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Chapter 4, we've been in this chapter for some time, but we're coming to the end.
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This is the sixth
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Lord's Day that we've been addressing this passage, but there is a spiritual richness and beauty to this account, and we just dare not miss any of it by passing over it too hastily.
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We're in no hurry, no rush. This is the 28th
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Sunday we've been in the Gospel of John, and we're almost through four chapters. This chapter,
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John chapter 4, actually has three major themes in this account between the
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Lord Jesus and the woman of Samaria. First, there's an emphasis on the gift of Jesus of living water.
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It talks about new life, particularly the life given by the Holy Spirit. Second, the account sets forth the true worship of the
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Father in spirit and truth. And then third, the third theme or emphasis is that this episode emphasizes
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Jesus' mission to non -Jews, that is Gentiles, the world.
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And this third theme is the one to which we give our attention today. The entire episode is conveyed through our
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Lord's interaction with this Samaritan woman. Our Lord's conversation with her and her spiritual growth through this passage enlivens the narrative before us and to us.
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And here's an ancient description. I mean, we're going back to the second century A .D.
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A commentator commented on a writing that was written in the latter half of the second century by a guy named
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Tatian. He was the first one who, at least we have a record of, who attempted to harmonize the four gospels.
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And so the title of that piece is The Harmony of the Gospels, but actually it's more commonly known as the
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Diatesaron. Di is the Greek word preposition for through, tesaron, four, through four, one message through four gospels is the idea.
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And this commentator on Tatian's Diatesaron is commented here in this paragraph.
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Almost certainly the fourth evangelist will have viewed this breaking down of the walls between Jew and Samaritan as Luke viewed
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Philip's evangelism of Samaria. A major step in the church's advance to mission to the world.
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The spirit in which it should be undertaken was marvelously captured by an early commentator on Tatian's Harmony of the
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Gospels. Ephraim the Syrian was this commentator's name. He wrote,
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Jesus came to the fountain as a hunter. He threw a grain before one pigeon that he might catch the whole flock, referring to the before the woman so he could catch the entire community of Samaritans through her.
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At the beginning of the conversation, he did not make himself known to her, but first she caught sight of a thirsty man and then a
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Jew, then a rabbi. Afterwards a prophet and last of all the
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Messiah. She tried to get the better of the thirsty man. She showed dislike of the
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Jew. She heckled the rabbi. She was swept off her feet by the prophet and she adored the
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Christ. That imaginative description grasped the essential burden of the chapter, namely to reveal the
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Christ in action and the growth of faith responsive to the revelation. And we do well to go and do likewise.
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So there's an increasing unfolding of who Jesus is and what he's doing in revealing himself to this woman and to the people of Samaria.
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We left off last time reading of the return of the disciples to Jesus at Jacob's well.
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We want to read this again, verses 27 through 33. And at this point his disciples came and they marveled that he talked with a woman.
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Yet no one said, what do you seek? Or why are you talking with her? The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city and said to the men, come see a man who told me all things that I ever did.
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Could this be the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came to him. In the meantime, his disciples urged him, saying,
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Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know.
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And therefore, the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him anything to eat?
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So the disciples were surprised and perhaps somewhat indignant when they found Jesus speaking with this
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Samaritan woman. And yet, they had followed and observed Jesus long enough to know they shouldn't challenge him or even question him about it.
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They didn't say anything. They were troubled by his conversation with the woman, but no one asked him to explain his behavior to them.
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And so they let the matter pass. For they had obtained food in the nearby town, and he was weary and they were hungry.
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They left Jesus in this state of weariness sitting at the well, and they were concerned for his physical well -being.
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And so they urged him, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know.
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Here we see another example of Jesus employing something in the physical realm to express and illustrate truth.
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And this was common to his teaching ministry. It is most common found in John's gospel.
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The disciples were actually clueless as to his reaction to them. So verse 33 reads that the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him anything to eat?
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And so as is common in John's gospel. Those who are with Jesus are initially confused and misunderstand him.
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But their perplexity sets the stage for some word about Jesus or his teaching.
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And so here we see that their confusion led to the explanation of. And what we have first in verses 34 through 38 is
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Jesus's passion to save sinners. And so these verses read,
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Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
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Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look to the fields, for they are already white for harvest.
