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Please turn in your Bibles to 
John chapter four. John chapter four. John chapter four, I'll begin 
reading in verse one. Therefore, when the Lord knew 
that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized 
more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize, 
but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 
But he needed to go through Samaria. So, he came to a city of Samaria, 
which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob 
gave to his son, Joseph. Now, Jacob's well was there. 
Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by 
the well. It was about the sixth hour. 
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give 
me a drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to 
buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, 
being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews 
have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, 
If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says 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. Where, then, 
do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father 
Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as well 
as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, 
Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever 
drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But 
the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain 
of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, 
Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here 
to draw. Jesus said to her, Go, call your 
husband and come here. The woman answered and said, 
I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well 
said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and 
the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you 
spoke truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I 
perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this 
mountain. And you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where 
one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe 
me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain 
nor in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship what you 
do not know. We know what we worship for salvation 
is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now 
is when the true worship worshipers will worship the father in spirit 
and truth. For the father is seeking such 
to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship 
him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, 
I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he 
comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak 
to you and he. And at this point, his disciples 
came and they marveled that he talked with a woman. Yet no one 
said, what do you see or why are you talking with her? The 
woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city and 
said to the man, Tom, see a man who told me all things that I 
ever did. Could this be the Christ? Then 
they went out of the city and came to him. Amen. Let us pray. Our father in heaven, we come 
into your presence and our God, we know that you are a holy God 
and a righteous God, the God full of mercy and grace and a 
God who has not dealt with us according to our sin. And in 
this we rejoice, Father, we thank you for that forgiveness of sin 
that we have through the living water, which is Christ Jesus, 
our Lord. We pray that even now you would 
help us to understand your word. Help us, Lord God, to receive 
the things that you would have for us and do wash us afresh 
in the blood of Christ. Do help us, God, to come with 
clear consciences and with a genuine desire to be taught of God. We 
just pray, Lord, that you would be exalted and glorified, that 
we'd learn something of what it is to to come into your presence 
and to know that communion that you have made us for. And we 
ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. If I ask the question, 
why are you here, what would you answer? I don't mean why 
are you here in this particular room, on this particular day, 
in this particular town, but why are you here with reference 
to your existence on earth? You might say, well, God made 
me to be a teacher, God made me to be a mechanic, or God made 
me to be this or that. God made you to worship Him. 
That is the primary purpose for which we have been created. God 
made man upright. He made him in his own image. 
He gave us rationality. He gave us the ability to think 
his thoughts after him. He gave us the gift of language. 
He put us in a garden, a beautiful place. wherein man could commune 
with his God. If you look at the construction 
of the garden, it was set up as a temple. It was set up as 
a place where God and sinners or God and man rather would come. 
and engage with one another, and all of redemptive history 
is moving to that place when that temple will be restored. 
It is no accident that when John the Apostle looks and he sees 
that New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband, It is described as a temple. Paradise 
was lost in the garden. Paradise will be restored again 
through the power of Jesus Christ. So God made us to worship, but 
man departed, man defected, man against the living and the true 
God. So, the remainder of the Bible teaches us how the Lord 
rescues, how the Lord redeems, how He restores us to that place 
where we worship Him properly. And this morning, we're going 
to consider the doctrine of worship, and it is well expressed here 
in John 4 in Jesus dealing with this woman, this Samaritan woman. Now, just for the sake of definition, 
worship is the giving of praise, honor, adoration, devotion and 
service to God. That's a great explanation. It 
is the giving of praise, honor, adoration, devotion and service 
to God. The Greek word often means or 
the Greek word that is employed often means to fall down and 
to kiss someone. The idea is that we're falling 
before the Lord Jesus Christ in submission. and in service 
and we are rendering to you that honor and that devotion that 
is due to his name. It is primarily a matter of the 
heart. But it does express itself through 
the body. And as you survey worship in 
the Old Testament and as you surveyed in the New Testament, 
it is a whole soul, whole body exercise to present ourselves 
unto the living and the true God. There is no higher purpose 
for which you have been created than to glorify God. Dr. Morecraft says we are never more 
fully human than when we are singing praises to God. That's 
a great concept. You are never as fully human 
as you are when you are worshipping your creator, because that's 
why he made you. That is the purpose for which 
he made you. John Piper says that missions 
and evangelism will cease. Missions and evangelism are a 
means to create worshippers. Worship never ceases. Worship 
will never stop. In heaven there won't be missions 
or evangelism, but worship will continue. The primary function 
for missions and evangelism in our own day and age is to go 
forth with the gospel of free and sovereign grace, to see men 
bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to give themselves up in 
worship to our God. So missions and evangelism are 
a means to create worshippers. Worship is why you break. Worship is why you eat. Worship is why you drink. Worship 
is why God has made you. And there are four topics or 
four ideas or four themes, really, that Jesus and this Samaritan 
woman talk about. But the central, the primary 
theme is that whole idea of worship and giving glory and honor to 
God. The first thing they speak about is this water, specifically 
the living water. Secondly, they talk about her 
marriage. Thirdly, they talk about worship 
proper. She changes the subject as she 
goes into a different direction. She asks him specifically about 
worship. And then the fourth topic they 
discuss is the Messiah, the Messiah ship, the one who is the Christ 
who would come from God to save his people from their sin. So 
living water, the woman's marriage, worship itself and the Messiah 
ship. But let's look, first of all, 
at this discussion concerning the living water. The setting 
is important. You need to know something about 
Samaria. The Samaritans were not the favorite 
people in Palestine of that day. There was quite a rift between 
Jews and Samaritans. In fact, that's why the woman 
says, you being a Jew, why are you talking to me, a Samaritan? Then the disciples are a bit 
blown away because he's talking to a woman. There was a thought 
back then that you would be better spent studying theology than 
wasting your time talking to a woman. So this woman had two 
strikes against her going into this very meeting. But I think 
there's even more than meets the eye and more than that we 
can survey concerning her situation. But Samaria was founded ultimately 
as the northern, the capital of the northern tribes after 
the division of the kingdom under King Omri. Remember, God split 
Israel and Judah into two, the ten northern tribes, and then 
you had two southern tribes. Well, then God used Assyria to 
judge the northern tribes in 722 BC. And what Assyria's plan 
was, or one of the means by which they extended their dominion 
and culture, was to take lands that they had captured and bring 
Assyrians in and make them live in the land with the people who 
remained. The idea being that the people 
who remain would absorb the culture of Assyria. And when you have 
time, you can look at Second Kings chapter 17 to see how the 
worship of God in Samaria was thoroughly corrupted. They did 
agree or the Samaritans rather agreed with the ten of the first 
five bucks. They said they believe the first 
five bucks or the penitent. That's why she's knowledgeable 
about Jacob. She's knowledgeable about worship. 
