Never Thirsty Again (John 4:7-15)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:04.160 If you're able to remain standing, please do otherwise, feel free to take 2 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.789 a seat and let's all turn our attention to John Chapter four, versus seven 3 00:00:09.429 --> 00:00:14.470 through fifteen. Let me read more than that. Actually the sermonal focus on 4 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:18.949 seven through fifteen, but I'll start at verse one and read Through Fifteen. 5 00:00:18.989 --> 00:00:25.100 Let's give our attention to God's word. Now. When Jesus learned that the 6 00:00:25.179 --> 00:00:30.660 Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although 7 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:35.460 Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left Judea and 8 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:40.929 departed again for Galilee, and he had to pass through Samaria. So he 9 00:00:41.049 --> 00:00:45.210 came to a town of Samaria called SICAR, near the field that Jacob had 10 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:50.399 given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied 11 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.399 as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was 12 00:00:54.520 --> 00:01:00.359 about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus 13 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.640 said to her, give me a drink, for his disciples had gone away 14 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.109 into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, how 15 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:11.310 is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, 16 00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:17.790 a woman of Samaria, for Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus 17 00:01:17.870 --> 00:01:22.459 answered her, if you knew the Gift of God and who it is that 18 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:26.299 is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him 19 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:32.140 and he would have given you living water. And the woman said to him, 20 00:01:32.969 --> 00:01:36.530 sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. 21 00:01:37.290 --> 00:01:40.689 Where do you get that living water? Are You greater than our Father 22 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:44.769 Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did 23 00:01:44.849 --> 00:01:49.159 his sons and his livestock? Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of 24 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:53.560 this water will be thirsty again. Whoever drinks of the water that I will 25 00:01:53.560 --> 00:02:00.079 give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him 26 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:06.109 will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The 27 00:02:06.230 --> 00:02:09.069 woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will 28 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:14.870 not be thirsty or have to come here and draw water. We'll stop there 29 00:02:14.909 --> 00:02:19.819 and continue on next time, maybe seated. One time I went to go 30 00:02:20.099 --> 00:02:25.139 pick up pizza at a fast food place and I had my kids with me 31 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:30.849 and they were little and one of them was really, really thirsty and wanted 32 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:38.689 some water, and so I ordered the pizzas and ask the cashier for some 33 00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:42.169 water, just a cup of water, and they said no, I'm sorry, 34 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:49.199 we don't give out water. I said what I said my my D 35 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:51.400 Otterer, I think it was, I can't remember now, one of my 36 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.360 kids a they're crying or ups like in the store. There was a big 37 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:59.349 scene. I I had was a paying customer. I had paid for the 38 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:02.150 pizza. All I wanted was a cup of water, and there's I'm sorry, 39 00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:06.949 we just don't have that water. Well, fortunately, we live in 40 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:09.669 a very prosperous country and we don't have to wander around the wells to find 41 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:13.780 water, so I knew I was going to be able to get that water 42 00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:17.259 quickly. But the thing that bugged me the most about it wasn't just that 43 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:21.860 my child needed some water. That was going to get taken care of, 44 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:25.939 but there was all of a sudden it became about this relationship with this person, 45 00:03:27.210 --> 00:03:31.530 this stranger. How could you do this to me? Right, how 46 00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:36.449 could you do this to me as a person in my family? Were asking 47 00:03:36.610 --> 00:03:40.330 for so little. You have this available and yet you won't give it. 48 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:46.800 My point is there was this something about, something about the water. At 49 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:52.759 that particular moment that became about more than the water. It became about who 50 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.349 this person was across the counter and relation to me. Strangers, yes, 51 00:03:57.469 --> 00:04:01.909 but humans, both who need to drink, both who have people that they're 52 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:08.909 responsible for and and something bugged me, and I'm bringing it up now. 53 00:04:08.949 --> 00:04:13.300 I guess I need to get over this, but I made me think of 54 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:19.220 this here because here's Jesus in a similar situation. He is thirsty. We 55 00:04:19.379 --> 00:04:24.970 talked about this last time when we thought about the importance of Jesus. Humanity 56 00:04:25.129 --> 00:04:30.850 is incarnation. He's thirsty, his disciples aren't there to help him. He's 57 00:04:31.009 --> 00:04:34.769 at this well and he meets a woman who's able to give him a drink. 