[0:00] Good morning, church. Hope everybody is doing well, staying home and staying safe.
[0:18] ! As you've probably heard this week, the governor made another announcement and he's extended! the current recommendations for social distancing of groups under 10, preventing them from meeting or recommending that they don't meet. And so we are, as a church, going to abide by that, which means that we will continue to come to you each week, each Sunday in this way. And many of you know that that will have an impact on our Easter celebration.
[0:48] And so I wanted to make a couple comments about that before we begin in worship. One, as believers, we celebrate the resurrection every Sunday, and truly we celebrate the resurrection every day. And so today our elders are going to meet and talk about what some options might be for us on Easter. But I do want to say that when we are able to meet together as a church, we're going to celebrate Easter as a congregation. And I continue to ask you, if you have any needs, if you have anything that I or the church can do for you, would you please reach out to the church? Please call the church office, 918-333-7340. We have people who are waiting and who are wanting to help you. So please give us the opportunity to serve you. I hope you all, like I said, are doing well. And so let's begin our time of worship with prayer. Would you please pray with me?
[1:47] Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this opportunity to gather. Though we are spread out in different places, we are gathered to worship you. And so Lord, we pray and we ask that you would bless this time. Lord, we ask that you would use this time to make us more like Jesus Christ. God, we continue to pray for those who have been impacted by the coronavirus. Lord, for those who have lost their lives. We pray for their families. We lift them up to you and pray, Lord, that you would provide them with comfort and peace. For those who are right now battling the illness, Lord, we pray for them and we ask for healing. And we pray, Lord, for those who are treating them, for our doctors and our nurses.
[2:39] We know that this has put a lot of stress and pressure on them. And they're really at the front lines of all of this, Lord. So we pray that they would get the resources that they need to be able to do their jobs, that they would have the time to rest that they need to recharge so that they can continue to do the work that they're doing.
[2:58] And Lord, we pray that your church would see this time as a time where we are responsible to reach out, to let people know the good news of Jesus Christ, that in times of crisis, often the world looks to the church. And so, Lord, I pray that when they look to us, your church, that they would see people who are not living in panic or in fear, but people who are hopeful, people who continue to trust and have faith that Jesus Christ is Lord and he is Lord of all. And that we have nothing to fear, not even death, Lord, because we know as your word says, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. And so that may that be the way that we live for you, Lord. We pray that our lights would shine brightly for you, that the gospel would go, that the gospel would spread, that people would hear the good news of Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, again, we pray that you would bless this time, bless those who are hearing it, Lord. We pray that through the singing and the preaching of your word, that your spirit would apply it to our lives. And again, that we would be made more like Christ as a result. These things we pray, these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
[4:12] I want to read a passage of scripture from Paul's epistle to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, starting in verse 16. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And hope that is an encouragement for you today, as all God's word is today. I hope you're gathering together as a family and you just put everything aside, no multitasking, just come together and share with one another in this worship service with all of us.
[4:52] here in the church. And hopefully beyond that, as we sing, oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise. That'd be true today. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise.
[5:13] Jesus, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. Jesus, the name that calms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease.
[5:33] Tis music in the sinner's ears, tis life and health and peace. Jesus, you're the name above all names.
[5:50] Jesus, Lamb of God. Jesus, you're the King of salvation.
[6:03] He breaks the power of cancelled sin.
[6:18] He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest flee. His blood availed for me.
[6:28] My gracious Master and my God Assist me to proclaim To spread through all the earth abroad The honors of your name Jesus, you're the name above all names Jesus, Lamb of God Jesus, you're the King of salvation Who was and is to come Jesus, you're the name above all names Jesus, Lamb of God
[7:31] Jesus, you're the King of salvation Who was and is to come Who was and is to come Amen. As we sing, I stand amazed in the presence I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene And wonder how he could love me A sinner condemned unclean How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful
[8:33] Is my Savior's love for me He took my sins and my sorrows He made them his very own He bore the burden to Calvary And suffered and died alone How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my Savior's love for me When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see T'will be my joy through the ages To sing of his love for me How marvelous, how wonderful How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be
[9:37] How marvelous, how wonderful Is my Savior's love for me Our scripture reading today is from Romans chapter 8 Verses 31 through 39 Speaking of God's everlasting love What then shall we say to these things?
[10:05] If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son But gave him up for us all How will he not also with him Graciously give us all things?
