Let's go back to that scripture
that Lloyd read to us in John chapter 4. In the third chapter, we met a self-righteous religionist
Nicodemus. In the fourth chapter, we meet
a notorious sinner. She isn't given a name or her
name isn't mentioned. She's just one of Samaria. I do believe that both of them
were objects of God's mercy. Both were loved with an everlasting
love. Both were bought with the blood
of the Lord Jesus. Both were effectually quickened
by the gospel. Both met and were brought to
believe the same Savior. And both of them this evening
are worshiping in glory at the throne of Christ Jesus. And that's
a blessed thought. A blessed thought. Here are two
sinners saved by the same grace, washed in the same blood, robed
in the same righteousness, and heirs of the same salvation. But when we meet them, this one
in John chapter 3, Nicodemus, and then this one in John chapter
4, the woman of Samaria, when we meet them, they're just poles
apart. They seem to be so different.
And yet for all of their differences, they're just needy, needy sinners. Oh yeah, one of them is super
religious. The other one is adulterous. But they both need the grace
of God. And both of them are objects
of the shepherd's compassion and his love. It was for these
two sheep and all of the other sheep that the shepherd came
into the world. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He arranged the meeting with
Nicodemus at night. The shepherd must confront this
lost sheep, who was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, but
he's got to learn some things. He's got to learn his own depravity. He's got to learn that he must
be born of the Spirit. He has to be confronted with
the fact that God's Son must be lifted up to die. He must
be brought to the Savior. The woman in John chapter 4,
she's also a lost sheep. The Savior arranged this meeting
with her even as he arranged the meeting with Nicodemus. He
loved her with an everlasting love. And this is the time of
love when he would spread his skirt over her and wash her and
bathe her and bring her to a knowledge of himself. Nicodemus was a ruler
of the Jews. She's an adulteress. Nicodemus,
he was greatly respected by everybody. He's a member of the who's who
in religious society. This woman, she's an outcast
from society. Nicodemus, he's a very moral
man. This woman, she's a very immoral
woman. Nicodemus was a greatly esteemed
Jew. She was a despised Samaritan. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. The woman came to Jacob's well
in the middle of the day. Nicodemus was converted, but
not until some time later. This woman was converted when
she heard the word of truth. Nicodemus was recognized within
the Jewish community. He was a man of rank. a man of
wealth, a man of education. This woman, she's a nobody. She's derided by society. Nicodemus, he's admired by everybody. This woman, she's the object
of the mockery of everybody. It'd be difficult, I say, to
find Two people who are more opposite. And yet they're both
examples of God's salvation by grace. Both were really religious. As
our brother read to us in John chapter 4, our Lord, when He
confronted her, she immediately fled to her religion. But like Nicodemus, She was lost
in religion. Lost in religion. Both were spiritually
dead in their sins. Both had the same condition within
them. And they gave evidence of their
spiritual death. Nicodemus, he showed he was spiritually
dead. When the Savior said, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus ridiculed the Savior's words
and he responded by saying, well, how can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? And the woman, When the
Savior spoke to her about the water of life, she showed that
she is also dead in trespasses and sins. Because when the Savior
said, 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
woman said, sir, give me this water that I thirst not and I'll
never have to come to this well to draw again. She thought he
was going to give her some sort of miraculous water, that when
she drank that water, she would never have any physical thirst
again, she'd never have to come to the well, she'd never have
to draw water, she'd never have to carry buckets of water back
to her house again. In both instances, our Lord is
showing them their great need. and their ignorance, and their
spiritual deadness. Yes, they're on different levels
as to their religious knowledge, but they're on the same level
of carnality. They're on the same level in
that they're both dead. They're both dead. They're both
lost. But he's lost in religion, thinking
himself to be very superior to everybody else. And she is also
lost. Lost in her sinfulness. Lost
in her wicked lifestyle. Lost to all that's good and holy. Both were lost, both were dead,
but both were objects of the Savior's great compassion. And
I'll tell you this. It may be there's an individual
here this evening or somebody watching on the internet. You
may not have arrived at the religious heights of Nicodemus. And you may not have sunk low
to the adulterous condition of this woman. Maybe you fall somewhere
in between. But I'll tell you this, the grace
of God and the mercy of God and the salvation of God is omnipotent
when sent forth by the Spirit of God to quicken those who are
dead No matter what your condition is. No matter where you fall
between these two. There is mercy with the Lord.
There is salvation for sinners like us. Here are these two people. As I said, they are poles apart. But they are objects of mercy.
Objects of mercy. That sure gives us hope, doesn't
it? It gives us hope. There's mercy with the Lord.
This is a faithful saying. And worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus, He came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am chief. Our Lord Jesus arranged these
meetings. He met with Nicodemus at night. We don't know where they met.
