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[0:00] Thank you.

[0:30] Thank you.

[1:00] Thank you.

[1:30] I'm just kidding. I'm totally kidding. No, that was all him. And I was thinking about, we've been in this series now for several weeks. We've covered a lot of ground. The series has been about how life doesn't always go as planned.

[1:44] There are times in the journey where life can turn to ashes. Here's some of what we've looked at. We've looked at when your dreams turn to ashes with Joseph. When your hope turns to ashes with Naomi.

[1:58] When your expectations turn to ashes with the prophet Elijah. That was probably one of my favorite weeks. When your opportunities turn to ashes. We looked at Peter that had that opportunity in the courtyard to stand for his faith and denied.

[2:16] When love turns to ashes with Jacob and Leah. When your view of God turns to ashes. When you realize that what you thought about God was inaccurate.

[2:27] And God revealed himself in a different way. We saw that with Jonah. When your identity turns to ashes that Pat talked about last week in the prodigal son.

[2:38] When everything turns to ashes. We looked at the devastation of what Job went through. Two weeks ago, we looked at when your religion turns to ashes.

[2:49] Paul called his religious upbringing rubbish. He counted it all as loss compared to knowing Christ. Christ. And as we've been going through this series, we've been getting a lot of good feedback from many of you.

[3:04] I think it's because we all know the smell of smoke. Amen. All of us know what it's like to have life go to the ashes. And I had this email.

[3:15] And by the way, email us. Let us know how things are impacting you. Share your testimony so that we can encourage others with that. We don't ever share anybody's name or specifics of their situation unless you want to.

[3:30] But here's one email I received from a couple weeks ago. I just listened to when your religion turns to ashes. This has been such an impactful message for me that my performance in being a perfect mom or a perfect wife doesn't affect who I am in Christ.

[3:55] I can rest in His righteousness. I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.

[4:07] And those around me who impose their religious righteousness will no longer lead me down a path of guilt and shame. I have been set free.

[4:21] Thank you for this message and all the messages from this series. It has been perfect timing in my life. Praise God.

[4:33] Praise God. Absolutely. You know, that language of I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I'm not going to be led down the path of guilt and shame.

[4:44] I've been set free. Look at me, faith family. This is why we do this. This is why we do this. It's to experience that gospel freedom.

[4:55] Well, tonight we're going to look at another passage here in John 4. And we're going to look at when your image turns to ashes. A very familiar story I know. But let's return to it and trust that the Lord will teach us once again from this story in John 4.

[5:10] If you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's Word. In John chapter 4, picking up in verse 1. Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

[5:33] He had to pass through Samaria. And he came to a town of Samaria called Sachar, near the field that Jacob was given to his son Joseph.

[5:43] And Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. And it was about noon or the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water.

[5:57] And Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

[6:11] For the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus answered, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

[6:24] And the woman said to him, Sir, but you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? I mean, he gave us this well and drank from it himself and as did his sons and his livestock.

[6:39] And Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

[6:57] And the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come to draw water. And Jesus said to her, Well, go call your husband and come here.

[7:10] And the woman said, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, You're right in saying you have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.

[7:22] What you have said is true. Pray with me. God, I'm very aware of my inability to teach your people tonight. So come, Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and guide us into what you would have us learn from this passage this evening.

[7:40] I do pray, just as the testimony we just read, that we would experience the freedom that is found here, and that you would change us and transform us by your grace as a result of your word tonight.

[7:55] And if this is going to happen, God, you're going to have to do it. So would you do it? For your glory in this place, I pray. And I pray it in Jesus' name. And God's people said, Amen.

[8:07] Amen. You can be seated. Faith family, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Will Smith made the news this week. If you don't know what I'm talking about, welcome back to planet Earth.

[8:23] Most of you by now, I'm sure, have seen the video or you have heard about the altercation that took place between Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars because Chris Rock made a joke about Will Smith's wife's bald head.

[8:40] It has been everywhere. Amen. I mean, it has been on every broadcast. You can't look anywhere without seeing this story. And of course, what made things even more interesting is that right after Will Smith smacked the you-know-what out of Chris Rock, he won an Oscar for Best Actor.

[9:03] And in his, some of you have seen this, in his acceptance speech, this is what he said. And I quote, I know to do what we do, you have to be able to take abuse.

