the book of John chapter 4. I'd like to focus this evening on
just a few words found in verse number 6. And this is my subject, weary
but mighty to save. Weary but mighty to save. In John chapter 4 and verse 6,
now Jacob's well was there. And Jesus therefore being wearied
with his journey, he sat thus on the well. It was about the
sixth hour. This is more evidence that our
Savior, the Redeemer, the one to whom we look for both righteousness
and for rest, we look to Him for forgiveness and for peace. Here's more evidence that He
is altogether God and altogether man. He's altogether God because
He arranged this. This is the shepherd and He is
indeed on the trail of a lost sheep. He arranged this meeting
in old eternity. This is a vessel of mercy. This
is one of those He will redeem by His blood. into this world
to save this woman of Samaria and the other people of Samaria
that will also believe on Him according to the faith that He
will give them. This is indeed God's own Son. He is the Divine One and He is
mighty to save. He's going to save her. This
is the hour. This is a meeting arranged in
the covenant of grace. This is her surety. This is her substitute. This
is her savior. She doesn't know that yet, but
she would know it. She will know it. And though He is altogether God,
He is altogether man. And therefore we see he's wearied,
wearied with his journey. I recognize that nowadays we
have to insist upon his deity more than insisting on his humanity
because today it's the deity of our Lord that is under attack. We fight for his deity. There
are lots of people who are quick to say, yes, he's the man Christ
Jesus. And yes, he really lived. And
yes, he was faced with all the temptations that we're faced
with yet without sin. And indeed, that is a fact. But
he is altogether God as well. And this is a mystery. In fact,
that's what the scripture says, and without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. What is that mystery? God was
manifest in the flesh. He wasn't a half-God and a half-man. He wasn't man-deified. He wasn't
God-humanized. He's the God-man. He's the God-man. He had to be God to save us. He had to be God to know everything
that God required. He had to be God to offer the
sacrifice to God that He would accept. And He had to be man. God can't suffer. God can't bleed. God can't die. The death, that's
the penalty for our sin. And so, behold, a great mystery. God was made in the human flesh,
or he joined himself to human flesh. He's the God-man. And he really had a body. He
was really a man. He had a body, he had a soul.
He was as much a man as you, as me, with the exception of
our sin. And at the same time, He's God. Indeed, a mystery. A mystery. I had a brother read
to us from John chapter 20. You know, there are a lot of
people who will say and who did say, especially after the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus, that he was merely a phantom. He was a ghost. Our Lord Jesus, he said to Thomas,
he said, reach hither thy hand, you go ahead and touch me. And
you see, I'm real. I'm real. And I'll tell you,
our Savior, he is real. He's really God. He's really
man. Really man. Look over at Luke
chapter 24. Let me show you this passage.
Luke chapter 24. Our Savior has been speaking with
the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He has this to say to
them, and I'll go all the way back, if you don't mind, to verse
25, Luke chapter 24. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Luke 24, now 26. And he says to them, love not
Christ, who hath suffered these things, and enter into his glory. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded, He unfolded, and He explained unto
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Oh,
what a message that was! To listen to the Savior set Himself
forth from the Old Testament. Indeed, as He broke open this
great vial full of ointments, as the fragrance of His own person
and His work filled the place, these men were greatly blessed,
as the Savior spoke to them of His sufferings and the glory
that should follow. Isaiah spoke of His sufferings
and the glory that should follow. There would be no glory to follow
were there not sufferings. He had to redeem His people. He had to save us from our sins
by His substitutionary death. And on the basis of His successful
work, God has exalted Him. God has given Him a name that
is above everything. God has made Him both Lord and
Christ. He is glorified. Verse 28, and then they drew
nigh unto the village whither they went. And he made as though
he would go further, that he wasn't going to stay with them.
