Good morning. Thank you, Brother
Mitch. I invite your attention to the
Gospel according to John, chapter 4, and today's message
is The seventh in this series, we're going to begin at verse
25 today, looking at the subject of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. John's Gospel, 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
in the Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a 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, and it was about the sixth hour, high noon. There cometh
a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
a drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which I am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have 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 the best of him, and
he would have given thee living water. 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? Art thou greater than
our father Jacob? which gave us the well, and drank
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle. Jesus answered
and said unto her, 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. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 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 saidst thou truly. 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. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh. When ye shall neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father, ye worship
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 worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is the Spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And today we come to verse number
24, actually to verse 25, the woman saith unto him, I know
that Messiah is coming. which is called Christ. When
he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her,
note his words, I that speak unto thee am he. He has revealed himself. He's bringing this conversation
to a conclusion. But I want you to note in what
has been said heretofore in this passage, the firm but gentle manner in
which Jesus brought this woman step by step to himself, and
he culminates it here with I that speak unto thee am he. I am your goal. I am your destination. But look at the firm but gentle
way that he brought her to this place. First, he convinced her that
he, a Jew, had no prejudice against her,
a sinful Samaritan woman. I want you to note that about
Jesus, not only in this passage, but elsewhere in the Gospels
and wherever you read of Jesus Christ. There was no prejudice
in Jesus of Nazareth against anyone because of that person's
ethnicity, gender, or social status. Look who is here. The highest of the high is conversing
with the lowest of the low. The holiest of the holy is conversing
with the lowliest of the lowly. The spotless Son of God is conversing
with a spotted daughter of man. But there is no prejudice in
Jesus. He went about doing good. It
mattered not whom you were He was at home as much with a Gentile
as with a Jew and with a Samaritan as much as with a Gentile or
a Jew. Here is a woman, a fallen woman,
who was shunned even by her lowly people and Jesus shows no prejudice
toward her. You will find that in Jesus womanhood
is exalted. You look among the religions
of this world and womanhood is lowly, often treated as chattel,
second class, but in Christ there is neither male nor female. He
has come and elevated womanhood to the level of manhood. He has
come to elevate barbarians to the class of the well-educated. In Christ there is neither male
nor female, bond nor free. In Christ you'll find that slaves
have been liberated, emancipated. It is contrary to Christ to practice
the kind of slavery that was done in this country a couple
centuries ago. It was not learned from Christ,
we can be assured of that. Here was a man who showed no
prejudice, and he is a worthy example for us in this regard. Second, he declared the superiority
of his living water over her physical water. She came to draw
physical water. He told her about a spiritual
water. that was better than the physical,
and he caused her to desire it. It is a rather marvelous thing that mankind
is said to need food. Christ is the spiritual bread.
Mankind, in order to exist, needs light. He cannot exist in complete
darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. Mankind needs water. He's the
spiritual water. Everything that mankind needs
in the physical realm finds its greatest fulfillment in Jesus
Christ, the spiritual fulfillment of them all. And Jesus told her
about this spiritual water and she said, let me have it. Let
me have it. Third, he exposed her sin, but did not treat her harshly
because of it. Oh, what a sinner she is. He exposed it. Woman, bring your
husband here. Sir, I have no husband. Yeah,
that's the truth. You've had five husbands in the
past, You got a man now, he's your paramour and not your husband.
And he's a complete stranger to her. How could he know such
a thing as this? He told her the truth about herself. He did not ease it up. He did
not sugarcoat it. He told it exactly like it was. But he did not treat her harshly.
Jesus was no moralist, leading crusades against certain sorts
of people whose morals do not match up to others. Jesus did
not condemn sinners. Oh, He let them know they were
sinners, but He did not condemn them. For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved. You recall the instance in which
the Pharisees caught a woman taken from her bed in the very
act of adultery. They let the man go. They dragged
the woman. You see how religion treats women.
They dragged the woman in before Jesus, cast her on the ground
before her, straight out of her bed and there before his feet.
