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Well, let's keep our Bibles open there to John chapter 4. Get adjusted here.
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This is the 24th Sunday, Lord's Day, that we've given attention to this Gospel of John.
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The second Sunday in which we've attended this episode of Jesus and the woman of Samaria.
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It's a very rich passage. Somewhat difficult to explain and illustrate fully.
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We're going to be here a few more. Lord's Day, I suspect. Now, we have already considered two weeks ago when we were addressing this, how our
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Lord came through the region of Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee.
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Yes, it was the shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee, but our
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Lord and his disciples were in the Jordan River Valley, baptizing at Enon, near Selim, because there was much water there.
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That's why John was baptizing, and Jesus was baptizing there as well, or his disciples. And so they headed west, up out of the
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Jordan River Valley, and they went into Samaria, because the Scriptures say it was necessary for them to go through Samaria.
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And as we pointed out, it wasn't just the shortest route, but it would seem that this meeting of Jesus with this woman was in the eternal decree of God, and it was appointed for Jesus to meet this woman on this occasion, at this time, at this well near the town of Sychar.
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And the result, of course, of this woman meeting Jesus was a transformation of her life.
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And also through her witness to her fellow citizens there in the little village of Sychar, about a half mile away from Jacob's well, there were many
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Samaritans that believed on Jesus. They came out, they took the trouble in the middle of the day to come out and hear
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Jesus himself, and they were transformed because they believed on Jesus.
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And so, again, this passage was just read again in our hearing, so we'll not do so now.
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When we began to consider this account, we set forth an outline.
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The outline covers material a little broader than what we read, because it is a longer passage.
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Verses 1 -6, Jesus arriving in Samaria. And then the bulk of the passage, verses 7 -26, is
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Jesus met and engaged a Samaritan woman in conversation. And that's what we're addressing now.
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And so we began this second section, and we actually worked through a couple of verses, and just for purposes of bringing us up to speed, let's look at verses 7 and 8, in which we read of our
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Lord's divinely appointed meeting with this woman. A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
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Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
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The woman expressed surprise that Jesus spoke to her. First, she was surprised because he was a man and she was a woman.
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But more striking to her was that he was a Jewish man and that she was a Samaritan woman.
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She said, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?
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There was a two -fold reason that he wouldn't have normally done this as a Jewish man.
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And then John provided his readers an explanation for her surprise. For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
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That's almost an understatement. For the Jews hated the Samaritans. I read a few quotes this week.
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One wrote, The woman is very surprised that a Jew should ask anything of a Samaritan. And she was well aware of the scorn with which the
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Samaritans were regarded by the Jews, who in the name of the law disturbed even the most natural human relations.
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There was no love lost between these two groups of people. There's a reference actually in a book of the
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Apocrypha. Now the books of the Apocrypha are of course not the word of God, but they do reflect Jewish opinion, give information about the culture of the time.
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And in the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, not to be confused with Ecclesiastes, we have a word that betrays the contempt that the
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Jews had for the Samaritans. The writer put down,
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There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation. And the third would be
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Samaria. They that sat upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sycam.
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And what is meant by that is Shechem of course. And so this was probably a typical attitude of the
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Jews toward the Samaritans. The Jewish Roman historian Josephus called the
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Samaritans by their derogatory name, the Chuthites. And apparently that label, that appellation spoke of their origin from the hated
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Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians of course had captured or enslaved some people and exported them, and caused them to come and settle there in Samaria.
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That's basically what the Communists did in Vietnam after they conquered South Vietnam. Took everybody out of the city, put them in the country, put everybody out of the country into the city, and they hoped to so disrupt the culture that they could reeducate everybody into their system.
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And the Assyrians followed a similar kind of pattern. And they came into Samaria of course, the region of Samaria, and they were idolaters of course, and soon they were having a tough time of it.
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And they thought the reason was they were neglecting the gods of the land. And so they got themselves a Levite, were instructed in some of the ways of the
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Jews, and so they adopted a number of the religious practices and views of the
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Jews, and claimed to be the true Israel. They had their own priesthood.
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They had their own temple built there up on the side of the hill of Mount Gerashim, which probably
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Jesus and this woman could see the ruins of it because the Jews destroyed it. They said they believed the laws of Moses, the first five books of Moses, and we'll see that later in the passage when we address it.
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But Josephus called them these truthites because they seemed to borrow from everybody's religion, and they did.
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There was a famous rabbi in the first and second century A .D., Eleazar Hyrcanus, and he wrote,
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He that eateth the bread of the truthites is as one that eateth swine's flesh.
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I mean, that's how the Jews viewed just eating the food of those people.
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It's amazing that the disciples went into the city of Sychar apparently to buy food as Jesus waited there at the well.
