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

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

1 view

0 comments

00:00
Would invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 4 as we'll be back there this morning starting in verse 39
00:07
Now I'm sure many of you if you watch 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
00:22
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 bro choice
00:48
Not pro -choice, but bro choice Whined about The possibility that more men would have to pay child support now.
01:00
We look at that and we think well How's that possible? On the other hand, it's thoroughly predictable.
01:07
Why is it predictable? Because unsaved men and women look at an unborn child and they're able to suppress the truth
01:15
Just like it says 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
01:23
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
01:33
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
01:45
It's not a baby. How do we respond to this kind of thing?
01:52
Well, here's what we don't want to do We don't want to argue morality with unbelievers They know
02:00
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?
02:07
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
02:20
What's the best -case scenario? We win the argument and guess what?
02:27
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
02:38
Apart from the transforming work of the Holy Spirit working through the proclamation of the gospel through the
02:45
Word of God Every man woman and child on earth is unredeemable.
02:51
They're lost Our best efforts at logic reason reforming the culture
03:00
Trying to force people what they know is right anyway And we're gonna force them to do the right thing is ultimately in vain
03:08
We're not gonna save anyone doing that Now does that mean that we shouldn't care about such issues?
03:14
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
03:30
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,
03:41
I'm not 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
03:47
Jesus loved in fact You know, he never uses his own name in here. Whenever you see John he's referring to another
03:53
John and he wrote it so that people who read this gospel might come to recognize that Jesus was the
04:02
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
04:14
This was someone worthy of emulation. You can't do that because it says over and over again
04:23
Jesus Christ is God With that said let's look at our text this morning starting in verse 39 of chapter 4
04:36
As we continue this section of scripture dealing with the Samaritan woman and the meeting
04:41
Jesus had with her at the well and the results of it Will kind of review as we go along here verse 39 many
04:50
Samaritans from that town believed in him That is Jesus because of the woman's testimony.
04:56
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
05:10
They said to the woman it is no longer because of what you said that we believe
05:15
For we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the
05:21
Savior of the world Now this morning I'm going to present three
05:28
Invaluable verities three truths drawn from our text so that you will love Jesus all the more and you say well
05:34
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
05:43
Jesus You will marvel at the love of God shown through him
05:49
And if you don't know him this morning if or if even if you're not sure where you are I want you to pay very close attention to these three
05:59
Verities verity number one that means truth Verity number one there is great value in a testimony
06:07
There is great value in the testimony look at verse 39 many Samaritans from that town that is the town of Sikar Believed in him because of the woman's testimony.
06:18
He told me all that I ever did now this section Is certainly the culmination the finale of Jesus interaction with the
06:27
Samaritan woman But it really is an exposition a full -blown expose an explication and explanation of John 3 16
06:35
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
06:46
Yes, the world even the Samaritans here was a group of people who were part
06:52
Jew and part Gentile and They were hated by the Jews. I Their worst defeats ever when they were captured defeated and carried off into captivity by the
07:08
Assyrians but also because When they came back they developed a religious system that mirrored
07:15
Judaism in many ways But it declared ultimately its superiority to Judaism.
07:20
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
07:27
Jesus in a roundabout way It's kind of a statement but a question implied in verse 20.
07:33
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
07:43
We've got our own system and we go up to Mount Gerizim. That's where our temple used to be before you
07:48
Jews destroyed it But you say it's in Jerusalem that we ought to worship and then
07:55
Jesus tells her of course that salvation is from the Jews But the
08:00
Samaritans were estranged from the Jews so they had this parallel system and They looked forward to a prophet to have so what she says, you know, could this be the prophets?
08:13
She's referring to someone that they believed was going to be a prophet greater than Moses Remember, they only used the
08:19
Pentateuch the Samaritans did They were not looking for a Redeemer. They were not looking for someone to die for their sins
08:26
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
08:43
Valuable as we talked about last week a lot of rabbis said some very nasty things
08:49
About even talking with a woman even one's wife for an extended period of time But the words of the
08:56
Samaritan woman Do have an impact on the men of this village
09:02
In fact, our text tells us that many from sick are believed in Jesus because of her confession
09:08
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
09:26
She was like now, let's take a step back for a moment Let's consider what this
09:33
Samaritan woman was willing to do She puts her sins kind of up front. She's very upfront about it.
09:39
Well, and 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 this is he knew everything about me
09:51
Don't you want to find out more about him? You have to hear this remarkable man.
