Redeeming The Irredeemable - [John 4:39-42]

I would invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 4, as we'll be back there this morning starting in verse 39. Now I'm sure many of you, if you watched the news at all, if you paid any attention, you probably saw that Texas this week passed a law to restrict abortion after 20 weeks.

The results were predictable. I saw a video clip of one female legislator holding up a wire coat hanger and talking about how women were going to have to resort to back alleys to get their health care.

One man who labeled his blog BroChoice, not ProChoice, but BroChoice, whined about the possibility that more men would have to pay child support. Now we look at that and we think, well, how is that possible?

On the other hand, it's thoroughly predictable. Why is it predictable? Because unsaved men and women look at an unborn child and they're able to suppress the truth. Just like it says in Romans 1, they're able to hold it down.

They look at that unborn child and they say, well, so what if the child has separate DNA? It's not a child. So what if we can look at the sonogram and see that it's a fully formed human being? It's not a child.

So what if we can look at that same sonogram and see a picture of a baby sucking its thumb? See a baby smiling? See a baby stretching and yawning? It's not a baby. How do we respond to this kind of thing?

Well, here's what we don't want to do. We don't want to argue morality with unbelievers. They know that abortion is murder. They know it's wrong. They know it's sinful. How do they know that? Because they have the law of God written in their hearts.

They look at that and they willfully suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Why? Because they want to sin without consequence. And when we get into a debate about morality, what's the best case scenario?

We win the argument and guess what? They don't care and they're still on their way to hell. If we lose the argument, they don't care and they're still on their way to hell. Apart from the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, working through the proclamation of the gospel, through the word of God, every man, woman, and child on earth is unredeemable.

They're lost. Our best efforts at logic, reason, reforming the culture, trying to force people what they know is right anyway, and we're going to force them to do the right thing, is ultimately in vain.

We're not going to save anyone doing that. Now does that mean that we shouldn't care about such issues, such things? Absolutely not. However, we cannot permit the social issues of our day from diverting us, or we cannot allow it to divert us from our primary purpose, proclaiming, heralding, preaching the gospel.

That's what we do. That's the Great Commission. Now to catch us up where we are in the gospel of John, actually I'm not even going to do that so much, but to just give you a flavor of what the gospel is all about, it was written by the disciple Jesus loved.

In fact, you know, he never uses his own name in here. Whenever you see John, he's referring to another John. And he wrote it so that people who read this gospel might come to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ.

And by believing in him, they might go to heaven. You can't read the gospel of John and think, well, this was really a profound man. This was someone worthy of emulation. You can't do that because it says over and over again, Jesus Christ is God.

With that said, let's look at our text this morning, starting in verse 39 of chapter 4, as we continue this section of scripture dealing with the Samaritan woman and the meeting Jesus had with her at the well and the results of it.

We'll kind of review as we go along here. Verse 39. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him, that is Jesus, because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

The Value of a Testimony in Evangelism

Now, this morning I'm going to present three invaluable verities, three truths drawn from our text, so that you will love Jesus all the more. And you say, well, I'm here this morning, and I don't love Jesus.

I want you to. John wants you to. And that's the purpose of this entire Gospel. If you know Jesus, you will marvel at the love of God shown through him. And if you don't know him this morning, or even if you're not sure where you are, I want you to pay very close attention to these three verities.

Verity number one. That means truth. Verity number one. There is great value in a testimony. There is great value in a testimony. Look at verse 39. Many Samaritans from that town, that is the town of Sychar, believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

He told me all that I ever did. Now, this section is certainly the culmination, the finale of Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman, but it really is an exposition, a full-blown expose, an explication, an explanation of John 3 .16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The world? Yes, the world, even the Samaritans. Here was a group of people who were part Jew and part Gentile, and they were hated by the Jews.

I think it's partly because they reminded the Jews of one of their worst defeats ever, when they were captured, defeated, and carried off into captivity by the Assyrians, but also because when they came back, they developed a religious system that mirrored Judaism in many ways, but it declared ultimately its superiority to Judaism.

That's why you have a separate system, because you think your system is better. Remember what the Samaritan woman said, or actually she asked Jesus in a roundabout way. It's kind of a statement, but a question implied, and verse 20, she said, Our fathers worshipped on this mountain.

