Giver of Living Water | What's in a Name?

Church. It's a pleasure to be here with all of you this morning. I'm fighting with

this court. I won't fight with it again. There we go. It's a pleasure to be here.

It's a pleasure to witness the sacrament of baptism. It's exciting, especially as

we talk about living water this morning and glad to welcome obviously the members

here, but the visitors as well, including my friend Jake, go blue. I told him I

would do that. Before we come before God's holy and inerrant word, let's pray.

Father, we thank you that we can come before you. We thank you that we can have

your word in our language, and we ask that you would continue to bless us as

we read from it. May you be seen in the text, and may your truth be buried deep

in our hearts forever and ever. We pray all this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ.

Amen. John chapter 4, starting in verse 1. Now when Jesus learned that the

John 4 · chapter mention

Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than

John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left

Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria, so he

came to a town of Samaria called Sikkar, near the field that Jacob had given to

his son Joseph. 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. A woman from

Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink, for his disciples

had gone away into the city to buy food. 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. 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. 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? Are

you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and drank from it

himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who

drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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. 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. This is the word of our God. Now I wanted to begin this morning

with a brief social experiment. I know how much everybody loves being a part of

experiments. Raise your hand, it, thank you, didn't get there yet, but thank you.

Obedience is good in children, very good. Raise your hand if you brought with you

some kind of water storage device slash water drinking device. It's a lot less

hands than I thought there would be, but okay, keep them up, right, keep them up if

it's actually filled with water and not filled with another beverage. A lot of

hands just went down, oh boy, hopefully it's coffee. Now keep your hands up, keep

your hands up if this device, this storage device, this drinking device is

not disposable, not like this, right, this crumples, this is disposable. Okay, very

good, you may put your hands down. Now the next question I could ask is keep

your hand raised if you paid more than $30 for it, but I won't. It seems in the

last 10 years or so that there has been an increase in people carrying water

with them wherever they go. Now this concept is odd to me because I don't

like drinking water. Also because growing up we were given one plastic disposable

water bottle for long trips, not for like trips to the grocery store or just you

know like five minutes in the car. Now I started to think what would happen if I

left the house with one of my children and didn't bring a bottle of water,

right, they might get thirsty, but I have to wonder why have we seen an increase

in people carrying bottles of water or water storage devices with them wherever

they go. Maybe people want to be hydrated all of a sudden, right, there's been a call

to be hydrated all the time, okay, maybe it's because having certain water bottles

has become a status symbol, right, has developed a new caste system based on

what brand of water bottle you carry. Oh you have a Stanley? I'm more of an Ouala

person, sorry. You served me water that's not in a Yeti cup? I can't drink it, right.

Now I'm not part of that caste system, I'm part of the caste system that says

you should have coffee with you wherever you go, right, I'm more of a coffee person

than a water person. The truth is that we need water to survive. Our God has

designed our bodies in such a way that we need water to survive, to thrive, to

grow. Now the jury is still out on whether or not coffee counts as water,

it's made with water, but for the longest periods of time throughout this world

and all of history, people were trying to find ways to carry as much water as

possible, but still being able to carry that water a long distance from home.

They didn't have faucets, right, they didn't have screws that they could put

on a jar like a Stanley cup and carry, you know, four gallons with them wherever

they went. In our text today, we're gonna see a misunderstanding about water, lead

to a realization of how to quench our spiritual thirst. We're going to see how

living water is a title that belongs to Jesus. We'll look at three areas of our

text, a divine encounter, a better offer, and an eternal fulfillment. Divine

encounter, better offer, eternal fulfillment. You see, the Samaritan woman's divine

encounter with Christ will procure a better offer regarding her water

selection, which will lead to an eternal fulfillment for her. Let's set the stage

with verses one through three as John does. Now when Jesus learned, the Pharisees

had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing disciples more than John,

although Jesus did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed

again for Galilee. Now this passage begins with a statement that we probably gloss

over. Ah, it's in parentheses, that doesn't really matter. No, it's very important. See,

word gets back to the Pharisees that Jesus' disciples are growing in number.