[10:19] Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died More than that, who was raised Who is at the right hand of God Who is indeed interceding for us Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
[10:42] Shall tribulation or distress Or persecution or famine Or neckiness or danger or sword? As it is written For your sake we are being killed All the day long We are regarded as sheep To be slaughtered No, in all these things We are more than conquerors Through him who loved us For I am sure that neither death Nor life Nor angels Nor rulers Nor things present Nor things to come Nor powers Nor height Nor depth Nor anything else In all creation Will be able to separate us From the love of God In Christ Jesus Our Lord Let's pray Dear Heavenly Father We are so thankful For your everlasting love That is with us Through all of the trials And tribulations of life The ups
[11:43] The downs The good The bad And Father We are so thankful For your love And Father We are reminded Just through this scripture And by your spirit In our lives That No matter what is going on Around us No matter what the circumstances No matter how uncertain Things are And seem to be around us That Father Our hope in you Never changes And it never fails Because you God Are the same Yesterday Today And forever And Father It is in that That we place our hope Not in our own strength Not in those around us But Father In you But I just pray That we would also Be able to encourage One another To show Your love in us By showing Your love To those around us And Father I pray that as Pastor Mike Shares The message You've laid on his heart From your word
[12:43] This morning That our hearts Would be attentive That we would be Open To what you have to say To us During this time For it's in Christ's name That we pray Amen This morning we continue Our study In the gospel of John And so we are at John chapter 4 And verses 27 through 42 Will be the text For this morning's sermon So I encourage you To get your bible And this is the habit For us as a church If you would like to At home I know your recliner Is comfortable And so is your couch But we like to Stand for The reading of God's word Because We stand For things that we honor And we should honor The word of God So John chapter 4
[13:44] Beginning in verse 27 And I'll read through Verse 42 Just then His disciples Came back They marveled That he was talking With the 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 a 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 Meanwhile The disciples Were urging him Saying Rabbi eat But he said to them I have food To eat That you do not know about So the disciples Said to one another Has anyone brought him Something to eat Jesus said to them My food Is to do the will Of him who sent me And to accomplish His work Do you not say There are yet Four months And then comes The harvest Look I tell you
[14:44] Lift up your eyes And see that the fields Are white for harvest Already the one Who reaps Is receiving wages And gathering fruit For eternal life So that sower And reaper May rejoice together For here the saying Holds true One sows And another reaps I sent you to reap That for which You did not labor Others have labored And you have entered Into their labor Many Samaritans From that town Believed in him Because of the woman's Testimony And he told me All 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 And God Had a blessing To the reading Of his word My favorite
[15:45] Time of year Is springtime And I think That a part of the reason Why I love spring so much Is because I hate Winter so much And so I'm excited Whenever I can see the signs That winter Are behind us I enjoy the warmer Temperatures And the sunnier days And the new life That is given birth During this time of year And also being A big baseball fan Spring means It's baseball season Or at least It usually means that Whenever situations Are and circumstances Are as they should be I remember Well one of the things About spring Is that it has Its drawbacks too And one of those Drawbacks for me Is that it means It's time to pull out The lawnmower And it means that It's time to do Some landscaping Which I hate And which my wife Can attest to I remember As a kid
[16:45] That one of the things That we like to do During springtime And into the summertime As well Is we would gather up A bunch of dandelions You know A little fluff On the flower And we would gather As many as we could Into our hands And then we would Blow the fluff And it would scatter All throughout the air And it would land All over the grass And it would just Be scattered everywhere And that was a lot of fun Little did we realize That what we were doing As kids Is that we were spreading An infestation All throughout The yard that we were in And other yards as well As that's how More dandelions Are made And so now As an adult And as a home owner Those things that I used to love I now hate And whenever I see Even our kids Grab them and blow them You know I have to exercise Some restraint And let them be kids But I know All that means Is more Dandelions being spread The infestation
[17:46] Is about to take place Dandelions multiply And they spread By nature And much like Infectious disease Spreads in the same way And that's part of what Makes the coronavirus Such a threat Any infectious disease Such a threat Is because it can be Spread so easily And it can be Spread far And it can be spread Wide But not all things That spread Are bad things For example When two people Fall in love And if you're married You know The first time That you met Your spouse After maybe That first date One thing that you Wanted to do Is you wanted to go And tell everybody As many people As you could How special This person was How thankful You were to meet This person And then when we Get married Or we get engaged That's one of the Things that we do First Is we want to go And we want to Spread the news With as many people
