Thirst No More (John 4)

Good morning. Peter, one of the pastors here. Welcome. Before we get into the message today… Reminder:

Relationship Series – Next week. Invite. Bible – Friendship, Singleness, Marriage, the Family and Church.

2nd week here in KL… Buying all the stuff for our condo – Tasked with the most important job for our survival – Coffee. Take a Grab but get dropped off a couple of km away from the coffee store. No cell service. Started walking. Few people – Help. – No one spoke English. Kept walking – Through what seemed like jungles and highways. Thirsty. Hot. Beaten down by the Malaysian sun and humidity. I thought I was going to die. I moved all the way here just to die on the side of the road from a heat stroke and thirst. 

Managed to somehow to make my way to the coffee store hours later. I walk in – soaked in sweat and barely alive. Everyone saw me and dropped what they were doing and asked, “Are you ok? Do you want some ice water?” My mouth is so dry I can’t even get a word out. I shake my head. And they rush off to get me some water to bring me back to life. Even gave me ice coffee. Wife – Dramatic. My story and I’m sticking with it.

I share that story, first, to give God glory for preserving my life. And second, because there are so many people who are thirsty. They don’t even know it or they’re dying of thirst and they’re looking in all the wrong places to be satisfied. Today…

Context: Behold and Believe. John 4. Bibles. Turn. Screen.

John 4 3 He (Jesus) 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. (Jesus – Fully God, Fully Man. Humanity – He’s tired. 12p. Hot. – No one else would be there. But…)

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.) (Long history of animosity and prejudice. Samaritans – Jews who intermarried. Mixed bloodline. Jews – Impure. Not real Jews. HP – Mudbloods. And they had different religious views/practices that deviated.) 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.” (Jesus turns the convo from the physical to the spiritual. And notice – Jesus is putting the focus not just on the living water, but his identity as the one who gives it.) 

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.” (The woman is interested. She recognizes her situation and her need. She’s tired of having to come to the well again and again when it’s hot and inconvenient. But why’s she going to the well at that time anyways? …)

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.” (Ok. So how did we get from Jesus’ asking for a drink to the woman’s relational history? Seems a bit off topic. Jesus – Exposes and confronts her past and present sin. Why? Not to condemn her. To point out her need for something deeper/better. Her need for Living Water that won’t leave her soul thirsty like her relationships have – Why she physically has to go to the well when it’s hot and no one else is there. Outcast. No one wants to be associated with her.) 

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.” (The woman – Maybe caught off guard and uncomfortable – shifts the conversation to worship. But Jesus engages with her…) 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. (Not just for the Jews. Through the Jews…all the nations.) 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.” (To truly worship God, there’s only one true way – through Jesus who gives the Spirit.) 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.” (And there it is. Jesus reveals his identity – Ego Eimi – YHWH –  I AM. I am God. I am the Messiah. I am the one who gives you Living Water so you never thirst again.)

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. (Samaritans – Waiting/Expectant for the Christ/Messiah…)

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. (Of course not literally. People’s salvation…)

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.”

Here’s three things we see from this story…

We’re all thirsty for something. 

The Samaritan Woman – Thirsty. Not just for water. But for something more. We don’t know the circumstances of her previous 5 relationships – Whether she was actually married to them, they died, divorced, or whatever. And we don’t really need to know. The fact that she was in a 6th relationship – She was thirsty/searching for something – meaning, significance, belonging, love. One failed relationship after another probably hoping the next would be the last and her thirst would be quenched. Her search would be over. But the problem is, she was drinking from the wrong well.

And maybe you look at her and you feel sorry for her. Or maybe  judgment because she’s made so many mistakes. You’d never do the same. But we’ve all drunk from the wrong well. Maybe for you it’s not a relationship or love, but it’s something. We’re all thirsty for something…

What are you thirsty for? Motivates you. Things you think about the most. What is it that you think you have to have to be happy? Many – Meaning/Purpose/Love/Security (Good things) – Sought in/through…

–Money – Not just for the paper bills. But what you think they can provide: Security/Comfort/Pleasure/Better Life. – If I just had enough/more – I’d be good.

Problem: They can’t fix or keep you from hardship. Money can’t fix your terminal cancer or children who have walked away from the faith.

–Career – Important. Status. Name for yourself. Legacy. (Some – Ends to money.)

Problem: Maybe you don’t even really like your job – Not fulfilling. OR You work and maybe you get to enjoy it some. But you work all your best years. To what end? It’s all here and gone. You’re replaceable – younger, smarter. And it seems like no one in their old age wishes they had worked more.

