All right, let's open our Bibles
again to John chapter 4. The title of this message is found in the scripture that
I'll be using. Down here in verse 41 of John
4, it says, and many more believe. because of his own word." That's
the title of the message, because of his own word. Now, all of you are familiar
with the verses that Brother Trabant read. You're familiar
with the story, the Lord's encounter with the woman at the well. And
you're familiar with the fact that he crossed her path. He was in Judea. And he was journeying
northward to Galilee, and he must need to go through Samaria.
His purpose took him through Samaria because this woman was
there. He crossed her path in mercy
and grace. And then he created an interest
in her heart. He kept talking to her about
living water, living water. He said, whosoever drinketh of
this water will thirst again and again and again, but whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. It will be within him a well
of living water. And he created an interest in
her heart concerning that living water. Then he presented a problem. He presented a serious problem. What's to be done about sin?
And that's when she said, in verse 25, the woman said to him,
I know that Messiah cometh. Now you might file that away
in your mind. She said, I know, I know, I've
heard, I've been taught, in me there's a knowledge. that the
Messiah is coming. And that's when he said to her,
and she said something about the Messiah, that when he comes,
he'll tell us. He'll be a prophet that'll tell
us all things God requires and we need to know. He'll tell us.
And that's when our Lord said to her, and oh, what a grand
and glorious and merciful revelation He said, I that speak to thee,
am. You notice he is in italics,
which is indicating that the translators have supplied that
word. I that speak to thee, am. I am. I am. And if you believe not
that I am, he told the religious Jews, you'll die in your sin.
He revealed himself to that woman. Then in verse 27, I usually,
when I'm preaching John 4, I stop there because my time's gone
and I've preached the passage I'm most familiar with, but perhaps
we've neglected the other verses in this chapter. I have, and
as I studied them, I found some They're enlightening things that
we need to know and think about. We already know we need to think
about them. And I'm going to call your attention to them as
we go through these next verses. In verse 27, upon this, when
he told the woman this, came his disciples. Now they
had gone away into town to buy some food. You know, the Lord
was weary with his journey, and he sat down on this well, Jacob's
well, and evidently sent the disciples into town to buy some
food. And after they had gone, the
woman came. So the disciples returned, and
they marveled. They were amazed as he was talking
to this woman. They were amazed for three reasons
in talking to this woman. to a Samaritan woman. The Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans, she told us that earlier. But this woman was a known adulteress,
well known in the town. The disciples knew what type
of woman she was. And they saw him talking to this
woman, to this Samaritan woman, to this woman who was a known
adulteress. And yet it said, yet no man said
to him, Why are you talking to her? What do you see? They asked him no questions.
They had learned he's the Lord. And they learned something very
important found in Job chapter 33. Something very important in Job
chapter 33. Something Elihu, he was a man
who spoke for God. Something Elihu had to say. Job
33 verse 12, Behold in this thou art not just, I will answer thee
that God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive against
him, against God? For, listen, he giveth not account
of any of his matters. God doesn't have to explain himself
to his people. Isn't that right? In other words,
they came up and here was the Lord talking to this woman, this
American woman, this adulteress. And they didn't inquire. They didn't raise any issue with this because
he doesn't give an account of his matters. What he does is
right. He does it because he will. Then in verse 28, the woman
then left her water pot. She was so filled with joy. She came to the well to get water.
