I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Isaiah chapter 41 and we'll read verses 17, 18, and 19. The
prophecy of Isaiah chapter 41 and reading verses 17, 18, and
19. When the poor and the needy seek water, and there is none, and their
tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I,
the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high
places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, the shitar tree, and the myrtle and the oil tree,
I will set in the desert the fir tree and the pine and the
box tree together. These verses speak to us of the
goodness of God as he hears our prayers and how he reveals answers
to those prayers in ways which are so above what we would think
or consider would come to pass. And it is for those reasons that
we then recognise that what God has done, it emanates from himself
and cannot emanate from anything which is just occurring by chance. And it's very encouraging for
the Church of God today to know that the Lord still appears in
such a way and does that which is impossible for us. Things
which are impossible with man are possible with God. And that's
really what these verses describe to us. Because here is the description
of a person, a believer, someone who is truly seeking after God. And we're told when the poor
and the needy seek water and there is none. Well that's a
very hard thing to do, isn't it? And their tongue thirsts,
faileth for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them.
either God or Israel will not forsake them. So we have here
a natural picture. This of course is a spiritual
position but the natural picture is that there is that seeking
of water when someone is very needy and very thirsty and they
can't find any. They look in all the normal places
and there is none. And yet here we have these words
which the Lord says I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of
Israel, will not forsake them. Then he explains what will occur. I will open rivers in high places. Well, rivers don't normally run,
do they? On high places. But you see,
the Lord does that which is impossible. He will open rivers in high places. And fountains in the midst of
the valleys. I will make the wilderness A
pool of water and the dry land springs of water. You see, again,
we have the evidence of God's work proving to us that he does
those things which we cannot do for ourselves. How very, very
clear that is, isn't it? How very important it is in our
lives to realize that those things which God has done for us, we
could not have done for ourselves. And it may be, perhaps, a word
of encouragement. The Lord may speak into our heart
at just the right time. We may not have been thinking
about anything particularly religious at all. And yet, you see, God
has appeared. And God has spoken as it were. He's opening rivers in high places. He's doing that which we wouldn't
have thought of. And the timing that God does
of course, is just right. God appears, well, and he appears,
of course, and he answers those who have come into that place
of need. And what a great blessing it
is when you and I come into a place of need. Remember that occasion
of the publican when he began to be in want. That was the time
of a change in his life. And my friends, that's just so
in our lives. When we begin to be in want,
when we begin to be thirsty for the things of God, when we desire
the Lord indeed will look upon us and bless us, and we are thirsty,
and we pray, and what do we receive? Nothing. There's nothing. Well,
if you're tempted to give up, if you think, well, I've prayed
for a long time and I've just received nothing, well, here's
a word then to take home. Here's a word to think upon. Here's a word to ponder. It doesn't mean that your prayer,
your cry hasn't been heard. It doesn't mean your prayer,
your cry won't be answered. It means that God has heard and
God will answer in his way to prove to you that it is his work. And when that occurs, what a
blessing it is, how encouraging it is. And we're able then to
say, I know, God has spoken to my heart and I know it's his
voice. It's not something which I've
dreamt up, it's that which God has done. statement here, when the poor
and the needy seek water. Well, spiritually my friends,
tonight are we amongst those who seek for water, seek for
God's grace, seek for God's mercy. Indeed, have been seeking perhaps,
are seeking, You know we have illustrations of that, don't
we? In the Word of God we have the Psalms which speak to us
about that. You may remember that Psalm 42
gives us a very vivid illustration of thirst. We are told, as the
heart panteth after the water brooks. Well, we know, we can
visualize, can we not? A heart or a deer. having gone
a long journey, perhaps being chased by other animals and out
of breath and thirsty and panting. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Well, are we thirsting for God? Are we thirsting for
the Lord to come to us? Are we thirsting for God to speak
to us? It'll be a real thirst, won't it? And it'll be a thirst,
you know, which, blessed be God, he's put there. Because naturally,
we're not thirsty after spiritual things. Naturally, we're not
very worried about spiritual things. We're just content to
jog along week by week and hoping at the end everything will be
alright. But under the influence and the
blessed influence of the Spirit of God we understand a little
of this expression, panting after the water brooks. So panteth
my soul after thee, O God. This is a very direct statement.
