Jesus Gives Living Water: Part 4

This particular section here as the

Apostle John inspired by the Holy Spirit gives it to us. And here we have a

Samaritan woman meets her Messiah. Therefore when the

Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples, he left

Judea and departed again to Galilee. But he needed to go through Samaria.

So he came to a city of Samaria which is called Saqar near the plot of the ground that Jacob gave to his son

Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there and Jesus therefore being wearied from his journey sat thus by the well and it was about the sixth hour, about noontime.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water and Jesus said to her, give me a drink.

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food and the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you being a

Jew ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For the

Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.

Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father

Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as the sons of his livestock?

Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw.

Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said,

I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have well said, I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your husband and that you truly spoke.

The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain and you

Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father.

You worship what you do not know and we know that we worship for salvation is of the

Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father is seeking such to worship him.

God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.

The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things.

Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. May God bless the reading of his word from our ears to our hearts this morning.

Please bow with me in prayer as we seek the Lord's face and the remaining of this service as we hear from heaven and may

God bless the reading of his word once again within the hour of worship here.

Our father and our God, we thank you every hour that you have given unto us.

As the wonderful hymn says, we need thee every hour most gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can peace afford most holy one.

O make me thine indeed thou blessed son. Father we pray within this hour that you would speak to our hearts and father by the blessed holy spirit drive it to our hearts that we may not be just hearers of thy word but to be doers of it.

And as David cried out to you in Psalm 119, in Psalm 19, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord. In your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

We ask this for your honor and glory in Jesus name.

Now let me begin by mentioning once again a quote. I've kind of condensed it a little bit more here than I did last week but it bears repeating again from Pastor John MacArthur as I was studying this from his commentary concerning this particular section with Jesus' encounter with the

Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. This is what he says, quote, the story of the

Samaritan woman reinforces John's main theme that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the

Messiah and the Son of God. He goes on to say the thrust of these verses is not so much her conversion but that Jesus is

Messiah, verse 26. While her conversion is clearly implied, the

Apostle's focus centers on Jesus' declaration foretold in the scriptures in verse 25.

Important also is the fact that this chapter demonstrates Jesus' love and understanding of people.

His love for mankind involved no boundaries, for he lovingly and compassionately reached out to a woman who was a social outcast.

And he says this in the last sentence, in contrast to the limitations of human love,

Christ exhibits the character of divine love that is indiscriminate.

And all -encompassing, end quote. And that is so well said.

And this is actually what this particular section is speaking of. It's all about the

Messiah, who Jesus is. Dare we just focus on the woman even though she's involved in the story.

She's a social outcast, she's a half -breed, a mix of Assyrian, which is

Gentile, and Jewish blood and therefore the Jews rejected her. And she was converted to Christ, she was totally changed by the power of God and His mercy.

But really the one we focus on is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our focal point.

Let me backtrack a little bit as we're going through the Gospel of John, chapter 3.

We're reminded in verse 16, which is the most familiar verse in the entirety of Scripture.

And it's scary that it's preached so much that most don't really get the depth of this verse.

Because it has great depth. For God so loved the world that He gave

His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, there it is, believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.

It goes on to say this in verse 17, for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

This is why our Lord came. He came to be a Savior, He's Lord and Savior, and the next time

He comes, this is at His first advent, the next time He comes in power and glory, He comes to judge.

And that's going to happen very soon. But here, grace and truth came through Christ.

The law was given through Moses. The law condemns. But we need the law to show us our sin.

We need to see who we really are in the light of God's law and God's word.

We have fallen short and come short of the glory of God. We've all missed the mark. But Christ came to save us, okay?

That's why you see the gospel and what the gospel is about is a Savior. Christ is a

Savior, a great Savior, He saves to the uttermost. And the apostles and all in the

New Testament points us to the cross. That's the purpose. And verse 18, Jesus says, he who believes in Him is not condemned.

He's not condemned, if you're a believer. But he who does not believe is condemned already, so that condemnation is already there.

It's as the wrath of God already abides on those that do not believe. And then

He says, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That is the words of Jesus Christ.

And we literally see this great love of God that's demonstrated in Jesus Christ the Messiah here in the gospels, but here in this particular section, as He reaches out and seeks out the

Samaritan woman and in John chapter 4, and it's a wonderful story, isn't it?

And there's so much to glean from, and I'm telling you, what we have been going through each

Lord's day as we break this up, precept by precept, verse by verse, line by line, there is no way that we can even scratch the surface of all that is packed in it because it is the eternal word of God.

But we can gather some jewels here and pray by God's Holy Spirit that we can take it to our hearts.

And may it transform us. We have seen that Jesus makes contact with this

Samaritan woman in verses 1 to 9 of chapter 4.

And let me pick up in verse 4, and I'm going to recap a little bit here today. So this is so important as we lead to our conclusion.

