JESUS CAME TO SAVE BAD PEOPLE
John
4:1-18
Approximately 150
000 people will die today! The question that
troubles me is where will they spend eternity? Did the gospel
message reach their ears? Did anyone take the
time to share the precious truth of the gospel with them? What’s shocking is
that the vast majority of those people are entering Hell. Christ commanded
his followers to share the Gospel with those who are perishing! The question for
each one of us is! Who have you shared with today? Every day we have
the blessed opportunity and ability [through the Spirit] to share that news
with every person we come in contact with. No exceptions! No
excuses! Every encounter should be a gospel encounter. ASK YOURSELF: When
was the last time you shared with someone who didn't fit your lifestyle? Throughout Jesus’
ministry He was filled with compassion for sinners young and old. Jesus, didn't care
about race, creeds, or colour when it came to importance of sin, the gospel and
eternal life. Jesus knew the
hearts and saw the hopeless of humanity. Have you ever
prayed “Lord open my eyes to see what Jesus saw, and to give me a burden to
reach these people with the only message that saves?” As we come to this
passage this morning aren't you relieved that Jesus didn't overlook your sin? But that He sent
someone to you with the gospel that saves to tell you the truth about yourself.
We come to a
conversation between God and a woman that speak volumes to humanity in general
and goes against what the culture believed at the time [possibly still today]. We enter a
conversation which I think is one of the greatest gospel encounters with a
sinner who desperately needs to be saved next to Nicodemus. We enter a
conversation that display to us that there is forgiveness despite how wicked we
think we sinned. We enter a conversation
that shows us how the Lord Jesus approached people in their sin and how he
addressed the heart issue. J C Ryle said “the
history of the Samaritan woman, contained in these verses, is one of the most
interesting and instructive passages in John’s gospel. St John has shown us, in
the case of Nicodemus, how our Lord dealt with a self-righteous formalist. He
now shows us how our Lord dealt with an ignorant, carnal-minded woman, whose
moral character was more than ordinarily bad.” As we unpack this
passage think about the contrast of Nicodemus and this woman
Nicodemus ........... .............................Samaritan Woman
Devout religious Jew ........................... Immoral Samaritan
Learned Theologian...................................... Uneducated
peasant
He recognized Jesus
as a teacher.......................She had no
clue
He came at night to .......................She had no reputation, came at noon, the protect his reputation hottest time of the day.
He was wealthy....................................... She was poor
He was a member of
the social elite....................... Samaritan people were outcasts
He had a name................................... She is
nameless
Nicodemus came
seeking............................This woman was sought by Jesus
The bible said "But He needed
to go through Samaria.." (v4). Jesus was on a
divine appointment (paraphrase): "I must go to Samaria". The story of the
Lord's encounter with this woman unfolds that salvation is made available for
everyone without prejudice. I’m so glad that
there is not a standard or requirement to find forgiveness for sin or eternal
life? Otherwise none of us would be saved! Our lives completely
depend on the mercies of Christ and His great sacrifice for sinners. So we see a
wonderful encounter with Jesus and this woman who would be considered a harlot,
an outcast of society. A woman who would
be considered according to Proverbs a woman to stay away from “For a prostitute [a
harlot] is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.” Prov 23:27. So Jesus has this
divine appointment with a sinner who needs to hear the truth of the gospel. Let’s examine how
Jesus deals with this woman and learn how Jesus spoke the truth in love with every opportunity He had [gospel
encounters]
JESUS MADE THE TIME
TO SPEAK TO THE WORST OF SINNERS (V7- V10)
Jesus says “give me a drink” This was a breach
of the social custom and by doing this Jesus was tearing the walls down between
the tw0 groups [Jews and Samaritans]. Samaritans were a
mixed race of people…..A intermingling of Jews and Gentiles. This encounter
breaches all stereotyping we do in our culture. Remember the gospel
was to go into all the highways and by-ways reaching even the lowest of the lows. I’m reminded
of an experience of Mark Cahill when he was talking with a prostitute one
evening. "He was asked once
by a Christian “What if someone from your church drove by and saw this?” [paraphrase] Mark’s response is
“Why are we so concerned about other people think of us? It was okay for Jesus
to be a friend of tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, but it is
apparently not ok for us.” He even when to say
that he received letters from people who were shocked that he would do such a
thing! So Mark one time
asked a young lady if she witnesses to prostitutes. She said “No”. Does anyone
in your church witnesses to prostitutes? “No.” I then explained, if she doesn't witness to prostitutes, if no one in her church does, then who will witness to
these people?"