09:58
He has such insight Now consider what she didn't do
10:07
She didn't set about becoming a good neighbor Being a witness by her lifestyle
10:16
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
10:29
I Mean it says many believed, right? Well our English really fails to convey it
10:35
But I think in the Greek we would come to the conclusion that the answer is no they didn't believe savingly.
10:40
Why do I say that? Well because they didn't believe Permanently based on the words of the
10:46
Samaritan woman In fact, the the the tense the verb there would indicate that it was a temporary believing not a saving faith and It makes sense.
10:59
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
11:12
But you can't expect it ultimately to save them. The Lord may use it
11:19
Or they might say what you know, what do you what do you hear when you start talking about Christ to someone?
11:25
Something like I'm so glad that works for you If that helps you good for you a
11:33
Little pat on the head send you on your way That's not how the Samaritans responded though.
11:39
They went out to see Jesus So our first verity is there is value in a witness
11:48
But we'll see in our second verity that there's more value in the value of the
11:54
Word of God In fact second verity is the value of the Word of God is greater than a testimony.
12:01
It's greater than a testimony The response of the Samaritans is impressive look at verse 40
12:07
So when the Samaritans came to him came to Jesus they asked him to stay with them and he stayed there two days
12:15
Now I've mentioned how much the Jews dislike the Samaritans said that a lot but the
12:21
Samaritans Had a lot of hatred For the Jews, it was a two -way street
12:27
It's amazing that the Samaritans would respond in this way. They are enthusiastic. They're pressing Jesus to stay with them
12:33
They're persistently asking him to remain with them Now, let's just for a moment.
12:39
Let's just think about the Pharisees versus the Samaritans Both were religious
12:47
But the Pharisees were proud of their religion they weren't on their sleeves it was Really the very essence of who they were everywhere.
12:55
They went they made a great show of their religion Both groups wanted to see
13:02
Jesus if you'll remember back to this section here where it first started in chapter 4
13:08
That Jesus knew he found out that the Pharisees wanted to come see him So what did he do?
13:16
He left Judea and went out into Samaria It wasn't time for a confrontation
13:21
With the Pharisees, he didn't think they were gonna come out and say, you know Why don't you stay with us for two days and teach us?
13:29
Implied they were afraid of Jesus just as they had been afraid of John the
13:37
Baptist Furthermore throughout his ministry.
13:43
What did the Pharisees seek to do? They sought to trap him to trick him to get him to say something wrong
13:48
Erroneous to show him as some kind of scofflaw We have no record whatsoever of them insisting.
13:58
He stayed with them for an extended period of time like this Insisting that they host him but the
14:04
Samaritans were not out to Show Jesus up. They weren't out to trick him. They wanted to hear
14:10
Jesus to learn from them 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
14:26
But it's not like all Samaritans throughout
14:32
Jesus men ministry would be So warm and fuzzy Turn for a moment to Luke chapter 9 verses 51 to 56
14:42
We'll see that this is really the exception and not the rule Luke chapter 9 verses 51 to 56 when the days drew near for him to be taken up He said his face to go to Jerusalem and he said sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the
15:06
Samaritans and They begged him to stay No to make preparations for him 53 but the people did not receive him
15:17
Because his face was set toward Jerusalem And when his disciples James and John saw it they said
15:24
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.
15:33
So again, it's not like Samaritans generally were more open to Jesus than anyone else
15:39
But this particular group, let's go back to John this particular group. They were wanting to hear what he had to say
15:47
Now did the two days bear fruit look at verse 41 and many more believed because of his word
15:55
Well, how can this be as we said they believed earlier? But again, that was a temporary belief they they accepted what this woman said, but it wasn't like they said.
16:04
Oh, this is the Son of God we believe They went out to him
16:12
They Believed what she'd said, but they didn't understand that he was the Redeemer that they needed second -hand information
16:19
Can never take the place of an intimate encounter with the intermittent encounter with the
16:25
Lord Jesus and he say well, wait a minute We cannot today have a personal intimate encounter with Jesus.
16:33
Are we left a second -hand information? Do we have to rely like the Samaritans did here apparently on?
16:39
Second -hand information witnesses testimonies No We can have a personal encounter with Jesus.
16:49
We have his very words in red and In black he promises as I put disciples what that he would send the
16:58
Holy Spirit why? to lead them into all Truth as a result of the spirits leading his inspiration.
17:08
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
17:18
Lord We encounter Jesus we hear him. We hear his words as it were in the
17:25
Bible The Samaritans did not believe because they saw Jesus right they went out and saw him and they didn't go
17:32
Okay. Now we see you now we believe What does the passage say?
17:38
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 of the mounts all the places that he went and people listened and the
17:58
The crowds followed him and the healings that he did How many believed what he said
18:06
We don't know exactly But we know it's a fraction of the people who heard him
18:12
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?
