Christ's Offer of Salvation | William Crawford | Gospel Message

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So I want to turn to the Scriptures. I want to turn to John's Gospel in chapter
4, please. John chapter 4.
It's quite a lengthy reading, so we'll start at verse 3.
We want to read about maybe 40 verses or so.
So, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through

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Samaria. 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.
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.
Then cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.

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Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
For her disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou,
being a Jew, seekest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God,

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and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked
him, and he would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep. Heep, from whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well,
and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

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Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
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. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water,
that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

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Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband, and come hither.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her,
Thou hast well said, I have no husband.
For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband,
and that saith thou truly.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

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Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the
place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her.
Jesus saith unto her, worship for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the

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Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
Truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ.
When he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

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And upon this came his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the woman.
Yet no man said, What seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her?
The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city,
and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.
Is not this the Christ?

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Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him what to
eat? 8 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

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9 Say not ye there yet four months, then cometh harvest.
10 Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields,
for they are white, all ready to harvest.
11 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life,
that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

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And herein is that true saying, One soweth and another reapeth.
I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour. Other men laboured,
and ye are entered into their labours.
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the
woman which testified, He told me all things that ever I did.

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So when the Samaritans would come unto him, they besought him that he would
tarry with them, him, and he abode there two days, and many more believed of his own word.
And he 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,

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the Saviour of the world.
And we know that the Lord will bless this rather lengthy reading, but it is the Word of God.
As I thought of this passage, I divided it into five little points that we want to consider tonight.
First of all, my first little point was chance encounter.

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And I put a question mark after that. Chance encounter, question mark.
The second little thought I had was Christ's offer.
And we want to look at that. And then we have a character analysis.
And then we want to think of a choice made. And we want to think of changed priorities.

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And we want to look at these five things just for a minute or two in this meeting
tonight, and maybe there'll be a help to someone.
It was the hottest part of the day whenever this woman came along.
Along this lone figure made her way along the dusty road in Samaria and she

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was either in desperation for water or she didn't want to go to the well at
a busier time. I think it was the latter.
She was probably surprised when she went to the well and she seen a man already
there sitting up the well and struck up a conversation.

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Now, on the outside, looking in at these two people, it just looks as if it
was a random encounter between two individuals.
One was a Samaritan and one was a Jew.
So I've put over this little section, chance encounter.
It just looked like a random encounter between two people, But we all know,

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of course, or some of us maybe at any rate, that this encounter,
this meeting at the well, it was not by chance.
It was not by chance.
Even though this woman came to the well every day, probably at the same time,
it was not by chance that she met the Lord Jesus this day.

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Because this day was going to be different.
This woman's life was on a downward repeat cycle that she was powerless to get
out of but today she was going to meet someone she was going to meet the lord
jesus and he was going to change all that.

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Maybe you've come along to the meeting tonight. Well, I want to tell you,
you're not here by chance.
You say, well, I come every week since I've been little. Maybe there's someone
else and you're here for the first time.
I want to tell you, whoever's here tonight, you're not here by chance.

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You're maybe like this woman in an endless cycle of repeat bad life choices.
Places well the savior he wants to meet
with you he wants to meet with you this very
evening in this very place we
read regarding this woman we read at the very start of our passage that the

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lord jesus that he must needs go through samaria he had business there he had
someone to meet there and he has business in this place tonight he wants to meet with you
there was no chance encounter at the
well this woman had an opportunity that day

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that she would never get again and you
have an opportunity in this meeting tonight that you may never have again there
was no chance encounter that day and it's no accident it's no chance that you're
in this meeting tonight and you have an opportunity tonight in this place that

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you can't afford to miss either.
A chance encounter, question mark.
It was no chance encounter.
Then when I think of Christ's offer, you know, the Lord Jesus started a conversation
with this woman by asking for a drink.
This woman knew water. She knew about water. She carried it.

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Day after day. And so Jesus started a conversation with this woman about something
that she knew about, something that was relevant to her.
No point to chatting to her about the price of cattle or the price of gold.
She didn't know nothing about it. She knew about water. And so the Lord talked to her about water.

