Which well are you drinking from?
John 4:13-15
[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.” [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.”
A friend of NT Wright went home as a young teenager and announced to his mother that he’d become a Christian. Alarmed, she thought he’d joined some kind of cult. “They’ve brainwashed you!” She said. He was ready with the right answer. “If you’d seen what was in my brain, you would realize that it needed washing!” Obviously he hadn’t been brainwashed. In fact again and again when people bring their lives into the light of Jesus the Messiah, things begin to come clear.
We will see the reaction of the Samaritan woman here today in John 4 who is intrigued by Jesus offer of this “living water” and like us she has to learn that to get this clean, running, pure water, bubbling up inside ….that she…and we, have to get rid of the stale, moldy water that we are used to living with. Honestly, we will then have to learn not to go back to that “well.”
My question for you today as we read our text.
What well are you drinking from?
John 4:1-42
[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. [4] And he had to pass through Samaria. [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. It was about the sixth hour.
[7] A woman from Samaria came to draw water. 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.) [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.” [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.” [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.” [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.”
[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. [20] Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” [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.” [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.”
[27] 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?” [28] So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, [29] “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” [30] They went out of the town and were coming to him.
[31] Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” [32] But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” [33] So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” [34] Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. [35] Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. [36] Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [37] For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ [38] I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
[39] Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” [40] So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. [41] And many more believed because of his word. [42] They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
——————-
What well are you drinking from today?
The world? The natural man?
I’m not saved, I’ve never given my life to Christ for His forgiveness and salvation. I guess I’m drinking from the world’s well. (Jesus can remedy that today)
………….
Nope…I’m saved…..good
What well are you drinking from today?
You know that you can be saved and still drinking from the well of the world, or at least take a sup every once in a while?? Especially if things are going bad and you easily get drug into the old things of the flesh. Here’s my advice. Quit it. I’ll come back to that. I’m not trying to be insensitive.
Things to notice:
-
- Jews and Samaritans are not friends
- Men were not to speak with women in public (let alone a Samaritan woman)
- Jesus is way outside of what a “Rabbi” who is “clean” should be doing
- Why does she come to the well at the hottest time of day? (Noon) Later even when she asks about how to get this water she may still be wanting to just avoid everyone and is thinking in a natural or worldly way until she “sees” that Jesus is Messiah
- What is revealed about the Samaritan woman’s past?
- Notice that it seems this “Samaritan woman” listens closer than Nicodemus did in chapter 3 and he’s a Pharisee – hint: they are listening for earthly wisdom and he’s teaching Heavenly wisdom (we talked about that last week)
- How does Jesus get her attention? – he answers her questions, and tells her of her past, but he quickly tells her 2 things…
- who he is
- what he has come to give
Who He is – “I Am” (7 I Am Statements in John)
John 4:25-26
[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.”
- “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
- “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
- “I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:7-9).
- “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep…I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by My own.” (John 10:11, 14).
- “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).
- “ I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
- “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser… I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-5).
——-
What has He come to give or provide? New life!!!!
Hurts, Pains, History, Bad decisions, Healing, Water, (the Dead Sea vs a river or stream) it’s a good parallel but Jesus isn’t talking about physical water, He’s talking about the Spirit, new life and he’s offering it to everyone….a wayward woman or a religious Pharisee. This term for living water means “welling up” or to “jump up” if you have the Spirit it can’t help but to come through and show.
Notice how it all ends….the woman who an hour before is avoiding the town just to get water…now she’s evangelizing the whole town even before the disciples walking with Jesus do.
The same power that saves you is the same power that can sustain you. You do not have to be stuck drinking from that old well.
There Is a Fountain Hymn Story
William Cowper is the author of the hymn, “There Is a Fountain”. He composed this hymn in 1772.
Cowper was one of the finest English hymn writers and is mostly known for his contribution to the famous Olney Hymns. Olney Hymns was a collection of hymns that Cowper produced in collaboration with John Newton.
Most of the hymns that he composed were composed when he was suffering from chronic depression. And it is said it is because of this depression that influenced most of his hymns which often stressed the wrath of God…
William was initially trained to be a lawyer and was called to the bar in 1784 but never practiced law.
His bout of depression is said to have started when he was given an opportunity to become clerk for the House of Lords.
It is the pressure that he thought he would get from public scrutiny as a clerk of the House of Lords that triggered his depression bouts. It has been reported that he attempted suicide a couple of times.
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in His day;
And there have I, though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away:
Washed all my sins away,
Washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are safe, to sin no more:
Are safe, to sin no more,
Are safe, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are safe, to sin no more.
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die:
And shall be till I die,
And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
When this poor, lisping, stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save:
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save;
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.