Jesus: The Fountain of Living Water (Part 2)

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John 7:37-39

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This wonderful, wonderful subject that we're looking at, Jesus, the fountain of living water.
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Jesus, the fountain of living water. Speaking of water, everything in this world is but dust to our mouth.
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Nothing in this world can satisfy but living water. Living water.
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And only living water can satisfy our parched soul. As much could be said about water as we all know that over a week ago, water had its effect as it flooded through Texas and took the lives of many, many youth.
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Many teenagers, many young children in that catastrophe, in that calamity.
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There's a lot of people that's online that's blaming God for this event, but being used in condemnation, which
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I don't approve of. Now, we believe
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God is sovereign. There are at times that God does use water to bring judgment.
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We know that, don't we? Look at the flood, the great flood. That was a worldwide flood.
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And I'm saying all this because water can be refreshing to our souls.
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It's interesting that people love to build their houses close to water.
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It is something magnetic about water, something beautiful about water.
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People like to build their beach houses by the beach because of the ocean, the water.
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You go to the mountains, people love to build cabins close to the waters, the waterfalls and the creeks and the running water.
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There's something about water that's majestic and relaxing.
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And think of it, last Lord's Day, we had... No, it was the week before, right?
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No, that wasn't last Lord's Day, it was the week before. We had Brother Jordan going to the waters of baptism in a swimming, a little small swimming pool.
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Water baptism. Water is very significant, isn't it? And Scripture speaks a lot about water.
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The Lord speaks symbolically about water. And here in our text,
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He speaks metaphorically about living water.
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So in saying all that, please turn with me as we continue our journey together through the
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Gospel of John, John's Gospel, chapter 7. We are at a wonderful text here. Our text is verse 37, verse 37 to verse 39.
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Three verses that our Lord... Basically, this highlights Jesus Himself as the very source of spiritual life and the
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Holy Spirit as the agent of that life, empowering believers to be a source of blessing to others.
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That's what He's basically saying. And the narrative here breaks at this point.
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The evangelist, John the Apostle, leaves the people, this discussion about Jesus' statement concerning verse 34, which verse 34 basically says, you will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come.
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That's the Lord's words. And the attempt of the temple officers at the time to arrest him in the context, then you have verse 35 and verse 36, basically highlighting the ignorance of the
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Jews regarding Jesus' words of what He really meant by saying what
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He said. But the words that they spoke were really spoken to mock
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Jesus. They hated Him, they were rejecting Him, He came unto
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His own, His own received Him not. These are the Jewish people that reject Him outright.
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Unbelief, a hard heart of unbelief. So let me begin actually with verse 35, reading to verse 39, to understand the setting, the background, in context of what
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Jesus is saying in verse 37 to 39. Let me begin with verse 35, hear the word of the living
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God. Then the Jews said among themselves, where does
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He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the dispersion among the
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Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that He said, you will seek
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Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come? And on the last day, the great day of the feast,
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Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
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He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart, the old
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King James says, out of his belly, will flow rivers of living water.
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But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the
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Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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Amen and amen to the reading of God's holy word to our ears.
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May God bless the reading of His word from our ears to our hearts this morning. Please bow with me in prayer as we seek our
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Lord's blessing within this hour of worship. Oh God, our
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Heavenly Father, I pray that You lay hold of us this morning, give us ears to hear what the
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Spirit is saying to the church, to Your body. Lord, we pray that Your word would sanctify us wholly through and through.
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In my prayer this morning for each and every one of us, and even for myself,
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Lord, I pray, hide me behind the cross of Christ. Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.
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We ask this for Your honor and glory, in Jesus' name, amen. It is very clear from our text that the unbelieving
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Jews did not understand this awesome metaphor that he speaks of in this wonderful text.
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Verse 34 is key because, again, they did not understand what is this thing that he said in verse 36.
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You will seek me and not find me. Where I am, you cannot come. And of course, we know by the context and we know through the light of Revelation that Jesus was speaking of His death, burial, and resurrection.
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And that He would go back to His Father after He would be glorified.
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They did not understand this. And in context of what
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Jesus is saying here in reference to Jesus' return to His heavenly origin with the
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Father after His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus Himself is declaring, now He declares to the unbelieving
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Jews that He is the very source of the fountain of life, the very source of the fountain of life.
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The Scripture makes it very clear that the living water Jesus offers is the promise of the
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Holy Spirit. The promise of the Holy Spirit given to those who believe in Jesus.
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The divine gift provides constant spiritual nourishment, refreshment, which water produces, which water does for us physically.
