I invite your attention to the
gospel according to John chapter 4. Today's message is the ninth
and I believe the concluding message in this series on Jesus
and the Samaritan woman. John chapter 4, verses 1 through
43. While you're locating your text, Your bulletin says there are
free copies of The Sovereignty of God on the track table. There will be soon. So. And it is a wonderful book. Did you hear what Mitch said?
Bring a highlighter and a pencil to do a lot of marking. All right. Read it with your highlighter.
That book has been So instrumental in the hand of God, A.W. Pink
on the sovereignty of God. It has been so instrumental in
so many people learning the gospel. The other book is Dwayne Spencer's
The Five Points of Calvinism in the Light of Scripture. There
are still copies on the table, but we'll try to get more copies
of Pink's book soon. John chapter 4, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees
had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than
John. Parenthetically we read, though
Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples, they did the baptizing. they baptized. He left Judea
and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through
Samaria. He had to do it. It must be done. He must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria
which is called Sychar. near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of
Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. Parenthetically we read, For
his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then
saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being
a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, And who it is that saith
unto thee, Give me to drink? Thou wouldst have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater
than our father Jacob, which gave us the well? drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle. Jesus answered and
said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. The woman said unto him, Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call
thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is
not thy husband, in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto
him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh When ye shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father, ye worship ye know
not what we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews,
but the hour cometh and now is. When the true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, For the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know
that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come,
he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples,
and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, What
seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot,
and went her way into the city, and said to the men, Come, see
a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this
the Christ? went out of the city and came
unto him. In the meantime, his disciples
prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have
meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore saith the disciples
one to another, Hath any man brought him out to eat? Jesus
saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent
me and to finish his work. We're going to continue our exposition
at that point today at verse number 35. Let me just make two points considering
what Jesus just said. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me and to finish the work. Contrary to most popular religion, Jesus
is not a failure in no way, shape, or form. I came to do the will
of my Father, he said. What was the will of his Father? One instance, God sent His Son
into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world,
that the world through Him might be saved. This is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Now some will say, see, He came
to save sinners, He cannot do it unless sinners let him. Boy,
sinners have a free will. And Jesus cannot violate man's
free will. And they picture him wringing
his hands. I've done all I can to save you. Let me save you. Let me save
you. I read of one prominent Baptist
theologian, seminary president, who confessed or declared that
hell is proof of the failure of God to do what he will do. I'm talking about a high ranking
Baptist preacher, evangelist in the mid 1900s. God did everything he could and
Jesus did everything he could. And people are in hell because
God either could not or would not save them and would not violate
their free will. Jesus did all he could. Jesus
painted all, they sing. Yeah, but God's going to send
you to hell anyway if you don't do something about it. Really? No. No. God will not violate your free
will because you do not have a free will when it comes to
salvation. But I will tell you what He will
do. His people are told, thy people shall be made willing.
in the day of your power. The Jesus we preach to you is
in no way a failure. He's the greatest success this
world has ever known. When at the end of his earthly
ministry, the night before he died, he said to his father,
I have finished the work you gave me to do. And he meant it! And then on Calvary's tree, he
shouts in glorious victory, it is finished. It is finished! And he is a success. It is my food to do the will
of my Father and to finish the work that he gave me to do. And
he did it. He did it. We have nothing to do with anybody
who talks about Jesus being a failure. In no way, shape, or form is
Jesus a failure. Now to verse number 35. Okay, so the woman has gone back
to the village in Sychar. Jesus is at the well. His disciples
have brought food. They wonder why it is that he's
not eating. She, meanwhile, is back in the
village of Sychar, and she's telling everybody, God, see a
man who told me everything I ever did. It's got to be the Christ. And so, they begin their trek
from the village to the well. Jesus looks up and He sees them.
There they come. There they come. He's in a rural
area. There's a grain field all around. So I'm just setting the scene
for you so that you understand what he's going to say now. Now
look in verse 35. Say not ye, there are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest. It's early in the spring. Harvest is going to be four months
away, therefore, The fields evidently are freshly sown. Probably the
sprouts have come up. They're green. They're green.
