Living Water
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Here we are, after four weeks of Advent, Christmas Eve, we are now staring at the last few moments of 2019, and on Wednesday we will begin the new year of 2020.
This is the time of the year where ,for some, we often pause and reflect on the last 12 months
Did we do what we were hoping to do?
Did we accomplish our goals?
Did we actually fulfill our new year resolutions from last year?
For others this is the time of year where we are ready to close the chapter that is 2019, and move on.
I know for many of you this last year has been a year marked by deep pain and suffering
Others are really optimistic about the coming year
new jobs, new relationships, new goals.
For some you are ready to go, you are excited about the coming year.
But what we all have in common, to one degree or another, is that 2020 offers a new start, its a new year, and it will bring with it new blessings and new struggles.
And we all, again, to one degree or another, have hopes for the new year.
So what I don’t want us to do is to move on from advent to quickly.
Its very easy to check the Christmas box and move on to the next thing.
We have seen that Jesus is the hope of the world.
Throughout this advent season we have seen that Jesus is the hope of the world.
This advent season we have focused our attention on how the coming Christ was and still is the hope of the world.
He is the one who brings peace, love joy and righteousness to the world.
For apart from Gospel, the rule and reign of Christ, the world is cast into darkness, a place where there is no hope.
Hope of true love
Hope of righteousness and justice
Hope of joy.
This is what Christ has given to his people, true love, peace, joy and righteousness.
And not only is Jesus our hope, but he is also the hope for the whole world.
The only hope for our world is that they drink from the waters of of God’s love, joy, peace, and justice, which has been poured out in Christ.
God has created his people
As image bearers of God, we are all created hoping, longing, thirsting, for that which only God can provide
Our world is full of people who thirst for the living waters that flow from the temple of God.
People thirst for love
people thirst for Joy
people thirst for peace
The problem is that we look to satisfy these thirsts in all the wrong places.
We come to a cup that we think is full the thirst quenching waters of joy, and we take a big gulp and find our mouths are full of sand.
However, each time they drink from the cup they think is full of joy, they end up with is mouth full of sand.
Unless they are brought to the living waters of Christ, they will continue to drink cups of sand hoping it will satisfy their thirst.
We thirst for true unconditional love,
We come to person hoping to have the thirst of love satisfied, we drink it down and realize we are chewing on gravel.
and with each partner, with each purchase, hoping for the thirst to be satisfied, we find ourselves once again drinking cups of sand.
we think this person or that thing will bring love joy or peace, but in reality it does nothing to quench our thirst, but instead leads us into deeper despair.
It is only through Christ that the thirsty will find water to drink
It is only through Christ that the thirsty will find water to drink
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
john 7
That which we long for, that which we hope for, will only find its fulfillment in Christ.
This is one of the most beautiful stories in the bible. And it is one that is so often misunderstood.
This is a story of marriage, of worship, and of finding that which you were hoping to find.
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.”
7-
So as we prepare to enter into a the new year, the question needs to be asked,
Where is your hope?
Where is your hope?
Where is your hope for 2020?
Is your hope for peace waiting for you when your kids are out of diapers?
Is your hope for joy waiting for you when you lose those few extra pounds?
Do you find yourself hoping for fulfillment when:
you finally find the right man or woman to marry?
When you have kids, or more kids?
When your kids our out of the house?
When you get out of debt?
When you retire?
Where is your hope?
Its amazing how hypocritical people are. Its easy to look around at our world and see people consuming cup after cup of sand hoping that its contents will satisfy the thirsty soul.
We see people who look for love in all the wrong places
People try to see how much joy they can purchase on their credit cards
those who look for peace by going vacation or by pretending the world is not as messed up as it is.
Or think that true peace comes as soon as they get control of their circumstances
Its easy to spot false hope when we see it in others, but it is very challenging to locate false hope within ourselves.
Example**
I know THEY can’t buy happiness, but if I had a few more dollars I would be happy.
Circumstances can never determine peace for YOU, but if I had a little more quite time i’d be at peace.
The question must be asked, “where is your hope?”
Especially at this time of the year.
