A Divine Appointment

Tom Shrader walks through John 4:1-26, the account of Jesus and the woman at the well, highlighting the radical barriers Jesus crossed—ethnic, cultural, and moral—to offer living water to an unlikely recipient. Drawing a contrast between Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, Shrader shows that people of vastly different backgrounds share the same condition: spiritual thirst that no person, achievement, or possession can satisfy. The teaching closes with a direct gospel appeal, urging those without Christ to recognize that sin is the root problem and that Jesus's death on the cross is the only solution.

“You're trying to have this world, this material world, satisfy a deep spiritual need, a need that only God can meet.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: A Study Of The Life Of Jesus Christ (2003/2004)

Recorded: 2004 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 43 min

Themes: living water, evangelism, spiritual thirst, grace, sin, salvation, barriers, gospel, feeling unworthy, spiritual emptiness, seeking meaning, new believer, unchurched, struggling with shame, young adult, searching for truth

Scripture: John 4:1-26, 1 Corinthians 1:17, Genesis 48:22, Zechariah 14:8, Jeremiah 2:13, Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17, John 1:5, John 3:7, John 3:14, John 3:23, John 4:23-24, Philippians 3

Theological Themes: soteriology, salvation by grace, incarnation, Jesus as messiah, reconciliation, atonement, repentance, justification

Full Transcript

A Divine Appointment

If you would, please open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, the fourth chapter. We are going to look at verses 1 through 26 today. We continue our study on the life of Christ, and the title today is "A Divine Appointment." This is the historical record of Jesus and the Samaritan woman — the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. It is an account filled with practical application for us, and it has implications that could easily be missed by a casual reading.

I have used the word "story" here a few times. Someone stopped me the other day, it seems between services on a Sunday, and said, "Please don't use that word 'story' anymore. It's a record or an accounting. When you use 'story,' it sounds like something fictitious." I understand that, and I want to be careful. I do appreciate — whoever you are, I don't even remember — I really do appreciate your sensitivity to it. You realize this is a historic event. This is not a fictitious account developed to illustrate a point. This is something that took place, and as we work through it today, you will see great application for you and me.

Leaving Judea

Verse 1: "When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were, He left Judea and departed again to Galilee."

Remember, we saw last week that the disciples of John the Baptist were jealous of Jesus and His followers. John had been headline, front-page news. He was the one gathering all the interest. But Jesus had now eclipsed him, and people were flocking to see and respond to Him. There was this jealousy, and apparently the Pharisees had heard about it. So Jesus made a decision, in a sense, to avoid this growing controversy and to deflect some of the conflict that would come with it. He simply decided He was going to leave.

Baptism in Its Right Perspective

There is something important here regarding baptism. John the Gospel writer points out that Jesus and His disciples were preaching and baptizing, but Jesus Himself was not baptizing. This gives us an opportunity to put baptism in its right perspective. First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 17, Paul writes: "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel."

Baptism is very, very important. It is something you ought not neglect or avoid. If you are a Christian, you should be baptized. Many of you became Christians as adults — perhaps right after high school or college — and you have been walking with the Lord for a while, yet you have never been baptized. Either you were in a place that never emphasized it, or when they did, you avoided it. Now it is fifteen or twenty years later, and there is a certain level of embarrassment. You are thinking, "I can't go get baptized now — I am leading small groups, I have people following me." Well, then there will just be more people there for the baptism. That is a good thing.

Obedience demands that you be baptized — not for salvation. If you pick up the bulletin virtually any week and look under Family Business, you will see birth announcements. Shortly after a birth, the parents will often say they want to dedicate their baby. The grandparents come in from out of town, and sometimes there is a little conflict, because the grandparents are not interested in a dedication. They want baptism. They want little Biff baptized so that if something happens to him, he goes to heaven. They see baptism as some sort of channel of saving grace.

Baptism is very important, but it is not a matter of salvation. I think if it were, Paul would have been baptizing like mad, don't you? Paul said he was there to preach the gospel, to deliver the message of the good news. Baptism is absolutely important — I would say it is critical to the Christian walk in the sense that it is clearly a command. If you have not been baptized, you are in disobedience to something you know, and you need to get hold of Gary and schedule that time to be baptized.

A Divine Appointment Through Samaria

Verse 4 says, "He had to pass through Samaria." The King James says, "He needed to go through Samaria." Now it is important to understand that this was not true in a merely human sense. There were other options for Jesus. Almost all Jews moving from Judea to Galilee would not pass through Samaria.

