The Reasons to Believe

Laurel Bible Church

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Titled today's sermon, the reasons to believe the reasons to believe.

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John, Chapter four, verses thirty nine through forty five. Please stand with me for the reading of God's word.

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John, Chapter four, starting in verse thirty nine. From that city, many of the

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Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who bore witness.

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He told me all the things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them.

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And he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his word.

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And they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.

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And after the two days, he went from there into Galilee for Jesus himself bore witness that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

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So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they themselves also went to the feast.

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You may be seated. The reasons to believe the reasons to believe, it's hard to discern sometimes what to believe.

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We had a crystal clear example of this recently last week, we had the presidential debate between the candidates for president,

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Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And the takeaway from that is that I don't.

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There was a lot of mistruth spoken in that debate. Whatever political alignment you find yourself with.

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You're looking at basically the person who's going to be the leader of the free world. I felt like I could discern maybe there was some more lying on one part than the other.

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But also, you're looking at two people and you just don't know what to believe everything that they're saying.

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Clearly, some of what was said was not true. And so as you're listening to this, these these two men talking, you realize.

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A lot of lying is going on, a lot of mistruth, and it's just who do you believe? And as Christians, we can probably look at even something like that, a cultural moment, a first for our country.

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Really, the timing of that debate was out of the ordinary. And we can think about it like this, that we have a desire to know the truth.

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And as Christians, we desire to know who crystal clear who is telling the truth and who isn't a desire for a time when the person speaking is telling the truth.

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And, you know, you can believe you can stake your life on the truth that is being told. Well, this morning, we'll see truth claims from two different sources.

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And we need to think about it like this, that we're going to have a sort of a human source and then a divine source.

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And if we just believe everything that we're told, well, we can be tricked and we can be deceived.

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We can believe things that aren't true. Last week, I shared with the congregation an experience that had happened where I had some

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Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door. A very timely visit as I was preparing last week's message on Saturday.

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I hear a knock at the door. I go and I talk to these two men and. They were passionate about what they were saying,

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I believe that they believed what they were saying and they were talking about Jesus Christ.

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And here's the thing, they had nothing but good things to say about him. So if I just believe their testimony.

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I could end up in. In a territory that's not good, believing things about Christ that are not true, just based on that human testimony.

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So we have to ponder and consider what is the source of truth and weigh it.

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And we can see in this passage, there are a few reasons to believe that are demonstrated by the

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Apostle John as he's kind of concluding this section of the of the conversation between the

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Samaritan woman and Jesus. We've got to be sort of flies on the wall the last few Sundays, and now it's come to a conclusion and we see the reasons to believe in this morning's passage.

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The Apostle John records the reaction from the rest of the Samaritans and Sychar from the woman's response to speaking with Jesus so that you can see the reasons to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the

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Messiah. Two reasons to believe demonstrated in the Samaritans reaction.

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Number one, human testimony, human testimony. Those who have encountered

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Jesus. We'll see that in verses 39 and 40. And number two, heavenly testimony, heavenly testimony.

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Jesus himself. We'll see that in verses 41 and 42. Two reasons to believe demonstrated in the

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Samaritans reaction. Number one, human testimony. And this is in 39 and 40.

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Let's look again at these passages, these verses here, starting in verse 39. From that city, many of the

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Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who bore witness. He told me all the things that I have done.

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So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days.

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Now, after reading these verses, we can think, wow, that's all it takes. Evangelism is easy. In one sense, it is.

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All it takes is an honest witness. On the other hand, no, it's not because we don't have control over people's responses.

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God does. In verses 39 and 40, John recounts the apparent success of the

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Samaritan woman's proclamation of Jesus as deity to her fellow citizens.

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And based on their response, it seems that there was both an expectation and a desire for the promised

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Messiah. The word believed needs to be clarified that the fellow citizens were influenced by the woman's experience.

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Clearly, she acknowledged Jesus as a prophet. That's clear in the context of this conversation. She was in awe at what appeared to be his omniscience.

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Her testimony is anchored in her acknowledgement of this man to be the

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Christ. And this is where we can start to see genuine faith taking hold. The word believed signals they had entered into the beginning stages of faith when the mind is ready to receive the teaching because faith isn't separated from doctrine.

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But as they're entering into this faith, God is active in conferring belief on simple people who had not yet been fully taught.