She has some understanding of these things, but they were downcast. They were looked down upon as 
doctrinal mongrels. You know those dogs that you 
say is a Heinz 57 dog? That's what the Samaritans were, 
theologically and religiously. They were mutts, they were mongrels, 
they were not orthodox. And something else that I think 
we need to notice about this particular meeting is that I 
think there's a specific contrast set up between this woman and 
Nicodemus in John chapter 3. I go back just for a moment to 
John two, the very end of John two. I want you to see something 
here that helps us understand these accounts where Jesus interacts 
with private individuals. John chapter two, verse twenty 
three. Now, when he was in Jerusalem 
at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name when 
they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself 
to them because he knew all men and had no need that anyone should 
testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Right on the heels 
of this statement, here comes Nicodemus. Nicodemus says, we 
know that you're a teacher sent from God. What does Jesus do? 
He knew the man. He knew what was at the heart 
of this man. He said, unless a man is born again, he will 
not see the kingdom of God. He is dealing with him on that 
spiritual level. He is dealing with him on that 
most perceptive way. He knows what's in man. Here 
comes this Pharisee or here comes this leader in the land of Israel. And Jesus deals with them concerning 
the new birth. We get to John 4 and he deals 
with basically the opposite of Nicodemus. I mean, you couldn't 
get further from Nicodemus than you could in this Samaritan woman. 
D.A. Carson said, John man and a contrast. I think he not only may intend, 
but he definitely intends a contrast between the woman of this narrative 
and Nicodemus of Chapter three. He was learned, powerful, respected, 
orthodox, theologically trained. She was unschooled, without influence, 
despised, capable only of folk religion. He was a man, a Jew, 
a ruler. She was a woman, a Samaritan, 
a moral outcast. And then his final statement 
is penetrating. And both needed Jesus. She'll love that. There exists 
such pride in the church today. It's almost like our centers 
are more important than your centers. We got to go out and 
win the adulterous is we got to go out and win the harlots. 
Yes, we do. We need to win Nicodemus also because Nicodemus goes to 
hell without the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's a valuable and precious 
soul. We not only need to target the 
Nicodemuses or the Nicodemi, we need to go after the adulteresses. 
We need to go after the harlots. We need to proclaim this living 
water that is powerful to save to the uttermost all that draw 
near to God through Jesus Christ the Lord. We have been given 
the great blessing and privilege as the Church of Christ to take 
these big containers of living water and seek to dump them on 
all comers, on all people. John is showing us here how Jesus 
deals with souls, how Jesus deals with sinners, whether they are 
from the upper echelon of society or they are from the lowest part 
of society. And the common denominator, the 
common theme is that Christ alone is able to save sinners. So, we notice here, Jesus comes 
to this well in verse five and six. Jacob's well was there. 
Verse six. Jesus, therefore, being wearied 
from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth 
hour. That means it was about noon. His disciples went off 
to buy some food. It's noon. He's weary. He's tired. This underscores his genuine 
humanity. Yes, he is God. He is man. Fully 
God. fully man, the Council of Calcedon 
in 451 A.D. or A.B. 451 spelled this out 
beautifully, reflecting what the Bible teaches. He is true 
man. He is weary. He is thirsty, but 
he's also there by divine necessity. Notice back in chapter four at 
verse four, but he needed to go through Samaria, not just 
because it was the most direct route. Not just because it was 
the most appropriate way for him to travel from one place 
to another. He needed to go there because 
there was a sinful woman that he was going to save. There is 
divine necessity in this text that we must not miss. Not only 
does Jesus need to go and rescue this sinful woman, but God must 
be worshipped in spirit and through a lot of divine necessity in 
this particular chapter that we do well to take notice of. So Christ comes, he asks for 
her to give me a drink. And the fact is, brethren, she's 
by herself. This is another indicator that 
she is not well favored among even her own people. Usually 
the women would have went to the well together. So she's not 
only a woman, she's not only a Samaritan, but she's also an 
outcast from her own people. The fact that she goes ultimately 
and witnesses to the men leads some to conclude that she was 
a harlot and she went to go preach to the men who knew her best. She didn't go to the women, not 
to say she neglected them. I don't know about all that, 
but she definitely had a spotted and assorted past. And Christ 
deals with her in this grace and mercy. So Jesus asks her, 
give me a drink. Notice in verse nine, then the 
woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you being a Jew 
ask a drink for me? A Samaritan woman for Jews have 
no dealings with Samaritans. John wants us to understand that 
John wants us to see. John couldn't make it any more 
conspicuous that that Jesus is doing something here that you 
just didn't do that. You just didn't talk to a woman 
who was a Samaritan like this. But he was divinely constrained. He had necessity laid upon him. No, she doesn't give him a drink. 
