WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.879 Paul just led us in prayer there for the situation in Ukraine and Russia as we've been praying 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:11.200 ! for, well, the length of the conflict really. But do you remember at the end of last year, 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:16.640 towards the end of last year, Donald Trump commented that he thought that if he ended 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:23.439 the war in Ukraine, it would help him get into heaven. He said this, and there's a bit of footage 00:00:23.439 --> 00:00:27.839 from Air Force One when a reporter sticks a microphone in his face and reminds him that he 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:33.280 said that and said, do you really think that? Do you think that ending the war in Ukraine will get 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:38.159 you into heaven? And he said this, I don't think there's anything that's going to get me into heaven. 00:00:38.879 --> 00:00:43.839 I think I'm not maybe heaven bound. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make heaven, 00:00:44.879 --> 00:00:50.559 but I've made life a lot better for a lot of people. Now, I know mention of Donald Trump divides the room. 00:00:50.559 --> 00:00:56.879 This is neither an endorsement nor a criticism. It is just to say that it is interesting how he 00:00:56.879 --> 00:01:04.959 thinks about the kind of people that God would accept. And it's an opinion that lots of people 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:13.199 that we come across share. There are good people in the world. They go to heaven. They are heaven 00:01:13.199 --> 00:01:20.719 bound. And then there are the ones who missed the mark. As I say, Trump isn't alone in thinking like 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:25.200 that. It's a very common way to think. I suspect that if you ask the proverbial man on the street 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:33.280 about what kind of person God accepts, he would say a version of good people, upstanding people, 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:39.599 moral people. They're the heaven bound ones. And by contrast, they're those who are, well, really, 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:45.599 they're beyond the pale. And all of us have our list of people that we think would be beyond the pale, 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:50.719 people who don't make the mark, either for religious reasons or moral reasons or other 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:56.400 reasons that we could think of. They don't fit that category. They are not maybe heaven bound. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:06.000 And that's certainly the case with this woman that Jesus meets in John chapter 4. And we get loads of 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:12.560 reasons in the passage why that is the case. First, when we dive in at the beginning, did you notice 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:20.400 the repeated mentions of the place Samaria? Jesus departed for Galilee, verse 3, and he had to go 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:28.560 through Samaria, verse 4. He came to a town of Samaria, verse 5. 7, a woman from Samaria came to 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:35.759 draw water. It's clear that her cultural background is important in the story. And the reason for that 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:43.520 is that pious Jews usually went out of their way to avoid Samaria. Jews, verse 9, we're told, can you see, 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:50.080 had no dealings with Samaritans. That's a polite way of saying that Samaritans and Jews were sworn 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:55.440 enemies. They had nothing to do with one another. One commentator explains, he says this, 00:02:55.440 --> 00:03:01.040 centuries before, most of the Jews were exiled to Babylon by their conquerors. Some of the Jews 00:03:01.040 --> 00:03:04.960 who stayed behind intermarried with other Canaanites and essentially formed a new tribe, 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:11.040 the Samaritans. They took parts of the Jewish religion and parts of the Canaanite religion and 00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:17.439 created a syncretistic religion. So, the Jews considered the Samaritans racially inferior and 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:26.159 heretics." End quote. Racially inferior and heretics. The woman is from the wrong culture 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:35.039 and the wrong religion when it comes to the things of God. But we're also made very clear that she's stuck 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:42.079 in the wrong kind of life. We get the first hint of this in verse 6. We're told that Jesus meets her at 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:49.280 the well in Sychar at the sixth hour. And you look at your footnote, it says that's around noon. No one 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:55.520 came to the well at noon. It's the heat of the day. Everybody had come earlier when it was cooler. But 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:02.560 she's there because she wants to avoid the other people who come earlier in the day. The reason for 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:07.120 this becomes clear when we go down to verse 17. Look down at the bottom. Verse 17, Jesus tells her to 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:12.400 call her husband, Go call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:19.280 Jesus said to her, You're right in saying you have no husband. For you had five husbands, and the one 00:04:19.280 --> 00:04:26.639 you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. Jesus puts his finger right on the 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:33.120 pain point of her life. Now, was she adulterous? Was she the victim of a system where men could walk on 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.600 their wives, a kind of no fault, could walk out on their wives, a no fault divorce? We're not told. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:44.240 I favor the latter opinion. And therefore, the issue that defines this woman, I think ultimately, 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:50.480 the way the passage is put together, the issue is shame. Because even in Samaritan culture, 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:54.800 you were allowed to be married three times. That was considered okay. Three marriages, 00:04:54.800 --> 00:05:00.800 that was all right. After that, it was immoral. And whatever the reason, we're not told, she's on five. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:06.960 Now, that surely means that while others would have looked down on her as a moral failure, 00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:10.720 she can't come to the well when the others are there. They would have looked down their nose at her. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:16.160 That is certainly the case. And she's so tainted that the current guy that she's with, he won't marry 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:22.480 her. Others think that way about her. But the thing we need to see is that she feels that way about herself. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:28.400 That shame runs very deep. Her life is a story of broken dreams, 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:33.439 and therefore deep shame because of the way it has worked out. If you'd asked her, 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:38.239 would she have made her way to heaven? She would have had her own version of, 00:05:38.239 --> 00:05:40.399 I think I'm not maybe heaven-bound. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.239 But the point of the story is that Jesus seeks her out. 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:53.919 And as we consider what this exchange between Jesus and this woman, who is from the wrong side 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:00.560 of the tracks and stuck in the wrong kind of life, what does this exchange tell us about what it means 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.240 to meet God? Well, there are two things I want us to see this evening. And the first is this, 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:13.680 you are not disqualified. You are not disqualified. Jesus has come for the outsider. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:20.800 And it is all by his design. It is no accident. It starts in verse 4. Do you see? We're told he had 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:27.439 to go through Samaria. Geographically, he didn't have to go through Samaria. He could have taken 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:34.960 another route. But theologically, he has to meet this woman in order to show the scope of the salvation 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:42.399 that he has come to bring. The narrative is supposed to shock us as we read it. We're supposed to read 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:48.959 and think, Samaria, Jesus, among the Samaritans, no, this wouldn't happen. We're supposed to read it 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:55.759 and think, a woman talking to Jesus, that would not happen. A woman from Samaria talking to Jesus, 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:01.519 no, no, no. A woman from Samaria with all of those broken marriages, definitely not. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:10.240 The woman herself is clearly shocked. Look at verse 9. How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:18.599 a woman of Samaria? No devout Jewish man would have allowed himself to be seen with a woman in this way, 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:26.519 let alone a Samaritan woman. Jesus is deliberately crossing every significant barrier there is. 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:33.799 We put barriers up around all kinds of things. Culture, gender, morality. Jesus smashes through 00:07:33.799 --> 00:07:38.759 all of those barriers in order to meet with this woman and turn her life around. 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:47.799 And don't miss as well that he asks her for a drink. He didn't keep her at a distance. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:55.379 He could have said to her, if you put your faith in me over there, if you put your faith in me, I will accept you. 00:07:55.520 --> 00:08:03.100 He gets close. And he asks her for a drink. He didn't insist on any of the purity regulations he drew near. 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:07.920 He wanted to have fellowship with this woman. It is all very shocking. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:15.560 But it is designed to point us to the climax of the chapter. Look down. We didn't get down to the end of it. 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:22.640 Verse 42, chapter 4, verse 42. Jesus is the Savior of the whole world. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:32.180 We saw last week that he came into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:39.019 might be saved, might be saved. And here is a woman who epitomizes disqualification from the things of God 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:47.979 on every level, and she is drawn in. Son of God left the glories of heaven, 00:08:48.979 --> 00:08:58.319 and he crossed not just cultural boundaries, but cosmic barriers in order to reconcile anyone who believes 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:08.040 to God. You are not disqualified. Whatever your culture, whatever your religion, 00:09:08.740 --> 00:09:13.180 whatever your life has looked like, up to this point now this evening, 00:09:13.940 --> 00:09:16.540 Jesus has come that you might be saved. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:25.160 Because your background can't save you, whether you were born in a palace or a pub car park, 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:31.919 because your behavior doesn't save you. Whether you're upstanding or you're disreputable, 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:38.319 you are not disqualified. And one other thing that this woman shows us, how others have treated you 00:09:38.319 --> 00:09:46.079 doesn't disqualify you from coming to Jesus either. He seeks out those who are shackled by shame. 00:09:47.339 --> 00:09:54.259 Is that you this evening? He seeks you out. He draws near. 00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:59.840 He welcomes you. He welcomes you. You are not defined by your past. 00:10:01.939 --> 00:10:05.539 I was with someone this week who I've been talking to about Jesus for many years, 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:10.279 and he said to me, he said that he believed that Jesus was who he said he was. 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:16.600 And he said to me that he believed that if he was to be forgiven, Jesus was the only answer. And I'm 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:22.279 sitting there thinking, wonderful. This is going to be great news. He's going to put his faith in Jesus. 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:28.600 And then he said this, I just think if I was to give my life to him, I'd be on some kind of B list, 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:35.939 because he's really interested in the bright and the beautiful. Do you think like that? Is that the 00:10:35.939 --> 00:10:41.959 way you think about the Lord Jesus? This guy, his experience of life had taught him that he was a B 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:47.519 list kind of person. Well, there was nothing bright and beautiful about the Samaritan woman. 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:57.300 And yet, Jesus sought her out, and he made her a promise, which takes us to the second thing that 00:10:57.300 --> 00:11:05.420 this exchange teaches us about meeting God. Here's the thing. Our sin disqualifies us from heaven. 00:11:05.419 --> 00:11:13.419 Our sin disqualifies us in ourselves from the God of heaven and earth. But coming to Jesus, 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:22.879 anyone can do that. And he is the one who brings us in. None of us are disqualified on the basis of 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:29.379 what our lives are like, on the basis of where we're from, on the basis of who we know or who we belong to. 00:11:29.379 --> 00:11:37.700 You are not disqualified. But here's the second thing. If you come to Jesus, you will be satisfied. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:44.700 You will be satisfied. Jesus asked the woman for a drink, and when she expresses her surprise at this, 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:50.279 he says, look at verse 10, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:53.360 give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 00:11:54.139 --> 00:11:58.019 The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:03.620 Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:08.819 drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks 00:12:08.819 --> 00:12:14.519 of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:19.720 never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:29.060 to eternal life. Jesus is claiming to be able to provide living water, which is a kind of water that 00:12:29.060 --> 00:12:35.920 he equates with eternal life. Because we can have it at the end of the tap, we take water for granted. 00:12:36.420 --> 00:12:40.120 But in hot countries where this isn't the case, getting clean water can be the difference between 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:48.419 life and death. Without water, your body dries up, shrivels up, and you die. And here Jesus is using 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:53.240 that same metaphor to say that he's offering something that's just as important to our soul 00:12:53.240 --> 00:13:02.840 as water is to our body. Verse 11, the woman thinks he's talking about H2O. You've nothing to draw water 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:06.500 with. You don't have a bucket. The thing's deep. How are you going to get the water out of the well? 