Two Wonders I Confess — John 3-4

0:00 Well, good morning. It's just wonderful to be back here once again. And for those of you who I haven't met yet, my name is Patrick Clough and my family and I are so happy to be here this morning to have fellowship with the believers in Jesus Christ. And we are we live in a little outside of a little town called Cary, Ohio about two hours from here near Findlay, if you know where that is. My wife grew up in that area and we just moved there this past June and are hopeful that the Lord will see fit to use us in whatever way possible there in a community that needs the Lord.

0:33 I'm sure as this one as well does. So, thanks for having us back and it's a privilege to be here. And we will be continuing with the series in John this morning and we'll be on chapter four. And before we get to chapter four, as I was reading through this chapter, I had a particular hymn that's in the black book going through my mind the whole time. And it's, I know the black books are put away, so I'll read you the verse.

1:00 It's number 149, the hymn is Beneath the Cross of Jesus. Everybody know that one? Yeah. And verse three in particular of that song is so meaningful to me, I can barely get through singing it. Now, I think I shared last time I did not grow up in the assemblies and so the black and red hymns, some of them are new to me and this was a new one to me.

1:21 And once I sang it, it became my new favorite hymn. And so verse three, I think is important to this chapter as we get ready to study it. Verse three goes like this. It says, Upon that cross of Jesus, mine eye at times can see the very dying form of one who suffered there for me. And from my smitten heart with tears, two wonders I confess, the wonders of His glorious love and my own worthlessness.

1:52 Two wonders I confess, the wonders of His glorious love and my own worthlessness. That about sums it up, doesn't it? We could Amen and go home. We really could. And I think we have this very concept of these two wonders pictured for us here in John four today.

2:10 Because in John four we read of the account of Jesus' meeting with a Samaritan woman at a well. Very familiar passage to most of us. And I think this passage reveals these two wonders. It reveals the woeful truth about the woman and us as well. And the wonderful truth about the Savior we have and Lord Jesus Christ.

2:37 The wonderful truth of Jesus that gives us hope to our woeful condition. I don't know about you, but when I read through this chapter, I am encouraged. This is not an exhorting, admonishing, kick in the seat of the pants chapter. To me, this is a chapter that has a Savior wrapping His loving arms around me. And I don't know about you, but I could use that this morning.

3:00 I could use that this morning. And I think that oftentimes the Bible will share with us our woeful condition as it does with this woman in this passage, Not to make us feel awful about ourselves, but to show us and remind us again and again of the wonder of our salvation and the greatness of God. Amen? And that's what this account in John four is really about. It's not really about a woman at a well.

3:27 It's not really about us. It's about a wonderful, purposeful, loving Savior. And before we dig into chapter four, I'd like to set it up. Because in John chapter three verses thirty four and thirty five, John through the Holy Spirit of God had just said, For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the spirit by measure.

3:52 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Don't miss this. These are breathtaking words right here. Breathtaking words. God sent Jesus.

4:03 Jesus speaks the very words of God. God gives him the spirit immeasurably and always has. The father loves him. The father has given all things into his hand. So this Jesus, right off the bat, we see as God sent, God loved, God speaking, Spirit permeated, all authoritative ruler of all things.

4:26 Jesus Christ is I am. He's put all his cards right here on the table. So, there's the setup. Now as chapter four begins, we're told that Jesus has left Judea in the South and headed for Galilee in the North. And as He went, He went through Samaria.

5:10 So he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

5:27 Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. And we'll pause there and ask the Lord to add his understanding and his blessing to the reading of his word.

5:50 So, let's look at this and think about it. The reason Jesus left Judea. Well, John says right here in the first couple verses is that the Pharisees knew something on Jesus. They knew something. They recognized that there were more people following Jesus than they were following John the Baptist who they had previously gone out in the wilderness to admonish.

6:15 So why would that prompt Jesus to leave? Well, I think again the connection with chapter three is important because it rules out fear. Because on the surface, one might think that Jesus thought the Pharisees would see His rising popularity and attempt to crush it and crush Him. So out of fear, Jesus moved on. But that's not what we read in chapter three, is it?

6:41 John chapter three verse 35 says, The Father has given all things into His hand. Jesus Christ is not a victim of anyone or anything or any circumstance. No one can touch Him without His permission. Remember later in John 10 what we read, No one takes His life from Him, but He lays it down of His own accord. So, is he afraid of the Pharisees?