We caught this woman. In the very act of adultery,
Moses in the law condemned her. What do you say? What do you
say? Jesus did not condemn her. God's
law did. Jesus did not. Jesus did not
go around pointing the finger at this sinner and that sinner
and this sin and that sin. He's not that sort of person.
He exposes sin, but he is so tender, so kind, so gentle to
sinners. Sinners knew him as a friend. Harlots and publicans were attracted
to this man who treated them like no other man did. Oh, He
let them know what sinners they were, but He was kind and gentle
to them. And so it was with Jesus and
this woman in Samaria, this sinful, fallen, spotted woman, and here
is Jesus and He does not condemn her. That's worthy of our example,
folks. That's worthy of our example. Fourth, he revealed himself to
her as a prophet from God who knew all about her. She had never
seen him before. He had never seen her before,
except in his omniscience. These two complete strangers
to each other. The woman finds that this man
tells her all about herself. That's rather scary. I do not
want to talk to anybody that knows everything about me. And here's Jesus telling her
whom he is. Jesus did not reveal who Moses
is. Jesus did not reveal what the
law is, Jesus revealed who he is, a prophet. And likewise,
that should be the same with us when talking with others.
What do we preach about? We preach about Jesus, the only
mediator between God and men. We speak of his mediatorial offices,
prophet, priest, and king. We speak of him as Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Jesus had one message. He is
the only preacher sent from God who preached himself. Paul the Apostle says we do not
preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. Jesus was the only
preacher sent from God who was worthy to preach himself. And he revealed himself to this
woman, not only as knowing all about her, but being everything
that she needed. Fifth, he answered her question
regarding the proper manner in which to worship God. She asked
him a question. He knew the answer. He did not
make her guess. He knew the answer. He told her
exactly the way it is. And again, He is worthy of our
imitation and disregard as well. Always be ready to give a reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear. Jesus
answered her question. I'll do my best to answer your
question, and if I do not know the answer, I'll look it up and
see if I can find it. Jesus did not have to look it
up. He knew. He knew. He answered her questions. And then finally, here, he revealed
himself as the Messiah she desired. I that speak unto thee am he. It is as though He would say
to her, I have loved thee with an everlasting love and therefore
with loving kindness I have drawn you. Jesus has gone to Samaria. She is a woman in Samaria. She needs to come to him. And
he from that well in Samaria took his lasso, got her off in
that town and bit by bit, lovingly, his lasso is loved. I have drawn thee with loving
kindness, he says to her, and she has finally come to him and
he has revealed himself for whom and what he is." Folks, Jesus
was Gentle but firm in dealing with
sinners. Let us be the same way. A man one time asked me, are you
a hellfire and damnation preacher? And I said, no. I'm a gospel
preacher. We do not go around condemning
people We preach to the condemned. We
declare the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We
follow His example. We follow the example of the
apostles. And we declare to you that He
who spoke these words is Jesus of Nazareth, your only hope for
salvation. Your only hope for salvation. He's worthy of our imitation
in this regard. Now to verse number 27, And upon this came his disciples. Aha! Look at that! Pause if you will. And upon this
came his disciples. Now remember, when they arrived
at the well, I knew they had just walked from Jerusalem
to the south due north to Sychar, 30 miles distance, probably walked
20 miles the first day. That was a normal day's walking
distance. Found some place to lie down
on the grass sleep the night, walked 10 more miles until high
noon the next day. Jesus probably has not eaten
since they left Jerusalem. No fast food joints along the
way, no slow food joints along the way. You might find a bakery
here or there, But he has arrived at the well, and he's hungry. And as soon as they arrived,
his disciples had gone off to purchase food for them to eat.
