Now, you know that old people
have a way of repeating themselves. That is, we tell the same things
over and over again as if we just heard them. But this is
not all bad, especially when you have a story worth telling. I don't mind repeating the story
that I'm going to tell this morning again and again and again. Catherine
Hankey wrote this, tell me the same old story. When you have
cause to fear that this world's empty glory is costing me too
dear. And when God's world of glory
is dawning on my soul, just tell me again that same old story,
Christ Jesus makes me whole. Years ago, fifty-five years ago,
I learned this story. And it blesses me more and more
each time I tell it. And it can be summed up in four
statements. And I find them truer and truer
and more precious every day. The first is this. The salvation
of a sinner is all of God and all of grace. Old Jonah cried
out in the belly of the whale, salvation is of the Lord. And
I've cried that for 55 years. Salvation is of the Lord. And Moses, when he stood between
Israel and the forces of Egypt, he said to all the people, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. The second thing that
I learned is this, that all whom our Lord saves, he will call. He will call to himself. He'll
cross your path. Our God, whomever he saves, he'll
cross his or her path, like Zacchaeus of old. Come down. I'm going
to your house. like the woman at the well of
whom I'm speaking this morning. If you knew the gift of God and
who it is says to you, give me a drink, you'd ask of me and
I'd give you living water. Our God will call all whom he
saves and he'll break our hearts and shut us up to faith in Jesus
Christ. It shall be done. And thirdly,
all whom God saves, he will convince of sin, completely, absolutely, because
they believe not on me. And he'll convince them of righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and I am your righteousness. And
he'll convince them of judgment, because the prince of this world
is judged. For the Son of God has come and
given us an understanding in our hearts, in our minds, in
our souls, that we may know Him that is true, and we're in Him
that is true. This is a true God, and this
is eternal life. And the fourth thing is this.
Listen carefully. Over a period of years, Not suddenly,
not today, not tomorrow. But over a period of years, those
whom he saves and those whom he calls and those whom he convicts,
he'll destroy. He will destroy all false religious
refuges in which they trusted. He'll destroy every human prop
and support upon which they leaned. and he'll destroy all their works
of righteousness and shut them up to the Scriptures alone, Christ
alone, grace alone, and faith alone. One of the old timers
said this years ago, we can all be sure of this, Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus is all to God. Christ Jesus is all to God. And I'll never be reconciled
to that God or accepted by Him until Jesus Christ is all to
me. And like I say, that He accomplishes
through our lifetimes. When I'm shut up only to Christ.
Christ and Christ alone. Let me read you a scripture.
He made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him. Jesus Christ is all things to
God. God hath highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name, that the name of
Jesus every knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess
in heaven in earth and things under the earth, that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That's His objective for me and
for you, to make us perfectly conformed to the image of His
Son. Like the pastor wrote in the
bulletin this morning, I have been saved, I am being saved,
and by the grace of God I shall be saved. And that's when I'll
be saved, as Brother Todd wrote in the Bulletin this morning,
when I am in his likeness and conform to his image. That's
my goal, because it's God's goal for me. Turn to John chapter
four. John chapter 4. I want us to
look at this scripture this morning. Pray the Lord will give me some
liberty and some wisdom and some understanding of the Word. I want to look at and behold
and marvel in the Lord's method of grace in saving the woman
at the well. The woman at the well. Let's
see chapter 4 of John's Gospel. When therefore, verse 1, 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
unto Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Now, I've
read that scripture several times. I've read several comments about
that scripture. He must needs go through Samaria. And people have said, well, that's
the most direct route. He must go through Samaria. Other
writers have said, usually the Jews wouldn't go through Samaria
because they hated the Samaritans so much they'd go all the way
around. But this said, he must. He must. The Son of God must do certain
things. He must be lifted up. I must
be lifted up from the earth and draw all men to me. He must go
through Samaria. You know why? Because he has
a sheep there. That's why he must go through
Samaria. He has one of his own. You know, when Paul was down
in Corinth, And he was about to leave. They were persecuting
him, harassing him, giving him a hard time, and he was going
to leave. And the Lord appeared to him in the night in Acts chapter
18. The Lord appeared to him in the
night and said, Paul, you stay in the city. You stay in Carmel. Don't you leave. I'll take care
of you. I'll watch over you. I'll keep
you because I've got much people in this city. And Paul stayed
there 18 months. And the Lord had much people
in that city. I have much people. That's why
he must need to go through Samaria. Verse 5. Then cometh he to a
city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of
ground that Jacob gave to his son Jacob, Joseph. Now Jacob's
well was there. Jesus, therefore being wearied
with the journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about high
noon, the sixth hour, and our Lord sat down on the well. The disciples had left and gone
to the city to buy some provision, but he, our Lord, was alone,
and he sat on this well. He was waiting for someone. He
