NEVER THIRST AGAIN
JOHN 4:1-42
Our infinite longings must be satisfied by an
1When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2(though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),
3he left Judea and went again to Galilee.
4He had to travel through Samaria;
5so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.
6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.
7A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her,
8because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.
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. —John 4:1–9 (CSB)
FAULTY ASSUMPTIONS:
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’?
12You 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.”
13Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.
14But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”
15“Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” —John 4:10–15 (CSB)
“Our greatest needs are mainly
(John 4:10-15)
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.”
19“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet.
20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” —John 4:16–20 (CSB)
“Our greatest regrets are ultimately
(John 4:15-19)
20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
21Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.
23But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.
24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”
25The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.” —John 4:20–26 (CSB)
“The truth about God is personally
(John 4:20-26)
Our deepest longings can only be satisfied when we
worship God in
ESSENTIAL TRUTHS:
27Just then his disciples arrived, and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people,
29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
30They left the town and made their way to him. —John 4:27–30 (CSB)
You can’t encounter Jesus and…
31In the meantime the disciples kept urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32But he said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
34“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
35“Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.
36The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
37For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.” —John 4:31–38 (CSB)
not
Jesus was sent to be the savior of the world. (John 4:39-42)
39Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”
40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
41Many more believed because of what he said.
42And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.” —John 4:39–42 (CSB)
Our ultimate thirst only Jesus can
Our ultimate problem only Jesus can
Our ultimate purpose only Jesus can
DISCUSSION GUIDE:
In what ways might God be calling you to step out of your comfort zone to share His love with others?
How do you relate to the Samaritan woman’s initial focus on material needs rather than spiritual ones? What are some ways we can shift our focus?
Jesus exposed the Samaritan woman’s past without condemning her. How can we approach our own sins and those of others with both truth and grace?
The sermon mentions three faulty assumptions: Which of these do you struggle with most, and why?
How does the woman’s reaction to her encounter with Jesus challenge your own faith and recent responses to Jesus?
The sermon states that “our ultimate thirst, only Jesus can satisfy.” What are some “empty cisterns” in your life that you might be turning to instead of Christ?
How can we cultivate a worship that is in spirit and in truth as Jesus describes?
The sermon emphasizes that our ultimate purpose is to glorify the Father through the exaltation of the Son. How can you practically live this out in your day-to-day life?
The Samaritan woman immediately shared her encounter with Jesus. What holds you back from sharing your faith, and how can you overcome these barriers?
The sermon mentions that “missions exists because worship doesn’t.” How does this statement challenge your view of missions and evangelism?