John 4:30-34 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

The Heart Of God Is To Save

If you were with me this morning, we talked about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. While Jesus entered Samaria, His disciples “went into the city to buy meat” (see verse 8). As Jesus talked to the unnamed woman at the well, He revealed to her that He is the Messiah. The woman, convicted that Jesus is the Messiah, goes to her home in Sychar (see verse 5). Her message to the men of Sychar is:

John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

Word Study “Meat”: While this woman is gone telling others about Jesus, His disciples return with what the King James calls simple “meat”. This is the Greek βρῶσις brōsis, {pronounced bro’-sis}, which the King James translates as “rust”, as in ..

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and RUST {brōsis} doth corrupt …

or as “meat” – like in our present text. The word is translated “eating” in 1 Corinthians 8:4, and “food” in texts like 2 Corinthians 9:10. I believe the best translation of the word is “food”. The disciples didn’t just go and get “meat” for Jesus and themselves to eat, but “food”, which could be anything you eat.

The distance between Judea and Sychar (a city of Samaria) is 24.85 miles. As Jesus was walking, the journey would have taken around 22 hours. Jesus has satisfied His thirst at the well, but should be famished!

Word Study “Prayed”: His disciples returned with food, and “prayed” {ἐρωτάω erōtáō, [pronounced er-o-tah’-o]}, literally BEGGED Jesus to eat. This is not the first time Jesus has been very hungry. In Matthew 4, our Lord was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit of God (Matthew 4:1) to be tempted by the devil. Jesus had been without food for 40 days and night, and Satan tempted Him to use His power to feed Himself. Jesus refused, saying:

Matthew 4:4 … Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This is how Jesus lived His life while on this earth. He was not driven by appetite, lust, or any sin whatsoever. Jesus – the Creator of all that we see-

Colossians 1:16 (ESV) For by {Jesus} all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords “had no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:19-20; Luke 9:57-58). Jesus had no cup to drink from when He asked the Samaritan woman for a drink from Jacob’s Well. Jesus had nothing, but one driving force in His life. Jesus told His disciples:

John 4:32 I have meat {brōsis, FOOD}
to eat that ye know not of

This puzzled the disciples. Did someone bring Jesus something to eat while He rested at the well? As the disciples talked among themselves, Jesus told them:

John 4:34 … My {brōsis FOOD} is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

God made and is in charge of all things. The only thing God wants is to save the lost. Period!

God The Son Was “Sent”

John 4:34 … My {brōsis FOOD} is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.

Preach STRONG: Jesus was not sent by rabbis. He was not sent by the Sanhedrin, the ruling elders of Israel. Jesus was not sent by Himself. There was no inner hunger or need for power that sent Him. Jesus – Himself God – is sent by God for the most important mission ever devised. He was sent by God to save the lost.

God is a “Him”. God, though three in Person, is One in desire. Part of the”Him” that sent Jesus is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus emphasized the sending and empowerment of the Spirit in one of the first recorded sermons He ever preached. It was in His hometown Nazareth that Jesus, at the Synagogue (Jewish Church) shared His mission as Messiah.

Luke 4:16-19 (ESV) … where {Jesus} had been brought up. And as was his custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The textual scroll Jesus read was Isaiah 61:1-2a. This text is significant, for it prophesies of the coming Messiah.

Jesus does not read the last part of Isaiah 61:2, which speaks of “the day of vengeance of our God”. Abruptly stopping in the middle of verse 2, Jesus rolled up the scroll, and returned it to the attendant of the Synagogue. Jesus turns, looks at the crowd there, and says:

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus applied this Messianic Prophecy to His own self. He as much said, “I am the Messiah Israel has long waited for”. In that Messianic Prophesy, the Messiah said:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”

God the Holy Spirit sent and empowered Jesus “to proclaim good news to the poor … to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed”. God the Holy Spirit is very involved in the salvation of human souls. It is the Spirit of God that empowered Jesus to …

Matthew 12:28 … I cast out devils by the SPIRIT OF GOD…

The Holy Spirit is not a Power,
but a Co-Equal Person of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit “led Jesus into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). Just as Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit, the Christian – a son of God – is to be led by the Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). This same Holy Spirit that sent Jesus and worked through Jesus is the same Holy Spirit Who revealed Bible truths to the Apostles and Prophets (Ephesians 3:5). The Holy Spirit sent – and walked with – our Lord Jesus.

