John 4:7–14 KJV 1900

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 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. 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. 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? 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.

John 4:28–29 KJV 1900

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?

Psalm 116:12–14 KJV 1900

12 What shall I render unto the Lord For all his benefits toward me? 13 I will take the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord Now in the presence of all his people.

Repeat vs. 13

I’ll Take the Well

The old Testament Psalms chapter 116 vs. 13 the Psalmist declares, “I will take the cup of Salvation”

This phrase is lifted from a series of Psalms beginning in Psalms chapter 113 and concluding in Psalms chapter 118 that were refered to as “Halllel Psalms”.

These 6 chapters were a hymn, or a song of Praise, focusing on deliverance, both nationally and individually. In particular, these Psalms focused upon the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In fact often these chapters were referred to as the Egypt Hallel.

This song was upon the lips of pilgrims at the various feasts of the nation of Israel as they gathered in the Holy city of Jerusalem to commemorate the goodness of God. And, in particular, it was rehearsed in the Temple during the Feast of the passover, even as the slaughter of the sacrificial lamb was taking place.

Not only was the song lifted in the temple but also in homes. As families would gather to celebrate the passover, before the feast would begin, they would sing the 113th and 114th Psalm., and then when the last cup of the passover had been consumed, Psalms 115 through Psalms 118 would be sung.

In Mark Chapter 14, the bible records that As Jesus and his disciples finished communion on the evening of the feast of the passover, and the evening of his betrayal, they sang a hymn…theologians and scholars tell us that it was these chapter of praise that were likely sung by Jesus and his disciples.

A Psalm of Praise for the Salvation of God that had delivered them from Egypt…and in the midst of the Psalm, a declaration…I will take the cup of Salvation. This cup of salvation was a symbol of the moment that the passover lamb had set the captive Israelites free from their bondage in Egypt.

And it was every passover…along with this cup of salvation, the passover lamb would be sacrificed and the sins of Israel would be rolled ahead a year.

This was the cup of Salvation…A cup-sized salvation that did not possess the power to remove nor remit sins, but rather roll back the sins of Israel.

And as Israel would rejoice and celebrate the cup of Salvation…as they would remember and commemorate the sacrificial lamb…It was just a cup of salvation.

In the Old Testament, the blessings of God, the salvation that He offered, was referred to as the cup of salvation. God served His salvation by the cup-full. That's why David said in Psalms 23, “my cup runneth over”. That's why Psalms 116 said” I will drink of the cup of salvation”.

There was just enough salvation through the blood of an innocent animal to push sin back. One day a year, the high priest would offer the sacrifice and their sins would be rolled back.... they wouldn't wipe the sins away. Just roll them over to the next year. And you could drink that cup. It was just enough to cover you from judgement.

“Salvation by the cupful is the Old Testament language!!!”

this cup was the symbol of Old Testament salvation. The rolling back of sin…The pushing back of iniquity…of old testament redemption

But as we turn to John chapter 4 and a woman from Samaria brings her pitcher with her…her vessel with a fixed capacity, and there she meets Jesus...

She comes with the equivalent of Old Testament Salvation…just enough to get a drink that would satisfy for a moment, but was sure to leave her thirsty again…But then she meets Jesus!!

John 4:13–14 KJV 1900

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.

Salvation by the cupful is the Old Testament language. But in the New Testament, He promised a well of living water. You don’t have to go around with a cup, searching for a spigot or trying to hoping to find a faucet, when you can have a well!!

You can have a well. Is anybody thankful today that there is a well?!?

And that Samaritan woman…dealing with the reproach of ruined relationships…brings her waterpot to the well...

She brings her waterpot…how many ever gallons that waterpot could contain. Perhaps 2 maybe 3 gallons at the most…But that is all that waterpot would ever contain.

Much like that Old Testament Cup of Salvation…it was fixed..it was finite.

that spotless sacrificial lamb was forever going to have just enough power to roll back the sins of a nation for one yer. It was never going to be more than that.

It wasn’t like some years they had an extra special lamb…more perfect that than the year previous…maybe twice as large…that would possess the capability to push back the sins for two years or 5 years or 10 years. It was always going to be one lamb for one year.

Just like a cup…a cup is fixed, it is finite. I don’t care how big of a water source you find…you find an stream, a river, a canal an ocean…But Your capacity to take away from that source is limited to measure of your vessel.

I don’t care if you have a 100 gallon pool of water, if you only have an 8 oz. cup, 8 oz is all that you can take with you.

But a well is not like a cup…The Greek word that is used there for the well that Jesus promised that woman would begin to rise from within, was that of a “spring”.

A spring is an underground source of water. You can’t contain that source of water…it it immeasurable and unquantifiable....what they would do is they would find these underground springs of water, and they would tap into them…and they would be an endless source of water.

You couldn’t measure how much water there was…You couldn’t even see where the water was coming from…how it got there…all I know is everytime I draw from the well, there’s more water there…the more that I drink, the more that there is.

