Is Connie in here?
That's a pretty serious thing.
!
You know, it's like...
Turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 4, verse 25.
Last week I was asked a question that I was reflecting on here just a couple minutes ago as I was praying.
An individual asked me the question, so when are you finished preparing to preach?
And my answer was when I walk away from the pulpit.
The truth of the matter is, is that the process of preparing to preach is one that is, for a pastor, kind of a life-consuming responsibility and blessing.
And the work of preaching is one that depends heavily upon time with the Lord, time in the Word, and your prayers.
And so there is a sense in which I don't know how it's going to go until it's done.
But having said that, I've got to tell you, this is an awful good passage.
Oh, I mean that.
Let me read it to you.
Beginning in verse 24, Jesus said this.
He said,
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
The woman said to him,
I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ.
When he comes, he will tell us all things.
Jesus said to her,
I, who speak to you, am he.
Just then that his disciples came back,
they marveled that he was talking with a woman,
but no one said,
What do you seek?
Or why are you talking with her?
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
Come, see the man who told me all that I ever did.
Can this be the Christ?
They went out of the town and were coming to him.
Let's pray.
Father God, this morning, our hearts, as we take this passage in mind and we read it,
we are drawn to remember the passage in Zechariah where you,
through the mouth of your prophet,
declared that it's not by might nor by power but by your spirit.
And so it is my prayer,
and I know it is the prayer of your people who sit here this morning that know Christ
and are informed by the scriptures,
that your word would have free course this morning,
that it would produce fruit that brings glory to the Lord Jesus Christ,
that it would be used by you to continue the process of shaping and forming our frail lives
to look more like the Lord Jesus.
So as the result of our seeing the Lord Jesus in this passage,
that we would be less consumed with ourself,
less afflicted by the challenges and hardships of life,
more earnest and affectionate for the things of eternity,
more passionate for the souls of lost mankind,
more humble,
more joyful,
more tender in our relationships with others,
so that in all things,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the one who has redeemed us from the pit
and who is actively engaged in changing us
from who we used to be to who we will be,
in that process of progressive sanctification,
would be the one who is glorified not only in saving us,
but also in this wonderful, unbelievable work
of changing us.
So allow your word to do a wonderful work today,
that this day, the Lord's day, March 22nd,
will be one that,
while maybe not written in the fly leaf of our Bible,
will be one written on the pages of our heart
as a day when your word
and your spirit affected your child deeply,
to the glory of Christ.
Amen.
I want you to think back just for a moment
as we take this passage in mind,
that when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming
earlier in the book of John,
he made that statement,
behold the Lamb of God that takes away
the sins of the world.
Clear, undeniable announcement
of who the Lord Jesus Christ was
and what he had come to do.
Behind that opening statement
that John the Baptist made,
then we find a series of incidents
in which we find the Lamb of God
interacting with people.
The first one is Nicodemus.
And you remember he was the ruler of the Jews
who came to Jesus by night.
And I would probably say that
Nicodemus didn't get it at that time.
That's pretty clear.
And the spiritual truths,
the matter that was in the Bible,
even though he was a scholar
and understood all of the Old Testament pretty well,
he just didn't understand
that the issues of spiritual life,
in fact, more important than that,
the issue of salvation and conversion
was not just a matter of improving your behavior
and kind of following all the rules and regalia
that went with being a Jew.
It was really the matter of the work of the Holy Spirit
and bringing conviction
and then the transformation of the heart.
But we have Nicodemus on one side
and then we have, guess what?
We go from a Jew of all Jews,
a classic illustration of the perfect Jewish man,
and then we go to what?
A Samaritan woman.
I mean, and we're not talking
about one of the prima donnas
of Samaritan culture, are we?
We're talking about an absolute low life,
a person who was shunned by her culture
and her community
and who was afraid, in some sense,
of being around the rest of the crowd
because she knew she wasn't liked.
And here we have Jesus
meeting this woman at the well.
And as we look at this passage
and we break it down in verse 25 on through 30,
since one of the responsibilities of preaching
is to be clear,
I'm going to give you the outline ahead of time.
That doesn't mean you can go home and say,
well, I know the three points.
And I can't always say that in every case
the outline is just this easy,
but today, for whatever reason,
it works fairly simply.
So it comes down to three Cs.
And you who know me know that
I am not one of those guys
who got a major in alliteration.
It's just like, here it happened,
it's a blind hug finds acorn time.
