Take your Bibles and turn with
me to John 4. We'll read the first 15 verses. In John 4, verse 1, When therefore
the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and
baptized more disciples than John, I just want you to think
about that statement for a minute. That's how men determine in themselves
whether or not a ministry is a successful ministry or a minister
is a good gospel preacher or not by how many converts they
have. That's what they look for in
our day. That's what they look for in
this day. That's what they look for in every day. He said, when
therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
made and baptized... That was the talk. That was the
talk. That Jesus had made and baptized
more disciples than John, though Jesus Himself baptized not but
His disciples. He left Judea and departed again
into 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. There cometh a woman of
Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith unto her, Give me to 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 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 have asked 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 this
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 unto everlasting
life. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, Neither come hither to draw."
Now let's just stop there and consider these verses. The lesson
I have for you this morning is about a heavenly thirst. A heavenly
thirst. This woman was not thirsty when
our Lord came and sat down. She had to be given a thirst.
And this is what I want you to see in the message this morning. greatest rivers in the world
is the River Nile. And they said those who live
there and those who have gone there say that the waters of
the Nile are the sweetest waters in the world. I don't know so
much about that. I've never been there. I've never
tasted of the waters. I couldn't confirm or deny it. But I thought about that statement
that one of the old writers had made about the Nile, and it occurred
to me that over there in that hot sun, in that hot eastern
sun, my son-in-law's over there right now, and he talks about
temperatures 120 degrees, 118 degrees, and I thought about
that hot, parched, dry climate. And a man stands, I mean you
stand here in this Louisiana sun very long and the sweat begins
to roll and you don't have to do anything, just stand out there
in the sun. And I thought about that land
over there where it's even hotter than it is here and dry, no trees,
no grass, no nothing, just desert, just dry. I think maybe that might have
something to do with their bias toward the water, don't you?
I think maybe that's what makes that water so sweet, that heat
and that dry climate. I think they develop a thirst.
And that's where I'm going this morning with this lesson here
in John chapter 4. Until there is a heavenly thirst
created in the soul, there can be no distinction in the soul
concerning the waters of this world. When a man's not thirsty,
he don't care where he gets his water. He'll draw from any well. He'll draw from any water. They
all taste the same. But when God creates that thirst
in the soul, there's just one water, just one water that'll
quench His thirst, and that's that living water that God gives
Him in Christ. Our Lord begins His conversation
with this Samaritan woman with this declaration, if, if, He
said, you knew the gift of God. You don't. And she didn't. But he said, if you did. If you
did. Now there's many gifts of God. I want you to understand that.
There's the new birth. Faith. By grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God. Godly sorrow, the goodness of
God leadeth thee to repentance. That's the gift of God. You're
not going to repent unless God gives you the attitude and spirit
to repent. You're not going to believe unless
God gives you the ability to believe. You're not going to
seek Him. There's none that seeketh after
God. I didn't say that. God said that. You can turn over
two Psalms and read it for yourself. He said, He Himself looked down
from heaven to see if there was any righteous, and there wasn't
any. To see if there was any good, and there wasn't any. To
see if there was any that sought after Him, and there was none.
Now that's what God said. And let God be true, and every
man a liar. There are many gifts of God.
Repentance. Faith. Sanctification, all these
things. These things are all gospel preaching,
gospel preachers. These things are all gifts of
God. That food, you're going to go
home this afternoon or back in here and we're going to sit down
and have some fellowship and we're going to eat some food
that these ladies prepared. That food is the gift of God.
It's the gift of God. That air you breathe is the gift
of God. There's many gifts. There's all
kinds of gifts. But gifts is not His subject
to this woman. He said, if you knew the gift,
the gift, the gift, there's one supreme
gift. And in Him, all the other gifts
are given. In Ephesians chapter 1 it said,
Paul began to bless the Father who hath blessed us with all,
all, A-double-L, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Ain't that where they're at? That's the gift, the gift. If you knew the gift, John said
he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. John the Baptist said twice,
he said once in John chapter 1, he said once in verse 31,
and once in verse 33, I knew him not. Do you know what he
said? I knew him not. Greatest man
born a woman. I knew him not." John said it,
and he said it twice. John was shut up to a revelation
of God. He was shut up to a description
that God gave him in His Word. He was shut up to the testimony
of God. He said, when you see this man,
and the Spirit ascends and descends on him in the form of a dove,
that would be the man. That's the Christ. And when John
saw it, he said, Behold the Lamb. He didn't know who he was. He
was his cousin and he didn't know who he was. Listen to this
in Romans 5, verse 15. We're talking about the gift.
If you knew, you'd ask. But she didn't know. She didn't
know. Listen to this in Romans 5, verse
15. But not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more by the grace of God," and listen,
"...the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath
abounded unto many." The gift. The man. You see that? Listen to verse 16, "...and not
as it was by the one that sinned, so also is the gift For the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses
unto justification. Verse 17, For if by one man's
offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ. Verse 18, Therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men to justification of life. Romans 6, verse 23, For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God. Am I getting through to you?
The gift of God is eternal life. in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, he said, if you knew the
gift. See, that's the problem. She didn't know the gift. That's
why she wanted to sit and talk about her ancestors and talk
about the will. That's why she wanted to sit
there and talk about the traditions of the elders and talk about
where the Jews worshipped and where they worshipped. That's
why she wanted to draw a distinction between herself and the Jews.
The Jews had nothing to do with us and we don't have anything
to do with the Jews. That's where the division was. She didn't
know the gift. And I find as I preach and minister
in this world, the problem is, the reason why men want to argue
and debate and cast bad lights on what I say is because they
don't know the gift. I'm not trying to get anybody
to join anything. I'm not trying to build a big
work over here in Taylor, Louisiana. I'm trying to point men to the
gift. There he is. There he is. If you knew, he said, you'd ask. When you gonna ask? When you
know. When you know. You're not gonna
ask till you know. You're not gonna drink till you
get thirsty. Till you get thirsty. And our
Lord sat down on that well and He began to talk to this woman.
Oh, He said, if you knew the gift of God, or what if you did? Suppose your eyes was opened
and she saw who that was sitting on the well. Here's what our
Lord said she would have done. He said, you would have asked. You're not going to accept Him.
He's already accepted. He's already proved. He's already
exalted. He already has a name above every
name. You can't do anything with him.
I tell you what you're going to do is ask. That's what you're
going to do. You're going to ask. You're going
to fall down on your face like the leper and you're going to
ask. Lord, if you will, if you will. You don't have to. You're
under no obligation to. But if you will, you can make
me clean. If you knew the gift, he said,
you'd ask. And that's my hope in preaching
to you. If you knew. If the world knew who he was,
Paul said, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory if
they knew. What was they ignorant of? They were ignorant of the
gift. Huh? They were still looking for somebody
like David to come along and establish an earthly kingdom.
They were still looking for another kingdom like old Israel in the
days of Solomon when they enjoyed the prestige of God over that
nation and enjoyed its exaltation and enjoyed the peace, enjoyed
the prosperity in the name. That's what the Jews were looking
for. They didn't know the gift. The gift stood right in front
of them. They said, you preach by the spirit of the devil. He
said, you neither know me or my Father. They said, you don't
know me and you don't know my Father. If you knew me, you'd
ask. If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you.
I told you. Had them scrolls under their
arms. Had them scriptures written around the borders of the garments
and on the cuffs of their robes. show how holy they was. And He
said, you search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which testify
of Me. But He said, you won't come to
Me. that you might have life. Why won't you come? Because you
don't know who the gift is. You don't know the gift of God.
You don't know who it is. He said, if you knew who it was
that sat on this well, you wouldn't be interested in that pitcher
and that water. You'd ask of Me. I'd give you some water to
drink. You'd never thirst again. I'd
give you living water. I'd put in you a well of water
springing up unto everlasting life. Turn with me to John chapter
17. I'm telling you, this knowledge
is critical to a godly thirst. In John chapter 17, this is the
Lord's high priestly prayer. You know, we want to quote that
prayer over in the Gospels where He says, Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and so on. We won't call that
the Lord's prayer. That's the disciples' prayer. They said,
teach us how to pray, and he said, pray like this, Our Father
which art in heaven. This is the Lord's prayer in
John chapter 17. This is his high priestly prayer
that he prays to God for us. This is his intercessory prayer.
And he's about to go to the cross as our high priest and offer
that sacrifice unto God once in the end of the world. And here's what he says. He talks
about, he speaks of his heavenly glory. He speaks of an omnipotent
power and sovereign authority over all flesh that God the Father
gave him as the one mediator between men and God. This was an authority given him.
He had authority as the second person of the Godhead. He had
omnipotence. He had all the attributes equal
with God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. But this is talking about a different
kind of authority. This is talking about his authority
as the mediator of God. And God gave him authority over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him." Now look here in verse 3. And this is life
eternal. You see that? This is life eternal
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou sent. If you knew. Can you see the
impact of what he's telling this young lady standing there at
this well? Tired and weary from his journey,
he sat there on the well, and he listened to her talk, and
he said, let me tell you something. If you knew the gift of God. And I believe he's saying this.
