Good morning. I invite your attention
to the gospel according to John, chapter 4. The gospel according to John,
chapter 4. We will continue this exposition
of verses 1 through 43. This is the third message in this short series
and today we're going to continue what we left off last Lord's
Day. John chapter 4 verse 1. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his
disciples. He left Judea and departed again
into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then he cometh to a city of Samaria
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well, and it was about the sixth hour, high noon. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
a drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, And who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From
whence then hast thou that living water? are now greater than our
father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself,
and his children, and his cattle?' Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting
life. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go call
thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in that saidst
thou truly.' The woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship.' Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe
me, the hour cometh When ye shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem worship the Father, ye worship ye know not
what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
I ask you, did I read verse 22 correctly? Let me read it again. I think I missed a word. Verse
22. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. Verse 24. God is a spirit, and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The
woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which
is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples,
and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what
seekest thou? Or, why talkest thou with her?
The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the
city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things
that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then
they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the meanwhile
his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto
them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said
the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him malt
to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye they are
yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white
already to the harvest. And he that grieveth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein
is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent ye
to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored,
and ye are entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans
of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman,
which testified, he told me all that ever I did. So when the
Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would
tarry with them. And he abode there two days. And many more believed because
of his own word, and said unto the woman, now we believe. Not
because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and
know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.'
Now after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee."
Last Lord's Day, we went down through verse number 10. And
we would begin at verse number 11 today in our exposition. However, before I begin at verse
11, just let me review verse number 10. In verse 10, Jesus said unto
the woman, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water." Jesus here speaks
of the gift of God. Now there are at least four things
in the scriptures that are called the gift of God. Jesus Christ
himself is called God's indescribable gift. How do you describe him? You cannot. Words fail. If you
know him, Words fail at that indescribable gift. He is beyond
description. Second would be the gift of saving
faith. For we are told that by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. What
is not of yourselves? That faith. For by grace are
you saved through faith, That faith is not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Faith
is not something that you inherently have. Faith is not like a jar
of preserves on the shelf that one day you decide, I think I'll
have some of this faith and just, you know, I've had it all the
time, just never have used it. No, it's not that way. Faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. You cannot have
faith if you have never heard the gospel. And if you hear the
gospel, even then you cannot believe unless the Word of God
says, live. Live! Believe! And then you believe. How? By faith, which is the gift
of God. So Jesus Christ is the indescribable
gift. Faith in Him. is the gift of
God. Saving faith is the gift of God. And then eternal life. For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. You did not earn it. You did
not merit it. It is the gift of God. If God
ever gives to you what you deserve, if God ever gives to you your
wages, you're dead. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life. So there are three things here
that are called the gift of God. Jesus Christ, faith in Him, and
the eternal life that you receive when you believe. Now here's
the fourth gift of God that we will consider. It is the water
that Jesus gives. Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit whom He gives and who becomes
in the hearts of believers a bubbling fountain that never
ceases. A fountain of living water that
both gives life and sustains the life that it gives. Now consider
this, Jesus said, you have drunk that water from
Jacob's well, I can give you living water. Now he makes that
contrast which leads us to believe that There was no living water
in Jacob's well. By that I mean it was not fed
by a spring. When we want to have a well,
we will call someone who digs a shaft down into the ground
until he hits the water level. And then the water springs up
from the water level and into the well we have dug. There evidently
was no spring in the bottom of Jacob's well. It appears he dug down about
135 feet and then, having found no living
spring, his well was fed, not by the water table, that was
hit, not by a living spring, but rather by the rainfall on
the ground around it that percolated into the well that Jacob dug.
