John 04:34 - Evangelism: If You Don't Go, Who Will?

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC Weekly, 2004-02-22

Text: John 4:34

The fourth chapter of John's Gospel records how the Lord Jesus converted a Samaritan woman at a well. It happened when He and His disciples stopped to rest from their journey at Jacob's well. As they were all tired and hungry, the disciples left Him there while they went to buy food at the nearby city of Sychar. During their absence, a Samaritan woman came to the well, and our Lord took the opportunity to witness to her. This resulted in her salvation, and she began to tell other Samaritans to come and see the Messiah. 

When the disciples returned with food, Jesus was still talking with her. Not knowing what had happened, the only thing they were concerned about was that their Master should have His long-awaited meal. But Jesus replied that He had something greater to be concerned about. Here was an excellent opportunity to save sinners, and there was much work to be done! He therefore challenged them to do the work of bringing sinners to salvation, first with His own example, then with an exhortation, and finally with an encouragement. In these we can find three good reasons why we should go forth and do the work of evangelism.

The Example of Christ: Our Kingdom Mission

John 4:34 "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." The disciples had seen Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman and had seen her going away leaving the water pot behind, because she was overjoyed at having found the Saviour. But they hardly seemed to be excited or interested about this. Why was this so? Perhaps they were too preoccupied with the mundane subject of food. All that was on their minds then was that they had bought food for themselves and for their Master, and that their Master should now come and dine with them. 

Perhaps we can see a bit of ourselves in these disciples. We are oftentimes concerned about the basic necessities of life like food and drink, rest and sleep, health and comfort, clothes and shelter. There is nothing abnormal about being concerned with these things. But when our thoughts and our time are grossly preoccupied with them, then there must be great cause for concern.

There are definitely more important things in life to be concerned about. Here are some diagnostic questions: Would you forego a meal as easily as you would forego your daily quiet time? Would you forego your leisure time or rest time if there is an opportunity for you to lead someone to Christ? Would you forego buying the T-shirt you always wanted, to purchase a Bible for a non-Christian friend who is interested in reading God's Holy Word?

An inability to answer these questions affirmatively may indicate that you are preoccupied with the mundane things of life. If you are earnestly seeking to advance God's kingdom on earth, the first thing you need to do is to remove this preoccupation, and embrace a sense of mission, a sense of being urgently compelled by a divine purpose. That mission must be as important to you as any basic necessity in life. This is what Jesus meant when He said in v.34, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." To Him, doing the will of God and finishing the work of God's kingdom were his food and drink. He could not do without them. They were His mission, and He must fulfill His mission!

Do you have the same sense of kingdom mission? The work of saving souls from eternal death is part of your mission in life. It is as basic to your existence as food and water. Matthew 6:31-33 "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Unless you take this kingdom mission seriously, you will not see a need to go and bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ. The real issue behind all this is the Lordship of Christ in your life. Do you accord to Christ the full rights He has to rule your life? Is He really the Lord of your life? If He is, are you willing to do anything for Him? If Christ is not Lord of your life, you will never make it a top priority to seek His kingdom. 

This point needs to be emphasized. Unless you are committed to submitting to Christ's Lordship in every area of your life, you will remain where you are, and will never budge out of your comfort zone. Dear Reader, if Christ has done so much for you, even to the extent of dying for you, is anything too hard for you to do for Him? Are you willing to go with the Gospel, for Him?

The Exhortation from Christ: The Kingdom's Needs

John 4:35 "Say not ye, 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 to harvest." There are basically two contrasting elements here: The way the disciples perceived the cultivated fields, and the way that our Lord perceived them. The disciples perceived that the fields were not ripe yet for harvest. Therefore they can take their rest, as there were four more months before the harvest. But Christ perceived that the fields were already overripe for the harvest. They were white - this means that if no one bothered to harvest them soon the whole crop would be lost!

The message here is that there is an urgent need to bring the lost to salvation. The world of sinners is God's harvest field. The harvest involves the reaping of souls by preaching the gospel far and wide. The needs are truly overwhelming. The problem is that we do not perceive these needs well enough to take them seriously and act upon them. Like the disciples in this situation, our vision is myopic. We do not see far enough. 

Therefore Christ says to us, "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields." Have you lifted up your eyes and looked hard enough and far enough? Can you see the urgent needs of the unsaved who are around you? Do you not realize that if someone had not taken this need seriously enough to bring the Gospel to you, then you too would be one of the millions who are perishing! Lift up your eyes and look on the fields! Do they not cry out to you for help? 

Do you have loved ones who are still outside Christ? What about those at your place of work or study? Do you not feel burdened that they do not know the joy of salvation yet? Look at the crowds flocking to worship idols and burning incense to them. How do you feel when you see them? Do you not see them sinking deeper and deeper into the eternal fires of hell? Who will go and help them escape from such a horrible end?

Isn't it time that we lift up our eyes and take a long, hard look on the fields? Isn't it time to advance God's Kingdom in all these fields, "by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can?" (John Wesley)

Let us not be contented with a short-sighted complacency. To remain so indifferent to the Kingdom's needs is to be cold and heartless. Let us be like our Lord Jesus: When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with warm compassion on them because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:37).

The Encouragement from Christ: The Kingdom's Reward

John 4:36 "And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." The first part of this verse tells us that we will receive wages for reaping. The harvest is therefore profitable work! The second part tells us that we will have joy. The harvest is therefore joyful work! These are the rewards we can look forward to in the work of harvesting souls. And when will these joyful rewards be given to us? 

The answer is given in 2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." The Apostle Paul writes about the same event in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." We who are saved will have to go through this judgment one day, not to decide our eternal destiny, but to be rewarded for the work we have done for the Lord. Only the work that endures the Lord's fiery assessment will bring rewards. 

Dear Reader, let your present efforts to do the Lord's work be driven by the incentive of receiving such wonderful rewards from Christ! Imagine how happy you will be when Christ says to you, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matthew 25:21). Let this motivate you now to go forth and bring the lost to Christ. Do all that you can do to reap a good harvest of souls, because Christ has said, "He that reapeth receiveth wages."

In addition to this, there is yet another incentive for evangelism. John 4:37,38 "And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours." Christ was telling His disciples that the work required of them is relatively easy because it is actually the work of completing what others have already done. This can be seen when we view the whole work of redemption from beginning to end. 

The "other men" mentioned in v.38 refer to the Old Testament prophets and saints who had laboured to write the Scriptures and to build up the foundation for the Gospel. Christ may also have been referring to Himself, for He had to accomplish the most difficult part of the labour for redemption: He had to humble Himself and suffer the agonising death on the cross for our sins. And now that all this labour for redemption has been completed by Christ and the prophets, our part is simply to reap the results of it! Should we not be more willing then, to do our part in the whole scheme of redemption?

There is one final incentive for evangelism: John 4:39 "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did." It is truly amazing that just by one single act of soul-saving by Christ, so many more were now coming to believe on Him. The work was multiplying rapidly, because the Samaritan woman was spreading the good news to other Samaritans, who would in turn spread it to others (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2).

The same process is continuing even today. The work of evangelism is a multiplying work. This makes it so worthwhile, because whatever effort we put into it is bound to be multiplied in time to come. Psalm 126:6 "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 

Perhaps you might consider joining our Evangelistic Band Fellowship which goes out to win souls every 1st and 3rd Sunday afternoon. Who can tell what great things God will do through you, if you will take the initiative to go with the Gospel? Who can tell how many will eventually be saved and brought into the Kingdom of God as a result of your efforts to win souls to Christ? 

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." (Isaiah 6:8)

John 04:27-42 - Lift Up Your Eyes and Look!

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45 am service, 2007-11-04

Text: John 4:27-42

One of the most important tasks of our church is to make every member a witness for Christ. This can be done by training everyone to share the Gospel, and be encouraging one another to keep sharing the Gospel. However what we often find is that training in evangelism alone does not automatically make us soul winners. Many may use their new skills initially to win souls for Christ. But quite often, the zeal dies down after some time. How many who have gone through our church evangelism training are still actively sharing the gospel today? Perhaps only a handful. And one reason why this often happens is that it takes a lot of motivation to put in that extra effort to find opportunities to win souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that motivation is often what we lack. In the secular world a problem like this would be addressed by offering attractive incentives or rewards for work - incentives like the prospect of higher pay, promotion, some recognition or award. 

Well did you know that the work of winning souls for Christ also has very good incentives? But these incentives are not in terms of money, or promotion or awards or material bonuses but in terms of better things than that. Let us find out what great incentives we have for soul winning, as we study the passage of Scripture in John 4:27-42. 

This passage describes a significant event that took place after Jesus had converted a Samaritan woman. It all happened when Jesus and His disciples stopped to rest from their journey at Jacob's well, near the town of Sychar. The time was 12 noon and they were all tired and hungry. So His disciples left Him there while they went to town to buy food. 

And during the time they were away, our Lord took the opportunity to witness to a Samaritan woman who came to the well. As a result of this, she was saved and she began to tell other Samaritans about Christ. The disciples returned with food when Christ was still talking to her. But they wondered why He was talking with her and did not seem to be interested to find out what was happening. They were only concerned that their master should have something to eat. But Jesus had something even greater to be concerned about. Here was an excellent and tremendous opportunity to save a lost soul. Our Lord was excited and anxious to win souls and He wanted His disciples to share His excitement and get involved in the work He was doing. So He challenged them by speaking about the rewards of soul winning. In your sermon outline you will see that there are at least 3 kinds of rewards that we may receive for soul winning. The first is:

I. To Have Satisfaction in the Great Privilege of Soul Winning

This is the main point of vv.31-34. The disciples had seen Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman and they had just seen her going away and leaving her water pot behind, because she was really excited at having found the Saviour. But all that did not seem to affect them very much. They were hardly excited or interested about this. Why was this so? Because their minds were already pre-occupied with food. All that mattered was that they had bought food sufficient for themselves and their master, and that Jesus should now enjoy a meal with them. Our Lord indicated to them that there was a kind of food that was far more satisfying than what they had brought, and it is one they too should be more interested in. He said, 'I have food to eat that ye know not of.' 

