1 00:00:00,880 –> 00:00:03,680 Shall we bow in God’s presence in a moment of prayer together? 2 00:00:06,320 –> 00:00:11,120 Father, your Word has been read to us, and it carries its own power. 3 00:00:11,920 –> 00:00:16,320 Now, as we have opportunity to reflect upon it, we ask that you will 4 00:00:16,320 –> 00:00:22,799 work it into our minds and into our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. 5 00:00:23,780 –> 00:00:29,680 Help us to see Jesus in his great and unique glory, 6 00:00:30,879 –> 00:00:38,240 and to grasp what it is that you offer to us, and that we may come and ask and receive. 7 00:00:39,439 –> 00:00:45,119 For these things we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. 8 00:00:47,520 –> 00:00:51,520 Now, we’ve been learning on these Sunday mornings that a Christian is a person 9 00:00:51,520 –> 00:00:57,040 whose life is shaped by certain convictions. That is why the Bible makes it very clear 10 00:00:57,040 –> 00:01:02,080 that real and lasting change in any person’s life begins in the mind. 11 00:01:02,720 –> 00:01:08,080 Be transformed, the apostle Paul says, by the renewing of your mind. 12 00:01:08,879 –> 00:01:13,199 And we have been making some life changing discoveries from the Bible as we have tried 13 00:01:13,199 –> 00:01:18,639 to grasp some of the key truths that shape the life of a Christian believer. 14 00:01:18,639 –> 00:01:22,480 We began by discovering the truth of God’s mercy. Jesus said, 15 00:01:22,480 –> 00:01:28,639 if you knew what God meant when he said, I desire mercy not sacrifice. 16 00:01:29,440 –> 00:01:33,599 He went on to explain that if you grasped that you’d be a completely different person. 17 00:01:33,599 –> 00:01:37,839 If you knew about the mercy of God, if that took root within your mind, 18 00:01:37,839 –> 00:01:41,279 you would have joy and worship and you would be a blessing to other people. 19 00:01:42,160 –> 00:01:46,800 Then last week we looked at the judgment seat of Christ. We saw that the Bible teaches clearly 20 00:01:46,800 –> 00:01:52,720 that every person who has ever lived will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, 21 00:01:52,720 –> 00:02:00,080 and on that day hidden service for Jesus Christ will be rewarded and hidden secrets 22 00:02:00,080 –> 00:02:06,959 will be revealed. And if you knew that, it would affect the whole trajectory of your life. 23 00:02:07,839 –> 00:02:12,559 If I know deeply within my mind, and within my heart that I will stand before Christ, 24 00:02:12,559 –> 00:02:18,800 then I will invest my life in that which He has said He will reward, and I will walk in the light. 25 00:02:18,800 –> 00:02:24,639 I will be very careful not to try and cover secret sins, but to bring them into the open 26 00:02:24,639 –> 00:02:30,479 and to confess them before God. Now this morning we’re going to turn to John’s Gospel in chapter 27 00:02:30,479 –> 00:02:36,800 four, where we discover a third life-changing truth. Another thing that Jesus identifies 28 00:02:36,800 –> 00:02:44,080 with these three fascinating words, if you knew. John’s Gospel in Chapter Four. 29 00:02:45,440 –> 00:02:51,839 Jesus was walking on a journey from Jerusalem, in the south of Israel, to Galilee in the north, 30 00:02:51,839 –> 00:02:56,800 and that meant that he traveled through a mountainous region that we know as Samaria. 31 00:02:57,600 –> 00:03:02,880 John tells us that the particular incident that he records took place at the sixth hour 32 00:03:03,600 –> 00:03:09,520 that’s mid-day, and if you imagine the middle of the day in the blistering heat 33 00:03:10,160 –> 00:03:15,520 and you’re making an arduous journey, you won’t be surprised to find out that Jesus was tired, 34 00:03:15,520 –> 00:03:21,279 and he and the disciples pulled off as it were into an oasis where they were able to 35 00:03:21,279 –> 00:03:27,199 refresh themselves. The disciples went to get some food to eat, and Jesus sat there by the well. 36 00:03:27,919 –> 00:03:34,160 And we’re told that at that time a Samaritan woman arrived to draw water from the well, 37 00:03:34,800 –> 00:03:40,479 a Samaritan woman. Now, the Samaritans occur a number of times in the Scriptures, 38 00:03:40,479 –> 00:03:45,600 and it’s well worth knowing a little bit about them. Absolutely fascinating story. 