John 4:31-42

[0:00] We're in John chapter 4 for this Sunday school hour. So John chapter 4, and to get your bearings back to where we were last Sunday, Christ met a woman at Jacob's well in Samaria, and the city there is called Sychar in verse 5, and he's wearied from the journey.

[0:30] He sits by the well, and a woman shows up, and he asked her or kind of tells her to give me a drink. And so a conversation ensues, and she's obviously, number one, surprised that a Jew such as himself would have conversation with her.

[0:46] That's not the normal dealings. And he spoke to her and told her some things that she had never heard before. Or, actually, he told her, if you knew who I was, you'd be asking me for a drink of living water.

[0:59] And I believe that she didn't quite, I mean, I know she didn't understand what he meant. She deflected the conversation, but I think she just kind of rolled her eyes and said, Okay, go ahead, prove it to me.

[1:11] Give me that drink, or I'll never have to come back to draw ever again. And I'm pretty sure she's with unbelief and no discernment, no spiritual understanding of who this man is and of what he's even talking about, which is no surprise.

[1:30] This happens quite frequent when Christ has conversations with men and women, and he speaks to them of spiritual things, and they can't understand them. So he continues on, and their eyes are opened eventually.

[1:43] He opens her eyes by telling her that she had five husbands, when he said, Go call thy husband. And she said, I don't have a husband. Yeah, that's exactly right. You had five, and the one you're with now is not your husband.

[1:55] So you're living in fornication, and you're guilty before God. And now she realizes, Oh, you're a prophet. And then she wants to talk a little bit of religion about where their fathers worship and pray, and Christ just kind of gets real plain with her and says, You don't know what you're talking about.

[2:11] You don't know what you worship, and you're clueless. And so when it comes down to this, in verse number 25, we got to hear a woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh.

[2:23] Like, that's one thing I've heard all my life. I know that that's going to happen, which is called Christ. When he's come, he'll tell us all things. And so this man is not Messiah to her at this moment.

[2:33] This man is not the Lord Jesus Christ. He's just a Jew that she's talking to, and he's half crazy. But then, no, he's a prophet. He knows some things about me. And she wants to tell him, the prophet, what she knows about religion, what she knows about God.

[2:47] I know that the Messiah's going to come, and he's going to tell us all things. And so, yeah, I've learned that in Sunday school. And his statement to her is, I that speak unto thee am he. And we ended in this area here where the woman, in verse 28, she left her water pot and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.

[3:10] Is not this the Christ? Now, it's interesting that in verse 30, then they went out of the city and came unto him. And so, whatever status this woman holds in life, and whatever people thought of her having five husbands and now living in fornication with number six, they're willing to hear what she says and listen to her argument and follow her lead out of the city where their business is and where their homes are to go out to where this well is, where this stranger is.

[3:43] But she must have been convincing. And I suppose she was convincing because she believed what she had just experienced. And it didn't take any more convincing for her.

[3:54] I'm going to go tell everybody about this and get them out here to see that you are, in fact, the Christ. And so she was convinced. She believed. The disciples, in verse 31, here's where we'll pick it up.

[4:09] The disciples, in the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. So the disciples returned from where they were. That was back in, where did that show them?

[4:21] Verse 8 says his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Now, they returned. In the meantime, they thought, well, he needs to eat.

[4:34] But here's something interesting is that the disciples didn't, they came back with food. They didn't come back with any men. They didn't come back with anybody to come and hear the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

[4:47] They just went into the city to get meat and to come back. And they're just continuing on their journey, just doing what they were doing the morning they woke up, going to Galilee, heading through Samaria.

[5:00] But this woman, when Jesus Christ reveals himself to her, she says, oh, I've got to tell the town. And she brought him out. I find it interesting that the divorced, multiple times divorced woman brought people to Jesus Christ.

[5:14] His own disciples didn't bring a soul. They went to the city with one thing on their mind, we've got to buy food. They didn't see souls in that town. They didn't look at the men and think, you know, you need the Messiah too.

