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John 4:31-42 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Amen and good morning. Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in John chapter 4.
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!
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Our text for today is John chapter 4 verses 31 through 42.
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! Before I read it, I want to make a few introductory comments.
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Beginning by saying that God's Word is truly magnificent.
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If you've been a student of God's Word for any measure of time, you probably already realize this in some ways.
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But I will say, having been a pastor here now for 16 years and having the great privilege of day in and day out,
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getting the opportunity to study and to teach His Word, I'm just continually amazed.
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It is a wonderful, wonderful book.
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We can marvel at it just for its literary structure and its prose and the beautiful choice of words.
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Anybody who's just a student of literature could really enjoy this book.
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But more than that, it speaks to us powerful words.
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Words that bring life.
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Today's text, verses 31 through 42, if you're already kind of giving it a skim,
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could just seem like an appendix to the story told at the beginning of the chapter
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where Jesus stops at a well and interacts with a Samaritan woman.
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We spent two weeks on the beginning of that chapter.
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And some of you may wonder, why not just include that in the totality of it?
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Why are we moving so slow through John chapter 4?
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Some of you may be thinking.
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And so my answer to you is because God's Word is magnificent.
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There are things to notice in these verses and to spend the time that we can spend noticing them.
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In fact, I very often think we move too quickly through our verse-by-verse expositions
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as I discover things later that I want to go back and cover again.
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We recently concluded our study of the book of Romans.
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And when I got to the end of it, the impulse of my heart was,
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let's just start back over again.
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Let's just go right back to the beginning.
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I think I'll do a better job at it the second time through.
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And leading up to our text today, and in our text today,
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starting in chapter 2, we have seen a series of misunderstandings in John's writing.
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So first we see John chapter 2 and verse 20,
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after Jesus has said some things about the temple being torn down
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and it being raised up again in three days,
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and he's talking about his death and his resurrection,
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there's a misunderstanding.
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We just see the Jews then said,
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it has taken 46 years to build this temple,
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and you will raise it up in three days?
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They miss the point.
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They're hard of hearing.
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They don't understand the spiritual thing that Jesus is there teaching.
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Then in John chapter 3 and verse 4,
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there Jesus is talking about the need to be born again.
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Again, a spiritual reality that he's trying to teach to Nicodemus.
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And Nicodemus says,
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how can a man be born when he is old?
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Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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A misunderstanding,
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not an illumination of what Jesus is trying to say to him.
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And then John chapter 4 and verse 11,
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this is the Samaritan woman,
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and Jesus tells her that he can give her living water,
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and she says,
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sir, you have nothing to draw water with,
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and the well is deep.
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Where do you get that living water?
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And we talked about how Jesus himself,
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the spiritual reality is living water,
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fully satisfying for her need.
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And then later on in verse 15,
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she says again,
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sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty
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or have to come here to draw water.
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And then in our text today,
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in verse 33,
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Jesus says that he's not hungry.
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They've been sent away to find food,
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and he says that he's not hungry,
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and the disciples misunderstand what he's trying to say to them,
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which we'll look at a bit further.
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And they say,
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has anyone brought him something to eat?
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I thought we went off to go get the food,
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and yet he seems no longer to be hungry.
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Hard of hearing.
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Misunderstood.
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And so when we come to texts like this,
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it's very easy to read the text
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and read phrases like in verse 34,
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my food is to do the will of him who sent me
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and to accomplish his work.
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And to not understand it.
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To scratch our heads at what it means.
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And you'll likely in your life read past phrases like this
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and go,
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well, that's strange.
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And go on and not visit it.
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That's why it's good that we press us to sit down
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and really take a look at a text as we study it together.
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My food is to do the will of him who sent me
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and to accomplish his work.
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So as we misunderstand these things,
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there's a couple of possibilities for why we misunderstand them.
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Number one, it could just make no sense
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because we are spiritually dead.
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We don't have God's Spirit to help us discern God's Word.
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Our ears haven't been brought to life.
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Our eyes haven't been brought to life in order to see.
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And so we just don't understand these types of hard sayings.
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It's also possible that it makes no sense to us
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because we are regenerate.
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We have been made alive by the Spirit of Christ.
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But we just don't do the work.
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We don't just take the time to really consider what's being said.
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We're such an on-demand people, are we not?
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These magic devices that we carry around in our pockets all the time
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put information right at our fingertips.
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My sister-in-law, who's a teacher, went back to work as an ESOL teacher.
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And her job is to partner with students.
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So she's going into classes and she's partnering with students
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who don't speak English as their primary language.
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And she, first week of school, was in a class
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and the students were asked what the seven continents were,
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10th graders, seven continents, and none of them knew.
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And she just was milling around the room just trying to help random students
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and figuring out if they knew what this continent is.
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And a group she was talking to had no idea.
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And we were musing about that.
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How is it that 10th graders don't know this?
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And one of my answers to it was, well, it's in their pocket.
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Why know and learn anything when you can access it with just a short query?
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And I think we do this as Christians.
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We don't take the time to really understand.
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We don't let the Word soak deep into us.
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Meditate on it.
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We are confused, so we run quickly to find an answer.
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Or we just decide it doesn't really matter right now.
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When it does, perhaps I'll try to figure out what it means.
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Just don't do the work.
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And I'll tell you, the work is good.
