The Gift of God

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John 4:1-10 (ESV)

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

Last week we laid the historical groundwork that shows the centuries of animosity between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom...

The Samaritans and the Jews.

You’ll remember that the Samaritans only held to the Pentateuch.

The Samaritans built a temple on Mt. Gerizim where they worshipped...

Rather than on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem, where the Jews worshipped.

The Samaritans, due to a repopulation effort of Samaria by the King of Assyria, became a blended people of religious practices.

They held to basic tenets of Judaism...

But added many other religious and idolatrous practices of other pagan religions to those basic tenets.

Jesus speaking to this Samaritan woman broke through the cultural barriers and taboos.

But, Jesus obeyed one will and one will alone...

The will of God.

Jesus never disobeyed the will of God...

Not in the slightest.

He did not fear cultural opinion or taboos.

He set His heart on doing the will of God at all costs.

–He had to go through Samaria–

Now, Jesus, sitting at the well wearied...

A Samaritan woman comes to the well around Noon.

Something to note about the culture.

Women were responsible for getting the water.

The habits of getting water for women were to do so early in the morning before the heat of the day came upon them...

And, around dusk, as the heat started to wane.

This also gave the home water for the day and water for the night.

Additionally, the drawing of water at the well was a significant time of socializing for the women.

It was much like the water cooler at work.

Or a coffee shop where friends study, work, or just discuss life over a cup of coffee.

It was a place that allowed for conversation around a chore that was necessary.

So, women gathered together at the wells.

They lingered at the wells.

They took turns drawing water and discussed life.

But, this Samaritan woman came alone and at a time which almost ensured that no one else would be there.

Jesus has arrived and is waiting for this woman to come to the well.

Without her even knowing it.

Without her even wanting it.

This Samaritan woman is about to experience divine intervention.

John 4:7–9 (ESV)

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

So, Jesus as we saw last Sunday, is breaking through cultural barriers, asking a favor of this Samaritan woman.

Because the disciples weren’t with Jesus...

He had no utensils to use to draw water for Himself.

He was, at least to the human mind, “at the mercy” of the Samaritan woman to get a drink.

She understands this.

Remember the rivalry. The animosity.

The Superiority that each group claimed over the other group.

This is not just her being culturally amazed that Jesus, a Jew, was speaking to her.

She was joyful that she seemed to have “the upper hand.”

Jesus, a Jew, “needed” from her, a Samaritan, was her train of thought.

Jesus asked for aid from a Samaritan woman.

She was in the position to help or not help.

“How about that?,” she thought...

“A Jew requesting help from a Samaritan.”

She thought, “How desperate and thirsty must this Jew be to ask assistance from me, a Samaritan.”

She was thinking she had “the upper hand.”

So, there was surprise in her statement...

But, also a little gloating.

She thinks Jesus’ ultimate desire & need is for a drink of water that would quench his thirst for a short span of time.

Little does she know, Jesus has much more grandiose reasons for being there and talking to her.

She’s amazed in a gloating sort of way.

She feels like she has triumphed over Jesus in His need for what she can give Him.

But, look at His response...

Oh, the patience and benevolence of Christ towards this woman.

And, in reality towards us all.

The beauty of this truth in the life of this woman...

And, in the life of the Bride of Christ...

Christ Is Working Even When We Don’t Recognize It

Let that sink in...

The work of God in our life can be so incremental to the human eye that we pass by the very fact that...

God is in this place and we did not know it.

God in the very midst of us and we know it not.

Let’s Think About This...

We have this promise to the church from Jesus in the NT...

Where you are gathered for worship I will be in the midst of you.

How often do you end your Saturday night or begin your Sunday morning thinking...

I’m about to gather with my church family for the worship of God through my Savior...

And He has promised a special presence among us.

We, church, are in the special presence of Christ when we come together.

How often does that even run through our mind?

But, it is true.

And, the people we are praying for, witnessing to, speaking the gospel into their lives...

We have no idea what God may be doing in their lives.

Keep going. Keep praying.

Jesus shows our ignorance of His work right here in the text...

John 4:10 (ESV)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

This is stunning.

Two things this woman is ignorant of...

