The Woman Who Got Well

July 16, 2017 (2011)                NOTES NOT EDITED

“The Woman Who Got Well”

John 4:1-26; 39-42

SIS—The church must consistently and boldly offer the world the Living Water of the gospel.

We should on occasion take note of our wellness.  Once a man was asked upon greeting a friend, “How are you doing?”  This was his reply:

I’m fine! I’m fine!
There is nothing whatever the matter with me,

I'm just as healthy as I can be,​

I have arthritis in both my knees,

And when I talk, I talk with a wheeze.​

My pulse is weak and my blood is thin,

But, I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in!

My teeth eventually will have to come out.

And my diet, I hate to think about.​

I'm overweight, and I can't get thin,

But, I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in!

Arch supports I have for my feet

Or I wouldn't be able to walk on the street.​

My memory is failing and my head's in a spin.

I'm practically living on aspirin,​

But, I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in!

The moral is, as this tale we unfold

That for you and me who are growing old,​

It's better to say "I'm Fine" with a grin.

Than to let them know the shape we're in.

So it is with us all—young and old.  It was the same way with a woman Jesus met at a well.  The Woman at the Well was not, well.  She needed something desperately that only Jesus can provide.  Let’s read in our text to see what that was.  Jn.4:10-14.

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God,  and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” ¹¹ “Sir,”  said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? ¹² You aren’t greater than our father Jacob,  are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. ¹⁴ But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever!  In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”

1.  Everyone needs the Living Water

 

13  Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.

Water is life.  Noted N.T. scholar, George Beasley-Murray stated, “The absolute necessity of water for life caused it to become a wide-ranging symbol in religious thought.”  (Word Bib Comm, 60).

Thirst is a universal experience for all humankind.  A man can live over 40 days or more without food, but cannot live for more than four days without water.  One Bible scholar explained the use of water as a symbol of life in this passage in this way:

Every living cell, of both plants and animals, depends on water.  Man, is essentially, water.  Of man’s five quarts of blood, three quarts are water.

Water is a universal need for mankind.  Everyone needs water.  Thirst is not quenched with one drink, but is a continuing need throughout life.  “Everyone who drinks . . . will thirst again.” Everyone!   Everyone needs Jesus, the Living Water, whether they admit it or not.  Spiritual thirst is a universal, and an eternal matter.  People may THINK they need this, that, or the other—food, clothing, shelter, wealth or health—and have all this and more in abundance but not have what they really need.  Sometimes, what we think we need and what we really need are two separate things.

Consider the man who rode on a camel through miles of the sun-drenched desert searching for some sign of life. His supplies were running low.  His water pouch was empty.  Then, his camel died. Now on foot, he desperately sought refuge from the heat, and, most importantly, a source for water. Suddenly, he came across a vendor in the middle of the desert.

"Thank God I found you!" the man cried. "Please help me. I'm in dire need of some water."  "Well," said the vendor, "I don't have any water. But would you like to buy one of these fine ties."  "What am I going to do with a tie?" the man asked.  "That's what I'm selling sir. If you don't like it, I can't help you."

The man left the vendor and walked on for many more miles, praying each minute that he would find refuge from the scorching sun. His eyes squinted a bunch of times when he came across a restaurant in the distance. Unable to comprehend a restaurant located in the middle of the desert, he assumed the place was a mirage, but decided to check it out anyway. As he approached the door, his mouth opened in amazement, seeing that the place actually existed.

The doorman stopped him before he entered. "Excuse me sir," the doorman said, "but you can't come in here without a tie!"

Sometimes, what we think we need and what we need are two different things.  In regard to church, we must realize that what we have, the Living Water, is exactly what the world needs—whether they realize it or not.

¹³ Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.  ¹⁴ But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever!  In fact, the water I will give him will become a well   of water springing up within him for eternal life.”

SIS—Everybody needs Jesus, and the church must boldly and consistently offer the Living Water to everyone we encounter.

Another issue arises in this encounter is: 

2.  Everyone does not have access to the Living Water (Vs 3 says)

³ He left Judea  and went again to Galilee.  ⁴ He had to travel through Samaria (CSB).  The KJV translates verse 4, “He must needs go.”  Young’s literal translation gives us, “it was behoving him to go through Samaria.”  

 
Jesus was compelled to go through Samaria by the will of God because Samaria did not have access to the Living Water.

884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people.  3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. That’s 3.5 million preventable deaths. Diarrhea caused by unsafe drinking water kills more young children globally than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. 