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It's really good to do the work.
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Or perhaps we're so wrapped up in worldliness that we are just spiritually numb.
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We just have become apathetic and stopped really caring that Jesus says things and he does things,
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in the case of John, that are often confusing.
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And I just don't want to put the effort in at all.
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Third possibility is that we do, in fact, put in the work.
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And the Spirit illuminates the text for us and we are greatly benefited by it.
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Of course, I have concern for the previous of those two possibilities.
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I hope and pray that we all find ourselves in that third category.
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But in the first case of concern, I've been praying and always do pray.
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It's why we pray for the preaching of God's Word.
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That God would grant us spiritual life as his Word is studied.
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That even this morning, you may not have repented yet of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ.
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And that he would make it come alive to you as you come to life.
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In the second case, I want to turn your attention away from worldliness.
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We have such few moments together.
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It seems so often that the gathering of the church just isn't sufficient for the task.
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And so we ask that the Spirit would work mightily in our lives in these moments that we have as we come together and open God's Word.
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I want to show you that this is a magnificent Word.
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And I also want to show you that you can study and understand it.
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It's possible for you to do this work.
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And so often when I preach, I'm trying to show you the process.
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How do we get to the place that we get?
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I don't want to present myself as some genius.
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It would be difficult to do because I'm not.
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I take some time.
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I do some work.
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I've spent a lot of time in this text.
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And I've got a stack of books that were read this past week and studied.
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But I want to show you, you can do this.
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And so we're going to do that with the text this morning.
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So let's pray that God would help us as we study together.
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Our Father and our God, we do ask that as we take up your Word together this morning,
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we want to rightly understand it.
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We don't want to just merely derive some facts from it.
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But we want it to affect our hearts the way you intend for it to.
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And we know that we can't do this without your help.
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We humbly recognize it was written for your glory, firstly, that you would be known and also for our good.
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We ask that you would help us believe its promises, obey its commands, and have affection for you, its author.
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And we pray this in the name of Christ.
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31.
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Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat.
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But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about.
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So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat?
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Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
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Do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest?
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Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.
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Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life,
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so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
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For here the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps.
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I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor.
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Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.
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Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.
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He told me all that I ever did.
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So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
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And many more believed because of his word.
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They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe,
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for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
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So, a little bit of detail.
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If you've not been with us, right?
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Prior to this, they're outside the town of Sychar.
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They're in a region where the Samaritans live.
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And the Samaritans were half-breed Jewish people, right?
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They're the ancestors of those who returned from captivity and bred with the people of the land,
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and they were seen as unclean.
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They were seen as outside the grace of God.
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This is Christ's first, John's record, cross-cultural ministry effort.
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And we believe that he was led there.
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The text says that he had to go this way, and there were actually roads that went around this region.
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Most Jews would have traveled around the region of Samaria.
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And yet he goes through it, and he has this divine encounter with this woman
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who has had five husbands and now is living with a man who is not her husband.
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And so it's understood that she was coming to the well in the middle of the day to draw water.
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Instead of when it would have normally been drawn,
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either in the early hours or the late, when it was cool,
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she's coming because she's avoiding the shame of being around other people from Sychar.
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She's avoiding the talking of the other women.
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She's got great sin.
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Jesus exposes that sin at the beginning of the chapter
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and then offers to her greater mercy,
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more abundant grace in the form of this living water conversation that he has with her.
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We hope, we think and hope that she is converted.
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We're unsure of that, but she goes back to the village.
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She leaves her water jar.
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She goes back to the village and she begins to ask,
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which he had said to her that he was the Messiah,
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and she begins to ask that question.
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He's told me,
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everything that I've ever done,
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could this be him?
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Like the anointed one that the scripture speaks of.
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And so that's where you pick up in verse 31,
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the meanwhile.
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The disciples have returned.
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They're marveling that Jesus is talking to a woman,
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and she's gone into town,
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and they're there,
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and they're waiting.
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And so you see in our text that people from the town come out to him,
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and this is the meanwhile conversation that's going on.
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Now, I'm going to spare you the big, large, chiastic talk.
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And if anything I'm about to say piques your interest,
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and I hope it does,
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feel free to come ask me more about it.
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But the book of John is laid out in a chiastic structure,
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which means the beginning and the end correspond to each other,
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and it continues to work itself toward a center.
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And the book has within it chiastic structures.
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Right?
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So we have before us,
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beginning in verse 31 and going through verse 42,
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another chiastic structure.
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This has become a talk at our table at our house.
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The boys are trying to find chiasms everywhere now.
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And I'm trying to emphasize that they're not everywhere,
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but we want to see them when they are there
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because it's a really common literary structure,
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and it's meant to help us comprehend
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what the text is about.
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So look at verse 31 through 34,
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and then verse 40 through 42.
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These two verses,
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these sets of verses correspond to one another.
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And the clue to that is the phrase,
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urging him in verse 31,
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and then the phrase,
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asked him in verse 40.
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It's the exact same Greek phrase.
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Exact same.
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Right?
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Now the translators give us different English words for it,
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which doesn't really serve us in this case,
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but we do well when we see patterns of things to go,
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hey, wait a second.
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Could something be going on here?
