Alright, John chapter 4. In our
text today, we have a woman who began her day lost. Her life
is a catastrophe. And she lost. And she ended her
day born again. She ended her day knowing Christ. I've looked at this all week.
And every day, just like today, has been my prayer that the Lord
will do that for someone here this morning. Maybe he would.
He's able. The title of the message is A
Woman, Her Water Pot, and the Water. Now, verse 1 of John chapter
4, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that
Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, Though Jesus
himself baptized not, but his disciples. He left Judea and
departed again into Galilee. I dealt with these verses in
last week's message, so I won't make a lot of comments, but I
do want to point this out. The Lord knew. When, therefore,
the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and
baptized more disciples than John, nobody came and told him. Now, the Pharisees know this,
and they're carrying this tale to John. the Lord knew, because
he knows all things. And the Lord left that place.
Now, he wasn't leaving that place and just wandering around aimlessly. The reason he leaves this place
is because he's going to another place, a specific place. And he's going to that place
because he's on a mission to save some of his lost sheep.
In verse 4, we read, and he must, needs go through Samaria. Now,
the Samaritans, they had descended from the Jews, but they had intermarried
with the Gentiles for so long and for so many years that they
had completely left the worship of God and they'd completely
fallen into idolatry. They had these unbelieving spouses
from heathen nations and those spouses pulled them away from
the worship of the Lord. That's why we warn our children,
don't you marry someone that's not a believer. Don't you marry
someone they won't come to church with you. It's always a dangerous
situation to put yourself in. And the Jews, now they saw the
Samaritans as a polluted people. The Jews didn't see themselves
that way, but they saw these Samaritans as a polluted people. Now our Lord was in Judea. And
you go directly to Galilee from Judea by going due north. The land of Samaria lay between
them. But most Jews If they were going to make this trip, they
would cross the River Jordan and they'd make a big semi-circle
to go around Samaria. They just would do that to avoid
at all costs coming in contact with the Samaritan. That would
just be the worst thing ever, you know, to come in contact
with a Samaritan, this polluted people. The greatest insult they
could think of one day to insult our Lord, they said, are you
a Samaritan? That was the greatest insult they could think of. And
they did everything possible. to avoid coming in contact with
these sinners. Now our Lord's a Jew, but he
must, needs to go through Samaria. Not because he's on a timetable
and it would be a faster journey to go through Samaria. He must
go through Samaria because he has several, not just one, he
has several lost sheep there in Samaria and it's their time
to meet the Savior. He must go through Samaria because
he must save his lost sheep where they're found. And these sheep
are in Samaria. And I told you last week, we
must be very careful about saying that the Lord must do something.
We saw last week that he must reign and he must increase. Well, here's another one. He
must needs go through Samaria. He must go through Samaria because
it is his eternal purpose to save his elect who live in Samaria. And this is their appointed time
to meet the Savior. And that's my prayer, that it's
God's appointed time for someone here this morning to meet the
Savior. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Now,
what we see here is what we see our Lord must go through Samaria
is we see predestination on display. Arthur Pink made this statement
about this verse. He said, we'll never appreciate
the gospel until we go back to the basic truth of predestination. That truth which puts God first,
which makes the choice His before it's ours. And he's very right,
very accurate. We will truly worship God when
we see that it was God who arranged all the events of our life. So
it would happen that we've come to hear the gospel at the exact
moment that God had appointed from all of eternity. No one
here this morning is here on accident. It's God's eternal
purpose that each of us be here this morning. Roy told me yesterday,
we were talking about this verse and he said, that's what happened.
He said, that's God's purpose. I was working just down the road
from his hospital. For whatever reason, that was God's purpose.
You can't go too far with this. Nothing's too big and nothing's
too little that's outside of God's predestinated purpose. Every event that happens over
the course of history has happened to bring God's people to know
the Lord Jesus Christ, to hear the gospel, believe him, to have
Christ say to their hearts what he's going to say to this woman,
I that speak unto thee am, I am, I'm he. We'll truly worship when
we see God's hand in all of our salvation. It was God that did
it all, and that's what's happening to this woman. She doesn't know
it yet, but that's what's happening. Now, verse 5, Then cometh he
to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel
of ground that Jacob caged his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well
was there, and Jesus, therefore being wearied with his churn,
he sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour.
there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto
her, Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat." Now, scripture points out here that
our Lord was tired. And the Holy Spirit makes a point
of this so that we can see the Lord Jesus Christ was truly a
man. He is a man in every sense of
the word. He must be tempted in all points,
like you and I are, if he's going to be our representative. If
he's going to be our substitute, he has to be just like we are,
yet without sin. And it's the sixth hour. It's
high noon. The way the Jews kept time, 6
a.m. was the first hour of the day
and then subsequent hours after that. So noon is the sixth hour.
