John chapter 4 and verse 10. Brother Tyler, would you mind shutting those back doors? It's letting all the sound out, I feel like. John chapter 4 and verse 10. If you would, please stand to your feet out of respect for the Word of God. Most of us are probably fairly familiar with this story. This is the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. He asks her for a drink of water, and she says, Why are you asking me for a drink of water? And Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knowest 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." That's right. Father, as we look at these words that were spoken by our Lord and Savior during the time that he was here on this earth, I pray that you help us to understand them. properly in the context in which they were spoken, and also in the way in which they apply to us today. We thank you for that living water that you've given to us to help us to be faithful, to ask for it, and to use it appropriately when given. We ask this all in Christ Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for standing. Go ahead and be seated. certainly really fits in with the flow of the story here. She asks him, he says this, but when we take this verse, as so often happens, and we look at it by itself, we really look at the statement he made, there are some questions that come up. You look at this verse and you say, You know, what exactly did he mean if you mean the gift of God? What's the gift of God? Which gift of God is he talking about? Every good gift and every perfect gift come from above. So, which good gift in particular is he speaking of? Give me the drink. That would have asked everybody, what does it mean to be living water? What does it mean by living water? How can we be sure that we do know the gift of God that he's talking about? So, there's a lot of questions built into that statement, specifically, if we think of it the way that the Samaritan woman would have been thinking about it, one who didn't necessarily have the knowledge and overall understanding of a lot of the scriptures that we have today. She didn't know, she wasn't looking back with hindsight and seeing that Jesus Christ was the Messiah who had died and would rise again. So, I'm sure when he said that to her, There's a lot of questions going through her mind. What does he mean, the gift of God, living water? What's he talking about here? The gift of God, there's several commentators who differ on exactly what he's talking about. And, like I said, we know that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above. We know that there are some specific gifts talked about in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit was a gift that was given to the Church. The Scriptures are a gift. that was given to us. Faith is a gift that's given to us, we're told, in Ephesians, chapter 2, in verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So, which gift is he talking about in the verse here? really seems to explain itself fairly well. He says, if I'm this, the gift of God, and who it was that saith for thee, give me to drink. And therein lies the clue. The gift of God that's being spoken of here is not in addition to the one who saith for thee, give me to drink. He's not saying if you knew the gift of God, and then if you also knew the one who saith for thee, but literally he's talking about one and the same. He's saying, if you knew the gift of God that is saying to you, give me a drink, Jesus Christ is referring to himself. as the gift of God. And, when we get this Christocentric view, when we understand that Christ is at the center of everything, that really makes the most sense, as we begin to execute the Scripture. Because, while the Scriptures are a fantastic gift of God, they're given to us as a gift because of Christ. And, as a story of who Christ was, as we go through the Old Testament, it's all about Christ. The Holy Spirit was a gift, but he came to comfort us after Christ left. So, all these good gifts that we enjoy, they're all centered around that truly perfect gift and good gift that was given to us in Christ Jesus. And so, he was telling her, I am a gift from God. And, if you knew the gift of God, then you would ask me to drink. And, in that If you knew, the gift of God, if you knew me, and I said, give me to drink, you would ask me, and I'd give you living water. This verse has been twisted by some, and in that phrase, to mean something that, obviously, Christ didn't mean, either contextually or in the broad theme of Scripture, it becomes very clear. that this verse doesn't mean what they had tried to make it say. This is what many had taken this verse, and that phrase there, and tried to make it say. Jesus isn't known by the world, and if we just showed them Jesus, they would always ask for him. So, it sounds right. Well, it does sound right on the... But here's the scenario they're drawing for you. They're saying Christ is behind a curtain, The world is the audience, and it's our job to draw the curtain back and show them Christ. But, there's a problem with that scenario, because the Scriptures tell us something about the world. In fact, in Romans chapter 11, and verse 7, we're told this. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which ye seek it for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. We're told that that was the state that we were in before Christ opened our eyes. A state of blindness. So, if Jesus is behind the curtain, and we're told that our job is to just draw the curtain back and show Him to the world, that doesn't do any good if the world's blind. If the world's not blind. And so, to take this verse and say, well, all we just have to do is we just have to preach Christ, and everyone who hears Christ is going to be saved, That's a misrepresentation of what's being said here, because the world is, in fact, blind, even in Christ's presence. But, really, the problem goes even a step further than that. Because, imagine that the blindness was healed, and we drew the curtain back, and we showed Christ for who he really was—because who he really is is not who he's often portrayed to be—and we portrayed him to that audience. who had minds and hearts that were deceitful, and wicked, and darkened, and we pulled the curtain back and we presented them Christ, they wouldn't automatically love Him. Quite the opposite, as we saw this morning, they would be at enmity with Him, which is what we thought we were before Christ saved us. There was an enmity there between us and Him, and so we would gnash our teeth at Him. We wouldn't ask Him for living water, but we would literally repulse what was put before us. We repudiate. We say, I don't want any part of that. And when they do that, the Scripture tells us in John chapter 7 and verse 7, it says, the world cannot hate you, but me a hater, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. We can't stop presenting Christ for who He is. That's our job, is to preach the gospel to the lost world, certainly to present Him to them, but to take this bridge to mean that every time we go out and we present Christ as He really is, that people are going to come flocking to Him, seeking for a drink of living water, is, as I said, a misrepresentation of what's being said here. Jesus Christ knew the heart of that woman. He knew her mind, He knew the psyche, He knew everything about her, as we find out later. And so, it was perfectly honest and true of him to say, if you knew who I was, you'd ask me for a drink of that living water, because she did. Later, once she began to recognize who it was that was talking to her, But we have to understand that when we present Christ as He really is, we're still depending upon a supernatural work of God to open their eyes, to change their hearts, to change their minds, so that they will ask Him for a drink of water. And when we get in that view, when we recognize that they are going to hate us, if they hate God, when we present God to them, then we're going in with the right expectations, that our job is to go and find those who are to be saved, and we don't know who they are. And so, we go out, and whether it's straight preaching, or whether it's going into a prison, or whether it's going into another country, or whether it's preaching to a group of people in church, every time we present the gospel, we present it with two thoughts in mind. is a balancing of reality that says the darkened heart won't like this message. The heart that's still at enmity with Christ is going to hate us. Jesus promised that. But we temper that with the same understanding that God promised that his word would not go out void, that he promised that through the preaching of the gospel he would bring many sons to glory. That it is, in fact, healing of the preaching of the Word through which faith comes. So, when we present Christ, yes, we need to present Him. We need to present Him to all creatures. Go out and teach all creatures those things that God commanded you. So, yes, we're to do that. But, don't take this verse out and pull it out and say, see, Jesus said, if they knew who He was, then they'd ask Him for living water. So, all I've got to do is explain Jesus, and everybody's going to love me. It doesn't necessarily work that way, and we ought to be glad it doesn't work that way. Because, if that were the case, then every time someone rejected us and hated us, it would be a browbeating of ourselves, while I wasn't persuasive enough. I didn't do a good enough job, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, well, it's not about you, it's about you presenting Christ and Him crucified, and God doing the rest. And if they don't believe, and if they do gnash on you with their teeth, and if they do drag you before the rulers and the magistrates, you can rest assured, this is what Christ promised would happen, instead of, well, God, I must not have done a good enough job. Now, our call is to preach the gospel and understand that in doing so, we have done our duty to preach the gospel to all men with the assurance that some will be saved, but certainly not all. Now, another misconception, one misconception is that everybody's going to love Jesus if they just see him. The second misconception taken out of this verse is that phrase, God would have asked of him, and he would have given thee. And we take this, and we take that same principle given in Scripture, ask and you shall receive. The fact that lost men, whose God is their belly, have taken this so out of context to mean that all we have to do is name it and claim it. that we can just ask for whatever we want, and God's obliged to give it to us, is a sign that they don't have a discerning spirit within them, and that, literally, their God is their God. They're following the lusts of their flesh, instead of what the scriptures tell us to ask for. James tells us, I believe it is, when he says, you ask and receive not, because you ask and receive upon your lusts. So, what are you doing asking for these things? We illustrate it. I think a good illustration is the one Jesus used. I think he probably picked the best illustrations. And he said, if your son asks you, fish or bread, are you going to give him a stone or scorpion? Certainly not. You're a good father. You know what to give your son. And if your son