[0:00] 44 of your psalm books. Sing verses 1 to 7. O Lord, thou art my God and King, thee will I magnify and praise. I will thee bless and gladly sing unto thy holy name always.
[0:14] Each day I rise, I will thee bless and praise thy name time without end. Much to be praised, and great God is, his greatness none can comprehend. Psalm 145, the second version, verses 1 to 7. O Lord, thou art my God and King.
[0:58] Psalm 145, the third version, and praise thy name.
[1:28] Much to be praised, and great God is, his greatness none can comprehend.
[1:45] Great shall thy works, praise unto Christ, the mighty earth, show done by thee.
[2:04] I will speak of the glorious grace, and honour of thy majesty.
[2:22] Thy wondrous words I will report. Thy men the might shall be extolled.
[2:41] Of all thy dreadful acts, O Lord, and I thy great men's will unfold.
[2:59] The honour of thy goodness, O Lord, and I shall sing praises cheerfully.
[3:24] Whilst they thy righteousness relays. Let's call upon the Lord in prayer. Let's pray.
[3:41] O Lord, O Lord, our gracious God, we acknowledge your greatness as we have been singing in your praise.
[3:52] We acknowledge that it is because of your greatness that we are here, that you have come in your greatness, in mercy and in grace, to provide for us a means by which we can come before you, and by which we are able to worship you, and hold communion with you.
[4:11] We give thanks, O Lord, for your greatness, for all that makes you great, for all that you have revealed of yourself, so as to present yourself to us, as a God who is great in every way.
[4:26] A God whose greatness exceeds our ability to understand it. Yet, O Lord, we give thanks that we have received many benefits from it. We come into your presence, O Lord, this evening with thankfulness.
[4:41] With thankfulness that you have come to provide for us such a glorious salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And while we have many needs, O Lord, to bring before you, needs that pertain to our daily lives, our needs in relationships with other people, our needs as a people, as a church, and as congregations, we acknowledge in your presence our greatest need is the need of your redemption, the need of being found righteous in your holy presence, the need of being accepted with you.
[5:18] Our great need, O Lord, is so evident to us through your word. Lord, we thank you for the provision that you have made to meet that need in the greatness of our Savior, the greatness of the one who came and took our nature, took our sin and took our guilt, and took them all the way to the cross, and took them in such a way as would atone for them, and did so in his own person.
[5:47] Help us, we pray always, Lord, to marvel at the love that provided this, at the wisdom that devised it, the power that accomplished it.
[5:57] Help us at all times to fall down in adoration as we come to contemplate those issues of your redemption so freely provided for us.
[6:11] Lord, we pray for your blessing, for our gathering here this evening, for all the gatherings of your people, wherever they are throughout the world. We thank you today that many people have gathered to worship the Lord, to speak of Christ, to hold fellowship with you and with one another.
[6:30] That many have come, we understand, into a saving knowledge of Christ. That many have come to give thanks for the way in which you care for them, and for the way in which you are so dependable as a foundation for your people.
[6:46] We pray that you bless your church, Lord, worldwide. We pray especially for your people who tonight are in difficult circumstances, circumstances of poverty, of war and of famine, of disease, of persecution.
[7:03] Gracious Lord, we commit them to you, for we know that your word calls upon us to remember those who are in prison as though imprisoned with them ourselves. And help us, we pray, Lord, to ever have an interest and a concern so as to come before you in prayer for all your people in all their situations as we find news of them so readily available through many sources today.
[7:32] Oh, Lord, we thank you that we can use this in terms of availing ourselves of material that we can bring before you in prayer.
[7:44] And so we pray that you bless all who seek today to support your people and your cause. Remember those in different parts of the world who have been called to go with the gospel, not only to preach it, but to minister in your name in practical ways.
[8:01] We pray that you bless them, O Lord, in the different places of the world where we know that takes place. But especially we pray that you bless those that are known to us ourselves as a people and as a church.
