Jesus Gives Living Water: Part 2

Redeeming Grace Church

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I would like to continue our message here, Jesus Gives Living Water. I promise you this will be more than a two -part series, because there's so much here in the text.

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We're not going to get finished with it, but there's no doubt one of the most wonderful texts in John chapter 4, in which

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I'm reading. One of the most wonderful and glorious things about the

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Gospel of Jesus Christ is that it meets basic needs of all people.

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It meets the basic need that all people have, from the most learned men, you can say, with the multiple

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PhDs, who are highly intelligent, very educated.

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The message that he so desperately needs to hear and receive is that Jesus Christ died for his sins, that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead, and that he can trust in the

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Lord Jesus Christ and receive eternal life as the free gift. Now take that message, that same message that the world so desperately needs to the unlearned, to the ignoramus, to the primitive, to the savages, to those that are illiterate, and some remote jungle, like many missionaries do.

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He needs to hear and receive the same good news. He needs that message just like the intellectuals.

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Since all people are sinners, who need to be reconciled to a holy God, this same

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Gospel applies to all people everywhere. Jesus Christ came to seek and save all sinners.

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He came to seek and save the lost, and he does that to those who put their trust in him and believe the

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Gospel and repent of their sins. Now, as we've already looked at,

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John chapter 3 gives the account of Jesus. Yeah, speaking of John chapter 3, wasn't that a wonderful chapter?

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We see Jesus' interview with the Pharisee named Nicodemus. He was a very religious leader, as we saw, and a very moral man.

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He was, no doubt, shocked by what the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to him in John 3 .3.

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Truly, truly, verily, verily, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

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Nicodemus' religion was not sufficient to save him or get him into the kingdom of God. He needed the new birth, like everybody in this world does, to enter into God's kingdom or to see

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God's kingdom. He needed a complete transformation. That's what the power of the

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Gospel does. That is what the power of the cross does through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

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Now we come to John chapter 4, and it gives us the account of Jesus' encounter with a very immoral

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Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Let me say this at the beginning before we get into the message.

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As the master soul winner, the Lord Jesus Christ, He skillfully shows her by His perfect wisdom that she needs the living water that only

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He can give. Beloved, it's the same basic message with just a different metaphor.

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And Jesus knows how to tailor those metaphors perfectly to hit that person's heart by the power of the

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Holy Spirit. This is not original with me, but I was reading this from Pastor Steve Cole.

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He's retired now. He was a very strong evangelical in California.

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I quote him here on this at the opening. He says, quote,

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Nicodemus and the unnamed Samaritan woman are as different as they could be. He was a

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Jewish man. She was a Samaritan woman. He was educated and orthodox in the

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Jewish faith. She was uneducated and heterodox. He was an influential leader.

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She was a nobody. He was upper middle class.

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She was lower middle class. He was morally upright. She was immoral.

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He sought out Jesus because he recognized His merits. She had no idea who the stranger at the well was who sought her out.

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He came to Jesus by night, speaking of Nicodemus. Jesus and the woman met at noon.

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Nicodemus responded slowly and rationally. She responded quickly and emotionally.

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But Jesus, he says, loved them both. He came to seek and save all types of people, end quote.

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I thought that was a very wonderful observation. Looking at Nicodemus and the

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Samaritan woman in a parallel sort of way. Wonderful illustration, isn't it?

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Well, in saying that, let us continue together as we journey together. I like to look at exposition, journeying together, in the text.

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And we're here at John chapter 4. John chapter 4. To get the big picture, let me start with verse 1 and read to verse 26.

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So we get everything. Of course, it's going to take some time for us to break through and go line by line and precept by precept to go through the verses here.

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But I believe the Lord has a lot to say to us and to teach us in how we could be better soul winners to those that we reach out to to evangelize and give the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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So here are the words of the living God, beginning with verse 1 of chapter 4. Therefore, when the

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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

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Judea and departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to the city of Samaria, which is called

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Saqar, near the plot of 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.

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And it was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her,

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Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

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Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a

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Samaritan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. And Jesus answered and said to her,

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If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you,

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Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

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

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

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

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Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

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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.

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And the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.

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Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. And the woman answered and said,

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I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband.

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For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband, and that you spoke truly.

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

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Jews on this mountain in Jerusalem in the place where one ought to worship. And Jesus said to her,

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Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the

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Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the

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Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the

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Father in spirit and truth, and the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.

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

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And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Let's stop right there, and let's bow our hearts in prayer together as we seek our

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Lord, as the Lord speaks to us through his word, to our hearts of the message we need to hear today.

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Our Father, and our great God, Lord, we thank you for thy word.