[9:14] You have to let people talk crazy about you. In this business, you have to be able to have people disrespect you and you have to smile and pretend it's okay.

[9:26] He went on to talk about how he wanted his life to be known as a beacon of love. I mean, things that just make you go, huh?

[9:37] Like what? What are you talking about? But it reminded me, when this whole episode happened this week, it reminded me of an article that was actually published a few months ago about the role that Will Smith played in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

[9:54] In fact, in his memoir, a book entitled Will, He talks about growing up in a family where his father, who he idolized, physically beat his mother.

[10:07] And how he didn't do anything to stop it. That is, Will Smith didn't do anything to stop it. And as a result, he talks about how he grew up feeling like a coward. Here's what he writes.

[10:20] Let me let his own words guide this. And I quote, Close quote.

[10:50] And what was interesting is that it was from that very childhood experience that the persona of Fresh Prince was born.

[11:01] That is, this idea of a happy-go-lucky teenager that covered over his upbringing, his childhood experience. Again, here's Will Smith's own words.

[11:12] And I quote, That buoyant, happy, joyful image of Fresh Prince painted over a core of a lack of self-esteem and self-respect.

[11:24] I saw my father beat my mother. And that narrative, listen, listen, didn't fit into the image I was crafting. It was embarrassing.

[11:36] It didn't fit the person I wanted to be, the person I thought I had to be, the life I was trying to create. Close quote.

[11:47] That's really, really insightful. In other words, Faith Family, Will Smith, by his own admission, has been a man throughout his career that has tried to portray an external image that is different than the one he's felt inside.

[12:10] And in that same way, you and I are just like Will Smith. We've never slapped anybody on national television that I know of.

[12:23] But you've wanted to, I'm sure, no doubt. Amen. I agree with that. But I know this, while that's never happened, I know what has happened, and that is that you and I, whether at some point or at many times, we've tried to put forth an external image that's different than the real one or different than the one we feel inside.

[12:46] And Faith Family, it happens in so many ways. Big ways and small ways. For instance, some of you will lie about your weight on your driver's license or whatever so that you can shed a few extra hypothetical pounds.

[13:00] You learn how to angle the picture to make the fish look bigger than it actually is. Right? Not that I've ever done that. You have to turn sideways to even see it.

[13:11] Or you alter your online profile. Right? As Brad Paisley says, I'm so much cooler online. Or maybe you try really hard to not let anybody see you cry.

[13:23] Right? Maybe you kind of blend into the crowd when the topic of Christianity comes up. Maybe you post happy family photos so that everybody thinks life is fine.

[13:38] Maybe you talk about your athletic glory days as though you were the best athlete your hometown had ever seen. Back in 82, I used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter mile.

[13:52] Are you serious? I'm dead serious. Watch this. What the heck are you doing?

[14:10] Image. Image. Image. All of us are trying to maintain one. And even as Christians, listen, even as Christians, we feel the pressure to maintain a Christian image.

[14:26] I'm okay. I'm alright. I'm not struggling. Yeah, I'm not perfect. But I sure am better than she is. And here's what I need you to understand tonight.

[14:39] And my heart needs it too. Listen. Is everybody listening? Listen. If you are ever going to experience the redeeming grace of Jesus and the freedom of the gospel, your image must turn to ashes.

[14:53] Here's what I mean.

[15:05] You must come face to face with who you are, face to face with the things you've done, the inconsistencies we all have, the struggles that you're dealing with, or the past you don't want to talk about.

[15:18] That is exactly what's happening in John 4. In John 4, here in this Samaritan city of Sachar, we are introduced to a woman, bless her heart, who is doing everything she can to protect an image.

[15:34] This woman has a lot to hide, a lot in her past, and she's doing the best she can to hide it. And the clues are everywhere in this text.

[15:46] Let me give you the first clue in verse 6. Chapter 4, verse 6. Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well, and it was about the sixth hour or noon.

[16:01] A woman from Samaria came to draw water. The first clue is this woman is going to get water at this well at noon. Now, why would she do that?

[16:12] I realize some of you who've studied this passage would know this, but in the ancient Near East, and still even today in a lot of third world countries, if you're going to go get water, when do you go?

