Okay, let's turn in our Bibles
to John Chapter 4. The Lord Jesus speaks to His
disciples as we read earlier. And they came back. In verse 31 they said, They prayed
Him, saying, Master, eat. And he said unto them, I have
meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, as any man brought him ought to eat anything to
eat. Jesus saith unto them, my meat,
my food, is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
his work. I'd just like to... Spend some
time looking at what the words of that verse are, obviously
by the demeanour of the Lord Jesus Christ. The encounter with
that Samaritan woman had so captivated him and energized him that his
mind was completely taken off the fact that there's no record
of him having had a drink and there's no record of him having
had anything to eat. There is a heavenly food that
satisfies the Saviour. and all that are united to the
Saviour feed and feast on the same thing. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, we pray that we might be led of you to know what it
is for the Lord Jesus Christ to do the will of you who sent
him, Heavenly Father, and what it is for him to declare that
he's finished that work. May we find, Heavenly Father,
sweet peace and rest in the glory of your dear Son and in the wonder
of him declaring on the cross, it is finished. It is paid in
full. Bless your words, Heavenly Father,
to the hearts of your people, for we pray in Jesus' name. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see the depth of his humanity, a man that's weary, a man that's
tired. He was, in all points, a human
being, a very, very real human being, and he walked this earth,
and he walked the dusty streets of this earth, and he was perfectly
and completely human in every way, barring one thing that he
never, ever nor could he ever sin. That's what it is for him
to be God. And so the disciples ask this
question and you can appreciate their concern, but the Lord Jesus
Christ takes this opportunity to give us this remarkable statement
that he had been refreshed and hadn't had a drink from a well.
He had been energised and hadn't had a bite to eat. There is a
food that satisfies the Saviour. A food. The life of heaven feeds
on heavenly food. They obviously thought something
had happened. I love how the Lord Jesus Christ
takes his people into situations where they don't have a clue
what he's talking about and yet in the midst of all of that he
does reveal remarkable things about himself and his work in
this world. My food, that which delights
my soul, You love the favourite things you eat, don't you? This
is the Saviour's favourite food, isn't it? This has refreshed
Him beyond anything else, hasn't it? My food, the food which delights
the Son of God, is to do the will of Him that sent me, and
to finish His work. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
by God the Father into this world and he was sent on a divine mission
by his Father and his first words that are recorded in all the
scriptures that came from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ
When his family had lost him, his family had presumed that
the Lord Jesus Christ was with them on their way back to Nazareth,
and he was back in the temple discussing things with those
men there. And he said to his parents, didn't you know that
I must be about my father's business? There's a divine necessity about
all of his work. And his words on the cross is,
it is finished. All of the debt is paid. That word was written across
a bill. If you owed someone $100 and
you paid them $100, they would write that exact same word. Everything
that is owed by all of his people to the law of God, the justice
of God, and the holy wrath of God is paid in full, and it's
all paid in his person. I must be about my father's business,
and I must, and it is finished. So the father sent the son. We
must remember, I trust the story of Ruth might have helped us,
we must remember that the father didn't send the son, so that
he could make a way to love his people in this world. He sent
his son into this world because he does love them. And the Lord
Jesus Christ came, he came willingly to do the will of God. That's his food, that's the food
that nourishes him, to do his will and to finish the work. We all, by nature, find our food
and our nourishment and we keep going back again and again and
again to the things of this world. And we think if we collect these
things and we achieve these things and we get this and collect these
toys and have these things that we can brag about and show other
people that we've achieved, we think that we're going to collect
them. And it's never satisfied a single soul, has it? Not one
person has ever been satisfied by that. My meat, my food is
to do the will of him that sent me. And to finish his work, what's
the work of God? We'll start at the end briefly.
What's the work of God? The Pharisees came to the Lord
Jesus Christ in John 6. They said to him, They said to him, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? That's a good question,
isn't it? What shall I do that I might work the works of God?
And the Lord Jesus Christ's answer is a remarkable answer and it
bears serious contemplation. This is the work of God. It's
not your work at all. the work of God. The work of
God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. This is the work
of God that you might believe. What is, while you were there
in John chapter six, people question what the will of God is all the
time. They want to know in detail for their lives. What's the will
of God? What's the will of God? John
6, 39. Just read that together with
me. This is the Father's will which has sent me. This is God's
will. that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the
last day. And this is, verse 40, and this
is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that sees the
sun, and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." This is the will of God. The will of God is that all that
the Father has given me, I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing
but raise it up at the last day. All that the Father has given
me. When were they given to the Lord Jesus Christ? When did God
the Father give a people into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ?