[8:13] And you'd be pleased, Lord, to bless their efforts. And you'd be pleased to extend your kingdom through them. We pray for every agency that seeks to bring relief to those who are poor and those who are in distress.
[8:26] We pray for our leaders at this time in a world that is so much in turmoil. And when we find, O Lord, so much that marks our world as violence and war and famine and other major issues affect us as a people, as human beings.
[8:46] Help us, we pray, to look out of ourselves. Lord, these are such great things that we know they are greater than ourselves and our own ability as human beings and in our own wisdom.
[8:58] Bless our leaders with the wisdom from above. Bless them, we pray, as they seek to deal with these issues that threaten to overwhelm us, O Lord, in countries in Europe and in our own nation.
[9:14] Bless the nations in Africa, the turmoil, O Lord, that is evident there is before us each and every day. And Lord, we pray that your church there might be strengthened and nourished in all the different parts of that continent where there are so many difficulties and trials for them.
[9:34] We pray that instead of diminishing, that you would increase, that you would confound your enemies, that you would show, Lord, as in days gone by, that the attempts to eradicate your church can only serve to further disseminate the gospel and further bring others into your kingdom.
[9:54] We pray that it might be so in our own day also. We pray now for this congregation. Lord, we commit them to your care and to your guidance. We pray for them as they seek to go on to know your will and your purpose for them.
[10:10] And we ask that you would bless them at this time as they wait upon you. We pray that you would grant to them continued unity and concern to act in that way that would seek to reach out with the gospel even during a time of vacancy.
[10:28] We ask that you bless Mr. MacLeod as he serves you here and carries out so many duties. We thank you for him and we pray that you would uphold him, that you would continue to strengthen him and encourage him, Lord, in his work in the Lord.
[10:42] We pray that you would graciously grant your blessing to him daily that he may, as he ministers your word, that he may be encouraged in his own soul and know that the Lord is indeed with him.
[10:53] Bless the elders too at this time and the deacons. We pray that you would help them as they may know of added responsibilities and burdens at this time. Graciously continue to uphold them, we pray, and to act in such a way together as would seek your will and be leaders to the people.
[11:12] So, Lord, we ask that you would continue with us now through this service of worship and lead us into this week that has begun for us today. We know not what even a day might bring forth, but however many days we will have, we would seek, Lord, your guidance for them and your conducting of us in that path that knows your own acceptance and that serves you while we have ability in this life.
[11:39] So, hear us, we pray, and bless those unable to be with us away on holiday at this time. Graciously keep them and guide them and protect them. In all of these things, Lord, we do confess our sin, sins attached even to our holy offerings as we worship you together.
[11:58] We pray your forgiveness and all is in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We're going to sing again to God's praise, Psalm 130.
[12:10] Again, Psalm 130 in the Scottish Psalter. That's on page 421 of your psalm books. Let's sing the whole of the psalm. Lord, from the depths to thee I cried, my voice, Lord, do thou hear, and to my supplications voice give an attentive ear.
[12:28] Lord, who shall stand if thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, but yet with thee forgiveness is, that feared thou mayest be. That's Psalm 130, the whole psalm to God's praise.
[12:42] Lord, from the depths to thee I cry, my voice, Lord, who shall stand it, O Lord, who shall stand it, give an attentive ear.
[13:21] Lord, who shall stand it, O Lord, should mark iniquity, but yet with thee, but yet with thee, forgive, forgiveness is, but fear, the greatest fear.
[13:55] I wait for God, my soul, my soul, not wait, my hope is in His word.
[14:14] Lord, Lord, Lord, may that, for morning watch, my soul, waits for the Lord.
[14:31] I sing for the Lord, may that to watch, the morning light to see, let Israel open the Lord, for within mercy's fear.
[15:07] And then, see us, redemption, is ever found within, and from all its iniquities, the Israel shall redeem.
[15:44] Let's turn now to read God's word in the Gospel of John, and chapter four. Gospel according to John, chapter four, we'll read from the beginning, and we'll read as far as verse 30.