[18:46] As we can And now with Social media You see That it's instant Soon after engagement You can post it online And you see The likes And the comments Because We like to spread Good news I don't know Even still Me personally As an adult Whenever something Good happens To my family One of the first things I do is I call My parents Because I want them To share In the good news That we have Experienced Well just as Dandelions multiply And spread By nature So too The Bible says It is the nature Of the gospel To spread As well This message That Jesus Saves Consider For a moment How news Of Jesus Spread Wherever He went We see In Mark 1 27-28 Says there And they were All amazed
[19:47] So that they Questioned among Themselves Saying What is this A new teaching With authority He commands Even the unclean Spirits And they obey Him And at once His fame Spread Everywhere Throughout all The surrounding Region of Galilee And then Mark says In verses 40 and 45 Of that same Chapter And a leper Came to him Imploring him And kneeling Said to him If you will Can you make Me clean Moved with pity Jesus stretched Out his hand And touched him And said to him I will Be clean And immediately The leprosy Left him And he was Made clean And Jesus Sternly charged Him And sent him Away at once And said to him See that you Say nothing To anyone But go Show yourself To the priest And offer For your cleansing What Moses Commanded For a proof To them But he went Out and he Began to talk Freely about it And to spread The news So that Jesus Could no longer Openly enter A town
[20:47] But was out In desolate Places And people Were coming To him From every Quarter So Jesus Despite his Best efforts To subdue Initial excitement About him Had his fame Grow As a result Of his Healings And it spread Far And it spread Wide And so the Gospel travels Like dandelion Fluff That scatters In the wind And it takes Root in many Of the places Where it lands The gospel Travels From person To person From family To family From community To community From twelve Ordinary men Who in the Book of Acts Went out And they spread The good news In Jerusalem All the way To places Like Bartlesville Oklahoma From twelve To millions
[21:47] And millions And it says There in Acts About how it spread In Acts 12 24 The Bible Says But the word Of God Increased And it Multiplied Acts 13 49 And the word Of the Lord Was spreading Throughout the Whole region Acts 19 20 Says So the word Of the Lord Continued to Increase And prevail Mightily And all of This again As a result In answer To our Lord's Command In both Matthew 28 And Acts 1 and 8 In Matthew 28 Our Lord Our risen Savior Says And Jesus Came to them All authority In heaven On earth Has been given To me Go therefore And make Disciples Of all nations Baptizing them In the name Of the Father And the Son And the Holy Spirit Teaching them To observe All that I command You And behold I am with you Always To the end Of the age And again In Acts 1 8 Jesus says But you will Receive the power When the Holy Spirit Has come upon you And you will Be my witnesses In Jerusalem And in Judea
[22:48] And in Samaria And to the end Of the earth And so we must see As Christians That this is The Lord's will For us And it's His command To us Despite whatever Our present Circumstances May be Our mission Is always To be spreading The gospel And when we do There will be Results That come From that One of which Is that unbelievers Will hear Unbelievers Will believe And as a result They will be Born again And so the question That I want to raise This morning Is that Of salvation How do we know When someone Has truly Been saved Has been Truly Born Again How can We know That Well
[23:50] The Bible Tells us In many places How we can Know But here In the scripture That we've read This morning John 4 27 through 42 We see An example Of someone Who has Been Born Again And we Observe From her Four Marks Of genuine Salvation And so here's The main idea For this Morning's Message Those Who have Been genuinely Saved Are genuinely Transformed They characterized The marks Of genuine Salvation Both Internally And Externally One thing As a pastor Is I'll often Get asked By people Attending Our church How can I know That I am Truly Saved How can I Be certain Well one thing
[24:50] That I tell Them is It is not Supposed to be A guessing Game God does Not want This to be A guessing Game For you In any Way And so the Bible talks About the Fact that If you're Genuinely And truly Saved You will Bear Fruits Of the Spirit Of the Holy Spirit Who has Taken up Residence In you In your Life So this Passage Among many Others Reveals To us What some Of those Fruits Of the Spirit Are If you Say That you Are a Believer What I Want you To do As we Go through These Four Marks Is to Ask yourself This Question Are These Marks Consistently Being Displayed In Your Life Are They Consistently Being Displayed In Your Life If They Are Not Then Maybe
[25:50] It Could Be That You Have Drifted From The Lord And That You Have Become Too Concerned Or You Have Become Too Preoccupied With Worldly Things With The Things Of This World With The Things Of This Life!
[26:07] Or If You See That These Marks Don't Characterize You It Could Be Because You're Not Truly! Saved!
