An Unexpected People Receive Life Pt 1

Open up your Bibles to John chapter 4, please. John chapter 4. Before we go any further, let me just get it off my chest and make it clear that I'm aware that Michigan lost yesterday. I'm not wearing this in light of that at all. I turned it off at halftime and slept like a baby. Did not care.

I'm a bandwagon fan, and I am proud of it. John chapter 4. I'll read the text. We'll go to the Lord in prayer. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour, or 12 p.m. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

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 the Samaritans. 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. 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself as he did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, 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 again. The water that I will 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 will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. So Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 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. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, what do you seek? or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people, come and see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Can this be the Christ? And they went out of town and were coming to him. Let us pray. Oh, Father, we thank you for being a God who is so kind to call out a people from death to life. We know that from Christ Jesus, our Lord, flows living water and it comes to a people that is surprising. A people, Lord, that do not deserve it.

A people, Lord, that without your powerful work in them would never receive such a wonderful and awesome gift because of our ignorance. And so we're thankful, Lord, that we, your people, have gathered together now to remember this living water, to know what you have done, and to know that it is your power that has enabled us to believe upon Jesus and receive this life. So remind us of these foundational gospel truths that we're getting in John.

Let it cause us to remember to look to Jesus afresh each day of our life. And may the unbelievers that are before me, may they, Lord, see that their sins lead to thirst and death, but Jesus leads to righteousness and life and a quenching of that thirst forever. So Lord, remind us of these things. Help us to understand it here and let us, Lord, worship you in light of these gospel truths.

We thank you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So I've had the opportunity recently to travel back home where I come from in Michigan and it's always interesting going back to my hometown. As any of you who are away from your hometown and now and you get to go back every now and then, it's kind of strange. You see all the different things of your town.

You have all these different memories and different corners of the town. And since most, you know, the first 18 years of my life growing up, I didn't have Christ. There's a lot of memories I'll pass by someplace and I kind of grimace a little bit as I remember another foolish thing that I did over there And that came to my mind as I was going down Sashaball Road which doesn't mean anything to you guys, but whatever, I say it anyways.

And there was an apartment complex that my brother was in for a few years when I was about 17 years old. And me and another one of my brothers went to this apartment, his apartment, and we just were hanging out like unbelievers like to do. We were drinking too much and spending our time in silly things. Well, as often happens when you drink too much, I remember me and the brother that came with me to my brother's apartment.

We got in this big fight. I believe it was over Obama. I think he was going through the primaries, and I believe he voted for him, and I made fun of him and all. It got really nasty. But it got into a fist fight, and it got just very, very bad. and I as I was driving down a few days ago and just going by that apartment complex I remember that night I remember fighting and having just a nasty squabble and I just was marveling at the fact that it would be but a year a year and a half later that the surprising living waters of Jesus would flow to me and I would be saved from that sort of lifestyle and then it dawned on me further that, and then it would be five years after that, that the flow of living waters from Jesus would actually save my brother who had punched me in the face.

And that the living waters of Christ would flow for me to him, and we would actually then be united in Christ together. And I had this kind of sermon bouncing around in my head about the surprising gift of God to a surprising people, and I just marveled at the fact that Jesus loves to give his life to a surprising people. And he's made a, most of you or all of you could probably attest to that to yourself.

And really, if you look at the history of the church, the history of Jesus, he loves to give his living waters to his surprising people. Imagine the first century of the church, the last group of people the Christian church would assume would receive this living water would be the Roman Empire, who was persecuting the church and everything. but it wouldn't be but a couple generations that the whole Roman Empire would actually come and their state religion, now I know we're Baptist so we don't like state religion so just go with me here, would be Christian. No one would have expected that.

And then whenever the Roman Empire got destroyed by the pagans in Europe and everyone thought, well, there goes the Roman Empire and perhaps there goes Christianity, what does Jesus do? But he surprisingly gives the living water even to the pagans in Europe in which now here we are, a happy result of Europe's coming to Christ and then spreading the gospel even to where we're at now. Jesus loves to give his life, his living waters, to a most surprising people.

He always does it. And really, we see the genesis of that truth right here in John chapter 4, or at least we see the beginnings of that. We see the beginnings of Jesus giving his living waters to a surprising group of people by a surprising individual, a Samaritan woman. And as we go through that major premise of this narrative, a surprising flow of living waters to them, I want you to see also in light of that, that it is this life that he gives, this understanding of what life is and receiving that life.

