I'm going to be reading this
morning from the Gospel of John, chapter 4. John, chapter 4. Now, the story before us this
morning is of the Lord Jesus Christ passing through Samaria
and stopping in a city called Sychar. And there at a well in
the middle of town, around 12 noon, he meets a woman who has
come to draw water for her daily chores. I'm reading John chapter
4, verses 3 through 7. It says, he left, or Christ left,
Judea and departed again into Galilee. And he must, needs,
go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, and
Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on
the well, and it was about the sixth hour. And there cometh
a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus Christ saith unto her,
Give me to drink. Now, this woman had come to draw
water at 12 noon. Obviously, from the rest of our
story, this woman was a loose living woman, a woman with a
bad reputation in town, and that is why she came at this time
of day. In the heat of day, 12 o'clock
noon she came to draw water when other women would not be around
to avoid other women and their gossip and their stares at her. But the Lord had come to this
particular town, this particular well, at this particular time
to save this particular woman. This was not a chance meeting,
but this was a meeting which the Lord Jesus Christ had purposed
before the foundation of the world. This is what we call particular
redemption. The Lord saving His particular
chosen people. And He'd come to this place to
save this woman. Now, several things that the
Lord reveals to this woman. I want you to notice with me
several things that He reveals to this woman. Now, salvation
is to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. And
these are the things that the Lord is going to reveal to this
woman. He's going to reveal to her the
true God and how He is worshiped. And He's going to reveal to her
Himself, that is, the true Christ. But first, He reveals some other
things to her. Now, let's read on. Beginning
with verse 7, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and
Christ saith unto her, Give me the drink. And his disciples
were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have
no dealings with a Samaritan. Christ answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water. For the woman saith unto
him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater
than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle? Christ answered and
said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. The Lord first reveals to her
how that the water of this world, the things of this world, do
not give satisfaction, but rather leave us thirsty. All that this
world has to offer will not quench the thirst, thirst for happiness,
thirst for fulfillment, thirst for pleasure, knowledge, wisdom,
the things of this world will not satisfy those thirsts. Have you ever had something on
your mind and in your desire that you wanted so badly and
you thought that you could not live without it? And finally,
upon obtaining that thing or whatever it may be, a relationship
or whatever, After obtaining it, then it quickly loses its
luster, and then you begin to thirst or desire something else
again. Well, the water of this world
will not satisfy. It only leaves you thirsty for
more. And then Christ creates in her
a true thirst, a real thirst for living water. And Christ
is that water. Verse 15. The woman saith unto
him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw. Sir, give me that water which
does not leave thirsty again, but which really satisfies. Give
me that water that I might not come again to this well, to the
water of this world, to draw. Only Christ can give that thirst. true thirst for everlasting life
and for himself. Another thing he reveals to her,
not only that the water of this world does not satisfy, but he
reveals to her her sinful and wretched condition. Read verses
16 through 18 with me. And these are the first steps
in salvation, people, those who listened to me this morning.
These are the first things that the Lord Jesus Christ reveals
to someone when he is dealing with them in salvation. Verses
16-18, he reveals her sinful condition. Christ saith unto
her, Go call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered
and said, I have no husband. And Jesus said unto her, Thou
hast well said I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in that saidst
thou truly." Christ revealed to her her infidelity in the
past, and now the fact that she was living with a man to whom
she was not married, living in a relationship which the scriptures
expressly forbids, which the scriptures expressly calls fornication. So he reveals to her that she
has lived a past life of infidelity and adultery and now living in
fornication and sin. And this, I know, cut her to
the heart. It convicted her. of what she
had been and what she was now. And she perceived and she recognized
that the one she was speaking to was more than just an ordinary
man. Verse 19, the woman saith unto
him, Sir, and I'm sure she was hanging her head in shame now
at being exposed. She said, Sir, I perceive that
thou art a prophet. Yes, Christ is a prophet, but
much more. He is that prophet of whom Moses
wrote. He is the Word of God. Yes, he is God manifest in the
flesh. He is the Word of God, which
is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart
and which convicts every sinner of their sin. And this is the
first thing the Lord must do to us, because only sinners need
a Savior, only the guilty need pardon and need forgiveness. Well, notice with me another
thing that he reveals to her. He reveals her false religion. You see, in spite of her sinful
condition, in spite of the life she was living now, she was still
religious. She was self-righteous. And she
goes on to argue her religion with him. She says in verse 20,
Our fathers worshiped in the mountains, in this mountain.
And you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought
to worship. And this woman was a Samaritan. That means she was
half Jew and half Gentile, a mixture of Jew and what the Jews would
call heathen. And so her religion was all mixed
up too. She received some religion from
Jewish beliefs and some from outside, from the Gentiles. And
so it is with so-called Christianity today, which is a mixture of
so much, a mixture of Catholic, Protestant, hundreds of denominations,
all which call themselves Christian, and all worship different ways. They even call them different
faiths, expressly against what the Scripture says. The Scripture
says in Ephesians 4, there is one Lord, one faith. But people
worship this way, that way, and this place, and that place. Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ said to this woman in verse 21, He said,
Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when you shall neither worship
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem. Worship the
Father. Worship is not a place, because
God, the Scripture says, dwelleth not in buildings made with hands. Neither is he worshipped with
men's hands, or that is, outward form or ceremony. He is going
on to tell us how God is truly worshipped. In verse 22, he makes
a remarkable statement. He says in verse 22, you worship
you know not what. I contend this is the same thing,
the same problem with people today. They worship They know
not what. They believe they know not what.
I hear men and women say that God loves everyone. Yet, those
people might end up in hell after all. Well, does he love them
or doesn't he? I hear people say Jesus paid
it all. All the debt I owe that he paid
for our sins. Yet, we might end up in hell
anyway. Might have to pay for those same
sins which they say that Christ paid for. I believe men are confused. Men say that God is God, that
He is in absolute control over all things. Yet they say that
we are in control of our salvation, that we must do this, we must
do that, and even the devil is in control of some things. But
I believe men worship they know not what. Well, Christ is going
to tell us. In verse 22, He says this, a
remarkable statement. He says salvation is of the Jew. Salvation is of the Jew. Do you
know that we must worship spiritually the way the Jews did of old? They had a great high priest. They had a tabernacle. They had
a sacrifice. And we still need those three
things. But these things are not outward. We don't have a
high priest who is a man. We don't have a tabernacle made
with hands, and we don't offer up lambs and bulls and turtle
doves. No, but we must have these three
things spiritually. Read the next verse or two. It
says, The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. We must
worship God from the heart and in truth, or that is, Christ
who is the truth. And Christ is the believer, or
the true Jew, he which is a Jew inwardly. Christ is the believer's
tabernacle, high priest, and lamb slain, or sacrificed. God must be worshiped from the
heart and by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is a true
Jew who worships through Christ the true Messiah. And then Christ
said to that woman, or the woman saith to Christ, I know that
Messiah cometh which is called Christ. When he is come he will
tell us all things. And then Christ reveals to her
that he is the Christ. Christ said in verse 26, I that
speak unto thee am. These are things that the Lord
Jesus Christ reveals to everyone whom he saves. He reveals to
them that the water of this world will not satisfy, that we are
sinners, and that they must know the true way to worship God.
They must know the true God, the true way to worship him,
that is in spirit and in truth, and that Christ is the way to
God. If you want this message on cassette
tape, write to us to the address that shall be given. We'll be
glad to send it to you free of charge. Until next Sunday, good
day. you