Alright, open your Bibles again
to John chapter 4, entitled The Message this morning, Sowing
and Reaping. Remember, we looked last week.
Our Lord was having a conversation with this Samaritan woman. We read there she left her water
pot. She's going to town, and as she's leaving, the disciples
are crossing paths, coming back to the Master. And they wondered. Why the Lord would condescend
to talk to this sinful Samaritan woman? And I wonder, you reckon
they forgot what they were, what they still are, what they were,
what kind of men they were when the Lord called them to follow
him? Well, verse 29, this woman, she
goes to the men of the city. She said, come, see a man which
told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
And they went out of the city and they came unto him. You notice
her message. She just met the Lord. Her message
was the exact same message that Philip said when he went and
found Nathanael. Look back at John chapter 1,
verse 43. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and find a Philip and said unto him, follow
me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip findeth Nathanael,
and said unto him, We found him, of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth? Philip said unto him, Come and
see. Come and we found the Christ.
You come and see. Come and see for yourself. Same
message this woman had for the men of that city. The message
of sinners and for sinners is Christ. You come and see. You
come to him. If you're a notorious sinner
like this woman was, or if you're a religious sinner like Philip
was, the message is Christ. You come and see. And the men
of Samaria did the same thing that Nathanael did. They came
to see. They came to see the Christ. Now, verse 31, in the
meanwhile, His disciples prayed to him, saying, Master, eat.
Now it just stands to reason the Lord sent them away to buy
meat because he was hungry and they were tired. So it was natural
when they brought the food to him that they wanted to eat.
They're concerned about his physical well-being and you've got to
eat. And verse 32, he said unto them, I have meat to eat that
you know not of. Now, we'll see what this meat
is in just a second, but it's not hamburger. It's not a steak. It's spiritual meat. In verse
33, therefore, said the disciples one to another, hath any man
brought him out to eat? Now, they didn't know what the
Lord was talking about, just their flesh. They're just like
this woman at the well. She didn't know what the Lord
was talking about when he began talking to her about living water.
She didn't know what he meant. They don't know what he means,
what the Lord means when he talks to them about this spiritual
meat. They're just like us. Their flesh, and it's almost
always All we think about is flesh. It's fleshly, worldly
things, because that's what we are, is flesh. And they noticed
the Lord is energized. He seems refreshed and energized,
but they didn't know what caused the Lord to be full of energy
and caused him to be refreshed. He hadn't eaten anything. They
didn't know it was the Lord's heart and spirit that had been
fed and had been refreshed. So verse 34, Jesus saith unto
them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
his work. Now, our Lord Jesus is so faithful. He was always faithful to do
his father's will, to do the work that the father sent him
to do. Here he sits at the well and
he knows what's about to happen. He knows he's waiting for this
crowd that he knows is coming. This is his people. These are
some of the people that the Father gave to Him in that eternal covenant
of grace, and they're coming to Him at this very moment. And
our Lord's conversation with this woman and her conversion
filled our Lord. All this crowd of people that's
coming out to see the Lord, this great harvest that He knows is
coming, filled our Lord. Filled Him with joy and satisfaction. This word our Lord uses here,
It means food that fills and sustains. And what our Lord is
saying is meat. This is what fills me. Now, to
me, meat, physical food, it's a whole lot more than something
that just sustains life. I love to eat. I mean, I love
it. I don't eat to stay alive. I
live to eat. I mean, it's just I love to eat.
I enjoy it. I love the taste of good food.
I love the experience of a good meal and just enjoying a meal
with my family and my friends. I mean, I love it. And eating
like that gives me pleasure and it entertains me and I just love
it. This is what the Lord's saying about his meat. He said, my meat,
that which fills me, that which satisfies me and gives me pleasure
is spiritual meat. His meat was doing the will of
his Father. And doing the will of the Father
gave our Lord pleasure. Just like a good meal gives us
pleasure. And this is what our Lord is
saying. My meat, that which fills me up and satisfies me and gives
me pleasure, is spiritual meat. Doing the will of the Father
gave our Lord pleasure. As much pleasure as a good meal
gives a hungry man. Our Lord was so consumed with
doing the will of His Father and finishing the work that the
Father gave Him to do, He lost His appetite for physical food.
