Receive Water of Life

Receive Water of Life
John 4:1-30
August 25, 2024 

     In John 3, Jesus had the conversation with Nicodemus which we looked at last time. Jesus revealed that one cannot be save by works, you have to be born again. Even Nicodemus, who was a “righteous man” upholding the law to the best of his ability did not make the cut.

     Now in the very next chapter, we find Jesus’ famous encounter with the woman at the well.

     He has been in the area of Judea around Jerusalem, but now is heading north to the area around the Sea of Galilee. As He is traveling, it says that He had to pass through Samaria.

     He didn’t actually have to pass through Samaria; in fact, most Jews would go out of their way to go around Samaria, adding an extra two days to their journey.

     The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. The Jews saw Samaritans as the idol-worshipping mix breed between Jews and all the other nations the Assyrians moved into the northern kingdom when they conquered it to dilute national pride.

     Jesus “had to go through Samaria” because God had an appointment for Jesus with a Samaritan woman. What unfolds is an amazing story that reveals the heart of God for sinners in an amazing and powerful way.

     Unlike Nicodemus, this woman was not ‘righteous’, yet the same message applies. Living water is only found in Him.
Jesus in this discussion though, goes one step further. To receive new life, some old things have to go. Let go of things you think are satisfying you, and grab hold of Him, who can actually satisfy.

     This Samaritan woman in many ways represents the spiritual thirst of those without God and without hope. She tries to satisfy her spiritual thirst through relationships with men. She has been married and divorced five times and the man she is now living with is not her husband.

     She had spent her life searching and longing for hope, looking for a prince that would satisfy her life, to give her value and meaning and purpose. She perhaps was at one time a very beautiful woman and thought she could use her beauty to not only attract men, but satisfy her soul.
She has been drinking from the well of relationships to try to satisfy her spiritual thirst. Many have drunk from that well also and know that it cannot satisfy a thirsty soul.

Illus – Isn’t this also the sad state the world finds itself in today. Boys being brainwashed that women are just physical objects, girls being brainwashed that they can only find ‘love’ by playing to that to attract men. Then we have the whole spectrum of the rainbow chasing after love and fulfillment, but never attaining the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

     But there are other wells people drink from and they don’t satisfy either. Some drink from the well of success, or materialism, or pleasure. Some attach to other coping mechanisms that eventually lead them into addiction and ruin. But there is a truth the prodigal son discovered in Luke 15, everything he was searching for was at his father’s house.

     Jesus will offer this woman living water that will truly satisfy the soul.

     Remember that the Jews and the Samaritans did not mix. They loathed each other because of the history between them.

     But Jesus didn’t shy away from reaching out. He stepped into the brokenness, into the politically incorrect to break through with love and truth.
What a great lesson this is for us. We need to reach out to people who are not like us. This is the heart of the Lord. The broken are not our enemies. The broken need a healer. We need to be available to be used when God leads people on our way.

     There is a lot we can unpack from this story and apply to our lives.

I. Know Who is Giving the Gift

Jesus said to the woman, “If you knew who it is who is speaking to you, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Jesus also said, “If you knew the gift of God.” In other words, she doesn’t yet know that He is offering her life. Here He gives us another great example; He engages in a dialogue. He doesn’t just preach at her.

Her responses are sarcastic and flippant. It’s like she’s jousting with Jesus. Maybe it’s part of her general attitude about men; they’re all corrupt, they’re all dogs, they don’t care, they just take and never give.

You find this with those who are hurting and broken. They lash out.

But Jesus is not put off; with patience and love He draws her into a relationship with God. And he does all of this while He is tired from the journey.

Even Jesus in the flesh grew tired. Sometimes ministry can be tiring. Sometimes you might not feel like ministering, tired of pushing against the tide.

But He gives strength to the weary. We read later that Jesus found sustenance and energy from doing God’s purpose. Don’t grow tired of doing what God has told you to do.

A. Every soul longs for relationship

Jesus drew power form His relationship with His Father. Our families, our relationships, are some of the most valuable treasures we have, but they need to be in the right order.

If our relationship with God is nonexistent, our souls are empty or sick and it will inevitably affect all the other areas of our lives.

Many drink from the well of relationships believing they’ll find purpose and value and contentment, but when the soul is sick it never works. It only leads to co-dependency and a distorted relationship with others that is not healthy.

Illus – I recently listened to an interview a Christian talk show host had with a few women, and one of them was an online adult content creator telling her story… Many don’t make it so formal that they make a ‘career’ out of it, but still fall in that trap of chasing that happiness that leads to more brokenness.

The problem is that people want to live in that constant state of the initial falling in love euphoria in their relationships. “I get butterflies when I’m around him, I’m all a flutter, my mouth is dry; my mind goes blank.” Do you really want to live that way all the time?

Some do, but it is a superficial cheap emotion. True deep relationships move past that into deep knowing.

There is a deeper need that needs to be satisfied. Everyone needs the knowing that someone unconditionally loves them. Someone who promised to never leave them, even after death.

Someone that knows the worst about them and are not horrified and offended, but love them through it, and love them enough to truly deeply transform them, a transformation into wholeness aligned with God’s word.

God is calling us into that assured faith, the deep knowing of His love. But how do we get to know that love?

B. Be washed by the word 

Many places in the word, marriage relationship becomes a type of our relationship with God to show certain truths and values.
Ephesians 5:25-27, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory.

Communication is needed to grow in relationship.

Illus- I have a friend who one day phoned me and told me he met the girl of his dreams and that he was going to marry her even though he has only spoken to her online and he has only ‘known’ her for 2 weeks. He was enamored by the euphoria of the illusion of who he thought she was.

