The woman, the well, and the..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So if you have your Bibles with you, please, I invite you to open them up to the book of John, the gospel according to John. Chapter four, and we're continuing our study in chapter four.

This evening we'll be reading from verses one through 42. Quite a long reading. So John chapter four, from verses one through 42. Now when Jesus learnt that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptising more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptise but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee, and he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock. Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

And Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come. The woman answered him, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You'll worship. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know.

For salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ.

When he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back and they marveled that he was talking with a woman. But no one said, what do you seek or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her jar and went away into the town and said to the people, Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Can this be the Christ? And they went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat?

And Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say there is yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, and so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to reap that which you did not labour. Others have laboured and you have entered into their labour. Many Samaritans from the town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with him and he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his word.

They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, but we have heard for ourselves. And we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. This is the word of the Lord. Well, this is our third week in this narrative, a narrative that we've all come to know as Jesus and the woman, the Samaritan woman at the well. In previous weeks, we've been as a congregation, we've been considering the first 26 verses of this narrative.

And this evening, by the grace of God, we will look at verses or consider verse 27 through 42, and in doing so, wrap up this narrative of Christ and this woman. So far, what do we know? We know that Jesus and his disciples had departed from Judah or Judea, and they're now in a town called Sychar in a place called Samaria. Now we know already that there is a quite strong hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews. We know that they would avoid one another and definitely try to avoid treading on each other's turf.

So the main way that the Jews would go from Judea to Galilee, and Galilee of course is Jesus' hometown, would be not to cross through Samaria, but to go to the east into a place over the Jordan and go through the land of Perea and then come back over into Galilee. We know this. We've said this on previous weeks. And that would be an attempt not to go through the land of Samaria. But that's not what Jesus and the disciples did.

Instead, Jesus walks through Samaria, something which would be normally unusual. And he doesn't do it simply because it is the fastest route to where he wants to go, although it is the fastest route to Galilee. No, he does this because he has a divine appointment with an ostracized woman and a second-rate group of people, according to the Jews, whereby he will bring salvation to them on this day. So in previous weeks, we've unpacked the beautiful truths contained in the first 26 verses of this passage. And we know that Christ, our Savior, offers this woman at the well, this Samaritan, offers her living water.

Now she's a little confused when he does this because she's still thinking in the material. And she's thinking that Christ is giving her water whereby she will not thirst physically. And if this would prevent her or save her from making the half-hour round trip from her town to the well and then back carting a heavy bucket of water, she says, Mr. Jew, bring it on. I'll take that water.

But of course, Jesus is not dealing with her daily inconveniences. He has a greater concern. A concern for this woman's soul. But the conversation begins and as the conversation progresses, she starts to realize this man is no ordinary man. He's not an ordinary Jew.

He's reading me like a book. He knows all about my own messy life. He knows my secrets. In fact, he even knows that I'm living in adultery even now. Who is this Jewish man?

He must be a prophet, she thinks. If he's a prophet, he'll have the knowledge of God. He's the mouthpiece of God. So I'll ask him a question. A question about where God ought to be worshipped.

And by doing so, I'll hit two birds with the one stone. A. I'll resolve the centuries-old debate and arguments and the contention that my people have had with the Jews in knowing where God had ordained. for worship or true worship to be had, and at the same time I will divert the attention of my sinful life. That's uncomfortable.

I don't want to be exposed like this. This is not a nice place to be. So Jesus answers her question, but he gives her an unexpected twist. You see, the Samaritans only believed in, or their scripture was only the first five books of the Bible. They had the Pentateuch, the book of Moses.

Had they had the rest, the 39 books of the Old Testament, her answers would have already been answered. That Christ, or Christ had told this woman that, no, it isn't in Mount Gerizim that God had appointed for the temple to be built, but rather in Jerusalem. And salvation is of the Jews. But here's the twist. The debate that has carried on for centuries is coming to a close because a fundamental shift is happening and how God will be worshipped.

