A Man, a Woman, and a Well || Victory Church [Book of John #12]

Alright, hey guys. Hey, one more time, happy Mother's Day. This sermon is not only for the moms today, but I do want to pause and celebrate the moms today. So just one more time, come on. Biological moms, spiritual moms, foster moms, adoptive moms, praying aunties and grandmamas. I got my mama up here. Hey mom, what's up? Summer came to me yesterday and she's like, hey don't forget, I'm your baby mama. And I said, don't worry baby, I will never forget that you're my baby mama. Let me just say like this, alright, when it comes to Mother's Day, I know this, that Mother's Day can be very joyful for many, and it can also be complicated for others. So let me just say this, I pray that wherever you're at today, that the Word of God hits you right where you are. Alright, and I know this, this is this is one of the things I love most about Jesus, that inexplicably, but almost predictably, Jesus has a way of reaching every single one of us exactly right where we are, even though we come from different places. And so that is kind of my prayer for you guys, that over the next few minutes, even in a big room with a thousand people in here and thousands more people online, it is my prayer. And I believe that Jesus, the same God who somehow is a Good Shepherd, directed all of our steps to come from where we were this week, to somehow end up in this same space right now. That in that same exact, unique, special way, He's gonna speak a unique, special, exact Word to every single one of us for exactly right where you are. Alright, so I believe that. I would just say, get ready. In fact, turn to your neighbor and say, get ready. Alright, turn to your other neighbor and pull a TDJ, say, get ready, get ready, get ready. Get ready. Hey, if you are newer with us here at Victory, we are basically taking the whole year and talking about, really, probably my favorite book of the Bible, the book of John. And John just soars high like an eagle, and pretty much every single page is saturated with him just screaming, Jesus is God! Look at Him! Put your faith in Him! Trust in Him! Like, every single page is that. And if you were here the first few weeks, I said something that I just want to revisit real quick, that I felt like, even at the end of last year, God gave me this phrase, that this is the year that we're gonna rob hell. Alright? And if y'all

missed it, two weeks ago, we water baptized 720 people on one weekend. So for me, I'm watching it. Like, I'm watching it happen. Like, men, women, children, some of you guys, your families are being radically changed. That's what John writes about. The end of the book of John, he says, I wrote these things so that you would believe in Jesus, and by believing, you would have eternal life in His name. That's the journey that we're on. Alright? And so the cool thing, the beautiful thing about spending a long time in one book, is you can kind of go deeper. And so, we have actually spent 11 weeks in the first three chapters, and today we are graduating to chapter four. Alright? And so we're gonna be here for a few weeks, kind of turning this story in a few different angles, so make sure to stick with us. But today, we are pulling up a chair to this moment where Jesus meets a woman at a well. And John 3 ends with this moment of John the Baptist, and I think that Pastor Kervin did an amazing job with this last week, if y'all were here. John the Baptist says, Jesus must become greater, and I must become lesser. And what we actually see in the text is, it starts happening, Jesus's ministry starts exploding. And one of the things that religious people love to do is put out moves of God. And so, the Pharisees show up, and Jesus is like, hey, it's not time for that fight yet. So, he grabs his disciples, and they head north. And so, we're gonna pick up here in verse 3. It says, so he, Jesus, left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to, everybody say, had to, he had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually, he came to the Samaritan village of Sukkar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat down wearily beside the well about noontime. Okay, pause, let's unpack that real quick. So, the first thing we learn right here is that Jesus had to go through Samaria. So, everybody say, had to. All right, so we learned that Jesus had to go through Samaria, except he didn't. All right, so you know, myself, what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna show you a map. All right, so, if you've been here long enough, I'm a geography major, so that's what I do. So, Jerusalem, here at the bottom of the map, is in the area of Israel called Judea. All right, the northern part of Israel, up where the Sea of Galilee is,

