Good morning. I invite your attention to the
Gospel according to John chapter 3. I'm going to read two rather
extensive texts that are related to each other and then God willing
we will conclude with John chapter 4 verse 42 and We will consider the subject,
my message is titled, Jesus Christ, Savior of the World. We're going to look at two people
in John chapter 3 and the other in John chapter 4 and see how
indeed Jesus Christ is the Christ, the Savior of the world. John
chapter 3, verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know, we Jews, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered
and said unto him, and Jesus just almost appears to be rude
here. Cut the subject off and changed
it for good reason. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and
ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things,
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly
things? No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is
in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world, consider
that phrase, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. Now come with me to chapter 4.
We just considered the man Nicodemus. We now will consider an unnamed
woman in Samaria. Begin reading in verse number
3, John chapter 4, verse 3. Jesus left Judea. That's where
he had met with Nicodemus. Jesus left Judea and departed
again into Galilee, where he lived. And he must needs go through
Samaria. It was necessity. There's no
other way he's going to go. Oh, there was another way, but
he could not take it. He had to go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sachar, near to the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well, and it was about the sixth hour high noon. There cometh
the woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her,
Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou Being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans.' Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to
drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From which
then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him,
Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither
to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go call
thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou hast now is not thy husband. In that saidst
thou truly. The woman said unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe
me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not
what. We know what we worship for salvation
is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman
said unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ,
when he is come he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto
her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples,
and marveled that he talked with the woman, yet no man said, What
sickest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot,
and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see
a man which told me all things that ever I did, is not this
the Christ?' They then went out of the city and came unto him.
In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not
of. Therefore saith the disciples
one to another, Hath any man brought him out to eat? Jesus
saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent
me, and to finish his work. Say ye not there are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already
of the harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that Both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein
is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you
to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored,
and ye are entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans
of that city believed on him. For the saying of the woman which
testified He taught me all things that ever I did. So when the
Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would
tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more
believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, Now
we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him
ourselves, and know that Here's my text. This is indeed the Christ,
the Savior of the world. This is indeed the Christ, the
Savior of the world. Now consider that Jesus Christ
is the Savior of the world in both chapter 3 and in chapter
4. In both of them, 3 and 4. In
chapter 3, in John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. In chapter 4, this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. Every word here is important. The Christ, Son of God, Messiah. The Christ, because there's only
one. The Savior, the Savior, the only
one of the world. Contrary to some, the text does
not read that God loved everyone and that He's the Savior of everyone. It does not read that. God so
loved the world. That's not the same as everyone.
He's the Savior of the world and that is not the same as everyone.
the Savior of the world. These two chapters highlight
two individuals, and in your bulletin, you'll see an article
in your bulletin, the contrast between them. Very brief. These two were as different as
they could be, and yet you find this. Two points that I want
you to see. The Savior of the world saves
all the sorts of people in the world. And number two, the Savior
of the world saves them all in the same way. They both were
saved. Now, you just read of her salvation. Currently a man, he told me everything
I ever did. And she believed and because
of her many others believed. We are not told that Nicodemus
believed. His conversion is indicated considerably
later in the scriptures. In John chapter 7, Nicodemus
defended Jesus, which just about got him in trouble and remember
that he was a high-ranking man, a ruler of the Jews, a very high-ranking
member of the Sanhedrin, We have good confidence that
he did indeed believe, though a timid believer he was, until
he overcame his timidity at the death of Christ and it was Nicodemus
who buried him. Nicodemus publicly, I'm going
to bury him. He and Joseph of Arimathea. Both
of them were converted, she evidently immediately, he sometime later. But both of them proved to us
that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. The Savior of the
world saves all the sorts of people in the world and the Savior
of the world saves them all in the same way. Consider point
number one. The Savior of the world saves
all the sorts of people in the world. And this world has many
sorts of people. All kinds of different people.
