Am I a Christian?

[0:00] morning and a warm welcome to the service this morning. It's good to see everybody here and a special welcome to those who are visiting with us. It's good to see some familiar faces who've been away for a while and who are back. So a special welcome to yourselves in different places and anyone here for the first time as well. It's good to see you. It's good to see everybody and it's good to be back with you. I'm grateful to those who stood in for me when I was away as well. The intimations you've got on the white sheet here, there's quite a few so I'll go through them at speed. The service this evening will be at 6pm and will be conducted by myself, God willing. The Ladies Bible Study and the First Fruit Fellowship Road to Recovery and the prayer meeting all at the usual time in the usual places and there'll be a deacon's court that will meet, a short deacon's court on Wednesday at 7 that we'll meet before the prayer meeting here. Song Pro, we're always thankful for those who do the work so that we can see the stuff on the screen. It all gets done without our seeing it but there's a fair bit of work in it and for anybody who is able to help with that and who could take the training for that, please note that on the 23rd of February, that's this coming Thursday at 7 o'clock there'll be a training session, 17 Scott Road and so please take note of that if you're able to help. Discipleship Explored continues as well on Thursday and as it's been intimated before, the Ladies Conference on Saturday 18th of March,

[1:41] Sharon Dickens from 20 Schemes, the day will be based on how to live in a world, live for Jesus in a world that doesn't. And I know there's not a huge amount of people who have booked up for this just now and for it to be worthwhile and for us to be encouraged to take somebody from the mainland over here to speak, please be encouraged to book if you're interested or speak to others who may be interested. It's a Ladies Day so it's limited and who can ask. The services next Sunday will be at 11am taken by myself and in the evening we'll meet with the Leave a Bitter Commigation at half past six. Anyone who requires transport please speak to one of the office bearers and the services for the Leave a Bitter Communion will be over Thursday to the Monday. Our own communion services are on the sheet that you've got on the way out of the door. Thursday the 2nd to Monday the 6th of March and the teachers are there as well. Rory

[2:43] Morrison, John Murdo Davidson, Jodo and James McKeever from Stornoway. So please pray for them and pray for everybody as we continue to think about our approach to the Lord's Table. There are other intimations as well but I'll leave you to read them at your own convenience. The only last one I'll highlight is Adam who was here before, it's not his real name, but Adam from Iran. He spoke to a very few of us one stormy night here but his testimony was just amazing and the work that he's involved with in terms of mission is remarkable work. He would appreciate our prayers and those who would be willing, who are interested and committed to praying for Adam, I have some information from him but I can't share that in a forum like this. We can speak about that in private and pray for him and anybody who is interested in doing that, please speak to me at the end of the service and we'll try and set up a time this week to do so. These are all the intimations at the moment so let us worship God.

[3:59] I could only say in some program, it's actually for those who are already trying, it's about blowing the sound and the sound of the evening. So that's the Thursday evening.

[4:09] Okay, Amman, thank you. So those who are already doing it, refresh your course. Speak to Amman if you've got questions. Mission Praise 59 to begin with and the words on the screen. Mission Praise 59.

[4:27] We are in John chapter 4 today and looking at the Samaritan woman who you were looking at last Sunday morning as well and we are thinking about assurance and how we can know, I'm too quiet, am I?

[4:45] How we can know the assurance of being able to say that Jesus is mine. So we sing of that, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Know what? A foretaste of glory divine, air of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood.

[5:02] Let's unite our hearts and pray in his blood. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the joy and privilege of being able to sing these words that we have sung.

[5:15] We thank you that we can have that blessed assurance that Jesus is our wish. And we thank you that when we have that, when we are assured within our souls, when we are at peace within our souls, we are given a taste of heaven.

[5:34] And we thank you that as we come together in this place and your presence with that desire and that intention to worship you, we thank you that in the stillness of this place where there is that heavenly hush when your word is being read and as we are thinking upon it, we thank you that there is that taste of heaven.

[6:00] And Lord, we pray that you would meet with us today. Our desire is not to be here on our own, but our desire is that we would have an encounter with the living, the risen Christ.

