I've entitled the message for
this morning, the savior of the world. The savior of the world. Now you have to admit this world
is one messed up place. It is, isn't it? And this world
needs a savior. And He is the Savior of the world. That's scriptural. He is the
Savior of the world. Look in verse 42, these people
said unto the woman, John chapter 4 verse 42, they
said unto the woman, now we believe. Not because of thy saying, for
we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the
Christ, the savior of the world. Now, do you and I believe and
know what these Samaritan people believed and knew? That Christ
is the savior of the world. You know, I love the way that
sounds. The savior of the world. In verse 25, John chapter four. This is after the Lord had spoke
to this Samaritan woman and she didn't understand what he was
saying. The woman saith unto him, I know the Messiah cometh,
which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee, am he. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. Verse 27, and upon this came
his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman. They
couldn't believe he was talking to this woman. She was a Samaritan.
We're better than the Samaritans. Yet no man said, What seekest
thou, or why talkest thou with her? Well, the woman, after this
revelation of Christ, the woman then left her water pot 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? Then they went out of the city
and came unto him. They came unto Christ. Now, if
we ever have him revealed to us as this woman did, we'll want
others to know him too. What did she do as soon as Christ
revealed to her who he was? She went out to tell other people
who he was. I pray that the Lord would put
this in our hearts, a desire for other people that don't know
him to know him. And she gives a testimony, look
in verse 28. Then the woman left her water
pot 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? Look in verse 39 and many of
the Samaritans that of that city believed on him for the saying
of the woman, which testified. He told me all things that ever
I did. Now, this woman gives her testimony,
and I have no doubt that the testimony this woman gave is
the exact testimony that every believer testifies. Same thing. Now, the first thing I would
notice about this woman in her testimony, she said, come see
a man. Come see a man. She didn't say,
come and see my changed life. Come see the way I am now after
what he's done for me. She said, come see a man. This is where every true testimony
begins. Come see this man. The man Christ Jesus. That's the one I want to testify
of. That's the one I want to see.
That's the one I want you to see. Come see a man. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Now here's our message. Who he is, he is the God man. He's fully God and fully man. He is our message, who he is,
what he did. He kept God's law perfectly.
He died on a cross as a sin bearing substitute. That means the sins
of the people he died for were transferred to him and they became
his. That's why he died. He kept the
law for these people. Come see this man. He's the only
holy man to ever live. He's the only righteous man to
ever live. You believe that? He's the only man to never sin. His perfect obedience is given
to everybody he died for. Their sin was given to him. A
transfer took place. Come see a man who died. He really
died, but he was raised from the dead. Why did he do all this? To make a way for God to be just
and justify the ungodly. Come see a man. Oh, this glorious
God-man, the Savior. Come see a man. What think ye of Christ? Come
see a man. I don't want you to be thinking
about religion or the preacher. Come see a man. What do you think
of this man, the Lord Jesus Christ? Come see a man. What does she say in her testimony?
Verse 29, come see a man which told me all things that ever
I did. Now this is the man I want you
to see. This is what this man told me.
He told me everything that I've ever done. Now somebody says,
what is he talking about? Is he talking about when he said,
look in verse 16, and Jesus saith unto her, go call thy husband
and come hither. And the woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, thou hast
well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands.
And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and that saidst
thou truly. Now, don't you reckon this woman
was shocked when he made that revelation to her? She'd never
met him. She'd never seen him before that
very day. And he tells her her history. Is this what she's talking
about? Well, it's included. It's included. No doubt about that. It's included.
But that's not really what she says. What does she say? Come see a man which told me
what? All things. All things. That ever I did. Come see a man that took everything
I've ever done and told me about it. I didn't know until he told
me. When he told me, I knew. Come
see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Now, if you
and I ever see this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I know
we don't see him physically, but we see him. If we see him,
we see him. Somebody says, I don't see him.
Well, he hasn't made himself known, because if he makes himself known,
you'll see him. It's kind of like, When Nebuchadnezzar saw
the fourth likened to the Son of God in the fiery furnace with
the other three, well, he'd never seen him. How did he know? Well,
when you see him, you'll know. You will. And if you don't, it's
because you haven't seen him. If you see him, you'll know.
