We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing 272,
the solid rock, 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. And he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before his throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Good morning, everybody. I'm
going to read Psalm 19. Psalm chapter 19. The heavens declare the glory of
God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth
speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language. where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words
to the end of the world, and them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun, which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is
from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of
it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, than
the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can
understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from
the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my redeemer. Let's pray. Father, we're again thankful
for our time together, for you bringing us all to a location
that you have provided for us, a local church that you have
built up, And father, you will raise it up, bring it down and
raise it up as you will. And father, we just ask that
you watch over those that are here today. Father, we ask that
you watch over us as we have our time together afterwards
with a meal, let us visit and fellowship. And father, we, again,
as we are all the time, thankful for the pastor that you've sent
us. And father, we ask that you give him the message that you
would have us to hear. And Father, again, we just ask
that you watch over all of us, Lord, and care for us when we're
not here, and bring us back safely each time the doors are open
to hear the gospel. And Father, again, we just ask
that you watch over and care for us in Christ's name. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 129 at the cross, 129. Alas, and did my Savior bleed
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the way. Was it for crimes
that I have done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace
unknown And love beyond degree At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun
in darkness hide and shut his glories in. When Christ the mighty
maker died, for man the creature sinned. At the cross, at the
cross, where I first saw the light, and the burning of my
heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. But drops of grief
can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself
away, tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Thank you. Good morning. Turn to John chapter 7. I want
to cover verses 28 through 53. And I want to begin at the last
verse, verse 53. We're told there that every man
went unto his own house. Every man went unto his own house.
And this phrase is used in the scripture a number of times. And when it's used, it's describing
a people divided. It's describing a people that
are scattered, that have no shepherd, no hope, no common hope and no
common ground among them, but they're looking out for themselves
and not for the things of the Lord. And we're told in Haggai
chapter 1, verse 9, the Lord speaks by his prophet. He says,
because of mine house that is waste and ye run every man unto
his own house. They're scattered. They're not
joined together and looking after the things of the Lord. And we
see in 2 Chronicles 10, verse 16, we see there are people divided. This is when Solomon's son Rehoboam
was king and the people were oppressed by his heavy hand and
they tried to speak with the king. And he wouldn't listen. And it says in 2 Chronicles 10,
16, when all Israel saw that the king would not hearken unto
them, the people answered the king, saying, what portion have
we in David? What portion have we in David?
And we have none inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man
to your tents, O Israel. And now, David, see to thine
own house. So all Israel went to their tents. And so here in verse 53 we read
that every man went unto his own house. I don't think it's
simply saying that each person went to their own individual
house, but rather they separated. They were divided into camps
of their opinion about Christ, because that's why they were
divided. They were divided over Christ. They were divided over
Him, and so they separated into camps of like-minded people with
whom they found agreement with. Our Lord here, in the midst of
all this division, our Lord does something very gracious, very
precious to the people of God. While there's all this commotion,
all this differences of opinions of himself, of who he was, our
Lord stands and declares the gospel to his people. If you've ever listened to classical
music, and you hear the different instruments all playing, and
then the composer sends this one beautiful note that just
comes arcing over the whole sound so that all the other instruments
just fall away into the background, and you hear this beautiful note
being played by this one instrument, and that's what the Lord does.
With all this commotion going on, He stands up, and declares
the gospel sweetly to his people, and they hear his invitation,
his invitation. I don't use that word very often
in my preaching, but it's an invitation to a prepared people,
a people prepared by the Spirit of God to hear this word, who
needed to hear this word. And so it's a beautiful picture
that we'll see here where the Lord preaches the gospel to them.