She's talking about Mount Gerizim, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. In other words, we've got our own system, we go up to Mount Gerizim, that's where our temple used to be before you Jews destroyed it, but you say it's in Jerusalem that we ought to worship, and then Jesus tells her, of course, that salvation is from the Jews.

But the Samaritans were estranged from the Jews, so they had this parallel system, and they looked forward to a prophet, a Teheb. So when she says, you know, could this be the prophet, she's referring to someone that they believed was going to be a prophet greater than Moses.

Remember, they only used the Pentateuch, the Samaritans did. They were not looking for a redeemer, they were not looking for someone to die for their sins, but then again, neither were the Jews. They were looking for a conquering hero, someone who would break the chains, as it were, of Rome and set them free.

Now the words of a woman in those days were not typically considered valuable. As we talked about last week, a lot of rabbis said some very nasty things about even talking with a woman, even one's wife for an extended period of time.

But the words of the Samaritan woman do have an impact on the men of this village. In fact, our text tells us that many from Sychar believed in Jesus because of her confession. What was her confession?

That he knew everything about her. She'd been married five times, she was living with a man, and he told her exactly that. And she said what? The greatest understatement in all of scripture, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

She was like... Now let's take a step back for a moment. Let's consider what this Samaritan woman was willing to do. She puts her sins kind of up front. She's very up front about it. And I mentioned maybe why.

I mean, it's not given in our text, but why? Because they all knew her. There was no denying that. So she just said, look, he knew everything about me. Don't you want to find out more about him? You have to hear this remarkable man.

He has such insight. Now consider what she didn't do. She didn't set about becoming a good neighbor, being a witness by her lifestyle. Instead, she told the people what she knew. I think there's a lesson in that for us.

We tell people about Jesus. We tell them what we know. Now, did it save them? I mean, it says many believed, right? Well, our English really fails to convey it, but I think in the Greek we would come to the conclusion that the answer is no.

They didn't believe savingly. Why do I say that? Well, because they didn't believe permanently based on the words of the Samaritan woman. In fact, the tense, the verb there would indicate that it was a temporary believing, not a saving faith.

And it makes sense when we think about Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. So is it bad to give your testimony to your friends and neighbors? No. But you can't expect it ultimately to save them.

The Lord may use it, or they might say what? What do you hear when you start talking about Christ to someone? Something like, I'm so glad that works for you. If that helps you, good for you. A little pat on the head, send you on your way.

That's not how the Samaritans responded, though. They went out to see Jesus. So our first verity is there is value in a witness, but we'll see in our second verity that there's more value in the value of the word of God.

The Supremacy of the Word of God Over Testimony

In fact, second verity is the value of the word of God is greater than a testimony. It's greater than a testimony. The response of the Samaritans is impressive. Look at verse 40. So when the Samaritans came to him, came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

Now, I've mentioned how much the Jews disliked the Samaritans, said that a lot, but the Samaritans had a lot of hatred for the Jews. It was a two-way street. It's amazing that the Samaritans would respond in this way.

They are enthusiastic. They're pressing Jesus to stay with them. They're persistently asking him to remain with them. Now, let's just, for a moment, let's just think about the Pharisees versus the Samaritans.

Both were religious, but the Pharisees were proud of their religion. They wore it on their sleeves. It was really the very essence of who they were. Everywhere they went, they made a great show of their religion.

Both groups wanted to see Jesus. If you'll remember back to this section here where it first started in chapter 4, that Jesus knew, he found out that the Pharisees wanted to come see him. So what did he do?

He left Judea and went out into Samaria. It wasn't time for a confrontation with the Pharisees. He didn't think they were going to come out and say, you know, why don't you stay with us for two days and teach us, implied.

They were afraid of Jesus just as they had been afraid of John the Baptist. Furthermore, throughout his ministry, what did the Pharisees seek to do? They sought to trap him, to trick him, to get him to say something wrong, erroneous, to show him as some kind of scofflaw.

We have no record whatsoever of them insisting he stay with them for an extended period of time like this, insisting that they host him. But the Samaritans were not out to show Jesus up. They weren't out to trick him.

