Speaker 1: Amen. All right, while we’re there in John 4, and like we’ve already talked about, we started a brand new series last week called encounters with Christ. We are just going through the gospels and listen in on conversations that the Lord Jesus Christ had with individuals. Last week we started with probably the most famous encounter with Christ, which was the conversation between Christ and Nicodemus. Today, we are continuing with what is possibly the second most famous encounter that Christ had, and that is the woman at the well. What we are focusing on for the summer months is learning about the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re not focusing on the parables and we’re not focusing on the miracles, but we’re just being like flies on the wall and we’re just listening in on conversations that Christ had, how he dealt with people, how he interacted with people. In the story, I want you to notice that we find the Lord Jesus Christ is traveling.
Speaker 1: If you look at verse 1, the Bible says this, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples. Notice what the Bible says in verse 3, he left Judea. Now here’s what you need to understand about the nation of Israel. Judea was in the Southern part of Israel, and he left Judea and he’s traveling North. The Bible says and departed again into Galilee. So he is traveling from the Southern part of Israel to the Northern part of Israel, and he’s traveling from Judea, which we find in the gospels that there’s a lot of ministry that went on for the Lord in the Southern tribe of Judea, that area. Then of course in Galilee, he had a great ministry up in Galilee. As he’s traveling from the South to the North, the Bible says in verse 4, “He must needs go through Samaria.”
Speaker 1: Now between Judea and Galilee, there was a section there which is known as the area of Samaria, where the Samaritans live. We’ll talk a little bit about the Samaritans here in a little bit. What I want you to notice in this passage is that what we’re really doing today, is we’re going soul-winning with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, we see Jesus as a soul-winner and of course, as the greatest soul-winner who ever lived and he is witnessing, he is preaching the gospel. He is presenting the gospel to this woman at the well, and we’re going to learn some lessons about soul-winning from the greatest soul-winner who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you’re not familiar with that term, soul-winning, the Bible talks about he that winneth souls is wise, in the book of Proverbs. Soul-winning is a big thing, and a big deal for us here at Verity Baptist Church, because this is what God has called us to do.
Speaker 1: When we go out and we confront people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we’re not confrontational, we’re not rude, but we bring the gospel to them. We learned this from the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s many examples throughout the Bible, but here we’ll see one and I’d like to apply and make some applications in regards to soul winning from this passage. We go out as a church corporately, we have times when we go out on Saturday mornings, on Sunday afternoons, on Thursday afternoons, and we go out in the community and we preach the gospel to people. What I want you to notice, and if you’re taking notes and I’d encourage you to take some notes. On the back of your chorus of the week, there’s a place for you to write down some notes. I’d like you to notice three different areas here in regards to soul winning, and the greatest soul-winner. The first one is this. We see the pursuit of the soul-winner. I want you to notice that Jesus was looking for opportunities to present the gospel.
Speaker 1: Again, we saw that he’s traveling from Judea to Galilee. He’s having to go through Samaria. Look at verse 4 again. The Bible says this, and he, that’s Jesus. I want you to notice this wording. It says, “Must needs go through Samaria.” Must needs go through Samaria. Now here’s what you need to understand, and we can spend a lot of time on this and I’m not going to. The Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews. The Samaritans were considered half breeds. They were considered people that were half Jew and half Gentile. We don’t have time to go into it, but if you study the Old Testament, you’ll remember that the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the Northern kingdom and the Southern kingdom. The Northern kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians, and the Southern kingdom was taken over by the Babylonians. When the Southern kingdom who fell later was taken over by the Babylonians, they were carried away captive into Babylon.
Speaker 1: We know that they made it into different places, into Persia and different empires and things like that. When the Northern kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians, they also were taken captive, but many were left there in the Northern kingdom. What the Assyrian nation did is they intermingled with the Jews of that day. In fact, if you study history, you’ll learn that the Assyrian empire was known for this. They would often take over as they were taking over different lands or regions, they would intermingle themselves and have their children marry the children of the people of that land, and intermingle the culture and that’s exactly what they did. As a result, the Jews began to reject the Samaritans, because they were no longer purely Jewish in their eyes. They were these half breed. These half Assyrian, half Gentile, half Jewish people, and they were despised as we’ll see here in the story. The Jews would have no dealings with the Samaritans as a result of this.
Speaker 1: We’re told by history that the Jews would often bypass Samaria. They would not even go through Samaria. They would take the long route around Samaria in order to avoid it, because there was a racist aspect to it, and there was a religious aspect as we’ll see in the story here as well. The Samaritans worshiped differently than the Old Testament Jews. Here when the Bible tells us that Jesus must needs go through Samaria, it doesn’t tell us that there was no other way around. There was nothing else that he could do. He had to travel through there though he did not want to. What the Bible is telling us is that Jesus, though everyone else would travel around it, though everyone else would avoid Samaria, he made it a point to make sure that he went through Samaria. It says that he must needs go through Samaria. Notice verse 5, “Then cometh he, that’s Jesus, to a city of Samaria, which was called Sychar near to the parcel of the ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.”
Speaker 1: I want you to notice, you say, “Why does the Bible say that he must needs go through Samaria?” Well, we’re watching the greatest soul-winner who ever lived, and we do have to say this, that Jesus had an advantage that you and I don’t have is that he was God in the flesh. I believe that Jesus knew that he needed to go through Samaria, because he was looking for opportunities while he was out and about, while he was out traveling, while he was out just ministering and doing his daily life. He was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel, and he knew that he would run into a woman at the well who needed to hear the gospel. Here’s what I want you to notice. The first lesson we can learn is the pursuit of the soul-winner is that Jesus was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel. Listen to me, I want you and I hope you will become a soul-winner at some point in your life, where you will schedule a time and prioritize a time in your life to go out and reach people with the gospel.
Speaker 1: If you say, “Pastor Jimenez, what time do you recommend?” Saturday morning. That’s what I recommend. I recommend Saturday morning. You make that your soul-winning time. You say, “Why do you guys talk about Saturday morning being your main soul-winning time?” The reason that Saturday morning is our main soul-winning time at Verity Baptist church is because of the fact that our soul-winning is meant to not only reach people with the gospel, but to carry out the entire great commission, which is to reach people with the gospel, to see them baptized and to bring them into church for discipleship that they might grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and savior. What we have found is that you are most likely to get a convert to come to church on Sunday when you get them saved on Saturday. Now you say, “Whoa, you have other soul-winning times.” Well look, you can go soul-winning whenever you want. You say, “Why do you do Thursday?” Because that’s leading into the weekend.
Speaker 1: You say, “Why do you have Sunday?” Honestly, I’ll be honest with you, Sunday soul-winning is meant for… It was started at our church for a couple of reasons. It was started for those of you who commute, our church is blessed with the fact that we have many people who commute from a long ways away, and we understand that it would be difficult for you to come out on Saturday for soul-winning, and go all the way back home and come back on Sunday for soul-winning. So many of you come to church on Sunday and then you go soul-winning Sunday afternoon, you stay for Sunday night church. You make a whole day out of it. Great. We love that. That’s wonderful. That was created for you. You say, “What’s the next purpose for Sunday soul-winning?” Next purpose for Sunday soul-winning is for anyone who wants to do extra soul-winning. If you want to do more soul-winning, do it. You say, “If I could only go out once and I got to go Saturday or Sunday, when would you recommend?” Saturday.
Speaker 1: You say, “Why?” Because look, here’s the truth. Most people aren’t going to visit church on a Sunday night, and when you get somebody saved on a Sunday afternoon, you’re literally the furthest time away in the week from the next opportunity that they might come and visit. So if you can only choose one, choose Saturday. We’re talking about corporate soul-winning here. When we’re talking about going out as a group of believers and going out, but what I want you to notice is that that’s not the only time we go soul-winning. Soul-winning is not just something that’s done on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM, or on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM, or on Thursday after 2:00 PM. Honestly, throughout your life you got to be looking for opportunities to preach the gospel and to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here Jesus was traveling. He had a busy schedule, he had a busy ministry. He’s going from Judea up into Galilee. He’s trying to get things done. He’s trying to get things accomplished, but he must needs go through Samaria. Why? Because he had the pursuit of a soul-winner.
Speaker 1: He was looking for opportunities while he was out and about to reach people with the gospel. Look, you and I ought to be looking for those opportunities when we can talk to people, when we can invest into people, when we can preach the gospel. Sometimes you can’t preach the gospel to somebody, but you’re going to hand them a DVD. You can hand them an invitation. You can give them a verse. You can say something. Look, we ought to be looking. See the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was involved in this idea of seeking and saving, and looking for people who needed to be saved. Now there in John 4, keep your place to [inaudible 00:10:28] this morning, but go to Luke 19. Say well, “Should we be soul-winning just in our daily lives, or should we have a corporate scheduled soul-winning?” You should do both. You say, “What about if I do corporate schedule soul-winning?” Do corporate schedule soul-winning on Saturday, and be looking for opportunities to preach the gospel throughout the week.
Speaker 1: You say, “Well, what have I just look for opportunities to preach the gospel, and I don’t do corporate soul-winning?” Here’s what I’ve learned about that. You probably won’t do soul-winning. You’re probably not going to be looking for opportunities to present the gospel if you’re not faithfully attending an on-purpose time when you go out in the community and you reach people you don’t know with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you need both, but look, our lives as Christians is to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is what Jesus did. Luke 19 look at verse 10. Luke 19:10, notice what Jesus said of himself. He said, for the son of man, referring to himself, is come. Notice, to seek and to save that which was lost. You say, “What should be the motto of every Christian? What should be the motto of Verity Baptist church?” What should be? If there was one phrase that people could put on us, could look at us and say, “This is what these people are about,” that phrase is to seek and to save.
Speaker 1: To look for people, to search for people. To look for opportunities to preach the gospel to every creature. Go back to John 4. I want you to notice that Jesus, and we’re looking at the pursuit of a soul-winner. In his pursuit, in his search and his attempt to seek and to save, he was looking for opportunities. As he was out and about, as he was traveling, as he was going through his daily life. You say, “Did Jesus have corporate times of soul-winning?” Absolutely. We see several times in the gospels when he organized his 12 disciples, and he sent them out in the community two by two into the highways and hedges to reach people with the gospel. We see later on in his ministry, where he had 70 disciples that he sent out two by two into the highways and hedges. He had corporate soul-winning, but you know what? Just in his personal life, he was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel. He was doing it as he was out and about.
Speaker 1: I would like you to notice also that he was looking for opportunities even while he was tired. Notice verse 6. Now Jacob’s well was there, Jesus therefore, notice what the Bible says. “Being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour.” I want you to notice that the Bible tells us here that Jesus was wearied with his journey. Look, you say, “Why are these details added to the story?” I believe that these details are added to the story to let us know that Jesus, the Bible is clear, was God in the flesh, but he was also a human. He had human limitations and he got tired, and he got weary and he was traveling and he was walking, and he was accomplishing things. The Bible says that he was being wearied with his journey. Look, I’m thankful for verses like these. I’m thankful you don’t have to turn there, but Hebrews 4:15 says this, “For we have not in high priest, referring to Jesus, which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.”
Speaker 1: Jesus experienced every temptation, every trial, every heartache, every weariness, every human limitation that you and I experience. He experienced it too. So before you say, “Pastor, you don’t understand. I work hard all week long and I’m just too tired on Saturday to go soul-winning.” Hey, so was Jesus. He being wearied with his journey continued to say, “I must needs go through Samaria.” We used to call this back when I was growing up, I think we should bring this back. We used to call these the buying appointments. When you’re out and about, and people happen to cross your path. Realize this. Just realize this, that every person who crosses your path will spend eternity somewhere, heaven or hell. You may be the only person who has the truth of the gospel that can get them saved. So we see the pursuit of this soul-winner. The greatest soul-winner who ever lived. He was out and about. He was tired, yet he was looking for opportunities to be able to present the gospel to people.
