We are in John chapter 4, and we had a wonderful time talking about the gospel, talking about evangelism more specifically, talking about presupposition, a presupposition of evangelism. We argued from John 4 verse 34 specifically that doing God's will is really the most important goal, our primary responsibility, more important than even eating, more important than any basic necessity. The work of God, the will of God, listening and obeying the Lord is our most important responsibility that we have. And of course, this runs the whole gamut of the Christian life, no matter what area we're talking about. To do the will of God, to do the Lord's work in any area, whether you're a wife, a husband, a parent, a pastor, a missionary, a school teacher, wherever you are, whatever station in life you're at, to know God's will for you in that area and to be about it is the most and primary responsibility that you have and nothing should take precedence over it. Doing God's will is preeminent. over even the basic necessities of life. That's what we argue. Now, we're talking about evangelism, however. We're in John chapter 4. So your notes there do say that the presupposition is being a witness for Christ is the most important responsibility that we have. Of course, understand that being a witness for Christ in the context of evangelism means to do the work of God. It means to be about the will of God. That's what we're talking about. To be consistent, let me draw your attention to the next presupposition, and maybe we'll change the word evangelism, it doesn't matter, to, again, being Christ's witness, but we're talking about the same thing. We're talking about this activity, this holy vocation that we do only here on this earth. So many other things about the Christian life and about our faith will be practiced to perfection in heaven, but not evangelism. There'll be nobody there to witness to, nobody there to lead to Christ. Everybody will be in Christ and will be perfect and we will be rejoicing. So only here on this earth do we have this opportunity. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. to be a witness for Christ, to evangelize. So I would like to say that building on what we said this morning, because being a witness, doing the Lord's will in this area of evangelism is our primary responsibility, we might say then that as a result of that, this witnessing, this evangelism is a supernatural enterprise that the Lord has commissioned me to be continuously practicing. This is not something I practice on Mondays. It's not something I practice just for one week. It's not something I devote a year to and then I'm over with. This is to characterize my life. Evangelism is a supernatural enterprise that the Lord has commissioned me to continuously practice. That is a presupposition of evangelism. It should guide our evangelistic practices. So I want to unpack that for you first, and then we'll get to some of the practical application as we go along. We're looking now at verses 35 to 38. We looked at verses 31 to 34, and now we're looking at verses 35 to 38. So our presupposition begins this way. Evangelism is a supernatural enterprise. Let's stop there. Let's take this in three parts. Evangelism is supernatural. I think you know that, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we are engaged in an enterprise that is spiritual, that is supernatural. We even have a supernatural weapon that allows us to destroy fortresses, which are the ideologies And the worldviews that the world, fueled by Satan and that demonic deception that I talked about earlier this morning, has constructed. We need a supernatural weapon to destroy supernatural ideologies, demonic ideologies, the doctrine of demons, as Paul once said to Timothy. So evangelism is very much a supernatural activity. Evangelism is a unique activity. At times it involves conversing, but it is not simply conversation. At other times it involves practicing what we preach, but it is not simply modeling. At times it involves instruction, but it's not simply lecturing. Evangelism refers to something entirely different than anything secular. And Jesus explains this to his disciples. He explains just how different. And he uses agricultural terminology. You might remember that this morning I talked about Jesus' great habit or custom and ability to take secular kinds of things and turn them into spiritual lessons. Here, he uses terminology that his audience is familiar with in order to drive home a particular point, it makes sense that Jesus, of course, would talk about thorn bushes and fig trees and different kinds of soils and such in order to illustrate spiritual truths to a society that was mainly agrarian. Now in the context of John IV, he uses sowing and reaping terminology. This is farming terminology. I am a farmer of sorts. I have a horse farm. I can appreciate this. I know about sowing and reaping. We have seven acres of pasture that we have to seed and fertilize every fall and every spring. So lots of work to be done. Farming terminology is here and Jesus uses this to teach them about evangelism. And I have