Dry Believers — Erlo Stegen

Jesus’ Invitation to the Thirsty

Our text for today, we find in John 7, John chapter 7, the 7th chapter of the Gospel according to John. From verse 37. On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive. The crux of the matter that I would like to speak about, He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, Rivers of living water will flow forth from deep inside.

Before the beginning of the revival, I was troubled. For I would go out pitching tents, holding services in many places. And after two or three years, I would return to the place where I had been evangelizing previously.

Unity and Selflessness in the Early Church

And I found the children of God there. And when I found them, I found the Christians in disunity. Whereas the Bible says that in Jerusalem with the first church, they were of one heart, one soul. And no one said that something belonged to him, but instead they shared everything.

But what I found among the Christians was in opposition to what we find in the Bible. One would be criticizing the next. One would complain and say, that person doesn't treat me well. That person didn't greet me nicely.

And I knew that revival would not start if things haven't come right among the Christians in the church. For the Bible says, judgment must begin in the house of God. So for two or three weeks, I was just busy as a peacemaker, trying to bring the opposing parties of Christians together.

We had been praying that God would work, but I knew that God would not be free to work if he hasn't begun among the Christians first, the brethren. So I tried to unite the Christians. I recognized that there was something blocking the Holy Spirit to work.

Repentance as a Condition for Revival

The word of God. The Bible doesn't go freely, and it is not because of the reason of communism blocking it, or Muslims blocking the spread of the word. It is because of the Christians who are not right with God.

They are a curse. Listen Christians, if you do not get right with God, you will not be saved. Listen Christians, if you do not get right with God, then rather leave God's place and make room for others, or repent.

Jesus said that the one who believes from his innermost being will flow rivers of water. We know that rivers cannot be stopped. You might try and stop a river from flowing by creating a dam wall, but the water will only get stronger.

It will spread over a vast area until it flows over the top of the wall. The water will only get stronger until it flows over the top of the wall. Either that dam wall will burst and there will be a flood of water which will flood houses and fields.

Jesus’ Agonized Cry

Now in the text that I have read for you, it says, on the last day, on the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out. If you read the Greek, you will find that the word for cried out is kratso.

That word kratso does not just mean to shout out like you would shout to a friend, come here. Instead, it means a cry, a shout that comes from an agonized, broken heart. One that comes forth out of great pain.

That Jesus stood up on the last day was so that everyone might see him. In the beginning of this chapter, we find that Jesus was not in the area of Judea and Jerusalem, but instead in the Gentile area.

And it says, for the Jews, the people of God, sought to kill him. Can you grasp this, that the believers were the ones who sought to kill Jesus, they were the ones who resisted him? And when he was hiding in Galilee, hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God.

The Pain of the Wounded Animal

And when he was hiding among the pagans, the heathens were better than the people of God. And as the buck ran past, I aimed and fired. But it was a bad shot. Normally, if you want to kill it outright, you aim for the heart or for the head.

I did hit it. And when I hit it, it cried out in pain. This was a female. We were only meant to shoot males. And it ran off crying in pain. My heart broke. Hearing this cry of this buck running away, That cry penetrated my heart until today.

Tears still come to me if I think of it. I stopped that very day to pick up a gun and to shoot Buck. To this very day, I've got pain in my heart. If I sit here, think of that taker crying. Jesus cried like a wounded animal.

If you heard him cry once, you'll never forget it again. Your whole life will be revolutionized. Jesus cried like a wounded deer. Seeing Christians, seeing believers who do not have rivers of living water inside them.

They are dry. But let me continue. Let's go to another point. In chapter 4 of Acts, the book of Acts, verse 32, Acts chapter 4, verse 32. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.

Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. Thousands of them. Yes, they were Jews. But they were of various countries and cultures of one soul.

You know what the characteristics of a soul are? It includes the feelings and emotions. Though they were Jews, they were of one heart and one soul. They weren't together now of one soul as Jews, but rather of one feeling and emotion as well.

They had one common aim together. When I saw this before the revival, it caused me to cry because the Christians I knew were not of one mind, but there was friction. One word. They spoke the same thing.

There was no split. There was no schism. There was no disunity. Now if you are living in disunity with your brethren, how can you expect to live in unity in heaven? Heaven will say, Futsak, go away. Clear out.

Are we of one soul? We who call ourselves in hypocrisy that we are children of God, we are lying. Where is the oneness of soul? Where is the oneness of soul? They weren't communists. Everything they had in common.

Nobody sought his own, thinking of his own. I want to have this. I want to have this food. I don't eat this. I don't sleep here. That's not one heart. That's not one mind. We haven't got all the same taste.

