Jesus saves the woman of Samaria

We're gonna read a story, John chapter four. I love stories in the Bible. I think they are full of light and helpful information.

If there's someone here and you would like to be saved, you can be encouraged from these stories that we find in the Bible, because we see how the Lord Jesus deals so graciously with sinners. Now, this is a well-known story, and it's a long story, so I'm just gonna try to pick up some scattered verses as we kind of move through it. So let's look at verse number four of chapter four.

This is a reference to the Lord Jesus. He's way down south in Israel, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now, Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.

Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. Now, just notice this. For his disciples were gone away onto the city to buy meat.

Now, that will come up again at the end of the story. What that proves is that this well was outside the city. That's important to notice that, because if you went and looked at the history at this time, there was an actual well in the city.

Much more convenient to draw water from that. So why is this woman going in extra miles to a well that's outside the city? And the significance of the time of day is important as well. Verse number nine, then said the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

More on that later. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that sayeth to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Now, you're standing next to a well, and you could understand physical water, but then all of a sudden this man, who you've never met before, is talking about living water.

That must have tweaked her imagination there a little bit. Curiosity. Verse 11, the woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? Now, you can see the Lord Jesus pointing at the well. Verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Now, verse 14, can you see him pointing at himself? But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman said unto him, Sir, you can almost hear the compassion. Give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Now, let's put that down into English, the purpose of the meeting.

The Lord Jesus is not talking about physical drinking water. He's talking about something, salvation. Just like literal water, quenches, satisfies a physical thirst, salvation satisfies a deep need that we have, eternal.

It's something that we're out of alignment because of our sin, and we need what only God can give us. And this woman is all of a sudden seeing, he's talking about more than just water. I'm not too sure what it is, but I want it.

The desire for salvation, she wants it. She's recognizing, I've got a thirst. I don't have this, and I want it.

What is she going to find out at the end of the chapter? Well, she said, when Messiah comes, he'll tell us all things. And the Lord Jesus said, I that speak unto thee am he. Full revelation of who he is.

We find out at the end of the chapter, she has this bucket in her hand, an empty bucket. And right upon hearing, I that speak unto thee am he, you know what she did? Dropped her bucket, we're told. She turned around and she went into the city to tell people, come see a man that told me everything that I ever did.

Now, I want you to focus for a minute, what is between those two points? Give me what I don't have, I am he. What's in between that? Let's read it. Verse 16, Jesus said unto her, go call thy husband and come hither.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, thou has well said. Do you want to know something, dear sinner? Honesty thrills the heart of God.

I can see a smile break out on the face of the Lord Jesus. Go call your husband. It's almost like there's a deafening silence there.

What is she going to say? And it's almost like the Lord's face is just expressionless. And all of a sudden she says, I have no husband. Can you see him light up? This woman is facing her sin.

Marvelous. Let's keep reading. You almost don't know whether to preach or keep reading.

It's such an interesting story. Verse number 17, Jesus said unto her, thou has well said, I have no husband, for thou has had five husbands. And he whom thou now has is not thy husband.

In that sayest thou truly. The woman said unto her, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our father's worshiped in this mountain.

All of a sudden she gets religious. We're gonna leave that for a minute. Verse 21, Jesus said unto her, notice this, woman, believe me.

Do you want to know why you're not saved here today? You never had a moment in your life when you believed him. Not only what he's done for you on the cross, but what he says you are as a sinner. An awful lot of people are trying to see this.

How come I can't understand Christ died for me? Because you have never accepted the fact that you're a sinner. That's the lesson I learned just in the chronology, the flow of this lovely story. Now let me read that for you, what ended up happening.

Verse 25, the woman said unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee, I am he.

And then the disciples come into the picture. Verse 28, the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and say to the men, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? And then they come out of the city.

I want you to notice verse number 41. And many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. Now here is what gives any gospel preacher tremendous encouragement.

You have a conversation that starts out with a woman in her sins. And did you notice the progression? Sir, Jew, prophet, savior of the world. That happened in how short of a time, like 10 minutes? This woman knew nothing.

This woman is, okay, let me back up. That bucket is only a picture of her empty life. Any empty sinners here tonight, you just feel empty.

You would love to know peace with God. You would love to know contentment. I can remember that.

I was saved at the age of 24. I was a DJ in a nightclub. Played the music, the disc jockey.

I can remember the emptiness of it. Oh, there was an excitement when you started at nine and you had to play the music till two. And as you were going through the night and you got so sick and tired of the alcohol and people vomiting, this is supposed to be fun? And I can remember getting about one o'clock in the morning and just, oh, I got another hour to put in.

