Title: Who Is Speaking to Me
Text: John 4: 5-42
Date: November 23, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Matthew 17: 1: And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2: And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3: And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4: Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
I do not perceive that Peter was anything but sincere in saying this.
Matthew 17: 4: Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here:
Nothing wrong about that.
Matthew 17: 4: Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt
Nothing wrong with that.
Matthew 17: 4: Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make.
Here is the beginning of our problem in everything when we desire that which is contrary to God--let US make. What Peter says next is why this is the beginning of error in everything.
Matthew 17: 4: Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here THREE tabernacles; one for thee, AND one for Moses, and one for Elias.
As sincere and as well-meaning as the disciples were--if they had been left to do what they desired to do--they would have worshipped
1) what they built--their tabernacles--Christ is the Tabernacle, he does the building and he makes us to dwell in him and he builds his church and makes others to dwell in him
2) because they would have worshipped what they built they would have also worshipped the law and the prophets--if my tabernacle began because I built it, I will worship my knowledge of the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), there may be a tabernacle that goes by the name of Christ--but it will be all the worshipping of me!
They meant well. But here is how we are kept when we do not even realize what we are saying will mean our total division and separation.
Matthew 17:5: While he yet spake,
Let us be thankful for divine interruption. We may find it offensive at first for God to do so, but he will interrupt us as we yet speak.
Matthew 17:5: While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son,…in whom…I am…well pleased;…hear…ye… him.
Aren't you thankful that when we begin to speak, God will not allow our brethren to be turned aside by us, but will make us and them to hear his Son!
Matthew 17: 6: And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
This is when we are strong!--when we are so weak we are sore afraid! Once he does this, how then are we saved from looking to ourselves to build as we think thinks ought to be built?
Matthew 17: 7: And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. 8: And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Turn with me to John 4. Title: Who Is Speaking to Me
John 4: 5: Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Jacob took the double portion from the son who was literally born first, Reuben, because Reuben was unstable as water. Jacob gave the double portion to the son born after Reuben, but Joseph was the firstborn all along.
This is that very ground given to the firstborn. Now, the Firstborn Son of God is giving life to this poor, woman at that very well--CHRIST IS THE FIRSTBORN, God took it from Adam though he appeared to be the firstborn son because Adam was unstable as water. God gave it to the one born after Adam who was really the Firstborn all along. When God the Father took out of Adam's hands because Adam was unstable as water, and put in Christ the Firstborn's hand it was all our salvation.
CHRIST IS THE FIRSTBORN, THE DOUBLE PORTION, THE WELL. BY HIM WE ARE MADE CHILDREN, GIVEN EVERYTHING WHEN WE ARE GIVEN CHRIST AND HE IS THE WATER SPRINGING UP WITHIN HIS CHILDREN.
John 4: 6: Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the well: [and] it was about the sixth hour. 7: There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
We took note Sunday: We see the Lord doing this with the woman at the well--face-to-face; so the Lord was doing so that real through Elijah when he said, "Give me to drink."
John 4: 8: (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Right here in the midst of others as we hear the gospel preached, sometimes he makes us hit our face and comes and touches and says Fear not--and when we look up we it is only the Lord Jesus--you and the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to you personally.
But sometimes, at first, all we see is a man, an earthen vessel. Sometimes, the Lord waits until literally all the disciples have gone away then he uses the word preached to make me hear his voice, hit my face and to know it just him talking to me.
John 4: 9: Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
What did the widow woman see when Elijah spoke to her? She saw a man who was a Jew, speaking to her, a woman, who was a Gentile. What did this woman see?--The same thing. She did not question herself, but she questioned the one standing before her--the one she thought was just a man.
The widow of Sarepta: 1 Kings 17:12: And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
Both questioned the one standing right before them. But both questioned the same one--The LORD God the Master himself. The Lord often allows us to question him like this--no excuse for any believer to do so--but the Lord often does this to make us to see how slow we are to know that Christ--the Gift of God--has been speaking to us all along.
John 4: 10: Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
When men heard the word of the Lord through his earthen vessels, we find them replying this way?
