Amen. Alright, well we're there in John chapter number 4 and like we've already
talked about we started a brand new series last week called Encounters with
Christ and we are just going through the Gospels and listening in on
conversations that the Lord Jesus Christ had with individuals. Last week we
started with probably the most famous encounter with Christ which was the
conversation between Christ and Nicodemus and today we are continuing
with what is possibly the second most famous encounter that Christ had and
that is the woman at the well and what we are focusing on for the summer months
is learning about the Lord Jesus Christ and we're not focusing on the parables
and we're not focusing on the miracles but we're just kind of being like flies
on the wall and we're just listening in on conversations that Christ had, how he
dealt with people, how he interacted with people and in the story I want you to
notice that we find the Lord Jesus Christ is traveling. If you look at verse
1 the Bible says this, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard
that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself
baptized not but his disciples. Notice what the Bible says in verse 3, he left Judea.
Now here's what you need to understand about the nation of Israel. Judea was in
the southern part of Israel and he left Judea and he's traveling north, the Bible
says, and departed again into Galilee. So he is traveling from the southern part
of Israel to the northern part of Israel and he's traveling from Judea which you
we find in the Gospels that there's a lot of ministry that went on for the
Lord in the southern tribe of Judea, that area, and then of course in Galilee he
had a great ministry up in Galilee but as he's traveling from the south to the
north, the Bible says in verse 4, he must need go through Samaria. Now between
Judea and Galilee there is a section there which is known as the area of
Samaria where the Samaritans live and we'll talk a little bit about the
Samaritans here in a little bit but what I want you to notice in this passage is
that what we're really doing today is we're going soul winning with the Lord
Jesus Christ. In this passage we see Jesus as a soul winner and of course as
the greatest soul winner who ever lived and he is witnessing, he is preaching the
gospel, he is presenting the gospel to this woman at the well and we're going
to learn some lessons about soul winning from the greatest soul winner who ever
lived, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you're not familiar with that term soul
winning, the Bible talks about he that winneth souls is wise in the book of
Proverbs and soul winning is a big thing and a big deal for us here at Verity
Baptist Church because this is what God has called us to do when we go out and
we confront people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're not confrontational,
we're not rude but we bring the gospel to them and we learn this from the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's many examples throughout the Bible but here we'll see
one and I'd like to apply and make some applications in regards to soul winning
you know from this passage and we go out as a church corporately. We have the
times when we go out on Saturday mornings, on Sunday afternoons, on
Thursday afternoons and we go out in the community and we preach the gospel to
people but I want you to notice and if you're taking notes and I'd encourage
you to take some notes. On the back of your course of the week there's a place
for you to write down some notes. I'd like you to notice three different areas
here in regards to soul winning and the greatest soul winning. The first one is this,
we see the pursuit of the soul winner and I want you to notice that Jesus was
looking for opportunities to present the gospel. Again we saw that he's traveling
from Judea to Galilee. He's having to go through Samaria. Look at verse
four again. The Bible says this, and he, that's Jesus, I want you to notice this
wording. It says, must need go through Samaria. Must need go through Samaria. Now
here's what you need to understand and we can spend a lot of time on this and
I'm not going to, but the Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews. The
Samaritans were considered half-breeds. They were considered people that were
half-Jew and half-Gentile and we don't have time to go into it, but if you
study the Old Testament you'll remember that the nation of Israel was divided
into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern
kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians and the southern kingdom was taken over
by the Babylonians. When the southern kingdom who fell later was taken over by
the Babylonians they were carried away captive into Babylon and we know that
they made it into different places into Persia and the different empires and
things like that. When the northern kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians
they also were taken captive, but many were left there in the northern kingdom
and what the Assyrian nation did is they intermingled with the Jews of that day.
In fact, if you study history you'll learn that the Assyrian Empire was known
for this. They would often take over as they were taken over different lands or
regions. They would intermingle themselves and have their children
marry the children of the people of that land and intermingle the culture and
that's exactly what they did and as a result the Jews began to reject the
Samaritans because they were no longer purely Jewish in their eyes. They were
these half-breed, these half-Assyrian, half-Gentile, half-Jewish people and they
were despised. As we'll see here in the story, the Jews would have no dealings
with the Samaritans as a result of this. We're told by history that the Jews
would often bypass Samaria. They would not even go through Samaria. They would
take the long route around Samaria in order to avoid it because there was a
racist aspect to it and there was a religious aspect as we'll see in the
story here as well. The Samaritans worshiped differently than the Old
Testament Jews and here when the Bible tells us that Jesus must needs go
through Samaria, it doesn't tell us that there was no other way around. There was
nothing else that he could do. He had to travel through there though he did not
want to. What the Bible is telling us is that Jesus, though everyone else would
travel around it, though everyone else would avoid Samaria, he made it a point
to make sure that he went through Samaria. It says that he must need to go through
Samaria, notice verse 5, then cometh he, that's Jesus, to a city of Samaria which
is called Sychar, near to the parcel of the ground that Jacob gave to his son
Joseph. And I want you to notice, you say, why does the Bible say that he must need
to go through Samaria? Well, we're watching the greatest soul winner who
ever lived and we do have to say this, that Jesus had an advantage that you and
I don't have is that he was God in the flesh and I believe that Jesus knew that
he needed to go through Samaria because he was looking for opportunities while
he was out and about, while he was out traveling, while he was out just
ministering and doing his daily life, he was looking for opportunities to preach
the gospel and he knew that he would run into a woman at the well who needed to
hear the gospel. And here's what I want you to notice, the first lesson we can
learn is the pursuit of the soul winner is that Jesus was looking for
opportunities to preach the gospel. And listen to me, I want you and I hope you
will become a soul winner at some point in your life where you will schedule a
time and prioritize a time in your life to go out and reach people with the
gospel. If you say, Pastor Jimenez, what time do you recommend? Saturday morning,
that's what I recommend. I recommend Saturday morning, you make that your
soul winning time. And you say, why do you guys talk about Saturday morning being
your main soul winning time? The reason that Saturday morning is our main soul
winning time at Verity Baptist Church is because of the fact that our soul winning
is meant to not only reach people with the gospel but to carry out the entire
Great Commission which is to reach people with the gospel, to see them
baptized, and to bring them into church for discipleship that they might grow in
grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. What we have found is that you
are most likely to get a convert to come to church on Sunday when you get them
saved on Saturday. Now you say, well you have other soul winning times. Well look, you
can go soul winning whenever you want. You know, you say, why do you do Thursday?
