Sunday, but this is a story of. Our Lord's dealings with a woman
at a well. And this well, Scripture calls
it the well of salvation, the well of God's Word is deep. And
we haven't begun to draw from this well. So we're going to
look at it a little more. Besides, I just hurried through
the last three or four verses which we'll dwell on this morning. Verse 27. After the Lord, well,
verse 26, the Lord said unto her, I that speak unto thee am. The original Greek Bible says,
I am speaketh unto thee. That's God's name, I am. And
upon this came his disciples. They had gone out to buy meat.
And they marveled that he talked with the woman. They were amazed
he was talking with her. Yet no man said, what seekest
thou? What are you doing? Why talkest
thou with her? And the woman then, after our
Lord said, I am, she left her waterpot and went her way into
the city and spoke to the men there. She left her waterpot. That's the subject, the title. That's the message, the urgent
message here this morning. This is the story of our Lord's
dealings with one woman, one person. And that was the way
the Lord dealt with people then and now. Scripture says he would
leave the ninety and nine, like the good shepherd that he is.
He would leave the ninety and nine and go after one lost sheep. One lost sheep in the wilderness
until he found it. He always found every single
one. He said, I am come to seek and
to save that which was lost. And he finds every one. He says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He is sitting
here on this well, waiting on this woman. Not waiting for her
to do something, but waiting on the time appointed that He
had predetermined to meet her. As the Scripture says, the Lord
will wait, Isaiah 30 verse 18, the Lord will wait that He may
be gracious unto you, His people. And He will be exalted and have
mercy upon you. And that's what He had purposed
for this woman at this well. A prearranged meeting, arranged
before the world began. As written in our text, verse
4, he must needs go through Samaria. He must go through Samaria because
he had this meeting arranged millenniums ago. He must. This woman now is a typical woman,
a typical human being, male or female, a typical human being.
She had come to this well, as always, as was her habit. She
would keep coming to this well, day in, day out, for years, seeking
something that never satisfied her, that never filled her. Seeking
something to fill her empty vessel. And she would no sooner fill
it than it would be empty again. Look with me at Ecclesiastes
1. After the book of Proverbs, you'll
find Ecclesiastes, verse chapter 1. And this is a book of life,
Ecclesiastes. Solomon wrote of all things that
a human being could experience, go through. And you know, he
concluded vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Look at verse,
well, let's just read it. The words of the preacher. Chapter
1, the son of David, king in Israel. Vanity of vanities, saith
the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath the man of all
his labor which he taketh unto the sun? One generation passeth
away, another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever.
The sun also ariseth. The sun goeth down and hasteth
to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south.
turneth about unto the north, it whirleth about continually,
and the wind returneth again according to his circuit. All
the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Unto
the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labor,
man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be. That which is done is that
which shall be done. There is no new thing under the
sun. Vanity of vanity. He said nothing
will fulfill, nothing will satisfy, nothing and no one in this world
satisfied. But from the beginning, men and
women have been bringing their vessels, Empty vessels to these
worldly wells, seeking satisfaction and never finding it. Never finding
it. This woman sought happiness. She sought fulfillment. She sought
peace. She sought joy. She sought love
in men. Marriage. You know the story.
Our Lord, she had been married five times and every one of them
had failed. Or perhaps a few of them had
died, leaving her unhappy, leaving her unsatisfied. And at this
time, when the Lord came to her, she's trying out another. She's
trying out another. She's living with the fellow,
trying to find love. Brother Clare and I were talking
about that yesterday, that you don't really find love, it finds
you, happens to you. Well, this day love found her.
Love, God is love. This is God speaking. This poor
woman, she's fickle, finite, fallible, foolish, and a failure. That's all of us by nature. All of us. We will keep bringing
our water pots to this well, the well of this world, trying
to fill them, and we never will unless the Lord Himself fills
us with something that truly fulfills Himself. Himself. Scripture says, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness. All fullness dwells in Him. He
said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
What's that? Not a what, it's a who. It's
Christ. And He said, They shall be filled. This woman went away filled.
