WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.439 Please turn your Bibles to John chapter 4. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:14.480 This morning we're going to be referring to verses that are not included in your printed bulletin due to space limitations, but you're welcome to follow along in your bulletin as well. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:25.039 This morning, also I would like to recognize an important team member, leader in our shepherding ministry over the past few years. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.039 Christina Reiniger is going to be stepping down as co-leader. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:33.920 And Christina, she's not here. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:35.600 Aaron, you can tell her. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:41.920 We just want to recognize Christina's leadership and investment of her time and her energy. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:52.240 She's been co-leading along with Casey Poole, and we're thankful for that Susan Colbreth is going to step in and fill that co-leader role in the Shepherding Ministry. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:53.439 Thank you, Susan. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:01.920 And we're grateful for our shepherding ministry, the shepherding teams that pray for each member of this congregation. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:08.239 This morning I'd like to start a series on the subject of the Holy Spirit. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:13.359 We're going to be leading up to Pentecost Sunday coming up in a few weeks. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:23.280 And to look at the work of the Spirit, the person of the Spirit, as we see it illustrated so well in this chapter, fourth chapter of John. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:41.760 This is a conversation, in case you're not familiar with the Bible, this is a conversation that Jesus had with a woman from Samaria, an enemy nation to the Jews, an enemy people, and yet we find this striking conversation, and there's so much that we have to learn. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:44.400 And so we read God's holy word. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:02:01.760 Now, when Jesus learned that the 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. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.159 And he had to pass through Samaria. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:11.360 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sichar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:13.680 Jacob's well was there. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:19.199 So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:21.759 It was about the sixth hour. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:25.439 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:28.879 Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.879 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:41.199 The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.560 For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:56.800 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. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:02.159 The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:04.400 Where do you get that living water? 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:07.039 Are you greater than our father Jacob? 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.719 He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:23.840 Jesus said to her, Every one 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. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:31.439 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:40.240 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come back here to draw water. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:43.759 Just then his disciples came back. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.360 They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, What do you seek? 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.599 Or why are you talking with her? 00:03:52.159 --> 00:04:01.120 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.199 Can this be the Christ? 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:06.960 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:11.439 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.439 But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.399 So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him something to eat? 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:27.439 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:32.160 Do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:38.560 Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:48.959 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:54.319 For here the saying holds true one sows and another reaps. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:58.079 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:02.399 Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:09.040 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:21.600 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days, and many more believed because of his word. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:34.160 They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you have said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.079 And this is the living word of God. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:45.439 And so we pray that his living spirit will give us living water this morning. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:46.800 Let's pray. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.399 Father, how many times have you witnessed your people drinking living water? 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:58.800 You've seen it from the beginning. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:02.800 May you see it again this morning in this place at this time. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.800 So you've given us your spirit to give us that living water. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:14.000 May we drink deeply this morning by the work of your spirit. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:15.040 We pray. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:16.000 Amen. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:24.639 Jesus was the ultimate storyteller. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:32.800 The Gospel of John is known for having one story, just piling one story after another. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:44.720 Just the chapter before, in chapter three, Jesus is talking to a man named Nicodemus, a ruler, a teacher of the Jews, who came to Jesus at night. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.639 Perhaps he was embarrassed to come during the day. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:50.000 Most likely he was. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.680 Didn't want to be outed as a Jesus seeker. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:05.279 And what a striking contrast between the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus in chapter 3 and the Samaritan unnamed woman in chapter 4. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.519 She meets Jesus in broad daylight. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:18.399 Jesus' disciples who had been traveling with him have gone on a mission into the town, nearby town, to get some lunch. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:20.639 Jesus is there alone. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.399 The text says that he had to pass through Samaria. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:27.920 And that raises the question, well, why did he have to? 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:29.759 Was that the only way to go? 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:31.040 Was that the only route? 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:32.480 And the answer is no. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.720 I suspect he had to travel through Samaria. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:39.680 It had more to do with the leading of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:47.600 The Spirit had a mission for him to meet this particular woman and to lead a village of Samaritans to himself. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.720 And Jesus was tired. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.959 Jesus got just as tired as you get. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.639 Jesus got just as thirsty as you get. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:00.399 You know that, right? 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:04.079 He wasn't above this because he was fully man. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:10.079 And the text makes it clear that it was like he was looking for a place to sit down. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:10.959 He was that tired. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.040 He was searching for a seat. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:14.560 And he found one. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:19.600 At a well that had been the patriarch Jacob's well centuries before. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.279 Well-known place in Sikar. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:28.240 Today it would be in Palestine, Palestinian ground. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:35.360 He sees this woman approaching with her bucket to draw the water. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:37.919 Why was she there in the noonday? 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.639 Typically, that's not when the women went to the well. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:51.600 When the heat was the hottest and it was hard to lug that water back, most of the women at the time we're told went after the sun was going down. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:09:04.559 We can speculate a bit, but it's probably not a far-fetched idea to think that given her history in her town, she might have been shunned by the women. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:06.559 Might have been. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:14.320 Would you give me a drink? 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:16.399 You've got the bucket. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:17.679 This is your well. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:18.960 I'm thirsty. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.720 Would you give me a drink? 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.279 As we see, she is just startled for two good reasons. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:29.759 First of all, again, the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.159 The division went way back 800 years. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:37.360 Think about the history of our country. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.960 You know, everybody talks, makes a big deal about Alexandria, Virginia. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.759 I mean, you know, we've been here a couple hundred years. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:45.600 Think 800 years. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:51.360 That's how far back this rivalry, this division, this enmity went. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:10:02.879 It started when the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes of Israel and deported the Jews from there and settled them in other countries like Assyria at that time. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.519 And what they did is they repopulated the land. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:08.320 They brought in the pagans from other lands. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:16.559 And so they left some of the Israelites there, but they were now settling and mingling with these pagans. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:20.399 And there was this syncretistic religion that was developing. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:26.559 They were not true blue Jews, they were half-breeds in the eyes of the Jews in the South. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.519 And they didn't want anything to do with them. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.080 And they really did shun each other. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:41.120 And so the Samaritans end up building their own temple, Mount Gerizim, until it's destroyed in 128 B.C. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:42.559 by the Jews. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.080 Alright, it's that kind of clash. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:50.559 And this is the woman who comes to Jesus. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:59.679 So there's the racial divide, which was so strong, but then there's the gender divide. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:01.919 You just didn't do that. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:04.799 Men did not speak with women in public. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:10.320 Especially a rabbi with a Samaritan woman. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:12.320 You just didn't do that. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:18.399 You can just almost feel the words leap off the page from the Samaritan woman. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.720 You don't know the rules, do you? 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:24.240 You're not supposed to be talking to me. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.840 And it would certainly defile a Jew who touched a utensil from a Samaritan. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:38.240 Jesus is breaking a lot of social taboos right before our eyes. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:40.799 But he turns the tables on her. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:47.840 The woman came to a well, and Jesus invites her into a gushing spring. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:54.080 He says in verse 10, which is one of the great verses in the New Testament, one of the great verses in all the Bible. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.200 You would ask me. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:10.960 It's the only time in the gospel where this word gift appears. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:12.960 The original language makes it clear. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:17.440 Well, aren't all gifts free? 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:19.840 Yeah, by definition. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.600 It's to really just emphasize. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.519 No, this is really free. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:30.240 And you can't buy it. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.600 You have no currency for this. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:38.320 So let's look at the points from the text. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:43.039 First of all, if you only knew who was offering you this gift. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.840 And that's true for the Samaritan woman, and that's true for you and for me. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:53.039 If you only knew who was offering you this gift, she had no clue. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.519 She had no idea who he was. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:00.720 Except that he was a Jew from the South, a Jewish man. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:10.960 Verse 11 says, She was looking for something to make her life easier when he really piqued her curiosity. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:14.480 She looks at him and says, Well, wait a minute. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.399 You're asking me for a drink from this well. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:17.360 I have a bucket. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:23.519 And now you say, if you knew who I really was, you'd be asking me for water, but you don't even have a bucket. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.120 How are you going to give me water? 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:33.759 He says, Look, I can give you water that'll satisfy you like nothing else before in your life. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:41.840 I can give you water that'll keep you keep your thirst satisfied. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:46.720 And her ears and her heart just pick up. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.639 She's really interested in this, but she doesn't get it. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:51.519 Wait a minute. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.120 You can give me water that I don't have to come back to this well every day. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.080 She's searching for the meaning. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:02.720 She's looking for something that'll make her life easier, that'll make her life more convenient. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.360 That's the most that she could hope for. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:14.320 Like many people today, when they think about Jesus, they're looking for a little help, they're looking for a little inspiration. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:20.960 That's what most people today in this country are looking for when they go to church. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.240 Do you know that? 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:24.720 And maybe that's you. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.360 It's not even in their categories. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:45.360 Most people in this country are going to church today expecting far less than what Jesus is offering. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.919 Jesus, can you just make me feel a little bit better about myself? 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:57.679 Can you give me some tools to navigate life? 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:01.360 Maybe you've been there. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.440 Maybe you are there. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:11.039 Jesus says, if you only knew who was offering you this gift. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.799 Who he really is and what he's really offering. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.799 This free gift of God. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:18.720 Let's look at that a little bit closer. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:27.759 This free gift, this living water, this gushing spring is the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:35.279 It's most interesting and instructive that Jesus never calls himself the living water. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:40.159 He calls himself the living bread in John chapter 6. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:43.440 He calls himself the way, the truth, and the life. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.240 He never calls himself the living water. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.120 The living water is the Holy Spirit. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:58.559 The free gift of God's Holy Spirit through the free gift of God's Holy Son. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:08.159 We're going to see this in the next couple of weeks when we get to verses 23 and 24, when he talks about my Father seeks true worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:16.639 Jesus wants to know as the Holy Spirit taking control of your life. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:29.759 Jesus wants to know as the Holy Spirit opened up the dark corners of your mind and your heart to open up to what he wants to give you, which is a whole lot more than a little inspiration. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.120 The woman came to a well, and Jesus is inviting her to a gushing spring, river. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:54.559 If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would drop your bucket in a moment and you would fall on your knees and you would bow before me and you would come to me and I will give you that living water. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.840 If you only knew. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:39.039 Would the people that know you well describe you as a person who is gushing with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and self-control? 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:43.200 I don't know about you, but I want more of it. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:54.799 Jesus takes her, and this is one commentator who put it like this Jesus takes her from a death valley thirst to a Mount Everett fountain in about six seconds. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:56.880 When the light goes on. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:58.079 Wait a minute. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.240 This is no ordinary man. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.519 This is no ordinary rabbi. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:09.359 Well, we're going to see how she got there in her understanding. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:15.839 Jesus Himself will pay the high price to be the giver of this living water. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:24.799 When he died on the cross, not too long after that conversation, when he died on the cross and he said, It is finished. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:33.519 When he cried out to the Father and He said, It is finished, I have fulfilled the mission for which I came, to give my people living water. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:40.000 The gift was secured so that the gift could be offered this morning. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:42.559 We won't take the time to look at all the texts. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.960 There's so many in the Bible, in the New Testament. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:50.799 We looked at one on Easter morning as I preached from Acts chapter 2, verse 38. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:57.599 Jesus said, Repent and be baptized, and you will receive what? 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:03.839 The gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:15.920 Acts chapter 10, verse 45, where the gift of the Holy Spirit was offered to the Gentiles. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:21.440 The gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:23.920 That includes us, most of us. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:31.440 What Jesus is saying is this if you just ask me, I will give it to you. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:33.200 Living water. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:43.519 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:47.759 Welling up suggests a vigorous action, activity. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:49.359 Nothing stagnant. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.440 This is no stagnant pond. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:55.440 This is rushing, bubbling water. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:58.319 Refreshing. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:00.720 Welling up. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:03.119 That's a good translation. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.599 I kind of like leaping up. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.920 That's what the spirit can do in your life. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:21.839 The spirit can leap up and make the things of God, the promises of God, and the truth of God become fresh and real like they've never been. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.079 That's the work of the Spirit. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.000 Ask Him. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.440 It's the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:33.200 He is the one who enables us to believe. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:36.240 He is the one that says, Come and you come. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.920 He is the one who's working in us, saying, Open up. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:49.359 Like now, as you hear the word of God being preached, open up. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:51.759 There's more he wants to give you. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:52.720 Ask him. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:58.480 If you only knew who, but secondly, if you only knew where you've been drinking. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.119 If you only knew where you've been drinking. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.599 Now that's part of the text that we didn't print. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:10.319 But they get into this conversation, and Jesus is inviting her into this new life. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:16.880 And he says, Oh, by the way, if you wanted to learn more, go get your husband. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.079 And she says, Well, I don't have a husband. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.559 He says, Yeah, I know. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:24.799 You've had five husbands. 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:28.319 And the man you're living with today is not your husband. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.000 And she must have just looked at him so incredulously. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:33.440 What? 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:35.279 How do you know? 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:40.640 How do you know the intimate details of my life? 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:46.559 Who is this man who knows me through and through? 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.839 Go call your husband and come back. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:57.200 James Boy says, when he says to her, Go call your husband, that was a word for her conscience. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:59.759 Come back again was a word for her heart. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.759 I like that. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:10.640 Before she could drink of the living water, she had to recognize where she'd been drinking from up until now. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:14.799 She needed to take a look within. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:17.359 What have I really been looking to? 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:21.920 What have I really been trusting in to make life work? 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:29.359 Suddenly she knows that he knows far more about her than anybody could ever know. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.440 And so, what does she do? 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:33.440 What many of us have done many times? 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.920 When Jesus starts that kind of a conversation with us, we change the topic. 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:44.160 I remember reading in one of Lewis's works. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:23:00.079 You're sitting there in your study, and you're starting to read the things of Jesus, and Jesus is starting to come close to you, and he's starting to reveal himself to you and open up to you, and all of a sudden the enemy wants you to say, Oh, I'm getting hungry. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:01.519 It's time for lunch. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:05.839 It's time to get up and do something different. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:07.440 He's getting too close. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:13.759 Suddenly she knows that he knows everything about her. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:19.839 And she gets into this sidebar conversation we'll look at in the coming weeks. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:22.480 Jesus, you're getting too close. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:29.599 Before she could taste the living water, she must first understand where she'd been drinking all her life. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.079 Where was she looking for her identity, her meaning? 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:36.720 Well, it's pretty clear from this story. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:38.079 Men. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:40.799 Men. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.240 Five husbands? 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:47.519 The rabbis would not permit more than three. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:50.160 And that was in the worst case scenario. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.759 Five failed marriages. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:58.880 And the man you're living with now is not your husband. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:08.960 She must have been a woman who thought, like many women and men today, this one will be different. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:12.480 This one will be different. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:16.160 I've learned from the last relationship. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:18.480 This one will be different. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:24.880 And here she is, realizing that no, it doesn't seem like it's that much different. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:27.119 The problem is still there. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:35.440 She's just exposed because it's Jesus. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:41.359 Jesus sees right through Tom Holliday. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:44.720 And Jesus sees right through you. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:49.440 And he knows where you're thirsty, and he knows why you're thirsty. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:51.680 She goes back to the town. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.759 And by the way, she left her jar. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:55.279 She left her bucket. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.039 We'll talk about that in another minute. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:02.720 She goes back to her people in her town. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:08.240 She says, Come see a man who told me everything I've ever done. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:10.720 Well, probably not exactly. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:16.880 She wasn't there that long with Jesus to know everything that she had ever done. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:22.720 It wasn't everything that she had done, it's why she did the things that she did. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:25.119 That was it. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:34.400 This man just put his finger, he put his finger on my heart, and all of a sudden I see what I've been searching for all my life. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:37.279 All of a sudden, I see my identity. 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:39.680 My identity has been exposed. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:44.480 My reason for living, my purpose, what I'm looking for by water. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:48.799 Go get your husband. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:52.079 But hear me. 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:58.000 Jesus could have just as easily have said to her or to you, go get your kids. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:00.799 Go get your children. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:03.920 Go get your career. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.079 Go get your financial investments. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:14.400 Because until you're ready to receive the living water, you have to see where you've been drinking. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:20.000 You have to see where you've been searching to make life meaningful. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:25.440 Go get your kids. 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.079 Go get your husband. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:31.440 Go get your partner. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:36.160 You have to see what you're living for. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:46.319 You have to see if you're living for your kids, if you're living through your kids, whatever it is, you've got to see that before you're really ready to drink the living water. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:51.680 You're asking these people to give you things in your life. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.519 You're asking these people to give you meaning. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:55.519 You're asking these people to give you purpose. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:05.039 You're asking something in your life to satisfy the thirst in your soul, and they cannot give you that. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:10.400 They can't give you what I can give you. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.119 Repent. 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:18.079 Repent and put down your shovel. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:24.480 Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13 says, These two things my people have sinned against me. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:29.519 They have forsaken the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:35.440 And what that means is every one of us is born into this world with a shovel in our hand. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.000 And we go through life digging. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:42.880 We go through life looking for where we can find meaning and purpose and find our identity. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:47.200 And Jesus says, put your shovel down. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:28:01.920 This morning may well be for you the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you, saying, put your shovel down and come to Jesus for living water. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.680 That's happened to me many times in this sanctuary. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:16.480 How is it a gift if we insist on paying for it by our own works? 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:20.640 How is it a gift if we insist on paying for it by trying harder? 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.960 Trying to work up belief. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:24.640 Do you struggle with that? 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:28.240 Trying to work up belief. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:29.839 Trying to work up. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.160 You know, I really just need to be more committed. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.680 You know, I really just need to try harder. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:38.480 I just really need to read more of my Bible. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:42.559 Well, you probably do need to read more of your Bible, but that's not how you find the gift. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:45.279 You find the gift by surrendering. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:48.160 You find the gift, you receive the gift by repenting. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:55.200 You receive the gift of living water by saying, Jesus, I see in a new way. 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:04.559 Where I've been trying to make life work without just yielding to you and surrendering my life to the work and to the control of your Holy Spirit. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:08.079 Give me this living water. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:18.960 It means simply yielding to him wherever he is dealing with you as you hear my voice. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:28.799 You don't drag that up, you don't work that up. 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:34.480 He says, come to him and he will give it to you. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:38.720 Is this amazing? 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:40.640 The offer? 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:49.920 If you only knew who was offering you this water, if you only knew where you've been looking for water, and thirdly, if you only knew the possibilities that are awaiting you. 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:52.640 Verse 14, a gushing spring. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:57.039 We're going to see in a few weeks, John chapter 7. 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:02.319 To anyone who is thirsty, let them come to me and drink of living water. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:06.720 If anyone is thirsty, come to me and drink. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:12.799 Living water that gets covered up by a lot of dirt produces muddy water. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:21.920 Some of you know that I've been going my entire life to Lake George, New York, upstate Adirondacks. 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:25.599 This spring-fed, beautiful lake. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.480 Spring-fed, beautiful lake. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:34.720 Even today, I can there's places in that lake I can go and I can look down 40 feet and I can see the rocks. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:36.960 It's clear. 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.119 It's refreshing. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:44.319 Not muddy. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:46.559 Not stagnant. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:55.359 Oh, there's so much more we're gonna see in the next few weeks. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:57.839 You're gonna be here, right? 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:00.160 You're gonna be here. 00:31:01.119 --> 00:31:02.960 We're gonna study this together. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:05.359 Let me just give you one application. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.200 Wet your appetite. 00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:08.640 Evangelism. 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:14.880 How many times do we guilt ourselves into evangelism? 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:22.160 How many times do we say, you know what, I really need to do more in sharing the good news that I've received from Jesus? 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:25.920 This is a big problem for Christians. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:31.440 You know, we just finally feel guilty enough that we feel like we need to do something. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.640 That's not the way it's supposed to work. 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:48.319 When there's a problem in the church, when there's a ministry need, the better way is to be filled with the Spirit. 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:50.400 Always. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:58.240 If you gossip too much, don't tape your mouth shut. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.000 Don't take a vow that you're never going to gossip again. 00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:05.039 What you need is more of the Holy Spirit. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:18.319 If you worry too much, or evangelism, we're going to see that what the Holy Spirit is inviting us to is similar to what he did with the Samaritan woman. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:21.680 What you just need is more of this living water. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:27.680 And then you will gush the work of the Spirit. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:34.960 And you will find yourself in new ways telling people about this living water. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:39.680 And you will find yourself in new ways telling people about the gift that you received. 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:45.839 Because it's the Spirit who's working in you in a new way. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:48.079 Isn't that good? 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:51.279 How do we miss this stuff? 00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:53.119 As much as we do. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:11.039 Because far too often, when the Holy Spirit comes close and starts to put his finger on the things that he wants to address in our lives, we put up our arms and say, whoa, stop right there. 00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:15.519 I can handle this. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:16.960 Yeah, right. 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:23.279 No, you can't. 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:26.400 No, I can't. 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:36.799 The way you get more of this living water is you yield to the work of the Spirit and you put your arms down. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:40.079 And you say, Come, come. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:43.200 Deal with me about my gossiping tongue. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:46.160