to say, that makes sense, because on the face of it, there are parallels between a spiritual enterprise that we're calling evangelism and growing crops. Lots of parallels. Both sow seed. Both cultivate it by watering and fertilizing it. Both harvest and reap the fruit of the seed that germinated and grew. Figuratively speaking, of course, Christians sow or cast the seed of the gospel. And they also water it, which actually refers to this time we spend reasoning with unbelievers who have heard the gospel. We explain, we lay out context, depending on how biblically literate they are. We meet them where they're at, and we begin to argue about how a Christian worldview is the proper worldview, and so on. And then finally, we reap the harvest, which refers to leading that person who has heard the gospel explained in context to faith in Christ. So that's our terminology. And it makes sense. That's easy enough. But... And here's the catch, Jesus is not drawing so much on the similarity between farming and evangelism as he is on the difference between the two. You say difference, just got finished talking about the parallels. Yes, Jesus is actually talking about the difference between the two. The difference has to do primarily with the time between the seed germinating in fertile soil and the harvesting of its fruit, the time. This is what Jesus focuses on. He shows just how unique evangelism is in verse 35. Let me draw your attention there. He says to his disciples, do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Well, look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Now, his leading rhetorical question here anticipates a positive answer. Yes, there certainly is a period of time between the initial planting of crops and the harvesting of their fruit. It was usually four months, depending on the kind of crop, and Jesus mentions this. Everybody knew this in a first century agrarian society. But spiritual farming, if I can coin a phrase, doesn't have this time restraint as literal farming does, because it is a spiritual, supernatural process. So the normal and necessary time it takes for literal farming to be profitable and fruitful is not normal and necessary in spiritual farming. Jesus teaches us that when we farm souls, well, God reckons time very differently than the farmer. There is no waiting period. If the seed of the gospel is sown in the soil of a heart that God has properly prepared, then the seed will germinate and produce the fruit of faith and repentance and salvation is immediate. No waiting. So Jesus is telling us that evangelism is unique. It's unique work, unlike any other work. It's supernatural nature. It is a process whereby reaping a fruit can follow instantly after the seed of the gospel has germinated in the heart. Now Jesus reinforces this truth to the disciples by demonstrating it in the case with the Samaritan town people. They were already on their way to hear Jesus talk more about gospel truth. And it's likely that Jesus could actually see them in droves coming toward him while their white robes were glistening in the sun. As they approached him, he says, behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, they are white for harvest." Here was a perfect time for Jesus to show how his theory works out in practice. He would scatter more gospel seed over a crowd, and in this case, it obviously took root. Consequently, it yielded an immediate harvest of faith and repentance. So evangelism is a spiritual supernatural enterprise. It requires that we cast the supernatural seed of the gospel so that when we do, and it should fall on the soil of hearts that God has tilled and prepared in advance to receive, there will be fruit of faith and repentance that immediately follows. So, that is the first part of our presupposition. We need to understand that evangelism is supernatural. You are engaged in a supernatural activity. Next part of our presupposition says that evangelism is a supernatural enterprise that we practice continually and with urgency. Continually and with urgency. Now, if God doesn't reckon time between sowing and reaping and spiritual farming the same way as farmers do in conventional farming, then neither should we. But let me be stronger because the text is stronger here. Not just farmers, but everyone who lived in this first century society reckoned time the same way. So Jesus wants his disciples to understand that spiritual farming, evangelism, is not only about sowing and reaping without necessary time periods in between. It is also a supernatural work that we believers need to make priority in our lives. He's instructing his disciples here not just on the uniqueness of this supernatural work, but because of its uniqueness, Jesus was urging them to engage in it right then and there and on a regular basis. In other words, there's no need for us to wait, never. A need for us to wait, like the farmer who has to wait. We can harvest now and we can engage in the supernatural work on a continual basis, continual basis. And this speaks again to what we argued this morning when we said that believers need to get their priorities