As the Lord may be pleased to grant us his very much needed help, I invite your prayerful attention to the second book of Samuel, chapter 23, and considering verse 15. The second book of Samuel, chapter 23, and verse 15. And David longed and said, oh, that one would give me drink. of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.

And David longed and said, O that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. as we read in these verses the context is that David and his people had been driven out of Bethlehem and it was now occupied by the Philistines and no doubt as one can imagine David was looking back to and to his homeland he was still in the land but to his home city with much longing he had no doubt drunk many times from water that had been drawn from this particular well in Bethlehem close by the gate and at this time of weariness and time of oppression from many enemies his thoughts were drawn back there that which had refreshed him and satisfied him in the past his thoughts go back there and it's very powerfully expressed really isn't it David longed it wasn't just some passing fancy or I wish I could have a drink from the well of Bethlehem if anybody happens to be passing could you get me some of that water now there's a real desire in his heart isn't there there's a real longing for this it's important to him that he should receive this water and of course as we look at it now it's not to to just consider that that natural well and the water however refreshing it might have tasted but really to look beyond that to the lord himself who is that well of water to his people and i think Just as we consider this by way of introduction, it's wonderful, isn't it, that this was the well of Bethlehem.

You are probably aware that Beth means a house, really not just literally a building, but a location, really. Lehem means of bread. This is the house of bread. No doubt Bethlehem was in a relatively fertile region where the crops grew quite plentifully and there was much bread there. But it's wonderful the Lord said, didn't he, I am the bread of heaven. He came down to Bethlehem.

He speaks of himself as providing these wonderful waters to quench the thirst and here we have the water of Bethlehem it all draws our thoughts to the Lord himself and the question really for us is this have we gathered this evening specifically and do we know in our lives more generally the same longing that David had for spiritual food and drink from the Lord himself the Lord of Bethlehem is it just a passing fancy or is there a deep longing in our heart nothing else will do we can't be satisfied as it were with anything else David longed for this you and i long to be refreshed in the lord so as we look at these various scriptures that relate to the the waters and the wells it is of Christ that we want to think.

Now, a verse that I haven't really considered before, we find in, it was at the heading of that hymn, I noticed that previously actually, even though I'd chosen the hymn, but in Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13 the Lord expresses this message through Jeremiah to the people and it's quite stark really he says for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water. It's quite stark that the Lord says that these are two separate evils, two distinct sins. One sin is that they have forsaken God. He describes himself as the fountain of living waters, living of course referring to the waters means moving the water from a spring or a river the wells that they dug were usually where a spring had broken through the surface and then they dug out around it to enlarge it and increase the availability to collect the water from it and the contrast is with the the cisterns, the tanks of stone that they carved out to collect the rainwater.

I often think of this as you realize we come from close to Cambridge, the annual rainfall in Jerusalem is the same as that in Cambridge. Cambridge is I think the driest city in the country but the rainfall of Jerusalem is the same but there's this very great and important difference that in Jerusalem the rain only falls in two relatively short seasons of the year late March and April and then I think late September and October so whereas we have rain really pretty much most months of the year they were in a very different position and this is why living water moving water was so important to them because the contrast was with the water that they had to store up in these stone troughs or stone tanks and of course over time it became brackish they had to use it of necessity but it wasn't very pleasant to the taste and the Lord here is warning them they have forsaken me me God the fountain the very source if you will of living waters they valued the living waters naturally far above the cistern waters but spiritually they'd forsaken God they'd turn their back on him it was as if to say well we're no longer interested in living water and that doesn't matter anymore what a terrible evil this was for the people to turn their back upon God but it is a separate and distinct evil that not only did they forsake God but they put their own hand to this work and thought that by their own endeavours in hewing out these stone cisterns that they could supply their own need.

They had no need of God, no felt need, One should say, of course they really needed him, but they didn't feel it.