The end of this story is she left her water pot. She didn't
need it anymore. Because Christ was now in her. Well, look at verse 16 and 17
in this story again. Our Lord said to her, Go call
thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. The Lord said unto her, Thou
hast well said, I have no husband. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
54? Isaiah 54. I just quoted this the last time. I want you to look at it. I want
you to look at it. He said, Thou hast well said,
thou I have no husband. Now, Scripture says, and many
of you know by experience, that he that findeth a wife obtaineth
a good thing. If you find a good wife, a good
husband, it's a good thing. I've been greatly blessed. Many
of you have also. A husband, a good husband, a
good marriage is a good thing. Our Lord is the one who made
marriage. And no matter how good, it won't last forever. It won't
last forever. And it will not fulfill. Paul
wrote this, he said, I would that you were all like me, that
is, unmarried, completely given to the things of the Lord. But
now, he said, it's a good thing if you do. If you are married,
it's fine. But, he said, you'll have trouble
in the flesh. No matter what, male and female,
sinful creatures that we are, selfish creatures that we are,
we're going to have trouble in the flesh. And then he went on
to say, but the time remaineth, brethren. The time is short,
and it remaineth that they that have wives be as though they
had none." And it's a fact that marriages, no matter how long
they may last, eventually they end. They end because of death. Right? We say that in the marriage
vow. We say, till death do us part. All marriages but one. All marriages but one end. The
Scripture says, Paul said in Ephesians 5, he said, speaking
of marriage, I speak a mystery. I speak of Christ and His church. This is a marriage that lasts
forever. He's called the Bridegroom. We
looked at that. John rejoiced in the Bridegroom's
voice. That's Christ. And all of the
people of Christ, the believers, are called His bride, His wife.
Look at Isaiah 54, and here's lasting joy and happiness and
peace. Isaiah 54, look at verse, oh
let's see, for time's sake, look at verse 4. Fear not, thou shalt
not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not
be put to shame. Thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. Thy maker is thine husband."
This woman met her true husband this day. He came for her. This is her Boaz. This is her
kinsman, Redeemer. Boaz had come to redeem her.
The Lord of hosts is his name. Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. The
Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken. These men had either
forsaken her or died. Our Lord said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. A woman grieved in spirit, a
wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a
small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee." This is her true husband. Come for her. In another place, in Isaiah 50,
he said, try to find the bill of divorcement. He's the true
and faithful husband of his bride. That she may leave him, like
Gomer in the story of Hosea. Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea,
wasn't he? Time and again, just like we
are. Not him. Never. No, she may leave and
play the harlot and go after other lovers and give them credit
for this and that and the other. But he'll never leave her, and
she will come back to him. He has that power. He has that
sway over her, and she will come back to him. And he abides faithful,
the Scripture said. He said, where's your bill of
divorcement? Try to find it. He said, you won't find it. He
said, I'll never leave you, nor forsake you. No matter what.
Boy, that's good news, isn't it? He's faithful. He's loving.
He's the eternal husband of his bride. And so this woman finally
meets her true husband. But first, He creates in her
a thirst. He creates in her a need. That's
the first thing the Lord does to human beings when He begins
to deal with them. He begins to show them that the
water of this world will not satisfy. Nothing and no one in
it will satisfy your longing, your desire. It will not fill
your heart's desire for happiness and peace and joy and contentment.
Nothing. Why? Because it's all vanity.
It all dies. Fading. He creates a thirst. Look at
verse 15 here. A woman said to him, ìGive me
this water that I thirst not.î He just told her that the water
of that well she was coming to time and again would not satisfy,
but the water that I shall give shall be a well of water springing
up unto everlasting life. She said, ìGive me this water.î Apparently she had no interest
in the things of God before, at least in her heart. She was
religious like everybody is. But she had no real thirst for
hunger and thirst. Right now she says, Would you
give me this? She heard Him, the Lord speak
and tell her, I have water that you know not of, and if I give
you this water, you'll never thirst again. Oh, give me that
water. And we won't thirst either until the Lord creates that thirst.
And I pray, my prayer is that the Lord will give someone a
thirst this very day. He said, if you ask, you'll receive. And He'll give. Then there's
conviction. Verse 17 and 18, the Lord said, You've well said,
I have no husband. You had five husbands, and he
whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou
truly. And as we've noted, she now is
ashamed and is hanging her head, I'm sure. And she perceived. The Lord gave her conviction. Conviction is a good thing. It's
a good thing. You'll not ask for mercy without
conviction from the Lord. That's what the Spirit does to
everyone He reveals Christ to. And then she had a perception.
She began to understand something. Verse 19, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. Later she said, this man told
me all things that ever I did. She thought, he can see right
through me. He knows me. So she now has a perception.
Our Lord said in Psalm 14, the Lord looked down from heaven
upon the sons of men to see if there were any that did understand.
That if there were any that did seek after God, it says none.
Because a natural man receiveth not the things of God, there's
foolishness to it. Neither can he, neither will
he. He's flesh, God's Spirit. Our
Lord just said that time. And the flesh is flesh. The Spirit
is Spirit. And man lives by sight until
the Lord creates spiritual life. Eyes to see. Spiritual eyes to
see. A heart to receive, a mind to perceive the truth. What's
the truth? That's what old Pilate said to
our Lord who was standing before him, a man whose visage was marred
more than any. He couldn't see through that
bloody flesh. And he said, what is truth? He
was looking at him and didn't know it. Looking at truth and
didn't know it. Truth had been speaking for years.