[16:10] John four at the beginning. 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.
[16:25] And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.
[16:42] It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
[16:55] The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
[17:06] Jesus answered her, 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. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.
[17:22] Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.
[17:33] Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, will never be thirsty again.
[17:44] The water that I will give him, will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty, or have to come here to draw water.
[17:59] Jesus said to her, go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you are right in saying, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.
[18:18] What you have said is true. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.
[18:31] Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming, when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
[18:45] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
[19:00] The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you, am he.
[19:17] Just then his disciples came back, they marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, what do you seek, or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jar, went away into town, and said to the people, come, see a man who told me all that ever I did.
[19:34] Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town, and were coming to him. And so on. May the Lord bless to us, that reading again of his word this evening.
[19:49] Let's praise him once again, we'll sing in this time in Psalm 139. That's from Sing Psalms, Psalm 139, and version A on page 180. We'll begin reading at verse 11, and sing on to verse 16.
[20:09] If I should say, surely the dark will hide me from your sight, when all the light surrounding me becomes as dark as night, yet even darkness is not dark to you in any way, for darkness is as light to you, the night will shine like day.
[20:27] For you, O Lord, created me, you wove me on your loom, my inmost being you have formed within my mother's womb. Because I'm wonderfully made, with all your praise I tell, your workmanship is marvelous, and this I know full well.
[20:45] And so on to verse 16, singing from verse 11. If I should say, surely the dark will hide me from your sight. When all the light surrounding me becomes as dark as night, I will be the light of my heart.
[20:58] And so on to verse 16, I will be the light of my heart. And so on to verse 16, I will be the light of my heart. Hymn, My iniyorum Iwill крис Когда Yet even darkness is all dark to you in any way.
[21:42] For darkness is not light to you, the night will shine like day.
[21:57] Of you, O Lord, created me, you wove me on your own.
[22:12] My end, O sweet, you have formed within my Father's womb.
[22:27] Because I'm wonderfully made, with all your praise I tell.
[22:42] Your workmanship is marvelous, and this I know full well.
[22:57] When in the secret place my friend was made before my birth, You saw my body get unformed within the depths of earth.
[23:29] And all the days that I should live, which you ordained for me.
[23:44] When written in your book, O Lord, before they came to me.
[24:03] Let's turn together now to John chapter 4. The passage we read together, John chapter 4. We can read at verse 25.
[24:18] The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you, am he.
[24:33] I who am speaking to you, am he. Interviews are very important occasions.
[24:47] Nowadays, interviews are carried out in such a way that you have a lot of material to read through, even before the interview comes, if you're carrying out an interview.
[24:59] Being involved in interviews recently, I discovered that there was as much paperwork to read in terms of how to carry out the interview as almost there was to actually see the candidates that were applying for the particular position for which they were being interviewed.
[25:16] So, you have all of that today, of course, as to how to carry out an interview, what the best way is of carrying out interviews, what to avoid and what to look for, how to measure or how to assess body language.
[25:28] There's so many things that you're given by way of advice, by way of information, with regard to conducting an interview. Just as you are, if you're coming to be interviewed, you're given information about how to approach an interview, what the best way of dealing with those who are interviewing you will be.
[25:50] Well, if you want a master class in interviewing, you don't need to go any further than John chapter 4. Because there you find the Lord interviewing this woman of Samaria.
[26:05] It's a master class in so many respects. There's so much of it that you have to admire as you follow the Lord and His questioning of this woman and His dealing with her responses and taking her on from point to point until finally He gets to the point that He wants especially to emphasize.
[26:28] I am He. I'm the one you're talking about as the Messiah. The Anointed One. The Saviour.
[26:40] Now that's not what she actually began the day with. She had nothing in mind like this when she began that day when she came out to draw water from this well.
[26:52] Little did she know how significant a day that would be in her experience. She left that well a very, very different person to the woman who came to that well.
[27:06] Her life had been changed. Changed permanently. Changed for good. Because Christ Himself had dealt savingly with her.