[6:18] And we thank you for Jesus, the one in whose name we pray and the one in whose name we meet. We thank you for all that he has done to make it possible for us to come to you.

[6:33] We thank you for that purchase of our souls with the blood that was shed. The necessity of it, because we are sinners. And sinners cannot make an approach to a holy God.

[6:48] And yet, Father, we thank you that you did not leave us in our sin, but whilst we were still sinners, you loved us, you loved us and Christ died for us. And we praise you that on account of that death in our place, we are able to receive that life that is his, that resurrection life, that eternal life, that blessed, that contented, that joyful and peaceful life.

[7:18] Lord God, we acknowledge that before we know you, we are those who are restless in our souls. We have a thirst that we cannot quench.

[7:32] But we thank you that Jesus is the one who satisfies our souls. And when we are able to say that we are in our Saviour, we thank you that we are given that contentment that comes with gloriness.

[7:50] And so we pray that we would know that today. We confess that we are sinners and we stray. Even after we come to you, we stray. And we find ourselves back in places that we know will not satisfy us at times.

[8:03] But we thank you that we can keep coming back as you keep calling us. Return to me, says the Lord God Almighty, and I will return to you.

[8:16] And so we come once more. You know our hearts, you know our situations. You know that some walk close with you. And there is that thrill of coming into your presence.

[8:27] You know that there are some who will be distant. And there is a hesitancy. But we thank you that the blood of Christ, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is enough to cover all our sin.

[8:43] And so we come confessing. And trusting that as we confess, you will forgive. And as we draw near, you will draw near. So we pray that you would meet with us.

[8:55] We thank you for everyone who is here this morning. For every soul that is present, every head that is found, every home that is represented.

[9:07] And we pray that you would bless each one. And those who are yours, Lord, we pray that you would bless us. And draw us closer. And those who are not, we pray that you would draw them into that assured salvation that is offered so freely in the Gospel.

[9:27] We thank you for that Gospel that Jesus came from heaven to earth. That Jesus lived sinlessly for us. That Jesus died sacrificially in our place.

[9:40] That Jesus rose and Jesus lives and Jesus reigns. And one day he will return. And we pray that we pray as those who do not yet know that day.

[9:53] We pray that whether it is today or whether it is next week or next year or whenever, we pray that we would be found ready. And we thank you that in Christ we are able to be ready.

[10:07] We pray for those who are not present today. some who are struggling with their health. Some who struggle with different afflictions in this world, which is so broken and troubled.

[10:21] Some who are tied up with the responsibilities of work. And we pray that you would bless each one. We pray for those who are absent most weeks, but whom we remember and we thank you for.

[10:33] We think of our students as they study in university. For those who have graduated and who are working in different places. For those who are serving their country and the forces.

[10:46] And those who are away in business and trips of different kinds. We ask Lord that whatever they are, that you would draw near to them and bless them. And bless the fellowships they are part of.

[10:58] As we pray that you would bless us and each fellowship in this island and in this nation and across all nations where Christ crucified is preached.

[11:09] We pray especially for the work in the island. We think of the faith mission and the tent mission scheduled for later this year. And we ask for your work to be ongoing in preparation for that.

[11:21] As we pray that you would be preparing our hearts for the communion season. And drawing us to respond to you. We pray for your servants who preach and the congregations that surround us for Ian Murdo and the Church of Scotland and for Bruce Jarden and the Free Presbyterian Church.

[11:40] We pray for Daniel Davies and the Episcopal Church. And across the island and further afield wherever the gospel is preached we pray that you would add your blessing and that you would be at work.

[11:52] we pray for those who grieve this morning. We continue to be conscious of so many who are being taken from time into eternity in this year so early in the year.

[12:06] And we pray for those who are left and ask for your upholding and your comforting strength to be with them. Hear our prayers. Bless this service.

[12:17] Bless the young ones who are with us and who will go to Sunday school and we pray that you would be with them and help them to understand and to respond to the call of Jesus in their early days.

[12:30] And we pray all these things together with the forgiveness of our sins in Jesus name. Amen. Boys and girls would you like to come out please? It's good to see you guys all back and ladies.