Now, six is the number of man. And I've told you before, I'm
not very big into numerology at all, and I'm not sure how
significant this is, although there must be some significance,
some connection to it. And I think this is it. It's
about this woman. Normally, women would draw water
early in the morning. It was cooler at that time of
day, and plus, it just makes sense. You order your day, go
get your water early in the day, then all day long you've got
the water that you need for cooking and washing and cleaning and
drinking and so forth. She's coming to the well. She's
got to carry this water back to her house. She's coming at
the hottest part of the day. And she's coming at the hottest
part of the day because everybody else is inside. Everybody else
is out in the shade. And she's coming at this time
of day because she doesn't want to see anyone. She came at this
exact moment to avoid everyone. Our Lord came at this exact moment
to meet someone. Someone particular. And here
she came. This is another one of those
instances of what Isaiah said, I'm found of them that sought
me not. Seeking the Lord was the furthest
thing from her mind. All that was on her mind was
getting to that well and getting back before anybody saw her.
She came to avoid seeing anyone. And she ended up alone with the
Savior. Now that's the best place in
this world for a sinner to be. Alone with the Savior. With nothing
between. Here she is, she finds herself
at the well alone with the Savior. And our Lord asked a Samaritan
woman to give him a drink. Now Jews never want to talk to
a Samaritan. It was a shame for a Jew to speak
to a Samaritan. And a horrible shame if a Jew
would ask a Samaritan for a favor. And the Lord is asking the Samaritan
woman for a favor. The Lord of Glory who created
water is asking a Samaritan woman to give him a drink of water.
Now why didn't the Lord just perform a miracle? He created
water. Why didn't He just create a glass
of water? It could be good and cold and it quenches thirst.
Why didn't He just create His own bucket to draw His own water
with? Here in just a little bit, the Lord's going to feed 5,000
people. with five loaves and two fishes. He's got the power
to work a miracle to give himself a glass of water, doesn't he?
Well, why doesn't he just perform a miracle? It would be a whole
lot simpler. He didn't perform a miracle because you and I can't
perform a miracle. Our Lord could perform a miracle
to help others, but He couldn't perform a miracle to help Himself
because you and I can't perform a miracle to help ourselves.
The Lord could perform a miracle to feed others, But he couldn't
perform a miracle to feed himself. He had to buy meat the same way
we do. Some gent tells me this all the
time. This food doesn't just appear in his kitchen. Somebody's
got to go out and get it and bring it in. That's what our
Lord's doing. He sent his disciples to the
grocery store to buy meat because he could not produce a miracle
to make food for himself. Just like we can't. You've got
to go to the grocery store. He did too. Because the Lord
Jesus is a man. He's a man just like us. He got
tired just like you do. He got thirsty and hungry just
like you. Jane took me out to the mall yesterday. I don't know
if you men are like me. I'm telling you, I shop for about
two seconds and I'm exhausted. And I see those shoppers and
I sit down. That's why he was tired just like we are. He walked
all that way and he's tired because he's a man just like we are.
And because he's a man, He can sympathize with us and our weakness
when you're tired and you're hungry and you're thirsty. He
can sympathize. Now, our Lord came to Samaria
for this purpose, to meet this woman at this well. That well,
Jacob dug that well. Jacob had no idea. God had him
dig that well and that place for all these years later for
the Lord to meet this woman. None of this was done accidentally.
And I want you to notice the differences between John 3 and
John 4. In John chapter 3, our Lord met
Nicodemus. In John chapter 4, he meets this
Samaritan woman. Nicodemus had a name, didn't
he? This woman is given no name. Nicodemus was somebody. He was
a ruler of the Jews. I mean, when this fellow was
out, he's somebody. Everybody knew who this was.
This woman's a nobody. She's a poor Samaritan, sinful
woman. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Pharisee
of Pharisees, a very religious man. This woman was a notorious
sinner. Nicodemus sought out the Lord.
