Creflo Dollar - Living Water
If you have your Bibles, we're gonna be studying tonight the book of John chapter 4, you're gonna really, really enjoy this. Saint John chapter 4 and I wanna start off tonight reading it. I wanna handle tonight more scripture by scripture because this is pretty, pretty big. John chapter 4, verse 1, says, "When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples did.) He left Judea, and he departed again to Galilee". So now he's on his way where? To Galilee. "But he must needs go through Samaria".
Now, he didn't go through Samaria because it would make the trip shorter. He said, I'm on my way to Galilee, but the will of God is for me to go through Samaria. There's a divine appointment there. Now, here's what you gotta get as a child of God is when God instructs you to do something and that's the will of God for your life, you probably need to do it, amen. But he will instruct you where geographically, where to go. I mean, yesterday, I was dealing with that whether I'm supposed to go here, whether I'm not supposed to go there and he will speak to you. It's not funny, but and, you know, I went to bed last night saying, all right, God, I need to hear from you. I'm just focused, ready to go to sleep 'cause I figured God can really speak to me at that time and he just start pouring out all of these illustrations in the Bible.
And in my mind, I had the nerve to say, "Yeah, but Lord, what do you want me to do"? And he says, "I'm talking to you now". I want you to look at these scriptures and see if God is talking to you. He says, "It is the will of God for me to go to Galilee but do it through Samaria," all right. He says, "Then cometh he to a city of the Samarians, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied," please note that he was wearied, "With his journey, he sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of the Samarian to draw water". Now let's pause here just for a moment.
A couple of things about the Samarian. Jesus passed through Samaria because it was God's will to have him interact with a woman there. It was more than the fastest track like we said, but there was something that was between the Samaritans and the Jewish people. They didn't see eye to eye. There was strong racism there. Now, the deal you have to deal with in every conflict is probably gonna be over politics, race, and religion, okay. Those are the three areas of conflict. And there was a huge conflict between Jewish people and Samaritans. They hated one another and that's even translated all the way up to today. So you didn't see Jewish people mingling with Samaritans and vice versa.
But now the issue here is that this woman was not only a Samaritan woman, she was a woman. And in this situation, you're gonna find out she offered Jesus a cup of water. Had he taken that cup, they would have viewed him as unclean. So you gotta ask yourself, why would you show up at the well to talk to somebody who is gonna, who can mess your reputation up? Who could cause you to be unclean? Even the disciples was shocked when they showed up and said, "Why are you talking to this woman"? She's cast out and she's unclean but Jesus, oh my God. Isn't it amazing that God will send the grace, his grace to anybody he wants to send it to. Remember, grace is a person, his name is Jesus and grace showed up in the life of somebody who didn't qualify.
Now, later on, we're gonna make a comparison between Nicodemus and this Samaritan woman because this is John chapter 3. And then, right in John chapter 4, he's trying to show us something, some similarities between those two. And then there was some differences between those two. All right, so he goes on here and he says, verse 7, "There cometh a woman of the Samaria to draw water: And Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans".
So you get the picture of what's going on here. "Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God," now he was referring to himself. Jesus is the gift of God. Jesus who is grace, he's the gift of God. He says, "If you knowest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water". Now, we're gonna break all that down tonight because I don't know about you, but over and over again, people have taught and preached this, but they've not done it in an area of great space. I made some notes. I wanna make sure I cover some of this. The Samaritan woman considered ceremonially unclean, which we read there in verse 9, and again, I already said to touch the cup offered to him would have made him unclean.
So Jesus had every reason to avoid this woman. You know, you gotta watch out because saved folks will give you every reason to avoid people. They'll say, "Don't go there, y'all don't know what they did. Don't go there, y'all don't hear what they're talking about" and we've created a society where it's okay when somebody says, you know, you gonna look bad if you go there, all right. Now watch this. He says, and I wanna, before we read into it, let's make this comparison between Nicodemus in John chapter 3 and the Samaritan woman here in John chapter 4. First of all, Nicodemus was a powerful Jewish man who had the potential to validate Jesus's ministry, okay. You gotta understand, yeah, we know who Jesus was now, but back then it was like, you know, he's a prophet, okay.
And so he could have validated his ministry, not that Jesus needed it, but Nicodemus was educated, Nicodemus was wealthy, he was respectable and all that kind of stuff. The Samaritan woman on the other hand, Jesus stood to gain nothing from the interaction with the Samaritan woman. Why would you show up? You will gain nothing. Jesus's reputation could have been lifted up by Nicodemus while his interaction with this Samaritan woman could have hurt his reputation. And Nicodemus, he had the right ethnicity. He had the right group that had right religion. He had all of the right things of somebody that you would wanna hang around. You know, I thought about this the other day. If a famous person got saved, you thought it was a big deal. But if a person who was just out in the street got saved, you wouldn't say nothing about it.