The Gift of God

Who was standing in her presence, the Christ

Two of the most important truths a person should know...

Who is the Savior

What is Salvation

Like Nicodemus’ thought...

That he was credentialed enough to evaluate Christ rather than Christ evaluate him...

Nicodemus’ thought...

That his institutional education, status of a great teacher of Israel, and his social and religious status gave him the upper hand...

Just the way Jesus flipped Nicodemus’ perceived upper hand completely around...

In similar fashion, Jesus does to this Samaritan woman.

Jesus is saying...

My request for a gift of water to quench my physical thirst pales like a candle to the sun with what I can give to you.

As a matter of fact, I can survive without the physical water you can give…(the disciples were coming)

But, you cannot survive without the living water I give.

This gospel up to this point has been full of telling us who Jesus is...

The eternal Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin.

The Son of Man who must be lifted up to die for the sin of His people.

The One to whom all glory belongs.

He must increase, we must decrease.

But, this phrase Gift of God is new.

The Gift of God

What is Jesus teaching?

What is He proclaiming He has that He can give this woman?

This phrase is not used anywhere else in John’s gospel.

Two other places in the NT tell us what Jesus is teaching here:

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Eternal life is the gift of God that Jesus is speaking of here.

He explicitly states this in v.14.

This is the gift of God.

Outside of Christ

Eternal death is the sentence that we are all under.

Condemnation.

The gift of God is to take your condemnation and give you Eternal Life.

United to Christ

A standing of righteousness instead of condemnation.

Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

God gifts salvation.

God gifts a new heart so that we can be alive unto God...

And, believe upon Christ.

So, understanding this we can go back to...

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is the gift because there is no salvation outside of Him.

So let us not doubt the promises of God.

He, dear Christian, is working in your life.

And, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

What is Jesus saying to this woman?

He is saying this:

If you truly knew your need for salvation...

If you truly understood your depravity...

If you truly understood the character of God...

If you understood your status of condemnation before God...

If you understood that, you would be asking me for the living water that I can give you.

What Does “Living Water” Mean?

We get a further description of what Jesus means by living water in vv.13-14...

But, Jesus is using this biblical promise of God of salvation to lure the woman away from her cultural pride in the well that Jacob left behind.

Right now her hope is in things that have never truly satisfied.

You see, if we never see the failures of earthly comforts to actually give us what we ultimately need...

We will never understand that our physical needs actually point to our spiritual needs.

And, the fact that we have to keep going back to the well...

Proves there’s a deeper need and a better solution.

The living water as we will see next week is what God promises in His Son...

And, it is glorious.

Let’s Think About This...

When we read of the arrogance and elitism of Nicodemus.

When we read of his lack of understanding.

That he actually thought he was qualified to evaluate God.

When we read of this Samaritan woman’s moral standing.

When we read of her standing in the presence of the Lord ignorantly.

Our tendency is to think we are more like Jesus and less like them.

But, oh, ignorant, arrogant, and immoral is that thought

God is altogether different.

He is holy.

And, there is no one like our God.

May we pray that God will keep us humble at His feet...

Resting in His goodness that we have found in union with Christ.

Depending upon His grace & power that we can do nothing without.

Rejoicing in the truth that He does work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Oh, the goodness of God towards His people.

In Closing...

Jesus was at the well for more than a drink of water.

The drink of water was the earthly way to start a conversation about spiritual things.

Not that Jesus wasn’t thirsty.

But, His mind was always on spiritual things.

Spiritual things were more important to Him than earthly.

Jesus was at the well, not ultimately to claim a drink of water.

He was ultimately at the well to claim her.

And we will continue in this conversation between Jesus and this Samaritan woman...

And, marvel together at the gentleness of Jesus in leading this woman to Himself.

John has taken us from the Ph.D to the Societal Outcast...

Everyone from a Ph.D to the Societal outcast needs salvation.

And, the gospel is to be taken to them all.

We sow the seed indiscriminately.

We preach the gospel to anyone who will listen.

We pray for the rich, the poor, and every one in between.

The culture shifts like the tides in their ideas of who is the outcast...

—> Who is the enemy.

But, God commands us to take the gospel to all.

The Gospel is the Power of God Unto Salvation

Closing Prayer