Please turn with me in your Bibles to that passage you read earlier in John chapter number 4. John chapter number 4. And our text is found beginning with verse number 16. Beginning with verse number 16 down to verse number 30. Verse 16 reads, Jesus saith unto her, go call thy husband and come hither. All the way down then to verse number 30. Then they went out of the city and came unto him. And our title for this morning's message is this, True Conversion to Christ. True Conversion to Christ. When we first come to Christ, We are spiritual babes in Christ. We are infants. We need nurture and care in the bosom of the church. And we need that precious milk, which is provided in the word of the living God. And as we grow, we begin to see things and have greater discernment in the things of the Lord. This is all by the Spirit of Almighty God, and this is all by grace. But as we grow, as we learn, as we see things that we didn't see before, there's many things in the Christian faith that surprise us. I remember when I was saved back in 2009, I remember being excited to share my faith with my friends and with my family. And many of the people I thought were, they professed to be Christians and people were friends of mine and other people. I was so surprised when they had so little interest that I'd come to know Jesus Christ. It really surprised me. Also, I was speaking to some people who I knew had very anti-Christian views, like I did as well, and I would share the gospel with them, and I thought, if I could just explain to them how they had a distorted view of who Jesus actually was and who God was, then they'd actually want to come. Most of them, at least. And it was a real surprise when that wasn't exactly the case. As a young infant in Christ, I had much to learn. And indeed, friends, even this day, I still have much to learn. In my early days as well, there were two people who professed faith in Christ. And a member of the church, we were so excited about their profession of faith. And then it was a painful experience. One went into a New Age direction. The other denied the Trinity later on. And these experiences can be very heartbreaking. but they can cause us to dive into the scriptures to ask why. What is the conclusion from the Bible? What is the conclusion even from our own experience as believers in Jesus Christ? The longer we've walked with the Lord, we're going to be surprised by many things, aren't we? Things that cause us, shake us out of our complacency, you could say, and teach us that not every person who says they're a believer is truly a believer. Not every person who says they're a Christian is truly born again of the Spirit of Almighty God. And this can be very unsettling the first time you hear it, because you think, really? I've known people of many years, and they don't like this uncertainty. You're saying some people of our little small church that we were in at the time, you're saying some of them may be not converted. I said, I don't know everybody's heart. But this uncertainty, God knows their heart, it's certain with God, but not with us. There are many people within the visible church, within the visible expression of the church, who are not part of that invisible church known to God alone. Time can also reveal who is the true convert and who is not the true convert. But as we see in our text, this text we see here with the woman at the well, we see someone who has just come to faith in Jesus Christ, a very exciting moment, and we see her in a very young, delicate stage of her conversion, young to the faith, but yet at the same time there are marks of grace. There are evidences that God has done a work in her heart. The Spirit of God has opened up her eyes that she may drink of this water that Jesus speaks about in verses 1 to 15 of this chapter. When someone comes to profess faith in Jesus Christ for the first time, they need the milk of the word. But there is a change that has taken place. There is something transforming that has happened in the heart of that person. The gospel is at work. So friends, as we look at this part of the text here this morning, verses 16 to 30, let us see what true conversion is, and indeed, what it is also not. The first point that we're going to look at here this morning is, number one, authentic. Number one, authentic. We meet this woman, and she's told about the water. We dealt with that in our previous sermon. But she's expressed interest in that. Just remind ourselves of verse 15. Sir, give me this water, she said, that I thirst not. So she has expressed interest in this. Now, what does Jesus do at this moment? What do many do at this moment? Oh, you're interested. And they may get them to go through a four-step plan, or go through a couple of things where you say yes to, or perhaps fill out a decision card that you've made a decision for Christ, and all sorts of things. Does Jesus do any of that? Does he give her a mechanical formula, something to recite off, and then just to go about her day as if nothing has changed? He asks her something surprising. Verse 16 says this, Jesus saith unto her, go, call thy husband, and come hither. You may look at that and