[5:26] And he's literally right outside of town, seated upon a well. Like he's right here. You've never been closer to salvation in your life. But did they tell him?

[5:38] It doesn't appear that they told a soul. They just went in, did their business, and left. And I'll admit that I'm as guilty as these disciples. And so are you. You have the truth.

[5:50] You know the Lord Jesus Christ. You know exactly how to get to him. And yet you go to the grocery store and just buy meat. And you go right back home. And you go out and do your business at work, and you go right back home.

[6:02] But this woman, this is such a great picture of a new believer that gets the truth, and her eyes are opened, and there's excitement to that. She wants to tell everybody.

[6:14] And she does. And she gets them to come. And it's such a blessing of the Lord when a new believer comes in the door, gets saved, and they're in church, and they start reaching their family.

[6:25] And they start talking to their family. There's two individuals in this church now. They're not here right at the moment, but they've been in discussions with me over the last few months about trying to reach their parents, trying to reach their relatives, their sisters, trying to get them to come to church, trying to get their in-laws to come to church.

[6:41] It's such a joy to see that zeal inside of them. It should be in all of us. It probably was at one time, wasn't it? It probably was at one time.

[6:51] When you were first saved or when you got some things right, you all of a sudden wanted to see your friends come to Christ. You wanted your cousins and your aunts and uncles to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that you can't force them, and you can't twist their arm.

[7:04] And just because this woman brought all this company that you're not going to go witness all week, and then the pews will be filled because you did. I get that. But we're just kind of setting the stage for some things that we're going to hit here in this passage, and it's real good stuff.

[7:18] And let it be convicting to all of us because this is something we're here to do. So the woman leaves her water pot. Don't need that right now. I came with that in my hand.

[7:30] I'm going to leave that right here on the well because I'm about something else. The business she's about to go is to be bringing souls to Jesus Christ. And so she leaves the water pot, went her way into the city, saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.

[7:45] Is not this the Christ? And the answer is, yeah. It is the Christ. And when they went out of the city and came unto him, then went they out of the city and came unto him. Now, in the meanwhile, there's a discussion here while his disciples, so it seems that while the woman's gone, maybe she passes the disciples on the road.

[8:04] I don't know, but they show up and they have a little discussion with Jesus Christ. He says some things to him. And then back in verse 39, you pick it back up with the Samaritans. So let's get into this little section here of 31 through 38 now this morning.

[8:19] It says in verse 31, In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him. And so the word prayed is a word that just means asked. It's not necessarily an archaic word at all, even though we don't typically say that.

[8:33] But you've heard the term, somebody would say pray tell. They're asking you to tell them the answer or the information. It's not archaic in any means, but it is not as commonly used in that sense.

[8:50] You hear the word pray, and automatically you think of something religious or like talking to God. But what is that? Asking. It's just praying. Praying is asking.

[9:01] And so we've kind of let the word prayer become an all-encompassing noun to describe a communication with God.

[9:12] And it's used that way in the Bible as well. But it's also used in this verb sense of they prayed him, saying, Master, eat. So that's not a prayer for, you know, heal the sick or forgive my sins or supply my needs.

[9:26] They're just like, would you take something to eat here? We've got food for you. Take a bite. And here's his response in verse 32. He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

[9:38] Now, you know your Bible and you've been around this book a little bit. You've read through here. You understand he's talking about something spiritual. But do you think they understood when he said those words that he spoke of spiritual things, that he's doing some work here.

[9:51] He's got something going on. He's about to have a crowd of people show up to him. He's getting prepared. He's mentally getting prepared to speak to this crowd. And the disciples are like, hey, let's eat.

[10:05] And he said unto them, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, hath any man brought him aught to eat? Why isn't he hungry? Well, he probably is hungry in his flesh, but there's something more pressing in his spirit.

[10:19] And it's that there's a multitude that's about to hear the word of God that have never heard it, have never been open. They're about to come and see me and they're going to believe on me. And it's got to be a, it's got to be an interesting thing or concept to imagine the man Jesus Christ knowing like he sent her off, he told her some things, sent her off, and she's coming back.

