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This is our last Sunday with the woman at the well passage. We still have a couple more weeks in John 4, but after this morning, we’ll be leaving Sychar. But when Jesus left Sychar, it was a much different place that when He arrived there with His disciples. The Gospel came to town. And by the time Jesus left, there was a great revival. Every Wednesday evening when we gather here, we close our prayer meeting with the same request. Every week we pray that God will bring us revival. Not some hopped up emotional event like you might see on TV. But true, God-given, Holy Spirit breathed, Christ glorifying revival. The same kind of revival they had in Sychar. That’s what we pray for. And I know that by God’s grace, He will send that revival. Throughout history, great revivals have started in different ways. They have all started with God’s people praying. Many of them that I have studied have been marked with a great work of God among young people. Young people who have prayed. Young people who have been in the Word. Young people who have gotten fired up and completely sold-out for God. Whether we’re talking the First or Second Great Awakening in America and Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries… or the great Welsh Revivals of the 19th century… or the Great Businessmen’s Revival in America… or the Haystack Revival in 1806 that resulted in the great American missions movement… or the great revivals in China and Korea and parts of the Middle East that are going on right now. All of those revivals have those things in common. They all have been marked by praying people and the involvement of young people. But if we were to trace great revivals back to something even more fundamental than that, do you know what we’d find? We’d find a person. Before the headlines are made... Before anything can even be recognized as being revival… one person has to start the fire. History doesn’t record those people. Those people aren’t headline makers. If you could compare the fires of revival with those massive California wildfires, that person is the one who threw the cigarette butt out of their car window. Behind every great movement of God is one obedient person. One, small, seemingly insignificant person who will never be recorded in history as the one who started the fire. That’s the way the woman at the well was. Jesus saved her. And when Jesus saved her, she immediately went and testified. Scripture only records a few of her words back up in verse 29. Her testimony was simple. It was plain. It wasn’t a great theological dissertation. It wasn’t designed to answer every possible question the men could ask. All she said was, “Come see a man, which told me all the things that ever I did.” And then she asked them a question. You know, most good witnessing asks questions. She didn’t wag her finger at the men and tell them that they had to believe. She just asked them a question. After all, that’s what Jesus did to her. Jesus started His conversation with her by asking her for a drink of water. Then later on He asked her about her husband. Questions make people think. When questions are used correctly, they can break down defensiveness and open people up. That’s what happened here. If the woman had demanded that the men believe in Jesus, they would have immediately thrown up their defenses and gotten rid of her. But she was too smart for that. She asked them a question. She described what Jesus had done for her and then she asked them if they thought He could be the Christ. To put it simply, she gave her testimony. She gave her testimony and invited them to come meet Jesus. And do you know what that did? It sparked a great revival throughout that city of Sychar. Hoards of Samaritans got saved. Don’t you long to see that here? Don’t you long to see many people come to Jesus? Don’t you long to look out over our fields and see people flocking to Christ? Don’t you long to see this church and every Bible believing, Bible preaching church filled to overflowing? Don’t you long to hear the name of Jesus praised as God of creation and Lord over all—throughout these hills? Don’t you long to see a great revival pour through Mercer County and Tazewell County? Don’t you long for that? Do you know how it will get started? We’ve been praying and we will continue to pray. The question is, who’s going to light the first match? You might think, “Well, I’m not qualified to witness to people.” Are you any less qualified than this woman was? She’d only been saved for a few minutes. She hadn’t been through a witnessing course. She couldn’t have answered a bunch of deep theological questions. Besides, she knew that most of the time those kinds of questions are just a diversionary tactic anyway. Remember how good she was at those? She’s the one that worked so hard to get Jesus off the subject by asking Him about worship. She knew she didn’t have a whole bunch of answers. But here’s what she did know. She knew that she had a testimony. She had met a man who had shown her her need for a Savior. And then He told her who the Savior is. And she believed Him. And she went and told others what she knew. She gave her testimony. She lit the match. And when she did, it started a great fire. Are you ready for that kind of fire to burn through here? Then do what the woman did. Go and tell. Tell your testimony. In our passage, we not only see the testimony that the woman told… we see the testimony that the Samaritans received. The woman lit the match with her personal testimony. But that wasn’t all it took for the fires of revival to spread through Sychar. She lit the match of her personal testimony. Then that flame had to be fanned with the winds of a personal encounter with Jesus. Bet even that wasn’t enough to sustain a fire. Because the flame had to catch and light and burn. It had to be fed and sustained by the Word of God. It takes three stages of testimony to light the fires of revival. The first stage is personal testimony. Look at verse 39:
JOHN 4:39
The fires of revival are lit by personal testimony. When you think about it, the woman was equipped with everything every Christian is equipped with. All she had was Jesus. That’s all she had, so that’s all she took with her. Now, granted, when Jesus revealed to her who He is, she understood what that meant. She understood who the Messiah was supposed to be. She understood who Christ was going to be. She understood that the One who would be called Christ would be the one who would work everything out for His good. She knew He was the One through whom everything would make sense. That’s what she said back in verse 25, isn’t it? “When He is come, He will tell us all things.” But did you notice what happened then? In verse 26, Jesus revealed to her who He is. That’s all. He didn’t go into a deep discussion to explain all things to her. And she didn’t ask! All of a sudden, her eyes were open to Jesus as her Savior. And when her eyes were opened and she was brought to new life in Him, the questions were no longer the most important thing on her mind. All of a sudden, the most important thing on her mind was telling others about Jesus. So she did. She didn’t know all the answers. She probably still had all the same questions she always had. But she had a Savior. And she wanted other people to have a Savior. So she went back into