This woman was trying to avoid everyone, but the Lord sought
her out. There was a big difference in
there. Nicodemus came to our Lord at night. Our Lord came
to this woman in the light of the noonday sun." There are differences
here. Verse 9, Then saith the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews had
no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him. And
he would have given thee living water. Now, she was surprised
that a Jew would even speak to her. She knew the Jews thought
it was humiliating to speak with a Samaritan. She knew that. But
little did she know how far our Lord was descending to speak
to any son of Adam, her included. Oh, he was descending to speak
to her. He wasn't just a Jew. This is the Lord. And she didn't
know who the Lord was. But none of us do either, do
we? Not unless the Lord reveals himself. Our Lord's brothers
and sisters didn't know he was the Lord. The scribes and Pharisees
read the scriptures every day. They didn't know who he was.
And none of us do until God gives us eyes to see him. And if you
know who Christ is and you've seen him, I can tell you whether
or not you've seen him. You know how I know? If you've
seen him, if you've seen Christ, you will ask God for mercy. If
you've seen him, you will ask. This word ask here, it means
beg and crave. If you have seen the Lord Jesus
Christ, you will crave God's mercy. You'll beg for it because
you crave it. And the Lord says, if you would
have asked for it, I'd give it to you. Isn't that what he says?
If you would ask for it, I'd give it to you. How often do
we have not because we ask not? If you crave God's mercy, God
will give it to you. That's what he said. If you crave
it. Now, this teaches us a couple of things about salvation. Salvation
is a gift of God. He said if you wouldn't know
who I was, you'd ask for the gift. The gift. Salvation is
a free gift from God's free grace. Now, first of all, salvation
must be free because all men are born dead in trespasses and
sins. Dead men are not capable of going
out to work tomorrow morning to earn the money that they need
to buy their bread. They're dead. They're incapable
of doing that. So if a dead sinner is going
to receive salvation, he must receive it as an absolute free
gift of God's grace because it's impossible for him to earn it.
He doesn't have any capability to earn it. Second, salvation
must be a free gift of God's free grace because if God had
to find something in the sinner that would cause him to save
us, none of us would ever be saved. Because there's nothing
in us that would deserve that. The salvation of a sinner must
be free without any strings attached, without any contribution from
the sinner at all. If it's salvation, it's a gift,
a free gift. And this verse shows us three
truths about salvation. First, salvation is something
that God does for you, not something that you do for God. It's a gift. that God gives you. Second, salvation
is something I need. Now, I try to be a pretty self-sufficient
kind of guy, and it really pains me to ask somebody to do something
for me. And if I ask for help, it's for
something that I cannot do myself. It's something that I need. A
sinner will only ask for salvation if it's something that they need.
And I will ask for salvation if God shows me that I'm filthy
and that I'm thirsty. Our Lord says, if you knew who
I am and you knew who you are, you'd ask for this living water.
If you knew who you are, that you're filthy, you'd ask for
this water to cleanse you from the filth of your sins. If you
knew who you are, that you're not just thirsty, you're dead,
you'd ask for this water that gives life and sustains life.
Salvation is something that I need. And third, salvation is knowing
a person. Salvation is not knowing the
right doctrine. Salvation is knowing a person.
Our Lord said, if you knew who it is that speaks to you, you'd
ask. If you knew who it is, In 2 Corinthians
9, the Apostle Paul tells us, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. Now, what's that unspeakable
gift? It's the gift of his son. Salvation is a person. Salvation
is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is a person,
knowing him. Well, verse 11, the woman saith
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep. from Winston has to have this living water. Now the writers
all say we assume that she said this kind of sarcastically. How
are you going to draw water out of this deep well? Well, she
doesn't have any idea what the Lord's talking about. Not yet.
Because the only realm that she can think of is this fleshly,
earthly realm. Because that's the only nature
she has right now. And look what she says in verse
12. Aren't thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave
us this well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and
his cattle?" Now, you reckon he's greater than the cattle,
for goodness sakes? I think. I can promise you, Jacob's
Lord is greater than Jacob, and his children, and his cattle.
He's far greater. But look how our Lord answers
her. Instead of being insulted, look how He answers her in verse
13. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this
water shall thirst again. And our Lord is so gentle. He just keeps instructing her.
He keeps bearing with her. He didn't do that with Nicodemus,
did he? With Nicodemus, he said, You must be born again. Now,
marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again. If I've
told you earthly things and you don't believe that, how are you
going to believe if I tell you heavenly things? That's basically
the whole conversation, wasn't it? Our Lord really didn't explain
himself in any way to Nicodemus. But with this poor, sinful woman,
he treats her very differently. Gently, patiently, he keeps instructing
her, keeps teaching her, keeps opening up the truth to her.
