“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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.’ 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.’ He told her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.’ ‘I have no husband,’ she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. 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.’ ‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.’ The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he’" (John 4:13-26, NIV).
In the sermon “God Gave Gift – So Desirable!” we realized that God’s “gift” is so attractive, so desirable than any valuable gift in this world.
It’s excellence is extra appealing, because it refers to the Creator of all the good things Himself – the Spirit of God – also called the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:19; 1 Peter 1:11).
We also read, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32, NIV.) God the Father gave His only Begotten Son – and His Spirit remains in the believer. Indeed we can refer to this “gift” as the “Good Gift” for Jesus said: “No one is good – except God alone” (Luke 18:19, NIV).
But if it’s really good then why do we read such verse as “Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since YOU REJECT IT and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles’” (Acts 13:46, NIV)?
Also, in the case of the two criminals with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion – both heard when Jesus called God, “Father… “ and asked that others would be forgiven (Luke 23:34, NIV). Both heard that He “saved others” and He “is the Christ of God, the Chosen One" (verse 35). Both also heard He was “the king of the Jews” (verse 37), but one of the them insulted Him (verse 39).
Could we really reject a good gift – especially the glory of the Good Gift – the value is incomprehensible?
Is it because of the so-called “Free Moral Agency” – which according to others is "the highest of all gifts" of God to men that we are able to neglect or even shun away God and pursue other interests and pleasures?
However, the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “If you KNEW the gift… and who it is that asks… YOU WOULD HAVE ASKED him (for the gift)…” (John 4:10, NIV.) If you really know the Gift and Giver – or if you know that the Gift is actually the Giver – you will not decline to have it; rather, you will yearn to have and ask for it!
He did NOT say, “If you knew the gift, you would be able to reject it!” or “… you could choose to go without it!”
We have to know the “gift” – to know that the gift is good -- in order for us to desire and ask for it.
The Great God, whom we identified as the genuine Good Gift, gave so much importance that we know Him.
We read in Jeremiah 9:23-24, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: THAT HE UNDERSTANDS AND KNOWS ME, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD” (NIV).
Also in Hosea 6:6, “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (NAS). The New Living Translation renders it: “I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices. I want you to know God, that’s more important than burnt offerings.”
Listen also to Apostle Paul, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of KNOWING CHRIST JESUS my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may GAIN CHRIST” (Phil. 3:7-8, NIV).
And according to His word, those who do not know Him and thus would not receive the Gift would suffer severely at Christ’s return. “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed…” (2 Thess. 1:8-10, NIV.)
That’s why to those people whom the Son will give eternal life – to those whom the Father have given to Him – what did He do to them?
Jesus prayed, "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world…” (John 17:6, NIV). In verse 26, we also read: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them" (NIV). He revealed – He made known to them the Father.
He also said, “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to WHOM THE SON CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIM” (Matt. 11:27, NIV).
Notice in the 4th chapter of John that Jesus made known the “gift” to the Samaritan woman before she was able to ask for it (John 4:15). How did He “unwrap” -- reveal or make known -- the “gift”?
He said in verses 13-14, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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" (NIV). According to Him, His gift will bring complete satisfaction and contentment. You will be truly satisfied – “will never thirst.” What we normally pursue and long for to have -- what we thought the good gift in life -- will not bring us permanent satisfaction – we “will be thirsty again”!
Jesus continued to reveal the “Gift” to the woman, "’Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth’" (verses 19-24, NIV).
The woman realized she was dealing with a prophet, that God the Father could be worshipped not just in a particular mountain or in Jerusalem, that the Father is seeking for true worshippers and that He is spirit… And finally, He made plain that He Himself was the “Gift” – “"I who speak to you am he" (John 4:26, NIV).
The more you know the goodness of the gift, the greater your desire to gain or possess it.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God was also making Himself known to His chosen ones. Try to read chapter 40 through 66. If you want to become acquainted with the Gift, you will examine closely those chapters.
Let’s read a portion of chapter 40, “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (verses 9-11, NIV).
Let’s taste also chapter 43. “’You are my witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed -- I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?’" (verses 10-13, NIV.)
Now, let’s go back to the 4th chapter of John. After, Jesus made known the Gift to the woman she asked to have “it” (John 4:15). She realized the value and the benefit of the gift, so she wanted to have it – not reject it.
As Jesus had chosen to reveal Himself (Isa. 43:10) to one of the criminals, he said: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom" (Luke 23:42, NIV).
And if you are one of “those to whom the Son chooses to reveal” the Father, you will also come to Him – believe Him – receive Him – and experience the complete and permanent satisfaction in the “rest” He will give. And as you take the Gift, you will learn more about His Goodness – He is “gentle and humble in heart” and His yoke “ “is easy and (His)… burden is light” (Matt. 11:27-30).
In Acts, there was a story about a woman named Lydia who heard the message of Paul. And God did something to her, as we read in chapter 16, verse 14: "One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message" (NIV).The last part is rendered by ESV this way, "...The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul."
While God revealed Himself, He also enabled us to grasp and respond to Him.
In John 4, as Jesus continued to reveal Himself (verses 21-26) to the woman and she realized the excellence of the Gift – what else did she do?
We read, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’” (verses 28-29, NIV.)
She left “her water jar” – she left what gave her the temporary satisfaction – what we believe is the good gift in life – then, she “went back to the town…” and told others to behold the Good Gift – what will give them rest, satisfaction and joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8)!
As Paul wrote, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we PREACH CHRIST crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:22-24, NIV). And in 2 Cor. 4:5-6: "For we do not preach ourselves, BUT JESUS CHRIST AS LORD, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ’Let light shine out of darkness,’ MADE HIS LIGHT SHINE IN OUR HEARTS to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:5-6, NIV).
He also wrote, “…The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, CHRIST IS PREACHED. And because of this I rejoice” (Phil. 1:18, NIV). For him, what is important is to preach the Good Gift!
That’s why the Gospel is good, because God – the Good Gift – is being proclaimed.
Isaiah wrote: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’" (Isa. 52:7, NIV.) We could enjoy peace and salvation, if “God reigns” in our life.
Also, again in chapter 40 of Isaiah, we read: “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’"
Jesus Christ – God in the flesh – came to die and suffer for His people, so the barrier –- sin -- that separated Him from them would be removed and they would be able to experience the real and permanent joy in His presence!
If God “unwrapped” His Gift – made known His Excellence – to you and opened your spiritual eyes to see the Light, you could not afford to refuse the Gift. Not because you would be coerced to receive it, but because of His Beauty and Splendor, you would be so attracted and choose to have it!
You will surely long for to have Him and to have more and more of Him. Your appreciation and joy will surely overflow from your being and you’ll even be willing to leave what you are now deriving temporary pleasure, just you could proclaim also to others the Incomparable Gift – who could provide rest, peace, satisfaction, contentment and joy forevermore!
Let’s really treasure He dwells in us. Let’s ask Him to fill us with His Spirit. Let’s ask and praise Him for the Good Gift.
PRAYER: Our Glorious God – whose Magnificence triumphs over our “darkened” choice – continue to manifest Yourself to those whom you have chosen. Let our hearts overflow with joy and rest in satisfaction as we have You as our Gift – the Good Gift, the Good Shepherd, the Good Lord. Help us to become more acquainted with Your Son and behold better Your Excellence. In His Name, we pray, Amen.