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And so there was no love between the Jews and the Samaritans, and so it's really no wonder that the woman wondered that this
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Jewish man spoke to her, even asking him for water. Him asking her for water.
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She spoke to Jesus initially as though he did not know who she was, or he wouldn't be talking to her.
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But the real problem was that she didn't know who he was. That's the issue. And so here we have one of those little paradoxes that we find throughout the narrative of John, as one expressed, it's not that Jesus does not know who he is, and therefore acting improperly, it's the woman who does not know who
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Jesus is, and she therefore is the one acting inappropriately. His identity is
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Jewish, and his appearance is one of a thirsty and helpless traveler, yet the truth is that he is the unique son, the very expression of the love of God.
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We next read in verse 10. Jesus answered and said to her,
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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.
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We touched on this last time. Here we see the heart of her problem.
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She was spiritually ignorant of who Jesus Christ was. Jesus Christ sets himself forth as the gift of God, and a couple weeks ago we basically concluded with that statement.
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However, some advocate that Jesus here is the gift of God, if you knew the gift of God.
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And so it's commonly understood by some that Jesus is that gift of God. Matthew Poole thought so.
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Many by the gift of God here understand Christ, whom God gave to the world. So as the latter words, who it is.
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Matthew Henry similarly wrote, No, Jesus Christ is the gift of God, the richest token of God's love to us and the richest treasure of all good for us.
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And then John Gill, who wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible, an amazing feat.
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He also declared that the gift of God here is Jesus Christ himself.
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And he gave a more extended explanation. If thou knewest the gift of God, meaning not the
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Holy Spirit with his gifts and graces, as some think, but himself. In other words, Jesus Christ is the gift of God.
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And for the following clause is explanatory of it. And who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink.
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And Christ is also spoken of in the Old Testament as the gift of God. Isaiah 9, 6.
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And he had lately spoken of himself as such. John 3, 16. And he is by way of eminency, the gift of God, which is comprehensive of all others.
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In other words, all other gifts is exceeding large and very suitable to the wants and cases of men.
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And is irrevocable and unchangeable and unspeakable. Scripture speak of the unspeakable gift of God in Christ.
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For he is God's gift as he is his own and only begotten son. And he is given for a covenant to the people and with all the promises and blessings of it.
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And as in head, both of eminence and influence. And to be a savior of them and a sacrifice for their sins.
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And as the bread of life for them to feed and live upon. Of which gift men are naturally ignorant as this woman was.
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They know not the dignity of his person. Nor the nature and usefulness of his offices. Nor the way of peace, righteousness and salvation by him.
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Nor do they see any amiableness or loveliness in him. And whatever notional knowledge some natural men may have of him.
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They know him not spiritually and experimentally or as the gift of God to them.
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That's typical of Gil, those long running on sentences. But he was always very thorough in expressing himself.
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However, others differ. When Jesus said, if you knew the gift of God. They think that the gift is something other than Jesus Christ.
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There are those who say that the gift that Jesus gave this woman was the grace of God in salvation.
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Others argue that the gift that Jesus could give this woman was the living water itself.
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And still others say that the gift which he could bestow on this woman was the Holy Spirit himself.
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And all those positions could glean that from the text itself.
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I'm of the opinion that the best understanding of the gift in this context is that of salvation and its fullness.
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If you knew the gift of God that I could give you. As one wrote, and I think rightly,
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Jesus makes clear that she is unaware of the gift of God. This mysterious phrase is given possibilities by interpreters.
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The term gift occurs 11 times in the New Testament and always denotes a graciously offered gift of God.
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Four times with reference to the Spirit. Since the Spirit was prominent in the previous pericope, it's likely that the gift is of God.
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With the subjective genitive making emphatic that God the Father is the giver of the gift. And that's what subjective genitive means.
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In other words, it's the gift of God. In other words, God gave this gift. Then gift is rooted in the
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Trinitarian identity of God. The gift of God is salvation. In other words, eternal life. Culminating in the gift of the
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Spirit given by both the Father who initiated this divine action. And the Son who serves as the agent of this divine activity.
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And I think he's right. Jesus said to this woman, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink.
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You would have asked him and he would have given you living water. What did
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Jesus mean by the expression living water? Well, Jesus was speaking of the life imparting, life changing, life invigorating power of the
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Holy Spirit. That Jesus had the authority to bestow upon people who knew and believed on him as the promised king.
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The Messiah, the king over the kingdom of God. Now, the
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Lord drew forth this teaching due to the well that was before them. Jacob's well. And so he brought up the matter of living water as a parallel in conjunction with what was physically before them.
