Sermon Illustrations on Living Water

Fountain Of Life, Opened

Revelation 22:1

Jesus opened a never-failing fountain of life to quench spiritual thirst and save souls.

It is related of a benevolent man, that he lived in a village poorly supplied with water. Dry seasons exhausted the wells, and reduced the citizens to great straits. About a mile distant was a never-failing spring. The waters from this he conducted by pipes to the heart of the village, and so furnished a supply at all seasons to the inhabitants. This act of generosity touched the people; and, when he was dead, they erected a monument to his memory by the fountain that he had opened for their benefit. Such a fountain has Jesus opened to assuage the thirst and save the lives of perishing men. It rises as the river of the water of life out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; and the Spirit and the Bride call to the thirsting multitudes lining its banks to approach, and partake freely of its healing virtue.

Salvation, Process of

John 4:6

Coming to Jesus quenches the soul's thirst with living water.

Those who come face to face with their own helplessness and sin and give their hearts to Jesus, will be the recipients of living waters that will quench the thirst of the soul

Life, Water Of

John 4:10

Jesus as living water remains pure and life-giving after centuries, symbolizing eternal life.

The _Scavatori_ from Naples, some years ago, dug up from among the ruins of Pompeii an urn of bronze filled with pure water, sweet to the taste and unaltered in quality. It had lost none of its pristine excellence after centuries of time.

Jesus described Himself as living water, and after two thousand years this has lost none of its purity or strength.

Springs of Living Water

John 4:5

Springs Of Living Water

Read: John 4:5-15

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. --John 7:38

In 1896, Sherwood Eddy enthusiastically began his ministry as a missionary to India. But after just a year he was ready to quit--his energy depleted, his spirit broken.

One morning after a sleepless night he begged God for help. Then he remembered the promise of Jesus to the woman at Jacob's well, "The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (Jn. 4:14).

Eddy wrote, "I resolved to stop drawing on myself so constantly and begin instead drawing on God." From then on he daily set aside time for prayerfully drinking from the well that never runs dry--the inexhaustible, soul-renewing wellspring of God's grace. "Since that day," Eddy said, "I have known not one hour of darkness and despair. The eternal God has been my refuge, and underneath me I have felt the everlasting arms."

No matter how much energy or talent we have, sooner or later we discover that the well of our personal resources is running dry. But when Christ, the source of living water, indwells our lives, we aren't locked into the drudgery of drawing on our human abilities. Jesus becomes our unfailing source of spiritual renewal. We find that when we have nothing left, He is the well that never runs dry. --VCG

I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame,

And nothing satisfying there I found;

But to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came,

Where springs of living water did abound. --Peterson

You may have to lose everything to find that God is everything you need.

Battling Dehydration

Psalms 42:1

It was a fogged-in morning at the country house we were using for our vacation. The valley below us, the mountains beyond us were nowhere to be seen. In fact, you couldn't see much beyond the front porch. But by about 10:00 AM, the sun was obviously doing its thing. I could sit there and literally watch the mist being sucked upward and up and away by the heat of the sun. I called my wife's attention to the vanishing moisture, and she made an interesting observation. She said, "That's what happens to you when you dehydrate" - which I did a few months ago. But actually watching the moisture being sucked away - and thinking of that happening to me - well, it will make a fellow be sure he's got a bottle of water with him most of the time.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Battling Dehydration."

When our Native American Outreach Team spent a month on reservations in the Southwest, you can be sure that bottles of water were standard issue for every team member every day. That desert heat can dehydrate you so fast. And take it from me, when you get the moisture sucked out of you, you really fall apart. Dehydration is serious business physically - and even spiritually.

Spiritual dehydration is the shutdown that occurs in your walk with God when you let your source of spiritual strength start to dry up. And it can happen pretty quickly when you live in the kind of spiritual desert most of us live in - like where you work, where you live, where you go to school. We absorb what our culture pumps into our mind and it drains the spiritual life out of you. The way to battle dehydration of any kind is frequent replenishing of the source of your strength.

