Jesus Meets You Where You Are
Jesus Meets You Where You Are
John 4:6-19
People often think that Jesus could not want them the way they are. People want to say that they could not come to Jesus until they clean up their act. It’s an excuse I hear all the time. And it is a logical excuse. It goes along with human thinking, human nature. Let me point out a few things from this account of the Samaritan Woman.
1. Jesus knew this woman. He knew her inside and out. He knew everything she had ever done. Jesus told the woman to call her husband (v18)…. He did this to demonstrate this fact to her. Jesus knows everything you have ever done. He knows where you are, physically and spiritually.
2. Not only did He meet her where she was at, He was there and waiting. He already knew where she was, physically and spiritually. He was waiting on her. He is there waiting on you. Wherever you are, he is waiting for you to come to him.
3. Jesus still offers the woman everlasting life (14). Knowing she was an adulterous woman, a sinner. Jesus was still waiting on her, with his gift of eternal life. Jesus simply did this because that is what Jesus does.
4. You don’t have to try to be acceptable to Jesus before you can come to Him. You don’t have to clean up your act first. You don’t have to meet Jesus where you think He is at. Where you think He wants you to be, If it could be done that way, you would not need Him!
I want to leave the woman at the well with Jesus for just a little bit, let them finish their chat; we will catch up with them in a few minutes and see how things turn out. But I want to share something else with you right now.
Last Sunday Al asked if some of us would put together our “God Moments”. I want to tell you about mine tonight. Some of you know most of this story, some of you know a little of it, a few of you it is going to be completely new to. I imagine it is going to be quite an earful to some of you.
Several years ago I was in prison. How and why is not really important, but that is where I was. One day a pastor came to visit. I went to see him to get out of the cell for awhile. Any excuse was good enough to get out of the cell for awhile…. Now, this man did not really make much of an impression on me. I don’t remember his name. I don’t remember what he looked like. I don’t know what church he was with. I would not recognize him if I saw him again. I don’t remember anything we talked about. But the man gave me one of those little New Testaments that the Gideons pass out. You have all seen them, the little Bibles with the New Testament, and Psalms and Proverbs. That is all I really remember about this man. But one of these days I am going to shake his hand.
Not long after meeting this fellow, I ended up in a place called solitary confinement. Solitary is where inmates end up when they act in a way that is unacceptable behavior for convicted felons…think about that a second. That should show you the depths I had sunk to. I was there about ten days. I only had a few things with me.
Two orange prison jump suits.
One pillow, two sheets, and a blanket
One towel
One washcloth
One pair of boots. They had taken the laces out; because they were afraid I would try to hang myself with them, and I probably would have.
That’s all I had in that cell besides that little Gideon Bible. After a couple days, I got bored, and I started to read it.
I read Psalm 34, and the 6th verse really stuck in my mind. “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved Him out of all his troubles.” Now what really struck me about this passage was the poor man part.
It did not say this great man, it did not say this worthy man, and it did not say this deserving man. It did not say this just man; that would be logical right? This poor man. The thought occurred to me that just maybe this poor man was me. Well, I knew I was a poor man at the time, I was a special kind of person, I was a jerk, I was scum, but the rest did not make any sense to me. What was this business about the Lord hearing him, and saving him? But it started me thinking. I tell you what I was thinking: Why should He… And how could He? That’s what I was thinking.
A few weeks later, I went to a prison church service. Again it was just a chance to get out of the dorm. The evangelist preached on Psalm 34:6, “this poor man cried, and the Lord heard Him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” This was the strangest thing. I knew the Lord was speaking to me. I believed in the Lord. But I hadn’t met him yet. I did not know him. This preacher was using the same passage that was troubling me. Oh what was the Lord trying to say to me?
Like so many people, I just couldn’t understand that Jesus was willing to meet me where I was. Even in that place…. Jesus was waiting on me. I was a little more hard headed than the woman at the well, as you will see shortly. I spent the next two years trying to figure out why the Lord should hear a poor man like me. That was a kind of love that was completely beyond my understanding. I spent the next two years trying to get to where God is. Trying to make myself presentable to God. Trying to make myself worthy to come to Jesus. Trying to make myself acceptable to Jesus. It did not work.
Then I got to thinking about the Samaritan woman. I realized maybe if Jesus was willing to meat her where she was, and Maybe if the Lord saved the poor man the Psalmist spoke of, just maybe he could do it for this poor man too. I was still pretty skeptical…. I still tried to think of an intellectual way to explain that kind of love. I was trying to logically justify a love so deep that it is completely beyond human comprehension. Nothing in the realm of human experience can even compare to it.
One morning I just couldn’t wrestle with it anymore. I just accepted that it was. I went to pastor Ernie, and told him I was ready to meet Jesus. I went to the altar that morning, and Jesus met me there. The same Jesus who was waiting to meet me where I was in prison was also waiting to meet me through my own self reliance and pride, through my own guilt and doubt.
I wasn’t skeptical anymore. Jesus saved the poor man in Psalm 34, He offered eternal life to the Woman at the well, and He did it for me, and I have never been the same. Jesus met me where I was at. That’s my God moment.
Now this is what I am here to tell you tonight. If Jesus can meet the poor man in Psalms, if he can meet the woman at the well, if he can meet this poor man in the depths I was in, he can meet anybody, anywhere. That is why I am up here tonight.
Lets go back to Jacob’s well and see what is going on. I am going to read John 4:28-29, Jesus and the Woman have finished up their discourse, and the woman becomes convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah sent to save those who will accept Him. She becomes a believer, and she left her water-pot in her excitement, and ran around town, giving the invitation; “come and see a man”, come and see a man who told me all I ever did. Is this not the Christ?
I want to extend that invitation to you. Come and see a Man. Jesus will meet you regardless of where you are spiritually.