We're not told the location of the meeting. It's just that the
Lord met him. There was a man of the Pharisees
who came to Jesus by night. He came to Jesus, but it was
the Lord Jesus who had arranged the meeting. And here's a woman,
she comes to the Master, she comes to the Savior. Actually,
she just comes to draw water. She has no intention of meeting
anybody. In fact, the reason that she
came at noon was because all the other folks came to draw
water in the morning and late in the afternoon when the sun
wasn't in its strength. And she wanted to avoid everybody,
so she came at a high noon, little realizing and little knowing
that this meeting had been arranged. Arranged by God. Arranged in
old eternity. Our Lord had ordained that the
Savior would meet the sinner at Jacob's well. This is an object
of salvation, an object of sovereign mercy. It was for this woman,
it was for Nicodemus and all the other Nicodemuses and Samaritan
women in the covenant of grace that our Lord Jesus came into
the world. He came to save the lost. He
came to lay down His life for His sheep. He came to seek us. He came to save us. He came to
redeem us. He came to reconcile us. He came
to shed His blood to put away our sins. He came to die so that
God could be just and justify the ungodly. He's arranged these
meetings. And wherever He met you, He arranged
that meeting. Those of you who are the beloved
of the Lord, who've been brought to believe the Lord Jesus, those
of you who've been confronted by God's effectual grace, the
gospel has been proclaimed to you, and you have fallen in love
with the blessed Savior, and He's all of your hope, that meeting
with the Lord was not a meeting of chance, it was a meeting of
purpose. He ordained when and where He
would confront you with the truth. Just like he did this woman.
I read of a man in Luke chapter 19. Our Lord confronted him.
He's up a tree. He's up a sycamore tree. Our
Lord confronted Matthew. He met him in a toll booth at
a tax collector's station. I read of Peter, James, and John.
He met them at a fishing boat. Wherever it is and whenever it
is, when the Savior and the sinner meet, God ordained it. God appointed
it. That's the time of love. And these two people, though According to human standards,
there's a vast distance between them. In Jesus Christ, they're
brought together. In Christ, all of His people
are one. Look at Galatians chapter 3 with
me. Galatians chapter 3. Look at verse 26, Galatians chapter
3 verse 26, For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, immersed into Christ by the Spirit, you've
put on Christ. And in Christ there is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And
if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman,
poles apart, so different in so many ways, but both children
of God, and by God's grace washed. and robed and presentable to
the Father. They are one in Christ Jesus. And this story of the Samaritan
woman, go back there to John chapter 4. Let me show you five
things. Here are five things that I want
to show you in this story of the woman of Samaria. Number
one, Before a sinner ever comes to the Savior, the Savior must
come to the sinner. If you're keeping an outline.
That's verses 1 through 6. And it needs to be repeated,
before a sinner comes to the Savior, the Savior must come
to the sinner. Now note in verse 1, when therefore
the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and
baptized more disciples than John. And then John the Apostle
informs us, though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples,
they baptized by His authority. Here's what he did in verse 3.
He left Judea, and he departed again into Galilee. He left Judea. He left the self-righteous
Pharisees. He left them in their ignorance. He left them in their blindness. He left them in their spiritual
darkness. He left them in their rebellion. He left them in their unbelief. He left them in their spiritual
deadness. And He went to Galilee. He had
performed miracles which multitudes had witnessed, yet they wouldn't
believe Him. But they would not receive His
Word. They preferred religion to righteousness. And once our Lord had declared
depravity to them, the disciples said, this is recorded back in
Matthew, when our Lord had declared total depravity to these Pharisees,
His disciples said unto Him, You know, the Pharisees were
offended at what You said. You have hurt their feelings.
You've just come now to look too hard on them. And the Savior
said, leave them alone. Leave them alone. Don't preach
to them. Just forget them. Leave them
alone. And that's what He does here
in verse 3. He left Judea. He left those
Pharisees behind. Those bickering Pharisees. Those
critical Pharisees, those self-righteous Pharisees, those arguing Pharisees,
He left them behind. He's going to somebody who needs
some help. He's going to search out somebody
who needs Him, who needs Him. He's leaving these people behind.
But he also left Judea because this wasn't the time that the
opposition of the Jews should come to a head. This is not the
time for that. Actually, every time he comes
to Jerusalem from now on, the breach between the Savior and
the Jewish leaders will become even more pronounced. But this
is not the time for his death. He said so often, my time is
not yet come. If you want to know when this
happened, Mark 1.14 says, now after that John was put in prison,
Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
God. And I said to you last week,
we know that our Lord's ministry and John's ministry overlapped
by about six months. And then John was put into prison
where he stayed for nearly a year before he was executed. But John has been in prison.
