Gospel of John chapter 4 will
begin at verse 27. John chapter 4, verse 27. And upon this came his disciples
and marveled. And marveled that he taught. with the woman. Yet no man said, what seekest
thou? Or why talkest thou with her? Upon this. Upon what, John? What's he referring to? He's
talking about our Lord's revelation of himself to this Samaritan
woman. The Lord Jesus had crossed her
path, met her at the well, for he must needs go through Samaria
to do so. He had created an interest in
her soul, stirring her until at last she became interested
in the water that he had come to give. He exposed her sin,
made her to know what she was, before God. He tore open her
heart and forced her to look honestly at herself. Oh, God
do that for you. God do that for me. And then
he destroyed her refuge of lies, her idols, her religion, her
comfort, What little peace she had, he took it away from her.
What little solace she had for her soul, he destroyed it. What
little comfort she could find, he knocked it out from under
her. He destroyed her religious refuge. And graciously, he revealed
himself to her. Look at verse 26. Jesus said
unto her, you've been talking about the Messiah, honey. He
said, I that speak unto thee am He said, I'm the one you've been
talking about. I'm the one you've heard your fathers talk about.
I'm the one the Jews and the prophets of the Jews have been
talking about. I'm the one all the Old Testament
spoke of. I am that one whom Jacob spoke
of, Shiloh, who would come when the lawgiver is taken from beneath
the feet of Israel. He said, I am he. You see, contrary
to popular opinion, contrary to the teaching of the whole
religious world around us. Salvation does not come to sinners
by a profession of faith. Salvation does not come to sinners
by a decision they make. Salvation will never come to
your soul by something you do. Salvation comes to sinners by
the revelation of Jesus Christ in you. Oh Spirit of God, reveal
Christ in my heart. Salvation comes by divine revelation. As much by divine revelation,
more by divine revelation than if it were a carnal physical
revelation. Salvation comes by God revealing
his son in your heart so that you are compelled to know him
and worship him. You are compelled to bow before
Him. God reveals Himself to you in
the face of Jesus Christ, Christ crucified, making known the whole
of God's character, the whole of God's requirements, the whole
of God's salvation. The Lord Jesus had saved this
Samaritan woman. And then we have a sad, sad picture
drawn by the Spirit of God in this verse. The disciples came and marveled
that he talked with the woman. Our Lord Jesus had come to Samaria
on a mission of mercy. The good shepherd had just found
one of his lost sheep and he revealed himself to her. This
woman of ill repute, This woman that had a name. He revealed
himself to her and converted her by his almighty grace. And
the disciples had been all this time away in town buying groceries. They didn't have a clue what's
going on. We're not usually away buying
groceries, but most of the time we don't have a clue what God's
doing. We think we do. But we don't have a clue what
God's doing. These disciples didn't have a notion what had
been going on while they were gone. They were totally ignorant
of the conversation our Lord had with the Samaritan woman.
