A sad sinner, a seeking Saviour and a satisfying salvation

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM TUESDAY 14 MAY 2024 – MR JOHN WEIR

JOHN 4 VERSES 1 – 19

 

Here we have before us a desperate woman who found forgiveness.  The Lord delights in forgiving lost people. Think of the dying thief or the man called Legion, Mary Magdalene, Saul of Tarsus.  One day they met with the Lord. They were changed.  When you meet Christ you are changed.  What a difference between this lady and Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was a highly moral man, faithful Jew, he came by night, he knew who Jesus was, he came seeking Jesus.  A rich, religious, ruler, respectable.  This woman on the other hand was immoral, a despised Samaritan, came by the light of day, never had heard of Jesus, she was sought by Jesus.  She was a sinner, outcast, shunned by society.  You could be a deep dyed sinner or an upright law abiding person.  We all need God’s salvation.  “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  God wants to save all types of people, all classes of people.  The gospel message is a wonderful message.  I have seen many people saved from all backgrounds.  Revelation 7 around the throne will be people from every tribe, nation, tongue, background, praising the Lord.  3 simple thoughts to paint the picture of what is happening here.

 

The sad sinner.  She had 5 husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband.  Living in sin.  Never intended her life to be this way.  Trying to find her happiness in relationships.  One after another had left her empty.    I meet many people trying many different things for satisfaction in life.  Some are like this woman – relationships, drink, drugs, gambling, religion, good works, popular but still empty.  They are deep in sin.  It will bring satisfaction for a short time then leaves it empty.  “I tried the broken cisterns Lord ... Now none but Christ can satisfy, there’s no other name for me.”  Sin always takes you further than you intend.  The devil makes it so attractive.  Remember one old preacher said “the devil offers the wages but he always pays with counterfeit money.”  There are many wrong relationships that have ruined a precious family.  Guard your testimony tonight.  It is the most precious thing that we have.  This was just an ordinary day for this woman.  Maybe that is the same for you.  It could be the best night for you.  Wrong decisions in her relationships left her thinking ‘I wonder who will be talking about me today?’  She was the topic of conversation among the men.  Never intended her life to be this way.  Maybe you have made wrong choices.  Gone down the wrong paths.  Maybe she wished she had never been born.  A broken lady.  You can be born again.

 

The seeking Saviour.  “And he must needs go through Samaria.”  He had to meet this woman.  A divine appointment. The Lord seeks out this woman.  The Lord seeks out the unlikeliest of people.  Maybe you are saying “I could never live for the Lord, salvation is for someone else.”  If he could change this woman he could save you.  Many of us are the unlikeliest of people, who never thought they could be in a meeting hearing this message.  The Lord takes and saves the unlikeliest of people.  He uses them for his glory.  Remember David - from a shepherd boy to king of Israel.  Rahab in Hebrews 11.  Mary Magdalene.  Saul of Tarsus.  The dying thief.  Unlikeliest of people  The Lord comes and takes them.  Limited prospects.  Sinful, shunned, shameful.  The Lord had a plan for her life.  Don’t waste your life serving the devil.  Jeremiah 29 verse 11.  The Lord went himself to reach this woman, put himself out.  Scholars tell us it was 40/50 miles walk just to reach one poor broken lost woman.  That tells me the Lord is interested in the individual.  Numbers don’t matter to the Lord.  The Lord is interested in the individual.  The Lord put himself out for this woman.  Do we put ourselves out for people?  That is how people are saved at a mission.  You never know who you could meet that needs to hear “the old old story of Jesus and his love.”  She was sensitive, she had baggage.  Jesus knew he could win the city through this woman.  A notable sinner. The Lord has saved before many many times .  Is the Lord seeking tonight?  Knocking at your heart?  Maybe he stood knocking in the Sunday School class, maybe at a youth rally, or another gospel mission, at the death of a loved one, at a hospital bed.  The Lord is seeking and searching hearts.  “My spirit will not always strive with man.”  The Lord will not always knock.  There’s room at the cross for you. 

 

The satisfying salvation.  When you meet the Lord you are satisfied from the first day.  This woman got a drink of that living water and she never thirsted again.  John 7 verse 38.  To have living water inside of you, to be able to worship God every day and talk to him.  Maybe your mind is tired tonight, there is trouble in your home tonight.  Jesus’s name is like ointment poured forth.  Verses 13 and 14 Jesus gave her a drink of water that meant she never thirsted again.  This woman got a drink that met her need.  You can get a drink of living water if you call out to the Lord because he is passing this way today.  This woman’s life has been changed.  She left her waterpot behind and went to the village.  She told them “come see a man who told me all things that ever I did.”  Spurgeon said “the fish knows little about the angler but it knows when it has swallowed the hook.”  This woman swallowed the hook.  This woman didn’t care about her reputation.  Verse 39 “many of the Samaritans believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did.”  How many have come to the Lord through your testimony?  Through a life witnessed.  It is a challenge.  If the Lord can use the woman at the well with 5 husbands living with a man who wasn’t her husband what can he do with you and me?  I wonder what the rest of her life was like?  With the man she lived with?  She would never forget Jacob’s well.  The same Saviour is here for you.  She took her opportunity.  God forbid it would be your last time to hear the Lord.  George Whitefield said “the Lord saves the devil’s castaways.”  This woman had been saved.  Her life was now changed.  She was going to live for King Jesus.  A sad sinner, a seeking Saviour and a satisfying salvation.