Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

It’s hard not to hear the Willie Nelson song, On the Road Again, playing in my head as we open chapter five. After some unspecified time in Galilee, Jesus headed back to Jerusalem for another long trek to another feast. There were three major feasts that all Jewish men were required to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate annually (Passover, Tabernacles, and Weeks). John does not say which one it was that drew Jesus back to Jerusalem. We can assume, therefore, that it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the feast was the cause of Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem, which was the occasion for the healing He performed while there, which was the occasion for further anger and persecution from the Jewish leaders.

There’s a lot going on in this passage; a lot of questions especially (more than usual for me). What’s the Sheep Gate? Why was John silent on the feast, but exceptionally detailed about the pool? What kind of pool was it? Why were the invalids laying there? What happened to v.4? Had the man gone to the pool for all thirty-eight years he was crippled? Since Jesus knew what the pool was for and that the man had been there for a long time, why would He ask him if he wanted to be healed? What was the connection between being healed and the pool water being stirred up? How was it possible that the man talked to Jesus and was healed by Jesus, but didn’t see Jesus? What does it mean to take up your bed? What was unlawful about taking up your bed on the Sabbath? How was it possible for the Jews to be more focused on a man having taken up his bed than a thirty-eight-year invalid being completely healed? Do Jesus’ words in v.14 suggest that the man was an invalid because of his sin? Why did the man go to tell the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him? How does Jesus’ claim of perpetual work by the Father relate to the seventh day and Sabbath? Wasn’t it normal for Jews to think of God as Father? How was Jesus making Himself equal to God in this situation?

Those are just some of the questions that jump off the page for me when I read through this text. In this sermon, as I attempt to focus in on the main points, I’ll directly answer some of them, others I’ll only indirectly address, and the rest I’ll leave untouched. The (familiar) main points are these: (1) Jesus had the power to perform miracles, (2) He used His power to serve others, validate His claims, and glorify God and (3) The hearts of the Jews were so hardened that Jesus’ miracles and teaching made them violently angry. And my hope is that as a result of seeing these in the text, we will more eagerly worship, pray, and obey. Let’s pray and then consider each of those things carefully.

Jesus had the power to perform miracles. We’ve seen it before, we see it here, and we’ll see it again. Please keep in mind that John recounts these signs and wonders primarily to help us see that Jesus is the Christ. Who else but the Christ could do such things? And how could we fail to believe in Him in light of that?

The first of Jesus’ miracles recorded in John’s Gospel is found in chapter 2. At a wedding, when the wine ran out, Jesus miraculously turned water into excellent wine.

In addition, without elaboration, in 2:23 John wrote, “Now when [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs [plural] that he was doing.”

John tells us that Jesus was able to supernaturally read minds and know hearts (2:25).

At the beginning of chapter 3, John recorded one of the leading Jews, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, acknowledging Jesus’ ability to perform signs (again, plural) as well. Even those skeptical of Jesus acknowledged that Jesus had the power to do things no one else could.

In our passage from just last week, John 4:46-54, we read of Jesus miraculously healing an official’s son, saving him from death, by merely saying that it would be so. He did so without touching or even seeing the boy, from a day’s journey away.

Our text for this morning records yet another miraculous work of Jesus, which we’ll consider in a moment.

As we continue to work through the Gospel, we’ll see Jesus miraculously feed 5000 people from five loaves of bread and two fish (6:1-15), walk on water (6:16-21), heal a man who was born blind (9:1-41), raise another man from the dead! (11:38-44), foretell Peter’s denial of Him (13:36-38), and rise from the dead Himself (20:1-10)!!!!

On top of all that, at the very end of his Gospel, John wrote, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which were not written in this book” (20:30).

Grace, by God’s design, the world ordinarily works in certain ways. Things fall at a constant rate from the sky, the earth rotates on its own axis and around the sun in a predictable timeframe, objects maintain their properties, and dead people stay dead, for instance. The key point for us to grasp—and one that is strangely easy to forget—is that Jesus is the author and sustainer of those ways. He is not bound by them. They are bound by Him. That’s awesome. Be amazed. Trust Him!

Once again, in our passage for this morning, we read of another miracle of Jesus. There are several layers to this miracle, such that by looking at each of them in turn, we’ll be able to best appreciate the unique glory and mission of Jesus. In order that we might grow in our certainty that Jesus is the Christ, in order that we might believe in Him and have life, let’s consider the location, characters, question, miracle, and miraculous boosts described in vs.2-9.

1. The location. As v.2 tells us, “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.” This location was important because, as v.7 indicates, it was believed that this particular pool had healing powers. You may notice that part of v.3 and all of v.4 are missing from your Bible. That’s because what was likely included as a side note in the original and earliest manuscripts, somehow became incorporated in the actual text later. You likely have a footnote explaining that. As your footnote probably also explains, it was superstitiously believed that an angel would come down and stir up the water and the first person to get in the water after it was stirred would be healed.
   
   
2. The characters. In v.3 we’re told that “In these [the roofed colonnades] lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.” It’s not clear how many were present when Jesus arrived, but we learn from v.13 that there were quite a few. The key to story, though, is the fact that Jesus wasn’t there for all of them or just any of them, but for one of them in particular.
   
   
3. The question. In v.6, we find Jesus walking up to the one man He’d come for and asking him a question. “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’” This seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? The man had been crippled for nearly 40 years and was waiting by a pool (evidently for some time), hoping to be healed by its waters. Of course he wanted to be healed, right? He said as much in response to Jesus (in v.7), “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” He basically said, “Of course I want to be healed, but I’m too crippled to get into the water first on my own and I don’t have anyone to help me.” Perhaps he was hoping Jesus would carry him down to the water.
   
   Far from being a silly question, however, Jesus was dead-earnest. And His question was meant to do two very serious things. First, it was meant to expose the ridiculousness of the man’s current approach. “Do you want to continue playing superstitious games or do you really want to be healed?” And second, it was meant to cause the man to turn his eyes to the One who was truly able to do what the man wanted. “Do you know that the One standing before you has the power to do what the water cannot?”
   
   What Jesus was offering this man in the physical realm, He also offers to all who hear of His gospel: Do you want to be healed? Are you mostly happy with your life and would like just a few improvements or do you long for something far greater? I am the something far greater! I am the way, the truth, and the eternal life!
   
   
4. The miracle. Well, without even replying to the man’s explanation, again in an entirely understated way, “Jesus said to him [in v.8], ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ Just like when John recorded Jesus healing the official’s son, there’s no mention of any action—no prayer, no special gestures, no staff like Moses, nothing. Similarly, it seems that the man had no idea who Jesus was or what He was even talking about, much less that he had any kind of faith in Jesus. What’s more, it also seems like the man had some sort of sin tied to his condition, so it certainly wasn’t his righteousness that somehow allowed for Jesus’ healing. Apart from belief or merit on the part of the man or help from any mediating instrument, Jesus only needed to say the word “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked” (v.9).
   
   
5. The miracle boosts. As if the miracle itself were not enough, there are three additional things Jesus did to amplify the miracle. Before I tell you what they are, make sure you recognize what I’m saying. Jesus performed a miracle, which is miraculous by definition. But rather than simply do something no one else could do, something that didn’t make any sense apart from supernatural power, Jesus went three steps further still.
   
   Iowa has a wrestler who won his third straight national championship last year, a feat very few men have ever accomplished. As amazing as that is in its own right, however, two things make it even more impressive still. First, he was a junior, which means he has a chance to win a forth national championship this year. After winning the championship, he revealed to the TV reporter that he wrestled the entire NCAA tournament with two torn ACLs. Winning three championships is remarkable. Adding the fact that he was a junior and had no ACLs takes it to another level still. What Jesus did was kind of like that, but far greater still.
   
   In addition to healing the paralyzed man, Jesus made sure to heal the one who had likely been an invalid longer than anyone else there. You may have noticed that I left out v.5 when describing the characters. V.5 says, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.” Jesus made sure to heal hardest case of them all so as to leave no doubt as to His power.
   
   The second miracle boost is found at the very end of v.9, “Now that day was the Sabbath.” As we’ll see in the final section, Jesus caused a paralyzed man to stand up and walk instantly, a man who likely had been paralyzed longer than anyone else in the pool, and He did so on the day that He knew would absolutely force the issue of His Christness in a way no other day would.
   
   And third, while it seems that Jesus had every opportunity to do all of that and still avoid detection (because the man he healed didn’t recognize Jesus at first according to v.13), v.14 lets us know that Jesus purposefully went back to the man to reveal Himself to him and to call him to repentance. Again, Jesus not only performed a miracle, but He also made sure everyone knew it was Him even though it meant facing persecution.
   

Jesus has the power not only to do miracles, but the most miraculous miracles. In all of this, we must (1) stand in absolute awe and (2) never doubt the power of God to accomplish all that He pleases. Again, Grace, do not grow weary of trusting in God. He is perfectly faithful to His every promise and entirely able to answer your prayers. We all want to be like the official who had his request answered instantly. But consider the great glory of God in waiting 38 years to heal this man. Then consider the ailment that the apostle Paul carried with him until he died (God never healed him in this life). And consider that all three were equally best. Find your rest not in your own sense of timing, but in the perfect wisdom, power, and goodness of God.

Before we get to the final section, I want to draw your attention to something that is all over in John’s Gospel, but almost always subtly and implicitly; namely, the reasons for Jesus’ miracles—to serve others, to validate His claims, and to glorify God.

If the normal laws of nature didn’t apply to you, if you had the power to perform miracles, what would you use that power for? I’m honestly not sure how I would answer that question, but I have to believe I’d use at least some of that power to benefit myself; perhaps even in the way of something secret, simple, and good (rather than selfish), like making it so my ears would stop having problems.

If you’re able, recall the signs and miracles of Jesus that I listed a minute ago and consider the simple reality that not one of them benefited Him in any earthly way. Every one of them was for the good service of others. He blessed Hs mom and saved wedding guests from embarrassment, healed a dying boy at the plea of a desperate father, caused a paralyzed man to walk, fed the hungry, strengthened the faith of His disciples, gave sight to the blind, raised a friend from the dead, prepared a follower for faithfulness after sin, and saved the world! Praise Him, Grace. And join Him in using whatever strength, gifts, and power you have, not to grow your own earthly comfort and pleasure, but to serve others that they might know Jesus as Christ.

The second reason we find in John’s Gospel for Jesus’ miracles is to validate His claims. And there are at least two senses in which Jesus’ miracles validated His claims. In simplest terms, Jesus’ miracles proved that He had the authority to say what He said.

Imagine a 4′ tall six year old coming up to you and bragging that they could dunk a regulation basketball on a regulation hoop. Your first reaction would probably be to chuckle and assume they were joking. But what if they were serious? What would it take for you to believe them? More than likely, it would take actually seeing dunk a basketball for you to believe their words.

What then, would it take for you to reasonably believe someone had the authority to forgive sins and give everlasting life? It would probably take something that looks a lot like the miracle Jesus performed in this passage.

Finally, and most significantly, Jesus’ miracles glorified God. They put the unique power and authority of God on display for all to see. The beginning and heart of the gospel is the reality that God is greater than you could ever imagine. In no small measure, Jesus’ miracles help us to see that.

Grace, if you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a good deal of your life bored with God. For a long time I believed He was real and definitely more powerful than me, but not really that impressive. In that way I suppose I saw Him somewhat like a hydraulic press; impressive in power and fun to play with once in a while, but certainly nothing to get all that excited about. By God’s grace, however, I came to recognize that He is infinitely glorious, the true and greatest treasure, and the only truly satisfying thing in existence. Jesus’ miracles help give us a glimpse of that.

And that leads to the final section.

The question we ought to be asking at this point is how the people would respond. A triple turbo miracle must have caused everyone to marvel and wonder and surrender and believe, right? It must have led them to see that God is greater than they’d imagined, right? This act of mercy, this validating act, this display of God’s unmatched glory, must have led to repentance and revival among those present at the feast, right?

Well, no. Not in the least. The Jews became violently angry. And more staggering still is the fact that the man Jesus healed seemed more concerned with the authority of the religious leaders than the one who healed him.

The anger of the Jewish leaders is largely the subject of next week’s sermon, so I only mean to briefly touch on that here. Rather than respond in any reasonable way to Jesus’ miracle, the Jewish leaders became incensed.

16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

According to these three verses, the two main reasons for their anger were that (1) By telling the man to carry his bedding on the Sabbath Jesus caused him to violate one of their traditions and laws and (2) that Jesus would claim divine authority.

Again, we’ll consider this more closely next week, but for now I simply want you to see that even the most miraculous miracles are not enough to overcome the blinding effects of sin.

Finally, then, we need to consider the most shocking example of a hardened heart yet. When the Jewish leaders heard that a man was healed on the Sabbath and that he subsequently violated one of their Sabbath rules, they went to him to question him.

10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

At this point, had the man rightly responded to his miraculous healing, he would have been filled with belief and worship, he would have been shocked at the response of the leaders, and he would have quickly and courageously called them to see the truth. Instead, 11 … he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ”

Instead of testifying to the glory of God, the man threw Jesus under the bus. He blamed Jesus for his “violation.” When pressed further (12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”), curiously, the man claimed that he didn’t even know who it was that healed him ( 13 …for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.).

Grace, do you see what the man was doing? Instead of longing to be closer to his Healer, the man tried to distance himself from Jesus. On top of all of that, when Jesus did reveal Himself to the man, instead of gratitude and praise, the man told on Jesus, reporting Him to the Jews who had accused him of violating the Sabbath. 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

I mentioned last week that while we’re often surprised to hear that anyone might see a miracle and still not believe, the even more staggering reality is that of those who witnessed Jesus’ miracles, the vast majority did not believe. In this passage, we are given something more shocking still. Every indication is that the man who was himself healed by a double turboed miracle of Jesus after 38 years of invalidity, failed to believe. Not only is seeing a miracle no guarantee of genuine belief, but as we see here, neither is being the object of a miracle!

If you really understand this, it should do at least two things simultaneously. It should boggle your mind that we can be so totally dense, and it should help you to see that sin goes deeper than you realized. Sin is deadly.

Grace, in all of this we see once again that our only hope is the grace of God. There is nothing, not signs, wonders, or miracles, not even the gospel itself, that is able to save us apart from the illuminating grace of God. We need God’s grace to give us eyes to see His glory and ears to hear His gospel. Stories like this in John’s Gospel help us to see our need for both.

Let us be a people of prayer, therefore, constantly beseeching the God of heaven to give us (and all who we come into contact with) both the good news of Jesus Christ and the ability to see it for what it is, the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.

Let me close by asking you, then, do you want to be healed? Jesus’ ability to heal physically was, once again, ultimately a validation that He could heal in an even greater way. Jesus can heal your body, but more importantly, He can heal your soul. Do you want to be healed? If so, turn in faith to this Jesus today!

43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

We’re only four chapters into John’s Gospel and we’ve already seen Jesus travel somewhere close to 200 ministry miles. The first time we’re introduced to Jesus in the narrative portion of John’s Gospel is when He was introduced by John the Baptist in town called Bethany (near Jerusalem in the south). From there Jesus traveled north to the region of Galilee. And within Galilee, Jesus went to Cana (where He turned the water into wine) and then to Capernaum to stay with His family and disciples. Then, because it was the time of the Passover, Jesus traveled all the way back down to the south, to Jerusalem in Judea to celebrate. That’s where He cleansed the Temple and met with Nicodemus. While still in Judea, Jesus took the ministry “handoff” (as Pastor Mike called it) from John the Baptist and then headed back up north. On the way He stopped in Samaria to minister to the woman at the well and to “many” other people from her town. “After the two days [in Sychar] He departed for Galilee” (43), again, all the way north. That’s a lot of walking and that’s where we pick up this week.

Throughout Jesus’ 200 miles of trekking, He’d already garnered quite a reputation for His ministry. Picking up on that, our passage describes Jesus’ reception when He returned to Cana (the site of His first miracle) and Capernaum (the site of His second—the healing of an official’s sick son). More significantly still, we’ll see that through this second miracle Jesus healed the souls of the official and his entire family.

The three main things for us to see are: (1) Jesus’ growing reputation, (2) Jesus’ absolute authority and varying stages of belief in it, and (3) Salvation as a result of Jesus entrusting Himself to people. My hope is that this passage and sermon would cause each of us to move one step (or many steps) forward in grasping the infinite glory of Jesus and that as a result, we’d trust in Him and live more fully in light of it. Let’s pray that God might make it so.

In a day that long predated Twitter or any type of mass media, being well known throughout a larger region took a bit more than simply fitting 75 marshmallows in your mouth at once or being good at videoing yourself playing a video game. There were a number of ways to do it—like significant criminal activity, a high position in government, or being an exceptional teacher, for instance—but it took something a bit more noteworthy than it seems to today.

Well, even without the benefit of YouTube or Fox News Jesus was developing a reputation for Himself that was spreading from north to south. Among the contributing factors were: He had a spokesman from God whose singular charge was to prepare the way for Him. Jesus had acquired a growing number of followers. He performed a miracle in a very public place. During one of the biggest Jewish celebrations of the year Jesus publically rebuked men approved by the religious leaders, costing them large sums of money, cleared out the Temple, performed signs, and made bold claims. He confounded one of the leaders of the religious leaders. Jesus broke from age-old customs and broke down centuries-old barriers in preaching and teaching among the Samaritans. And, above all, Jesus explicitly claimed to be the Christ.

We see evidence of His growing renown indirectly in v.44 where John recalls Jesus’ teaching on the relationship between prophets and their hometowns. His point was that Jesus’ reputation had grown for good reasons among those it shouldn’t have (the Samaritans) and for bad reasons among those it should have (the Jews).

We also see explicit evidence in v.45, “So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.” And more explicit evidence of Jesus growing reputation in v.46, “So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine.”