No indication whatsoever in the text that she says here. So what 
do you mean you're asking me for a drink? I don't think she 
gave him a drink. He's thirsty. He's tired. He's 
hot. But Jesus uses this occasion 
to move from physical water into this living water. He does this 
in various occasions in John's gospel, take something physical 
and then penetrate to the spiritual behind it. You must be born again. Nicodemus says, what do I have 
to walk? I'll go back into my mother's womb. There's a spiritual 
meaning here. And so, Jesus uses this occasion. It's interesting, the fountain 
of living water himself asks for a drink of water. She refuses 
him and then he uses this opportunity to teach her concerning living 
water. Notice verse 10, Jesus answered 
and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is 
who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and 
he would have given you living water. What do you think Jesus 
is doing here? You might actually translate 
this, if you knew the gift of God, that is the one who says 
to you, give me a drink. Jesus is the gift of God, isn't 
he? God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus is about this woman's 
soul. He's going to save her. He's 
going to deliver her from the kingdom of darkness and transfer 
her into the kingdom of his own light. And then notice the woman 
says in verse 11, the woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing 
to draw with in the well is deep. Well, then you get that living 
water. Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the 
well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and livestock? She understood that he was asserting 
superiority over Jake over Jacob. Jesus can give her something 
that Jacob couldn't. And you know what? She's suspect 
of him. I don't think she thinks he can deliver the goods. She 
doesn't know yet just what it is or who it is she's run into 
when you talk about a meeting here. Talk about an amazing time 
in this woman's life. And notice what Jesus says. He 
doesn't allow her to deter him. He doesn't allow her to refuse 
him. He doesn't allow her to reject 
him. He pursues with patience. He answers her questions and 
he explains this whole issue of living water. Notice in verse 
13, Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water 
will thirst again, that physical water where they came to draw 
from the well. He goes on to say in verse 14, 
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never 
thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a 
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. We need 
to notice three things about this statement. The first is 
only Jesus gives this. You cannot come away from reading 
this account with Jesus and the woman at the well and conclude 
that all roads lead to heaven because they don't. There's one 
found, one source of living water and it's Jesus. He will say this 
very clearly later in John 14 says, I am the way, the truth 
and the life. No one comes to the father except 
through me. He's saying essentially the same 
thing here. He says, whoever drinks of this 
water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that 
I shall give him. Whose will is supreme in the 
matter of salvation? The divine will. It is Jesus 
who saves. It is Jesus who liberates. It 
is Jesus who rescues. It is Jesus who washes. Jesus 
who sanctifies. Jesus who justifies. It is not 
her will that is primary here. It is not her making a decision 
for the Lord Jesus. It is Christ saying, I give this 
water and I give it freely as I determined to. Secondly, this 
living water is eternal life. He says as much at the end of 
verse fourteen, but the water that I shall give him will become 
in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. That is the grand purpose for 
which Jesus came to die for sinners and to rise again so that they 
might have everlasting life. Jesus was a good example. Jesus 
was a good teacher. Jesus did mighty deeds. Jesus 
healed a lot of people. Jesus fed the poor. Jesus raised 
the dead. But his primary act The primary 
focus in his ministry was to die for sinners and to rise again. This is why Paul in 1 Corinthians 
1 can say that the Jews, they seek after a sign and the Greeks, 
they seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified 
to the Greeks, foolishness to the Jews, a stumbling block. 
But to those who are being saved, Christ, the wisdom and power 
of God. Brethren, look at Jesus as your 
example. Look at Jesus as a great teacher. 
But first and foremost, look at Jesus as a substitute, as 
a sacrifice, as the bloody savior for sinners. I love the way a 
brother prayed the bloody and battered savior. That makes us 
a bit uncomfortable. Sometimes you read old Spurgeon 
sermons and he says, look at the door at Calvary. We don't 
like to think that way. People get offended when we sing 
Cooper's hymn. There is a fountain filled with 
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. But, brethren, we must be blood-stained 
as individuals. We must be blood-stained as a 
church. We are not here because of our 
merit. We are not here because of our righteousness. We are 
not here because of our works. We are here because we've been 
redeemed through blood. is the giver of eternal life. And he does this through his 
doing and through his dying and through his resurrection and 
his current session on high. And then he says very specifically 
the means by which this living water is received faith. He calls it drinking here. He 
calls it eating in John six. Those are all metaphors of the 
act of faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. Jesus says whoever drinks of 
the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water 
that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing 
up into everlasting life. The metaphor is rich and it's 
beautiful and it's wonderful. What do we need more than water? 
Y'all can leave here right now and not eat for another week 
or two and still live. Some of us might live even longer 
than a week or two. You cannot live without water. You cannot go without water. You must have it to satisfy. 
You must have it to refresh. You must have it for vitality 
and for life to Jesus to say he is the living water. He is 
the one that not only refreshes, but he revitalizes, he makes 
alive, he sustains that life. He is the very life, the very 
substance that we need continuously. Christ is dealing graciously 
with this woman. Notice now, she says in verse 
15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may 
not thirst nor come here to draw. Can you imagine her excitement 
for a moment? See, biblical interpretation 
means transporting yourself back there. She's excited. Somebody came to your house and 
said, look, I got something for you that will satisfy you forever. No, we wouldn't be like that. 
