Jesus Saves

John 4:16-26

Main Idea: Jesus focuses the woman’s attention on the three main truths of Christianity: she is a sinner, he is the Savior, and salvation comes through faith in him.

1. Every Person Is a Sinner (4:16-18).
2. Jesus Saves Us from Our Sin (4:25-26).
3. Salvation Comes through Faith in the Savior (4:20-24).

There are all kinds of bumper stickers—funny ones, crude ones, political ones, and personal ones. All of them have a message. It got me thinking about the different messages people claim are Christian. Many of them would look great on a bumper sticker, but good luck finding them in the Bible. One popular bumper-sticker version of Christianity says, “God wants you to be happy just as you are.” In other words, Christianity is nothing more than a spiritualized journey of self-affirmation. Another version says, “You do your part, and God will do his.” That suggests God and I are equal partners in accomplishing my salvation.

Is this really the Christian message? The best way to answer the question—What is the message of Christianity?—is by turning to Jesus Christ. In his conversation with the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus delivers and defines the greatest message in the world. You can’t boil Christianity down to a bumper-sticker slogan. It’s impossible to capture the depth of Christianity in a single phrase. But in this conversation Jesus focuses on three main truths. If this woman is to properly understand what following Jesus is all about, she must understand sin, the Savior, and salvation.

Every Person Is a Sinner

John 4:16-18

Jesus focuses her attention on the sin that makes her guilty before God. She is an adulteress (v. 18). She has not only married five different men, but she is currently living immorally. She’s moved in with a man who is not her husband. Her problem is not the particular sin (immorality) but that she is a sinner. She has broken covenant with the God of the universe and lives in rebellion against him. Sin is the starting point of the Christian message. From the beginning of humanity’s story when sin burrowed into paradise, the pages of history are written in bright, vivid strokes of rebellion against God. Unless we understand our own sin and our identity as lawbreakers, the following truths won’t matter to us.

Thomas Watson, a seventeenth-century Puritan pastor, wrote, “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet” (cited in Harvey, When Sinners, 16). Until this woman understands the depth of her sin, she will not long for the salvation Jesus offers. The gospel without sin is no gospel at all. Yet around the world a sinless, condemnation-free message is being held out as the Christian message. But without an awareness of our standing before God—that we are guilty rebels who fully deserve eternal punishment—grace is meaningless. Where there is no recognition of sin, there will be no joy. True joy comes when we understand that we were enemies of God who have now been reconciled to him.

The bumper-sticker Christianity that says “God wants you to be happy just as you are” is a lie. It’s impossible for you to be happy just as you are. You’re a sinner in need of rescue. The Bible describes you as dead, estranged, blind, sick, and enslaved. How happy does that sound? It’s not fun to talk about sin. I’m sure it’s not your favorite subject. But if you’re to understand the basics of Christianity, you must first take an honest look at your heart—your deceitful, desperately wicked heart. Any message that ignores the reality of human sin is a lie. Just like the woman at the well, we are all sinners. We have all broken covenant with God. Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, wrote,

Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate the evil which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honor of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed. (Cited in Harvey, When Sinners, 38)

If we don’t understand sin, we’ll never understand the message of Jesus Christ, but when we start to understand that we are rotten to the core and sin has been eating away inside us like a cancer, then we’re ready for the next truth of Christianity.

Jesus Saves Us from Our Sin

John 4:25-26

This is in many ways the message of the Gospel of John. John wrote so that we “may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God” (20:31). This was Jesus’s message to the woman. Once she arrived at the understanding she was a sinner, she needed to understand he was there to save her. In the earlier part of his conversation, Jesus told her about living water. The first thing he did was point her to her need and then to the solution.

If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would ask him, and he would give you living water. . . . But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life. (4:10-14; emphasis added)

Salvation from her sin was only possible as she came to a right understanding of Jesus Christ. She needed to understand he was the Messiah—the one sent by God to rescue people from sin (vv. 25-26). No man or woman can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. He is the only way of salvation. This has been the message from God since the beginning of time.

When mankind first sinned in the garden of Eden, God promised he would send a Savior to rescue them from their sin. Over and over, throughout Israel’s history, this promise was portrayed.

When Jacob and his family were going to die because of a famine, they went to Egypt to get help. In Egypt they found one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, who had gone through humiliation and abuse before being exalted to a place of prominence. From this place of prominence, he was able to save his family, God’s chosen people, from death. His example of suffering, exaltation, and salvation pictured the one who would be sent by God to suffer in order to provide salvation for all of God’s people.

What did God do when his people were enslaved in Egypt? He sent a rescuer, and he had them celebrate that rescue each year, waiting in faith and anticipation for the ultimate Rescuer who would save them from a more powerful enemy—sin.

Later, Israel’s armies were facing certain defeat as they stood on the opposite side of a valley from the Philistine army and their champion Goliath. It was a hopeless situation. A period of slavery was certain until God brought an unexpected champion to defeat the giant and provide salvation for his people. A promise was made soon after: a greater champion would come from the line of David and provide a greater salvation for God’s people.