[27:18] I'd like to look at three things that arise from the passage. We're going to trace it all the way through till you come to this climax of the passage where the woman has Jesus where Jesus revealed Himself to her as the Messiah and then her response to that was to go away into the town that she belonged to and tell other people about what she had discovered.
[27:38] And there are three major things that we can look at on the way as we trace the steps towards that as we look at this interview. First of all, in the interview there is a personal engagement.
[27:51] Secondly, there is a probing examination. And thirdly, there's a persuasive explanation. We'll look at a few points under each of these.
[28:03] A personal engagement, first of all. He engages this woman in personal conversation. But you need to notice in passing how he actually came to be there and how she came to meet him there.
[28:17] This was not an accident. He was told that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. So he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
[28:29] And he had to pass through Samaria. Now that's not the best translation really there in ESV. He had to go through Samaria. Really translates something. Something like the AV is probably better.
[28:41] He must needs go through Samaria. That's not because there was no other way by which he would actually reach Galilee because in actual fact this was not the normal way that you would take.
[28:55] So there's a theology going on there. There's something there in John's account of it where you actually have Jesus presented to us as one who made his way through Samaria because this was in the plan of God.
[29:10] This was something that God had planned from all eternity that this interview would take place at this well at this moment in these circumstances. He needed to go through Samaria.
[29:25] He must go through Samaria. And very often you find in this great gospel of John the sovereignty of God the predestinating will of God brought out so strongly.
[29:37] nowhere better than here where you find what appears to be just an accidental coming together of these two people and it's brought before us as something that actually is firmly embedded in the plan of God.
[29:55] And that's why you're here tonight. Not an accident. Whatever was in your mind and my mind coming here tonight it's not an accident.
[30:06] it's in the plan of God. God planned that you would be here. God planned that you would be hearing about this woman. God planned from all eternity. Isn't that an amazing thing? That for you and for me this was planned from all eternity that you would be coming to hear about this woman and the way that Jesus dealt with her.
[30:26] God planned and that's something that you have to just stop and think about just as I do because there's so much of importance in that to us.
[30:40] However we made our way here whatever thoughts we had in mind whatever decisions we took God placed us here. God actually planned that this is the way we would be and therefore he has a purpose.
[30:57] He has a particular meaning to this moment for you because you too are coming in the gospel to meet with the same Jesus that this woman met with.
[31:11] In this personal engagement then it begins with this planned appointment that was in the will and the plan of God but then you see Jesus gets personal. this woman came out to draw water and Jesus immediately says to her give me to drink and that's so crucial in the whole of the conversation that Jesus is really getting personal with her and that's how Jesus always is and when you read in the gospels of the way that he conducted his ministry and the crowds that were following him you're not allowed to think that Jesus deals with generalities that he deals with people just in the crowd as if he's not able to or not willing to single them out personally and individually there's no crowd here there's just the one woman that he has come to meet at this well but there are other times when you find the same thing of Jesus getting personal with people such as for example in Luke's gospel where you find that man Zacchaeus who was so small that he needed to climb up into a tree in order to see
[32:14] Jesus because the crowds were so vast he couldn't see above the heads of many people he made his way up into the tree and there is Jesus coming with this crowd in this crowd accompanying him on the journey that he's on he's going to pass that spot but when he comes to that tree he stops and he looks up at him and he says Zacchaeus today I must stop at your house and you're not allowed and I'm not allowed here tonight to think I'm actually lost in a crowd I can sit comfortably without Christ getting through to my soul because the fact that you're here by God's plan and I'm here by God's plan means that he has business with us and through the gospel he is as it were stopping right beside us right here beside us as he did with this woman and he's beginning to address us in a personal way and he's talking to you and into your soul and into your conscience and into your mind as if there was nobody else here but yourself that's how he is we cannot be aware of Jesus without being aware of how he's dealing with us personally this personal engagement engagement that takes place at this well in the plan of God is something that's actually taking place here and now as the gospel is proclaimed to you as an individual it is the same