He had been tired and hungry and thirsty. But after the conversion
of one of His lost sheep, He forgot. It just paled in comparison. He forgot that he was hungry
and thirsty and tired. We don't read of this woman giving
him a drink, but he wasn't thirsty anymore because what gave him
satisfaction and pleasure was spiritual meat. And there have
been rare times that I think I could understand what's going
on here. Rare times when the joy of God's word is so great. And the blessing of God's Word
is so great, so filling to my soul, that I forget about physical
food. And that's something, because
I think about physical food a lot. But there are times that I, there
are times I'm sitting in my study and I think, I'm not getting
anywhere. I look up and I think, oh, well,
lunchtime's two hours ago. It's rare, but that happens.
That's what happened to our Lord here. Doing the will of his Father. and finishing the work that his
father gave him to do wasn't just the first thing on his priority
list. It was his priority list. That
was the whole list. What were the first recorded
words of our Lord and what are the last recorded words of our
Lord? His first recorded words are
in Luke chapter two. Remember, his whole family went
up to Jerusalem to the feast. Our Lord is 12 years old. Feast
is over and the family starts back home. They traveled all
day and didn't realize their 12-year-old son wasn't with them.
And they went back to find him. Three days, that 12-year-old
boy was missing. Mary and Joseph had been in a
panic. I mean, they were looking for him. They were just in a
panic. And they finally found him. There he sat in the temple
with those doctors, asking them questions I bet they couldn't
answer. in answering their questions. And Mary looked at him in amazement.
She said, son, why have you done this to us? We've been looking
for you sorrowing. We've assumed the worst. And
I wonder if it wasn't in amazement, our Lord answered his mother
and said, wish ye not. I must be about my father's business. His first recorded words. What
were the Savior's last recorded words? It's finished. Before he died, that was his
last recorded words. It's finished. I must be about
my father's work. And it's finished. The Savior
came to do a work. He came to do a work for his
father. He came to do the will of his father and do a work for
his father. See, before God could do anything
for you and me, he must do something for himself. And Christ came
to do a work for his father. He came to satisfy the requirements
of his father, to satisfy his father's holiness and his justice,
because the father loved the people. Now those people were
sinful people. They were people that needed
saving, but the father loved them. So he sent his son to save
them. And that saving was a work, first
of all, for the father. But the Lord also came to do
a work for his people. Because he loved those people.
The Father loved them and the Son loved them too. He didn't
come to make God love them. He came because God loved them.
And he came to save those people that he loves. And our Savior
found pleasure in that work. Because he loved his people,
he found pleasure in that. Just like I have pleasure in
a good meal. He found such pleasure in seeking
and saving that which was lost. Doing his Father's will. Now,
what is the will of the father? What's the father's will? Well,
look over at Hebrews chapter 10. First, the father's will
is that his people, those people that he loves, be sanctified,
be made holy. In Hebrews 10, verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once." It just
took one. And our Lord found pleasure in
that. Now what did that require? What
was required that God's people be sanctified? The suffering
and the death of our Savior. And even though that was grievous
to the flesh, our Lord found pleasure even in suffering and
dying for his people. That's how much he loves his
people. He found pleasure in suffering and dying to sanctify
them. We'll look over in John chapter
6. Secondly, the will of the Father is that none of his people
perish. In John 6 verse 38. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day." Now what's this talking about?
