Give Me This Water

Alright, if you would please stand for the reading of God's Word. So he, the Lord Jesus, came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from his journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. She said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you?

who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. He said to her, Go call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have correctly said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your kindness and your mercy. Thank you, Lord, for sending your Son.

We ask, Lord, that you would be with us now as we read your word and as we study and as we talk about it. That the words of my mouth and meditation of all of our hearts would be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, Lord. And would you make me your instrument. Speak to us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So, I want to start just by asking you a simple question. Have you ever been thirsty? To which you all say yes. But have you ever been really thirsty? So think about those times where you've been really thirsty. You've probably been working out in your yard, or you've been camping or backpacking, and you've been physically exerting yourself in some way, shape, or form, right? And at some point in time, you realize, I'm really thirsty. And so you drink water, right? That's typically what we drink when we're thirsty. I mean, I don't know about you, but if I'm working and I am incredibly thirsty, water is what I'm thinking about.

Right? Have you ever stopped and considered that even after you quench your thirst, you're just going to get thirsty again? Jesus says to the woman, the water that you drink doesn't truly satisfy because you'll need it again. That's what he's getting at. You're going to have to come back to this well. What does that tell us about ourselves? Because we're that woman. We've got to go back to the well. What does it tell us about ourselves? What does it tell you about yourself? You're needy. You have needs. Water is fundamental to your survival. And so you need it consistently over your life. But we have plenty of other needs that aren't just water that I want you to think about this morning. Things that we can't live without. Things that we can't function without. We're not just talking about water. Jesus is using water because that's the woman's immediate need in this passage. But I want you to think about your immediate need right now.

We can't be minimalistic about that. I don't want you thinking, well, water and, you know, just whatever I need for life. I want you to actually think about the things that you need. What do you need right now? And what I want you to see is that there are all sorts of water in this world. There are all sorts of wells that you have to go back to continually. All sorts of needs that you have to go back to continually. All sorts of needs. All sorts of desires. And I want you to know that none of them will satisfy you. Because the water of this world doesn't satisfy us. Now what is the water of this world? What do you think of immediately when I say that? Probably sin. You probably think about wickedness. That's the first thing that comes to your mind. That was the first thing that came to my mind when I was reading this passage. But I don't want you to think exclusively about sin. Think about your actual physical needs. The Lord uses the example of water here with the woman. What about food? You need food.

You need it to survive. Without it, you starve to death. You need clothing. Not just for decency's sake, but for protection from the elements. It's cold outside. You guys all saw the snow when you came in. Think about this too in regards to clothing. Genesis 3.21. What's the first thing God did after Adam and Eve broke His law? And He punishes them. He pronounces judgment on them. And then what's He do immediately after? He gives them clothes. He makes for them garments. What's another need? Shelter. Somewhere safe. Psychologically, when we think about home, it's like it's your home. It's safe. It's secure. Somewhere safe to stay. Somewhere safe to sleep. There's one. A bed. A mattress. And you might think, well, we don't really need mattresses. But you actually do need a mattress unless you want to spend your 40s, 50s, and 60s at a doctor.

In the long term, your back's not going to appreciate you sleeping on the floor. What else do we need? We need a car, transportation. How else do you get to work? And you need gas to go in that car. And you need tires to go on that car. And you need all the parts that make up that car in order to have that car. What about this? Money. Everyone gets really tense when we talk about money. But you need it. How else do you get all the other things we've talked about? You pay a water bill. How else do you afford food? You need money. You need work. And that's what I want you to see is that these are needs. There's more. But all of the needs that we're talking about are not sinful in and of themselves. It's not wrong for you to be thirsty and drink water. They're not automatically sinful. They are needs and they are waters of this world. Things that we need to live, to survive.

Now, I want to draw your attention to who the Lord is speaking to. Who is this woman? What do we know about her? All we really know when we start in this passage, when we get to verse 7, is that she's a Samaritan woman, and she's going to draw water. That's all we really know. We don't know anything else about her. She's trying to meet her need for water. And while we don't know much, Jesus knows everything. He knows her frame. He knows her desires. He knows her needs. And he knows her sins. He knows her life. And so we see this in verses 16 and 18. He said to her, go call your husband and come here. And what does the woman say? It almost sounds like she's avoiding the question. The woman answered and said, I don't have a husband. Nope, nope, no husband here. And Jesus said to her, yeah, you're right.

