In this sermon, the speaker begins by acknowledging that there are two types of people in the audience - those who have experienced God's grace and those who have not. The speaker then prays for blessings for each individual. The sermon focuses on John chapter 4, which tells the story of Jesus awakening faith in a woman who was a stranger to God's grace. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding how Jesus witnesses to those who are unlikely or unawakened, and how this relates to the mission of spreading the gospel to the world.

Will you turn, please, to John, chapter 4. This is a very interesting chapter. It has so much for us. Primarily, in the first part, the portion we're considering, verses 1 to 26, the scripture illustrates how the Lord Jesus succeeds in awakening faith in one who was a stranger to God's grace, to all spiritual life. Each of us have in the circle of our acquaintances those who have no interest, whatever, in the things of the Lord. And if we can understand how the Lord Jesus dealt with one of that kind, perhaps it's going to prepare us and equip us. So before we go to the word, let's ask Him for a special anointing as we listen. Father, we thank Thee that Thou art here to minister to us from Thy Word that the very same Holy Spirit, God in the Holy Spirit, who inspired John to record this gospel, is with us and in us to open the eyes of our understanding and to minister to us through it. Father, there are two kinds of people here today, those of us who have been awakened by Thy grace and brought out of death into life, perhaps some who have not experienced that marvelous gift of Thy redeeming love. And so we ask Thee to fit blessing to each heart. May every one of us that are here today go saying we have met with Thee. Thank You for Your presence and thank You for what You're going to do because we've asked it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the third chapter and the sixteenth verse, the testimony is that God loved the world and gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now in chapter four we are taken to the most unexpected of the whosoever's. Who would have thought that in one chapter in the text God would have taken an illustration of the least likely candidate for grace? They're down at Jericho, near Jericho, through River Jordan. They're having what we used to call an open air camp meeting or a brush arbor meeting or a hillside evangelistic service. The disciples are there, the Lord Jesus is there, and the people are there in great numbers. But something occurs to upset that meeting. Someone has, during the night or late evening and then early morning, come from Jerusalem with a report that the Pharisees back in Jerusalem had heard how that Christ was baptizing more than had John. Now the Lord Himself wasn't doing the baptizing, but the... By the way, excuse me, I hadn't realized you were back. We're delighted to see you. The Lord was impressed by that message to the point where He interrupted a tremendously successful evangelistic campaign. Now you don't normally interrupt evangelistic campaigns any more than you interrupt sermons to say hello to someone whom you've missed for a month. But you see there are always occasions when you do it, when you have the privilege of doing it. And so the Lord Jesus simply said to His disciples, tell the people there's no meeting today. Send them home. Well, I'm certain the disciples weren't excited about that. Because after all, they hadn't taken the love offering yet. They were probably in a chance of getting a pretty good expression of gratitude. So send them home. No more meetings. Send them home. And then the next thing He said was, we're going into Galilee. Well, that didn't make sense because even though these folks for the most part were from Galilee, they understood the common saying, no good thing comes out of Galilee. So they couldn't figure why He'd go into Galilee when He was having such success in Judea. And then He adds insult to injury. And He says we must need to go through Samaria. Now why did He do it? What was His motive for leaving Judea? Well, first He knew that the Pharisees at this time had focused all their anxiety and their antagonism on John who was in prison. And His ministry was not completed. And if He stayed there and continued, it was going to bring the focus away from John and onto Him. And He still had over two years of ministry to complete. So He accomplished His purpose. And you remember what He said before He got His direction. I do nothing of myself. I only do what I see the Father do. I do only that that pleases the Father. So His Heavenly Father is saying to the Lord Jesus, now leave here and go to Galilee and go through Samaria. So He said we must need to go through Samaria. I said the disciples were upset. They were upset. I can prove it. Because when they got to the well at Sychar, they did something that this company would never do. Now assume that we were in that group. We were walking, not at great distance, but we were walking with the Lord from down at Jericho, those miles up through the hills toward and to Sychar near Nablus. We now know it's Nablus. There, when they arrived, they decided it was lunchtime. And so they did something that I'm amazed at when I read it. I really can't believe it. Instead of drawing straws and letting the two fellows that had the short straws go for lunch, all 12 of them went. Well, why? Because they were out of fellowship with the Lord. They didn't want to be with Him. So they said, well, we all better go. So all 12 of them go into a nearby village, Sychar, to buy lunch. Well, lunch, what's it consist of? Soured milk, a gourd of milk, and some dry bread and some dates. That's all they'd eat from the Samaritans. They wouldn't eat any meat dishes of any kind, but they might eat dates and bread and some milk. So all 12 of them go to buy and leave the Lord alone. We wouldn't have done that, would we? No, we just said, now look, you guys, you unlucky fellows, you go buy the lunch. We want to sit here and talk to the Lord. All 12 of them go. So we know they weren't happy with being in Samaria. After all, Jews didn't go to Samaria or through Samaria. A good, earnest Jew would have gone across the Jordan and up the West Bank and cut back across the Jordan and Galilee and never stepped on Samaritan soil. That's how you got from point A to point B, by going to point C first. You had to cross the Jordan and go up the West Bank. But they're going right straight. And they must needs go through Samaria. Why? Well, remember what the Lord Jesus said when he left the disciples. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon me. You shall be witnesses unto me. Where? In Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So what's he doing? He's teaching his disciples about world missions. So he's taking them with him on a missionary trip into Samaria. He wants them to learn several things. First, he wants them to learn about themselves. And then he wants them to learn about the lost, because he's going to say that the harvest is great, but the labors are few and he's losing the harvest. And then he wants them to learn about him, but he also wants them to understand how he witnesses to the unlikely, to the unawakened, to those that need the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a missionary trip. Now notice, they've gone. He's sitting there at the side of the well, and a woman comes. Middle of the day, women have long since been there. They watered, all the women first got the household water, then they watered the sheep and the camels and the goats, and now she's come. The water's way down in the well. That's the well that was dug by Jacob's servants. They went down, not through rock, as I once thought, but through alluvial soil that was packed and would stand. And they went down. It was 105 feet deep. Quite a ways down. And we were there. The guy didn't drop a stone. He said, if we dropped stones for every group that'd come, we'd fill the well up. And he had a cup of water there. And he reached in the pail, took the cup, and he poured the water. We listened as that water went and went and went and went, and finally we heard a splash. It was a deep well. And so the Lord Jesus is thirsty, and so his request is natural, and it's real, and it's sincere, and it strikes a note with this person who's come, give me to drink. Please give me to drink. Now, his strategy is also clear. The Lord Jesus is aware that often the best way to make a friend is to ask them to help you. Someone has said the quickest way to lose a friend is to help them, but the quickest way to make a friend is to ask them to help you. And so what's the Lord Jesus doing? He doesn't know the woman, and so his strategy is clear. Give me to drink. She has come with a rope. She brought her own. She didn't know there wouldn't be any. They'd pull it up, take it away. So she brought her own coiled rope. She brought her own bucket of some sort. And so he says, please give me to drink. And she can serve him. And she replies and says, how is it that you, being a Jew, and she knew he was a Jew by his appearance, by his dress, but whatever it was, she was correct in it. Thou being a Jew, how can you ask of me a Samaritan? After all, the Jews said Samaritan dogs. Why, to be a Samaritan was worse than to be a Gentile in the eyes of the Orthodox Jews of his day. And so he said, well, if you knew who it is, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says give me to drink, you'd ask of me and I'd give you a drink that water that would be in you a well of living water that would... He never thirst again. Notice what he said. First, he's gotten her attention. He's asked her to serve him, to assist him. He's established a basis of communication. And now, he is intriguing her. He's approaching her intellect. He's saying, if you only knew who it is that says give me to drink and if you knew the gift of God, oh, what's the gift of God? Remember what we just read in John 3, 16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, he didn't tell her the verse. Did you notice that? He didn't hit her with a scripture verse. He hit her with a question. If you knew the gift of God and if you knew who it is that says give me to drink, you'd ask of him and he'd give you a drink and you'd never be thirsty again. Oh, oh. Can you see the strategy of the Lord Jesus? Asked her to serve, that's to get the attention, to get the communication, the basis of talking to her. And then, just enough, I know I have answers but I can't force them on you. You've got to ask me. And then she responds, as you would expect her to respond. Oh, sir, now so is coming respect. Sir, give me this. I have such deep thirst. Just give me this water that you've spoken of so that I'll never thirst again. Give me this water. And so the Lord Jesus then said, go call thy husband. Now, he had reason to think, he had reason to think that a woman who came at that hour of the day and not in the presence of all the other women of the village was estranged from the community and was ostracized by the women. That would be your logical conclusion. But remember, he not only had logic but he also was indwelt by the fullness of the Godhead bodily and the Holy Spirit indwelt him fully without limit and therefore the Spirit of God is communicating to him about her. What is this? Well, let's take another illustration. Do you remember? I used