Verse 4 says, but He needed to go through Samaria. The Old King James Version says He must needs go there.

Must needs. The journey to Samaria was a divine assignment, it was a divine arrangement by our

Lord Himself. He was compelled to go. It was appointed by the divine providence of God that He would meet with her.

And the necessity lies in the mission of Jesus Christ.

This was His mission. He came to seek and save that which was lost. He must go to Samaria.

He must go to see a woman in Samaria. Jesus didn't take the usual route, as we know, in the road to Galilee.

The Jews in Judea at that time hardly would ever travel to Galilee through Samaria.

And they would take a much longer route through another area, Perea. And they completely bypassed the region.

But here, however, we see Jesus had to pass through Samaria. He unpurposely went this way.

It was a divine must. Let's keep that in mind. This is a divine must. This is

Jesus' mission. He come to seek and save souls. Particularly His own sheep.

And His sheep hears His voice. Jesus made an intentional break. I love this.

An intentional break in His ministry in Judea. And He returned to work in Galilee in His ministry.

And Judea had rejected Him as the Messiah. We already see that they rejected Him. Because their hearts were hardened.

And they were indifferent toward who He was as the Messiah. Even though all the prophecies of the

Old Testament, the prophets spoke of His coming. All the way from Genesis, all the way throughout, all the

Old Testament scriptures foretold Him coming. They still were blinded to Him.

And who He is and who He was. John 1 .11 tells us.

As we looked at this, let me repeat it again. He came to His own and His own did not receive

Him. His own did not receive Him. Verse 12, But as many as received

Him, to them He gave the right or the privilege to become children of God to those who believe in His name.

So we see His own people rejects Him. His own people rejects

Him. The Jews rejected Him. The religious people of His day rejected

Him. He's a man of sorrows. He's rejected. He's despised. But yet we see, even though through the rejection of the

Jews, in this story we see a very immoral social outcast, a

Samaritan woman, receives Him. Isn't that wonderful? She's an outcast.

The Jews had no dealings with them. This woman is very immoral.

As we read the text, she's had five husbands and the person and the man that she's living with now is not her husband.

And does that mean that God is going along with that? By no means. We will see this in a minute. Christ points out her sin lovingly, graciously, and gentle as a dove, as the

Spirit of God works through the God -man, as a

Savior, brings her to Himself. But we see

His own people rejected Him and this woman here believes Him as the Messiah. And then we come to verse 5 and 6.

So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sakar, near the plot of the ground that Jacob gave to his son

Joseph. In verse 6, now Jacob's well was there. This is the meeting place. And Jesus is actually waiting on her.

Jesus, therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. And it was about the sixth hour.

That was noontime, the hottest time of the day. And it's amazing that Jesus chooses the illustration or the subject of water.

As I mentioned last week, isn't it interesting? Water, everybody loves water just about. Everybody loves to gravitate toward water, build their houses as close to water.

You go to the beaches, they love to build near the ocean. And you go to the mountaintops and they love to build close to water.

Water is magnetic, isn't it? It's magnetic. And Jesus chooses this subject because without water we waste away.

We would die physically. We need it. It's a necessity. And for a long time in this conversation, she's thinking about physical water.

But Jesus points her to the direction of the spiritual living water. As much as we need physical water, but can

I tell you this, beloved? Our greatest need is spiritual living water. That is our greatest need.

That is the need of the lost and dying world that is trying to go everywhere and look in every place without looking to Christ.

They want to look at the things of the world. And beloved, you and I know this, that the things of this world can never satisfy us.

Only Christ can. So, the scripture tells us that Jesus is wearied from His journey.

He sat with us, by the way, it was about the sixth hour. He's weary. Now, John the

Apostle constantly brings out the deity of Jesus and he makes us very aware that Christ is deity.

He is divine. He is God in flesh. No doubt about it. But he also here, especially in the gospel of Luke, tells more of the

Son of Man. John focuses Jesus as the Son of God, but he does here give us a glimpse that He's truly man as well as truly

God. Or holy man as holy God. He got tired.

He got weary. And while Jesus is sitting there, a

Samaritan woman came to draw water from Jacob's cistern. And we looked at that about the cisterns from Jeremiah last

Lord's Day. And this is so intriguing here. But verse 7 says,

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.

And this is how this whole conversation begins. Give me a drink.

Give me a drink. Jewish rabbis would never speak to a woman in public.

No, they wouldn't. Even their own wives and daughters and sisters they would not speak to.

This woman was a Samaritan, a rejected half -breed, immoral woman. Moreover, the

Jews would not even drink from a Samaritan's vessel for fear of becoming ceremonially unclean.

That's why the Jews would not even drink from their vessel. Unclean. And here we see

Jesus breaks barriers. Aren't you glad? He breaks the barriers. He breaks through.

