Make Me Leave My Waterpot

John chapter 4. My goal this morning is to look at these verses, this event, this story that happens in these verses, which is the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this woman and this conversation that he has with her and the results of that conversation. And in doing so, I hope that we can all recognize and see that these events are the exact same events that the Lord does with every single one of his sheep. Every single one of his elect goes through this exact same story. I hope to point that out and I hope we can see it.

And to start, I wanna go to the end. I wanna go to the end for two reasons. The first reason is because I have found as a parent and as a child, the best journeys are always the ones when the ending is great and we know the ending when we start the journey. Is it not a great trip? when we're on our way to vacation, when we're on our way to our birthday party, to a friend's house, to something we're truly looking forward to, to something we truly want. The second reason we start with the end is because I want us to maybe grasp a little bit of how wondrous and how amazing the end of this story is. So that as we go through it, the whole time, every single step, every single word that's said, all of it points to this same thing happening. And remember, this same thing happens to all of his sheep.

Look at verse 26. Now remember, this starts with the Lord coming to this woman, and it ends with Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. And in verse 28, let me remind us this. When the Lord says, I am he, When he tells one of his children who he is, we see who he is. And when we see who he is, this is what we do. Look at verse 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, come, see a man which told me all the things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?

The title of this message is make me leave my water pot. This woman came to this well for one reason. She had to have water. She had to have water. We all have to have water. We'll die without water. And before she got any water, he showed her who he was and she left. Not only without water, she left the item that got the water. She realized that nothing matters, nothing, after seeing who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I pray that the Lord has either shown us that, or he will show us that, because that's all that matters. All right, go back to the beginning of this story. In verse three, He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must need to go through Samaria.

I have quoted that verse numerous times. I quote it all the time. And he must need to go through Samaria. And I always thought that he went out of his way to go to Samaria. Now, I was taught as a child the truth, and I'll tell you in just a second what it is. But I thought that the Lord had to go somewhere else. But do you know that when he went from Judea to Galilee, that the direct path goes straight through Samaria? So why does it say he must needs go through Samaria? Well, the first part is this. The Jews thought Samaria, the Samaritans, were just the worst.

They wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Enough so that if you look over in verse 27, When his disciples came back and saw him talking to this woman, they said to themselves, and upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with this woman. These men had been following the Lord everywhere and think that they saw him talking to a woman and their first thought was, why is he talking to her? They were embarrassed for him.

They thought if he knew, we don't talk to Samaritans. We don't do that. So the reason that he must need to go through Samaria, this straight line, is because the religious Jews, they didn't go that way. They went that way. They went around Samaria. It didn't matter how long it took. It didn't matter the change of the journey. They just didn't want to be caught near the Samaritans. Thank God.

He does not avoid those that do not deserve to be in His company. We'll see more about this woman, but the Samaritans as a people are like us, sinners, wretches, filthy. You know, we say that we deserve nothing but condemnation. We don't deserve his time. We don't deserve consideration from him. He should avoid us at all costs. That's how bad we are.

Yet, he must needs go through some area. Now another part of that verse, I've always kind of laughed at that phrase, he must needs go through Samaria. Why does it not say he must go through Samaria? He needs to go through Samaria. He had to go through Samaria. He was going to go through Samaria.

There's a lot of ways to say that. And I don't know if I've ever used the phrase must needs go through, must needs do something. But just like every single word of this book, they all have particular meanings and they're all important. The first of those two words, must, represents an obligation, had to do something. Our Lord had, was obligated to go see that woman. He had made a covenant from before the foundation of the earth that he would save that woman.

He must go to her. He also had to go to her because she would never go to him. He had to come to her because she would never come to Him. We will never come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether that be by ignorance, whether that be by pride, whether that be by arrogance or self-righteous, whatever it is, no sinner will ever come to Christ apart from Him coming to them.

Now needs, what does that mean? Must is an obligation. Needs is a desire. The Lord Jesus Christ loved this woman and he had to go save her. He wanted to do it. There were others in Samaria that we'll see later that he wanted to go save. It's a hard thing to understand, but the Lord Jesus Christ is obligated to save His children, yet He wants to save His children. He loves them. He loves that. So He must needs go through Samaria in the same way that He must needs come to save His children, to save us.