asks for good things, you give him good things. The reverse is true as well. If your son asks for bread and a fish, are you going to give him bubblegum or cotton candy? Not necessarily, and vice versa. If your son asks for bubblegum or cotton candy, and he needs a fish and bread... You see, in our immaturity, many times, we imagine that we're asking for good things. We imagine we're asking for living water, and really we're not. Really, we're asking for something that's going to end up hurting us, and then we look at verses like this, and verses like that, and we say, well, we don't understand. Why hasn't God given me what I've asked for? Have I not followed the proper seven steps to get what I want? And when Jesus said, if you ask what is the law of the world, that was a very specific If you had asked me for living water, I would have given you living water. And, in fact, he certainly did that very thing. But, God's not a genie that hops on our bandwagon to fulfill every request that we ask for. He's not that one that we simply just have to do the right incantation and rub the bottle just right, and we're going to get. To do so would be to make God simply an adversary for our sin. And, God is holy, and just, and righteous, and He's not going to do that. He will certainly give His Spirit to all those who come. He will give them rivers of living water that flow out from their bellies, as the Scriptures say. Well, that doesn't necessarily mean He's going to give them every physical thing they ask for, because many times, when He does, it is really in a corrective way. Remember when the Israelites asked for a king? God said, okay, I'll give you a king. You wanted this, you thought it was such a good thing. You thought everybody else had a king, and the judges just aren't cutting it, God. Give us a king. God said, OK, I'll give you a king, and it'll take your sons slaves, and it'll take tribute from you, and it'll take your daughters from you. This is what the kings will do. And all God's wills came true. He gave them what they asked for, didn't he? And it wasn't what they wanted. They found out very quickly. So, again, as we talked about this morning, contentment. being such a huge, critical, essential part of our Christian walk and understanding, yes, God wants us to come to Him with all our requests. Yes, God wants us to pray about everything that comes across our path, but when we don't get what we want, when we want it, don't call God a liar. Because He didn't give you what you asked for. Perhaps He's being a merciful Father that's giving us what we need best when we need it, instead of simply everything that we think it ought to do. What does He mean by living? Before I go there, I want to give you this quote. I think I've given it to you before, but it's perhaps my favorite quote by a near man. I'll read it to you again, and you can appreciate it again. It's written by C.S. Lewis, and this is what he said. He said, if there lurks in most modern minds the notions that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, he said, if you've got this idea that we should never ask for anything that's going to bring us pleasure, he said, I submit that this notion is crept in from Canton's stoats and is no part of the Christian faith. That's not a Christian idea to think anything that brings me pleasure is a bad thing. That's not what the scriptures teach. He said, indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of the reward and the staggering nature of the reward promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased. And I think that goes exactly along with the context of what's being said here when Jesus said, if you ask me of living water, I would have given you. Many times we think if we ask for something that's going to please us, that's a bad thing. And C.S. Lewis says, you know what, I just don't think, that's what the Scripture teaches, I think God wants us to enjoy things, I just think He wants us to enjoy the right things. He wants us to fully enjoy God and His blessings that He's given us in Christ Jesus, and not simply all these fleshly toys and tricks that are around us in so many different ways. So, when we ask, we ought to be asking truly for those things that are best for us in the long run, in the big picture, in God's eyes, and not simply what's going to fulfill our flesh in the immediate future. He says, if you'd asked me, I would have given to you living water. What does he mean by living water? Well, certainly, Jesus Christ was a masterful speaker and conversationalist. He invented language, so I imagine he'd be able to use it right. And we see that happening here. They were sitting at a well. And some commentators, I don't know how they know this, but some commentators have said that particular well, you can drop a stone in it and you won't hear it splash for two and a half seconds, that's how deep the well is, things of this nature. So, they were sitting at this cistern, is really what it is. It's not a well in which water was flowing up into it, as much as just an open place for water that would gather into that cistern there. And so, Jesus draws a contrast for it. He says, I ask you to draw me out of this stagnant water, out of this sitting water, and if you'd asked me, I would have given you living water. water that literally isn't stagnant, but is different. How is it different? How is it different from stagnant water? It's the fact that the Word of God, being always the same, being from everlasting to everlasting, Psalmist says, For ever, O Lord, your Word is settled in heaven. So, this is what we have about the Bible. It's absolutely the same. It's never