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And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life.
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That both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, one sows and another reaps.
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I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their labors.
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Now, we began our study of John's gospel last April. And we spoke of the unique way in which
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John presents the person of Jesus to his readers. The Synoptic Gospels, that would be
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Matthew, Mark and Luke, set forth the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth as he was viewed and understood by the disciples themselves.
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Over the course of time, his closest followers came to understand his deity and the nature of his mission as Messiah.
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And so the Synoptic Gospels record that gradual learning process on the part of the disciples.
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However, the perspective of John's gospel is quite different. It's not so much the perspective of the disciple of Jesus who observed and learned from his master.
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Rather, John's gospel is a revelation of the inner life of Christ. Of his eternal divine nature as well as his temporal human nature.
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It's a perspective not so much from the viewpoint of the disciples as it is a self -revelation of the
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Son of God himself. Even as it's related by his beloved disciple, that being the
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Apostle John. We see this trait of this fourth gospel here in our Lord's words in which he pulls back the veil that hides his inner life from all but his closest disciples and he reveals his heart.
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He reveals to them what most moved him, what most motivated him in life. And so as weary and hungry as he was, as he sat waiting for his disciples to return with food, he was satiated and invigorated with his fulfilling of the mission which his father had sent him.
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And that's the thrust of the passage before us. We read in verse 34,
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Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. And so our
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Lord revealed that his greatest enjoyment and satisfaction in life was to bring sinners into a saving faith with God, in God, even as people believed on him.
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There are several aspects of our Lord's character that suggested by our Lord's words here. And these are just a few proposals that I came up with.
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I'm sure there are more. First, notice how our Lord was careful in the use of his time.
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He seemed to take every occasion to use his time wisely so that he could accomplish further the will of his father.
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And so his disciples left him to go buy food. He had the occasion to speak to this woman.
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He gave himself wholly to help this poor woman to bring her to experience life everlasting. He spoke to her wisely and appropriately.
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He spoke the truth to her. He spoke to her regarding her sin, and he spoke to her of the true life she could experience and enjoy through faith in him.
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He could give her the Holy Spirit and would fill her with joy and everlasting peace.
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And upon return of his disciples and her departure to her town, Jesus continued to teach and minister.
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In other words, he continued to use his time wisely. He began to teach and instruct his disciples.
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He would spend time teaching and instructing the woman, and now he spends his time teaching, instructing his disciples.
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And so he spoke to them regarding the important spiritual lessons that would enhance their knowledge of him and his work.
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He would better equip them to enter further into their labors on his behalf in order to experience and enjoy the same delight and sense of satisfaction that he experienced by doing the will of his father.
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And so he spoke unto the woman in a manner suitable to her spiritual need. He then spoke to his disciples according to their spiritual need, and he made perfect and full use of his time, whether it was to the men, his disciples, or to the woman.
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May the Lord help us to be wise in our use of the time that he gives us.
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Let's take advantage of every opportunity to further the cause of Christ in the lives of others.
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As Matthew Henry wrote in this context, It were well if we could thus gather up the fragments of time that none of it be lost.
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We're exhorted in the word of God, walking wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
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We're to be considerate of those who are not Christians in the use of our time. Or perhaps more clearly translated in the
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ESV, walking wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. The letter to the
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Colossians and the letter to Ephesians has parallel ideas being conveyed by Paul and Ephesians 5 says something somewhat similar.
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See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
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Or slightly different in the ESV for clarification. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
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And so as Christians we should be concerned about squandering our time.
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We're stewards. Every one of us has been given the same amount of time. And each of us are stewards of the time that God has given us.
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May the Lord enable us to make best use of it. As the wise man Solomon once wrote, to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
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And so there's a time for work, there's also a time for pleasure. There's a time for diligence, but there is a time for rest.
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Every one of us needs a Sabbath day rest, spiritually and physically. Here our
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Lord would rest, but he would redeem his time. And so he would invest his time and effort to win this woman to himself, and then afterwards to instruct his disciples in how they should think and live.
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Make good use of your time. So many opportunities, and I personally view an opportunity as a responsibility.
