Savior makes his way through
Judea into Samaria and he meets her. And he reveals himself to
her as being the water of life. He created a thirst within her
for himself. And then he satisfied the thirst. He made sure that she knew who
he was. When she began to speak about
Messiah, he said, I that speak unto thee am he. He introduced himself to her. This was a time of love. It's when the Savior spread his
skirt upon her. And he revealed himself in his
magnificence and in his mercy to her. And he washed her and
he robed her. Well, as he was finishing dealing
with her, his disciples came back from the city. They'd gone
to get some food. They couldn't understand why
he wasn't hungry. They said to him in verse 31,
Master, eat. Master, eat. It's already been
established that he's weary. He sat upon Jacob's well. But
he says to them in verse 32, I have meat to eat. that ye know
not of. Therefore said his disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him to eat? And Jesus
saith unto them, my meat, my food, is to do the will of him
that sent me and to finish his work. These are the words of
our Savior that he said, and Terry read to us, when he came
into the world, he said, I delight to do thy will, O my God. And now he tells his disciples, that which refreshes me, that
which delights me, is to do the will of him that sent me and
to finish the work that he gave me to do. Now we've already established
that the work that God gave him to do had several segments, but
basically the work is to save his people from their sins. Now we know that in order to
do this, the Savior had to leave the glories of heaven He had
to condescend to this earth. He had to dwell in a body the
Father prepared for him. In the words of the Apostle found
in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9, For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor. that ye through his poverty might
be rich. In doing the will of the Father,
the Savior became poor. What wonderful love! What amazing
grace was displayed in his humiliation toward his people. Though he
was rich, that's what the Apostle said. Though he was rich in the
perfections of his divine nature. Though he was rich having the
fullness of the Godhead in him. Though he was rich in having
all that the Father has and all that the Spirit has, so being
equal with both. Though he was rich being everlasting,
unchangeable, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, though he was rich
in his everlasting dominion, though he was rich in having
authority over all creation, though rich in receiving all
the accolades of the angels of heaven, yet for your sakes, yet
for your sake, he became poor. Well, how did he become poor?
by assuming human nature, with all of its weaknesses, with the
exception, of course, of sin. Our Lord Jesus appeared in this
world, not as the sovereign over all, but he took upon himself
the form of a servant. He took a body. in the union
with himself. And in that body, he endured
reproach and shame. And finally, he faced death itself
in that body. Of course, we know that in becoming
a man, he didn't cease to be God, nor did he lose his divine
perfections, though these were mostly hidden and covered from
the view of man, but he became poor. In his human nature, he
became the reverse of what he is in his divine nature. Namely,
he experienced the weakness of the human flesh. Well, here he
is in John chapter 4. He's weary. It's just a real
weariness. It isn't a make-believe. It isn't
pretend. He's not going through the motions
of being weary. Being weary, he sets down on
Jacob's well. And he's thirsty. We know of
his need of having sleep. When the disciples went across
the Sea of Galilee at the Lord's command as they entered into
the ship, And the storm arose, and they sought for the Master.
Where was He to be found? In the back part of the ship.
Well, what was He doing? Sleeping. Sleeping. And yet we read that our God
neither slumbers nor sleeps. And yet here He is, the God-man. In His weariness, being very
fatigued from all of His labors, from all of the preaching, from
all of the teaching, from all of the traveling, from all of
the praying, the nights of praying to His Father, in His weariness
He falls asleep. There is the reality of His manhood. There is His poverty. There is
His poverty. He exposed Himself. to the weaknesses
of the flesh. He was born to a poor mother.
He had no formal education. He was ministered to by others. They took care of him. And when
he was dying, he had nothing to bequeath to his mother. But
he committed her to the care of the Apostle John. And of course
his state of humiliation, his state of poverty fulfilled the
words of the prophets recorded in Zechariah chapter 9 and verse
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation
lowly. Lowly and riding upon an ass. And upon a colt, the foal of
an ass. In his poverty, he was dependent
upon the charity of others. Listen, we're all dependent upon
him being charitable to us. Everybody who exists in this
world is totally dependent upon being cases of charity. He's got to take care of us,
right? He sends the rain upon the just and the unjust. He provides
for us, and yet in his state of poverty, he had to be taken
care of. And he never performed a miracle
to relieve his condition of poverty. He had no property. He had no
farm. He had no house. He had no money. The only personal property he
had, apparently, was the robe on his back. And the soldiers
took that from him. The scripture says, the fowls
of the air have nests, the foxes have their holes. What about
the Son of Man? He doesn't have a place to lay
his head. He who was rich, what happened? He became poor. He
was born not in a palace, but in a stable. His bed wasn't a
fancy crib, it was a feeding trough. And when he died, He didn't have
a grave. He hadn't bought a tomb. He's
buried in a borrowed tomb. And that was only fitting because
he wouldn't need it long. He wouldn't need it long. His poverty was seen in the persons
for whom he came. He didn't come for angels. He
didn't come for good men. He didn't come for righteous
men. He came for sinners. He came
for the ungodly. He came for the bankrupt. He
came for the beggars. This is the end for which He
became poor. That we, through His poverty,
might be rich. That we who are spiritually paupers,
That we, through his poverty, might be rich. It was not for
his own sake that he became poor, but for the sakes of everyone
in whose stead he would lay down his life. That we might be rich. Not physically rich. Not financially rich. The so-called
prosperity gospel of today is another gospel. It's a false
gospel. Because the riches of this world,
they are temporary. And they can be lost very quickly.