And she got water she didn't expect, living water. And she
forgot her natural water. She left her water pot. That
was a precious possession, I imagine, a water pot. They weren't rich
people, didn't have a lot of water pots. She left her water
pot. She was in great joy. She was going to tell everybody.
what she had discovered. And she went her way into the
city and said to the men, come and see. Where have you seen
that before? Come and see. Turn back to John
1, John chapter 1, and used over there in John chapter 1. Philip findeth Nathanael, verse
45, said to him, We found him of whom Moses and the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph. And
Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip said, Come and see. How excited he was. Come and
see. We found the Messiah. Just come
with me. I'm not going to try to explain
His glory to you. I want you to come see Him. And
that's what this woman said. He went to the midst, he said,
come and see. Like here in verse 29, come and
see a man which told me all things that ever I did. This man knows
things about me only God knows. This man knows my heart, my thoughts,
and my life. This man knows me. This man,
is not this the Christ? It's not just the Christ, come
and see. I have found a man who knows
my heart and knows all about me. Now here's something I want
y'all to know. I see something here. She said,
you come and see a man which told me all things that ever
I did or thought or imagined. He knows things about me only
God knows. This is one reason when we discover
this, the omniscience of our Lord. The omniscience of our
Lord, the greatness of our God. His omnipresence. He's present
everywhere. His omniscience. He knows all
things. He doesn't need that anybody
testify what's in man. He knows. We'll read that to
you in a minute. And that's one reason why people
who really believe God is God, and I do, don't you? God is God. He knows all things. He knows
our thoughts before we think them. He knows not only our thoughts,
but why we think them. Motive, attitude. That's why
people who really know God and believe God is God can never
play these religious games that are being played today. They can't play the games of
religion and form and talk the idle, put on religious words
that are used in their generation. They just can't bring themselves
to carry on that religious jargon, testimonies, self-righteousness,
bragging about ourselves and talking about God. in flippant,
careless fashion. They can't do it because they
know God looks on the heart. And God knows what's in the heart. And He doesn't need that any
of us tell Him what we're thinking and what we are. And I'm going
to show you two illustrations. Turn over here to John 2, verse
23. See if I can make this clear,
what I'm saying. I'm saying that God does not
need a testimony of words to recommend us to him, or to impress
him, and he certainly doesn't want us trying to impress anybody
else with our testimony of words. In verse 23 of John 2, now when
he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. They believed,
they must have said they did, they professed to believe anyway,
didn't they? Jesus did not commit himself
to them, because he knew them. And he needed not that any man
should testify of man, he knew what was in man. He knew what
was in their hearts. Their mouths said one thing,
but he knew what was in their hearts. Now turn to John 1, and
let's see this Nathanael thing again, what we were talking about
a moment ago. Verse 46 of John 1, Philip told Nathanael, come and
see, in verse 47. I'll take that up where I left
off. Jesus saw Nathanael coming. Nathanael never said a word.
He just saw him coming. And the Lord Jesus said, behold,
an Israelite in whom there's no guile. He saw his heart. He knew that man. And the Lord
testified what was in him. He never said a word. Until the
Lord said that, and then he said, Whence knowest thou me? Oh, Nathanael,
if you just knew. How do you know me? How do you
know me? And our Lord answered and said,
Nathanael, long before Philip ever called you, when you were
under the fig tree, I saw you. I know you. I know you. You see what I'm saying? I know
you do. Faith is a heart work. Relationship with the living
God is a heart experience. It's within here. Sometimes we
struggle to really put in words that experience and that fellowship
and that knowledge and that relationship. You can't put it in words that
natural men can understand. You can't worship together with
those who've experienced it. But I'm glad we're not shut up
to words. We shut up to him who knows us.
