The Living Water
John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsJesus Christ is the Living Water that satisfies the soul of the thirsty sinner
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The Living Water
The Living Water
If you brought your Bibles turn with me over to the Gospel of John chapter 4. The Gospel of John chapter 4 and in a moment we are going to read verses 3-15. The Tittle of the message this morning is the Living Water, because that is what we are going to see in this passage. Jesus Christ is the Living Water that satisfies the soul of the thirsty sinner.
One of the unique things about the gospel is it’s universal. It meets the basic needs of all people. You can go to the highest halls of education and talk to a man with multiple Ph.D.’s and he needs to hear that Jesus died for his sins, and rose again on the third day, and if he puts his trust in Christ he will receive eternal life.
And you can take that same message to the most primitive, illiterate tribesmen in some remote part of the jungle, and he needs to hear that same good news. Since all people are sinners who need to be reconciled to God, the same gospel applies to all of us.
That is the picture we are given here in John’s gospel. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from Jesus Christ is the living water that satisfies the soul of the thirsty sinner.
He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
And He had to pass through Samaria.
So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
“You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”
In our passage this morning we have a woman who was jaded by life. She had been around and around, riding the merry-go-round of life and she was worn out by it all. She had tried drinking from every well the world had to offer and she was left as thirsty and empty as before.
Then one day Jesus Christ showed up at a well outside her little town and He opened her eyes to the fact that she didn’t have to live that way. She could have a new life of forgiveness and grace.
In this story Jesus takes this woman, who was jaded and hardened and He teaches her to trust. He leads her to take a drink of living water from the well of faith. When she does, she discovers that there is more than water in the well of Jesus.
As I thought about this passage it reminded me of who I was when the Lord found me. I was just like this woman. I was looking for something I didn’t have. I was drinking from every well the world had to offer, but nothing was satisfying me. Then I met Jesus and I found out, He is the living water that satisfies the thirsty sinner.
The first thing I want you to show you in this passage is A Tragic Sinner.
This woman’s life was a tragedy because of the way she has lived, and she is an example for all of us of a life lived apart from God.
Look at Vs. 6 and the beginning of Vs. 7. “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.”
Notice how separated she was from her community. This woman came to Jacob’s well to draw water, but she didn’t come when all the other women came. The other woman would come to draw their water early in the morning, before the sun would rise in the cool of the day.
History tells us this well was about a mile outside of the village. Drawing water for your family and carrying it back home was hard work. It was physical. So, they did this before the heat of the day.
Also, the well was a place the women would gather to socialize. This was a place the women enjoyed a few minutes alone to catch up on the local gossip and get away from the pressures of a male dominated society.
So, the question is, why is this woman coming to the well in the sixth hour, at noon during the heat of the day? I think we find the answer in Vs. 17-18, and Vs. 28.
Vs. 17-18 tell us she was a woman with a lot of experience. She had been around the block a time or two. Perhaps, even with some of the men who belonged to these woman. And maybe she was the topic of a lot of their gossip as they drew water from the well.
Also, notice in Vs. 28 when she meets Jesus and wants to tell the people of the city about the Messiah, she doesn’t go to the women, no instead, she ran to the men. It would seem that this woman is an outcast in her own community.
But the greater tragedy here is not only was she an outcast separated from the people in her own village but she was a sinner separated from God.
Jesus tells her that in Vs. 21-22 “ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in 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.”
You see even the little bit of worship that she managed in her life was of no value spiritually, because she didn’t know God.
She is a picture of every person who doesn’t have personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? because the Bible tells us our sin separates us from God.
Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
What a miserable condition to be in. To lack the ability to pray, to worship and to fellowship with God and His people is a terrible tragedy and a horrible way to live. Yet there are so many people in that condition today.
There are people who think they are praying to God, but God doesn’t hear them. Psalm 66:18 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”
There are people who go to church to worship but they cannot worship in spirit and in truth because they are lost in their sin. All of their religious activity is just an exercise of their flesh. It doesn’t reach heaven and it doesn’t touch the heart of the Lord because they are lost and separated from God.