Jesus, knowing it's not his time yet to go to the cross, leaves Judea and goes to

Galilee. The text tells us that Jesus himself did not baptize, only his

disciples baptize. A small detail should speak volumes to us. What could it

possibly mean that Jesus, the Christ, never baptized anyone? Jesus commanded

that people be baptized, right? Jesus was baptized. He gave the Great Commission,

which said, go and... and baptize. Yeah, okay. This is important because no one can

say that Christ himself baptized them. Oh, you were baptized by Peter? I was

baptized by Jesus. Clearly I'm better than you. No, you can't do that. Verses four

through six. He had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria

called Sikkar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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. We come across detail number two, right? First,

the detail in parentheses that Jesus didn't baptize anyone. The second detail,

this town is near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Now many

commentators will say that Jesus had to pass through this point because it was

the fastest way to get where he was going, right? Some other gospel

commentators will say, well, actually most people try to avoid Samaria and go

around it because they didn't want to travel through this unclean place. But the

text says that Jesus had to pass through Samaria. What does the word had mean? I

submit to you in verse four, the word had points to the divine ordination of God.

He had to come to this field where Jacob's well was on the land that Jacob

had given to Joseph. Jesus did this because of the decree of the Father.

Jesus came to do the will of the one who sent him. This is purposeful. Everything

in the Bible is purposeful. Genesis 33, Jacob, the son of Isaac, right? The Jacob

bought this field for a hundred pieces of silver and eventually would give it

to his son Joseph. But what happened after he gave it to his son Joseph? Joseph

was taken, thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, moved to Egypt. And then all of

the people of Israel at that time also moved to Egypt. So what happened to all

this land? It was reclaimed. It's taken by pagan nations again. But at the end of

the Exodus, before Joseph dies, Joseph's, or before the Exodus, I apologize, before

the Exodus, Joseph, before he dies, commands that his bones be taken back to

the land that was given to him. Right? And then fast forward through the Exodus,

fast forward through the time wandering around in the desert, because they

got it wrong so many times. The time of Joshua comes and it's not until the end

of Joshua that we hear or we read that they've been carrying the bones of Joseph

with them everywhere they went. Now I preached through Joshua last year at

First Church, and I have to tell you how connected the book of Joshua is to Christ. Well,

the whole book, all the Bible is connected to Christ, obviously. Every

single point is a connection from Old Testament to New Testament. Everything

points to Jesus Christ. So it's no coincidence that Jesus arrives on the

land that belonged to Joseph, where Jacob built his well, where Joseph's bones are

buried. The familial connection to the dirt is huge, not just because Jesus is

God and he owns all things, but because Jesus sits in the place of his ancestors.

He is descended from Jacob. Because it's not yet for his divine appointed meeting,

what does Jesus do? He sits down. He sits down next to the well and he waits.

Because of his humanity, he is tired. He is weary from his journey and he waits.

John sets the stage for us with this divine encounter. He prepares us to meet

this woman at the well. You see, this is no chance meeting. This is not Jesus

just sitting down at the well, I wonder who's gonna show up today. No. Jesus sits

for a purpose, because he knows this woman is coming. Verses 7 and 8. A woman

from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink, for his

disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Now Jesus is not going to barter

his amazing power of saving people for a cup of water. That's not what's going to

happen, but he is going to make a better offer to this woman than the water she

can draw from the well. Jesus goes about this conversation in such a way that he

aims to win her soul by appealing to her sympathy, her curiosity, and Ecclesiastes

3.11 tells us her true heart's desire for eternity. Listen to verse 11 of

Ecclesiastes 3. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put

eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from

the beginning to the end. God has set eternity in our hearts. The woman who

comes to Jesus is doing so with a longing heart, just like we do. She comes

with a longing heart, maybe not knowing it, but she comes longing for eternal

salvation. She comes longing for something to worship. You see our hearts,

they're always longing for something to worship. When our hearts can't have Jesus,

they will go around after anything and everything that moves, which will lead to

its downfall. You see, Jesus didn't have any food with him. He didn't have

anything to draw water with, and thus he makes a humble and simple request. Again,

he's not going to barter well water for a living water, but he's going to begin

this conversation with a help me and I'll help you kind of deal. He's going to

offer something better than the water in the well. He's the living water. He's going

to offer himself. Before we get to Jesus's offer, we see the woman's

astonishment in verse 9. She says, how is it that you, a Jew, asked for a drink

from me, a woman of Samaria, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans? See, the man

before her is not her people. There's a long history that puts the Jews and the

Samaritans at odds. It really started when Israel was divided. Israel was

divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. It

continued through the exile and after, but when we look at this verse in verse

9, we have those parentheses again. Again, parentheses, we can just

skip over them. We don't need them. It's just a random note. Actually, it's the

authoritative word of God. See, the verse 9 text here says the word dealings, okay?