Okay, I just mentioned that. Okay, you gotta watch that. You see what I'm saying? Would you go out your way for a famous person that's in a movie but won't go out your way for somebody that's in the street? We need to check that, okay? And so here are the similarities here between Nicodemus and this woman. Now, both situations were inconvenient. Both of them was. Nicodemus showing up late at night. It would be understandable if Jesus said this is not a good time. It was both inconvenience. Then he interacts with this woman after a long journey, hot, exhausted, thirsty. He could have said it's not the time right now. Give me a chance to rest a little bit.
So in both cases, the similarities were, it was an inconvenient time. He's dehydrated just finished his journey. But Jesus wasn't concerned, listen to me. He wasn't concerned about his reputation, nor was he concerned about his personal comfort-wise. Why? Because both Nicodemus and the woman, they both needed him. Both of them needed Jesus. Both of them needed the grace of God and Jesus wasn't afraid to show up. Would you be willing to show up if your reputation is on the line? So you're gonna have to learn that you're gonna be talked about anyway, but you're gonna have to make your mind up. You're gonna live by grace. Grace shows up in places where most people don't think it should be there and you gotta get ready for that.
And I feel like part of my last day ministry is showing up in places where I'm not supposed to be there. If everybody else done, kicked you out, called you a dog, mess you up, dog you out, I'm probably gonna be the one God called to say I need you to go there 'cause I'm like he is right now. I don't care nothing about no reputation right now. I don't even care, all right. But what I do care about is that I can be a carrier of God's grace to get it where it's supposed to be. All right, now, listen to this. Jesus goes out his way for the Samaritan woman.
Now, lots of Christians in today's world are separated or separate. Well, let me say it like this and I'm not being rude, but people are desperate for validation. Yeah, and I'm not talking about desperate for validation from the church. They're desperate to be validated by the world. You want somebody in the world to validate you and you're in pursuit of that validation to the point where you might overlook the Samaritan woman type, okay? And so let's go on here in verse 10, he starts dealing with this gift of God. And like I said, he says, if you knew the gift of God and he was the gift of God. And so what is he gonna be talking about here with this living water? I wanna say this and I'll keep reading. Earthly things that you look to for satisfaction will never truly satisfy you. That's the living water, okay?
Now, I wanna give you an illustration before I continue to read. Most of the people just like Nicodemus when he was talking about being born again, they were taking it literally. You gotta understand that the setting here. They didn't know what you and I know today. They took it literally. You know, Jesus said, "You must be born again, Nicodemus". And Nicodemus responded, what? "Do I need to go back into my mother's womb and come out again"? He took it literally. Was the same thing happened with this Samaritan woman. When she's talking about drinking living water, she thought it was, you know, you know, actual water that was coming out of the well, but that's not what Jesus was talking about.
See what he was getting ready to show this woman is that you can drink this literal water and you're gonna be thirsty again. It's almost like you're out in the middle of the ocean. You're out in the middle of the sea, isn't it something? And you're thirsty surrounded by water you can't drink. And if you're thirsty surrounded by seawater and you drink the seawater, then what's gonna happen is gonna make you more thirsty and you're trying to consume nothing that won't sustain you and eventually drinking the sea water, eventually it's gonna lead to death. So likewise, as you continue to seek earthly things and seek the things that the world seeks because you're thinking that that water is better than what Jesus has and what Jesus has for you is the Holy Spirit on the inside of you that's gonna lead and guide you.
He has the grace of God that's gonna teach you and all these kind of things. But you prefer that other kind of water instead of drinking this living water. And I'm talking about even physical water, you still gonna be thirsting again. He says, but when you drink of him, then you will never be thirsty again. Praise God. All right now, let's read on here. Well, I think we got the, hopefully the foundation of all of that and I want to make sure we got that foundation so we can dig into this. He says, "So the woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep". So she's still thinking is literal. "From whence then hast thou that living water"?
So where's the living water at, okay. "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well". And basically, she knew he was greater because he's got some water better than the water in Jacob's well. And verse 13, "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again," Jacob's water. "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him I'm going to give him some water that he will never thirst again". I'm gonna bring satisfaction. I'm gonna bring true satisfaction and what I have to bring to your life, you're never gonna be thirsty again. So I'm not talking about the water in the well, baby, I'm talking about me. I'm here to give you something to end your thirst. Grace has come in your presence when you're outcast and you're thrown away and you're sitting out here in this well in this hot day and nobody cares anything about you.
