You need a drink
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John 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.
The Lord Jesus Christ is no pusher. He doesn’t push eternal life on anybody.
Jesus Christ is a puller.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Hosea 11:3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
If you only knew who is that God that has kept you alive by his grace so far. If only your eyes were opened to know him. I want your eyes to be opened by God.
Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
He hasn’t kept you alive that you might go on sinning. He told the woman taken in adultery “go and sin no more”.
He hasn’t healed you that you might sin the better, he told the old man by the pool “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. “
He hasn’t kept you alive because you’re such an intelligent swell guy. He’s kept you alive hoping that finally you’d wake up and realize who he is and what you are; that you might look upon thy maker, thy redeemer, and give him your heart; that he may obtain the reward of his suffering, even your soul, your love, your loyalty, your obedience, your praise.
A man may ask ``well about the hard times I’ve suffered``, where was God’s goodness there? Assuming you weren’t reaping what you sowed I’ll tell you this: you’ve all heard the expression
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
In days gone by, our forefathers knew that if a horse had been sick and is weak and in danger of going down, you could put a little salt in his oats and that salt would draw it to the watering trough and make it drink.
That’s how the Lord God deals with many people because they’re too drugged up to feel their thirst and that they`re are about to die of dehydration! So he’ll do anything he can to draw you to the water of life without denying the free will he gave you.
:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
The more you drink alcohol the more you thirst. It’s a cruel master. The more you serve it the less it feeds you.
The more you smoke the less you breathe.
The more you consume the less you’re filled.
Whosoever drinketh of this water SHALL thirst again.
That’s not some psychologist’s opinion. That’s a statement of fact uttered by the Creator of heaven and earth.
He’s saying, buddy if you ain’t got me, you’ll go back to it, every time, just as sure as a man goes for water when he’s thirsty.
Whosoever drinketh of this water SHALL thirst again.
Don’t get fooled now, it won’t be “just this once”, it won’t be “one last time”, it won’t be “one more binge then I’ll quit”.
Why? Because: Whosoever drinketh of this water SHALL thirst again.
: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.
That’s literal. Spiritual doesn’t mean not-literal.
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John 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.
:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
: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.)
Here you have the Lord God of heaven and earth standing in the midst of a monstrous religious ceremony and as he looks around he perceives that his creation is dying of spiritual thirst! Smack dab in the middle of a national religious festival.
Everything in him wants to bring this madness to a screeching halt. STOP THAT STOP IT, ENOUGH.
Aghast at the madness of men, he rushes up, stands in a visible place and shouts with all the strength in his lungs:
IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK. HE THAT BELIEVETH ON ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE HATH SAID, OUT OF HIS BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.
The Lord Jesus Christ has been glorified. He has been received up into glory after his resurrection and is right now seated on the right hand of the Father in the third heaven.
And the offer is more valid today, it is more urgent today than ever it was. And that offer is not eternal.
Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
For you it is free, but for the Lord it wasn’t. Your salvation from hell cost him his blood. He payed for your soul with his own lifeblood.
Christians sing an hymn which says “great price of my pardon his own precious Son”. I love that line.
Now you can simply walk up and buy those waters. The currency is the blood of the Lamb of God. It buys full and eternal forgiveness of sins. It never gets depreciated, just underappreciated.
That’s some expensive water, and unlike Evian, it’s worth it. You’ll never thirst again.
Jeremiah 2:12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
God doesn’t invoke the witness of the earth. The world, as usual, doesn’t care.
John 1 [10] He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
That woman had the glory of everlasting life staring her in the eyeballs through the eyes of a man, never suspecting that salvation could be as easy as meeting a man, who happened to be God.
[11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Some knew who he was and rejected him. Do you know why men don’t like the idea of God becoming man. Because it brings God so near that his holiness is too close for comfort. It reveals God as a personal God, interested in your thoughts and actions. That’s too close for comfort for those who love darkness. So they reject the light of the world. They love filthiness, so they reject the water of life.
The Lord set up things so that all life depends on water that comes from above. If your land is thirsty then you’re scanning the heaven for clouds of hope. He made it that way to teach mankind a spiritual lesson: life depends on heaven for water. (Just like it does for light)
Remember the verse
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
He was lifted up from the earth by a tree: the cross.
John 19 :34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
The water which came from his side came from above.
The word of God calls Jesus Christ "the dayspring from on high" Luke 1:78
You know where some of you are stuck? You’re stuck at the well, like that woman. You’re looking down to quench your thirst, just like that woman.
Pick up that cigarette butt out of the garbage, pick up that coin on the street, pick up that needle on the ground…You shall thirst again.
You can’t make a horse drink and you can’t make a pig look up. Did you know that? Their skeletal structure is designed to look down and move sideways. They can only lift their heads to see 70 degrees from the ground.
What about you?