Archaeologists have confirmed this, that it is that percolating
water that has fallen onto the ground and percolates into the
well and gets to be about five feet deep when it has been measured
But it's not living water. It's water that has just collected
there, that percolated in from the ground. Jesus is here saying
to the woman, you've drunk that water, but if you knew who I
am, and if you knew the gift of God, you would ask and He
would give you living water. Now let's consider this living
water. Now verse 11, we continue with
our exposition. The woman said unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Now as
I just said, Jacob's well is said to have been probably about
135 feet deep. When we would have a well dug
nowadays, we call a well driller in, He brings a drill and his
drill is not that big a round. It goes right down through the
ground until it hits the water table. But Jacob did not have
a drill. Two thousand years before Christ,
he did not have a drill. He did not have a derrick. He
had to dig a hole into the ground. It's probably about eight feet
across or so it has been measured. So he is digging a hole in the
ground a little over eight feet across and he's dug down mostly
through rock or at least through very, very hard ground. He goes
down about 135 feet. That's the well that he made. He waits for the rainwater that
falls around it to percolate into the well. All right. 135 feet. Now, since he had not
hit a spring, it is not as though water ever came up to the ground
level. Probably never did. Never did. In fact, it is said that Jacob's
well quite often goes dry just about the month of May. So therefore,
there's not a whole lot of water in this well, even when it is
at its highest level, which means you have to have a very long
rope to get down to the water. A very long rope. And on the
end of the rope, you must attach a bucket. This bucket was probably
made of leather. And it is said that their leather
buckets would have about three pieces of wood sticks across
the opening so that the bucket on the end of the rope goes down,
hits the water, sinks into the water, which fills
it up, and then you've got to go through all the labor. You're
probably pulling that rope up about 115, 120 feet. And the woman looks at Jesus
and she says, you're going to get living water? Not only do
you not have a water pot, you do not even have a water bucket,
and this well is deep. Now, just where do you suppose
you're going to get this water? Well, He had not brought a bucket to
the well. He had not brought a water pot to the well, but
he had water that could not be found in that well. She said,
From whence then hast thou that living water? She did not realize
that this living water is not found in man-made wells. Furthermore, furthermore, This
living water of salvation will not be found in man-made religions. The Lord speaks of the water
sources of man's religions and he says broken cisterns. Broken cisterns. Here is a fountain
of living water. It is not found in man-made wells. It is not found in man-made religion. It is found only by coming to
Jesus Christ. He himself stood and cried saying,
if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. If you thirst, come to me and drink. He that
believeth on me, now watch carefully, watch carefully. He says, drink
and believe, because drinking is believing and believing is
drinking. He that believeth on me, he says,
as the scripture hath said, out of his belly, out of his inmost
being shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spake, of
the Holy Spirit which would be given. When you come to Jesus
Christ to drink, when you believe in Him, you have believed because
of the Spirit that He has put within you. Life precedes faith. He has put
the Spirit within you and that Spirit has quickened you and
then slakes your spiritual thirst forever. But you can only get
it by coming to Jesus. Let Him come to me. And how do
you come to Jesus? By faith. How do you drink the
water Jesus gives? By faith. He that believeth on
me, Jesus says, out of His inmost being shall flow Rivers, rivers. God is not stingy when he gives
a gift to us, is he? Rivers, not dead water, living
water. Out of his inmost being shall
flow rivers of living water. And it's only by coming to Jesus
You cannot get this living water at Jacob's well, nor in the well
or cistern dug by any other person. You cannot get this living water
in man-made religion. You can go from religion to religion
to religion to religion and drink what they give you. And it's
like drinking the Kool-Aid that was given in Guyana. It'll kill
you. It'll never slake your thirst.
It'll kill you. You want to live? Come to Jesus. He'll give you living water.
Now, she says... I love the way this conversation
goes back and forth. If you'll notice, sometimes she
will ask a question and Jesus, in his answer, will change the
subject. It goes back and forth. Jesus always keeps us on target, even if our questions miss it. But here is what she says to
him when he says, I can give you living water.