Here is the geography. Jesus is in Judea, in the south, and He wants to move north to Galilee. Most Jews would head northeast from Jerusalem to Jericho, then over to the Jordan River Valley, and travel up through that valley. Some would take an extremely long path around by the sea. Jesus is cutting straight through — taking the shortest route, a trip of about 70 miles, perhaps two and a half days. The other routes would be longer, perhaps twice as long, and much more difficult and uncomfortable.

So when John says in verse 4 that He had to pass through Samaria, it is not because there were no other options. He had to pass through there because by divine declaration and decree, Jesus had a divine appointment with the most unlikely and undeserving of people. In fact, she is just like you and me — also unworthy and undeserving. We are about to meet her.

Arriving at Jacob's Well

"He came to a city in Samaria called Sychar, near a parcel of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph" — bequeathed to him, as recorded in Genesis chapter 48, verse 22. And there is Jacob's well, and Joseph's...

Jesus Stops in Samaria

If you go back to the map, you will see that what we are talking about is literally right in the middle of that map. You will see one city by itself — it is Sychar — and there is Samaria. Jesus is moving from Judea to Galilee and stops here. It is a very important place. Jacob's well is there. Joseph's burial place is there. It is a place of a temple that the Samaritans used for worship.

He comes to that place, and here is what it says in verse 6: "Jesus therefore being wearied from his journey was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour" — noon Jewish time, 6 p.m. Roman time. The significant thing there is that Jesus is weary. He is thirsty. He is tired.

You cannot even relate to that. You leave here and you are thirsty, you go a quarter mile that way, and there are two gas stations with convenience markets and a McDonald's. There is a water and ice store there. If you go the other way, half a mile, there is a Circle K and a Dirty Drummer and all that. You have all sorts of options. You do not even relate to this.

I can relate to this, though. Last Monday I played golf and we did not have any cups to drink from. We had to call the pro shop to bring us ice and water. That is thirst. He is weary, and I admit that even now I tend to drift into that thought — how tired can God get? How thirsty can He get?

The Full Humanity of Jesus

J.C. Ryle gives us some helpful insight here. We learn from this, as well as from many other expressions in the Gospel, that our Lord had a body exactly like our own. When the Word became flesh, He took on a nature like our own in all things, sin only excepted. Like ourselves, He grew from infancy to youth and from youth to man's estate. Like ourselves, He hungered and thirsted, felt pain, and needed sleep. He was liable to every sinless infirmity to which we are liable. In all things, His body was framed like our own. He is tired, weary, perhaps exhausted, and thirsty.

Three Radical Things

Verses 7 and 8 tell us some very interesting and radical things are taking place. "There came a woman from Samaria to draw water and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink,' for His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food." Three radical things are going on here.

The first is found in verse 8. The disciples are going in to buy food from the Samaritans. The Samaritans were outcasts, according to the Jews. Jews would not have anything to do with them and certainly would not eat food that Samaritans had been handling — yet these disciples are breaking through that barrier.

This woman comes, and it appears she comes alone. Usually women would come in groups, typically in a cooler part of the day. It may well be, as we will see, that she is a woman who has some issues — an outcast even among the outcasts.

Then Jesus says to her, "Give me a drink." That sounds so normal. He is weary and thirsty, so it seems like a natural thing to say. But you have to remember that a Jewish man would never speak to a woman in public. Rabbis were instructed never to talk to women in public — not their wives, not their sisters. Rabbinical law said it is better to burn the law than give it to a woman. In that culture, a woman was regarded as totally unable to understand complicated subjects like theology and religion.

So there are a great many dynamics at work here. And let me remind you — if you want a model of women's liberation, there it is: Jesus breaking down the barriers. The woman fully understood this.

The Woman's Response

Look at what she says in verse 9: "The Samaritan woman therefore said, 'How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans?'"

For 450 years prior to this, the Assyrians had come in and populated this area. They removed the Jewish population and put in the people who are now known as the Samaritans. These people would embrace the five books of Moses — the first five books — but dismiss the rest of the Old Testament. They would take even that teaching and mix it with pagan worship and idolatry. They built a temple right there outside Sychar on the mountain as, in their minds, a rival to the temple in Jerusalem. The Jews hated these people for that reason — hated them even more than they hated the Gentiles.