was waiting to bless someone. And that someone was a sinner
who lived in Samaria. You see, this is called prevenient
grace. All the old time was talked about
grace, restraining grace and sovereign grace and effectual
grace, but there is prevenient grace, grace before grace. The
Lord knew her before she knew him. He set his affection and
love upon her before she was born. That's right. The Lord
said to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the belly, before you
came out of your mother's womb, I sanctified you and made you
a prophet to the nation. If you look at Psalm 139, if
you would like to, Psalm 139, that's what David is saying here. He says in Psalm 139, verse 13,
Thou hast possessed my range, my soul, my mind. Thou hast covered
me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee because I
am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works,
O God, and that my soul knows right well. My substance, my
being, was not hid from You when I was made in secret. when I
was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine
eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect, and in your
book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them." Our Lord sat down on that
well. Somebody's coming. Somebody whom
he knows and somebody whom he has known always. Now, let's read about her. Verse
7, And there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Let me tell you something about
this woman. If you have read this chapter before, and I'm
sure you have, this woman was a sinner. Bonafide, genuine,
self-confessed sinner. Totally different from the man
in the previous chapter. In John chapter 3, look across
the page. John chapter 3, verse 1. There
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said to him, Rabbi, teacher, we know your teacher comes from
God. No man could do the miracles you do, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
You know, most people, if they read chapter three of John's
Gospels, would think Nicodemus was an ideal candidate for salvation. He was a teacher. He came to
see Christ. He was a man of the law. He was
a Pharisee. He was a powerful man. He was
a moral man. He's so different from this five
times divorcee. Totally different. I'll show you some differences.
He was a well-known man named Nicodemus. We never know who
who she was or what her name was. Unnamed, unknown. He was a man of wealth, a man
of rank, a man of power. She was a woman who came to the
well at noon to keep from seeing anybody to draw her own water. He was a favored Jew. She was
a hated Semitican. He was a man of morals. Law. Reputation. She was a woman of
no reputation. He was a man who sought out Christ,
the Teacher. She came to draw water. That's
all. Had no knowledge of Christ, the
Teacher. And Christ gave Nicodemus an
impossible order. You must be born again. He'll
never do it. He can't. But our Lord gave the
woman a wonderful message. If you'd
ask of me, I'd give you living water. If you'd ask of me, I'd give
you living water. He crossed her path, didn't he?
I said, all whom the Lord says, he'll cross your path. He will, in person, in the person of his prophet,
in the person of his apostle, in the person of his minister,
or some witness, that he'll cross your path. He'll meet you. Well, he got her attention. Notice
this in verse 7. There cameth a woman of Samaria
to draw water, and he said unto her, Give me to drink. The Lord
confronted her with a basic need. His spiritual need and physical
need pretty well go hand in hand. I was telling my wife earlier,
when I was a little bit younger, I could get up and preach a sermon
and study for about 30 or 40 minutes, but it takes me about
a whole week now to get ready to preach to you. It's just different. Physical and spiritual needs
are very close, and that's the reason he said, give me a drink.
Give me a drink. He said to some of his disciples,
Come unto me, and I'll make you fishers of men." I'll make you
fishers of men. Well, let's see what her reply
is. Give me a drink. Then saith the woman of Samaria
to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, which
I am a woman of Samaria? The Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans. Isn't it amazing? Isn't this
amazing? Isn't this amazing? Men have
these matters of life, these things of life and liberty and
the pursuit of heaven, they have them so divided that a simple
request for a drink of water becomes a religious division. A simple request, would you give
me a drink? But how come you, a Samaritan,
ask a drink of me? You, a Jew, ask a drink of me,
a Samaritan? Already a conflict arises over
any matter. It doesn't matter what it is.
And wouldn't our Lord answer her when she has said that? Jesus
said in verse 10, listen, He answered and said, If thou knewest the gift of God,
And who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink? You would ask
of me, and I give you living water." Our Lord's reply, if
you knew. If you just knew the gift of
God. What is the gift of God? This is the record. God has given
us eternal life. Eternal life is in His Son, and
God has given us in His Son eternal life. That's the gift of God.
And he said, if you just knew, if you just knew the gift of
God, you wouldn't be disturbed over all these petty
grievances. If you just knew the gift of
God. If you knew who it is, it speaks to you. God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake to our fathers, where the prophets
hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son." The gift of God, and who's speaking
to you? If you knew your fallen state
and Adam would die, if you knew what blessings he has in store,
he's made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
if you just knew if you just knew. You'd be asking me. You'd be asking me if you just
knew. You'd ask me and I would give
you living water. Ask and you shall receive. Seek
and you shall find. Knock. It'll be open to you. Well, he crossed her path. And
then he got her attention. And then he created an interest.
