unto this hour. Christ passing by is always a needed and a needful and a necessary one. Nothing that he ever did was without a purpose or meaning. Sometimes, well, quite often actually, we waste time passing through places we have no business to. But with Christ, all his time was filled with purpose and with a deliberate intention. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And now he must go through Samaria. And it was not to sit idly by. It was not to sit idly by Jacob's well and wait, hoping for perhaps someone to come by, someone he could do good to. The narrative takes place during midday, the hottest part of the day, and it was with a specific intention and purpose. The probability of someone coming to draw well on that hottest part of the day would be very, very low, a near impossibility, but he knew that he must be there because normally water is drawn early in the morning when it's not too hot or towards dusk, but not on this day for this woman. She wanted to escape the prying eyes of a neighbors, only to come under the gaze of Christ himself. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said unto her, give me to drink. There appears from a pure human perspective, so many things that are so incongruous with this incident, so out of place, almost outright wrong. In this passage that we have read, here was an incident that should not ordinarily have happened. A man talking to a woman, a Jew to a Samaritan, he the sinless savior, she sinful and a sinner. After all, did not the Talmud declare that it is scandalous for a man even to speak to a woman on the street? And yet this happened, because in that particular hot midday, he must needs go through Samaria and she must needs go fetch water. The paths bisected according to chance, no, but according to the good pleasure of God. That's why believers are contented to rest upon the knowledge that whatever happens to them happens because of the sovereign good pleasure of God. It's never an accident and it's never something that is unintended, because God had intended all these things to happen. And so they're contented to surrender their lives, not to a helpless fatalism, like some religions, adherents of religions do, to be fatalistic and think, well, whatever happens will happen, but they will submit to God, the God who loves and cares for them. Therefore, this teaches us that there are no accidents or coincidences in life. There are no even serendipitous occurrences. Everything happens, it's all planned according to the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, down to the precise event, down to the precise time. And so, as we have sung from Psalm 42, There's really no reason for us to be cast down, no reason to be disquiet in us. Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. The believer therefore acquiesces and surrender his understanding, his limited understanding to the will of God who knows infinitely more than him. And so it was the will of the father that this hated Samaritans should hear the gospel from the very lips of his dear son. He must needs go through Samaria. Christ had never been there before to that well. This woman had many times. He was at the well first waiting for this woman to come by. This truth is well illustrated here that men and women do not seek after God. It is God who seeks them out first. It's God who seeks out sinful men and women, boys and girls. As Isaiah declares, I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. This woman then did not come to the well seeking after Christ, but he came to the well seeking after her. Others would not go to Samaria. The self-righteous Pharisees would not go there. And others would not speak even to this woman, but Christ did. And Christ spoke to her. He found her. She didn't find him. The same is true of all of us. You will never come to Christ unless Christ comes and finds you first. So what happened in this chapter looked like a chance encounter, but it was nothing of that kind. It doesn't mean, of course, that sinners are excused, but all are commanded to repent and to believe and to pray. The times of this ignorance God winged at, but now commanded all men everywhere to repent, because he had appointed a day into which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he had ordained. Wherefore, he had given assurance to all men in that he had raised him from the dead. That's Christ Jesus. As the Lord enables then, we shall concentrate our minds on the words found in verse seven, give me to drink. John 4, seven, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said unto her, give me to drink. We may note, first of all, this was an opportune introduction. The ingratitude and the opposition that Christ faced from the Jews the enmity that he experienced, the spiritual dullness and coldness even of his disciples. These were all enough to make him weary. Now, Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat first on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. He was weary. But thanks be to God, he never wearied in his ministry of grace. There was never any let up of his endeavors to bring and point men to the almighty God. He was always doing good. Wearied in body he might have been. Pain at the hardness of sinful man he might be. But there was not a moment in his life when he was too weary to seek out and save the lost, including this Samaritan woman. Christ meeting a woman of Samaria. The Samaritans, as you know, were despised by the Jews on account of their intermarriage