We should turn back to John chapter
four. We're going to observe the Lord's table tonight. And
I am going to bring a message from Genesis 44 entitled, The
Heart of the Gospel. The Heart of the Gospel. I am bringing this message this
morning with the expectation that everybody in this room will
believe. Oh, I'd expect that. It's the
truth. And it's my prayer that no one
leaves this room without believing the gospel. If you knew, you'd ask, he'd
give. I suppose this could be said
about every other scripture as well, but there's never been
a sermon preached that would do the verse of scripture I just
read justice. And after I'm finished preaching
this message, that fact will not have changed. Pray for me and pray for yourselves
that the Lord will speak. If you knew, you'd ask and he
would give. In verse nine, then sayeth the
woman of Samaria, how is it that thou being a Jew askest drink
of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealing.
with the Samaritans. Now, the Lord gave her an answer
she was not expecting. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, God's gifts have no strings attached. They're free. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink. If you knew thou wouldest have
asked all who know ask. without exception. Thou wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." This verse begins with the word,
if. A conditional conjunction. If you knew, you would ask. If you do not know, you will
not ask. If you knew the gift of God and
who it is that's saying this to you. Now the Lord knew at
this time that the woman does not know. She was ignorant. She didn't know who he was. And the Lord says, if you did
know. Now, let me make a statement
that I want you to listen to real carefully. Did you know that we're not saved
by our knowledge? And we're not saved apart from
knowledge. We're not saved by what we know, and we're not saved APART from
knowing. The scripture that comes to my
mind is John chapter 8, verse 32, where the Lord says, You
shall KNOW the truth. If you're saved, you know the
truth. There's no such thing as someone who is saved that
does not KNOW The truth. You shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free. Notice he doesn't say your knowledge
of the truth will make you free. The truth himself shall make
you free. The truth is a person. The Lord said, I am the truth. If the son shall make you free. You're free indeed. Now, let
me repeat that. Your knowledge of the truth won't
save you. You will not be saved without
knowing the truth. All who are saved know. Our Lord
said in John chapter 17 verse 3, this is eternal life. that
they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1 12,
I know whom I have believed. I love it when Paul says in Romans
chapter 8 verse 28, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to His purpose." How do you know? Because we know God. This is
consistent with the character of Him that we know. That's why
we know that all things work together. For good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Don't miss that. God is a God
of purpose. The Lord says, if you knew, and
he knows at this time, this woman does not know. If you knew the
natural man does not know. Now he believes in the existence
of God. Everyone's born with that belief. He doesn't know God. He doesn't
know the character of the living God. Like Bartimaeus, he's blind. The beggar sitting by the wayside,
blind. He couldn't see. He was plum
blind. That's you and I, by nature.
We can't see the true character of God. We can't see the gift
of God. We don't know the giver of the
gift. We're ignorant. If you knew,
we're ignorant. I think of what Paul said in
Romans chapter 10. Listen to this scripture carefully.
Speaking of the Jews, the people who supposedly knew God. He said,
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now this is where every natural
man is. That's why men judge God. That's why men get mad when
they hear the gospel. That's not fair for God to elect
some and pass by others. How could that be fair? They're
ignorant of God's righteousness. And here's what happens when
someone's ignorant of God's righteousness. Romans chapter 10, they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, they go back to establish their
own righteousness. They go back to establish a righteousness
that they think will obligate God to save me. I've done this.
Now respond. You need to do that. That's a
complete ignorance of God's character. For me to think that there's
something that I could do that would cause him to respond to
me and do something for me is a manifestation of ignorance. Ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness. They've
not submitted themselves. to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Do you understand that? Christ
is the end, the goal, the termination of the law for righteousness. Now, in their ignorance, he says,
this woman if you knew, she didn't know the character of God, In
their ignorance, men will make a God that does not exist, or
they will say God does not exist. I suppose one's as bad as the
other, aren't they? A God that does not exist, or saying that
God does not exist. Men are born not knowing God,
if you knew. Men are blinded by the God of
this world. Paul said, if our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. Now this
blindness that men have is a willful blindness. Don't miss that. It's a willful
blindness. None so blind as they who will
not see. But it's a blindness nonetheless
that men do not know God. If you knew. If you knew. I love the way salvation
in 1 Timothy 2.4 is described as coming to the knowledge of
the truth. If you knew. Faith is defined
in Titus 1.1 as the faith of God's elect. You know, all of
God's elect have the same faith. I love that. Don't you? Every
believer believes the same thing. You know, all these different
denominations and somebody's got a greater corner on God than
the other. That's a bunch of foolishness. All of God's people
believe the same thing. The faith of God's elect, the
acknowledging of the truth. That's what faith is. It's the
acknowledging, it's the embracing of the truth, the truth of God's
true character, the truth of me, what I am, the truth that
Christ is everything in salvation. Listen to this definition of
repentance found in 2 Timothy 2, if God peradventure will grant
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. You know what repentance
is? Somebody says, repent of your
sins. Sin's never good, but you know the Bible never says that.
