The Living Water Series

Sermon for 3/2/2003

The Living Water

John 4:10-14

Introduction:

A. "Cool Water" - Sons of the Pioneers

"All day I face the barren waste

Without the taste of water, cool water.

Old Dan and I with throats burned dry

And souls that cry for water, cool, clear, water."

B. Water is essential for life. A human can survive almost two months without food, but he will not survive a week without water.

C. J. Norfleete Day- When I was a child, my dad often took me to a neighborhood county to visit the place where he grew up. One particularly hot day we were on our way home from such an outing when dad suddenly pulled off the road at a small outcropping of rock. Getting out of the car, we saw that a small stream of water was pouring from an opening among the rocks. Dad caught some of the water in his hand and invited me to drink. I was unprepared for how cool and refreshing the water was, even without ice to chill it. It tasted immensely better than the water that came from the faucet at home. Dad explained that the water at home was held in storage tanks and treated with chemicals to ensure its safety for drinking. This water, by contrast, was flowing from a natural spring up in the hills and had not been treated with any chemicals. It tasted better because it was pure. This lesson, which was new to me, was common knowledge among people in Palestine around the time of Jesus. Because of the extremely dry conditions of the land of Palestine, water was a precious commodity, available in plentiful supply only during the rainy season of the year. During that time, the Hebrews would collect water in cisterns, large vats carved into the rocks, so that when the rainy season ended, they would still have water. While they were probably grateful for the stagnant cistern water during times of drought, the Hebrews knew the superiority of “living” or running water.

D. We don’t know the condition of the well at Sychar, but it probably was better than cistern water but not as good as water from a fresh spring.

E. The church in the 2nd and 3rd centuries believed that they needed to baptize people in “living” or running water. Baptisteries were not common until after this time.

F. Where did they get this idea? From the words of Jesus.

1. John 4:10-14- Already read this.

2. John 6:35- I did a sermon on the bread of life. Jesus is the bread of life and he supplies the water of life. Without water, fish die and all living things eventually die.

3. John 7:37-39

G. Nice to have living water to baptize people but if they would have looked at the text, especially from the conversation of the woman at the well they would have known that Jesus just wasn’t talking about different forms of water. Drink of earthly living water we will thirst again.

H. Three symbols for water:

1. Cleansing of the soul, baptism.

2. (Eph 5:26 NIV) to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

3. The Holy Spirit

I. Talk about the last two today.

J. With this woman, Jesus is not talking about earthly water. That is why this woman is surprised and sarcastic. If you have living water, why do you ask me for a drink?

K. He is talking about a fountain that bubbles up and overflows. A spring.

L. Look at Vs. 14 of John 4- The gift of God is Jesus Christ, His Son, the Savior of the world.

Thesis: We are going to talk about Christ’s gift as a fountain within; Christ’s gift as a fountain springing up by its own power; Christ’s gift as a fountain springing up into everlasting life.

For instances

I. Christ’s gift as a fountain within

A. Most people survive on external supplies. They are rich, happy and strong only when outward circumstances make them strong, happy and rich. If they are physically weak, they are not strong. If things are not going their way, they are not happy. If their money leaves them, then they are poor.

B. Earthly fountain satisfy temporarily. We may drink of the fountain of wealth as deeply as we may, but it will not satisfy long. We shall thirst again. We may drink of the fountain of fame as deeply as any man ever drank, but the satisfaction is but for an hour. We may drink of the fountain of worldly pleasure, of human science and philosophy and of earthly learning; we may even drink of the fountain of human love, but none will satisfy long. We shall thirst again.

C. Many times earthly fountains only make things worse. It is like drinking ocean water. The thirst is quenched for a few seconds but comes back with a bigger thirst than before. Many times earthly fountains only stir up our thirst instead of quench it. Never enough!!!