Living Water And Hidden Food Series

Living Water and Hidden Food

John 4:10-34

The rule of threes. Do you know about this? If you were a survival expert, you would. The rule of threes says you can go about three weeks without food, three days without water, three hours without shelter, and three minutes without air. Let me repeat that, three weeks without food, three days without water, three hours without shelter, and three minutes without air.

So food, water, shelter, and air are important. Without them you will die. Today we will look at two of them, water and food.

John chapter 4 tells the story of the woman at the well. We will not read all the verses in this chapter because it is a longer story and I am sure most of you know it. We will however look at the parts of the story where Jesus talks about water and food, more specifically, living water and hidden food. Do you know about these? Do you know what they are? I have titled this sermon just that, living water and hidden food.

In this passage Jesus was at a well in Samaria. His students had gone off to buy food in the city. A Samaritan woman came to get water from the well and Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman replied, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can You ask me for a drink?” Our first point comes from Jesus’ answer.

1. If Only You Knew God's Gift

John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“If you knew the gift of God,” this is what Jesus said to the woman. “If you knew the gift of God.” God has a gift. Many people don’t know about this gift. There is a treasure for them and they don’t know it. They haven’t found it.

Have you heard of the book entitled “The Secret”? It has twelve pictures and twelve riddles that tell the location of twelve treasure boxes buried in the United States. The book was first published in 1982. Only three of the twelve boxes have been found. The author was killed in a car accident so the one person who knows the actual locations is dead. The pictures and riddles are not easy to solve. Many people have tried. There is even a website that helps. It compiles many of the guesses that people have made about the clues and lists all of the cities where they think the treasure boxes are. Wichita is not one of them. But they could be wrong.

What is the treasure? A plexi-glass box with a ceramic casque in it. Inside the casque is a key that can be exchanged for a jewel worth around a thousand dollars. That's it. All you have to do is find one of them. The relatives of the author will still give out a jewel to anyone who finds a box.

God has a much greater treasure. If only people knew the gift of God. They don't have to search for it. They don't have to figure out any riddles. It is much more valuable than a jewel. And it is free. Just ask for it. Most of us have received this gift from God.

I think that it is more than just salvation. It includes it, but there is more to God’s gift. God’s gift includes all of the things that God wants to give us for free. He has actually already given us these things. We have them.

Is it not true that we have no idea of the value of this gift? We don't think about. If only we knew the gift of God. God has a very valuable gift for you. If only you knew it.

But the gift is not the only thing that Jesus mentioned.

2. If Only You Knew Who Jesus Is

Verse 10 says, “If you knew the gift of God AND who it is that asks you for a drink.” If only you knew who it is that asks you for a drink. We know everything about Jesus, don't we? Or do we? If only we knew who Jesus really is.

Take the most popular person in the world. Take the most valuable person in the world. Take the best person in the world. Take the nicest person in the world. Take the smartest person in the world. Roll all of these into one person. That doesn't even come close to who Jesus is. If only we knew who Jesus is. Maybe we should spend some time thinking about that, who Jesus really is.

The gift of God and who Jesus is, these set the stage for what God wants to do for us. If only we knew.