Give Me To Drink - Dan Weaver

Greetings in the precious name of Jesus. It's a privilege

to be gathered here this morning. And for this, as

Joel introduced this special service, he introduced it well. You

might wonder for a while where I'm going here. I

would like to take the title of my message from

John 4, verse 7. This is the scene of Jesus

John 4:7

at the well, and he said, give me to drink.

Give me to drink. That's the title of the message

this morning. And we are going to read this passage,

but we're going to go through some other passages first.

And I thought, I was debating whether to read these passages.

I thought maybe it'd be better to, since we don't

have Sunday school, Maybe just have the children come up

and I'll tell them a couple stories here. And so

if all the children, all of you that normally go

to children's meeting or anyone that wants to hear better

or get up and move around, it doesn't have to

be limited to that. We can fill up these benches

or wherever. Why don't you come on up? If those

of you recording want to hear my voice, you can

bring a mic. Otherwise, I'm just fine going on as is.

Good morning. So this morning... I'm going to tell you

some stories, and I guess at least some of you

know these stories, but I'd like to refresh.

Them in our mind. And we're going to go back

to Genesis.

We're going to go back to Genesis 24, and we're

going to be looking specifically first at verses 11 to 24,

and I would encourage your mom and dads, and those

older than you, to open their Bibles and.

Abraham.

Thank you.

So, a little bit lower. Thank you. Isaac was Abraham's

son and Jacob and Esau's dad. And that's going to

be very important here as we go along. So, remember,

Isaac was the one that was on the altar when

Abraham offered his son. And then the angel called out

and he offered a lamb instead. Remember that? Well, this

is later. And Isaac's mom, Sarah, died. And Abraham... was

looking around and Isaac needed a wife. But Isaac did

not want him to get a wife. Abraham did not

want Isaac to get a wife from around the neighbors

because all the neighbors were ungodly. And he said to

his most trusted servant, and it's interesting, this servant, his

name was Eliezer, and he was from Damascus. And that's

not where Abraham was from originally. Abraham moved from near

Babylon up to Haran, which is near Damascus. And he

must have picked up this servant along the way and

then took him with him. So this servant, Eliezer, knew

the way. He knew the way up there. He had

been up there before, and maybe it felt kind of

like going home for him. Because he was going, and

it's a distance about like going from, maybe from here

to Portland. That doesn't seem very far, does it? But

if you didn't have any cars or trains or planes

and it was just you and the camels, it would

seem like it was a lot further. And that's how

it was for Eliezer. And Eliezer went up there and

he was going up and he gets to the place.

And he knew he was getting into the place because

instead of people in the land, there were people from

the east there. And so he knew he was getting

close to his family's, to Isaac's relatives. And he comes

to this well. And he stops there and he waits

the evening when the flocks were coming and he prays.

And he said, God, or Lord, Lord God, of my

master Abraham. So he prayed in the Lord's name of

his master's God. And he said, show kindness unto Abraham.

I'm going to read a couple of verses. Behold, I

stand here by the well of the water, and the

daughters of the men of the city come out. And

let it come to pass that the damsel to whom

I say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that

I may drink. And she say, drink, and I will

give the camels to drink also. Let the same be

she that appointed for thy servant Isaac. And so this, this,

he was there and this beautiful lady came. And he said,

give me to drink. He said, give me to drink.

And she put down her pitcher. She got water for

him to drink. And she said, I'll water your camels also.

And so then Eliezer, he praised the Lord for God

led him in the way to this, to Rebekah. And

he took, of course, we know the story where he

took Rebekah back home, spent some time there, then took

Rebekah back home and she became Isaac's wife. And I

had to wonder how many times, you know, I don't

know how many times you've heard about your how your

mom and dad found each other. I wonder, as they

were growing up, how many times Rebecca told Jacob this story.

But there came a time, and now if you want to,

if your mom and dads would go to Genesis 29,

and there's a lot of this story we don't have

time for this morning, but we're just going to kind

of cover the first part the first 14 verses of

Genesis 29, there was a sign at a time when

Rebekah and Isaac's son, and Isaac and Rebekah also did

not want their son to marry an ungodly woman like

their brother Esau had. He had taken neighbor women that

were ungodly for wives. And they wanted Jacob to have

a godly wife. And so, They told him, you go

north and you go to, Rebecca said, go to my

brother Laban. And he went again. And I don't know

if this is exactly the same well, but he went

into the same neighborhood because it says he went till

he saw there were people from the east there. There

were people living in the land that weren't native there.