58 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:40.480 But very quickly we find out that this story is not so much about 59 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:46.600 the drink itself. It becomes about this relationship, a question about who Jesus 60 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:49.560 is and who she is and what they have to do with each other. 61 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:56.069 And you see that right away. From verse nine. This the we get 62 00:04:56.110 --> 00:04:59.269 the set up, or the setting I should say, for the story, 63 00:04:59.430 --> 00:05:02.629 and verses one through six the woman comes out. In verse seven there's some 64 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:08.180 explanation about what's going on there in Verse Eight, he asks her and then, 65 00:05:08.220 --> 00:05:10.819 instead of her saying any number of things she might have said, which 66 00:05:10.819 --> 00:05:14.660 would be yeah, sure, no problem, or how much do you want? 67 00:05:14.699 --> 00:05:18.459 Or could I feed my animals first, or nothing like that. Instead, 68 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:23.449 it's a relationship question, right. She says, how is it that 69 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:28.769 you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman from 70 00:05:28.970 --> 00:05:34.209 Samaria? And the reason for this, the context for this John gives is 71 00:05:34.529 --> 00:05:41.079 in this put in parentheses here in art text, for Jews have no dealings 72 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.240 with Samaritans. So you can pick up from what's going on here that there 73 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:51.189 is a little bit of tension right going on. She immediately identifies him as 74 00:05:51.230 --> 00:05:56.509 being a part of a particular group, she identifies herself as being a particular 75 00:05:56.550 --> 00:06:00.029 as belonging to a particular group, and says, what's going on here? 76 00:06:00.589 --> 00:06:08.579 This doesn't make sense. There is a rift in the relationship, even though 77 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:14.100 they've never met, that is long standing. It might help to know a 78 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:17.420 little bit about this all. Spend just a little time explaining what is what's 79 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:23.930 going on here. The problems between the Jews and the Samaritans began long time 80 00:06:24.209 --> 00:06:30.810 before Jesus meets this woman, in the tenth century. When Solomon had the 81 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:35.319 you United Kingdom and the whole nation of Israel was together. When he died, 82 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:42.120 that kingdom split between the north and the south, the Kingdom of Judah 83 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.230 being the southern kingdom in the Kingdom of Israel, where Samaria was a being 84 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:53.110 in the north, Samaria being in the northern kingdom, was the worse of 85 00:06:53.230 --> 00:06:59.189 the two. For quite a long time, I pagan worship, idolatry of 86 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:04.819 all kinds, syncretism, disobedience to the law. It was so bad God 87 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:11.300 sent profit after profit after profit, and her kings and her people continued to 88 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:17.050 disobey, continued to rebel against the Lord and his covenant. God allowed this 89 00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:23.490 situation for about a hundred and fifty years until he raised up judgment on his 90 00:07:23.649 --> 00:07:27.209 people, as he promised he would do from the very beginning, when the 91 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:31.720 God brought his people into the land of Canaan and he cast the Canaanites out. 92 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:34.680 He told them, he warned them, if you don't obey the law, 93 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:40.279 if you don't follow after me, I will send you scattering, I 94 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.560 will kick you out of the land, just like I did these people. 95 00:07:44.550 --> 00:07:47.350 And God waited and he was patient and he sent them profit after profit after 96 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:53.870 profit, and for a hundred and fifty years this went on. Finally, 97 00:07:53.949 --> 00:07:59.220 the Lord, the wrath against Israel had been stored up so much, their 98 00:07:59.259 --> 00:08:03.459 time had come. God raises up the Syrians and in seven hundred and twenty 99 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:09.500 two they come and they besiege. They besiege this country. Tens of thousands 100 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:15.050 of people are killed, thousands more are taken off to Assyria, and then 101 00:08:15.129 --> 00:08:18.689 in a and then Assyria. In a very clever move that has been often 102 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:26.009 repeated throughout history, they then bring in at least five different people groups into 103 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:35.000 this area to further dilute and underanned a road, the identity of this people. 