Not once. You need to repent of your sins.
Well, you tell me what that means. Here's what the scripture says.
It's repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is a change of mind
regarding the truth. You used to didn't believe it,
I do now. That's what repentance is. I
didn't used to believe God was absolutely sovereign. I do now.
I didn't used to believe God elected a people. I do now. I
didn't used to believe that Christ effectually accomplished salvation.
I thought there's something that I did that made what he did.
I don't believe that anymore. Repentance is the acknowledging,
the embracing of the truth. There's no salvation. There's
no faith. There's no repentance without
the knowledge of the truth. Now, the Lord says, if you knew
the gift of God, the gift, you know, God's gift
is like no other human gift. With God's gift, There's literally
no strings attached. God's gift is utterly and completely
free. God so loved the world that he
gave. His only begotten son Whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? God's gift for There's not one
thing you can do to earn it. There's not one thing you can
do that will make him respond to you. It's his free, free,
free gift. The wages of sin is death, the
gift of God. Nothing you can do to earn it,
nothing you can do to lose it. It's his free gift. Gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you knew the gift of God,
you know Christ is called the unspeakable gift. A gift so gloriously
free and so great that the vehicle of language cannot sufficiently
describe this gift. He's the unspeakable gift. There's
no way I can speak as well as I ought to of Him. I'd love to,
but He's beyond that. He's the unspeakable gift. Listen
to this. We read in Romans chapter 5 verse 17 of the gift of righteousness. Now do you hear what that is?
That means you don't do something to be righteous. It's given to
you by God. And if He gives you this righteousness,
it's yours. The gift. of righteousness. To her, it said of the church
in Revelation 19.8, to her was granted that she should be arrayed,
clothed in fine linen, clean and white. This is the righteousness. This fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. Now that's the righteousness
of Christ. that God closed the believer with so that it becomes
the righteousness of the saints. That's my righteousness. Here's what salvation being a
gift means. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8
and 9, for by grace are you saved. Amen? 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. If you think that your faith
is the product of your will, you've got something you can
boast in and you won't enter heaven that way. Not of works. Lest any man should boast. Second Timothy 1.9 says he saved
us and he called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works. Whatever God gives you, it's
not in response to something you've done. Not according to
our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Everything in our experience
of salvation is his gift. If you knew the gift of God,
the free gift, not given to you, even because you asked for it.
Now, if you have it, you'll ask for it, but he put the asking
in your heart. That's his gift. Even the desire
to know him is his gift. If you have faith, he gave it
to you. If you have a new heart, he said
a new heart also will I give you. If you have repentance,
He gave it. If you have love to Him, it's
because He first loved you. Everything you have, everything
I have by way of experience is His gift. If you knew the gift
of God. Ephesians 2.10 says we're His
workmanship, created. Only God can create. People talk,
well, they're really creative people. Well, I know what people
mean, but that's, no, only God creates. Created in Christ Jesus
and two good words, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. If you knew the gift of God. Paul said in Romans 11, 29, the
gifts and callings of God are without repentance. If you knew
the gift of God. And look what he says next in
verse 10. If thou knewest the gift of God
and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink. If you knew
not only the gift, if you knew the giver. You see, it won't
do any good to know the gift and not know the giver. If you
knew who it is that sayeth to thee, give me to drink. Now, I want to ask you a real
simple question. Do you know who Jesus Christ
is? I'm not asking you. if you have
a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm not asking
you that. I hope you do. But if I ask you
that, you know what you're gonna think about? Your relationship.