guess what that area is called? Galilee. That's why it's called the Sea of Galilee. I know, it's amazing. Okay, so, Jerusalem is in Judea, and he's moving up to the Galilee area. All right, so, the most direct way is actually on this white path, the kind of... goes straight up and down and it goes right through this area in the city called Sukkar. The problem is right around that area in the center of that circle is is the region called Samaria. The problem with Samaria in a Jew's mind is that Samaritans live there. That's the big problem and you know Jesus we're familiar with Samaritans because Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritans. Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan because for a Jew there was no such thing as a good Samaritan. Samaritans were half-breeds. They're dirty, sinful, impure, idolatrous people. There was the saying of the time that if a Samaritan shadow touches you, you are unclean. Like this is how much they hated these guys. So the path a good Jewish person would take is the red path. Why? They are gonna take like an extra day or two to go around Samaria because they don't want to touch a Samaritan. They don't want to look at a Samaritan. They don't want to be with a Samaritan. But Jesus takes the white path right up the middle. Why? Because he had to. He had to. And that word in Greek is day which doesn't necessarily mean had to. It actually means necessary. So it was necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria and land in Suhar. Why was it necessary? Not in the sense of like there was no other path because there was. There's multiple other ways to do it. No, it was necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria. And let me say it like this. Apple Maps Camel Edition was sending him around Samaria. But it was necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria. Why? Because there was someone really special that he wanted to talk to. Jesus had a divine appointment set up with somebody that he needed to go through and she was in Suhar there in Samaria. And if you were paying attention, when does this really special meeting with this really special person take place? What time of day? Noontime. Noontime. Okay. Alright. If you're just joining us, really important to know that John is a writer knowing that you're reading what he's writing. So

in other words, pay attention to the details because he includes the details on purpose. And there's this ongoing thing. You're gonna see it like ten more times. This contrast between darkness and light. And all of John 3 in this conversation that Jesus had with this religious guy named Nicodemus, it happens at night. What happens at night? John is saying lack of faith, fear, doubt, the devil's in the shadows at night. What happens in the daytime? Oh man. Faith, life, miracles. Buckle up your seatbelt because God's about to do something really cool in the daytime. And so there's this really wild extreme contrast between John 3 and John 4. He's telling a story about a man. Now he's telling a story about a woman. A religious leader to somebody who you're about to find is not very religious. It's this person who's super righteous to this person who is not righteous. And John is setting up this contrast really to show us, listen to this, I think this is what he's saying right at the very beginning, is that sometimes the people you least expect to put their faith in Jesus are actually the first ones to sign their name on the dotted line. And I think what that means for us is guys, don't give up on the people that you love. Don't give up. Don't stop praying. Don't stop talking to them about the love of Jesus. Don't stop letting the light shine. Come on. Because I'm telling you, it doesn't matter how hard their heart is, it doesn't matter how messy their life is, Jesus can meet them right where they are. Okay? And let's pick it back up in verse 7. And we're gonna read a chunk of text here, okay? Soon as Jesus is sitting on the edge of the well, a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, please give me a drink. And he was alone at the time, that's important detail, because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. And the woman was surprised because Jews hate the Samaritans. And she said to Jesus, you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan, so why are you asking me for a drink? And Jesus replied, if you only knew the gift. I love that. If you only knew that the gift that God had for you and who you're speaking to, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water. But sir, you don't have a rope. I love it. She's clueless. She had no clue what Jesus is talking about. You

don't have a bucket. Like, are you gonna give me this living water? And this well is very deep. Like, where would you get the living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Jesus is. Who gave us this well? Like, how can you offer us better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed? And Jesus replied, this is so good. Anyone who drinks this water from this well will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give them will never be thirsty again. And it's gonna become a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life. And the woman says, please sir, give me this water. Then I'll never be thirsty again. And I won't have to come back here to get water. And Jesus said, hey, real quick, go and get your husband. Dramatic pause. I don't have a husband, she said. You're right. You don't have a husband for you've had five husbands. And you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth. Sir, you must be a prophet. I love that. Okay, that dot dot dot holds about five or six verses that we're actually gonna circle back to next week, okay? But jumping ahead, she makes this this proclamation. I know the Messiah is coming, the one who's called the Christ, and when he comes, he will explain everything to us. And then Jesus told her, I am the Messiah. I love that. Quick asterisk. This woman at this well is the first person Jesus ever reveals himself to as the Messiah. She's the first one. Just then his disciples came back, and they were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, what do you want with her? Why are you talking to her? And the woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling them, come and see a man who told me everything I did. Could he possibly be the Messiah? Whoo, okay. I love this last imagery, okay? I can't help not think like this, like this woman runs back into town. She's like, hey everybody, I met a man! And they're like, girl. Girl, you done been married like 50 times. Like, you need to stop meeting men. Like, you stop. Stop it. And I just think she's like, nah, but this one's different. All right, and if we just lay culture on top of this story, here's what's wild, okay?