And can I tell you this? This is after 5 centuries, 500 years of hostility and hatred that Jesus broke the barrier that afternoon in the mid -hot sun with a simple request,

Give me a drink. He speaks to this outcast. He breaks through.

You know, He upset the religious crowd constantly. The self -righteous Pharisees, the

Sadducees, the Sanhedrin. They were just constantly trying to trap

Him. And Jesus would always come with a question and His perfect wisdom and put them on the spot, on the hot seat, so that they would search their own hearts.

And Jesus knew their hearts were hardened. Therefore, isn't it amazing?

He was criticized that He was a friend of sinners. That doesn't mean

He was partaking of their sins, folks. Don't ever think of that. We're talking about the sinless

Savior here. The sinless Son of God. The Son of Man. And He goes there and He reaches into the darkest of places and pulls them out and changes them.

So for what? How are they changed? They must come to repentance. They must be changed.

There must be a heart transformation. Well, we know in verse 8, if the disciples had gone away to the city to buy food, in verse 9, then the woman of Samaria said to Him, How is it that You, being a

Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? She knows. She's asking the question. You're a

Jew. She was surprised that Jesus even spoke to her. For the

Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. So in verse 10 says, Jesus answered and said to her, and I love this, and we looked at this in detail last

Lord's Day, but Jesus says to her, If you knew, if she knew, if she had some knowledge of who

He really is, if you knew the gift of God, we know Christ is the gift of God, and who it is who says to you,

Give me a drink. You would have asked Him and He would have given you living water. And Jesus lifts the conversation with the

Samaritan woman at a higher level by answering her question, If you knew the gift of God.

Living water. And Jesus here introduces to her the living water, springing up, unfailing source, to ever flowing of eternal life.

Jesus said this in John chapter 7, verse 37 -39, a wonderful reference to this text here, on that last day, that great day of the feast.

And you could just picture it in your mind's eye, Jesus stood and He cried out. He cried out, saying,

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And he who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

And then verse 39 says, but this He spoke concerning the spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the

Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So we know here, from the reference of scripture, that as Christ, after He died and was buried and resurrected,

He goes to the Father, He's glorified in power, and He goes to the right hand of the

Father, and as John chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, those great verses there, those great chapters, tells us about the coming of the

Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, that we would need the Holy Spirit of God, comes as Christ sends this promise of the

Father. Now beloved, before we are willing to receive God's gift, we need to, He has to reveal to us our great need, of our hearts, that we are sinners, and we need an acute thirst, we have an acute thirst

I should say, for the water of life. And isn't it wonderful, the scripture says, he who desires to drink of the water of life, let him come.

The invitation is there, let him come. And the scripture also says, let's interpret scripture as scripture, there's no one that actually can come to the

Father, unless what? The Spirit draws him. And we looked at that word draw, literally means drags him.

You know why? Because people, we are all born with Adam's sin, and a tendency to do our own thing naturally, we have no desire to seek

God whatsoever, and that's what scripture says. There's none who seeks God, no not one. So who's the seeker here?

God the Father. And God the Father sent His Son, and Jesus comes to reveal who the

Father really is. He's that bridge, between the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of man, the exceedingly sinfulness of man

I should say, and the most holy God I should say. And there's only one that can gap it, and that's the cross, and that's

Christ, and that's what He came to do. He's the mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus.

And there's no other name under heaven, whereby man can be saved, unless he comes through Jesus Christ.

Now this, this is what Christ came to do for this woman, Samaria. She was not saved because of her seeking.

No sir. You can't prove that through scripture. She was sought out by the seeker himself.

I like what A .W. Pink says right here. A .W. Pink says, quote, it was not

Adam, it was not Adam who sought God, but God who sought

Adam. And this has been the order ever since. Amen. That's been the order ever since.

When God called out and says, Adam where art thou? God knew exactly where Adam was.

You know really what He was asking that question, as a great parent, He was saying, He wanted

Adam to know where He was. Well, as we continue, the woman's response is quite interesting.

In verse 11, notice, in verse 11, the woman said to him,

Sir, you have nothing to draw with. The well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? You see here, what do you have to draw with?

Where's your water pot? That's what she's really asking. So, do you have any water pots in your life?

Think about that for a second. You know, we get so occupied with water pots, don't we?

We cannot hear the voice of God, the still small voice of God. So many distractions.

That's like a distraction in this world. Even the good things. Even good things.

We need to be careful, beloved. You remember the story of Mary and Martha?

You know, Mary was covered about with much busyness, and the Lord was really not against her serving, really, if you look at the text.

But her priority was out of line, and Mary had her priority in line. Mary was at the feet of Jesus, and Jesus said, and Martha comes to Jesus and says, really, and I paraphrase it,

He said, she's basically, I'm doing all the work here. I'm busy in the kitchen. I need help.

