Sermon 3135. A Golden Sentence

(No. 3135)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of HHim that sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34.

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon, upon the same text, is Sermon #302, Volume 6-JESUS ABOUT HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS and another,upon verses31 to 38, is#1902, Volume 32-MYSTERIOUS MEAT.]

THIS text contains in it much consolation for those who are desirous of salvation, more of example to those who are savedand most of all of matter for praise concerning our Lord Himself, who is its Spokesman.

I. Let us begin by noticing that THE TEXT CONTAINS MUCH CONSOLATION FOR THOSE ANXIOUS ONES WHO WOULD FIND MERCY THROUGH JESUSCHRIST.

You who are trembling under a sense of sin will perceive that the work of saving souls is called by Christ, "His Father'swill "I know you are very prone to imagine that Christ is full of pity, but that the Father is austere, severe, an avengingJudge. You slander your God by such a supposition! "The work of mercy is the will of Him that sent Me," says Christ. "Allthat I am doing, when I am seeking the soul's good of a poor sinful Samaritan woman at the place of this well is accordingto My Father's mind." Christ was not, as it were, introducing men to a mercy from which God would keep them, but He was bringingto reconciliation with God those concerning whom the benevolent will of God was that they should be saved-and more-concerningwhom the effectual will of God was that they should also be brought into Covenant relation with Himself and should enjoy eternallife!

Sinner, if you get into the garden of the Lord's Grace, you have not come there as an intruder. The gate is open. It is God'swill that you should come in. If you receive Christ into your heart, you will not have stolen the treasure-it was God's willthat you should receive Christ! If with broken heart you shall come and rest upon the finished Sacrifice of Jesus, you neednot fear that you will violate the eternal purpose, or come into collision with the Divine Decree-God's will has brought youinto a state of salvation! One of the most vain fears that a man can entertain is the dread that the Father will be unwillingto forgive or the equally absurd fear that he may possibly find a decree of God shutting him out when he is anxious to bereconciled. Where God gives the will to come to Jesus, we may be sure that the eternal purpose has gone before! O awakenedSinner, your anxious desire, your prayerfulness, your longing for God are but the shadows of the Divine Will upon your ownwill! Imagine not that you can get the best of God in the race of mercy-

"No sinner can be beforehand with Thee- Your Grace is almighty, preventing and free." If you desire, God has long ago desired.If you purpose in your heart, God has long ago purposed. You need never be troubled about Divine Predestination. The Gospelwhich we preach is that to which you should give your attention. Rest assured that God has never spoken in secret, in a darkplace of the earth and said, "Seek you My face in vain." He has never passed a secret decree in the council chamber who shallcontravene the open promise of His mercy. "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." If you come to Christ and castyourself upon Him, you need entertain no suspicion that you are violating the will of God, for salvation is the will of Godwhich Jesus Christ has come to fulfill!

Another consolation is here given to every seeking soul, namely, that Jesus Christ is sent into the world on purpose to save.If I know that I am sick and that a physician has come into the street on purpose to heal, I feel no difficulty about invitinghim into my house. If I know that I am poor and that a princely social worker has come with plentiful liberalities to distributeto the poor, I have no difficulty in asking of him! Why should I, if I know that he has come with the very

objective and intent to do that which I need him to do? Now, wherever there is an empty sinner, a full Christ has come onpurpose to fill that empty sinner! Wherever there is a thirsty spirit, the river of the Water of Life is poured out on purposefor that thirsty soul to drink! If you hunger after Christ, rest assured that Christ has met with you and discerns in youone of those whom He came to call. He would not have made you hunger, nor made you thirst, nor made you feel your emptinessif it had not been His intention to remove your hunger, slake your thirst and fill your emptiness to the full! Look upon theSavior as being commissioned by His Father to save sinners. Never indulge the thought that He came to save better ones thanyou are and that you are just beyond the pale of His mercy! Instead thereof, let your sinfulness, your nothingness, your consciousweakness, your utter ruin and Hell-deserving inspire you with a surer hope that you are such a sinner as Jesus Christ cameto deliver! He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Who is more lost than you are? Believe, then, that He came toseek and to save you-and cast yourself upon Him-and you shall find it so!

