WEBVTT 00:00:00.820 --> 00:00:01.580 Well, good morning. 00:00:03.300 --> 00:00:04.700 Let's pray, shall we? 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:12.720 Father God, you are so good to us, so gracious, so merciful, so loving. 00:00:13.620 --> 00:00:20.800 And Father, thank you that this day we take time to remember the greatest gift of all that you've given to us in your son, the Lord Jesus. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:25.820 So may all that we look at in these next moments together, may they be glorifying to him. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:29.039 And would you speak to us to your glory, we ask. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:30.000 Amen. 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:33.799 Well, a very merry Christmas. 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:38.539 And now we get down to the real business of Christmas. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:42.320 Who can remember what they got for Christmas last year? 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:44.579 Who can remember what they got last year? 00:00:44.619 --> 00:00:45.700 Put your hand up if you can. 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:49.399 That's amazing, isn't it? 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:53.799 Put your hand up if you've already opened a present this year. 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:58.200 If you've already opened a present this year, there's some great restraint I can see in Brunsfield. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:04.340 Put your hand up if you've still got more presents to open when you get home. 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:09.019 We weren't allowed to open any presents in my house. 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:14.760 Put your hand up if you've already got exactly what you wanted for Christmas. 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:19.439 Oh, I think the parents did very, very well. 00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:22.640 You're right. 00:01:22.800 --> 00:01:23.300 It was. 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:30.120 What I want to talk to you about this morning is presents. 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:31.539 Is gifts. 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:35.079 Is what they're all about and why they're important. 00:01:35.259 --> 00:01:43.979 For example, if you shelled out unimaginatively and gave the ones that you love all the presents from the 12 days of Christmas, 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:52.680 Christmas, you would have spent a remarkable 27,097 pounds and 55 pence. 00:01:53.100 --> 00:01:56.380 It's quite an expensive Christmas. 00:01:56.520 --> 00:02:05.100 The most expensive Christmas present on the list would be the seven swans coming in at just over 10,000 pounds. 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:11.000 The two turtle doves, on the other hand, have increased the most since last year. 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:19.259 They're up to about 300 pounds, which is a 30% increase on what you would have paid for Christmas 2015. 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:23.359 The reason being is there is a global shortage of turtle doves. 00:02:23.359 --> 00:02:29.719 If you're looking for a new venture for 2017, turtle dove breeding could be incredibly lucrative. 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:38.939 The 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 9 dancing ladies and 8 mills are making will all cost you more than last year, 00:02:39.020 --> 00:02:43.120 principally because of increases in the living wage. 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:52.139 However, there is one gift that you would have paid less for this year, and that is the partridge in the pear tree. 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:55.620 The pear tree has remained constant since 2015. 00:02:55.620 --> 00:03:03.980 However, partridges are about 15 pounds cheaper because there is a surplus because they've started breeding them in South America. 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:09.020 I'm sure, though, many of you broke with the tradition. 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:18.020 You've all got more imagination than just shelling out for random birds, random people and gold rings. 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:20.379 So I wonder what you did get. 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:26.060 I've been passing Mrs Gemmel a lot of hints over the years about what I'd like to be in my stocking. 00:03:27.379 --> 00:03:29.919 This was the first thing I wanted, a chess set. 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:32.539 Not just any chess set, but this chess set. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:38.460 The Aspie chess set, retailing at 44,000 pounds. 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:41.120 I also wanted a skateboard to try and be cool. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:42.120 Now I'm going to be unemployed. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.879 I thought it would be cool to kick around town on a skateboard. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:50.439 But this skateboard, the Louis Vuitton skateboard, 8,250 pounds. 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:54.639 Also, if I've got to go for job interviews, it's important to get the right look. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:56.280 So I thought cufflinks would help. 00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:58.240 And not just any cufflinks. 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:05.500 But the Foundry 47 cufflinks made of decommissioned AK-47s, retailing at 30 grand. 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:08.780 Hopefully I'll have to sign a contract. 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:11.520 And it's important when you sign a contract to have a nice pen. 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:13.159 And I had in mind this one. 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:20.560 The Goldsmith Jack Row pen, 43,500 pounds. 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:23.980 And also you have to be clean shaven for a job interview. 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:26.160 So I needed a new razor because I don't have one. 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.899 100 grand for the Zafiro razor. 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:33.120 Now I know my wife loves me. 00:04:33.379 --> 00:04:38.899 So I'm pretty sure my stocking will be bursting with all of those presents and lots more besides. 00:04:39.719 --> 00:04:43.899 But I wonder, what did you want most for your Christmas? 00:04:45.039 --> 00:04:48.539 What gifts are you looking to open this afternoon? 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:54.519 And I want to tell you about a gift that's available for all of us. 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:57.899 That makes all of those look like knickknacks and trash. 00:04:57.899 --> 00:05:02.159 A gift that is utterly amazing. 00:05:02.359 --> 00:05:05.139 A gift that is available to all of us. 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:09.139 And I want to tell you the story of it from John chapter 4. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:17.259 Now the story takes place next to a village in the back of nowhere called Sychar up in Samaria. 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:21.120 It is the middle of the day. 00:05:21.219 --> 00:05:22.859 It is boiling hot. 00:05:22.860 --> 00:05:27.740 There is no one around. 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:31.560 The streets are utterly deserted like the streets of Edinburgh driving in this morning. 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:32.460 There's nobody about. 00:05:34.420 --> 00:05:35.840 It's the middle of the day. 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:41.460 All the people have been doing their work early in the morning to escape the heat. 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:43.960 And now they're back home enjoying life. 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:49.520 But in this scene, in this village in Sychar, there is one lonely figure sitting by a well. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:54.019 He has journeyed a long way from down south in Judea. 00:05:54.099 --> 00:05:55.879 His name is Jesus. 00:05:57.099 --> 00:05:59.000 And he sits there alone. 