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I think that's just how we ought to view life. But secondly, notice the great pleasure that our
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Lord experienced as he saw himself fulfilling the will of his father. In another place
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Jesus declared he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus delighted in this work.
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Jesus had been weary and hungry, but it's as though he had a great feast, for he was invigorated with the opportunity to bear witness to this woman, and through her bear witness to the larger
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Samaritan community. He was enlivened by this, even though he was wearied from his apparently long, difficult journey.
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Again, may the Lord give us a similar desire and delight in the service of our Lord. Let us be as our
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Lord. Again, Matthew, Henry. Let us learn hence a holy indifference even to the needful supports of life in comparison with spiritual things.
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Let's have things in proper perspective and value. Evaluate things rightly and put proper value on the things that are most important.
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Here we see that Jesus had become so unconcerned about the food that his disciples brought to him, they thought he must have been already fed by someone other than themselves.
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Somebody feed him? He was so enlivened and invigorated by having the opportunity to speak to this woman about her soul.
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And I can personally testify, I'm sure many of you can too, the extreme pleasure and delight when you have an opportunity to give a faithful witness to someone is quite a joy.
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Now, thirdly, notice that Jesus speaks of his father as the sender of him into the world on a mission to save the lost.
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Again, Jesus, in verse 34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
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And there's emphasis on that word sent. When we began our study in the gospel, we identified several major themes that are found throughout the gospel.
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And the idea of God the father having sent his son is one of these major themes of this fourth gospel.
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Richard Lenski, he was a Lutheran commentator, passed away in about the first third of the 20th century,
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I think. He wrote of the importance of this theme in this passage. Here, for the first time,
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Jesus speaks of his great sender, whom he will mention again and again, always use the substantive aorist participle.
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And, you know, Lenski uses some grammatical terms here. A participle is like a verbal noun.
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And so instead of just using a simple active verb or just a simple noun, he uses a participle, which is a verbal noun, in order to emphasize the action of what
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Jesus is doing and his delight in it, which names his sender according to the one past active sending.
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That is, the father is the one who sent. As such, he has a will, namely regarding a specific work, even called his work, the possessive being emphatically forward.
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In other words, in the Greek text, there's emphasis on this. It's his work, God, the father's work given to his son to be his work.
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The sending or mission of Jesus is to do this will, to finish this work. And the aorist, aorist, that is a form of tense in Greek, state actual doing and finishing.
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Doubling the statement thus makes it decidedly strong. Compare 17 verse 4,
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I finished the work which thou gavest me to do, where the same verb is used. And also two places in chapter 19,
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Jesus knowing that all things are now finished. And he said it is finished. The double clause is thus a description of Jesus's entire messianic work.
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This will of his great sender is his good and gracious will regarding the sinful world.
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The will of his comprehending purposeful love. This work is our redemption from sin and all things belonging to it.
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The will and work were done, finished completely when Jesus died on the cross. And when
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Jesus declared that he was doing the will of his father, who sent him here to the disciples in John chapter 4,
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Jesus was speaking about his really entire mission in the incarnation.
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God the father sent his son on a mission. You go and redeem the ones that I have given you from eternity.
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And you save them. And he had this mission. And he delighted in carrying it out.
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And he delighted in accomplishing it. Because he knew he was pleasing his father and fulfilling his father's will.
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And by the way, indirectly, the deity of our Lord Jesus is expressed by these words of Jesus.
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My food is to do the will of him who sent me to finish his work.
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The father sent his son into the world in his incarnation. He was the eternal son of God.
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But the time came when the father sent him into the world. He again was sent on a mission. This mission of Jesus to save sinners was a mission to save his people.
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Those who the father in eternity elected chose to salvation. It was in God's eternal decree that he sent his son.
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It was a mission on which he was sent. The father sent his son into the world in order to redeem his people from sin and death.
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To bring them into a saving relationship with the father. And again, the salvation of this woman, this
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Samaritan woman was a fulfilling of his mission. We saw earlier how he must go through Samaria.
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And it wasn't just because Samaria lie between him and Galilee. But he was commissioned by the father to save this woman's soul.
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And so he accomplished that. He saw that on that day when he sat down on that well and she came out to him.
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John the Gospel writer sets forth the Lord Jesus as having totally different and spiritual desires than his disciples.