But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, stay with us,
dwell with us, for it's toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them, And it came to pass as He sat at meat with them, He
took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to them
and their eyes were opened, the eyes of their mind, the eyes
of their heart, the eyes of the understanding, their eyes were
opened and they knew Him. And then He vanished out of their
sight. They said one to another, did
not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the
way? While he opened to us the scriptures? Oh, how blessed it is when the
Spirit of our Lord Jesus opens to us the Scriptures and then
indeed our hearts burn. They burn with honor and glory
and love and faith in the Savior as His own Spirit opens the Scriptures
to us so that we see Christ Jesus as our own. Look at verse 33,
and they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. They
found the eleven gathered together and then that were with them,
saying, The Lord is risen indeed. And Nath appeared to Simon, and
they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known
unto them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace
be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted,
And they thought, they supposed they had seen a spirit. They
had seen a ghost. This can't be real. He can't
be real. This can't be the master. This
is a ghost. This is his spirit. And he said
unto them, why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Behold my hands. and my feet,
that it is I myself. And he said, Handle me and see. For a spirit, a phantom, a ghost,
doesn't have flesh and bones as you see me have. When he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them,
Do you have anything to eat? Do you have any meat?" They gave
him a piece of broiled fish and oven honeycomb. He took it, and
I'm sure they watched. They watched in amazement. And
he ate it right before them. He's not a spirit. He's not a
phantom. He's not a ghost. This is a real
man. He has a real body. He has a
real soul. This is the God-man. standing
right before them in reality, in reality. We must fight for both the deity
of our Savior and we must never forget that He is really the
man, Christ Jesus. He had to be a man. For there
is one God and one Mediator between God and men. Who is that? It's the man, Christ Jesus. There
is a mediator. Yes, Job, there is a daysman. There is one who stands between
us and a holy God who offered to God the only sacrifice that
could put away our sins. The sacrifice of Himself. He
offered to God the only sin offering that would bring in everlasting
righteousness. Yes, He's a real man. He was
real when He died. He was real when He was buried.
He was real when He resurrected. And He's real in glory tonight. There's a man in heaven, seated
at the right hand of the Father. What a friend we have in Jesus! He's God. He's man. He's our friend. And He's our Savior. And over
here in John chapter 4, we find Him sitting on a well. He sat thus on a well. Oh, how
real, how real his humanity was. The burning sun afflicts him. All the sweat, it rolls down
his face. And he sits there on the well,
and he's weary. He's weary. The sun is so hot,
he's thirsty. He's parched with heat. There's
water in the well, but he doesn't have anything to draw with. That's
what it says in verse 11. Oh yes, he could have summoned
an angel, and an angel would have been obedient. Give me a
drink of water, and it would have happened just like that. And if I could personify the
water in the well, when he said to the woman, give me to drink,
when he was thirsty, the water in the well, I know it's an inanimate
object, but if the water could speak, it would say, oh master,
say the word, we'll quench your thirst, you created us. Or he could have made a bucket
and a ladle and a rope and lowered it down into the well. He's really thirsty. He's really
weary. But he was obedient to God in
all things. Now I know his obedience. The
end of his obedience or the very climactic part of his obedience
was his obedience unto death. But in sitting at this well,
in his weariness, and refusing to relieve his own weariness,
refusing to relieve his own thirst, he is being the perfect man,
believing God to provide for him and resting in divine providence
for all things. He won't perform a miracle. To relieve his own oppression. He's obedient to the Father.
He has absolute confidence in the Father. To supply all of
his needs. To lead him by his providence.
And I know that our Savior in His death, He's our Savior indeed. He's the one who rescued us from
sin, from the curse of the law, and from Satan. But remember
this, in His life He is our example. He is our example. When He washed
the feet of His disciples, He said, for I have given you an
example that you should do as I have done unto you. In 1 Peter
2 and verse 21, For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ
also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should
follow in His steps. And then of course it says, when
He suffered at the hands of men, He didn't retaliate. When He
was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened
not. In all things, He relied on His
Heavenly Father to provide for Him. Whatever needs that He had
as a man, He didn't set out to miraculously provide for His
own needs. He relied upon the Father. That's
how we're to live. Isn't that right? That's how we're to live. That's
how we're to conduct ourselves. Here he is. He's not relieving
his own thirst, nor is he refreshing himself in his weariness. Here's the perfect man, relying
upon the Father to direct his steps. The steps of a good man
are ordered by the Lord, and there's only been one good man. Here's the good man. Here he
is right here. And his every step was ordered
by the Lord. And he knew that. He knew that. Therefore, though wearied, he
sits in the heat of the day, and he bears the thirst. You remember how he hungered?