this just a while ago. Do you remember when Naaman came to Elisha and wanted to be healed of his leprosy? The prophet said, go to the river Jordan submerge yourself seven times and you'll be healed. Now Naaman went to do it and when he came and his flesh was as the flesh of a child and full again he came back to the prophet and he said, I'd like to give you this money. I brought this clothing. I brought these gifts. The prophet said, no, you can't buy gifts from God. You can't pay God and those things. And you remember how Gehazi the serf was grieving and how he followed Naaman and said, my master has had a second thought about this and we have some needs at the Bible school and we'd like so much to ask if you'd be willing to give these money and these gifts because we would use them and so Naaman said, I'll give you this horse and loaded them on Gehazi and put them on the donkey and took them aside and buried them and Gehazi came back and Melesha said, Gehazi, didn't you realize that my spirit would go with you when you went to Naaman? This is what you said to Naaman. You asked him, this is what he gave. This is what happened. This, and Gehazi can't say a word and then judgment, the leprosy of Naaman cleave unto thee and Gehazi goes out a leper. What was that that enabled Melesha to understand everything that Gehazi had said? Well you see, God in his omnipresence is God the Holy Spirit and the same Holy Spirit that was in Melesha was over and around the event with Gehazi and Naaman and so the spirit of God is simply revealing to Melesha what's happening. He's seeing it happen as you would on someone with a remote camera on television. He's seeing it, hearing it. He's there because the spirit of God is there. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ could have done everything that he did in his earthly ministry in his own essential power and deity as Son. But if he had, it never could have been said by him as the Father sent me so send I you. So, when he went into Jordan's waters and was baptized, the spirit of God came upon him and he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath anointed me, he hath sent me and everything done by Christ in the three years of his public ministry was done by the Father through the Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit is telling the Lord Jesus about the woman's husband and the gifts of the Spirit are still in the church today and belong in the church today and, though not presumptuously used, there are times when you will be talking to someone and you will know something you have not been taught. And you may say something that you just think are words but God uses it to pierce to the heart. I recall years ago I was ministering down in Durham or North Carolina in the Triangle, one of our Alliance churches down there and on the second Sunday morning, the only time in my experience when I've been in the church for three Sundays full time between and most of the time there were one week or part of a week but this was a John had asked me to come for three Sundays and I arranged to do it. On the second Sunday I was speaking and as I was talking about the Spirit of God working in the hearts of men revealing their hearts I made a statement I've never made one like it before and I don't know why no one in that congregation had ever said anything to me I have no reason at all and it was not in my preparation but I said I can imagine a situation come when an elder of a church might have immoral relations with his daughter-in-law for some mistaken reason and a hush fell over that congregation I closed the message in two minutes I gave the invitation in front of the church as well and afterwards the pastor said who told you about that very angry with me for having violated the confidence I said no what did I say what do you refer to no one has told me anything about this congregation I told you when I came I didn't want you or anyone to tell me anything that if God had anything he wanted disclosed he would give it to me and if he didn't give it to me I didn't want it from you because if I had anything from you it would seal my mouth spirit of God I didn't know but that very thing that I had mentioned that occurred in one of the elders had been a founding elder of the church and he never repented he came to the altars did the others in the church truck as I said before and just a few weeks later the man was in his place of employment walking from one desk to another slipped to the floor and was gone I didn't know it I knew nothing of what was done I was only just speaking as I so the Lord Jesus at this occasion is there I'm trying to explain to you so that you don't say well that was him he accepted the limitations of his humanity and now the father is revealing to him I do not know the father will reveal to you but I want you to understand that what brings what happens is when sin is revealed that's what brings conviction of sin and she said we know that when Messiah has come he will tell us all things there's been a revelation that God knows all about her God knows her heart God knows all about her and she begins to sense the fact that this God not of the mountain there at Samaria and not of the temple in Jerusalem but the God of heaven and earth this God is fully acquainted with her like the time the missionaries in Africa were reading first chapter of Romans to accompany her people hearing it for the first time when it was finished some of the men the chiefs got up the chief and some of his men got up and came and stood before and said God has seen everything we've done God knows all about us what can we do it was the revelation given by the spirit of God concerning their need she saw herself she tried