And he knew he's in the area. And so he

finds this well there. And there were flocks gathering around.

And he comes later in the.

Evening.

And so he started asking them about Laban. And they said, yeah,

Laban lives nearby. And there comes his daughter, Rachel. And

Rachel came. And there was a stone on the well

to keep sheep and animals from falling in. dirt and

things like that. And when Rachel came, Jacob took this

stone and he took the stone off the well and

made it so, and actually drew the water for Rachel

so that she could have so that, and she could

have water. that she came for and watered her sheep.

And that is the next love story that we're looking

at this morning. Now, if your mom and dad have

never told you their love story, I think you should

go home today at lunch and you should ask them

to tell you because you should know it. But that's

all I have for you for right now, so you

can go back to your parents. Thank you, children, for coming,

and the rest of you for listening. Thank you. Now,

if we can go back to John 4, and I

believe I am going to read this passage this morning.

the first 26 verses. And my goal is eventually to

bring this together so that you you consider this a

communion passage. But I guess my desire is, as we

sang in that song, that we turn our eyes upon

Jesus this morning. I'm going to read the first 26

verses of John 4. When therefore the Lord knew not

how the Pharisees had heard that John was... Excuse me.

When therefore the Lord knew how The Pharisees had heard

that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though

Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. He left Judea

and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go

through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,

which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of the

ground that Jacob gave to his son. Now Jacob's well

was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat

thus on the well and was about the sixth hour.

Notice this is not evening. This is about noon. When

Jesus sat on the well, there cometh a woman of

Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me

to drink, for his disciples were gone away into the

city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria

unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew,

askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?

For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus

answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift

of God, and who it is that saith to thee,

Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked him, and

he would have given thee living water. The woman saith

unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and

the well is deep, and whence then hast thou that

living water. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which

gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children,

and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever

drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh

of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst,

but the water that I give him shall be in

him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water,

that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus

saith unto her, Go call thy husband, and come hither.

And the woman answered and said, I have no husband.

Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have

no husband. For thou hast had five husbands, and he

whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and that

thou saidst truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I

perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in

this mountain, and ye say that Jerusalem is the place

where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Women,

believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in

this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye

worship ye know not what. Ye know what we worship.

We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

But the hour cometh now is when true worshippers shall

worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and the

Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, nay,

that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh,

which is called Christ. When he is come, he will

tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that

speak unto thee am he. So this passage, there's a

lot of typology between here and Eliezer going to the

well and finding Rebekah. And there's a recurring theme when

you look at these scenes, and we could have looked

at Moses and Zipporah as well, but there's a recurring

theme that the groom is going to the well and

finding a bride. Okay? In Genesis and Exodus. And here,

Jesus is in the New Testament, and this is both,

we could almost call it a parallel, it's both a remez,

a hearkening back to what's in the Old Testament, and

it's fulfilling a type of what's in the Old Testament.

But here, Jesus is coming to the well. And not

just any well. He could have found other wells. He found,

in this case, probably the worst possible well, if he

would have asked his disciples, if he was going to

find a well to proclaim the New Testament of his blood.

There wouldn't be a worse place. This Jacob's well, down

below Mount Gerizim, where she was referring to as a

place to worship, this well, it was a cistern. And

it's interesting, it starts out this passage talking about the

baptism of John. And one thing about that baptism that

was very important is that the water was running. And

they called running water living water. So when Jesus and

his disciples... baptized we could possibly assume that they were

baptizing with living water as well with moving water but

there was a controversy there and this was a water

that was a cistern it was where water ran in

and it got dank and and eric talked about last

um sunday when he was talking about the the wine

how They would use the wine, which was more of

a paste, to mix it with the water to kill

all the impurities so it wouldn't harm a person when

they were drinking this cistern water. That was the common

use of wine and why it was so important to

have wine in this time. It's because there were many cisterns.

And even you think of the time when Jesus was

at Cana of Galilee. Remember? And Cana of Galilee also

did not have living water. And the wine wasn't that great.

But when Jesus came and made wine from those water pots,

in those water pots, it was great wine. But let's

not get off track here. The other thing was that

Jesus went... He didn't go to a Jewish village. He

was called, and he had preached to the Jews. He

comes to a Samaritan village. And then when he gets

to the Samaritan village, you'd think, you know, maybe he'd

at least find the best Samaritan to talk to. But no,

he's going to this woman that's been married five times.