You're exactly right. Because you've had five. And the one you're with now is not your husband. What's Jesus doing? So we see the need. She has a need. And she has sin. But we don't see that until Jesus takes the curtain and pulls the curtain back and shows us. And so who is she? Well, she's an adulteress. She's a sinner. And why is that important to us? I've been talking about, I was talking about needs and desires, and now I'm talking about the woman and who she is and the fact that she's a sinner. And why is that important? Because we are sinners, just like her. Our initial temptation, I think, is, as we read this passage, to compare our sinfulness to hers. And you wouldn't go, well, I'm a liar, but at least I'm not like that. You would probably think something like, five husbands, a serial adulteress. Well, at least I'm not a sinner like that. You wouldn't name your own sin. You wouldn't even say, I'm a liar. You would just say, wow, that's a sinner, and I'm not. And who does that remind us of? Luke 18, Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector who go into the temple. And what does the tax collector do? The tax collector stays afar off when he gets in, and he falls to his knees, prostrate on the ground, begging for mercy. And the Pharisee goes into the temple,

With his hands out and his head lifted to heaven. And he lists all these people that he's better than. And the tax collector is one of them. Thank you, Lord, I'm not like this sinner. Because I tithe and I do this and I do that. And he lists all these things that he does. I don't want us to think like that. I don't want you to think about your sin in comparison to her sin. Because our sin is not much different from hers. We're sinners just like her. Our sins might be laziness, pride, anger, lust, self-righteousness, greed, envy. All of these make us sinners just like her. Romans 3.23 tells us we have all sinned and fall short of God's glory. Put yourself in the woman's situation. What if you stood before Christ at this well? Maybe it's not a well. I don't know. Take your sin and insert it where water is. Take your sin and insert it where her adultery is. What sin would Christ point out to you? What failure might he force you to acknowledge? That's what she's doing. She's hiding. I don't have a husband. She's hiding. She doesn't want Jesus to know that she's a sinner. She doesn't want anyone to know, though there are people who do. What failure, what sin might the Lord force us to acknowledge that we've been ignoring or avoiding?

That's what the Lord's doing. He's forcing the woman to acknowledge her sin. To acknowledge the truth about herself that she hides from. The truth that she's a sinner. That she sinned in specific ways. He doesn't just say you're a sinner. He says you are an adulteress. And she knows the law. She's a Samaritan, yes, but you read further down and she talks about worshiping on the mountain. She talks about Jacob. They're not ignorant. She's not ignorant of God's law. And Jesus is just reminding her, you've broken God's law. And you actually stand condemned because of your sin. But you know what's interesting through this entire discourse is that I actually am more comforted by the way the Lord talks to the woman at the well. Because she's kind of snippy, it seems like. You know, you have nothing to draw with. The well's deep when he says, I give you living water.

And our Lord Jesus is compassionate with her. He doesn't say, you're a sinner and you're going to hell. He works with her. He's patient with her. He's talking about living water. And she's like, you don't have anything to draw with. He asked her for a drink. I'm not giving you a drink. And he's patient with her. He's working with her. And when he reveals her sin, he's not harsh. He's merciful. And what we see is that God is not put off or shocked by our sin. God is not, your sin, whatever it is, it is not surprising to our Lord. He knows she's a sinner. He knows we're sinners. And he knows that even in our sin and even in our weaknesses, we have needs. We have desires. The point is that the woman is a sinner with needs and Jesus is leading her to see that she has a much greater need than water.

He wants her to see that she has a more important need than that. So what does he tell her? He tells her that the water in this well won't satisfy your needs and your desires. But why won't it satisfy her? I want you to think about that. Why is it that the water, water of this world, your needs and your desires, why won't they satisfy you? And why don't you see that? Because we don't see it. Why doesn't she see it? Why does she need Jesus to pull the curtain back for her? Because she doesn't see the greater need. All she thinks about is the immediate physical need that she has. She doesn't see the greater need, the greatest need that she has. And for the most part, neither do we. You can't see this great need on your own. You need the Lord's help. You need the Lord to pull the curtain back on your sin and say, look at what you need. You are condemned by the law, and you need someone to help you.