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There's nothing that compares to it. It's you speaking directly to us, and we thank you for your love letter to us, to your children.

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We praise you. We bless you. Thank you that this holy word has been preserved down through the years, hundreds of years, and now we have it in our own language.

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May we never ever take that for granted. Lord, I pray, speak,

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Lord, for thy servant hears. And by the power of thy Holy Spirit, open our eyes, open our hearts, open the eyes of our hearts by thy mercy.

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And may we receive of that good word, and not just to be hearers, but to be doers of that word.

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I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Jesus Christ is the

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Savior of the world who can give living water, only he can give living water to all thirsty sinners.

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He alone can satisfy the soul with living water springing up to eternal life.

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That's the basic message here, and the point that is really given to us in John chapter 4 as Jesus speaks to the

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Samaritan woman. Now, as we've already seen last time in this section from verse 1 to verse 6, basically has given us a background of what is happening here.

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So I'm going to just briefly recap a little bit here, and try not to spend much time there, but we do need to see the background a little bit to pick us up where we need to, where we left off to start us off where we are today.

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And Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.

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Though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples did. So he left Judea, the scripture says, and departed again to Galilee.

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Now we've come to verse 4, that's a very significant verse, because it tells us much of the willingness of Jesus Christ to go to witness to this one soul, to Samaria.

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He knew this, but he needed to go through Samaria. Again, I want to repeat,

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I like what the Old King James Version says, he must, needs, go to Samaria.

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He must, needs, go through Samaria. So it was a divine appointment, as we saw, and it's by divine appointment that Jesus had to go through Samaria, the country which was divided into three sections.

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This country is divided into three sections. Judea was basically the southern section, and Galilee was the northern section.

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And then you have Samaria, which is basically the central section in the middle that was between the two.

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So this was the really shortest route from Judea to Galilee that many Jews used, but it was only because they had a disdain toward the

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Samaritans. It wasn't the only route. Some very strict Jews who didn't want to contact with the despised

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Samaritans would take a longer route on purpose, crossing the

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Jordan River to the east, traveling north and then going back west to Galilee.

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Geographically. But since Jesus was probably already at the

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Jordan River, which the text tells us, where him and his disciples were baptizing, he could have taken that route.

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He could have taken that route, but he didn't. He didn't.

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Therefore, the word, he must, needs, go. His must, needs, go through Samaria.

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Gives us a good probability that Jesus had a divine appointment with this one soul.

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Isn't that a wonderful thought? This whole chapter and everything that is speaking of is about Christ reaching not just the masses, but this one soul.

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One. In other words, Jesus was on a divine mission. And that's his mission, folks.

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And that should be our mission. And it's called the Great Commission. That we are to preach this gospel to every person, to every creature on the face of this planet.

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And Jesus came for this purpose. Jesus is the master soul winner.

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I think about Brother Dan Bill that preached this a few months back, and that's what he titled his message.

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And I think it's a wonderful title because you see the master soul winner here in action.

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And you think of it, all the way from Nathaniel in the beginning of his ministry, all the way to his greatest trophy on the cross, the thief on the cross.

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At the end of his ministry, Jesus was seeking and saving sinners and calling them to himself to repent and believe the gospel.

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So keep in mind that Jesus loves you with an everlasting love.

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He loves you with an unchanging love. He cares for you like no one else can care and more than anyone else cares, even your closest companion.

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Christ loves you with a deep, deep love, beloved. Now, I'd also like for us to keep in mind that as we go through these verses together, we can learn much from the master soul winner.

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And that's what I'm trying to do as I study this text and I share with you and pass to you, but things

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I've already observed, you probably have already observed as well. But I love to come together with you and worship together as we look into the word of God.

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The Lord longs to seek and save the lost, doesn't he? That's the heartbeat of God. It's all for his glory is the redemption of sinners.

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That's the story of the Bible is redemption. So we want to see the glory of Christ.

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That's our desire. Every time we open this book, it's not like another book, it's a divine book.

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And heaven's love letter comes to us. So yes, we want to see the glory of Jesus Christ.

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But at the same time, we also want to see and learn how he evangelized this Samaritan woman.

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So we're going to learn this together. And by no means, I'm just again, we're going to scratch the surface. And I got a few things to say today in a few points.

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And we'll pick it up Lord willing next Lord's day as we have communion. Verse five says, so he came to a city of Samaria, which is called

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Saqar near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. And verse six says, now

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

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Now, let me pick up there and mention about a few things that we see here that's before us in these verses.

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We see the Savior having a confrontation with a sinful woman.