And Christ saves people regardless of their gender. Here in John
3, He's the Savior of a man. And here in John 4, He's the
Savior of a woman. Some religions elevate men over
women. Some religions elevate women
over men. Jesus Christ saves them both
alike and treats them alike. And then we read that in Christ
there is neither male nor female. Your gender will not recommend
you to God. Your gender will not bar you
from God. He's the Savior of the world. Second, Christ saves people regardless
of their name. We're still under the same main
heading. Christ saves people regardless of their name. Now
this man's name is Nicodemus. We're told his name. There was
a man of the Jews named Nicodemus. The word means conqueror. We know not how he came by that
name, but it's a noble name. There, he's the conqueror. Yeah, but he's about to be conquered. He was a conqueror, a high man, elevated, high position. And here's this woman, what's
her name? We're not told. Scriptures do not even give us
her name. She's one of the most important
women in Scripture and we do not even know her name. Your
good name will not recommend you to God. Your bad name will not bar you
from God. And your anonymity among men
will not make you anonymous to God. The Savior of the world
saves people regardless of what their name is and even if they
do not have a name, He's the Savior of the world. Furthermore,
Christ saves people regardless of their ethnicity. Here, in
John 3, He saves a Jew. Here, in John 4, He saves a Samaritan. Now, let me explain the differences
between these. We generally find people in scriptures
divided by Jew and Gentile. The two major divisions in scriptures,
Jew and Gentile. Jews were distinguished from
Gentiles. Neither had anything to do with
the other. But this woman is of a third sort, Samaritan. She is part Jew, part Gentile. This all came about after Samaria's
fall to Assyria. Read about it in 2 Kings chapter
7. But when Samaria, northern Israel,
the northern kingdom, Separate from Judea, when the Northern
Kingdom went off into captivity, the Assyrians brought in Gentiles
to intermarry with the Jews who were there, and that's where
they came from. So Jews and Gentiles do not care much for each other,
but they both look down their noses at Samaritans. If I may
use the term, They're half-breeds. That's what they were considered,
half-breeds. It's okay to be full-blooded
this or full-blooded that, but no. Half this and half that,
no. That's what she was. She's a
Samaritan. Well, Jesus Christ saved sinners
from all ethnic groups He sent his ministers to be witnesses
to me in all Judea, the land of the Jews, and Samaria, to
the Samaritans, and to the end of the earth, that's the Gentiles,
to the end of the earth. Now it may be that one of these
days, when we all have gone home to glory, We're going to get
acquainted with one another and with believers there we've never
seen. Perhaps someone who's in this
building today will be asked, where did the Lord save you? And the answer is, Choteau. Never heard of it. Choteau, where
is it? It's close to Depulia, I suppose
I said that right. Never heard of that neither.
Where is this place? It's up toward the end of the
earth. Our Lord sends his disciples
to preach the gospel to the end of the earth. Some of these are
in places that are like that of which the tourist asked a
person How do I get to such and such place? And the person of
that place said, you cannot get there from here. It's to the
end of the earth. Well, that's what our Lord has
done. Jews in Judea, Samaritans in Samaria, and then he says,
go to the end of the earth, north and south, east and west. Go
to the end of the earth, because the Lord saves the sorts of people
found in every part of the earth. He sent his ministers with the everlasting gospel to
every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. Revelation 14, 6. The saved in heaven are a great
multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes,
peoples, and tongues singing to him, to Christ, you were slain. and have redeemed us to God by
your blood out of every tribe and every tongue and every people
and every nation. I tell you, our Lord has people
from all sorts of the earth, all places of the earth, and
they're just every sort of people you can imagine. Why? He is the Savior of the world.
Furthermore, Christ saves people regardless of their deeds. Their
deeds. Alright, there's Nicodemus. He's
a ruler of the Jews and notice the scripture says he was a man
of the Pharisees. The most rigid sect in Jewry. A Pharisee. Pharisees were holier than thou,
self-righteous. Lord, I thank thee that I am
not like other men, like that sinner over yonger." They were
just so proud of their deeds. This woman, she has no good deeds, not even
in her own eyes. This woman was a sinful woman.
She was an adulteress. That's why she came for water
at high noon. Respectable women come for water
at sunrise or at sunset in the cool of the day. Well, at sunrise,
this woman is probably still sleeping it off. And furthermore,
she does not want to be seen in the company of respectable
women who are there at the well in the morning. So high noon,
here she comes. Good time for her. Nobody else
is at the well, except on this occasion. This son of man is
there. Woman, go call your husband.
