Good morning church! Hope you’re doing well this morning. If you’ve been tracking with us, you’re aware that we have been going through a series titled Believing and Knowing Jesus from the Gospel of John.
And what we’ve realized is that this believing and knowing doesn’t simply mean believing in facts about Jesus or knowing facts about Jesus.
I can believe in a lot of facts about Jesus and still not surrender my life to Him. I can know a lot of facts about Jesus and yet not know Him personally. There’s a stark difference between believing facts about Jesus and truly believing in Him. There’s a stark difference between knowing facts about Jesus and truly knowing Him. That’s the journey that we have begun through the Gospel of John.
And so even today we are going to ask ourselves the same questions as we look at this well known passage. Do I really believe and know this Jesus who is revealed in today’s passage? Have I really surrendered my life to this Jesus who is revealed in this passage?
And so before we begin, let’s ask the Spirit to soften our hearts, and to help us understand & apply this passage to our lives this morning.
Jim Carrey – the famous Hollywood actor and comedian once famously said “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see it’s not the answer”.
So profound! The reason why we take this quote seriously is because Jim Carrey attained it all. He’s attained all the riches and fame in the world. With all of his power and influence, he can get hold of anything that he wants to get hold of and he’s saying that none of these is the answer to life. None of these can satisfy our hearts. All of these things that we often chase after will leave us empty. And so then what can satisfy us?
Well today’s passage is an answer to that question. In today’s passage, Jesus reveals Himself as the only One who can truly satisfy us. He is the Giver of Living Water.
Let’s jump into John 4:1:
[1] Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John [2] (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), [3] he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
This is connected to last week’s passage where we see that Jesus kickstarting His earthly ministry and it was gaining traction. In fact a lot of the crowds were now going to Jesus and His disciples rather than John the Baptist.
And so John the Baptist’s disciples were intimidated by that and they thought that they were losing influence and they went up to John and aired their grievances to him.
And John tells them that Jesus is the bridegroom and so if people are going to Him, then he rejoices in that because that’s the way it should be. The bride should be with the bridegroom. John the Baptist was simply the friend of the bridegroom. He must increase, I must decrease. And so we saw John’s humble view of his own ministry.
And in these first three verses, we see Jesus’ view of his own ministry. Jesus wasn’t interested in the popularity and fame game. At a time when His ministry was growing and gaining traction. At a time when the religious leaders were beginning to take notice of Jesus, He leaves the area and goes to Galilee.
We can see that Jesus wasn’t in for this popularity game. Jesus wasn’t sidetracked by the growing fan following. He had a clear cut purpose for why He came to the world, and He was sticking to it.
[4] And he had to pass through Samaria.
It was necessary for him to pass through Samaria. Now this might seem like a simple fact, but there’s more to it. Because of the context. Jews and Samaritans were hostile enemies. Jews hated Samaritans.
They couldn’t stand them because they saw them as unclean people. Because Samaritans were children of Jews intermarrying with foreigners who had settled in their land.
On top of that, to make matters worse, the Samaritans had their own temple on Mount Gerizim. They had their own version of the first five books of the OT. They had their own version of Israelite history.
To use a loose modern example, their relationship was like that between India and Pakistan. Tensions were always very high between both people groups.
Jews would do everything they could to avoid interacting with a Samaritan (which is what is written in v9 also). If it meant that a Jew would need to take a longer route, they’ll do that just to avoid interacting with a Samaritan.
In that context, for Jesus to choose to go through Samaria was a huge deal. You can imagine the disciples of Jesus trying to talk him out of it. But no, Jesus had to go through Samaria because there was a divine purpose behind this journey.
[5] So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. [6] Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.
Jesus was fully human just as He was fully God. He experienced weariness and tiredness and exhaustion just like us. So whenever we experience that in this life, we should know that Jesus understands and relates with us.
It was about the sixth hour. [7] A woman from Samaria came to draw water.
It was around 12pm. What’s interesting is that that’s not the usual time when women came to draw water. They would usually come to draw water in the mornings or in the evenings when it would be cooler. This Samaritan woman seems like she’s coming to the well at a time when no one would be around. She wanted to avoid the public eye.
Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” [8] (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) [9] The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Jesus initiates the conversation with this Samaritan woman and she’s taken aback by that. Firstly because of the heightened tensions between Jews and Samaritans.
But also, it’s because she was a woman. They lived in a very patriarchal society where it was forbidden to not speak with any woman on the street, not even their own wives.
Which is why her response was of shock and surprise. What Jesus was doing at that moment was something radical! He was engaging with a woman who was also a Samaritan. He was breaking all kinds of barriers and traditions at that very moment.
[10] Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
And so Jesus was basically telling her that if she really knew who it was who was speaking to her, she would ask him and he would give her living water.
What is this living water? It’s the only thing that can satisfy the deep longings of our hearts. For that we have to turn to a passage from OT.