And though it isn't written here, it's obvious that he was hungry
because he sent his disciples into town to buy some groceries. And you'll never forget the words
of John 11, Jesus wept. And you know how He suffered,
and you know how at last He died. These are things that can only
happen to a real man. Though his Godhead was mysteriously
united to his manhood, yet he was nonetheless completely and
intensely a man. Though he was perfectly and supremely
God. His Godhead did not take away
from him the power to suffer and to be weary. And I think
this is worthy to be noticed. It seems to me like the master
is more weary than his disciples because they went into town to
buy groceries. They still got strength enough
to go into town and buy groceries. He didn't go. He didn't go. I know first of all he didn't
go because he must needs go through Samaria. This is a time of love. This is a time of regenerating
grace. This is a time for the effectual
call. He arranged this meeting in old
eternity. Nothing happens by chance, not
to you, not to me, not to the Savior. It was written as though written
in stone. In God's eternal purpose. That
on this day He must needs go through Samaria and meet this
woman. This vessel of mercy. It's time. It's the time appointed for love. For a revelation of the Son of
God to her soul. It's the time for that. And so
He sets on the well. But the second reason that he
sets on the well and he doesn't go with the men into town to
buy groceries was this. He was weary. He's thoroughly, thoroughly tired. He just had to sit down. You
know what it's like to get tired. I just got to sit down. You know
what that's like. You know how you feel when you're
weary and you say, I've just got to sit down a minute. You
know, Nancy will be out walking somewhere. Maybe she wants to
go to JCPenney or somewhere and we'll go in there and then we'll
go out in the food court there and she'll say, I've just got
to sit down just a minute, catch my breath. I'm a little weary.
We all know what that's like. I've got to sit down because
I'm tired. Can you imagine the Lord of glory? He comes to Jacob's well and
he says to his disciple, I got to sit down here and rest a little
bit. That's the real man, Christ Jesus,
right there. As preachers of the gospel, glad to have Brother Parker with
us tonight, he dropped by unexpectedly in the providence of God. His
plans weren't the plans that the Lord had for him, and so
we're delighted to have him here this evening. And he knows that
what I'm going to say is so. In the ministry, it's a different kind of labor. It's a labor of the mind, studying,
it's a labor of the heart, preaching, bearing the responsibility of
the congregation, praying for people, and really it's There's
no end to it. There's no punching the clock.
There's no, okay, now everybody's going to be removed from my mind
when I leave the office or whatever. No, because we still bear you
on our mind. We still pray for you. But that's nothing compared to
the Lord's weariness and His work as our Savior, as our mediator
when He was on this earth. You know, we read of our Savior,
He went up into the mountains to pray. And then He is all the time teaching
and preaching, performing miracles. And when other men were sleeping,
He is talking to the Heavenly Father. There is a labor of spiritual
work It is unlike physical labor. I remember my daddy, and he was
a preacher, and I remember him saying, he would say after Sunday
night, he taught Sunday school, preached Sunday morning, preached
Sunday night, he'd come home and he'd say, my legs just ache.
And you know what I used to think? Why? He hadn't done anything. All you did was get up there
and preach a little bit. And then I went into the ministry,
and especially as I get older, it does take a toll on you, doesn't
it, Bill? You feel it. You go home, well,
my legs just ache. I feel like I've walked five
or six miles. And then there's the other burdens
of the ministry that we carry. Think about the burdens that
our Lord carried in His high priestly prayer. He said, I pray
for those that thou hast given me. Even back then, he's praying
for us. There's a man in prayer to God
for all of his elect. You remember in, where is it,
2 Corinthians 11 where Paul talked about the the tribulations and
the persecutions, all of the things that affected him as a
preacher. And he said, besides all that,
there's the care of the churches. Well, I'll tell you, brother
Paul, your care of the churches is nothing compared to the Savior's
care of the churches. And he's weary, preaching, ministering,
healing, teaching in parables, praying, He's weary. He's weary. Lots of times we read in the
Scriptures of Him being troubled. Troubled in His soul. Let me
give you a few examples. John 11, and you know this one.
And John 11, this of course is upon the death of Lazarus, he
goes to Lazarus' tomb. Listen, here is the reality of
his manhood. Look at verse 33, John 11, 33.
This is when Mary has come running to him. In fact, look back at verse 32,
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell
down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned
in the Spirit. He groaned in the Spirit. This
is an inward emotion. And really, it brings out the
idea of an inward indignation, of lack of faith. But watch this,
and was troubled, he's troubled. You know what that word, that's
agitated, agitated inside, in the heart. And I usually use
this illustration like a washing machine, that agitator in the
bottom of the washing machine that stirs the water. He's troubled
in his soul. He's agitated. And then of course, verse 35,
Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Go over to chapter
12. Chapter 12, verse 27. He says, now is my soul troubled. Soul troubled? I tell you, there
is no trouble to equal soul trouble. Now is my soul disturbed and
agitated. And what shall I say? Father
saved me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this
hour. Look over at chapter 13, verse
21. 13, 21. When Jesus had said thus, He
was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you that one of you shall betray Me. That troubled Him. I wouldn't begin to expound that. I wouldn't begin to explain that.
