Hope is a word of optimism, and it defines what we are living for. In His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus transforms her situation into a life of great value and hope. There is no such thing as “beyond repair” for God. He has a purpose for us all, and there is a reason why we are here.

[music]

Dr. Charles Stanley: Are you
one of those persons who’s

feeling hopeless?

Nobody cares; nobody’s
interested in you.

You’ve had all kind of
experiences.

You’ve had all kind of things
and you’ve been with all kind of

people, but somehow there’s
something missing in your life.

male announcer: Today on “In
Touch,” “When All Hope is Gone.”

Dr. Stanley: The word hope is
a very, very important word.

It’s a word of optimism, a word
of cheerfulness, expectation.

All of us need hope about many
different things in life.

And when you have hope, you do
anticipate; you expect; you look

forward to something.

When you have no hope, there’s a
sense of dread.

You find yourself in the muck
and mire of something that you

can’t put your finger on.

Where is my hope?

In other words, what am I living
for?

And there are multitudes of
people today who do not have any

hope.

They don’t have any hope about
their marriage.

They have no hope about their
children.

They have no hope about their
health, about their finances,

about their future, about their
job, their profession.

They have no hope about life
itself, and they have no hope

about life after death.

They have no hope about
eternity.

They’re living in the muck and
mire of this sense of existence,

but going nowhere.

They’re just there.

That’s never the intent of
Almighty God.

He intends for us to have goals
in our life; to have a sense of

confidence and assurance; and
many people don’t have it.

And what I want to talk about in
this message is a beautiful

example of a person who
absolutely was hopeless.

There was nothing about their
life that gave them hope.

And I trust that you will
identify with it because it has

a wonderful ending, but a very
bad beginning.

So if you’ll turn if you will in
your Bible to John chapter four,

and let’s read a few verses of
this chapter.

Let’s start with this first
verse to give you a little

background.

All right?

“Therefore when 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,” and I thought this was,
this said something about Jesus.

That is, He didn’t want to take
away from anything about John.

He left Judea and went away
again into Galilee.

“And He had to pass through
Samaria.

He came to a city of Samaria
called Sychar, near the parcel

of ground that Jacob gave to his
son Joseph: And Jacob’s well was

there.

So Jesus, being wearied from His
journey, was sitting thus by the

well.

It was about the sixth hour.”

Or about twelve o’clock noon,
“There came a woman of Samaria

to draw water.

Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a
drink.’

For His disciples had gone away
into the city to buy food.

Therefore the Samaritan woman
said to Him, ‘How is it that

You, being a Jew, ask me for a
drink since I am a Samaritan

woman?’
For Jews have no dealings with

Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said to her,
‘If you knew the gift of God,

and who it is who says to you,
“Give Me a drink,” you would

have asked Him, and He would
have given you living water.’

She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have
nothing to draw with and the

well is deep; where then do You
get that living water?

You are not greater than our
father Jacob, are You, who gave

us the well, and drank of it
himself and his sons and his

cattle?’
Jesus answered and said to her,

‘Everyone who drinks of this
water will thirst again; but

whoever drinks of the water that
I will give him shall never

thirst; but the water that I
will give him will become in him

a well of water springing up
into eternal life.’

The woman said to Him, ‘Sir,
give me this water, so I will

not be thirsty nor come all the
way here to draw.'”

This is one of the most
beautiful stories in the Bible

of people who are hopeless and
helpless, don’t have anywhere to

turn.

There’s nothing good about it.

And I want you to look at this
woman for a moment and see what

hopelessness is all about; and
what can happen in a person’s

life when they become hopeless.

Sometimes people are hopeless
because of what they’ve done.

Because the way they’ve lived;
because decisions that they’ve

made.

And then sometimes it’s not
always that person’s fault.

And so, when I think about this
woman, I want to give you a

little description of her.

Number one, she’d been married
five times; and she was living

in an adulterous situation,
immoral situation with a man she

was living with at that
particular time.

And, of course, having been
married five times, she had

suffered a lot of difficulty and
hardship with these first five

men or they would have still
been there.