Watch this now. Watch this. He said, if you knew,
verse 10, latter part, give me a drink, you would ask of me,
and I'd give you living water. And she said, listen, she said
unto him, sir, you have nothing to draw with. He's got her interest
now, hasn't he? You don't have anything to draw
with. You don't have anything dry.
This well is deep. From whence then have you this
living water? Maybe she's a little bit caustic
there. Where did you get this living
water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us this
well, and drank thou of himself and his children and his cattle?
And our Lord answered her. And you put this sign on every
well you come across. You put this sign on every well.
Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again and again
and again and again and never be satisfied. I don't care if
it's Jacob's well that he gave to the fathers or Caesar's well
or Calvin's or the Baptist well, or the well of social reform,
or the Catholic well. Their wells and their water is
the work of men. His water is the gift of God. And whosoever drinketh of this
water, he is going to thirst and thirst till he dies. But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I give him, This water of
these wells will refresh your flesh, but my water will cleanse
your soul. Their water is a place where
you visit. His water is within you, springing
up under everlasting light. Their water and their wells will
all run dry, but my water is eternal. I'll give you living
water. Whoso, verse 14, whoso drinketh
of the water that I shall give him will never, ever, ever thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting
life. He got her attention and her
interest. Now listen to her reply. She
said, Sir, give me this water. Not that I may know God, not
that I may know you, but give me this water that I won't thirst
anymore. I want you to give me this water
so I won't have to come back in and draw water anymore. Give
me this water so I won't hurt anymore and I won't hunger anymore. And I won't suffer anymore. And
I won't cry anymore. And I won't die anymore. Give
me the good old health and wealth gospel so I can have everything
like I want it. Make my physical life more comfortable. That's today's religion. Then our Lord presented a problem.
He crossed her path. He got her attention. He got
her interest. I'll take that water. It'll make
my life so much easier. And then he said, our Lord presented
a big popper, a great big popper. Read this next three or four
verses. Jesus saith unto her, go call
your husband and come hither. And the woman
answered and said, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her,
you have well said I have no husband. You've had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is
not thy husband. In that you said the truth. He
knew her. She's one of his own, you see.
He knew her like he knew Saul of Tarsus, who thought to do
all he could against Jesus of Nazareth. He knew her. Turn with
me to John chapter 1. In John chapter 1, verse 47,
he knew all about her. In John chapter 1, verse 47. And Jesus saw Nathanael coming
to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite, in whom there is
no hypocrisy, and guile. And Nathanael said to Jesus,
Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree,
I saw you, I saw you. You never made a move I haven't
seen you. Never walked a step I haven't
seen you. I've always known you." That's
what he was saying to her. I know you. I know your life. He knew her life and he knew
her efforts to find happiness. She had never found peace and
happiness. She had five marriages and now
she's in a sorry, rotten relationship. with some other fellow. He knew
her. And she really knew this too.
She knew her real problem was not water, wells, or works. It was a heart problem. It was
a heart problem. And nothing in the world can
help her but the grace of God. If she had that run in water,
That never would stop. She'd still have a broken heart,
no peace, no joy. If she did work, if she had such
a home that she never worked anymore, labored anymore, suffered
anymore on this earth, she still wouldn't have peace and joy and
happiness. Nothing in the world can help
her but the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
he said, go call your husband. Go call your husband. Our Lord
forces us. He crossed her path. He got her
attention. He got her interest. But our
Lord forces us to face the fact that we're sinners. Double-died
sinners. We're sinners. before God in
His presence, in His sight, and we'll never find true peace and
joy until we know Him, until He gives us a new spirit, a new
heart, a new relationship. Not going to find it. Somebody asks, well, why did
the Lord touch this area of marriage and divorce? Well, I'll tell
you. If she didn't have the man living
with her, didn't have the other four husbands, still had her
number one husband, if she still had one husband, our Lord would
have turned to another area of her life and dealt with her.
Because we've got thousands and thousands of areas in our life
that he could work on. Go call your husband. If she
just had one, Turn back the pages and turn
to any sin in your life or any attitude or spirit or the things
that you've done or haven't done. He could work on that real good.
Real good. Any one of our faults and failures
could dam us. So he wasn't picking on marriage.