But here's one of the twelve. The one who carried the bag,
the treasure. And our Lord, He knows all about
none of these things surprise Him. But this is the reality
of His humanity. He says, one of you is going
to betray Me. That bothered Him. That bothered
Him. We read that He slept. He slept. We read again that He wept. He
goes into Jerusalem. Look over at Luke chapter 19.
Look at Luke 19 verse 41. He is coming into Jerusalem.
1941. And when he was come near, he
beheld the city and wept over it. And as he wept over it, this
is what he said. If thou hadst known, even thou
at least in this thy day, that the things which belong unto
thy peace But now they are hid from thine eyes, for the day
shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
and shall lay thee even with the ground thy children within
thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,
because thou knewest not the time of my visitation." And that
troubled him. Here's a city that's going to
be destroyed. People are going to perish. And he's troubled. This is the
perfect man. You know, it's often set forth
in the New Testament that he ministered to the physical needs
of others, and in doing so manifested almighty power, irresistible
power. But he wouldn't exercise that
power to deliver himself in his time of need. Here he is traveling
from Judea to Samaria. It's written that he was weary
and he was thirsty. Additionally, we can conclude
that he was hungry. But while he had the authority
to provide for himself, he didn't do that. Just like in Matthew
chapter 4, We won't take the time to look at that, but when
Satan tempted the Savior, the Savior was driven into the wilderness
by the Holy Spirit. He had fasted 40 days and 40
nights. He's very hungry. Satan said, if thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made bread. Well, he had the
power to do that. Why didn't he do it? I'll tell you why he didn't do
it. Because when you're hungry, you can't turn the stones into
bread. When you're thirsty, you can't
cause water to miraculously come out of a well. When you're weary,
you can't cause yourself to immediately be refreshed. You see, he's tempted
in all points, like as we are. Yet without sin. Yet without sin. You see, for him to turn the
stones into bread, or to refresh himself when he's weary, or to
draw forth water miraculously out of Jacob's well, would have
been for him to cease living a life of absolute faith and
confidence in the heavenly Father to provide for him. He would
not be resting in the Father's providence to direct his steps,
so he refused to refresh himself. He must feel what we feel. He must experience what we experience, yet without sin. Oh, listen, children of God.
We have at the right hand of the Father a great high priest
who walk the same paths that we walk. One who endured the same sorts
of situations we're called upon to endure. One who patiently
waited upon divine providence and trusted the Lord to do what
was best in every situation. Remember, he's Jehovah's faithful
servant. I read of Alexander the Great
when his army went on long marches to go to battle. Of course, he
had a horse, but he didn't ride it. He marched right along beside
his soldiers. And one story I read yesterday
when one of his servants came and offered him a cup of water,
he refused it. And he said, give it to that
soldier over there who looks more faint than I do. And they
passed him the cup of water. And every man in his army felt
that sympathy. And it just invigorated them. Oh, people of God, I know you
toil and you're weary. Maybe sickness, maybe the burdens
of the cares of the job or the family. Whatever your weariness is, whatever
it is that you feel, think of your eternal king, immortal,
invisible, and then read this. Jesus therefore being wearied
with his journeys sat thus on the well. Our Lord walks with
His soldiers. That blesses me. That helps me. Have you ever said this? Something
happens to somebody and you say this? Been there and done that. Sure you have. Well, I tell you
what, the Lord's been here and He's done that. He's faced it. He's faced it. Go over to Hebrews
chapter 4. I tell you, this just encourages
me. Hebrews chapter 4. Our Lord knows
our difficulties. He knows our afflictions. He
knows the troubles that come across our path because He's
trodden on this earth as the God-man. Hebrews chapter 4, look
at verse 12. This is the Savior, the Word
of God. He's the Eternal, He's the Incarnate
Word. The Word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints
and marrow and as a discern of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight.
He sees you and He knows where you are, child of God. All things
are naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have
to do, the one who saved us. He knows what you're going through.
