I've heard businessmen say many
times that success does not always come from what you know or how
much you know, but from whom you know. Have you heard that
saying? Not from what you know, but who
you know. And I know what they mean when
they say that. Sometimes knowing the right person,
specific people, can make the difference in a business being
successful and not being. And this is one of the few times
that a worldly quote rings true concerning the salvation
of fallen sinners. Salvation, now listen, salvation
has nothing to do with how much scripture you've memorized or
can quote. Salvation has nothing to do with
how much doctrine that you know. Do you know that there will be
Calvinists in hell? That's right. The Samaritan woman, and she
is the topic of our lesson today, who met with Christ at the well. You read that account in John
chapter 4, and you can go ahead and turn there with me if you
like. But you read that account and you'll see that she knew
her religion. She knew some things about religion. She knew some things. But what she did not know was
the one thing needful. And what I should say, who she
did not know was the one thing she needed. It has everything,
everything to do with knowing someone in particular. Now I'll
tell you right up front, knowing me will do you no good. None
at all. Knowing the President of the
United States will not profit you anything spiritually. Knowing
the Pope, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa when she was alive, and
Billy Graham will not bring you life eternal. John 17 3 we looked at a couple
weeks ago and it reads this way, not a hard verse at all. This
is life eternal and this is Christ speaking and it's very plain,
very direct, very simple to understand. This is life eternal that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
has sent. The same gospel writer here,
the Apostle John, said in his epistle in 1 John 4, and this
is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. May we never
forget that eternal life is a gift. It was something given to us. And this life is in His Son. S-O-N. That's where life is. This is life eternal. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life." Now that's pretty plain, direct, and simple, isn't
it? If you have Christ, you have life. If you do not have Christ,
you do not have life. These things have I written unto
you, that ye believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God." Friends, it doesn't matter where we turn
in this book. God shows His people that salvation
is in who you know, and that is Christ. the Lord Jesus our
Savior. First, according to John 17.3,
and I'll be brief here, it's to know the true God. There are
many people today who profess to know God, but when they describe
Him, it doesn't take long for me to scratch my head and go,
that doesn't sound like the God of the Bible. That doesn't sound
like the true God. And I had one time served a little
G-God, I'll admit that. I served a God that was trying
and wanting. There was no God at all. No God
at all. When men and women describe their
God, He doesn't even resemble the true God that this book that
you hold describes. And men say foolish things, don't
they? It's because they don't know
the God of the Bible. They don't know the true God of Scriptures.
The theme of this book can be found concerning God in Psalm
115.3, and it says, Our God is in the heavens, and He hath done
whatsoever He hath pleased. God does as He pleases, when
He pleases, how He pleases, to whom He pleases. Oh, the first
and most important thing, friends, is to know the true God. You
can't You cannot have salvation in a false God. There is no salvation
in a false God. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, and He doeth what according to His will. He does it in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and absolutely none
can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou? And yet men stand every week
and all through the week and act as though God is nothing. He's just a mail order catalog
man that you give your order to and you dare him not to give
it. That's just what men have reduced
God to. That's not the God of the Bible.
None can ask Him what He's doing. Salvation has everything to do
with knowing the true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. And if you trust a God who's
trying, wanting, pleading, and begging, then you have yet, trust
me on this, you have yet to trust the true God. That's just a fact. If you serve any other than a
sovereign Savior, the one who laid down His life, no one took
it, He laid it down. The one who was delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. If you serve any other
Savior, you've yet to meet the Savior that saves sinners. Now,
I've got you here at John chapter 4, and we'll look at this very
familiar story of a sinner who came to know Christ through His
salvation. Most of you have heard many messages
on this marvelous story of redemption. We're told in verse 3 that our
Lord left Judea and went again to Galilee, went through a town
called Sychar. And in verse four, we're told
that he must needs go through Samaria. Do you see that in your
Bible? He must needs go. Now there'll be many that will
tell you that that must need go through Samaria means that
there was really no other way to go there without crossing
Jordan. Have you ever asked anyone directions
at one time or another, and they jokingly say, you can't get there
from here? You've heard that, haven't you?
Well, this was one of those instances. What they really mean is that
there's no good way to get there from here. And that was the case.
But this verse means much, much more than that. He must needs
go through Samaria. You know why? There was a certain
woman and other Samaritans whom the Father had given Christ to
redeem. The time of effectual calling
had come for them. Therefore, He must go that way. Just maybe, this is my prayer
dear friends, just maybe the Lord Jesus must need come our
way this day. There was a purpose and a determination
in our Lord to go through Samaria. I pray that the Lord might purpose
to come our way today. Now that word purpose means with
resolve, with resolution, determination, intention. Now we all purpose
and determine and have good intentions on doing certain things, don't
we? We all make our plans. But as frail creatures, we have
no control over circumstances and situations that arise and
come our way. But God does. God does. And when and if He purposes to
do something, friends, you can be assured it will be done. If
the Lord purposes to come our way, I can assure you that it
will be in purpose, on purpose, by purpose, for Christ is a God
of purpose. For in Him and with Him comes
life. And salvation comes to His people,
even wretched sinners like me. Oh, may God be pleased to visit
us this day. Look at verse five. 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, and Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey,
set thus on the well, and was about the sixth hour. Notice
here that verse 6 says that our Lord was wearied with His journey
and He sat down on the well. Never ever forget that our great
and mighty God came down from glory to be a man, a real man. He was wearied. He was thirsty. And as we'll see in a moment,
His disciples were in getting meat. He hungered. He was the
God-man, but a real man. All God and all man. We have a high priest, Scripture
says, which cannot be, we have not a high priest, I'm sorry,
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But in all points tempted as
we are, yet without sin. We have a Savior that knows what we go through.