How does a husband wash his wife with words?

Illus – There are some interactions where a husband cannot win. It is the rock-and-a-hard-place situations. For example, the question: “Does this make me look fat?”…

One of the love languages is words of affirmation. Actually, we all need that in a relationship. Treat your wife like a treasure. This is how Jesus treats us.

Love is not only revealed through spoken language, but also unspoken language. It is conveyed through words and actions.

You cannot say one thing, but your actions show something different.

Jesus declared His love by His words, but then He backed it up with His actions.

He gave His life for you, He showed His selfless love for you. He came to plant you grounded in His unfailing love so that you would have the security and springboard from which to grow.

When we have that security, it changes everything.

Illus – A trapeze artist can practice with confidence when they know that the catch net is there to catch them when they fall.

We grow in the deep knowing of His love by the washing of the word.

2 Peter 3:18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As we grow in the understanding and revelation of His undeserved love and favor, we stand amazed, are changed and grow in deeper love for Him.

Illus – As a relationship grows in which a husband loves a woman with all His heart, her love for Him grows too. There is a caveat. The heart of the woman needs to be right. She can be a malevolent gold-digger that is not really moved by the love of the husband. That is a deep betrayal.

The difference with God is that He sees the heart. He cannot be lied to. He cannot be mocked. He will not force you to love Him. He will be patiently waiting, and will be right there even after your choice of rejecting Him has crippled you and brought you to the point of despair.

II. The Heart Needs to Change 

Don’t walk that route. His heart is that you would receive His love now and be spared from wondering alone. He wants to give you living water now.

In verse 14 Jesus said, “The water that I shall give him shall become a well of water springing up to eternal life.” What she was looking for all along was found in Him.

A. Receive God’s gift with the right heart

Before this woman could receive this living water, Jesus had to set something straight.

Up to this point she has been sarcastic and flippant and in many ways she’s being cynical. When Jesus speaks of living water, you can hear a bit of sarcasm when the woman says, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t have to come all the way here to draw.”

He responds by putting his finger on the place of her greatest need. With truth He was pushing past her defense mechanisms and barriers, “Go, call your husband and come here.” She responds, “I have no husband.” This reveals her sin, her brokenness, her hurt.

At first, the woman tried to get the focus off of herself by saying, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” And “When the One comes, he will declare all things to us. In other words, I will wait for the Messiah. I don’t want to deal with this now. I will put this off till later.

But Jesus, in grace and love, draws her to a relationship to God. “I am He.”

He is saying, ‘I am here now. I am not a far of concept. I am not somewhere in the future. I am stepping into your life now.’ You must not put this on hold. This can be dealt with now. Life is available now.

Too many people say, I will deal with this later. Maybe one day when I am old and on my deathbed. Because it hurts. But it is always better to deal with a festering wound as soon as possible.

This same woman then goes back to the city, telling everyone that she met someone who told her all of the things she has done. This is the same woman who came in the middle of the day because, as many scholars believe, she was too ashamed of her life choices to come early in the morning with all the other women.

What changed. She found hope. Hope that this Christ, the Messiah, could forgive. By this action she openly confessed her life story.

There can be no change without confession, without coming in agreement with Christ.

B. Let it go 

Jesus is not just something you add to your life; He comes to transform our lives. That means that some things have to go, that’s what repentance is all about.

He wants us to let go of the things that are killing us. If you drink from the well of possessions, or success, or materialism, or co-dependency, or pride, you will thirst again.

Illus – It is like the shipwrecked person drifting in the ocean. The seawater looks tempting, but if you start to drink it, you will get sick. Salt water dehydrates you and makes you sick. The more you drink, the worse it gets, the sicker you get, and you will die if you do not get fresh water.
Mark 8:36, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

If you drink from the wrong well, it only ends in death. You have to let it go.

Illus – There is an interesting trap trappers set for monkeys. They would put a piece of fruit in a jar, but the mouth of the jar is small enough that when the monkey makes a fist around the fruit, he is unable to get his hand out. If he keeps holding on to the fruit, he will be caught. He must let it go to go free.

There is more to let go of. For healing, this woman would have to let go of her past hurts as well. Can you imagine the emotional scars in her heart. All those broken relationships. All that ridicule, heartache, self-loathing.

Coping-mechanisms for hurts manifests as anger, pride, rebellion, sarcasm, wanting to protect oneself from getting hurt again. So many women today are trapped in this, even to the point of hating men.

This strategy would normally keep people at arm’s length, but not Jesus. He came to engage with and to seek and save the lost.

Remember Jesus came to save her because she was lost. He is the only way.

Do not fall into the trap of consumerism Christianity of thinking that God is just an option to help me make my life better here on earth.

Many think they can take a bit of Christianity, but only the parts they like, a bit of Buddhism, some things from new age teachings and mix it together to make my life feel better now. Whatever works. That is a recipe for disaster.
James 3:11-12, Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

This is not what Christ is calling us to. He is calling us to lay down our own agendas, our own lordship, and to be transformed so that we can become holy as He is holy. Being set apart and made whole. Therein lies life.

You do not just add some of Jesus, you abdicate the throne of your life and make Him king of your life. Therein is life. There you find streams of living water.

Jesus is calling. Let go of the things that are slowly destroying you, both in this life and eventually in eternity.

Step into relationship with Christ. Surrender to Him. Be connected into the body, be washed with the word.

Come drink from the well that never runs dry. Be forgiven, be washed, be transformed into the image of Christ. Grow in His grace and love.