In fact, if you remember, go there real quick, go to John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31. We have to remember the thesis statement of John as we go through his gospel, as we go through a large narrative, so it makes sense, right? And remember, the thesis of John, something that you should memorize as we're going through this, is John chapter 20, verse 30.

Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So remember those four things in your head as we go through the gospel, but especially this narrative that you, a people, a surprising people, would believe in Jesus and have life.

Four things. You believe Jesus' life. Remember that because that's going to color this narrative that we're in now, especially the you being a surprising people and the life that we are to receive understanding that and receiving that because we're going to see from the Samaritan woman she has a hard time understanding what life really is and indeed we fall into that same trap as well so remember these four things as we go through this narrative you believe Jesus and life right because Jesus gives his life to a surprising people and we have to understand that life in order to receive him i'm going to see those four unexpected we're going to see those four elements so let's first focus on the you being a surprising people a surprising people jesus likes to give his life to and look at john 4 1 through 3 with me again now when jesus learned that the pharisees had heard that jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

Now Jesus is on the move again. And we see this in all the gospels. Jesus did not just hang around in a palace somewhere while everyone served him. He was constantly on the move serving others and destitute places a poor person serving others. And so once again, Jesus is on the move. We saw him start his ministry in John in the north as he turned the water into grape juice, I mean wine.

And then he goes from the north to the south, if you remember, to Jerusalem, where there's a feast, a Passover, in which he has that conversation with Nicodemus And they talk about the same elements that we about to talk about now with the Samaritan woman though And then if you remember after that conversation with Nicodemus he went east to the Judean wilderness where he baptized or his disciples did And John the Baptist had to move north. And there was kind of a rivalry going on there. I didn't say the word right, but you know what I'm saying.

In which John the Baptist says, he must increase, I must decrease. And so now we see that Jesus is on the move again. He hears that the Pharisees who are in Jerusalem, they hear of his popularity. John the Baptist is probably put in prison at this point, but here Jesus is being a thorn. They hear of his popularity, that people are going to him, and Jesus hears this, and so he moves out of their vicinity and goes to the north in Galilee, far away from Jerusalem.

And so this is the setting that we're in now. Jesus is on the move again, and he's going north to Galilee. But here's the thing. He, in verse 4, had, look at your text, had to pass through Samaria. And so in order to get to Galilee, where he's going to spend a lot of time, he had to pass through Samaria. Now, in order to really fully appreciate this and to understand the surprising people he's going to minister here to, is we got to understand the history there of Samaria and Judea, right?

And most of us probably know this history, but it's good to refresh ourselves. Samaria and Judea did not get along together, right? Jesus being a Jew from Judea, those people did not get along well with the Samaritans. Now, if you remember in Israel's history, they used to be unified as one nation. The north, Samaria, and the south, Judah. They used to be one nation, and for the first three kings, they were one nation, right?

Saul, David, and Solomon. They were one nation. But then after Solomon, there was a civil war in which the north broke away, and Jerusalem, Judea, and the south remained under the Davidic kingdom. But the problem is the Samaria in the north who broke away, they were always godless. If you read 1 and 2 Kings, Samaria in the north never was faithful to the covenant.

The south, they would sometimes. Other times, they wouldn't. But Samaria, always godless. Always godless in the north. And so they are the first ones to get wiped out by God. He sends Assyria from the north down to wipe out Samaria.

And what Assyria did was he brought those people in Samaria and he kind of dispersed them throughout the empire. And he would bring people from the empire, pagans, to settle in that land. And we read this. Levi actually did a surprisingly good job for not realizing that he's going to have to read all those tough words. But we read how they had a problem.

Those people came in. They're like, hey, these lions keep on killing us. The wilderness is terrible. we need to have the favor of their god right and so they send teachers of Yahweh and they teach them but the problem is is that they serve Yahweh but also paganism so they kind of brought those two things together and they lived in sin because of it they were unfaithful to the covenant as it was it said to this day and so what you have from Samaria is you have half-breeds who had a show of religion, of true religion, but a ton of false religion.