go, what has that got to do? with what they're talking about, you may ask. What does that have to do with her salvation, of her drinking? You would think, well, maybe if she comes to know Jesus and then maybe ask her husband afterwards, but we see in verse 17 why Jesus says this. Verse 17, the woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband. What is Jesus doing here? He's doing what we all need to do when we're dealing with people, is to deal with the conscience. To deal with her backwards. Now, the Lord does it very gently, but he wants her to be honest, honest with herself, and honest before God of our own sin. What about? Now, perhaps this is something she would prefer not to mention. She gives a very short answer, I have no husband. She doesn't bring up the other things which Jesus brings up here, verse 18. For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband in that sayest thou truly. Now, some people have written about this and said, well, we don't exactly know. Perhaps she's a widow of five times. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. This is mentioned to show her past, a lifestyle that she's clearly not proud of. And the person she's currently living with is not her husband at all. She's living out of wedlock with somebody that is not her husband. Now, does Jesus just think, you know what? Jesus knows. He knows her heart. He knows her background. Does he say, I'm not going to deal with her? She's just too difficult of a sinner. That's a category of sinner that is not going to come and trust in Christ. What does he do? Very gently, very wisely, he goes into her conscience. Why? To show that she's not pretending anymore. Verse 19 even makes it very clear. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. She's not pretending. She's owning it. Yes, this is me. This is where my life is. I can't pretend to be self-righteous like the Pharisees. Not that they could either. Their righteousness falls short of the glory of God. But by any standard, she knew she was in trouble. She knew she needed this water that Jesus was speaking about. But very gently, and even look what he says in verse 17, thou hast well said. There's a gentleness. Jesus is being very truthful to her. He's not watering down the truth in any way, shape, or form, but there's a gentleness to Christ's witness. I think some of us can struggle with the truthful part and maybe are fantastic at the gentle part, and some of us struggle with the gentlest part, and we're very good at the truth part. There are times when we need both. Here, he says, thou hast well said, and he goes through these things, and look what she says. She says, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Now, she doesn't yet know that this is the Christ, but she's not trying to cover her sin. She knows she has fallen short. Proverbs 28 and verse 30. Proverbs chapter 28 and verse number 13. Verse 13 of Proverbs 28. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Can we think of anyone in the Bible who, when they discovered that they were sinners, attempted to cover their sin? Well, it actually happened very early on, didn't it? With our first parents, Adam and Eve. If we turn to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 7. Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 7. It says this, and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked, And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. So the very first inclination of us sinners, we see the sin, what do we do? We gotta cover it up. And we seek to come before God and pretend, and even pretend before other people. I think there's a degree of wisdom we should show. It doesn't mean we tell everybody about everything we've done in the past or everything we've ever thought. We need to have wisdom about these things. But let us be honest with ourselves. Let us be honest before God. Let us see who we are. We are sinners before Almighty God. Now, wonderfully, with our first parents, though their sinful inclination was to cover themselves and make a very poor attempt at that, God, later on, provided his own covering. And Eve was the mother of all living. That's why she had that name, because Adam trusted in the promise of the seed of the woman. They trusted in the gospel. Friends, if we seek to cover our own sin, we will not prosper. But we need another covering, don't we? We need another covering provided by Christ himself. And you see, we need to flee from sin. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 6, and verse number 18. flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committed fornication sinneth against his own body." And this is the sin that she, this woman at the well, was involved in. Now again, we've pointed out in the previous sermon, she has come in the middle of the day. She's come, but it's very quiet. It's just her and Jesus. The disciples are not there. Jesus is tired from his journey. But this is the sin that she was involved with. It could also be translated whoredom, or sex outside the confines of marriage. Now, in our society today, it is so common, this sin, that to even point it out to people, you would be ridiculed. But it causes such severe harm. Much of that change goes back to the sexual revolution and when pornography and all the other things were made so commonplace. But she was real and honest. And she did not deny what she was involved in. She knows what she had done, and she seems even excited. Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. And even later, when she's telling people about this Jesus she's come to trust in, see a man, verse 29, which told me all things. What could she have said? How dare you? How dare you bring that up? It's none of your business. That's how she could have responded, isn't it? See a man who told me all, see a man who knows me. See a man who has saved me. See a man who is true God and true man. That wonderful, satisfying water. She doesn't say this is my life, I'm gonna do whatever I like. She's excited. It seems strange, doesn't it? Jesus is bringing out, very gently, her sin. And she's excited to hear, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. Basically, what you're saying is true. I perceive that. How do you know this, that you're a prophet? God has revealed this and shown this to you. Now, again, she doesn't quite know at this point. She doesn't quite know at this point that this is the Christ. This is the water which he is speaking about. 1 John 1 and verse 10. 1 John 1 and verse 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. She accepts she is a sinner. See, if you don't accept you're a sinner, you're saying to God you're a liar, because the Bible makes it very clear. Indeed, even the light of nature makes it very clear that we have fallen short of the glory of God. What a sin it is, the breaking of the law of God. 1 Timothy chapter one and verse nine. 1 Timothy chapter one and verse number nine. 1 Timothy 1, verses 9 and 10. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, for sinners, for unholy, and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves in mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, Friends, sin is not some oopsie moment. Sin is the breaking of the law of God. And there are serious consequences for that. Now, I want us also to think as well, is it just enough? Because there are some people in the world that will be very religious, and they'll be very tormented with the thoughts of hell. And they feel horrible for the things they've done. Is that enough? Is it enough that you'll see people weep and cry over their sin, but does that mean alone that you are saved? There's actually examples in the Bible where people have wept over their sin, have admitted that their sin before God, yet have hardened their heart and have never truly turned unto the Lord. One famous example is found with Pharaoh in Exodus chapter 10. Exodus chapter 10 and verse number 16. Exodus chapter 10 and verse number 16. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord. your God and against you. But notice the words of Pharaoh, I have sinned against the Lord, your God and against you. But then what happens later on in verse 27, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's hearts and he would not let them go. He never truly turned unto the Lord. There can be times when the circumstances in our life are so bitter that we say, yes, I have failed. Yes, I've broken God's law in this area. But that alone does not mean that you are saved, that you have turned unto the Lord. We must turn a new direction away from sin and unto righteousness, away from trusting in ourself and our own perceived goodness unto Jesus's finished sufficient work. And that will change us. Which brings us on to our second point, appetite. One authentic, number two, appetite. If you ever go to hospital, there's a question you might be asked quite a bit when you're sick, how is your appetite? And if you say, I have no appetite, imagine if you go a few days and you have not eaten. You've no hunger for these things. It's a moment of concern. It's a problem if you have no appetite. A doctor doesn't just say to you, well, you're in the hospital, you're okay, you're in the right place. No, if there's no hunger, it's a sign of concern. Friends, do you have a spiritual and a heavenly appetite, a hunger for these things? Because this woman is not saying, how dare you tell me these things? No, no, she wants to know more. You've brought out all my past, all the ugly things that I've done. He does it very gently and very wisely. But then she goes on to say, our father is worshiped in this mountain. And ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Teach me more. Tell me more of this. She's hungry for truth. She doesn't say, I want less and less. You see, with the word of God, as we grow as believers, we should want more and more of Christ, shouldn't we? Because what will happen in heaven We will have more of Christ, the fullness of Christ forever. That's why heaven is so wonderful. Teach me more, she's basically saying. Verse 25 as well, she knows some bit of information. Verse 25, the woman said unto him, I know that Messiah's, that is literally the anointed one, cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. She knows something about the anointed one. The Christ, and that word Christ is basically the Greek version of the word Messiah in Hebrew. the anointed one, that one who is, and in the Old Testament, prophet, priests, and kings were the anointed ones. And here is this prophet, priest, and king who is coming, and he will tell us all things. He is the Christ. He is the Savior. See, the name Christ is not just Jesus' surname. You know, how we will say Mr. Smith or something like that. That's how we treat it sometimes. To say that Jesus is the Christ is to say that he is the Messiah. He is the Savior. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is that faithful high priest. He is that prophet. She has part of the information. She thinks, well, he is a prophet, but she's going to learn that he is the prophet. the prophet that they were looking for, the ultimate prophet of prophets. And she asked this question, what must I do? What must I go? Because that's the natural inclination. You're saved, you turn unto Jesus Christ, and what do you do? You say, Lord, teach me from this book. What must I do? Tell me, feed me. And this is what she's saying as well. Well, in the Samaritans, they worshipped in this mountain. It was called Mount Gerizim. And there was a big controversy over it. And then you have, they worshipped in Jerusalem. What must I do? Where must I go? Now, there was a superstition, not commanded by God and how they ended up with that mountain in Samaria. But she asks the question, where do I go? She's not just saying, I'm not going to listen to that Jew. Now, that would have been a natural enough response, because the Jews and the Samaritans have been fighting with each other in various guises for hundreds of years and didn't like each other one bit. She doesn't think like that. She draws onto the Messiah. She doesn't think, I'm not going to Jerusalem. If I'm going to worship, it's going to be here, Mount Gerizim. That's where I'm doing it. There's none of that. And again, she knows very little, but she's been drawn into herself. She has that hunger. It doesn't mean she's got a PhD or she's a doctorate or anything else like that, but she's got hunger. She wants to know more of Christ. Matthew 5 and verse 6. Matthew 5. and verse number six. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Or put another way, they shall be satisfied. and that will come in the world to come in its fullness. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. This is what she was hungering and thirsting after. Luke 1 and verse 53. Luke 1 and verse 53. Verse 53 says, he hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. Those who think they are rich in this world with worldly things, but are poor when it comes to the kingdom of God. And those who are hungry, blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty. If you think of the Beatitudes, think of how strange it must have been for them to hear those Beatitudes, blessed are the poor. Imagine somebody, you're poor, you're blessed to be poor. Meek. Blessed to be meek, really. But they don't conquer anything. Blessed to be hungry? Isn't it blessed to be full in this world? No. To be hungering and thirsting for the world to come. And that's what she was doing. She was hungering and thirsting for the world to come. Jesus wasn't saying, I can't be speaking with this woman. It was kind of frowned upon that day. You can actually see it with the disciples when they came back at verse 27. They marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what seekest thou? there would have, maybe there was suspicion, you're talking with a woman of such a reputation, of such a background, maybe there'll be rumors that will go around, but he cared about her soul. He cared about her soul, and he spoke to her lovingly. And what did he tell her? Verse 26. in response to this about the Christ. Jesus saith unto her, I that speaketh unto thee am he. I that speaketh unto thee am he. In the original language, there's a phrase in there that's very, very clear. I am. You'll see that word I am. The great I am. I that am that speaks with you. The great I am. And that phrase I am goes right back to Genesis, or sorry, Exodus chapter three. where God reveals himself as the I, I am that I am. She receives this because she's got a heavenly appetite, a heavenly appetite. She sees her sin. No longer what she wants is sin, she wants Christ. But friends, what about you here this morning? What's your appetite? Are you just maybe just thinking about lunchtime and maybe you didn't eat enough for breakfast and your stomach's growling? Are you hungry for righteousness? Are you hungering and thirsting after the things of heaven? Or do you hunger and thirst of the things of this world? What do you do though, you're a believer in Jesus Christ, but you may be going through a moment where your appetite isn't what it used to be. You know those early days when you're all excited, you're reading, you're just so, you want more and more and more, but then you reach a point where perhaps you've gone to a valley, you do hunger and thirst after righteousness, but it wasn't what it used to be. Well, For our physical bodies, what must we do to increase our appetites? Exercise is a good