And Jesus says, Mary's chosen the best part. The best.

Don't you want God's best? And God's best is at the feet of Jesus, folks. And we need to be careful not to allow these water pots in our life to distract us in this world, even the good things, and can distance us from God.

Well -intended things, such as taking care of our family, obligations, work, making a living, we can get so caught up in those things, and leave

God out, and forget God. Do you have any water pots in your life that is distracting you from God, and spending time with God?

So these things simply keep our souls so occupied, so that we are not concentrating on the presence of God, and who

God really is. Those things that crowd out God, those things that, even in our work,

I struggle with this constantly. I said, Lord, help me to stay focused. When I do my work,

I do it unto you. Help me, Lord, to have my labor and worship to you, and singing praises to you, and glorifying you, and everything that I do, because in Him we live and move and have our being.

May God help us to keep that priority right. Matthew 6, 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.

That's what Scripture says. His righteousness, and all these other things, will be added unto you.

The Lord will take care of us. That doesn't mean we throw away our work. Actually, the Scripture says, if we don't work, we're worse than our infidel, if we do not provide for our family.

God created work. Somebody said to me one day, work is a curse. No, work is not a curse.

Adam was working before sin came into the world, folks. God created work for him to keep the garden, but sin came into a perfect environment.

You know what it caused? Frustration. The sweat of the brow. Women bearing children in pain.

Can you imagine if sin did not come into the world, that women would have children without pain? That's hard for us to conceive, because we're so enveloped into sin and depraved.

It's hard for us to even realize the absence of sin. But that's the way heaven's going to be.

Totally absent from sin. Well, sin came into a garden of Eden, but Christ came to reverse the curse.

Aren't you glad? We need to be careful that we do not allow these water pots to crowd out our time with God and spending time with Him and His presence.

Only Jesus can satisfy the thirsty soul. Look at verse 13. Verse 13 is a very important verse.

Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. Will thirst again. What's He saying?

You can actually see Him pointing to Jacob's well and say, This water, if you drink this water here, you're going to thirst again.

But, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give, him will never thirst.

You want that kind of water? But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

Praise God. C .H. Spurgeon said this on verse 13. He says,

All things that are of earth are unsatisfactory. All things. Our spirit craves for something more than time and sense can yield.

But nothing that comes of earth, even if it should yield its transcendent satisfaction, cannot maintain its excellence for long.

And he goes on to say this. Pointing to the water in Jacob's well, our Lord says, Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.

And then He says, Therein He took up His parable against all earthly things, whether fame or riches or fleshly pleasures or anything else beneath the sun.

And He says, Whosoever drinks at this shallow well will not quench but thirst.

But for a time, He imagines that He has done so. He will be deceived and in a little season, the old craving will return.

Waters from His own cistern may stay a man's desires for a while. But before long, he must thirst again.

Amen. Nothing in this world can satisfy us. That's why Christ, and there is only that cavity that God has put within the heart of man and eternity is in the heart of men, that only

Christ can satisfy. Only Christ. Only the

Spirit of God can break through these barriers, folks. It has to be the supernatural power of God to change a person's heart.

Because no one can do this within themselves. That's why it's a gift of God.

Verse 16. Let me back up. Verse 15 through 20. Jesus actually confronts, convicts the

Samaritan woman of her sin and then we eventually see it goes from conversation to confrontation.

And you have conviction as well. Verse 16. Jesus said to her,

Go call your husband and come here. Go call your husband and come here. Isn't this interesting?

Now since the woman failed to understand the nature of living water, she didn't really get it. She's still thinking about physical water that He offered to her.

In verse 15, Jesus in His perfect wisdom and witnessing and being a winsome soul winner here as the

Master only is, He abruptly turned the dialogue to focus sharply on her spiritual need for conversion.

We can learn much from this. And from conversion to her cleansing from her sin.

Only Christ can do this by the power of the Spirit. Beloved, this is what true love does.

Let me point this out for a second. There's this thing today that and this is nothing new under the sun, of course.

With people's misconception of who God is. Having a right view of God is critical, folks.

And the only way we can have a right view of God is that we saturate ourselves in this book and on our knees and ask the

Spirit of God to give us a right view of God. Low views. There's too many low views of God. That's the problem.

We must have a high lofty view of God and who

He is. And folks, I bring this out because true love, God's holy love,

God's divine love confronts sin. Not in a mean way.

Not harshly. But notice Jesus never used the word anything here to condemn this woman.

He graciously led her in great love and wisdom. He's the master soul winner.

He leads. Love warns. Love always warns. Why? Because souls are endangered.

People are going to hell, folks. Ravenhill said, he said this, and this is very sober.