What is it? Tell me. How can I obtain this? What is 
it? There's excitement. That's where this lady's at. 
She's gone from, how come you're talking to me to, where is this 
living water? I want some. I want a drink. She's a social abcast. She's 
a Samaritan woman. She is weary. She is heavy laden. Her life, Reverend, is a big 
zero in the grand scheme of things. She's not Nicodemus. She's not 
accomplished. She's not looked on well in Israel. 
She's not called a teacher in Israel. She doesn't wear fine 
clothes. She's not. She's not respected 
in the community. She's everything opposite. So 
Jesus comes and says, I've got living water. You drink this 
water and you'll never thirst again. It shouldn't surprise 
us that she says, give me this water that I may not thirst nor 
come here to draw. Some of you have never come to 
this point. You've heard the glory of the 
gospel. You've heard the truth that there 
is a Savior who will receive you, that will forgive you, that 
will cleanse you from your sins. And instead of saying, sir, give 
me this water, you said, well, I'll hear it another time. I'll 
go home and sin. I'll continue living in sin. 
I'll continue doing this activity. I like pornography, or I like 
drugs, or I like the white collar crime, or I like my embezzlement, 
or my lying, or my cheating, or my thieving. She is feeling 
better than this living water. Praise God, this woman is getting 
it. Praise God, she sees what matters. Some here don't see 
what matters. And it reflects in the way that 
we live. It reflects in the way that we conduct ourselves. Always 
amazed me how people get so excited and zealous for things like a 
two hour hockey game. We're a rugby game. They get 
all fired up. It's not necessarily wicked to get fired up. Then 
we come into the church and we get around Christians. We start 
talking about Jesus and it's like we're dead. It's like there's 
no reality that there is a heaven. There is a hell. There's no effect 
upon us. We can traffic in some of the 
most lofty and most holy things and come away saying, man, I 
wonder what's for lunch. Probably some right now are thinking, 
I wonder what's for lunch? Can they turn this down? It's 
too loud. You know, learn something from 
this woman. With all of her issues and all of her problems and all 
of her past, when Christ came and said, look, I've got living 
water, she says, I want that. I want living water. I'm not 
content with my life. I'm in a mess of it. It's wretched. It's horrible. I'm defiled. I've got to come to the well 
on my own, because the ladies of the town don't like me. Maybe 
they think I'm trying to steal their husbands. This is a real 
sinner, a real bona fide sinner that Jesus is dealing with there. 
And that brings in, secondly, to consider her marriage. She's 
in a good place. Sir, give me this water. I want 
a drink. Oh, go call your husband. What's Jesus saying? There's 
a sin problem. There's an issue that stands 
between you and the living God. Go call your husband and come 
here. I love that. Love what Jesus 
does. He doesn't say go fix your broken 
relationships. And when you've succeeded, come 
back to me. That's not what he does. That's your idea of salvation. You got it wrong. People say, 
oh, my life is so messed up. I got to get things in order 
and then I'll come to Jesus. Wrong. Jesus puts things in order. Remember, God, through the prophet 
Jeremiah, said to Israel, come ye backsliding children and I 
will heal your backsliding. Don't try to fix it up. Don't 
try to repair yourself. Don't try to make yourself better. 
We're not preaching moral reform. We are preaching the bloody and 
risen Savior. He says, go get your husband 
and come back. What does she say? I don't have 
a husband. Jesus commends her formally. She's right. You have well said 
you don't have a husband. You've had five and the one you're 
with is not your husband. What's he doing? It's bringing 
that law, he's bringing that conviction. He's bringing us 
to that place where we need to be before we'll ever worship 
God are right. You don't just strut into the 
presence of God with all your sin, without any conviction, 
without any thought, without any dealings whatsoever and say, 
Lord, here I am. Butler said I was made to worship 
you. Here I am. No, you have to come through 
the blood. You have to come through the 
living water. That's what Christ is doing here. That's God saying 
in Isaiah 66 too. He says, Heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool, but 
I look upon him who has a humble and a contrite heart. I look 
upon him who trembles at my word. See, Christ says to this woman, 
before you can worship God in spirit and in truth, you first 
need to receive this living water. You first need to believe the 
gospel. Some of you probably have never 
worshipped in your life. Just going to a worship service 
doesn't mean the magic happens. Just singing the song doesn't 
mean the magic happens. By magic, I'm not saying it is 
a magic act. I'm saying that connection with 
God, that intimacy, that union. Some have never worshipped. Why? 
Because they've never drank the living water. They've never dealt 
with these five men plus one. They bring all their sin, they 
bring all their unconverted self into the presence of the high 
and holy God and think if they do the right things and say the 
right things and think the right things while they're told, they 
will somehow worship. Absolutely not. The only way 
you'll worship is to drink first of this living water. Go call 
your husband. He wanted her to understand that 
coming to him includes conviction of sin. You trace through the 
Bible, you read from the very beginning to the end. What is 
sinner? What is the sinner's response 
before God? What happened with Adam and Eve after they fall 
into sin? They make these leaves, they cover their waste areas, 
and that wasn't enough, so they go and hide themselves among 
the trees. Instead of running to God for forgiveness, they 
run from God. Why? They were convicted of their 
sin. What's Isaiah the prophet do when he is seen or given that 
vision of the throne room of God in the year that King Uzziah 
died? He sees the Lord high and lofty. He sees the train of his 
robe filling that holy place. He sees the pre-incarnate Christ, 
according to John chapter 12. He sees these things. He hears 
the angel saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The 
whole earth is full of his glory. What does Isaiah the prophet 
do? Oh, wow, Lord, aren't you lucky? I'm here to worship you. 
