Living Water

Introduction

Injustice in America

Deaths of Black people- Arbury, Floyd, others

really exhausting times, the good news is that there is Good News in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last week we saw Jesus talk about being born again, and how that is the only way you will see the kingdom or enter the kingdom.

This week Jesus reminds us that He is the Living Water.

Read the text:

John 4:7–26 ESV

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” 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? 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 said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

3 Points

1. Jesus gives the Living Water that satisfies completely (John 4:7-14). 2. Jesus is the Prophet who enables true worship (John 4:19-24). 3. Jesus is the Messiah who brings salvation for all (John 4:25-26,28-29,39)

Since we are completely satisfied in Christ, we demonstrate genuine worship in our lives that draws others to want to know Him as well.

Image is nothing, Thirst is everything for many of you, your tastebuds are on fire for an ice cold Sprite. In 1994, Coca-Cola company launched a new branded campaign for for its struggling Sprite product. Sprite sales were falling behind those of Mountain Dew and 7up. This new campaign feature NBA stars like Grant Hill and others who who end every commercial with the phrase, “Image is nothing, Thirst is everything.

I’m sure the Coke company was not thinking about Jesus when they spent millions developing this slogan; This slogan has our text today wrapped around in it. The woman at the well looking at Jesus, and His image was not impressive. She was all into the image that she almost missed out on getting her thirst quenched. Jesus teaches us today that He is the living water; and if you drink from the water He provides, you will never thirst again.

Some historical information on Samaria:

The road of Jesus’ travel through Samaria can be described as the road less traveled. The Jews of his day would not travel through Samaria because they would encounter people outside the covenant. . the unclean. . or as many like to say in our culture “those people over there. The samaritans were the bottom. . the low of the low and Jews would rather pass by Gentiles than Samaritans.

Not our Jesus. . he came for all people. . he came to seek and save those lost. I am so glad that He came for the outcast. I once was an outcast, but God. . i fit the description of what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 alienated, an outcast, dead in my sins, following the ways of the world. . But God being rich in Mercy died so that i could have life.

Philippians says: Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped but he Humbled himself to death on the cross and now has been given a name above every name. . Oh if My Jesus went through the lowly town of Samaria, he can reach in the lowly places in your life. . thats Good news. .

as the songwriter says. . if he has to reach way down. . Jesus can lift you up. . He took the road less traveled

our first point

Jesus gives the Living Water that satisfies completely (John 4:7-14).

Scholars don’t know why Jesus came through. . but he is there and encounters a woman. Its probably High noon, Jesus is exhausted from a long travel, the disciples are out gathering food. . and Jesus is thirsty.

remember last month we discussed the fact that Jesus was fully God and Fully man, (hypostatic UNion) and John shows us the humanity of Jesus here. He is thirsty

this lady comes up and now we have a major problem:

1st- he’s in samaria

2nd- he encounters a woman

3rd - he is Jewish

John 4:9 ESV

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.)

Jewish men did not speak to women in public, not even their own wives. They definitely did not discuss theology with them. However, they were permitted to talk to prostitutes. . well . . . since they were not classified as humane

Jesus talks with her, asks for a drink,

Then it happens he ask for water

Jesus knew that most people had some knowledge of

Jesus says he is the living water. . this straight old testament

Isaiah 55:1–3 ESV

“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. 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. 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.

Jeremiah 2:13 ESV

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.

