Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20050731.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING IN JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XIV: Following Jesus' Lead In Witnessing To Others About Him
(John 4:7-42)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

In recent conversations I have had with a number in the Church, I can tell we are rightfully concerned about effectively reaching lost friends and associates for Christ!

This concern is warranted in view of the fact that our chances to disciples others may at times be cut short! This was illustrated in what happened last Sunday: as my wife and I were coming to Church, we planned to turn off of Torringford East Street and east onto Route 202 at the Torrington and New Hartford town line when we noticed that Route 202 to the west had been blocked off. While there, we glanced back up the road about 150 yards toward the Wal-Mart shopping center intersection where we briefly saw a tow truck was lifting a badly mangled vehicle onto its bed; I knew then that a very serious accident had occurred. I then recalled I had been awakened around 2:15 a. m. the night before by the ominous sound of various sirens. Something serious had occurred then, and this had been it!

Indeed, we later learned a man had been killed in the night when he had been flung out of that vehicle that his wife had driven in a collision that occurred between their vehicle and another car.

So, very suddenly, that man's physical life had ended, and with it had gone any more chance that we might have had to witness to him about the Lord. His soul was in eternity, and whether he was in heaven or hell had been eternally set by what decision he had made about Christ before the accident!



So, in VIEW of the STAKES involved, and in VIEW of the BREVITY of TIME we often have to witness to needy, unsaved associates, HOW can we witness EFFECTIVELY in God's plan?



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "In view of the high stakes involved and the few chances I often have to do so, how may I effectively witness to the unsaved?!"
  1. God wants us to disciple others to trust in Christ, Matt. 28:19-20.
  2. To that end, He gave us an example in Christ's work to lead the Samaritan woman to trust in Him, cf. 1 John 2:6 with John 4:6ff.
  3. We examine that witnessing example by Jesus for our insight:
    1. Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit's power to witness effectively:
      1. In His earthly ministry, though He was God in the flesh, Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit for power in ministry, Luke 4:14-21.
      2. This patterned how we were to rely upon the Holy Spirit of God to disciple others effectively, Acts 1:8 with 2 Timothy 1:6-7.
    2. Jesus heeded God's leading to witness, making His effort effective:
      1. Jesus noted He did God's will in speaking to the woman, Jn. 4:34.
      2. That will had led Jesus from Judaea's throngs to her, 3:26; 4:1-4.
      3. Accordingly, Jesus was following the Father's assignment to speak to this woman, making His effort effective, cf. Colossians 4:3-4.
    3. Jesus showed great kindness to the Samaritan woman (as follows):
      1. As we learned, public dialogue between men and women, between Jews and Samaritans and between strangers was curbed, and a Samaritan woman was seen as defiled, Bib. Kno. Com., N. T., 285.
      2. Christ's request of the Samaritan woman for a drink from her vessel thus left Him open for contamination before fellow Jews, a kind move that deeply impressed this woman, John 4:7-9.
    4. Jesus directed the conversation to the Gospel, John 4:10.
    5. Jesus upheld the truth when confronted with error, John 4:19-24.
    6. Jesus highlighted the Gospel's hope over sin and failure:
      1. Though standing against her sin and error (John 4:16-18, 22), Jesus did not abandon the Samaritan woman to her hopeless state, but taught how she could become a true worshipper of God, 4:21, 23!
      2. Thus, Jesus gave her hope for the way out of her hopeless state, motivating her to trust in Him for salvation, John 4:25-26, 28-29.
    7. Jesus worked in His own divine evangelism assignment:
      1. Christ told His disciples that He had sent them to "reap" in seeing the Samaritans trust in Him where other men had "sown" truths in PREPARATION for such a reaping ministry, John 4:37-38.
      2. We also must accept God's lead for us to use our spiritual gifts in God's discipling plan to make disciples, 1 Cor. 12:4-6, 27-31.
    8. Jesus was very patient for results when it came to evangelism:
      1. From John 4:5, we know that at lease two of the "sowers" who had helped pave the way for Jesus to "reap" with the Samaritans had been Israel's patriarch forefathers such as Jacob and Joseph.
      2. Viewing the Old Testament history of these forefathers in reference to the WELL where He witnessed to this Samaritan woman, we see how Jesus as GOD had been using Israel's forefathers for the last 2,000 years to prepare the Samaritans for HIS arrival!
        1. 1,980 years before the Samaritan woman had met Jesus at that well, Israel's patriarch, Jacob had bought the land upon which it was located and dug that well in faith in God's promise that he and his seed would possess the land, Gen. 28:10-15; 33:18-20; John 4:12; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., p. 2021-2028.
        2. Then, Jacob deeded that plot to his son, Joseph, and Joseph had directed his sons to take his 360-year-old mummy out of Egypt in the exodus and bury it on that plot 1,480 years before the Samaritan woman to show God would give them that land, John 4:5; Josh. 24:32; Gen. 50:25-26; Heb. 11:22; Ibid., p. 2023!
        3. Now, Jacob had trusted in God due to the witness of his father, Isaac, and he in turn by his father, Abraham, men who lived decades before Jacob, cf. Genesis 28:10-13; Ibid., p. 2021.
        4. Thus, the Samaritan woman viewed Jacob as her forefather, and so revered a FEW of the truths of Jacob's God, John 4:12, 25.
        5. One such truth was Moses' 1,440-year-old Deut. 18:15ff pledge that Messiah would come to teach them, Jn. 4:25; Ibid., p. 2023.
        6. So, based on up to 2,000 years of "sowing" by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, Jesus as God had come finally to that well to reveal He was the Messiah the Samaritans awaited, and they trusted in Him, John 4:36-38 with John 4:25-30, 39-42!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior from sin for our OWN welfare and equipping by the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 3:16; Romans 8:9b); (2) thus equipped, may we follow our Savior's EXAMPLE to be USED by GOD as effective witnesses!

