with John tonight. We'll look at the first, we'll look at the first 42 verses of John four this evening. We'll talk a little bit about the woman at the well. Let's read it together. When therefore the Lord knew how that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples, He left Judea and departed again in Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to the city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave unto his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, and Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, set thus on the well, and it's about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his disciples have gone away to the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, hast this drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given him living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, that's nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou this living water? Art thou greater than the father Jacob? which gave us this well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle. Jesus answered, said unto her, Whosoever drinketh this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw it. Jesus saith unto her, go call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and him thou now hast is not thy husband, and that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, salvation of the Jews. The hour cometh, now is, and the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is the spirit. They that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that the Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto them, he. And upon this came the disciples and marveled that he talked with a woman. Yet no man said, what seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot and went her way into the city and saith unto the men, come see a man, which told me all things ever I did, is this not the Christ? Then they that went out of the city and came unto him. And in the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said his disciples one to another, hath any man brought him out to eat? Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold I say looking unto you, lift up your eyes. and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathers fruit in the eternal life, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is the saying true, one soweth, another reapeth. I've sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor. Other men have labored, and you are entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans of the city believed on him for the saying of a woman, which testified, he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he'd tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed. because of his own word. Let's pray together. Father, I pray, Lord, that you'd just help us tonight. God, as we come to these verses in the book of John, I pray that you'd put away all affairs of this world, different things that take away our mind from the word of God, but offer mine. Lord, that you'd center our mind in the scriptures tonight. Bless us and help us as only you can. We'll thank you for all that you do. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen. Well, we just left the famous chapter in John chapter number three, where Nicodemus came to the Lord by night. And now we're picking up with another famous chapter, and we see the Lord with another famous engagement with someone that's lost in need of a savior, that is the woman at the wheel. Now there's some contrast that can be drawn It's interesting to note between John chapter three and John chapter four, in John chapter number three, we find that the woman is named, or the man is named, Nicodemus, Nicodemus. It makes me think of a tale I heard one time, said there's a preacher, and he'd left Revival Meeting, was driving out, cut up the road, here come a man walking, says, come an absolute deluge, son, I mean the water pouring out of heaven like a day of Noah. Here comes a man walking down the road in a suit and tie, water just dripping off of him. Preacher pulls in, rolls the window down, says, hey, buddy, you need a ride? He said, boy, do I ever. Said he got in. Started down the road. He said, boy, it's a good thing. I'm glad you picked me up. I praise God for it. The old preacher said, well, sir, are you a Christian? He said, yeah. He said, I'm a minister. Said, I've been preaching revival up the road here and my car broke down. I was walking, trying to find somebody. Boy, I'm glad you picked me up. The preacher said, well, I'm a preacher too. Said, you're holding revival? Yeah. Said, you preach tonight? Yeah. What'd you preach on? He said, I preached on Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus? Yeah. He said, don't believe I ever heard of that. He said, you know, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. Jesus told him, you must be born again. That preacher thought, oh, Nicodemus. He said, okay. He said, how did it go? He said, pretty good, we had 20 get saved. That preacher said he thought to himself, well, maybe I've been saying it wrong all these years. Maybe it is Nicodemus. The man's named in chapter three, the woman's not named. The man is a reputable ruler. The woman, she's an outcast. See the contrast? The man was a moral man. This woman, as we'll see tonight, is an immoral woman. The man was a Jew. The woman a Samaritan. The man was knowledgeable about religion. The woman ignorant. The man came by night. The woman in the middle of the day. The man was serious and respectful. The woman was at first flippant and unrespectful. In the man's story, there's no mention of results. But in this story, we see the results. So when we