You're gonna think about the stuff going on in your heart,
what kind of relationship you have. You're gonna start looking
within, you're gonna start looking to yourself, and it's just going
to obliterate the view of Christ altogether. So I'm not saying,
do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? I'm saying,
do you know who he is? I'm so glad David read that passage
of the thief on the cross. There's a man who went up to
that cross not knowing who Jesus Christ was. And during his time on the cross, he found out who he is. We see that in the way he rebuked
his buddy. Don't you fear God? He knew who
Jesus Christ was. He's God. Don't you fear God? Seeing you're in the same condemnation,
we indeed justly, we receive the due reward of our deeds,
but this man hath done nothing amiss. How do you know he knew
who he was? If you know who he is, you know
he can't sin. You know he can do nothing amiss. And then he
looked at him hanging on the cross with the blood pouring
down and you couldn't even see his face. And he said, Lord.
How did he know he was Lord? He knew who he was. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. You're not going to stay dead.
You're going to come back as a mighty reigning king. Remember
me when you come into your kingdom. How did he know that was going
to take place? He knew who he was. if you knew who it is that's
saying to you, give me to drink. You see, salvation is coming
to know who he is. Colossians 2.9 says, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Do you know that? Do you know that He's the Creator?
Do you know He's Lord of all? He's your Lord. Whether you know
it or not, He's your Lord. Everybody that knows He's Lord
knows that. He's Lord both of the dead and the living. He is
the one who controls every event. He's the only Savior of sinners.
His righteousness is the only righteousness God will accept.
Do you know that? Do you know who He is? Do you
know that His precious blood is enough to make you perfect
in God's sight? Do you know who He is? The Lord
said, if you knew who it is that says, give me to drink, what
would you do? Look at our text. If thou knewest
the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give me to
drink, what would you do? You have asked him. And listen
to me. Everybody that knows him asks. And if you don't ask, you don't
know. Everyone who knows, here's what
they're gonna do. They're asking. You know he's
the only source. You ask. And I think this helps
us to understand what this thing of asking means. The same word,
ask, in the Greek is translated by six or seven different words
in the King James Version, all of which give a little bit more
light as to what that means. Ask is also translated beg. You know when you beg? When you don't have anything
to pay. You'll beg then. When you don't have any other
options. When you have nothing to bring to the table, you'll
beg. It is also translated desire. You desire him, don't you? It's
translated require. Do you know I require for Jesus
Christ to do everything for me? I require that. I mean, I don't
have anything else. I require that. I'm asking. Everyone that asketh, receiveth. Is that true? Of course it is. God's word is true. Everyone
that asketh, receiveth. He that seeks, finds. If you knock, it shall be opened
to you. Now don't anybody look at God's
absolute sovereignty as a reason, well, what's the point in asking?
What's the point in seeking? If only the elect will be saved,
if Christ died only for the elect and accomplished their salvation,
what's the point in asking? What's the point in seeking?
Don't say that. I think of that Syrophoenician
woman, when she came to the Lord and said, Jesus, our son of David,
have mercy on me. My daughter's grievously vexed
with the devil. Did she just say, well, it's
all pointless. She kept crying. She kept crying. If you want mercy, nothing's
going to stop you. She kept crying. And then he said, I'm not sent,
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't come
to save everybody. You know what the scripture says? Then she came and worshiped him.
You'll only worship someone like that, really. If that's not the
God you worship, the Christ you worship, you never worship, period.
This is the Christ of the Bible. Then came, she worshiped him,
said, Lord, help me. And he said, it's not right to
take the children's bread and throw it out to the dogs. She
said, if I ever heard the truth, that's it. I'm a dog. That's
the truth. But the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. Ask like this woman did. You
won't be turned away. If you knew. You'd ask. And he would have given the living
water. Living water. Water associated with spiritual
life. Life from the dead. If you would
ask, if you knew, you would ask. And
he would give you living water. Now, this ought to be such an
encouragement to every one of us. I ask, he'll give. He's never turned away anybody. that asks. Well, this dear woman
in verse 11, she still didn't know what he was talking about.
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, and his children,
and his cattle? All she understood was H2O. That's
it. She had no idea what he was talking
about. This well's deep, how you gonna get the water? And
then the Lord says in verse 13, and what a statement, Jesus answered. I love the way the Lord answers.
Here's the way I would have answered. Are you an idiot? Do you really
think that that's what he's saying? That's the way I would have answered.
The Lord's so gracious. Jesus answered and said unto
her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. You drink
the water from this well, you don't want tomorrow you'll be
thirsting again. It won't last. You can say this with regard
to every human activity. You will thirst again. You may have all you think you
want of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the
pride of life, but you'll thirst again. You will. You have your religion. It doesn't leave you satisfied.
