Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Why Jesus Offered Living Water to an Adulterous Woman | Jonny Ardavanis

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

In John 4, Jesus has the longest recorded conversation found anywhere in Scripture — and he has it with the most unlikely person imaginable: a Samaritan woman with a broken past. In this episode, we unpack why Jesus went out of his way to find her, what "living water" really means, and why he lovingly confronted her sin before offering salvation.Whether you feel too good to need a Savior (like Nicodemus in John 3) or too far gone to deserve one — this passage is for you.📖 Key Passages: John 4:1–26 | Jeremiah 2:13 | Isaiah 55:1 | John 7:37–38 | Revelation 21:6🔑 In this episode:Who were the Samaritans — and why did Jews despise them?Why Jesus "had to" pass through SamariaWhat living water means and why your soul is thirstyWhy Jesus confronts sin before offering graceHow the cross is the only reason Jesus can quench your spiritual thirst👉 This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

We are looking at the longest recorded conversation that Jesus ever has with anyone. And one of the things that we see in John chapter 3 is that no one is too good that they don't need a Savior. And I think sometimes we think that the gospel is for a certain type of person. But Jesus is going to make it clear here that the offer of grace is for one type of person ultimately, and that's sinners. Now, I know something to be true of every single person watching and every single person listening, and that is that you are drinking from some place deeply. It could be sex, it could be wealth, it could be materialism, it could be prestige, it could be self-pity, it could be recognition, athletics.

We've talked about this. And Jesus says, as the good physician, he is going to probe and probe and probe until he reaches the pain point. Hank, how are you doing? Doing great, Johnny, how are you doing? Really good. Any big plans this summer? Actually, let's be honest. We're both not doing great. No, we're not doing great.

week two of a virus. The worst stomach bug that I've ever heard of, let alone experienced, is ravaging the bone in the Art of Anna's household right now. It is not going well. It was so bad.

We missed three birthdays in the last seven days and a baby dedication. We were just out of commission. Your birthdays? So my birthday last week, and then two of my children share a birthday,

three days after my birthday. We missed all of them. And our third child was supposed to be dedicated. We didn't even come to the service. I was wondering if you had just abandoned your membership at the local church level. I was up there. I read your name.

I was terrified that you were going to make some joke about singing a happy birthday, and so we stayed home. I used a bear's analogy on Sunday, and you weren't there. That's devastating. What are we talking about today, Johnny? Yeah, before we jump in, this episode is brought to you by the Masters University. If you or someone in your life is looking to continue higher education would highly recommend masters.edu, you can use our code dial in to waive the application fee.

check out my alma mater, the Masters University. Well, in John 4, we are looking at the longest recorded conversation that Jesus ever has with anyone, including his own disciples. These conversations in John Chapter 3 and John Chapter 4 are great narratives that we read of in John's Gospel, and it shows us who Jesus is as the great physician, because depending on who he's talking to, he provides different remedies to different diseases. Obviously, everybody has the same underlying problem, that being sin. But depending on the individual that he's conversing with, he's going to come at the presentation of the gospel, the offer of salvation from a different perspective.

Well, it might seem obvious, but actually sequentially, the way we're recording this is after looking at Nicodemus for several weeks. It kind of, it jumped out to me in a new way that John records these conversations one directly after another. Yeah, juxtaposed. In John Chapter 3, he has a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. In John, Chapter 4, he has a conversation with an unnamed woman. In John chapter 3, Jesus has a conversation with the most moral man in Israel. In John chapter 4, he has a conversation with an immoral woman. In John chapter 3, it's the most respected, prestigious, you know, well-known guy in Israel.

And in chapter 4, Jesus has a conversation with the most rejected woman you could possibly imagine, the worst of the worst. So the tension is strong, and yet despite all of the differences that Nicodemus has with this woman of Samaria, They both have an underlying similarity, and that is that they are both spiritually empty. They both need a Savior. They both need Jesus. And one of the things that we see in John Chapter 3 is that no one is too good that they don't need a Savior. Meaning Nicodemus has every answer. He knows the Bible backward and forward, and Jesus says, hey, you still need to be born again.

You need a Savior. You might be good, but you're a sinner. But in John Chapter 4, we're going to see that no one is too bad. that they are beyond the scope and reach of God's grace. One of the realities that we see throughout the scripture is that salvation is not a reward for the righteous. It is a gift given and received by the grace of God, whether you are Mr. Goody Two Shoes religious like Nicodemus

or in a serial adulterer on your fifth man in the last year, like the woman we're going to see in this chapter. And so the implication there being, to state the obvious, is neither end of the spectrum, and hence everyone in between needs Jesus as their Savior. What was helpful for me maybe in the past couple episodes was you set the backdrop of who Nicodemus actually was the teacher of Israel. Maybe set the context for us briefly as we turn to John 4. Who is this woman?