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And He is speaking of this spiritual water in which is the Holy Spirit of God.
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And it also not only provides nourishment and refreshment, but it also provides renewal that sustains the believers in Jesus Christ all the way through our life's circumstances, no matter how difficult it may be.
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The Lord does not leave His people as orphans.
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He comes to us and He gives us His Holy Spirit. What a glorious thing.
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And by the way, not a one of us here or not a believer on the face of this earth would be able to live the
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Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. Not a one of us could even come to the
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Lord apart from the Holy Spirit. Not a one of us could sanctify and live the sanctified life apart from the
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Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit, by the Spirit, that we are able to do these things.
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To crucify the deeds of the flesh in sanctification. To take the hardships that come our way.
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The Holy Spirit brings comfort to us. And He comes to us to comfort us and strengthen us through our times of adversity.
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The first thing we observe here is, and this is my first point, is we see a spiritual condition described.
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A spiritual condition described. And the text says in verse 37a,
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On the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts.
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Let me stop right there. Here's the scene, folks. There are thousands of people, there are great crowds that's gathered at the last day of the feast.
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By the thousands in Jerusalem for the sacred ceremony of the outpouring of the water by which the people remembered the water that came from the rock and the desert and the wilderness.
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Then suddenly, Jesus comes to the scene and right into the midst of these
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Jewish people and the crowds by the hordes. Jesus begins to cry out and shout.
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Everyone stops what they're doing and then they are tuned to listen.
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They're tuned in to His powerful words and the text says
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He literally cries out. Don't you sense the heart of God here?
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There's an invitation, this is not the first one as I've said before. There's other invitations that Jesus has already given in Matthew chapter 11, come unto me all you labor and heavy laden,
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I give you rest. The invitation is to come. Jesus says, He that cometh to me
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I will in no wise cast him out. He says come, that's a word of revelation.
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That is God's revelation word, that is His word and He gives us that invitation.
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And whosoever will, will come unto me and here
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He cries out. If anyone thirsts, He uses it at this time providentially in God's sovereignty.
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And the language here predisposes in the soul, in the soul.
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He's just not talking about a thirsty person physically.
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And though He does use that in chapter 4 with the woman at the well, the
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Samaritan woman, as she comes to Jacob's well to gather water, beloved as you well know, she left well satisfied, not from drinking from Jacob's well, but satisfied of knowing who
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Jesus really is, that He is the Messiah and she went and when she was changed, and we're talking about a woman that literally had a horrible life of immorality, no satisfaction whatsoever and she goes being changed by the power of the
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Holy Spirit and by meeting the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of God, she turns her little town upside down as a great evangelist.
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See that in chapter 4, we looked at that. But here you see there is no doubt a spiritual condition that's described, a spiritual condition described.
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Jesus comes into their midst and here the existence of the soul is spoken of and is speaking of an appetite, an appetite.
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I want you to think about some of these questions I asked you this morning. What is it that you truly thirst for in this world?
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What do you thirst for? What really satisfies you?
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From within your innermost being, what is your utmost desire?
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What is what you really seek after? What do you live for in other words?
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What is on your mind? Is it earthly things or is it heavenly things?
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Is it the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He your all in all? Or is it something passing in this world that's going to fade away?
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You see, we're talking about the soul. We're talking about soul satisfaction here.
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We're talking about soul rest, but soul satisfaction that only the
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Spirit of God can give through Jesus Christ. There's something that's necessary for the soul's healthful existence as water.
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And here Jesus speaks of this living water. And as water is essential for our body, and by the way, not a one of us could keep living without water.
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How essential is water for all of us? And here it is essential for the body, but how much more is living water essential for our soul?
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How important is that? Something is here declared by Jesus Himself to be living water.
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Just not water, but living water. Water that is alive. It is alive.
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And by John the Apostle, it is to be the blessed Holy Spirit.
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Then there's the perception of want. First we see the existence of an appetite.
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Now we see a perception of want. What does that really mean? What was He talking about? In other words, what
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He's saying, how thirsty are you? How thirsty are you? Are you really thirsty for God?
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As the soul's thirst arises from lack of spiritual nourishment, or as the body from absence of material water?
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I don't know about you, but God gets my attention, especially in this heat we're up against.
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And it's not really what you would see, anything compared to the heat of the Sahara Desert across the world, where the temperatures are 115 and above.
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But here in the little state of Georgia, we have 90 degree weather, and without air conditioner, we would...
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Actually, we thank God for the little air conditioner we have right now, the little breeze. But without the air conditioner, we would all be sweating pretty hard.