Wednesday is the first day of 2020, and this is the time of the year people make their New Year’s Resolutions - in other words, we determine what we hope to see happen this next year.
And though we have been given all of these things in Christ, we are still called to hope.
When we look around our world we see many different false hopes offered to us
New Year’s Resolution
I hope to start working out so I can lose weight
meal plans, gym memberships, supplements, apps for your phone, personal trainers etc.
I hope to build a better budget and get out of debt
Thousands of services out there that will try and sell you financial freedom
Dave Ramsey, Crown Financial, investment options, savings solutions, etc.
I hope to watch less TV and read more books
I hope to be happier
I hope to be less stressed
I hope to enjoy life more, stop and smell the roses
I hope to be a more patient mother
I hope to be a more consistent father
Misplaced hope always disappoints and leaves our hearts sick.
Money cannot quench the thirst of our souls
There are no Relationships that can fulfill the need we have for Christ
There is no circumstance on this earth that can bring us the peace or joy we all long for.
We will put these cups of false hopes to our lips thinking they will satisfy, and in the end we will have mouths full of sand.
Our hope must be firmly set on Jesus Christ. He is our hope! He is our hope today, and he will be our hope for the new year.
There is a beautiful story in the gospel of John of a women who, for her whole life, had set her hope in that which could not satisfy. And then she meets Jesus, the one who gives living water
The Woman at the Well
The Woman at the Well
is the story of the Woman at the well.
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Jesus is the living water
The woman was a Samaritan, And going all the way back to 1 Kings we see that Jews and Samaritans did not like each other. in fact they hated each other.
This particular Samaritan women was one who had lived a very heartbreaking life.
The women at the well had been married five different times.
Five different times this women pledged herself to a man, hoping for love, hoping for security, hoping for a family.
And five different times either her husband divorced her or died.
In Jesus day a husband could divorce his wife for things as simple as making a dinner that he didn’t like.
This was a women who was experiencing the depths of hopelessness.
Jeremiah talks about hopelessness being compared to living in ashes and being forced to chew on and eat gravel.
EXAMPLE**
I am sure there are some of you this morning that still feel the gravel or sand in your mouths and throats… Hopelessness is a devastating reality.
This women longed for a husband, longed for everything that came with marriage, yet her hope was never fulfilled.
Husband
And we will see that what she was hoping for could only be found in the person of Jesus.
Turn with me to
The first six verses set up the context and introduces some important symbols that will help us understand the text.
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.
Why? Why did did Jesus HAVE to pass through Samaria?
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.
John 4
He didn’t HAVE to pass through
Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels Chapter 10: At the Well of Sychar (John 4:7–38)
Jews generally went the long way around to avoid Samaria, but Jesus “had to” go through Samaria.
Jews generally went the long way around to avoid Samaria, but Jesus “had to” go through Samaria.
Jews generally went the long way around to avoid Samaria, but Jesus “had to” go through Samaria.
you see Samaria, which was located about 40 miles north of Jerusalem, was a region full of people the jews did not associate with, the Jews despised the Samaritans.
There was a very deep and complicated level of hate between the Jew and the Samaritans.
So for the strict Jew a Samaritan, half Jew half gentile, was despised.
20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
The reason Jesus “had to” go through Samaria was not because of geographical necessity, but because of divine necessity. .
He had to go to through Samaria because he is the bridegroom, and the bridegroom must save his bride.
One of the questions I ask my kids for their catechism is this:
Q: What is the Bible about?
21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
A: Killing the dragon and saving the girl
I then ask them,
Q: who is the dragon?
A: Satan, Sin and Death
The next question is then
Q: who is the girl?
A: The Bride of Christ
You see, The Bible is about Jesus coming to kill the dragon and to save the girl. It is about Jesus coming to rescue his bride. And his bride is made up of people from every nations, tribe, and tongue.
So why did Jesus HAVE to go through Samaria? To save the girl.
So Jesus travels through Samaria on his way to Galilee… and in verse 5 we see
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.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
Now here is where one of the main symbols emerge in the story.
This verse lets us know that Jesus is coming as the bridegroom.