[12:45] You had a good week? Good week? Well we've had a good week as well since we came back and we had a good week when we were away on holiday. But I want to tell you about something that I should have done that I didn't do when I was on holiday and that kind of left us and others with a wee bit of a problem.

[13:09] We went off on holiday and you know what it's like when you go off on holiday. You get the house kind of tied and you get stuff organised and then you charge off out the door at six o'clock in the morning to be in the queue for the ferry.

[13:23] And we thought we were all organised and we'd even gone as far as getting Peggy to go back and forth every day and to make sure that the cats had food in their bowls.

[13:36] And so she was going back and forth day by day and everything was fine until Monday. and on Monday Peggy went into the house and she went to look for the cats.

[13:51] Cats were there and she put the food into their bowl and the cats were having their food and their teeth were chattered as they were having their food and the whole house was freezing.

[14:08] What happened? Was it a power cut? Was it a power cut when I was away? No power cut.

[14:20] Did somebody sneak in and switch the heaters off in the house when we weren't looking? No. So what happened? Do you think?

[14:32] Have a guess. Come on, you know, come on, give us a guess. Katie? Did the cats get you off the heat?

[14:47] It's not beyond these cats but it's a good guess Katie but it's not that one. Emma? Did we leave the door open?

[15:00] The window's open? No. Not that we left the windows open. I know Bethany knows but I'll ask Amherst and then I'll go to Bethany. The windows weren't sealed?

[15:13] What are you saying about Miss Glenn's work? The windows were very well sealed, weren't they? What happened Bethany? The oil tank was empty.

[15:32] and I hadn't checked that it got filled up but it was so cold that we had the heating on maybe and when we were away on holiday, before I went away on holiday, I should have checked.

[15:49] put in the stick and checked to make sure there was no oil, there was oil, there was no oil. And so when we came back, it was empty.

[16:02] And I thought to myself, when Peggy phoned me on Monday, I thought to myself, I wonder, I wonder. So I asked Gordon to go and check and sure enough, no oil in the tank.

[16:16] How silly was that of me? Was I ready for everything? I wasn't ready, was I? I hadn't thought things too.

[16:27] I just wasn't ready. There was no oil in the tank. And you know, Jesus speaks in a chapter in the Bible, Matthew 25, and you know what he tells us?

[16:40] He tells us that we need to have oil in our lamps. What do you think that means? Pardon? Oil in our brains?

[16:54] Well, that's getting close. It's not bad. But actually, it's quite close to that, Jonathan. It's not oil in our brains so much. But Jesus speaks about us needing to have oil in our hearts.

[17:10] hearts. And what does that actually mean? Does that mean that we've got to go to our days again and buy a thing of oil and ask the doctor to put it in our hearts?

[17:22] Would that make us well? No, wouldn't it? So what does the oil, what does it mean to have oil in our lamps or oil in our hearts? Oil in God in our hearts?

[17:37] Really, that's what it means, yeah. it means that we need to be ready by having God in our hearts. In that passage in Matthew 25, you can ask folks to explain it to you and look at it later on today.

[17:51] But in that passage, Jesus is speaking about when he comes back to the world. Because did you know that Jesus is coming back? He came and we remember that he came at Christmas, don't we?

[18:03] But did you know that one day, we don't know what day it's going to be, might be today, might be tomorrow, might be next week, there's going to be a big noise in the sky, and Jesus is going to come back to this world as king.

[18:21] and we have to be ready for that day. So how can we be ready for that day? Well, we need to make sure that our hearts are made ready and how can our hearts be made ready?

[18:36] By trusting in Jesus. And when we trust in Jesus, what does he do? He takes away our sin, he comes into our hearts and we're ready then to meet with him.

[18:51] We're ready for anything. So, boys and girls, remember how daft I was by not being ready because I didn't have oil in my tank.

[19:06] Learn from my daftness and let's be ready in our hearts for Jesus by trusting him and asking that the oil of his grace and his spirit would be living in us so that we're ready for the day that he comes back.

