I return back to the book of
John, chapter 4. It says in verse 3 of John 4
that our Master, our Master and his disciples left Judea to go
into Galilee, and verse 4 says he must, he must. go through
Samaria. I could take the time this morning
to do what many have done before me, and that is to prove why
the Lord Jesus Christ must needs go through Samaria, because that was the shortest
way, or that was a way around certain places to avoid meeting
certain people. There was a dangerous pathway
in between, and so he must needs go through Samaria to get to
Galilee because that was the safest way to go. But I'm saying
to you that the Lord Jesus Christ must needs go through Samaria
for the same reason that the Son of Man must be lifted up. for the same reason that the
Son of Man must suffer many things and die, for the same reason
He must be about His Father's business. The Son of God must
needs go through Samaria because in Samaria is one of His sheep,
given Him by the Father, chosen before the foundation of the
world, one of His sheep for whom He has been designated the surety,
for whom he will suffer, bleed, and die, one of his sheep whom
he must call to himself." The Lord must needs go through Samaria. He must. You see, a man will
never call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ if he's never
been confronted with the person of Christ. Somebody says, well,
I believe that if that fellow is elected to salvation, he'll
be saved no matter what. Well, you believe a lie because
that's not true. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and
one shepherd. They're going to hear his voice.
Whether he speaks to them in person, or whether he speaks
to them through his preacher, or whether he speaks to them
through his word, But the Lord Jesus Christ is going to cross
the path of his elect in the gospel. How shall they call on
him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? You see, the Holy Spirit is the
agent in the new birth, but the Word of God is the instrument
or the seed. Of his own will begat he us,
his truth. but through or with the word
of truth. Every man who is saved is going
to hear, as Joe Wilson said last night, the truth. The truth. Now, man may be preaching with
a wrong motive and people be saved. But no man is preaching
with a wrong message and sees anybody saved. That's so. Christ is our message. And no
man can be saved who does not hear Christ preached as he's
revealed in the word of God. This is the record that God has
given us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son of God hath life. He that hath not the Son of God,
whatever he has, hath not life. Yes, a man may preach with the
wrong motive. He may even employ a few wrong
methods. But I'll guarantee you, if anybody's
ever brought to the knowledge of Christ, if God sends him to
his sheep, He'll send him with the right message. If the sheep
hear and are convicted and called and brought to Christ, they'll
hear the message. And that message is the Lord
Jesus Christ in his sovereignty, in his power, in his sufficiency,
in his ability, in his effectual intercession. Joe, you're right.
They'll hear the right message. They'll hear the right message.
And so our Lord must needs go through Samaria. I'm glad he
crossed my path. I'm not exalting or praising
a man, but God uses men. Now, you can do what you want
to and say what you want to, but don't make light of God's
men. God uses men. There was a man
sent from God whose name was John. And a lot of folks are
so grateful God sent him. There was a man sent from God
to the Gentiles whose name was Paul. I'm glad God sent him. And one day, 30 some odd years
ago, There was a man God sent my way, rough, rough, not very
polished, not very polite, not very couth, not very tactful,
but he shut my mouth and swept my foundations out from under
me with the Word of God and brought me face to face for the first
time with the gospel, not a gospel, some gospel, but the gospel of
God's grace. And it may be God has brought
you here this morning to confront you with the gospel of God the
Great. It may be the Lord Jesus Christ
today must needs go through Ashland. I sure hope so, don't you? I
sure hope so. He must! He must! He must go through Samaria. And it wasn't because there's
the shortest route either. Don't be a fool. It wasn't because
there were robbers in the way. Don't be naive. Our Lord went
down there and He got there at noon. And He sat down on a well
in a particular place waiting for a particular woman. And the
Holy Spirit brought her face to face with her Redeemer. And
if God ever saves you, He'll bring you face to face with the
Christ of the cross, the Christ of mercy, the Christ of sovereign
grace. Yes, He will. He'll bring you
face to face with Him. He'll bring you to a confrontation,
so don't treat it lightly. I know, I know most preachers
are not worth listening to. Most of them won't bear listening
to. You'd be better off if you didn't listen to them. But there's
somebody, somewhere got God's message. There's somebody, somewhere,
the Lord hath not left himself without a witness. Somebody,
somewhere is preaching the gospel. And I'll tell you this, if I
could find out where he is, if I were you, I'd buy me a ticket
and I'd go there and sit and listen to him. I sure would. Whatever it cost me, whatever
I had to give up, whatever. Actually, you won't give up anything,
you'll gain everything. But I just parked company with
whatever I had to park company with to hear the gospel. This
woman came to that well that day. That day changed her life.