I think that we can see a bit of our own selves in these disciples. Most of the time our minds are focused on day to day mundane issues. We are concerned about physical rewards like food and drink, rest and sleep, clothes, shelter and some recreation. And it is alright to have some concern about these things since they are needful to us for life on earth. But often we tend to become overly concerned about them. We do not think of anything else except these things. And because we are already so preoccupied with them, we hardly get excited about the more important things in life which we should value more. 

Let us do a little assessment. Would you forego a tasty meal as easily as you would forego your daily quiet time? Would you forego an opportunity to rest if there was an opportunity for you to lead a friend to Christ? Would you forego buying the shirt or blouse you always wanted, if the money could be used to buy a Bible for a non-Christian friend who would like to read God's Word? 

If you find it hard to answer 'yes' to all these questions without the least hesitation, then perhaps you are too preoccupied with seeking satisfaction in earthly rewards. Your concern for these things is just too great. There is something important that you have missed because of it: It is the great privilege of having a part in God's glorious work. This should be of greater importance to us. We should desire this privilege. It should become like our food and drink: Something we cannot do without. What Jesus said in v.34, should become our own personal motto in life: 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work.'

Unless doing the will of God is your priority and you even regard it as a basic necessity you are not going to get very far in soul winning. Is there any work in this world that is as great as God's work of salvation? If someone came to your house one day and told you that you have been specially selected to be part of a very important national task force that will effectively solve once and for all, all the problems our country is facing, would you turn down such an offer? I don't think so. Just the thought that you can have even a small part in such a momentous work would excite your imagination and move you to lay aside all things of lesser importance. How much more then should we be willing to lay aside other lesser pursuits in order to have a part in the greatest work that God is doing in this world. The privilege itself is enough reward for us. But that is not the only reward available for those who win souls. Let us go on to look at the second one, which is

II. To Have Success in the Great Task of Soul Winning (v.35)

One kind of reward that most people would always look forward to in this world is success. In any bookshop you will invariably find shelves and shelves of books on the secrets, strategies or principles of success. The sweet smell of success motivates people to work hard and even to stretch themselves to their limits. People labour night and day to be successful. This applies to any kind of work. One kind of work where success is very important is farming. The farmer does not mind all the hard work of plowing the land, sowing the seed and irrigating the soil, because he has only one objective in mind - to reap a great harvest! That is the reward he looks forward to. He does not mind labouring and waiting for it.

In our text we see our Lord using this concept to excite His own disciples, by employing that same word 'Harvest' to describe soul winning. Look at v.35 'Say not ye, 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 to harvest.' It was commonly known that after sowing, there is a period of waiting of 4 months before the harvest. But in the spiritual realm there is no delay. The fields are ripe for harvest and it is time to reap. One writer has observed that the mention of 'white already to harvest' may have something to do with the white garments worn by Samaritans - perhaps Christ was pointed out the crowds of Samaritans dressed in white that were now coming out of the town as a result of the woman's witness to them.

Let us consider how this applies to us. The world of sinners is God's harvest field. The harvest involves the reaping of souls by the preaching of the gospel far and wide. The needs are truly immense. The trouble with many of us is that we do not perceive them well enough to be moved to action. Like the disciples in this situation, our vision is myopic. We do not look far enough. Therefore Christ says to us, 'Lift up your eyes and look on the fields.' Do they not cry out to you for help? Is your heart not moved to do something for them? Consider the needs around you. Do you have parents, brothers, or sisters who are still outside Christ? What about your place of work or study? Do you not feel a burden for your classmates or colleagues who do not know the joy of salvation? Do you not see them sinking deeper and deeper into the eternal fires of hell?

Look at the relatively unreached groups of people in Singapore. How many have been saved from among the thousands of production line operators, bus and lorry drivers, construction workers, food-stall holders, car-park attendants, petrol kiosk attendants, mechanics or shipyard workers? These blue-collar workers make up the highest proportion of our country's labour force, and yet they lack any significant witness for Christ. Look at the numbers of foreign workers in Singapore - one million of them! While we send our missionaries to reach people in foreign lands, we must not forget that we can reach them right here on our island! Dearly beloved, there are many out there who need the Gospel, and the fields are already white and ready for harvesting. Although we have many evangelistic programmes, we are barely scratching the surface. The harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few!

It is worth considering why our Lord chose to use this word, 'harvest' to describe the work of saving souls. He could have chosen a different word. Why did He not use words like 'sowing' or 'plowing' or 'watering'? Perhaps it is because these words do not convey the idea of success that the word 'harvest' does. Many things can go wrong even after the land is plowed or after the seed is sown. A strong typhoon may destroy crops that are not ready for harvesting. But once the harvest-time comes, the sweet smell of success is already in the air. This is why most farming communities always have special gatherings and activities to mark the harvest time - to celebrate the rewards of success. 

What does this mean for the work of soul winning? It means that it is bound to be successful. When we get involved in it we are not getting ourselves into a venture that may produce absolutely no results. Success is guaranteed by God Himself! No matter how difficult the task may get, we will be rewarded with success because God is sovereign in salvation - He opens the hearts of sinners to the Gospel and draws them to Christ. Therefore nothing can ultimately cause the work to fail. Even though not everyone will respond positively to the gospel, the fact remains that as many as God has ordained to be saved will respond wherever the Gospel goes forth.

An indication of this can be found in v.39 'And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.' The disciples must have been amazed that by winning only one person - the Samaritan woman who had come to the well, so many more were now coming to Him for salvation. The work was multiplying rapidly, because the woman was so excited about her new-found faith that she spread the good news to others also.

This process is continuing even today: God's work multiplies and this makes every little effort you put into it significant and worthwhile. It may be efforts at home to teach your children about their need for Jesus. It may be efforts at school to talk about eternal things with your classmates rather than about the usual tests, teachers and exams. It may be efforts to pass a tract to the person who works next to you in your office. Whenever you put any effort into doing God's work you can trust the Lord to multiply it. (cf. the five loaves and two fishes offered by one boy - that Christ used to feed 5,000 people) You may work very hard and speak to many people but end up bringing only one person to Christ, but who knows that that person may turn out to become a good soul winner who will in turn bring hundreds of others to the Lord! Who can tell how many will eventually be saved as a result of your little efforts to share the gospel with someone? 

Thus far we have already seen two rewards of soul winning: To have Satisfaction in the Privilege of Soul Winning. And to have Success in the Great Task of Soul Winning. These alone ought to provide sufficient stimulus to action on our part. But the Lord adds on to these, an even more attractive incentive to encourage us further. And this is probably the greatest incentive of all. It is

III. To Have a Share in the Great Profits of Soul Winning (vv. 35-42)

There are great rewards awaiting those who are involved in the work of winning souls for Christ. Let us look at v.36 of our text 'And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.' How thrilling it is to know that we will receive wages for winning souls. But when will these wages be received? To know that let us turn our Bibles to two other passages. 

The first is 2 Corinthians 5:10 'For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.' From this, we know that we will receive our rewards at a future great event called the judgment seat of Christ. 

Now let us turn to 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 'Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.' The last part of this verse makes it clear to us that this judgment is not to decide who will be going to heaven or hell. It is different from the judgment that unbelievers will face where they are condemned to eternal death.

All who believe in Christ already have eternal life and Paul affirms in Romans 8:1 that 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus' The judgment seat of Christ is an event only for those who are already saved, to decide what eternal rewards they will receive for the work they have done on earth for the Lord. Our work will be assessed by fire and we will be rewarded for the work that endures this assessment. Some of us will therefore receive a greater reward and some of us a smaller reward, and some of us may receive no reward at all.

What kind of reward will this be? Let us turn our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 to find out 'For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.' This crown of rejoicing is described by some Bible scholars as the 'soul winners' crown.' It is one of the five kinds of crowns mentioned in the Bible that God will reward believers with. Here Paul says to the Thessalonians, 'We are all going to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and when I stand before that Judgment Seat you Thessalonians, are going to be my crown.' It is difficult for us to think of people in terms of a crown, and yet Paul emphasizes that the Thessalonians, among others, are the crown which he expects to receive at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Every person whom he has led to the Lord Jesus Christ, every person to whom he has ministered the Word in saving grace, will make up his crown when he stands at the Judgment Seat of Christ. 

You will notice that in v.36 of our text Jesus says that 'both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.' Therefore this crown of rejoicing will actually be shared by everyone who has been involved in the work of saving souls - whether through sowing the Gospel seed or reaping the results of salvation. The question I would like you to consider now is this: If the Crown of Rejoicing is related to the souls you have shared the Gospel with or won to the Lord Jesus Christ, are you going to have this crown? 

And more than that, are you going to have the unimaginable joy of having this crown? There are good reasons why it is called the crown of rejoicing. The Bible says that in Heaven there is joy over one sinner who repents and comes to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. How much greater will that joy be when that soul's journey is finished, the work is complete, and that saved soul stands perfect in the presence of the Lord! 

Dear friends, the task of winning souls may not seem to be joyful now because of all the resistance, rejections, disappointments and other difficulties you will face. But God's Word in Psalm 126:5-6 assures us, 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.' Each time you feel fearful or even tearful from witnessing, let the thought of receiving the crown of rejoicing overcome all your fears and discouragements! And let us then do all that we can to sow the Gospel seed and reap the harvest of souls because Christ has promised us that there are wonderful and joyful rewards awaiting us.

Now, coming back to our passage in John 4 we find that there is still another incentive here for us. And this is found in vv.37, 38 'And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.' What does this mean? Christ was telling His disciples that their work of reaping that they were required to do is relatively easy because it is actually a work of completing what others had started. Here, our Lord is actually taking the whole work of redemption of sinners from beginning to end. And the 'other men' that He mentions in v.38 refer to the Old Testament prophets and saints who had laboured in writing the Scriptures and building up the foundation of the Gospel. 

Perhaps Christ was also including Himself here when He mentioned the 'other men': for He had accomplished the most difficult part of the work of saving sinners from eternal death. He had to humble Himself as a man and suffer the agonizing death of the cross to take away the sin of the world. (And really, if anyone deserves to be rewarded for the work of soul winning, it should be our Lord Jesus Christ, and not us.) We must be thankful that it was Jesus who was given the task of laying the solid foundations for the Gospel in providing the only means that can deliver any soul from sin. Nothing but His precious blood can wash away our sins. If there is anyone here this morning who is still unsaved, you must not wait one moment longer to avail yourself of the soul-cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. You must repent of your sins right now, and begin to trust Him to be your only Lord and Saviour. All the work of salvation has been fully completed by Christ. Your part as a sinner is to simply apply what He has done to your life.