7:06 Uh-uh. He's leaving because he has his own reasons. We know that Jesus wasn't being controlled by circumstances. He wasn't planning on going here but then here come the Pharisees, oh, now I've got to go over here. No, the Lord was purposeful.

7:23 He wasn't responding. He was acting purposefully. And if you look at a map, you can see that there would be probably three possible routes from Judea up to Galilee. First, you could go and skirt along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Quick, flat, lots of towns for food and supplies.

7:44 You could go across the Jordan and go up through Perea. That's another way. Or you could go through Samaria. Now, we know from this passage which route he took, right? He took Door Number 3.

7:59 He opted to go through Samaria. Indeed, it says he needed to go through Samaria. But what about the other routes? Were they slower? Maybe more hills to climb?

8:10 No. In fact, the opposite. He needed to go through Samaria because there was a woman there who needed good news. And you and I and all of us in this room this morning can continue our worship of Jesus Christ because of this account, because He's so graciously purposeful. He goes out of His way to pursue you and me.

8:38 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And you know what? He ain't stopped. He's still at it today. He's willing to go through Samaria and we'll see what that meant to get you.

9:18 Look at this. It says, The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Well, why is that? Why do Jews have no dealings with Samaritans?

9:31 I had to look into this. I think I had some idea but I wanted to, for this, get a clear understanding. And let me quote this. This is one bible scholar's description of this situation. After the Assyrians captured Samaria, which we remember is the capital of the Northern Kingdom Of Israel in seven twenty two-twenty one BC, they deported all the Israelites of substance and settled the land with foreigners who intermarried the surviving Israelites and adhered to some form of their current, of their ancient religion.

10:03 You can read about this in two Kings seventeen and eighteen. After the exile, which is when the Southern Kingdom was carried off to Babylon, Jews returning to their homeland viewed these Samaritans as not only the children of political enemies, but as racial half breeds whose religion was tainted by various unacceptable elements. About four hundred B. C. The Samaritans erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim.

10:34 That sound about right to those of you who understand this? So, between Jews and Sumerians, we have an ethnic, racial and religious issue here that made Jews feel disdain for the Samaritans. They were ceremonial unclean. You didn't touch them. You didn't deal with them.

10:58 They were racially impure, if I can use such a statement. They were religiously heretical and therefore you didn't go to their neighborhood. To feel the force of what Jesus was doing here, it might help us to think about the racial situation in this country some fifty years ago. Some of you who were alive and well during this period in our country and remember it well. And how in many places you would go, especially in the southern part of our country, there would be two water fountains on the wall.

11:33 Two water fountains with two signs. One would read white and the other would read colored. And you can scare, I can scarcely imagine anything more demeaning than building your entire plumbing system around your unwillingness to drink from the same fountain with a fellow creature of God. I can't imagine it. But it's part of our history.

11:56 And you know what? There was only one fountain in Sychar. And the sign over this fountain said, Colored Samaritans Only. So notice what Jesus did here. First, He purposefully went through Samaria.

12:11 Purposefully. Second, He sent the disciples to buy food, presumably touched and prepared by unclean Samaritans. Why? So that He could be alone. They didn't all have to be there.

12:24 In fact, as we find more details about this woman's life, it's probably best that they weren't. Third, he sat out on Jacob's well to be in plain sight and unavoidable. Fourth, he was talking to a woman. Oh, and not just a woman, but a woman who was unclean, impure, heretical, disreputable, and Samaritan for a drink of water. So this picture is Jesus standing by the colored water fountain at the Five and Dimes somewhere in Mississippi on a hot July day in 1952.

13:03 And He's at that Fountain Of Mark Colored watching a black woman fill her cup for all to see and He says, Hey, can I have a drink from your bucket? Everybody's watching. She says at the end of verse nine, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. You can't be asking me this. Use my bucket?

13:19 It's not done. So here is Jesus. And as we read in John three, God, Elohim, Jehovah, I am the God pursuing this relationship with this woman. God in the flesh. And He wants a relationship with her not just on this day, but for all eternity in heaven.

13:39 And that's why He needed to go to Samaria. Everything is intentional here. It's not just happening, it's by design. You remember John three seventeen, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world through Him might be saved. And here He is putting on this show for us.

13:59 Remember, God is on the throne this morning. Nothing's out of His control. Nothing. He has His plan. He has His purpose.

14:08 And that's an encouragement to me. To know that the God I love and serve and that loves me and died and gave His life for me is in control. The one who created it all is still at the wheel. What kind of God is this? That the Creator Director, all knowing, all powerful God of the universe would be interested in a woman like this?

