Jesus and the Woman at the Well Part 6: Being the Harvest - John 4:39-42

1:40But this passage really this morning is a living picture, if you will, a living reality of everything that Jesus described, or what he described in his, what I call parable of parables, and that is the parable of the soils. It'll be just a short while after these events in John chapter 4 that Jesus is going to go into Galilee, and he's going to begin an aggressive teaching campaign. And at the beginning, at the beginning of that teaching campaign is going to be this parable of the soils. And I'm going to read it to you, a portion of it, or at least Jesus' description of it in Mark chapter 4, beginning in verse 13. His disciples had come to him and said, explain this parable to us. He'd been preaching on the seaside. And so I'll pick it up in verse 13. And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? In other words, you need to understand this parable in order to understand all the others. And so he goes on. The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown. And when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which had been sown in them.

3:00Way, these are the ones on whom the seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, and they have no firm root in themselves, but only temporary. Then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom the seed was sown among the thorns. These are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones on whom the seed was sown on the good soil.

3:46And they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit. 30, 60, and a hundredfold. And what we have in our passage this morning is the reality that this parable describes. And just to bring you up to speed, you remember the last thought that we looked at in verses 27 through 38 was that of the spiritual harvest. Jesus wanted his disciples to see the spiritual harvest. You remember what was taking place? You remember in verse 26, Jesus says to the woman at the well, I who speak to you am He, revealed. His messiahship to her. And at this point, they're interrupted in verse 27, and his disciples come back. And then in verse 28, so the woman left her water pot and went into the city and said to the man, Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done. This is not the Christ, is it? They went out of the city and were coming to him. So she goes in, just sounds just like Philip, sounds like Andrew, and said, Come, come and see, come and see. And so then, as she's gone, going into the city, explaining what God had done in her life, then Jesus uses the moment to teach his disciples. And then in verse 35, he says, Do you not say they are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white, white for harvest. And so, picture the scene. The woman has gone back to the town, and it's not harvest time, but Jesus is saying to his disciples, Look out on the horizon and look at the harvest. And what's coming to him? A bunch of people from Samaria, from the land. They're from Sicar. They are coming.

5:52And custom dress would have been white, white robes. But picture the scene. Here they come. Here's the harvest. Disciples look. Look, coming white with harvest. So it's in this that I want to pick up the text, verse 39. From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. He told me all the things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world.

6:44So the title of our message this morning is Being the Harvest. Being the harvest. I would hate for us to spend all of this time in this text and get focused on being a harvester without really considering are we part of the harvest ourselves. In other words, it's a fundamental truth that we must be the harvest before we can be a laborer in his harvest. You must be harvested before you can harvest. Shouldn't be hard to understand, right? But my question is, how do you know if you have been harvested? I'm trying to stay within the text and the terminology used in our harvest. How do you know if you have been harvested? How do you know when anybody has been harvested? Or actually, we can put it in other terms consistent with what we've heard. What are the evidences of a person who is truly born again?

7:46What are the evidences of somebody who has really taken in living water? What are those evidences? What are the marks of a true disciple? Well, it's here. It's the same question. It's the same answer. And it really boils down to three cries of the heart that characterize a born-again believer. That three cries of the heart that come out of this text that we see in the Samaritan people. Jesus has said, Look, here is the harvest. He's pointing it out. He's saying, Here they are.

8:25Learn from them. So I want you to see three heart cries of the harvest so that you will be the harvest. Three heart cries of those who have been truly born again. So that's where we're going. And I'm looking at it from the angle of these men, these people, these Samaritans who have heard the word and, in Jesus' own words, are the harvest. And so I want to look at what's going on in their heart and the cries of their Heart. So, three heart cries of the harvest. Three heart cries of the harvest. And as we go through this, I want you to be asking yourself: what is the cry of my heart? What is the, are you really in the faith? Does your heart cry out in the same way that these Samaritans did?

9:22So, the first thing I want you to see, the first heart cry of these Samaritans were, we believe. We believe. Look at verse 39. From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, he told me all the things that I have done. Many, look at that. Many believed. They believed in him. And this is a very strong contrast. If you look back to chapter 2 and verse 23, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name, observing the signs which he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, was not entrusting himself in them. Same word. Jesus was not believing in their faith. Jesus did not believe in their faith. But here, here, there are these many who believed. And belief involves. An intellectual assessment at a very beginning level. It is an intellectual assessment. These men and these individuals were saying, We are convinced of the words of this woman. They were convinced of the truth of her words. So to believe is to think something to be true. Intellectually, to give credence to, to believe in something or someone. And here, at a very first level, these men who heard these testimonies of this woman had to believe first her words before they could believe in the one she was talking about. So there was some intellectual accreditance to this woman and to what she was saying. And that's pretty astounding in the fact that she was a shameful woman. She goes back just explaining what God had done, excited about what God had done in her life, that she had met the Messiah. And so she's inviting these people. And they're kind of like, man, what have you been drinking? Right? She'd been drinking something.