Perhaps the greatest consolation to a despairing sinner which this text affords is the delight which Jesus Christ experiencesin the work of saving souls. It was His one objective. From of old He looked forward to the day when a body would be preparedfor Him that He might come into the world to redeem His people. When the fullness of time was come, He was no unwilling servitorto our souls. "In the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Your will, O My God!" Down from the portalsof the skies the Savior came with glad alacrity-willing, panting to save! When He was on earth, He was not loath to seek outthe guilty-no, it was alleged against Him, "This Man receives sinners, and eats with them." He could have healed the leper,if He had pleased, while He stood at a distance, but He chose to touch Him when He healed Him, to show how near He had cometo humanity, that He did not shrink from it, but that it was His delight to come into contact with all the woe and sufferingof our fallen race! He did not retire from sinners to guard His holiness in solitude. He did not surround Himself with a bodyguardto keep off the throng, but there He was among them, surrounded by a press of common folks. Many thronged Him and some touchedHim who received healing virtue through their believing touch. He was at the beck and call of everybody! He had not time somuch as to eat. And when He did, through weariness, seek a little rest, they followed Him on foot and hounded Him with theirentreaties. Yet He was never angry, but always full of compassion towards them.

He was a willing Savior and found His soul's delight in winning souls. That great crowning work of suffering and death, bywhich souls were effectually redeemed, was no unwilling service. He said He had a baptism to be baptized with and that Hewas straitened until it was accomplished. The cup was bitter as Hell, but He longed to drink it. His death was to be at oncethe most ignominious and the most painful that could be devised, and yet He thirsted for it. "With desire I have desired toeat this Passover with you before I suffer," said Christ to His disciples. He did not hide Himself away when He was hunted,but He went to the Garden of Gethsemane-and Judas knew the place-and when they found Him, He was willing to yield Himselfup. No bonds could have bound Him, yet He bound Himself. They could not have dragged Him to the Cross, nor could myriads likethem-but He went like a lamb to the slaughter-and like a sheep before her shearer He was dumb and opened not His mouth. Allthat wondrous passion upon Calvary was a freewill offering for us! It was a voluntary Sacrifice to the fullest possible extent.What if I say that even in His deepest agony, Christ had an unknown joy? I think we have too much forgotten the wonderfuljoy which must have filled the Savior's heart even when going to the Cross. Beloved, you cannot suffer for others if you havea benevolent nature, without feeling joy that you are taking the suffering from them! And we know that it was because of "thejoy that was set before Him" that He "endured the Cross, despising the shame." As He dived into the black waves of grief,He could see the precious pearl which He counted to be of greater price than all-and that sight sustained Him with a latentjoy, if I may so call it, which did not sparkle at the time, but which lay there slumbering within even when His soul was"exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death." And now that Christ has gone up on high, poor trembling Sinner, He has no greaterjoy than this-in seeing of the travail of His soul in souls redeemed by Him, both by price and by power, from death and sin!Jesus wept over Jerusalem because it would not be saved, but Jesus rejoices greatly over sinners who repent! This is His joyand His crown of rejoicing-even you poor tremblers who come and look to Him upon the Cross and find life in His death andhealing in His wounds!

I cannot bring out the comfort of this text to you as I could wish. Words fail me, but I would urge those of you who wantto find peace and faith, to make a point of thinking very much about Christ. We not only lay hold on the Cross by faith, butit is the Cross which works faith in us. If you would think more often of the mercy of God and the will of God,