That day changed her future. That day brought her to the knowledge
of Christ. That day brought her living water.
That day brought her a peace she'd never known, a joy she'd
never known, and a happiness she'd never known, and rest she'd
never experienced. That day! That day. When she met Him. Alright. Now
it says here in verse 7, the Lord Jesus Christ was weary with
His journey. Our Lord is God. But our Lord's
a man. And our Lord Thirsted and hungered
and wept and grew weary Christ is God their God of their God
in every way equal with the father Their God of their but he was
a man. He became a man He was tested and tried in all points
as we are yet without seeing our Lord Was a man and he knew
what it was to be weary He was a little more weary than his
disciples because his burdens were heavy Our Lord Jesus wearied
over our lack of faith. He wearied over our sins. He
wearied. The things pressed upon Him more
heavily than upon these disciples. And He sat down on that well.
He was waiting for this sheep. And the disciples went on into
town to buy some meat. And a woman came to this well.
She came. Now, I know a lot about this
woman. Our Lord knew all about her, but I know a lot about her.
Number one, I know that she was religious. I know this woman
was religious because she talks about Jacob, our father Jacob. She talked about Jacob building
the well. She talked about the prophets.
She talked about worshipping in this mountain and you Jews
worshipped in Samaria. This woman was no dummy. She
was religious. She knew something about religion. She had a religious background.
I know that about her. Then secondly, she was a denominationalist. She was a Samaritan. When our
Lord said to her, give me a drink, she said, don't you know that
the Jews don't speak to the Samaritans? Don't you know that your fathers
say to worship down there and our fathers say to worship up
here, therefore we can't have anything to do with one another.
Don't you know that? How is it that you, being a Baptist, talk
to me, a Methodist? Don't you know we don't have
anything to do with one another? Now, you ought to know that. She was
a denominationist. She was a sectarian, very strong
in her beliefs about her denomination. And then this woman was looking
for the coming of the Lord. She was a pre-millennialist or
a post-millennialist or something. She's looking for the coming
of the Lord, Jack. That's right. The Lord Jesus said something
to her and she said, when the Messiah comes, When the Messiah
comes, He's coming. We're looking for the coming
of the Lord. When He comes, He's going to straighten out everything.
When He comes, He's going to bring peace. When He comes, the
troubles are going to be over. When He comes, the warfare is
going to be over. When He comes, everything's going
to be all right because He's going to tell us all about it.
This woman was a religionist. This woman was a denominationalist.
This woman was a a believer in the coming of the Lord. I'll
tell you something else about her I know about. She was no
shrinking violet. She was a very sensual woman,
an extrovert, an outgoing person. She'd been married five times.
She was a very worldly type person. She was at that time living with
a man who was not her husband. A very outgoing, sensual person
who someone said she had a great zest for the things of this world.
There's something else about her. She was a woman that still
had a sense of shame and embarrassment about her failures because she
came to the well not when the other women came. The other women
came to draw water. Now suppose you're a woman and
you've got the day ahead of you. You've got your scrubbing, your
washing, your cooking ahead of you. When are you going to the
well? Well, you're going to the well in the morning. That's when
the women went to the well. In the cool of the day, in the
morning, before they began their day's work. Here it is noon.
Here it is 12 noon. The sun is directly overhead. It's hot. And here she comes. Not a soul there. She comes to
the well. She had a sense of her sin. She
wasn't callous to it. She wasn't totally oblivious
to the fact that she was a woman who was living a life that was
not complimentary or ought not to be. She was aware of that.