Jesus meets this woman who in essence already has three strikes against her, okay? One, she's a woman in a very patriarchal culture. So like, like women at this time had no rights over your life. Like, like you have no authority, you have nothing. Like, like strike one, you are a woman in a man's world at this time. Two, she's a Samaritan, which means she's an outcast. Three, she's a sinner. She's, she's lived with five dudes, or she's been married to five guys, and now she's shacking up with, with the sixth one, okay? And so by the way, I was, I was reading this this last week. I just paused, and I was just reminded that honestly, it's stories like this that affirm to me so much and give me so much confidence that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Okay, why? Because if you are writing a story at this time, listen, you do not make a woman the hero of the story, and you don't make a Samaritan the hero of the story, and you definitely do not make a dirty, divorced Samaritan woman the hero of the story. Like, like that is, that is not the type of story you tell if you want to like inspire confidence around this God, because no holy Jewish man would ever talk to a woman like that. But Jesus doesn't stop. And in essence, I want to say it like this, just right here, right off the top. Jesus right here crosses three barriers, all right? The first one is the gender barrier. So, again, like cultural rules of the time, if Jesus is sitting on the edge of the well, this woman comes up, culture would say, you need to take ten big steps back, and you need to kind of like turn around. You don't talk to her. Because men don't talk to women they aren't related to. You just don't do that, right? And so that's what culture would have said to do at the time. Like, like, it's super taboo to talk to a woman in public. Like, what are you doing, Jesus? That's why the disciples are like freaking out about it. He crosses the culture barrier again, because she's, she's the enemy. The Samaritans are the mortal enemy. He crosses the moral barrier. Like, don't you know this woman carries the scarlet letter, Jesus? Like, what are you doing? But he crosses the gender barrier, the culture barrier, the moral barrier. It is scandalous that Jesus is talking to this woman. But Jesus throws all the cultural norms out. Why? Because if we need the reminder in Mark 2, here's what Jesus says. Healthy people don't need a doctor.

Sick people do. And he says, I didn't come to call those who think they're righteous, but those who know they are sinners. And again, here's what we see in John 3 with this religious leader Nicodemus. He thinks that he has it all together, and so he doesn't want anything to do with Jesus. But you actually find this complete broken woman who, who, who has a radical life encounter. And I think the story is basically this, guys, is we're all busted up. We are all jacked up. It doesn't matter how much religion you put on the outside. It doesn't matter how nice you dress today. You're just as messy on the inside as everybody else. And the sooner we can come to the place of being honest about that, the faster the healing can actually begin to occur in our lives. Because Jesus is willing to cross those barriers, right? And, and here's how I'd say it. Here's how I'd say it. I love this thought. Jesus goes to the people we go around. Think about the map. Jesus goes to the ones that we go around, right? Let me say, look at this. He goes to the person holding the sign at the interstate exit. You know who I'm talking about. The person you go around. Because you're like, you get in the other lane. And then they start walking, and you're like, oh, I just got a phone call. Right? Come on. We all do it. We all do it. Because we don't want to look. We don't want to look at it. We'd rather go around them, but Jesus goes to them. Jesus goes to your neighbor who just got you in trouble with the HOA and you don't want anything to do with that person you know what I'm saying? Jesus goes to your co-worker who just got the promotion instead of you and I believe maybe even Jesus will go to a broken man or a broken woman who's struggling in church on Mother's Day because praise God Jesus comes to the sick and the hurting which means he comes to me and he comes to you and it's actually with this woman and again I just love this little asterisk it's with this woman think about this the woman he shouldn't even be talking to it's with this woman Jesus has his longest conversation in the entire Bible culture would say don't even talk to her he's like I'll show you how much I'm

going to talk to her because this special person needs a special conversation and here's really the question that's going to guide us over the next few minutes what does he tell her that day that he's still telling us today all right here's the first thing is that there is a well that just can't fill you there is a well that just can't fill you okay we're gonna look at the culture here okay so this woman comes to the well at noon alone carrying her jar all right and culturally speaking all of our flags start going up right uh let's start with this she she came at noon okay so you don't go at noon because water collection happens at dawn or at dusk it happens in the early morning or it happens in the evening why because it gets hot like it is hot in Israel you're not carrying a 50 pound jar of water on your head right home like that you just don't come so she shouldn't be coming right now and she definitely shouldn't be coming alone okay why because um women at this time were largely kind of trapped at home like you're you're again you don't have a whole lot of authority at that time and so really going to the well was the one time you could just really get out of the house and go and connect with other women and so the town well kind of became the social space for women it was where they would go make friendships it was where they would go spill the tea come on they tell them the city gossip hey you hear about jessica right like like that's that's what's happening around the well like women are bonding around the well um it was like first century social media like this was their time like in fact if you this is how much wells and women were connected if you look at the old testament whenever a man wanted to get married he just went to the well isaac jacob moses met their wives at the well because women and wells were so interconnected it's not a mistake that