And so our Lord gathers his people who are weary, who are tired,
who are broken, who are thirsty, and he draws his people to himself
and speaks peaceably to them in words of grace that are a
comfort and a help to our weary soul, that are a refreshing by
the grace of our God. He says in verse 37, John 7,
37 and 38, at the end of verse 37, he says, 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." You see, when we look at this chapter, it's easy to
look at it and not really draw much from it, because there's
a lot of commotion going on, there's a lot of division in
the hearts of the people, but our Lord His voice comes beautifully
above all the other voices, all the noise, especially the noise
of religion, and it draws us to Himself. We see that He is
precious and glorious and that He Himself is our salvation. And so one of the things the
Lord teaches us here in this chapter is that it's not religious
knowledge that saves us. It's not doing religious things
that save us. It's not being part of a religious
camp or that religious camp over there that saves us. We're saved
in the person, in a person, by the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. He is our
hope and him whom we need. And so that's what our Lord has
shown us here. You're going to see all kinds
of strife You're going to see division in this life. You're
going to see commotions and differences of opinions. You're going to
see factions and fighting and arguing over religious knowledge. But the Lord says to you, his
sheep, you keep looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. You keep begging
him to feed his people with the gospel, to keep our hearts set
upon our Lord, to keep that need that we have of him ever there
in our minds, that we never lose sight of who calls us and our
need of him, that he rise above all the other sounds and draw
us to himself, and that we rejoice in that. Our Lord said, truly,
truly, in John 6, 47, he said, I say unto you, he that believeth
on me, have everlasting life. Those who trust Christ for salvation,
you have everlasting life. Now, doctrine's good. We do declare
the doctrine. We do speak that which our God
has revealed to us in his word. It defines the Jesus that we
believe on. It makes clear who it is that
we believe, why we believe upon Him, but don't stop at the definition. Don't stop at the definition
assuming that is salvation. You go to Christ because He is
salvation. We run to Him, we look to Him
because in Him is life. I've titled this message To the
Thirsty, To the Thirsty, and we begin here Looking at these
divisions, and you'll notice that there's a division between
religious knowledge and spiritual knowledge. There's a division
between religious knowledge and spiritual knowledge. You think
for a moment of the many churches and denominations that you're
aware of, just the various churches you passed coming here. and the
denominations and all you've been through and the people you've
spoken to throughout your lives and all the different opinions
and thoughts about salvation and who God is. Think about those
things for a moment and you realize there's quite a variety out there. There's many different ideas
of what salvation is and what God is looking for from his people. I remember when I was in college
and I began to seek the Lord, I began to be troubled about
my sin and I spoke to a lot of people about the hope that I
had in the Lord and I learned very, very quickly that there's
a lot of different voices out there. There's a lot of different
thoughts and opinions about who Jesus is, about who the Lord
is. Is He the Lord? Is He the Savior? What has He actually done? Is
He just an example? Is He a good man? Is He a prophet?
Is He the Son of God? who was sent by God to save his
people from their sins. And so, there were so many differences,
and I used to think, oh, it must have been so amazing to be in
the early church, where they had the voices of the apostles,
and it was just a clear sounding note of the truth of God revealed
in Christ. And then you read his word, and
you read his word a lot, and you begin to see there's actually
a lot of division in the early church. Even Paul, over in 1
Corinthians 1, verse 11 through 13, he says, it's been declared
unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house
of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that
every one of you say, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and
I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided, he asks. Is
Christ divided? So there was divisions right
there in the body of believers. And we know that Paul had other
trouble from that group called the concision. those who were
Jews who professed to believe on Christ but still felt it necessary
to circumcise the believers, still felt that circumcision
was necessary. And they had one eye on the law
and were trusting in the law and the righteousness of the
law and didn't see their confusion. And then we see in our text today
that it goes back even further than that. It goes right back
to the day of our Lord. a day of our Lord. It says in
John 7 verse 43, it says, so there was a division among the
people because of him, because of Christ. And we see there that
men are always going to be divided over Christ and Christ divides
the people. And there's a division over him.
And that word division means schism or a rent. a tear, like
pouring new wine into an old wineskin, and it stretches it
out past its ability to stretch, and it just bursts it. It just
rends it and tears it apart. And that's what was happening
here among the people because of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
they heard him speak, there were many different opinions of him. There was a division over what
they heard and who they thought he was. It says in John 7, verses
40 through 42, many of the people, therefore, when they heard this
saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet. This is the one
Moses told us about that we should hear. Others said, this is the
Christ. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of
Bethlehem where David was? And so we see there. There's
divisions among the people. And then, as we read a little
further down in this same chapter, that there were divisions between
the rulers, the Pharisees, who had sent out officers to go and
take Christ by force and to bring him there so they could question
him. Look at the end of verse 46. When they returned, they
asked, well, where is Christ? Or where is this Jesus? Where
is he that we sent you to take? How come you haven't brought
him? And they said, never man spake like this man. Then answered
them the Pharisees, are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers
or of the Pharisees believed on him? And so there was a division
between them and their officers. And the Pharisees were looking
at themselves as the measuring stick by which a man could be
measured to know whether he knows God or is accepted with God.