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There's a confrontation. Then we will see that Jesus continues and has a conversation.

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From confrontation to conversation, then we will see to conversion. Confrontation, conversation, conversion.

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Let's look at it together. First of all, in these verses in verse three to six, Jesus is shown in his compassion.

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And how much compassion did he have? It is deep, beloved. Much, much compassion.

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Too deep for us to even comprehend. But we know he's a very compassionate Savior, isn't he?

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And in his humanity, he reaches out to the lost. While Jesus is

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God at the same time in his human flesh, as we see, he is the

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Son of God, he's the Son of Man. He is the God -man. And he was acquainted with grief, as Isaiah 53 says.

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And being acquainted with grief, he had trials. He had heartaches. He wept.

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He cried. He was a man of sorrows, the Bible says. Again, one of the key verses for us is verse four.

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He needed to go through Samaria. So here is this verse we see is the Savior is willing.

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And we see the Savior willing. He's willing to seek out that one lost soul.

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He's willing, mainly the Samaritan woman, and to save her and to bring salvation to her through himself.

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Again, most Jews would go dozens of miles out of the way to avoid crossing paths through the land of the

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Samaritans. And they would take a different route because of their hatred and their bitterness and their prejudice towards this mixed race.

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And this mixed race, which was a cross between Jew and Gentile, and they were despised. And Jesus, however, was unaffected by this kind of hate and prejudice of the

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Jews. So Jesus breaks barriers here as being a Jew in his humanity.

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So we see the Savior is willing to save a sinful, immoral woman that was despised, that was hated, that was shamed, that was a mixed breed, that was rejected by the

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Jewish people. There's no person, no matter how immoral.

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Let me say this right here, beyond the reach of God's amazing grace.

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Let me say that again. There is no one, no one that is so immoral that is beyond the reach of God's amazing grace.

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God came to save such sinners, sinners, practicing sinners, does it displease

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God? Absolutely. And one day, all this sin that is so gross and so horrific, that took the

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Savior to the cross, by the way, will come up before God and God's patience and grace will come to an end and He will pour out

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His wrath and judgment upon this world. God is angry with the wicked every day.

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That's what the Scripture tells us. But at the same time,

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Christ came to seek and save the lost sinners, such as this lost

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Samaritan woman. And we see the Savior is willing, isn't He? He's willing. I love that because He has a desire to seek and save.

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He's the seeker. It's not us that's the seeker. The Scripture says there's none that seeks

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God. No, not one. And some people get mixed up in this, in churches, and says, well, you know, that person was seeking

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God. Why does it mention in Scriptures, seek the Lord while you may be found, and that the

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Lord, it speaks in the Proverbs about seeking Him and seeking it in Psalms, it speaks about seeking

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His face. But you know, you think of it, really, we do not begin to seek God until God has first found us and sought us out.

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We think somehow we take the initiative, but we don't take the initiative, do we?

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It is God who takes the initiative. He is the seeker. He is the seeker.

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You know, it's interesting, Jesus even says this in verse 23 about worship, when they begin their communication, their conversation about worship.

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He says to her in verse 23, but the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the

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Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship

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Him. We're not going to see much about worship as we go through this, God willing, later on.

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But today, but first of all, we see that God, through Jesus Christ, is willing to reconcile sinners to Himself, to a holy

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God. And the only way that we can be reconciled to a holy God is through Christ. No other way.

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That's why Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.

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That's what He says. He's the only mediator between man and God, the man

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Christ Jesus. And He is the one that came to seek and save the lost. So, we see

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Jesus was willing to go out of His way, wasn't He? To seek and save this poor lost Samaritan woman.

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We see the Savior willing. Next, we see the Savior is walking. Look at verse 5. So, He came to a city of Samaria, which is called

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Saqqar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Now, little is known about the city of Saqqar.

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However, there are three significant biblical events that happen in Saqqar, and I touched on this the last time

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I preached on this in detail, but just to refresh your memory, number one, Saqqar, this plot of land here, is a little city.

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And Jacob, number one, we see Jacob bought a piece of land in that area, according to Genesis 33, 19.

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Jacob bought a piece of land in that area. Second, we know from the historical record in Genesis that Jacob willed the land to Joseph as he was dying on his dying deathbed.

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Genesis, in Genesis 48, 52. And then third, we know according to the record in Genesis, I'm sorry,

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Joshua here, 24, 32, Joseph's bones was buried there. So, we know that that is historically correct according to the biblical record.

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Now, why are these events important here? I like to ask that question, and it kind of gets us started.

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Because in this particular area became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.

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This is very important. This is the precise location of Jacob's well.