He said he cried out. He said, well, is me, for I am 
undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I 
dwell among the people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the Lord. What's Job do after God answers 
him out of the whirlwind? Remember, Job, at one point, 
I don't know, too big for his britches, starts to question 
God. God says, I want you to study 
yourself because I'm going to answer. Job, where were you when 
I laid the foundations of the world? Job, where were you when 
I told the water how far I'm not anymore? Job, where were 
you when I put the stars up in the sky? Job, can you answer 
me? No, you can't, right? Let's keep going. What's Job's 
response but to cover his mouth? He couldn't look upon this holy 
God. We have this idea that as sinful 
men, we just wander into the presence of God. We need mediation. We need a redeemer. We need the 
living water. What's God say to Moses when 
he shows himself at the burning bush? Take your sandals off, 
because the ground upon which you stand is holy ground. What 
about Nehudah and Abihu? Remember Leviticus chapter one 
to nine, God spells out how he is to be worshipped. God declares 
in vivid detail how he is to be approached. This is the law 
of sacrifice. This is the way you do it. These 
are the ones who conduct it. Chapter nine, the very end. Israel 
offers up an acceptable sacrifice and the glory of God consumes 
their offering. It says the people shout. Do 
you love that? They shout. I've always wondered 
what kind of a shout that was. A wow or a Just an amazing display 
of God sending fire down and consuming their altar. Lo and 
behold, Leviticus 10 starts and Nadab and Abihu think, well, 
we can do something that God hasn't commanded us. We'll offer 
up some strange fire unto the Lord. After all, he's already 
shown his approbation of what we offered. He'll take this too. 
No, he won't. God sent fire again, but this 
time it didn't consume their sacrifice. It consumed Nadab 
and Abihu. What's God's lesson? What's God 
want you to learn from that passage? What's God want you to bow your 
head and say, Lord, please teach me this and then say amen and 
go live on your way. I am holy and by those who approach 
me, I must be regarded as holy. God will deal with your sin. 
I'm not suggesting otherwise. Jesus covers sin. Jesus washes 
sin, Jesus justifies and sanctifies, but so many of us want to enter 
in and enjoy the worship of God without having made peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus. How can we have worship with 
one who is our sworn enemy? How can we have worship with 
one who is our enemy? Because if we're not reconciled 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, that's exactly the situation. 
So the word reconciliation has to do with God is reconciling 
sinners to himself. That means bringing peace. So 
the words the Bible uses about salvation are very important. 
It does us well to understand that words like redemption. Jesus 
buys us out of the slave market of sin. He redeems us. The word propitiation used in 
a few places by the Apostle Paul means that Jesus takes in himself 
the wrath that is due to us. It's a good word. You don't want 
to get rid of that one. It's important. reconciliation, God and sinners 
reconciled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's willing and he's 
able and he will deal with your issue is you got to deal with 
your sin. That's what Jesus is impressing upon this woman and 
notice something to Jesus commands her to do something she can't 
do. That really bothers people. How can he command me to this 
and I can't do it? Because he's God? That's a good 
answer right there. Go call your husband. She couldn't. Why would we preach the law to 
someone when they can't? Because through the law is the 
knowledge of sin. Please don't forget that use 
of the law. Christ is bearing on this woman. And then notice what she does. She wants to talk about worship. 
Is that great? Sure. I perceive that you are 
a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this 
mountain and you just say that in Jerusalem is the place where 
one ought to worship. Two different views on this. 
Some say it's got a psychological element. She's found out. She's 
like a cornered animal now. She's got to come out fighting 
or change the subject. She can say, well, you know, 
the husband thing, they all died. I got divorced. You know, try 
to justify her sin or just not say a word. Let's just change 
the subject. Sure, you've had that happen 
before. You're out witnessing to someone, you bring them, you 
know, they're found out in sin. Well, where did Cain get his 
wife? It's a debate time. Let's change the subject. I don't 
want to talk about me and my sin. Usually, it's not a real 
happy subject. Especially if I'm not a forgiving 
sinner. I really don't want to talk about it. John 3 tells me 
that as darkness, I don't want to come to the light, lest my 
evil is exposed. Or she's legitimately interested. 
She's standing in the midst of a prophet. It's some theology 
here. The difference between the Jews 
and the Samaritans. I want to know. I want to learn. 
She asks about worship. I leave that to your own prayer, 
your own meditation as to which of the two. But the point is, 
the direction changes now to a consideration of the worship 
of God. Jesus goes. Jesus doesn't say, 
wait a minute, I want to talk about this, because all that 
he says is going to continue to expose her and show her her 
need for him. But you want to talk about worship. 
Let's talk about worship. The first thing is the place 
of worship. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, verse 20. And 
you do say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought 
to worship. The woman asks, where do we go? Do we go to Jerusalem 
or do we go to Gerizim? Do we go to Samaria or do we 
go to Jerusalem? Where do we go? Jesus' words 
are beautiful. So one of the aspects of John's 
gospel is to show us throughout that Jesus is the fulfillment 
of all that the Old Testament taught. Woman, believe me, he 
says, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain 
nor in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship what you 
do not know. We know what we worship for salvation 
is of the Jews, but the hour is coming and notice verse twenty 
three and now is talking about. Talking about the fulfillment 
of all those promises of God, where the worship of God would 
be universalized, universalized, does not mean every single sinner 
will be saved. But it means that the worship 
of God will transcend Palestine. Can someone turn the fans on, 
please? It's quite warm in here and I don't want to lose anybody. 