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The genuine faith reveals itself, that they have gone out to see if it is true because there's a perception or a desire to profit from this one who claims to be the

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Messiah. In other words, hope. Their faith had turned into hope.

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They were hoping to see that what she was saying was the truth. And we see that in their desire to have

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Jesus stay with them. Her response is striking that she immediately went to share her interaction with others in town, even though she had this reputation.

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Actually, not in spite of the reputation. Clearly, the townspeople took her interaction as an invitation to come out and see for themselves, to go out and meet this

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Jesus. Well, it is true that there are sins in all of our pasts, sins that before the cross we were and should have been ashamed of.

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But now on the other side of the cross, that shame is gone. Christ has changed us, and Jesus clearly changed the woman.

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The townsfolk, starting with the men at the gate, very likely the leaders of the town saw that her reputation was no longer a barrier for her, not a point of avoidance, the point of shared experience that she no longer was hiding in shame.

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When people see genuine change in a Christian's life, a couple of things happen.

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First, they see that it is a real change and there's an acknowledgment. Second, they become curious at why that person has changed.

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And that is an opportunity for all believers as regenerated, redeemed and changed people to introduce the ones who have noticed to Christ.

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And you think about that experience that I had last week, if I had believed the Jehovah's Witness testimony claimed, you know, they claimed an honest and truthful testimony.

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But if I just took them at face value on their experience, I would have believed something that wasn't true.

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Just to make it clear, the founders of the Watchtower Bible and Jehovah's Witnesses were

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Charles Russell, who was born in 1852, and Joseph Rutherford, who was born in 1869.

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Like many of the other Christian cults that exist today, their false religion was started with a prediction of the end time or the return of Jesus Christ.

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And they said this at this time, Christ will return. Well, guess what? That time came and went. They just changed the time.

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They did that a few times until finally they said, oh, it happened. You guys just didn't see it. So the

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Christian cults have something in common. They teach things about Jesus that aren't true, that Jesus isn't

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God. He's a created being that you can work for salvation, that you can lose your salvation.

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And really just demonic and satanic teachings. The Christian cults today would be the

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Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, and probably the the largest satanic cult around would be the

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Roman Catholic Church. All things that teach a different form of God, that Jesus is just somebody that can do good things for you and that you can actually earn his favor by doing human works.

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A gospel that doesn't exist in the Bible. Specifically to the

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Jehovah Witnesses, the beliefs of the Watchtower Society are based on the New World Translation Bible, a translation that they have come to.

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And if you don't believe in that, then essentially you're not saved. Their belief of God is that God is one person named

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Jehovah. There is no trinity. And Jesus was the first thing that Jehovah created.

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Regarding Jesus, they teach that Jesus is not God, and they believe that before he manifested on the earth, he was actually

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Michael, the archangel. The core belief of Jehovah Witnesses is that Jehovah made the universe through Jesus, and while on earth he lived a sinless life.

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But they refute the crucifixion. He wasn't crucified. They state that Jesus died on a stake and that he was resurrected as a spirit, but his body was destroyed.

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No bodily resurrection. Jehovah Witnesses believe that Jesus has already returned invisibly in 1914, and that was one of those things where they just kept punting the ball down the field until they got to the point that they said the return has already happened.

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It was an invisible return. I don't know what version of the Bible they're reading. Just read

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First Thessalonians or Second Thessalonians. No, Christ's return will accompany what? With the shout of the archangel, with the trumpet sound of God.

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And we can think, well, has Jesus returned? If you're asking that question, it should be obvious he has not, because when he has returned, the whole world will know that he has returned.

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This isn't something that you miss because you have your air buds or something in your ears.

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You're going to hear the trumpet sound of God. Yeah, even that very soon,

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Jesus and the angels of Jehovah will destroy all non Jehovah Witnesses.

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See, the return has already happened. They're just waiting for Jesus and his angels to destroy anybody that's not a

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Jehovah Witness. Watchtower teaching on salvation states that you must be baptized as a

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Jehovah Witness and that one can attain eternal life by doing good works.

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Example of good works would be what? Doing the door to door evangelism. And I'll say it like this.

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It's really door to door solicitation of the Watchtower faith. And you can think, yeah, but I know a lot of Jehovah Witnesses and they're really sweet people.

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Well, OK, that's great that they're sweet people and they're nice. Sweet people don't lead other people to eternal hell and deny the truth of the scripture.