I have no husband. You're right about that. You've
had five and the man you're with now is not your husband. She
was of unsavory sexual character. She had no good deeds. Nicodemus, why ask him? He's
full of them. Her? Everybody knew she had none. But to Jesus, it matters not. Beware of your good deeds. They
may prevent you from coming to Jesus. The biggest reason why
people do not come to Jesus is because of their self-righteousness.
If they ever see their need of righteousness, they'll come flying.
Sinners, some say, I'm too big a sinner for God to save. No, you're not too big a sinner,
you're just too proud a sinner. Jesus saves people regardless
of their deeds. Your good deeds will not commend
you to Him. Your bad deeds will not prevent
Him from coming to you. He's the Savior of the world. Jesus saves people regardless
of their religion. We've got two religions here
in these two texts. The Jews worshipped in Jerusalem on a mountain. The Samaritans worshipped on
another mountain quite some distance away in two different countries. And they worshipped not only
on two different mountains, but in two separate ways. Nicodemus
was of the Jews. His religion was that of the
Israelites, to whom pertained the adoption, Paul tells us,
Among the nations of the earth, they were the ones that God adopted
to Himself. To them belonged the glory. The
Shekinah came down to visit them. To them belonged the covenants
of Abraham and Sinai. To them belonged the giving of
the law, for God never gave it to Gentiles. He gave that law
to Jews. To them belonged the service
of God in the tabernacle and in the temple. To them belong
the promises and of whom Christ came. Of whom Christ came. The greatest blessing God ever
gave to the Jewish nation was that of bringing Christ out of
their number. And what about this woman? What
about this woman? when the kingdom of Israel split
Judah to the south Samaria to the north now we got two different kingdoms
north and south but only one temple and all the
people of the northern kingdom have to go down to Jerusalem
to worship so The king had a brilliant idea. I'll make my own religion. I'll build myself my own temple.
I'll have my own priesthood, my own sacrifices. It's a counterfeit
religion. Oh, the devil is so good at that.
The way of Jeroboam, the scripture calls it. The way of Jeroboam. The religion of the Jews was
favored by God but it did not commend one to God, else Nicodemus
would not have needed salvation. The religion of the Samaritans
was most abominable to God, but it did not bar one from God,
else the Samaritan woman could not have found salvation in Christ. Our Lord saves people out of
every religion. That includes agnosticism and
atheism, which are professing religions. Our Lord saves them
out of all religion, for he is the Savior of the world. Furthermore,
Christ saves people regardless of their social status. This
man, Nicodemus, was a ruler of the Jews, the teacher of Israel,
and therefore ranked at the top of his favored people. And what
about this woman? Now remember, that of the Jews
and Gentiles and Samaritans, the Samaritans were the lowest
of the three. This woman is a woman, probably
in a male-dominated society, and furthermore, she's a fallen
woman. Folks, you can't get any lower than this woman. You cannot
get higher than Nicodemus. You cannot get lower than her.
Our Lord saved them both. Furthermore, Christ saves people
regardless of their time of meeting Him. Of Nicodemus we read, he
came to Jesus by night. Now, he's somewhat of a strange
character. He's a ruler of the Jews He gets
respect wherever he walks. He's known wherever he walks. But nobody saw him walking that
night. Under cover of darkness, he comes to Jesus. Perhaps he's
timid. It appears he was a timid man. Perhaps he's just being discreet
because It was not advisable for a member of the Sanhedrin
to be found talking to Jesus, but here he comes by night. The
sun has set, it is late at night, Jesus is alone, and here comes
Nicodemus by night. And this woman, she finds Jesus at the sixth
hour. How do? The sun is at its zenith,
so it matters not the time of the day. The time of the day for salvation
is not important. What is important is this, make
it today. Make it today. I cannot stress
this point enough. will not assume that everyone
here is a believer. I will not assume that everyone
who's watching the message live stream or will hear the message
later, I will not assume that they all are believers. But I
would say this, the time of day when you would seek Christ is
not important, but the important thing is, do it now. While it
is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. Today, if you will hear his voice,
do not harden your heart. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You are not assured of tomorrow.
