[speaker001:] But shall, we've been thinking... we started last week and we're gonna be thinking over the next few weeks, er some of the... people that Jesus met, some of those who confronted him who's lives came into contact with Jesus Christ... and what difference it made to them? Why he ever bothered with them? And this, incident that we have, we've had read for us by er... the two Pats earlier on in, from John chapter four, it's a, it's a very beautiful account of our Lord's dealings with this particular lady, this samaritan woman. And, it's not a text but... perhaps a verse that we could use as a, as a springboard is verse twenty seven, and it says [reading bible] at this point his disciples came and they marvelled that he had been speaking with a woman! Yet, no one said... what do you seek? Or why do you speak with her? It's interesting that... although these are the thoughts going through the disciples' minds, none of them actually... put them into words and asked Jesus what it was all about. As we said earlier on, he had been... they had been travelling through and Jesus had se settled down there for a while and sent his disciples into a,th a nearby town across the frontier, er to get some food and some provisions, er to to last them for the remainder of their journey... and Jesus is just sitting there by this well, he's tired, he's thirsty, weary and hungry, just waiting there... and then this lady comes to... draw water from the well. This, and Jesus starts speaking to her... and, when they come back that amazes these disciples! But for several reasons! First of all, according to the Jewish law no Rabbi or teacher... should ever hold conversation with a woman alone! That was taboo! The second thing, to compound it, was that... the Lord Jesus, obviously being a man, and should not have se, been speaking with a woman about... serious and important issues! And a strange woman at that! You didn't talk about th, you might have talked about the weather, but you never have talked about things like religion or politics with a woman! It was again, one of the unheard of things for a Jewish man to do! And of course, the third thing was this racial difference! The Lord was a Jew, and this woman was a Samaritan, a woman of Samaria. And all of that made the conversation,th the fact that Jesus was talking with this woman, a very improper thing nineteen hundred years ago! But, let's notice that, first of all, the Lord really did speak to this woman! And what he said he said with such authority because of whom he is. And what he said to this woman resulted in the transformation of her life! Now, those three... facts were true as far this particular woman is concerned, but they are also true in relation to you and to me today. The Lord is waiting to speak to us, he's waiting to speak to you, he's waiting to me, through his word. And what he says with authority!
[Albert Gunter:] It's not just oh well, yeah, well that's alright in the bible, it is his word er which has authority, greater authority than any of the so called experts, greater authority than any of the, the deliberations of men, whether they be church leaders or anything of tha, er or anything else. He speaks with authority! That was one of the reasons why the people listened to him. It says the common folk, the crowds, the populous, they heard him gladly because he spoke as one having authority! He wasn't just pontificating, he wasn't just starting out things he thought about, he and and, ideas that had come into his head, he spoke as one who had authority... and because of that they heard him. And he speaks to us today through his word with that same authority. His word has got to have that place of authority in our lives. And what he says to us can result in the complete transformation of our lives. You see, he doesn't just speak to us for small talk, he doesn't just speak to while away... the time with, with conversation. You know, that is a good test of your relationship with a person... if there is a sense in which you are embarrassed to be with them, and there's long periods of silence... it's a pretty good test that it's not a deep relationship you have with them. If you have a deep relationship with a person... you can spend long periods of silence, being together and not be embarrassed, not be wondering... what shall I say now? Or what can I say? What can I introduce into the conversation? And Jesus doesn't just chat to us for the sake of chatting to us, he, when he speaks to us his words have authority, they have input, they are vital and we must pay attention to them. So let's, ask ourself these questions, not just for this woman of Samaria but for us, why did our Lord seek the interview with this woman? Why does he talk to her? Why does he seek to talk with us? Why does he want to share with us? And for a little while this morning I'd like us to look briefly at four, very simple answers to that question. They were true for this woman, but more important than that they're true for you and they're true for me today. The first reason why Jesus talked with this woman was very simply because he liked her! Jesus did not see people, he does see people just as people. He doesn't see us as a part of a crowd, he doesn't see us as... a number on a computer, he doesn't see us as numbers on a bank account, or in some other organizational er er er... computer set up or whatever it is, he doesn't just see us as that... he sees us as individuals. You look at a crowd of people, er... last, a week, a week yesterday at Wembley at the Billy Graham mission there, er we were sitting in one place... and I was looking for, for some