He's standing at Jacob's well. He says, I can give you living
water. And she says, art thou greater than our father Jacob? She does not know with whom she
speaks. Not yet. She soon will learn. Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Now picture the scene, if you
will. It took Jacob a long, long time to dig a well 135 feet deep,
8 feet across, And assumedly he did not do it
by himself. There's a reason probably why
God gave him 12 sons. He had a whole lot of help. It took a long time with whatever
tools they had. He dug the well, the rain fell,
the water It fell all around the well. It percolated into
the well. Jacob gets a rope, puts a bucket
on the end, drops it down for the first time. He's found there's
water in the bottom of the well. He brings it up. What does she
say? He drank thereof himself. Jacob drank the water from his
well before he let anyone else do it. He drank the water from
his own well. It suited him, so he gave it
to his children. And then the Lord put so much
water in that well, he was able to give it to his cattle as well. Now she says this to Jesus. Jacob
drank from that well himself, gave it to his children. He even
had enough water to give to his cattle. Now, do you think you're
greater than Jacob? Well, yeah, I think he is. I
believe he is. Art thou greater? Jesus is greater
than Jacob. Bear with me. I've got 10 reasons. I'll not keep you long. Ten reasons
why Jesus is greater than Jacob. First, Jacob drank from his own
well. She said so. He drank from his
own well. Jesus never drank the living
water. He never needed it. He gives it. He gives it. Jesus never had to satisfy his
thirst with this living water. Therefore, Jesus is greater than
Jacob in that regard. Second, Jacob gave this will
to his descendants who were the Jews, the twelve sons of Jacob.
They get their name Jew probably from the head son, Judah. But they're known through Jacob
as Israelites, and then they're known as Jews, and Jacob gave
this well to his descendants, the Jews. To whom does Jesus
give his living water? To Jews? Yeah. Anybody else? Yeah, Gentiles. Anybody else? Yes, even Samaritans. Even Samaritans. The woman says
Jacob gave this well to us and Jesus is letting her know I'm
going to give my water to a whole lot more people than Jacob could
ever give. Third, Jacob gave this well less
than 2,000 years before Jesus was born. Now that was a long
time. Long time. 2,000 years. Well, no, it's not such a long
time, is it? One day with the Lord is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. So, Jesus
could say, yeah, Jacob gave this will to you about day before
yesterday, two thousand years ago. His living water has been
given since the dawn of creation. This living water was given to
Abel, who lived by faith. It was given to Seth. It was
given to all the believing descendants who came after Seth. Jesus has
been giving this living water since the dawn of creation. Jacob gave this well a long time
ago, Jesus has given living water
even to those who preceded Jacob. Yeah, I think Jesus is greater
than Jacob. Fourth, if you wanted to drink from Jacob's
well, you had to go to Sychar. Because there's only one Jacob's
well, and it is in only one place. If you want to drink from Jacob's
well, you've got to go where Jacob's well is. Where do you
have to go to drink Jesus' living water? To Him. Where is He found? Anywhere and
everywhere. Wherever men call upon Him, there
He is. Why, this very moment, there
may be someone drawing water from Jacob's well. It's still
there. It's still there. They have built a church building
over it, but it's still there. By the way, it is not nearly
as deep now as it used to be. It is said to be maybe about
85 feet deep now. It used to be well over 100.
And it appears that all these good
people who go visit Jacob's well, They feel obliged to drop a pebble or a penny or something for good
luck. And Jacob's well is not nearly
as deep now as it used to be. Jesus's living water is, I would
assure you, because Jesus is greater than Jacob. But back
to my point, you had to go to Jacob's well to drink Jacob's
water. and you only have to go to Jesus
to drink his water, and he's found anywhere and everywhere.