Because that's leading into the weekend. You say, why do you have Sunday? Honestly,
I'll be honest with you, Sunday soul winning is meant for, it was started at
our church for a couple of reasons. It was started for those of you who commute.
Our church is blessed with the fact that we have many people who commute from a
long ways away and we understand that it would be difficult for you to come out
on Saturday for soul winning and go all the way back home and come back on
Sunday for soul winning. So many of you come to church on Sunday and then you go
soul winning Sunday afternoon, you stay for Sunday night church, you make a whole
day out of it. Great. We love that. That's wonderful. That was created for you. You
say, what's the next purpose for Sunday soul winning? Next purpose for
Sunday soul winning is for anyone who wants to do extra soul winning. You want
to do more soul winning, do it. You say, if I could only go
out once and I could go Saturday or Sunday, when would you recommend? Saturday.
You say, why? Because look, here's the truth. Most people aren't gonna visit
church on a Sunday night and when you get somebody saved on Sunday, you're
literally, Sunday afternoon, you're literally the furthest time away in the
week from the next opportunity that they might come and visit. So if you can only
choose one, choose Saturday. And we're talking about corporate soul winning
here, when we're talking about going out as a group of believers and
going out, but what I want you to notice is that that's not the only time we go
soul winning. Soul winning is not just something that's done on Saturday
morning at 10 a.m. or on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. or on Thursday afternoon at 2
p.m. Honestly, throughout your life, you ought to be looking for opportunities to
preach the gospel and to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here
Jesus was traveling, he had a busy schedule, he had a busy ministry, he's
going from Judea up into Galilee, he's trying to get things done, he's trying
to get things accomplished, but he must needs go through Samaria. Why? Because he
had the pursuit of a soul winner. He was looking for opportunities while he was
out and about to reach people with the gospel. And look, you and I ought to be
looking for those opportunities when we can talk to people, when we can invest
into people, when we can preach the gospel, and sometimes you can't preach
the gospel to somebody, but you can hand them a DVD, you can hand them an
invitation, you can give them a verse, you can say something. Look, we ought to be
looking. See, the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was involved in this
idea of seeking and saving and looking for people who needed to be saved. Now
you're there in John chapter 4, keep your places, that's our text this morning, but
go to Luke chapter number 19. Should we be soul winning just in our daily
lives or should we have a corporate scheduled soul-winning? You should do
both. You say, what about if I do corporate scheduled soul-winning? Do
corporate scheduled soul-winning on Saturday and be looking for opportunities
to preach the gospel throughout the week? You say, well what if I just look for
opportunities to preach the gospel and I don't do corporate soul-winning? Here's what I've
learned about that, you probably won't do soul-winning. You're probably not going
to be looking for opportunities to present the gospel if you're not
faithfully attending a on-purpose time when you go out in the community and you
reach people you don't know with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you need both.
But look, our lives as Christians is to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ
and this is what Jesus did. Luke chapter 19, look at verse 10. Luke chapter 19
verse 10, notice what Jesus said of himself. He said, for the Son of Man,
referring to himself, is come, notice, to seek and to save that which was lost. You
say, what should be the motto of every Christian? What should be the motto of
Verity Baptist Church? What should be, if there was one phrase that people could
put on us, could look at us and say, this is what these people are
about, that phrase is to seek and to save, to look for people, to search for people,
to look for opportunities, to preach the gospel to every creature. Go back to John
chapter 4. I want you to notice that Jesus, we're looking at the pursuit of a
soul winner. In his pursuit, in his search, in his attempt to seek and to save, he
was looking for opportunities as he was out and about, as he was traveling, as he
was going through his daily life. You say, did Jesus have corporate times of
soul winning? Absolutely. We see several times in the Gospels when he organizes
12 disciples and he sent them out in the community, two by two, into the highways
and hedges to reach people with the gospel. We see later on in his ministry
where he had 70 disciples that he sent out two by two into the highways and
hedges. He had corporate soul winning, but you know what? Just in his personal life,
he was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel. He was doing it as he
was out and about, but I would like you to notice also that he was looking for
opportunities even while he was tired. Notice verse 6. Now Jacob's well was
there. Jesus therefore, notice what the Bible says, being wearied with his
journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour. I want you to notice
that the Bible tells us here that Jesus was weird with his journey. And look, you
say, why are these details added to the story? And I believe that these details
are added to the story to let us know that Jesus, the Bible is clear, was God in the
flesh, but he was also a human. He had human limitations and he got tired
and he got weary and he was traveling and he was walking and he was
accomplishing things. The Bible says that he was being wearied with his journey.