Verse 5, Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of the 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, and it was about the sixth hour.

It telling us here that the Lord was wearied with his journey. The Lord walked everywhere. Everywhere he went, he walked. And this was a long journey. They'd been walking all morning and it's hot. It would have been probably around 90 degrees at this point walking through the desert.

And this shows us that he was a man. That he was weary. He'll ask for water in a minute. He was thirsty. In order to bear our sins, he had to endure what we went through. He had to have the infirmities that we have, the things that we struggle with. He was a man. He was a human. And to think that he would even do that, to condescend, God, man, to come down here, to put himself through this. But again, he needed, he wanted to save his people.

And it was about the sixth hour. Verse seven, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. This was the middle of the day, the heat of the day. And I have heard many say that the reason she came at this point was because she didn't want to see anybody else. She came at this time because no one would be there. This well would have been a source of water for a lot of people. And I'm sure it would have been a place that many people visited. But they all would come in the cool of the day, not the heat of the day.

Yet she comes at the sixth hour, and when she gets there, the Lord said unto her, Give me to drink. Verse eight, For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. The Lord came to where this woman was going to be, and then he sent his disciples away. Why did he do that? Because the only place for a sinner is with the Lord Jesus Christ, with nothing in between, no one else around, just him and us. Verse 9, the woman saith to 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 the Samaritans.

This woman was aware of her standing. As a Samaritan, she looked to him And she did not know him. He was not someone of high regard. This was not looking at a nobleman or anything that she would have thought, you won't have anything to do with this. This was just a man who was a Jew. And she said, why are you asking me? One of the writers said, the Jews wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans. They thought so lowly of them. But to ask a favor of a Samaritan was completely out of the question. You could not do that. Not only did you not need them to do it, but you didn't want to lower yourself far enough to ask them for something.

So with that being said, verse 10 says, Jesus answered and said, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The gift of God is salvation, is eternal life. He says, if you knew these things, you would ask of me. Asking proceeds from knowing. Before we ask, God has to deal with us in conviction and revelation. Notice that Christ deals with her on the basis of who, not what. It is not doctrine any more than doing that saves. It is the person, Jesus Christ. All right, verse 11.

So he said, if you'd know who I was, you'd ask for me to give you living water. Verse 11, 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? She says, I don't understand. She's obviously listening to him. Because of what she said, she said, but you don't have anything to draw from the well. How are you going to get this living water?

All natural men, all of us, are ignorant of spiritual things until they are enlightened by the Holy Spirit. This is just a picture of us not knowing all the things that he teaches us. This book explains everything very clearly, and we have heard, some of us, thousands of messages, yet there are so many things we just don't understand. For those of us who have seen this story before many times and heard it preached many times, when he says, the living water, oh, that's a good, I love that metaphor.

I love the living water. But for someone who hasn't, what do you mean living water? All water's living water. If I don't have water, I'm going to die, right? So all water's living water. Verse 11, the woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with in the wells 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?

She has no idea the insult that she just gave him. She thinks of the greatest person of her land. She thinks we're here, this is Jacob's well. Do you think you're of him? She doesn't understand that the one before is the one who taught Jacob, told Jacob, showed Jacob everything, gave Jacob the living water. Thankfully, the Lord does not condemn us, chide us for all the silly things we say and we think. This poor woman didn't know any better. And she says that. She says, Do you think? To the Lord Jesus, to the God man, she says, Are you greater than Jacob? But here's what he says in verse 13. Jesus answered and said unto her, He ignored that.

Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but 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. Every well in the world should have written above it, those who drink from this well will have to drink again.