According to the scriptures everywhere, he gave them into the hands of
the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.
He says they're mine and I give them to you as a bride. They were given to him. They
were given to him in the everlasting love of God. That's why he was sent, isn't
it? At the end of his prayer in John 17, verse 23 and 24,
he says, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me,
for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. The
Lord Jesus Christ is talking to his disciples and talking
to us about his divine election. People think that election stops
people getting into heaven. Election's the one thing that
gets people into heaven. And people are concerned about election
and it becomes an issue of dispute amongst people. It's the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one of his names that his
father gave him. All of the elect of God were
elected in him. In Isaiah chapter 42, he calls
him Mine Elect One. All that the Father has given
me, I should lose nothing but raise it up again at the last
day. He's not gonna lose one single
one of them. All of the circumstances of this
world's life, all of the trials and all of the tribulations and
all of the sadnesses and all of the wickednesses we see, all
of the machinations of men and Satan and others is never gonna
stop the Lord Jesus Christ getting every single last one of them.
If you want to read a glorious picture in the Old Testament
of Him going out after His sheep, you go and read Ezekiel 34 and
you'll be amazed at the effort He goes to. All that was given
Him will come. All that was given Him. He came
to do God's will. He came to save His people from
their sins. That's His name. You'll call
his name Jesus for he will, he shall, save his people from their
sins. Did he do it? Did he do it? See, that's what it says in this
passage of scripture, doesn't it? He says, I've come to do
that and to finish that work. Of course he did it. Of course
he did it. That was his purpose. He delights
to do God's will. The question is, do we delight
in what he Do we find nourishment for our souls in the things that
the Lord Jesus Christ is nourished by? People can argue with the scriptures
and the scriptures stand firm in all of time, don't they? The
question for me, personally, is how can I know that I'm one
of these? How can I know? John 6.40 again, this is the
will of him that sent me, this is my food, that everyone that
sees the Son and believeth on him, everyone that sees the Son
and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I'll raise
him up at the last day. How do you see him? Where do
you see him? The seeing eye and the hearing
ear are both of these from the Lord. He told Nicodemus in the
previous chapter in John's Gospel, you must be born again. You must
have a life from God to see the kingdom of God. And you must
have a life from God to enter the kingdom of God. You must
be born again. You must be born from above to
see and to enter. It's a divine work of God, isn't
it? But God's people we see, don't we? Millions possibly saw
the Lord Jesus Christ, and it made absolutely no difference
to them. The Pharisees saw Him. Those people in all of the Gospel
accounts, they saw Him doing things that no one else could
ever do. They saw Him raising the dead and healing the blind.
And all of their seeing meant absolutely nothing to Him. See,
we see Him. We see Him. in his word, and
we see him more clearly in his word and more meaningfully in
his word as it comes to us in power by his spirit. We see him
more clearly than anyone else ever did. The most magnificent
view that anyone ever had of him in his earthly time here
was Peter on that Mount of Transfiguration. Wouldn't you have liked to have
been there? Wouldn't that have been amazing? Wouldn't that have
been absolutely amazing to see the Lord Jesus Christ, to see
His deity burst through His humanity? To see the Lord Jesus Christ
having a conversation with Moses and Elijah and to be there. It
was a remarkable thing, wasn't it? We know what the conversation
was about. The conversation was about Him
going to the cross at Calvary and doing exactly what this verse
here says. that which he will achieve at
Calvary. And he says, Peter says in 2
Peter 1 verse 19, we also have, have right now a more sure word
of prophecy. We are 2,000 years later we still see him,
and we see him gloriously, we see him marvelously We see him through the eyes of
our hearts, as Ephesians says, and we see him as he enlightens
our heart. I do love that verse in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, verse 5. We preach, not ourselves. I'm
not interested in talking about myself. Who on earth wants to
know? I don't want to know what my opinion is. We preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. We're preaching him as
reigning, ruling, sovereign Lord of all, and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's how we see him. We see
him in his word, we see him as his word is proclaimed. We see
him, we see him, we see him on Calvary's tree. You can see,
I don't know, I can't speak for you, but I can see, I can see
