From the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us today as we spend time around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all his fullness to men and women in all their need. Good night is setting in, angels sing. It tells me ♪ The sweetest thing on earth ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name I love so well ♪ ♪ The name I long to hear ♪ ♪ No saint on earth is worth that deal ♪ ♪ No one can see my dear ♪ ♪ The sweetest thing on earth ♪ ♪ This angel chain is fragrant still ♪ ♪ Of all life's corny growth ♪ ♪ Just when they stood the rocket fell ♪ Oh Oh of sin and sorrow free. I sing the new eternal song of Jesus' love to thee. Oh, how I love the Savior's name. Oh, how I love the Savior's name. Let's bow together in a word of prayer, please. Eternal God and loving Heavenly Father, we do thank thee and praise thee for Christ. We thank thee for all that he means to us. We praise thee for his perfect life. We thank thee for his atoning death. We rejoice in all that he has accomplished for us in shedding his own blood. And we thank thee for what the scriptures have to say concerning the blood of Christ, that the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And O God, we do thank Thee for each one that is listening to Thy truth today, that knows they're saved, that knows they're washed in the blood of the Lamb. But we pray, if there's any that are listening to Thy truth, that has yet are not saved, that has not come to the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, We pray that God save them by thy grace, show them their need of the Savior. And we ask that even today may be a day of grace for their hearts, that they would repent and believe the gospel. But bless us today. Allow thy word to penetrate many a heart. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we're turning in the Word of God together, please, to John's Gospel, chapter 4. John's Gospel, chapter 4, and we're going to read the first 14 verses together. John chapter 4 and the verse 1, the Word of God states, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, Though Jesus himself baptized naught but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his disciples had gone away unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. 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, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 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 drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?' Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. We trust the Lord will bless the public reading of his holy and precious word to each of our hearts. We're going to sing together our next hymn, There Is No Love Like the Love of Jesus. you is is ♪ Turn to the love, weary wandering soul ♪ ♪ Jesus, live and live with me ♪ ♪ There is no voice like the voice of Jesus ♪ ♪ Never a sweetest time ♪ ♪ But music will bring all the flowing spring ♪ a a a Yeah. I'd like to thank the Reverend Henderson for leading the meeting so far. I want to speak for a little while tonight, friends, upon the subject, four great things about the woman at the well. John's Gospel chapter four, four great things about the woman at the well. You'll notice in verse number four that the Word of God says concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and he must needs go through Samaria. He must needs go through Samaria. That was not a geographical necessity. The Savior had to go through Samaria because in His heart and in His mind there was a woman that He wanted to speak to. He wanted to meet her at the point of need. He wanted to change her life. He wanted to set her wonderfully and gloriously free. So we're just going to think for a little while today four great things about this Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. I want you to notice first of all that this woman had great notoriety, great notoriety. You know what the word notorious means? It means to be famous or to be well-known for all of the wrong reasons. And maybe as you look at this portion of Scripture today, you say, how can you conclude that this woman had great notoriety? Well, it's seen in verse number 6 and verse number 7 that Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. She came to the well at the sixth hour. And in our clock, that's round about midday. And that was an unusual time for anybody to go to a well to draw water. Most people went first thing in the morning, or others went last thing in the evening, whenever it was during the cold, cool hours of the day. But this woman went at midday, whenever the sun was at its height. And it's my conviction that she went to the well at midday, at the sixth hour, because she didn't like to face people. She was notorious. She was well known to man. People knew who she was. People in that locality, they knew what she was. Even whenever the disciples came in the scene in verse number 27, it says that they marveled. that the Savior talked with the woman. Because she was notorious. Verse number 18 says that she had had five husbands. And now she was living with a man who wasn't her husband. And so people in that area knew who this woman was. Five failed marriages, and now she's cohabiting with a man who is not her husband, may even have been somebody else's husband. Her life was a life of failure, Her life was a life