[10:42] She's coming back with a crowd and he's getting himself ready for this evangelistic meeting, this tent meeting that's about to take place, this couple day revival.

[10:53] It's about to, now he, I would not doubt that he senses and understands in his spirit what's coming, what's about to take place. The disciples, have no clue.

[11:05] Just went and got some meat, came back, said, come on, let's eat. We've got to keep walking. We've got a journey to go. And little did they know, you're not going anywhere. Your plans are about to change. So he says, in verse 34, he answers them and say, Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.

[11:26] So that's an interesting line there. My meat, that is what I partake of or what satisfies me, the substance that I go off of, the energy I run on, is doing the work or the will of God.

[11:40] That's what satisfies me. And let me just say this, you ought to experience it sometime. It's tremendously satisfying to do something right for God. It is tremendously fulfilling inside the new man to speak up for Christ or to do something you don't want to do knowing that it's the work and the will of God.

[12:00] To be used of God is not just satisfying and fulfilling. There's joy that springs up in that thing. That joy is, there's a substance to it.

[12:11] It's better or different than eating a good meal and feeling full and satisfied and now I can just, you know, not be hungry anymore for a while, but rather there's a joy that comes in that almost replaces that.

[12:24] It's a different, it's in a different man and they don't really connect, but it's almost like it has a similar outcome. When you get serving God and do something for Him, it just flows through your veins in a different way.

[12:40] Christ wasn't thinking about food. He wasn't hungry for food. food. The Bible says in verse 6 that he was wearied with his journey. They had come a long way. You'd expect, okay, you probably should eat.

[12:52] You walked a long time, expended a lot of energy. He's thirsty. He asked for a drink. There's no evidence that he got that drink. And yet here he is when there's food brought to him.

[13:03] His mind's on something else. And so, his meat is to do the will of him that sent him. Flip over to chapter 5 and look at verse 30.

[13:17] What Christ came is to do the will of the Father to finish His work. Chapter 5, verse 30, Christ said, I can of mine own self do nothing.

[13:27] As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. There he said it again.

[13:38] And there's a few other places we'll catch in John that he says something very similar. That's what he's about is doing the will of God and even using that as justification for his judgment and his decisions and his choices saying, I'm not doing this for my benefit.

[13:52] I'm doing this because this is the will of God. And that was what he called his meat. All right, verse number 35. Come back to John chapter 4. In verse 35, and notice the wording here.

[14:10] Don't get confused. He's not commanding them not to say something. Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. That's a question.

[14:21] So he's saying, don't you guys say, say not ye, there are four months and yet then cometh harvest. Isn't that what you guys say? And the answer is, well, yeah, four months from now, there's going to be a harvest.

[14:34] So yes, that's exactly what we're all saying right now. And so that's the question. Don't you say that in the future there's going to be a harvest like four months from now? But he's saying, verse 35, behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white all ready to harvest.

[14:55] His statement is, it's now. The harvest is ready today. The harvest was in that town where you just went to. Now they didn't, I don't believe the crowd of the mass of the city made it to the place yet.

[15:10] I think he's just having his conversation with his disciples by the well. The woman's gone back to the town to bring out the masses. And so what he tells them, he says, lift up your eyes and look on the fields.

[15:22] You just went through the fields of this town and your eyes did not see a harvest. You didn't see it at all. What you saw was carnal needs of meat and drink and physical substance.

[15:38] And so what Christ says, I say unto you, lift up your eyes. That's probably the greatest need in Christianity today is to lift up your eyes, to wake up, to get your eyes off your phone, to get your eyes out of your life and out of your problems and out of your bills and just lift up your eyes and look around.

[16:03] We know the world is life and wickedness and it's on its way to hell. Like we so know that. We see it just falling away and digressing and getting worse every day.