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Of course, living water speaks of water flowing forth from a spring rather than a settled water in the bottom of a well.
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There's a contrast drawn here. By the way, this matter of living water was pretty important in some avenues, some arenas of the early church.
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Some believed in the early church that baptism should only take place in running water and streams and rivers.
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Living water, as they called it. In fact, there was an early writing of the
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Didache. And Didache is a Greek word. Another term for the
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Didache is the teaching of the 12. When I was in seminary back in the 80s,
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Didache was dated to about A .D. 125. And just reading about this this week,
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I see now they've pushed it back to possibly A .D. 50 to A .D. 125. I think they're wrong.
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I don't have time to explain that, but I think it probably dated at least by A .D. 100 to A .D.
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125. But anyway, it gave instruction of baptism. And concerning baptism, baptized this way.
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Having first said all these things, baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in living water.
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Again, in a stream, in a river. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water.
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And if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. We did it in warm today. That was 110 degrees when somebody came to church this morning.
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We got it cooled off a little bit. We did it in warm still water today. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of the
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Before the baptism, let the baptizer fast. And the baptized, whoever else can, you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.
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Interesting. Again, that's an expression of belief on the part of someone in the early church.
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Of course, the Bible does not teach or require baptism to be performed in this manner.
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But that some did indicates the high regard they had for living water. And I just wonder if that wasn't based on this passage.
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I think it was. And by the way, John's Gospel was probably written in the 90
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A .D. And the didache was based upon John's Gospel. That puts the didache after 80, 90,
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I would suspect. Again, living water is in contrast to the still water within the well.
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But in our Lord speaking of living water, he was calling forth the word of God from the Hebrew Scriptures as well.
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Because the Bible speaks about living water in other contexts. Living water is in contrast to still water.
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We can look back in Jeremiah. He wrote of the living water. Perhaps we ought to switch to the pulpit,
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Mark. Thank you. Living water is in contrast to still water. And in Jeremiah, Jeremiah wrote of the living water of God.
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God is a fountain of living water. Jeremiah wrote, therefore,
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I will bring charges against you, says the Lord. And against your children's children, I will bring charges.
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For pass beyond the coast of Cyprus and sea. Send to Kedar and consider diligently. See if there has been such a thing as a nation changed its gods which are not gods.
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But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit. So they abandoned God and embraced idols, false gods.
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Be astonished, O heavens, at this. Be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the Lord. For my people have committed two evils.
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They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. See, God himself is described as this fountain in living waters, in livening waters.
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And hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Elsewhere, God is set forth in this matter of a fountain, putting forth living waters.
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Jeremiah 17 .13, O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the
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Lord. Again, the fountain of living waters. Psalm 36 and 9.
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With you is the fountain of life. In your light we see light. And then we have invitations of salvation in the
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Old Testament. Sent forth is people coming to God from whom they may receive life -giving waters.
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The glorious prophecy, O everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. I've got
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Isaiah 50, but is it Isaiah 55? I had a doubt come into my mind. I forget. But in other words, it's an invitation to come freely to receive life -giving waters from God.
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Come with no money. Come without price. Salvation is free. And then we can go all the way to the end of the
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New Testament in the book of Revelation. And we see similarly the idea of waters.
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We'll now read the entire passage of Revelation 7 that you might have in your notes there. But down to the block in italic words in verse 16.
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They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat. For the
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Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And that would be the richness again of everything that God bestows upon his people.
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And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And then in the last part of the book of Revelation, John records, he said to me, it's done.
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I am the Alpha and the Omega, that would be Jesus speaking, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
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And so we have this idea as God, as this fountain of living waters, both in the
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Old Testament here in John chapter 4. And then even in the end of the book of Revelation.
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Thus, as one wrote, thus the living water in the context of Jacob's well on a sun beating day is rest and satisfaction.
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Eternal life rooted in the Trinitarian God, Father, Son and Spirit. And mediated by Jesus Christ, his person and work.
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It is inclusive of everything the prophets could foretell and the apocalypse could describe.
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It is the perfect provision from God, with God and for God. It's what
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Calvin summarizes as the whole grace of renewal. Even in his human fatigue and thirst,
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Jesus was fully satisfied. He was a Samaritan woman, competent enough to gather water for Jesus, who is the one in true need.
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There's paradoxes throughout this whole account. There was a sense of peace, well -being and satisfaction.
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Even we would describe perhaps as Sabbath rest within the heart of Jesus. Even in his weariness and thirsty condition.
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And he makes that, of course, available to his people as well. She could draw water all day long and every day long.
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And yet never enjoy a sense of peace, well -being, satisfaction, even Sabbath rest.
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Unless you receive the living water that Jesus was able and willing to give her. This was a distressed woman.
