John 4:16-30 “Thirsting for Living Water”

            The Woman of Samaria in this text is completely captivated by the conversation she is having with Jesus.  Jesus has succeeded in capturing her undivided attention.  He has chosen the subject of water to teach a spiritual lesson.  She has come to the well because of physical thirst.  She knows nothing of spiritual thirst and the quenching of that thirst is far more important that the quenching of physical thirst. 

            There are two things a person needs if they are going to have their spiritual thirst quenched.  The first concerns sin.  Sin must be acknowledged and confessed.  John the Baptist and Jesus have both been preaching that people need to repent of sin.  To repent is to turn away from sin.  To turn away from something you must turn to something else.  This brings us to the second need.  You turn from sin to Jesus Christ for forgiveness.  To have the spiritual thirst quenched you must trust in and depend upon Jesus Christ as your savior.    There are six basic needs which the unsaved have.

1. They need to believe that God is real.

2. They need to believe that the Bible is God’s Word.

3. They need to know that they are lost in sin.

4. They need to know how to be saved.

5. They need to want to be saved.

6. They need to trust in Jesus now.

This Samaritan woman believes in God.  She believes the Bible is God’s Word.  She does not know that she is lost, or spiritually thirsting.  She knows how to be saved for she knows of the Messiah and His attributes.  She has expressed a desire to be saved by requesting the Lord’s living water. 

 

John 4:16  Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

            It is a reasonable request that Jesus has made.  This woman, if married, should want her husband to be saved as well.  It is not necessary for the husband to be present for her to be saved.  It is not necessary for the husband to be saved in order for her to be saved. 

            Also it would not seem unusual for a man to want the husband to be present so that there would be no rumors of impropriety started.  The reputation of a man of God should be guarded at all times.  There have been some whose ministries were devastated by rumors of improper behavior.  If a lady comes by the church house and I am alone there I immediately call my wife or some other member of the church to come to the church house right away.  I want to avoid any appearance of impropriety. 

            Jesus is simply demonstrating that He knows all about this woman and her back ground.  In this verse Jesus gives her all she needs to be saved. 

            This request, first of all, will make her face up to her sin.  For one to have their thirst quench they must recognize their thirst.  If one is to be saved he must realize he is lost.  This woman needs to face up to the fact of her sin.  She needs to stop dodging the issue and reasoning away her sin.  She needs to step forward and admit her guilt and seek forgiveness.  She is like Adam hiding from God in the garden.  She speaks honestly with Jesus these words.

 

Joh 4:17  The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

Joh 4:18  For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

 

            She answers I have no husband.  This is an admission of guilt.  She could have lied and said ok and went to get the man she was living with but instead confesses that she does not have a husband.  Jesus agrees that she has spoken the truth and then points out that she has had five husbands and that the man she is living with now is not her husband.  He acknowledges the fact that she has spoken the truth. 

            It is most likely the case that this woman has been divorced five times.  This is an unusual number even by today’s standards.  It would seem unreasonable that all of her past five husbands were dead.  This woman has been jumping into and out of relationships on a whim.  Let it be plainly said here that God hates divorce.  The scriptures say “He hateth putting away.”  He condemns those who deal treacherously with the wife of “thy youth.” Mal 2:14-16  Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet [is] she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.  (15)  And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. (16)  For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for [one] covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

            He admonishes always that a man and woman should be reconciled with each other.  Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that Moses gave no commandment to divorce.  He allowed divorce because of the hardness of their hearts.  Jesus said that fornication was just cause for divorce but he never commanded or encouraged divorce for even this reason.  Mat 19:3-9  The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female, 5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7  They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

            The old testament prophet was commanded by God to marry an unfaithful woman and when she was unfaithful he pleaded with her to return. The only wedding vows found in the bible are those of Hosea 3:3  And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for [another] man: so [will] I also [be] for thee.

 These words are plain the wife lives for the husband and the husband for the wife.  They both are to be faithful to each other.  This is to continue many days.  That is to say all the days of their life. 

            Child of God, if you are contemplating divorce proceed cautiously.  The only scriptural grounds for divorce is fornication.  If this is not a factor then be reconciled to your spouse.  If there is physical abuse involved then separation is necessary.  Seek counseling and God’s help to overcome your sinful ways.  Then get back together.

            Child of God, if you have been divorced learn from this text that you are no longer married to the one you have divorced.  There have been questions raised as to the qualifications of deacons and preachers.  They must be the husband of one wife.  Jesus said to the woman the she has had five husbands.  This is past tense.  She no longer has a husband.  Jesus said that this was a true statement.  The husband of one wife refers to polygamy.  Divorce ends the marriage relationship.  If you have divorced and remarried you are the still the husband of one wife.  Provided the other qualifications are met you may hold the office of deacon or pastor if you have been divorced.  I realize that this is a controversial subject but as is the case with any controversy a close study of the scriptures will settle the issue.

 

John 4:19  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

            I mentioned earlier that one of the needs of the unsaved is to know that there is a God.  This woman believes in God.  She knows about prophets and knows that they speak for God.  The Prophets of old knew things about people that they could not have know except God revealed it to them.  Jesus was believed to be one of the prophets by most of the people of that day.  King Harod heard about Jesus and thought that John the Baptist had come back from the dead.  What this woman needs is to know that Jesus is the Messiah.  The Messiah is the savior of men.

            The questions and issues that follow are prompted by the fact that this man, with whom she is speaking, is no ordinary Jew.  What she needs to realize is that this is not a “Man of God” this is the “God Man.  He is the Christ the savior of men.  He is the only savior of men.  There is no other name given among men where by we must be saved.

            The two things that you need to be saved are these:

1.  You must repent of your sins.  This means that you see your sin and it bothers you that you have sinned.  You feel the guilt of your sin and you hate sin and want to be forgiven of sin.

2. You must believe in Jesus Christ as your savior.  You turn from your sin and confess it to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and to have mercy on you and save you from the penalty of sin which is the second death. 

            Have you ever done these two things.  Have you gone to Jesus in prayer and asked for forgiveness and salvation.  If you have you are saved.  If you have not then you need to trust in Jesus now.