[33:57] Jesus who's coming to sit beside you to address you to point out things about you that he knows to ask you questions to seek your responses exactly the same in principle but then that becomes a probing examination it's a personal engagement he actually comes to deal with it personally but then secondly he begins this probing examination you see there in verse 8 he begins by saying give me verse 7 give me a drink and then she comes to respond to that how is it that you a Jew ask a drink from me a woman of Samaria you see she begins with tradition she begins with man-made conventions and just as you find Jesus elsewhere he deals with that in such a way that wants to strip away these conventions that wants to take away these layers of man-made traditions and practices so that he can get to the point that she needs to know about himself and that becomes a very important matter for Jesus in dealing with the likes of the Pharisees you remember how often they came to him and put before him these rules and regulations that they had put together and had been gathered together and added to the actual law of God these man-made practices and conventions and ideas and he was concerned to actually get to the law that they had buried under them and maybe we too and did we do ourselves need to look at layers of man-made practices and ideas and traditions because what was a hundred years ago almost indispensable for the gospel to advance may actually become a hindrance nowadays if they're man-made conventions then we have to constantly examine them if they're precepts from the word of
[36:07] God then they're there they're there permanently they're not traditions in the way they're man-made but here is Jesus dealing with a woman who immediately delves into these traditions these conventions these things that she has been brought up with the Jews have no dealings with Samaritan how do you ask a drink from me I'm not just a woman but I'm a woman of Samaria and we've always got to be careful how we deal with what we know as man-made traditions I'm not saying by that by any means that every man-made tradition in terms of gospel practices are useless and need to be jettisoned or thrown away but they need to be always examined they always have to ask the question is this really serving the gospel serving the advance of the gospel serving my own personal progress in the gospel and that of the church or congregation or whatever well he broke with convention and Jesus was doing that he wasn't being deliberately controversial some people are like that they're just deliberately controversial they raise things just to be controversial
[37:18] Jesus is not like that if he's being controversial is because he always wants to get to the truth and he wants to take away everything that's hiding the truth and everything that's standing in the way of the truth and its advancement and then he concentrated on the issue of salvation how is it that you ask a drink for me so that becomes the central topic there's drink there's water water he says 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 and then it proceeds then to think about this to speak about this living water this spiritual entity this thing that you cannot see in contrast to the water that's in Jacob's well and how superbly the Lord used that very simple concept of water water here she is she's talking about him giving her a drink from this well and he turns it immediately to the world of the spiritual to the world of salvation to the living water that he has to give in eternal life and that's why he says this water that I will give is one that will spring up to everlasting life later on in the passage now this woman has many needs she needs to get her life in order she needs to deal with her own home situation she has problems there she has problems there for years she's not been living very uprightly not very much to say about her life that it's a very clean sort of life
[39:16] Jesus knew that that's why he said go and call your husband she said I don't have a husband he said I know you don't have a husband because the one you've actually got now is not your own husband you had five before that there's a lot of things she needs to sort out there are many things she needs to attend to but Jesus doesn't actually concentrate on these issues themselves he concentrates instead on her greatest need her need of eternal life her need of salvation her need to be right with God her need to have this water this living water of life because until this is put right everything else is going to remain wrong and until this is really fixed properly nothing else is going to be in the right place in her life she is not going to be able to deal with everything else adequately even if she begins to try and sort them out this is her greatest need that's why he says 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 now isn't that important to you and to me as well we have many needs here tonight we have many needs personally we have many needs in our own private lives we have many needs in our relationships we have many needs in our homes we have many needs in relation to our work we have many needs in relation to how we live in the world and all the other sorts of things that cram into our life day by day but this is our greatest need this is what needs to be put right first and foremost our relationship with God our relationship with him in terms of how he sees us what we are to him whether we are righteous or not whether our sin is forgiven or not and that's where we have to begin friends because there's no use trying to patch up your life or my life around that issue and there's no use trying to actually deal with things that you can possibly mend or put right or at least plaster over if you're leaving this part neglected tonight you and I are being told by