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My air conditioner went out in the cab in my truck a couple weeks ago, and they had a hard time finding out the source of the problem.
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Come to find out it was a little vent issue, that it would not transfer to the cold, it was in the hot.
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And when I cut the air on, there's nothing but hot air blowing in the midst of 90 -something degree.
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And the only time I could get some relief is when I got in the back of that truck unloading the milk. And I said,
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Lord, thank you. There's a little refreshment, physically, here I can have in this heat.
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But think of this. There's much, much more refreshment in Jesus Christ and in the
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Holy Spirit. You know, the psalmist speaks of this yearning for God Himself in the midst of distresses.
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In Psalm 42. Please turn with me to Psalm 42. And I want you to see this.
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That... We don't know if this is a Psalm of David. It doesn't say it's a Psalm of David. It just basically says to the chief musician, a contemplation of the sons of Korah.
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So it's basically the sons of Korah that says this. And I want to read this whole chapter, but I want you to see, our focus is really on verse 1 and verse 2.
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As the deer pants for the water brooks. We sung about it this morning. As the deer...
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As the deer. As the deer pants. That word pants. That means as this deer longs for the water brooks.
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This is the deer. The deer. We can learn a lot from animals that God has created.
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This deer. These deer go after the water brooks. They long after the water brooks. They pant after it.
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So pants my soul for you, oh God. Does your soul pant for God like the deer pants for the water brooks?
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And then he says, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. God's not the God of the dead. He's the
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God of the living. For the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?
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That's the question. Listen to these questions. My tears have been my food day and night while they continually say to me, where is your
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God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me.
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For I used to go with the multitude and I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept the pilgrim feast.
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Why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
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Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of the
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Jordan and from the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mazar. Deep calls unto the deep as noise of the waterfalls.
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All your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me, a prayer to the
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God of my life. I will say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me?
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Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? You ever felt that way?
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Verse 10, as with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me while they say to me all day, where is your
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God? Sounds like David, doesn't it? And I believe it is, but we definitely have the contemplation of the sons of Korah.
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Then he closes it. Why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
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He's contemplating. He's asking himself this question. It's okay to ponder. That's what meditating is.
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My wife, I catch her quite often talking and I come in wherever she's at.
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I said, who in the world are you talking to? She said, I'm talking to myself. And actually scripture says to meditate.
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I said, just as long as you don't answer yourself, that would be okay. But she's saying, but it's okay to meditate.
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You ever talk to yourself? I think that's right in line of what we should do. We meditate.
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We ponder. It's a sila, as Brother Keith has mentioned so many times, like a cow chewing its cud.
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It chews and chews and chews, ponders on it, talks. You know, you think of it right here.
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He's almost pondering and meditating here. Why are you cast down, oh my soul?
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He speaks to his soul, his innermost being. Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God.
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Hope in God. For I shall yet praise Him the help of my countenance and my God. And if you want the rest of it, it continues in Psalm 43.
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The prayer to God in the time of trouble. And that continues all the way.
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If you look at verse 5 in chapter 43, why are you cast down, oh my soul?
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He says it again. Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God. For I shall yet praise
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Him the help of my countenance and my God. The same thing.
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He praises Him. And I'm telling you what, beloved, praise is a great remedy in times of trouble.
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We don't understand a lot of things that happen, but we are to praise God. Just praise
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Him. We may not understand it, but praising God and worshiping the Lord is no doubt the answer.
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All we could do. We may not understand all that takes place. Even that catastrophe that took place in Texas.
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We may not understand that. I believe that should be an answer to them, but wrap...
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I'm praying that the Christians there in that community wrap their arms around those families that's hurting and say, look, we may not understand.
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The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us, to the sons of men.
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But know this, that God is always good and He's always gracious and we are to minister comfort to them.
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Look at Psalm 36. Here, once again,
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I believe this... We know that this is a Psalm of David, the servant of the
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Lord. Psalm 36, look at verse 7 to verse 9.
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How precious is your lovingkindness, O God? Is it precious to you?
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Is God's lovingkindness precious? Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings.
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They abundantly satisfied. They are abundantly satisfied. Notice that. In God, that's what
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He's talking about. They're abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house. And you will give them drink from the river of your pleasures.
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And for with you is the fountain of life. In your light we see light.
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Praise His name. There's no light outside of God's light. The only reason we understand and see the things from the
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Word of God this morning, that it's just not another book written by men, but it is the very
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Word of God because we have the Spirit of God showing us the things of God, showing us
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Christ, and we see it through the spectacles of the Holy Spirit. And we have ears to hear.