Here we go.
Confrontation, confusion, and conversion.
Confrontation is the first thing.
Confusion is the second thing.
Conversion is the third thing.
And so you kind of track your way
through the passage
and you see these things
and actually it wasn't forced.
It's there.
Confrontation.
Verse 25.
The woman said to him,
I know that Messiah is coming.
He who is called Christ,
when he comes,
he will tell us all things.
Jesus said to her,
I who speak to you am he.
The story of the Samaritan woman
as it kind of rolls out in front of us
in John chapter 4
is broken down in several steps
as we worked our way through it.
We saw, first of all,
a tired Jesus sitting down by the well
at Sychar
and engaging a woman in conversation.
That interchange led
to spiritual things.
And Jesus actually exposed
her sinful heart
with a fairly simple little statement
of saying,
go call your husband.
We do know that what the woman did
after she was convicted
of her sinfulness
is that she did what is usual
and normal
when people are convicted.
The first thing that happens
is they try to avoid the subject
and move away from the conviction.
And she tried to do that
by bringing up
a theological distinction
between the Jews
and the Samaritans
and she hoped that
that would kind of divert
the attention away
from her own heart
and it didn't.
Instead, what Jesus did
was he really address
the issue of what
genuine worship is.
And if you look there
in John chapter 4,
just mark what Jesus said
in verse 23,
the hour is coming
and now is here
when the true worshipers
will worship the Father
in spirit and in truth,
for the Father
is seeking such people
to worship him.
Well, what Jesus was saying
in that passage
and we don't want
to move away from it,
it has to be part
of our understanding
of the frame
in which Jesus
was ministering
to this Samaritan woman
and the frame
in which actually
all of us engage
in ministry
to other people.
He was saying this,
true worship
is really all
of who you are
invested in the glory
of who he is.
And can I tell you
something at the end
of the day,
think with me,
we are either engaged
in worshiping him
or we're engaged
in worshiping ourself.
We're all worshipers
all the time.
Do you understand that?
And how do you know
when you're worshiping yourself?
Everybody smile.
Everybody look at me.
Hey, up here.
Come on.
Up.
Look here.
When we're worshiping
ourself,
we're kind of given
to being moody
when things aren't
going our way.
I mean, hey,
you know how in the,
you know,
Dagon was really upset
when people weren't
doing the things he wanted
and Dagon would do what?
I mean,
everybody knew
when Dagon wasn't
be worshiped.
How did we know
that Dagon wasn't happy?
What did he do?
I mean,
there was thunder
and clouds
and all kinds of,
if you're worshiping him,
you're not so caught up
by how other people
are treating you
and all of God's people
who are not
the least convicted
by this thought
said, amen.
Right?
When we're engaged
in self-worship
and things aren't
going the way
self-thinks
they ought to be,
guess how we act?
Moody,
a little pouty,
a little unhappy,
very easily offended.
There's a little phrase
that we've used
over here in Maranatha
called high OI.
Does anybody know
what high OI is?
It's called
a high offendability index.
And people who have
a high OI
are people that are
specialists in self-worship.
Coming back around
to the circle
so we understand
where we are,
we find here is Jesus
helping this woman
understand that true worship
is really all about God
and means putting
all that you are
into it.
And as she
addresses this problem
or as Jesus
addresses this problem,
we find that the woman
tried to step away from it
and when Jesus
made that statement
about listen,
true worship is really
all of who you are
being caught up
with who God is,
she tries one more time
to dodge the subject.
How do I know that?
The woman said to him,
verse 25,
I know that Messiah
is coming,
he who is called Christ,
when he comes
he will tell us
all things.
It's like,
hey, I heard you
but I'm not real sure
I have to buy into
what you say
but I'm going to wait
until the authority comes,
that's the Messiah.
Don't press me right now
with spiritual truth,
I'm waiting to hear it from
and what does Jesus say?
I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm him!
I like that.
You got it,
I'm the one!
You know,
here is
the woman
saying,
I'm feeling uncomfortable
with this
business of sin first,
you know,
the husband deal,
and I'm feeling uncomfortable
with this worship thing
but we're going to try
to wait,
we'll kind of delay
until the real Messiah
shows up.
And what does Jesus say?
let me tell you something,
you're thinking about
distracting me first
with an argument
about location
and then you're kind of
dodging the subject
and here's the reality
is true worship,
true worship
is all about
who God really is
and what he wants
from our heart
and that's what
Jesus was drawing
this woman to understand
in this moment
is,
hey listen,
it's about
who I am
and who you are
that is on the
cusp of the moment.
