Text: John 4:1-30 (NASB)
Introduction: This morning we will begin a series of messages entitled “How to Find Freedom from Sin?” Through this series of messages, we want to teach you how you can be completely free from anything sin in life that has you bound. Out of all of us, here this morning, we can all be sure that we have at least one thing in common. That is, all of us have sinned. Some of us since we have been Christians have never learned how we can be free from things in life that have us in bondage. However, sometimes we classify and justify our sins to the point that we become unaware of the stronghold that they have on our lives.
Good names for these sins are “hang ups.” These are the sins in your life that you ask God to forgive you for, yet you continually go right back to those sins. Sin separates us from God and distances our relationship with God at the same time. As we understand, that sin separates us from God, we must also understand that sins that are hang-ups in our lives can also be the things that can cause us to loose our salvation if we do not allow ourselves to be freed from this bondage.
Do you want total and complete freedom from your sin? Do you want your relationship with God to be like never before? Some of you may say, “What’s the use I will always sin anyways.” To that I answer, “We should be so concerned about becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and growing up to be like him that we desire complete freedom from every sin that has us bound.” We simply cannot grow to the place where we need to be in Jesus Christ if we are in bondage to things that distance our relationship with Jesus Christ.
As we begin the series this morning on “How to Find Freedom from Sin,” I want to tell you that at times I may share some of my personal testimony concerning things that I have bound and/or addicted to in the past. I will also share the results of these battles that I have fought to be free from these sins. I will not be sharing these experiences as bragging but I will be sharing these experiences with the hope that you can see something as ugly and awful as the things that I have done and realize that there really is hope in Jesus Christ.
I also want you to know and understand that although my past sins may seem really bad compared to what you are dealing with, or maybe they are not bad at all compared to what you are struggling with. Regardless of how bad or how miniscule you think your sin may be, sin is still sin and God hates all sin.
If our desire is to grow stronger in our relationship with God then we must draw closer to God. If we are to draw closer to God then we must allow Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness.
I. Two kinds of water mentioned in our text
A. The water from Jacob’s Well
1. The water from Jacob’s Well was a place where one could find water with which to quench a natural thirst.
2. However, the water from Jacob’s Well would not satisfy the spiritual thirst of this Samaritan woman.
3. The natural water from Jacob’s Well would require the Samaritan woman to return to the well every day to have her thirst quenched.
B. The Living Water that Jesus gives.
1. John 4:10-14 (NASB) 10Jesus answered and said to her, "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." 11She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12"You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" 13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
2. What did Jesus mean by “living water?”
a) In the Old Testament, many verses speak of thirsting after God as one who thirsts for water.
b) Psalm 42:1, 2 (NASB) 1As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. 2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?
c) Isaiah 55:1 (NASB) 1"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
d) Jeremiah 2:13 (NASB) 13"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
e) Zechariah 13:1 (NASB) 1"In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.
f) God is called the Fountain of Life.
g) Psalm 36:7-9 (AMP) 7How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. 8They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures. 9For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.
h) By Jesus saying He would bring living water that could forever quench a person’s thirst for God, Jesus was in fact claiming to be the Messiah that He was.
i) Only the Messiah could give a gift that satisfies the soul’s aspiration.
II. The testimony of the Samaritan woman.
A. John 14:16-18 (NASB) 16He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." 17The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, ’I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."
1. Jesus mentioned that this woman had 5 ex-husbands.
2. The Samaritan woman also, apparently from the tone of these scriptures, had a live in boyfriend.
3. This woman could not find satisfaction in any of her relationships so she kept repeatedly going back looking for a new love.
4. I am sure that each time she hoped that it would be her last time searching for someone to be the love of her life.
B. John 4:13, 14 (NASB) 13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
1. Jesus told this woman that her thirst could not be quenched because she was drinking the wrong water.
2. What she needed was the living water that Jesus was ready to give her.
III. Your testimony.
A. What kind of water have you been drinking?
1. If you try to find satisfaction in life or healing from an issue in anything other than Jesus Christ, you too are drinking from the wrong water.
2. If you drink from the sewer water of Satan then you will always come away thirsty.
IV. The way to find true freedom is in drinking the Living Water that Jesus has to give.
A. John 4:13, 14 (NASB) 13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
B. Jesus offered this Samaritan woman living water.
1. If she were to drink the living water that Jesus offered, she would never thirst again.
C. How simple of a solution to the problems of this Samaritan woman.
1. The Samaritan woman only had to drink of this pure living water, that Jesus was ready to give her, and her thirst would be quenched.
2. All this woman had to do was trade the sewer water of the world for the living water of Jesus Christ.
D. The first step of getting deliverance from any particular sin is simply replacing that sin with the things of God.
1. Whatever that habitual sin is that you have quit a million times and kept going back to must be laid to rest at the altar of Jesus and left there.
2. Most of the time, it is not about whether or not we can let go of those sins, but instead, it has to do with our own willingness to let go of these sins.
3. Ezekiel 20:7 (AMP) 7Then said I to them, Let every man cast away the abominable things on which he feasts his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.
4. Isaiah 55:7 (AMP) 7Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundant pardon.
V. How to drink living water
A. Isaiah 55:1-3 (AMP) 1WAIT and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing]. 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy]. 3Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.
1. Food costs money, lasts only a short time, and meets only physical needs.
B. However, God offers us free nourishment that feeds our soul.
1. How do we get it?
C. All of us come who are thirsty.
1. Where do I come to?
D. You come to the living water.
1. Where is the living water?
2. Isaiah 55:2-3 (AMP) 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy]. 3Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.
3. Isaiah 55:2-3 (NLT) 2Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul! 3"Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake. I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the mercies and unfailing love that I promised to David.
E. The water is the Word of God Almighty.
1. Drinking comes by hearing and obeying the Word of God.
2. The Bible is our only true source of refreshment and nourishment,
F. The Samaritan woman had spent her life on things that did not matter or satisfy in the end.
1. In our text, she came to the living water of Jesus Christ.
2. She drank of that water of Jesus Christ.
G. You and I, today have that access to that same living water of Jesus Christ.
1. We are given the answers in the Word of God.
2. Do you drink from the water of Jesus Christ through the Word of God, or do you seek to find the answers and solutions to your problems somewhere else.
Conclusion: Jeremiah 2:13 (NASB) 13"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. The Word of God is a spring of living water. The Word of God is our only source of life, refreshment, nourishment, and satisfaction. The Word of God is always fresh and new, just like a spring. Moreover, to drink of the Word of God is to be satisfied and to receive the gift of eternal life. When you return to your sins and hang ups that is just like trying to drink water from a jar with a hole in the bottom.
John 4:28-30 (NASB) 28So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29"Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" 30They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
After the Samaritan woman drank of the living water that Jesus gave her, she went back in to town. However, she left her water pot with Jesus Christ. Have you left the sewer water of your life with Jesus or do you keep trying to take it back? We can learn to leave the sewer water behind and drink from the living water that Jesus offers us that will always quench our thirst.