Empty. I am so glad I found Christ at the age of 24. I have found something that has filled the empty bucket.

I am satisfied. Christ is my savior and it has changed my life. Now, friend, listen.

Here's something I learned from this story. If I took time to read John chapter three, there's another empty man, Nicodemus. He's religious.

I come to chapter four. Here's an empty woman. She's not religious.

She's sinful, moral sin. They both needed the same savior. They both had to admit they're empty.

We have sin. We're not going to heaven. See, the devil doesn't care what he uses.

Devil doesn't care if he uses upright, clean, honest, moral people that are religious, God-fearing. If that's all it takes to keep you in your sin, he don't care. Or let's go to the other extreme.

Drugs, parties, alcohol, immoral behavior. If that's all it takes, he'll use it. They all end in the same place, hell.

I want you to think about that. Maybe there's a lot of Christian kids in my audience tonight, and you're good. You're good because your parents make you act good.

You might be different if that control was removed. And you sort of think that I don't really know what that man's talking about up there. I don't really think I need to be saved.

Friend, I want you to understand from the word of God, the way that we're born, we're sinners. We might look at ourselves as good sinners. Others might look at us as bad sinners.

But God just has one definition, sinner. Not saved, hell is your destination. Friend, you need to be saved.

Why does this story give me such encouragement? You're gonna notice who spoke first. The Lord Jesus. He purposely started a conversation, and you'll notice as you read it, he's purposely leading her to a certain point.

He's not just there to talk about the weather. No, no, no, oh, how's your life going? No, no, no, no. God, listen, friend, God has one desire for you.

He wants to see you in heaven, okay? What you're gonna notice as well about the story is the Lord Jesus was there first. That's why I'm emphasizing the well outside the city. This woman was embarrassed.

She was ashamed of her life. She was purposely avoiding people. You see, we kind of lose just the sense of what's going on here.

You have to understand that wells in the Bible, they were like communal gatherings. That's where everybody caught up in the business of the day. Who's doing what, who's going where, whatever.

And there was a tremendous amount of fellowshipping and discussing things around the well. This woman is not interested in talking to other people. I'm gonna go at a hot part of the day.

I'm gonna go outside the city, and I'm gonna go to that well, and guess what? For the last how many years, there hasn't been anybody at that well at that time. What a thing it must've been when she stepped out of the house that day, and she's walking up the road, same old, same old, and all of a sudden she looks and she... There's somebody at my well. There's not supposed to be anybody at my well at this time.

You see, friend, what we're trying to emphasize is this. This was not a chance meeting. This was purpose.

This, Jesus Christ wanted to talk to this woman. You get that at the very first verse I read. I must go through Samaria.

The disciples didn't understand this. If you have a bit of an understanding of the culture back then, and the way the land of Israel is laid out, Jerusalem is down here, and as they move up, they have to go, well, they didn't go through a land called Samaria if they want to go up to the Sea of Galilee, because in the area called Samaria, that's where the half-breeds lived. They weren't fully Jews.

There was a mix of Jew and Gentile, and down here in the south, these pure Jews, my mom is a Jew and my father is a Jew, oh, we're somewhat better than these people up here. And do you know what they did? They actually, if they were traveling way up north here to the Sea of Galilee, they would move up to the border of Samaria, and they would go to the east and cross the Jordan. Kind of dangerous.

And into the desert, and then they come across the Jordan again, purposely bypassing this area. These people are unclean. Guess what? That's exactly where the Lord Jesus wanted to go.

Doesn't matter your sin, friend. Doesn't matter your lifestyle. Doesn't matter whether you have any knowledge of the Bible or not.

Doesn't matter whether you have Christian parents or not. The God of heaven wants to save you. I believe this is the first time in the story that these religious disciples, first time they were ever in Samaria, and I think they see the border to Samaria coming up.

Well, surely the Lord Jesus who's leading us is gonna hook off to the right there. And lo and behold, he stepped over the border into Samaria. I just wonder if the disciples didn't hesitate and go, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, I'm so glad for the grace of God. I'm so glad that heaven doesn't belong to me. There's certain people I look at and I think, oh, wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole.

Too bad. I'm gonna get dirty trying to help them. I'm glad God doesn't think that way.

Friend, I can come to this Bible in John chapter three, and it doesn't matter your background, your color, your skin, where you... For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The message that we heard today on the cross, about the cross, I can go to this Bible and prove to you that when the Lord Jesus died, he died for you. He died for your sin, the sin of the entire world.

There is not one person, one sinner that is beyond, outside of the grace of God. The ability of God to save them. This is what I want you to get a hold of.