and the mission of Christ, and the loving kindness of Christ, your soul would probably be led by the Spirit, by that courseof thought, to believe in Jesus! Your constant dwelling upon your sin and your hardness of heart has a great tendency to driveyou to despair. It is well to know your heart to be hard and your sin to be great, but as a man is not healed by simply knowingthat he is sick and is not likely to get his spirits comforted by merely studying his disease, so you are not likely to findfaith by raking amongst the filth of your fallen nature, or trying to find something good in yourselves which is not thereand will never be there! Your wisest course is to think much of Jesus and look to Him. You will soon find hope in Him if youlook for it there. You will soon discover grounds for comfort if you look to God in the Person of His Son. If you regard thewill of God as it is revealed on Calvary, and read it in the crimson lines written upon the Savior's pierced body, you willsoon perceive that His will is love. Turn away from the wounds which the old serpent has given you and look to the bronzeserpent! Look away from your own death to the death of Jesus and recollect that your repentance, apart from Christ, will onlybe a legal repentance, full of bondage, and will be of no use to you. As old Wilcocks says, "Away with that repentance whichdoes not weep at the foot of the Cross!" If you do not look to Jesus Christ when you repent, your repentance is not an evangelicalrepentance, but a repentance which needs to be repented of. Do, I pray you, receive the Truth which I have put before you,or rather, which the text so plainly presents to you. The salvation of sinners is the will of God, the work of Christ andthe joy of Christ! Is not this good news?

II. But I said that the text was MUCH MORE AN EXAMPLE TO BELIEVERS, and so it is.

Note in the text, first of all, Christ's subservience. He says, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." He says nothingabout His own will. Thus early did He say, "Not My will, but Yours be done." The man of the world thinks that if he couldhave his own way, he would be perfectly happy-and his dream of happiness in this state or in the next is comprised in this-thathis own wishes will be gratified, his own longings fulfilled, his own desires granted to him. This is all a mistake! A manwill never be happy in this way. It is not by setting up his own will and crying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians," but perfecthappiness is to be found in exactly the opposite direction, namely, in the casting down of our own will entirely and askingthat the will of God may be fulfilled in us! "This is my meat," says the sinner, "to do my own will." Jesus Christ pointsto another table and says, "This is My meat, to do the will of Him that sent Me. My greatest comfort and the most substantialnourishment of My spirit are not found in carrying out My own desires, but in submitting all My desires to the will of God."Beloved, our sorrows grow at the roots of our self-will. Could a man have any sorrow if his will were utterly subdued to thewill of God? In such a case, would not everything please him? Pain, if we did not kick against it, would have a wondrous sweetness.Losses would positively become things to rejoice in as affording opportunities for patience! We would even take joyfully thespoiling of our goods. When we have conquered ourselves, we have conquered all. When we have won the victory over our owndesires and aversions, and have subdued ourselves, through Sovereign Grace, to the will of God, then must we be perfectlyhappy!

Notice in the text, however, in the next place, not only subservience, but also a recognized commission. O Christian, cultivatefull subservience to the Divine Will and let it also be your desire to see clearly your commission from on high! It is thewill of God, yes, but it is well for us to add, "the will of Him that sent me." If I am a soldier, when I am sent upon anerrand, I have not to consider what I shall do, but having received my commander's orders-I am bound to obey them. Do notmany Christians fail to see their commission? It has come to be a dreadfully common belief in the Christian Church that theonly man who has a "call" is the man who devotes all his time to what is called "the ministry," whereas all Christian serviceis ministry and every Christian has a call to some kind of ministry or another! It is not every man who will become "a fatherin Israel," for "you have not many fathers." It is not every man who can become even an instructor, or an exhorter, but eachman must minister according to the gift he has received. You are a nation of priests! Instead of having some one man selectedwho becomes a priest and so maintains the old priestcraft in the Christian Church, Jesus our Lord and Head has abolished thatmonopoly forever! He remains the one great Apostle and High Priest of our profession and we in Him are made, through His Grace,kings and priests unto God. You are, each of you, as Believers, sent into this world with a distinct commission-and that commissionis very like the commission given to your Master! In your measure, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you and He has sent youto bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord! Into theAtonement you cannot intrude. Christ has trod the winepress alone and of the people there was none with Him. But in the placeof service you will be no intruder, it is your dwelling place. You are called to follow Christ your Lord in all holy laborfor souls. "As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you." Is not this a part of His dying commission, not to the Apostles,only, but unto all the saints? Let us endeavor to recognize this. When Christ was sent of God, He did not forget that He wassent. He did not come into this world to do His own business after He had been sent to do His Father's will. So you and Imust not act as though we were living here to make money, or to bring up our families and make matters comfortable for ourselves.We are, if we are Christians, sent into the world upon a Divine errand and oh, for Grace to recognize the errand and to performit!