39 00:03:46,639 –> 00:03:52,639 700 years before Jesus Christ came into the world, this northern part of what was the 40 00:03:52,639 –> 00:03:59,600 kingdom of Israel at that time was invaded by the king of Assyria. And the northern tribes 41 00:03:59,600 –> 00:04:05,119 were scattered either because they fled from the invading army or because they were taken 42 00:04:05,119 –> 00:04:12,320 by that army into exile in other parts of the vast Assyrian kingdom. And that left the whole 43 00:04:12,320 –> 00:04:19,519 of this area of Samaria like a ghost town, utterly desolate. Now, the king of Assyria 44 00:04:19,519 –> 00:04:24,720 decided that he didn’t want to have part of his empire lying completely desolate. But at the 45 00:04:24,720 –> 00:04:28,640 same time, he didn’t want the people who had originally belonged there to be living there 46 00:04:28,640 –> 00:04:35,040 either. So what he did was he forcibly brought people from other parts of his kingdom, from 47 00:04:35,040 –> 00:04:41,839 other countries that had also been conquered, and resettled them in this area of Samaria. 48 00:04:42,720 –> 00:04:49,760 So in other words, what happened was that there were immigrant groups from all kinds of different 49 00:04:50,640 –> 00:04:59,359 cultural backgrounds who were forcibly repatriated in this desolated area of Samaria. 50 00:05:00,239 –> 00:05:05,200 And of course, these people came without any knowledge whatsoever of the living God of the 51 00:05:05,200 –> 00:05:10,160 Bible. They had been brought up in cultures with all kinds of different religions and philosophies 52 00:05:10,160 –> 00:05:17,679 and ideas, and they brought all of their idols with them. Then God did something absolutely 53 00:05:17,679 –> 00:05:25,839 fascinating among this multi-ethnic population. You read about it in 2nd Kings in chapter 17 54 00:05:25,839 –> 00:05:36,559 where we’re told that the Lord sent lions among them. It’s a wholly extraordinary action of God. 55 00:05:37,519 –> 00:05:41,040 Rather frightening if you can imagine yourself out in the park and you’re having a sandwich, 56 00:05:41,040 –> 00:05:44,559 and a picnic, and the kids are shooting baskets, and all the rest of it, and suddenly half a 57 00:05:44,559 –> 00:05:50,160 dozen lions appear, you know that you’re in trouble. And this became something of a national 58 00:05:50,160 –> 00:05:54,799 crisis. There are lions that are roaming this area, this has not been known before, 59 00:05:54,799 –> 00:05:59,519 and what are we going to do about it? Well the question got all the way up to the top. 60 00:05:59,519 –> 00:06:05,839 The king of Assyria, he wasn’t very sure what to do about it, but this was his decision. He said 61 00:06:05,839 –> 00:06:11,040 well, there was a God that was worshipped in that area and maybe we’ve offended that God and He sent 62 00:06:11,040 –> 00:06:17,600 lions, so let’s send one of the priests who knows about the God who’s worshipped in that area, 63 00:06:17,600 –> 00:06:22,000 maybe He can do something about it, we’ll send one of these Jewish priests back. 64 00:06:23,359 –> 00:06:30,559 And so a lone priest was settled back in the area from which he had recently been taken. 65 00:06:31,279 –> 00:06:35,760 Try and imagine what it’s like for this fellow. He’s just been moved from his home in Samaria, 66 00:06:36,079 –> 00:06:42,000 some remote part of the Assyrian empire. One day, an emissary of the king says, 67 00:06:42,000 –> 00:06:47,440 you’d better pack your bags, you’re going back to where you came from. Why? Well, the 68 00:06:47,440 –> 00:06:53,519 king of Assyria says so. Why? Well, he wants you to teach these new people who are living there 69 00:06:53,519 –> 00:06:59,679 about your god. The king of Assyria wants me to teach these people about my God? Yes, he does. 70 00:07:00,239 –> 00:07:06,880 Why? Well, because there’s lions, we don’t know what to do about it. So, this single priest, 71 00:07:06,880 –> 00:07:13,519 it was one man, becomes the