11:39Like, what is it? So it was convincing. But belief also involves a spiritual commitment, a relying on we believe you. First of all, they had to believe the woman. They had to believe something has taken place in this woman's life. And I have got to go see. That's pretty impressive for a woman of this stature, meaning the men of the city, probably there at the gate to come out. Something has taken hold in her heart that cannot be contained. And it is going out. She is speaking.

12:16And so we believe in you, but we also believe in the one whom you speak of. And that's incredible. Look back. Look back. There's two aspects of their faith. The object of their faith, look back and circle the word in. From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him, not in the woman, in him, in the one she spoke, in Christ. Of course, they had to believe her testimony, but ultimately, the object of their faith was in him. Now, their knowledge may have been limited, certainly it was, but their belief was real. The information that they took in, it's like, I've got to go see this. Something has happened here. Something of God has happened here. Something that only the Messiah can do. And they come.

13:15Look at the simplicity of their faith. There's another preposition here. They believed in him because of. Circle the words because of. It's actually in the Greek, it's the word through. They believed in him through the word of the woman. Simply because of the word of this woman. Isn't it interesting how the true gospel message could go through somebody who has a horrible reputation, and that on the other side, the truth of the gospel can be received despite the reputation of the herald? This is what happens when true belief, when God's word injects itself into the life of humanity, falls on good soil.

14:04But here's something fascinating: the words of the woman connected the people in the city to Christ. Her words were a medium that connected people to Christ. Isn't that incredible? What about your words and my words? Isn't that exciting? That our words, as we give genuine testimony to the God who saved our souls, to the God of the scriptures, and we articulate his truth and it resonates in our hearts, in our hearts, and it comes out of our mouths, that these are words that connect people to the God of the Bible. Wow.

14:51Come and join the harvest, right? This is what real life is about. But sadly, our words can also connect. People to the God of this age, right? By the way we live, by the things we do, by the things we say. And we can very easily connect people to the God of this age rather than the God, capital G, of the scripture. But incredible. And this Samaritan episode is put by the design of the Holy Spirit right next to the episode in Jerusalem with Nicodemus. And there is a stark contrast, what's going on in chapter 3 and chapter 4. Listen, the woman had no resume to commend her. Nicodemus, he was a man, right? She was a woman. Nicodemus was an upstanding Jew. She was a lowly Samaritan. Nicodemus was trained in the scriptures from his childhood. He was a revered teacher. She was ignorant of biblical truth. Nicodemus lived by the highest standards of morality. She was of poor morals. She had no resume to commend her. Yet through her word, many believed. Understand that. Something, this is God's doing something here.

16:25The woman also had no miracles to validate her message. This is striking. The many who came out saw no miracles. Jesus did no miracle on this occasion in Samaria. Yes, he did display a supernatural knowledge of the woman's sin, but such was certainly not an outward display of the miraculous, and only the woman could be the one who was in a position to gauge the validity of it. The living word just simply brought conviction about her sin, which is exactly what the written word does today. Same spirit, behind.

17:04But the many weren't there anyway. They believed based on her word. They saw no miracles. And that's astounding, right? This is put in here to just kind of thwart the whole thinking and turn man's understanding of what should be upside down because God works and he works contrary to what one would naturally expect. There was no special teacher. There were no miracles, yet there was much faith. Jerusalem, lots of miracles, right? So we come to a very important and profound question. We must ask, why? It's always a profound question, right? Your little kids ask, why, Dad? Why is this? Why is this? Why is that? You know, right? Why? Why did the woman and the others believe? It's a profound question. Important. Or we could ask the flip side: why didn't more of the Jews believe, right? The Jews witnessed many mighty miracles. They heard him preach and teach for extended periods of time, yet largely they remained unrepentant, hard in their heart.

18:21The Samaritans saw no miracles and only had Jesus with them for two days, yet many of them believed. Ponder that. Why? What is the relationship between revelation and faith? What is it? We have a situation here where the ignorant and the unenlightened believe, while the most educated and most enlightened continue unbelieving and are lost. Why? Well, and you've got to come down to the answer is profound. It's a deep theological question, but it comes down to simply: salvation is a work of God. Sovereign grace. Holy Spirit is at work.