of broken relationships, broken hopes, and a broken heart. She was no one to men. George Whitefield was a great evangelist, and he once said that the Lord will save the devil's castaways. And here's a woman whose life is ruined, her life is destroyed, she's at this well, she's notorious, she's known to men, but more importantly than that, she was known to God. Jesus Christ our Lord knew who this woman was. Jesus Christ our Lord knew what this woman was. But more importantly than that, Jesus Christ our Lord knew exactly where this woman was. And he also knew exactly how this woman was. Because he is interested in individuals. He had to go through Samaria because there was a woman there who had great notoriety. She was a sinner. And yet the Lord came to set the captives free. And it doesn't matter tonight who you are or where you are. It doesn't even matter tonight what you are. Jesus Christ is in the business of forgiveness. And He's in the business as well of setting people wonderfully free. I wonder tonight, can I ask you, are you free? Has the Lord set you free? Do you have liberty in your soul tonight? Do you know the Savior? This woman had great notoriety. But not only did she have great notoriety, this woman also had great needs. He must needs go through Samaria. Why? Because there was a woman every day at that well at the sixth hour, and she had great needs in her life. And Jesus Christ is the answer. to the need of the human heart. We live in a world that has fallen. We live in a world that is broken. We live in a world where people, if they're honest, have to testify, I am poor and needy. But the Lord thinketh upon me. The little chorus used to say, Christ is the answer to my every need. Christ is the answer, he is my friend indeed. Problems in life my spirit may assail, but with Christ my Savior I need never feel, for Christ is the answer to my every need. Notice some of the needs that this woman had. You'll notice that this woman was longing. She was looking for something. There was a thirst and a hunger physically in her life. That's why she was at the well at the sixth hour, because she was thirsty. But that physical thirst was a lot less, I believe, than the thirst that was in her heart and the thirst that was in her soul. I believe that this woman was longing for something. She had tried to find peace and joy and satisfaction and acceptance and security. Marriage after marriage after marriage and she had never found it. And she's still longing, still looking for something, still empty and dissatisfied inside. You know Jesus Christ whenever He was on the cross. He cried out, I thirst. He understands what thirst is. And he's able to satisfy the thirst and the longing of the human heart. This woman was longing for something. This woman as well was also lonely. It was the sixth hour. And she went to the well at the sixth hour because she knew in her heart there would probably be nobody there. She couldn't face people. And she was lonely in her heart and life. All of these relationships that she had been in, they had never provided her with security. They'd never really provided her with love and contentment. And this woman, I believe, was lonely. Dr. Carl Jung was an American psychologist and he said that loneliness is the central neurosis of our society. And Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, is interested in people that are longing. He's also interested in people that are lonely. And He knows more acutely what loneliness is than any other human being that has ever walked on this earth. Because whenever he was on the cross, from the sixth hour, incidentally, to the ninth hour, the Bible says there was darkness over all the world. And he cried out and said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken that you might never be forsaken. He was forsaken because our sins were placed upon him on that cross, and our sins separated between him and his God, and those who come to know Christ. You can enjoy a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. You can enjoy a marriage relationship with the Son of God Himself. And you never have to be lonely again. This woman was longing. This woman was lonely. This woman as well was licentious. Five husbands. And then the Lord said to her, and he whom thou hast now is not thy husband. Maybe he's somebody else's husband, but he's certainly not your husband. This woman was guilty of the sin of adultery, fornication, living outside God's plan and God's order for her life as far as marriage is concerned. We might say that she was licentious. She was living loosely. She didn't really have all that many morals at all. But furthermore, this woman had great needs in her life, not just because she was longing for something, not just because she was lonely, not just because she was licentious, but primarily she had great needs in her life simply because like every single one of us, naturally speaking, she was lost. She did not know the Lord. That's evident there in verse number 22, whenever the Savior challenged her and said, as she had spoken about worship, he said to her in verse number 22, ye worship ye know not what. You don't really know who you're talking about whenever you talk about God. And whenever you talk about worship, it's an empty thing, a futile thing. It doesn't have a real, true resting place or object. This