Living Water Bringing Life — Erlo Stegen

The Gospel as the Power of God

Nothing can be compared to the gospel, because the Bible says I'm not ashamed of this gospel, for it is the power of God to save a person and to change him. Our text we find in the gospel according to John, chapter 7, from verse 37.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

We'll read thus far. This text became of great importance to us at the time when the Holy Spirit was poured out for us. From the time that I got converted, I wanted to work for the Lord among people. Rather, what I wanted, what I loved, was to see God at work among people.

I read books about revival. I studied the revival in the first church. I had been preaching and many people came to the Lord. But it did not satisfy me, for I would observe how those converts, after some time, they would desert the faith.

Sometimes there was a terrific response. We would sell Bibles, 130 Bibles. Many, many would accept the Lord. But after three months or six months, all of that was gone. They went back to the old way. I spoke about communism and how it managed to spread and fill the whole world.

How Jesus said, go into all the world and teach them to keep that which I have taught you. It just never came about. But I thirsted for it. In 1966, this text took root in my heart. Jesus said, I did not come to judge the world, but the words which I have spoken will judge you.

And I thought, on the day of judgment, this word can lock me in hell. Where it says, if you believe in me, there will be rivers, not just one stream, but rivers of living water flowing out from His innermost being.

Through just one river, you can transform the wilderness into a garden. And if there are many rivers, so much can be changed through this water. Not just that the desert, without food, starts to produce food.

But this water can also do other things. It can create energy, electricity. It can bring about so many different things. But though I had been preaching for 12 years, I did not witness these rivers. And that troubled me.

I remember being in Mapumulu at my brother's place. At night, I would sweat, be wet with sweat. Not being sick. But it was wrestling with God, this verse which so challenged me, saying, oh God, I don't experience this in my life.

The Bible says, you will seek God and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart. At night, I would be sweating so profusely, I would wake up and my pillow would be wet. At night, I was in such a struggle about this, which I so earnestly desired.

The Samaritan Woman and the Promise of Living Water

One day, my pillow was so wet, my Bible was next to the bed. I stretched out my hand, took the Bible and opened it. And I read the story of the Samaritan woman. Who said, Lord, give me of that water, so that I won't have to come to this well always to draw water.

I realized that that describes my life. God would bless. God would bless, I would experience some blessing, but then it would just fizzle out. But He had promised, for the Lord Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, the one that drinks from this well will become thirsty again, will have to come back to it.

But he who drinks of the water I give will never thirst for all eternity. Then she said, give me of that water. And I wouldn't be thirsty again and have to come continually to draw water from the well.

But the Lord wasn't speaking about that water, He was speaking about water of life. For a new people who had given their lives to the Lord but they were thirsty, not thirsty for the Lord but thirsty for the things of this world.

I saw young people who their heads were full of the opposite sex. Boys looking at pornography. And how children would stick these posters up on the walls of their bedrooms of people, of other stars, celebs.

Thirsting for the things of this world, trying desperately to imitate the fashions of this world. And I would cry to God, saying Lord this is not what your Bible promises. For you have said in the Bible that the one who believes in you will experience rivers of living water flowing out from within.

When a river flows out it grows, as it continues it grows and grows. I would observe people who say I've been converted for 5 years, I'm saved for 10 years, but when you looked there wasn't these rivers, if anything they would be the tiniest stream.

And I would think then of the river beds, dry river beds in Namibia, how at one time there is evidence that once upon a time there used to be rivers but now there is no sign of water anymore. But Jesus said he who believes in me will experience rivers of living water bursting forth.

Let me ask all of you, who are here today, are there rivers of living water flowing out of your lives? Who repent because of you, because of the life that they experienced from you? Then I remembered how in about 1954 -1955 I was there in Namibia with my brothers, we visited a certain relative.

He said there is no country and no land as beautiful as that of Namibia. Only one problem, we have no water. And he said Olo let me tell you, we searched for water on his farm, he said he looked for water, it was a huge farm with wonderful animals.

He said then we found water, boho water, in our garden close to the house. A lot too. We bought some and we found water. We were delighted. It was like heaven to us. He said we took the water and we tried to drink it but it was undrinkable.

Undrinkable. He took a glass full of that water and He then gave me a glass full and when I drank it I spat it out. It was so full of awful tasting minerals, salt and other things. He said we then cried.

He then, he told me how he then comforted his wife and said well maybe we can at least water the plants and the flowers. And so they began to water their gardens around their house. Didn't take long. The plants were, they withered, wilted and were on the point of death.

He said we realized then that this was not living water but the water of death. For wherever we used the water it just caused wilting and death. He said then, he said in trying to console his wife maybe then we can at least do the washing of our clothing with this water.

He said then they used the water to wash the clothing. He said however this water had such a bad effect on the clothing they looked old when they came out from the washing. When he told me that I said to myself Erlo this is a picture of your own life.

There is no revival, the Holy Spirit is just not evident. I said I was a Christian. I was preaching, people did respond and accepted the Lord but it was not what God promised. But Jesus wants that water in your life.

