Transcription
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If you have your Bible, turn with me this morning to John chapter 4, beginning in verse 5. John chapter 4, beginning in verse 5. I want to pray over you. Lord, we come to you in the name of Jesus, the name that is above all names. And right now, we invite you to do work in this place that only you can do. I pray, Father, that you would take over, that you would be strong in my weakness. I pray that your word would come forth in truth and in power. Lord, that you would arrest us right where we are, you would convict us right where we are, and you would bring a transformative work into our life right now. I pray that all distractions that we came in here with, I pray that they would subside right now in your presence. And Lord, that you would be glorified and exalted. It's in Jesus' mighty name we pray, and everybody said amen.
I also want to take a second, like I do every week, and that's to glorify the name of Jesus above every other name. This morning, it's all about one name. It's about the name of Jesus. And please forgive me, I'm battling a cold if you can't tell. Normally, I'm a lot louder and crazier than this, but you'll be all right.
John chapter 4, beginning in verse 5. Eventually, he came to a Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's Well was there, and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon, a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." He was alone at the time because the disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?" Jesus replied, "If only you knew the gift God has for you and who you were speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give to you living water."
This is an incredible, incredible passage from the Gospel of John chapter 4. What we just read there may just sound like an ordinary passage to you. It may sound like a familiar story to you, but I want to point something out. Jesus actually, in the Gospel of John, the fourth chapter, says a theologically profound statement, and you may have completely overlooked it. Jesus looked at the woman at the well and he said, "Please give me a drink." Now, I know that doesn't sound complex and complicated and theologically challenging to you, but it is. Because you have to understand that this is Jesus, the preeminent God of all creation. He was with God in the beginning, and all things that were made were made through him and by him. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is almighty. All power and all glory is in him. And he looks at a woman at the well, a sinner, a Samaritan woman, and outcast in her own society, and he says to her, "Can you please give me a drink?" Think about it for a moment. Who are we that we could bless the Creator in any way? Who are we that we could help him, aid him, refresh him, bless him? Are you tracking with me? This is theologically profound. He's saying to the woman at the well, he's saying, "You can give me a drink." It's a revolutionary concept. David said in Psalm 8, "Who am I that you would even be mindful of me? You are the architect of the universe. The earth is your footstool. I'm nothing more than just a mere man. Who am I that you would even be mindful of me?" This is incredible.
I want you to understand this. Jesus didn't need anything from the woman. He didn't need her water. He didn't need the well. May I remind you, this is the same Creator who caused fountains to gush forth in the wilderness. This is the God of all creation. He needed nothing from the woman at the well, but he wanted something from her. There was nothing that she had that he couldn't already acquire. He didn't need anything from her, but he wanted something from her. And this morning, God doesn't need anything from you. He doesn't need anything from me, but he wants something from you today, just like he wanted something from the woman at the well. He wants something from us. Jesus didn't want her water. He wanted her worship. Look at your neighbor and help me preach and tell him, he wanted her worship. Y'all wait today. Y'all out there. He wanted her worship.
Psalm chapter 42 talks about the things of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is to be poured out. Acts chapter 2, verse 17, says, "In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." He talks about his Holy Spirit in terms and in the connotation of water being poured out. He was asking her for worship. He was asking her to pour out things of her spirit back to him. And this morning, I believe the Holy Spirit is asking for something today from you.
If you have your Bible, look with me to John chapter 4, verse 23. John chapter 4, verse 23. "But the time is coming, indeed it's here now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The same God who looked at the Samaritan woman at the well and said, "Can you give me a drink?" It's asking you the same question this morning. Will you give me a drink? Will you worship me? Will you pour out your praise on me? Will you pour out your worship on me? I don't need anything from you, but I desire something from you. I desire your praise. I desire your attention. I desire your affection. I desire your worship.