And really, the Jews did not like them. Now, I know a lot of times we see that and we say, man, they should stop being so hateful and mean. But there's an aspect here where it is not good to mingle with people who flirt with pagan gods. They were taught, do not mingle with pagan gods. Do not even have anything to do with them. And so there's an aspect here where the Jews were told by God, do not intermingle with those people.

In which they were good to say, we're not going to intermingle with the Samaritans, they're half-breeds, and they have a false religion. We're going to keep away from that because we know what happened whenever we intermingled with paganism. So this is what makes it kind of a surprising people to Pete, where he's at. This is what makes the life of Jesus that he's going to give so surprising. is that he's at this enemy territory, this enemy nation, the Samaritans.

It is a surprising thing indeed. And what we see, going back to the text, is John says he had to pass through Samaria. Now, why did he have to pass through Samaria? Now, some commentators would say because he was trying to get to Galilee quickly. In order to get to Galilee quickly from the south, he had to just go right through Samaria. But it's actually a well-known thing that many, many people, many Jews who didn't want anything to do with Samaria, they would go around Samaria by crossing the river and go around.

So he could have avoided it. I think a likely reason why John says he had to pass through Samaria is that Jesus had a plan from the Father that he was going to fulfill. And we'll see this in the Gospel of John often, that it was the Father's will for this to happen, So he followed his father's will. And it was a father's will for him to go to a most unlikely place and unlikely people to spread to give his living water.

And that unlikely place was Samaria. His father had a plan for him. He was going to fulfill it. And that was at Samaria. So he had to pass through Samaria. So in verse 5, the setting of the conversation with the Samaritan woman.

So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar. near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. So we see a very normal thing happens. Jesus has been traveling all morning through a hot desert to the north, and he's at the heat of the day, the sixth hour, probably 12 p.m., very hot, he's very tired, he's very exhausted, and there's a well that Jacob had dug there, And so he stops there to rest for a bit.

That would be a completely normal thing to see Travelers traveling up and then it's in the middle of the day. So they rest at a well for that physical nourishment This would be a normal thing to happen We read in Genesis how Jacob you remember he comes back from Laban From serving Laban outside of the promised land He serves him for a couple of wives and he has children there He gets great possessions He comes back, you remember, and then he buys this plot of land where Jesus is at now. He buys the land, he digs a well, and he eventually gives that to Joseph, his son, before he dies.

And then Joseph says, don't bury me here in Egypt, bury me there, where I have that plot of land. And so that's essentially where Jesus is at now. He's at this plot of land that Jacob had bought and dug a well there, and he is weary from his trip. He is tired from the exhaustion of it all. It would be a most normal thing to see him at the well. But, again, in setting up this narrative, something not normal happens.

In verse 7, a woman from Samaria came to draw water. and what makes that kind of strange is that typically women will draw water together well if you know we had time we could see the different scriptures where women together they they would go and gather the water for the day once maybe twice a day so she's alone and another thing that's strange is usually when you got water for the day you would do it not at the hottest part of the day you would do it at the coolest part of the day it makes sense either in the morning or in the evening but here this woman in the middle of the day the hottest part of the day is alone and she's drawing water. So you have a normal thing where Jesus is hot, it's in the middle of the day, and so he sits to rest at this well. But you have a kind of a weird thing where this woman is alone at the hottest part of the day drawing water.

And so what we're going to see is this woman is alone because she is a wicked sinner in the eyes of the people around her. So not only is Jesus with the Samaritans who are thought of to be half-breeds and they compromise on religion, bad people but she's the bad of the bad coming and it's this person that jesus is going to share living water with again in your mind think a surprising people that jesus likes to share living water with um and that's what should be in our head as we're setting up this setting here for us this is a woman who is a sinner in a sinful place and jesus has his eyes on her to share this living water with her. Now, before we get into this conversation, this conversation is going to highlight, it's going to really push what living water or what life is.

Remember the four points that John is making in his gospel, right? That you would believe Jesus and receive life. And this narrative here is really hitting what is life? What does it mean that you would receive life? And we're going to see over and over again, this woman not get it, finally getting it and coming to life. But that's really going to be the main thing that's being hit is what is life?

And it's fascinating. Jesus is at the well and he's exhausted. Notice the humanity of Jesus on display there. He's exhausted. He's tired, right? John highlights the divinity of Jesus constantly, but here he's highlighting his humanity.

