In John chapter 4, beginning
at verse 1, we read, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees
had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than
John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples, he left
Judea and departed again 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. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
to drink. for his disciples were gone away
unto 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. Now the title of my message this
morning is He Must. My text will be verse four. we
read, and he must needs go through Samaria. Though our Lord is obliged
to do nothing, yet as our surety, the Son of God obliged himself
to perform specific deeds of mercy, love, and grace in order
that he might bring his people unto everlasting glory with himself. In these opening verses of John
4, which we've There are several lessons which are very obvious
and evident, lessons the Holy Spirit would have us to gather,
I'm certain, from these verses. The first is this. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, that man who lived and died upon this earth to save
us from our sins, is himself the omniscient God. We read the
Lord knew. He knew how the Pharisees had
heard that he made and baptized more disciples than John. Now,
the primary purpose of John's gospel is to show us that Jesus
Christ, the man, is indeed himself God Almighty in all his glorious
attributes, in all the fullness of his being. And so John never
misses an opportunity. He never slides by an opportunity
to give us these just nuggets docked here and there. Without
saying anything, calling attention to it, he just says, the Lord
knew. He knew. Nobody told him. Nobody informed
him what was going on, but he knew. He knew because he is God-omniscient. before whom all things are naked,
God omniscient before whom darkness is light, God omniscient from
whom nothing can be hid, not even the thoughts of your heart.
In fact, He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows
what you are. He knows what's in you. He knows
what you're capable of as well as everything you think. Imagine
that now. Hypocrisy is folly. It's just
utter foolishness. He knows. He knows. And all men will be called to
judgment, not just on the basis of what they do or what they
think, but that which he knows concerning them and what they
do and what they think. He knew that the Pharisees had
heard He knew the Pharisees were in a rumble. He knew the Pharisees
were upset and disturbed. That brings us to the second
thing. He who is God our Savior is the omniscient God himself. Understand that. He who brings
in everlasting righteousness for men as a man must be a God-man,
one who is God and man in one person. He who obtains eternal
redemption by the shedding of his blood must himself be God
as well as man. But secondly, the religious world
is now, always has been, and shall be as long as time shall
stand. Opposed to God, His Son, His
Gospel, and His people. Now that's not occasionally the
way things are. That's always the way things
are. Mainstream religion. Folks all
the time ask me, you know, what you believe is not in with mainstream. Well, I take that as a compliment.
Mainstream religion has ever been opposed to the worship of
God. It's always been that way. Now, I know you'll hear fellas
who either are, you know, dreamy-eyed with regard to history or misinformed
about history, and they'll say, well, there was a time when most
people believed the gospel of God's grace. There was a time
when most people believed the things we do, when most churches
believed and most churches preached them hogwash. I defy anybody
to show me such a time in history or such a place on this earth.
That's never been the case. I recognize that from the beginning
it was not so. When two brothers came to worship
God, the first two brothers who lived upon the earth, Cain and
Abel. Cain did that which was the way
of the world. He came before God and brought
the works of his hands. And God rejected him. Abel came
and brought a sacrifice that God himself had made. And God
accepted Abel. And because Abel honored God
by faith, because Abel put everything about his soul's destiny in the
hands of God Almighty, and exposed his brother's sin. How dare he? Now he didn't stand up and shake
his fingers at him, saying, now King, you ought not be a drunk. King,
old boy, you ought not been fooling around with those harlots. King,
you ought not been a dope head. You ought to have wore long pants
and titty shorts. None of that stuff. What did
he do? He simply worshipped God. He
said, King, there's only one way to come to God. You come
to God with blood atonement, with a sacrifice God's made.
King hated him for it. You mean I'm not good enough
for God? You mean to tell me that God will not accept me and
my works? I'll kill you. And he did. And it's been that way ever since.
The seed of the serpent is set to destroy the seed of woman
if he can't. Many times, you young people,
you start dating folks and you think about marriage and all
those things. You know, they don't know the
Lord, but you know, I love them so much. I believe the Lord had
me married. You're fixing to marry yourself
a lifetime of misery. That's what you're fixing to
do. Didn't marry yourself a lifetime of trouble unless God overrules
your folly. During the days when Enoch walked
with God, there was found a man named Noah. After Enoch was translated,
a man named Noah. One man in all the earth who
worshiped God. One man. One man. Surely you don't mean to suggest
that everybody else was lost. One man worshipped God. Everybody
else went to hell in his wrath. Noah and his family, and his
family was preserved because Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. But Noah alone worshipped God.
