Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3135
“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 saved and 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 JESUS CHRIST.
You who are trembling under a sense of sin will perceive that the work of saving souls is called by Christ, “His Father’s will “I know you are very prone to imagine that Christ is full of pity, but that the Father is austere, severe, an avenging Judge. You slander your God by such a supposition! “The work of mercy is the will of Him that sent Me,” says Christ. “All that I am doing, when I am seeking the soul’s good of a poor sinful Samaritan woman at the place of this well is according to My Father’s mind.” Christ was not, as it were, introducing men to a mercy from which God would keep them, but He was bringing to reconciliation with God those concerning whom the benevolent will of God was that they should be saved—and more—concerning whom the effectual will of God was that they should also be brought into Covenant relation with Himself and should enjoy eternal life!
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’s will that you should come in. If you receive Christ into your heart, you will not have stolen the treasure—it was God’s will that you should receive Christ! If with broken heart you shall come and rest upon the finished Sacrifice of Jesus, you need not fear that you will violate the eternal purpose, or come into collision with the Divine Decree—God’s will has brought you into a state of salvation! One of the most vain fears that a man can entertain is the dread that the Father will be unwilling to forgive or the equally absurd fear that he may possibly find a decree of God shutting him out when he is anxious to be reconciled. Where God gives the will to come to Jesus, we may be sure that the eternal purpose has gone before! O awakened Sinner, your anxious desire, your prayerfulness, your longing for God are but the shadows of the Divine Will upon your own will! 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 Gospel which we preach is that to which you should give your attention. Rest assured that God has never spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth and said, “Seek you My face in vain.” He has never passed a secret decree in the council chamber who shall contravene the open promise of His mercy. “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.” If you come to Christ and cast yourself upon Him, you need entertain no suspicion that you are violating the will of God, for salvation is the will of God which 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 inviting him into my house. If I know that I am poor and that a princely social worker has come with plentiful liberalities to distribute to 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 on purpose to fill that empty sinner! Wherever there is a thirsty spirit, the river of the Water of Life is poured out on purpose for that thirsty soul to drink! If you hunger after Christ, rest assured that Christ has met with you and discerns in you one of those whom He came to call. He would not have made you hunger, nor made you thirst, nor made you feel your emptiness if it had not been His intention to remove your hunger, slake your thirst and fill your emptiness to the full! Look upon the Savior as being commissioned by His Father to save sinners. Never indulge the thought that He came to save better ones than you are and that you are just beyond the pale of His mercy! Instead thereof, let your sinfulness, your nothingness, your conscious weakness, your utter ruin and Hell-deserving inspire you with a surer hope that you are such a sinner as Jesus Christ came to deliver! He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Who is more lost than you are? Believe, then, that He came to seek and to save you—and cast yourself upon Him—and you shall find it so!