This principle also applies to those of us who are already saved and who are now called to be witnesses for Christ: All the necessary groundwork for salvation has been done and fully completed by Christ Himself. Our task as sowers and reapers is simply to proclaim that completed work. And this is actually the easiest part to do: According to v.38 Christ's sends us, His disciples, to reap that for which we have not laboured. All we need to do is proclaim His completed work clearly to sinners and reap the glorious results that will come out of it! This is nothing compared to what Christ had to do on the cross. We should therefore be all the more willing to do our part in God's whole plan of redemption. 

As we partake of the Lord's Supper this morning let focus our thoughts on the salvation that Christ has laboured so hard and suffered so long to accomplish through His agonising death on the cross. And let us then see how light and easy our part is since Christ says that He sends us as His witnesses to reap that whereon we bestowed no labour. May the Lord help us then to commit ourselves anew to do our part in winning souls from sin.

John 04:1-30 - Awakened from False Hopes

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 8am service, 2000-07-02

Text: John 4:1-30

Today we are starting on a new series of messages with the theme of God's Wonderful Dealings in Our Lives. And the topic that we will consider this morning is God's awaking us from false hopes. Is this a relevant to us? Yes, it is? Because before we came to know Christ, many of us were actually living with false hopes. Some were led to believe that our dead ancestors would help them through this life. Some were depending on the constant observance of some special ritual to ensure that they would live better in the 'next life.' And some others were perhaps trusting in some teaching or philosophy they had read and been impressed with. And some were encouraged to trust in themselves and their own abilities and powers. And perhaps many of us would have continued to put all our hopes in these things, if the Lord had not awakened us one day to see them all for what they really are: nothing but false hopes. 

Dearly beloved, the world we live in is filled with things that look so genuine, that look so impressive and convincing, that people will readily take them to meet their needs. Sometimes, we are taken in because of the nice packaging they come in, accompanied with much aggressive advertising. But when we commit ourselves and invest much time, effort and money in it, we find that there is nothing really great about it. They do not deliver the expected goods or benefits. We feel cheated and robbed, and that we have been taken for a ride! And so we must be careful, to put our trust and hopes only in things that are proven to be genuine, and in the things that will really meet our needs. 

The passage that we read awhile ago is all about a woman who had many needs. Firstly, she needed water (v.7) - that is why she came to the well carrying her waterpot. That was obviously a physical need. Secondly, she had a moral need - she was apparently living in immorality (v.18). Thirdly, she needed knowledge (v.25) since she longed for the day when the Messiah would come and tell her all the knowledge of God that she needed to know. But the most important need she had was her spiritual need - Her need of salvation from sin and eternal death. 

These are all the needs she had. But what did she depend on to meet those needs? What things did she put her hopes in? The passage provide us with some interesting clues. In v.12 she talked about Jacob, her ancestor, and how he gave them a well. 

He had been the well's owner and left it to meet the physical needs of his descendants. But apparently the woman was not too happy about that well. It was too far from where she lived. In v.15 she reveals how she wished to be rid of the inconvenience of having to come to it everyday, and exerting so much physical effort to draw water from its depths (v.11). 

Verse 18 provides another clue about what this woman put her hopes in. Here we learn that she had lived with five husbands (probably not all at the same time, but one after another.) Perhaps her first marriage had brought her so much unhappiness and disappointment that she went after someone else, hoping for something better. But the same thing happened again and again, and in the end, none of her five marriages had satisfied her. So she had decided not to even bother to seek for marriage with the latest man in her life! 

In v.20 the woman mentions another thing she depended upon, and that is all the traditions that had been handed down from generation to generation ('Our fathers worshipped God on this mountain'). That was probably her only source of knowledge. And she had accepted these traditions without question all along. Since her Samaritan forefathers had worshipped God on that mountain, then that mountain must be the place to worship God. But why then did the Jews claim that Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship God? Had her forefathers been wrong? And if they were wrong about such an important thing as where God should be worshipped, could she rely any more on all the other traditions she received from them? Well, she must have longed earnestly enough for the answer to this question, to ask Jesus all about it when she knew that he was a prophet of God. 

And Jesus, the omniscient Lord, knew all about this woman: her needs, her disappointments, and all the things that she had put her hopes in - her false hopes. And He offered her what she really needed and what He alone could give: the Living Water. Anyone who drinks this water and experiences its wonderful grace and power in his life, will surely testify that all the benefits and blessings claimed for it are absolutely true. And he will want others to find life and refreshment in the abundant streams of living water.

We notice this effect in the life of this Samaritan woman that Christ met. When she first saw Christ at the well, she did not know who Jesus was at all. He was a total stranger to her. And at the beginning she was even a little bit hostile toward Him ('How is it that thou being a Jew askest a drink of me'?). But after she heard the wonderful words He spoke to her, her life was completely changed.

Jesus Christ became the most important person in her life. She even went back to her city and with great excitement and conviction, she advertised Christ widely to all the people, bringing them to Him, so that they may also come and drink the living water He gives.

I would like you to notice how this woman's knowledge of Christ grew step by step as He talked with her. In v.9 she regards Him only as a Jew. By the time we reach v.19, she is already convinced that He is a prophet. And finally, another 10 verses later, she is actively and joyfully proclaiming to everyone that He is none other than the Messiah, the Christ (v.29)!

Dearly beloved, may we also be so refreshed by drinking the living water, that we would want to advertise it to everyone, and get as many people as we can to come and drink that living water Christ gives. I believe that the Lord wants us to be excited about sharing the living water with others. As we study it together I would like to highlight three attractive features of this living water. The first attractive feature is:

I. It is given free to all who will just ask for it (v.10)

This is the first thing Christ taught the woman, when He said in v.10 - 'If thou knowest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.'

'Ask from Me, and I will give you living water to drink.' That's what Jesus was telling her. The interesting thing about this statement, is that just before this, it was Jesus who was asking her to give Him water to drink. By reversing the request, Jesus was really making a transition from His own physical need, which could be quenched quite easily by a simple drink, to her spiritual need, which He in turn, could meet.

While Jesus was enjoying the cool refreshing water from her pot, the woman asked our Lord, in v.9 - '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 Samaritans.' From the way that Jesus was dressed and perhaps from His Hebrew accent, the woman could tell that Jesus was not a Samaritan but a Jew.

Perhaps the clothes that Jesus wore were also the kind that was worn by all Jewish rabbis or the highly respected teachers of those days. History tells us that many Jewish rabbis in those days would not have cared to carry on a public conversation with a woman. And they would never ever drink from a Samaritan pot, because it was considered to be defiling to them. But Jesus, though he was a rabbi, had broken both these customs by asking her for a drink and then drinking from her waterpot.

The woman was so surprised at this, that she had to ask Jesus about this. The principle we see here is that Christ does not discriminate against anyone of whatever race or background. The salvation and abundant life Christ offers is available to all, free of charge, regardless of who they are or where they come from. This principle is stated in v.10 by Jesus when he answered the woman's question, saying 'If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.' This statement contains an attractive promise, as well as an invitation. The invitation is 'Ask me for God's gift of living water.' The promise is: 'I will give it to you.'

You don't have to work for it. You don't have to pay for it or suffer to get it. It is a free gift from God. All you have to do is ask for it. In Isaiah 55:1 the same offer is made in the Old Testament: 'To every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.'

The living water Christ gives is given free of charge to anyone who will just ask for it. It does not matter whether you are a Jew or a Samaritan, man or woman, rich or poor, great or small. No one is left out from being offered the gift. There are perhaps some who feel that Christ can never save them nor would He accept them, because the sins they have committed are just too great to be forgiven. If there is anyone here today who feels this way, please be assured by the Word of God this morning, that Christ came to save even the worst of all sinners. The words of a familiar hymn says: 'The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives!' How wonderful this gift of God is, since it is freely offered to all who will just ask for it. This is an important feature of the living water that must attract one and all to come and receive it. But there is another feature that should attract people to the living water:

II. It really satisfies the deepest needs of our lives (v.14)

How does it satisfy our deepest needs? The living water that Christ offers is able to do this because it is spiritual. It does not come in bottles or barrels. The Samaritan woman missed this meaning at first, thinking that this living water Christ offered was some new or special kind of fresh spring water that tasted better or quenched thirst better than the water from Jacob's well. And this is why she said to him 'Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?' (v11).

The Lord's answer in verses 13 and 14 made it very clear that the living water is spiritual. It satisfies us far deeper than just our physical needs. It meets the innermost needs of our lives: our spiritual needs, needs that cannot be met by anything else in this world. Ordinary water would only quench thirst temporarily; the living water would quench the inner thirst of our souls forever. Ordinary water in the well had to be drawn up with hard work; the spiritual water would bubble up from within our hearts as 'a well of water' inside us springing up into everlasting life!

This flowing spring of water within us actually describes the new principle of spiritual life that is found in every person who has received Christ into his heart. When we put our trust in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit, who indwells us forever and becomes our inner source of constant guidance, assurance, joy, comfort, peace and strength. (John 7:37-39) Our lives will experience not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the desire and power to live lives that are holy and pleasing to God. Sin will no longer have control over our wills, and we will be able to serve the Lord well, and be able to bring great blessings into the lives of other people as well.

In v.15, the woman still thought that Christ was talking about ordinary water to meet her physical needs, as she said 'Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.' Perhaps she had in mind some kind of special magical liquid that one can drink once, and after that not have to drink anymore. If such a thing did exist, it would certainly solve plenty of problems in this world. We won't need so many reservoirs or be so anxious when there is a water shortage.

But the real problems in the world cannot be solved simply by providing for all the physical and material needs of mankind. That is because the root of all these problems is spiritual. The origin is found in the heart of every person. That root or origin is Sin. You will notice that in v.16 Christ asks the Samaritan woman to go and call her husband. Why did He do this? It seems strange that He should suddenly at this point of the conversation tell her to fetch her husband. But He was actually helping the woman to overcome her failure to understand His words.

