This is the Truth Network. Welcome to the broadcast ministry of Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews, where we seek to glorify God by making him known and guiding others towards their true purpose in life. No one is here by chance. God put us here for a reason. And the most important thing we can do is discover His plan for us and commit ourselves to it.
Keep listening as we learn from the Bible how to live wisely in God's world. which is the first step towards finding your purpose. All right, if you will, take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 4. We're going to be looking at verses 27 through 54. and I've entitled tonight's message, The Evidence Demands a Verdict.
The evidence demands a verdict. is the title of Josh McDowell's best-selling book, which has sold millions of copies around the world. It's been translated into 40 different languages. And his book provides about 700 pages of evidence. By the way, he used to be an atheist.
And he set out to disprove the resurrection. Uh did two years of research and during his research Hey, but hey. became a believer. And so he wrote this book, The Evidence Demands a Verdict. And his book, as I said, is over 700 pages long, but it provides Pages of evidence to make the case that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, He is the Son of God, and that the resurrection could easily be proved in a court of law.
The title suggests the idea that when a person is confronted with the facts or arguments about a subject, Especially the person and resurrection of Jesus, one cannot remain neutral. A decision or judgment. must be reached.
So, tonight we're going to do something a little different. We're going to have a trial. I'm going to be the prosecutor. And I'm going to put the woman at the well. on trial.
And the charge that I'm bringing against her Is that she's a born-again Christian? And so you're going to serve as the jury, and I'm going to present the evidence against her, and each one of you. must come to a verdict. Because the evidence will demand a verdict.
Now, before I begin my prosecution, by the way, I'm not a trained lawyer, this will become evident in just a few minutes. Let me begin by asking you to examine yourself. In fact, the Bible tells us to do this. In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Paul writes, Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?
Unless, of course, You failed the test.
So are you a true believer? If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? What evidence could you present to prove that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ? Could you call upon witnesses who would testify in your favor? Could you point to any actions in your life that show evidence of true faith, that prove that you've been born again?
What verdict? Would the evidence demand? about your life. Tonight, we're going to see the evidence that points to true saving faith in this woman. And that evidence is, and this is the, I would say, this is the most important evidence.
That proves whether or not a person is a Christian. And that is a changed life. And I want to begin by reminding you. Of her former way of life. You recall from last week that Jesus encountered her at a well as he was traveling north to Galilee.
And Jesus pointed out her sin by asking her. Go get your husband. Bring him back here. And you'll recall that she readily admitted that she didn't have a husband. And when she said this, Jesus responded, You're right when you say you have no husband.
The fact is, you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.
So this woman before you tonight I'll put forth her formal way of life. She slept with many men. She was an outcast in her own town. And the very reason she came with her water bucket to this well at high noon was because she didn't want to see anybody. She wanted to avoid people.
But then she had encountered a man. who she claims knew everything about her.
Now at first she thought Jesus was a prophet.
However, she continued to talk to him, and she said, I know, here's what she said to him. You remember, you called this from last week. I know that Messiah is coming, and when he comes, he's going to explain everything to us. And then Jesus responded, I the one speaking to you. I am.
Now when Jesus said, I, the one speaking to you, I am. It reminded her. of what she'd heard about Moses. That when the Lord God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, he too said, What? I am.
So in essence, Jesus said to this sinful woman, I am the Messiah.
Now she knew that he was more than a prophet. In other words, now she knew this. She didn't notice it before, but she just thought he was a prophet. He was the great Iam of the Old Testament. And this dawned on her that she became to realize that he was the promised Messiah.
that had been promised all throughout the Old Testament. And she believed him. But At this point, I can't prove to you. That she's a Christian. We've got to get some more information.
I've got to put more evidence before you. And this is what I want to share with you. If you look at verse 27, she continues to the disciples return. Look at verse 27. Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But no one asks, what do you want or why are you talking with her? Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ? They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
So Do we know if she's a believer yet or not?
Well Explain to me why all the people in this town who before would have nothing to do with this woman. Are now willing to drop everything they're doing. And go meet this man. That she told them about. Why did they respond this way?
What was it about her that had changed?
Well, that's the whole point.
Something about her had changed, and the people saw something in her. And I believe that what they saw was this: before encountering Jesus, she had walked around with her face downcast, but now she had her head up high, and she was confident and full of joy and peace. And they could see this on her face. Before encountering Jesus, she was full of guilt and shame, but now she'd been set free. She had a new purpose for living.