That tells us another thing about this gift of salvation. It's
a sovereign gift. God gives that gift. to whomsoever
He will. It's His to give, and He'll give
it where He will. And it's so important that we
have this water that the Lord gives. If you drink of what this
world has to offer, and I say this especially to you young
people, I know as you're growing up and you're getting your education
and you see things of this world, oh my sweet, I mean, you want
it all. I mean, you see all the stuff
of this world. The fine cars and the fine houses
and the fine clothes. I mean, just all this wealth.
I mean, you see it and it appeals to you. You want it. And I understand. But no, listen to me. No matter
how much of that stuff that you get, it'll never be enough. It will never quench your thirst. Never. The more you drink of
it, the more of it you'll want. The more of it you'll need. If
you drink of the waters of man-made religion, All it will do is make
you more thirsty. It'll never quench your thirst.
And you know why? Because the water of this world,
no matter where it comes from, if it's material possessions
or if it's man-made religion that comes from this world, the
water that comes from this world can't reach your thirst. It can't
touch your thirst. It's material things. It can't
touch your soul. the need of your soul, and if
it can't touch it, it can't cleanse it, and it can't quench that
thirst. But, verse 14, 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. Now, salvation is not just a
work that's done for us. It's not a work that's done outside
of us that we'll receive someday at the end of time. Salvation
is an inner work. It's a heart work. It's the gift
of a new heart, a new nature that's put inside every believer.
And you cannot be thirsty for the water of life if that spring
of that living water is in your heart constantly springing up.
You take it with you wherever you go. You can't be thirsty
for the water of life if the spring has been put in you by
God. Now, verse 15, this sounds interesting
to her. So this woman said to him, Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
She has to think, now, if I get this water, I might have to worry
about dodging all these people, you know, to stay in the heat
of the day. I have all the water I ever need.
What's she doing? She's looking for material blessings.
And isn't that what all the religious world is looking for today? material
blessings. Give me something that makes
this life easier. I know why they're looking for
that. This life's hard. I understand why they're looking
for something to make this life easier, because it's hard. And
it's hard because of sin. That's the root of the problem.
And if you take care of the root of the problem, you take care
of the rest of the plant, don't you? That's the root of the problem
is sin. That's what makes it so hard.
And that's the way this woman's going to stay. Looking for material
blessings. Looking for physical water. And
that's the way all of us would stay. If the Lord left us alone. Aren't you thankful? The Lord
will. He'll cross your will. I hate
that. People say, well, the Lord won't
cross your will. You better pray he does. You better pray he does. God will never leave his people
alone. At some point, this woman had
to think, I wish I could just get this water and go home as
a copy. You can't get away from him. He just keeps, no matter
what she says, he just keeps hammering her in. He won't let
her alone. Look at 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, and that saidst
thou truly. Now, the Lord has got to turn
this woman's attention to the real problem. Otherwise, she's
always going to think the real problem is her five husbands
and her boyfriend or, you know, her lack of water or, you know,
whatever. He's got to convict her of sin
and make her see her need of him and the conviction of sin. is never a pleasant thing. This
is just, he's made her uncomfortable now. Go call your husband. She knows she doesn't have a
husband. And the Lord doesn't have to point out to her, now
you're living in sin. She knows she's living in sin. And that's
not the root of the problem, is it? And that's wrong, shall
not be doing that, but that's not the root of the problem.
Our Lord's going to get to the root of the problem. It's her
sin nature. It's her need of Him. And God
will meet every one of us at our point of rebellion. You and
I, everyone in this room, is just as guilty, is just as filthy,
is just as depraved as this woman. Every one of us. Now, we may
have a different point of rebellion, but whatever that point is, that's
where God's going to meet us. He'll meet us at that point of
rebellion, and He'll reveal to us what's the problem. The same
problem as this woman. It's our nature. We've got an
evil, wicked, sin nature, just like this woman does. Now, the
Lord convicts her of sin. He confronts her with the problem,
and she does what every person does when they're confronted
with the gospel. A person starts to get convicted
of sin, starts to feel guilty about their sin. You know what
people do? They get religious. Look what she says in verse 19.