Now, this man told me all the things that I ever did. If I
ever see the Lord Jesus Christ, there are two things I am going
to find out when I find out of all that I've ever Done. Two things you learn about all
things that you've ever done when you come to know the gospel.
Here's the first thing. When you hear the gospel, when
you see this man, he tells you from the gospel that all things,
whatever you did, is sin. Is that what you've heard? Now, this is very important. I did not become a sinner when
I committed a sin. I sin because of what I am, a
sinner. Being a sinner All things I ever
did was the commission of sin. It really is that simple. He
told me all things that ever I did. When I'm preaching to
you, I'm sinning. You know why? Because it's me
doing it. That's the point. When I'm praying, oh, I want
to pray, don't you? But if God judged me for my prayers,
what would he do? He'd send me to hell. All things
that I ever did were sin. The best gift I've ever given,
the most generous in my mind, whatever that, the best thing
I've ever done because I did it, that makes it sin. You see, I was born a sinner.
I was born that way. I was born bad. I wasn't born
innocent. I wasn't born good. I wasn't
born neutral. In sin did my mother conceive
me. When Adam ate of that fruit,
he became a sinner. And everybody that's born of
him is born into this world a sinner. And all things, that covers everything,
all things that I've ever done are sin. Is that your testimony? Do you believe that? What so ever you believe it or
not, all things. Whatever I did was sin. Now let
me, hold your finger there in John 4 and let me read a scripture
that will just verify this. The whole Bible verifies this,
but this does especially. Verse 8 of 1 John chapter 1,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Verse 10, if we say that we have
not sinned, the first time is a noun. I've
always got a sinful nature. The second time it's a verb with
regard to anything that I do. If I say, well, I didn't sin
there. We make him a liar because he says we have. And His word
is not in us. We've lost all credibility. So
this woman's testimony is the testimony of every child of God. Everything, everything I've done
is sin. That's what he told me. He told
me all things I ever did. But this always goes with that
testimony. This is true, just as true, more
true, if anything. All things that I ever did are
without sin. Now somebody says, how can you
make a statement like that? That seems so contradictory.
You say all things you've ever done is sin, and then you turn
around and say all things I've ever done are without sin? Well,
you see, when God teaches you the gospel, you learn the great,
glorious truth of justification. If you're justified before God,
that means more than you're forgiven. It means more than you've been
pardoned. It means you stand before God having never sinned. You kept God's law perfectly. Now, the only way that can be
understood is in light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, when Christ kept the law, he did it for somebody,
didn't he? Remember when he said to John
the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Everything I've done in Christ,
Christ kept the law perfectly. I was in him. I kept God's law
perfectly. All things. that I've ever done
are not sin, because I was in Christ. And what he did, I did. That's what we signify in baptism.
When someone confesses Christ in baptism, here's what we're
saying. This simple little ordinance that the Lord has given us, when
Christ lived, I lived. When he died, that's what I confess
when I go under the water. When he died, I died. When he
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. This is
our confession of my union With him, all things I ever did were
good, were right, were perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that is the testimony of every single believer. All things I
ever did were sin. You believe that? If you're a
believer, you do. That's your testimony. And all
the things I ever did were. without sin in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what justification is.
Now, let me remind you what the Lord said to that publican. That
publican in Luke chapter 18, beating on his breast, crying,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The Lord said regarding that
man, I tell you, that man went down to his house justified. not merely forgiven, not merely
pardoned, not merely having been shown mercy, but he went down
to his house justified. That's what Jesus Christ did
on Calvary's tree. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. So everybody he died for stands
before God justified, without guilt, having been shown mercy.
Never sinned. And you know, that just makes
the tension go out of my body when I think of that. I stand
before God without guilt justified. That's every believer's testimony. This woman's testimony is the
testimony of every child of God. Verse 39. John chapter 4, and many of the
Samaritans of that city believed on him. I love thinking about this. It
says many, many of the Samaritans. Did a revival take place? Well,
I don't know if that's the right word. The Bible does say revive
us again. But when you're revived again,
it means there was something there to revive. I think what
happened here was a divine quickening. There were people who were dead
in sins that he gave life to and they lived. They lived, they
believed. Oh, Lord caused that to happen
to everybody in this room. Many believe, they believe the
gospel. Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him.
