Okay, John chapter 4, look at
verses 31 through 38. John 4. In the meanwhile, his
disciples prayed to him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto
them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. And his disciples
said 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. Say not ye, or do you not say,
there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? I say unto
you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields. They are white
already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein
is that saying true. One soweth, another reapeth.
I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor. Other
men labored. And ye are entered into their
labors. And that's the end of what he
said to them there. Now, the Lord came a long way
to meet with this woman at the well and to save her. Scripture says that he was wearied
with his journey. He walked everywhere unless he
was in a ship. He was wearied with his journey.
He was tired. He was thirsty. Yet we don't
see that he drank any of that water. It does not say that he
ever took a drink of that water. He was thirsty. He's flesh. And
then here, they did not see him eat anything for a long time. We often say this, I'm starving.
No, you're not. But they thought they were starving,
and he sent them to get some meat. And they went, and I'm
sure they ate it on the way home. And they came back, and they
urged him, Master, eat something. And look at Matthew chapter 6
with me. Go to Matthew chapter 6. The
Lord had just told the woman at the well, and you've got to
notice You've got to see that this is God's Word. Are you listening? He told her about water, and
now they ask him to eat food and drink. Alright? And he didn't
have either. He didn't partake of either.
Not the water that well, and it doesn't say he ate one morsel
that they brought back. The Lord just told the woman
at the well about the water of this world. He said, this water
is going to leave you thirsty again. And he was thirsty, yet he did
not take a drink. And then when he filled her up,
she didn't either. She dropped her water pot. Now she has something she didn't
have before. She's fulfilled with something.
saw no desire for something he had. Him. He said, the water
I give you will satisfy you. Only the water I give you will
fulfill you, fill you. And that is Christ Himself. This
is God's Word. My, my, no man can write this. John just said, of His fullness
have we received. Of His fullness, we were empty
vessels like that water pot. When He came to us, He filled
us with this water of life. They didn't know this at this
time. They will. Not fully. They didn't fully realize it.
He said, the water I give you will be a wellspring from within,
Christ in you, the hope of God. His disciples went away, and
they hadn't eaten in a long time, and they were starving. He said,
Master, eat. You need to eat. They were concerned
about his physical welfare. He's concerned about their spiritual
welfare. They're concerned about their
bodies. He said, you're too concerned about your body. Too concerned. In Matthew 6,
look at this. Here's what the Lord said in
his Sermon on the Mount, by the way, this took place about the
time of the woman at the well. It's not in John's Gospel, but
that's about the time that he gave this Sermon on the Mount.
It was in Galilee. It was on a mountain in Galilee
where he was at this time. Matthew 6 verse 25, He said,
No man, verse 25, take no thought, I say unto you, take no thought
for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink,
nor yet for your body what you shall put on, is not the life
more than meat and the body than raiment. Look
at verse 31, take no thought. Don't be so concerned with what
shall we eat, what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed.
After all these things, do the heathen seek. Your heavenly Father
knows you have needed all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God. What's he doing? Why did he come
here? What's his meat? What's his drink? What's his consuming desire?
He's come to fill his kingdom up with God's people, the kingdom
of God, establish righteousness, and all these things will be
added unto you. Take no thought for these things.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10, warning us of the children of
Israel. That's all they could think about. And the vanity of it and how
they missed the promised land. for leeks and onions and garlic
and cucumbers, it said, and melons. My, my, what a thing to miss
Christ for. In Isaiah 55, listen to this,
this is our Lord, this is the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
they're one and the same. They'll both say the same thing.
He says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that
hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. What waters? Not the waters
of this world. Our Lord, do you remember when
He stood after that great day of the feast, when people had
come to Jerusalem to try to get some kind of fulfillment in their
religion and all these things. And at the end of the feast,
the last day, He said, if any man thirsts, let him come unto
Me and drink. You didn't find any water in
that religion, did you? And our Lord says here in Isaiah
55, why do you spend money for that which is not for you? He
said, your labor for that which satisfieth not, you'll never
be filled. We looked at it in Ecclesiastes,
didn't we? The eyes never satisfied with seeing, the mouth with tasting.
