Gospel—S. Bambauer
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So the reason I picked that him is in verse three, and you will see the reason for that as we go along. And I want to start with just a verse in Luke's Gospel Chapter 11 and then go to John's Gospel chapter 4 and Luke's Gospel Chapter 11. We see the condition of things in this world.
Verse 21 When a strongman armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.
Satan is the Prince in power of the air and the God of this world. He has it under lock and key. That's the way he had it, and nobody escaped. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor, wherein he trusted and divideth his spoils, so that there is hope.
When I got back from the service.
In about the mid 70s I was working at a little grocery store up in Northern California out in the country, 1975 I believe in a customer came in. I got to talking to now and then. His name was Dean Dickey. He was an 18 year old in 1945 and was in the Army.
And Germany had fallen.
And he has just a boot. Private was one of the first ones into defeated Germany.
And his lot was to come upon a concentration camp. He told me which one, and I don't remember which one it is because there were a number of them.
And certainly Satan occupies his hostages with many entrapments.
So the gates were opened.
And he went in there. He was 18 when he was telling me this. He was in his 50s and said he could not possibly endure.
Such a scene at that age, 55 or so, it affected him, as it were, even when he was 18.
To see the horrors of that the gates were opened.
The gates had been closed.
And they couldn't open them from the inside. There was no there was no escape from there.
But a stronger one came in and overthrew.
And open the gates.
He took some pictures. He brought him down to the store and showed them to me. You could just about put your hands around their waist. Their eyes were vacant and forlorn. They were desperate.
What do you suppose?
As the Allied forces came in there and liberated them and opened the gate.
What do you suppose if in opening those gates and seeing these people in there and giving them the opportunity to come out and to be restored and to gain their health and to have something to eat and to be recovered, they said to those that came to liberate them? Well, it's kind of nice in here. I get a meal now and then my friend is in the bunk next to me.
Along that line.
I think you are getting the similitude pretty well.
We would say that would be the stupidest thing we ever heard, and I can assure you that none of them made that option. They were glad to be freed.
Now we'll go over to John chapter 4.
And we're going to take a look.
Had a woman in a little different situation, but pretty much in the same case.
I'll start at verse.
Three, Jesus left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs to go through Samaria. Then cometh thee to a city of Samaria, which is called Sikar.
From Judea to Galilee I think is about 40 miles. In Cycar is just about halfway.
And that's a Mediterranean climate. It's hot and dry in the summer.
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There are only a few Mediterranean climates, and that's one of them. And the great Central Valley here in California is another one. It's hot and dry in the summer.
But he went nevertheless.
This was not an accidental trip. He purposed to do this.
This is not an accidental meeting. There's a purpose in this. God wants the good news of the gospel to reach those that are in captivity or that are wandering to and fro, thirsty, not satisfied.
Lost and wandering in their sins.
He came to this city called Saikar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
This had happened.
Probably 1700 years or so before this occasion here. What history over there? I've never been there, but what history?
And what tradition?
Jacob gave to his son Joseph this parcel of ground. Now Jacob's well was there, and Jacob probably drank of that well.
And he was probably refreshed.
But it won't do this woman much good.
We each have to come to Christ on our own, and Jacob having come doesn't help her.
She could get all tingly about the traditions and the history and the background and all of these things.
And although Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore being wearied.
With his journey 20 miles. Remember, if it's the summertime, it's hot and dry.
Sat thus on the well. How far out of the way did he go in determining this trip to make a rendezvous with the woman that we're about to read of here?
It was about the 6th hour. I guess that's noon.
And that would be a hot time of the day, and perhaps most weren't coming out at that time. This woman was a little embarrassed. There cometh a woman of some area to draw water. She's coming at noon.
The traffic would be light at that time. I don't think she wanted to meet too many people.
Jesus says to her, give me to drink.
His disciples were gone away under the city to buy meat, so he was alone here with this person, an individual private.
