Come back to the Gospel of John
chapter 4, the saving of a sinner. I love reading in
the Gospels and watching, watching our Lord deal with sinners. Watch him save sinners and how
he deals with them. This is the God of heaven and
earth. If you want to know who God is,
study Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
what? Of me. Of me. He's the lesson. Our Lord is
the lesson. And there's one thing that I've
noticed in reading the scriptures, and especially reading through
the Gospels, that Christ meets sinners where
they are. Where they are. He doesn't tell
them to straighten up, clean up, and then come to me. He meets
them where they are, as they are, and deals with them. Now just before this, our Lord
dealt with a Pharisee. He dealt with a Pharisee, Nicodemus.
Nicodemus came to him by night. He had some questions. He had
a list of questions that he wanted to ask the Lord, and the Lord
stopped him. He said, unless a man is born
again, You cannot see the kingdom of God, you cannot understand
it, you cannot enter into it unless he's born again. And he
dealt with him there. He exposed his ignorance. This
was a ruler in Israel. And the Lord exposed to him,
you don't know, you don't have a clue what's going on, Nicodemus.
And what I have to say, you cannot comprehend, understand it, grasp
it, unless you are born again. And here he meets this woman,
and he deals with her, and I want you to notice this now because
this is God. This is our Lord. This is our God. And he deals
with her so graciously, so graciously. He deals with her so tenderly,
and yet he deals with her truthfully. Paul says in one place, preach
the truth in love. And our Lord deals with this
woman graciously, truthfully, tenderly, and so lovingly. This is His child. This is His
daughter. Can you imagine that? She didn't
know it yet. This is her husband. This is
her real husband. She's about to meet Her real
husband. He said, the one you have now
is not your husband. I tell you this, the one she
just met is. She just met her real husband, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But it makes me think of this
scripture. I was found of them that sought me not. You reckon
when she picked that water pot up at the house, and headed out
at noonday, the hottest part of the day because nobody else
was there. She was such a notorious woman. She went out there when
the crowd was gone. And she picked that water pot
up, headed out to Jacob's well to get some water, not knowing
that the water of life was sitting there waiting on her. Not realizing,
not even having a clue that the mercy seat was sitting on the
well. I thought of that as Frank was bringing out that mercy seat.
He lifted that mercy seat up and spoke with that mercy seat
and I thought the mercy seat was sitting at the well waiting
on her. There's the covenant, the covenant of grace waiting
on her. The blood of the covenant flowing
through his veins waiting on her. Waiting on his daughter. Waiting on one of the Lord's
sheep. And that's what has happened
to all whom God saved. Everyone whom the Lord saves,
there's a point in time where he's waiting on them. He's already
there. And when that time comes, he
crosses their path and he reveals himself. I am he. I'm he. I'm the Messiah. I'm the Savior. And that's what he does here.
Now, what we have, first of all, is a divine mission. Oh, I say,
I get so sick. I get so sick. of hearing men
belittle our Lord so much by their preaching that He really
didn't have a mission. That He came and made salvation
a possibility? That's not what He did. He came
to establish. He came to save. He came to save,
that's what he did. And that's why it says in verse
4, and he, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
must, this is a must, it cannot be changed. This cannot be changed in any
way, shape, or form because it was decreed before the world
began. that at this particular time,
he must, needs, and you notice that word need, you say, well
God doesn't have a need. Well it says here, he must, it
doesn't just say he must go through Samaria, because he must fulfill
the scriptures, and it's decreed that he goes through Samaria.
So it says here, he must, needs, go through Samaria. He's on a
divine mission. That's what he's on. He's not
out wandering around seeing if anybody will accept him. He's
not wandering around seeing if there's something good he can
do. He's on the trail of his sheep. The best time to be at
this well would have been in the morning. The biggest crowd
is there in the morning. Now, common sense Which is, I
don't know if there's any such a thing in this human race. But
common sense tells you that the biggest crowd is going to be
there in the morning. And so you go in the morning. But there's
no sheep there in the morning. There's one sheep that's going
to be there at noon. So he's going to be there waiting
for her at noon. At noon. So he must needs Because
it's decreed before the world began that he go through Samaria. There's a sheep there. There's
someone there, listen, that he loves. That he loves. And he came to get her. He came to get her. And he's
going to take her home with him. She didn't know it, as I said
earlier. She didn't know it. But she's about to meet her real
husband. So he goes to Jacob's well. Everybody went to Jacob's
well. They went to drink from Jacob's
well. Even Jacob himself, she said there in verse 12, drank
from that well. The people thought that the water
from that well was special because Jacob drank from it. No, it's
just water. The special water is the living
water. The special one is the Lord Jesus Christ. The water
in that well is just that, water. Water. But the one sitting on
that well now, now that's special water. That's the living water. That's the living water. The
people held a sacred awe about that well. If you had like, and
we've heard this many times from our pastor, if you could take
the cross that Christ was crucified on, if you had it now, people
would worship it. It would become such an idolatrous
thing. If you could find a piece of
the ark that Noah built, it would become such a subject of worship. God has gotten rid of all these
things because the one worship is God, not objects. God. He's the object of worship. Nothing else is. Well, verse 7, there cometh a
woman of Samaria to draw water. Here comes a mess. Can we say
it any other way? Here comes a mess. I've learned
that the only kind of people that God truly saves are messes. If he allowed us to do what by
nature we would do, it would be unbelievable what we would
do. It's only his constraining grace
that has kept us from doing many things. That's the only way. And here comes a mess. Here comes
someone that he has allowed. This is one of his sheep. And he has allowed her to just
have a messed up life. I mean, one mascot life. A notorious woman is what she
is. And she comes here to draw water
from Jacob's well. Our Lord's sitting there. For
his disciples, he's sitting there alone. You see, Frank, you said
this this morning, I just need to preach the gospel and get
out of the way. That's what the Lord did. He got them out of
the way. He says, you men, you go into
town and you buy some meat for us to eat. And you notice when
they came back later, he wasn't hungry. He said, my meat is to
do the will of him that sent me. But here's what he did. He got them out of the way. Because
look back over here, let me find a verse. In verse 27. It's after he revealed himself
to her. And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he
talked with the woman. They were amazed that he's talking
with this Samaritan woman. This notorious woman. The Samaritans
were hated. The Jews hated those Samaritans.
You'd have to study their history. I'm not going to go into that,
but they hated those Samaritans. And the disciples marveled, they
marveled that he talked with this woman, yet they dare not
ask him. He says, no man said, why talkest thou with her? They
had enough sense not to do that. They had enough respect not to
do that, because I'll tell you this, he gives no account of
any of his matters. The Creator is not attributable
to us. And they dare not ask him. What
are you doing talking to her? I tell you why, you ever get
a real sight of yourself, you'll think, what in the world is he
doing talking to me? Why did he even look my way?
But he's sitting there, and then sent the woman of Samaria to
him. How is it? She's surprised. She's taken
back here. How is it that thou, being a
Jew, asketh drink of me, which is a woman? I'll tell you how
it is. This man receives sinners and
he eats with them. That's how. That's how. The Jews, she said, had no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered. Here's how he
answers. Now, I want you to notice, he's
going to do some heart surgery here. He's going to reach into
her heart. You see, salvation is a heart work. God doing business
in the heart. And he doesn't get sidetracked.
She does try to sidetrack him here. You'll see this as we go
along. But he doesn't get sidetracked.
This is the wisdom of God. This is the wisdom of God. And
she said, how is it that you ask me a drink? She couldn't
believe that a Jew would ask a Samaritan woman for a drink.
You see, all she saw, all that she saw was a Jew. There was nothing about him that
would make her think or even suggest, even in the slightest
way, that this man, there's something about this man. There's something
special about this man, not at first sight. When we shall see
him, Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, there's no beauty that we should
desire him. There was nothing about his outward
appearance that would attract you. Not at all. Not physically, not physically. And he says to her, if thou knewest
the gift of God. There's two things he says here.
If you knew the gift of God and the one talking to you, then
you'd be asking Him. You'd be asking Him for the living
water. You'd be asking Him to give thee
living water. If you knew the gift of God,
salvation, eternal life. I'm telling you something, this
is the only gift that is absolutely free. It's absolutely free. It's amazing. This is the only
gift that men want to pay for and they want everything else
free. That's why they play the lottery. They want to hope to
win the lottery so they can not have to work and they can just
have all this money and everything's free. But when you talk about
salvation, they want to work for it. And it's the only thing
that's truly free. Everything else you do have to
pay for. You've got to buy your house, your car, your food. You've
got to pay for the rest of that. But salvation's free. He said
if you knew the gift of God, salvation, salvation from sin,
from the curse of the law, Eternal life. And if you knew the One
speaking, I hope, oh, I hope I'm not the only one speaking
this morning. I hope that can truly be said if you knew the
One speaking to you this morning. If you knew Him. If you knew
Him. He says you would ask Him for living water. You would ask
Him for mercy. You would ask Him for grace.