[19:22] We'll pray about that now. Lord God, we thank you that we are able to be ready for anything because you are the one who makes us ready.

[19:38] We thank you that we're able to be ready for the end of the world when Jesus comes back simply by trusting in Jesus and asking that he'll take away our sin and he'll come and live in our lives.

[19:51] And we thank you that we can be ready for anything in this world day by day as we ask that Jesus will give us that oil of the Holy Spirit to make us bright and to make us hot for Jesus.

[20:05] And so we ask, Lord, that we would be ready. And we pray that if we're not ready just now, that we would even pray in the quietness of this place and say to the Lord Jesus, please take my sinner away and come into my life and fit me for heaven and make me ready for anything in this world.

[20:27] Hear our prayers and help us be praying in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing now about that. The words are on the screen and they're also on mission praise 167.

[20:39] 167. Give me oil in my lap. Heat me burn. If we could turn the Bible's place to John chapter 4. John chapter 4.

[20:53] And we read from verse 1 of the chapter. The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.

[21:07] When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Cypher, near the plot of Brian Jacob, had given his son Joseph.

[21:23] Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink?

[21:37] His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

[21:50] Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Sir, the woman said, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.

[22:05] Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?

[22:17] Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.

[22:30] The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming back here to draw water. He told her, Go call your husband and come back.

[22:43] I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.

[22:55] What you have said is quite true. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

[23:08] Jesus declared, Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

[23:19] We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

[23:31] For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ is coming.

[23:44] When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman but no one asked, what do you want or why are you talking with her?

[24:03] Then leaving her water, John, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?

[24:14] They came out of the town and made their way towards him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you know nothing about.

[24:26] Then his disciples said to each other, could someone have brought him food? My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

[24:36] Do not say four more months then the harvest. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

[24:53] Thus the same one sows and another reaps is true. I have sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.

[25:05] Many Samaritans, many of the Samaritans from that time believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them and he stayed two days and because of his words, many more became believers.

[25:25] They said to the woman, we no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man really is the saviour of the world.

[25:37] Amen. And may God bless that reading of his word to us. Farrakhar will now lead us in prayer and God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[25:48] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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[36:27] How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts to me the tabernacles of thy grace. How pleasant, Lord, they be. My thirsty soul longs vehemently. Ye faints thy courts to see my very heart and flesh cry out, the living God for thee.

[36:44] These two stanzas to God's praise and garment. Ye faints thy, O Lord of hosts to me the tabernacles of thy grace.

[37:27] Ye faints thy, O Lord of hosts to me the tabernacles of thy grace.

[37:57] Ye faints thy, O Lord of hosts to me the tabernacles of thy grace. Thank you.

[38:32] Thank you.

[39:02] Thank you.

[39:32] Thank you. Thank you.

[40:04] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[40:16] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you could turn please to John chapter 4.

[40:31] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[40:43] Thank you. And we'll pray for a moment as we come. our father we thank you once more for the psalms and these prayers which are given to us in the psalms and as the psalmist cried we cry also from our hearts hearts that are thirsty until they find communion and fellowship with you lord jesus and so we pray that just as you met with the woman in this class is just as you met with nicodemus as you walked on this earth we pray that in the power of the holy spirit and through the word of god you would meet with us and speak to us and help us we pray as we listen and we pray this in jesus name amen i'm conscious looking at the the calendar never mind the the time that uh if we are spared and well in two sundays time uh we will be sitting here again at this point in time and uh we'll be sitting with a slightly different formation at the front here there will be a table the lord's table will be set the bread will be here the wine will be here and the question that we consider in advance of that over these next few weeks is the question of should i be there every time we come to the communion season as we begin to become aware of it the question for every one of us is that very simple but probing question of should i be at that table and the fact is it's the lord's table and it's for the lord's people it's for christians it's for christ's wants as we often say in ephesians but the question that often we wrestle with and the question that i often get asked and the question that is often asked everywhere is how do i know if i am christ's one how do i know if i'm a christian and with john chapter 4 and also when i glance back into the the backdrop of john chapter 3 we are given some guidance on how to answer that question because in these chapters we we find two people very different people who both are introduced to jesus in different ways and who we both believe come to faith in christ and we considered nicodemus uh two sundays ago i think it was and so today i want to come back to this passage of the the samaritan woman in john 4 and note five things about this woman and her encounter with christ and her coming to faith the first thing is there is contact that's the first point there is contact with jesus there is personal contact there is an encounter with there is a personal meeting with jesus it tells us in verse 6 that it was about the sixth hour and the sixth hour in their terminology equates to our noon and with their weather with their geography noon was the the hottest time of the day and so if ever there was a time that was not good to be traveling some distance to go with heavy jars till well it was noon in the heat of the midday sun so why do we find her there why do we find her with the sun beating down holding these jars or perhaps just this jar that would have held the