They didn't know what had happened to her. They didn't know what
had happened to him. But when they came on the scene,
they saw the Lord Jesus talking to this woman, this Samaritan
woman. out by this well in the middle
of nowhere, in the middle of the day. And this is what they said to
themselves. Uh-oh. This doesn't look good. This doesn't look good. These men saved, though they
certainly were, Thought to bring the Son of God before the bar
of their judgment to judge his actions and they judge them evil. What brazen audacity. What brazen
audacity. Yet, it's one of the most common
things we struggle with throughout our lives. judging one another
of evil, being suspicious. Nothing in all the world is more
difficult for us to shake than the grave clothes of self-righteous
legal religion and all the taboos we have learned from religious
people all our lives. I want to say things so clearly
you can't misunderstand me, and I don't want to overstate them,
but I want to state them clearly. Just almost everything that you
think of in religious terms that you've heard all your life before
God saved you, or things you thought all your life, whatever
those things are, mark them down as deadly wrong. These folks
were here acting on the basis of things they had heard and
learned, not from God, but from men. You see, religious men invent
a multitude of customs. They invent traditions. They
invent moral codes. We use the word a lot in our
day. I do. We speak of Morality, moral
things. Do you know the word of God never
even uses the term? It never even uses it. Either
an act or a thought or an emotion or a deed is either righteous
or it is evil and there's no in between. And those things
that are right, God specifically says are right. And those things
that are wrong, he specifically says are wrong. And if God doesn't
say it, you've got no right to think it. If God doesn't make
the judgment, I have no right to make it. These moral codes
and religious traditions people make to be, the word of God and
the righteousness of God and the truth of God and thereby
nullify the revelation of God and with these things they attempt
to govern the lives of other people. Religion is in the business
of governing folks. Religion is in the business of
holding you in. Religion is in the business of
forcing you into the mold so that they can control your thoughts,
your time, and your money. And number one is money. They want to control, to dominate. The last thing they want you
to do is for you to think and to be free. These disciples marveled
that the Lord talked with this woman. Let me tell you why. And this is not original with
me. I got it from Dr. Gill. They marveled because the Jews
had a very strict, well-known law regarding such behavior. Their law, not God's law, their
law, the Jews' law, said this exactly. A man must not multiply
discourse with a woman. even his wife, much less his
neighbor's wife. He must not. A man must not be
seen talking to a woman. No, no. How many times have you
seen somebody in a circumstance and you, wow, what's Brother
Don doing over there? This doesn't look good. Why is Bobby down there? Oh,
nothing good can come out of this. Several years ago, it's
been a long time ago, but the Dave Collier, Grant Seacrest,
and I were over at Lexington Bible Conference. And I've always
been a little bit, I shouldn't say careless, I knew exactly
what I was doing, but I was walking down the road, Grant, David,
Glenn Archer was with us, and we were just walking around Lexington.
First time I'd ever been to Lexington. This had been a long time ago.
And I got thirsty. So I walked in this place and
got me a Coke. And I noticed when I went in to get a Coke,
everybody else stood on the sidewalk and kindly wanted to move on.
And I didn't pay attention, I walked into a beer joint, it was a pool
hall, and bought me a Coke. And I came back out with my Coke,
I said, you don't want anything to eat or anything to drink? And I forgot
who it was, looked at me, said, look, Don, that's a pool hall. Well, I said, I didn't go to
get a beer, I went in to get a Coke. What did he go in there for?
That can't be good. Why would he go? He must go in
there all the time. That must be where he spends
his time. I mean, that's just the thinking. I'm not suggesting
that's what they thought. But that's the reason they didn't
go in. Because these are the taboos. These disciples came
and they saw the Lord talking to this woman. And they had learned
all their lives that their religious teachers taught them. When a
man talks with a woman, He is the cause of evil to himself. He ceases from the words of the
law, and he will at last go down to hell. There are religious traditions
and laws required. Let no man talk with a woman
in the streets, even with his wife, much less with another
man's wife. Gil said, the doctors and teachers,
the rabbis, this is one of the six things which were considered
a reproach, to talk with a woman in public. The fact that this woman was
a Samaritan just made it worse. And yet, no man said it. Not
one of them opened his mouth. Not even Brother Peter, who was
never known for biting his toe. He didn't have a thing to say.
Not one of them said a word. What seekest thou? Why talkest
thou with her? I've said all that to say this. You and I need to constantly
be on guard. We not only must bridle our tongues,
but bridle our thoughts. We should always, God teach me
this lesson. We should always put the best
construction on anything we see or hear from our brethren. Always
interpret it in the best light possible. Always. Our tendency
is to always interpret it in the most negative light. Our
tendency is to always be suspicious. Don't ever presume that you know
what's going on with other people. It may be that they're just not
quite as perverted as you are. You did get that, didn't you?
It may be they are not quite as perverted as you are. They
may not think so perversely as you think. John Trapp made this
tremendous observation about these disciples. He said all
ill thoughts and sinister surmises are to be suppressed and strangled
at birth. You see a librarian, why is he
looking at me that way? Choke it. Oh, he must see something
in me he admires. What are they talking about?