Now as you look
at this passage
and you recognize
what Jesus says
in verse 26,
I want you to understand
that it is one
of only two places
in the New Testament
where Jesus
explicitly
declares
who he is.
That's pretty interesting
because you'll remember
over and over again
the Jews were,
they kept on coming
to Jesus
and saying,
you know,
tell us,
are you really
the Messiah?
Their understanding
of the Messiah,
by the way,
was not the Savior
of mankind's sins
but they were looking
for someone
to kind of rescue them
from their political problems.
Hey,
everybody out there,
it's kind of like
in the Jewish culture
all of their Facebook posts
were about politics
not about spirit issues.
How many of you
understood what I just said?
That's it.
Everybody understand
that one?
It's like they were
all caught up
in concern
for the political condition.
I mean,
and let me tell you something,
Rome was absolute trash
and by that extension
the Jews were living
in a pretty repressive environment
and so if Facebook
had been around
in the ancient world,
I bet you that 99.8%,
2%, 0.10%,
forget it.
How many of you know
that I don't do well at math?
Is that a secret?
Okay.
There was a very,
very, very, very,
very small part
of the Jewish population
that would have been
concerned about anything
but politics
and Jesus,
when he would
do these miracles,
they'd say,
well,
are you the Messiah?
And what they were
really saying is,
are you the one
that's going to
clean up Washington?
Washington.
And Jesus would come back
and say,
well, hey, listen,
I'm not about
cleaning up Washington,
I'm about taking care
of your heart.
That's what he did
with this woman, okay?
And that's not in my notes
in case you want to
email me about that one later.
Here's Jesus,
he says,
I'm the one,
I'm the one.
And it's pretty interesting
because here is this woman,
she's been convicted
by her immorality,
she's been convicted
by the fact
that her worship
is just kind of ritual
and being in the right place,
you know,
doing the right kind of thing
and whatever,
and Jesus says,
hey, listen,
real worship's about the heart.
And then she tries
to dodge that one
and Jesus says,
hey,
you want to hear
what the Messiah thinks?
I'm here.
And so I want you
to understand
as you look at this passage
that you can't step away
from the illustration
we have of the grace of God
in getting a hold
of the hardness
and the darkness
of man's heart.
I like that.
And that's one of the reasons
why in the process
of witnessing
and sharing the gospel
with other people,
when I was younger,
I used to become
pretty animated
in winning arguments
for Jesus.
How many of you
have been there?
Winning arguments
for Jesus.
I took class one
and class two,
did pretty well in it,
and I could persuade
anybody
to drink fire water
on a moment's notice.
Hey,
you know,
I'm in your space
and you better believe
in Jesus or else.
I've learned
that that doesn't work.
You know,
how many of you know
what a reversionary clause
is when you sign a contract?
How many of you know that?
I mean,
I had people pray the prayer
in front of me
and the minute I left,
guess what happened?
Whew.
He's gone.
Jesus wasn't that way.
He just allowed
the work of grace
to do its part
in affecting the heart
of people,
and here's this woman.
She says,
yeah, well,
I want to dodge this one too,
and he says,
you can't dodge me.
I'm right here.
And so we understand
that grace is what convicts us
of our sins
and opens blinds eyes
so people can see Jesus.
He's got to do that work.
We can't force it,
but there is convicting power
when the Spirit of God
is at work in people's lives,
and you'll see it.
Let's come to a second part.
I want you to read this here,
and I don't want you
to think about low lives.
They didn't get it.
If I was a disciple,
I would have been
all over this spiritual moment.
Follow me?
I want you to look now
in verse 27.
Then, just then,
his disciples came back.
Where had they been?
They went into town
to get a McDonald's, you know?
I mean, they were hungry,
and so they went
to get a little snack
from Samaritans, you know?
And snacking from Samaritans
was okay,
just don't be at the well.
And so here they are.
They come back,
and they marveled,
and that word marveled
is pretty interesting.
We'll get to that
in just a minute.
They marveled
that he was talking
with a woman,
and no one said to him,
what do you seek?
Or, why are you talking
with her?
So, confusion.
We have confused disciples.
Now, look at me.
Look at me.
These disciples were confused
because they didn't understand
what Jesus' work was.
Why did Jesus come?
