Thank you, David. John chapter
4. The Lord Jesus is speaking to
this Samaritan woman whom he has come to save by his grace. This woman who had five husbands. This woman who was profligate
but religious. This woman who had come out at
noontime to draw water hoping to be seen of none because she
was such a woman of disrepute. But this woman who had been the
object of his devoted eye from eternity and the time has come
now when she must be called by his grace. Verse 10, John chapter
4, 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 that living water? Three things are clear here.
What a blessed gift is described. Living water. Not just water. Water that is full of life. Water that springs with life. that gives life and flows out
to life. What a wondrous giver. The Lord
Jesus Christ said, if you just knew the gift and who's talking
to you, you'd ask of me. And what delightful terms. Ask
and you shall receive. This text before us was inspired
and written here in the book of God specifically to teach
us these things. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
grace, all salvation, all eternal life in Himself. He has it for
sinners. He has grace, salvation, and
eternal life in Himself, but not for Himself. He has it for
sinners to give it away. to give it freely to all who
ask of Him. And He gives it to every sinner
who asks. Did you get that? That's my message. I'm going to come at it from
every direction I can in the next half hour, 45 minutes. I want you to get it. Christ
has all grace, all salvation, all life in Himself. He has it in Himself for sinners
to give away. And He gives it to every sinner
who asks Him for it. If you knew the gift of God,
and you knew who this Christ is, you would ask of Him, and
He would give you living water. Living water. the waters of grace,
salvation, and eternal life. This is the doctrine of the gospel.
This is the message of the Bible. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit give
you a thirst and cause you today to come and drink of this living
water. If you ask, if you ask, oh, if
you ask Him, The Son of God will give you that water, and you'll
walk out those doors today with a well of water springing up
in you unto everlasting life. You'll walk out those doors with
the Spirit of Christ, of God of life in you. When our Lord
Jesus spoke to eternity-bound sinners, Did you ever take notice
how simply he spoke? These days preachers love to
impress men with their learning. And people are spellbound because
every time they hear a fellow preacher, I've got to go get
a dictionary and look up something else. Our Lord spoke to folks generally
in two and three syllable words. Nobody ever had to get a dictionary
and look up the meaning to a word he used. And that wasn't because
he was an illiterate man. That was because he intended
not to impress men but rather to convince them. His purpose
was not to impress men with his abilities or with his brilliance
or with his learning. His purpose was to convince men
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. So he spoke plainly
to the hearts of men. I fear that far too much preaching,
far too much preaching, far too much preaching, is designed to
impress men, not to convert them. God keep me from such evil. I want by the wisdom, grace,
and power of God the Holy Spirit, that which he alone can give
to speak to your hearts for the glory of God and your soul's
everlasting good. So I pray he will give me your
heart's attention as I endeavor this morning to answer this question
this poor woman put to the Son of God. whence hast thou that
living water? That's my subject. Whence hast
thou that living water? The Lord Jesus told her plainly
that if she had known the gift of God and who he is, she would
have asked him and he would have given her this living water.
Now I'm fully aware of the fact that she did not know the full
implications of what he had just told her. She was not aware of
the full implication of what he had said, not yet. But she
obviously understood that he was talking about something different
from the waters that gathered in that well naturally. He was
talking to her about water bubbling up with life. bubbling up with
life from a constantly renewed and a constantly renewing source. He was talking to her about some
kind of an artesian well of water. And therefore she asked a very
reasonable question. She said, whence hast thou that
living water? Now let's look at this. First,
our Lord Jesus here uses the words living water. to describe
God's gift of grace, salvation, and eternal life, that which
comes by the power and grace and operation of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, turn back to Isaiah chapter 12. This is the way God's salvation
is often described in the Word of God. Isaiah chapter 12. You remember that our Lord is
spoken of in Zechariah chapter 13 as being a fountain, a fountain
of water open for sin and for uncleanness. In the day that
a sinner is quickened by the Spirit, in the day that the sinner
is called by the grace and power of God's Spirit to faith in Jesus
Christ, there is open before his eyes opened before his own
mind and heart and understanding this fountain for his cleansing,
for his uncleanness, and that fountain is Christ. Isaiah chapter
12, In that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee, though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my soul. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore, with joy in that day,
in joy, with joy, shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Our Lord Jesus stood in the last
day, the great day of the feast, and said, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Here our Lord uses these words,
living water, to describe the whole work and gift of God's
grace in salvation. And the comparison is very suggestive. I hinted at this a few weeks
ago, preaching to you from John 4. Let me give a little bit of
detail to what I hinted at earlier. Water is a gift, a gift from
God. It's something no man can create. If we have water, God must give
it. That's the way it is with God's
salvation. If you have it, God has to create it in you. God
has to give it. The wages of sin or death, that's
something you earn. The gift of God is eternal life. If you get God's salvation, He
must give it to you. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works lest any man should boast. Water is vital. It's not something
that's optional. It's not an add-on luxury to
life. Water is indispensable to life. No one can survive without it.