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So I think we need to think about, well, OK, they're nice, that's fine. You know, morality. But you're talking about a satanic lie that is going to lead people to hell forever.

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I don't think that's nice and I don't think that's sweet. Now, we can think about their viewpoint that that even taking it a step further, that eternal life in heaven is limited to 144 ,000 people.

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But sorry, you have to be specially anointed. And that number has already been reached.

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You missed out. It's already been reached. The boat is filled up.

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Well, here's how they would say it. The 144 ,000 live in heaven as spirits and the remaining people will live on earth.

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And then you'll basically be able to perform perfect obedience to God or you'll be destroyed.

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And we can just ask the question whether we're listening to a presidential candidate or some people knocking on our door, telling us about truth claims.

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Is the testimony of others genuine? Can it be believed? A person's testimony about Jesus is a reason to believe.

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But never if that testimony does not match up with what the

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Bible says about Jesus. And we have a really great example in the scripture of the kind of mindset we need to adopt, especially now in this context of our time and culture and society, a time where deception and lies are running rampant.

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And it's getting harder and harder to discern what is the truth. Out in the world, whether you're listening to the news, reading a magazine, listening to a podcast, that's that's apparent.

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And if it's not apparent, I'm sorry, I have to burst your bubble this morning. People are lying out there.

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People are telling lies. It's hard to know now where we get into a very dangerous area.

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And we we need to go back to the word of God is when people are making claims about the Bible.

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Now we have so -called churches, pulpits that are telling people truth claims that aren't true.

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And so the example that always I want to point us to and just keep reminding us is the

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Bereans in the acts of the apostles. We see this really awesome statement that's made.

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So Paul is doing one of his missionary journeys. He's in the he's in Macedonia and several different provinces and regions there in Macedonia.

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He goes from Philippi to Thessalonica to Berea on to Athens. And while he's in Berea, there's this statement that is made and it says that the

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Bereans were noble, that they were noble. And here's what it says is that they they searched out in the scriptures and everything that the

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Apostle Paul was saying was matched up to what the Bible had said, their copy of the Old Testament scriptures.

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In this day and age, we need to be like the Bereans. And no matter what the source of truth is, we have to hold it up to the

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Bible. Just think about that. The Apostle Paul coming with his ministry partners, proclaiming wonderful truth and theology.

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You know, you think about the acts of the apostles and some of the miracles or sign wonders that were allowed by the

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Holy Spirit to vindicate who was a true apostle or not. And yet these people, the

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Bereans, held up everything Paul said to the scripture. We would do well to follow their example today.

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In this gospel, the Apostle John records the reaction from the rest of the

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Samaritans in Sychar from the woman's response to speaking with Jesus so that you can see the reasons to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the

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Messiah. Two reasons to believe demonstrated in the Samaritans reaction.

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The first is human testimony. And here's a bullet point for your outline.

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Human testimony. Those who have encountered Jesus can lead others to God, but must always be measured against Jesus's testimony of himself.

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Those who have encountered Jesus can lead others to God, but must always be measured against Jesus's testimony of himself to verify if their witness matches up with Jesus's teaching, to verify if their witness matches up with Jesus's teaching.

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And the second reason to believe, number two, heavenly testimony.

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Heavenly testimony. Jesus himself. And that's what we'll see in verses 41 and 42.

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41, and how many more believed because of his word and and they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.

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Clearly, what followed after Christ's willingness to stay with them, the two days had its intended effect.

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We see in these verses that much fruit was reaped from the harvest in those two days.

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They requested him to stay. He granted their request. And it's a good example for us to follow.

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We should give people extra time and we should be willing to work for the kingdom beyond our earthly plans.

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If it's in our power to advance the kingdom of God, and it only is because of the Holy Spirit, but in a temporal way, we should not shy away from that.

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We should not shy away from that. If our availability and readiness to comply with the command of spreading the gospel may result in an unfavorable response, or if our efforts seem to be useless or hopeless from a human perspective, it isn't time to throw in the towel.

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We need to double down and stay the course. May we ask from Christ the right counsel to direct our steps.

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The word believe here is used in a different sense in that the townspeople were not just prepared for faith.

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No, something has changed. This designates that they actually had a genuine and proper faith.

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The phrase savior of the world also appears in 1st John chapter 4. It's actually 1st

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John 4 verse 14. We have beheld and bear witness that the father has sent the son to be the savior of the world.