changing. And yet, for all of that, the Spirit of God is changing. The Spirit of God changes us. It doesn't change itself, but it's always new. We learn something every time we read through the Scriptures. We say, oh, I didn't see that before. The Bible didn't change, but you've changed, and the Bible is the one that has shown you Jesus Christ being the living word is the same way. Yes, he was very God of very God, but had not changed, and yet, unlike that stagnant water, it was new in so many different ways, never changing, and yet at the same time being all things to all men, as Paul desired to be. But I think it had a deeper meaning than that. I think he, being the gifted conversationalist, used the subject at hand and the will that was right there as a way to draw the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go. But not only that, but it was a water to make you alive, the water that Jesus Christ was talking about. For we, Jesus well knew, the Samaritan woman, was dead in her trespasses and sins. literally dead, and if Jesus Christ is that gift of God, if he is that physical manifestation of God's grace, then it would be he that would quicken her, and not only quicken her, but sustain her in life, that living water that gave her life. And it is for this reason that he said, if she would drink of that water, she would never thirst again. For if she had taken of that water, Jesus Christ, it would have been that water, that repentance that is without repentance that we talked about. It would have been that salvation of which there is no losing it. It would have been Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. It would have been that love of God from which nothing can separate us. And so, he said, if you'd asked me of this water, I would have given it to you, and if you drank of this water, you would never thirst again. Now, while I understand that the direct application here is talking about salvation, we should also, very quickly and easily, apply it to ourselves. If you knew who it was that said that, if you knew the gift of God, you would have asked me. Well, we claim to know it. We claim to know who it was that said that. We claim to know the gift of God, Jesus Christ. So then, is what he said true? Do we ask Him for that living water, if in fact it is a water that not only is to make you alive, but to sustain you? Then we ought to be requesting that water on a daily basis. We ought to be going to God and requesting, God, give me that water. It says in John 7, 38, he that believeth on me, as the Scriptures have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. You know, we've made it habitual, which is a good thing. I don't mean to say it's bad, but we've made a habit out of fulfilling of that part of the Lord's prayer, that example prayer that he gave us, of give us this day our daily bread, and three times a day we thank God for the food that's in front of us. But I wonder how habitual we've made the rest of that example prayer. I wonder if it's as regular for us to go to the Lord and ask him to do his will on earth even as it's done in heaven. How often we go to Him and ask Him to make us His ambassadors here on earth. We talked about, in Sunday school, hungering after bread and water, and the difference between it and hungering after righteousness. Here, again, we have that same thing, our prayers. And I want to be careful how I say this, but Our prayers so often are so focused on physical things. We pray so much for health and travel and needs physically, and perhaps we're neglecting an aspect of the spiritual. We pray for the salvation of lost loved ones. That's definitely spiritual. Do we ask God to give us that spiritual water to sustain us each day? Do we ask Him for deliverance from evil, for strength to resist temptation, as much and as often as we pray for other physical things? Protect me as I travel, bless this food to my body. Are we so focused on the stagnant waters of our physical systems that we've neglected the fact that there are rivers of living water that are ours for the taking, for the asking. If we ask God of a good gift, He will certainly give it to you. And Jesus told the Samaritan woman here, if you know the gift of God, you'd ask. So, I'd say, for those of us who know Christ, for those of us who do know that He is the gift of God, Let us then be faithful to do that very thing, to ask that he would give us those rivers of living water that sustain us and keep us throughout the day and throughout the week. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your grace, for your faithfulness. Admit that I often get caught up in the physical circumstances that surround you today and do not pray as I ought, do not ask as I ought for deliverance from evil and protection from temptation, to have your will done on this earth even as it's done in heaven through my own obedience. So I ask you now, Father, that you would do those things, that you'd make us faithful prayer warriors, Father, that you'd do through us great things for the kingdom of God. I pray that you would give us that sustaining water that we need every day. And Father, if there's some here that have not yet drunk of that, the water that comes from that rock which is Christ, that today would be the day that they do so, that we save them. Father, I pray that you'd be with each of us as we go our way this day, that you'd make us like Christ, that you would, in fact, keep us from the evil one, that you'd bring us into those paths that would be best to try us perfect us, to strengthen us. He asks you to do all these things for the name of Christ. Amen. God bless you. I hope you have a good week.