He said, the Jehovah Witnesses is a cult and they don't believe in hell. And he said, sad to say, most Christians don't either.

That's sobering, isn't it? But we do need to examine ourselves and know if we truly believe that there is a real hell and people are heading there to hell, we would take this very seriously.

And we would take God seriously. And we would take soul winning seriously. Jesus took it seriously.

After all, He came, look at what He did. Came from heaven to earth, in which He created, and took the sin to the cross.

Took your sin, my sin. But here He lovingly, winsomely confronts her sin.

The Lord's knowledge of her, of her morally being depraved, not only indicated

His supernatural ability, but also it focused on her spiritual condition. But I love this, that He knew everything about this woman.

She didn't know this at the time, but He loved her the most. Verse 17, the woman answered and said,

I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have well said. At least she was honest about it. She was honest in her.

There's hope for her. I have no husband, Jesus said, for you have had five husbands.

The one whom you now have is your husband, and that you spoke truly.

MacArthur once again notes here, that she was living with a man, who

Jesus said was not her husband. By such an explicit statement, our

Lord rejected the notion, that when the two people live together, it constitutes marriage.

Biblically, marriage is always restricted to a public, formal, official and recognized covenant.

End quote. That's why we have those covenants, and those marriages publicly before God and man, because God takes it serious.

Verse 19, His knowledge of her life, also indicates that He had supernatural inspiration, and yet He knows everything about us, and He's the one that loves us the most.

Keep that in mind folks. He loves you more than, yes, if you love yourself, and that's the problem.

We love ourselves too much, don't we? But God, through Jesus Christ, loves you the most.

That's why Peter says, cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. He loves you.

He cares for you. Well, verse 20, the Samaritan woman intentionally changes, the course of the conversation, because she's convicted.

She's convicted. Notice verse 21. Well, verse 20,

Our fathers worshipped on this mountain. Notice right between 19, the woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet.

And right there, Our fathers worshipped on this mountain. Notice how she changed the conversation.

She intentionally did this, because there's conviction of her sin. And then she starts to talk religious, so to speak.

And this place, this place, this place of worship, where one ought to worship. And Jesus said to her in verse 21,

He says, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you and other on this mountain, or Jerusalem, worship the

Father. You know what Jesus is basically saying, in essence? The place is not what really matters. She wanted to debate that.

That's not really what matters here. So Jesus gets to the point,

He avoids the debate with her, in a gracious way, by the way. He doesn't come out and say,

Miss, I'm not going to debate you right now on this. He wasn't harsh with her.

He just basically, lovingly, tenderly, changes the course.

And look at how He does it. Woman, believe me. He says, believe me, the hour is coming when you and other on this mountain, or Jerusalem, worship the

Father. Jesus is basically saying, it's not the place that really matters. It's who you worship.

And He says, you worship what you do not know. See, He told a very simple pointed fact.

The Samaritans really didn't have that knowledge of worship because remember what we talked about? The only books of the

Bible that they looked at as inspired the Samaritans was the Pentateuch. That's it.

But you take the prophets and all that knowledge of God, and the Bible does say that my people perished because of lack of knowledge, right?

Jesus has given her the knowledge and basically He says, we know what we worship for salvation is of the

Jews. It's to the Jew first. God chose the Jewish race. And it started at Abraham.

And God revealed Himself through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and those great patriarchs.

And then Jesus says in verse 23, but the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the

Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship

Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. You know what I love about this? Jesus has given some of the greatest revelation to a immoral woman, to a woman, not to a theologian, not to the

Sanhedrin. No, He gives it to an outcast. He reveals great revelation to her.

And she's an outcast, immoral woman. Isn't that incredible? How loving is the Lord?

Well, Jesus clearly, forthrightly declared Himself to be the Messiah. Verse 25, the woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called

Christ, the anointed one. And says this, when He comes, He will tell us all things.

And right in verse 26, Jesus specifically, clearly says this,

He said to her, I who speak to you am He. I'm Him.

I'm the Messiah. Wow, to a

Samaritan woman. And you know the story, what happens, her conversion takes place.

Verse 27, at this point His disciples came and they marveled, they were amazed that He talked with the woman, yet no one said, what do you seek?

Or why are you talking with her? Verse 27, verse 28, the woman then left her water pot.

She forgot why she came, folks. Because there was a transformation. She left that water pot.

That water pot of the world, she forsook it. And as we should, we should forsake the things of the world.

And go after Christ. And follow Him. And deny ourselves.

And take up our cross. And what did she say? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city, the city of Samaria, and said to the men, she goes to the men, and everywhere she goes, come see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

Could this be the Christ? And then they went out of the city and came to Him.

Notice they came to Him now. Now she becomes a great evangelist.

I'm telling you, folks, Spurgeon's right. Every Christian is an imposter or a missionary. And this woman was a missionary.

