Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1053
“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the saying of the woman, who testified, ‘He told me all that I ever did.‘So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that this is, indeed, the Christ, the Savior of the world.” John 4:39-42.
THE most important question concerning any man living is this—is he a saved soul or not? It is of comparatively little consequence whether he is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, compared with this—is he among the living before God—or is he dead in sins? Is he pardoned or unpardoned? Is he a child of God or an heir of wrath? Is he walking in the darkness or has he passed into light? Therefore of all the days of a man’s history the most important is the day in which he is born-again.
If the man is, indeed, saved, and a new man in Christ Jesus, he will look back upon the day of his regeneration as his chief birthday. His new birth is second in order of time, but he will always put it first in importance. His birth gave him his being, but his new birth secured his well-being. Being born first we might have descended into Hell, but, being born a second time we are assured of Heaven! If we were to observe those days with the greatest festivity which deserved best to be commemorated, we should certainly make high days and holidays of the days in which we looked to Jesus, and “found in Him our star, our sun.”
For this reason the circumstances which surround our new birth are to us among the most deeply interesting incidents of our own or any other human history. The details may be very simple. They may not suffice to make a biography, but still, to us, they are most important. We delight to think of the place where Jesus met with us, the Providence which brought us to the spot where we first heard the words which convicted us of sin. We feel pleasure in remembering every detail of our sorrows when we were seeking rest and finding none—and we are charmed as we read in our diary the story of how it was that we found the way of salvation—how it was that we looked to Jesus and lost our burden in a moment!
Our memory lingers and our heart loves to remember where it was, and by whose lips it was, that the life-giving message came and we looked to the Crucified One and were lightened. This is the reason why this chapter is so interesting, because it is the story of a conversion—the registry of a new birth—the record of salvation. It is the story of the conversion of a remarkable woman, great in sin and afterwards great in zeal! It tells us how the work was effected, what was said to her by the Lord, how she replied, what she felt, and how she was brought out into light. This fourth chapter of the Gospel of John has in it not only that touch of nature which makes the whole world kin, but that touch of Divine Grace which creates sympathy in all regenerate hearts. And, consequently, it will always remain one of the most interesting portions of Holy Writ.
But it is not for itself alone that I shall conduct your minds to this suggestive history. While I shall be talking of this woman, my earnest desire is to feel in my own soul whatever of the Truth of God is uttered, and that each one here may be putting every Truth to himself in the form of searching questions—saying concerning each thought now uttered— “Do I understand that Truth? Am I partaker of that Grace?” Thus, our hearing will be profitable, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, and the woman of Samaria will become a prophetess to us, also.
First, then, our text most naturally suggests the remark that testimony is frequently the means of creating faith. “Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the saying of the woman, who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” But, secondly, where personal testimony fails, faith may yet arise, apart from human witness, for “many more believed because of His own word.” Then, thirdly, even where faith has been begotten through testimony, personal experience very soon eclipses all human witness. “Now we believe,” they said, “not because of what you said, for we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that this is, indeed, the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
I. The first doctrine, this morning, is that HUMAN TESTIMONY IS FREQUENTLY MADE THE MEANS OF PRODUCING FAITH IN MEN’S HEARTS. That is evident to all. Hundreds of instances in proof thereof are present here this morning. A very large number of us owe our conversion to God to the personal testimony of others who told us what the Lord had done for them—told us in words, but also showed us in their actions—for we perceived the change that was in them. We saw their calm mind under trouble. We noticed their general happiness. We noticed and we admired their holiness. And we were led, both by their verbal and practical testimony, to seek a Savior.