself. He walked thousands of miles. I see men and women bragging
on all the running and all the mileage they do. It's pride. Look how far. Where did you go? What did you do it for? I ran
a hundred miles. Why? Our Lord walked a hundred miles.
to do something for someone, he said. Oh, my. He's able to save to
the uttermost, and he did. He went great lengths. He wearied
himself, wearied himself all his lifetime spent seeking and
saving his lost loved ones. My, my. What a Lord. What a Savior.
What salvation. What love. What mercy. What grace.
My, my. Where it comeeth a woman. He's
sitting on this well, and here comes a woman. Didn't our Lord say? All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. Comeeth a woman, just
a woman, another poor, down and out, lost, confused, foolish,
fickle, fallen, fallible woman, sinful woman. She's not a young
maiden. She's been married five times.
She's probably 50 or 60 years old. You know that? For some
reason, I always pictured her as being younger. No, no, no.
She's used up. She's old now. People back then
had harder lives, and they grew old fast. She'd been married
five times. She'd been here and there, and
she was run down, tired, worn, and her time is running out.
And she's coming to this well once again like she does every
day, like she has done every day of her life. She's here,
this poor, down-and-out, sinful woman. She's coming to this well
like she does every day to do the same thing. Every day. Day in and day out. Come to the
well, get water, go home. Try to make peace. Try to have
a home. Come back to the well, get water. Come back and forth.
And she's just going to die. Miserable. lost. But God. Christ didn't need her. There
are millions of others just like her. Just like her. Just another woman. Just another
day, like every other, she comes to draw water out of this well. Oh, but today was the day of
her salvation. She didn't know. Isn't that what
we hope? Isn't it sister? We hope the
Lord will bring our daughters, our spouses. Isn't that what
we hope? That the Lord will bring someone
to this well where Christ is, where he promised to be, and
he will speak to them. That's our hope. That's our prayer.
Our Lord told that woman, go call your husband and bring him
here. Didn't he? Why? He needs to hear me too. Do you believe this? Buddy, when she found out who
he was, when he revealed himself to her, she ran home and told
everybody. And you know she told that man
she's living with. Come, see a man. Told everybody. Some did. If you believe this,
you'll go home and tell your lost spouse. You go home and
tell your lost children. You go home and tell your lost
parents. You'll tell them, you need to come see a man. She cried. Just another woman. She came
to this well day in and day out to draw water. He said in verse
13, And I believe he pointed, he's sitting on the well, and
I believe he pointed it down at the well. He said, this water,
whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. But he said,
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, he's going
to give this water to somebody. He giveth and giveth and giveth
more grain. He delights to give. Every one
poor and needy, whoever is poor and needy, he's going to give.
If you knew, he said to this woman, if you knew who it was
that said to you, give me a drink, you would ask and he would give.
Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened. Ask. Why aren't people saved?
Don't ask it. Don't need saving. They're not thirsty. Right? You ever run into anybody that's
thirsty for the truth? Have you? Are you children? No. Rich and increasingly good, haven't
eaten nothing. We've got water and all the water we need. She'd
come to this well and there it was. Water down in that well. Who gave her that water? Christ
did. Who dug that well, Jacob? No,
Christ did. The water of this world, this
water represents, this water in this well represents everything
that everyone lives for in this world. this water that people
think they need to live on and people live for. People live
for this, the water of this world, the things of this world. Live
for it. Spend your whole life obtaining,
but it won't satisfy. It'll never satisfy. Why do you
keep wanting more and more? Because it leaves you thirsty.
Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher. All flesh is vanity. Things, people, Relationships,
possessions, houses and land will leave you empty. Why? Because
you're going to lose it all. You're going to lose everything
and everyone we will lose if we don't go before them. There's
nothing in this life, no one in this life that will satisfy
and leave you fulfilled. This life is fleeting. Here I
am approaching 70 years old. I still call Isabella Hannah,
because it's gone by that fast. All right? We took great pleasure
in houses and this and that and the other, and then we had a
daughter, and oh, what great pleasure we took it. Well, she
grew up gone. A woman. She's approaching 40. She has two children. Oh, we
get to do it again. Grandchildren, oh, they're better
than the children. It's even better. This is wonderful.
Isabella's 15 tomorrow. Pawpaw and me, Mom, are going
to be out of the picture real soon. That's gone. Now what? One of these days,
if I don't go first, I'm going to lose her or she, me. Then
what? Your health is going to be gone.