A new era has dawned. A new hour is coming and is indeed here where people will neither worship on Mount Zion in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim in Samaria. But rather the Father is seeking people to worship Him in spirit and in truth because God is Spirit. The building. It doesn't matter anymore.

The physical aspects, they don't matter. Which country you're in and what land you're from does not matter. The presence of God will be real in His people. In His people. And this explains our Lord's words in John chapter 2, when he speaks to his disciples and he looks at the temple and he says, bring down this, tear down this temple and in three days I will build it up or raise it up again.

Of course, speaking of his body, the church, because God no longer will manifest his presence in a place called the temple in Jerusalem, but rather in the hearts of his people. It seems all too much for this poor woman. She's been given all this information in this one day. And then she says some pretty wise words. And this is what she says.

She says, the Messiah is coming. And when he comes, he'll make sense of all this. He'll make sense of all this. And immediately this Jew. this perceived prophet that stands before her, stands before her and replies, Ego ai me, I am.

I am He who is speaking to you. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. And that brings us, that's the intro, and that brings us to our passage this evening from verse 27. And that's where we left off three weeks ago.

But how's that for timing? In that moment, we're told. In that moment, the disciples stroll onto the scene. Christ has been alone with this Samaritan woman, and the disciples now stroll onto the scene. Jesus was not rushed.

He had an opportunity to speak to this lady in the privacy of just him and her. He mentioned, we spoke everything he wanted to tell her, and he was uninterrupted, concluding with the climax that, I am the Christ. That's where he wanted to get. And now the disciples come and stroll onto the scene. If this is not the affirmation of the sovereignty of God over all things, I don't know what is.

Even over the small things, even over when the disciples turn up in the conversation between Jesus and this woman. But there's an eerie silence. They come there and it must be an uncomfortable situation. You see, John tells us that the disciples marveled literally they were astonished you can even say they were shocked why because he was talking with the women or the woman If they only knew how messy her life was, how much compounding would that shock have been? But they didn't know, not yet, anyway.

So now they know that he's talking to a woman and they come in and there's an eerie silence and they have a concern and the concern is justified in that culture. We've spoken about this in previous weeks, about the Jewish beliefs and their disregard for women in this time. Now I must say that not all the Jews were this way, some did not hold such demeaning views of the opposite gender, but many did, many did, even to their wives. Oral Jewish tradition, later recorded in the writings of what they call the Mishnah, stipulate that a rabbi should not waste, and that's the word, waste too much time in conversation with his own wife. And the reason?

Because it deters him from studying the Torah. It's even recorded that some Jews believed that the rabbi, well, it's just as inappropriate for the rabbi to teach his daughter's knowledge about the scripture. Hear this, and this is hard to believe. as it is for him to sell her into prostitution. It's hard to believe, but these things are written.

And I only say these things because we can't feel the tension of this environment that the disciples have come into unless we understand a little bit of the social and the cultural mores of the day. And this is when they come into the scene and the woman at the well, she was aware of these things. And she could see from her point of view, as I said earlier, that this Jew is a different or different than many other men that she's ever met. Firstly, he approached her. He asked her for a drink of water.

Who does that? This is why she was surprised in verse 9. You ask for a drink of water from me, a woman from Samaria? This is stunning. This is a surprise to her.

And we know, judging by how our Lord and our Savior deals with other women in the gospel, that no doubt He treated this woman the same way, with loving care and gentleness, with respect. Something different to what she'd been used to among her people and others. See, our Lord was not concerned with man-made social cultures of the day, especially when they violated the love. and the dignity given by the Father. But although astonished, although shocked, the disciples walk into the scene and they don't utter a single word.

They don't say anything. Nothing. Now, you might think that it's probably because they had such a high view of Christ and His judgment, that they trusted Him implicitly. And they knew, look, if He's speaking to this woman, then He knows what He's doing. That's a possibility.

But judging by how they've spoken in subsequent times in the gospel, well, they should have kept quiet when they didn't. So we don't know why they didn't say anything. But we do know something. The Apostle John gives us two questions that must have been on someone's mind. I would say his mind.

