May it please Almighty God to bless
us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let
us turn to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 44 and we'll read verses
3 and 4. Chapter 44 and reading verses
3 and 4. For I will pour water upon him
that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my
spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. And they
shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. The Word of God gives us very
many pictures to help us to understand what the Word of God describes
as the deep that couches beneath. Many things that you and I can
read in the Bible on the surface are of course true, but underneath
there is a very significant and important truth to be gleaned. Perhaps that's so very true in
the prophecy of Isaiah. And Isaiah was a gracious man
and as you know he lived through several reigns of kings and saw
many difficult times in the history of Israel. Nonetheless, by the
Spirit of God, he was able to write some wonderful truths. And so, as we commence this chapter,
the words tell us, yet now, here, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel
whom I have chosen. And it's good for us when we
do take heed to the truth of God's Word. We don't pass it
off as something which is irrelevant to us and relevant to other people. It's good when the Holy Spirit
enables us to hear God's Word as it's spoken to us through
His Word. And so we have this statement
here, yet now here. We might say whatever we've been
through before, yet now we should listen to what God says. Yet
now, here, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made
thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant
and thou Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. There are many fear nots
in the prophecy of Isaiah. And as you and I live in this
world, there are many things which confront us and we have
to face naturally and also spiritually. But to realise that if God is
for us, who can be against us. It doesn't mean to say we can
do what we want to do and please ourselves, but if we desire truly
to walk before the Lord in the fear of the Lord and to follow
his gracious word and his wonderful example, then we can believe
that word that all things are working together for good. to those who love God and to
those who are called according to his purpose. And so here we
have this encouraging word to fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and now Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. It's a great blessing
to be chosen of God. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples,
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that
ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should
remain. Well, it's a blessing, isn't
it, to have the wonderful evidence that God has chosen us. That means he's called us He's
called us by his grace. The Apostle Paul uses that phrase. He was called by God's grace.
That free and merited favour. That means that you and I in
ourselves never deserved the least notice from Almighty God. And yet what a wonderful, glorious
blessing it is. to have that spiritual knowledge
indicted in our heart by the Holy Spirit that He has indeed
chosen us, whom I have chosen. Well, what a blessing then to
fear not with this wonderful evidence. And so we have here
then this evening in these third and fourth verses really the
illustration of water. And of course, water in the Word
of God often refers to the work of the Holy Spirit. And that
should be very humbling as we think of the greatness of God
and our utter unworthiness of any notice And yet to think here
that what the Lord is saying is indeed true to us, as he says
here, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. And that really means that you
and I are thirsty for spiritual blessings. The tendency is, of
course, to look at such a word and think of the natural implications. Well, that was just the same
when the Lord was on the earth. And you may remember, we're told
he must knees go through Samaria. And he went through Samaria and
he sat on a well. And as he sat on the well, when
he was wearied we're told Jesus therefore being wearied with
his journey sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour
and what happened then quite amazing really realising the
situation which existed and a woman came along and Jesus was by himself
and we're told there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water And
Jesus spoke to her. And she was surprised, because
she thought that Jesus, as a Jew, would have no dealings with the
Samaritans. And yet, you see, this woman
came. And Jesus said unto her, give
me to drink. For his disciples were gone away
unto the city 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 deeds for
the Samaritans. But Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God. Well, that's a great
blessing, my friends. What a blessing if you and I
know the gift of God, the gift of God and who it is that saith
to thee, give me to drink. Thou wouldst have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water. Well of course
that's just a figure. We know that water in and of
itself is not alive and definitely not spiritually alive. And therefore
the woman said, Sir, there is nothing to draw with, and 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? And Jesus answered her with this
great truth, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But 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. And so here we have this statement,
for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. Well the Lord
speaks then whoso 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. Well the woman didn't understand
of course, the spiritual significance of such a statement. And it is
likely that unless the Holy Spirit shows us, we won't understand
what it really means, what it really means. But she came and
said, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw, She saw just the face value. She saw just
the natural water. She didn't realize what Jesus
was saying. My friends, how often when you
and I read the Bible, we only read what it says on the surface
and not the deep that couches beneath. So the woman says, sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Now, it's important to notice how the Lord responds to that.