[44:50] commentators reckon about 30 gallons why wouldn't she wait until the day's cool well speculation is the likelihood is that uh she didn't want to see anyone and the probably the probability is that other people didn't particularly want to see her one of the commentators describes her as a woman who's likely to have uh been in disgrace her quotes lifestyle is in flagrant contradiction to the law and therefore she's likely to be publicly despised and ostracized it's a degree of speculation but it's likely this was a woman who was not at the center of the community uh with a good reputation it was more likely she'd been pushed to the fringes and her reputation and her reputation was questionable this is the woman if ever there was a woman that people would whisper about and point that it was likely to be her and yet jesus chose to make contact with her there were thousands of people in that area and yet jesus chose to make personal contact with her says in verse four now he had to go through samaria and the word in the king james i think is he must needs go to samaria and uh the word that's used there in the greek it's an exceptionally strong word he must go to samaria it says it's the same word that's used in the greek in john chapter three where nick the codemus is told by jesus the son of man must be lifted up on that cross it's the same word that jesus uses in john 10 where he says other sheep i have not of this fold i must i must bring them in also and this is one of these sheep he must go through samaria one commentator says what is odd about this statement is the fact that there is no geographical constraint or logic that made it so the necessity of the route through samaria can only be that of divine necessity god had a purpose in going that way so we find jesus the god man in syphor that village that's not famous for much other than this well and we see jesus at this well isolated in the part of the day when you would expect to see no one and yet here's this woman that jesus has determined he will meet he will make contact with and then we have the contact in the conversation that follows in verse uh seven down through the next few verses it says in verse seven when a samaritan woman came to draw water jesus said to her will you give me a drink his disciples had gone into the town to buy food the samaritan woman said to him you're a jew and i'm a samaritan woman how can you ask me for a drink john tells us for jews do not associate with samaritans so here's this woman she's more surprised than anyone could be that jesus is initiating this contact that he is starting this conversation he is a man and she's a woman and in that context men and women just didn't have public

[48:55] conversations even husbands and wives the jewish rabbis thought don't have these public conversations keep that for in the house such was the the the degree of chauvinism i suppose that was in that place and yet jesus crosses that first taboo and then jesus is a jew and she's a samaritan and the jews and the samaritans had hundreds of years of bitter dispute that go all the way back to the days of solomon they didn't mix they hated each other and yet jesus is seen crossing that taboo of race and background as he determines he will make contact with her so she's a woman she's a samaritan woman and likely a woman of questionable repute one that if you're seen talking to people are going to talk and yet jesus again determines that is not the issue he is going to speak with her jesus chooses her and interestingly um in john's gospel there is no conversation that is longer between jesus and anyone um than we see in this woman i think there's a there's a lesson there for us many people would have said to christ don't waste your time with her don't waste your time with that one and yet jesus determines he will give so much time to that one we're christians sometimes we're told that kind of thing don't bother with that one you're not going to get anywhere with that one they're going to waste your time we've got to be very careful if we ever begin to think that way it's not the way jesus thought jesus chose her he isn't concerned what this is going to do to his reputation he has no regard for the social the religious the political taboos that he's breaking he chose to go to her in john chapter 3 we see nicodemus coming to jesus but then nicodemus was a man a man of status a man of credibility he had a route to jesus it was risky but still he had a route this woman she had no there was no way even if she wanted to she could make an approach to christ so he goes for her nicodemus is at the top of the social class system she's at the bottom but both of them needed to meet with jesus and so what we see in this two chapters as they're side by side is there is no one who is too bad for jesus to meet with them and there is no one who is so good that they don't need to meet with jesus everyone needs to meet with jesus you know sometimes we can have business to do we even as a church just now we have business to do legal business financial business so you ask somebody to go and do your bidding for you there are people who are employed to make contact with other people to do your business we can do that in some matters of business but we can't do that with matters of the soul and the heart everyone individually needs to meet with jesus we can't tap into the relationship that our parents