The Bible implies here that the worship of one sinner is refreshing to the Father. Did you hear me? The Bible is implying here that the worship of one person, one lowly, outcast, and overlooked person, is refreshing to God himself. Now, something that I got to paint the picture a little bit clearer for you about the Samaritans. Because we read the story and we're like, "Okay, she's a Samaritan. Big deal." Jews and Samaritans had nothing to do with each other. This was, there was serious tension and animosity. And here's the backstory. The Samaritans formerly were Jews, and they resided in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And in around 700 BC, the Assyrian army overtook the Northern Kingdom, and those Jews who lived there forsook the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they intermarried with heathens and pagans, and they began to worship other gods and other idols. This was a grave sin. This was a violation of the first commandment. So the Samaritans, they were, they were a little bit Jewish, but they were also mixed in with pagans and heathens. Jews would not even so much as speak to a Samaritan, not at all. And this woman was an outcast even amongst her own people.
But there's something incredible here that I pray that we receive. When Jesus, this is so epic, up until now in the fourth chapter of John's Gospel, John tells us that Jesus is the Messiah. The disciples tell us that Jesus is the Messiah. But it's not until right here in this passage of John chapter 4 that Jesus actually reveals himself as Messiah. And who does Jesus choose to reveal himself to? Does he reveal himself to the religious elite? Those who are deserving? Those who are socially acceptable? No. He shows himself and he reveals his true character and identity to the Samaritan woman. This outcast woman, this downtrodden, wretched sinner. That's who Jesus goes to, and that's who he reveals himself to. And this morning, this declares boldly over all of us that the God of all creation is drawing near to us, even in our time of need. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." There is nothing that you could have done in your life that would cause him to love you any less. He is drawing near to you, and he is asking you for a drink. He is asking you for your worship. He's asking you for your praise. He's asking you the same question that he asked the woman at the well: "Will you give to me a drink? Will you pour out your praise before me?"
A lot of times, when people think of this concept of God, when they think of this facet of his character, a lot of times people label God as egotistical. What kind of God asks for praise? Is he fishing for compliments? Have you ever done those people who fish for compliments? You know, they do something for you, and then they're like, "Did you like that? Did you like..." Well, tell me about it. So people often, we label God the same way. People think that God is egotistical, that he's demanding their praise, that he's demanding worship, that he has some deep-rooted insecurities that he needs to be praised. And I would say to you that you have got it completely backwards. You got it all wrong. It's not, he is not an egotistical God. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, does not describe a God who takes from you. It describes a God who gives to you. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would find life everlasting." God is not a taker. He's a giver. Look at your neighbor with a little bit of attitude and tell him, "God's a giver." He's a giver.
This is not egotistical for him to ask her for her worship. This is not egotistical for him to invite her to worship. The miracle of worship is not that God invites us to worship Him. The miracle of worship is that God actually accepts our praise. I'm gonna say that one more time. The miracle isn't that we've been invited to worship. The miracle is that he actually accepts our worship. Remember, he doesn't need anything from you. He doesn't need anything from us. He's the preeminent King of the universe. He's the Alpha and the Omega. There's nothing that I could give him that he doesn't already have. And everything in my life that I could give him, he already gave it to me first. God is not egotistical. It is a miracle that he accepts the worship and the praise of finite, fallen humanity. Thank you, Jesus.
Do you remember that we were former enemies of God? Before we were born again, before we repented of our sin, we were enemies of God, living in rebellion against him. It's a miracle that he accepts our worship. Now look at your neighbor and tell him, "It's about to get real." Tell him like you mean it, "It's about to get real."
Look back with me to John chapter 4, verse 10. All of that at the beginning of this sermon was just to build you to right here, to this point. John chapter 4, beginning in verse 10. "Jesus replied, 'If only you knew the gift God has for you and who you were speaking to, you had asked me, and I would give to you living water.' But Sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said. "If this well is very deep, where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?"
