Living Water, Lasting Rest

Thirst shows up in strange ways—overwork that never satisfies, the ache to be seen, the urge to prove we’re “good enough.” We walk through the meeting at Jacob’s well where Jesus crosses every barrier to offer a Samaritan woman something better than a full bucket: living water that rises within and never runs dry.

We explore why Jesus is greater than the law and why true rest can’t be manufactured by rituals or routines. The law exposes our need, but only Christ fills it. As Pastor Carl traces the conversation—from “give me a drink” to “I who speak to you am He”—we see how grace tells the truth without shaming, how confession becomes a doorway to new life, and how worship in spirit and truth frees us from performing for God. Living water becomes more than a metaphor: it is the Spirit’s life that cleanses, renews, and overflows to others, turning personal transformation into public witness.

You’ll hear how Scripture acts like a precise instrument, reshaping the inner life; how resting in Christ ends the exhausting climb to earn favor; and how a woman known for her past becomes a voice of hope for her town. If the fire has cooled or the well feels deep and distant, this story reminds us that the source is near and the invitation stands. Listen, reflect, and let your thirst lead you to Jesus—then share the hope with someone who needs it.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, leave a rating or review, and share it with a friend who’s hungry for real rest.

Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

We're lacking. We find ourselves so far from God's righteousness until God came to us. And God made a way where there was no way. And now I've been crucified with Christ. He took my place, and then I'm there with him. And my old man has died, and now he's given me a new life, and I've been raised to life with him in the life that I now live. I live in Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