How do I say that? Why do I say that? It's because he was here. So the author of the gospel was here. And he says, he says the first question was, they don't say, what do you seek to Christ?

Well, if they asked him that question, I think they would have got a pretty prompt answer. I was thirsty. I sought water from this woman. It's pretty clear. And the second is a bit more pointy, I think.

Why are you talking to her? Why are you talking to this woman? And I think if they answered that question, they would have got the glorious answer, to give her my living water. But they don't ask those questions. They remain quiet.

But we do know one thing, the woman leaves the water jar behind, And she goes into town and she cries out these words, come, see the man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? You know, there are so many different opinions in the books, in the commentators' opinions about why the woman left the jar behind. And to be honest, some of them are very creative. But I think at best, what's obvious is probably true.

She was in a hurry. She was in a hurry. She was excited. She left in a hurry. Think about the situation.

Jesus has just revealed to her that He is the long-awaited Messiah, the Tahib. That's what the Samaritans called Him, the Tahib, the Restorer. And the Samaritans were anticipating the return of the Messiah just as much as the Jews. For them, the Messiah, because only the first five books of the Bible, they likened Him to the prophet after Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 18. And now she's had an encounter with Him.

But wouldn't you be in haste to go back and tell your family about what you've just seen? I'd like to think so. At least when we first met the Lord. But is that still the case? Has our zeal for the Savior diminished?

Or is it still what it used to be? And if it has diminished, Why? Is he less of a saviour now than he was back then? Beloved, these words are for me as much as they are for you. Now I do believe that this lady was in a hurry, but I don't believe for a moment she forgot the water jar.

John specifically writes, she left the water jar. He didn't write, she forgot the water jar. He could have done that quite easily. But he's intentional to say that she left the water jar. So there's probably a good reason why it's not very clear in the text.

It may be, and I lean towards this as a possibility, but there is speculation. It may be that she was intentionally leaving the water jar behind so that Jesus could finally get his drink of water because he is thirsty and she knew she's coming back. because we see this in the text, she does end up coming back, probably taking the jar. But I really like one commentator said, and we can't be sure of this, but I liked it and I want to mention it to you. He says, she left it behind to show that she came, listen, she left it behind, I butchered that, sorry, I'll start again.

She left it behind to show that she came from home with the jar, but returned home with the whole well. beautiful that's beautiful and that's true now I don't know that's why John is saying that that she's left the jar behind but it was worth a mention but what we do know is this she returned proclaiming to the people. She could not keep her excitement within. She was exuberant. She was excited.

She went back and said, come, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? Come. She didn't say go. I'm back home.

Now you can go. She came back with them. Come, she says. Come see the man who's told me everything. Now, she does exaggerate a little.

Probably more than a little. She says, he told me all that I ever did. The conversation with Christ wasn't that long that she would be told everything that she ever did. But I can understand her exaggeration. It's because she's so excited.

In her mind she's able to reveal, or he was able to reveal, the deep secrets of her heart. then all was bare and exposed before the eyes of this man, this messiah before her. He might as well have told her everything she had ever done, because I'm sure from her experience, she's sure, that from her experience with him, he knows it all anyway. It was all revealed. That's why she says, he's told me all that I've ever done.

He knows it all. He might as well have told me. Okay, but apart from that exaggeration, where did her courage? and her boldness come from. Her shady past would have been known to the townspeople.

And beloved, in a culture like this, a shame and honor culture, people like this lived in the shadows. They minded their own business and they lived a very low-key life. But now she makes this announcement before all, an announcement that exposes her past, beloved, a messy, sinful past. This is not natural. This is not natural.

We were reminded in the previous chapter, when the words of our Lord to Nicodemus, everyone who does wicked things, he says, hates the light and does not come into the light, lest His works should be exposed. So why is it that this Samaritan woman is all of a sudden happy and unashamed to come into the light? Brothers and sisters, this is the glorious truth of the gospel of grace. This woman has come to realize who it is who is offering her the living water. You see her words in verse 29 speak of the man in front of me.