So it is with God's salvation. Without God's grace, God's salvation,
God's spirit, we must forever perish under the wrath of God. Here's the third thing. Water
meets a universal need. It's not a requirement of some
men, but of all men. All the sons and daughters of
Adam stand on equal footing here. Everybody's got to have water.
Doesn't matter how poor you are or how rich. It doesn't matter
how uneducated and illiterate you are, or how smart and how
well-educated you are. It doesn't matter whether you're
black or white, male or female, without water you're going to
die. And without Christ, you're going to die forever. Christ is vital. You've got to
have Him. He's the one thing needful. He
is that which you must have, without which you cannot survive.
All who are without Christ are lost. All who have Christ are
saved. All who are without Christ are
without grace, without life, and without hope. All who have
Christ have grace, have life, and have hope before God. Fourth,
water comes down from heaven. It's not of the earth and earthly,
but from heaven and heavenly. And so is God's salvation. Jonah
made that statement that's so often quoted and so little understood.
Salvation is of the Lord. The psalmist said the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Salvation is God's. It is that
which He planned. It is that which He purposed.
It is that which He purchased. Purchased by the sacrifice of
His own Son. It is that which He performs.
Performs by omnipotent, irresistible grace. It is that which He preserves
and He perfects and He will have all the praise for it. It is
for the praise of His glory that He saves sinners. And fifth,
God's salvation. is well described by the word
water because water, like salvation, is a gift with many, many benefits. It cleanses the filthy. I remember well what it was like
to be filthy before God. I remember well what it was like
to try to cover my filthy nakedness with fig leaves of my own making,
do you? I remember how ashamed and dirty,
how vile and repulsive as I stood naked before God with no cleansing
and no hope of cleansing. Have you ever been so dirty that
you're just ashamed for anybody to be around you? Not just dirty
so that you can see the dirt. Dirty so you can smell it. Yeah. Wait, let me get cleaned up.
I don't want anybody to see me that way. I don't want to be
around anybody like that. And I sure don't want you to
see me that way. That's what it's like for the sinner convinced
of his sin. before God Almighty in guilt. And Christ, with his salvation,
by his Spirit, makes us clean. Clean. Clean in our own eyes? No. No, no. Never, never, never. Clean before God, so that God
himself looks upon us and smells the sweet savor of Jesus Christ
as he embraces us. Water is cleansing and so is
salvation. Water cools the fevered brow and God's salvation cools the
fever in our souls. Water quenches the thirsty and
Christ is that water Once you drink of him, you will never
thirst again. Water refreshes the weary and
satisfies the soul of man. So Christ the Lord refreshes
and strengthens our weary souls and satisfies us. Sixth, water
is something of which we never tire. I don't know of any drink I don't
get tired of drinking after a while. Even coffee. After a while, you
just don't want it anymore. I've never in my life refused
to drink water. Not good water. Never in my life. Even when I just had a thirst,
just had a drink just a second ago. Now, I grant you may get
tired of drinking the water that comes out of that fountain back
yonder. It's run through a lot of chemicals before it got here.