The tragedy of sin is that it dulls our heart so much that we think we have something we don’t. We don’t even realize we are separated from God.
Notice how this woman even tries to argue with Jesus about religion. She uses sarcasm and ridicule to talk about their religious differences. She tries to escape His penetrating questions by bringing up some religious dispute about where they should worship. But through it all Jesus shows her how little she really knows about God, and about worship, and her self.
Notice the little word “if” in Vs. 10. Regardless of what she thought she knew, Jesus points her to the one thing she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know who Jesus is, and that is the main thing. Jesus tells her if she only knew who He is, she could ask Him for living water and be satisfied forever.
What an amazing statement. Left to herself this woman might have died thinking she was right with God when she was spiritually dead. But Jesus reached out to her in her darkness and dispelled her ignorance about Him and salvation.
Has He done that in your life today? Has He brought you to your knees in the wisdom and knowledge of Him.
Someone once said, “what you don’t know wont hurt you.” But I say, “what you don’t know can send you to hell.” Because far to many people are living in ignorance of God. Many people are just like this woman by the well. They know just enough about church to be a danger to themselves.
There are a lot of things you may never know about God that will not prevent you from going to heaven. But if you miss out on the main thing you will not see heaven. What is the main thing?
Acts 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
It is important to understand that churches are filled this morning with people who have learned how to go to church, how to give in an offering, which bibles to buy. How to turn over a new leaf and live a clean life. But they have never learned the reality; salvation comes only through faith in the finished work of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the living water that satisfies the soul of the thirsty sinner.
The next thing I want to show you in this passage is A Tender Savior.
What we see here is Jesus was on a mission of Grace, bringing salvation to Samaria. Notice Vs. 4 says, “He had to pass through Samaria.”
Most Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid Samaria. The Jews hated the Samaritans!! They were considered an inferior race because they were descendants of Jews who had intermarried with Gentiles that had been placed in the land by the Assyrians.
Thank God Jesus doesn’t operate like other men. He didn’t care about their heritage or the hatred of others. He operated in grace. He went to Samaria to this well because He wanted to change this woman’s life and save her soul.
If Jesus had acted like any other Jew He would have passed this woman by. But instead, He brought Grace and Salvation to Sychar!!
Think about it, If you and I, got what we deserved we would have never recieved a second glance from God. But I can thank God this morning because there was a time when Jesus said, “I have to go through Monroe, Michigan.
I thank God He didn’t look at me on the basis of my sinful condition but He looked at me through the eyes of love and grace. He looked at me and what separated me from God and He bridged the Gap I couldn’t cross.
God’s justice demands that we die for our sins, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.” But when justice cried out to be satisfied, mercy answered the call and God sent His Son to die on a cross and take our place.
Now in grace He offers salvation to all who will come and be saved. Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”
It is important we understand that salvation is all about grace. It is not about what you can give or what you can do. It is about Jesus and what He did for you. It is about throwing in the towel and realizing you cannot save yourself. Getting to heaven will never depend on you. You must trust in Him and His grace alone to save you.
Notice how Jesus deals with this woman patiently. He took her from where He found her to where she needed to be. He brought her to a place where she was ready to hear about Him and who He was. Then He revealed Himself to her.
Look at Vs. 26, Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” She had come to a place where she was ready to believe in Him and receive Him.
And the same thing is true in your life and mine. Jesus takes us where He finds us and gently leads us to a place of faith. He stands at the door and He knocks and He patiently waits for the door to be opened so He can come in.
If you are here today and you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ you can look back on your life and see the patient hand of God guiding you toward faith.
Notice the tender gift of the Savior in Vs. 10-14. Jesus promised this woman that He could give her a drink of “Living Water.” He promised her she would be satisfied to the depths of her soul.