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And notice in the next verse, verse 6, now Jacob's well was there.

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This is where the well was, Jacob's well. And this is where the Savior walked for His divine appointment with the

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Samaritan woman. This tells us that our Lord Jesus was seeking the Samaritan woman, even when she was not seeking

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Him. Now, I love that about the gospels, because many, many times we see the

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Lord is the one that seeks people out. People within our own selves, we do not have the ability to even seek

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God. It is God who seeks man, just like in Genesis, when man fell, it was

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God that was seeking Adam and Eve, later on to be called the mother of all living. And as sin entered into the world, they were hiding from God, right?

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People are still hiding from God. Still taken trying to sow fig leaves on themselves to cover up their shame and nakedness.

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And yet God came after them. God sought them out. So we see that it's the

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Lord that seeks out men. We see our

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Savior willing. We see our Savior walking. And next, we see our Savior wearied.

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He's weary. Verse 6, Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore being wearied from his journey.

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He's wearied. Sat thus by the well, and it was about the sixth hour.

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Now, again, as I mentioned about the sixth hour, this was the hottest time of the day. It's high noon.

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It's high noon according to the calendar there. It is the very hottest day. And you know in the

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Middle East, it's very dry and it's very desolate. And this place at this time is really, she's there coming to this

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Jacob's well. And she does this quite often at this time of the day to figure that no one else is around there at the time to cover her shame.

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So at the hottest time of the day, she comes. And Jesus, here he is in his humanity.

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Here he is as a man, the son of man. And this is one of those wonderful texts,

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I believe, that explores something of the reality of the human nature of Jesus Christ. He was wearied.

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He was wearied. He was tired. He was thirsty. We see him walking.

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We see him willing. We see him weary. Next is the obvious.

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We see him waiting. He's waiting. The latter part of verse 6 says, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well.

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He's tired. He's waiting. There's a divine appointment again.

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That divine appointment is for that one soul, that one sheep, so to speak, that the shepherd seeks out.

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And here we see our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, waiting on this dear woman to come to that well.

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And he knows exactly what's going to happen. He's God in flesh. But yet here he is as a man full of the

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Holy Spirit and wisdom and power. And he reaches out to her.

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She, think of this, she never gave a thought of this Jewish stranger as to her. She never gave a thought of this

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Jewish rabbi that most would not even dare speak to a Samaritan reject to meet her by Jacob's well.

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But now he's directly in her path by divine appointment.

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Jesus was established these crossroads to bring her salvation.

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Yes. Thank God for the strategic crossroads of life by the providence of God.

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All by the divine appointment of God. God knows. Aren't you glad you had a divine appointment then?

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You had nothing to do with that. But God did. He met you. He came to you and saved you out of the miry clay and set your feet up on a rock to stay and put a song in your heart and transformed your life by the supernatural power of God that is real.

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So we see the Savior. He's willing. He's walking. He's wearied. He's waiting. Verse 7 says,

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A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. Now this is so important.

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Let us remember those four little words. Give me a drink. Because this is actually how the

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Lord establishes and begins the conversation with her. We see the Savior opening the conversation now by asking a favor.

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Isn't that interesting? This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Lord of glory now as a man in flesh.

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God in flesh. He's wearied from the journey of going quite a distance.

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He's thirsty. And he says to her, Give me a drink. This is how the master soul winner begins his conversation with this

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Amara woman. This is so, I think of it, it's actually so significant that it's so simple we bypass it.

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I was studying this and I was looking at one commentator. I love what he said. William McDonald says this about these passages.

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Quote, he said, In this passage, we find the master soul winner at work.

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And we do well to study the methods he used to bring this woman to a sense of her need and to offer the solution to her problem.

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He goes on to say, Our Lord spoke to the woman just seven times. Seven times.

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The woman spoke seven times as well. Six times to the

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Lord she spoke. And once to the men of the city. And perhaps, he says,

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If we spoke to the Lord as much as she did. I love that.

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We might have the success and testimony that she had when she spoke to the men of the city.

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End quote. That is so good, isn't it? See, she spoke to the

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Lord. Should not we speak to the Lord? When we go out to evangelize.

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And you know, I think it's very significant before we even go out to Cartersville to, and Lord willing,

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I plan on going with you men today. And that we bow in our hearts in prayer and ask the

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Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom. To bring one soul. I think it's very important that we never exclude prayer.

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Amen. We speak to the Lord. Because he's the one, as he told the disciples, cast a net on the right side.

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Because he knows where the fish are. We don't. We don't know where the elect is, but he does.