She must have been a pretty
good-looking gal to have

attracted five men.

And so there she was.

And one of the problems though
is that she’d endured terrible

rejection from the community.

To have been married five times
in a small community, she was

the talk of the community.

There was nothing they could say
good about her.

What kind of woman is this who
has been married five times and

divorced and now she decided
just to live with this guy and

not even be married to him.

And so she seems to have been
trapped by this insatiable

sexual desire to have her needs
met or to meet somebody else’s

needs.

She was emotionally empty.

To be married five times,
nothing works emotionally.

So she was empty; and seemingly
failed to meet the needs of

these lovers of hers.

And so she felt very morally
dirty.

You ever felt that-a-way?

Am I talking to somebody who
feels morally dirty?

That because of decisions that
you’ve made in your life, you

feel dirty spiritually.

You feel dirty emotionally.

You could be in a situation just
as badly as she was.

You’ve tried it all and nothing
worked.

You’ve been there and it didn’t
make any difference.

You’ve been loved by this one
and loved by that one and hated

by this one and hated by the
other, and used by all of them,

and nothing satisfied you.

You don’t have anywhere to go.

All of your goals and dreams
have been shattered; and the

truth is, you don’t have
anything to hope for.

At this point in your life, your
sinfulness, your disobedience or

your rebellion, you turned off
God a long time ago.

So where are you in life?

You’re lost.

It’s dark, dingy, dismal; and
there you are.

It’s like being in a swamp
emotionally.

There’s nothing there that is
attractive to you.

And so you’ve sort of given up.

But given up to what?

Given up, why?

And given up when.

Those are the things you have to
think about.

And I think there are many women
today and men who have no hope.

This is the reason some people
commit crime.

They can’t see any hope of doing
anything.

At least in prison you could
have friends.

At least in prison, you’ve got
three meals a day and a place to

eat and you can even watch TV.

There are a lot of people who
are very, very hopeless.

And we’re living in a time when
more people are hopeless.

And this is why they cross
borders.

This is why they do anything to
find a little hope and a little

help.

And yet even that doesn’t work.

And so this is where she was at
this point.

And then a personal encounter
with Jesus Christ radically

changed her life.

And it’s radically changing
people’s lives today.

And so when you think about who
she was and what was going on in

her life at this particular
point, she’s coming to the well

to draw water for the day, but
she’s coming at noontime, which

was not the right time.

But she came at noontime because
the women didn’t want to be

around her, they ostracized her,
and it just made her feel worse

to try to be there when
everybody else was there.

So in the middle of the day,
here she comes for water.

And strangely, this man is
sitting there.

He sent His disciples into town
to buy food.

And looking at Him and knowing
that He was a Jew and she was a

Samaritan, she was shocked when
He said, Give me a drink of

water.

And her response was, What do
You mean, give You a drink of

water?

You’re a Jew; I’m a Samaritan.

Jews and Samaritans do not have
anything to do with each other.

And You certainly wouldn’t
expect me to draw Your water for

You.

And Jesus in His quiet and
loving way, began a conversation

with her.

And, all of a sudden, she
realized that the barriers were

coming down within her; because
the barrier was there.

First of all, she was talking to
a man alone.

That in itself was enough.

The fact that He was a Jew and
she was a Samaritan, all of

those barriers were coming down.

She couldn’t tell you why.

She just knew that there was
something about Him that

attracted her that had nothing
to do with what usually

attracted her, something
physical.

And she began to listen.

And, “Jesus said to her, ‘Give
Me a drink,'” that’s what

started the conversation.

And, He said to her, He said,
You give me a drink and I’ll

give you a drink of living
water.

And so, Jesus began to talk with
her and they began to chat and

so Jesus distinguished between
this well water and the other

water that He was talking about.

And so she enthusiastically
asked Him for it.

And so, when He had described
it, she, “The woman said to Him,

‘Sir,'” listen to that, she–how
she addressed Him, “Sir, give me

this water, I will not be
thirsty nor come all the way

here again.”