Again, Jesus reputation among the Samaritans was tied to their belief in Him as the Christ—the right kind of growing reputation. But it was growing among His own people, the children of Abraham, mainly as a trouble-maker or as a sign-worker—the wrong (circus performer) kind.

Grace, it’s important for us to recognize that much of what people thought of Jesus flowed directly out of their view of His nature. Some people believed the things Jesus said and did were from the devil, some believed they were because He was a prophet, others because He was a heretic and a blasphemer, others still because He was the Christ, the Savior of the world. Consequently, Jesus had many different reputations among different people.

In this we see an important principle: We can’t always control what others think about us, what they choose to focus on, or how they interpret the things they see and hear from us. Most people who knew of Jesus by reputation probably didn’t understand it, but Jesus was actually known for one thing. That is, He had a singular motivation for everything He did. All of the things that Jesus said and did, all of the things that led to Jesus’ varying reputations, flowed out of the same, singular place. Do you know what it is?

Again, many mistakenly explained it differently (just as many still do), but in reality Jesus’ reputation was entirely owing to His perfect and unwavering commitment to doing the will of His Father, for the pleasure of His Father. The healing people loved and the teaching they hated both were the product of His perfect obedience. The love He had for the lowest of the low and the inability to be impressed by the highest of the high also came out of the same relentless commitment. The claims He made about Himself that inspired many but caused Pharisees to tear their cloths came from the same place as well. Jesus’ reputation should have come entirely from wonder at His perfect submission to the Father, but instead it often came from the preconceived framework of those who encountered them.

Before we move onto the next main point of the passage, let’s settle on two practical things. First, let’s make sure we are not doing to Jesus what so many in His day did. That is, let’s make sure that we know what He actually said and did and why He said and did it. That is, let’s make sure that we are not projecting our own sensibilities onto Jesus, but are allowing Him to completely reshape ours. Let’s make sure that our understanding of Jesus is tied to who He really is, not who we’ve falsely imagined Him to be.

And to help explain the second practical admonition, I’d like to ask you a simple question: What are you known for? What is your reputation? While not everyone is well known, everyone has a reputation. That is, everyone is known by others for (or as) something. At work, among family, on extracurricular teams, at school, at church, or wherever you gather regularly with others, you are known for something in particular. Maybe it’s that you’re kind or smart or athletic or rich or prideful or temperamental or selfish or good looking or whatever. Regardless of what it is, we all have a reputation of some sort with the people we know. It may result from a careful, accurate character assessment on their part or a complete misinterpretation, but we all have a reputation.

Again, we can’t necessarily control how people think about us, but we can control what drives us. This passage, along with all of Jesus’ life, is a charge to join Him in doing all you do in obedience to the Father. People will interpret that in all kinds of ways, but that doesn’t change the rightness of following Jesus wherever He leads and whatever it costs. Let people say what they will about you as long as it’s in response to your genuine love for God and obedience to His commands.

Word was spreading that there was something special about Jesus of Nazareth. He was no ordinary teacher and He was able to do extraordinary things. Jesus’ time had not yet come, so He had not yet fully revealed Himself, His power, or His mission, but even a partial revelation of those things was more than anyone could imagine. And it is largely for this reason that the official mentioned in v.46 knew to come to Him. And that leads us to the second main thing I want you to see: the absolute authority of Jesus put on display in vs.46-53 along with the officials varying stages of belief in it.

If you’ve ever had a child who suffered from some type of significant illness, you know how scary it can be and how desperate you can feel. If your child’s life has ever hung in the balance, you know how much you’d do to help them get better. Gerri and I went through that with two of our five kids. Likewise, when I was a young boy and my parents found out that I would lose my thumb, my dad offered to donate his. I know many of you have similar experiences. One of the hardest things in the world to go through is the suffering of your children.

The bulk of our text centers around a grieving father’s longing for his sick son to be healed. And it is because of Jesus’ growing reputation for being extraordinary that the father knew/thought to go to Jesus. Look at v.46.

And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

This request necessarily raised a couple of questions for Jesus. First, it was a test of the limits of Jesus’ power and authority. Was He even able to heal the dying? Turning water into wine, teaching with authority, and knowing people’s hearts are one thing, but was He able to heal the sick? Of course, you and I already know the answer, but at that time in Jesus’ ministry, the people around Him were still trying to figure all of that out.

And second, it put some aspect of Jesus’ heart to the test as well. Would He ignore a father’s desperate plea for the life of his son? Certainly, Jesus had the ability to heal the boy, but would He? What kind of a savior of the world was He?

Likewise, the official’s request raised a significant question for him as well. What was behind his coming to Jesus? Did he have genuine faith in Jesus or was he simply desperate enough to try anything—as many of us might be in his shoes?

The answers to those questions will quickly become clear. And in the process, we will see in Jesus absolute authority over all creation in His act of great mercy. We’ll also see various stages of belief in the sick boy’s father.

As the to the question of the nature of the belief that first brought the official to Jesus, Jesus’ reply cut straight to the chase. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

That’s curious, isn’t it? The man must have believed on some level, right? If he didn’t believe Jesus could heal his son, why would he have gone to Jesus in the first place? He didn’t go to the local grocer or farmer; he traveled for an entire day to get to Jesus. At the very least, the official believed that Jesus might be able to heal his son in a way others couldn’t. But Jesus question clearly indicates that this wasn’t genuine belief.

There are a couple of things going on in Jesus words that are not easy to see, but will help us understand the man’s heart more clearly. First, the “you” in “Unless you see signs…” is plural. Recognizing that the man was more desperate than faithful (“for he himself knew what was in man.”), it’s as if Jesus spoke through and beyond him to all of Capernaum (and really, to all of Israel), in pointing out their unbelief. He’d just come from Samaria (the land of Israel’s enemies and those who had rejected God) where they didn’t need miracles to believe. But as God’s own people, hearing the very words of God and seeing the exact imprint of His nature standing in front of them, wasn’t enough. They believed they needed to see signs and wonders in addition to THE Sign and Wonder in their presence. We’re meant to hear a sigh in Jesus’ words here. He was grieved by the unbelief of the man, which was a microcosm of the whole of the people to which he belonged.

This mild rebuke seems to have completely gone over the official’s head—another sign of desperation rather than genuine trust—as he simply pressed on.

49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

In other words, it’s as if he said, “OK, whatever Jesus. Just come heal my son if you’re able. He’s near death. I don’t understand and I really don’t care about what you’re trying to say. Please, just do your tricks and fix my boy.”

Despite the man’s superficial belief, 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

We’re not told explicitly what motivated Jesus to do this. We do know that He had a special love for children and all who were vulnerable. We know that He came to seek and save the lost. And we know that His signs validated His spectacular claims. Whatever the highest motivation (or maybe all at once), Jesus mercifully promised this desperate, deficiently-believing father that his son would live.

And at that, the man came to another level of belief. 50 The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. With Jesus promise, the man went from desperate, but skeptical belief that Jesus might be able to heal his son, to belief that He could and would. That’s a fuller kind of belief. In some ways, it’s a better kind of belief. But as vs.51-52 help us see, it was still a deficient kind of belief.

51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.

The man might have believed he believed when he first came to Jesus. He almost certainly believed he believed after receiving Jesus’ healing promise. But it seems that he only truly believed when he learned that his son was healed at the exact moment Jesus promised it would be so. He came as an unbelieving believer and left as a genuine believer.

As important as all of that is, more important still is the fact that the man’s varying stages of belief were seen through the revelation that Jesus has absolute authority over all creation. Jesus’ only recorded words were “Go; your son will live.” And there are no recorded actions—no prayer, no waiving His hand, no lifting His hands to heaven, He didn’t even need to go to the boy to heal him. He simply spoke the words and it was so. Jesus has absolute authority from the Father.

I’d like to briefly suggest a few simple applications to this.

1. Be amazed. This is a Jesus worth worshiping. This is a Jesus that is better than whatever is competing for first place in your heart. Fight to treasure Jesus above all, as He is the greatest treasure.
2. Surrender wholly. What sense does it make to attempt to withhold anything from the one who controls all things? With God’s help, root out the areas of your life that you are still futilely attempting to retain control over. He’s a better king of you than you are.
3. In your trials, go to Jesus first, not as a last resort. Our initial impulse in every hardship should be to go to God who alone has the power to rescue and restore—whether through police, Drs., medicine, counselors, or miracles. To fully apply this passage of John’s Gospel is to see the absolutely unique ability of Jesus help.
4. Trust that Jesus is entirely able to grant your requests. There is no prayer request you will ever bring before God that He will not hear or that He is not powerful enough to answer. He hears you and He is able.
5. When Jesus does as you ask, it is for your greatest good. And when He doesn’t do what you ask, it is also for your greatest good. This is hard, but comforting beyond measure when the Spirit truly grants us belief in this. Do not grow weary of taking your requests to God when it seems as if He isn’t answering. There’s another healing story in Mark 5 where Jesus didn’t respond in time to heal the man’s child…and then He raised her from the dead! Jesus’ response to your prayers is perfect every time. Believe that.

All of that leads to the final point and the true source of genuine belief in Jesus.

John tells us that God used Jesus’ miraculous healing in such a way that the official “himself believed, and all his household.” And yet, as we’ve seen several times already in John’s Gospel, signs, wonders, and miracles don’t always lead to genuine belief. In fact, throughout the Gospel we’ll see that they rarely do. That’s kind of crazy and definitely different than what most people imagine, isn’t it? Even witnessing an actual miracle is not enough to make people believe. It also means that something else is needed and much of John’s Gospel speaks of what that is.

As we’ve seen and will continue to see in John, even as we see and will continue to see in our own lives, there are varying kinds of believers, believing varying kinds of things, in varying stages of belief. And John tells story after story of the discouraging and ultimately impotent effects of all but one kind of belief. Let me urge you to consider this carefully. What kind of belief do you have? What kind do your kids have? What kind do your neighbors have? Is it belief that Jesus might be able to save you? Is it that He is able to save you? Or is it actual belief in Jesus to save you? And, again, where does that last kind come from? Our world is filled with people who “believe” in God but are sprinting towards hell. It was Jesus’ mission, even as it is now our commission, to help people understand the true nature or saving belief and where it comes from.

The one kind of belief that God has chosen to use as a conduit of saving grace is the kind that trusts wholly in Jesus as the Christ. It is the kind that believes that there is a God, that we’ve all sinned and deserve death, and that Jesus died to pay the death we deserve. But it is also the kind that causes the believer to be cut to the heart by the realization that they have sinned against a holy God, the kind that causes the believer to taste and see that God is greater than they could ever imagine, it is the kind that causes the believer to increasingly grasp the amazing love and grace of God in Jesus, and it is the kind that causes the believer to irresistibly fling themselves before God for mercy. True belief goes beyond mere intellectual assent to the truths of God, to genuine trembling at the majesty of God, conviction of sin, and hope bursting forth at the good news of Jesus’ rescue.

That is the one kind of belief through which God saves and—and here’s the key, Grace—that kind of belief comes only through Jesus entrusting Himself to us. All of that will become increasingly clear as we continue through John’s Gospel. One of the clearest passages comes in chapter 10.

John 10:24-28 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Let’s pray now that Jesus would entrust Himself to us and our family and friends and neighbors that we might truly trust in Him.

John 4:31-42 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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.”

You might remember that John 4 begins by explaining that Jesus and His disciples were heading from Judea (Jewish land in the south) to Galilee (Jewish land in the north), by way of Samaria (the land of enemies of Jews). Along the way, in Samaria, they came to Jacob’s well (4:6). Tired from the journey, but more importantly in order to keep a divine appointment, Jesus sat down and rested while the disciples went into “the city to buy food” (4:8). While he was resting, a woman from Samaria “came [to that well] to draw water” (4:7). This was Jesus’ divine appointment. He offered her “living water” (salvation), described the superiority of New Covenant worship, and in the process revealed Himself as the Christ implicitly (4:18) and explicitly (4:26). “Just then” (a phrase clearly indicating that it was an act of divine providence) the disciples came back with the food they’d purchased as the woman was leaving to tell her townspeople about her amazing encounter with Jesus (4:27-29). In between when the woman left and when the townspeople returned to Jesus to check Him out for themselves (4:30), Jesus and His disciples had a brief opportunity to talk. That is where we pick up in v.31.

In our text for this morning, John recounts a bit more of the story in Samaria. It has two scenes. The first involves Jesus and His disciples interacting about different kinds of food. The setting is Jacob’s well. And the main point is that there is supernatural nourishment in Christian obedience. The second involves Jesus and several Samaritans who had heard about Him from the woman at the well. The scene takes place both near Jacob’s well and then back in Sychar. And the main point is that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world, not just the Jews. Combined, we see the big idea of the passage: Followers of Jesus must share the gospel to the very ends of the earth, to people of every tribe, tongue, and nation, in the power God provides.

Let’s pray that God would be pleased to use this text to fill us with conviction, confidence, and power to proclaim Christ to all the earth.

We aren’t told precisely how long it was between the woman’s leaving and the townspeople’s returning, but since the town was (probably) only around a half mile away, it likely wasn’t very long. In the brief moments when they were alone, Jesus and His disciples had an interesting conversation.

Remember, part of the reason Jesus stopped at the well in the first place was because He was “wearied…from His journey” (4:6). And the reason the disciples weren’t there all along was because they had gone into town to buy food. In other words, Jesus was hungry and thirsty when He first stopped. Understandably, therefore, when the disciples returned with food sometime later they encouraged—even urged—Jesus to eat (31). Never one to miss a teaching opportunity, however, Jesus replied in a way that simultaneously highlighted His mission and confused His disciples. “But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.'”

I don’t want to read too much into this and I don’t want to distract with a joke when Jesus clearly wasn’t making one, but it’s hard not to laugh when we imagine ourselves in the place of the disciples. Certainly, if Jesus was tired and thirsty from the journey, so too were the disciples. While He “rested” at the well, they were the ones to travel an additional mile to get provisions. Just picture the scene. After all of that, they finally get back to Jesus and offer Him food and He tells them that He already has some.

Looking around at each other they asked, “Did you already give Him some?” “No. Did you?” “Who did it?” “Did someone beat us to it?” “Jesus, are you playing with us? Did you have something in your pocket all along? Did you turn lint into bread like you turned water into wine? What in the world?”

We haven’t come all that far since then, have we? We too are dense and slow to understand. Even though we have the whole Bible (not just the OT as they did) and the Holy Spirit in us (not just with us as they did), we’re still prone to boneheaded readings of the Bible and missing things that are right in front of us. Let us consider the disciples and go the way of humility. Let us be people who read God’s Word on our knees. Let us be people who are slow to speak and quick to listen. Let us be a people who are not wise in our own eyes. And let us be a people eager to carve out wide swaths of grace for one another as we wrestle through God’s will for our lives.

Graciously, Jesus did not leave them in the dark for long. Essentially, He told them, “No. Not that kind of food. I have a better, more satisfying food. The kind that I never have to go without and always satisfies. A special kind from my Father.” Literally, he said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me to accomplish His work” (34).

Grace, there is a principle here with so much power and glory that is almost impossible to overstate. I’ll state it simply, unpack it a bit, and then give a brief example.

The principle is this: God graciously gives supernatural nourishment through obedience to His commands. Let’s briefly consider each clause within that principle.

First, and most importantly, as Jesus makes plain, the nourishment of obedience is a gift from God. It is not deserved or earned and it is not the result of some law of nature. It is entirely an act of divine grace.

Second, the nourishment of obedience is supernatural. This is the one that stands out to me the most. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt at the end of myself, as though I had nothing more to give, and so I’ve shut down for the day. I’ve imagined that there was no way I could talk to one more person or pray one more prayer. I felt in my bones that my power was spent, so I’d veg out or go to sleep.

The key to understanding this clause is in recognizing that I was right in a certain sense. I truly might not have had anything more to give. My strength probably had been spent. My only rational choice was to do what I did: stop. Anything else just wouldn’t have made earthly sense. But, again, Jesus wasn’t talking about earthly sense. He wasn’t talking about rational choices. He wasn’t talking about human strength. Jesus spoke of supernatural nourishment.

Of course, God made us finite. This isn’t to suggest that we don’t have limits. But it is to suggest that God has promised power in obedience that goes beyond our limits.

Third, by supernatural “nourishment,” I mean (as Jesus meant), spiritual food, divine strength, heavenly sustenance. The nourishment of obedience gives true power and energy that satisfies beyond what any earthly food or drink can do.

Have you ever been on a several day or week long back country backpacking trip? If so, you know the unique hunger that produces. There’s not much quite like the joy and there’s little that reenergizes quite like a big meal right after that. You feel as if you are at the end of yourself and to sit down to a spread of food fills you like nothing else. The supernatural nourishment that God gives through obedience is like that, but much more. It goes beyond the belly and fills the soul.

The fourth clause contains an important key. Jesus said that His food was through obedience, not for obedience (another example of the power of prepositions). This means that (contrary to what we might like), we don’t get the supernatural nourishment first, so that we can obey. It means, rather, that we obey and from/through the obedience comes supernatural nourishment.

It feels like we’re at the end of ourselves, and often we are. It seems like we can’t obey, and on our own we often can’t. But things aren’t always how they feel or seem. The point here is that God works differently. When an opportunity to obey God presents itself—when an unbeliever is open to hearing the gospel, for instance—but it seems like you’re all out of gas, obey anyway and you will be given strength that could not come from anywhere but God.

Like the Israelites who wanted to store up manna rather than trust in God to provide it each day, so too do we often want to store up divine strength. In both cases, the idea is to trust in the stores rather than the God who gives them. This type of supernatural nourishment, like the manna in the wilderness cannot be stored however. It comes as a result of trusting in God, not in order that we might. God certainly does offer other kinds of grace that comes first, but this is not that.

