Bro Gary Sunday Morning Service 10/23/11
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Jesus came to the Feast of the Tabernacles in the middle of it and on the last day, the eighth day, the people had another feast. They would bring in the first fruits or the tithe of that late harvest and they would offer a sin offering, a calf, a goat, and seven lambs.
There was a pool of Siloam and they would go get water from this pool. (The history of this pool was that a king received instruction to build this pool so the enemy would not be able to cut off the water source to Jerusalem in the time of war.) They would gather water from this pool and wine and mix them together and pour it over the offering. They would march around the altar.
They would sing and march around the altar and sing the Psalms: Psalms 113 to 119.
Psa 113:5 Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,
Who is God was a question asked by a child at the agency.
Psa 113:6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
I’m awestruck that God’s greatest concern is mankind. None of the technical things of the world today is a mystery to God. The heart doctors tell Gyme that they are just starting to understand many things that deal with the heart. The heart has electricity. God is concerned about all that and about more than that. He is concerned about the soul.
Both the testimonies this morning were from those that were lost and God found them. Many have experienced being lost while hunting. It is wonderful that there is a God in heaven that humbles himself and is interested in mankind.
Psa 113:7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
God is concerned about us having a total change in our life.
Psalms 114 talks of God delivering the Children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. God changed even natural things so that they could be delivered. He sent a mighty wind so that they could walk through the Red Sea on land and then caused the waters to flow together so that the Egyptian were destroyed.
Psalms 115 talks of the mighty works of God:
Psa 115:10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:11 Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psalms 116:
Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
Psa 116:2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
In verse 12 David asked the question, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His great benefits?”
It is wonderful that we have a choice this morning. We are blessed to know about God.
Psa 116:12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
God has been so good to us. What can we give back to God? Over and over again as the little boy said, “Prayer has come through.” Sister Alice was doing all she knew to do and yet she needed divine intervention for healing this week and prayer came through again.
Psa 116:13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.
Psa 116:14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.
He is God and yet He offers to you the cup of salvation: Deliverance, help, safety, victory, and health.
He is a God of deliverance and of help. He has positioned Himself to be able to help us, He is a present help in every time of need.
He is a God of safety. When David was young, he was a target of a spear and God protected him. He knows how to protect us literally, mentally, and spiritually.
We will have struggles in life. Everything we struggle with has happened to someone else too. It is an old problem. God can give us the victory.
God wants us healthy in all ways: in our body, in our attitude, etc. You will not be healthy in your attitude without help from God. You may think, “Why do I have to deal with this?” When you get into your 60’s you will realize that the difficult things that you had to deal with in life, have made you healthy if you deal with them as God would have you to.
Coming through the difficulties is what makes us healthy. When you have failed someone or when you have failed God it is important to say “I have failed.” Know how to make an apology. Be upfront with your apology. Don’t blame anyone else. If you failed then you failed.
We choose what cup we take: the cup of salvation or the cup of the world. The cup of the world is the cup of heartache. The cup of salvation is deliverance, help, safety, victory, and health.
It is important that we pay our vows to God and to one another.
It is important to live with the knowledge of the frailty of life. When someone that is saved dies it is precious in the sight of God.
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Psa 117:1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
Psa 117:2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
Merciful kindness is beautiful words.
Psa 118:18 The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.
When God comes to chasten us, he comes with “This is what you did wrong and this is how to do it right.” If you choose to do wrong after God has corrected you, then he scourges you. If you are doing your best to serve God this morning, then He will correct you. Every son He chastens.
I feel that I’m a slow learner and that I have a learning disability. God teaches us and then if we go ahead and do what He doesn’t want us to do then He scourges us. He whips us. Then he comes with His spirit and makes us realize that we have gone against the one that loves us best.
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
They were singing and were marching about the altar and Jesus stood up and said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
In Genesis you see clearly that God created Adam and Eve and visited them in the garden. He may have visited them morning and evening. He communed and visited them and they had sweet fellowship together. One day when God came to visit and Adam and Eve were no place to be found. He called, “Adam where art thou?” Adam and Eve had sinned and when they heard God walking in the garden, they hid themselves.
