Morning, everybody. If you would
turn to John chapter four, John chapter four. Very good to be with you this
morning. We'll look about seven or eight different verses here.
I want to read them so we see everything in context and we'll
go back and we're just going to follow verse by verse. But once you
get to John chapter four, pick up in verse 31. Verse 31 of John chapter 4, it
says, In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. I thought of two things when
I first read that. Number one, the God of glory,
the creator of the universe, the sovereign of everyone and
everything and every happening that there is, he had to eat. So much man as if he was not
God at all. so much God as if he wasn't man
at all. He had to sleep, he had to eat,
he became weary. God, Jesus Christ, that one,
who is the object of all the praise of heaven, came down and
inhabited the body of a man, made under the law, and he had
to eat just like you and me, he had to drink just like you
and me, he had to sleep just like you and me. He feels the
burdens of our infirmities in every single way, shape, and
form. And here's the other thing I thought was, how foolish these
disciples were. We're worried that he's not eating.
I'm pretty sure he can take care of himself. He's going to be
just fine. Verse 32, but he said unto them, I have meat to eat
that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? Now
they're confused at this point, as they often were. They thought
he was talking about physical food. He wasn't. He's talking
about spiritual food. It's completely different, but
he's going to explain what he's talking about. Verse 34, he says, Jesus saith
unto them, my meat, my food is to do the will of him that sent
me and to finish, to complete, to perfect, to make an end of
his work. Now, In the next verses here,
he's going to give an illustration. It's a metaphor, and we're going
to find out what this means here in a minute, but it's an encouragement
to all of us. It's a barley field is what he's
going to talk about. Look at verse 35. He says, say
not ye there are yet four months and then come of harvest. Behold,
I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for
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 and another reapeth. I sent you
to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. You didn't do anything,
and you got all the benefit. Other men labored, and you are
entered into their labors. This saying is true. One soweth
and another reapeth. That was a saying back in the
time of our Lord, in the time of John, and that's true even
today. It's still said to this day. I'll give you an example
of it. Every once in a while, Macy comes home and she talks
about school, and she'll talk about a group project, and she
does not like group projects. You want to know why? This is
her constant complaint. I end up doing all the work,
And everybody else in that group, they don't do any work, but we
all get the same grade. It's not fair. I'm doing all
the work. I get settled with all of it. And everybody who's
with me, we all get the same grade. And she complains about
that. She doesn't like group projects. And everyone's experienced
this from one perspective or another. When I was in school,
I was on the other end of the spectrum. I love group projects. I'm going to team up with an
academic, right? They're going to do a real good job. And whatever
score they get, that's the score I get. And this is still said
to this day. I actually have, this is a true
story. It's a couple of years ago talking to an older gentleman
and he would die shortly after this. He's decently wealthy.
And he was talking, he was lamenting the spending practices of his
nieces and nephews, how they were always trying to bum money
off. And this is what he said when he ended the conversation.
He goes, well, he goes, I guess that's the way of things. One
generation makes it and another generation spends it. was a saying
back then. That was a thing back then. It's
still true to this very day. But folks, that's the heart of
the Gospel. This is the Gospel message. One soweth. One somebody
does all the work in salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ does everything
for His people. Absolutely everything. You cannot
take that statement too far. Salvation is of the Lord. He
does it all. And then His people, what do
we get to do? reap all the benefits of what
he has done for us, and we don't lift a finger. Complete and utter
freeloaders. And folks, that's called salvation
by grace. And he would use all these seven or eight verses here
to explain to us exactly what that means and how much salvation
really is of grace. And I had to bring to you this
morning a point or a culmination of everything. You can sum it
up in two verses. It's this, it's Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For
by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works. You can't get any plainer
language than that. Not of works, lest any man should boast, lest
any other creature get any glory whatsoever, save Jesus Christ
alone. That's what I want to talk about
this morning. Lord to just give us a very simple, plain, and
clear gospel message that would feed a sinner and draw him to
Christ this morning. Now, go back to verse 31. It says, in
the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. So, what happened? What happened
up to this point? What's the back story? A huge, very famous
scriptural event happened. It's when our Lord went through
Samaria. You know why he went through Samaria? You remember?
