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John 4:14 - Living Water.

John 4:14 - Living Water.

John 4:14 (KJV)  Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him 
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.  

John 4:14 (CWR)  The water that I can give you is special.  Once 
you drink it, you'll never be thirsty again.  It will constantly 
bubble up inside of you like a fresh mountain spring, furnishing 
eternal life. 

CONTEXT: Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman: John 4:1-26.

The word Samaritan is used for the first time in the Bible in 
the Book of Nehemiah. Almost three hundred years before Nehemiah's 
time, the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered, and most of the 
people were carried away captive (722 B.C.). Sargon of Assyria 
repopulated Israel with captives from other lands. These captives eventually 
intermarried with the few Israelites who remained in the land to form a mixed 
race of people who became known as Samaritans. The Jews who returned 
to Jerusalem and the southern region of Judea during the days of 
Ezra and Nehemiah would have nothing to do with Samaritans, whom they 
considered to be racially impure. Relations between both groups grew 
progressively worse--four hundred years later, the Jews and Samaritans hated 
each other (John 4:9). [The One Year Bible Companion re Neh. 4:1, 2] 

Because Jesus was truly human, He experienced weariness, hunger, 
and thirst, but His deepest desire was for the salvation of the 
sinful woman. He forgot His physical needs and concentrated on her 
spiritual needs. Patiently He revealed Himself to her: "a Jew" (v.9), 
"greater than Jacob" (v. 12), "a prophet" (v. 19), "Messiah" (vv. 25, 
29). She believed in Him, and her life was so changed that she 
immediately shared the good news with others (20:30-31). [Chapter by Chapter 
Bible Commentary by Warren Wiersbe re John 4] 

APPLICATION COMMENTARY With Emphasis On Verse 14.

"WATER":  Holy Spirit 
"WELL":  i.e. the indwelling Spirit. [Scofield SB]

This vivid image--"fountain of life" in Psa. 36:9--is a poetic 
metaphor for God. It gives a sense of fresh, cleansing water that gives 
life to the spiritually thirsty. This same picture is used in 
Jeremiah 2:13, where God is called the "spring of living water." Jesus 
spoke of himself as living water that could quench thirst forever and 
give eternal life (John 4:14). [The One Year Bible Companion re Psa. 
36:9] 

The dry, burning sensation of thirst is one that most humans can 
easily remedy. The wet refreshment of a tall glass of crystal-clear 
water sends the most desperate of thirsts away. But it always comes 
back. Jesus uses an eternal thirst-quenching water as a metaphor for 
the hope, peace, and satisfaction God offers His children who enter 
into a relationship with Him. It's water satan can't overpower. [The 
365 Daily Promise Bible By Barbour re John 4:14] 

The woman mistakenly believed that if she received the water 
Jesus offered, she would not have to return to the well each day. She 
was interested in Jesus' message because she thought it could make 
her life easier. But if that were always the case, people would 
accept Christ's message for the wrong reasons. Christ did not come to 
take away challenges, but to change us on the inside and to empower 
us to deal with problems from God's perspective. [Life Application 
SB] 

He who seeks to quench his thirst at the fountains of this world 
will drink only to thirst again. Everywhere men are unsatisfied. They 
long for something to supply the need of the soul. Only One can meet 
that want. The need of the world, "The Desire of all nations," is 
Christ. The divine grace which He alone can impart, is as living water, 
purifying, refreshing, and invigorating the soul.  Jesus did not convey the 
idea that merely one draft of the water of life would suffice the 
receiver. He who tastes of the love of Christ will continually long for 
more; but he seeks for nothing else. The riches, honors, and pleasures 
of the world do not attract him. The constant cry of his heart is, 
More of Thee. And He who reveals to the soul its necessity is waiting 
to satisfy its hunger and thirst. Every human resource and 
dependence will fail. The cisterns will be emptied, the pools become dry; 
but our Redeemer is an inexhaustible fountain. We may drink, and 
drink again, and ever find a fresh supply. He in whom Christ dwells 
has within himself the fountain of blessing,--"a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." From this source he may draw strength 
and grace sufficient for all his needs. DA187   

He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to 
satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore. The believer is not 
the man whose days are weary for want of comfort, and whose nights 
are long from absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in 
religion such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is 
content and happy. Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; 
place him in a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; 
drive him away from friendship, he will meet the "friend that sticketh 
closer than a brother." Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow 
beneath the Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but 
his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord. The heart is as 
insatiable as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to 
overflowing. There is such a fullness in Christ that he alone is the 
believer's all. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the 
all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more--except it be for deeper 
draughts of the living fountain. In that sweet manner, believer, shalt 
thou thirst; it shall not be a thirst of pain, but of loving desire; 
thou wilt find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller 
enjoyment of Jesus' love. One in days of yore said, "I have been sinking 
my bucket down into the well full often, but now my thirst after 
Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well itself to 
my lips, and drink right on." Is this the feeling of thine heart 
now, believer? Dost thou feel that all thy desires are satisfied in 
Jesus, and that thou hast no want now, but to know more of him, and to 
have closer fellowship with him? Then come continually to the 
fountain, and take of the water of life freely. Jesus will never think you 
take too much, but will ever welcome you, saying, "Drink, yea, drink 
abundantly, O beloved." [Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon] 

The picture Our Lord gives is not that of a channel but a 
fountain. 'Be being filled,' and the sweetness of vital relationship to 
Jesus will flow out of the saint as lavishly as it is imparted to him. 
If you find your life is not flowing out as it should, you are to 
blame; something has obstructed the flow. Keep right at the Source, 
and--you will be blessed personally? No, out of you will flow rivers of 
living water, irrepressible life.  We are to be centres through which 
Jesus can flow as rivers of living water in blessing to everyone. Some 
of us are like the Dead Sea, always taking in but never giving out, 
because we are not rightly related to the Lord Jesus. As surely as we 
receive from Him, He will pour out through us, and in the measure He is 
not pouring out, there is a defect in our relationship to Him. Is 
there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything that 
hinders your belief in Him? If not, Jesus says, out of you will flow 
rivers of living water. It is not a blessing passed on, not an 
experience stated, but a river continually flowing. Keep at the Source, 
guard well your belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, 
and there will be a steady flow for other lives, no dryness and no 
deadness.  Is it not too extravagant to say that out of an individual 
believer, rivers are going to flow? 'I do not see the rivers,' you say. 
Never look at yourself from the standpoint of--'Who am I?' In the 
history of God's work you will nearly always find that it has started 
from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true 
to Jesus Christ. [My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers] 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Even when God asks us to do certain things, it's really an 
invitation to receive greater things from Him.  Jesus asked the woman for a 
drink of water so He could offer her a drink of living water.[Life 
Principles SB By Charles Stanley re John 4:10] 

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his 
belly shall flow rivers of living water.  John 7:38.  

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT

Grace Notes:
http://www.e-gracenotes.org/index.php

A Better Way to Live:
http://www.itiswritten.com/betterway/

Excellent Spiritual Resource Site:
http://www.christianlifemediacenter.com/

More Spiritual Resources:
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