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These verses really make up the climax of the story of the Samaritan woman's experience with Jesus.

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Her response as well as the rest of the Samaritans are just one historical eyewitness account amongst a series of witnesses recorded in the gospel of John.

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Different situations and contexts with the same result. The result of the

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Samaritan woman at the well and the conversion of the Samaritans in Sychar demonstrate the identity of Jesus.

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Think about it like that. We see these interactions again and again, but what is John's point?

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We see different situations, different contexts, same result and all of these results.

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The point is just like with the Samaritans. It demonstrates the identity of Jesus of Nazareth is the

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Messiah. John's main point in this gospel. Not just that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God.

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This account recorded by John is the first example or instance of cross -cultural evangelism recorded in the

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New Testament. Later before his Ascension, Jesus would give the command for his disciples to follow this same example.

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Again, we can look to the Acts of the Apostles, Acts chapter 1 says this, and this is the word of our

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Lord, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all

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Judea and Samaria and even to the end of the earth.

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It's important to point out that what they are referring to by saying it's not just an account of what she had said that they believe but now based on what he had said and the

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Greek word here is not the word that is sometimes translated as the word Logos, not the word used here.

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No, this is the Greek word that has the same meaning with talk or speech. This is the content of speech or of speaking.

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The Samaritans are saying they have a stronger foundation in their belief than her experience.

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Although John would have been present with Jesus. This is an eyewitness account during this time.

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This two days spent with the Samaritans. He doesn't tell us what Jesus said to them in those two days, but he does tell us the result.

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The result was their belief their claim expresses the full nature of their faith recognizing

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Jesus as the son of God and their teacher delineates that their faith had been drawn from the word and that's capital the word of God.

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It's not separated but their faith is not originated from Old Testament scriptures, which again they only believe the first five books of Moses.

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Anyway, no faith is on spending two days with the one who has explained the first five books of Moses to them actual speech using words from his mouth.

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And this is an important principle for us to understand. Whoever we happen to hear from about Jesus.

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Our faith cannot rest on anything besides the words that have proceeded from Jesus's mouth.

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There is no other source from which knowledge proceeds other than the word of God the Bible because the

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Bible is the word of Jesus and in some cases the actual words that proceeded from his mouth perfectly recorded for us what comes out of the mouth of a mortal human being can cause to feel and satisfy the hearer.

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However, it will never concern the confirm the soul and having the calming and reassuring confidence of salvation outside of what

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Jesus has said himself about himself. So proper faith must be based on the understanding that it is

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Jesus who speaks to us both by his word the Bible and the faithful ministers.

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He has given to his church his people the teachers and pastors that Jesus has given to the church will honor him and they will honor what he has taught evangelism based on biblical truth not seeker sensitive nonsense that soothes the unbeliever in avoiding the topic of sin and repentance.

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We may not know what was said in those two days, but we know that at the end of that time the

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Samaritans were firm that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior of the world and they didn't come to that conclusion on their own clearly

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Jesus taught them the gospel and explained the Messiah and I would strongly conjecture that he not only explained the first five books of the

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Bible, but also showed them in the rest of the Old Testament prophecies that he was the

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Messiah described by the prophets. Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies that as the

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Messiah he had come to admit strangers into the family of God that those who are far off from God or weren't part of the family would be called children of God that he had come to bring peace to those who were far off Ephesians chapter 2 and he came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near and there the

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Apostle Paul is just pointing out that the Old Testament scriptures were fulfilled in Jesus Paul's paraphrasing the prophet

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Isaiah Isaiah 57 says this creating the praise of the lips peace peace to him who is far and to him who is near says

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Yahweh. I will heal him. I will heal as Jesus is evangelistic mission in Samaria had come to a close.

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We can see the example of spiritual harvesting in two stages first many believe because of what the

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Samaritan woman had said about her encounter but second even more believe through the speech of Jesus himself.

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So her testimony and then his testimony while there may have been limits in the faith based on the experience of the

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Samaritan woman that would have been limited in some way her testimony was the omniscience or Divine Insight of Jesus that she perceived personal contact and communication with Jesus himself was ultimately what caused and then deepened the faith of the

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Samaritans clearly their initial response to the human testimony was sincere demonstrated in their requests for having him stay with them on the other side of that visit.