The field's all around green with sprouting grain coming up
from the ground. You can look at it and say, yep,
early spring, yep, it's going to be four months before that
grain's ready to harvest. Say not ye that There are yet
four months, and then cometh harvest. Behold, take a look,
he says, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the
fields, for they are white already to harvest." When the grain has grown to full
height, the grain on top turns white,
and it's waving in the breeze. That's how you know it's harvest
time. The fields are white. No longer green with the fresh
growth. They're white. Jesus says, look,
look, look on the fields. They're white already to harvest. And I'm sure that perhaps the
disciple said, Lord, the fields are still green. No, no, no. You're looking at the wrong fields.
Now, I want you to notice how Jesus speaks to his disciples.
He speaks in spiritual terms. You have to listen very carefully
to understand what he's saying. He talks about spiritual water
to the woman at the well. She understands not what he says.
Yeah, I can give you spiritual water. Oh, really? Yeah. He contrasts spiritual water
to physical water. Then he contrasts spiritual food
to physical food. Physical food is the bread his
disciples brought to him. Spiritual food is him doing the
will of his father. That nourishes me to do the will
of my father and to finish his work. Now he's talking about
a spiritual harvest. Physical harvest is yet four
months away. But look, see them coming? That's a harvest. That's a field. They're coming. Disciples, I'm telling you, the
fields are white. Those people that are coming,
the fields, the grain is ripe. It's ready to harvest. Our Lord
here speaks in spiritual terms concerning these. Here come the Samaritans. It's
harvest time. The field is white. Jesus says
in verse 36, and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth
fruit unto life eternal. Now who is the reaper? He's the
one who goes into the fields ready for harvest. And he goes
there to be blessed with the conversion of hearers. He's going
into the fields. John Mitchell did that many,
many years ago, did he not? Came up here into Montana and
found a field ready for harvest. He's a reaper. He began to reap. And then this reaper receiveth
wages from God. The wages involve the souls of
men. God says, all souls are mine,
the soul of the Father and the soul of the Son. Every soul is
mine. And God gives souls as wages
to the reapers that go into the fields. The reaper receiveth
wages. And this reaper, we're told,
gathereth fruit unto life eternal. Because the harvest receive eternal
life, and the harvester receives a wage that lives forever. And sometimes we know virtually
nothing about it, but it lives forever. So the fields are white. It's
time to harvest. And Jesus tells them that If
you preach the gospel to these that are coming and they believe,
they receive eternal life and the workman is worthy of his
hire. Then Jesus says, both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. Now in this
instance, in the foremost place, the sower is Jesus Christ. Our
brother Chris, a few weeks ago, read from the parables of the
kingdom, Matthew chapter 13. You read the parable of the sower,
you know, into the field to sow? Alright, he sowed in seed along
the way. And the disciples say, wait a
minute, you'll have to explain that. Well, the sower, I am the
sower, and the field is the world. Here is Jesus, He has gone into
Samaria, woman came to the well, and he just threw some seed at
her. She went back into the village, and she began to sow some seed.
The sower is Jesus Christ, this woman who's telling the gospel,
and the reapers are the disciples of Jesus. Jesus put souls under the sound of
the gospel, they come looking for a preacher, and the preacher
is the reaper. And then we read that the sower
and the reaper rejoice together. And the reason for that is, is
that there is no great interval between sowing and reaping. You sow that seed out in the
field, you've got to wait four months. When Jesus sows his seed and
calls, it's harvest time already. Harvest time already. When Jesus
calls, you come. You come. And the sower and the
reaper stand there together. Here is fulfilled the prophecy
in Amos 9.13, Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the
plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him
that soweth seed. And in the conversion of souls,
in the field of the world, here is a man sowing seed. And another
man says, you'll have to move, I'm reaping. The reaper overtakes
the sower. That's the way it is in the preaching
of the gospel. You're sowing seed and it's reaping
time already. Jesus and his gospel is a marvelous
thing. So marvelous how it's in the
reaping of souls. Then in verse 37, herein is that
saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. Now both the Greeks
and the Romans, ancient times, knew this parable. One soweth
and another reapeth. And Jesus here applies it to
the gospel. It was found in the days of the
Old Testament when the Lord gave to the children of Israel the
land of Canaan. The Lord in his providence led
the children of Israel into Canaan at harvest time. not at planting
time, at harvest time. The Canaanites had sown grain
in the fields. When it comes time to reap, the
Lord drove them out and said somebody else will do the reaping.