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It's clear at this point in the life of his disciples. They did not possess a great love for souls and desire to see them saved.
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Jesus sought to raise their aspiration and inflame their desire for the great work of saving souls.
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Verse 35. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields where they are already white for harvest.
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Here again, our Lord used the physical realm to illustrate a spiritual reality.
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Before them were fields that would one day be harvested. But even now there are spiritual fields of human beings that were in need of harvesting.
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And again, I think when he said that the Samaritans were coming out of Sychar, flooding up through the fields to come to him and look upon them.
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There's a harvest and they're coming this way. But it seems to be a sad thing that our
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Lord would need to direct his disciples to see the opportunities and the responsibilities before them.
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It's as though they were looking down, failing to see the broad panorama of God's kingdom set before them and the glorious privilege and opportunity that he had given to them.
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He said to them, lift up your eyes and see the possibilities before you. And so may the
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Lord enliven us to the great harvests before us. Do you see the opportunities? These are glorious days we're living in, folks.
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Darker the night, the brighter the light. And this world is getting darker, isn't it? And a true gospel shines forth brightly.
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And it's attractive to people. The Lord makes it so. May the Lord grant us grace that our eyes might be lifted up to see what potentially lies before us in the expanding of his kingdom in our fallen world.
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And let us be as our Lord. We're to foster a true desire and delight in seeing souls converted to Jesus Christ, being rescued from their sin and its penalty, to experience fullness of life here and even a fuller life in the hereafter.
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But it's a sad that even among ministers, there's a need for an awakening to these matters.
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J .C. Ryle, who was a compassionate, leading evangelical figure, even though he was a bishop in a dead church of England at the end of the 19th century, wrote these words.
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The utter unlikeliness between Christ and all ministers of the gospel who perform their duties in a mere perfunctory way and care more for the world and its pleasures or gains than for saving souls is strikingly brought out in this and the preceding verse.
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How many professing teachers of religion know nothing whatever of the spirit and habits of mind which our
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Lord here displays. It can never be said of hunting, shooting, ball going, card playing, farming clergyman, that it's their meat and drink to do
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God's will and finish his work. With what face will they meet Christ in the day of judgment?
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That's a good challenge. We should be hopeful and labor with anticipation that God will do a great work through us in reaching souls for Jesus Christ.
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We should desire the well -being of people, long for their conversion, hope for their transformation into brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
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And so we should be earnest, always praying, ever expectant of what the
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Lord can and might do. And the Lord will bless our efforts for he has promised to do so.
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The psalmist wrote of a certain harvest to those who sow in sincerity and hope. Psalm 126.
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He who continually goes forth weeping, this is like a farmer, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
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Like the old hymn, bringing in the sheaves, bringing souls into the kingdom, in a harvest of wheat as it were.
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And so the opportunity is there, but the laborers tend to be few. And we are to pray, this is one
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I think of the most important prayers that we can pray as Christians. We're commanded to pray to the
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Lord of the harvest, that he might send forth laborers to perform this great harvest work.
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I received an email note this week from a young man who grew up in New England. He grew up in Twin Cities.
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He went to California and somehow got into a reformed seminary. And now he's reformed.
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And he's a reformed Baptist living in Southern California. But he wants to come back to New England and pastor a church here in New England.
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And somehow he got inspired by our church and particular people in our church.
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And so he's coming back at Christmas time for a stay and he wants to have lunch with me, buy me breakfast or lunch and have a talk.
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May the Lord raise up many more like that who want to come back to New England and see a great work of God, see the expansion of the kingdom of God.
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The opportunity is there, but the laborers tend to be few. The Lord Jesus also spoke to his disciples of the great reward that will be theirs if they are faithful in harvesting souls for the kingdom of God.
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Verse 36, he who receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
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And so here the Lord declared that God compensates those who enlist and serve in the harvesting business.
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And this isn't just a word for pastors. We as a church, new members are enlisting in the harvesting business.
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And that's what we attempt to do as a church, isn't it? Through all the various means, through the missions and the radio and all the various ways we try and put the gospel out.
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We're in the harvesting business and there will be a reward for faithful servants when the
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Lord returns. Jesus said, behold, I'm coming quickly. My reward is with me to give everyone according to his work.