jesus sets up shop here at the edge of a well right so here's the thing why is this woman in a very social space why is she here alone we don't have to look very far verse 16 again jesus says go and get your husband i don't have a husband you're right you don't have a husband for you've had five husbands and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now see we find out very quickly as jesus kind of pulls the mask aside and sees the real her he shows us she's had this revolving door broken marriages broken relationships over and over and over again and that's why she's alone is because the women of the town have rejected her all right again she's wearing the scarlet letter like no no we don't want you over here and just the easiest thing is for her to go by herself later on in the day and if we're if we're being honest if you're anything like me as you grew up kind of like reading this story there's there's a layer on this story of like this woman's wicked right that's what it sounds like right and so when we read this if we're not careful this feels like jesus's gotcha moment for the woman he's like oh no listen i'm gonna i'm gonna go meet with that lady who's like hopping around from bed to bed to bed and i'm gonna call her out right he's like hey go get your husband he's like i know what you're about to say well i'm not married yeah yeah you ain't married oh we know we know what you've been doing right he's saying you you you for the streets you know i'm saying like you hopping around this girl got her only fans link in her bio like this is that girl this is that girl this is this is what's like it's what it feels like when you're first reading the story and if we're not careful we'll believe that and we'll filter the whole story through those sorts of glasses but there's one detail if you've never heard it before that changes the whole story one detail changes the entire story here it is in this culture women couldn't divorce their husbands

only men could divorce women women couldn't divorce men so listen if we actually take a look at this this this likely is not a woman who's been hopping around from bed to bed to bed because you couldn't get away with that in that culture which means she didn't begin as a vixen she began as a victim this woman at the well is a woman who's been thrown away abused discarded five times by men that she trusted and now she's with a man who doesn't even let enough to put a ring on the finger. You know tracking with like it's we start reading the story a little differently because now five men have walked away five times she has thought maybe the next man will love me and provide for me and meet my needs can we can I say it like this for today five times she has taken her jar back to the well of men and tried to find something that would satisfy her soul's thirst but every single time that well has run dry and somewhere along the way if we can kind of read between the lines somewhere along the way I believe that she started to realize she could play the game too she's like oh really you're gonna use money to get sex out of me oh well I can use sex to get something out of you and then everybody just starts playing the game and guys may this be our reminder right now that the wells of this world will always fail you because the real issue is not that you're thirsty the real issue is that you're going to the wrong well to drink from that's the real problem because the real problem was not that this woman had had physical thirst the real problem was that she was spiritually dehydrated but she was running to physical places to fill spiritual needs y'all tracking with me we say this from time to time is the four basic needs of humanity are acceptance identity security and purpose acceptance identity security and purpose every single one of us needs acceptance identity security and purpose and here's what I believe if we could actually get a snapshot of some of you you work your nine-to-five tomorrow morning you get in your car and you're gonna make your 12 hour commute right and if I could actually see you in your car you'd be

sitting in the driver's seat and you'd have your jar in the in the passenger seat is a little buckled in take care of that right and so you get to work you pull your jar out and you walk inside right and you scoop your your your jar into money but what you're really trying to find is security and there's this thing that you believe somewhere in there it's like oh my boss is my provider and if I didn't have this like if I don't make him happy like her happy like what like what am I like how am I gonna make it and so we're going to physical places to meet spiritual needs and we're like yeah I know I don't struggle with my identity man but that promotion be really nice because who am I if I don't have a title come on church you know some of us this this week maybe maybe you're single and you're gonna go on a date you're gonna get in your car and you're gonna go to the date and then you're like oh hold on got to get my jar cuz I've got some needs I got to get met and you know where you're going you're gonna try and position that entire evening so you can get lucky why because you're trying to dip into the well of sex or pleasure to get acceptance maybe somebody will actually love me in the deep place of who I am and so listen we dip into shallow wells to meet deep needs and that's why it never satisfies and what happens is it's gonna happen tonight it's gonna happen tomorrow night and the night after that here's what happens when the day starts winding down and all the swirls starts subsiding the swirl that's inside here that's been there the whole day but it's been covered up by everything else that's when it starts coming up okay and here's what it looks like for some of us it looks like oh man I'm lonely and so let me go take my jar to a well that will sedate my loneliness whether that's that website the porn thing a person like whatever it like I did because I'm really lonely so I got to meet that thing and some of us were maybe the trauma of something happened when we were young it starts coming up and so I'm like I don't like that pain I don't like that memory and so let me just get a little bit of alcohol let me just get a little let me just pop the bottle and the pills whatever that thing is right and we dip into this to try and sedate the thing this is why sin never actually