For the saying of the woman which testified, this was her testimony
and this is every believer's testimony. He told me all that
ever I did. There it is again. Is this your
testimony? Is this your personal testimony? What he told you about all things
you ever did. So verse 40, when the Samaritans
were coming to him, they besought him, that he would tarry with
him. And he abode there two days. After hearing him speak, they
besought him. They requested, would you stay
here with us? I love that. They didn't have
a sense of entitlement. They besought him, but they had
a great desire. Oh, we want to hear what you
have to say. And he stayed there two whole days. Can you imagine
that two day period, that 48 hour period listening to the
Lord preach? They besought him and he stayed
there two more days, verse 41. And many more believed because
of his own word, the word that he spake during that two day
period and said unto the woman, now we believe. Not because of
thy saying. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, it will not do you any good at all. You won't benefit from it. Look what these people say. They
say to her, they said unto the woman, now we believe not because
of thy saying, for we've heard him ourselves. And here's what happens when
you hear from him, yourself, not just from a man, but when
you hear from him, when you hear from him, I like this word, we'll
know. We'll know. Long as you're just
hearing my voice or if I'm just hearing a man's voice, I can't
say I know. Not with true assurance and conviction and really believing
that, but when I hear his voice, I know, I know. What is it that I know? We've heard him ourselves and
know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. Now, this is what, you know,
when you hear his voice, this is what I know when I hear his
voice. He is indeed the Christ, the
Savior of the world. Now, they say, we know He is
indeed the Christ. Now, let me remind you, Christ
is not His last name. Christ is His offices. as prophet, priest, and king. And if you know him, you know
him as prophet, priest, and king. And your only hope of being saved
is by him being prophet, priest, and king. Prophet. A prophet brings men the word
of God. I will not know God unless he
gives me his word. I can guess, I can have my thoughts,
but when he gives me his word, Jesus Christ is the word of God. He's the expression of God. When God speaks, here's what
he says. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
prophet. Every other prophet said, thus
saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you, he is
the prophet. He is the priest, the priest. The only way I can be saved is
if he, as my priest, represents me before the Father. and brings
my interest to the Father. He is God's priest. Now, the Old Testament priests,
they present animal sacrifices that could never take away sin.
They just represented the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
all they presented was animal sacrifices that could never take
away sin. And they were sinful themselves,
in and of themselves. When they came into God's presence,
it was a sinner coming into his presence. That's why they had
to have a sacrifice for themselves before they could sacrifice for
somebody else. But this priest is the sinless priest who brings
to God his own precious blood and presents it before the Father.
Now, if this priest represents you, You must be saved. You can't be anything but saved.
You can't be anything but completely accepted and embraced and loved
by the Father. What a priest. Any other priest
is a failure. I think of men who call themselves
priests and saying that they're representing men before God.
That's offensive. It's ungodly. There's one priest
that can bring you into God's presence and make God accept
you. That's the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a
priest he is. And oh, what a king he is. Now,
I need him as king. Here's what a king is. A king
is someone whose will is always done. He is the king whose will
is always done. And if he wills my salvation,
I'm saved. If he causes me to believe, you
know what I believe? His will is always done. I need
him as my prophet, my priest, and king. Now, here's the question
I wanna ask you. Real simple question, please listen carefully.
Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? I'm not asking you if you believe
you're saved. I'm not asking you if you believe that Jesus
Christ died for your sins. I'm not asking you if you believe
that you're one of the elect. I'm asking you this, do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living? God. 1 John chapter 5 verse 1, whoso
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. If you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, my friend, you are saved. You believe that Jesus is God's
Christ. They said to the woman, verse
42, now we believe not because of thy saying, for we've heard
him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior
of the world. The savior of the world. Now I said, um, initially when
I, we began this service, this world, is a messed up place. Real bad. I could go on and on and on talking
about the problems of society. This world is a messed up place. It's an evil place. It's a wrong
place. You know, I love the song, It's
a Beautiful World. You know, I do. That's a good
song. but in a very limited sense. There is so much sin and wrong
and injustice and men abusing other men and stepping on other
men in order to get their own way. This is a messed up world
that needs saved. It needs saved. I need saved. When I talk about this world
being messed up, I'm a lot better off when I say, I messed up. And I need saved. Yes, the world needs saved. This
is a bad place. World's got so many problems. How about you? He's the savior of the world. Turn to 1 John 4, verse 14. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son. Now notice 2B is in italics.
