John 4:14-19 (WEL) “Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; furthermore, the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman says to him, “Sir, give me this water, in order that I may never thirst, neither come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” 18 Jesus says to her, “You answered honestly that you have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the present one you have is not your husband; you have told the truth in this.” 19 The woman says to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
V14 “Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; furthermore, the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Two different types of water: 1) physical water and 2) spiritual water. As the body needs physical water, the soul and spirit need spiritual water. This water only can be supplied by God Himself.
Compare Old Testament verses: Jeremiah 2:13 (people rejecting God’s water for physical water (philosophy, false gods, personal views, etc.), Jeremiah 17:13, and Psalm 36:9.
Compare New Testament verses: Revelation 21:6, Revelation 22:1, and Revelation 22:17.
Physical water provides temporary life, but spiritual water, from God alone, brings eternal life.
Spiritual water is a gift. People preach it, God’s applies it, God initiates salvation by giving understanding, God calls to believe in Jesus, God the Son, and people choose to believe or reject.
The indwelling Holy Spirit, that all those who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the water. He not only supplies our needs but overflows for us to live a life serving and glorifying God.
V15 The woman says to him, “Sir, give me this water, in order that I may never thirst, neither come here to draw water.”
Jesus invites this woman to partake of this gift, and she asks for it. She believes Jesus.
V16 Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
One sin must be confessed. Jesus points this out by a short sentence.
J. C. Ryle comments:
“We should mark, fourthly, the absolute necessity of conviction of sin before a soul can be converted to God. The Samaritan woman seems to have been comparatively unmoved until our Lord exposed her breach of the seventh commandment. Those heart-searching words, “Go, call thy husband,” appear to have pierced her conscience like an arrow. From that moment, however ignorant, she speaks like an earnest, sincere inquirer after truth. And the reason is evident. She felt that her spiritual disease was discovered. For the first time in her life she saw herself.”
V17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
What will she say? Will she justify, excuse, or sweep it out of the way? No, she answers honestly.
Principle: Admit our sin. Tell the truth.
V18 Jesus says to her, “You answered honestly that you have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the present one you have is not your husband; you have told the truth in this.”
Why this happened is unknown, but in today’s culture, the similarities happen.
God’s way is one male (XY) and one female (XX) marry, meaning to dedicate a life together in a bond with working towards a common goal/s.
V19 The woman says to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
She is thinking, “How does this man, whom I’ve never met, know these things about me?” Luke 5:22 “But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why are you talking this over in your hearts?”
The Greek word for perceived is G1921. ἐπιγινώσκω epiginōskō, which means (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (Louw & Nida)) “to possess more or less definite information about, possibly with a degree of thoroughness or competence – to know about, to know definitely about, knowledge about.” Thus, it is not a surface knowledge as if Jesus had inquired from people that knew her. He knew her perfectly, even her thoughts and motives. Compare Jeremiah 17:10 and Revelation 2:23.
Also, compare Hebrews 4:12 and 1 Samuel 16:7.
We learn:
- God knows everything about us—our thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.
- Jesus evangelizes every person with the Gospel tailored to that individual.
Questions:
- How do you feel about the fact that God knows everything about you?
- How honest are you?