straight and let nothing, not even eating, prevent them from practicing spiritual farming urgently and continually. Now, that's the implication of verse 35. In other words, this is what I believe verse 35 implies. But let's confirm it with a straightforward teaching of verse 36. Here Jesus tells his disciples the time for spiritual harvesting is now. Already, he says, the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. This is such a wonderful declaration. by the Lord. Spiritual farming, unlike conventional farming, is done on a different plane, a different field, in what the Bible calls the end times. That's a period, of course, a period of time between Pentecost and the second coming of Christ. It's a time where we all live now, already. And it's the time Jesus says that we are to be about the supernatural enterprise. His true worshipers need to be sowing and watering and reaping all at the same time. And Jesus gives two reasons in verse 36, why we need to be about this. Two reasons, let me highlight those for you before we go any further. The first reason that Jesus gives us this, spiritual farming is a characteristic of his followers. You need to be about this and to be about this on a continual basis because it is a characteristic of his followers. The word already speaks of something current. In verse 36, Jesus says, already. The idea is at this very moment, as we speak. So while Jesus was instructing them about radical spiritual farming, the stage was being set for him to demonstrate this with the Samaritans. The Samaritan woman, who believed in Jesus had been talking it up, if you remember. And that's because witnessing to Christ before the world is a natural outworking of our regeneration. That's what's characteristic of us. It's now part of our new nature. We need to boast of Christ. We want to boast of Christ. We're in the business of being Christ's witnesses all the time, and we understand this, and we desire it. That's the characteristic. And it was characteristic of this woman, no doubt, whom we can assume came to trust in Christ as Lord and Savior. We can assume with good reason that she did. come to saving faith. So she was doing then what was natural for believers to do, what characterizes them. Jesus doesn't tell us about others, of course, but John the Baptist was certainly another. And now Jesus is about to demonstrate it for us. So that's the first reason why we need to be about this on a continual basis. It's characteristic of us. It's who we are. We're not meant to put our light under a bushel, right? We're not meant to do that. We're meant to shine. Now, here's the second reason that Jesus gives in verse 36, and it's this. Spiritual farming, which is only done on earth, as we argue, has eternal consequences. Now, we mentioned only in passing this morning in our study of verses 31 to 34 about eternal consequences that witnessing has. Jesus reminds us again in verse 36, already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life. I love this. We see that those already involved in the supernatural process, who are living out what is characteristic of them, who cast the seed of the gospel and reap the spiritual harvest, are receiving their wages in the same way that a farmer himself benefits from the fruit of his own crop by eating it as well as by making a living off it. Now, let's raise the question here just so that we can be clear. What are the spiritual wages for one who does spiritual farming? What is that? What are the benefits of this? Well, it's logical for us to assume that if we're talking about a supernatural process, like evangelism, and the souls that we harvest for Christ are for eternal life, then the wages we receive are eternal in kind as well. That means, at the very least, that there are eternal consequences to our evangelistic labors. Jesus actually likens these eternal consequences, these positive benefits, to wages that the farmer reaps from his labor. So spiritually speaking, believers who are faithful to farm souls, whether they plant or water or harvest, or some combination of the three, will benefit from witnessing just as much as the one who is harvested. Whenever you serve the Lord, you are investing your time, your energy, your money for the future in the kingdom of God. That's what you're doing. Evangelism allows us then to invest in heavenly treasure. If it's true that evangelism is part of God's means of populating heaven, then when you harvest a soul, you've invested in the kingdom. And more than this, harvesting the fruit of souls for eternal life is an expression of faithful service that the Lord promises to reward in heaven. He promises to reward your faithfulness. In all aspects of the faith, especially in this area of evangelism, I would also mention too, although it's not part of the text, that being faithful at the spiritual enterprise is the key, being faithful. Whether or not you actually see someone saved from it or not, key is to be faithful. So let me explain then how we invest in the kingdom when it comes to evangelism. The way we spend our time on this earth until Jesus returns is significant. Since we've been bought with a price and we're not our own, we belong to the Lord, we need to glorify the Lord in our body. He owns us, he's commissioned us to use the time that he has granted to us by his mercy and grace for his purposes. We can use that time to advance kingdom purposes and invest in the kingdom, or we can be selfish. about this time that Jesus entrusted to us. We could misuse it. We could squander it and use it up for things that are not necessarily sinful, but are of no profit. They're not profitable for the kingdom, for investing in the kingdom. There's a great reward that the Lord will give to us as a result of our faithfulness. Now, there are many places in the New Testament we can go to develop this particular doctrine. We don't have very much time, but let me say the Apostle Paul speaks of our investment in heaven and the commendation from God as well. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, you might be familiar with that passage. Listen to verses 12 to 15. It's unmistakable. Even a cursory reading. It's unmistakable what he's saying here. Paul says, now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward, If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Very sobering passage, one that's very apropos in our particular context. The members of his church, and all members of the body of Christ by extension, according to this passage, are to build the church. Verse 9 makes that very clear. Verse 16 calls the church God's temple. We are to be about building it. The verses in between, verses 10 to 15, reveal the process of building the temple, the temple church, if you will, in which God dwells. In this process of spiritual building, Paul expects nothing but quality craftsmanship from each member of the body. Each one of us needs to give 100% of his and her effort and skill. Each Christian's work corresponds to the quality of his or her contribution to God's temple. What kind of work are we talking about? What does it entail? What does it look like? Well, building the church as a way to invest in the kingdom of heaven means, well, it means a lot of things, but certainly it entails witnessing, evangelizing the lost, That's one of the two-fold objectives to becoming a mature man that Paul talks about, speaking of the church in Ephesians 4. It is edification and evangelism. So witnessing, making disciples, fulfilling the Great Commission, that is a great way to invest in the kingdom. And in witnessing for Christ, living Christ to the world means being continually on witness mode for Christ. It means to be conscientious and deliberate about sowing and reaping. If this activity is characteristic of us, rather than being couch potatoes or TVaholics or idle or engaged in activity that while might not be sinful is unprofitable, then we're not investing in the kingdom wisely. We need to ask ourselves, do we use our time for God's agenda? Do we edify others? Do we witness to unbelievers? Do we maintain our own spiritual walk? These are the kinds of things we build with. This is the material, the costly stones and precious material. Do we use our money for God's agenda? and our words and our actions for God's purposes. God will assess, beloved, how well we have used our time and our energies that he gave us for his purposes. That day will come. Now let me just digress for a moment. I'm sure this is on your minds. I want to digress and I want to say we're not at this time able to get too much into the doctrine of rewards here. But I do want to mention it because I'm sure you're thinking about this. So let's just get it out of the way so we can get to the text. The doctrine of rewards is actually a debated doctrine. Some hold to the view that eternal life is simply the reward and there are no rewards in addition to that. Others, on the other hand, hold two rewards in addition to eternal life, especially because of 1 Corinthians 3 that we just read. And I think they're right, because I don't see how that passage can make sense any other way. But let me help you to think rightly about the concept of heavenly rewards. If we just say, for sake of argument, that there are rewards that Christ will give to his people, when they come to heaven in addition to eternal life. I don't want you to think of them in terms of something that we actually earn. That would be a mistake. Why? Well, it's hard for us not to think that way since we often see rewards that way, but that's not how our work is set up. when it comes to working for the kingdom. If you hire me in a secular sense to do a job right, then you need to pay me what you and I agree my labor's worth. My reward is is my remuneration. But spiritual wages that Jesus speaks about here are not something we earn. Since everything that we receive from God is always by his grace alone, grace alone, grace alone. We work for the master and we invest in the kingdom and we live for his purposes for the primary reason that we love him. Right? We love him. And we We find our greatest satisfaction and contentment in knowing that we have his pleasure and approval. His rewards are his way of commending