contrast chapter number three, In the story of Nicodemus, in chapter number four, the story of the woman at the well, we can learn this. Jesus can save anybody. Jesus can save anybody. Now, let's look at a few things here tonight. We'll come down through these verses, try to get you through pretty quick. I know everybody's itching to watch that Democrat debate. I can't say that in a straight face. Anyway, we'll get you out of here. We see the mistakes she had made. Let's talk about this woman in her past. This was a woman with a past. I'm glad the Lord doesn't look down his nose at people with a past, aren't you? We see the mistakes that she had made. Now she had made some mistakes. This woman had made mistakes in her life. She had made mistakes concerning men. Now when you think about where the Lord is setting on Jacob's well in the middle of the day, about 12 o'clock lunchtime, and just a few hours later on in the afternoon is going to be the time when the women would come as the sun was setting and gather around the well to draw the water for the next day. In a few hours, around the well is going to be filled with people, ladies that are there doing their work, drawing the water for the next day, but not this lady. She's not coming at three or four o'clock in the evening when all the other women are there. She's coming at lunchtime, a time when she thought there won't be anybody here right now. I see her as she walks up the hill and she starts to see and there's a figure sitting on the well and she thinks, dog gone it. I didn't want to see nobody. I was hoping, see, she had made some mistakes concerning men. She'd been married five times, she's shacking up with a man. And boy, she's made a lot of mistakes concerning men. She was no doubt trying to avoid the taunt, the sneer from the other women who maybe had not fallen like she had, possibly because they had never been tempted as she'd been tempted. Boy, I got to thinking about this woman today and trying to put myself into her shoes. Thinking about the degradation that she had felt. in the mistakes that she had made in her past. But you know the simple fact is this, a lot of us want to look about our nose at somebody else and what they've done. But a lot of it is that if you had been tempted the same way that that person had been tempted, you quite possibly would have ended up in the same mess that they're in. So let's not get too high and mighty about this thing. We can say, oh, I would never. You'd be careful about what, you'd be surprised what your flesh is capable of doing if the temptation, I heard Dwayne Moore said this one time and it stuck with me for, I guess he probably said this preaching here 15 years ago. He said the most dangerous time in anybody's life is when temptation and opportunity intersect. He said, you can have temptation with no opportunity and you're pretty safe. He said, you can have opportunity with no temptation and you're pretty safe. But he said, when temptation and opportunity intersect, right there at that intersection is the most dangerous time in anybody's life. There's no telling what some of us good godly Baptists sitting right here at the Concord Baptist Church tonight watching by anything but the internet, would have done and ruined and wrecked our lives if opportunity and temptation had crossed just right. For this woman, she had made some mistakes concerning men. She had a weakness, apparently, and as an avenue of temptation, maybe after she got divorced the first time, she'll say, no more. No, I won't do that no more. Then there's another smooth tongue rascal come in there talking to her. She said, oh, this is the love of my life. I found him over and over again. Isn't that how sin does us? Takes her across the same tumbler, back through the same thing, and now life is destroyed. Now she's embarrassed to look anybody in the eye. Now she's resorted to try and go to the water hole when there won't be anybody around. I was talking with a fellow a while back. His wife has messed up on several accounts. I'll not get into all of that. But just simply to say it, when I was talking to him, he said, it's costing us a fortune in gas. I said, why is that? He says, well, we have to drive to Unicorn Grocery Shop, because she's afraid she'll see somebody she knows, if we go to Ingles, or even if we go to Weaverville. So we drive to the Walmart Unicorn Grocery Shop, try to keep from seeing anybody we know. See, that's what sin does. Her head's about, She's made some mistakes. Now, she also makes a mistake here concerning the master. When she gets to the top of the hill, looks there on the well, sees Jesus, oh, it's a Jew. It's just a Jew. What's he doing here anyhow? What are you doing here? She probably thinks to herself, I'm better than him. Oh, you doing your Jew? Oh, she really, she looks at it, but she's making a mistake, because what she's gonna find out is that he is the only one that can do anything about the reason she's got her head bowed. I know how people are. There'd probably been people in her family say, oh, sweetie. Can't nobody help, just hold your head high. But it don't matter how many encouraging people you're around, you can't get to where you can hold your head high. You're embarrassed about it. Oh, let me say this, sin ought to bring us a little shame. but she's making a mistake concerning the master. He's the only one that's gonna be able to help her, and she slowly realizes it. Did you see it as we read these verses? She went from calling him a Jew, and by the way, that was not a good term as far as she was concerned. She called him a Jew. Then she called him sir. Then she called him a prophet. And then in verse number 42, she's gonna