See we need to
understand, God loves them just
as much as He loves us “regular” people, and they need the good news of Jesus
brought to them. This statement
“give me a drink” opened a door of conversation with this woman and open door
to all types of sinners. This opened a door
for Jesus to use a simple example of water as a means to reach the heart issue Why? I think Luke
19:10 says it all “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost." He came to see this
woman! Why? Because salvation is for everyone no matter the circumstance. Jesus was not
ashamed to take a drink from the vessel of a woman for whom He had come to die
for. There is not one
person beyond the reach of His divine love.
JESUS REVEALED TO
HER THAT HIS LIVING WATER IS PRICELESS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE THINGS OF THIS
WORLD (v11-v14)
“Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst
again.” There is nothing in
this life that will fill the void in your heart. (v13). Not fame, fortune,
or things can bring you true joy and fulfillment. You can search all
your life and on your death bed you will be speaking the words of Solomon. “Vanity of
vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.” Eccl 12:8. All these things
come and go and they only leave a person deceived and without hope, but the
gospel saves and fills the heart with the things of God. What Jesus is
trying to say to her is that all these vain
pursuits to fulfill self only leave a person empty and wanting more because
they are never satisfied. Only true
satisfaction comes from the flowing waters Christ and His offer of eternal
life. (v14). The Lord is always
ready to save sinners….far more ready than we are to pray to Him. This should bless
our hearts to know that God is relentless in His pursuit for you and me. Think about each
and every day Jesus stretches out His hands of mercy and grace to fallen
sinners who desperately need saving but ignore His mercy and grace. Little did this
woman know it was her who needed that drink as many people still do today?
- The drink of forgivenes
- The drink of reconciliation
- The drink of salvation
- The drink of eternal life
It's the Living water of grace that provides an internal cleansing by the power of the Holy Spirit through the brokenness over sin.
JESUS IS ALWAYS
READY WITH OPEN ARMS TO GIVE MERCY TO CARELESS SINNERS (v15-v18)
She is intrigued or
softening to his conversation (v15). What does Jesus
tell her to do? We see this in (v16). Jesus tells her to “go call your
husband, and come here”. That must had been
a sobering moment to this woman. Why? She was a
woman who defiled the bed more than once. She would have
known the importance of the 7th command “you shall not commit adultery” Don’t think for a
moment God is ok with this behaviour or any sin for that matters! The Lord
takes marriage very seriously. He says it’s
honorable……“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but
fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Heb 13:4. Why would Jesus
embarrass her like this? It wasn't very nice to point out her sin. What was Jesus
trying to prove? He is pointing out to her the severity of her sin. He is illuminating her sin. Why? A sinner needs to broke over their own sin, before they can understand grace [the good news]She doesn't understand this water issue yet, so Jesus goes right to the heart of the issue, as He did with Nicodemus; and for the very first time, she feels the weight of her sin as God see’s it…..wicked and detestable! This is where the
mercy of living waters comes in…..the precious gospel that saves sinners! Yes
even adultery. John MacArthur says
"the offer of living water is not just to religious people like Nicodemus,
everyone who thirst is invited to drink deeply of the living water, even an
adulterous woman whose life is fraught with sin. His overflowing
grace will pardon even the wickedest of sinners[He came saved bad people]. His knowledge of
this woman's immoral behavior began to stir this woman's heart. She was beginning
to see her sinfulness…..Her eyes were being open to this reality that she was a
sinner and needed a Saviour. J C Ryle said “dealing
with sinners, such as these, form one of the grand peculiarities of the gospel.
Whatever a man’s past life may have been, there is hope and a remedy for him in
Christ. If he is only willing to hear Christ’s voice and follow Him, Christ is
willing to receive him at once as a friend, and to bestow on him the fullest
measure of mercy and grace. The Samaritan woman, the penitent thief, the Philippian
jailor, the publican Zacchaeus, are all patterns of Christ’s readiness to show
mercy, and to confer full and immediate pardons. It is His glory that, like a
great physician, He will undertake to cure those who are apparently incurable,
and that none are too bad for Him to love and heal.”
That’s the mercy of
God towards bad people. That’s mercy that
came to your life through the living water of the Gospel through! Jesus broke the
barriers so that we could go out into the streets and alley ways to proclaim
the good news for sinners. We need to tear
down those walls in our own lives and start looking at people as Jesus see’ s
them sinners who desperately need a Saviour. As the late great
Charles Spurgeon said and this is going to hurt your feelings……“Have you no wish
for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, believe that” Every encounter should be a gospel encounter. Why? bad people need to hear good news. "Jesus answered and
said to them, "Those who are well have no need of
a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance." Luke 5:31-32. The world is full
sick people and they need medicine! The need the gospel truth. The only truth that
will save bad people.
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