with the Gentiles after the fall of the Northern Kingdom around 721 BC. But they, on the other hand, thought that they were the one special people, the ones who were faithful, the faithful nucleus of ancient Israel. But they hold only to the... But the scriptures that they hold to contain only the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. And so they were expecting a Messiah that they could know little about. Because as you know, Revelation is progressive. We know much more than those who have only the Old Testament, like the Jews. As it has been said, the new is latent in the old, the old is patent in the new. That is to say, the Old Testament contains things about the New Testament that the New Testament could clarify. But to have only the five books of the Bible, like the Samaritans, surely meant that they were handicapped in their understanding of the full art of salvation. They didn't have the glorious messianic passages like Isaiah 5, 3. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord had laid upon him the iniquity of us all. And even with the complete Old Testament, it would have been difficult to understand revelation and redemption. That's what's evidenced by the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip was tasked to evangelize. But isn't it amazing that even with just this five books of the Old Testament, the Samaritans were looking for a Messiah when countless people today with the whole Bible have never ever once once tried to look for the Savior, never tried, and all be interested in our Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that this was a Samaritan would have irked many a Jew, but not Jesus Christ, who deliberately courted an interaction with him, with her, conversation with her. It was considered It's mentioned despicable even to converse with the Samaritans, but here was Christ who went even further. He put himself in debt of the woman by asking for water. Not only that, the Lord of glory was asking for a drink of water from one of the worst of sinners in that city. She was one of the worst sinners. Was it not surprising, therefore, that this woman herself marveled, was made to marvel a Jew asking a Samaritan, but his simple request for water to drink was calculated to divest himself of all the Judaism and all the barriers that would be inherent in him, that would separate him and create a wall between him and the Samaritan woman. And that's a lesson for us to that we should seek open doors and opportunities to evangelize. As Paul has once requested prayer, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. Christ didn't begin with reproof of a sin or a rebuke, try to humiliate her, but with a request and that for something that was uppermost in her mind at that time, water. They sat at once through a bridge across the gulfs separating the Samaritan and Christ. She was thinking of drawing water and that was the purpose she came to the well. Jesus said to her, give me to drink. There were walls and gulfs between these two subjects. He was a Jew. She was a Samaritan. There was a racial gulf. There was a cultural gulf. He was a priest, she a pariah. There was a gender gulf. He was a man, she was a woman. There was a spiritual gulf. He was concerned about the wealth of water springing up into everlasting life. She, with water that does not quench. There was a moral gulf. He is the sinless son of God. She, an immoral woman. There was a religious gulf. He a rabbi, she a rebel. And yet the bridge was across all these seeming hindrances was made possible by this simple request for water. We are often so unwise in our zeal to evangelize. We try to share the gospel, but we do it rather clumsily, with clumsiness and in uncharitable ways, oblivious of the position and situation of the one that we try to evangelize. And instead of creating bridges of communication, we set up barriers and hindrances, and we hinder the gospel, the very gospel that we try to share. that could potentially be the outcome for this woman as well. If Christ had approached her and pointed to her, her sinful lifestyle, without first trying to pick her curiosity, the outcome might have been very different. But that's what we are inclined to do. We point out the sins of our neighbors and our friends and relatives and demand that they repent and seek after Christ, perhaps in a holier-than-thou attitude. But no duty is more difficult than that of trying to evangelize and trying to have a conversation, a meaningful conversation with those who do not know the gospel. This we need to do with much prayer and even fasting. but learn from Christ, how he used ordinary things of life to point this sinner to the extraordinary, the mundane things of life, to direct her to the extra mundane, that is beyond the physical realm, the physical to the metaphysical, the natural to the preternatural, from the natural objects to the spiritual matters of the soul, from the essential necessity of water to the sine qua non of eternal life, even Christ Jesus himself. Give me to drink." And note also how courteous Christ was. He opens the conversation not with a sneer of condemnation after the manner of a Jew, but with a request. And not withstanding her repeated rebuffs and arguments, there was not one word of reproof from Christ himself. Christ asked for water. Yes, he was thirsty and weary, but his request for water was not primarily to satisfy his own desires and wants. Whatever Christ did, as we have mentioned, He did it for the good of others. And