The riches which we seek are spiritual riches. Everlasting
riches, which are only to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it was for this reason that He became poor, that we through
His poverty might be rich. Why was this? It was the will
of God. It was the will of God. This
is what He told His disciples. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me. Oh, great Christ! Oh, King of
Kings! Why did You come into this world? And we can almost hear Him say,
to do the Father's will. Yes, I was rich, but I became
poor that You my people, you, my sheep, you, my children, you,
my chosen ones, you, the vessels of mercy, that you might be rich. And the word might doesn't imply
that maybe we will become rich or maybe we won't be rich. No,
it means in order of that, in order that we would be rich,
rich, rich in grace, rich in mercy, Rich in having the robe
of the King. Rich with all the graces that
God gives us. Rich. Enriched by the abiding
presence of His Spirit. Enriched with the truths of the
gospel of grace. enriched with this message of
good news that's more valuable and more precious than all the
gold and the silver and the diamonds in the world. We have the riches
of His grace. We have the riches of who He
is as our Savior. Who is it that has bought us?
Who is it that has saved us? Who is it that has redeemed us?
Lo, it is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and He's not
ashamed to call us brethren. I tell you, He became poor that
we might be rich, that we might be rich. We're rich in faith. Faith is
a rare jewel. You see, all men don't have faith. Faith is a gift of God. We have
the Lord Jesus Himself as our portion, and we're heirs to an
eternal inheritance. Oh yes. Oh yes, He became poor
that we through His poverty might be rich. And this was His food, you see. This was what gave him great
delight. This was what satisfied him. You know, I love to eat. I just love the taste of food.
Somebody here, you know who you are, had Nancy and I over recently
for a meal. What a banquet. I just, I can't
help myself in front of good food. I just, I don't know when
to say no. I just, I just keep on eating
because I love to eat. Food is pleasant. Food is delightful. Food is enjoyable. Food is refreshing. I dread the day when, and I have
people tell me this, especially some of the older folks when
I visit them. I don't have an appetite anymore. I don't have
an appetite. Now I could use not having an
appetite anymore for 10 or 12 pounds or something like that,
but I don't look forward to that day because that's not a healthy
thing. Because God has made us to be
dependent upon food. And he made the food for us to
eat and to enjoy. Peter, he saw a pig coming down
the chute. I'm not going to eat that. That's
unclean. Don't you call unclean what I've
called clean. Enjoy the food. Well listen,
as we enjoy food, tasty food, well prepared food, food that's
delicious, what food is to us, doing the will of God was to
Jesus Christ. It was delightful to Him. It
thrilled Him. It was enjoyable to Him. In fact,
it refreshed Him to do the will of God. It was refreshing and
delightful to the soul of Jesus Christ. He took as much pleasure
in doing the will of the Father as a hungry man does in eating
and drinking because he came to do the will of the Father.
Look at John chapter 5. Look at John chapter 5. Verse
30. I can of my own self do nothing
as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine
own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Listen,
our Lord Jesus, He did not have a will independent of or different
from the will of the Father. He was the submissive servant
of Jehovah who delighted to do the will of God. He wasn't seeking
to gratify his own will as being distinct from the will of the
Father. With us, with God's people, we
are always fighting this issue of having our own will. This
is one of our problems. And we ask the Lord, Lord enable
me to want your will. You know, we pray about somebody's
sickness or situation and as we wind up the prayer and we
tell the Lord, we express to the Lord what our wishes are,
what we desire, then we say this, not my will, but thy will be
done. And we're constantly battling
this urge within us, this natural urge within us to have our will. But the Lord Jesus, there was
no conflict. The Father's will, that's what
He delighted to do. That's what He came to do. He
came to execute the Father's will. In other words, He had
no private agenda. No, He didn't. This was all about
doing the will of the Father. And from the cradle to the grave.
This was always His goal to do the will of Him that sent Him.