They wanted to hear Jesus, to learn from him. They wanted to really find out what this man who knew so much was all about. In that sense, they were very much like Nicodemus, who saw the signs and went to Jesus at night to find out who he really was.

But it's not like all Samaritans throughout Jesus' ministry would be so warm and fuzzy. Turn for a moment to Luke 9, verses 51 to 56. We'll see that this is really the exception and not the rule. Luke 9, verses 51 to 56.

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans. And they begged him to stay, no, to make preparations for him, 53.

But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. So again, it's not like Samaritans generally were more open to Jesus than anyone else. But this particular group, let's go back to John, this particular group, they were wanting to hear what he had to say.

Now, did the two days bear fruit? Look at verse 41. And many more believed because of his word. Well, how can this be? As we said, they believed earlier, but again, that was a temporary belief. They accepted what this woman said, but it wasn't like they said, Oh, this is the Son of God, we believe.

They went out to him. They believed what she'd said, but they didn't understand that he was the Redeemer that they needed. Secondhand information can never take the place of an intimate encounter with the Lord Jesus.

And you say, well, wait a minute. We cannot today have a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus. Are we left to secondhand information? Do we have to rely, like the Samaritans did here, apparently, on secondhand information, witnesses, testimonies?

No. We can have a personal encounter with Jesus. We have his very words in red and in black. He promised his disciples what? That he would send the Holy Spirit. Why? To lead them into all truth. As a result of the Spirit's leading, his inspiration, we have both the Old Testament, which testifies of him, Jesus said, and the New Testament, which consists of primary sources of the life and ministry of our Lord.

We encounter Jesus. We hear him. We hear his words, as it were, in the Bible. The Samaritans did not believe because they saw Jesus, right? They went out and saw him, and they didn't go, Okay, now we see you.

Now we believe. What does the passage say? It says they believed his word. They listened to what he said, and they believed it. Now think of all the people that Jesus ministered to during his earthly ministry.

The thousands that he fed in the wilderness. All the people who listened to him in the Sermon on the Mount. All the places that he went, and people listened, and the crowds followed him, and the healings that he did.

How many believed what he said? We don't know exactly, but we know it's a fraction of the people who heard him. We know it's a fraction of the people who saw him. We know it's a fraction of the people who saw the miracles.

How do we know that? Well, we know in 1 Corinthians 15 that what? After he was raised from the dead, there were more than 500, but not more than 600, who were there with him. It was his words that convicted them.

Now look at the aftermath. Look at verse 42, the first part of it. They said to the woman, that is, the Samaritans said to this Samaritan woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves.

They were no longer reliant upon her testimony. There is a change in the wording of John here, too. He uses the present tense, no longer this kind of temporary tense, an active voice to indicate a consistent, ongoing belief.

They keep on believing. John uses that word there that's translated in our English text, two words, no longer, but it's only one word in the Greek, more than any other New Testament writer. Why does he do that?

Look again at that text. It is no longer because of what you've said. Look, we believe because of what she said, but that was a temporary belief. We're no longer that way. We've been transformed. We've been radically changed.

Now we have a permanent, abiding belief. The Samaritans from Sychar had once been impressed by the testimony of this sinful woman. But then they spent two days listening to Jesus. What was their encounter with the woman was essentially a spark.

But now their faith was fully aflame. Let's look at it another way. Taking the word of anyone and not having a personal knowledge would not be saving faith. If somebody says, you know, Jesus is my Savior, do you go, okay, I believe you, therefore I'm saved, too.

Jesus is my Savior translates into Jesus is my Savior, too. There's not enough content there. She didn't give them enough content for them to believe. I do know, is there value in a testimony? Yes. I mean, I know of a woman who was saved the night her sister was baptized and gave her testimony.

She listened and believed. There were several testimonies that night. Each one involved what? Scripture, the gospel. She heard that. She believed. It's not because her faith was not based on her sister's testimony.

It was based on the word of God. There has to be that encounter with Christ. So firstly, there is great value in a testimony. There is value in it. But the value of the word of God is greater than a testimony.

The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ

That's our second verity and our third verity. There is nothing greater than the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Nothing greater than the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Look again at verse 42.

And we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. That verb we know. Again, I'm getting a little technical, but that's fine. Listen, this is a perfect active indicative. What does that mean? It means that they had, at one point, knowledge.