Then what? The evil days come and I have
no pleasure in anything. Nothing in this world is going
to give you any real joy. My mother is 98, almost, waiting
to die. What is there to look forward
to in this world? Nothing. Oh, but if you have this water
of life in you, she's about to be a spring chicken. She has
this spring in her called life, called Christ in her, the hope
of glory. She's lost her husband. She's
lost her children. She's lost her health. She's
lost her youth. She's lost everything. No enjoyment. What does she live for? What
does she look forward to? Well, if it's not coming here
to sit, she's waiting to go home. Because
Christ is in her. Christ is in her. Is that you? Oh, David said, My soul thirsteth
for thee, as in a dry and thirsty land. Like the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul for thee, O living God. When are you going to come? This woman, she heard our Lord
talk about this living water that He said that I shall give.
It will be a well spring, springing up unto everlasting life. Verse
15, she said, Sir, give me this water. He just said, if you knew, you'd
ask and He'd give you. He said, Sir, give me. He's going
to. He's true to his word. He's true
to his promise. Give me this water. He's made
her thirsty. He's made her need the water. He's made her, like Hosea to
Gomesh, I'm going to lure her. I'm going to speak comfortably
to her. I'm going to show her her need. I'm going to expose
her to herself. And she's going to ask me. Sir, give me this water. And
she said that I don't come back here again. I'm tired of coming
to this well. Whatever that water is you're
talking about, I want it and I don't want to come back here.
I'm tired of this. I've looked for everything, for
happiness in all these men and all these relationships and everything
in this world and I can't find it. You say that this water,
I'll never thirst again. And what that means is, the Lord,
you'll never thirst like you do physically. insatiably, without,
you know, without fulfillment, that you thirst. Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst. And when you, when Christ, when
you taste of that grace that is Christ, when he gives you
this water of life in you, you keep thirsting for it, but he
fills it. He fulfills it. And you keep
drinking of the same water, the gospel, and you keep drinking
and drinking and drinking. And after a while, you don't
want anything else. You see. But don't you want to
do this? Don't you want to go? No, I've
tried that. It just left me thirsty. This is the only thing. You know,
I like other drinks, but you know there's one liquid on planet
Earth that'll really suffice your thirst? Water. And every other liquid has water
in it. And that's by design. That's God's design. That's God's
purpose to show us that he that hath the Son hath life. He that
hath the thirst, hunger and thirst is so blessed. And those that
find and taste and drink. Water. I ever grow tired of water. If you'd have told me years ago
I'd be drinking as much water as I am now, I'd say, I drink
more water now than ever. I need this more than ever. This gospel so much more as I
see the day approaching. How about you, old folks? A bunch
of you out there. The day is approaching. What's
that? The Lord's coming. In the meantime, he's sitting
at Wales, quenching thirsts. When this is over, this woman
is going to drop her water bottle. Oh, may the Lord fill us now. Lord Jesus, come and fill me
now with this water. She said, give me to drink. The
disciples had gone away to buy meat. The Lord arranged that. Because
when the Lord deals with someone, He's alone. He deals with them
alone. Every one of you whom the Lord
has spoken to, revealed Himself to you, I know that when you
first heard the Gospel, the preacher was speaking directly to you.
I've heard that many times. You were speaking. There's nobody
in that room but me. And that's the way it's got to
be. Jacob was left alone. Jacob was left alone. And that's
when the Lord Jesus Christ came and wrestled with him and put
him down on the ground and said, What's your name? And he changed. He was a changed man from then
on. Now he knows the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, whatever comes,
it's going to be okay. Because the Lord, he gave his
word to Jacob. He gave his word to Jacob, meaning
he gave his promise to Jacob. He gave his covenant to Jacob.
He told Jacob, this is what I'm purposed to do for you. It's
what you're going to do, but this is what I've done and purposed
to do, Jacob. And no matter what happens to
you, you're mine. That's His Word. That's His covenant.
That's His mercy. That's His grace. That's the
gospel. And the Lord comes and tells His people. In verse 9,
this woman mistakenly said, How is it that you're a Jew and you
ask me, ask drinking me? He didn't ask her for a drink.
Did He? Did He say, Will you give me
a drink? Did He? No. He told her, Give me a drink. And then he said, if you knew
who it was that said to you, give me a drink, you'd ask him.
No, no, no, no. He didn't come for water. He
never did take a drink of this well. He came for her. This is the King of Glory. He
doesn't ask anybody anything. He wasn't waiting on her, hoping
that she'd accept him as her personal Savior. No, no. He'd
come to save her. He'd come for her. He purposed
it. He hadn't come for water. He hadn't come to meet his own
needs. He'd come to meet hers. He told
her, give me to drink. And that was by design. See,
our God doesn't ask that. He tells. He gives commandments
to the king. He said, if I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. Didn't he? He didn't need her
to give him water out of that well. But he told her, give me the
drink. Said it nicely. He didn't thank her. Would you
please, thank you, if you will? That's not her whale. It's his whale. He didn't tell
Simon Peter, can I get in your boat and cast out and do a little
fishing? No, he got in the boat. It was
his boat, it was his lake, that was his person. The earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world. He said, if I were
hungry, I would not tell thee. God doesn't need our money, doesn't
need our help, anything. No, no. We need Him. He's not
thirsty. He doesn't say He's thirsty.