I've known lots of folks that have gotten divorces and had
unhappy situations and then come to know Christ and life be all
made over for them beautifully. Beautifully. It's not just marriage and divorce
that damns us, it's sin. S-I-N. And God's got to put away
our sins. Well, what does she do? What
does she do? The woman said, verse 19, got
it there? Verse 19, Sir, I perceive you're
a prophet. I perceive you're a prophet.
What did she do? She fled to her religious refuge. Watch her now. And everybody
does this. Sir, I perceive you're a prophet. I'm religious. That's what she
said. My father's, look at verse 20,
our father's worshiped in this mountain. You say Jerusalem,
go argue with him again. You say Jerusalem is a place
where men ought to worship. I'm religious. We're just different. You and I are different. I'm
a Jew. You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. You're Baptist. I'm a Catholic. You're this and
I'm that. You worship in this building,
we worship in the mountains. We have this refuge, you have
that refuge. We've had our refuge a long,
long time. She ran to her religion. Every
time the Lord opens her heart and deals with people, that's
the first place they run to. I made a profession years ago. See, I've been baptized Brother
Fortner said one time, they've been baptized so many times,
the frogs know them by their middle name. Run to thy religion. He won't let you rest there. Verse 21, Jesus said to her,
Woman, believe me, the hour is coming and now is. Believe me,
the hour cometh when you shall neither worship neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. He's talking
about his hour. Mine hour has not yet come. Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy Son that thy Son
may glorify thee. The hour cometh and now it is.
You worship you know not what. We know what we worship. Salvation
is of the Jew. That's right. You go back to
the Old Testament and Moses and Aaron and all those old timers
and they loved God and they followed God. Christ was coming. The hour
is coming. But the hour cometh, verse 23,
and now is when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. in spirit and in truth. For God is a spirit and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. And
the woman said, now watch this, she's humbled and she's subdued. The word of Christ is effectual,
always is. Her religion, her religious refuge
is destroyed. She's without excuse. So she
turns to something she heard a long time ago. You know, I was preaching down
in a little town called Appalachia, Virginia years ago. And I preached
this gospel of God's sovereign grace. And a dear white-haired
old man, I was preaching at a free-will Baptist church. A fellow named
Carter was pastor. And he asked me to come down
and preach, and I went down and preached. And I preached this
gospel of grace. And this old white-haired man
came walking down the aisle. I was very young then. And he
said to me, he said, I never heard that before. But he said,
that's the way the Lord saved me. I never heard that before, but
that's the way the Lord saved me. I was preaching in Pollard Baptist
Church, 1952 or 3. And a senator from Kentucky,
John Sherman Cooper, was running for office with Eisenhower's
time, I believe, in the early 50s. And he came to Ashland to
speak, and big, tall, handsome, gray-headed man. He came to Ashland
to speak, and he talked with one of my friends
there who's a circuit court clerk in Ashland, a Republican. And
he said to him on Saturday at that meeting where they were
having a meeting, He said, have you got a Republican preacher
in this town that I could go hear tomorrow? And Gerald Lyons
said, I've got one named Mahan. I said, we'll go. I'll go with you. I'll take you.
I was a member of this church. So he came. I didn't recognize
him. He's in the congregation. We
had a pretty good sized congregation. And I preach this gospel of sovereign
grace. I don't remember the message,
but I always preach the same message, sovereign grace. Let
me tell you something. That white-haired senator came
walking down the aisle when I got through to pronounce the benediction.
He came down, stood before me, young preacher, 28 years old,
27 or 28, and he came down, big tall fellow, He put his hand
on my shoulder. He said, tears in his eyes. He
said, son, that's the gospel I grew up on down here in Kentucky.
The gospel of sovereign grace. And I said, that's the only gospel
there is. And this, maybe he's one of those like this woman.
You know what she said? She said here, the woman said
unto him, I know That Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. And when he's come, he's going
to tell us all things. Oh, he'll cross your path. He'll get your attention. He'll
create an interest. He'll whittle you down, expose
your sins, and then he'll tell you who he is. And He'll tell you who He is.
She said, He's coming to Christ, and He's going to tell us all
things. And our Lord said to her, I that speak to thee, to thee, I'm He. I'm He. And he that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. The wrath of God abideth on him. You see, if you believe not that
I am He, you die in your sins. I don't want to die in my sins.
I want to die in Christ. Don't you? Die in Christ. Find in Him all things. I want Brother Paul
to lead us in the singing of a hymn Number 242, out of my
bondage, my sorrow and I, Jesus, I come. Into thy freedom, gladness
and light, Jesus, I come. Out of my sickness, into thy
health. Out of my want, into thy wealth. Out of my sin, into thy self,
Jesus, I come to thee with power.