Because they looked at their knowledge. And if you were in
agreement with their knowledge of things, then they would say,
all right, well, you're a just person. You seem to be right
with God because you agree with us. And we're the measuring stick. The Lord shows us here in this
chapter that religious knowledge is not salvation. It's not salvation. And knowledge puffs up. Knowledge puffs a person up because
we think we know something then. And we think that we have something
to say that others need to hear about what we know, about what
we think is necessary. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10,
verse 12, He said, well, he faced all kinds
of accusations. He suffered from division. He spoke of a time when no man
even stood with him. He was the only one. And everyone
was against him. But he knew the truth. He knew
the gospel. And he stood upon what the Lord
had revealed to him, even though that meant he was alone in Asia. But in 2 Corinthians 10, verse
12, he says, He says, we dare not make ourselves
of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves,
but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves
among themselves are not wise. Anytime we trust that our religious
knowledge is salvation and that our religious knowledge of things
is a guide for us and that we can't ever go wrong, we can't
be steered wrong because we have this knowledge, Paul says, that's
not wise. That's not wisdom. God has made
Christ unto us wisdom. We that know Christ and look
to him alone, that's wisdom. That's trust, because he'll lead
us into all truth. And he teaches us and keeps us
and guides us, because you could have knowledge and have no knowledge
of Christ. You could have a lot of good
knowledge of religious things and have no knowledge of Christ. And you can have knowledge of
things and still perish in your sins, be turned out of the way,
and trust things that cannot save. And so without faith in
Christ, our religious knowledge cannot save. Without faith in
Christ, our religious knowledge cannot save. It can dam your
soul to hell. It could sink you further in
hell. But apart from the Spirit of
God revealing Christ in us and trusting Him, That religious
knowledge cannot help us. It doesn't bring us closer to
the truth of God and Christ. is the gift of God, we know that.
Faith is how we see. Faith is how we walk. And so
without faith, Christ becomes nothing more than a stumbling
block to us, because you only see him by faith. And so as we're
walking and going our way in religious things, without faith,
we stumble over Christ. And he just becomes a nuisance
and someone that religious men get annoyed with and try to push
out of the way because they stumble over him and fall. And so we
see here these Pharisees, these religious men, they knew what
to expect concerning Christ, concerning his birth. They knew
that he was to be born in Bethlehem. They knew that he was to come
from the seed of David. And they had an idea of things,
especially if they had heard of the wise men who had come.
back some 30-ish years before. They knew what to expect and
that something was coming soon. They saw John the Baptist and
heard his testimony, and yet having all this knowledge of
religious things, it did them no good. Their eyes were yet
darkened. They had no light to see, even
though Christ stood right there in their midst. Christ stood
right there in their midst. It reminds me again of my college
days where I used to foolishly think, oh, had I been there,
I would have believed Christ. No, I wouldn't. No, I would not
without the spirit and grace of God. This flesh, they saw. They knew way more than I knew
about the Old Testament, and they didn't recognize him. They
didn't see him. Religious knowledge And the knowledge
of these things, that doesn't save us. We need the grace of
God. Our Lord stood up because there
was great contention over Christ. There was great contention over
His coming, because they couldn't see that He was born in Bethlehem. They didn't know those things.
And it says in verse 28, And 29, then cried Jesus in the temple
as he taught, saying, ye both know me, and ye know whence I
am. And I am not come of myself,
but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know
him, for I am from him, and he hath sent me. Christ is saying, you know I'm
the Christ. You've seen what I've done. You've
seen the works. You've seen the miracles, the
mighty things I've done among the people. And you know the
words that I've spoken to you, that I speak according to what
the Father has given me to say. That's what I'm saying to you
faithfully. I'm declaring the truth to you. You know that I'm
the Christ. But because you're hung up on
these religious things, you don't believe me. You don't trust me.
You don't look. to me. You're stumbling over
that because you're trusting in your own religious knowledge
to guide you, rather than looking to him whom God has sent, who
is salvation. You're not looking to Christ.
And so they refused to believe him, and their eyes were closed. They were blinded. Paul speaks
of this blindness in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, He writes of this blindness.
