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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/frank-sona/drink/
And when opening the meeting tonight, I want to just read three passages. They all have a common theme of drinking. Turn with me to John chapter 4. And all of these drinks have a relationship with eternity.
John chapter 4, and we're going to start from verse 7. The Lord Jesus comes and goes through Samaria, and we read John 4 and verse 7,. Then there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food, to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou, you would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, the well is deep, from whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.
In that saidst thou truly. The woman is under conviction, she is feeling the sense of her sin, and the conversation progresses and she comes to know the Lord Jesus and drinks of that living water. John 19, and verse 28, after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now fully accomplished, that's the idea, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith I thirst.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon Hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
And one final reading, Luke 16. The tragedy about a passage like this to, at times, an audience like this is that there is a very great familiarity with it. And sadly, the overwhelming tragedy of the reality of a person perishing in their sins can be read in an account like this and fail to cause a ripple at times in people that read it.
But as I read this, this is an historical account where the man that I'm reading about is still there. He is still in hell. Luke 16, verse 22, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.
Water. I don't know how many bottles of it I saw before on the tables, big, little. I don't know how many people here had a drink of it today. It's full on the earth's surface, oceans, seas, rivers, lakes.
Wisconsin is known for its lakes, known for its rivers, its waterways. And yet as we've read these accounts, there are three aspects of a drink that are connected in a very real way in some way or another with eternity.
Eternity. When we look at this woman, she is presented by the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior. And as she talks to Him, here is someone that is so different than any man she's known. He's caring, he's kind, he's compassionate.
Can I say something first? That the Lord Jesus is different than any other man. Oh, He is a real man, but He's far more than that. He is God incarnate. God become a man. God coming down in human flesh.
And as He moved amongst men and spoke, He was the only one here on this planet that could actually save people from their sins. He could meet their needs. He fulfilled the scriptures. He's the very one that the scriptures pointed to that would come.
The one that Simeon and Anna waited for in the temple. The one that countless prophets prophesied about. And here He is at this moment, and He's standing before this woman who in the heat of the day doesn't want to be seen, doesn't want to have interaction.
She's going to a well. She's a Samaritan. She's an outsider, an outcast, and He goes to meet her. What does that say about the Lord Jesus? What does that say about the Son of God? That He is deeply interested in saving your soul.
If that would not have been the case, He would never have come here. No one could have made Him come here. No one could have called Him down from heaven. In fact, for hundreds of years before He came, people weren't even waiting for Him.
And yet here is this woman, one-on-one, and she's talking to the Son of God. And He meets her at a well, and He starts using the well as an example. And He says, that well? He says, you're going to drink from that well again, and again, and again.
And you're going to be thirsty again, and again, and again. And He contrasts that with the living water that He gives that is able to satisfy, quench, and meet the need of her soul. What was He saying?
He was saying this, comparing that to the natural, the physical, the things of this world, the things that people go after all the time, the things that even in their minds seem to be in their hearts and consciences, the most basic of all things that they need.
And He's saying, that will never meet your need. That will never satisfy you. And He stands in front of her, and she's talking to Him. And He says, if you knew who it is that speaks to you, you would have asked of me, living water.
And He says, and I would give it to you. There's a time when, even today, I understand that well is there. It's one of the few points, historically, geographically, that people can actually say, no one knows of a certainty where Calvary is.
They have ideas. They have matching descriptions. But when it comes to this well, it's pretty certain that this is the well that the Lord Jesus spoke to this woman on. And yet, there's going to come a time that well is going to run dry.
And not only that, it has limitations in many ways. What the Lord Jesus was saying to this woman is this, the water I am going to give you, I want to give you, the water that you need, more basic spiritually, more needful than any amount of water that you can have.
He says, first of all, there's no lack. There's no lack of it. I'm not going to lose by giving it to you. There's no lack on my part. It's everlasting. It's going to be springing up. It's something that I alone can give you.
Do you understand that salvation is of God? The God who is limitless, the God who is never depleted, and the God who is offering in this meeting right now to someone who is in their sins, salvation. There's not only no limits, there's no lack.
He is saying this, you're going to drink of this, there's going to be repetition. He says there's not going to be any satisfaction, and there's going to be repetition. You know what's a wonderful thing about the new birth?
It happens once. And the reality of the new birth and salvation lasts for eternity. To come to know the Lord Jesus, and that is what he's speaking to this woman about. Now what is interesting is this, as he's speaking to her, she's interested.
