Gatorade for the Soul

Introduction

A few weeks ago we had a really bad storm at our house. In fact, it was so bad that around 2am my wife and I took our kids down into the basement to sleep because we thought a tree was going to fall on the house! The next morning when we finally awoke and walked outside to survey the damage, there were a number of trees laying in the yard, a couple of which were really big. So after everything cleared up we set to work with the chainsaw and for several days we cut brush out of our yard and cut up the fallen tree for firewood. The first day wasn’t so bad because the weather was cool, but after a couple of nice cool days the sun came out and the temperature climbed substantially! On about our fourth day of cutting and splitting wood it started getting REALLY hot and so we had to take a lot of breaks. That particular day, around lunchtime, I began to feel as though my body was beginning to just wear out and the more I worked the worse it seemed to get! So, I stopped for a few minutes to take a break and then it hit me, I hadn’t been drinking anything to keep fluids in my body and I was beginning to get dehydrated. About that time, here came my wife with a huge bottle of gatorade which I guzzled down promptly. As I sat there feeling that cold liquid run down my throat and hit my stomach I felt the life coming back into me. It was actually a pretty amazing feeling and I’m sure some of you have experienced that feeling too! Did you know before you and I come to Christ we’re like that spiritually? That’s right, we need some gatorade for the soul! In the text we’re going to look at, Jn. 4:1-26, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well who needed gatorade for her soul and what Jesus said to her prompted her to ask some important questions that all people need to ask. Let’s take a look at the text.

John 4:1–26 ESV

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. 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

The Situation

Have any of you ever entered the room in the middle of a conversation, only to wonder about exactly what’s being discussed? The problem is that you need some background information. The point is that you’ve got to read the first three chapters of John’s Gospel to really get what’s going on here. Up to this point in John’s Gospel we’ve heard a lot of testimony from John the Baptist concerning Jesus. We’ve seen Jesus begin to call his disciples, and we’ve also seen him turn water into wine and clear the temple courts. Lastly, we heard about Jesus meeting with a Pharisaical scholar, Nicodemus, after which we heard John testify one more time about why a person should follow Jesus. If you haven’t noticed this guy named Jesus seems to be gaining popularity, which is why in Jn. 4:1-3 Jesus made the decision to head north back into Galilee. Now, this wasn’t just a leisurely pleasure stroll, no, it was a three day trip on foot which is why you read in Jn. 4:6 that Jesus was worn out from the journey. Now, traveling the way Jesus did, it required him to pass through Samaria, and even the most simple study of Jewish history will inform you that the Jews didn’t have much for the Samaritans (The Parable of the Good Samaritan). So, with that in mind you can rest assured that any Jewish person who heard or read this account would have been awestruck when they came to Jn. 4:7 where Jesus begins to talk to the Samaritan woman at the well, asking her for a drink of water.

(Appeal)

Now, while I think Jn. 4:1-8 presents us with the set up for the information we’re going to discuss, I also think it presents us with a good lesson on how to evangelize. Did you notice that Jesus simply struck up a conversation by asking a question? Sometimes the most simple gesture like a smile or question can open the door for you and I to share, and here Jesus is using a simple situation like needing a drink of water to share the gospel.

Jesus’ Reply Initiates Three Questions

John 4:9–10 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.”

In Jn. 4:10 you see Jesus reply to what the Samaritan woman said, after all, she was just as shocked as anyone else that she, a Samaritan woman was being spoken to by him, a Jewish man! Take a look at Jn. 4:10, “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.” This reply, given by Jesus, initiated three questions / responses on the part of the Samaritan woman and it should initiate the same for listeners today. First, where do you get this living water? (Jn. 4:11) Second, what is this living water? (Jn. 4:15) Third, who is this man that he can give living water? (Jn. 4:19, but presupposed in all the others). Let’s starts with the woman’s question in Jn. 4:15.

Where do you get this living water?

John 4:11–14 ESV

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.”

The first question / response of from the Samaritan woman is found in Jn. 4:11, but in order to really grasp her question you’ve got to look at what she says first leading up to to it and then what she says after. Her response to Jesus is really interesting because it seems that she caught his double meaning in Jn. 4:10 (in that verse Jesus associated the gift of God with “living water”, yet he’s obviously thirsty from his journey and in need of a physical drink of water); look at how she responds in Jn. 4:11, “Sir, “you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.”, then comes the question, “Where then do you get this ‘living water’?” Then she keeps going, after the question she’s just asked by saying, in Jn. 4:12, “Are You greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” What do you think is going on here? Well, from what Jesus has said to her, and the way she has responded to him, I would be willing to say that she realizes that there is something “different” about this man she’s talking to. I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch to say that she’s a little curious. Why else would she ask, “Where then do you get this ‘living water?” You see, because of what Jesus has said this Samaritan woman has realized that someone besides Jacob would have to give her this water, but the question for her at this point is who? Jesus answers her question with his response in Jn. 4:13-14. (Read Jn. 4:13-14) Notice, in Jn. 4:14, that the person giving the living water is referenced by the first person pronoun “I” which Jesus is using to refer to himself. He, Jesus, is the only one who can give this living water! Now, what’s amazing about Jn. 4:14 is that is could literally be translated, “Whoever drinks of the water which I will give to him (will) never not be thirsty for eternity ...” Friends, that double negative “never not” (οὐ μὴ) points to the fact that when a person gets this “living water" they don’t lose it, they keep it, and they keep it for “eternity”. So, where could this Samaritan woman get this living water? It could only be found in Jesus. And so it is for the sinner today, we must come to Jesus to get living water because it’s available from him, and only him! There is no other way!