104 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:39.639 They don't don't want a strong Israel, they want a mixed people that 105 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:43.750 is under their power, and that's exactly what they got. If things were 106 00:08:43.830 --> 00:08:52.070 bad then they became even worse. Israel was a spiritual wilderness. Hardly anyone 107 00:08:52.230 --> 00:08:58.500 was left. There were a few, though, who not only did not 108 00:09:00.580 --> 00:09:07.580 succumb to the temptations that were there, but even desired to turn to Yahwe 109 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:11.929 that saw the problems and the judgment that had come people that had been left 110 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:18.330 behind. I'm some of these people would even occasionally travel down south to the 111 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:22.610 temple to worship God and follow him. These people from the North would go 112 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:30.240 down. Eventually, even a place was established in Bethel for people to worship 113 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:35.960 at. But things just kept getting worse and worse. The Babylonians would eventually 114 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.990 overtake the Assyrians. They would come in. They'd ransacked the temple until there 115 00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:43.070 was no place to worship there anymore. You couldn't even go to the South 116 00:09:45.710 --> 00:09:52.429 and the people kept mixing and syncretism kept spreading in every way. Finally, 117 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:58.820 when this period of exile finished and people started coming back back to Israel, 118 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:03.019 when God brought his people back into the land, there was a sense of 119 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:09.250 we need to re establish our identity as Jews, and they did. They 120 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:11.809 brought back and there was time to rebuild the temple, to follow the law 121 00:10:11.929 --> 00:10:16.809 and under men like Ezra Nehemiah. There were reforms and there was a call 122 00:10:16.970 --> 00:10:22.440 to obedience, and there was a lot of that. But as that was 123 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:24.759 all happening there in the south, there were people in the north, including 124 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:31.519 the Samaritans, a mixed bunch that we're not happy about this. They tried 125 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:39.750 even at times to have the temple not be built. They tried to impede 126 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:45.629 its progress. They would ally with enemy of God's People's in order to keep 127 00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:50.659 this from happening. Eventually, under Alexander the Great, they would even establish 128 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:56.220 their own temple on Mount Gerazine, this rival worship. The Samaritans, in 129 00:10:56.340 --> 00:11:00.580 some ways would believe some of the things of the Jews. They believed in 130 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:05.210 the unity of God, for example. They say they called after Yahweh, 131 00:11:05.289 --> 00:11:09.330 but many things they did not believe. They did not see Ezra as a 132 00:11:09.450 --> 00:11:16.409 great reformer and Lawgiver, but as one who was their enemy. They tried 133 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:20.639 to not follow his ways. They accepted other kinds of teachings. They rejected 134 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:26.080 much of the prophets and everything centered, as will consider more next time, 135 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:31.720 around this temple, around this this mountain, not doubt mountain, and Mount 136 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.350 Garazdem. The Samaritan said, this is where the law of Moses was really 137 00:11:35.429 --> 00:11:41.110 originally given. This is where the temple should be, this is where worship 138 00:11:41.190 --> 00:11:46.070 should be, this is where these this Christ life figure that they believed and 139 00:11:46.149 --> 00:11:48.419 would eventually come. And so what you have is you have, in some 140 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:54.460 ways, something that looks kind of like Judaism, kind of like the Abrahamic 141 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:58.419 Covenant, to the Mosaic Covenant, but it's different in so many ways, 142 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:03.490 arrival, in many real ways, and so that sue Jews in the Samaritans 143 00:12:03.529 --> 00:12:09.730 were not friends, though having some things in common, having some history in 144 00:12:09.850 --> 00:12:16.759 common. The Jews saw the Samaritans as idolaters, as people that had given 145 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:24.159 over, given up into syncretism and and pluralism. Ben Sarah, not in 146 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:31.190 the Bible, but a Jew, says in his writings. Two nations my 147 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:35.549 soul to tests, and the third is not even a people, those who 148 00:12:35.549 --> 00:12:39.149 live in sere and the Philistines and the foolish people that live near Shechem. 149 00:12:39.669 --> 00:12:45.940 That's the Samaritans, not even a people. Avoid those people, stay away 150 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:54.179 from those people. They are not to be had with. Give me a 151 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:01.210 drink, Jesus says. How is it that you, a Jew, are 152 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:05.690 asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? What do you even 153 00:13:05.450 --> 00:13:11.330 doing here? Why are you talking to me? But you know what, 154 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.679 the rift between her and Jesus is, in fact even deeper than that. 155 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:26.879 It goes even beyond cultural or racial, historical or gender or even theological points. 