What Satisfies You?

John 4:1-26

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Introduction

Last week we asked the question, "Who defines you?"

In Ephesians 2, Paul showed us that apart from Christ we naturally look to other people for our identity. We learned that Christ gives us the identity we are searching for and that healthy relationships flow from a healthy identity.

This week I want us to ask a different question:

What satisfies you?

Let me illustrate it this way.

Think back to Christmas when you were younger. You had that one gift you absolutely had to have. You talked about it for months. You circled it in catalogs. You told your parents about it every chance you got. In your mind, getting that gift was going to change everything.

Then Christmas morning came. You opened it. You were excited. You played with it nonstop.

But eventually something happened.

A few weeks later it wasn't as exciting anymore. A few months later you wanted something else.

The gift wasn't bad. It just wasn't designed to satisfy you forever.

The truth is we don't outgrow that mentality. The objects just change.

We start thinking:

"If I could just make the team."

"If I could just get my driver's license."

"If I could just get accepted."

"If I could just have more friends."

"If I could just get a boyfriend or girlfriend."

We convince ourselves that the next thing will finally satisfy us.

Then we get it.

And eventually we're thirsty again.

That's exactly what Jesus addresses in John 4.

Read John 4:1–26.

Point 1: We all desire satisfaction John 4:7–15

Explanation

As the story begins, Jesus is sitting beside Jacob's well while His disciples have gone into town. A Samaritan woman comes to draw water and Jesus does something unexpected—He starts a conversation.

The woman is immediately surprised because Jews and Samaritans generally avoided one another. There was cultural tension, ethnic tension, and religious tension. Yet Jesus intentionally engages her.

Before we talk about her thirst, notice something important: Jesus is the one pursuing her.

She came looking for water.

Jesus came looking for her.

Jesus tells her:

"If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would ask Him, and He would give you living water."

The woman is confused. She's thinking about physical water. Jesus is talking about something much deeper.

She starts asking practical questions.

"You don't have a bucket."

"Are you greater than Jacob?"

She's focused on the well in front of her while Jesus is exposing the emptiness inside of her.

Then Jesus says something profound:

"Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again."

At first that sounds obvious. Of course water only satisfies temporarily.

But Jesus is teaching a spiritual truth.

Everything this world offers works the same way.

Success satisfies for a moment.

Attention satisfies for a moment.

Popularity satisfies for a moment.

Relationships satisfy for a moment.

But eventually we find ourselves thirsty again.

Then Jesus says:

"Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again."

Jesus is not promising an easy life. He is saying that only He can satisfy the deepest need of the human soul. He offers forgiveness, purpose, reconciliation with God, and eternal life.

Illustration

Imagine trying to fill a bucket that has a hole in the bottom. You can keep pouring water into it all day long, but it never stays full.

That's what life apart from Christ looks like. We keep pouring achievements, relationships, attention, and success into our lives, yet we still feel empty.

Application

Every student in this room is thirsty for something.

You want acceptance.

You want purpose.

You want belonging.

You want love.

Those desires aren't sinful. God created you with those desires.

The question is not whether you're thirsty.

The question is where you're taking your thirst.

Where am I searching for satisfaction? John 4:16–18 ““Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.””

Exposition

The conversation suddenly becomes personal.

Jesus says:

"Go call your husband."

At first it feels like an abrupt change of subject, but Jesus is intentionally exposing the place where she has been searching for satisfaction.

The woman answers:

"I don't have a husband."

Jesus then reveals that she has had five husbands and is currently living with a man who is not her husband.

Notice what Jesus is doing.

He isn't trying to embarrass her.

He isn't trying to humiliate her.

He's exposing the deeper issue beneath her life.

Five husbands.

Five opportunities to find fulfillment.

Five opportunities to find satisfaction.

Five opportunities to finally be happy.

And yet she is still standing at the well searching for something more.

Jesus is revealing that she has been drawing water from the wrong well.

Illustration

Imagine being stranded in the middle of the ocean. Water surrounds you in every direction. It looks like the answer to your problem.

But if you drink it, it only makes your thirst worse.

The thing that appears to be the solution actually deepens the problem.

Application

Many people do the same thing spiritually.

They aren't necessarily searching for Jesus.

They're searching for something they hope will make them happy.

For some people it's popularity.

For others it's sports.

For others it's achievement.

For many students it's relationships.

Relationships are wonderful gifts from God, but they make terrible saviors.

No boyfriend can carry the weight of your identity.

No girlfriend can carry the weight of your happiness.

No relationship can carry the weight of your soul.

What keeps disappointing you, but you keep running back to it anyway?

What do you believe you must have in order to be happy?

Jesus Offers full satisfaction John 4:19–26 ““Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.””

Exposition

Once the woman realizes Jesus knows her past, she tries to redirect the conversation toward religion.

She starts asking questions about worship and where people should worship.

But Jesus continues leading her toward the real issue.

Then the entire conversation reaches its climax.

Jesus tells her:

"I, the one speaking to you, am He."

For the first time in the conversation, Jesus clearly reveals Himself as the Messiah.

Everything in the story has been moving toward this moment.

The answer wasn't another relationship.

The answer wasn't becoming more religious.

The answer wasn't trying harder.

The answer was Jesus Himself.

The woman came to the well looking for water.

What she really needed was a Savior.

Illustration

Imagine trying to charge your phone with every cord in your house except the one that actually fits. You keep trying different chargers, but nothing works.

The problem isn't effort.

The problem is the source.

Application

The problem isn't that you want love.

The problem isn't that you want acceptance.

The problem isn't that you want relationships.

Those are good desires.

The problem is expecting those things to satisfy what only Jesus can satisfy.

The woman thought she needed something else.

Jesus showed her that what she needed was Him.

Conclusion

Last week we asked:

Who defines you?

This week we asked:

What satisfies you?

The woman at the well spent years searching for satisfaction in places that could never truly satisfy. Every relationship promised more than it could deliver. Every well left her thirsty.

And if we're honest, we often do the same thing.

We chase attention.

We chase popularity.

We chase achievement.

We chase relationships.

We keep drinking from wells that cannot satisfy.

The good news is that Jesus still offers living water.

Maybe you've been trying to fill your life with everything except Christ. Maybe you've been asking people, achievements, or relationships to do what only Jesus can do.

The gospel tells us that God created us for relationship with Him, but sin has left us broken and searching. We try to escape that brokenness in countless ways, but nothing truly satisfies. That's why Jesus came. He lived the life we could not live, died for our sins, and rose again so that we could be forgiven and made new.

For those who have never trusted Christ, your greatest need is not a relationship. Your greatest need is Jesus.

For believers, ask yourself:

What well am I drinking from right now?

What am I depending on to make me happy?

What am I asking to satisfy me besides Christ?

What did Jesus mean when He offered the woman "living water"?

Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again." What was He teaching?

Why do you think Jesus brought up the woman's relationships?

What does Jesus reveal about Himself at the end of the passage? Why is this important?

What are some "wells" students today drink from hoping they'll be happy?

Why do you think people believe,

"If I just had __________, then I'd be happy"?

What are you most tempted to look to besides Jesus for satisfaction?