And then Jesus, “Said to her,”
That sort of disrupted the

conversation because everything
was moving right along and He

was talking about living water
and then all of a sudden He,

“said, ‘Call your husband,'” oh
my, messed the conversation up

terrible.

And so, “Call your husband,” and
she told Him the truth.

She said, I don’t have a
husband.

He said, watch this, You’re
correct; you don’t.

But you have had five.

And you’re living with a man now
who is not your husband.

But watch how He said that.

He did not condemn her.

He said, You’re right; you don’t
have one, but you’re living with

one who is not your husband.

Notice how Jesus changed that
conversation.

Not by criticizing her, but by
simply asking her a question.

And so what He’s doing, He’s
leading her to realize where she

is emotionally, where she is
physically, where she is

spiritually.

Now, what she did is what a lot
of people do today.

When you start talking to them
about the Lord, all of a sudden

they want to change the subject.

So if you’ll notice what happens
when she said that, “The woman

said, ‘Sir, I perceive that You
are a prophet.'”

And then she said, “Our fathers
worshiped in this mountain, and

you people say that,” and she
changed the subject.

She wanted to start talking
about worship; Jesus didn’t want

to talk about that.

He did give her a little
explanation here and there, but

He said, I want to tell you
about My water.

My water is, He said, My water
is living water.

And she said–He said here,
“Whoever drinks of the water

that I will give him shall never
thirst again; but the water that

I will give him will become in
him a well of water springing up

in eternal life.

Springing up into eternal life.

‘Sir, give me this water,’
Springing up,” listen, Not just

water, but springing, this water
springs up into eternal life.

And He had her attention,
absolutely.

And as they began to talk and He
said to her, as they began to

talk God, “God is spirit, and
those who worship Him must

worship Him in spirit and
truth.”

And, and so then He comes back,
“The woman said to Him, ‘I know

that Messiah is coming, He who
is called Christ; when that One

comes, He will declare all
things to me,'” and then, “Jesus

said to her, ‘I,'” am the one
you’re looking for.

I am the Messiah.

Can you imagine what she must
have thought?

First of all, she wanted to–she
approached this man to hate Him

because He was a Jew.

And in this conversation,
because He accepted her and

loved her and waited for her to
come to the right conclusion,

“He said to her, ‘I who speak to
you am He.'”

And about this time the
disciples come.

And they come back and they’re
surprised because He’s talking

to this woman, and which no
rabbi as we say would possibly

be talking to one, and
especially her.

Of all people, they–He wouldn’t
be talking to her.

But it’s interesting what the
scripture says that they didn’t

say to Him, What are You doing
talking to her?

Or why do You speak to this
woman?

So in the process, the scripture
says all of a sudden she, “left

her waterpot.”

Now the Bible is so perfect
about the words that the writer

used because it’s interesting
here, the scripture says she

left it.

She was no longer interested in
a waterpot.

He had done something to her
life all of a sudden like she

had never felt before because
why would she accept Him so

quickly.

She accepted Him so quickly
because when He approached her,

He didn’t condemn her.

A Jew would have.

He did not criticize her.

He saw something within her that
made her see something within

Him.

For some strange reason she felt
accepted by Him.

For some strange reason, she saw
something in Him that she’d

never seen in a man before.

All of a sudden she felt love
for the first time from any man.

And so, when His disciples came,
she left that waterpot and took

off running.

And where did she go?

She went to the one place that
you wouldn’t expect her to go.

She went to the very people who
despised her, rejected her,

criticized her, shunned her,
shut her out of their lives.

And notice what the scripture
says.

“From the city many of the
Samaritans believed in Him

because of the word of the woman
who testified, ‘He told me all

things that I have done.’
So when the Samaritans came to

Jesus, they were asking Him to
stay with them; and so He stayed

there two days.

Many more believed because of
His word; and they were saying

to the woman, ‘It is no longer
because of what you said that we

believe, for we have heard our
for ourselves and know that this

One is indeed the Savior of the
world.'”

When I think about this
woman–she became the city

evangelist.

I mean she went from the lowest
rung to the highest.

She was the one who announced to
them the Messiah.

She’s the first one who knew of
Him.