00:05:59.379 --> 00:06:03.519 Jesus had travelled with his disciples, but they've all dispersed to try and find food. 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:09.639 And Jesus sits there alone, resting after the long journey. 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:16.099 Jesus sits there alone in the boiling heat. 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:23.039 And all of a sudden, a woman, a lone woman comes to the well to draw water. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.019 She is notorious in Sychar. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:28.639 She has a bad reputation. 00:06:29.379 --> 00:06:30.639 She has been married five times. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:37.599 And is having a relationship and living with a man she is not married to. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.980 She's found life very unsatisfying. 00:06:42.640 --> 00:06:43.580 She's alone. 00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:53.379 And she comes to get water in the middle of the day because it's just less hassle than seeing and listening to all the other women make her feel horrible. 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.680 And reminding her what a mess she's made of her life. 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:03.980 And she gets to the well and she sees Jesus, this low Jewish man, as a Samaritan woman. 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:05.220 And she's very anxious. 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:08.780 This meeting is socially unacceptable. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:12.540 Jesus was a Jew and she was a Samaritan and they don't mix. 00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:15.639 Jesus was a man and she was a woman. 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:17.840 And they don't mix. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:26.079 Jesus was a holy man and she was in everyone's eyes an notorious sinner and they don't mix. 00:07:26.479 --> 00:07:30.939 This meeting breaks every social convention imaginable. 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:37.839 Not only were they in the same space by the well, but Jesus sparks up a conversation. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:44.979 He says this, will you give me something to drink? 00:07:47.259 --> 00:07:58.099 The woman was shocked and all she could think of saying was commenting on how dangerous it was for the two of them to be in the same place alone, chatting together. 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:02.240 And the woman said, you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:04.840 How can you ask me for a drink? 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:11.680 Jesus then spoke a single sentence and it's this that I want us to remember this morning. 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:14.660 He said this to her. 00:08:15.820 --> 00:08:26.520 If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:48.759 Jesus here is saying something absolutely remarkable about the greatest gift that he is. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:52.579 The greatest gift that's available to each of us today. 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:58.180 He refers to himself as the gift of God. 00:08:59.379 --> 00:09:02.200 This woman comes utterly dissatisfied in life. 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:04.759 Is very worried about the conversation there happening. 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:09.960 And right in the middle, Jesus says, if you knew the gift of God. 00:09:10.660 --> 00:09:13.360 He says, I am the gift of God. 00:09:13.420 --> 00:09:16.660 I am priceless, eternally valuable, unique, unfathomable. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.840 I am an undeserved gift that God has given you. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:26.180 Jesus says to the woman, if you knew who I am. 00:09:26.420 --> 00:09:31.180 If only you could see who it is standing right in front of your face. 00:09:32.139 --> 00:09:38.720 If only you got that this person speaking to you wasn't some faceless Jewish stranger loitering near and where. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:45.660 If you could only see, if you would only realize that you are having a conversation with God himself. 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:51.019 God's perfect gift of his perfect son to a lost and fallen world. 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:57.360 Not only is Jesus a gift, but Jesus gives us gifts. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:05.940 He says, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asked you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. 00:10:08.340 --> 00:10:11.620 Jesus, the gift who gives a gift. 00:10:12.379 --> 00:10:17.560 The gift of God isn't only the giving of his son, but also what the son is able to give. 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:19.360 He promises us living water. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:20.159 Water. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:32.039 Eternally satisfying, soul quenching, infinitely refreshing, perpetually fulfilling, always fresh, pure water. 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:39.360 Jesus says, if only you got who I was, I would give you a gift that's of infinite value. 00:10:40.820 --> 00:10:44.360 And you would receive eternal life. 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:52.259 The bewildered woman asks some more questions and they have a conversation during which reveals that he knows everything about her. 00:10:52.680 --> 00:10:59.100 He knows about all the husbands, all the men, all the gossip, all the slander, all the mess. 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:02.759 Jesus knows about her reputation, her relationships. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.200 He knows about her ruined life and her great remorse. 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:10.820 And Jesus stands in front of her and says, he is God's gift. 00:11:10.820 --> 00:11:17.920 Come to satisfy her deepest longing by giving her another chance through new and eternal life. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.980 Living water that will eternally satisfy. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:31.140 The truth is that Jesus who spoke those words on that day in Sychar in Samaria speaks those same words to each of us today. 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:42.319 That if we get who he is, we can come to him and ask that he would be our king and that he would give us living water. 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:47.259 So when we open our gifts today, let's remember these words. 00:11:47.319 --> 00:11:55.019 If you knew the gift of God, who Jesus is, you would ask him and he would give you living water. 00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:58.460 So with that, I am finished. 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:03.059 We're going to sing another song and then our time together is over. 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:08.779 But please ponder these things when you go home to eat ridiculous quantities of turkey and rip open presents. 00:12:10.079 --> 00:12:14.159 There is a present that God has given you this Christmas that will last for all eternity. 00:12:15.079 --> 00:12:22.120 The gift of his son who came to live and die for you that you might receive from him living water, eternal life. 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:32.120 Jesus says, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that you asked for a drink, you would have asked him and he would give you living water. 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:33.539 Let me pray. 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:44.360 Father God, I thank you that the most precious gift that any of us can receive this Christmas is to receive from you the gift of your son. 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:48.340 And that in him we might have eternal life. 00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:51.659 So, Lord, may these truths be precious to us. 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:55.080 Father, may they be the things that we're building our lives around. 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:58.580 May Jesus be the king of who we are. 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:02.399 So, Lord, give us this living water we ask in Jesus' name. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:03.240 Amen.