It's a Greek word. It means many things. It only has the meaning of dealings

supposedly here in this verse throughout the entire New Testament. I like the ESV,

right? I know Crossway is listening in. I like the ESV. It's great. However, the

Greek word here does not mean dealings. It means to use. How does that change our

understanding of what's going on here? It's a verb. We know from history that

the Jews did have dealings with Samaritans, so this really wouldn't make

sense, but if we put it in the context of the time, we can understand the Pharisees

in accordance, in addition to the moral law given in the Bible, they had their

own law that was not biblical, and in their own law, the Pharisee law, Jews were

not able to share drinking vessels with Samaritans, for if they were to share the

same cup, the Jews would be unclean. So the text would read then, for Jews have

no using with Samaritans. From the context then, it would stand to reason

that John is trying to get the point across that Jews are not supposed to

share drinking vessels with Samaritans. Thus, her astonishment. You, a Jew, ask me

to share my vessel with you. You risk ceremonial uncleanliness, but friends,

Jesus cannot become unclean. He is God. He cannot sin. Sin cannot claim him, and

he does not become unclean by sharing a drinking cup with someone of a different

lineage. See, this helps us to understand the situation better. See, the Samaritan

woman's not disgusted, but rather astonished. You would share a cup with

me? That's why she hesitates, and in her hesitation, in her confusion, Jesus

doesn't let up. No, Jesus hits her with the haymaker. Verse 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. Now to us, it

might make sense. To Jesus, it makes sense. But to the woman at the well, this

doesn't make sense. It's a paradoxical saying, and as well, Jesus is speaking in

the third person. Ever met someone who speaks in the third person? It's odd. It's

confusing, but Jesus is speaking about himself, not the well. Jesus is the living

water. Jesus is the gift of God, the Father. Jesus is the visible manifestation

of God come to rescue the souls of men. Jesus is saying, if you knew who I was

and what I am, you would immediately ask for the gift, and I would give it to you.

Jesus is saying, I asked you for ordinary water, which is the lesser thing, and you

hesitate. If you had asked me for living water, the amazing gift of God, I would

not hesitate. I would give it to you at once. Now we have the best, we have the

benefit of 2,000 years of history and studying the Bible, so we understand the

encounter, but she, the woman at the well, is confused. See, Jesus intends to make

the woman ask questions. He responds in such a way that she would ask questions

out of her confusion. However, Jesus does not deal with us in the way that he

deals with this woman. See, you could not ask for living water. Your sin would not

allow you to ask for living water, and Jesus, because of the Father's great love

for his elect, was sent to die on our behalf. Not because of any good we could

do, not because of any good we could do in our future, but while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us, that we would have life eternal. See, Christ offers us

living water by way of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who dwells in us, provides

an everlasting fountain that would sustain us until we reach the gates of

Zion. For that is his plan. That is his purpose, to sustain you in your journey

towards eternal fulfillment. See, we need to understand that there is a great

misunderstanding here between the woman and Jesus. See, Jesus is talking about

himself. The woman is talking about the water inside the well, the bottom of the

well, okay. We don't, many of us don't have wells, maybe some of us do, but we

don't have wells as often now. We have city water, comes right from Lake Michigan.

It's very good, but in this instance the well would be a deep hole in the ground,

and at the bottom there'd be a cistern full of stale water. Now what fills this

cistern is directly below it, is bubbling water. Water coming up from the ground,

filling the cistern. The water underneath the cistern is constantly moving,

constantly bubbling. In a sense, this is what is being got at by Jesus when he

says everlasting. Moving continuously. He's playing on the woman's mind here as

she's trying to contemplate the water, and he's talking about eternal life. Verse

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? She just doesn't get it. Sir, you, how

do you get this continual spring of fresh water, rather than the water that's been

sitting? You don't even have a rope bucket to get this water. It's safe to say the

woman is perplexed. She does not understand, which is why she asked the

question in verse 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. Now you see

in her confusion, her pride is starting to come back in. Her pride of who she is

and where she comes from is starting to come back in. Even the great Jacob

drank from this water and watered all his people. To put it simply, no one, not

even the great Jacob, could harness the water underneath the cistern. Not even

the great Jacob could harness the power of the bubbling everlasting water from

the ground. He drank the water that was in the cistern, and if it's good enough

for him, it's good enough for us.