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Cast a net on the right side. And obey him. Well, furthermore, the

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Samaritan woman's first surprise was stemmed from the fact that Jesus spoke to her. Isn't that interesting?

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Jesus being a Jew. Because for a Jewish man, of course, in that time period, to speak to a woman in public, let alone to ask her, a

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Samaritan woman, a drink of water was a really a definite breach of rigid custom between the

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Samaritans and Jews. Jesus broke those barriers. Aren't you glad?

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Verse 8. For the disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

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Nothing wrong with that, but Jesus' food was to do the will of the Father. Matter of fact, they were actually concerned, if you notice ahead, in verse 31, 30.

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Let's read 30. Then they went out of the city and came to him. In the meantime, his disciples urged him, saying,

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Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know.

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Therefore, the disciples said to one another, you can hear them talking among each other. Has anyone brought him anything to eat?

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Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

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You know what Jesus was concerned about, beloved? And then he says this in verse 35.

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And we'll be looking at this in more detail in the future. But he says, do you not say that there are still four months and then comes the harvest?

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Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.

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And that's an explanation point there. It has strength to it. It has a passion to it.

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And he said, and he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life.

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And both he who sows and who reaps may rejoice together. For in this, the saying is true.

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One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.

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Others have labored and you have not. And you have entered into their labors.

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You see, Jesus was all about soul winning, beloved. Isn't this why we live outside of the glory of God?

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I believe the glory of God's first and foremost. But outside of the glory of God, we are here to witness about Jesus Christ to this lost and dying world.

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May we obey his voice and take this good news to everyone, including beginning at home and abroad.

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Now, since Jesus and his disciples were willing to purchase food from the Samaritans, they did not follow some of the self -imposed regulations of stricter

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Jews, did they? They would have been unwilling to eat food handled by an outcast

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Samaritans because they were rejects, don't have anything, any association to do with these

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Samaritans. Very prejudiced. Another observation, they ordinarily carried buckets to draw water, but they had taken these with them.

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Thus, to all outward appearance, the Lord had no means for getting water. How do we know that?

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Well, if you see in verse 11, the woman said to him, speaking to Jesus, Sir, you have nothing to draw with.

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There was no water pail there in the sense that the disciples took the water pails and the well is deep.

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Where then do you get that living water? And then we're going to look how he just lured her in in such a wonderful way about living water.

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Verse nine, then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you being a Jew ask a drink from me?

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That's the first thing that he does. He breaks those barriers and he says, give me a drink of water from me, a

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Samaritan woman, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Now, first of all, we see an observation that the woman, being an outcast

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Samaritan, recognized Jesus as a Jew. And was amazed, shocked, so to speak, that he would even speak to her.

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Again, Samaritans were considered half -breeds, rejected from the Jews because they were mixed Jewish and Gentile heathen descendants.

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So the Jews had a deep disdain towards the Samaritans, as I've already mentioned. But Jesus surprises her that he would even talk to her and have a conversation with her.

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Jesus breaks all prejudice barriers. He sees a soul that's in need of salvation.

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So during this time, Jesus conversed with this outcast, rejected Samaritan, immoral woman.

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They talked about several things. Jesus, the master soul winner, is seen here patiently, lovingly, graciously leading this woman to salvation.

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Now, outside of application, let's look at this one observation.

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I have several here. Interesting to note that the things they talked about were really simple and practical.

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Now, we're going to look at the first two. There's five here. The first one is they talked of the wells in verse 9 through 12.

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Second, they talked of water in verse 13 through 15. Third, they talked of wickedness in verse 16 through 19.

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Fourth, they talked of worship in verse 20 through 24. And then fifth, they talked of wisdom in verse 25 and 26.

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Wells, water, wickedness, worship, and wisdom. Let's look at the first two because we're not going to have time to get through all of it.

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They talked of wells, verse 9 to 12. And let's pick up at verse 10. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God.

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This is a very powerful verse. Jesus said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink.

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Jesus says to her, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. It's almost as he takes like bait, in a sense.

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This is the bait. This is what is to lure you in, living water. We see that by Jesus asking a favor, give me a drink, stirred her interest, first of all, and her curiosity.

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He now arouses her, so to speak, then instill us further by speaking of himself as being both

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God and man, that only Jesus himself is the gift of God.

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She doesn't realize this. She probably went right over her head because she's blind and she's deaf and she doesn't see things spiritually here.

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He is the gift of God. He's the one, in John 3, 16, that God forgot to love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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Jesus is that one that God the Father gave to be the savior of the world.

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He is the only one and only unique son of God. God's the Father's unique gift.

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He is the free gift of God. You see this in Romans. Paul the apostle really expounds on this.