It says in verse four, he must needs go through Samaria. He had to go through Samaria.
He had no option. He had no choice. He had to go
through Samaria. Why was that? Because there was
going to be a woman at the well, a Samaritan woman, one of his
people, one of his sheep. And he had purposed this before
the foundations of the world, that on this day, on this date
and time, at that very well, that was the day he would come
to her. He wasn't coming to anybody else. He was coming to one person
in that town. He's going to meet her at that
well. I love thinking about that. She didn't initiate that at all.
She was not seeking after him. She was not trying to find Messiah.
We find that out later in the story. Not at all. He came to
her. He initiated this. He was on
the hunt for her. She wasn't even looking for him
at all. He did all the sowing. She did
all the reaping. She got all the benefits that
day. He came to her where she was at. He initiated this with
her. And then he revealed himself
to her. She says, I know Messiah is coming, and he's going to
show us all things. He says, I am he. In fact, the
he's in italics. It's just I am. I am. You think about that. She knew
all the stories. She knew all the stories of Messiah. She remembered
Cain and Abel. Cain came with the fruit of the
ground. He came with the best he could come up with. This is
my best work, Lord. This is the best I can come up
with, except me in this. And he was rejected. Unto Cain
and his offering, no respect whatsoever. Abel came with what? The lamb. The slain lamb alone. That was it. That was the only
thing that was on that altar. Just the slain lamb. Lord had respect
to Abel and his offering. Only one way, only way, one way
he could be received by the Lord. It was through that offering
to slain lamb alone. She would have known Genesis
22. Isaac's bound. He's on the altar. Abraham is
standing over him with the knife ready to plunge that knife into
his son's throat. Lord says, Abraham, Abraham,
stop. Now I know you fear God. And I look behind them and there's
a ram caught in the thicket. by its horns. Isaac comes off
the altar. He's cut free. Why? What was
the only reason that Isaac could go free? Because he had a substitute. He had a ram caught in the thicket,
somebody who would take his place. She certainly would have known
about the Passover. They talked about it all the time. I'm coming
through Egypt. I'm going to kill all the firstborn.
You, my people, here's what you do. You take a lamb without spot,
without blemish, Christ, the spotless lamb, who did no sin
and knew no sin, you cut its throat, you take that blood,
you put it over the doorpost and on the side, and you get
in the house, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. She knew that story. He says,
I'm he. That's me. I've come. And she says this. She goes, this man? He told me
all I ever did. Because she takes off after that.
As soon as he reveals himself to her, she takes off. I found
him. I found Messiah. And she tells everybody, come
see a man who told me all I ever did. That's exactly what happens
when the Lord reveals himself to you. Number one, you find
out you have a new history. All I ever did, everybody who's
in him, all we've ever done is exactly what Jesus Christ has
done. That's our history before God. And that's when you find
out, in and of yourself, you're nothing but a sinner. He showed
me all I ever did. All I ever did was sin. All I
ever did was depravity. All I ever did was wrong in and
of myself. But in him, I have this great new history. And she's gone now. She's gone
to get everybody else. She's going to tell them about the
Messiah. And the disciples have gone, and they want to go get
lunch and bring it back. Well, they've come back at this
point, and now they're eating. They say, Master, eat. No, I'm
not going to eat. Why won't he eat? Verse 32. But he said unto them, I have
meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him all 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. What does food mean to
you? Physical food on this earth, what does it do for you? I can
tell you what it does for me, right? Number one, it fuels me.
Nutrients from the food, they come into my body. All the processes
of life keeps my lungs breathing air, keeps my mind moving, gives
my muscles energy so I can perform the tasks of life. It's my fuel.
It's also my motivation, a very strong motivator. Let's see if
you can enter into this. Every once in a while, I'll be
sitting at my desk. I'm trying to get work done, right? I've
got a task. I've got a purpose. All of a sudden, those hunger
pangs come on. Lunch is coming up. Right? And I'm real focused.
I'm going to get this job done. I'm going to get stronger, get
stronger, and get stronger. And all of a sudden, my motivation
changes. I'm not trying to get the job done anymore. Now I need
one thing. I got to eat. I got to get food. I got to get sustenance.