This is talking about God's elect. All those that he gave his Son,
his will is none of them should perish. In Our Lord's High Priestly
Prayer in John 17. His will agreed with his father's
will, didn't it? He said, Father, I will, that
all those whom you've given me be with me where I am, that they
have everlasting life. That was the father's will. And
third, the will of the father is that all those people, all
of his elect, see Christ and believe Christ and have everlasting
life. Verse 40, or John 6, and this
is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and
I will raise him up at the last day." Now what does this mean
to see Christ? Everyone that sees the Son and
believes on Him will have everlasting life. What does this mean to
see Christ? Well, it's to see and understand. But it's not just to see, like
you see a lot of different things. It's to see Christ. So He's all
you see. It's to understand Christ and
believe Christ so that He is all you believe. It's seeing
Christ. To see Christ is to see how God
saves His elect through the sacrifice of His Son. If you see Christ,
you see, you understand. The only way a sinner can be
saved is if the Father elected him. The Son came and died for
him. And the Spirit comes and applies
the blood of that sacrifice and gives life. You see that? That's
how God saves sinners. If you see Christ, you see and
you understand how I'm saved through the blood of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way I could be saved
is through the death of a substitute. It's through his substitutionary
death. If you see Christ, you see, you
understand that the only way I could be righteous It's through
the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of my representative
being given to me as a free gift. Not through any works of my own.
It's all through his righteousness. If you see Christ, fourthly,
you see and you understand, I'm accepted in the beloved. It's only in the Lord Jesus Christ
that I could ever be accepted by the Father. Now this seeing,
that's more than just to understand. I've understood that. What I
just said, I've understood that. About as long as I can understand
language. I've understood that. But I didn't
love it. Seeing Christ is to love it. It's loving Him. It's loving
everything about Him. There's nothing I love more than
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean that thrills my soul. He's my salvation. Oh, I love
God's way of saving sinners in his son. I mean, I love it. That's
seeing Christ. That's seeing him. Now, Christ
said, I came to do a work. Lo, I came to do thy will, O
God. Well, did he do it? Did he finish
that work he came to do? He said he did. That's good enough
for me. He said it's finished. I believe
it's finished. I mean, I love it. I love that
it's finished. All the pressure's off. I watched
this week. I flipped on ESPNU. I don't know. There's some sort
of a series of the best games of last year. And the Buckeyes
were on. They showed this game. I was
watching it live. It was on. They got down. They
were losing, I thought. I turned it off. I mean, I was
aggravated. Come find out they won. They
watched it this week. I said, I watched it. All the
pressure's off. They're going in. There's no
pressure. There's no anxiety. That's salvation. All the pressure's off. There's
no anxiety. It's finished. There's no more
work left to do. There's nothing else left to
do for a believer to be made righteous. It's finished. Nothing else left to do to cleanse
yourself from all of your sin. It's finished. We're clean in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing left to do to
make the Father accept us. It's finished. Accepted in the
beloved. The work is finished. Our Lord
said, that's my meat. Brethren, this is my favorite
meal. It's finished. Salvation finished
in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if I made that clear,
isn't that so? The work's finished, right? Salvation's
finished. It's done. There's no more work
left to do. But if you read these next verses, the Lord's called
his people to a work, and it's an important work. First of all,
it's an urgent work. Look at verse 35. Say not ye,
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." Now, farmers at this
time, they plant their crops in the spring, and then they
go do something else for four months. They wouldn't worry for
four months until the crops would be ready to harvest. Our Lord
says, don't think that way spiritually. This is an urgent work. is planting
day. Every day is watering day. Every
day is harvest day. This day was planting day, watering
day, and harvest day for that woman, wasn't it? Every day is
the day of work. Don't say, well, it'll be four
months to the harvest. You know, we've got time. We
have time to wait. You know, you don't have any
way of knowing that. Planting day is important, but
now you don't know how long it'll be to the harvest. You have no
way of knowing that. And maybe hours, maybe it'd be
years or months. We don't know. But we must always
be ready. We plant and we water. But God
must give the increase. And we don't know when he's going
to do it. That's his will. We don't know when he's going
to do it. And that's what encourages me. It drives me to pray and
study and preach. Because Christ hasn't returned
yet. Now, if he hadn't returned yet, There must be more sheep.