Come on.
If you know the answer,
look up.
For the Son of Man
came to seek and to save
Samaritan women.
Am I right?
And here are the disciples.
They come scampering back
from having gotten their hamburgers
and whatever else,
and they come,
and here is Jesus
talking to a woman
at the well
in Samaria.
And so,
by the way,
none of us here
are the disciples.
Am I right?
We're a lot more mature
and a lot more spiritually advanced
than the disciples,
and we understand
that this business
of drawing breath,
this side of glory,
is really all about one thing,
and it's about seeing people
come to Jesus, right?
That's why you invite
your neighbors over,
and that's why you minister
to the people around you,
and that's why
when you go to work
on Monday,
the ambition of your heart
is not to earn a living,
but to see people
come to Jesus, right?
Low life disciples.
They come booking in,
and they see Jesus
talking to this woman.
Now look at that word.
Put your finger on it.
There's something about translation.
They marveled.
Okay?
The word that is used here
talks about like,
what is this?
It's the same word
used in Acts chapter 7
where Stephen is preaching
about how Moses
was blown away
when the bush was on fire
and it wasn't burning, right?
Marveling,
in a biblical sense right here,
is not kind of this,
huh.
It's like,
whoa!
What is this?
And the thing that was just
beyond their little
pea-brained grasp
was that their teacher,
the one that they had left
their profitable careers
to follow fishermen,
you know,
I mean,
whatever they were doing,
they had sold it all out
to follow Jesus
and the one they were following
was at a well
talking to a woman.
Oh.
By the way,
Jewish culture
drew a strong line
between the sexes.
An open conversation
between a man and a woman
that was not a man's wife,
child, or blood
was absolutely unacceptable.
Crass and wicked men
and women did flirt.
Happened all the time.
But men and women
that were each,
that were at least sensitive
to the civil decorum
of the day
and to the relationships
that were marked
by Old Testament purity,
and Scripture as well,
were pretty careful.
And so,
truth of the matter is
is that rabbis
just didn't talk to women,
period.
By the way,
just as a sidebar,
ladies,
I like all of you.
Do you understand that?
But I know some
on occasion
have thought
that I've been
just a little standoffish.
I'm not a rabbi,
but I am pretty careful.
Okay?
Enough said?
Here was Jesus
talking to a woman.
I mean,
a woman.
A woman who was
a Samaritan.
I mean,
it was like
over the top.
How do we know
it was over the top?
Well,
can we read verse 27
with a little bit
of realism in it?
I'm going to do that for you.
Everybody listen.
Don't be offended.
At the end of the day,
if you have a question
about what a pastor says,
at the end of the day,
what you really ought to do
is not check
what your sensibilities are,
but how it fits the Bible.
Everybody agrees,
right?
Okay,
so we're going to do this
and you can go back home
and kind of,
you can Google it.
That means you don't have
to be a specialist
in Hebrew
or Greek
to get it.
Okay?
Here we go.
Verse 27.
No one said,
what do you seek
or what are you,
why are you talking with her?
Can you kind of parse
that a little bit
for yourself?
Let me do it for you.
Why are you flirting with her?
Is that a fair rendition?
Nod your head
if you think
there's probably
a good chance
that that's a little bit
of what they were thinking.
They didn't say it.
Do you follow that?
Men didn't talk with women.
Case closed.
The only time
that men talked to women
were,
if they were courteous,
blood relative,
not blood relative,
off page
where they shouldn't be.
And here is Jesus
doing something
that stepped beyond
the bounds
of what these people
understood.
And they were kind
of taken back by it.
They did,
what's going on?
Well,
here's the heart
of the issue
for the disciples.
And the truth of the matter
is that the disciples
had a small view
of Christ's mission.
I want you to mark
that out.
They had a small view
of Christ's mission.
And see,
they had drawn
a tight circle
around what they
thought ministry was.
And that tight circle
did not include
Samaritans,
and it didn't include
women.
End of discussion.
And so here
they come,
they find their
rabbi,
their teacher,
the one who
they're following,
engaged in a conversation
with a woman,
and it just literally
blew their socks off.
Now,
forget flirting,
but stop and recognize
something.
It's a fair question
we can ask ourselves.
Have we drawn
unchrist-like circles
that exclude some people
that Jesus came to save?
I want you to think
about that.
Hey,
what about the kids
that don't respect
your lawn?
Or mess up
in your parking lot?
