John chapter four and verse one. Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? "'Are you greater than our father Jacob, "'who gave us the well and drank from it himself, "'as well as his sons and his livestock?' "'Jesus answered and said to her, "'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, "'but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him "'will never thirst. "'But the water that I shall give him "'will become in him a fountain of water "'springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, you have well said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship what you do not know. We worship, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Let's look again to God in a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, we would pray that as we open your word tonight, that you would bless us in it, that you would direct our thoughts and our minds and our souls into the precious treasures that are contained therein. Father, help each of us to hear and focus on the word, to be aided by the spirit, and to be blessed by your hand of mercy. We pray for others who have gathered today. We think especially of those who have gathered in Hall River and heard our Pastor Andy preach. We pray that you would bless them as a young congregation, one seeking to grow and to serve you and the things of God in the place that you have put them. And we pray that you would bring Andy and Beth safely back to us again this day, this week, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So in studying the Word of God and seeking to know the Word of God for ourselves, we need purpose. We need to have an end in seeking to study the Word of God. And I say that because a lot of times I think as Christians we either believe or we fall into or we slide into the idea that it's more assigned reading. And you know assigned reading was most of you can remember back some of us a lot further than others to school and they gave you something to read and you had to read it and it was awful. And you just you had to read it in order to get through it and to be done with it. Well, the Word of God should never be like that for us. It should never just be that, well, we're Christians, and so we read the Word of God, and so we have to read so much of the Word of God a day or a week or a year, and we have to do that. So in order to avoid that, we have to study the Word of God with purpose. We have to look at the Word of God and say, what does it say to me? Not what does it say to the person next to me or my spouse or anyone else. We can have those things as we interact with them, but what does the word of God say to me as I read it and as I study it? And as I was reading through John in different places, this was one that really jumped out at me as there's a lot in this passage for each of us. And yet it's one that we can read through kind of quickly and kind of look at as, oh, wasn't that interesting, Christ dealing with the Samaritans. But there's a lot here that we can read and I think take a lot away from. And then Breyer did the good job this morning of teaching in 2 Timothy that basically we don't successfully prepare for war or for sport or for farming aimlessly. If we're going to prepare for those three things that we're given in 2 Timothy 2, we are to do it with purpose. And I was like, well, there it all fit together all of a sudden. And I said, yeah, that's what I was thinking. That's what I was trying to get across here. And so we must practice. Our reading of the Word of God, our Christianity, we must practice with purpose. And that's true in any area of endeavor in our lives. If we are wanting to get better at something, we practice it. But we don't just go out and do whatever. We say, this is the purpose, this is the goal today, this is what I'm going to work at, at getting better at by the practice. Well, we should approach the Word of God in the same way. We should approach the Word of God saying, what am I going to get out of it today? What am I going to learn from these things? And so we learn by observing and applying. And this is true in many different areas, many different ways. But again, in the matters of war and sports and farming, things like that, we watch others. We see what they're doing. This is as you raise children. You know, part of their first steps in growth is to watch mom or dad do things. And then as they get a little older, they start to help out a little. And sometimes it's less help than if they just didn't. But they're starting to learn how to do things by applying what they've observed. Well, the same is true of the Word of God. As we read the Word of God, as we observe the things in the Word of God, we should also apply them. We should also say, what does this mean to me? What is this applied in my life. And so a beneficial approach to studying the Word of God, one of the beneficial approaches to studying the Word of God, is to study in particular the actions of a person, and what better person to study than Christ. And so we're going to look tonight at the actions of Christ in this passage, and then hopefully the lessons that apply to us from that. So, in general, and as a broad statement, I guess, we should desire to particularly know and follow Christ's example. There are many good examples in the Word of God. There are also many bad examples in the Word of God. The Word of God is somewhat unique in that sense of it includes some of the bad along with some