The Gift of Living Water

Introduction

This Christmas we have been focusing on the gifts of Christmas. Christmas time is a time of gift giving between friends and family and we can sometimes become so consumed with the materialism of modern day American society that we forget the greatest gift ever given. Our Christmas pageant was a reminder of the day we received the greatest gift when God gave His Son Jesus Christ.

Back in Jesus’ time on earth, another woman would receive that special gift. This woman was a Samaritan, not someone the Jews normally got along with and yet Jesus sought her out. He went out of his way to find her. She stood beside a well at the wrong time of day. Most the other women would have come either early in the morning or later in the evening when it was cooler, but she was out here at noon, during the hottest parts of the day. She was a woman with a sordid past avoiding other women who seemed to have it together and yet on this day she would receive a gift that would transform her life.

I want us to take a look at her story in John 4:6–14 “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. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 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. 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. 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? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 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.”

What is the Living Water?

The gift we are going to focus on this morning is the gift of living water.

John 4:10 “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.”

We don’t often use language like this to describe living water. You might be tempted to think living water has things living in it like bacteria or fish, but the phrase in both the Old and New Testament was used to refer to flowing water. It was symbolic in Judaism for a variety of things and had multiple uses. This woman was a Samaritan so she wouldn’t have been as well versed in all of its meaning. The Samaritans practiced a mixture of Judaism with other religions and held only to the first five books of the bible. Living water was used in those books for purity- it was used ceremonially to show the washing away of sin. This water was also used as a symbol of life and blessing. So the key idea here is life and purity.

Here was a woman that as we will see in vs 16-18 needed cleansing. She had had a rough life and suffered many consequences for her sin. Here she was ostracized from normal society.

So when Jesus offers her living water. He was offering her cleansing and what he calls in vs 14 everlasting life.

What is the source of this living water?

She came to a well seeking fulfillment in the water, but she would need to come get some more again. When Jesus offers her this water she responds:

John 4:10–11 “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. 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?”

She doesn’t get what he is saying at first. She expects the things of this world to bring her satisfaction in life, but they will always leave us craving more. What she needed to realize is that only one person could truly give her living water. Jesus offered it to her and if she had known the prophets she would have made the connection. Jeremiah twice made this connection.

Jeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”

Jeremiah 17:13 “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”

It is a great feeling to get a present from someone you love. To know that they are thinking about you. But what about receiving a present from God. Maybe you are here this morning and you have never received this gift of living water; at the end of the service we will have a time when the piano plays, I would invite you to come and we will partner you with someone who can show you how to receive that gift today.

What does it mean that it is springing up?

There is an interesting description in this passage about the living water that I think has significance for the believer today. In vs 14 John 4:14 “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.”

This water is the experience of eternal life. Our salvation is not merely a future reality. It isn’t just about escaping hell; it is something that has an effect on us today. The effect it has is springing up. Springing up means to leap or spring up, conceived of as a liquid coming up to the brim of a container. The word describes a continuous action. Something that we experience once and then continue to experience. I believe it carries four different connotations:

1 Constant access- one of the benefits a well fed by an underground river is that it never runs out. As a Christian, we have access to the satisfaction, cleansing, life which it provides at anytime. I may feel dry one moment but I can go to the source and be revived.

2. Sustaining access- this type of water is also sustaining. It is always there to keep me going. When I use some up, it is filled again. It’s like taking a bucket in the ocean and scooping some water. Its place will immediately be filled with more and you will never run out. Water is a source of life. without it we die. Christian, we need to avail ourselves of the source of living water.

3. Overflowing- this water is also overflowing the brim- Jesus would again use this analogy in John 7:38 “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” This water is not merely for you and me; it is to be shared with others. Jesus went out of his way into hostile territory to share this water with this woman. To give her the gift of living water.

4. From within- vs 14 in him- this water is also in our hearts. Many Christians think that doing certain actions makes them a good Christian. As long as they read their bible, pray, go to church sing songs everything will be fine, but then they find they have no spiritual vitality. This is because they have everything backward. They think that by painting the outside of the barn it will make it clean inside, but Christianity is an inside out relationship. It is only when we have true heart communion with God that we will overflow with living water.

Conclusion

I did a deep dive into this topic this week but because of time I cannot share all that is connected to this topic this morning. The experience of living water is through the Holy Spirit’s work in our life. Tonight I will be preaching an introduction to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but for now I want to make two applications:

First, if you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ this morning. I want to ask you to come and drink like this woman did.

Second, for the Christian, there is an experience of greater overflowing joy and fulfillment to be had through continually coming to the source of living waters. Maybe you have stopped coming. Maybe you have forsaken the source of living waters and you feel parched, dry. The waters are there and they are always available. Will you come and drink as well.