[52:56] or our grandparents or our sister or our brother has with christ everyone has to come themselves to jesus sometimes we hear it said god is no grandchildren so true we want to be saved from sin if we want to know god as our father if we want to be those who know that we are children of god we need to meet with we need to deal with jesus we come to the father the father through jesus the son like nicodemus did like the samaritan woman did so the first question in that location is have you met with jesus not have you sat in one of these chairs or a pew somewhere else have you in the pages of scripture the power of the holy spirit met with jesus so there is contact it's the first point the second point we see as the conversation progresses is that there is conviction of sin now the woman that jesus determines he will meet with uh she was a sinner fact is we're all sinners romans tells us that no one writes it's not one not nicodemus not anyone but this woman is probably well known as a sinner likely used to the pointing fingers and the whispering words she is a sinner she is one who needs to have her sin dealt with but let's note in this chapter the gentleness and the compassion and the love of christ as he comes to this woman who was probably broken at many levels note the the very patient way that he approaches her he meets her where she is he doesn't call her to come to him note the fact that she first of all is asked by jesus for something that she could give him before he gets right to to saying to her there is something that you need from me this is a a master class on how we share our faith and incidentally i'm not going to go into this just now but if you struggle with speaking to other people about christ there's such rich teaching here we're not going there today but wednesday night we'll look at this passage from that perspective how do i share my faith how do i speak the people about christ but just note in the passing here there's nothing weird or awkward about this conversation it's all very natural there's nothing that is manipulative about the way that jesus is speaking to her and trying to get around to thinking a particular way jesus is winsome in his approach he's loving in the way that he relates to her why not because he has to mask love he feels love for her and he loves her enough to get to the heart of the problem that was in her life and the problem in her life was that she had a thirst that she couldn't quench and her thirst in this instance is physical but it's a deeper thirst than physical physical speaks about the spiritual this is both reality and it's a picture the thirst that she had was deeper than her water pot could quench the thirst that she had was a a soul thirst that she just didn't know what to do with and in all likelihood she's gone through five husbands trying to find relief and number six

[56:58] potentially is at home she's still thirsty and jesus could see that as he looked at her and loved her but she needed to be able to see that and so jesus probes and in verse 16 he puts his finger on the problem in that uncomfortable verse as he as he convicts her of where in all likelihood her her son lay uh he does the same thing in mark chapter 10 i think it is very different character uh in mark chapter 10 we have a rich young ruler man who's very respectable the kind of guy that you would want to be associated with and jesus comes to this man or he comes to jesus initially and his problem was not that he had uh questable morals he had impeccable morals but he had a lot of money and so jesus puts his finger on that love of money to show him that money was the toxic well that he was using riches was the place that he was delving into to try and find satisfaction for his soul and that needed to be dealt with that sin jesus was convicting him of and with this woman it was likely these many relationships where she was looking for her thirst to be quenched wonder where we go where do you go where do we go to try and satisfy our souls maybe we're always looking to people trying to gather people around us who will give us that approval that we crave every day maybe we're looking in relationships in this world for that unconditional love that we just don't ever seem to be able to get maybe we try and satisfy our souls with with things the abundance of possessions the picture of perfect house money position within the workplace higher and higher position in our in our field of work relationships power popularity i don't know where you go but jesus knows and because he loves us when he meets with us he shows us the sin he convicts us of these sinful wells that we keep going back to and yet never find soul satisfaction from cs lewis says this if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world and so the man the god man from another world comes to show us where we need to go and if today you are under conviction of sin i can think back to my childhood and mean two years under the heaviest darkest conviction of sin it was miserable not everybody has that experience but it was mine if you are under that conviction of sin

