As we enter this Lenten season, we're in week
three. We want to continue our thoughts of our
Lord's sufferings and for us ourselves for our
repentance as we get to know him better. So now
let us go before the Lord and ask for his blessing
of the preaching of his word. We give you thanks
and praise, Heavenly Father, that you have given
us your Son to be the revelation of your glory.
and to come and to take a bride for himself.
We ask that you help us look to him for all things
that we need. Help us every day to honor him
as the faithful King and Savior. Hear all our
prayers for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. So just as a note in our gospel reading,
what you saw published in our communications
this week was a little bit longer. for the sake
of people and children paying attention. I've
taken out several portions of that, both in our
reading and today. I'll try to make note of it
as we go through today. Although I am starting
several verses earlier, just two lines to provide
some context. So today we're reading from John
chapter four, beginning in verse three. And the
he here is Jesus. He left Judea and departed
again to Galilee. But he needed to go through
Samaria. So he came to a city in Samaria which
is called Sychar, near a plot of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well
was there. Jesus therefore, being weary from
his journey, sat thus by the well, and it was
about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came
to draw water, and Jesus said to her, give me
a drink. For his disciples had gone away into
the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria
said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew,
ask a drink from me, 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 was who says 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 with, and the well is
deep. Where then do you get living water? Are
you greater than our father Jacob who gave us
the well and drank from it himself, as well as
his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and
said to her, whoever drinks of this water will
thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will never thirst. But
the water that I shall give him will become in
him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this
water that I might not thirst, nor come here
to draw. Jesus said to her, Go and call your
husband and come here. The woman answered, I
have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have
well said I have no husband, for you have had
five husbands, and the one whom you now have
is not your husband, in that you spoke truly.
And the woman said, Sir, I perceive that you're
a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where one should worship. And Jesus said to her,
Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you
will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem
worship the Father. You worship what you do not
know. We know what we worship, for salvation
is from the Jews. But the hour is coming. It
is now when true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit,
and those who worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth. The woman said to him, I
know that the Messiah is coming who is called
the Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all
things. Jesus said to her, I, who speak to you,
am He. These are the words of Almighty God. Receive
them in your hearts. There's three things that
I want you to look at and understand about this
passage. There's three things. And by the way,
for those of you who might have seen it on the
realm already this morning, I've put these three
points into our communications. As well as all
of the supporting verses that I reference in
the sermon today So these three things are this?
God has purpose to save his bride the church
Second worship matters worship matters And the
third thing is this Jesus' springs of living
waters is gifted to us that we may be springs
of life to others. That is, Jesus' springs of
living waters is gifted to us that we may be
springs of life to others. As we look at today's
text, there's a few things that must be understood
before we look deeply into it. First, our text
is part of the entire theme of the scriptures.
As one commentator says, boy meets girl. And
I would say boy meets girl by water. Adam meets
Eve in a garden that is watered by a river flowing
out to the four corners of the world. Isaac's
wife was discovered at a well. Jacob met his
wife at a well. Moses met his wife. At a well.
In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we
see the marriage supper of the lamb. This is
Christ's marriage to his bride, the church. So
from beginning to end, there's this narrative
of a man finding his bride at waters. It is important
for us to understand the connection of living
waters from wells symbolizing marriage covenants
and the fidelity to the covenant. We know that
Jesus is faithful, but Solomon in the book of
Proverbs chapter 5 also emphasizes to men this,
and Solomon teaches his son this, drink water
from your own cistern, your own well, and running
water from your own well. Should your fountains
be dispersed abroad and streams of water in the
streets, let them be only your own and not for
strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed
and rejoice with the wife of your youth." So
here, this cistern, this well of water, right?
It's representative of the covenant and how you
as a man shouldn't share your waters with others
and you shouldn't try to drink from any other
source of water than your own wife. Our passage
this morning, so, oh, excuse me. It is important.
For us to remember this, here's a connection
to us, because this is always the question, what
does this mean to me? Right? Jesus meets his
bride, that's us, the church, and the living
waters of baptism which are overshadowed by the
Spirit. Again, Jesus meets his bride and the
living waters of baptism overshadowed by the
Spirit. So there's an emphasis here as Jesus
comes to this woman at the well, that Jesus finds
a Samaritan woman at the well and she is in need
of a true and faithful husband. I think we can
agree with that. There's also here as a foundation
a serious lesson in Bible study methods that
needs to be understood. We often read our own
prejudices, experiences, and some of our former
tutoring or teachings into our understanding
when we read the Bible. And in this way, we certainly
skew and make our own crooked ideas into the
text as if they're fact, but they're simply not
there. This is real important. It's normative.
We all have a lens of our experience and what
we've heard. Right, but we must guard ourselves
when we look at the scriptures not to see it
as we've always heard But what is in the text
we must use scripture to interpret scripture?