Or the neighbors
that are just
too loud?
I moved into
a neighborhood
that has people
closer.
And some of the songs
that I
would care to forget,
they happen to love.
And so I've got
to decide,
am I going next door
and knock on their door
and say,
listen,
I paid taxes here
and I don't have to
listen to that junk.
People drive down
the street,
you know,
and I don't understand it.
I understand why
people are deaf
today.
But I mean,
when your windows
are rattling,
I was at the
stoplight
and I could hear
every word
that was being said
in the car
next to me.
And I looked over
and I thought,
maybe he's got
his windows down.
He had his windows
up and they were
literally shaking
with the,
how many of you
know what I'm
talking about,
right?
Okay,
here's the deal.
We're not talking
about that.
We're talking
about the attitude
we have towards
people that aren't
in our circle.
Don't be small-minded
with your prejudices.
I want to encourage
you to look for
gospel opportunities
in those moments
at the well.
When you're driving,
you're in the mall,
you're across the fence,
and you're talking
with people who
have no hope
and you're the one
representative that
Jesus put in their
space to make a
difference for all
of eternity
and you want to
have an attitude
over their music.
I got to tell you,
he came looking
for sinners
and he found me
at the well.
And if I understand
what he did for me,
it means I don't
get all bent out
of shape over
little issues
that in the scope
of things don't
count for a hill
of beans.
Oh, let's stop
for a minute
so we understand
something, by the way.
You're not going
to do very well
at the momentary
moments at the well
if you can't do
reasonably well
with people that
you get to practice
with over and over
again.
How many of you
understood what I
just said?
Let me say it again
slowly because I know
it's a tough one.
You're not going
to do well,
you're not going
to do properly.
Forget the well part.
You're not going
to do properly,
you're not going
to be effective
at those little
moments when you
get to bump into
low-life sinners
that desperately
need Jesus
in those rare
incidents at the
well if you can't
do well practicing
with people you
see every day
at home or here
in the body of
Christ.
Everybody smile.
This is one of
those smile moments.
if you're sitting
there and you
tell me you care
about lost mankind
but you're torqued
out about somebody
else in the bride
of Christ,
there's something
wrong and it's
not with Jesus.
It's your heart.
And having smack
talk about the fact
that well we're not
doing real well
at evangelism and
you're over there
just complaining
about someone else
in the family
and say get over
it.
Practice here.
Go out there
and light it up.
All God's people
said,
Oh wow,
I need a Kleenex.
Convict me Lord
of being petty
at the cost
of the gospel.
Can you write that
on your paper?
I'll say it again
slowly.
Convict me Lord
of being petty
at the cost
of the gospel.
Now do you
understand why
when you preach
you don't know
what's going to
happen until it
happens?
Well,
let's come to
the best part.
Conversion.
The Samaritan
woman had come
to this well
at the off hour.
woman had come
to this well
at the off hour.
Because she
wanted to
avoid
the people
who disliked
her.
And she
came with
one agenda
and Jesus
found her.
And we know
that as a result
of Jesus
finding her
everything
changed.
Verse 28.
So the woman
left her
water jar
and went
away into
town
and said
to the
people,
come,
see a man
who told
me all
that I
ever did.
Can this
be the
Christ?
Let me say
this and mark
it.
And I want
you to hear
this clearly
because one
of the things
that is a
problem in
our culture.
How many
of you
understand
that coming
to Christ
is simple?
But just
because you
say a prayer
doesn't mean
you have
the deal.
If there
is no
evidence of
a genuine
change in
your life
and your
affections,
don't fool
yourself to
think that
saying 17
or 31
words made
any difference
at all.
Well,
anyway,
salvation
changes our
values and
our life
agenda.
I love
2 Corinthians
chapter 5
verse 17.
Let me say
it to you
here.
It says,
if any
man be
in Christ
Jesus,
he is a
new
creation.
And that
word that
is used
there,
creation,
is a
word that
conversion
is used
exclusively
for God's
activity in
doing something
supernatural.
Conversion
is not a
decision to
kind of improve
yourself by
following a
new set of
rules.
It is the
power of God
that gets a
hold of a
nasty,
broken,
ruined
sinner whose
life is an
absolute mess
and comes with
broken humility
and says,
I am desperate
in my
condition.
I need you
to do
something in
me and
salvation takes
us from
death to
life and
we're
different.
We're
different.