They did not return. This is important, folks. They
did not return until Jesus had revealed himself to this woman
for whom and what he is. They were not privy to that conversation
between Jesus and this woman. All they knew was he was speaking
with a woman. They knew nothing about her because
they had not been there. Divine providence arranged it so that no one was
at that well but Jesus and this woman and there was an intimate
conversation going on between them no one heard it but she
and him an intimate conversation regarding her soul her soul and
his salvation And then providentially, when the conversation is over
and Jesus has revealed himself, then upon this came his disciples. And then we continue reading,
his disciples marveled that he talked with the woman. Jews did not converse with Samaritans. I mean, it just was not done. Particularly, not with this American
woman, it is said that among the rabbinical laws, and our
Lord was a rabbi, he was not supposed to talk to a woman in
public if it's just the two of them. Yeah, religion has some
strange laws, but Jesus lived according to the law of his land. And yet, here at Jacob's well, his disciples
come up and behold, the master is talking with a woman. They marveled that he talked
with a woman. Again, I remind you, that although Jews were not to
converse with the Samaritan woman, Jesus was no ordinary Jew. He emancipated women from Jewish
and worldly and religious prejudices and placed them on an equal level
with men. And then we continue in verse
27, Yet no man said, What seekest thou? Or why talkest thou with
her? His disciples are in awe. You can imagine they're conversing
with one another. Is our Lord talking to a Samaritan
woman? Yep. I saw it as well as you
did. I had never heard of such a thing. This is interesting. But it's
Jesus, He does no wrong. They were in awe that Jesus would
converse with this woman. They knew that though what He
does may seem strange, it's right, it's right. God's way with us
are often times strange. I suppose all of us have had
events in our lives. Strange. The loss of my son. Some of you
have lost children. Why? Why? Parents are not supposed to bury
their children. Children bury parents. The Lord in His sweet and kind
providence has sometimes reversed the order. And I don't understand
it. But I do know this. God understands
it. He never does wrong. He always
does right. And here are the disciples. saying,
look at our masters talking with this American woman. Well, must
be the right thing to do. So they marveled that he did
so, but did not question him why he did so. Then we read in
verse 28, the woman then left her water pot. Now, return to
the scene, return to the scene. Jesus sitting on the well, waiting for the woman to draw
water so she can give to him a drink. She lowers the bucket into the
well, draws that water back up like she's done every day for
years, empties the bucket into the clay water pot that is there
Jesus's disciples show up and she walks off left her water pot left her water pot now tell me
why did she leave her water pot she came to get the water and
take it back home Why did she leave it there? Well, we can imagine there's a number
of reasons why she just walked off and left her water pot there. She may have become so engrossed
by what she heard that she forgot why she had come
there and left the water pot she had brought. That could be. I mean there's,
I would assure you there's not a day in my life that I do not
remember that I need to go to my study to get something And
I go to my study to get something, and I start thinking about something
else, and I get to my study and say, why did I come here? Yeah,
I can see the way some of you are reacting. Been there, done
that, have you? She has become so engrossed by
what she has just heard, she forgot why she came to the well
and left her water pot there and went back. That's possible. That's possible. Could have been. But consider this. She left her water pot there
because she was in too big of a hurry to go tell others what
had just happened at the well. Because she left to go tell others
in the village, come see a man who told me everything I ever
did. This is the Christ. This is the
Christ. Now folks, you do not run with
a water pot in your hand. You just do not do it. It's going
to be empty by the time you get back if you have not dropped
it and spilled its contents along the way. She's in a hurry. And that water pot's going to
slow her down. Let nothing slow you down when
you have an opportunity to tell others about Jesus. Let nothing
slow you down. Do not be encumbered so much
by the cares of this world that You take too much time to take
advantage of an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. Third reason, this makes sense. Why did she leave her water pot
there? She did it perhaps as an act
of courtesy, so that not only Jesus, But the
twelve as well could all have a drink. When Jesus has revealed himself
to you, you will do any act of courtesy to him that you can.