There must be more that God's going to save. Maybe the harvest
will be right here. I pray for it every day. Every
day, I pray that God will make a harvest right here. Maybe it
will. You see, believing God's electing
love, believing predestination, believing God's sovereignty.
I believe those things. I love those things. But that
does not make a person fatalistic or lazy. No. It drives us to
this work of praying and preaching and worshiping. Don't think today
is not an important day. Every day is reaping day for
God's people. The field is white to harvest. I promise you this. God's working. He's working on His people. He's
planting. He's watering. He's giving life. He's causing that fruit to grow
ripe. And those people, they may not
know it yet, but they're just waiting for God to call them
out. And I'm not going to do it. You're
not going to do it. God's going to call them out.
But I'll tell you this, he's going to do it through the preaching
of the gospel. They're just he just waiting to call them out.
Every day is the day we call sinners to come to Christ. Now,
I'm sure these disciples here, they're going through Samaria.
They thought, boy, we'll never get a spiritual crop out of this
place. I mean, they thought it's going to take so much planting
and watering and patience to wait for a crop here because
these people are so bad. It was already white to harvest.
Jerusalem was the place that's going to take a lot of planting
and watering and patience. Samaria, sinners, that place
was white for the harvest. They don't know it yet. But there's
already a great harvest coming from that city, coming out to
the Lord. They're going to believe on Christ. And that's the harvest
our Lord's referring to. And this is what he's saying.
There's no time for eating and drinking. There's no time to
wait. This is a time of work. The harvest
is here. We'll rest later. This is the
time. I don't want that time to work
or the time to eat and drink and rest. It's a time of work.
The harvest is here. And let's apply this to us. Many
times we think somebody's a lost cause. Somebody you know, you
think they're a lost cause. What's the point of telling them
about Christ? What's the point in inviting
them to come to the service? What's the point? We don't know. Somebody could have already planned
it. God could already be causing them to be ready for the harvest.
I'm so thankful. Henry Mahan did not think it
was a waste of time to keep preaching to me. It's not a waste of time. That
would drive us to preach. There are no lost causes to our
God. And that doesn't just apply to
me. It's all of us. We're all involved in this ministry,
sowing and reaping. You're involved in this ministry
when you pray. I hope you do. I hope you pray.
Pray that the Lord will bless. Pray that the Lord will cause
his word to bless the hearts of his people. Call out his sheep. Pray. This is a part of this
harvest. It won't happen without it. It
will not happen without prayer. If you're involved in this ministry,
as you go through your everyday life, Just go through your life
and be prepared to talk to people about Christ when the opportunity
presents itself. Just like the good Lord, this
woman at the well. You're involved in this ministry.
Tomorrow morning, you're going to get up and go work. Go work,
earn a paycheck so you can support the gospel, so you can help those
that are in need. That is part of this ministry
of sowing and reaping. We can't put these messages on
the radio unless we've got money to pay for it. Somebody's got
to provide that. You're involved in this ministry
when you live your life, following God's way so that others see
there's a difference there, and maybe they'll ask you, what's
the difference? What's the reason you have hope?
What's your hope of eternal life? These are our privileges. I'm
not putting pressure on you. This is our privilege to serve
the Lord in this way. We're in this business of sowing
and reaping. And let's pray that the Lord
will send out laborers into his field. Now look over Matthew
chapter 9. There's nothing wrong with praying
that way. Let's pray for a revival. Pray that the Lord will do this.
He taught us to pray this way. In Matthew chapter 9, verse 36. But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then
saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."
The Lord, has he called you to the harvest? Have you seen Christ? See, get your work boots on,
get your gloves on and get to the harvest. Get to the work
because we have compassion on people. Have compassion on the
lost and have a desire for the glory of the Lord of the harvest.