He doesn't answer her in a direct way at all. He answers in a different
way. And a different way is to prove
to her who He was. And it's a wonderful blessing
for us when you and I are led by God's Spirit to understand
in a spiritual sense who Jesus is. Jesus said to her, Go, call thy
husband, and come hither. Again, it seems a very simple
request, doesn't it? In actual fact, it wasn't a simple
request for the woman. She said, I have no husband. And 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 says thou truly. See the question,
see the answer. See how the Lord works in an
amazing way sometimes. And perhaps you and I may have
to face questions from God and we may answer them perhaps very
simply and not realise the whole impact of such a question. The woman said unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe
me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem Worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not
what. How many people today worship
they know not what? And that comes home to all of
us, doesn't it? We come here to chapel, don't we? We sit and
we listen. Do we know who we're worshipping? Do we know what
we're worshipping? Well, the Lord said then, but
the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father seeketh such to worship
him. God is a spirit. And they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so really just in a few simple
sentences, the Lord directs this woman from the simple case of
wanting water to show her spiritual need of having this spiritual
water. What a blessing that is, if the
Holy Spirit convinces us of that great and important need. You see, naturally, you and I
must have water to drink to live. And my friends, spiritually,
you and I must have spiritual water. The Spirit's work in our
heart to live. And so the woman, the Lord said,
God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know that Messiah
is cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee, am he. You see what a wonderful revelation
that was to this woman. My friends, what a wonderful
blessing it will be if the Holy Spirit reveals the Lord Jesus
to you and me as our Saviour and to be blessed with this wonderful
situation where the Lord says, I will pour water, that means
His Spirit, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. And remember, the undercurrent
here is to be thirsty for a spiritual drink. And do you see that? Spiritual drink is none less
than the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord
was with his disciples, he spoke about the need for that spiritual
drink. And he told them this great and
glorious truth. He said, except you eat the flesh
and drink the blood of the Son of God, there is no life in you. Now, obviously, That doesn't
mean that you and I are going to physically drink the blood
of the Lord Jesus. But what it means is that you
and I spiritually desire to have made over to us that the Lord
Jesus Christ died upon the cross at Calvary and shed his precious
blood to take away our sins. Now when the Holy Spirit shows
us the need and the truth of that, it's then you see that
we're thirsty. Thirsty for this spiritual outpouring
by the blessed Lord. And so here we have this statement,
I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. Well, tonight you
may be saying, well, I don't really understand that. I don't
really comprehend what you're speaking. Well, the great truth
is that each one of us needs to understand that we need all
our sins forgiven. And our sins can only be forgiven
through the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and
to have the evidence in our heart that the Lord Jesus Christ did
die upon that cross at Calvary to save us, to save us from all
our sins and indeed to deliver us from the wrath to come. It really follows on, I'm sure
you will understand from what we preached upon this morning
in that third chapter where we considered the wind bloweth where
it listeth. And it's another example of the
work of the Holy Spirit. The wind and the water both are
used in scripture to direct us to the operation of the Holy
Spirit. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh. And whither it goeth, so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. That means the Spirit has entered
into us, into our heart, and caused us to realise our desperate
need of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore in
His spiritual way, to drink of the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If the Holy Spirit works in your
heart and my heart, we will be thirsty. We'll be spiritually
thirsty for such a blessing. And here we have this glorious
Word. Remember, the Prophet starts
by saying, Yet now hear, it says, whom I have chosen And if we
are blessed indeed with those who are chosen of God, then the
Lord promises, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. And that means that we will be
blessed with that right spiritual understanding that the Lord Jesus
Christ did shed his blood. He died in our place. He suffered. in our place. He endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right
hand of the Father in glory, there to intercede for us. Well, tonight, may we have some
evidence in our heart that the Lord Jesus Christ is that one
who, through the Spirit, has poured this heavenly water upon
us. What a blessing if that is so. He says then I will pour my spirit
upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. That's
a great and glorious promise to the Church of God. Great and
glorious promise to those who have children. The Lord will
hear prayer and grant the blessing upon them, for I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty.' Well, only God knows whether He has