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But he was also a man. He's the son of man. He's the son of God. He's the son of man.

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He's the one who was wearied in his journey. He asked her for a drink of water. In other words, if she had realized that the one to whom she was talking to was

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God manifest in the flesh, she would have asked him and he would have given her living water.

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That's what he's saying. If you really would have known who it is, and I think that's significant because if people who would really know who

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Jesus really is, and who says to them, I am the gift of God, I am the free gift of God, I think they would pay attention more.

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But we have a world that's blind and dead and trespasses the sins. They're deaf and they're muted to the things of God.

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The woman at this moment could only think of literal water, folks. She can only think of satisfying her thirst and of the impossibility of getting it without the necessary equipment.

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She completely failed to recognize the Lord or to understand his words. So the woman, very much like Nicodemus, I like to say, failed to understand the spiritual meaning, the spiritual truth that is behind.

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You know, when Jesus spoke about being born again, what was Nicodemus thinking? Of the physical.

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Jesus was given a metaphor of the spiritual, of the spiritual meaning of that Jesus is saying now, okay, speaking about living water, he's speaking about something spiritual.

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She's thinking literal. Jesus was only pointing out her spiritual need, folks, rather than the physical.

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She could only think of the physical, like, again, Nicodemus. So in her mind, she wanted such water in order to avoid her frequent trips to Jacob's well.

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So maybe this will help me out. Verse 11, the woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well's deep.

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Where then do you get the living water? Good question. Where does it come from?

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Where do you get this living water? Isn't it wonderful?

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Isn't it wonderful? Verse 12, here's a great observation.

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Notice the questions that are given. Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as his sons and his livestock?

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Listen to those questions she's asking. You know, that's where you want to, by God's help, as we're reaching out to lost souls, not only are we to ask questions, you want the people to ask questions to you.

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Because that opens up the door of opportunity to give them the word of God, which is living and powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword, that has life -giving power to transform their souls.

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Because we can't do it, can we? We're just instruments. We're just conduits.

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We're just channels to be used of God that he would do the work.

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And many times it's a means to an end. It's as, it makes me think of the time when Lazarus died.

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You know the story in John 11. Lazarus died. They thought Jesus was late.

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He wasn't late. He was right on time. He says this was for the glory of God. He only purposely went late according to their schedule, but he was on time.

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He arrives, and you know, Mary and Martha comes, and they're really upset because this is the sister of Lazarus, and they really love

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Lazarus. But before Jesus spoke the word and said, Lazarus, come forth, which was the miracle of life -giving power of a dead man in the grave, what does he say?

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Remove the stone. There is something for them to do. You remove the stone, and he erased the dead.

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There's a means to an end. God expects us to obey him, and he does the miracles.

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You see this with Moses as they cross the sea as the

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Egyptians was coming upon them. There had to be obedience to the commands of the

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Lord, but God did what they could not even do for his glory. Well, isn't it wonderful?

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So we see here that she's still very confused because she's thinking of Jesus as something better to give than Jacob.

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Being a patriarch, by the way, why should he ask for water from Jacob's well?

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From where did he get this living water? Was Jesus greater than Jacob, who was one of the great religious patriarchs of the

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Samaritans? Jacob had to dig the well in order to secure water for his family. So was

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Jesus greater, able to do more than Jacob? Oh my, oh my.

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If only she knew. You see, we see it because we're born again.

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We know that he who he is is God in flesh because we know he's the one that made the waters.

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He's the one that made Jacob. A matter of fact, he's the one that evening wrestled with Jacob all night long.

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She didn't know that. Jesus said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is, it says to you, give me a drink.

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You would have asked him and he would have given you living water. She didn't realize, of course, because she's spiritually blind again, who's talking, not realizing who's really talking to her and what he can give her to her deepest need.

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Like the world, their deepest need, and he is the son of God in flesh,

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God in flesh. But the woman did recognize something that most people do not. That Jesus is claimed to be greater than the one of the greatest religious leaders.

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She said, are you greater? Most people don't see that, do they? Jesus is claimed to be greater.

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He was claiming his claims to have access to much, much better water for quenching the thirst of men's souls.

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Makes me think of Matthew 12, 6. Jesus is greater than the temple. In Matthew 12, 41,

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Jesus is greater than Jonah. In Matthew 12, 42, in Luke 11, 31,

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Jesus is greater than Solomon. This is what the record says.

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This is what the scripture says. And in John 8, 53 and 58, Jesus is greater than Abraham because he says, before Abraham was,

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I am. Here in John 4, 11 and 12, he's greater than Jacob, beloved.