That means it was supplied there by the translators, but it's
not in the original. So let's read it without the
2B. As a matter of fact, every time you read a passage of scripture
with italics, probably closer to the truth, if you leave it
out. Now, listen to this. And we have
seen and do testify that the father sent the son, the savior
of the world. Don't you love the way that sounds?
Father sent the Son, the Savior of the world. Now, if you and I are to be saved,
it will be because he is the Savior of the world, saving us. He is the Savior of the world. Now, let me repeat that. God so loved the world. Isn't
that wonderful? 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. My dear friends, the world
is already condemned. We've already messed things up
totally. God sent His Son into the world. that the world might be saved.
He sent his son into the world to save the world. Now, what
does that mean? What does that mean? And I have
to be clear here, I'm not dealing with what it really means. Let
me tell you what it doesn't mean. Is that really necessary? Yes.
Yes. Let me tell you what it doesn't
mean. It doesn't mean he came into the world with the intention
of saving every son and daughter of Adam. He didn't. If he came
with the intention of saving everybody to ever live, everybody
to ever live would be saved. He's incapable of failure. He
can't intend to do something and it did not happen. He's the
Son of God. His will must be done. So this
does not mean his intention was to save everybody to ever live. And if somebody says his intention
was to save everybody to ever live, and everybody to ever live
is not saved, that means he failed in his intention. That can't
be. He's the Son of God. As a matter
of fact, he said in John chapter 17 verse nine, these are the
words of the Lord. He said, I pray not for the world,
but for them, which you have given me. The Lord's intention was never
to save every man and woman, every descendant of Adam. Listen to this scripture, Matthew
chapter seven, verses 13 and 14. The Lord said, enter ye in
at the straight gate. Who's he talking to? You. You. Enter ye in at the straight gate. For wide is the gate, and broad
is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in
thereat. But straight is the gate, and
narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that
find it." A lot of people go to destruction. A lot of people. Do you remember when God judged
the world and he provided that ark. How many people were saved? Eight. Eight. Did not the Savior say, he that
believeth and is baptized should be saved and he that believeth
not shall be damned? Did he not say of the rich man
in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torments? He wasn't
their Savior, was he? So what does it mean? Him being
the savior of the world means this. If you're a part of this wicked
world and you are, you are this world that didn't
know him, that had no love for him. If you're a part of this
wicked world and you're saved, it's because he saved you. He
is the savior. of the world. Now the world is
not saved. Turn to 1 John chapter 2, verse 15. John says, love not the world. Neither the things that are in
the world. Now, let me say, he's not talking
about, you know, a beautiful national park, the beauty of
the world. He's not even necessarily talking
about material goods. Y'all not love material goods,
but I'm thankful for them, aren't you? I love a good meal. I love air conditioning. I love
heat, but when we didn't have any electricity, what a drag
that was. You know, I mean, you get cold.
I'm thankful for things that are in the world. And I know
that that's not what he's talking about when he's talking about
love, not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
I'm not going to say I love electricity, but I sure like it. Love, not the world, neither
the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the father is not in him. For all that's in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life is not of the father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. Now here's the world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And this all comes as a result
of Adam's fall. Because we're born dead in this,
dead in sins, there's something called the lust of the flesh. The corrupt desires of human
nature. The lust of the eyes. Let me
tell you what that is. That's not saying I see it, I
covet it. That's being, you're more concerned about what men
see than what God sees. You're controlled by the lust
of the eyes, wanting to keep up with the Joneses, wanting
appearance, how you look before men, the pride of life. Oh, what a wicked thing pride
is that causes men to reject the gospel, the pride of life. Somebody says there's good pride.
No, there's not. No, there's not. Pride is anti-God. Love not the world, all that's
in the world, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not
of the father, but of the world. Now, what does it mean to be
saved? He's the savior of the world.