thing. We need to work on these things, don't we? And sometimes we don't think we're hungry at all until somebody says, well, dinner's ready, I don't know if I'm hungry, and then you see the food, it increases your appetite, you smell the food, you're hungry, or still. We need to be close to Christ. Sometimes we don't feel like praying, but the more we spend time with the Lord, reading his word, may it stir up our hearts. We need to be close to the Lord. She was close to the Lord physically. We need to be close to the Lord. Jesus said to his disciples at the end of Matthew 28, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. You see, we need to see that heavenly food. And the more closer we are to the Lord, It'll help us in those moments of doubt, moments of lack of assurance and other things, that he would reassure us that we belong to him. Isaiah 55 and verse 6. Isaiah 55 and verse number 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Also verse one of Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone that thirsteth, cometh ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Come. And it doesn't end as soon as you get saved. It just begins. The refreshment begins and increases and grows. I don't know if any of you, you've probably read that it's important to drink maybe two, three liters of water a day. But if you go through a period of time, you do that for a while, you get very thirsty. You want more water the next day and the next day. But you may go through a period of time, you realize, I'm actually not drinking that much water at all. I'm down to a glass of water. I'm actually not drinking very much. And you may not feel very good. and you feel very sluggish, that can easily happen with our walk with Christ. Friends, set time alone with God. This woman, precious time with the Savior, and what a blessing it was to our soul. Our third point is adoration. Authentic, number two, appetite, number three now, adoration. A converted person, who goes from death unto life, who goes from sin, following sin, unto following Christ, is now a worshipper of the true God. If you're not a worshipper of the true God, you are not a saved Christian. There are so many people who will think that they'll intellectually tweak a few opinions that they have about Jesus Christ, but they have no interest whatsoever in worshipping him, and they think, oh, I'm a Christian. Why? Because they think he existed. and a few other facts about Jesus's life and a few other things. And they may think, oh, there's a lot of wisdom in the Bible and other things like that, but they have no appetite, they have no hunger to worship him. But immediately, this woman speaks about worship, and Jesus explains to her, verse 22 and verse 23, you worship, ye know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. And this is really focusing on the fact that Samaria, what was once the northern kingdom, was such a mixture of bits of truth, a lot of error. And then he says, salvation is of the Jews. But he says, verse 23, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." You see that? He seeketh such to worship Him, not just those who are going to make a decision and never come back to church again, but those who are truly born and truly changed, truly in union with Christ, that this They are truly worshippers of God from this point forward, and forever and ever. That they are longing for heaven. You will only love heaven if you're a worshipper of God, because that's what we'll be doing in heaven. Worship. See, this is why it's always concerning. People don't want to come to church anymore. It's almost like saying, I don't want to go to heaven anymore. Because in church, in the worship of God, as feeble and as weak our praises are, it is a foretaste of heaven itself. Verse 24, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The wonderful thing is, around the world, As Jesus points out, it's no longer in this mountain, the mountain of Samaria. It's no longer in Jerusalem. But now there are the Holy of Holies wherever God's people meet, all around the world, as long as they meet in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All across England, all across Scotland, all across Wales, Northern Ireland, public of Ireland, across Europe, there are true churches of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, with the true gospel with the sacraments being administered, with some degree of church discipline, that truly love our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She's eager to worship. You get this impression here. She's eager to worship. Where do I worship? Where do I go and worship this God? Where do I come? Friends, if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ, you are a worshiper of God. And even, say, if you're here this morning and you're not a believer, and you think, I'm not a worshiper of anything. Yes, you are. Either it will be the idols of the world, either it will be your own ideas, your own heart, or you will worship the true and the living God. It may even be a distorted Christ. There's many cults out there, and they'll have a distorted Christ. It's not the Christ of the Bible at all. It's a Christ of their own imagination. The Christ that Jesus presented in the Quran, for example, in Islam, that's a distorted Christ. That's not the true Christ. The Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Jesus of Mormonism and other groups like this, they're not the Jesus of the Bible. We need the true Jesus of the Bible. Or we are worshipers of idols. John 9 and verse 31. John 9 and verse number 31. It says this. Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Now it's not saying here that it's because you do certain things, therefore you're accepted. But here is what a person who has heard of God, who has been converted and has changed, looks like. They worship God, and they follow him. Yes, imperfectly, but that is what they are. When we worship God, we're saying He's worthy of all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory that is due unto His name. Friends, the most important meeting of our week, the most important meeting is with God. We should drive out any idea of any kind of boredom or anything else like that in the worship of God. We should be excited. Our children should see our excitement. Saturday evening, sometimes I try to say to the girls, excited about tomorrow, because we should be excited about the Lord's Day. It's not like, oh, OK, get in the car. And it's the most stressful time of the week, getting to church on the Sabbath morning. Shouldn't be. It should be the most joyful, exciting. If our children see us all excited about, okay, Monday and Tuesday or Saturday when we go to the fun fair or whatever else it is, we're all excited about that, but we show no excitement whatsoever for the things of God and coming into the Holy of Holies. And our children can pick up on that. Did they see our excitement to come to the place of worship? Did they see your excitement about Christ when you speak? I think it was Joel Beakey was speaking about when he was young, and he was speaking about how family worship really touched him, and one of the things that really stuck with him was his father, and I think it might have been his mother as well, with tears in their eyes, pleading with them to come and trust Jesus Christ. That experience, when they see it lived out in front of you, Yes, our private worship is important, but let us express our love for Jesus Christ also for the members of the family. This brings us to our fourth point, attention. Attention, so authentic, number two, appetite, number three, adoration, and number four, attention. Where is the focus of this woman? Is she all focused upon herself? Look at me, I've made such changes in my life. Look at me, I've left behind my own life. Look at me, all the changes. And sometimes a testimony, I don't know if you've ever come across these things, and you can say, testimonies of coming to Christ, and it can almost sound like they're boasting of all the things they've left behind. We have nothing to boast of. Even our repenting of sin is not to be boasted of. It is by the power of God that any of us have been set free at all. And our focus and our attention is not a big long list of all the things I've done. Look, come, come see a man which told me all these things. She has this urgency and attention now towards Christ, verse 28. The woman then left her waterpot and went her way into the city and saith to the man. Do you see, there's almost this kind of, she's about to go to the well, she's about to get this water. Again, there's nothing wrong with physical water, of course, but there's this urgency. drops it, and she goes, and she has this urgency in her love for Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon once said this, have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself. Be sure of that. That may seem harsh, but what is Spurgeon saying, and what did he say? If we love Jesus, We love His people. And we're excited when a new member of the family comes to know Jesus Christ. It may not even be in our own congregation, but we're excited. We're happy to hear about believers who really, truly come to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In 1 John chapter four and verse 20. 1 John chapter four and verse 20. 20, if a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen. How can he love God whom he hath not seen? And also Luke 15 and verse 10, Luke 15 and verse number 10. Likewise, I say unto you that there is joy in the presence of angels over one sinner that repenteth. We have a new member. If you go across the world and you bump into somebody who says, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, you have way more in common with that person. You barely speak the same languages as them, but you're excited to meet them. Here's another family member. Do you ever get, you know, maybe excited, you find a branch of your family you never knew existed and you meet them and you get all excited? We should get even more excited about our spiritual family when we meet them in any place around the world. They have almost zero in common with us on a human level, but they have everything in common with us on a heavenly level. No matter what their background is. No matter whether it was a religious