The thirst of the soul is a spiritual thirst, and that is why material things cannot reach it. Neither height, neither health, wealth, comfort, fame, luxury, ceremonial religion can be ours. They all can, and still the heart will be empty. The person who receives the Holy Spirit, the grace of God in Christ, and the light and life of Christ shall never want any good thing that is necessary to peace, to rest, to comfort, to hope, and eternal glory.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 1. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Though the believer continually desires spiritual growth and fresh supplies of grace. Let me say that again. Though the believer continually desires spiritual growth and fresh supplies of grace, yet in Christ we have all that we need and all that we want. We have everything in Him. All of it.

We have this living water. Look at verse 15. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. This woman still didn't really understand, but she grasped enough to say, I want that water. I want the water. I don't have to keep coming back to this well. I want living water. Please give it to me. Verse 16.

Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. 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 thou saidst thou truly.

The Savior had crossed her path. He had engaged her in conversation and secured her attention and her interest. He had sown the seed of spiritual truth in her mind. Now he deals with her real soul thirst, her sins and her unhappy, her confused life. Now comes the work of conviction of sin and the realization of her need of him and the living water that she needs. He knew all about her adultery, her sins, and her present state of shame and unhappiness. This is what brought her to the well at this time of day, when she thought no one would be there to interact with.

But he must bring her to admit it and face it. We have to come to the place where we admit, where we confess our sins. The Lord already knew all these things of this woman, but he asked them so that she would save him, admit to them, and then he would acknowledge it. And in doing so, she's come to a great place. She has come to this place where faith in Christ is going to be born of personal, known and admitted need. She would not have needed this living water had she not understood her position. This metaphor that he's using here with living water, it's used at such questions such as our need, the head and the body.

This question from him is like, Adam, where art thou? in the garden? Or Cain, where is thy brother? Or whom do you say that I, the son of man, am? These are all questions to push us, to fish us to this place, to understand our need, our personal need of Him. To whom much is forgiven, He will love much.

Look at verse 19. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship? This woman has seen something. She says, I perceive that you're a prophet. He's called her on her sin. And she says, are you a prophet? But then she immediately goes back to works and to religion and other things. She says, our fathers worshiped in the mountain and you say that Jerusalem is the place to worship. She's focused on this religious ceremony, on all these things. But her eyes are beginning to open. She sees that she is in the presence of some mysterious person sent from God. Verse 21.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. He says, where you worship is not a concern. He says, who you worship is the issue. God is putting an end to the Levitical ceremony here.

The law, the types, the holy places, the days, these are all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord does this with us. There are different phrases. There are different words. Our sins are as great or greater than this woman. But He walks us through these things. He shows us our sin. He makes us to see our sin. He makes us to admit that we're sinners. And then He addresses all the bondage we have. All these false refugees. All these places we look. All these ceremonies. These ideas we look to. The other people. And He keeps coming back to the same thing. It's Him. It's Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 22.

He says, You worship, you know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Verse 23, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. He said, You don't know what you worship. He says, But the hour cometh. when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit. We will not worship God as the Samaritans. We will not worship as the hypocritical Jews, and we will not worship as the sincere Jews. But true worshipers of God all worship God in spirit, in heart, and in truth.

That is the will of God. My son, give me thine ear, he said. The will of God is that we come to him by faith through Jesus Christ. And he's making this clear to here. Let's keep going. We're almost done. Verse 24. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. We gather together or separately. We offer public prayer or private. We make our offerings, our sacrifices of praise, our thanksgiving, our commitments to God through our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the spirit of God, the spirit of sincerity. We do it in the spirit of faith and the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter 4. Look at verse 14. 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. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Through these last 10 or 12 verses, if we look at this as our experience, at times it's painful to see all the things we go through and to think that even though the Lord Jesus Christ has made us to see Him, to think that we still struggle with all these things in here, to think that we still put faith and comfort into things such as processes and past and things like that.

But he's very clear here, and he'll say this to her. This woman has no comfort at any point throughout this until we get to this verse in just a second. She's struggling with this. but the Lord's gonna show her who he is. Give her the answer to this. Look at verse 24.

God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman said unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Slowly but surely, the Word has done its work. At last, the woman has been driven from every false refuge, and she speaks of the hope of a revealed Redeemer."