Until I'm fed, I can't think about anything else that's a
motivator. And it brings us joy. We sit around the dinner table
with friends, with family. We enjoy a meal. If I go on vacation,
you ask me how it went, I guarantee you, I'll tell you the three
best meals I had while I was there. It's joy, but here's the point.
He said, my meat, which is my fuel, which is my motivation,
which is my joy, this is what drove the Lord Jesus Christ.
I heard Greg Elmquist preach on this and he said this, he
goes, he lived to eat, to do the will of him that sent him
and to finish his work. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth with a singular mindset, in singular purpose, to simply
do the will of his father at all times. He says, not my will
be done, not mine. but thy will be done. I live
to do the will of him that sent me and to complete, to finish,
to perfect that which he gave me to do. And here's a question
I have this morning. What exactly did the father send
the Lord Jesus Christ to do? What was the work that he sent
him to complete, to finish, to make an end of? This is a vital
question. Now, as much as One soweth and
another reapeth is a true saying, I'll give you another true saying,
said for many, many years now. There are only two religions,
only two. There's salvation by grace, salvation
found in Jesus Christ alone, completely and utterly dependent
on what he has done for particular people. And then there's everything
else. Now, what does the world say? Man's religion, what does
it say that Jesus Christ was sent of his father to do and
to complete? Well, I think I'm making a generalized
statement here, which is accurate. It would say his father sent
him to come and make salvation possible for all men. He has
a desire to save all men, to see all men saved. He loves all
men equally, and he desires the salvation of all men, and he
sent his son to come make salvation possible, and now it's in the
ballpark of men. It's up to each individual person.
You have to do the thing. And depending on which branch
of false religion you fall under, the thing varies. It sounds sometimes
like this. You just got to do your best.
You know, just just try to be good. You know, when God grades
on the curve and at the end of the day, as long as you have
more good works and you have bad works, you'll probably be
just fine. You can't believe that and believe
the Bible. I'll read you this. Romans 3, 10 and 12, as it is
written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. What that says is man is completely
and utterly depraved. born dead in trespasses and sins,
completely and utterly incapable of doing anything that would
please a sovereign and a holy God. Cannot, that's how you describe
the natural man. You can't believe that. Just
be good, just do your best, Christ does the rest. You cannot believe
that and believe the Bible, it says it right there. And so another
one might say, well, your heart just has to be in the right place.
You gotta be spiritual and just sincere in all things. You can't
believe Genesis 6-5 then. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." You can't
believe that and believe the Bible. Only evil continually. Somebody says, well, it's simple
as this. You just got to make a decision, right? Make a decision. As an act of
your free will, you just have to accept what he's done. Well,
you have to disagree with Paul then, Romans 9, 16, so then it
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. but of God
that showeth mercy." You cannot believe any of those things and
still say, this is the Word of God. It's staring you in the
face right there. So if that's not the case, if man's religion
is not true, what did the Father send Christ to do? What was the
work he sent him to complete? Turn over to John chapter 6.
Let's read it in plain language. John 6, look at verse 39. This
is familiar to everybody in this room. The question is this, what
did the Father send him to do and to complete? Verse 39, and
this is the Father's will, which has sent me. He's gonna answer
the question right here, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, not a one of them, but should raise it
up again at the last day. As simple as this. foundations
of the world were ever built. The Lord Jesus Christ was given
someone and something. All that the Father giveth me.
What did He give Him? He gave Him the elect. Those
He chose unto salvation before the foundations of the world
were ever built. And I don't understand this as much as I
find it mysterious and I find it glorious. He chose us in Christ. Every member of the elect, we've
always been one in Christ. He chose His Son. He chose Christ.
Therefore, He chose us. And then he gave us back to Christ
to be the surety, to be the representative. He said, it all rests on your
shoulders. You will go and you will do everything that is necessary
to bring these people back to me. A people and a charge. What
is the charge? You have to bring them all back,
holy and unblameable and unapprovable in my sight. And I'm the one
who sees things as they really are. And here's the catch, they
can't help at all. They can't do one single thing. He says,
this is the will of the Father. I come here. I bear their sins
in my body. I come here. I die under the
wrath of God. I'm completely and utterly forsaken,
exactly what they deserve. I come here. I establish a righteousness.