quenches the thirst it sedates you for five minutes and then you're actually more thirsty on the other side of the sin than when you began and here's the truth here's the good news of today guys is that Jesus wants to break the cycle of going back to the same empty well again and again and again and again and that is why Jesus when he tells the woman that he has living water here's her response here it is in verse 15 she says give me the water if you can do that for my life give it to me so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming back here to draw water here's what she's saying she's saying Jesus I am tired of taking my jar to the well of men over and over and over again it's not working I have shame I have rejection I'm isolated but it's the only well that I know to go to is there another well you're telling me there's more There's something actually that could really satisfy me more than the shallow well right here Okay, let me put in today's world words. She is a thirsty woman Looking to be quenched by a man, but it's not working. It's not working So then maybe the next one will do it maybe the next one will do it and it never works Because that well is way too shallow And here's where I have to say this. Let me just pause right here. Let me pull aside This is not a condemnation on marriage, this is not a sermon saying hey ladies, you don't need a man Right. You strong independent woman like you don't need a man No, what it's actually saying is this is The search for real meaning and real value will never actually be found in a person that's stuff that only Jesus can give you And And I've heard it said like this I love this this thought is that sex outside of marriage is the search for something that's missing Sex inside of marriage is the celebration of something that's been found That's the difference And so when you're taking your jar back to this person that person this thing and that thing just know that well will never fill you I This last week. I was scrolling Instagram and however the algorithm works So this real this girl pops up, and I can see her eyes are teary, and I'm like alright. You got me I

Start I start watching and it gets it's it gets real like super quick and in fact trigger warning She says pretty much off the top. She says I was molested by my cousin when I was nine And she said so as a young girl I learned that I could actually use sex to get things from men and By sequence of events. She's just recapping her life. She says at 17. I was homeless Living in my car and the only way I could go to bed with a roof over my head is if I would sleep with the man who owned the roof and So she carries that out for a few years she ends up on OnlyFans to make money and here's how she rationalized it I want to just quote her Because she said at least the men on that website can't hurt me They'll sexualize me, but at least I'll be safe And then she paused and she's just thinking out loud. She says there's something so dark about that thought process But based on what I gone through in my life. I just thought that's about as good as it gets for me She looks down she grabs something and she says but for some reason this week I opened up the Bible and I realized how sick and tired I am of this life And I'm realizing that my value isn't just sex And I never saw that until I started reading the Bible and she says I don't know where I'm going on this journey But something is changing within me as I just keep on reading I love that So let's pray for Athena this week And I was I was thinking about it guys like If I could just have one story That shines the spotlight on the larger problem of pornography and even living together outside of marriage That's it because what it does it subtly or sometimes overtly Communicates that women have value only for one thing not to be loved but to be used for sex And it also communicates in many ways that men have value only for one thing not to be loved But to be used for money and in this in this culture that gets those things get flip-flop like it's everybody's doing everything right now, but Here's what I'm saying. The problem isn't that culture lies Culture is always gonna lie. The problem is if we're not careful, we'll start to believe it

Here's what I'm saying ladies if you're not careful You'll actually start to believe the lie that your only value is your body and what I can provide for a man Man, if you're not careful You'll you'll start believe that the only value you have is what's in your bank account and what you can provide for a woman that that's The only thing your value is based on that is a lie from the pit of hell as a lie from the pit of hell But if we believe it We'll just grab our jars and we'll go to our each other's wells and we'll just use each other all day long And that's what that's that's what the world does everybody's just using each other to try and get these temporary needs met on the inside Okay, so I need to say this. I need to say this today a Mother's Day weekend ladies women Today as the men of this church, we affirm that you are fearfully and wonderfully made Your value does not depend on how you measure up to society's beauty standards. You are more than your body You are intelligent and called and gifted by God to do great things You have value because you were made in God's image and you were purchased with the blood of Jesus and I affirm and we affirm As the men of this church is that you are treasured here. We treasure you we value We love you. No strings attached. And men, today I affirm that you are fearfully and wonderfully made too. Your value does not depend on how you measure up to society's success standards. You are more than your bank account or how much you bench press. You are intelligent and called and gifted by God to do great things. You have value because you are made in God's image and you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus. You are loved and I honor you today. I honor you today, men. And we are called to do that for each other. We are called to honor each other and respect each other and value each other. Like, you may not get it out there, but it should be expected in here. In fact, I expect it in here. I expect it. So dudes, if you're carrying a different mentality, it's trying to be... Come up. Come up higher. Come up higher. All right? But here's the deal. As much as you ever get it from another person, it's still not gonna be enough. Because at the end of the day, only Jesus can fill that need. Acceptance, identity, security, and focus. Every other well will never satisfy you. So here's the first thing Jesus says. He says that there's a well that just can't fill you. The second