The Lord's going to call somebody to this work. He's going to send
forth laborers into the field. The Lord's going to call somebody
to this work. Why not us? Why shouldn't we
say with Isaiah, Lord, hear my, send me. This is an urgent work. It's necessary work. Second,
look back in our text, John 4. It's a profitable work. Verse
36, and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit in
the life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
may rejoice together. Now, the Lord has just showed
us his zeal in accomplishing his work. and accomplishing the
will and the work that his father sent him to do. Now, he's sending
his disciples to this work, to the harvest. We should follow
his example. He gave us this example right
before he sent his disciples to the harvest. And we should
follow our Lord's example and be diligent to the work that
God's called us to do. And let's do it for God's glory
and the good of his church, just like he did. And we'll receive
wages from it. Now, what's the wages that we
receive from this? It's joy. It's happiness. It's not we're going to get extra
crowns of glory or extra blessings in this life. It's joy and happiness
when God reveals himself to one of his sheep. Don't we celebrate
when the great shepherd of the sheep comes home with one of
those lost sheep on his shoulder? Always celebrate. It is a joy
to see God's elect believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And come to rest in him. Isn't that a joy? That's what
we receive. Look in First Thessalonians,
Chapter two. This is what the Apostle Paul
said, this is his joy. First Thessalonians, Chapter
two. Verse 19, for what is our hope? What's our joy? What's our crown
of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ and His coming? For ye are our glory
and our joy. Our glory, what we glory in,
what we find joy in, as if the Lord saved you by His grace through
the preaching of His gospel. That's our joy. That's the wages
that we receive. And like I said, All of God's
people are in this ministry of sowing and reaping. We're all
in this together. He that sows and he that reaps
are one and they joy together. And that brings me to my third
point. This is not a solitary work. This is a joint effort
on the part of God's servants. On God's servants. I didn't say
it's a joint effort on the part of us and God. This is a joint
effort on the part of God's servants. We're all in this together. In Mark chapter 6, our Lord sent
his disciples out. He didn't send them out alone.
He sent them out two and two. They're together. They're laborers
together in this thing. This is not a solitary work.
Look at verse 37 in our text. And herein is that same truth.
One soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon
ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and ye are
entered into their labor. An example of what our Lord is
talking about is this woman that our Lord was just talking to.
He just revealed himself to this woman. Now, he came to her, started
talking to her, and she had some head knowledge and it was fuzzy
and it was twisted around, but she had some head knowledge of
some religious things, you know, she thought, well, different
people thought they should worship here, there, yonder, wherever,
you know. And she'd heard the name of Christ before. She may
not have heard much. She didn't. Obviously, she didn't
know much, but she knew the name of Christ. Look at verse 25. The woman sayeth unto him, he
kept having her in. Remember, I talked to her, kept
having her in, having her in, having her in. And finally she
said, well, I don't know anything. All I know is this, that the
Messiah is coming, which is called Christ. And he's come. He'll
tell us all things. Now, how did she know that? Somebody
planted. Don't know who? Don't know when,
but somebody planted. Who knows how long ago? But whenever
that day of sowing was, this was the day of reaping. Whoever
sowed is nowhere to be seen. We have no clue. Whoever sowed,
whoever told her the name of Christ, probably never knew this
came to harvest. But that's all right. It doesn't
matter. It's not important that I know.
What's important is, you know, that you know the Lord. That's
all that matters. That's fine with us, if somebody
else reads, because we're not in competition with one another.
We're laborers together and our joy is together. That's what
salvation is. Look back at Joshua chapter 24. I preached from this a few weeks
ago. This is how God does things. One sows and another reaps. Isn't
that salvation? You have salvation for which
you did not labor. You didn't contribute anything
to it. That's salvation. This is the way God does things.