And everything I am and everything I've done, it's what they do.
Therefore, they must be saved, so much so that the Father would
raise them up with me at the last day. I love thinking about
this. When the father raised Christ from the dead, why did
he do it? Because he was successful in what he did. Because he paid
for the sins of everybody he died for. They were all put away.
The father raised him from the dead because of justification,
because of it. He couldn't be in the ground
any longer. He had to bring him back to life. The justice of
God demanded it. And every single one of his people and him, we
were raised right there too. And that will come to full fruition
on the last day. We're all going to be raised holy, unblameable,
and unapprovable. Don't miss this. As He is, so
are we in this world. It's real. That's right now.
It's what the Word of God teaches. Did He come for everybody? What
did He tell the Syrophoenician woman? Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And He would have mercy on her eventually,
but first He confronts her with who He really is. And He says
this. I am not sent, but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel." I didn't come for everybody.
Mercy is not for everybody. It's for a particular people,
but it's always a saving mercy. My love is always a saving love. Here's what I'm so thankful for,
and this is my favorite thing to talk about. I cannot get over
talking about this. I absolutely love it. These people
whom Christ came to save and did exactly what he was sent
to do, we can know if we're one of them right now. There is no
waiting. There is no wondering. We can
know right now. Now turn over to this scripture.
Turn over to Luke chapter four. Remember, he said, my meat is
to do the will of him that sent me. We're going to read another
scripture about what he was sent to do. Luke four, Our Lord's in the
synagogue, he's reading from the book of Isaiah, look at verse
18. It says, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath, what's those words?
Sent me to heal the brokenhearted. deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
to bruise, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Who is he
sent for? A poor. No righteousness. No good works. Not even the ability
to get better. Complete and utter destitute. If you're poor what does that
mean? It means you have no buying power. It means I can't merit
salvation. If the Lord demands anything
from me before he will do something for me, it's over for me. I'm
poor. I don't have anything. I have absolutely nothing. He
says, those are the ones I'm sent for. He says, I'm sent for
the broken hearted. What's a broken heart? What's
anything that's broken? It's no good. You got to get
rid of it. I cannot do. I can't perform
the functions of spiritual life. I can't believe. I can't love
God. I can't bring myself to repentance.
I lack all those abilities. I have to be given something
new. A brand new man, a brand new nature, a brand new heart.
He says, I came for those people, those people who need a brand
new heart. He said, the captives, the prisoners
to sin. I can't stop. Does that excuse me? Not in the
least, it condemns me. Can't stop though. What's going
to happen today? Sin. What happened yesterday?
Sin. What's going to happen tomorrow?
Sin. Captives can't get out. The blind. People who look inside
themselves and they can't find a reason that the Lord would
have mercy on them. And those who are bruised, you
know what that means? Crushed, literally annihilated, ground
to power. Those who know this, unless he
comes to me and he does something for me and he does all that something,
I'll be crushed under the wrath of God. And that's right, that's
fair, and that's just. This is my favorite thing to
talk about. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. You can hang your hat on this.
Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. If you fit that description right
there, there's no doubt about it. Jesus Christ was sent into
this world to save you. The question is this, did he
do it? Was he successful in what he did? Well, I can think of
a few scriptures. Here's the first one. Our Lord's words from
the cross. What did he say? Three words,
probably the most famous in the scripture. It is finished. Did he say, well, I've done my
part. Now it's up to them to do their part. They got to come
up with the goods. It is finished. That means there's nothing left
to do. and there are no works left to perform. More particularly,
it's put this way in Hebrews 10, 14. It says, by one offering,
he hath perfected. That's that same word, finished,
completed, made an end of. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever. This cannot be changed. This
is etched into history for the end of time. This is an immutable
state. Perfected forever, them that are sanctified. Those the
Father set apart and gave to Christ before the foundations
of the world were ever built. Think he was successful? This is my favorite scripture
on this though. Turn to John 17 real quick. I think it's beautiful. It's our Lord's high priestly
prayer. I'd have you note that this is obviously prior to his
crucifixion. This is probably a matter of
hours before he would die. Chapter 17 of John, look at verse
1, he says, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hours come, glorify thy son,
that thy son also may glorify thee. There's the eternal purpose
of God, the glorification of the Godhead in Jesus Christ.