What does it mean to be saved now? I need saved from God himself
because he's the one I've sinned against. That's true. Amen. I need saved from God. I need
saved from myself. I need saved from myself. I am the problem. I need saved specifically from
my sins. Matthew 121, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Save from the penalty of sin
so I never have to go to hell. I don't want to go to hell. Now,
fear of hell never saved anybody. I'm going to believe because
I'm afraid I'm going to go to hell. If I could preach a hellfire
and brimstone message and scare everybody, oh, I don't want to
go to hell, I don't want to go to that awful place. Well, sure
you don't want to go to hell. Nobody does. But nobody ever
believed because they were afraid of going to hell. It's never
happened. But I do need to be saved from the penalty of sin,
which is hell. There is therefore now. No condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. But not only do I need to be
saved from the penalty of sin, I need to be saved from the power
of sin. The power of sin. And let me
tell you what the power of sin does. The power of sin makes
it to where you don't even know you're under its power. That's how powerful it is. It
blinds a man. It renders a man unable to believe
the gospel, unable to hear, unable to love God as he is, unable
to be in a state of repentance, unable. I need to be delivered
from that power and reign of sin. Sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under law, but under grace. Grace, the grace of God, the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ causes me to not be under the
dominion of sin. Sin's not my Lord. Jesus Christ
is. I can now do what I once could
not do. I can now believe the gospel.
I do believe the gospel. I do see the glory of Jesus Christ. I do rest only in him. That's
because I've been delivered from the power of sin. And oh, I can't
wait to be delivered from the very presence of sin. I know
in Christ I already have been, but I won't experience it until
I'm in heaven and I no longer have my sinful nature to deal
with. Salvation from sin. The Savior of the world. I want to give you three scriptures
in closing. First turn to 1 Timothy 1.15.
Aren't you thankful he's the Savior of the world? First Timothy 1.15. If I don't have this scripture committed
to memory, I should. Verse 15. First Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful saying. You know, something that reaches
the status of a saying is something that's said quite often. This
has reached the status of a saying. It certainly reached this status
in the early church. This is a faithful saying. This
is something that God's people were heard to say often. This
is a faithful saying and it's worthy of all acceptation. What that means is me and you
ought to embrace this. Right here is the best thing
you'll ever hear. worthy of your full embracing
of this. And here it is that Christ Jesus
came into the world. Remember, he's the savior of
the world, isn't he? Aren't you glad he invaded history?
Aren't you glad that he came into this world? Christ Jesus
came into the world to save. He's the savior of the world.
He came into the world to save. Now, who did he come to save? It doesn't say he came to save
the elect. It doesn't came to say he saved
believers. It doesn't say he came to save
those he died for, although all those things are true. But it
says he came to save who? Sinners. And I'm so thankful
it doesn't have an adjective before that. It doesn't say what
kind of sinners. It just says sinners. Only sinners who know they're
sinners. Well, there was a time when you didn't know you were
a sinner. You do now, but there was a time you didn't. I'm glad
it doesn't say he only came to save sinners who know they're
sinners. Says he came to save sinners. Are you in that demographic? He came to save you. And saved
you must be. I turn to Acts chapter 15. Verse 11. This is Peter, and he says, but
we believe that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. Now he's talking about the Gentiles. The only way a Gentile can be
saved is by grace. You know what? The only way we
can be saved is by grace. We will be saved the way the
Gentiles are saved, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 5, he's the savior of the
world. Verse 29, then Peter and the
other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than
men. They told him to quit preaching
in the name of Christ. And that was his reply. We ought
to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers has raised
up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him have God exalted
with his right hand. to be a prince and a savior. Remember, he's the savior of
the world. Not only is he the savior of the world, he's the
king of the world. He's the prince and the savior. And here's what
he does in being prince and savior. He's exalted to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And repentance is a change
of mind. the change of mind. He gives that change of mind. Aren't you thankful? Not only does he give this change
of mind, he gives the forgiveness of sins. And let me say this
about the forgiveness of sins. You find out you've been forgiven. Forgiveness is not the end of
some journey that you do this, you do this, you do this, and
you do this, and finally you get the forgiveness of sins.
Salvation begins with the complete blotting out, forgiveness of
all your sins. Jesus Christ is the Savior of
the world. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that your
blessed son is the savior of the world. And we ask in his
name that you would save everybody in this room as the savior of
the world. In Christ's name we pray, amen.