Choke it. Choke it. Presume they're planning a way
to fix it so that you live the rest of your life at ease. Just
presume the best until you can't presume otherwise. Turn to Matthew
chapter 7. Let me show you. Matthew chapter
7. Now, if you should happen to
be asked a question about whether or not, you know, any perversity
is wrong, some fellow who has no interest at all in anything
or some religious fellow will come along and he'll say, well,
it's not mine to judge. Judge not that you be not judged.
Judge not that you be not judged. Judge not that you be not judged.
That's not what this text is saying. Our Lord is not telling
us never to call evil, evil. He's not telling us that. That
which God calls evil, we call evil. Moral evil, that which
is corrupt and decadent, which is revealed in scripture, we
will not cease to identify as moral, corrupt, decadent, evil. Well, what's this mean? Judge
not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge,
you shall be judged. And with what measure you measure
or meet, it shall be measured to you again. The long and short
of that is just this. We should never interpret the
actions of another suspiciously. We just shouldn't do it. Don't
quit being suspicious. Quit being suspicious. Love is
not suspicious, Paul said. It doth not behave itself unseemly. I love this lady over here. And
as I act in love toward her, that means I'm not suspicious
of her. What? Why was she standing out in the
parking lot talking with that fella? Because she's standing out there
talking with him. That's all. Well, I could handle
that. I'm jealous. That's because you
don't love. That's right. Not because you're
not loved, it's because you don't love. It's because you don't
love. Love's not jealous, not suspicious. Religion and self-righteousness
makes people suspicious. It spreads gossip. Love hopes
for the best. believes the best, and says the
best. Love hopes for the best, believes
the best, and says the best. But I'm not here to talk to you
about self-righteous suspicions and presumptions of evil. Look
at verse 28. John 4, 28. The woman then left her water
pot as soon as these disciples stood there looking crossways
at her and the Lord Jesus and went her way into the city and
saith to the men, these men in the city, come see a man, a man
which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city
and came to him. What we have here is God's portrayal
of Sychar's sinner saved by his grace. The Lord Jesus had achieved
his purpose in coming to Samaria. He always achieves his purpose.
He had come to save a poor sinner and save her he did. How embarrassed
these disciples must have been. Remember the one who records
the story was one of them. How embarrassed they must have
been. When they were at last made to know what the Lord Jesus
had been doing for this poor woman. When they found out what
had really taken place, they're standing there thinking, Oh,
how are we going to explain this?
How are we going to deal with this? And they found out that
this poor woman had come to the well, a fallen child of Adam.
And she went back to the city rejoicing in the second Adam.
She had come out to the well concerned only about mundane
carnal things. She came out to get water to
temporarily quench her thirst. She went back with water of life
bubbling up in her soul like an artesian well. She came out
of the city foul with sin. Seeking to hide from men and
seeking to hide from others because she knew what she was. She was
beaten with guilt and ashamed She went home washed Justified
and sanctified in Christ She came down to the well corrupt
She went back to Samaria consecrated She came down sinful. She went
back sanctified. She came out of the city condemned. She went back to the city free. I can almost hear her singing.
Now I am free. There's no condemnation. Jesus
provides a perfect salvation. Come unto me. I heard his sweet
call and now he saved me once for all. She came out of the
city of Sychar having had five husbands, which were no husband
to her. She went back home with one husband
who was a husband to her soul forever, who was a husband to
her long before she met him and a husband to her to this day.
The Samaritan woman was converted by the revelation of Christ to
her and in her. And it was evident. Evident because
of that which is obvious in the text before us. You too must
be converted. Converted. Our Lord Jesus said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, accept ye be converted and become
as little children You shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. I didn't say you must convert
yourself. People talk about conversion. They talk about salvation. They
say, well, I went down to the church last weekend and I got
saved. No, you didn't. I promise you, you didn't. You
got a little dose of religion. That's all. Well, I've decided
to make a change. Well, it may be a change on the
outside, but you're still the same. You hadn't made a change. Conversion is not something you
do for God. It's something God does for you.
Listen to this. Surely, after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. You must be converted. Turned to God. Turn from your idols like this
woman was to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a marvelous work of grace. And oh, what a change is wrought
in the hearts and lives of sinners converted by God's grace. I read
this sometime back. Have you ever considered What
takes place in the miracle of birth? Brother Peter is a new
grandfather. And, you know, us who are in
that privileged club tend to talk about our children, our
grandchildren. Have you ever thought about what
takes place when a child is born? Those eyes that have been shut
up in absolute darkness. suddenly see dazzling, shocking
light. Shocking light. If you could think as that child
who's been brought out of his mother's womb, who opens his
eyes for the first time, can you imagine the things that must
go through that tiny mind when suddenly light comes on? What's that? Somebody turn it off. Just shocking
light. That body has been nestled for
nine months in a nice, comfortable bed, about a hundred degrees.
And suddenly it's brought into a world 25, 30, 40 degrees cooler.
Shock. The umbilical cord through which
it's life's blood has been sustained all those months is now cut.
That child has a specific valve in his heart. Wonder of God's
creation. That valve that had to be open
while the child is in his mother's womb must now immediately and
permanently be shut off. so that used blood and fresh
blood no longer mix in the heart. Those lungs for the first time
are filled with air and begin the lifelong function of breathing. Dozens of things, dozens of things
happen suddenly in the birth of a child. And as it is in the
birth of a child, so it is in the new birth. Let none imagine
that the new birth is nothing but a mental ascent to truth. That the new birth is nothing
but saying I believe something. That the new birth is nothing
but a change of principles. The new birth is the creation
of the life of God in a man's soul. It's Christ coming into
you. Made partakers of the divine
nature. Creating a holy thing in you.
by the Spirit of God, and it's a radical change. Let me show
you three or four things that happened in this woman's life
by which we see she has been converted. Three or four things
that make it evident that she is born of God. Now, we'll talk
about evidence. Evidence is not proof, but it
is evidence. Evidence that one is born of
God, not to her, but to me. Evidence, not to her, but to
those around her. First, she made a public confession
of the Lord Jesus. She said, come see a man which
told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? She confessed him. Now salvation
doesn't come, as I said to you in our scripture reading of Romans
chapter 10, it doesn't come by confessing Christ. Confessing
him is the evidence of the grace wrought within, not the cause
of grace being wrought within. But let it never be imagined
that a public confession of Christ is an optional thing. Our Lord
Jesus tells us plainly, whosoever therefore shall not confess me
before men, him also, or shall confess me before men, him also
will I confess before my father, which is in heaven. But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father,
which is in heaven. You mean preacher? We're supposed
to go around telling everybody, I believe in Jesus, you ought
to too. Or talk like religious fools,
you hear? I asked folks how they're doing. Somebody I asked yesterday,
where was I? I can't remember. And I'm blessed. I want to strangle them. I'm
blessed. Act so pious, act so religious. Don't act religious for anybody. Don't do it. Oh, what do you
mean confess Christ? Tell folks who he is and what
he's done for you. Not try to wring professions
of faith out of people. Don't do that. Not try to talk people
into making a profession of faith. Don't do that. That's the work
of God's spirit. But tell folks, as God opens
the door, as God sets an opportunity before you, And you know it. You know it just as well as you
know you're sitting here. When God opens a way for you
to speak to somebody, you know when it's right. Don't be ashamed
of the master. Tell him what the Savior's done
for you. You who have been saved by God's grace, If you've not
yet confessed Christ in believer's baptism, this is where it begins. Our confession of our Redeemer
is given to us by an ordinance. An ordinance by which we symbolically
portray everything we believe. An ordinance by which we symbolically
portray the whole message of the gospel. Read the sixth chapter
of Romans. We are buried with Christ in
baptism. And we are raised up out of the
watery grave in anticipation of resurrection glory. We walk
with him in newness of life. That's what baptism pictures.
When Christ Jesus died, I died. I'm crucified with him. Do you
understand that? The law of God has no claim on
me. Justice shall never touch me. I shall never fall into condemnation,
never under the curse of the law, because I died when Christ
died. See yonder, I was buried with
him in the grave, and I have been risen with him. God came
and raised me from death to life, giving me new life in him. And
I walk with him. And I can't tell you how new
this life is. I can't tell you how different
this life is. I can't tell you, oh, I used
to walk in death. Now I walk in life. I used to
walk with guilt. Now I walk with freedom. I used
to walk in terror of meeting God. Now I walk with hope of
meeting God. You understand the difference?