It's the children of Israel. They came into the land of Canaan
They had not sown a single grain of grain. And yet, the harvest
belongs to them. So it is in the preaching of
the gospel. Jesus says, I sent you to reap,
whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and ye are
entered into their labors. Jesus and this Samaritan woman
had done the sowing, and now the disciples are going to enjoy
the harvest. Paul says, in another place,
I planted another water, and God gave the increase. And quite
often it'll be one preacher who labors in the place for many
years preaching the gospel, But it does not take root in the
heart until that preacher is gone and the next pastor has
come. One sowed the seed, another raked
the harvest, and God gave the increase. Verse 39, And many of the Samaritans of
that city Believed on him for the saying
of the woman which testified, he told me all that I ever did."
Notice, they believed because of what she said. Who is she? She is, we may assume, a very
sinful, immoral woman. even among low people. She is
the lowest of the Samaritans, but God used her. Never let any of us think that we are too lowly or
too insignificant to be used of God in a mighty way. Never consider yourself too lowly
or too insignificant to be greatly used of God. Let me give you
some examples of God using lowly people. In 2 Kings chapter 5
you'll read of Naaman, a mighty man of valor in Syria. He'd gone into the land of Israel
and carried off some captives, brought them back. Mighty man
of valor. Commander of all the army of
Syria. And yet, he's a leper. He's a leper. Probably not of
the debilitating disease, but he's got that stigma. of the
color of leprosy in his skin and it is a stigma among higher
class people looking down at him and it's not a thing in the world
he can do about it he's a leper but he had happened to capture
a young girl in Israel and Israelite maiden,
young girl, and she is a servant in the house of Naaman. A lonely Israelite girl, a servant
in the house of the greatest military man in all of Syria. You see the difference? And the
little Israelite girl says, Oh, that my master was with the prophet
that is in Samaria. Samaria, did you catch that?
Oh, that my master was with the prophet who is in Samaria, Elisha
by name. He would cure him of this leprosy. And the woman tells Naaman, and
Naaman tells the king, and the king says, Go to the prophet.
And you know the story of Naaman. Loads up his animals with treasures
and goes off back into Samaria looking for Elisha and he finds
him. And you know the story about
Naaman. He mercyed himself seven times
in the river Jordan and he's healed. Leprosy is gone. He's
healed. He's healed. Now we all know
about the king of Syria. And we all know about Naaman. and we all know about Elisha
and we probably know about Elisha's servant Gehazi wicked man but all this happened because
of a little girl a little girl she's lowly she's insignificant
but that's the kind of people the Lord uses lowly and significant
people. I'll give you another one. The armies of Israel and of Philistia
are facing each other. And Philistia sends out their
champion, a giant of a man named Goliath, heavily armed, with
a shield of arrow walking in front of him, giving a challenge. Send one man out to fight me. Winner takes all. Winner takes
all. Well, who's going to go against
this giant of a man? And then there comes this young
lad into the camp. He hears that boasting giant
and he is just upset. How dare that man speak against
the God I serve. I'll go fight him. young man David, young man David,
the shepherd, the baby of the family, that's why he's keeping
sheep. He goes down to the brook and
all he's got is a sling, picks up five stones, he needed only
one, but he's got that one stone in the sling and he speaks to
the giant and rebukes him for his boasting. And I come in the
name of the God you define with this sling, one stone, hit that
giant in the only place in his head that was not covered with
the shield. Explain that. That's God using
a lowly insignificant person. Man's got a shield on his face
and he's got the helmet on There's that little space there where
he's got his eyes to see. That's where David hid. God uses
lowly, insignificant people. Our Lord called preachers to
go preach the gospel. Who'd he call? Fishermen, a despised
Pharisee or tax collector, lowly people, when they were
put on trial by the Jews, what did they call them? Ignorant
and unlearned men. Now that's what they are. Ignorant
and unlearned men. Yeah. And then they said, and
they turned the world upside down. That's the kind of people
our Lord uses And here he uses an immoral woman of a lowly people. Never think
you are too lowly or insignificant to be used of God. In whatever
instance he puts you to be of use, do it. Remember the maid
of Naaman. Remember the son of Jesse. Remember the disciples of Jesus. Remember the woman of Samaria. So when the Samaritans, verse
40, so when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought
him that he would tarry with them. And he abode there two
days. They said, stay with us for a
while. Stay with us. Well, they did not even know
the man. He's a stranger. All they know is he preached
the gospel. I want you to learn here this
truth. Four words. The graced are gracious. Happens every time. The graced
are gracious. If God has been gracious to you,
you are gracious to others, even complete strangers. Let me illustrate. 1978, May. I graduated from college
with my degree in theology and intended to be a missionary or
evangelist. On the island of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, my February of
79, just half a year away. And when it was known that the
Lord had called me, and I let it be known just a few weeks
before my graduation, and that was when I felt the Lord calling
me to be the missionary in 1978, I let it be known, and immediately
A number of pastors contacted me and said, come preach to our
church. We do not know who you are, except that we've heard
you preach the gospel, and I had been recommended by a couple
of other preachers. My father had recommended me
and a couple of others that were well-known as gospel preachers,
and they said, we know those who recommended you, but we do
not know you, so come preach to us. And so I did. Saint and I, and at that time
our son was four months old or so, but he was just a newborn. But
we did visit quite a few churches, stayed in quite a few homes,
did the same thing in 1984. I came back to the U.S. in 1984
after being five years on St. John. ministry and was on my
way to another island, and a number of other churches had heard of
my ministry and wanted to know more about it, including the
church here in Great Falls, 1984. So I received a number of invitations,
1984, communications mostly by letter back then, and so I began
to visit. complete strangers in most instances. All I know is I got an address
and a name. They said come stay with us.
Now I'm usually preaching about three times a week in three different
places. So I'm going to stay a couple
of nights in about every house where I stop. So I knock on the
door At the place I've been told, hello, my name is Moose Parks
and I'm looking for such and such. I am he. You're the missionary? Yes. Come on in! Come in! Bring your wife and your son. 1984, there was a daughter and
you know, come on in! Folks, we're strangers. We're
strangers. They invite us into the house,
you know, and as daughters say, While you were here, our house
is our house, and our table is your table, and our food is your
food, our bedroom is your bedroom, and we were treated like royalty
by strangers who all they knew was, I'm a gospel preacher. I recall one instance in particular
1978, fall of the year, I was invited
by a pastor to come preach to his church, and he was unable to be there
for that Lord's Day, so we stayed in the home of a member. When
we pulled into the driveway, it was plain to see this couple
was not well off. were not rich in this world's
goods, but they were rich in grace and rich in hospitality
and mindful of the exhortation to forget not to entertain strangers,
Hebrews chapter 12. They fed us delicious meal. We enjoyed sweet fellowship.
It came time to go to bed. They put us in a comfortable
bed. Our son was just maybe two or three months old at the time.
We three were sleeping in the same bed. And I woke early, walked
out of the bedroom and realized that Sandy and I and our infant
son had slept in evidently the only bed in the house. because
the people with whom we were staying were sleeping on the
floor in the living room, had put pallets down. It was rather
humbling, but they were delighted. We have a gospel preacher here
in our house. They showed every bit of hospitality
they could. Why is that? The graced are gracious. The graced are gracious. We may not have much in this
world's goods, but we're going to be gracious with what we've
got. I'll give you one more. I came to Great Falls in 1984
and 1989. It was quite a few years before
I returned. And this time I received, I believe
it was maybe a letter saying that I would be staying with
Larry and Sharon Grine. Now, I may have met them on the
two previous trips, I'm sorry, I did not remember, no offense
intended. I did not even know how to pronounce
their last name, nor the name of the town in which they lived,
Choteau. All right, all I know is I'm
supposed to go to the house of Larry and Sharon Grine, Choteau,
Montana. Here's the address, here's the
phone number. On our way, I received a telephone
call. Hello, this is Sharon Grind.
I need to know if there's anything special you want to eat. Well,
that is so sweet, you know. Yeah, I want some buffalo. Depends
on me to be impossible. Yes, I'd like to have some buffalo.
Well, You know, I figured, it's Montana, you go to the Kroger
and get some buffalo, will you? No, it ain't. She tried, she
tried. But why is that? The grace, they're
gracious. Especially to God's preacher.
And here is Jesus, the greatest gospel preacher who ever lived.