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I can well envision her. Now again, more specifically, living water is a reference to the
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Holy Spirit. And the life that he gives to his people. We know this because it's made clear in John's gospel, later in John chapter 7.
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The Lord Jesus there was again in Judea, in the city of Jerusalem. He came to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.
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This feast recalled and celebrated God's provision for the Israelites when they had traveled through the wilderness for 40 years.
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After God delivered them from Egypt and before he brought them into the Promised Land. And so this
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Festival of Tabernacles was seven days in length. The longest of the
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Jewish calendar, this feast. And it immediately followed the
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Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. And the Jewish New Year, which commenced then.
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At the end of the feast, there is a ceremonial water drawing out of a well in Jerusalem.
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As well as the lighting of a lamp, which symbolized the shekinah glory of God guiding
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Israel through the wilderness. The drawing of water before the gathered worshippers commemorated
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God having provided the Israelites water in their desert journey. And Numbers 20 makes that very clear, water from the rock.
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And so this was a ceremony which led Jesus to stand before the crowd and make the pronouncement in John 7, 37 and following.
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On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
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He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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But this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive.
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For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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And so there you have the living waters identified more directly, specifically, as the gift of the
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Holy Spirit. And here the Lord Jesus was anticipating, of course, the day of Pentecost.
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When he baptized his church with the Holy Spirit. On that occasion, the disciples were infused with the presence of God.
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They were empowered with the power of the Holy Spirit. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, being utterly transformed and formed into a single body of Christ in which the life of Christ dwelt.
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The day of Pentecost was a transformative event, which demonstrated and proved the enthronement of Jesus Christ as king, as Lord over the kingdom of God.
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As an ancient king of Israel, a son of David was enthroned. He would give gifts to those young men he grew up with, gifts of responsibility, authority, whatnot.
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When Jesus was enthroned in heaven, he gave gifts to his people. And the principal gift is the gift of the
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Holy Spirit. The day of Pentecost substantiates Jesus Christ as Lord. He's king.
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And the Holy Spirit is evidence of that. And so the gift
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Jesus gave enabled his disciples to go forth and expand the kingdom of God throughout the world. Our Lord was revealing to this woman, this rather insignificant fallen woman, that he was the promised king of the long -awaited kingdom of God, who would one day on the day of Pentecost infuse his people with the presence and power of the
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Holy Spirit. They would never be the same, and the world would never be the same. But even as Jesus spoke to her of this event, he told her that he had the ability and apparently was willing to grant her, in bestowing salvation to her, this blessing of the
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Holy Spirit. Living waters would be like a well within her. Never be exhausted, always ready, always willing.
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She would be a content, fulfilled person, living in the presence and power of God. We next read of her response to Jesus' words in verses 11 and 12.
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The woman said to him, Sir, you've got nothing to draw with, the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?
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Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?
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In the previous chapter, John chapter 3, remember that Nicodemus responded to Jesus' great declaration of the new birth with a rather ignorant question.
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How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time and do his mother's woman be born? And now, this woman,
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Nicodemus was clueless, and this woman is clueless. We see that in her response.
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Both Nicodemus, the educated religious leader of Judaism, and this woman, the ignorant, errant, sinful
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Samaritan, could not see anything of spiritual truth. All they could see was that which was physical before their eyes.
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It did not compute. This, of course, underscores the truth that that which is born of flesh is flesh, cannot be otherwise.
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And just as Jesus could enable Nicodemus to be born again, so that which is born of spirit is spirit, so, with this woman, he could transform her, so that she would understand and enjoy and receive this glorious blessing of life.
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There seemed to be a measure of indignance in her words, as well. There was a measure of that in Nicodemus' response, and she seemed to indicate that.
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In verses 11 and 12, the woman shows no sign of understanding what Jesus is talking about. And like Nicodemus and the disciples later, clings to the literal meaning of Jesus' words.
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That's one of the literary characteristics of John's gospel. Jesus sets forth a spiritual reality, and the ones listening to him are clueless.
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They only see things in physical terms. After all, living water was what one called running water, such as flows from the spring that feeds the well of Jacob and makes it so important for the people living near it.
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The woman's answer, though couched in respectful terms, sir, and in the form of a question, shows some annoyance.
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How can he give her water from the well, which is very deep, with nothing to draw the water up with?
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Or this seems even more absurd to her. Does he think, perhaps, he can get running water from some other source than this well?
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She lived there. She knew better. The first possibility simply does not make sense to her, and her self -awareness as a
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Samaritan rebels against the second. Does Jesus, a stranger, imagine that he is greater than our father
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Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself and his sons and his cattle? By the way, we mentioned that there's a note of indignance here, and you can tell by the way that she worded her question.