Jeremiah 2:13 ESV
[13] for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
In this passage, what is God referring to Himself as? Fountain of Living waters. God is telling His people that He is the source of abundant living water. He is the source of abundant soul satisfying water.
But instead of going and drinking from the fountain of abundant living water, what have God’s people done? They are trying to drink from man made broken containers which have no capacity to hold water. These containers are empty. They cannot quench your longings of your heart and soul. They cannot satisfy.
So Jesus is recalling the same language out here where He’s telling the woman – I am the fountain of living water. I am the abundant supply of soul satisfying water. Come to me. Drink from me.
[11] The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? [12] Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
She doesn’t understand his metaphor. She’s still thinking that Jesus is talking about physical drinking water. He’s not.
[13] Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
In other words, Jesus is telling her that if she goes and tries to satisfy her soul with anything else in all of creation, she will come back empty. They are all broken containers. But if she comes to Jesus, guess what? He can fully satisfy the longings of her heart!
And the same applies to you and me as well. If we turn to our jobs to satisfy us, we will be empty and dry.
If we turn to our relationships to satisfy us, we will be empty and dry.
If we turn to our possessions and think that by buying everything that we can buy it will satisfy us, we will be empty and dry.
If we turn to our pleasures, thinking that if I can indulge in whatever pleasure I want to indulge it will satisfy us, we will be empty and dry.
If we turn to knowledge thinking that accumulating all the information in the world will satisfy us, we will be empty and dry.
There is nothing in all of creation that has the capacity to fulfill and satisfy the longings of our heart. Only Jesus can because He is the fountain of living waters.
An example that we sometimes use – what would happen if we fill our vehicle’s fuel tank with Pepsi instead of petrol or diesel. It’s not going to run. Why? Because the vehicle was made to run on petrol Or diesel. In the same way, you and I were created with longings that can only be fulfilled by our Creator. Everything else will fall short.
[15] The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
She still doesn’t get it because she’s still thinking about physical drinking water. Jesus doesn’t give up. He continues the conversation with her.
[16] Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” [17] The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; [18] for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” [19] The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
In order for her to receive this soul satisfying living water, she first needs to be confronted with her sinful and immoral lifestyle.
When we look at the Samaritan woman’s personal life, we realize that there’s a lot of mess involved. She’s gone from one relationship to another to another to another. And her current relationship isn’t a marriage, it’s a live-in relationship.
You can imagine how scandalous this was at that time. And yet Jesus wasn’t confronting her with her sinful lifestyle in order to name and shame her.
Jesus was confronting her with her sin so that she could come and confess before the One who knows what it is in man! So that she could realize her need for the real satisfier.
She went from relationship to relationship in order to find satisfaction but came back empty. So she has to acknowledge that before she receives the soul satisfying living water.
[20] Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
She tries deflecting the conversation from herself and moving to a theological debate on the right place of worship. How many times have we done that? Whenever we are convicted, instead of responding to the conviction by repentance, our defenses come up and we try to deflect to a theological discussion which is in the air and doesn’t address the heart issue.
[21] Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Although she was trying to deflect, Jesus didn’t stop the conversation. He carries on and reveals to her God’s intention in worship. It was never about this place or that place. It was always about people’s hearts. But people’s hearts are broken. So how were they going to worship?
And so God had to do something radical by sending His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins. He lived the life we needed to live but couldn’t. He died the death we deserved to die. He was buried and then on the third day rose again so that whoever may repent and put their faith in Jesus would be radically transformed to be able to worship God in spirit and truth.
What does that mean? It means where our worship is based on the truth of God as revealed in His Word. We are not worshipping our own ideas and concepts about God. We are worshipping what is true about God as He has told us in the Bible.
And when we have known God as revealed in His Word, the Spirit will take that truth and bring about authentic, genuine, sincere worship from our hearts.
To take a human example, what if I went up to my wife and told her “Angie, I just love your blonde hair. You look so beautiful and amazing in it”. Do you think she would feel loved by that? No, why? Because it’s not rooted in what’s true about her.
And so in the same manner, what God delights in is when we take what is true about Him as revealed in the Bible and worship and praise Him for that only.
Sometime back when we did our training for the worship team we spoke something similar to this. The closer we are to God’s word during our worship set, the more authentic our worship would be. The further we are from God’s word during our worship set, the less authentic our worship would be.
[25] The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” [26] Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Little did she know that the One with whom she was having this theological debate was her Messiah. Her Savior. Her soul satisfier!
This is the second one to one dialogue that Jesus has in the Gospel of John. The last time he had it, it was with Nicodemus. Interestingly she didn’t have any of the credentials that Nicodemus had. She didn’t have his OT knowledge. She didn’t have his moral standing as someone who followed the law rigorously externally.
She didn’t have his influence. She didn’t have the respect and stature in society. She was the polar opposite of a Nicodemus. And yet, Jesus was pleased to travel through that hostile territory in order to reveal Himself to her as her satisfier. He is the same today! He promises to do the same to any one of us who comes to Him this morning.
What is your response going to be to Jesus this morning?