call him the savior of the world. So it's a progressive revelation for her. She began to realize it was, then she made a mistake concerning the method. In verses 19 through 24. She said it, she's standing there talking to the Son of God. She's talking to the great I Am. And she wants to quabble about where to build the church. Oh, where had we all to worship? We worship here in Jusaida. Boy, the Lord straightens her out, though. So we see the mistakes she had made. This was a woman that had made some mistakes. But then, thank God, we see the man she met. Six men had been in this woman's life and every one of them had left her wanting. Every one of them had done it wrong. Six men in her life, but the seventh man's gonna make all the difference. She's gonna meet this man and he's gonna change things from the inside out. Now, look at the things he didn't care about. He cared not about her race. It didn't matter that she was a Samaritan. He didn't care. He cared not about her religion. Now, let's understand about the Samaritans just a minute. During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Samaritans wanted to be included in the tribes of Israel, but they couldn't prove their genealogy. They were misfits. They were mixed breed. And so they were rebuffed and it hurt them so bad they went and built their own temple. They found their own holy mountain, declared it to be more holy than Mount Sinai or than Mount Zion. And then when it was time for the Passover, the Samaritans would sneak in the city with dead men's bones and throw bones in and around the temple for them to have to trot over or to have to clean up. You see, there was no love lost. Their religion, they sided with the Romans, the Samaritans and the Jews, they had no dealings with one another. This would have been like us going out to a Muslim or some such thing as that. We'd say there's no, Jehovah's Witness, something like that. We'd say there's no hope for them. But the Lord didn't stop and ask her what she believed, what Bible she used, what religion she was. He just gonna tell her about how to be saved. We see that. He cared not about her religion. He cared not about her roughness. Everybody in town said, ain't no big deal with that gal. Oh, she's one of them. You know, wrong side of the track. Involved in everything she had not to be involved in. Lord said, I'll take her, whoop. Lord said, I'll take her. She didn't care about how rough. Let me tell you something. You know what the church needs? The church needs some rough people. I don't know what's happened to it. It seems like we've gotten to the place in the church where all we want is fancy centers. We want centers as long as they're holding down a good job, driving a pretty nice vehicle, and got some little kids we can love on, all that. Oh, praise God. But what about something just rolled out of a trailer park that smells like a cigarette? Huh? They'd been drinking a fifth of liquor the night before. How about that bunch that's been rough, got tattoos? Got long hair down their back and earrings? They say, oh, I ain't so sure about that fella. Everybody lock a door. Somebody sit around him, make sure he don't rob the joint. We don't need anybody like that. That's exactly who we need. They're sinners in need of salvation. Jesus didn't look at this woman and say, well, you've been too bad. I see how you're dressed, I know what you've been into. Sorry about your luck, honey, but I can't help. Oh no, he didn't care about how rough she'd been, what she'd been into. All he cared about was she was a sinner in need of a savior. And so she met a man that cared. Six men she'd met in her life, none of them had cared. She met a man that cared. And she realized there's something different about this man. It didn't take her long, did it? To begin with, she's kind of argumentative. But it ain't long, and she said, sir, I perceive you're a prophet. Oh boy, there's something different about you. We see the mistakes she'd made. We see the man she met. But then we see the message she minded. Now the Lord always comes with a message. He's always got something to say. And he had something to say with her. He gave her a message about water. He said, you know what? The Lord was a master at using object lessons. He'd say, look yonder at that sparrow. Did I ever tell you about them sparrows? Not one of them follows the ground. Your father don't know about them. He'd say, look at this vine here. You know what, I'm the vine, you're the branches. He was great at object lessons. Well, he's sitting on a whale. He said, drink this whale, you'll thirst again. Boy, her mind goes back to how she drawled out of it yesterday, and drawled out of it the day before, and drew out of it the day before. She thought, you're right. I've been drinking out of this whale a long time, and I still get thirsty. The Lord said, but I can give you water. you won't never thirst again. Huh? What kind of water is it that I won't never thirst again? Now, Jacob's well was an impressive well, particularly for that time and in that location. They say it was nearly 170 feet deep. That's a deep well. He said, sir, the well is deep. Thou hast nothing to draw with. Jesus said, if you'd ask, I'd give you. Give, give. He didn't say, I'd sell you or I'd loan you. He said, I'd give you. I'll give you the water that you need. You know what she said? She said, sir, give me this water. She said, I'm empty, but I'd like to have some water that is continually replenishing what I need. They start into this great discourse back and forth about worship. Jesus said, God's a spirit, and he must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. You know what he said? You know what he's saying to her? He's saying, you're gonna have to junk the religion of the Samaritans. To you guys, it's all about where that you can have your religious trappings and your religious observances. He said, I'm telling you, God ain't interested in that. God is the Spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And so there is a message about water, but then there is a message about worship. And then there's a message about the way. Verse 25, the woman saith unto him, I know that the Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ, and when he's come, he'll tell us all things. Look what Jesus said in verse 26. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. That's me. That's me, I am, that's me. She said, oh, I know he's coming, I've heard about it, when he's coming he's gonna tell us all things. He said, honey, you ain't gotta wait another second, right here I am. And so he's giving her a message, a message about worship, a message about the water, and a message about the wind. Now it's up to her, will she accept the message? You see, everybody's got an opportunity, they hear the message. There are those that heard the message of Christ. Sometimes I get to kicking myself as a preacher and feeling pretty bad because I preach and people don't walk the aisle to get saved and I think, boy, I'm a real loser. But then I'm reminded that Jesus preached to people that walked away. Jesus taught the scriptures to people that didn't get saved. And if Jesus taught and preached to folks and they didn't get saved, I shouldn't kick myself too much. Man's got a free will. This lady had a free will. She sat there on Jacob's well. She had a decision to make. Sin had left her empty. Sin had left her abandoned. Sin had left her discouraged. Sin had left her sad. Jesus said, I've got a new way. Jesus said, let me tell you about my father. Let me tell you how to worship in spirit and in truth. Let me tell you about that water. Gonna fill you up and you'll never thirst again. Let me tell you about how to get some help for that embarrassment, for that discouragement, for that despondency. Now she's got a decision to make. Notice the moves she made. I may rub this out, verse 28. The woman then left her water pot. She started up the road that day. Well, take the water pot. I don't know how the Samaritans carried it. She may have carried it on her head. Take the water pot, fill up the water pot. Be careful with my water pot. I know how it is living in a house with a woman. Don't break my water pot. I gotta have that, that's important. We ain't got a lot of water pots, be careful with that one. Carrying that water pot up there, gonna let it down, get some water. It's all about the pot, the pot, the pot, the pot. She met a man and he so amazed her with his message that she went, dropped that water pot. Don't need that thing no more. She makes a move. Her move shows that she is forsaking her dependence upon self. She left her water pot. She left her desire to see to her own ways of getting her own water. She left her water pot. She forsook dependence upon self. But watch this. She forsook the degradation of society. What do you mean? She walking up that hill toward that, well, she got her head down, Lord, I hope we don't see nobody, Lord, have mercy. Come out there in the middle of the day, hottest part of the day, maybe there won't be no ladies up here, won't have to see anybody. She meets Jesus and she going back down the city. Whoo, everybody listen! Everybody listen, I got something I'm gonna tell you! She don't care who she sees, matter of fact, she hopes she sees everybody. She running down the street, everybody come out there! Come see a man, let me tell you! Hey, everybody listen, I got something I'm gonna tell you! Funny how meeting Jesus will change your outlook on life and your outlook on yourself. He had done something for it and got rid of all that head bound and embarrassment and degradation. He'd give her some bubbling over water and she wouldn't tell somebody else about it. Now the devil no doubt had told her, you can't affect nobody's life, no harlot like you, be ashamed. Y'all be ashamed. But she had forsook the doubts of her soul. She said, I gotta tell somebody about this. What we're gonna say is that regardless of what the devil might have told her, she did have an effective testimony, didn't she? So there's the move she made. She drops that water pot, praise God, she's gonna go, she's gonna go and tell some folks about Jesus. Then notice, if you will, the multitude that she moved, the multitude she moved. So she goes down there and she gives a personal testimony. Now, something to be learned here. The greatest of all testimony, the greatest thing you can do for Jesus is tell somebody else about what Jesus has done for you. I can tell you what Jesus did for Charles Spurgeon and it won't stir me or you much. I can tell you what he done for D.L. Moody. I can tell you what he done for all these different folks. But buddy, if I come to you with tears in my eyes and say, let me tell you what he done for me. Tell you what he done for me. I believe I told you, different times of witnessing, I've tried to argue with people. And I never have on nobody like him, nobody. I walked out a few places going, boy, I won that argument. I made them look like idiots. Son, I ain't know which way this comin' or goin'. They's cratchin' their head didn't know what to say. Oh boy, I won that argument. But that fella I was arguing with just lost, he wasn't a start. You won't get the people, if you won't get the people witnessing, leave off all that arguing. That's what the devil wants you to do. He wants you to get involved in all this back and