And look, I'm thankful for verses like these. I'm thankful, you don't have to turn there,
but Hebrews 4.15 says this, for we have not in high priests, referring to Jesus,
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus experienced every
temptation, every trial, every heartache, every weariness, every human limitation
that you and I experienced. He experienced it too. So before you say,
Pastor, you don't understand, I work hard all week long and I'm just kind of too
tired on Saturday to go sowing. Hey, so was Jesus. He being wearied with his
journey continued to say, I must need to go through Samaria. We used to call this,
back when I was growing up, I think we should bring this back, we used to call
these divine appointments. When you're out and about and people happen to cross
your path, realize this, just realize this, that every person who crosses your path
will spend eternity somewhere having their health. And you may be the only
person who has the truth of the gospel that can get them saved. So we see the
pursuit of this soul winner, the greatest soul winner ever lived. He was out and
about, he was tired, yet he was looking for opportunities to be able to present
the gospel to people. I'd like you to notice also that Jesus was not only
looking for opportunities, but that Jesus was looking for the unlovable. Notice
John chapter 4 and verse 7, John 4-7. There cometh a woman of Samaria. Again,
remember that the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans. We'll see it here in the
text. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said unto her, give me
to drink. Notice he begins the, he's tired, he begins the conversation. He says, give
me to drink. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. The word
meat in the Bible means food. The word meat in our modern terminology
would be what the Bible calls flesh, so it's just that they went out to get
lunch for him. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat, verse 9.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him. Notice what she says. She says, how is it
that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? Notice
what she says. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. She says,
look, your people and my people don't get along. Your people look down on my
people. Your people don't even talk to our people. I'm not even sure why you're
here. Usually your people just go around this whole area, and she's confused. She
said, how is it that thou? She said, I can tell you're a Jew. I can tell by your
demeanor. I can tell by the way you're dressed. I can tell by the way you're
traveling that you're not one of us. You're not a Samaritan. She said, 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. And here's what I want you to
notice, and here's what I want you to understand, that Jesus was not only
looking for the opportunities, but Jesus was looking for those who were unlovable,
those who were unlovely, those who others maybe would look down on, others would
not want to spend time with, others would want to ignore. It's interesting to me
when you do a compare and a contrast between John chapter 3 and John chapter
4, you find that Jesus was truly no respecter of persons. In John chapter 3,
we see him speaking to Nicodemus, who was a man who was highly favored and
accepted by the religious establishment. But in John chapter 4, we see him talking
to a woman who was highly despised and rejected by the religious establishment.
Jesus was trying to reach everyone. He wasn't just trying to reach nice people,
rich people. He wasn't just trying to reach people that were like him. And
here's what you need to know about the ministry of Christ, is that people who
were not like Jesus, like Jesus. I think sometimes we forget this in our
ministries, because we have this tendency to want to reach out to people that are
like us, and reach out to people that we like, and reach out to people that we're
comfortable with, and reach out to people that we want. You know, we only kind of
reach out to the people that we'd like to be sitting next to us in a pew in the
church service, but this was not Jesus. Jesus would give the gospel to the rich.
He would give the gospel to the religious. He would give the gospel to
the accepted. If Nicodemus came to his door, he would give him the time to give
him the gospel, but he took the time to find the woman at the well. Why? Because
he was looking for opportunities, and because he was looking for the unlovable.
And this is a theme in the ministry of Christ. Go back to Luke chapter 15. We're
just in Luke 10. You go back to Luke chapter 15. Look at verse 1. This is something
that Jesus was actually criticized for in his ministry. Luke chapter 15 and
verse 1 says this. Luke 15 1 says, Then drew near unto him. That's Jesus. Notice,
all the publicans and sinners, for to hear him. This is the crowd
that nobody likes. These are the outcasts. These are the unlovable, the
unlovely. The Bible says that they drew near unto him. All the publicans and
sinners, for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying,
notice they're complaining and they're murmuring against Jesus. What are they
saying? They're saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. One of the
complaints that the religious people had about Jesus was that he was reaching out
to people that no one else wanted to reach. And listen to me, in your life and
in my life, we preach the gospel to everyone, but we should be looking for
opportunities to find people that are unlively. We should be looking for
opportunities to find people that others look down upon. We should be looking for
opportunities to find people. You say, They're not like us, but let's just reach
them anyway. Because people who are not like Jesus like Jesus. And you know,
people who are not like you will like Jesus, too, if you'd bring the gospel to
them. I'm excited about, and I don't know how this is gonna work out. I've
already started to talk to some people and look at some situations, but I'm
hoping that our church can start a prison ministry. I'm really excited about
us being able to start a prison ministry. You say, Why wouldn't we ever start a
prison ministry? Well, our church has a reputation, and the government doesn't
seem to like us very much. So, you know, sometimes we might have to start it
under a different name, you know. I mean, like, Verily Ministries or something. But
you say, Pastor, why, you know, you want to go in and talk? You know,
what do you want to do? You know, gather some guys and gather some
ladies and go preach the gospel to people in prisons? Why would you want
to do that? You know what? Because we need to find people that aren't like us.
Look, when I said that, if in your mind, I don't want to bring those
people in the church, there's something wrong with you. There's a problem with
you. There's a problem with your heart. People that weren't like Christ liked
Christ, and look, it is our job to find those. You say, Well, we got to reach
everybody. Yeah, but you know what? We need to, on purpose, look for those who are
not loved, who have been forgotten about, who have been outcasted, and make
sure we bring the gospel to them. What? You say, Because that's what Jesus did.
You're gonna be one of those churches. Let people say whatever they want.
Let them talk ill of us and say, Well, he eateth, he receiveth sinners. You
know what? We are a spiritual hospital looking for people who need the
Savior. We see that Jesus was in pursuit. He was searching. He was looking
for opportunities to get people saved while out and about while he was tired,
and he was looking for those who were outcast, who were unlovely and
unlovable, and he was making an effort to reach them. I want you to notice
secondly tonight, this morning, excuse me. It's been a long week for me.
Not only do we see the pursuit of the soul winner, but I want you to notice
we see the presentation of the soul winner. Here's what's really interesting.
If you go to John chapter four, we often tell our soul winners and we
train our soul winners to have a presentation ready, that they should have
a plan to present the gospel, that they should have points and verses and
have an idea of what verses they're gonna go to and how they're gonna explain it
and how they're gonna illustrate it and things like that. What I love about John
chapter four is that we not only get to listen in on a conversation between the
Lord Jesus Christ and this woman, but we get to listen in on a presentation of
the gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes people have even
criticized us for our gospel presentation. You guys have this gospel
plan. It should just come from the heart or something like that. You know
what? There's nothing wrong to have a plan and to be ready to be able to
do a good job with the presentation of the gospel. I want you to notice that Jesus
had a presentation that covers all the basic things that we teach our soul
winners. If you go through our soul-winning seminar and you find all the
different steps and things that we ask you to cover, you'll find that Jesus
covered all the exact same things. And by the way, that's on purpose. We're learning
from Jesus. You say, what did he cover? Well notice, first of all, he explains
that salvation is a gift. John chapter 4 verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto
her, if thou knewest the gift of God, he said, if you knew that God had a gift, and
who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou would have asked of him, and he
would have given thee living water. He said, if thou knewest the gift of God, you
would have asked for it, and he would have given thee living water. So notice,
he first explains to her that salvation is a gift. Doesn't that sound like the
gospel presentation that we give out? Don't we go out and tell people
for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life? Don't we
tell people, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves?
