THE GIFT THAT NEVER STOPS
John 4:1-18 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 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." 11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I 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 won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
Prop: There is a thirst in every heart that can only be satisfied by our Creator.
Interrogative: How can man’s greatest need be met by the One who created him?
TS: To answer this, I’d like to make a few observations about man’s thirst & God’s remedy.
I. People Are Thirsty for the Gift of God (13-15)
-Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but the water I give will satisfy one’s thirst.” The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
-This well, from which Jesus once asked a drink, is fed by underground springs, and its water is fresh and cool. Because the water is moving and not from a cistern, the ancients called it "living water" -- a term to which Jesus gave a new and special meaning.
-However, drinking the “living water” from Jacob’s Well will not quench the thirst that people have for God. Obviously, the woman did not at first understand what Jesus was getting at. She did not want to have to come back to this well in the heat of the day to avoid the rejection of others. It was hot, hard work to lower her bucket some 150 feet and bring it back up full of water. It would have been nice to be able to do this early in the morning when it was cool, like the other women of the community did. They would go together and visit with one another while lowering and raising the bucket. It was a social event - kind of like visiting with people you know at the post office or at a local restaurant. This woman, however, was not welcome in these kinds of places, because she was involved in sexual immorality and was living with someone who was not her husband.
-If we were to make a list of reasons why Jesus should not have been talking to this woman, we could probably come up with several things. First, she was a Samaritan. The Jews & Samaritans despised one another, because of a past of bitter rivalry. Some believe that Samaritans were among those who opposed the rebuilding of the temple under Ezra & Nehemiah. The Jews viewed the Samaritans as halfbreeds, and looked down on them with contempt. Secondly, she was a woman. In that culture, it was not proper for a man to speak with a woman unless her husband was with her. It might have been viewed as flirting and was not acceptable behavior. One might think that this is why Jesus told her to go call her husband, so He could speak to her more without appearing improper. However, that seems unlikely, because in the next breath He tells her that she has had 5 husbands and that her current partner is not her husband. It is possible that this woman was a prostitute. At the very least, she had some serious relationship problems and was currently living in adultery. How did Jesus respond to this? Did he tell her she should be ashamed of herself and command her to move out immediately? No, but He did uncover her sinful lifestyle. We can only assume that her life changed after her meeting with Jesus. I believe it did, but the change was made because of the gift of God, not through the disapproval and contempt of God. Does God hate sin? Yes. However, He loves the sinner and is willing to accept him or her just the way they are. [Jn 3:17] His gift will help them become what they were meant to be. This is why Jesus broke nearly every cultural social guideline to reach out to this woman.
-It is interesting that the phrase, “the gift of God,” was used by many rabbi’s to refer to the Torah, God’s law. Certainly, God’s revelation of Himself and His laws was a gift from Him to the Jews. Jesus may have been saying, “If you knew the Scriptures that speak of Me, you would be asking Me for the water that satisfies.” Jesus is certainly using this phrase with much more in mind than simply the OT law, as wonderful as it was. The gift of God in the NT is the new life that a person receives, as a result of hearing the gospel. The gospel is the good news that Jesus died to take care of our sin problem; that He rose again on the 3rd day, and He lives to help us make it through each day. He is the only one who is able to satisfy the deep thirst in our souls. We were created for a relationship with God, but sin kept us from having any kind of good relationship with Him. Jesus took our sin to the cross with Him and made it possible for us to have a right relationship with Him and His Father. This is the gift of God! This is salvation! This is the work of the HS in our lives! And people are thirsty for it, whether they know it or not!
-Some people spend a lifetime drinking from other sources, trying to satisfy their thirsty souls. Pleasure will not satisfy our thirst! Success is not what we need to drink from. Wealth is nice, but cannot give more than temporary satisfaction on a very shallow level. Power & influence may boost the ego, but will never satisfy the thirsty soul. Popularity or fame may seem to be dreams come true, but those dreams can vanish as quickly as the morning mist. Trying to escape from reality by drinking alcohol will never quench the thirst that is deep in the soul of a man. Neither will other means of escape, such as overeating, seeking adrenalin rushes, watching lots of TV or movies, reading excessively, etc. We could go on all morning listing failed attempts at quenching the thirst within.
-However, there is only One who has the living water that will satisfy our dry, empty spirits.
-TS: That is why this next point is so important.
II. People Must Encounter the Giver of the Gift (10)
-If anyone thirsts for the gift of God in their lives, it is necessary that they come to the One who is offering it.
-The disciples all had personal encounters with Jesus. Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. In turn, many other people encountered Jesus through the ministry of Paul and the other apostles. People today will also encounter Jesus through the lives of His followers. It is our privilege and responsibility to introduce people to Jesus, showing them who He is and what He is like. We must help people encounter Jesus!
-We are not the source of the living water that satisfies everyone who drinks, but we can lead people to the water. If we have encountered Jesus in our own lives and received His forgiveness for ourselves, then we know where to bring others who are thirsty.
-As Jesus implied to the woman, “If you only knew the gift of God, and who is really reaching out to you, then you would ask Him for living water that will fill the void that all of your relationships can never fill.
