SUPERBOWL SATISFACTION?
JOHN 4:13-14
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A small boy was sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later, he hollered, “Daaaad!” “What?” “I’m thirsty! Can you bring me a drink of water?” “No! You had your chance. Lights out.”
2. “Five Minutes later… “Daaaad!” “What?” “I’m thirsty! Can you bring me a drink of water?” “I told you ‘No!’ If you ask again I’ll have to spank you!”
3. Five minutes later… “Daaaaad!” “What?” “When you come to spank me, would you bring me a drink of water?”
4. Kids are cute. But this little boy isn’t the only person who’s thirsty for something.
B. TOM BRADY: A MODERN ENIGMA
1. FACTS ABOUT TOM BRADY
a. At 24, youngest QB in NFL history to win a championship.
b. At 30, he’d already won three Super Bowls.
c. He’s in the Top Five all-time in most passing categories (total yards, completions, touchdowns, et.al.)
d. Most playoff wins of any quarterback in history.
e. His wife Gisele Bundchen is worth more than $400 million (US) – not to mention his own personal worth of approx. $120 million.
f. Presidents invite him to their annual State of the Union addresses. The Pope invited him for a personal audience.
2. FOOTBALL IS HIS LIFE. IS HE HAPPY NOW? HAS HIS INCREDIBLE SUCCESS LEFT HIM EMPTY?
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HeLYQaZQW0
4. “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me? I think, ‘God, it's got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.”
Steve Kroft then asked him: “What's the answer?” “I wish I knew. I wish I knew.”
Steve Kroft asked, “What’s your favorite ring?” The next one is the best,” Brady says. None fulfilled his longing.
5. THINGS DON'T SATISFY! You can do great things, make lots of money, get streets and schools named after you, but in the final analysis, it's what you do for God that lasts!
6. We’re going to read about another person like Tom Brady who searched and found the answer.
C. TEXT
5 So [Jesus] 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 noon. 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 livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them 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.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.” John 4:5-19.
D. THESIS
1. In the 1400s, people believed there existed "The Fountain of Youth." It was thought to be supernatural water that, if drunk, would return a person to youth again.
2. Explorers traveled hundreds of thousands of miles in search of this mythical fountain, that could make them live forever.
3. There never was found such a fountain. But we’ve read about a woman who actually found it – in Christ, Himself.
3. So we’re going to consider this lady’s visit to the fountain, Jesus’ offer of the Gift of God, and our acceptance of God’s gift.
4. The title of this message is “Superbowl Satisfaction?”
I. A LADY’S VISIT TO THE FOUNTAIN
A. THE WOMAN WAS THIRSTY
1. We find this woman making her way to Jacob’s well to get some water. No doubt she was thirsty. But she wasn’t just physically thirsty, she was spiritually thirsty! How do we know?
2. The Lord Jesus revealed in John 4:18, “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.”
3. This woman had gone through five husbands and was currently with another man. Evidently this woman was searching for something but wasn’t finding it. Yet she kept trying.
4. What she was searching for was not a man, but a relationship -- with God. She couldn’t seem to find it.
B. SHE CAME TO JACOB’S WELL
1. She came to the same place for answers as her ancestors before her – Jacob’s Well.
2. “Jacob” means “deceiver” and this woman is a picture of the thirsty world seeking satisfaction in the wrong place, at a deceptive source/ well.
3. She’s like all the people who try to fill their emptiness with personal successes, achievements, with money, sex, friends or hobbies.
4. They may turn to drugs and alcohol, gambling and other lifestyle choices. But at the end of the day, there is still an aching void.
5. There’s a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person that only God can fill!
C. JESUS WAS THERE
1. But this time, beside the deceptive well sat the Son of God, the “fountain of Living Waters.”
2. Jesus pointed out to her that she had come to draw water from the Well that had no life.
4. Jesus then made an eternal declaration; "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." (John 4:10, NKJV)
D. DO WE UNDERSTAND THIS GIFT?
1. My question is – “Are we modern Christians still going to the wrong well for satisfaction?
2. Do we know the gift of God? Do we understand it? Are we availing ourselves of this treasure? What do we really know of this gift? I will try now to describe it.
II. WHAT IS THE GIFT OF GOD?
A. SOMETHING GOD WANTS YOU TO HAVE
1. First, the term "gift" is "dorean," and refers to a free gift. All you have to do to get it is ask for it.
2. Christ alone can fill the void in your life. Nothing else will. Nothing else can. You were made to have a relationship with God and until you embrace Christ as your Savior, there will always be that lack of fulfillment – an inner longing for something more.
B. A GIFT WHICH SATISFIES OUR THIRST
1. What water is to the physical body, the Holy Spirit is to the spiritual body. Just as our physical Body is 80% water and must have it, so our human spirit is composed of spirit, and needs God’s Spirit for spiritual life.
2. LISTEN: Isa. 55:1-3 says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.”
C. THE GIFT WHICH IMPARTS LIFE
1. HUMOR.
a. A man had an operation and the doctor accidentally left a sponge inside him.
b. A friend asked the patient, “Are you in any pain?” He answered, “No, but boy do I get thirsty!”
2. "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14.
D. A GIFT WHICH CLEANSES US
1. When you’re filthy dirty, it’s natural – for most people – to want to get cleaned off. What feels better, when you’re hot and sweaty, than a hot shower/ bath?
2. Spiritually too we are all by nature dirty and need to be cleansed. Even when our sins are forgiven through Christ, we still must be cleansed of our bad habits, impure thoughts, rebellious will, etc. This Gift of God Jesus talks with the wayward woman about does this too.
3. Listen to God’s prophecy for His people, speaking of the Holy Spirit; Ezekiel 36:25, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.”
III. ACCEPTING THE GIFT OF GOD
A. WHAT THE WORLD SAYS…
1. “There are many roads to God. You can take the Buddhism Road, or you can take the Road of Hindism, or you can take the Road of Islam, or you can take the Road of Christianity.
2. It’s true that there are many places with more than one road going to them. But there are also places like Pike’s Peak, with only one car road going to the top.
3. There are many questions with only ONE SOLUTION. SIN is a problem with only one solution – the blood of God’s only Son Jesus.
4. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.
5. Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God…” indicating that if we knew how wonderful this gift is, we’d jump for it! The woman did, “Sir, give me this water!”
B. WHAT JESUS SAYS…
1. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Mt. 11:28-30, Message.
2. That’s why David said, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken” Ps. 62:1-2, NIV.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. An ad for the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company pictured 4 men, the last survivors of a sea tragedy, afloat in an open life boat.
2. They were attempting to catch a few drops of rain in a piece of canvas to quench their tortured thirsts.
3. Yet it turned out, where they drifted, the Amazon River carried fresh water many miles out to sea.
4. To get a drink of clear refreshing water, all they had to do was lower their buckets over the side and take advantage of the great satiating tide that swept beneath them!
B. THE CALL
1. Could it be that we too are thirsty when God offers us His presence and fellowship?
2. Are we searching in the wrong place? Have you given up on making personal contact with God?
3. Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place!
4. Come to the front and let’s ask God to fill us with His Spirit and to fellowship with us!
5. Open the altars. Pray for new fillings.