And when you are truly converted to Christ, you want to tell everybody. J .C. Rowell says, no Christian wants to go to heaven alone.

You want to tell your loved ones. You want to tell your brothers, your sisters, your uncles, your aunts. You want to tell everybody in your family.

You want to tell the world, this is the man. This is Christ. This is Him. Wow, what a story.

Amen. Well, let me give some application here.

Our focus on personal application is first of all to be like our Lord Jesus Christ in all things.

Amen. I don't know about you. I get so convicted when I read this because I fall so short in my life in being the soul winner as I ought to be.

And I mean that. And I say, Lord, I want to be a better soul winner. I want to be winsome. As we looked at Proverbs, he that wins souls is wise.

He's wise. First of all, we want to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. If you are a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Christ, you want to be like Him. And that is part of the life of sanctification, being set apart from God and our cleansing every day in this world in which

Jesus says, keep us from the evil one. John 17. He doesn't take us out of the world, but he was praying for his disciples.

I'm going to leave them in the world, but I'm going to keep them from the evil one. So we need to be like Christ, especially when it comes to being a witness unto

Him first and foremost. And I like to point out a few verses of Scripture. Go with me to Acts chapter 1.

And this is very familiar, but this is such a very important part of the

Scriptures that, folks, we cannot be effective soul winners unless the Spirit of God is flowing through us, that we're filled with the

Spirit of God, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit, and have the mind of the

Spirit and the mind of Christ. Because if we have the mind of the world, the mind of flesh, folks, we cannot be effective in winning the lost.

We cannot. But we can if we do have the mind of Christ and we're filled with the

Spirit of God. Notice with me. Now verse 4 all the way to verse 8 speaks about the

Holy Spirit that's promised. Verse 5, notice. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the

Holy Spirit not many days from now. The words of Jesus. And therefore when they had come together, they asked

Him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Now all of a sudden went to the consummation of the end things.

And it seems like that seems to be part of what's going on today even in the evangelical churches.

Everybody's focused on when the end time, when's Christ coming, when's it going to come back and restore the kingdom?

And we're all caught up with the times of the seasons and we forget the whole purpose.

Why we're here is to glorify God, number one. Secondly, to be a witness and to evangelize.

As we get to heaven as believers one day, worship will continue, but you know something stops?

Evangelism. Evangelism stops. As long as we're in this world, there's evangelism that's before us.

So that is the purpose here. And it seemed that the disciples here got mixed up.

Jesus answers the question here. They said, Lord, will you at this time... See, notice this time restore the kingdom of Israel.

In verse 7, He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the

Father has put in His own authority. But in verse 8 tells us something very important, folks.

But you shall receive power. That means dunamis. Dunamis power. It's where we get the word dynamite.

Every Christian should be a dunamis, a dynamite for God, for Christ. When the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem.

Get that. Just not unto the world, but first of all our witnesses unto God. He's the one that's taking account of everything, folks.

He's the one that we do it all to for His glory. He says, you're going to be witnesses unto me.

And by the way, in the original Greek, basically the word witnesses there, you know what it means? Martyrs.

You shall be martyrs. Are you ready to be a martyr for Christ? That's what it says.

In the original. You shall be martyrs unto me. And look at how many apostles and New Testament Christians were put to death.

Back then, it cost something to be a Christian. But now today, it's too easy to be a Christian.

You shall be witnesses unto me in, first of all, Jerusalem. That's in the home area.

We should be every... Like I said, Spurgeon is so right. We are missionaries or impostors.

And first of all, to be missionaries to our own family, to our own country here. Yes, we are for supporting missionaries to other parts of the country.

We believe that. But folks, this is missions. The local church is the mission. This is the mission field here.

Then in all Judea and Samaria. And then to the end of the earth.

Well, with that being said, to be effective, to be a witness for Jesus Christ, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6.

This is absolutely essential to be an effective witness for Christ.

Ephesians chapter 6. And it's a wonderful book. Ephesians chapter 6 is kind of like Romans chapter 8, like the mountain peak.

But Ephesians 5 speaks about walking in love, walking in light, walking in wisdom. Then it speaks about the marriage,

Christ and the church. And then Ephesians goes into the children and the parents, bond servants and masters.

That's the employees and employers. It deals with everything in life. That's important.

And then he speaks about the whole armor of God. Verse 10,

Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God. There it is again. The whole armor of God. Every part of it.

That you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

And then he says this, Above all, taking the shield of faith, which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

And this is critical to soul winning folks. Right here. Listen to verse 18. Praying always.

Paul said that. Pray without ceasing. But praying always with all prayer, with supplication.

You know what supplication is? Crying out to God. Crying our soul out to God like David did.

