Well, I would like to say again, it is so nice to see you back in God's house this morning. I trust you had a wonderful Easter. Open up our service this morning. We want to go to John's Gospel, chapter four, verse seven, where we'll begin reading this morning. We're going to continue in our look at the Gospel of John, and we will continue specifically in our look at the woman, the well, and the living water. This will be part two of that message in that little sub-series. John chapter four. We'll begin reading with verse seven. The Bible says, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to 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 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? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the whale, 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. May God add blessings to the reading of His Word. Would you pray with me, please? Heavenly Father and Lord God, as we break the bread of life this morning, we ask that you would anoint it, that you would bless it, that, Heavenly Father, you would touch our hearts and our lives with it. Heavenly Father, that it would not be about me, that it would not be about Any oratory skills, it would not be about the person behind the pulpit, but it would be about the person from which the pulpit speaks. That would be Jesus Christ. We ask, Heavenly Father, that everything that would be said and done would not return into your void, but that it would accomplish that which you have purposed it to do. For it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. A bottle of water. 50 cents, a dollar, maybe. But one of the most precious commodities in life. This morning, we return to John's Gospel. We look at the Lord's encounter with the Samaritan woman of the well of Sychar. As the Lord often does, he finds something in our everyday lives and uses it as an illustration of eternal things. We see that water is his topic of conversation today. In the arid, hot landscape of the Middle East, surely we understand how important fresh water would be. When we look at America today, we consider the importance of water here. Over the past two or three weeks, California, for example, has issued water restrictions on residents in some cities. A violation of these would result in $500 fines. Folks out west find themselves in a drought that in some cases has lasted over three years. That's in America today, right now. Do you realize the average person can only live three days without water? Three days without drinkable water and your body starts shutting down. Amazing, isn't it? Water is vital to our life. It's required for drinking, for sanitation, for health care. It is necessary for survival, for cooking, for cleaning. While Jesus may be using water as an illustration, he certainly is not beyond getting a drink of water on his own. After all, he was God in the flesh and his flesh got thirsty. But yet he comes to the well of Sychar. Now his disciples had gone to get food. We know that Jesus was there by himself. But as travelers we'll do even today when we go from one place to another we've got something to drink with us or a container. 64 ounce big slurpy drink from the local convenience store, but we've got something there. And needless to say, in Jesus' day, he probably had something there as well. If he wanted a drink of water, what I'm saying, Jesus probably had something close by that he could have lowered into the well and gotten him a drink of water. The picture of a drink of water was something he was using to strike up a conversation. in conversation with this woman whom he had specifically traveled to meet. Remember, week before last in our first message, Jesus said, I must needs go to Samaria. I've got a purpose. Jesus said, I've got a purpose. I need to go to Samaria. That purpose was to meet this woman, not for any bad thing, but he wanted to talk to her about some very specific things in her life. He wanted to talk to her about her relationship with Him, her spiritual relationship, her spiritual walk with Him. He used water to open that conversation. Now, as we read our text, There's a noticeable difference between water in a well and water that is flowing or that comes from a fountain. Water that is flowing or comes from a fountain or comes from a stream is water that is highly oxygenated. And it brings with it vitality and a livelihood that water sitting in a well don't. While water sitting in a well is supplied by an underground source, of course, we all know that. That's how it stays fresh and drinkable. But it's not the same. To give you an example, we recently had a problem over the last week or so with tampering up at the local wildlife fish hatchery. where there were over a hundred thousand trout that were killed because somebody turned off the water supply. Now that doesn't mean the pond dried up. No, that's not what it meant. It still had water there. There was water coming into it, but the fresh supply of the fountain of water, the stream of water that came into it that brought oxygen in there that kept the fish alive was cut off. And when that flowing stream of water was turned off, the livelihood of the fish were turned off and they died. The difference is the picture of a standing pool of water or a well of water and a flowing fountain or stream of water. You'll see as we get into this message this morning there's a difference there and Jesus uses this difference in his message and in his conversation with the Samaritan woman. The well we will see is a picture of life without Jesus while the fountain is a picture of life that has Jesus at its center and has its focus. So this morning let's look closer at this part of Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman and let's learn how we can exchange a well for a fountain. Notice with me first, the Lord's call cannot be ignored in verses 7 and verses 8. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus asked, give me a drink. You can't ignore that. You're coming to a public well, and that's what this was. This was a public well. As a matter of fact, it was Jacob's well. Go back into Genesis and read about Jacob's well. Very interesting study. Very interesting look at that well. That well, after it got down so deep, ran into rock and Jacob actually dug through rock to get to the water underneath that would come out and make that well. Jesus was there. Here comes the woman that he was there to meet. His purpose was about to start unfolding for coming to Samaria. His timing was just right. His timing It was right where it was supposed to be. We also know when we look at other scripture and other gospels that are synoptic to this that it was in the middle of the day when this woman came. Why the middle of the day? I mean, we're talking about the Middle East. We're talking about 105, 115 degree temperatures in the middle of the day. Most people would come in the morning right at daylight to get water or in the evening right at sunset to get water when it was the coolest parts of the day and easiest work and easiest travel because they would travel for so great distance to get there. Why the middle of the day? Well, this woman we know, or we will see as we get on into our study, she was a, shall we say, a very loose living woman. She had some very lax standards in her life, and she was shunned by the community. Right or wrong, however you may look at that, she was shunned. She couldn't come in the morning with the other women because they didn't want her around them. She could not come in the evenings because of the other women because they didn't want her around. So she came in the most miserable part of the day to get her water. And there was Jesus. And he says, give me a drink while you're doing that. She's shocked. Why would anybody ask me for a drink of water? Does he not know who I am? Does he not know? Nobody wants to talk to me. Jesus did. You see the picture here is it does not matter who we were. There is not a person alive that does not have sin and failure in their life. This woman certainly has it in hers. You have it in yours. I have it in mine. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. His timing is always right. When Jesus called and came and visited you, his timing was right. He was right on time when he showed up. Not only was his timing right, but his truth was right as well. He brought with him not condemnation. Jesus brought with Him salvation. He brought with Him the opportunity to be restored to a right and proper walk with the Lord. He brought with Him the opportunity to be saved, to be born again, to repent of what was in the past, to put it under the blood if we will this morning. We have that opportunity in our life. The Lord's call cannot be ignored. She could not ignore the fact that He showed up in the middle of the day and asked for a drink of water at the same time offering her eternal life. You cannot ignore the fact that Jesus shows up in your life offering you something at the right time, offering you repentance, offering you forgiveness of sin. The Lord's always right on time. I'm reminded of the story of Lazarus. Lazarus was sick. He was dying. Remember the women's plea for the Lord to come and heal him? They sent word to Jesus, Lazarus is sick. And Jesus, to say it in the 21st century, it'll be okay. It'll be alright. Jesus says, hey, it's okay. The Lord delayed his visit until Lazarus was dead for four days. He got there. The women were upset that Jesus was too late. They said, Lord, he's been dead four days. He smells. We can't open up the grave. We can't open up the tomb. He smells. The Lord says, open it. And he called Lazarus out. And he said to the people, unwrap him. Even when Jesus was four days late by the standards of man, he was still right on time by the standards of God. When we see things unfolding in our lives and we think Jesus is not going to show up or we think He showed up too late, what may be too late in your eyes and in my eyes may be right on time with His time clock. After all, He not only sees the end from the beginning, He sees the beginning from the end. That's why we can't ignore His call in our life. We can't ignore it when the Lord calls us into service. We can't ignore it when the Lord calls us into salvation. We can't ignore it when the Lord pulls upon our heart strings for us to get closer to Him and to follow Him. Likewise, the Lord's call cannot be questioned or compared. Beginning in verse 9, we see