Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the Gospel according to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. I'd like to look this morning
at a few verses, verses 35 to 38. Our Lord had previously expressed to his disciples the
true satisfaction and the fulfillment of his soul. He said to them, he said, My
meat, my satisfaction, my fulfillment is to do the will of him that
sent me. I have meat to eat that you know
not of." They could not behold the joy
that He had within His soul of seeing, actually experiencing
by His power, by His grace, by His mercy. see what He had eternally seen. Here was one of His elect that
the Father had given Him in electing grace. This woman at the well. He had always known her. And
I said a few minutes ago, He knew her everlastingly. He loved her everlastingly. He saw her in the fall, bruised
by the fall, dead in trespasses and sins. The Father that had seen the
Lamb Himself, the Lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world, He knew. what He was going to do. He was
going to redeem this one right here. That redemption that soon
would take place. The Father had eternally justified,
declared this woman in Him. Declared her in Him based on
what the Father had seen eternally. the Son would do, shed His precious
blood for all that the Father had given Him. And here now He's
come in time, and He's looking at her, listens to her questions, her
arguments. And He said to her, if you only
knew, if you only knew who was talking to you. In His heart, loves her, not willing that she
should perish, but that she should come to Him. And He's going to
draw her. Disciples come to Him. Tell them
that they've got some meat you need to eat. He said, I've got
meat to eat that you don't know anything about. Today, we want to consider for
a few minutes the work that he spoke of. A work. My meat, verse 34, is
to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. This is His Father's work. This is His Father's will. I don't doubt for a second, because
he's going to say in verse 35 something about a harvest, and
I don't doubt for one second that the fields in that area
were probably growing and they were looking around. seeing there's going to be a
certain amount of time before the harvest. I don't know exactly
where they were agriculturally. But I know that the Lord was
causing them to look at something because He's going to give an
analogy about something. About a harvest. The Scripture says, say not ye,
verse 35, there are yet four months, and then come at the
harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already
to harvest. You may be able to look, the
Lord said, at some vegetables that are growing out there, some
grain. And you can say it's going to
be in four months. It's going to be all mature.
That grain is going to come in. Pull it up. Say ye not there
yet four months, then cometh. Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes. Look on the fields. They're white
already to harvest. Thanks be unto Him, He has a
harvest. I know that His Word is not going
to return void. It's going to accomplish that
which He sent it to do. It's going to accomplish. He knows His own. He calls when
He's ready. And the time of love had arrived
for some in Sychar. There was a woman at the well,
and she went and told some men, and here they were. They were
coming. His disciples told him, We've got some meat for you.
I have meat to eat that you don't know anything about. And here
were some fellows coming up to listen to him also, like that
woman had. And he said, You say in four
months there's going to be a harvest. I'm telling you right now. Look. Lift up your eyes. Look
on the fields. They're white already to harvest.
Here's some that I'm going to call out of darkness by grace. You know, too often we fail to
expect God to bless His Word. We fail to expect Him. He's called others. He called
us by grace. Lord, would You be pleased to
call some more? I know that He's not going to call any that He
hadn't purposed to call, but I don't know who they are. But
it just rejoices me every time somebody even shows interest
in the Gospel. It excites me. Who knows? Maybe this is one of God's. Who
knows? Maybe they'll come. Lord, if
this is Yours, keep them. Grow them. Teach us all. helped
us. There were some that were coming. The fields were widened to harvest
right now. Verse 36, the Lord continued
to teach them, and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth
fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that
reapeth may rejoice together I want us to look at the reward
of His service. He that reapeth. Here's some that's coming. Verse
30 said that. And they went out of the city
after they'd talked to the woman at Sychar and came unto Him.
And while they were coming, the disciple tried to give Him something
to eat. And He said, I've got meat to eat that you know not
of. And the disciple says, has anybody
given Him something to eat? My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me to finish His work. And you're saying there's
going to be a harvest around here in four months. I'm telling
you that there's a harvest going on right now. There's a reward. He that reapeth receiveth wages
and gathereth fruit unto eternal life that both he that soweth,
he that reapeth may rejoice together. There's a reward in His service. A reward. Now listen to this. Naturally speaking, when you
go to work tomorrow, you're going to expect a wage. You're going to expect
a wage. Humanly speaking, Luke 10, 7
says the laborer is worthy of his hire. And we are. laborers together
with the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3, 9, for we are
laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. We are
laborers together. We are doing something. Lively
stones raised up. I still am amazed. that God has
raised up a church in Katy, West Virginia and kept it here 55
plus years. That amazes me. That amazes me
that we're here. I'm so glad that somebody wanted
to show up. I'm glad I wanted to show up.
And here we are. It's the Lord's work. and which
were employed, ye are laborers together with God." And it's
to Him that we devote ourselves, our service. And the Lord calls from people.
He calls men and women and He places them in the body wherever
He's pleased to do. We don't ask. And the Lord said,
receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life. They rejoice together in God's
work. But let me ask you this. I know
that the Scripture sets forth that there's a reward, there's
a wage. But what is it? What is the reward
or the wage Satan asked the Lord concerning
Job, does any sinner saved by grace fear God or not? Can he fear God? I'm going to
tell you something about what a believer receives as a wage. And I'm trying to keep myself
jumping four or five lines ahead in my notes. It's wonderful. No man fears God, respects God,
obeys God without a great reward. Turn to 1 Corinthians 9. Let
me show you what it is. This is so wonderful. 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16 to 19.