She came to the well when she was hoping to see nobody. Nobody. And then I'll tell you something
else about her with all of this. She was religious. She was a
denominationalist. She was steeped in the traditions
of her fathers. She may have been a very strong
doctrinalist. She was a woman who was expecting
God to do something. And she was a sensual, worldly-type
person, an outgoing person. Everybody knew her. She was a
person who gave herself an extremist. She was an extremist. And she had some shame and embarrassment
about the way she lived. If I tell you the main thing
about her, with all of this, she still didn't know God. She
did not know God. She did not know the Lord. She
could use the words. She knew the heritage and the
traditions, and she knew these things about worship, and temples,
and Jacob, and the well, and all these things. She was versed
in religious history, and religious tradition, and religious ceremony,
religious everything, but she did not know God. Now maybe, just maybe, God didn't
give me this message just to fill in this time. or to entertain
sinners on their road to hell, or to prove to you that I'm a
Calvinist or a doctrinalist or anything else. He gave me this
message to preach to somebody. Somebody. And maybe somebody
here this morning that's a religionist. Most everybody is. It's pretty
hard to find somebody that hasn't made at least one profession
of faith. They won't let you out of the junior department
in the Southern Baptist Convention without making one profession
of faith. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said nobody could
go to Bob Jones University for three years and not be saved.
That's an impossibility. They won't let you. They're going
to save you. They're going to save you. No
way that you can get through the... You can hardly go to a
two-week revival meeting without making at least one profession
of faith. Or come to the front and say
at least you're seeking the Lord. They're not going to let you.
Settle this matter in your heart as God deals with you. You're
going to make a profession of faith. The mothers and daddies,
honey, you're ten years old. Don't you think it's about time
you joined the church? Don't you think it's about time you
trusted the Lord? Well, honey, you don't want to grow up to
be a heathen, do you? Mom and daddy are Christians. Grandma
and grandpa are Christians. Anytime you join the church,
time you dug you a false refuge. time you hid yourself in a refuge
of lies, maybe somebody here is real religious. You're not
a stranger to religion. You know the Genesis account
of creation. You know the types and the shadows
and the pictures and the tabernacle and the ceremonies. You know
they've got the Jews and you know about The baby in Bethlehem's
manger. You know about the wise men.
You know about the kings, three kings of Orianore. We enjoy it
to the world. Come all ye faithful. We know
all about Christmas and Easter and all these different holy
days and celebrations. We're very religious. Very religious. We know about sin and salvation
and heaven and hell and Abraham and Moses and Jacob. She did
too. And then we have our denominations.
We used to take religious census. A religious census. Did you ever
take religious census? You knock on a door and you got
three questions. What's your name? How many live here? And what's your denominational
preference? Everybody's got one. I guarantee you, everybody in
Ashland, I don't care how drunk he got last night, he's got a
denominational preference. I don't care how many times he's
been married and divorced, he's got a denominational preference.
I don't care how big a cook he is, he's got a denominational
preference. It doesn't matter. I don't care how much he blasphemes
God, how much he hates Jesus Christ, I guarantee you he's
got a denominational preference. He is Baptist, or Methodist,
or Puritan, or Catholic, or Pentecostal, or Nazarene, or Church of Christ,
or Church of God, or something. Everybody's got... This woman
says, I am a Samaritan, and you are a Jew. We say to people,
well, we worship on Sunday and you worship on Saturday. And
we have our priest and you have your preachers. And we have our
book of prayer and you pray extemporaneously. We sing psalms and you sing hymns. And we are Calvinists and you
are Arminians. And we wear black and you wear white. And we don't
use any instruments, and you use organs and pianos, and we
sprinkle and you immerse. We're very religious people,
and we have our denominations, and we're very sectarian, just
like this dear woman. She said, we worship in the mountains. You worship in Jerusalem. We
do it this way, you do it that way. Maybe somebody here has
got it all figured out how to do it. I'll tell you another
thing. Everybody's looking for the Messiah,
one way or the other. We got us divided up into all
these different camps. We've got the all millennialists
who do not believe there'll be any thousand years reign. We've
got the pre-millennialists who believe Christ will come, tribulation,
thousand years, second another coming, and all new heaven, new
earth. We've got the post-millennialists that believe we're getting better
and we're going to establish His kingdom. We're in the thousand
years. The lady wrote me this week, want to know when I believe
the thousand years we're going to come. Were we in it right
now? I just don't know. I just don't know. But everybody
today has a gospel, everybody has a Jesus, everybody has a
spirit, everybody's got an interpretation of prophecy. We're all aware
of these things. Just like this woman says the
Messiah's coming. He's coming. He's coming. Get ready, He's coming. This
woman knew He was coming. And then we're there, I tell
you, we like she is a lot, in a lot of ways. We're religious,
we're denominationalists, we're sectarians, we're looking for
the Messiah, and we're all pretty much involved in the affairs
of this world. That's right, we're pretty much
wrapped up in what we eat and what we drink and what we wear.