tempted in all ways, hunger, thirst, wearied as a real man,
because he was a real man. And then in verse 7 we see that
there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith
unto her, Give me to drink. Now this is a marvelous thought.
Here this certain woman comes to the well to draw water. and
had no idea that she herself was being drawn to and by Christ
who was the living water. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? She came for natural water and
she carried back home the water, the living water within her.
And notice also here that our Lord speaks to her first. There's
a great lesson to learn there. Our gracious and sovereign God
always engages the saved sinner first. God is always, always
the first cause of our redemption. Always. This woman needed to
come to the well. But let me tell you, Christ must
need go through Samaria and be sitting there waiting for her.
Isn't that amazing? sovereignty of our great God.
She came to the well to draw water, but here the God-man asked
her for a drink of water. You see, salvation is always
initiated first by God Almighty. He spoke to her first. Herein
is love. Herein is love, John wrote. Not
that we love God. but that He loved us. Which came
first? Well, in 1 John 4, we love Him. Why? Because He first loved us.
Always remember that God initiates the first cause, always the first
cause of our redemption. If you're a saved man or woman
this morning, it's because God chose you from the foundation
of the world. It's because God called you at
His appointed time of love. It's because God sent the Word
of His Gospel, Christ the Word, to cross your path in the preaching
of Him. It's because God opened your
blind eyes and your deaf ears and cause you to see Christ and
Him crucified as this woman at the well did. Verse 8, for His
disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Now I almost passed right over
this verse. It seemed that it was just giving
us a little explanation as to where they were. And I thought,
there's got to be more to that. Thank God the Holy Spirit showed
me a beautiful lesson here in the providence of God dear friends
and the salvation of his people God always Causes us to meet
Christ one-on-one Is that not right? We stand alone guilty
before Christ, the thrice holy God. God shuts us up alone in
our sin with only Him to condemn or redeem. Tell me that's not
so, save sinners. When Christ met you at the well
of despair and caused you to see your sin, guilt, and the
deserving sentence of death in you, you stood alone. before the righteous judge of
heaven and earth. God shuts us up to Christ and
Christ alone. And our heart is asked the most
urgent question, what do you think of Christ? He's God's son. Whose son is
he? In 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 have
no dealings with the Samaritans." See, she knew some things. She
knew some things about how her and her people worshipped. She
knew that the Jews did not care at all for the Samaritans. The
Samaritans were pretty much half-breeds, half-Jew, half-Gentile. But when you read this, this
was actually a very rude and disrespectful response that this
woman gave. And I can just almost hear it,
can't you? You want a drink from me? You're asking me, a Samaritan,
for a drink? Why, you Jews wouldn't spit on
a Samaritan if we were on fire. That's what she was saying. You
self-righteous Jews don't have any dealings with the likes of
me, a Samaritan. And you know what our Lord did?
He ignored her. He ignored that. He ignored that
sarcastic tone. You know why? He was too intent
on saving her soul. And there's another beautiful
lesson right there. I wish I could learn this lesson.
James says, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift
to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Oh, this little thing gets me
in so much trouble. Swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath. Oftentimes, our conduct is a
reaction, isn't it, instead of an action. We tend to be kind
to those that are kind to us. We find it easy to love those
that love us. Oh, it's easy to be around those
people like being around you, isn't it? But our chief concern,
and may we learn this from our Lord, In this life, anyway, may
our chief concern be that the lost know the true God and Christ
whom he sent. Oh, that we might be able to
take our pride out of it. and have passion on the souls
of men. Now on to verse 10, which is
my text for today. And I have four things I want
to briefly show you. Read verse 10 with me. 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 wouldest
asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The first thing that I point
out here in this verse, and I suppose a good title for this message
would be, if you knew, if you knew, if you knew who? If you knew the gift of God. Notice that our Lord does not
say, if you knew a gift. He says, if you knew the gift. Oh, those little particular words
like the. He is the gift. He's not just
a gift, he's the gift. Those who are taught of God and
born of God know the gift. gift of God. They know it can't
be purchased. It's a gift. Remember when Peter
told that man in Acts 8, he said, let your money perish with you. He said, because thou hast thought
that the gift of God may be purchased with money. You can't buy this
with money. It's a gift. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9.15,
thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Ephesians 2, one of our
favorite verses, for by grace are you saved through faith and
that's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. It's not a work,
unless any man should boast. The gift of God, friends, it's
not an offer. It's not a proposition. If you
do this, God will do that. Or if God does that, you do this. It's not that at all. It's a
gift that God gave. And He gave it to undeserving,
rude sinners. That's what this woman was. Secondly,
if you knew the gift of God and who it is. Who it is. Now we're back to what I said
in the beginning. It's not what you know, it's who you know.