Can you imagine how that must have appealed to her? She had tried everything she could to find the satisfaction her soul was missing. Five times she had been married and she was living on the fringes of society looking for happiness. Jesus offers her an opportunity to find everything she has been looking for and more.
Notice the words “drinks” in Vs. 13-14. In Vs. 13 the word drinks is in the present tense meaning; “Even if you keep on drinking this water your going to continue to be thirsty.” But in Vs. 14 it’s in the aorist tense meaning, you only need one drink. You only need one trip to the well and your soul will be satisfied forever.
Let me ask you this, would you rather keep drinking from a world that can never satisfy you or, would you rather take one drink from the living water that never fails, but provides absolute satisfaction.
That is what Jesus is offering us today. He is offering is an opportunity to be forgiven. He is offering an opportunity to be right with God. He is offering an opportunity to miss hell and go to heaven when we die. You may say, “well, what’s the catch?” There is no catch, but there is a requirement.
He requires everything!! He requires we come to Him and acknowledge we are a sinner. He requires we call out to Him by faith. He requires we take His death on the cross as payment for our sins. He requires we believe what the bible says about Him and accept it by faith.
The promise is; if we do that He will save us and satisfy our soul. Jesus Christ is the living water that satisfies the soul of the thirsty sinner.
The final thing I want to show you in this passage is A Tremendous Salvation.
Notice how this woman’s purpose in life changes after she meets Jesus. Look at Vs. 28-29, “ The woman left her waterpot and went into the city and said to the men.” “Come and see a man who told me all things I ever did, Is not this the Christ?”
She has all the information she needs. She forgets about getting water from the well, and now she is on a mission to tell others about the living water she has received. She is different now and she wants others to know they can be different too.
And the same thing is true in your life and mine. 2 Cor. 5:17 says “if any man is in Christ He is a new creation. The old is gone behold the new has come.” Jesus fills our lives with meaning and purpose and the old activities and attraction to sin lose there appeal.
When Jesus comes into your life He changes everything. You walk different. You talk different and you think different. You are a new person from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet and you want others to know they can be different too.
Notice in Vs. 28 the Samaritan woman ran to the men of Sychar to tell them about Jesus. Why the men? Well, because they all knew her. Some of them knew her intimately. The women all hated her but the men loved her. So, she runs to the very people she had shared her life of sin with.
Imagine how shocked they were when she came running to them. Only this time she isn’t coming to talk about a rendezvous, but she is coming to talk about redemption. She isn’t coming to talk about an affair, she is coming to talk about a Savior. And she is coming to the ones who knew her best, so they can be the first ones to see the change in her life.
It is important we understand that when salvation is real there is a change in your life. You old friends and family will see the difference. They may not like it, but they will know you are changed.
Notice how this woman moved from not knowing Jesus to proclaiming He is the Messiah. In Vs.9 He is a “Jew.” In Vs. 11 she calls Him “Sir.” In Vs. 19 she sees Him as a “Prophet.” But by Vs. 29 she has reached a place where she calls Him “Christ.”
How did she go from antagonist to acceptance? She was led there by Christ. In just a few moments He brought her from knowing nothing about Him at all, to seeing Him as her only hope. It was a work of God and a work of grace.
If you expect to ever be saved you must come to a place where you understand that Jesus is your only hope Acts 4:12 ““And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.””
Conclusion
If you have a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ today, you are saved. And just like the Samaritan woman you have discovered there is more in the well of Jesus than water.
There is love, peace, joy, and eternal blessings in that well, and you can praise Him and thank Him for that today.
But if you do know Him, then don’t wait. Don’t put it off. The Bible says, “Today is the acceptable day, today is the day of salvation. Jesus Christ is the living water that satisfies the soul of the thirsty sinner.
Steven J. Cole, 2013, John Commentary Series
Alan Carr, 2015, The Sermon Notebook
Arthur W. Pink, An Exposition of John