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If we can hear what is being said through the Word of God, it's because the Spirit of God gives us ears to hear.
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It's not something we know of ourselves. It's not within us, but it's of God.
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Well, there's so many verses I'd like to point out. Look at Isaiah 41, 17. This is a wonderful verse, and I'd like to read verse 18 as well.
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We'll go to Isaiah now. Isaiah 41, 17 says this.
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Listen to the prophet. The poor and needy seek water. It's not those that are full.
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It's those that are thirsty. Notice what he's saying. The poor and needy seek water.
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Reminds me of what Jesus said. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Right? But there is none.
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Their tongues fail for thirst. You know you're ever real thirsty physically? Your tongue becomes dry, and it can even cleave to the roof of your mouth if you're so parched.
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But yet, here's the promise. I, the Lord, will hear them. God hears those that pour out their heart before God.
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They're poor and needy. I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the
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God of Israel, will not forsake them. That's God's promise. Verse 18.
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And what does He promise? I will open rivers and desolate heights and fountains in the midst of valleys, and I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.
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Isn't that glorious? God opens up the fountains in the midst of valleys.
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I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.
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What about the wonderful promise He gives in Isaiah 55? Isn't this beautiful?
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Don't you love Isaiah 55? Oh, my goodness. You go in Isaiah 53, the suffering servant, all about the
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Lord Jesus Christ and His sufferings of Calvary. That's predicted. Isaiah 54, all about the perpetual covenant of peace.
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And then now you go to Isaiah 55 as an invitation to abundant life. Ho, everyone who thirsts.
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Are you thirsting? Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
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Right? Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Come to the waters.
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And you who have no money, come buy and eat.
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Yes, come. Notice how many times He says, Come, just come. Buy wine and milk without money and without price.
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Doesn't this melt your heart? Because it's been bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. That we can come right into His presence because the
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Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious blood. Now we have access before the throne of grace and we can enter into His presence because of what
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Christ did on the cross. He says, Come. Everyone.
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Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy?
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You see what He's saying? Why are you focusing on all the things of this world that's going to pass away?
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God brings eternal satisfaction, eternal life, and rivers of living water through His blessed
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Holy Spirit to those who trust and believe in Him. Your wages for what does not satisfy?
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No, He's talking about what does satisfy. Then listen to what God says. God says, Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good.
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Let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me.
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Here. And your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you and assure mercies of David.
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There you have the great promise of eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ who has bought and paid for all of it when
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He said, It is finished. It is finished. So much. Go with me very quickly to Jeremiah.
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Jeremiah. Just go toward, flip to your left, to your right.
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You have after Isaiah, you got the prophet Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.
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Jeremiah chapter 2. I want you to look at this. There's something here the
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Lord says and I think we need to pay close attention to. Verse 13.
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Chapter 2. Very, very important verse. It's God's case against Israel.
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God's got something against Israel. Let's see what it is. He gets right to the point right here.
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Verse 13. For My people have committed two evils. Notice what
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He says. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.
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And what have they done? And hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
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Two evils. First evil, Israel had abandoned the
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Lord, God who is the source of spiritual salvation and substances.
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Secondly, Israel turned to idolatrous objects of trust rather than trusting in the living
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God. They turned to idolatry. Other objects of worship rather than the
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Lord God. And here Jeremiah the prophet compared these with underground water storage devices, cisterns for rain water, which were actually broken and let water seep out, thus pouring useless.
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And it makes me think there needs to be a repair of the cistern for water to hold.
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That comes through repentance, folks. And that's what Jeremiah the prophet calls for them to do is repent.
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Well, there's much to be said on that, but let's continue to go to... There's another verse of Scripture.
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Go, keep flipping to the left. You have Jeremiah, Lamentations. Go to Ezekiel. One more
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Old Testament Scripture here I'd like to just bring to your attention. Ezekiel 36, I think is very important.
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This is actually where Jesus lovingly rebukes
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Nicodemus. So you should know these things when he's mentioned to him about you must be born again.
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Metaphorically, again, Nicodemus, not having the
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Spirit of God open in his eyes. Obviously, if you read later on, he did convert to Christ.
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He was with Joseph of Arimathea when he anointed the Lord's body. So he came around, got these facts from John MacArthur.
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At that time, there was roughly about 6 ,000 Pharisees. That's quite a bit in that time period.
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And as far as we know of, Nicodemus is one of the 6 ,000. And you have the
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Apostle Paul, which was an apostle born out of due season, comes to the Lord as a
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Pharisee of Pharisees. Outside, correct me, I don't know any other Pharisees that repented and came to Christ.