1 Corinthians 9, verse 16, For
though I preach the gospel, the gospel, I have nothing to glory
of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I
preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly,
I have a reward. But if against my will, and let
me just say this, what Paul is saying, against my will, what
he's saying is, if even in the midst of all the trials and struggles
and temptations... Before I finish this, let me
just share something with you so you'll understand what he's
saying. It's not that he didn't want to preach the gospel. That's
not what he was saying. But there's struggles. There's
times... Do you know how hard it is sometimes? I try hard. I try hard. I want to be faithful
to what God's called me to do. But there's times that I struggle
so much in trying to study, trying to call on the Lord. I have a
body of flesh that just wars against the law of my mind. And
I struggle with it. I struggle. I ask God's forgiveness. Lord, help me. This is so disrespectful
to You. I'm just being honest with you.
I struggle just like you do. It's hard. It's hard. That's
what He's talking about. He said, for if I do this thing
willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation
of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my reward then? Now here's where he's going to
get, okay, what is it, Paul? What is it? Verily that when
I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without
charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. Here's what it
is. Paul said he was a servant of
God, divine orders, and Almighty God calls His people and places
them where He will. Where He's put you, that's where
He's put you. Be faithful to where He's called you. Be faithful
to that. Paul says, I preach the Gospel. We just looked at that. What's
the difference in preaching about Christ and preaching Christ?
Preaching the Gospel. is concerning how God saves sinners. Man is ruined by the fall. As I said before, no one is offended
in God who is omniscient, omnipotent, or uses means. No one's offended
at that. Let me tell you where they're
offended. It's when you make salvation to be all of grace
and no works of righteousness and no confidence in the flesh.
Salvation is all of grace. Man is unable. He's ruined. Christ redeems His
people. God's elect. And the Spirit of
God shall call them out of darkness. They will come to Christ. God
shall save His people. See, that message concerning
salvation, there's the offense. It goes against everything of
man's old nature. That's what's offensive. A lot of people are sitting on
TV and other places, pulpits, and they're preaching a lot of
stuff. That's true. That's true. There's no doubt
about it. God is omnipotent. But when you
start relating that to salvation, God's will against man's will,
that's where they're offended. Paul said, He said, I've been
given a charge to preach the gospel and warned me if I don't. But here's my reward, that I
may make the gospel of Christ without charge. Oh, just every time I step out
of this pulpit, as some of you know, man, I'm telling you, I
want so desperately. Was that plain? Did you understand? Was I confusing? Did the Gospel
run well to you? Did you understand what Paul
said? Here is my reward. This is my
reward. This is the reward for a believer.
They don't want to do anything that is disrespectful to Christ. The Gospel. This is my reward.
Somebody said, that's it? Yeah, that's it. That's it. I'm His servant. Paul would not
deliberately, knowingly, did not. This is my reward, that
I would not make the gospel of Christ to be disrespected in
my preaching of it. Oh, there's some going to hate
it. But Paul said, I don't want there to be any charge against
that I didn't preach it. That I didn't set forth the truth.
I don't want anybody to walk out of this building today wondering,
now how does God save sinners? How did they? Woe unto me. Paul's reward was that he was
the Lord's servant. That was a joyful reward to him.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God. What a reward! What a reward! And being servants, turn to Matthew
25. They're going to receive a servant's
reward. Matthew 25. What is that? Matthew 25.33. He shall set the sheep on his
right hand, the goats on the left. Then shall the king say
unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. I was thinking about old Floyd
just then when I was reading that. Can you imagine? Here's a man Almighty God is
everlastingly loved. Looked upon in grace. Well done. Well done. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Well
done. Enter Him. Oh, there is a reward
for His service. Then lastly, closing, who gets
all the glory? Are we laborers together? Yes.
Do we have a reward? Yes. Who's going to get all the glory?
You know, false religion kind of has like little tally sheets,
a list of souls that they've saved. I led 14 people to the
Lord this week. I remember doing that. I'm so
embarrassed to tell you that. If I could just get you to just
repeat what I said, you know, boy, you were on my list. I led
you to the Lord. And you know who got all the
glory for that? Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
the Lord said, you hypocrites, you compassee in land to make
one proselyte. When he's made, you make him
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Believers want
to see men come to Christ. They do. I'm telling you the
thought that God would actually save a man, save a woman. But
numbers is not our love. Christ. Christ is our love. He's called us to faithfulness
to Him. Setting forth Him. One sows,
another reaps. That's what the Lord said. 37,
38. Herein is that saying true. One soweth, another reapeth.
I sent you to reap whereupon you bestowed no labor. Other
men labored. You enter into their labors.
Paul said, I planted and Apollos watered. But who gave the increase? God did. The Lord alone sends
laborers. I know this. God's got a harvest. I know that. I know that there's
going to be a reward for the laborers in that harvest. I know
that that reward is going to be honoring Christ. That's our reward. And I know that He alone is going
to get all the glory, honor, and praise. I told you, reminded you, I thought
about years ago As the Lord was pleased to raise
up a faithful preacher, somebody
told me that when Brother Scott was first here, he went around
knocking on people's doors. He may have knocked on some of
y'all's doors or something. Some of your families. He said,
I'm going to be preaching over here. Who would have ever thought? some families started coming. And the Lord was pleased to raise
up a body, his body. And now 50-something years later,
the Lord has allowed me the privilege to be here. And I'm witnessing
what Almighty God was pleased to do through the sowing of someone
else. And you know who gets all the
glory for this? He does. What did I do? What did Brother
Scott do? What did Brother Henry do? What did any other man do? Any
other woman do? But that which was required of
them, which required him to serve, that he be found faithful. Faithful. It's like old Peter. What did
Peter do? He said, I just dropped a line
in the water after all I did. I just did what he told me to
do. And he blessed it. And a fish came up and had a
corn in his mouth. And he told me to go pay it.
And I did. What did Peter have to be proud of? There's nobody
in this room today who's got anything to be proud of or to
glory in save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May the Lord bless
these words to our hearts. Cause us to think upon Him, look
upon Him for His honor, and our good. Amen.