thing is really good news. There's a Savior that came to find you. And this is where the story gets really good, okay? So remember this as we started. Jesus didn't have to be here, right? He wanted to be here on that day. He wanted to be at that well. Because he knows that this woman is on her way. And this woman, think about this, she may have come to intentionally avoid people, but for Jesus he comes to intentionally find her. She's intentionally trying to be by herself. He's intentionally trying to find her. In essence, I think Jesus woke up that morning and was like, hey, there's a woman at a well who thinks that nobody sees her, but I see her and I'm gonna go find her. And I'm gonna say it like this for today. Some of y'all thought you would just come into church today. Come on, some of you kids, you're like, this is my Mother's Day present from my mama. I'm gonna come to church today. All right? Some of you husbands are like, I go one time a year. This is your gift, right? You know? And you're just like, I'm just going to church. I'm just doing... No, no, no, no, no. Here's what you need to know. Jesus had this meeting on his calendar. You just think you just randomly showed up here today? Jesus had this one, like, months out. He knew you'd be here. He knows you've been running. He knows how you've been hurting. He knows the battle you've been fighting that nobody else knows. He knows how some of you just thought, like, I just want to be by myself. You came late and you're gonna try and leave early, but Jesus has this time with you on his calendar, and he came looking for you. And that's the good news of the gospel. If you need the reminder, Luke 15, Jesus says, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lost one, isn't gonna leave the other 99 and go looking for the one? This is just what Jesus does, guys. It's what he does. I actually think more than a platform ministry, Jesus has a very one ministry. That's what Jesus loves, I think, more than anything else. It's just sitting down with the one. Sitting down with you. Sitting down with me. And this little detail of the story, it makes all the difference, okay? Jesus sits on the edge of the well. Ah, okay. My seminary professor, Dr. Burge, here's how he said it. This is so good. Write this down. It says, Jesus becomes an intentional obstacle. Oh, that's so good. Jesus becomes an intentional obstacle. So think about this.

She grabs her jar that morning from her home, and she's just gonna go back to the same well she always goes to. Come on, spiritualize this for a sec. She's gonna go back to the same well she always goes to. Like, she grabs her jar, she just fills it up every single day, trying to get acceptance, identity, security, and purpose. Just going back, going through the motions. I don't know any other life. This is just what I do. And she arrives at the well, but this day, Jesus is in the way. And in essence, to draw water from the same well she's already always drawn from, she's gonna have to move Jesus out of the way. Jesus becomes an intentional obstacle. And let me just tell you guys, this is what Jesus does for the people that he loves. He stands in the way between us and our sin, because he refuses to idly stand by while we drink from poisoned wells, slowly dying long deaths. And the only way sometimes, you know this is how it works, the only way sometimes that you can do your sin is you got to get Jesus out of the way. D.L. Moody says this. This is so good. He says, it would seem that our Lord, oh sorry, before someone can sin quietly, they must first silence the voice of Jesus in their conscience. Before someone can sin quietly. In other words, in other words, you know what it is, you're carrying your jar to the money, to the person, to the food, to the alcohol, whatever it is, you're carrying your jar, and all of a sudden, boom, Jesus, Holy Spirit. It's like, what are you doing? And then you lie to the Holy Spirit and yourself, and then you go do the thing. Right? In essence, Jesus positions himself, this is what he does. He does guys Jesus loves us too much to let us keep going back to the well So he stands in the way and I want you to notice what Jesus does and doesn't do with this woman. He does not condemn her He doesn't stand on the corner with a bullhorn. He's not shouting at her. No, no, no John 3 17 Remember we looked at this a few weeks ago. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world He came into the world to save the world. We were already condemned. We don't need more condemnation We need salvation. And so Jesus came to save us so he doesn't condemn her. He confronts her He lovingly confronts her and holds a mirror basically up and says hey You've been married five times and now you're shacking up with number six and she tries to change the subject, right? She tries to deflect. In fact, she just kind of she hides underneath this partial truth. You know, I'm saying there's like