[26:17] And If That Is The Case! Then My Hope And My Prayer For You Would Be That You Would Listen That You Would Hear The Gospel That You Would Respond That You Would Believe That You'd Be Born Again Last Week The Application Portion The Final Part Of The Message Was That Christians Pray Christians Encourage Christians Serve And Christians Trust And Some Of You Who Are Very Observant Observed That That Is An Acronym That Spells PEST To Which I Responded Yes We Right Now Especially Must Be Gospel Pesterers Gospel Pesterers That Now That Doesn't Mean Like A Pest That We Be A Nuisance But As Gospel Pesterers We Stir One Another Up To Live Our Life For
[27:18] Christ Like Christ And We Go And We Spread The Good News Of Jesus Christ And So The First Mark Of Genuine Salvation Is This A Confession Of Christ A Confession Of Christ And That Comes From Verses 28 Through 29 I'll Read That Again So The Woman Left Her Water Water And She Went Away Into The Town And Said To The People Come And See A Man Who Has Told Me All That I Ever Did Can This Be The Christ And So If You've Been With Us Through This Study If You've Read This Passage Of Scripture You Know What Has Happened Prior To This Moment Of Confession In The Samaritan Woman's Life If You Recall In
[28:21] A She Had No Idea That This Was An Appointment That God Had Kept From Ages Past Eternity Past In His Divine Appointment Book And So She Arrives There And Jesus Asks Her For A Drink And If You Know Anything About The Context Of Culture Back Then We See or you know that a couple of things.
[28:43] One, men didn't speak to women in public, especially rabbis. Rabbis wouldn't even speak to their own wives in public. So it's shocking for that reasons.
[28:54] It's also shocking because of the hatred that existed between Jews and Samaritans. So Jesus is breaking all kinds of cultural norms here when he speaks to her because she's a woman, because she's also a Samaritan.
[29:09] And then he proceeds to lay out the gospel to her. If you remember, he uncovers her sin. He reveals the fact that he knows that she's been married five times and is living with a man who is not her husband.
[29:24] He knows that this woman has been hiding from her neighbors. She comes to the well during a time when all the other women wouldn't be there in the heat of the day because she is trying to escape her past sinfulness, maybe also to escape their scoffing and their laughing at her and the ways that they would put her down.
[29:43] She is very much an outcast of society. And Jesus knows all of these things. And in his love and in his mercy, he uncovers all of these things and proceeds to tell her about the reality, the truth that he has spiritual life that he will give to her, that will well up within her forever, that she'll never thirst again.
[30:04] And they eventually, she sees that Jesus, this man, the strange man who she was talking to, is truthfully the Messiah. And she's excited about that.
[30:16] Again, she came looking to have her water jar filled, but instead had her soul and her mind filled with the spiritual water that Jesus said in verse 14, whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.
[30:31] The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And so Jesus had filled her with a desire for a quality of life that she had never known before.
[30:46] And he revealed to her that he was the one who could impact her spiritual life, or in part, I should say, to her spiritual life.
[30:57] And so she believed, and she became his witness. And it was because of her confession that Jesus is the Christ that she went out into her community and shared the good news.
[31:11] And so we see here, having believed, she makes a confession. A confession that Jesus is the Messiah. A confession that Jesus is Lord. It was her cry, much like the cry of a newborn child.
[31:27] I remember standing at my wife's shoulder when both of our children were born. Hazel, our daughter, came quickly and easily.
[31:40] I can say that. And she cried right away. And we were so happy when our daughter was born. Jack, our oldest, was a little bit more dramatic.
[31:53] When he was born, he had the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his neck. And so there was a moment of panic for Danny and I because we were expecting to hear a cry when he was born.
[32:08] But there was nothing. And so I remember as the doctor quickly whisked him over to a side table where she quickly severed the umbilical cord.
[32:19] And then finally we got to hear the cries of our newborn son. The cry of a newborn is the sign that it is alive.
[32:36] The sign that oxygen has filled its lungs, that it is able to breathe on its own. If you remember before this meeting that Jesus has with the Samaritan woman in John 4, that he had another meeting with a Pharisee named Nicodemus in John chapter 3.
[32:55] And there Jesus tells Nicodemus that it is essential for salvation that a person be born again. And that this new birth is a result of the Holy Spirit's doing.
[33:11] And what Jesus is telling him is that just as you had no part in your physical birth, so you have no part in your spiritual birth.
[33:22] And that those who have been born again like a newborn baby cries and it signifies the fact that it is living. So a Christian's confession that Jesus is the Christ is evidence of the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, that has come into them.
[33:45] And so the Bible regularly connects salvation with confession. And in numerous places, Scripture links that confession with physical baptism.
[34:01] Baptism serves as the believer's public confession that they have been born again, that they have been reborn, born from above, signifying that they have been joined with Christ in salvation through his life and his death and his resurrection.
[34:20] And so as Baptists, we practice baptism by immersion. Why do we do that? Well, first of all, we do that because all baptisms in the Bible are depicted as being carried out in that way.