In Joshua chapter 24, verse 12, God said, I sent the hornet before
you, which drove out all these idolaters, all these people of
this land. The hornet drove them out. Even the two kings of the
Amorites. But not with thy sword and not
with thy bow. You didn't drive them out. Salvation
is of the Lord. And I have given you a land for
which you did not labor. And cities which you built not,
you dwell in them. But vineyards and olive yards
which you planted not, do you eat. You didn't sow this, but
you're reaping the harvest. That's what he's saying. One
sows and another reaps. And that's wonderful because
somebody came to know the Lord. And that's all we care about,
that someone comes to know the Lord. This morning, Sabrina and
Kerry, I guess you were teaching, weren't you? I don't see Tara.
And Eric. What were they doing back there
in these classes? Were they playing games? Were they entertaining
our children, you know, so you could have a quiet time? No,
they were not. They were planting seed. They were sowing the Word. They went through the Word with
our children. That's the seed. And they are
sowing seed, and sowing seed, week after week after week after
week. There they are, sowing that seed.
And we pray, all one day, maybe the Lord, His mercy, will cause
that seed to grow to life. We plant and we water every surface. But now listen, you parents especially,
and listen to me. We don't just plant water Sundays
and Wednesdays. You can do it every day. Every day. Spurgeon said, a mother has the
greatest pulpit ever. You have the greatest opportunity
to preach to your children. You got them every day. Take
time to talk to them about the Lord. Read the scripture to them. Read the word to them. Read the
Bible stories to them. And just at every opportunity,
something will come up. Talk to them about the Lord.
You know, something happens. You tell them, the Lord did that.
The Lord and His providence. Did everything that happens,
happens because the Lord willed it. Take every opportunity to
point them to the Lord. Pray with them. Sit down with
your children and pray with them. Teach them to pray and pray. We planted, we watered. Pray
that God will give the increase. Maybe the Lord will send another
labor and they'll get to harvest. If that's one of your children,
will it matter to you? The servant won't matter. The
joy is there's been a harvest. The Lord brought one of his lost
sheep home to him. Now the work of salvation is
finished. Don't forget that. The work is finished. There's
no work left to do for salvation. But the Lord has called his people
to a difficult work. It's difficult, arduous, hard
work. And don't be weary and quit. if you're not seeing results
as fast as you'd like. There could be a lot going on
underground we don't see yet. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. You
know, that shouldn't surprise us. There's something going on
we don't see. We don't see very much, do we? There could be something
going on we don't see. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. For as much as ye know, your labor is not in vain in
the Lord. His word will not return unto
him void. Look over Galatians chapter 6. Don't quit. This is a hard work,
but don't quit. Don't give up. Galatians 6 verse
6. For every man shall bear his
own burden. Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teacheth, and all good things.
Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth his
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth
of the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let
us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season We shall reap
if we faint not. And as we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who have
the household of faith. Don't be weary in well-doing.
We'll reap in due season if we faint not. Don't quit. It's a
hard work, but it's a necessary work. Now, our Lord's been given
this instruction to his disciples, and as he's speaking, Here comes
an example of what the Lord has been talking about. This woman
at the well, she just for the first time this afternoon saw
Christ. She just now believed on Christ. And she didn't think, what use
is it for somebody like me to testify of Christ? She didn't
think that way, did she? Out of a grateful heart, She
went and told what she knew. All she knew. Was Christ. And that's all she needed to
know was Christ. She pointed to Christ, just like
the spirit and the bride say come. She said come. We were
Friday evening at a housewarming party for our daughter, Holly,
there in Lexington. A bunch of the young people came
over to her house for this housewarming party. Jan was talking to one
of them Friday evening. Young man. And he was telling
her he has such a burden for his grandparents. They don't
know the Lord. He said, I'm burdened for their
soul. And I talk to him about the Lord every chance I get.