Jesus was touching a raw nerve, a sensitive issue when he mentioned her husband, because she was living in sin. By doing this, he was making her see her need for spiritual and moral renewal, a need which the spiritual water He offered would meet. Jesus could see every shameful detail of her life. In v.18 He told the whole story of that woman's life to her.

How would you react if you met someone who knew every secret detail of your life, including all the awful personal things you wished no one would know? I think you would feel most uncomfortable. This may explain why the woman very quickly tried to change the subject (v.19). She wanted to move the conversation away from her personal life. But the point had been made. She knew that she was standing before the One who knew her deepest guilt and shame. But she also knew that He had offered to give her the living water she needed to wash away her sins and help her start life anew. And thus, she wanted to know more about Him. And we see that in vv.25 and 26 as she discovers another wonderful feature about the living water:

III. It enlightens us in all essential truth (vv.25,26)

As the subject of the conversation now drifted into theological issues, the Samaritan woman begins to realize that Jesus was more than just another Jewish rabbi.

When she asked Him about the right place of worship, He replied on His own authority that 'true worshippers shall worship God in spirit and in truth.' (23) Matthew 7:29 tells that whenever people heard Jesus teaching they were astonished, because 'He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.' Like all the disciples who heard Christ's wonderful teaching her heart must have burned within her as she heard the Lord. Such enlightening words about God and the way He should be worshipped also met another important need in the woman's life. It met her need for the knowledge of truth.

All of us have this same need. We all need to be enlightened in the knowledge of all essential truth. John Calvin defined True knowledge as having two components: The knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves. When we come to Jesus Christ, he reveals both of these things to us. As we study His word, we learn truths about God. And as we learn about God, the Holy Spirit within us takes that knowledge and makes us aware of how short we have fallen of the glory of God.

The more we learn about our true sinful selves, the more we want to learn about God, and how He can save us and help us to live for Him. This ever-growing knowledge begins only when we drink the living water from Christ and begin having a close relationship with Him.

Coming back to our study, we see that this woman had some knowledge about God's word. She knew for example, that Christ would come one day. In v.25 she says: 'I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.' What she had just learned from Jesus about worship caused her to express her desire to know all the things about God. How she wished to clear up all her ignorance, the confusion and questions she had in her mind about life, about God and even about herself. How she looked forward to the time when the Messiah will come and teach her all essential truth.

And when Jesus revealed to her that He was that Messiah, suddenly everything about that conversation she had with Him fell into place. Who else but the Messiah could offer the living water that quenches the deepest needs of the soul? Who else but the Messiah could see every detail of her sinful life? Who else but the Messiah could teach with such great authority the wonderful truths about God that no man knew about? Here was the long-awaited Messiah!

Can you imagine how she must have felt at this moment? What a privilege she had had to talk with Him! What great love He had to reach out to her, of all persons, and to accept her despite all her past sins. No wonder in v.28 she immediately went into the city and called everyone to see Jesus, forgetting even to take her waterpot! How excited she must have been, going from street to street and from door to door, calling to one and all to come and meet the Messiah!

As we end this message there are some important issues that stand before us and demand a response from us. We see Jesus, offering us Living Water. We have seen three wonderful features about this living water. First, it is given free to all who will just ask for it. Secondly, it really satisfies the deepest needs of our lives. and Thirdly, it enlightens us in the knowledge of all essential truths. Having seen all that there are two questions I would like you to consider:

The first is: 'Have we come to the well of living water and received the life-giving streams from our Lord Jesus? Is there within our hearts right now a well of living water springing up into everlasting life?'

The second question to consider we should ask ourselves is: 'If I have been so wonderfully satisfied with this living water, can I keep it to myself? What am I going to do for the people in my life whose lives are drying up because they have been looking for satisfaction only in the dry wells of this world?'

John 03:16-21 - Eternal Life Through The Son

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45 am , 2007-07-22

Text: John 3:16-21

This morning we will be looking at one of the most famous verses in the Bible - John 3:16. This verse is an important summary of the Gospel. It tells us how greatly God has loved us in giving us His only begotten Son. It teaches us that salvation is a free gift to be received only by believing in Jesus Christ. And it offers the most wonderful and comprehensive blessing any mortal creature can ever hope for - eternal life. That is the whole Gospel message in a nutshell. Martin Luther called John 3:16 the heart of the Bible and Matthew Henry called it the Word of reconciliation in miniature. 

No other passage of scripture has been used so often by missionaries and evangelists in every age as John 3:16. No other proclamation has thrilled the hearts of millions of people as John 3:16. No other words have brought such multitudes to the feet of Christ as the simple and yet overpowering message of John 3:16! Even the prince of preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said about his own preaching, 'My heart's desire has been to sound forth, as with a trumpet, the good news that, 'God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'

This verse is also very dear to me. John 3:16 was the very first verse my father taught me to memorise when I was only 5 years old. And he made sure that I would never forget it. I still remember that when I was in primary 5 autograph books were the rage in my school and everyone was trying to see who could collect the most autographs. When I asked my Dad to sign my autograph book he promptly wrote these words above his signature, 'Son, remember John 3:16.' Even the home where I grew up was a constant reminder, because the house number was 316!

If I were to ask all of you right now, 'Which verse of the Bible has made the greatest impact on your salvation?' most of you would probably reply without any hesitation, 'John 3:16!' Many of you would even be able to recite the whole verse from memory. (Let us all try to recite it together right now, shall we?)

This morning we will endeavour to find out what makes this verse of Scripture so well-loved and well-used by God's people in all ages. We will discover two contrasting truths that are revealed in John 3:16 - Firstly, it reveals the Miserable Wages of Sin. Secondly, it reveals the Marvelous Gift of God. Both of these truths will help us to ponder how greatkGod's love is. Let us consider the first one which is:

I. The Miserable Wages of Sin

This makes the love of God appear so bright and prominent by providing the darkest possible backdrop for it. That dark backdrop is the intense blackness of eternal death. This is found in the words, 'Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.' This implies that if God had not given His Son, the world would have remained in the most hopeless, perishing state. No words can describe the terror and horror of this miserable state. The souls of sinners were not doomed to be merely annilihated into non-existence, but to be tormented endlessly in the fires of hell! The prospect of perishing in hell is so horrible th!t Jesus said it is worth losing your right eye or your right hand in this life than to be cast into hell. 

But how did this perishing of the world come about? Something must have caused it. The next 3 verses mention at least 3 causes. Firstly, there is God's fair and just condemnation of all who have sinned. This is stated in Verse 17 which is worded in such a way as to show that God's condemnation was fully expected 'For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.' Rightfully God should have sent His Son into the world to condemn the world as that was exactly what the world deserves for all its sins. Two thousand years before Christ He had sent 2 angels to the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to condemn and destroy them for their homosexual sins. And the world deserves the same condemnation.

But John 3:16 tells us that instead of sending His Son to condemn the world for its sins, God gave His Son to be condemned on the cross to take away the sins of the world! How can it be? How can we get off scot free, while the Son of God bears the condemnation we deserved? This reversal of roles is really unexpected, and it should make us all amazed at the infinite depth of God's love for us. 

Now, besides God's righteous condemnation of our sins, another cause for man's perishing state was the hardness of the sinner's heart. 

If God had not loved us and saved us, our hearts would have remained desperately wicked and unreasonably cold toward Him. This explains the response of unbelief mentioned in v.18 'he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.'

Do you know that man's unwillingness to believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God indicates how intractably wicked the human heart is? All other sins are committed against the Law of God. But the sin of unbelief is committed against the Love of God. It is bad enough that sinners should rebel against God's laws either by breaking them or by failing to keep them. But it is astounding beyond all measure that sinners should also spurn God's supreme act of love and mercy as revealed in the cross where Jesus died. If you find it incredible that men could actually be so cold and so unfeeling as to crucify the Prince of glory and subject Him to such shame and humiliation, then you would understand how incredible it is that sinners would not want to believe in His name for salvation. How desperately wicked are the hearts of all men! How can God love such a hard-hearted race? Surely we all deserve to perish in our sins.

And that's not all. There is one more cause for man's perishing state and it is found in v.19 'and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.' What a distinct contrast we see here between what God loves and what man loves. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for sinners. But man so loved the darkness that he hates the Light which exposes his own sins. Can you see the vast difference between them? God's love for the world is merciful compassion. But man's love for darkness is an abnormal obsession. How pitiful it is to see sinners loving to wallow in the filth or their own sins and not wanting anything to diminish their perverse enjoyment of it. 

Only one week ago there was an article in the Today newspaper on atheism versus religion. And it began with a description of The Blasphemy Challenge, which dares atheists to upload into YouTube 'a short message damning yourself to Hell' in exchange for a DVD. The frightening this is that this challenge drew responses from hundreds of young people who were only too willing to renounce religion. This is what a 25 year old man named John Pritzlaff, said in his uploaded video: 

'Jesus as depicted in the Bible does not exist. God does not exist. And therefore I deny the Holy Spirit. I'm going to Hell, thank you.' How awful it is that people should love darkness rather than light! How can it be that God should love a world that is like this? A world that rightly deserves to perish?

Thus we have seen that the causes of man's perishing state are: God's fair and just condemnation of our sins, the unreasonable hardness of our hearts against God's love, and our strange love for darkness and sin. From now on, whenever you read the word 'perish' in John 3:16 let it cause you to remember the intense blackness of the miserable state that you were once in before God saved you. 