You need someone to get you out. You need a really good lawyer. Maybe you can talk to Michael. We are blind to it unless he shows us. Think about what Jesus says to Peter after Peter confesses that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. What does he say to him? He says, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. Peter didn't come to that conclusion on his own. We need the Lord to open our eyes and help us see our greatest need. In this passage, he's showing the woman your greatest need. So what's your water? How do you seek it? What makes you think that it's going to satisfy you? Do you think it will satisfy you? Or is it just consistent, this is my desire, this is my need, this is what, and you're just going through that, that cycle of I need it, I'm satisfied, and now I need it again. Why? Well, because we can't do anything else about it. We're trapped.

We're like boxed in. We're slaves to it. But Jesus promises us water that will satisfy all your needs and desires that we've talked about. The Lord already knows all of them. And he provides what we need. The money, the work, the food, the water. He actually provides all that. Everything in this life is provided sovereignly by our Lord. Matthew 6, verses 30-32 says, But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, Will he not much more clothe you? You of little faith, do not worry then, saying, What will we eat? Or what will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. And then he tells them, Don't worry. Don't worry about it. Our Lord knows us. He knows our frame. He created you with the needs that you have.

with the desires that you have. He gave them to you. He made you finite for a reason. The Lord's not some deistic, unaware God from outer space that just doesn't pay any attention to us or doesn't have any care for us. He's personal. He's compassionate. Don't you see that when we look at how Jesus talks to the woman? Don't you understand that? Jesus doesn't treat her as other. Verse 9, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus could have easily been like all the other Jews and said, I'm not going to talk to you. But he didn't. Because Jesus didn't come to do that. Jesus actually loved this woman. That's why he talked to her. Because he cared about her. And he cared about her sin. And he cared about her soul.

And so he's aware of our needs and he's aware of our desires. And now we're going to talk about sin. Because our sinfulness corrupts these desires. We worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. We see that in Romans 1. We take the needs and we make them idols. We see our needs and then we reject God who made us and gave us the needs and we pursue just the need. And so money doesn't become just a tool that we use. It actually becomes the object of our affection, and we become greedy. And our whole lives are all about chasing satisfaction here on the earth. And we reject him to whom is due the utmost honor and glory, and we love the world and ourselves. So why do we do that? Why do we make for ourselves idols based on our needs and desires? Because the initial attempt to meet and satisfy those needs just doesn't satisfy.

We each have a longing for something deeper and more important than food and clothing and water. There is something else that we need. Something that we know that we lack. And the Lord promises water that can satisfy our hearts. It can satisfy the longing that we feel for something more. What's the first question of the Westminster Catechism? What's the chief end of man, right? And what's the response? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And so another way to phrase the question, though, is what's your purpose in life? What are you here for? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And I like how it's worded in the Westminster Catechism because it says to fully enjoy Him forever. What does this mean? If it's true, and I believe it is, what does it mean for us? That God made us for Himself.

That he made us to find our joy and satisfaction in him, not in the creation. And yet, unless he reveals our need of him, we can't see it. Without his promise of living water, we wouldn't know that there's anything better than what we have right here. We wouldn't know that there's anything better than this right here. Think about a child who only ever wants to eat. I'm stealing your example from earlier. Think about a child who only ever wants to eat candy and junk food. They want to live on a steady diet of potato chips and Twinkies. Seems like a perfect diet if you're an eight-year-old, nine-year-old. It's based purely on taste. They love how sweet or how salty or they just love it. And you as parents know better. You know that their life cannot be sustained by candy and potato chips and garbage.

You know that your children need protein, that they need fruit, that they need vegetables, they need vitamins. Your children don't have any idea. They're purely concerned with how it tastes in the moment. And so your child might ask you, why do I have to eat this green stuff on my plate? And what do you normally say, parents? What do you normally say? Because it's good for you. That's right. We're just like children. We don't know what's good for us. And God sees that too. That we're just like children. That we'd rather live on whatever we can find out here. He knows your weaknesses. He knows you seek to be satisfied. And Jesus says, I have exactly what you need. Christ offers satisfaction. He offers living water that will never run dry. Living water that causes us to never thirst. Jesus offers this to the woman. And what's her response? In verse 15. Sir, give me this water.