He says in verse 15, even unto this day, when Moses is read,
the veil is upon the heart. It's not just about sitting in
religious services that saves us. It's not about doing religious
practices and hearing religious things that saves us. Apart from
Christ, if we do these things in the flesh, it won't benefit
us at all. And he said, they hear Moses
being read, and yet when they hear it, the veil is upon their
heart. Nevertheless, he says, when it
shall turn to the Lord, when their heart shall turn to the
Lord, the veil shall be taken away. How is a man's heart turned
to the Lord? And how is the heart turned to
the Lord? Is it by our religious knowledge
and our study and our hard work in religious things? Not according
to the scriptures, not according to what we see here, because
these men were very knowledgeable of religious things. But he tells
us in 2 Corinthians 3, 17 and 18, now the Lord is that spirit. The Lord is the spirit that turns
the heart man to the Lord, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. But we all with open face beholding
as in the glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord." It's the Spirit of the Lord that turns our heart, that
removes that veil of blindness. that takes the darkness away
from the eyes, takes the blindfold off, so that we see the light
and the glory in Christ. We see His light and His glory.
So, we preach the Word. It is important to preach the
Word. This is the Word we've been given to declare. Paul said
in Romans 10, 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. And so we declare Christ according
to the scriptures. We declare and show from the
scriptures, this is very Christ. This is the one whom God promised
back in the garden, declaring that he would come and deliver
his seed from the grip of death and sin and the serpent. He delivers us from that dominion. And so we preach him and declare
him, but we see that it's not religious knowledge. It's not
the things that we're doing and our hard work and our studying
and our trying to know God by our hard work. We need something
more. We need spiritual knowledge.
We need salvation. We need his grace and the faith
of our God worked in us. And so we see that that which
is spiritual is not something that is worked by this flesh. It's not obtained or earned by
this flesh. It must be given. It must be
worked in our hearts. We need his mercy and his grace
to do for us what we cannot produce ourselves. We can't produce that
hope in us looking to Christ alone. But it's Him that we need
to look to. It's Him who is salvation. He
is the one whom the Lord provided to save His people. He says in
John 17 verse 3, our Lord says, this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. And so we see our Lord is saying
it's not enough for us to know about Jesus Christ. We must know the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not enough for us to know
the things that he taught, what he said and memorize things that
he said and memorize scriptures. That's not enough. We need to
know Christ. It's not enough for us to know
about what he did, What he accomplished when he came here, that's not
salvation. We need to know him. We need
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is salvation. Turn over to
Jeremiah 9. Jeremiah chapter 9, go to verse
23 and 24. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don't let the religious knowledgeable
person of religious things glory in what he knows, in the doctrine
he knows, and what he's doing in the church. Neither let the
mighty man glory in his might. Those that do many good works.
and do many things in the name of the Lord. Don't glory in that.
He says, let not the rich man glory in his riches. Don't glory
in how much you're able to give or in how much you put in the
plate. Don't glory in those things or how full of works you are. Don't glory in that. But let
him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me. We've got to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's salvation. That I am the
Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. Our Lord is showing us that the
knowledge of Christ, it's a heart knowledge. It's a heart knowledge. He reveals Christ in the heart. That's what Paul tells us, right?
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Ephesians 3,
17. Christ dwells in our heart, brethren.
He's our hope. He's our treasure. He's made
precious to us because we see that He alone is salvation. We
can have everything. We could have the greatest building
filled with the most people and have nothing if we have not Christ. But if we have Christ, though
we be few and small, We have everything, everything to stand
before our God, righteous and accepted of Him. And Christ is
the revelation of God revealed in you. He says in Romans 117,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And so for His people, what the
Lord does is He gives the Spirit. who cleanses us with the blood
of Christ. He leads us to Christ, reveals faith in our hearts,
looking to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our hope. He's all
our salvation, brethren. And so the Father, He accomplishes
this in His people, revealing the Son in the hearts of His
people. And so now I want to come to, we see this division,
how he reveals Christ, and let's see this precious thing which
our Lord does for the people, because there is division that
they had over Christ, and we see how our Savior divides his
people from all of other peoples, how he divides us and brings
us to himself. So look at verse 37 with me,
and here is Christ calling his lost sheep. This is an invitation
to the thirsty. This is a call to a prepared
people, prepared by the Holy Spirit. He says, 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. The situation that's going on
here is these people had come from all the different nations
and places where they lived to the Feast of Tabernacles. And
it was a feast that lasted for eight days. And in those eight
days, they did the things that were commanded of them to do.