to change the subject she tried to say well our fathers tell us we should worship in this mountain but you tell us that we should worship in in Jerusalem which where where should we try to change you can always expect that who did who did Abel marry if you know where did where did King get his wife you're going to find all kinds of questions that are coming that have no relevance to the issue when once conviction of sin and revelation of the heart begins to take place they always expect it but the Lord Jesus brought her right back right back now remember what he's told her if you knew who it is that if you knew the gift of God and who it is that speaks to you you'd ask of him and he would give you this water that would spring up into everlasting life she's already been told that there's something wonderful for her and she's now found out that that all about her is known to this one who's bringing this wonderful gift to her so what she has been and is is not going to interfere with the gift that God's going to bring but she's got to understand that God knows all about her she's got to be understand that she's been found out that her sin is known she's got to be brought under conviction of sin and so she tries to change the subject the Lord Jesus brings her back by telling her that salvation is not by the sacrifice of the lamb on the mountain of Samaria nor is it by the sacrifice of the lambs in Jerusalem but salvation is by God's grace by a person even the one who's speaking to her the hour cometh said he and now is when they shall worship the Father not at this mountain nor in Jerusalem but in spirit and in truth now God seeketh such worshipers what's he saying to the woman God needs your talent God needs your gift God needs your trombone God needs this God needs that God wants no no no no that's not what he's saying he's saying you need everything and God will bring everything and all he's seeking is someone who understands who he is and will bring to him what he's asking for what he's asking for is worship and adoration and love you see God is spirit God is spirit but dear woman of Samaria and dear friends of Trinity Alliance we are spirit it's so hard for us to get away from the fact that we are not bodies some day and not long hence some of us are going to leave our bodies someone will lean over our still form and I trust with tears will say one to the other across our now no longer breathing bodies he's gone she's gone what do you mean gone there's the familiar form the familiar face the hands that served comforted gone and gone what's gone she is gone he is gone you are gone I am gone the she the he the you the I the thinks and feels and wills and remembers that wants and serves and chooses that is in all of the integrity of our being will be gone because you are a spirit living in a body there is a spirit in man said Job and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding God is spirit now what part of us is quickened by this water of life this gift that he gives of eternal life is it our bodies no the day after you're born again you still have the same scar you got all when you fell into the lawnmower when you were eight years old and you still got the same scar that you got when you went into the barbed wire chasing the dog and running after a ball and that's the body that's lying there cold now in death you're not the body you're a person and the same part of you that thinks and feels and wills and remembers is going to be somewhere thinking feeling willing and remember and that's the part of you that's born again when you receive Jesus Christ your spirit is quickened your spirit is quickened you're born of his spirit and you are your spirit is quickened now if God is spirit and you are spirit and he what is he seeking he is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth years ago I was in a meeting down in South South Carolina and uh I began on Sunday morning half the congregation wasn't there I went to the home of one of the elders or deacons who had invited the speaker and I said I didn't see you in the service this morning he said no I was too tired I said why well I went to all night sing I don't care I don't have any problem with people singing all night but she described it to me and she said oh it was a wonderful wonderful time I said what oh she said the Lord was there I said how'd you know she said well it just was such a wonderful it just felt so good I said even I said what she said even the preacher was there on the platform and his foot was just a pat on the floor well I don't object to anyone's foot patting the floor or having a good time singing really I don't but I just don't want to get confused I think there's such a thing as having soul enjoyment I get a lot of it when I watch a sunset listen to a symphony read certain poems sing certain songs or hear them sung my soul is blessed but it didn't say God is soul and he's asking seeking people to worship him in soulishness it says God is spirit and he is seeking those to worship him in spirit and in truth but what place of singing wherever the human spirit is stirred focused on God that music is blessed and used oh indeed indeed no question the only thing I think we should do is distinguish between things that differ don't confuse them the things of the soul are things of the soul are things of the spirit are things of the spirit enjoy both but remember this God is spirit and they that worship him worship him in spirit immediately because you see if you're born of God then the spirit of God is in you if any man is not the spirit of Christ he's none of his so where's their worship going from here clear up to there somewhere no you're communing with that one who's condescended