But perhaps there may be some who are thinking, 'This may all be true of many people, but it was certainly not true of me. I was really not that bad. I do not deserve the condemnation. My heart was not as hard as you say and I did not really love darkness and sin.' Dear friends, it does not matter whether you have sinned more or sinned less than others, or whether your sins are more evil or less evil than others. Sin is the mo3t terrible paymaster. It does not care how much you have sinned or what kind of sins you have committed. It does not care whether you have sinned by commission or omission. Sin pays every sinner the same wages. Romans 6:23 simply says, 'For the wages of sin is death'. And these wages are what you deserve. Whether you like it or not, they are yours. Whether you like it or not, you had earned those miserable wages of sin - an eternal death of being endlessly tormented in the fires of hell. Thankfully, John 3:16 reveals morekthan just the wages of sin. It also reveals the good news of: 

II. The Marvelous Gift of God

This is the second truth in John 3:16 which helps us to ponder how immeasurably great the Love of God is. The unique feature about this Marvelous gift of God is that there are actually two gifts in one. The first gift is the only begotten Son as John 3:16 plainly says. The second gift, which comes within the first gift, is eternal life. As 1 John 5:11-12 says, 'And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.' We shall look at the second gift first:

A. Everlasting Life

What is eternal or everlasting life? Is it merely an eternal existence of the soul after death? No, because if it is, then those who are not saved would also have it, except that they spend the entire duration of eternity in hell. Does eternal life then mean that after a person dies his soul will live forever in heaven? Yes, it does. And this shows that what is meant by the term is not merely quantity of life but quality of life. What good is there in being able to live forever and ever unless it is in a permanently blissful state? 

Now since what is meant by eternal life is quality rather than quantity, then it follows that eternal life begins not at death but at the moment of salvation. Eternal life isn't just a future hope for you. It is already a present reality. This means that if you are truly in Christ, your eternal life has already begun! You are already experiencing a different quality of life - a life that is lived with Christ, walking with Him and enjoying fellowship with Him, all the way from the day you were saved, and right into eternity. 

The first part of eternal life is naturally spent here on earth, where you now walk with Christ by faith. The second part of eternal life is more exciting - for it is the part where you will walk with Him by sight in Heaven. Do you know that Christ is the most attractive feature of Heaven? Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace only because the Lord Jesus is there. If Jesus is not in heaven, I wouldn't want to be there. And neither would you, because Heaven would be a desolate place without Him.

From this, I hope that you can understand now that eternal life is inseparably tied to Jesus Christ. Eternal life is comes only with Jesus. You can't possibly experience it without having Jesus, whether on earth or in heaven. And Jesus is not merely a channel or stepping stone to get to eternal life and heaven. He is eternal life itself, and He is heaven itself! 

One important implication of this is that no one can rightly say that there are other ways to heaven. No non-Christian religion can ever lead a person to heaven and eternal life. I want to say very boldly and on the authority of God's Word that no Buddhist, no Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or follower of any other religion can ever have eternal life. That leaves only one possible outcome for all of them - They will perish! They may be the most devout and dedicated follower of their religion.

They may be the most highly revered saint or benefactor of society. But as long as they do not receive Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Saviour, the Bible says they will perish in the eternal fires of hell! 

Now, next week will be Gospel Sunday here at this worship servic. And if you have any relatives, friends or colleagues who are still not in Christ, I plead with you to use all your power and influence to get them to come and hear the preaching of the Gospel. This is the action point of knowing that eternal life is inseparably tied to Jesus Christ. But perhaps you have seen how deeply entrenched, sincere and devout they are in their own mistaken beliefs; perhaps you have seen how their lives seem to have benefited much from pursuing all those beliefs. And so you hesitate to persuade them and you think that perhaps in some exceptional way they may not end up in hell. Please stop entertaining such false hopes as they do not help these people at all. 

You must warn them that without Christ they will surely perish. You must tell them that the only way to have eternal life is to have Christ. These two are inseparably tied together! Dearly beloved, if you truly understand John 3:16 and take what it says seriously you would be most willing and earnest to bring lost souls to Christ, since it says in no uncertain terms, that 'whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'

Now that you know this, can you bear the thought of seeing your loved ones and friends perishing since they are without Christ? And so, what will you do now to bring this most marvelous gift of God into their lives? And here is yet another motivation to do this: If you have truly known the Lord Jesus and enjoyed a close walk with Him, you would have an even greater reason to be passionate for their salvation. You would know that there is something even better than just being saved from eternal death and hell fire, and that is to know Jesus and have Him in your life! Jesus is really the greater gift, greater than the gift of eternal life. This is what we will now focus our thoughts on.

B. The Only Begotten Son

Please listen to this: No one can receive any gift that is greater than Jesus Christ. In our earlier messages from the Gospel of John we have already seen that Christ is the eternal Word through whom all things were created.

We have seen that He is the true Light that lights every man that comes into the world. We have seen that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We have seen that He is the Messiah and the King of Israel. All these ought to make us treasure Him dearly in our hearts. 

But here in John 3:16 we see that in addition to all that, He is the only begotten Son whom God gave to us. And this should now make Him most precious to us! Why? Because He was most precious to God Himself. God had lovingly declared Him to be His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17). The Son had always been glorified with the Father long before the foundation of the world (John 17:5), and nothing could ever separate them. And yet, out of His great love for the world, the Father gave Him up, to die for sinners. How can it be? 

Look now at cross where Christ was crucified, and listen carefully to the mournful cry of the only begotten Son, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' (Matthew 27:46) Why have you My dear Father abandoned Me, and turned your face away from Me? We cannot even begin to fathom how deeply grieved the Son was to be forsaken by the Father. And we cannot even begin to fatherm how deeply pained the Father's heart was when He forsook His beloved Son! 

A story is told of a family that faced starvation because of a severe famine. The only hope they had of surviving was to sell off one of the children into slavery. And so, when the parents could no longer bear to see their 4 hungry children crying out for bread they decided to proceed with the idea of selling one of them in order to save the rest. But which one should they sell? It must not be the first, because they could not bear to part with their first born son. Their second son looked so much like the father that his mother said she could never part with him. The third son looked so much like the mother that the father said, 'I would rather die than see him become a slave.' As for the fourth son, he was their little darling. How could they ever part with him? And so they concluded that it would be better for all of them to die together than to part with any of their children. I am sure we can all feel for their plight. 

And yet God loved us so much that He was willing to part with His own dear Son and let Him suffer and die alone on the cross to save us. At that moment He even seemed to love us more than He loved His only begotten Son! And God would rather let Him bear the awful penalty for our sins than to see us perish in those sins. 

How can it be? How can it be? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son! How can it be? 'When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died, My richest gain, I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride!'

Dearly beloved, now that we have seen how immeasurably great God's Love is according to John 3:16, let us consider two applications of this: The first application is for the unsaved - You must come to Jesus! He is the only one who can save you from your sins. Come to Him now because John 3:16 says, 'whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' What does it mean to believe in Jesus? 

Firstly it means accepting everything that the Bible says about Him and about yourself as true - that Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to be made a sacrifice for sin, and that you are a sinner who deserves nothing but judgment from God. Secondly, you must put your trust entirely in Jesus alone to save you, and throw away whatever confidence you may have in your own good works or in any other thing to save you. And thirdly, surrender your life to Christ once and for all with no thought of turning back. He must be made the Lord and master of everything in your life.

And now, for those of you who are already saved, what you have just learned from John 3:16 ought to do at least two things for you: Firstly it should strengthen your faith in the Lord to give you all that you need. You may be a student struggling to cope with all your subjects. You may be a young adult trying your best to cope with the heavy demands of the working world. Or perhaps you may be a parent, wondering how you can successfully raise up your children to fear God against the tide of sin from the world. Perhaps you may be a retiree trying to cope with failing health and loneliness. 

Listen to what God says to you now in Romans 8:32 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' How comforting it is to know that God who gave His Son for us who are saved will also give us every blessing, and every thing that we need to meet our daily trials. They are all included in the package! Your Heavenly Father who loves you wants you to have faith in Him to give you freely all things that you need.

Secondly, what you have learnt from John 3:16 should make you willing to give much to the Lord in return. God has loved you and given you so much! Will you love Him and give Him of your time, your talents and treasure? Will you present your own bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God? (Romans 12:1) No matter how much you give please remember this: You will never be able to outgive what the Lord has given you.

John 03:22-36 - He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45 am service, 2007-09-02

Text: John 3:22-36

In the commercial world it is not uncommon to hear interesting cases of a talented employee leaving an established firm to start his own firm which flourishes and does even better than the previous one. For those who are MacUsers it may interest you to know that Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers, started out as a technician working for Atari, which was the pioneer in the video game industry. 

Steve Jobs had a friend, Steve Wozniak, who invented a simple personal computer. Both of them first offered the design to Atari. But Atari turned down their offer, and so Steve Jobs left Atari and started his own home business to produce and market the new product. He chose the name Apple for the new business because it comes alphabetically before Atari in the phone book. It went on to become a roaring success, leaving Atari far behind! Interestingly, Atari started producing its own line of PCs later on, but was unable to achieve anything near the success that Apple enjoyed. 

In the eyes of the commercial world, success comes from the ability to outshine all the rivals who compete in the same industry. Thus any 'new kid on the block' is perceived unfavourably as a threat to one's business. A similar kind of perception was held by some of the disciples of John the Baptist about 2,000 years ago, when the Lord Jesus and His disciples began to baptize people. 

You may remember that in one of our earlier sermons from John's Gospel we had seen that John the Baptist had a very successful revival ministry and gained a rather large following from all over Israel. His bold, powerful and effective preaching brought thousands of people to hear him and to be baptized by him. According to Matthew 3:5-6 'Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.' 

People from all walks of life came to him - fishermen, soldiers, despised publicans, and even many of the Pharisees and the Saducees, who were the religious elite of Israel. And as their esteem for John the Baptist and his powerful preaching and baptising ministry increased, some of them willingly attached themselves to him and became his devoted disciples! 

To them, he was the prophetic voice of God who had finally broken a long silence of about 400 years. But some of them took their devotion to this prophet to an extreme. They blindly believed that the ministry of John the Baptist must increase by all means! But John himself was not of the same mind and spirit as them - His desire was surprisingly to decrease rather than increase! Let us turn to our passage of scripture in John 3:22-36 to see how this was revealed to them.