She sees this. She sees that there is one. She's been told this. She's looked at this. She realizes from what he said, all these different points he's made, these comments he's told her. She may not have understood them, but she comes to the place and she says, there is a Messiah coming and he's going to be the one who's going to show us. He's going to tell us this.

The moment that the woman expresses her desire for Christ, her desire to be saved, her acknowledgement that she needs to be saved, what happens? Verse 26. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. The moment that she expresses her desire for Christ, he says, I'm him. I am him.

A needy sinner and a sovereign savior had met face to face and everything is settled once and forever. It was already settled. before the foundation of the world it was settled. And he is briefly after this, he's going to the cross to fulfill this covenant, to bear our sins and to pay the debt that we can't pay. And she doesn't need to know that. All she has to see is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it.

He doesn't, and there's more words spoken here. We can tell because in a few minutes when she goes to them, she says, he told me everything about my past. There's more words than are what is written here. In the last verse of John, John says, if all the words that he spoke were written, we wouldn't be able to contain it all the earth. But all the things he told her, she couldn't grasp it until all of a sudden he just pulled back the veil and she saw him. And she realized in that moment, the same that Lord willing that we'll realize, once we see the Lord Jesus Christ, not see Him in the words, not see Him as someone tells us, not see Him as the truth is preached to us, but see Him in that His face is before us and we see truly a holy Savior. Do we truly understand? all these things.

And once he said that, it makes me so happy. He said that the moment he was done. And that's the end of it. That's the end of this interaction is when he shows us shows her who he is. That's the moment that all of his disciples come back. And that's the moment that we skip to verse 28. And the woman then left her water pot. and went her way into the city and said to the men, come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ.

It's such a great picture that this woman was thirsty. I don't know the exact reason why she came to this well at this time. It could have been embarrassment. It could have been a lack of planning. It could have been someone needed water. She was desperately thirsty. Whatever it was, she had to come at this time to get water. She knew she had to have it to survive. In her mind, just a few minutes ago, she had one great need, and that was water. And at the end of this conversation, she realized she didn't need that at all. She needed the Lord Jesus Christ. All the other things. You know, at this time, a water pot was pretty valuable.

You know, I don't know anything else about her situation other than what it tells us, but she didn't leave that water pot because she thought that she had ten at home, or she could get one from someone else. And you know, I thought to myself, maybe a reason I would never go to this well in the middle of the day, I'd have someone else go for me. If everybody knew the truth about me, nobody would go to the well for me. I'd be the only one who'd go get the water for myself. Through all of that, she comes to the place, the moment she sees Him, and everything, all her possessions, everything she thought she knew, all of it's gone. The only thing she cared about was Him.

And you know what happens when the Lord shows you who He is? You want to tell the other people that you care about. You want to tell other people. You want to tell them because you love them? I do. I want anybody that I care about to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And I don't want them to know from me telling them. I want them to know from Him showing them. all of my friends, all of my acquaintances to know this. I want all of them to know.

She didn't go back and try to grab in a group of people someone she cared about or someone she knew and pull them to the side and whisper to them something. No, she went into the city and started telling everybody, you've got to come see, I just saw the Christ. He knew everything about me. He's going to save me. And thankfully, our God, there's not a limit to this salvation. She understood that.

This living water. Now, we have a lot of sources of water, right? And we have so many more than them. I have a lot of places in my house that I feel like I can get an endless supply of water. There are oceans of water, huge, huge bodies of water. All water comes from one place. It comes from glory, comes from heaven, comes from our Lord. And you know what?

We can't make water. Now, a scientist might say, you can give me this and this and I can make water. Well, the only reason they make water is because water went into what they had. Only the Lord can provide living water. And it's the only thing that we can survive off of. We will all perish eternally if we don't have the living water from the Lord Jesus Christ.

One more time, the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the man, come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this, the Christ. She was fully persuaded he was the Christ, that he was the promised Messiah. She fully believed him and found great joy in that faith and knowledge. May the Lord please, please reveal himself to every single one of us. We should ask this, we should beg this, we should plead this. Lord, please reveal yourself to me. All right.

Make Me Leave My Waterpot

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Make Me Leave My Waterpot

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