–Romance/Relationships – You desire to find love and companionship.

Problem: Loved ones will fail you. Even betray you. Or what happens when they move on and leave you?

–Family – As long as I have my family, I’m good. I have somewhere I’m loved, I belong, I’m needed.

Problem: Families are fractured and broken apart all the time. Family drama is real. Who here is a sibling/mom/dad/crazy uncle that you wish was just completely different? (Don’t raise your hands…) Bloodlines don’t mean you will value the same things or have the same worldview. Source of a lot of major conflict.

=> These things will never be enough. They won’t be able to satisfy. You will always want more. The next thing. The next level. Something else or someone else. And they will all fail and disappoint you, leaving you thirsty, because none of these good things were meant to be ultimate things.

The thirst we all have – It is ultimately not for things or even people. It’s for God. Because we were created to be in relationship with him. And it’s this relationship with God that puts all the other good things like career, relationships, marriage, and family in their right place so they can be enjoyed.  

Question: Have you ever felt a thirst and hunger for God? Not interest.

(Ps. 42:1-2) My soul thirsts for God, the living God…as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Ps. 63:1-8)

Because once you do, once you have this relationship with God, you’ll find that he is everything you’ve ever wanted and have been searching for. And you’ll feel like you can’t get enough of him. (Daughters)

We’re all thirsty for something. There’s a well/water you can drink from and never thirst again. Jesus – Relationship with him. Everything you have ever wanted and dreamed of – Is found in him. Living Water – Holy Spirit. His presence is always with you. HS – Make more of Jesus in your life so you won’t thirst again…

Jesus has intentionality and compassion for the thirsty – to quench their thirst.

Intentionality: Barriers Jesus Crossed for the Woman:

–Racial – Jesus – Jew from the line of David. Woman – Samaritan.

–Religious – Jesus – God. Woman – Worshipped at a different temple. Different views on scripture and of the Christ.

–Moral – Jesus – Perfectly righteous and clean. Woman – Unclean. Many husbands, and wasn’t married to the last one she was with

–Social – Jesus – Insider. Followers. Woman – Outcast.

–Gender – Jesus – Man. Woman – Woman.

=>Why disciples – Why are you talking to her?

–Physical – Jesus – Traveled not just from Judea to Samaria. Route. – Another longer route to avoid Samaria. “Had” – Not just because of the shorter route – for the geographical. But because Jesus had a divine appointment with the woman. 

Jesus intentionally goes out of his way for the outsider. He went out of his way by coming to this world. He took on flesh and becoming one of us. He left his throne in heaven and went to the greatest lengths to reach the woman, you and me. Why?

Compassion – Not our worthiness. And here’s the kicker: He knows everything about us! Every dark secret, every messed up thing about you just as he did the woman. And how does he deal with the woman?

Not judgment. Not condemnation. Woman – “What are you doing with your life? Why are you jumping from one man to another? You’re dirty. Your sin deserves death.” All true. And Jesus does confront her sin. He doesn’t ignore the truth. But he doesn’t distance himself from her either. He makes a way to bring her in with incredible compassion. A daughter has been lost. Drinking from wells that won’t ever satisfy. And he wants her back.

Be honest, how many of you would be comfortable if one of your pastors was engaging with and talking with a woman with a known history like this even here at church? Would you think oh he shouldn’t be talking to someone like her OR would you think that’s awesome that my pastor has the compassion to talk with someone like her. 

And I want to tell you something, none of you/us were any better or more clean than this woman when Jesus came for us. Your sin was just as repulsive and offensive to God. And it is only by the grace of God that he pursued you/us. 

See Jesus doesn’t say fix yourself and clean yourself up first before he comes to you. He comes to you at your worst with compassion. And all you need is need. To recognize your thirst for living water. And he gives it freely and brings you into his family. Isa. 12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Your testimony offers people living water. 

Woman: What’s she do essentially during her encounter with Jesus? Runs off to the town – “Come see.” Immediately engages in mission to tell others about Jesus – the Christ. She leaves the jar (v28) – forgets why she was at the well in the first place because she found something far greater. And the fruit of the testimony of this outcast woman leads to salvation of a town.

Your testimony matters. For 99.99% of people, Jesus doesn’t appear in the clouds and speak the gospel to them. He does it through his people. Why we end every service with “You are loved AND sent.” You are deeply loved by God. You’ve been shown great love and compassion. And you are sent to tell others about it too. You can’t save people. – You can’t make people drink. But you can offer it. Knowing it’s the only thing that will satisfy. 