And where is she from? Why is that important to the story? Yeah. So in John chapter 4, verse 3, it says that Jesus left Judea and he went again into Galilee. This is the first time he's leaving since the Passover we saw in chapter 2. and he had to pass through Samaria. Now this is interesting that it says here that he had to pass through Samaria

because there are other routes to get to Galilee. Now, Jerusalem is down here in the south and Galilee is up in the north and Samaria is this strip of land right in the middle, but the Jews did not pass through Samaria. They hated Samaritans, they despised them, and typically what the Jews would do is they would add on a considerable distance

to avoid Samaria. So if they were gone from Judea to Galilee, they would go around this way. The analogy that I give is if you're in Los Angeles and you're trying to get to San Francisco, the fastest way to get to San Francisco is to take the Five North. But if you hate the people of Bakersfield

so passionately, they would take this route all the way around Yosemite, going into Reno, Nevada to get to that people. That's what the Jews would do on a regular basis. And contextually, here's why. Going back roughly 1,000 years, when the people of God were taken into Israel, and they returned from exile,

they found that God's people, the Israelites, instead of saying faithful to Yahweh, had intermarried with all of the pagans, and they had adopted some of their sexual and sensual practices. And so the Samaritans, what that group was, there were these syncretists that had married in with the Gentile nations, had kind of blended the practices of God, of worshiping Yahweh with these pagan religions,

so they were viewed as religious half-breeds. And it's not like, oh, those people have comforts, It was deep-seated animosity. So when they came back from exile, one of the first things they wanted to do is rebuild the temple, and the Samaritans offered to help. And the Jews rejected their help because they had compromised. They had forsaken Yahweh.

So the Samaritans went and built their own temple in Mount Garazim, and the Jews were so mad about that that they burned that temple down to the ground, thus creating not just tension, but it would be hard to understand it any other way other than deep-seated hatred. In fact, to insult someone was to call them a Samaritan, and that's what they do to Jesus. They say, is it not true that you were a demon and you are a Samaritan?

Meaning that's the ultimate chief supreme insult that the Pharisees loved at Jesus is you're a Samaritan. Yeah. So this is not Bears Packers, Michigan, Ohio State, Auburn, Alabama. Not quite Bears Packers. No, but on a serious note, maybe a deep-seated hatred that we would actually have a hard time finding like a common ground with today, we often think like, oh, we don't hate anybody. We'll maybe return to that in a minute. And prior, if you're not familiar with California as I'm not,

basically the point being, so there's a line going directly through Samaria. Instead, many Jews at that time would draw this semi-half circle to circumvent it. And so, but yeah, you said in the text, it said Jesus had to. So maybe unpack for us. Like, did he have to? Well, there was other ways to get there, but this is a conversation that Jesus is going to have with a reject for ordained. before the beginning of the world.

And Jesus says, I have to do the works of him who sent me. One of the works of him who sent him is to have this conversation with an immoral woman in John Chapter 4. I want to just break it down by looking at a couple different maybe signposts as we make our way through the passage. First of all, you have to look at the reality that Jesus is an initiating Savior. It says in verse 5, so he came to a city of Samaria, John 4-5, called Sychar, near the parcel of the ground that Jacob gave to his son,

Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. So Jesus being wearied from his journey was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. Now, just to pause for a moment. One of the things that's amazing to me about Jesus is that he preaches to 20,000 people, but it does not minimize the importance that we are going to see here of talking to a single individual. And furthermore, even though he was fully God, we see in verse 6 that his humanity is on display.

It says he's wearied from his journey. And then when it says that he sat by the well, that word for sit, is literally to slump. And so just to kind of get this idea of the God of all of the universe, the one that sits on the throne that we surveyed in Isaiah's prophecy, the train of his robe fills the temple with glory, the angels do his bidding, and now he's just fatigued. It's amazing just that his humanity is on display here.