We will always fall short. We strive to be the best in our trade, but there's always someone better. We try to be the best husband and father we can, but we always end up making mistakes. In today's message, Pastor Carl teaches that failure doesn't make you any less, it makes you human. It means you need the help of a God who is perfect and can never fail. Turn your eyes towards Jesus and model your life with his as the standard, knowing you'll never compare, but pursuing him anyway. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Jesus is greater than the law, Jesus is greater than this first entering into rest. Jesus has a greater rest for us. And that rest is in a person. It's Jesus Christ Himself. More than doctrines or ideas or trying to do good works to please God. It's about him. He finished it. And when we rest in him, when we are in him, we find rest from our works. What kind of works? The works trying to work ourselves into heaven, trying to get right with God. So with all this background, here we have Jesus coming to this well in the city of Shechem, which has a rich, rich history in the background of Israel. And you have a people group that live there that are rejected by most of Israel. All right? That's the background. You ready? Now the rest of it's going to go a little quicker than this. All right. Verse 7: A woman from Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. Now he didn't say this in a rude way. The way it's written, it sounds kind of rude. Hey, woman, give me a drink. It was more like, would you please give me a drink? Um, since basically you have what it takes to get it. I didn't have a bucket, I don't have a scoop, you do. Could you get a drink for me? I'm kind of thirsty. Would you give me a drink? For the disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria, which is interesting, Jesus sent the rest of the disciples away and said, I'm going to rest for a while. This is the creator of all things, the ones who, the one who keeps all things together by the power of his word. As a man, he got tired. So he understands about getting tired. So when you get tired, you could pray, Lord, you understand about being tired. Give me strength today. For his disciples had gone away into the sea to buy food. Then verse 9. The woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? She didn't see him as a Galilean, she saw him as a Drew. And it didn't matter to him, to her, it seems like all Jews hated them. And uh she wasn't scared of him. She was kind of bold and kind of strong, and and she knew a lot, and so she challenged him. Who are you to ask me? You're asking, you're first of all, you're talking to a woman. Second of all, you're talking to a Samaritan woman. What is that all about? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Not that it's right or wrong. I'm just saying that's how it is. And Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. This is interesting. Again, comparing him, comparing what Jesus was doing in this conversation to the conversation he had with Nicodemus. Both ways. They ask a direct question, and he asks her something that seems to be totally different than what he's what they were asking about. She's addressing, you know, Samaritans, you know, Jews don't like us. Why are you asking me? Because that's not you, you don't do that. And Jesus went past all those all those ideas, all those legalistic laws, and went straight to the point where, do you realize who you're talking to? And and not in an insulting way, but in a caring way. I have come, I need water. I'm I'm in flesh and blood, but but I'm also the creator of the universe. I am I am the Messiah, and I have some water that you need to drink. And last week we we looked at water, the relationship between water and the word and the work of the Holy Spirit. They're all kind of together and they all point to the same thing. That the work of the Lord in our lives, the work of salvation, the work that only He can do, it's a supernatural work, of changes us and cleanses us and makes us new and causes us to overflow to touch others with this living water. Living water referred to a spring of water that was gushing forth out of the out of the earth and just kept going and going. And uh this was a well that's 150 feet deep to get to any water. And she's looking around and saying, Where's this spring you're talking about of living water? And so she's not totally getting it, but she's interested. This is an interesting conversation, and I'll continue on with this conversation. So the woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then will you get this living water? You can't even get into this. Well, you're talking about a spring of living water. That's where are you gonna get that water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock? And there she she she endorses, she calls upon the name of Jacob. He built this well. You know, Jacob of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the faith, that was right here where we live, us Samaritans that you Jews don't like. Did you recognize that, sir? This is Jacob's well. Right here. Can you get into the well? Can you get the water? I mean, that's why you're asking me, right? And Jesus answered her and said, Uh, 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 like a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. And again, we looked at some verses last week uh talking about this living water that comes forth from us, which is a picture of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord changes us, we become new. It's a whole new perspective on life, whole new perspective on who God is and how he's working in our lives. Uh that's not to say we don't need refilling, but we never need anything else to be right with God again. This living water, and when we grow in that grace of the Lord, you know, it overflows to others, and people are wanting to have that same grace, that same excitement for life. And the woman said to him, Sir, give me that water that I might not thirst, nor come here to draw. And she wasn't serious because she didn't see it, but it's like, look, okay, if you got that water, I'll take that water. That's great, because I work a lot and I get thirsty a lot, and that'd be great. But, you know, it's life, you know, and I'm I'm living life, and it's okay. Um, and Jacob is is my father here, and uh, and we got God's blessing no matter what the Jews down there say. You know, so she she acknowledges what he's saying, sounds really good, but it still doesn't register with her, and she so she kind of kind of mocks