or not a religious background, whatever the case may be, they love the same person. And this woman, though she came from a background of grievous sin, part of the kingdom of God, part of this wonderful, it's not for self-righteousness. You see, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they thought they were pretty good. They thought they were great, and they thought they were better than everyone else. And I don't think we realize often how bad the visible church had descended in the first century when Jesus was there, when he was preaching among his own, and his own received him not. I think we see glimpses of it. So bad was it. They crucified him. So bad was it, their king was there in front of them, they wanted him dead. So bad was it, they chose Barabbas, a vile criminal, over Jesus. But this woman, gloriously saved. The attention was not on the fact that she's a Samaritan, The attention was not on all the earthly things that they were worried about. The attention was in Jesus Christ. Matthew 21 and verse 31. Matthew 21 and verse 31. Whether of them Twain did the will of his father, they say unto him, the first, Jesus saith unto them, verily I say unto you, That the publicans, that's the tax collectors, and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Time and time again, this message. See, they thought, they're the sinners. They're the people I'm not going to talk to. They're the people I'm not going to deal with. And also the tax collectors. The tax collectors will work with the Romans. They were often thieving from people. They were squeezing people out. The Romans didn't mind if they did it or not. What was the Pharisees' attention on? Themselves. Their power. Self-preservation. But this woman was so delighted to find the Messiah. She says, come. She goes and tells other people. She's so excited. Come see a man which told me all these things I ever did. Is not this the Christ? And what happened? Verse 30, then they went out of the city and came unto him. And wonderfully, later on, we're told in verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman. And so often we'll think, I can't talk to that person. I don't quite have enough information to talk on that topic. Oh, that person's got that background and maybe I need to study that for a while. What did she say? What did she know? Come see a man who's told me all these things. He is the truth. He has truth. And they went to him, the Samaritans of all people, and they were converted and changed and born again of the spirit of God. They were given what they needed. Friends, will we not speak with such enthusiasm with those around us? The young people. Friends, I don't realize if you realize that the young people look up to us often. You know when you're younger, you're about 10 or 12, and you wanna be like maybe your older brother, or you wanna be like your father, they look up to you. Do they see an excitement in the things of God? As we conclude, if you're converted, you must see yourself as a sinner. We're all sinners. We've all broken the law of God. We all deserve hell. And if you don't see that, there is no hope for you. Jesus brings that out. He doesn't just lambast her and just say, you're a horrible woman. He very gently even praises her when she tells the truth. Thou hast well said. He deals with her very gently, very patiently, because she doesn't pretend. She doesn't pretend. But then if we're changed by Christ, we will have an appetite for different things. What we want to consume will change. It doesn't mean we're going to be perfect. It doesn't mean this woman at this point had perfect theology, but God used her. Often, many more people will be saved through Efforts like this, not with the person with perfect theology, but the person who barely knows anything and just points towards Christ. Why is that? Why is it sometimes somebody may sit under the best preaching in the world and then sit under somebody else who may not be so good, but they'll get converted under that person? Because it's of God, the powers of God, not the eloquence of the preacher. Not the amount of, yes, we should grow in these things. Yes, we should learn. And she was hungry, and we should be hungry. But it's not about that. The difference will be the power of God. And we are worshipers. You're all worshipers. It's just the question of what or who you worship. Do you worship God? And where's the attention of your life? You may be a sincere believer here this morning. but you're in a very dark valley. You frequently have doubts about your salvation. Where's your attention? It's possible to take your eyes off Christ and put the thing that will reassure your hearts and all the wrong things and still be a believer. Friends, your eyes must be taken off all the things that are worrying you. and look to Christ. Remind yourself of the greatness of Christ. Remind yourself of the goodness of Christ. Because it's in those moments, friends, sweet comfort comes to the true believer in Jesus Christ. Friends, come to Him today. Whatever stage you're at, come and drink. Come and find a man. Come and find this God Who is the truth? Who is the way? And who is the life? Amen.