Speaker 1: I’d like you to notice also that Jesus was only looking for opportunities, but that Jesus was looking for the unlovable. Notice John 4:7. John 4:7, there cometh a woman of Samaria. Again, remember that the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans. We’ll see it here in the texts. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, “Give me the drink.” Notice he begins the, he’s tired. He begins the conversation. He says, give me a drink for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. The word meat in the Bible means food. The word meat in our modern terminology would be what the Bible calls flesh. So it’s just that they went out to get lunch for him. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Verse 9, then saith the woman of Samaria unto him. Notice what she says. She says, “How is it that thou being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which I’m a woman of Samaria.” Notice what she says, “For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” She says, “Look, your people and my people don’t get along.”
Speaker 1: Your people look down on my people. Your people don’t even talk to our people. I’m not even sure why you’re here. Usually your people just go around this whole area and she’s confused. She said how is it that thou, she said I can tell you’re a Jew. I can tell by your demeanor. I can tell by the way you’re dressed, I can tell by the way you’re traveling that you’re not one of us. You’re not a Samaritan. She said, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which I’m a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Here’s what I want you to notice, and here’s what I want you to see that Jesus was not only looking for the opportunities, but Jesus was looking for those who were unlovable. Those who were unlovely, those who others maybe would look down on, others would not want to spend time with, others would want to ignore. It’s interesting to me when you do a compare and a contrast between John 3 and John 4, you’ll find that Jesus was truly no respecter of persons.
Speaker 1: In John 3, we see him speaking to Nicodemus, who was a man who was highly favored and accepted by the religious establishment, but in John 4, we see him talking to a woman who was highly despised and rejected by the religious establishment. Jesus was trying to reach everyone. He wasn’t just trying to reach nice people, rich people. He wasn’t just trying to reach people that were like him. Here’s what you need to know about the ministry of Christ, is that people who were not like Jesus liked Jesus. I think sometimes we forget this in our ministries, because we have this tendency to want to reach out to people that are like us, and reach out to people that we like, and reach out to people that we’re comfortable with, and reach out to people that we want. You know we only reach out to the people that we’d like to be sitting next to us in a pew, in the church service, but this was not Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jesus would give the gospel to the rich. He would give the gospel to the religious. He would give the gospel to the excepted. If Nicodemus came to his door, he would give him the time to give them the gospel, but he took the time to find the woman at the well. Why? Because he was looking for opportunities, and because he was looking for the unlovable. This was a theme in the ministry of Christ. Go back to Luke 15, we’re just in Luke 10. You go back. Luke 15, look at verse 1. This is something that Jesus was actually criticized for in his ministry. Luke 15:1 says, “Then drew near unto him,” that’s Jesus. Notice all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. This is the crowd that nobody likes. These are the outcasts. These are the unlovable, the unlovely. The Bible says that they drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him, and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying… Notice they’re complaining and they’re murmuring against Jesus.
Speaker 1: What are they saying? They’re saying, “This man receive its sinners and eateth with them.” One of the complaints that the religious people had about Jesus was that he was reaching out to people that no one else wanted to reach. Listen to me, in your life and in my life, we preach the gospel to everyone, but we should be looking for opportunities to find people that are unlovely. We should be looking for opportunities to find people that others look down upon. We should be looking for opportunities to find people we say they’re not like us, but let’s just reach them anyway. People who are not like Jesus, like Jesus. People who are not like you will like Jesus too, if you’d bring the gospel to them. I’m excited about, and I don’t know how this is going to work out. I’ve already started to talk to some people and look at some situations, but I’m hoping that our church can start a prison ministry. I’m really excited about us being able to start a prison ministry.
Speaker 1: You say, “Why would we want to start prison ministry?” Well, our church has a reputation and the government doesn’t seem to like us very much. So sometimes we might have to start it under a different name. Going to be like Verily Ministries or something. You say, “Pastor, you want to go in to and… What do you want to do? Gather some guys and gather some ladies and go preach the gospel to people in prisons. Why would you want to do that?” You know what? Because we need to find people that aren’t like us. You say, “Well, I don’t want to go preach there.” Look when I said that, if in your mind… I don’t want to bring those people into church. There’s something wrong with you. There’s a problem with you. There’s a problem with your heart. People that weren’t like Christ liked Christ. Look, it is our job to find. You say, “Are we going to reach everybody?” Yeah, but you know what? We need to on purpose look for those who are not loved, who’ve been forgotten about, who have been outcasted and make sure we bring the gospel to them.
Speaker 1: Why? You say, because that’s what Jesus did. You’re going to be one of those churches? Let people say whatever they want. Let them talk ill of us and say, “Well, he eateth, he receiveth sinners.” You know what? We are a spiritual hospital looking for people who need the savior. We see that Jesus was in pursuit. He was searching, he was looking for opportunities to get people saved while out and about, while he was tired. He was looking for those who were outcast, who were unlovely and unlovable, and he was making an effort to reach them. I want you to notice secondly tonight, this morning excuse me. It’s been a long week for me. Not only do we see the pursuit of the soul-winner, but I want you to notice we see the presentation of the soul-winner. Here’s what’s really interesting. If you go to John 4, we often tell our soul-winners and we train our soul-winners to have a presentation ready, that they should have a plan to present the gospel.
Speaker 1: That they should have points and versus, and have an idea of what verses they’re going to go to and how they’re going to explain it, and how they’re going to illustrate it and things like that. What I love about John 4 is that we not only get to listen in on a conversation between the Lord Jesus Christ and this woman, but we get to listen in on a presentation of the gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes people have even criticized us for our gospel presentations. You guys have this gospel plan. It should just come from the heart or something like that. You know what? There’s nothing wrong to have a plan and to be ready to be able to do a good job with the presentation of the gospel. I want you to notice that Jesus had a presentation that covers all the basic things that we teach our soul-winners. If you go through our soul-winning seminar, you find all the different steps and things that we ask you to cover. You’ll find that Jesus covered all the exact same things.
Speaker 1: By the way, that’s on purpose. We’re learning from Jesus. You say, “What did he cover?” Well, notice first of all, he explains that salvation is a gift. John 4:10, Jesus answered and said unto her, if don’t knew is the gift of God. He said, if you knew that God had a gift and who it is that saith to the give me to drink, thou would’ve asked of him and he would’ve given the living water.” He said, “If now new as the gift of God, you would have asked for it and he would have given the living water.” So notice he first explained to her that salvation is a gift. Doesn’t that sound like the gospel presentation that we give up? We don’t normally go out and tell people for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Don’t we tell people for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God? Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Speaker 1: By the way, you say, “What’s the point in telling people salvation is a gift?” The point of telling people that salvation is a gift is to explain to them that you don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. You don’t pay for it. A gift by definition is free. Someone else pays for it, but you receive it without earning it, without working for it. Look, this goes against every false religion of our day. Name the false religion. Name the religion. Name the religion, and look most religions today are going to teach you, you have to earn it, you have to work for it. Most religions are going to tell you, you have to get baptized. You have to repent of your sins, which means turning away from your sins. They’re going to tell you, you have to go to the confessional booth. They’re going to tell you, you have to go take communion. They’re going to tell you, you have to do the sacraments. They’re going to tell you, you have to get baptized. They are going to tell you, you have to quit sinning there.
Speaker 1: They’re going to give you all sorts of things and tell you, you got to do this. You got to do this. You got to do this. Look, whenever anybody tells you you have to do something in order to be saved, that’s not a gift. That’s earning it, that’s working for it. Jesus says, “Look, if thou knewest the gift of God.” What’s the idea? It’s free. It’s not of works lest any man should boast. Notice in his presentation, he explains that salvation is a gift. Notice also in his presentation, he explains that salvation must be asked for. Look at Luke verse 10 again. Jesus answered and said unto her, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink.” Notice what he says. He says, “Thou wouldest have asked of him.” Today we’ve got some really mature soul-winners. They go out on soul-winning for three weeks, they think they got it all figured out.
Speaker 1: Today we’ve got all of these punk soul-winners who want to criticizes that, “You don’t have to pray the sinner’s prayer.” No one has to actually ask for the gift. Well, here’s the problem with that. The problem with that is that you must be a greater soul-winner than the Lord Jesus Christ, because if you have to ask for it, it’s not a gift. That’s so stupid. If you have to ask for it, then you earn it. Okay? So when homeless people go out who aren’t working and look and you say, “You’re going to start a prison ministry, how about a homeless ministry?” The Bible says to not feed those who will not work. Feed those who will not eat, that doesn’t make sense. You say, “Why don’t you guys go feed the homeless?” Because we’re not supposed to feed people who won’t work. They need to go work. You say, “Whoa, they’ve got problems and they got this and they got that.” Look, we’ll try to get them saved. We’ll try to help them get off drugs and alcohol, but they need to go work.
Speaker 1: Prisons, look and I’m going to get on a whole another tangent, but prisons are so unscriptural. You don’t find a prison in the Bible, all right? It’s the prison industrial complex is what you have in United States of America. That’s a sermon for another day, but let me just say this, the people say, “Well you ask [inaudible 00:26:45], so okay.” If I’m just a lazy bum and then I go down to the welfare office, and I sign up for free money and I asked for it, did I earn it now? Did I work for it? Ask for a gift doesn’t mean you earn it. That’s stupid. [inaudible 00:26:59] you don’t have to ask for it. Well, you must be smarter than Jesus. You must be greater than Jesus, because he told us woman if you would have known about the gift, thou wouldest have asked of him. You would have asked for it, and he would’ve given it thee.
Speaker 1: Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:134, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” So I want you to notice that he emphasized the fact that salvation was a gift, and he emphasized the fact that salvation must be asked for. You must call upon Jesus to save you. You must ask him to save you. You must call upon him to save you. You must ask for the gift. Notice thirdly, you’re there in John 4. Look at verse 11, “The woman saith unto him, ‘Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drunk there of himself and his children and his cattle.'”
Speaker 1: Remember I talked about doing a compare and contrast between Nicodemus and the woman at the well. Nicodemus, the story is found in John 3. Woman at the well story is found in John 4. Here’s the contrast. One was accepted by the religious establishment. One was despised by the religious establishment. Here’s the comparison, both did not understand the spiritual meaning and both took the words of Jesus as a physical meaning. Remember Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again. He said, “How can a man being a being old get into his mother’s womb?” He didn’t understand the idea. He thought Jesus was talking about a physical second birth. Well notice Jesus is using this example of the water to the woman. He says, if you would’ve known, you would have asked and he would have given the living water. She says, “Sir, thou has nothing to draw with.” She said, “You don’t even have a bucket.” She just doesn’t get it. Thou has nothing to draw and the well is deep from whence then has though that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob?
Speaker 1: She thinks he’s talking about physical water, and this goes back to the idea that unsaved people cannot understand spiritual things. The natural man understanding not the things of the spirit of God. They need somebody to explain to them the spiritual work. Notice what he explains to her, verse 13. So we’re with Jesus soul-winner. We’re Jesus’ silent partner, and we see him explain that salvation is a gift. We see him explain that salvation must be asked for, that you must call upon Christ to save you. Thirdly, we see him explain eternal security. Everlasting life. Look at verse 13, because she thinks he’s talking about the water. He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given the living water.” She says, “You don’t even have a bucket, but the well is deep. How are you going to give me water?” She’s like, “Didn’t you ask me for water?” She’s all confused.