14:32 That He'd be interested in a person like me. It's so humbling because none of us deserve this kind of attention from Him. In fact, our sin should separate us from Him forever. I don't know the stories of everyone here. I'm just getting to know some of you.

14:49 But I know the human condition well enough to know that probably in this room many of us are not proud of our pasts. But at this moment and in this text, let this be an encouragement to you because Jesus means for you to be feel graciously pursued. Jesus means for you to feel that he loves you and that he's going out of his way to seek a relationship with you. And so He moves on. And in the next verses has no more to say about this wall between the Jews and the Samaritans.

15:43 Wake up. The Son of God, by the way, who carries with him and in himself the gift of God, and he offers you right now eternal living water. Look at verse 11, what does she reply? Well, woman said to Him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

16:03 She doesn't get it yet, does she? And last Sunday in chapter three, you had the account with Nicodemus. And she's a lot like Nicodemus, isn't she? Remember what Jesus said to him? I have new birth for you, living water.

16:18 And he said, Where is there a woman's womb big enough for me to climb back into? And now here in this chapter, this woman says, You have living water for me or new birth? Where's your bucket? You don't have a bucket. That is so us, isn't it?

16:37 Isn't it? In our own strength, in our own... Oh, how could you say it? Awareness, we're blind. Under our own power, unable to see what God offers us and His glory.

16:52 And she's probably beginning to wonder, who does this guy think He is? So she says in verse 12, are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and drank from it Himself as did his sons and his livestock. So is Jesus greater than Jacob? Do you think He's greater?

17:06 Why? Well, He answers in verse thirteen and fourteen. Look at this. Maybe, if I can get my Bible to cooperate. Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

17:23 Jacob's water, you're going to get thirsty 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 a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. So, are you greater than Jacob? Jesus says respectfully, ma'am, yes, I am. I am superior to Jacob.

17:41 And my gift that I offer is superior to Jacob. And my water is superior to Jacob's. And my well is superior to Jacob's. And if you trust in me and become a son or a daughter of me, my sons and daughter are superior to Jacob's sons. Why?

17:55 Because my sons and daughters never die. Jacob's sons are all in the grave at this point. So, we can clearly see here that this is just not any ordinary water. And we know that. And she's beginning to see that.

18:12 And don't miss the five things that he says about water here that he gives. Five things. If you're note takers, this is your section. The first is in verse 10. He says, It's the gift of God.

18:23 If you knew the gift of God, which I offer you. He also says that it's living water in verse 10. He would have given living water. Third thing is if you drink this water, you never thirst again. That is, it's always there to satisfy your longing soul when it is thirsty.

18:43 Verse 14 tells us, Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. Verse four, I'm sorry, fourth item on the list for the note takers. This water becomes a spring of well water. It's not stagnant. The water that I give him will become a spring of water.

19:02 That's why you never get thirsty again. Not because it's one drink is enough, but because one true drink produces a well of eternity of drinks. And then the fifth thing, this water gives eternal life. Verse 14, a spring of water welling up to eternal life. But our woman here in this passage just does not quite get these things yet.

19:24 She doesn't have this list. She missed last Sunday when this was preached. So in verse 15, the woman says to Him, Sir, give me this water so I won't thirst, nor will I come here to draw. She's saying, look, I this idea of this water because this bucket's heavy. I'm sick of coming up here every day and I have to fill it up.

19:43 I want this kind of magical water you're talking about so that I can always have water. She didn't get it, just like Nicodemus didn't get it. So Jesus switches gears with her and gets personal. Look at verses 16 through 18. Jesus says to her, okay, go call your husband and come here.

20:19 Jesus, why bring up her past? I mean, you know, just be nice. What's the reason for this? I mean, is He trying to embarrass her? No.

20:33 But his instruction to call her husband has made her uncomfortable, I could imagine. Obviously, she doesn't want to go into detail. What is her reply here? Well, I have no husband. Well, she doesn't say why.

20:45 She just says I have no husband. Now that was true, but it wasn't the whole story, was it? She knew that she was hiding the truth, but what she doesn't know is that Jesus knows the truth already. And so he goes ahead and he tells her what she didn't tell him. She's had five husbands and the man she's currently living with is not one of them.

21:05 They're shacking up. In a sense, this is kind of the ultimate reality check. How could a woman in that day have five husbands? I mean, even today that would be pretty shocking, wouldn't it? Did they all die?

