The Offer of Living water
John 4:1-14
Good News Christian Fellowship
BUCAS, Daraga Albay
March 18, 2007
Introduction
It is always profitable for our souls to read about the conversion of a sinner by God’s grace. It is especially profitable to read and study the stories of God’s converting grace given to us in the pages of Holy Scriptures. We should read them often ans study them with care, asking God to teach us the wonders of his grace.
Our text tells us about the conversation of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well. Let’s read the story together. Our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, never changes. What he did for Samaritan woman he still does for sinners today.
I. The Son of God left Judea (Vv. 1-3)
Our Lord was in the midst of the Pharisees. He preached in their streets. But he left for John’s sake. The crowds were coming to Jesus and the Pharisees were using the fact to downgrade John’s ministry. They sought to promote a rift. Rather than revel in this popularity our Lord ran from it, for it was untimely, and would tend to undermine John’s ministry rather than underscore it.
Verse 4 -- And he must needs go through Samaria.
Verses 5-6 -- Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 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.
Take note verse 4. It says, “He had to.” What does it mean? Jesus Christ had to pass through Samaria to Galille.
What compelled Jesus to pass through Samaria, and then come to the city of Sychar? Three things we might say here:
• our Lord may have done so to express His contempt for the narrow bigotry of some of the Jews of His day
• it was the shortest and most sensible route.
• our Lord must pass through Samaria in order to fulfill the purpose of God.
Yes, Christ may have expressed his contempt against the Jews. The Jews have long been in animosity with Samaritan. Christ may have taken the route through Samaria to Galilee to save time.
But from God’s perspective Christ our Savior must or had to come here to meet and save a lost, ruined sinner. The Son of God came here seeking one of those the Father gave to him before the world began. Our Lord must pass through Samaria in order to fulfill the purpose of God: to seek and save the lost.
In chapter 4 verse 34 we read, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.”
Fulfilling God’s will—providing and proclaiming salvation (even to the Gentiles!)— was our Lord’s primary purpose and calling.
This is not a chance meeting, a lucky break, but it was nothing of the kind. The woman did not come to the well seeking Christ; but He came to the well seeking her.
She came to the well at noon (the sixth hour of the day), in the heat of the day, when it was most likely that no one else would be there, because she was a woman with a name and a reputation which made her the object of great scorn. Yet, she came at this hour because this was the hour fixed by God to save her.
Circumstances may have brought the woman to the well. She is in need of water. So she had to go to the well to draw water. However, the Sovereign God works even through the occasion of her needs.
II. He ask for a drink.
Verses 7-9 -- There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
He asked her for a drink of water because he was thirsty. The journey from Judea to Sychar was a hot and dusty one. After a grueling 20 miles, our Lord was tired, thirsty, and hungry; but the thirst he had come to quench was his thirst for her soul. His request was designed to get her interest and attention.
This Samaritan woman would never have come to Christ, had he not first crossed her path and come to her. And you will never come to him, unless he steps in your way, steps into your life, crosses your path, and comes to you. Oh, may he be pleased to do so!
The woman came to draw water, and Jesus initiated a conversation by asking her for a drink of water.
In asking her for a drink of water, Jesus catches this woman completely off guard. Jews did not share eating or drinking utensils with Samaritans. The woman cannot help but inquire of Jesus why He would ask the unthinkable. Our Lord’s willingness to cast aside cultural barriers gets this woman’s attention.
The woman can’t imagine a Jew and a man will ask of her for water. She was surprised, that’s why she responded, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask of me for a drink?
Illustration: The century old cultural and racial barriers between Israel and Samaria
With this background in mind, let us consider the process by which the woman at the well is brought to faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The woman is now willing to converse, paving the way for further penetration with the Gospel.
III. Lord worked upon her sense of curiosity
Verse 10 -- Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Our Lord’s answer is far from what this woman expects to hear. Jesus does not explain how He can ask to drink water from her cup. Instead, He immediately seeks to show her that she is the one in need of “water,” and that the “water” He gives is vastly superior to the water she can give.
Notice the elements of this revelation.
• First, our Lord moves from literal water (a drink of water) to a “spiritual” water—the salvation which our Lord offers this woman.
• Second, Jesus indicates to this woman that there is something of which she is ignorant. She knows neither the “gift of God” nor the identity of the One speaking to her.
Things we have to note here is that: The living water is “the gift of God.” This is something that we don’t deserve and earned at all. It means it is freely given.
Salvation is to be had for the asking. – “Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
The woman had never received the “living water” because she had never known about it and had never asked for it. It was now available for asking. Christ is willing to pour out this living water of grace, salvation, and eternal life to sinners in overflowing superabundance! “Ask and ye shall receive.”
Notice here in verse 11, the woman didn’t understand about the “living water” and the identity of the One who claim to be.
Now notice again in verses 12-13, Jesus Christ speaks of literal water to a “spiritual” water – the salvation which our Lord offers this woman.
The woman did not yet understand what the claim was, but she knew He was alluding to something.
IV Lord Jesus declares the only water that will quench thirst
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14)
“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” The thirst that is in you, the thirst of your soul is too deep to be quenched by the waters of this world. Have you not found it to be so?
• Materialism
• Wealth and Position
• Fame and Honor
• Religion and Philosophy
• Lusts and Pleasure [2]
But that person who is born of God, who receives the water of life, who has the grace of God, the Spirit of God, the Christ of God, and the light and life of God in his soul, shall never thirst again (1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 2:9-10).
Men know immediately how to quench their physical thirst, but their spiritual thirst is a different matter. Within their hearts men sense a thirst for:
• Purpose
• Meaning
• Significance
• Satisfaction
• fulfillment
The “water” of which our Lord speaks is vastly better. This “water” permanently quenches one’s thirst. The one who drinks His “water” will never thirst again—and this “living water” produces eternal life.
Conclusion
There are so many things we can learn from our text. However, let me just point out some of them.
First, take note that God had purposed to save the Samaritan woman. Jesus’ heart beat for the outcast, the lonely and distressed–the people for whom no one else cared. What an encouragement for us that God first come to us, not us did come to Him.
Secondly, we learn that Jesus always respects all people, believes they are important, treats them kindly, and engages them in conversation. By Jewish standards this woman was the last person they wanted to see in their covenant fold. But Jesus loved her.
Thirdly, we learn that Jesus did not condemn her. Instead, Jesus talks about her need to have her social and spiritual thirst satisfied.
Christ offer us the spring of living water.
“The spirit and the bride say, “come!” And let him who hears say, “come!” Whoever is thirty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life’ (Rev. 22:17)
Let us pray.