Our Lord continues his ministry. It says in verse 4, he must needs
go through Samaria. He must. Now, there's no question
about it, it's the nearest route. But Orthodox Jews, they didn't
go through Samaria. Because they had nothing to do
with the Samaritans. Back in, what, 720 BC or something
like that, due to their idolatry, their sinfulness, God had the
Assyrians come in to the northern kingdom, the northern kingdom,
typically called Israel and the capital city was Samaria. God
had the Assyrians come in and just ransacked the place and
took most all the Jews into captivity. A few stayed behind and those
who stayed behind, they were visited by a lot of foreigners. And then those foreigners intermarried
with those Jews. So those were half breeds. And
the Orthodox Jews wouldn't have anything to do with them. So
whenever a Jew would go from Judea north to Galilee, they'd
go around Samaria and not even step foot in it. They would consider
it to be defiled. They would be defiled if they
went through Samaria. But our Lord Jesus, He couldn't
be defiled by anything like that. He couldn't be defiled with sin
at all. He has an appointment to keep.
He goes right through Samaria. He must needs go through Samaria. And you know, we've already covered
some imperatives that the Lord has set forth. Ye must be born
again, He said there in John chapter 3. He said in John chapter
3 and verse 14, that the Son of Man must be lifted up. He
must be lifted up according to God's covenant. He must be lifted
up to save His elect. He must be lifted up to put away
our sins. So even as men must be born again,
and even as the Son of Man must be lifted up, so our Lord Jesus
must go through Samaria because there's a lost sheep who needs
to be confronted by the Savior with the Word of Truth. He must
be. And I'll tell you, all of God's
elect, They must be confronted with the truth. They must be
confronted with the gospel of redeeming grace. They must hear
about the Savior and find out who He is. Who He is. And what He came to do. And they
must find out something about their neediness. Our Lord shows
that to this woman. Says, He must needs go through.
through Samaria. This is a time for love. This is a time for a love visit. This is a time for a love look.
This is a time for a love call. This is a time when he's going
to wash her. This is a time when he's going
to cover her. You'll note in verses five and
six, then he comes to the 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.
Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on
the well. It was about the sixth hour.
It was about noon. I'll give you two instances of
who our Savior is. In verse 1 it says, when therefore
the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and
baptized more disciples than John, He knew because He knows
all things. He's God. He's God. You know, the second chapter
ends this way. Look at the last verse of chapter
2. The last couple of verses, John
2, 24, but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them because He
knew all. The word man is italicized. He
knew all. He still knows all. Nothing is
hidden from Him. He needed not that any should
testify of man, for He knew what was in man. He's God. Remember,
John's purpose in writing is to show that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Lord. He's the Son of God. And so he
introduces chapter 4, this segment that has to do with the woman
of Samaria. This is introduced by saying,
the Lord knew, He knew how the Pharisees felt. He knew their
thoughts before they ever thought them. He knew their inclinations. He knew their hatred. He knew
their unbelief. He's God. And you get down here
in verse 6. He sets on a well. He's wearied. He's man. He's man. He's God of very God. And He's
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He goes here to meet
this woman. It is absolutely a rule of scripture. The Lord Jesus will meet up with
a sinner. He'll come to the center. He
will come to the center, or else the center will never come to
Him. He arranges the meeting. He arranges it. It's been arranged
from old eternity. Divine providence is carrying
it out. Here's the second thing, before
the center comes to Christ, the Lord must create an interest.
Verses 7 through 14. You'll notice that He initiates
the conversation. He says to her, give me to drink. He didn't say, are you saved?
He didn't say, are you a Christian? He said, give me something to
drink. Give me something to drink. And
he works his way into this, the spirituality of the conversation. You know, in dealing with men
and women about the things of God, May God make us to be as wise
as serpents and as harmless as doves. He doesn't just hit her
over the head. You know, I've had people say to
me, well, if I believe the way you believe about predestination
and election, I wouldn't even bother to preach the gospel.
All the Lord's got to do is just bop somebody over the head and
bring them right on into the kingdom of God. God deals with
men in a wise way, and in a way that brings them to the end of
themselves, and in a way that magnifies His grace. And here
He begins to deal with this woman, and He meets her on the level
that she's at. She has no spiritual comprehension,
but she can sure understand this. When a man's thirsty, he needs
a cup of water, and he's going to use that to make a spiritual
application. Here he is, wearied with his
journey, and he's thirsty. And then, John. gives us this
bit of information in verse 8. His disciples had gone away into
the city to buy meat. So we can gather from this. He
is also hungry. Right? So he's hungry and thirsty. But you know what? He's going
to receive great satisfaction here in his spirit, in his soul. Because go down to verse, look
further into the chapter in verse 31. We now know his disciples
aren't there. He sent them into the city to
buy food because he's hungry and he's thirsty. Look at verse
31. In the meanwhile, his disciples
prayed him. They came back from the grocery
store. And they said, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I
have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, Hath any man brought him off to eat? Did somebody
bring him a picnic lunch while we were gone? But Jesus said
unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and
to finish his work. In other words, here's what satisfied
the Savior. is not a loaf of bread or a cup
of water. That which brought satisfaction
to the heart of the Son of God was doing the Father's will.