Which is why David said what he said in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 42:1-2. Remember, this is the man God called "the man after His own heart." He said, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Now, that ought to be the driving passion of every one of us who belongs to Jesus Christ - "When's the next time I can meet with my God?" Without those regular meetings, we will dry up spiritually - and we'll dry up fast because we live in an environment that is so spiritually dry.

And in the rush and the stress of your overheated life, it could very well be that your personal time with your Lord has often gotten abbreviated, postponed, or cancelled. Each day you're getting hit with so much that isn't God's perspective, isn't God's way - and you know you're going to get the stuff that depletes you spiritually. You've got to commit yourself to drink at God's spring each new day, or you will find yourself beat up, compromised, discouraged, detoured, and overwhelmed. Not because the sun is so hot, but because you didn't replenish yourself with the living water that God gives you.

In times like these, you've got to make your time with Jesus in His Word the non-negotiable of your personal schedule, however early you have to get up, whatever you have to change to make sure it happens. It's your water bottle in the desert - and you simply cannot afford to ever leave home without it.

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Surprising Effervescence

John 7:37

My needs are pretty simple when I'm speaking for some event. Just get me a bottle of fresh water, and I'll be able to keep going like the Energizer Bunny. Recently, I realized that I was heading into a speaking session without my trusty bottle of water. Someone directed me to a hospitality room the host had set up for those on the program. I bypassed all the goodies and reached for the first bottle of water I saw. As I sat on the front row of the auditorium, awaiting my time to go up to the platform, I mindlessly twisted open the cap on the bottle so I could get a swig. Well, much to my surprise and chagrin, the contents immediately began erupting out of the bottle! I hadn't read the label, and I didn't know what was inside until I opened it. It was sparkling water, and it was sparkling all over me!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Surprising Effervescence.”

Effervescence -- something sparkling and alive. Apparently, that's what is supposed to characterize the life and attitude of someone who belongs to Jesus Christ. After all, He said in John 7:37-39, our word for today from the Word of God, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me ... streams of living water will flow from within him. By this He meant the Spirit.”

That's a great picture. Those who have gone to Jesus to have the thirst in their soul finally quenched are now to be conduits for the living water of the Holy Spirit to pour over thirsty lives around them. And, believe me, you're surrounded by some thirsty lives -- people you live with, people you work with, people you recreate with, people you go to school with. When situations arise that show what's inside you -- that, in essence, take the cap off your bottle -- they're supposed to see something inviting, something exciting pouring out.

Peter underscores one characteristic in a Jesus-follower that will cause the people around them to want what they have. In 1 Peter 3:15, he says: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” That's “hope” as in a positive outlook on life, a joyful attitude, a sense of peace under pressure, a buoyancy in the midst of trouble, a sense of ultimate confidence about the future. Now, honestly, is that what you're known for by the people who are with you all the time?

Sadly, Christians have too long been associated with being negative, narrow, condemning, and even miserable. You've got to be the living proof of that “life more abundantly” that is the real result of belonging to Jesus. Maybe you've let the sparkling water of the Holy Spirit go flat inside you. You're known more for complaining and criticizing, for always seeing what's wrong, for being grumpy and gripy. What kind of impression does that give them of Jesus?

If you're wondering why your friends or family members or coworkers don't seem interested in Jesus, consider this: could it be because you've been more a taste of bitter water than sparkling water? After all, the word “enthusiasm” literally comes from the words “en Theos” -- in God. The “in God” folks ought to be more enthusiastic about life than anybody!

At a time when David had lost everything he held dear and others around him were succumbing to bitterness and blaming, the Bible says, “But David found strength in the Lord his God.” Maybe that's what you need to do today -- go deep into your Lord's bottomless well to bring up some fresh water, some sparkling water for your parched soul. You need it. The people around you need it. When what's inside you comes out, let it be the joy of Jesus that is a magnet for thirsty people.