156 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:33.230 Narrowly considered, the rift between her and Jesus is the rift between all 157 00:13:33.549 --> 00:13:39.070 of God, all of mankind and God it's a rift that we all face. 158 00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:45.100 It's a separation that is really great. As we read earlier, in 159 00:13:45.220 --> 00:13:48.100 Isaiah's words, the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. 160 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:54.580 Even our best works, the prophets say, are like filthy rags. What 161 00:13:54.730 --> 00:14:01.049 does God have to do with us? What does God, who is perfectly 162 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:03.730 holy in every way? What is God, who is good in everything that 163 00:14:03.850 --> 00:14:09.200 he does, have to do with people that constantly disobey the constantly give themselves 164 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:16.720 over to idolatry, that love things other than God, even against him. 165 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:26.669 The rebellion in the heart of fallen humanity is evident here in Israel. It's 166 00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:33.190 evident outside of Israel, in Judah and Samaria, in Assyria, in Babylon, 167 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:39.139 in our country, in our hearts. The Sin and the evil that 168 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:46.220 separates us from God, that separates this woman from Jesus, is the biggest 169 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:50.299 rift of all. It's the biggest separation of all. It means that whenever 170 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:54.929 God speaks to us, the question she asks is a very reasonable one. 171 00:14:56.250 --> 00:15:05.929 What do you have to do with me? Jesus will and will consider next 172 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:11.039 time. Go on to make this point. Verse Sixteen. He says, 173 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.720 go call your husband, she says, Riley, I have no husband. 174 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:18.159 Jesus says, you're right in saying I have no husband, for you have 175 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:20.909 had five husbands and the one you are living with now is not your husband. 176 00:15:22.429 --> 00:15:26.710 Jesus gets to her heart and he helps her to see that the problem 177 00:15:26.909 --> 00:15:31.870 is not just that he's a Jew and she's a Samaritan, it's that he's 178 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:39.019 perfectly holy and she's not. It's in that broader context, knowing her needs, 179 00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:43.580 knowing our needs, which she is not willing to admit at this point, 180 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:48.899 but I hope that you are, that our loving Lord answers her question 181 00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:58.289 about this relationship, the reason that he talks to her. What does he 182 00:15:58.409 --> 00:16:02.929 say? What is his answer to the question? What do you have to 183 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:11.000 do with me? Here's Jesus's answer. In verse ten. If you knew 184 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:15.480 the Gift of God, he said, which means she doesn't. If you 185 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:18.590 knew the Gift of God, and if you knew who it is that is 186 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:22.429 saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and 187 00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:30.029 he would have given you living water. Verse Eleven, the woman said to 188 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:33.740 him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is 189 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:37.179 deep. Where do you get that living water. She takes it to mean 190 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:45.379 in some sense, like really good water or or springing water or something like 191 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.809 that. She's not sure. And then she even asked him, are you 192 00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:56.450 greater than our Father Jacob? He built this well that I'm still drinking out 193 00:16:56.490 --> 00:17:00.009 of all these years. He gave this to his son, Joseph, and 194 00:17:00.169 --> 00:17:07.319 his son's and their flocks. Of course the answer is yes. He is 195 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:15.240 greater than her father and his father, Jacob. Verse Thirteen, he Jesus 196 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.430 says to her. Everyone who drinks this water, speaking of the well, 197 00:17:18.549 --> 00:17:22.069 will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him 198 00:17:22.269 --> 00:17:26.589 will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become 199 00:17:26.710 --> 00:17:36.019 in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Her answer indicates 200 00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:40.539 that she still doesn't understand what he's getting at when she says, give me 201 00:17:40.579 --> 00:17:42.700 some of this water so that I don't have to come to this well anymore. 