other folk and... I knew approximately where they were... and there I was stand, they were, all you could really see was this mass of people, very difficult to pick out individuals within them... but God doesn't see it as a mass like that. If you like, it's the close up, the zoom lens is on each one of us all the time, and that's how he sees us. He doesn't see us a mass of seventy odd thousand people in Harlow today, he sees you as an individual... and he loves us in that same way. John three sixteen what it says, that God so loved the world! It doesn't just mean that he loved a mass of humani, he does that, but he doesn't love the mass as a mass, he loves the mass as individuals, one by one, God loves you! Just the same as he loved this woman of Samaria, and because he loved her... he wanted to communicate with her, he wanted to share with her, he had something for her. You know, that word love... it's become so devalued hasn't it? It's er, it's not, it's just one of the most undervalued words in the English language, we use it for everything... but in this context we've gotta see it... clothed wi with dignity and all the glory that it deserves, God loved her! And God loves you! Not for what he gets out of you. You know it's possible, and we use that word love, it's not really love, so we'll love somebody else for what they can get out of them, course do that's an undervalue of the word love, it's a, it's it's it's a, it's it's making the word totally ineffectual. God does not love you for what he gets out of you. He loves you, first of all, he because he is love! It's his nature. God can no more stop loving you than he can stop being! His nature. It's, for us, it's something that we do, for God it's something that he is! You know, water is wet... and, even when you change it into, and you freeze it, you know, you hold the ice it still is wet... when you heat it up and it's steam it's still wet! By nature, it is wet... and that's, that's just a feature of water. God is love! It's his nature. He doesn't stop loving us when we do wrong, he doesn't stop loving us when we turn our back on him, he doesn't stop loving us when we ignore him, he doesn't stop loving us when we, when we trample every... everything that he does is when we trample it under foot and we... are in total rebellion to him, he still doesn't stop loving us... because he is love! The minute God, is a a hi hypothetical thing which is totally ridiculous, the minute God stops loving, he stops being, because he is love! That's what John tells us. God is love! And th Jesus, he se he seeks out this woman to speak with her because he loves her. Medi, already mentioned er, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And the apostle Paul in two Corinthians in chapter eight and nine he says, [reading bible] for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your fates he became poor []. That's the evidence of his love. He doesn't love in word only, he loves in deed! He... who possessed all things, laid it all aside, he who was rich became poor... because he loves you, and he wants to share his riches with you, and with me. And over in Galatians in chapter four, and in verse four, [reading] but when the fullness of time came God sent forth his son! God so loved the world that he gave his son and here Paul said, that at the right time, at the right moment in that se, in that very day in history which was God ordained, God sent his son into this world! Born of a woman, born under the law. In order that he might redeem those who are under the law, that he might bring us into his family []. And just one more scripture on this in Ephesians chapter five,a and verse... twenty five... [reading] i, Paul there, he's saying, the husbands love your wives, and he tells them how and why. Just as Christ also loved the church, and he gave himself up for it []. God loves you! Jesus loves you! And he loved this woman, and he wanted to communicate with her. Who was she? A poor peasant woman engaged in menial tasks. Her life had been an absolute failure! What a mess she had made of it, by her own confession! An outcast in her society. Yet, Jesus seeks her out... because he wants to demonstrate to her that he loves her! Just as she was. But the terrible mess she had made of her life! With all the baggage of sin that she had around her... he loved her. And you and I can look at her and look at others and say well, we're not like that... we're exactly the same as that! Because we have all sinned... and come short of God's standard. God doesn't itemize sin. He doesn't categorize in good, bad, and not so bad, it is all sin to him... and as sinners, he loves us. We were saying earlier, he didn't wait until we were cleaned up before he loved us, but he loved us in our sin... whilst we were yet sinners, the apostle says, Christ died for us!... And so Jesus, he draws... near to this woman, and he comes to you and he comes to me, to cleanse and forgive, we'll just turn from our sin... and meet him in confession. The wise man back in Proverbs... in chapter twenty eight and verse thirteen he says, [reading bible] he who conceals his transgression will not prosper... but he who confesses and forsakes them... will find compassion []. And no matter how true that is in the natural sense, it is a, it is abundantly true as far as God is concerned. If we confess then he forgives. And the prophet, Jeremiah he'll remind us of the compassion of God. Says, I have loved you with an everlasting love! That's how God loves you. Not a love that changes, not a love that starts when you become nice, not a love that, you know, that well if you, if you've