He's tired, and yet he is going to minister to a woman. And at this point, he's been walking for probably six hours. and it says that he comes in verse 7 and says there came a woman of Samaria to draw water and Jesus said to her give me a drink so peak fatigue he's been walking he's been ministering

he's alone at this well and sometimes you know candidly if I'm really tired I'm just like I just preached I'm on a plane sometimes they fly out on Sunday to you know I'm obviously not Jesus but I'm like I'm going to put my headphones in yeah hood up headphones on yeah sleep math

Johnny's tucked away. Jesus is wearied from his journey, and he strikes up this conversation with, again, the most despised individual that you could conjure up. A Samaritan, you don't mingle with them, a woman. The Pharisees used to be called the bruised and blind Pharisees,

because if they saw a woman in public, they would cover their eyes and run into the walls because they were so afraid of looking lustfully at a woman, so you wouldn't even engage a woman. And third, she's not only a woman, She's not only Samaritan, but one of the things we're going to see in this passage is that she is a woman that sold her body for a place to say. She is an adulterous woman. She's an immoral woman. And we read here that she's coming to the well alone at the sixth hour.

Now, one of the things that's significant about this is that most women would go together and gather water from the wells in the morning when it was cool. Some things never change. Transcend culture. Yeah. This is something my wife does. Your wife does go to the well. in the morning. But she's alone. And you have to ask the question, why is this woman alone? Well, I think it's because of her shame. It's because of her sin. The context is pressing something home, that Jesus is an initiating savior with someone that is full of sin and shame. And I think sometimes we think, just maybe to back up for a moment, that the gospel is for a certain type of person.

But Jesus is going to make it clear here that the offer of grace is for one type of person, ultimately. that's sinners. And I think sometimes we make assumptions about who wants to hear the gospel. Look at them. They're married with three kids. They look pretty good. You know, they seem to be well-mannered and have good morals. They're one-click away.

Yeah, they're one-click away. All they need is Jesus. Everything else is perfect. But Jesus comes to save those who you would never imagine would want to be saved. This woman at the well wasn't looking for a savior. She doesn't even think she needs one. And one of the things that I think is true is that it's very, easy for us to resent the very people that the gospel was intended to save the sexually

immoral the deviance the impure the extremists but the scripture is going to call us to be cognizant to the reality that that's the mission field and sometimes we confusing inflate the mission field with a battleground totally i mean it's personally really convicting and challenging because i'm just thinking through as you what's challenging about that description of like oh the person who's one click off it's just occurring to me as you're describing it i'm most drawn to people who I share the most common ground with. So like, oh, yeah, if it wasn't for Jesus, well, I would still hang out with them.

Like, we would have a good time, you know, together. But then. Yeah, and if they give their life to the Lord, then it's perfect. Totally. It's like we're 95% of the way there. We're friends, but then we'll vacation together. Exactly. And so the difference here, though, is you're thinking through

Jesus is initiating with someone whom which he'd have. That's definitely not the right use. Who, whom, you never know. Whomst, he has zero. common ground with. And so practically, I'm filtering through my day, all the people I'm passing by that need the gospel that I would be quick to be like, well, yeah, practically. But why am I the one to go tell them about it? I mean, they're not going to hear it coming for me. But Jesus is totally. And that's the whole book of Jonah. You know, like Jonah's like the Ninevites. They'll never want to

respond. You know, they're wicked. And the whole book of Jonah is about, you have no idea about the heart of God. Because God comes to save the person that you would never expect would be ripe for the offer of God's grace. Which juxtaposes Nicodemus. Because from the outside, you think, oh, Nicodemus is the one who's totally going to have it. And he's actually, it seems even further than this woman at the well.

Yeah. And look secondly with me, and just at this reality that Jesus not only initiates, but he satisfies. So in verse 7, Jesus says, give me a drink. One thing just to note here is that Jesus never did a miracle to satisfy his own thirst or hunger.

I always find that amazing. The guy that could be like, well, you know, five loaves, two fish, 5,000. Yeah, he fasted for 40 days. he fully embraced humanity. Now the woman, it says in verse 8, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food, but the woman here in verse 9 is confused.

Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? In this note in parentheses, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. What an understatement. And then Jesus responds in verse 10, if you knew the gift of God

and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you, big idea here, living water. Now it becomes very obvious right away that Jesus is not talking about physical thirst. He's talking about the longings of our soul. He's talking about spiritual satisfaction.

One thing, obviously, as we've done different episodes, salvation is presented in many different ways throughout the scripture. But one of the things that we see in an ongoing way is that it's more than a cleansing of sin. It starts there, but it doesn't end there. Jesus comes and he gives us what our souls are thirsting for. This woman, and we're going to see this primarily in the next episode,

but knowing the context, it says in verse 16 through following that she is a woman that's basically sleeping around. This woman had gone down so many different dead-end streets, searching for the satisfaction that Jesus alone could provide. She had made her body available to whatever man you would imagine had promised to love her and take care of her. And in the end, although she craved intimacy and relationship, here she is more alone than ever.