Jesus did not care. Here is what He said in Matthew 9:13: "I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners." And in Mark 2:17: "It is not those who are healthy that need a physician, but those who are sick." Jesus understood that. She is stunned by His words. It catches her off guard. She cannot imagine this conversation, and so she raises the issue: Jews and Samaritans have nothing to do with each other.

Living Water

Significantly, Jesus does not respond to that. He does not get sidetracked into a debate about the history of theological differences between the Jews and the Samaritans. "Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it was who said to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.'"

The Old Testament had already spoken of this idea. Zechariah 14:8 says, "It will come about in that day that living waters will flow from Jerusalem." Jeremiah 2:13 records God speaking to the nation and saying, "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters." The Old Testament prophets spoke of this idea of living waters, and now Jesus is applying it to Himself.

If you really had a grasp — if you truly understood who was talking to you, if you fully understood who I am — you would be asking Me for a drink, a drink of living water. And she said to Him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well…"

The Woman's Misunderstanding

The well is 60 to 100 feet deep. You don't have a rope, you don't have a bucket, you don't have any way to get water out of there. How is it that I'm going to come to you for a drink? How am I going to satisfy my thirst by drinking water that you provide when you have no way to get the water out of the well? Where then do you get that living water? Is there some brook, pool, or spring water that I'm not familiar with?

Then she says, "Are you not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well, and he drank from it himself, and his sons and his cattle. Are you greater than Jacob?" Remember what was said — the Samaritans embraced those five books of Moses, and Jacob is one of the founders of their religion as well. Are you bigger than Jacob?

Jesus answers her: "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again." He points to the well and says, if you take a drink out of there, you'll be satisfied momentarily, but then you're going to drink again. She wouldn't understand that — that's why she's back there day after day. "But whoever drinks the water I shall give them will never thirst again. For the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

A Pattern from Nicodemus

Something is going on with this woman similar to what was going on with Nicodemus. Remember that discussion? Nicodemus comes as a ruler of the Jews, he comes at night to seek out Jesus, and Jesus says to him, "You must be born again." Nicodemus says, how can that possibly be? How can an old man enter his mother's womb again? Then Jesus says, you need to be born of water and of Spirit. "The wind blows wherever it wishes, and that is the way it is with the Spirit of God."

He saves who He is going to save. Just like with the wind, you can't control it, you can't direct it, you can't manipulate or maneuver it — it's the same way with the Spirit of God. You can't control or manipulate or maneuver Him, but you can't deny His effects when you see them. Nicodemus stayed thinking on a physical plane, and Jesus was taking a physical picture to paint a spiritual truth. The same thing is happening with this woman, and she's not getting it.

Look at her response: "Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty." And then she adds — and this is telling — "nor come all the way here to draw the water again." Give me that water and it accomplishes two things: I'll never be thirsty again, and I don't have to come out and do this work anymore. She has missed the whole point.

The Deeper Thirst

Jesus is making a distinction here — not between this liquid coming out of the well and water coming out of some spring. He can be thirsty physically, take a drink, and be satisfied momentarily, but He will thirst again. Jesus is not saying this water will wash away your physical thirst forever. He is saying you have a deeper thirst, a deeper hunger, a deeper need for something bigger than life than just a drink of water. You are thirsty to understand life as it was really meant to be lived.

We acknowledge that certain needs can be met with a person, a place, or a thing. If you're thirsty, you need a drink. If you're hungry, you need something to eat. You need a place to sleep, something to wear. But if you are looking for ultimate fulfillment in those things, you will never find it. There is never an end to it — enough is never enough when it is those things we don't truly need.

Confronting the Darkness

Jesus says something odd to her in verse 16: "Go call your husband here." Ray Stedman writes that Jesus knows there is something hindering her — she is still in the darkness. This very gospel begins with the words, "The light shines in the darkness," and the darkness cannot get a hold of it, does not apprehend it, does not grasp it, does not understand it. That is what Jesus is up against with this woman. There is something inhibiting her understanding, and she is thinking on a physical plane. So Jesus rattles her world: "Go get your husband."

In verse 17 she says, "I have no husband." Jesus replies that He has that figured out — she has had five husbands, and the man she is with now is not her husband. He is not mocking her, and He is not trying to humiliate her. He is trying to shake her so that she will recognize the truth, face her condition, and understand who she really is. As far as we can tell it is just the two of them having this discussion — He is not even humiliating her in front of other people. Jesus is saying: you need to get a hold of who you really are and what your ultimate problem is. It is not a drink of water. You have a deep spiritual issue.