It's called walking in the newness of life. This woman confessed
the Lord Jesus, confessed him publicly before me. And then
she experienced a positive change. It wasn't something that she
planned. It wasn't something somebody said, now you're a Christian,
you need to quit eating so much candy. Now you're a Christian,
you're not supposed to wear shorts anymore. Now you're a Christian,
you're supposed to take all that makeup off. Ladies, please don't
do that. Now you're a Christian, you're
not supposed to wear sideburns or a beard. Now you're a Christian. You're supposed to. This lady
did a marvelous thing. She did a marvelous thing. The
scripture says the woman left her water pot. She didn't change clothes. She didn't dress different. She
didn't start talking funny. I may get Brother Larry in trouble
with the fellows who work on his house down there, but I've
got to use it. Somebody out measuring some boards
the other day, these Amish folks measuring some boards, and they're
good workers, good workers. And Larry said they'd heard him
call that a measurement, and the fellow called that the wrong
measurement. He said, nay, not so. That sounds pious, doesn't
it? No, it ain't right. Nay, not
so. Oh, thou blessed brother, come
sit here. It's just as bad, just as bad to talk pretentiously
in any way. Nothing changed about this woman
that's perceptive to the eye that could be imitated by man.
She didn't just leave the water pot sitting at the well, she
left Her water popped. She didn't need it anymore. She
didn't need it anymore. You see, this is a picture of
that which is represented by fasting. This is really fasting. I was at the doctor's office
recently, had to go over and get some tests run. And I was
kind of complaining a little bit. I'd been fasting, supposed
to fast for 12 hours. By the time they got me in, I'd been
fasting about 15. And I don't do that much. I hadn't had anything
to eat in about 15 hours, and the lady said, I'm fasting too,
but it's not for that purpose. And I wanted to say to her, you
ain't fasting, honey, you're just talking about it. That's
what our Lord said, isn't it? If you tell somebody about you
didn't fast. Fasting, she said, I'm doing with everything except
coffee. That ain't fasting either. No, that's not fasting. That's
just acting religious so somebody will see it and brag on you.
More than that, so you can brag on yourself before God. Hold
on, Brother Don, don't talk like that. I want to destroy your
refuge of lies. No, no, no. This woman found
something that so overwhelmed her soul. that she never even
got the drink of water she came to get and didn't want it any
longer. Did you get that? That which
she thought was necessary, that which she thought she had to
have, that which she presumed must be taken, And therefore
she came out in the middle of the day to draw the water. Suddenly she left it and didn't even think
about it. Didn't even think about it. Love
not the world. Neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the father
is not in him. Our brother Don, you surely don't
mean to think that she never got him a water drink. Surely
you don't think I said that. Surely you're not that dumb.
No. All the things of this world
that we use, we now use for our Redeemer. and don't try to steal them from
God's hands to use for ourselves. This woman left her water pot
sitting by the well. She came with one thing in mind,
a pot of water. But now she had Christ, living
water, bubbling up in her soul. Once she had tasted that the
Lord is gracious, She knew He is all I need. The disciples, when our Lord
called them, come follow me. Do you remember
what they did? David, they left the nets. Now,
that wasn't a rod and reel they left back there. That was the
nets. They left their business. They
left their livelihoods. They left the only means they
had by which they could and would sustain themselves. They left
everything and followed him. And when they got to thinking
about it as we want to do, Master Peter said, we've left all and
followed you. What are we going to have? And the Lord Jesus looked
at him and said, that's right. You left all and followed me.
Now, lacked ye anything? Lacked ye anything? Nothing,
Lord. Nothing, Lord. I hear people
talking. I get letters. People find out
I'm a pastor and they want to come serve the Lord. It's strange. It's always for
a price. And they're going to help us to evangelize for a price. And they're going to come here
and brag about what they gave up to follow Jesus. I'll tell
you what you do. You've heard me preach this morning.