us for showing consistent faithfulness and following him. Now, I might illustrate it this way then. A person doesn't enlist in the army because he wants to earn medals. It would be silly for someone to think, well, I'll join the army, I'll get wounded in combat, and I'll earn myself a Purple Heart. get a bridge named after me or something. I'll join the military in hopes of someday being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery and valor and action above and beyond the call of duty. It doesn't seem to be the case that soldiers join any branch of the service for the purpose of acquiring as many medals as they can. I personally have never heard nor read of a testimony from a veteran that stated medals and recognition as his or her motivation for going to war. And I've talked to a lot of veterans. No, U.S. soldiers fight for their country because they are loyal to it. They're proud of it. And also, they have a great regard for freedom and a great disdain for tyranny and terrorism and will serve their country faithfully to the death for those reasons. In the end, they may receive one or a variety of medals that commend their bravery and valor and loyalty and patriotism. And when they are rewarded them, they're not prideful about it at all, but rather humbled all the more because they believe they did only what they were commanded to do, being a good soldier. Well, in the same way, those of us who are in the service of the Lord fight for the cause of freedom from the bondage of sin and for righteousness, and most importantly, for the reputation of our great God. That's why we fight. That's why we work. Our primary incentive for doing that should be our love for Christ. When at the end we stand face to face with the Lord, we want to hear what? His approval. Well done. good and faithful servant. We wanna have the pleasure of seeing that all that we have done for him while on earth stood the test of his assessing fire. The commendations that we may receive from the Lord at that time, whatever they may be, are just that, his commendation for faithful service. Well, that's all I'll say about rewards. I do wanna make a clarification. Our discussion about eternal consequences to our evangelism that bring the fruit of souls that are saved and the Lord's commendation for it does not mean, of course, that we will not experience temporal rewards. So I do want to bring this up. And this is something we've actually made in passing this morning as well. There are temporal rewards. Let me give you about five or so. First of all, just knowing that the eternal wages, the benefits, the fruit that you have harvested in the process is part of your investment is cause for rejoicing right now. That would be one. Here are some others. Paul speaks about the right for ministers to be paid by the church. Now, that has nothing to do with the process of evangelism. It simply proves the concept that a laborer who harvests may expect to benefit immediately and temporally from the harvest. Therefore, Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 9-11, if we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? The answer, of course, is no. And then again in 2 Timothy 2.6, speaking about ministers' salaries, Paul says, it is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Speaking, of course, allegorically about the minister who teaches and who preaches and who labors. So to have To have the privilege of being compensated in various ways for our labors is another temporal blessing. Here are some others, too. To have the opportunity to proclaim the gospel is itself a reward, right? You feel good when you witness to somebody. You walk away and say, I'm so glad I did that. Praise God. I hope something comes of that. Certainly, we get a great feeling. Why? Because it's characteristic of us. Because that's who we are. That's what we do. To be persecuted for doing so is also a great privilege, one over which Peter and John rejoiced. Remember that? It's in the book of Acts, chapter five. It says that when they found that the Lord considered them worthy to be so treated, they rejoiced. How about this one? There's a great delight in reasoning with someone over the gospel, no matter how it turns out. A delight, a great way to spend time. It's a privilege and the fact that we took a divinely appointed opportunity to contend for the faith should make us thankful worshipers. There's the benefit of rejoicing with others wherever they are in the process of this spiritual farming. There are others at the same time who are watering, who are planting, who are harvesting. Jesus says himself in verse 36, and he points out the benefits of rejoicing together with others who are at work at different stages of the sowing, watering, reaping process. He says this new radical spiritual farming in which all can take place simultaneously is so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. That's a great benefit. Here's the last one that I'll give. When this presupposition is operating in your life, it will be the cause of great rejoicing. Whether you are doing the hard work of sowing, reasoning, battling