And Jesus at this well, he's looking at this woman and we know he wants to teach this woman what life is. He wants to teach her this is what life is and you need it. Especially this woman who's a sinner in a sinful community. And he's saying this is what life is. And that's what's on his mind. That's his strategy.

That's what he wants to do. And it's fascinating that Jesus uses this, the display of his humanity. He's tired. He's exhausted. He's red in his face. And he uses that to reveal the need for water, for thirst.

And he uses the thirst that he has to reveal the need that she has to have her thirst quenched. So it's fascinating that Jesus, sitting at the well wanting to show this lady what life is, that is to have your spiritual thirst quenched, and he uses his own humanity to reveal that. Now, the reason why I point out why I think that's fascinating is imagine you, for a moment, walking all day in the desert, right?

And you're tired, you're thirsty, you're hungry, your disciples have left to go get food, and you don't have anything to draw water, so you're just sitting there thirsty. how many of us would not be thinking at all about how to give this surprising wicked woman life none of us would be thinking that way we'd be selfishly thinking of ourselves we'd be irritated we might even say something along those lines of oh here's one of those wicked ladies of this wicked town right and here jesus despite the fact that he's tired thirsty hungry he thinks how can i use what's happening to me, this weakness that I'm feeling as a human, and turn it around to reveal something that is good for her good. And that's exactly what's going on in his mind. He's thinking selflessly for this lady, how can I turn what she could see in me, I am thirsty, and reveal it for her to see that she is thirsty in need of a drink.

We see this often in scripture, right? This idea of spiritual thirst. We see in Jeremiah 2, 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 hold no water. So there's that, that Jesus, or God uses that spiritual point, right, of when we sin, when we act lawless, in lawlessness, it's like we are very thirsty because we're in need of God and we separate ourselves from God. right there's that spiritual point and and jesus and the physical point attached to that is this again it's like being thirsty and needing water and so jesus is undergoing this problem i'm thirsty and he's saying i'm going to show through this what's happening to me her need for spiritual water it's like psalm 63 1 through 8 oh god you are my god earnestly i seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water you better believe that Jesus had that in his mind as he's sitting at that well and as he sees that this lady is in need of a living water.

I'm going to utilize this to paint that picture in her mind. Jesus is selflessly looking to the need of this woman. And so we see him do that when he asks, and with this conversation starting in verse 7, he says, her. If you look at John chapter 4 verse 7, he says, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. So again, Jesus obviously wouldn't be in need of a drink, and he's utilizing this need of his to reveal her need for a drink of God, for her need to be forgiven of her sins, for her need, for her thirst to be quenched and be forgiven.

He's using that to reveal her need. Of course, I don't think Jesus would have said no to a drink, but his point is to show her need. But we're going to see this Samaritan woman constantly misunderstand the point, constantly kind of miss the whole point and not understand what Jesus is saying. In verse 9, we see the beginning of that when 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. see to this woman, she simply just saw the picture before her with no spiritual undertones at all. She simply sees a Jew who typically has no dealings with the Samaritans and says, why are you talking to me? You know, typically what would happen is it's ever like, of course you have, you've been in an elevator with a stranger.

What's the common courtesy thing to do? You act like they're not there. You act like they're not there. You're in the elevator and no one else is in the elevator with you. If you like acknowledge that person or smile at them, it's the weirdest thing you could do. And so here at the well in Samaria, the normal thing to do for a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman to be there was to ignore each other, to not talk to each other.

We don't like each other, right? That's the most normal thing to do. In fact, Jesus being a rabbi, you know, Jewish rabbis were known, you do not talk to women, period. In fact, Jewish rabbis weren't even supposed to talk to their wives in public, which is strange enough. But let alone a Samaritan woman in public, this is very strange. And so she is caught up, right?

Jesus is trying to point her to her need for living water, to a drink from God because she's a sinner, and she's caught up, doesn't see the full reality because she doesn't quite understand who Jesus is and what it means to believe upon Jesus, right? The four major points of this gospel, right? That you would believe Jesus and have life. She doesn't understand who Jesus is, and so she doesn't understand that he is looking to surprisingly give her a drink.

She says, why are you, a Jew, talking to me, a woman? Well, the fact is, Jesus isn't just a typical Jew, is he? He is the Jew. He is the fulfilled Jew. He is a Jew that is not afraid to go to a sinner and be tainted by the sinner. Instead, he is a Jew that goes to the sinner and makes that sinner clean.