[34:37] And also because they picture the newness of life that the Christian now walks in. Now, one thing that needs to be made clear is that the new birth is not dependent upon a public confession.
[34:58] In other words, some believe that in order to be saved, a person must make some kind of public confession first. But it's actually the other way around.
[35:12] A person who has been born again makes a public confession because they've been born again. Salvation precedes confession. Many people are told today that if they recite the sinner's prayer that they will be saved or that they are saved as a result of repeating those words.
[35:34] But the problem with this is that nowhere in the Bible is such a prayer recorded nor is it advocated in any of the pages of Scripture for unbelievers to practice in order to be saved or to say in order to be saved.
[35:52] Traditionally, the method of such a confession became popular in the 1800s with a traveling evangelist named Charles Finney. Finney was primarily interested in results.
[36:07] And so he tragically misinformed a lot of our understanding of how a person is genuinely saved by making the sinner's prayer seem to be essential for a person's salvation.
[36:22] But truthfully, his practice was a practice in manipulation in order to get results. He modeled his method after another ministry or minister whose ministry took place in the 1700s.
[36:39] That man's name was Eleazar Wheelock. And so what Wheelock would do is that he would take unbelievers and he would usher them down to the front pew of the church which he called the mourner's seat or the mourner's bench.
[36:54] And then he would proceed to preach to them looking at them repeatedly and telling them that salvation was looming over their heads and would pressure them to make a confession for Christ.
[37:12] And so a lot of them perhaps wanting to go along with the crowd or wanting to get off the hot seat would make that confession.
[37:24] And as I thought about that I thought well maybe that's perhaps the reason why we have so many back row Baptists today is they want to avoid sitting in the mourner's seat.
[37:39] Now that doesn't mean that anyone now listen that doesn't mean that anyone who's ever prayed the sinner's prayer before isn't genuinely saved. I know a lot of people who were saved because they heard the gospel and they believed it and they were saved in that moment but then they went on to repeat a prayer.
[38:01] But again they were saved prior to that. That prayer in no way sealed their salvation nor in any way did it bring their salvation into being.
[38:14] You know in the church we have become especially in the American church we have become so consumed with numbers. We are so numbers driven.
[38:27] And while numbers can reflect the health and impact of a church we should not be so preoccupied with numbers that we forget the other aspects of the Great Commission which is baptizing and is teaching.
[38:45] We are to make disciples and then continue to disciple them. So our concern should not be primarily with padding our numbers but to make disciples.
[38:59] Having said all that it is equally untrue that a confession of Jesus Christ is optional. Some people think that they can become secret believers secret followers of Christ but the word of God never considers that to be a possibility for the person who is genuinely saved.
[39:27] Let me back that statement up with scripture. Matthew 10 32-33 Jesus says so everyone who acknowledges me before men I will also acknowledge before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men I will also deny before my father who is in heaven.
[39:45] Romans 10 9-10 Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
[40:03] John 15 26-27 Jesus says but when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me and you also will bear witness.
[40:20] There's no option in there. You will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. So we see that confession proceeds salvation.
[40:34] confession. It's the evidence that our spiritual lungs so to speak have been filled with the Holy Spirit and so we can't help but cry out that Jesus is Lord.
[40:49] Jesus had revealed himself to the Samaritan woman and she believed his testimony and she now went back to her town pronouncing her confession that the Messiah is here.
[41:04] You know it's times like these where our confession is tested. I remember back in 2008 when we went through a time of economic recession in our country and that that impacted my father and our family.
[41:24] He lost his job during that time. That had never happened before. And so I remember when my father came home when he should have been at work and having him tell me what had happened.
[41:39] And that was a time of fear for me but the one thing that I continued to see from my father who is a great man of God was he was never afraid.
[41:50] He never once acted as if the problem was God's or that he wished that God would have done something different. Now obviously nobody enjoys going through difficult times like that and he didn't but I remember seeing how strong his faith was during that time and that kept the rest of our family strong.
[42:13] His confession that Jesus is the Christ, his confession that Jesus is our only hope never wavered. And so during this time as believers neither should ours.
[42:25] In any time for that matter if we've truly been saved the Bible says we can't help but to confess and continually confess as long as we have breath to breathe and life to live Jesus is Lord and then when we go to heaven we will confess that continually every day with great gladness.
[42:51] you know I was thinking as well when I fly I don't like flying that much especially whenever we hit turbulence and there's been a couple of cases where I've hit some pretty bad turbulence and that's a scary time.