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Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." Now, I want you, you've got to see the magnitude of what's happening right here. Jesus walks up on Jacob's Well, finds this Samaritan outcast, pagan, heathen sinner, the worst of the worst. And he comes to her and he speaks to her, and he says, "Woman, will you give me a drink?" It sounds a little bit off-putting at first in our 21st-century ears. It seems a little rude of Jesus. But then, in exchange for the drink, he offers her a fountain that will never run dry. God is not about taking from you. God is all about the exchange. Now, I'm about to preach right now. God is about the exchange. He says, "Woman, if you give me a drink, you give me a cup from this well, I'll give you an entire fountain that never runs dry." If you give me what is finite, if you give me what is limited, I will turn around and give you what is infinite. You may give me a glass of water, but I'm about to give you a fountain that never runs dry. And the same thing is true in your worship. When he asks you for a drink, when he asks you for your worship, he asks you to give him the finite praise that you have right now. Just give him what you have. And you may give him a drink, but he will return to you a fountain of living water that never runs dry and leads to life everlasting. It's the infinite exchange. God takes what is finite, and he returns it with what is infinite.
If you have your Bible, I want to show you this principle in Isaiah 61:3. This is absolutely profound. If you're taking notes, you're to write Isaiah 61:3 down. Write it, write it on your hand, on your head, somebody, something, just write this thing down because you need this. Isaiah 61:3: "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, and to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." I don't know if you caught this, but it says, "If you give me ashes, I'll give you beauty. If you give me your sadness, if you give me your mourning, I will give you joy. If you give me your heaviness, I will turn it into praise. If you will give me your ashes, I will turn around and make it beautiful." In other words, if you'll just give me what you have, I will turn around and give to you something that you could never acquire on your own. I will take your finite, and I will turn it into the infinite. God is asking us this morning to give him what we have, to worship him from where we are, to worship from the ashes, to worship him from the brokenness, to worship him from our recklessness. He's asking us, he's inviting us to worship Him in spirit and in truth, right from where we are. He exchanges our ashes for beauty. Ah, that's awesome. Can anybody just give the Lord some praise right now that you take, you take my sadness, you take my brokenness, you take my pain, and as I worship you from my pain, you turn around and give me something beautiful? That's the promise.
But so many of us, so many of us, when we are broken, when we are hurting, when we are in despair, our worship is silenced. We sit there with our arms folded and we're like, "God, until you do something, I'm not gonna move from here. I'm not gonna praise you." And you sit in a service like this, and you let it pass you by because your mind is fixated on everything that's not going right in your life. You're focused on the bad circumstances. But God says, "If you'll worship me from that brokenness, if you worship me from that heaviness, if you worship me from right there and offer me what is finite, I will return to you what is infinite. I will return to you a fountain that will never run dry." You can drink deeply from the fountain of your salvation. It's amazing. It's not fair. It's not even right, but it's just how good he is. We don't deserve it. Jesus says, "Bring me what you have, and I'll do something extraordinary with it." If you will just give him what you have, he'll do something incredible with it. This infinite exchange. It reminded me of when Jesus fed the 5,000. He took five loaves and two fish. He took the limited resources that the child had, and when he surrendered it to God, God took the finite and he turned it into the infinite. He took his limited resources and he did an unlimited miracle in his presence.
This morning, you might look at your life, and you might, all you see is your limitations. You see your weaknesses, you see your brokenness. You look at your talents, your resources, and all you see is limitation. Worship him from right there. Give him what is finite. Remember, this is an invitation to the infinite exchange. If you give God what you have, he will do something supernatural with it. If you're thankful and you believe what I'm saying, I just wish you'd praise him like you believe it.