for mines, destroying fortresses with the supernatural weapon of the gospel, or bringing someone who's at the end of that whole process to faith in Christ, you can rejoice just the same. It is a cause for rejoicing. A great cause. Well, what have we said so far? We said that evangelism is a supernatural process that is different and more important than anything that we will ever be engaged in. A supernatural process. And as such, there is a sense of urgency about making this practice characteristic of our lives, to be continually about the work of witnessing. We said those of us who are lacking in this area need to realize that already others are involved in it. It's characteristic of who we are. They're receiving their wages and that our participation in it or lack of participation will have a direct consequences on our investment in the kingdom. Now if it's true that our practice of spiritual farming has eternal consequences, Then we can strengthen our investment the more faithful we are in this enterprise, or we can weaken our investment the less faithful we are in this enterprise. If all of us examine how we're building, there is no doubt that we will all sense the urgency about being more faithful to this practice of spiritual farming. So we see this urgency. And we see it also in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 8. where Paul says, now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. We need to labor in this area, in this enterprise that we might invest in the kingdom. We need to be We need to be continually about the work. There is an urgency about this. Here's the last leg of our presupposition, the supernatural enterprise that we are to be continually about. It is our responsibility. It's our responsibility. This is not an option we're talking about. We don't sign up to serve Christ with the idea that we can pick and choose the things we wanna do. No, we love him, and we follow him, and we do his will. It's our responsibility. As we unpack this last part of our presupposition, it has to do with our responsibility to God. And up until now, we've seen that Or we've seen evangelism as a process. We've been calling it a spiritual enterprise. But I want to clarify that with the idea of a commission, a duty, a responsibility. Here's what Jesus says, verse 37 and verse 38. For here the saying holds true. One sows, another reaps. I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. What's he mean? Jesus has commissioned every believer to this work. He says, I send you to reap. Now you have to understand that in this context of Matthew, John 4 rather, Jesus' disciples were to reap the souls of those whom others had prepared. We understand that, that's what the context says. But let's not make the mistake of thinking that Jesus sent us to reap only. No, Jesus means that he sent them basically to be engaged in the enterprise of evangelism. He doesn't mean that they were exempt from other aspects of spiritual farming. Certainly, Paul did a fair amount of sowing and watering throughout all three missionary journeys, reasoning with the Jews on the one hand and dialoguing with the Gentiles on the other, right? Sowing, reaping. And when God did germinate the seed in the heart of a person, there was an immediate response of faith and repentance. Sometimes we're casting seeds. Sometimes we're explaining more of the gospel in context. Sometimes we're leading someone to Christ after that person had already been properly evangelized by others before us. Sometimes we work with someone for a long time and never see that person come to Christ, but someone else might. Sometimes we labor for months, even years, with someone in the casting and the watering department before we harvest. And at other times, we find that salvation comes rather quick into the process for others. But no matter where you are in this supernatural spiritual farming, you have been called to it. It's our responsibility, beloved. Now, that's the presupposition. We've unpacked it. We've pulled it apart. We've put it all back together again. Let's look very quickly at some application. before we bring all of this to a close, just some application. I have about five points of application. First one is this, we can trust a process that God works through to save souls. We can trust the process that God works through to save souls. Remember I said at the beginning, or this morning if you were with us, that presuppositions help us to be effective in the very activity that we're practicing. The very activity about which we have presuppositions. They help us to be more effective. Well, if our presupposition tells us that evangelism is a supernatural work that we need to be continually involved in because we have been commissioned to do it, then one of the things, one of the ways it will impact us practically is that we can rest secure, we can trust that this process that God works through to save souls, we can trust it. It's a great comfort to us as well as instills great confidence in us to know that evangelism is a spiritual enterprise through which God works, through which he