The Abounding Grace of Christ To Sinners

Read

John 4:7–15 (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.) 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

We’ve established:

The animosity between Jews & Samaritans

The superiority that each group felt over the other.

The religious differences such as:

Moses vs. Moses, David, Prophets

Mt. Gerizim vs. Mt. Moriah

Pentateuch vs OT

changed Mt. Moriah to Mt. Gerizim in two places within the Pentateuch.

Just like Nicodemus, this woman thought she had the upper hand.

Jesus, in captivating graciousness, flips the scenario around...

So that she might see that it is really Jesus that has the upper hand.

Jesus is luring her away from her false hopes in earthly things...

So that she’ll see the emptiness of idolatry.

Her hope was in her place of worship, her blood-line, her religious and cultural traditions.

And, this is important...

If your hope is any thing other than God...

That thing has become an idol and will leave you without hope.

Now, this morning I want us to see how this conversation continues as we witness Jesus’ patience and grace towards this Samaritan woman...

John 4:9–12 (ESV)

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.”

Notice that while Jesus is seeking to draw her away from her religious and cultural idols...

—> She is still clinging on to them.

Jesus states...

if she knew who He was and the gift He can give...

she would have broke the silence first, broken through the cultural barriers first and asked Him for the gift of God.

We see the contrast here between Jesus and the Samaritan woman...

She is at best hesitant to give Him a drink of water...

Maybe even altogether unwilling.

But, Jesus, with the infinitely greater gift is ready to give it freely.

Notice what she did not say in response to what Jesus just spoke to her...

If you knew the gift of God...

What is the gift of God?

If you knew who it is that is saying to you...

Well, who are you?

If you would have asked…He would have given you...

Why are you willing to give anything to me?

If you would have asked…He would have given you living water...

What do you mean “living water”?

She didn’t ask those questions.

They’re reasonable questions.

Good questions.

But, rather than good, prodding questions...

She sticks with her supposed superiority.

She’s defensive for her traditions.

She’s protective for her genealogy.

She’s desperate to keep her supposed upper hand.

Let’s look at her response to Jesus...

11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing [no bucket] to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

Jesus has divine prerogative to grant salvation & the forgiveness of sins.

She is still bogged down in religious and cultural traditions and the false hope they promise.

She is...

Dead to Spiritual Realities

Just like Nicodemus...

She’s dead to the spiritual realities that are right before her very eyes.

Isn’t it interesting that the demons knew who Jesus was immediately upon Him walking into a scene...

But, humans had not a clue.

And, biblically that points to our absolute spiritual deadness...

Outside of the regenerating power of God.

Jesus is leading her to spiritual truths.

She goes back to physical realities.

Empirical senses.

How can you give me any water, you haven’t a single utensil?

And, the well is deep…meaning the water level is way down deep into the well.

Where do you plan on getting such water?

Obviously, she’s thinking earthly, you have no water on you and therefore no water to give.

She didn’t discern that He must be talking about something other than physical water since He’d just asked her for a drink of water from the well.

She just responds with...

Are you somehow greater than “our father Jacob?”

How can that be, if you don’t even have the ability to get water from here?

Now, not only is she stuck in her perceived upper hand...

But, she is also stuck in the perceived superiority of her blood-line.

Are you somehow greater than “our father Jacob?”

He drank from it. It sustained his life.

Back to the Physical...

So, the quality of the water is high enough to sustain, Jacob, Joseph, the rest of the family all the way down to those who drink of it now to sustain their life.

This well is also not only of high quality it is of abundant quantity.

Jacob even watered his livestock from this well.

And, so have those all the way to this very time.

Why would I ever need any water other than the water I have here?

Still defensive.

Still thinking earthly.

Jesus Abounds in Grace

Jesus responds to shed more light on her actual and ultimate need...

John 4:13–14 (ESV)

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Remember that she told Jesus that he didn’t have a bucket to draw water from the well.

Remember that the Samaritan’s Bible consisted of the Torah/Pentateuch (1st 5 books)

We know from a later writing that a Samaritan liturgy for the Day of Atonement says of the Messiah...

Water shall flow from his buckets

Where does this come from?

Numbers 24:7 (ESV)

7 Water shall flow from his buckets,

and his seed shall be in many waters;

his king shall be higher than Agag,

and his kingdom shall be exalted.