She says, this man, this man has told me all that I have ever done. So she's saying this man is doing what only God can do. Only God can reveal the contents of the soul and look into the inner crevices of one's heart. Only God can expose all things and lay them bare before his piercing eyes. And she says, he's done that.

This man, he has done that. So now the all-seeing eyes of God, the one who judges every deed, whether it be good or evil, has pieced his gaze into her soul and exposed every sin and wickedness, all of it with no exception. And in that vulnerable state, and I want you to hear this, in that vulnerable state, as she's exposed and laid bare before his eyes, he looks at her and says, I'm offering you living water. I'm giving you living water. It's on offer for people like you.

This is incredible. This is grace. This is mercy. This is beautiful. In light of this, she thinks to herself, no doubt, it doesn't matter what people think.

Now that I've been accepted by God, it doesn't matter. Do you realize how true this is in the life of a Christian? How many times have we heard testimonies of our brothers and sisters? And when they give their testimony, they reveal sins that they would never have revealed before. Sins that they would be ashamed to admit before.

But they can stand in front of people and say, I did these things. Why? What gives them the courage to do these things? How is it that they walk into the light? Beloved, it's because they know that God has dealt with their sins.

They know. They know that when the piercing eyes of God has gazed into their soul and exposed all things and says, I know you, warts and all. I know how sick and depraved you are, but my forgiveness is for people like you. Why would I be ashamed of what people think? Why does it matter what people think?

What does it matter? He's a great physician. He knows how sick we are. Matthew 9. Those who are well have no need for a physician.

But those who are sick, this is the good news, beloved. Those who are sick come to Christ. and He will by no way cast them out. No matter how sick, no matter how sinful, no matter how dark their past is, Jesus accepts them the way they are. This Samaritan woman is evidence of this, and beloved, every single one of us is evidence of this, if we are in Christ Jesus.

So now we move on to the question in verse 29. A surface reading of this question may give us the impression that she is still yet undecided on the identity of our Lord. She says, can this be the Christ? But due to her excitement, and I think the way she proclaimed these truths, or what she had seen or heard of the Messiah among the people, I don't think we should doubt that she knew who he was. But I think she's framing her announcement in a question for two reasons.

Firstly, well, her immorality or her character, which was immoral, and her gender. I mean, we've just spoken about women's testimony. If she's going to give bare testimony about something, well, how much weight will it bear? But in this day, if this woman was to see a murder in front of her very eyes, her testimony wouldn't even hold in the courts. So what does she do?

I don't think she's denying or asking the question. I think she knows that this is the Christ, but I think she's saying something like this, I know who he is, but don't take my word for it. Come, come with me and see for yourself. And the very next verse, we're told that they take her up on the offer. And they literally, and this is what the text says, they literally continue to flow from the town.

In other words, the town is emptying continually as people walk towards Christ. And this is incredible, that they heard a testimony of a woman, and it was to the point where they said, we need to inquire about this. Now we know that it is the drawing power of the Holy Spirit. But beloved, don't underestimate the proclamation of the gospel. It is incredibly important what this woman did.

And as I was preparing for this sermon, I could see two contrasts in this text, and I was pierced to the heart about this. We're told there are two types of people that entered into that town that day. There was the disciples. The disciples were well-versed, theologically sound, They were men who administered with Christ. They were men who sat down with the Savior and asked many questions.

They probably weren't, we know this, as astute as they would be after the pouring of the Holy Spirit, but they knew a lot more than this Samaritan woman. They entered into the town. And they came back out of the town, a town that was flooded with a multitude of unsaved sinners. And when they came back out, they came out with food for their bodies. The contrast is this woman, she goes back into the town.

And when she comes out, she's a basic, her knowledge is basic, her understanding, well, is novice. She knows that she's had an encounter with the Savior. She knows that she's had an encounter with Messiah. And she doesn't know much, but what she does know, she proclaims. She faithfully proclaims what she knows.

She enters the town, and beloved, the disciples come out with probably a few loaves of bread. She comes back with many souls ripe for the harvest. So I ask you on that day, on that day, which of the two exemplified obedience to the Fathers will love your neighbor as yourself? But Jesus will teach these disciples a very valuable lesson and I hope that we also this evening will learn this lesson also. Because when they do return with food in their hands, Jesus refuses to eat.