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And the reward that he will bestow upon us will far outweigh what bit of service we might render to him in this life.
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And of course, the richest reward that we will receive, however, is the pleasure we are going to receive knowing that we brought honor and pleasure to our
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Lord whom we serve. Charles Spurgeon wrote of this. This encouraged me.
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I thought it might encourage you. But the richest reward lies in pleasing God and causing the
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Redeemer to see the travail of his soul. That is the benefit of his death on the cross in redeeming people.
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That Jesus should have his reward is worthy of the eternal Father. But it is marvelous that we should be employed by the
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Father to give to Christ the purchase of his agonies. This is a wonder of wonders.
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O my soul, this is an honor too great for thee, a bliss too deep for words.
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Listen, dear friends, and answer me. What would you give to cause a thrill of pleasure in the heart of the well -beloved that is in the heart of Christ?
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Recollect the grief you cost him and the pangs that shot through him, that he might deliver you from your sin and its consequences.
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Do you not long to make him glad? When you bring others to his feet, you give him joy, and no small joy either.
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Is not that a wonderful text? There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
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What does that mean? Does it mean that the angels have joy? We generally read it so, but it's not the intent of the verse.
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It says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, that is, joy in the heart of God around whose throne the angels stand.
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It is a joy which angels delight to behold. What is it? Is the blessed
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God capable of greater joy than his own boundless happiness? Wondrous language this!
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The infinite bliss of God is more eminently displayed if it cannot be increased. Can we be the instruments of this?
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Can we do anything which will make the ever -blessed glad? Yes, for we are told that the great
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Father rejoices above measure when his prodigal son that was dead is alive again and the lost one is found.
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If I could say this as I ought to say it, it would make every Christian cry out, then
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I will labor to bring souls to the Savior. And it would make those of us who have brought many to Jesus instant in season and out of season to bring more to him.
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It is a great pleasure to be doing kindness to an earthly friend, but to be doing something distinctly for Jesus, something which will be of things, of all things in the world most pleasing to him, is a great delight.
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It's a good work to build a meeting house and give it outright to the cause of God if it's done with a right and proper motive.
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But one living stone, talking about a Christian building a spiritual temple, one living stone built upon the sure foundation by our instrumentality will give the
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Master more pleasure than if we erected a vast pile of natural stones which might only cumber the ground.
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Then go, dear friends, and seek to bring your children and your neighbors and your friends and your kinsfolk to the
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Savior's feet, for nothing will give him so much pleasure as to see them turn unto him and live.
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By your love to Jesus, I beseech you, become fishers of men. Again, that conveys the spirit of Jesus in our passage.
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This is what he was conveying to his disciples. Our Lord took care to teach his disciples that they were all working together for the furtherance of the kingdom.
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He declared, for in this the saying is true, one sows and another reaps.
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Not everyone who sows seed is involved in the harvest that comes later. Much of our ministry is sowing seed.
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That's why we try and spread the word of God as frequently and fully and widely as possible.
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It's like sowing seed. And a harvest comes later. We might see it, but we might not.
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It would seem that our Lord was teaching his disciples that every worker in the kingdom should understand that he is simply building on the work of others, that there will be others who come after him who will build upon what he has done.
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No one person can or should take credit for the whole work of the harvest. The Lord uses many different servants in his field.
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And Jesus said further in verse 38, I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored others have labored and you have entered into their labors.
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In verse 34, Jesus spoke of the Father having sent him into the world. Notice carefully verse 38.
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Here Jesus speaks of sending his disciples into the harvest of souls, bringing them into the kingdom.
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The Father sends Jesus, Jesus sends us. He's called upon us to reap where others have labored.
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It's common for us in our witness to others to find them having already been influenced by other
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Christians before us. Perhaps we find a soul to be interested in learning more about the teaching of the
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Bible. But when you inquire why it is he's developed this desire, he may relate to you he was influenced by a godly friend, perhaps a godly parent or grandparent, some witness he received through a radio preacher or a gospel tract.
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I was saved as a result of gospel tracts, primarily, principally. It's a rarity to meet someone who's not been in some way prepared by the
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Lord through someone before us. We should recognize that we're in this business together.