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Now, this is in the Greek text. It's hinted at in the English translation, but it's not as clear.
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She asked a rhetorical question of Jesus, to which she expected the answer, no, of course not.
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She was almost being sarcastic. It's as though she said, surely you're not saying that you're greater than our father
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Jacob, are you, implying a negative answer. And so here again, a note of indignance on her part is conveyed.
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She really wasn't inquiring. She was challenging Jesus. She wasn't asking him if he was greater than Jacob, you know, basically saying, who do you think you are?
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Greater than Jacob, who gave us the well? That seemed to be the spirit that's being conveyed by her at this point.
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At this point, she didn't believe that he was greater than Jacob. Well, then we read of Jesus' response to her in verses 13 and 14.
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Jesus answered, said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.
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But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
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Matthew Henry gave an extended description of the blessing of this living water, and I thought it would be helpful for us.
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It was helpful for me. I hope I can transfer that to us. Christ answers this carefully.
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See, Matthew Henry saw it as a challenge on her part, and makes it out that the living water he had to give was far better than that of Jacob's well.
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Though she spoke perversely, Christ did not cast her off, but instructed and encouraged her.
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He shows her first that the water of Jacob's well yielded but a transient satisfaction and supply.
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Do so, drinketh of this water shall thirst again. It's no better than other water. It will quench the present thirst, but the thirst will return, and in a few hours a man will have as much need, as much desire of water as he ever had.
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This intimates first the infirmities of our bodies in this present state. They are still necessities and ever craving.
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Life is a fire, a lamp, which soon will go out without continual supplies of fuel and oil.
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The natural heat preys upon itself. The imperfections of all our comforts in this world, they are not lasting, nor are satisfaction in them remaining.
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Whatever waters of comfort we drink of, we shall thirst again. Yesterday's meat and drink will not do today's work.
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And secondly, that the living waters he would give should yield a lasting satisfaction and bliss.
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Christ's gifts appear most valuable when they come to be compared with the things of this world. For there will appear no comparison between them.
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Whoever partakes of the spirit of grace and the comforts of the everlasting gospel, he shall never thirst.
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He shall never want that which will abundantly satisfy a soul's desire. They are longing, that is the people of God are longing, but never languishing.
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A desiring thirst he has, nothing more than God. In other words, desiring
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God, still more and more of God, but not a despairing thirst. Therefore, he shall never thirst, because this water that Christ gives shall be in him a well of water.
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He can never be reduced to extremity that has in himself a fountain of supply and satisfaction. Ever ready, for it shall be in him.
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The principle of grace implanted in him is the spring of his comfort. A good man is satisfied from himself, for Christ dwells in his heart.
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The anointing abides in him, he needs not sneak to the world for comfort. The work and witness of the spirit in the heart furnish him with a firm foundation of hope and an overflowing fountain of joy.
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Never failing, for it shall be in him a well of water. He that has at hand only a bucket of water needs not thirst as long as this lasts, but it will soon be exhausted.
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But believers have in them a well of water, overflowing, ever flowing. The principles and affections which
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Christ's holy religion forms in the souls of those that are brought unto the power of it are this well of water.
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It is springing up, ever in motion, which bespeaks the actings of grace strong and vigorous.
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If good truths stagnate in our souls like standing water, they do not answer the end of our receiving them.
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If there be a good treasure in the heart, we must thence bring forth good things. It is the springing up into everlasting life which intimates first the aims of gracious actings.
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A sanctified soul, that's a Christian, has its eye upon heaven, means this, designs this, does all for this, will take up nothing short of this.
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Spiritual life springs up towards its own perfection in eternal life. And secondly, the constancy of those actings, it will continue springing up till it come to perfection.
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And thirdly, the crown of them, eternal life at last. The living water rises from heaven and therefore rises towards heaven.
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And now is not this water better than that of Jacob's well? Amen it is. And that's what we have been given to the
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Holy Spirit. We of course have a responsibility to resort to it using the means that God has given us.
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Now when Jesus said to this woman in verse 13, whoever drinks this water will thirst again, he was speaking about more than just water out of that well of Jacob.
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Basically Jesus was declaring that everything in this physical world can never be a source of true and lasting satisfaction for the soul.
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Nothing can. And we have emphasized this spiritual reality before in fact many times because it's so foundational to the
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Christian life. And yet it needs to be rehearsed before us. Because it's so foreign to our natural way of thinking.
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There is nothing in this world in and of itself that can give you full and lasting joy.
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It's all temporal. It's all fleeting. It's all deceptive. The physical things we see, the things that are temporal in this life are short -lived.
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And it's only that which we cannot see which God has revealed in his word. The things that are future not present.