Again, it is through obedience (on the other side of it), rather than for it.

Finally, fifth, God graciously gives supernatural nourishment through obedience to His commands. He doesn’t give it through whatever we might feel like doing and slapping His name on it. He doesn’t give it through obedience to man-made rules. He gives it through actual obedience to His actual commands.

In this, Jesus’ words find their proper place as an echo of Moses words in Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” It is obedience to the actual Words, the commands, of God that provide supernatural nourishment.

In our text for this morning, in this first scene, the specific obedience to the specific command is to preach the good news of the kingdom to the whole world. The specific command was to evangelize. And along those lines, I mentioned that I’d give a specific example.

I felt this long before I had the words to describe it. It came from doing evangelism when I was not out to do evangelism. I’d be in Menards or the grocery store or getting a haircut or on a plane or something like that. I’d be focused on a task and was often spent from a long day of ministry. Somehow an opportunity would present itself to share the gospel with someone and all I could think of was that I was too tired and didn’t have it in me.

Evangelistic conversations are often hard and can be draining in the moment. Most people just aren’t interested in the gospel, much less considering their entire lives in light of it. Consequently, I’ve often (usually sinfully), let the opportunities pass believing I just didn’t have enough left to carry that weight.

Occasionally, however, I’ll say a quick prayer and do my best. And here’s where all of this comes to a head. I’m here to tell you that 100% of the time, when I actually share the gospel, I leave it feeling like I just ate a full meal and had a great nap. I’m filled with a sense of rightness and joy and thankfulness that just doesn’t make sense. What I thought I was unable to do, or at best, what would drain every last drop I had left, actually (truly) left me feeling a deep, deep refreshment that just moments ago seemed impossible. That is God’s gift of supernatural nourishment.

Frustratingly, I often forget the supernatural nourishment in between obediences, but when it comes to evangelism in particular, it always comes on the other side such that I’ve learned to pray, “God help me to remember how I feel after evangelism, before I evangelize.”

Grace, God graciously gives supernatural nourishment through obedience to His commands.

With that principle in mind, Jesus went on to explain a bit more about how His followers were to use the supernatural nourishment that would come from their evangelistic obedience; namely, to engage in more evangelism.

35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Grace, your home, your neighborhood, and the entire world contain people who do not know the saving grace of God, who have not yet been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus. But you must fight to believe, in light of what Jesus says here and the rest of the Bible confirms, that among those unbelieving people are many who will receive the gospel immediately when we share it with them. In fact, to be as clear as possible on this point, Jesus explained that although there’s usually a significant gap between when a seed is planted and when it is harvested, they were about to reap a harvest immediately.

Again, the main points for us to see here is that we must share the gospel because God has people throughout the entire world who are ready to receive it in faith, and that as we do, God will give us supernatural nourishment so that we might do it over and over again.

As the Samaritans approached and the first scene was coming to a close, Jesus gave one more principle; namely, that God means us to do this together as a fellowship of saints and that when we do, there’s even more supernatural nourishment available still. God does not mean us to evangelize the world on our own. All of God’s people have different gifts and experiences and knowledge and skills needed to bring the gospel to the world, that all might hear and believe. And when we share in that work, we receive the added nourishment of shared joy. That’s the heart of vs. 36-38.

36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

All of this was already happening, Jesus told His disciples…in them! They were already serving in the supernatural nourishment of God as they worked together to proclaim the message of the kingdom. And they were already sharing in the supernatural nourishment of the joy of doing so together. And not only that small band, but also with Abraham, Moses, and John the Baptist who had all planted seeds of faith among the Samaritans. Awesome.

And at that, the first scene comes to a close as the townspeople arrive.

As I’ve mentioned a number of times already, John’s chief concern in his Gospel was not chronology. His chief concern was to convince people that Jesus was the Christ and that in Him is eternal life. For that reason, his Gospel emphasizes stories that show the Christness of Jesus, while being fairly unclear on the actual timing of things. Again, then, we’re not sure exactly how long it was between the Samaritan woman leaving and the crowd returning. (The plainest reading of John suggests that it was mere hours, but we can’t be certain). Regardless, their arrival is important to John because it’s another opportunity to help his readers see and appreciate the love and power and wisdom and glory of Jesus.

As impressed and awed as she was with Jesus, the Samaritan woman at the well couldn’t keep the news to herself. She had to share it and wonder aloud with her people, “Can this be the Christ?” (4:29). And as a result, as v.39 says, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.'” That’s what drove them out to Jacob’s well to see Jesus for themselves.

Once again, we’re not told how long Jesus and the crowd from Sychar talked at the well, but apparently, it was long enough to convince them enough to entreat Jesus to come back to their homes to teach them more.

I hope the first sermon I gave on this passage is ringing in your ears. This is shocking on many levels. Jesus shouldn’t have been there since Jews don’t associate with Samaritans, since they were bitter enemies. Jesus shouldn’t have spoken to the woman. He shouldn’t have revealed Himself to her as the Christ. The townspeople shouldn’t have listened to her since she was such an immoral woman. And Jesus shouldn’t have gone back to Sychar with them. But God is not contained by “shouldn’ts”.

And so Jesus loved His enemies, even the most sinful and vulnerable among them. He went to them instead of waiting on them to come to Him. He spoke words of life and they received it in faith. And He even allowed them to host him for two days.

40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

In this passage, and in this scene in particular, for the first explicit time, it becomes clear that Jesus’ was not only the Christ and the Christ of the Jews, but He was/is the Chrost of the whole world. Jesus’ saving work would truly be for everyone who would receive Him. Not only would the Samaritans believe in Jesus, but He would receive them as well. His coming was good news for the Jew first, but also for the gentile.

The end result, then, is that this group believed when so many others hardened their hearts. And more remarkable still is that their belief was accepted by God, making them spiritual descendents of Abraham even though they were not physical descendent.

41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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.”

The most likely (Jews) rejected Jesus. The least likely (the Samaritans) received Him. Marvel at the grace of God, flowing out of the love of God for the world, and expressed primarily in sending His Son such that whoever believes in Him will never perish, but have eternal life!

Followers of Jesus must share the gospel—the good news of salvation in Jesus—to the very ends of the earth, to people of every tribe, tongue, and nation, in the gracious, supernatural power God provides. Salvation came from the Jews, but it is for the whole world. Jesus is truly that Savior of the world!

Trust in Him today, Grace. Believe in His name. And then tell the whole world about Him. Do it alongside the people of God and be filled with supernatural nourishment of obedience and shared joy!

John 4:1-30 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then 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?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Have you ever considered the connection between salvation and worship? Are they related in any meaningful or significant way, and if so, how?

I must admit, for a long time it never occurred to me that they were connected. And even after having it brought to my attention, it took a while longer for me to actually appreciate the significance of the connection. It is passages like John 4 that God used to help me see what was right in front of me. How, then are salvation and worship connected? Or, why did Jesus speak on both in this passage? Or, how is last Sunday’s sermon (on salvation from John 4) connected with this one (on worship from John 4)? Very simply, but very significantly…

A failure to properly worship is the heart of all sin and all resulting condemnation and death. And a restoration of proper worship is the heart of all salvation and chief occupation of all who are in heaven.

Whether the importance of that is immediately obvious to you or not, I can assure you that it is. And as such, it is worth working at to get. Let me explain just a bit more before I pray.

All sin is a problem with our worship and salvation is about fixing that problem. God created us to be entirely satisfied in Him and to express that primarily in worship. Adam and Eve’s main sin was failing to be satisfied in God and, therefore, failing to properly worship Him. The wages of this rebellion is broken fellowship and ultimately death. But God loved the world in such a way that He gave His only Son to pay sin’s wages and restore us to fellowship and right worship. God’s greatest promise in Jesus is that He will save us from our sin, to the everlasting joy and worship we were made for.

We are saved from the sin of improper worship and we are saved to eternal, proper worship.

For all of these reasons, it is critical that we rightly understand God’s salvation (last week) and worship (this morning). The heart of salvation, as we saw last week, is that (1) everyone needs saving, (2) salvation is in Jesus alone, (3) Jesus’ salvation is for all who will receive it in faith, and (4) that salvation is more than forgiveness of sins—it is, as I just said, forgiveness of sins so that our worship might be full and complete.

And the keys to understanding worship, according to this passage, are that (1) false worship is natural apart from salvation, (2) God is seeking true worshipers, (3) true worshipers worship in spirit and truth, and (4) true worship spreads. Let’s pray that our understanding and practice of worship would grow this week, as would our understanding and appreciation of its connection to salvation.

Before we get to the nature of true worship/worshipers, the text first highlights false worship/worshipers.

In v.19-20 we read, “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but [the Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.’” And to that, Jesus responded (in vs.21-23) by saying, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know … 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…”.

The implications of these few words are that there are true worshipers and false worshipers; true worship and false worship.

I’ve found that considering the negative of a thing is often a really helpful tool for truly grasping the positive. For instance, I read a book recently that focused on good “followership” (rather than leadership) as the aim of genuine Christian maturity. And to help explain what they meant by good “followership,” the authors began by naming several things it isn’t: existing for the sake of the leader, an unworthy goal for godly people, passive, requiring few gifts/abilities, unattractive, oppressive, achievable without training, and inherently inferior to leading. By establishing what followership isn’t, it is a lot easier to understand what it is.

Again, along those lines, on our way to understanding what worship is, let’s first consider a couple of things it isn’t. The two main things we see are that false worship is tied to a place and it is tied to ignorance.

There was a long-standing argument between Jews and Samaritans concerning the proper place of worship. Jew and Samaritan alike understood Deuteronomy 12:5 to be a significant promise and command in this regard.

You shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

God would assign a proper place of worship. The Jews understood this to be Jerusalem according to Kings and Chronicles. God clearly determined to have Solomon, David’s son, build His temple there, and he did.

For two specific reasons, the Samaritans had a different understanding of the fulfillment of the Deuteronomy promise. First, as I mentioned two weeks ago, they only accepted the first five books of the OT as inspired. Therefore, they didn’t have Kings or Chronicles to answer the question. Second, they had their own translation of Deuteronomy 5. Instead of “God will choose” (the place of worship), they believed it said, “God has chosen” (the place of worship). In other words, they believed Deuteronomy taught that God had already decided on the place.

That place, according to the Samaritans, was Mount Gerizim; the place that God first made the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 22) and gave the commandments to Moses (Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21).

That is what the woman was talking/asking about.

It is true that prior to Jesus, there was a kind of worship that was location-dependent. God did command certain aspects of worship to take place in the Jerusalem temple. However, it was never the location that ultimately made the worship acceptable. And even that was about to change in Jesus. For that reason, Jesus declared that true worshipers will not worship either at the mountain in Samaria or in Jerusalem (v.21), “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” And in so declaring, Jesus taught that false worship begins with a location or is location-dependent.

The second mark of false worship/worshipers is ignorance. We’ll cover this more thoroughly in the section of proper worship (which is always tied to truth), so I’ll only mention it here. Jesus accused the woman at the well, along with all her people, of worshiping what she/they did not know (v.22).

Our very nature requires that we worship. We can’t not worship. The only questions, therefore, are what and how we worship. Since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the world has been filled with false worshipers. Sometimes the falsity of our worship is centered on what we worship. There really are (Paul tells us in the opening chapters of Romans) only three options. We will either worship the One True God, something created by God, or something created by our own imaginations. Sometimes false worship is centered on the form our worship takes. There are many people in the Bible who are judged severely for attempting to worship the One True God on their own terms instead of His. And sometimes it is centered on a mistaken understandings of where that worship must take place (as was the case in Jesus’ day).

Grace, it is impossible to offer true worship in ignorance. Zealously worshiping something we created and called “God” or “Jesus” is false worship. Likewise, sincerely, even if unknowingly, worshiping God in ways He has prohibited or hasn’t authorized is false worship. Ignorant worship is always false worship. Again, Grace, we can’t just make stuff up about God and truly worship God. In the same way, we can’t just do whatever pops into our head (even if the idea “comes from” the Bible) and call it worship.

The only reasonable response to all of this is to eagerly and earnestly ask, “What, then, constitutes true worship, or what makes a true worshiper?!” If that question isn’t ringing in your head and heart already, ask God to make it so, for true worship cannot exist without it.

Before we get to the specific characteristics of true worship/worshipers, I want to give you a bit of help from the text to lean way into what we’re about to cover. In other words, if you are having trouble feeling as you know you ought to feel about fleeing false worship and embracing true worship, there’s a subtle clause at the end of v.23 that will help with that, in two significant ways.

The clause I’m referring to is: “for the Father is seeking such people [true worshipers] to worship him.”

And the first aspect of the help it provides flows from the reality that godliness always seeks godly things. In other words, when we find that God seeks something, we’ve found, without exception, something truly holy, righteous, good, beautiful, and true. It is a great privilege to know what God is seeking, therefore, because whatever He seeks is invaluable treasure.

Thus, when we read that “the Father is seeking such people to worship him,” we ought to immediately wonder how we might honor God by being found by God to be such people. Grace, by listening well to what comes next (Jesus’ description of true worshipers), and by pursuing it in faith, we may become the treasure of God.

The second aspect of the help this clause provides is found in the three-letter preposition at the very beginning, “for”. As is often the case in biblical prepositions, there’s a ton of power here. The “for” indicates that true worshipers will be found because God is seeking them. It is an inviolable truth that God finds what He seeks. And that means that the faithful have sufficient help to be what God requires, in this and every case.

Again, then, false worshipers are not pleasing to God. God is seeking true worshipers, which means that we must long to be what God seeks and that we have sufficient help to do so.

What, then, constitutes true worship and worshipers?

God is seeking true worshipers. But He will not find them exclusively on a mountain in Samaria or Jerusalem. Where, then, will they be found? Or, what is it that makes true worship?

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Whatever constituted true worship in the past was about to change in significant ways. Jesus was about to change everything. Much more will become clear as we work through John’s Gospel. Here, though, we find one correction, one clarification, and one change.

The correction Jesus made was that the Samaritan understandings of God, His Word, His Worship, and His salvation were all incorrect, while the Jewish ones were right. The Samaritans, many of whom were once on the right path, had veered off from it. The Jews, for all their faults, remained on the right path. Jesus left no doubt as to what was to be made of the man-made religion of the Samaritans.

“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” (v.22).

To be clear, there were true and false worshipers before Jesus came, while He was on earth, and after He ascended into heaven. Likewise, there were true and false worshipers found among Abraham’s offspring, the Jews. The two simple points are that: 1) The Samaritans, because they veered off the path of God, could not be true worshipers, and 2) Jesus did not come to bring about true worship, but to redefine it forever.

The key for us, if we mean to be the kind of true worshipers sought by God, is that we must follow the path established and maintained by God from Adam and Eve, through the patriarchs and prophets, to Jesus and His apostles. That is, we must be people of the Bible. We must understand the promises made and the shadows given in the OT as well as the promises kept and the true light that had come in Jesus. And we must be people who live entirely in light of God’s promises of future grace as we move toward the fullness of time. We cannot veer from the path of God—His revelation and salvation—and be true worshipers.

The clarification concerned the timing of the change in the nature of true worship. Jesus said, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father…” (v.23). What did Jesus mean? What changes will Jesus bring about, when, how, and why? All of that will become clear in the next section. For now, though, let me say a quick word about what John meant by “the hour”.

In John’s Gospel, “the hour” always refers to the events surrounding the cross. In other words, although the woman at the well couldn’t possibly have understood this entirely, Jesus was letting her know that true worship would be forever changed once Jesus fulfilled the mission for which He was sent; taking on the wrath of God, defeating death, tearing the veil, rising from the dead, ascending to the Father’s side, and sending the Spirit to dwell in believers.

And the change Jesus was making to the nature of God-honoring worship is found at the beginning of v.23, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” While this sounds like two changes (worship in (1) spirit and (2) truth), and while it is true that there is a distinction between spirit and truth, it is almost universally agreed that worshiping in “spirit and truth” is to be understood as a single, inseparable charge. But what does that mean?

Much has been made about what it means to worship in spirit. Most of the noise is tied to the question of whether Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit or to the immaterial part of our personhood (our spirit). Frankly, there is a rather strong exegetical and theological case for both. Indeed, we know from the rest of the Bible that both are true. True worshipers worship with the whole of our being (body and spirit; head, heart, and body) and it is the Holy Spirit of God alone who enables and empowers such worship. (In a similar way, the grounding clause in v.24 tells us that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” God is immaterial and the Holy Spirit is God.) While it is clear that Jesus didn’t mean both simultaneously, finally sorting out which He had in mind is less important than truly grasping the reason He said it.

His main point is that God-honoring worship had taken a certain form for many years. It involved sacrifices and rituals. It involved a specific nation (Israel) and a specific place (Jerusalem). But all of that was about to change because Jesus is the fulfillment of all of those things. He is the sacrifice once for all. He is the Sabbath and the Passover. He is the fulfillment of the covenant and the promises. And He is the true temple. All of those things were necessary for a time, to create proper categories for the people of God and to point to Jesus, but the fulfillment of them all was in their midst and He was about to truly and fully accomplish all that those things could only hint at.

Before Jesus, God-honoring worship meant keeping all of God’s commands, offering all of His prescribed sacrifices, making all of His required offerings, and celebrating all of His appointed feasts. A time was coming (at the cross) and is now here (in the person of Jesus), however, where all of those things would fade away in fulfillment and true worshipers would simply worship in spirit and truth—in fullness of our being, in the Holy Spirit’s power, and according to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

Again, then, the main point Jesus was trying to make was that the debate about the proper place of worship and sacrifice (Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem) was soon to be an irrelevant question. Now that Jesus had come, those things would no longer matter.