Living Water for Every Believer

He didn't say the pastors and the preachers of the gospel will experience living water but every single one who believes in him will experience rivers of living water flowing forth. That's why I ask you, I ask you, you Christian wherever you are at work, on your farm, in your business, at university, are these rivers of living water flowing?

They are streams but some streams are those of criticism. They are waters which are lies which have the world in them in it. While we are saying that we love the Lord but instead we are loving the world as well and the Bible says that he who loves the world is at enmity with God.

I got to the congregation and I asked them, in that very building where the Holy Spirit did come down, I then asked who of you believe in Jesus? Each one lifted up their hand. I said that's marvellous, I'm glad.

But I asked, are rivers of living water flowing in your lives? Yes. All the hands came down, no one put up their hand. This matter which we are speaking about is of great importance to the Lord. Jesus stood up in the crowd and shouted out with a great loud voice.

On the last day, the great day of the feast, When it says here that Jesus cried out, it uses a Greek word kratso. When Jesus hung on the cross, he cried out with a great loud voice. Then bowed his head and died.

When he cried out his heart broke. Jesus was not killed by the nails and the beatings. After six hours they came and they found him dead. People who were crucified didn't die in just six or nine hours.

The norm was that they would hang there still alive for a whole day or even two days or even longer until they died. When Jesus died, he died of a broken heart. God having deserted him, The Lord cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

His heart broke for God parted fellowship with him. Why? Because of your sins and my sins. Why? Because of your sins and my sins. Why? Because of your sins and my sins. He must have felt, if I don't stand up now and cry out, I will die of a broken heart.

Because the matter of living water being in us is of such great importance to the Lord Jesus that if we don't have it, it breaks his heart. It is his will that each one present would experience the flowing of those waters.

Christ's Offer of Satisfying Water

Jesus spoke to that woman and said, give me to drink. At first she was startled that this Jew should even live. She was startled that this Jew should even speak to her because she is a Samaritan. The Samaritans were of mixed race and the Jews discriminated against them.

When Jesus said, the one who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, well, that's because if you drink of the world, it's never satisfying, you will always thirst again. If you sin, you need more and more again.

Start with a cigarette, then you want hash, dacha, marijuana, then you want wunga. Sin doesn't satisfy. Now the Zulu has a wonderful expression for a Christian, where if a person says, I am a Christian or a believer.

You're sitting at a meal and you've eaten to your satisfaction and then the host comes and offers you more. You're saying, or I am a believer. That's the same expression. I'm fully satisfied. I don't need any more.

Jesus said, the one who drinks of the water there would thirst again, but if they drink of the water which he gives, they will never thirst again. For it will be a fountain within which springs up into rivers of living water.

It is wonderful when that water is in you, for you do not thirst for the things of the world. Your thirsting is only for the Lord. Then the woman said, Lord, give me of that water so that I don't have to come here every day to draw water.

Jesus said, go and fetch your husband. What does a husband have to do with the matter? Because the subject is water. Jesus was saying, if you want this water to be a fountain within you, then call your husband.

She said, I don't have one. The Lord said, indeed, you are right. For you've had five. Five men, five boyfriends. And even the one you're with now is not yours. He belongs to another woman. This woman, she was troubled by the lusts of the flesh.

Jesus said, if you look lustfully after a woman, you have already committed adultery with her. Jesus is watching, he is recording, he is writing down, and on the day of judgment, he will open the books.

He knows exactly with whom and how often you've sinned with a woman. On judgment day, he'll tell you how many they are. He'll tell you how often you've looked at pornography. For from such a person, there are never rivers of living water flowing.

Instead, they are dirty waters. Jesus said, there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed for what you've done behind locked doors will be shouted from the rooftops. A single day of judgment will be terrible for many people, for Jesus will reveal secrets before heaven and earth.

He will reveal exactly what you've done. He will reveal exactly what type of water has been flowing from your life, whether they are dirty waters, a touchy-feely type of person wanting to touch the opposite sex.

Jesus said, verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who believes in me from him will flow rivers of living water. If these rivers are not flowing, then it shows that you are a fraud, you are dead. Doesn't help to speak nice words if the living waters are not there.

Let each one ask, even now, where you are seated, are those rivers flowing in me? The one who believes in me from him will flow rivers of living water. That everywhere you go, people praise God because of you.

People are joyful and happy that you bring them life. Not that you arrive and people say, or at your school they say, well this is a child, a rotten potato, they're going to spoil the whole lot. So, examine yourself asking, are these rivers of living water flowing from me?

And if a river flows for five years or ten years or twenty years, how big ought the river to be? And nothing will stop the power of that river. You can build a wall to try and dam it up. It will hold for a while, but eventually it will cover many areas.

And by trying to block the water, in fact you're giving it strength. And if that wall is not built well, that powerful water will break the dam wall. And that vicinity will experience something it's never experienced before.

All the water will flood down to the wall. If the wall is strong and doesn't move, the water will build up and up. And eventually it reaches a whole area as it dams up and it will flow over the wall. For no devils or demons are able to block the power of this water.