The work of their own hand was going to be good enough. Two separate evils. And the Lord denounces this. The Lord sends Jeremiah to bring this to their attention. Well, it's brought to our attention this evening, isn't it? Or have we committed either or both of these two evils have we forsaken God turned our back upon God we don't need God anymore he's not important to us or and or have we become satisfied with what we can do I can manage this on my own I can hew out this cistern, I don't need the water that God provides. Solemn position to be in, isn't it, to commit either or both of those evils. The people in Jeremiah's day had committed both of them. And the Lord sends a warning, sends that message to my thoughts also went to Hagar, that maid of Sarah.

You remember the time came when she was cast out from the family and sent on her way and she came into the wilderness and the water was was spent in the bottle that Abraham had given to her and as she had with her the reference is given as the child but of course sorry, his name's just Ishmael, sorry, yes, Ishmael. He was, of course, at least a teenager by this stage, probably 15 or 16. Perhaps as we read this account, it seems as if he was much younger, but anyway, they came into this wilderness, and they came in the wilderness of Beersheba, I think we, do well to consider the place names they're not just there for no reason Beer of course means a well Beer Sheba was the well of promise now it's evident that Hagar and Ishmael didn't really know where they were they had been wandering and they had we would say really given up hope of being rescued the water was gone they were hot and dehydrated and weary and then we read what may seem a strange thing really God heard the voice of the lad doesn't actually say although God spoke to Hagar it was the voice of the lad Ishmael that the Lord had heard and The Lord, we read, God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. It was there all along.

Speaks to us really in that sense of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is there, but we need our eyes to be opened to see him, don't we? So many go through life with their eyes closed, as it were, blind, to this we read don't we solemnly the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not but here God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water what joy what renewed hope what refreshing there was to her now that she could see this provision of God and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink and so they were able to continue as the Lord opened our eyes to see this well of water this well of Bethlehem the Lord Jesus Christ himself The psalmist prays, doesn't he, in Psalm 119, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things. There it's wondrous things in thy law, but behold wondrous things. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ. We are our eyes looking unto him this evening in all our need.

We may feel weary, cast down as they were, weak through lack of water, but to see the Lord, to be refreshed in the Lord. It's a wonderful thing that the Lord does for his people, isn't it? To open our eyes. We are in that spiritual sense we are born blind aren't we like that man in John chapter 9 darkness is our natural state but the Lord opened his eyes didn't he that's a wonderful account I don't want to digress to that but it is a beautiful chapter isn't it the gradually deepening work that you can see in that man once his eyes were opened by the Lord.

But I want to think of this now, especially in the sense of the gospel. It is through the gospel, isn't it, that the Lord Jesus Christ is made known. Largely, God isn't restricted to that. He works as he sees fit. But the appointed way, as it were, the general way is through the preaching of the gospel.

And we read in the Proverbs, really, I want to put it this way if you'll bear with it, but almost we could say the definition of the gospel in Proverbs 25 and verse 25, as cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. We can be very far off from God at times, can't we? In our experience, we can be in a far country. Whether like that rebellious young son who took, didn't take all of his inheritance, did he? Some of it was reserved for him when he returned, but he went and wasted it in a far country. But the good news from a far country, that's the gospel, isn't it?

To poor, needy sinners, rebellious sinners who've turned their back upon the Lord, forsaken the Lord. But that good news reaches them. And it's like cold waters to a thirsty soul. when we're really thirsty there's no satisfaction quite like cold water is there we may have various flavoured drinks and so on that we like to have from time to time but when there's a real need what we really need is water isn't it cold water refreshing water in that dry barren thirsty land we ever heard the gospel in that way and it's so refreshed us it's been as cold waters to a thirsty soul this good news from a far country I mentioned earlier that Bethlehem is the house of bread and I know we're speaking mainly about the water tonight but It does just remind me of the experience of Ruth.

She and Elimelech had really turned their back on the people of God. They'd gone away from Bethlehem, hadn't they? I know there was a time of famine, but they evidently were not trusting that the Lord would provide. And so they went down to that far country of Moab. put themselves among those that did not believe in God and you know it was the source of much trouble to Naomi, she lost her husband, she lost her two sons and she would of course be parted from one of her daughters-in-law though not of course Ruth but we have a lovely little verse there in chapter one of the book of Ruth and verse six she that is Naomi heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread again it's a little verse that I always think almost defines the gospel that it's good news she was far off we don't excuse her for being where she was that was wrong but you see she was one of the Lord's so the gospel must reach her though she was far off There was good news. And the good news was that back in Bethlehem, the Lord had visited his people. He had provided bread for them.