Speaker 1: She thinks he’s talking about the physical water. Verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drink of this water, talking about the physical water, shall thirst again. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying there are some physical needs that you have physically in your life, but here’s the problem and please listen to this. Here’s the problem with the physical needs is that when you fulfill that need, you will have to fulfill it again, because when you get thirsty and you drink water, here’s what happens. Eventually you get thirsty again, because when you get hungry and you eat, here’s the problem. Eventually you get hungry again. He’s saying you’re trying to fulfill and we’re going to see here in a second, how’s she’s doing that. You’re trying to fulfill a void that you have in your life, a hunger that you have in your life, a thirst that you have in your life. You’re trying to fulfill that physically, but the problem with that is that whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
Speaker 1: Verse 14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.” But the water that I shall give him, but the water that I shall give him. There is a very important aspect of eternal security here. It’s not just that you’ll never lose your salvation, not just that you’ll never thirst. Is that salvation, yes, it’s true that salvation will never be lost and it’ll never end, and it’ll never terminate. Salvation itself will produce something inside of you that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. We don’t have time to go there, but if you reference back that well of water, it’s very clear and other teachings from Jesus that he’s referring to the Holy spirit of God. I want you to understand that, because there’s a very important aspect of salvation here. There’s a difference between those of you that are saved, and those of you that are not saved.
Speaker 1: When you are not saved, all you are is physical hungers, physical needs trying to be fulfilled in a physical way. When you are saved, you still have physical hungers, you still have physical needs. Sometimes we try to fulfill them in a physical way, but the difference is that when you’ve got the Holy spirit of God, God can now fulfill that need. When you allow God to fulfill your needs, he doesn’t just want to save you spiritually. He wants to fulfill you spiritually. He says that a well of water is springing up into everlasting life. He explains to her, look it’s everlasting and he’s using the illustration saying, “If you drink water, you’re going to get thirsty again, but if you get saved, if you drink the living water, you’ll never need to drink again. You’ll never thirst again.” John 5:10, you have to turn there. It says this, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, and he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son.”
Speaker 1: What’s that record? Verse 11, and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Look salvation is everlasting. It’s eternal. You can’t lose. I realized that people today, go to John 10. You’re there in John 4, just flip a few pages over. John 10, I realized today that most religions will tell you that you can lose your salvation, or you can walk away from your… Some religions will tell you if you live a sinful life, you’ll lose it. Other religions, because we’ll show them verses that say everlasting life. Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” So then you say, “Well no, God will never take it from you, but you can walk away from it.” So he won’t take salvation from you, but you can give it back. They’ll say like, “It’s like if you and God are holding hands and you’re walking down the road together, and you can just let go of God.”
Speaker 1: Well here’s the problem with that. You can try all you want to let go of God, and he’s not going to let go of you. You say, “Prove that from the Bible.” John 10:28, notice what Jesus said. “And I give unto them eternal life.” Look at the context, “And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Well see, you’re walking on the road with Jesus holding hands and you can let go. Well, here’s the thing. He said, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father’s hand. Look, once you’re saved, you couldn’t get yourself unsaved if you tried. You couldn’t get away from God if you wanted to. That doesn’t mean that you can live however you want. It doesn’t mean that your Heavenly Father is not going to give you a spiritual spanking when you’re not doing right.
Speaker 1: What it means is that once you drink of the living water, you will never thirst again, because it will create in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Notice when we’re the silent partner of the Lord Jesus Christ, notice what he emphasizes. He emphasizes that salvation is a gift. He emphasizes that salvation is to be called for. He emphasizes that salvation will last forever. Does that sound like what we do? Does that sound like the soul-winning seminar, Verity Baptist Church? You say, “Why?” Because look, we’re not doing anything different today than what Jesus started. In fact, all we’re doing is continuing on the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice fourthly, if you go back to John 4, he explains to her that she is a sinner. There is no good gospel presentation that doesn’t deal with people’s sin.
Speaker 1: No one is ready to be saved until they realize that they are a sinner in need of salvation. John 4:15 the woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Jesus saith unto her, look I wouldn’t advise you to do. Jesus is God. He knows things about this woman that you and I don’t know. So he deals with her in a very unique way. You can’t and I can’t do this. We just take people to Romans 3:10, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There’s none righteous, no, not one.” We take them to those verses and just show people that they’re sinners. Jesus does it in a very impressionable way. Look at verses 16, Jesus saith unto her, “Go call thy husband and come hither.” She just said, “Hey, I want to receive this gift. Give it to me.” He’s like, no, wait, wait a second.” We’re going to come back to that in a minute. He says, “Go call my husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Speaker 1: Jesus said unto her, “Thou has well said. I have no husband.” Notice what he says in verse 18. “For thou has had five husbands.” I mean is she like a Hollywood star or something? Five husbands? “For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom now hast is not thy husband and thou hast saith is thou truly.” Notice he says, “You’ve had five husbands, and you’re currently shacking up with someone you’re not even married to.” By the way, I’m not preaching about this, but this verse proves that living with someone doesn’t equate marriage in the eyes of God. People are going to say, “Why do I need to get some license that says that we’re married? We love each other. We’re living together.” Well, Jesus didn’t see it that way. He says, “You’ve had five husbands. The guy you’re living with, you’re not even married to.” He who now has is not thy husband, and that saith is thou truly. He says, “Yeah, you’re right. You got no husband. You have five husbands, and you’re shacking up with someone you’re not even married to.”
Speaker 1: Notice he deals with her sin, and we’re going to come back to that in a minute, but I want you to notice he deals with her sin. In his gospel presentation, he deals with her sin. We see the same thing with Nicodemus. Remember a Jewish man who thought that his birth would bring him salvation, Jesus says, your physical birth means nothing. You must be born again. What you’ll find when you go, when you’re Jesus’ silent partner, and we’re going to see him give the gospel a lot through this series. You know what you find is that he’s always faithful to deal with the sins of man, because you’re not ready. No one is ready to be saved. No one is ready to be saved, until they’ve dealt with their sin. That they are a sinner in need of salvation. Let me give you the last thing we see here. He not only explains to her that salvation is a gift and that it must be asked for, and that it’s ever lasting and that she is a sinner in need of salvation, but he explains to her that he is the savior.
Speaker 1: Notice John 4:25. We’re going to come back. We skipped a few verses. We’re going to come back to those in a minute. Notice verse 25. The woman saith unto him, “I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ.” Now, I just want you to notice the Bible is its own dictionary. The Bible always defines itself for us. You say, “What does the word Messiahs mean?” You don’t need to go open up some Bible dictionary to find out. You need not to open up Bible dictionary. The Bible tells us right there what it means. I know that, and this is just one example. There’s many examples of this. She says, “I know that Messiah’s cometh, which is called Christ.” Look, he’s called the Lord Jesus Christ. What does the word Christ mean? It means Messiah. You understand that? It’s not like Christ was his last name. Jesus was first name. Christ was last name. Christ was a title. That’s why it’s ridiculous today you’ve got dispensation like [inaudible 00:39:01] saying, Jesus wasn’t my Messiah. Is he your Christ, because he’s a Messiah?
Speaker 1: I know that Messiah’s cometh, which was called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. So notice what she said. She says, “I know that the Christ was coming. I know that Messiah is coming.” Look at verse 26, “Jesus saith unto her, ‘I that speak unto thee I’m He.'” I as speak unto the am who? He says, “I am the Messiah. I’m the Christ.” Look, it’s very important. It’s very important that in our gospel presentation, we must make sure that we are teaching people what the true salvation is and who the true savior is. Notice the emphasis in verse 10. Go back to verse 10, “Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God.” You need to understand what salvation is and who it is that saith to thee. So you need to be right on salvation, and you need to be right on the savior. Look, when we’re out preaching the gospel, you need to make sure that you are preaching the gospel appropriately in regards to salvation.
Speaker 1: What is salvation? Salvation is forgiveness of your sins that you can receive it by no works. It’s a free gift. Once you have it, you can’t lose it, but then you must also make sure that we emphasize the savior. Jesus was God in the flesh. He died in your place. We must have both to be saved. You must have the right salvation, and you must have the right savior. You must emphasize the savior. Look, don’t have a gospel organization where you don’t emphasize the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and why he did it because he explained. He said, “Look, I am he. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. I’m the one that you are looking for to come.” Look at verse 15, John 4:15. We’re listening in on the story on this conversation between the woman at the well and the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw the pursuit of a soul-winner. Jesus was looking for opportunities, and he was looking for those who were unlovable. We saw the presentation of a soul-winner.
Speaker 1: We saw that he explained that it was a gift, that it must be asked for, that it was ever lasting, that she was a sinner and that he was the savior. I’d like you to notice thirdly, this morning, the perception of the soul-winner. You say, “What do you mean by that perception?” It means that if you’re going to be a soul-winner, who’s a good soul winner, you’re going to have some discernment as to how you interact with people. Notice there are two major areas in this presentation that Jesus could have. Now he didn’t of course, but where he could have got derailed or where you and I might get derailed in our gospel presentation. The first one is this. Jesus had the discernment to know when she was ready to get saved, because notice he explains to her that if you drink of this water, you’ll thirst again, but if you drink of the water that I have to give you, you’ll never thirst again. She’s still thinking physical. She’s saying, “Is there some magical water out there that I can drink of, and I’ll never thirst again?”
Speaker 1: She says, “Give me.” Notice verse 15. “The woman’s saith unto him, ‘Sir, give me this water that I thirst not.'” You say, “Is she ready to get saved?” No, she’s still on the physical. Neither come hither to draw. She says it’s a lot of work to come out here every day and draw water. It’s a lot of work to come out here every day in the well and put this bucket down and bring water up. It’s a lot of work. If you have some magical water that’ll make it so that I’m never thirsty, give me. Notice this lady like many gospel presentation, she’s saying, “Give it to me. Let’s pray. I’m ready to pray.” You know what? Jesus could have prayed the sinner’s prayer with this lady, but he had the discernment not to do so, because he understood that she was not ready to get saved. Look at verse 16, she’s saying, “Give me this water.” I mean, wouldn’t you and I be saying like, “Okay, well look repeat after me. Dear Jesus.” Notice what he says. He saith unto her, “Go call thy husband.”
Speaker 1: He begins the conversation dealing with her sin. You say, why? Because Jesus had the discernment. Look, Jesus was not out trying to have prayers with people. So he could come back and practice disciples. I got someone to pray with me. This lady would have prayed, but she wasn’t ready. Jesus had the discernment to know when she was ready to get saved. You say, “How did he know when she was ready?” Well, other than the fact that he’s God, here’s how he knew. He listened to her speak, and he understood that she didn’t understand. She didn’t get it. Look, when we’re out soul-winning and we’re giving the gospel to people as people are talking to us and communicating with us, we need to have the discernment to know does this person get it? Do they understand it? This is why we teach our soul-winners to ask questions. Look, as a soul-winner, you got to be engaged in conversation, asking questions, listening to them answer your questions. Here’s what soul-winners do and look, “Are you trying to pick on me?”
Speaker 1: Yes I am, because you know what? There are soul winners who want to go out there and just get a prayer, so that they can come back and tell people that they got a prayer. You know what they do when they finally are forced to ask a question? They’ll quickly give the person the answer, or they’ll ask a question in the way where like they’re giving the answer. Now listen, I want to make sure you understand. You believe that salvation is a free gift that you don’t have to earn just like I showed you a minute ago, right? Okay. You gave them all the answers. You’ll preach the gospel to them and then ask them, “Hey, so what do you believe about this? Do you believe?” Let them answer. I get to the end of my gospel presentation, before I ever pray with someone I say, “Hey, look I’ve showed you several things from the Bible. I don’t know if you noticed, but they all came from the Bible. Let me just ask you a couple of questions. Do you believe what I showed you? Do you believe that you’re a sinner?”