As this pride starts to creep in, Jesus elaborates to drive his point home in

verse 13. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty

again. Jesus is patient with her, because this is his plan. He could have easily

said, alright, have Jacob, see you later. He could have easily left. Jesus is

patient. He knows he's dealing with humans and our fallenness. This is his

plan. Disarm her mind, disarm her thoughts, disarm her perceptions, and bring about

the clear truth. If you rely on the significance of this old well, you'll be

tied to it forever. If you rely on this special Jacob water, it will always fail

you. If you rely on salvation through Jacob and the Samaritan worship

practices, you will be thirsty forever. It's as if Jesus is saying, you will never

stop being thirsty. Whether it be this life or the next, you will not cease to

thirst. 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 a spring in him of water

welling up to eternal life. If you rely on the tradition of Jacob, if you hope in

Jacob to save you, you will never stop thirsting for all eternity. But if you

rely on me, you will cease to thirst. Your heart and your soul will be filled to

the point of overflowing. If you trust in me, I will give you so much life that you

will see satisfaction for eternity. The woman responds, sir give me this water so

that I will not be thirsty or ever have to come here to draw water again. You see

the woman neglects to ask the stranger his name, and Jesus doesn't ask her name

because he already knows it. She doesn't ask anything about him, but believes the

words of his mouth in such a way that she never wants to be apart from this

living water. Now it's true, she doesn't quite get it still. She still thinks

we're talking about water, but she is willing to believe enough that there is

something special about this man. It's as if the Holy Spirit has come and removed

the scales from her eyes and she's starting to see for the first time. For

Jesus continues to talk to her. He steers the conversation from living water to

the living Christ. This whole chapter is just stellar. I wish we could spend

all the time in the whole chapter this morning, because as the conversation

continues, Jesus continues to talk about who he is, what he will do, and then he

asks a question about her husband. She says, I have no husband. He says, you're

right, you've had five husbands, and the one you're with currently is not your

husband. Then she moves of her own will in a sense, even though it's ordained by

the Father, to say what she does in verse 25. Listen, 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. Jesus brings this lost, lonely, and unnamed lamb to the breaking point in

his apologetic work. He brings her to the point where she acknowledges the Messiah,

the Christ of God would come. Notice she doesn't say the Messiah, she just says

Messiah. I know Messiah will come. I know Christ will come. I know hope will come.

And in fact, she uses the ongoing, incomplete tense of the verb. I know the

Messiah is coming, ongoing. He is coming. He will be here soon. Things will all be

made right when he comes. My life is in shambles. I move from husband to husband,

looking to fulfill my thirst, and all I have is this ordinary, stale water. But

Messiah is coming. He will come. He will set things right. And Jesus responds, I am

he. Oh children of God, if Jesus would do all this for the Samaritan woman prior to

his work on the cross, how much more would Jesus do for you? The one through

whom he died for, the one for whom he came for so long ago, how much more would

he do for you, seeing that your salvation and purchase has been planned since

before the foundations of the earth were laid? For what he promises is living

water. What he promises to do for the woman and for us now will be our living

water for all eternity. Y'all just finished Revelation. The living water

will flow from the throne of God for all eternity, and the tree that grows from

that water will be for the healing of the nations. And we will not need a sun

or a war for our God, but we are alive. Well, we fulfill our needs.

What's in a name? Names mean something. Names give us an insight to who we are.

Christ offers us the ability to claim his name as your own. Right, when Abram

met God, what happened? God changed his name to Abraham forevermore. When a

sinner repents and believes in God, he changes them. He takes their sin, nails

it to the cross, and buries them in the grave, and then raises them to new life,

where they walk from the tomb, leaving their sin behind. Friends, I charge you

this day to claim the name of Christ and live like it. You see, when a woman marries

a man, she's given a new name. She leaves her old name, takes on a new name. We are

the bride of Christ. When we become joined to Christ through baptism and

profession of faith, we take on a new name. We leave our old name behind. We

leave our old name behind, and we cling to the living water that is Jesus Christ.

This is the good news of the gospel. Did the woman at the well then go back to

the town she lived in and live life as normal? Oh, that was a fun time, just go on

living my life. No, what did she do? She went back to the town, and she told every

single person, he told me everything I've ever done. Is this the Christ? Jesus says,

I am he. It sets off a chain reaction in the Samaritan towns and villages, and the

Samaritans, these unclean people, get saved in droves. You have the living

water in you already. For Christ's elect, you are given this eternal living water.

The question then remains before us, how will we live like it? Do we live as if

we've been changed, or do we not? Do we live as if we have the holy God of Holy

Spirit living inside us? Do we live like everybody else? The question before you

today is, how does living water change you? How will you live knowing that the

eternal Son of God gave his life for you, and then implanted his Holy Spirit inside

you? It's pretty miraculous, it's pretty amazing. Are we gonna live as ordinary

humans? Are we gonna live as people who've been bought and purchased through

the blood of Christ? Let's pray.