John 4, verses 5 through 42. 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. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food. Then saith the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, ask 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 unto 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 Abe Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh 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, 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 said unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you 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 worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the woman, and said unto him, Sir, 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 to the man, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. He said unto them, I have food to eat that ye know not of. Therefore the disciples said one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto him, My food 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 the harvest? Behold, I say 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 gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors. Many of the Samaritans of the city believed on him. For the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them. And he abode there two days. 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. Amen. Methods and labels may change, but the bitterness of mankind's heart remains the same. It remains constant throughout history. It started with Cain, who killed his brother Abel, and remains within the hearts of many people today. The Golden Age of Piracy is a common name given for a period of time between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant problem in both the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Many believe that the execution of a man named William Fly marked the real end of the Age of the Pirate. William Fly was an Englishman who had a short life and perhaps even a shorter temper. His life of piracy began in 1726 when he signed on to sail with Captain John Green from Rhode Island to West Africa on a vessel named the Elizabeth Snow. During the voyage, Fly and Captain Green clashed several times. Fly grew immensely angry and bitter with Captain Green, which then resulted in Fly conspiring with several other shipmates to kill Captain Green and make Fly the captain of the Elizabeth Snow. At 0100, in the morning of 27 May 1726, William Fly, accompanied by several mutineers, crept into the captain's cabin. Fly was carrying a sword in his hand, and he told the captain that he had been selected as the ship's new captain. The mutineers then pulled Captain Green out of his bed, shouting, upon the deck, you dog, for we shall lose no more time about you. He was then forced onto the deck where the mutineers asked if the captain would choose to leap overboard on his own or if he wanted to be tossed like a sneaking rascal. The captain begged not to be thrown overboard, but finally the mutineers grew tired of his begging, seized him, and tossed him overboard. The captain, however, somehow managed to grab the mainsheet and was hanging on for dear life. One of the mutineers then picked up an axe and chopped off the captain's hand, causing him to fall into the water with blood pouring out from his arm. The captain perished. With this new boat, Captain William Fly continued his piracy up and down the northeastern seaboard. His life of piracy only lasted a little over two months as he was eventually captured and brought to trial in Boston Harbor. 27-year-old Fly was the first of his captured pirates to be executed, and the last sight he probably saw was the Elizabeth Snow decked calmly in Boston Harbor waiting to sail. And listen to how the Times Union described his final day. Quote, The execution occurred at the usual place in Charleston, near the ferry, about where North End Park is located. The gallows was placed, as usual, at a point midway between the ebb and flood of tide. Thousands came from miles to see the hanging. Three ministers offered very long prayers after the men were on the scaffold. Fly, showing no remorse, smiled all the way through, probably fortified by plenty of New England rum. After the men were properly and completely hanged, their bodies were taken down and transported in a boat to Nix Island down the harbor, two leagues from town. Fly, however, was left hanging in the irons as a spectacle for the warning of others, especially other seafaring men." Noticeable by many of Fly's hanging was how unremorseful Fly was when asked to repent of his sins, even by the ministers. Here was a man who was about to die and meet his maker, and he was still unremorseful. To everyone's shock, Fly even used his hanging as a platform to declare his hatred to those in authority generally, and the British Navy specifically. His anger at his captain so consumed him that he eventually led to murder and Fly's untimely death at the hands of colonial authorities. And if one were to study Fly's entire life, it would be the sad story of a man filled with bitterness and rage. Bitterness, I will say this for all of you listening, bitterness not only destroys a man with rage, but it destroys lives. It destroys friendships. And it most certainly destroys marriages. So many marriages would still exist today if only bitterness were destroyed. If we read today's well-known scripture passage, we read about a Samaritan woman who had been in five marriages, five. Jesus then, as he still does now, had a penchant to seek out those in society who society had deemed beyond hope, beyond redemption, but not for Jesus. We must remember that up until John chapter 4, both divorce and remarriage were permitted by Mosaic law. Upon the advent of Jesus' teaching ministry, however, Christ declared in passages like Mark 10.10 that any divorce and subsequent remarriage will now constitute adultery. There are unquestionably many different sermons out there on this particular passage. This is a very well-known passage. But in preparing this sermon, however, I wanted to make sure that each one of you left worship today with the central theological point. The main idea, if you will. Not of what I want to bring out of this text, but John's intent. Jesus's intent. And I believe the central theological point is verse 31, with the end result of the work described in verse 31 being verse 42. For Jesus, the sharing of the gospel to the woman at the well was more important