[43:12] And so the one thing I do is I try to find the flight attendants and I study them and I study their body language because they do this for a living they fly every day all day and so if they are panicked then I know I should be panicked because this is not like anything they are used to encountering but in the cases where I have experienced that bad turbulence I've seen smiley faces and reassuring voices and so when I see that they're not panicking that puts me or I should say my fearful thoughts to rest at least a little bit and so I say those things because when the world is in crisis the world looks to the church they look to the church and so what do they see when they look to the church what are they seeing right now do they see panic and fear when they look to Christians do they see them living fearfully and without hope hope or do they see from us a faith that is unshaken and a hope that does not depend on our present circumstances so the first mark of salvation is a confession of Christ the second mark of genuine salvation is a change in values a change in values and so let's zoom in here on verse 28 where John provides us with a very interesting detail he says that she left her water jar behind now
[44:51] John was an eyewitness to all of this and I believe that he includes this detail because it reflects a change that has taken place in this woman's life Jesus has used water in an illustrative sense throughout his conversation with the Samaritan woman he's used it to serve as an object lesson to communicate a spiritual truth to her they meet at a well she comes to have her water jar filled Jesus asks her for a drink and then he proceeds to explain to her about the spiritual water that he has which he can give to her and she'll never thirst again so now having received that soul satisfying water the woman shows no concern for her old water jar that she had originally come to have filled but now all of that is put on hold as she realizes that there are way more important things now in life what takes top priority in her life now is to connect people to
[46:12] Jesus what takes top priority in her life now is to spread the gospel so my question to you is have you experienced the same kind of change in values in your own life as a person who confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior now the Bible says that a Christian life is a life of growth just as a baby grows throughout childhood and adolescence and into adulthood the changes at salvation for a believer are both instant in the moment that it happens and progressive as well as a believer today you ought to be able to look back over your life since the moment of your confession since the moment of your salvation and you ought to be able to tell that a difference has taken place you ought to be able to tell that a change in your values has taken place again some of these changes are instant but others are gradual as the
[47:26] Holy Spirit living in us convicts us of our sin and conforms us ever more step by step day by day into the image of Christ so the Christian life is a life marked by change that means that we are becoming more like Jesus it's an internal change but it's carried out by our external actions and our words remember one of those changes that took place for me as a believer was back in 2013 all the way back in 2013 and it was the NFL playoffs and the Chiefs my Chiefs were playing the Indianapolis Colts and they were up 38 to 10 38 to 10 with 70 seconds left to go in the third quarter if you know anything about the
[48:29] Chiefs you know that they prior to this year have been horribly bad in the playoffs and so I was excited now we're finally going to win a playoff game and watching that game with me in our family room was my brother in law who is a big Colts fan and so all was well we were winning you know and then the Colts started to mount a comeback and I grew angrier and angrier with each touchdown that was scored the Colts ended up winning that game 45-44 and what became the second biggest comeback in NFL playoff history and I remember being so angry at the end of that game I remember being so angry at my brother-in-law I wanted to strangle him because of course he was excited he saw his team come back and win an important game but I was so mad I didn't want to speak to him for the rest of the day and I remember that night laying down in bed and going over in my mind what had happened and how things could have been different you know how could they lose this game again and just stewing and being angry and then remembering
[49:47] God just pressing it onto my mind the thought that I cared so much about a football game more so than I cared about my brother-in-law at the time more so than I cared about people hearing the good news of Jesus Christ and the thought that convicted me was was I more eager and excited to see the Chiefs win than I was eager and excited to see an unbeliever become a follower of Jesus Christ be born again and so while I'm still a big sports fan I no longer live and die on every play and every win and every loss though it helps that the Chiefs are much better now than they were before but this theme of change in values as a result of genuine salvation is one of the greatest themes in John's gospel John is concerned with the believer's confession but at the same time he expresses an equal amount of concern that their confession be backed up by the way in which they live and so that theme emerges in really in the final discourse of
[51:00] Jesus as he meets with his disciples in the upper room prior to his crucifixion he implored his disciples during that time that they be one that they live as one as he and the father are one in chapter 15 verse 17 Jesus implored them that they must love one another that if they're truly his disciples if they're truly following him then that means that they will love one another in John 14 15 he implored them that if they're truly his disciples that they will keep his commandments that they will walk in his ways and so all of this was to demonstrate the reality of the new life that marks the believers being born again that our confession our belief our salvation is carried out in the way in which we live in a change of our values so I ask you again do these things mark you and if they don't perhaps it's because you haven't left your old water jars behind those water jars that you once filled or maybe are still filling with desires and interests and pleasures of the old self of the old man and you must come to the Lord in his word and to the