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I'm going to suggest to you,
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and we're going to spend a little bit of time
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thinking about this together,
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but Jesus' phrase in verse 34,
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my food is through the will of him who sent me,
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and to accomplish his work,
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we'll talk about what that work is,
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corresponds to what they say about Jesus,
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the Samaritans.
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This is indeed the Savior of the world.
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So these verses correspond to one another.
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Then notice verse 35 and 39.
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He says,
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Jesus,
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do you not say there are yet four months?
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Then comes the harvest.
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Look, I tell you,
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lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.
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Many postulate that the people would have been wearing
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some form of white clothing,
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and therefore it would have actually looked,
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and they came down the road from Sikar,
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it would have looked like the fields were ripe for harvest.
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I don't know for sure if that's the case,
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but we think that these people are coming out of the town,
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and they can see this happening.
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Verse 39 says,
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many Samaritans from that town believed.
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Verse 36 and verse 38.
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Here we see the phrases,
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the one who reaps is receiving wages.
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And then verse 38,
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I sent you to reap.
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And it brings us to the central piece of the chiasm,
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which is often there to help us.
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It turns on this,
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helps us understand the rest of the text.
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And here he says,
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for here the saying holds true,
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one sows and another reaps.
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You can do this.
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This is not an impossible task
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for you to sit down and take the time
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to work this through.
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And I will tell you that I did this in this text,
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and then I went and confirmed it with somebody
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who's way smarter at this stuff than I am.
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You could buy the book I bought.
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I bought it on Amazon.
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It came in two days.
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Okay?
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This is not impossible for you to do.
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And then to think about why.
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Why?
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Why structured this way?
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It was a mnemonic tool.
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They used it to memorize things.
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These things the Hebrew people did.
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So perhaps it serves us in that way.
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We might find ourselves being able to
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story this story to somebody
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because of its structure.
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But more than that,
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it's meant to help us ascertain
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its meaning,
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to drive us there.
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Now I'm not suggesting that you have to
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understand Christ's structure
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to unlock Scripture.
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This is some secret code.
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And there's going to be things
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you never could have gotten any other way.
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Please don't hear me say that at all.
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But it helps.
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And it enlivens it.
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And oh,
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does it make the Scripture
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magnificent?
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What a beautifully complex text
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to help us understand
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profound,
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profound truths.
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So we'll pick that back up.
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I want you to see.
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You can look at this literary structure
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and I'll tell you about
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some other literary structure
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in just a little bit here.
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Okay.
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Let's start.
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Let's start by looking at
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the first four verses.
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So this first piece of correspondence,
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we'll look at verse 31 through 34,
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and then it in relation to
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verses 40 through 42.
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Okay.
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So again,
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the disciples urge Jesus,
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saying,
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Rabbi,
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eat.
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They've been sent away on a task.
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That's how he finds himself alone
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at the well earlier in the chapter.
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And they've returned.
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And they say,
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eat.
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Right.
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We brought you food.
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And he says,
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I have food to eat
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that you don't know about.
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And they muse.
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Right.
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They say to one another,
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has anyone brought him something to eat?
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Where's the food that he's talking about?
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And he states this spiritual reality,
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which is just astounding.
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My food is to do the will of him who sent me
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and to accomplish his work.
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Food exists or should,
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at its basis level,
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exist for our sustenance.
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Right.
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It's how we get the energy.
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Our bodies do all the chemical things
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our bodies do.
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And we get the energy that we need
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to go on.
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Right.
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So we eat,
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in physical terms,
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we eat so that we can work.
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Jesus here says,
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my food is to do the work.
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The work itself is the food
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that sustains me.
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Anybody reading this on the surface
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doesn't think that this is actually
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the physically sustaining thing for him.
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That he's talking about his human form
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in this case.
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That Jesus never ate in his ministry.
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We have lots of record of him eating.
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In fact,
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he had sent the disciples away
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to get food.
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It's the very thing,
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the mission that they were on
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at this moment.
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But he has now had this conversation,
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this gospel conversation,
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with this woman.
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This is part of the text
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that gives me some hope
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that this woman is actually converted
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because she forgets the chore
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she's there to do.
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She leaves her water jar
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and she heads off into town.
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And I think it's energizing to Jesus.
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He's doing the will of him
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who sent him
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and accomplishing his work.
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As we read
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all the New Testament,
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certainly as we read John,
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we ought to understand John
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as having a fully developed view
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of Jesus' nature.
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Both that he is truly God
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and that he is truly man.
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We shouldn't think
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that he's confused about it at all.
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So I think what we see going on here
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is an expression,
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Jesus says,
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my food is through the will of him
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who sent me
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and to accomplish his work,
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both of Christ's deity
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and of his humanity.
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I think you see both things going on
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in this recorded sentence.
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So if we do a little bit of contextual work,
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Jesus is truly God.
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So in a sense,
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him talking about doing the will,
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being the sustenance for doing the will,
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in a loop,
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speaks to his self-existence,
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his self-sustaining power as God.
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Jesus is God.
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John chapter 1 and verse 1.
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In the beginning was the Word,
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this is Jesus,
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and the Word was with God
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and the Word was God.
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God needs nothing
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to add to his power,
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to give him any kind of existence
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or sustenance.
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He just is.
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Wonderful phrase in Genesis.
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I am.
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I am.
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His auseity.
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He just exists.
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Jesus is speaking to this
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in some measure here.
