FB, Cherokee
July 18, 2004
Sunday Morning
When You’ve Been With Jesus
John 4:13-29a
Intro.: (# 2a) Every once and a while my wife will say something like, “You’re acting like your brother.” What she really means is stop acting like a jerk. Sometimes when our kids have been away with their friends we blame their friends for the way our children act. Again, what we’re saying is when our kids are hanging around other kids they start acting like them. Some of that behavior is good and some is bad.
People tend to act a lot like the people they hang out with. My mother taught me this principle way early in life. There can be a positive in this though.
Many of these young people and their sponsors have been at Falls Creek this week. As they have returned their countenance and spirit has changed. Hopefully it will stay that way for a long time. What made the difference? We might say the place, maybe the preaching or teaching, perhaps leaving Cherokee.
The truth is what made the difference is being in the presence with Jesus literally 24/6. (# 2ab) When you’ve been with Jesus people can tell the difference. Likewise, when you’ve not been with Jesus people can tell the difference.
The Bible teaches that believers should naturally want to spend time with Jesus. It ought to be a part of our daytimer. What happens when people spend time with Jesus?
I. Sin Is Acknowledged and Confessed. (# 3a)
A. The Bible calls believers to live a life of purity and holiness.
1. There’s a reason for that - God and sin cannot exist in the same realm.
2. God who is holy will not allow sin in His presence.
3. That’s why sinful people cannot go to heaven.
4. Only those who have been forgiven of their sin are allowed into God’s kingdom.
5. Illus.: Isaiah 6 – Upward, Inward, and Outward. (# 3b)
6. When you and I encounter the living God and recognize His holiness we will acknowledge our sin and want to confess it.
B. John 4:15-19 (*18b). (# 3c)
1. Let me translate what this woman was saying in one sentence – “Lord I’m sorry for my sin of adultery.”
2. A prophet was to speak truth on behalf of God – the woman perceived that Jesus Himself was a prophet.
3. Jesus helped her to intensely discern the sin in her life.
4. She was acknowledging the sin in her life so that she could receive forgiveness.
C. When was the last time you stood in the presence of Jesus and intensely discerned the sin in your life?
1. If it’s been longer than a day it’s been too long.
2. When was the last time you agreed with God that your sin is an insult to His amazing and abundant grace?
3. When was the last time you stood in the presence of a holy God and literally trembled over your sin?
4. If it’s been longer than a day it’s been too long.
5. “Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and worshipping the Lord their God.” Nehemiah 9:2-3. (# 3d)
6. (# 4) “When you do not fear God, you will not fear sin – and when you lose the fear of God there is nothing to restrain you.” Holiness Henry Blackaby.
7. We need to understand anew this morning that there ought to be a direct relationship between a high view of God and a high view of sin.
8. Likewise a low view of God brings a low view of sin.
9. When you walk with Jesus you acknowledge your sin and you do whatever is necessary to confess it and make your relationship with Him right.
10. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” Romans 6:22
II. You Will Want to Worship Only Him. (# 5a)
A. John 4:23-24. (# 5b)
1. Could I say that the hour has already come?
2. We are in that hour of worship.
3. Jesus was teaching this woman that worship is not about a time or a place or a style.
4. Worship is about God – it’s acknowledging His holiness and admiring His majesty. (# 5c)
5. Jesus was also teaching this woman that true worship can be practiced anywhere at anytime.
6. Some of my best worship experiences have been at 65 mph on a highway to Enid or Alva.
7. Worship is not constrained to the four walls of a church sanctuary.
8. God is not physically limited to one place like we are.
9. He is present everywhere and He can be worshipped anywhere at any time.
B. Jesus is also teaching that the attitude of worship is a whole lot more important than the location or style. (# 6a)
1. God doesn’t care WHERE we worship but He cares HOW we worship.
2. Some people can’t worship during the week because their attitude of worship stinks – some are that way on Sunday mornings.
3. Listen: When you’re in the presence of God almighty you’re not concerned with style, or who is facilitating worship.
4. When you’ve been with Jesus you will want to worship only Him.
C. A deeper issue here with worship is the subject of honesty.
1. True worship is that of the spirit, which means that the worshipper must deal honestly and openly with God. (# 6b)
2. “Worship in spirit” does not refer to human spirit.
3. It is worship that is dynamically animated by God’s Holy Spirit.
4. But it is more – one preposition governs “spirit and truth.”
5. We do not have a catalogue of features here, but one inseparable concept.
6. When you and I confront God in complete sincerity (spirit) and in absolute reality (truth) we can worship God anytime, any place and any way.
7. Bottom line – He will be the only One we want to worship.
8. When you’re with Jesus your worship is uninhibited, unadulterated, unapologetic, and unreserved.
III. You Find He’s All You Need. (# 7a)
A. John 4:13-14. (# 7b)
1. Although the woman may have been thinking about well water, Jesus was interested in internal or spiritual water.
2. Such water would become in a person not stale cistern water but a free-flowing fountain or spring of water leaping or bubbling into eternal life.
3. That means when you’ve been with Jesus the Savior of all sins you find He’s all you need.
4. That means when you go to Jesus during your times of mourning you will be comforted.
5. That means when you go to Jesus to hunger and thirst after righteousness you will be filled.
6. That means when you go to Jesus to seek mercy you will be shown mercy.
7. That means when you go to Jesus with a pure heart you will see God.
8. Jesus is all you need in this life and the next life. (# 7c)
B. This promise from Jesus is not simply an experience that changes our “state” (state of salvation), but it is a dynamic experience that makes a life as living as the water itself. (# 8a)
1. The water (Spirit) will transform a life into a well that “wells up.”
2. The NKJ uses the words “spring up” and the NIV uses “welling up.”
3. The phrases are not the most important part here though.
4. What’s important is what the water is and its results.
5. The water is used here as a metaphor for who Christ is and what He is able to do with believers. (# 8b)
6. It is directed related to the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
7. The women in search of a well discovers that the Spirit could transform her life into a well that does not, I said does not, require reaching and dipping. (# 9)
8. But rather it is a well which roils and gurgles with water until it spills over its rim.
Conclusion: (# 10) When you’ve been with Jesus people can tell the difference. Likewise, when you’ve not been with Jesus people can tell the difference.
The Bible teaches that believers should naturally want to spend time with Jesus. It ought to be a part of our daytimer. What happens when people spend time with Jesus?
· Sin is acknowledged and confessed.
· You want to worship only Jesus.
· You find He’s all you really need.
Invitation # 300 “Without Him”
