The
Living Water
John 4:10 "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 wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee
living water.
11 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?
12 Art thou
greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the
well, and drank thereof himself, and his children,
and his cattle?
13 Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of
this water shall thirst again:
14
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.
15
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water,
that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."
“If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee” is the bottom line question.
This is the QUESTION of all the AGES!!!
• If she only knew WHO he was,
that had come to her.
• If they only knew
WHO he was, that had come to them.
• If only you and I could understand WHO
Jesus Christ is.
Standing before her was “the fountain of living waters”.
In the Song of Solomon [Song of Solomon 4:15] is the very first hint of the association of “the fountain of living waters” as being GOD [THE SON of GOD – Jesus Christ].
In Jeremiah we have the solid connection: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” [Jeremiah 2:13]
[Scripture with Scripture dispels the darkness! Amen!
Get yourself a copy of THE HOLY SCRIPTURES … The AUTHORIZED VERSION of 1611 … otherwise known as the KING JAMES BIBLE to blow the fog out to sea.]
LO, and BEHOLD, The GOD of the Old Testament [JESUS CHRIST] is the ONE standing before the Samaritan woman at the well. If only she “knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith” to her.
The Gift Of God
What is [THE] gift of God?
We find in Ecclesiastes something that is called “the gift of God.” [Ecclesiastes 3:13] “And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”
FOOD … DRINK … ENJOYMENT
Is this [THE] gift of God of John chapter four, verse ten
What about the gift of God in [Ecclesiastes 5:19] “Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.”
TO REJOICE IN RICHES … WEALTH … POWER TO EAT … TO TAKE!!!
Is this [THE] gift of God of John chapter four, verse ten?
No! No! No!
Yes, they are the gifts of God, but they are not [THE] gift of God.
The GIFT of GOD is the salvation procured for us by JESUS CHRIST on the Cross of Calvary!
• Proof! “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” [Ephesians 2:8]
• Proof! “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” [Romans 5:15]
• Proof! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans 6:23
Not only this. There is more! It gets better!
The GIFT of GOD is also the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the BELIEVER in Jesus Christ.
• Proof! “To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory.” [Colossians 1:27]
•
Proof! “Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
[1 Corinthians 3:16]
• Proof!
“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir
up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting
on of my hands.” [2 Timothy 1:6]
The
“gift of God” was [IN]
Timothy and he was admonished to “stir up
the gift of God” which is IN THEE.
Timothy was not to “quench” [1 Thessalonians 5:19] nor “grieve” [Ephesians 4:30] the Holy Spirit which was in him.
We, as believers, need likewise not to quench or grieve the GIFT of GOD in us. Amen! Rather we need to be FILLED with the SPIRIT! [Ephesians 5:18]
THE GIFT OF GOD
The “fountain of living waters” in Jeremiah [OLD TESTAMENT] gives the believer in Jesus Christ [NEW TESTAMENT] a belly out of which “flow rivers of living water.”
THE GIFT OF GOD
Jesus gives it straight to the woman at the well! "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 Zebra Factor
Now I must make a warning here.
There is something in the human nature that just naturally leans on the crutch that takes away from THE GIFT and THE GRACE of God.
This crutch is best described as the WORKS SALVATION SYNDROME.
Man [who is innately religious by nature] wants to handle religious things his own religious inventive ways … which always involves an EFFORT in his GOOD WORKS. [We all have a propensity to this sinful self aggrandizement.
[The TRUTH hurts!]
Now, have you ever noticed how a little boy who has worked very hard and has earned a pocket full of money, is so ready to buy in the marketplace everything he fancies? C’mon now! I have seen this.
Man wants to purchase things with the money he earns [WORKS]! [I also, have been guilty of this.]
If we could purchase spiritual power from God, if we could buy eternal life from God [the gift of God] … WE WOULD!
Wouldn’t we?
[Yeah WE WOULD!]
It’s our HUMAN nature! BUT GOD says in Ephesians chapter two that salvation is not to be of our selves: “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Man wants to boast in himself.
God wants us to boast in HIS SON. Amen!
Let’s go to the storey of Simon.
Let’s read a story of the little boy who had grown up to be a man. Boys do grow up you know. We shall see that the zebra still has his stripes!
Turn to the book of Acts chapter eight, starting at verse eighteen: “And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."
The “Simon” Crutch of SELF SUFFIECINCY must be dealt with … HEAD ON. “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” [Acts 8:-18-23]
Watch out for the Simon in our hearts. We need to avoid the crutch [GOOD WORKS] of trying to purchase eternal life and just solely accept the WORK of another, Jesus Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
The gift of GOD is the SON of GOD [“the fountain of living waters”] … the living water of eternal life.
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” [John 7:38]
Jesus Christ is the FOUNTAIN of LIVING WATERS!!!
Amen! Amen! Amen!