He wasn't listening. Because man won't, can't, unless
truth comes to you, unless Christ comes to you, unless Christ reveals
Himself to you, unless Christ opens your eyes and your ear.
That's what he said. Go tell John that the blind receive
their sight from me. Go tell John that the deaf have
ears to hear. Only by Christ. Only by His power. Only by Him speaking. Look at
verse 20. He said, you worship, you know
not what. And most worship like this woman according to their
heritage, according to what their fathers worshipped. That's true,
isn't it? But she didn't know what she
worshipped. And so many worshipped so many things. But our Lord
said, verse 24, God is the Spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit, from the heart, the inner man, and in truth.
It better be the true God. Because there's only one, he
said. And our Lord said, I am. I am the way. There is no other. That's what he said. I believe
him. Do you? There was a time I didn't
believe that. There was a time I thought, I
don't need this, it's my father's old foolish religion. Actually,
I thought that. But bless God, He, like this
woman, came to me and said, I am speaking to thee. I am thee way,
I am thee truth, and I am thee life. I believe that. I believe Him. I believe Him. I really do. Oh my, this woman
lacked understanding, but He gave her. Some hope. Verse 25, a woman said, I know
Messiah has come. It's called Christ, and when
He's come, He'll tell us all things. Now she's not talking
about her religion or where she worshipped, the place she worshipped,
her denomination or what their fathers worshipped. She's not
talking about that. The Lord miraculously put in
her an understanding that you don't need a place or the religion
of your fathers, the vain tradition of the elders. You need Christ. And she said, well, I know He's
coming. And that's when our Lord said,
He's here. I am. Bam. Dropped her water pot. This is God's Word, and every
word in it is profound. It's glorious, every line, every
phrase. There's power in it. There's
infinite wisdom in it. And He wrote this down for us
to understand, to see that she dropped her water pot. What's
the significance of that? Everything. And this is what happens to every
single human being that the Lord reveals Himself to. They drop
their water pots, having come to a knowledge and understanding
of Him who is the well of life. They drop whatever and whoever
it is that they think they're getting satisfaction from. Don't
need that anymore. Our Lord said that, except you
forsake father and mother, husband and wife, and houses and land,
for my sake, you can't enter the kingdom. And this is what
happened. Every one of his wives, his bride,
every single one of them, they'd leave their water pot. But there's
a verse here before that. Look at verse 27. When the Lord
was speaking to her, at the very end of His conversation with
this woman came His disciples. They came back from buying meat,
and it says they marveled that He talked with this woman. But no, they were afraid to say,
what are you doing? Why are you talking to her? They were afraid to. I think it's because they heard
Him say, I am. And it shut their mouth. No matter
what they were thinking. They heard Him say, I am. Like
those soldiers and that mob came to get our Lord in the garden.
Remember? He said, whom seek ye? They said,
Jesus. He said, I am. And they all fell
to the ground. Remember that? And I think these
disciples, that's all they heard. I am. I tell you what, if you find
out who he is, he'll shut your mouth, shut your mouth, and make
you follow his feet. And then he'll reveal himself
to you. Well, they marveled, they weren't wondering, they
were amazed at, what's he doing? They thought between themselves,
what's he doing? Why is he talking to her? They were afraid to ask
him. For two reasons, I believe, they
marveled. Number one, Scripture says she
was a Samaritan woman, and the Jews had no dealings with the
Samaritans. These were half-breed. They were
half-Jew and half-Gentile. The Jews were perhaps the most
prejudiced people on earth. Probably not, but they did not
like Gentiles. They called them dogs. They did
not believe one Gentile was in the kingdom of heaven. They did
not believe it. The Jews didn't mingle with the Gentiles. They
were prejudiced against them. They were racists. Everybody's
crying that out today, aren't you? Racists. Racists. People,
every single tribe, kindred, nation under this earth is a
racist. Be honest. That's the fact. That's what
Scriptures tell. Every person is biased toward
your own, whether it be your own family, your own skin color,
your own tribe. How many tribes were in Israel?
They fought each other. They were of the same blood.
But they were biased against or prejudiced against everyone. Respecter of persons. That's
what human beings are. Respecter of persons. Right? Be honest now. Because that's
human nature. The human nature. The Lord said,
there's none righteous that is completely, perfectly righteous
and makes righteous judgments, not selfish and not proud of
self and biased against this or that. Is that not right? It's
true. We know it's true. Shamefully
so. But God is no respecter of persons,
the Scripture says. And this is God. This is God
manifest in the flesh. This is the Son of God. He's
no respecter of person. And you know what He sees when
He looks at the whole human race, whether it be black or white
or red or yellow or Jew or Gentile? You know what He sees? You know
what He says about them? None yet. Not one. He says, I know the heart. I
know the motive. I know the thoughts and intents
of the heart. I know man is just evil continually, everything
about him. But God, unlike us, is rich in mercy.
