{"id":26808,"date":"2026-01-18T21:10:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=26808"},"modified":"2026-01-18T21:11:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:11:35","slug":"overlooked-scripture-no-4-second-hand-faith-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/overlooked-scripture-no-4-second-hand-faith-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Overlooked Scripture No. 4 “Second-hand faith.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, \u2018He told me all that I ever did.\u2019 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days.\u00a0 And many more believed because of His own word. Then, they said to the woman, \u2018Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world’\u201d (John 4:39-42).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Paul Harvey used to call this \u201cthe rest of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

We preachers dearly love the Lord\u2019s encounter with the woman at the well, from the first half of John 4.\u00a0 It\u2019s insights and teachings, its power and pathos, make it one for the ages.\u00a0 But the story does not end the way we generally conclude it, with her rushing back into the town to tell her friends about the Man she had met. There is more.<\/p>\n

As the townspeople flowed out to meet the Lord, they begged Him to stay, which He did. Then, two days later, when He departed, Jesus left behind a lot of new believers.\u00a0 That\u2019s when some of them gave us the memorable statement which I\u2019m calling \u201coverlooked scripture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now we believe\u2026not just because of your testimony that He told you everything you ever did\u2026but because we have met Him for ourselves, and we know that He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s strong stuff.<\/p>\n

Second hand faith can be a good thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first, the speaker said to the woman, we had a second hand faith.\u00a0 We believed because of what you said.<\/p>\n

There is not a thing in the world wrong with second-hand faith in Jesus.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s an essential step toward getting the real thing.\u00a0 Someone tells you of Jesus and you see the change that has come about in their lives, and you believe in Him because of them.<\/p>\n

However, you do not know Him yet.<\/p>\n

You know about<\/em> Him.<\/p>\n

Now, if you proceed no further, you have a remote faith in Jesus but you do not know Him personally. This is not saving faith.\u00a0 This is a hearsay faith, a second-hand religion.<\/p>\n

To believe in Jesus because Mama did or because Grandma believed is not good enough.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

God has no grandchildren, the old-timers used to say. And, likewise, no one is grandfathered into the kingdom.<\/p>\n

You must be born again.<\/em><\/p>\n

A good reason to believe in Jesus Christ, let me say before moving on, is the quality of the outstanding people who have believed and have lived remarkable lives.\u00a0\u00a0Names like\u00a0Charles Colson, Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, Bill Wallace of China, and a few thousand others come to mind.\u00a0 We do not become Christians by this kind of faith but it draws us to Jesus where we place our trust in Him.<\/p>\n

A first-hand faith is the goal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we have met Him for ourselves,\u201d said the townspeople to the woman. \u201cAnd we know and believe that He is the Savior of the world, the Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know.\u00a0 Furthermore, I know that I know.<\/p>\n

When you meet Jesus Christ for yourself, you no longer have to rely on hearsay evidence.\u00a0 You will undoubtedly rejoice at the testimony of others, but you have your own faith-story now. And the person with a testimony is never at the mercy of someone with an argument.<\/p>\n

We are reminded of the man born blind in John 9.\u00a0 When opponents pressed him to deny Jesus, he insisted, \u201cOne thing I know. Whereas I was blind, now I see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some things you know and there is no denying it.<\/p>\n

We know that we have passed from death to life.<\/p>\n

We know that we know Jesus.<\/p>\n

We know because we have met Him for ourselves.<\/p>\n

True, there is no exact place in Scripture that speaks of \u201caccepting Jesus as your personal Savior,\u201d the way some of us speak of it, but that\u2019s still the point.<\/p>\n

We must never discount second-hand faith, but encourage it because it leads to the real thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, \u2018He told me all that I ever did.\u2019 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26820,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26808\/revisions\/26820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}