Let me tell you about Jesus…Jesus isn’t a cup that you can contain…that you can quantify…that you can put limitations and restrictions on.

He’s an endless source...

The blood of that old testament lamb had just enough power to roll back the sins of a nation for one year…and then next year, they had to bring the cup back again...

But not the blood of Jesus…His blood has enough power to, not push back your sin for a week, or a month, or a year…but his blood has the power to wash and to cover the sins every sin…not just for one nation…but for every person, from every tribe and every nation…not just for a year…but his blood covers for all eternity!

Second Point: From filling to being filled

Let me tell you what was beautiful about that well…what caused that woman to go and find the men of Samaria and tell them about Jesus...

Because that waterpot she had brought…that cup is something that you have to fill…You drink all that it contains and temporarily, your thirst is satisfied…but you’ve got to come back to the well the next day, and you’ve got to come back the day after that…and the day after that.

The Old Testament cup of salvation was one of drudgery. It speaks of drawing, and working, and laboring. Trying to somehow get just enough to quench the tremendous thirst. And it was never enough

Because that cup is something that you have to keep filling.

but the well!!

Jesus said, whoever drinks the water that I give him, it will be well that springeth up within YOU…

The cup…you have to keep filling...

But the well…it keeps filling you!

I’m preaching today to people that you are trying to quench your thirst and find satisfaction in things that simply cannot satisfy… They bring momentary, temporary, fleeting satisfaction…but sooner or later you are going to have to go back to the well...

And here is the thing about sin…yesterdays cup-full isn’t enough to satisfy todays thirst. ITs always got to more…its got to be more thrilling, more stimulating, more magnificent.

But Jesus said…I’ve got an offer for you today…trade in your cup of salvation for a well of salvation.

Trade in your cup that you’ve got to fill, for a well that fills you!

Trade your cup for a well!

John 4 vs. 28 The Bible tells us that when Jesus had fiinished telling this woman about the well…She left her waterpots…she left her cup…She left her finite cup that she would fill but would never satisfy and she traded her cup for a well! Did you know that you can leave your cup and your water pot here, and you can leave with a well this morning? Because Jesus said that's what I came to offer you.

And in the Old Testament it was a cup of Salvation…but now it is the well of salvation…

but in the new Testament we see the language changes from the cup of salvation to the cup of trails…in the garden, Jesus prayed, Father let this cup…this cup of suffering…this cup of trail pass from me.

That is what the power of the cross did…

it transformed the trials of this life from a well to a cup

and salvation from a cup to a well!

All of the trials that this life could ever bring are but a cup of suffering when compared to the salvation that Jesus Christ brings!

The enemy wants us to think that we get troubles by the well full and blessings by the cupful, but that concept is not our New Testament experience.

Our New Testament experience is we get trials by the cupful, and these light afflictions, Paul said it's just a little cupful, are not worthy to be compared with the well of blessings that God has stored up for those who love and honor Him.

I don't know what you're going through, but the good news is that if your cup is full of trials and troubles, but your well is full of blessings. And God is not going to leave you with a cup. He's going, your story's going to end with a well of blessing.

That sickness…its just a cup!

That sorrow…its just a cup!

That worry…its just a cup!

Even death…its just a cup!

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 KJV 1900

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank God for the inspired words of that Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who looking forward through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost wrote,

Isaiah 12:3 KJV 1900

3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Some of you walked in here with a cup today, but you can leave with a well...

I wonder…how many of you still remember when that well started flowing in your life!? Do you remember when you were filled with the Holy Ghost? Do you remember when you got so full of the Spirit of God that you started speaking in that unknown tongue? Do you remember the first time that the Holy Ghost filled you to overflowing and that well started flowing in your life? Do you remember when you traded your cup for a well? or have you traded back in the well for a waterpot.

You can make fun of me. You can laugh at me. You can say I'm crazy. But I'm going to tell you something.

This well will give life to your marriage. It'll give life to your children. It'll keep your family in the midst of a perverse world! . It'll bless your home. It'll bless your life. There's nothing the world can offer you that can compare to living water.

I just have a cup of trials, but I've got a well of blessings in my life.

Take a praise break, and I'm going to keep preaching. Woo.

A little boy 10 years old received the baptism in the Holy Ghost in children's church. And his mother asked him, what was that like? And he said these words: “I got a tiger in my tank”. And I like that because that's really the only description.

My youngest daughter Dakota, the day that she received the Holy Ghost Evangelist Victor Jackson was preaching for us and he was praying with Dakota when she received the Holy Ghost…he asked her how she felt…she said “like I just swallowed a bunch of monsters”.

There's a difference between walking down, and shaking the preacher's hand, and signing a confession card, and getting a tiger in your tank. And what this generation needs is more than a handshake and a card filled out. We need to get a tiger in our tank called the Holy Ghost .

David said in the Old Testament “I’ll take the cup of salvation”…but I’ll take the well!