You have your Bible. Look with me to Jeremiah chapter 2, beginning in verse 5. Jeremiah chapter 2, beginning in verse 5. This is incredible. I want you to watch this because worship may not change your circumstances. Worship may not change your situation. Worship may not change the debt collectors. Worship may not change your family crisis, but it will change you. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 5. "This is what the Lord says: What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me?" Watch this right here. "For they worshiped worthless idols only to become worthless themselves." So I want to read right there. There's a profound truth right there in Jeremiah 2:5. It says, "Your ancestors, they turned from me and they worshiped worthless idols, and they became worthless themselves." In other words, the Bible is telling you something happens when you worship what you worship. You become like it. I'm gonna say that one more time. The things that you worship, whatever you worship, you become like it. Did are we reading from the same Bible? I'm just curious. Because he said, "You worshiped a worthless idol, and you took on its nature. You worshiped a worthless idol, and you became worthless." That's the negative connotation. But if the same principle is true, flip it. If you will worship the one who is worthy, if you will worship the one who is righteous, if you will worship the I AM, if you will worship the healer, if you will worship the almighty counselor, if you will worship me, you will become more like me. You don't have a character problem. You have a worship problem. You're worshiping the wrong things because what you worship, you embody. Do you believe what I'm saying? Do you are you believing this? Because it's way more powerful than you're letting on right now, I promise you it is. What you worship, you become like. Every deficiency you see in your life, every inadequacy that you see in your life, every weakness that you see in your life, stop focusing on the gap and the weakness and start worshiping the one in whose image you are made. There is no lack in him. There is no deficiency in him. When you worship Him, you become like Him. You can't help but become more like Jesus when you worship Him. I mean, I could just talk to you from real life. Whatever you, whatever you worship, God genuinely. Do you leave from that moment like thinking, "Oh, I got to go, I got to go live it up. I got to go, I got to go sin. I got to go do this. I got a, whatever I got to fulfill my flesh." You want like, "Oh no." When you leave from the presence of God, you always leave better than how he found you. When you come into his presence, something changes within you. Your circumstance may not change, but something within you does. It's because whatever you worship, you become like. Powerful principle from Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 5.
Now, though I'm on wine, this sermon down, and I'm glad you didn't name in that, but as the being comes to help me close, turn one more place with me this morning to Numbers chapter 5, beginning in verse 16. When I studied this story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, my mind couldn't help but connect to this story in Numbers 5. And if you didn't hear anything I said all morning, I'm gonna ask you to lean into this right here because what I'm about to show you from the Bible is His living Word, and it will transform your soul. And I will promise you, if you, if you leave having received what I'm about to share with you, your life will never be the same again. Watch this. Numbers chapter 5. This is the order and the law of how to treat a woman who is accused of adultery. I want you to listen to this. "The priest will then present her to stand trial before the Lord. He must take some holy water and a clay jar and pour it into the dust and pour dust into it that he's taken from the tabernacle floor. When the priest has presented the woman before the Lord, he must unbind her hair and place in her hands the offering of proof, the jealousy offering, to determine whether her husband's suspicions are justified. The priest will stand before her, holding the jar of bitter water that brings a curse to those who are guilty."
So I want to read right there. I want to paint this picture for you. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Numbers chapter five, they described that if a woman is even accused of committing adultery, they would bring her into the tabernacle, and she would stand before the high priest. And he would take some of the holy water, and then he would kneel down and pick up some dirt and dust from the tabernacle floor, and he would sprinkle it into the holy water. And then they would force the cup to her mouth, forcing her to drink the bitter cup of the curse. And as she drank the cup of the curse, if she was guilty of adultery, she would become barren and infertile, unable to produce children in her life. But if she was innocent, she would escape its consequences.
Let me, let's go back to John 4 for a minute. Who was that woman at, at the well? Jesus says to her, if you keep reading in John 4, "The woman at Jacob's Well was an adulterer five times over." Jesus says to her, "Go and get your husband." She says, "Well, I have no husband." He says, "Ha ha, that's right, because you had five." And she's like, "How did you know?" Is he God? Are you starting to see the parallel? Watch this. Jesus is our High Priest. She is an adulterer five times over. This is the old covenant, the old law. Rightfully, the High Priest should have taken the water, made it bitter, and forced the curse to her mouth. But instead, Jesus looks at the adulterer five times over and he says, "Give me your drink. Give me your drink." Are you hearing what I'm saying? He said, "I know you are the adulterer. You deserve the curse. You deserve to drink of the bitter water of condemnation. But give me your cup. Give me your drink."