He ordained it. And He's been through these things
Himself. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest. He's great because of the dignity
of His person. He's Jesus, the Son of God. Seeing
then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. He's great because of the dignity
of His person. He's the Son of God. He's great
because of the successfulness of His work of redemption and
reconciliation. He paid our debt. It's paid in
full. He established righteousness
for us. He washed our sins away. He's
great. His sacrifice is great. His salvation
is great. And then He's great because of
the location He now carries on His ministry as the Great High
Priest of His people. He's passed into the heavens.
This man, Jesus of Nazareth, touched with the feelings of
our infirmities. He is our great high priest.
He is in glory. And we say sometimes, nobody
knows the hurt that I feel. Nobody knows how I have been
treated. Hang on a minute. Wait just a minute. He knows. He knows. Maybe I hadn't walked
in your shoes, but I'll tell you, He walked in those shoes
first. Is that right? You know that's right. You know
that's right. He's great because He's passed
into heaven. And He's great because He is
a continuing priesthood. He remains a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Look at verse 15. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities."
That word touched is literally sympathize. Man, he has been
here. He's faced it all. And even though
as God, he could have relieved himself of the weariness and
the thirst and the hunger and all the rest of them, he didn't.
He faced it. Perfect faith. Oh God give me
faith to trust you. Give me faith to walk believing
that you know what you're doing. He was in all points tempted
as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in our Go back to chapter 2. I've got to go quick, my time's
gone, but bear with me just a little bit longer. Look back in chapter
2. In chapter 2, it says in verse
16, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but
he took on him the seed of Abraham, not the seed of Adam now. but
the seed of Abraham, the father of the faithful. Wherefore in
all things it behooved him, he was bound, he was obligated as
one who owed a debt. It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted He is able to succor them that are tempted. He is
able to help with feeling. You read John Owen on this and
he says that word also has an idea of He is able to help with
feeling and to do it speedily. Speedily. I tell you when Peter
was walking on the water and he began to sink, he said, Lord
save me! Don't delay. Save me. I need somebody to rescue me. Nancy and I, we met at church
camp years ago when I was a lifeguard. And I tell a lot of those kids,
they'd get into the deep water, and I'd watch them swim to begin
with, and that's okay, because they had to show me that they
could swim. And then they'd venture into the deep water. But then
they'd get in trouble. Say, Help! Help! Help! And I was able to succor them.
I was able to help with feeling and in a hurry. In a hurry, no
delay. And that's, we come to the Lord
and say, Lord, help me. Help me. Do it without delay. I need you to help me now. Nobody
else can rescue me. Nobody else can help me but the
Lord. but the Lord. So, back over here in John 4,
in His weariness, He sets on the well. Now watch this, I'll
give you this and I'm going to send you to one more verse and
then we'll quit. He sets on the well and He waits. He waits. And I want you to look
at this reference, Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah chapter 30. And verse 18, Isaiah chapter 30 verse 18, he
sits on that well and he waits. In his weariness, in his thirst,
in his hunger, he waits. Isaiah 30 verse 18, and therefore
will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you. And therefore
will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you. For the
Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. Now when it says the Lord waits,
that doesn't mean what most preachers say it means. It doesn't mean
that the Lord wants to show grace and he wants to show mercy, but
he's got to be given permission. He's waiting for the sinner to
say it's okay. That's not what it means. That's
not what it means. If you would read the entire
30th chapter of Isaiah, you would find this chapter prophesized
the judgment of Judah. But within the nation there was
a remnant according to the election of grace. A people, a people
to whom the Lord would be gracious. And He waited unto the appointed
hour to pour out His grace into their hearts. And over here in
John chapter 4, that's what's happening. He sets at the well
and he waits to be gracious. And then she shows up just at
the time appointed. Then he deals with her. And you
know what? I don't even read that She gave him any water to drink. And yet, she relieved his thirst. Because his thirst was to bring
her to himself. And in bringing this sinner unto
himself, to acknowledge who he is, to believe who he is, the
Messiah, the Son of God. In satisfying her thirst that
He gave her for this spiritual water, this water of life, this
great salvation, a thirst for Himself, in relieving her thirst,
He relieved His own thirst. Because He would then say to
His disciples, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent
me. That's what satisfies me. So you know what you have here?
You have a satisfied sinner and a satisfied Savior. The God-man. Oh, bless His name. Let's honor
Him. Magnify Him in our worship. Well,
let's sing a closing song.