It's seeking after God. It's seeking that he will reveal
himself unto us as a merciful God, as a gracious God, as a
God who has loved us, as a God who's dealing with us, as a God
who's taken us in hand. My friends, oh, we need the evidence
of it. And if the Lord is dealing with
your soul, you'll know what it is to be earnestly seeking after
him. It's a good expression, isn't
it? Panting. My soul pants after thee, O God. I suppose the day and age in
which we live, there's not much panting after God. But my friends,
what a blessing if in our lives we've had that occasion or we're
in it now, I hope we are, panting after God. And you see, the psalmist
tells us, he says, my tears have been my meat day and night, while
they continually say unto me, where is thy God? It was an urgent
case, wasn't it? Crying to God, in secret perhaps,
pouring out your heart to God, panting after Him, crying unto
Him that He would have mercy upon you. Well, when the poor
and the needy seek water. Well, here's a true seeking,
isn't it? And what a blessing it is to
be seeking in such a way as that. And the 63rd Psalm again gives
us a very similar view when David tells us, O God, Thou art my
God. Early when I seek Thee, my soul
thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and
thirsty land where no water is. Here's the expression, again,
of a man of God. A man of God who walked on this
earth and a man of God who had experienced knowing that God
was his God. He tells us, O God thou art my
God. But still you see, he was thirsting
for God. Now, my friends, it's a blessing
if in our spiritual life we don't kind of think, well, I've reached
a certain stage and now I can relax and not to worry about
my standing before God. There are people today who are
just content. They're content with their position and there's
no longing for God. There's no thirsting for God.
But the true soul with God-given life is not satisfied with those
things which are past. as the Apostle says, forgetting
those things which are behind and pressing forward, as a pressing
forward for fresh evidences of God's grace and God's mercy. There's that desire that our
souls may be lively in the things of God. We may not be left in
a dry condition, we may not be left in a lukewarm condition,
We may not be left in a time of hardness and barrenness, but
to know what it is. As David says here, early when
I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee. In a dry and thirsty land where
no water is, well, what a blessing tonight if we're longing for
the Lord. In our Christian life, in our
Christian path, longing for that fellowship, longing for that
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, longing to know more of the Saviour. You don't forget what the Apostle
spoke of in those beautiful words when he wrote to the Philippians,
and what great words they are, and how we often need to remind
ourselves of the desire of the godly Apostle, because he was
a godly man. And yet, you see, he comes and
desires the great truth of God to rest upon him. And he tells
us, but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yes, Christ was his great need. And he tells us, yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ. Is the apostle not panting after
God? Was he poor and needy? Well,
he was, and he was seeking, and he was thirsty. Was he not thirsty
for Christ? You know he knew Christ. but
he was thirsty for a greater knowledge of Christ. And my friends,
this should be the great desire of the Church of God today, to
be panting after Christ, longing after Christ. And so he tells
us that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. He realized the necessity to
possess living faith, to believe the word of God, to believe the
truth of God, to believe the promises of God. And so he says
that I may know him. You and I tonight, thirsty for
Christ. that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection. See that's the power of life,
life from the dead, the evidence of reality in our souls. And that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
be made conformable unto his death. Sometimes we might think,
well, it's all right for the Apostle to pray like that, but
really I wouldn't dare pray like that because I might come into
some terrible scene. My friends, you don't know. The
Lord deals with us graciously. The Lord deals with us sovereignly.
And it's right to pant after God. It's right to be thirsty
after the Saviour. And it's right to desire these
spiritual blessings because these are the things which will do
us real good in this poor old world in which we live. The poor
things of time fade away. The things of Christ get brighter
and brighter to that eternal day. So here we have the desire
of the Apostle, fellowship with his sufferings, being made conformable
unto his death, and then he makes this grand statement, if by any
means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, whatever
the cost to him, whatever the cost, his great concern was to
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Surely we have here
a beautiful picture of real, true, healthy, lively Christianity. The things of the world were
on one side, the things of Christ were on the other. He was indeed
thirsty for this living water. The Lord Jesus tells us, doesn't
he, when he addressed that woman at the well in Samaria, He spoke
to her about the living water, and he told her that he was that
living water. And she desired to drink. And oh, my friends, may we tonight
desire to drink of this fountain, of this living water. Well, we
have the apostles' desire, and how good it is to follow the
desires of those who have gone before, those whose life is recorded
especially in the Word of God for our encouragement. Now then, first of all, let us
just remember this is addressed to those who are not full of
their own pride, not full of their own adequacy, not full
of what they are, but the very opposite. poor and the needy. So how do you evaluate yourselves
tonight? Do you evaluate yourself as a
poor and needy sinner, thirsting after Christ? Well, bless God,
if the Spirit of God has produced that condition in you, to be
able to confess that you are poor and needy, And it's the poor and the needy
that seek this water, this spiritual water. It's not those who are
full of themselves, full of the cares of this world, taken up
with all the things of time. They're not thirsty. They're
satisfied with the things that the world provides. But those
who are spiritually poor, and they come seeking this spiritual
water, and they seek it And they're disappointed when there appears
to be none. Sometimes we expect things to
just fall into place, don't we? We think, well, I prayed for
that and I can sit back and expect it to happen. Well, in one sense,
of course, we can do that. But remember, the Lord will continue
to be inquired of. You see, when the Lord comes
and blesses us, these things will be precious to us. And that
means they're rare. It doesn't mean to say they're
just picked up from everywhere. They are precious to our souls.