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Jesus doesn't need bread.
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He is the bread of life.
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He's going to speak about that
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some later.
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John chapter 6 and verse 35.
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We'll get to look at in some weeks.
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Jesus said to them,
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I am the bread of life.
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Whoever comes to me shall not hunger
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and whoever believes in me
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shall never thirst.
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Earlier, living water
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earlier in our chapter.
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Now previously,
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in our liturgy,
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read from Deuteronomy chapter 8.
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I think that Jesus is probably referring to
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also Deuteronomy 8 and verse 3.
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The very thing that he quotes
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to Satan when he's being tempted
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in the wilderness,
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Jesus is truly God.
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His sustenance is to do the will
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of his Father.
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Also, he is truly man.
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Truly man.
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And he's been given a mission.
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Both as God,
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but also as a man.
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To come,
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live a perfect life,
26:18
die a sacrificial death.
26:22
So, this idea of him
26:23
doing the will
26:24
of the Father sending him
26:26
and accomplishing his work,
26:28
what is that?
26:31
Also in John chapter 6,
26:33
beginning of verse 37.
26:35
There Jesus says,
26:36
All that the Father gives me
26:38
will come to me,
26:40
and whoever comes to me,
26:42
I will never cast out.
26:45
So, those that I came
26:47
to live and die for
26:49
will be mine.
26:51
He says, verse 38,
26:52
For I have come down from heaven
26:54
not to do my own will,
26:57
but the will of him
26:59
who sent me.
27:02
Unless we're confused at this point
27:03
about what that is.
27:04
He says in verse 39,
27:05
And this is the will
27:06
of him who sent me,
27:08
that I should lose nothing
27:09
of all that he has given me,
27:12
but raise it up
27:13
on the last day.
27:14
For this is the will
27:15
of my Father,
27:17
that everyone who looks
27:18
on the Son
27:18
and believes in him
27:19
should have eternal life.
27:23
And I will raise him up
27:24
on the last day.
27:27
Right.
27:28
So perhaps,
27:29
I hope,
27:29
I hope maybe,
27:30
if I'm doing a good job at all,
27:32
you're seeing how
27:33
these first four verses
27:35
have some correspondence
27:36
to the last four verses.
27:39
Remember what I said?
27:40
That phrase that he said?
27:41
Corresponded to
27:42
him being called
27:44
by the Samaritans
27:45
the Savior
27:46
of the world.
27:49
The will of the Father
27:50
is that he would come
27:51
and save
27:52
his people.
27:53
That he would give them
27:54
eternal
27:55
life.
27:57
This phrase,
28:00
Savior of the world,
28:01
is a common phrase
28:02
in the Christian vernacular.
28:05
And for good reason.
28:06
It's a really good
28:07
title for Christ.
28:10
But did you know
28:11
that it is only found
28:12
here
28:13
and in one place
28:14
in 1 John
28:15
chapter 4,
28:17
if I remember correct.
28:18
I think verse 14.
28:20
Savior of the world.
28:21
It's an astounding
28:24
declaration
28:25
in Jesus' day.
28:28
An astounding
28:29
declaration.
28:31
Because the
28:32
concept of salvation
28:33
was understood
28:35
to be predominantly
28:37
restricted
28:37
to
28:38
the Jews.
28:41
Predominantly
28:41
restricted to them.
28:43
God's grace and mercy.
28:45
Not for everyone.
28:46
This was the understanding
28:47
of the day.
28:49
As I said before,
28:50
this is Jesus' first
28:51
cross-cultural ministry.
28:53
And these Samaritan
28:54
believers have come
28:55
to experience
28:56
the greatness,
28:58
the over-the-top
29:01
nature
29:02
of his mercy
29:03
to those
29:04
understood
29:05
to be outside
29:06
of his
29:07
mercy.
29:10
These phrases
29:10
ought to cause us
29:11
to pause
29:12
in its correspondence
29:13
to the text
29:15
before it.
29:17
My food is to do
29:18
the will of him
29:19
who sent me
29:19
and to accomplish
29:20
his work.
29:22
And here we see
29:23
a dawning
29:24
of that glory.
29:27
Eternal life.
29:28
And to declare
29:29
of him
29:30
this is
29:31
indeed
29:32
the Savior
29:33
of the world.
29:36
Rich, right?
29:37
Isn't that amazing?
29:38
You can get that
29:39
from the text otherwise.
29:40
I understand it.
29:42
But notice,
29:43
at least for me,
29:44
there's some life
29:45
in it
29:45
when it corresponds
29:46
in this way.
29:49
Okay, let's look on.
29:51
What he goes on to say
29:52
beginning in
29:53
verse 35.
29:56
Do you not say
29:58
there are yet
30:00
four months,
30:01
then comes
30:03
the harvest.
30:05
He launches into
30:06
an analogy with them.
30:07
Look, I tell you,
30:08
lift up your eyes
30:09
and see that the fields
30:10
are white
30:11
for harvest.
30:12
harvest.
30:13
Again,
30:14
the understanding
30:14
is that the Samaritan villagers
30:16
are coming toward them
30:17
at this time.
30:20
Already,
30:21
he says,
30:21
the one who reaps
30:22
is receiving wages
30:23
and gathering fruit
30:24
for eternal life
30:26
so that sower
30:27
and reaper
30:28
may rejoice together.
