In our Bible classes this morning, studying the first chapter of
Philippians, we had a verse which declared the Apostle's confidence about
a matter. He said, I'm confident of this
very thing. I'm confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it, finish it,
perform it, complete it, until the day of Jesus Christ. The
Apostle Paul was confident, number one, that God himself began the
work. God had begun a good work. From eternity past, God's purpose
to redeem a people, gave them to Christ, made him their surety. He began the work. And it's a good work. It's a
saving work. Only God is good. Every good
gift comes from God. Man can receive nothing except
it be given him from God. And God hath begun this work
in you. Oh yes, he did a work for us.
Suffered and died in our stead. Perfectly obeyed the law on our
behalf. Imputed to us a perfect standing
in righteousness. He did a work for us before the
throne. But he did a work in us. I put
my spirit in you, shed abroad my love in you, put a new heart
in you. I prevail till Christ be formed
in you. He hath begun a good work in
us. And it's only begun, it's not
finished yet. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with his likeness. when I'm conformed perfectly
to the image of his Son, and that which he hath begun, he'll
continue and he'll finish it. He'll complete it, that he might
be glorified. Everything God does, he does
on purpose. And everything God does on purpose,
he does to its completion, that he might have all the glory.
of these five things, and this is the introduction of my message. As the Apostle Paul expressed
his confidence of this very thing, this is my confidence of five
things. If you want to jot them down,
you may. But here they are. Whom the Lord saves. Every person,
Jew, Gentile, male, female, old or young, whomever, the Lord
saves. He purposed to save them from
all eternity. A dear lady came over to Dr. Gamble's rose garden one day,
his neighbor, and she said to old Dr. Gamble, who's been dead
for many years, she said, Dr. Gamble, she said, you're a Baptist. He said, yes,
ma'am. She said, and you Baptists believe in election, don't you?
He said, yes, ma'am. She said, well, what is election?
What is election? Well, he turned to her and he
said, are you saved? Oh, yes, she said, I am. He said,
who saved you? Well, she said, God did. God
did. God saved me. He said, did he
do it on purpose or was it an accident? Why she said he did
it on purpose. He said, my dear, that's election.
Everything the holy sovereign God of heaven and earth does,
he does on purpose. Them who are called according
to his purpose. I'm confident of that. Known
under God are all his works from the beginning. Nothing new with
God. Nothing new. Secondly, whom the
Lord saves, every one of them, he purposed to save them. Secondly,
whom the Lord saves, he will confront. He will confront. He will cross their path. He
will meet them head on. with the person and work and
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you can bank on
that. Nobody is going to be saved without the gospel. No one is
going to be saved who does not know Christ. Whosoever shall
call out of desperation, out of the depths, as David said,
on the name, the name, that's who he is. That's his attributes,
his name, his character, who he is, what he did, why he did
it, where he's from, where he is now. On the name of the Lord,
not Jesus, the Lord Jesus. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. But how are they going
to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how in the
world are they going to believe on a person of whom they haven't
heard? You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. You can't believe in one of whom
you haven't heard. And how are they going to hear
without a picture? No man can come to me except
my Father draw him. As it is written, they shall
all be taught of God. Every man that hath heard of
the Father and learned of me cometh to me." You've got to
hear of Him and learn of Him before you can come to Him. I'm
confident of that. And then thirdly, I'm confident
of this. All whom the Lord saves will
be confronted and dealt with in heart and soul about the sin
question, the sin problem. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? How can man be just with God? Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. As David said, my sins are ever
before me. Every person who comes to the
Lord will come repenting, confessing, and grieving over sin. Our Lord was eating with the
publicans and sinners one day, and the religious folks came
around and said, to these disciples, why does your master hang around
with folks like that? Why does your master eat with
publicans and sinners? And the master said, The well do not need a doctor,
but they that are sick. I'm not come to call righteous
people to repentance. I'm come to call sinners to repentance. I will have mercy, not sacrifice. You go learn what that means,
and you will. We'll learn what that means.