This passage can be divided into 3 parts which provide 3 useful lessons on successful Christian living. The first part, which begins at v.22 and ends at v.27 presents us with the resentment or envy of John's disciples. The lesson we will learn from this is to forsake such an attitude. The second part begins at v.28 and ends at v.30. Here we will observe how John the Baptist was content with the secondary role God gave to him. This is something that we ourselves ought to follow. The final part, from vv.31 to 36 is all about the endowments of Christ, and the lesson is to keep our hearts and minds focused on them. Let us begin with the first part:

I. Forsake the Divisive Resentment of John's Disciples (vv. 22-27)

This resentment started as a result of a new development - The Lord Jesus began to preach against sin and to baptize people, just like John the Baptist had been doing. Soon it became publicly known that there was a new ministry doing exactly the same thing that John had been doing. This news reached the ears of John's disciples through some Jews who had seen the ministry of Jesus in Judea and they used it against John's disciples as a point of argument against John's baptism. Verse 25 says, 'Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.' The word 'question' in this verse actually means 'debate' or 'dispute.' The Jews were questioning the validity of John's baptism by saying that it is no longer unique and effective, since someone else was also baptizing and was now drawing even bigger crowds than him. 

This news was so disturbing to John's disciples that they felt it necessary to bring it up to their master to see if he could do something about it. According to verse 26 'And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.' You will notice here that the disciples of John considered Jesus to be a rival to their master. While they reverently called their master 'Rabbi' they referred to Jesus disparagingly as 'he that was with thee beyond Jordan.'

To them, Jesus was someone for whom their master had done the great favour of bearing a good witness, and so He was greatly indebted to their master for His good reputation. In their thinking all this obligates Jesus to do nothing against their master or his ministry. And so they construed what Jesus was doing now in preaching and baptising as a rather unkind and inconsiderate act against John the Baptist!

Actually they would have done a lot better to see things in a different light: They should have rejoiced that God's Word was now being preached by two servants of God instead of one, and that it was now reaching more people than ever before. But they were unfortunately blinded by their own sinful perception of what Jesus and His disciples were doing.

If we are not careful, we too may fall into the same kind of error as the disciples of John the Baptist. It can easily become a besetting sin for us who live in a competitive environment. Perhaps there is someone whom you regard as your personal rival. And your feelings towards that person have been growing from bad to worse. If you are a student, this person may be your classmate. Every time a test or exam result comes out, are you eager to find out whether you did better than him? If you are a parent, you may tend to compare your child's performance in school with that of your nieces or nephews of the same age. Are you happy only when your child gets the better grades?

If you are a working adult, you may have some feeling of rivalry concerning your colleagues at work. Is there someone in particular whom you do not wish to see doing so well, but he is the one who gets all the best deals and rewards because of his extraordinary skills and talents? Are you constantly bothered by what your colleagues wear to work, or the kind of car they drive to and from work? Generally speaking, are you unable to rejoice at the apparent success of others?

If any of these are true of you, then you may have a besetting sin in your life which you need to deal with. It is called envy. Envy is a terrible sin. It is utterly destructive. It ruins close relationships. It even caused Cain to kill his own brother. Envy also caused the elder brother of the prodigal son to become hostile and bitter when his long-lost brother's homecoming was being celebrated. Envy causes you to treat your close friend as your rival. 

King Saul loved David greatly and even made him his armourbearer (1 Samuel 16:21). But when his subjects began to praise David's victories he became so envious that he eventually sought to hunt him down and kill him. 

Let us repent of our sins of envy and resentment, and learn to rejoice instead at the success of others. Don't ever consider anyone to be your rival, but learn to love the people around you and appreciate the blessings God has given to them. Learn from the excellent answer that John the Baptist gave to his disciples in v. 27 'A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.' This means that all ability and success ultimately comes from God. Therefore, if you are displeased at the abilities that God has bestowed on others, or at the success that He allows them to enjoy, then you are claiming that God is unfair, unjust and unwise. Let us accept whatever God does to us and to others the same way that Job did 'The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.' (Job 1:21)

Now, besides forsaking the divisive resentment of John's disciples, another lesson on Christian living from our scripture text is to: 

II. Follow the Delightful Contentment of John the Baptist (vv. 28-30)

What John the Baptist said in verses 28 to 30 reveals his true greatness. Despite the power and popularity he had enjoyed in effective preaching that brought thousands to repentance and revival to Israel, he selflessly claimed nothing for himself than what God had assigned to him. This is seen by the 3 points of his answer:

Firstly, John reminded them that he is not the Christ. Verse 28 'Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.' (cf. John 1:20) He also reminded them that he was merely a fore-runner, the one who is sent before the Messiah. In fact he had already pointed Jesus out to them as the Messiah of Israel and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

The 2nd point in John's answer to the disciples showed that he rejoiced in the secondary role he was given. Verse 29 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.' We observe that he likens his joy to that of a best man at a wedding. Some of you here may have served in such a role before. Your role required you to assist the bridegroom, to relieve him of worrying about any details that will invariably crop up at a wedding. 

At one time, the bestman was responsible for the safe-keeping of the wedding rings (today the page-boy brings them in). He also provides moral support to the groom and ensures that he does not chicken out at the last moment!

In all this, the important thing to note is that the role of the bestman is secondary. Under no circumstances is he to usurp the bridegroom's position (cf. Judges 14:30 - The bestman took over the bridegroom's role!). John the Baptist found his greatest joy in the secondary role that he played. He was content that he had accomplished his role. He had baptized Christ to fulfill all righteousness. He had publicly introduced Christ to the public as the Lamb of God. Two of his disciples, John and Andrew were thus directed to become disciples of Christ. His work was finished, and shortly after this he would be cast into prison (v.24).

The third point in John's answer to his disciples indicates that he regarded the exaltation of Christ as his goal. Now, the words of v.30 were not spoken as something that he was resigned to accept, 'Well, He must increase, but I must decrease.' But they were spoken by John the Baptist with satisfaction and contentment 'How happy am I that Christ in increasing. Yes, it is only right and fitting that He must increase, but I must decrease!' 

This is something we should all be willing to do. Nothing should bring us greater joy than to see Christ exalted through our lives. These words of John the Baptist capture the whole essence of Christian living 'He must increase, but I must decrease!' This is what the Christian life is all about. Success is measured by the extent to which Christ is increased by our life. We must therefore follow John the Baptist in making this the foundational principle and goal of our life. It is actually akin to the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21 'For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.'

In order for us to fully espouse this as our personal goal in life we need to know the reasons why Jesus must increase and we must decrease. This brings us to the final section of our text where we learn to:

III. Focus on the Divine Endowments of Jesus Christ (vv. 31-36)

Here we find at least 2 important reasons why Jesus must increase. Firstly,

A. He Is Above All (vv. 31-33)

Verse 31 says, 'He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.' The word 'all' here refers to all human messengers, teachers, prophets and apostles who communicate truths from God. This includes John the Baptist. They are all nothing but imperfect earthly messengers, and hence they are only 'earthen vessels' that convey whatever they had received. There are obvious limitations to what we can learn through 'earthen vessels.'

Jesus is an entirely different kind of messenger from them. He came from heaven above, and thus He speaks on His own authority, and as a firsthand witness of heavenly things. Who can be better qualified to communicate all the wondrous truths about God, heaven and eternal life than He who comes from above? What we can learn from this Heavenly Vessel would therefore be superior to all others.

Some of us here who are old enough may remember the time when communicating with people who are overseas was a slow, tedious process. You wrote a letter and sent it by airmail and hoped that it will reach the recipient without getting lost. The reply would come only a few weeks later. Today, you can send an SMS or email to someone on the other side of the world and expect a reply within seconds! If you had to choose between these two modes of communication I think your choice would be obvious. The same thing applies then to our Lord Jesus. 

He should always be our choice of communication for all things relating to God. Through His Word we receive the most authoritative and accurate communication from God (Hebrews 1:1,2). And by Him we confidently offer up all our prayers and praises to God (Hebrews 13:15). None can ever compare with Christ. He is above all! And that's not all, He also see that:

B. He Is Given All (vv.34-36)

This is mentioned in v.35 'The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.' This verse has some interesting similarities to another verse that we have studied before - John 3:16. John 3:16 tells us that God the Father so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, Jesus. Here 19 verses later, we learn that God the Father so loved His only begotten Son that He gave Him all things. When we put both verses together we discover a very wonderful truth: When God gave us His Son to be our Saviour, He also gave us all things! 

Romans 8:32 confirms this 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' Dearly beloved, all spiritual blessings as well as all things that pertain unto life and godliness are to be found in Christ, and only in Christ! (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3)

For instance, verse 34 of our text tells us that Jesus Christ has the full endowment of the Holy Spirit without limit. Because of this we who have Christ can now experience the fullness of the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives! Verse 36 tells us that those who believe in Christ have eternal life. This is possible only because that eternal life is found in Christ. 1 John 5:11-12 tells us that 'God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life.'

The Holy Spirit and eternal life are only a small sampling of all the things that God has given us in Christ. And so if you have Christ, you have all things! And conversely, if you do NOT have Christ, what do you have? I trust that you can now understand why you need Christ and why He alone must increase, and you must decrease. Now that you know these things you must give a proper response to them.

There are only two possible responses: Believe in the Son, or reject the Son. According to v.38, the consequences of rejecting the Son are not only to forfeit the opportunity to have eternal life, but also to receive the wrath of God. I say this now with all earnestness to anyone here who has not yet trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation: As long as you persist in your present state of unbelief, God's awful but righteous wrath remains upon you. You may ask, 'What have I done against God to deserve such wrath from Him?' You have doubted His truthfulness. God has already spoken to you through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. You have heard that He is the only way of salvation from sin and eternal death. You heave heard that He is above all, and that He is given all things. By refusing to accept His testimony you doubt God's truthfulness. This is a most serious matter. It is tantamount to making God a liar! 

I therefore urge you not to remain in your unbelief. Come right now to Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son, and ask Him to be your Saviour and Lord. Let this be the day of your salvation, the day when eternal life becomes yours through receiving the Son of God, When you do this you affirm that what God has revealed through Christ is 100 % true. Verse 33 of our text describes the person who does this: 'He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.'

For the rest of us here who have already trusted in Christ and have set to our seal that God is true, the main application of this sermon is that Christ must increase, and you must decrease. Let this become the goal and foundational principle of your whole life, as it was for the life of John the Baptist. Jesus Christ must have the pre-eminence in your life. 

If you are seeking great things for yourself, seek them no more. Speak more about Christ and less of yourself. Let His honour become the goal of everything that you do. Use whatever respect or esteem you receive from others to point them to Him. Turn every personal success in your life into an opportunity to exalt Him. Whenever someone compliments or praises you for any achievement, always be quick to give all credit to Jesus Christ and what He has done for you. Matthew Henry put it very well, 'If our diminution or abasement may but in the least contribute to the advancement of Christ's name, we must cheerfully submit to it, and be content to be anything, to be nothing, so that Christ may be all.'