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And by the way, you
say, what's the point of telling people salvation is a gift? The point of telling
people that salvation is a gift is to explain to them that you don't earn it.
You don't work for it. You don't pay for it. A gift, by definition, is free. Someone
else pays for it, but you receive it without earning it, without working for
it. Look, this goes against every false religion of our day. Name the false
religion. Name the religion. Name the religion, and look, most religions today
are gonna teach you you have to earn it, you have to work for it. Most of you are gonna
tell you you have to get baptized, you have to repent of your sins, which means
turning away from your sins. They're gonna tell you you have to go to the
confessional booth. They're gonna tell you you have to take communion. They're
gonna tell you you have to do the sacraments. They're gonna tell you you
have to get baptized. They're gonna tell you you have to quit sinning. They're
gonna give you all sorts of things and tell you you got to do this, you got to
do this, you got to do this. Look, whenever anybody tells you you have to do
something in order to be saved, that's not a gift. That's earning it. That's
working for it, but Jesus says, look, if thou knew is the gift of God, what's the
idea? It's free. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. Notice in his
presentation, he explains that salvation is a gift. Notice also in his
presentation, he explains that salvation must be asked for. Look at verse 10
again. Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knew is the gift of God, and who
it is that sayeth to thee, give me a drink. Notice what he says. He says, thou
wouldest have asked of him. Today we've got some really mature soul winners. They
go out soul winning for three weeks. They think they got it all figured out.
You know, and today we've got all these these punk soul winners who want to
criticize. You don't have to pray the sinner's prayer. You don't have to, no
one, and no one has to actually ask for the gift. Well, here's the problem with
that. The problem with that is that you must be a greater soul winner than the
Lord Jesus Christ. You say, oh, if you have to ask for it, it's not a gift. That is,
that's so stupid. If you have to ask for it, then you earn it. Okay, so when, you
know, homeless people go out who aren't working, and look, and you say, you're
gonna start a prison ministry, how about a homeless ministry? The Bible says to not
feed those who will not eat, to not feed those who will not work, excuse me, feed
those who will not eat. That doesn't make sense. You say, why don't you guys go feed
the homeless? Because we're, look, we're not supposed to feed people who won't
work. They need to go work. And you say, well, they've got problems, and they got
this, and they got that. Look, we'll try to get them saved, we'll try to help them
get off drugs and alcohol, but they need to go work. And prisons, look, and,
you know, that's a, I'm gonna get on a whole other tangent, but prisons are so
unscriptural, you don't find a prison in the Bible. All right, it's the prison
industrial complex is what you have in the United States of America. That's a sermon
for another day. But let me just say this. The people say, oh, well, if you ask for it,
so, okay, so if I'm just a lazy bum, and then I go down to the welfare office, and
I sign up for free money, and I ask for it, did I earn it now? Did I work for it?
Like, asking for a gift doesn't mean you earn it. That's stupid. And today people say,
oh, you don't have to ask for it. Well, you must be smarter than Jesus, you must be
greater than Jesus, because he told this woman, if you would have known about the
gift, that would have asked of him. You would have asked for it, and he would have
given it thee, Romans 10, 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So I want you to notice that he emphasized the fact that salvation was a gift, and he
emphasized the fact that salvation must be asked for. You must call upon Jesus to save
you. You must ask him to save you. You must call upon him to save you. You must ask for
the gift. Notice, thirdly, you're there in John 4.
Look at verse 11. The woman saith unto him, sir, thou is nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep. From whence then has thou that living water? Thou art thou greater than our
father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof, himself, and his children,
and his cattle? And remember, I talked about doing a comparing contrast between Nicodemus
and the woman at the well. Nicodemus is the story found in John 3. The woman at the well
story is found in John 4. Here's the contrast. One was accepted by the religious establishment.
One was despised by the religious establishment. Here's the comparison. Both did not understand
the spiritual meaning, and both took the words of Jesus as a physical meaning. Remember Jesus
told Nicodemus he must be born again? And he said, how can a man, being old, enter again
into his mother's womb? He didn't understand the idea. He thought Jesus was talking about
a physical second birth. Well, notice, Jesus is using this example of the water to the
woman. He says, if you would have known, you would have asked, and he would have given
the living water, and she says, sir, thou is nothing to draw with. He says, you don't
even have a bucket. You know, just totally just doesn't get it. Thou is nothing to draw,
and the well is deep. From whence then has thou that living water? Art thou greater than
our father Jacob? She thinks he's talking about physical water, and this goes back to
the idea that unsaved people cannot understand spiritual things. The natural man understand
not the things of the Spirit of God. They need, they need somebody to explain to them
the spiritual work. But notice what he explains through verse 13. So we're with Jesus only.
We're being Jesus' silent partner, and we see him explain that salvation is a gift.
We see him explain that salvation must be asked for, that you must call upon Christ
to save you. Thirdly, we see him explain eternal security. Everlasting life. Look at
verse 13, because she thinks he's talking about the water. He says, if thou would have
known, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink,
thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. And she says,
you don't even have a bucket. The well is deep. How are you going to give me water?
She's like, you need me, you, didn't you ask me for water? She's all confused, and she
thinks he's talking about the physical water. Verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her,
whosoever drinketh of this water, talking about the physical water, shall thirst again.
Here's what he's saying. He's saying, there are some physical needs that you have physically
in your life, but here's the problem, and please listen to this. Here's the problem
with the physical needs, is that when you fulfill that need, you will have to fulfill
it again. Because when you get thirsty and you drink water, here's what happens. Eventually
you get thirsty again. Because when you get hungry and you eat, here's the problem, eventually
you get hungry again. He's saying, you're trying to fulfill, and we're going to see
here in a second how she's doing that. You're trying to fulfill a void that you have in
your life, a hunger that you have in your life, a thirst that you have in your life.