first state-sponsored missionary 72 00:07:14,160 –> 00:07:18,799 to a multi-ethnic community. It was an absolutely fascinating story. So, he arrives back in the 73 00:07:18,799 –> 00:07:25,200 area that he has shortly before left, and he begins to teach these people from all kinds 74 00:07:25,200 –> 00:07:32,239 of different cultures about the living God of the Bible, and you can read about it in 2 Kings 17, 75 00:07:32,239 –> 00:07:38,000 in verse 28. One of the priests, who had been exiled from Samaria, came to live in Bethel, 76 00:07:38,000 –> 00:07:43,519 and he taught these people how to worship the Lord. Nevertheless, the Bible says, 77 00:07:44,079 –> 00:07:52,079 each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled. 78 00:07:52,799 –> 00:07:59,279 And then we’re told they worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance 79 00:07:59,279 –> 00:08:07,200 with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. That tells you that Samaria 80 00:08:07,920 –> 00:08:16,160 was a spiritually confused culture. What happened over the next years and generations 81 00:08:16,959 –> 00:08:23,679 was that a culture developed in which there was some knowledge of the God of the Bible, 82 00:08:24,320 –> 00:08:32,719 but it was all mixed up with all kinds of religious ideas drawn from every nation from 83 00:08:32,719 –> 00:08:40,799 which people had come, all kinds of contradictory philosophies, blended together in a kind of a 84 00:08:40,880 –> 00:08:49,840 mini-strudy soup of a religion. That’s what it was like in Samaria. Now, when you hear that, 85 00:08:51,359 –> 00:09:00,559 it may dawn on you that there is another culture not so different today. A culture where many 86 00:09:00,559 –> 00:09:06,400 people know something about the God of the Bible, but they’ve got it all mixed up 87 00:09:07,359 –> 00:09:12,719 with a bunch of other contradictory ideas that are drawn from various cultures and various 88 00:09:12,719 –> 00:09:20,640 philosophies and various religious backgrounds. So that our people today, in this generation and 89 00:09:20,640 –> 00:09:27,359 in this culture, know something about the God of the Bible. But in our situation, 90 00:09:27,359 –> 00:09:34,320 it gets too often all mixed up with a dash of yoga, a sprinkling of New Age, 91 00:09:35,280 –> 00:09:43,119 a couple of spoonfuls of psychology, lashings of self-interest, and a whole menu is served for us 92 00:09:43,919 –> 00:09:50,880 attractively in the People’s Church by Oprah Winfrey. That’s where our culture is. 93 00:09:52,239 –> 00:10:00,799 It has become a kind of amalgam, a mishmash of religious ideas drawn from all over the world 94 00:10:01,599 –> 00:10:10,400 and somehow mixed together in what becomes a culture of spiritual confusion. 95 00:10:11,679 –> 00:10:20,880 Now, one day Jesus sat down beside a well and spoke to a lady from such a culture, 96 00:10:22,479 –> 00:10:29,280 and when you understand who the Samaritans were and the culture in which this lady had been raised, 97 00:10:30,080 –> 00:10:37,200 you will understand the unique importance of Jesus’ conversation with her for the task 98 00:10:37,200 –> 00:10:42,719 that we have of presenting the good news of Jesus Christ in our culture today. 99 00:10:43,440 –> 00:10:47,039 Now, I want to focus your attention on verse 10 which is the heart of the story 100 00:10:47,679 –> 00:10:52,719 John chapter 4 and verse 10. Jesus says to this lady, 101 00:10:53,679 –> 00:11:01,200 If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that asks you for a drink, 102 00:11:02,640 –> 00:11:09,200 you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. 103 00:11:10,719 –> 00:11:16,080 Now, notice how Jesus identifies two things that she desperately needed to know. If you 104 00:11:16,080 –> 00:11:24,400 knew the gift of God, the first problem for the lady brought up in this spiritually confused 105 00:11:24,400 –> 00:11:33,679 culture is that she had greatly underestimated the gift of God. Now remember, she is religious. 106 00:11:33,679 –> 00:11:38,159 She knew about worship. She knew about the worship that had taken place on Mount Gerizim. 