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People's religion. And the same as today. People are so stooped into religion rather than having a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is the all -important thing.
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There is nothing in church life that's going to have any significance unless one is born again of the
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Spirit of God and their eyes are opened, that they see light. But here in this text, this is where Jesus is referring to.
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He said you should know these things. You should know these things. You're a teacher of Israel?
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Notice in chapter 36. Let me start with verse 23.
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The Lord says through Ezekiel the prophet, I will sanctify My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst, and the nations shall know that I am the
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Lord, says the Lord God, where I am hallowed in you before their eyes.
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For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
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Then I will sprinkle clean water on you. This is really symbolic of regeneration.
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The work of the Spirit of God when one comes into the body of Christ, baptized into the body of Christ.
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I'm not talking about physical baptism. That's a sign of what happens internally.
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But regeneration here. Sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. God, that's something else about water.
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It cleanses. There's a cleansing agent in water. Especially running water, living water that runs and it flows.
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And I will cleanse you from all of your filthiness and from all of your idols.
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Isn't that wonderful how God puts in there all, not some, but all of it. You can rest assured, folks, if you come to Jesus Christ and through His precious blood that washes whiter than snow, all of your sin is gone.
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Hallelujah. When you make business with God and mean it and come and forsake all the things of the world, come to Christ, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow
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Him. And all of that can't happen. Conversion can't happen unless there's regeneration first, right?
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The Holy Spirit must do the work within the heart. But here He says, I will, you shall be clean.
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You shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your filthiness and from all of your idols. And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
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I will take a heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.
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You know what that means? He gives a broken and contrite heart. He gives you a new heart.
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A heart that has the laws of God upon it.
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So in other words, God gives you new desires to love Him. That's what the
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Spirit of God does. And then He says this in verse 27, and I will. I love the
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I wills here. God does this. You know, Satan had a lot of I wills, but it was rebellion against God.
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He says, I will exalt myself from the Most High God.
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I will do this. I will be like God. I will. And God says, I'm not going to have it.
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And He casts them out like lightning. But here God says, I will. And if anyone has the authority to say
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I will, God does have the authority to say I will. Put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.
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Even obedience to God. God helps us because of the indwelling
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Spirit. Think about what the Apostle Paul says. A Christian, basically, it's
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Christ in you, the hope of glory. But he also says if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you're none of His.
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So the Spirit of God takes up residence within us. And we, our body, is the habitation of God Himself as He takes residence within us by the
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Holy Spirit. And then he says this, then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your
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God. Isn't that wonderful? See the closeness there? Well, back to John 7.
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And in the midst of rejection of unbelieving Jews, Jesus Christ cries out with a shout,
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If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. And drink. Well, next we see here the forthgoing of a desire in addition to the conscience realization of its dying condition.
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Jesus Christ demands with a loving invitation that the soul would ever enjoy living water.
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And He willingly bestows by faith in Him to the soul that thirsty, longing, yearning for Him, for Himself.
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And one of the great questions, I heard Paul Washer speak about this. It's not when you talk to people about where you're going to spend eternity, and most people say,
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Yeah, I want to go to heaven. I don't want to go to hell. Well, most everybody will say that. But the question really isn't,
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Do you want heaven? The question is, Do you really want God? Because there's no heaven without God.
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There's no heaven without Jesus. Jesus is the heaven of heavens. Jesus is the brightness and the glory of heaven.
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So, my question is, Do you really want Jesus? Do you desire Him above all things in this world?
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Well, not only is there a spiritual condition described, in which we just looked at. Secondly, there is a gracious invitation issued.
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A gracious invitation issued. And we see this.
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As Jesus says, Let Him come to me and drink.
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Let Him come to me and drink. We see that Christ Himself is the fountain of living water.
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And the living water has its source in Christ alone. In His divine nature.
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How do we know that? Because of who He is. He's the
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Son of God. He's the Son of Man. John 1 .4 says,
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In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. So, it's hidden in Christ.
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It's hidden in His nature. It's hidden in who He is. Are you hidden in Christ? Are you hiding in Christ?
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Are you hiding in the rock of ages this morning? It's the only safe place to go.
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He is the only refuge from the wrath of God. He's the only refuge from any troubles.
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But the greatest trouble that people face is the wrath of God. And Jesus is the only place to go and flee to.
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When John the Baptist says, Are you fleeing from the wrath of God?
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Then he points to Him, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
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Is your life hidden in Christ? Is your life hidden in Christ? Go with me to Colossians 3.