You're trying to fulfill that physically, but the problem with that is that whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Verse 14, but whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him, but the
water that I shall give him. There's a very important aspect of eternal security here.
It's not just that you'll never lose your salvation, not just that you'll never thirst.
It's that salvation, yes, it's true that salvation will never be lost, and it'll never end, and
it'll never terminate, but salvation itself will produce something inside of you that
I shall give him, shall be in him, a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
And we don't have time to go there, but if you reference back that well of water, it's
very clear in other teachings from Jesus that he is referring to the Holy Spirit of God.
And I want you to understand that because there's a very important aspect to salvation
here. There's a difference between those of you that are saved and those of you that are
not saved. When you are not saved, all you are is physical hungers, physical needs, trying
to be fulfilled in a physical way. When you are saved, you still have physical hungers,
you still have physical needs, and sometimes we try to fulfill them in a physical way.
But the difference is that when you've got the Holy Spirit of God, God can now fulfill
that need. And when you allow God to fulfill your needs, see, he doesn't just want to save
you spiritually, he wants to fulfill you spiritually. He says that the well of water is springing
up into everlasting life. He explains to her, look, it's everlasting. And he's using
the illustration, he's saying, if you drink water, you're going to get thirsty again,
but if you get saved, if you drink the living water, you'll never need to drink again, you'll
never thirst again. John 5, 10, you have to turn there, it says this, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath to witness in himself, and he that believeth not God hath made him
liar because he believeth not the record that God gave him his son. What's that record?
Verse 11, and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life
is in his son. Look, salvation is everlasting, it's eternal. You can't lose, I realize that
people today, go to John chapter 10, you're there in John chapter 4, just flip a few pages
over, John chapter 10, I realize today that most religions will tell you that you can
lose your salvation or you can walk away from your, you know, some religions will tell you,
if you live a eternal life, you'll lose it. Other religions, because we're showing verses
that say everlasting life, Titus 1, 2, and hope of eternal life with God that cannot
lie, promise full of the word began. So they'll say, well, no, God will never take it from
you, but you can walk away from it. So he won't take salvation from you, but you can
give it back. And they'll say like, it's like if you and God are holding hands and you're
walking down the road together, and you can just kind of let go of God. Well, here's the
problem with that. You can try all you want to let go of God, and he's not going to let
go of you. You say, prove that from the Bible, John chapter 10, verse 28, notice what Jesus
said. And I give unto them eternal life. Look at the context. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Well,
see, you're walking on the road with God, with Jesus holding hands, and you can let
go. Well, here's the thing. He said, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My
Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. Look, once you're saved, you couldn't get yourself unsaved if you tried.
You couldn't get away from God if you wanted to. Now, that doesn't mean that you can live
however you want. It doesn't mean that your Heavenly Father is not going to give you a
spiritual spanking when you're not doing right. What it means is that once you drink of the
living water, you will never thirst again, because it will create in you a well of water
springing up into everlasting life. So notice, when we're the silent partner of the Lord
Jesus Christ, notice what he emphasizes. He emphasizes that salvation is a gift. He emphasizes
that salvation needs to be called for. He emphasizes that salvation will last forever.
Doesn't that sound like what we do? Doesn't that sound like the soul-willing seminar at
Verde Baptist Church? You say, why? Because look, we're not doing anything different today
than when Jesus started. In fact, all we're doing is continuing on the ministry of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, fourthly, if you go back to John chapter 4, he explains to
her that she is a sinner. There is no good gospel presentation that doesn't deal with
people's sin. No one is ready to be saved until they realize that they are a sinner
in need of salvation. John 4, 15, the woman says unto him, sir, give me this water that
I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus says unto her, now look, I wouldn't
advise you to do this. Jesus is God. He knows things about this woman that you and I don't
know. So he deals with her in a very unique way. You can't, I can't do this. You know,
we just tell, we just take people to Romans 3, 10, for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. You know, there's none righteous and not one. We take them to those
verses and just show people that they're sinners. Jesus does it in a, in a very impressionable
way. Look at verse 16. Jesus says unto her, go call thy husband and come hither. So no,
she just said, hey, I want to receive this gift. Give it to me. But he's like, no, wait,
wait a second. And we're going to come back to that in a minute. He says, go call thy
husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto
her, thou has well said, I have no husband. Notice what he says in verse 18, for thou
has had five husbands. I mean, is this, is this like, is she like a Hollywood star or
something like what? Five husbands? For thou has had five husbands and he who now has is
not thy husband in that set is thou truly. Notice he says, you've had five husbands and
you're currently shacking up with someone you're not even married to. And by the way,
I'm not preaching about this, but this verse proves that living with someone is not, doesn't
equate marriage in the eyes of God. People go around saying, well, why do I need to get
some stuff? Why do I need to get some license? And it says that we're married. We love each
other. We're living together. Well, Jesus didn't, didn't say it that way. He says, you've
had five husbands, the guy you're married to, you're not even married, you're living
with, you're not even married to. He who thou now has is not thy husband in that set is
thou truly. He says, yeah, you're right. You have no husband. You have five husbands and
you're shacking up with someone you're not even married to. And notice he deals with
their sin. And we're going to come back to that in a minute, but I want you to notice
he deals with their sin and his gospel presentation. He deals with their sin. We see the same thing
with Nicodemus. Remember a Jewish man who thought that his birth would bring him salvation.
Jesus says, your physical birth means nothing. He must be born again. And what you'll find
when you go, when you're Jesus' silent partner, and we're going to see him give the gospel
lots through this series, you know what you'll find is that he's always faithful to deal
with the sins of man because you're not ready. No one is ready to be saved. No one is ready
to be saved until they've dealt with their sin, that they are a sinner in need of salvation.
