and while God can just do it all by Himself. Really? Is that really Biblical?
Does God really do it all by Himself? No, He doesn't. Because the Bible says,
"If our Gospel be hid, it's hid to them that have lost."
So, you know, if we hide it under a bushel, people go without hearing the Gospel.
People are doomed. We need to reach them with the Gospel.
And you say, "Well, everybody gets a chance." Yeah, but I want to give people two chances.
I want to give people a third chance. I want to give people a fourth chance, because most people
don't get saved the first time they hear it.
I want to give them a sixth and a seventh chance. And the more we go, the more people are going
to be saved, the more seeds we plant, and the more water we dump in that garden, the
more people are going to be saved. So it's so foolish to say, "Oh, well, you know, it's
all in God's hands." Well, just because God makes the plant grow, no, it's not all in
God's hands, because we have to be faithful to water that garden. So that's what the Bible
is actually teaching, because God says, "Ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave
to every man." So God has given every man ministers by whom they might believe.
So are we going though? Are we being that minister? Are we filling the role that God
has for our lives and are we being an answer to prayer? When people are praying in some
distant city, "Oh God, please let my relative in Phoenix, Arizona be saved," are we an answer
to prayer when we knock on that door? Because I remember many times that I've knocked on
somebody's door and given them the gospel and they said, "Wow, you know, my grandma
is a Baptist or my uncle's Baptist or my aunt, they keep talking to me about this."
And then they get saved and you think, you know, I'm an answer to the prayer of that
other relative. That's a blessing to do that. But you know what? People are praying and
so many people are just not willing to go. And then it just doesn't get done. It's like,
"Well, why hasn't God answered my prayer?" But God's trying to send people, but here's
the problem. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers into His harvest. You could
be an answer to that prayer by being a laborer that goes out into the harvest. And we see
here that one person plants and another waters. God gives the increase, but I like this in
verse 8. It says, "Now he that plantereth, planteth, and he that watereth, are one." What
does that mean? He that planted and he that watereth are one. It's the same guy who plants
and the same guy who waters. Sometimes we're planting, sometimes we're... There's no such
thing as just an all-time planter. I'm just a seed planter. I never want anybody to the
world. I just plant seeds. Or all I do is just water. No, it's the same person that
does, but sometimes we plant, sometimes we water, sometimes we get to see that harvest
reaped. Okay, now flip over to John chapter four. Just back a few pages to the left in
your Bible, John chapter four. And the Bible says, "Now he that planteth and he that watereth
are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." Oh, we
don't matter. We don't have any part in it. We have nothing to do with it. That's not
what the Bible teaches. We have a job to do. God gives us that job to do. If we accomplish
the mission, we get a reward. We get paid. You say, "Why do we get paid by the Lord?
Why does He reward us? Don't we owe Him so much anyway?" Well, here's the thing, though.
Salvation's free. We don't pay that back. When we go out and do works for God, He rewards
us. It doesn't go toward our salvation debt. That's already been paid by Jesus. But look
at John chapter 4, and we have another great passage on this same concept. It says in verse
35, "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. And
he that reapeth receiveth wages." Do you see again that reward when you go out and win souls
to Christ? "And gathereth fruit unto life eternal." Again, showing that when we bring forth fruit
as believers, that's when we win people to Christ. And those people have eternal life.
"That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." And herein is that
saying true. "One soweth and another reapeth." I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed
no labor, other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors. When we go out and knock
doors on soul winning, we're not always starting from scratch with people, are we? We talk
to somebody and a lot of times they already know who Jesus is. They might know the basics
of the Bible, the basics of the story. They've already been thinking about these things and
we just get to come in and just water that plant a little bit and reap that harvest.
And the Bible says that at the end of verse 36 there, that both he that soweth and he
that reapeth may rejoice together. Isn't it going to be great someday to get to heaven
and be able to get together with your co-laborers and rejoice together with those, the people
that you wanted the Lord, you could rejoice with those who planted the seed and say, "Hey,
your labor wasn't in vain. Remember you gave the gospel to that guy and he didn't receive
it." Well, guess what? Later I came along and got that guy saved and vice versa. And
we can rejoice in our labors and rejoice in the increase that God gave as a result of
just being faithful and going out and knocking doors and giving the gospel to people and
witnessing unto people at the job and friends and family and loved ones. And it's a team
effort. It's not a one-man show.