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Paul talks about this in Colossians 3. Look at verse 1 to verse 4.
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If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
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Then not only he says, seek those things above, he says, set. Seek and set.
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Set your mind on things above and not on things on the earth. It makes me think, you set your clock, you set your alarm, you set certain dials, you set certain programs.
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And it's almost like Paul is saying, as you renew your mind, you set your mind.
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You lock it in. You focus looking unto Jesus. Unto Jesus you set your mind on things above.
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Not on the things on the earth. We're too earthly bound. We think too earthly minded, not heavenly minded.
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Set your mind. Seek. Set. And then he says this, for you died.
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Have you died? Have you really died? And your life is hidden with Christ in God.
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And then he gives this wonderful promise, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also appear with Him in glory.
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What a wonderful, wonderful... What are we going to do in the meantime? Well, it's almost like a transition here.
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There's salvation, then he goes into sanctification. We're to be sanctified, therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, the members...
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What is he talking about? Fornication. Uncleanness. Passion. Evil desire. Covetousness.
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Which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
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But now, he's talking about the believers, you yourselves are to put off.
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He tells us what to put on and to put off. First he says you got to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, even filthy language out of your mouth.
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Yes, sir. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and you have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.
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For there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all in all.
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Therefore, then he talks about what to put on as the elect of God, holy, beloved, and beloved.
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Put on. This is what you put on. Tender mercies. Kindness. Humility.
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Meekness. Long -suffering. And then he even says this, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.
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If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
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Above all these things put on love, agape, which is the bond of perfection.
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And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you also were called in one body and be thankful.
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Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
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Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
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Father through Him. Praise His name. Is your life hidden with Christ?
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That's where it starts. Well, Christ is...
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the living water is flowing also. It flows. Besides springing up within inner divine nature of Christ, the living water issues forth from Him as from a smitten rock in the desert that thirsty souls may drink of living waters.
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We see this. The Apostle Paul, he has this on his mind in 1 Corinthians 10. So go to chapter 10, 1
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Corinthians, and let's look at that. Talking about examples, listen to this.
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1 Corinthians 10, Old Testament examples. Moreover, brethren,
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I do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses into the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.
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Notice what he talks about. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was
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Christ. That rock was Christ. Don't end there.
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We've got to get all of it, don't we? But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
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Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things that they also lusted.
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How we need to hear this in the church today? God's people doing this.
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Lusting, desiring after the things of the world, the things that will pass away. And the Bible says that if you love the things of the world, the love of the
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Father is not in it. Everybody should be examining themselves to see whether they're in the faith. They lusted after evil things.
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Verse 7, And do not become idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
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Notice what they were seeking after. They were all about their own satisfaction, but they were not satisfied in God, and they were complaining and murmuring.
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You see why God hates complaining and murmuring? That is so convicting. Even about the weather.
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AWP says, you know, you complain about the weather, you're complaining against God. Amen. I know that's convicting, but you know, whether it be hot or cold, too hot, too cold, whatever, people always ask, go ask people how they're doing.
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Oh, it's too hot. It's too cold. I've been guilty of the same thing. I need to repent.
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God help us to be thankful of what God gives us that we're even living.
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Notice he goes on, nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did. Listen to what happened.
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And in one day, 23 ,000 fell. These are warnings, folks. Nor let us tempt
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Christ as some of them also tempted as we're destroyed by the serpents. Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer.
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That's God's take on complaining. Now, all these things happen to them as examples.
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They were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And then he says it right here.
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And this really gets to the point. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
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Wow! He put that Scripture right in there, that Word right in there, said, oh, no, that can't be me.
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There's this picture. I sent it to Brother Keith, and I think I sent it to the group text a while back ago, but I found online, and it's this soldier in armor.
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And he says the thing. There's a Scripture that says take heed lest you think you're saying, oh, I can't see.
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I'm well protected in armor. And there's this one opening right here between the eyes, and there's this arrow right between the eyes.
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And it says pride. You see, we all need to be careful. We need to examine ourselves.
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We're to take heed lest we fall.
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And then he says, no temptation has overtaken you such as common to man, but God is faithful.
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There's the encouragement. Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation,
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He will make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. God will help us through His power and His Holy Spirit.
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In other words, you can't do it yourself. That's why we need to go to God in prayer on a daily basis and say,
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God, help me. I am weak and you're strong. Keep me. It's the apple of your eye.
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Hide me in the rock of ages. I'm too weak to do this Christian thing and walk the walk.