If we could just flip those ones on, that would be good. Maybe 
we'll get the blood flowing. As Spurgeon said, the next best 
thing to the spirit in the heart is oxygen in the head. I don't 
want a lack of oxygen to restrict any of us from seeing what Jesus 
teaches this woman concerning worship. Thank you. This place, 
where do we go? Where do we go? Where do we go? 
Where do we go? Jesus says the hour is coming and now he is, 
when it won't be localized. See, the temple was very much 
the center of Israelite worship. Nobody's disputing that. But 
what was the temple pointing to? The temple was pointing to 
Jesus. That's the whole point of John 
2. Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. 
It took our fathers 46 years to build this temple. You're 
going to raise it up in three days. What's John the theologian 
tell us? He was talking about the temple 
of his body. Remember, I referenced Revelation 
and the movement of redemptive history. When we get to Revelation 
21 and 22, what do we learn? There's no physical structure 
there. The Lord God and the land are 
the temple. Christ saying is the hour is 
coming and now is with his life, with his ministry, with his redemptive 
activity, when it won't be localized in Palestine, but the worship 
of God will be universal. I believe that in the mind of 
Christ or some of the texts that that perhaps Christ had in mind, 
one of them is Malachi chapter one, a book that deals very specifically 
with the worship of God. In Malachi chapter one, verse 
eleven, for from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, 
my name shall be great among the Gentiles in every place. Incense shall be offered to my 
name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among 
the nation, says the Lord of hosts. This is the time Christ 
is inaugurated. Malachi's prophecy, Isaiah's 
prophecy, the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 17. In you, 
all the families of the earth will be blessed. Christ says, 
here it is. Notice, secondly, he speaks of 
the object of worship. She wants to talk about the place, 
the where. He wants to talk about the who. You get that she was talking 
about the place where I go to worship. He was talking about 
who you're worshiping. He says salvation is of the Jews 
and is insofar as that goes, the Jews were giving the oracles 
of God in Judah. God's name is known according 
to the psalmist. Paul says that they were given all these blessings, 
all these good things, all these good words from the Lord. Yes, 
of the two Samaritan and Jew Old Covenant wise, the Jews are 
right. So he says. You worship what you do not know. 
We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. When Assyria 
came into Samaria and started planting all that wicked doctrine 
and all that religious heresy and the Samaritans started following 
that, y'all abandoned the true and living God. You became apostates. You became defectors. You are 
gone. You are outside the covenants 
of promise. You are strangers to the Commonwealth 
of Israel. But now, is the time for you, even you, 
to be brought through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
issue is not where, but whom is worship. And, you know, this 
is a big difference as to what we hear today. Today, false religion 
says, as long as you worship, doesn't matter. As long as you 
worship. Man is a worshipping being. All 
you gotta do is worship. Doesn't matter if you worship 
a doorknob. Doesn't matter if you worship a man. Doesn't matter 
if you worship a cult. Doesn't matter if you worship 
an organization. Doesn't matter. What's important is worship. 
We hear a variation of that with reference to believe. We come 
and say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. No, you just need 
to believe. As long as you believe, then you're gonna be alright. 
No, you're not. It does matter who you believe on, and it does 
matter who you worship. You may be worshiping a God you 
have created according to your own image. You must come to the 
Bible to learn of the true and the living God. It's been well 
said, God created man in his own image, and ever since the 
fall, man has been recreating God in his own image. Jesus says it's important to 
know, it's important to understand, it's important to take the scriptures 
and learn of this God. Notice he speaks of the time. 
We've already referred to this. The hour is coming and now is. 
This is all affected by the Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. 
He says the foundation upon which worship is possible. He says, 
God is spirit. Those who worship him must worship 
in spirit and truth. The fact that God is spirit means 
we can universally come to this God. We can come to this Lord. But I think even more what Jesus 
is highlighting is the character of God here. Teaching something 
that we need to understand concerning the Trinity, God is spirit and 
those who worship must worship in a Trinitarian manner. They 
must worship in spirit and in truth. The spirit is talked about 
throughout the upper room discourse. The father is to be worshiped 
through the mediation of the son by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. This is what Christ is highlighted. 
He's saying that our worship of the true and living God must 
be based on his character as it's revealed to us in the whole 
Bible, which means Trinitarian. If the church today can have 
in its ranks Unitarians, can have in its ranks people that 
deny the Trinity, the church is failing. The Bible is Trinitarian 
to the core. There's this idea that when Matthew 
28 speaks about the Trinity, no, Genesis 1-1 to the end of 
Revelation speaks of the Trinity. In the beginning, God created 
the heavens and the earth. God, plural Elohim, well, that's 
the plural of majesty. No, it isn't. It's the tri personality 
of God, a plural verb with a singular or a plural subject with a singular 
verb. The triune God presents himself 
in the first chapter of Genesis. The Spirit of God is brooding 
over the waters. Psalm 33 tells us that God, by 
his word, created. We get to John 1, 1 to 3. In 
the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the 
Word was God. It was through the Word that 
all things were created. Christ is saying that Unitarians, 
Oneness Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, humanists, 
pagans, everyone who does not worship the Trinitarian God is 
wrong. Jesus couldn't come to some ecumenical 
gathering and make everybody happy. See, for Jesus, truth 
and doctrine really did matter, because if you don't know the 
true God, can't worship the true God. That's why preachers come 
up here and yell at you every Sunday. Read your Bible. How 
could you possibly worship this God? You don't know. Paul picks 
this up in Ephesians 3 or 2 18 for through him, through Jesus 
Christ, we both have access by one spirit to the father. How 
are we supposed to worship? We're supposed to come to the 
Father through the mediation of Jesus Christ by the power 
of the Holy Spirit. In other words, according to 
Jesus in John 4, God is spirit and those who worship it. Notice 
again, the necessity of this must worship in spirit and truth. Do not ever say, well, that doctrine 
of the Trinity, it's just a mystery, just a paradise. It's just a 
contradiction. No, it isn't. God is not a mystery. God is not a paradox. God is 
not a contradiction. Now, there are aspects concerning 
God that we cannot penetrate because he's infinite and more 
finite. But when the Christian church 
goes on, say, well, yeah, it's hard to believe. What are we 
saying? We are betraying the Word of 
God itself. I just, I repudiate and reject 
this approach to the Trinity. It's just too hard. It's the 
foundation for our communion and our dependence upon God. 