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We see the conviction that he truly was the Messiah these ones previously who were far from Yahweh now recognize that he had sent

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Jesus as their Savior and they recognize that he was Yahweh in the flesh.

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This was their God and they recognize not only that he was their Savior, but there was an understanding that Jesus was the

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Savior of the world and that's an important term because it's only used in one other

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New Testament passage and that's the first John passage both times by the apostle

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John as he was eyewitness to these events. He was helping his readers to see the term in its interracial sense

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Salvation wasn't just for the Jews Salvation had come upon the whole world regardless of ethnicity this profound theological truth makes the silly social justice gospel and critical race theory theology that is popular in some pulpits seem nonsensical and quite frankly stupid.

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This is the true pure gospel of grace and the Lord Jesus Christ not a cultural gospel not a social gospel not an anything else gospel just the gospel just the gospel.

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And we go back to this exchange that I had with the Jehovah Witnesses the question that the

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Jehovah Witnesses couldn't answer and or refuted was very simply is

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Jesus God is Jesus God they started out with telling me about Jesus and they even said

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Jesus is the son of God. It's like great. Amen. I'm right there with you. But what do you mean by that?

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And what they mean is that he's a created being that came after God that he's not God. He's something that God created at a certain time in human history.

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And as they were talking about Jehovah, I was helping them to understand even that word that the

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Masoretic priest had simply attached the vowel pointings for Adonai because they didn't want to say the word

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Yahweh because that would be taking the Lord's name in vain. That's where we get Jehovah from the word is

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Yahweh Yahweh is the word and so as we're talking about that finally they realize and they said wait, wait, wait a minute.

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Are you saying that Yahweh is Jesus? Well, what would be the implication that Jesus is

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God and that's where we just they we just parted ways. And I was very gracious and said

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I'll be praying for you. But my graciousness took this form. I need to call you to repent and believe in the gospel have a good day.

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No, I needed to tell them to their face and look in their eyes. You don't know Christ and you're outside of Christ will repent and believe in the gospel and they just couldn't fathom that I did warn them and I said you're talking to a

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Protestant pastor. They stayed and talked to me. I don't expect they'll be back. But you know, we have to tell the truth and we have to point people to the word of God.

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It can't just be empty statements. So as we're thinking about that question, what does the

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Bible say about who Jesus is I'll point you to that the outline and if you don't have one from the bulletin,

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I'm going to walk us through this. Let's think about it like this 10 statements that are made and I want to make sure that we have a disclaimer her.

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This is a cursory. Look, this is not exhaustive just a sample really and we'll break it down in two ways

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God in the Old Testament and Jesus is reference to himself.

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Let's see if there's any correlation God in the Old Testament. I am

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I am Exodus chapter 3. And God said to Moses.

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I am who I am and he said thus you shall say to the sons of Israel.

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I am has sent me to you and God furthermore said to Moses thus you shall say to the sons of Israel Yahweh the

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God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.

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This is my name forever. And this is my Memorial name from generation to generation.

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Jesus is reference to himself. I am John chapter 8 Jesus said to them truly truly

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I say to you before Abraham was I am and many people will say

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Jesus never said he was God will remember that passage John chapter 8 it's verse 58.

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Well, clearly the people that he was talking to didn't have a misunderstanding. He's saying this to Jewish people.

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They knew what he was saying and the way we know that is they picked up rocks to kill him for blasphemy because he claimed to be

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God. So never let a person tell you that Jesus never actually claimed to be God crystal clear right there.

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That's just one. Let's go down the list. God in the Old Testament the shepherd the shepherd psalm 23

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Yahweh is my shepherd. I shall not want Jesus is reference to himself the shepherd

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John chapter 10. I am the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep

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God in the Old Testament the light the light Psalm 27

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Yahweh is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear

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Yahweh is the strong defense of my life whom shall I dread

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Jesus is reference to himself the light John chapter 8 then Jesus again spoke to them saying

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I am the light of the world he who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life for those versed in the

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Old Testament clearly again and again. Jesus is saying something profound.

