Bro Gary Sunday Morning 11/20/11
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.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Jesus made the statement, “If any man thirst…” The thirst for God began with the creation of man. In Genesis there were three rivers in the Garden of Eden and yet Adam and Eve had a thirst for God to come in the cool of the day to visit with them. They thirsted for God and as long as they let God fill that thirst their lives were blest. Our lives will be blest as long as we allow God to satisfy our thirst.
It was in the days of Enos that men began to call upon God. God has a way of bringing situations in people’s life where there will be some that will begin to call upon God. In my mother’s life: her brother Buddy died and through that death she was invited to a revival meeting. She heard that her sins could be rolled away. She thirsted for God.
It is an old story. David said, “My heart longs for God.” Ezekiel prophesied of the river of the Spirit. Each of us need to let God work in whatever capacity He chooses to work to measure out the path so that we are in waters to swim in.
The prophet Haggai prophesied that the desire of all nations would come. Beyond a shadow of any doubt there is a hunger for God in every nation. I’m heart sick at what people are being turned to, to try to satisfy that hunger for God.
Jesus said, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.”
Bro Baptist preached a lesson in Carmichael and taught on:
Joh 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
Joh 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
Sometimes we don’t know why in life a certain route is chosen for us. If you have tasted of living water may God help you and me to listen to the voice of the Spirit so He can choose the route for us. Jesus didn’t necessarily look for the shortest route; He went the way He needed to go.
Joh 4:5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Joh 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
Joh 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Joh 4:8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Joh 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Joh 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
I have a mental picture of this lady this morning. She had come to the well to draw water. It is evident that she needed a rope, a bucket, and other things to put the water in. People of the world today go to much effort to try to get a little drink of water.
Many years ago, I used to take the dogs and go to McGloughlin creek. I saw a man looking for a land marker. He told me that his wife and he were trying to find something that would give him some peace and quietness. His son had committed suicide.
When you’re heart breaks. Land will not give you peace. He had the truck to get there and probably had the money to buy the land. He had the map. He may have envisioned in his mind a cabin where he could watch the sun come up and could see the Clark Fork River. He may have wanted to buy the mountain and live off the grid. He wanted to find something for he was in much pain.
This little lady had come to the well with many things. She was ready to draw water and there at that well sat Jesus. I think of the requests of November this morning. Very few of the requests were for saints. Most were for people that have lots of things that they are packing to try to find a well that they can draw something out of to give them a satisfaction.
She asked where He had that living water. God designed you and me for living water. I understand the joy of cabins, the joy of the home, the joy of a wife, the joy of hunting, the joy of traveling, the joy of beautiful pictures, the joy of seeing the snow, the joy of going out of the snow and there is nothing wrong with that if God adds it to you. If you try to satisfy that deep hunger that God has placed within with anything you can take a rope and a bucket to, it will never satisfy that hunger deep within.
Joh 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Joh 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
The waters of sin and self leave one so thirsty. There are definite wells of sin that people draw from. There are wells of self that people take such efforts to draw from to satisfy self. There are wells of religion. Sin leaves people so thirsty. The rivers and wells of self leave people so thirsty, never satisfied.
There are a lot of rivers of Babylon. They have a lot of things going on in Babylon but one could outspokenly say, “There is no worship.” They have their good works, their way of winding up the top and letting it go. But religion leaves people so dry. Carnality leaves people so thirsty.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The first verse above is on moral sin. May God help every one of us to realize that for us and for everyone else there is no true satisfaction in moral sin. It will not last. It is wrong. We need to stay aloof and realize that those that are there are victims of sin with a bucket and a rope trying to draw from a well that will never give satisfaction. They will never be satisfied until they repent.
Idolatry: God is the only God. We appreciate this building, but it is just a building. We appreciate this beautiful country but it will all burn up. We appreciate a job and an ability to work, but don’t worship your job. Education will not satisfy. Many are professional students. They never get a job but go for more and more education. It is an empty well. Everyone should get an education and go to work.
Witchcraft, May God help me and you to never give an inch to any of this weird stuff of people receiving information from some source out there that is prompted by another spirit. There is witchcraft in religion, in secret organizations, and in some organizations that are not secret. That is a scary well. It will bind them and position them so that they cannot get to God.
May God help us to love Him. There are many wells that people are drinking of that is deceptive water. Only the river of the Spirit will satisfy man.
Hatred: We are human and the enemy will set up the dominos of life so that we need to get before God and ask Him to wash us of any bad attitude toward someone that has done us or anyone else that we know wrong. Hatred waxes worse and worse. The bucket and rope that people put down in that well blinds people and binds them. They can see nothing else but the hatred in their heart.
You and I know people in the world and those that have been in this congregation that love trouble. That is a well and there is a bucket and a rope that go down in that variance well. Blessed are the peacemakers. There are those that cause trouble between families, between congregations. There are some wells that you don’t want to put your bucket down in. One of them is variance.
