Springs Of Living Water

Illustration: On December 26, 2004, an enormous earthquake under the Indian Ocean fractured the crust of the earth and caused a tsunami. A huge wave of water, 80 feet high in some locations, came crashing down on the shores of many countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Thousands and thousands of people were killed. Can you imagine that! Too much water can certainly kill people. On the other hand, if we do not get enough water to drink we will get thirsty and we will die. Like food and air, water is a physical necessity of our lives; without it we will die.

And when you live in the desert, you really learn to appreciate water. In fact, when you live in the desert, and have to deal with daily danger of dehydration, you really learn that water is truly life giving. In a reminder of how at times, free choice is less than healthy, I used to see people load up whole shopping carts of soda or beer instead of water. How can we make sure we drink as deeply as we can and need to from water and from the source of Living Water?

There is an even deeper level of thirst in our lives that is desperately crying out for relief today. It is the thirst of our spiritual lives. This thirst cannot be satisfied with natural water, not even the best bottled water money can buy. Neither will having friends, or a good job, a loving wife and three children fill this thirst within you. In order to quench this need, Jesus says we need what He calls, "Living Water." Listen again to verses 13 and 14. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Introduction: The nation of Israel was well aware of what life in a desert entailed. Their forefathers had the experience of roaming in the wilderness for 40 years. So, they knew well the importance of water for daily survival. Since water is so essential for human life, it should be no surprise then that God is often referred to in the Bible as being like Living Water to us, or as providing us with Living Water (and thus being the creator and giver of life, who gives us everything we really need).

God is this Spring of Living Water who continually gives life to us. In those days, there were two main sources of water, such as flowing and clean water from natural springs or still water from humanly made cisterns or wells. Springs of water were preferred as healthier and more natural. Cisterns were often broken and leaky and limited even when properly working in what they could hold.

In our text when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, He spoke of "living water"...

• He approached her for a drink on His way to Galilee - John 4:3-8

• She was amazed that He, a Jew, would speak to her, a Samaritan woman - John 4:9

-- Jesus used the opportunity to tell her about "living water" – John 4:10-14

I believe "the gift of God" and "living water" are one and the same thing. That "living water" in John 4:10-14 may be an allusion to the gift of the Holy Spirit comes from examining the nature of this "living water" described by Jesus both here and in John 7. For example, ...

What are the attributes of the Living Water?

1. THE LIVING WATER MUST BE DRUNK

(A) AS EXPRESSED BY JESUS...

• "...whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst" - John 4:14

• "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" - John 7:37

(B) DO WE "DRINK" THE HOLY SPIRIT...?

1) Yes, upon our conversion

i) Those who repent and are baptized receive the gift of the Spirit - Acts 2:38-39

ii) Those who are baptized are made to "drink" of the Spirit 1Corinthians 12:13

2) Yes, as we continue to seek to be filled with the Spirit

• We are not to be drunk with wine, but filled with the Spirit Ephesians 5:18-19

• The implication may be that filling comes through "drinking"

• How do we continue to drink of the Spirit? I would suggest in these ways:

(i) Singing and making melody in our heart - Ephesians 5:18-19

(ii) Feeding upon the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit - Ephesians 6:17

(iii) Praying for strength through the Spirit - Ephesians 3:16; cf. Lk 11:13

[Thus, we see a similarity between the "living water" of Jesus and what is said concerning the Spirit and the Christian. The similarity continues ...]