when He asked for water, it was not really to quench His thirst, because you note that His request was not granted. He was not given any water to drink, and yet He was satisfied. His real thirst, you see, was for the souls of the lost to bring those whom the Father had given Him and not lose any. We do not hear of him being weary anymore. He shook it all off at the sight of a sinner saved. He was himself again. He was refreshed for he had received those whom he would die to win. He had received a heart returning to the great father. He had found a soul that trusted in God. That was the meat that he ate during the will of God, which he explained to his disciples later on. An opportune introduction. Secondly, let us know the obvious irony. The irony, Christ the Lord and maker of all worlds is here portrayed as weary and sitting by the well with no means of assessing the water, which is essential for life. but what matchless condescension the eternal God displays, the Lord of all the oceans, maker of springs and wells, the one who causes the rain to fall, and yet you see him here in need of water to drink and not being able to have any at all. Foxes have their holes, birds of the air have their nests, but the son of man had not water to drink. Does that not claim your supreme attention to its boundless works and ways? And it's all for us. He who opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing now sits here begging of the woman, give me to drink. Here was one who was thirsty and he knew it. Asking water from a woman who was thirsty but didn't know it. Christ was asking for water that does not quench, even though he processed in his hands water that shall evermore quench, a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This woman could only give water, which, if anyone drinks, will thirst again. is tired and is thirsty, and she has the water that he needs. But in reality, she's the one who is weary and parched, and he has the water that she needs. And this is made more evident as the conversation progresses. She's made aware that she is the thirsty one, that she has a quench that could only be fulfilled and satisfied in Christ Jesus. She didn't really possess the water that is essential to life. You see, all the water that man has access to, even if he were to drink up the whole of all the oceans, will make him thirsty. But a drop of living water is enough to quench our spiritual thirst. The trouble is that man only lives for the physical. for the physical desires and wants and thirst. And as long as physical desires are met, he thinks that he possesses all that is necessary, even for his own soul. This was true of the Samaritan. She was always preoccupied with the physical, with the sublunary, not the sublime, of the earthly, because she was earthy and earthly. That's the problem with mankind today. They seek for pleasures of the world in order to satisfy the body, thinking that that would also be adequate for their souls. To pursue happiness that lasts only for this lifetime only, when they should have cast their eyes heavenwards, where there are fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore at the right hand of God. She was not able to transcend, you see, from the color and the physical to seek the joys that are above on her own. She needed more help and more proding. And so we see the conversations dragging on. When Christ told her of the water of life, she asked for that water so that she need not come to the well to draw water again, time after time. Again and again, she was only concerned about her physical needs. satisfaction for physical needs, for bodily appetites and our carnal satisfaction. She would have been satisfied if she had resources to that exhaustless supply of drinking water, but she had to be told that she needed more than that. Thirdly then, we see the obliging initiative, the obliging initiative by Christ. You may note the timing of the request of Christ. That was before the woman had the opportunity to draw water. When Christ first saw her, before she had even the opportunity to draw water, Christ asked her for that water. You see, if she had drawn water, if she had water in her hands, She could have expressed surprise and said, how is it that thou being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria. That would be quite a strange encounter, a suspicious encounter and a surprising request. It's quite tantalizing for me to linger on. and to converse with you, but I must be on my way. I cannot be detained. The sun is too hot, and I must lessen the opportunity of prying eyes. I must get home with the water." But she was not given that option. She was confronted immediately, and Christ engaged her. Well, this seems like an impatience on Christ's part, but if there is any impatience at all, it's the impatience of eagerness, of the impatience of trying to free this woman who had so long been under the bondage of Satan and served them of Satan, that she should be loosed from her chains without any delay. And so as soon as she was in sight, as she could even draw water, Christ immediately request, made a request to her. There was, as we mentioned, no condemnation in her, in his tone. Just as there was none, when another woman caught in adultery was brought before him, Christ said, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. He's a good shepherd, not an angry shepherd, although he has every right to be angry about sin. But Christ gently and carefully led this woman to a salvation that she needs. And