Settled, factual knowledge. Ongoing results. Permanent results. They knew. They knew that they knew and nothing was going to change that. They knew that he was indeed the Savior of the world. They'd gone from being intrigued enough to go out to listen to this amazing man to knowing that he was the Savior.

What does it mean that he's the Savior? One man put it this way. He said, a great example can be merely a heartbreaking and frustrating thing when we find ourselves powerless to follow it. In other words, if Jesus is just something for which we strive.

If we say, okay, there's the 100 and I'm just going to be a 100. What's going to happen? We're going to fall short of perfection. We can't do it. That's why Jesus came. He goes on, he says, Jesus was Savior.

That is to say, he rescued men from the evil and hopeless situation in which they found themselves. He broke the chains that bound them to the past and gave them a power and a presence which enabled them to meet the future.

Listen, you don't need a Savior because you're good. You don't need a Savior because if you just try a little bit harder, you can make it on your own. What would Jesus save us from if we just needed a little boost?

The truth is, everyone here this morning needs saving. Everyone here comes into this world with an implacable, all-powerful foe. That means you can't displace him, by the way, in case you're wondering.

I just want to throw that word in. He's all-powerful. An enemy who cannot be defeated. And you say, well, who is that? I had somebody in the first service say sin. Well, that's a good answer, but it's wrong.

Your enemy when you come to this world is none other than the triune God himself. You face God's wrath. Why do you need a Savior? Because the wrath of God abides on you unless you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You need to be saved from the wrath of God. Now look at this phrase here, the Savior of the world. This sums up the main thrust of this whole pericope. Again, a word I just wanted to use. It means a section of Scripture.

We need to just keep in mind that the chapter numbers, the verses are not inspired. And this is a flow of argument that he's making. John wants us to understand John 3 .16. He wants us to understand that God so loved the world.

Well, what does that mean? He's the Savior of the world. One man says of the Samaritans making this observation that he's the Savior of the world. This is a great insight from a little people. The Samaritans were not significant.

This phrase, Savior of the world, only occurs one other time. You don't have to turn there. But it's also written by John. Listen, 1 John 4, verses 13 and 14. If you remember, 1 John has written really a series of tests to see if we're in the faith or not.

Listen. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit. God has given us his Spirit. Verse 14. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Kistemacher says this. He says, John gives a brief summary of the gospel. This is in 1 John he's talking about. He says he gives a brief summary of the gospel. The Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

This is the most profound statement. God the Father commissioned his Son to assume the task of saving the world. And God initiated this mission of the Son because of his love for this sinful world. Again, doesn't that sound like John 3 .16?

The Father has given us. He's given believers his Spirit. Now think back to what Jesus was speaking of when he talked to Nicodemus. Nicodemus had come to him at night after seeing the signs that Jesus had done, after Jesus had cleansed the temple.

What did he tell Nicodemus? He said, you must be born again. And that being born again was of the Spirits. And earlier in the book, John had written that Jesus came from the Father. So what we have here is a theological consistency, a cohesion, coherency, theological precision that's in John's writings from beginning to end.

The Father gives the Spirits. The Holy Spirit regenerates. He regenerates. And the Father sent the Son, and the Son is the Savior of the world. The triune God working together to redeem a people for his glory.

Even though Jesus told the Samaritan woman that salvation was from the Jews, he did not say that salvation was for the Jews only. It was for the world. Now let's ask a really hard question. What sort of Savior would Jesus be if he left some of the work undone?

If he left some of it to us? If the chasm between us is a bridge and we have to get across, and Jesus, let's say it's a mile-long bridge, and Jesus built a bridge that was 5 ,278 feet, and he said, okay, go ahead, Steve, finish the last two feet yourself.

If you've seen my handiwork, you know that I've got no chance. Let's say it was a relay race. Jesus carries the baton all the way around. He's winning, and he's just going to hand it to you, and all you've got to do is cross the finish line.

You're not going to make it. A Savior must completely save. He has to completely stand in the way to shield us from the wrath of God. Now what if Jesus could only save us if it was something we wanted in the first place?

What if it was something that we had to want, and then Jesus would act on that? Well, Jesus saves not conditionally, not partially, not based on our good works, our good thoughts, our desires, or our religious motivations.