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:10.759 How are we going to drink? That kind of thing. Jesus says, no, it's not about this water. 00:13:13.179 --> 00:13:19.000 This water will only work for a while. This water will only do something to your physical thirst. 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:25.100 But then you'll dry up again. Verse 14, I am talking about something that will ultimately satisfy. 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:34.259 Ultimately, contentment, deep satisfaction. Isn't that what we're all looking for? Isn't it? 00:13:34.259 --> 00:13:43.439 In our minds, that's what our hearts desire. And in our minds, we think that success is the answer. 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:49.019 If we can get success, whatever our chosen field might be, whatever it is we think success looks 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:54.080 like, if we can get that, well, then that will be the answer to any lack of satisfaction that we have. 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:59.720 Yeah, we know there are dissatisfied people out there, but that's because they failed in some way. 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:05.040 They didn't get into the right university. They couldn't get the right job. Their relationships 00:14:05.040 --> 00:14:09.519 hit the skids. It's obvious why they're not satisfied, but the answer to that is simple. 00:14:09.779 --> 00:14:18.740 Just don't fail. And some of you are still young enough to think that that plan will work for you. 00:14:18.740 --> 00:14:29.659 But here's the thing. What do you do with a long line of really successful people who have never found 00:14:29.659 --> 00:14:36.360 satisfaction? You think it'll work for you? Why did it not work for everybody else that has been really 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:41.820 successful and yet deeply dissatisfied? Do you remember the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman? 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:48.620 He died about 10 years ago of a drug overdose. Now, I mention him, talk about him all the time, 00:14:48.680 --> 00:14:52.879 actually, because of an article that I read after his death that has stayed with me. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:59.680 Philip Seymour Hoffman was professionally and personally very successful, which is rare in 00:14:59.680 --> 00:15:05.920 Hollywood. He had been an actor in successful films. He directed successful films. He had a successful 00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:11.720 personal life by any standard, and he was very rich. And Hugo Rifkind wrote the article that had this line 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:17.000 in it that has stuck with me. He asked the question, in light of all of that success, where was the hole 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:25.060 in his life that led to the hole in his arm? Do you know, if I could just write one line as good as that 00:15:25.060 --> 00:15:33.300 in my life, I'd retire. See, Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't fail. He had all the money, he had all the fame, 00:15:33.300 --> 00:15:41.220 he had all the success, and yet satisfaction still eluded him. Because these things—money, fame, success—everyone 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:48.639 who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. Seen it all over the news this week—the beautiful 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:57.660 Beckham family. All the success, all the money, all the family strife. And we don't need to be famous 00:15:57.660 --> 00:16:05.820 to know this. We all know this at some level in our own lives, our own ordinary ways. We pass our exams. 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:13.540 Well, there are more exams. We get the job, we need a better role. We get a promotion, we want more money. 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:19.700 We need to be in a bigger company. And so it goes on. It's like a treadmill, and we just keep going, 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:23.160 we keep going, and it gets steeper and steeper and faster and faster. 00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:32.079 I spoke to somebody one time who, by any metric in our lives, we would say was a successful person. 00:16:32.459 --> 00:16:37.819 And he said, success is like a drug. You get hooked, and you need more the next time for the same hit. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:45.879 We are wired for satisfaction. We long for it, but it eludes us. 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:54.419 It always just runs out beyond our grasp. We live with what you could call a satisfaction void. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:04.680 So, what do we do? What do we do? Well, one solution is that you lock up your heart. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:10.880 Some people do this. They've been looking to things out there. Those things haven't brought 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:16.480 that satisfaction, so they become cynical. They make fun of everything, make fun of everyone, 00:17:17.080 --> 00:17:21.720 keep that thing at a distance all the time. Cynical people can be very funny, 00:17:22.600 --> 00:17:26.880 but it's no way to live your life. It's not a satisfying way to live your life, 00:17:26.940 --> 00:17:30.580 being cynical about everything all the time, making a joke of everything all the time. 