They came out of the earth, and Noah's cursed son had a cursed
son by the name of Nimrod, a mighty rebel against God. What does
name mean? It's a panther, a rebellious panther. This man, Nimrod, said,
fully on Noah and his God, fully on the covenant God made, fully
on blood atonement, fully on this idea of salvation by God's
hand alone, come on, let's build us a tower, and we'll make a
name for ourselves and kiss God goodbye. That's what the religious
world been doing ever since. Ishmael, Abraham's son, represents
bondage and law. The fact is, throughout the ages,
during this day when our Lord walked upon the earth, and in
this day in which you and I live as well, all men by nature set
themselves in the religious path of this world, which seems right
unto a man. but the ends thereof are the
ways of death." Everybody. Everybody. You see, all men by
nature are idolaters. All men by nature are will-worshippers. All men by nature attempt to
somehow mix their works with God's work for God's acceptance. Well, it just stands for reason.
How many times have you heard language like that? Now, it just
stands for reason. If a man's moral and upright
and honest and pays his bills, and another man's a drunk and
a murderer and an adulterer, surely, surely those two men
aren't the same in God's eyes. Oh, yes, they are. Oh, yes, they
are. They both walk after their own
way. They both fulfill their own lust. They both live in rebellion
to God Almighty, pursuing what they want, not His glory. You
understand what I'm saying? We're sinners. We live in sin,
and God won't accept our sins, no matter how pretty we make
it look to other men. He will not accept man. It seems
right to a man, but I'm telling you, the end of the ways of death. Death. A poison in this cup of
religion from which all men by nature drink. In the Old Testament,
throughout the history of the Old Testament, God's people were
in the minority, Bobby, even among those who professed to
be his people." Here's this little band of Jews. This little band
of Jews. They're out worshipping God in
the wilderness with a pup tent. I mean, it was a big pup tent,
but it was just a pup tent. It's called the Tabernacle. And it
wasn't pretty. It was covered with badger skins.
Badger skins, that's not the prettiest animal in the world.
It's just a tent. Unappealing, unattractive dead. Where y'all going? We're gonna
worship God. Isn't that thing? You can't worship
God anywhere except right there at his altar. Now, wait a minute. Haven't you seen our temple?
Man, haven't you seen our $650,000 pipe organ? Haven't you seen
our stained glass window? Have you not heard of our preacher?
He's Dr. So-and-so. He graduated from
this university and that. He went abroad to study. He's
smart. Yeah, we know all about that,
but the only place you can worship God is down here. You can't be
serious. The only place you can worship
God is where God says he'll be worshipped. And the only way
you're going to worship God is the way God says he'll be worshipped.
No other way. No other way. Yet even among
those people, those who truly worship God were few. How many
prophets were there in Elijah's days who spoke for God? Prophets. How many prophets were there
in Elisha's day who spoke for God? The prophets in Jeremiah's
day turned against him. The prophets in Ezekiel's day
turned against him. And it was the religious leaders
who took this man Paul and threw him in the prison of whom we
read earlier in 2 Timothy 2. This is exactly the way we see
things in this passage before us. The Pharisees here in John
4 heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John the
Baptist. Oh, we can't have that. We can't have that. The Pharisees
were the religious leaders. I mean, these fellows, they were
the The upper muckety-muck of religion, they were somebody
in the eyes of men, and in their own eyes especially. And even
in this early time of our Lord's public ministry, they were obviously
plotting to get rid of him. You see, they were jealous because
he was getting a following. It was bad enough they had to
put up with John the Baptist, but here was a man getting even
more attention than John. One who was obviously in league
with John. And the Pharisees were threatened by his influence.
They felt uncomfortable, threatened. Oh, we can't have this. Hirelings are easily threatened.
They're easily threatened. And most preachers are. They're
hirelings. Somebody talked to me about calling
a pastor and said, we're going to hire us a pastor. No, you're
going to hire you a hireling. You don't hire a pastor. These
Pharisees were threatened, and they were threatened because
they knew they were hirelings. They knew they didn't serve God.
They knew they didn't minister for the glory of God. They knew
they had no concern for the welfare of the people, and therefore
they were threatened. You see, if a man is sent of
God, you can't make him uneasy in doing what he's doing. It
can't be done. It can't be done. When I preach
to you, you better be careful. It's like saying sickum to a
dog. I remember years ago, I read about John Gill. He was writing
a treatise on baptism and a number of his subscribers, that is folks
who supported the publication of his books were pedo-baptist
and someone said to him, said, you must not publish this. It
will offend your subscribers. He said, don't talk to me about
money. I'm set for the glory of God,
for the truth of God. But these Pharisees were threatened.
They feared losing their position, their power, their prestige,
their name as religious leaders. And the Lord Jesus, more than
that, was looked upon them as a man, you know, a little less
than they were. After all, he didn't graduate
from any of their seminaries. He didn't have any of their degrees.
And to make it all worse, man, he comes from Nazareth. And you
know no good thing can come out of Nazareth. No prophet can come
out of Galilee. This fella, he's from down the
other side of the tracks. He's a nobody. He's a nobody. Oh, I get so tired of hearing
folks talk about it. These days, you know, We're all
politically correct. We don't dare say anything about
black folks or anything about the Indians or don't say anything
about fat folks. Don't say anything about anybody.
But you got to be sure you make folks understand you're not like
other folks. You know, we're from up here. We, our family, we go here. This
is where we live. This is what we do. God hates
pride. I don't care how you try to cover
it up. God hates pride. They answered and said, Art thou
also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee
ariseth no prophet. Nothing of a good came to them.
But primarily they despised his doctrine because our Lord openly
exposed and rebuked their hypocrisy. Their traditions, their customs,
their doctrine, their inter-religious ritualism. He said, you, by your
traditions and by your customs, make the word of God of no effect.
You hold your Bible in your hand and you sing blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine. And you talk about grace, you
talk about salvation, and then you start imposing your customs
and traditions on men. And you start showing yourself
before men. Make folks think you're religious.
Make folks think you're good. And now, now, by your traditions,
The Bible you're holding in your hand, you just as well tear it
up and throw it away. You make it non-effect. Now look at the verses 1 and
2 again. When therefore Jesus knew how the Pharisees had heard
that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though
Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples. Well, that's interesting. Here our Lord teaches us something
about believers' baptism. It is an ordinance of God, but
notice the order that's given. The Pharisees knew that Jesus
made and baptized, not baptized and made disciples. Do you see
that? He made disciples, then he baptized. And the order is never reversed,
not in this book. It is never found in this book
that folks were baptized as babies and then made to be disciples
later, or they were baptized as a nation and then made to
be disciples later. Oh, no. Baptism has nothing to
do with salvation except as a picture, as a confession, except as the
public identification of God's people with Christ, His gospel,
His word, His ordinances, and His truth. It is a public commitment
of the believer to walk with Christ in the newness of life.
I urge you to understand what you said before God Almighty
and before these people when you were buried with Christ in
baptism. I'm buried with Him. I'm living
with Him. And now I'm going to walk with
Him. I'm going to walk with Him. going to walk with Him in the
newness of life. I mean it. I mean it. I want to tell you something. You can take that half-hearted
if you want to. God Almighty doesn't take it half-hearted.
My daughter and son-in-law sitting there, that girl gave herself
to you. You wouldn't take it lightly
if she acted otherwise, and I wouldn't blame you. Oh, no. She made a vow, a commitment,
an obligation of life to that man, to him. Let me tell you
something. 33 years ago, I made a vow, a
commitment, an obligation of life to Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, as His. I lifted my hand cost what it
will. I can't go back. And yet our
Lord Jesus didn't baptize anybody himself. Look at that. Jesus
baptized not but his disciples. How come? To make us understand
that the baptism, the meaning of baptism, the character of
baptism has nothing to do with the person performing it. When
I'm out of the pulpit, I want so much always to have the Lord's
table every Sunday evening, especially when I'm not here. How come?
Because me serving it, me being here, has got nothing to do with
it. And me baptizing somebody has got nothing to do with the
merit of baptism. Baptism is not in the person
doing the baptizing, but in the person being baptized and the
reason why. That's what it is. Jesus didn't
baptize anybody. I expect Judas baptized a bunch.
He jumped at the opportunity. Look here, boys! Look what the
master lets me do. I get baptized today. Here's another lesson. Religion
without Christ makes people even more proud, bigoted, and mean-spirited
than they are by nature. Look at the last line of verse
9. The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Here are these Jews, especially
the Pharisees. Boy, they prayed three times
a day. Fasted twice a week. They carried, they didn't carry
a New Testament in their pockets you see through the white shirt
man, they carried a family Bible. They wanted you to see them. They wanted you to hear them.
They were religious. They had the word of God. They
had the oracles of God. And right down there, right down
there, I mean it's right across the road, there's some Samaritans. It'd been hundreds of years now,
but hundreds of years ago, there was some conflict between Jews
and Samaritans. Back during the days of the Assyrian kingdom.
And the Samaritans had always hated the Jews and Jews had always
hated the Samaritans. And those fellows would not carry
their family Bible down to the Samaritans and show them the
truth of God. They wouldn't think about ministering
to them. Now if they want to come up here,
we'll talk about it. But we ain't going down there.