got, if you've got it, it's got it's good days and it's bad days... I have loved you with an everlasting love says God! Therefore, I have drawn you with love and kindness. And that's the sort of love that he has for you, and for me. And so Jesus seeks this woman out because he loves her, and he seeks to communicate with you and with me, because he loves us! But he ta also he talked with her because he sought her salvation. You see, it wasn't just a case of loving her and that was all there was to it, that might be very nice to know that God loves me, but I, there's a sense in, I want to know what that love produces. I want to know what it means to me. And he has talked with her, he sought her out, not just because he loved her, but because in his love he wanted to save her! He wanted to rescue her! This woman was lost and, and she knew it.... Nobody needed to tell her she was a sinner... she confessed it openly! She knew her situation, she knew her condition. Now, there are many folk who don't realize they're sinners, they don't realize they're lost, this woman did. But whether we're aware of it or not doesn't alter the fact... that if we're outside of God, outside of Jesus Christ then we are lost. We don't become lost, we are already lost! Jesus said, I have come to seek and to save that which is lost. And we don't become lost at the end of lives, we don't become lost at some date in history, we are lost now... if he hasn't found us. And this woman, she realized it, others don't always realize it, but that doesn't alter the fact of the lostness. So why was she lost? Was it because she'd broken the seventh commandment? No, that wasn't why she was lost. She broke it because she was lost. That didn't make her lost. She was already lost! She was lost because she had never been saved! She had never been found! And you know there's a... you and I, whatever stage we are in our pilgrimage, in our journey in life, we don't become lost because of what we do. We don't become sinners because we commit sin. That is our nature, just as God's nature is love, so our nature is, we are sinners by nature. And it's not a case of, we become sinners because we sin, but rather the bible teaches us, we sin because we are sinners! It's the natural thing that we do! It's our nature! And of course, the gospel is the great thing, and this is a message of the gospel, that Jesus has come to change our nature and give us a new nature, put in... put within us his nature. But that's further on. So this woman... she was lost, not because of what she'd done, but because, simply, she had never ever been found, and Jesus had come to find her, he had come to rescue her, he had come to save her.... Paul, when he's writing to Timothy in the first letter, and in chapter one and in verse fifteen, the great apostle Paul! He says [reading bible] it's a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all! The great apostle Paul, says I am the chief of sinners []! But Christ came into the world to save sinners! The reason that Jesus talked with this woman was that he wanted to save her. That is, to say, he wanted to reveal to her, her sinful condition and need, and this he did when he speaks to her, about her sinful life. He doesn't beat about the bush. He doesn't come soft with it. He doesn't, you know, talk about all the hardships she's had, and it's been very difficult for all tho, he is absolutely straight but he still deals with her in love and compassion! He doesn't come with a judgemental way. He says, I haven't come to judge the world, I haven't come to condemn you, you're already under condemnation! He says, I've come to rescue you, to save you! And so, he comes and to reveal to her, her sinful condition and need... but also... to forgive her sin. And that's a tremendous thing when we come to God in Christ, the first thing he does for us is to forgive us our sins. But you say, I haven't done anything against God. Oh we have! Cos it's all sin. Whether er, if I sin I'm wronging, and I've wronged you. You say, well it's against me. No, it's against God first of all... because all sin is rebellion against God. That's why David could say, against thee, thee only have I sinned... after he's committed adultery, after he's committed murder, after he's involved other people in his nefarious deeds... he can still say I've committed sin against God! I've wronged others! I've done terrible harm to them! But my sin is against God! And he's the only one who can forgive that sin. Other's forgive me for the wrong doing, and for the harm I do to them, but it's only God who can forgive my sin. Oh the, the scribes, the pharisees were quite right... on o, on several occasions when Jesus forgave people they said ha! Who does this man think he is, forgiving people sin! Only God can forgive sin! And they're quite right, only God could forgive sin. That's who Jesus is... God in flesh, and he came to forgive sin and he wanted to forgive this woman her sin. And not only to forgive her sin, he also wanted to cleanse her. Let me read you those tremendous ver words from John, first John in chapter one, says [reading bible] if we walk in the light as he is in the light, he... or your fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sins. See, cleansing is not forgiveness. Cleansing, if you like, is the next stage, it's taking away all trace of the sin, it's taking away the mark, the residue of the sin, it cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that's not repetition, it's two different things. He forgives us ours sin and he cleanses us from all our sin. And then the, the fourth thing there that Jesus wants to show to