She's an outcast, and she's coming at noon to get

water because it's too much risk for her to go

in the evenings. And so he came to the worst

of the worst situation. To find his bride. He's introducing.

He came to the well. He's introducing living water. He's

introducing the worshiping. It's not really in Jerusalem or this mountain.

And we can quit worrying about the place. But we

worship in spirit and in truth and have access. Because

if we ask for this living water, we have it.

And this is a parallel. Remember to Eliezer finding Rebekah.

This is one of those passages that I could get.

stuck on, but we better move on. Now if you

could turn to Matthew 26, verse 26. Matthew 26. And

Matthew 26:26

this is the introduction to the Lord's Supper. And again,

if we can take this setting. Jesus is here alone

with his disciples. Matthew 26, verse 26. And as they

Matthew 26:26

were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break

it and gave to his disciples and said, take eat.

This is my body. And he took the cup and

gave thanks and gave it to them saying, Drink ye

all of it, for this is my blood of the

New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission

of sins. But I say unto you, I will not

drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that

day when I drink it new with you in my

Father's kingdom. If we're going to give this message a

secondary title, or maybe we could say an optional title,

would be drink ye all of it. This is also

a parallel scripture of Jacob coming. And follow with me here. Remember,

Jacob came and the groom rolled the stone away. He

rolled the stone away to give access to the water.

To the living water. And this is... It's also a

type of and a hearkening back to when Jacob gave

his bride... Access to the water. And there's an aspect.

For this first communion. We read just read about. Is

a rehearsal. In fact. Jesus is referring to that. And I.

I don't know. We think about it. But I don't

know if it's possible. To put ourselves. In the place

where they were. Where Jesus is saying. Here, you all

drink this. It's my blood. And even if you... The

Jewish taught through typology. I know the disciples all knew

this wasn't... There was some type involved here. They had

to know that. But there's no way they had any

idea of even... I don't think it hardly began to register. Register.

But Jesus said, drink ye all of it. And in Luke,

as Joel read, it says, this do in remembrance of me.

And we'll look at some more verses in Corinthians after

a while, I believe. But this is my blood. This

is the living water. And this... In verse 29, I

believe he's sort of saying that this is a rehearsal.

It's basically, you know, there's things that we just don't

understand now. And later we look back at and just

wish we would have understood at the moment. And I

wonder how many times it was that way for the disciples.

As they came into this kingdom. And as they drank

together the living water. It was symbolized in the sharing

of the communion cup. I wonder how many times they

looked back and just wondered, wow, I wonder what it

would have been like if we could have understood while

we were doing it. But they didn't. But this isn't

just a person. It's the Savior. offering his blood, not

yet shed, but tomorrow. Tomorrow it would be shed in

three days. In three days the stone would be rolled away.

The stone would be rolled away and koinonia, a communion, fellowship,

it all means the same word, all words meaning the

same thing, would be a result. And then, as we

drink this wine that Jesus offers. It's a type of

the Spirit of God that goes in and reaches every

corpuscle in the body. Such a beautiful picture. And while

we're here, In verse 29, Jesus said, Until the day

when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

And I know there can be double meanings to these things.

And does that mean when we all get together in heaven?

Or what does that mean? Well, I think there is

a key that Peter refers to. And I believe he

refers to it for a reason. In Acts 10.41 in

his message, it says, And this is in Cornelius' house.

He says, not to all the people, but unto witnesses

chosen before God, even to us who did eat and

drink with him after he was risen from the dead.

And I just, I think that had to be some

of the most special communions to be able to have

communion with Christ after the resurrection, before the ascension. But

that was, I believe that that's probably fulfilled in double,

it's a double fulfillment in that. Not exclusively one or

the other. And this is, so the type, the type

of Jacob coming to the well and finding his bride,

We could say it could be the rest of the

book of Matthew, or the whole death and resurrection story.

But we're not going to go through that whole story

this morning. So what does drinky all of it include?

We call it communion. You know, and it's interesting how

when we drink, there's something about communion um when we're

we get dehydrated we thirst and jesus even on the

cross that next day said i thirst and i believe

that thirst was more than a physical thirst but when

when we drink it's an amazing thing that within five

minutes within five minutes it's entering our bloodstream and within

an hour um Of course, it depends on the health

of the body. It can be all through the body.