how God can love me for Christ's sake. I can see how God can forgive
all my sins for Christ's sake. I can see through his word, and
the wonderful thing about seeing through his word is you can keep
going back to it again and again and again. And it's a living
and active word, but it's a word that's settled, isn't it? And
so you see him and you go back and I'll have another look, and
I'll look again, and I'll look again, and you see more and more
of his glory. I can see that the Lord Jesus
Christ can robe someone like me in the robe of his righteousness. I can see from the scriptures
that God says that when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven
and sat down on that throne of the universe, God says, I'm seated
with Him. God says, I'm crucified with
Him. I was circumcised with Him. I'm buried with Him. I was crucified
with Him. I'm raised with Him. I'm seated
with Him. Such is the union between the
Lord Jesus Christ and His own. It's glorious. I can see Him
right now. He's interceding for all of his
people in the courts of heaven. That's what he says. And remarkably,
he says he's here, where two or three are gathered, where
he does a gathering to reveal himself as he's declared in his
word. He's in our midst. I don't see him through physical
eyes. I see him through the eyes of faith. This is how you can
know that you're one of these, isn't it? But not only do you
see him, but you believe on him, John 640. Believe on him. To believe on is to believe into,
to believe unto, to believe toward. It's just to rest, isn't it?
God has made me to rest. He made all of his people to
rest as Naomi and Ruth did. They rested and he did all the
work. Stand still, says Moses, and you'll see the glory of God.
That's what worship is, isn't it? It's for us to stand still
and to gaze upon someone who's worthy, worthy of all of our
worship, to believe him. There's not a single thing, can
you think of a single characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ in all
the scriptures that you don't delight in? Don't you delight
in the fact that he's absolutely sovereign? Don't you love to
say Jesus Christ is God? Don't you love to think that
Jesus Christ created this universe? And not only did he create it,
but he says he's upholding it by the word of his power right
now in Hebrews chapter 1. In fact, he says that he is so
big and so glorious that this universe can be wrapped around
his shoulders like a cloak. If you see him glorious are all
the little things that upset us in this world. They just get
drowned in the glory of Him, don't they? He has His people
in His hands and no one's gonna pluck them out of His hands.
Not Satan and not even me is gonna pluck me out of His hands.
That's how secure His people are in Him, to believe on Him,
to believe into Him, believe on His word. Doesn't mean to
say that I understand it all, dear oh dear, but I believe it. I believe it when I can't understand
it. I just believe what he says. I believe that that day that
Mary saw him at the tomb, she saw the Lord Jesus Christ in
all of his resurrected glory. I see him and I believe on his
name. That's how we know, isn't it?
To go back to our text. This is the meat. To do the will
of Him that sent me. To do the will of Him that sent
me. The will of Him that sent me is to gather all of those
people and have them as one, to bring them into fellowship
with me. What's the evidence that I'm one of these? Faith
is the evidence. Faith is the evidence. I can't
look to anything I have ever done for any evidence of my salvation. I look to Him. Faith is the evidence. It's the evidence. and to finish His work. My meat, my food, that which
nourishes and sustains me, that which delights me, is to do the
will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. See, the Father's will and the
Father's work are all the one, aren't they? Christ's work and
the Holy Spirit's work are all of one. I love what the Lord
said of the Holy Spirit. He will take the things of mine.
He'll take all of my deity, all of my substitution, all of my
satisfaction of God's law, all of the spiritual blessings that
are bound up in Jesus Christ to you. The food sustains him
is to finish his work. See, if Christ, according to
our text in John 4.34, if Christ didn't finish the work, then
the will of God the Father is not done and cannot be done. If Christ didn't finish the work,
then the work of the Father is not and cannot be done. You see, I love what the Lord
Jesus Christ says to these disciples. It's His work. It's the Father's
work. The Father sent Him to do a work. God's servants, God's messengers, and peace of participating in
this work. See, this work is being carried
out right now, brothers and sisters. Here, here, it's being carried
out. What's it mean to finish? Well,
in the scriptures, it's a wonderful word. It means to bring to an
end. to bring to an end such that
there is nothing wanting or lacking to stop it being completed. That's what he did. His salvation
completed. Did the Lord Jesus Christ complete
the work? When he said it is finished,
was it really finished? So the problem is that we think
that we have to do something to make it happen, don't we?