forth arguing. Leave off all that arguing. Say, well, okay, I don't know about all that, but let me tell you what Jesus did for me. Let me tell you how Jesus has made a difference in my life. That's what she went, she said, come see a man, told me all things ever I did. Let me tell you what this man done for me. She had a personal testimony. She had a powerful testimony. Her testimony was about a man that had exposed her wrong. That's powerful. You know, I hear people stand up and testify. I ain't seen anything wrong with it. But they'll stand up and they'll say, you know, before I got saved, I wasn't too bad of a person. Wrong, you was. We all was. We's all ever been that bad of a person. But you know what I like? I hear somebody get up and testify and they say, boy, when I got lost, I was just sorry. I was an old, hell-deserving sinner. Shoulda been in hell, just didn't have no hope or help, but Jesus came by where I was at and showed me my filthy, lost condition, and I need to say, you see, friend, that'll pluck the heart strings. That's a powerful testimony. She had that powerful testimony. But then it was a prosperous testimony. While she's gone, down there in the city of Testifying, them disciples come back. They're clueless about what's happening. They've been down to the local deli and they brought back some fish or something. Master, eat. He said, I've got food you know not about, meat you know not about. He starts talking to them about the harvest. And I picture this in my mind. This little lady, she's went down into the city, come see a man! Somebody stick their head out of a business door, who is that? Somebody inside said, who is that hollering? Well, that's that old gal that's had all them husbands, hollering about some man, another man. Hell, let's go out here and see what she's got to say. Bar your imagination a minute. Here comes all these Samaritans out with them little white rags around their head. All these little white rags coming out. Huh, huh, what? Huh, what are you saying? What are you saying? What are you saying? Come see a man. Come see a man. Some more little white rags comes out. What are you saying? Come see the man. I'm telling you the Messiah's up here on Jacob's well. Come see a man. The Lord takes them disciples and walks over the edge of that well and he said, Look how white the fields are to harvest. Here comes all them little white towel-wrapped heads up the path toward Jacob's well. He said, look yonder how white the fields are to harvest. He said, here comes the harvest, boys. Here comes the harvest. She walks up to the well with them. It's a prosperous, a prosperous, Testimony. The Bible said in verse number 39 that many believe for the saying of the woman. They got up there to Jesus and they said, we don't have to hear anything else. We know how she was. And we've seen the difference that you made in her life. We believe on you because we've seen the evidence in her life. I wonder how many people over the years have gotten saved by the grace of God because they saw the evidence in the life of someone else. They got to church, they said, we don't even have to hear no preaching. We've seen the evidence. So it was a prosperous testimony. But then, it was a prelude to hearing the word. Look what the Bible said in verse number 41. And many more believed, because of his own word. So it kind of went like this right here. Here comes all these little white towels on the head. Oh, we believe in you because of her word, her word, her word. Then there's a bunch more down there. So what are all them people doing up in Japheth's well? It's a strange time of the day. Let's go up there and see what's happening. They get up there and they hear his word. Oh, and they believe on him because of his word. Now, notice what's said right here. I'll be closing, verse 42. And said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Have you noticed how that John continues to talk about how Jesus come for the whole wide world? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the same is in the beginning with God. He was made flesh, dwelled among us, for God so loved the world, and I've said he's the Savior of the whole wide world. See John say, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, the world, the world, the world, Jesus come for everybody. even this old Samaritan gal. She said, give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw. She minded the message, she made a move, and then she motivated a multitude. This lady, I'm closing this thought right here, this lady walked up that day to the well thinking there was no way on earth she'd ever make a difference in anybody's life, but because Jesus made a difference in her life, She made a difference in a multitude's life. You can too. Let me ask you something. If you could look back on your life before you got saved, would you have ever dreamed you'd be sitting in Bible college? Come to church an extra night of the week? That sounds crazy. Come on, extra night? Lord have mercy, I'm trying to get out of Sunday night. I gotta come an extra night. That's the way a lost man thinks, see? But here you are, Jesus has saved you. He put you in Bible college. You're learning. You're getting to testify and witness to others. You're getting to make a difference in other people's lives. Why? Because of the grace of God. Because of the grace of God. Jesus didn't have to be there that day. He went by there on his own free accord. Why? To talk to that woman, see that woman. That's the grace of God. She got to tell others about the goodness of the Lord. Let's pray together. Father, thank you, Lord, for Bible College tonight. Thanks for the good spirit we felt here.