some things taking place. He said, The woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samarians. She asked, Why me? Have you ever asked God, Why me? She was a Samarian. Now to go back over again who the Sumerians were, when the Hebrews were taken into captivity by Assyria, there was a group of the poorest that were left. They didn't want them. They had nothing to offer in captivity. For Assyria to take them into captivity would mean that Assyria would have to support them. They didn't want to do that. So they left them. If they live, they live. If they die, they die. It's neither here nor there to the Assyrians. Well, not only did they live, but they brought in their own people, their own Gentile people, and they occupied the area. They started intermarrying. For a Jew to intermarry with a Gentile was sin. So when everything was re-established and the Jewish people came back to the area, the Sumerians were there, they had intermarried and they were just cast off and said we don't want nothing to do with them. We don't want anything, we write them off. They would not even let them come into Jerusalem to worship in the temple. So they built their own temple in Mount Gerizim. And they began their own worship. Now here we have Jesus, the king of the Jews, standing in front of a woman of Samaria at the well of Sychar, at Jacob's well, and he's saying, give me a drink. And she says, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're not even supposed to be talking to me. Why me? Why me? There's no one too bad for Jesus not to call upon. No one. Now we may have a hard time getting our mind and our heart around that this morning, but we need to We need to get our mind and our heart wrapped around the thought and the idea that no one is too bad for Jesus not to call to repentance. Any of us, any of us could be looked upon by the Lord as not worthy just because we were born into sin. We have to remember, we're not a sinner because we sin. We sin because we are a sinner first. It's who we are. It's what we do. All of us. This morning, we're sitting here and we're listening to this and we're watching this and we are one of two points in life. We are either a saved sinner or an unsaved sinner. But we are a sinner. And it would do us all well this morning to grasp the humbleness of this woman and say, why me, Lord? Why me? The answer is simple. Because He loved us. Go back to John 3.16. For God so loved the world. And He loved everyone in the world and everyone of the world. He loved us not because we deserved it. He loved us because He chose to do it. He chose to love us. He chose to die for us. He chose to redeem us. Why me? I don't know why me. I'm thankful. I'm thankful that the Lord called upon my heart to accept Him as Lord and Savior one day and I'm thankful that He didn't quit calling until I did. Because we want to doubt living water, don't we? Do you realize the living water that Jesus speaks of in verse 10? He says, 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. That's the Holy Spirit. We are saved by grace through faith and then the Holy Spirit takes up abode in our heart and in our life. It was no different then than it is today. The presence and the work of the Holy Spirit was a little different before the birth of the church than it was after the birth of the church. But it's the same Holy Spirit. It's the same work. It's the same abode that is in our heart. He still lives and takes up residence in our heart. But we want to doubt living water. We want to doubt the living water, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We want to doubt of all things the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We will talk about God the Father and we'll talk about God the Son, but we don't want to have much to do and much to say about God the Holy Spirit. But the Trinity is three. It is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It is God the Holy Spirit that dwells within our heart. And that's what He wanted to give to this woman. He wanted to give her that permanent abode of Himself in her heart. And then the story continues. The woman said, you have nothing to draw with. and the well is deep. So where are you going to get living water? She asks. Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank of it himself and his children and his cattle? Do you see what she was saying? They were worshiping Jacob. They were worshiping this well. It was the centerpiece of the community. It was the one thing they had that linked them back to Abraham. It was the one thing they had that linked them back directly to the worship in Jerusalem and to the temple in Jerusalem. And she was asking Jesus, if what he had is better than what I have, How many times do we hear people asking that today? They are lost as they can be and we're talking to them about Jesus or they're hearing about Jesus and they want to know. Is Jesus better than what I have now? I have houses. I have cars. I have money. I have popularity. I have prestige. I have this or that or the other. Is Jesus better than that? Jesus is not only better than that, but were it not for Jesus, we wouldn't have any of that. So her question, is He better? Is it better than what I have? It would do the church