Speaker 1: I don’t say, “Hey, you believe that you’re a sinner just like I showed you in Romans 3:10, right? Hey, do you believe you’re a sinner? You believe you’re sinner? I mean, do you believe this?” I’m not a car salesman here. I’m not trying to get some… I’m not going to get some money because I got you to pray a prayer. I want to make sure you get this. Do you believe that you can lose yourself? Do you believe that chapter? Let people talk, because if you’re asking questions and they’re just like, “Yeah. Hey, so now that I showed you this, let me make sure you understand. Let me ask you a question. What do you think it takes for someone to go to heaven?” They’re like, “Well, you’ve got to get baptized.” It’s like they’re not ready. They’re not ready. Jesus had the discernment to know when this lady was ready or not. Notice he also had the discernment to not get off on a rabbit’s trail.
Speaker 1: Notice, verse 19. It’s interesting because he deals with her sin, right? Go and call thy husband. Said, “I don’t have a husband.” He’s like, “Yeah, I know. You got five husbands and the guy you’re shacking up with, you’re not even married to him.” Then immediately look, whenever you start dealing with people’s sins, immediately they try to just change the conversation. Verse 19, “The woman saith unto him, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” Yeah, verse 20, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say…” Now look, she’s pointing to Mount Gerizim. If you remember in the Old Testament, you had those two famous mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The law was given the curse and the blessings. Mount Ebal was a mount of cursing and Mount Gerizim was the mount of blessings. If you remember, Moses gave the law, Joshua would go back and put the people on the mountains after the whole episode of [inaudible 00:46:47].
Speaker 1: She’s pointing on Mount Gerizim and she’s saying, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is this place where men ought to worship.” Now he starts dealing with her in a very personal, intimate way. Hey you realize that your baptism, your religion, how good a person, none of that matters in regards to salvation. If you’ve not called upon Christ to save you, if you’re trusting in your works, you’re going to die and go to hell. You tell people that and all of a sudden they’re like, “Yeah, but did Adam have a belly button?” Well, what does the Bible say about UFOs? You know what? Some of you answer those stupid questions. You start dealing with someone intimately and you start getting down, and the Holy Spirit’s working. You know what? All of a sudden, she’s more religious as she has some religious theological question. Well our fathers worshiping in this mountain and ye say, and he’s like when did Jesus say anything about a mountain?
Speaker 1: Ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship? Look, she tries to veer off the conversation on some big rabbit trail, and Jesus had the discernment. You say, “What did Jesus do?” Here’s what he does. He answers her question and he moves on. He doesn’t get all tangled up. Look at verse 21, “Jesus saith unto her, ‘woman believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain, nor ye at Jerusalem worship the father.’ You worship you know not what.” He was like, “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.” We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now let me just go ahead and explain this to you, because we’re talking about the woman at the well, and I think it’s good for you to understand what’s happening here. The reason that she brings this up is because the Samaritans, remember those Samaritans were not only an outcast due to the race. I’m using the word race by human standards, because there is no race in the Bible. We’re all the human race.
Speaker 1: They were outcasts based on their ethnicity, because they were half breed, half Jew, half Gentiles, but they were also outcast because of their religions. See the Samaritans only acknowledged what they referred to as the Torah. They acknowledged Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy as God’s word, and they rejected the rest. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel. None of that was acknowledged to them as God’s word. They only acknowledged the first five books of the Bible. They called it the Torah or the Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Because of this, they rejected Jerusalem as the place or the center of worship to God. In the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there is no mention of Jerusalem. Now there is a hint towards Jerusalem when Melchizedek, the high priest of Salem which is Jerusalem. There’s a hint towards it in the Torah, but in the Torah, there’s no mention to Jerusalem being the center of God’s worship, but there is a mention to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.
Speaker 1: I was actually here, I was out in Mount Gerizim and I was at the woman at the well when we were in Palestine for the beyond Jordan documentary. We went to the woman at the well, to the well there and drink of the water and we went up to Mount Gerizim. This is what she’s referring to. She’s saying, because she’s saying Mount Gerizim is mentioned in Genesis through Deuteronomy as a place of God’s blessing. So the Samaritans made Mount Gerizim the center of their worship. If you go there, you’ll find that there’s actually Samaritan village, old villages and things that are left there from that. There’s this theological argument, should we worship in mountain Gerizim or should we worshiping Mount Jerusalem? Jesus just, he answers her question. He shuts her down. He says, “Look, there’s coming a day when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father. You worship you now what…” Verse 22, we know what we worship, and he basically just ask for salvation.
Speaker 1: He’s saying, “Look, the Jews were right. Jerusalem in the Old Testament was the center of God’s worship.” He said, “You know what? It doesn’t matter because I’m bringing in a New Testament. I’m bringing a new thing and it doesn’t matter whether you worship, it’s not about a mountain.” Verse 23, “But the hour cometh and now is.” He says, “Look, if you want to ask me a theological question under the old covenant and in the Old Testament were the Jews right, or the Samaritans right. Should the center of God’s worship be in Jerusalem or should it be at Mount Gerizim?” He says, “The Jews were right. Salvation is of the Jews.” He says, “You know what? The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” He says in the New Covenant, it’s not about a place. It’s not about a building, it’s not about a location. It’s about worshiping God in spirit and in truth.
Speaker 1: He answers a question and he just gets right back to the gospel. “For the Father seeketh such to worship him.” Verse 24, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So notice he has the discernment to know when someone’s ready and not ready, and he has the discernment to not get off on a rabbit’s trail and start answering some weird question. He has the discernment to just, he answered a question and gets back to the gospel. He answered her question, and gets back to the gospel. Now, just real quickly, we’re done as far as the conversation with this woman, but in this plot of Jesus and the woman of the well, there’s a smaller subplot of Jesus and his disciples and I want to just focus it on that. We’re going to do that really quickly, and we’ll be done. He’s giving them lessons about soul-winning. I want you to notice just in conclusion.
Speaker 1: In conclusion if you’d like to jot these down, there are several things. First of all, we see the renewal of the soul-winner. Notice verse 25, the woman saith unto him, “I know the Messiah has cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, ‘I as speak unto thee I’m he,’ and upon this came his disciples.” Remember they were out getting lunch, so now they show up for lunch and marvel that he talked with the woman. Why are they marveling? Because he’s talking to a Samaritan woman. This is a no, no. Yet no man said what seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot. It’s interesting to me. She left what was physical, and now she’s interested in the spiritual. Went her way into the city and saith to the men, “Come and to see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came unto him. We’ll come back to that in a second.
Speaker 1: There was a conversation between Jesus and his disciples. In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him saying, “Master eat.” Remember they went to get him lunch. In the meanwhile, remember at the beginning story, he was wearied with his journey. He was tired, he was hungry and it’s lunch time. They went out to get food. They bring him food and they say, “Master eat.” But he said unto them, verse 32, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.” Therefore, said the disciples one to another. They were like Nicodemus and the woman at the well. They don’t get the spiritual application, they’re just thinking physical. “Hath any man brought him ought to eat?” Like we were going to go buy him lunch. Did somebody bring him lunch? Verse 34, “Jesus saith unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.'” You know what we see here? We see the renewal of the soul-winner. Jesus at the beginning, because remember he was human being.
Speaker 1: At the being of the story he’s tired, he’s hungry, he’s wearied with his journey, but then he gets this woman, he gives her the gospel and she gets saved. Now he’s renewed. He’s like, “Lunch? I don’t need lunch. I got meat to eat you know not of.” He said, “I’m re-energized. I’m ready to go.” Some of you are discouraged with your soul-winning. You’re discouraged with the Christian life. You’re discouraged with your walk with God. You’re spiritually tired. You’re spiritually hungry. You say, “What do you need?” You need to go find yourself a Samaritan woman and get her saved. It’ll renew you. It’ll rejuvenate you. He says, “Look, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me.” You’re saying, “I haven’t got anybody saved in a long time.” Go find some ghetto, go find some poor person. Go find someone who’s least like you, and they’ll probably want to hear it.
Speaker 1: They’ll probably want to hear that they can be forgiven, that they can receive salvation. The [inaudible 00:55:17] says there’s no exercise better for the heart than the reaching down and lifting up of people. So we see the renewal of soul-winner. Notice secondly, we see the reaping of the soul-winner. Verse 35 this is the conversation. The sup line between Jesus and his disciples. “Say not ye that there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the field for they are white already to harvest.” Notice he talks about urgency. He says, “We have to reap the harvest. We need to bring it in.” He said, “Don’t sit there and say that there’s four months left.” He says, “Lift up your eyes and look on the field.”
Speaker 1: Matthew 9:36 you don’t have to turn there, but it says this, “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.’ Pray ye therefore that the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.” You see, I’m not excited about soul-winning. Maybe you need to just open your eyes a little bit. Maybe you need to lift up your eyes and look on the fields and realize that they are white already to harvest. Here’s all I’m telling you. There are people all over the city, all over this County, all over this State that would get saved if you would bring them the gospel. So we see the renewal of the soul-winner. We see the reaping, and we see Jesus is talking to his disciples. Part of me wonders if his disciples walked by this lady.
Speaker 1: Remember they were leaving the well to go get him lunch. She was coming to the well. I wonder if they… The Bible doesn’t tell us this, but part of me wonders, did they just walk right by each other and they were just busy getting lunch? He’s telling them, “Hey, lift up your eyes and look on the fields. There’s more important things than food, for they are white already to harvest.” Notice the reward of the soul-winner. Verse 36. He that reapeth, receiveth wages and gathereth fruit. You say, “When do I get my wages?” Until life eternal. There’s heavenly rewards for the work we do here. That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together, and hearing is that saying true. One soweth and another reapeth, I sent you to reap that we’re on you bestowed no labor. Other men labored and ye are entered into their labor. So we see the reward that there is a reward. We see that there is rejoicing and sowing when we reach people with the gospel.
Speaker 1: In heaven you’ll be glad you gave up your Saturdays to go soul-winning. No one’s going to get to heaven and say, “Man, you know what? I wish I would have just gone fishing one more time.” There’s going to be lots of people who are going to say, “Man, I wish I would’ve gone fishing for men.” Notice lastly the result for soul-winners, verse 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men, it’s interesting. She saith to the men. Everything in the Bible is in there for a reason. Why does the Bible say, remember this lady was married five times, and she’s shacking up with a guy she’s not married to. She said to the men. You say, “Why did she go to the men?” That’s probably all the people she knew in the city. “Come and see a man which told me all things ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came up to him. You know what the result of soul winning is?
Speaker 1: The fact that we reach people who are sinners, who are broken, who have issues, who have problems, who have major things in their life that needs to be dealt with. We reach them with the gospel, and then they go and reach others. Look at verse 39, “Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all things ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days and many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, ‘Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard of ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world.'” It’s interesting. It’s interesting because we see a woman, we see a woman who was attempting to fill a void in her life, a physical void. Jesus hinted at it. He said, “You’re thirsty, but you’ll thirst again.”
Speaker 1: This lady was trying to fill it with men. She was married, but eventually she got thirsty again. She married again. She filled that need, but then she got thirsty again. She married again, and she got thirsty again. She married again, she got thirsty again. She married again. She got thirsty again, and now she’s not even married, a guy just living with her. This is how the world lives their lives. You all know why people… There are drugs, alcohol, fornication, pornography, adultery, all these things. You want to know why these things around? Because people are trying to fill a void that only God can fill. Look, you have the answer and I have the answer. Maybe as you’re going through your journey, maybe as you’re traveling through life, maybe as you’re making your appointments and you find yourself hungry and tired, take the time and take the opportunities with the woman at the well. With that guy at your job. With that clerk at the grocery store. With those people that God sets these divine appointments for, because it’s our job like the Lord Jesus Christ to seek and to save that which was the lost.