She was too. She's having a ball. We're kind
of ashamed of it like she is, you know. We're kind of embarrassed
about it. Kind of embarrassed about it.
We don't exactly advertise it. We want folks to know we're successful,
but we don't exactly advertise it, you know. We try to put on
a little humility and a little meekness, but we're aware of
what we have and what we are and what we know and what we've
accomplished and where we've been and who we know. We like
to see you. We're pretty attached. We're
pretty attached. We come apart on Sunday morning.
She did too on the Sabbath. They went to the mountain and
played church. And on the Sunday morning, we go to the church
and play church a little bit, but during the week, we're pretty
involved. We're pretty involved. We're like she is, and we're
pretty embarrassed about it. We ought to be more like God.
We ought to be more like Jesus. We ought to spend more time in
prayer. Yeah, I'm no preacher. I ought to read the Bible more.
And I ought to pray more, and I ought to be faithful to the
service, and I ought to, ought to, ought to, ought to. But I'm
too busy. Too busy. She was too. She was
busy. I suppose the one great thing we have in common in this
generation with this dear woman, most of all, is that with all
of this, like her, we don't really know God. Our Lord looked at
her and he said, give me a drink. She said all these things, and
he said, you listen to me, if you knew, if you knew. Oh, step into the average fashionable
church today. Oh, I tell you, men and women
are going through the formality of worship or the fun of worship,
whichever it is, from one extreme to the other, the formality of
it or the foolishness of it. They're giving out their tithes
for the oldest daddy and the youngest daddy and the daddy
with the most children, pinning orchids on folk, shaking hands,
hugging one another, singing their songs, bragging on the
flesh. bragging on how many they had
last Sunday, how many they had this Sunday, and how many more
they're going to have next Sunday. Confessing what they've never felt and professing
what they've never believed. Look into their dull and lifeless
souls and say to them, Oh, if you knew the gift of God. If you knew. With all of your
religion, with all of your denominationalism, with all of your claims to accuracy
Orthodoxy. We're right. We're right. We're
right. I'm so tired of being right, I'd like to be righteous
with you. I'm so right, but I'm so miserable. I'm so past, but I'm so poor,
spiritually. I'm so accurate, but I'm so antagonistic. Oh, if you knew. If you knew. Dear woman, he said, if you knew. If you just knew. Here you come
down here with all your religion and all your denominationalism
and sectarianism and all of your form and all of your so forth
and so on, you know. If you just knew! Gift of God. If you just knew. Go into that
cathedral, there he stands, the ritualist. the ritualist. He's dressed himself in his gaudy
robes. I see them on television, these
pictures. These different robes stand for different degrees,
don't they? Yeah, a lot of fellas know. They know they know, too.
They've got these different robes on. It stands for different accomplishments
and credentials and degrees. And they're up there standing
in all their gaudy robes, and the choir's got on their silly-looking
robes, you know, and all these different things, and they have
their relics. They have their candles and their relics, and
they have all their different religious reminders. They've
got their crosses and their pictures, and flaunting themselves like
dressed-up peacocks in their blue and gold and red. Oh, I
want to say, if you need the gift of God, you put on sackcloth
and ashes. You'd take off those bright,
brilliant peacock feathers, and your hearts would weep, and your
heads would bow, and your knees would bend. And you'd cry with
a publican of old, Oh, God. Oh, God. If you knew. If you knew. Here we are. Just
like this woman. Here we are. We got it. She thought she had it. Empty, hollow, miserable. But boy, I tell you, she was
flaunting it. Step into the pulpit and listen to the preacher. We
preachers ought to listen to ourselves. We ought to buy a
tape recorder and listen to ourselves. And while you listen, imagine
you're somebody else listening. I do this. I recommend it. It's humiliating. Make yourself pretend you're
a lost bum. Know nothing, no background,
no religion, no nothing, and you've stepped into this auditorium
and you're listening to that sermon. Now put yourself, just
sit there just like that old lost bum. Just sit there and
listen to yourself pray. And when it's over, ask yourself
this, did I get anything? Was there anything there to move
me, to convict me, to disturb me, to trouble me? Is there anything
in that message to make me weep, to make me seek Christ? Take
your place. Sit and listen to that sermon.