She's thirsty, doesn't know it. She's got to know it. He doesn't
need the water, she does. See that? I tell you, when he
did thirst, one time he said it. One time Jesus Christ said,
I thirst. Hanging on the cross, suffering
the wrath of God in the fires of hell, which all the people
that are outside of Christ will suffer, like the rich man. I thirst. And nothing will meet
that thirst. Christ hung there, I thirst. And he gave him vinegar. And
he said, it's finished. So he thirsted then. And right
now, no, he doesn't need that water. He is the water. She needs him. She needs him. If you knew, you would ask. I'm not asking. I'm telling you.
He said, the Lord has given commandment to say, the Lord commandeth people
everywhere to repent. God doesn't ask people to believe
on Him. God doesn't ask people to repent.
He commands people. You understand me? He didn't
ask her. She's an Armenian. People are
born Armenian. God wants you to do this. God
wants you to do that. God's trying to tell me anything.
God's not trying to tell anybody anything. He said, I've spoken
it, I'll do it. I've purposed it, I'll bring
it to pass. I do the commanding here. The salvations of the Lord. Nothing she had that he needed. Everything that he has and is,
she needed. The man's got it all back. All
back. And if you knew, he said, You
would have, he said, look at verse, oh, don't you love this
verse? He said, verse 10, if thou knewest the gift of God
and who it is, The gift of God, the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. He's the gift of God. He's the
grace of God. He's the mercy of God. He's the
love of God. He's the salvation of God. He's
heaven. He's water. He's bread. He's
light. He's everything. He's all. If you knew, you would ask. And
He would give you that. Himself. Living water. She said, you don't have anything
to draw with. You didn't bring a bucket or
a ladle. This well's deep. He didn't come for water, and
his arm's not short. He's come for her. She doesn't
know it. And she said, Are you greater
than our father Jacob? I'm Jacob's God. She doesn't
know it. People don't know it. Jesus.
Jesus is outside your door wanting an end. You don't know him yet. And you refer to him like that,
tells me you don't know him. Don't know him. Art thou greater? And he told her, he said, this
water that I give you'll never thirst. He said, sir, give me
this water. And in verse 16, he said, go call thy husband.
Come. Go call your husband and come
hither. That's the command, wasn't it? She said, why don't you ask your
husband if he'll come and I'd really like to see him. Go call
your husband and you come here. You bring him here. This is life. I'm talking life here. Go now
and get him and come here. It's urgent. Well, she said, I have no husband.
It's the only true thing she said. He said that. The only true thing you've said.
And he said, yes, you have no husband. You've had five husbands. And you're living with a man
outside of marriage now and sin before God. You're right. You have no husband. And brothers
and sisters, as wonderful as marriage is, there are no marriages
in heaven. No, no. We're going to look forward.
If we know the Lord and our mate knows the Lord, we'll be glad
to see them, and no more so than we'll see our brothers and sisters. It'll be the same relationship,
exact same relationship. We'll love them more than them.
And there's no marriage in heaven. Why? Because everyone there is
the bride, and Christ is the groom. Christ is the bride's
groom. He's the husband. Thy maker is
that husband. And, you know, this woman is
so typical of so many, thinking they'll find fulfillment in a
lasting relationship. She went through five husbands. Five. Sad, isn't it? And she's living with a fellow
now. She said, I'm not going to get married again. We'll just
try this out a while. That's not the way it works.
No. So she said, Sir, verse 19, I
perceive that thou art a prophet. And then she's still holding
on. She's still hanging on to some little vestige of pride.
Our Lord had just exposed her. And sinful, forlorn. She came there at noon when nobody
comes at noon to get water. They come in the morning. Why
did she come at noon? Because she didn't want to see
anybody. because she has a bad reputation all over town. But
that's who the Lord came for. But she's holding on to just
a little bit of pride. Our fathers, my daddy was a Baptist. My daddy
was a Baptist preacher. Big deal. What difference does
that make? That's what she said. Our fathers
worshipped in the mountain. You Jews say Jerusalem is He said, Woman, believe me. Believe
me. The hours come, verse 21, that
you will either worship in this mountain or yet at Jerusalem.