And that's why we have this statement here, and there is none. And
their tongue faileth for thirst. That means we're tempted to give
up. Tempted and no more call on Jesus'
name. But if the Spirit of God has
produced that thirst, however negative it seems, you won't
be able to give up. You will have to press on. You
will have to pry on. And you won't be thinking how
wonderful your prayers are, but you know there will be a cry
from your heart unto your God. And it may be A simple prayer,
Lord, oh, remember me. Oh, Lord, have mercy upon me. Oh, Lord, speak to me. You won't have a list of conditions.
You'll come humbly before your God, and you'll be earnestly
seeking for his favour to you to be made known. And so their
tongue faileth for thirst. Well, sometimes our tongues may
perhaps fail for thirst. You know we have the wonderful
words in the 55th chapter of Isaiah, Ho everyone that thirsteth. Ho everyone that thirsteth. What
are we to do? Are we to sit still? No, the
word says, Come ye to the waters. Come to the waters. Neither hath
no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which
satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me. How you fail at me to do this,
to hearken to the word of God. to hearken diligently unto those
things which he records in the Word. Sometimes we just have
a very small section of God's Word and we keep on referring
to that. My friends, you need to refer
to the whole Word of God. To realise how the Lord speaks
to our hearts. Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. And here we have these words. Incline your ear
And come unto me here, and your soul shall live. And I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. So this is an encouraging statement,
isn't it? To incline our ear and come unto
the Lord. Here we are thirsty, here we
are with our tongue failing for thirst, to come then in this
way. And what does the Lord promise?
This is a gracious word, isn't it? I, the Lord, will hear them. You know, you can plead promises
like that, can't you? When you appear to find no water,
you appear to find no blessing, appear to find no favor, there
you are, crying to God, you're poor and needy, and you can plead
this promise, I, the Lord, will hear them. Oh Lord, do hear my
prayer, do hear my cry. I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them. This is the word of Almighty
God. You see, to such who are poor and needy, who as such are
seeking this water, be assured the Lord will not forsake you,
will not forsake you. You may be tempted to give up,
you may think there's no hope, My friends, the Lord waits to
be gracious. And the Lord waits to do that
for you which you can't do for yourself. And it's illustrated
here in such a statement as this, I will open rivers in high places. Yes, and you see, it's spoken
like this, isn't it? I will open rivers. Not just
a little trickle. So when the Lord condescends
to bless, you know, You know He does great things. Yes, our
heart is turned. Yes, we praise God. And what a change there is in
our attitude. What a change there is in our
hearts and our minds. Yes, we rejoice in the mercy
of God. And we praise Him for that which
He has come and done for our souls. Well, poor and the needy,
if you come tonight like this, poor and the needy, and can't
find any blessing, you're thirsty, your tongue faded for thirst,
to realise and to lay claim to these promises of God. You know, we are to bring these
words before our God. We can say, Lord, Thou hast said,
Lord, Thou hast promised. And Lord, I'm relying upon thy
word. And I hope we all are relying
upon God's word. And then to be blessed with these
encouraging words, I will open rivers in higher places, you
see. and fountains in the midst of
the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and
the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness,
etc. I will sit in the desert. There
are so many I wills in the Word of God. And my friends, you know
the Lord tests us, doesn't he? He tests us. And it's good to
have our religion tested. To have our true desires tested. to have our prayers tested so
they don't become just a mere form of words. But here we have
a cry from the heart. What a difference there is, a
cry from the heart and just words from our head. Here was the expression
of a needy sinner crying from his heart, pleading for God's
favour, pleading for God's blessing. And the Lord says, I will open,
I will. And my friends, when God says
he will, rest assured he will. The Lord will come. The Lord will bless. But you see, he'll make us more
and more longing for his blessing and for his favour. So that when
he does come, oh, how we shall praise his name. How we shall
thank him. How our hearts will be melted
at his kindness and goodness to us. Realising that he hasn't
dealt with us as our sins deserved. He hasn't cut us off. He hasn't
shut the door. No, but he looked upon us in
love to our souls. Oh yes, this seeking after water,
what a blessing it is. And what a favour it is to be
amongst those who truly seek, who truly pray for the blessing
of the Lord to rest upon us again in Isaiah. We read and the Lord shall in
58th chapter 11th verse and the Lord shall guide thee continually
Now listen to this and satisfy thy soul in drought So you may
be thirsty But even in that condition to realize the Lord is guiding
The Lord is guiding in this way. He's showing us more of ourselves,
more of our unworthiness. There may have been a time when
we felt we deserved a blessing, but the Lord tells us He weakens
our strength in the way. If we're in the way of life,
our natural strength in spiritual things will be weakened, so we
will then be dependent upon the mercy of our God. And the Lord
shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought,
and make fat thy bones. And thou shalt then be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. The Lord's promises. The Lord
has said, and the Lord will do these things. and to think that
the Lord will bring us into these times of spiritual blessing,
so it'll be like a watered garden. Yes, it won't be then a barren
condition, because the Lord has said, I will do these things
for them. And of course, as the Lord does
these things for us, what does he do? Well, you know, he prepares
us to receive the blessing. And perhaps we don't appreciate
that we're being prepared to receive the blessing. It seems
everything is contrary, everything seems against us. It doesn't
seem that God is hearing our prayers. It doesn't seem that
God is for us at all. But remember, we're told he led
them forth by the right way. And God leads us by the right
way to bring us to that position where we come looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We may be looking elsewhere.