If you knew the willingness of God that gives, huh? God so loved that He gave. If
you knew the love of God that He's willing to give, Isn't that what he verifies over
there in John chapter 6, I believe it is, where he said, I came
down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him
that sent me? This is the will of Him that sent me, that of
all which He has given me I should lose nothing, raise it up again
at the last day? And this is the will of Him that
has sent me, that everybody that seeth the Son and believeth on
Him. Huh? Shall have everlasting life
and I'll raise Him up at the last. There's a willingness in
God to give. He gives. He's more willing to
give than you are to ask. Huh? That's exactly what He's
telling this woman. If you knew, you'd ask. And He
said, if you'd ask, I'd give. Sounds willing to me. It sounds willing to me. Oh,
may the Holy Spirit of God lead us and give us His heavenly thirst. Let me give you several things
here that you and I can learn this morning from this Samaritan
woman and from the Lord's discourse with her. First of all, let me
learn this. This water is not just for anybody. I tell everybody, whosoever will,
let him take the water of life free. But you're not going to
take water until you're thirsty. And you're not going to be thirsty
until the Lord sits down and confronts you just as He did
this woman one-on-one. One-on-one. You're not going to claim Him
until He claims you. Now that's just the truth. This water is not meant for everybody.
This thirst is not meant for everybody. He said, I must needs
go through Samaria. He didn't take the scenic route.
He could have went down by the rivers. He could have walked
in the green pastures. He could have enjoyed the view.
He could have enjoyed the solitude. He could have rested. But he
said, I must needs go through Samaria. And I'll tell you how you can
determine the needs when the Lord talks about there was a
need when He went to blind Bartimaeus. He had to go there. He had to
go there. When He went through Samaria,
He had to go there. And you can determine the need,
the must that He talks about because it came to pass. And I'll tell you what came to
pass. He created a thirst in this woman's heart and she asked
and he gave. I'll tell you, you can take your
little play parties and you can play religion all you want to. You can't. I did it. I've done it for years. I went
over there and played religion with the rest of the world. But
when God puts a thirst in your heart, When God deals with your
heart one-on-one, eyeball-to-eyeball, tells you what you are and who
He is, and says something to you about this gift, you're going
to fall down before Him and say, give me. Give me. You don't worry about anybody
else. You're going to say, give me. Give me. You'd ask. And He said, and I give. Oh, I want that, don't you? There was other ways to go. There
was other directions to travel. There was more pleasant ways
to go. But he didn't take the scenic route. He went the way
of election. Now, let me tell you something.
We better get this fixed in our hearts and heads. Salvation is
of the Lord. It's not of Him that willeth.
It's not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy.
We better get that fixed. We better just let that settle
in. Meditate on it and think about
it. He took this godly mother. She
was a godly woman. And she was the wife of the promised
seed of Abraham. She was Isaac's wife. And she was pregnant and had
twins. And he said unto her, before
these two boys was ever born or ever did any good or evil,
he said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Now that's
what he said. That's what the Lord said. And
he said it for this reason. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. What in the world is he talking
about? That it might be established forever. No questions asked. No debates. Well, you know, Esau
did this and that. Well, sure he did. But that ain't
why God chose him. That ain't why God chose Jacob
and passed by Esau. Because it was said before they
ever was born. And it was said before either
one of them ever did any good or evil. I'm telling you, God
has a purpose and that purpose is according to election. God has a people. And they and
they alone were given the gift of God. All the spiritual blessings
of the Father He gave to the Son in heavenly places, it says
in Ephesians, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. Or what motivated Him, what made
Him choose? According to the good pleasure
of His will. You see, we've been toying around
with idols. We're not used to dealing with
God. That's our problem. We don't know God. We know something about a concept
of God that we've had since we was babies. Since primary school, when they
taught us to sing, Jesus loves us, this we know. Of course,
the Bible tells us so. It doesn't tell you any such
thing. I'll tell you this, when the New Testament ministry was
established and the records of the early church were written
down in the book of Acts, he doesn't even mention the word
love one time in the whole book. Now that's the truth. That's the
truth. These spiritual blessings are
particular. They're peculiar. And they're
to his elect. And our inheritance is one predestinated. He went through there. He must
need to go through Samaria because he had a child the Father had
given him predestinated to be his child. Predestinated to an
inheritance. Predestinated to be conformed
into His image. And He's not going to pass her
by. He's going to go down there and He's going to effectually
redeem this woman. Oh, listen to this, he said,
his sheep, he said, they hear my voice. They hear my voice. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and they shall be one fold, and there shall be one
shepherd. This thirst and this water is
for his elect. And then secondly, it's for sinners.