This is a prophecy of blessing upon Israel by Balaam.

This is speaking of a future King of a God’s exalted Kingdom.

A Kingdom that conquers the enemy.

This was an expectation of the Samaritan Messiah.

Here we find Jesus at Jacob’s well...

Speaking to this woman about flowing water from the buckets of the Messianic King.

Obviously, Jesus is leading this woman to understand that He is the Messiah.

He is the One that is expected by the Samaritans to have buckets overflowing with water...

Which is a picture of unending waters...

Which pictures ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction.

Much like these other...

OT Messianic Passages

Isaiah 12:1–3 (ESV)

1 You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

The wells of water...

Abounding waters...

These are speaking of having your needs met by God.

The salvation that God has promised will be as refreshing to our spiritual life as water is to physical life.

When speaking of the restoration of Israel...

Isaiah 49:10 (ESV)

10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.

Springs of water = living water (same word)

Listen to these New Covenant promises in...

Ezekiel 36:25–27 (ESV)

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

John will elaborate in Chapter 7 that this welling up of water within is the HS of God...

Just like what is being spoken of here in Ezekiel.

Listen to Jesus...

John 4:13 (ESV)

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,

And she is standing there by this well that doesn’t truly quench her needs...

As she continues to come back to it daily to be momentarily appeased...

Jesus is saying to her this OT message that rings true to all mankind.

Jeremiah 2:13 (ESV)

13 for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Yet, Jesus invites her to Himself just as in...

Isaiah 55:1–3 (ESV)

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

I’m here, Jesus is saying.

And He’s beckoning her to stop being satisfied with the temporal comforts of the physical...

That never truly satisfy...

And, to look to Him who can fill up her greatest need to overflowing.

And do you know what that need is?

God!

And, Jesus is saying to this Samaritan Woman.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life...

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The Samaritan woman’s problem is mankind’s problem…

Whenever we are confronted with the need for salvation…

Our natural inclination is to run back to the Covenant of Works…

Rather than admit our need for the Covenant of Grace.

This is the struggle within this woman.

It was the struggle we saw within Nicodemus.

It’s the struggle we witness within the Disciples.

It’s the struggle we see within ourselves.

And, we’ll really see this struggle in greater detail next week.

But, before I close...

Let’s think about this...

When we read...

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.”

Can we just think about a few things in light of this truth of Jesus’ generosity?

How stingy are you with the gospel?

Why are we stingy with what we have received freely?

Isn’t the gospel supposed to be offered freely to all by those who have received it freely?

Oh, as the Bride of Christ how wonderful it should be to introduce people to our Groom.

As citizens of the Kingdom of God, how great it should be for us to introduce our King.

As former slaves to sin, how excited we should be to introduce others to the Conqueror who set us free.

The same way that Jesus is pursuing this Samaritan woman...

Is the same way He pursued you, dear Christian.

And, by the way, He is still pursuing you this way.

Not pursuing us any longer for conversion...

But, pursuing us for our sanctification.

Christ is not finished with you.

He’s still working in your life for you to rest in Him.

Let’s think about this...

In Christ, we have within us this well-spring of refreshment...

This living water that satisfies our greatest thirst...

And, that greatest thirst is a thirst for God.

Every single persons greatest need is to be able to dwell in the steadfast love of God, forevermore.

And, beloved, we have that because of Christ.

Listen, we don’t evangelize under the Covenant of Works.

We evangelize under the Covenant of Grace.

Meaning in Christ we relate to the Law differently than those still under the Covenant of Works.

There’s no thunder to the Law.

There’s no promises to gain or curses to dodge.

All of the promises have already been granted to us exclusively in Christ...

And, because of our union with Christ, by faith.

Faith being the instrumental cause.

Christ being the meritorious cause.

We evangelize because in Christ there is nothing to earn.

He’s earned it all for us.

He is our beautiful Savior who has reconciled us to God.

And we find His beauty and His favor to be so overwhelming that we cannot contain it within ourselves.

When is the last time you felt like that?

When is the last time you acted upon that truth?

Out from under the Promises & Curses of the Law...

Run to God

Confess it

Repent of it

Do what Jesus is drawing the Samaritan woman to do.

Rest in the person and finished work of Jesus.

And, we’ll see even more of this next Sunday, Lord willing.

Closing Prayer