30:30
For here
30:30
the saying
30:31
holds true.
30:33
One sows
30:33
and another reaps.
30:36
I sent you to reap
30:37
for that
30:37
which you did not labor.
30:38
Others have labored
30:39
and you have entered
30:40
into their labor.
30:44
Okay.
30:45
So,
30:46
you do with this
30:47
analogy, right?
30:49
He's recognizing
30:50
that there's
30:51
a cycle
30:52
that takes place
30:53
between
30:55
sowing
30:56
and
30:57
reaping.
30:58
There's
30:58
four months
30:59
between.
31:01
The understanding
31:02
is
31:02
this is likely
31:04
wheat
31:04
that they're
31:05
sowing
31:05
and
31:06
reaping.
31:07
There are four months
31:08
then comes
31:10
the harvest.
31:12
Jesus says,
31:13
look,
31:14
the harvest
31:14
is already
31:16
here.
31:18
Jesus says
31:19
that the disciples
31:20
are the reapers.
31:23
They're the ones
31:24
reaping.
31:26
But who sowed?
31:28
That's an important question
31:29
to ask of this text,
31:30
I think.
31:31
But who is it then
31:33
that sowed?
31:34
And I will tell you
31:35
that the answer
31:35
is not easy to discern.
31:37
In fact,
31:37
I'm not going to give you
31:38
much of one.
31:40
The explanations
31:41
are
31:41
all over the map.
31:44
You could almost
31:44
pick any possibility
31:45
of who sowed
31:46
and somebody out there
31:47
has written a book
31:47
arguing that that's
31:48
who
31:49
sowed.
31:52
Possibly
31:52
Jacob,
31:53
the question.
31:54
He's at the well
31:54
of Jacob.
31:56
Others would argue
31:57
the prophets,
31:59
so is the
31:59
Torah
32:00
and the prophets
32:01
that followed,
32:02
right?
32:02
God's word
32:03
that they had
32:04
in that day.
32:05
Some argue
32:07
John the Baptist.
32:09
Some argue
32:10
the Samaritan woman.
32:13
Some,
32:14
Jesus.
32:14
And there's all kinds
32:15
of combinations
32:15
of arguments
32:16
for these
32:18
various
32:18
sowers.
32:20
And to all
32:20
of this,
32:22
I just say
32:22
yes.
32:24
I think they're
32:25
all the
32:26
answer to
32:27
the question
32:29
and here's
32:30
why.
32:32
It seems
32:33
that Jesus
32:33
both
32:34
collapses
32:35
and expands
32:38
their understanding
32:39
of sowing
32:40
and reaping.
32:42
So notice,
32:43
there's a bit
32:43
of a juxtaposition
32:44
here.
32:44
First,
32:45
that he
32:45
collapses it.
32:47
There yet
32:48
four months,
32:49
then comes
32:49
the harvest,
32:50
right?
32:50
There's this
32:51
expanse of time
32:52
that most
32:52
go on
32:53
for the seed
32:53
to go into
32:54
the ground
32:54
and bring
32:54
forth
32:55
fruit
32:56
that can be
32:57
harvested.
32:58
But he says,
32:58
look,
32:59
lift up your
33:00
eyes and see
33:00
that the fields
33:01
are white
33:02
for receiving
33:03
wages and
33:03
gathering fruit
33:04
for eternal
33:05
life so that
33:06
sower and
33:07
reaper may
33:08
rejoice
33:08
together.
33:10
So he seems
33:11
to be saying,
33:11
look,
33:12
sowing and
33:13
reaping.
33:14
In the kingdom
33:14
of God,
33:15
it can happen
33:15
here and
33:16
here.
33:16
So perhaps
33:17
him sharing
33:18
the gospel
33:19
of the kingdom
33:19
with the
33:19
Samaritan woman,
33:20
perhaps her
33:20
going and
33:21
sharing it
33:21
and their
33:22
response to
33:23
it,
33:24
sowing,
33:24
reaping,
33:25
right here
33:25
seen back
33:26
to back.
33:28
And the
33:29
sower and
33:30
the reaper
33:31
are not
33:32
separated by
33:33
time,
33:34
but they
33:34
can rejoice
33:36
together.
33:38
Perhaps he
33:39
has in mind
33:40
a text like
33:41
Amos chapter
33:42
9,
33:43
verse 13
33:43
and following.
33:44
Behold,
33:46
the days are
33:46
coming,
33:47
declares the
33:47
Lord,
33:48
when the
33:49
plowman
33:50
shall overtake
33:51
the reaper
33:52
and the
33:53
treader of
33:54
grapes,
33:54
him who
33:55
sows the
33:55
seed.
33:57
The mountains
33:57
shall drip
33:58
sweet wine
33:59
and all
33:59
the hills
34:00
shall flow
34:01
with it.
34:02
I will
34:03
restore the
34:03
fortunes of
34:04
my people
34:04
Israel and
34:05
they shall
34:05
rebuild the
34:05
ruined cities
34:06
and inhabit
34:07
them.
34:07
They shall
34:08
plant vineyards
34:08
and drink
34:09
their wine
34:09
and they
34:10
shall make
34:10
gardens
34:10
and eat
34:11
their fruit.