There was various practices and ordinances, and the Pharisees,
the religious leaders, told them, well, do this, and go over here
and do that. And they did all these things.
And now it was the eighth day. So they've had eight days of
doing religious things when our Lord said this. Think about us in our day, how
many read their Bibles, and they say their prayers, and they come
to church, and they practice, they participate in the worship
service, and they do the things that are expected of them and
the things that they want to do or think that are helping
them. And then it's time to go home,
and how many go home feeling empty? and feeling hopeless and
still feeling like they've not done enough. And there was people
here at this feast for eight days who had made great sacrifices
to come there at great expense and all those things. And yet
we're feeling empty and alone and that they've not done enough
and didn't feel any, any, any difference about when they first
left and what the Lord is is saying here to his people is,
has your religion left you thirsty? Has your religion left you thirsty? What is it to thirst? What is
he talking about thirst? If any man thirst, that thirst
is a spiritual thirst. It's a thirst in your soul. It's a thirst in your heart that
you're troubled. You're troubled about your sin.
You're troubled and fearful and anxious about when you die and
the coming judgment. You keep doing all these religious
things, but you don't feel like you have any peace with the Lord.
You're yet thirsty, because you're looking to these religious things. You're reading your Bible like
you're supposed to. That's good. Read your Bible. You're saying
your prayers. You're not finding anything to quench your thirst. You're thinking, why isn't this
working? Why isn't God answering me? Why aren't I hearing from
the Lord and seeing things more clearly? Why don't I feel peace
in that I'm delivered from the judgment of God? The Lord puts
a desire in his people so that religion and religious knowledge
will not satisfy. They know there's something more.
It's not just about my knowledge. It's not just about knowing the
right doctrines or doing the right things. He's bringing his
people to his salvation, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Few people are thirsty. The reality is few people are
thirsty. Few people are worried about their souls. Few people
are even care to go beyond just the outward appearance of religious
things. But the Lord draws his people
beyond all that religious knowledge, past all the contentions and
the fightings and the divisions and the schisms and the arguing,
and he brings them to the Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter preached
to the people in Acts, the beginning of Acts there in chapter two,
we're told that their heart was pricked. Their heart was pricked
and they cried, men and brethren, what shall we do? They were a
thirsty people, they wanted to know What do we do? How is God ever going to forgive
us? And when the Philippian jailer
saw that the jail was broken open and that he thought the
prisoners were left and then found that they hadn't left,
Paul and Silas, he asked them, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He was thirsty. He was thirsty. Has the Lord given you a thirst?
Has He shown you that all your religion has done nothing for
you? Are you thirsty? That's a blessing
when the Lord brings a sinner to see their thirst, to see their
need of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who stood and said,
if any man thirsts, Let him come unto me, he says. You come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't stop at religious doctrine. Don't stop at religious practices. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
because he's the one who quenches the soul. He's the one who quenches
the thirst that has been brought in you to see that all my doing
has done nothing for me. All my religion has done nothing
for me. I need a savior. I need a salvation. And so it's
a mercy if the Lord has brought you to see that the thirst for
his righteousness, for the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
And Christ has come to me because he is the fountain of God, open
freely for sinners to come and to drink of him. to be cleansed
with His blood. He's a fountain of blood that
ever flows for the Lord's people to come and be plunged in that
blood and be washed from their sins. He is salvation. He is the salvation that God
has provided. All who come to Christ find forgiveness. When we look to doctrine, and
I've been there, and trusted in doctrine and my knowledge
of things, it wasn't salvation. It could not save. It left me
afraid and worried and fearful. But once he draws his child to
Christ, to rest in him, to see he is the very hope that God
has provided, there's peace. There's comfort. There's salvation. And he brings us to himself. That fountain opened for sinners
and says, come, come to the Savior. He says there at the end of Revelation
22, almost the very end of the book, verse 17, and the Spirit
and the Bride, the Church of Christ, say, come. And let him
that heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst come. You that are thirsty, made thirsty,
prepared by the Spirit, come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Because that's the gift that
the Lord gives to his people. That's what he does. He works
in the heart. He gives that ear so that we
hear that beautiful note of grace sailing up high over all the
other noise and all the other things that man looks to. And
we hear the voice of Christ saying, come, come to me. I've provided
everything. In me there is no fear, no worry,
no fear of being cast out into outer darkness. He says in verse