town with the only toolbox she had. She went with her story of who Jesus was to her. She left her waterpot there at the well and went to the place she knew the best. Think about that for a minute. The place she went to was a place she was well known. It was a place full of men. It was full of men probably for two reasons. First, because the women wouldn’t have anything to do with her. Second, because the men wanted to have too much to do with her. So do you think it was easy for her to go back to that same situation? Do you think it was easy for her to walk headlong into her past? Of course it wasn’t. But she did. Notice that she didn’t go back to the place of her past sins to hang around with them. She didn’t go back to engage in long term relational evangelism with them. She went back to make an announcement. She went back to tell them that she met a man who had completely changed her life. He knew everything there was to know about her and He still loved her. He really loved her—not for her body or anything else. He knew all of her deepest darkest secrets and He loved her anyway. And then she said it. Then she said the words that turned it from a history lesson to evangelism. Then she said, “Come see.” How often when we hear personal testimonies, do they forget that part? So many times we hear of all the rough lifestyle a person lived in their past. It’s dramatic. It’s vivid. Many times it’s very graphic. And they talk and talk and talk about their past sins. And then they briefly close by saying how Jesus saved them from that. That’s not a personal testimony. The focus of a personal testimony is, “Come see a man.” Come see Jesus. Jesus knew everything about me. I was dead in my trespasses and sins. Whether those sins were front page material like drugs and sex and gangs… or whether those sins were pride and self-righteousness and lust. It doesn’t really matter. Dead is dead. And make no mistake about it, no matter how good or bad you are… whether you’re as good as Nicodemus was or as bad as the woman at the well was… we all have one problem. We are all dead in our trespasses and sins. Compared to a holy God, we all fall short. But I know a Man who knew all of that. He knew exactly how dead and rotting my heart of stone was. He knew all of that—and He still loved me. Come see a man. Come see Jesus. That is a personal testimony. It doesn’t have anything to do with how dramatic your past life was. It has everything to do with how wonderful your Savior is. But you need to know something. Personal testimony alone is not enough to light the fires of revival. Because the fires of revival also require experiential testimony. The second stage of testimony to light the fires of revival is experiential testimony. Look at verse 40.
JOHN 4:40
The fires of revival may be lit by personal testimony, but the flames are fanned by experiential testimony. Personal testimony is wonderful. It is the first tool in our toolbox. It is the first stage of testimony. But by itself, personal testimony is incomplete. It’s incomplete, because when an encounter ends with personal testimony, the person hasn’t done what you’ve asked them to do. The woman didn’t just tell the men of Sychar what happened to her. She gave them an invitation. She asked them to come with her to see the One who had changed her. She asked them to come and experience the One who had saved her. You see, we can talk to people all we want to. But until they have a life-changing encounter with Jesus, it’s just a conversation. Sometimes it would be nice if we could drag people to Jesus, wouldn’t it? Sometimes I think we try to do that with some of our evangelism techniques. But in reality, the Holy Spirit is the only One who can truly draw a person to Jesus. All we can do is invite them. We can introduce them to Jesus. That’s what we do with our personal testimony. It’s not so much about introducing ourselves. Most of the time people know enough about us anyway. We’re not the ones who are being introduced. Jesus is. We can invite them. We can introduce them. But the bottom line is, the true drawing comes from the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit draws, they still have to respond. Now I want you to notice something in this passage. Verse 39 says that the Samaritains heard the woman’s personal testimony. And based on what she said, they believed. But was that saving belief? No, it wasn’t. It was the kind of belief that says, “Wow, you’ve changed.” “You’ve changed and I want to go see what changed YOU.” They believed her testimony. One of the most common responses you’ll run into today is the person who will tell you, “That’s OK for you. I’ve got a different truth.” “That’s great how you believe that Jesus changed you. I don’t believe all that stuff.” People will have no problem believing that you believe your personal testimony. They’ll have no problem with it, they just don’t want anything to do with it for themselves. But many times, even though they feel that way, when they see the sincerity of your changed life, they will be curious. “Buddy, you’ve always been cranky and hard to get along with. You’ve always gotten wrapped around the axle at the least little thing. Maybe there’s something to all that Jesus stuff you’ve been telling me about.” So, in our passage, the Samaritans did what the woman asked them to. They went to see Jesus. They saw Him. They talked with Him. They experienced what it was like to be in His presence. But do you know what? Even that didn’t save them. Did you know that a person can fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and still not submit to Jesus as their Lord and King? People can even have a deep emotional event where it’s almost as if they’re standing in the presence of Jesus Himself. They can walk an aisle. They can deeply feel that they are having an encounter with God. And you know what? If they have not submitted to Jesus as their Lord and King, they are not saved. If their lives have never borne fruit for Him, Scripture says they are not saved. No matter what kind of dramatic experience they’ve had. Hebrews 6:4-5 talks about those who have once tasted the heavenly gift. It talks about those who have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have fallen away. In other words, those people who have experienced being in the presence of Jesus and walked away. They were drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit and had some sort of a spiritual encounter with Him. But that encounter never resulted in them submitting to the lordship of Jesus. And because that person never submitted to the lordship of Jesus, they were never saved. They had an experience with Jesus. But they were still lost. If those men of Sychar had walked away from Jesus, that would have been them. They would have had the experiential testimony of being in the presence of Jesus. But if they would have failed to trust Him as their Lord and Savior, they would have walked away lost. But they didn’t. they wanted more. They wanted to spend more time with Jesus and feed on His Word. They wanted to submit to Him as their teacher and master and Lord and King. And when they did, they were saved. The match of the woman’s personal testimony was fanned into the flame of their experiential testimony. But they truly believed when that flame was fed and sustained by objective testimony. Look at verses 41-42.