[61:04] thank god for that that's not god trying to make you miserable that is god in love showing you what it is that's making you miserable in order that you and i will come to him so there is contact secondly there is conviction of sin and thirdly there is confession of sin there was a song written in the 70s i can't remember who wrote it but the the title of the song is sorry seems to be the hardest word and we know that i wrote down in my my notes here you know we see that with tiny children there's a fracas in the house and there's been a something that's blown up and you enter into the middle of it and there's clearly one guilty party and there's one less guilty party so you separate them and when you establish the facts you say to the offender i say sorry and even if they're that size trying to extract the sorry it's a difficult painful procedure it has to come through gritted teeth you know but we don't need to look at children for that we just need to glance into any marriage or any adult office because that's something we're not taught but it's something we carry on with we struggle to say sorry we struggle with this confession and this samaritan woman she doesn't find it easy to confess her sin verse 16 is the awkward moment within the passage verse 16 is where jesus says the thing that she wishes really that she that he had said he says to her go call your husband and then come back and she sort of comes clean when she responds she says to him in verse 17 i have no husband and jesus says well that's a start that is true the verse 18 you've had five have you not and now number six in waiting is at home watching the television while you get his water from the well and now as jesus exposes her circumstances and sees into her heart she's stunned and she's convicted and so she responds in verse 19 and 20 with this question she says first of all sir i see i can see that you're a prophet she's beginning to see something of the supernatural nature of of christ but she doesn't see him clearly i see that you're a prophet and then she says in verse 20 our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you jews claim that the place where we must worship is in jerusalem and so she takes the conversation off in a slightly different direction jesus speaks to her about her personal life her heart issues and she seems to take the conversation and pull it back into a more general place about our people say this and your people say that some of the commentators say well this is just a smoke speak this is her she's hot under the collar she's bothered by what jesus is saying she's uncomfortable so she's looking for a way out an easy way out was to say well let's talk general religion and very often people do that when they're uncomfortable something that we know if we try and share faith with somebody it's something that we know if we have been people who were on the run for a period before we give in to christ as we hear preaching as we read books as we have conversations and christ is beginning to get to the heart you see somebody run off in a different direction because there is that fear of giving one's life to

[65:12] jesus and so often we see that people want to know about jesus they want to know about sin they want to know what to do and you say to them why don't you just why don't you just pray confess your sin and ask the eyes to come in and the whites of the eyes are seen and they'll say what about evolution or what about other faiths and other religions let's talk about that for a while well what but why are there so many different churches conversations are way in another direction often that's a distraction tactic and it could be that that's what she was trying to do here distracting us he wasn't for it but it could be if we give this woman the benefit of the doubt which i'd like to do it could be that she was confused and the religious cloud that there was in that place and it might be that she's just asking jesus a genuine question of where do i go with my sin you're showing me my sin you're getting to the heart of the matter what do i do now where do i go with my sin i can see my life needs to be sorted out i i perceive that you are able to help me with this where do i go where do i go to make peace with god my people say i've got to go to that mountain your people say you've got to go to this mountain where do i go to seek peace where do i go to get forgiveness and to cut a longer story short jesus says you come to me you take your sin you take your confession to me you're looking for the messiah you're looking for the promised one you're looking for the one who can give you forgiveness you're looking for the one who can quench the thirst that's in your soul verse 26 i who speak to you i'm he the one who's able to do all these things for you and it seems that from that moment she realized that the one who was convicting her of her sin was able also to save her from her sin and give her the satisfaction that she couldn't find at the bottom of a well or in a relationship with another man one commentator says this it's so clear sin comes between us and god but that's the very reason we need jesus sin comes between us and getting to heaven that's the very reason we need jesus sin breaks our fellowship our communion with god that's the very reason we need jesus and so god sends her jesus and it's in this jesus that she finds hope and she finds rest for her soul we're going to sing in a moment or two now none but christ can satisfy there's no other name for me and this woman she can now sing can you sing have you met with the same jesus that she met with have you and i taken our sin to the same jesus not hidden our sin from him not try to cut a deal on it not try to justify ourselves but just confessing i said i'm guilty i've been looking all the wrong places for satisfaction and my life is stained with the evidence of that