Christ spoke to her alone, just as he spoke to Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, alone. Nicodemus came by night, but this harlot of Samaria, he spoke at midday. But what was common What was a common factor between these two was that they were alone because the matters of the soul demands privacy without distraction, interruption in the quiet of the night or in the silence of midday. Christ. would have received from this sinful Samaritan, a woman with five husbands and cohabiting with another. He would eat with sinners. He would drink with publicans. He is the sinner's advocate. And isn't it amazing that Christ pursued her despite her rebuffs and her retorts and her arguments? A woman we no doubt would have shunned in our self-righteousness. The world would despise and the Jews certainly would have nothing to do with Christ, probed her and pursued her like the hound of heaven. She's tried to avoid the probing reach of Christ. She's tried to be technical. How can you draw water without any tools? Are you greater than Jacob? Then she tried to be religious and sectarian. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. You know, discussing religion, it's a very good way of avoiding the one thing that is necessary. We can talk round religion. We can talk about all the different religions of the world. All the meantime, not really. dealing with the one core issue that we are sinners. We need a savior. We need a substitute. We need the Lamb of God. It's ironical that all those who are the most religious, so engaged in the world's religion, have missed the mark of salvation in Christ Jesus alone. Well, Lastly, she resorted to a vague messianic hope. I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Well, at last, she's led to admit the need of a savior, of a Messiah who would reveal all things necessary for life and for godliness. Christ would not let her go until she came to a realization that she needs a savior. Just as you and I, Christ pursued us until we realize and humble ourselves and knowledge that we need a mediator between God and man. When we were pursuing our mad course of sin, when we were utterly disinterested and indifferent to the claims of God, when we had no serious thought of anything about our souls, Christ, to use Paul's appropriate word, apprehended us. He stopped us in our tracks and showed us that salvation is from Christ alone. It was the same with the idolater Abraham in the land of Chaldea. Remember that his ancestors did all serve other gods. It was the same with the worm Jacob, as he fled to escape from his brother's anger. It was so with Moses, as he went about his shepherd's duty. In each instance, the Lord was found by those who sought him not. It was so with this Samaritan woman. It was so with Zacchaeus. And our Lord did not humiliate her in her sin, Isn't that wonderful that the God that you believe in never humiliates a sinner when it comes and repent. He humbles sinners and humbles them enough that they might cast away their pride and the self-righteousness to seek after God. Christ humbled her who wanted to escape the shame of man. But God humbled her and made her realize that she needed that water, the living water that Christ alone can give. Well, in conclusion, you have to go to Samaria to seek and to reach out to the Samaritans, to the outcasts of the world. And you may have to go out of your comfort zone. You may have to do things that you Sometimes I find difficult and discomforting, but when we come to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are things that we need to do. We need to cast aside our own reliance and our own comforts and speak of the things of God to those who do not know them. You have to go where the people are if you need to reach them. And you have to have the patience that Christ displayed because they will present you with all the arguments and reasons and distract you by discussing religion, for example. We need the patience of Christ Jesus and the love of Christ Jesus. Because when the same truth set forth the boundless grace of God and the free salvation that is in Christ Jesus alone, the heart, you might expect, And you might think that they would receive it gladly, but instead of receiving it gladly, rejoicing in the salvation, men and women begin to be argumentative and defensive and to argue, how can these things be? The fact is, you see, the human heart is closed to the gospel. Against the truth of God's word and against his grace, only the Holy Spirit can melt. that heart. Christ's soul was refreshed that day when he met the Samaritan. He had meat to eat, of which his disciples knew nothing about. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And if we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we ought to learn and to follow our master's example. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. Christ asked of this woman something that she could give, water that she could draw. Christ never asked of us something that you cannot give. And if he were to ask this evening for your heart, would you for your heart give him a stone? Were you for, if he asked for a service, your reasonable service, would you, for your service, give him a serpent? May we therefore learn from Christ Jesus to have the patience and the love for those who are outside the bounds of salvation and not to be too cozy in our little conditions and our surroundings, but to go out and preach to the world the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Amen.