Example**
My wife and I met at Bible College back in 2005. Neither one of us went there expecting to find a spouse, but as it turns out Bible College is often serves as a place to find your husband or wife.
In fact, After we were married I finished my undergrad at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and as a married couple we saw many of our single friends meet their spouses at the school.
The school was affectionally referred to as, “Moody Bridle Institute.”
If you go to bible college to find a spouse today, in bible times you would go to wells.
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.
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.
Wells were THE number one place to find a wife.
Through New Eyes Symbolism
the patriarchs found their wives. Rebekah and Rachel were both found at wells (Genesis 24:11-45; 29:2-10), and Moses found Zipporah at a well (Exodus 2:15). Jesus presented Himself as the True Groom to a Samaritan divorcee and adulteress at a well (John 4:6-26).
the patriarchs found their wives at wells.
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.
Rebekah and Rachel were both found at wells (; ),
and Moses found Zipporah at a well ().
And here, Jesus presented Himself as the True Groom to a Samaritan divorcee and adulteress at a well ().
In the Wisdom literature, the connection is made explicitly
In proverbs we see Solomon, after counselling his son to avoid the strange woman, write, “ Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.”
1-
Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
Hey kid, don’t be an idiot!
And in the Song of Songs, the women is described as “a garden fountain, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon” (4:15).
So wells are symbolically loaded throughout the scriptures as a place of love, of weddings, of marriage.
So the fact that Jesus meets this women at a well creates an image that is overflowing with symbolic meaning.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Christ offers joy, rest, peace, love, patiences
The nation of Israel set their hopes and dreams on the things of this world, they neglected the God of their salvation, and ended up falling away from God all together and were sent into exile.
He is the one who brings us into his rest
Jeremiah was a prophet to Israel. He was one who stood in the presence of God and brought God’s words to the people. Yet, the people closed their ears to what God had to say.
He is the one who comforts our pains
Finally Babylon came and destroyed Israel, destroyed the temple, and took the people of Israel into captivity.
He is the one who loves unconditionally
Jeremiah then wrote the book of Lamentations, five poems of grief over the fall of Jersualem.
These poems are much like a eulogy given at a funeral of a loved one who has passed away.
When we think about the year that is coming and making resolutions, my we do so as men and women who find our hope in Christ.
We we hope to experience his peace in new ways
He is the one who offers a peace that passes all understanding. He is the one who is able to calm the storms of our lives, he is the one who took upon himself the chaos of our sin so we might enjoy the peace of his glory.
May we hope to rest in his grace with greater confidence
May we hope to experience his love on a deeper level.
We don’t need to hope to be happier, we need to embrace the joy that is found in Christ
As followers of God, we are a people who have been born again to a living hope
Already-not-yet
We have been given
We have peace, yet we still live in a dark world that is full of terror and chaos.
So we hope from peace for peace. We hope and long
We have the love of God in our hearts, yet anger and fear still loom around every corner.
So from the love of Christ we wait for the love of Christ to be manifested throughout the whole world
We have joy, yet we live in a world with grief, sorrow, pain, and at times we can be so overwhelmed with such feeling lonliness
The essential quality of hope is that it is oriented to something in the future that one expects but does not yet possess.
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
)
The essential quality of hope is that it is oriented to something in the future that one expects but does not yet possess (Rom 8:24–25)
Even looking at the context of John we see that this is clearly his purpose in this story.
Just a few verses back in chapter three we see John the Baptist come right out and call Jesus the bridegroom.
28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’
29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
John 3:
John calls Jesus the bridegroom.
Jesus has come to kill the dragon and save the girl, and thats why he HAD to go through Samaria, and thats why he went to the well, to save his bride.
John introduces us to the bride in verse 7
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
Here the women comes hoping for water,
Not only was this women spiritually thirsty for that which only Christ could give, but she was physically thirsty as well.
She came to the well hoping to get water.
This women had been to this well 100’s of times.
She drank from this well,
cooked with water from this well,
washed her clothes and dishes in the water from this well,
yet, here she is again, needing more water.
You see, this water could satisfy her thirst only for a little while, but she had to come back again and again.