18:18
Well, we know in 1st Corinthians 15 that what after he was raised from the dead that were More than 500 but not more than 600 who were there with him was his words that convicted them
18:38
Now look at the aftermath look at verse 42 and 42 the first part of it They said to the woman that is the
18:45
Samaritan said to this Samaritan woman. It is no longer because of what you said that we believe For we have heard for ourselves
18:53
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
19:06
Active voice to indicate a consistent ongoing belief they keep on believing
19:14
John uses that word there that's translated in our English text two words no longer
19:19
But it's only one word in the Greek more than any other New Testament writer. Why does he do that?
19:25
Look at 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
19:34
We're no longer that way we've been transformed we've been radically changed now we have a permanent abiding belief
19:43
The Samaritans from Sychar had once been impressed by the testimony of this sinful woman
19:49
But then they spent two days listening to Jesus What was their encounter with the woman was essentially a spark?
20:00
But now their faith was fully aflame Let's look at it another way
20:06
Taking the word of anyone and not having a personal knowledge would not be saving faith if somebody says you know
20:12
Jesus is my Savior Do you go? Okay? I believe you therefore. I'm saved too
20:19
Jesus is my Savior translates into Jesus my Savior, too There's not enough content there.
20:25
She didn't give them enough content for them to believe I do know
20:33
Is there value in a testimony yes, I mean I know of a woman who was saved the night her sister
20:39
Was baptized and gave her testimony She listened and believed There were several testimonies that night each one involved what?
20:50
Scripture the gospel She heard that she believed
20:55
It's not because her faith was not based on her sister's Testimony it was based on the
21:03
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
21:13
But the value of the Word of God is greater than a testimony. That's our second verity in our third verity
21:19
There is nothing greater than the surpassing value of knowing Christ Nothing greater than the surpassing value of knowing
21:28
Christ look again at verse 42 and we know That this is indeed the
21:35
Savior of the world that Verb we know
21:40
Again, I'm getting a little technical, but that's fine. Listen. This is a perfect active indicative.
21:47
What does that mean? It means that they had at one point knowledge settled factual knowledge on Ongoing results permanent results.
21:57
They knew they knew that they knew and nothing was going to change that They knew that he was indeed the
22:04
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
22:15
Savior What does it mean that he's a 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.
22:28
In other words if Jesus is just something for which we strive If if we say, okay, there's the 100 and I'm just gonna be a 100 what's gonna happen?
22:41
We're gonna fall short of perfection. We can't do it. That's why Jesus came He goes on he says
22:47
Jesus was Savior that is to say he rescued men from the evil and hopeless situation in which they found themselves
22:56
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
23:04
Listen, you don't need a Savior because you're good You don't need a
23:10
Savior because if you just try a little bit harder you can make it on your own What would
23:19
Jesus save us from if we just needed a little boost The truth is everyone here this morning needs saving
23:27
Everyone here comes into this world with an implacable All powerful foe that means you can't displace them.
23:34
By the way in case you're wondering. I just want to throw that word in He's all -powerful an
23:41
Enemy who cannot be defeated and you say well, who is that? I had somebody in the first service a sin.
23:47
Well, that's a good answer, but it's wrong Your enemy when you come to this world is none other than the triune
23:52
God himself you face God's wrath Why do you need a
23:58
Savior Because the wrath of God abides on you unless you believe on the
24:03
Lord Jesus Christ You need to be saved from the wrath of God Now look at this phrase here the
24:11
Savior of the world This sums up the main thrust of this whole pericope again a word
24:17
I just wanted to use it means a section of Scripture. We need to we need to just keep in mind that the chapter numbers
24:25
The verses are not inspired and this is a flow of argument that he's making
24:32
John wants us to understand John 3 16 He wants us to understand
24:39
That God so loved the world. Well, what does that mean? He's the
24:44
Savior of the world One man says of the Samaritans making this observation that he's the
24:50
Savior of the world. This is a great insight From a little people the
24:55
Samaritans were not significant This phrase
25:00
Savior of the world only occurs one other time. You don't have to turn there But it's also written by John.
25:05
Listen first John chapter 4 verses 13 and 14 If you remember the first John has written really a series of tests to see if we're in the faith or not.
25:16
Listen By this we know that we abide in him and he and us because he has given us of his spirits
25:25
God has given us his spirit verse 14 and we have seen and testify
25:31
That the father has sent his son to be the Savior of the world Kissed a marker says this he says
25:40
John gives a brief summary of the gospel. This is in first John He's talking about he says he gives us a brief summary of the gospel
25:46
The father sent his son to be the Savior of the world. This is a 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.