You would ask Him for cleansing. You knew it. By nature, we are so blind, we
are so blind, that the God of heaven and earth could sit right
in front of us, like he's sitting on that well in front of her,
and not even be recognized, not even slightly saying, there's
something here. Not even be recognized. How many times, I thought about
this myself, how many times have I, in days gone by, been confronted
by God and didn't even realize it? God speaks once, yay twice,
man perceives it not. He doesn't perceive it. God must reveal himself. That's
what I was talking about in my prayer for these children. instruct them that salvation
happens when God reveals himself to the heart. I am he. I am he. If we only knew who was speaking,
what a difference it makes. Oh, what a difference it makes.
And then she shows her ignorance here. She shows her deadness
here. The woman saith unto him, Thou
hast nothing to draw with, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that
living water?" Where'd you get it from? Tell
me where you got it from. From whence did you get that
living water? He didn't get it. He is it. There's a difference. It's a difference. You said that
about the bread of life. At first you said it was kept.
Then you said, no, He is the living bread. He didn't go get
the living water. He is the living water. He is
the God of glory. He is salvation. Christ is salvation. He's that living water. The well
is deep. And you didn't bring anything
to draw with. I don't see a thing in your hand. She looks there
and there's nothing in His hand to draw with. So how do you plan
on getting water? How do you plan on getting it? Where are you going to get
this living water from? She still has no idea who she's talking
to. But he knows who he's talking to. He knows. He knows. Are you greater? What a statement. Are you greater
than our father Jacob? Jacob was God's elect. Christ is the elect. And we were
chosen in Him. Chosen in Him. Jacob was a prince. But this is the King. This is
the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jacob gave us this well
to drink from. But here's what people don't
realize. Here she is standing at the well. Jacob gave us this
well to drink from. Who put the water in the well?
Did Jacob put the water in that well? He just dug a hole. The water is there by God. Jacob only dug the well. She did not know yet that she
was talking to Jacob's Lord. to Jacob's God. I am the God
of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. That's
what he says back throughout Genesis and other places. And
now the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob
is sitting on a well talking to this notorious woman, his
daughter, his sheep. Talking to her. Yes, listen,
Jacob drank from that well. He drank from it. His children
drank from it. His cattle drank from it. And
they all died. There is no life in that water.
They said to Moses, the Pharisees said to the Lord, Moses gave
us manna in the wilderness. Well, all those who ate of that
manna in the wilderness died. Christ said, but my Father gives
you the true bread from heaven. Now he that eats of this bread
shall not die. He that drinks of this water,
the living water, shall not die. He shall not die. He is the living
water. But everyone who drinks of this
water, our Lord says, shall thirst again. It says there in verse
13, Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this
water shall thirst again." You will have to come back here at
noonday tomorrow and get another bucket of water and take it home
and you'll do that the rest of your lives. When we leave here, we're going
to have to go and eat. Just stop doing it and you're
going to die. But he said, 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." Can you imagine if water literally
would spring up in you? You'd never have to go get a
glass of water. Your thirst would be quenched
constantly because that water would be in you. But we have
to consume, we have to take it in constantly. And our Lord is
saying this, You drink of this life, of this water, and you're
going to thirst again. But he that drinks of the water
of life, he that drinks of Christ, will always be satisfied. He
says he'll never thirst again. Never. Because Christ is our
drink. And it's Christ in you, as we
looked at last week, the hope of glory. That water's in you. That water of life is in you.
Now listen, he calls it the water of life. Christ is life-giving
water. He's not just life-sustaining
water. He's life-giving water. He gives
life. Life comes from Him. Real life. Now, I want you to notice After
he said this to her, this woman wanted him for the wrong reasons. Does that not describe religion? It's like Christ is put on sale
for what you can get out of Him. We don't come to Him for just
what we can get out of Him. We come to Him because we love
Him. And we love Him because He first
loved us. But we do love Him. We do love Him. But the woman,
the woman saith in verse 15, the woman saith unto Him, Sir,
give me this water, this water you're speaking of, this water
of life that you're speaking of, that I thirst not, that I
won't be thirsty again, and I don't have to come here in the heat
of the day and draw water again. Wouldn't it? You see what her
conception was there? It was making this life easy,
making this life much more comfortable. That's what she was looking at
at this point in time. She wanted him for all the wrong
reasons at this point in time. Give me this water so I don't
have to come here and draw water again. Give me a miracle. Give
me a miracle. No, give me Christ. What's that
song you sing, Mike, from time to time? Give me Christ or else
I die. One of my favorite songs. Give
me Christ or else I die. Don't just give me a miracle
or give me a drink. Give me Christ. Give me Him. But now the Lord's going to deal
with her. He's going to do some heart surgery. He's going to,
before he reveals himself to her, he's going to bring out
what's in her. He's going to expose her to her. That's what he's going to do.