The Bad News Before the Good News

That is the way it is with the gospel. Before we can give the good news, we have to give the bad news. No one is ever going to seek to be saved until they understand they are in jeopardy. No one is ever going to want to find the truth until they understand that they are lost.

James Montgomery Boyce writes this: "Christianity presents a two-fold revelation. There is a revelation of God, primarily in Jesus Christ, and there is a revelation of ourselves. The two are related. Almost no one has ever seen God unless at the same time he has seen himself to be a sinner. Christianity begins by bringing men to the truth about their own depraved condition, but it does so to convince them of their need of Jesus Christ and to prepare them for understanding who He is and what He has accomplished for them by His death and resurrection."

You have a deep need. Many of you who took communion would say there was a point in time where you understood that you were lost, helpless, hopeless. That is the bad news. There needs to be that darkness, that sense of need — before the good news can truly be received.

The Thirst That the World Cannot Satisfy

Some of you come here tonight having been drinking and drinking of everything you can imagine to try to satisfy that thirst, and nothing does it. Nothing accomplishes it. Nothing puts it away. I am not denying the importance of work and accomplishment. I am just saying you are not going to find true meaning there.

If you are a jeweler, you will be busy from Thanksgiving to Christmas, around Valentine's Day, and this time of year. But if you think you are going to find ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction and happiness through your work, you are wrong. It will not take place. I have watched men literally throw away relationships — especially with their kids — thinking that work is where they are going to find significance. It goes something like this: when the market is really hot, you say, "I have got to strike while the iron is hot. I have got to double it up. I have got to go for it. It is not going to be like this forever." Then the market turns cold and you say, "When the market is down like this, you have got to work twice as hard." So there is never an end to it.

Or perhaps you try to find it through some sort of accomplishment — maybe athletics, maybe money, maybe stuff. And it is never enough. I would bet that there are some of you here tonight who have everything you want and you are still miserable. You have everything you desire, everything the world says you need, and yet there is something missing. There is a void, and you cannot put your finger on it. You ask your lost friends, and they say, "How can you not be happy? You have everything." And you look around and ask yourself, "I am miserable. What is wrong?"

You are trying to have this material world satisfy a deep spiritual need — a need that only God can meet. I did that with a lot of things in my life. I did that with Susan. I remember when we got married, I thought, "I am finally going to be happy and content and satisfied forever. This is all I have ever wanted. She is perfect for me." Here is the problem: I was asking Susan to be God, and she is not. She sometimes thinks she is, but she is not. I was asking her to make me happy, and no one can make you happy. I was asking her to be a source of love and joy and peace in my life, and only God can do that.

The Woman at the Well: A Question of Worship

That is what is happening here. In verse 19, the woman says, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

Some commentators say she is doing a bait and switch — that she is shifting the subject on Him. He has nailed her. He said, "Go get your husband," and she said, "I do not have a husband," and He said, "Aha, I have got you." In that reading, she is trying to divert His attention to a different discussion. I do not think that is what is going on here at all. I think she is asking the question: where do I find the living water? She is saying, "You are a prophet. You have this figured out. You knew something about me that there is no way you could possibly know. Our people say you go to this temple, and that is where you find meaningful fulfillment, salvation, faith. Your people say no, you have to go to Jerusalem to accomplish that."

Jesus responds to her in verse 21: "Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem you shall worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know." In other words, you do not have the full revelation of God. "We worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews." He uses the phrase "an hour is coming" here in verse 21 and again in verse 23 — He is speaking of His death, His burial, His resurrection.

Verse 23 continues: "An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." And then Jesus repeats that phrase at the close of verse 24: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." You will notice it is a lowercase s — He is not speaking of the Holy Spirit here. He is talking about the spirit of the human mind and heart. It is an internal thing, not an external thing. It is not conformity to some sort of religion. It is not going to be found in that temple or this temple or that church. True worship happens in who I really am in my heart — not an external conformity, but an inward change — and in truth, the truth found in Scripture, offered from a pure and honest heart.

Three Musts in Two Chapters

Just as a side note, James Boyce points out there are three musts in these two chapters. In chapter 3, verse 7, Jesus says, "You must be born again" — there is a rebirth that must take place. In chapter 3, verse 14, He says, "Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up" — Jesus must die. And ultimately, when we worship Him, we must worship Him in spirit and truth.