Jeremiah 2:13 they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters,
He was offering the living waters for free, yet they chose rather to work for them, breaking their backs to hew cisterns that could hold no water.
He said ``two evils``: ingratitude and folly.
Empty cisterns were used as prisons. So Joseph was cast into a "pit" (Genesis 37:22); Jeremiah into one miry at the bottom, and so deep that he was let down by cords (Jeremiah 38:6)
Cisterns yield only a limited supply of water, not an overflowing spring. The stonework of tanks often becomes broken, and the water leaks into the earth; and, at best, the water is not fresh long.
The cistern would hold you captive but let the water escape.
Joseph and Jeremiah cried their hearts out to be delivered.
What moldy, stagnant water are you drinking: Alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling?
What cistern are you building around you? Often the wells are more outwardly beautiful on the outside than drugs and alcohol but just as filthy on the inside. What’s your golden sewer?
Religion? Philosophy? Education? Science? Politics? Morality?
Congratulations, you’re choosing and building your own private prison.
The Lord’s heart is breaking. Crucified, his side poured out blood then water.
You don’t get to taste the water of life until you’ve been washed in the blood of its author.
Yet the Lord Jesus Christ is ignored, rejected, lightly esteemed, by men who are dying of thirst; men who would rather toil and drink their own sweat than confess their wretchedness.
What’s wrong with a man admitting the truth? “Lord, I’ve tried it all, and it’s a cruel mess that I’ve made of my life. I’m thirstier today then ever I was. I’m tired of trying to find satisfaction my way. Here am I, a sinful, rebellious fool. That book says you can satisfy my deep thirst and forgive all my sins. Lord Jesus, please give me of that water of yours, save me from the flames of hell and from my own wretchedness!”
What’s wrong with that?
But there are many who would rather drink sewage water than pray such a prayer from the heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well to you I say; don’t be surprised if the Lord treats you as a sewage rat on the day of the judgment.
Remember the rich man in hell, who begged to have Lazarus dip his finger in water and cross over to touch his tongue. If your tongue won’t ask for the living water that the Lord Jesus Christ offers you so freely today, rest assured that you will spend eternity panting for water.
You know what that woman ended up doing after meeting Jesus Christ in person? Look at verse
[28] The woman then left her waterpot,
She left her water pot. Some of you just can’t let go of that "pot". She just didn’t need it anymore; she wasn’t dependent on it anymore. She had drunk of the fountain of living waters.
Some of you here just can’t seem to let go of your sin, of your addiction.
You’re never going to lose your addiction; you’re going to have to leave it.
But you know what your problem is? You’ve never met Jesus Christ in person yet. You’ve never had a head-on collision with him. You still think he’s a great Jewish man who showed up 2000 years ago in dusty Israel. You still don’t get who he is and you still don’t know the gift of God.
So many folks say they ask for salvation everynight. Have you ever called on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you?
"Oh sure, everynight I do".
Buddy, YOU SHALL THIRST AGAIN.
Salvation is one-time deal. It is a single drink. Jesus Christ said that you "shall never thirst".
If you ask to be forgiven and saved from hell every night it's because you're still drinking the wrong water. You're still stuck at the well, having to go back and forth to draw out dead water.
Only once did water come out of the Lord's side. Only once do you need to drink. I had that drink back in the Spring of 1989. Praise God I'm still satisfied.
Your problem is that you're still depending on your self, on your ability to go out to the well and return, day in day out. You had better bring the fountain of living waters to you and get it in you because one day your body will give out and collapse. Receive Jesus Christ by faith into your heart; you'll never have to go to that well again.
Now to the believers here I’d like to say that Jesus Christ only ever asked for 2 things in his life. Both times it was for a drink of water. He never got either.
He never got it from that woman, and he never got it on the cross when he said "I thirst". Too many of you are concerned with what Jesus Christ can do for you and you never think of what you could do for him.
To the rest I’d like to say this:
John 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.
Salvation is as easy as drinking a glass of water. Some of you philosophical types die of thirst while debating whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. The water won’t do you any good in the glass. You could even bathe in a fountain and still die of thirst. The water’s got to get in you.
(Drink)
You can stick 60 000 things in your mouth but you can’t drink a cup of the water of life?!
Romans10: 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Some of you can smell a good deal a mile off. But the natural man is so spiritually deficient he can’t spot eternal life and satisfaction for free when it’s staring him in the eyeballs.
One hell-bound sinner, after having licked-up the barrel’s bottom, sat down in his misery and wrote:
“I can’t get no satisfaction”. And just to prove it to you he repeats the chorus a dozen times. Of course the devil does everything with style. He gives the guy a nice tune to go with the words and watches as millions of miserable pitiful wretches sing themselves to death.
What a loser. I got my satisfaction; my Lord Jesus.
Born-again Christians sing a hymn called "Satisfied".
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