He saves. Some Christians act as if the text ought to read, a Savior of the world, because in our own little way, we often think that we are our own mini-Savior, a little Savior. After all, if we don't believe, if we don't contribute, if we don't do something, if we don't receive, if we're not willing, but there's none of that language here.

It says he is a, not a, he is the Savior of the world. There is no other. There's no helper for him. He saves completely and utterly. Jesus is eternally God, became fully man while remaining fully God, lived a sinless life on this earth, subject to all the difficulties that we have, died a death in the place of sinners, and was raised on the third day to reign forever.

He taught the most educated religious leaders of his day, and the lowest sinners, those who were considered important and those who were outcasts, those who were not deemed worthy of a second look. Why?

Because he is the Savior of the world, of all kinds of people. Everyone here needs to be saved, and you either believe he is who the Bible says he is, or you will not be saved. It's believe and live, or reject him and face the wrath of almighty God.

He is the only rescuer, the only redeemer. Well, you say, why is he rejected? Because today, like then, many view themselves as good enough or better than most. They survey the sinfulness of mankind, and they conclude that they are in the less sinful bracket, kind of like a less wealthy income tax bracket, but there's no such thing.

If you were here this morning and you thought to yourself that there's some way you'll escape hell other than Christ, well, that's exactly what you've done. You've made it up. God will punish sinners, and he will punish sinners who reject his Son.

He sent Jesus to save, but only those who recognize their need and call on him will be saved. Jesus actually redeemed the unredeemable. To the Jewish mind, Samaritans were unredeemable. To the Samaritan mind, Jews were unredeemable.

Probably to both of them, Gentiles were unredeemable. But men and women of all races who were dead in their sins and trespasses, who hated the light and loved their darkness, loved their sin, he came to save them.

They were at war with God, yet he sent Jesus to die for his enemies, to reconcile them. For God so loved the world that he redeemed, he bought back for himself people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Now consider today that we have many sources of information, news, Facebook, Twitter, and innumerable other sources. And it's easy to get bogged down, isn't it? To become depressed when we read about issues like abortion, homosexual marriage, the economy, the Federal Reserve, government corruption, violence, and the slide into immorality that we see all around us.

But ultimately, trying to deal with all of these issues is like running from one little brush fire to another, trying to stomp it out. What happens if you've got a little bit of fire here, and a little bit of fire there, and a little bit of fire here, and a little bit of fire there, and you run around and you stomp it out, and you never put out the source of the fire?

What happens? You've got a never-ending battle. And that's what it's like to try to reform the culture, to try to change the culture. We can't change it. MacArthur has it right. He says, We can't reform the culture.

We change one heart at a time. That's our job. Now, as Christians, we ought to hate what God hates. We can't look at abortion and think it's a choice. We can't suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We look at that sonogram and we see, that's a baby.

That's an image-bearer of God. We can't hear a term like homosexual marriage without thinking that's an affront to God. The Creator said, man and woman. But we miss the point if we focus on the issue du jour, if we allow ourselves to chase one brush fire after another.

There's a more pressing problem, one present in everyone, sin. And unless your sin is dealt with, unless you have invested yourself entirely in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to hell.

He is the Savior of the world. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, You are a kind and gracious and merciful God. Who but You would treat His enemies the way You have treated us in sending Your Spirit to quicken us, to convict us of our sinfulness.

To cause us to be born again. Sending Your Son to leave Your side to suffer in this world. To live a perfect life in our place, the one that You commanded us to live, but that we can't. You were under no obligation, but You sent Your Son Jesus Christ to redeem a people for Yourself, for Your glory.

Father, He died in the place of sinners, was raised on the third day, and everyone who believes in Him will not be disappointed. Indeed, they have the greatest hope of all, the hope of heaven, and the joy and the promise of being with You forever.

Father, for those here today who don't know You, I pray that even today would be the day that You open their eyes to the peril, to the wrath of God that they face apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

For those of us here who love You, who are called Christians, Lord, I pray that You would give us just a sense of urgency in recognizing we can't change the world. We're not called to change the world.

Father, find us faithful in what You have called us to do, and that is to make disciples, to preach the gospel, to tell people about Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.