202 00:17:45.049 --> 00:17:49.289 Perhaps there's still some confusion there, but let's think about what Jesus is 203 00:17:49.450 --> 00:17:56.769 saying. It's living water that he promises to her. Who are you to 204 00:17:56.890 --> 00:18:03.720 say these things to me, he says. I am the one who gives 205 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:11.599 living water and the Old Testament, and there are lots and lots of prophecies 206 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:17.710 about one who would bring this kind of water. In numbers twenty four seven, 207 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:23.430 which interestingly appears in some of the Samaritans own liturgies, we read this 208 00:18:25.950 --> 00:18:30.579 water shall flow from his buckets and his she and his seed shall be in 209 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:34.900 many waters. His King shall be higher than a gag and his kingdom shall 210 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:44.890 be exalted. Water is a symbol in all times and in all places, 211 00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:48.730 in the scriptures and out of it, for life. Water is life, 212 00:18:48.769 --> 00:18:55.450 it's abundance, it prospers. Remember earlier we read from Isaiah how the center 213 00:18:55.650 --> 00:18:59.680 is like a Shrub out in the wilderness right just sitting there, not doing 214 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.599 anything good or being any good, not providing anything. The one that is 215 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:11.750 righteous, the one that is forgiven in Christ, is like a tree planted 216 00:19:11.069 --> 00:19:18.470 by streams of water, language that's also used in Psalm, one water that 217 00:19:18.630 --> 00:19:22.430 just feeds it and feeds it and causes it to grow big and and strong 218 00:19:22.710 --> 00:19:27.180 and birds to nest in its branches and fruit to be provoked duced in their 219 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:33.299 season and when the drought comes it's okay because it's well supplied, it's strong. 220 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:38.289 That image is the image of that is used in the scriptures, of 221 00:19:38.410 --> 00:19:44.450 for what God says he will do for us. Of course he doesn't have 222 00:19:44.609 --> 00:19:48.089 anything to do with us. We're just dry shrubs in the wilderness. But 223 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:56.880 what happens to plants when they come into contact with water? Thrive. This 224 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:02.200 phrase will become in him, a supply of water welling up to eternal life. 225 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:07.509 In Verse Fourteen Echoes something else we read in Isaiah. Twelve three of 226 00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:12.589 people joy of joyfully drawing water from the wells of salvation in the last days. 227 00:20:14.829 --> 00:20:18.390 God promises that when he sends his Messiah, when He sends his Christ 228 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:22.059 there will there will be, there will be such abundance that people will be 229 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:26.420 just pulling up the water of life in other places. Isaiah predicts a time 230 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:32.700 when people will neither hunger nor thirst. God, as God makes this everlasting 231 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:37.329 covenant with both the Jews and as he says in fifty five, four through 232 00:20:37.410 --> 00:20:45.730 five, nations who you do not know, like the United States, countries 233 00:20:45.809 --> 00:20:49.039 all over the world, nations that they'd never heard of, that it never 234 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:55.640 existed in history before, would be blessed by this Messiah who would come. 235 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.000 And so, as we read this morning this we started worship with Isaiah. 236 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.950 Fifty five. Come, God says. Come, all who are thirsty, 237 00:21:04.390 --> 00:21:10.869 come to the waters. What kind of waters? Living waters? What kind 238 00:21:10.869 --> 00:21:18.190 of life? As Isaiah says, that your soul may live, that something 239 00:21:18.230 --> 00:21:25.059 about our parched, dry, crumbling, sinful soul would turn into a tree, 240 00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:33.809 would flower and live and live forever. These waters that Jesus refers to 241 00:21:33.930 --> 00:21:37.650 in the Scriptures referred to as being fulfilled in the Messiah, in Christ, 242 00:21:37.809 --> 00:21:41.410 who is our say, who is our savior, Jesus. This water refers 243 00:21:41.450 --> 00:21:47.799 to life in God, to soul, refreshment, to blessedness, to satisfaction. 244 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:53.799 The images of Eden's rivers and the tree of life apply here. Later 245 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:57.599 John will connect to the living water, to the spirit who is given to 246 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:03.430 all believers, and even this applies to our physical bodies as well, not 247 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:10.029 just our souls. In verse a fourteen, this wet language of welling up 248 00:22:10.230 --> 00:22:15.549 is used. It's a word that is is can use to mean like bubble 249 00:22:15.630 --> 00:22:21.420 up, or even leap up or bounce up. It's a word that's again 250 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:26.940 going back to Isaiah. Isaiah uses to talk about the end times with reference 251 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:34.490 to a lame person leaping up, leaping up like a deer, a word 252 00:22:34.569 --> 00:22:40.250 that is then used in acts three, eight and fourteen ten to describe what 253 00:22:40.450 --> 00:22:44.210 happens when these people who are paralyzed and have no use of their legs then 254 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:51.119 leap up because of the work of the Messiah. This leaping up, this 255 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:56.160 bubbling up, this life that's just coming and coming and coming, is what 256 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:02.630 is promised by Jesus. If you knew who was standing in front of you, 257 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:06.349 if you knew that I am the one that has been promised this whole 258 00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:11.829 time to give these gifts, you would say, give me a drink. 