That's who Jesus is. The Jews were told, do not intermingle with the nations. Do not intermingle with people who would take the covenant of God and synchronize with paganism. Jesus doesn't have that issue. Jesus can go to the sinner and make them clean and not worry about being polluted himself. This is what living water is.

But she doesn't understand Jesus, does she? She doesn't understand her need for Jesus, does she? She doesn't understand her need for living water. And so Jesus, again, like a patient shepherd, in verse 10, continues talking to her, trying to teach her what living water is. He says, 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.

See, that was his whole point. He, of course, wanted water. He was thirsty and it was clear on his face and everything that he needed it. But he was trying to show her, and this is your problem, Samaritan woman. You are just as thirsty as I am, but in a spiritual way. And you're just in need of a drink of water, but a spiritual drink.

That's what he's saying. If you only knew what was actually happening here, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water. You see, he's showing her utter ignorance right now. Notice, again, the four points, the main reasons that John wrote this gospel is right here in this one sentence that Jesus says. if you knew the gift of God, what is that?

If you knew life, if you understood what life was, right? That's one of the points that you would have life. If you only knew life and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, Jesus, the one who gives life. If you only knew Jesus, that you would believe upon Jesus, you would have asked him, what is that? You would believe upon him and he would have given you living water.

He would have given you that life. And so there, Jesus is highlighting, you are ignorant right now, that is the problem. And I don't think he's saying this to really condemn her. I think he's just simply saying that you are ignorant and you need to listen to my teaching. He's trying to get her interested in listening to what he has to say. He's saying that you're ignorant because you haven't been taught well, being in a false religious system.

And so you need to listen to what I'm about to say, because I'm about to teach you something that you are ignorant of. I think that's the point that he's getting at there. He's saying you need to listen. And one thing we need to notice too in this verse is notice how willing Jesus is to give living water. Notice how willing Jesus is to give living water.

Notice he says you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Notice he doesn't give any kind of conditions on that. Ifs, maybe he would give it to you. Depends on his mood at the time. Notice it's nothing like that. Jesus loves to generously give living water for those who believe upon him.

Always. There is no maybe. And that's important for you because if you have any understanding of the law of God at all, you would understand that how would I receive water? How would I receive anything good? You would understand that it is a surprising thing that Jesus would give me this living water. And I want you to notice that the Samaritan woman who is a wicked woman indeed, a wicked nation indeed.

He's saying, I would give it to you. And he doesn't put any kind of conditions or maybe or what ifs or only if you do this. It is simply if you would ask, you would receive. And that's something that's very important for us to remember ourselves. Because how often is it and even if I talking to God people here that whenever we fall into sin the first thing we fail to think is that Jesus loves to give living water to sinners It is so easy for us to say, well, I need to kind of prepare myself up first in order for me to look the right part, and then I'll repent, and then I'll receive it, and I'll feel better.

But beloved, do you understand that Jesus loves to give living water to surprising people? So remember that whenever you have fallen into sin again. And remember that Jesus loves to give living water to surprising people. Here I am, oh Lord, give me, please. And he gives. And again, remember you who are not a believer, you are not outside the reach of Christ Jesus the Lord.

He willingly gives to the worst of sinners, a terrible Samaritan sinner and a wicked nation. He surely will give to you. If you ask, he will give. we see this here from our Lord. He says, you are ignorant, Samaritan woman. That's the problem. You are ignorant of what I can give.

You don't understand. Your head is too caught up in the physical, the literal. In verse 11, she continues this ignorance. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get the living water from? You notice the ignorance on display there.

She cannot get past the fact that he's not talking about literal water that's in the well. She cannot get past the fact that he's talking about a spiritual thirst, a spiritual water. And she's looking at Jesus up and down, this tired individual that just asked for a drink, and she's saying, you don't even have a bucket to give yourself living water. How are you going to give me living water?

The living water there is not just simple water. It is like a fresh water. It's like the flowing water that's at the bottom of the well. So it's not like she's thinking the water is at the top of the well. She's thinking of the water that's at the very bottom of the well that's from the spring itself, which would be over 100 feet. And she's looking Jesus up, and now she's saying, you cannot possibly offer what you have just said.