Verse 2, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
There it is again. And this is life eternal. that
they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent." Listen to this, I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Once again, this is prior to
his crucifixion. He has not yet died and yet he
says in full confidence as God who cannot lie, I've already
finished the work that you gave me to do. How could that possibly
be true? You have to know something about the character of God to
understand that. Who is he and what is he like? I can tell you
this. I'll give you three attributes. Number one, he's absolutely sovereign.
That means he truly is in control of everyone and everything at
all times, absolutely including salvation. Everybody's in his
hands. It will all play out exactly as he purposed it. He's a God
of purpose. having a singular purpose of
glorifying His Son, Jesus Christ, through the salvation of these
particular people. And since that purpose was made
before the foundation of the world ever came about, because
He decreed that to be, and because He is omnipotent, He has almighty
power, He always causes His will to come to pass, and because
He himself is immutable, He cannot change. Since this was decreed
in the eternities, therefore, He It's done as soon as he decrees
it. That's who God is. That's what
he likes, what he likes, what he's like. As soon as he purposes,
and this is the eternal purpose of God, therefore it's always
been done. That's why Revelation 13, eight
can rightfully say Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He truly always has been before
us, before we were born. Before we ever committed one
sin, there was always a Savior for that sin, already an atonement
for those sins. It's all already been done. It
was finished in time on the cross. It's been done from the eternities.
This truly is a finished work. And if it was done in the eternities,
folks, how much do my works have to come into play? Logically, that doesn't even
make sense. The scripture just makes it blatantly clear, not
of works, lest any man should boast. You can't take away from
this, you can't add to it, not in any way. It's already been
done. It is finished. Now, he doesn't
end there. Go back to John 6. Let's read
on some more. John 6, look at verse 39 again. And this is the Father's will
which is sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
And the purpose continues, verse 40. 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. purpose of everlasting life for
everybody he died for. As soon as the Father elected
those people, as soon as the Son laid down His life for those
people, what does the Holy Spirit do? Nothing prevents Him. It pushes Him. Do this now. Come
and give those people life through the preaching of the Gospel.
Give them a new man, a perfect man in Christ Jesus. What does that new man do? He
sees the Son and he believes on Him. What does he see? What
did he see before? Before he saw one who couldn't
accomplish his task. He wanted all men to be saved,
he just couldn't get it done. He needs their help. He saw a
weakling, he saw someone who couldn't come up with the goods.
Now he sees what Isaiah saw. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting, not worried, not working, a work
done, sitting on a throne. A king who reigns. I saw him
high and lifted up. That relative positioning changed.
He's high. I'm low. I'm down here in the
dirt. And his train fills the temple.
His glory fills every aspect of salvation because he does
every aspect of salvation. And he hears the angels flying
around. They say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory. I'm standing in the hands
of one who must punish sin. What'd he say next? Woe is me.
I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell amongst a people of unclean
lips. My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. That's what
happens when he reveals himself. You see who he really is and
you find out, woe is me. I'm in the hands of a sovereign God
who must punish sin, but he never leaves a man there. Never once.
That seraphim went to that altar and with that tongs brought alive
coal and touched his lips. He says, this has taken away
your iniquity. You have Christ. that lamb slain on that altar
of God. You have him, your iniquity has been pardoned. For every
sinner who sees that one, that holy one, he's their only hope.
My only hope is that he does something for me, for himself.
And please understand that God has to do something for himself
before he can do anything for me. He has to satisfy his own justice
before he can do anything for me. I need him to do something
for himself so he can then do it for me. I'm so thankful he
never leaves anybody there. Woe is me. No. This has touched
your lips. Your iniquity is pardoned. That
sacrifice has pardoned all your sins. You're free, absolutely
free. He sees the Son and he believes
on Him. Go up to verse 35. There's further
detail on this. It says, And Jesus said unto
them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. but
I said unto you that you also have seen me and believe not.
Now you have to consider the audience here. He's talking to
some of the 5,000 he had just fed the other day with two sardines
and five biscuits. And these men were coming to
him. It wasn't because they believed he was Messiah or because they
wanted salvation or they wanted mercy or any of those things.
