Living Water
Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted
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John 4:1-30
John 4:1-30
8. THE WATER OF LIFE
John 4:1–30
There is a difference between desperate faith deliberate faith. If you are like me, you have probably had moments of desperate faith. A modern parable tells about a young man who went off to college—let us call him Todd.
Todd was a Christian, but he got mixed up with a group of students who would get drunk on weekends—a major problem on many university campuses.
Todd did not drink much, but he would pretend to be drunk in order to fit in with the group. One night, the driver was seriously stoned and weaving all over the road on the way back to campus.
Todd was frightened out of his wits—but not frightened enough to intervene and take the wheel. He prayed that God would get him home alive and promised he would never get drunk again.
His desperate faith worked for the moment; he got home safely.
But a few weeks later, the promise was forgotten; he went out with the same group of friends to get drunk again. But just as he was about to take his first drink, he remembered that hair-raising ride as well as his desperate prayer and God’s answer.
He walked out of the party, found another ride back to campus, and never drank again. Desperate faith had led him to pray, but deliberate faith led him to a changed lifestyle.
We need to look back and see God’s hand at work in our lives. Such a faith-history can give us new strength to listen to God, trust his Word, and follow his direction for our lives. The God who helps us through the desperate times should be the object of our deliberate faith.
Every heart contains a God-induced thirst for which the only adequate quenching is the Water of Life provided by Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
Today we will look at a woman who had desperate faith but, like Todd, like me, turned desperate faith into deliberate faith.
Let us pray!
I. THE CHRIST—vv. 1–6
A. Place—vv. 3–4. 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.
Returning to Galilee, Jesus passed through Samaria. The Jews and the Samaritans did not speak to each other.
· Jesus had to pass through Samaria – why? 2 different reasons – shortest distance or Gospel ministry
· Samarians were disliked – mixed group of Jews and Non-Jews
· Tensions usually high between – righteous Jews would not go through thru Samaria because it would make them unclean
B. Person—vv. 5–6. 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.[a]
Jesus, weary and thirsty, stopped at Jacob’s well. It was the sixth hour—12 noon.
· Hot time of day
· Normal routine was for women to gather at well in early morning to draw what they would need.
· This woman comes at one of the hottest times of the day – when no one else would normally be there
John poignantly points out the humanity of the incarnation, Jesus was tired and was thirsty.
So what we have here Point 1 is the Christ – Jesus on mission, with a mission, for a mission, stopping in Samaria and then … Point II
II. THE CONVERSATION—vv. 7–15 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.[b] 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.”
A. Savior—vv. 7–8. Jesus asked the woman for a drink. Normally, the Jews would not speak to the Samaritans.
· Jesus was not racist
· Jesus was not sexist
· Jesus did not look down on those who had sin issues
· Jesus was not economically motivated by whom or where He taught
B. Surprise—v. 9. The woman was surprised that Jesus would ask her for a drink. Jesus looked at this woman as a soul that needed help.
C. C Symbol—v. 10. Jesus used water as a symbol of salvation. Notice the term—LIVING WATER! Enjoyable life—
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Living Water was not foreign terminology – and as Jesus asked
· Do you know the gift of God?
· Do you know Jesus?
· Living Water – A Spring – is the Holy Spirit
D. Salvation—vv. 11–15
1. Problem—vv. 11–12. He had nothing with which to draw the water from the well.
· Like Jesus with no bucket – we have no way to work for salvation
· Like Nicodemus, the woman was spiritually dehydrated
· Like Nicodemus, the woman was literal and spiritually empty
· Both being spiritually lost was the root of their other problems
· Like Nicodemus – she is confused
2. Pardon—vv. 13–15. Jesus was speaking of man’s spiritual thirst. Salvation would be a well of water—everlasting life. When she understood, the woman wanted the water of life.
Point 1 - Christ
Point 2 - Conversation
III. THE CHARACTER— we see the character of the woman vv. 16–26 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.”
A. Sin—vv. 16–18. This woman had had five husbands, and was living with a man, who was not her husband. Jesus knew this.
· She technically did not lie – but didn’t want to take about it
· While in verse 6 we see the humanity side – tired/thirsty – now we see the deity/God side – I know you – I your past, present and your future – I know you secrets and your hurts
· Did not condemn her but did not give permission to continue – He loved her
· He was not harsh – but gentle
B. Savior—vv. 19–20. The woman recognized Jesus as a prophet.
· The Samarians only believed in the Pentateuch – the first 5 books so they recognized no prophets after Moses
· She changes subject from sin to spiritual issue -worship
C. Spirit—vv. 21–24. Worship God through the Spirit and truth.
· The Samaritans had lost a lot by being disconnected from the Word and intermixed through government controlled programs -
· The Jews worshiped God through tradition – they had the Word and knew who was coming.
· But no one can have salvation except through the Holy Spirit being allowed into their lives.
D. Sacred—vv. 25–26. The woman did not know she was speaking to Christ the Messiah.
· Do we know when He is speaking to us?
· Do we try to change the subject like she did?
· Do we just act confused like Nicodemus?
· Do we even allow Jesus to speak to us besides Sunday mornings?
Because Christ
had a Conversation
with a woman whose Character changed through her conversation
Conversation led to Point IV
IV. THE CONVERSION—vv. 27–30 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
A. Surprise—v. 27. The disciples returned, surprised that Jesus was talking to this sinful woman. The disciples saw the sin of the woman -Jesus saw her soul; they did not see her as a soul in need – Jesus did not see her sin as unforgivable!
B. Soul-winner—vv. 28–29. The woman returned to the city, telling the people about Christ.
· She met Christ and was changed
· What did she do first? She told others!
· She instantly became an evangelist
· Recently – who have you told about Jesus and have you told what He did for you?
C. Seeking—v. 30. “So the people came streaming from the village to see him”—LB. This woman became a soul-winner!
· Because Christ changed her – she could not keep it to herself
· Jesus commands us to worship in spirit and in truth – do we?
· Are we more concerned about the words or what others are doing?
· Do we resist worshipping all out because of what someone might think?
· Are we like Nicodemus and the woman – seeking Him or the like the disciples – surprised he is talking to her?
No sin can prevent God from forgiving us if we go to Him
No one has to change, better themselves or get right first before they come to church, come to Jesus
Jesus accepted us as we are where we are, He accepted the woman who she was where she was
Have we been walking so long with Jesus that we have forgotten the change? Are we numb and lacking excitement?
If the last person on Earth you want to see in church walked through those doors right now – would you marvel or celebrate? Whisper or worship?
Let Us Pray