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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brody-thibodeau/sharing-the-gospel/
Turn with me, please, to John chapter 4, the Gospel of John, chapter 4. John chapter 4 and verse number 3. He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink, for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me? Which I'm a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is, that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. And Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Verse 25, please. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman, yet no man said, what seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.
Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto him. In the meantime, or in the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Therefore said the disciples one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say ye, or say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest.
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white, all ready to harvest. And he that reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
And herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did.
So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them. And he abode there two days, and many more believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
Now I feel almost constrained to have read this passage today, because some of our brethren yesterday were praying about the harvest, and laborers in the harvest. And while yesterday I may have had something else on my mind, today I feel like I have this on my heart, where the Lord Jesus has set for us an example in John's Gospel chapter 4 of an evangelist, one who is taking a message of blessing beyond his home, can I say his home area, one who is encouraging others to engage in a harvest whereon they have bestowed no labor.
And I'm not sure I'm going to handle this passage, but I do intend to get to some very practical lessons we learn from the Lord Jesus as to the preaching of the Gospel and the need for laborers in the harvest.
But I can't turn to John chapter 4 without thinking about Joseph. I've been thinking about this for a little over a week now, in terms of John chapter 4 and the fact that Joseph is really almost in every line of John chapter 4.
When you think about Joseph, of course, we are thinking about Joseph as a picture of our Lord Jesus. In Manchester today, we were looking at the different garments that Joseph wore in the book of Genesis from chapter 37 until chapter 41, and we saw that the garment that was the coat of many colors was the garment that marked him out as the heir.
That garment was stripped from him and it was dipped in blood. The garment that he wore in the house of Potiphar was the garment really of his service and humility. And it was in that garment, when he maintained his purity, that he was falsely accused.
There were garments or raiment that he left behind in the prison when he was called out of the prison to go and stand before Pharaoh, and we liken those to the grave clothes of the Lord Jesus. Those garments remained and Joseph was exalted.
And then in chapter 41, we read about the garments that are fine linen and we saw the Lord Jesus as being exalted, exalted by God himself and one of his exalted offices is that of our great high priest.
So you can see Joseph as a picture of the Lord Jesus. But can you see Joseph in John chapter 4? I think you can. The passage really begins by setting the scene. The Lord Jesus comes into this city and it's near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
So immediately we are thinking about Joseph. And I want to encourage you today as you read your Bible that there are no lines or sentences or stanzas in the scriptures that are there just to fill space.
There's a reason that that's there. The parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, you will remember that Jacob gave to his son a double portion. Why a double portion? If not the fact that Joseph was the heir, the firstborn.
Of course, we understand in the scriptures that firstborn doesn't mean that he was born first. Firstborn was really the fact that he was first in rank among his brethren and he was first as the heir. And I mentioned today in Manchester, if you're here today from Manchester, I'll let you know when I get down and then you can wake up.
What was I talking about? Joseph. We all know that Reuben was born first, right? This will help you in your Bible study. We know that Reuben was born first, but because of Reuben's sin with his father's concubine, he was disqualified.
Now we know that the firstborn in the family in the days of the patriarchs would have been marked out as the ruler of his brethren. Firstborn would be ruler. The firstborn would also be the household priest among his brethren.
So he'd be ruler and he would be the priest. And the firstborn was the heir and the heir always got a double portion above his brethren of the inheritance. So Reuben was entitled to be the ruler, the priest, and the heir to receive double portion.
When Reuben failed, he was unstable. But he failed, all three of those offices were passed to his brethren. We know that Judah received the kingship. The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come.
And the king is from the tribe of Judah. We know that the priesthood went to the tribe of Levi and the sons of Aaron functioned in the priesthood of the tabernacle and then into the temple. So you see the kingship to Judah, the priesthood to Levi, and the double portion to Joseph.
Because he's marked out as the heir. So the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph is connected immediately with the firstborn son. The last phrase that we read is the savior of the world.
You saw it there, didn't you? We have seen him or we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. Now I'm going to test your memory a little bit, but if you go back to Genesis chapter 41 when Joseph was exalted, Pharaoh gave him a name.