He says, I have food to eat that you do not know about. Now, as usual, the disciples don't get it. They think that someone has offered them food and he's in hostile territory. This is the region of Samaria. Who's going to offer a Jew food?

But that's what they think. They look around each other. Has someone offered him some food to eat? Now, I don't blame them. I would have thought the same.

But it seems like this is a bit of a problem in the last two chapters alone. Nicodemus, when Jesus says, you must be born again, he's thinking, do I creep back into my mother's womb? He doesn't see the spiritual. This lady also, when Christ says to her, I'll offer you living water, and she thinks, well, this is great, I'll have that water, that way I don't have to keep coming to this well. She's thinking the material also.

Now the disciples are thinking that the food Jesus has is food, a literal meal that he's had. This just shows how material our minds are, not just theirs, but ours also. But quickly, quickly, Jesus doesn't allow that confusion to remain in the air because He says in verse 34, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. He still hadn't eaten. To the best of our knowledge, Jesus still hadn't drunk any water.

So he's thirsty also. But he takes this time as an opportune time to teach the disciples a very weighty lesson. A profound truth, hear this, that defined the life of our Savior. And a profound lesson that should define the life of his disciples. And beloved, that includes you and I also.

That includes you and I also. And what is this lesson? the true satisfaction and nourishment for the soul. For the child of God is found in living in obedience to the will of God. Now be careful.

I say for the child of God because we're talking about people who have been redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. People who are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are enabled now to do the will of God. Otherwise it is legalism and it will not provide the satisfaction for the soul. In other words, to obey God's precepts by His Spirit, that brings sustenance to our souls. And I really think that Jesus had Deuteronomy 8 verse 3 in mind, and you all know this verse.

He says, Our Lord used this passage earlier when he was tempted in the wilderness by Satan. But it seems like now, I think it's on his mind, and I think right now he's demonstrating how this truth applies in everyday life. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. You see, the perfect example of perfect obedience is found, or obedience to the will of God, is found in Jesus Christ alone. Throughout his ministry, he kept coming back to this.

He kept making sure that his disciples and those around him knew that his mission was to do the will of the Father. This gave him satisfaction. This was food for his soul. John 3 or John 6, 38 through 40. It reads this way, and it's clear on this point.

For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And I love what comes next. Listen to this, beloved. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose none of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life.

and I will raise him up on the last day. The truest sustenance and satisfaction, the food for the soul is found for Christ in perfect obedience to the will of the Father. My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and hear this, and to accomplish his work. To do his will completely. to the end, to the uttermost.

It's interesting because the root word that's translated here, accomplish, is found in the gospel, according to John, seven times. Seven times in this gospel. And it's interesting that three of those seven, actually every one of those times, it speaks of the work of Jesus Christ. He accomplishes the will of the Father. But three of those seven times, it's found in three consecutive verses.

And I want you to turn there with me this evening. John chapter 19 and the verses 28 through 30. John chapter 19, 28 through 30. The context here we all know is our Christ has been tried and he'd been put through a mock trial, he'd been ridiculed, he's been flogged, beaten, his beard is being plucked, he's had a crown of thorn placed on his head, and at the moment he stands, or not stands, my apologies, he hangs on a Roman cross. And then John tells us this.

Verse 28, After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now his, the first use, finished. See that word accomplished is now used, the root word is used here, finished. After this, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture again, to accomplish, to complete the scripture, I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there. So they put a sponge full of sour wine on his branch and held it to his mouth.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, and this is the last time it's used, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. It is accomplished. It is done. My food is to do the will of the Father.

That's why I have come. And now it is finished. It's beautiful. Beloved, are you hearing what Jesus is telling His disciples? His food is to accomplish the will of the Father.

His highest satisfaction is to do the Father's will. But here's the thing. That will would place him on a cross to bear the wrath of God that is deserving upon sinners like you and I. In other words, enduring the horrendous suffering to accomplish the Father's will in order to purchase sinners like us was a deep satisfying food for his soul. That was the will of the Father for the Son.