107 00:11:38,159 –> 00:11:41,840 She’s able to sustain a discussion about spiritual matters with Jesus. 108 00:11:42,719 –> 00:11:48,960 She would undoubtedly have said that spirituality was important to her, 109 00:11:50,000 –> 00:11:57,760 but for all her interest in spirituality, she had no idea about the gift of God. 110 00:11:58,479 –> 00:12:03,039 Now I want to suggest to you that that is exactly the position of many of our contemporaries today. 111 00:12:03,679 –> 00:12:11,520 It has become very common for people to embrace spirituality in whatever form. People regularly 112 00:12:11,520 –> 00:12:17,520 will identify themselves as being mind and body and spirit, and have seen that it is very 113 00:12:17,520 –> 00:12:24,880 important for there to be exercise for the mind and the body and the spirit. So many would say 114 00:12:24,880 –> 00:12:32,000 that a very good way to spend a Sunday would be to read a newspaper, because that exercises 115 00:12:32,000 –> 00:12:37,280 the mind. That’s good. Go for a walk or perhaps even better, a run around the lake, because that 116 00:12:37,280 –> 00:12:43,039 exercises the body, and by all means go to church, because that exercises the spirit. 117 00:12:44,239 –> 00:12:48,880 And of course it doesn’t just need to be a church, in fact, you could go to any religious activity, 118 00:12:48,880 –> 00:12:54,799 so long as it exercises the spirit in your own way. In fact, we could push it even further, 119 00:12:54,799 –> 00:12:59,520 because there are other ways of exercising the human spirit. Going on a sailboat would do 120 00:12:59,919 –> 00:13:07,039 similar for you, actually. Now you see, because our culture has understood 121 00:13:09,359 –> 00:13:14,719 the gift of God to be the exercise of the human spirit, 122 00:13:16,559 –> 00:13:24,400 the logical consequence is that any religion will do. Any religion will do, whatever one works 123 00:13:25,200 –> 00:13:32,000 for you. It is self-evident that there are many ways to stretch the mind. 124 00:13:33,200 –> 00:13:40,479 It is self-evident that there are many ways to exercise the body. And therefore the conclusion 125 00:13:40,479 –> 00:13:46,239 is that there are equally many, many ways in which we may exercise the human spirit. 126 00:13:46,239 –> 00:13:51,919 And of course, our contemporaries there for today say, well, if you’re saying that there’s only one 127 00:13:51,919 –> 00:13:57,280 way to exercise the human spirit, that sounds as ridiculous to us as suggesting there’s only one 128 00:13:57,280 –> 00:14:01,760 newspaper you could read or one book you could read or one course you could run in order to 129 00:14:01,760 –> 00:14:07,919 exercise your body. It’s ridiculous! Now, you see where the fundamental problem lies. 130 00:14:10,080 –> 00:14:17,679 Failing to grasp the gift of God, in our spiritually confused culture we have imagined 131 00:14:18,400 –> 00:14:22,719 that all God is concerned about is to give us a spiritual dimension for life. 132 00:14:24,880 –> 00:14:31,119 A bit of exercise for the human spirit. And if that is what you think the gift of God is, 133 00:14:31,119 –> 00:14:39,359 then it logically follows that any religion will do. That’s where this woman was. 134 00:14:40,239 –> 00:14:44,479 was. And Jesus says to her, 135 00:14:45,760 –> 00:14:49,919 Oh, if only you knew what the gift of God is. 136 00:14:52,159 –> 00:14:56,960 If only you knew! You think the gift of God is something here. It’s something 137 00:14:56,960 –> 00:15:00,239 out of the horizon that you’ve seen. If only you knew it. 138 00:15:02,719 –> 00:15:08,239 It’s very interesting, as Jesus begins to speak with her, and he talks to her about living water, 139 00:15:08,320 –> 00:15:14,159 you notice how she understands that in verse 15, Sir, give me this water so that I won’t 140 00:15:14,159 –> 00:15:23,200 get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. And it’s interesting that the greatest 141 00:15:23,200 –> 00:15:30,400 thing that she can imagine God doing for her is to alleviate her laborious routine. After all, 142 00:15:30,400 –> 00:15:34,719 she has to take this pot every day. Perhaps