In the spirit. Not in the flesh. But in the spirit. Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

And listen to Paul. This is the apostle Paul. For me, that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly.

Paul was a bold witness for Christ. And he's saying that I may be bold.

Open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in chains.

And that I may speak boldly. As I ought to speak.

With clarity. And power of the spirit. As he says in 1

Corinthians 1. In chapter 2 I should say. Not in eloquence. But that I may in clarity preach the gospel.

That is critical. So critical. I like what

Wesley said. Speaking about the whole armor of God. Soldiers of Christ arise and put your armor on.

Strong in the strength which God supplies. Through His eternal Son. Strong in the Lord of hosts.

And in His mighty power. Who in the strength of Jesus' trust is more than conqueror.

Christ has conquered all. He is glorified. He is glorified. We have the resurrection power of Christ.

The spirit of God dwells within us. We should be turning the world upside down. For Christ.

Well there's so much more. So many other verses of scripture I could go to. But I want to focus on one very important application.

Before we close it here. Go with me to Matthew chapter 10. This is so critical.

All of it is critical. But this is one point that Jesus makes. And He makes it a very simple point.

That we can't miss it. Or can we? Sometimes it's the obvious that we miss. Isn't it?

May we not miss the obvious. Let me read very quickly. Chapter 10 of Matthew.

Jesus sends out the 12. Verse 5. Starting with verse 5. These 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them.

Saying do not go in the way of the Gentiles. And do not enter in the city of the Samaritans. Now right here isn't that interesting.

The gospel is to the Jew first folks. This is why this is like that. The Jew first.

Christ is the Messiah of the Jews. But also of the Gentiles. And eventually goes to the

Gentiles. Because what? The Jews rejected Him. They put Him on the cross.

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. First to Israel. And then He says this.

And as you go preach. Preach. Proclaim. Herald it. For the

King. Saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. And He is speaking to the disciples. The apostles here. The 12. Cast out demons.

Freely you have received. Freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts.

Nor bag for your journey. Nor two tunics. Nor sandals nor staffs. Nor for workers worthy of its food.

Now whatever city or town you enter. Inquire who in it is worthy. And stay there till you go out.

And when you go into the household. Greet it. If the household is worthy.

Let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy. Let your peace return to you. And then He says this.

And whoever will not receive you. Nor hear your words. When you depart from that house or city.

Shake off the dust of your feet. Surely I say to you.

It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the day of judgment for that city. Now here it is.

Right here folks. Verse 16. This is what we need to get. As the word of God says.

He that has ears. Let him hear what the Spirit says. And this is what the Spirit of God says. And this is what Christ is saying.

Not me. But Christ. Verse 16. Behold. I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

There's danger folks. Don't you agree with that? There's danger out there.

Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. That's the word right there.

This should be the application. That word behold.

Actually means in the original Greek. To call attention to. To point out something very important.

And here Jesus is emphasizing something very important to us. As his own followers. Here in this verse.

To announce that the kingdom of heaven. Is at hand. To the people of Israel.

And at that time. And it is. As it is today relevant. That means that God's judgment.

Was coming. There's no stopping it. His judgment was coming. And those who do not repent.

Will be doomed. They will perish. Jesus wanted his disciples to know.

That the kingdom message. Would stir up opposition. Have you noticed that? When you tell people the truth.

They don't like to hear it. Because the light of the gospel. Exposes them for who they are. It exposed us didn't it?

It convicted us. But isn't that what the Holy Spirit does. When Christ is glorified.

The spirit of God comes. He convicts righteousness. Judgment. He was preparing them.

He was preparing them. So that they wouldn't be surprised. When the message was met with.

Ferocious wolf like. Rage. Now let me ask you a question.

Who wants to hear a message of judgment. And call to repentance today? But there is good news.

Christ came to save. But if they don't believe.

The wrath of God. Is already abiding on them. There is a sure hail. It's Christ or hail.

I heard a sermon years ago. Called holiness or hail. I never have forgotten it. It's Christ or hail.

The message of the kingdom. Was not popular message. In the first century. And it sure isn't popular now.

People will be offended. When you tell them. That they are in rebellion.

Against the Holy God. And that they are. Guilty of loving God. And their neighbors as they should.

There is the offense. Of the preaching of the cross. Which is spoken of. In first Corinthians chapter one. Because the message of the cross.

Is foolishness to those who perish. But we are to take this gospel.

We are to tell people the truth lovingly. But notice how Jesus. In wisdom. Gave this immoral woman the truth.

I'm just amazed. How lovingly. Patiently. And in much wisdom.

That Christ the master. Witnesses and reaches out to her. So after his warning.

About those rejected. The disciples message. In Matthew ten.

He gives us the wise essential advice. Meaning we need to be wise. And not foolish.

We don't need to be careless. We don't need to be rude. We don't need to be annoying. Love is not rude.