[16:23] You go in the morning, and you go late in the afternoon when it's cool. You don't go during the hot part of the day. So that's why in the morning and in the evening, you would have large gatherings around the well.

[16:38] Now, this woman, on the other hand, is intentionally choosing to go during a part of the day, listen, when nobody else is around. She is intentionally dodging people.

[16:53] That's the first clue. Here's the second clue. Look at verse 16. Chapter 4, verse 16. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. And the woman answered him, I have no husband.

[17:07] And Jesus said to her, You're right in saying, I have no husband. For you've had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. In other words, here's the second clue.

[17:18] She doesn't tell the entire story. It's obvious that this woman is hoping to get by with, I don't have a husband. In fact, here's my guess, and other commentators that will agree with this.

[17:31] It's likely that she's trying to come across as a widow. She's clearly of age where she would have been married, so it's quite likely she's trying to put forth an image that she's a widow.

[17:45] Why? Because in the ancient Near East, widows were honored. You remember what James says, right? True religion is taking care of what? The orphan and the widow.

[17:56] It's quite likely that she is trying to make herself appear as something respectable, a bit deceptive. She clearly doesn't want to talk about it. She doesn't want this conversation to get personal.

[18:08] And the reason why she doesn't want this conversation to get personal is she has the proverbial skeleton or skeletons in the closet. Third clue, it's why she turns the conversation back on Jesus.

[18:22] Verse 19. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. You know, our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

[18:36] Third clue, notice how she quickly changes the subject. Husband? Husband? How about them cowboys? How are the Vikings going to do this year?

[18:47] Can you believe how high camel prices are these days? Did you see what Will Smith did at the Oscars this past week? In other words, I have an idea.

[18:58] Let's talk worship because clearly you're some kind of a prophet. Here's the point. Over and over again in this passage, listen, this woman is doing everything she can to not talk about it.

[19:12] To protect some kind of image. She doesn't want to talk about her past. Most certainly she doesn't want to talk about her present.

[19:22] And she has reason to. She is a five-time loser. Here's why I say that. I'm not addressing the issue of divorce. I'm saying this. In the ancient Near East, it was only the man that could divorce a woman.

[19:36] And the man could do it if he found any guilt or blemish in her. Here's what I mean by saying she's a five-time loser. This woman has been rejected more times than a beggar on the streets of New York City.

[19:50] Nobody wants her. It's not the divorce that makes her a loser. It's the rejection over and over and over and over again. Do you think for one second she wants to open up about her story?

[20:04] Heck no. She'd rather go to the well at noon. She'd rather give half answers. And she'd rather change the subject the moment her story gets invaded.

[20:18] Because to talk about it would bring up so much baggage. In years and years of rejection.

[20:33] So instead, she does her best Will Smith. She puts forth an image. She tries to just say enough that maybe the conversation can move in a different direction.

[20:50] But listen, listen. Jesus, Jesus is about to turn her image to ashes. We've already read it.

[21:01] Let's read it again. Verse 17. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Change the subject. Jesus said, you're right in saying, I have no husband.

[21:12] Here's what you didn't include. That you have five husbands. You've had five husbands. And that one you're now with is not your husband. What you have said is true.

[21:25] Now here's the beautiful thing I want you to see. It's not just a woman that's trying to protect an image. But I want you to see even more beautifully a Savior that's pursuing her heart. Jesus, in a way that only He can do, breaks through all the garbage.

[21:43] He breaks down the walls. He addresses the very things she doesn't want Him to know. He puts on the table the very things she wants to be ignored. And He's doing this, Faith Family, not because He wants to embarrass her, because He wants to set her free from her image.

[22:01] He is so intent and going after her heart that He doesn't care how many barriers He has to destroy. He doesn't care how many things need to come to the ashes to get this woman's heart.

[22:15] And it is beautiful. Oh, look at all the barriers, both externally and culturally and internally, that Jesus shatters. First, He speaks to a woman. Traditional Jews, men, specifically rabbis, would not initiate a conversation with a woman.

[22:32] It's why she can't believe that He initiated the conversation. What are you doing talking to me? What are you doing asking me something? Don't you know who you're speaking to?

[22:43] But He doesn't just speak to a woman. Secondly, He speaks to a Samaritan woman. Again, many biblical scholars in the room, you already know of the animosity between the Samaritans and Jews that went back to the Assyrian captivity.