Speaker 1: Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word and for the Bible. Lord, thank you for allowing us to be able to study not just the teachings of Jesus and the parables of Jesus, but to just watch him interact with people. Lord, I pray that you would make us soul conscious. Lord, I ask for myself, I pray you’d help me as I just go through life, as I talk to people and deal with people. I pray you’d help me. I pray you’d help all of us to be mindful of the spiritual condition. Lord, I pray that you help us as we come along people who are not like us. It’s easy for us to look down on them sometimes and say, “Well, look at them. They’re trying to fulfill every physical loss and every physical need.” It’s easy for us to be hypocritical and look down on them. Help us Lord, to realize they’re just like the woman at the well. They’re just searching for something. They think the world will give it to them, and it never will. It’ll never satisfy. Lord, help us to…
Speaker 1: If you look at verse 1, the Bible says this, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples. Notice what the Bible says in verse 3, he left Judea. Now here’s what you need to understand about the nation of Israel. Judea was in the Southern part of Israel, and he left Judea and he’s traveling North. The Bible says and departed again into Galilee. So he is traveling from the Southern part of Israel to the Northern part of Israel, and he’s traveling from Judea, which we find in the gospels that there’s a lot of ministry that went on for the Lord in the Southern tribe of Judea, that area. Then of course in Galilee, he had a great ministry up in Galilee. As he’s traveling from the South to the North, the Bible says in verse 4, “He must needs go through Samaria.”
Speaker 1: Now between Judea and Galilee, there was a section there which is known as the area of Samaria, where the Samaritans live. We’ll talk a little bit about the Samaritans here in a little bit. What I want you to notice in this passage is that what we’re really doing today, is we’re going soul-winning with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, we see Jesus as a soul-winner and of course, as the greatest soul-winner who ever lived and he is witnessing, he is preaching the gospel. He is presenting the gospel to this woman at the well, and we’re going to learn some lessons about soul-winning from the greatest soul-winner who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you’re not familiar with that term, soul-winning, the Bible talks about he that winneth souls is wise, in the book of Proverbs. Soul-winning is a big thing, and a big deal for us here at Verity Baptist Church, because this is what God has called us to do.
Speaker 1: When we go out and we confront people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we’re not confrontational, we’re not rude, but we bring the gospel to them. We learned this from the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s many examples throughout the Bible, but here we’ll see one and I’d like to apply and make some applications in regards to soul winning from this passage. We go out as a church corporately, we have times when we go out on Saturday mornings, on Sunday afternoons, on Thursday afternoons, and we go out in the community and we preach the gospel to people. What I want you to notice, and if you’re taking notes and I’d encourage you to take some notes. On the back of your chorus of the week, there’s a place for you to write down some notes. I’d like you to notice three different areas here in regards to soul winning, and the greatest soul-winner. The first one is this. We see the pursuit of the soul-winner. I want you to notice that Jesus was looking for opportunities to present the gospel.
Speaker 1: Again, we saw that he’s traveling from Judea to Galilee. He’s having to go through Samaria. Look at verse 4 again. The Bible says this, and he, that’s Jesus. I want you to notice this wording. It says, “Must needs go through Samaria.” Must needs go through Samaria. Now here’s what you need to understand, and we can spend a lot of time on this and I’m not going to. The Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews. The Samaritans were considered half breeds. They were considered people that were half Jew and half Gentile. We don’t have time to go into it, but if you study the Old Testament, you’ll remember that the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the Northern kingdom and the Southern kingdom. The Northern kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians, and the Southern kingdom was taken over by the Babylonians. When the Southern kingdom who fell later was taken over by the Babylonians, they were carried away captive into Babylon.
Speaker 1: We know that they made it into different places, into Persia and different empires and things like that. When the Northern kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians, they also were taken captive, but many were left there in the Northern kingdom. What the Assyrian nation did is they intermingled with the Jews of that day. In fact, if you study history, you’ll learn that the Assyrian empire was known for this. They would often take over as they were taking over different lands or regions, they would intermingle themselves and have their children marry the children of the people of that land, and intermingle the culture and that’s exactly what they did. As a result, the Jews began to reject the Samaritans, because they were no longer purely Jewish in their eyes. They were these half breed. These half Assyrian, half Gentile, half Jewish people, and they were despised as we’ll see here in the story. The Jews would have no dealings with the Samaritans as a result of this.
Speaker 1: We’re told by history that the Jews would often bypass Samaria. They would not even go through Samaria. They would take the long route around Samaria in order to avoid it, because there was a racist aspect to it, and there was a religious aspect as we’ll see in the story here as well. The Samaritans worshiped differently than the Old Testament Jews. Here when the Bible tells us that Jesus must needs go through Samaria, it doesn’t tell us that there was no other way around. There was nothing else that he could do. He had to travel through there though he did not want to. What the Bible is telling us is that Jesus, though everyone else would travel around it, though everyone else would avoid Samaria, he made it a point to make sure that he went through Samaria. It says that he must needs go through Samaria. Notice verse 5, “Then cometh he, that’s Jesus, to a city of Samaria, which was called Sychar near to the parcel of the ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.”
Speaker 1: I want you to notice, you say, “Why does the Bible say that he must needs go through Samaria?” Well, we’re watching the greatest soul-winner who ever lived, and we do have to say this, that Jesus had an advantage that you and I don’t have is that he was God in the flesh. I believe that Jesus knew that he needed to go through Samaria, because he was looking for opportunities while he was out and about, while he was out traveling, while he was out just ministering and doing his daily life. He was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel, and he knew that he would run into a woman at the well who needed to hear the gospel. Here’s what I want you to notice. The first lesson we can learn is the pursuit of the soul-winner is that Jesus was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel. Listen to me, I want you and I hope you will become a soul-winner at some point in your life, where you will schedule a time and prioritize a time in your life to go out and reach people with the gospel.
Speaker 1: If you say, “Pastor Jimenez, what time do you recommend?” Saturday morning. That’s what I recommend. I recommend Saturday morning. You make that your soul-winning time. You say, “Why do you guys talk about Saturday morning being your main soul-winning time?” The reason that Saturday morning is our main soul-winning time at Verity Baptist church is because of the fact that our soul-winning is meant to not only reach people with the gospel, but to carry out the entire great commission, which is to reach people with the gospel, to see them baptized and to bring them into church for discipleship that they might grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and savior. What we have found is that you are most likely to get a convert to come to church on Sunday when you get them saved on Saturday. Now you say, “Whoa, you have other soul-winning times.” Well look, you can go soul-winning whenever you want. You say, “Why do you do Thursday?” Because that’s leading into the weekend.
Speaker 1: You say, “Why do you have Sunday?” Honestly, I’ll be honest with you, Sunday soul-winning is meant for… It was started at our church for a couple of reasons. It was started for those of you who commute, our church is blessed with the fact that we have many people who commute from a long ways away, and we understand that it would be difficult for you to come out on Saturday for soul-winning, and go all the way back home and come back on Sunday for soul-winning. So many of you come to church on Sunday and then you go soul-winning Sunday afternoon, you stay for Sunday night church. You make a whole day out of it. Great. We love that. That’s wonderful. That was created for you. You say, “What’s the next purpose for Sunday soul-winning?” Next purpose for Sunday soul-winning is for anyone who wants to do extra soul-winning. If you want to do more soul-winning, do it. You say, “If I could only go out once and I got to go Saturday or Sunday, when would you recommend?” Saturday.
Speaker 1: You say, “Why?” Because look, here’s the truth. Most people aren’t going to visit church on a Sunday night, and when you get somebody saved on a Sunday afternoon, you’re literally the furthest time away in the week from the next opportunity that they might come and visit. So if you can only choose one, choose Saturday. We’re talking about corporate soul-winning here. When we’re talking about going out as a group of believers and going out, but what I want you to notice is that that’s not the only time we go soul-winning. Soul-winning is not just something that’s done on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM, or on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM, or on Thursday after 2:00 PM. Honestly, throughout your life you got to be looking for opportunities to preach the gospel and to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here Jesus was traveling. He had a busy schedule, he had a busy ministry. He’s going from Judea up into Galilee. He’s trying to get things done. He’s trying to get things accomplished, but he must needs go through Samaria. Why? Because he had the pursuit of a soul-winner.
Speaker 1: He was looking for opportunities while he was out and about to reach people with the gospel. Look, you and I ought to be looking for those opportunities when we can talk to people, when we can invest into people, when we can preach the gospel. Sometimes you can’t preach the gospel to somebody, but you’re going to hand them a DVD. You can hand them an invitation. You can give them a verse. You can say something. Look, we ought to be looking. See the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was involved in this idea of seeking and saving, and looking for people who needed to be saved. Now there in John 4, keep your place to [inaudible 00:10:28] this morning, but go to Luke 19. Say well, “Should we be soul-winning just in our daily lives, or should we have a corporate scheduled soul-winning?” You should do both. You say, “What about if I do corporate schedule soul-winning?” Do corporate schedule soul-winning on Saturday, and be looking for opportunities to preach the gospel throughout the week.
Speaker 1: You say, “Well, what have I just look for opportunities to preach the gospel, and I don’t do corporate soul-winning?” Here’s what I’ve learned about that. You probably won’t do soul-winning. You’re probably not going to be looking for opportunities to present the gospel if you’re not faithfully attending an on-purpose time when you go out in the community and you reach people you don’t know with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you need both, but look, our lives as Christians is to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is what Jesus did. Luke 19 look at verse 10. Luke 19:10, notice what Jesus said of himself. He said, for the son of man, referring to himself, is come. Notice, to seek and to save that which was lost. You say, “What should be the motto of every Christian? What should be the motto of Verity Baptist church?” What should be? If there was one phrase that people could put on us, could look at us and say, “This is what these people are about,” that phrase is to seek and to save.
Speaker 1: To look for people, to search for people. To look for opportunities to preach the gospel to every creature. Go back to John 4. I want you to notice that Jesus, and we’re looking at the pursuit of a soul-winner. In his pursuit, in his search and his attempt to seek and to save, he was looking for opportunities. As he was out and about, as he was traveling, as he was going through his daily life. You say, “Did Jesus have corporate times of soul-winning?” Absolutely. We see several times in the gospels when he organized his 12 disciples, and he sent them out in the community two by two into the highways and hedges to reach people with the gospel. We see later on in his ministry, where he had 70 disciples that he sent out two by two into the highways and hedges. He had corporate soul-winning, but you know what? Just in his personal life, he was looking for opportunities to preach the gospel. He was doing it as he was out and about.
Speaker 1: I would like you to notice also that he was looking for opportunities even while he was tired. Notice verse 6. Now Jacob’s well was there, Jesus therefore, notice what the Bible says. “Being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour.” I want you to notice that the Bible tells us here that Jesus was wearied with his journey. Look, you say, “Why are these details added to the story?” I believe that these details are added to the story to let us know that Jesus, the Bible is clear, was God in the flesh, but he was also a human. He had human limitations and he got tired, and he got weary and he was traveling and he was walking, and he was accomplishing things. The Bible says that he was being wearied with his journey. Look, I’m thankful for verses like these. I’m thankful you don’t have to turn there, but Hebrews 4:15 says this, “For we have not in high priest, referring to Jesus, which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.”
Speaker 1: Jesus experienced every temptation, every trial, every heartache, every weariness, every human limitation that you and I experience. He experienced it too. So before you say, “Pastor, you don’t understand. I work hard all week long and I’m just too tired on Saturday to go soul-winning.” Hey, so was Jesus. He being wearied with his journey continued to say, “I must needs go through Samaria.” We used to call this back when I was growing up, I think we should bring this back. We used to call these the buying appointments. When you’re out and about, and people happen to cross your path. Realize this. Just realize this, that every person who crosses your path will spend eternity somewhere, heaven or hell. You may be the only person who has the truth of the gospel that can get them saved. So we see the pursuit of this soul-winner. The greatest soul-winner who ever lived. He was out and about. He was tired, yet he was looking for opportunities to be able to present the gospel to people.