Numbers 16:3: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, [Ye take] too much upon you, seeing all the congregation [are] holy, every one of them, and the LORD [is] among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Moses said, "What is Aaron that you murmur against him?" Not very long before, it was Aaron saying the same thing against Moses, "2: And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?" Is it surprising that unbelieving sinners did that to God's messenger? Is it surprising that Aaron, a believer, did that to God's messenger? Listen to what the woman at the well says to Christ the Son of God the Master, face-to-face.
John 4: 11: The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12: Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Sound's like what others said to Moses and what Aaron said. The disciples did this to the Master himself. We just saw the disciples in the mount speak foolishly.
1) Philip had heard the Lord, rejoiced in him and then out of the blue said this:
John 14: 8: Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9: Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?
2) The Lord told the disciples it was written they would forsake him--and they argued that it would be the other but not them. They thought these things while Christ stood before them visually.
3. This is hope to us to be patient and wait.
John 4: 10: Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
She will know. He will reveal himself in her. As we yet speak, God interrupts us his children. And he continues interrupting us.
John 4: 13: Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
She has misunderstood the Master. She thinks he means that she will not have to come and draw out of that physical well. If she understood not the Master at first, let everyone know that not everyone will understand when this gospel comes at first.
PEACE. You think of how much more abundance the woman at Serepta was given by being given what she needed as she needed it, than if she had been given so much that she had to store it up in barns. She was given. She had. Faith came when she started trusting though she gave what she had she would be given more. But God is not going to give the surplus before he makes us to trust in him to give what we have.
Illustration: What makes being a child so joyful? Not having to worry about the house, the food, the clothing--it was all done for us!
The believer--God's church--God's bride--is given peace of God's full provision--"MY PEACE"--Christ said, "not as the world giveth--but as Christ Giveth!" His peace makes Christ's bride follow the order of her husband. You and I can tell others of that peace but we dare not attempt to take it upon ourselves to build, until God has given that peace. This earthly water will only cease being our life, when Christ becomes the Living Water--it is he that speaketh to me!
But first, Christ makes us to know that he knows us even though we deny what we really are:
1. Christ makes us to know that he knows we are adulterers.
John 4: 16: Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
2. Christ makes us he knows we think we are righteous by our religion but he makes us to behold the folly of that:
John 4; 19: The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am [he].
3. Christ makes his disciples who already believe him, to know CHRIST IS doing this work. He has called us and will use us but only the more he makes us to know it is his work.
John 4: 27: And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 31: In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32: But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him [ought] to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
· Christ receives not from us we receive all from him
· Christ's disciples receive not from men but receive all from Christ
· Christ's church receives not from men but receives all from Christ
· Christ has finished the work and he has now sent forth those whose meat is Christ, even as his meat was the Father.
Christ would not receive the meat they brought when it would interfere with him doing the will of him who sent him--this woman at the well--the bride comes before the servant!
This is the Master's word for his disciples before we take another step:
While we are off buying food for him, thinking we are feeding him--he is making himself food to his dear saints--I wonder if they made excuse for not being there, they were, after all, doing much for him--but he is teaching us that our tarrying--though we think it is for him--is not needed.
John 4: 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, What did Peter see when he lifted up his eyes? Christ only! and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal:
Paul said, Not that I desire a gift from you, but I desire fruit, the work of God's grace in your heart--that may abound to your account!
John 4: 35: 36:…that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Are we going to rejoice together with Christ? It will only be as we see that it is not our providing, we are not sowing, but Christ is Sowing and we are receiving the wages freely and reaping freely!
John 4: 37: And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
In order to enhance the truth that the work is his, in the midst of teaching his disciples this, he saved that woman and many others:
John 4: 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word;
See the lesson again: because of his own word; So let a man give himself to Christ according to how Christ has prospered each man in his own heart. Because Christ builds the heart! IF we do any building, it will only be as Christ has used us to say this very gospel to each other--to build up each other in this most holy thing called trusting Christ alone to do the building!
John 4: 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
QUESTION: WHO IS THE BIGGEST GIVER HERE IN OUR MIDST? WHEN WE KNOW WHO, WE WILL BEGIN TO REAP WHAT HE HAS ALREADY SOWN! CHRIST IS THE GIFT OF GOD, THE WELL, THE LIVING WATER, THE PROPHET, PRIEST AND KING, THE ONE WHO IS SPEAKING!