We'll learn what mercy means. Mercy is for the miserable. Grace
is for the guilty. Salvation is for sinners. Being
found is for lost people. Man lived, be saved, be lost.
If a person misses Holy Spirit conviction, they'll miss repentance.
If they miss repentance, they'll miss faith. If they miss faith,
they'll miss Christ. And you miss Christ, you miss
life. It starts with an awareness of a need. Everyone who came
to Christ while he was walking on this earth came because they
needed him. And everyone who didn't need
him turned him down. That's right. Number four, here's the fourth
thing of which I'm absolutely confident, all whom the Lord All whom the Lord saves will
believe savingly on Christ, receive Christ, and listen, bow to Him. Bow to Him. Lord, my Lord and
my God. Romans 10 verse 9 says, If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be what? My personal
Savior. No, sir. No, sir. There's a lot of folks who've
accepted Jesus as their personal Savior who've never bowed to
Christ as their Lord. And if He's not your Lord and
my Lord, He's not my Savior. A friend of mine one time said,
I know who everybody's Savior is. I want to know who runs your
life, who's your Lord. Confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord and believe in thine heart. God raised him from the
dead. And God raised him from the dead
and exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name
that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is what? Lord, to the glory of God. You come unto me and I'll give
you rest, he said. But when you come to me, you
take my yoke upon you." You know what a yoke is? I've seen pictures
in my early days, but when I went to Mexico several times, I watched
oxen plow and pull carts who wore yokes. The owner makes the
yoke for each individual ox. And that yoke is made carefully
to fit that particular ox. But that ox wears his owner's
yoke and does his owner's wiggle and serves his owner's purpose. And that yoke doesn't chafe or
scar or wound. And that's what my Lord said,
you take my yoke, you're mine, I'm your master. You call me
Lord, you say, well, so I am. You'll call me Lord and master.
And you take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." Not learn from
me. We do learn from Him. You learn
of me. And my yoke's easy. It is for
a fellow who wants it, who loves it. My yoke's easy. It's easy for one who loves his
Master, who knows his Master, who desires to serve his Master,
My yoke is easy. My burden is not heavy. The burden
of this world is heavy. His burden is not heavy. It's
light. And you'll find rest. That's
right. You'll find rest. We were slaves and we're set
free, but we're now bond slaves. Willing, loving, bond slaves
of Christ Jesus. And that's a happy life. My burden
is easy. My yoke is light. That's the
gateway to the Kingdom of God, is the Lordship of Christ. That's
right. Fifth thing I know is this. All
whom the Lord saves will continue to believe, will continue to
follow Christ, never leave Him, and He'll never leave them. They'll
never leave the fellowship of the gospel. Now listen to me.
There's no set pattern. or schedule when these things
take place. We're all different. And you
go through the Scriptures, you'll find that the Lord dealt always
in saving grace, and always in mercy, and always in truth with
sinners. But He dealt differently with
them. And there's no set pattern or
schedule that God follows. Lydia, down by the river, God
quietly opened her heart as Paul preached the gospel. The woman
who followed Paul in that same chapter, 16th chapter of Acts, was a nut, demon possessed. Lydia was a calm, collected businesswoman,
and God opened her heart. But this woman was, wow, filled
with demons, acting up publicly, rolling on the ground. And Paul
cast the demons out of her in God's safety. Philippian jailer,
he's no Lydia. He's no demon-possessed woman
telling fortunes. He's a hard-nosed jailer who
puts men in stocks and dungeons. and sits outside and guards them
till they wither away, hard as nails, fights you at the drop
of a hat. God shook him up, didn't he?
Brought him to faith. Give me a pattern. There is none. There's a person who did it. There's a grace by which he did
it, there's a blood by which he washed them, there's a righteousness
in which he clothed them, but it was all different. And when a person comes to rest
in Christ is of no consequence to me. What's important to me
is has he been brought to rest in Christ. It's not when you came into Christ,
it's are you in Christ. It's not when you believe, it's
are you believing. I know whom. Paul didn't say,
I know when I believe. Peter didn't have the foggiest
notion when he actually believed. He said, I know whom. And Paul
didn't set out a list of doctrines that he believed. I know what
I believe. No. I know whom. I love him. I love him. And you may know the Scriptures
from your youth up as Timothy. But there'll be a time when he'll
conquer you. You'll become his. You may be
a religionist or a legalist or a moralist like Saul of Tarsus.
But there was a time when all that was done. You may be a business cook like
Zacchaeus, manipulating people for your own gain, but there'll
be a time when you'll bow to Him. If I've wronged a man, I'll
restore it fourfold. Salvation has come to this hour.
You may be a harlot like Mary Magdalene, or a thief like that
man on the cross. Or an idolater like Abraham,
a 75-year-old idol worshiper. Or a pagan like the jailer. Or
a moral middle-aged worshiper like Lydia. It doesn't matter. We've all
sinned and come short of God's glory. There comes a time when
self is dethroned and Christ is enthroned. There comes a time
when we're stripped naked of our own righteous works and professions
and deeds and duties and doings, and we're clothed with the righteousness
of His dear Son. There comes a time when we cease
to argue about what we're going to do and we bow to His will. He owns me. I'm His. I belong to Him. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, and them I must bring, and I will bring them. And they will hear my voice,
and they will be one fold and one shepherd, and they shall
follow me." And I find here an example of that grace in John
4, if you want to turn there. It says here, let's just touch
it lightly verse by verse. Verse 4 says, he must need to
go through Samaria. John 4, 4. I hear people give
a lot of reasons why the Lord must need to go through Samaria.
Somebody said it's the shortest route. That may be so. Another said, well, the Jews
didn't go through Samaria because they didn't have anything to
do with the Samaritans. They always went the other way. I'll tell you
why my Lord's going through Samaria. He's got a sheep there. And that's why I'm here this
morning, and that's why I'm preaching this message. Because he's got
some sheep. I'm on the trail of his sheep. Finding some sheep that the Father
gave him for whom he died. And he said, my sheep will hear
my voice. They said, well, if you be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. But you
didn't believe me because you're not of my sheep. That's why you
didn't believe me. You are not of my sheep. My sheep
believe me. They hear me. Alright, verse 5, it said, Then
he 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. And Jesus therefore being weary.
Can you imagine that, Jesus? Weary God. Weary God. Tired. God wasn't weary. the man Christ
Jesus was really. He was a man in all points as
we are. See, to be our Savior, to be
our Redeemer, he had to become a man in every sense of the word. A man who knew what it was to
thirst, to hurt, to be disappointed, To be tested, tempted in all
points as we are, yet without sin. To be hungry, to be weary. He was tired. As I'm tired, and
you're tired lots of times. And he sat down on the well,
he was tired. And listen, down there in verse
8, he sent his disciples into town to buy some bread and meat. Why didn't he make it? When he
fed the 5,000, he took the couple of loaves and five fish and divided
them up and fed everybody. He could do that for others,
but not for himself. He's a man. Our Lord cannot do
one single thing for Himself that I cannot do for myself.
Being a man, that's right. He was a man in all points. Tested,
tempted. He was weary. They drove nails
in his hand and it hurt. And he bled and he died. And he did that for us. But here's
what I want you to see, verse 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. And Jesus said to her, Give me
a drink. You know, this astounds my mind. When I think of the
providence of God, the providence of God that that was involved,
all the things that happened that were involved in bringing
this woman to this well at this time when Christ was sitting
there. It was no accident. God moves
in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. And she came to the well at this
particular time. This particular woman came to
the well at this particular time, His sheep. If one of the children
had fallen down and hurt itself that morning, she wouldn't have
been there. She would have sent somebody else. If the neighbor's
house had caught fire, she wouldn't have been there. If she had gone
to visit someone the day before, she wouldn't have been there. God Almighty is sovereign over
all things. Divine predestination. And He brings us to particular
places and points at an ordained time for a purpose. And she came. And you know something? She was
a nobody. We don't even know her name. It doesn't give a name.