put into your heart a spiritual thirst for the things of God. A spiritual thirst to know the
Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, a spiritual thirst to know that
Jesus has died for you upon the cross at Calvary, and a spiritual
thirst to know that all your sins are forever washed away in the
precious blood of the Saviour, so that by His grace you are,
and will be able to say, you are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Well, this blessing then, of
this heavenly water, the work of the blessed Spirit of God
being poured upon us. Yes, it's not something that
you and I have done ourselves. If we had, if we did, we'd claim
the glory. We'd say, well, I did that. That
was quite easy. Well, it wasn't easy because
it cost the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died in order
that this might be granted to us. For I will pour water upon
him that is thirsty. And then he says and floods upon
the dry ground. We can imagine, I'm sure, I saw
her living in the Middle East, dry country very often, a desert
very often. And of course, a desert is totally
dry. Sometimes it doesn't have any
rain for years, sometimes for many years, and it's totally
dry. And therefore, just a few drops
of rain wouldn't be of much benefit. And so we have this description,
and floods upon the dry ground. Well, I don't know, but you might
feel tonight to be like this description. Dry ground, just like the desert. because in a desert you see really
there's no life, nothing to see no trees really or plants growing
there's no moisture, there's no water it's a true desert place
well you know if you and I understand sometimes what that means when
God perhaps brings us into a desert place a dry land to show forth
His love, to show forth His mercy, to show forth His goodness toward
us. And then you see to benefit from
this great blessing. The Lord doesn't say, well, I'll
just send you a few drops. He says that He will send floods
upon the dry land. And if a desert is flooded, you
see the ground becomes fertile. And then you see when the when
seed is sown, it grows. And that's like us in our spiritual
life. If we're a desert, we're not
fertile. We're not a ground prepared to
receive the word of God. You might hear the Word of God
has no effect upon you, passes over your head. You're just dry
ground. Well, if the Holy Spirit is working
within us, we won't be content to be dry ground. We won't be
content to be a desert place. We'll want and desire and pray
to almighty God that he will come indeed and pour forth those
floods into our heart so that we are revived, spiritually revived. See how kind and gracious the
Lord is. For I will pour water upon him
that is thirsty. and floods upon the dry ground. We can imagine, can't we? First
of all, you see there's this pouring water upon someone who's
thirsty, but when it gets worse than that, when it's dry ground,
the Lord is so kind and gracious, he pours out the floods. The
water pours out. So there is then this returning
to a fertile condition and a wonderful blessing. And then he breaks
it down and says, I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my
blessing upon thine offspring. And that's a wonderful promise,
isn't it? And it is a glorious truth to
know that we have a God who does not lie. We have a God who tells
us the truth. And so here we have this wonderful
statement to those who are thirsty, those who know their dry ground. The Lord will grant the blessing
and he will indeed pour out of his spirit upon his seed and
his blessing upon their offspring. The mercy of God is wonderful. And yet, you see, in this chapter,
as we read it together, there's great truths in it. And we have
the consolation. These are the very words of the
Lord himself, because he says in the sixth verse, thus saith
the Lord, the King of Israel, the Lord God, the great God,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, and I
am the last, and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall
call and shall declare it and set it in order for me, since
I point to the ancient people and the things that are coming
and shall come, let them show unto them. And then he goes on,
fear ye not. We might perhaps be fearful that
the Lord's cast us off. We may be fearful that he's not
remembering us. It seems that we're a cast away. Well, there are many encouraging
words to confirm that we're not, and that's why we have another
fear not. Fear ye not, neither be afraid. You may be afraid the Lord's
passed you by. You may look into your heart
and see so many sins there, that you think the Lord will never
have mercy upon you. Fear not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. And sometimes we can pass over
a statement like that fairly quickly. But you see, the Lord
brings his people into such conditions so that they are a true witness
so they can vouch for the faithfulness of God they can confirm the goodness
and mercy and love of the Saviour and you see having then experienced
this wonderful blessing and this wonderful favour it is then you
see that we are the Lord's true witnesses because it's not a
theory it's not something that you just read about it's that
which you can testify because of the work of God in your soul
and so this word is true ye are even my witnesses and what a
wonderful privilege it is to be a witness to God of being
able to testify of his love and his mercy and grace toward us,
an unworthy sinner. And so we have this statement. Is there a God beside me? Yea,
there is no God, I know not any. There is only one true God, God,
the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. And what a great blessing if
the Holy Spirit, therefore, has poured this water upon us, given
us a spiritual understanding of the truth of these things.
