In this sermon, the preacher explores the parallelism between two chapters in the Gospel of John: chapter 3 and chapter 4. The preacher highlights the parallel of identity between two characters introduced in these chapters - a religious man and a reprobate woman. Despite their different backgrounds, both characters are representative of fallen humanity. The preacher emphasizes that both sinners are in need of the same gospel message, which is the love of God demonstrated through the gift of His only begotten Son.

We have looked already, once here on Wednesday night and on the Lord's Day morning, at five of the musts from the tongue and lips of the Blessed Lord Jesus. We have looked at the must of Christ's career in Luke chapter 2 verse 49, the must of Christ's confidence, Matthew chapter 24 and verse 6, the must of Christ's conviction, Matthew chapter 26 verses 53 and 54. We have looked at the must of Christ's calendar, Mark 13 10, and we have looked at the must of Christ's commission. Tonight I want to look with you at the sixth must of Christ's commandment, and you will find that in this third chapter of John's Gospel under verse 7. The must of Christ's commandment, marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. And then if you come over with me to the fourth chapter, we read these words. They are not of course the spoken words of Christ, but they are the spoken words of the Holy Spirit on the actions of Christ. And it says in verse 4 of John 3, and he must needs go through Samaria. And I sat with my Bible this week and I looked at these two musts. The must of Christ's commandment, ye must be born again. And then the Spirit's commandment on Christ's journey to Galilee, and how he must needs go through Samaria. And I knew that the Holy Spirit makes no mistakes, and that these two portions of Scripture have a very wonderful comment to make one upon the other. The light from Genesis 3 lights up, or John's Gospel chapter 3 rather, lights up the chapter 4 of John's Gospel. And the light from the chapter 4 of John's Gospel lights chapter 3 of John's Gospel. And I found a wonderful parallel running through these two chapters. And I want to share some of the things I found. First of all I found there was a parallel of identity. There are two great characters here introduced to us. One is a man and the other is a woman. They are representative of all fallen men and women. But there was a difference between them in regard to their sinnership, because the first man was a religious sinner. He was as holy as Judaism could make him. He was as powerful ecclesiastically as Judaism could make him. Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews. The other sinner in the next chapter 4 is not a religious sinner. She is a reprobate sinner. She has been down in the darkness of the deepest scarlet sinning. She is a woman hated by her neighbors and hated by the city in which she lives. Two sinners. One a religious sinner and the other a reprobate sinner. But it is the same gospel that Christ presents them with. The very same gospel only with a difference of application. Here is a religious sinner. A ruler of the Jews. A man of standing in the straightest sight of Judaism, Phariseeism. Absolutely 100% Orthodox. And yet without any Bible light or Bible pardon or Bible faith or Bible light in his heart. He is just as much a candidate for hell as the poor red scarlet woman of chapter 4. He is a sinner from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. There is no soundness in him but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. And if you look carefully at the descriptions of the woman and the man. You will find there is a parallelism. A wonderful parallelism between how God describes them. You can look at that for yourself. But the second parallel is the parallel of their history. What is the history of Nicodemus? Nicodemus was brought up in Jerusalem. And he was absolutely baptized from his infancy with all the Mosaic teaching and the Mosaic doctrine. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisee. Like the Apostle Paul. He was absolutely wedded to the Mosaic economy and the Mosaic law. And he rose through the ranks until he became a ruler of the Jews. And as Christ describes him, a master in Israel. So this man had the highest possible religious credentials. He had got to the top. But he is in darkness. Just as much in darkness as the poor woman that we are introduced to in the next chapter. And this woman is described as a woman of Samaria. Now Samaria had the Samaritan's religion. And the Samaritan's religion was anti-Judaism. They were opposed to the tenants of Judaism. They were those, if you read the Old Testament you will find their history, who opposed and turned to other gods and served other gods. So this woman was an ungodly woman. The Lord Jesus in the chapter said, You know not what you worship. You do not worship the true God. But all I am to say, God is seeking such to worship Him. But not those who cling to their Samaritan heterodoxy. So we have this woman here brought forward and she is a woman of Samaria. But notice something more. There is a revelation of God's dealing with both this man Nicodemus and this woman of Samaria. And we have here not only the parallel of their identity and history, but you have the parallel of their humility. These two persons are being humbled by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God works on the hearts of sinners. And it leads sinners to repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. You take the Apostle Paul and the change that took place in his life on the Damascus Road. God deals with every one of his children, bringing them into his family in his own way, in his own time. I used to know a dear brother in Christ in Palomino. And he couldn't tell you the day or the hour he fully trusted the Lord. He knew he didn't evolve into it. He knew it was a work of grace in his heart, but he couldn't have told