The word translated “had to, must, or behooving” is, “dei.” This little word is used to describe Jesus’ travels from south in Judea to Galilee, through the area called Samaria.  Because the Samaritans were considered, “unclean” by Jewish Rabbis, Jews would take a longer route going North in order to bypass Samaria.  Pious Jews would cross over the Jordan and travel north through the region called, “Perea.”  [SEE MAP].

“Dei” represents one’s surrender to the will of God.  Notice the Lord’s words when his frantic parents thought their boy was lost and found Jesus in the temple.  The Lord, even at 12 years old understood his holy obligation to discover and obey the will of God.  Jesus said,

Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must (dei) be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49).

Jesus had a holy obligation to go to the land of the Samaritans.  The Samaritans are the group that split off from Israel after Solomon and became the “Northern Tribes.”  The capital of this area was called, Samaria. Eventually this entire region between Judea and Galilee on the West side of the Jordan became known as Samaria.

When the Northern Tribes were conquered by Assyria about 200 years after Solomon, Assyria sent some foreigners to mix with the Jewish community in Samaria.  So, culturally they were pagans to pious Jews.

Also, the Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Bible.  So, they were also considered religious heretics by pious Jews.  The result was extreme hatred between the Jews and Samaritans.

“Dei” represents an “obligation,” not a geographical necessity.  “Dei” is a missional word with weighted theological significance.  It represents the burden of one’s heart to fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord by taking the gospel to person’s who have no access.

Most people used the route through Samaria as a short-cut—a matter of convenience.  Jesus used it as a mission opportunity—a matter of conviction. Sadly, too many churches are driven by convenience not conviction.   It was the love of God that compelled Jesus to go to Samaria.  They were thirsty for the Living Water and Jesus was compelled to deliver it.

The Jews looked at the Samaritans as unworthy of God’s love and the message of salvation.  As the church, we need to realize that God loves “the whole world” and the “whole world needs the gospel.”

God loves the Samaritans of the world as much as the Jews.  Sadly, for many reasons, groups are cut off from the supply of Living Water by several different types of barriers.

Some are hidden behind Geo-political barriers. Globally, every time you take a breath, someone passes into eternity.  Of those that pass into eternity, billions have never heard the gospel in their own language.

There are 2.8 billion people in the world that do not have a gospel witness.  2.8 billion.  They are often people with strange names from strange places you and I will never go.

Like the Highland Nung of Vietnam.  Or the Rajput of India (41m+).  The Majhi of Napal (84,000).  The Fulani of Mali (1mil+). The list of lost souls without access to the Living Water goes on and on.

There are 6,872 people groups that have no gospel penetration into the culture.  They have no access to the gospel.  They are behind invisible barriers.  They are the “Lost of the Lost.”

This does not count people who are behind barriers that have some, but very little access to a gospel witness.  Like the Japanese. The evangelical, gospel preaching population in Japan is less than 1%.

Not everyone has easy access to the gospel like we do here in America.  Even some people in America, like the N. West, are behind a barrier to the gospel.  Barriers come in many different sizes and shapes.  They are not all “geographical” in nature.  This is why as Southern Baptists we give a special offering for International Missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.  Some people are hidden behind geo-political barriers.

The greatest barrier to the gospel is a PERSONAL barrier.  That is, a person does not know a believer.  They are simply like this Samaritan woman who obviously had never talked to a Jew who cared about her before.  Look at verse 9:

9 “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a •Samaritan  woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with  Samaritans.

A version of the personal barrier is not that someone does NOT know a believer, but they DO know a believer who is NOT living a godly life.  I’m not sure which barrier is worse.

Another barrier is a CULTURAL barrier.  People can live in the same geological location but be separated by culture (especially language) issues.  We see this in our own town.  There are many people who speak an entirely different language in their home and social lives than they do most times.  

Another barrier is a RELIGIOUS barrier.  This is associated with a cultural barrier.  We see this again in the life of the Samaritan woman.  Look in verse 19:

19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,  yet you ⌊Jews⌋ say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

When it comes to worship, one size definitely does not fit all.  We need to be sensitive to the fact that people may have grown up with very different understanding of what should, or should not, be part of worship.

The fact is:  the Bible really does not give many specifics about what kind of music, what order of service, or even what times to meet.  The things that most divide people religiously are usually more a matter of personal preference than anything spiritual.

We should be cautious not to erect barriers where we should be building bridges.—especially not in the name of religion.

