Sept30’07
THE THIRST QUENCHER
Psalm 42:1-2, John 5:5-15, Isaiah 55:1
Water covers a vast majority of the earth’s surface. We use water to drink, clean and grow. Without water, human existence would be impossible.
Without the living water of Jesus Christ it would be impossible to become a Christian.
I want to talk about the drought in the human heart. Perhaps you find your dry heart drowning in cursed circumstances.
But let me tell you about the promise of deliverance by God’s grace. There is a way back to the heart of worship. There is a restoration of the human heart. There is still a river that flows from the throne of God. There is hope and that hope is here right now.
No longer do you need to suffer from spiritual dehydration. No longer do you need to be dying of thirst like stranded survivors on a lifeboat in ocean water.
He is the Living Water that quenches the thirst for eternal life and refreshes the thirsty ground of your heart.
Psalm 42:1 sums it up best for all of us at one time or another: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?”
Today is that day when you can come and meet with God. This is your day of opportunity. Quenching thirst has nothing to do with how smart you are, how faithful you are nor how rich you are; quenching thirst has everything to you accepting what the Holy Spirit has for your life this morning.
Water for good health.
Water for cleansing.
Water for drinking.
Drink of the living water of Jesus Christ and you will never thirst again.
1. The Waterless Pit.
Perhaps you are in what Billy Graham calls a “waterless pit.” Perhaps you have tried everything to satisfy, to bring peace and joy to your life, to have a sense of forgiveness and a sense of belonging.
And you haven’t found it. Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. [“Thirsty for Water?” by Billy Graham]
He goes on to say, drink of drugs and you will thirst again. Drink of fame, fortune and you will thirst again. Drink of the things the world tries to sell you and you will thirst again.
Jesus was not simply speaking off the top of his head. He knew this woman would there. He knew she was lost in sins. He knew the kind of conversation that would take place.
And he spoke to her about the deepest need of her heart.
As she awoke that morning, I wonder if she thought in her heart, “Where can I go and meet God.”
Have you wondered that? Did you awake this morning with all your problems and troubles and stresses and wondered, “Can I go to church and meet God today?”
She came to the only source of water she knew that would never fail: Jacob’s well. It was a well full of historical and religious significance.
A lot of people go to places that have significance in their life. They go to sporting events or cemeteries or the beach. They are looking for someplace to meet a deep, deep need in their heart.
She came to the only place she knew and it was there she met with God. It was there she received eternal life.
But come to Jesus Christ and drink of the water he has for you and you will never thirst again.
Jeremiah 2:13-“My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
a. Have you forgotten God?
How easy it is to get so busy with life and so consumed with raising our families, earning our income and striving to climb the ladder of life. And in the thick of all of these things, God gets eased out of our lives. Sure, you may get to church or you may read your Bible, but somehow you lost that vibrancy of your relationship with Jesus Christ.
b. Are you drinking from a broken cistern?
Everyone needs something to quench the thirst of the human heart. So often though, they strive to drink from what God calls broken cisterns. These containers may come in the form of selfish entertainments and endeavors that hurt more than they help. Even good Christian people can find themselves moving from the river back to the cesspool.
c. Searching for something real.
Today is your day of drinking at the streams of living water.
So what do we all need to know and understand this morning?
2. The Fulfilling Pool.
Zechariah 14:8- “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.”
There is no time that God’s love for you will end. And the living water of salvation flows continually throughout eternity.
Let me share with two very important points: the reassurance of God’s promises and receiving all of Grace.
a. The Reassurance of God’s Promises.
The Promise of Eternal Life.
The Promise of the Abundant Life.
Ezekiel 47:9- “Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.”
b. Receiving All of Grace.
Choosing to be clean. (cleansing)
Isaiah 1:16-18- “Wash and make yourselves clean… Come, now let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Enjoying the joy of salvation. (eternal life)
Isaiah 12:3- “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
Pass o the Blessing. (blessings)
Isaiah 44:3- “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendents.”
Conclusion.
Isaiah 55:1- “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Perhaps you have come here today because this is the only thing you know. Perhaps you woke up today and wondered if you could meet with God. Maybe you had your doubts. Maybe you had your suspicions.
But now is the time. Today is the day of your salvation.
John 4:13-14- “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.”
This is for you.
What do you say to that?
There is something unusual about God’s grace. It reaches down to the very place that you are at in the very condition that you are in. And here, Jesus speaks words that she cannot believe. She marvels and wonders, “Am I meeting with God?”
And it is there at Jacob’s well, the only place that she knew for the very thing she needs the most, that she meets with God.
Hear the words of Jesus as he spoke to those who doubted: “If anyone is thirsty, let hhim come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38)
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