The Living Water

The message was brought by Rev. Rodger Castle.

John 4:¹When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,² (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) ³ He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.⁴ And he must needs go through Samaria.⁵ Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.⁶ Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.⁷ There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.⁸ (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)⁹ Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.¹¹ The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?¹² Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?¹³ Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:¹⁴ But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.¹⁵ The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. ²⁵ The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.²⁶ Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.²⁷ And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?²⁸ The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,²⁹ Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? ³⁰ Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

Jesus said he needed to go through Samaria.  He didn’t have to go that way.  At times we are led to places we don’t really need to go, but when we get there we find someone in need.  Jesus knew what would happen.  At noon he sat at a well in a town called Sychar.  It was not the normal time of day for people to come to the well.  This woman came at this time because the others would have nothing to do with a woman like her.  If we’re not careful we’ll do that to people who come to our churches that look different or are not cleaned up. These are who Jesus died for.  Such were some of us.  Jesus suffered in ways we can’t imagine.  These we don’t want to have anything to do with are the ones who Jesus came for.  If we’re not careful, we’ll do what the people in the story of the Good Samaritan did.  We’ll look the other way.  Who do we think we are?  God doesn’t just save good people.  He saves anyone and everyone who will come to him.  I preach with the presumption that someone needs to be saved o someone needs help from God.  I have no way to know the spiritual condition of others by looking at them.

Jesus looked at this woman and asked for water.  She asked why he even talked to her.  He was a Jew; she was a Samaritan.  Jesus said if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.  In chapter 7 verse 38, John said he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  If you are saved, you have the living water inside you; it should be gushing out.  Many times, however, it’s just a trickle.  We need to clean our faucets, so to speak.  God’s people went seven days into the desert.  They were told to dig ditches and told they wouldn’t hear or see the rain.  The next morning the ditches were filled with water.  They had to be cleaned out in order to be filled up with water.

We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The trouble is our anchors are too deep in this world.  We want control of everything and do this and this.  We worry but need to stand firm on the Rock and trust him to see us through.  Let’s quit trying to drive through our life and let Jesus have control.

The woman told Jesus he didn’t have anything to draw with.  Jesus told her whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.  If you drink out of that water fountain back there, you will thirst again.  Nothing helps thirst any more than a drink of cool water; Jesus said whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.  Now we’re not talking about natural thirst.  With Jesus, we have real joy.

This woman didn’t wait.  She said give me this water.  People tire of what the world offers.  If you take what Jesus offers, you will not be disappointed.  She knew the Messiah was coming, and he would tell them all things.  Jesus told her the one she was talking about was him.  She came to get water but left her water pot to tell others about Jesus.  She said come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?  We should be as persuasive as this woman.  The people walked half a mile to meet Jesus.  The drawing power will work.  In our opinion we might not have given this woman the time of day.  Not so with Jesus.

We need the living water to well up in us.  We need not to be ashamed to tell others about Jesus.  All of us have people who are unsaved.  Do we really pray for them?  What are we going to do when it comes to judgment?  Many times we could do more for Jesus.  He may ask us why we didn’t do it.  The lost will also stand before God.  They may point a finger at us because we didn’t do enough.  We weren’t concerned enough.  Our hearts will be broken.

The living water is in us, but like many oil wells, we’ve capped it.  The Holy Spirit can’t work.  We need to uncap the water and ask God to help us be a servant that will work to help people.  That’s what I want.  What about you?