And you're a mother. You've got a broken heart. Your
husband won't worship with you. He's so contrary. Your son's
on drugs. Your heart's broken. You haven't
had a peaceful word in your home in five years. You just wish
you could die. You have no happiness. Nobody
cares. You go about your washing and ironing and cooking and sewing.
Nobody ever says thank you. Your kids live off somewhere
and they never call and they never write you. You're there
in the four walls of that house and you come to church on Sunday
morning and you hear some preacher bring a sermon on super lapsarianism. Somebody ought to shoot him right
between the eyes. And she ought to do it. That's a fact, Joe. She ought to do it. Or he brings
some sermon on whether or not he's an outpost or premillennialist.
Isn't that horrible? That dear woman sitting there
heartbroken, crying for somebody to tell her something good. To
give her a little bit of something to hang on to, a little fire,
a hope fire, a look fire. Try it sometime. Or maybe you listen to that sermon
and you're a fellow that used to walking grace and love and
peace and joy. You got messed up. Your life's
messed up. You just got fouled up. Maybe
you're a young person and you just got fouled up. You know
you're wrong. You know you're on the wrong page. You know you're
breaking the heart of your parents and sinning against your God.
Listen to the message as if you were that young man and see if
you get anything out of it. Ain't much preaching going on,
I'll be honest with you. There's not much preaching going
on. Oh, I want to step into the pulpit where that man's delivering
his Sunday morning eloquent address, trying to impress somebody. Who
knows? Full of dead doctrine, cliches,
flowery language, clever stories and jokes. And I want to say,
Bud, if you knew, if you knew the gift of God, you'd be putting
out living water this morning. You'd be putting something out
there for those thirsty souls. Something out there for those
broken hearts. Something out there for those troubled spirits.
Something out there for that lost man, if you knew. But I guess you don't know. A
man can't tell what he don't know, can he? Huh? Any more than
he can come back and worry he hasn't been. I guess that's about
it. We preach out of the Word, or
we preach out of the Word and experience. If you knew, Christ
looked at her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith unto
thee, give me a drink, you'd ask him and he'd give you living
water. What is this gift of God? I read
one time where the old, you know over there in the Mideast, it's
hot, it's dry, it's dusty. It's the parched, barren land.
It just makes me thirsty even thinking about it. Dry, dusty,
parched. People came in off the streets,
they had to wash their feet before they went in the house, had to
wash their feet. And the most precious commodity, water. The old eastern water carriers,
I'm told, used to carry their water skins through the streets.
cool, clear water, and they cried, the gift of God. The gift of
God. The gift of God. That's the way
they'd go through the streets. They'd walk through the streets
with that water, selling it, I guess, and they'd cry, hey,
the gift of God. And boy, I tell you, if you're
thirsty enough, it is the gift of God. The unspeakable Oh, I
know eternal life's a gift of God, faith's a gift of God, James
says wisdom's a gift of God, the Holy Spirit's a gift of God,
but I'm telling you what Christ's talking to this woman about,
about Himself. He's the gift of God. He's the
living water. He's the gift of God. I boldly declare this unto you. You'll never know any kind of
peace, and I'm talking about If I'm standing here this morning
and I'm so hot and dry and sweaty and thirsty and dusty, I've been
without water for days, there's nothing I want more than a drink
of water. Oh, how I want a drink of water. I can't live without
water. Take your gold and your silver
and take your popularity and your fame and take everything
the world offers. I want that water. If I can't
have that water, I don't want anything. And I take that water
and I drink it. Oh, I tell you, you talk about,
talk about satisfaction. You talk about quenching thirst. You talk about meeting a need.
You talk about putting away the discomfort. Well, that's what
Christ is to me. He's my peace. He says, My peace
I give unto you. Religion cannot give you peace
any more than the waters of this world can effectually and finally
satisfy you. You are going to thirst again.
He that drinketh of this water, Christ said, is going to thirst
again and again and again and again and again. But he that
drinketh of the living water will never thirst because Christ
becomes in him aware of living water springing up and eternal
life. He digs a well in your heart
and he lives there in peace. The world can't give you peace.