[41:52] Christ as he's come to sit alongside us as he engages with us personally as he gets to probe and to examine our lives he is saying how is it between you and God how is it between you and death how is it between you and eternity and the judgment of God that you will meet that's what he's really saying and that's what has to be put right and only he can put it right and that's what he's doing for this woman he doesn't allow her to go into any other areas of her life that needs to be fixed up this is what he comes to concentrate on and is it interesting he says if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is speaking to you and you see he's speaking in such a way that you need to combine these two things together because actually they're the same the gift of God is eternal life but that eternal life is in this person we're sometimes prone to forgetting that we know that the gift of
[42:58] God is eternal life that the gift of God is salvation but salvation is not first and foremost a thing a neutral kind of entity salvation is in a person this person of Christ this person that's speaking to this woman that's speaking to you tonight that's the gift of God and it's a gift that God is extending to us in the gospel that many people here I'm sure have already received but remember if you haven't received it it doesn't become a gift to you actually until you've said thanks Lord I will receive it and reach out and take it that's when it becomes a gift to you personally whatever gifts you receive ordinarily if you find gifts at any time given to you or arriving in the post or under your
[44:06] Christmas tree or whatever they're nicely wrapped they're meant for you they have your name on it but they don't become yours till you unwrap them till you take out what's inside and you make it personal to yourself and that's what Jesus is really about have you unwrapped him have you taken him personally will you take him home with you tonight in your heart or is he still nicely packaged attractive on the outside but actually left without being taken out and made used personally that's what he's saying if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is speaking to you you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water and he then in concentrating on salvation you notice here in verse 14 how he goes on to speak we're not actually dealing with every point of course because there's so much in the passage whoever drinks of this water will thirst again he said but whoever drinks of the water that
[45:16] I will give him will a spring of water welling up to everlasting life what an important contrast here is this woman she still doesn't really understand what he's talking about she still has her mind fixed on the water that's in this well that Jacob gave to them many many generations ago but now he wants her to really think of a water that's different to that what he's saying is this type of water the water that you have ordinarily you just have to keep coming to this one again and again as long as you live you'll have to come out to this well and draw this water but the water that I will give you it'll actually come to be in you as a well of water where tonight are you trying to find satisfaction for your soul is it in things that you need to go back to again and again is it not in
[46:27] Christ because when your satisfaction and of course the gospel is far more than just to give us satisfaction but it does include giving us satisfaction to be satisfied in our souls with Jesus Christ was God's way of salvation in him and we can try every other type of water and type of well but we will always need to go back to that cannot satisfy you cannot meet the needs of your soul the way only Jesus can the water that I will give him will well up in him to be a spring of water welling up to everlasting life and the woman says sir give me this water then so that I don't come here again to draw water neither be thirsty she still doesn't understand but you can see how Christ is drawing how to think of this living water and by that he's actually presenting that to yourself one other thing in this probing examination in verses 16 to 18 and that is along with breaking with convention and concentrating on salvation he exposes transgression go and call your husband sir
[47:45] I have no husband he's being very evasive Jesus said you're right in saying I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband what you have said is true if you're going to sit and Jesus get personal with you and involve you in a probing examination it's going to hurt it's going to hurt and we have to expect that and it's a hurting that's good for us it's not meant to put you off coming it's just like in the medical world where something that needs to be dealt with that's threatening your life has to be dealt with in a way that's to begin with painful if it has to be cut out you can't do it without it being painful that's how it is with sin and with the consequences of sin and with everything that's attached to sin by way of guilt and by way of defilement it has to be extracted from our persons and to begin with when