They're coming with a woman. Just a woman. She's one of those
in 1 Corinthians 1.30. God had chosen the things that
are not to bring to naught the things
that are. God had chosen to despise. Disliked. Disliked by everybody. That's the reason she's at the
well by herself. Women didn't come to the well at noon. They
came in the morning or evening to get water to wash with and
to cook with and to drink in the morning. She came at noon
so she wouldn't see anybody. Despised. Foolish. But you know something I read
back there in John 3, there was a man named Nicodemus who came
to the Lord. This was a woman without a name.
Nicodemus was a man of rank and position. This woman was a woman
who drew her own water. Nicodemus was a favored Jew.
She was a despised Samaritan. Nicodemus was a man of morals,
she was a woman of no morals. Nicodemus sought out Christ. He sought out her. She wasn't
looking for him. Nicodemus was looking for the
man called Jesus that he could debate with him a little bit,
talk about theology. This woman wasn't looking for
him, he was looking for her. Nicodemus went away. She stayed. Our Lord told Nicodemus something
he couldn't do. You must be born again. He told a woman something she
could do. You ask me. I'll give you water. Oh, I love
that. That gives hope for all of us,
doesn't it? A bunch of nobodies from nowhere. Well, our Lord's request surprised
her. He said, give me a drink. And
she said in verse 9, now listen, the woman of Samaria said to
him, how is it that you being a Jew ask drink of me, which
I'm a woman of Samaria? The Jews have no dealing with
the Samaritans. It was a great surprise to her.
Among the Jews, it was forbidden to speak to a Samaritan, much
less to ask him a favor. But our Lord said to her in verse
10, listen, if you knew. Oh, if you just knew the gift
of God. If you knew the gift of God,
His grace, His mercy in Christ Jesus. If people just knew. If you knew the gift of God.
If you knew who is speaking to you. This is His Word. Why, He said, you'd ask Me. You'd ask Me if you knew, and
I'd give you living water. It doesn't matter, whosoever.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord. If you knew, if
you knew, if you knew, if anyone knows the gift of God and who
it is that speaks through this Word, you'd ask Him if you knew. If you knew what was there. This
morning, Got up to put the coffee on, walked by the door there,
patio door, and slid it open to kind of see what the weather
was like out there. Our Cardinal, Louie, was in the
crabapple tray, and he was chirping. He wanted some peanuts. I put
peanuts out there for Louie and Louise. That's his wife, Louise.
So before I put my coffee on, I broke some peanuts and threw
them out there, and sure enough, down he came. I went on, got
the coffee ready and put it on, came back, and there was a stinking
little sparrow out there eating those peanuts. And I thought, I didn't put those
out there for you. I put them out there for Louis.
King Louis, got a topknot on his head. Bright and beautiful. With a black mask on like Zorro.
And proud. And here's this sparrow. No distinction at all. Just a
sparrow. He had the audacity to fly down
there and pick up one of those peanuts. But he was hungry too.
And I said, Little Bird, you come on back and bring all your
friends if you want to. It's out there for you. Everybody
wants it. Everybody's hungry. I put it out for Louie. But you're
sure welcome if you're hungry. And my Lord says, welcome. Are you hungry? Oh, everyone
that's thirsty, come on, drink. Well, I'm not thirsty. Well,
I wasn't talking to you. I wasn't talking to you. The
Lord didn't have anything to say to you. He said, everyone
that thirsts, come to the water. Everybody's hungry come take
the bread of life, but I'm not hungry. I wasn't talking to you
Got nothing for you. I got a gospel for the weary
mercy for the miserable salvation for sinners Food for the hungry
come on little bird and help yourself You know a sparrow is not worth
much, but our Lord said not one of them falls to the ground that
the father Really, that's one of the only birds I see him talking
about in the Bible. He doesn't talk about the beautiful
cardinal with his crown. He talks about the sparrow. And our Lord said, if you knew the gift of God, life, forgiveness,
grace, and mercy, you'd ask me. Yeah, you would. And you know
not only that, I'll give it to you. And nobody's ever asked
Him for mercy that didn't get it. I don't care who you are.