Before encountering Jesus, she was blind, but now she could see. Before encountering Jesus, she was thirsty, but now she had streams of living water flowing within her. Before encountering Jesus, she had avoided people. But now she wanted to share her faith with everyone.
So see The evidence of her salvation. What's her changed life? And this is the evidence I put before you tonight regarding this woman. She'd become a new creation. She had crossed over from death to life.
She had a new purpose for living. Has this happened to you? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's unto what? A new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.
The prophet Ezekiel back in Ezekiel chapter 36 says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Men, a changed life. is the evidence.
of true faith. And it is accompanied by desire to tell others. about your new life in Christ. C.T. Studd was a famous cricket player who lived in England during the 1800s, and his life was changed by the Lord.
while he was just a young man. He was the Michael Jordan of cricket in all of England. And he could have lived a life of fortune and fame, but instead, He chose to be a missionary in China. And here's what he told a friend. Quote, formerly, I had as much love for cricket as any man could have, but when the Lord Jesus came into my heart, I found I had something infinitely better than cricket.
My heart was no longer in the game. I wanted to win souls for the Lord. C.T. Studd had a changed life. And what he wanted to do once his life was changed was to tell others about this hope that he had.
Do you have that desire in you? To share your faith with others. Have you had a real encounter with Jesus? Has your life truly been changed? Can others see this change in you?
Have you ever shared your faith with anyone else? If you were cured of cancer, Would you tell others about that? Mm-hmm. Raise your hand if you would. Yeah.
Of course you would.
Well, what we have is greater than the cure for cancer. The cure for cancer helps you live a few more years, but the cure for your soul. And they was to live forever. Do you realize the joy, man, that I talked about this in our leadership meeting tonight? Do you realize the joy that comes when you share with a friend?
Your faith, the hope that you have. And then you watch the light come on in him. And you begin to see him walking around with the same hope that you have. I had a friend of mine, his name was Bob Jenkins. And he was my.
I met him when I went off to school in Richmond, Virginia, back in 1971. And we were supposed to be roommates at Carolina, but he didn't get in. But we stayed very good friends. I was in his wedding, he was in mine. And when he was like 35 years old, I got a call from his wife who told me he'd been rushed to the hospital.
He had a. Rare form of leukemia. They gave him about five years to live if he didn't have a bone marrow transplant.
Well, to make a long story short, He did have that bone marrow transplant. Um But one thing I did before he got sick, I invited him to come to a Bible study fellowship with me. And we were coming home one night. It was a Monday night. He lived in Georgetown Apartments right there off of Six Forks Road, and I was dropping him off.
And as we pulled him into the parking lot, and I just was put the car in reverse to let him out. He said, Rush, you know, I'm not sure I'm saved. And I said, Well, Bob, you want to take care of that right now? He said, Yes.
So, right there in my car, he prayed to receive Christ. I had nothing to do with it. I just took him to Bible study and he got saved. But after he got leukemia, um He was headed up to Minneapolis for a bone marrow transplant, and we went to an FCA banquet at a North Raleigh. Dave Drevecchi was the speaker.
Do y'all remember Dave Drevecchi? He was the left-handed pitcher, I think, for the San Francisco Giants. And he developed cancer in his deltoid muscle, and they had to amputate him from right here. Through here is it's called quartering. And so he Spoke at this banquet with one arm.
I remember, I'll never forget, he said, I caught a fish one time, it was this big. Um Yeah. But Bob was sitting at my table and there were about 500 people in the room. And Dave shared that um When he was in spring training one year, his roommate had a Bible on his bedside table and read it every night. And that roommate led him to Christ.
And so at the end of that evening. Um Bob looked at me, and basically, there were five or people standing up. He said, I need to talk to you. And so he took off through the crowd. It's like Moses separating the Red Sea.
I followed him out. I had no idea what he wanted to talk about. But anyway, make a long story short. When we got out to the lobby, he had taken a ride and gone outside, and he was standing there waiting for me. And Bob was not one of those guys that would give you a bear hook.
He was just kind of a formal guy. He would just shake your hand. That was about as close as he wanted to get to you. When I stepped out there, he had tears in his eyes, and he said, Russ, when he talked about that roommate. He said, you're that man to me, because I don't take any credit for that.
But do you you know what it did for me to see that this friend of mine Knew the Lord. And I know that he's, and by the way, so he went and had his ball marrow transplant. I went up to see him and Um Shortly thereafter, he died. and I was uh one of his pallbearers. I never want to see him again.
Who said that? Yeah. Yes, that's what it's all about. We've got to take this treasure that we have and share it with others. Look at verse 31.