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It's a great error among some churches to be in the business of some pastor building his own little kingdom, his own little church to the exclusion of all others.
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I would hope and pray that other churches, all across New England, you know, would be blessed of God and see greater fruit than we ever see.
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We want the kingdom of God to be advanced, not just our own little part or piece within that.
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Now, after having considered Jesus' passion to save sinners, we next read a declaration that Jesus is the
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Savior of the world. Now we're getting down to the major theme that's set before us.
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We read, Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, and he told me all that I ever did.
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So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
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Many more believed because of his own word. And then they said to the woman, Now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this is indeed the
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Christ, and here this last statement is critically important, the
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Savior of the world. This woman was not very well trained in the art and practice of evangelism, but the
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Lord used her quite effectively. Verse 39, Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, and he told me all that I ever did.
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Basically, she gave the Samaritans her personal testimony. She related how the
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Lord had revealed himself to her and told me all that I ever did. Now I think it's important to underscore this reality.
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When the Holy Scriptures tell us to go into all the world and preach the gospel, that's not a command to go into all the world and share your testimony.
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Your testimony, or my testimony, is not the gospel. A personal testimony might include the gospel, or it might not.
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The gospel is not relating what God has done for me, the gospel is relating what God has done and is doing through Jesus Christ to save people from their sin.
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There's a great difference. Now clearly this woman testified of the remarkable manner in which
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Jesus exposed her sin to her, sin that she thought was quite private and unknown to most.
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God will often do just that in the process of bringing a soul to saving faith in Jesus.
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You read in 1 Corinthians 14 that this was one of the results of the spiritual gift of prophecy in the early church era.
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The Holy Spirit enabled some within the churches to have supernatural insight into the secret, sinful life of strangers.
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The one with the gift of prophecy would expose specific sin to that sinner, resulting in a sense of personal guilt and shame of exposure.
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It conveyed to the sinner that God was fully aware of his sin and that he was not going to be unpunished by God, he'd better repent.
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I think Peter's exposure of Ananias and Sapphira as to their thievery or their lying to the
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Holy Spirit in Acts 5 may have been a manifestation of this gift of prophecy as it were.
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Peter seemed to be given an inside information by the
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Holy Spirit about Ananias and Sapphira. And this would often lead the sinner to repentance.
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We see this set forth in 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul was contrasting the benefit of the gift of prophecy as greater than a gift of speaking in tongues.
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And the gift of speaking in tongues was the supernatural ability to speak the gospel in a foreign language, not a heavenly language, not a prayerful tongue of the angels, but a foreign language.
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And he said the gift of prophecy was much more important unless you had somebody there to translate that language so the people in the church could understand it.
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And so here is what Paul wrote, Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.
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But prophesying is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe. And therefore if the whole church comes together in one place and all speak with tongues or other languages, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
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But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever and an uninformed person comes in, he's convinced by all, he's convicted by all.
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And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed, and so falling down on his face, he will worship
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God and report that God is truly among you. What Paul was describing was the work of the
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Holy Spirit through some in the local church. That spiritual gift is no longer present in the church, we would advocate.
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It was a foundational gift the Lord gave to the early Christians in order to establish the early church throughout the
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Gentile world. But it was quite a gift. Could you imagine the result if I had the ability to walk up to you?
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I know what you did yesterday. This is what it is. Bang, bang, bang. You better repent.
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I'd have some power, wouldn't I? I'd have some influence in my witness. And yet sometimes the
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Lord will produce that kind of work in people through the instrument of preaching. It's not that I am given supernatural knowledge of a person's behavior or condition, but the
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Word of God finds the soul out and convicts one, truly, many times of unknown but specific sin.
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And it's not been unusual for a wife to tell me her husband accused her of informing me, the pastor, of something about him because I spoke so directly to him of his sin in a sermon.
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The Holy Spirit does that. By the way, if I had knowledge of some individual's personal sin,
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I would never stand up here in an availed way, hit you on it. That, to me, would be deceitful and unkind.
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But the Lord does that, doesn't he? The Holy Spirit will work in us, and that's what he does with the
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Word of God. He blesses preaching. And so this woman, you know, the
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Lord declared to her sin, and she went among the Samaritan men, by the way, come and see the one who told me all that I ever did.