[22:57] Israel was scattered. They went into foreign lands. They worshipped foreign gods. They married foreign women. The offspring that came from that was a mixed race known as the Samaritans.

[23:08] The Samaritans were seen as ceremonially unclean. They didn't practice Judaism. Racially unclean. They were half-breeds. And religiously heretical because they rejected the first five books of what we know as the Old Testament.

[23:23] And yet Jesus is speaking to a woman. He's not only speaking to a woman, He's speaking to a Samaritan woman. Number three is He's speaking to a rejected Samaritan woman. As if a Samaritan woman wasn't bad enough, Jesus.

[23:37] You have a knack for this, Jesus. You picked the worst of the worst. I'm trying to be graphic here. I'm trying to get you emotionally into this text.

[23:47] It's bad enough that you're friends with the homeless person. Why did you pick the homeless person with AIDS? I'm being serious.

[23:59] It's one thing. You talk to a Samaritan, gross. Samaritan woman in this culture, even more gross. But this kind of woman? I mean, Jesus, just how many barriers are you going to break through here?

[24:16] He ain't done yet. Number four, He asked for a drink from a Samaritan woman. Do you remember when she said, but you don't have a bucket?

[24:31] Why? Because He's going to drink from hers. And again, the biblical scholars in the room know, we've talked about this in other series, that sharing drink or food in this culture was a sign of intimacy.

[24:45] It's why the Pharisees get their tighty-whities in a wad when Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. No, you can't share the table with them.

[24:57] You can't share a meal with them. It's why when the disciples return from Taco Tuesday, they can't believe their eyes either. What is Jesus doing? Talking to a woman, a Samaritan woman, a rejected Samaritan woman, and he's going to drink from her jar?

[25:14] This guy's insane. Somebody hire him. Get him the same PR rep that's working with Will Smith, because Jesus needs help. And he ain't done yet.

[25:26] Because not only has he shattered through all of these external cultural barriers to get to her heart, he shatters the internal barrier.

[25:39] That is, lastly, he addresses her story. He brings to the table the thing she doesn't want to talk about.

[25:50] Let me say it this way. He brings to the table the thing she doesn't want to talk about because she knows where that conversation is going to end. More hurt.

[26:02] More rejection. If this man knew my story, this man would reject me like everybody else.

[26:14] So let's just not talk about it. And Jesus goes there. And he goes there not to judge her. Are you listening? Not to rebuke her. Not to condemn her.

[26:25] Not to shame her. Not to embarrass her. But to redeem her. And offer her something.

[26:36] That she could never get on her own. Here's what I'm wanting you to see. This beautiful thing in this story that I know we've studied many times. Notice it on the screen. It's this. I want you to see this woman who's protecting her image.

[26:49] But I want you to see Jesus who's pursuing her heart. I don't care that you're a woman or a Samaritan woman or a rejected one at that. I don't care that it's, you know, taboo for me to drink from your jar.

[27:02] And I know that you've got a story that you don't want anybody else to know about. But I'm going after your heart. This is all her fears coming true.

[27:16] Her image that's being turned to ashes. And in the ashes of this broken image, she finds something she would have never found on her own. Here it is, verse 13.

[27:27] Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.

[27:38] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I may not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

[27:52] Water. Jesus offers her a water that penetrates the soul. It's not a water that just kind of quenches the tongue. It goes deeper than that.

[28:03] It goes to the very essence of who she is. Now here's the question I want to ask. What is this water that Jesus is offering her? It probably doesn't surprise you that there's a lot of debate on what the water actually is.

[28:18] Let's look at the clues in the text and I'll tell you what I think biblically Jesus is offering her. First, whatever this water is, it comes from God.

[28:28] Verse 10. Second, whatever this water is, it's living, right? It's life water. Not the life water you can buy at the grocery store, but real life water, living water.

[28:43] Third, it causes you not to be thirsty again. That is, that you don't have to keep working. You don't have to keep going over and over and over and over to the well. The reason you come back to wells is because you're thirsty again.

[28:56] So this is something that ceases all effort. You with me? Fourthly, it's a spring. That is, it's an ongoing source.