Young people, you could gain all the wealth this world affords
and be the most miserable one person to ever live. You can
find that beautiful girl, that beautiful person, the man who
wants to marry them and become one and be the most miserable
person out of hell. You can climb to the top of the
ladder in your profession and be the president of your corporation. I guarantee you won't find any
peace. But I know where it is. It's in the living water, Christ
Jesus. Real, lasting, abiding, eternal peace. The kind of peace
that a man can have in this country who sits at a desk and labors
with great responsibility and many people looking to him. The
same peace that one of those Yucatanian natives has down there
in the fields of Hinnikin under the boiling sun with his little
old A bag of corn juice and water hanging on his side without any
shoes on, barefooted, in his straw hat, cutting heineken with
a machete. The same peace is in his soul.
It's in that man's soul up there at that day. It's Christ. Peace. It's not surroundings. It's not
environment. It's not what the world affords.
It's Christ within. Rest. John Bunyan could rest
in prison. That's right, he could rest in
prison. It's that joy. It's that satisfaction. David
said, he's all my desire. I find in him my satisfaction. He is my life. Christ is our
life. Somebody said one time on television,
said, listen out there, is Christ the most important part of your
life? And I thought a minute, is he? No. No, He's not. He's not the most important part
of my life. He is my life. He is my life. Christ is my happiness. Christ is my peace. Christ is
my joy. Without Him, I have nothing. Without Him, I'm like a branch
cut from a tree. It withers and dies and fits
for the burning. Without Him, I'm like a body without a head.
No life. Christ is our peace. Now, explaining that to someone
is so difficult. You're sitting out there, I know,
and you're saying, how can he do all that? That's what this
woman said. She, he said, if you knew the
gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee, give me a drink,
you'd ask of me and I'd give you living water. She said, where
do you get your living water? Preacher, you sound like you
believe what you're saying. Well, I do. Now, that's exactly
right. I may not do it as well as somebody
else, but, brother, I believe it. I believe it. I believe what
I'm preaching. I believe it because God's Word
says it. I believe it, secondly, because
I've experienced it. That's right. Christ is real
and precious and personal. I know what I'm talking about.
John said, we know we've passed from death into life because
we love the brethren. He said, I've got the evidence
in my soul, the witness in my heart. It's there. It's real. And you ask this morning,
you say, well, where? Where does Christ get this living
water? Where does He get this peace
and rest and joy and happiness and satisfaction and forgiveness
and mercy and this hope? Hope! Here and hereafter. Now let me give you four things,
and I'll close. This living water, Spurgeon says
he has it, he has it to give, he has it to give to all who
ask, and he alone can give it. But where did he get it? First
of all, he has this living water in him because of who he is. He's God Almighty. He's God Almighty. He's the living water because
He's the source of living water. He's the creator of living water.
He's the maker of living water. He's the designer of living water.
He is the moving cause of living water. In Him dwelleth all fullness. It's all in Christ. There's no
fullness anywhere else. Everything else is temporary.
Just look around. Everything's temporary. All these
relationships we have are temporary. This church is temporary. God's
blessing it. God's using it, I believe, but
it won't be here always. Where's Mr. Spurgeon's church?
Where's Mr. Calvin's church? Where's Mr. Whitfield's church? See what
I'm talking about? In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He's the only one who can meet
whatever need I have. If I need forgiveness, forgiveness
is in Him. If I need pardon, it's in Him.
If I need mercy, it's in Him. If I need atonement, by Him we
receive the atonement, in Him. You see, He has the living water
in Him because of who He is. You know who Christ is? He's
not a little messenger boy. He's not just a son of God. He's
not just a representative. He's God in human flesh. Wish
I could get that across. I wish there was some way that
I could tell this generation who that is that came to this
earth and walked the shores of the Jordan and the streets of
Galilee and hung on the cross of Calvary and was buried in
Joseph's tomb and rose again. That's the same one who spake
the world out of nothing. It's the same one. That's the
same one who said to Moses, I am. From the burning bush, I am!
Go tell Pharaoh to let my people go when he says, who sent you?
Him, I am, sent you. Not I was or I will be, I am. I am. Jesus Christ is I am. Whatever I need, I can find in
Him. All I need, in Him to find. All I need, because of who He
is. See that? That's... Where'd you get your
living water? I am the living water. Huh? Where'd you get your power to
raise the dead? I am the resurrection. Where'd you get your power to
bring men to God? I am the way. Where'd you get
your power to give men spiritual life? I am the life. Where'd you get your message?
I am the truth. Huh? That'll meet your need, bud.
You're dealing with I Am. You want something, come where
it is. I Am. I Am. I'll tell you another reason.