I remember that when I was a teenager, one of the things that my friends and I loved to do was to visit and explore buildings, including church buildings. In one particular old church building I visited, I noticed that every pew in the sanctuary had a little sign that read, 'Donated in memory of so-and-so.' The names of hundreds of church members who had departed from this world and who had given much to build and furnish the church were eminently remembered and honoured in that old church. This was probably done with good intentions. However by doing this, whoever steps into that sanctuary to pray or worship the Lord will be distracted away from the Lord Jesus Christ by all these epitaphs. They only diminish the honour and attention that Christ alone should receive!

The only name that should always be pre-eminent is the name of Christ our Saviour. All other names, including your own name must be totally eclipsed by His name, so that Christ alone will receive all glory.

John 03:1-15 - The New Birth

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45 am service, 2007-07-01

Text: John 3:1-15

I would like to begin this message by asking you a question: If someone were to ask you today to explain to him what it means to be born again, would you be able to give a reasonably correct answer? I hope you will be able to do so, because it defines what a true Christian is, and your answer will also help to clear up much of the confusion that has come to be associated with the term 'born again.' 

Since the 1960s and 1970s the phrase 'born again' became very commonly used. After the late former US president Jimmy Carter boldly proclaimed that he was a born-again Christian during his presidential campaign, it became the 'in' thing for many celebrities to follow suit (e.g. Dan Peek, Bob Dylan, Donna Summer, Little Richard, Johnny Cash and even the heavy metal rock musician Alice Cooper). Since then, a 'born again' culture evolved and the term now came to mean 'showing a new and passionate enthusiasm for some particular cause, activity or lifestyle.' E.g. a person can become a born again vegetarian. 

Besides this, there are other ways in which the term 'born again' is wrongly defined. Roman Catholics are taught that they are born again when they go through the sacrament of water baptism. Hence if you were to ask any of them whether they are born again - the reply you will probably get is, 'Yes, I was born again in baptism.' That is of course far from the biblical truth. Then there are some who teach that the new birth only takes place at the resurrection - when Jesus returns and Christians receive their new spiritual bodies. By this strange definition, no one has been born again thus far!

To the vast majority of people, the term 'born again' simply means 'to make or renew one's commitment to Jesus Christ' or 'a spiritual or moral reformation determined and effected by oneself at a point of crisis in life.' Some equate the term 'born again' with an emotionally uplifting and intense conversion experience. With so many different definitions, it is now true that the term 'born again' means different things to different people. 

Now the words 'born again' originated from the mouth of our Lord Jesus. And the key passage that provides us with its right meaning is the third chapter of John. This is where we must look in order to understand the meaning of being born-again and to be able to explain it correctly to anyone. Let us first look at the background of this passage, which comes from the last 3 verses of the previous chapter: John 2:23-25 'Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.'

You may remember that in last week's message we learned from these verses that when people saw the many miracles which Jesus did in Jerusalem they believed in His name. But their faith in His name was merely a professing faith and not a possessing faith. Because of this Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. But now as we come to chapter 3 of John's Gospel we see Him in a personal encounter with a man who, like the rest, had believed in His name because of the miracles he saw. But Jesus did commit Himself to him, because He could see that he was sincerely seeking the truth. He could also see the need of this man's heart, and as the Great Physician, Jesus prescribed exactly what he needed. Let us turn our Bibles now to John 3 and read verses 1 to 15 (Read).

I. The Need of All Sinners for the New Birth (vv.1-3)

In this passage we are introduced to Nicodemus. He described in v.1 as 'a man of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews.' The Pharisees were well-known for their strict and legalistic observance of the laws of Moses. For example, they made many rules on Sabbath-keeping in order to maintain it as a day of rest. But they often became so caught up with their fine rules and external regulations that they neglected the weightier matters of God's Law - the inward matters of the heart. Many Pharisees developed a 'holier-than-thou' fault-finding attitude and some even tried to trap Jesus with their questions. This is why Jesus rebuked them and called them hypocrites and whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:37)!

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Like them, he would have placed much value on keeping the Law and on all the external forms of piety and purity. But unlike the rest of the Pharisees, Nicodemus was not narrow-minded or hypocritical. And he was not attempting to use flattery when he came to Jesus and said, 'Rabbi, 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' (v.2). Nicodemus came with a sincere desire to learn from Jesus, because he was personally convinced that Jesus was sent by God. Now, some Bible commentaries have suggested that he came to Jesus by night rather than by day because he did not want anyone to know that he had been with Him. But according to Jewish history it was actually quite normal for rabbis like Nicodemus to visit other rabbis at night because they considered the hours of the night to be the best time to have theological discussions without being disturbed. 

What we see then is that there was nothing negative about the motives and intentions of Nicodemus. But Jesus, the omniscient Lord who knows all men, knew everything that was in his heart - his concerns, his convictions, what was lacking in hi,m and what was needed. And so, before Nicodemus could ask Him any question, He gave him the answer: 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God' (v.3).

These were not the words that Nicodemus had expected to hear. Why did the Lord answer him in this rather solemn and sharp manner? Perhaps it was to remove from his mind any thought that he could see the kingdom of God by any means other than the new birth. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus probably assumed that being born a Jew, a descendant of Abraham, already granted him favoured status in God's sight. He might also have assumed that the knowledge of the Law of Moses he had acquired as a religious teacher of Israel would certainly earn him some approval from God, and that his meticulous observance of the laws of Moses would obviously not go unrewarded by God. 

But whatever hopes Nicodemus had entertained of seeing the kingdom of God through any of these means were shattered by this unequivocal statement from Jesus, 'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Dear friends, this statement must also shatter whatever hopes anyone may have of seeking salvation without being born again. You may have been born and raised in a very good Christian home - but that will not save you. You may have been baptized in a Bible-believing church by the most godly pastor - but that will not save you. You may have attended worship services faithfully for many years - but that will not save you. You may have done many good works and helped many people - but that will not save you. You may have donated large sums of money to charity and to the Lord's work - but that will not save you. 

If you have been looking to any of these things to save you from eternal death and hell, listen to what Jesus said here once again: 'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Please let it be impressed in your minds that this statement ought to be taken seriously by every living soul. And there is really nothing more important in life than to be born again. As Jesus emphasised so strongly in v.7 'Ye must be born again!' Let us therefore listen carefully now as we seek to understand it well. There are four things we need to know about the new birth.

II. The Teaching of Jesus on the New Birth (vv.3-10)

A. Born Anew

Firstly, to be 'born again' is to be born anew. It results in a new life. We all know that birth marks the beginning of life. Therefore to be born again is to begin a new life in Christ, with new principles, new affections and new aims in life. Paul describes it in Romans 6:4 as 'walking in newness of life' and he says that 'if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' (2 Corinthians 5:17). Dearly beloved it is good for you to reflect on this, regarding your life. Have all things become new in your life since the day you turned to Jesus Christ, or are they still the same as before? Do you still love the things that you loved before? If you are walking in newness of life your values in life will be different. You will be more concerned with the things of God than the things of the world, and with things that are eternal, rather than with things that are temporal, and with things that are above, rather than with things that are on the earth. 

Perhaps you may be wondering why such a change is necessary in a Christian. Why must all things become new when a person is saved? It is because the old nature we had is incompatible with God's kingdom. It is depraved and defiled by sin and it is therefore unfit for the holiness and righteousness of the Kingdom of God. Now, there are some who realize their need to change in order to see God's Kingdom, but they attempt to change themselves by making new resolutions. But no amount of moral resolve or self-reformation will help. These are merely a superficial renovation of one's life because the old sinful heart of stone has not been dealt with yet. God's Word in Ezekiel says that this heart of stone must be replaced with a heart of flesh (Eze 11:19; 36:26). This is the same thing as being born again. It is therefore important that you ask yourself: Are you born again?

In any large church there may be some members who had made a superficial profession of faith, and everyone assumes that they are saved. But it is soon noticed that they have a real persistent problem with certain sins in their life. They keep falling back into those same sins again and again, despite all efforts to counsel them. There is no real change in them. What they really need is the inward change that will give them the ability to overcome their sin and walk in newness of life. Perhaps there may be someone here who is like that. Examine yourself and ask: Do you still find that you are helplessly under the power of sin? Is your life still being controlled by sin? Are you truly born again? Let us go on now to the second thing we need to know about the new birth: to be born again is to be:

B. Born from Above

This comes from the original Greek words for 'born again' which can also be translated as 'born from above.' It means that the new birth is not of human or earthly origin. It has a heavenly origin and comes from God above. This was stated plainly in John 1:12,13 'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' (cf. 1 Peter 1:3)

Since the new birth comes from God, no one can make himself born again. It is just like physical birth: You had no part at all in deciding when, how or where your birth took place. And when the time came for you to be born into this world you could not say, 'Hey, please stop! I don't want to come out. I want to stay here until I am ready to be born.' You were rudely expelled out into the world to begin your life whether you liked it or not.

In the same way, if you are truly born again you must thank God that He was the One who had worked in you 'both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). It is God who loved you and sought you to be His child long before you ever knew Him. God had already planned and determined every detail of your salvation right down to the very hour, minute and second of your new birth. And after your new birth took place you were then able to respond to His grace out of your own free will. You were drawn irresistibly to Jesus Christ (John 6:44) and you willingly received Him as your Saviour and Lord. Perhaps you may then ask, 'If a sinner is not the one who decides to be born again, then what should he do? Should he do absolutely nothing but wait passively for his time to come and for God to act upon him?' No, because we must realize that God uses means of grace to accomplish His work of salvation, and we are responsible to respond to those means. This brings us to the 3rd thing we need to know about the new birth: To be born again is to be:

C. Born of Water

This is stated in v.5 where Jesus says, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' The word 'water' here is not to be understood literally, but spiritually. And though there are several different ways of interpreting what water means here, the best meaning to take is that it is a reference to the Word of God. 