[29:09] Jesus talks about it's a spring bursting forth. And five, it is eternal. It leads to eternal life. Now, some argue that what Jesus is offering here, or what the water is, and some of you in this room might hold this view, is that the water is the Holy Spirit.

[29:31] And while I don't totally disagree with you because I think you end up in the same place, I don't think it is specifically the Holy Spirit.

[29:42] I think with a little bit of Old Testament background, you would see what this water is. Isaiah 12, verse 3. With joy, you draw water from the wells of salvation.

[30:00] Isaiah 55, 1. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come, buy and eat. And climb your ear and come to me here that your soul may live.

[30:14] Ezekiel 36, 25. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean from all your uncleanliness. And from all your idols, I will cleanse you.

[30:25] And I will give you a new heart. And I will, and a new spirit. So is the spirit a part of what Jesus is offering in this water?

[30:36] Yes. But it's more than that in my argument. I will put a new spirit within you. So what is the water? Living water is new life.

[30:49] Salvation, cleansing, forgiveness, which of course happens as a result of the Holy Spirit. Amen? So notice this on the screen. Here's my point. Jesus is offering this woman not water, but a new life.

[31:03] Which is what she needs. By the way, so do you. And so do I. It isn't just, look at all your story that you don't want to talk about, and all your past, and even your present.

[31:20] So I just want to give you the Holy Spirit. Well, yeah, I understand that, but it's more, it's not just the Holy Spirit. I want to give you salvation, which of course you can't have without the Holy Spirit.

[31:34] Are you tracking with me? But I'm going to give your broken life a brand new one, where you are washed as white as snow.

[31:45] And sister, in order for you to drink, your image is going to have to be destroyed. You're going to have to come face to face with who you are, what you've done, and if you're willing to acknowledge that, you can drink freely of the water I give.

[32:08] F.F. Bruce notes, I think an important note here, when he says that this woman's past is more than a picture of immorality, it's a picture of loneliness.

[32:19] He says this, and I think this is so helpful. The woman has tried drinking from the well of relationships, only to come up thirsty time and time again.

[32:34] Which raises this question that I'm asking, why does Jesus bring up her past immediately after, this is the flow of the text, immediately after offering her living water?

[32:45] He offers her living water, and then he brings up her past, her story. It's because only Jesus can wash water, her story, away.

[32:59] Only Jesus can offer new life, water, to the broken life that she currently has. You see, I offer living water, but for you to drink, we're going to have to address who you are.

[33:19] We're going to have to turn your image to ashes, but it's there, my daughter, that you'll drink. And you will drink from the well of salvation, not of Jacob.

[33:36] faith family, this conversation at this well had to happen. This image had to be shattered.

[33:48] And of course, it isn't about just this woman, it's about us as well, is it not? Three quick things that I would note is that the freedom of the gospel here gives us the freedom to stop avoiding your past.

[34:00] I would ask you this, what does going to the well at noon look like for you? That is, what do you do to kind of drown out all of those things?

[34:12] Maybe it's you work really hard, maybe it's you have a lot of hobbies, maybe you kill a lot of time on the computer, maybe you try to have fun with friends. What is your well at noon?

[34:25] What is that thing that you do to numb maybe the pain or the rejection of the past and put forth some type of image that you don't have to talk about? Secondly, is start accepting your past.

[34:38] You know, the beautiful thing I love here about Jesus is she doesn't need to hide the story Jesus already knows. Are you tracking with me on that thought?

[34:51] Jesus isn't like, oh, I didn't know that about you. Oh, I'm terrified I even asked you the question. No, he's like, daughter, the story you don't want to talk about, I already know it.

[35:08] You've had five husbands and the one that you're with now is not your husband. In other words, Jesus is inviting her to accept every part of her story.

[35:19] To not just stop avoiding it, but accept it, that this is part of your past, this is part of what you have gone through. And then thirdly is substitute guilt with grace.

[35:31] It is the only thing that will keep the canine of the conscience quiet so that your soul can rest is accepting that you've been radically accepted by Jesus.

[35:43] That's a great place for an amen. That's all right. It's drinking, this is the well, come in, come here, come here. this is the well I want you to drink from. Accept the fact that you have been radically accepted by Jesus.

[35:58] Drink from that well every morning, at noon, in the evening, eight times a day if you need to. Drink from the well of accepting that you have already been accepted in Jesus.