38, John 7, 38, he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,
meaning that in Christ we know peace with our God. We have,
as the peace of a flowing river, we have peace with our God in
Christ. And what he's saying is, you
that are satisfied with Christ will never look for another Savior
beyond Him. You that are satisfied with Christ,
now He's quenched your thirst, you'll never look for another
salvation beyond Him. You'll stay right there in Christ,
looking to Him, trusting Him, believing Him, crying out to
Him and looking to Him alone. because there's peace with God
in Christ. And then also this view of it
being a river that flows out of us, a flowing river of living
water. One other beautiful side of that
is that even as we are benefited, that flowing river of life in
us benefits others because we tell others, we share what the
Lord has done for us. And so when they see the hope
that you have, that you're at peace with Christ, that you're
at peace with your God in Christ, there's others who are made thirsty
that will see that hope that you have, and they'll ask you,
why are you at peace with God? Why aren't you worried? Why aren't
you doing more to save yourself? Why are you so confident in the
Lord? And Peter puts it this way in
1 Peter 3.15. He said, sanctify the Lord God
in your hearts. and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear." And so the Lord gives that flowing
river, that flowing fountain of peace with Christ. He puts
it in you for your benefit and for the benefit of others. You know, when I think of each
of you and praying for you, and I know you have friends and you
have children and family, I always think, Lord, let their loved
ones see that hope that they have. Let them see how they're
refreshed with that river of life that their children and
their friends and loved ones will ask, Mom, Dad, friend, Why
do you have such hope? What are you so confident in
this Christ for? And that He would just help you
to declare what God has done for you in the Son. That you
rejoice in Him and bless His name and glory in Him. Because
He is salvation, brethren. So I pray the Lord comfort your
hearts and bless you. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy, for your grace, for
your power, Lord, which has opened our ear that has caused us to
thirst and to find no satisfaction in this life but in Christ. Lord,
thank you for helping us hear His voice, for delivering us
from dead religion, and for keeping us, waking us, and drawing us
continually to your Son every time we look away or fall asleep. Lord, you're so faithful to wake
us up and to draw us again to hear the voice of the Son of
God and be blessed and comforted by Him and Him alone. Lord, bless
your people. Forgive us of our sins. Wash
us in the blood of Christ. Keep us ever rejoicing in the
fountain open for sinners. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the word, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Keep us ever looking to Him and
coming to Him. In the name of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, we pray this, and ask that you help us to indeed
be ever ready to speak of the hope we have in Christ to others.
It's in his name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Okay, brother, you'll close us
into him. Oh, that's right, it's, yeah.
We're gonna take the Lord's Supper today, so. All right, Jordan,
or, Yeah, Jordan and Scott, if you guys could come up and pass out the elements, the wine and the bread. Let's say a prayer. Would you
say a prayer? Father, we ask that you just
watch over us as we take the Lord's Supper. Father, that we
understand what it means and what it doesn't mean. Father,
we just ask that you watch over us as we take it. And again,
continue to watch over us as we have our meal together in
our time of fellowship in Christ's name. I'm gonna read from 1 Corinthians
11, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 23, and after I finish, we'll
sit down and we'll take the bread and the wine together. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given
thanks, he break it, and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which
is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the
same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying,
This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do ye as oft
as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, Ye do show the Lord's death till
He come. We're testifying that He's all
our hope, all our salvation, that not even taking this gives
us no grace. Our grace is all of Him. Our
hope and mercy is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. So when you
take this, remember Him, brethren, and rejoice in Him. Let's all stand and close with
a hymn, 292, Surely Goodness and Mercy, 292. A pilgrim was I in a wandering
In the cold night of sin I did roam When Jesus the kind shepherd
found me, and now I am on my way home. Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. He restoreth my soul when I'm
weary. He giveth me strength day by
day. He leads me besides the still
waters. He guards me each step of the
way. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. To walk through the dark loathsome
valley My Savior will walk with me there And safely His great
hand will lead me To the mansions He's gone to prepare Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my
life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. ? And I shall dwell in the house
of the Lord forever ? And I shall feast at the table spread for
me ? Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ? All the days,
all the days of my life All the days, all the days of
my life. Thank you.