well today to think about that. We stand up as Christians. We stand as born-again children of God today, worshiping Jesus Christ as our Lord and as our Savior. But yet, do we give the testimony of what we have is better than what the world has? Does Jesus have that testimony coming out of our life? It makes a difference in the lives of other people. Others are watching and listening. They're concerned. They want to know that there's something different going on inside the church house than there is inside of their own house. They know that what they've got may not be what's right, but they know what it is and they want to know if the church has got something better. Well, when the church comes into the business of entertainment or the church comes into the business of being popular or being prestigious or being political or being any of that other stuff, we lose track of Jesus Christ and we no longer have anything to be different. It is Jesus. that makes us different. And when we put Jesus aside, when we forsake Him, when we set Him on the back burner, if you will, and put something up that we're trying to influence the world with, all we're doing is taking godliness and putting worldliness in front of it. We need to ask the question in our own lives. Is our lives any different with Jesus than they were without Jesus? If that answer is no, then we've got some checking up to do. Because that's how the world is going to measure where we stand. That's how the world is going to measure what we look like. That's how the world is going to measure where we are in relation to them. Are we trying to conform to them or are we trying to transform them? We ought to be trying to transform them. Change them. We ought to be pointing them to Jesus so that they see there's a difference. We think our society has developed a logical approach to arguing Christianity. Just listen to it. Listen to the atheists and the agnostics. How scientific they like to sound. How all proper they like to be. Listen to how logical. Listen to the feeble attempt to disregard Christianity. They don't realize it, but that feeble attempt began over 2,000 years ago. It didn't work then and it will not work today. You can ask why me and you can excuse behavior by comparison to others. We can say, hey, I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't be the way I am if they weren't the way they are. God's not going to deal with that. God's not interested in why you do what you do. He knows why because we're all sinners. He's interested in whether we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus and whether we have been born again and if we're living a new life. You can doubt the infallibility of the Holy Spirit saying he must be mistaken or we don't really know about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that whole Pentecostal thing. No, it isn't. The Holy Spirit is very real. And if you're saved this morning, the Holy Spirit is living inside of your heart. Why don't you let Him out and experience Him? Experience Him fresh. Experience Him new. Let Him lead you out and direct you. Let Him speak to God the Father. through you and clarify your utterances. Let Him have the domain and the dominion in your life that He needs. In the end, you know your heart of hearts and you know that there's no comparison or no question about the Lord and His goodness. So finally this morning, I want you to notice one last point. In verses 13 and 14, the Lord's call cannot be exhausted. Jesus said, whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again. You can drink this. And in an hour or two, you'll be thirsty again. That's just the way our bodies work. Because this ministers to the physical side of us. But Jesus ministers to the spiritual side. It's a fountain of never-ending satisfaction. We're content. People who are born again and saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and are really and truly saved, they are content. They are content in how God works in their lives and how God leads them and how God guides them, how God directs them. We see a lot of people moving around today and wandering around and they're not content with life. They can find no contentment with it. If we want true contentment with life, it has to begin spiritually. We can't find contentment in a job if we can't find contentment with God. We can't find contentment in a marriage if we can't find contentment with God. We can't find contentment in the house that we have, in the worldly things that we've been blessed with. We can't find contentment in those until we find contentment with God. And the only way we find contentment with God and satisfaction with Him is through Jesus Christ. That's what he wanted this woman to see. He says in verse 14, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. It springs up from the inside. It is a well. It is a fountain that is established inside your heart and inside your life. It is a fountain that shows to those on the outside, to the world around you. It's constantly springing up to everlasting life for those that are around and see it. Not too far up the road is an attraction called the geyser, the Andrew's geyser. All of us have been there. When you're just standing there