Let me give you the last thing we see here. He not only explains to her that salvation
is a gift and that it must be asked for and that it's everlasting and that she's a sinner
in need of salvation, but he explains to her that he is the Savior. Notice John 4 verse
25. We're going to come back. We skipped a few verses. We're going to come back to those
in a minute. Notice verse 25. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, which
is called Christ. Now, I just want you to notice the Bible, it's its own dictionary.
The Bible always defines itself for us. You say, what does the word Messiah mean? I need
to go open up some Bible dictionary to find out. You don't need to open up Bible dictionary.
The Bible tells it right now, right there what it means. I know that, and this is just
one example. Let's make examples of this. She says, I know that Messiah is cometh, which
is called Christ. Now look, he's called the Lord Jesus Christ. What does the word Christ
mean? It means Messiah. You understand that? It's not like Christ was his last name. You
know, Jesus was first name, Christ was last name. Christ was a title. That's why it's
ridiculous today. You've got dispensationalists like Sam Gable saying, Jesus isn't my Messiah.
Is he your Christ? Because that's what, he's a Messiah. I know that Messiah is cometh,
which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. So notice what she
said. She says, I know that the Christ is coming. I know that Messiah is coming. Look
at verse 26. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. I that speak unto
thee, am who? He says, I am the Messiah. I'm the Christ. And look, it's very important.
It's very important that in our gospel presentation, we must make sure that we are teaching people
what the true salvation is and who the true savior is. Notice the emphasis in verse 10.
Go back to verse 10. Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God,
she said, if you need to understand what salvation is and who it is that saith to thee. You need
to be right on salvation and you need to be right on the savior. Look, when we're out
preaching the gospel, you need to make sure that you are preaching the gospel appropriately
in regards to salvation. What is salvation? Salvation is forgiveness of your sins that
you can receive it by no works. It's a free gift. Once you have it, you can't lose it.
But then you must also make sure that we emphasize the savior. Jesus was God in the flesh. He
died in your place. We must have both to be saved. You must have the right salvation and
you must have the right savior. You must emphasize the savior. Look, don't have a gospel presentation
where you don't emphasize the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ and why he did
it. He explained, he said, look, I am he. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. I'm the
one that you are looking for to come. Look at verse 15, John chapter 4, 15. We're listening
in on the story, on this conversation between the woman at the well and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We saw the pursuit of the soul winner. Jesus was looking for opportunities and he was looking
for those who are unlovable. We saw the presentation of the soul winner. We saw that he explained
that it was a gift, that it must be asked for, that it was everlasting, that she was
a sinner and that he was the savior. I'd like you to notice thirdly this morning the perception
of the soul winner. You say, what do you mean by that perception? It means that if you're
going to be a soul winner who's a good soul winner, you're going to have to have some
discernment as to how you interact with people. Because notice there are two major areas in
this presentation that Jesus could have, now he didn't of course, but where he could have
got derailed or where you and I might get derailed in our gospel presentation. The first
one is this. Jesus had the discernment to know when she was ready to get saved. Because
notice he explains to her that if you drink of this water you'll thirst again, but if
you drink of the water that I have to give you, you'll never thirst again. She's still
thinking physical. She's saying, is there some sort of magical water out there that
I can drink of and I'll never thirst again? And she says, give me, notice verse 15, the
woman says unto him, sir, give me this water that I thirst not. You say, oh, is she ready
to get saved? No, she's still on the physical, neither come hither to draw. She says, it's
a lot of work to come out here every day and draw water. It's a lot of work to come
out here every day in the well and put this bucket down and bring water out. It's a lot
of work. If you've got some sort of magical water that'll make it so that I'm never thirsty,
give me. But notice this lady, like many gospel presentations, she's saying, give it to me.
Let's pray. I'm ready to pray. And you know what? Jesus could have prayed a sinner's prayer
with this lady, but he had the discernment not to do so because he understood that she
was not ready to get saved. Look at verse 16. She's saying, give me this water. I mean,
wouldn't you and I be saying like, okay, well look, repeat after me, dear Jesus. Notice
what he says. Jesus says unto her, go call thy husband. He begins the conversation dealing
with her sin. You say, why? Because Jesus had the discernment. Look, Jesus was not out
trying to get, have prayers with people. So he could come back and brag to his disciples,
oh, I got someone to pray with me. This lady would have prayed, but she wasn't ready. Jesus
had the discernment to know when she was ready to get saved. You say, how did he know when
she was ready? Well, other than the fact that he's God, here's how he knew. He listened
to her speak and he understood that she didn't understand. She didn't get it. And look, when
we're out soul-witting and we're giving the gospel to people, as people are talking to
us and communicating with us, we need to have the discernment. Does this person get
it? Do they understand it? This is why we teach our soul-winners to ask questions. And
look, as a soul-winner, you ought to be engaged in conversation, asking questions, listening
to them, answer your questions. Here's what soul-winners do. And look, are you trying
to pick on me? Yes, I am. Because you know what the soul-winners who want to go out there
and just get a prayer so that they can come back and tell people that they got a prayer,
you know what they do when they finally are forced to ask a question? They'll quickly
give the person the answer. Or they'll ask a question in the way where they're giving
the answer. Now listen, I want to make sure you understand. You believe that salvation
is a free gift that you don't have to earn, just like I showed you a minute ago, right?
Okay, look, you gave them all the answers. Preach the gospel to them and then ask them,
okay, so what do you believe about this? Do you believe? And let them answer. You know,
I get to the end of my gospel presentation. Before I ever pray with someone, I say, hey,
I've showed you several things from the Bible. I don't know if you noticed, but they all
came straight out of the Bible. Let me just ask you a couple of questions. Do you believe
what I showed you? Do you believe that you're a sinner? I don't say, hey, you believe that
you're a sinner, just like I showed you in Romans 3.10, right? Hey, do you believe you're
a sinner? Do you believe you're a sinner? I mean, do you believe this? I'm not a used
car salesman here. I'm not trying to get some sort of, I'm not going to get some money because
I get you to pray a prayer. I want to make sure you get this. Do you believe that you
can lose yourself? Do you believe that you have to earn? Let people talk. Because if
you're asking questions and they're just like, yeah, you know, hey, so now that I showed
you this, let me make sure you understand. Let me ask you a question. What do you think
it takes for someone to go to heaven? And they're like, well, you know, you got to get
this. It's like, they're not ready. They're not ready. And Jesus had the discernment to
know when this lady was ready or not. Notice he also had the discernment to not get off
on a rabbit's trail. Notice verse 19. It's interesting because he deals with her sin,
right? Go and call thy husband. Says, I don't have a husband. He's like, yeah, I know. You
got five husbands and the guy you're shacking up with, you're not even married to him. And
then immediately, look, whenever you start dealing with people's sins, immediately they
try to just kind of like change the conversation. Verse 19. The woman say unto him, sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. Yeah. Look at verse 20. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain.