26:02
Doesn't that sound like John 3 16? The father has given us he's given
26:11
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
26:21
Signs that Jesus had done after Jesus had cleansed the temple What do you tell
26:27
Nicodemus he said you must be born again and that being born again was of the spirits and Earlier in the book
26:36
John had written that Jesus came from the father So what we have here is a theological consistency a cohesion coherency
26:49
Theological precision that's in John's writings from beginning to end. The father gives the spirits the
26:56
Holy Spirit regenerates he regenerates and The father sent the son and the son is the
27:05
Savior of the world The triune God working together to redeem a people for his glory
27:13
Even though Jesus told the Samaritan woman that salvation was from the Jews He did not say that salvation was for the
27:23
Jews only Was for the world Now let's ask a really hard question
27:30
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 five thousand two hundred and seventy eight feet and he said okay
27:53
Go ahead Steve finish the last two Brit two feet yourself If you've seen my handiwork, you know that I've got no chance
28:04
Let's say it was a relay race Jesus carries the baton all the way around he's winning and he's just gonna hand it to you
28:11
And all you've got to do is cross the finish line. You're not gonna 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
28:36
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
28:51
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
29:05
Savior our a Little Savior after all if we don't believe if we don't
29:12
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.
29:18
It says he is a not a he is the Savior of the world
29:25
There is no other There's no helper for him He saves completely and utterly
29:36
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
29:45
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
29:59
Those who were considered important and those who were outcasts those who were not deemed worthy of a second look
30:07
Why because he's the Savior of the world of all kinds of people Everyone here needs to be saved and you either believe
30:16
He is who the Bible says he is or you will not be saved It's believe and live or reject and reject him and face the wrath of Almighty God He is the only rescuer the only
30:28
Redeemer Well, you say why is he rejected because today
30:34
Like then many view themselves as good enough or better than most they survey the sinfulness of mankind and they conclude that there are in the
30:46
Less sinful bracket kind of like a less Wealthy income tax bracket, but there's no such thing
30:54
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.
31:10
He sent Jesus to save But only those who recognize their need and call on him will be saved
31:18
Jesus actually redeemed the unredeemable to the Jewish mind
31:23
Samaritans Were unredeemable to the Samaritan mind Jews were unredeemable
31:30
Probably to both of them Gentiles were on unredeemable But men and women of all races who were dead in their sins and trespasses who hated the lights and loved their darkness loved their sin
31:45
He came to save them. They were at war with God yet.
31:51
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
32:04
Now consider today That we have many sources of information news
32:10
Facebook Twitter and innumerable other sources
32:17
And it's easy to get bogged down, isn't it to become depressed when we read about issues like abortion homosexual marriage
32:28
The economy the Federal Reserve Government corruption violence and The slide into immorality that we see all around us
32:41
But ultimately trying to deal with all of these issues It's like running from one little brush fire to another
32:49
Trying to stomp it out And 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
32:58
Little bit of fire there and you run around and you stomp it out and you never put out the source of the fire
33:03
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
33:11
We can't change it MacArthur has it right he says
33:17
We don't we can't reform the culture we change one heart at a time.
33:24
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
33:34
We can't suppress the truth and unrighteousness. We look at that sonogram and we see that's a baby
33:40
That's an image -bearer of God We can't hear a term like homosexual marriage without thinking that's a that's an affront to God The Creator said man and woman
33:53
But we missed the point if we focus on the issue du jour if we allow ourselves to chase one brushfire
34:00
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
34:15
In the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to hell He is the
34:24
Savior of the world believe on The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
34:31
Let's pray our
34:38
Father in heaven You are a kind and gracious and merciful God who but you would treat his enemies
34:48
The way you have treated us in sending your spirit to quicken us to convict us of our sinfulness
34:57
To cause us to be born again You are a kind and gracious and merciful God who would forgive us of our sin Sending your son to leave your side to suffer in this world
35:12
To live a perfect life in our place the one that you commanded us to live but that we can't
35:19
You were under no obligation, but you sent your son Jesus Christ to redeem people for yourself for your glory
35:29
Father he died in the place of sinners was raised on the third day and Everyone who believes in him will not be disappointed
35:39
Indeed, they have the greatest hope of all the hope of heaven and the joy and the promise of being with you forever
35:46
Father for those here today who don't know you I pray that even today
35:52
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
36:01
Lord Jesus Christ For those of us here who love you who are called
36:09
Christians Lord, I pray that you would give us just a sense of urgency and recognizing we can't change the world
36:22
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