In each situation God delivered his people apart from any work on their part. Each time he was foreshadowing the salvation, deliverance, and redemption that would come through his Son Jesus.

This is why Jesus told this woman, “Salvation is from the Jews” (v. 22). He’s not saying only Jews can be saved but that the message of salvation came through the Jews. The Old Testament Jewish Scriptures were God’s way of revealing the promised salvation in Jesus Christ. He’s also referring to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. When God promised Abraham a son, he told him, “All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3). From the seed of Abraham, the blessing of salvation would come to all people. Ethnicity, gender, and nationality don’t matter. God’s promise of a worldwide Savior was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Christianity is both inclusive and exclusive. It’s inclusive because the invitation extends to everyone. Everyone, everywhere needs Jesus, and the death of Jesus Christ was enough to save all people from all ages. It’s also exclusive because there’s only one way to be saved. Acts 4:12 says only one name can bring salvation: Jesus Christ. Christianity says Jesus is the only way to God. If you come to Jesus, he will get you home. He is the only road that leads to the presence of God. He is the only door into God’s house. Jesus is the all-sufficient and only Savior we need.

Salvation Comes through Faith in the Savior

John 4:20-24

When Jesus points out this woman’s sin, her first thought was that Jesus would want her to go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple (v. 20). She thought salvation was something she did, but Jesus instructs her about the true nature of salvation. Salvation is not something we do; it’s something God does for us. He saves us.

Many times verses 23-24 are interpreted as referring to what Christians do on Sunday mornings—how we worship as a congregation. That misses the point. The context of these remarks is not a corporate worship service but an explanation of the gospel to a non-Christian. Notice the words “in Spirit and in truth” in verse 24. In 3:31 John is describing Jesus and points out that Jesus is a reliable witness to what God desires because Jesus has been with God and bears witness to what he’s seen and heard. However, despite the reliability of Jesus, no one receives his testimony.

The one who has accepted his testimony has affirmed that God is true. For the one whom God sent speaks God’s words, since he gives the Spirit without measure. (3:33-34; emphasis added)

To worship God in spirit and in truth means we have received the truth—the testimony about who Jesus Christ is—and we have received the Spirit. Jesus is describing salvation. We turn from the lies and error of this world and embrace the truth about Jesus and receive his Spirit, who then dwells inside each one who believes.

Jesus says in effect, “I have come to bring salvation. True salvation makes people worshipers of God. They have turned from self-worship—vowing allegiance to their own efforts and own desires and own glory—and have knelt in obedience and allegiance to the one true God. The only way people turn from self-worship to God worship, from rebellion to obedience, is by embracing the truth about me and receiving the Holy Spirit. This is the salvation I bring.”

This whole discussion on salvation is set within the context of Jesus’s death. Twice in these verses (4:21, 23) Jesus refers to the “hour.” That “hour” is his death and resurrection. Salvation is not found at the temple but at the cross. It’s not found in religious ceremony but in the Messiah’s death. Salvation from sin and reconciliation with God will only come as she turns from her sin and self-worship and trusts in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on her behalf. She was hoping her religious experience would be enough. She was trusting in her obedience to her fathers (v. 20), but Jesus makes clear her only hope is coming through him to the Father.

Conclusion

Jesus clearly defines our message; he leaves no room for doubt, no possibility of error, no hesitation or waffling. If we are to understand and share the message of Christianity, we must focus on sin, the Savior, and salvation.

On a trip to Eastern Europe, I entered a cathedral filled with statues and covered in paintings. One painting of Jesus covered by glass stood waist high in the front of the room. A lady went up to it, and with tears in her eyes, she kissed it. Then she bowed, crossed herself, and walked to the back of the room to buy candles. Where she kissed it, the glass was worn down from years of worshipers kissing that glass. Perhaps she hoped going somewhere (the cathedral) and doing something (kissing a portrait) and giving something (money for candles) would save her from her sin.

The message of Christianity is not a bumper-sticker slogan about doing good things or being a better person. The message of Christianity is a call to worship the God of the universe. It’s a call to the soul-expanding, heart-enlarging, world-shaking worship of the God who reigns over all. It’s a call to turn from our sinful rebellion and to be saved from our self-worship by the power of Jesus Christ. John Newton, near the end of his life, summed up the message of Christianity perfectly: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior” (cited in Pollock, Amazing Grace, 182).

Reflect and Discuss

1. What are the three main truths of Christianity?
2. What are some false bumper-sticker interpretations of Christianity? How does the Bible address them?
3. What is the ultimate problem the woman at the well faces?
4. Why does it matter that the woman understands the depths of her sin? Why not just call her a sinner in general terms?
5. What is the danger of thinking too lightly of your own sin?
6. Why does Jesus tell the Samaritan woman that “salvation is from the Jews”?
7. How is Christianity both inclusive and exclusive? How does this change the nature of your relationship with unbelievers?
8. How has your worship changed as a result of salvation?
9. How is the message of Christianity a call to worship the God of the universe?
10. Why is the woman’s ability to worship in spirit and truth an issue of belief and not of knowledge?