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She was quite shocked even that the Lord Jesus spoke to her at all.
Most people perhaps turned their back on her or muttered about her beneath their
breath, but this man was different, and it raised her curiosity.
She wondered why a Jewish man would want to speak to her, a Samaritan,

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because the Samaritans were generally despised by the Jews and vice versa.
And that was the reason then for this strange request.
She was about to find out the reason and the Lord Jesus said to her,
give me to drink and she said, why would I do that? I'm a Samaritan, you're a Jew.

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Jesus answered, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for
the drink, you would have asked them and he would have given you living water
and their conversation continues about water.
And she tells him, you have nothing to draw with. And you know, this well's deep.
In other words, she wonders, how's all this going to work?

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Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well?
And so we have these two individuals in conversation about water.
And then Jesus says, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but the water that I give you will never thirst.
And I will give them, I will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

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And the Lord Jesus made her an offer. Made her an offer.
It was an offer that seemed too good to be true.
If she thought she could have this living water, her days of drawing water from this well would be over.
She wanted this water. her. And so she said, give me this water, she says.

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You're here in this place tonight, not by chance.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is making you an offer.
He's making you an offer. It's not the first time either, perhaps.
You know, he wants to forgive you of your sin.
That is his offer to you. you he wants to give you eternal life he wants to

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take away your guilt he wants to be involved in every detail of your life while
here on earth and he makes you an offer an offer of salvation,
in this meeting tonight maybe you think that's too good to be true how could
that ever happen how can this be this woman wondered how it could be well it

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can be however there was something to deal with first.
And so we've looked at this encounter between these two people and we've thought
of this offer that the Lord Jesus made to this woman.
And we want to think of the character analysis.
And so Jesus says, go call your husband and come back.

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Oh, that was a sore point now. Her husband,
Well, she's already had five husbands, and the man that she's with isn't her husband.
I wonder what her response would be to a question like that.
I wonder what she would say. Would she try and fudge the issue?
Would she try and put the Savior off? Maybe she wouldn't answer at all.

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You see, the Savior went to the very root of her problem.
What was the result of her character analysis? analysis. Well,
she was honest. She was honest.
And God requires us to be honest before him.
He requires us to be honest in his presence. He knows what we're like inside.

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He knows us through and through, but he needs us to admit our sin. He needs us to repent.
He needs us to take sides with Him? Are you prepared in this place tonight to
confess your sin before a holy God?
Are you prepared to acknowledge that I am wrong, that I have sinned?

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Are you prepared to put Christ first? You see, this woman, she could have continued in her weary,
sinful life, same old thing day after day, but she realized she had an opportunity,
and she grasped it with both hands.

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The Savior would never pass that way again, and you need to grasp the opportunity
that you have in this place tonight. This is a passing opportunity.
It might be your last opportunity, and you know what it is you're putting before
salvation. You need to put the Savior first.
Whatever it is you're putting in front of salvation, leave it to the one side and put Christ first.

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This woman done that very thing. She left her own life behind and her water
pots behind and she put Christ first.
She made him priority.
And so we've thought of the chance encounter, we've thought of Christ's author,
we've thought of the character.
And I was wanting to think of the choice made.

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You know, she made the right choice.
As a Samaritan, she knew a bit about the Bible. She knew there was a Messiah promised.
She knew there was one who would come.
But she didn't realize that he was standing right in front of her.
And I'm sure most in this building tonight you know a bit about the Bible you

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could tell the stories you could talk about the Lord Jesus you could tell about
the things he done when he was here on earth,
but are you aware that he is in this place tonight by his Holy Spirit,
and he wants to work in your heart he wants to work in your life,
he is interested in individuals still he was interested in this lady and he's

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interested in you and he yearns and longs to be your saviour.
That's why he went to the cross.
That's why he took those nails in his hands and in his feet.
That's why God punished him instead of you.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the basis on which you can be right with God.
It's on the basis that another has taken the punishment.
Another has died in your place.
God must punish either you or an innocent victim.