He said, hearken diligently unto me and eat that which is good
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Wine and fat things
and wine on the leaves, which is? Christ and Him crucified. Oh, my. Now, the Lord is not…
I'm not talking about, and this is not talking about living the
life of like a Hindu aesthetic. These Indian Hindus, gurus, Buddhists
and all that, they do without material things. They say material
things are evil. No, they're not. Our Lord ate
and drank. There's no evil in things. And
you can't, by denying your body these things, enter into some
kind of nirvana or spiritual state. No, no, you can't. You
might get in a coma, but you don't know God that way,
and He's not pleased for that. What our Lord is telling us here
is don't be consumed with physical things, worldly things, but rather
eternal things, the things of God. He not only told us this,
He showed us, didn't He? He not only told us this, but
He showed us right here, didn't He? He showed us. Man doesn't
live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds,
every word, every word of God is necessary or it wouldn't be
written. Every word of God is necessary. The whole counsel
of God. ate, his need, his drink was to feast on. The story of the children of
Israel and when Moses was up on the mountain for forty days
and forty nights fasting. Alright, he's an emblem of our
Lord Jesus Christ who went to face Satan, first thing, for
forty days and forty nights fasting. And it's also a picture of the
children of Israel spending 40 years in the wilderness. They
weren't fasting. And while Moses was up on that
mountain getting the law for the people, praying to the Lord
for these stiff-necked, praying, doing without, fasting
and praying, seeking God's will and God's Word and God's mercy
for these no-good people, what were they doing? What were they
doing? Dancing around a calf. And in
Psalm 106 it says, "...they lusted exceedingly unto wilderness,"
listen, "...and tempted God, and He gave them their requests." He gave them their requests.
What's that? Food. And He sent quail, remember?
And He filled them up. And it says, but it says, "...He
sent leanness to their souls." That's what our Lord is saying.
And in 1 Corinthians 10, our Lord says, He says, the children of Israel
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And that's all
they thought of. And they missed, they didn't
go into promisenade. That's written for our sake,
for our learning. What our Lord is saying here.
And Paul one time says, I say weeping. Paul said, I say this weeping
of many people, their God is their living. So the disciples brought him
meat to eat. I'm sure not going to leave you
there because our Lord did without so we could be full. But the
disciples brought him meat to eat. Listen to the irony here.
Listen to the divine irony here. They said, Master, eat. They
implored him. They urged him to eat. Master,
eat. He said, I have meat that you
don't know of. A couple of things we need to
see here. Number one is the Lord doesn't provide. I mean, we don't
provide the Lord with things. He doesn't need us to do things
for Him. We need Him to do things for
us. They brought him meat to eat. He didn't eat it. And you remember Psalm 50 said,
if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. He told them to go get meat,
but he didn't eat it. They needed it. The Lord says, if I were hungry,
I would not tell thee. Our Lord doesn't need us. No,
no. Isn't this what all false religion
says? And this is how you know it's
false, when they begin to say, God needs you, God wants you.
Oh, now hold on a minute. What does salvation mean? Huh? Does God need saving? We
need saving. Who needs who here? Who must
do for who here? What's this all about anyway?
What we can do for God? No, it's all about what He must
do for us. Our Lord doesn't need us, we need Him. We don't feed
Him, He feeds us. There are two other times our
Lord said, Have ye any meat? Do you remember? Have ye any meat? Two other times
He said that. The first time when He revealed
Himself to them, they toiled all night and caught nothing. I think about that every time
I go fishing. Brother Ron and I have been fishing for the last
few days out at Philpot. We've toiled all day and we've
caught nothing. Nothing. Nothing. But our refrigerators
are full, aren't they? Where'd it come from? No, he
didn't provide them. The Lord did. I think about that
every time I go fishing. I may never catch another fish,
so it'd be a good thing. Toiled all night and caught nothing.
We'll work here all our lives on this planet and just doing
what we do to accumulate. And when it's all over, we'll
leave this place with nothing. And it doesn't fulfill. It will
not satisfy. Nothing satisfies. Toiled all night. He says, have
you any meat? Remember that? Children, have you any meat? He said, nothing. And they got to shore, he did. Remember that? He had some fish on the coast
already prepared for him. I do. I got me. The next time,
after he arose, he showed them his hands and
feet. Remember? They couldn't believe it was
him. He said, Behold my hands, my
feet, it's me. The scars, the wounds, payment
for your sins. Behold my hands and my feet.
Thomas, reach hither your hand and thrust it into my side. Be not faithless, believe me,
it's me. I came and I finished the work. And I arose and God accepted
that work. I did the work. And then he said,
have you any meat? Not because he needed it. He
wasn't hungry. He's in His glorified body. He's
showing them, I'm flesh and blood, I'm alive, give me something
big, I'll show you. Proof of life. Proof of life. So, our Lord doesn't need us,
we need Him. He clearly showed us that the
Father, as a man, lived perfectly by faith. Didn't need for people
to provide for him. Like Elijah, remember Elijah
out there. The Lord sent a raven. Sent the
ravens to give him food. Our Lord said to them and says
to us, your father knoweth what things you have need of. That's all you're concerned about.
Look at me. He said, I have nothing. Nothing,
but I have it all. This is something you need to
know. You say, I have something to eat that you need more of. Man doesn't live by bread alone.
They urged, listen to the irony here, they urged him to eat.
They said, you'll faint. Later on, he urged them to eat.