Meeting rendezvous. Not an accident, a rendezvous. He knew what he was doing. She is surprised, and so are we. When the Lord is announcing, announcing His presence to us. Sometimes it takes us by surprise.
And there will be a reaction here.
It's just Jesus and the woman, and in this transaction that's to follow, it is Jesus and each one individually.
Not on the coattails of a brother or sister or a relative or a mother or father.
The woman responds.
Says unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh, drink of me, which a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans?
Well, how did they get there?
In 722 BC, the Assyrians overran Israel, the northern Kingdom.
And it was their foreign policy to remove the inhabitants of a land that they had conquered, and they had conquered everything.
From just about the caucuses all the way to Egypt.
They were what you would call the hegemonous nation of the day. All powerful, biggest army. Nobody could stand in their way.
That's the same time that Hezekiah was king and Isaiah was prophet down in Judah, and they also overran most of Judah.
With the exception of a few island cities, one of them being Jerusalem.
And you've read that story before, but our case is up in Samaria, the.
Assyrians then, as I said, would take out the people of the land they conquered and bring bake them to another land that they had conquered, take the inhabitants of the other land and bring them in.
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To northern Kingdom there of Israel. Because if you were you can understand this if you were a cat taken captive by a foreign power.
And you were in your own land. You have a lot more sentiment there to try to rise up in rebellion and get your land back. But if you're taken off and can't even get back to your land, there isn't very much motivation to do that. So it was a tactical genius that worked for the Assyrians in that day.
Go down the road 722 years and here is this descendant.
You know, the Jews and the Sumerians didn't get along very well. If you remember the story, the Samaritans say they brought in the Assyrians, brought in a couple of priests from Israel to teach the Samaritans how to be good Jews.
And that's always hard to do. You might get somebody to teach you how to be a good Christian and put on the garment, but somewhere along the line there's going to be have to be a work in the heart and the conscience for this to be a legitimate transaction. So Jesus answered and said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and she didn't. And who it is that saith to thee? And she didn't give me to drink.
Thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water. He's the only one with that. If you want living water, you'll have to go to the one that has the living water, and that's the Lord Jesus. We try different wells, we try different things. I've done it. I remember being a teenager in my early and in my early 20s, chasing down these different wells and dipping my cup in there.
And going away, always thirsty, never satisfied.
The woman's response to this Oh, if you'd have just asked of me, I would have given the living water. I would give you water, she says. He would give me water. Her answer the woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with.
Do you think of the Lord Jesus that way? That He is insufficient and incapable to meet your thirsty needs? So what are you going to do? Take your little cup and go to the next mud puddle and dip something up there and hope that will suffice?
She says you have nothing to draw with.
And then she says the well is deep.
You know how deep the human soul is. This is indeed a deep well.
Now none can satisfy but the Lord Jesus Himself. She didn't know who he was, and most haven't taken the time to find out either, even today.
And they waddle along from sorrow to sorrow.
From whence then hast thou that living water? How are you going to do this?
How are you going to provide?
For the needs of the depth of my soul, can this be done? She says.
Art thou greater than our father, Jacob? She's going to do some comparisons. She's going to go back. She calls Jacob her father. She takes that place.
Is it hers? She takes it anyway. He gave us the well, she's going to depend upon this traditional.
Provision.
He gave us the well, and drank thereof himself.
And his children and his cattle.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
Well, the Jews and the Samaritans too, by imitation.
We're certainly infatuated with tradition and still are.
So she brings in Jacob and all these accoutrements of history.
But she's going to thirst again. This isn't her first trip.
To that place where she could draw a bucket of water. How many times do we go back to the same place, to the same place, to the same place, only to go home and find out that it does not satisfy? Because nothing in this world can fully satisfy the longing soul and fill this deep well of our bosom. Whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
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He has the living water. He has the water that satisfies.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. You know how Water Works. It seeks its own level.