The woman said to 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. She perceived that
the Lord's a prophet. So she began to tell him about
her religion. I can't tell you how many times
I've had this experience. Someone finds out, oh, you're
a preacher? Oh, I'm religious too. Let me tell you about my
religion. When I turned in my notice at work and people said,
what are you doing? I said, well, I'm going to become
a pastor. Everybody said, oh, well, I'm religious too. One
person said, well, I never go to church, but now I'm religious.
That's what this woman is. I don't go to church. I don't follow any of this religious
stuff, you know, but I'm religious too. You know why she's doing
that? Don't be hard on her. Don't be
hard on people when they do that. You know why she's doing this?
The Lord stripped her. And she's scrambling for a covering.
She's just like her father, Adam. She's looking for a covering.
And the only covering she knows is her religion. She's looking
for fig leaves, just like her father Adam. She's got Adam's
nature. That's the root of the problem. She's got Adam's nature.
She's looking for fig leaves. And notice this. Even though
she never claims to personally hold any of these things, whatever
the Samaritan's religion is, she doesn't hold any of them,
but her people do. So that's her religion. She's
religious because her people hold this false religion. And
she makes it obvious, she doesn't know, that worship is from the
heart. It must come from the heart.
Because worship, true worship, is a spiritual matter. And true
worship is not done by following the right form and the right
ceremony or being in the right place, like she thinks. She says,
well, our fathers worshipped in this mountain. They worshipped
underneath the stars. They worshipped down where they're
fishing, down by the lake. And that's the same thing as
you Jews. You know, you Jews think you worship in that building
down there in Jerusalem. You know, it's the same thing
as us worshiping by the lake. Is it? Look at what the Lord
says in verse 21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship, but ye
know not what. We know what we worship. for
salvation is of the Jews. 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." God is spirit. I remember years and years ago
I crossed out that A there because Brother Henry said God's not
a spirit, like he's on the same plane as other spirits. God is
spirit. And they that must worship him
in spirit and in truth. Now, it's very plain from what
the Lord says here that there is such a thing as true worship
and false worship. That's obvious to all of us who
read that. We are not all going to the same
place and getting there from different directions. No, we're
not. There is such a thing as true
worship and false worship. And true worship can only happen
in the way that God ordains. It's not okay for me to think
up my own way to worship God. That's not worship. Worship can
only happen in the way that God ordains. At this time in our
Lord's speaking, salvation was only given to the Jews. Almost
exclusively, salvation was given to the Jews. The sacrifices,
the priesthood, the temple where the Shekinah glory of God dwelt
was only in Israel. That was only given to the Jews.
God wasn't worshipped in those mountains. There was no salvation
there. It was only in the way that God
ordained through the sacrifices that the priesthood offered.
But it won't always stay that way. Salvation won't always just
be restricted to the Jews, will it? Here the Lord's talking to
this Samaritan woman. He's already turning to the Gentiles.
He's already revealing himself to the Gentiles. Now, to truly
worship God, there's such a thing as true worship and false worship.
To truly worship God, we must have God the Holy Spirit. God is worshipped in spirit and
in truth. We must have God the Holy Spirit. If I'm going to worship God,
I must be born again and have been given the spirit of Christ
or I cannot worship. It's an impossibility. God is
spirit. And he's worshipped spiritually.
He's not worshipped with hands. He's not worshipped with motions
of the flesh. He's not worshipped in the right
building or the right mountain. He's worshipped in the Spirit,
in the Holy Spirit. And secondly, to truly worship,
I must have truth. Now, truth is more than the right
doctrine. Truth is Christ. He is the truth. If we're going to worship, we
must have the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can tell you, when we start
being true worshippers, when we see Christ, if we see him,
we will be true worshippers. This hour that the Lord's referring
to is the hour that he would be revealed in his redemptive
glory on Calvary's cross. That's the hour. If we see Christ
in his sacrifice, we'll be worshippers. If we see Christ in this hour
of ours, we'll worship. Well, now this woman is so frustrated. I mean, I feel sorry for her.
I can just feel the frustration in her voice when she says, verse
25, I know the Messiah is coming, which is called Christ. And when
he's come, he'll tell us all things. She said, I don't understand
all this, but I guess we'll find out. when Christ returns. I mean,
she's just fresh out of answers. And this is so wonderful. Oh,
this is wonderful. Because now that she's fresh
out of answers, she's shut up to Christ. That's wonderful. Christ is the only answer she's
got left. And oh, I pray that the Lord
will bring you and me to this same point where this woman is
this morning, where we're shut up. The only answer we have left
is Christ. She finally stopped talking and
started listening. Now things can happen when you
stop talking and start listening. Now you can hear something. And
the very moment that she expressed her need of Christ, what happened?