The love of God. The agape love of God. Bears all things. Believes all things. It reaches out.

Because we see a human soul. That's lost. Made in the image of God.

God created. Man. To worship him. And it's as if.

When sin came into the world. Adam threw that worship instrument. Down into the mud.

And rebelled against God. And God. It's almost as if God picks it up lovingly.

Like a loving parent. Washes it up. And then Jesus Christ brings it right to them.

To play that instrument once again. So yes.

We are to be wise as serpents. Jesus' advice about how to face. The dangers. Of preaching the gospel.

Is first to be wise. The wisdom of God as James says.

From heaven is peaceable. Notice the scripture says. Even this. Follow peace with all men.

And holiness. Without which no one will see the Lord. Notice how the peace of God is first.

Would it be peaceable? You know that's what true holiness is. It's not. As I used to see.

People just pounding holiness. On me hard and harshly. And repentance.

You've got to repent. Or you're going to go to hell. But those that came and hugged me. And said you know

God loves you. With an everlasting love. I don't want to see you perish in hell. I'm going to tell you the good news.

You may not like it. It may be hard. But I love you. But above all

God loves you. Wise as serpents.

A serpent is wise. That's an analogy here. A serpent is very wise.

It doesn't mean would it be like the devil. It's not talking about that. It's talking about an analogy. Of being a wise as a serpent.

Christ has given us an analogy. The second element is. His words is just as important as the first.

Would it be harmless or innocent as a dove. What is a dove symbolic of?

The spirit of God. When Christ went into the waters of baptism.

As representing us. He didn't have any sin. He didn't. He wasn't baptized because of any sin.

Because he was a sinless son of God. He was doing this to represent his people. But as he came up out of the waters.

The spirit of God descended upon him. In the form of a dove. Gentleness.

Harmless. Tame. Humble. Symbol of the

Holy Spirit. Humility. And it seems to be effective. To be effective as messengers.

Of the kingdom of God. We need to learn how to have a humble disposition folks. We need to give the gospel in wisdom.

And in power. But we need to give it in humility. This is so missing. And it convicts me.

And I say Lord help me to be truly humble. Hide me behind the cross.

May Christ increase. May I decrease. But if you want to be effective.

Witness for Jesus. We are to be wise as a serpent. Harmless as a dove.

Innocent as a dove. This combination of virtues. Wise as a serpent. Harmless as a dove.

Transfers to the humility. The humble followers of Jesus Christ. During the first century.

As you read through the book of Acts. They were humble souls. They did not trust in themselves. They trusted in the living

God. And they trusted in Christ. And they paid a price. And we must be willing to pay that price.

Amen. Let me close this. Beloved as we proclaim the message of the gospel.

In a secular, self -centered, hateful world. Haters of God.

May we do as the New Testament Christians did.

Which is same. And still very crucial. Jesus said.

Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

A wolf loves to eat sheep. But we have the great shepherd. That's beside us.

Protecting his sheep. Now I say protection.

I'm saying ultimately protection. I'm not talking about just physical. A lot of times we think physical.

Ultimately from hell folks. From the wrath of God. Christ protects us.

Because a lot of people. And a lot of the followers of Christ. Paid a ultimate price.

They died. Gave their lives on the stake. And burned to it. Many of the

Christians at that time. Were eaten by lions. As entertainment. Folks do we have this kind of love.

To love Christ unto death. Examine your heart today.

May the spirit of God give you the grace. And if you're not truly born again today.

The Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse you from all your sin. Wash you whiter than snow.

As you look to him on the cross. The one who died for you. Loved your soul.

As much as he loved this Samaritan woman. Let's pray. Our Father and our

God. How good you are. We thank you for your.

Word. Today Lord we thank you for. This time of worship. As we saw in your word

Lord. That we're to be wise as serpents. And harmless as doves. And to imitate the master.

Help us oh God. Help us by your Holy Spirit. Grace us. Fill us with your spirit.

And may we have the heavenly wisdom. From above.

To warn people. As they are in a. Endangered.

Place. Of going right into hell. Lord and yet we are to speak the words of truth.

Speak truth and love to them. Harmless as doves to a lost dying world.

We have so many in our family. That does not know you Lord. And Father I pray as anyone.

That does not know you here today. Today will be the day of salvation. The day of visitation. Father we thank you.

May we. As your people. Shine as lights.

In a dark dark world. A people that you have called out of darkness. Into your marvelous light.

Now Lord help us to truly love you. And if we love you. We are going to obey you. We will be doers of the word.

And just not hearers of the word. So transform us. Give us your power Lord and grace. That we may glorify you.

To the ends of the earth. And that people may see Jesus. And not us.

And that Christ may have the preeminence. In all things and be exalted. In this world and in our lives.