And He says to the disciples, this is my food. Can we follow this example? Not dying on the cross, of course, that's unique to our Savior. But can we also say truly that our food is to do the will of God? Would we gladly suffer if that be God's will for our life?

And now you might say, hold on, this is for Christ alone, not for us. But I turn you to 2 Timothy 3.12, and it reads, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Jesus or in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Suffering and persecution is inevitable for the Christian. But beloved, we need to remember this.

Before you or I are willing to suffer for Christ, we must be willing to forgo some of the creature comforts of this world. That is what it means to abandon oneself, to carry one's cross and to follow Jesus Christ. It's to abandon the things that attach our hearts. It's to abandon things that allure us and want to entrap us in this world. The entertainment, the riches, all these things that grab a hold of us.

John says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He says, that's what's in the world. And the question we need to ask ourselves is this. What do we love more? Who do we love more?

For the disciples, even now, and Christ, It was probably a meal that they needed to forego. You see the disciples have just come back from Samaria and they've got all this food with them. They've come and they've urged Christ to eat. Now it was proper etiquette that the disciple, knowing their rabbi was hungry, he's not going to eat and satisfy their hunger. They're going to eat together with their rabbi.

So they've come back probably hungry, famished in fact, and they've come and Jesus is not eating and they know he's hungry. Then Jesus says to them, no, my food is to do the will of the Father. Why? Well, because their meal will have to wait. Because at the moment, right here, right now, in the context of our passage, there are more urgent matters at hand.

You see, the Samaritans are approaching. And the proclamation of the gospel and the salvation of their soul is far more important than sculling down a sandwich. I'm not saying that we need to deny ourselves in the sense that we don't provide for our needs. The Lord provides for our needs. Praise be to Him.

But what comes first in our lives? Verse 35 through 38. Do you say, these are the words of Christ, do you say, there are yet four months, then comes the harvest, Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true.

One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into that labor. Some scholars would set this time around December. Now the sowing season in first century Palestine was in about November.

So they would sow the seed in November. It's about four months, like Christ says, around four months before the harvest time, the time to reap. Then normally around this time of year was the grain harvest and the barley harvest. But at this point in time, in November, it's only probably two, three, four weeks at the most, after sowing, what they would probably see is they'd probably see the seedlings sprout up. So they would look among the paddocks or the open fields, and it probably was an open field, Jacob's Well was about 15 minutes walk from the city, and they would look in all directions and would be able to see green, but not white, green.

But Jesus is saying here that It's white for the harvest. He says, look, I tell you, look up. This is verse 35. Look up. Lift your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Now, it may be that Jesus is referring to when the harvest is ripe, that the top of the barley turns into a beige-brown color, not quite white. That might be light, a light color, whitish. That might be what Jesus is saying. However, I think Jesus is telling the disciples to lift up their eyes for another reason. You see, if they look to the west and they look to the right, or they look to the west and they look to the east, and if they look to the south, they would only see green.

But if they look to the north, I think they will see what Jesus is speaking of. You see, the Samaritans were known. at least the men, to wear white flowing robes. And as they looked to the north, the city of Sychar, to the north of Jacob's wall, they would probably have been able to see the trickle of people walking, walking towards the Savior wearing white. And Jesus says, now look up.

That meal that you brought needs to be put on hold. We have a mission to accomplish. We have a harvest to reap. The disciples need to be ready, and they need to be ready to reap, not heart, not grain or barley, but people's souls. They need to be reaping a spiritual harvest.

They didn't sow, but they're going to reap. No need to wait four months for the harvest time. The time is now. The matter is urgent. The souls of men and women are in the balance.

How could someone be thinking about food? And this makes sense now. That's why Jesus' heart was not on the food. His body was still hungry. Yet His satisfaction comes in doing the will of the Father.

And remember what I said before? The will of the Father that He saves all that the Father has given Him and loses none. And those who are approaching towards the Savior are of that number. of that number. But there is something interesting here, and that is that, in a sense, Jesus is saying that the reaper and the sower rejoice together.