Even if you have your favorite Bible teachers
and preachers even myself included What's in
the text? What is the Bible itself? Tell us about
the text and don't put it in put in your own
ideas These false ideas and mischaracterizations
are taught and sometimes repeated so much that
it just becomes the common but untrue reading
of God's Word. This woman at the well is a great
example of this. It has been common to assume
that this woman is guilty of living her whole
life as sexually immoral. It is understood by
having so many husbands, and now that she's living
with a man that is not her husband. This is simply
not in the text first Jesus who has never been
bashful about pointing out sins that people need
to repent of Only points to the fact in sin that
she is living with a man that is now not her
husband We're not given any explanation for why
she had had five husbands She could certainly
just be what we call in the modern day a black
widow. She gets married and somehow they die.
Now I know a lot of times we look at that with
suspicion. But I want to point out to you, right,
that the Puritan minister John Flavel had four
wives. His first three wives just died by various
things that happened to them. We don't look at
that Puritan great and say, Well, he must have
been poisoned all his wives or why did he have
so many wives? No. We need to treat the Samaritan
woman simply with the facts in the text. It's
also important for us to remember that at that
time divorce was initiated only by the husband.
We don't know the reasons that she was divorced.
It could have been that she was a serial adulterous
woman or It's just as likely, because of the
corruption of the rabbinical teachings, a man
could divorce his wife for any reason, and this
was actually the rabbinical teachings, for burning
his dinner. It sounds like today, that's right,
divorce for any reason. Now it's really important
for us to know, farther down in the text, in
verse 39, we read that many of the Samaritans
of the cities believed in Jesus because of the
testimony of this woman. If she were a woman
scorned and ostracized because of her wickedness,
her testimony would not have likely counted for
much. Now what the text does show is this. It
does show that this woman who has experienced
a lot of hardship in her relationships had found
no long -term help in her five husbands. And
it seems that now she has given up on marriage
and is now definitely living in sin with a man
who is not her husband. As you know, this is
like the people of Samaria and Judea. They look
to other gods and idols and now for many in those
lands They are spiritually living with the man
who is not their husband So as we consider God's
word at any time let us be careful to look to
the scriptures to interpret Itself, let us guard
ourselves not to read into the scriptures what
it's not there With these points as a foundation.
Let us turn to our passage first of all It says
this, that Jesus left Judea and departed Galilee.
But he needed to go through Samaria. And so it
says that he came to a city of Samaria. And we
heard about this city, Sychar. It's kind of sort
of on the lower half of Samaria. So you got Judea
down here. You got Galilee up here. And you have
Samaria kind of situated in the middle. It's
important for us to realize. That Jesus had been
in Jerusalem. He had cleansed the temple. Then
he had a meeting with Nicodemus Right the great
teacher of Israel about the necessity to be born
of the spirit and of water and His disciples
then went out from there and were baptizing disciples
and followers of Jesus and it is in that Characterization
that he comes in it is in that way that he comes
in he says I need to go to Samaria. Now, this
word need is better understood as this, as the
necessity to do what is required to attain some
end. It is the necessity to do what is required
to attain some end. Now, someone could say, well,
his end was I got to get to Galilee, right? But
he says, I need to go to Samaria. Most of the
Jews in those days, they would actually do this.
Again, I kind of made this map for you and here's
the River Jordan kind of on the edge. They would
actually go out of Judea and over on the other
side of the Jordan River and go all the way up
and then back over. They were so eager to come
into no contact with the Samaritans that they
went the long way around. Jesus says, no, I need
to go to Samaria. That's where I'm going. What
is Jesus' end that he is trying to attain? Jesus
came to seek and save that which was lost. What's
lost? Jesus' bride is lost. Like the prophet
Hosea who was commanded by God to marry an adulterous
woman, prostituting herself with many lovers.
Jesus seeks out his bride first from the descendants
of his covenant people, Judah, Israel, and this
would have included many of the Samaritans. So
remember, Jesus' purpose since the foundations
of the world to redeem his bride, the church,
all y 'all who are baptized and living a repentant
life. That's who he has purposed to come see.
Jesus has pursued you as you know that while
you were yet sinners Christ died for you our
passage in Romans 5 told us this for if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to God through
his the death of his son much more having been
reconciled we shall be saved by his life and
Not only that but we also rejoice in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now
received that reconciliation Jesus purposed to
attain in the end all those whom he has called
and redeemed and reconciled to be his bride.