[16:15] We see it in our culture. We see it in this nation. We see it all over the television and the news and the internet and it's just, it's sickness. It's getting madder and madder and it's easy for you and I to just get one step further removed from it because we despise it because it's unclean, it's ungodliness.

[16:37] I don't, like myself personally, I have no interest in watching any news except for when there's just something wild or some headline that I just want to understand what took place. They bombed them, okay, now they're at war.

[16:49] But I'm not going to watch it 24 hours a day. I'm not sitting on the edge of my seat listening and just trying to feed off of it so I could satisfy this lust.

[16:59] I don't care about any of it. I find myself just getting further and further divorced and removed from caring about the cares of this life and the world, what's going on in the world.

[17:11] And there's a danger there for any Christian to not, to get so, to despise the world so hard that it just, just turns into just isolate.

[17:22] And we have our little holy huddle on Sundays and we get together but we don't really care because the world's wicked and they're on their way to hell. But the Bible, Christ is telling us, lift up your eyes.

[17:36] So look at these, this world and not just see the world system, see the souls of this world and see the individuals that are in your life, your life. See that you have a purpose here.

[17:47] You have a work to do and what Christ said, it was to do the will of God, the will of Him that sent me and finish His work. And you're not here just to soak up some sun rays and to, you know, put a few dollars in your pocket and enjoy a few things.

[18:03] You're here to do something for Jesus Christ. And you're going to know that. Hopefully it's not when it's too late. Hopefully it's not when you stand in front of Him and realize that there's my whole life burning up in the flames.

[18:15] Hopefully before that you'll lift up your eyes and you'll look on the fields in your life because there's fields in your life. You're going to be in some fields today and then tomorrow and the next day you're going to be in a field and it's going to be filled with fruit that's ripe to be picked or it's going to be filled with some opportunity for you to do something.

[18:37] Maybe it's not all fruit that's just there ready to go but it's definitely an opportunity for service. I can say that. We'll get into that right now. Look at the next verse. Verse 36.

[18:50] He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. So there's two different occupations he's referring to.

[19:03] One sowing one reaping and those are two different people. The one sowed the other shows up and reaps and he gathers or receives wages because he's gathering fruit unto life eternal.

[19:16] So there's reward in this the reaping. Now but notice that the sower and the reaper at the end of verse 36 rejoice together and herein is that saying true one soweth and another reapeth.

[19:29] I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored. Notice I sent you past tense. I sent you to reap.

[19:42] Isn't that interesting? I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored and ye entered into their labors. And then there's many of the Samaritans that show up from the city.

[19:55] And it might be very much that Christ didn't just send his disciples to buy meat but he sent them in there to reap where other men had labored. Who labored? Well John the Baptist labored.

[20:08] You can read about a little bit about his ministry. He labored in these fields and plowing and preaching preaching to these people that the kingdom of heaven's at hand and he's preaching and baptizing.

[20:21] His disciples went out into those fields themselves at times being sent out there's been some men before some prophets and some preachers and some people that have labored and sown.

[20:34] You could go as far back as Moses and his writings and the word of God and the prophets that gave their lives their fathers that have been that have suffered from at the hands of evil and wicked men and they bestowed their labors on these fields.

[20:47] They've preached and you know what the woman said? I know that Messiah's cometh. Where'd you get that idea? From other men's labor that's where? From other men's preaching other men sticking their neck out and sometimes getting that neck cut off literally because they preached thus saith the Lord and so there's people that had an understanding that Jesus Christ would come.

[21:11] There was fruit that was ready to be picked ready to be reaped because of other men's labors and Christ said I sent you to reap.