19:09He is the Lord. He is the one doing this. And so there's certainly it is a work of God. We know that. It's a work of God. John 3:8, Jesus has already explained. Yeah, there is some mystery, but the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is. Going, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. So, yes, we could see the evidences of it, but we know it is the work by the sovereign grace of God.

19:45You see, belief isn't something dependent upon the degree of biblical truth, it isn't based upon pedigree, it isn't based upon sights of the miraculous. In fact, miracles can be very confusing, right? I can tell you right now, if somebody walked through the door that had been dead for 50 years, came walking in, right? We wouldn't know, said, hey, I'm back. How would we even be able to interpret that without the word? That'd be kind of frightening, right? Whoa! And that's why, even if one were to go back from the dead, if they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not hear. So, you need somebody to explain, to explain what's going on prophetically, to put the miracle in its proper place.

20:35And so, belief is not dependent upon the degree of biblical truth, but it is dependent upon the reception of what truth there is. It's connecting the right dots. There was enough information that this woman was able to say, you are a prophet, right? She didn't. There was enough information, enough revelation. She said, you know, something about my life that can only come from God. I recognize that you are from God. And as the conversation progressed, yes, he was a prophet, but he was also the very Messiah. And so she was able to correctly connect the dots with the truth she had. Instead of suppressing the truth, like the many who saw the miracles, and yet one time Jesus is going to say, believe if nothing more than just the miracles themselves. Nicodemus says, we know you're from God because no one can do these miracles, and yet they continue to suppress. You see, salvation is a work of God, but belief is not dependent. It's upon the degree of or the magnitude of or the pedigree of the one bringing the truth, but upon the reception of the truth and the correct implications of it, receiving the correct implications.

22:03But as we look at this, there are two conclusions that you can't miss. Two conclusions that you cannot miss here. First of all, the power of the word. The power of the word. The power of a redeemed testimony is more effective for the conversion of the lost than even a grand miracle. Think about it. The word of the woman was the only instrument, the only instrument used to open up the hearts of the Samaritans. That's what God used. It was the word of the woman.

22:49If I was in Psalms, I'd say Selah. Think about this, right? The power of the redeemed, of a redeemed testimony, is more effective than a mighty miracle in terms of converting the lost. What does that say about you and me? What does that, hopefully that motivates you to, you do have a testimony of what God has done in your life. You do, you have read, you do know much about the God of the Bible. Maybe you don't know exhaustively. None of us do.

23:25But take what you do know, the truth that you do know. Speak about the things that God has done in your life and give yourself to them and know that that testimony is more powerful in the conversion of the lost than if someone were to stand up who had been crippled from birth. Second conclusion by looking at this, not only the power of the word, but the power of grace. It is not miracles. It is not education. It is not privileges. It's not imposing higher standards of morality which converts the soul. It is grace. It is grace that gives new life. And at some point, this woman came to the reality, the settled reality, that God was showing grace upon her. At first, okay, here's this Jew talking to me. Well, that's unusual. Oh, he knows all about my sin.

24:33He's a prophet of God, and he's still talking to me. And at some point, when she hears, I am, or she hears his words, I am he, I am the Messiah, she realizes all this time she has been talking to the Messiah, and he has showed her grace, he has showed her favor. And she puts her pot down and she takes in that living water. It's grace. Do you see? You see what happened to her? I remember when I came to Christ and in the season that I came to Christ, there was my grandmother. And I saw grace, a grace, and that's and that's what happened to this woman.

25:24Some time in that conversation, she came face to face with grace. It was some way in. The way he communicated in his eyes, and she saw the favor of God upon her life despite her sin. And of course, she abandoned it immediately, immediately. It's grace that gives new life. How is grace communicated? How will a lost person experience grace? It comes person to person. You are the image-bearer of God. You are to be a reflection of that grace, the grace that you have received. That is to come through. It is, and listen, grace is not tolerance, okay? That's the world's definition, and many, and that's crept into the church. No, grace is not tolerance at all. Very first thing Jesus does is he puts his finger on the sin, right?

26:21As if to say, when you're tired, when you have completely exhausted all these other avenues that you think are going to satisfy your soul, I will give you living water. No, grace is not tolerance. Grace is affirming the truth in a loving way. And that's what she sees. So the first cry of those who have been born again is, we believed. We believe. We believe. You see, the non-harvested relegate Jesus to some other position. That contradict his direct claims. But not those who have been harvested, not the harvest. The harvest we believe, we accept. And it doesn't take a whole lot of strong-arming, it doesn't take the spectacular, it just takes the truth.