I think that's a beautiful picture of communion, of how

it has an effect on the whole. Some things that

are included in this drink, and some of these I'm

going to be, without apology... repeating some of the, or

covering some of the same content that Brother Joel did

in devotions. 1 Corinthians 10, 16 says, The cup of

blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of

the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is

it not the communion of the body of Christ? And

I suppose, I don't believe it's called communion, when Jesus

is instituting the Lord's Supper But it is what we

have come to call it based on this verse. And communion,

the root word is koinonia. It's also translated as fellowship.

Or koinonia is fellowship or communion. It's also contribution or distribution.

But it's fellowship. With fellow Christians. And it's a demonstration

of fellowship. With. With fellow. Christians. And one of those

things that. happens sometimes is some don't take communion, maybe

for personal reasons. Maybe because they've stepped away from the

living water. And it's really, it's sad to me. I mean,

it's exciting when somebody's honest and repenting and doing that.

It's sad when it's something perpetual. And I also think

there's an aspect where it takes away from the reality

of the sacrifice of Christ. He did it for us.

And none of us are worthy. But we can accept it.

But probably another problem we could have in our churches

is when someone, we get to the verse, examine ourselves,

and we look at ourselves, no, there's no sin, we

go along, but we are anti-fellowship people. We are not

fellowshipping with God's people. And it is hypocritical to come

together in communion and not be fellowshipping with God's people.

Because that's what it is. It is the blood of Christ.

When Christ said, drink ye all of it. As Joel

pointed out, Judas drank of it. Peter drank of it.

All the disciples that were arguing drank of it. And

we'll look at that in a little bit. But it's

an aspect of where, you know, in our testimony, we

say we have peace with God and we have peace

with man. And let's go back to the picture of

the bride and the groom. The church is the bride

and Christ is the groom. And as we're fellowshipping together,

it's not just a fellowship with each other. It's a

fellowship with the blood of Christ. It's a fellowship with Christ.

And it's a part, it's like a ceremony, if we

can call it that. A reminder, said this do in

remembrance of me. It's a reminder of that, of who

the groom is. It's a reminder. It's a reminder who

our groom is as a church. And there's a sense

in that every time we have communion, we're fulfilling this

prophecy of Christ again. That he's drinking with us again

in his kingdom. And that is such a special privilege.

And I think when we understand it that way, We

see how serious it is to bring defilement to the

communion table. And I would say that as known sin,

not something we worry about about ourselves, but let's not

defile the communion table. Now let's go to Luke 22.

I believe Joel read the communion portion of this. I'd

like to just read on some verses. In fact, just

going on right after that. So, Jesus instituted the Lord's

Supper in Luke. And it's interesting how Luke brings this out.

He institutes the Lord's Supper and says, Judas, you're going

to betray me. Or, actually, I don't think he pointed

it out directly to Judas. He said, there's one here

that's going to betray me. I would guess Judas felt

he was saying, Judas, you're going to betray me. I

would guess that. And then he talks about his disciples

arguing about who's going to be the greatest. And then

it goes into talking about Peter's denial. But I would

just like to pull my next three points from these verses.

Jesus talking about who's going to be the greatest. So

that's Luke 22, verse 24 through 27. I'll read those verses.

Luke 22:24–27

And there was also strife among them. Which of them

should be counted the greatest? And one of the Gospels

talks about them arguing about it as they were going

to the upper room. And he said unto them, The

kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they

that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But you

shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you.

Let him be as the younger. And he that is chief.

As he that does serve. But for whether is greater.

He that sitteth at me. Or he that serveth. Is

not he that sitteth at me. But I am among you.

As he that serveth. And here is Jesus. And I

don't know. You know when you put all the gospels together.

It's hard to get the exact picture. But I almost

wonder sometimes if Jesus didn't say these words as he

was washing their feet. But he got up and then

he washed their feet. With these words. It's an end.

If you remember, and we'll hear about that, I believe,

from John 13, here before too long. If you remember,

Peter says, don't wash me, don't wash me. There was

a tremendous amount of guilt going on there because Peter

was the host of the upper room. And it was Peter's,

it wasn't, they didn't always wash each other's feet, but

it wasn't uncommon. But if they did, it was the

host's responsibility to wash the feet. But you think about that.

If we're coming in thumping our chest about who's going

to be the greatest, and we're getting into this kingdom,

and we're getting closer, and who's going to be the greatest,

the last thing I feel like doing is kneeling down

and washing these guys' feet. And Jesus says, that's okay.

I'll wash your feet. And you see the guilt that

Peter had? And his response makes a lot of sense.

When you realize that aspect of it. This speaks of humility.

That's part of communion. It speaks of service. And it

speaks of submission. Submission. I would also like to think

about just a little bit here. About the thing of...