of the good. And so just because it's in the Word of God doesn't mean, oh, that's OK to do. Look at David. He committed adultery. He committed murder. That must be OK. No, don't be silly. And we understand that in that extreme especially. But there's other examples of that where men sin, and it's not as an example. It's as a reminder that we should be careful how we live. And so in Christ, We have a sure example. There is no doubt as we study the life of Christ that everything Christ did is something that we can take as a lesson and apply it to ourselves with the aid of the Holy Spirit. So we should desire to know and follow his example. And interestingly, that point is made over and over in the scriptures. Ephesians 5.23 is a verse that's pretty familiar to most of us. For the husband is head of the wife. There's an order there to our relationship with our husband and wife. The husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. and He is the Savior of the body. So do you see the action of Christ there? He is the head of the church. And do you see the application of that? Just as Christ is the head of the church, the husband is head of the wife. So you can't come along and say, oh, well, that's just old Paul's culture, and now we're all equal, and husband and wife are equal. No, no. The Scriptures clearly teach the husband is head of the wife. And we're not going to go off into that tonight. It's a whole different subject and one that is very useful for husbands and wives as to that relationship and how it works together for the benefit of both and for the benefit of the church. But do you see the example there of this is Christ's action and this is how it applies to us. And so you can ask the question, do we know our head? Do we know Christ? And do we therefore imitate him? 1 Corinthians 11 1, Paul says, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. And so Paul here is bold enough to say, I want you to watch me and I want you to act like me. just as I imitate Christ. And he certainly implies if he's not imitating Christ, you shouldn't imitate him. But the point is clear. He follows Christ, and we should follow after the example that he's left there. So, that leads then to some lessons from this passage in Samaria. I'm not gonna tell you how many, because I may change as we go. It's more than three, if you're taking notes. But they're not all real long. But first of all, note that there is no room in true Christian leaders or disciples for pride and jealousy. John chapter 4 and verse 1 says, Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, verse 3, he left Judea and departed again to Galilee. So he removed himself from the area because of the rivalry that was being put forth by the Pharisees of, well, we were following this John guy and now wait a minute, Jesus is over here and he's baptizing more disciples. And Christ shows humility by departing, and wisdom by departing and returning to Galilee. And so again, and this was an easy one, I think, to try to get you in the mindset of what I'm doing here tonight, hopefully. This is an easy one to see and therefore there shouldn't be any room in us either for pride and jealousy when it comes especially to the things of God. Luke 10 and verse 20 is a good example of this. The disciples had been sent out and they came back rejoicing that the evil spirits had been subject to them. And Christ says in Luke 10 and 20, Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Now, you think about that in context of much of modern popular religion, and suddenly maybe you say, oh, maybe we shouldn't be following those people. Maybe we shouldn't be watching those guys that are so popular and they're so focused on themselves. Why? Because it's not the example of the Scripture. It's not the example of Christ. It's not about power that they have. It's not about the churches that they've built. It's not about the things that they've done. And look at them, aren't they amazing? It is, even in the light of fear, these apostles, these disciples were casting out evil spirits. And Christ says, don't rejoice in that. Instead, rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice that you're saved. That's what we are to take, if you would, pride in. That we, of all people, the chief of sinners, as Paul described himself, that we are saved by Christ and our names are written in heaven. And then the second point here, or second thought here, following Christ, often takes us to unexpected places. And I've said this before, and I think as you get older, you'll see it too. You will never, never be able to predict your life and where you're gonna end up compared to where you thought you might end up. But here we see a very physical example of it. John four and verse four, it says, but Jesus needed to go through Samaria. Now, if you pull up a map, and you look at it, or you do a little bit of reading about this, you'll see that from Judea to Galilee, I'm sorry, did I get it right? Yeah. From Judea to Galilee, you go straight through Samaria, that's the shortest distance, that's the straightest line, that's if you're a Google Maps fan, that's the bicycle route, okay? The least steps, the least pedaling. But you don't take that in the car usually, because it's not the quickest always. And so there were two other routes that would get you from Judea to Galilee, and they kind of went out and around Samaria. And not only did the Jews tend to take them because they were easier, but