One of the things I love that R.C. Sproles said. He says, people are desperately searching for the things that God alone can give them while at the same time they run from him. And it's emblematic of that quote by Augustine, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in thee. And so this woman is, her soul is barren. And one of the things that I think about often, especially as I travel and I'm sitting next to someone,

there is a built and apologetic with everybody you have ever encountered that they are looking for what God alone can provide and give them, but they look for that in everything and everyone other than God himself. And in the end, even though what they might partake of, sex, materialism, wealth, popularity, achievement, athletic prowess, it might seem and taste great in the moment, they're going to realize that that bucket that they're holding that worth in has holes. And it's always going to come back empty. And this is why the famous line from the famous song,

McJagger, I try and I try and I try, but I can't get no what satisfaction. So this is that woman. She's turned down every street and she's come to a dead end. Do you have Jeremiah 2? Yeah, absolutely. I read that for me, just because the Bible testifies this reality, not just here, but even in the Old Testament.

Yeah, so this is Jeremiah 213. For my people have done two evils. they've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hue for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Basically, God is drawing their attention in the Old Testament to the fact that it's a great evil, God says actually. Isn't that interesting? God says it's absolutely evil when you try to be satisfied in anything other than me. And not only is it evil, it's stupid. He's like, you're drinking, and I say that in the truest sense of the term, you're drinking from dirty cisterns, sewage water.

You're finding little puddles full of, there's some water in there, it's contaminated, it's gross, it's bad for you, it'll harm you instead of living pure fountains. And so it's evil and illogical. And it's not only that, but then you're digging for yourself these cisterns that don't work in the first place. Like again, she's on her fifth pursuit of a husband searching for intimacy. And it's easy to like point into like, oh, yeah, that's absolutely ridiculous. but it's a whole different matter to think identifying for a moment with her isolation and the absolute loneliness and shame that must have been overwhelming. And I just think back in my own life of periods of sin or periods of being found out in sin and just the total joy it robbed. And yet there's the complete illogical pursuit of like, well, you know, if I pursue it a little harder, if I just move the goalpost for some reason, you know, making this much money doesn't satisfy me.

but if I make this much, all of a sudden it's going to satisfy me, when literally everyone around the world is screaming, that is never going to satisfy. And yet we all live as if it's going to. Yeah, and I think that's emblematic of this woman. You're probably familiar with the quote by C.S. Lewis in the weight of glory. He said, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition

when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on. making mud pies in Islam because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased, meaning God has wired us to be satisfied by someone. And we look for that satisfaction in different things. And this is why the invitation of the gospel in Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, ho to everyone who, that's like a big herald. Like, hey, everybody, listen, everyone who thirsts come and drink water.

Jesus is going to use the same terminology in John chapter. on the last day of the feast. It says Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. So this is a reoccurring theme, not just in John's Gospel, but throughout the scripture, your soul is parched.

It's barren. It's thirsty. And you're searching for satisfaction. And Jesus says, I will quench your parched soul. And this is what, it's amazing. Jesus, I picture him, he's not saying if anybody third. Come on. No, he's heralding in John 7. If anyone thirst, here to an individual, there to a big gathering, and this is what he's presenting. But she said to him, she's confused. Verse 11. Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?

You are not greater than our father, Jacob, are you, who gave us this well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle? So she doesn't understand. I mean, how could she? Verse 13. Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst, but the water that I give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. Jesus says, whoever drinks at this water is going to thirst again. What's he saying? He's just drawing her attention to the reality that everything that you pursue to fill the void in your soul does not last.

you're going to have to go back to that well over and over and over and over and over and over again. And that initial satisfaction that may be a reality is going to be gone very quickly. Yeah, absolutely. Keep rolling here. You know, it's hard even for us to understand. I think we live in a world with running water. But water in, you know, Israel 2,000 years ago was a precious commodity. You know, like it's like... I mean with how hot this room is getting, it's becoming pretty precious right now. That's something people don't understand about when we record.

It is Nebuchadnezzar's furnace in here. Without water, you know, our bodies begin to break down. We get dizzy. You can't see straight. By the second and third day without water, our organs begin to fail and then we die. And Jesus is telling this woman, that's what life is like at the soul level without me. And Jesus is saying to her, I am more essential to your soul than water is to, to your body.