[52:33] Lord in prayer and be filled by him that you will be reminded that you will be inspired to bear witness for him and to spread the gospel so our salvation means that the inward curse of sin is broken as a result of that now we are able to live in newness of life which means we are able to turn outward we are able to love God and we are able to love our neighbor as we never were able or capable of loving them before so that's two marks of genuine salvation a confession of Christ a change in values and thirdly a concern for the lost in verse 29 the Samaritan woman goes back to her town and says come see a man who told me all that I ever did can this be the Christ and then they went out from the town and were coming to him what made the Samaritans want to drop everything and rush back home to share the gospel with people who she had once tried to hide from before what made the Samaritan woman want to run back there and do this and care for people that she once seemed to show little or no concern for before well I think it's grace she's received grace she was a sinner whose sins were so egregious that many who knew her in society had basically shut her out but now she had met
[54:09] Jesus and she realized how unworthy she was of the grace and the love that she had received from him and so she suddenly cared about the eternal state of the souls of those who wanted nothing to do with her she wanted them to receive this grace and this love of Christ too and so she was compelled to go to them out of a great concern that she had for their salvation the bible sets this pattern for those who have been born again when it declares in 2 corinthians 5 14 through 15 for the love of Christ controls in greek that's sunako compels it describes pressure that produces action it controls us it compels us because we have concluded this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised and so does the love of
[55:17] Christ and the grace that you've received from him control you does it compel you does it burden you to share the gospel with others who have yet to believe it one observation I think that is worth pointing out here is that the Samaritan woman was willing to confess her own sinfulness she didn't go back to her hometown and pronounce to them about her newfound righteousness she didn't issue commands that they should follow her she simply told them the truth I found the Messiah he's told me all the things that I've ever done all the things that I wanted to hide from all the brokenness that I tried to fix in all these different ways he's told me all that I've ever done and I want you to hear and to know him too so as believers today let's not fall into the trap of acting as if we are without sin let's not fall into the trap of acting as if we are perfect as if we were not in need of salvation before we ought to be willing as we go and as we share the gospel to confess this is who
[56:46] I was these are the things that I did but I've met Jesus I've had my life transformed by the good news of Jesus Christ I'm a changed person not because of me or anything that I have done but all because of Christ what he's done and what he's doing and has done in me in verse 39 it says that as a result of her confession that many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony that he told me all I ever did so there's three marks confession change in values concern for the lost and now finally an invitation to come an invitation to come those who have undergone the new birth invite others to come and hear the good news of Jesus Christ too this was the heart of her message and she had learned it from
[57:50] Jesus who had told her in verse 16 go and call your husband and come back in other words what he's saying because he knows all things is I know the sin that you're covering up uncover that sin you come to me right so we don't have to come to him perfect we don't have to him having cleaned ourselves up first we just simply come to him and her message was that the Samaritans of her town do the same come meet Jesus this is the invitation of God that has brought peace to millions of restless hearts and satisfaction for those who were previously empty and despairing let's look at scripture this is God's invitation remember God called
[58:51] Abraham and invited him to come into the land which I shall show you it was God's invitation to Moses to be Israel's deliverer he said to him come I will send you to Egypt David wrote in Psalm 46 8 come and see the works of the Lord the desolations he has brought on the earth God spoke to the prophet Isaiah saying come now let us reason together though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow the angels invited all of the skeptics as they pointed the disciples and they told them to come and see the empty tomb where Jesus body once had been laid and Jesus says come follow me to his disciples he said come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest and finally
[59:52] Jesus says to his own come you who are blessed of my father take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world we have nothing to fear or worry about if you have answered Jesus invitation to come and if you've heard it and if you have responded to it it is your privilege and it is your duty to pass it on won't you come to the Lord won't you come won't you come to the Lord won't you see your sin as being committed against God won't you see the brokenness that exists inside of you and outside of you in this world won't you see that
[60:54] Jesus came because God so loved the world won't you see that Jesus died on the cross in your place for your sins he who knew no sin became sin so that we who believe become the righteousness of God and won't you see that his tomb is empty that on the third day he arose from the grave won't you see that he has ascended to the right hand of the father where he could return at any moment are you ready believe that Jesus is the Christ confess it be conformed to his image changing your values and inviting others to come and to hear this good news as well you know it's interesting to me that when Jesus disciples arrive in verse 27 and they witness this interaction that's taking place between