You hear me preach the gospel of God's grace. If you want to
brag about what you gave up for Jesus, go pick it up and take
it to hell with you. Because you ain't left it yet.
You ain't left it yet. No, no. This woman left a water
pot. Not a word said. Not a word said. She left to water pot because
the Lord God had set himself in her heart. And he who sets
himself in our hearts, sets our hearts upon him. Here's another
token of her conversion. This lady, and now she is a lady,
She is described in Revelation 14 as a chaste virgin in Christ. This lady, oh, this pure chaste
lady now has a deep concern, a personal concern for others. Up to this point in her life,
like everybody else, this woman had known a lot of people. She
had known a good many all too well. And she had given pleasure
to many, but she had been a benefit to none. Everybody she touched, everybody
she influenced, everybody who passed by her door, everybody
who came into her house, everyone who sat at her table, everyone
who was in any way affected by her, her children, Those that
she called her husbands temporarily. The people around her. Everybody. All she did for them is show
them how to destroy themselves. All she did for them is take
them by the head and say, come, follow me to hell. And now, immediately, she says, Skip Gladfelter, come see a man. We've heard all our lies. We've
heard all our lies about a man. A man who's the Messiah. We've
heard this and that about him. Come see this man I met today.
A man who told me all things that ever I did. I don't have any idea what all
the Lord said to her. John just gives us a little bit.
But he said enough to her that he told her everything she is.
Everything's in her heart. She said, now boys, this has
got to be the Christ. This has got to be Him. Go children
of God, home to your family and your friends as our Lord Jesus
told the Gadarene. And tell them. Tell them. Tell them I'm a Calvinist. I
don't give a flip about that. Tell them about God's predestination
and God's sovereignty and convince them. Don't be bashful about
speaking the truth. But if you want to minister to
folks, don't go home and argue religion with them. It won't
do them any good. Even if you convince them, go
tell them what things the Lord has done for you. Brother Dodd, I can explain the
election to men like you do. You don't need to. Can you explain
what it is to be forgiven of all sin? Can you tell somebody
what it is to be without guilt before God? Can you tell someone
what it is to have such righteousness before
God? By the merit of Christ the substitute,
through his obedience and his blood, through his death and
his satisfaction of God's justice. What it is to lay down at night
and think, well, maybe I'll never wake up in this world
again. Oh, that'd be good. Can you tell anybody what it
is to have peace with God? Tell them what it is to have
experienced God's saving grace in Christ the Lord. This is all
she does. And you know what they did? They
said, let's go see what she's talking
about. And they went out and they said, now we believe. Not
because you told us what it was to be forgiven. Not because you
told us what it was to have your sin exposed. Not because you
told us how he told you. But now we believe because he
told us to. He spoke to me the wondrous words
of his grace. Children of God, give yourselves
to making Christ known to sinners. Let me tell you how the gospel
first came to Korea. One of these days, I'll find
out who. Several years ago, 20 years ago,
Someone asked for permission to translate one of my books
into Korean in Seoul, Korea, and I never gave him permission.
The book was translated, never saw it, never heard from him
again. But there are folks who today in that pagan land believe
God. Back in 1866, there was a Welshman
by the name of Robert Thomas. He was working in China. He was
a Bible salesman, a book salesman. They called them co-porters.
They'd go door to door selling Bibles and books. And he became
very, very concerned about the folks in Korea. And he, working
with the Scottish Bible Society, got boxes of Bibles, put them
together in boxes, and got on board a ship from China to Pyongyang,
Korea, a large city in the northern part. As the ship got near the
harbor, the Koreans attacked the ship
and burned it. The crew was murdered. Brother Thomas managed somehow
to get to shore with a few Bibles in his arms. And as they were
clubbing him to death, he shoved them in their hands. The word for that is Ye are my
witnesses, saith the Lord. The word for witness, I think
David was asking about Fox's book of martyrs recently. Tremendous
book. And we place large stock by the
martyrs for the faith. You know what a witness is? The word is martyr. Martyr. Someone who lays down his life
willingly in the cause. That's what it is to be converted.
Ron, it is to lay down your life at the master's feet. Lord, hear my, I'm yours. Oh, may God do that for you.
Amen.