As I studied, it was encouraging to me. He knew what they’d done, they were convicted, and yet God visited them. God made clothes and covered their nakedness. God instituted an offering for sin. Even though they had done wrong, He visited them, convicted them and supplied all their needs.
Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isa 35:2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
Our life spiritually was a desert and we needed a drink. We needed a change. There is something about Jesus; He offers the desert living water. Instead of being dry and empty, we can have a song and have rejoicing. Instead of no growth, we can be a land of growth and of production. Lebanon was known for stately cedars. Carmel was known for being a land of production.
Living water brings strength and beauty. This is not an outer beauty that is passes with time. If you are still young and good looking enjoy it, it is seasonal.
Psa 96:6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Since Jesus came, God no longer dwells in buildings made with hands. He dwells with the humble and the lowly. This is where strength and beauty is found. We need to receive strength from God on a daily basis. We need our lives to change from the literal side to the spiritual side.
The prayer of Moses: Let the beauty of the Lord rest upon us. God has a way of taking a desert and making it beautiful. He has a way of putting a song in a heart that is empty.
Psa 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
This is the only way that a Holy God can be worshipped. Sin is not a thought; it is a willful transgression against God. “I know that God doesn’t want me to do this, but I am going to do it.”
On the last day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried, “If any man thirst…”
I hunger and thirst for God. I ask God to make me a bigger man so that I can hold more of God. God help us to have a hunger and thirst for God: for something that is real and will be alive in the middle of the night, and will be alive in the time of greatest happiness and in the time of greatest sorrow.
“If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” This invitation has never changed. He spoke these words at the feast of the tabernacle and spoke similar words to the Samaritan lady at the well.
In the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:
Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
In your lifetime, you may have been thirsty sometimes for a Coca-Cola. I don’t know what they cost, but it wouldn’t matter what the cost was if you didn’t have the money. Jesus knew that we would thirst for the living water. After he ascended back to the Father, He sent the revelation to John. He wanted us to know that He really cares about our desires.
We need to thirst for the eternal. We need to have the right order in our life. “Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” This kingdom is available to every nationality, to the rich, the poor, to the educated and the uneducated; the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. It is not a place that you go; it is not anything tangible. It is within you.
Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
The question isn’t “Am I thirsty?” The question is, “What will I drink, because I thirst?”
We can avoid the question but it doesn’t change us being thirsty. We may try to satisfy our thirst with exercise, and exercise is good. When you get through with a five mile run there will still be that thirst.
There was a man preaching a meeting when a young successful man walked into the audience. At the close of the meeting this young man came to DS Warner, the preacher, and said, “I listened to your message tonight and I have it all together except there is something inside that is like a vacuum and is empty.”
DS Warner told Him that Only Jesus can satisfy that lack in your heart. The young man said, I’m going to go home and I will be back tomorrow night. He came back the next night and went to the altar and said, “I need Jesus that will satisfy that lack.”
After praying he said, “I have found it lord in thee, the everlasting store, of comfort, joy and peace to me. How can I ask for more?”
To every age, Jesus stands and holds out the cup of the water of life. Everyone in this audience needs to drink. This message is specifically to sinners and specifically to those that are saved. It is fitting for little children and for parents. We drink of that water of life freely.
My wife stood by me many years when I was sick. She is a really good woman. In order to be able to do this, she had to drink of another fountain.
This message is for those in sorrow. We never question God, He always does right. We are human. For those that are sorrowing, drink. For those that feel like your life has been hit by a hurricane or volcano, this message is ‘drink.’ There is strength and beauty. This message is for the aged too, ‘drink.’
About 2000 years ago, Jesus stood up on the day of the feast. They appreciated that their sins were forgiven because of the sacrifice on the brazen altar. They still had a need within.
When you are thirsty turn to the one from eternity that brings living water. He then went back to eternity and said to John, “If any thirst, I’ll give him of the water of life.”
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