So this is real important. The Christian life
is framed by joy in that Jesus has purpose to
save his bride. Whatever you're dealing with
in your life right now, you need to understand
this. Your life is framed by the joy that Jesus
has purposed to save his bride, which includes
you. Dearly beloved, rejoice, for we have been
reconciled and saved, because Jesus is the faithful
husband. Jesus sat by the well and encountered
this Samaritan woman, and Jesus said to her,
give me a drink. Now this phrase, if we look
at the grammar, is not a command like give me
a drink, woman. No. This word give in the Greek
can be understood as bestow a gift to me. Jesus,
he's hot. It's the sixth hour. That's noon in
our time. It's hot. The sun is bearing down.
He came in from a journey. He paused and rested
there. He was like, give me this gift of water.
I'm hot. I need to be refreshed. She's astonished
that Jesus a Jew would ask her for a drink for
she's both a Samaritan and a woman Many Jews
as I said before wouldn't travel through Samaria
Because they didn't want to come into contact
to become with Samaritans and become unclean
and at that time women were not elevated and
so a woman was considered even lower than just
a regular Samaritan man and They certainly Here's
the thing, they certainly would not have drank
out of the same container as a Samaritan. And
Jesus answered her and said, if you knew the
gift of God and who it is that says it to you,
give me a drink, you would have asked him and
he would have given you living water. Jesus'
context here is in that he is the gift that gives
living water. Waters that are not dead but are
moving, springing up and flowing out. Much like
Nicodemus that we heard about last week, this
woman sees the practical problems with what Jesus
is saying and so lacks understanding. Jesus must
correct her misunderstandings not just about
getting a drink of water, but much more about
her life and the lives of the whole world. She
questions Jesus, what are you using to draw these
living waters? And now she begins to show that
she's not an ignorant woman, but one with some
thoughtful spiritual ideas and questions. She
says, are you greater than our father Jacob,
who drank here along with his sons and his livestock?
Here, she's making a distinction about the historicity
of her Samaritan religion and all their practices.
Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks
of this water will thirst again But whoever drinks
of the water that I shall give him will never
thirst But the water that I shall give him will
become a fountain of water springing up into
everlasting life The waters of life that spring
and flow up out of him make us never to thirst
again, and it is a gift Just like the water he
turned into wine a few chapters earlier we are
transformed right from dead waters that stink
and do not give life into fountains of waters
springing up to everlasting life not for ourselves
but these gifts are for true life for all those
whom the Lord places in your life right so so
the spirit comes he transforms you he gives you
eternal life he gives you his promises in the
His covenant promises of marriage and baptism.
And then he gives you his spirit at baptism and
he says, I'm giving you life. And these waters
of life that I've given you, you're gonna give
to others. That is the Christian life. Every
person that God puts in our life. And of course,
this woman is excited and declares, sir, give
me this water that I might not thirst or come
here to draw. and listen to Jesus answer, right?
She's still thinking, all right, I've got to
sort out some stuff here. I'm not quite understanding,
so give me this water. And Jesus, knowing her
heart, knowing her life, knowing every one of
us as he does, he starts to say, okay, we got
to deal with the foundational issues. What's
separating you from God? So he says, go and call
your husband. And of course she says she doesn't
have a husband. Jesus knows as the man that knows
her that she's had five husbands and the sixth
one is not her husband that she lives with now.
Jesus is showing her that she needs a faithful
husband, that she must turn from her sin. She
has served five legal husbands and now has a
false husband. And Jesus... the complete, the
mature, the one who is faithful. So too all of
Israel, Judea, and Samaria and the whole Gentile
world must turn from all their unfaithful husbands,
that is all their gods and idols. They must be
reconciled to God through the Son by the power
of the Spirit which flows from the throne out
of heaven to the whole earth. as we see and we've
talked about many times out of Ezekiel 47. And
in Ezekiel 47 where God's sitting on his throne
and the waters, the Spirit is flowing out to
all the world, it reveals that the water heals
wherever it goes. Understanding that Jesus is
actually greater than Jacob is the central issue
from which every other issue in her life and
in our lives flows. And so, led by Jesus, she
asks about worship. She says, you know, our fathers,
they worship on this one. And you Jews, you say
you got to worship in Jerusalem at the temple.
And Jesus points out that the hour is coming.
Well, you'll neither worship in Jerusalem or
on this mountain. And Jesus does of course say
that the, excuse me, he does say that salvation
belongs to the Jews, but that was because they
were given the instructions by God in the Old
Testament. Remember when he set them up as a
people? Almost the entire book of Leviticus is
all about how to worship. He sets that all up,
he gives it to them. They were to be the priests
of the world, but they kept going after all of
the world's idols and gods, and so they corrupted
it. And Jesus says that a time is coming where
we need to worship the Father in spirit and in
truth. And of course, she's beginning to understand.
She says, well, we know the Messiah is coming,
and when he comes, he'll tell us all things.