she carries it in her head, she goes, she fills it 143 00:15:34,719 –> 00:15:39,919 from the well, she has to take it back. It’s a laborious routine that she has to do every day. 144 00:15:41,599 –> 00:15:45,440 In actual fact, thinking about it, it occurred to me that not very much has changed. You see 145 00:15:45,440 –> 00:15:54,000 people coming out of Julius crude with gallons of water. I mean, it is incredible. I mean, 146 00:15:54,000 –> 00:15:58,000 at least we’ve got little wheelie carts to help us and vans to carry at home, but 147 00:15:59,039 –> 00:16:03,599 things have not changed very much. What do you have to do to provide for a family? 148 00:16:04,239 –> 00:16:10,320 Don’t you wish it was easier? Don’t you find some of the grind of life just to be laborious? 149 00:16:12,400 –> 00:16:16,479 And you see, this woman’s idea is, if I could ask one thing of God, it would be this. 150 00:16:17,760 –> 00:16:25,440 Make my life a little easier. Make it a little brighter. That’s the limit of her horizon 151 00:16:26,960 –> 00:16:32,159 as to what God might do for her. And a lot of people have that idea, 152 00:16:32,159 –> 00:16:38,159 even in church on Sunday mornings. You know pastor, I need some help just to get through another week. 153 00:16:39,919 –> 00:16:45,039 Give me something to lighten the load. Give me some chicken soup for the soul. 154 00:16:45,039 –> 00:16:49,840 Give me something to brighten my face. Tell me a story. I need that. 155 00:16:49,840 –> 00:17:02,880 And Jesus says, If you knew the gift of God—now she totally underestimated it. 156 00:17:04,400 –> 00:17:07,920 And I want to suggest to you that if we are to communicate with this spiritually 157 00:17:07,920 –> 00:17:12,000 confused culture the first thing we’ve got to do is explain what God’s gift is, 158 00:17:12,000 –> 00:17:14,239 because people just don’t understand it. 159 00:17:14,319 –> 00:17:22,880 Here’s the second issue. It’s not just that she underestimated the gift of God, 160 00:17:22,880 –> 00:17:28,560 but she had not perceived the uniqueness of Jesus. Notice Christ’s words. If you knew the 161 00:17:28,560 –> 00:17:40,160 gift of God and who it is who asks you for a drink. Extraordinary to think about this lady 162 00:17:40,160 –> 00:17:46,560 standing face to face with the Son of God, and she hasn’t the faintest idea of who he is. 163 00:17:48,719 –> 00:17:52,160 Of course, that should not surprise us particularly. She arrives at a well. 164 00:17:52,160 –> 00:17:57,520 She happens to meet, as she sees it, a man who asks her for a drink. And suddenly this man 165 00:17:57,520 –> 00:18:02,640 begins speaking to her about living water. And she’s not impressed, she really isn’t. 166 00:18:03,599 –> 00:18:08,640 I mean, this woman’s been married five times, so she’s heard some big talk and some fancy 167 00:18:08,640 –> 00:18:14,800 promises before. She’s not naive. Oh, here we go again, big talk. Here’s a man, what’s his line? 168 00:18:14,800 –> 00:18:19,680 Yes, he’s going to give me living water. Well, marvelous and he hasn’t even got a bucket. 169 00:18:23,920 –> 00:18:28,400 Well, you must be greater than our father Jacob then, mustn’t you? He had to dig a well and he 170 00:18:28,400 –> 00:18:33,040 had a bucket but apparently you can do better? That’s the attitude of her response to Jesus. 171 00:18:33,439 –> 00:18:39,920 She’s rather cynical about this man and his claims. And I think that we know how she felt, 172 00:18:40,719 –> 00:18:46,479 because the truth is that we live in a world of overinflated claims. 173 00:18:47,359 –> 00:18:52,160 And because we’re so used to hearing grandiose claims that amount to nothing very much in the 174 00:18:52,160 –> 00:18:58,000 end, we find it difficult to hear the authentic promise of Jesus. 175 00:18:58,000 –> 00:19:10,959 I’ve seen Gaterade have water now, by the way. You seen their advert? A bottle and drops 176 00:19:10,959 –> 00:19:15,920 coming out. And as the drops come out they turn into sports personalities who thrive 177 00:19:15,920 –> 00:19:22,560 into action. Marvelous. Now, you see that’s how this woman is hearing Jesus. 