is pleased to bring people to salvation. Again, Paul addresses this, 1 Corinthians 3, in verses 6 and 7, he says, I planted, Paulus watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything. but God who causes the growth. It's a trustworthy, reliable, secure process that God has sanctioned to work through to bring souls to salvation. That is what we're commissioned to do. Samaritan woman brought townspeople to Jesus, but he came to her first. and God will save his people. I must go through Samaria, Jesus said. I must. It wasn't because it was the quickest route from where he was to Jerusalem, although it was. It was because he had to meet the Samaritan woman. He had a divine appointment. And there were other people that belonged to him that needed to be saved. The woman starts broadcasting the good news to the townspeople who then come to Jesus, following her lead, and they believe. A supernatural process, we can trust this process that God works through to save souls. Also, number two, we'll be more conscientious in our ongoing witnessing for Jesus. It might be difficult for us to be always on witness mode, but we have to be. That doesn't mean that we're always preaching the gospel, or declaring the gospel, or reasoning with somebody. It means living Christ to people as well. Always thinking about witnessing to Christ before the world. Now let me say, because there are no time lapses between the hearer or the hearing of the gospel, or I should say the germinating of the gospel in a heart that's been prepared and receiving salvation, which is the harvesting. Because there's no time lapse at all, it's immediate, can happen at any time. Jesus wants us then to be busy about all aspects of spiritual farming, be busy about all of them, be doing it all the time, looking for opportunities to cast, to sow, to water, to reap. It needs to be in the forefront of our minds in all that we do. We need to be conscientious about it. Who's watching us? What are the words and actions that we use convey to people? How are we being perceived? Because even when we're not actively engaged in aggressive proclamation of the gospel, we are still witnesses for Christ. And witnesses are always witnessing, even at rest. I talked about the farm this morning, our horse farm, where we teach natural horsemanship. And my dad, who is the horse whisperer of the East, He now has at least 10 pages, a catalog of his wisdom sayings with regard to horses. They're very good, by the way. And I'm not just saying that because he's my dad, but they are very good. Almost 80 years of experience right there in these wisdom sayings. And I shared a couple with you. Here's another one. You're always riding the horse. even when you're sitting there stopped. When you're sitting on a horse, he's just standing there, and you're there in the saddle. You're riding. Why is that important to know? Because anything can happen at any time, and you always have to be ready. You're always riding. It's not a time to take a break, to take off my windbreaker, which makes tons of noise, and spooks the animal, and off you go. You're always riding, always prepared. Now that presupposition will help you be a better rider, and will save you from lots of aggravation. Jesus wants us to see the urgency of being his witnesses, being about the work of evangelism, about leading people to Christ. Our participation in it, or lack of participation, as I say, will have eternal consequences on our investment. Number three, there's always work to do. It's another application. There's always work to do. We read in another part of of the Gospels, Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 9, verse 37 and 38, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. I have to say there are two shocking facts about Jesus' words, two shocking facts here. Number one, the harvest is actually plentiful. I find that to be very interesting. One would not think that today, would they? But that is one characteristic of the end times, that the harvest will be plentiful. Isn't that interesting? It's plentiful. There are people there waiting to hear from you. Those in the church who are skeptical about this are so skeptical because they're not constantly about the work. Rather, they use the excuse that most people are hardened and they must wait, therefore, for opportunities to come knocking on their door, and that leads, of course, to the second very interesting and shocking fact, and the fourth application here, and that's this. We need to be praying for more laborers. We need to be praying for more laborers. Is that high on your prayer list? I don't know if you keep a prayer journal, but if I were to look at it, would I find that anywhere? Look at the top, pray for more laborers. I don't know about you, but I'm very convicted about this. Pray for more laborers. It's a sad state of affairs when the church, the only group on earth commissioned by the Lord himself to lead people to himself, cannot meet the demands of the harvest. And it is not because the demand is so great, it's rather because the laborers are so few. And they are few not because there