But she's interested from a historical standpoint. She's interested from a religious standpoint. She's familiar with these things, but she's not saved. I wonder if I'm speaking to people tonight, and I'm sure I am, that you're familiar with these things.
There's a familiarity. You're probably sitting there with your name and your own Bible. You're sitting there knowing Bible verses. You've been to how many Sunday school classes? You know the name of the Lord Jesus.
You have parents that pray for you. You have relatives maybe that even preach the gospel. You're very familiar. There's a familiarity, and you move in and out in the very thing of this truth, but you're not saved.
You're in your sins. The wrath of God is over you. This woman is going to have to realize something, that before God, that the familiarity with these things will never save her. Personal guilt has to be addressed.
Personal sins have to be faced, and that is exactly what the Lord does with this woman. You see, it's one thing to come like this woman did, and yes, I know I don't fit in like everybody else does, and maybe I'm broken, and I'm needy, but you know what?
What she has to face the fact, like every person who is ever going to get God's salvation is this. Yes, I'm needy. Yes, I'm broken, but I am a rebel, and I am guilty, and this woman is going to face that this day, and the Lord Jesus does it with his own word.
He says, go call your husband. He puts his finger, as it were, with his word right on her very conscience. That is one of the purposes of the gospel meeting. That is one of the very purposes of the Spirit of God sent into this world, and I am hoping and praying along with other Christians that you will feel that touch tonight, that you will face that reality of that voice that is speaking to you about your sins, your guilt before God.
If someone in this meeting tonight doesn't make it home, and you die in your sins, the terrible tragedy, the eternal tragedy is this, that in a gospel meeting right now, you could have received living water.
You could have received Christ, and you didn't. Here is this woman, and she says, give me to drink. Give me this drink. Have you ever cried out to God about that? The Lord Jesus, he initiates. God always initiates, but he does not only expect.
He commands and he demands a response. God now commands all men everywhere to repent, and that is what this woman did. She turned to him from her sins, and she said, give me to drink. The familiarity now doesn't matter.
The history doesn't matter. The well doesn't matter. There's only one thing that mattered, and I'm asking you, does it matter to you that I can never be satisfied by this world? I can never satisfy God.
I must have, must have this living water. It's a drink she took that resulted in eternal salvation. I want you to think of the Lord Jesus, though, in John 19. Now, the very purpose he's come into the world is happening.
They have mocked him. They have ridiculed him. They have reproached him. While the one drink was at a well, in a conversation, this is far different now. This is at a cross, and these are not in friendly conversations, but these are mockings and reproach and rejection that's being hurled at him.
The spit of men is running down his face. Their nails are in his hands and feet. And the Lord Jesus on that cross, he now, he says, basically, I thirst, give me to drink, to fulfill Scripture, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Think about that. The Scripture, that Word. Is there someone in this meeting that you want to be saved? You know where you go to? Go to the Word of God. Go to the Word of God. That's why God has given you a Bible, so that you can know.
You see, you know who was there at that cross? Not only the Lord Jesus, God was there. And in giving you his Word, he is telling you, I was there. This plan is mine. This work that's done is mine. And I'm putting a book in your hand, the Word of God, that you can know.
In fact, John puts it, the very writer of this, the one writer who writes so much about in his gospel saying that these things were written that you might believe, is the one who writes in his letter of how you can have assurance of that belief.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And so the Lord Jesus there on that cross, the Scripture, that Word, might be fulfilled, that work, that work, what a work it was.
A work that would end all works. Lambs had been slain, animals had been slaughtered, seas of blood had been shed, but they had to be done over and over and over again, just like that drink from that well.
It could never fully accomplish. It could never satisfy God. In fact, God said that. In sacrifice and offering, that was had no pleasure. Do you know what it says about that cross and the Son of God who died there?
It pleased the Lord to bruise him. His one sacrifice for sins forever can put them away. And he says, I thirst. I thirst. And as those people stood there that day, the soldiers never knew it really. Oh, there was a centurion, he found out.
But by and large, the soldiers that were moving around, they didn't really know what was happening. The nation as a whole, the nation, they didn't know. But you sit there tonight in a gospel meeting in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, with a Bible in your hand, and the gospel being preached to you, and the message being hand-delivered, both in your hands graphically and verbally by a preacher who's trying his best, and God has come right here.
And the Savior that suffered, that bled and died, saying, I did that so that you could have eternal life. I suffered. I died. That the scripture might be fulfilled, that you could be brought in, that you could not go out to be punished for your sins, but that you could be delivered from your sins.