Speaker 1: I’d like you to notice also that Jesus was only looking for opportunities, but that Jesus was looking for the unlovable. Notice John 4:7. John 4:7, there cometh a woman of Samaria. Again, remember that the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans. We’ll see it here in the texts. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, “Give me the drink.” Notice he begins the, he’s tired. He begins the conversation. He says, give me a drink for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. The word meat in the Bible means food. The word meat in our modern terminology would be what the Bible calls flesh. So it’s just that they went out to get lunch for him. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Verse 9, then saith the woman of Samaria unto him. Notice what she says. She says, “How is it that thou being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which I’m a woman of Samaria.” Notice what she says, “For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” She says, “Look, your people and my people don’t get along.”
Speaker 1: Your people look down on my people. Your people don’t even talk to our people. I’m not even sure why you’re here. Usually your people just go around this whole area and she’s confused. She said how is it that thou, she said I can tell you’re a Jew. I can tell by your demeanor. I can tell by the way you’re dressed, I can tell by the way you’re traveling that you’re not one of us. You’re not a Samaritan. She said, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which I’m a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Here’s what I want you to notice, and here’s what I want you to see that Jesus was not only looking for the opportunities, but Jesus was looking for those who were unlovable. Those who were unlovely, those who others maybe would look down on, others would not want to spend time with, others would want to ignore. It’s interesting to me when you do a compare and a contrast between John 3 and John 4, you’ll find that Jesus was truly no respecter of persons.
Speaker 1: In John 3, we see him speaking to Nicodemus, who was a man who was highly favored and accepted by the religious establishment, but in John 4, we see him talking to a woman who was highly despised and rejected by the religious establishment. Jesus was trying to reach everyone. He wasn’t just trying to reach nice people, rich people. He wasn’t just trying to reach people that were like him. Here’s what you need to know about the ministry of Christ, is that people who were not like Jesus liked Jesus. I think sometimes we forget this in our ministries, because we have this tendency to want to reach out to people that are like us, and reach out to people that we like, and reach out to people that we’re comfortable with, and reach out to people that we want. You know we only reach out to the people that we’d like to be sitting next to us in a pew, in the church service, but this was not Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jesus would give the gospel to the rich. He would give the gospel to the religious. He would give the gospel to the excepted. If Nicodemus came to his door, he would give him the time to give them the gospel, but he took the time to find the woman at the well. Why? Because he was looking for opportunities, and because he was looking for the unlovable. This was a theme in the ministry of Christ. Go back to Luke 15, we’re just in Luke 10. You go back. Luke 15, look at verse 1. This is something that Jesus was actually criticized for in his ministry. Luke 15:1 says, “Then drew near unto him,” that’s Jesus. Notice all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. This is the crowd that nobody likes. These are the outcasts. These are the unlovable, the unlovely. The Bible says that they drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him, and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying… Notice they’re complaining and they’re murmuring against Jesus.
Speaker 1: What are they saying? They’re saying, “This man receive its sinners and eateth with them.” One of the complaints that the religious people had about Jesus was that he was reaching out to people that no one else wanted to reach. Listen to me, in your life and in my life, we preach the gospel to everyone, but we should be looking for opportunities to find people that are unlovely. We should be looking for opportunities to find people that others look down upon. We should be looking for opportunities to find people we say they’re not like us, but let’s just reach them anyway. People who are not like Jesus, like Jesus. People who are not like you will like Jesus too, if you’d bring the gospel to them. I’m excited about, and I don’t know how this is going to work out. I’ve already started to talk to some people and look at some situations, but I’m hoping that our church can start a prison ministry. I’m really excited about us being able to start a prison ministry.
Speaker 1: You say, “Why would we want to start prison ministry?” Well, our church has a reputation and the government doesn’t seem to like us very much. So sometimes we might have to start it under a different name. Going to be like Verily Ministries or something. You say, “Pastor, you want to go in to and… What do you want to do? Gather some guys and gather some ladies and go preach the gospel to people in prisons. Why would you want to do that?” You know what? Because we need to find people that aren’t like us. You say, “Well, I don’t want to go preach there.” Look when I said that, if in your mind… I don’t want to bring those people into church. There’s something wrong with you. There’s a problem with you. There’s a problem with your heart. People that weren’t like Christ liked Christ. Look, it is our job to find. You say, “Are we going to reach everybody?” Yeah, but you know what? We need to on purpose look for those who are not loved, who’ve been forgotten about, who have been outcasted and make sure we bring the gospel to them.
Speaker 1: Why? You say, because that’s what Jesus did. You’re going to be one of those churches? Let people say whatever they want. Let them talk ill of us and say, “Well, he eateth, he receiveth sinners.” You know what? We are a spiritual hospital looking for people who need the savior. We see that Jesus was in pursuit. He was searching, he was looking for opportunities to get people saved while out and about, while he was tired. He was looking for those who were outcast, who were unlovely and unlovable, and he was making an effort to reach them. I want you to notice secondly tonight, this morning excuse me. It’s been a long week for me. Not only do we see the pursuit of the soul-winner, but I want you to notice we see the presentation of the soul-winner. Here’s what’s really interesting. If you go to John 4, we often tell our soul-winners and we train our soul-winners to have a presentation ready, that they should have a plan to present the gospel.
Speaker 1: That they should have points and versus, and have an idea of what verses they’re going to go to and how they’re going to explain it, and how they’re going to illustrate it and things like that. What I love about John 4 is that we not only get to listen in on a conversation between the Lord Jesus Christ and this woman, but we get to listen in on a presentation of the gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes people have even criticized us for our gospel presentations. You guys have this gospel plan. It should just come from the heart or something like that. You know what? There’s nothing wrong to have a plan and to be ready to be able to do a good job with the presentation of the gospel. I want you to notice that Jesus had a presentation that covers all the basic things that we teach our soul-winners. If you go through our soul-winning seminar, you find all the different steps and things that we ask you to cover. You’ll find that Jesus covered all the exact same things.
Speaker 1: By the way, that’s on purpose. We’re learning from Jesus. You say, “What did he cover?” Well, notice first of all, he explains that salvation is a gift. John 4:10, Jesus answered and said unto her, if don’t knew is the gift of God. He said, if you knew that God had a gift and who it is that saith to the give me to drink, thou would’ve asked of him and he would’ve given the living water.” He said, “If now new as the gift of God, you would have asked for it and he would have given the living water.” So notice he first explained to her that salvation is a gift. Doesn’t that sound like the gospel presentation that we give up? We don’t normally go out and tell people for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Don’t we tell people for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God? Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Speaker 1: By the way, you say, “What’s the point in telling people salvation is a gift?” The point of telling people that salvation is a gift is to explain to them that you don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. You don’t pay for it. A gift by definition is free. Someone else pays for it, but you receive it without earning it, without working for it. Look, this goes against every false religion of our day. Name the false religion. Name the religion. Name the religion, and look most religions today are going to teach you, you have to earn it, you have to work for it. Most religions are going to tell you, you have to get baptized. You have to repent of your sins, which means turning away from your sins. They’re going to tell you, you have to go to the confessional booth. They’re going to tell you, you have to go take communion. They’re going to tell you, you have to do the sacraments. They’re going to tell you, you have to get baptized. They are going to tell you, you have to quit sinning there.
Speaker 1: They’re going to give you all sorts of things and tell you, you got to do this. You got to do this. You got to do this. Look, whenever anybody tells you you have to do something in order to be saved, that’s not a gift. That’s earning it, that’s working for it. Jesus says, “Look, if thou knewest the gift of God.” What’s the idea? It’s free. It’s not of works lest any man should boast. Notice in his presentation, he explains that salvation is a gift. Notice also in his presentation, he explains that salvation must be asked for. Look at Luke verse 10 again. Jesus answered and said unto her, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink.” Notice what he says. He says, “Thou wouldest have asked of him.” Today we’ve got some really mature soul-winners. They go out on soul-winning for three weeks, they think they got it all figured out.
Speaker 1: Today we’ve got all of these punk soul-winners who want to criticizes that, “You don’t have to pray the sinner’s prayer.” No one has to actually ask for the gift. Well, here’s the problem with that. The problem with that is that you must be a greater soul-winner than the Lord Jesus Christ, because if you have to ask for it, it’s not a gift. That’s so stupid. If you have to ask for it, then you earn it. Okay? So when homeless people go out who aren’t working and look and you say, “You’re going to start a prison ministry, how about a homeless ministry?” The Bible says to not feed those who will not work. Feed those who will not eat, that doesn’t make sense. You say, “Why don’t you guys go feed the homeless?” Because we’re not supposed to feed people who won’t work. They need to go work. You say, “Whoa, they’ve got problems and they got this and they got that.” Look, we’ll try to get them saved. We’ll try to help them get off drugs and alcohol, but they need to go work.
Speaker 1: Prisons, look and I’m going to get on a whole another tangent, but prisons are so unscriptural. You don’t find a prison in the Bible, all right? It’s the prison industrial complex is what you have in United States of America. That’s a sermon for another day, but let me just say this, the people say, “Well you ask [inaudible 00:26:45], so okay.” If I’m just a lazy bum and then I go down to the welfare office, and I sign up for free money and I asked for it, did I earn it now? Did I work for it? Ask for a gift doesn’t mean you earn it. That’s stupid. [inaudible 00:26:59] you don’t have to ask for it. Well, you must be smarter than Jesus. You must be greater than Jesus, because he told us woman if you would have known about the gift, thou wouldest have asked of him. You would have asked for it, and he would’ve given it thee.
Speaker 1: Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:134, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” So I want you to notice that he emphasized the fact that salvation was a gift, and he emphasized the fact that salvation must be asked for. You must call upon Jesus to save you. You must ask him to save you. You must call upon him to save you. You must ask for the gift. Notice thirdly, you’re there in John 4. Look at verse 11, “The woman saith unto him, ‘Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drunk there of himself and his children and his cattle.'”
Speaker 1: Remember I talked about doing a compare and contrast between Nicodemus and the woman at the well. Nicodemus, the story is found in John 3. Woman at the well story is found in John 4. Here’s the contrast. One was accepted by the religious establishment. One was despised by the religious establishment. Here’s the comparison, both did not understand the spiritual meaning and both took the words of Jesus as a physical meaning. Remember Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again. He said, “How can a man being a being old get into his mother’s womb?” He didn’t understand the idea. He thought Jesus was talking about a physical second birth. Well notice Jesus is using this example of the water to the woman. He says, if you would’ve known, you would have asked and he would have given the living water. She says, “Sir, thou has nothing to draw with.” She said, “You don’t even have a bucket.” She just doesn’t get it. Thou has nothing to draw and the well is deep from whence then has though that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob?
Speaker 1: She thinks he’s talking about physical water, and this goes back to the idea that unsaved people cannot understand spiritual things. The natural man understanding not the things of the spirit of God. They need somebody to explain to them the spiritual work. Notice what he explains to her, verse 13. So we’re with Jesus soul-winner. We’re Jesus’ silent partner, and we see him explain that salvation is a gift. We see him explain that salvation must be asked for, that you must call upon Christ to save you. Thirdly, we see him explain eternal security. Everlasting life. Look at verse 13, because she thinks he’s talking about the water. He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given the living water.” She says, “You don’t even have a bucket, but the well is deep. How are you going to give me water?” She’s like, “Didn’t you ask me for water?” She’s all confused.
Speaker 1: She thinks he’s talking about the physical water. Verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drink of this water, talking about the physical water, shall thirst again. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying there are some physical needs that you have physically in your life, but here’s the problem and please listen to this. Here’s the problem with the physical needs is that when you fulfill that need, you will have to fulfill it again, because when you get thirsty and you drink water, here’s what happens. Eventually you get thirsty again, because when you get hungry and you eat, here’s the problem. Eventually you get hungry again. He’s saying you’re trying to fulfill and we’re going to see here in a second, how’s she’s doing that. You’re trying to fulfill a void that you have in your life, a hunger that you have in your life, a thirst that you have in your life. You’re trying to fulfill that physically, but the problem with that is that whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
Speaker 1: Verse 14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.” But the water that I shall give him, but the water that I shall give him. There is a very important aspect of eternal security here. It’s not just that you’ll never lose your salvation, not just that you’ll never thirst. Is that salvation, yes, it’s true that salvation will never be lost and it’ll never end, and it’ll never terminate. Salvation itself will produce something inside of you that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. We don’t have time to go there, but if you reference back that well of water, it’s very clear and other teachings from Jesus that he’s referring to the Holy spirit of God. I want you to understand that, because there’s a very important aspect of salvation here. There’s a difference between those of you that are saved, and those of you that are not saved.