this woman as well, was that he wanted to break the power of sin in her life. Telling her what was wrong with her, which she already knew. Even forgiving her and cleansing her was not enough... because tomorrow's another day, tomorrow's got it's temptations... and wonderful though forgiveness is... I need more than just being forgiven. That deals with the past. Might deal with this present moment, but I need something for tomorrow, and the next day, and week next week, and next year. Jesus came not just to forgive and to cleanse, but to break the power of sin... in her life. Tells us that the son... makes you free. You shall be free indeed. Now, all these things are not just for this woman, they were for you, and they're for me. Then again, he talked with her... because he longed to satisfy to meet her needs, as a human being she'd aspiration, she'd hope, she'd desires... and as she looked back on her life, some of them may have been fulfilled, some of her plans may have been realized, but there must have been an awful emptiness, and awful hollowness about so much. She had tried so many times, she had tried so many things! And if we're honest, that is so often our story. We want satisfaction, we want completeness in life, and so we try this... and it gives it for a moment, but when it's finished we've gotta try something else. Last year's holiday was great, last year, and I might get a bit of enjoyment out of looking at the photographs, but I'm still paying for one again this year! Because you see, I I want some, there's this continual requirement of,o that we need satisfaction, we need fulfilment. And Jesus longed to meet this woman on that her deep need of fulfilment. And he uses a picture, he says, look, you're gonna come and you're, you're drawing this water... and you're gonna come back tomorrow and get some more, and the next day you'll come with your jugs and have some more water, and that's the story of your life, coming back again, and again, and again... but the, the water that I will give you, that won't be an external source outside of you, that's gonna be within you! A well of water springing up into everlasting life! He says, that satisfaction you're seeking, you're not finding it outside! He said, like coming to this well for your jug of water every day... it's alright while i, the jug, there's some in the jug, but when you've drunk it all the jug's empty and it doesn't do a thing for you! He said but, why do that? Why not have the well within you? Why not have the light within you so you don't have to go and get it outside but it's there dwelling within you, day by day, moment by moment? And he longs to meet this woman's need. And we can try all sorts of things. And there's, there's things are not necessarily wrong, there's the legitimate things, erm,wi within our work,th there's a, there's job satisfaction, but there's more to that than, in life than just job satisfaction. There's the satisfaction in our home, and our family, in having a good home and a nice home and,a and the the material benefits that we are able to er, to to achieve. There's nothing wrong with them as such... but he says the real satisfaction isn't to be found in them, it's within you. It's not in an external thing. Because, after all, what happens... that last year's model it wears,y y, you're a bit fed up with it! And a new model comes out and you want that! And you get a bit fed up of it, I mean, after all, unless you're into sort of... veteran cars, who wants to, who wants to drive around in an old Ford Poplar... of of... twenty, twenty five, thirty years ago? Nobody! Because... what is produced today is so much better. But the thing is, what's gonna be produced next year will be better still! And the year after that will be still better! And so, we're constantly wa, seeking for something else... and God says hang on! The real source of enjoyment should be within you, and that's what I will give to you. And then, finally, he talked with this woman, and he wants to talk with us... because he wants to use us, he wanted to use her. And this how li, this is how God spreads the gospel, this is how he spreads his message... through his people... through using his pe, using in the very best sense of the word, he doesn't make use of us... he involves us in his work, and so, he saves us, he satisfies us... and then he sends us forth, and he does that with this woman. He says, you go and tell, go and tell your family and, she's embarrassed... said well erm erm, and if I did, don't worry he said, [LAUGHTER] I know you [], I know your family situation, I know your background, you don't have to tell me it, I know it all! I know that... you've been through husbands... until now th y y, the feller you're living with, your seventh husband is not e, you're e actually married to him. I know all about you! He said, and I want to use you. Go and tell them. Go and tell the folk back in the village, go and tell those who are related to you... what you have heard today. Tell them, what I've said to you... [whispering] the message that I have given to you []. That I love you! That I want to save you. That I can satisfy you, go and tell them! And so this woman, she didn't preach a sermon, but she does give her a testament, she goes back and she gets the folk in the village, and she says, come... see someone, meet someone, let me introduce you to someone who has told me everything that I have ever done! Isn't this the [whispering] Christ []? Isn't this [whispering] the Messiah []? I'm quite sure she said more than just that. I'm quite sure that when she said that, come see a man that told me everything I