21:19 Probably not likely. Had she been divorced five times? More likely. Was there promiscuity involved? Most likely.

21:30 And even at this point, she's currently living in a sinful relationship with a man outside of marriage. And so these words of Jesus kind of come as a verbal slap in the face but yet it was the most loving thing He could have done for her. There's an important spiritual principle at work here. Without the conviction of sin, there is no salvation. There just isn't.

21:58 Until we come to grips with the sickness of our souls and our own willful disobedience and offense to a holy God, we can't be saved. It's not possible. So what is Jesus doing here? Is He being cruel? No more than the doctor who does surgery to save your life is being cruel by opening you up.

22:23 Because unless He removes that tumor, you're dead. Will the operation be painful? Yes. But it's pain with a purpose, isn't it? You know that God...

22:35 You know what God's stated purpose in His Word is for you and I? What He has said, this is what I want for you, to be conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And I would imagine being conformed might hurt once in a while. But what an outcome that will be. And so here is Jesus going to the core, the root of her problem and mine and yours.

23:04 Because especially in our day and age, in our culture, we have been raised to believe that happiness is just around the corner if you can only find the right man or woman or the right house or the right job or you could have the right body. If you could get these things, you'll be happy, right? Some people just jump from one thing to another, desperately hoping against hope that this time things are going to be different. This time we're going to make it. This time we'll be happy, but yet no earthly relationship or status or toy can satisfy our needs.

23:42 It just can't. Why? Because we're spiritual beings made for a spiritual relationship with God. We're made to know God. And unless we know Him through Jesus Christ, we are doomed to restlessness, to discontent, and even despair.

24:01 So let me pause and ask a question at this point. Hypothetical question. Does Jesus love this woman? Yes, He does. He knows the truth about her and yet still offers her eternal life.

24:16 What a wonderful Savior is Jesus. This is the wonder of God's grace because true love, you can only truly love someone if you can look at their past without blinking. Real love means knowing the truth about someone else and reaching out and pursuing them anyway. And Jesus is not ashamed of her past, but He can't help her until she gets beyond that shame and she admits the truth. And seeing this, how do we feel then about Christians who teach that repentance of sin is not a necessary part of the salvation issue?

24:59 You know that's out there, don't you? That it's just you need to believe, that's it. Just believe. And we love the book of Romans and it teaches that, but we have to read and teach the whole counsel of God. How do we feel about Christians and churches and denominations even that never mention sin, that never mention repentance?

25:21 So many churches pride themselves on being open and loving and accepting and even tolerant. But was Jesus Christ being tolerant here? No. He loves this woman enough to give her the truth. And I asked myself this morning and and and you can ask yourself, is there someone in your life, even in your mind at this moment that you're thinking that this person needs some truth?

25:46 And am I and are you afraid to give them this truth because you're afraid it might hurt both of you, you and them? But this passage encourages us to follow the example of the Master. You want to see life change? You want to see the fruit of the Spirit? You want to see salvation in your friends and in your family's lives?

26:27 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. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

26:48 God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. The woman said to Him, Oh, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called the Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. So, there's a corner being turned here.

27:11 And it seems that this woman really recognizes now that she has met a most unusual man because he knows her past. She assumes that he must be a prophet. I perceive, sir, that you're a prophet. Winner winner chicken dinner. Yeah, let's get her a prize.

27:28 Since he's a Jew and she's a Samaritan, she begins to engage in a theological debate. Ah, you're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan. Let's talk about our differences. In that day, the Jews worshipped in Jerusalem and the Samaritans worshipped at Mount Gerizim. We talked about that earlier.

27:42 And so she says, Okay, tell me which mountain is the one that we need to worship at. Jesus doesn't bother getting into those sorts of details with her. He simply tells her that there's a time coming where this geography won't matter. And what God wants Him wants is for people to worship Him in spirit and truth. By the way, in this chapter, there's like 25 sermons.

28:03 And this is at least two right here. But we're trying to make it through the whole chapter, at least this passage. So we'll move on. And you know, this idea of kind of this theological debate that Jesus mostly ignores reminds me of when we share the gospel with people at our outreaches that my family and I sometimes do. So often people just come up because they want to argue details with you.

28:27 They don't have a clue about the basic doctrines or the basic core of the Christian faith, but they want to get into minutiae with you and catch you out on things. And you can see them coming a mile off. In fact, I think Satan sends them to us. Why would that happen? Well, to get us off message.