[69:16] this woman is shown her sin she confesses her sin and god's promise to her and us is hope and rest and forgiveness when we confess like that one john 1 9 quote it so often if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness if you head off this afternoon as many of you will and you take a walk along the beach at lusking town um on the on the tide line uh there'll be holes in the sand some are the wee kind of tiny holes that we see just in the sand from these beasties or whatever that makes them then along from them there might be a huge big hole there's been three children with a bucket in spain there's a moat and there's a huge big hole so we walk along the shoreline and we see some tiny wee holes and some gaping voids but you go back there three hours later they're all coming we want the huge ones there's not a trace and that's like the grace of christ when the tide of the grace of jesus rushes into our lives even if we are aware of huge past sins as this woman may have been the grace of the grace of the grace of the grace of the grace of jesus is sufficient to cover them all so there's confession of sin fourthly there's contentment we're just very very briefly bring this to conclusion just one small detail to to note in the class verse 28 as the conversation comes towards an end we note that this woman she leaves her water jar and she goes back to the time and she says to the people come see a man that told me everything i ever did could this be the christ and that picture there it's just a striking little picture of what jesus does she comes with this empty jar looking for her thirst to be quenched such as the intensity of her thirst and yet she's drawn into this conversation with jesus and having had it and having found christ she's no word of the jar she leaves the well not having filled the jar but she's filled with the contentment and the satisfaction that jesus can give and did give her it's a parable it's a picture of our lives there is no lasting contentment apart from god so when we are close with god when we are right with him we are given a contentment that this world cannot compare anything with and cannot take from us i wonder today if there are jars that we need to leave behind in order to be filled with the contentment that christ gives the final point is a confession of faith jesus meets with her having sought her out jesus convicts her of her sin she confesses she finds contentment and instantly do you notice that instantly she makes a public

[73:26] of the newfound faith that she has in jesus she's received that living water from jesus that gift that he promised her in verse 14 and immediately that the water that is given to her that is running up within her begins to flow out to those who are around her she's transformed she's a christian and that can be seen as the woman who avoids people goes to people and it can be heard as the woman who wants to speak with no one is suddenly sharing her testimony with everyone and if ever there was a woman who could have made excuses and said no one will listen to me no one cared for me when i was having a hard time why should i bother with them that could have been her attitude but there's none of them we see transformation and it's evident in her testimony and in her confession of faith so she's a christian final question are you has there been contact between jesus and you in the pages of scripture even maybe just today have you come to see and come under conviction of the sin that is in every one of us it needs to be dealt with and have we confessed that sin and find contentment in christ if you have you're christ's one you're a christian will you confess it in two weeks time if we're square and well will you sit here and simply confess all that the lord has done for you just as the lord so much for her and we'll leave it there today father we thank you that we are reminded in the pages of scripture and in these two chapters in particular that everybody needs jesus and whatever stage we are at in our lives whatever state our hearts are in we thank you that you make so clear to us that every one of us needs christ and we thank you that jesus came into this world to seek and to save sinners like her like nicodemus like us and we pray that even today there may be some who will walk out this door with a contentment that they didn't know before and a clarity over the fact that they are christ's ones saved by the blood of the lamb saved by the cross of jesus not by their works we need nothing of works of this woman we need nothing of the works of nicodemus but we thank you that they are saved through what jesus would do and has done by being lifted up on that cross for our sin help us to look to that place to look to christ and to trust him we pray this in jesus name amen the words on the screen to finish we don't have it in any of the books but the words are on the screen oh christ in thee my soul hath found and find in thee alone the peace the joy i sought so long the bliss till now unknown now

[77:30] none but christ and satisfying no other name for me and now may the grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god the father and the fellowship of god the holy spirit be with us all both now and forever more amen