woman was lost, spiritually speaking. But the wonderful message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save those that were lost. I wonder, Are you lost this evening? What does it mean to be lost? It means to be not exactly sure where you are. It means to be not exactly certain as to where you're going. Or maybe you have a destination in mind, but you're not sure how to get there. And you find yourself lost in this world spiritually. And as far as eternity is concerned, you're not sure where you're going. But while she was lost and licentious and lonely and longing, the good news is that she was loved. Isn't that wonderful this woman was loved? She didn't know what love really was. Everybody that had professed to love her had let her down. But then a man came at the sixth hour and sat down in that well, the seventh man we might say. And this man was incarnate love, Jesus Christ, God's loved gift to a fallen world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, God. is love." D.L. Moody had written on the wall of his great church in Chicago in gaslight letters, flaming letters, God is love. And one night a homeless man came in off the street, saw the sexton going into the church and setting the flame to the gas and the words blazed out of that darkness, God is love. And he felt drawn into the church and as he listened to D.L. Moody preach the gospel, he made the greatest discovery in his life. that God loved him. I want to tell you tonight, friends, God loves you. This woman had great notoriety. This woman had great needs. This woman as well had great notions about religion and salvation and God. She was taken up with ancestry. In verse 12 and 20, she talks about her fathers, so proud of her ancestry, so proud of the family religion, but she didn't have reality. She was interested as well in antiquity, as well as ancestry, because she boasted about this great well, this relic of a well that belonged to their father Jacob, and she took great pride in her family religion, her family history, and the antiquity. And she was also involved in much activity. She was involved in her form of worship. She was involved, as it were, in good works, providing the Savior himself with a drink. Many people could have taken her, in that sense, to be a religious person, maybe even a believer, maybe even a follower of God. But there was no reality in her life, despite her ancestry and antiquity. and activity, there was no authenticity. Her religion was synthetic, not authentic. I wonder, do you have the real thing today? Do you really know Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your Savior? If it wasn't for Christ intervening in this woman's life, the situation would have been absolutely hopeless. Great notoriety Great needs, great notions, but lastly, you'll notice that she heard great news. The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. It's great news for those in need. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And here's the very Savior sitting at that well, face to face with her. He meets individuals at the point of need. And you're an individual today. Maybe you've got needs in your life, spiritual needs, Jesus Christ. can meet them all. She discovered the identity of the Messiah. She recognized as she spoke about the Christ, Messiah cometh in verse 25. Jesus said, verse 26, I that speak unto thee am he. A clear claim that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior that came into the world. She recognized the identity of the Messiah. She understood the freeness of the gift. In verse 10, the Lord said, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink. Thou would have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." Salvation is a gift. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And then she understood that the great invitation of the gospel included her, the scope of the invitation. Verse 13 and 14, twice we have that word, whosoever. Whosoever drinketh of this physical water shall thirst again. But I've got water to give you, spiritual water, living water. And if you drink of that water, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And her life suddenly, dynamically, permanently, was changed whenever she met the Savior. She was so glad to meet the Lord and trust Him and discover Him that she went back to her family, her neighbors, her city, where she had been so notorious with all of her great needs. And in verse 29, she simply said, come. Come see a man which told me all that I ever did. Is not this? the Christ. I invite you to come and see this man, Jesus Christ. See him for yourself. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and enter into newness of life. Great news in the gospel for people who have great needs, maybe even great notoriety, maybe even great notions. Jesus Christ is the answer to your every May God bless His Word to our hearts. Let's just pray together. Father, write Thy Word upon our hearts. Accept our thanks for the Word of God and for a wonderful Savior. And we pray that You'll draw souls unto Yourself. We pray in the Savior's name and for God's eternal glory. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today around the Word of God. For further information visit our website at ltbs.tv. We look forward to joining with you next time as we seek to let the Bible speak once again.