[21:23] Other men labored you're entered into their labors. Now Paul says something very much the same. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 1 Corinthians chapter 3 1 Corinthians 3 just to show you that there's different ministers or laborers we'll pick it up in verse number 6 Paul says Paul says this I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase so Paul planted the seed Apollos watered that seed it's the Holy Ghost of God that does anything spiritual or any growth that's not the work of a man so then neither so then neither is he that planteth anything neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own laborer and verse 9 we are laborers together with

[22:43] God and so in the end of what Christ said is that those both rejoice together the sower and the reaper because we're laborers together with God and it's about him getting the glory back in Matthew chapter 9 Christ told him that the harvest truly is plenteous but there's a problem there's no laborers there are few laborers going out into this harvest so Christ is drawing their attention to the need and to the opportunity before them if I could give you a little bit different order or just maybe a different vein of thought that might apply to today although you could very much well say that other men labored and there's men that have labored in our land and labored in this world before us and we are just entering into their labors in some cases but in other cases like I mentioned earlier you look around this land and it is vile and there are so many in this world very much on this west coast that do not know a thing about the word of god the word jesus christ truth they're taught completely opposite to that and so many espouse a deep rooted belief of atheism or just agnostic like there may be there may not be but I really don't know and who do you think you are that you know and so they've already been entrenched with lies and so what I'm saying is while there are some that have been cultivated in some cases the first step is just prepare the ground it is to as jeremiah said break up your fallow ground is to get out there and do some plowing get out there and before you can really even sow the seed of the gospel is plow some ground up and turn it over and show them the word of god is true and show them and preach declare the truth show them somebody who's not ashamed to stand up for jesus christ that what you have is real that you know the less and less and less the world sees of a christian that'll stand up for christ the more and more and more they don't believe it even is real or exists it'd be up to us to take a stand and to show them this is real not just oh we go to church let them know you believe it with all of your heart you're convinced for eternity and you can never be talked out of it this thing is real it's as real as anything else now you have to prepare the ground that's one of the first steps in doing anything to reaping and ultimately you know why you're reaping to like it said in verse verse 36 he that reapeth receiveth wages it's a job it's a means to make money and so that's the end ultimate end for the man is like I want to receive a reward for this labor

[25:50] I wanted something to come out of it well you got to start by preparing the ground and to bring in some of the parables here there may be some stones that need to be removed or some thorns that need to be removed and ripped out and the ground needs to be prepared and turned over and softened so it can absorb the water it can receive the seed and then secondly you sow the seed and so he mentions the sower and then Paul mentions somebody watering that seed and so all these elements then becomes the increase where God produces something to be harvested a work that the Holy Spirit is doing inside the heart to where they're considering they're confused they're looking for answers they're looking for truth and then somebody needs to lift up their eyes and see that soul and go after them and harvest pick that fruit and then come the wages a deposit into an eternal account he refers to that they're gathering fruit unto life eternal and so there's maybe a little more of an order to what we might say how this all works together and comes out when Christ sent these disciples he told them first of all you need to just lift up your eyes the work's been done already they're out there they know that Messiah is coming and I'm right here why would I go right by this town and not give them an opportunity so lift up your eyes now verse number 39 many of the

[27:25] Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did many of the Samaritans of the city what a great testimony for the woman to take what she found to be true and to spread it and to have it bring results it truly it's accurate to say that the fields are white unto harvest because the woman herself this adulterous fornicating multiple husband having woman they'll listen to what she said she must have believed it she must have had some zeal something to her that they listened to her and so verse number 40 so when the Samaritans were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode 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 this that this indeed this is indeed the Christ the savior of the world so what happened here was there was others that came out that some were ready were ripe fruit they were ready for the harvest but there was others that needed to be watered with the word and it says we have heard him ourselves they came they didn't say get lost get out of here you crazy woman we know what you live like no they followed and they came out to hear and to see what is this all about but they weren't ready to receive it from her word like some were you see the difference some were ready for harvest but others needed what

[29:07] I'll just say they needed watered and they needed to hear something else and that's what they said we have heard so they needed some more scripture some more of the word of God and then they were ready to receive and to believe the Lord Jesus Christ it'd be great if everybody just snapped the finger you give them the gospel and they receive it it'd be so exciting and great to see people come to Christ that easily but it doesn't happen like that and sometimes there's there's there's undoing a a a lifetime of confusion of lies and deception of of a religion they were raised in that has given them no hope and no forgiveness and no access to God but they still believe that's what they have to do sometimes there's a you have to unravel some of that with the word of God so that they can then see Jesus Christ on the cross for their sins and how simple it is to receive him personally by faith and so there's a work to do and God can do it and you see that it had to be done in these people too that some were ready some weren't quite ready but they spent some time with

