Never Thirst Again: The Living Water Jesus Offers

This article is adapted from a message preached on December 7th, 2025. Watch the full sermon on YouTube.

The Lord Jesus once told a woman at a well that whoever drinks the water He gives will “never thirst.” This message walks through that encounter in John 4, exposes the emptiness we all feel, and shows how Christ alone can restore our broken relationship with God and satisfy the deepest thirst of the human heart.

A thirsty woman and a gracious Saviour

“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’” John 4:13–14 (NKJV)

These words come from a true story in the Gospel of John. It is one of many accounts in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that show us the Lord Jesus meeting people, speaking with them, and changing them forever.

In John 4, the Lord Jesus is traveling from one town to another. Around the age of thirty, He had begun to preach and teach throughout the land of Israel, moving from city to city. On this particular journey, we read that “He needed to go through Samaria.”(John 4:1–4)

To us that might sound like a simple travel note, like saying, “I had to go from one end of Ottawa to the other, so I went through downtown.” But in that culture, it meant far more.

The Lord Jesus was raised among the Jewish people. The Samaritans, however, were despised by many Jews. They were looked down on and avoided. Some Jews would even take a longer route around Samaria rather than pass through it. Yet we are told that the Lord Jesus needed to go through Samaria.

Tired from the journey, He sat down by a well near a city called Sychar. As He sat there, a Samaritan woman came to draw water. She could likely tell from His appearance and clothing that He was a Jew. She knew very well the hostility between Jews and Samaritans.

When she arrived, the Lord Jesus spoke first: “Give Me a drink.”

Her reaction was immediate and honest: how could a Jewish man ask a Samaritan woman for a drink? She never would have expected someone from His background to speak to her, let alone ask her for anything. Many in His culture would have believed that even engaging with her would make them unclean.

But the Lord Jesus was different. He said to her, in effect, “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 living water.”(John 4:10)

The woman looked at Him and saw a tired traveler with no bucket and no rope. “Where then do You get that living water?” she wanted to know. This well was deep, and He had nothing to draw with. She thought He was talking about the physical water in that well.

Then the Lord Jesus drew a clear contrast:

Whoever drinks from that physical well will thirst again.

She knew that very well. Drawing water was likely a daily routine. She came again and again because yesterday’s water did not satisfy today’s thirst.

In the same way, we eat a meal and feel full—but by the next day, we are hungry again. Physical needs always return.

But then the Lord Jesus spoke about another kind of water:

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

The promise sounded astounding: water that fully satisfies; a life that never runs dry; a fountain within, springing up into everlasting life. No wonder she responded, “Sir, give me this water.”

The emptiness we cannot fill

The Lord’s answer to her request is surprising. Instead of immediately explaining more about the water, He said, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

She replied, “I have no husband.”

The Lord Jesus then revealed that He knew her completely: she had had five husbands, and the man she was living with now was not her husband. She realized that He knew the details of her life and the secrets of her heart. Her first reaction was to say that He must be a prophet.

If we step back and look at this woman’s history, we see more than a list of broken relationships—we see a picture of the human heart.

She had looked for fulfillment in one relationship after another. For a time, each relationship may have seemed to fill the emptiness.

Perhaps she thought, “This is the person who completes me.” But again and again, the satisfaction faded. The emptiness returned.

That is something all of us can understand.

To picture this, imagine a large bucket—the kind you’d buy from a hardware store. It is meant to carry all kinds of things; it has a real purpose. But now imagine the entire bottom has been cut out. From the outside, it still looks like a useful bucket, but whatever you try to pour into it falls straight through.

We may get creative and try to wedge things in—large pieces that seem to stick for a while. They may appear to stay in place. But as soon as life shakes us, as soon as there is pressure, those things fall out and we are empty again.

That bucket is a picture of us. We try to fill our lives with things the world offers:

• Money and possessions

• Relationships and romance

• Success, approval, and achievements

At times they seem to fit. For a while they seem to satisfy. But sooner or later, life shakes us, circumstances change, and we find ourselves empty again.

The relationship we were made for

Why is that?

Because, like that bucket, we were created for something specific. When God created Adam and Eve in the garden (the first people) He made them for a relationship with Himself. There was nothing broken in that relationship at the beginning.

Sin changed that.

That original relationship was broken by disobedience. Ever since, every person born into this world has come into it with that relationship already damaged by sin.

Because of that, nothing in the world—no matter how good or exciting—can ultimately satisfy that inner emptiness. Without God, we are always trying to fill a space only He can fill.

That is why we feel the way we do: always looking, always longing for “something more.”

The Saviour who crosses every barrier

There is another problem. The relationship is broken—and we cannot repair it.

No amount of effort, religion, or self-improvement can undo sin or bridge the gap between us and a holy God. Our offences against God stand between us and Him, and there is nothing we can do on our own to make ourselves right with Him.

We need a Mediator—a go-between—who can bring us to God.

This is where the Lord Jesus stands out in the story. As we read the Gospels, we see who He really is:

• He was willing to go where others would not go.

• He was willing to speak to those others despised.

• He was called “a friend of sinners”—meant as an insult, but in reality a precious truth.

In John 4, He “needed to go through Samaria” because He knew that on that day, at that well, that Samaritan woman would arrive. He went there on purpose to meet her.

In the same way, if you are reading this or hearing this message, God knew you would be here. The same Saviour who sat by that well is seeking you. He wants a relationship with you. He knows your history, your failures, your broken attempts at satisfaction—and He comes toward you, not away from you.

The cross: God’s way to restore the relationship

If our relationship with God is broken by sin, then someone must deal with that sin—take the blame, bear the punishment, and remove the barrier. That Someone is the Lord Jesus Christ.

God sent His only Son into the world to die on the cross. There, He made a way for our offences against God to be set aside and for us to be offered eternal life.

The Lord Jesus did not come simply to give us an example to follow or a set of teachings to live by. He came to be the sacrifice for sin.

On the cross, He took the sinner’s place. He bore what we deserved, so that we could be forgiven.

The gift He described to that woman—“living water” that fully satisfies, everlasting life that never ends—is now offered to anyone:

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.”(John 4:14)

Receiving the gift of living water

There is one more vital lesson in the story: the woman had to accept what He offered.

The Lord Jesus could describe the living water. He could explain that it would become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. But if she did not take what He offered, it would not benefit her.

It is like someone holding out a cup of cold water to a thirsty person. The water is real. It is sufficient. It can satisfy. But unless the thirsty person reaches out and takes it for themselves, they remain thirsty.

The Lord Jesus came into this world, died on the cross, and paid the price for my sins and for your sins. The work is finished. The offer is real. But it must be personally received.

If you want a life that is not just briefly filled but truly satisfied—if you want peace with God and everlasting life—you must first accept what God says about your sin and your broken relationship with Him. You must agree with Him that you cannot fix it yourself.

Then you must receive what He offers: the gift of life through His Son.

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.”

The Samaritan woman came to the well with an empty water jar and an empty heart. She went away having met the Savior who knew her completely, exposed her sin, and offered her living water. That same Saviour offers the same gift to you.