You're thinking, is there something missing? Is there something I'm
not doing? Is there something I've missed?
You'll never be satisfied in religion. If you try to find
your satisfaction in your home life, your family life, you're
going to find reasons to be dissatisfied. If you get all your goals and
objectives and reached it, you're still going to thirst
again. I don't, if you get all your career goals, you'll thirst
again. If you make all the money you
ever need, you'll still need a little more. You'll thirst
again. You can write this down on every
human activity. I don't care what it is. You
will thirst again. But, whosoever, that's one of my favorite
words in the Bible. I got several favorite words,
but this one stands out because I'm a whosoever. Doesn't say if a believer drinks or if a elect
drinks or whosoever, whosoever don't, whosoever shall call the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him. shall never thirst. Not going to be thirsting for
something else. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Now what does that mean? to never
thirst again. I'm interested in that. And I
have to ask the question, what does it mean? Because one of
the Beatitudes is, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness. And it's a good thing to always
be hungering and always be thirsting. I'm scared of not hungering and
not thirsting. David said, my soul thirsts for
God, for the living God. I want to always thirst for Him,
don't you? I want to thirst after His righteousness. I want to thirst after His presence.
I want to always be poor, and I always want to be needy, needing
Him, always hungering, always thirsting. So what does the Lord
mean if it's a good thing to be always hungering and always
thirsting? And it is a good thing. It's the only way to be. What
does he mean when he says, whosoever shall drink of the water that
I shall give him shall never thirst again? Turn with me to Colossians chapter
two. Verse nine, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily and you are complete in him. There's nothing to thirst for. You are complete in Him. Nothing to reach for. Nothing
missing. Nothing lacking. You are complete. Complete. Nothing to thirst for. Nothing you don't have. In Christ,
you are complete in Him. Are you satisfied with that? Are you satisfied? I think of Paul's five questions
in Romans chapter 8. Turn with me there. Verse 31, what shall we say then
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Are you satisfied that if God's
for you, no one can be against you? Verse 32, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not?
What could possibly prevent him from freely giving us all things? Freely! If he spared not his
own son, what's gonna prevent him from giving you all things?
Are you satisfied with that? Verse 33, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. God
justified me. I didn't justify myself. God
justified me. Nothing can be laid to my charge. Are you satisfied with that?
I mean, plumb satisfied. What he says next in verse 33
or verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Are you
satisfied with that answer? The death of Christ, the resurrection
of Christ leaves you nothing to be condemned for. Are you
satisfied with that? Look what he says in verse 35.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Are you satisfied
that you can't be separated from the love of Christ because it
is love? Question, is God completely satisfied
with what Christ did? Look in the tomb, who's there?
No one. You know why? God was satisfied
with what he did. He raised him from the dead.
Are you satisfied with what God is satisfied with? That's the
satisfaction. Are you satisfied with what God
himself is satisfied? He is infinitely satisfied with
the person of his son and the work of his son. When he raised
him from the dead, he said, I'm satisfied with what he did. I
need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died. And that he died for me. Satisfaction. You drink of the
water of the gospel, you won't be looking for anything else.
You will be satisfied to be saved by Christ alone. Christ is all
you have, and you're satisfied with that. Christ is all you
need, you're satisfied with that. Christ is all you want, and you're
satisfied with that. Back to our text in closing, John chapter 4, verse 14, but whoso 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 into everlasting life. Not only shall I not thirst,
but I shall have a well of water in me, springing up unto eternal
life, a life that shall never die. And when they put this body
in the grave, and it can't be too much longer. The life that I now have will
continue to live eternally in the presence of Jesus Christ,
beholding his glory. Father, I will that they which
you have given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. That well of water is going to
be springing up eternally, the living water of the gospel. The Lord said in John chapter
seven, verse 37, if any man thirst, let him come to me. Not to the preacher, not to the
front of the church. not to anything else, let him come to me and
drink. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in the name of your
son, that you would give each person
in this room the grace to know your gift and the giver of the gift. Cause us to ask. And Lord, we know in asking you
give. Lord, how we thank you that salvation
is your work. It's not some man trying to talk
another man to some kind of position, but that you speak that you reveal. And we ask that you would reveal
yourself to each of us according to your will. In Christ's name,
we pray. Amen.