It was a new name. And if you're following me in the theme of Philippians chapter 2, it was a name that was above every name. And it was a name that all were to bow to. The name was Zaphnath-Paneah. Now if there are any Hebrew people here today, you probably didn't recognize the way I pronounced that because I pronounce it the right way.
Nobody knows what it sounds like. I could have said anything. Zaphnath-Paneah. It has two possible meanings. And both of those meanings are illustrated for us in John chapter 4. You'll see Joseph. One of those meanings is the savior of the world.
You see it. We have heard him ourselves and we believe that this is the Christ, the savior of the world. So our passage opens with near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And our passage ends with the Zaphnath-Paneah, the savior of the world.
But right in the middle of our passage, we have the other possible meaning for Zaphnath-Paneah. For it could have been the revealer of secrets. And what did the woman say? Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.
Who's that? The revealer of secrets. He's there on every line. I believe it. And you think I'm done, but I'm not. He's there some more too. You will remember that when Jacob gathered his sons around to him and he began to explain to them what would happen unto them in the last days, he talked about Reuben on stable as water.
He talked about Judah in the scepter not departing from Judah. And when it came to Joseph, he talked about the archers wounding him sore. But he says, Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall.
Now a fruitful bough is simply a way, a metaphor, for blessing. So Joseph was going to bring blessing and he was going to bring blessing not just within the confines of the nation of Israel, but the blessing was promised to go over the wall.
And that the picture of a well is really the picture of a spring. So the spring would be feeding this bough, which would be bringing the fruit, which would be going over the wall and bringing blessing to all of the nations.
And now we have our heavenly Joseph, the Lord Jesus, our heavenly Joseph, who is a fruitful bough to bring blessing not just to the nation, but over the walls of Judaism. Where does that begin? But in Samaria, right?
And now he's a fruitful bough by a well. And you can see it, but you're not done seeing. In Genesis chapter 50, Genesis chapter 50, Joseph leaves a commandment to his brethren. As he passes away, he says, you remember, God will surely visit you.
Remember that. God will surely visit you. And you'll take my bones up with you when God visits you. I know I'm paraphrasing. I'm not reading another version. I'm just paraphrasing from my memory. He will visit you.
And then you go to Exodus chapter 13. And when they're coming out of the land of Israel or the land of Egypt, the nation of Israel, having been visited by God, what happens? They take the bones of Joseph with them.
But in Exodus 13, the promise is there again. Joseph said, God will surely visit you. And in Joshua chapter 24, after they had moved into the land and they'd conquered much, between those two mountains, Gerizim and Ebal, there was a parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph in the hands of the men of Shechem.
And it's there that they buried the bones of Joseph. You say, why does that matter to us? Because within, I would say, based on my imagination again, and an educated guess, I would say within yards of where these two people were chatting at this well, were buried the bones of Joseph.
And Joseph said, God will surely visit you. And if the Lord Jesus sitting on a well in the city of Sychar, in the land of Samaria, is not God surely visiting them, then nothing is. You see it. Joseph was exalted in Egypt for a reason.
And you remember it. He interpreted Pharaoh's dream. When he interpreted Pharaoh's dream, he talked about seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. I'm going to have a famine for time here. It's going quick.
And then Pharaoh said, there's no other man like you in whom the Spirit of God is. I'm going to make you Lord of this harvest. You see, he takes Joseph, who's a wonderful picture of our Lord Jesus, and he makes him ruler of the harvest.
And whenever it came time for people who needed sustenance, they needed corn, they needed bread, Pharaoh says, go to Joseph. I think that's a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus and his exalted position as our great high priest, by the way, because we come directly to him when we are in need.
And Joseph had the resources to supply the whole world with bread. And the Lord Jesus has endless resources to supply his people with the mercy and the grace to help in the time of need. You see, our heavenly Joseph, he is the man who is the Lord of the harvest.
He has organized it in such a way so that we can come to him and have all of our needs met. But now he's pictured here in John chapter 4 as the Lord of the harvest. I know this is not the passage that we go to to get the phrase, but I'm reminded of the phrase when I hear the phrase, the fields are white already to harvest.