I'm not married and Jesus is like Right, right come on it's a partial truth Do I need to say it that's what we do too No, no, no, no, no. No, I'm not an addict. I just I just drink too much every once in a while Jesus is like Come on no, I'm not cheating on my spouse. I just I just I've been talking to this girl and I like send her pictures of myself Yeah No, no, no like no I'm not caught up in in in fame and accolades, but no I'm just gonna go check what my follower account is and Jesus is like Bruh You're just lying to yourself You know, he knows You know, he knows Who do we think we're fooling and that's what she was she was trying to pull that with Jesus. No, no, no I'm not married. She's like Come on Here's what's actually happened. Here's what's actually actually happened. He said hey Bring all of you into this conversation Bring your pain into this conversation Bring the real you into this conversation because if we can't have a real conversation, you're never gonna get real healing If you hide behind false Righteousness, you're never gonna get real righteousness And he says let's talk about your real story. Let's What Jesus is inviting us to is listen on our way to go to that Well is to put the jar down and to talk about why we're going to the well to begin with He's like hey, hey, why are you going to that thing again? What are you actually trying to meet you? I just prayed that tonight or this week whenever you're going to that well again The Holy Spirit would stop you in your tracks and be like, why are you here? What are you actually looking for? Put your jar down and bring the real you to the table and let's have a conversation. Let's talk about your fear of failure

Let's talk about your imposter syndrome. Let's talk about the time when you were nine with your cousin and what he did to you Because you spent the rest of your life trying to avoid that emotion by going to this well, but it's never done anything But bring you more pain Because the truth is there's a Savior who's come to find you and he sees all of it He sees how you've been running to the same. Well, and so what he does he pulls up a seat Beside that well, and he loves Ruining our pursuit of drinking from poison wells. That's one of Jesus's favorite things That's one of Jesus's favorite things I think is to stop the people he loves from drinking poison and What it produces is this I think we can see this right here Is this woman who has been sexualized over and over and over again who's been abused who's been discarded time and time again in Jesus? She finds the first man who's ever respected her Who didn't try and violate her who actually gave to her instead of taking from her? He finds the first man who ever treated her with dignity he finds the first man who sees her for who she really is Because he is the Savior Who came to find this really special lady? And guys, there's three really good news. There's a well that will not satisfy you There's a Savior that's come to find you and best yet. There's a gift that'll change you All right. And so here's how this part of the story closes out And I'd say it like this Jesus is sitting on the edge of your well Not to bother you but to better you Not to bother you but to bless you because he has something for you. And here it is in verse 10. Here it is Jesus replied if you only knew the gift everybody say gift the gift that God has for you and who you're speaking to you would ask me and I give you living water because anybody who Drinks from that well, you've experienced it for years. You're just gonna be thirsty again But those who drink the water I give them will never be thirsty again I want you to notice Jesus says if you only knew the gift, here's what he doesn't say if you only knew the rules Come on cuz that Jesus came with a to-do list and he says I'll give you the gift if you get water Baptized and go to church three and a half times a month Come on, go to membership class. Oh, you got to do it. Just right. I'll give you the gift No, Jesus finds this jacked-up woman and right where she is. He said I got a gift for you today

and the gift is a new source of satisfaction himself himself that's the gift and here's what we actually start to see is that she was thinking too small jesus says hey i got this water for you and she's like oh great because this jar is really heavy and she's like listen i'm trying to save you from your life that you're flushing down the toilet i'm not talking about putting a water cooler in your house i'm talking about putting a well in your soul i'm talking about meeting the deepest need of who you are girl you guys say like this she comes expecting water but jesus brings the gift the gift eternal life the gift of the holy spirit purification of the soul being loved in the deepest place of who you are here's what i'm saying she came to jesus expecting way too little from jesus all right c.s lewis says one of my favorite quotes he said it would seem that our lord finds our desires not too strong but actually too weak we are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us we are far too easily pleased we are far too easily pleased here's what i'm saying guys the devil has sold us the lie that our desires are actually too strong i'm here today to tell you your desires are actually too weak because what the truth is for some of us we've settled for sex with the masses when marriage with god was on the table we've settled for money instead of meaning we have settled for for drugs when intimacy with the holy spirit was available to us pleasures forevermore found in god's presence come on guys we live in a dry and weary land where there is no water and nothing will ever fulfill our soul the wells are way too shallow in this land where can i go to meet with god my soul thirst for god my life body hungers for god i gotta go meet with god and the good news is this when we find jesus you will find the deepest most satisfying well you've ever experienced in your entire life he is the well that never runs dry he is cleanest clear amazing bougie water nothing like it and i'm telling you if you have tasted and seen that the lord is good when you taste you're like that's what i've wanted my entire life how do i get that again how do i get it again because that's the idea guys jesus says hey when you dream me you won't thirst anymore he's not saying you don't have to keep coming back to him what he's saying is now you can stop going to the thousand other wells searching for what you've been looking for because jesus is the one i'm never going to thirst again because now i know the well i have to go to and so when the woman hears this her response is jesus give me the water somebody just needs to say jesus give me the water jesus give me the water and then when she drinks the water here's the detail that is the exclamation point

she left her water jar behind when she meets jesus she leaves her water jar behind why because when you encounter the one who truly satisfies your soul you stop clinging to the way you used to meet your needs i don't need you any longer i don't need you any longer i've met jesus so now the jar is unnecessary it's unnecessary because now i can just go to jesus when i'm thirsty and guys that's the good news of the gospel we used to have to go to witchcraft and astrology and that guy and this girl and that thing and the job and all that sort of stuff for acceptance identity security and purpose and now we just go to jesus that's the simplicity of the gospel that is the beauty of the gospel we have one source to meet all of our needs and his name is jesus the well that will never run dry so now our testimony like the woman at the well may sound a little bit like this i came here to quench my thirst but jesus stood in the way and he gave me something better and praise god now i'm not thirsty anymore because i finally found the one who quenches my life's deepest thirst and his name is jesus christ amen amen so family let's go to the well that never runs dry let's bow our heads let's pray jesus you are lord you are god you are master but you're also friend you're also the one who sits on the edge of our well and lovingly stops us in our tracks and some of us need that even right now god we keep going back to the same well over and over and over again and we're confused why why it feels good for a moment but it never actually fixes us but god there is one There is one well. There is the well that will never leave us wanting, and his name is Jesus. And so thank you, God, for giving us living water, the true deep gift of eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, purification of the soul, and being loved in the deepest place of who we are. That's what we were made for. We were made for Jesus. We were made for a deep well, not the shallow wells of this world. Forgive us. Forgive us for going back to these worthless wells. Here's the truth, guys, is that sometimes we come to moments like this, and let me just be honest. Some of us pray a prayer, and we walk out the door, and we go back to the same wells, and we come back in here the next week, and we pray the prayer again, and we got to get baptized again, and again, and again, and again. Could it be because we never left our jars behind? There's going to come a moment, just a second, we're going to pray, and in just a few minutes,

we're going to break, and we're going to go out these doors, but here's what I'm asking. What jar do you need to leave behind? Don't take it with you. Don't take it with you. Jesus can meet those needs way better than any well of this world, and so I just want to do this. I want to pause for 60 seconds just right here, and I want to leave some space for the Holy Spirit to talk to us. Maybe I'd even say it like this. What's the well that maybe even some of us, you came in here this morning already planning to return to tonight or tomorrow? What's the well we keep taking our jar back to? So Holy Spirit, come. God, reveal to us what we've been using to meet our needs, that we now need to actually begin letting Jesus meet those needs. Holy Spirit, let's give it just 30 more seconds. Holy Spirit, reveal to us what jar we need to leave behind. God, our answer is yes. You know, when we pray and we use the word repent, repent means change the way I think about something. It means to do a 180 to turn. When we say surrender, it actually means surrender. It means to give up what we're holding in our hands. And so God, it is our commitment today that we're going to put our old jars down, and we're actually going to set our eyes on Jesus, the one who can actually satisfy what we've really actually been looking for. And some of us need to step through a door today of faith, of actually saying, I'm going to put my faith in Jesus for the rest of my life. And family around, some of these guys, why don't you pray with them, and we're going to pray like this. If you can actually pray from the deep place of who you are, I want us to pray like this. Let's say, thank you, Jesus, for crossing every barrier to find me. I confess, I've been trying to fulfill my own needs. I've been trying to meet my own thirst, and that's sin. So today, I repent, I surrender, and I lay down my jar. I receive what's better in you. I receive your forgiveness for my sin. Wash away my shame. Give me eternal life. You are my God. You are my King. And I will come to you to meet my needs. Jesus Christ, quench my soul in the deepest place of who I am.

I'm no longer thirsty because you are my provider. And I'll live the rest of my life to tell the world about you. In Jesus' name, amen. Come on, can we thank God for living water. Happy Mother's Day, guys. God bless y'all.