And I just need you to locate yourself. I just need, I need to figure out how to get you to just confess and to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Watch this now. "So the woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I first not, neither come hither again". So she already hungry. I want this. Give me this. "And Jesus said unto her, Go, call thy husband". Look at him, look at him, look at him. "Call your husband". See, he's so wise. "Call your husband and come hither," all right. "And the woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said," you got that right. "Thou has well said, I have no husband: for thou has five husbands; and he whom thou now has is not your husband; in that saidst thou truly". So you spoke the truth. So we're dealing with truth now, all right. You're ready to open up and get some things. "So the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet".
That's all she knew. That's the only way she could... that's the highest she could know or understand about somebody who did this. "I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship". So she's still looking at places. Before Jesus died on the cross, you had to worship here and worship there. But verse 21 said, "Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me". This is it. "The hour is coming when you shall neither worship in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, you worship the Father because ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming".
Now, here's what Jesus was saying. I hadn't died yet. The new covenant hadn't been released yet. So this is a perfect illustration of him fulfilling the law and getting ready for that new and living way. Yeah, I know they go to Jerusalem and I know they go to that mountain, but oh you don't understand, boy, the hour is coming where you ain't got to do that no more because I'm gonna through my blood introduce a new and a living way. And then he goes on and he said, for the Father, well, let me go verse 23. "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers, true worshipers, true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth". True worshipers, "For the Father seeketh such to worship".
People still don't know what that is. You're still trying to make it about music and songs, okay? What happens when Jesus shows up after his death and after the cross? Okay, what happens is, is we can now get born again and we can now receive the Holy Spirit. Now that we have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us, he can now speak to us on what he wants us to do and lead us and guide us. Real worship is the individual that says, "All right, Lord, here I am. What do you wanna do with me today? Where do you wanna take me today"?
He says, you ain't got to go to no mountain. You ain't got to go to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit is gonna move on the inside of you. And true worshipers are those who are born again as a result of the New Testament. Praise God. True worshipers are not somebody... now, that's a true worshiper right there 'cause she sure can sing. No, true worshipers are first of all somebody who's born again and they carry the Holy Spirit. And you know, the Bible says, "Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water". That's what he said out of your belly.
So you gotta understand the living water is located in your belly. Well, who's in your belly? It's the Holy Ghost that's on the inside of you and out of your belly, living water is going to flow and you won't have to depend on earthly thing because you're gonna have living things flowing out of you. You're gonna have the fruit of the spirit flowing out of you. You're gonna have wisdom flowing out of you. You're gonna have all these things flowing out of you and watch, once you get the Holy Spirit and learn how to worship as a true worshiper, true worship, worship him is, "Here I am Lord. Do through me and what you want me to do. Here I am". We don't practice that. We don't practice. You will go right back to worshiping God's slow song and there's nothing wrong with that but you go right back to it.
I heard what he said. But praise God, come on, let's worship God. You don't come to church to worship God. You come to church to be edified. You come to church to be built up. When you leave the church as a result of your being built up, you leave preparing yourself to worship in your everyday lives. But when religion hits in, it starts teaching you all of these little weird fables and you think you still thinking your worship is go to the church and worship. That's no difference in go to Jerusalem and worship. Go to that mountain and worship. You don't have to go to the dome to worship. You don't have to go to Bible study to worship. You can worship surrounded by a bunch of hellacious sinners asking God what do you want to do?
While they thirsting, you have living water that's going on in the inside of you. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? I apologize for, you know. "God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit". You see how we take Christian. We just say them over. We don't look at, we worship him in spirit. All right, so those are people who are connected to the Holy Spirit being led and guided by the Holy Spirit who is also called the spirit of, come on, truth, okay.
And they're just, there's so many fables that exist in church that if some of you who online, I think it was yesterday, I was talking about scandalous grace and how people are outraged when they hear the truth about Jesus. See, grace is not a subject. Grace is not the curriculum. Grace is Jesus. So whatever you say, when people say, "I don't believe that grace message". You don't believe Jesus. Grace is a person, not a curriculum. He is a person. Jesus is the Word wrapped up in grace and truth. Nobody, I was doing some teaching today and nobody, nobody, nobody is capable, please listen to me, of delivering the gift of grace to anybody except Jesus.