You may get tired of that stale water you buy in the bottle at
the store that's been sitting there for a while. But I defy
anybody to walk by a mountain stream with water just shooting
out of the rocks. Try to walk by one and not take
a drink. If you've ever tasted it, I promise you, you will stop
and take another drink if you get drenched doing so. It's just
good. And you never tire of it. Chosen
sinners never tire of Christ and His salvation. They never
tire of His electing love, never tire of His redeeming blood,
never tire of hearing about His righteousness, His grace and
His salvation. They never tire of divine pardon
and divine forgiveness. And water, water like God's salvation
is sovereignly distributed where He will and when. We've been
dry here. Everything's parched. The ground's cracking open. Everything's
brown, kind of ugly, because we haven't had any water. Just
a few miles up the road, we drove over to Indiana with the grandchildren
Friday. Everything's luscious and green. I mean, just beautiful. Everything's just as green as
it can be. How come? Because God sent them water,
and it didn't send any here. How come? Because he would. That's
all. What are you going to do to make
it rain? Just try. Just try. Do whatever you want
to. Go ahead and try. You can do
all kinds of magical dances. You can get your stick and try
to find some water. Whatever you want to, you're
not going to get it, except God sends it. Now, I'm telling you,
that's the way it is with God's salvation. As he sends rain,
Sometimes in places now and then, so in some places he pours out
his grace now and then. As he completely withholds water
from some places, so he completely withholds the gospel of his grace
in some places. And as he pours out water profusely
in some places, seems to rain all the time, so in some places
it seems. He pours out His grace continually,
but He does so where He will. He gives His salvation to whom
He will. He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So then it is not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. I know folks don't much like
that, but that's all right. Folks don't much like God. It's not a matter of them not
liking God's sovereignty, Bobby. That's not the problem. Your
buddies and mine who hate God's sovereignty, their problem is
they hate God. That's the problem. Those are fighting words. I know.
Just tell a fellow. I know that. I've been doing
this a while. The problem is not that they
hate God's sovereignty. They love sovereignty if you
let them be sovereign. They hate God who is sovereign. Now, our Lord in this text speaks
of this living water as coming only from Him. If you would have
this water, you've got to get it from Christ. Let me show you
two things here. I'll move on to the next point.
God salvaged this thing called grace. and eternal life are in
Christ, only in Christ. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. John tells us of his fullness,
have all we received grace for grace. For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in Him. How complete? 1 Corinthians 1
verse 30. But of Him, of Him, that is,
by the work of God alone, are you in Christ. He put you in
Christ in eternity in election. He put you in Christ in time,
giving you life and faith in Him, so that you are in Christ. You are in Christ, who of God
is made unto us wisdom. He's personified as such in Proverbs
chapter 8. Get wisdom and you get life. Get Him who is God, the Word,
the wisdom of God, and you know God. And apart from Him, you
can't know God, who of God is made unto us wisdom. righteousness. Well, what kind of righteousness
is that? Whatever kind that is. Whatever
kind of righteousness there is, whether you're talking about
personal righteousness in you, if you have any, it's Christ.
Not something you perform, but Christ. If you have imparted
righteousness or imputed righteousness, it's Christ. If you have righteousness
before God, it is Christ. He is of God, made unto us righteousness
and sanctification. and holiness. He is that new
man created in us. He is that holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord and redemption. And redemption here
is not talking about just His dying upon the cross, though
it certainly includes that. It's talking about the whole
of God's salvation. It's talking about the complete
deliverance of our souls from the wrath of God and from the
curse of the law and from sin itself by the blood of Jesus
Christ our Lord into everlasting glory by blood atonement, by
the power and grace of His Spirit, and at last in resurrection glory. That according as it is written.
This is the reason for this. This is the reason why God saves
sinners like he does. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That means, Rex,
whatever you and I have before God, God did it. God did it. Well, that doesn't leave any
room for man to boast. You understood exactly that, didn't you? You
read that exactly that way, didn't you? There's no room here for
human boasting. No room for the boasting of the
flesh. No room for preachers to boast or people to boast.