That the very penalty for sin that you deserve, he was taking there on that cross. That's why he cried out, that the scripture might be fulfilled. The scripture, that word, fulfilled that work. And yet, I thirst.
What a wonder. What a wonder. I was thinking of that today. We lift the bottles of water so easily, so quickly to our mouths. The one who said this made the oceans. The one who said this made the seas.
And yet, he says, I thirst. I thirst. Does that mean anything to you tonight in this meeting? The suffering Savior, the crucified Christ, the thirsty throne-sitter who died on that cross, and yet, I wonder if there are people tonight, and you're just going after something else that will never satisfy you.
There are people that are looking into the world, looking into habits, looking into amusements, looking into relationships, looking into drugs, looking into drink, looking into sex, looking into all kinds of pleasures.
They'll pursue this. I know people, grown men that will sit for a whole night in front of video games because they're just trying to get something. Young people that stay on their phones, and they're constantly scrolling, and they're watching YouTube, and they're watching this, and they're social media, and they're just looking, and they're occupied with all of these things that will never, ever deliver you.
And the one most important thing, it's like the people that were at that cross that day, they were moving around doing this and that, and the one person that was vitally, and essentially, and eternally important, they missed.
The things you're going after, I don't know who I'm speaking to tonight, but this is heavy on my heart. The things you're going after that are keeping you from Christ, keeping you in your sins. You know what?
They're just mounting up, and they're keeping you, and they're making you worse, and worse, and worse. And they're bringing you further, and further, and further. You know, it's like looking out on an ocean.
There's all that water, but you can't drink it. You know what happens if you drink ocean water? It's right there, vast seas of water. But in your thirst for something, if you were to drink that water, you would vomit, you would get delirious, and you would get further dehydrated.
In other words, taking of that water is actually going to make you worse than what you really long for. That's exactly what the world is doing to people today. Your world, your things, your friends, your relationships, whatever it might be, your pursuits, your well.
Can I point you tonight to the cross, and one who suffered, and bled, and died on that cross, the Son of God who is presenting himself tonight, for you, to you? Because if you don't receive him, I want to take you to the last one.
And here is a man now, and he's thirsty, not about a whole well, but for one drop, one drop of water, one drop of water. You know, the Bible says he was a rich man. You know what's so very inexpensive?
Water. You could buy a whole case of it for a couple of bucks. Here's a rich man, he could have bought truckloads on earth. And now he is so reduced in his sins, dying in his sins, perished in hell, crying out in flames, in torments, in hell, in his sins, for one drop of water.
And he's still there. That man is still there. And he will be there forever, as he will, in the future, go into the lake of fire. The iron of it, irony of it. You know what's tragic? That in his life, something that was so small has now become so great.
A drop of water. It was so small, it was insignificant to him, and now it's become so great. And you know what's on the other side of that coin of tragedy? That something in his life that was so great was so small.
Christ. Didn't mean much. No doubt he was familiar with the scriptures. He said, Father Abraham. No doubt he had a familiarity. I pray to God that there's no one that goes from this gospel meeting and the familiarity of divine truth and loses your soul in the flames, because God's drawing near in this meeting.
And it will be the greatest of tragedies. You know, there's a man, he was 29 years old. He was from New Jersey, from my original home state. And his name was Dave Buschow. He had wanted to go on this survival course type of a thing.
Paid over $3 ,000 to do it. He went with a guide, they went into Utah. And on day two, day two of a survival course that he had paid $3 ,175 to be guided on in the heat of the Utah desert, he gets dehydrated.
And you know what the tragedy is? 10 hours of 100 degree heat, and he dies just outside of a cave where there was a pool of water. But I'll tell you something just as bad. The guides that were supposed to help him, they had canteens on their sides, and they didn't give it to him.
Not that they didn't want to. They didn't know where he was, he was lost. Just 100 feet or so from a cave where there was a pool of water and guides that had canteens. Let me tell you something. You who are in this meeting tonight, in your sins, you are so close to both the water that you need in Christ, and you are so close to perishing in your sins.
And it is available for you. He is available. This book is available. It's near you. God is calling to the sinner, come, come now. Let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be as crimson, they shall be as wool. On what basis? The death of his son. The death of Christ. And his word assures you, guarantees you, that if you come as a lost and guilty sinner, acknowledging to God, I deserve to perish, but oh God save me, give me this water that I thirst not.
And he will. As this meeting continues, listen carefully and listen wisely.