Right? Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he may send forth laborers into his harvest. I was hoping to be able to fill enough time with Joseph so that I wouldn't have to get to my subject, but I guess I'll have to.
The Lord Jesus is very careful in how he handles this woman. He must needs go through Samaria is really a remarkable statement. I'm not sure if you've thought about it before. Perhaps you've thought about it geographically and that's fine.
But if you were to go back in time to the days of the Lord Jesus, it was very common for a religious Jew in going to Galilee to cross over the river Jordan and go up the other side and totally avoid this land of Samaria.
Because the Samaritans were a half-breed people who were not just half-breed when it came to genetics. They were a people who were very defiled when it comes to their religious practices. And oftentimes a Jew would think that they would be defiled if they were to go through the land of Samaria.
So if you think that he must needs go through Samaria is really a reference to his geographical constraints, it wasn't. In fact, I believe if you look at it closely, the idea is that there was an inward compulsion that drove him to go through Samaria.
The outward circumstances were not influencing his course. It was something on the inside that was driving him to go through Samaria. And I believe that what was driving him was really a desire to bring blessing to this woman.
Yes. But the Lord Jesus had a much larger picture in mind. He had a vision not just for this woman, but he had a vision for the entire city full of people. And he knew if these people are going to receive the blessing from God, they must hear the word of God.
And if they're going to hear the word of God, someone has to bring it to them. Now that might seem overly simplified, but it's right there. If that woman is going to be saved, he must needs go through Samaria.
If those men are going to hear the word of God, he must needs go through Samaria. And the first thing I learned from this as an example in evangelism is that we need to have a heart for sinners and a vision for the spread of the gospel.
I feel very small up here. I'm probably one of the heaviest preachers here, but I feel very small. But I've been convinced from the scriptures that we need to be more active in gospel work and that we need to encourage our brethren to continue to develop their gift in gospel work.
But it begins with a love for souls and a vision for the work. You come down a little bit and you will find this statement, which I think is absolutely critical in our day. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
That is a statement that gives you the political and religious climate of the day. What I am impressed with the more I think about it is that the Lord Jesus brought the gospel to this woman and he didn't mention anything about the political divisions.
He didn't mention anything about the religious divisions because he didn't his desire was not to change her mind politically. And his desire was not to change her mind religiously. He was bringing her the gospel.
I'm going to let me say it this way. My tongue is tied and I'm trying to spit it out. If you have political opinions keep them to yourself. You say, but I'm on the moral right side. That's fine. If your morally correct political opinions are going to disqualify you from reaching out to people in your community because of your opinionated way in presenting them, stop it.
We're spreading the gospel. We're not holding a republican convention. Not everyone likes it when I say that, but not everyone likes me. It doesn't matter. If if you have really strong views on immigration, don't let that interfere with your ability to share the gospel with every person in this world.
I think like we don't have one of those borders like you have down here. I'm not familiar with the political aspect of it. I don't care. People are people, brethren. We're not called to defend our political stance.
We are called to spread the gospel. That sounded really negative and cranky. So let's flip over. What he was doing is he was making sure there was nothing that was going to turn her ear away before he had a chance to present the gospel.
And then he presents a message of tremendous blessing. He tells her about water that would spring up into everlasting life. And she begins to have her appetite whetted for this blessing that he had to give her.
And most of us would give it to her at that point. But there are two things that the Lord Jesus had to address with this woman before he could move forward. And there are two things that I think every person who works with sinners needs to remember.
Number one, she needs to know about sin. She needs to know about it. Oftentimes what passes for scriptural gospel preaching leaves out sin and responsibility to God for sin. Now I may be preaching to the choir today.
I'm looking at a lot of very solid gospel preachers and very solid theologians in our meeting today. But never forget when it comes to preaching, people need to know about sin. If you are going to expect repentance to be worked in their heart, they need to know what to repent from.
You see, I believe that's scriptural. But when you're working individually, perhaps with your own family or with your own children and they're interested in being saved, remember they need to know about sin.
They need to know about sin. So when she says, sir, give me this water, he says, go call thy husband. I don't think he was being ignorant to her and I don't think he was being bold and brazen to her. He was just highlighting the fact that she had sin.
