Spiritual Sowing and Reaping John 4:35-42

Text:  “And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life Eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.  And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.”

John 4:36-37.

Good morning, Christian fellow-labourer!  We labour by day, we labour by night; whether it be day or night; summer, winter, spring or autumn - we that have been born again by God’s grace, labour that we might bring in His precious Harvest of souls.  Hallelujah!  What a truly fulfilling purpose in life!

“Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine…do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”  (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

In other words, ‘Reap a Harvest of souls for the Lord God Almighty!’

But, what has all this to do with today’s Bible reading in the Gospel of John?  What Spiritual message is here contained that might inspire, encourage, or exhort thee and me?

Christ, in His message today differentiates between what is merely natural day to day purpose in life; and what is Eternally vital.  The disciples were focused on a vital need of this mortal life - food. 

The Lord Jesus immediately turned their thoughts to Eternity, and the vital need to reach immortal souls with the Gospel message of Salvation in Christ alone.   (Acts 4:12)

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  (Romans 10:17)

The disciples and all the farming community knew by experience that there were ‘…yet four months, and then cometh harvest…’ - mortal life would be sustained by a harvest of food-producing crops.

However the Lord Jesus turned their thoughts to the multitudes of immortal, yet still unsaved souls; souls that would either perish in a Christ-rejecter’s Hell, or spend Eternity in Heaven in the perfect Presence of God Almighty.  Now, that is a vital difference that every living person must understand.

The ‘…fields…’ that Christ spoke of were of course the countless nations of the world that needed to hear the Word of God; receive faith by that hearing; in order to receive God’s free gift of Salvation, found in the Cross of Christ alone.

The world’s teeming millions are a harvest field just waiting to hear and receive the Gospel message; be convicted of their sins; Christ’s righteousness; and the Divine judgement that must surely come.  How can we who are born again fail to have compassion on such teeming masses of immortal, precious, yet unsaved human souls?  Lord, we beseech Thee, help us to reach them - red, yellow, black and white!

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those books, according to their works…And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”     (Revelation 20:12-15)

The Western nations have had the Gospel for many hundreds of years.  At first, many heard the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ Jesus gladly, and were gloriously saved. 

Today, in the 21^st Century, few in the Western nations have any time to hear the Word of God, thus, countless souls are teetering on the brink of a Christ-rejecter’s abyss.   What an Eternal waste!

On the other hand, over in places like Asia, and Africa, and the Philippines, countless souls are hearing the Christian Gospel for the very first time - and the Spirit of God is moving in mighty power to anoint such hearers with faith to receive God’s saving grace. Hallelujah! What a Saviour! (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”  (Joel 3:14)

Read again Christ’s vital message, beloved Christian!  Receive His promise for your labours:  “And he that reapeth receiveth wages; and gathereth fruit unto life Eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”  (John 4:36)  The Lord God bless your labours abundantly.

Thought:  “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”!  “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Then said I, Here am I; send ME.”

Jesus' Purpose in Coming John 4:31-34

Text:  “Jesus saith unto them (the disciples), ‘My meat is to do the will of Him (God the Father) that sent Me, and to finish His work.’”

John 4:34.

          “Then said I (Christ Jesus), ‘Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy (The Father’s) will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.  I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained My lips, O Lord, Thou knowest.’”

                                                                                                         Psalm 40:7-9.

Good morning, willing Christian!  Made willing to be Eternally saved by God the Spirit, you and I must always take care to remain willing to serve the Living Lord Jesus.  May we also always earnestly pray, ‘…Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven…’ - for when God’s Sovereign will is done on earth as it is continually done in Heaven, we who belong to Jesus find perfect peace and joy unspeakable.  Hallelujah!  God’s will be done!  Amen.

“Thy Kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.”    (Matthew 6:10)

“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.  And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth (trusts and keeps right on trusting) on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”  (John 6:39-40)

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, God the Eternal Son, knew that doing the will of God the Father was of absolute vital importance - infinitely more important than eating His necessary food!  (V. 34)

If Christ Jesus, God of very God, knew this to be His vital need and purpose - how much more should we mere sinners understand and seek to do the will of our Sovereign Lord God? 

‘But, how can I know the will of God for my personal life?’, I hear you ask, ‘How can I find what God’s will is for my Christian life daily?’

God’s will for mankind is revealed in the Word of God, our Holy Bibles.  If we are sincerely seeking to both know and do the revealed will of God - we shall be diligent to search for the will of God in our Bibles daily.  Simple as that, my friend. 

The person that professes to be a Christian must seek to know God’s will for our everyday lives of service to Christ Jesus, and continually determine to faithfully do God’s will.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”  (2 Timothy 2:15)

“But He (Christ Jesus) said, ‘Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.’”  (Luke 11:28)

On the other hand, just look at the Divine satisfaction the Lord Jesus gained from His fellowship with God the Father.  He desired that goal as His daily ‘meat’ rather than eating mere physically necessary food.  (V.32)

Old Job treasured this wisdom in his daily life, and so should you and I!