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We understand this concept of another paying instead of us.
You know, maybe, I don't know if there's any teenagers here or whatever,
maybe you've got a parking ticket and you're guilty of the offense,
but your father, your dad maybe takes pity on you and he says,
I'll pay the ticket for you. Now he's completely innocent.

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He hasn't done anything wrong, but he offers to pay instead of you.
You're the guilty one, but he pays.
Another takes the punishment. And so it's the same concept. It's a poor illustration, I know.
Another has taken your punishment on the cross. He has paid the price for your sins.

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And by faith, you can be linked to him forever.
If you repent of your sins, if you take sides with God, yes, I have done wrong.
I am a guilty sinner, but Jesus died for me.
Accept the offer that he has provided for you. What's the choice?

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Well, either you take the punishment Forever.
Either you bear the punishment for your sins.
Forever. In a lost eternity.
In that awful place called hell. Either you bear it. Or he bears it.

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And I can tell you, he has already borne it. There's no need for you to be lost.
There's no need for you to go to a lost eternity because there's one who has already paid the price.
If you would just accept it, if you would just take it to yourself as an individual,
I'm a guilty sinner, but Jesus died for me.

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What will you do with him? will you trust him,
to take away your sin or will you go out this door tonight just like other times
you have to choose you will choose in this meeting tonight you will make a choice either to,
repent turn from your sin,

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accept the message of the gospel accept that the price has been paid for you,
or you'll just go out the door the way you've done every other time perhaps,
but you will make a choice in this place tonight and then we have finally changed
priorities this woman she was changed from the inside out she left her water

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pot and went to tell others about this man that she had met.
She was so persuasive that that the men of the city immediately left and came
to see the savior the bible says that many believed in him they seen it for
themselves they were able to speak to this
man, what will your response be?

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Maybe you have seen someone who has come to know the Lord Jesus,
someone who's got saved, and you've seen the change in their lives.
Well, what will you do? Will you accept them for yourself?
Or will you reject them another time?
There's much talk in this narrative about water.

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The thing about water is, the thing about taking a drink is,
is you have to take it for yourself.
No one else can take a drink for you. You must take it for yourself.
And in this meeting tonight, you must take the offer of salvation for yourselves.
The choice is yours.

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You can live your life the way you want to live it, or you can live it for him.
What will your priority be?
So I thought of the chance encounter at the well. It was a chance encounter with a question mark.
There was no chance about it.
It was deemed to happen that day that Lord Jesus must needs go through Samaria.

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We thought of Christ's offer, his offer to the woman.
Of eternal life. The thought of the character analysis, this woman realized she was a sinner.
Have you ever realized your need of a savior and you have a choice to make in this place tonight?
What will your choice be? Will you accept the work of Christ upon the cross?

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Will you accept that his blood is enough to save you?
Will you rest upon what he has done? Will you trust him for eternity,
for the choice will determine whether you will be in heaven or whether you will be in hell.
And if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, your priorities will be changed.

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You'll want to live for Him. You'll want His guiding and His leading in your life.
Just as this woman's life was changed. She left the water pots behind and her
old life behind and she went to tell others about this wonderful person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We trust that in this place tonight that there would be one or more who would

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realize their need of a Savior and come and put their trust in Him for salvation.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow in Thy presence just now.
We give thanks for this story in the Bible, a real life event when the Lord
Jesus met with this woman at the well.

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We give thanks that this woman made the right choice and that she was able to
influence others to come to the Savior too.
We pray for each one in this place tonight. We pray that there would be one
who would realize that there is a Savior available, one who has paid the price
for their sin and drops of precious blood at the cross.

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We pray that there would be one who would repent, turn from their sin,
and come and put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks for all that he has done for us and how that he shed his precious blood there.
We just would pray now as each one would make their way home that would be taken home in safety.

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We just pray for thy blessing upon us throughout the rest of this evening and
we commit ourselves now into thy care as we offer thanks for every blessing
upon us for we ask all of these things in the Savior's worthy and precious name. Amen.