Summary: There are two types of people in life: those who view life as a drudge, who are stagnant, and those who have the living water of God inside them. Jesus Christ came to this earth so that we might have that living water inside us, the living water which springs up unto everlasting life. He came for everyone, even for a Samaritan woman who had written herself off. God is speaking to you, by His Holy Spirit, as an individual. He wants to give you that living water: don’t push it aside, respond to Him.
There was a time when a lady had made a mess of her life and the people who knew her knew the way she lived. In her own mind it was as if life had become a drudge. There was a certain framework to life, but there was something inside her which meant that she was never satisfied. She thought that she would be satisfied in a certain way, but it was as if her life was stagnant. She knew about religion and the fact that her people had certain ways of seeing things. She even knew where she should have worshiped and the scriptures her people believed in. These people only had the first five books of the Bible. But this all seemed irrelevant to her. The stagnant nature of her life was something which she thought was just way she was.
If you were to compare stagnant water with water that is alive, vibrant and flowing the difference would be considerable. Your life is either one that is stagnant, and it concerns you that it is, or it is a life where the life of Christ is flowing through your veins. What you are going to hear today? For those of you who have become stagnant, it is a word which will transform you on the inside.
When Jesus was on this earth He demonstrated the specific people He wanted to get hold of. He came to do Father’s will. Time and again He blessed the whole multitude, but He also centered on specific people. God constantly zeroed in on the individual. God is speaking, individually, to you this morning.
Matthew 10:5 – 7
The twelve were told specifically to go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. When Jesus was going to Samaria, and came to the city of Samaritans, the disciples were aware that this was a place where they were not supposed to be reaching to people.
John 4:1 – 4
That was the route. He was due to go through the area where the disciples believed, from what they had been told, that they were not supposed to be talking to people.
John 4:5 – 8
The disciples had come to the city with Jesus but had left Him to buy some food. So Jesus was now on His own. The one thing that God rejoices to do is to talk to you on your own - Jesus and you, one-to-one. It gets that personal when it comes down to what life is all about. It is you talking with Jesus and addressing the situation you are in, in your life. It is to do with Jesus changing you in your life.
John 4:9
Two prejudices He cut right through there: Jesus was talking to a Samaritan and He was talking to a woman. It does not matter what prejudices you came here with. You may have come wondering why you are in church again because it is always the same.
Jesus Christ is talking to you as an individual.
John 4:10 – 12
The Samaritan woman knew that as far as they were concerned, the Jews had got it wrong; Mount Gerazim is where they should have been worshiping, not Jerusalem. Her thought process was: ‘Here’s a man who is a Jew, who is talking to me when He shouldn’t be, and is asking me for water when He has nothing to draw with.’
John 4:13 – 14
So, if we are talking about stagnant water as opposed to living water, the source of that life is Jesus Christ Himself. Your response to the circumstances in your life is crucial. Circumstances are all about you discovering more about the love of God as He reveals His answer to you on time, every time. It is a gift.
If I’m coming into a church and I know I’m only here because it seems the right thing to do and my attitude of mind is stagnant, there is something wrong. God is saying to you that He is giving you what will be in you: the living water of life. It is water that springs up to everlasting life. It never stops springing up. It helps you know the right things to say to people. He’s there all the time.
If you feel guilty, it is that fountain of life springing up that banishes that guilt. When you see a fountain, it goes up, it goes down; here we’re talking about a fountain that does not come down. This means that in your life, the circumstances of your life are progressing to the end when you will see God face to face.
Today, God will show you that He is going to make something of your life better than you could ever have thought. It is a case of Christ’s life progressing in your life until you meet Him. Everything revolves around us reaching out to others so that they will have the life of Christ within them. There are people out there with no hope: they need Jesus Christ. What we are going to see in this church is the realisation, by you, of Who’s inside you. It is that living water inside you that communicates the life of God to others. You can stop analysing what’s happened in the past and instead focus on going forward in God with that living water inside. It is going to be God working through you.
John 4:15 – 18
Jesus knew all about her. Her sins were laid bare. To her, her past was something that haunted her. She never seemed to be able to get things right. She also seemed to get involved with the wrong people and each time she thought it was her.
It might be you’re not a Christian; Jesus Christ is speaking to you. Jesus is here to say to you that He is that living water, the One that you need. Jesus Christ is the One that will take the power of sin from your life. He has paid for the penalty of your sin. I don’t need to convince you about sin in your life, and this women did not need convincing either.
John 4:19 – 24
She wanted to know where the true place was to worship. Jesus replied that it is not to do with the place, it is to do with Jesus Christ and you as an individual. It is one-to-one. God is a spirit and we have to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
When I come into church I am coming here to open up my heart to sing and to take knowledge of the words I am singing because I am in communion with my Creator. I come here to join with my brothers and sisters to praise Him. There is a linking from the life inside me with the Scripture so that I know that this is the way I am going to understand God more. Faith comes by hearing His Word.
John 4:25
The Samaritans only had the first five books of the Bible. In Deuteronomy it was prophesied that the Messiah would come Who would tell them all things. The woman knew about this prophesy.
John 4:26
Sitting on a well, in the middle of a day, this woman was talking to the Messiah. The same Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, is talking to you this morning. It excites me to know how God is going to develop that life in you and through you during the next few weeks. Stagnant water does not produce life. Viewing life as drudgery, or being in a situation where you wonder what is the point, needs to be discarded. We get rid of that point of view by concentrating on the words here: “I that speak unto you am He.” It is a case of you, engaging with Jesus Christ, one-to-one.
The disciples had been getting the food – that time was sufficient for Jesus to communicate with this lady – then the disciples came back.
John 4:27 – 34
When He was talking to the lady, Jesus knew that that was His work. The Gentiles had not yet had the Gospel preached to them. But Jesus knew that what He was going to do would have an impact, not only on the lady and the Gentiles, but on you today. His mind was probably so caught up with what He’d been talking about that He’d forgotten to eat. His meat was to do the will of His Father.
John 4:35 – 38
The disciples were thinking about what He was saying and could not figure it out. He was talking about fruit and the fields. He was talking about the joy that was going to be set before Him when He went to endure the cross. The joy was the Church, the bride of Christ. The fields are white, ready to harvest.
John 4:39 – 40
It was a joy to Him to be involved with people. He died that you might be set free. That means to have that living water inside. That living water affects how you react to situations in life. He is your provider and Saviour.
John 4:41 – 42
Today, you know for yourself that He is your Saviour. God has been speaking to you. You might push it away but He will come back because He loves you. Life is about living to the full and life can only be lived to the full when Jesus is on the inside. Jesus came for you, as He came for one Samaritan woman who had written herself off.
Put this into your situation today. This coming week are you going to continue in the viewpoint you know is wrong? Or are you going to let God, by His Holy Spirit, change your thinking?
Isaiah 12:2– 4
There’s living water flowing. To be involved with God is not stagnancy. To be involved with God is to be involved with the One who is life. You need to communicate to your children and to others what I’ve been saying today, by the way you live. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I am not going to be dismissive of Him. I’m going to embrace the One who has done everything for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment