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

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 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

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

Not pro -choice, but bro choice Whined about The possibility that more men would have to pay child support now.

We look at that and we think well How's 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 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 gonna force them to do the right thing is ultimately in vain

We're not gonna 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 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 Will 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 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 if or if 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 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.

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 and 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 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 in 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 and 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 to have so what she says, you know, could this be the prophets?

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 sick are 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 upfront about it.

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

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 the the tense the verb there would indicate that it was a temporary believing not a saving faith and It makes sense.

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 you know, what do you 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 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 dislike 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 weren't 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 gonna 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 stayed 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 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

But it's not like all Samaritans throughout

Jesus men ministry would be So warm and fuzzy Turn for a moment to Luke chapter 9 verses 51 to 56

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

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 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 second -hand information

Can never take the place of an intimate encounter with the intermittent encounter with the

Lord Jesus and he say well, wait a minute We cannot today have a personal intimate encounter with Jesus.

Are we left a second -hand information? Do we have to rely like the Samaritans did here apparently on?

Second -hand information witnesses testimonies No We can have a personal encounter with Jesus.

We have his very words in red and In black he promises as I put disciples what that he would send the

Holy Spirit why? to lead them into all Truth as a result of the spirits 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 of the mounts all the places that he went and people listened and the

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 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

Now look at the aftermath look at verse 42 and 42 the first part of it They said to the woman that is the

Samaritan 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 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

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 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. That's our second verity in 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 on 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 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.

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?

We're gonna 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 them.

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 a 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 on 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 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 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.

Listen By this we know that we abide in him and he and us because he has given us of his spirits

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 Kissed a marker says this he says

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

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.

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 do you 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 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 five thousand two hundred and seventy eight feet and he said okay

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

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

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

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 our 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's 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 and 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 there 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 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

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 It's like running from one little brush fire to another

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

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 don't 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 and 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 a that's an affront to God The Creator said man and woman

But we missed the point if we focus on the issue du jour if we allow ourselves to chase one brushfire

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 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

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 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 and 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