and it just continues the conversation because she likes to debate and it sounds good. And then Jesus said to her, Go and call your husband and come here. And then she said to him, I have no husband. Now, I'm not going to go too deeply into this, but uh, people who came to the well many times uh were young maidens, and if you were looking for somebody to marry, you would come and find a young maiden. But they usually came early in the morning. If you remember this was at the sixth hour, this was at noon, there was nobody else there. And so it was just Jesus and this other person. And people of ill repute would come at other times, and and if if somebody's interested in in uh you know, they would come at that time and meet up with these people. And she said, Well, I don't have a husband. And she kind of expected, well, maybe this guy's kind of cute, maybe he'll be better than some of these other guys that I've been around. And I don't know, there might be some of that going on there. But Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband. For you've had five husbands, and and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. And something clicked at that moment. I said, This guy's different. This guy is not just some guy that's trying to make a move. This guy, this guy's from God, maybe. Could it be? And I think I read somewhere that uh I don't know if it was a Samaritan law or if it was part of the the Jewish oral tradition, but if you were to divorce somebody, you could only divorce three spouses, and then you're just beyond redemption, you're beyond forgiveness. She was married to four, and she was living with a fifth, and so she already knew that this had a really bad stigma, really bad reputation. But Jesus came with compassion, he wasn't coming with condemnation, he was offering living waters to this woman, he was offering cleansing, he was offering life, she was he was offering hope to her. You know, we've made a lot of mistakes in life, and I don't know if you've had problems like this lady with different different relationships in and out. And that shows, you know, how easily we fall into problems, we fall into sin. But the Lord in his grace, he came to die for us on the cross to not only forgive our sins, but to give us better relationships, to give us hope, to give us a different perspective on life than the circles that we seem to get caught in, to catch 22s. And so the woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. So now she's still in this debate mode, but she's kind of getting excited because there might be some hope here. She doesn't know what the hope is, but she realizes that there's something different going on. And she talks some theology again about what's going on. And so um she already made the point that this was the place where Jacob's well was, and we looked at the history of the pla the history of Shechem, which is now called Shinar. But now she talks about the mountain, which is just off in the distance. So she she points over to this mountain called Mount Gerizin. Here's Sinar, Shechem, and it's right there. So she just points up to the mountain and says, Look, our people worshiped here, because this is where everything happened. You know, this is where the promise of God happened. So our people worshiped there. And as I said earlier, they were as they they mixed in some of their traditions and teachings and folklore from all the people that came in and intermarried with them. They did hold fast to the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. But they kind of um customized it. The Garden of Eden, they would say, was on that mountain. They would say that Noah's Ark landed on that mountain. They would say that the place where Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, but God provided a lamb for it, would be on that mountain. And that's the context behind what she's saying here. She's saying, look, we worship at this mountain because a lot of, at least from what we believe and what we've been taught, a lot of stuff happened on this mountain, which is not exactly true, but there's a lot of truth to the stories that she's telling. And so she's confused. The Jews hate us, they don't like us to come down to Jerusalem. They refuse us from going into the temple or the tabernacle. And so we built one on that mountain, and that's where we worship. And so she she says, What about that? You know, what about that mountain and where we worship? And Jesus said to her in verse 21, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. There's a time coming where you don't have to go to a specific place to meet with God. You worship what you do not know. Now here he acknowledges that they've got some confusion in their theology. We know what we worship, speaking about the Jews, for salvation is from the Jews. And this is, you know, he's not saying this in a way to insult her, but he's just saying the fact that salvation comes through the Jews. The Lord is meeting with his people at the temple in Jerusalem. And in fact, the sacrifice for all mankind will be done on the mountains around that temple in Jerusalem. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the 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 in spirit and in truth. Not in a set way of, you know, these are the words that you say, these are the scriptures that you read. Not in a place where you have to come to Jerusalem to meet with God. Not in a place where you have to wear a tie and you put on good clothes to come to church to meet with God. That is man trying to please God. That is man in his greatest attempt to try to fulfill the law of God. The law of God is given as a reflection of the righteousness of God, the holiness of God. And God calls us to be holy as he is holy. And yet, when we look at the law and we look at these things, there's so many things that get in the way of us fulfilling that call. Right? And Paul tells us that the law is a school teacher that leads us to Jesus. The law is made in order to show us our need for Jesus. These things that she's bringing up, Jesus is saying to her, these are good things to wrestle with because it shows you your lack of being right with God in your own efforts. And not to mention that you're born into this area of Samaria and rejection from people just because of who you're born into. But there's a time coming when those who accept what I told Nicodemus in the last chapter, Jesus is saying. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus turns this whole story of fallenness and hopelessness around. Because he's the only man that lived that was perfect, that could be the Lamb of God that could take away the sin of the world. And when we worship in spirit and in truth, we worship in that new relationship. When you accept the Lord, the Spirit comes to dwell within you, and he changes how you think, how you feel, how you respond to things. And you do it based on truth. And what is the truth? Well, he is the truth, he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by him. And the truth is about us. Without God, we're hopeless. And it's not necessarily our fault, but it is. But I'm saying we're born this way because of Adam and Eve. Sin entered into the picture, and if we're sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, then we're born into sin, and we sin because we are sinners, and we can't unsin things because we're stuck in our sin. We can look really good in our sin when we compare ourselves to each other, but when we compare ourselves to the holy of God, the holiness of God, we we're we're lacking. We find ourselves so far from God's righteousness until God came to us. And God made a way where there was no way. And now I've been crucified with Christ. He took my place, and then I'm there with him. And my old man has died, and now he's given me a new life, and I've been raised to life with him. And the life that I now live, I live in Christ Jesus. And that's how you there there have been many different attempts to describe what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. And I tried to give you a little insight. I mean, there's a lot to it. It's simple, but it's profound. And uh David Gusig had a really good explanation of it as well. So I'd share that with you. To worship in spirit means you are concerned with spiritual realities, not so much with places or outward sacrifices, cleansings, or trappings. It takes our focus off of what I'm trying to do to be right with God and places it on Jesus. The Spirit pulls me back to Him because He is our only hope. He's the only one that can make this happen. To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole counsel of God's word, especially in light of the New Testament revelation. It also means that you come to God in truth, not in the pretense or a mere display of spirituality. See, you're coming to God in truth based on God's word. That's why it's so important for us to be in God's word, because God's word transforms us from the inside out. It's the only book in the world that'll do that. At least from God. Other books will do that in a in a negative way, will increase the darkness in our lives. But but God's word changes us. It's active and powerful, more, more, more precise than a two-edged sword, which is like a surgery implement that cuts between bone and marrow. The word of God is precise, and the more that we partake of the more word of God, the more we grow in his truth, more that we grow in his grace because we recognize that we're lacking, but the Lord in his great mercy and his great grace towards us has given us this gift that gives us life. And we grow in that. So it's coming to God and having a boldness in God because of his work. It's not trying to pretend to look spiritual and to be Christian and to come and speak with thou's and these, and oh brother, may God bless you forever. But it's being real with God, it's being real with your brethren. And you do say God bless you, but you mean it. You're not just saying it. This is what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. And the time is coming, and it's very near, Jesus is saying to this woman at the well. And somewhere in there, I see a heart that wants to worship God. And there will be a way that's made so that you can. This is what Jesus is telling the woman. And the woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he'll tell us all things. In their tradition, their Messiah had a different name, but it meant the revealer. The revealer is coming, and when he comes, he's going to show us the truth. He's going to reveal it to us. And I'm ready for that. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. I am He. I am the holy name of God. He is the Messiah. And He's come to ask her for a drink of water when he wants to give her water that will change her life forever. That's big. And I think things are starting to click with this woman because in verse as as we go forward, you'll see next week that she goes and she tells the whole community. She said, I've found this man that knows everything about me. Could this be the one that we're waiting for? And they know that uh she is a debater, they know that she is one that, you know, doesn't just do whatever people tell her to do. She's her own person. But something about this Jesus has completely changed her life. And it's made it something to tell the rest of the world about. And and Shinar after this, and Shechem, what it used to be, uh, is completely changed as a result of this encounter. And we'll we'll look into that more next week.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

You've been listening to Pastor Carl on Come On Up. We're in the book of John. John had been a simple fisherman before meeting Jesus. He was actually a disciple of John the Baptist before realizing that John the Baptist was just paving the way for Jesus to enter the scene. There were so many examples for John to observe, where Jesus made something out of nothing. He fed the 5,000, he brought about a boatload of fish when there had been no bites all night. These miraculous happenings were all around them, and John couldn't help but be enamored by Jesus Christ. What about you? Has the newness of knowing or following Jesus worn off? Are you apathetic about what God's doing in your life or how he's working and how he's trying to speak to you? Keep that spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. John lived a full life devoted to the Lord, and even though he was persecuted and tortured, he never swayed from telling people about the hope and faith he had in Jesus. After all, he had lived with Jesus for three and a half years and had learned much about the heart of God. A way for you to keep learning about the heart of God is by joining us on Sunday mornings at Smokey Mountain Cinema in Waynesville for Bible study. We also have a faith film night the first Monday of every month. We offer quality Christian entertainment that challenges your faith and spurs good conversation. Learn more at themountaincross.com or search for Faith Film Night on Facebook. That's all for today. Come on Up is sponsored by The Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.