4th chapter of the Gospel of John. And I'm going to read quite a few verses, and don't let that get you nervous. I'm just going to pull some points from those verses, but we're going to begin in verse 7 of John chapter 4, a very familiar story about the Samaritan woman that Jesus comes to here in John chapter 4. Beginning in verse 7, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith 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. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith 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? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. 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 saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, and 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 he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in 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 at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When He is come, He will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the woman, and 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 to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? So, as I said, a very familiar passage. A long passage there and there's so many things we could pull from this, but I want to kind of look at the whole and just pull a few thoughts from this. And if there's anyone here who's a sinner this morning, then you're going to have some hope, I think, by the time we get done looking at this passage this morning. It's a great passage for those of us who understand our position before God. You see, one of the things we need to understand about this passage is the Samaritans themselves. a people who didn't get along with the Jews. You remember she told Jesus that in the story. She said, why are you talking to me? You're not supposed to be talking to me. There's this break in relationship because of history. You can go back in the Old Testament, it would be a great thing to do, and see all the reasons for that. Go back and see why there was this difference between the Samaritans and the Jews. I'm not going to take time to go into that this morning. But as we look at that today, do we have any divisions in our country today? Are there people maybe that you're not as comfortable talking to as you are others? Maybe that's along racial lines. I hope we're past that in our country. But maybe there's someone here that that makes you a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's along conservative and liberal lines. Have we seen any of that in our local news lately? The absolute fiasco that has been carrying out in our Senate Judiciary Committee. I mean, they can't even talk to each other hardly. Such division that we see. Well, there was division here. But Jesus, did He let that division keep Him from going to this woman? No, in fact, it says in verse 4 that He must needs go through Samaria. I don't think that's an accident. I don't think that that's because of geography. I think that's because He went to see this woman and it was purposeful. And He went to her and He had a message for her. And so, one of the lessons we can pull from this is that we shouldn't let those differences keep us from sharing the gospel with those that maybe we're a little uncomfortable talking to. Maybe there's some divisions there, and maybe we need to remember that at one point in our lives, without the grace of God, where would we be? That we are not better than others. So one of the things I want to point out right away is the comparison of this to the beginning of chapter 3 in the Gospel of John. If you don't remember what that is, that's a different story where someone different comes to Jesus. Instead of Jesus coming to them, Nicodemus came to Jesus. But how did he come to Jesus? He came to Him in the middle of the night. And you know why? He didn't want to be seen going to see Jesus. So the scandal for Nicodemus would have been for Nicodemus to be seen with Jesus. Whereas the scandal here would be that Jesus would be seen with this woman. You notice the difference? This woman was not someone that the Jews would normally be talking to. Nicodemus, on the other hand, he was a Pharisee. He was a prominent man, and yet he came to Jesus in the middle of the night. He didn't want to be seen with Jesus in daylight. And yet this woman, Jesus comes to her in the middle of the day, at the well, at a very public place, and he encounters her and has a message for her. So that's a lesson for us. You know, a lot of times we don't mind talking about the Bible with those who we see as very devout and religious people, and we're going to talk to them, and we may argue about doctrine, and we may even win some of those arguments. But did we win the person? Probably not. So the more important thing, what about those who are hurting? What about those who really need the message of the Gospel? Are we going to those people? Are we willing to talk to those who maybe it's even a little uncomfortable for us to talk to. So I think that's one thing right off the bat we can pull from this. The controversy of Jesus even talking to this woman. But secondly, we notice that what are her concerns at the beginning of this conversation? All of her concerns are temporal concerns. She's talking about the water, right? She says, this well was Jacob's. She says some interesting things. She says, are you greater than Jacob? Yes, he was. She didn't know that at that moment. But he was greater than the one who gave them that well. So she had temporal concerns, and she's thinking all along physical lines. And Jesus is talking to her, but he gives her only two commands, really, in the beginning of this passage. The first one was, give me water to drink. Alright? So that is a physical thing. He said, I want you to draw me some water. Give me some water to drink. So then she begins to talk. She's still thinking along those temporal lines, but then he says something else. Okay, you go call your husband and you bring him hither. Now, he's changed the conversation completely because he's getting personal a little bit. Jesus begins to talk to her about a very uncomfortable truth. Now, for time's sake, I hope you can see here, I'm skipping a lot. You may have to