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Rather than just talk the talk, we should walk the walk, right? But God can hold us up and God can help us through His Holy Spirit when we realize that we are nothing.
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It's in our weakness He comes along and it becomes our strength. Hallelujah.
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Got to move on. Well, there's a spiritual condition described as a gracious invitation issued.
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Next, there's an encouraging promise given. Verse 37, back to John.
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Anyone who thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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You think of it, this could be a very hard text to reference. I challenge you sometime to find the
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Scripture Jesus is referring to. The Scripture? There are many, many
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Scriptures that speak about promises of the living water. But the
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Scripture, I'm not for sure, it's not said, which the Lord has in mind here, but there are many, many
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Scriptures. And He said, out of His heart will flow rivers of living water.
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This He spoke concerning the Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive.
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But the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. He was talking about He had not died yet,
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He has not been buried yet, He has not been glorified, He has not been risen from the grave yet. That's when
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His glorification came, when He was risen from the dead. That's the Gospel.
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Christ being the fountain which the living water would flow, yet here rivers of living water flow through the believer, by the way, to be refreshment to others in a barren land.
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And the concept of living water has its roots in the Old Testament Scriptures, which I mentioned.
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Jesus points and gives the written word, full attention to the promise. Isn't that wonderful?
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Here's the living word giving full attention to the written word. If Jesus gives full attention to it, and He does it many, many times, you can be assured that the word of the living
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God from Genesis to Malachi and goes on, those 39 books there are ordained, they are inspired,
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God breathed, all sufficient. And then the Old Testament 27 books from Matthew to Revelation are inspired as well.
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Every word of God is perfect. He's speaking about the promise of the
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Father in John 14, chapter 14, 15, and I'm narrowing it down on our message here.
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Jesus says this, in the midst of tribulation,
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He gives us some comfort, there's going to be another helper, and then
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He says, if you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give,
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God you cannot out give God, He gives again and again and again, He will give you another helper, and that He may abide with you forever, the
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Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. The world cannot receive Him, because neither it sees
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Him or knows Him, but you know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you.
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I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. You can guarantee it, He never leaves us or forsakes us,
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He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He comes to us. There's prophecies, in Joel chapter 2, verse 28 and 29, you can read it in your devotional time, about the promise of the
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Holy Spirit, and then you can take it from Acts chapter 1, verse 4 to 8, then Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, chapter 2 to that whole entire chapter, talks about when the church is filled with the
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Spirit of God. Pentecostals love that day of Pentecost, because of course they get the word
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Pentecostal from the day of Pentecost, 50th, but they emphasize so much on the gifts of the
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Holy Spirit, but let me say this, what really matters, and I'm not going to over emphasize the gifts of the
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Holy Spirit, I think what's more important, is our character, living holy.
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And this is the one thing that stirred me up when I was a Pentecostal those years ago, I said, what about those godly men back in those days, they never speak about speaking in tongues, they're always talking about holy living.
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Where is this? Then I started talking about this at a particular
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Bible college I went to, and then they started telling my fiancé at the time, they said, don't marry him, he's a heretic.
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I said, that's okay. She married me anyway, I praise God. She's the best thing that ever happened to me next to Jesus Christ.
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But I'm telling you, I started seeking the word of God, and God started answering questions, and I thanked
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God down the road. I started listening to John MacArthur, and he was right in the middle of an expository preaching in 1
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Corinthians, and he was about the gifts of the Spirit, and he got into all the details, and the ins and outs through exposition of the word.
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And you know, it wasn't MacArthur that he was so bright and brainy about it, he was speaking the word of God, and God's word leaped out in my heart, and I said, it answered my questions.
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Things came to light, and I understood why they were speaking in other languages on the day of Pentecost.
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The power of the Spirit of God came upon them, and these people that were so -called unlearned fishermen, the
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Spirit of God caused them to speak in other languages, they started preaching the word of God. It wasn't this mumbo -jumbo.
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God did this. Well, let me conclude. How does the Holy Spirit provide spiritual nourishment?
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Well, there's much I can say here. Let me land this plane. The Holy Spirit isn't just a concept or a force,
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He's a person. He's a divine person. He's a divine presence that actually refreshes the soul, deepens our communion with God.
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Even in the power of prayer, He helps us pray with groanings which cannot be uttered.
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When we don't know how to pray, He helps us in our praying. He connects us through prayer with God the
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Father, and by the power of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit works in a distinct way to provide spiritual nourishment.
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Hallelujah. And through His transforming power, believers receive spiritual blessings in which all are in Jesus Christ, Ephesians chapter 1.