Grace, on this side of the cross, this is our command. True worship for us, the kind the Father seeks, worship in the proper stream, worship not in ignorance, but in truth, worship in spirit, empowered by the Spirit—worship that is pleasing to God—is worship that is in spirit and truth. Failure to do so is why we need saving, and being able to do so is what it means to be saved. What an awesome reality and gift. What amazing grace.

Finally, I’ll end this sermon by going back to the end of this passage, just as I did last week. In it, in the woman’s response to all of this, we see proof of salvation and genuine worship. When our faith is truly in Jesus, when we have truly experienced the new birth and the salvation of God, we will leave everything behind (v.28) and follow Jesus. Likewise, the clearest expression of genuine worship in spirit and truth, is praise that flows out of you uncontrollably.

In C.S. Lewis’s books, Reflections on the Psalms, he writes, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with.”

To worship in spirit and truth is to be filled with awe, wonder, joy, and satisfaction in God. When you have no desire to share the glory of God in Jesus Christ, at worst your salvation is fake, and at best your worship deficient. When you desire to share it with another, but you are regularly checked from doing so by something like fear or embarrassment or busyness, your worship is deficient. When you seek to share your worship and it comes out primarily in the way of facts and arguments and imparting information, your worship is deficient.

But when your worship comes out as it did for the woman at the well—freely, naturally, uncontrollably, in spite of formidable obstacles (which her social position certainly produced), in light of the Word of God, and in such a way that God causes it to spread—then you may have confidence that you really have been saved and that your worship is, in fact, in spirit and truth (that you are a true worshiper).

In conclusion, may we never forget, Grace, that all of this is a gift of God. It is a gift that is both already and not yet. Through faith, we are saved and we truly worship, even as we are being saved and made into true worshipers. And all of this is in Jesus Christ, the One who offered Himself to the woman at the well and the One offering Himself to all of us right now. Will you receive Him and His salvation in faith? Will you acknowledge that He alone is the proper object of our worship and the only thing that can satisfy our longings? If you will, you will be the kind of worshiper sought by God, a worshiper in spirit and truth.

John 4:1-30 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then 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?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Who is the most broken, unworthy-feeling person you’ve ever met? Maybe you are that person. Whoever comes to mind, what forms did the sense of brokenness and unworthiness take? What was their source? I’ve met people who felt that way because of things they’ve done, because of things done to them, and for reasons they couldn’t even explain.

One guy in particular stands out. A rough upbringing, terrible consequences of terrible decisions, and a destructive cycle all contributed to a constant sense of torment. It seemed that nothing he did could overcome feelings of brokenness and unworthiness…brokenness in that he never felt whole or complete, and unworthiness in that he never felt worthy of being loved or forgiven or belonging. These feelings were both horizontal (with the people in his life) and vertical (in relation to God). I remember him describing the regular feeling of walls closing in around him. As a result, he’d usually take whatever exit first presented itself (which is what caused the destructive cycle).

Generally speaking, with people like this, the problem is not convincing them of the need for salvation, it’s convincing them that they can be saved; that God would truly forgive them in spite of all the evil they’ve engaged in and encountered; that God would truly love them and welcome them into His presence.

Of course there are people on the other end of the spectrum as well; people who are filled with a sense of accomplishment and worthiness such that they can’t imagine having anything to be saved from. And there are people somewhere in the middle as well; people who don’t think much about any of that—about being worthy or unworthy, about being broken or whole, about salvation or condemnation.

This is a passage about salvation, but it is a passage about salvation for those who feel broken and unworthy in particular. It certainly has significant implications for everyone, but especially for those who have a hard time lifting their heads up.

The main points of the sermon are that (1) everyone needs saving, (2) salvation is in Jesus alone, (3) Jesus’ salvation is for all who will receive it in faith, and (4) that salvation is more than forgiveness of sins. Let’s pray that God would help us see and live in light of these truths.

To really make sense of what this passage teaches about salvation, we need to briefly revisit something I pointed out last week: a basic profile of the woman at the well. There are three main things to note: (1) she was a she, (2) she was a Samaritan, and (3) she was a Samaritan outcast.

Culturally, it’s important that this is the story of the “woman at the well” as opposed to the story of the “man at the well.” It’s important because culturally, Jesus shouldn’t have been talking to her at all. Men didn’t talk to women in public. Rabbis didn’t talk to immoral women most of all. But it’s important mainly because if you wanted to tell a 1st century Jew a story of the lowest of the low (as John was in his Gospel), it would most certainly start like this.

Lower still, in the Jewish eye, was the fact that she was a Samaritan woman. You may remember from last week that Samaritans were a group of Jews who had intermarried with conquering Assyrians, Babylonians and Medians. Worse still, they were a group of people who had intermarried with Assyrian, Babylonian, and Median gods. They had forsaken Yahweh as the one true God. On top of all of that, there were centuries of wars and atrocities that had been committed between the Samaritans and Jews. There was genuine hatred between them.

This woman was a part of a people who had formed a kind of cult and who despised the people to whom Jesus belonged. For all these reasons, He “shouldn’t” have been talking to her.

Lowest of all, she was not only a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that, but she was also a Samaritan woman outcast. She was an outcast because she was uneducated and poor. But mostly she was an outcast because of her immoral, promiscuous behavior. The text explicitly states that she had had five previous husbands and was currently living with a man she was not married to (v.18). Implied, however, is that she was not a five-time widow, but a five time divorcee. She was gathering water because she was uneducated and poor. She was gathering water alone, in the heat of the day, because she was despised even among the despised.

Again, the main reason we need to be clear on this profile is that it is of a woman who was about as far from righteous as it gets in the eyes of John’s readers. If there was anyone who needed to be saved, but didn’t deserve to be under the prevailing Jewish understanding, it was this woman. That leads to the first main point.

One danger in interpreting this passage, then, is that it might lead some to mistakenly believe that salvation is only necessary for those who are “really bad,” like the woman at the well. That’s certainly what I believed growing up. If you would have asked me if I thought I’d go to heaven when I died, I would have said “yes”. If you would have asked me why I thought that, I would have said something along the lines of, “because I’m not as bad as the bad people.” I suppose the long and short of my “theology” was that there were basically good people who were already right with God and there were really bad people who couldn’t get right with God. I don’t think I ever really thought in terms of salvation. I’m not sure exactly which camp I would have put the woman a the well, but I am sure that the readers of John’s Gospel would have understood her to be a terrible sinner, probably outside of the reach of God’s mercy.

Two of the biggest theological tragedies of Jesus day among the Israelites were the mistaken views that other people were sinners and that salvation was primarily about military liberation from the Romans.

Jesus addressed the first point in the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:10-14.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers [like the woman at the well], or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Everyone is a sinner and, therefore, everyone needs to be saved (justified).

And at the beginning of Acts (1:6-7) we read of Jesus addressing the second doctrinal error with Peter and the other disciples, “So when [Jesus’ followers] had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Implied in the question is the mistaken belief that restoring the kingdom to Israel meant conquering the Romans. Jesus corrected them by telling them that they would receive power from God, but that it would be for the purpose of spreading good news, not military victory. Even after Jesus had died and risen from the dead, there was still confusion on this matter among His closest followers.

The keys for us to see from this passage are (1) that no matter our level of earthly oppression, our greatest need is always spiritual (not physical) salvation and (2) that everyone needs to be saved. It’s clear from this passage that the woman at the well needed to be rescued from her unrighteousness, but she is all of us. In that story, we are not righteous Jesus offering salvation to the world. In that story we are all the woman at the well needing Jesus to rescue us from our own sin and rebellion. If you don’t come in through that gate, you cannot be saved. And we all need to be saved.

All of this is especially clear when we remember that this passage comes on the heels of Nicodemus. He was everything the woman at the well wasn’t. She was poor. He was rich. She was week. He was strong. She was uneducated. He was well-learned. She was unrighteous. He was “righteous”. She was a social and religious outcast. He was an insider. But John told both stories together to highlight that both needed to be saved. In these two people, we have two ends of the earthly spectrum. And in that John cleverly helps us to see that if they needed to be saved, then everyone in between them (which is everyone) needs to be saved as well.

The second main point of this text concerning salvation is that salvation is found in Jesus alone. That’s the heart of v.10, “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’”

This idea of living water wasn’t something Jesus made up on the spot. He was claiming to be the fulfillment of several OT prophecies like Jeremiah 2:13, “my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Jesus is the fountain of living waters. He is the only fountain of living waters. “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus is salvation, and there is salvation in no other.

We find this truth in this passage in two more places as well. In both cases, it’s a bit further embedded. First, the basic understanding among Jews was that handling something unclean, like the water jar of a Samaritan or an adulteress, would make the person unclean. There was truth to this according to God’s law. In other words, ordinary Jews would have feared and avoided eating or drinking with this woman because they believed she would make them unclean. But the key here is that Jesus is entirely different. Instead of being made unclean by the unclean things He touches, the unclean things Jesus touches become clean. In agreeing to accept water from this woman He was offering to make her clean!

The second, more embedded way that we see that salvation is found in Jesus alone is in the woman’s twin claims, “[1] you have nothing to draw water with, and [2] the well is deep.” This is a subtle reminder that all mankind since Adam has fallen into sin and death and needs to be reconciled with God. However, we have no way of doing so on our own (we have nothing to draw living, saving water with) because the well of our sin runs too deep. Grace, hear this and see it in the text: the reason Jesus came—to the woman and to us—was to do that for all who would receive Him; to go deep enough, to take on the entire wrath of God, to get to the bottom of our sin, and bring up from below it the living waters of eternal life.

It’s hard to overstate the amazing grace all of this is. Salvation is found in Jesus alone since He alone is the fountain of living water, that which makes unclean things clean, and since He alone is able to go sufficiently deep to draw grace with and to come back up with it for all to drink. Awesome.

The third main point is that salvation in Jesus is for all who will receive Him. The profile at the beginning of this sermon was meant to help establish this point clearly. If Jesus would offer Himself to this woman, who would have been considered the lowest of the low by John’s readers, then salvation is truly for all who will receive Jesus. No one is beyond the reach of Jesus’ saving grace. This woman was of the wrong race, gender, education, lifestyle, and religion, according to every prevailing custom. And yet Jesus offered Himself to her without hesitation. In fact, as we saw, it was more than that. Jesus specifically went to this woman to offer salvation to her; in large measure to teach us this lesson.

Grace, I mentioned at the beginning that this is a message of salvation for all, but especially for the broken and “unworthy.” And it is. If you are hurting and lonely and caught in sin; if you are overwhelmed by a sense of guilt and shame; if it’s hard for you to lift your head up, let alone imagine God’s love being offered to you, then hear the good news that Jesus will receive you right now, precisely because of those things. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Luke 5:31). You need not clean yourself up first, Jesus will help you with that. You do not need to work harder, Jesus will help you with that. You do not need to learn everything, Jesus will help you with that. You need only to admit your need for a Savior and come to Jesus. He will receive you. He will forgive you. He will wash you clean. He will restore what sin has broken. And He will enable you to turn from your sins.

The very heartbeat of this story is that salvation in Jesus is available for all who will receive Him. If it teaches us anything, it teaches us this.

Finally, the salvation Jesus offers to all who will receive Him is more than mere cleansing of sins.

Beyond simply being a well of the patriarch, Jacob, the well that brought Jesus and the Samaritan woman together was fairly special. Most wells hold water simply because they are below the water table. This well, Jacob’s well, was that, but it was also fed by an active spring. It was, in a sense, a well of living water.

In a similar way, salvation in Jesus is unique. It is about deliverance from enemies, but it is more than simply getting a repressive regime off the back of the Jews. It is about forgiveness of sins, but it is also about more than simply canceling a debt. It is a “living salvation” that brings with it adoption into the family of God, God’s unwavering, sustaining grace, complete restoration and sanctification, and most of all, everlasting fellowship with, and complete satisfaction in, God.

Jesus does not merely clean us up, pat us on our back, and send us on our way. His salvation is much more than that. The salvation that Jesus brings is truly living water. It is a spiritual water that once drunk, will quench your thirst forever! When you receive it, when you take and drink, you will never want again.

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This is why the woman’s questioning was so importantly misguided. “Are you greater than our father Jacob” (v.12)? Yes. Are you greater than our father Isaac? Yes. Are you greater than our father Abraham? Yes. Moses? Yes. The prophets, Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Daniel? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Are you greater than all of them combined? Yes. Are you greater than all of them combined and multiplied by one billion? One billion times, yes!

In other words, we are not saved to get everything we ever wanted on earth in heaven. We are saved by Jesus in order to be freed to worship Jesus forever and ever and ever. That is, the salvation of Jesus, found only in Jesus, that is available to all who will trust in Jesus, is a salvation from sin, to complete, total, perfect, and eternal joy in the presence and fellowship of God. That realization sets us up well for next week as we consider what this passage tells us about true worship.

In v.10, Jesus exclaimed, “If you knew the gift of God!” If you only knew what God offers in Me!. It’s so much greater than anything and everything you’ve imagined. Come to Me. Trust in Me. Receive My living, cleansing, restoring, satisfying waters.

What should our response be to all of this. Two things. First, we should echo the words of the woman at the well. We should cry out to Jesus, “give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” This is the means by which God has appointed for us to be saved. Turn to Him for salvation today, right now! He will give you living water if you will ask for it in faith.

Second, we should respond by echoing the actions of the woman at the well. Two things…first, leave behind your water jar (v.28). That is, leave behind your old ways of seeking satisfaction. Turn entirely to Jesus. And second, go to everyone we meet and say, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” When we’ve tasted this living water, we cannot continue to seek old, putrid water and we cannot keep it to ourselves. We must share it with others. We can’t not. It is the greatest news and the sweetest gift. It is the purest act of love and the most natural response to receiving God’s love.

Call out to Jesus today and be saved. In your salvation, turn from your old water and tell everyone of the living waters that they too might drink and be satisfied.

John 4:1-30 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then 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?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

If you wanted to take someone to a passage in the Bible to help them understand the nature of salvation, where would you take them? In the context in which I came to faith, the “Romans Road” was the go-to. In general, today, I take people to Ephesians 2:8-9, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

In that same vein, if someone came to you and asked, “What does the Bible say about Christian worship?,” where would you take them in Scripture? What are the main passages that shape your understanding of what it means to truly worship God. For many years, I’ve been drawn to Exodus 33-34 where Moses pleads with God, “Show me your glory,” then, “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.”

Romans and Exodus are fine places to go for a biblical take on salvation and worship. But our passage for this morning is one of the few that addresses both together with such clarity. In Jesus words and actions, centuries of confusion and wandering among His people on these two issues are cleared up for those with ears to hear and eyes to see. Grace, God sent His Son to teach on, model, and accomplish true worship and salvation and we’re given awesome glimpses of both in John 4:1-30.

Obviously, those are some impressive and dramatic claims. However, while it’s easy to make claims like that about this passage, it can be a bit more difficult to see them in the text at first. There is a lot embedded in this passage that doesn’t show up on the surface. There is always a cultural gap between 1st century Middle Eastern, Jewish culture and ours, but it shows up more than usual in this passage. That means careful readers will be filled with questions. And I hope to help you see this morning that getting at least some of the answers to some of the questions is necessary to really make sense of the passage. In other words, we have a bit of work to do if we’re going to see all there is to see regarding salvation and worship in this passage.

For all of those reasons, this morning’s sermon is a sermon of questions and answers intended to bridge the cultural gap and set us up well for the next two Sundays in this same passage—looking at salvation next week and worship the following. Let’s pray that God would help us appreciate this passage and along with it, receive and grow in His salvation and be filled with true worship.

There are nine background questions that I intend to ask and answer in the next few minutes. My aim in doing so, once again, is to help us appreciate the context of this passage so that we can most fully embrace the salvation of Jesus and engage in the worship of God taught here.

The first question that I had when coming to this passage comes from the first three verses: Why did the Pharisees care that Jesus was making more disciples than John the Baptist and why did Jesus care that the Pharisees cared? In other words, why did finding out that the Pharisees knew Jesus was gaining more disciples than John the Baptist cause Jesus to depart?

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John … 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

The heart of the answer to this question has two prongs. The first is that it was a part of the exchange that Pastor Mike talked about last week. That is, as questions and tensions rose concerning the relationship between the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus, Jesus chose to clear out in order to allow the matter to resolve itself. There was no confusion in John or Jesus, but only among their followers and the Pharisees. Again, the first reason Jesus left as His ministry came to the fore was simply to allow the tension with John the Baptist’s followers to naturally and appropriately fade as they worked their way through the “ministry exchange zone”.

The second part of the answer to this question is one that will play out over and over again throughout Jesus’ ministry. He left because His time had not yet come (we’ll see this plainly at the beginning of chapter 7). The fact that Jesus’ was crucified in the place He was now leaving testifies to the fact that the further away from Jerusalem He got, the less intense the opposition. Jesus was not afraid of opposition. Indeed, He knew it was the tool His Father had chosen to use to bring about His crucifixion and the salvation of the world through it. Jesus wasn’t afraid, but He was strategic. He had more work to do on earth before He was to return to His rightful place in heaven. This is important, not merely as an interesting bit of trivia, but because it helps us to understand more clearly the constant strategizing of Jesus. He was truly as innocent as a dove, but also as shrewd as a serpent.

John 3:22 seems clear enough, right? “Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing.” If that’s all we had, it would seem obvious that Jesus was traveling around Judea and baptizing those who received His message. Well, it might be clear if not for what our passage for this morning adds. In John 4:1-2 we read, ” Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples)…”

So what’s going on? Was Jesus baptizing or not and why is it important for John to add what he did in v.2? Again, there are two keys to this. First, although we’re never told why, John’s clarification of his own words helps us to see that Jesus did not do any of the actual baptizing Himself. In some ways, this is how the Apostle Paul handled it as well (1 Corinthians 1:14-15). Beyond that simple truth, it’s dangerous to read anything more into it.