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I am God I am Yahweh in other words. God in the

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Old Testament the rock the rock Psalm 18 Yahweh is my rock and my

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Fortress and my Deliverer my God my rock in whom

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I take refuge my shield and the horn of my salvation my stronghold

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Jesus is reference to himself the rock Matthew chapter 7 therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and does them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock

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God in the Old Testament ruler of all ruler of all listen to Isaiah chapter 9 for a child will be born to us a son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty

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God Eternal Father Prince of Peace Jesus is reference to himself ruler of all

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Matthew 28 and Jesus came up and spoke to them saying all

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Authority has been given to me in heaven and on Earth. God is the ruler of all

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Jesus claims to be the ruler of all God in the Old Testament the judge of all nations the judge of all nations

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Joel chapter 3 let the nations be roused up and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for there.

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I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Jesus is reference to himself the judge of all

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John chapter 5 for not even the father judges anyone but he has given all judgment to the son the judge of all the nations is

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Jesus Christ. That is what God claimed for himself in the Old Testament God in the

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Old Testament the bridegroom Isaiah 62 for as a young man marries a virgin.

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So your sons will marry you and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.

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So your God will rejoice over you Jesus is reference to himself the bridegroom

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Matthew chapter 9 and Jesus said to them can the attendance of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, but the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast

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God in the Old Testament God's word never passes away

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Isaiah chapter 40 the grass withers the flower fades but the word of our

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God stands forever Jesus is reference to himself Jesus is words will never pass away mark chapter 13

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Heaven and Earth will pass away but listen carefully, but my words will not pass away clearly

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Jesus is saying that his words his speech are on equal authority to the words that were recorded in the

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Old Testament the very words of Yahweh God in the Old Testament the sower the sower

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Jeremiah 31 behold days are coming declares Yahweh when

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I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast

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Jesus is reference to himself the sower mark chapter 4 the sower sows the word the sower brings the word of God Jesus referring to himself

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God in the Old Testament first and last Isaiah 48 hear me.

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Oh Jacob even Israel whom I called I am he I am the first I am also the last

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Jesus is reference to himself first and last

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Revelation chapter 1 John says as he sees this vision and when

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I saw him I I fell at his feet like a dead man and he placed his right hand on me saying do not fear.

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I am the first and the last and the living one and I was dead and behold

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I am alive forever and ever and I have the keys of death and of Hades God's word clearly crystal clear shows that Jesus is not a created being

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Jesus is God Jesus is God. These references are hardly exhaustive and we can only imagine the teaching

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Revelation the Samaritans received in those two days directly from Jesus. We've looked at only 10 examples of God in the

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Old Testament and 10 of Jesus is references to himself in the New Testament. Jesus is

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God. Two reasons to believe demonstrated in the Samaritans reaction number one human testimony those who have encountered

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Jesus and number two heavenly testimony heavenly testimony

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Jesus himself testifies with physical speech physical speech that correlates perfectly and precisely with what has been written about the

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Christ in the Bible, which is the ultimate qualifier of truth regarding salvation and doctrine

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Jesus himself testifies with physical speech that correlates perfectly and precisely with what has been written about the

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Christ in the Bible, which is the ultimate qualifier of truth regarding salvation and doctrine.

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And then as we see these these final verses I wanted to include these here really versus 43 through 45.

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This is John's conclusion or summary of the conversation starting in verse 43 and after the two days he went from there into Galilee for Jesus himself bore witness that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

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So when he came to Galilee the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast for they themselves also went to the feast.

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I really like the breakup of this passage in the legacy standard Bible. I think it's helpful.

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It could have been included in the royal officials son second sign wonder we could easily address these verses next time as we look at that second sign that's recorded in the gospel for us the healing of the royal official son.

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However, I think because of Jesus's comments that these verses link more with the

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Samaritans account. It is true that these verses serve as a bridge as we cross from one historical account in the eyewitness narrative to another historical account and Lord willing before we enter into the account of the second sign wonder at the conclusion of chapter 4 next time we continue in this gospel.

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There's a few things that are important for us to observe before we move on from the Samaritan account.

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The early church father Augustine noted that Christ was without honor among his own countrymen because he had done more good among the

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Samaritans in two days than only two days that he had done in a long time among the

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Galileans and because without miracles he gained more disciples in Samaria than a great number of miracles that had gained him in Galilee.

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Remember the result of the first sign wonder in the cleansing of the temple go back to chapter 2.

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Let's look at this insert chapter 2 starting in verse 23. It says in chapter 2 23 through 25.