259 00:23:11.910 --> 00:23:18.460 I wonder if you've ever been told something and not really understood what you were 260 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:26.329 being told. A couple days ago I read an article about an insurance company. 261 00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:30.809 This is in news, and insurance company that is trying to get people 262 00:23:30.849 --> 00:23:36.369 to read the fine print, and so down a few pages they put in 263 00:23:36.450 --> 00:23:41.920 the fine print if you read this and email us, first person who does 264 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:48.599 gets tenzeros. This is true story. And a lady reading the five print 265 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.200 saw that. She email them and gave him ten thousand. She got her 266 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:59.549 tenzeros. Man The insurance that the company got their publicity stunt and that probably 267 00:23:59.630 --> 00:24:06.990 business. They said that there were more than seventy people that these contracts went 268 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:15.460 out too before anybody acted or or read the letter. It's easy to overlook 269 00:24:15.539 --> 00:24:22.299 things, it's easy to not understand things, especially in insurance contracts. But 270 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:30.369 in the scriptures this is as plain as day. God speaks over and over 271 00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:34.809 and over and over again about who he is and what he promises to do 272 00:24:36.089 --> 00:24:41.079 for us in our dryness and our parchedness and our sinfulness. I will give 273 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:49.200 you eternal life. Recognize who I am, trust in me and you will 274 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:56.789 be saved. This is the relationship, this is the encounter that this woman 275 00:24:56.910 --> 00:25:00.589 is having with Jesus in this at this moment in time. And you know 276 00:25:00.750 --> 00:25:06.910 what? This is true of all of our encounters with God. There's not 277 00:25:06.990 --> 00:25:12.660 a meeting with God in which the meeting is ever about something else. We 278 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:18.579 never come into contact with God where it's not about God, where it's not 279 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:26.049 about that relationship, it's not about the drink or the job or the relationship 280 00:25:26.170 --> 00:25:33.250 troubles you're having or your back aches or whatever else. It's about him. 281 00:25:34.410 --> 00:25:40.680 It's always about him. When we meet with God, it can't be about 282 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:47.000 anything but him. Ultimately, of course, we don't often think of it 283 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:52.230 that way. Because our expectations of him are so low, so low, 284 00:25:55.150 --> 00:26:00.269 and our expectations in our confidence in ourselves is so high. I've got the 285 00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:07.779 water which my will. How could you be asking me for this if you 286 00:26:07.980 --> 00:26:11.740 only know who you're talking to? Right? Are you greater than our father, 287 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:18.369 Jacob? Yes, yes, of course. Is God greater than Your 288 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:26.730 father and mother? It's God greater than your church. Is God greater than 289 00:26:26.210 --> 00:26:33.440 your physical ailments, your spiritual troubles, your financial difficulties? Is God greater 290 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:41.799 than the weather, or the mountains or the rivers? Is God greater than 291 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:56.390 Your Life? God is greater than everything, and you have the opportunity to 292 00:26:56.470 --> 00:27:03.420 meet with him. We are meeting with him right now. Who Was it 293 00:27:03.539 --> 00:27:11.740 that called you into worship this morning? God says, God's call to worship. 294 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:17.690 WHO said come, come, Um and by, you have no money, 295 00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:21.529 come and right. WHO said that? I was just reading it. 296 00:27:22.609 --> 00:27:26.690 God said it. God meets with us, God speaks to us. And 297 00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:30.200 what is he saying to you? The same things that he says to this 298 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:34.279 woman at the well? The same things he says every time he meets with 299 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:45.109 us. Come, take, receive. We have heard his word this morning, 300 00:27:45.230 --> 00:27:48.630 his call to come and worship. He has promised US salvation and forgiveness 301 00:27:48.670 --> 00:27:53.869 from our sins. Out here in the Desert God. We have met with 302 00:27:55.069 --> 00:28:02.660 God. Will you listen? Will you believe? Will you ask? Will 303 00:28:02.700 --> 00:28:08.420 you receive? Will you take what he promises to give to you and our 304 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:11.619 next time, when we look at this passage, will consider how Jesus goes 305 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:19.809 about undoing her self confidence, and now he builds up faith in him in 306 00:28:19.930 --> 00:28:26.569 its place. But until then I exhort you to take your meeting with God 307 00:28:26.890 --> 00:28:33.279 this morning to heart, believe what he said, tell others about it, 308 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:40.599 receive the water that wells up to eternal life. Let's pray