27:20First cry of the harvest, we believe. What's going on in your heart? Do you believe him? Do you believe in him? Totally, completely. Do you believe? Second heart cry of the harvest: stay with us. Stay with us. Look back at what these Samaritans say. Verse 40. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking, literally, they were beseeching him, strongly encouraging him. They were asking him to stay with him, and he stayed there for two days. Now, that's another striking contrast. Stay with us. Stay with us. Remain with us. Abide with us. Stay here as long as you please stay. And when you survey the rest of what happens in the gospel, that's unusual. In fact, just look down to verse 43.

28:18After the two days, he went forth from there into Galilee, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. And as you pick up the story going in in Luke 5, 4, as he goes into Nazareth, his hometown, Luke 4, 16 says, He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he stood up to read. And he reads, and he preaches a little bit.

28:46And in verse 28, and all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. And they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw him down off the cliff. Very different from stay with us, right? Very different profession. In fact, you go to, remember in the area of Gadora, you remember the demons that were cast out of the man and thrown into the pigs? You remember what that city said? Matthew 8:34? And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they implored him to leave their region. Wow.

29:31Not the Samaritans, right? You remember Jerusalem. Remember, Jesus, and in the parable, the vine grower says he's going to depict what's going to happen to him in Jerusalem. This is what he says. Matthew 21, 38. But when the vine growers saw the son, they said amongst themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. They took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. That's what Jesus says is going to happen in Jerusalem. That's how that city received him.

30:07But the Samaritans' reception is very different, isn't it? They wanted him in their city, they wanted him in their lives, they wanted him to stay, they wanted to learn more. Striking difference. It's like we want to know more about you. We want you. We welcome you in our lives. In fact, it's in Acts 8, and I won't have time to go there, but it's really incredible to see Philip's visit in chapter 8 of Acts, as Luke tells the story. It says, Philip went down to the city or a city in Samaria. And it's caused a lot of people to speculate: where did he go? Did he go to the capital? Many think he went here. He went back to this little pocket right here.

31:02Philip was there, by the way. Philip's here. He knows these people. He witnessed this event. But a great reception. They received the Holy Spirit. It's incredible, but tie it back here. There was this ongoing reception. And this is the heart cry of those who have taken in living water. Are you the harvest? I mean, what is the cry of your heart? It is your cry to say, Come, Lord Jesus. Come, stay, Lord Jesus. I want you in my life. I want you to reign in my life. I want you to be here. I want to learn from you. I want your ways to be my ways. I want your plan to be my plan. I want to go where you lead, and I want to forsake everything that you do not approve of. I want your morality in my life. I want you, please come, stay. That's the heart cry of the harvest.

32:00What's your heart cry? Find so many people who attend church these days, and yet they seem cold to Christ. I don't want your standards. I don't want your exclusivism. I don't want your lordship. Go away. I want another Christ that I can fashion, that will give me what I want. No, the heart cry of the harvested. We believe, stay with us. And number three, you are the Savior of the world. You are the Savior of the world.

32:43Get verse, well, I mean, these next few verses here, 41 and 42, are a great example of the people that are the good soil. Remember Mark 20, 4:20, and those who are the ones on whom the seed was sown on the good soil. And they hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit 30, 60, and 100 fold. But I want you to notice the spread of truth here. Look at how this truth spreads in this community. First, there's the outward spread. Verse 41, many more believed because of his word. So you get this multiplication effect. First, Jesus sows the truth in the life of this woman. She leaves, she goes back to her town, and she sows truth into a community of the Samaritans, who then come out. They hear from Jesus. And then Jesus is sowing more truth. And then they're going and getting others. And he is staying. And no doubt, more Samaritans are bringing their friends, and more Samaritans are coming and hearing. You see how truth multiplies.

33:51Now you understand why God said, why Jesus said, I must go through Samaria. Very specific address. So we can think of these as the branches of truth, the truth that's, there's an outward spread. But then look at verse 42. There's also an inward spread, a deepening effect. Look at verse 42. And they were saying to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world. We are believing. We have. Heard perfect tense, and we know perfect tense. We have come to know and be convinced of. And so we can think of these as the roots of truth. We looked at the branches of truth as it's spreading from person to person, but there's a deepening effect. There was this deepening realization of who He is. You're the Savior of the world. And a deepening reliance upon a more sure source of truth. It's no longer your word, but upon His Word. You see, this deepening effect.

35:08But there are three implications of this title, the Savior of the World. I want to just think about a little bit. We have heard his own words, and we have come to know, be absolutely convinced of, that he is the Savior of the world. It's as though the townspeople progress and they understand more about Christ and even what the woman was communicating. He is the Messiah. We have found the Jewish Messiah. He is the one come.