And the Samaritans have heard him preach and said, we just
met you a few minutes ago, but you need to stay here for a while.
Okay, I'll give you a couple of days. The grace are gracious. Shane and I, upon moving to Great
Falls, we were so delighted that the Lord gave to us a house.
And now we can show the hospitality to others that they showed to
us. Come, stay with us. Why? The graced are gracious. Listen,
folks. Stingy Christian is an oxymoron. Christians have been graced.
They are gracious. Stay with us. Okay, I'll stay
a couple of days. Verse 41, and many more believed
because of His own words. Notice, many more believed because
of His own words. Some came because they had heard
what she said and had believed. Maybe this is the Christ. Maybe
this is Messiah. Now they come to Jesus and they
hear Him. Now we believe, pardon me, many more believe
because of his own word. And this is because his words
were not in word only, but also in power. 1 Thessalonians chapter
1 verse 5. When Jesus calls, the words are
in power. I give a general call, I call
sinners. They do not come until Jesus
says, okay, Moose, let me speak through you. They come then. His word comes in power through
the preaching the gospel. His word is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone who believes. Notice what Paul says,
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of
God unto salvation. See that word power? It is the
power of God unto salvation. Power, I suppose, is a powerful
word. Especially this one. In the Greek,
it is the word denomis. D-U-N-A-M-I-S. We, from that Greek word, get
our English word, dynamite. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the dynamite of God unto salvation to everyone
who believes. Yeah, there he is, old hardened
sinner. He's heard the gospel. His heart is hard. He's not going
to believe. then Jesus lights the wick, and
the dynamite of God blows his obstinacy away. Jesus's Word
came in power, not in word only, with the power of God unto salvation,
and it worked effectually in those who believed. When Jesus
calls sinners here, when Jesus beckons sinners come, His Word
comes in power. Then we read, verse 42, they
said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for
we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. Now what is this world?
What is this world? He's the Savior of the world.
This world is humanity. It does not include brute beasts. It does not include fishes and
trees. The world is humanity. It does
not even include angels. Jesus is the Savior of only mortals,
none but mortals. There are no dogs in heaven,
no cats in heaven, no fish in heaven, none of that. Jesus saves
only mortals. But this is not humanity without
exception. Some say He's the Savior of all
without exception. Universalists would have us believe
that. He's the Savior of all without exception, they say.
No, He is not the Savior of all without exception. The fact that
there are some in this world who are not saved in the end
and suffer eternal condemnation should let us know about this. But He's the Savior of the world,
yeah, but not the world without exception. But He is the Savior
of the world without distinction. He will have all men to be saved. Not all without exception, but
all without distinction. He will be the Savior of Jews
and Gentiles. Not of all Jews and Gentiles,
but He will be the Savior of Jews and Gentiles. males and
females, rich and poor, occidental and oriental. He's the Savior
of the world. John tells us in his first epistle,
chapter 4, verse 14, that we have seen and do testify that
the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. I'm so glad He did not come to
be the Savior only of Jews. He came to be the Savior of the
world. He can be my Savior. Is He yours? Verse 43, we conclude, Now after
two days he departed thence. For Jesus' mission in Samaria
was completed. He had finished the work he had
been sent there to do. He therefore resumed his journey up into Galilee. He had begun
in Jerusalem after the feast. Must needs go through Samaria
and not take the long way. His mission in Samaria is finished. He spends two days. He goes back
to the land of Galilee. Galilee! He went into Galilee. He began his ministry there,
Cana of Galilee. When he goes back to Galilee,
he goes to the city of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. For three years, He's in Galilee, north of Samaria. What's he doing? Three times he became, I suppose
we might call it, well he's not a circuit rider because he was
not riding, but he had a circuitous ministry, itinerant, going from
village to village, preaching the gospel and healing the sick.
Did it thrice, three times. Our Lord had this itinerant ministry
because although his work in Samaria was done, it was not
done in Galilee. And right now his work in Great
Falls is not done. He's still going about enabling
men to preach the gospel, and I ask you, Have you believed? Have you believed? The Samaritan woman did. The
people of her village did. I hope you and I will. O God, our Father, be pleased
to bless this word to the glory of your Son, to the salvation
of your people, to the edification of your Zion, In Jesus' name
we pray, Amen.