It's for sinners. Find me anything in the appointment
of Christ, the promises of Christ, the appearance of Christ, the
work of Christ on this earth or in heaven that is not strictly
concerning sinful men, and I'll quit preaching. You can't find
me anything. Huh? It's geared for sinners. He gave us a holy law, but before
He took it down, He made provision for a sacrifice. Didn't He? Paul said the law was not made
for a righteous man. Made for sinners. Huh? Made for sinners. This is a faithful saying. He
said, I am worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Turn with me to Luke
chapter 15. There was a woman there. He's given these parables in
Luke chapter 15. And there was a woman there who
lost a coin. She lost a silver coin. Luke chapter 15. She lost this
coin. And it says she searched diligently
for it. She swept out the house. She
moved every piece of furniture. She wasn't interested in anything
else. She probably found all kinds of stuff. I do when I start
hunting for something, don't you? But she didn't get sidetracked. She lost something of value.
She lost something that was pure. She lost something that she considered
to be great. And she tore that place apart
trying to find that coin. And when she found it, she called
her friends together and she rejoiced. Now, look with me here
in Luke 15, verse 10. Here is what our Lord said about
that parable. Likewise, I say unto you, there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth. The father, he goes on in the
next parable and he talks about the prodigal son. The father
had two sons. He had one that prized his obedience
and prized his faithfulness and prized his righteousness. Always
considered himself to be an heir. Always considered himself to
be a child of the father. But he had another son who left
his father's house, demanded his inheritance, and went out
into a far country and squandered his inheritance. Who did God
give the thirst to? Huh? Who did God make thirsty? The sinner. The sinner. In whose heart did God stir to
see His sins and know His place and willingly seek forgiveness?
Upon whose neck did the Father fall and smother Him with kisses? On whose finger did the Father
put the ring? On whose account did the Father
pin up the stall-fetted calf and make ready for celebration
the sinner that repented? He doesn't even mention the other
song. Oh, he said in Romans 5.8, but
God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Alright, here's the third thing. It has to do with truth. Our
Lord didn't save this woman no matter what. He sat down with her and told
her the truth. You don't think that made that
woman mad? She just told him what all she knew. And he told
her, he said, you worship you know not what. That'd make me
mad. Wouldn't make you mad. It has
made you mad. Huh? And rightly so. It does. It great. It rubs you
back. It's like fingernails on the
blackboard. Somebody come along and tell you what you trust in
and what you think is holy and what you think is good is just
filthy rags. But that's what it is. That's
what it is. He told her the truth. The Lord
didn't leave this woman in her traditions of ignorance. He didn't
leave her to think what she would about her sins and about worship
and about the Messiah and about the Jews. This whole conversation
from front to back was a conversation and revelation of truth. And finally she said, when the
Messiah comes, He's going to tell us everything we need to
know. He said, I that speak unto you am He. And that's where truth winds
up in a person. He said, you shall hear the truth.
You'll know the truth and the truth will make you free. That's
what's going to set you free. Lies ain't going to set you free. And I'll tell you this, if you
leave here this morning and somewhere on the way home, you're in what
men call an accident, or you die in a few weeks of some germ
or some disease or something that nobody knew you had, I don't
care what it is, and you go out to meet God, and you stand there
in your nakedness before the all-seeing eye of God, You're
not going to have me as your excuse. I'm telling you the truth.
Salvation, life, all the blessings of God, everything that God has
for the sinner is in His Son. And I'm telling you to the best
of my ability who He is so you can believe on Him and lay hold
of Him. And I'll tell you this, that's
the fourth thing, but I'm just going to state it and go on because
my time's up. But it's by a revelation of God. How do you explain that? How
can you explain to men what a revelation is? They think that's a dream.
It's not a dream. It's just all of a sudden the
same thing that you've read for a hundred years, pow, it comes
open. There it is. That's a revelation. And when you see it, you know
the peculiar thing about a revelation? It's so all the way through the
book. It will be this big on every page throughout that book
if you ever get a revelation. You won't have to read John Calvin
and John Gill and Charles Spurgeon and all these men to figure out
what this says. It will be this big. And it will always be in
Him. Always be in Him.