Second, however, we must settle on the simple fact that every legitimate baptism (from John, Jesus’ disciples, and even us today) was/is a baptism of Jesus. Jesus alone has authority to authorize and legitimize anything. Even if the baptisms of John and Jesus’ disciples had slightly different points of emphasis at that time, both were from God. In that way, as one commentator (Edward Klink) put it, Jesus alone is “the true Baptist,” in that all legitimate baptisms are “in His name”. The simple point is that the Gospel leaves no doubt as to the God-honoring nature of John the Baptist’s ministry and the rightness of Jesus’ disciples baptisms, and for those things to be the case, they must have been baptizing on Jesus’ behalf.

This question is especially important in that as we consider salvation and worship, it is a good reminder that although we might want to know things the text doesn’t tell us, God has given us everything we need. Where the text doesn’t answer our questions and when it answers questions we didn’t ask, we need different questions.

In the words of commentator, Edward Klink, “The Samaritans were most likely descendants of the undeported Northern Kingdom and foreign colonists brought in from Babylon and Media by the Assyrian conquerors of Samaria (see 2 Kgs 17:24-41). [Consequently,] the Samaritans [were a people who] adapted the worship of the God of Israel with the gods of Babylon” (Klink, ECNT, 235-236). They were also a people who accepted only the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, as inspired by God.

Probably the main things for us to understand about this for the purpose of rightly interpreting this passages’ teaching on salvation and worship, is that there was mixed lineage in the Samaritans (Jewish, Median, Assyrian, and Babylonian), that they occupied a land rich in Israelite history (next point), and above all, that as a result of all of this (and more), there was genuine hatred between Jews and Samaritans (the following point).

The fact that Jesus went to Samaria and spoke as He did with this woman was no small act of cultural defiance. And that leads us to the next question.

John mentions that on His way to Galilee, Jesus ended up in a town in Samaria called, Sychar, that Sychar was “near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph” (v.5), and that “Jacob’s well was there” (v.6). Again, to most fully grasp what this passage says about salvation and worship, it’s important for us to understand why John felt the need to include these details.

The primary reason was to establish the simple fact that like nearly everything else, the Jews misunderstood their place in God’s plan. God meant them to be a holy light to the world. And God meant their holy light to flow out of a deep and profound sense of humility and dependence on God. Their history was riddled with every bit as much idolatry and spiritual adultery as the Samaritans. Their only hope was always the mercy of God rather than the merit of their souls. Rather than humbly, graciously, mercifully imitating the love God had shown them in spite of their unworthiness, the Jews stood in prideful judgment over the Samaritans. That is not to say that the Samaritans were not wallowing in sin that needed to be repented of, but it is to say that the Jews understanding of their response needed to be significantly recalibrated if it was to be consistent with their salvation and worship.

Again, in mentioning this land and this well of Jacob and Joseph, pillars of Jewish faith, John established that (contrary to Jewish thinking) it wasn’t merely having a claim on the land that made someone right with God. And by mentioning their common ancestry, John established that it wasn’t being a mere physical descendent of Abraham that made someone right with God. In short, these things matter because they helped John’s readers understand that (as we’ll see next week) Jesus will save based on His mercy and grace or no one will be saved.

Typically, for their protection and help, women would gather water in groups. Also, due to the heat of the noonday sun, women typically gather the water for the day in the cool of the morning. Thought not for certain, it is likely that the woman was alone collecting water at the sixth hour (at noon) because she was an outcast among the Samaritans for being as promiscuous and immoral as she was. She’d had five husbands and was currently living with another man out of wedlock. And this is important because it will help us see that just as God’s salvation and worship are not ultimately rooted in a person’s nationality, neither are they rooted in a person’s past. This woman was as shameful as they come, but that did not stop Jesus from offering Himself to her.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” …9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Why was it surprising to the Samaritan woman that Jesus would ask her for a drink? Or, why don’t Jews have “dealings with Samaritans”? In addition to all the reasons we’ve already seen, that is, in addition to the mixed ancestry, the pagan, syncretistic worship of the Samaritans, and to the fact that this was an adulterous woman, “by the early first century [the time of the writing of John’s Gospel] there had already been around two centuries of conflict and strife between the groups, with both sides commit ting violent war crimes against the other. For this reason, the very mention of ‘Samaria’ in v. 4 is intended ‘to evoke unease with the readers.’ The reader is expected to be aware of the sharp conflict existing at numerous levels between the two groups…The encounter between these two was normally avoided at all costs, and when unavoidable it warranted merely a public repudiation of the other group for the establishment of their own.” (Klink, ECNT, 235-236)

According to custom, virtually everything about the woman, and especially in relation to a “religious leader” such as Jesus, demanded that Jesus have nothing but disgust to do with the woman. Rather than disgust, however, Jesus talked to the woman with respect and dignity. The glory of this reality, as we’ll unpack next week, is that it is yet another example that Jesus did what He did for the Father’s pleasure, not for that of man. Jesus came to do God’s will, not keep peace with those who had put themselves in God’s place. Likewise, there is glory in the fact that Jesus does not look at a person’s face, but at their heart.

The woman asked Jesus five questions—three explicit (vs.9, 11, 12) and two implied (vs. 19 and 25).

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

The way Jesus spoke to the woman simply didn’t make sense to her. It was a clear break from the norm.

After being offered living water by Jesus, “11 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?’”

Just as the woman was confused by the way in which Jesus addressed her, so too was she confused about what He said. Living water?!

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob?”

Dwelling in the land of someone as prominent as Jacob and Joseph, drinking from the same well as these men, and walking in the place that God had so clearly worked, were all a source of great pride for the Samaritans. When they were looked down upon by the Jews, they could point to each of those things as a retort and an argument for their validity. In response to Jesus’ significant claims, the woman was playing a familiar card. She intended to back Jesus down a bit by putting Him next to one of the vary fathers of their faith, next to one that everyone agreed was superior to them.

Rather than back down, however, Jesus doubled down. He claimed once again that His water was in every way superior to Jacob’s. In response, “19 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.’” And in that statement is an implied question: What do you have to say about that, Jesus?

In response to the woman’s attempt to knock Jesus down a peg (by referencing Jacob), Jesus responded to her by describing in detail her sordid marital history. And in response to that, the women tried to stump Jesus with an “unanswerable question”—one she’d witnessed debated countless times by countless people. It was like the Sadducees who asked Jesus about whose husband a woman would be in heaven after marring five brothers or the Pharisees asking Jesus about the greatest commandment. These were questions that had been hotly debated with no acceptable answer. This was a common defense. The main point is that the woman was trying everything she could to get out from under the unique authority of the unique man in front of her.

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.” Implied—We’ll just have to agree to disagree, won’t we? Truce until the Messiah comes?

Finally, in a last bit of desperation, the woman basically said “well, I guess we’ll just have to wait until the Messiah comes to find out who is right in these matters.”

The thing for us to see from all of this as we move toward salvation and worship in the coming weeks is that the woman’s questions were not sincere. They were defense mechanisms designed to help the woman avoid the implications of Jesus being the Son of God. We will never be able to receive salvation or offer proper worship if we care more about being “right” or safe or in line with what other’s believe.

This is a question that godly men and women have debated from the beginning. Why did Jesus seem to know some things perfectly and not others? Likewise, how do we make sense of passages that talk about Jesus not being able to perform miracles?

The simple fact of the matter is that God’s Word doesn’t explicitly answer that question for us. We must, therefore, be humble and cautious in our speculation. For what it’s worth, the answer I’ve found most compelling and biblically defensible is the idea that part of taking on human flesh and nature was a total surrender to the Holy Spirit. Where Jesus knew things that only God could know on earth, it was because the Spirit revealed that to Him. Likewise, where He was able to perform miracles, it was because the Spirit empowered Him.

While it may be interesting to speculate, that’s not why this question is relevant to us about salvation and worship. It’s relevant because however Jesus knew what He knew, it could have come only from God and people who have things that can only come from God need to be taken seriously. What Jesus says here about salvation and worship is from God and therefore it matters more than what you or I or anyone else thinks.

Finally, and to the very heart of the matter, in what sense did Jesus have to go to Samaria?

3 [Jesus] left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria.

I’ll only briefly answer this question as unpacking it is the main subject of next week’s sermon. There were two roads between Judea (where Jesus was) and Galilee (where Jesus was going). One took travelers west of Samaria and one crossed the Jordan River and took travelers east of the region (this is the road Jesus took on His final trip into Jerusalem). In other words, there was no geographical reason that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.” But if not a geographical necessity, then what? Certainly, it was because He had a divine appointment with the woman at the well. He was there to talk to the woman that she might believe, be saved, worship, and spread the good news of Jesus to all her people that they too might believe, be saved, worship, and tell others (which she did and they did).

Again, that’s where we’re heading…to the nature of the salvation and worship Jesus came to bring!

This was an unusual sermon. I’m not sure I’ve ever given another one quite like it. But wherever people are convicted that the role of preaching to explain and help people to apply the Word of God, there will be sermons that (as determined by the text itself) are more inspiring, some that are more convicting, others more challenging, rebuking, recalibrating, and informing (like this one). Good preaching is dependent on the text and teaches the hearers to be dependent on it as well. While our personalities, preferences, seasons of life, culture, and daily context all shape what we might want to hear, God’s Word unrelentingly brings us back to what we need to hear. And what we need to hear is that salvation (1) is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, (2) is necessary because we do not worship God as we ought, and (3) ultimately leads us into right, everlasting, and all-satisfying worship. This sermon, from this text, is meant to set us up well to see all of those things more clearly as we press further into them. May it be so!

John 3:22 – 4:3 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for John had not yet been put in prison).

25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

4:1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

Good morning, happy new year. We’re glad you’re here this morning. If you’re new, we are preaching through John’s gospel.

The purpose of this passage highlights a transition in the story. John the apostle provides a humble transition between the forerunner, John the Baptist and the Messiah. John’s ministry was to bear witness to the light. And now that the light has come, John fades to the background. It’s a sign of humility, but also the expectation that the story of redemption is moving forward with Jesus as the undisputed focus. It’s the promise of even greater and more glorious things awaiting us in John’s gospel.

Imagine a track relay race. The first runner has the baton and as he approaches the second runner, there is an exchange zone where the handoff takes place. They don’t come to a complete stop, hand off and then the second takes off. Instead, the second runner begins running while the first leg comes to the exchange zone. So there is a time when both runners are active. This is the idea of what we see in the first 3 chapters of John’s gospel.

In chapter 1, when we first meet John the Baptist, he is baptizing in the wilderness. Jesus comes and John testifies to Jesus as the Son of God. He baptizes Jesus, and some of John’s disciples become Jesus’ disciples. Both characters appear in the story and there is overlap. We see Jesus call his disciples, turn water to win, cleanse the temple and encounter a Jewish leader named Nicodemus.

Now John the Baptist returns for a final appearance in the book. He’s mentioned again in chapter 5, but not as a character in the story. For John the apostle’s purposes, this is the end of John the Baptist’s ministry.

By the end of our passage Jesus is preeminent. But this is not a mere literary device. This isn’t simply shifting the focus to a different character for the sake of the story. There are other things affected by this exchange. John, the disciple, is using this to point to the greater realities in the story of redemption as well. As we work through our passage, we’ll see a few things of note. First, the humility of John the Baptist. We’ll see how the exchange echoes other transitions in redemptive history and we’ll see ways that Jesus is a far superior witness than any other witness before.

The structure of the passage is what’s called a chiasm. It’s a writing technique used frequently in the Bible. The first idea corresponds to the last, which is why I’m covering the first three verses of chapter 4 as well. Hopefully you can see how they connect. So each idea is mirrored later in the passage, and the purpose is to drive us to the center of the passage. That’s where we’ll spend most of our time, which is his handoff between John the Baptist and Jesus. Would you pray with me that we have the Spirit’s help to understand all that this passage contains?

(Prayer) Father in heaven, we thank you for sending your Son to earth. He is the Word. May we treasure every jot and tittle of your word. May it rule over us and strengthen us. Convict us of any unconfessed sin we might have. May we not take it for granted. Israel experienced a famine of your Word. With our abundance of access to your Word, may we not squander it. May we never ignore it or move on from it. I pray that we would be a church that knows your word. That we would know it far better a year from now than we do today. May dads consistently put the Word before their wives and children. May we be a church who doesn’t just talk about the word, but our lives are formed by the Word. This morning may it humble us in our proud and jealous places. May it point us to the greater glory of Christ. May we be filled with courage and hope as we scatter for our week ahead. Please help me as I preach now. May I faithfully handle this passage, may I be clear with what you want said. May your Spirit quicken our hearts to believe and apply this passage. Amen.

Let’s look at our passage, beginning with some geography. Both Jesus and his disciples and John the Baptist are near watery places baptizing people. Jesus is in the countryside of Judea, or dare I say, wilderness. This certainly echoes the ministry of John the Baptist. Meanwhile John is in a place called Aenon near Salim.

During the time of Jesus, there are three main regions: Judea in the South, Samaria in the middle, and then Galilee in the northern region. And you have an eastern border comprised of the Dead Sea in the south, the sea of galilee in the north and the Jordan river connects these two seas.

Jesus and his disciples are in the southern region, in Judea. This is probably fairly close to Jerusalem, but near the Jordan River. Aenon and Salim are more difficult to locate. If you have a map in the back of your Bible you might have the cities listed but with question marks. Some think it’s in the north near galilee. There is another thought that Aenon is further south in Judea. It’s not a major point, but when we realize that everything in scripture has significance, I think it’s in the south. I’ll explain a little more later and hopefully you’ll see what I mean. Again, not a major point, it doesn’t affect major doctrines or anything like that.

24 (for John had not yet been put in prison).

In v24 John the apostle adds a little note to the reader about the timeline. He is assuming you have read the other gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He assumes you are familiar with what happened to John the Baptist. Kids, what happened to John the Baptist? He was arrested and ultimately beheaded by King Herod.

This verse is here to help us understand the timeline in John’s gospel. While John the Baptist’s ministry lasted longer in the other accounts, for the apostle’s purposes, this is the end of John’s ministry. The handoff happened here, not at his arrest or death. And the ultimate fate of John the Baptist looms behind the end of his ministry as well. It’s a subtle marker that the handoff is happening.

John 3:25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification.

We’ve seen this topic of purification in John’s gospel before. The water jars at the wedding at Cana were used for purification rituals. Now there is a Jew who is discussing this topic with John’s disciples. This helps answer the ‘who’ question for our passage. John the Baptist is interacting with Jews, and probably Jews who think they understand the things of God. But it’s quickly clear that they don’t understand things the way that John the Baptist does.

26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”

In other words, the Jews come up to John the Baptist thinking there is a budding rivalry between these two. Aren’t you worried or threatened by this other guy? After all, you were here first! This guy that you baptized is now drawing bigger crowds than you.

Apparently there were greater numbers going out to see Jesus and his disciples. That could certainly lead to jealousy. If we use the wrong metrics, we can be led to jealousy. Think about church growth or social media likes or other areas of life where we compare numbers. Or maybe it’s getting passed over for a promotion, or your brother getting a bigger slice of cake. If we see things as a competition, we can run into trouble. Especially if we see ourselves as the center of the story.

Back during the Exodus, Moses faced a similar situation. In Numbers 11, the Israelites are still wandering in the wilderness and it’s largely a rough time. The LORD calls for Moses to gather 70 elders outside the camp. God was going to meet with them and pour out his Spirit upon them. And they prophesied. 2 men of the 70 remained in the camp. The Spirit rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.

27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”

Again, you can almost hear Joshua exclaiming, ‘Moses! You gotta do something! They’re taking away from you! We gotta make sure we don’t have competition. Aren’t you worried? Aren’t you jealous?’

29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’S people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

Moses wasn’t shaken, because he had a greater perspective than the others. It’s the same perspective that John the Baptist had. Moses wasn’t threatened by people prophesying, because it wasn’t about Moses, and it wasn’t about those people. It was about what God was doing. And John the Baptist had the same understanding as Moses. He responded to the Jews:

27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.

John’s response here is filled with humility. There’s definitely an opportunity to defend himself or justify his own ministry. But just like Moses, John the Baptist has a heavenly and humble perspective. There is no rivalry. Jesus isn’t taking John’s glory. John has no glory to be taken. He understands his role as witness. His job is to point to the Messiah, not be the Messiah.

While this is true for all humanity, it was definitely true to the Jews first. Again, it’s important to realize the author is showing that Jesus will come to the Jews, but they won’t understand. And this is part of John the Baptist’s ministry: to warn and even harden Israel. So far in John’s gospel, we’ve seen the Jews miss it in every way. John 1 says Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. The Pharisees sent representatives to John the Baptist and Jesus, and neither group understood. Jesus cleared the temple, because it was being misused, and also showed that a greater temple was here. And yet they didn’t understand. Nicodemus, a teacher of the Jews didn’t understand.

Some will repent and believe, while many others will try to place their confidence in their Levitical laws, purification rituals, the temple or rabbinic tradition. And because they lack the heavenly perspective that can only come by faith, they will continue to miss it.

John the Baptist continues on in verse 28 by reminding them that he is not the Christ.

In a book filled with I AM statements from the Christ, John the Baptist makes it clear that he is not the Great I AM. ‘I am not the Christ’ he says. His job was as a witness, and he performed his job well. A witness is not the point. A witness sheds light on the point. Even in a courtroom, while sometimes you hear about star witnesses, they are never actually the point. A witness in court is to give their account and contribute to the truth being told. And ultimately for the truth to prevail in the court of law.

Another analogy for a witness is a witness at a wedding. John the Baptist calls himself the friend of the bridegroom, or what we would call the best man. The best man is not the point, the bride and groom are. The friend of the groom in Jewish culture was to prepare everything before the wedding. The point of the best man is to make the groom look good.