34:11
I will
34:12
plant them
34:13
on their
34:13
land and
34:14
they shall
34:14
never again
34:15
be uprooted
34:15
out of the
34:16
land that
34:16
I have
34:16
given them,
34:17
says the
34:18
Lord your
34:19
God.
34:20
This collapsing
34:22
of field
34:24
work,
34:25
preparation
34:25
work,
34:26
and harvest
34:27
work.
34:28
Things will
34:28
be so
34:29
very abundant
34:31
for God's
34:32
people one
34:33
day.
34:33
And again,
34:33
I think we're
34:34
seeing the
34:34
dawning of
34:35
that reality
34:36
and it's
34:36
what we should
34:37
pick up out
34:37
of this text
34:38
as we read
34:40
it.
34:41
I also
34:42
think there's
34:42
an expansion
34:43
of the
34:44
idea.
34:46
He says,
34:47
here's the
34:47
central piece
34:48
of the
34:49
chiasm,
34:50
for here
34:50
the saying
34:51
holds true.
34:54
One sows
34:54
and another
34:56
reaps.
34:58
So is it
34:58
Jesus sowing
34:59
and the
35:00
disciples are
35:00
reaping?
35:01
Is it the
35:01
Samaritan woman
35:02
sowing?
35:04
Perhaps,
35:05
perhaps.
35:06
He says,
35:06
I sent you
35:07
to reap
35:07
for that
35:08
which you
35:08
did not
35:08
labor.
35:09
Others
35:09
have labored
35:10
and you
35:11
have
35:11
entered
35:12
into
35:12
their
35:13
labor.
35:14
You are
35:14
harvesting
35:15
from
35:15
their
35:16
labor.
35:17
And I
35:17
just want
35:18
to suggest
35:19
that there's
35:20
also a
35:20
reality here
35:21
that someone
35:23
else,
35:23
again,
35:24
perhaps the
35:25
prophets,
35:26
and now
35:27
the day
35:27
has come.
35:28
These people
35:29
were ready,
35:30
hearts prepared
35:31
by those
35:32
who had
35:32
gone before
35:33
and sowed
35:34
for a reap
35:35
of the fruit
35:36
of righteousness.
35:38
So,
35:39
it's a
35:39
great text.
35:41
It's a
35:41
really
35:41
cool
35:42
text.
35:45
Let's
35:45
think about
35:45
some
35:45
application
35:46
of it.
35:47
so what
35:48
when we
35:48
do all
35:50
of that?
35:51
I've got
35:52
three applications
35:52
for you.
35:53
First,
35:55
if you
35:55
have yet
35:56
to do
35:56
so,
35:58
repent
35:58
and believe.
36:01
Truly,
36:02
Jesus is
36:03
the Savior
36:04
of the
36:05
world.
36:07
Your
36:07
sin
36:08
is
36:09
great.
36:12
Be like
36:12
these
36:12
Samaritan
36:13
villagers,
36:14
the many
36:14
who believed,
36:15
who recognized
36:16
that their
36:17
disobedience
36:18
against God's
36:19
word is a
36:19
great offense
36:20
and it
36:20
deserves,
36:21
it deserves
36:23
death,
36:25
hell,
36:26
forever.
36:27
It's the
36:27
wages of it.
36:29
It's what you
36:29
have earned
36:30
in your
36:31
rebellion.
36:32
sin.
36:34
But don't
36:34
miss that
36:35
Jesus'
36:36
mercy is
36:38
greater
36:38
than your
36:39
sin.
36:41
Turn from
36:41
your sin.
36:42
Confess
36:42
your sin.
36:43
Place your
36:44
faith in
36:45
Christ.
36:48
Secondly,
36:50
God uses
36:52
seemingly
36:53
insignificant
36:54
people to
36:55
accomplish
36:56
significant
36:58
things.
36:59
as I'm
37:01
thinking about
37:02
who's doing
37:03
the
37:03
sowing,
37:04
my mind
37:05
goes to
37:06
the prophet
37:07
Hosea,
37:08
who's
37:09
commanded by
37:09
God to
37:10
go marry
37:11
an unfaithful
37:12
woman.
37:12
And his
37:13
marriage is
37:14
like this
37:14
play,
37:16
this real
37:16
life play
37:17
of the way
37:18
that Israel
37:19
was unfaithful
37:20
to God
37:20
as her
37:21
husband.
37:23
He must
37:24
have felt
37:24
so
37:25
insignificant.
37:26
the ministry
37:29
that God
37:30
had given
37:30
to him.
37:31
And yet,
37:33
in those first
37:33
three chapters
37:34
of that book,
37:35
what a
37:35
picture of
37:36
the gospel
37:37
as he goes
37:37
and redeems
37:38
her out of
37:40
slavery.
37:40
It's beautiful.
37:41
I just
37:42
wonder the
37:43
countless
37:43
peoples that
37:44
have come to
37:44
faith in
37:45
Christ,
37:46
reading and
37:47
understanding
37:47
that text,
37:49
looking at
37:49
his life,
37:51
seemingly
37:52
insignificant
37:53
people to
37:54
accomplish
37:55
significant
37:56
kingdom
37:57
things.
38:00
When I
38:01
think about
38:01
who's
38:01
sowing,
38:02
perhaps it's
38:03
the Samaritan
38:04
woman.
38:06
A woman
38:06
scorned.