I think it's
frustrating
sometimes to
listen to people
talk about their
faith in Christ
and their
conversion,
but Matt,
there's no
evidence.
There's no
evidence.
Turn in your
Bibles to
Romans chapter,
you're in
John, go to
the right,
John chapter
6, John
chapter 6,
Romans.
I want
Romans, not
John.
It's a habit
right now, we're
in the John
part.
But we're
going to
Romans chapter
6, verse 1
through 5.
Salvation is
change.
Salvation is
change.
Let me read
Romans chapter
6.
What shall we
say then?
Are we to
continue in
sin that
grace may
abound?
In other
words, hey,
since we've
been saved,
can we just
kind of, you
know, bebop
our way
through, acting
just like we
did before, but
you know, at
least we said
the prayer and
we got, you
know, kind of
some of the
vocabulary, we're
learning songs and
all that kind of
stuff.
He says, by no
means.
How can we who
died to sin still
live in it?
Do you not know
that all of us who
have been baptized
into Christ, Jesus,
were baptized into
his death?
In other words, in
his death, our
death took place.
We were buried
therefore with him
in baptism in order
that just as Christ
was raised from the
dead by the glory of
the Father, so we
too might walk in
newness of life.
Underline that.
Circle that in your
Bible.
Newness of life.
So that we might
walk in newness of
life.
If you cannot
recognize something
significantly different
from where you used
to be to where you
are now as the
result of your faith
in the Lord Jesus
Christ, there's
something wrong.
Salvation changes
our view of self.
I want you to
mark that down.
I want you to
underline that.
I want you to
bold that.
Go back to John
chapter 4.
the woman left
her water jar and
went away into town
and said to the
people, I'll never
forget.
There's an excellent
book by Stuart Scott
called From Pride to
Humility.
And I remember
several years ago
when I gave a copy
of it to the deacons.
Asked them to just
read a little part of
it.
We were working
on something
together and I
said, so let me
have you fill in
this little statement.
If people really
knew me, they
wouldn't, guess
what all the deacons
thought would be the
next word?
Like me.
If people really
knew you.
If people really
knew you.
Because of the
nastiness of our
hearts.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
Here's a woman
who went into
town and what
did she say?
You follow me?
This is a woman
who was a serial
adulterer.
You follow me?
Did she have a
good reputation?
Everybody really
liked this girl.
They loved to
invite her over for
family fun because
while they were in
the kitchen, they
were worried what
this girl was doing
with their husband.
Got that?
This woman runs
back into town and
she says, you
got to meet him.
He knows all
about me.
There's a little
part in the story
that's missing.
You know what it
is?
He still loves me.
He's ready to
forgive me for all
of that.
He's ready to give
me complete
forgiveness for all
of my sin.
He accepts me
unconditionally.
I love what it
says in Ephesians
chapter 1 where it
says, we are
accepted in the
beloved.
I love being able
to say to people
as I share the
gospel with them,
Romans chapter 10
verse 11 says,
whosoever believes
in him, can anybody
finish the rest of it?
You ought to know
this, shall not be
ashamed.
Salvation changes
our view of self.
By the way, mark
this.
Just because salvation
changes our view of
self doesn't mean that
the enemy of our
souls does not want
to keep on torquing
us back to the way
we used to be.
Satan is always
there saying, do
you remember the
value system you
used to work under?
Do you remember how
bad you felt about
yourself?
I want to bring
you back to that
place.
How many of you
understand what I
just said?
That's what Satan's
all about.
Here's a woman who
ran into town and
said, let me tell you
something, I want you
to meet the man who
is the hero in my
story.
It's not me, it's
him, it's Jesus.
Jesus knew her
secrets and her sin
and yet he was
ready to give her
complete forgiveness
for everything and
that was all that
counted.
that's the way it
is.
What Jesus thought
about her life
trumped every other
thing.
Can I say that
slowly?
Because I know
that Satan plays
this card.
What Jesus thought
about her life
trumped every other
thing.
I like that.
to have the burden
and the shame of
your life lifted by
the forgiveness of
Christ is
overwhelming.
healing.
I recited the passages in
Romans chapter 10
verse 11 and Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 6 and
I want you to mark
them for your later
education.
But one other thing I
want you to see here is
the woman's view of
Jesus changed.
Back she went into
town and she makes an
interesting statement
that may be a little
confusing on the surface
but we need to think
with us.
Think it through.
She goes into town.
She says can this be the
Christ?
