When You Meet Jesus

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When You Meet Jesus

John 4:27-45

Speaker: Pastor
Series:

What Happens When You Really Meet Jesus? Three Life-Changing Realities

Have you ever met someone who completely changed your life? Throughout my life I have met some people that would be like in leadership, maybe some politicians, more on the local level. Back in the 80s, I saw John Travolta live. He was in Winter Park, Florida. And other than that, that’s about all the, quote, important people I’ve ever seen in my life. But in 1979, I met someone who changed my life, radically changed my life. And that is Jesus.

What we find in John Chapter 4:27-45 is a woman who met Jesus. And my question for you this morning is, have you met Jesus? Do you know who he is? And really the question is, what does a life look like of someone who has actually met Jesus?

The Woman Who Left Everything Behind

This passage picks up after Jesus’ famous conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Just then, his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman. But no one said, what you seek? Or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jar and away into the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? (John 4:27-29).

This woman’s encounter with Jesus reveals three powerful truths about what happens when we truly meet the Savior.

When You Meet Jesus, Your Life Changes

Your Past No Longer Defines You

See the people of the town. They saw a woman who was a failure. Jesus saw someone who was thirsty, and he met her. No doubt the townspeople would have labeled her someone who’s been divorced at least five times. A woman that was sexually immoral, someone that was, quote, living in sin. A woman with a reputation, a woman that others avoided because she came out during the noonday when others would have come out earlier. She did it to avoid other people.

She was relationally broken, emotionally wounded, a failed wife. The Bible says that she was a Samaritan. They were hated by the Jews. They were considered Half breeds. She was part of a false or mixed religion, outside the covenant, unclean and defiled.

No doubt she felt ashamed. No doubt she felt alone. No doubt she was thirsting for love and acceptance and for truth. No doubt she would be distrustful of men and spiritually empty. See, Jesus saw her as one to pursue, even though others gave her labels and thoughts. Your past no longer defines you.

God Continues to Change You Regardless of Present Circumstances

She was living with a man God was able to use and to offer living water to someone who was, quote, living in sin. If you’re here without Jesus, you’re here searching and seeking. So often I hear people say, well, you know what? I’m trying to clean myself up and then I will come to Jesus. Folks, that’s not how you come to Jesus. You come to Jesus as you are.

If you were in a wreck and you were bleeding and an ambulance came alongside you and wanted to take you to the hospital so that you could be healed, that you could be restored, you would not say, I need to clean myself up before I get into that pure anxiety. Ambulance. If you’re here this morning, don’t try to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus. Come just as you are and the Lord can save you.

Other People’s Opinions No Longer Control You

Even for them to ask this question would mean that they thought that she was not worth talking to. Yes, she was a Samaritan, and yes, she was a woman of ill repute, you would say. But see, folks, meeting Christ and understanding the Gospel frees us from the approval of being meeting other people’s approval.

When she met Jesus. Catch this. When she met Jesus, her life was changed. Instead of avoiding people, she ran to people. Instead of shame, there was a bold witness. Instead of being isolated, she was a woman on a mission trying to tell other people about Jesus.

When You Meet Jesus, Your Priorities Shift

The Spiritual Needs of Others Become Urgent

What happens here is there’s a shifting of priorities from the physical to the spiritual. The Bible says that she left her water pot. Her whole reason for going out and going to that well was because she needed water. And the Bible says that she left that and that is important, but that is not the most important thing. She left that and she wanted to go and tell other people about Jesus.

So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people she had something to say and she wanted other people to meet the Jesus that she had met (John 4:28). And folks, when we meet Jesus, when we understand who Jesus is, our priorities ought to shift as well. Giving the gospel and loving people is not about our convenience. It’s about the need of the hour, the need of the people that God puts in front of us.

Spiritual Needs Cause Us to Sacrifice

Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat? Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work (John 4:31-34).

See, there was a contrast between the disciples who were thinking about food, and Jesus, who was thinking about souls. Jesus was tired. Jesus was thirsty. Jesus was hungry. Yet he did not allow his physical needs to triumph, to overtake the spiritual needs of other people around him.

The disciples saw a Samaritan woman, an awkward, awkward conversation situation, and food to eat. Jesus saw a soul. He saw a city. And he saw what the Bible says was a harvest.

When You Meet Jesus, You Begin to Live on Mission

You Want Others to Meet Jesus

Come see a man. And notice what it was that impressed her. This man told me all that I ever did. Stop for a second. God knows everything about you, but he still offers you living water. And here, this woman was taken by the fact that here’s a man who knows everything about me. And he talked to me. He didn’t lecture me. He spoke to me. He offered me hope (John 4:29).

She didn’t argue with him from a theological standpoint. She never went to Bible college. She never took a course about how to share your faith. But this woman was so taken about who this man was, what he did, how he treated her, that she couldn’t help but to say, I want you to meet this man.

You See Opportunities Rather Than Obstacles

Do you not say that 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 (John 4:35). See, the disciples saw the Samaritans as obstacles. Jesus said, man, there are people all around you who need to know about the gospel.

As we go out, and so often we live in a society that we can define people by the things that they do or the things that they believe and how they treat us as neighbors and things like that. But folks, those people, many of those people are living in a dark world. They don’t know Christ. It’s not our place to judge them. It’s not our place to look down on them.

You Rejoice When Others Believe

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word (John 4:39-41).

This woman was, quote, imperfect. Aren’t you glad that God uses imperfect people? She did not attend a seminary. She didn’t have polished theology. She really was, in the beginning, just confused. What do you mean? Water. Living water. Where am I going to get this?

Putting It Into Practice

When this woman stopped looking at her water pot and look to Jesus, her life changed. The disciples were looking at food, and Jesus said, stop looking down at the food and start looking up. And there’s a harvest of people all around you who need to be told the message of Christ.

All you have to say is, let me tell you about what Jesus has done for me. Come and see a man who’s changed my life. Do you realize that 82% of the people, the statistic says 82% of the people would come to church with you if you just simply invited them? 82%.

As believers, when we see and understand who we are, we understand that we’re forgiven. We’ve been justified. We’ve been reconciled to God. We’re no longer condemned. We’re made righteous in Christ. We’re children of God. We’ve been adopted as sons and daughters. We’re heirs of God. The Bible says that we’re known and loved. We’re accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). We’re a new creation. We’re born again. We’re alive in Christ.

Don’t focus on what the devil or who the devil would cast you as. Be a person who understands that you’ve met Jesus and Jesus wants you to have a life that’s been changed, to have your priorities that are in the proper place and to live on mission.

We hope you enjoyed the sermon and would love to see you in person. Plan your visit to Community Baptist Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee today!

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