When I was younger my room mate from college asked me to be his best man in his wedding. It was the first wedding I had ever been in, and had no real idea what I was supposed to do. But the one thing I knew from movies and TV shows was the toast. So I worked on a good speech. I had jokes. I had props. It was going to be a roast more than a toast. I was ready.

And then a humbling thing happened. My friend’s reception never got around to having speeches. They went straight from food to dancing and then it was over. I was at first disappointed that I didn’t get my moment in the spotlight, but then I soon understood the point, especially after my own wedding: The best man is not the point! I was not the point of the wedding. The wedding of the bride and groom was the point. As I’ve learned what a wedding is for, it is such a different perspective to be part of a wedding. There is real joy at seeing a godly wedding and the honor it is to merely be invited or participate in some way.

John the Baptist is saying that he has this kind of joy over Jesus coming as the groom. Jesus is coming for his bride, and John rejoices at seeing the groom and also rejoices at the knowledge of being included in God’s people.

John’s role is to prepare the way for the groom,

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This is the motto of every Christian, and maybe especially ministers of the gospel. He must increase. That’s my hope and earnest prayer this morning. And I must decrease. This would be a good, simple verse to memorize. Or like Dave might suggest, write it down, write it on your neighbors arm, build a sign over your kitchen table. Maybe that’s your main takeaway this morning. If you remember anything, remember He must increase, but I must decrease.

John the Baptist exemplifies this virtue well. He knew his role, especially in relation to the Lord. His job was to testify to the truth of Jesus, and then fade into the background. Growing up the way John did, he certainly was familiar with the job description of a prophet. It wasn’t glorious, and it wasn’t a cushy job. Hebrews 11 gives a good summary of the prophets. It’s true many did amazing signs and wonders, but it rarely ended well. What’s even more incredible is that he was content to do it. He rejoiced at his role coming to an end.

Sometimes we hear the word humility and we think passivity. That’s not true humility. John the Baptist certainly wasn’t passive. He got after people. He called them a brood of vipers. He rebuked Herod for his wickedness. Humility and boldness are not opposed.

So, we see the humility of John the Baptist, we have heard his testimony, he rejoices at the coming of the bridegroom, which means he’s reached Jesus with the baton. Here is where the baton is passed. And this also picks up on a biblical theme among prophets: Prophetic succession.

Since the time of Moses, and actually before Moses, God has provided the office of prophet. And there are a few times in scripture where there is an exchange to a new prophet. I think that is something that the apostle John picks up on in our passage. This idea of a handoff appears in the Old Testament as well. There are two other significant handoffs that we can see in scripture.

First, Moses to Joshua. We’ve already seen that Joshua was Moses’ assistant, but at the end of Moses’ life, God tells Moses that he will not go into the Promised Land. Instead, the LORD appoints Joshua to succeed Moses and bring the people in to the Promised Land.

Numbers 27:18-20 So, the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. 20 You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.

Moses lays hands on Joshua and it says he invested some of Moses’ authority into Joshua. Again, there is an exchange zone of sorts. There is a divine baton-passing. Moses dies shortly after he commissions Joshua. Moses died in Moab on a mountain where he could see Jericho and then Joshua buried him.

Now Joshua will enter the land. What are the most famous events in Joshua’s life? He crosses the Jordan River and defeats Jericho. From there they win several victories to possess the land.

When you compare the two ministries, there are also some overlaps. Moses’ ministry is a grind. He deals with constant grumbling and the first generation all die in the wilderness. You might summarize Moses’ ministry like this: The people mostly rebel with glimpses of victory.

Joshua sees almost the complete opposite: mostly victory with glimpses of rebellion and frustration. He meets the head of the LORD’s Army, is charged to be strong and courageous and with the second generation of Israel, does in fact take the land.

So, we have an exchange between the leaders of Israel, the second surpassing the first in status and the transition happens near the Jordan river and Jericho.

Now we move ahead to a pair of prophets, Elijah and Elisha. Their stories are found in first and Second Kings. You probably know the story of Elijah being taken away in a chariot of fire. Any guess where that happened? Before the chariot came, Elijah and Elisha came to the Jordan River, Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water. And the waters parted and they crossed over into the land. And, just like Joshua, it was on the way to Jericho.

And there’s more parallels between Elijah and John the Baptist and Elisha and Jesus. Elijah’s ministry was to Israel, warning them of their wickedness. If they do not repent then they will be removed from the land and go to exile. He especially warned about the wicked house of Ahab. If you remember the battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, that was during the time of Ahab.

When Elijah prepared to leave, Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit. This was granted to Elisha, showing his ministry would be even greater than Elijah’s. Elisha witnessed the fall of the house of Ahab. What Elijah had started; Elisha saw was finished.

Elisha’s ministry was filled with lots of similar stories to the life of Jesus. He did miracles like making water better, cared for widows, even making food go further than it really should, healed leprosy. He even raised a boy from the dead.

Now you might ask, ‘wait, I remember in chapter 1 that John the Baptist said he is not Elijah. Why are you now comparing him to Elijah?

There are two things that are happening. First, John the Baptist apparently either didn’t know the connection to Elijah, or he was answering that he wasn’t literally Elijah.

Second, the rest of scripture clearly makes John the Baptist the promised Elijah. Malachi tells of the day that Elijah will be sent ahead of the LORD. Someone like John the Baptist will come. Jesus himself tells his disciples that John the Baptist was Elijah after the Transfiguration. So despite what John the Baptist said in chapter 1, he is the figurative second Elijah who has come.

Now back to our text, where we see the baton passed from John the Baptist to Jesus. While the details are a little different than the other exchanges, it’s clear that this exchange is from the lesser servant to the greater. It takes place near the Jordan, and in my opinion, it at least makes me wonder whether Aenon near Salim was probably in Judea, maybe even close to Jericho. I can’t prove that conclusively, but to me it fits more with the text than other ideas.

At any rate, hopefully you can see the bigger theme of succession. One prophet gives way to the next and now we arrive at The prophet, the Son of God.

John’s witness is complete and Jesus becomes the sole focus of the story. And just like in the case of Joshua and Elisha, we can expect to see even greater things going forward. So far in John’s gospel, the author has highlighted one sign: turning water to wine. Now they will pick up in both frequency and also the amount of glory. Jesus will reveal his identity through the I AM statements. And ultimately the action will head to Jerusalem, where just like John the Baptist, Jesus will meet a humbling fate at the hands of others who reject his message.

It’s not exactly clear whether verses 31-36 are said by John the Baptist, or they are simply an explanation from the author, John the apostle. But either way it is a description of Jesus in comparison to the witness of John the Baptist. And there are at least four ways that we see Jesus as a greater witness than John’s, or anyone else in the history of the world. We’ll go through each of these quickly.

John 3:31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.

a. Jesus came from above

Verse 31 says that John the Baptist came from the earth, no one would disagree with that. But now, he emphasizes that Jesus has come from heaven. This guy who was baptized by John, and is now out in the wilderness with some disciples, actually came from heaven. Jesus succeeds John as a better prophet, because his origin is greater.

We have already seen this in a few places in the first 3 chapters. In chapter 1 Jesus is talking to his disciples and he says, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

It’s not as clear, but Jesus is telling his disciples that he is different than other Rabbis or leaders. He has a different origin. This is made clearer in Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a teacher of the Jews, doesn’t understand what Jesus is saying. So Jesus responds and says ’If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.’

Jesus is better because he comes from heaven and he is above all.

b. Jesus is a better Word

32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God

Jesus bears witness to God, just like John the Baptist. But his testimony is greater because he is a better word. Jesus was sent to utter the words of God. That is the job of a prophet. But we know from John 1, that he is greater than other prophets. He is the actual word of God. And even further, Jesus is God.

c. Jesus has the Spirit without measure

34b for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Verse 34 gives another way that Jesus is greater than John the Baptist. Jesus’ coming and being an even greater testimony is the Spirit coming upon him in a greater way.

Joshua received some of Moses’ spirit and wisdom. Elisha received a double portion of the Spirit after Elijah. Now Jesus possesses the Spirit without measure.

RC Sproul describes it this way, “When God anointed His Son as the Messiah, the Holy Spirit was not given to Him in a piecemeal or partial fashion. God the Father did not measure out a little dose of the Spirit to give to His Son; rather, He poured out the Spirit on the Son in immeasurable dimensions. (John commentary p.53)

The signs and wonders that Jesus will do, the teaching and claims he will make, are all done in the power of the Holy Spirit. And if he possesses the Spirit without measure, it’s easy to see how his ministry will be more glorious than anything that we have seen until now in scripture.

d. Jesus is loved by the Father

35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

The fourth way Jesus is the greater witness is that he was loved by the Father. I love my nieces and nephews. I love the kids at Grace. But I have a special love for my own kids. The Father has a special love for the Son. The Father has always loved the Son.

And when it says that God, the Father, has given all things into his hand, it’s saying Jesus possesses everything that the Father possesses. The church father Augustine said this about the verse ‘Therefore, having deigned [to condescend to give] to send us the son, let us not imagine that it is something less than the Father that is sent to us.’ (Bruner p.229)

The Son perfectly images the Father. To believe in the Son, means we have union with the Son. Which means the father looks at us like he looks at his son. If we are loved by the Son, then we are loved by the Father.

I’m sure there will be time in John’s gospel to see this idea unpacked in greater length, but for now, at least recognize that the idea of the Father loving the Son is a huge one. It’s not just a throwaway line that sounds nice. There are a lot of deep truths wrapped up in that one idea.

Notice also that all three persons of the trinity are tightly connected in verses 34 and 35. We have the Father giving the Spirit without measure to the Son, whom the Father loves and has given all things into his hand. The apostle John packs so much in, that we can’t exhaust it all.

Verse 32 and 33 give the two possible responses to the testimony of Jesus. Either receive the gospel or don’t receive it. And now the apostle John pushes the need for a response again in verse 36. For those who do not receive the testimony of John about Jesus, or Jesus about himself, wrath awaits, as verse 36 makes clear. But for those who receive the faith to believe the testimony, will be saved to eternal life.

Responding to the gospel requires a response. It requires faith given by God. But it also requires humility. It’s the acknowledgment that we are not God, we are not good apart from God and we need God to fix the mess we find ourselves in. These are not easy things to admit. In fact, they are impossible without God granting us the humility to do them. But that is the only way we can escape wrath.

And the way God rescues us, is through the ultimate act of humility. Jesus, the glorious Son of God, whom all the prophets pointed to. Who dwelled eternally in heaven. The very Word who possessed the Spirit without measure, and who the Father loved, he is the one who humbled himself. He took on flesh, experienced all the things we do, witnessed the effects of the Fall, yet without sinning himself. And he went lower. He went all the way the cross. And like John the Baptist, even in his humility, he experienced joy at accomplishing his mission. Hebrews 12:2 Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus suffered immense humiliation through his betrayal, arrest, trial and death. And yet he endured it all for the joy that was set before him. And only those who are humbled by their sin, and willing to admit that there are no rivals of Jesus will be given the faith to receive eternal life.

We come to the end of the passage and we return to geography. It brings us right back to where we started, in Judea, with Jesus and his disciples and baptism. But there is now no mention of John the Baptist. The Pharisees are mentioned in relation to the controversy about Jesus drawing larger crowds, but nothing about John. The tangles John encountered from the Jews will continue with Jesus. He will face increasing scrutiny from the Pharisees.

So we come to the end of the exchange zone. The baton is passed, John’s ministry comes to an end, and Jesus’ ministry will pick up steam for the rest of John’s gospel. The transition also points to the winding down of Israel and the Old Covenant as the New, better covenant is ushered in through Jesus.

For those in Israel who missed the testimony of John, they will have further chances to either repent and believe the testimony of Jesus, or harden themselves and reject the Savior.

As we look ahead in John’s gospel, we’ll see Jesus do more signs and wonders. He’ll become more explicit about who he is. He is the Great I AM, and John the apostle will begin highlighting this in a variety of ways. Just like when Joshua and Elisha were greater successors than Moses and Elijah. Jesus is the greater witness.

Come thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free
From our sins and fears release us;
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art,
Dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king
born to reign in us forever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit;
rule in all our hearts alone
By thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to thy glorious throne

Merry Christmas! What a gift it is to celebrate Christmas as a gathered church on the Lord’s Day. We’re here to rejoice together in the fulfillment of centuries of promises, the coming of the long expected Messiah, the birth of the second person of the godhead, the highest expression of the love of God, the Savior and saving of the world, and the fact that the One born on Christmas day will come again to set all things right!

There are very few things written by men that better capture the glory of these things than the hymn we just sang, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus.” Before I pray, I’d like to give you just a bit of background on the hymn and then explain why I’m preaching a sermon on it this morning.

“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” was written by Charles Wesley in 1744. Charles Wesley was an Englishmen who lived from 1707-1788. He was converted to faith in Jesus at 31 years old (in 1738). He became a leader within the Methodist movement, founded by his brother, John, within the Anglican Church. Both he and his brother were known for their evangelistic preaching and earnest desire to promote holiness among Christians.

Charles wrote more than 6,000 hymns including, “And Can it Be,” “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” was first published in a collection called “Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord.” For many years, however, it went largely unnoticed. Two things contributed to it becoming one of the most beloved Christmas songs in the world. First, in 1830 (86 years after it was first written) it finally found music that did the lyrics justice—a tune written by a man named Rowland Hugh Pritchard. And the second thing that helped it spread was that Charles Spurgeon referenced the song in one of his sermons in 1855.

Although all of that is somewhat interesting, none of it is why I’m talking about it right now. This sermon is tied to the text of the hymn for one main reason: it captures well many of the glories of Christmas. For that reason, we’ll look a bit closer at a number of lines, alongside the biblical texts from which they came. Lord willing, when we sing the hymn together again after the sermon, we’ll be able to do so with a deeper and more profound sense of awe and wonder and gratitude and longing.

My aim is to come at the Christmas story in a fun and fresh way in order to help us all see its glory in greater detail and measure, and that in order that we might respond in greater gladness, worship, and obedience. With that, let’s pray and then consider twelve glorious, biblical truths proclaimed in this familiar Christmas hymn.

At Christmas, we are celebrating one of the three most significant events in human history (creation and the resurrection being the other two). As I try to do often when I stand in this pulpit, I want to encourage you to slow down and consider that for just an extra few seconds. The claim that God became man, that the divine nature took on a human nature, and that this was done in love to rescue the world from sin and death, is not a normal claim. It is in every sense of the word, extraordinary. If it isn’t truly true, we’re fools for having anything to do with it (even simply on the commercial level that is so common in our culture). But if it is truly true—and it is!—then it’s worth celebrating in the highest!

I read a book recently that said this even better, “[Christianity] is either everything or nothing, either the world’s stupidest lie or the world’s ultimate truth; … if Jesus is not literally everything to you, then He is nothing at all” (How to Destroy Western Civilization, Kreeft, 66).

You’re most likely here because you have joined millions upon millions over the past two millennia in believing that it is truly true. You’re here because you know it’s worth celebrating in the highest. You’re here as one manner of doing so. Again, we’re so thankful for that.

At the same time, however, you’re probably not only here to celebrate the glories of Christmas. You, like me, are probably here for help in celebrating the glories of Christmas as well; in having Jesus as literally everything to you. It is my sincere and earnest hope to provide you with a bit of that. In particular, and once again, I mean to do so by taking a closer look at twelve remarkable claims of the hymn we just sung, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.” Please find one or two to grab onto today and use it as fuel for gladness, worship, and obedience.

1. Come thou long-expected Jesus (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:25-32; Acts 1:9-11). This is at the same time a plea for the Messiah to come and return. It is simultaneously the cry of the world from the garden promise in Genesis 3 until the incarnation, and the cry of every Christian since. Countless souls longed for the day when the Messiah would come, even as countless souls now long for the day that He will return.
   
   Passages like Micah 5:2 promised the coming of the Messiah/Christ. Likewise, passages like Acts 1:9-11 promise that Jesus will return as well. And passages like Luke 2:25-32 describe the kind of longing that marked the faithful people of God.
   
   Luke 2:25-32 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation…
   
   The simple, yet profound reality is that to know the nature of Jesus, what He accomplished in His suffering, death, and resurrection, and His everlasting promises, to know the nature of Christmas, is to long for Jesus to come and come again. May this line in, and title of, this song spur us on in our longing to be with Jesus. Grace, we glorify God most on Christmas when it produces in us a greater longing for His return.
   
2. Born to set thy people free (John 3:16, 8:36; Romans 5:8; Galatians 5:1). Born thy people to deliver. Given where we’ve been in John’s Gospel recently, it’s hard not to think of these lines as simple echoes of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
   
   Likewise, in Romans 5:8 Paul wrote, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And in Galatians 5:1 he declared that “For freedom Christ has set us free.”
   
   Ultimately Jesus came to glorify the Father in everything He did (John 12:27-28, 14:13). But passages like the ones we just read tell us that Jesus would do so in large measure by dying in the place of sinners. He was born to glorify God by setting all that the Father gave Him free from sin and death, and to deliver us from the condemnation we were under.
   
   Grace, when we sing these lines again, let’s do so with a greater sense of gratitude and wonder that we get to glorify God, along with Jesus, in trusting that He was born to die in our place and be risen from the dead for us.
   
3. From our sins and fears release us (1 Peter 1:4-5; John 14:27). The two are perfectly and inseparably intertwined. Apart from release from sin, while we are still under divine condemnation, fear is the right response. In our sin we do not have the promises of God to be working for our good. Bad things are bad and good things are temporary before we get ultimate justice one day in hell. Grace, we’re fools not to be afraid of the wrath of God, which remains on us until we are released from our sins.
   