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The things that are spiritual not physical. They are the only enduring things and therefore they are the only truly valuable things.
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And of course they are all wrapped up in Jesus Christ. Yes thankfully our
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God is the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. And we ought to enjoy the things that God gives us.
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He gave them for that purpose. The Old Testament preacher once wrote,
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Behold what I've seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun a few days of his life that God has given him for this is his lot.
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It is a good thing to enjoy the good things that God has given us in this world. However, and I underscore this,
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I should have put this in bold and italic. All things can really truly and lastingly be enjoyed only when we see them as having been graciously given to us and governed to us by our
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God. The living God. However, when we look to the things severed from God who gave them, and who directs us how to use them, then those very things become decaying, rotting things that bring no true and lasting benefit or enjoyment.
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Oh, yeah, they may temporarily assuage your thirst, but you're going to thirst again.
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In Jesus Christ alone is life. Do we understand that?
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And do we live that out? Do we know what that means? As Paul wrote, set your minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth.
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You don't set your minds on things of the earth, but on things in heaven, on Christ.
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For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when
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Christ, who is our life, appears and you also will appear with him in glory. If there is a secret to the
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Christian life, that's it. And yet it again is so easily lost, forgotten, mistaken.
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The things that he has made and given us can only be enjoyed richly as he intended them for us when we see them as his gifts to us.
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And they're used and employed in the manner and for the purpose for which he intends. Then they are true blessings to be enjoyed wonderfully.
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When we ignore or forget him, however, and begin to see value and importance in those things in and of themselves, they are emptied of true value and benefit to us.
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Consider the manna that God has so graciously given to ancient Israel. That wonderful provision was only good for them and to them when it was seen and used according to God's will.
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When some gathered manna and sought to store it, which they were forbidden to do, it was immediately spoiled to them.
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It bred worms and stank, as Moses wrote. And ultimately that's what happens to everything that we begin to value and use contrary to the manner in which
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God gave it. There's only life in God, in Christ. And so things only have value when they're seen in relation or connection to Christ.
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You sever that connection, you sever that relation, and they become deadening. There's no lasting joy, no fulfillment, no true happiness in those things.
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And time will bear it out. Ultimately that is what happens to everything that we begin to value and use contrary to the manner in which
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God gave it. And when we begin to build our life on those things, the things of this world, no matter what it is, it will be spoiled to us in time.
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More often than not, sooner than later. For again, true life is in God and in his
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Son, in whom alone is life. And the things that he has given us are only truly good for us when they're seen to be from his hand and they are to be used as he has given them.
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And we have to remind ourselves of that daily, don't we? We'll later see in our passage that this woman had sought to obtain a meaningful life through her relationship with men, or a man.
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And I could well imagine her thought processes. She thought her happiness would be obtained through what a man could do for her or provide for her.
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But one after another, the men who came into her life left her disappointed and dissatisfied. She went through five husbands.
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She forfeited her name, her dignity, and her continual but fruitless pursuit. That was the center of her life.
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She eventually abandoned the hope and value of marriage. Perhaps from having learned through experience, she would see to it not to get burned again.
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I don't think she probably had a very high view of men when she talked to Jesus when he was sitting there on the well.
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She abandoned marriage. Apparently, she would see to it she wouldn't be burned again. But Jesus opened up before her the way of true life, true fulfillment, true happiness.
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And true life was to be found in the spiritual life that he and only he could impart.
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The fact is, when we look to the things of this life as the source of our happiness, happiness by those things will ultimately be elusive to us.
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And if we look to a human relationship, for example, primarily as a means by which we're going to receive what
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I need or what I want from it, I believe we'll really be unable to develop and maintain a true, significant, and enriching relationship.
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At best, you can have an economic relationship. I'll give to you as long and to the degree that you give what
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I think I need from this. And I suspect that person will soon be disappointed in that relationship.
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Just as this woman, no doubt, had been disappointed and eventually disillusioned with her previous five husbands, and I suspect with the man she currently had who was not her husband.
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However, when we see that in Christ we already have fullness, richness, satisfaction, and contentment, then we're able to give to another in a relationship regardless or even in spite of what we're getting back in return.
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And that's the kind of love that God has for us in our relationship with him, and that's the kind of relationship ideally we should have in our marriages, our families, and in the world about us.
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If we're longing and looking for something to make us happy, to fulfill us, in another person or another thing in this finite fallen world, you're going to be disappointed sooner or later.
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But when you see yourself full in Christ, and that everything you have, everything he's given, everything he does, everything you experience is from his hands, and you're satisfied, you have a peace that is settled, that cannot be shaken as the book of Hebrews says.
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You know you have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. It will enable you to have and enjoy relationships regardless of maybe whether or not you're treated very well within that.