And then Jesus, listen to this, says to her,
I who speak to you am he. Who does Jesus sound
like? If we were to look at the Greek, it would
say, I am who I am. Jesus sounds just like Yahweh
speaking to Moses. Jesus answers directly that
the Samaritans are not worshiping God correctly.
Their religious practices were formed out of
the sins of their first king, Jeroboam, who was
given the northern kingdom of Israel by God and
immediately desired to retain the kingdom for
himself and for his children. So what did he
do? He was worried that God divided the kingdom,
gave it to him, and then said, okay, you're the
king now. And he looked and said, man, three
times a year it's commanded that all the men
in Israel go to the temple and worship. Man,
if I do that, if I let them keep going to worship
God at the temple, that's gonna be a problem.
He sees that in Christ men are unified. And so
what does he do? He sets up idol worship. He
sets up two golden castes, one in the north and
one in the south of his kingdom. And he said,
this is how we worship. That's really the God
who led us out of Egypt. And so the Samaritans
began to worship in other places and followed
idolatry. which led to them having all kinds
of other idols and idolatries. And there's a
lot of story there, but I want to point out to
you this, that Jeroboam decided that he wanted
to retain his kingdom for himself, his life for
himself, more than he wanted to himself and others
to worship Yahweh. And so what does he do? He
leads the people into idolatry. Dearly beloved,
We cannot worship God as we wish. God defines
what worship is. He is the only one that can
set the parameters about how to approach Him.
Many like Jeroboam place their own desires above
serving God and do not worship God as God defines
worship. And so, in the corruption of worship
comes crooked teachings in how we're to live.
As Paul says to Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter
4, for the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine. But according to their
own desires, because they have itching ears,
they will heap up for themselves teachers, and
they will turn their ears away from the truth,
and be turned aside to fables. Remember what
did Satan do? Hath God really said, question
the word of God? And don't you want to be like
God? Those are the two questions. So when you
go around saying, I get to worship God any way
that I want, In any fashion, with whatever whim
you have, that's a serious problem because it
will bring corruption. If your worship is defined
by your whims or what is comfortable for you
instead of the Word of God, then the idols you
serve will consume you to your very destruction.
Now here back in our passage, we see that Jesus
is the great gift giver. But as He gives of Himself,
He makes us gift -givers. In John 19 at the crucifixion,
we see that a soldier, in order to confirm Jesus'
death, pierced Jesus' side, and we are told that
blood and water flowed. Jesus died, and water
flowed, representing the coming flow of the Spirit
as predicted in Jesus' words in John 7. It says
this, Jesus stood up and cried out saying, if
anyone thirsts, this is a different story, if
anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
He who believes in me, as the scripture said,
out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
And of course it says this, but he spoke concerning
the spirit whom those believing in him would
receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given
because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus, the
final and faithful husband, gives the gift of
living waters, the transformative waters that
would spring up and flow out of us to bring life
and light to those who are in our life. The Samaritan
woman at the well becomes, just as Jesus said,
a fountain of life -giving water to the whole
town. She doesn't keep it to herself. Let me
ask you this. Are you a spring of refreshing,
life -giving waters to those in your household?
To your wife? To your husband? To your children?
What about your community? Are you life -giving
waters to them? Your extended family? What about
here at church? Are you a fountain of joy and
life? During this Lenten season, many of you
have taken to fasting, prayer, and repentance.
Remember that all of these, fasting, prayer,
and repentance, are of no value without a change.
First, towards God, and then towards others.
In Isaiah 58, God through the prophet Isaiah
warns this. Is it a fast that I have chosen?
Because they were complaining, God, you're not
seeing our fast. And God responds, is it a fast
that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict
his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bull
rush and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would
you call this fast an acceptable day of Yahweh?
Is this not the fast that I have chosen? to loose
the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,
to let the oppressed go free, and that you break
every yoke. That is the spirit of living waters
proceeding forth. That is what God desires. Jesus
has met you all at the well of baptism. He is
the faithful husband, and through the gift of...
of water and spirit, you are to be gift givers
of the springs of living water. Now here it is.
Do you think you're tapped out? Do you think
that the spring in you is dry or maybe it's just
a trickle? So that you're just sort of making
it? Hear the words of God out of Isaiah 58, just
a few verses down. Yahweh will guide you continually
and remember Yahweh is the covenant name of God
Yahweh will guide you continually and Satisfy
your soul in drought he will satisfy you these
springs will flow forth even when you feel like
you're in a drought and He will strengthen your
bones You shall be like a watered garden like
a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Let
us pray. Heavenly Father, help us give thanks
and rejoice in your provision, for you have given
us the one thing we need, Jesus our Savior. Help
us to follow Jesus and worship you, for you have
given us all things necessary to be springs of
living waters to the world. We ask all this for
the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, who reigns
with you in the Holy Spirit. World without end.