are so few Christians, but because there are so many Christians who refuse to make witnessing a priority in their lives. They have not learned to reckon time the way God does. They simply wait for what has already arrived, and the harvest passes them by. Number five, finally, this is an antidote against spiritual despondency. This presupposition, the fact that we are commissioned to do this, it's an antidote against spiritual despondency. When we consider the description of the last days, just how unbelieving hearts are hard, and how much the unbeliever wars against the Lord, he is at enmity with him, Paul says, Romans. We're tempted to become despondent in the spiritual enterprise. Maybe we'll just save it for another day. I don't know. We make all kinds of excuses. 1 Timothy chapter 4. First three verses prophesies about a demonic deception that will characterize the end times and that we have to fight against. We have to battle against it for the minds of men and women. Second Timothy chapter three, first five verses prophesies that difficult, hostile, violent, and hedonistic times will come. In fact, that will characterize the end times. And in second Timothy chapter four, first Four verses prophesize that people in the church will not endure sound doctrine and essentially redefine church and the faith to suit their own appetites. Paul speaks in 1 Thessalonians and prophesies that the man of lawlessness will enter into this time and be very effective. Peter and Jude talk about apostates who, at that time when they lived, were already distorting the truth. John speaks of many antichrists appearing already and more to come, and the spirit of antichrist. This is why there is despondency, but beloved, These are the people that we farm, right? We farm these people. This is who we're tilling. This is who we're sowing. This is who we're watering and harvesting. So take heart, amid all of the turmoil and all the chaos of all situations going on out there from bad to worse, people will be saved. They will, God has his own. and he will save them. Though this period of time is given a rather bleak description, it is also described as a time of great ingathering. God will have his own and will not lose one of them. He will bring them out of darkness into his marvelous light by means of the preaching of the gospel, by frail instruments like you and me. Much seed will be cast during this time that will take root and produce fruit. I'm reminded of the encouragement to witness in hostile territories in Corinth that Paul received from the Lord. A great encouragement, it's in Acts chapter 18. In verses nine and 10, Jesus says to Paul, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent for I'm with you and no one will attack you to harm you. For I have many in this city who are my people." Now, mind you, they had not heard the gospel yet. Paul had a divine appointment with these people. Those people, of course, were ones that the Lord had chosen to be part of the family of God. Paul simply needed to be faithful. Faithfulness, again, is the key behind our spiritual farming. And then there's the Lord's commendation and approval for faithful service. I like what J.C. Ryle says in his commentary on John at this point, and I close with this. He says, the true antidote against despondency is in God's work. is an abiding recollection of such promises as that before us. There are wages laid up for faithful reapers. They shall receive a reward at the last day far exceeding anything they've done for Christ, a reward proportion not to their success, but to the quality of their work. They are gathering fruit which shall endure when this world has passed away, fruit in some souls saved. Do our hands ever hang down, our knees wax faint? Do we feel disposed to say, my labor's in vain, my words without profit? Let us lean back at such seasons on this glorious promise. There are wages yet to be paid. There is fruit yet to be exhibited. Let us work on. He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. One single soul saved shall outweigh and outlive all the kingdoms of the world, end quote. He is dead on. Are you firmly resolved, beloved, that evangelism is a supernatural enterprise, that the Lord has commissioned you to continuously practice? Believe it and begin to harvest. The fields are ripe. Father, thank you for this time together, for your goodness to us, for the word of God for your mercy and grace, for Christ, and for salvation, for his work, and for his ongoing mediation on our behalf. Father, we pray that we would walk in such a way that would give great testimony to Christ, to the fact that he is God, his claims are true. We pray that we would find your grace efficient for the tasks that you have called us to. and that we would firmly believe that this work of evangelism, this spiritual farming of souls, is indeed a spiritual enterprise that you have commissioned us to be about on a continual basis. Lord, may we sense the urgency of the commission and be busy about your work for your glory, for your honor, and for the benefit of the church. For we pray in Christ's name, amen.