[49:03] Jesus puts his finger on the sore on the conscience it doesn't feel comfortable it's not meant to the gospel is not there just to give us nice feelings it's not there just so that we will bubble up and feel comfortable all the time it doesn't work like that this woman is being made to feel uncomfortable so uncomfortable as we'll see that she really wants to evade the issue altogether and move on to another subject but Jesus won't have that either but this is the point that's being made to us here he's getting really to deal with the issue of sin and very often in the New Testament one of these texts this morning actually in the New Testament where you find that Jesus in his suffering this was in 1 Peter chapter 3 that
[50:05] Jesus also once suffered for sins he suffered for sins himself because he came to deal with sins sin he didn't come to him to make us better people than we are or feel better than we feel he came to deal with sins your sin and my sin because sin is not a concept that exists out there detached from us as human beings sin doesn't have any meaning unless you attach it to people and when Jesus came to suffer in this world and to die he did it for sins and that means he did it for sinners and when he is dealing with this woman who is a sinner he exposes her transgression he brings it out so that it will be healed he deals with it so that she will know that he must actually heal her soul or she will never be healed and however people find that uncomfortable and you know it's very difficult preaching the gospel because you know that the gospel itself not people like me but the gospel itself if we've been true to the gospel will make people feel uncomfortable somebody once said to me in my former congregation you know for months she said
[51:45] I kept coming to church and I really hated you and I understood what she meant when she said because every time I came to church and listened to your sermons I really felt bad going away from it God was treating her you see exposing her sin and he was exposing her sin so that she would come back to have it dealt with and have it healed by the same God who had exposed it in the first place just like an expert surgeon cuts into the affected area that needs to be dealt with it hurts but the end of it the result of it the purpose of it is healing its wholeness it's taking out what is a threat to life now that doesn't mean that you need to come to a tremendous and deep experience of sin and of the guilt of sin but it does mean that you need to know something of Christ hurting you and you need to actually be prepared for that and in fact welcome that difficult though it is because this woman went on to know him as the saviour through the way he dealt with her there's a personal engagement there's a probing examination thirdly there's a persuasive explanation you see she begins to change the subject when Jesus presses this point and really makes her feel the pain of having her conscience awakened here she said sir I perceive that you are a prophet our fathers worshipped in this mountain you see what's happening she's trying to avoid the subject she's trying to move on to something else and
[53:34] Jesus is not going to let her go he will not let her go people try and avoid these pangs of conscience by doing something that will hopefully make it go away the only way you will get it to go away is to have your sins forgiven to know Christ as your savior to come into a living relationship with him she has no success in trying to get away to her so he comes to the point where he reveals himself to her he lets her go on and speak about these things to do with worship and to do with the past and all the rest of it then she says I know Messiah is coming who is called Christ when he comes he will tell us all things Jesus said to her I who am speaking to you am he it's a very short verse but it's one of the great verses of the Bible just imagine what that must have been like as far as you can for this woman she had come from the city from this town of
[54:39] Sychar she had come with a was now happening the conversation had moved on to the Messiah God's anointed one which she as a Samaritan also expected to happen one day who would come and be the deliverer of his people I know she said that Messiah is coming I believe this he will show us all things when he comes and then just imagine I think there would have been a slight pause and Jesus said I'm actually him I'm that person I'm that one this is really the whole point of the interview this is the point that he himself was reaching out towards the point that he wanted to reach with her the point that you and
[55:46] I need to know as well who is your savior where is your salvation where are your hopes for eternity I am he says I'm the one don't look beyond me don't look to anyone else it's in him it's in him I am he and then she left her jar water jar and went away into the town and said to the people come see a man who told me all that ever I did can this be the Christ it's difficult to translate these words the question there can this be the Christ or could be is this not really the Christ maybe there's a bit of uncertainty still in her mind but she has come to realize that this person almost certainly is the Christ this is the one that she's met and she's now commending him or at least telling others about it but notice this she left her water jar and went into the town she'd come to draw water and she goes away without that water why did she leave her water jar there probably on one level because she was so taken up with this