[62:01] Jesus and the Samaritan woman the Bible says that they marveled and they marveled for all the reasons that have already been addressed that she's a woman that she's a Samaritan why is Jesus speaking with such a person then in verse 31 through 38 Jesus has a conversation with them in which he teaches them a very important lesson you know it's interesting to me that when they arrive on the scene none of the disciples address the woman none of them speak to her and then when she leaves none of them seem to express concern or care to ask Jesus what that was all about their primary concern was for Jesus and that he eat but Jesus goes on to specify to them that his bread is to do the will of the father in other words his mission was to seek and to save the lost and he wouldn't allow anything to get in the way of his doing that including having his physical needs met and so
[63:19] I wonder at this time and not just this time but in most times as Christians do we act more like the Samaritan woman or the disciples you know yeah it's good that the disciples were concerned about Jesus but Jesus is God and it's good that they were concerned about him but not to the point where they were disconcerned with their mission to go and make disciples yes we're living in a time of crisis where people are working from home people have lost their jobs there's concern for many different reasons I wonder as Christians what is our primary concern right now what is our primary concern right now you know the church will be fine the church will live through this the church will continue on the church will be here the church will make it and
[64:21] Jesus is Lord of all he is king of kings there is no one who can dethrone him from that position there is no power greater than our God and so we don't need to be concerned in that way what we ought to be concerned is what our Lord is concerned about are we going are we making disciples are we confessing Jesus as Lord has there been a change in our values are we inviting people to come and to hear the good news of Jesus Christ that I believe should be our primary concern because it's our Lord's primary concern for us in this life so four applications and this goes back to our vision for our church in 2020 we want to be the best
[65:22] Highland Park Baptist church and so the first way we do that is that we build community again our salvation means that the curse of inward sin of inward the inward curve of sin has been broken and so now we are able to turn our focus outward and we are able to love God and neighbor as we never were able to do before so I encourage you during this time check on one another call text meet with one another over social media check on your neighbors figure out or find out what you can do right now to help build our community and share the love of Christ in doing so next we equip believers and so we teach and encourage them to share the gospel hopefully this time of worship has served to equip you in doing that and now is a great time for you with some of the down time that all of a sudden we have to get in the word of
[66:23] God to abide in it and his word will abide in you and it will equip you to let your light shine brightly for him with the life that he has given to you next share Jesus this one should be pretty self-explanatory after all that has been said invite people to come to church now is a time where our unbelieving relatives and friends have questions now is the time for you to step up and have those conversations and provide them with those answers and then finally teach the word again in bible study meet with your family and your kids do these things at home do this all the time not just in difficult times and again the promise is that when the word of God abides or when we abide in the word of God the word of God abides in us let's pray heavenly father we pray that for those of us who have been genuinely saved that hopefully as we have gone through this text we have seen that yes all four of those things mark me but
[67:39] Lord we know that in this life often times we find ourselves preoccupied with the things of this world and we go back to our old water jars and we try to fill them with those old pleasures that cannot truly satisfy and so Lord I pray that for those of us who that has been the case that this message that this word would serve as a wake up call that our life here is fleeting that it comes and it goes quickly how we spend it is important and you urge us to make the most of it by going sharing making disciples our light shine brightly and so Lord I pray that for all of us who believe that we would do that very thing now this morning Lord there may be people who have heard your word and they have realized that their life is not characterized in any way by these marks God I pray that you would reveal yourself to them
[68:41] Lord I pray that they would hear these words that they would believe in the gospel that they would repent of their sin that they would turn to you and they would know that you are a God of great grace and amazing love that they would be saved and that they would bear these marks and live their life sharing and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ Lord again we pray that we as your!
[69:11] people would see this time as not a time for us to be in panic or in crisis or living in fear but that we would understand that when our world goes through these things they look to the church and Lord our prayer and our hope is that when they do so they would see a people who are marked by you they would see a people who have a great and eternal!
[69:37] hope because we know and we we ask these things in Jesus name amen go to the world for the sake of his name to every nation his glory proclaim pray that the spirit wise will open darkened eyes granting new life to display Jesus fame in Jesus power preach Christ to the lost for Jesus glory count all else but lost gather from every place trophies of sovereign grace lest life be wasted exalt
[70:53] Jesus cross rescue the lost for the sake of his name!
[71:09] as Christ commands snatch them out of the flame tell that when Jesus died God's wrath was satisfied urge them to flee to the lamb who was slain!
[71:28] In Jesus power preach Christ to the lost for Jesus glory count all else but loss gather from every place trophies of sovereign grace lest life be wasted exalt Jesus cross cross look to the throne for the sake of his name think of the throng who will share in his reign some for whose souls we pray will share the joy that day joining our song for the sake of his name in
[72:30] Jesus power preach Christ to the lost for Jesus glory count all else but loss gather from every place trophies of sovereign grace lest life be wasted exalt Jesus cross gather from every place trophies of sovereign grace lest life be wasted exalt Jesus cross amen and may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace amen