Further, notice the practical character of our Lord's observations on these two points. He says, "My meat is"- what? To consider?To resolve? To calculate? To study prophecy as to when the world will end? To meditate upon plans by which we may be able,one of these days, to do something great? Not at all. "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." The meat of some peopleis to find fault with others who do Christ's will-they never seem to have their mouths so well filled as when remarking uponthe imperfections of those who are vastly better than themselves! This is like glutting one's self with carrion and is unworthyof a man of God! Did you ever know a man whom God blessed who had not some oddity or singularity? I think I never knew sucha man or woman either! Whenever God blesses us, there is sure to be something or other to remind men that the vessel containingthe treasure is an earthen vessel! Foolish people are so fond of crying, "Look at the meanness of the vessel," as though notreasure were contained within. Were they wise, they would understand that this is a part of the Divine appointment, thatwe should "have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Do you thinkyou could do God's work better? I wish you would try! It is generally true that those who quibble at others find it inconvenientto walk in any path of usefulness at all.

There are others, of a somewhat better disposition, who find it their meat to project new methods. They invent grand schemes!There is a house to be built for God's people to worship in-they always know how to build it! They say so many people areto give so much, and so many so much-the practical part of the business being how much they will give, themselves! But uponthat point they have remarkably little to say. They are always talking of some grand scheme or other for impossible Christianunion, or some magnificent but impracticable Christian effort. Our Lord was practical. You are struck, in the whole of Hislife, with the practical character of it. He was no visionary and no fanatic. Though His holy soul was on fire as much asthe most fanatical zealot who ever lived, all His plans and methods were the wisest that could possibly be arranged, so thatif men had sat down in their coolest prudence to devise schemes, had they been rightly led, they would have devised the veryschemes which this warm-hearted, passionate Savior carried out! He did not theorize, but acted! My dear Brothers and Sisters,I hope we shall earn the same commendation!

Many Christians are too fond of mysticisms, quibbling, oddities and strange questions which minister not unto profit. I heartilywish they would try to win souls for Jesus in the old-fashioned, Biblical way. Every now and then some particular phase ofTruth crops up and certain Christians go perfectly mad about it, wanting to pry between leaves that are folded, or to findout secrets which are not revealed, or to reach some fancied eminence of self-conceited perfection in the flesh. While thereare so many sinners to be lost or to be saved, I think we had better stick to preaching the Gospel! As long as this worldcontains millions of those who do not know even the elementary Truths of Christianity, would it not be as well for us, firstof all, to go into the highways and hedges and tell men of our dying Savior, and point them to the Cross? Let us discuss themillennium, the secret rapture and all those other intricate questions, by-and-by, when we have got through more pressingneeds! Just now the vessel is going to pieces-who will man the lifeboat? The house is on a blaze, and who is he that willrun the fire-escape up to the window? Here are men perishing for lack of knowledge and who will tell them that there is lifein a look at the Crucified One? He is the man who shall give men meat to eat! But all others, though they may carry a dishof most exquisite china, will probably give them no meat, but only make them angry at being tantalized with empty wind. Christ'ssatisfaction of heart was of a most practical kind-He was subservient to God as a commissioned Servant, and busy with actuallydoing the will of God!

But the gist of the text lies here. Our Lord Jesus Christ found both sustenance and delight in thus doing the will of Godin winning souls. Believe me, Brothers and Sisters, if you have never known what it is to pluck a brand from the burning,you have never known that spiritual meat which, next to Christ's own Self, is the sweetest food a soul can feed upon! To dogood to others is one of the most rapid methods of getting good to yourselves. Read the diaries of Whitefield and Wesley andyou will be struck with the fact that you do not find them perpetually doubting their calling,