[57:08] Jesus with this new water that she had come to know at least had come to know the beginnings of what it meant and she left her water jar there but you see there's a theology going on there as well in John's gospel let me just before we close point out this very interesting string of teaching that comes right through from the beginning of the gospel through to here and on into the gospel and even right to the cross and it's this there is an emphasis in a change from the old to the new you go to chapter 1 and verses 37 and 38 there you'll find two of John the Baptist disciples and they actually hear John saying behold the Lamb of God about Jesus and they heard him say this and they followed Jesus Jesus turned and saw them following and said what are you seeking they said Rabbi where do you stay where do you abide he said he said to them come and you will see and they went and saw and they stayed with him they abode with him for that day there's so much theology packed into that it's really saying to us here are
[58:16] John the Baptist disciples John belonging to the Old Testament age and now he's pointing to Jesus Christ the New Testament age has started and these disciples move over and they begin to follow Jesus the old is giving way to the new isn't it the first miracle then in chapter two that Jesus worked as John says the miracle of changing the water into wine and you notice that it's a very deliberate reference there to the jars that were there waiting for Jesus to deal with them where you find in verse six there and onwards six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification each holding twenty or thirty gallons and of course we know the outcome Jesus changed the water that filled these vessels into wine what's happening it's the old the Jewish purification rites the Old Testament ways they're giving way to the new they're giving way to something better water is giving way to wine it's the coming of the kingdom it's the new testament that has dawned and you find it all the way through right to the cross itself because when
[59:39] Jesus' side was pierced there came out blood and water symbolizing God's way of salvation through the death of Christ through the washing that comes from him rather than from the old testament ways they've given way to him he's fulfilled them he's the messiah i am he and it's the same for this woman she's left her water pot she's left what symbolized her original purpose in coming to the well her old life her previous way of life it's gone it's left there at that well here's a new life a new purpose there's an excitement about her as she goes back to Sicher and say as she summons all the people of
[60:41] Sicher together and says to them come and see a man who told me all that ever I did you can't read these words and think that she just kind of spoke quietly through the streets without running as fast as she could and shouting out almost these words come and see this man is this not the Christ they went out of the town we're coming to no wonder she was excited if Jesus doesn't excite us we don't really know him and if he does excite us then we tell others about him just as this woman did and as these people came out to him we read in verse 42 they stayed with him two days he stayed there for two days many more believed because of his word they said to the woman it is no longer because of what you have said that we believe for we have heard him for ourselves and we know that this indeed is the savior of the world that is my prayer for you tonight that you have come to believe not because of anything
[62:11] I have said but because you have heard him for yourself and therefore know not just that he is the savior of the world but that he is your savior your personal savior your messiah let's pray lord our god we give thanks once again for the gospel and we give thanks for all that it exposes of our sin and of your provision against it we bless you oh lord this evening for the way in which your word is so full of emphasis on life on forgiveness on mercy on all the things in which you delight we pray that we may be delighted in them too we ask now that you bless us as we leave this place and help us to further consider those things that have to do with our salvation here as we pray for jesus sake amen let's conclude our worship this evening singing in psalm 25 psalm 25 from sing psalms on page 29 we'll sing verses 4 to 9 oh lord reveal to me your ways and all your paths help me to know direct and guide me in your truth instruct me in the way to go verses 4 to verse 9 because the lord is just and good he shows his paths to all who stray he guides the meek in what is right and teaches them his holy way these verses then to
[63:56] God's praise wur said p hi but do not If you won't miss his song show forever in the drop down and thoseote después m tell you truth are whine great me Thy wrath and my deliverer, instruct me in the way to go.
[64:40] You are my Savior and my God, all day I hope in You alone.
[65:00] Remember, Lord, Your love and grace, which from the stages You have shown.
[65:19] Do not recall my sins of you or my rebellious evil ways.
[65:39] Remember me in Your great love, for You, O Lord, are good always.
[65:58] Because the Lord is just and good, He shows His path to all who stray.
[66:18] He guides the need in what is right and teaches them His holy way.
[66:38] Amen. Amen. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always. Amen.
[66:49] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.