Was she asking a kind of
a democratic answer?
Let's take a poll.
What do you think?
Is that what's going on?
No.
How do we know that?
Well if you look at
verse 39 many Samaritans
from the town believed
in him because of the
woman's testimony.
She didn't go around
saying I have a question
for you.
Do you think this is
Jesus?
Do you think it's a
Christ?
No.
She was going around
saying I want you to
meet the one who is the
Messiah who has given me
complete forgiveness for
all of my sins and
everybody's looking at
her saying all of your
sins?
Do you know that we know
what kind of sinner you
are?
All of your sins?
Verse 42.
They said to the woman
it's no longer because of
what you have said that
we believe.
She couldn't have been
just saying is this the
Christ?
Now why did she ask it
this way in the passage
we're looking at there
in verse 29.
You remember this woman
had a testimony in town
of being fast and loose
with sex.
Agreed?
Would she have been the
perfect person to be
bear testimony to the
deity of Christ and to
the holiness and glory
of the Savior of lost
mankind?
Answer is no.
And so she exercised a
little decency and
caution in speaking
gently.
And by the way,
questions are a pretty
good way of bringing
conviction.
Do you know that?
It works.
Is your life a mess?
You mean what I'm living
isn't the way it's
supposed to be?
Questions work.
So here's the woman
comes into town.
She says, hey, is this
the Christ?
So I want you to
understand this morning
that you sit here
maybe like Nicodemus.
Remember Nicodemus?
Curious but not convicted.
He knew something was
missing in his life.
There was a void and an
emptiness but he really
was too caught up in
himself to come to
grips with the desperate
condition of his soul.
And can I tell you?
Until Jesus brings you to
the place of brokenness
where you see the
bankruptcy of your soul,
there will be no remedy.
There will be no
conversion.
bad news,
you've got stage
four cancer and
you're dying.
Good news,
Jesus is the only
solution and you
have to trust in him
or you're going to
hell.
Well, some of you
could be sitting here,
not like Nicodemus,
but like the woman
before she knew Jesus
and every time a little
bit of conviction comes
into your life,
you kind of try to skate
away from it.
Oh, I'm uncomfortable.
I didn't like that.
That kind of makes me
feel bad about myself.
And the woman dodged
and dodged and dodged
and what did Jesus do?
He kept on chasing her
down.
And so some of you have
been sitting here and
every time you turn
around, the spirit of
God is still convicting.
Can I tell you there's a
way to stop that?
Huh?
It's like, I get it.
I need him.
I can't undo the mess.
All right.
And here's the woman.
After she knew Jesus
and she knew that she
was loved by Jesus
and she knew that she
was forgiven by Jesus
and she was overwhelmed
by his grace,
she spent the rest of
that day doing the
very simple and logical
thing of letting other
people know who he is.
grace.
Let me tell you something.
What we do together is
enjoyable, but it's really
not the main event of
worship.
The main event of worship
will be when we who know
Christ gather together in
the presence of the Lord
Jesus, the Savior of our
souls and we without any
impediment, without any
cloud over the struggles
we have in life, we will
worship him with unending
glory.
What we do here is kind of
encourage our souls for what
he wants us to do out there.
Do you follow that?
There are women at the
well.
There are men in your
neighborhoods.
There are children in your
school.
There are mothers in your
group.
There are people where you
work whose lives are broken
and ruined by sin.
And if you have been caught
up with the sweetness of
Jesus, you know what you
do?
Come see the man who told me
all that I ever did is not
this the Christ.
Let's pray.
Holy Father, the truth of
matter is, is the Lord Jesus
is the supreme lover of our
soul and the one who has
called us to redeem us from
the pit.
And it is so unbecoming for
us who know the Lord Jesus
Christ to have our lives
clouded by the ugliness of
our own ill-spirited thoughts.
When we in the presence of
Christ may enjoy true worship
and go out to a world that is
broken and dying and plead with
them with tenderness and
passion that they know the one
who knows us.
Today's a day of conviction.
Some are here and don't know
Christ and I would plead with
you, Lord, that you would draw
them to see their sin and to
confess their brokenness and
trust in Jesus.
There are some here today that
are believers whose lives are
clouded by issues that have
compromised the sweetness of
their testimony.
And it really comes down to
this.
They need to be repentant and
humble.
And ask you to renew their
affection for the Lord Jesus
that they may minister to the
world around them.
And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.