28:46 To get us so bogged down in the details that we forget why we're even out there. And we've learned to basically graciously disengage with people like this. And thanks for your question but we're not really here to discuss these things. More or less, we're not after you. You've been sent here by Satan.

29:02 We want those sent here by the Holy Spirit. And so that's kind of what we try to do because that can discourage you. You can spend an hour or two debating the finer points of Calvinism or lordship salvation or these sorts of things with people and they're lost. They need to take about 30 steps back before they get to the Calvin Arminian debate. But that's where they're at.

29:27 And Jesus is doing just this here. He does not take the bait. He presents the Gospel. Remember, two wonders, I confess, The wonders of His glorious love and my own worthlessness. That's the gospel message.

29:40 Stick to that and you'll be good. And the good news is in this passage of what Jesus does here is if God... If what God really wants is worshipers in spirit and truth, then the good news is that everyone qualifies. You don't have to show up at Jerusalem. You don't have to be at Mount Gerizim.

30:02 What God wants is your worship from your heart, from your spirit. Salvation is not limited to geography. It's not limited to a group of people. It's universal. Well, that's good news for those of us in Ohio and The United States Of America, thousands of miles from any of these places, is it not?

30:21 Salvation isn't about going to the right mountain. It's not even about dressing the right way or going to the right church. Anyone can trust Jesus and worship Jesus from anywhere at any time. And that is good news to a lost and dying world that thinks the church is a bunch of hypocrites who don't practice what we preach. Don't preach your lifestyle.

30:47 Don't preach you got to come and do this. You need to be here at Jerusalem or Mount Garrison. No, no, no. Preach Jesus and Him crucified because in Him is the best news and remedy for everything we see wrong in our world in the hearts of men and women. And I think slowly this woman is starting to get it.

31:36 No doubt this woman was blown away at this point. She came for some water in the middle of the day to the well she always shows up at the same time and she ends up meeting the living water face to face. And before we move on and finish this up, please notice Jesus' evangelism strategy here. Because there's books and videos and tapes and all sorts of things written about how to do evangelism. Here's what Jesus did.

32:01 He didn't use a can sales pitch when He witnessed to people. In chapter three, He spoke with Nicodemus about new birth. Here in chapter four, He speaks about living water. And He does three things in this chapter with this woman. First, He told her who He is.

32:16 Tell people who Jesus is. Second, he told her what he had to offer and what that gift does. Share the gift of salvation with people. Remind them that they're sinners in need of a savior. And then the third thing he did is he told her how she could receive it.

32:35 I love that. Why go anywhere else but scripture for these sorts of things? What an evangelism strategy straight from the source. Look at verses 27 through 29. And at this point, His disciples came and they marveled that He talked with a woman.

32:52 Yet no one said, what do you seek? Or why are you talking with her?' The woman left her water pot, went her way into the city and said to the men, Come see a man who told me all things I ever did. Could this be the Christ? So apparently, this woman receives it and believes it at this point because what does she do? Well, she leaves her water pot and she goes to tell the whole town about Jesus.

33:17 The evangelized now has become the evangelist. Cool. I mean, isn't that the goal though? Really? Aren't Christians supposed to multiply?

33:31 As you receive Christ, you get excited and praise the Lord and share with others what He's done for you? And as I read these verses, I try to remember, wait a minute now, this woman doesn't know anything. All she basically says is that, yeah, Jesus knows me. That's not the Apostles' Creed exactly, is it? And then she says, oh, think, could this be the Christ?

33:53 I think He's the Christ. Well, that's not exactly the four spiritual laws or the Roman road there, is it? In point of fact, by our standards, she's not a really good candidate as an evangelist at all, is she? I mean, most of us would expect our evangelist to be a little bit better trained than that. I mean, where is her degree in the original languages?

34:20 He knows me and I know Him. And let me tell you all about Him. How freeing to know that God can and even desires to use those of us who are just regular old sinners who has had an encounter with the Savior. So we come to the end of this story in verses 39 through 42. If we skip ahead to these verses, let's do that.

34:47 So she had just dropped her water pot, went into the city, told everyone. And now we have verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days.

35:03 And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard from Him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. This is a wonderful lesson in the power of the gospel, of the good news. One woman with inadequate knowledge who is racially, religiously, and any other word you want to use, unclean and impure. But a woman who is self aware and even humble about her sin, with just a mustard seed of faith, it was just a basic understanding of God's word.

35:43 She brings her whole town to Jesus. And they ask Him to stay. Talk about evangelism explosion. There it is. And she never attended any classes and never read any books.