talking, mulling around, taking pictures of the pretty scenery, everything is just as mundane as if you were in a picnic area anywhere. It was pretty. It's quiet. A lot of breathtaking views. And then suddenly the geyser erupts. And all of the attention is focused there. That is the way God works in the life of a Christian. Those who don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, they may be enjoying the beauty of everything around them. They may be enjoying the vitality of everything around them. They may be enjoying the company, companionship, and conversation of everyone around them, but there's nothing Nothing that is everlasting, nothing that is attention getting, nothing that has any vitality to it until someone with everlasting life walks up and that everlasting life is flowing out of their heart and it's making an impression to all of those around. That is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the influence of salvation into the lives of those who need it. It is your testimony and my testimony of what's going on inside of our hearts. The fountain of everlasting life. If you're saved this morning, you have it. And if you have it, are you turning it loose? Are you letting the Holy Spirit take it and lead and guide and direct your life? and use that testimony of Jesus to influence others around you. Jesus came to Samaria with a purpose. And that purpose was to share salvation with this woman. A woman that no one wanted to talk to. A woman that knew she didn't deserve it. A woman who knew which side of the tracks She lived on. She wasn't trying to justify anything. She knew. And yet, the Lord wanted her anyway. He knew which side of the tracks I lived on. He wanted me anyway. He knows which side of the tracks you were living on and He wanted you anyway. He knows which side of the tracks those out here in the world are living on today and He wants them anyway. He just wants you and I to be that fountain of everlasting life that gets their attention, that shares with them the influence and the power of Jesus Christ in our lives. The Lord come to Samaria. We know he had work to do there. We know he had to confront the woman at the well in order for her to realize exactly how far away from him she really was. She was tied up in Jacob and Abraham and how she could draw relations to her community back to the temple. And Jesus said, don't worry about this well. Jesus said, don't worry about Mount Gerizim. Jesus said, don't worry about the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus said, I'm here and I'm here for you. Each one of us have a well in our life. We have something in our life that has been a focal point. We have something in our life that may have been idolatrous at some point. Something that we use to draw a relationship between us and the Lord. That's become so focal that it takes all of our attention. We have more attention on this one thing, on this one place, than we do on the Lord Himself. We know in our heart that Jesus can't be ignored. not any longer. We may want to question, compare, or debate it, but we know with the Lord calling in our heart, we know that He's right. That means it's time to make a decision. Are we going to follow Jesus, or are we going to reject Jesus? The woman at the well could say, you need to get your own water, or here's the drink from the well. And she could go her own way. Or she could say, I'll get your water, but I want you to give me a drink from your well, from your fountain. Are we willing and prepared to drink from the fountain of everlasting life that Jesus speaks of this morning? We may know that we're saved. We may be able to look back and point to a time when we've accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and that's great. But are we truly drinking of that fountain of everlasting life? Are we letting it work? from us. Are we letting it do a work through our life and through our body, through our testimony? Are we letting it be a witness through our life to those who need it? As our musicians come and prepare a hymn of invitation, I want you to let that sink in for just a few minutes. Because you are going to find yourself in one of two places. Either you're dealing with the Lord's call to accept Him as Savior right now, or you're dealing with Him to get closer to Him and to deal with His call in your life, His service in your life, your relationship with Him. Only you know Only you know where God sits in your life. Maybe you've been settling for just a little while. The Lord's been offering you this fountain. He's been telling you you need to just let it loose. Maybe the Lord has been telling you it's time to just let it flow. Let the Holy Spirit have His way in your life. If so, then today is that day. Today is the day that you need to say, yes, yes Lord, I'm willing to drink from your water. This morning, It's time to settle up with the Lord. It's time to meet Him at the well. It's time to meet Him where His flowing fountain exists. Are you going to meet the Lord and offer Him a drink of your water? Or are you going to meet the Lord and accept a drink of His? That's up to you. But I'll say this, if the Lord's dealing with your heart while we sing this morning, will you come?