Even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple has its reward. This woman had her reward. She
left not a cup of water at the well, she left the whole water
pot. as an act of courtesy for Jesus
and his disciples. Or maybe there's another reason,
and perhaps more than one of these applies. Perhaps she left
her water pot at the well because it was a symbolic act. not going to need that water
anymore. I found the spiritual. I found
the spiritual. Once you have drunk the spiritual
water, you have found that physical water and religious water from the
cisterns and Mud puddles in this world will
never satisfy your thirst again. She's left her pot of physical
water at the well because she will henceforth be drinking spiritual
water and you can find it anywhere. Or there's another reason. she left her water pot at the
well to go into the village and left
her water pot with Jesus as a pledge I'm coming back I'm coming back
I'm going to go find some other folks and I'm going to bring
them to you that water pot And bear in mind a water pot in those
days was a dear item. Expensive. It's not like for
a dollar and a half buying a jug of water and the jug comes with
it. It's not like that, folks. That water pot had to be made
by someone. It cost money. They took care
of it. She left her water pot with Jesus. as a pledge of the fact that
I'm coming back, sir. I'm coming back. I'm going to
come back from my water pot. I'm coming back to where you
are. Therefore, she left her water pot, and then we read,
and she 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? When Christ reveals himself to you, you are in a hurry to speak to
him of others. When Christ has revealed himself
to you, you do not keep it as a secret. He has revealed himself to her.
She's got to tell somebody. She goes into the town where
there are many bodies and tells them, come see a man, come, come. When Christ comes to you, you bring others to Him. You lead as many as you can to
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We cannot make sinners drink,
but we can bring them to him. Can we not? She has gone into
the city and said, come see a man that told me everything I ever
did. Is not this the Christ? Knowledge of salvation in and
by and through Jesus Christ. is not to be kept a secret. And if you do not confess Him
before men, He will not confess you before His Father in heaven.
He said so. If you confess Him before men,
He'll confess you before His Father in heaven. And this woman
has gone back into the city of Samaria and told people, come
see a man who told me everything I ever did. We can imagine that the exalted Jesus has gone to glory It happened
just a couple of years after this incident. He goes to glory. He's seated at his father's right
hand. And one day, this woman is ushered from Sychar
of Samaria to the throne of God in heaven. And can you imagine? Jesus does as He promised He
would. Father, you remember that woman in Samaria
that I told you about? That harlot woman? The one who gave a drink to your
son? That woman who went and told
everybody in her town about me? Mary, am I telling you about
that woman? Yes, I do. Here she is. She confessed me
before men in Samaria. And Jesus confesses her before
His Father in heaven. Will He confess you? When you have left this earth,
at the end of your earthly life, and ministered to heaven's glory,
will Jesus look to his Father and say, remember, I told you
about this one who confessed me. I'm confessing him. I'm confessing her to you right
now. How blessed it is to be confessed
by Jesus to his Father in heaven. And he does it to all who confess
him. here on this earth. Now consider,
Jesus has gently but firmly drawn this woman to himself, revealed
himself unto her, shown himself to be the answer to all her needs,
and this lowest woman among the lowest
people has believed in Him. And yes, not only Nebuchadnezzar, but
she's going to be there in heaven as well, Brother Mitch, as you
brought in your message this morning. If you can give a testimony
to the sovereignty of God, Like Nebuchadnezzar did, our brother
Mitch brought it out. Nebuchadnezzar would get there
a whole lot quicker than an Arminian will. And this woman, fallen
though she is, sinful though she be, there she is in heaven's
glory. You know what? There's hope for me. There's
hope for me. Sinner that I am, there's hope
for you. There is no one here who is too
lowly for Jesus to save. Too sinful for Jesus to save. Trust in Him. Is not this the
Christ? I believe in Him. Drink His water
to the salvation of your soul. O God, our Father, to the glory
of Your name and to the honor of Your Son, Jesus Christ, bless this Word. If you can Save a woman like this one, surely
you can save us. We pray you do so. We pray for
our loved ones, our children, our grandchildren, other family
members, brothers and sisters and siblings. We pray that as Jesus had to
go through Samaria that he must go through where our loved ones
are. To your glory in Jesus' name
we humbly pray. Amen.