John 4:6-19
People often think that Jesus could not want them the way they are. People want to say that they could not come to Jesus until they clean up their act. It’s an excuse I hear all the time. And it is a logical excuse. It goes along with human thinking, human nature. Let me point out a few things from this account of the Samaritan Woman.
1. Jesus knew this woman. He knew her inside and out. He knew everything she had ever done. Jesus told the woman to call her husband (v18)…. He did this to demonstrate this fact to her. Jesus knows everything you have ever done. He knows where you are, physically and spiritually.
2. Not only did He meet her where she was at, He was there and waiting. He already knew where she was, physically and spiritually. He was waiting on her. He is there waiting on you. Wherever you are, he is waiting for you to come to him.
3. Jesus still offers the woman everlasting life (14). Knowing she was an adulterous woman, a sinner. Jesus was still waiting on her, with his gift of eternal life. Jesus simply did this because that is what Jesus does.
4. You don’t have to try to be acceptable to Jesus before you can come to Him. You don’t have to clean up your act first. You don’t have to meet Jesus where you think He is at. Where you think He wants you to be, If it could be done that way, you would not need Him!
I want to leave the woman at the well with Jesus for just a little bit, let them finish their chat; we will catch up with them in a few minutes and see how things turn out. But I want to share something else with you right now.
Last Sunday Al asked if some of us would put together our “God Moments”. I want to tell you about mine tonight. Some of you know most of this story, some of you know a little of it, a few of you it is going to be completely new to. I imagine it is going to be quite an earful to some of you.
Several years ago I was in prison. How and why is not really important, but that is where I was. One day a pastor came to visit. I went to see him to get out of the cell for awhile. Any excuse was good enough to get out of the cell for awhile…. Now, this man did not really make much of an impression on me. I don’t remember his name. I don’t remember what he looked like. I don’t know what church he was with. I would not recognize him if I saw him again. I don’t remember anything we talked about. But the man gave me one of those little New Testaments that the Gideons pass out. You have all seen them, the little Bibles with the New Testament, and Psalms and Proverbs. That is all I really remember about this man. But one of these days I am going to shake his hand.
Not long after meeting this fellow, I ended up in a place called solitary confinement. Solitary is where inmates end up when they act in a way that is unacceptable behavior for convicted felons…think about that a second. That should show you the depths I had sunk to. I was there about ten days. I only had a few things with me.
Two orange prison jump suits.
One pillow, two sheets, and a blanket
One towel
One washcloth
One pair of boots. They had taken the laces out; because they were afraid I would try to hang myself with them, and I probably would have.
That’s all I had in that cell besides that little Gideon Bible. After a couple days, I got bored, and I started to read it.
I read Psalm 34, and the 6th verse really stuck in my mind. “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved Him out of all his troubles.” Now what really struck me about this passage was the poor man part.
It did not say this great man, it did not say this worthy man, and it did not say this deserving man. It did not say this just man; that would be logical right? This poor man. The thought occurred to me that just maybe this poor man was me. Well, I knew I was a poor man at the time, I was a special kind of person, I was a jerk, I was scum, but the rest did not make any sense to me. What was this business about the Lord hearing him, and saving him? But it started me thinking. I tell you what I was thinking: Why should He… And how could He? That’s what I was thinking.
A few weeks later, I went to a prison church service. Again it was just a chance to get out of the dorm. The evangelist preached on Psalm 34:6, “this poor man cried, and the Lord heard Him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” This was the strangest thing. I knew the Lord was speaking to me. I believed in the Lord. But I hadn’t met him yet. I did not know him. This preacher was using the same passage that was troubling me. Oh what was the Lord trying to say to me?
Like so many people, I just couldn’t understand that Jesus was willing to meet me where I was. Even in that place…. Jesus was waiting on me. I was a little more hard headed than the woman at the well, as you will see shortly. I spent the next two years trying to figure out why the Lord should hear a poor man like me. That was a kind of love that was completely beyond my understanding. I spent the next two years trying to get to where God is. Trying to make myself presentable to God. Trying to make myself worthy to come to Jesus. Trying to make myself acceptable to Jesus. It did not work.
Then I got to thinking about the Samaritan woman. I realized maybe if Jesus was willing to meat her where she was, and Maybe if the Lord saved the poor man the Psalmist spoke of, just maybe he could do it for this poor man too. I was still pretty skeptical…. I still tried to think of an intellectual way to explain that kind of love. I was trying to logically justify a love so deep that it is completely beyond human comprehension. Nothing in the realm of human experience can even compare to it.
One morning I just couldn’t wrestle with it anymore. I just accepted that it was. I went to pastor Ernie, and told him I was ready to meet Jesus. I went to the altar that morning, and Jesus met me there. The same Jesus who was waiting to meet me where I was in prison was also waiting to meet me through my own self reliance and pride, through my own guilt and doubt.
I wasn’t skeptical anymore. Jesus saved the poor man in Psalm 34, He offered eternal life to the Woman at the well, and He did it for me, and I have never been the same. Jesus met me where I was at. That’s my God moment.
Now this is what I am here to tell you tonight. If Jesus can meet the poor man in Psalms, if he can meet the woman at the well, if he can meet this poor man in the depths I was in, he can meet anybody, anywhere. That is why I am up here tonight.
Lets go back to Jacob’s well and see what is going on. I am going to read John 4:28-29, Jesus and the Woman have finished up their discourse, and the woman becomes convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah sent to save those who will accept Him. She becomes a believer, and she left her water-pot in her excitement, and ran around town, giving the invitation; “come and see a man”, come and see a man who told me all I ever did. Is this not the Christ?
I want to extend that invitation to you. Come and see a Man. Jesus will meet you regardless of where you are spiritually.
posted by Anonymous at 5:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home