35:41And they, after talking to him, they come to their, they've drawn their own conclusions, and it's like, this is, yes, indeed, the Messiah, but he is the Savior of the world. This isn't some Jewish general coming in that's going to take back political control. This is one who comes. And conquers by changing hearts, by seeking the lost, by finding them, by giving his spirit to them. That's how he conquers. He is the Savior. And a more full declaration of the Lord's office as being the Savior of the world is not found anywhere else in the Gospels. You are the Savior of the world.

36:25The Samaritans got it. They looked and they saw with a peculiar clarity that, yes, indeed, salvation is from the Jews, but it is not only for the Jews. Credible, incredible. But there are three implications of this confession that I just want to relate to us. Right here, first of all, there is the implications of personal assurance. He is the Savior of the world. Now, guess where you and I fit? We're somewhere in that world, aren't we? He is the Savior of the world, including me.

37:09Have you come to that understanding? This is the reality that can never be changed. I am forever saved, forever in him. I am forever saved from being despised by God, forever saved by being despised by the company of the righteous. It's one thing to be despised in this world, but it's one thing by people who are of no count and do not know God, but it's another thing when the just, when the righteous despise you. Now, that's frightening.

37:48But forever being, it's like talking to Christ. It's like, yeah, I've taken care of that. I've taken care of your sin before God. I've taken care, and there isn't anybody that's going to condemn you. I mean, it's a beautiful picture that I have a personal assurance. He has saved me, and he has saved me from my own ruthless conscience. My conscience cannot condemn me because my sin is not greater than his sacrifice. He is saved. There's a personal assurance. He is the savior of the world. But there's another implication that comes out. He is the Lord of the harvest. I mean, he is the one behind this whole enterprise. He is why Emmanuel Baptist Church is where it is right now, and why we're moving out to see Paulo and all that. He is the Lord of the harvest, and he sends us. He is the mind behind the enterprise. He is the Savior. We are not.

38:47He is the one directing sovereign grace. He is the one dispensing it. We do not. We go where he sends us. And for whatever reason, he's taken this body and says, I've. Had you here, and I'm taking you to another part of this community. And I want you to lift up your eyes because the fields are ripe with harvest. Third implication of this, you are the savior of the world has to do with global mission. I mean, you can see the scene, the harvest is coming. Lift up your eyes and see. And what is happening right there in that moment where these you see these men coming out of Samaria, and Jesus is saying, Look at the harvest. What's taking place? What's happening is here is a part of the unbelieving world coming to Jesus. That's the harvest, right? There are those ready to be harvested. Part of the unbelieving world that moment was coming to Christ. He's saying, Look at it. This is what God's after. That unbelieving world coming.

40:00So, who are those ready to be harvested? I'll tell you, based upon what we've read through this episode with this woman, those who are tired and dissatisfied of a life of sin and ready to leave it, all behind to follow Jesus, these are the ones that are ready for harvest. Jesus said, Look up, look around. There are many who have been exhausted, who are. Exhausted by sin, come to them with the gospel. Teach them the grace of God. Put your finger, don't be ashamed to put your finger upon the sin.

40:43Probably won't have to do it very, very hard. They're truly being drawn. But this is the harvest. What about you? Are you ready to leave? Have you found the world's allurements and everything to be a lie, dissatisfying? I think we know many. I think we've been there. But that's the harvest. Lift up your eyes. They're all around. So it comes down to us. What about us? What about you? Are you part of the harvest? Genuinely part of the harvest? It's easy to get caught up in church and talk about the harvest and never really think, Am I part of the harvest? Are you tired of serving the God of this world?

41:35What is the cry of your heart? Is the cry of your heart, I believe. Stay with me, Christ. You are indeed the Savior of the world, my Savior. I want to close by reading a little portion of John chapter 1, where Jesus. Has already laid this all out. John chapter 1, verse 9. As John gives the summary statement of what has taken place in his gospel and the ministry of Christ on earth, he says this: There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and those were his own, who were his own, did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.

42:56Heavenly Father, indeed, we see your work. The true light has come into this world. We see it so vividly on display at Jacob's well. Father, we thank you that for your word that has preserved this occasion for us, that we ourselves might look upon these realities, these spiritual realities, and ask ourselves some of the very same questions and give us opportunity to come to you. For the whole gospel, the whole biblical record is your invitation. To us to come to you. You are indeed not just a conquering general for one people, but you are the Savior of all who will put their faith and trust in you. And you call all of us to that. And Father, I pray that we here at Emmanuel will be like this community of Samaritans that could express, whose hearts would cry, we believe in you. Stay with us. You are indeed the Savior of the world. Father, let that be us.

44:07Father, draw us all here today closer to you. In Jesus' name, amen.