You're not even assured of this afternoon. The only thing you
are assured of is this moment. This moment. And many who expect
to come to Christ in the midnight hour will find themselves dead
in the 11th. Make it now, folks. Make it now. It matters not what time of the
day is. The Savior of the world saves
people at whatever hour it is. It matters not. It matters not. Point number two, the Savior
of the world saves them all in the same way. Consider first that both these
people came to Jesus because Jesus first went to them. Nicodemus is in Jerusalem. Jesus lived in Galilee up to
the north, long ways off. Nicodemus was not going to go
to Galilee looking for Jesus. So Jesus went down to Judea so
that Nicodemus could come to Him. Nicodemus came to Jesus
by night because Jesus had already come to him. The Samaritan woman came to the
well to meet Jesus because Jesus had
already gone to the well. Consider, he must needs go through
Samaria. There's no other option. He must
go through Samaria. Why? Because he has an appointment
at high noon. on a certain day at Jacob's well
with a woman who does not know of the appointment but she will
keep it Jesus went to her and then she came to Jesus Christ must come to people before
they can come to him and he comes to people so that they may come
to him God's Word declares that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That verse has been getting a
lot of attention here lately. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Notice, He came to sinners and
then sinners came to Him in the house of Levi. Later known as
Matthew the Apostle, we read that many sinners came and sat
down with him, Matthew 9 verse 10, and then Mark tells us they
followed him. They could not have come to Jesus
if Jesus had not come to them. He came into the world of safe
sinners, and sinners came to him for salvation. He went down
to Jericho one day, went down to Jericho and he said,
the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
What's he doing in Jericho? He's looking for somebody. He
came to seek and to save that which was lost. The man he's
looking for has climbed up into a sycamore tree. So Jesus walked to that tree.
Zacchaeus, you come down, I'm going to your house. He knew where Zacchaeus was.
Just as surely as he knew where that woman of Samaria would meet
him, he knew where he would meet Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, I have
come to this tree, you come down. Zacchaeus came down. Zacchaeus
came to Jesus because Jesus went to him first. He said, Jesus
said, I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance and repentant sinners come to him while the self-righteous
go further from him. He comes to call the righteous,
and comes to call the sinners, and the sinners come. Now, consider
furthermore, both these people recognized Jesus for whom and
what he is. Nicodemus said to him, Rabbi,
or Master, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for
no one can do these miracles, these signs that you do, unless
God is with him. Nicodemus had learned something.
We, who's we? Evidently fellow members of the
Sanhedrin. They would not be found following
Jesus, but they knew he's a man from God. He turned water into
wine. He heals the sick. He gives sight
to the blind. He opens the ears of the deaf. He even cures those who cannot
walk. He's got to be a man of God.
God must have sent him. No one but a man sent from God
can do such miracles as this. Nicodemus knew something of Jesus. The woman said to him, Sir, I
perceive that you are a prophet. How would you feel if you walked up to a complete
stranger and then he looked at you and you've never seen this
stranger before? There's never been any contact
between you? And then he looks at you and
begins to tell you your life's history. Where'd you find that out? Oh,
I know more. And off he goes. He knows all. He has told this woman all about
herself. He knows more about her than
anyone else. That can be a scary person, folks. We can hide secrets from our spouse. from our children,
from our co-workers. You will not keep it from him.
You will not keep it from him. Sir, I perceive that thou art
a prophet. What is a prophet? A man sent
from God. Both Nicodemus and this woman
recognized Jesus as a man from God. No one can speak these words
that you speak unless God is with him. Now you see, He's the Savior
of the world. It matters not whom and what
you are. Matters not your ethnicity, your gender, your social status,
Your religion? None of these matter! Not at
all. Jesus saves all sorts. He's the
Savior of the world. He will save at any time. No one ever came to Jesus and found a clothed sign on the
door. No one ever did. No one ever
called heaven looking for mercy Heard a busy signal, never did,
never did. He's the Savior of the world
and it matters not who you are, but He is the Savior only of
those who believe in Him. Only of those. He therefore is
not the Savior of everyone, but only of they who believe in Him.
And He tells His preachers to go into all the world. even to
the end of the earth. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized
shall be saved. He who does not believe shall
be condemned. Now when you walk out that door
this morning, which of those will you be? Will you be one whom Jesus came to save? Or will
you be one of those who says, he's not for me? He's not for
me. Oh God, our Father, bless, we
pray, this message. Bless your son, We bless him
and you have blessed him to save sinners as high and mighty
as Nicodemus and as low and shameful as this woman and even this chief of sinners
behind this pulpit and some in these pews. Bless, we pray your
word, dear glory. In Jesus' name we pray.