And then she changed the subject. She says, well, I have a religion, you know. Listen to what he tells her. I'm not sure if I could do this every time, but listen to what he tells her. He says, you don't even know what you're worshiping.
Sometimes we're scared to offend people by talking about religion. And there are thousands of people around us who are dying in their sins who say they're religious. This brings me to my second point.
These things are not popular to talk about. Sometimes they're a little touchy, but I want you to get it because I think it's important. If somebody just says, oh, yes, I'm saved. And they tell you some far-flung story about something that might have happened to them in some former life.
And it's not according to the scriptures. Can we tell them that they're not saved? Well, we don't want to. Don't want to what? I'm not saying that everyone goes out and they become a Judge Judy and start saying, well, you're saved and you're not saved and you're saved and you're not saved.
That's not what I'm saying. But if someone obviously is not saved, you're only helping them by telling them, brethren. If they talk about a baptism and that's when I got saved, tell them that's not how people get saved.
If there's an opportunity for you in a gracious way to give them some light from the scriptures, give them light from the scriptures and say, well, what you are telling me, I'm very thankful that you're being honest and I'm very thankful that you're being open.
But if you listen closely, that's not what we're preaching about when we preach the gospel. You see, we need to protect against not just people telling us they're saved, but us encouraging people who are not saved.
Now that I got that out of the way, we continue. Because next you will find that after her sin was confronted and after her religion was refuted, she comes to know Christ. That's what we want, isn't it?
That's what we want. I'll tell you this. It's been impressed on my mind for at least the last eight or ten years. I want people to have what I have. And if people are going to have what I have, they're going to have to hear what I have heard.
I'm not saying they're going to have to hear McCandless and McElwain because they'd have to bring McElwain back from the dead. But they have to hear the same message. And if we are expecting people to have what we have and then to move in the same convictions that we move with and to gather in the way that we gather and to develop in the way we would love to develop ourselves, then we have to continue to tell them what we have heard from the scriptures.
The same message. In the same way. In looking for the same results. Because I'm still one who believes that the gospel is a life-changing message. And this life-changing message, it may not make you more prompt when it comes to to time on the clock.
But it's a life-changing message that will have effects. Again, don't be hard. Don't be unreasonable. Don't expect little kids to behave like old men. Don't expect people to know what you haven't taught them.
I think that's a plague among us, by the way. Someone does something and we say, man, I thought they knew better. How would they know better if you don't teach them? Anyway, continuing. Don't expect them to be you.
But expect them to be transformed because the gospel transforms people. And then he says, Say not ye that there are yet months until the harvest. I understand that there are young brethren and young sisters who are exercised in the gospel.
I understand that at times there are things that would slow us down when it comes to our exercise. I encourage brethren who are in places of responsibility in assemblies to look for people who have exercised and encourage the right things.
And I will pray for you as you encourage the right things, but make sure you discourage some of the wrong things. So that when we are involved in gospel work and we seek to put a man and his wife out into the work of the gospel, we are doing so scripturally.
Someone who believes what we believe. Someone who will preach what we preach. Someone who's dependable. I have said it before. If you can't control them, don't give them a letter and expect me to control them.
Please. That would be really difficult. But we do need to be more exercised because the facts are facts. If I go back to PEI, which I intend to do this week, I'll go to PEI and Scott will be home by then.
So I kind of got to go past his place. I got to drive past John Procopio's place. Before I get to PEI, I got to drive by Murray's place. And then I drive by Peter Ramsey's place. And then I drive by David Herlihy's place.
And I drive by Noel Burden's place. And all of those men are full-time workers in the gospel in a little province that's got about 150 ,000 people. And one lady came up to me and said, can you pray that the Lord will send someone to PEI?
What she really meant is, Brody, you're spending too much time in Newfoundland and Iowa. Pray, brethren, to the Lord of the harvest that he'll send forth laborers and that we would rejoice together, not just in individuals saved, thank God, for individuals, but in entire communities reached.
Is there still the possibility of assemblies being planted in 2022 in North America? I would say, pray the Lord of the harvest that he sends forth laborers.