Pastor Dan Turpin
West Coast Church
John 4:3-7
Introduction: Years ago I preached a message from John. 4:3-7 which says, v3 Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee and … came to the Samaritan village of Sychar …v 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. v7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” From that encounter I saw three things: 1) God Has Needs 2) You have the ability to minister to the needs of God. 3) You were created to meet God’s Needs. Commandments reflect God’s needs, what He needs from us and the potential we have in Him.
John. 14:13-18, And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. v14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. v15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. v16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. v17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. v18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John. 15:14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. Commandments are a reflection of God’s nature, a window into His soul. They reveal His needs and what is required of those who desire to have relationship with Him.
#1. God has a Need for Respect (Ex. 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain).
A. Pastor Dan: One day I spent 8 hours watching marriage DVDs because I was going to be teaching on that topic. After
finishing the last DVD and making my last note I asked myself this question, “What was the central theme the teacher was
conveying in his lessons?” I was able to reduce eight hours of teaching into one word—respect. The instructor illustrated
respect in his seminar but he did not define it. So I made my own definition—respect is you making those things that are
important to your spouse important to you and your spouse making those things which are important to you important to him
or her. The root of all marital evils is selfishness. Respect is critical, it is the glue that holds all lasting relationships together,
including our relationship with God as well.
1. Reverence and Fear Ex. 20:7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. Johann Gerhard: "The main
object of this command is to instill reverence, to point out to us that the only proper frame of mind in which we can
approach God is one of humility and deeply reverent fear. The fear of God is to be united with the love of God; for love
without fear makes men and women careless and thoughtless; fear without love makes them servile and slavish.”
a. Proverb 3:5-7 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your way
acknowledge Him and He will direct your steps. Fear the Lord and depart from evil for it will be health to your flesh
b. Pro. 19:23 NKVJ: The fear of the Lord leads to life, and the person who has it will abide in satisfaction;
He or she will not be visited with evil. Eerdman: "The fear of the Lord keeps us from foolishness, from fraud, from
wicked action and habit, from moral contamination, from death in life—which is the thing to be most dreaded and
avoided … for you and me to live in ignorance or in forgetfulness of God is to miss the whole purpose of life while
we have it (or seem to have it).
c. Pro. 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
d. John. 14:21, 24 They who have My commandments and keep them, they are ones who love Me. And they who
love Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love them and manifest Myself to them. v24 They who do not love
Me do not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
e. Deut. 10:12 And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to
walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul
2. Fear and Reverence (Ecc.12:13 Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of every man and
every woman)
a. Websters New World Dictionary—Reverence: a feeling or attitude of deep respect, love and awe, as for
something sacred.
b. Pastor Dan: Definition of Worship: Worship comes from two Greek words 1) pros which speaks of direction. 2)
kuneo which means affection or kiss. So worship is an expression of our affection aimed in the direction of God.
c. 1 Peter 1:17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward
you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary
residents
d. 2 Cor. 5:10 We must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good
or evil we have done in this earthly body.
e. Heb. 10:26-28 Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth,
there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. v27 There is only the terrible expectation of God’s
judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. v28 For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses
was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses,
Closing and Invitation; Pastor Dan: God gave His commandments, not so we would be tormented by our inability to keep them. God gave us His commandments so we would understand how much we are in need of relationship with Him. He gave us His commandments so that we would know how to relate to Him through His grace.
Pastor Dan: Some feel that the commandments, these windows into God’s soul are grievous and serve only to reveal our proclivity towards wrongdoing. They are not! They reveal to us the potential we have in our relationship with God and what He can accomplish in us as we walk with Him. The commandments do not deal with the actuality of our weakness but the potentiality of our strength in Him.