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:39.240 A better option is this. It is to recognize that we can't create satisfaction from below, 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:43.759 you could say. We can't create it from within ourselves or from anything that is out there. 00:17:44.220 --> 00:17:50.099 The void is too big. It's so big that you can pour in fame and fortune, and as much success is 00:17:50.099 --> 00:17:56.779 out there, and it just vanishes. It just disappears. If satisfaction is to be found, 00:17:56.839 --> 00:18:02.480 we need it to come to us from the outside, but with the power to transform us on the inside. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:10.220 And Jesus comes to this woman. He knows the issue that is most painful in her life. He puts his finger 00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:16.360 on it, and he says, I can satisfy your thirst. Look at verse 14. Whoever drinks of the water that I 00:18:16.360 --> 00:18:23.240 will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:32.339 water welling up to eternal life. Like a spring that bubbles up from beneath the earth's surface, 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:37.920 regardless of what is going on at ground level, the spring that bubbles up, it is unstoppable. 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:42.579 Springs are unstoppable. It doesn't matter what you build on top of them. They'll get their way up 00:18:42.579 --> 00:18:48.819 through there. And Jesus is offering something that provides a satisfaction from deep within that 00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:56.339 bubbles up, regardless of our external circumstances. Now, I'm not saying that you come to Jesus and your 00:18:56.339 --> 00:19:02.139 problems dissolve. This woman, she still had to face the disapproving looks of the townspeople when 00:19:02.139 --> 00:19:08.619 she made her trip to the well. She still felt the pain of the shame and the sadness and the brokenness 00:19:08.619 --> 00:19:16.899 of her life. But the offer here that Jesus extends is that even through those trials, Jesus is enough. 00:19:16.900 --> 00:19:27.400 He's enough. And a relationship with Him is the source of deep heart satisfaction in the good times and 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:39.780 the bad. We all need this living water, and Jesus says, I can give it. This is eternal life. Your soul 00:19:39.779 --> 00:19:46.700 quenched for eternity. The thirst of your soul slaked for eternity. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:56.899 The question is, how is this possible? How is it possible that the perfectly holy Jesus can grant this 00:19:56.899 --> 00:20:02.839 to people who would otherwise be disqualified, sinful people like you and me? Well, if we step back for a 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:18.500 moment, why did Jesus need to speak to this woman? He was thirsty. The God of all glory took on flesh. He 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:23.439 became human in a body that would get tired and thirsty and need a drink. When you boil it down, 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:29.059 humanly speaking, this woman found living water because Jesus was thirsty. 00:20:31.360 --> 00:20:35.680 And of course, we know this isn't the only time in John's gospel that Jesus says, I am thirsty. 00:20:37.360 --> 00:20:44.299 When He hung on the cross, as the searing heat of God's justice at sin burned against Him, 00:20:44.299 --> 00:20:53.599 among His last words, He said, I thirst. And it is because of this, because Jesus experienced 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:03.299 a cosmic thirst under the judgment of God in our place, that you and I are free to drink and be 00:21:03.299 --> 00:21:10.680 satisfied. He went thirsty so that you and I might drink the living water of eternal life. 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:20.779 So, go to Him. Go to Him. Put your faith in Him. 00:21:23.259 --> 00:21:30.259 What that means is, shift the object of your worship. That's how Jesus puts it to the woman. 00:21:30.340 --> 00:21:34.940 Did you see that? He's just told her about her inner life. She talks about Him being a prophet and about 00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:40.600 worship. Verse 20, the Samaritans worshipped on Mount Gerizim, the Jews in Jerusalem. What does 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:48.379 Jesus say? Woman, believe me. Verse 21, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in 00:21:48.379 --> 00:21:54.619 Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, 00:21:54.719 --> 00:21:59.699 for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers 00:21:59.699 --> 00:22:04.379 will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. 00:22:04.380 --> 00:22:11.700 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. We all, all of us, 00:22:12.100 --> 00:22:17.120 every single one of us here this evening, we worship something. For the Samaritans, it was their 00:22:17.120 --> 00:22:23.420 syncretistic worship of different gods. For us, it could be absolutely anything. You want to know what 00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:29.160 you worship? Look at the thing that controls your life. Look at the thing that absorbs your time and your 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:34.840 money and your energy, the thing that you are devoted to. You bow at the altar of your career, 00:22:35.019 --> 00:22:39.900 or of your family, or of your reputation, or your wealth, or your success, whatever it is. 00:22:40.140 --> 00:22:44.740 But here's the thing. As long as you do this, you're signing up for being thirsty again. 