He said, take, eat, this is my body. You're going to faint. You're going to perish if you
don't eat this." And those people in this room haven't eaten Christ
yet. Master, eat. And he says, no,
you eat. Eat my body. If you don't eat,
you'll perish. There's no part in me. Verse 32 in our text. He said, I have meat to eat you
know not of. They did not yet fully understand.
They will. They will. And we will. Hopefully,
we're learning right now. As He speaks, we're learning
a little more. We're growing in grace and the
knowledge of Him and what is true meat, hopefully. Hopefully. The Lord has opened our, digged
our ears. I learned so much here about
learning. I haven't learned it yet, learning.
Verse 33. He said, the disciples said to
one another, hath any man brought him thought to eat? John, did
you give him something? Bartholomew, did you give him
anything? Thomas, no, not me. What's this meat he's talking
about? And our Lord said, my meat. Verse 34. Here's the meat
of this message. My need is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work. Amen. His purpose on earth was to glorify
God. My need is to do His will, to
glorify God as a man, which man failed to come far short of. A man must glorify God. Adam did. The second Adam must. Our covenant head must. You understand
this? This is the meat of the Word.
This is the meat of the Gospel. This is the reason for all things. This is the sum and substance
of the truth. This is why Christ came. Not
to make us happy people. Not just so we'll get to heaven.
But to fulfill God's Word. to satisfy the demands of God,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, to glorify God as a man and do
it for His people who come far ashore, who came far ashore,
who do come far ashore. And we will never come up to
this. Our Lord did it for us. His pleasure. Meat. It's filling food. It's satisfying. I can eat. I
love vegetables. I love fruit and these things,
but it's no sooner do I fill up on these things that shortly
thereafter I'm hungry again. Right? Some of you know what
I'm talking about. And meat, the Lord's talking
about, is something that's really substantial, that fills you up,
that stays with you, stays with you. And he said, my meat and
the meat that I came to fulfill and provide is this righteousness. Didn't he say, the kingdom of
God is not in meat and drink? but in righteousness, peace,
and joy in the Holy Spirit. Our Lord came to do all that.
He came to fulfill all righteousness for us. He came to be made peace,
our peace, to make peace by the blood of His cross. And it says,
for the joy set before Him. He said, that's my meat, my drink. That's what I live to do. He
came, he lived to do that, and he died doing it. He died doing
it. Remember, he was in a garden
sweating blood. What were they doing? Sleeping. How about us? He died, he sweat blood, being
made sin for them. What a wonderful Savior, huh?
What a sorry bunch of disciples we are. Sorry. Oh, aren't you
glad our Lord is not like us? Oh my, His love, His mercy is
great. He died doing this work, didn't
He do it? He said, my meat is to do the will of God. And He
said, to finish it. Scripture says He'll see the
travail of His soul and what? Be satisfied. Finished it. Did He do it? Did
Christ do it? Did He finish the work? Yes,
He did. This is not just doctrine. This is not Calvinism. This is
what Christ said He came to do. He said, I came to finish it.
Our salvation depends upon it. He didn't do all He could do.
Now it's up to you. If that's it, we're goners. If He made
salvation possible, we're goners. What if Christ said, no man?
I've made salvation possible. Now, it's all up to you. Peter,
it's up to you." Well, he failed miserably, didn't he? Our Lord
wasn't gone. Our Lord wasn't held captive
for a few hours until Peter was denying Him. I'm going fishing. The Lord said, I'm going to the
cross for you. I'm going through hell for you.
This is my meat, my drink, this is the Father's will, and I'm
going to do it. And he did it as a 12-year-old
boy. He said, I must be about my father's
business. I am come in the volume of the
book it is written of me. I come to do thy will, O God. Did he do it? If he didn't, ain't
nobody safe. Yes, he did. His first words
as a human being, I must be about my father's business. His last
words on the cross were, it is finished. The work is done. Sin is paid for. Everlasting
righteousness brought in. God is satisfied. He's just and
now justifier of them that believe on me. Finished. Finished. Somebody smile. Finished. Finished. So He labored for us, for the
meat that perisheth not. He told us, don't labor for the
meat that perisheth. His delight, His fulfillment,
His satisfaction, the joy set before Him was to do God's will,
and He did it. I want you to turn quickly to
Isaiah 58. I've got a few more minutes.
Isaiah 58. The Lord warned the Pharisees,
scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, He called them all, hypocrites.
Playing a part, doing what they do to be seen of men. He said,
they fast and they like for you to know it. They pray and they
want you to see them doing it. He said, they're all a bunch
of hypocrites. Didn't he? He said, when you fast, don't
let anybody know it. He didn't have a drawn face and
all. His disciples were the only ones
that knew it. The Lord physically fasted, but
spiritually feasted. that we don't know much about.
He didn't fast for piety as a show. He didn't fast to show piety.