Nobody's ever come to my Lord and been turned away if he comes
for the right reason. Never, never, never, never, never.
He likes to show mercy. Eat up, little bird. I've got
plenty of peanuts and Kroger's got a big table full of them
down there. Just eat up all you want. The woman said, here listen,
listen to her. This woman's a talker, she's
not a hearer. Talkers don't learn, hearers
learn. She can't keep her mouth shut. She said, you don't have
a bucket. You think about that. The well's
deep. He dug the well, dear friend. Where are you going to get this
living water? Are you greater than Jacob? Greater than Solomon. Greater than Moses. Greater than
the angels. He gave us the well, and just
think about it. Jacob drank it. We're hero worshippers,
you know. Jacob drank out of this well.
My father Jacob and his children. Boy, that was a bunch of scalawags,
weren't they? But they all drank of it and
that made her proud. That bunch of you Jacob's sons. Good night. He disowned them
one time. But the fact they drank out of
this well gave her some consolation. She's still popping off about
her ancestors and about all these other things. And our Lord said
to her, He said, Woman, whosoever, verse 13, drinketh of this water
shall thirst again. And my friends, you can put that
sign over every earthly well. Whosoever drinks of this water
will thirst again. Put it over your universities,
put it over your churches, put it over your White House, put
it over your social endeavors, put it over education, put it
over your hospital, put it over whosoever drinks and tries to
satisfy himself with the waters of this world will never be satisfied. You see, this water is a product
of your works. My water is a gift. This water
is from the earth. Mine comes from heaven. This
water cleanses and refreshes the flesh. My water cleanses
the soul, refreshes the heart. This water is in a place. My water is within you. You have to come to a place to
get refilled with this earthly water. But I'm the well you take
with you everywhere you go, springing up. This well is going to run dry. Going to run dry. All that brilliant
Stuff you're storing up here, you're going to be like me one
of these days and not remember two-thirds of it. But he never runs dry. He never runs dry. Well, what's
happening here? Our Lord crossed her path. Our
Lord created an interest. I'm talking about Live in water. You drink of this water, you
never thirst again. Now he presents a problem. The
woman said, verse 15, well, you give me this water and I won't
have to come back here and draw anymore. She's still thinking
about this body, this flesh. And our Lord presents a problem.
He said to her, verse 16, go call your husband and come hither. Well, she said, I don't have
a husband. He said, Well spoken. I have no husband. You've had
five, and he whom you now have is not your husband. You said
that for a fact. The problem was not that she'd
had five husbands. She could have had just one.
She'd still be in the same shape, a sinner. The problem was that she had
five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband.
She could have been a woman who'd never been married in her life.
She'd still been a lost sinner. And the Lord would have picked
another area to deal with her. See what I'm saying? The Spirit
of God will pick this area or that area, but He's not obligated
to any one area. He can touch us anywhere and
convict us. We messed up and we sold our
feet to the top of our head. It's not that she had five husbands
that was her problem. You say, well, I've never been
married five times. That don't help you none. You're still as ungodly
as she is. You're still as dead as she is.
You're still as lost as she is. And the Lord, instead of touching
at that area, will touch somewhere else. See what I'm saying? He knows us all. And He knows
where to meet us, sinner. And show him he's a sinner. And
not just outwardly, but inwardly. We all have the same problem.