So there must be a transformation. There must be a new birth. That which is dead has to come to life, and Jesus must die on the cross for that to be accomplished. And when that takes place, we must worship Him with an inward change, in true and honest fashion.

Pulling It Together

Let us summarize this encounter. Jesus meets this woman, and she acknowledges a difference between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jesus ignores that discussion. He says, "Listen, if you knew who I really am, you would want this living water." She says, "You do not even have a bucket — you are talking to me about living water." Jesus speaks to her about the living water and the source of the living water, telling her she will never thirst again. And she said, "I would love to have —"

The Woman at the Well and the Messiah

He says, "Go get your husband." And she said, "I don't have a husband." He said, "That's right. You've had five of them — whether it was through divorce or death or sinful behavior, whatever the case — and now you're living with this man." She said, "What about worship? You must be a prophet. Do we worship here or in Jerusalem?" And He said, "Neither of those things. Worship in spirit and truth."

Look at what she says in verse 25: "I know the Messiah is coming. I know He who is called the Christ is coming. And when He comes, He will declare all things to us. He'll tell us the truth. He'll clear up this confusion. He'll answer these questions. He'll set the record straight." And Jesus says to her, "I who speak to you am He." What an incredible moment. Here is this woman — an outcast among outcasts, with an assorted background — and standing in front of her is the very one she said would clear everything up, and He tells her, "That's Me. I am the Messiah. I am the living water."

We will look at how she responds in two weeks. I want to stop right here and apply this to us.

The Contrast Between Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well

There is a sharp contrast between Nicodemus and this woman, and all of it comes out of these two chapters. Nicodemus — we know his name. We don't even know her name. He is a man; she is a woman. He has some level of sophistication in his life; she has a simple background. He is a Jew; she is a Samaritan. He holds the status of a Pharisee; she has no status at all. He is a scholar; she is likely uneducated. He has at least a moral, external compliance; she is immoral. He has a reputation to uphold; she has no reputation at all. He is seeking Jesus, and she is not seeking Him at all — she is simply thrust into this conversation.

Two very different people from very different backgrounds. Vastly different. And yet these two have a couple of things in common.

What Nicodemus and the Woman Shared

Here is the first thing they had in common: they both thought they were okay spiritually. She says, "We worship here." He is a ruler of the Jews. It is a little like Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul was not looking to find and discover Jesus. He thought he was on God's team, doing God's work. In fact, he tells us later, speaking autobiographically in the book of Philippians, that as far as the law was concerned, he was blameless — the Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was, and I say this not at all in a negative way, a super Jew.

Ultimately, both Nicodemus and this woman are confused. They are thinking purely in physical terms while Jesus is speaking in spiritual terms. And all of a sudden, each of them comes to understand their emptiness and realizes they are spiritually lost.

The Diversity in the Room — and What We All Share

I want to make that point because these two are representative of all sorts of people. Look around this room. You have people of very different backgrounds. Some of you are over 70; some are not yet 17. Some of you are white; others are African American, Asian, or Latino. Some are men, some are women. Some have lived in Arizona all your life; some of you are new here. Some of you are wealthy; some don't have much at all; most are somewhere in between. Some are highly educated; some barely got through high school.

There is great religious diversity in a room like this — people from Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Mormon, and Jewish backgrounds, as well as those from charismatic or Pentecostal traditions, and many who have no spiritual or church background at all. See how diverse we are?

And yet, as diverse as we are, we have some things in common. We are not, when it comes down to it, as complicated and difficult to figure out as we sometimes think. We are always going to do what we want to do. We are always going to favor ourselves. We are always going to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. Those of us who are not Christians are going to love sin and run toward it, even knowing we will be miserable in the midst of it. At some point, we were all sinners separated from God by that sin. We naturally love ourselves more than we love anything or anyone else — before we are converted, naturally speaking. We are naturally afraid. We are pretty messed up. And it all relates to sin. We may not identify it that way or call it that, but that is the problem.

We Are All Looking for a Solution

So we are all in the same boat, trying to find some solution to this problem. We are all theologians in that sense — we all have a view of God, and we are all trying to work out what to do with sin, even if the answer we settle on is simply to try to be good.