35:57 She met Jesus and He transformed her life and she couldn't stop talking about Him. And sometimes we wonder how how little a person can believe and still be saved. How little can you know and and still be saved? How much do you have to know in order to go to heaven? Evidently, the answer is not much.

36:15 Not much. Two wonders, I confess. Not 2,000 wonders, just two. The wonders of His glorious love and my own worthlessness. Don't miss this encounter and the progression that we see here with this woman, how she gets to know Jesus.

36:37 Her knowledge of Him increases until ultimately acknowledges that He's the Christ and tell others about Him. Look at verse nine. She says, He's a Jew. Okay? She could probably tell that by the clothes he was wearing.

36:49 Verse 12, wow, he's greater than Jacob. Verse 19, he's a prophet. You see the escalation here. And then verse 30, Come see this man. Could this be the Christ?

37:17 Preach it. Tell that town. It takes us to go out with the gospel, doesn't it? And entreat people to turn from their sins and to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to beg them. But look what it says in verse 42, and these are the people she had previously been talking with.

37:36 They have come now and say this, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. So they heard about the Savior from the woman. But then they had to come to the Lord themselves. Do you see the principle here? Because as nice as it would be, and especially for those of us who are parents, As nice as it would be for people to just get saved based on what we say, that's not the way it works.

38:10 In the end, you can't be saved on a second hand faith. You're not going to heaven because your mother was a godly woman or your father was an elder in the assembly. And this is incredibly important for those of you who are younger than me here today. Because just like these Samaritans, you have to come and trust Jesus Christ yourself. You've got to make a decision on your own.

38:39 You can't live off of what this person said or your parents' faith or your wife's faith or anybody else's faith. You can't do it. Maybe for a while but it won't, it's not lasting. Sooner or later you've got to step forward and say, yes, I will receive the living water. Yes, I believe in Jesus.

38:54 Yes, He is my Lord and my Savior. And then begin to live it. Because just like you didn't compare, just like you didn't commit your parents sins, you can't claim your parents salvation. Man, I wish that weren't true. I would love just to be able to snap my fingers and have my kids come to a true and meaningful salvation in Jesus Christ, but they have to come themselves and come.

39:22 As verse 42 says, Now we believe not because of what you said, mom and dad, or what you said, Sunday school teacher, or what you said, camp counselor, no. Now I believe because I have heard Him and know Him myself that this is indeed the Christ. And that leads me back to a crucial phrase as we close here in verse 10. It says, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water. Ponder those three little words for a minute.

39:57 If you knew. If you knew who I was, you would be asking me and I would be giving you eternal life. And so the question for us and for a lost and dying world is, do you know who He is? Do you know who this Jesus is? Have you had an encounter with Him like this woman at this well who is no better or no worse than any of us here?

40:27 Sin sick, on her way to eternal separation, hell. Do you know who He is? If so, will you ask Him for living water? Verse 10 says, If you knew who I was, you would ask me for a drink because the drink that I can give you will satisfy you eternally. That's how simple salvation is.

40:54 It's like asking the Savior for a drink of cool, clear, refreshing water. And so, are there any here this morning that haven't tasted the sweetness of the living water of Christ Himself? Are there any? Are there any here with heavy souls, thirsty and empty, who are drinking from cisterns that don't satisfy? If you're in that category, you've seen yourself this morning.

41:19 We've looked at this woman with a soul thirsty and empty and she was confronted by the only one who can fill that kind of void in her soul and the only one that can fill that kind of void in your soul. And I would pray this morning that you would hear the word of Jesus Christ to this woman and that before you lay your head on your pillow tonight that you will say to Him, Lord, I'm thirsty. Give me a drink. He will certainly do it. This chapter promises us that.

41:47 And when you do that you will never thirst again, never. What a story, what an account we have here. And what a wonderful Savior, what amazing grace. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just come and we thank you so, so much this morning for this account and your word in John chapter four that reminds us of who we are, the two wonders that we confess, the wonders of your glorious love, and our utter worthlessness, Lord.

43:10 Lord, give us the courage as you gave this woman of Samaria to go out and to entreat our neighborhoods, our cities and say, Come, could this be the Christ? Lord, we pray that you move in the hearts of men and women and children this morning. That they would come to the living water and drink and that their souls would be satisfied. Lord, we give you all the praise for all of this, for this understanding, Lord. Not so that we can have a knowledge that puffs up, but so that we can be changed and continue to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

43:44 And it's in His name we pray, amen.