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She was probably indirectly saying, he knows all about what you've done. He knows all about what we've done.
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Come out and see him. Is not this the Christ? Well, the woman's testimony perked the interest and desire of these people to have
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Jesus stay with them. As one wrote, the living water which the woman received from Jesus had certainly become an overflowing fountain in her life, and others were coming to share the refreshment that she had begun to enjoy.
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Let us not grow weary in well -doing. The most unlikely soul will prove the most effective witness.
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That's a truism. We read in verse 40, and I know our time is getting away.
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There's so much here. Verse 40 reads, So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
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The Lord granted their request, and he must have spent much time for those two days proclaiming the word of God for them.
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For we read in verse 41, Many more believed because of his own word. Later we read in the book of Acts of a great revival taking place in Samaria.
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We won't read it, but it's in Acts chapter 8. A deacon in the church of Jerusalem went to Samaria and preached
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Christ when the church was scattered because of persecution, and the Lord brought a great number of Samaritans to believe the gospel, and they were converted.
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Well, that conversion of Samaritans in Acts chapter 8 seems to be building upon what
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Jesus did here in John chapter 4. These people who received
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Jesus responded to him, and then when Philip came later, probably four or five years later, after he preached in the gospel of Christ, they responded to it.
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And so the Samaritans came into the kingdom of God. But the whole point of the Samaritans coming into the kingdom of God was to really show the purpose of God, to expand the kingdom throughout the world.
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And the Samaritans knew this. The Jews didn't know this. The Samaritans said to the woman,
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Now we believe, not because of your word, but we heard from him, and we're convinced he is the savior of the world.
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Samaritans weren't Jews, but they were coming into the kingdom of God. And of course, the
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Samaritans were bridging the gospel, going from the Jews to the Gentile world. And in fact, the outline for the book of Acts is found in Acts chapter 1, 8, where the
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Lord Jesus told his apostles to wait until the Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost, and they were to take the gospel out into Jerusalem, and Judea, and secondly,
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Samaria, and to the outermost parts of the earth. And so here in John chapter 4, we basically see the beginning of the expansion of the kingdom of God throughout the entire world.
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When it says Jesus is the savior of the world, it's not a claim of the universalist that the entire human race is going to be saved by Jesus.
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That's what they believe in some places not too far from here. Nor is it a claim of the
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Arminians, Jesus paid for the sins of everybody in the world, and only those who believe make it valuable. Only they are forgiven.
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Now here, when it says he is the savior of the world, it's meaning that he's the savior of the
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Gentile world, not just the Jewish world. Jesus is the universal king, the kingdom over a people from every tribe, from every nation.
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And you and I are a part of that, aren't we? And really this coming of this woman of Samaria to the gospel, to Jesus Christ, was a transition, was a bridging, and a preparation for the gospel of the kingdom spreading out into the
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Gentile world of which we are beneficiaries. I would hope that you would take time to read these notes at your leisure.
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There are, I think, some important, some significant principles, and I think it will both encourage us and instruct us in this great work to which we've been called.
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But I suppose the bottom line today is I hope that we will be reinvigorated and encouraged in this great work that lies before us.
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I often say, God has called you, God has called me to this time in history and to this place in his world.
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And he's got a work for us. He's accomplishing a work to us. And we have the great privilege but also responsibility to conduct this work and finish it.
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And may the Lord bless us. We're in a days where we're experiencing a great deal of good things being seen in people's lives.
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And we're happy with it but not satisfied with it. May the Lord greatly expand his work in the midst.
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Amen? Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. We thank you, our
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Father, that you have called ones like us and sent us into this world with this glorious message, the hope of salvation, delivering people from sin and damnation into everlasting life.
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And we pray that you would use our witness. We pray for opportunities, Lord. We pray that you would give us courage and boldness to make opportunities in speaking to others about us.
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But we also, our God, pray for those divine encounters when we encounter people that you have been preparing, perhaps who have received a witness from another and are ready to hear more and learn more about Jesus Christ.
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Glorify yourself, our Father. Help us as a church, as individual
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Christians, to bring great pleasure to you as souls are brought into your kingdom. For we pray in Jesus' name.