than food itself. That singular conversation between Jesus and the woman led to an entire village coming to saving faith in Jesus as Messiah. And so here's the real question. Do you want to do work that really matters? Do you want to live for a purpose that is truly bigger than yourself? Then be about the work of saving souls. Be about that work. Evangelize. Tell the lost about Jesus. It's really simple. I know for some of you who were raised in the church, you were taught this at a very young age. But somewhere along the line, you forgot the mission. The mission is to evangelize. There is a world filled with those who need to hear the gospel of Christ and you are the ones that need to go out and share the gospel. Or listen to how Jesus Christ put it in verse 34, my meat, my food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And then he talks about the harvest and he says, lift up your eyes, look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. Get out there. Begin the harvesting of souls. Seek the lost, the hurting, the bitter. Share with them the living water that their souls are thirsting for. And how does this all happen? Well, the scripture passage kind of allows us to see that it often happens over a lunch meal, an encounter at the supermarket, or perhaps as we saw today, over a cup of water. In verse 4, it says that Jesus had to pass through this woman's Samaria because of geography. And the Greek here is very interesting. Samaria, going through Samaria, by the way, was the shortest way for Jesus to get from point A to point B. But the words in Greek revealed that Jesus' itinerary was part of a sovereign and providential plan of God. The English words here translate from the Greek word dei, which means to be necessary, had to. Elsewhere in John's Gospel, this word always indicates divine necessity or requirement. This was no mere accident. And the next time you think about it, the next time you're simply bumping into someone at the barbershop, and you end up sharing the gospel with that person. Remember today's chapter because the most ordinary interactions in everyday life could quite possibly turn to be divine appointments leading to eternal life. Amen? Jesus was headed from Galilee to Judea and going through Samaria was the usual and most direct route by travelers. Some strict Jews, however, trying to avoid defilement, would bypass Samaria by opting to go a longer route, crossing over the Jordan, and then coming back after going on the east side. Why would they do that? Well, race had a lot to do with it. The Samaritans were a racially mixed people, partly Jewish and partly Gentile ancestry. The Old Testament tells us how the king of Assyria in 722 BC brought foreign people to settle Samaria. And over time, those people intermarried with Jews who had remained in the area. As a result, Samaritans were hated by both Jews and non-Jews. Many people in this region between Judea and Galilee were actual descendants of Old Testament Northern Kingdom of Israel inhabitants. But from the Jewish perspective, these Samaritans had assimilated too deeply into non-Jewish culture, and their intermarriages with Mesopotamian colonists had defiled them. Hence, we read in verse 9. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. That's what the text says. And it's accurate. They didn't. The Samaritans had their own version of the Hebrew Bible, their own temple at Mount Gerizim, their own version of Israelite history. And as a result, tensions often ran high between Jews and their Samaritan neighbors. The non-Christian historian Josephus even recounts Roman soldiers being called in once to pacify and crucify people, both Jews and Samaritans, that were fighting during Emperor Claudius's reign. Jesus walks into such racial tensions, and he does what only Jesus could do. He brings peace. And much hasn't changed in today's society, has it? Our nation today is also polarized by race and politics, perhaps to a level we've never seen before. But even in America today, I believe that the gospel is able to bring peace. First, peace with God, but also peace with one another. Now, what is the gospel? The gospel is the message, the only message, that by believing in this message, you have eternal life. We talk about people being born again. Well, this is how you become born again. You hear the gospel that I'm about to share with you, you believe in it, and the moment that you believe in it, you're born again. You become a Christian. Not by attending church, Not by having membership in a church. Not by baptism. Not by evangelism. You are born again. You become a Christian via one singular route. And that's by believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now what is the gospel? Here it is. Number one, there is a God who is holy, righteous, just. He exists eternally in three persons. one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Three persons, not three manifestations, not three different gods, three persons, one God. We worship one God. And he created the universe by speaking it into existence. God said, let there be light, and there was light. We did not evolve, we did not create ourselves, God created the universe. The second point in the gospel is this. God created the first human beings, male and female, Adam and Eve. However, they sinned against God, and as a result of their sin, all of their progeny, all of us here today, were sinners. And that's bad news. We not only inherit Adam's sinful nature, but because of that nature, we commit sins consistently throughout our lives. I'll put it this way, we are not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we are sinners. It's our nature. We are by nature children of wrath. And the reason why scripture says that is, listen to this, God being a just God must condemn sinners to eternal hell. Sins committed against an infinitely holy God deserve infinite punishment in hell. Now here's the good news, point number three, for God so loved the world he gave his only son Jesus who was fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life and then he died on the cross and paid for the sins of those who will believe in him. Resurrecting from the grave on the third day is a historical fact, it's not a myth. So that lastly, point number four, if you personally repent, meaning turn from your life of sin, and put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Savior, you shall have eternal life. That's the gospel. Your parents can't do it for you, your relatives can't do it for you, a church building cannot do it for you. You must personally repent and believe in Jesus. to have eternal life. The just shall live by faith. By faith in Christ are you saved. And upon believing in this gospel, a person gains eternal life, the most precious gift in this entire world. The gaining of eternal life is the quenching of soul thirst described in verse 14. Take a look at verse 14. This woman at the well, like so many in our society today, was searching for happiness. She was thirsty, and so she jumped from one relationship to another. But no man could quench her thirst. And we know this to be true, too, today. Divorce rates are sky high in our society. 