He had fed them and they wanted some more food. They wanted temporal
food. That's why they were coming to
him. He says, you've seen me, right? You've seen me physically.
But you haven't seen me spiritually because I haven't revealed myself
to you. That's why you believe not. Now, I find that interesting.
I like what John says here. The Lord says this in John 10,
26. He says, but you believe not because you are not of my
sheep. I want you to consider the gravity
of that. He doesn't say you believe not and therefore you're not
of my sheep. He says the reason you don't
believe is because you're not one of mine. You see, there's
going to be people that are going to come to Christ. They're going
to believe on Him and trust Him for everything. It's going to
be the elect. Not one is going to be lost.
Now look at this in verse 37. I think this is one of the most
encouraging verses in all of Scripture. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. There's going to be a group of
people that look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for everything
in their salvation. Everybody the Father elected,
everybody Christ died for. Those are the ones the Holy Spirit
calls. But look at this encouragement. In him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Any sinner who meets that description,
you're poor, you're broken hearted, you're blind, You've got absolutely
nothing. You come to Christ and you simply
trust Him, His blood, His righteousness, His works, not your own. You
simply cling to Him. You have this promise, for no
reason whatsoever will I cast you out. I heard Henry Mahan
say this once in a message and I've chewed on it for a while
now. He says, Christ is the object of our faith. His word is the
foundation of it. That's something to chew on,
isn't it? It's absolutely true. We look to Him for everything.
My only hope of being sinless, being truly righteous before
God, is His blood and His obedience to His Father. It's in Him. I have to come to Him for everything.
For my holiness, it's His holiness. Through my union with Him, I'm
holy. That's the only way I'm holy, is His holiness. I'm looking
to Him for that, for faith. And it's paradoxical, but for
the faith to believe upon Him, to look to Him. I look to Him
for that faith. I can't come up with that on
my own. We look to Him for all those things. But the foundation
of our coming, it's His promises and His Word. Here's a promise
we can stand on. We can come boldly now to the
throne of grace standing on this promise. You said in Your Word,
You come to me, a sinner in need of mercy, and You trust me, I
will by no means circumstances cast you out. You said that.
So, we come and we come boldly because God cannot lie. Command,
not a recommendation. Now, like I said, the Lord is
going to give us some encouragement in this illustration. Go back
to John chapter 4. Let's see what this means. This covers about everything
we've talked about up to this point, but I want you to see
it in this very interesting illustration metaphor he gives us. John 4
and look at verse 35. He says, say not ye there are yet
four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already
to harvest. Like I said, this is a barley
field. That's the metaphor here. When barley is ready to be harvested,
it gleans white. And you look over the hills,
and the hills look like they're snow blanketed. That's how you
know when the harvest is ready. And he says, don't say there's
four months till harvest. If there's four months till harvest,
what does that mean? It means not everything's done. It means
maturity hasn't been reached. The harvest is not ready. Other
things need to take place before we can go in and reap. He says,
don't say that. Look to the hills. They're white.
It's all ready. What's the point? Sinner, do
not wait for anything to come to Christ. Don't dare say, I
need to mature more. Well, I need to learn more, and
I need to have stronger faith. I need to do all these things.
No, you come to Christ right now. Look. Look to the fields.
They're white. Shining, glistening white, the
very righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's how the Father views you
in Christ. All your sin has been put away.
Righteousness has been established. You don't need anything else.
Come and reap in a field you didn't sow in whatsoever. Come
eat. Don't say the harvest. Don't
say wait. Don't look to yourself for anything. Don't look for
yourself to get better. I need to have more power over
sin. You're not going to find it. I need to have better works. Folks, we should have the best
works known to man. It's still going to be evil upon evil upon
evil. You're not going to get any better.
Don't say there's four months to harvest. The fields are white.
Look, you come and you reap in that field you didn't sow in.