Worship the Father. You worship, you know not what.
Most people don't know what they worship. And it's all form, it's
all ceremony, it's all duty, it's all the same old, same old. She's religious. She's religious. living with a man outside of
Mary. Married five times, and she's religious. She believes
God, believes in God. She doesn't know God. God's standing
right in front of her. She's pleading her heritage,
her religious heritage. I've been a Baptist all my life.
I've been a Methodist all my life. I went to church. I'm a
good Catholic. I've never missed a Mass. Salvation's
not in a place Salvation and fulfillment is not a thing, water
of this world. Salvation is a person. Christ said, I am the water.
I am the place. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the way. If you're going
to know the Father, you have to worship the Son. It's not
a place. It's not a thing. It's a person. He said, you don't know what
you worship. He said that kindly. He said,
we know what we worship, salvations of the Jews. That's election,
isn't it? That's sovereign election. Revelation. He gave his word to Jacob. He
didn't give it to any other. It's by revelation. It's by sovereign
election. It's a certain way to worship
God. A high priest, a tabernacle of
sacrifice. These three are one person, Jesus
Christ. But the hour cometh, read with
me now, and I'm closing. The hour cometh, verse 23, and
now is when true worshipers worship the Father in spirit, from the
heart, and in truth, the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
Spirit, from the heart, God looks on the heart. All this stuff
going on in religion, all the people are going through, they're
going through the motions, and coming back Sunday after Sunday
after Sunday, doing the same things over and over again. That's
not worship. Why are you here? Why you come here? You come back
to the same well again and again. Why? What are you here for? Worship? God looks on the heart. This
is where worship is people that are been forgiven of their sins,
people have shown mercy from the hands of a God that ought
to kill them, people that have tasted the grace that's the gospel
of Christ, people that have seen Christ crucified on their behalf,
people that have seen His glory, seen His honor, and they've come
to worship Him. What are they doing in heaven
right now? What are they doing? What's everybody doing in heaven?
What are they saying? What are they doing? What's it all about? Why
are they there? One person. They're worshiping Him forever. Well, it starts here. These are
the true worshippers, in spirit, from the heart, and in truth.
What's truth? Christ is the truth. There is
no worship of God apart from Christ. There's no knowledge
of God apart from Christ. It's not truth. It's alive. It's
not all Christ. You hear me? Oh, how rare this thing is. The
Father seeketh such to worship Him. Oh, that scripture in Luke,
the Lord says, when he comes, will he find faith on the earth?
Will he find anybody truly worshiping him in spirit and truth? Well,
I hope he finds me doing that. I hope I'm one. I want to be
found in him. Don't you? Oh, worship him. How are we coming? God is spirit.
They worship Him. It's not worship with men's hands.
You can't drum up religion, faith. You can't do it. It's from the
Word. Faith cometh by hearing the Word.
And the Word is Christ. It's when a man gets up and preaches
the gospel of Christ, and if that living water is in you,
you respond. Life responds. Yes. Keep on. Keep preaching Him. Lift Him
up high now, preacher. Lift Him up high, I need to see
Him. That's worship. They that worship Him must worship
Him. They must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Well, the
woman said, now she's, I believe she's hanging her head by now.
She's listening. She's hearing the Word. You see,
faith cometh by hearing. Salvation is to hear His voice.
Salvation is to see His glory, hear His voice. Salvation is
to know Him. This is life eternal, that they
might know Him, the living and true God. Salvation in Christ. I think she's hanging her head
now. He knows everything about me. Oh, He knows all my sins,
all my failures, all my faults. He knows my thoughts far off.
He knows me. This is more than a prophet here.
Oh, my. He's told me things that I don't
understand, She's I think she's hanging her head now and all
she can say is I know Messiah's Coming It's called Christ and
when he comes he gonna tell us all things So you waited on him Is that
who she's waiting on inside? all things. Over in John's, back
over in John's gospel, it says when the Spirit of God comes,
he'll reveal all things to you in Christ. And our Lord said
unto her, I am. I, that's it. Right there. Revealed himself to her. I just speak unto thee. I am. Opened her blind eyes. Opened
her deaf ears. Broke her proud religious heart.
Sinful heart. Convicted her of her sin. Showed
her her hope of glory. He comes, he'll tell us all things.
What did he tell her? He told her all things. What
did he tell her? I am. Christ is all. Drop the water
bottle. Drop the water bottle. Drop the water bottle. I don't
want that anymore. I don't need that anymore. She
has a way off spring. She ran home. We're going to
look at that next time together. Come see a man. Come see a man. All right, John, come lead us
in the hymn, please.