   However, to be to be set free from sin, and to truly understand all that means, is also to be set free from fear. What is there to fear when God is for us? What is there to fear when we have the promises of God in 1 Peter 1:4-5 for an, “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”? What is there to fear when we know that all things are working together for our good? What is there to fear when death is gain?
   
   The coming of Jesus is a promise that nothing can cause true harm to anyone who is trusting in Him. That is why Jesus Himself could say, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid, (in John 14:27).
   
4. Let us find our rest in Thee (Matthew 11:28). Just as being released from fear follows closely and necessarily on the heels of being released from our sins, finding genuine, true, transcendent, eternal rest follows on the heels of both. To be freed from sin is to be freed from fear, and to be freed from fear is to be brought to a place of rest. That is what Jesus meant in Matthew 11:28 when He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
   
   In a season more known for stress and chaos, may God be pleased to remind us from this simple line in this simple song of the promises of God to make us people of rest and peace in Jesus—now and forever. Grace, there is a kind of rest available to you right now because Jesus came to earth to bring it, and Christmas is the celebration of that. Would you turn to Him now that you might know His rest?
   
5. Israel’s strength and consolation (Luke 2:25; Philippians 4:7). We just read the verse that this line comes from, Luke 2:25. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The key to this great truth is that just because we are free from sin and fear and just because we have rest in Christ, doesn’t mean that hard things won’t come our way. Indeed, Jesus even promised that they would. How, then, do we continue to walk in peace when hardships come?
   
   This line highlights what the Bible says over and over. Those who belong to Jesus always have God’s strength and comfort, and especially in times of trial. It is because Jesus is the strength and consolation of all of God’s people that Paul could write, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). It doesn’t make sense (it’s beyond understanding) that we can be at peace when the most severe trials hit…unless Jesus is our strength and consolation during them. And Christmas is the good news that He is for all who believe.
   
   Again, let that line sink in and wash over you if you’re in a hard season. If you’re lonely or sick or frustrated, remember and sing with great joy of Israel’s Christmas-born strength and consolation.
   
6. Hope of all the earth thou art (Matthew 12:18-21). Can you think of the last time you found yourself in a really difficult spot, one that had significant consequences and you weren’t sure how to get out of it? What you wanted in that moment was hope. Hope that somehow you would find your way out unscathed. Hope for some kind of rescue to trust in. Hope for some promised solution to provide an escape.
   
   Biblically, when hope pertains to the promises of Jesus, there is no uncertainty about it. When our hope is tied to a specific promise in God, it is as certain as if it already happened. Hope relates to future things, to the desire for something not yet, but Christian hope will come to pass just as certainly as the events happening in front of you right now. We find this in Matthew 12:18-21 (which is a quote from Isaiah 42:1-3)
   
   Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
   my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
   I will put my Spirit upon him…
   until he brings justice to victory;
   21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
   
   What a sweet line this is, then, for all who recognize Jesus as the only, but certain source of hope…hope for deliverance from sin and death, and more remarkably still, hope for everlasting fellowship with God. Let us sing with confidence and certainty that Christmas is good news for realized hope for all the world.
   
7. Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart (Psalm 16:11; John 15:11). Because of all the great truths we’ve already considered, Jesus really is the greatest treasure of all. And for those with eyes to see, He is the greatest desire and deepest longing of our hearts. To know and be known by Jesus is to be filled with fullness of joy.
   
   Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And this fullness of joy and everlasting pleasure is found in Jesus.
   
   Likewise, in John 15:11 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” And don’t miss the fact that it is Jesus’ full joy (“my joy”) that will fill every longing heart.
   
   The greatest lie Satan has ever perpetrated is that the joy of Jesus can be found outside of Jesus. For that reason, the world has been filled with people, since Adam and Eve, who seek alternative sources of genuine joy and satisfaction. Jesus offers everything, but He also demands everything. Again, because of that, there has always been a thriving market of counterfeit goods promising the same satisfaction that Jesus offers but at a much lower price.
   
   But Christmas is the coming of the only true, full, and lasting Satisfaction. And the Child of Christmas, therefore, is the dear desire of people from every tribe, tongue, and people group, the greatest longing of every heart that is spiritually alive, and the everlasting joy of all who believe.
   
   When we sing these lines, then, may they serve us well as both a desire-check (testing our greatest desire and longing) and a desire-recalibration (reminding us to turn our eyes upon Jesus alone).
   
8. Born a child and yet a king (Colossians 1:27-29; Philippians 2:6-11). Have you ever really considered how strange it is that God chose to send the Savior of the World into the world as a baby. The very One who was with God eternally, through whom the world was made and is sustained, the One to whom all things belong, the One with authority over every earthly and heavenly being, set all of that aside in a sense to be born of a virgin in a lowly manger.
   
   As staggering as this is, it has always been God’s way. Colossians 1:27-29 says this plainly and explains why, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
   
   Philippians 2:6-11 helps us to see that there is no greater example of this than in Jesus.
   
   … though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name…
   
   One remarkable aspect of the glory of Jesus is that His excellencies are diverse to the point that many seem contradictory. He is a lamb and a lion. He is gentle and lowly and able to silence and slaughter every enemy. In Him is infinite justice and infinite grace. He is majesty and meekness. He is perfectly obedient and perfectly sovereign. And He is born a child and yet a heavenly king.
   
   Sing, Grace. Sing with greater breadth of glories. Sing with greater brokenness and comfort, with greater humility and confidence, with greater weight and freedom, with greater sorrow and rejoicing, with greater contentment and longing, and with greater freedom and obedience.
   
9. Born to reign in us forever; Now thy gracious kingdom bring; Rule in all our hearts alone (Matthew 28:18; 1 Timothy 6:15-16; John 1:14). Jesus is not merely a king, but He is the King, the eternal King, the eternally gracious King, the eternally gracious King of you and me.
   
   In the familiar passage in Matthew 28:18 we read, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’” Jesus is the King who has all authority.
   
   Even clearer still, these lines in Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, celebrating the eternally gracious King Jesus, come from passages like, 1 Timothy 6:15-16, “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality…”.
   
   This kind of power is good news in Jesus alone, since He alone possesses “glory as of the only Son from the Father,” even as He alone is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He is King with all authority, but He is also all-good, all-gracious, and all-loving. Limitless power is a terror unless it is paired with a holy and merciful nature like Jesus…and so we celebrate and sing of the birth of this truth (that Jesus is the eternal, gracious king) and this prayer (that we, along with the whole world, would gladly and entirely bow before Him, as our one and only King).
   
10. By thine own eternal spirit (John 1:1; Revelation 1:4, 6, 8). As was highlighted in the last lines, every good thing that we sing about Jesus is without expiration. All of the glories of Jesus this song highlights, along with all the rest in God’s Word, are everlasting. They will never end. We sing about them because they are true, and because they are eternally true! Indeed, Jesus is the one “who is and who was and who is to come” (Revelation 1:4). He is the “alpha and omega” (Revelation 1:8). He is the one “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” and therefore to Him will “be glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 1:6).
    
    We praise God that Jesus was born on Christmas and that He will come again because His love and kindness and salvation and glory are eternal.
    
11. By thine all sufficient merit (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 9:26-28). Just two more lines. This one celebrates the fact that Jesus’ merit, His worth, His glory, His majesty are entirely enough to accomplish everything assigned to Him by the Father.
    
    Romans 6:10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all…
    
    Hebrews 9:26 But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
    
    Jesus is the only man who has ever lived who possessed intrinsic merit. All other merit is borrowed. It is by Jesus’ all sufficient merit that we are made right with God. And it is at Christmas that we celebrate the birth of the all sufficient One. And this line in this song captures this simply and beautifully.
    
12. Raise us to thy glorious throne (2 Timothy 2:11-12; Revelation 3:21). In light of everything we’ve already covered, it should not surprise us to find that the end of all things includes us coming before the throne of Jesus in the new heavens and earth. It is true that we will bow before Jesus, acknowledging Him as the rightful King. But it might be surprising to learn that we will not only bow before Him, but also reign with Him. This final line of this great hymn acknowledges and calls us to sing of both. We will be raised to Jesus’ throne to bow before Him and to reign with Him!
    
    2 Tim 2:11-12 If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him…
    
    Revelation 3:21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne…
    
    This is almost too much to imagine, but it is true. Mankind was created to reign with God (exercising dominion) in the first Garden. Rather than delight in that privilege, however, mankind wanted to rule even God. In the new heavens and earth we will be brought to a new and eternal Garden to reign as we were made to do. Oh what an awesome thing that will be. And what an awesome thing it is that Christmas marks the birth of the One who won all of this for us.

We’ll sing these verses along with two additional ones that have been added since Wesley penned the original. In the new verses we’ll sing of even more of the glories of Christmas as we consider the heavenly hosts proclaiming the birth of Jesus, Jesus tasting our sadness, and the temporary setting aside of infinite riches that Jesus chose at Christmas.

May God drive these truths down deep in us, may they ring in our heads for the rest of the day even as they will for eternity in heaven. And may we go forth now to celebrate and declare the Hope and Joy of all the earth with greater clarity, zeal, and courage until the final Christmas comes upon us. Come again Thou long expected Jesus.

John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

In the way of a reminder, during Advent we’ve been working our way through this passage in John’s Gospel a few verses at a time. Two weeks ago, we looked at John 3:16, The Love of God Is Shown through Christmas. Last Sunday was 3:17-18, There Is No Condemnation through Christmas. And finally, this morning we’ll work through 3:19-21, The Light of the World Has Come through Christmas.

This whole passage is John’s explanation of Jesus teaching in the first half of chapter 3. The gist of his message through the first three verses (those we’ve already covered), is that God loved the world and His love took a particular form. That is, God loved the world in such a way that He sent His only Son Jesus into the world to put an end to the condemnation, sin, and death that was already upon the world. And that love-driven salvation is available to everyone who would believe/trust in Jesus.

The remaining problem, as you know, is that not everyone believes in Jesus. And within those who do not believe is a group of people who wrongly believe they believe. They think their hope is in Jesus, but it isn’t. They have what we’ve called unbelieving belief. John talked about a group of unbelieving believers and one man in particular among them (Nicodemus).

The question, then, is how do we know if our belief is genuine or fake. In the final three verses of our passage John offers a bit of help to discern between unbelief and belief; and therein between condemnation and salvation. In 19-21, then, John explains more fully the marks of condemnation and salvation. He does so in relation to Jesus, who is the light of the world. And in particular, he explains that those who remain condemned are marked by love for the darkness and hate for the light. While, on the other hand, those who truly believe in Jesus and are saved are marked by doing what is true, coming to the light, and giving God the glory for everything good in them.

And with that, we see that God gave Christmas to save the world from its condemnation, but that, that is only good news for those who acknowledge the condemnation we deserve for our sin and believe in the Son whom He sent. For everyone else it remains a declaration of sin and death. Let’s pray that God would cause us to turn to the light in faith, hope, and love.

Christmas is a reminder that our default condition as human beings is one of condemnation. Due to the sins of our first father, Adam, we are born into sin. And because we are born into sin, we sin. This means that we are not basically good people. In other words, as we saw last week (in 17-18), Christmas is always about our condemnation before it is about our salvation and celebration. And in that way, we have some work to do before we know whether Christmas is the worst or best news for us.

In a culture like ours being able to tell the difference is not as easy as it might seem. For all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is our tendency to water down of the gospel and redefine Jesus into our own image, there are many people who mistakenly understand themselves to be right with God. That is, there are many people in and out of the Church who wrongly believe that they are not condemned—either because they deny they ever were or because they think they’ve somehow already escaped it.

For that reason, these few verses in John 3 are really, really helpful. They provide for us another diagnostic tool in the form of a few key marks of both condemnation and salvation. These will serve the Church well when we press them against our own hearts, against the hearts of one another, our kids, and our neighbors. As we work through these lists, then, let’s ask for the Holy Spirit to help us recognize whatever marks are in us.

May all of that serve as a reminder that the job of a preacher/teacher of God’s Word is not simply to offer comfort and hope, but to also state plainly the means by which God gives them. One huge problem in many churches today is the tendency to talk about the grace of God apart from the God-given means of receiving it. It is rightly proclaimed that there is hope in God, comfort for the hurting, and salvation for the lost. But such proclamations ought to always be accompanied by the truth that they are available only to those who would receive them with penitent hearts and trust in the only Son of God. Do you want merely to know that there is a cure for your sickness or also how to go about getting the cure? Those who are given only the promises without the means of receiving them are often worse off than those without either; for they have been given a false assurance of their right standing before God and, therefore, no longer feel the need to seek it.

At a time when many people simply want to be given comforting words, to be told that everything is going to be OK for them, to be given God’s stamp of approval on their lives, ironically, the words of John 3:19-20 can seem awfully un-Christmas-like.

May we fight together against such hollow and deadly thinking and lean fully into God’s Word for genuine grace and help. Hear the Word of God clearly, therefore, Grace Church. The love of God has been given to you in the person of Jesus who came to take away your sins. It is for you and for everyone who would receive it in humble, repentance. But how do we know if we have received it in humble repentance? John gives us two main marks of condemnation and three of salvation. Let’s consider them all.

The first mark of remaining under condemnation is also the cause of our condemnation, John wrote. Jesus didn’t come to judge the world guilty because the world had already been judged guilty. And one aspect of this condemnation was a love for the darkness.

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

In several ways John’s Gospel is a spiritual parallel to the physical creation recorded in Genesis. We find another example of that in this verse. Genesis records God’s creation of physical light (Genesis 1:3) while John speaks here of Jesus as Spiritual light coming into the world. It is a remarkable thing to learn to recognize the ways God has made physical things and earthly practices to give us categories for their spiritual fulfillment. Physical light exists, Grace Church, ultimately to help us understand Jesus’ goodness and holiness. Christmas is the celebration of both becoming incarnate and visible!

The practical result of this awesome reality—of Jesus, the light of the world, coming into the world—is that everyone who encounters Jesus responds in one of two ways. Either they will love the light of Christ and be drawn to it as a mark of salvation (which we’ll consider in just a bit) or they will love the darkness and remain in it as a mark of their condemnation.

But what does it mean exactly to love the darkness? John makes an important distinction here between darkness and evil/evil deeds. Evil deeds are the sinful acts we commit. Darkness is for John here, more of a location; one in which we mistakenly believe is hidden or secret. But Grace Church, kids, as you know, we might be able to sin outside of the view of people, of our parents or siblings, but we can never sin outside of God’s view. In that way, darkness is merely an illusion. But it is an illusion loved and longed for by those who do not truly believe in Jesus.

People who remain condemned, prefer evil, and prefer to do it away from the watching eye of anyone who would condemn them for it. This is what John meant by “people loved the darkness…because their deeds were evil.” Those under condemnation find a twisted pleasure in sin and a longing to do so without scrutiny.

Again, those who remain condemned in sin aren’t drawn to the light of Jesus, they are repulsed by it. They stay away from it. They don’t hate their sin. They love their sin and hate anything that exposes it.

Do you want to know if Christmas is a message of good news or bad news for you, a message of salvation or condemnation? John has provided marks of both for us. The first mark that Christmas is bad news for someone is that they are characterized by loving the darkness rather than light.

That leads to the second mark of condemnation.

Those who remain condemned don’t merely prefer darkness and generally avoid the light, they genuinely love darkness and hate the light.

20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

As we just saw, it’s a fairly universal rule that people choose to sin in the dark. In v.20, John gives the primary reason for this: true light exposes the sinfulness of sin. No one wants to be seen doing evil things so they take cover in darkness. You can’t do that in the light where all your deeds are exposed.

Imagine being engaged in your most egregious sin (whether in thought, word, or deed). It is the thing you are most ashamed of, but you still do it, believing you’re doing so in secret, where no one else can see, in the dark. And then, suddenly a light comes on and you realize you’re being live streamed for all the world to see. You would most definitely hate the light in that moment. You’d want it turned off immediately.

That’s what John is talking about. Those who remain condemned before God do only wicked things (for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin). And everyone who does wicked things hates the light, tries to avoid it, and seeks to flee from it whenever it comes upon them to avoid revealing the true nature of their hearts.

Ultimately, those who hate the light, hate Jesus, who is the light of the world for all mankind (John 1:9). It is not merely that sinners hate having their sin exposed (although it is that). It is that they hate to be in the presence of the One who is perfectly holy and good and pure and right. This, of course, is a terribly serious thing.

There’s another piece of this that is important for us to consider. In our current culture there’s a diabolical twist that’s being put on all of this. When you love wickedness, sin, and evil, you have to live in the darkness as John wrote…or attempt to redefine wickedness, sin, and evil as virtue, righteousness, and goodness so that you can do what you do in ‘the light’. When ungodly people seek to repackage abortion as choice, rebrand disordered sexual desires and practices as love, and redefine basics elements human biology as nothing more than personal feelings, they are attempting to do just that. And when mass delusion sets in to the point that pushing back on those redefinitions, that rebranding, and that repackaging is portrayed as mean, intolerant, and arrogant, those things can be done in the light of day without shame. Light becomes darkness in their eyes and darkness, light.

Romans 1:32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

But Grace, let’s settle carefully and securely on the simple fact that no one but God has the power to name; to define. Darkness is what God has called darkness and evil is what God has called evil no matter what people may call them. Likewise, light is what God has called light and good is what God has called good, no matter what other name people may give them.

The second mark of remaining in condemnation is hating the light and the exposure it brings to our wicked deeds. When you hate your sin being found out more than the sin, you bear this mark and Christmas is bad news for you.

All of that ought to sound pretty ominous and discouraging. The thought of being condemned by God must not rest comfortably on us. It ought to terrify us to find these marks in us. And wherever that’s the case, celebrating Christmas is the most ridiculous thing imaginable. It’s like throwing a party for your coming execution or terminal cancer diagnosis.