This same pattern plays out in her spiritual thirst as well.
She hopes for love again and again, only to be rejected again and again
She hopes for joy, and peace, and rest, and for justice
Yet, again and again she finds her self lacking. She goes from one husband to the next hoping to satisfy that internal thirst for love and security.
And now she is back at the well, both physically and spiritually thirsty. And Jesus asks her for a drink..
In verses 9 and 10 we see her response to Jesus’ request.
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.”
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.”
Jesus knows who she is, he know how thirsty she is, he know how hopeless she is…
But she has no idea who he was, for if she knew, she would have asked him for the living water that would satisfy her spiritual thirst.
What is the living water Jesus mentions here?
In the Hebrew Scriptures you needed living water for purification rites.
To be purified from sin, to be cleansed and clean before God you needed living water.
This women, this bride, has come to her bridegroom, with the stains of adultery.
In her hopes to find a husband, she eventually settled and was now living and sleeping with a man who was not her husband.
She comes to Jesus as a broken sinner, stained by the depravity of her sin, and Jesus, the faithful husband offers her the living waters that can cleanse her from all her sins.
We see in living water flowing from the temple and going throughout the world transforming it from a dessert to a garden.
Jesus offers the women the living water that transforms.
by offering her the living water he is offering this women true hope.
He was offering her the living water of the Spirit, and the living water of the Spirit of God is what satisfies the thirsty soul.
Look at Jesus’ words in vv.13-14
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.”
13
This women came to the well thirsty
We see in that Jesus says,
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
37
John 7
She came to take water out of the well for herself
Jesus meets a women who had hoped to find love many times, she was a women who
She was physically thirsty for water, and she was spiritually thirsty for love, joy, peace, and righteousness and everything else that comes to us in Christ.
New Year’s Resolution
When she encountered Jesus, she encountered for the first time in her life the one who could satisfy that thirst
I hope to start working out so I can lose weight
For the first time in this woman’s life she found a hope that would not disappoint
meal plans, gym memberships, supplements, apps for your phone, personal trainers etc.
She found her true husband, the one who would never send her away
She found the living water that cleanses her from her sins, frees her from her guilt, and washes her of her shame
At this moment in the woman’s life, everything changed.
As the story goes on we see that:
I hope to build a better budget and get out of debt
Thousands of services out there that will try and sell you financial freedom
Dave Ramsey, Crown Financial, investment options, savings solutions, etc.
One who could take her from a rejected and despised women and transform her into the bride for the King of kings.
I hope to watch less TV and read more books
The women believed the words of Jesus, she put her trust in him and believed him to be the true king, the savior of the world.
I hope to be happiers
She told everyone about him, and because of the living water that was flowing out of her, many others came to believe because of her testimony.
The woman realized that there was nothing else in the world that gave her the hope she found in Christ.
There was no other whom she could hope in without disappointment
I hope to be less stressed
I hope to buy a new house
For only Jesus could take her from a rejected and despised women and transform her into the bride for the King of kings.
I hope to enjoy life more, stop and smell the roses
She saw Jesus as her only hope!
Church, Where is your hope?
I hope to be a more patient mother
Where is Your Hope?
Where is Your Hope?
What are you hoping for in 2020?
I hope to be a more consistent father
What are you hoping for your life, for your children’s lives?
Where is your hope?
Don’t set your hope on discovering happiness
Set your hope on discovering Christ, and he will give you a joy and happiness that will never fade
Don’t set your hope on financial security
Set your hope on God and he will give you a security that will sustain you through any season, no matter how dark or painful.
Don’t set your hope on your circumstances
Set your hope on the one who is sovereign over every moment of every day.
Don’t set your hope on having good health
set your hope on the one who is able to bring you back from the dead
Where is your hope?
5
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Set your hope in Christ, and he will be your anchor for all the trials that are coming your way. And he will be the light that guides you through the darkness.
12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Set your hope in Christ, and he will being you a joy that is able to sing praises in the midsts of the storm
Set your hope in Christ, he will not disappoint.
In him there are no cups of sand, only thirst quenching living water!
Lets pray.