Christ revealed himself to her heart. Look at verse 26. Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am. I am. And she saw. She didn't see a
water where now, did she? She saw a person. The Lord Jesus
Christ was revealed to her heart. And she was born again. At this very moment, she was
born again. Earl, you know how I know that? She left her water pot. Look
at verse 28. I'm sorry, wait, let's look at
verse 27 first. And upon this came his disciples, and marveled
that he talked with this woman, yet no man said, What seekest
thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? They all had better sense
than to question the Lord. Even Peter didn't ask the Lord,
Why are you talking to this Samaritan woman? Now, verse 28. The woman then left her water
pot and went her way into the city. She left her water pot. Now I'm sure later she came back
and got her bucket. But that's not what this is talking
about. The picture here is she left her water pot. Her water
pot is a picture of all her works. Her water pot is the bucket she
put all her works in and show God, look at my bucket. Her water
pot is all the ways that she was trying to earn this water
of life. She left it. She counted her
water pot as dumb. She didn't want it and she didn't
need it anymore. Well now why doesn't she need
a water bucket? Because she has that water of life springing
up in her heart. That new heart that God gave
her springing up into everlasting life. Her water pot is a picture
It represents all that form and ceremony of religion. No longer
is she worried about should you worship in the mountain or down
at Jerusalem. She left all the form and the
ceremony of religion because now she's got the Savior. The Savior has revealed himself
to her. She's got the person. And if
you've got the person, you have the water of life. She left her
water pot. And she clung to the person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know she was born again
because all of her hope was Christ and all of her testimony is Christ. She left her water pot and went
away to the city and she said to the men, come see a man which
told me all things that ever I did. It's not this, the Christ. He told me all things ever I
did. Now, it wasn't just that the
Lord sat there and told her, well, you had five husbands and
you got a boyfriend now that you're living with. Or he, you
know, gave her an itemized description of all of her sins. That's not
what she means. The Lord told her all things
ever she did because the Lord told her, revealed to her, her
nature. Her nature is sin. He told her
what her nature is and that told everything about her. And what
she's telling these men is this. He made me see I'm dead in trespasses
and sins. Now, I bet these fellas told
this woman a thousand times, you're a sinner. If they didn't
tell her just outright, you're a sinner. They showed it in their
actions. Even the Samaritans avoided her
because she's a notorious sinner. They told her a thousand times
she's a sinner and it never made any difference in the way she
was living or what she was doing. Now, she says, I know I'm a sinner. Because for the first time, she'd
seen herself in the light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is.
She saw herself in the light of Christ. She became a true
worshiper. She saw herself in the light
of Christ and she began to beg, to crave his mercy. And the moment
she craved it, he gave it to her. He revealed himself to her.
The moment she craved him, He gave her the gift of salvation.
And she said, this must be the Christ. It can't be anyone else. Come with me and see. You notice
she didn't tell them, go see. She said, come with me and see,
because I'm not leaving you. Come with me and see. This woman
began her day, a notorious sinner. And by that afternoon, she left
her water pot. and began witnessing of Christ. This is the Christ. What a gift. That's the gift of the water
of life. And if any of you have brought
anything with you this morning that you think commends you to
God or you think will help you gain some spiritual blessing,
I pray the Lord will cause you to leave it. I mean, just count
it as done and run away from it. and go to Christ, to cling
to Him, to depend wholly on the Lord Jesus Christ. The same with
the songwriter. I left my water bucket in my
hands. No price I bring. Simply to thy
cross I cling. All right. Well, the Lord bless
you. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we do thank Thee
for this Blessed portion of thy word that you've enabled us to
read and hear this morning. And Father, I pray that you'd
apply it to our hearts. That you would cause us to see
ourselves as sinful men and women. Just like you caused this woman
to see herself as sinful. Not because of what she'd done,
but because of her nature. Father, we confess we're sinners. Not because we haven't done right,
but because this is our nature. And we beg, we crave thy mercy. We crave the washing of the blood
and the water that flowed from thy side, that you wash us clean
from our filth, that you give us this water of life. We beg thee that you give us
the Lord Jesus Christ, that you enable us to see him that you
enable us to leave here rejoicing with this water, the fountain
of life, springing up in our heart. It's a gift of life-free
grace, and we beg thee for it. For it's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ we give thanks, and we do ask this gift. In his name we pray.