That's such a blessing. This young man didn't think,
what is it going to do me to tell somebody about Christ? He
told me, what does he know? Christ. What did he tell him? Christ. That's what this woman
did. Look at verse 39. She went and
told them, come see the Christ. 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. They believed Christ
because the message they heard from this woman. And I know they
believed. This is not just words. They
believed because they did the two things. Everyone who believes
Christ does. Everyone who believes Christ
comes to him. And everyone who believes Christ
begs him, don't leave me. Don't leave me alone. Look at
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. See, people who believe Christ,
they come to Christ. And they believe Christ. And
they keep believing So I told you this Wednesday night, coming
to Christ is believing Christ. If you believe Christ, you come
to him. And everyone who believes Christ wants to be where he is. They want to be where he's preached.
They want to hear his word. Why do you all keep showing up
here? Every Wednesday and every Sunday, there you are. I mean,
you're here all the time. Because you need, it's not just
that you want, you need to hear his word. You need to be where
he is. And where two or three are gathered
together in my name, he said, there I am in the midst of them.
You need to be where he is. That's what you want. And look
what happens when God's people hear God's word. Our Lord stayed
there and he taught them. And verse 41, and many more believed
because of his own word. The only reason anyone ever believes
Christ is they hear Christ with the ear of faith. And these people
heard Christ with the ear of faith. Because look, this is
their testimony, verse 42. And they said unto the woman,
Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard
him ourselves. And we know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. He came. to save even
me. Even a sinful Samaritan like
me, he came to say, now we believe because we've heard Christ ourselves. Now, they never would have believed
if that woman hadn't run and testified to them with us. They
never would have. And they believed her. She came
to town and they really believed. There's a man sitting out there
at Jacob's Well who's the Christ. They believed her. And they went,
and they went to the master. They heard him teach. They believed
the truth. Then they heard Christ speak
and they believed and were saved. And that's what I pray for every
one of you. I pray that every day. I don't want you to just
follow me. I don't want you to just believe
what I'm telling you. I mean, I hope you do believe
what I'm telling you is the truth, but I want you to believe just
because I said it. If you believe just because I
said it, somebody's going to come along who's smarter, who's
a better speaker, and they'll convince you of something else.
I want you to believe Christ. I pray that God will speak to
your heart from His Word. I can tell you who Christ is,
but only Christ can speak to your heart. Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. Only Christ can speak to your
heart. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 4. And my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. That's what I want for you, your
faith to stand in Him. And a growth in grace and growth
in knowledge comes from hearing God's You hear God's Word, and
you say, I believe. I believe this. I mean, with
all of my being, I believe this. And the more I hear, the more
I believe. That's a growth in grace. I believe
God. Do you believe God? I hope you
do. I believe God. And I'm telling
you this, I believe Him again and again and again and again. And if you can say that, No man
will shake you off that foundation because that faith is founded
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll never be taken off that
foundation because you're built on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the work that we call us to do, praying that God will give a
harvest. Well, I hope that will bless
your heart. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, How we beg of Thee
that You would bless Your Word as has been preached this morning.
Father, cause each one who's gathered here this morning to
hear the Word of God in the heart. Father, I beg of Thee that You
would speak to our hearts, that You would speak to our hearts
through Thy Word. And Father, we pray that a seed
of thy word will be planted in good ground this morning. I pray,
Father, that you have prepared our hearts for thy seed, prepared
our hearts to hear the word of God. And, Father, how we pray
that you'd cause the field to be white unto harvest. And we ask this blessing, knowing
full well we don't deserve thy mercy. We don't deserve the least
of Thy mercies. You've been so merciful to us.
You've blessed us so abundantly. And we know, Father, we ask a
great thing, a great blessing that we do not deserve. But that's
what the gift of salvation is. It's Thy gift, a gift that You
sovereignly give to those who do not deserve it. And, Father,
we beg of Thee, if it could be Thy will, You'd be merciful. that you continue to be merciful,
gracious, call thy people out. We give you all the praise and
the thanks and the glory for it because all the praise and
all the glory is thine alone. It is in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ we give thanks.