did, she didn't just leave it there, but she'd have put such words as... and he didn't condemn me... he didn't berate me... he didn't point a judgemental finger at me, but he loved me! He saved me! He forgave me! He's cleansed me! He's made me a new person! Isn't this the Christ? Come and see him for yourself! And they do just that. They go off... to see just what she's on about... because she's told them, he'll do the same for you, what he's done for me, he can do for you as well! He wants to lo, he wants to show his love to you. He wants to forgive you. He wants to cleanse you. He wants to satisfy you too. And so she's becomes an instrument in, sharing this good news, a vital witness, and she's got this joy of seeing others coming and meeting with Jesus through her simple testimony. What is it that God wants to say to you and to me? Well, from this incident, he wants to remind you and me, wherever we are, I love you! I love you! He says. I want to save you! I want to forgive you! I want to cleanse you! I want to break the power of sin in your life. Because that's what my salvation is all about. It's a complete salvation. I want to satisfy you. I want to meet those needs, those longings, those aspirations you've got. I want to put within you my fountain of life springing up within you! Not external, but there right in the centre of your life. And I want to use you. I want you to become a co-labourer together with me. I want you to get involved in sharing what I'm doing for you with other folk. That's what he wants to say to her, I believe. As we read that account, oh yes, we can read as a historical account of Jesus' encounter with this woman, but it's more than that... it's the sort of encounter he wants to have with you, and he wants to have with me. The sort of encounter that he wants us to have with him. Meeting us where we are, meeting as in our needs there, and then changing us and sending us out... as his followers, with his message... sharing, that's all this woman did, simply sharing what God, in Christ had done for her. Come and see... what he's done for me! And their testament at the end was... Yes! We believe it now. Not just because of what you've said, that wetted our appetite, that intrigued us, that aroused our curiosity, but we believe it because we have seen and heard for ourselves... and we've recognized his authority. We're gonna sing now. Arnold, would you do me a favour please? Could you slip out... and retrieve our pianist? [LAUGHTER]... Thank you. Songs, in the Songs of Fellowship... it's number one sixty one, one hundred and sixty one. Takes, this song takes up that theme that... Jesus introduces to his disciples about a harvest being ready. The interesting thing, just in passing, that particular time of the year was not actually harvest time, and as Jesus looked over the harvest field it wasn't the harvest field that was... ripened corn, it was actually full of green shoots, and it is the harvest now is ripe, it's plenteous... because he wasn't talking about that, he was talking about men and women. One sixty one in that. And Chris takes that theme up here, the fields, they're ready for harvest... they're all, what is needed is labours. Whilst we're singing this can we... take up our morning offering. Here I am. Holy available. [piano] [singing hymn] Let's pause there and pray shall we?... And we have to confess Lord that, words are very easy to say and to sing... and we can sing them and, feel that we're doing the right thing and... go our way... but Lord we pray that the words we sing might be the words that we means, and the words that we say might be the things and the, the way we mean to conduct our lives. We thank you that... you sought us out... and you demonstrated your great love for us, and you reached out and rescued us... saved us. You forgave us our sins, you cleansed us from all unrighteousness. And you have given your Holy Spirit to dwell within us. And you have given power over sin. Not withstanding Lord, we have to confess that we still fail you again and again, but we thank you that you provide power for us, to live lives that are pleasing to you. We thank you Lord that you've done all this for us... and we find our satisfaction in you. We find our reason for life in you. We find in you our, our our well of... springing up there within us as you dwell in us. Dear Lord we, we want to be of use to you, we want to be of service to you, we want to be salt and light in our communities, we want to be your labourers, working together with you. And as we've been singing we just want those words to be true in our experience. Here we are... available to you. Not to do our thing, but to do your thing. Not to go at our charge, but to go at your charge. Not to be individuals doing our own thing and, walking our own path, but working together with you, in harmony with you and your body... in our community, in our situation where we are. Lord, as we look around we see a... a tremendous harvest... and we just pray that we might be honourable and faithful in the task that you give to us. The responsibility that you lay upon us... in being involved in your harvest at this time. As we ask it in your name for your glory. We realize Lord, that we can't do it ourself... we are totally dependent upon you... and yet we thank you for this. Oh Lord we as... offer ourselves to you, we think of those who have been unable to be with us today for whatever reason, some on holiday, and we just pray for your blessing to be with each one, and to be with all of... as we ask it in your name for your praise and glory. Amen.
[speaker001:] ?
[Albert Gunter:] Yes. Surely.