Believing According to the Scriptures

Jesus said, he who believes in me as the scriptures say, He didn't say, he who believes in me as the Roman Catholics say, or as the Anglicans say, or as the Methodists say, and the Lutherans. But only according to the scriptures.

What matters to Jesus is his own word, the scriptures, not your denomination. We need to take the Bible, read the Bible, hear what it has to say. Whether our faith is in line with the scriptures. There where you go, life breaks forth.

There is a holiness as God is holy. There won't be friction and fighting and arguments. There is humility, bowing, love, there is joy, there is patience, mutual respect. That's what you will find. And those rivers break forth and flow.

When Jesus said this, he who believes in me as the scriptures say, Do you believe? Do you believe as the scriptures say? Are you a letter written by the Holy Spirit in accordance with this book? For this book is inspired by the Holy Spirit, he who inspired his people to record it.

That which is written in the scriptures is what the Holy Spirit will write in you, or is what is written in you rather that which is of Satan. I would cry if you leave the service and you have not heard the word of the Lord.

It would have been better that you had stayed at home and not come to the service than that you should sit listening but not hearing. So, I ask you, you reply, you respond. Are rivers of living water flowing from your life?

Even if South Africa is a wilderness, if there are those who have streams of rivers of living water, it will make the wilderness into a garden with flowers. But if there are other things in you, maybe stubbornness, argumentative, friction, bad temper, irritability, getting upset, then that water is just like that boil water which I drank in Namibia near Windhoek.

So, I ask you, you reply, you respond. So, I ask you Christians, men and women, young and old, whoever you might be, if you are a Christian, ask yourself, are these waters bubbling up from your life? Are they flowing?

Living water, which Jesus wants. When Jesus spoke these words, the Jews were busy planning to kill him. Jesus had gone to Galilee to hide there, take refuge. For it was not yet his time of death. But he didn't just stay put, he went up and down, spreading the word.

Jesus' Brothers and the Test of True Belief

When the day of the feast had arrived in Jerusalem, his brothers came and said, now brother, it is the time of the feast, let's go up to Jerusalem. Jesus said, your time is any time, but my time has not yet arrived.

And John records, they said these things because they did not believe in him. His own brothers stayed with him, close to him, who heard him, saw his works, did not believe in him. So you can be among believers, but it is found that you yourself do not believe in Jesus.

They did not come to him and say, let's go up to Jerusalem. They did not come to him and say, Lord, when should we go? For though he was the Lord, he was not the Lord to them. And that's why the Lord said, your time is any time, you do as you wish.

When you like, then you don't believe in him. They were his brothers. But the Bible records of them that they did not believe in Jesus. That's why the Lord said, you do as you wish, you do your own thing, if you want to go, then you go.

But the Lord said, as for me, I haven't yet heard my father telling me to go. Your time is always, you can speak when you like, you can say what you like, but you're not like the Lord Jesus. You don't believe in him to wait upon him till he speaks and says, do this.

We believe as the scriptures say, we will keep that too. But finally, on the last day of the feast, we find him there at the feast. No fear, no hiding. He stands up. That all might see him. Cries out with a loud voice so that all might hear.

Do we hear his voice? Is there living eternal water in you? Ask him to show you whether the waters are there or not. Time is gone. I haven't yet arrived at the final point. But let me close anyway. Let each one ask him a question.

Revival Through Repentance and the Holy Spirit

Let each one ask himself whether there's living water that brings joy or whether there's water that just brings misery. As we examined. As we examined ourselves, that little group there at Mapumulu, 1966, we took the Bible.

We looked at Acts chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, etc. And we examined ourselves in humbling ourselves, condemning ourselves. Confessing our sins and our lack of this living water. Our hearts were broken.

We cried out to the Lord with all our hearts, saying, Lord, we want to be as the scriptures say. And the Holy Spirit did come down. Then he began to go into the homes of people and draw them. He started with witches, sorcerers, witch doctors.

They poured in day and night. They poured in day and night. They poured in day and night. Not just during service time, but they were coming for help all the time. And when we'd wake up in the morning, they were standing there.

When at night, we'd be woken up by them seeking, people seeking the living water. They were seeking the living water. If you find that your life is not in accordance with this, cry out to the Lord with all your heart, recognizing that you will be judged by his words on the day of judgment.

And don't be satisfied before these rivers of living water will flow out of your life. If not, you'll be damned and you are doomed. And this very service today maybe will send you to hell because you've been a hearer and not a doer.

A Prayer for the Outpouring of Life

Shall we bow our heads and pray? Lord Jesus, we've heard what the Bible says. That the one who believes in you will experience rivers of living water flowing from him. Lord, if possible, let there not be one here who is not experiencing this which you have said and be condemned.

But work, Lord, by your grace in each and every life so that waters of life would flow, not waters that are deadly or poisonous. But pure, pure clean water that flows from the throne of the Lamb. Be gracious to us, O Lord.

Amen.