Peter finally, he just finally said, Lord, well, you know everything,
you know I love you. What am I going to say? Come and see a man which told
me all things that ever I did. He has a complete knowledge of
the heart of his people. Is not this the Christ? Is not
this the Christ? This is the Christ. The sovereign,
almighty, omnipotent, eternal Christ. All right, verse 30. Then they went out of the city
and came unto him. In other words, she went in there
a journey. How long, how far it was, I don't
know, but they were gone for a spell. And the men of the city
were coming this way in the meantime. Now let's pick up this verse
31. This is something interesting here. In the meantime, while
his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat, in the meantime,
they returned. And the woman left, went after
these fellows, you know, with her message. And they kept telling
him, Master, eat. They brought food for him. Master,
eat. Master, eat. They knew he was hungry a while
ago. They sent them into town to get some food. They left him
at the well just a few hours before, Now he wouldn't eat,
and he tells them in verse 32, now listen, what he said unto
them, I have meat to eat that you know not of. I have meat to eat that you know
not of. Therefore his disciples said
to one another, has somebody brought him meat, that food while
we were gone? Somebody else? And Jesus said
unto them, listen to this, My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent me and to finish His work, my Father's business. Our Lord's faithfulness, all
His faithfulness, His dedication, His commitment to His Father's
will. I thought about something. Turn
back to Luke chapter 2, an example of this clear back in His earliest
earliest days of the record, the earliest days of his record
of him on the earth. Luke chapter 2, turn back there. He was only 12 years old. Now
watch this. I'm talking about his faithfulness,
his commitment to his father's word. Luke chapter 2, verse 40. I remember I read this
sometime, and the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled
with wisdom, the grace of God was upon him. Now, his parents
went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
This was required of the Jewish people. When he was 12 years
old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, this
12-year-old young man, Jesus, tarried behind in Jerusalem.
And Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing
him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they
sought him among the kinfolk and acquaintance. And when they
found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
Did you ever notice this verse 46? It came to pass after three
days, He had been there alone in Jerusalem
for three days. What had he been doing? Now listen. They found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the doctors, the learned scribes, Pharisees,
both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that
heard him were at his understanding and his answers. And when they
saw him, they were amazed. His mother said, Son, why hast
thou thus dealt with us? Behold, my father and I sought
thee sorry. He said unto her, it seems like
he's a little amazed that she can't understand. He said to
her, how is it that you sought me? Wished ye not, I must be about
my father's business." And here he sat on this well
and talked to this one. This is his father's business.
One of his sheep had come to believe, and now a whole crowd
of them were coming from Samaria, and he knew it. This is what
he came to do. He came to seek and to save the
lost. He came into the world to save several of whom I'm cheating. And when they came to him with
his food and said, eat, master, eat, he said, I have meat that
you know not of. And he said to his mother there,
wish ye not that I must be about my father's business. Our Lord,
without any rebuke for their dullness and understanding, explained
this to them, to these disciples, that his food and drink, his
food and drink, his meditation, his thoughts, was to do the will
of his father and to finish the work the father gave him to do. All that my father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me out of no wise cast
out. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but to
seek my own comforts. I come to do the will of him
that sent me. And from the time he was a lad,
He was dedicated, separated, determined in faithfulness to
do his Father's will. And let's tell you, I'll tell
you, this sinner is glad he is. What a saint. Great is thy faithfulness. Thank God that the will of his
Father, the redemption of his people, so filled his soul, so
occupied his mind, so satisfied him, it outweighed any natural
desire or hunger or thirst. That's what he's saying. Back
to our text, John 4. John 4, 34, Jesus said, My meat,
and we preachers need to camp out there a little bit. My meat
and drink is to do the will of him that sent me. and to finish
the work He gave me to do. I think about that, so I'll go
where you want me to go, dear Lord. I'll be what you want me
to be. I'll say what you want me to
say. I'll do what you want me to do. I'll stay at it faithfully,
never laying down the banner for any reason. Thank God our
Lord would not like a lot of His servants who lay down the
banner while they do something else. My meat and my drink and
my life is to do the will of my Father. We have a faithful Savior. Then
he looked at the disciples. I want you to look at this. Here's
something we announce. Don't say, well, they're yet
four months and then come at the harvest. Now here's what,
in these countries, In these countries, there were about four
months between planting the seed and the harvest. And a fella
could plant the seed and then pretty well take it easy for
a little while and be concerned about dealing fences, maybe,
or barns, or painting something, or going on a vacation. But you
plant the seed, then four months later is the harvest. That's
true in natural farming and in harvest. There's a certain time
frame. But our Lord says, not in the
kingdom of God. This is not true in spiritual
matters. Every day is seed time. Every day is watering time. Every
day is harvest. Don't say, eat, master. Let's do something else. Peter
tried to keep him from going to the cross. Harvest from you,
Lord. Don't go to Jerusalem. Get behind
me, Satan. Wish ye not I must be about my
father's business? Seed time, sowing time, planting
time, watering time, harvest time. I say unto you, listen,
lift up your eyes. Look on the field, they're white,
all ready to harvest. Lift up your eyes and behold
the nations, the tribes, the people, who are ready to believe,
to hear and to believe. The Word of God, the seed, has
gone forth generations before. It's not us alone who sow. It's not us alone who water. It's not us alone who plant.