go back in and fill some things in. But as Jesus is talking to her, all of a sudden, he asks that question, the conversation shifts because she doesn't really know how to answer it first, I think. He says, go call your husband, tell him to come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Now was that true? Was that the complete truth? Let's just put it that way. Was that the complete truth? No. She didn't tell him the complete truth. She just kind of gave an answer. So Jesus got a little bit personal. He spoke to her an uncomfortable truth. So when we go and witness to others, are there some things sometimes that are going to come up that are going to be an uncomfortable truth? Absolutely. Because you know what? Sin is an uncomfortable truth. Did you know that? It's an uncomfortable thing to talk about. We don't like to talk about it. Why do you think that a lot of preachers don't preach about it? Joel Osteen doesn't focus on sin very often, right? It's all about your best day. It's a Friday every day. I don't even remember the title of the book. But something like that. That's not all the times how we have to speak. Sometimes there's some uncomfortable truths that we have to speak up and talk to, and Jesus did that here. He said, go call your husband, have him come hither. She said, I have no husband. He said, well, you did say that right. You did get that one thing right. You've had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. So, she is looking for fulfillment, obviously. Remember, she was talking about the water? Now, we find out she's had There's a lot of different opinions on what all that means about what Jesus said to her there. I'm not going to get into the weeds of that and the details of that. I think it's obvious that this woman's looking for fulfillment in everything but the things that she should be looking for it in. That's just obvious from the passage. She wants that water that will make her never thirst again. She has had all these different husbands. She's had all these relationships that she's been going through. None of them have been the right thing. She's constantly moving forward in that. But none of those things are satisfying her. And so when Jesus meets her at the well, He knows her in a way that He knows her better than she knows herself. And He says this to her, and He says, actually you've had five husbands, and the one that you have is not... And then what did she say after that? I said when I was preaching through this passage originally at Providence, I said, you know, sometimes the Bible can actually be a little humorous, even in a very serious situation. And here, when... Jesus tells her all of this about her past. She knows that Jesus wasn't there. And He tells her, what does she say? Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. You know, what if somebody just walked up to you, they've never seen you before, and they told you details about your entire life? I would perceive that they're a prophet, you know. She just says, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. And she was this much right, but not right. He's much more than a prophet. And eventually, he's going to reveal himself to her. As they go through, you see more and more. First, she's just talking about physical things. Who do you think you are? Are you greater than Jacob? Who do you think you are, telling me that? This well's been here for all these generations, and we've been drinking water from this well for generations. Now she's going to, well, now I perceive that you're a prophet. So now the structure of the conversation is going to change even again, because she's going to see that there's something more to this man than what she had originally thought. So that's where the conversation moves really drastically there. In verse 20, she says, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. And then Jesus has an answer for her that I think we really need to pay attention to today. Because we live in a very pluralistic society. Now, if you don't believe me, think about this. There were certain people through all of this controversy about Judge Kavanaugh when they would talk about his accusers, there was a unique phrase that they would use. She told her truth. Think about that for a minute. They didn't say, she told the truth, or that woman told the truth. She told her truth. Well, and then that means that I can tell my truth, and you can tell your truth, and we'll all be right because everything's relative. Well, that's just flat wrong. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that there is truth and then there is error. There's not my truth and your truth and everybody else's truth. There is truth. So Jesus here says, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. So even in this, between the Samaritans and the Jews, did Jesus avoid that? Did He say, I'm not going to bring up any of that? He said, no, we know what we worship. He even spoke to that uncomfortable truth. Salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. So Jesus takes the conversation And what does He change it to? He makes it about worship. Isn't that interesting? How many times when you witness to people, do you bring up the concept of worship? Because that's a very important question. Because everybody is worshipping something. They are. They may not ever attend church, but they're worshipping something. They're worshipping their career. They're worshipping themselves. They might even be worshipping their family. They're worshipping something. And so, Jesus takes this to a place of worship. So worship matters. What we worship matters. But if that matters, how do we know what it is that we worship? Well, how do we spend our time? How do we spend our resources? How do we spend our thought life? All of those things are going to tell us that if the percentages are really low in a category, that's not what you're worshipping. If the percentages are higher, then that makes it that that is what you are truly worshipping. God desires His people to worship Him. He inhabits our praise, it says. He loves it to see His people worship Him. And so, Jesus says to her that the time comes when people will no longer worship only in a specific place or only in a specific location. There's not going to be a tabernacle or a temple where that sacrifice has to be made. That things are changing. Jesus tells her things are changing. Some people will take that passage and they'll make it all about just primitive Baptist distinctives. That's what he's saying here. Boy, you've got to do it this way, this way, and this way. And that's what he means by spirit and truth. I think that's missing the point. Not that those things aren't important. I'm primitive Baptist for a reason. I like the way we do things and I think we have the truth. But don't get caught up in that. This is much bigger than that. This is a bigger concept. He says to her that God is a spirit. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Salvation now comes to Jew and Gentile alike. Is that good news to you this morning? I don't know. I doubt we have any Jews here. So we've got a lot of Gentiles that are met here to worship this morning. It's a good thing for us that salvation now comes to the Jew and the Gentile alike. Jesus when he points her to true worship worship in spirit and truth He points her to worship of God the father in that interesting how he pointed to the father And that's you know, it's it's not to say that there are not standards Of worship and that that truth is not important there there is but Jesus is going beyond that He's going to the bigger topic. So in verse 26. He's Jesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he this is amazing to me. Okay, Nicodemus comes to Jesus Christ. Nicodemus, a man who, very prominent, like we said, a Pharisee, a very religious man, a very devout man, not taken away from that. He came to Jesus for one reason. He said, we know who you are. You're a prophet, we know that, but I want to know some more information. Did Jesus say very plainly like He did to this woman, I am He? No, He didn't reveal that to him. He said, you must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. That was His answer to Nicodemus. Here, very plainly, very plainly, one of the most plain places in Scripture where Jesus says, I that speak unto thee am He. He reveals Himself to her as the Messiah. Jesus Christ revealed Himself to His child. Some try to claim that Jesus never did that in the New Testament. They never claimed to be the Son of God. I don't know how they read that verse. I don't understand how they do that mental gymnastics to get around that verse. But He claimed here that He is the Son of God. Now with that, what happens? Remember we talked about this woman. She was all about the physical things about the water. She was all about her own past. All of those things were on her mind constantly. What happens when Jesus says, I am He? Upon this came His disciples. They marveled. Kind of a side note there. But what happens in verse 28? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men, Come see a man which told me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ? She's a believer. And the water pot was no longer important. The water pot got left at the well. And she said, I've got something more important now than bringing this water back. to my house. I've got to go tell some people about Jesus, because is not this man the Messiah?" So she leaves and she goes back into the city and she begins to tell others. They come out of the city. It's really interesting later on, we find out that some of them, when they come to Jesus, they want the woman to know that it's not because of her witness, that it's because they heard from Jesus themselves. They say, we want you to know it's not because of your testimony, it's because we've heard Him for ourselves. And we believe that He is the Messiah. So this woman, maybe you can identify with her. She was lost in sin. And great sin. And Jesus came to her. And Jesus revealed Himself to her. And that is the only hope that any sinner has for salvation. Is that God reveals Himself to you. That He calls you. That He draws you to Himself. As He told Nicodemus, you must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. So He drew this woman. She is a believer. And the Bible says, Whosoever believeth. I believe that. Whosoever believeth. We sing the song, Just As I Am. We come to Christ just as I am. We don't leave the same. He changes us. He changes us into a new creature in Christ Jesus. Because He draws us to Himself, we have union with Christ which makes us which makes us redeemed. It makes us forgiven in the eyes of God. So this woman, what a change in her life. She went from being concerned about those things to leaving her water pot at the well, going her way, and speaking to others. And I think if you go on down in the chapter there in John chapter 4, what's the very next thing that happens? Christ begins to talk to His disciples about the harvest. He says, you need to go out. You see what I'm doing? We went through Samaria. You see what I'm doing? I went to this woman. She said, the harvest is plentiful. And we need to be in the harvest. So we're to share that with others. So I hope maybe that gives some hope for anyone here who may be struggling in sin. There is hope in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. And He calls men to Himself. He's still doing it today. And He will do it until He returns. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you that you're the Savior of sinners, that we can come to you and draw close to you because of the blood of Jesus Christ, because of your sacrifice for us that you made on the cross, that we're able to approach to the Holy of Holies. We're able to have that restored fellowship with you. We ask that you would draw us closer to you each day, that we would begin to live for you, that our lives would reflect that we have been called out of darkness and into your light, that that light would be reflected in our lives, that others might see it and might believe in you. We thank you that you've provided your word for us and the truth in it. We ask that you would be with Brother Zach now as he comes before us to bring the word to us, that you would bless him, give him liberty of his calling, and that you would deliver through him a message for us today. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.