Salvation is not what you know, but who you know. This is life
eternal. That they might know thee. The
only truth. in Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent." What you know or don't know is really irrelevant. But now that doesn't mean, don't
take that at all to mean that a person can be saved without
knowing Christ. That's the only way you can be
saved, is to know the true God in Christ. You can't be saved
apart from the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. And knowledge
is as essential to faith in Christ as oxygen is to breathing. You
can't breathe without oxygen. And friends, you can't have faith
without knowing who the gift of God is. It's not what we know that saves
us, but who we know. It's essential, essential to
know who God is. It's impossible to
trust an unknown Savior, is it not? You can't trust a person
you don't know. You must know that person, who
they are. You need to know something about
their character, their faithfulness to you as a friend before you
can honestly trust them, even more so with God. Salvation, dear friends, is in
a person. I tell you this all the time,
and I pray I know it myself. May God help me to understand
it and know it more each passing day of my life. My salvation
is in a person, and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. When
the Lord delivered David out of the hands of his enemies and
out of the hand of Saul, he said these words in II Samuel. Let
me read them to you just briefly. The Lord is my rock, my rock,
personal to me. He's my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer. my deliverer, the God of my rock,
in Him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation. He's my high tower. He's my refuge. Sounds to me like David knew
who God was. The Lord is my light and my salvation,
he wrote in Psalm 27. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life, and whom shall I be afraid? God's
salvation of Christ, dear friends, is no benefit to me unless He
is my salvation. And He's no benefit to you unless
He's yours. make haste to help me, O Lord,
my salvation." David said in Psalm 38, 22. Yes, salvation
is in a person. Isn't that why old Simeon who
served in the temple, that day that Mary and Joseph brought
the Lord Jesus Christ as a child in, he held Christ in his arms
and he said, Lord, now you can let me depart in peace according
to your word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." As he held
Christ in his arms. Third thing, the gift and the
giver are the same, one and the same. If you knew the gift of
God, Christ said, and who it is, this is what makes the gift
so special. Your sin and my sin are so great
that no other than Christ, who is God, could have saved us. It took God to appease God. It took the innocent blood of
Christ, who is God, to atone for our sin. This is no light
matter, dear friends. That's substitution. No wonder
the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, I determine not to know
anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's
the issue. That's the difference between
life and death. I don't need to know this. I
don't need to know that. I need to know. Do you know Christ? Is He your all in all? I tell
you, one day when you stand before God Almighty in judgment, it
won't matter how much scripture you know, could quote, memorize,
what will matter is did you know Him? Did you know Him? Did you know that He's not only
the Son of God, but He is God? That's why Isaiah wrote, for
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Christ is God, and he's the gift
of God, and he's the giver of the gift. They're one in the same, the
gift and the giver. Fourth thing, if you ever know
who He is, you would have asked Him. Is that not what He says
here in verse 10? If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou would
have asked of Him. All God's people, all God's life,
they're going to ask. Yep, they're going to ask. You're
going to ask Him for a drink from that eternal fountain. He
who has a son has a life. And all those that know Him will
ask Him for a drink. You can write it down. God will
cause you to ask. If you've got to make it that
you have a need to ask, and not only will you want it
so bad as to ask for it, you'll beg for it. For you'll see, God
will show you your desperate condition before Him and your
need of this living water. I'll tell you this much. When
it was made known to this woman what and who the gift was, she
asked for it. Now in verse 15, she asked for
it, but she still didn't know. Sir, give me this water that
I thirst not. And her reason was that I won't
ever have to come down to this old well again. But that's not
when she truly asked for it. You look down in verse 28, when
our Lord told her all things concerning Herself. In verse
28, what did she do? She left that water pot. She
left it sitting right there. The very thing that she thought
she had come for, she left behind. And she told everyone she saw
in verse 29, she said, come see a man. Come see Him and listen
to Him which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this
the Christ, the gift of God? Come see a man. Oh, He's much
more than a man. He's the Christ, the God-man.
And He gave me the water of life. I can just hear all the excitement
from her voice, the glow from her face. Friends, this brings
me to the last point, and it's found at the end of verse 10,
and this is the good news. This is the gospel for chosen
sinners. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him,
and what? He would have given thee living
water. My last, fifth and last point
is Christ is the living water, and He freely gives it. There's
no saving faith without saving knowledge. If thou knew, if you
knew who the gift of God and who it is, you'd ask Him. If you know the gift of God and
who that gift is, friends, he says to you right now, as he
did on that last day of the great feast, he said, if any man thirst,
are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? If any man thirst,
let him come unto me. That's where salvation is. Let Him come unto me and what?
Drink. Come and drink. Come to Christ
and drink. He is the living water.