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This is how the Lord dealt with this woman. He was patient with her, wasn't he? He was patient with Nicodemus in the same way.
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The fact is when anything that one can see or anything temporal is said as the object of supreme affection and devotion, that person has set himself up for a significant fall.
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For when we take anything and separate it from God who gave it and place it as the sole object of our attention and affection, we've made an idol of it in the place of God.
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It becomes a deadening thing to us. It provides no lasting satisfaction. And we are very adept at fashioning idols, aren't we?
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As Calvin famously wrote, the human heart is an idol factory. Every one of us from our mother's womb is an expert in inventing idols, looking for something, some person, something in this fallen world other than Christ to give us a sense of meaning and fullness and happiness in life.
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It's not there. The Lord Jesus was turning this woman away from all that she had said before her, all that she had regarded as most important for her happiness, and directed her attention to himself who could truly satisfy her soul.
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For again, the scriptures tell us that true life is wrapped up only in Jesus Christ.
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We saw it in John 1, 4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Jesus himself said,
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Come to me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me.
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For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. The Christian ought to be characterized by rest, a sense of well -being, peace, and contentment that is not in any way contingent on circumstances that are happening, but because of his or her relationship with Jesus Christ.
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This woman had never known experientially what Jesus could give her freely, a source and basis of life that would result in her forever being satisfied, forever at peace, forever content.
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And again, that which Jesus offered his is offered to us as well, and that this same
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Jesus has this eternal, unending wellspring of living water ready to satiate the thirsty soul.
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It's there for us. What must we do? Well, we must, of course, abandon all thought and hope that living water could be found in anything or anyone else.
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In Jesus Christ alone is life, and life more abundant. We are to seek Jesus Christ as Solomon encouraged his children to seek after wisdom.
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Get wisdom, get understanding, he declared. And we call out similarly, but better,
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Jesus Christ is the principal thing. Jesus Christ, of course, is the embodiment of wisdom, and therefore get
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Christ in all your getting, get understanding of him and from him, because Jesus Christ is wisdom personified, as Paul wrote, in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God.
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And he wrote elsewhere, in Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in him.
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The book of Hebrews describes true faith in this way. Faith is centered and focused on unseen things, in other words, nonphysical things.
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Secondly, eternal things, in other words, things that are not temporal, not in history.
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And thirdly, the things that God has promised, but that his people have not yet received. Faith of God's people is to be centered on those things.
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And so, to the writer of the Hebrews, that which is physical is the shadow. That which is unseen is the reality.
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He set forth the faith of the Old Testament saints in this way, as one good commentator, F .F.
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Bruce, wrote. In Old Testament times, the writer of the Hebrews points out, there were many men and women who had nothing but the promises of God to rest upon.
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Without any visible evidence that these promises would ever be fulfilled. Yet so much did these promises mean to them that they regulated their whole course of their lives in their light.
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The promises related to a state of affairs belonging to the future. But these people acted as if that state of affairs were already present.
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So convinced were they that God could and would fulfill what he had promised. In other words, they were men and women of faith.
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Their faith consisted simply in taking God at his word, directing their lives accordingly.
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Things yet future, so far as their experience went, were thus present to faith. And things outwardly unseen were visible to the inward eye.
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They ordered their life in faith, in what God promised. The things they saw, the things they could touch, that was transitory and nothing firm there in that foundation.
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Abraham didn't want to live in that promised land so -called. That was only a figure of a future land, a new heavens and a new earth.
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He was going to inherit the world, Paul declared in Romans 4. Abraham wasn't to look, you know, wanting to live in some earthly Jerusalem or earthly city.
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He was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. He saw nothing in this life as something to fix his focus, his attention, but rather in what
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God promised him. And one day, you know, a glorious nation is kindred with him, living with God in the presence of God in the city of God that one day would be given to him.
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And so the scriptures describe people of faith as ordering their lives according to unseen things, which actually are the only eternal realities.
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The faithful of chapter 11 live their lives in this manner. The time will come when only the unseen things will remain.
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Everything physical is gone before long. Who knows? All that exists of this physical creation will be shaken.
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The writer of Hebrews said like an earthquake rattled and gone. And then the writer that gave this exhortation, therefore, since we've received a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe for our
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God isn't consuming fire. We have a kingdom. We're in the kingdom.
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Jesus is the king of the kingdom, and that kingdom is never going to be shaken. And therefore, we can rejoice in that and the blessings and promises of that kingdom.
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The blessing of knowing God, knowing your peace with God and knowing that God has a glorious future for everyone who believes on Jesus.