This water comes from God and springs up, springs up.
Into everlasting life and brings us right into the very presence of God.
In Christ.
To avail ourselves of the provision that God at great expense has made.
For us in our need.
Christ comes down to where we are. He was here, the woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come, hit her to draw. We're making progress.
Psalms 87 verse seven says all my spring.
Are in the Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband, and come hit her. The Lord has something else.
He's going to get to the issues, you know, and he's going to do it sooner or later, and it's less painful to do it sooner than later.
We don't hold any secrets from the Lord. He knows this woman and He knows all about her, just as he knows each one of us and all about us. He knows what we've done in secret. He knows what we would like to cover up. He knows what we hope he didn't see. He comes to her, He comes to us. He comes to you nevertheless.
In compassion, and that again at great cost, because this offer cannot be made of eternal.
Water springing up into lasting life unless.
He goes to Calvary's cross.
Jesus, as a man here on earth, could not save us from our sins.
He had to go to Calvary's tree.
It would be.
Cruel to make these offers to her and not be able to deliver. And yet he knew.
What lay ahead and what price had to be paid Because of her sins? Because of my sins? Because of your sins?
There are several facts of life. One as God is, 2 as God has spoken.
Three, as we're responsible.
For us, we have been irresponsible. There's no use talking to me about my responsibility. I've already been irresponsible. God has provided and He has provided that which suits himself.
Jesus, the Son of God, made that journey.
Steadfastly to Jerusalem, knowing what would be before him there.
And they took him.
And all of this has nothing to do with the atoning work. But they took him nevertheless.
And it was mentioned last night how they treated him and put him on that cross. Was that necessary for our salvation, our putting him there, our treatment of him?
Now the noonday sun is darkened.
And stroke upon stroke land upon him as my substitute.
And as that provision for whosoever will.
God has made a provision that suits himself in improving it.
After the Lord Jesus was buried, he raised him from the dead and called him up to see them at his right hand.
To exalt him.
That is the proof of God's acceptance of the sacrifice.
And as we sing, if God is satisfied, we can be satisfied as well.
He knew all of this.
But now.
Just as he would do this evening.
Almost 2000 years later.
He wants to get to the root of the thing.
And we're not going to ask any of you to stand up and confess all of these things publicly that you've done, that you had just soon not confess. But we will ask you to get in the very presence of God and have it out with Him in honesty.
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In an honest man.
Is the noblest work of God.
But we must be honest.
Go call thy husband and come hit her, the woman answered and said, I have no husband.
Jesus said that's true, that's right, so far so good. Thou hast well said, I have no husband.
For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that setst thou truly?
This woman had five husbands.
You're going to have to suffer a few words from a guy that likes history. Go back to 2nd King 17 and we'll take a look.
At the five husbands.
Chapter 17.
Verse 24.
And this goes back to the time that I was telling you of the foreign policy of the Assyrians, and now they're bringing in the other nations whom they've conquered to replace the Jews that live there.
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from.
Coutha and from Ava, that's three. And from Hamath and from Sephirvayum. My, what a coincidence. Five of them. Back to our chapter.
5 husbands.
Five nations.
She descends from.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. It's getting hot.
Time to change the subject a little bit. Veer to the left, veer to the right.
Escape. Evade.
See, here's this woman with five husbands going back and forth, back and forth aimlessly. This same fellow, Dean Dickey. Back to Dean Dickey for for a moment.
After the occupation of Germany, he was assigned to motor pool.
18 year old kid.
Germany is in.
It's devastated.
Everything is bombed out. People have lost their homes. They didn't have anywhere to go. Dean is driving this truck from point A to Point BI. Don't know why, it doesn't matter, but he was going down a road. He looks down the road and here is a line of people going this way and they have everything they own in a little sack on their shoulder and they're going this way. As he's driving that way, he looks on the other side of the road and here is a line of people and they're going this way. These are going that way, and these are going this way and it looks at them and they have everything that they own in a little bag on their shoulder.