Speaker 1: When you are not saved, all you are is physical hungers, physical needs trying to be fulfilled in a physical way. When you are saved, you still have physical hungers, you still have physical needs. Sometimes we try to fulfill them in a physical way, but the difference is that when you’ve got the Holy spirit of God, God can now fulfill that need. When you allow God to fulfill your needs, he doesn’t just want to save you spiritually. He wants to fulfill you spiritually. He says that a well of water is springing up into everlasting life. He explains to her, look it’s everlasting and he’s using the illustration saying, “If you drink water, you’re going to get thirsty again, but if you get saved, if you drink the living water, you’ll never need to drink again. You’ll never thirst again.” John 5:10, you have to turn there. It says this, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, and he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son.”
Speaker 1: What’s that record? Verse 11, and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Look salvation is everlasting. It’s eternal. You can’t lose. I realized that people today, go to John 10. You’re there in John 4, just flip a few pages over. John 10, I realized today that most religions will tell you that you can lose your salvation, or you can walk away from your… Some religions will tell you if you live a sinful life, you’ll lose it. Other religions, because we’ll show them verses that say everlasting life. Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” So then you say, “Well no, God will never take it from you, but you can walk away from it.” So he won’t take salvation from you, but you can give it back. They’ll say like, “It’s like if you and God are holding hands and you’re walking down the road together, and you can just let go of God.”
Speaker 1: Well here’s the problem with that. You can try all you want to let go of God, and he’s not going to let go of you. You say, “Prove that from the Bible.” John 10:28, notice what Jesus said. “And I give unto them eternal life.” Look at the context, “And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Well see, you’re walking on the road with Jesus holding hands and you can let go. Well, here’s the thing. He said, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father’s hand. Look, once you’re saved, you couldn’t get yourself unsaved if you tried. You couldn’t get away from God if you wanted to. That doesn’t mean that you can live however you want. It doesn’t mean that your Heavenly Father is not going to give you a spiritual spanking when you’re not doing right.
Speaker 1: What it means is that once you drink of the living water, you will never thirst again, because it will create in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Notice when we’re the silent partner of the Lord Jesus Christ, notice what he emphasizes. He emphasizes that salvation is a gift. He emphasizes that salvation is to be called for. He emphasizes that salvation will last forever. Does that sound like what we do? Does that sound like the soul-winning seminar, Verity Baptist Church? You say, “Why?” Because look, we’re not doing anything different today than what Jesus started. In fact, all we’re doing is continuing on the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice fourthly, if you go back to John 4, he explains to her that she is a sinner. There is no good gospel presentation that doesn’t deal with people’s sin.
Speaker 1: No one is ready to be saved until they realize that they are a sinner in need of salvation. John 4:15 the woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Jesus saith unto her, look I wouldn’t advise you to do. Jesus is God. He knows things about this woman that you and I don’t know. So he deals with her in a very unique way. You can’t and I can’t do this. We just take people to Romans 3:10, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There’s none righteous, no, not one.” We take them to those verses and just show people that they’re sinners. Jesus does it in a very impressionable way. Look at verses 16, Jesus saith unto her, “Go call thy husband and come hither.” She just said, “Hey, I want to receive this gift. Give it to me.” He’s like, no, wait, wait a second.” We’re going to come back to that in a minute. He says, “Go call my husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Speaker 1: Jesus said unto her, “Thou has well said. I have no husband.” Notice what he says in verse 18. “For thou has had five husbands.” I mean is she like a Hollywood star or something? Five husbands? “For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom now hast is not thy husband and thou hast saith is thou truly.” Notice he says, “You’ve had five husbands, and you’re currently shacking up with someone you’re not even married to.” By the way, I’m not preaching about this, but this verse proves that living with someone doesn’t equate marriage in the eyes of God. People are going to say, “Why do I need to get some license that says that we’re married? We love each other. We’re living together.” Well, Jesus didn’t see it that way. He says, “You’ve had five husbands. The guy you’re living with, you’re not even married to.” He who now has is not thy husband, and that saith is thou truly. He says, “Yeah, you’re right. You got no husband. You have five husbands, and you’re shacking up with someone you’re not even married to.”
Speaker 1: Notice he deals with her sin, and we’re going to come back to that in a minute, but I want you to notice he deals with her sin. In his gospel presentation, he deals with her sin. We see the same thing with Nicodemus. Remember a Jewish man who thought that his birth would bring him salvation, Jesus says, your physical birth means nothing. You must be born again. What you’ll find when you go, when you’re Jesus’ silent partner, and we’re going to see him give the gospel a lot through this series. You know what you find is that he’s always faithful to deal with the sins of man, because you’re not ready. No one is ready to be saved. No one is ready to be saved, until they’ve dealt with their sin. That they are a sinner in need of salvation. Let me give you the last thing we see here. He not only explains to her that salvation is a gift and that it must be asked for, and that it’s ever lasting and that she is a sinner in need of salvation, but he explains to her that he is the savior.
Speaker 1: Notice John 4:25. We’re going to come back. We skipped a few verses. We’re going to come back to those in a minute. Notice verse 25. The woman saith unto him, “I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ.” Now, I just want you to notice the Bible is its own dictionary. The Bible always defines itself for us. You say, “What does the word Messiahs mean?” You don’t need to go open up some Bible dictionary to find out. You need not to open up Bible dictionary. The Bible tells us right there what it means. I know that, and this is just one example. There’s many examples of this. She says, “I know that Messiah’s cometh, which is called Christ.” Look, he’s called the Lord Jesus Christ. What does the word Christ mean? It means Messiah. You understand that? It’s not like Christ was his last name. Jesus was first name. Christ was last name. Christ was a title. That’s why it’s ridiculous today you’ve got dispensation like [inaudible 00:39:01] saying, Jesus wasn’t my Messiah. Is he your Christ, because he’s a Messiah?
Speaker 1: I know that Messiah’s cometh, which was called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. So notice what she said. She says, “I know that the Christ was coming. I know that Messiah is coming.” Look at verse 26, “Jesus saith unto her, ‘I that speak unto thee I’m He.'” I as speak unto the am who? He says, “I am the Messiah. I’m the Christ.” Look, it’s very important. It’s very important that in our gospel presentation, we must make sure that we are teaching people what the true salvation is and who the true savior is. Notice the emphasis in verse 10. Go back to verse 10, “Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God.” You need to understand what salvation is and who it is that saith to thee. So you need to be right on salvation, and you need to be right on the savior. Look, when we’re out preaching the gospel, you need to make sure that you are preaching the gospel appropriately in regards to salvation.
Speaker 1: What is salvation? Salvation is forgiveness of your sins that you can receive it by no works. It’s a free gift. Once you have it, you can’t lose it, but then you must also make sure that we emphasize the savior. Jesus was God in the flesh. He died in your place. We must have both to be saved. You must have the right salvation, and you must have the right savior. You must emphasize the savior. Look, don’t have a gospel organization where you don’t emphasize the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and why he did it because he explained. He said, “Look, I am he. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. I’m the one that you are looking for to come.” Look at verse 15, John 4:15. We’re listening in on the story on this conversation between the woman at the well and the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw the pursuit of a soul-winner. Jesus was looking for opportunities, and he was looking for those who were unlovable. We saw the presentation of a soul-winner.
Speaker 1: We saw that he explained that it was a gift, that it must be asked for, that it was ever lasting, that she was a sinner and that he was the savior. I’d like you to notice thirdly, this morning, the perception of the soul-winner. You say, “What do you mean by that perception?” It means that if you’re going to be a soul-winner, who’s a good soul winner, you’re going to have some discernment as to how you interact with people. Notice there are two major areas in this presentation that Jesus could have. Now he didn’t of course, but where he could have got derailed or where you and I might get derailed in our gospel presentation. The first one is this. Jesus had the discernment to know when she was ready to get saved, because notice he explains to her that if you drink of this water, you’ll thirst again, but if you drink of the water that I have to give you, you’ll never thirst again. She’s still thinking physical. She’s saying, “Is there some magical water out there that I can drink of, and I’ll never thirst again?”
Speaker 1: She says, “Give me.” Notice verse 15. “The woman’s saith unto him, ‘Sir, give me this water that I thirst not.'” You say, “Is she ready to get saved?” No, she’s still on the physical. Neither come hither to draw. She says it’s a lot of work to come out here every day and draw water. It’s a lot of work to come out here every day in the well and put this bucket down and bring water up. It’s a lot of work. If you have some magical water that’ll make it so that I’m never thirsty, give me. Notice this lady like many gospel presentation, she’s saying, “Give it to me. Let’s pray. I’m ready to pray.” You know what? Jesus could have prayed the sinner’s prayer with this lady, but he had the discernment not to do so, because he understood that she was not ready to get saved. Look at verse 16, she’s saying, “Give me this water.” I mean, wouldn’t you and I be saying like, “Okay, well look repeat after me. Dear Jesus.” Notice what he says. He saith unto her, “Go call thy husband.”
Speaker 1: He begins the conversation dealing with her sin. You say, why? Because Jesus had the discernment. Look, Jesus was not out trying to have prayers with people. So he could come back and practice disciples. I got someone to pray with me. This lady would have prayed, but she wasn’t ready. Jesus had the discernment to know when she was ready to get saved. You say, “How did he know when she was ready?” Well, other than the fact that he’s God, here’s how he knew. He listened to her speak, and he understood that she didn’t understand. She didn’t get it. Look, when we’re out soul-winning and we’re giving the gospel to people as people are talking to us and communicating with us, we need to have the discernment to know does this person get it? Do they understand it? This is why we teach our soul-winners to ask questions. Look, as a soul-winner, you got to be engaged in conversation, asking questions, listening to them answer your questions. Here’s what soul-winners do and look, “Are you trying to pick on me?”
Speaker 1: Yes I am, because you know what? There are soul winners who want to go out there and just get a prayer, so that they can come back and tell people that they got a prayer. You know what they do when they finally are forced to ask a question? They’ll quickly give the person the answer, or they’ll ask a question in the way where like they’re giving the answer. Now listen, I want to make sure you understand. You believe that salvation is a free gift that you don’t have to earn just like I showed you a minute ago, right? Okay. You gave them all the answers. You’ll preach the gospel to them and then ask them, “Hey, so what do you believe about this? Do you believe?” Let them answer. I get to the end of my gospel presentation, before I ever pray with someone I say, “Hey, look I’ve showed you several things from the Bible. I don’t know if you noticed, but they all came from the Bible. Let me just ask you a couple of questions. Do you believe what I showed you? Do you believe that you’re a sinner?”
Speaker 1: I don’t say, “Hey, you believe that you’re a sinner just like I showed you in Romans 3:10, right? Hey, do you believe you’re a sinner? You believe you’re sinner? I mean, do you believe this?” I’m not a car salesman here. I’m not trying to get some… I’m not going to get some money because I got you to pray a prayer. I want to make sure you get this. Do you believe that you can lose yourself? Do you believe that chapter? Let people talk, because if you’re asking questions and they’re just like, “Yeah. Hey, so now that I showed you this, let me make sure you understand. Let me ask you a question. What do you think it takes for someone to go to heaven?” They’re like, “Well, you’ve got to get baptized.” It’s like they’re not ready. They’re not ready. Jesus had the discernment to know when this lady was ready or not. Notice he also had the discernment to not get off on a rabbit’s trail.