He said, My mercy is higher than the heavens are. My ways are
not your way. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
David one time, considering God's infinite mercy to such unworthy
creatures, David who was so ashamed of himself, David said, Is this
the way of man? No. He said, I've never known
a man to be like this. God is so merciful, so kind,
so compassionate, sent His Son to this place that didn't want
Him, that hated Him, despised and rejected Him, and killed
Him. And said, get out of here, we don't want you. The holy,
righteous, harmless, Scripture says, holy, harmless, separate
from sinner, Son of the Most High God, get out of here. But God. Aren't you glad he's not like
us? So merciful. You consider the prejudice of
these disciples. I marvel that they marveled that
he talked with her. These were Galileans. You remember
the people from Judea, the real Jews of the tribe of whatever,
they thought the Galileans were a bunch of Hicks from the sticks. About like, well, everybody's
precious against another, whether it be one country or another.
You can have the same skin color and there's a bunch of Hicks,
a bunch of rednecks. That's what they thought of the
Galileans. And all of these fellows were, Peter, James, and John,
they were all a bunch of redneck Galilean fishermen. They all
looked down on them. And now here they are. And the
Lord, where did he find them? Was it because he saw something
noble in them? No, he just chose them because
he would. He came by where Peter was, and
Andrew, and James, and John. He chose them out of all those
boats. He said, follow me. And he taught them, and he brought
them, and he provided for them. He gave them all the knowledge
they had, all the understanding. He did everything for them. They
were completely dependent on him. Now here they are. Why is
he talking to her? Every man at his best state,
Scripture says, is altogether banded. Altogether banded. Not until
we're made perfectly like Jesus Christ. Why is he talking to
her? And they thought this too. They
thought, he's alone with this forlorn woman. That's what they thought. Why?
Because that's a problem we have. Isn't it? Oh my, what's he talking
to her for? And you know, it wouldn't be
wise for me or one of these men to be seen with a woman in the
red light district of Roanoke, now would it? But not this man. He didn't care what anybody thought.
But the point is, this is her husband. He's got a right to
talk to her. She's got a need for him to talk
to her. He needs to talk to her. She's gone astray. He's come
to get her. This is her husband. More than
that, this is her father. This is his daughter. This is
a prodigal daughter that's fallen into the depths of depravity. And he's come for her. He's come
to rescue her. Oh, what the disciples ought
to be wondering in amazement is, I think the Lord is talking
to her. That's what she was amazed at
after it was all over. Oh my, wonder of wonders. He
stopped and talked to me. Of all people. That's what all
of God's people say in the end. Oh, why me? And she left her water pot. She
left her water pot. A water pot is an earthen vessel.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, don't we? The gospel.
A water pot is an empty vessel until it's filled. That's what
she possessed. It seemed to be her only possession,
her water pot. But she kept coming to this well
to fill this water pot. Well, our heart is our water
pot. And it's an empty earthen vessel which we try and try to
fill, and no sooner fill it than it's empty again, right? Whatever
you try to fill it with, it will not last. We try to fill it like
this woman, with things of this world, with the people of this
world, and leaves us just as empty as before. And our Lord
said to her and says to us, the water that I shall give unto
you, the water He alone can give and provide. Not offer, give. shall be a well springing from
you. You won't need a water pot. It'll be in you. Me. Me. Christ in you, Scripture
says, the hope of life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. All he's got is an empty water
pot. An empty heart. And she met the
Lord Jesus Christ, and when she did, she gopped her water pot. She now has water within. She
knows it's not what, it's whom. She was arguing before, this
and that and the other. Now she knows it's not religion,
it's not a place or a thing, it's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. She met Him now, and He fulfilled
all her desire. Her heart, her mind now was set
on things above. She dropped her water bottle. Her heart is not void now, it's
not empty, it's full. How about you? When you first
heard the truth, when the Lord first revealed Himself to you,
you felt a fullness that you'd never had before. And you quit
going back to those things where you thought you could get fulfillment. You dropped them. Like Simon,
Andrew, James, and John, when our Lord came to them, Simon,
Andrew, James, and John were fishermen. Their boats, their
nets were their lives. They were their lives. They'd
grown up. Their father was still a fisherman.
They had grown up fishing with their father. That sea, that
ocean, fishing was their life. And when Christ came along and
called them by His power, by that voice, the irresistible
voice of sovereign power, it says they left their nets. They left their boats. And James
and John left their father. Their own blood. For what? The Lord Jesus Christ. And from
then on, they had nothing. They had nothing. They didn't
have a home. They left their home. They left their families.
They left their wives and perhaps their children. They left all
those things to follow Christ. They didn't have but one suit
of clothing, one pair of shoes on their feet, no script, no
purse, no nothing. They had it all. A head prize. That's the best I can do with
that. Low cap.