Those Christians had the same taste. If this isn't true in your life today, stop calling yourself a Christian and repent in dust and ashes and say, I've brought dishonor to you, my Lord. Why are there no rivers?

You believe, but you don't believe as the Scripture says. Do you? That's why you're a devil as you are. Jesus said, the greatest has got to be the smallest. Because in the kingdom of God, the least is the greatest.

You know, sometimes I feel I've got to stop and let you think. I hate to think that you leave this room, auditorium today and you haven't heard. And your whole life has been revolutionized by this. And if you carry on living in your satanic way, bluff yourself living in a fool's paradise.

You're a Christian. You can testify. You can sing. You can do this and that. But you are doomed and damned forever. You just think of your own children and you don't think of the other children. We are living in a difficult time.

Last-Days Religion and the Lukewarm Church

In Timothy we read about evil times, that in the last days, in the latter days will be evil times. People will be lovers of themselves. People will seek their own. They'll have the form of godliness, but deny the power, the real life.

But the early church, this early church of Jerusalem had glory. I remember one day when I prayed for revival, I had a vision. I saw people on three different levels. At the bottom level was full of people.

Full of people crowding around each other. The next level, there were not many like those at the bottom, but there were many still. At the top, I saw just a few. Just a few. At the top. But they had faces that shone and sparkled like faces of angels.

I didn't understand it, what it meant. Only after a time. Only after a while could I say, Lord, so this is what you meant. Those who are at this bottom level, those are unbelievers, pagans. In the middle, lukewarm.

Lukewarm Christians. Those at the top had faces shining with the glory of the Lord. And I remember till today how I cried out and said, oh Lord, make me to be one of those at the top level. There you've got the godless.

The cold ones. The lukewarm ones. And those on fire. On which standard are you? Are you cold? Jesus said to the lukewarm ones, what a pity that you are not cold if you'd only be cold. That means the lukewarm ones are worse to God than the godless ones.

He says because you're lukewarm I'll spill you out. What? I will spill you out, you lukewarm ones. A raw heathen is more acceptable to God than a lukewarm Christian. You say you're a Christian. You're a believer.

You say that you don't believe as the Bible says. In all things. Have I spoken enough now? Time is up. But I'd like you to think now before you've got up and walked out of the... Are you believing as the Bible says?

Testing Christian Commitment

If you're a Catholic, not as the Catholic says. If you're a Pentecostal, not as the Pentecostal say. If you're a Lutheran, not as the Lutheran say. If you're a Methodist, not the way the Methodists say, but as the Bible says.

From cover to cover, is that true of you? Are you a Christian as the Bible says? You can read Matthew 5, 6 and 7. That's just one sermon of Christ. On your knees and ask yourself whether you are a Christian like that.

Or are you a Christian according to the 20th century, 21st century standard? Examine yourself. Test yourself. Prove whether you're a real Christian or not. You'll only pass the test if you believe as the Bible says.

Not as your children say. As your children like. You'll go to hell with your children. A parent was never intended to follow his children. The children should follow him. You as a parent should never take the side of a child.

You're not worthy to be a mother or a father. I don't know why God gave you children. You can't say like Joshua. And I and my house, we are going to follow the Lord. He laid down the rule and the law for him and his house.

Living Out Biblical Faith

And I and my house. You can't say, oh my child, I won't wash it, I won't clean it. Till my child can say what kind of soap she likes. Or he likes. Whether it's the life, palm olive, that's madness. And if you can't lay down the law for your house, then you may as well.

I don't know why God gave you children. And I and my house, we are going to follow the Lord. You can't say, oh my child, I won't wash it, I won't clean it. Till my child can say what kind of soap she likes.

He that believes as the Bible says. I've just touched on two or three things. And those, there is so much more. And that's why there is a scissor bundle. And that is our constitution. Believe as the Bible says.

And live it that way. Not that it's just lip service. That you say it with your lips. But that you do it. You live it. Shall we pray? And stand to our feet and we'll pray. Lord Jesus. I ask that this speaking will not have been in vain.

Christ’s Broken Heart on the Cross

And that your crying out like a wounded animal. We would truly hear your cry. Amen. On the cross. When Jesus crucified on the cross. His heart broke and he died. A person doesn't die on a cross in six hours time.

Or nine hours time. Or three hours time. They can hang on the cross for two days. And not be dead. That's why they came to break their legs. To finish them off. To kill them. But when they came to Jesus.

They broke the legs of the two next to him. But Jesus was dead already. Jesus didn't die because of pain. Physical pain. Because of the nails in his hand. And his feet. He died of a broken heart. His heart broke for you.