Meanwhile, his disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something. But he said to them, I have food that you know nothing about. Then his disciples said to each other, Could someone have brought him food?
Now, look at this. This is so important, man. He said, My food, Jesus said, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do not say four months more and then the harvest. I tell you, open up your eyes and look at the fields.
They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages. Even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying, One sows and another reaps, is true. I sent you to reap.
What you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. Here's what I want to share with you. in our remaining time. Jesus is trying to teach his disciples two main truths.
And here's the first one.
Soul satisfaction, that is, inner joy and peace, is found only in discovering the will of God. for your life and then doing it. Notice what Jesus says in verse 34. My food is to do the will of him who sent me. And to finish his work.
What do you mean by this?
Well, how many of you men like to eat? Besides me? Or do you know what my favorite restaurant is in Raleigh? Anybody know? Who said that?
Clues. It's Clues, Coney Island, over there off of Avet Ferry Road. uh up there behind Mission Valley. Dan Clues owns it. And um I'll go tell you what my favorite meal is there.
By the way, I told Dan that if I want my last meal, if I know it's coming, I won't eat it in close. I'd rather I'd choose that over the Angus Marn.
So I ordered a double slider with cheese. pickles, raw onions, mustard and ketchup. The best French fries in Raleigh. a little side of chili on the side, and a large Coke high test on crushed ice. That sounds good.
So uh this past Friday night I took my wife Cracie out to dinner. Wonderful place. And I took my two of my grandsons, Graham and Smith. And that's what I have for dinner. And it looked like I had not eaten a meal in a month.
I didn't talk to anybody at the table, I just devoured this feast. And it brought me incredible satisfaction. And I go there at least once a week. That's why I look so good. Yeah.
I'm trying to make a point here. This is what Jesus is trying to explain about doing God's will. It's food for your soul. Living your life, man, according to God's will. And doing the work he wants you to do.
brings joy peace and contentment. like nothing else in the world. About two or three weeks ago, I took my wife up to Charlottesville, and we stayed in this very nice hotel for two nights. And it was very nice, too expensive. I call it um Empty happiness.
Do you know what I mean by that? It's it's fun. But it's not that much fun. When we got back, Christie's group leader in Morning Glory. And she's got about 20 women in her group, and she loves these ladies.
And she's poured into them more than I've ever seen her pour into a group. She has them over for coffees and all this kind of stuff. And I've never seen it bring her so much joy. And she told me, I'm having so much joy sharing with these women. It's much more fun than going to a hotel, guys, and spending a lot of money.
Nothing in this world This of this world will satisfy you more than being in the center of God's will. and doing the work he intends for your life. Jesus' food was to do the will of his Father and to finish his work. This is why he said on the cross: it is what? Finished.
Because he had finished doing the very purpose of his life. His life's mission was to come and die for you and me. And that's why he said it is finished. And I wanted to come to the end of my life and be able to say, With my last breath, it is finished. And like Paul, I want to say, I've fought the good fight.
I've finished the race. I've kept the faith.
Now there's in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, men. but also to all who long for his appearing. Why would someone long for his appearing? 'Cause they love him.
You just can't wait to see them. Do you ought to know what God's will is for your life? Read the Bible. Then do what it says. If you spend time in God's Word, and guys, it's a battle.
Because sometimes I get up and I go to my office where I have my quiet time. But I'm a type A person. I like to hit the ground running, and sometimes I've just been honest. God, I don't have time for you today. I got it from here.
Do you think that's a good attitude? Uh-uh. Let me tell you, it's not. And so it's easy to slip into this habit of, particularly when you're prepared for sermons, well, I'm in God's Word. I know, but that's not really quiet time.
You know that preparing a sermon, even though I'm in God's Word, is not my quiet time. Because I'm working, trying to figure out what I want to say to you guys with God's help. I need to spend time just reading His Word.
So I started reading the other day Jeremiah. I'm just going to read through that. And I've just, when I read it, I can just sense God speaking to me. And then I pray. Is prayer difficult men?
How many of you know what touch and goes are? You hit your knees for about two seconds and you're up at him. I got to get touch and goes out of my life, out of my vocabulary. I know that some of you are going through some difficult times. I know because I hear from a lot of you.
I know some marriages that are on the rocks, I know some guys dealing with financial issues. Um And some of you may be still trying to find your purpose in life.