Zechariah 14:8 ESV

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

she missed out like so many of us. . we seek for water at the wrong well

wells of people, material things, status, relationships. these wells will dry up

the wells are what the Bible would call idols.

many of us balance the best of our days sipping water from wells that will dry up.

we try to fill, as blaise pascal says, the God sized vaccums of our heart with things in this life

Jesus jumps into her life

The New American Commentary: John 1–11 6. The Witness to the Samaritan Woman: A Lesson for the Disciples and a Crucial Confession (4:1–42)

4:16–18 What the woman heard next was the surprise of her life because Jesus related her need for water to the ethics of her sexual activity (4:16). If anyone ever tells you that religion ought to stick to its business of saving souls and stay out of ethical issues of life, do not believe it. That was not the pattern of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and it certainly was not the way of Jesus with this woman. In order to make it possible for the woman to receive the living water about which Jesus spoke, it would be necessary for her to deal with the tragic nature of her sinful life.

we need Jesus to jump all in our mess

are we ok we Jesus probing our lives?

illustration:

We when get the living water our response is worship

Jesus is the Prophet who enables true worship (John 4:19-24)

you see her response, Give me this water! She finally recognizes her need. .

Not quite- jesus unearths for us is before we can worship in spirit and in Truth . .we must deal with the sin in our lives.

True worshipers will worship in spirit and truth

Jesus gives her 3 responses to her question about worship

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John 9. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (4:1–42)

4:21. Jesus’ response to the woman (vv. 21–24) is given in three parts. First, he announces the impending obsolescence of both the Jerusalem temple and the Mount Gerizim site as definitive places of worship (v. 21). Nevertheless, he insists, salvation springs from the Jews, not the Samaritans (v. 22). And finally, he explains more positively the nature of the worship that forever renders obsolete the conflicting claims of Jerusalem and Gerizim (vv. 23–24).

True worship and worshipers

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John 9. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (4:1–42)

The expression the true worshippers does not make a distinction between worshippers after the ministry of Jesus (the true worshippers) and those before the ministry of Jesus (presumably the false worshippers). Both true and false worshipper could be found under the terms of the old covenant, and both can be found appealing to the new covenant as well. Rather, the point is that with the coming of the ‘hour’ the distinction between true worshippers and all others turns on factors that make the ancient dispute between the conflicting claims of the Jerusalem temple and Mount Gerizim obsolete. Under the eschatological conditions of the dawning hour, the true worshippers cannot be identified by their attachment to a particular shrine, but by their worship of the Father in spirit and truth.

God Seeks Those Who Will Worship Him in Truth (vv. 23–24)

“Truth” means that we are to worship what is true about God. In other words, worshiping “in truth” occurs when we worship in accordance with what God has revealed about himself. That is true worship. The converse is also true—true worship does not take place when we do not worship in accordance with what God has revealed about himself. So what we think about God is of great importance. Subscribing to a Biblically-based creedal statement is virtuous, though of course it is possible to mouth the words of a creed and mean something entirely different.

The truth is, the mightiest and most important thought man can entertain is, what is God like? What comes into our minds when we think about God? This is foundational. Our answer not only affects our worship but our living. Every failure in worship, or in doctrine or practice, can be traced back to wrong thoughts about God.

God Seeks Those Who Will Worship in Spirit (vv. 23–24)

God seeks those who will worship “in spirit.” The Greek is quite clear here. It does not say “the Spirit” but “in spirit.” In other words, Jesus is not talking about worshiping in the Holy Spirit. He is talking about worshiping with or in the human spirit. What our Lord means is, he is not only looking for those who will worship him in the truth of who he is, but also in the very depth of their inner being—in spirit. Authentic worship happens only when the very core of our being is employed in worshiping God!

Outward performance may or may not be worship. As Spurgeon said, “God does not regard our voices, he hears our hearts, and if our hearts do not sing we have not sung at all.” Sometimes we sing but do not worship. Sometimes we pray with our lips, but worship does not take place. Sometimes we give, but we do not worship. And sometimes we do none of these things but are in deepest worship! Outward circumstances cannot determine the authenticity of our worship.

worship in spirit and truth means Our lives must be completely consumed with God. . His ways

david reminds us of this in psalms 103

Psalm 103:1–6 ESV

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

Jesus is the Messiah who brings salvation for all (John 4:25-26,28-29,39)

water, leads to worship, leads to