Look at John chapter 6. Our Lord has fed the multitudes
the day before. And then He went to the other
side of the Sea of Galilee. He actually walked around. And
then those who were fed started looking for Him, got in a ship,
and they went to the other side. They had seen the miracles. In
fact, most of the people with whom he will speak, they were
the ones who actually ate of the loaves and the fishes. Look
at John 6.35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. John 6.35. He that cometh to
me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst. But I say unto you that ye also
have seen me and believed not." They saw the miracles. They ate
the bread. They ate the fish. And I would
dare say they never tasted anything as good in all their life. When
the Lord of Glory prepared the fish and the bread for them.
They witnessed a miracle. But they didn't believe on Him
who performed the miracle. Well, does that mean nobody will
believe Him? No, that's not what it means.
Because He says in verse 37, All that the Father giveth Me,
they shall believe on Me, or they shall come to Me. And him
that cometh to Me, I will let no wise cast out. While the multitudes
would not come to Him, there was a group that would come.
They're identified as being all that the Father giveth me. There's
divine election. There's election unto salvation.
There's a group of people which the Lord loves with an everlasting
love, and they're referred to by the Savior as being the ones
given to Him by the Father. He frequently spoke of His elect
in this way, and you can at your leisure read in John chapter
17 six times In his high priestly prayer, he referred to those
whom the Father gave him. When were these given to him
before the foundation of the world? Why were they given to
him? In order that he would save them
from their sins by his substitutionary death, because that was the will
of God. You see, he came to do the will
of God. He said, this is my meat, this
is my food, to do the will of God. And so he says in verse
37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. What is this coming
to Christ? Well, it's not a movement of
the body. It's a movement of the soul.
It's when a sinner is led by the Spirit to be aware of his
sins. He finds out he can't save himself. He hears of Jesus Christ. He
hears the voice of Jesus Christ in the Gospel calling Him to
the Savior. And He applies to Christ. He trusts in Christ. He lays
hold of Christ. He leans all the weight of His
soul upon Christ, trusting the Savior for all of His salvation. That's what it means to come
to Christ. It's believing on Christ. And the Savior says to
those who believe Him, Those who come to Him, He says, I'll
in no wise cast them out. Here's what He meant. He's not
going to refuse anybody who comes to Him. And those who come to
Him, He saves them and He saves them forever. Listen, whatever
you may have done in the past, or said in the past, or thought
in the past, with all of your vileness, with all of your sinfulness,
with all of your vileness and your sinfulness now, with all
of your iniquities, with all of your transgressions, if you
need salvation, if you need forgiveness of sins, If in your heart of
hearts you need a mediator, you need the blood of the Son of
God, you need His righteousness, if in your heart of hearts you
need the salvation and you want everlasting life, here's what
you should do, come to Him. And He never puts up a stop sign
and says, I'm sorry, you can't come. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him. And I say to you who are here
tonight, who've not come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation,
to those who are watching on the internet, I say to you, come
to Christ now. He's a wonderful Savior. He takes
all comers. He saves the vilest of the vile. Hey, look at us. He saved us. He saved us from our misery,
from our spiritual poverty. He saves sinners because this
is the will of God. You see? He said, this is my
meat. This is my food. This is what
delights Him. It's the salvation of sinners
by His almighty free grace. Come to Christ. Now look at verse
38. He says, For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will. And he says this several times. He says this to instruct us in
this fact. The mission of the Son of God
was not an independent mission from the will of the Father.
He came into this world to do the will of the Father. He was
sent by the Father on an errand of mercy. He came to save. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He says, I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
This is what He's telling His disciples back here in John chapter
4. And then, let me read verse 39. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing. Not one. but should raise it
up again at the last day." You notice he says, but should raise
it up as though it's one. Raise it up. And it is one. It's one body. It's one group
of people. Oh, it's a big group. It's more
than we can number. It's a multitude which no man
can number. It's a big group. But he identifies
it in the singular sense. but should raise it up at the
last day. All of those given to Him in
that wonderful covenant of grace. All of those for whom He laid
down His life. All of those that He redeemed
by His precious blood. All of those that He reconciled
to God. All of those who are made righteous
through His righteousness. They will all safely make it
to glory. He'll raise them up again at
the last day and He won't lose one of them. It will be the whole group still
intact. One group. What is the Father's will? What
is the Father's will that the Savior says, this is my meat? This is what delights me? This
is my soul's nourishment? This is what is most pleasant
to me? It's to do the Father's will.
What is the Father's will? The salvation of His people. The Savior came to accomplish
that. We know this, whatever God has
willed to do will be done. Well, what has God willed to
do? What has God purposed to do? What has God ordained to do? He has purposed to exalt His Son
over all creation. He has purposed that every knee
shall bow to His Son. Every tongue shall confess His
Lordship. He has purposed that Jesus Christ
will save a people by His substitutionary death to the praise of the glory
of God's grace. And He has purposed that every
enemy shall be brought to the footstool of Jesus Christ. He
has purposed that all of this select multitude will be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ and stand before the Father one
day without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That is the will
of God which the Savior came to accomplish. He came to finish
His work. He came to do the Father's will.