-The gift cannot be separated from the giver. This is not an anonymous gift, but it is the gift of God! God Himself wants to have a relationship with us through Jesus Christ. His gift is what makes that possible, as we already said.
-Let me say that there is no such thing as an impersonal ticket to heaven. A person cannot buy a ticket to heaven, or earn it through sacrifice, good works, or even through martyrdom. The only way to heaven is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If anyone would receive the gift of God, he or she must encounter Jesus, the giver of the gift.
-TS: When a person encounters Jesus, he/she must ask Him for the gift of God. He is more than willing to give it, but He will not force it on anyone. That is our next point.
III. People Must Ask in Order to Receive the Gift (10, 15)
-In v.10, Jesus said, "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."
-In v.15 she did ask, although she did not really know what she was asking for yet. "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
-Jesus was not really speaking about physical water that would magically quench one’s thirst, eliminating the need for drinking water. This sounded good to her, because she did not want to have to come back here and face the heat of the day again, nor did she want to come and face the heat of people’s rejection, because of her sinful lifestyle. In spite of her misunderstanding, she does eventually seem to get it, because we find her going straight to the townspeople and telling them that this could be the Messiah.
-In John 7, Jesus said, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." He also said, “Whoever comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
-Nobody is left out of God’s plan – except by their own choosing / free will. God wants all people to come to Him and receive the gift He has for them. He wants all people to come and ask for the water that satisfies the thirst within.
-John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
-TS: Finally, though we have alluded to it already…
IV. People Who Receive God’s Gift Will Be Satisfied (13-14)
-Have you ever been so thirsty that you just wanted some clear cool water to soothe you? Yes, there might be Coke, or tea, or coffee, or milk, or juice, or other drinks, but sometimes water is the only thing that sounds good to me. I used to work out in the woods, piling brush and thinning trees in the middle of the hot summer heat. My clothes would be soaked with sweat, and I was dirty and smelly, and tired and thirsty. We would freeze gallon jugs of water and take them with us to drink as they thawed out. There were times when I thought I would be able to guzzle the whole gallon at once, because I was so hot & thirsty. I can remember drinking from mountain streams, thinking the same thing- that I could drink the whole stream dry before my thirst would ever be satisfied.
-Well, when our tired, achy, parched souls drink from the living water that Jesus gives, we will find satisfaction. We will know contentment and peace, because all is well with our souls. When a person can truly say, “It is well with my soul,” then you know they have found the source. They have encountered the giver and have asked for and received the gift of God. No longer are they on a quest for fulfillment. If they have found Jesus, they have found what they need for this life and the life that is to come.
-Jesus said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." More than just another drink to satisfy a temporary thirst, Jesus gives water that becomes a spring inside of us. It is the gift that keeps on giving, because it has an unlimited source. Never ending! This living source is the Holy Spirit living within us. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. When someone calls out to the Lord and asks Him to forgive them and lead them, the Holy Spirit makes His home in our hearts. Rom. 5:5 tells us that God has poured His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
-Since the HS lives in the heart of each believer, we no longer have to look around for a well to satisfy our thirst. We have the well of the Holy Spirit- the gift of God- inside of us.
-There is much more to the work of the HS than we can speak of this morning. Asking the Lord for living water is just the beginning. The Holy Spirit desires to fill us and empower us to be witnesses of what the Lord has done in our lives. The Holy Spirit will empower us to work miracles and pray for the sick, but I believe this power flows the strongest in the context of reaching the lost. Rather than forming a bless me club, we need to recognize that the Holy Spirit wants to use us to reach our friends and neighbors. We can build relationships with them and love them the way God does, while also being willing to pray for their needs. God will work miracles through you if you are willing to step out and let Him use you.
Conclusion: As we close, the gift of God is a gift that never stops. People are thirsty for the living water that only Jesus can give. People must encounter the Giver (Jesus) if they want the gift. People must ask for that living water, the gift of God, if they want to receive it. Finally, as many as receive the gift of God are satisfied. They will never again have the need to thirst after the things that do not satisfy, because they have the real thing!
-This is a question we all should consider today: “Do I have the real thing?” “Is the gift of God at work in my life?” “Has my thirst been satisfied, or am I still searching for fulfillment elsewhere?” If so, I don’t want to be unkind, but you will not find what you are looking for anywhere else. An old song says, “Only Jesus can satisfy the soul.”
-Maybe you are a Christian, but you find yourself a bit dry. Your relationship with the Lord really isn’t where it needs to be. One way you know this is that you find yourself looking around for other ways to satisfy your thirst. Let me urge you today, “Don’t go there!” Turn around and make things right with the Lord today! He is the only Savior there is. He is the only source of real life & lasting fulfillment.
-Maybe you need to make some changes in some of these areas today. If you would like someone to pray for you, I would be happy to do so. Maybe you just need to talk to someone who will listen to your story and try to understand your situation. If so, please feel free to speak with me today, or set up a time so we can meet later on. There is hope for your situation, whatever it is.