Then Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. He knows all about her. There's
nothing hid. There's nothing about us that
is not hid. And the woman answered and said, I have no husband. And she was going to leave it
at that. She was probably just living with this man because
the Lord said, you've had five and the one you have now is not
your husband. She's probably just living with this man. So
she says, I have no husband. And that's about the way we are.
We don't say when we have to. We don't tell on ourselves any
more than we have to. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said. You told the truth. I have no
husbands, but he's going to reveal something here. She's going to
be shocked. Especially if you first heard
the gospel. It's like the Lord just read
your life to you. It's like the book just opened up. This is
you. Can any hide himself from God?
That's what the scripture says. Can any hide himself from God?
It says the night is as the light as the day before him. No one
can hide from God. He knows our heart. He knows
exactly who and what we are. And he says to her, you're right. Thou hast had five husbands,
five. This woman, she was a mess. She either couldn't pick men,
or she was hard to live with. She was one mess. She had five
husbands, and the one she had now was not her husband, just
living with him. For thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and that saidst
thou truly." You're right. Now she's going to break religious
on him. She says, "...the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive..."
Now she's starting to get some understanding. "...I perceive
that thou art a prophet." Have you ever noticed that most, most
whom the Lord saves, he saves not only from sin, but out of
religion? Most people, people are religious
by nature. I mean, here's a woman with five
husbands living with a man, and she's religious as can be. She said, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. And our fathers worshiped in
this mountain. And you say, that is you Jews,
say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. She's going to get a religious
debate going. She ain't going to win this one because the Lord
doesn't debate. He does not debate. He commands. He saves. He enlightens. He's not going to debate. It
says over in Isaiah 42, he shall not lift up his voice in the
street. His cry shall not be heard. Lift up his voice. He's
not going to argue. He's not going to argue with
those Pharisees. He tells them who and what they are and then
leaves. That's what he does. And she says, our fathers worshipped
in this mountain. And you Jews say, and Jerusalem
is a place of worship, Jesus saith unto her, believe me. And you know what? That's a power, what was that
word? Paul said in writing to the Thessalonians,
the word, the gospel came not unto you in word only, but in
power and in demonstration of the Spirit. And that's what happens
when God's saying, He sings the word in power to the heart. And he says to this woman, and
this has power behind it, believe me, believe me, the hour cometh
when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father. Believe me, the time has come
that worship has nothing to do with the place. It has nothing
to do with ceremonies. It has to do with worshiping
God in truth, in sincerity, in spirit. It has to do with worshiping
a person, not a place. The place has nothing to do with
it. You know, I thank God that we have this place. I do. I thank
God we have a comfortable place where we can meet together. But if God is worshipped here
this morning, He's worshipped in the heart. That's where true
worship's going on. It's going on in the heart. That's
why he's saying, believe me, worship has nothing to do with
the place. And besides, you don't even know what you're doing. He says to her, you don't know
what you're doing. Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me,
the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know
not what. You're just going through the
motions. You're just going through ceremonies. You're just going
through activity. But worship is not going on. Worship cannot
and does not go on until you know Christ. And then that's
when you worship Him. That's when it happens. The time has come that those
who worship God, He said, must worship Him in spirit and in
truth. Back there in verse 22, you worship
you know not what. We know what we worship for salvation
of the Jews. In other words, they were given
the types, the pictures, the shadows. They were given the
Word of God. They were given that Christ himself
was a Jew. It came through Jewish lineage.
That's what he's talking about. But the hour cometh. And now
is, the hour is here. When the true worshippers, Jew,
or Gentile shall worship the Father." Not in Jerusalem. That temple was torn down some
years after our Lord, after He was risen. Not in Jerusalem. Not in this mountain. It's not
that we have to go to a certain place to worship. Worship better
start before you ever get there. It doesn't start when you get
in this house. It starts long before you get here. In the heart. It's an all-day thing. It's an all-week thing. It's
an all-month thing. It's an all-year thing. It's
an all-life thing. That's what worship is. It's
not going to a certain place and then we sit down and try
to worship. No, it starts when you get here.
It starts when you get here. But here's where it starts. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him."