Emulations: No one is competing against any in the family of God. We are here to confirm feeble knees; we are here to lift up the hands that hang down. We are not here to see who can sing the best, teach the best, or preach the best. People get filled up with pride and arrogance. There is a God in heaven that confounds the wise.
There are a lot of people that are full of wrath. They are mad and angry. They are full of things and have a big bucket and a big rope. They get into that well and are always digging things from that well and are always angry about mom or dad, or the people in Paradise, or here or there. Whenever there are losses, people look for someone to blame. Don’t blame anyone. Any of our lives could change before this service is over. Don’t get mad at anyone.
Strife is a terrible thing, always wanting to bicker at someone. That is a terrible well. Some have hard jobs. Don’t let strife work. Some may feel like they are no accounts at all. Don’t let strife work.
The clicky thing is the well of sedition. If there is any well that stinks it is the well of sedition. “I can only flow with this certain group.” When you feel that thing working you need to get to the great God of heaven and say, “Dear God, that sedition thing is bad. Will you take your hammer and chisel and work on me.” Many times we want God to knock the edge off of someone else that we don’t like. Ask Him to work on you. Sedition is a terrible well. It is an ugly thing. You all have seen it.
Heresies are a work of the flesh. It is a sad thing and can happen to any of us if we leave God. Strange things get a hold of people. Think of all the waste that has gone into preaching about Christmas or neckties, a total waste. Think of all the waste of preaching that has been on heel size of shoes. Ridiculous, just hammer, hammer, hammer. If you are not modest in high heels, get some tennie runners and be modest.
Ridiculous! Remember when the heresy came out that the only language of the word of God is English? It is a work of the flesh and ridiculous.
Jesus is the issue in our lives. Remember Phillip? He ran up to that treasurer and the treasurer asked him a question. The treasurer had been to the wrong place. He’d been to the Jewish Synagogue and Jesus was not there. Phillip didn’t clarify who he was. It isn’t who I am that is important when we go to witness to someone. it is who we know.
This man had traveled a long ways to worship. This treasurer had driven 1500 miles to worship. If you are burdened for someone that lives a ways away, you make sure that you have enough God in your life that they are willing to drive 1500 miles to worship.
Envyings: It would be like looking at Bro Bill’s pretty pickup and hoping he’d lose his job so you can pick it up for the payments. No we are glad that he has his pickup. If you have a nice house, enjoy it and share it.
Murders: That is a terrible well. You cannot kill anyone but there is another bad well that is the same well: people murder influence, planting thoughts in minds of “I know some things.” If you knew something about someone you would be duty bound to find out if it is true.
Drunkenness: I’ve thought of people that are drunk on pleasure and entertainment. People are drunk on self, “It is all about me. I have to find myself.” Put your hands on your head and drop on your knees and find yourself seeking after God.
“I have to live my own life.” Drunk on self. People love to party up.
The waters of sin and self leave one so thirsty! 2 Tim 3 tells us of perilous times and says, “Men shall be lovers of their own self.”
Why are some doing what they are doing? They love self. They have a form of godliness.
Psa 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Many are sitting around Babylon today, they are dissatisfied and thirsty. They’ve put their bucket down in that well and drew up heresies: drew up that they could smoke, chew, be mean to mom or dad, pull a little shady deal and still be saved. People drink of this river and take on attitudes and spirits they are just as saved as you are and are just as sanctified as you.
The rivers of Babylon leave people dehydrated. I remember preaching a funeral in the Paradise School Gymnasium. There was a couple there that sat at the edge of the pew and drank. They recognized and remembered years back when God had visited them. They didn’t come out; they had used the rope and bucket and they had drank so much of that stuff of the river of Babylon that they just heard and saw for a moment and then the rope that they’d used went around their eyes and ears.
We all should be thirsty for God every day. This will leave us crying, “Abba Father.” God I thirst, Jesus I thirst, Holy Spirit I thirst. And when they come, you cry out, “Abba Father.”
God knows our hearts this morning. The Holy Spirit knows our thirst. Jesus told John on the Isle of Patmos, “The Spirit and the Bride say come.” I believe this happens every day. I wake up hungry every morning. I get up thirsty but it takes more than breakfast or liquids to fill me. It takes the unsearchable riches of Christ. Only Jesus will satisfy.
Let him that is athirst say come and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. May God help every one of us here this morning to hear, “Come”, and to say, “Come.”
When Isaiah saw the Lord, there was an angel on one side saying, “Holy” an angel on another side would pick it up and say “Holy” and on and on. I see this scripture the same way, the Spirit is saying “Come”, the bride is saying “Come”, and everyone that is athirst is saying “Come.”
No comments:
Post a Comment