38:07
A woman
38:08
avoiding
38:09
village life.
38:10
And what
38:11
does she
38:11
do?
38:13
Being
38:13
amazed
38:14
by
38:15
Jesus.
38:16
She goes
38:16
into town
38:17
and she
38:18
seems to
38:19
be the
38:19
vehicle
38:20
for an
38:22
awakening
38:22
in this
38:23
town.
38:25
A seemingly
38:26
insignificant
38:27
person being
38:28
used to
38:28
accomplish
38:29
significant
38:30
things.
38:32
And every
38:33
one of us,
38:34
every single
38:35
one of us
38:35
ought to
38:36
see ourselves
38:37
insignificant.
38:39
If you feel
38:40
you're significant
38:41
this morning,
38:42
let's have another
38:42
conversation.
38:43
There's text
38:44
for us to
38:44
go to.
38:46
You've got to
38:46
find yourself
38:47
in the
38:48
Samaritan
38:48
woman.
38:49
Me?
38:51
I'm the one
38:52
Jesus comes
38:53
and encounters.
38:54
I'm the one
38:55
that's to
38:56
go and
38:56
share the
38:56
good news
38:57
on my
38:58
campus,
39:00
in my
39:00
place of
39:01
work,
39:01
with my
39:02
neighbors,
39:03
in my
39:03
family.
39:06
When we
39:07
see ourselves
39:08
as so
39:09
insignificant
39:10
that we
39:10
can't be
39:11
used by
39:11
God,
39:12
the offense
39:12
there is
39:14
against
39:14
God.
39:15
God is
39:17
powerful
39:18
and he
39:19
uses
39:20
little
39:21
tiny
39:22
means
39:22
to show
39:23
himself
39:23
grand,
39:25
to do
39:25
miraculous
39:26
things
39:26
as feeble
39:28
people
39:28
go and
39:29
declare
39:29
the good
39:30
news
39:30
of Jesus
39:31
Christ.
39:33
So be
39:34
insignificant,
39:35
but recognize
39:36
that God
39:36
can use
39:37
you to
39:38
accomplish
39:38
significant
39:40
things.
39:41
in Matthew
39:43
chapter 9
39:44
verse 36,
39:45
kind of a,
39:46
for me,
39:47
a mentally
39:47
parallel
39:48
passage,
39:48
although it's
39:49
not exactly,
39:50
Jesus says
39:50
there,
39:51
or we see
39:51
the record
39:52
there,
39:52
when he
39:52
saw the
39:52
crowds,
39:53
he had
39:53
compassion
39:54
for them
39:54
because they
39:54
were harassed
39:56
and helpless
39:56
like sheep
39:57
without a
39:57
shepherd.
39:58
Then he
39:58
said to
39:58
his disciples,
39:59
the harvest
40:00
is plentiful,
40:01
but the
40:02
laborers
40:03
are few.
40:05
Therefore
40:05
pray earnestly
40:06
to the Lord
40:07
of the harvest
40:08
to send
40:08
out laborers
40:10
into.
40:11
His harvest.
40:12
God has
40:13
people.
40:14
He intends
40:14
to save
40:15
and he
40:16
will use
40:17
you,
40:18
oh insignificant
40:19
one,
40:20
to accomplish
40:21
that very
40:22
good work.
40:24
The back
40:25
of your
40:25
bulletin,
40:27
so quotation
40:27
from John
40:29
Calvin.
40:29
I like to
40:30
quote John
40:30
Calvin because
40:31
I don't want
40:31
him to be
40:31
scary to
40:32
people.
40:34
This is
40:35
from commentary
40:35
on this
40:36
text,
40:38
speaking to
40:40
the
40:40
apathetic.
40:43
He says,
40:44
the Lord
40:44
treats us
40:45
with a
40:46
father's
40:47
kindness
40:47
to correct
40:49
our sloth
40:50
and to
40:51
encourage us
40:51
who would
40:52
otherwise be
40:53
dismayed
40:54
and designs
40:55
to give us
40:56
an undeserved
40:58
reward.
41:01
Third
41:02
application.
41:02
creation.
41:04
You are
41:05
building,
41:07
as you go
41:08
and share
41:08
the good
41:09
news of
41:09
Jesus Christ,
41:11
you are
41:11
building on
41:12
someone else's
41:14
labor.
41:17
One's
41:18
sowing,
41:19
another's
41:20
reaping.
41:21
You may be a
41:21
sower and
41:22
then another
41:23
one will
41:23
reap.
41:25
Many of you
41:26
know one of
41:26
my earthly
41:28
heroes is
41:30
George Mueller.
41:31
I'll spare you
41:32
all the details
41:32
of his life,
41:33
but in his
41:34
journal he
41:35
wrote about
41:36
three young
41:36
men that
41:37
he prayed
41:38
for the
41:39
entirety of
41:40
his life.
41:42
Decades
41:42
he prayed
41:43
their souls.
41:44
Never saw
41:45
any of the
41:46
three of them
41:46
converted.
41:49
But past
41:50
his death,
41:51
all three of
41:52
them came to
41:53
faith in
41:53
Christ.
41:54
Two in
41:54
their 70s,
41:55
one in
41:55
their 80s.
41:57
Repented and
41:58
believed in the
41:59
Lord Jesus
42:00
Christ.