There are many who have planted, watered, sowed before us. I read a story Spurgeon told
one time. And what our Lord is saying here
is that, like this woman at the well, she came, heard the gospel,
That day, that day was seed time, watering time, harvest time.
And here these men were coming to hear the gospel in a few moments,
and you'll see many of them were converted. And our Lord was so
overjoyed at what took place here, He went down into Samaria
and stayed two days down there teaching them. The Lord did Himself. So this is harvest time, seed
time, watering time. It's all the time. Spurgeon told
about a man, who, when he was young, lived in England, when
he was young. And he went often to hear Whitefield
preach, George Whitefield preached the gospel of God's grace. And
this man left England and came to America. And Spurgeon said,
at 70 years of age, this man became concerned about spiritual
matters. And he went to hear a minister. And the minister's message brought
back the words, the seed that had been sown in his mind so
many years before by George Whitefield. And he was brought to know Christ.
So what our Lord is teaching here is they that sow, they that
water, and those that reap are one. Now listen as he goes on. Verse
36. He that reapeth receiveth wages. What kind of wages? He's talking
about joy and happiness. Paul said about those people
who came to the knowledge of Christ under his preaching, he
said, you're my crown. You're my joy. You're my rejoicing. That's the wages they received.
He that reapeth receiveth wages. and gathereth fruit unto life
eternal, that both he that soweth and they that reapeth may rejoice
together." When you and I preach and gather fruit unto everlasting
life and someone's converted, more often we're reaping a harvest
of seed sown by somebody else many, many years before. That's
right. That's what he's saying there.
Verse 27, herein is that saying, one soweth, another reapeth.
But they're one. They're one. The disciples reaped
the seed sown by the prophets, by John the Baptist, by others. In verse 38, he said, I sent
you, he's still talking to the disciples, I sent you to reap
that whereon you bestowed no labor. Can you give some examples
of that, Brother May? Yes, I can. Philip was taken
out to the desert, and there was an Ethiopian who had made
a journey from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, seeking the Lord. And on his
way back, he was reading the Word of God. And God brought
Philip, and he stepped up in the chariot, preached Christ
to him, and the man was saved and baptized. Does Philip, does
he get all the credit, so to speak? No, sir. Who planted the
seed of interest that made him leave home to go to Jerusalem?
Who planted the seed of interest in reading the Word of God? All
Philip did was reap what somebody else sowed. That's what Christ
is saying. Lydia. See, Paul led Lydia to the Lord.
Well, Paul reaped it. Paul reaped the harvest with
great joy. But somebody, Some prophet, some
apostle, someone planted the seed that caused that woman to
be down there by the river, worshiping with those people. She was a
seeker. The word, the seed, the interest was already in her heart.
This woman at the well, what did she say? I told you, remember,
she said, I know the Messiah is coming. How did she know that?
Somebody sowed some seeds. And when He's come, He's going
to tell us all things. How'd she know that? You see
that? And this is what we've got to
learn. That whatever contribution we may make in this harvest of
souls, men and women, boys and girls coming to the gospel, we're
just one of many. The prophets, the apostles, the
old reformers, all of those. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Paul deals with that, correcting
the people and the preachers who get this idea of following
men, which is so dangerous, and extolling the virtues of men
or the work of men. In 1 Corinthians 3 verse 4, For while one said, I'm of Paul,
and another said, well, I'm of Apollos. Are you not carnal?