There we were dry and hard and almost unconcerned. And yet the
Lord came. and visited our soul by pouring
this water, this spiritual life into our hearts so that we could
indeed go on our way rejoicing. They come and say then, don't
we, the Lord is good. and we're able to confirm perhaps
like the psalmist said in the 63rd Psalm and he tells us this,
he says, oh God, the first verse, oh 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. Well, you see, David knew this
truth. We might think, well, how surprising
that David understood this. Yes, David did understand it.
And bless God, David was able to write this testimony to encourage
us today and to be able to come then and seek and say, oh God,
thou art my God. Now it would be a blessing if
by faith you and I can say that tonight. Oh God, the great God,
the ruler of the universe, thou art my God. Early when I seek
thee. And it means putting first things
first. Seeking the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him, one is near. Gracious invitation these are
to unworthy sinners. and then to be able to exclaim
to God my soul thirsteth for Thee the great blessing is you
and I can be very honest to our God you might be embarrassed
to tell other people but you see God knows everything about
us He knows the innermost details of our heart no one else does
but God knows And that's why it should be a wonderful relief
in prayer to almighty God. But think first of all, although
he's so great, he looks down and doesn't discard us, but hears
our prayer. And to come to him then and be
able to say, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, only you can
answer that tonight, whether that's true, whether that has
been true, whether you have a desire that it will be true, that you
long for God, you're thirsty for God, you seek that he will
remember you, for his mercy endureth forever. You know the psalmist
having explained that, he says this, To see thy power and thy
glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Well of course
he worshipped in the temple. We today are privileged to worship
together. And here we have to see the power
and thy glory. As you listen, to the Word of
God read and to the preaching of the Gospel to realise that
the Lord applies His Word to your heart and then you can echo
the sense of this great truth to see thy power and thy glory
so have I seen thee in the sanctuary because thy lovingkindness is
better than life our natural life The loving-kindness of God
is better than that because the loving-kindness of God, you see,
directs us to our spiritual condition. Then we see, surely in some measure,
the Lord pouring out of his Spirit upon us and showing us where
we are and declaring his power and glory. And then he says,
because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall
praise thee. And let's be very clear about
this. God blesses and he blesses so that his name may be honoured
and glorified. He blesses so that we shall praise
him. My lips shall praise thee. What a good situation that is
and what a wonderful evidence then of the reality of the work
of God in our souls. If this is so, because loving
kindness is better than life. my lips shall praise thee. Thus
will I bless thee, and while I live, I will lift up my hands
in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with
joyful lips. Joyful lips. Well, just very
quickly, just on this fourth verse. And they shall spring
up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. That means
that the life is evidenced. It's springing up. First of all
we have this statement here. It'll spring up among the grass
and then as willows by the watercourses. willows especially weeping willows
really flourish when they're close to water they absorb an
enormous amount of water and they're a beautiful green as
they droop down and it's the evidence of life and it's the
evidence that they are receiving water and that's the same in
our spiritual life if the Lord is pouring forth this water upon
us It's indeed just as though we were by a watercourse. Yes, we're drinking. We're drinking of the fullness
which is in Christ. And my friends, when that is
so, there's the evidence of it. Yes, what a fullness there is
in the Lord Jesus Christ in all his attributes, his love, his
mercy. Yes, the faith he gives, my friends,
how great is our God. And so what a blessing it is
for us as we think of this little world as willows by the watercourses,
as you drive along or walk along especially this time of year
and you see these weeping willows the other willows are very similar
but the weeping willows in a special way is so glorious to see and
to think it's because it's by the water course it's because
it's flourishing and the desire that you and I may in our spiritual
life flourish because we're partaking of the Spirit of God The Spirit
of God is feeding our soul so that we are growing in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And it will be not unto me, O
God, not unto me, but for thy great namesake, for thy honour
and glory. My friends, you and I will want
and desire to truly praise this God who has done such great things
for us well may we experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
upon us and remember the beautiful analogy for I will I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty if you're not thirsty there won't
be any water there won't be any work of the Spirit my friends
if God has given you a thirst for spiritual things God will
come For I will pour water upon them that is thirsty, and floods
upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall spring
up as among the grass, as willows by the