“My foot hath held His steps, His way have I kept, and not declined.  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.”  (Job 23:11-12)

Long term Christian commitment and service would be utterly impossible to sustain without experiencing - in a personal capacity - the depth of Spiritual satisfaction inherent in faithfully seeking to do the will of God Almighty.  There is nothing that produces a similar contentment in the regenerate soul.  There is nothing like the Lord’s “Well done.” 

“His Lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’”  (Matthew 25:21)

Today’s Bible passage therefore teaches us clearly that Christ Jesus’ entire purpose for coming among us was to do God the Father’s Divine will.  He came as a babe to the manger; He lived a sinless life for over thirty-three years; He revealed Himself as God with all power; He willingly went to a cruel Cross to suffer and die - the innocent for the guilty.  What a Saviour!

With this clear lesson in mind, let us who profess Christ’s Name seek to more faithfully follow Him and be genuine in seeking to fulfill God’s will in our lives - and all to the greater glory of our Saviour, King Jesus.

Thought:  Run the race; Fight the fight; finish the course; keep the faith!

The Omniscient (all-knowing) Jesus! John 4:15-30

Text:  “Come see a Man, which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?”                                                                                                            John 4:29.

          “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth (knows, and continues to know) all things."

1 John 3:20.

Good morning, well known Christian!  You and I are well known by many of our social contemporaries.  In the workplace; in the communities in which we live; in church congregations - nationally and internationally - we may be well known.  However, we must at all time try to remember that there is One Who knows us infinitely more; infinitely more than ever we could even know ourselves!  That all knowing One is our Saviour, Jesus the risen Christ.

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee…”  (Jeremiah 1:5)

Definition of Omniscience: (noun) Knowledge of all things; (adjective) Omniscient:  All knowing.  (The Chambers Dictionary page 1132)

Our Bible selection from John’s Gospel today reveals many great truths that a light reading of such Scriptures might miss.  Let’s look at some of these truths and gain more faith to serve the risen Lord Jesus.  (Romans 10:17)

Thirst Created:  (V.15)  In verse fifteen we see that Christ had created a positive thirst for knowledge of ‘…everlasting life…’ by his interaction with the Samaritan woman.  We too should seek to create such a thirst for truth in our day to day interactions with other precious souls yet unsaved.  ‘Salty Christians’ serve God well in creating such Eternal thirst.

“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?  It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”  (Matthew 5:13)

Christ’s Testing: (V.16)  In verse sixteen we see Christ, Who knows all things, testing the Samaritan woman, perhaps to see if she was going to be open and honest to what He had to discuss with her concerning the state of her immortal soul.  God tests the unsaved, and the saved daily.

“For Thou, O God, hast proved (tested) us; Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.  Thou broughtest us into the net; Thou laidst affliction upon our loins.  Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.” (Psalm 66:10-12) Hallelujah!  Jesus always brings us victoriously through!

Human Guile: (V.17)  Guile is defined as ‘deceit, cunning, craftiness, etc.’  It comes with every natural born sinner, because we are indeed born natural sinners.  We do not have to teach a little child how to be deceitful; to tell lies; to be disobedient - children of the flesh do all these things NATURALLY.

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do…”   (John 8:44)

The woman therefore tried to deceive the Lord Jesus, she told him that she had, ‘…no husband…’; but the all-knowing Jesus soon exposed her true position in life, ‘…thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband…’ We cannot hide our sins from an all-knowing Lord God.

Ducking & Diving:  (V.19-20)  When faced with the truth, the woman immediately began to do what many of us have done in similar circumstances - she began to ‘duck and dive’ to try to evade the truth.  Adam and Eve tried this tactic in the Garden of Eden to try to hide from the fact of their sins.  We cannot prosper by hiding our sins.  (Genesis 3:9-13)

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.  (Proverbs 28:13)

Tradition Vs Truth: (Vs.20-24)  These verses reveal a debate between traditions and truth.  The woman wanted to argue about traditions, the Lord desired to set forth the truth.  Religious rituals and traditions mean nothing.  The truth, found only in Christ Jesus, and in His Word, means the difference between suffering in eternal darkness or basking in God’s ethereal light.  Choose truth and live.

God-given Faith:  (Vs.25-30)  These verses reveal a clear pattern of Christian belief and Eternal Salvation.  The woman heard the Truth speaking the truth; she received saving faith by hearing the truth; Jesus personally revealed Himself to her as the long-awaited, all-knowing Christ; the woman received His Word; dropped everything; and ‘…went her way into the city, and saith…Come, see a Man, which told me all things that ever I did; is this not the Christ?’  Hallelujah!  The woman was saved to serve Christ Jesus.

Thought:  Praise the Lord God Who knows us infinitely better than what we know ourselves – yet, in spite of all our faults, still loves us infinitely.