Is that not carnal? Sounds like natural men. Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos?
Just ministers by whom you believe? Even as the Lord gave to every
man, it's the Lord that saves. I planted, Apollos watered, God
gave the increase. What difference does it make?
So then, Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth
anything. It's God that's everything. He
gives the increase. Now, he that planteth, he that
watereth, they're just one. And every man shall receive his
own joy, his own praise, his own happiness, his own crown,
according to his own labor, whatever it was. We're laborers together with
God. You're God's husband. You're God's building. according
to the grace of God which given to me." That's what he's talking about. Another example is Cornelius. We rejoice in Peter going down
and preaching to him. My dear friends, that man was
a man with seeds sown in his heart long time before he met
Apostle Peter. He was interested. He prayed
to God, send me somebody to show me something. In the kingdom of God, he's the
husband one. It's his vineyard. It's his farm. We're just laborers together
with God. Laborers together with God. All
right, John 4. Let's look at a couple of other
things. Verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed by the saying of the woman which testified,
he told me all that ever I did. She went down there into the
town and told them God used her to give her testimony of what
the Lord Jesus said to her and showed her. And many of them
believed on her word, on her testimony. They believed her. So verse 40, so when the Samaritans
were coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with
them here about their two days. Many more believe because of
his own word. And they said, now what's this
progression of faith? Careful preachers. No, listen.
Salvation is instantaneous. We're chosen in Christ for the
foundation of the world. We're called by his spirit. We
hear the gospel of Christ. We believe. We're saved. But
there's a progression, a growth of faith. Now, won't you listen
to it here. They said to the woman, now we
believe. Well, they believed before. Now we really believe. Our faith is strengthened. Know
what they're saying now? Now they... We believe. Not because of your saying. Thank
God for it. They wouldn't even have been
there without her saying it. Would they? No, sir. They'd still
be in downtown. Ignorant of Christ. Ignorant
of who he was or where he was or the gospel he preached. They
believed it. They believed her enough to act
on that faith and come out there. But they said, now we believe
we heard him ourselves. Oh, what a difference that makes. I wrote down here sitting there
a while ago, it occurred to me, this may account for people leaving
our ministry and our churches because they only hear us. They only hear of us. But these people said, we heard
you, and then we heard Him ourselves. Oh, I love this right here. And
we know that this is indeed the Christ. I don't know that indeed
until I hear it from Him. Man can't speak peace to you.
He can tell you the gospel, he can tell you who the Savior is,
tell you how God saved sinners, but the only one who can speak
peace to the heart, you've got to hear Him. We heard Him ourselves. And I think sometimes when people
follow us and they lean on us and they listen to our messages
and all, we make them in our own likeness. But when they just hear us, and
we point to Christ, and like John the Baptist, two disciples,
Andrew and John, they left John and followed Christ, and heard
Him, and they were conformed to His likeness. We've heard Him ourselves. We're going to keep listening
to our preachers. But as we listen to them, we're listening to Him. Not to them, to Him. Him who
speaks through His Word. This progression here, they said,
woman, now we believe, not because of your saying. We heard Him
ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior
of the world. Back in verse 41, because of
His own Word. That's the reason I say to me,
and I say to you, bathe yourself in the Scriptures. Submerge yourself
into the Word of God. Go home and study and see if
that's what this is saying. Like they did, the noble Bereans,
went home and searched the Scriptures, see if these things are so. Let
Him speak to you. Ask Him to speak to you. That's when you can say, I've
heard it myself and I know this is indeed the Christ. And no
man, can shake you off that foundation. Now if all you hear is a man,
another man can change you. One man comes along persuasive
and enticing, and another man comes along a little more persuasive,
a little more charismatic, a little more revelations. But when we're following Christ,
they can come and they can go, they can come and they can go.