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It says so well within them. It cannot be exhausted. It's always there. The Holy Spirit giving forth life, invigorating our desires and delights in the things of God, the things of Christ, the things of his word, the things he's given us, the things he's promised us.
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But again, when we lose sight of that and start looking at those things themselves, no matter how much the world values them, they they are deadening.
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Ultimately, you're not going to find rest for your soul and looking to those things, but only in Christ.
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Now, will this take away all of our problems? Well, absolutely not. But it helps us to put our problems in a proper perspective, doesn't it?
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And helps us to see our problems in a right proportion, which enables there for us to sail through these things quite easily.
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And so consider the apostle Paul as we wrap up things and close here. I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.
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The sufferings of this present time, he was looking forward to the glory that was going to be revealed in him through Christ.
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And so he could describe the difficulties in his life in this way. Therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction.
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That's how he regarded his suffering, our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
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Notice how it's transitory, it's short term. It's working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
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He wasn't looking at anything temporal in this world. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen,
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Paul's expressing the same kind of faith as the writer to the Hebrews. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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And that's where our focus is to be as Christians. And again, we have to awaken every morning and put ourselves in this proper frame of mind.
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Where his trials of great difficulty and long duration, and describe in order to read his biography that he set forth in 2
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Corinthians. He says, I'm in labors more abundant and stripes above measure. He was beaten on the back more than you could count.
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That's basically what he's saying. In prisons more frequently and death often from the
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Jews. Five times I received 40 stripes minus one. They would stop at 39 lashes of the whip.
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And that had happened to him five times. Can you imagine what his back must have looked like? It was a cat of nine tails they used too.
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I won't describe it any further than that. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
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Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I've been in the deep that is the ocean.
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And that's before the account in Acts. That was the fourth time. In journeys often in perils of water, perils of robbers, perils of my own countrymen, perils of the
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Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils of false brethren, weariness and toil, sleeplessness often, hunger and thirst, fastings often, cold nakedness.
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And then he says the worst of all of it apparently, puts it last, is my care for the churches. But how again did he describe all of this?
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How did he describe his experiences? We have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
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We're hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We're perplexed, but not in despair.
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Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. We're always carrying about in the body the dying of the
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Lord Jesus. So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
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For we who live are always delivered to the death for Jesus' sake. So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
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So then death is working in us, but life in you. Paul is making it clear that it's through the difficulties of our lives that God gets most glory.
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And that our witness is strongest to the world. As we're having to continue in faith through our hardships.
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But do you see that when we see this reality of our life wholly and solely in Jesus Christ alone, that the burdens of life, the load though heavy, will seem much lighter.
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And sometimes it will seem like it's not even a burden at all. It will be perceived as a burden that our
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Lord Jesus is bearing up alongside us. And something that he placed upon us.
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As once again Jesus said, come on to me all you labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
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Take my yoke upon you. And learn of me for I'm meek and lowly in heart.
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You shall find rest on your souls. Rest, peace, satisfaction, assurance, stability.
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Your heavy laden burden becomes his yoke, which makes it much easier, even pleasing to bear, when you know it's the means by which you're serving him.
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And others about you will wonder how it is that you're unflappable when they see what you're enduring.
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But the glory of Christ will be manifested through you before others. Which will bring great delight to your soul.
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And perhaps a hunger and thirsting on their part to have and enjoy what you are experiencing.
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And so may the Lord grant us grace and success in our pursuit to seek him, find him, and enjoy him forever.
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In Christ is your life. Your life is in God, hidden in God, in Christ.
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Don't ever sever anything in life from him. Or it's going to become twisted, distorted, defiling, deadening.
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May the Lord help us. May he give us a fresh bestowal of this living water.
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It's within that well of your soul right now as a Christian. And it just needs to bubble up.
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And the Lord is able to enable, is able to that occur. Let's look to him in prayer. Father, we ask that you would help your people.
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Again, there are some, our God, among us this morning that are going through tremendous difficulty in life.
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They lack wisdom. They lack resources, means. But our God, you're leading them.
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And even though it may be a valley of humiliation, a valley of the shadow of death, we pray that your presence would be manifest to them.
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We pray, Lord, that that well within each Christian would shed forth these living waters in a fresh, manifest way.
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That we might be characterized as persons walking with Jesus Christ. That it would affect,
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Lord, our attitudes, our outlook, our opinions, our value systems, our resolve.
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Help us, our Lord, to be Christians, living for and delighting in the glory of Jesus Christ.
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And Father, we know that there's probably some here, a few maybe, that are strangers to this saving grace.
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They're just as clueless as this woman was at Jacob's well. And we just pray, our
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Lord, that you would give wisdom, understanding. Help them to see the glory of these things, our
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God. Be merciful and gracious as you were to this woman. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.