John (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] to a word that was found in our reading this morning being in the fourth chapter of John and the fifth verse the fourth verse of the fourth chapter of John and he must go through Samaria and he must go through Samaria now these are words that the good many might well pass over as being important as all scripture is important but is one of those things that is mere describing the action and the ways of the Lord Jesus when here on earth with no perhaps special or vital teaching in it there are seven words in my text no doubt you've read them many times and he must needs go through Samaria and yet on these very words there hangs a tremendous wonder of Christ making himself known first of all to a woman that was a sinner and then to her associates and neighbours and friends in the city in which she lived and I'm going to take this morning every one of these words except the conjunctives that are here but I'm going to take them word by word and I hope we shall see the great and wonderful significance of them now first of all then he that's the greatest word in this passage of course he just to dwell and to ponder and to concentrate our minds upon that one word fills all things answers all things explains all things and there are mighty things that you and I will need explaining we shall come up against them daily almost and from many quarters some of them surprising and unexpected but the answer to these things is this one word representing one person he he must needs go through

[4:11] Samaria and what a glorious fact this reveals you see there were three ways from Jerusalem to Galilee which was the aim of the Lord Jesus and his disciples but the Lord chose the most difficult and the route of the greatest distance it would seem natural that he might well choose the shortest route which may well have been the safest but no he must needs go through Samaria and when you think of what Samaria was a place wrapped up in a false religion in a rival religion to the

[5:22] Jewish nation at that time it makes the fact that is here before us all the most wonderful indeed he people can have a religion of all kinds some of it appears to be most sincere and serious and earnest and right but they leave out the most vital thing of all he he the Lord Jesus now I want us to concentrate our minds chiefly today on that one word that one person he must need go through Samaria then we come to this second word needs he must need can we imagine that the glorious son of

[6:30] God who made the earth and brought spring salvation to men should have any need himself he it is that supplies the needs of his people most wonderfully and constantly and without any kind of failure whatsoever but he needs now here again is a word that under beneath which lies couched an immensity of truth and this truth is at the very root of all true teaching of religion anyone who departs from this simple fact is not following the true way of life and salvation he must need and before that word needs there's this word must so there was some compulsion upon the dear son of

[7:51] God to go to take this third longer route home again to Galilee which would take him first of all through Samaria and then onward to Galilee to Nazareth by the lake of Gennesaret well he must that eradicates from the person and the work of Christ all possibility of failure of weakness as far as his purposes were concerned he was reduced to utter weakness especially when he came to the cross of Calvary to suffer for his people there but his purposes were never weak never can be never will be he must needs go through

[9:08] Samaria what a wonderful saviour then we have here set forth before us in these simple plain descriptive words of our text he must must wherever the love of Christ is centred or settled there's always a must on his mind as to what he shall do and where he shall go there's one thing certain to my mind there was nothing possible though they were dangerous days in which he lived of course and there were bandits and robbers on the roads these remote roads some of them leading out of Jerusalem there was every likelihood of being stopped prevented but he must and where there's that compulsion there's always with

[10:21] Christ a complete fulfillment people try to resist him they try to get out of his presence avoid consideration of his ways and especially his throne of grace where prayer is made to him continually but if we are the children of God there's a must and we can do nothing whatsoever about it we cannot avoid it he will do what he will with our souls our lives our destiny and everything that is of real concern to us because he must when he was coming towards the end of his wonderful life and journey that there were many deterrents placed in his pathway many counselors like

[11:51] Peter for instance his own disciple who would turn him away from one of these musts but the Lord set his face to go to Jerusalem because he knew that there he must be the offering offered up to God the Father for the sins of his people so he must then if there was any vestige of failure in this word in regard to the saviour then salvation would be an empty void worthless thing our salvation my friends depends upon the all sufficiency of Christ Jesus the Lord and we ought to be abundantly thankful increasingly so because of this vital formidable word the musts concerning