And then we see a longing desire in her heart, don't we? It wouldn't be an easy job for her as she thought she would be traveling back alone, dangerous for a woman traveling on her own in that circumstance. As it was, it wouldn't have been any easy journey even with Ruth to accompany her. But that was a longing desire, wasn't it?

Oh, I've heard that good news. Here I am in a far country. I've turned my back on the Lord, but he hasn't turned his back on me. He sent that good news. I've heard it. I've received it. I believe it. See, she may have heard that. But if she didn't believe it, she would never have gone back to Bethlehem, would she? Oh, she believed it. We hear the gospel in that way. Does it rejoice our heart that God has not forgotten us? Here we are, far off, perhaps by our own doing, as it were, by our own sin and backsliding, but the Lord sends his word.

He says there's food here. There's drink here, there's cold water here. There's the water of Bethlehem's well to be found here. Have we known that drawing? David is really being drawn to this. I know it wasn't David who went to collect this water, but this is where he was being drawn to, wasn't it? This is where his desire was.

Oh, oh, that one would give me drink. of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. I think it's significant there, isn't it? By the gate. It means it was accessible. Yes, the Lord is not accessible as it were by our own efforts, is he? He calls us, calls his people to come. He's accessible to them in that sense. We have that wonderful, it's often referred to as an invitation.

I personally, I don't want to offend any of you like that word, but to me, I think it's better to consider it. It's really a command. God, doesn't really issue invitations, an invitation can be rejected, can't it? I don't feel like coming, I'm not interested in that particular event or meeting or whatever it is we've been invited to, but this is really a command. We read in Isaiah 55, they're very well-known words I'm sure to us all, but it comes with power, doesn't it? It demands attention. Ho! Ho! It's not whispered, it's not some whisper on a street corner, it's a loud cry, ho!

And it's to everyone that thirsteth. It's not, as it were, to all, it's not to those who feel no need of this drink, who have no interest in this water, this life. giving and life-sustaining water it's but those that thirst oh the lord that has made them thirst he says to every one of them that's why i don't think invitation is really quite appropriate because they can't any of them turn it down here is a command come ye to the waters come There's no ambiguity about this, is there? Everyone that thirsts, you've got to come. This is the instruction. This is what the Lord cries out, come ye to the waters. But again, you see, we go back to the way they had hewed out those cistern storage tanks.

It's not by their own effort, is it? He that hath no money. Oh, you're not going to buy this with your own endeavours, your own good works. Buy and eat but without money. Yay, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. The value of this is beyond anything we could ever accumulate by way of money.

It's far beyond that. he goes on you see with this question wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfies not hearken diligently unto me it's not take it or leave it as you please it's hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness incline your ear and come unto me here and your soul shall live it's a glorious call isn't it this good news it is good news isn't it here's a provision that God has for his people and he says come he says to those that are thirsty those that are weary, those that are cast down, those that feel their need of it.

He says, come, come. I think of the first chapter of Isaiah's prophecy, the only place there in, I think it's verse 18, yes, where the only place in the scripture where God himself says, come, now you don't find those words spoken by God anywhere else and it's a wonderful positioning if I can put it that way of those words because in the first part of Isaiah chapter 1 you have the the real denunciation of the people.

They're full of sin. They're like a rotting body. Gangrenous, if you like. It's from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. There's no soundness in it. Wounds, bruises, putrefying sores. It's not a pretty picture, is it? And what's so solemn to me there in Isaiah chapter 1, and we mustn't ignore it, they had continued with every outward observance of the formality of worship. They hadn't abandoned the sacrifices, the festivals, the feasts, the new moons, the Sabbath days, they were still holding all of those, but only in the outward sense. Their heart was not in it. It's a solemn warning to us that we need more than just the outward observance of these things.