42:01
In that case,
42:01
Mueller was a
42:02
sower.
42:02
Somebody else
42:02
got to
42:03
reap.
42:04
Both of
42:05
them are
42:07
rejoicing
42:07
together over
42:09
the harvest.
42:10
You're building
42:11
on someone
42:11
else's labor.
42:13
Someone's
42:13
gone before
42:15
you.
42:16
We stand on
42:17
the shoulders
42:17
of giants.
42:19
We take up
42:20
this text.
42:21
Others have
42:21
shared the
42:22
good news.
42:23
Maybe some
42:24
really rare
42:25
cases.
42:25
We've got
42:26
missionaries
42:27
even now in
42:28
places where
42:28
they intend
42:29
to go to
42:30
unreached
42:31
peoples who
42:32
have no
42:32
scripture in
42:33
their language.
42:34
Maybe they're
42:35
the very
42:36
initial
42:37
sowers.
42:38
But even
42:38
then, the
42:39
great, rich
42:40
Christian history
42:42
of missionaries
42:43
they're compelled
42:45
by to go and
42:46
carry on that
42:47
tradition.
42:50
You're building
42:50
on someone
42:51
else's labor.
42:54
It ought to
42:54
make us
42:55
humble.
42:55
It ought to
42:55
make us
42:56
grateful.
42:57
mostly,
43:00
primarily,
43:01
most
43:01
importantly,
43:03
we're building
43:05
on the
43:06
finished work
43:08
of Christ.
43:10
He accomplished
43:11
all that needed
43:12
to be accomplished
43:13
for the salvation
43:13
of his people.
43:15
And this ought to
43:15
give us such
43:16
a confidence
43:17
to go and
43:18
share him
43:19
with others.
43:20
to press
43:21
out there
43:22
and declare
43:23
the greatness
43:24
of this
43:25
mercy,
43:27
that it is
43:27
finished work
43:29
as it calls
43:30
together
43:30
his church.
43:33
Now, I mentioned
43:34
that I would bring
43:34
up literary structure.
43:35
This will be in
43:35
closing.
43:38
Chapters
43:39
2 through
43:40
4,
43:41
we begin
43:42
in Cana,
43:43
we end
43:43
in Cana.
43:44
Again, there's a
43:44
pattern.
43:45
What's going on
43:46
here?
43:46
The whole thing
43:47
is a chiasm.
43:49
Chapters 2
43:50
through 4
43:51
with chiasms
43:52
in between.
43:55
The corresponding
43:56
text to this
43:57
one
43:57
records Jesus
43:59
cleansing the
44:00
temple at the
44:01
time of the
44:02
Passover.
44:04
In that
44:05
record,
44:07
he is at the
44:08
center of
44:09
Jewish
44:10
worship.
44:11
He's in
44:12
the very
44:13
temple.
44:14
He's on
44:15
that
44:15
mountain.
44:17
Here he is
44:18
far outside
44:19
that place.
44:20
He's with
44:21
Samaritans
44:22
who worship
44:22
on a
44:23
different
44:24
mountain.
44:25
There's a
44:25
juxtaposition
44:26
between
44:27
the two.
44:28
But then,
44:30
there's something
44:31
being taught
44:31
to us.
44:32
If we think
44:32
these two
44:33
things through,
44:35
the Passover
44:35
celebrated,
44:36
at the time
44:36
of the
44:37
Passover,
44:38
when he
44:38
cleansed
44:39
the temple,
44:40
the Passover
44:40
celebrated
44:41
the sparing
44:42
of Israel's
44:43
firstborn
44:43
during the
44:44
tenth
44:44
plague,
44:45
but also
44:46
the
44:46
exodus
44:47
and the
44:48
subsequent
44:49
conquest
44:50
of Canaan.
44:53
John's
44:53
readers would
44:54
have had
44:54
all of that
44:55
in their
44:55
mind.
44:55
It's a
44:56
significant
44:56
detail that
44:57
it was at
44:58
the time
44:58
of the
44:58
Passover.
44:59
The Passover
45:00
was at
45:00
hand,
45:01
it says
45:01
in chapter
45:02
two.
45:03
They've
45:04
got a
45:04
setting,
45:05
a celebration
45:05
in their
45:06
mind when
45:07
he cleanses
45:08
the temple.
45:10
And so
45:11
what I want
45:11
to suggest
45:11
to you is
45:12
being communicated
45:13
to us
45:13
here,
45:14
as we see
45:14
Jesus now
45:15
outside of
45:16
this place,
45:16
being declared
45:17
of him that
45:18
he is the
45:19
savior of
45:20
the world,
45:21
that there's
45:22
a new
45:23
conquest going
45:24
on.
45:26
In this
45:26
new covenant
45:29
of God's
45:30
grace to
45:31
his people,
45:32
it's a
45:33
different kind
45:33
of conquest.
45:35
He's calling
45:36
together his
45:37
people,
45:38
and he's not
45:38
doing so
45:40
militarily,
45:41
he's doing
45:42
so through
45:43
the spreading
45:43
of the
45:43
gospel of
45:45
Jesus Christ.
45:47
Layer upon
45:48
layer,
45:49
it's such a
45:50
magnificent,
45:51
magnificent
45:52
book.
45:54
Let's pray
45:55
together.
45:55
here.