to make your heart his home worshiping in spirit and in truth when is that hour coming well it now is and it's always been and it still is and God is still seeking oh isn't that amazing isn't that astonishing doesn't it just overwhelm you to realize that God is seeking today people to worship him to worship him some have said that this is an evidence of ego on the part of God that he wants to be worshiped no no the very word worship gives us the key worship is from the word worth ship worth and when you discover the nature of God and the character of God and the work of God even as we did today as brother Akers Tony led us in the reading of the psalm as our eyes were fixed on him and we exalted and praised him worship he's worthy worth ship and so once we see him understand something about him what he is seeking from us then is true worship it's sincere not just of the lips not just words but from the heart he's asking for intelligent worth worship worship that recognizes his attributes and his character and his being and knows who he is not superstition not ritual not just form but because we understand him and we adore him for the revelation of himself our minds grasp as much as we're able to grasp of the nature and character of God and then he's asking for sympathetic worship with understanding with rejoicing with sympathy with delight with joy springing up because it's what we must do now in time and we will delight to do throughout eternity but he's also asking and seeking consistent worship where it's supported by our attitudes and by our actions and by our lives he's seeking seeking seeking to worship him now how is he doing it? how is God seeking? well why do you think he put you in that place of employment? just so you could get some money to live on? have you ever thought that maybe the reason you're there and not somewhere else is because there's someone he wants you to touch? did you realize that to someone you're the best Christian they ever know and if they ever come to Christ it's going to become because they met you? it's true? why do you think you live in that neighborhood? was it just because that was a good place to be? it ought also to be because you're there so that something can happen that will enable someone there when they have need somehow to feel that if they talk to you they'll get help he's seeking today as he did this woman he's using you he's using me we're the agents for his seeking why does he continue? for two reasons from eternity past his father he's yearned for someone with whom he can share his love and reveal himself children like himself and also because this marvelous being man you and me were made in such a way that we can never be happy nor fulfilled nor complete until he's found us it was finding the Lord Jesus Christ his finding her and her finding him come said she and here a man who told me all things whatever I did is not this the Messiah and so she because she had found went back into the village and she became the key that unlocked the village of Sychar you're the key to someone's heart father in heaven we lift our hearts to thee we love thee we worship and adore thee we praise and thank thee for the revelation thou hast given us of the concern the compassion the love and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to this despised rejected hated woman of Samaria not only by the Jews because she was a Samaritan but by the community in which she lived because she was a sinner oh father of Jesus we're asking today that we might be worshipers and that out of that worship might come that utter and total abandonment and willingness to be used as was the Lord Jesus he said he did only that which pleased the father even when it meant offending his disciples and offending the Jews because he must needs go through Samaria so give to us lord that utter and total commitment to obey thee even though sometimes others may not understand give to us that purpose to obey and serve thee grant to us father we ask thee today that we may be instruments in thy hands in finding others around us who are candidates for thy grace who if they only knew of the gift of God the one whom we represent will give unto them water water of eternal life use us to that end then father we ask thee with thanksgiving in Jesus name with our heads bowed and eyes closed think of someone in this closing moment that you know is in trouble in pain in need needs to know the lord Jesus Christ and we're going to ask for just a minute one minute sixty seconds of disciplined silence and during that sixty seconds I want you to pray for that person I want you to pray for them not just see them as they are but as they would be were they to open their hearts and receive the gift of God and this water of eternal life try to picture them as they would be with joy in their hearts knowing the lord Jesus Christ and then as you pray for them make yourself available to the lord saying praying father use me in any and every way that you will to bring this one for whom I am now praying into a vital relationship of forgiveness and eternal life for the lord Jesus Christ so beginning now just sixty seconds of disciplined silence listen for the silence don't shift your feet don't move a book don't talk just listen for the silence and picture the person in your mind that you want to see brought out of death into life make yourself available to God to do anything he wants you to do to help bring that one to Christ the time begins now amen let us stand for the benediction of the lord without singing today and now may the God of peace that brought again from the dead our lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our lord to whom be the glory now and forever amen