And this morning, that same beautiful name, that same beautiful Jesus, it's not just calling you to worship, but he's saying, "Give me your cup. Give me your sin. Give me your curse. Give me your mistake. Give it to me. You don't have to live with it any longer. You don't have to live with the guilt and the shame any longer. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I've come to take your drink, to take your punishment, to bear your burden." And He who knew no sin became sin, that you and I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Why don't you give Him praise like you mean it? Hallelujah.
Lord, John chapter 19, verse 28. On the cross, Jesus knew that His mission was now finished to fulfill Scripture. He said, "I am thirsty." A jar of sour wine was sitting there, soaked in a sponge, and they put it on a hyssop branch and held it up to his lips. And when Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished." And then he bowed his head and released his spirit. On the cross, Jesus drank our curse. He took our bitter cup.
This morning, I don't know who I'm talking to today, but the Holy Spirit is saying to you, "I want you to give me a drink." If you're a believer, you're saved, you've given your life to the Lord, he's calling you to a greater level of worship. "Give me what is finite, and I'll return to you what is infinite. You can't outgive me. When you worship me, you become more like me. When you give me a drink, I'll give you a fountain of living water." He's calling you, as a believer, to come deeper. Come worship me. Give me a drink.
But if you're in this room today and you're not a believer, you've never given your life to Jesus. You've lived a life for yourself, a life full of sin and selfishness. You're a good person, yes, but you're not surrendered to God. And you know how you've been living is wrong. You know the things that you've been doing, you know that they're wrong. And guilt and shame, they follow you, they haunt you. Even as you're in this room today, it's still haunting you. The memories of what you used to do and what you used to say, and maybe what you did this week. He says to you, "Give me your cup. Give me your drink. Pour out your guilt and your shame upon me. I will take your curse. I will take your sin. I will take your wickedness, and I will exchange it for my righteousness." This is unmerited favor, undeserved, unearned. There is no other God like this. Muhammad can't say this. Buddha can't say this. There is no other name. There is no other God who came back for you. There is no other Savior who died in your place. There is no other name who came to bear your burden and your curse.
If you're in this room today and you need to say, "Jesus, I'm giving you my cup. I'm giving you my curse. I'm giving you my shame. Forgive me. I'm a sinner who's fallen short of your glory." If that's you, I want you to raise your hand high and proud in this room today, saying, "Forgive me, Jesus." And as hands are going up, can we give the Lord praise? Hallelujah. It's the most beautiful thing you'll ever do is surrender to God.
And those of you who raised your hands, there were several of you. I want you to raise your hands with me again, and I want to pray this prayer with you. And you might be thinking, "Well, this feels silly. I don't want people to notice me or look at me." Jesus said, "If you would be ashamed of me on earth, I'll be ashamed of you in heaven. But if any man would acknowledge me on earth, I will acknowledge you before the angels of my Father." With your hands lifted, I want to pray this prayer, and I want you to pray it from your heart.
Father, I come to you today, the best way that I know how. And I raise my hand today to say, Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I have fallen short of your glory. But today, in this place, with my hand raised, I surrender. I'm giving my cup to you. I'm giving my shame to you. I'm giving my sin back to you. And I believe that 2,000 years ago, you came to this planet, you were born of a Virgin Mary, you lived a life without sin, you died on the cross in my place, and three days later, you were resurrected from the dead and witnessed by over 500 people. We believe, Jesus, that you are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. Be our strength. Be our guide. Make us new. Make us new today. In Jesus' mighty name, and everybody said amen.
Why don't we give the Lord praise one more time like we mean it? Hallelujah.
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