mistrusting their election, or questioning whether they love the Lord or not. See the men preaching to their thousands inthe open air and hearing around them the cries of, "What must we do to be saved?" My Brothers and Sisters, they had no timefor doubts and fears. Their full hearts had no room for such lumber. They felt that God had sent them into this world to winsouls for Christ and they could not afford to live desponding, mistrustful lives. They lived unto God and the Holy Spiritso mightily lived in them that they were fully assured that they partook of His marvelous power! Some of you good people whodo nothing except read little Plymouth books, go to public meetings, Bible-readings, prophetic Conferences, and other formsof spiritual dissipation, would be a good deal better Christians if you would look after the poor and needy around you! Ifyou would just tuck up your sleeves for work and go and tell the Gospel to dying men, you would find your spiritual healthmightily restored, for very much of the sickness of Christians comes through their having nothing to do! All feeding and noworking makes men spiritual dyspeptics. Be idle, careless, with nothing to live for, nothing to care for, no sinner to prayfor, no backslider to lead back to the Cross, no trembler to encourage, no little child to tell of a Savior, no gray-headedman to enlighten in the things of God, no objective, in fact, to live for, and who wonders if you begin to groan, to murmurand to look within until you are ready to die of despair? But if the Master shall come to you and put His hand upon you, andsay, "I have sent you just as My Father sent Me-now go and do My will," you will find that in keeping His commandments thereis great reward. You would find meat to eat that you know nothing of now.

Let us have practical Christianity, my Brothers and Sisters! Let us never neglect doctrinal Christianity, nor experimentalChristianity, but if we do not have the practice of it in being to others what Christ was to us, we shall soon find the Doctrinesto be without savor and the experience to be flavored with bitterness! Christ found joy in seeking the good of the Samaritanwoman. Her heart, up to now unrenewed, satisfied Him when He had won it to Himself. Oh, the joy of winning a soul! Get a gripfrom the hand of one whom you were the means of bringing to Christ-why, after that, all the devils in Hell may attack you,but you will not care-and all the men in the world may rage against you and say you do not serve God from proper motives,or do not serve Him in a discreet way-but since God has set His seal upon your work, you can afford to laugh at them! Do butwin souls, Beloved, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and you shall find it to be a perennial spring ofjoy in your ownsouls!

But, notice also that our Lord says, in addition to His finding it His meat to do God's will, that He also desired to finishHis work. And this is our satisfaction-to persevere till our work is finished. You do not know how near you may be to thecompletion of your work. You may not have to toil many more days. The chariot wheels of eternity are sounding behind you.Hurry, Christian! Use the moments zealously for they are very precious. You are like the work-girl with her last inch of candle.Work hard! The night comes wherein no man can work. "I paint for eternity," said the painter, so let us do-let us work forGod as those whose work will endure when selfish labors shall burn as wood, hay and stubble till the last tremendous fire.To finish His work! To finish His work! Be this our aim. When the great missionary to the Indians was dying, the last thingthat he did was to teach a little child its letters. And when someone marvelled to see so great a man at such a work, he saidhe thanked God that when he could no longer preach, he had at least strength enough left to teach that poor little child.So would he finish his life's work and put in the last little stroke to complete the picture. It should be our meat and ourdrink to push on, never finding our meat in what we have done, but in what we are doing and still have to do-finding constantlyour refreshment in the present work of the present hour as God enables us to perform it-spending and still being spent forHim. Never let us say, "I have had my day. Let the young people take their turn." Suppose the sun said, "I have shone so long,I shall not rise tomorrow"? Imagine the stars in their beauty saying, "We have for so long a time shot our golden arrows throughthe darkness, we will now retire forever." What if the air should refuse to give us breath, or the water should no longerripple in its channels, or if all Nature should stand still because of what it once did-what death and ruin would there be!No, Christian, there must be no loitering for you-each day be this your meat-to do the will of Him that sent you and to finishHis work!

III. And now, lastly, I have not strength, neither have you the time to consider THE GLORY WHICH JESUS CHRIST SHOULD HAVEFROM us, when we know that He could truly say, "It is My meat to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."