But it need not be that way, Grace. John was not writing to declare immutable marks of death. He was writing to name them so that if we find them, we might turn to God from them. This means that no matter how many bad-news Christmas’s have past, this one need not be so for you. If you will, as John has clearly and repeatedly written, receive the love of God and believe in the name of Jesus, His only Son, your condemnation will turn to salvation and then celebration. The saving work of God in the person of Jesus is for everyone who believes, immediately when they believe, and forever. And you might remember that the entire purpose of John’s Gospel is to help the world believe that Jesus is the Christ that we might have life.

OK. We’ve just seen the marks of those who do not believe in Jesus and remain condemned before God (loving darkness and hating the light of Christ), but what does it look like when someone truly does believe in Jesus? That’s where we’ll turn to now—the marks of the saved.

As I mentioned in the beginning, there are three marks of genuine belief in Jesus in this passage and all are found in v.21.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

The three marks are doing what is true, coming to the light, and giving glory to God. Let’s briefly consider each.

Doing what is true is portrayed by John as the opposite of doing evil (that’s what the “but” means). The first mark of salvation is that instead of doing and delighting in evil, there is an increasing delight in and doing of that which is good, beautiful, and true. Let’s remember how John has told us that works.

When we experience the new birth of the Spirit and place our hope in Jesus, we are acknowledging Him as the ultimate standard of goodness, beauty, and truth. And the same Spirit who opened our eyes to real goodness, beauty, and truth, also helps us to see how far short of it we fall, also causes us to throw ourselves before God for mercy, and also begins to transform our desires and actions; increasingly conforming them to Christ.

In other words, the first mark of genuine salvation is a change in thinking, that leads to a change in affections, that leads to a change in actions. Convinced that God is God, that we are sinners, and that God has lovingly offers us saving grace in Jesus, we turn our eyes to Him and He forgives us and changes us, such that we begin to hate what is evil (and stop doing it) and love what is good (and start doing that).

Remember, this is a mark, not a cause. We are not made right with God because we do what is true. We do what is true as a mark that our belief in Jesus is genuine and we have already been made right with God.

Is Christmas good news or bad news for you? It is good news if you find yourself growing in doing that which is true, because you find yourself growing in your love for that which is true, because you find yourself growing in your conviction that God alone is that which is true.

And when all of that happens, we will be eager to come to the light, to come more and more and more to Jesus. Rather than hating the light for its exposure of our sin, we love the Light. We love it because it is what we were made for. And we will even love it because of the very reason we used to hate it—it reveals our sin. When we don’t believe in Jesus, we want our sins hidden so we can keep doing them. But when we believe in Jesus we want our sins revealed so that we can turn from them to that which is infinitely better.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light…

Again, coming to the light isn’t merely being consistent and non-hypocritical. It is not merely acting in public in the same way we act in private. Coming to the light is ultimately to come to Jesus. To love Him above all. To want what He wants us to want. To love what He loves. To hate what He hates. To do what He does. To delight in His person and work and commands and grace and love.

Is Christmas good news or bad news for you? It is good news if you long to have your heart exposed and you are growing in your belief that Jesus is the greatest treasure and to love Jesus above all things.

The final mark of salvation is a further clarification of the last one.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

Apart from believing in Jesus, we want credit and glory for anything we do that is praised by men. We brag about our sports or grades or music or salary or intelligence. The Christmas program is about us, our evangelism is about our courage, our quiet times show our piousness, our offerings show our generosity, etc. But when we truly believe in Jesus, we want God to get the credit and glory for every good thing, for, as we’ve seen in John, we know that every good thing comes from God.

As we just saw, it is the Spirit who grants new birth, the Spirit who grants eyes to see and ears to see, who grants understanding and conviction and repentance, and who grants a change in thinking, feeling, and actions. We must choose and yield to those things, but it is the Spirit’s work that causes us to want to and do so. In other words, it is a fact that our good works “have been carried out by God.” And when we truly understand that, we want the world to see and delight in that along with us.

Do you want to know if your belief in Jesus is genuine? Look carefully for the mark of recognizing God as the only true source of goodness and the desire for the whole world to acknowledge that and give Him the glory that is His due.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

What are we to do with all of this, this Christmas? Let me quickly suggest three things in closing.

First, learn to understand and receive the love of God. Let God define the nature and fruit of His love. Focus on what it is according to John and ask for the Spirit’s help to be strengthened and encouraged and comforted by it.

Second, consider carefully the marks of condemnation and salvation. Again, ask for the Spirit’s help to discern which you truly bear. Where it is the marks of condemnation, thank God for revealing that and turn to Jesus. Repent of your sins. Come into the light. And where it is the marks of salvation, thank God for saving you and give Him all glory. Repent of your sins. Walk in the light. Praise Him for loving you and sending His So to you while you were still His enemy.

And third, tell someone about Jesus. Really tell them. Ask them good question. Listen carefully to them. Pray for them. And then be clear about what God offers, how to receive it, and what’s at stake if they do or don’t. Find creative ways to do this where one doesn’t obviously present itself. With God’s help, focus more on bring them the words of life than how comfortable it will be. Whether it feels like it or not (to you or them), this is the most loving thing you can do and certainly one of the most obvious ways to honor God during Christmas.

Let’s be a people who are filled with thankful hearts, who walk in the light, and who are marked by continually helping one another follow Jesus wherever He leads and whatever it costs—at Christmas and always.

John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

In the way of a reminder, during Advent we’re working our way through this passage in John’s Gospel, a few verses at a time. Last week was John 3:16, The Love of God Is Shown Through Christmas. This week is 3:17-18, There Is No Condemnation Through Christmas. And then next Sunday, the 18th, we’ll work through 3:19-21, The Light of the World Has Come Through Christmas.

Interestingly, each of these three passages explicitly speaks of Jesus’ incarnation. More interestingly still, each uses a different word to do so. Verse 16 says that God gave His Son. Christmas is the giving of Jesus. Verse 17 says God sent His Son. Christmas is the sending of Jesus. And verse 19 says Jesus came into the world. Christmas is the coming of Jesus.

The main thing for us to see is that each describe Christmas as an intentional work of God. As we lean into our text this morning, therefore, let’s not forget that Christmas was always God’s plan to rescue the world from sin. Let’s not miss the glory of the incarnation as the fulfillment of God’s promises over thousands of years—and in another sense, from eternity past (Ephesians 1:4). Grace, let’s not overlook the tremendous help John 3:16-21 is for understanding what it means that the Son of God took on flesh, why He did so, and what that has to do with us. In other words, these few verses are a tremendous help for celebrating Christmas in greater fullness.

Well, what is true of the whole of this passage is also true of the two verses we’re going to focus on this morning. The basic argument of our passage has three parts. First, God did not make Christmas to condemn the world. Second, God made Christmas to save the world. And third (once again), salvation comes through believing in Christmas. In other words, the good news of this passage, the good news of Christmas, is that (1) Jesus came to end condemnation, (2) not bring it, and (3) salvation comes through trusting in Jesus’ performance, not ours.

Do you want to truly honor God in the way you approach Advent and Christmas? (I know you do.) Then this passage is a gift of God to you. Let’s pray for God’s help to understand and properly apply all that He’s revealed to us in these few verses.

The basic idea of being condemned, as I’m sure you understand, is to be judged guilty. Have you ever been explicitly condemned for something? In the most literal sense, this would involve being found guilty in a court of law—condemned for tax fraud, assault, or reckless driving, for instance. In the more common sense, it happens every time someone decides you wronged them—condemned for talking trash or cheating in a game or lying about who broke the chair or not listening well or taking the last cookie out of the church freezer, this past week, when I was really looking forward to it.

Of course, whether formally or informally, we’ve all been condemned for something by someone. Try to remember the last time that happened to you. How did it feel? Unless you were condemned by someone for loving Jesus too much or being too humble it probably didn’t feel very good. If you’re wrongly condemned it feels terrible. But even if you’re rightly judged guilty, no one likes being condemned.

For those reasons, John’s opening words in v.17 probably sound like really good news, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world…” Jesus taught the same thing himself in John 12. (John 12:47) “I did not come to judge the world …”

Again, that sounds like really good news, right? If there’s anything worse than being condemned by your sister for being mean, it’s being condemned by a judge for speeding. And if there’s anything worse than being condemned by a judge for speeding, it’s most definitely being condemned by Jesus for anything. So the fact that God didn’t send Jesus to condemn us has to be a positive thing, doesn’t it? Is it that simple? Christmas is the good news that Jesus does not condemn the world?

Well, there are three main things to see here as we lean into the text for all the Christmas help it can bring.

The first thing to see is that the “good news” of the beginning of v.17 isn’t what it might seem. God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn the world because the world was already condemned. Grace, please listen carefully as I say that again. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world. He came because the world was condemned. Divine judgment had already taken place and the world was found guilty. John made that clear in v.18, ” whoever does not believe is condemned already”.

If it’s not obvious to you already, that’s a big deal. You can’t truly celebrate Christmas if you don’t understand its relationship to the condemnation of the world. Of course, this is the opposite of what most people participating in “holiday celebrations” believe, but let the Word of God prove true and every man a liar. Christmas is about condemnation before it is about salvation.

Before moving on, it’s important to say a brief word on what probably seems like a contradictory message in John. If you’ve read John’s Gospel before, you might remember what Jesus said in chapters 5 and 9 about this.

John 5:27 And [the Father] has given [me] authority to execute judgment, because [I am] the Son of Man.

John 9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world…”

If John 3 says that Jesus did not come to judge/condemn the world, how are we to make sense of John 5 which says that the Father gave the Son authority to “execute judgment,” and John 9 says that Jesus came into the world “for judgment”?

I’ll answer that in more detail when we come to those passages. For right now I’ll simply say that Jesus did not come into the world to bring condemnation (as we read in our passage), but He did come to perfectly name the things the world stood condemned for. As we saw at the end of chapter 2, Jesus perfectly knows what’s in a man’s heart. He was able to look into the hearts of the Pharisees, Sadducees, prostitutes, tax collectors, disciples, Roman soldiers, you and me, and everyone else and know our every thought and intention. Jesus knows—better that we do ourselves—exactly what we are condemned for. In that way, when He encountered individuals and groups and named their offences, he wasn’t condemning them, but naming the judgment/condemnation that was already upon them. He didn’t come into the world to bring condemnation, but He did come to make clear that specifics of the condemnation the world was under.

It is often believed that God (especially in the OT) is angry, vengeful, wrathful, and cantankerous, while Jesus is kind, forgiving, and loving. God condemns and Jesus saves. Have you ever heard that? On the surface, it might sound like that’s what this passage is saying. On the contrary, however, Father, Son, and Spirit alike acknowledge and pronounce the condemnation that is already ours. Or condemnation is ultimately against them and by them. And each in their own way helps us to see that and participates in the remedy for that.

Grace, Christmas is about condemnation before it is about salvation. Indeed, understanding and accepting this is a prerequisite for salvation and God-honoring Christmas celebrations.

But that begs a question, which leads to the second key to the passage. The question it begs is, “Condemned for what?” Jesus didn’t come to bring condemnation because condemnation was already universal. But what was the world condemned for?

Romans 1 teaches that no one is condemned for what they don’t know. That is, condemnation doesn’t come because someone failed to keep a law they didn’t know existed or because they broke a rule they’d never heard of.

Likewise, no one is condemned because they fall outside of some ethnic community; that is, because they are not of the physical line of Abraham. One of the keys of this Gospel is that both Jew and Gentile alike can escape condemnation by believing in the only Son of God.

And, contrary to what v.18 might sound like, no one is condemned for not believing in Jesus. Not one person is or ever will be in hell because they’d never heard of Jesus. When John wrote, “whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God,” his main point, as we’ll see in a bit, is that believing in Jesus is the only way out of the condemnation in which we stand. It is not that not believing in Jesus is what leads to condemnation.

If not those things, then what? What is it that caused the world to fall under the condemnation of God? Consider with me a handful of familiar verses. As I read them, ask the Spirit to help you hear them with fresh ears.

Genesis 2:15-17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:6-7 [But] when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

Or this, Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…

Backing up, in Genesis 6:5 we read, The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Psalm 53:2-3 God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

1 John 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Anyone familiar with the Bible knows that there are dozens and dozens more passages just like these. The condemnation of the entire world comes from sin. Indeed, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and stand, therefore, condemned before God.

Grace, rightly understood, this means two critical things. First, it means that the love of Go in v.16 is not based on our loveliness. Christmas is not about your worthiness to be loved. It’s not about your specialness. Again, then, before Christmas is about anything else, it is about the condemnation that our sin has brought upon us.

And second, it means that genuine love, the kind God has for us and demonstrated in awesome ways at the first Christmas, does not demand that the person you love deserves it. This is, as John will later record Jesus teaching, world-changing. Loving the unlovely, the undeserving, those who might not love you back, your enemies, is at the heart of Christmas, and therefore, at the heart of celebrating well.

The third and final key to this first point is another question, “Condemned to what?” If we are all condemned and condemned for sin, it is natural to ask what we are condemned to.

John describes this in a number of different ways. He has already spoken of it as darkness (1:5), blindness (3:3), spiritual death (3:5), and perishing (3:16). He will speak of it as the wrath of God (3:36), eternal torment (Revelation 20:10), and a second death (Revelation 21:8), among other things.

The bottom line is that Jesus didn’t come into the world to bring condemnation, but to reveal it, its source, and its consequence. The whole world stands condemned, on account of sin, to hell.

Looking around, you’re unlikely to find many Christmas celebrations that have a weightiness stemming from an appropriate appreciation of its relationship to condemnation, fewer still to total depravity, and probably none to hell.

If you want your Christmas celebrations to be fuller than anything and everything the world has to offer, rooted in truth, and filled with fullness of joy, if you want to truly honor God this year, you must begin—not with a picture of cute baby Jesus or holiday cheer or nice decorations or thoughtful presents or good food or family plans or service projects—but with sin, death, and hell. It can’t end there, as we’re about to see, but it must begin there.

Again, it doesn’t get much more counterintuitive than that, but God isn’t overly concerned with being intuitive to the wisdom of the world. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we will see this, be convicted and crushed by this, we will recognize the infinite offense and eternal significance of our sins against God, we will know that we have no way out in our own strength, and then we will desperately, but effectively, turn to Jesus in faith to deliver on His promises. It is only once we settle on that, that the rest of John 3:17-18 will find its proper place. And it is only when the rest of John 3:17-18 finds its proper place that the rest of John, the rest of the Bible, and Christmas itself will as well.

Grace, for reasons I don’t totally understand, God has long-burdened me to wage a kind of war against those who have and would hijack Christmas. I invite you to join me. Let’s “rescue” Christmas from mere sentimentality, from a marketing ploy, from dead traditionalism, from an excuse to indulge in materialism, and from a hostageless rescue, from generic holiday spirit, and from everything else that finds its roots in something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. John 3:16-21 is among the God-given weapons for this war. With it (and the many other gospel-passages like it), we are able to offer something infinitely and eternally greater than any of those things have to offer.

It is only once God grants us the ability to settle on all of that, that we can truly appreciate what’s next. And what’s next, the second part of John’s argument in this passage, is the good news that even though the world stands condemned, Jesus was sent to rescue the world from that condemnation. Just like a diseaseless cure isn’t very good news, neither is a condemnationless salvation. But John helps us see that while our condemnation was real and complete, Jesus is more than sufficient to save us from it.

If Jesus did not come to bring condemnation, then why did He come? Again, the text couldn’t be any clearer on the matter.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

As I said in the beginning, Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but because the world stood condemned. He was sent, then, to rescue the world from its condemnation.

In v.16 we saw that Jesus was given to rescue us from perishing, put an end to our condemnation, and give eternal life (3:16). Those things combined, v.17 says, is what it means to be saved. Jesus was sent that we “might be saved through Him.” Salvation, as we try to make clear every week in the exhortation, both cancels out our debt of sin, and fills our account with the perfect righteousness of Jesus. It both puts an end to our enmity with God, and restores us to perfect fellowship with Him.

If you want your Christmas to be super-charged with all God offers, you must spend time looking straight at Jesus as He is revealed in John (and the rest of the Bible). You must measure yourself against Him. Insodoing, you must acknowledge your staggering failure to measure up, the just consequences of failing to do so, and your inability to do anything about it on your own. And you must, as the third and final main point of the text highlights, trust wholly in Jesus to rescue you and restore you and keep you forever.

Finally, then, and to carry on a theme that already has and will continue to build in John’s Gospel, access to the salvation Jesus came to bring comes through believing in Him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Not believing in Jesus is not what condemns us. It’s what keeps us in our condemnation. And we do not escape condemnation by working really hard, by being good enough, by giving enough in the offering, by homeschooling enough, by coming to church enough, by helping the vulnerable enough, or by believing in something of our own concoction enough. God’s rescue plan, which is the only plan that works, is to save the world from our sin-wrought, hell-destined condemnation through believing in the name of the only Son of God.

And in the most basic terms, that means believing that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, that He was sent to earth to be an example for all mankind, which He was perfectly, that He was crucified to atone for our sins and was resurrected from the dead to bring us life, and that through all of this He reconciles us to God, now and forever.

In other words, eternal life comes to those who believe that Jesus came at Christmas to rise on Easter for all who would receive His saving grace in faith.

Jesus didn’t come to bring condemnation. He came because we were already condemned. We were condemned by God to hell for our sin. But the love of God is such that He sent His only Son to provide the means of salvation—Jesus’ incarnation, perfect life, suffering, death, and resurrection on our behalf. And we gain access to that by believing in Him.

Christmas, Grace, is the beginning of that plan of God unfolding on earth. If that’s not worth celebrating, nothing is! May we be given the eyes to see that and may that shape all we do for the glory of God and the good of the world.