I watched Oprah twice this week. One time she had on the Olsen twins, so I didn't stay with that one very long. But the other time she had Maria Shriver on. Maria Shriver is pretty good — I have seen her on there before. She was talking about her father, Sargent Shriver. Sargent Shriver is a remarkable man. He goes way back in politics — he was with the Kennedys, and in fact married one of John Kennedy's sisters. He was involved in that administration and worked for Lyndon Johnson. Sargent Shriver started the Peace Corps, really organized and coordinated it, and also the Job Corps and Head Start. His wife started Special Olympics.

The Emptiness of Human Effort

Maria Shriver would describe how, sitting around the family table, the conversation always turned to changing the world. There was a great deal of philanthropic work in that family, and that drive ran deep. But here is the thing: you can be doing all sorts of philanthropic work, and it can amount to nothing more than pride — trying to figure out what you can do to make people think you are okay, or even just to make yourself feel okay. And yet at the end of the day, you are still empty. One of our most natural responses when we understand our own sinfulness is to try to do good things. And some of you are here tonight absolutely worn out from trying to do good things.

For all of us who sin and fall short of the glory of God, that is the condition of man. The wage of sin is death. It separates us from Him — not just physical death, but a separation from God and His presence, an isolation from Him. And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. There is no work we can perform, no church we can join.

As human beings, we naturally tend to try to fill that emptiness with something — some work, some effort, some person. And yet the discontent remains. I have said this before: I meet so many people who are single who say, "If I could only be married, if I could only find a spouse, I would be so happy." And I meet so many people who are married who say, "If I could only be single, if I could only unload my spouse, I would be happy." If I could live in Carmel, I would be happy. If I were the boss, I would be happy. You are never going to be happy that way. The minute you move, you take your problem with you — because the problem is you.

The Weight of Guilt and the Work of Christ

Some of you are carrying real, deep guilt. You are asking, "What do I do with this guilt? Dr. Phil cannot even get rid of this. It goes too deep." And the hard truth is there is nothing you can do. You are stuck with that guilt. You will carry it to your grave and beyond, into eternity, separated from God — unless you come and accept what was done for you.

Christ died on the cross for sinners like you and me. He said, "It is finished." He paid the price for your sin and mine, and for all who would ever believe in Jesus Christ. Is that you? Come to Him. He says the same thing to you that He said to the woman at the well: drink of this and you will never thirst again. You will have everything you need pertaining to life if you come and establish that relationship with Him.

That should be the sweetest news you have ever heard. I hope you never grow weary of hearing it. I remember the very first time I heard that gospel — it was the sweetest sound I had ever heard in my entire life. I knew I was a sinner, and for the very first time I heard the truth, and there was a solution. And that solution was not me and my effort and my work. It was Jesus — who He is and what He did on the cross.

All at once, I did not have to strive humanly anymore. I did not have to strive to be good. I did not have to go through the emptiness of broken relationship after broken relationship, or broken dream after broken dream, succeeding and achieving only to find emptiness — because what I lacked was a solution for my sin. That was my problem, and Jesus died so that I might have eternal life.

An Invitation to Come

Especially for those of you who are here tonight and are not Christians, and who are absolutely miserable: you do not have to be miserable one more day. Come to Him in repentance and faith, and you have everything. Without Jesus, your life will never have meaning, purpose, or direction, and it will be riddled with guilt, because you have no way to dispose of the guilt attached to your sin. With Him, your life is transformed.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for this truth. Thank You for the woman at the well. Thank You for this discussion. God, I pray that You would touch the hearts and the minds of the men, the women, and the students in this room tonight — that those who do not know You might have eyes opened and hearts softened. For those of us who already know this truth, may we never grow weary of sharing it with everyone who will listen.

God, let us be like Jesus, who broke down the barriers. We admit there are people in our lives who are hard to deal with and hard to get along with. Father, I believe even some here who are followers of Jesus have at times seen lost people as hindrances, obstacles, or inconveniences. Soften our hearts. Help us see these people as You see them — sick people who need a physician, sinful people who need Your righteousness.

We pray that we might be the instruments You use to share that truth, and that this church would never lose sight of the great call we have to be salt and light in this world. Remind us that when we know the truth, it shows — and one of the ways it shows is that we share that truth. We share that truth everywhere we go, with all the people You bring into our lives. Give us the courage to live that way.

And for those here whose hearts You are touching, whose eyes and minds are opening for the very first time — give them the courage, give them the feet to come forward, to talk to people here tonight, to ask their questions. Thank You that You have given us real answers, legitimate answers to legitimate questions. Thank You for doing that work, Father. We praise You tonight in Jesus' name, amen.