How could He ever have loved us? It is strange that the Son of God should have set His affections upon such unworthy beings.I should not have wondered, my Brother, at His loving you, but it is a daily marvel to me that Jesus should have loved me.It is a wonder of wonders that He should come to save us-that when we were so lost and ruined that we did not even care aboutHis love, but rejected it when we heard of it, and despised it even when it came with some degree of power to our hearts-thatHe should still have loved us notwithstanding all. "'Tis strange! 'Tis passing strange, 'tis wonderful!" Yet so it is. Hehas no greater delight than in saving us and in bringing us to Glory. Shall we not praise Him? Do not our hearts say withinthemselves, "What shall I do, My Savior to praise You? How shall I crown His head? How shall I show forth my gratitude toHim who found such delight in serving me?" Beloved, may the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit whichis given to us! From this day forth may it be our meat and our drink to do the will of Him that sent us-and to finish Hiswork!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN4:1-39.

Verses 1-3. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,(though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. Our Savior was nota Man of strife. He was quite ready to contend with the Pharisees on fit occasions, but just then He avoided an encounterwith them. Besides, one woman of Samaria, whom He was going to save, was worth more to Him than ten thousand Pharisees whowould not be saved by Him! Most of the learning and culture of Palestine was possessed by the Pharisees, but Christ thoughtnothing of it in comparison with the soul of the one poor woman of Samaria whom He was going to save.

4-7. And He must go through Samaria. There came He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of groundthat Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thuson the well, and it was about the sixth hour There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said

unto her, give Me a drink. [See Sermons #2570, Volume 44-JESUS SITTING ON THE WELL and #2423, Volume 41-THE MODEL SOUL-WINNER.]The "sixth hour" means noonday, and that was a very unusual

time for a Samaritan woman to draw water. But the reason why she went at that unusual hour was because she was one whom otherwomen shunned so that if she went to the well at all, she must go alone, for they would not be seen in her company. What awonderful thing it is that this woman who was not thought to be fit company for her fellow creatures was nevertheless thoughtby Christ to be worth looking after and saving! But those who are the castaways of men are often among those who are the sought-outand chosen ones of Christ.

8. (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat) This was quite a right thing for the disciples to do, formeat must be bought for men to eat. No doubt it is better to pray than to eat, but if one never ate, he would not long beable to pray. I have heard these disciples condemned for their worldliness and carnality, but I fail to see anything of thekind-it seems to me necessary that somebody should go into the city to buy meat-and although it is not the noblest kind ofwork, yet, being necessary, it may be the steppingstone to higher service.

9. 10. Then said the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If You knew

the gift of God [See Sermons #782, Volume 13-SAVING KNOWLEDGE and #2277, Volume 38-SYCHAR'S SINNER SAVED.] How much we losethrough ignorance! Ignorance is often like a great stone laid upon the well so that the flocks cannot be watered-blessed iseveryone who helps to roll away that stone! It is a great thing to know the gift of God-"If you knew the gift of God."

10. And who it is that says to you, give Me a drink; you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living watei.There are two things worth knowing-what Grace is and Who it is that gives it. Lack of this knowledge often leads to lack ofprayer-and lack of prayer leads to lack of receiving. Perhaps someone asks, "Why does not God give without prayer?" Becauseit is not His will to do so! His will is that we should pray about everything. Did you ever notice that even when the harvestis ripe, it cannot be gathered in without prayer? Jesus said to His disciples, "The harvest is truly plenteous, but the laborersare few. Pray you, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." Prayer seems indispensable!It is part of God's necessary machinery. He has pleased to make it so. But what condescension of love it is that the prayerof man should be necessary to effect the purposes of God! God

even says to Christ, Himself, "Ask of Me and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts ofthe earth for Your possession." So that, from the woman at the well up to the Lord Jesus, Himself, prayer seems to be theindispensable requisite of blessing!

11. The woman said unto Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where, then, have

You that living water?[See Sermon #2897, Volume 50-THE SOURCE] You

who reverence the majesty of Christ's Deity, the perfection of His Humanity, the glory of His atoning Sacrifice, the splendorof His Resurrection power-you who know from where He has this Living Water, the power to save and to bless-worship and adoreHim with all your heart and soul!