Well, here's my advice. For everybody in here, including myself, Jesus, follow Jesus' example and live by His Word. If you want to find meaning and purpose, And rediscover your passion for life, then find God's will for your life and dive into the center of His will. And you will discover God's will for your life, man. I promise you.
right here in this book.
Now, is it going to tell you to be a carpenter or a doctor? No. But it's going to tell you how to live your life, and you'll find that you will gain wisdom. about the decisions that you make throughout the day. And you know one of the things I pray for?
I just pray every day that God will give me wisdom. For all the decisions that I have to make and the decisions you have to make, I pray that God will give my sons wisdom. And if he listen, when he gives you wisdom, when you ask him for wisdom. You're showing him that you're listening to him. And you trust him.
And that's what he wants from us.
So first You will never find joy If you're trying to do to find you in the things of this world. You just not gonna find it. You may find some temporary happiness, but it's not going to be real joy. You'll find joy when you discover God's will and then you go out and do it. And secondly, This is the second thing that he's trying to teach these disciples.
Those around you are ready to hear the gospel and believe it. But they need someone to share it with them. The field is ripe. Look at verse 35. Jesus says, I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields.
They are ripe for harvest. So, men, when you go out, I told the guys tonight. When you get up in the morning If you're a believer. Don't keep this treasure to yourself. Ask the Lord to give you some opportunities throughout the day to share the hope that you have with others.
Be passionate about it. And if you're not passionate about this, then ask God to make you passionate. Erwin McManus, in his book Uprising, writes, When you make God your primary passion, He transforms all the passions of your heart. And so, let me ask you. What is the primary passion of your heart?
Listen, we need to be passionate about telling others about Jesus, and sometimes we look like we're dead. You know guys, I heard this one time. And I'm assuming it's true, that the Dead Sea. has seven rivers flowing into it. and none flowing out.
That's why it's dead. You can go to seven Bible studies. And if you're just taking in and never giving out, you're going to be dead. You got to give it out. God feeds those who are feeding others.
Did you know what happened on the NC State campus over the weekend? I heard this today and I could not believe it. If you look in your outline, you see those two pictures. Do you know what that is? There's a revival taking place on college campuses.
A group of NC State students, I don't know how many, it had to take many. wrote out The entire Gospel of John. All is it 21 chapters? Yes. All 21 chapters.
Overnight with chalk. I had a video I was going to show you of it, but it is too dark.
Some guy walked along just taking a video all around. It's all in the brickyard and all on the sidewalks, all over the campus of NC State. And now they're gathering at a At the Dorton Arena, that 4,000 of them to lift up the name of Jesus. And this is happening. It started in Auburn, it's here, it's going to Clemson, it's going all over the country.
The harvest is ripe. In Matthew 9. 37 and 38, Jesus says to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. You see, the woman at the well knew that just like her, there were herding people back in her hometown who needed the Lord.
So she dropped her water bucket and headed back. Notice she dropped her water bucket. Why do you think she did that? Because she found living water. She just had forgotten all about her thirst.
Look at verses 39 and 40 through 42. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I ever did.
So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them. And he stayed two days. And because of his words, many more became believers. They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said.
Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. Look at the results. It says, many believe because of our simple testimony. Let me ask you something. Was she a great theologian?
How long has she been a Christian? How long? Maybe an hour. I don't know. I've got an hour.
And what she does, she drops a water bucket and she goes back. And she used to walk through town probably like this.
Now she's walking into town and notice she shows respect. She didn't go and say, I have met the Messiah. You need to come see him. She said, I just met a man who knew everything about me. Could this be the Christ?
Implied in her question was the fact that she believed. And why would they all. listen to this woman who was a harlot basically. and drop what they were doing. and head out to meet this man.
Why would they do that? Because he saw that she had changed. Can people see a change in you? Imagine one day. You're standing with Jesus in heaven.
And he says, Do you see that man over there? Remember when you shared your testimony with him that day in the restaurant? He's here because of you. Do you remember that day when you were sitting at the airport because your plane was delayed and you were reading your Bible and this man began to ask you some questions and before long, several people were asking you questions and you shared your faith with them. And Jesus says, they're all here because of you.
Do you want Jesus to say these things? I'll bet you when you arrive at heaven.
Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into your master's joy.
Now imagine On the other hand, If you find yourself in heaven, And you don't have a single person there. You're there. By the hair of your chin-chin-chin. That's 1 Corinthians 3.15, by the way. Did you know that?
Yeah. It says um You will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Look it up. 1 Corinthians 3:15. Do you want to be like that?
No one there because of you, because you just kept the light in you. You had a bushel basket over it. Remember, Jesus says, let your light shine before the world. Remove that bushel basket.