You do it right now. You come to Christ right now. Now look, look at verse 36. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages. and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." Speaks of
wages. A couple of different things
he talks about here. The wages of this reaping. You know what that means? It
means due reward. It talks about someone getting
exactly what deserve. We go to Christ, we
reap in that field we didn't sow in. We didn't have anything
to do with putting away sin. We didn't have anything to do
with establishing a righteousness. He did all of it. We come to
Him and we reap in that field and we get wages. We get a due
reward. We have a just salvation with
the Father. It's not as if the Father says,
well they are sinful but I'm just going to sweep it under
the carpet and forgive them and we just won't worry about that
anymore. Oh, that would be terrible. That means it could be brought
back up. No, he's a just God. He cannot save in that way. He
can only save according to his good purpose and justice. That's
it. And in Christ, we have a just
salvation. We received of the father lock,
stock and barrel in Christ. It's because it's exactly what
we deserve because of what he's done. You didn't labor at all. You didn't lift a finger, you
didn't do a thing, and you get wages. You get a just reward. Everything Jesus Christ has coming
to him, that's what you have in him, and it's absolutely and
utterly just. I tell you what, folks, it's
all by grace. You think about wages, what you get paid, right? Remember, what was it, Matthew
20. Those laborers, the lord of the vineyard, he goes out.
He goes out at the beginning of the morning. Talks to some fellas. He says,
you work in my vineyard. He goes, I'll give you a penny. Everybody gets
a penny. They say, I'll do that. And he keeps on going out as
the day goes on, right? Goes out a couple hours later.
He says, fellas, you come work in my vineyard. I'll give you
whatever's right. I say, that sounds good. He goes out again
a couple hours later. A couple hours later, goes out
again. Finally, they're just about to close up shop. There's
one hour till quitting time. He finds some other fellas. He
says, go into the vineyard. I'll pay you whatever's right. They
say, OK. The day ends. Everybody lines up. What did
everybody get? You remember the story? Everybody got the same
thing. Everybody got a penny. Who was
mad? Them guys who worked from sunup
to sundown, they were mad. They said, you're making us equal
with these fellows over here who only worked one hour. You
know who hates grace? Somebody who thinks they deserve
something. Somebody with a sense of entitlement.
Somebody who's not a sinner. You know who loves grace? That
guy who didn't work at all. He went out there for one hour,
barely get his working gloves on before the master said, it's
over for the day, this is it. Everybody gets the exact same
thing, that's called grace. He can do with his own as he
sees fit. You know who loves grace? Sinners,
they love grace. People who can't work, they love grace. Poor people,
they love grace. That's how he saves, it's by
grace. Everybody gets the same thing in his kingdom. And it's
not that we get a minimum wage or a fair wage, we get everything.
Everything. Complete and utter sonship with
Jesus Christ, with the Father in Christ. I don't understand
the full implications of that, and I don't think anybody does.
But folks, that means when he looks upon us, he is looking
upon his Son, and when he looks upon his Son, he looks upon us.
We are the family of God, sons of the King. Everything. We get
it all. He says you get wages. And he
says this. He says you go in there, you're
going to gather fruit unto eternal life. When a man's given life
by the Spirit, he bears fruit. That new man in Christ Jesus,
he bears fruit. Listen to this. This is Galatians
5.22. It says, But the fruit of the Spirit is this, it's love,
it's joy, it's peace, it's longsuffering, it's gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
When you're given life, you're given that new man in Christ
Jesus. Make no mistake about it, that's the very Spirit of
God dwelling in you. He's perfect. He's righteous.
He can only do good. He's the one who loves God. He's
the one who loves the brethren. He's the one who believes the
gospel. He's the one who's patient and gentle and kind. He does
all of it absolutely perfectly. Let me ask you this. Is that
your experience that you do all those things absolutely perfectly
all the time? Because it's not mine. My love
is often so cold. All I can say is, Lord, I believe,
help thou my unbelief. A lot of times I'm not patient,
I'm not kind, I'm not gentle, I'm not good. How can that be
then? It's because we still have this
flesh, we still have this old nature we're gonna drag around.
And you go looking inside yourself for some hope of salvation, folks,
you will not find it. You're gonna be staring at that
old man the entire time. You look to Christ, fully recognize
that new man in Christ Jesus, he's perfect. The Father looks
upon us and he says, He's holy. He's unblameable. He's unreprovable.
I love that man right there. That new man in Christ Jesus.