That's what our Lord was doing sitting at the well, seeking
this woman, the Savior seeking the sinner, and turning her into
a true worshipper of God. God is spirit. That's the way
I like to read that. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth according to the Scriptures. And the woman saith unto him,
she says, when the Messiah comes, I know that Messiah's cometh,
he's coming, which is called Christ. Now when he's come, he'll
tell us all things. I don't really, and I think what
she's saying I don't know about all this. You know, I don't know
about all these differences. But whenever he comes, he'll
clear it all up. When the Christ comes, he'll tell us all things. And here comes the revelation.
Here comes salvation right here. He's dealt with her, her sins. He's dealt with true worship.
And now he's going to reveal himself. And this is salvation right here,
Christ. When He reveals Himself to the
heart. Not just doctrines. We didn't
just learn doctrines and we believe doctrines. A man said to me once,
he said, when I heard the gospel, it changed my whole theology.
It changed my God. You can't change your theology
and not change God. When I heard the gospel, I heard
of Christ. And then I learned. I learned
the truth of election. I learned the truth about particular
election. I learned the truth about these
things. And I learned them through Him. They weren't just doctrines. All these doctrines have their
life. in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
have their life in Him. And He says here, then in verse
16, And Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He. I'm the Christ. And this is how I know that when
he spoke to her, he spoke to her in power. Power went with
what he was saying to her. He said, woman, believe me. I'm
telling you, there was a point where he got her attention. There
was a point where she's looking at him and there's a Jew sitting
on a well. And she said, why are you, being a Jew, talking
to me, a Samaritan woman, and you're asking me for a drink? But this conversation goes on
as light begins to dawn. It's like God in the beginning
commanded light, and there was light. And light begins to dawn. And He's got her attention. He's
exposed her sins to her. He exposed to her who and what
she really is. And then He reveals Himself.
And He said, I have to speak unto them, He. And she didn't
say, now I... I don't know about this. You don't look... What
did the Pharisees say? We know Him. He's a carpenter's
son. He doesn't look like the Son of God. Some God wouldn't
dress like that. The Messiah wouldn't look like
this. The Messiah wouldn't be dressed so poorly. He wouldn't
live with such a poor family. They live in poverty. No, after that she turned around,
it says in verse 28, and the woman left her water pot. She
totally just dropped what she came for. Left that which she
came to get so she could quench her thirst and take care of things
at home, she left it. Boy, when she found Him, she
left it. And she went her way, and you know what she became?
This woman became a flaming witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
she said to the men, come see a man which told me a few things. He exposed a few things about
me. No, she said, come see a man which told me all things that
ever I did. He brought her under conviction
of sin. When he exposed her lifestyle, she realized in her heart, she
experienced, I believe she experienced her true conviction of sin. And
her need of the living water, not just what's in that well.
And she said to these men, she said, Come see a man which told
me all things that ever I did. He knows everything about me.
More than just these five husbands and the one I'm living with.
He knows everything about me. Is not this the Christ? Yes,
it is. It is. And they left the city,
and they came to Him. And of course, you can go on
down through here, but over here, I want you to notice something. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him for the saying of the woman. You
see, they believed what she said, but that's not salvation. Now
listen, this is important. You can believe a story and still
not know him. They said, you're right. I mean,
they believed what she said. And they took off and they went
with her. They went with her. So when the Samaritans were coming
to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and
he stayed with them two more days, because there was more
sheep there than just this one. She was just the first fruits.
Now listen, this is the important part. Verse 41. And many more
believed because of his own word. You hear me preaching, and God
has given pastors and teachers to his church to preach the gospel,
and you hear it. But salvation happens when you
hear him, when his word, when this word is not what John preaches,
it's the Lord's word, and you believe it. And listen, and you
believe it, whether I'm standing here or whether Frank's standing
or anyone else. Because it's the Lord's Word.
It's His gospel. Because if there'll be another
day, I won't be standing here. I don't want to live here for a long
time. There'll be a time I get replaced,
and then the next one will replace, and as long as the Lord has sheep,
but if there's no more sheep, there'll be no more Oh, there
might be somebody standing here and there'd be a religious service
going on. But that'll be the end of the church. And it'll
move on someplace else. Where is Ephesians, the church
of Ephesus, Philippi? Where are those at? Well, I think where it's at is
in heaven. That's with the Lord Jesus Christ. But when the Lord
has sheep, and He has some sheep here, He's going to have a gospel
here, and a man here to oversee his sheep. But many more believed on him
and said, because of his word it was said unto the woman. Now
we believe. Now we believe. That's a good
one. Now we believe. Not because of
thy saying, and I do hope and pray that this is what you can
say. Now we believe. John, not just
because of what you said, but because of what he said. We have
heard him ourselves. Have you heard him yourselves?
Have you really? I hope you have. And know that
this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world, the saving
of a sinner.