Lesson: Jesus EFFECTIVELY witnessed by (1) relying on the Holy Spirit's power to (2) heed God's leading (3) in showing great kindness to the Samaritan woman, (4) in directing His conversation with her to the Gospel, (5) in upholding the truth when confronted with her error, (6) in highlighting the Gospel's hope over her sin and failure, (7) in working in His divine evangelism assignment and (8) being very patient for results!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 To illustrate how God plans to implement Christ's example of witnessing the truth through us as a Church body, I merely need to refer to the incident mentioned in our sermon introduction. You recall I reported that last Sunday, early in the morning, an accident had occurred on Route 202 near the Wal-Mart shopping center where a man was thrown out of his vehicle and instantly killed. I had noted that whether he had trusted in Christ or not, we could do nothing about it now: he is eternally bound to be either in hell or heaven based on what choice he had made regarding Christ before the accident!

Well, in our sermon introduction, I did not reveal that this man's wife for a short while had attended our Church a few years ago. She ended up in the Charlotte-Hungerford hospital in Torrington with non-life-threatening injuries.

This event would have been a great tragedy except for one wonderful fact we have since learned! After the accident, this lady revealed to one of our Church members, Chris Slate that she had been witnessing for some time to her husband about his need for Christ, and, a week before the accident, he had told her that he had trusted in Christ as his personal Savior!

Now, I am not sure what part we all had in seeing that man come to Christ. Maybe his wife was impressed by our repeated presentation of the Gospel each Sunday before the sermon when she had attended here so that it had spurred her to witness to her husband. I hear he had laid cement at the properties of several of our Church families and doubtless had seen or heard a witness from those of us who had then rubbed shoulders with him. Regardless, we as a Church body thus had a part in at least influencing that lady to speak to her husband about Christ, or in individually making her husband think seriously about salvation. We had done our assigned part, and God had graciously REACHED that man for Himself before the accident!



May we then FOCUS on heeding our Savior's lead and example in LIVING in our OWN lives and ministries, and just GIVE the Gospel message when we have the CHANCE to SPEAK it to the needy lost! That way, GOD can USE us in HIS GREAT PLAN of reaching the lost around us for Christ!