12-14. Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?Jesus answered and said unto her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: but whoever drinks of the water that Ishall give him shall never thirst.You know that there are some who preach of a salvation that does not save-they teach thatone may be a child of God today and a child of the devil tomorrow! That is like the water in Jacob's well-"Whoever drinksof this water shall thirst again." But Christ's salvation is of a very different kind- "Whoever drinks of the water that Ishall give him shall never thirst."

14. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. [See Sermons #770,

Volume 13-THE WATER OF LIFE; #865, Volume 15-LIFE'S EVER-SPRINGING WELL and #1202, Volume 20-HOLY WATER.] The Grace of Godis a living thing, a springing and abiding thing, an everlasting thing-and he that has it in his heart has that which hassaved him forever!

15. The woman said unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw. Christ's words were comingtrue. He said that if she had known, she would have asked. And then, in her poor groping way, she began to pray, hardly knowingwhat she was asking for! I advise you also to pray even before you quite understand your own prayers, before you are sufficientlyinstructed to know what you really need! Ask God to give you what you need. Very often we make a discovery of our needs throughhaving them supplied.

16-19. Jesus said unto her, Go, call your husband, and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus saidunto her, You have well said, I have no husband: for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband:in that said you truly. The woman said unto Him, Sir, I perceive that You are a Prophet. She perceived that there was somethingabout Him which marked Him out as a Prophet, so she seemed to say to Him, "As You are a Prophet, solve me this riddle."

20-24. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesussaid unto her Woman, believe Me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship theFather. You worship you know not what: We know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes and now is,when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God isa Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in trut . Let us never forget this. Even if we all believeit, we do not always act according to that belief. For instance, we sing through a hymn, but it might almost as well be anold song, for our hearts do not go with the words. Or while our heads are bowed in prayer, perhaps our thoughts are back withour children, or our shops, or far away in some foreign land. Yet there is no benefit in coming up to a place of worship,or in listening to sermons and prayers, or joining in the singing of sacred songs unless our heart is there! Let us alwaysremember this, and sigh and cry rather than rejoice if we have been up to the holy assembly and yet have not worshipped God"in spirit and in truth."

26, 26. The woman said unto Him, I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto you am H. Now she had made the greatest of all discoveries, for the Messiah, Himself,had come to her and told her "all things." This was her test of the Messiah and Christ had answered it!

27. And about this time His disciples came and marvelled that He talked with the woman: yet no man said, What are You seeking?or, Why do You talk with her?They had too much respect for Him to ask such questions, except in their own hearts, but theirOriental prejudices made them marvel that He was talking with a woman!

28-33. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, Come, see a Man who told me allthings that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto Him. In the meanwhile His disciplesprayed Him, saying, Master, eat. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that you know not

of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Has any man brought Him something to eat?They did not like to ask Him plainly,although they were very curious about the matter, they scarcely dared to pry further into it. And His next words may havedeepened the mystery still further.

34, 36. Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work. Say not you, there areyet four months, and then comes harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for

they are white already to harvest. [See Sermon #707, Volume 12-FIELDS WHITE FOR HARVEST.] "Look at those Samaritans troopingout of the city, drawn by that woman's testimony concerning Me. They are coming, at her invitation, to learn more about theChrist."

36-38. AndHe that reaps receives wages, andgathers fruit unto life eternal: that both he that sows andhe that reaps may rejoicetogether. And herein is that saying true, One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor:other men labored, and you are entered into their labors. The Prophets had spoken and written concerning the Messiah. Theirwords had prepared the minds of the Jews and also of the Samaritans, to receive the Gospel. So the great success of the Apostlesmust not be traced merely to their teaching, but also to the preparatory work of the other laborers who had gone before-"Othermen labored, and you are entered into their labors." The Church is always ready to praise her reapers, but let her not forgether sowers. There are some of us who bring many souls to Christ, who are greatly indebted to the work which was done by othermen who preceded us. There are some who, perhaps, have few conversions although they preach the Gospel faithfully-they aresowing and there shall come others, by-and-by, who shall reap bounteous harvests as the result of their sowing the Good Seedof the Kingdom! No matter who sows, or who reaps, the glory of the harvest shall be unto the Most High.

39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all thatever I did.