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'Leaky' Church Puzzles Alabama Water Company

John 3:23

The water bill at First Baptist Church was so high, the water department came by to look for a leak, but the pastor had another explanation.

“We realized the baptistry holds 900 gallons, and we've been seeing souls saved,” explained Steve Amos, pastor of the Littleville church. The only “leak,” he said, was the love of Christ leaking into the community.

When Amos came to Littleville in 2000, the church was withering. “Months passed, and we weren't seeing anyone saved,” recalled the bivocational pastor and farmer. “I prayed God would work in someone's life,” Amos told the Alabama Baptist. “Two weeks later, 10-year-old Gabe came forward and asked Christ to come into his life.”

Since then, attendance has swelled from 25 to more than 125, and the baptistry has stayed full. The church has baptized 120 new Christians -- many of them children who followed Gabe's example -- and started ministries to shut-ins and those in retirement homes and jails. The youth group has grown from averaging 10 to more than 40.

“I've been there 20 years and I love what God is doing -- I'm enjoying it,” said Dusty Daniel, deacon chair. “I was there when only 11 people were in services.”

Daniel credits Amos' leadership and dedication for the newfound success, but the pastor has another explanation -- it's the “living” water. “God just used me as a vessel,” Amos said.

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Drinking From the Source

John 6:35

He may have been the greatest American hero of his time - his name was Meriwether Lewis. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the massive Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, the size of this young country was more than doubled overnight. The land stretched from the Mississippi to the Pacific, much of it known well to Native Americans but largely unknown to white Americans. Well, Jefferson tapped his personal aide and a distinguished war veteran to lead the incredible adventure we know today, of course, as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Following the long and winding route of the Missouri River, Lewis led his expedition all the way from the point where it ends near St. Louis to its headwaters in Montana. His longtime dream had been to find the source of that river and to drink from it. He got his dream. If only it had satisfied his thirst.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Drinking from the Source.”

In a letter to a friend after he reached his pinnacle, Meriwether Lewis wrote: “I feel all that restlessness ... which I cannot help but thinking proceeds from that void in our hearts. Whence it comes I know not, but certain it is, that I never felt less like a hero than at the present moment.” Shortly thereafter, Meriwether Lewis died of what is believed to be his own suicide.

He accomplished his greatest goals; he drank the sweet water of success and conquest and the admiration of thousands. But he still had not found what fills what he calls “that void in our hearts.” Maybe you know that feeling. If you haven't got what you've been pursuing - whether it's a relationship, an accomplishment, a position - you think that's why that incurable restlessness is there. If you've gotten what you thought would fill the hole in your heart and the hole is still there, next stop: despair.

But ultimately the void is in our hearts because God isn't. In the Bible's words, we were “created by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). But we haven't lived for Him. Again, according to the Bible, 100% of us have basically done our life our way, not God's way. So we're missing Him. I wish I could get into a time machine and go back to talk with Meriwether Lewis and help him understand Who he was restless for.

That's not possible, but God has put you and me together today, perhaps because He wants to show you how the thirst in your soul can finally end - by drinking from the Source - by experiencing for yourself, not a religion, but a personal love relationship with the God who put you here. He says in Isaiah 55:2, our word for today from the Word of God, “Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Jesus - God's Son, who died to pay the penalty for you and me hijacking our life from God, made this promise: “He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Void filled. Restlessness satisfied. With the gap between you and God bridged by Jesus, you're finally drinking from the Source.

It starts the day you “come to” Jesus, the day you “believe in” Him, by placing your total trust in the One who loved you enough to die for you and was powerful enough to rise from the dead. If you want to begin this relationship you've been looking for all these years, tell Jesus that right now.

There is no one else who can satisfy your thirsty soul. Beginning today, you can be - as so many of us restless seekers have discovered - thirsty no more.

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