That Fountain of Life
Rev. Sean D. Lester
Text: John 4: 4-14
Introduction:
Put yourself in the place of the Samaritan woman. You are going to the well, you see a stranger sitting next to the well. You assume he is thirsty, and that he needs help getting some water out.
What do you do?
This seems like a no-brainer to us. You take your ladle and get some water for the man. He says, “Thank you,” you say “You are welcome.” Then, you go home. That is what happens if you put a normal, well-adjusted person in the story instead of the Samaritan woman.
So, let’s ask why she didn’t do that. There must be some reason why she felt a need to make something out of the encounter.
1. She harbors racial hatred. I have seem genuinely prejudiced men be kind to people of another race who were in need. This woman seems to say, “You don’t really want a drink from me, so don’t make me do it.”
I have known many people with deep racial and socio-economic prejudices. I have learned the deeper the hatred, the greater the sin that is being covered over. Hatred is the flash of smoke and light a magician uses to draw your attention away from the fact that he is sneaking a rabbit into the hat. Hatred against people, and against sin deflects people’s attention away from the truth about one’s true character.
This woman’s reaction gives us a clue that she has something to hide, something dark and embarrassing. The more righteous sounding, the worse the feeling of shame.
2. She has allowed her hatred to manifest as rudeness. What does she expect to happen to this guy? He isn’t going to die because she didn’t give him a drink. She isn’t going to unnecessarily prolong his life by giving him a drink. She is simply being rude to someone she has never met. Do you know people like this?
I have known plenty of these people. Obviously, I am introduced to people as “Pastor Sean.” Now, I am not hung up on titles. The use of titles like “pastor” and “reverend” are cultured titles that have been used for centuries. There is nothing wrong with it, and nothing sacred about it, either. But it always takes me back when the person I am meeting responds with a congenial, “Hi, Sean.” Instantly, my skin begins to crawl as it has been made very clear to me that this person does not like something about me, without actually knowing me.
Now, how would you react if you are in Jesus’ place? Once again, if you put a normal, well-adjusted person in this place, the scene plays out like this:
Woman: “You don’t really want a drink from me, New.”
Normal person: “O.K., sorry to have imposed on you.” End of scene.
“Normal” people aren’t going to get into it with this woman. They won’t probe deep into her personality because it isn’t their place to do so. They are going to get away from her because she gives normal people the creeps. And, in today’s time and task conscious society, normal people will simply move on to where their needs will be met.
But, Jesus isn’t a normal person. He looked beyond the littler performance that he has been given to see the truth of her heart. And, he doesn’t move on. He says with her because He has compassion on her, and wants to replace her hatred with the love of the Father. Which brings me to my point.
Proposition: Jesus Christ heals hurting hearts.
Interrogative: How does Jesus Christ do that?
Transition: Jesus Christ notices what people do to try to escape the pain of broken and hurting hearts.
I. Jesus Christ tells you the truth about what people do to escape the hurt.
A. Jesus told the woman plainly, “If anyone drinks this water, they won’t be thirsty again.”
1. First, he disarms the woman’s’ rudeness. He says, “It doesn’t matter to me if you are rude. But I care enough to tell the truth to you.”
2. Second, he draws her into a discussion about spiritual things. By her example he shows us that the problems of hatred and pain are spiritual in nature, and that we must take people out of the realm of the flesh and into the realm of the spirit.
3. Jesus is honest. He isn’t going to affirm her, sidestep the issue, or even attempt to feel her pain. He is going to take tackle the issue head-on.
B. The church is not in the business of providing affirmation and empathy. We are in the business of reconciling people with God so they may be saved. To do that means we must preach the truth of scripture.
1. I have never been addicted to anything other than my own adrenaline. I don’t understand what it is like to be dependent on drugs in order to feel better. But I know this, cursing things that make you feel good won’t take away the pain. You will escape it for awhile, but it won’t be permanent, and it won’t always work.
2. There is a woman I know who drank cheap wine her entire adult life. What happened to her when she was young doesn’t need to be known, but she was deeply hurt. The wine helped, but the pain returned. She drank until she couldn’t afford to buy it anymore. Now, she is over 60 years old, the pain remains as if she been hurt just moments ago. Her health is bad, and now she is terrified to face eternity. In trying to escape the pain, she wasted her life, and at the end, she has no relationships, no family, no importance.
3. But this isn’t a ménage about substance abuse. The “water” represents life, and nothing in this world gives life, or removes the pain and guilt of sin.
a. The climb up the corporate ladder provides excitement. You can put your energy into it. You feel important and powerful. But you will reach a stopping point and then you will thirst, but find no satisfaction.
b. Hobbies and thrills provide excitement, an adrenaline rush that feels good, like you are alive. Sports are great for making you feel alive, like you belong, like you can do things. But you won’t keep that feeling forever. The thirst will return, and the thrill subsides.
c. Of course, sins don’t work either. Pornography excites, but doesn’t satisfy. Crime doesn’t satisfy. Fighting, back-biting, crusading either.
C. So, believe in Jesus Christ. We must speak the truth in love.
1. You must speak the truth to yourself. The things you pursue because you feel alive, won’t keep you that way. They will sap your time and energy. You will eventually quit doing the things that don’t satisfy until you find something else to pursue, and it won’t satisfy, either.