You know what qualifications you need to share the gospel? You’re a believer. That’s it. If you know the gospel enough to put your faith in it, you have everything you need to share it with others. Gospel and HS.

The woman doesn’t care what people think of her. What does she have to lose? She shares with the whole town after knowing Jesus for just a few minutes. She doesn’t care if she gets all the words right. She doesn’t care that she doesn’t have training. She doesn’t care that she doesn’t have a seminary/theological degree. She doesn’t care that she’s a woman or about her background. She just knows that she’s found the Christ, rather He found her, and she can’t not tell people about him.

Imagine if – You were saved from a burning building. You don’t need to know about the mechanics of  – All you need to know is I was dead but I was saved. I was rescued.

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me along and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? “I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.” – Penn Jillette, Atheist

Convicting. Is it so hard for us to walk across the room? People’s eternities and Jesus’ glory are at stake. Natural – We all love to talk about the things we love. Food, family, faith. (Not in order of importance.)

Jesus’ promise of his presence is with you. His Holy Spirit. And the promise that we will do even greater works than he did! Expect God to move and to use you to draw people to himself. Trusting God will do the real work. Farmer – Goes to sleep. Wakes up. There’s growth. Doesn’t know how.

The harvest is ready. End of Jn. 4 – Jesus performs another miracle, another sign, by healing an official’s son. He doesn’t even go to the boy. He just speaks the words and it’s done. And you know what happens next? The official and his whole household believe. The outcast and the important. For the woman and the child. The harvest is ready – not just back then. Today.

7 Habits of Effective Of Highly Effective Soul Winners (Lifeway Research – Richard S. Church Jr.) Adapted. (Website)

-Habit 1: They are spiritually prepared. And trained. (Harvest – Prepare)

-Habit 2: Share Christ Anytime/Anywhere (Harvest – Sow Seeds)

-Habit 3: Are Adaptable in Their Presentation of the Gospel– Most do not rely on mechanical or canned gospel presentations. They each have developed their own particular style (Not robots.)

-Habit 4: See Their Interactions With Others as Divine Appointments—They begin each day with a sense of expectation

-Habit 5: Do Not Worry About Results–Soul-winners realize that they cannot save anyone. People come to Christ only through the work of the Holy Spirit.

-Habit 6: They do not limit themselves to sharing Christ only during church-sponsored activities. They see every moment of every day as an evangelistic opportunity. Soul winners also seek to reproduce themselves in others. 

-Habit 7: Pray. Consistently for Opportunities to Share Christ with Others and Pray for Those People (Harvest – Tend. Water)

Summary: Pray, share, and watch God work. It’s that simple.

“How? Don’t know how.” Methods: 

–Bridge: Ro. 6:23

–3 Circles: Brokenness, God’s Design, (Sin), (Ro.5:8) Jesus (Restored)

–Testimony: Life before Christ, Jesus saved me, Life after Christ. “Before Jesus _______, Jesus saved me, and now _______.” For example, for me: Before Jesus, I always questioned whether I could ever be good enough to save myself. Jesus saved me. And now I rest knowing that it’s not about what I do but what Jesus has done for me. – Not the gospel itself, but helps you get to the gospel.

See how easy that was? Now you’re even more equipped than the woman at the well. Seriously, learn even just one way to share the gospel and your testimony.

“Easy for you. You’re a professional Christian. What if they ask me a question I don’t know the answer to?” – “I dont know.” I say it all the time! And it’s ok! Follow back up.

Our confidence is not in our ability. – Power of the gospel (1Cor.1-2) and God’s desire and ability to save.

“If I just had an encounter with Jesus…” And you’re right.

Maybe your story has grown old and stale. It’s not as wonderful as it first was. And you just need to remember again. To have another fresh encounter with Jesus and his grace. Not for salvation, that’s already been settled. But anew.

Woman – How many men was she with? 6. And that makes Jesus the 7th – perfection. The well/Living Water – is a person – Jesus.

Jesus on the cross – I thirst. Jesus traded places with the woman, with you and me. He took our place of thirst so we could have living water. He paid the price for us. So the invitation he gives – 

(Isa. 55:1) Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; …

To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. (Rev. 21:6)

Jesus is who you are looking for. He’s crossed all the barriers to make a way to you. All – Thirst only he can satisfy. Alternative to not having your soul thirst quenched – death. – Jer. 17:13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.