No. You see, religion without Christ is the most obnoxious thing in
this world. That's the reason most of the
world's religion is just obnoxious. Just obnoxious. I'm not talking about believers,
I'm talking about religious folks. They're the meanest, proudest,
most dishonest people I've ever come across in the world. I mean,
I started experiencing this when I was 17 years old. The meanest,
proudest, most dishonest people I ever had to deal with are religious
folks. Bible college professors, Bible
college presidents, folks in the church, preachers, everywhere.
The meanest, most dishonest people I ever met in my life. Religious
folks. Everybody wants to make a show
of religion. I try my best. And you folks, please don't ever
introduce me to a stranger as a preacher. Don't do it. Because everybody starts acting
religious. You know, there was somebody in my family who used
to go to church. You know what? My daddy used to be a preacher.
You know, I go to church, so and so. What's your pastor's
name? Well, I don't remember right
now. But I start acting religious. Let me tell you something about
Christianity, Bobby. And you're an example of it.
Live for God's glory. But don't show it to anybody.
You understand what I'm saying? Folks, I want folks to see, I
want folks to see that I love the Lord. You can't make them
see it by what you do. You make them see it by what
you are, the way you behave. Meetin' folks and, well, let's
pray! I was out playin' golf one day with a preacher. It's
been years ago. A fella who, we sat playin' golf. I mean, right in the middle of
the golf course, right in the middle of Paris. Well, let's pray! I
feel like prayin'. And he knelt down there and I
wanna go hide. I just, I want folks to know I'm a Christian.
No, you want folks to know you're religious. There's a difference. There's a difference. You don't
act like a Christian, you live like one. You live like one. Notice this too. Jesus left Judea. Light refused is sure to be taken
away and will become darkness and add to your condemnation. That's right. You who go to hell, stopping your ears, covering your, you who go to
hell as it were, pushing against God and pushing against life
and pushing against the gospel and say, no, I won't have him. Oh, how horrible will be hell. indescribable. But the purpose of God won't
be altered. If you go to hell, it'll be your
fault. There's no question about that. God would save you if you'd
believe on his son. God would save you if you'd obey
his voice. If you go to hell, you will,
as God says, eat the fruit of your own ways and be filled with
your own devices. But your unbelief won't alter
God's purpose. Your unbelief won't hinder God
in his work at all. Our Lord left Judea for the damnation
of the Jews, but his leading them, Merle, carried him down
to Samaria. Look at this. He must needs go
to Samaria. He takes the unbelief, the darkness,
the blindness, the willful rebellion of the Jews and uses it, Ron,
to carry the gospel down to Samaria because there's a sinner down
there whom he loved from eternity. whom he redeemed with his precious
blood as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world,
whom he was going to redeem on his way now to redeem at Mount
Calvary, and one for whom the time of love had now come. And
he must, needs, go through Samaria. He must. He doesn't say he might. He wants
to. He's hoping maybe things will
work out so he can. Oh no, he must. Now just in case you have trouble
understanding the English language, that means he must. He must. This was not a thing that he
might or might not do, but a thing that he must do. Why? Because
the time of love had come. Because God purposed it for eternity. And now the time has come when
this one whom he purposed to save must be called by the one
who comes to purchase her with his blood. He must go through
Samaria. Somebody said, but, you know,
he must go through Samaria because that's the only way to get down
there. I'll grant. I'll grant that. There was another
way. The Jews, the real strict Jews who walk all the way around
come back up to get down to Galilee from Judea rather than coming
close to the Samaritans. But most folks just went straight
down to Samaria. So he went there because of that. Okay. But who do you reckon it
was that arranged for that to be the path to Samaria? Who do
you reckon it was that arranged for that path to be the most
direct path from Judea to Galilee? It was God's sovereign providence
that built the road to go to Samaria and God's sovereign grace
that compelled him to go down. Because the time had come when
he must come to this Samaritan woman like he did to Zacchaeus
of old. You remember? Zacchaeus was up
in the tree. He came to see Jesus out of curiosity,
but the Lord Jesus came to see him out of infinite love. And
he came to a place where Zacchaeus was, and he looked up and he
said, Zacchaeus, come down. Reckon whether or not you're
going to come down. If he comes to you, you'll come
down. You'll come down. You might now sit and say, no,
no, I won't have him. You may feel as though he's knocking
at your heart's door and you say, no, I won't let him in.
Oh, but if it comes to this must, he'll smash your door to smithereens
and he'll make himself welcome as he comes in. Zach, he has
come down. How come? For today, listen now,
listen. Oh, I pray it so for you. Today, I must abide at the house
for thou are the son of Abraham. You've been chosen of God. And
I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. Amen.