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For he's the one who wrestled with Jacob all night and blessed him, changed him, and changed his name.

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Yes, indeed, he's greater. He's much greater, isn't he? But how is Jesus going to bring her in to the salvation of recognizing who he really is?

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Well, it's happening slowly at the point. And once her conversion takes place, it's just a burst, an explosion.

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But the one who made Jacob, yes, Jesus Christ himself. Verse 13, in this verse, the

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Lord began to explain the difference between the literal water in Jacob's well and the water which he would give.

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Keep in mind also that her light of scripture was very limited, very different from Nicodemus, who was already a leader of the

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Jews, a teacher of the Jews, even though he missed a lot of what was in the scriptures, according to Jeremiah and Ezekiel about the new birth.

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Jesus rebukes him and says, you should know this. But see, Nicodemus had the law in the prophets.

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Remember, the Samaritans had a limited amount of knowledge. They only accepted the Pentateuch, the first five books of the

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Bible, as authentic and inspired from God. So Jesus answered and said to her in verse 13, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

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But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. There it is.

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And he says this, but the water that I shall give, the water that I shall give will become in him, there it is right there, in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

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Key verse. So surely the Samaritan woman could understand this great truth

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Jesus gives her, but she had been coming out that day after day after day, mile after mile, to draw water from the well, yet the need was never completely met.

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Now there is something very significant about this, beloved, and let me point this out. So it is with all the wells of this world.

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Isn't it true? It doesn't matter how many wells that we visit in this world, it will never satisfy the thirst of man's soul.

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Can I tell you this? It's stagnant. It is stagnant, filthy waters that will never satisfy the soul of man.

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Stagnant waters of the flesh, I'd like to say, such as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.

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It's all of the world, the world is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

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Lust, you see it, it's everywhere in this world. Just go down the internet, you got it thrown in your face.

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Lust of the flesh, stagnant waters of the world, such as the love of money, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, lovers of things of the world rather than lovers of the things of God, lovers of pleasure and power.

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These are all idols, beloved, and God must smash them all.

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Stagnant waters of the flesh of the world that will never ever satisfy man's deepest need and thirst.

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I'd like to put it this way, they look like salt water. What is salt water? It causes the cravings to increase, but yet people continue to want more and more, but there's yet unsatisfaction more and more.

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Only makes men crave for more and more and be discontent more and more and never satisfied, never satisfied.

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You see people in this world like this. You and I was once there, amen? Run into one well to another, one well to another.

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I like what Augustine said in his confessions. If you never read

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Augustine's confessions, I think that's a great book, but he says this, Oh Lord, you have made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in thee.

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So Jesus in his perfect wisdom used the woman's need for physical water to sustain life.

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By the way, that's what water does. It sustains life. He takes this one simple great important element that sustains us to this region in order to serve as an object lesson for her need for spiritual transformation.

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Jeremiah 2 .13 says this, For my people have committed two evils. Listen to what the scripture says from the prophet

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Jeremiah. They have forsaken me, number one, the fountain of living waters.

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They have forsaken me. As brother Keith has brought out in the book of Judges, the reason they have forsaken

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God, they forgot God. Amnesia. They have forsaken me,

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God says, the fountain of living waters. God is the fountain of living waters. Second, two, and the scripture says,

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And he hung them cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

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That's the two great evils. God says those are two evils, great evils. The scriptures says much.

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I'd like to give some application here very quickly. I won't let the word of God speak, and I'm sure there's been already applications that's been given.

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But in closing here, let me give you a few words. As I was studying throughout the week, pieces and bits, and one morning, about 3 a .m.,

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I just got up and I said, you know, I opened up the word of God, and I said,

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I just want to do a little word study here. And I got to thinking about the word living water. That word living.

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These waters are alive. Living water. They are alive.

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I'm going to just kind of go here and there. But listen to Genesis 2, 7. And the Lord God formed a man, formanded the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, a living being.

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So people are just not something, a cell from a swamp.

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They're made in the image of God, a living being. Listen to Psalm 56, 13.

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For you have delivered my soul from death, and you have not kept my feet, and I'm sorry, have you not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before, this is a question, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

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Matthew 22, 31 to 32, Jesus says, but concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,

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I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the

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God of the dead, but of the living. That great confession as we looked at in our

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Bible study with R .C. Sproul, Matthew 16, 16, Simon Peter answered and said, you are the

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Christ, the son of the living God. Luke 24, 5, then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, this is at the resurrection, the angels came, they said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead?

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He's alive, Christ is living, He's resurrected. Isaiah 38, 19, the living, the living man shall praise you.

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As I do this day, the Father shall make known your truth to the children. What a beautiful verse for fathers.

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The Father shall make known your truth to the children. And of course in our text,

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Jesus says, 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.

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A good reference to this is John 7, 37, 38, on the last day, the great day of the feast.

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Listen to this, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

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He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, rivers.

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What about Romans 12, 1? I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

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Another translation is your reasonable act of worship. 1

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Peter 2, 4, and 5, coming to him, coming to Christ as to a living stone.

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He is a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.

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You also, you also, as living stones and being built upon a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

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See the act of worship there? See that it's the living God and he has made us living stones?

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Hebrews 4, 12, for the word of God is living. It's powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword.

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Piercing even to the division of soul and spirit of the joints of the marrow and the discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

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Deuteronomy 5, 26, for who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living

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God speaking from the midst of the fire as we have and have lived?

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John 6, 51, Jesus says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

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If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which

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I shall give for the life of the world. Notice how many times Jesus says give. He gives living water.

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He gives his flesh. He gives for the life of the world. He is a giving

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God, isn't he? He gives and he gives and he gives again. 1

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Corinthians 15, 45, and so it is written. The first man, Adam, became a living being.

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The last Adam became a life -giving spirit. I love

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Revelation. There's a few more here. 7, 17, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

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2 Corinthians 6, 16, what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

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This needs to be preached today, folks. In evangelical churches, we don't hear enough of this.

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Listen to this, for you are the temple of the living God. As God has said,

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I will dwell with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. 1

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Peter 4, 5, I will give an account, they will, I'm sorry, they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

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2 Timothy 2, 1, Paul charges Timothy to preach the word before he says, to preach the word.

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He says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead that is appearing in his kingdom.

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One more, Zechariah 14, 8, and in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem.

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This is what we have to look forward to in the future as Jesus shall reign. Shall flow, living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea and both summer and winter it shall occur.

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And in verse 9, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth.

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Isn't this going to be a glorious day when Christ comes back and in that day it shall be the

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Lord is one and his name is one. As Jesus has said, how to, as the woman of the well

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I should say, asked the question, how can I, how can

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I have these living waters? We've got more to say about this as he will continue the conversation with her and point out her sin and lead her right into the arms of God.

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Because Christ is the extension of God in flesh to bring us right to God, amen, to reconcile us.

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Jesus said it, he who believes in me, we must believe in Christ. This is all what the book of John is about, is all these things were written to believe in the

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Christ, the son of the living God. Believes in me, Jesus says, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

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May it be, if you're looking else everywhere, go to Christ.

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There's so many songs that's been written on this, and let me close with this. I like this short simple song, there's so many other songs

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I'd like to give you, but listen to the lyrics of fill my cup Lord, fill my cup.

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Like the woman at the well I was seeking for things that could not satisfy, and then

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I heard my savior speaking, draw from my well that shall never run dry.

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There are millions in this world who are craving the pleasure earthly things afford, but none can match the wonders treasure that I find in Jesus Christ my

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Lord. So my brother, if the things of this world gave you, leave hungers that won't pass away, my blessed

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Lord will come and save you, if you kneel to him and humbly pray.

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Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up Lord, come and give, come and quench this thirsting of my soul, bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I won't know more, fill my cup and fill it up and make me whole.

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Let's pray. Our Father and our great

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God, how wonderful it is that we have your word and your promise, and all your promises are yes and amen.

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Thank you Father for the word we have today, that it's guaranteed, and the living waters flow from the throne above.

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From your love, filled with your great love, rivers of living water that will be in us by the

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Holy Spirit that cleanses us, waters that are alive that flushes out and purifies and washes away all the filth of our innermost being besetting sins.

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Lord we need this in our sanctification every day. Lord help us by your blessed

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Holy Spirit, we thank you for the word, Lord may we obey it.

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Help us Lord to have a deeper craving of the things that you give us, the things that truly satisfy us, because everything else in this world, all the pleasures of this world will pass away, they will never satisfy us.

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As Augustine says, Lord you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until we rest in thee.

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Lord if there is someone here today that does not know you in a personal way, a living relationship, by faith

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Lord I pray today would be the day of salvation for them. We bless you, we praise you, and we thank you.

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And we thank you that one day as we arrive in heaven, the lamb which is the mist of the throne of God shall feed them and shall lead them, lead us into living fountains of waters.

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And God you will wipe away all tears from their eyes. We thank you for these great promises, bless our day together, and may we honor your day, and worship you, and please you, and may all things be acceptable to you, for the name of you is holy and great, and we praise you in Jesus name, amen and amen.