That's important, of course it is. Don't go away saying, I've said there's no point in coming to the service. Of course we should do that. But it must be coming with a heart that's right, mustn't it? What I call an attendance religion. You can't just tick the register and say I was there for that service and that's the basis of my salvation. It's not like that.

They're told, aren't they, to demonstrate their sincere repentance, wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. These are what John the Baptist would call the fruits, meat for repentance. It's right, they have to do that, they have to show they are truly repentant. But that hasn't lessened their sin, has it?

I think this stands out because then God says, come now and let us reason together. Though your sins be a scarlet, doesn't say they used to be, But now, because you've repented, you've dealt with some of that sin. I'll put it very simply, I try to be simple, but it doesn't say your sins are now just a shade of pink, does it? Because you've done all these good things. They're still scarlet.

I remind you that one of the symptoms of leprosy that so often represents sin in the scripture was a scarlet swelling. it was scarlet you don't hide scarlet do you it's a it's a bright visible color and the Lord says your sins are still like scarlet they haven't been diminished though you've been brought to repentance though they be red like crimson still but they shall be oh they shall be as white as snow they shall be as wool oh come now So the Lord says, ho, ho everyone that thirsteth.

There's not to be an exception. If the Lord has brought us to thirst after him, to have this longing desire for the Lord Jesus Christ, that sweet water of Bethlehem, we have to come. We have to come. And we will come. I was thinking, Just in the vestry of that word the Lord said, didn't he, all that the Father giveth me shall come.

It's not possible that one will be left behind, is it? The Lord didn't give any into the, sorry God, the Father didn't give any into the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ to suffer for them at Calvary and then they're not saved after all. That cannot be, can it? A failed saviour? No. All that the Father hath given me shall come.

Do we hear that cry this evening then? Is it sent to us because we are one of these thirsty ones? One of these ones that can't be satisfied with the things of this life? I don't mean we should be discontented, don't misunderstand me. should be very thankful for what God gives us providentially, but it doesn't satisfy the soul, does it?

I was speaking at the young people's meeting at home last night on happiness. It's a lovely subject to consider. 25 times the word happy is used in the Bible. That might surprise you, it surprised me, I must admit, that there are that many. But there are, and the Bible tells us what makes us truly happy. Of course, that happy means blessed, really, doesn't it?

It's not just to have a joyful spirit, as it were, but truly blessed and none of those things are in the possessions of this life. They all relate to a spiritual experience. A friend we baptized yesterday as well, we felt led to that word to give to her from the Colossians. If ye then be risen with Christ, set your affection on things above.

That's it, isn't it? That's the thirst, isn't it? It's not for the things of this life. You know, we have a responsibility to work hard and do our best and so forth. Of course we do, but that's not what satisfies the soul, is it? Oh, but one would give me drink of the well, of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.

We read of that woman, didn't we, in John chapter 4. She doesn't even have a name in the set, or name isn't recorded. She obviously had a name, but we're not given her name. She was clearly a great sinner, wasn't she? Notorious, no doubt. Presumably this was why she came to the well at midday. It wasn't the usual time for collecting water that was done first thing in the morning and then again in the evening and presumably she came at midday because she needed to be to avoid the company of others or she'd been shunned by other people and so she came but it was the appointed time wasn't it oh the Lord here in his humanity being wearied with his journey sitting on the a parapet around the well and this woman came no coincidence is it? I know it's perfectly true that to go from Jerusalem back up to Galilee he must need to go through Samaria because it lay between the two he didn't have to go via Sychar though did he? there are lots of routes that he could have taken could have bypassed that altogether. But this was the appointed time for this sinner to learn about this water of Bethlehem in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. She comes, doesn't she, wondering that as a Jew that he would be even speaking to her.

And then he says to her, doesn't he, if thou knewest the gift of God. The Lord himself is described, isn't he, as an unspeakable gift. I think we generally use that word unspeakable when something is horrible, sort of unspeakably bad, but of course that doesn't mean that applied to Christ. It means that the wonder of him, the glory of him, is such that we can't fully speak of it we don't have the words our mind can't encompass that fully we can speak a little of it but in that sense this unspeakable gift and the Lord says if you knew that and if you understood who I am the one that I'm speaking to you you would have asked me and I would have given you living water.

Now at first this woman can only see things on a human level, can't she? The well is deep, you haven't got a rope, you haven't got a bucket, you've got no vessel to draw the water. What are you talking about? How could you give me water? But he says, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst and the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water he's giving water but that itself will be of such abundance it will be like a well of water springing up within him or her into everlasting life Now this woman longs for it, doesn't she?

It's a dramatic, fundamental change in this woman, really. In these, just these few verses, isn't there? From just looking at this on a completely human level, don't understand how you could get water without a rope and a bucket, to then when the Lord speaks of this living water, She says, give me this water that I thirst not.

Oh, there's something attractive about it. Now there's a longing in her heart. And then as the Lord sends her away, really, she comes, or before the Lord sends her away, really, rather, she comes to this deepening understanding, doesn't she? that this is the Messiah.

This is the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophecies of which he evidently was well aware. I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, one of the evidences, as it were, will be that he will tell us all things. I that speak unto thee am he.

And she goes away with this wonderful testimony, doesn't she? come again we have this word come see a man which told me all things that ever i did is not this the christ i've got this proof i've got this evidence it is clear when christ comes he will tell us all things he's just told me all things that ever i did he is the christ and clearly this was a powerful testimony and others amongst the men of that city were brought to believe, even more believed when they heard the Lord for themselves, heard him speaking directly. But what a wonderful case it is, the Lord coming not just for that woman is it it was for the others in that city as well who would be brought to the knowledge of Christ through that but initially that one notorious sinner but one that was brought to thirst one that was brought to have a longing desire for that living water that only he could supply Prayer in your heart, give me this water. Concerning the Lord, when he said, I am the bread of heaven, there were those that said, give us this bread, weren't there? Again, a desire for these things, to know more about these things.

Later on, in John chapter seven, The Lords made that great cry in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. Oh, here it is again, really, isn't it? Ho, everyone that thirsted. Jesus cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me.

Let him come. It's by the gate as it were. It's not hidden away. It's not inaccessible. Let him come because he's thirsty. He has this desire. It is the Holy Spirit that has made him thirst in this way. The Holy Spirit that has given him this great desire. Let him come.

Oh Lord, speak that to some thirsty soul here this evening. let him come if any man of course man generically if any woman if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink and here it is again he that believeth on me as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. I want to just conclude by looking at the real fulfillment, as it were, of this in heaven.

As the Lord's people, those who have been made to thirst and those who have tasted of this living water, Those who have been blessed, those who have that fountain of living water within them now by God's gift, by God's grace. We read in the Revelation at the end of chapter 7, Therefore are they, that is those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in the temple. and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them now here's a beautiful description of what they're now experiencing they shall hunger no more so clearly they must have hungered once otherwise it wouldn't say no more but now they're no longer hungering now they are completely satisfied neither thirst any more so they did experience a thirst but now they are fully satisfied in heaven above neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes or perhaps in your longing for these things you know what it is to weep over them it brings indeed tears to our eyes this great sense of longing oh that one would give me this living water but here you see no more tears no sorrows no sighing it's a lovely God shall wipe away all tears. Whatever was the cause of those tears, whatever was the origin, if you like, of those tears.

They won't be shedding tears in heaven. They will be completely blessed. There's no more hunger. They were hungry. They were those that longed for that bread of life and they received it in measure here below they were those that thirsted for these living waters and they received that in measure here below but now no hunger no thirst the lamb feeding them the lamb leading them to those living fountains of waters God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes well may the Lord grant to us both to hunger and to thirst but to know this provision that is in the Lord Jesus Christ for our soul and if we know that in measure here below we do have that great prospect of heaven don't we that is where those that hungered and thirsted will be where they hunger no more and thirst no more and David longed and said oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gates