That old man he's been paid for. He was paid for on the cross.
He says, they're perfect. I love them. What's the only
thing we can say? We look. Say with Paul, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And that's the duality of having
two natures, folks. He says you're perfect. And we say we're sinners.
Nothing more. Lord have mercy on us. But you
gather fruit. I love how the word words it
that way. We didn't muster fruit. Well, we tried real hard and
of our own strength and our own power, we believed. Of our own
strength, we loved. Of our own power, we did this
and we did that. He says, no, you didn't. You
reaped in a field you didn't sow. Christ sowed that in you. He gave you the love. He gave
you the faith. He gave you the meekness. He
gave you the temperance. He gave you all those things. We just
gather it. That's what it says. You go and you reap in a field
that you did not sow. You didn't have anything to do
with this. It's a gift. You've just been given a free gift. And then he says this. I love
this. He says, that he that reapeth and he that soweth may rejoice
together. I'm not quite sure that there
is anything that brings me greater joy than thinking about this,
that Jesus Christ rejoices to receive sinners. Now, you think
about that. He rejoices. It's not that He
just tolerates us. Well, this is my job. This is
what I've been sent here to do. I'm here to save sinners. rejoices. He is the friend of sinners.
He says, come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest. He says those who come they rejoice
in Christ. We rejoice in Him getting all
the glory and salvation because that means He does it all. And
He rejoices in us. And here's the story I thought
of. Remember the story of the prodigal son? Let me read you
how it ends. It says, and they began to be
merry. That father and that son, that's
how the story ends. They began to be married. They
both rejoiced over one another. Well, how did that story go?
That great man, that father, very wealthy man, his entitled
son comes up and he says, you give me my inheritance. And he
gave it to him. And he went far country. He spent
it on riotous living and a famine hits the land. He finds himself
starving. And finally he comes to himself and he says, the servants
in my father's house They got bread to spare. I know what I'll
do. I'll go back to my father. I'm
going to tell him this. Father, I've sinned against heaven
and against you, no longer worthy to be called your son. Just make
me a hired servant. And he goes on back. And he starts
walking. You think he's got any entitlement
this time? No, he knows. He owes me nothing. He already
gave me my inheritance. I've squandered the entire thing.
If he does anything for me, if he simply just makes me a hired
servant in his house, it's all of his mercy and his grace. He
owes me absolutely nothing. And he comes over that hill,
and he's got his prescripted speech, and the father sees him, and
he takes off running for him. And he falls down, and he kisses
him. And that son, he tries to make
a speech. He said, Father, I've sinned against you in heaven.
He's trying to get, he can't even get the speech out. The
father says, shut up. Get the best robe, put it on. Put a ring
on his finger, put shoes on his feet. My son was dead and he
lives again. He's lost and now he's found.
That's the reception every sinner gets when they come to Christ.
It's not that he tolerates us. It's not that, well, they're
allowed to come. Yeah, that's my job. No. Come unto me. Believe
on me. And that's the reception every
sinner gets. Get the best robe, my robe, my
righteousness. Put it on him. Put the ring on
his finger. That's the covenant of grace.
You've always been in that covenant. Put shoes on his feet. Give him
a new walk, a new history. That's the reception everybody
gets. Don't you love that? We rejoice together in that field
where we reap what we did not sow. And finally this. Look at
verse 37, here's how he ends it. And herein is that saying true,
one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you. Now stop there for
a second. Before he said, my meat, it was
to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And he says, now I sent you.
I've given you a task, I've given you a purpose. Does that mean
there's something I got to do? I sent you. Read what he says. I sent
you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor. Other men
labored, and you entered in to their labors. I'm sending you
to this purpose to do absolutely nothing. You go out to that field. And you can lean in that field
and you harvest in the field, that one where you bestowed no
labor whatsoever. You didn't sow a thing. You didn't
water a thing. You didn't do a thing. You go down and you
lie down in those green pastures and you feed on what Christ has
done for you. You simply rest. Simply rest
in what he has done and rejoice. Rejoice in it. Enjoy it. Enjoy
every second you can of this life. Your names are written.
in heaven. Reap only where you did not sow. I'm going to leave you there.