And the line is about as far as he can see as he's going down this road.
So he stops. He opens the door. Mr.
Where are you going? Where are you going? Guy looks up at him with just blank stare and says. I don't know, but it's got to be better than where I'm coming from.
And so we run to and fro, back and forth from husband to husband, from this thing that tickles to that thing that tickles, never finding a resting place. We live in a sin torn world and that is just a picture of it.
But it's true even in the affluence.
Of Western civilization.
North America. South America, Europe.
And Australia, Christendom, blessed with affluence.
If I may say so.
Running back and forth.
Trying this spouse. Trying that spouse.
That, I'm sure, is a painful process.
You don't want to have to do this.
Mary in the Lord.
And avail yourselves of the grace of God in relationships, whatever they be, marriage, brother and sister.
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Parents and children.
This is vital to the enjoyment of relationships, and relationships is pretty much what life is about.
And the ultimate relationship is our relationship with God. And here is the Lord tenderly.
Having this private interview with this destitute woman with five husbands and the one she's living with is not her husband. And we'd look at that and say maybe I'll go to the next house.
Not assembly material. Oh, this is the candidate for salvation.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me.
What can we do with that statement?
Sir, woman, man, child, boy, girl, believe God. I said he is, I said he has spoken and here it is. Do you even take the trouble to read this with intensity and purpose of heart?
Surely it's more than just a philosophy for you.
Surely it is a reality.
Surely it is.
What would we do without grace? We are responsible.
But God has made such a provision.
And he suits us for the walk, He gives us the full armor, He gives us the instruction for the pathway, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, all of these things, the sword of the Spirit.
And he goes with us all the way home.
Let's keep short accounts with the Lord and not take these things for granted. Take advantage of grace.
Grace is perceptive.
And it exposes and it accepts. And there is confession.
Their consequences. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and justice to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from these things. But if we hide them.
Then we will contaminate ourselves in this one little life's journey that we have. And this is our hour.
This is our time.
Women, believe me, the hour cometh.
When ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father, you worship you know not what.
We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. And so it was.
But in John's Gospel, you know the 11Th verse of the book tells us that right away.
His own received him not.
And so he is trafficking then with one outside of the promised people.
Of Israel. And so is he today. And the hour is coming, and still is.
That is speaking to each one of us this evening.
And I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me. That's all men.
Without distinction.
Two Gentile Samaritan, wherever you're from.
It is for whosoever will.
And remember, the will is engaged.
Whosoever will.
The hour cometh and now is and this hour is continuing to this very day. I don't know how much longer it will continue.
But this is still the day of grace.
And here we have this good news, this call of God.
Going out in this world today.
The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such. That's a qualifying word. When we worship Him, it must be in spirit and in truth.
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And were responsible for that.
Such is a qualifying word, those who will worship Him.
Not in an emotional spasm or anything like that.
You know I like Dixieland music as well as the rest.
I'm not going to bring it in and call it worship.
I like classical music.
But Spirit?
And in truth, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and the Spirit of God.
Brings Christ before us as our focus and object of worship. Is this better?
Than that daily journey to this world's well isn't it better to have fullness of life that's only found in Christ? God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The woman says unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ.
When he has come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee.
And He is the one. He reveals himself to her after this conversation. She's ready for it. She's had it out with him. She's been honest. She's been brought that way. God made her honest.
Jesus is God manifest in flesh.
Had this dialogue with her brought her to himself?
And she's delivered.
Did it have any effect?
It did on the Lord, verse 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
He said to them in verse 32, I have meat to eat that you know not of.
This is not the Lord's perfunctory duty to save souls. It is His great delight to bring you to Himself.
That he may enjoy you and that you may enjoy him.
And this is eternal life.
And there is no other.
Our God and Father, bless the Word. Pray for the young here.
Pray for any better hesitating.