This is what satisfied His soul. This was His meat. This was His drink. This was
what He was all about. In Hebrews chapter 10, the Savior
is quoted as He comes into the world. Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God. I've come to do God's will. And
that which satisfied the soul of the Lord Jesus, that's what
met His need. He had a spiritual thirst and
a spiritual hunger, if I could express it this way, to do the
work that the Father gave Him to do. And of that work that the Father
gave Him to do, we know the main work, of course, was redeeming
His people. And here's the work right here,
to bring in a lost sheep, to reveal Himself to those who don't
know Him. And in His revelation of grace
and mercy to this poor woman, that brought delight to the heart. of the Son of God. Here was a
soul to be saved. Here's a prisoner of Satan to
be liberated. Here's a dead sinner to be raised. He's hungry and he's thirsty
to do this work. And if I may say so this evening
and if I'm not putting it The way it ought to be put, Lord
forgive me, he is hungry and he is still thirsty to reveal
himself to his people. This is what brings him the greatest
satisfaction, is doing a work of grace for undeserving sinners
like you and me. This gives him the greatest glory
of all. Greater than his glory in creation. Greater than his glory in providence. It's his glory in salvation.
It's his meat, and it's his drink, and he's hungry to do the work. The disciples are gone, and he meets with this woman
one-on-one, just like he met with Nicodemus. And you know
what? Just like he met with you. Isn't
that right? Just like He met with you. Oh,
there may have been people around, but there's no question about
it. He isolates you and He deals
with you individually. One of His sheep, one of His
lost ones. In verse 9, she will come to
the Savior, but first He must come to her. He must approach
her or she'll never approach Him. He must initiate this. Somebody said, salvation is the
sinner taking the first step. Somebody said, well, if you can
take the first step, you can go all the way. No, He initiates
it. He's the author and He's the
finisher of the faith. He approaches the woman. He's
got something to say to her. Give me to drink. Give me to
drink. And in verse 9, Then saith the
woman of Samaria unto him, and she's a little taken back. She
says, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which
am a woman of Samaria? And there are a couple of reasons
why she would be taken back by this. Number one, a man never
spoke to a woman out in public. That was absolutely against the
culture of the day. In fact, the only woman you could
speak to as a man was your mother. But you couldn't speak to another
woman, not your wife, out in public. It was an unwritten law
about that. And then secondly, he was a Jew. He was a Jew. He is the son of
David. He goes all the way back to Abraham. He even said then, before Abraham
was, I am. But Jews didn't have any dealings
with the Samaritans. And in fact, I'll give you a
little bit of a word lesson here. No dealings. No dealings. Look that up in Strong's Concordance. Here's what it means. Dealings
means to use vessels together. So if I have dealings with you,
we'll both drink out of the same cup. Man, I'm thirsty. Here's
a ladle and I'll get some water in here. You drink some water
too. With the Jews, no dealings with the Samaritans. I'm not
going to share a ladle with you. That's the way it was back then. She's definitely taken back by
this. But Jesus said to her in verse
number 10. And this is as far as we'll get
tonight. We'll pick up next week right
here. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the
gift of God. Let me tell you something. The
gift of God is something. Romans 6.23. For the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So it is something and it is
also somebody. Because go back in the previous
chapter, John 3 verse 16. For God so loved the world that
He gave. He gave. He's the gift of God. And you know over in 2 Corinthians
when the Apostle Paul is giving instructions about giving, about
your contributions, about taking care of the financial necessities
related to the gospel and so forth? He used that opportunity
to say, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. And the
Savior says to this woman, He says, if thou nearest the gift
of God, She didn't know him. She doesn't
know him yet, but he's introducing himself to her. And this is what
the master has to do. He gets us one-on-one, and there's
going to be a grand introduction of himself to our hearts. He said, if thou knewest the
gift of God and who it is, who it is, that saith to thee, Give
me to drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would have given
thee the living water." The living water. That's who He is. He's the living water Himself.
He's the water of life. The water of life. His salvation,
that's the living water. Therefore with joy shall ye draw
water from the wells of salvation. And I say dip your ladle down
in the well of salvation again tonight. And drink, drink freely. Because I tell you, the water
is never diminished. The more you drink, still in
abundance. It never goes down, never goes
down. Drink of His grace, drink of
His mercy. drink of Himself. Oh, what satisfaction
there is in the Lord Jesus Christ for poor, needy sinners. Like a religious man, Nicodemus,
and like an old adulterous woman, the woman of Samaria. We will
continue right there next Wednesday, Lord willing. Let's sing