50% of all marriages end in divorce. And then roughly about 70% to 75% of second marriages end in divorce. This woman found that reality firsthand. No man could quench her thirst. She went from one relationship to another. And in verse 6, we read that this woman came to the well during the sixth hour. This would be 12 noon. Most women came to draw water early mornings or late afternoons when it was cooler. She comes at noon because she knew no one would be there. And then verse 18 goes on to reveal that this woman was sexually immoral. Because there's a lot of speculation and a lot of pastors have done sermons about why she came at noon. But verse 18 is definitive. Jesus reveals to us that this woman was living in sexual sin. She was living with a man without a marriage certificate. And per Jesus, per scripture, cohabitation without marriage is a serious sin. Just living with someone and having sex with that person does not a marriage make, according to Jesus. This is also why we understand and we know that premarital sex is a sin. Jesus himself declared it. After five failed marriages, this woman was now cohabitating. That which seemingly promised happiness had left her thirsty and dry time and time again. And this is how Jesus finds her. This is how Jesus knew he would find her, because according to the Greek, he had every intention out of necessity to meet this woman. She needed him, and he knew that. This meeting was not coincidental. And his words in verse 14 were not haphazardly chosen through finding peace with God. Jesus was offering her, for the first time, a true solution to her spiritual thirst. She came to the well bitter and dry. She left with great happiness. And perhaps some of you today are exactly at the same place the woman at the well was. As I close this morning, I wish to bring your attention to a short command found in 1 Thessalonians 5.16. The command is this, rejoice evermore, or always be joyful. Yes, if you study the original language, it's a direct command from God. as it is written in the present imperative active tense. But in a world full of car accidents, miscarriages, divorce, cancer, is it truly possible for the Christian to obey this command? Always be joyful. Seems like a tall order. But the answer is yes. The answer is yes. If you are born again, if you're a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, then you have someone inside of you that is not some mythical force, but a real person. That person is known as the Holy Ghost. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you. And as a result, even in life's most dire circumstances, through His power, you can and you should obey God's command. Just like you would any other command from God. And as with so many of God's other commands, you personally benefit from obeying this one. Always be joyful. Demonstrate to the world, Christian, that Jesus is living water. Too many Christians go about with sour, bitter, dour appearances when Christ promises us abundant life. And so the command is, always be joyful. The growing body of evidence shows that the ability to rejoice and be content with life is the central criterion for good mental health, social adaptation. Happy people also gain tangible benefits in a variety of life domains. For example, they experience greater social rewards, more friendships, stronger social support, richer social interactions. At work, there are indications that joy is associated with increased productivity, creativity, more activity and flow, higher quality of work, and yes, even higher income. The research also shows that happy people are more likely to evidence greater self-control, have a bolstered immune system, and even live longer lives. As a Christian, why not choose to obey God and rejoice? A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon on how Christians are like cities set on a hill. Remember that? We shine in a dark and dreary world. And as we look at our society today, rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm continue to soar worldwide. Despite all the alleged advances in psychology, more and more people believe we are doomed to be unhappy. And against this backdrop, Christians are expected to radiate with joy. Not because of circumstantial factors such as income, marital status, occupational status, job security, or even health. We experience disasters in those areas just like everyone else. Rather, Christians rejoice because we have found the Christ who holds all of our circumstances in his hands. In other words, our circumstances don't dictate our joy because the God of our salvation holds our circumstances in his hands. Amen? We rejoice because we believe in two fundamental truths. Number one, God is omnipotent. He's all-powerful. And thus, he's in full control over everything that happens in this universe. To the tiniest sparrow falling, to every hair on your head being counted. Or in modern terms, he controls every atom that moves in this universe. God controls it all. And second, because of my faith in Christ, God loves me and thus works all things together for my good. You put those two truths together, and even in the darkest moments, my heart is able to rejoice. Like the woman at the well. I have found living water, thirst that is permanently quenched, thirst that is not quenched based on circumstantial settings, thirst that is quenched because it has found the living water, God himself. Augustine wrote it best, he wrote in Confessions, You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest. in you. You can jump from relationship to relationship and you will never find rest, you will never find joy, you will never find happiness, until like the woman at the well, you find Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for today.