Speaker 1: Notice, verse 19. It’s interesting because he deals with her sin, right? Go and call thy husband. Said, “I don’t have a husband.” He’s like, “Yeah, I know. You got five husbands and the guy you’re shacking up with, you’re not even married to him.” Then immediately look, whenever you start dealing with people’s sins, immediately they try to just change the conversation. Verse 19, “The woman saith unto him, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” Yeah, verse 20, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say…” Now look, she’s pointing to Mount Gerizim. If you remember in the Old Testament, you had those two famous mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The law was given the curse and the blessings. Mount Ebal was a mount of cursing and Mount Gerizim was the mount of blessings. If you remember, Moses gave the law, Joshua would go back and put the people on the mountains after the whole episode of [inaudible 00:46:47].
Speaker 1: She’s pointing on Mount Gerizim and she’s saying, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is this place where men ought to worship.” Now he starts dealing with her in a very personal, intimate way. Hey you realize that your baptism, your religion, how good a person, none of that matters in regards to salvation. If you’ve not called upon Christ to save you, if you’re trusting in your works, you’re going to die and go to hell. You tell people that and all of a sudden they’re like, “Yeah, but did Adam have a belly button?” Well, what does the Bible say about UFOs? You know what? Some of you answer those stupid questions. You start dealing with someone intimately and you start getting down, and the Holy Spirit’s working. You know what? All of a sudden, she’s more religious as she has some religious theological question. Well our fathers worshiping in this mountain and ye say, and he’s like when did Jesus say anything about a mountain?
Speaker 1: Ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship? Look, she tries to veer off the conversation on some big rabbit trail, and Jesus had the discernment. You say, “What did Jesus do?” Here’s what he does. He answers her question and he moves on. He doesn’t get all tangled up. Look at verse 21, “Jesus saith unto her, ‘woman believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain, nor ye at Jerusalem worship the father.’ You worship you know not what.” He was like, “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.” We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now let me just go ahead and explain this to you, because we’re talking about the woman at the well, and I think it’s good for you to understand what’s happening here. The reason that she brings this up is because the Samaritans, remember those Samaritans were not only an outcast due to the race. I’m using the word race by human standards, because there is no race in the Bible. We’re all the human race.
Speaker 1: They were outcasts based on their ethnicity, because they were half breed, half Jew, half Gentiles, but they were also outcast because of their religions. See the Samaritans only acknowledged what they referred to as the Torah. They acknowledged Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy as God’s word, and they rejected the rest. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel. None of that was acknowledged to them as God’s word. They only acknowledged the first five books of the Bible. They called it the Torah or the Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Because of this, they rejected Jerusalem as the place or the center of worship to God. In the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there is no mention of Jerusalem. Now there is a hint towards Jerusalem when Melchizedek, the high priest of Salem which is Jerusalem. There’s a hint towards it in the Torah, but in the Torah, there’s no mention to Jerusalem being the center of God’s worship, but there is a mention to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.
Speaker 1: I was actually here, I was out in Mount Gerizim and I was at the woman at the well when we were in Palestine for the beyond Jordan documentary. We went to the woman at the well, to the well there and drink of the water and we went up to Mount Gerizim. This is what she’s referring to. She’s saying, because she’s saying Mount Gerizim is mentioned in Genesis through Deuteronomy as a place of God’s blessing. So the Samaritans made Mount Gerizim the center of their worship. If you go there, you’ll find that there’s actually Samaritan village, old villages and things that are left there from that. There’s this theological argument, should we worship in mountain Gerizim or should we worshiping Mount Jerusalem? Jesus just, he answers her question. He shuts her down. He says, “Look, there’s coming a day when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father. You worship you now what…” Verse 22, we know what we worship, and he basically just ask for salvation.
Speaker 1: He’s saying, “Look, the Jews were right. Jerusalem in the Old Testament was the center of God’s worship.” He said, “You know what? It doesn’t matter because I’m bringing in a New Testament. I’m bringing a new thing and it doesn’t matter whether you worship, it’s not about a mountain.” Verse 23, “But the hour cometh and now is.” He says, “Look, if you want to ask me a theological question under the old covenant and in the Old Testament were the Jews right, or the Samaritans right. Should the center of God’s worship be in Jerusalem or should it be at Mount Gerizim?” He says, “The Jews were right. Salvation is of the Jews.” He says, “You know what? The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” He says in the New Covenant, it’s not about a place. It’s not about a building, it’s not about a location. It’s about worshiping God in spirit and in truth.
Speaker 1: He answers a question and he just gets right back to the gospel. “For the Father seeketh such to worship him.” Verse 24, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So notice he has the discernment to know when someone’s ready and not ready, and he has the discernment to not get off on a rabbit’s trail and start answering some weird question. He has the discernment to just, he answered a question and gets back to the gospel. He answered her question, and gets back to the gospel. Now, just real quickly, we’re done as far as the conversation with this woman, but in this plot of Jesus and the woman of the well, there’s a smaller subplot of Jesus and his disciples and I want to just focus it on that. We’re going to do that really quickly, and we’ll be done. He’s giving them lessons about soul-winning. I want you to notice just in conclusion.
Speaker 1: In conclusion if you’d like to jot these down, there are several things. First of all, we see the renewal of the soul-winner. Notice verse 25, the woman saith unto him, “I know the Messiah has cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, ‘I as speak unto thee I’m he,’ and upon this came his disciples.” Remember they were out getting lunch, so now they show up for lunch and marvel that he talked with the woman. Why are they marveling? Because he’s talking to a Samaritan woman. This is a no, no. Yet no man said what seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot. It’s interesting to me. She left what was physical, and now she’s interested in the spiritual. Went her way into the city and saith to the men, “Come and to see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came unto him. We’ll come back to that in a second.
Speaker 1: There was a conversation between Jesus and his disciples. In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him saying, “Master eat.” Remember they went to get him lunch. In the meanwhile, remember at the beginning story, he was wearied with his journey. He was tired, he was hungry and it’s lunch time. They went out to get food. They bring him food and they say, “Master eat.” But he said unto them, verse 32, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.” Therefore, said the disciples one to another. They were like Nicodemus and the woman at the well. They don’t get the spiritual application, they’re just thinking physical. “Hath any man brought him ought to eat?” Like we were going to go buy him lunch. Did somebody bring him lunch? Verse 34, “Jesus saith unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.'” You know what we see here? We see the renewal of the soul-winner. Jesus at the beginning, because remember he was human being.
Speaker 1: At the being of the story he’s tired, he’s hungry, he’s wearied with his journey, but then he gets this woman, he gives her the gospel and she gets saved. Now he’s renewed. He’s like, “Lunch? I don’t need lunch. I got meat to eat you know not of.” He said, “I’m re-energized. I’m ready to go.” Some of you are discouraged with your soul-winning. You’re discouraged with the Christian life. You’re discouraged with your walk with God. You’re spiritually tired. You’re spiritually hungry. You say, “What do you need?” You need to go find yourself a Samaritan woman and get her saved. It’ll renew you. It’ll rejuvenate you. He says, “Look, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me.” You’re saying, “I haven’t got anybody saved in a long time.” Go find some ghetto, go find some poor person. Go find someone who’s least like you, and they’ll probably want to hear it.
Speaker 1: They’ll probably want to hear that they can be forgiven, that they can receive salvation. The [inaudible 00:55:17] says there’s no exercise better for the heart than the reaching down and lifting up of people. So we see the renewal of soul-winner. Notice secondly, we see the reaping of the soul-winner. Verse 35 this is the conversation. The sup line between Jesus and his disciples. “Say not ye that there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the field for they are white already to harvest.” Notice he talks about urgency. He says, “We have to reap the harvest. We need to bring it in.” He said, “Don’t sit there and say that there’s four months left.” He says, “Lift up your eyes and look on the field.”
Speaker 1: Matthew 9:36 you don’t have to turn there, but it says this, “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.’ Pray ye therefore that the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.” You see, I’m not excited about soul-winning. Maybe you need to just open your eyes a little bit. Maybe you need to lift up your eyes and look on the fields and realize that they are white already to harvest. Here’s all I’m telling you. There are people all over the city, all over this County, all over this State that would get saved if you would bring them the gospel. So we see the renewal of the soul-winner. We see the reaping, and we see Jesus is talking to his disciples. Part of me wonders if his disciples walked by this lady.
Speaker 1: Remember they were leaving the well to go get him lunch. She was coming to the well. I wonder if they… The Bible doesn’t tell us this, but part of me wonders, did they just walk right by each other and they were just busy getting lunch? He’s telling them, “Hey, lift up your eyes and look on the fields. There’s more important things than food, for they are white already to harvest.” Notice the reward of the soul-winner. Verse 36. He that reapeth, receiveth wages and gathereth fruit. You say, “When do I get my wages?” Until life eternal. There’s heavenly rewards for the work we do here. That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together, and hearing is that saying true. One soweth and another reapeth, I sent you to reap that we’re on you bestowed no labor. Other men labored and ye are entered into their labor. So we see the reward that there is a reward. We see that there is rejoicing and sowing when we reach people with the gospel.
Speaker 1: In heaven you’ll be glad you gave up your Saturdays to go soul-winning. No one’s going to get to heaven and say, “Man, you know what? I wish I would have just gone fishing one more time.” There’s going to be lots of people who are going to say, “Man, I wish I would’ve gone fishing for men.” Notice lastly the result for soul-winners, verse 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men, it’s interesting. She saith to the men. Everything in the Bible is in there for a reason. Why does the Bible say, remember this lady was married five times, and she’s shacking up with a guy she’s not married to. She said to the men. You say, “Why did she go to the men?” That’s probably all the people she knew in the city. “Come and see a man which told me all things ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came up to him. You know what the result of soul winning is?
Speaker 1: The fact that we reach people who are sinners, who are broken, who have issues, who have problems, who have major things in their life that needs to be dealt with. We reach them with the gospel, and then they go and reach others. Look at verse 39, “Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all things ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days and many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, ‘Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard of ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world.'” It’s interesting. It’s interesting because we see a woman, we see a woman who was attempting to fill a void in her life, a physical void. Jesus hinted at it. He said, “You’re thirsty, but you’ll thirst again.”
Speaker 1: This lady was trying to fill it with men. She was married, but eventually she got thirsty again. She married again. She filled that need, but then she got thirsty again. She married again, and she got thirsty again. She married again, she got thirsty again. She married again. She got thirsty again, and now she’s not even married, a guy just living with her. This is how the world lives their lives. You all know why people… There are drugs, alcohol, fornication, pornography, adultery, all these things. You want to know why these things around? Because people are trying to fill a void that only God can fill. Look, you have the answer and I have the answer. Maybe as you’re going through your journey, maybe as you’re traveling through life, maybe as you’re making your appointments and you find yourself hungry and tired, take the time and take the opportunities with the woman at the well. With that guy at your job. With that clerk at the grocery store. With those people that God sets these divine appointments for, because it’s our job like the Lord Jesus Christ to seek and to save that which was the lost.
Speaker 1: Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word and for the Bible. Lord, thank you for allowing us to be able to study not just the teachings of Jesus and the parables of Jesus, but to just watch him interact with people. Lord, I pray that you would make us soul conscious. Lord, I ask for myself, I pray you’d help me as I just go through life, as I talk to people and deal with people. I pray you’d help me. I pray you’d help all of us to be mindful of the spiritual condition. Lord, I pray that you help us as we come along people who are not like us. It’s easy for us to look down on them sometimes and say, “Well, look at them. They’re trying to fulfill every physical loss and every physical need.” It’s easy for us to be hypocritical and look down on them. Help us Lord, to realize they’re just like the woman at the well. They’re just searching for something. They think the world will give it to them, and it never will. It’ll never satisfy. Lord, help us to…