God the Son was also sent to save us by God the Father. Jesus said:

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Jesus followed the direction of God the Father. He told us:

John 14:9 … he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father …

Some 30 times in the Gospel of John alone
Jesus speaks of being sent by God.

God the Father sent Jesus. God the Holy Spirit sent Jesus, and walked with Him as He ministered. John the Baptist taught that Jesus is the Great Intercessor between God and man. John said:

John 3:34-36 … For {Jesus} whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The Lord Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t make Jesus lesser or a little ‘g’ god and the Father and Spirit. Jesus Christ – born into this life of the virgin called Mary – is Himself Eternal God the Son. God says in:

Hebrews 1:6, 8 (ESV) When {God} brings {Jesus} the firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all God’s angels worship Him”. … 8 ..of the Son {God} says, “Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.

God the Father and God the Spirit sent God the Son into the world to save it, if we would but believe in Him. Our Jesus is called by the Prophet Isaiah,

Isaiah 9:6 … wonderful Counselor, mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace ..

Jesus Christ is the Word of Whom John writes, saying …

John 1:1 … In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God …

Over and over again, our Lord Jesus in Scripture “made Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Jesus said:

John 14:10-11 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

The Apostle summarizes this wonderful Lord we serve by saying:

Colossians 2:9 For in Him {in Jesus} dwelleth ALL THE FULLNESS of the GODHEAD bodily …

Our Lord Jesus was sent by both Father and Spirit to be our Messiah. Jesus Himself, co-equal with both Father and Spirit, was sent by His own desire to see souls saved. Oh, how God loves you and I!

Jesus Christ represents the fullness of the Triune God. Though Jesus was 20 plus hours without food, that which satisfied His soul was not physical food, but to do the will of the Godhead.

It Is The Love Of God and The Holiness of God
That Compels Him To Reach Out To The Lost World

Once more we read the words of our Lord:

John 4:34, “My {food} is to do the will of Him {the Godhead} that sent Me, and to finish His work”.

What is the will of the Godhead? Holiness & Love. God made promises that will be kept
because of Holiness & Love

It is to fulfill what God said to Satan in the Garden of Eden. When Adam ate that which was forbidden, he lost access to the Garden of Eden. But God told the serpent (which was Satan – see Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2):

Genesis 3:15 … I will put enmity {make you enemies with} between thee {Satan} and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel

Biologically, no woman has a “seed”. The woman carries the egg, the man the seed. But God promised that He would destroy the works of Satan through “the SEED of the woman”. God created a “seed of the woman” by the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Christ would become incarnate – human – through Mary. The Messiah – eternal God in the Heavens – would take upon Himself humanity, and pay the penalty for our sins.

God began the work of redemption in the Garden, and made a promise of Satan’s eventual fall. God in His holiness cannot look the other way insofar as sin is concerned. God told Adam,

“ in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:17 (ESV)

Romans 5:12 by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Adam’s sin effected more than just himself – it effected all his progeny. Why didn’t God just wipe out creation and start afresh? Sin was brought into creation by man’s hand, and man was guilty of disobeying God. Before man could ever get back to a place where he could be at peace with God there had to be a payment. But Who could pay? Sin had to be paid for – but it also had to be resolved once and for all. God cannot look the other way on sin.

Our God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity … (Habakkuk 1:13). God despises what He calls “evil”. The Psalmist said, “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; You hate all evil doers” (Psalm 5:4-5).

God is compelled by His holiness to punish sin. But God is compelled by His goodness & love to offer redemption towhosoever will in mankind.

We see God’s holiness in that Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden for their sin. But we see God’s love, His goodness, in that He covers the naked couple with “coats of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). This is the start of the story of redemption. An innocent creature died so that Adam and Eve could live.