Now that's odd or unusual, because Jesus explains in his passage, there's four months between the sowing and the reaping, yet there is a time in the inauguration of the spiritual messianic kingdom, prophesied in the Old Testament, where this will come together. And Amos 9 speaks to this, and I'll read it to you, verse 13. He says, behold, speaking again of the messianic reign, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman or plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed. They're all on the field at the same time, which doesn't make sense materially, but it does spiritually. The mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it.

This is the joy and celebration. These prophecies are literally fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So we know in this passage who the reapers were. The context tells us it's the disciples. But there's been much debate over who the sowers are.

Who are the sowers that Jesus is referring to? Well, some have suggested it may be the flow or the stream of Old Testament prophets who have proclaimed the Word of God. They are the mouthpiece of God. And that's a possibility. Others have said maybe it's John the Baptist.

Now we know from chapter 3, verse 23, that John the Baptist was actually ministering in a place called Enon. and Hinnon, on the map, is on the border of the region of Samaria. So it is possible that his ministry overflowed, or the Samarians came. It is possible that John is the sower. But I think the context, and what Jesus is saying, the sower and the reaper rejoice together.

There's a sense that they're both on the field at the same time. And who's there? Christ. And the Samaritan woman is coming back with these people, most likely. And they're on the field at the same time.

The reapers are the... Disciples, and they're all going to rejoice in salvation of souls, because God is going to be pleased to save many in this day. And so there's principles here. And the principle is this, in order for there to be a harvest, seed must be sown. And although we see Christ commissioning the disciples in Matthew 28 and says, you go into all the world, sow that seed, the gospel.

We know that by extension that that commission is also for the church, because if we read that passage properly, that commission is until the end of the age. All the apostles have passed away. We have the apostolic writings in the closed canon of Scripture, and this canon is not only for our sanctification, praise God it's that, but it's also for us to proclaim. to a dark world because it is the light of God's salvation. Seed must be sown.

Brothers and sisters, we know this. Every one of us here know this because we are, those of us who are in Christ, who have enjoyed the saving faith of Jesus Christ, we are the products of faithful men and women who've sowed the seed. Maybe mums, maybe dads, maybe it's the church we went to. You might say, no, I was sitting down reading the scripture. What put a Bible in your hand in a language you understand?

Faithful men and women translated this. They sowed the seed. We're here because seed is sowed. There cannot be a harvest. There cannot be a reaping unless the seed is sowed.

Paul knew this and he speaks of this in the ministry in particular in 1 Corinthians 3. He says, I planted. Apollos watered, but who makes the growth? The miracle is in God's hands. The salvation is in God's hands.

It's totally a work of God, but the labor, beloved, is essential. Salvation is of the Lord, but the labor is essential, even when it feels or seems fruitless. Keep at it. Keep at it. Trust the Lord.

His promise is that He will bring about the increase. He will bring about the growth. Even if you labor, even if you sow and you don't get the opportunity to reap, maybe someone else will reap down the track. But we have been mandated because of our love for Christ and because of what He's done for us. Our eyes have been opened.

We enjoy this living water, the salvation, the eternal life that's found in the only Savior of the world. Then we proclaim the good news. to our friends, to our fans, to whatever people that the Lord places in our context. It should be a joy for us to do these things. And this is why we're not discouraged when we don't see the benefits of our labour.

See, that growth is not up to you. It's not your convincing words or your persuasive power of speech. But rather, stick to being faithful to the scripture and let the rest remain in the hands of the Almighty God. Because let me tell you something, it requires nothing less than the power that created the universe to bring a dead, lifeless person from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And you don't have that power, neither do I.

That's in the hands of God. We are called to seek to do His will and obey the will of the Father because of our love for Him and leave the rest to the Lord. It's the way He mandated. He'll save people. He says in Romans 10, He says, Faith, beloved, comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

Never forget. Never forget that. Never forget the salvations of the Lord. But your witness is important. It's important.