Do you see your need? Do you identify with the woman? Do you want what Jesus promises? Do you want living water that satisfies? So I've been talking a lot about our greatest need. And what is our greatest need? We need salvation. Salvation from what? From the condemnation of the law that we talked about earlier. We've broken God's law, just like the woman. And if He were to judge us justly, we'd suffer the consequences of it, which is what? Eternal condemnation. I think we get uncomfortable when we talk about this, though. We get uncomfortable thinking about the fact that there's eternal punishment, hell, and that there are essentially two options that you have. You can drink Christ's water and have everlasting life, or you can reject it and suffer hell. But those are the options.

You live for Christ or you don't. One of these is definitely better than the other, I would say. If you want to keep going to the well, then you're going to live a life of discontentment. You won't have any hope. You won't have any security. You won't be able to trust anyone else to provide your needs. Matthew 6 doesn't apply to you if you reject the water because you don't know that there's someone looking out for you. You don't know that there's someone who will provide your needs because you rejected him. So it's hopeless. There's no satisfaction. It's just continual thirsting after your passions. Always chasing after what feels good to you in the moment. Everything that we do in this life, I asked you if you ever considered, when you drink water, if you ever considered, I'm just going to get thirsty again. And the reason I asked you that is because if you actually think about it, you begin to wonder, is it just futile? What's the point? I'm just always thirsty.

Everything we do in our life apart from Christ is futile. It's empty. And in the next life, when you stand before the Lord, condemned of the law, it's worse. Consider the rich man in Lazarus, the story that Jesus tells. It's probably one of the saddest parables in all the Gospels. It's about a man who realizes that he wasted his life after he dies. He realizes he was wicked and did not love his neighbor or the Lord. And unfortunately, when he died and he went to Hades, it was too late. He was suffering in torment. And the torment was so bad that he merely wanted just a drop of water from one of Lazarus, from one of the men that he refused to love. And not even that small request was granted. The rich man thirsted in his torment. But what I want to say to you is that the Lord Jesus offers us water now.

Water that will save us from the punishment. Water that becomes a well of life in the person who drinks of it. The Christian life is not a measurable list of do's and don'ts. And I think that's often what we think about. When we think about Christians, we just think about the law again. And we think about don't do this, do that. Mostly don't, don't do this. That's mostly what we think about. But for Christians, we're pleased to do God's will. When you drink the water, you are pleased to do the work of the Lord. Because your soul finds rest and peace in Christ. You have peace with God through Christ. And not only that, but Jesus tells us in John 10.10 that he comes to give us life more abundantly. So not only do you feel the joy and satisfaction, and your life is just overflowing. We become like those Christ speaks of in Matthew 5. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. For what?

righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. We put off the desires of this world and we pursue Christ and his water. We're driven by a love for our Lord who satisfied us and given us everlasting life. This is your great need. This is the great need of the woman. Everlasting life, a savior, satisfaction in the Lord. And so what do you want? Do you want this water? The Samaritan woman did. Give me this water. And then what happens later, we didn't read all the way here, but in verse 25, the woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming. So she knows a Savior is coming. He who is called Christ, when that one comes, he will declare all things to us. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. I'm the Messiah. I'm the Savior. I am water.

And then what does she do? She believes. And I'm inclined to believe she repents. Because what does she do immediately after the Lord Jesus tells her that he's the Messiah? She goes into the town. She goes into the town and she tells anyone she can, come see a man who's told me everything I've ever done. And they go out to the well. And they believe because of the word of the Samaritan woman. And think about what shame and ridicule that she might have faced because of her sins. She's going out to the well at noontime, about the sixth hour, when no one else is going out to the well. And she's doing it because everyone in the town, or at least most of the people in the town, they know that she's a sinner. And they know the ways in which she sinned. And they know that she's not changing. She's a pariah. She doesn't care. Because she has water. And she wants them to have water.

She believed the word of the Lord, and Jesus gave her life, and she wasn't ashamed of it. Instead, she felt compelled to tell others about it. She didn't respond with fear or hatred, but she responded with love. She responded with faith, and she responded with repentance. And the only reason is because the Lord changed her. The Lord gave her the living water. He offered it to her, and she said, give me this water. If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. And that should be our response. Give us living water. Give us faith. Give us repentance. Let's pray.