Look at the story of redemption in the Scripture. Man sinned in the Garden, but was clothed, then expelled. But God did not abandon man. When the whole world but Noah abandoned God, God never abandoned Noah. When the flood receded, and Noah and his family – along with the animals – left the Ark, God was still with us.

Oh, how God is so good and kind and merciful!

When God led Israel from Egypt, He loved His people. God carried them through the wilderness, and fed them manna, and gave them meat to eat. At the base of Mount Sinai as Moses was receiving the Law, Israel and Aaron was making a golden calf to worship in place of God! And yet, God did not abandon His love. Though Israel broke God’s heart, and Moses broke the first tablets of the Law, God was patient and good. God told Moses

Exodus 34:1 … Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Oh, how good, and patient, and kind our God is! Moses, that grand old Saint, stood on the mountain top and heard God. The Bible says:

God Reveals His Holiness In His Law. God Reveals His Love In His Description Of Himself.

Exodus 34:5-7 (ESV) The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Our God is merciful and gracious. These are the first two words that He Himself uses to describe His character. God is merciful and gracious. God is slow to anger. Pastor Dane Ortlund notes in his book “Gentle and Lowly” (have you read it yet?):

“Slow to anger. The Hebrew phrase is literally “long of nostrils”. Picture an angry bull, pawing the ground, breathing loudly, nostrils flared. That would be, so to speak, “short nosed”. But the Lord is long nosed. He doesn’t have His finger on the trigger. It takes much accumulated provoking to draw out his ire. Unlike us, who are often emotional dams ready to break, God can put up with a lot. This is why the Old Testament speaks of God being “provoked to anger” by His people dozens of times (especially in Deuteronomy; 1-2 Kings, and Jeremiah). But not once are we told that God is “provoked to love” or “provoked to mercy”. His anger requires provocation; His mercy is pent up, ready to gush forth. We tend to think divine anger is pent up, spring loaded; divine mercy is slow to build. It’s just the opposite. Divine mercy is ready to burst forth at the slightest prick.” (page 148).

God is not like us. When something doesn’t work out for us, we trash it, throw it away. We boil over. We blow up. God is not that way. John Calvin said,

“There is nothing that troubles our consciences more than when we think that God is like ourselves”.

Though Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, God never finished working toward His loving plan of redemption. God never ceased working toward the day when the Messiah could come, and free us all from the deadly influence of sin.

The Conversion Of Samaria Was Thousands Of Years In The Loving Mind Of God

Jesus said,

John 4:35-38 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.

The Jews with Jesus saw Samaria as a problem area they had to pass through. What they saw as a problem area, a group of half bred people, Jesus saw as precious unto God. God had been working from the Garden of Eden until that very day, and works even now, to secure the salvation of whosoever will. The love of God in saving souls is immeasurable, timeless, never ending. This Samaritan woman was nothing to the disciples – but to Jesus she was part of the work of God that He wanted more than food. The Bible says:

Psalm 138:5-6 … great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the {proud} he knows from afar.

From Genesis till today “One soweth, and another reapeth ”. Every Prophet, every Preacher, every Teacher from Eden until now have sown into the plan of God. Jesus told His disciples:

John 4:35-36 … I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (36) And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

People need the Lord. We need to reap where God allows, and sow even when we see no evidence of harvest. We have a great blessing as the children of God to invite others into His kingdom. What is the will of God, the “food” that kept Jesus satisfied? It was the satisfaction of revealing Himself as Messiah, and seeing the Spirit of God move in the heart of the unnamed Samaritan woman.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

The work of God is to believe on Jesus. To share Jesus with others. To share the great love of God with this present world. What filled Jesus’ so that He was not hungry was doing the will of God. He said:

John 6:38-40 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 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. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Let’s finish our text. The Samaritan woman has been in Sychar, telling others about the Messiah. The Bible tells us:

John 4:39-42 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on {Jesus} for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word; 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

What a wonderful blessing it is to work in the fields of the Lord. Will you commit to work with me? Oh, that God would set our souls on fire, to share Christ and His love as we are given opportunity to do so. May God the Holy Spirit and this precious Scripture move on all our hearts. Amen and Amen.