You better get your mind in gear then and start learning. This 
is who God is. This is his character. This is 
his essence, one true and living God, three persons in the Godhead, 
the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one, 
the same in substance, equal in power and in glory. Knowing 
that God having been washed in precious blood, being aided by 
the Holy Spirit, we can come here on the Lord's Day and really 
worship. But don't miss this. Last thing 
we need to understand about true worship. God initiates it. God initiates. God sustains. God is the power in true worship. Look what he says here. The hour 
is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship 
the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such 
to worship. Grace that taught our hearts 
to fear. You didn't wake up one day and say, you know, I really 
think I should just go worship God. If you're here and you're 
truly worshiping, it's because God sought you. The glorious. Is that how the 
Bible presents our God to us? Sometimes, and this is common 
in reform circles, oh God, he's just this big, angry, mad, mean 
God back there who's just going to get you. I'm not going to minimize the 
fact that God is a consuming fire, that God did kill Nadab 
and Abihu, but this God jumped off his porch, ran down a dirty, 
dusty road, and fell on his prodigal son, and kissed him, and put 
a ring on his finger, and ordered the slaying of the fatted calf. Why? Because the father is seeking 
such to worship him. God doesn't seek us, we'll not 
worship. He knows that. You see, this 
is his world, this is his decree, this is his plan. He understands 
all too well no one can come to the father or come to the 
son, except the father who sent him draws him. The effective 
power in worship is due to the God who we worship. We need to keep that in mind. 
And we need to let that affect us so that when we testify to 
others, We're not trusting in their power and in their ability 
to make themselves worshippers. We're trusting in a God who seeks 
men and women and boys and girls, not just in Palestine, but from 
every tribe and every tongue and every people and every nation. 
This God, who in the prophet Malachi promised that wherever 
his name was, the peoples would be blessed. Brethren, learn this 
of God. He is a seeking God. We saw a 
few weeks ago in our Sunday night service, Adam and Eve sinned, 
they run from God, God runs to them. And we saw in that covenantal 
structure in Genesis chapter three, it wasn't just to get 
them, it was to bless them, it was to recover them, it was to 
restore them, it was to promise them the Christ, the seed of 
the woman who had crushed the head of the seed of the serpent. God is a seeking God, so much 
so when he has dealings with Zacchaeus. What do the people 
do when Jesus says, come down from the tree? I need to go eat 
at your house. What do people do? Why is he going to go eat 
there? They're just like us. Why is he saving him? Why is 
he dealing with him? Why is he talking to that woman? 
This is a disciple. Isn't that amazing? Why are you 
talking to her? I have meat to eat that you have 
no clue about. That's a bad indictment. That's 
a true indictment of our hearts. What are you talking about? Because 
I'm going to save her from her sins. We give her everlasting 
life. She's going to go into this city 
of the Samaritans and she's going to tell that. Come and see a 
man who told me all things that I ever did. And they're going 
to come and they're going to believe. And then they're going 
to say what underscores this whole event is that, yes, we 
have learned not only from her testimony, but because we have 
come to believe and know that he is the savior of the world. Our God is a seeking God. Jesus said to that crowd grumbling 
in Luke 19, the son of man has come to seek and to save that 
which was lost. We're not preaching that Christ. 
We're not preaching Christ. We're not testifying of that 
Christ. We're not testifying of Christ. 
We're not preaching a God who calls us and commands us to worship, 
but also enables us to worship. We've missed the point. We're 
not preaching the glory of the Trinity. We're not doing it right. We need to repent. No Jew, no 
one that's Pentecostal, no Muslim should ever be content in Christian 
worship. They better be up and out of 
there because the Trinity in his glory is being proclaimed. Well, we've seen the divine initiative. We've seen the living water. 
In conclusion, I want you to see one thing. We'll look at 
the Messiah ship, God willing, this evening straight in verse 
twenty six. Jesus said to her, I am. John's gospel is the gospel of 
the I am, isn't it? It's not translated that way 
in the New King James, I who speak to you, am he literally 
I am. That I am that will later cause 
the opponents of Christ to pick up rocks and throw at him because 
he's claiming to be God. When she says, I know that Messiah 
is coming, who is called Christ, when he comes, he will tell us 
all things. Jesus answers her very clearly. I am. I am. Look at that, God willing, 
this evening, but I just want to end with the necessary connection. 