The living water is in Him because of who He is. Secondly, the living
water is in Him because of the purpose and appointment of the
Father. Now, I'll tell you something. Almighty God, eternal, almighty,
immutable God, does not do anything today, He didn't decree yesterday. Almighty God doesn't bring anything
to pass in time, He didn't purpose in eternity. Now you can put
that down. Known under God are all His works from the beginning.
God's not waiting around. Your God may be, but the God
of glory is not waiting around to see what's going to happen.
He's not looking down here to see who's going to let certain
things come to pass. The Word of God teaches that
He, He doeth all things according to the good pleasure of His own
will. That He worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. That's the God of the Bible.
Jesus Christ died on the cross because God decreed it. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. You with wicked hands have crucified
the Lord of glory and you've done what God determined before
to be done. Every person that's brought to
faith in Christ was given to Christ by the eternal purpose
and decree of my Heavenly Father. That's so. There are no accidents
with God. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. from ancient times of things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. When
our Lord taught His disciples to pray, He taught them to pray
what? Thy will be done. You can argue about free will
or man's will or this will or that will. I know whose will
is going to be done. I think you do deep down in your
heart. You can fuss and argue all you want to. Just kick it
around and argue. It makes a good subject for conversation. But I know whose will always
has and always will be done. God's will. That's subtle. God's will. God's will. And it pleases the Lord. Let
me tell you something. They said, David, where's your God? They
said, we know where our gods are. They're down there where
we put them. They're doing what we let them.
They go where we take them. Where's your God? David said,
My God's in the heavens. What's He like? He's done whatsoever
He pleased. Whatsoever He pleased. That's
what He's like in the armors of heaven, among the inhabitants
of this earth, in the seas and all deep places. God does what
He pleases. You know what it pleased Him
to do? It pleased Him that in Christ should all fullness dwell. I'm so glad. He's the only one
that can contain it. He's the only one that can contain
all fullness. Where would you put all fullness?
Put it in an angel, it'd bust out and bust him up doing it.
Put it in a man, put it in a denomination, they'd organize and run God out. If you had all fullness, where
would you put it? You'd put it in the only vessel
that can contain it, Christ. You'd put it in the only one
who had the wisdom to use it rightly, Christ. You'd put it
in the only one who had the power to distribute it, Christ. That's
right. You'd put it in the only one
worthy to have it. That's where I want. I don't
want salvation in this church. I don't want salvation in this
hand. I don't want salvation in an angel, or in a vision,
or in a dream. I want it where God put it, in
Christ. God put it there. Where'd you
get your living water? My Father, which gave it to me,
is greater than all. He gave it to me. And I'll tell
you, He's a covenant God who will not break His word. He put
it there, and that's where it's going to stay. Huh? You in favor of that? I'm in
favor of it. I vote for that. I vote for that. I'd vote to
let God be God, and let Christ be the only Redeemer, and let
the Holy Spirit distribute His grace. I'm willing. And then
thirdly, where'd you get this living water? Well, he got it
because of who he is. He has it because of who he is.
He has it because of the appointment and purpose of the Father. And
then thirdly, The living water is in Him because of His active
and passive obedience before God's holy law and justice. He
bought the right. He bought the right. He died
that He might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, because of who He is, because of what the
Father decreed in purpose, and because of what He did, has not
only the right but the authority to redeem his people, and he
has that which is required by the Father, and demanded by the
law, and demanded by the justice of God to save his people. You
see, the law still stands. I gave the preachers a test yesterday
morning, and the preacher's class had about 72 questions, and one
of the questions was this. Has there ever one sin been committed
by any creature in heaven or earth that has gone unpunished?
Has there ever been a sin, I don't care, the slightest infraction,
the slightest offense, the slightest deviation from God's perfection,
has ever one sin or thought or word or deed ever been committed
that went unpunished? Most of them never have because
God is going to be God. He said, I will in no wise, by
no means, clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth will die,
and every sin is going to be punished. Has been, will be,
and is going to be. You say, well, what does that
leave us? It leaves us shut up to Christ. That's where it leaves
us. It leaves us resting on His... You see, when our Lord Jesus
Christ died on that... When He came down here and kept
the holy law of God, He didn't do it as an example to you, though
He is our example. When our Lord died on the cross,
He didn't die to get you to feel sorry for Him. He didn't die
to set an example for you. Now, He died, you ought to die.