It matters that we share the good news. Salvation came. It comes to this town when Jesus Christ, by his spirit, visits these people in their hearts. But the Samaritan woman sowed the seed. See, they come flowing from the town towards Christ because of what the Samaritan woman said.

She spoke. Now, there's no denial that it's the Spirit of God at work. But she spoke of what she has seen. I've seen the Messiah. I know it's Him.

Come. Come with me. Come with me. Come with me. Come see the Messiah.

And that's what we ought to be doing. We ought to be opening God's Word, and we ought to be saying to people, this is the Messiah. This is the Savior of the world. Trust me. Don't trust me alone, but listen to what God's Word has to say.

And we do that in love and in grace, trusting that the Lord will bring about the increase. So He does. They come, they rejoice, they invite him back to the town, which is incredible because a Jew invited back to their homes and the Jews actually accepting the invitation. That's another story altogether. That's another story altogether, but he does at their request.

And many more, he says, many more believed. Why? Because of his word, not because of the signs, not because of his wonders, but because of his word. This is not the counterfeit belief. that we've heard of or read about in John chapter 2 verse 23 where people saw the signs of Christ and the wonders and we're told and they believed but Jesus didn't entrust himself to them.

Why? Because he could see what's inside man and he knew it was a counterfeit belief. But this, the believing because of his word is not because of his miracles or not because of his signs but because of the word spoken, the logos has spoken and now they believe. Now they believe. They believe that he is the Messiah.

The foreman faithfully laboured, the Spirit was at work, but the Word of Christ is that which produced genuine faith. Beloved, for us, whether it's directed from the mouth of Christ or proclaimed through faithful people, this is still the Word of Christ and He still saves the same way. We proclaim the Gospel and we trust Him to penetrate people's hearts, invade people's hearts with life. from above. And that's why evangelism matters.

And you see, when he does, when he does bring saving faith to a person, when he does open the eyes and the ears of a dead sinner, he reveals to that person who he really is. Who would have thought? Who would have thought that this Samaritan town, that many in this town would come to declare this is the saviour of the world? Who would have thought? The statement is absolutely true.

What a glorious day for these people. For centuries, they were told that they were a second-class people despised and rejected by the Jews. But on this day, the tender mercies of God in His own Son gave them a visit. He opened their eyes and they came to realize indeed that this is indeed the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We heard the woman's testimony, we were intrigued and we believed and we came, but now we've heard from the mouth of the Messiah and many more believed and they proclaim the truth that is incredible.

The Jews don't even say this, but the Samaritans say that this is the Savior of the world. This is the Savior of the world. He's not only a Jewish Savior, but He's also a Savior of the world. And this is why He will save from every tribe, from every people, from every language, and from every tongue. What an incredible story.

From the seed of a loving conversation between our Lord and this woman, And many of the town people end up believing in Christ's word and receiving eternal life in his name. And brothers and sisters, the Lord has said, he said this to his disciples, and I think it rings true. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. If we believe these words at the very least, we ought to pray.

We ought to pray. Pray for the Lord to give us opportunities. Pray the Lord to give us boldness. I know it's hard. It's funny, we can talk to people about anything, complete strangers, about any topic.

Yet when it comes to speaking about matters of true religion, we shiver, we shudder. It's incredible. And this is evidence that it is a spiritual warfare. spiritual. It's not that we're ashamed of the way we speak.

It's not that we're ashamed or we don't know how to communicate because we can on sports or politics or weather. But when it comes to speaking about matters of faith, which is the most important matter that we could speak to another individual of, we start to shake. But that's okay. Pray. Pray that the Lord empower and be bold to do His will.

I believe, and if we believe these words, we ought to trust That as we seek to be obedient, as Christ was obedient to the Father's will, as we seek to be obedient to the Father's will in this way, we ought to trust that He'll bring about the increase. We may not see it with our eyes. We may be sowers, never see it, but trust. Trust that maybe God's plan is that we continue to sow, but someone else will reap. And it doesn't matter as long as we do it for the kingdom of God, because our Savior is the only Savior in the world.

Amen.