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Just read that chapter. All the blessings that we have by the Spirit of God flows from Jesus Christ.
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We are blessed in Him, in Him, and in Him, and in Him. Blessings that come from Christ, through Christ, by Christ, and by faith, through faith.
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The just shall live by faith, not our feelings, through the believers, through the believers.
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He empowers believers to be a blessing. And did you ever think of this? Not only does
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He personally renew us, cleanse us from our guilt and shame, wash us whiter than snow, make us a blessing, but we are channels now to be a blessing to others that waters flow, folks.
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It's not stagnant. It is flowing rivers of living water that pours out on other people.
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It's not just for ourselves. We're the conduit. We're the channels in which living waters flow.
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I was going to go into the fruit of the Spirit, Christ's likeness, Galatians 5,
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Romans chapter 8. I don't have time, but let me narrow it down to this one thing. God first does the work in us to be in character who we are to be in like Jesus Christ.
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And once we are like Christ, and that is a continuing sanctifying work that the
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Spirit of God does and in through us as we cooperate in that sanctification.
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We do cooperate. Salvation, we don't. Salvation is monergistic.
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Sanctification is synergistic, right? Basically those words mean salvation is all of God.
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Sanctification, it's God in us and it is part of us working out our salvation that's in us.
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Living water nourishes us. Well, we're to repent and believe the gospel.
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And we are channels for the Lord. Let me close with this wonderful, wonderful...
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It's a hymn, by the way. It's a poem. And it's given by a woman by the name of Mary Maxwell.
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By the way, she was
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Pentecostal. But you know something? We can overlook that, can't we? I'm here to tell you there are a lot of Pentecostals out there on fire for God.
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They may have the third person of the Trinity wrong. They may not understand about in context about speaking with other tongues.
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But I'm here to tell you, I thank God for a lot of my brothers and sisters that are Pentecostal because they got a fire, folks.
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I'm telling you. I just envy in a godly way. I've seen some of them so hungry after God and praying.
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They shamed the frozen chosen in the reform camps. They do.
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And here we are in the reform camps and we got the theology right. Why are we so frozen? We should be setting this world upside down for Jesus Christ, setting it on fire.
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Listen to her words. She says this and it's called Channels Only. Channels Only.
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How I praise Thee, precious Savior, that Thy love laid hold on me.
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Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me that I might Thy channel be.
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Channels Only, blessed Master. Channels Only. But with all
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Thy wonderous power flowing through us, Thou canst use us every day and every hour. Just a channel full of blessing to the thirsty hearts around to tell out of Thy full salvation all
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Thy loving messages found. Emptied that Thou shouldest fill me.
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A clean vessel in Thy hand with no power, but as Thou givest graciously with each command.
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Witnessing Thy power to save me, setting free from self and sin. Thou who bought us to possess me and Thy fullness,
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Lord, come in. Jesus, fill now with Thy Spirit.
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Hearts that full surrender know that the streams of living water from our inner self may flow.
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May that be true of us as well. Praise His name.
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Let's pray. Father, we just thank
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You, Father. Oh God, how we need to be being filled with Your Spirit.
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Oh Lord, forgive us for pulling back. Lord, the admonition in Hebrew says
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You said Your soul has no pleasure, no delight whatsoever in those who draw back.
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But we are not the ones of perdition that draw back. We are the ones that believe.
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Lord, may we go forward looking to the Captain of our salvation following in His train, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, Your unspeakable gift to us,
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Jesus. Thank You for the Spirit of truth, the
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Spirit of holiness. Oh God, to cleanse us and sanctify us through and through each and every day to make us ready for heaven.
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Lord, we need Your Spirit, Lord, to cleanse and wash us daily.
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We get dirty from this world. Our minds get dirty, Lord. We need to renew it day by day.
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Oh God, we pray. We thank You for Your Spirit that helps us in these ways. But help us, oh God, to sanctify ourselves as well that we may know
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Your Word and that Your Word would dwell richly in us and that Your Spirit would take a hold of us.
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Your indwelling living water will flow through us from our innermost being and out on others as we do not live for ourselves but we live for You, Lord, and live for others.
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Thank You, Father, for the indwelling Spirit of God that You have given as a blessed gift to us becomes a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
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Lord, we would not trade this for the universes. Lord, just to know that we have to know
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Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Eternal life. How precious.
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We thank You, Father, that whosoever will believe in Jesus Christ can come and be forgiven of their sins and have everlasting life.
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And Father, to Him, to You, and to the
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Spirit be all praise and glory forever and ever. In Jesus' name