That's not the reason primarily why Christ died. Why, Christ
obeyed the law with respect to God and His holy law. You see,
Christ died on the cross before the Lord, not before the world.
before the Lord, as the blood was put on the altar before the
Lord, as the lamb was slain before the Lord. It was a sacrifice
unto God. It was in order that God could
remain God, just and holy and righteous, and forgive sinners
for whom it was made. That's the gospel. That's what's
important. God, when Christ died on the
cross, He wasn't trying to appease you. The death of Christ, the
blood of Christ made peace with the Father. You see, a mediator has got to
have something to offer. Oh, our Lord, you know, we sing,
when we come to Christ, in my hands no price I bring. I'm glad
He didn't sing that. I'm glad when He went to the
right hand of the Father, He didn't come singing, in my hand
no price I bring. He had the scars to prove He
had the price. He paid it every bit. Jesus paid
it all. All the dead I owe. Sin, leptra,
crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. He went to the Father
and said, Father, justify them. Redeem them. Set them free. I
have died for them. The law is satisfied, justice
is honored, and every requirement is met, and in me they are as
holy as I am. That's right, Walter. And that's
what we've got to pray. Somebody said, go out and tell
the world to believe. You go out and tell the world what to
believe, in whom to believe. Tell that sinner that he knows
God hasn't changed. God's the same. Yesterday, today,
and forever. God hasn't changed. His law hasn't
changed. He's angry with the wicked. He
always has been. The wrath of God abideth on the
ungodly. Bless your heart, I'm not ungodly
anymore. Christ has made me holy. God doesn't have any reason to
despise me. My sins are put away. I'm in
the Lord, in the Savior, in the Redeemer. All right, fourthly,
the living water is in Him and His to give because of His intercessory
position. And brethren, let me tell you
something, it's awful good when you're a guilty sinner to have
a friend in court. I'll tell you this, it's even
better to have the son of the judge pleading for you. That's
awful good. And that's who's pleading my
case. That's my advocate. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now I
might go you one better than that. He's the judge himself.
He is the judge. The Father judges no man, has
committed all judgment to the Son. Where'd you get that living water?
I got living water. If you knew, if you'd quit playing
church long enough to ask some questions, If you'd quit hiding
in your refuge of lies and swearing on a stack of Bibles, you'd go
into heaven in spite of hell and open your ears and shut your
mouth long enough. Christ said, if you knew, if
you knew. If God could humble you, see,
you'll have to before He exalts you. He's going to have to strip
you before He can clothe you. He's going to have to kill your
gut before He can reveal the living God. But if you just knew
the gift of God, You see, you don't know because you've never
had it. You don't know because you've never experienced it.
But if you knew, you don't know what peace is. You've got a phony
peace and a phony rest that comes and goes with the environment
or circumstances or how the wind blows or how you feel or how
you get up in the morning. You go to church and get mad
at this and go over to that and get mad at that and go to another
and get mad at him. You're going to run out of church someday if
you live long enough. But if you knew the gift of God, you'd
ask. And she said, well, I'm interested.
Where'd you get it? Where'd you get it? Well, I know where he
got it. He is the living water. The Father
put it there. And he purchased the right and
the privilege to give it to whom he will. And then, brother, he's
in the position to do it. He's on the right hand of God.
I might appeal to the courts of this earth. You know, a criminal
commits a crime, he appeals to the this court, then he goes
to that court, and then he gets to the Supreme Court. And brother,
I tell you, that's high as he can go. My case is in a higher
court than that. It's in the court of God's very
glory. And the judge has acquitted me
because the debt's been paid. And the holy law is satisfied.
And he's sitting right there on the bench to carry out what
he purchased. You see that? A lot of folks,
they'll make a will out. Before they die, they'll make
out a will and sign their name. Then they die and they can't
do anything about it. The judge may foul it up, the courts. Some
kid may sue. That will may not be followed.
My Lord's will is going to be followed because He's up there
sitting where it's decreed. He took it with Him, Robert.
He's going to read it. This is my last will and testament. I give eternal life to Joe Wilson,
and I'm sitting right here to see it carried out. I know he's
sitting there to judge the world, but he's sitting there to see
that everything he bought is his. And that's where my hope
is, is in him, in him who hath the living water. J. Les Singer
closing hymn. I know you've got one there already.
You come and lead us if you would.