[36:13] That Jesus has no problems with receiving a Samaritan woman. He has no problems receiving you regardless of what your story is.

[36:26] Drink from that gospel well. And if you do, you will no longer drown in guilt for you will be drinking from the fountain of living water.

[36:38] You will be drinking from divine grace. Now, I want to show you one last thing in this passage and then we'll wrap it up and that is the change that takes place in this woman.

[36:53] You see, she's protecting an image and Jesus is going after her heart and he offers water that gives her new life and as she drinks, as that image is shattered and she drinks of the water that Jesus gives, watch how this woman is changed.

[37:10] The fourth point here is the freedom of a broken image. The freedom of the ashes this woman experiences. I want to show it to you in verse 39 and then we'll be done.

[37:22] I love this. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him and here's why they believed. They believed because of the woman's testimony.

[37:36] He told me all that I ever did. and we know what all that means. We know the all she ever did.

[37:51] In other words, what I want you to see is by verse 39 she's not hiding anymore. Listen, listen, the woman that was going to the well alone is sharing her story with the crowd.

[38:05] You let that sink in. The woman that was going to the well alone is now sharing her story with the crowd. She is openly sharing her story with people.

[38:17] A story she had previously tried to avoid. Why? She drank from the well of grace. She drank of living water.

[38:29] She now realizes that her identity is not about her life but this new life that has been given to her and it set her free. it totally set her free.

[38:41] Now it's not like let's not talk about my story it's let me tell you about my story because my story ends at a well of grace. It was shattered and broken but it ended at a well of grace.

[38:57] So now let me tell you the story because God will use the story to bring you to the well of grace as well that you might drink and never thirst again.

[39:09] I've quoted this before it's one of my favorite quotes you'll probably hear it many more times it's from Brendan Manning in his book Ragamuffin Gospel and he writes this listen in and then I'm done kind of the good news please listen please listen the good news of the gospel means we can stop lying to ourselves it keeps us from denying that though Christ was victorious the battle with lust greed and pride still rages grace allows me to acknowledge that I am often unloving irritable angry and resentful with those closest to me when I go to church I can leave my white hat at home God not only loves me as I am but knows me as I am Samaritan woman because of this I don't need to apply spiritual cosmetics image to make myself presentable to him when I get honest

[40:16] I admit that I'm a bundle of paradoxes I believe and I doubt I hope and I get discouraged I love and I hate I feel bad about feeling good and I feel guilty about not feeling guilty I am honest and I play games Aristotle said I am a rational animal I say I'm an angel with an incredible capacity for beer to live by grace means to acknowledge my whole story to live by grace means to acknowledge my whole story the light and the dark side in admitting my shadow I learn what God's grace means that's what happens when an image turns to ashes that's what happened for this Samaritan woman faith family like the

[41:18] Samaritan woman like Will Smith it's easy to live trying to protect an image but listen if we're going to experience the redeeming grace of Jesus and the freedom of the gospel listen to me your image must turn to ashes we must come face to face with who we are the things we've done the inconsistencies we have the struggles that we deal with and the past that we don't want to talk about but listen to me that is where freedom is found amen because after all after all listen let us not forget faith family that the Christian image doesn't look anything like this the Christian image looks like this a broken bloodied crucified man who offers you an opportunity of a lifetime come and die that you may live and all

[42:30] God's people said amen let's pray let's pray God thank you for taking a story that I know many of us have studied before and just teaching us afresh the good news of the gospel and the freedom that comes from the well of grace there's a lot of will smiths in the church and I pray that we would learn from passages like this that shows us that freedom isn't found in the protection of an image it's it's the shattering of one and realizing that we are people of struggle and people of inconsistencies and people with past and presence that are really screwed up and a future that will be as well but by your grace that we are a bundle of paradoxes and that's just the kind of people you invite to your kingdom the poor in spirit the

[43:43]  Samaritan women who are absolutely shocked that you would invite us in but you not only invite us in you tell us to come and drink and never thirst again because our image is finally the righteousness of the kingdom it's the righteousness of Christ in us set us free tonight I pray God in this glorious glorious truth may we find and drink the water that that woman in that city drank that day and that we would not be thirsty again I pray in Jesus name and God's people said amen amen and