[13:00] Jesus Christ well then we come again advancing through the verse to go through or to go he must need to go see Christ did not save or do any work from a distance but at the end of the chapter we find him doing exactly that when the nobleman came from Capernaum because his son was desperately ill and dying might already be dead Christ began to probe a bit into his heart and the poor man got so desperate he said sir I beseech thee come down to us and help us but he saved that man's life by a distant word and command and there itself there was a great wonder because he did it in that case from a distance so the

[14:27] Christ can therefore deal with you and me from a distance if it's necessary but he chiefly goes through Samaria well what does this mean he must go through Samaria he hadn't made any attempt to do this and he never did and this again reveals a great mystery of truth his purposes were to go through that part of Samaria where he had his mind and purpose fixed upon as being those who should be taught of God and brought out by God to know the Lord and his salvation he comes as far as

[15:34] Sychar some short distance no doubt from the city of Samaria and now if you notice this he sends away his disciples to buy meat or they went on their own for that purpose they were considering their bodily good and strength but he was left alone and there cometh a woman of this woman's character he knew everything and more is spoken to this woman of God as a God and object of worship and of the deep things that belong to that

[16:35] God more is spoken to this woman than anyone or any person otherwise whose records are written in the word of God that seems strange doesn't it but it's a wonderful thing oh it is so wonderful to think that Christ will come and do all that he does do for his people and although he knows their character he knows their life he knows their state and condition the falsity of their religion he knows everything about it but he must need go through Samaria he comes to this well of

[17:37] Sychar this woman comes out to draw water and the Lord Jesus sits on the brow of the well being wearied with his journey and the first thing he says to this woman give give me to drink when the disciples came back from their enterprise and their attempt to meet their own bodily needs they were astonished to see the Lord Jesus speaking to such a person they knew nothing about her they knew not what character she had and yet the very fact that she was a

[18:44] Samaritan was sufficient in their minds for the Lord to be aloof totally so from any approach to her you see my friend they were thinking on the lines of the Jewish people and religion it was very very solid and exclusive in the days of the Lord Jesus what they were really doing was this they were trying to impose upon him their own prejudices of their religion now a good many people are guilty of that beware my friends of imposing it may be quite unwittingly but imposing your prejudices upon others without knowing all the facts that's one of the reasons why churches are so divided and so also so a week and without any outward looking or forth going for the service of

[20:10] Christ and for his glory because of that one fact that exists among so many well then we come to this point where he says he must need to go through Samaria I want to I have already briefly described this city of Samaria it was built of course by a heathen monarch Ahab and it had ever since its history began been an idolatrous place a place where one would hardly expect to find a single evidence of divine grace and the

[21:17] Lord here had evidently a purpose in going to Samaria that was the reason for it there was a purpose in it a lot of your and mine ways and dealings and doings are so often without purpose if we come and stop and ask ourselves a question in our conscience we have to say this whatever was I thinking about what was the idea behind my action it seems to me now as if it was but an empty vain thing produced by a vain creature but

[22:21] Christ had a purpose now all that I'm saying you know if you can but attribute it to your own case it becomes it becomes a most outstanding and striking and most glorious cluster of words and facts and you stand abashed and amazed that the Lord should ever take one single step in your direction and you notice this that it was all his doing it wasn't like people who say now you have come to the

[23:23] Lord and you have accept him and so on as if of the two persons the seeker and the Lord the Lord was the most impotent he never will be never is he's the glorious head of the church the creator of the world the giver of all grace dependent upon none and it is for him to give to whom he will the glorious blessings of salvation but further what was Samaria not only was it an idolatrous place practicing false religion but he was full of iniquity and after this first consultation between

[24:33] Christ and this woman which she had totally misjudged him and totally misjudged the situation which she had found herself she said sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep whence hast thou that living water and again she admitted to this fact and it wasn't an easy thing to admit the Jews she said and she recognized him as being a Jew have no dealings with the Samaritans there are people totally and completely divided it would be improper for the Jew to have any conversation or contact whatsoever with a