Just God to have praise. A form of godliness will do you
no good. You've got to have Christ. A
religious experience without Christ is damning to your souls. You've got to have Christ. All
the knowledge in the world without Christ is absolutely useless. You must have Christ. Here's
the second thing. This salvation, it's all together
in Christ, and it is the gift of God. I gladly run the risk
of appearing redundant. I repeat myself deliberately.
Hal, I want you to see salvation is God's gift to sinners in Christ. You can't buy it. You can't earn
it. You can't put yourself in a position
more favorably to receive it. You can't get it by someone else
giving it to you or someone else talking you into it. It's God's
gift. I know in these days of Religious tomfoolery. Preachers
try to sell Christ to sinners like a man trying to sell you
a pair of shoes with a hole in the bottom. And they'll show
you all kinds of stuff, try to convince you that you got to
have Christ. We often hear fellows being so
foolish they compare preaching to sales work. I used to do sales work. I was
good at it. I was a good salesman. I'm not
trying to sell Christ to anybody. No. I'm not here hawking off
the Son of God like an auctioneer trying to hawk off his goods
on you. No, no, no. No. I'm not going to try to get
you to come down to the front of the church and let me talk
you into making a profession of faith. That's only damning
to your soul. It's not saving. Well, preacher,
how do sinners get God's salvation? opens the windows of heaven,
and drops down the bucket of His grace into your poor heart,
you'll get it. And if He doesn't, you won't.
It's just that simple. Salvation is God's gift. Thanks
be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Now, let's look at this
question. Whence then hast thou that living
water? How is it that Christ alone has
grace and salvation and eternal life in himself? How is it that
he alone has this grace, this salvation, this eternal life
to give to needy sinners and no one else and nothing else
does? It's true salvation is the work of the triune God. We
read plainly in Ephesians 1 and many other places in Scripture,
almost everywhere in Scripture we read of God's salvation. It
is described as the work of God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. The Father planned it, the Son
purchased it, the Spirit performs it. And yet this salvation cannot
be given to you by God the Father or God the Spirit except by God
the Son. Salvation comes only by Christ. This salvation is the work of
God the Son bestowed upon you. Whence then hast thou this living
water? First, Christ has it because
He's the only fit person. God couldn't give you salvation. Can't do it. Not in his absolute
being as God. He can't forgive sin. Read what
he says of himself in Exodus 33 and 34. He says, I will by
no means clear the guilty. How can God embrace a sinner? How can sinners be reconciled
to God? That's what I've been trying
to declare to you the last several Sunday nights. God Almighty cannot
come to us and we cannot go to him but by a daisman who is able
to lay hold of God and lay hold of man and bring the two together. And that daisman is Christ the
mediator, the one mediator between God and man by whom alone we
must be saved. Did you ever notice how careful
the writers of Holy Scripture are in referring to the Lord
Jesus? Almost always The New Testament
writers refer to our Savior in the most reverent declaration
of His name and character. Seldom ever, seldom ever do you
hear the Lord Jesus Christ spoken of as most religious people talk
about Him today, let alone the blasphemers on the streets. I'm
talking about people in pulpits and Sunday school classes and
religious folks. They talk about Jesus. You know, me and Jesus
got a good thing going. Buddy Buddy Jesus, Jesus. I'm reluctant to say there's
something evil about that, but there's something evil about
the attitude that Jesus and you are on a par. Something evil about that attitude.
Our Lord's disciples never spoke to Him and called Him Jesus.
Never. Not in this book. But don't they
refer to him historically as they write of him in the New
Testament? Four Gospels, yes. But you won't find Peter walking
up to him calling him Jesus. No, doesn't happen. You'll find
the Apostle Paul doing so, addressing him as our Redeemer in glory. No. Seldom do you find him spoken
of as Jesus. Often he is called by his title
Christ. That is the anointed, the Messiah. He is often called by the title
Lord, but most commonly he's referred to this way, the Lord
or our Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be damned. The Lord's coming.
He has all salvation in himself because he's the Lord. Who should
have it but the Lord? Salvation is of the Lord. The
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Salvation is his to give because
he is Jesus. Jehovah, our Savior, who came
into the world to save His people from their sins. His salvation,
that which He has in Himself, is His to give to sinners because
He is the Christ, the Anointed One of God. On the day of His
immersion in the River Jordan, as He came to John symbolically
to fulfill all righteousness, the Spirit of God descended upon
Him in the form of a dove and abode on Him. God gave his spirit
without measure to him. He was anointed thereby with
the oil of gladness above his fellows, just as the prophet
said. He is also that one who has living
water by divine purpose. He who is the Lord Jesus Christ
is the mediator and surety of His people because He was so
ordained of God from eternity. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Jesus Christ who verily was ordained before the foundation
of the world for us. And third, Christ has this living
water in Himself, this salvation to give to sinners because He
obtained it by blood. When He had by himself he purged
our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. And when he entered in once into the holy place with
his own blood he obtained eternal redemption for us. And now he
sits upon the throne of glory having redemption for somebody. Having eternal redemption in
his hands to give to needy sinners. the Lord Jesus. Turn to Hebrews
chapter 7. The Lord Jesus Christ has grace, salvation, eternal
life, living water for poor needy sinners because of his intercession
in heaven as our high priest. Hebrews 7.25. Wherefore, since
we have this great priest, Wherefore, because he lives in heaven as
our mediator, he is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come to God by him. Come to God by him. Right now. Right now. Oh, God help you. Come to God by him right now.
Can you do that, Bob? Right now. Come to God by him.
He'll save you to the uttermost. save you from all sin to all
glory, save you from all death to all life, from all the curse
to all the blessedness of heaven's eternal life. Read on. He's able
to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him for this
reason, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
He ever lives in glory to make intercession for those who have
come, are coming, and shall come to God by Him. For such an high
priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who needeth
not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, no need
for another sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for
the people's. For this he did once. One time
he offered up sacrifice for our sins when he offered up himself
and God accepted the sacrifice. Now, I want you to hear one more
thing. Oh, God enable you to hear it,
to believe it, and to act upon it for Christ's sake. This living water is yours for
the asking. Ask and you shall receive. Is that not what our Lord told
this woman back in John 4, verse 10? Jesus said to her, if thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, Thou wouldest have asked of him, and if you
had asked, he would have given thee living water. He doesn't have grace, salvation,
eternal life, peace, pardon, and forgiveness for himself.
He doesn't need those things. He has grace in all its fullness
that he may give it away freely. The only reason he has it, Bob,
is to give it away. The only reason he has it is
to give it away. Can you get that? Oh, I wonder
if Christ is willing to save sinners. The only reason he exists
in his glorious being as the God-man, our Savior, is to save
sinners. He has this salvation to give
it away. Christ is the living water. The living water of grace and
salvation for thirsty sinners. He has this living water in inexhaustible
fullness. He promises to give it to all
who ask Him for it. And it doesn't need anything
from you. Not even your water pot. This woman got the water,
and when she did, she left her water pot sitting on the well.
Turn to that passage I read to you earlier in Revelation 22, verse 17. The Spirit and the Bride, God
the Spirit and all redeemed sinners say, come. Oh, poor, needy sinner, come. Oh, my soul, come. Come, my brothers
and sisters, to the fountain and drink. The Spirit and the
bride say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely. I'm a little thirsty. I think I know who poured that
glass of water. I think it was poured for me. But in as much
as it is set before me, and within the reach of this hand, and I'm
thirsty, I'm not going to bother asking who it's for. I presume it was put there for
somebody who's thirsty. Must have been for me. I'm not
thirsty anymore. Must have been for me. Has God
the Spirit set Christ before you? Do you want him? Have a drink. And never thirst again. Never thirst again. Shelby read
something to me the other day, a week or two ago. One of the old writers said,
I've been drinking from this well for so long now, I could just
put the whole well to my lips and drink. For 42 years, I've been drinking
from this well. And I don't want any other. Christ
is life. Drink and live forever. Amen.