And so when she went back, you
say, Well, you know, if they had

rejected her like you say they
have, how could she be so

accepted?

I’ll tell you why.

Because they’d seen this woman
who was full of hopelessness and

despair and discouragement and
just dismal in her spirit.

When she came to the city,
that’s not what they saw.

She was excited.

And she was full of life.

And she walked in like she was
the queen, not like she was

rejected.

Why?

Because God had absolutely
changed her life.

Jesus had saved her when she
said, and realized that He was

the Messiah, she accepted Him as
the Messiah and, listen, She

didn’t go home.

She did what she should have
done.

She was so absolutely
revolutionized in her life that

the first thing she wanted to do
is to go tell everybody in town.

I mean, all those women who had
gossiped about her; all those

men who had used her; everybody
who had abused her in any way,

what did she do?

She, she wanted them to know
this Messiah that had absolutely

changed her life and she could
never be the same again.

Are you one of those persons
who’s feeling hopeless?

Nobody cares; nobody’s
interested in you.

You’ve had all kind of
experiences.

You’ve had all kind of things
and you’ve been with all kind of

people, but somehow there’s
something missing in your life.

Well the same thing that’s
missing in your life is the same

thing missing in her life.

Until you are willing to receive
Jesus Christ as your personal

Savior, listen carefully, you
will keep on drinking from the

same old wells of sex, alcohol,
drugs, money, or on and on and

on and we could go of things
that people keep drinking of.

And here’s the problem.

All of those things are like
saltwater.

When you are thirsty, you don’t
want to drink saltwater.

Why?

Because it makes you more
thirsty.

And this is why people get
hooked on things as we’ve just

mentioned, and many different
kind of things.

They think, Well, if I get
enough of this I’ll be fine.

No, you can’t get enough money,
enough sex.

You can’t get enough recognition
from anybody.

You can’t get enough of any of
those things to take the place

of what God created you for and
that’s to be one of His

children.

Because you see, God created You
for Himself.

He created you for Himself and
He sent Jesus Christ into this

world to pay your sin debt in
full so that you could become

the person God intended you to
be so that He could take care of

all of your sins.

He could give you a sense of
personhood.

He could give you a sense of
feeling like somebody.

He could give you a sense of
future.

He could give you a sense of
satisfaction and confidence and

security.

Only Jesus Christ can do that.

It doesn’t make any difference
who you are, where you’ve been

and how down you may feel, if
you’re willing to say to the

Lord Jesus, Jesus, I’m asking
You to forgive me of all my sin.

And I believe that You went to
the cross, and when You shed

Your blood at Calvary, You paid
my sin debt in full.

Thank You, Lord, that You can
cleanse my life.

And I’m trusting You to forgive
me.

And I’m receiving You as my
personal Savior.

That’s just like being in a
desert and somebody bringing you

a whole bucket of ice water and
saying, Help yourself.

You’ll never be the same again.

And that’s my prayer for you.

And Father, how grateful we are
You do not condemn us.

You desire to save us.

You don’t forgive us a part of
our sins, but all of them.

Not in part, but the whole as we
sing.

We feel helpless, but You know
You change all of that.

And we pray today in the name of
Jesus, that every single person

who hears this message who’s
never been saved, who finds

themselves in all kind of
circumstances and situations,

would trust You as their
personal Savior.

By simply asking You to forgive
them of their sins and

surrendering their life to You.

And making a missionary, Father,
to somebody out of their

testimony.

And this we pray in Jesus’ name,
amen.

If you’re one of those persons
whoever you are and wherever you

are, you can stop right where
you are.

If you’re home by yourself,
maybe in a one room apartment

somewhere or in some palatial
palace, you have it all but the

one thing your heart desires,
one thing you’re hungering for.

If you’re willing to ask Jesus
to forgive you of your sins, it

doesn’t make any difference how
deep down in the muck and mire

you are, He pulls you out.

You don’t have to beg; you don’t
have to plead; you don’t have to

promise; you just ask Him and
believe He’ll do it.

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“In Touch with Dr. Charles
Stanley” is a presentation

of In Touch Ministries.

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