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Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast see this is the this is what's being referenced for us in verse 45 of chapter 4 during the feast many believed in his name when they saw his signs which he was doing but here's a clue it says in verse 24

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Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man for he himself knew what was in man interesting insert in that chapter really we see the first sign wonder water into wine and then directly after that Jesus cleanses the temple and although the people had seen these things taking place it says that he was not

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Counting them as his disciples or his followers. He knew what was in their heart. He knew what was in their heart.

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An important observation is that when Jesus had left the city of Nazareth he departed into a different part of Galilee the other three gospel writers mentioned

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Nazareth when they relate this testimony of Christ is that the full manifestation of Jesus's deity it had not yet come the

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Jewish people were the first to see a sign wonder yet Jesus chose to remain concealed in his own native country.

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No wonder he would stay two days in Samaria yet not performing any miracles. Of course

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Jesus knew after he remained two days in Samaria that what awaited him back amongst his own people was contempt.

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There were there are some scholars that postulate he went straight to Nazareth, but this gospel seems to remove any doubt

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Jesus knew that he himself was despised in his native city of Nazareth and he went through to another place in between the sign wonders.

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He didn't go back to Nazareth. He went back to Cana of Galilee where the first sign wonder had been performed where he received with some sort of reverence not contempt.

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We see that in the Old Testament scriptures as well that the prophets were usually more admired elsewhere than in their own country.

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While there may not be uniform accuracy in every circumstance the general axiom of truth

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States the common and ordinary experience prophets receive honor more readily in another place than among their own countrymen.

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It is an evil. That envy prevails more among friends and acquaintances prophets were not treated well by their own nation.

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It's not the prophet that the ingratitude is towards towards God himself when there is contempt for God's word obstinacy toward biblical teaching and a complaining or grumbling heart discontentment the minister of God is the target of ill treatment.

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The point that the Apostle John is making here is that Jesus performed many miracles in the presence of many witnesses in Galilee the report of these

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Miracles are so powerful that sign Wonders had spread far and wide and here John can give us one advantage of Miracles the

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Miracles paved the way for the teaching the sign Wonders paved the way for the doctrine the result or influence of the

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Miracle is they cause reverence to be paid to Jesus the Miracle isn't the main point.

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It's the earthly teaching and preaching gospel ministry of Jesus Christ. That is the main point. Some some

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Puritan commentators noted this quote the truth of the Harvest begins to appear these

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Samaritans were the foundation of the church afterwards built up there. No Miracle appears to have been wrought there but unparalleled supernatural knowledge displayed.

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We have heard him ourselves suffice to raise their faith to a point never attained by the

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Jews and hardly yet as his by the disciples that he was the

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Savior of the world. This incident is further remarkable as a rare instance of the

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Lord's ministry producing an awakening on a large scale two precious days surely to the

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Redeemer himself unsought he had come to his own yet his own received him not now those who were not his own had come to him been one by him and invited him into their town that others might share with them in the benefit of his wonderful ministry here.

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Then would he solace his already wounded spirit and have in this outfield village triumph of his grace a sublime foretaste of the in bringing of the whole

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Gentile world into the church. Jesus reached cultural boundaries.

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He smashed them to pieces and he explained himself to them validating her encounter or her experience match perfectly with his divine testimony in verses 39 through 45.

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The Apostle records the reaction from the rest of the Samaritans and Sychar from the woman's response to speaking with Jesus so that you can see the reasons to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the

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Messiah two reasons to believe demonstrated in the Samaritans reaction number one human testimony those who have encountered

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Jesus can lead others to God but must always be measured against Jesus's testimony of himself to verify if their witness matches up with Jesus's teaching and number two heavenly testimony

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Jesus himself Jesus himself testifies with physical speech that correlates perfectly and precisely with what has been written about the

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Christ in the Bible, which is the ultimate qualifier of truth regarding salvation and doctrine may we in this time of deception and lies seek the truth by looking through the lens of the

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Bible. May we be like the Bereans and in that way may our testimony be accurate and true about the

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Lord. We proclaim to those that are far off according to the will of God if we have a genuine heart desire to see people who don't know

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Christ come to know him and not just know him but know him in a in a saving way in a real saving relationship.

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God will honor that if your desire to tell people about Christ is that they would be saved and know the know

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God guess what God will save people using your life. Actually, that's why he's called you to himself that we have a ministry here on Earth that we can point people to the one who saves sinners.

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May our testimony be accurate and true and may we hold up every truth claim especially about the