And ye say, now look, she's pointing to Mount Gerizim. If you remember in the Old Testament,
you had those two famous mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The law was given,
the law, the curse and the blessings. Mount Ebal was the mount of cursing and Mount Gerizim
was the mount of blessings. If you remember, Moses gave the law. Joshua would go back and
put the people on the mountains after the whole episode of Achan. She's pointing at
Mount Gerizim and she's saying, our fathers worshiped in this mountain and ye say that
in Jerusalem is this place where men ought to worship. And now he starts dealing with
her in a very personal, intimate way. Hey, you realize that your baptism, your religion,
how could a person, none of that matters in regards to salvation if you've not called
upon Christ to save you. Look, if you're trusting in your works, you're gonna die and go down.
You tell people that and all of a sudden they're like, yeah, but did Adam have a belly button?
What does the Bible say about UFOs? And you know what? Some of you, you answer those stupid
questions. You start dealing with someone kind of intimately and you start kind of getting
down and the Holy Spirit's working. And you know what? All of a sudden she's real religious
and she has some sort of religious theological question. Well, our fathers worship in this
mountain and ye say, and it's like, when did Jesus say anything about a mountain? And ye
say that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to worship? Look, she tries to veer
off the conversation on some big rabbit trail and Jesus had the discernment. You say, what
did Jesus do? Here's what he does. He answers her question and he moves on. He doesn't get
all tangled up. Look at verse 21, Jesus said 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, no, not what? He's like, you don't even know what you're talking about. We know what
we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now let me just go ahead and explain this to you
because we're talking about the woman at the well and I think it's good for you to understand
what's happening here. And the reason that she brings this up is because the Samaritans,
remember the Samaritans were not only an outcast due to their race, you know, and I'm using
the word race by human standards because there is no race in the Bible. We're the human race.
But they were outcast based on their ethnicity because they were half-breed, half-Jew, half-Gentiles,
but they were also outcast because of their religion. See, the Samaritans only acknowledged
what they referred to as the Torah. They acknowledged Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
as God's word and they rejected the rest. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, none of that
was acknowledged to them as God's word. They only acknowledged the first five books of
the Bible. They called it the Torah or the Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Because
of this, they rejected Jerusalem as the place or the center of worship to God because in
the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there is no mention of Jerusalem.
Now there is a hint towards Jerusalem when Melchizedek, the high priest of Salem, which
is Jerusalem, there's a hint towards it in the Torah, but in the Torah there's no mention
to Jerusalem being the center of God's worship, but there is a mention to Mount Gerizim and
Mount Ebal. I was actually here. I was on Mount Gerizim and I was at the woman at the
well when we were in Palestine for the Beyond Jordan documentary. We went to the woman at
the well, to the well there and drank of the water, and we went up to Mount Gerizim. And
that's what she's referring to because she's saying, you know, Mount Gerizim is mentioned
in Genesis through Deuteronomy as a place of God's blessing, so the Samaritans made
Mount Gerizim the center of their worship. And if you go there, you'll find that there's
actually Samaritan village, you know, old villages and things that are left there from
that. And there's this theological argument. Should we worship in Mount Gerizim or should
we worship in Mount Jerusalem? And Jesus just, he answers her question and he kind
of shuts her down. He says, look, there's come a day when you shall neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship, you know, not what. Verse
22, we know what we worship. And he basically just asked for salvation of the Jews. He's
saying, look, the Jews were right. Jerusalem in the Old Testament was the center of God's
worship. But he said, you know what? It doesn't matter because I'm bringing in a New Testament.
I'm bringing a new thing. And it doesn't matter whether you worship, it's not about
a mountain. Verse 23, but the hour cometh and now is, he says, look, look, if you want
to ask me a theological question about under the Old Covenant and in the Old Testament
were the Jews right or were the Samaritans right, should the center of God's worship
be in Jerusalem or should it be in Mount Gerizim? He says, the Jews were right, salvation of
the Jews. But he says, you know what? The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He says, in the New Covenant, it's
not about a place. It's not about a building. It's not about a location. It's about worshiping
God in spirit and in truth. And he answers your question and he just gets right back
to the gospel. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. Verse 24, God is a spirit
and that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So notice, he has a discernment
to know when someone's ready and not ready and he has a discernment to not get off on
a rabbit's trail and start answering some weird question and he has a discernment to
just, you know, he answers a question, he gets back to the gospel. He answers a question,
he gets back to the gospel. Now, just real quickly, I don't, we're done as far as the
conversation with this woman, but in this plot of Jesus and the woman of the well, there's
a smaller subplot of Jesus's disciples and I want to just focus in on that. We're going
to do that really quickly and we'll be done. He's giving them lessons about soul winning.
I want you to notice, just in conclusion, in conclusion, if you'd like to jot these
down, there's several things. First of all, we see the renewal of the soul winner. Notice
verse 25. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is coming, which is called Christ.
When He is come, He will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto the
Lamb, and upon this came His disciples. Remember, they were not getting lunch, so now they show
up for lunch and marveled that He talked with the woman. Why are they marveling? Because
He's talking to a Samaritan woman. This is a no-no. Yet no man said, what seekest thou?
Or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot. It's interesting to me.
She left what was physical, and now she's interested in the spiritual, and went her
way into the city and saith to the men, come and 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. We'll
come back to that in a second. Notice the conversation between Jesus and His disciples.