There are a few passages of Scripture that confirm this: Ephesians 5:25-26 'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word' It is clear that water is used here to represent the Word of God. This is because like water, the Word has a cleansing effect on those who read it or hear it preached to them (cf. John 15:3 'Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.'). 

Another verse is 1 Peter 1:23 'Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.' This verse shows that the new birth can only take place by the Word of God. The Word is the divine sword that God uses to pierce the hearts of sinners to convict them of sin (Acts 2:37). The Word is the divine key that He uses to open their hearts to receive Christ (Acts 16:14). It is also the divine seed that is sown by the sower which will take root in hearts that have been prepared to receive them. Therefore if you were to ask what you can do in the process of your new birth, the answer is this: Get as much exposure to the Word of life as you can and respond to it in faith, for 'faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.' (Romans 10:17). 

Now, the interplay between human responsibility and divine sovereignty in the new birth is really interesting. But it remains a divine mystery that no man can fathom. And ultimately it is the Spirit of God who converts the sinner. This brings us to the 4th thing that we need to know about the new birth. To be born again is to be:

D. Born of the Spirit

This comes from the second thing that is mentioned in v.5 which is 'born of the Spirit.' The Spirit of God is the One who works intimately within the sinner to effect the new birth in Him. And although no one can see Him working visibly, one can tell that He has been working through the results that are produced. One illustration of this can be found in the wind (v.8) '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.'

Most of the time, when the Gospel is preached to a large crowd and a call to salvation is issued, a few souls will respond. This result of the Spirit's work may be likened to a gentle breeze. But there are times when the Holy Spirit's power comes like a mighty gale-force whirlwind sweeping droves of sinners into God's kingdom. It may last for a few days or even a few weeks. This is what we call times of Revival. It is amazing to read accounts of revival which describe how churches are packed with people, Bibles are sold out and liquor shops and bars are closed down for lack of business during such rare manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power. 

Some people claim that revivals like these can be planned and organised by man, and all we need to do is to fulfill the right conditions to have a revival. But those who do this usually resort to using crowd psychology and stirring music to artificially create a 'revival.' While we may pray for a revival to take place, so that souls will be spontaneously saved in great numbers, the fact remains that we cannot tell when or where the Spirit of God will move to do it. When revival comes, it comes! But in the mean time, we can prepare ourselves spiritually to be ready for the day when it will come by praying and faithfully preaching the Word of God.

Now from all we have learnt about the new birth from John chapter 3, we can now correctly define it: It is the change of heart which is wrought by the Spirit of God using the Word, which enables the sinner to repent of his sins and savingly believe in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tells us that those who are not born again have a major handicap: They cannot understand the things of God. According to 1 Corinthians 2:14 'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.'

This was the kind of state that Nicodemus was in during his encounter with Christ. And he became painfully aware that despite all his years of learning in rabbinic schools and teaching from the Scriptures he could not comprehend the spiritual truths that Jesus was talking about. When Jesus told Him about the the new birth, he mistakenly thought that it was a physical one. And even after Jesus had explained to him that it is a spiritual birth, he still asked the question, 'How can these things be?' (v.9)

Those were the last words uttered by Nicodemus in this chapter, and it would seem that he remained in an unregenerate state. But thankfully, this is not the end of his story. In John 7:50 Nicodemus spoke up for Jesus to his fellow Pharisees when they showed prejudice against Him. And in John 19:39 we are told that he brought a large amount of myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Christ before laying it in the garden tomb. From these we know that Nicodemus must have experienced the new birth later on and that as a result of this he finally understood spiritual things and lived his life for Christ.

Dearly beloved if you are born again, you too can understand spiritual things, and even heavenly things which you were not able to understand or accept before. It is like having the lights turned on in a dark room. And you will discover that Christ becomes more glorious and precious to you. And so we end this message by considering:

III. The Glory of Jesus Revealed through the New Birth (vv.11-15)

Let us read v.12 'If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?' The only way we shall believe when we are told of heavenly things is to be born again! Now the interesting thing is that most of these heavenly things are actually about Christ Himself! When they are spiritually discerned, they show us what a glorious Saviour we have. If we are born again we will not only understand and accept these things! We will fully embrace them, delight in them and love them. But without the new birth, these things will only evoke the same response that Nicodemus gave in v.9 when he was still in his unregenerate state 'How can these things be?' Without the new birth we will not receive the witness of Christ and the apostles (v.11). Let us consider some of the heavenly things that the new birth enables us to believe:

Verse 13 'And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.' Jesus is the Son of Man who came down from heaven, and yet He still remained in heaven. Some would ask: How can Christ retain His deity and continue to uphold all things in the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3) while He lived on earth as a man? This is a glorious mystery that can only be accepted and understood with God-given faith. Only those who are born again have such faith.

The 2nd heavenly thing that the new birth enables us to believe is that Jesus saved sinners through being lifted up on the cross of Calvary. The new birth unlocks our understanding of the account in Numbers 21:5-9 concerning the brazen serpent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness to heal anyone who was bitten by a serpent. (v.14) 'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.' Some may ask, How can a serpent which is a symbol of evil represent Christ? Because the serpent represented the sins of the Israelites which caused them to suffer and die from their deadly venom. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that Jesus was made 'to be sin for us, who knew no sin.' According to Romans 8:3 Jesus took the likeness of our sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Once again, those who are not born again may find it hard to believe this. 

Finally v.15 of our text gives us the 3rd heavenly thing 'That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.' Without being born again, this truth would not be readily accepted because of the offending word, 'whosoever.' To the unregenerate Nicodemus it would be unthinkable that anyone who is not a Jew can have eternal life. Those who are not born again will also find it hard to accept this heavenly thing: That anyone - even the most hardcore criminal who has committed the worst crimes but who finally repents and believes in Christ - will not perish but have eternal life. But the born-again Christian will sing this with joy: 'The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives!'

There are many other heavenly things in the Bible that reveal how glorious our Lord Jesus is. But please remember this: Only those who are born again will receive them, believe them, love them and embrace them fully! To you who are born again, Jesus is your glorious, matchless Redeemer and Friend, the lily of the valley and the fairest of ten thousand to your soul!

  1. John 21 - Awakened from Uncertainty
  2. John 20:19-31 - Be Not Faithless But Believing!
  3. John 20:1-18 - The Incredible Hope
  4. John 20-19-31 - Faith in Our Risen Lord

Subcategories

Gospel in Dialect

Do you face a language barrier when trying to witness for Christ to dialect-speaking relatives? Or do you need to polish up your Mandarin in order to share the Gospel with your Mandarin-speaking friends? This Gospel toolkit will help you to learn how to share the Gospel in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew.

There are 15 lessons covering the various topics in gospel presentation. Each lesson consists of a set of phrases, written in English, Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin.

To hear the proper pronunciation of the phrase, click on the respective plugin associated with each phrase. When the phrase is read for you, you should repeat it aloud. You can keep on playing back the phrase and repeating it aloud until you have mastered the phrase. Then go on to the next phrase in the lesson.

As you learn to speak new phrases, keep on reviewing the ones that you have learnt. Finally, test yourself to see if you can say the following in Mandarin / dialect aloud: 

Family

Introduction

Why a family resource page?  It has been often said that the family is the most important institution in the nation.  But never has this sentiment been as greatly emphasized in our history as a nation than now in recent times.  Indeed, the family is the most important institution because it is the first environment to which every person is exposed; it is the primary influence of a person, especially in his early formative years.  And failure of the family to influence and mould the child positively has contributed to the moral and ethical breakdown of societies.  Even the expert opinions of sociologists and psychologists point to the truth of this statement.  Counselors and mental health workers increasingly have to rely on Family Therapy to deal with the problems of the clients, seeing as how many adult conflicts and problems are actually conflicts and problems not resolved in youth within the family.  Of course, it is not surprising to find such delinquency and immaturity in the world.  And sadly, it is not surprising to find such worldliness and worldly problems in the church, as families capitulate their God-given rights.  More than ever, there is need for a family resource page, where families can be encouraged and taught to raise up Godly homes and to revive the Covenant family.  

And one of the main emphases of this resource page is on the subject and discipline of Family Worship.  According to the Westminster Directory of Family Worship, we are told that “BESIDES the publick worship in congregations, mercifully established in this land in great purity, it is expedient and necessary that secret worship of each person alone, and private worship of families, be pressed and set up; that, with national reformation, the profession and power of godliness, both personal and domestick, be advanced.”  Herein, it is suggested that national and ecclesiastical revival finds its genesis in the home.  And this is biblical. 

The theological foundations of family worship is in Deuteronomy 4:9,10 where believers are told to “keep thy soul diligently…[and to]…teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” 

It is also in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 where the words which God had commanded believers should be taught diligently to their children, that they should “talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  The chief Christian educators of our children are their parents, who have been given this sacred duty.

Psalm 78:2-7 also teaches this, especially when it says regarding the law “which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” 

According to Dr Joel Beeke, “Every church desires growth. Surprisingly few churches, however, seek to promote internal church growth by stressing the need to raise children in covenantal truth. Few seriously grapple with why many adolescents become nominal members with mere notional faith or abandon evangelical truth for unbiblical doctrine and modes of worship. I believe one major reason for this failure is the lack of stress upon family worship. In many churches and homes family worship is an optional thing, or at most a superficial exercise such as a brief table grace before meals. Consequently, many children grow up with no experience or impression of Christian faith and worship as a daily reality.”

“Would we see revival among our children? Let us remember that God often uses the restoration of family worship to usher in church revival. For example, the 1677 church covenant of the Puritan congregation in Dorchester, Massachusetts, included the commitment ‘to reform our families, engaging ourselves to a conscientious care to set before us and to maintain the worship of God in them; and to walk in our houses with perfect hearts in a faithful discharge of all domestic duties, educating, instructing, and charging our children and households to keep the ways of the Lord.’”

Douglas Kelly says that “Family religion, which depends not a little on the household head daily leading the family before God in worship, is one of the most powerful structures that the covenant-keeping God has given for the expansion of redemption through the generations, so that countless multitudes may be brought into communion with and worship” of God. 

So may these resources help all Lifers to build up their families in the fear and admonition of the Lord; that Family Worship would not be an optional exercise but a time of day and activity well-sought after by Godly parents and children.  Amen.

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