A Faith With God In It!

It is not the quantity of faith, but the quality of faith, that is important. A grain of mustard seed and a pellet of dust are similar in appearance, but the difference is immense. The one has no life burning at the heart of it, while the other contains life as God kindled it. Faith that has in it the principle of life is a faith with God in it. —F. B. Meyer

In (John 4:23-30), Jesus displays His love for the lost sinner and shows potential witnesses how to go about the business of sharing the faith. One clear-cut way to learn how to tell others about Jesus is to observe how the Master Himself did it.

The main character in this passage, other than Jesus Himself, is a woman with low morals and a bad reputation. How do we suppose this about her? We notice that she came to Jacob’s well to get water at noon, during the hottest part of the day. The other women would have come early in the morning or late in the evening to get water.

History tells us that those gatherings were often opportunities for the women to catch up on their gossip. Verse 18 tells us why she didn’t come with the other women. In fact, she was probably the subject of their gossip on many occasions.

On this day, when she arrives at the well, she meets a man named Jesus. He tells her about an everlasting well of water from which she can take one drink and never thirst again, (John 4:13-14). She hears about the true path of salvation and she is saved by the grace of God. What a truly life-changing event it must have been for this woman!

Today, I'd like to do something a little different with this story. I want to skip ahead to the end of this account. This woman has heard the Gospel and she has believed. She is saved by grace and is as a newborn in Christ. Here is a woman who is freshly saved. Her faith has not had time to become jaded. Her faith hasn’t yet become tarnished.

Right now, we have the opportunity to look at faith as it appears fresh from the womb of grace. The kind of faith this woman had in her life is the same kind of faith you and I need to have in our lives. I would like to share with you the qualities of this woman’s faith, a new faith.

We can call the first quality SIMPLE FAITH, if you'd like. Jesus had come to His Own people and had demonstrated His power and His identity through many miracles and signs. He had perfectly fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah, and yet they had rejected Him (John 1:11).

But, here is a woman, a child of the hated race of the Samaritans. She hears the word of God and she believes. There are no miracles. No water is turned to wine. No demons are cast out. No multitudes are fed with a little bread and a few fish. No one walks on water. No one is raised from the dead. Jesus simply tells her the truth and she believes it and is saved. We can say that her's is a simple faith!

This is the kind of faith that saves the souls! Jesus said that we had to come to Him as little children (Matthew 18:1-5). That is, we are to lose all pretense. We are to be open and honest. We are to simply believe Him by faith. Saving faith is a simple faith! Grace works in the heart of the sinner, and shows him his condition. Grace shows the sinner where to look to be saved and grace provides the faith to look. That is saving faith and it's so simple!

Turning to the next quality of faith, let's call it SINCERE FAITH. After the woman meets Jesus and believes in her heart that He is the Messiah. She forgets everything but Him! She drops her waterpot (John 4:28), and heads back into the city to tell the others that He is here! This man Who moments before had meant absolutely nothing to her was now the focus of her thoughts and her actions. What an amazing transformation!

This is how it works for everyone who meets Him. One moment He is the Lord Jesus Christ, some holy, distant man who died on a cross. But, when faith is exercised in Him, He instantly becomes a personal friend and the absolute focus and center of your being. His salvation is amazing because it brings about such an immediate depth of change (1 Corinthians 5:17).

Think about all the things that changed for you when you received Jesus as your Savior. This woman left town that day a dirty, vile, hated sinner. The women hated her because she was an easy mark for the men. The men used her body, but didn’t care a thing about her. She left town a nobody, but she returned to town a new born child of God! Everything had changed in an instant! When simple faith is exercised in Jesus Christ, and a soul is saved, sincere faith quickly develops in the heart of the believer.

We can call the next quality of faith, SHARING FAITH. After she is saved the first thing this woman wants to do is go and tell somebody, anybody! She ran back to town to the crowd who knew her best and told them about Jesus (John 4:28-29). Not only did she tell them about Him, she invited them to come and meet Him for themselves. She said, “He’s still out there and what He did for me He will do for you if you will come to Him!”

It must have done some good too, because several of those men believed because of her witness and others came to know Jesus because of her invitation. Suffice it to say, this woman was responsible for a town turning to God (John 4:39-42). This woman had the kind of testimony we like to parade across the platform and show off. She had one of those spectacular testimonies of a life saved from the bottom. In this case, the Lord took one of the most despicable citizens of that town and used her to bring many souls to Jesus.

However, you don't have to go to the bottom to have a great testimony! You don’t have to be filthy, dirty to know how good it feels to be clean! What I'm saying is this: "If you are saved, you have a testimony!" As long as you can say, “I have met the Lord Jesus and He changed my life and He can do the same for you, and here’s how you can know Him.”, the Lord can use your life!

There’s just something about meeting Him that makes you want to tell others about Him! It’s hard to keep to yourself. It is comforting to know that as we attempt to witness to others, we have the promises of God in this matter (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 13:5). Let’s ask the Lord to develop within us a sharing faith.

There is yet another quality of faith that I'd like mention. We can refer to this one as SHINING FAITH. Something about this woman was different when she went back into town. It's a pretty good bet that they had never heard her talk about “religion” before. Now, here she is talking to them about the Lord and inviting them out to meet Him. She was a new person; a totally changed person. The change in her life was very plain to see by all!

When the Lord is truly in your life, it will get out on you! You won’t be able to keep Him a secret when He lives in your heart. I guess it’s the whole “light and candle” thing. When He puts His light within your heart, you will stand out from the darkness around you (Matthew 5:13-16).

You’ve probably met these kind of people, haven’t you? You know which ones I am talking about. They're always praising the Lord in public. They pray over their food in a restaurant. Sometimes they will have a New Testament or tracts in their pocket. You know...that loud crowd! Friends, I pray that the Lord would do that to every one of us! Let’s ask the Lord to give us a shining faith that glorifies Him before the world!

This leads me into the last quality of faith that I'd like to mention today. I will call it SAVING FAITH. This woman certainly had saving faith. She went to the well that day to get enough water to last the day, she returned with enough spiritual water to last an eternity! She got more than she bargained for, she got saved! You can see her in this passage as she attempts to out maneuver the Lord (John 4:9-25). But when she hears His claim to be the Messiah (John 4:26), she loses her will to fight and she believes in Him by faith. The best thing you will ever get out of life is saving faith!

In closing, have you ever been to the well and left with more than you came after? If you are saved, you sure have! Let’s ask the Lord to do within us what He did within this woman. Let’s ask Him to give a simple faith, a sincere faith, a sharing faith, a shining faith, and a saving faith. Let’s ask Him to take us and use us like He did this lady. He can and He will if we are saved and have yielded to Him.

Let's pray:

Father in Heaven,
ever-living source of all that is good,
keep me faithful in serving You.
Help me to drink of Christ's Truth,
and fill my heart with His Love
so that I may serve You in faith
and love and reach eternal life.
You give me the joy of sharing Your Life.
Keep me in Your presence.
Let me never be separated from You
and help me to do Your Will. Amen

Have a blessed day,

Abbey