Yes, good woman, Jesus is greater than Jacob. Fifth, one had to
exert energy in order to draw water from Jacob's well, and
it could be a considerable amount of energy. Remember, You've got
to put a bucket on the end of the rope. You've got to let the
rope go down, the bucket go down into the well, well over a hundred
feet. You've got to wait until the
bucket has filled with water, and then you've got to start
pulling that bucket up. Now remember that water weighs
about seven and a half pounds a gallon. And you probably have well over
a gallon of water in that bucket. There's a whole lot of energy
exhorted by someone. A whole lot of energy pulling
a bucket of water up over a hundred feet. And they did it every day. Oh,
imagine. all the energy that was exerted
at Jacob's well. I mean, there were probably women
folk who went there and children went there every morning and
every evening to get water for their families. That bucket is
going down and up, down and up, down and up. A whole lot of energy
being exerted just to get enough water for one day. But if you
want Jesus' water, I tell you, no energy is required. None. He says it springs up from
the heart supernaturally. You do not have
to go to it. It is in your heart. You do not
have to exert energy to get the water from your heart. It's bubbling. It's springing, it's flowing
into your inmost being. So yes, Jesus is greater than
Jacob. Sixth, Jacob's well was adequate
for supplying water to a small town. Just a small town. And remember,
well I'll come back to that point in a minute, but a small town. It would supply Sychar, but it
would not have supplied Jerusalem. A small town, but it was adequate
for the small town as long as the rain was still falling. Jesus' water is not limited to a small town. Rather, his water satisfies the
need for the city called holy Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem is found a great multitude which no man
could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues."
That's what you'll find for the population of the New Jerusalem. It cannot be numbered. The New Jerusalem that is fed
by the water Jesus gives is not a small village, nor a small
town, nor even a good-sized city. Its population cannot be counted
and every one of them has his thirst satisfied by the water
Jesus gives. Yes, Jesus is greater than Jacob. Number seven, the water from
Jacob's well slaked one's physical thirst. But the water from Jesus satisfies
one's spiritual thirst. Having your spiritual thirst
satisfied is far greater than having your physical thirst satisfied. Number eight, the water from Jacob's well was
as suitable for cattle as it was for humans. She says, Jacob
gave this water after drinking it himself, gave it to his descendants
and to his cattle, meaning that his livestock found as much good
use in this water as Jacob did. The water Jesus gives is only for sensible sinners feeling their need of salvation
and thirsting for something better than you can find in the wells
of this world. Jesus is living water. It's not
for cattle. It's for sensible sinners. It's for people who know that
they have a need of eternal life. and cannot find it anywhere else,
they must come to Jesus for it. Number nine, one who drank from
Jacob's well thirsted again and again and again and again. Forever he would thirst if he
lived long enough. That's why they came for water
every day, if not twice a day. They came for water, they had
to come back for it. Whoever came to Jesus for living
water never had to come back for it. It's there. Springs up forever. The water Jesus gives will spring
up in the heart and you will never thirst again. Number 10. Jacob's well occasionally goes
dry. From what I read, just about
the month of May or so, when the rains have seized and the
dry months come, the well goes dry. Now thankfully they had
other wells around, but this one would go dry occasionally.
Jesus' well. never went dry. It'll never go
dry now. It is always springing. Now let
me ask you, are you thirsty? I mean, do you have a thirst
that nothing man has ever been able to satisfy? You look at
a man who has worked all day long in the hot sun, He has perspired. He's lost his bodily fluids. He's tired. He's thirsty. He
comes in after working all day long, and he says, I'm thirsty. Give me some water. Someone may say, I've got something
better than water. I have ice cream. Don't want
it. I want water. You want water? You think it's better than ice
cream? Yes! Ice cream may look good, may
taste good, but it will not satisfy your thirst. You give a man whose
mouth is parched, give him ice cream, he'll be needing water
more than he did before he came to you. You can go from religion
to religion. You can hear that preacher, this
one, and that one, and the other. You can drink their water, and
it'll be like, as I said a moment ago, drinking the Kool-Aid of
the man in Guyana. It'll kill you. It'll never satisfy
your thirst. You come to Jesus Christ, and
I promise you this. I promise you this. He said,
you'll never thirst again. Worked for me. Worked for me! I had gone from religion to religion. Became a Pentecostal preacher.
Became a Calvinist preacher. Drunk from this fountain or that
well or that one. And then one day I drank from
Jesus Christ and never tasted anybody else's water again. Are
you thirsty? Come to Jesus. O God, our Father,
blessed, we pray this word to your glory in Jesus' name we
pray. Amen.