It talks about in Corinthians of drinking damnation to ourselves

in the King James Version. It uses the word judgment

in the ESV. I think I'm going to read that,

verses 29 and 30, in the ESV. And... I'm addressing

these verses here because we see Jesus. It's something that's

a little hard to reconcile when you read what Paul

says about drinking, eating and drinking unworthily and Christ serving

Judas and Peter.

Okay?

So we're in the same context. We're in that conundrum,

we could say. And so what does this mean about

drinking damnation to ourselves? And the ESV says, for anyone

who drinks... eats and drinks without discerning the body, and

drinks judgment on himself, that is why many of you

are weak and ill, and some have died. And as

I've gone through life, I used to, and it's taught sometimes,

that if we drink unworthily, it cripples us. The church.

And I suppose there is an aspect of that because

anyone in the local congregation that is not what they

should be has a crippling effect, has a negative effect

on the whole. And we see that with God dealing

with his people all through time. But I don't think

that's what this is talking about is those aspects of

those blemishes. It says examine himself. And that it brings

the judgment on himself. And this brings a lot of

personal responsibility. And my belief is that it has a

sickening effect of the searing of the conscience. And it's

just like a poison that you drink a dose of.

It says many are sick and ill and some have died.

It can affect it that way. It doesn't necessarily right away.

But if we keep taking the poison. And learning to

avoid the guilt of sin. And we can just keep

on going and up in the dosage until we die. And...

It's a very, it's an aspect of what Christ came.

And I'd love to take you to Hebrews 9 and

talk about the conscience for a while right now. But

I won't go there. But it is what Christ came.

And he gives this example here in his introduction of

the Lord's Supper. He gave us this example of Christ.

giving it to those. It was damnation to Judas. It

was judgment to Judas. But we know Peter repented. But

Christ's blood can wash it away. And the last point

I have And what the drink includes is reciprocation of sharing.

And service to the groom. And we touched on that already.

We're drinking with Christ. And Luke 7.47. Wherefore I say

unto thee. Her sins which are many are forgiven. For

she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven. The

same loveth little. And we can read that verse and wonder.

Do I have the opportunity. You know I grew up

in a. in a conservative church, and I've never really

done anything really, really, really, really bad. And so, do

I have the opportunity to love much? And I think

sometimes we make a mistake when we try to decide

that we're good. And I wonder sometimes if If my

life in a conservative Anabaptist setting, all my life, is

how much more difficult it is for God to forgive

than the most hardened criminal. And my guess is that

it's microscopically different. You know, when we look out here,

we see buildings around that look pretty high and we're

looking from Earth's view. And you go up in an

airplane and you fly at 36,000 feet and things look

relatively flat. Even some pretty big mountains look relatively flat.

And you go up to a satellite view and it

looks even flatter. And then you take Jesus' harshest words

and most of God's anger and judgment through the Bible

is on the religious community. It's not that the hardened

sinner has none. It's there. But there's so much that

I have come to the conclusion that we love as

much as we can recognize that we've been forgiven. And

we tend to look around. And look at the hardened

criminal as the hundred foot building and we're just this

little nothing. But I'm not so sure that from God's

view and from this teaching, it's not actually inverse in accountability.

I believe in Luke 7, 47, Christ is inviting all

of us to contemplate how much we have been forgiven.

Knowing that it will develop in us an urge to

love him. And develop sweet communion with him. I'd like

to close with a couple verses from 1 Corinthians. And

then I'll lead in prayer. And I was wondering if

then the song leader could lead us in song 656

in the hymns of the church. All my life long

I had panted. And this is from 1 Corinthians 11. Again,

Paul's rehearsing of the Lord's Supper. This cup is the

New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as often

as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as

often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup.

It is show the Lord's death till he come. And

I believe that is an aspect of as we show

the Lord's death. It's not crucifying him afresh as it

talks about. But it's renewing our fellowship with each other

and with him that only comes through his blood. Let's

kneel for prayer. Our kind, gracious Heavenly Father, we come

to you. We want to just thank you and praise

you for what you've done for us. We want to

thank you for the blood of Christ, for the shed

blood of Christ, for the power and redemption of the blood,

for the living water. And Lord, we just pray that

you might help each one of us as we as

we partake or observe in this communion this morning, that

it might be real to us, that we might be

drinking with you in your kingdom. And Lord, we just

thank you for this awesome privilege of serving you and

being your servants. Just guide and direct, and we give

this time to you. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.