And isn't this ignorance? When we are ignorant of the life that Jesus provides us, we then are ignorant of he's able to do what he's promised to do. And the fact is that she's so caught up in the physical and the comforts and the living water physically and everything that she sees Jesus as not being able to give the thing that he's promised that he could give.

And that's what happens when we misunderstand what life is. Life is not Jesus giving us physical things or even the best physical things. Life is Jesus giving us the spiritual things, the forgiveness of sins, the life with God, the better things. And so as she looks at Jesus, she sees someone who cannot give the physical thing that she's confused about, but she's looking at Jesus who can certainly provide the spiritual life that he's talking about.

He is the God-man. She is looking at the God-man. She is looking at the one who is true God, true man, who can die on the cross and satisfy the angry wrath of God forever. That's who she's looking at. She's looking at someone who has more than the capabilities to provide the living water that he's promised. The fact is, the problem is, that she's just ignorant of what that living water actually is.

And again, we can fall into the same error. We can fall into this true belief, false belief kind of thing, where we expect Jesus to give us things, the pleasures of this world. I want a healthy body. I want my wife to be healthy. I want my husband to be healthy. I want these things.

I want this kind of house. I want all these things. And whenever our mind is consumed by the physical living water, we see Jesus as someone who doesn't promise that, who's not capable, so to speak, to do that. And we say, who are you to say such things? But whenever we understand what living water truly is, we know Jesus is perfectly willing and capable of giving what he has promised.

But of course, she's not quite there. She doesn't understand this. she's still not understanding the deeper spiritual point that's being made. She says, where do you get this living water? In fact, she says in verse 12, are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and all the livestock. Remember, they're at Jacob's well.

And whenever she drank water there, she was refreshed by that water, and she thanked Jacob, her forefather, for giving her that well. And so she's looking at him and saying, you can't do what you've said. And what are you making yourself out to be, better than Jacob? and the answer is yes i am better than jacob and i can give you something better than the water that's in that well that's the whole point is that i'm better than jacob in fact we'll see in chapter 8 the jews ask him a similar question are you better than abraham we'll see that in chapter 8 i'm running low on time already so we're not going to go there but they ask him the same thing are you better than abraham what does jesus say before abraham was i am he's saying yes i am i am God.

I give you something better. The problem is, is you're ignorant and thinking that the better thing is what Jacob can provide you in this well. Well, I am God. I'm Messiah. I'm true God, true man. I can provide you living water spiritually, union with God, because I am the I am.

So she's again confused. She's ignorant. She misunderstands. Are you greater than Jacob? In verse 13, Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water, imagine he's pointing to Jacob's well, will be thirsty again. That's what's going to happen.

You'll get your drink, you'll be thirsty again though. 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. So you see how Jesus is connecting the physical point and the spiritual point and he's bringing it together for her to see the spiritual truth.

And by the way, that's all of life. That's what we should do with our life. We should see this physical life as all about learning and understanding the invisible spiritual God. And we notice Jesus does that constantly in his teaching. He takes nature, he takes the physical life, and he says, this is like how God is like in this aspect. And this is the way we ought to live our life We should desire to say God what are you like And he gives us this physical world to display what he like And this is what Jesus is saying He saying that everyone who drinks of this physical water will be thirsty again But it a picture of a spiritual thirst that you have that can be provided eternally if you believe upon me, if you receive it from my hand.

And this is exactly what the sinful woman needed to hear. The reason why we are caught in sin is because we are convinced this sin will cause me no longer to thirst. We all have a desire as humans to have our thirst quenched. We all have desires within us. We want joy. We want happiness.

We want pleasure. We want these good things. And the problem is, is we think that if I can just get it in this physical realm, then I'll be happy. I'll get it from this physical way. I'll get it from alcohol, kids, husband, wife. I'll get it from anything this world has to offer.

If I can just have that, my thirst will be quenched. We have it for a moment. We're kind of happy. And then we're like, wait a minute, my thirst is not quenched. I'm thirsty again. And so we continue the rat race.

And the point that Jesus is saying is it's because you need something more. You need something bigger. You need something better. It was always meant to reveal you need something greater. And I am the greater. You know, we are not animals.