they took them because they hated the Samaritans. And so they didn't want to go through Samaria. But Jesus went through Samaria, and he went through Samaria deliberately. And he chose to do that, and we see why here, because he knew, as the Son of God, that he was going to have this interaction that he did. So oftentimes, following Christ will take us to unexpected places. Don't be surprised by that. Don't be taken back by that. Don't let it throw you off balance or turn you away. Recognize that you are going to be in the places that God would have for you at the time that he wants you to be there. And that is something that we can learn to see. And then we can learn to trust him every step of the way. Because if God puts us in those places, even if they're unexpected, we can trust that God has put us there for a reason. And 1 Timothy 4 and verse 8 says this, and I chuckled because of Briar's illustration this morning about having to run for basketball. You had my sympathy, man. I hated running. But for bodily exercise, profits a little. but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. So what is it that we are to trust in? We are to trust in the living God. Why? Because He was our Savior. And He brought us to the place that He did and saved us in the way that He did. And He's put us in the circumstances that He's put us in. And as we think about that, understand that all the turmoil and all the uncertainty and all the difficulty that we face in life If we would seek Christ, and if we would trust Christ, it would go away. Now, it won't, because we're sinful, and different ones of us show it in different ways. And for me, I can look really outwardly calm, and my stomach's all in knots. And it's just you can't get rid of it always while we are still in these sinful bodies. But we should strive to. We should strive to realize and to remind ourselves to trust in God, the living God, who controls all things and especially controls where we are and why we're there and how we are going to be used in that place. And then that leads me to another thought, and this comes from a book I've been reading, and that is this, to consider Jesus Christ, the eternal God, clothed in mortal flesh, to better sympathize with our weaknesses as he came to save his people from their sins. You start wrapping your head around God, the creator of all things coming as a man. And you will have a desire and a love and appreciation for Christ that will grow and grow and grow and I think cause you more and more to be willing to sacrifice for Christ, to be willing to be mocked and ridiculed and to take a stand for Christ. He came in mortal flesh to better sympathize with us. John four and verse six. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. And as the Jews count time, and as I understand from just looking at this a little bit, they would put it about noon. They seem to count time from the sunrise to sunset. So from the time the sun had come up till six hours later, it was about noon, which made sense. That's why His disciples had gone into town to find something to eat. But notice what it says about Christ. This is Jesus Christ. This is God incarnate. Come in the flesh to save men. And what did He do? He sat down by Jacob's well because He was wearied from His journey. how wonderful that is that we have a Savior who understands our weakness, that we have a Savior who has experienced something like weariness from walking. and just the normal everyday concerns of life. This was nothing special. They walked everywhere. And so here he is experiencing weariness. And how much more then can he relate to the sin and to the flesh and the weakness of the flesh that we have? And just in case you're thinking, I've had this thought, I've had other people express it, and I've had someone explain it in a beautiful way once, and it's always stuck with me. Well, but Jesus never sinned, so He doesn't understand my life and my sins. And you can think that, and you shouldn't, but you can. And think, well, because He was perfect, therefore He had it easy. He never sinned. No, because He never sinned, He resisted sin far beyond anything we will ever resist. We give in. That's what causes us to sin. We give up. We go, I just can't, I can't wait anymore. I can't do without this anymore. And so we give in. And so Christ resisted sin perfectly. Therefore, he experienced a difficulty in wrestling with sin that we will never know. So never lose sight of that as we think about Christ and his perfect keeping of the law of God in order to save us from our sins. And then see also how Christ seeks out those who are his, and he does it with no reviling or belittling. John 4 and verse 7, a woman of Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, give me a drink. Now think about that for a minute in the context of what I read, which is coming in a few minutes, about the woman and her character and what she had done and how she continued to live a very immoral lifestyle. And what was Jesus' approach to her? Give me a drink. It was a very gentle approach. It was one that led them into a conversation. It was one that drew these things out. Now, he didn't ignore her sin. He gets to the sin. He uses it as a point to her that in fact, he does know all things and he knows her heart. But that's not where he started. And we have to be careful, I think, as Christians at times, that we get a little agitated with those around us. And we just want to say to them, you're