We're born sinners. By nature, by birth, by choice,
by practice. Got a problem. Got a problem. You know what
she did? She did what, folks? Nearly always
do when you get too close and start getting to them. Start probing deeper, like the Word
of God gets down to the joint in the marrow, down there where
I live. It's like that preacher is preaching
on drinking, and that dear woman was saying, preach it, brother. And then he got to preaching
about cursing. And she said, preach it, brother.
And then he got to preaching about dipping snub. She said,
you quit preaching, go on to meddling now. And that's what
the Lord was meddling. And that's what the Holy Spirit
does. He meddles. Gets down where we are. And you
know what she did? She said, verse 19, I perceive
you're a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain. And you Jews say Jerusalem is a place to worship. You know
what she did? She did what almost everybody
does when they're faced with a sin question, the inability
question, the lost question, the need question, the sovereignty
of God question, the salvation being by the power of God and
the blood of Christ, they turn to religion. Every time. They turn to religion. They'll
talk about where their mother went to church and where their
daddy went to church and where they was raised, you know, in
church. I've been in church all my life. I made a profession
back yonder. I accepted Jesus. That's what
she did. She turned to her religion. She
turned to her form. She turned to her profession.
How sad when in the face of need and the great glory of the person,
We start talking about things, old experiences that stay old. Old experiences. We begin to defend our traditions
and condemn others. She said, our
fathers had the truth. They were Calvinists. Our fathers
are the reforms. We go back to John the Baptist,
etc., etc. You Pentecostals, you this, that,
and the other, you say this. And our Lord said, Woman, you don't know what you worship. You're ignorant. You don't know
God. You don't know the truth about yourself. You don't know
your need. You don't know how God saves
sinners. You don't know the power and grace of God. You don't know
what you worship. Now, as far as Jerusalem and
these Jews, they do know what they worship. They do have the
form. They do have the ceremony. They
do have the accurate doctrine. They don't have Christ. Those
Jews didn't believe on Christ. But you can't turn away from
the foundation. You can't turn away from the
old paths. You can't turn away from truth. The Jews do know
what they worship because salvation is of the Jews. Salvation goes
back down in the house and lineage of David and Isaac and Abraham. And you're not going to get away
from the Old Testament. You're not going to ditch the
Old Testament. You're not going to ditch the truth about the
Jews. and the King David and the priests like Melchizedek. You're not going to do away with
the tabernacle and the sacrifice and the priesthood. Christ came
to fulfill those things and die for our sins according to the
Scriptures. I'm not going to let you off the hook there, he
said. You follow me, Cecil? See what I'm saying? We're not
going to leave our heritage. God works in the heart, but not
apart from the brain. He died and was rose again according
to the Scriptures. But the hour coming, and it now
is, when true worshipers, true believers, true elect, redeemed
people, shall worship the Father, not in a place, in a building,
in a form, in a ritual, in a ceremony, but in spirit, heart, soul, bowels
of mercy and faith, and the truth as it is in Christ. For the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit. He doth dwell
in houses made with hands, and worship with men's hands. That
they that worship him, worship him in spirit and truth. Now
the talker becomes a hearer, her mouth shut. And that's what
God does to everybody whom He saves. Let every mouth be stopped. And all the world become guilty.
And so she says, well, I do know this. When the Messiah comes,
He'll tell us. When He comes, when He comes,
when He comes to this earth, And I say when He comes in the
power of His Spirit, when He comes to our assemblies in power
in His Spirit, when He comes, He'll tell us all things. I'm ready to listen. Well, He
said, I'm here. I'm here. And you know, I'm just
certain of it, He sat there on that well, and talked to her
about her need, not rebuking, he will not always chide, but in love and mercy and grace
he told her how he came to redeem sinners
by the sacrifice of himself, like he told those disciples,
and she believed. Our Father Thank You for this
Word, Your Word. Thank You for Him who came. You
have spoken to us in this day by Your dear Son, spoken to our hearts, and given us faith to believe
Him. Lord, I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief. We rest
in Christ. Trust in Him. Look to Him. for all things. Make this word
to be effectual for your glory and our good, for Christ's sake.
Amen.