Now, I know something to be true of every single person watching and every single person listening, and that is that you are drinking from someplace deeply. It could be sex, it could be wealth, it could be materialism, it could be prestige, it could be self-pity, it could be recognition, athletics, we've talked about this, but you are drinking from someplace deeply. And Jesus says, whatever that well may be, that bucket with which you draw your satisfaction, has holes. And that's the whole point here. He says, everyone who drinks at this water will thirst again. But Jesus says, there's something that I can give you. And you'll never thirst again. What's that?

It's Jesus himself. And so in verse 14, he's just drawing that attention. And then in verse 15, it said, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water. Now, I think she's beginning to understand. He's talking about more than just physical water, but that brings us just to third and finally here that Jesus confronts. Before anyone can partake of the living water of Jesus, they must understand their need for it. It's not just that our souls are barren, it's that our souls are sinful. And Jesus knows this woman better than she knows herself, and she knows that her life was bankrupt, and he knows that she's searching for satisfaction.

and maybe in her mind there's this looming thought, I don't need this living water, I'm fine, I'm satisfied. And Jesus, who knows all things, says, oh yeah, oh yeah, and verse 16, then go call your husband and come here. Now, she doesn't really want to talk about her personal life. Her present lifestyle is the result of a repeated pattern of failure. She's spiritually sick. and she says in verse 17,

I have no husband, and Jesus said to her, you have correctly said, I have no husband. And we're going to talk about this more in the next episode. But the big idea here is Jesus is not exposing her

because he has malicious intentions. It's because he has come to save her, and he has mercy on her, and he has compassion. And before she can ever accept the living water that he is going to offer her, he has to first expose the absolute empty,

of the well that she is currently drawing from. And as the good physician, he is going to probe and probe and probe until he reaches the pain point. This to me strikes as like the fact that Jesus confrines seems to be one of the most out of step with our kind of cultural milieu we're operating in today, where niceness or kindness has been elevated to kind of, of in some circles like the chief virtue. And so it becomes this, like, well, I'm going to share the gospel. I'm not going to confront. Because it feels like, well, if I confront, I'm going to be mean.

And if I mean, I'm unloving. And I want to be loving. I want to be kind. I want to be. Well, pull them in easy and then kind of like, then maybe tell them about it. Yeah. Then we're going to backdoor the gospel. Yeah.

And it just observes me, again, one of the, one of the beauties of studying scripture and just a plain reading of the text is that we can use Jesus. example and that he's confronting her not because he doesn't love her but quite the opposite yeah because he does and i think it was my i think i heard my friend chris say this at one point he said salt and fresh water looks similar to a dehydrated individual that was salt water and fresh water yeah yeah got it but the former kills and the latter brings life and jesus needs to expose that what she's actually drinking is killing her and and And I'm going to give you real, real life.

Now, just big idea here, too, and we'll land the plane. How can Jesus offer living water that quenches spiritual thirst? Well, I think the answer is at the end of John's Gospel. There is only one other time in Scripture. We see at John 4, he sat down at the well at the 6th hour. One other reference in John's Gospel to the 6th hour. And it's in John 19 when Jesus has led away to be crucified. And in the prophetic Psalm of Psalm 22, Jesus cries out,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then it says, my mouth is dried up like a pot shard. And my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. And you lay me in the dust of death. Bottom line, the only way that Jesus can quench your spiritual thirst is because he experienced the unbearable thirst of rejection and alienation and wrath from the Father. And maybe, you know, I never know who's listening or why.

watching, but there could be someone watching or listening that has an empty soul and they're returning to broken cisterns over and over and over again. Just listen to the words of Jesus in Revelation 21. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty, I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Now, how does Jesus give that living water without cost? Well, because he's paid at all. Final point. poem that I love. I heard the voice of Jesus say, behold, I freely give. The living water thirsty one, stooped down and drink and live. I came to Jesus and I

drank of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him. Hank, maybe just as we close, would you pray for people that maybe just are going down different paths, searching for the satisfaction that only Jesus can give? And if there's someone that doesn't know, will they come to Jesus, be confronted by their sin, knowing that he will not only cleanse them, but he will satisfy them. So would you pray with us? Lord Jesus, thank you so much for today.

Lord, I thank you for Johnny. I thank you for your word that you've prepared for us to read, to study. Lord, I thank you that you saved us, that you confronted this woman thousands of years ago and that you confront us still today. I pray for anyone, Lord, who's being confronted right now by you. I pray that they would repent, turn to you, place their faith and Lord, we are just so grateful that if we confess with our mouths and that we believe

in our hearts, that you indeed are Lord of our lives and that you raised from the dead, that you will raise us once again, give us a new heart that can work to be in alignment with you. Pray this all in your perfect name. Amen. Amen. Thanks, Hank.