JOHN 4:41-42
The fires of revival burn hot by objective testimony. There are two general categories of information—subjective and objective. Subjective information is subject to perceptions and feelings and conditions and perspectives. It is subject to my feelings and the way I see things. I may see a piece of information differently from you. That would make the information subjective. Objective information is completely different. Objective information is the same no matter who is looking at it. Another way to describe objective testimony is to call it absolute truth. There are some things that I think are right based on the way I was raised. I think I should wear a coat and tie when I preach. Is that objective or subjective. It’s subjective. 200 years ago, preachers wore clerical robes when they preached. It was considered prideful and heretical to wear dress clothes in the pulpit. It’s my opinion. It’s subjective. When you get right down to it, all of our experiences in life are subjective. When the woman gave her personal testimony, it was subjective. It was her experience. She couldn’t translate her experience to the men she was talking to. After all, none of them had had five husbands. Even when they personally encountered Jesus… I’m sure some of them were emotionally moved by His presence. Some of them were intellectually stimulated. Some of them were broken and full of shame. Some of them were joyful and wanting to celebrate. Does the text say that? No, but isn’t that what happens when different people experience Jesus today? In and of itself, the experience of an encounter with Jesus is very subjective. I’ve actually heard preachers say that unless you bawled your eyes out at the altar, you weren’t really saved. That’s a bunch of garbage. One of the greatest Christian thinkers of the 20th century was CS Lewis. He was saved while he was riding on a bus in England. Nothing spectacular. Nothing dramatic. He just knew he was brought to new life in Christ. He had read the accounts of saints whose conversion was dramatic. He knew of Augustine who was in absolute agony during his conversion. He fiercely threw himself around a garden as tears poured down his face. He pulled out his hair and beat himself in the head with his fists. Finally he curled up in a ball under a fig tree and submitted to Jesus as his Lord and Savior. You can’t get much more dramatic than that, can you? But CS Lewis was saved every bit as much as Augustine was. Every bit as much as I am. And every bit as much as these men of Sychar were. The point is that everyone’s experience when they encounter Christ is different. It is subjective. If I hold up my salvation experience to you as the way it has to be, it’ll be confusing when your salvation experience is different. Our personal testimonies are all different. They are subjective. Our experiential testimonies are all different. They are subjective. That’s why God gave us His written Word. God’s Word is not subjective. God’s Word is objective. It was completely absolutely true as the apostles and prophets were writing it. It is completely absolutely true as you read it today. And it will be completely absolutely true as people read it long after we’re gone. When did the men of Sychar become believers? Verse 39 says that they believed what the woman told them. They believed that she believed her testimony. But that wasn’t saving faith. Then when they experienced Jesus, they believed Him enough that they wanted Him to stay with them for a few days. But when did they come to a saving belief in Jesus? They came to a saving belief in Jesus in verse 42. They came to a saving belief in Jesus when they heard the Word of God from the lips of the Son of God. That was when they believed that Jesus was truly the Christ, the Savior of the world.
Just like the woman, we are called to bring people to Jesus. We bring them when we give them our personal testimony. We tell them to come see a man. When the Holy Spirit draws them and they encounter Christ, that’s not the end of it. It’s really just the beginning. It’s just the beginning because as Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” True faith in Christ comes from hearing who He is from the objective truth of Scripture.
So, who is Jesus to you? You can’t testify to a Christ you don’t know. Is Jesus just someone you’ve heard about from family or friends or in sermons? Do you just know Him from somebody else’s personal testimony? Maybe Jesus is somebody you’ve emotionally experienced in a revival or an altar call. Maybe you’ve had an intense emotional experience with Jesus, but He’s never really changed your life. If either one of those is where you find yourself this morning, you need to meet Jesus in His Word. Believe Him for what you’ve heard Him say about Himself in His Word this morning. You can be truly saved. You can know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. You can know that He is the Savior of your soul. As the music sounds, come and let me show you Jesus in the objective testimony of His Word.