[30:25] Christ and heard him now just briefly I'm not going to spend the time on this but in verse 40 it says he abode there two days and this is the second time it came up flip back to chapter 2 chapter 2 and verse number 1 it says and the third day there was a marriage now when we hit it there I really just threw it out as food for thought and didn't cover the scriptures I'm probably just going to stay there again today but it's come up again so it's interesting these two days there's after two days is a marriage and in John chapter 2 it's not specific to two days from what exactly you could kind of suppose some things but it doesn't necessarily prove it to be true it's almost like it's just hanging in the air without any concrete thing to pin it to on the so there was two days before that but what are we talking about exactly well there's a wedding on the third day which kind of matches some bible doctrine when you get back to a marriage of the lamb and the lamb's wife being ready there's two days that he abides with some what we'll call gentiles they're not

[31:38] Jews they're a half breed they're ones that they weren't really even sent to but because of this woman because they come out to him he alters his schedule his timetable as it were to spend two days with a people that knew him not and that he knew not and he came into his own and his own received him not and so he spends two days this matches this thought of a 7,000 year period of the day with the lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day and you go through the first 4,000 years of history and you wind up really close to calvary and after that we've got this 2,000 give or take almost 2,000 years where christ has kind of set the jews aside and he set that timetable to stop what he was doing with them and now he's spending time with gentiles and it seems like he's spending two days with them meaning 2,000 years meaning i'm not going to predict anything or pretend that i wouldn't even know what date is what on our calendar precisely according to god's timetable or wherever we even are if it's 2,000 maybe it's 2050 right now who knows but i might be blowing your mind there never mind whatever the case is it seems like the lord has this two day or 2,000 year period where he's pausing what he's doing with the jews and giving these gentiles some time and that's where we find ourselves in right now and so that's kind of a neat little thought there in a picture in hosea chapter 6 if you want to look it up sometime i think it's chapter 6 i may not even have it written down here hosea 6 and verse 2 you'll see that the lord after two days he's going to take back his nation israel where he he the prophecy is he's put them aside they're not his people and after two days he's going to take them back and that seems to match here quite interestingly what's going on in a picture with the samaritans in john chapter 4 so he tarries with them and he abode there two days the word abode that's what god said that the spirit would do with these believers he would abide with them so it's it's a thought worth considering and i think it's interesting stuff and as far as the 7,000 year thing it matches the seven days of creation and the 7,000 years being the years of rest of his millennial kingdom it really seems to match what god does in sevens and so it's a good study and if you never got into it we can get into it in more detail at some point but for now just kind of sprinkling that out there a little bit in verse 42 we're going to close here he 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 the savior of the world so you notice these samaritans include themselves in who this person is the christ not the the angel said he shall save his people from their sins or was that the angels or was that

[35:10] Gabriel talking to Joseph shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and yet these samaritans are not looking at it that way at all they're saying oh when he comes he's going to be the savior of all of us right all of us not just not just you jews but all of us they like to call him the savior of the world and they're right they're absolutely right now I know it's a little tricky to draw lines with the ministry of jesus christ where he's going to his own and where he told him to go not into any city of the samaritans when he sent them out i understand he came into his own and that he went to the lost sheep of the house of israel but they were looking for a messiah to come to they were looking for a christ to come to be their savior and they were right to do that and he is in fact their savior just as much as he is all of ours or their jews as well but i think it's interesting to see their take that they're including themselves in this and so he spends two days with them you see in verse 43 after two days he departed thence and went into galilee and then we're just going to stop there for time's sake and then lord will finish the chapter next sunday morning so let's take about 10 minutes 15 minutes to three to another one five which to see thank you for un this earlier it