They make whatever contribution God gives them to make, they
come and they go, but we're coming to Him. That's what you said
in your prayer, we're looking to Him. And then he gives an example,
so I'm going to give you this and quit. But this example here,
this is two days later this happened. Two days later, he went right
on up, he was in Samaria here for two days, and he went right
on up past Nazareth. He didn't stop in Nazareth. Listen. After two days he departed, went
into Galilee, where Jesus himself testified a prophet hath no honor
in his own country. Then when he was coming to Galilee,
the Galileans received him, having seen all the things he did at
Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went to the feast."
So he came again to Canaan. In the back of your Bible, I
use this quite a bit. The back of your Bible is some
maps. There's one there, the Holy Land
during our Lord's ministry. And you can follow this journey. He was down here in Jerusalem,
Judea, went up through Samaria, into Galilee. He passed Nazareth
and went five miles up into Canaan. That's where he wrought his first
miracle. Right above that 20 miles is a town called Capernaum. And we're going to read something
here. So he came through Samaria, went into Galilee, Galileans
heard him. He went right on by Nazareth
because no prophet, verse 44, had no water in his own country. Then when he came into Galilee,
he went on to Canaan, verse 46. He came into Canaan, where he
made the water wine, and there was a certain nobleman there
whose son was sick in Capernaum, 20 miles northeast. When he heard that Jesus had
come out of Judea into Galilee, now here's a man who heard also.
Somebody, he heard somebody talking about the Lord Jesus. He wasn't
ignorant of who this is. He didn't have much knowledge
of him, but he went to him and besought him that he would come
down and heal his son. Well, he was at the point of
death. Now, who was it here in this pulpit that read, whether
it was Todd Norbert, about the man who came to our Lord and
said his servant was sick, And the Lord said, I'll go down.
He said, no, you don't have to go down. You just say the word. Our Lord said, what faith? I
haven't seen faith like that in Israel. But now this man didn't
have that kind of faith. He said, Lord, he not only told
the Lord what he wanted to do, he told him how he wanted to
do it, how he wanted him to do it. And our Lord rebuked him. Verse 48, he said to him, Unless
you see signs and wonders, you won't believe. You've got to
have me come down personally down there at your house. Unless
you see that, you won't believe. And an old man said to him, sir,
come down there my child I. And our Lord said to him, go
your way, your son Liveth. And the man believed the word.
The Lord Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. Isn't
that what Samaritan said? Somebody told me about him. And
then I heard him. I heard him. And when our Lord,
the countenance of our Lord, the eyes looking at this man,
the voice, this man stood there and the Lord spoke to him and
we've heard him for ourselves. That's just so in his own words. Jesus said to him, go your way,
your son lives. And this man believes the word
that Jesus spoke to him, went his way. And as he was going
down, his servants met him and told him, your son's living.
He said, when did that take place? He inquired of him the hour when
he began to amend. They said yesterday at one o'clock
in the afternoon, seventh hour, fever left him. And the father
knew that was the time. Same hour in which the Lord said
to him, your son lives. and himself believe. The Lord's
Word strengthens faith, the progression of faith. Faith is faith. It's
not the amount of faith you have that saves, it's faith in Him. But oh, how His Word strengthens
that faith. How His Word, His Word, His Word,
His Word, spoken by Christ Himself. Because of His own Word. The foundation is secure. The old Puritans, the old, not
Puritans, but the Reformers, there were three things uppermost
in the Reformation, one of which was the Scriptures alone, not
the dogmas of the Church or the proclamations of the Pope or
the word of men, the Scriptures. The second was grace, grace alone. Everything by God's grace, gift
of God. Third, Christ alone through Christ. Scriptures alone, grace alone,
Christ alone. That's the foundation.