We are humans. And so we are not meant to find our fulfillment in this life alone in the physical realm around us. And I've said this often, your dog can do that and he's just fine. I promise you, he's a happy creature when you feed him. That's it. That's all you got to do.

Your cat's the same thing. Your chicken's the same thing. All the physical creation, they're satisfied with just simple physical existence. But we are made in the image of God and we require something more being made in God's image. We are to use this creation to glorify and enjoy our God forever. And when we fail to do that, thinking, no, this will give you happiness of itself, we remain thirsty.

And so Jesus says, I can make your thirst go away by receiving me forgiveness of sins and living this life for my glory and honor so that everything on this earth is for my glory and you'll be never thirsty again ever. And I think if you are a non-believer, look around the room, talk to a Christian and ask them, are you happier now that you're in Christ? And they'll say yes.

And you say, yeah, but you just lost your loved one. You just found out you have cancer. You just, all these things. Yeah, but I'm doing it in Christ Jesus's name. I'm happier, right? And this is the thirst that Jesus provides, forgiveness of sins.

And now it's all about my glory. You can live your life accordingly. And this Samaritan woman, a sinner, is used to finding her happiness in the physical realm alone. And she's being told by Jesus, if you continue that, you'll just be thirsty again. But in me, your thirst can be finally quenched. You got to imagine the reason why she has five husbands.

The reason why she's living with not her husband is because she thinks in some way this is going to make her satisfied. And Jesus is saying, it won't. You'll be thirsty again. But in me, you'll be satisfied. This is what he's telling her. Again, Jesus said to her in verse 13, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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. I will give you forgiveness of sins. I'll give you the spirit who causes you to walk in righteousness and grow in righteousness so that your life is one of righteousness in my blood, in my work, not one of constantly looking for a fix from the physical realm.

Does she get it? Does she understand it? Does she say, oh, I get it now. Your thirst revealed my thirst for God because I'm living in sin and I need you to be forgiven and live righteously and I'll never thirst again. I get it, Jesus. I'm going to follow you.

Not quite. She understands her need for the water that he can provide, but she trips up again. The woman said to him in verse 15, sir, give me this water. Oh, okay. All right, good. So that I will never be thirsty again or have to come here to draw water.

She's like, I would love to not have to draw water anymore. I'm tired of being an outcast. I'm tired of having to come here alone. I'm tired of having to do this work. It'd probably be like an hour and a half of her day having to carry that water. And so she's realizing, okay, this guy can do something pretty magnificent, but she's still not getting the point that the thing that he can give you is not the things of this world, or does he desire to give you that, but it's something greater, spiritual water.

And so she says, man, I would love to have that physical water always and not have to come back to this well, never be thirsty again. She is still confused. Now we're going to go over these next two verses to reveal how he again, like a good shepherd, leads her to proper understanding, and we'll stop there. But notice what he says in verse 16. Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here.

Now, some people think that what he's saying is, okay, listen, you're not getting it. You're kind of dense. Maybe your husband will understand it. Bring him over here. But the problem is that's not what's going on. Jesus knows that she doesn't have a husband.

So that's not what's being done there. So why is Jesus all of a sudden, and it seems like he's just kind of changing the subject just randomly. But he's not. You see, she's not understanding her need for spiritual water, for forgiveness of sins, for righteousness. Why is she not understanding that? Because she doesn't understand her sin.

She doesn't understand her thirst. Imagine that. Imagine. We have people living in this earth right now who does not understand that they are thirsty. Imagine you on your thirstiest day ever. You just worked in the garden.

It's 100 degrees out or whatever. Imagine your deep thirst. All you want is a drink of water. and imagine that you are so dull of spirit, you don't even understand you're thirsty. What a terrible position that'd be in. And so this is what he's showing her, is that you don't understand your thirst. You don't understand your need for living water.

And so what does he do? He puts his finger right on the blatant sin that she practices, and that is her adultery. That is her sexual immorality. This was the most blatant sinful part about her which is probably what caused her to have to go to the well alone to go at a weird hour is because everyone knew that is a woman who sleeps around that is a woman who has tons of husbands that is a woman who sleeping right now with someone who not her husband That is a wicked woman.