00:22:45.940 --> 00:22:52.420 That's what Jesus tells us. We were all of us built for God. We were wired towards this kind of 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:59.140 satisfaction, but as long as we pursue it apart from Him, things don't work. Augustine said in his 00:22:59.140 --> 00:23:04.200 confessions famously, Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee, O God. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:13.500 And Jesus says, until we do this, until we find our rest in God, we are worshiping what we do not know. 00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:21.860 But if we will receive the eternal life that He promises, we must set aside those many gods and give 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:30.959 our worship to the one true God. It is a worship, a devotion, a ordering of our desires, our affections 00:23:30.959 --> 00:23:37.559 directed to God the Father. That is enabled by God the Son, and it is done in the power of God the Spirit. 00:23:37.699 --> 00:23:44.319 True worship is utterly God-centered, and that starts with repentance for our sin, 00:23:46.139 --> 00:23:49.240 acknowledging that we have been seeking satisfaction in other things, 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:53.599 acknowledging that we have been wired for a relationship with God, and we've turned our 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:58.539 backs on Him, and we've sought to go our own way. And He says to you this evening, 00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:04.460 you say, I don't have a husband, and He says, I know you've had five husbands. He puts His finger on 00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:10.400 the point of pain in your life, and He says to you, I know everything about you, 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:17.380 and I'm the only one who can satisfy the deep restlessness of your soul. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:25.440 And we have to say, you know, you're right. I am sorry that I have lived my way in your world. 00:24:26.580 --> 00:24:33.540 Forgive me and receive me, and He will do that. That is what it means to change the object of your 00:24:33.540 --> 00:24:38.400 worship. Take your heart off yourself or off the things that you're using to serve yourself, 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:42.680 and position it towards God. Devote yourself to Him. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:50.480 Turn from your sins and commit your life to a life fully surrendered to Him. And here's the thing. 00:24:51.620 --> 00:24:57.320 We talk about surrendering ourselves to another. It is a frightful thing for us. We get anxious. 00:24:57.840 --> 00:25:03.140 But here's the thing. When you know that God has sought you, and He has given you eternal life, 00:25:03.140 --> 00:25:13.720 this surrender is actually freedom. You're set free. You can be ambitious without the crushing need 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:19.400 to prove yourself. You can enjoy relationships without the fear that they will one day let you 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:24.160 down. You can have much or you can have little without resenting others who have more. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:30.160 That is why a life of true worship is satisfying. 00:25:32.580 --> 00:25:36.680 But it's important to see as well the way the conversation is framed here. Our worship doesn't 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:42.340 stop there. It's not about us taking our hearts off a false God, whatever that might be, and 00:25:42.340 --> 00:25:47.380 directing it towards the true God. There's more to say here. You see, it's often said that Jesus does 00:25:47.380 --> 00:25:53.060 that. He moves worship away here from a particular location. Gerizim, Samaritans, or Jerusalem, the Jews. 00:25:53.059 --> 00:25:59.259 And he says, worship is now all about your heart. But true worship that is enabled by the body of 00:25:59.259 --> 00:26:04.940 Christ, that is, true worship that is enabled by the death of Christ on the cross for you, 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:13.679 is rightly offered in the body of Christ. That is, the gathering of the local church. 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:22.599 The church is the real body of Christ, after all. So, to worship as we are called to here in 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:29.879 Spirit and truth is to gather with the church. It is to do what we're doing now. It is to come to the 00:26:29.879 --> 00:26:36.879 place of the real presence of the Holy Spirit and the real proclamation of God's truth. The worshipers 00:26:36.879 --> 00:26:44.119 that God is seeking, those who drink from Christ and are satisfied, are those who turn from the idols 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:50.859 of this world that only leave you empty and thirsty and who come before God, Lord's day by Lord's day, 00:26:50.959 --> 00:26:57.879 in spirit and truth. And he says to you, you are not disqualified and you will be satisfied. 00:26:57.880 --> 00:26:59.960 Let's pray.