2. You must be honest with everyone else, too. The answer for the man who is diagnosed with a stalled career is not another job. The answer for an alcoholic is not another drug or obsession. The answer for the insignificant is not a cause to champion.
Transition: The answer, the place to go to heal the pain and to feel alive is Jesus Christ.
II. Only Jesus Christ can heal your heart and fill the emptiness with life.
A. Jesus told the woman “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”
1. Whoever means anyone. Whoever means “everyone willing,” whoever means your parents or children. Whoever means your neighbors. Whoever means people overseas. Whoever means you.
2. But, whoever must drink of the water that only Jesus gives. That is, you must live the life that Jesus offers you.
B. I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere in church history, someone hijacked the message of the gospel, and lots of people accepted the perversion of the truth.
1. To believe that God exists isn’t enough to get to heaven. So what? I believe doctors exist, but if I don’t go to one when I am sick, the truth can’t help me. Yet, multitudes of people think they are okay, because they believe in God. Satan and all of his demons believe in God and it won’t save even one of them from an eternity in the lake of fire that was made just for them. In the same way, no one can be saved from the lake of fire simply be believing God exists. If that is all they believe, they will find that there is room in the lake of fire for them, too.
2. To pray and read your Bible won’t save you, either. Again, I say, “So what?” Jesus Christ gives a new life. Going to the doctor doesn’t help me if, when he enters the room, I tell him all of my problems and then leave. Reading the Bible is like listening to the doctor diagnose you, and then leaving before he has the chance to treat you.
3. Jesus said elsewhere, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, the sick do.” Jesus is the Great Physician. He fixes your life by healing your hurts and satisfying your life. But you actually have to do what he tells you to do. Your problem is sin. The answer is to stop sinning. If the doctor says my cholesterol is too high, then I have to stop eating fatty foods. But it is more than stopping, I have to do something else. I have to eat foods, or I will starve. So I eat good food.
4. Here is the truth that maybe no one told you. You not only have to stop doing the things that don’t satisfy life, you have to start doing the things that bring life. That means you allow the church to minister to you, and you in turn minister to others. You hear the word, you share the word. You confess your sin, you lead people out of sin. It is blessed cycle.
C. I have known too may people who have accepted an invitation to receive salvation in Jesus Christ, who have been bitterly disappointed that their lifestyle didn’t immediately improve. Jesus wants to save your life, not just your soul.
1. If you accept the life that He gives, your sins are forgiven. You don’t need a drug to kill a pain that doesn’t exist.
2. If you are delivered from sin, you don’t need to distract people by pointing out others’ sins. You are clean, there is nothing to hide.
3. If you are ministering to others, you are involved in the most important act of all, salvation. You can’t be any more important than that! You have nothing left to prove to anyone, or yourself.
Transition: The life that Jesus gives changes you, and then transforms you.
III. The life Jesus gives completely changes who you are into more like who Jesus is.
A. Jesus said, “The water I give will become a spring that wells up to eternal life.”
1. Jesus will more than just heal your broken heart, he will not only give you His love, but His love will grow inside you making you a loving person.
2. The little girl asked her mother that if Jesus was bigger than her, and if He lived inside her, wouldn’t he show through?
3. Jesus not only patches holes in lives, he completely remodels the house. He doesn’t patch holes in the roof, he re-roofs the whole house.
B. This is the scary part about salvation for many people. A new life sounds ominous, like jumping in the unknown.
1. How do you think you would feel if every financial need you have was met and you were given God’s “credit card” to make future purchases? The truth is, you don’t know. You have no frame of reference. In fact, you might have read that many lottery winners went bankrupt after collecting their millions. They had millions that could not satisfy them enough.
2. But God gives you all of His riches in glory, but you will be able to handle it because you have no needs. Some people need the biggest homes and the nicest cars. But you won’t. Some people need to compromise their self-respect to get the feeling of live, but you won’t. Some people need to buy drugs and alcohol to escape personal anguish, but you won’t.
3. Because you will have no needs, what you have you will be able to use to reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ! No needs for healing, for forgiveness, for deliverance means your life can be lived for the service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
B. You simply must trust God with your life.
1.Coming to Jesus was a scary proposition for me. I always went to church but the church that wanted me was weird. They were the type where you couldn’t just believe on Jesus, you had to proclaim Him.
2.Getting married was a scary proposition. I just didn’t know if I was getting it right.
3.Having children was a scary proposition. If I failed, I send people to hell.
4. Going into the ministry was a scary proposition. Think about it, your well-being depends on people’s faith and devotion to Christ, and oh yeah, if you get careless, people go to hell.
5. The point is, people stay away from the life of a follower of Christ because they fear the unknown. You simply have to trust that what God has for you is good.
Transition: And what God plans for you is very good.
Conclusion:
A. Nothing in this world can neither satisfy the deep longings of the soul nor take away the pain in the heart. Many have tried, none have succeeded. Nothing you do can bring real life, it can only make you feel alive.
B. Jesus Christ is the only one who can give you real life. He satisfies every thirst of the soul, and heals every wound of the heart.
C. And when Jesus gives you life, it is a life of joy that spills over and touches the lives of the people around you.
Altar call: If you are ready to follow Jesus into a new life, Jesus is ready to receive you. We will sing, and as we do, come forward as a sign to God that you are ready for a change of your life.