Why did the Lord Jesus determined to go to the well? Why did he sit on the well waiting for the woman? Why did he first start the conversation? He wanted to save her. That's why. It wasn't about him.

I'm gonna embarrass you about your sin. No, not at all. I'm gonna really make you feel how unworthy you are.

Not at all. The Lord Jesus was carefully moving her. You know what he was watching for? Her response.

Okay, think about that. You gotta understand. You gotta kind of get your brain into the story to try to get it.

She says, how come you're talking to me? The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Like that is a, that's such a statement. This woman never met this man before.

She knew by his dress that he's a Jew. Right there. You know what that did in her mind? What she knew of the Jews was this.

They think they're higher than us. Now you could look at this situation and go, okay, I know which way this is going. The Jew was going to ask a question and she's just going to keep her mouth quiet and go home.

But there was something going on in her heart. God was dealing with her. And all of a sudden the conversation starts.

Isn't that beautiful? I can see the Lord Jesus just rejoicing. Good. All right, she's asking me a question.

Good, good. Then he gives some more information. She, she responds, give me this living water.

Oh, that's where he wanted to get her. Give me this living water that I don't come here again. You want to be saved friend? I had a little girl come up to me a couple of weeks ago with a, after the gospel meeting.

She was probably only, I don't know, eight. She asked me a question. She said, I would love to be saved, but I don't know how.

So I got down on one knee, kind of get eyeball to eyeball to get at her level. And I said, honey, why would a little girl like you need to be saved? I'm just looking for one word. Well, I'm not, I'm just not going to heaven.

You let me down. That's not the word I'm looking for. I said, come on now.

How come you're not going to heaven? Well, I, I'm, I'm just not saved. Oh, let me down again. I said, what about S I N sin? See her problem.

So I said, listen, dear, have you ever talked to God the way you're talking to me and told him you're a sinner and you don't want to go to hell? Save me. Have you? Huh? Maybe you've talked to mom and dad this way. Oh, mom, dad, I'd like to be saved.

Help me. They can't save you. Maybe you've taken time to talk to a preacher.

We can't save you. Maybe your Sunday school, they can't save you. The God of heaven is the only one who can save you.

Do you think that God would have time for you? Look at the story. Jesus wanted to speak to her. This was his day.

This was his purpose for getting up this morning. And he starts to talk to her. Now, this is the point I got to get to quick.

She, I want this water, living water. Go call your husband. Do you know what she could have did right there? That is none of your business, sir.

Who are you to pry into my personal life? That's what sinners do today. When they fight against the word of God that says they're sinners going to hell. God, you must have made a mistake.

No, no, no, no, no, no. This woman, right. I like sometimes to slow things down into super slow-mo.

And there's probably part of her brain that is just getting ready. You know, that flight fight syndrome. Dare this man asked me this.

And then there's another voice in her that says, but I want this living water. I'm going to face my sin for the first time. I don't have a husband.

And the Lord says, you've spoken, right? You've had five. And the one that you're living with now, he's not your husband. This woman was living in sin.

Just to make it clear, even though we have so-called laws in the land that call it common law living, that does not make it okay in God's presence. This woman was living in sin. And if this woman died that way, she would be in hell tonight.

Friend, you're living in sin. Might not be to this level, but sin is sin in God's presence. And then the Lord Jesus starts to pour in.

I that speak unto you and he, the Messiah. That's where the woman got saved. That's where she understood.

You see friend, listen, here's what, here's what I'm getting to. There's so many people we meet and talk to and, and, and they want to be saved. I understand.

And I believe that is sincere, but you know what they think? They think it's like a formula that I got to work out. Okay. If I do this and if I do this and if I figure this out, listen, I'm going to give you a secret, a big, big, big, big secret.

You will never get saved unless you first admit why you need to be saved. It just won't happen because the knowledge that Christ died for your sins is light that comes from God into your mind. It's not something that you can figure out.

You know what the Lord Jesus was asking this woman to do? And she did it. Just admit your sin. You ever done that? You ever told God, God, if you were to send me to hell right now, he would be right.

And I would have no argument against you guarantee you'd be saved within seconds because the Lord Jesus didn't want this woman to hang there. It was just seconds. And then he just revealed himself to her.

I'm the one that you need. And he gave her living water. You know, I'm going to meet this woman in heaven.

I've preached on this woman for years. I love the story. It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

And I'm looking forward to seeing her in heaven. I'm going to say, my dear, will you tell me it again? Tell me what went through your brain. I think this is what went through your brain, but tell me again.

Friend, you could be saved tonight. Just right there where you're sitting. I trust as my brother comes up and preaches from the word of God, that you might lay hold of that tremendous truth.

I am the sinner for whom Christ died. Thank you.