There is also a MORAL barrier that can keep people from freely drinking of the Living Water.  Look at the exchange Jesus had with this woman beginning in v 16:

16 “Go call your husband,” He told her, “and come back here.” 17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said.  18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Moral failures will keep us from getting close to Jesus Christ because we don’t want our sins revealed—and the Spirit of God will reveal them.  A great preacher once said, “This Bible will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this Bible!”

A while ago a pastor friend of mine mentioned that he had invited our waitress several times to church.  She always seemed interested, but never showed up. She went to the big non-denominational church up the road, even though she said it was so big she felt lost there.

Then he said, the last I heard she was living with a guy who was not her husband.  I said, “Well, there’s your answer as to why she hasn’t shown up in church.”  Moral issues can be a barrier to someone having access to the Living Water.

There are barriers separating people from the life-giving water of the gospel.  We need to pray down those barriers and deliver the Living Water where it is needed most.  Be assured of this, if we as God’s missionaries present the Living Water to the world,

3.  The Living Water will change lives (25, 39-42)

39 Now many •Samaritans  from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said  when she testified,  “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 Therefore, when the •Samaritans came to Him,  they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of what He said.  42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior  of the world.”

Nothing changes a person’s life like the gospel, and nothing has more power for transforming our society than people with changed lives.

One of the biggest problems in America today is drug addiction.  Treatment and law enforcement related to drug addiction costs billions of dollars each year.  According to a government study, Most secular drug rehabilitation programs only experienced a cure rate of 1 – 15% of their graduates (National Institute On Drug Abuse, U.S. Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare).  That’s not success, that is a glowing failure.

Many of you have probably heard of Teen Challenge, and the movie of how it was started called, The Cross and the Switchblade.  Some of you younger folk have not seen this movie describing how one farm boy preacher from Pennsylvania impacted the gang culture of New York City.

1960 by David Wilkerson, an Assemblies of God pastor who left a rural Pennsylvania church to work on the street among teenage gang members and socially marginalized people in New York. Wilkerson established Teen Challenge and founded the Times Square Church.

Wilkerson once told a researcher he felt the Teen Challenge program was 70% effective.  Remember, the secular programs were only 1-15% effective.  This prompted the government study that when completed showed the success rate of Teen Challenge’s drug rehabilitation was NOT 70% as Wilkerson thought.  After completing their work a study was published presenting a 87.5% cure rate for Teen Challenge graduates!

That is 600% better than the best secular programs!  What made the difference?  Jesus.  Transformation is an “inside job,” and the Living Water of the gospel changes lives from the inside, out.  Paul declared,

¹⁷so that if any one is in Christ—he is a new creature; the old things did pass away, lo, become new have the all things. (2Cor. 5:17).

A few years ago, a man had a clock hanging on the wall of his office.  The hands on the clock were always off.  The man would continually adjust the hands to show the correct time, but it was just a matter of time (pun intended) before the hands showed the wrong time again.  No matter how many times he readjusted the hands of the clock, the clock would not keep the right time.  In frustration the man put a sign beneath the clock that said, “WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS CLOCK, PLEASE DON’T BLAME THE HANDS.  THE PROBLEM IS ON THE INSIDE.”  Look closely at what Jesus told the woman,

Every one who is drinking of this water shall thirst again; ¹⁴but whoever may drink of the water that I will give him, may not thirst—to the age; and the water that I will give him shall become in him a well of water, springing up to life age-during.’

“Many believed because of the woman” because the woman’s words were reflected in her changed life--I love that, “many.”  When people really get saved, and really get their testimony out—other people get saved.  The gospel changes lives like nothing else ever could.

Let me summarize what our text calls us to do today.  Everybody needs Jesus and if we will share the Living Water of the gospel lives will be miraculously and eternally changed—and our church will grow.  In fact, we will not be able to keep it from growing.

We must realize today that our world is not well.  You and I are not well.  Our families are not well.  Our church is not well.  What we need is “Water from the Well!”  What we need to do today, in order for us to “be well,” and for others to be well, is to share the Living Water instead of just sitting on the well.

The world is not well.  Our families are not well.  Our own souls are parched and dry from drinking the saltwater of this world.  We need to drink deep from the well of Living Water in order to live well. 

I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame
And nothing satisfying there I found
But to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came
Where springs of living water did abound

Drinking at the springs of living water
Happy now am I, my soul is satisfied
Drinking at the springs of living water
O wonderful and bountiful supply