disgusting. And they are. But so have we been. And until Christ saved us, we were sinners just like them, and we were of the same nature, and we still have those desires in us. And we need to be very careful that we don't suddenly think, well, now I'm saved, and I'm better than everybody else. And it can be subtle, but see here the example of Christ in seeking out this woman with no reviling and no belittling of who she was, but instead opening the conversation in a very calm and gentle way and asking for a drink of water. And what a comforting thought that is to us who are lost or wandering sheep. Whether you're still outside of Christ or whether you've been in Christ for many years, we are sheep and we're described over and over again in the scriptures as those who wander, as those who go astray. What a comfort to see how Christ treats us. Matthew 18 and verse 12 says, What do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray? Does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Now, I don't know anything about sheep, and I don't know anything about wandering sheep, and I don't know anything about trying to get them back, but I suspect, like most animals, you go out and you call the sheep, and you hope that that sheep that's wandered off is going to hear your voice and respond in some way, especially if it's stuck, you know, and maybe you'll bleat a little bit. What I do know is dogs. And I know, and I'm not good at it, but you can't go out and yell at them like you're mad at them, because they won't come. And so you have to kind of make, you know, nice names to them, and come on, come on, Zoe especially, come on. And then they come, and then, just so you don't think I'm getting soft or anything like that, and then, as Andy said a week or two ago, you may break their legs to keep them from doing that again. Not the dog, just to be clear. But that's what you would do with a sheep. So there may be a consequence to the wandering. There may be a consequence to leaving the fold. But as the shepherd goes looking for the sheep, we see again that desire for the sheep, that gentleness, that seeking out of a sheep. He left 99 sheep that were doing the right thing to go out and find that one sheep that probably is doing it again, and off that sheep has wandered. And so get a picture of Christ and balance it out. Christ is not the lovey hippie dude looking guy that the world tries to make him out to be. But Christ so loves his children that he has paid and died for that he will seek them out regardless of where they are and he will draw them back in. And as he does that, it is for our good. And so even as that sheep is brought back in and perhaps disciplined or smacked in the head, I may do that once in a while to the dog, and say, don't do that again. That's bad when you run away across the lane there. And you bring that animal back in and you say, this is the right thing to do. All of that discipline is for the good of the sheep. And the scriptures talk about if you're not falling under the discipline of God, it's because he doesn't love you. And God loves his people. God loves those who are his, and he draws them in, and he gathers them to himself. And he does that so that not even one of them should perish. Now, that leads into another thought that I think is kind of follows from that, and that is to be very careful to beware of religious prejudice or snobbery. and the legalism that usually follows. And don't fear doing what's right, regardless of prevailing opinion. Now, what do I mean by this? John 4 and verse 7, a woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." So not only would the Jews avoid going through Samaria, but if they did have to go through Samaria because maybe it was quicker or they had some reason to go through, they wouldn't have anything to do with Samaritans. And that was because of their religious prejudice and snobbery. They thought they were better than everybody else. They were the true chosen people of God and no one else possibly could enter into that. And so that led to a legalism that caused them to have all kinds of rules and letters and reasons for this and reasons for that. And beware of that. We, as we become religious, as we follow after the things of God, have to remember where we've come from and why we've been drawn in. Not because we're good, but because Christ saw us and saved us and brought us in. And so then, therefore, don't fear doing what's right, regardless of the prevailing opinion, like our brother spoke this morning. Christ here talks to a Samaritan. There were men, namely His disciples when they came back, who said, what is He doing? And Christ didn't care. Christ did what He had come to do, which was talk to this woman in order to bring living water to her. So don't fear going and doing things which men will condemn you for and say, what was He talking to those people for? As the scriptures say, those who are well have no need of a physician. It's those who are sick. Who do you talk to? Who do you speak to? And I don't mean you become best friends with them. You're not to be united with them. That doesn't just apply to marriage. You're not to be unequally yoked with the world. But we are to talk to them. You can't witness to the world if you never speak to them because they're wicked, disgusting people. And some of them are, and some more than others. And yet we are to do what's right. We are to speak to them of their need. And so we see here Christ asking this woman for a drink and her being shocked by it. Her having the response of, you're asking me for a drink? Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. So we should be very careful to be concerned for the spiritual needs of those around us. And I will say one of the best ways to do that, one of the best ways to work at that is to pray for those around us. Whether it's people you work with, whether it's your neighbors, whatever means it is that you come in contact with those who are not in our circle of Christian fellowship, pray for them. Because it's hard to pray for people and then mistreat them or act as if we're better than they are. And so then in dealing with those around us who are outside of Christ, remember this, the gospel is simple and clear. In Christ is life. And I'm not even gonna read it all, because it's another big passage and I've read it once already. But Jesus answers her when she says, what is this water you're talking about? And Jesus answers her and says, All this talk of this is all related to if you drink of the water in the well, you're going to be thirsty again. But if you drink of the water that I give you, you will never thirst. That water that I shall give will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. And the woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. And just think for a minute, Jesus could have looked at it and said, you still don't get it? How many times do I have to explain this to you? It's not water. It's not about coming to the well. But you see, it's not a matter of you don't understand the theology that's here and therefore you're not smart enough to be a Christian. It's Christ explaining in terms that this woman would eventually understand that he was the source of living water, not water that came out of the ground that quenched our thirst and then again tomorrow we would be thirsty again. And so observe that salvation is a heart matter. At this point, she still hadn't connected things up, and she was still thinking very much with her mind about the physical water. But it's a heart matter, and so Jesus turns to deal with her heart. So you see, this is where we deviate from the world that's like, oh, everything is love, everything is fine, be kind, be gentle. And Jesus turns to her and he says to her in verse 16, he says, go and call your husband and come here. Now think about that for a second. Why did he say that? They were talking. He'd ask for a drink of water. She'd said, well, I, you know, get you water, and you're offering me water, and I don't know, how can you get it? And all of a sudden, he changes the subject completely. He says, go and call your husband. And the woman answered and said, I have no husband. That's why he changed the subject, to point out to her the sinfulness that was in her life. And Jesus follows up on it. He presses the matter on her. He doesn't just let her say, oh, I have no husband. Oh, okay, I understand. He says, to her, you have well said, I have no husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In other words, there's a man in your life, I would imply from that, he's living in your house or you're living in his house, but he's not your husband. And he says in that, you have spoken truly. And so the woman starts to understand that salvation is a heart matter. It's not a matter of water and quenching her thirst. It is a matter of her heart. And sin is not to be taken lightly or to be ignored. Salvation in Christ impacts the way we live. It impacts the way you live. It impacts the way I live. And we are not to make peace with sin. Again, you heard this this morning from Breyer. You've been hearing it from Andy on Wednesday nights. We have to be careful to not say, you know, I'm okay. I'm in. I can just kind of cruise along now and I'll be fine. And those little things, maybe if I get rid of them okay, if not okay. No, the scriptures are clear. We are not to make peace with sin. And Jesus roots it out. He goes right to the heart of it at the appropriate time here. And it's difficult to know when the appropriate time is, but there is an appropriate time. It doesn't have to be the first words out of his mouth. Jesus didn't look at her the first thing when he walked up to the well and say, why don't you have a husband? Or why do you have a man, but you don't have a husband? And you've had five husbands. And she had a very different reaction. But at the appropriate time, He doesn't just keep talking about water. He stops and He says, let's apply this to your heart. Go get your husband. Oh, you have no husband. That's right. You've had five and the one you have now isn't your husband. And so it's difficult to know when do you push? When do you not push? Pray. Ask for God's wisdom, ask for God's guidance in your testimony and in your witnessing to those around you. But we are not to make peace with sin. Hebrews 12 and verse one says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted the bloodshed, striving against sin. See, there's a reference there to Christ. Christ resisted all the way to bloodshed, striving against sin. But we are to run the race. We are to endure, we have to finish. There is not a race in the world that if you don't cross the finish line, that's okay, we're gonna just let you have it anyway. That's what's wrong with participation trophies. You get a sense of accomplishment, it's not yours, you don't deserve it. If you didn't run, whatever it is, me, I like those 24-hour car races, you know? You didn't run all 24 hours. You can run 23 hours and 45 minutes, and when you throw a crankshaft, tough, you're out, tough. You don't get credit. You can run a 5K, and you can run 4K and 3 quarters, and if you stop, you don't get credit. And the scriptures use these examples because they're clear, they're easy to remember, but we are to run. And the witnesses that are surrounded, those are the ones that others that have run and finished and completed the race, and they're reminders that we can, in Christ, finish the race. How? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You're not going to do it on your own. You're not even going to do it because your buddy or your wife or husband is pushing you along. You're going to do it because you are looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And then notice that Christ reveals himself to us. Again, this is not something that we do on our own. It is Christ who comes and says, I am Jesus Christ. John 4 again, verse 25. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. He clearly said to her, I am the Christ, the Messiah that is to come. And the question is, do we believe? Did she believe? And the answer is yes, we can see that in the scriptures. Do we believe? When Christ says, I am the Messiah, I am the Christ, I am the one who is to come to save his people, do we believe that? John 6 and verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent. There's Christianity. I told you earlier in the verses here, the gospel is simple and clear. Believe in Christ. That's the work of God. You want to know the work of God? Believe in Christ. And Spurgeon says on this, and I couldn't sum it up any better way, but here's what Spurgeon said. He said, I know that some of us have asked, is that all we have to do to be saved? Are we simply and only to believe in Christ? That is, entrust ourselves to Him? Yes, that is all. And it is so small an act that even the most uneducated heart can perform it. Yet, within it, there are inconceivable mysteries of goodness. What is more, all the graces come out of faith in due time, for faith sums up the whole of a Christian's life. And so everything that we learn, everything that we grow in, everything that the Scriptures reveal to us, all of those things grow out of faith in Jesus Christ, out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God incarnate, come to save his people. from their sins. And once we get a hold of that, once we understand that for ourselves, then it brings us to the last lesson, and it is this. Therefore, tell others what Christ has done for you. That's the heart of evangelism. John 4, verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified and He told me all that I ever did." And so they heard this. And this woman, that's not much of a message. That's not complicated. That's not great deep theological thinking. It is her saying, this man says he's the Messiah and he has told everything that I ever did. And so others in the city believed in Christ because of the testimony of this woman in her very simple act of faith. And in verse 41, it says, and many more believed because of Jesus' own word. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. And so do you see the heart of evangelism? It's sharing what Christ has done for us. And if we get a hold of what Christ has done for us, and then we tell others what Christ has done for us, and they hear that word, they may experience that for themselves and then come back and say, you know, Sometimes I've heard this testimony. When you were telling me this, I didn't know what you were talking about. I thought you were crazy. But now I understand. Now I live by faith in Jesus Christ. And so evangelism is not a great complicated thing. It is simply telling what Christ has done for us. So study the word of God to learn more of Christ, more of yourself, and more of the great salvation that we experience in Christ. God cares enough to save filthy, wretched sinners such as we are by the sacrifice and resurrection of his incarnate son. That is the good news that we live and we proclaim. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the good news. We thank you for the simplicity of the things of the Word of God that direct us and guide us to Christ and Christ alone. May we indeed look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and may that strengthen our own hearts and souls and may that enable us to bear witness and to speak to others and to be guided by your word as we proclaim the gospel, the good news to those around us. We pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. If you take your hymns, your Trinity hymnal now and turn to 722. Number 722, let's stand and sing together. I've been looking for a new dream, looking for words of love. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Remember the words of love. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of love. Wonderful words of life. Jesus, only Savior, safety for forever. Wonderful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of love. Dear Father, we ask that you would be with us and direct us throughout this week, that you would bless us with the wonderful words of life, that you would cause us to look to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, and to be strong in the race and to finish with endurance and with a desire to be at your side for all eternity. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.