Look with me in Acts chapter 22. Acts chapter 22. I realize that we don't have
the capacity to fully grasp all of the will of an infinite God. That's an impossibility. But we can know of His redemptive
will. Of His redemptive will. Notice
here in Acts chapter 22, Paul, he said, you remember, he said,
I'm a pattern to those who shall believe. That doesn't mean that
every single thing that happened to Saul of Tarsus is going to
happen to each of us in our conversion experience. The Lord deals differently
with different people. The circumstances are different,
so forth and so on. Because He meets us where we
are. Where we are. But there is a sense in which
the apostle is a pattern. And it's set forth here, I believe,
in Acts chapter 22 as Paul is speaking in Jerusalem in verse
14. First of all, he hears a preacher,
verse 12. This is the Apostle Paul recounting
his conversion experience. He says, In one Ananias, a devout
man, according to the law, having a good report of all, of all
the Jews which dwelt there, he came to me and stood and he preached
to Saul. I tell you, Saul of Tarsus is
a pattern there. We've got to hear a preacher.
You've got to hear the gospel proclaimed. He says, Brother Saul, receive
thy sight. The same hour I looked up upon
him, and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Here's a man coming out of three
days of darkness. And the very first thing that
he hears about is, listen, the reason this is all happening
to you is because God chose you. God selected you. I know there
are those who say that, well, we shouldn't preach divine election
to a group of unbelievers. This is only for the mature saints
of God. Well, listen, here's a man in
darkness. He's coming out of the darkness.
And the very first thing he hears is, the God of our fathers have
chosen thee. In other words, if I may paraphrase
that, he's saying this, listen, salvation's of the Lord, Saul.
The reason that you've been brought here, the reason this is happening
unto you, is because of God's free and sovereign grace. Don't
ever be ashamed of sovereign grace. Don't ever be ashamed
that God chose a people unto salvation. Shout it to the world. This is not going to offend God's
people. It will offend the rebel. But
God's people rejoice in this. And watch this, that thou shouldest
know His will. I promise you this, if God deals
with you in saving grace, He's going to teach you His redemptive
will. He's going to teach you His will
of salvation, which is through the person and the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to teach you that.
Several years ago, we had a young man in the congregation that
I pastored at the time, and he had seemed to show a little interest,
and then he and his mother and dad his little sister, they left. And I didn't see them for a few
weeks. I gave them a phone call and they said, well, we're going
to another church. I said, well, could I come over
and talk with you? And they said, yeah, that's fine. So I went
over to talk with them and they said to their son, tell the pastor
what happened. And he said, well, I don't know.
And they said, yeah, tell him. He said, well, I got saved the
other night. I said, you did? I said, well,
what happened? He said, well, I got saved. I
said, would you mind telling me about it? Well, I went forward
and I got saved. I said, well, who saved you?
He said, well, you know. I said, well, how did he save
you? He just saved me. I said yes to him. Let me tell
you something. If God deals with you in saving
mercy, you will know His redemptive will. You will know how He saves
sinners. You might not be able to articulate
it like a preacher or a teacher can, but you can say this, the
Lord saved me from my sin. God did something for me. You won't be saying He did something
or other happen to me, but I don't know what it was, but I feel
different. And I feel happy inside. And
that's the way he talked. Here's what Anna and I said,
Saul, the Lord chose you. You're a vessel of mercy. And he chose you that you would
know his redemptive will. That you'd know his will of salvation
through the person and work of Jesus Christ the Lord. And watch
this. And see that just one. Every
one of God's elect will see by faith the Lord Jesus Christ.
See Him as the just one who justifies us by His blood and by His grace.
And that thou shouldest hear the voice of His mouth. And this
goes back to what we talked about Sunday. We're going to hear from
the Lord. We're going to hear from the
Lord. So our Lord Jesus He ministers to this woman at
Jacob's well. And the disciples come back and
they got groceries. Are you hungry? I've got some
food for you. They said, well, who gave him
something to eat? He said, my meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me to finish His work. And that will That
will that he came to accomplish, he saved his people by his substitutionary
sacrifice. It laid down his life for us.
He satisfied everything the justice of God demanded. And he finished
the will of God as far as the payment was concerned. And even
now he's carrying out the will of God by sending to us the gospel
right on schedule. He quickens us from the dead.
He brings us to faith in Himself. He keeps us by His power. And
someday this work of salvation will be perfected when we see
Him in glory and when our bodies are raised from the grave. And
this corruptible puts on incorruption, and this mortal puts on immortality,
and everything is finished, every eye dotted, every tee crossed,
and standing before Him are all the multitudes of sinners washed
in His blood and dressed in His righteousness. And that's when
He'll say to the Father, Behold I and the children. thou hast
given to me, I have finished your will and the work that you
gave me to do.