you. And he used to say to me, Ian, I don't know the hour it was for. Well, I said, you don't need to worry about that. Do you remember the hour that you were naturally born? No, he says, I do not. He says, how could I? I was only a wee child coming. Well, he says, aye, where are you born? Sure, he says, I was born. Bound to be, that's why I'm standing here. It is not, my friend, a date and a calendar that saves you. It's the Holy Ghost that saves you. And some people, when they get to heaven, will have to go to the books and look at them to find out just exactly the day and the hour that were really saved by the grace. But thank God there's many people who can look to a day when the old things passed away, hallelujah, and all things became new. So as we look at these two, we find there was a work of grace being done in their hearts. Nicodemus didn't just turn up that night. It wasn't a coincidence. It was registered in the eternal book of God that one dark night a ruler of the Jews would sleep through like a converted man through the streets to seek for Jesus. That a woman would come in the siesta time in that city of Sychar when no one else was abroad to seek the Lord Jesus Christ. The difference was that Nicodemus knew where he was going and whom he was going to talk to. The woman of Samaria, she was going to fill her bucket with water, her pitcher with water and bring it home. But God had already planned from all eternity that these two sinners, one a religious sinner and one of them a reprobate sinner, would both be saved. Nicodemus, he came by night. He didn't want anybody to know that he, the most religious man in Judaism, a ruler of the Jews in the great city of Jerusalem, and one of the prominent men in the Sanhedrin, the Parliament of Jewry. He didn't want them to know. So he put on his long robes and covered up his face and got a muffler around his throat. I'd love to have been at the door that night when Christ opened the door to see this figure. You could hardly see anything about him, I suppose. He just had his nose out to bring in the prayer. And there he was. And he was requesting an interview. He was a humbled man. If you had told him a few days before it that he would go through the city of Jerusalem, and he would go through that city to find Jesus Christ, he would have laughed at you. But God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. And so this man came to Christ in the dark. And you know, Christ always puts a label upon His people. And the label that He puts on many of His servants are a reminder to them of how He saved them by grace alone. And every time you read about Nicodemus, you're always reminded he was the man that came by night to Jesus. Every reference in the New Testament to Nicodemus afterwards has a wee label on it. The man that came, was Nicodemus ashamed of that? No, he gloried at it. He gloried in the humiliation that he had to be taught in order to become a real true follower of the blessed humility. And what about this woman from Samaria? You'll notice that she came seeking for Christ at a certain time, about the sixth hour. Look at verse 6 of chapter 4. Mark that carefully. What was the sixth hour? The sixth hour was twelve o'clock. If you went out to the east at twelve o'clock anywhere, you'd not see anybody in the streets. That's siesta time. The doors are shut. The window blinds are drawn. No business is done. No shops are open. That's the time when everyone takes a rest. But this woman, she didn't take a rest. Why? Because she was despised. She was heated. She was a woman of no virtue. A woman that was in the very grip of a sin that had torn her asunder and destroyed her morality and her purity. And so she all covered up, listening to the well to draw her bucket of water and to get it back home before anyone ran. She, too, humiliated by the power of the conviction of God. But God that day had something in mind. Listen. He must needs go through Samaria. The religious man had to seek for Jesus. But the pure reprobate sinner, Christ, sought her. Just think of that. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. But having looked at the identity and history and humility of these two sinners, let us turn for a moment to the calamity. For calamity had overtaken these two sinners. They were both thirsty. But the religious man was thirsty for knowledge. And the poor woman, she was thirsty for rest. They both were thirsty. They both needed the grace of God. They both needed the peace of God. They both needed the direction of God. What a calamity is, is it when a man has religion but he's lost. What a calamity is when a person has all the pleasures of the world, worthless, and can bring no real pleasure to the human soul and to the human heart. Stand the two of them together and what poor calamitous souls they are. The religious man got nothing from his religious attainments but bitterness and agony. And the woman got nothing for her sinfulness, for her soul, and for her peace. And they were thirsty. The man that asked Jesus about the way to heaven was a thirsty man. And if you look with me, you will see that both of them were seeking for the truth. Not only is the calamity here, but it's followed by the veracity, the truth. They're both looking for the truth. Nicodemus had a longing for the truth. And what did he do? He said when he came to Christ, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. What did Christ do? He cut them off. Suddenly the voice of Christ was heard. And he shut them off with a verily, verily. Verily means truthfully, truthfully. I say unto thee, except a man be born again. Nicodemus, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You go on in the life you got when you were born naturally. And you'll go to hell, Nicodemus. You need to be born with a new birth. A different birth. A heavenly birth. A second birth. A birth from heaven. Truly, truly, I say unto you, except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus comes in and blocks the man's speech. And he says, how can a man be born? How can I be born when I am old? How can I go into the womb of my mother a second time and be born again? And Christ comes again with the truth. Look at verse 5. The second verily, verily. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. You have had a religious birth. And you have religious flesh about you, Nicodemus. And all the paraphernalia of a dead Judaism. There is no life in you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Notice what it says in verse 3, the first truth. He cannot even see the kingdom of God. The second verily, verily says, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You cannot even see it, Nicodemus. And you are not going to enter it. And then you go down the chapter again. And we have another verily, verily of the Lord. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness. And if I told you earthly things and you believe not, how should you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? As Moses lifted up this serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Here was the one who with three verily, verily, he pulled down around the head of Nicodemus the old building of self-righteousness. And then he erected a new building, a building from one who had ascended up to heaven and came down from heaven, even he who is in it. That day saw the light and the burden was a different man that left the house of Christ. But turn over to the woman and that woman starts an argument on the lowest possible level about the water that's in the well. And she says, you don't have anything to draw with and the well is deep. Christ says the very same thing to her only in a different way. What did he say? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. What did Christ say to the woman? Look at verse 10. Jesus answered and said unto her, chapter 4 verse 10, If thou knewest the gift of God, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, she got to see a message as a religious sinner got. The gift of God. And who is he that saith to thee, and if you knew who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would have given thee living water. And she said, when the Messiah comes, we will get the truth. And Christ said, I that speak unto thee, I am he. And he revealed himself to her. She left her water pot. She went back to the city. And she told the man in the city of this wonderful man that she had met. And she said to them, I want to tell you something. I met a man who told me all things. Is not this the Christ? And then she said in verse 29, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? What saved her? The vision that she got. It is in seeing Christ, look and live. There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. And look, sinner, look unto him and beseech. And what happened? There was a great coming of these people to Christ. And they came to Christ, verse 42, and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saving, but we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. A great revival. Samaria in the Bible is stamped with revival. Read about it. The greatest revival after Pentecost was in Samaria. Philip went down and preached the gospel to them. And there was a great revival. This is the Christ, the Savior. So you will notice there, this wonderful veracity, the truth of God. Running in parallel in chapter 3 and chapter 4. One final thing I noticed, and I noticed it with great pleasure in these two portions of Scripture. I noticed it in chapter 4, that the Holy Spirit, as he introduces what is going to happen later on in the chapter, he says, Then cometh he, that is Christ, verse 5, to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar. Where did he come to? To the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. There is the father and the son. But here is the father, the father. Jacob the father and Joseph the son. And so I went back into the Old Testament to find out a little more about this place called Sychar. And the Old Testament has a lot to say about it. And when you go home tonight, if you look at Genesis chapter 23, 18 and 19, you will find that Abraham, the grandfather of Joseph, first bought a bit of land in Sychar to bury his wife Sarai in. And a grave or rock, sepulchre in that place, was made up of metallic. And then we go a little farther in Genesis, to chapter 33, and we find that Jacob has something to do with this. First of all, Jacob bought property in the same place, and pitched his tent there, and set up his altar there. It was there that one of his daughters fell into sin, and there was terrible judgment there. But that is not the reference to Jacob that is mentioned here. The reference to Jacob that is mentioned here, is near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And when Jacob was lying dying, he said to Joseph, I have something to give you. It is above all that you have as a son of mine. I am giving you a parcel of ground which I fought for. I am giving you a parcel of ground that I won the battle against the Amorites, and it is mine. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I will anoint. Do you know why Nicodemus came to Christ? Because God gave him, God the Father gave him to Jesus before the foundation. He hath not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And thank God in a past eternity every child of God can say, God gave me to Christ. A special portion for Joseph. A special portion, hallelujah, for Jesus. What happened? Did Christ turn His back on us? Did He say, Father, there is only an old guilty sinner down there in Sychar. And that other fellow, he is only an old religious hypocrite. Why should you give me those two? No, Christ put His arms above them. And the day He died, He died for Nicodemus. And He died for the women of Samaria. And He died for all those that have or will put their trust in Him. He will save you. Hallelujah! He will save you now.