He fasted to show mercy. To show mercy. Look at Isaiah
58. And they said in verse 3, Why
have we fasted and you haven't seen us? This is scribes and
Pharisees and the Jews talking. Why have we fasted? We've afflicted
our soul and you haven't seen us. You haven't taken notice,
Lord. And our Lord said in verse 4,
you fast for strife and debate and smite and so forth. He said,
remember He said they're full of extortion and excess. They're not fasting to show mercy.
They're not fasting to seek mercy like Moses, like him. No, no,
no. They're fasting for show. Lord,
look at us. Verse 5, is not this the fast
I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his
soul, is it to bow his head as a bulrush, to spread sackcloth
and ashes unto him? You call this a fast acceptable
to the Lord? No, no. Verse 6, is not this
the fast I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness,
to undo heavy burden, to let the oppressed go free and break
every yoke, to deal thy bread to the hungry, bring the poor
cast out that I have, see the naked and cover them. and not
hide yourself, but reveal yourself to your own flesh and blood.
Is that not what Christ did? Is that not what? Did you see
that? Have you ever seen it before? That's Christ. He said, that's
written of me, my meat. He fasted, yes, but not for show. Oh, God was well pleased with
him. He did it for mercy. as our substitute, as our sin
offering. Oh, man. And in our text, in
closing, the Lord, you know, worked unceasingly, didn't He?
There's that word, verse 31, in the meanwhile. That means
in the meantime, during the time and the lull between it. There
was never a mean time for the Lord. A mean while. We whiled
away the hours. A mean while. Our Lord doesn't
ever. He once said, are there not twelve hours in a day? I
must work. He said, I must work while there's twelve hours in
a day before it's dark. He said, my Father works and
I work. He said, I must do the works
of the Father that sent me. Sleep, Lord. Eat, Lord. Drink,
Lord." He said, I am. I must do this work. He must.
Our Lord must do this work. And look at this in verse 36,
verse 35. He said, four months, and it
comes harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes. Look on the fields, they're white
already to harvest. He that reapeth, receiveth wages,
gathers fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and
he that reapeth may rejoice together. Herein is that saying, one soweth,
another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon
you bestowed no labor. Other men labor, and you are
entered into their labors. Who's he talking about? First
of all, he's talking about himself. Who sowed the seed? Who did this
thing of salvation? Who planted this plant? Our Heavenly
Father. Christ is that seed, He said. Except a corn of wheat fall in
the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it will
bring forth much fruit. Christ is saying, I'm the seed.
I'm the corn of wheat that must come and die. You're going to
enter into my labors. You're going to reap what I sowed."
Rejoice. He said, they're going to rejoice
together. We rejoice in what He did, don't
we? And He rejoiced in doing it, in dying, in all His labor. Oh my, all His labor. He Himself
came to be that seed to die. And also, The prophets, he's
speaking to the apostles, and he said, the prophets before
you. What did the apostles preach? Who? The prophets. Our Lord said, all through the
prophets. I sent the prophets to you rising
up early. These men would rise up early
and come to you. He said, most people didn't hear
them. But if you do, oh, blessed are your eyes. And you're seeing
what they desired to see. You're entering into their labors.
You're entering into their labors. Are you all going to read the
same thing? Eternal life. Prophets. Later, they realized their meat. All right, who are we reading?
Whose labors are we entered into? The apostles. Paul said, thank God
you received the Word, not as the words of men, but as it is
in truth, the Word of God. I believe Paul and Peter and
James and John and so forth were sent by God, men of God, the
laborers, laborers together with Christ in this field. And oh, man. And we preach them, don't we?
We believe what the prophets and apostles preached. We believe
and we're entered into their labor. Now, the field was white
with harvest, but it's not now. When our Lord said this, it was
2,000 years ago, it was white. He said, I'm sending you out,
and oh my. And listen, every one of them
laid their lives down. They laid their lives down. Did
the Lord bless it? He sure did. He sure did. It became their meat. What about us? Now, it's our turn. We're in the field. The field's
not white, but there's still some there. Here a little, there
a little. That's our meat, our drink, our
day. These are the last days, few
latter harvests. May the Lord make it our meat.
and our drink to do His will. He sent us here, like those old
cows pulling that cart. That ark was their cart. This church house is ours. This
gospel is ours. And He sent us here, like He
did those cows to Beth Shemesh, and they died there. laid down
their life for the gospel right there. Did it bring forth any
fruit? It sure did. And we've had people, your mother
died here for the cause of Christ. Your husband, your dad, died
here for the cause of Christ. Right? Your husband died here
for the cause of Christ. Lowing, praying for this gospel
right here. That's our meat. This is our
place. It's God's will. What's God's
will for me? Where are you? What are you doing? A bad faith
for where you are. I can't confess. This is what
the woman at the well we're going to see next. What she did. She
went home. And the Lord used her greatly. Okay. The Lord bless you.