In the meanwhile, His disciples prayed Him saying, Master, eat. Remember, they went to
get Him lunch. In the meanwhile, remember at the beginning of the story, He was wearied
with His journey. He was tired. He was hungry. It was lunchtime. They went out to get food.
They bring Him food. They said, Master, eat. But His disciples said unto Him, excuse me,
that He said unto them, verse 32, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore
said the disciples one to another. They're like Nicodemus and the woman at the well.
They don't get the spiritual application. They're just thinking physical. Have any man
brought Him out to eat? We were going to go buy Him lunch. Did somebody bring Him lunch?
Verse 34, Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to
finish His work. You know what we see here? We see the renewal of the soul winner. Jesus
at the beginning, because remember, He's a human being. At the beginning of the story,
He's tired. He's hungry. He's weird with His journey. But then He gets this woman. He gives
her the gospel, and she gets saved. Now He's renewed. He's like, lunch? I don't need lunch.
I got meat to eat ye know not of. He said, I'm re-energized. I'm ready to go. Some of
you are discouraged with your soul winning. You're discouraged with the Christian life.
You're discouraged with your walk with God. You're spiritually tired. You're spiritually
hungry. You say, what do you need? You need to go find yourself a Samaritan woman and
get her saved. It'll renew you. It'll rejuvenate you. He says, look, My meat is to do the will
of Him that sent me. You say, I haven't got anybody saved in a long time. Go find some
ghetto. Go find some poor person. Go find someone who's least like you. And they'll
probably want to hear it. They'll probably want to hear that they can be forgiven, that
they can receive salvation. The quote of the bulletin says, there's no exercise better
for the heart than the reaching down and lifting up of people. So we see the renewal of the
soul winners. Notice, secondly, we see the reaping of the soul winners. Verse 35. This
is the conversation, the supply between Jesus and His disciples. Say not ye that there are
yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look
on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Notice, He talks about urgency.
He says, we have to reap the harvest. We need to bring it in. He said, don't sit there and
say that there's four months left. He says, lift up your eyes and look on the fields.
Matthew 9, 36. You have to turn there, but it says this. But when Jesus, when He saw
the multitudes, He was moving compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered
abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith He unto the disciples, the harvest truly is
plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that
He would send forth labors into His harvest. You say, I'm not excited about soul winning.
Maybe you need to just open your eyes a little bit. Maybe you need to lift up your eyes and
look on the fields and realize that they are white already to harvest. Here's all I'm telling
you. There are people all over this city, all over this county, all over this state
that would get saved if you would bring them the gospel. You see the renewal of the soul
winner. We see the reaping. And we see Jesus is talking to His disciples. Part of me wonders
if His disciples walked by this lady. Remember, they were leaving the well to go get Him lunch.
She was coming to the well. I wonder if they—and the Bible didn't tell us this, but part of
me wonders, did they just walk right by each other? And they were just busy getting lunch.
And He's telling them, hey, lift up your eyes and look on the fields. There's more
important things than food, for they are white already to harvest. Notice the reward of the
soul winner, verse 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit. You say,
where do I get my wages? Unto life eternal. There's heavenly rewards for the work we
do here, 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 labor. So we see
the reward, that there is a reward. We see that there is rejoicing in soul winning. When
we reach people with the gospel, look, in heaven you'll be glad you gave up your Saturdays
to go soul winning. No one's going to get to heaven and say, man, you know what? I wish
I would have just gone fishing one more time. But there's going to be lots of you that are
going to say, man, I wish I would have gone fishing for men.
Notice lastly the result for soul winners, verse 28. The woman then left her water pond
and went her way into the city and saved to the men. It's interesting. She saved to the
men. Look, everything in the Bible is in there for a reason. Why does the Bible say, remember,
this lady was married five times and she's shocking up with a guy she's not married to.
And she saved to the men. You say, why does she go to the men? That's probably all the
people she knew in the city. Come and see a man which told me all things ever I did.
Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came up to him. You know what
the result of soul winning is? The fact that we reach people who are sinners, who are broken,
who have issues, who have problems, who have major things in their life that need to be
dealt with. We reach them with the gospel and then they go and reach others. Look at
verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the
woman which testified, he told me all things ever I did. So when the Samaritans were coming
to 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 we know that this indeed, that
this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. And it's interesting, it's interesting
because we see a woman, we see a woman who was attempting to fill a void in her life,
a physical void. Jesus hinted at it. He said, you're thirsty, but you'll thirst again. And
this lady was trying to fill it with men. She was married. But eventually she got thirsty
again. She married again. She filled that need. But then she got thirsty again. She
married again. And she got thirsty again. She married again. She got thirsty again.
She married again. She got thirsty again. Now she's not even married again, she's just
living with them. This is how the world lives their lives. You all know why people, their
drugs, alcohol, fornication, pornography, adultery, all these things, you all know why
these things are around? Because people are trying to fill a void that only God can fill.
And look, you have the answer and I have the answer. So maybe as you're going through your
journey, maybe as you're traveling through life, maybe as you're making your appointments
and you find yourself hungry and tired, take the time and take the opportunities with the
woman at the well, with that guy at your job, with that clerk at the grocery store, with
those people that God sets these divine appointments for. Because it's our job, like the Lord Jesus
Christ, to seek and to save that which was lost. Let's bow our heads and have a word
of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Lord,
thank you for allowing us to be able to study not just the teachings of Jesus and the parables
of Jesus, but to just watch him interact with people. And Lord, I pray that you would make
us soul conscious. Lord, I ask for myself. I pray you'd help me as I just go through
life, as I talk to people and deal with people. I pray you'd help me. I pray you'd help all
of us to be mindful of the spiritual condition. But I pray that you help us as we come along,
people who are not like us. It's easy for us to look down on them sometimes and say,
well, look at them. They're trying to fulfill every physical loss and every physical need.
It's easy for us to be hypocritical and look down on them. Help us, Lord, to realize that
they're just like the woman at the well. They're just searching for something. They think the
world will give it to them, and it never will. It will never satisfy. Lord, help us to break