And Jesus is putting his finger right on that to show you are thirsty in need of righteousness, of living water. So I think this is why he points to this. This is why he brings this up. Jesus said to her, go call your husband. and notice what's very fascinating is a woman has been very talkative up to this point if you notice she's said a lot and now all of a sudden she says i have no husband i have no husband she's shameful of the situation she's in she is thirsty she's ashamed guilty she doesn't like it she wants to quickly just bypass this part of the conversation because she doesn't like this situation she feels shame over it and jesus said to her you are right and saying i have no husband for you've had five husbands and the one you now have is your husband is not your husband what you've said is true jesus isn't just being some smart aleck he's not just trying to hurt her just to hurt her just for that sake what jesus is doing is saying do you understand your shame do you feel it right now as i point this out to you do you understand that you have the weight of god's wrath abiding on you because of your sinful lifestyle do you not feel your thirst right now samaritan woman and so he's pointing out her sin in order for her to understand her need for living water for righteousness for the water that he provides this is what jesus does for us this is a surprising work that jesus does for sinners is that he points out our need he points out our sin and then he says i can forgive you of that sin and i can give you righteousness so it's fascinating as she goes from seeing him you can't you don't have a bucket in your hand you can't help me with my need of water and now all of a sudden she looks at him and she sees him with a weapon in his hand ready to pierce her very soul with shame and guilt jesus christ comes to us not with a bucket to make life easier not to give us our physical desires but with a weapon to make life harder on us to make us feel our shame, to take away our hope in this world so that we will have a taste for the eternal waters he provides.

Jesus has come to provide life to the most surprising people, even to you, even in your sin. He calls out to you now to turn away from the things of this world that promises to satisfy but never does, and to trust in him to receive the living water that springs up to eternal life. Earnestly put your faith and trust in this Jesus, even to the point that he demolishes those earthly strongholds in you so that you can enjoy him truly.

I remember when Jesus unexpectedly gave me the water that flows from his wounds. The first place he led me to was a chopping block. I remember that very vividly, where he not only refused to be a genie to draw more physical life for me to enjoy, but he took it away from me because it was utter corruption. The most blessed conversation I ever had with my brother's wife when she said, you know, my brother, like I said, he came to the living waters five years after I did, and I remember the most blessed thing I heard from her because he had realized that something's wrong, and he'd been reading the scriptures and trying to understand what does it mean to actually be a believer in Christ and he had been talking to his wife and I remember all of a sudden his conversation the things that he would say went from pride and went from I know it all to all of a sudden there's something seriously wrong with my life and I remember having the first conversation with with his wife in which I remember her reaching out to me and her saying there's something wrong with me I'm recognizing that I don't have what I thought I have and what I remember it being so beautiful to hear.

Not because I was happy to hear that she was miserable, but because she was thirsty and he was thirsty. And this is what Jesus does. He brings us to a place where we understand, I am a thirsty, miserable wretch and I am in need of a drink. And he says, here I am, I give you that drink. So do you believe this? Do you believe Jesus when he says, if you only knew the gift of God and who it is that's saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would give you living water.

Let us pray. Oh, Father, thank you for this living water. I thank you, God, that, Lord, you don't reserve that living water for those who have their life right or who deserve it. For we know, Lord, that in our sin, none of us deserve it. And that's exactly what makes us thirsty. So I'm thankful for this display, for this reminder that you love to give living water to surprising people. because Lord, we are all, stand before you sinners, and it is a surprising means of grace, a surprising thing that this grace would be even ours.

Oh God, would you help us to not be so far, I should say, like the Samaritan woman who just have no understanding of what living waters is, has no understanding of what Christ provides. God, it's so easy for us to get life confused and think that eternal life is getting all our needs for this physical world met. We demand things of Jesus that he has not promised because the reason why he has not promised it is because that's not what we actually need.

We know, Lord, that our greatest need is to have eternal life, that is, forgiveness of sins, and walk righteously before you by the work of Jesus Christ our Lord. And so, God, I pray that we'd be a people in which we'd say, give us whatever you would give us in this world, just let us walk righteously in Christ through those things. And let us see that it's when we do those things, when we live by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, when we, Father, rely upon him for living water, we know that anything that you permit for us that would, Lord, be taken away, physical comforts and everything, it is so that we can enjoy you more in Christ Jesus. through it.

So help us to understand what life is and help us to long more than anything to have this living water that comes forth from Jesus Christ our Lord. We praise you and thank you for his work that makes it possible. In his name we pray. Amen.