178 00:19:22,560 –> 00:19:27,280 Living water. Send your order with a first month’s payment 179 00:19:27,280 –> 00:19:33,739 to Living Water, P.O. Box 999, Anaheim, CA, or visit us on the webinars at www.livingwater.com. 180 00:19:33,739 –> 00:19:47,199 Now, you see that is how she hears Jesus. Another travelling preacher with another big 181 00:19:47,920 –> 00:20:00,099 and in a world of broken promises, the reality of Jesus is lost for many people in a world 182 00:20:00,099 –> 00:20:15,719 of hype. Jesus said, if you knew who was speaking to you—of course in order to reveal who 183 00:20:15,920 –> 00:20:22,239 he is—He begins to speak about her personal life, touches right in on some of her disappointed 184 00:20:22,239 –> 00:20:29,920 hopes and dreams. And she realizes as he speaks about her home situation that actually, this 185 00:20:29,920 –> 00:20:36,400 man is very different. He knows everything about her. So she says, Sir – verse 19 – I 186 00:20:36,400 –> 00:20:41,459 can see that you are a prophet. Now, prophets were a bit special so there weren’t so many 187 00:20:41,459 –> 00:20:47,060 of them around. The woman seizes the opportunity to ask her one spiritual question. Are you 188 00:20:47,060 –> 00:20:50,280 really a prophet? You can probably answer this question actually. I’ve asked a few 189 00:20:50,280 –> 00:20:54,560 people, never really got a very good answer. Maybe you can tell me. Some people say that 190 00:20:54,560 –> 00:20:59,260 we should worship here at Gerizim and the Jews, your people, say that worship should 191 00:20:59,260 –> 00:21:07,079 take place at Jerusalem. Which one’s right? Can you imagine standing face-to-face with 192 00:21:07,099 –> 00:21:17,619 the Son of God and asking that question? You see, she has no idea. Lo, says Jesus, if you 193 00:21:17,619 –> 00:21:28,380 knew the gift of God, if you knew lady, what God wants to give you, and if you knew who 194 00:21:28,500 –> 00:21:37,699 I am?,” Jesus says. So it’d be a whole different conversation. But she greatly underestimated 195 00:21:37,699 –> 00:21:47,020 the gift of God, and she did not perceive the uniqueness of Jesus. Those are two issues 196 00:21:47,020 –> 00:21:54,660 that most need to be communicated in our spiritually confused culture, the gift of God, the uniqueness 197 00:21:54,880 –> 00:22:02,560 of Jesus. Now, notice how Jesus does this in our last few moments together. I’d like to invite 198 00:22:02,560 –> 00:22:08,500 you to turn to one cross-reference this morning, and that’s in Jeremiah and chapter 2 and verse 13. 199 00:22:08,500 –> 00:22:17,880 Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 13. As Jesus speaks to her about this living water, and we have a very 200 00:22:17,880 –> 00:22:23,180 clear statement in the Old Testament that helps us to understand what it is that Jesus is speaking 201 00:22:23,319 –> 00:22:35,040 about. Jeremiah in chapter 2 and verse 13. And here, God is speaking directly through the Prophet 202 00:22:35,040 –> 00:22:43,160 Jeremiah, and he says, My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken Me, the spring of 203 00:22:43,160 –> 00:22:48,760 living water, and they’ve dug out their own cisterns that cannot hold water. Notice what 204 00:22:48,900 –> 00:23:01,760 says, they’ve forsaken Me, the spring of living water. You see what God is saying? I am the spring 205 00:23:01,760 –> 00:23:10,219 of living water. Now, take that truth and plug it into what Jesus is saying in John in chapter 3. 206 00:23:10,439 –> 00:23:25,979 Because Jesus is talking about the spring of living water being in you, being in you. This 207 00:23:25,979 –> 00:23:34,060 is the gift of God. Not that somehow we get a little bit of a spiritual up on a Sunday, 208 00:23:34,060 –> 00:23:46,140 but that God himself by his Holy Spirit offers to enter your life be with you and in you by 209 00:23:46,140 –> 00:23:51,040 the power of the Holy Spirit involved in everything that you do, standing with you in everything that 210 00:23:51,040 –> 00:24:00,180 you face, sharing your life here until the day when you will share his life there in his immediate 211 00:24:00,180 –> 00:24:10,800 presence in heaven. This is the gift of God. God offers to you not some kind of spiritual tonic 212 00:24:10,800 –> 00:24:22,400 that you could get at any one of a dozen religious stalls, but he offers to you his very Self. Now 213 00:24:22,400 –> 00:24:26,540 in the Old Testament people had been taught and it had been cultivated that you could, as it were, 214 00:24:26,599 –> 00:24:31,640 make a visit to the place of God’s presence. But only some people could come, sometime some place. 