We may be looking to people. We may be looking to preachers.
But you see my friends, God is a jealous God. And God will have
us looking to him. And you see, when we look to
him, then it may be the Lord opens these rivers in high places. He reveals to us himself as our
all glorious Savior. You know, the apostle desired
Christ and he was thirsty for him. The true church of God desire
Christ, they're thirsty for him. What a blessing it is my friends,
if you and I tonight are thirsty for Christ. Thirsty for Christ,
not thirsty for the things of time, the things of time and
sense which just perish with the using but to be concerned
that Christ himself would indeed come and quench our thirst. The Lord Jesus Christ, you know,
when he was on the earth, he spoke these great words. When he was speaking to the people,
he said in the seventh chapter of John, in the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." If we are truly
thirsty, we'll be thirsty for Christ. Thirst for anything else,
you see, is really substantially irrelevant. We need to be thirsty
for Christ because, my friends, that's a fullness a fullness
in Jesus, a fullness in Christ, which is all that we will need.
And so here the Saviour stood and said, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. rivers. You see the same, we
have this statement here, rivers in high places. And of course
we think of that the Lord Jesus Christ is of course the most
high place. He is the most high God. And to think that he sends rivers
to quench our thirst as we view him, as we view the suffering
saviour, Oh, my friends, that will indeed be that which satisfies
our thirst as we see the Lord Jesus Christ by faith suffering
upon Calvary's cross to redeem our souls. Oh, the Lord says,
if any man thirst. Well, tonight, if we've been
thirsty, if we've been like this and poor and needy and we sought
water and there's been none, We haven't found any. My friends,
here's the remedy. The blessed Saviour tells us,
if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Oh, what a blessing there is.
And may we come humbly to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
seeking that we may drink of that fountain, open for sin and
all uncleanness. the fountain indeed of the Saviour's
precious blood, to lead us into all truth as it is in Jesus. What a blessing then to be found
like this, poor and needy, seeking water And yet you see, recognizing
the truth of God's words, where he says, the Lord will hear,
and the Lord will not forsake, and he will open, and he will
bless, and he will favor that soul that comes truly seeking
him. Very similar words we read in
the last book in the Word of God in the Revelation. Revelation
chapter 21 and the sixth verse. We're told, the Lord says, and
he said unto me, it is done. It is done. What a blessing, my friends,
in our souls when it's done. When the Lord applies the word
and it is done. And our soul rejoices in what
God has done. It is done. I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give. And to him that
is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." My
friends, the Saviour is indeed the water of life. Well, here's
a glorious promise, isn't it? You see, if we're a thirst, it
doesn't come, it's not given to those who are not thirsty,
And my friends, the Lord produces that thirst in our soul. It's
not something that you and I have been able to work up ourselves. Oh, bless God, it's His work
to produce that God-given thirst after Him and to realise the
wonderful favour of this thirst. And what does He say? He will
give the fountain of water of life freely. We have nothing
to pay, do we? We're bankrupt. We indeed are
poor. Nothing to pay. We don't have
to pay. The Lord gives. What a blessing,
isn't it? What a saviour we have, who gives
to such unworthy sinners this great blessing of the water of
life, the eternal water of life. He gives us himself. So may we
take courage from these words this evening. When the poor and
the needy seek water, and there is none, don't be disappointed.
When their tongue fadeth for thirst, you may be like the heart
panting after the water brooks. I, the Lord, will hear them.
That's the promise of God. I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them. He won't leave you, my friends,
to perish. And what will he do? He'll open
waters in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
He will make the wilderness a pool of water. You see, the last place
you would expect, and the dry land springs of water. Remember,
God does that which is impossible for man. I will plant in the
wilderness the seed of the Shittar tree, and the myrtle, and the
oil tree. set in the desert, the fir tree
and the pine and the box tree together." Well maybe we'd be
encouraged tonight by these great truths which Isaiah, by the Spirit
of God, is able to write for our encouragement, to lay hold
of them and to come to our God and plead his promises and seek
for those blessings which only he can give as we partake of
this fountain of living water, the blessing of the Saviour to
our eternal souls. Amen.