(Appeal)

Have you come to Jesus for living water? Did you know he is the only source from which it flows? If not, he offers it to you freely.

What is this living water?

John 4:15–18 ESV

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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

When Jesus says what he says to the Samaritan woman in Jn. 4:14, it prompts a response from her which is found in Jn. 4:15 that actually has a question as its core. Look at what she says, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw. water.” This comment finds as its core the question, “What is this living water?” Now, what’s very important here to see is that even though Jesus has actually already answered this question in Jn. 4:14, the woman still doesn’t understand; she’s still equating living water with something she can, in and of herself, “get”. The point is that as of yet, she doesn’t see herself as really “needing” this living water so much so as simply wanting it because it sounds like something that’s interesting. Now, I want you to look carefully at what Jesus does in this situation because I really think this has a bearing on how we share the gospel with unbelievers. Take a good look at what Jesus does in Jn. 4:16-18. Jesus doesn’t give this woman a lesson in systematic theology nor does he give her a scalding rebuke about how much of a sinner she really is, although he certainly could have. No, what Jesus does in these verses is he shows this Samaritan woman (who is a sinner just like you and me) her need for living water. How does he do it? In Jn. 4:16 Jesus tells the woman to go get her husband, to which she replies in Jn. 4:17, “I have no husband.” Look at what Jesus says next, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” Do you realize what Jesus has just done? He has convicted this woman; he has exposed the underlying sin that is in her heart; he has shown her she is in need of something that will change her, and what will do that? Nothing short of a new life that comes only through the new birth that takes place through the life giving power of the Holy Spirit. What is this living water? It is the washing away of sin through the blood of Christ. This is what all of the OT prophets looked forward to; the time when God would place the Spirit in his people. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about when he told Nicodemus in Jn. 3:5, “unless one is born of water and the (there is not def. art. in Gk) Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (Do you remember that I told you that some people try to take Jn. 3:5 as a reference to natural birth as opposed to spiritual birth? Well, this shows you why that interpretation will not work. The water Jesus was speaking of there as well as here is the exact same thing! It is the giving of the Spirit!)

Who is this man that he can give living water?

John 4:19–26 ESV

19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Just like the last time, what Jesus says to the Samaritan woman prompts a response in Jn. 4:19, and as before the response is based upon an underlying question, except this time the question has been on the woman’s mind from the moment she first met him. “Who is this man that he can give living water?” Now, Jesus is going to answer that question straight forwardly in Jn. 4:26, but before he does he’s going to quickly show her who he is before simply telling her. In Jn. 4:19 the woman says she “perceives” or she has become aware of the fact that he is a prophet, then she starts talking to him about where one ought to worship. Jesus response to her in Jn. 4:21-24 tells her and us three things about who he is, 1) Jesus is the true temple. The Temple in Jerusalem is about to become obsolete because he is going to replace it. We don’t need it anymore and to teach that we do is to contradict what the author of Hebrews teaches concerning the finality of Jesus’ sacrifice. 2) Jesus is the true Jew,; he is the fulfillment of all OT Israel was supposed to be in that salvation comes from the Jews, i.e. salvation comes from Abraham’s seed (singular Gal. 3:16) who is Jesus. 3) Worship will no longer be tied to a sacred site. The point? Jesus is the fulfillment of all of this! How so? In his resurrection; Paul tells us so in Acts 13:32, “And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, ...” Lastly, all of what Jesus has said to the Samaritan woman leads us to Jn. 4:26, where Jesus literally says concerning his identity, “I am the Messiah”, lit. Ἐγώ εἰμι “I am” in Greek. Now what is the importance of that statement? When God told Moses to go get the children of Israel out of Egypt, who did God tell Moses to tell the people had sent him when they asked Ex. 3:14? “I am”. Friends, this woman was speaking to God in the flesh! Now ask yourself this question, “Who is this man that he can give living water?”

Conclusion

Church, we all need “gatorade for the soul”, we all need this living water of which Jesus is speaking. My question to you in conclusion is this, have you had gatorade for you soul?

Invitation

Prayer