215 00:24:31,640 –> 00:24:45,839 But here Jesus is saying to an immigrant woman, God himself offers to enter your life and to fill 216 00:24:45,859 –> 00:24:54,319 it. The Spirit of God can live in you. God will enter into everything that you face, 217 00:24:54,319 –> 00:25:03,619 and then bring you into everything that he enjoys. That’s the gift of God. 218 00:25:04,020 –> 00:25:20,859 Imagine being able to start a new job, saying, God is with me. Imagine being able to 219 00:25:20,859 –> 00:25:26,579 face the most ordinary task in life. You come out of Jules Asco with your gallons of water, 220 00:25:27,439 –> 00:25:39,239 and being able to say, God is with me. Imagine facing an unexpected disaster 221 00:25:39,239 –> 00:25:53,319 and being able to say, God is with me. Imagine coming to the moment of death and being able 222 00:25:53,319 –> 00:26:03,560 to say, God is with me. And right now he is going to take me into his immediate presence. 223 00:26:03,560 –> 00:26:15,380 This is a different league from some exercise of the human spirit. This is the gift of God, 224 00:26:15,380 –> 00:26:23,640 and it comes through Jesus Christ. Notice how Jesus explains to her who he is, because 225 00:26:23,640 –> 00:26:29,199 he wants her to know. Down, verse 25, the woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ 226 00:26:29,199 –> 00:26:35,739 is coming, and when he comes he will explain everything to us. And Jesus declared, can 227 00:26:35,739 –> 00:26:44,699 you imagine this moment, I who am speaking to you am he. And literally translated what 228 00:26:44,819 –> 00:26:51,959 he actually said to the woman is, I who speak to you, I am. Of course, the words, I am, 229 00:26:51,959 –> 00:26:59,219 were the name that God gave for himself in the Old Testament. So, Jesus is saying to 230 00:26:59,219 –> 00:27:11,560 her, lady, you are looking into the face of God in the flesh. Imagine that. 231 00:27:12,119 –> 00:27:22,300 Now, says Jesus, if you knew the gift of God, if you knew who it is that speaks to 232 00:27:22,300 –> 00:27:31,359 you, here’s what would happen, you would ask. Now, I have to say to you, that if 233 00:27:31,359 –> 00:27:36,219 you can grasp these two simple things, that will be what you will do even this 234 00:27:36,219 –> 00:27:44,619 morning. If you can grasp this gift of God giving his very self, of God giving 235 00:27:44,619 –> 00:27:49,260 you everlasting life, as he comes to share your life and then brings you into 236 00:27:49,260 –> 00:27:55,900 the joy of his life in heaven, if you can grasp that gift of God, and if you see 237 00:27:55,900 –> 00:28:03,079 that Jesus Christ is uniquely God in the flesh, and that he therefore uniquely is 238 00:28:03,079 –> 00:28:08,780 able to bring this gift and release it to you, then when you grasp these two 239 00:28:08,780 –> 00:28:15,520 things there’s absolutely no doubt about what you will do. You would A.S.K. 240 00:28:15,520 –> 00:28:20,400 They say, why do I have to ask? Because what God is offering to you is a relationship, 241 00:28:20,400 –> 00:28:25,000 and a relationship is never imposed. It can be offered, but it must be received, 242 00:28:25,000 –> 00:28:32,680 it must be nurtured, and it must be cultivated. God may offer this to you, but 243 00:28:32,680 –> 00:28:40,000 you must ask, you must receive, you are involved. And then Jesus gives this 244 00:28:40,000 –> 00:28:48,199 marvelous, marvelous promise. You would have A.S.K. He says, if you asked, you 245 00:28:48,199 –> 00:28:56,119 would receive. He would have given it to you. And that is the promise of God today. 