In this passage, two connections that we need to see, the first 
is conviction of sin and faith in Christ precede true worship. You don't come into the presence 
of work and worship God without having dealt with sin. You don't 
deal with your sin by self-atonement. You don't deal with sin by going 
away for a little while. You don't deal with sin any other 
way than coming to this living water. Coming to that fountain 
that is open for sin and uncleanness, if you want to worship God, If 
you want to worship God truly, you must first believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. It can't be otherwise. You have to have your sin dealt 
with, and Christ is the only dealer, the only one who deals 
with sin. When he said in verse fourteen, 
whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, 
but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain 
of water springing up into everlasting life. You need to drink that 
water. You need to believe the gospel. You need to understand who Jesus 
is and believe on him. Believing will involve repentance. 
Leaving those five husbands plus one. Leaving whatever it is that 
really kept you happy before turning your back on those sins 
and coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is through him 
that you're ushered in to worship. And then the second connection 
we cannot miss is the connection between worship and witness, 
worship and witness. If we look at our church, we 
say, well, evangelistically, we're not doing that well. The 
problem probably originates in worship. Not saying we got to whoop it 
up and, you know, be like banshees and, you know, we got to have 
more excitement in order to go out and be proper witnesses. 
You know, worship is not a spectator sport. You don't just come in 
here and just kind of sit. You better come here having prayed. 
Come here, expectant. Come here, beseeching the Lord 
to give the Spirit, because this is a spiritual activity. And 
if you were honest, you would say that in the last 55 minutes, 
you have had about a hundred thoughts not connected to the 
worship of God. Why is that? Because it's hard. That's why so many churches get 
a lot of fleshly things in there to help it be easier. Let me 
face it, if we're standing up or dancing around, we're doing 
a jig. There's involvement. You need to be thinking, believing, 
hoping, expecting, praying, submissive, having dealt with your sin. Don't 
come running into church at the last minute, yelling at your 
wife and saying, bless me, Lord. It's mockery, man. We've got 
a problem out there, it probably originates in here. You see, 
when you come face to face with this triune God, when you come 
to the father through the son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
you do what this lady does. You go back to your city and 
you say, you got to hear this. I mentioned on Wednesday night, 
I just listened to some lectures by Joey Piper, the president 
of Greenville Seminary, Presbyterian Seminary, said, you know, we're 
afraid to bring people to church. We're afraid to invite someone 
to church, got to have a halfway house first, get them to a Bible 
study, get them to coffee. I'm not against Bible study, 
not against coffee. Do you know what? Bring them 
to church. And I dare say, brethren, the 
non church expect church to look like this. Not to say we got 
it, that's not if that sounded like that, I'm I messed up, but 
they don't expect me to be wearing sandals, sipping Starbucks and 
chatting about the latest whatever. So you can't say, well, we're 
just not here for cool, so we can't invite people to church. They expect to come in and see 
weird things. not give them any cause to expect 
otherwise. I'm saying we should be winsome, 
we should be loving, we should be kind, we should be gracious, 
but we shouldn't compromise those central emphases that the Bible 
presents. A simple worship of a glorious 
God through the mediation of Jesus Christ by the power of 
the Holy Spirit with a lot of emphasis upon his word because 
it is through the foolishness of the message preached God saves 
sinners. You want to be a good evangelist? 
Be a good worshipper. You want to be bold for Jesus? 
Come in here ready to meet with your God and meet with Him. Do 
you know what we learned in Revelation chapter 3 in the letter to Laodicea? 
Even if the church is jacked up, you can still worship God 
and get blessed by the Lord. That promise of Revelation 3, 
20, where Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. 
It's not an invitation to be saved. It's not Jesus standing 
outside of a door that has no handle, because the handle's 
on the inside, and you've got to open it up in order for Jesus 
to come and save you. It's not an evangelistic text. 
It's a promise to a church, a very messed up church, too. A church 
whom Jesus was threatening to spit out of his mouth, because 
they were neither cold nor hot. But even in the midst of that 
sort of a church, Jesus says to the individuals within that 
church, behold, I stand at the door and knock. You hear me? 
You open up, I'll come and suck with you. I grant, brethren, 
I have not been the best leader of worship. But you can still 
worship. You can still commune with your 
God. If you have Christ, you have access to the Father. You 
have the Holy Spirit. You have the truth of God. And 
I'm not arguing that we should be the coldest, deadest whatever 
church. I am arguing just the opposite. 
These elements that we prize and that we value ought to be 
the very lifeblood of our church. They ought to make us throb in 
worship. They ought to make us reek of 
our God. And they ought to send us on 
to these streets to testify. Come, hear a man who told me 
all things I ever did. And then the sinners come and 
they say, we believe now, not just because of her testimony. 
But because we have come to know and believe that this Jesus is 
the Savior of the world. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we give you thanks for your word. We give you thanks for your worship 
and for the fact that you seek us out. God, forgive us that 
so often we enter into this place and our hearts are cold and we 
are distant and we are far from you. We confess, Lord God, sometimes 
we prepare far more for much lesser events. than preparing 
to worship our triune God. We pray that you'd put the fear 
of God deep in our hearts and that you would flood us with 
joy. We know biblical worship ought 
to be characterized by joy in the Holy Spirit, that rejoicing 
in the Lord God most high. We pray that you would just help 
us as well to to just value these means that you've given to us. 
And thank you for that living water that you have enabled us 
to drink. We praise you for our Lord Jesus. 
We praise you for his work at Calvary. We praise you for his 
current session and that he truly is the savior of the world. We 
pray this gospel would be proclaimed throughout the earth and that 
a great multitude would come to know him as Lord and savior. 
And we pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.