So imagine you're standing there, and the Lord hands you this letter from a friend of yours. who has died and gone to the other place. And this is what that letter says. You ready? This letter is entitled, My Friend.
My friend, I stand the judgment now and feel that you're to blame somehow. On earth I walk with you day by day. And never did you point the way. You knew the Lord in truth and glory, but never did you tell the story. My knowledge then was very dim.
You could have led me to him. Though we lived together on the earth, you never told me of the second birth. And now I stand this day condemned because you failed to mention him. You taught me many things, that's true. I called you friend and trusted you.
But I learned now that it's too late, you could have kept me from this fate. We walked by day and talked by night, and yet you showed me not the light. You let me live and love and die. You knew I'd never live on high. Yes, I called you friend in life.
and trusted you through joy and strife. And yet I'm coming to this end. I cannot now call you. My friend. I had a friend of mine.
A years ago I'm going back 35, 40 years. One of my best friends, and I heard that he had moved, he'd gone up to New York, and I heard that he had. Come out of the closet. And um I realized that when I was at Carolina, I I was a Christian, but I had a bushel bike a bushel basket of my light. And so I sent him a copy of um C.S.
Lewis is Mere Christianity. Josh McDowell is more than a carpenter. in this poem. And I told him that I was not his friend at Carolina. Because I never shared my faith with him.
And at the end of the letter, and it's about an eight or nine-page letter, I shared my whole story with him about my faith. And at the end of the letter, I said, Now you can call me your friend. He went to Israel with me back in 2018. He's still not there yet. I'm still praying for him.
Men, if your life has not been changed and you have not encountered Jesus in a saving way, everyone in the New Testament who believed in Jesus was changed, and it was evident to all around. Matthew was a despised tax collector. When Jesus said, Follow me, he got up, left his job, and became one of his twelve disciples. Zacchaeus was another tax collector known for his corruption. When he encountered Jesus, he repented and restored whomever he had wronged.
The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized by Philip after hearing the gospel. He went away rejoicing and became the first African convert. Sull of Tarsus. Was once a fierce persecutor of Christians and was dramatically converted after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus. He became the Apostle Paul, as you know.
and wrote much of the New Testament. Man, a changed life is the evidence. that you've been saved.
So what does a changed life look like?
Well, here's just a few things that come to my mind. You begin to grow in your love for Jesus and for His Word. You experience a newfound peace and joy. You have a growing desire to walk in obedience to God's Word. You experience greater conviction in your heart when you sin.
In fact, you begin to have a real hatred for your sin because you don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit who lives within you. You come to love those you formerly despised. You have a desire to fellowship with other believers. Do you have that? Do you like being here, fellowship with believers?
You have a desire to share your faith with others. You begin to live for eternal matters while you lose your appetite for the things of this world. And you begin to live your life to please God. and not man. in essence men.
Your whole life is transformed. You are truly a new creation. You've been born again into a living faith. You gain wisdom, and now you can discern truth from error. When you listen to a man preach who's not a true preacher, and listen, they can be very deceptive.
Can you discern truth from error? How do you get to the point where you can do that? You knew this book. Jared Wilson is assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He says that there are three things the gospel changes.
In every man's life. First, the gospel gives you freedom from the past. Yes, that's one of the greatest things. To be set free from your past. Do y'all agree with that?
The gospel gives you power for the present. You can't live this Christian life. without the Holy Spirit. The gospel gives you hope for the future. Have you experienced this freedom from your past?
Are you experiencing this power to live a more and more godly life? And guys, this is an ongoing battle. Do you have an abiding hope within your soul for the future? Are you looking forward to the future with hope? Has your life truly been changed?
The evidence demands a verdict. What is the verdict? For you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.
And Lord, I thank you for these men. It's dark outside. It's cold. They could be at home watching TV. Lord, you know they're here.
You see them sitting here. Bless them, Lord Jesus. But Lord, I pray that you would light a fire in us. That we would go out into this dark world and share the hope that we have with others. Lord, give us a passion for it.
Help us not to bury this treasure in the ground. Help us not to put a bushel basket over this light. Help us to be a light, Lord, that shines brightly. And one day, when we arrive in heaven, you'll point out some people that are there because of our testimony. It's in your name that I pray.
Amen. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews. This broadcast is made possible because of the prayers and financial gifts of listeners like you. If you want to learn more about our ministry or support us as we reach others with God-centered Bible teaching, please visit us at findingpurpose.net.