246 00:28:56,180 –> 00:29:02,900 If you can grasp the gift that God wants to offer you, you’ve come to see that He 247 00:29:02,900 –> 00:29:08,959 offers it uniquely in and through Jesus Christ, and you come and you say, I see 248 00:29:08,959 –> 00:29:17,680 that, I ask you for it in Jesus name. Then Jesus promise is He will give it to 249 00:29:17,680 –> 00:29:25,920 you, you will receive, God will come to you. Through Jesus Christ the barriers 250 00:29:25,920 –> 00:29:30,439 will be broken. He will come to your life, He will indwell you by the power of His 251 00:29:30,439 –> 00:29:38,719 Spirit, and one day you will enter into His presence. If you knew the gift of God 252 00:29:38,719 –> 00:29:50,640 and who it is that speaks to you, you’d ask, and He would give it to you. Now on 253 00:29:50,640 –> 00:29:54,780 the last day, it’s very interesting when John in the book of Revelation has a 254 00:29:54,780 –> 00:29:58,500 vision of what it will be like at the very, very end of human history, and he 255 00:29:58,500 –> 00:30:04,000 sees the joy into which Christ’s people enter in everlasting life. They go into 256 00:30:04,000 –> 00:30:09,000 the light of the presence of God, and God’s throne comes down and there is 257 00:30:09,000 –> 00:30:14,900 this fellowship between God and His people, and the lamb leads them into 258 00:30:14,900 –> 00:30:20,939 springs of living water. And then immediately afterwards, it talks about 259 00:30:21,020 –> 00:30:26,339 the unbelieving and the vile. There’s a whole long list of descriptions of 260 00:30:26,339 –> 00:30:31,900 those who’ve turned away from the Living God and His wonderful offer, and it 261 00:30:31,900 –> 00:30:37,920 describes how they go to the Lake of Fire, and the picture seems to be that 262 00:30:37,920 –> 00:30:46,180 they actually have a glimpse of the living waters. They actually see the 263 00:30:46,359 –> 00:30:52,900 presence of God and all that it is, and they would long to taste of it for 264 00:30:52,900 –> 00:30:58,880 eternity, but it’s receding from them. It’s receding, it’s receding. They’re 265 00:30:58,880 –> 00:31:05,680 going the other way. I hold that picture in my mind and then think of the words 266 00:31:05,680 –> 00:31:18,199 of Jesus. If you had asked, I would have given. Anyone ready to do some asking 267 00:31:18,199 –> 00:31:25,640 this morning? And if you know this wonderful relationship with God, don’t 268 00:31:25,640 –> 00:31:31,160 you feel a sense of privilege? Don’t you want to go out into the spiritually 269 00:31:31,160 –> 00:31:36,439 confused culture so that people will know what the gift of God really is? 270 00:31:36,439 –> 00:31:44,400 And how it’s found through Jesus Christ and him alone? Let’s pray together. 271 00:31:50,640 –> 00:31:57,619 Let’s thank God right now that he offers to us far, far, far more than an exercise 272 00:31:57,780 –> 00:32:07,420 of the human spirit. He offers us his very self. He’s made a way through Jesus Christ in which 273 00:32:07,420 –> 00:32:16,099 he can come to our lives and we can come into everlasting life with him. He wants 274 00:32:16,359 –> 00:32:25,540 you to have this gift. He wants you to have it through Jesus, but you’ve got to ask. 275 00:32:25,540 –> 00:32:35,459 A relationship has two sides. God will not impose himself or even impose everlasting 276 00:32:35,459 –> 00:32:43,500 life on you. He invites you to come. You might like to make these words of a very 277 00:32:43,500 –> 00:32:52,219 simple prayer your own. Lord I come to you as someone who needs to receive. I 278 00:32:52,219 –> 00:32:59,199 come to you in simple faith believing your promise. I’ve tried many ways to 279 00:32:59,199 –> 00:33:05,699 find life but I can’t find it without you. I long to know your presence in my 280 00:33:06,099 –> 00:33:15,699 life. Cleanse me from my sin and make my heart a place where your spirit can 281 00:33:15,699 –> 00:33:24,739 dwell. Come to me and let your life fill me. Lead me into a new life that will be 282 00:33:24,739 –> 00:33:33,920 for your glory and honour, and on the last day bring me into everlasting life 283 00:33:33,920 –> 00:33:41,780 through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.