That I have to add something in my activities to make his
work work. Who's God in that situation?
Who's sitting on the throne? He's finishing the work to bring
it to an end, to finish the work. Let's look at this word finish
for a little bit. It's just a lovely word. In John 5, verse 36, he
says, I have greater witness than that of John, for the works
which the Father hath given me to finish The same works I do,
and these works bear witness of me that the Father has sent
me. And he prayed in that glorious high priestly prayer in John
17. He says, I have glorified thee,
John 17, I have glorified thee on the earth. God was glorified
in the work of the Lord Jesus on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. The word finished can
also mean to be perfect. To be perfect. Listen to what
he says. I've read it already in John
17, 23. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect, finished in one, that the world may know
that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved
me. It means to accomplish. In John, on the cross, the Lord
Jesus said, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the scriptures might be fulfilled, saith I first. God's
children are made perfect. Made perfect by the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter
10 and see this word finished one more time. He says in chapter 10 verse 9,
he says, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. I come to do thy will, he taketh
away the first, he taketh away the old covenant of law and works. I take away the first that he
may establish the second by the which will, by this will, we
are, listen to what it says, this is what God says, we are
sanctified. That means to be made holy, we
are sanctified, we are sanctified. through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest standeth daily ministering
and offering oft times the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins, but this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected, he's finished, he's finished forever
them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, that after he had said before, This is the
covenant I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will
I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Why doesn't he remember them?
Because they're gone, brothers and sisters. Now I've placed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he bore them, he bore all the
weight of hell's fury upon them, and they are gone. Now, verse
18, now where there is remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin. You can't offer anything to God,
brothers and sisters. The Lord Jesus Christ has made
one offering, and he made an offering to God, and God's accepted
it. And it's accepted on behalf of all that are in him. And the last phrase we look at
in this context is, it is finished. It is finished. It is finished,
everything that is needed. That's why Paul can say in 2
Corinthians 12.9, he says, My grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect. My strength is finished in weakness,
is made perfect in your weakness. Is that comforting to you, brothers
and sisters? It was food for him. God's children
are nourished and fed and have their thirst quenched by the
very things that nourish and quench the thirst of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's his very food. It's his
delight. It's already done. It's already
done. There's nothing for you to do
to finish the work. He said it's finished. Is that
rest? Is that rest for your soul? Is
it nourishment? Is this food that you can live
on? Finished. His love is finished
and completed. His laws kept. His righteousness
bestowed. His sinatonic sacrifice accepted
on our behalf. As Paul says, we're accepted
in the beloved. Nothing to be added. Finished. Nothing that can be taken from
it. It was finished 2,000 years ago. In heaven, you won't be any more
accepted than you are now. You won't be any more loved than
you are now. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
you won't be any more holy than you are now. You won't be any
more righteous than you are now. It's finished. It's finished. The response of the Lord to all
of the disciples' questions and things is in verse 35, and we'll have
to look at it next week. He says, lift up your eyes. Lift
up your eyes. Lift up your eyes. You lift up
your eyes. Whenever our eyes droop down
and we look at the things of this earth and look at the things
of our flesh and look at the things that we must do and the
things that we feel we have to do to get right with God and
the things that we have to do to make up for all the things
that we've done that we shouldn't, we're always looking down. He
says lift up, lift up your eyes. I want to finish just quickly
with that lovely verse that began the Upper Room Discourse. Now
before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart out of this world under the Father,
listen to what he says. Having loved his own which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. He loved them completely. He loved them perfectly. Let's
pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank
and praise you for the glorious finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ and we pray, Heavenly Father, that we might be led
of your Spirit to to see him in his glory, to see him in the
agonies of Gethsemane's garden, to see him shedding his life's
blood and having his body broken and mocked by men on Calvary's
tree, but most of all, Heavenly Father, for you to turn your
back on him. And he did it all for your glory. He did it all
for the love of his people. He did it all that we might be
here. All these years later, proclaiming His glory and His
majesty, that His people might find sweet rest and fellowship,
and know the joy and peace of believing. We pray you bless
us all, Heavenly Father. For Jesus' sake we come in His
name only. Amen.