[25:36] Samaritan yes it was a city of idolatry and it was a city of blasphemy and it was a city of iniquity now the Lord comes to point you see very close first of all it wasn't very clear what he was driving at but he was driving at a very vital part and point in this woman's character go fetch and she was startled no doubt right to the very bottom of her being at a request of this kind she said sir I have no husband then Christ revealed the glorious knowledge of her and of all men inwardly and outwardly he knew everything about he says thou hast rightly said thou hast no husband for he whom thou now hath is not thy husband in this thou at least art right it was the first confession you see of this woman and she no doubt is startled with it and all that he had uttered to her and she is amazed at the knowledge she says sir

[27:38] I perceive notice this sir I perceive that thou art a prophet how different this is from so many who say I perceive that thou art Christ of God I believe that thou didst die for thy people and so on without really believing anything oh let us beware of an empty base for our belief and our hope because if we have nothing better we have no hope and she said to him speaking now of temporal things she said thou hast nothing to draw with from this deep well of

[28:41] Jacob's what kind of mighty miraculous power hast thou to be able to draw water out of a deep well without any instrument then Christ begins to open up to this woman the wonders of inward religion of vital contact with God of the real inflowing of his truth and power wrought by the Holy Spirit of God she is beginning to understand it to learn and she says this to him or rather she said this to the men she had to hasten away at this point things were moving and when things of

[29:57] God move in a person's heart there's action following very swiftly and wonderfully and what does she do she drops her water pot that she'd been to that well to fill day by day for many many years it no doubt was and she left it there no further interest some people cannot leave their natural supplies and support for the sake of Jesus Christ but she had to she had to and she went to the men of the city now that was an action that is worthy of notice because it was not an easy thing for her to do this to go to the men that knew her well intimately and immorally and to say to them come see a man that taught me all things all things that ever

[31:18] I did and where was that teaching according to the record of the word of God it doesn't exist but she knew that everything in her heart and her life had now been disclosed and had become a knowledge common knowledge unto this stranger whom she believed to be a prophet so you see there was great purpose in Christ needs going through Samaria great purpose to bring home the lesson a bit more closely to you and to myself these are the sort of things we need to lay hold upon if we desire to be right if we want to know the saving grace of

[32:31] God we need to be like this poor woman first of all to him she says I perceive that thou art prophet meaning to say thou art the one who teaches not only the outward lessons and things but also who reveals the inner life the deeds and doings of men so that they become plain clear and obvious so she goes back to Samaria and in the meantime the disciples come and they find the Lord Jesus having been speaking to this woman he says to them the disciples mark you he says

[33:40] I have meat to eat that ye know not of I'm not dependent upon this outward food that you've been buying but I live upon that bread that cometh down from heaven and the disciples marvel not the first time they've tried to thrust away that poor woman who came from Syrophoenicia when she came begging and imploring Christ to help her he says to them they or rather the disciples said to her go away virtually go away you're making yourself a nuisance get out of our sight and even the

[34:49] Lord himself appeared at first as if he was as indifferent as anyone could be even the disciples then he said woman thy faith hath saved thee well I must leave the subject there I hope we have found some light and guiding thought for us you and me to lay hold upon to grasp the glories of the person the purposes of that wonderful person and how sovereign those purposes always will be amen amen gonna o姿 right ahead in this one is 972 the

[36:04] TugareIRE Regent Square, 684. Look, ye saints, the sight of Georgia, see this old failure now, from the fine return of Victoria, every knee to him shall bow, crown him, crown him, crowned for the calmness of Victor's brow, 972, Regent Square, 684.

[37:00] Jesus, take, say, now, crowned for the calmness of Victor's brow, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, Lord, Jesus Christ.

[37:39] Come, the Savior, saints adore him, rich, church, who is Jesus' name, and the orden of his龙 king.

[38:12] mold him, fold him, come, the Savior, May your King of Kings Come as the Son and the Nation Come as the Triumph and Force Jesus takes the highest nation O God's right, O Son and the Force Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen May your King of Kings Lord, we bless thee for the record in thy word

[39:25] Of thy dealings with men Even the worst of men So richly blessed with thy grace Do grant to us like precious experience For Christ's sake May the grace of the Lord Jesus The love of God the Father The communion of the Holy Ghost Be with us now and evermore Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen