If you would, open your Bibles
again with me to Exodus chapter 15. A passage Brother Gary just
read for us. I titled the message this morning,
What Shall We Drink? Now the children of Israel have
been delivered. After 430 years, they've been
delivered from bondage in Egypt. And after they had left Egypt,
Pharaoh had buyer's remorse. He is sorry. He let his free
labor go. So he took his army and chased
after Israel and trapped them by the Red Sea. Here's the Red
Sea, here's Pharaoh and his army, the mightiest army that ever
existed in the world at that point. Here's Israel between
them. They thought they were doomed, didn't they? But the
Lord opened up the Red Sea and the children of Israel passed
through on dry ground. And when Pharaoh and his army
tried to chase after them through the Red Sea, the Lord brought
those walls of water down. Just crushed them. Drowned every
last one of them. The children of Israel saw them
all dead there on the water. And that's when Moses led the
people in singing a song of praise. He was teaching them a song of
praise we looked at last week. And boy, they all sung it, didn't
they? With all their heart, they sung it. Well now, three days
later. Just three days later, everybody's
attitude has changed. Verse 22. So Moses brought Israel
from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of sure
and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Mara, they
could not drink of the waters of Mara for they were bitter.
Therefore the name of it was called Mara and the people murmured
against Moses saying, what shall we drink? And after three days
of walking through desert, without any water. People were nearly
dying of thirst. I'm sure they began their journey,
they had some cans of water or something with them, but all
their hoarded resources are now gone. Three days without water. You parents, you imagine the
parents here, the Israelites, they're watching their children
suffer. Their lips were swelling and cracking, their tongues were
swelling, They were dying. Their children were dying. Their
animals were dying. And that's, you know, dying of
thirst is probably a very painful thing. This was not pleasant
for them at all. They've been walking through
the desert, through hot sand, and they had no water to wash
their feet and cool their feet. I would imagine sand is blown
in their eyes and in their mouths and in their ears and they didn't
have any water to wash the sand away. They're miserable. And
the people murmured against Moses. And you know what they're really
doing, don't you? They're murmuring against God.
Just three days ago, Moses taught them this song of praise. And
oh, they sang it. I mean, they meant it when they
sang it. They sang it with all their heart.
They sang, oh, who is like unto thee, oh Lord, they sang. They
trusted the Lord so completely, they thought, I'm never going
to doubt Him again like I doubted Him when I thought that Pharaoh's
army was going to kill me. I'm never going to doubt Him
again. I saw how the Lord delivered us. All it took is just three
days to get them starting to murmur against God. To question
God's wisdom in bringing them out of Egypt. To question God's
love for them. God delivered them from bondage,
miserable bondage in Egypt, and they're questioning God's love
for them to bring them out of bondage. God's brought us into
wilderness to die, they're saying. Sound like anybody else you know?
Oh my. It's shameful. I'm shameful to
say I can identify. Well, after these three days,
they're dying of thirst. They see an oasis. And it wasn't
a mirage. It was an oasis. Oh, they ran
up to that water. There's plenty of water there.
Big oasis. But they found that the water
was bitter. So bitter that they couldn't drink it. And that made
them even more disappointed than having never seen water in the
first place. Here's water but I can't drink it. And they called
the place Mara. Bitterness. Remember, that was
the name Naomi called herself. When she and Ruth came back to
Bethlehem, and her friend saw her and called her Naomi, she
said, don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Call me bitter,
she said. For the Almighty hath dealt very
bitterly with me. Well, now the people are really,
I mean, they were mad before. Now they're really mad at Moses. And Moses was wise. Rather than
try to deal directly with the people and try to calm them down,
Moses cried to the Lord. Verse 25, and he cried unto the
Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he cast into
the waters, the waters were made sweet. Now that tree was there
all along, but Moses didn't see it. And even if Moses saw the
tree, he wouldn't have known if he cut that tree down and
throw the tree into the water, that the bitter waters would
be made sweet. He didn't know what the tree was for. He didn't
know what it was doing there. The Lord had telling. Lord had
to point out the tree to him, show him the tree. He had to
tell him what the tree was for. He had to tell him, take that
tree and throw it into the waters, and the bitter waters will be
made sweet. And that's what happened. Moses cast that tree into those
bitter waters, and when that tree was immersed in the water,
the water became sweet. Everybody had all the water they
wanted, and it all tasted good. It was all sweet. So read on,
verse 25, after he cast it into the waters, the waters were made
sweet, There he made for them a statue and an ordinance, and
there he proved them. And he said, if thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which
is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord
that healeth thee. Now here's the place the Lord
revealed one of the names of Jehovah to his people. Jehovah
Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. Now this was a trial. This is
what he said at the end of verse 25. There he proved them. This
was a trial. And I tell you children of God
here, you who do trust Christ, you're walking through a desert
wilderness and it's going to be a time of constant, nearly
constant trial. constant proving of our faith. We're going through this wilderness,
and it's miserable. But now listen, we're just passing
through it. We're going through this place
on our way home. But till we get there, we're
gonna walk through a hot and dusty and difficult place to
walk, a desert. Now, we're in this desert, but
just remember this, we're not making a home here. We're not
making a home. We're just passing through. Who
wants to make a home here anyway? There's no water. There's no
life. There's nothing to support life. What waters we do find
are bitter. I don't want to live here. I want
to pass through here on my way home. But while we pass through,
you rest assured of this. We shall have tribulation. That's what our Lord promised
us. And in those times of trial, tribulation, the proving of our
faith, that we're going to be miserable, just like the children
of Israel were miserable here. Sometimes the Lord will give
us relief by causing the trial to end. We'll have relief sometimes. Sometimes the Lord will bring
someone or something into our life while we're in the midst
of that trial. That person, that something that
the Lord gives at that time, gives us relief. It makes even
that bitter trial, I see some sweetness in it. The Lord's given
something here that's been a help to me. Now the trial's not sweet. The trial's never sweet. But
the results are. Oh, if God gives us some grace.
In the midst of that trial, He gives us grace. If we find out,
you know, God's grace really is sufficient for me. We have
sweetness in the middle of the bitterness of the trial, don't
we? You know, sometimes the Lord removes the bitterness of the
trial by giving us a willing, loving submission to his will. Knowing what he's doing really
is best. Not just knowing it, but believing
it. I really believe, even though
this hurts, I know the Lord's doing what's best. And he gives
us some relief in that. But I tell you, the best time
of comfort in trial for the believer is the Lord in our hearts. When
He dwells with us, His presence makes the bittersweet, doesn't
it? You know, one of the other names
of Jehovah is Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. Now you just
remember this. Wherever it is that you're at
in this wilderness, however far along you are in this journey
through the wilderness on our way home, you remember this.
The Lord's there. He's there. Therefore, you got
there. He's everywhere. You're the tree that Moses cast
into that bitter water. That's a picture of Christ. Christ,
the tree of life. We may not always see him, but
he's there. He's there. And if a child of
God has the presence of the Savior in our hearts, it's sweet. If the Lord's with you, you don't
notice the bitterness of the trial near as much if you have
his presence with you. Now there's a very important
question that's asked in our text. I want to take a few minutes
to look at it. What should we drink? What should we drink so
we live spiritually? What shall we drink that will
give our souls life? Now the answer, the answer to every spiritual
question is Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. If he's not the
answer, You're asking the wrong question. The answer to what
shall we drink is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the water of life. He said, come unto me and drink. You come drink of Christ and
drinking means faith in him. You come believe him, take him
into your body. You believe him. You come drink
of Christ. You'll never thirst again. If
he's in you, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.
You come drink of Christ. It's him that makes the bitter
waters to be sweet. You know, the tree, like I said
in our story here, is a picture of Christ, the tree of life.
You read about Revelation chapter 22. That tree is a picture of
the person and the work of Christ our Savior. It's a picture of
Christ's sacrifice for his people when he died on the cursed tree,
the tree of Calvary. And what Christ accomplished
on the tree makes the bitter sweet for his people. Let me
give you a few examples. Number one, there's the bitterness
of man's works religion. Now man's works religion is a
mirage in the desert. They make a lot of promises that
they can't keep. They promise the water of life. They promise
righteousness. They promise salvation. They
promise Peace, they promised grace. They promised grace that
you got to earn, but you know, they used the word, they promised
grace. And it's just, it's a mirage. You come to those waters and
you'll never find any real life. You'll never find any real salvation.
You'll never find any peace. You'll never find any rest for
your soul. All that you'll find is more work, and more work,
and more work, and more work. You come to that mirage, man's
work's religion, and you're gonna find bitter waters. Bitter waters
you can't stand to drink them. And I'll tell you why their waters
are bitter. It's because their religion depends on man's work
in some way or another. It's always some work that they
give man to do and that makes the water bitter. Because friend,
our works can never be enough to sweeten the bitter waters
and give us the water of life. Our works aren't good enough.
They're not good enough to make the water sweet. Our works are
not good enough to cleanse us from our sin. Depending on our works is a bitter,
bitter experience. It's bitter because no matter
how much work we do, we never know, is it enough? Is it really
enough, you know, that God will accept me? Have my works been
good enough? God will think, you know, that
they're good. Have I done enough that when I get to judgment,
God will be pleased with me? I don't know. I don't know. Then
I better keep working. There's no rest, is there? There's
no rest. It's bitter. No matter how much work we do,
we always got to worry about this. God's going to get me. God's going to get me. I'm going
to slip up. I'm going to not do good enough. And God's going
to get me. Oh, I haven't been faithful enough. Who is? I haven't been faithful enough.
God's going to get me. I haven't been loving enough.
Who is? God's gonna get me. Those waters
of man's works religion are bitter, aren't they? They don't give
any refreshment. They don't give you any rest. And I'll tell you
the real reason why their waters are bitter. It's because Christ
isn't there. I know they use the name of Jesus.
They use the name Lord. They use the name God. They use
the name Christ. But you listen to them and you'll
find out this is true. Christ is not the subject of
their message. Christ is not the object of worship. Christ
is an afterthought. You do all this first, then God
will bless you. You do all this first, then God
will save you. God will save you, but you got
to do all this, you know, to keep it. Christ is an afterthought.
The focus is on man. The focus is on what man can
do to get something from God. That's their focus. And that's
bitter. That religion is bitter waters. But I'll tell you what, you put
Christ in there, and the water's gonna become sweet. You put Christ
in there, now Christ is gonna be the subject of the preaching.
You put Christ in there, now man's works are going out the
window, and I'm gonna have to trust Christ. You put Christ
in there, and make Christ the object of worship, and the bitter
will become sweet. Because now we're depending on
Christ, not our works. Alright then, number two. That first one is something that's
good to be warned about. I don't think anybody here has
that particular problem, but it's good to be warned about.
Here's the second thing. The bitterness of the law. Look
at the end of verse 25. He says, there he made a statute
and an ordinance, and there he proved them. And he said, If
thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy
God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will
give ear to his commandments, and will keep all his statutes,
then I'll put none of these diseases upon thee, which I brought upon
the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that healeth
thee. Now, that sounds pretty good until you think, I can't
diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord. I cannot do that
which is right at his sight. I won't give ear to his commandments,
and I won't keep any of his statutes, much less all of them. The law
is bitter. The law is bitter because the
law is never satisfied until we're perfect. Suppose you could
keep the law. For years and years and years
and years and years, you've kept the law. You know the law still
wouldn't be satisfied? because the law is still waiting
to see. Are you going to slip up? Are
you going to slip up just once? If you do, I'm going to damn
you. Now that's bitter. The law's never ending demands
are bitter to sinners because we can't keep God's law. We cannot
obey God. The law is bitter because when
we sin, the law doesn't know anything about forgiveness. The
law never says anything about forgiveness. When we sin and
we see our guilt, The law is bitter. When you find out your
guilt before God, don't go looking to the law. It's bitter. You
won't find anything about grace in the law. In the law, all you
see is do and live, disobey and die. The law is bitter because
the only thing it can promise us is eternal judgment for our
sin. That's all it promises. The law
is bitter because it never gives you any rest. The Savior said,
come unto me and rest. The law says, come unto me and
get busy. and stay busy, no matter what you've done, the law always
demands more, more obedience, more obedience, more continued
obedience. The law is bitter because the
law cannot give you love for God. The law commands us to love
the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our mind, all
of our soul. The law tells us that, but the
law doesn't tell us how to do it. But it doesn't give us a
heart. It just gives us the commandment.
It can't give you love for God. Really, all the law can do is
make us resent God. Because of all the commandments. There's not just ten of them.
I mean there's thousands and thousands. All the commandments
that the Lord has given us. And we feel bitter about them
because I can't keep them. I can't keep them. It makes us
bitter toward God because God will not accept the best that
I can do. You know, our children bring
home report cards. I guess children still bring
home report cards. I heard sometimes you can't, some places you can't
give children grades. You know, you ruin their self-esteem. But I'm assuming most places
still send children home with report cards. And you kids, you
bring home a report card. And your parents are pleased
with you if you've done the best you can do. Aren't you? I remember,
I hate to say this, but it's just true. English was not a
good subject of mine when I was in school. I could almost never,
it was probably a mistake if I ever got an A. I'd bring home
a B, and I got A's like in everything else. My parents, they're still
pleased, because that's the best I could do. That's the best I
could do. But now, if you don't do the best you can do, your
parents aren't going to be real happy with you. All right, now
I know you. Have you ever said that? I know you can do better
than that. Now just do your best, and I'll be pleased with you.
Now that's good parenting. Us parents, all we want from
our children is do your best. Just do the best you can do. That's not God. No, that's not
God. God will never be satisfied with
the best we can do. God requires perfection. I tell
you, the only thing that God will ever be pleased with, not
the best you and me can do, God will only be pleased with the
best God can do. Perfection. And that makes a sinner resent
God. No matter how hard I work, it's
not enough. See, any dealings, any dealings,
just, I'm so thankful to be able to tell you, if Christ has saved
you, you have no dealings with the law whatsoever. Don't look
to the law to find out how to live. Don't look to the law to
find out what you should do, what you shouldn't do. You already
know what you should do and what you shouldn't do. Look to Christ. You have nothing to do with the
law anymore. But if we start dealing with
the law, everything, every interaction we have with the law is bitter.
The only way the law can be sweet is if you put Christ in it. Remember
the waters of Mar were made sweet when that tree was put in it.
When that tree was immersed in those waters, the bitter waters
became sweet. If you immerse Christ in the
law, it'll become sweet. The Son of God came as a man.
He was born as a man immersed in the law. He was made under
the law. He had to keep all of God's law
perfectly, outwardly and in the heart. Outwardly and in the heart. And he did. He obeyed it perfectly. Every jot and every tittle and
his obedience makes the law sweet to a believer. If you believe
on Christ, you can honestly say this. You can say with David,
I love God's law. I do. I love it. If you love
the law, you're not bitter against it, are you? And you're not bitter
against God, the law giver. You're not bitter against it
because Christ has kept the law for you. He obeyed the law for
you. So the law is not against you
anymore because Christ fulfilled it for you. He obeyed the law
and he magnified the law. He lifted it up and magnified
it. And once Christ has been immersed in the law, you say,
oh, now I see the beauty of the law. The beauty of the law is
this, it drives me to Christ. The beauty of the law is it shows
me my need of Christ. So I run to him and trust him
to do what I can't do, to obey the law for me. See, if you have
faith in Christ, the law's sweet. Because you see, He kept the
law for you. The bitter law was made sweet
when Christ, our representative, was immersed in it and obeyed
it for His people. That's the only way the law can
be sweet to anybody here. All right, here's the third thing. The bitterness of our sin. Well, sin's bitter, isn't it?
It's our sin that has separated us from our God. It's our sin
that put us in this whole mess in the first place. It's our
sin is so bitter. It's our sin that brings eternal
wrath and eternal condemnation from God upon us. Our sin is
so bitter. It's ruined us. It's ruined our
nature. We're ruined in sin. And what
that means is it can't be fixed up. It just can't be fixed. Our sin has killed us. It's given
us a spiritually dead nature. We're dead. And since we're dead,
we can't see. I can't see God. I can't see
Christ. Just like Moses didn't see that
tree, I can't see Christ. I'm dead. I'm blind. I can't
see how God saves sin. You might believe Christ, but
I can't see how you do it. I'm dead, I'm ruined. The preacher
tells us, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, now this
is on the authority of God's word. You believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And you say, but I can't. I can't believe on him. I can't
love, I can't. You know why he can't? It's a
sin nature. It's the power of that sin nature
that keeps us from believing on Christ and trusting Christ.
And for the believer, sin is especially bitter. Oh, sin is
bitter to the believer. Now, I hate my sin. And Jonathan,
I can't quit it. I woke up this morning determined,
I'm not going to sin. This is the day of worship. I'm
not going to sin today. That didn't get too far, did
it? I probably complained at some point today on the field.
You know, sin, sin. I can't quit it. What the new
man sees is this. Everything I do is sin. Everything. I'm just determined. I'm not
going to sin. And boy, sin whistles and we
come running, don't we? It's bondage. It's bondage. The believer wants to escape
the presence of sin. Not just in the world around
me, I want to escape the presence of sin in me. I can't do it. That's why Israel's bondage in
Egypt was so bitter. It's a picture to the bondage
that we have to sin and to the law. They could not escape. They didn't have the power to
do it. They could not escape. All sin's bitter, isn't it? But
I tell you, if you put Christ and that ocean He just immersed
Him in the ocean of our sin. Now that won't make our sin become
sweet, like the waters became sweet when they put the tree
in it. Our sin should always be bitter to us. It will always
be bitter to us. Sin should never taste sweet
to us. But putting Christ, immersing Him in the ocean of our sin,
will make us see the sweetness of redemption from sin. Redemption
that can only come from the blood of Christ. Seeing how Christ
took that ocean of the sin of his people in his own body upon
the tree, and he put it away by the sacrifice of himself, that makes Christ sweet, doesn't
it? Oh, it makes him sweet. The name of the Lord that's revealed
here is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. See, sin is
not just breaking the rules. Sin is a disease. A disease. And we need healing. Well, Christ
is the Lord that healeth thee. He heals us from our sin nature. That sin nature that makes it
so we can't believe on Christ. That has that power over us.
So we cannot believe on Christ. He gives us a new nature. A nature
that's holy. That's righteous. A nature that's
stronger. so that we believe on Christ.
Now I believe on Christ. Why? I have a nature that's stronger
than that old nature. I believe on Christ and I can't
quit believing on Him. I got a new nature. The Lord
heals us from that nature of sin by giving us a holy nature
that He loves. And one day, we're going to be
plum healed, aren't we? Plum healed. The Lord's going
to heal us from even the presence of sin. by putting his body of
sin in the dust and taking that new man to be with him. See,
that's where we're going. That's why we're going through
this wilderness. He's gonna take us home one day, where we will
be delivered from the presence of sin forever. Now, the fourth one, I thought
about this as I was thinking about bitterness. It's the bitterness
of trusting in our own repentance. And this is very similar to trusting
in our own words, Let me see if I can make good on this. Repentance. That's bitter to the flesh, isn't
it? I mean, it's just bitter for us to admit I'm guilty. I'm the sinner. That's bitter
for us to have to admit. It's bitter for a human being
to admit I'm a needy beggar. I need Christ to save me because
I can't do it myself. Now repentance is not just feeling
sorry. It's not just being sorry that I sinned. Repentance is
turning to Christ from our idols. And now I trust Christ instead
of trusting the junk that I used to trust in. And you know, that's
bitter to the flesh. It's bitter to the flesh to admit
I've been religious all my life, but you know what? I've been
trusted an idol. I'll tell you one of the hardest things I've
seen for religious people to do is to admit I'm not saved. That's all that's bitter to admit.
But I'm telling you, there's no salvation without it, without
that bitterness of repentance. On the time of the Passover,
they were to eat that lamb with bitter herbs. And those bitter
herbs are a picture of the bitterness of repentance. And friend, there's
no salvation without it. There's no salvation without
the bitterness of repentance, without the bitterness of admitting
I'm lost. I've been worshiping an idol
and turning to Christ to trust Him. There's no salvation without
it. But be mighty careful not to
make an idol out of your repentance. I heard a woman say one time,
oh, I know I'm safe because I've repented. Well, here's how I know I'm safe. This is the only way I know I'm
safe. I trust in Christ. It's not my repentance, it's
Christ. If you're looking to your repentance as the evidence
of salvation, you're drinking bitter water. Because just like
our works, have I worked enough? I haven't worked enough to have
some rest? If you're trusting your repentance, is it ever perfect? Have you really repented enough?
Is it perfect? I forget what old preacher first
said it, When I come to Christ, salvation is repenting of my
repentance. I don't trust anything except
Christ alone. Bitter water is trusting anything
other than Christ alone. But I tell you, you put Christ
in your repentance, and the bitter becomes sweet. Repentance becomes
sweet when I turn to Christ and trust Him. When I rest all of
my soul on Christ, I believe on Him, Repentance is sweet. How sweet it is to be enabled
to trust Christ. And whatever turns me to Christ,
that's sweet to me. Here's the last thing. And it's
something at some point I'd say every single believer goes through,
at least when we first hear the gospel, especially then, is the
bitterness of hearing the gospel without faith in Christ. Now the gospel that we preach
is the sweetest story that's ever been told. Can you think
of anything sweeter than salvation by grace? Salvation by Christ
earning that salvation for you and giving it to you freely?
No sweeter story has ever been told than that the Son of God
would sacrifice Himself and suffer untold agony So the sin of His
people will be put away. They're vile. They're wretched.
They're natural-born enemies of God. They hate Him. They're
the ones there yelling, crucify Him. They're the ones shaking
their fist in the air, saying, I'll not have this man to reign
over me. And He suffered and died for them? To put their sin
away? To reconcile them to Him? There's
no sweeter story ever been told that the Son of God would love
a people so much. He set his affection on them
before they ever created, knowing the sinners that they would be,
how they'd be falling at them, how they'd be ruining at them,
how their sin would be so vile and repulsive to him. He set
his love on them anyway. He betrothed himself to her and
calls her my bride, my dove, my beloved. There's no sweeter
story ever been told. And this tells you something
about our sin nature. By nature, hearing the gospel
preached is the most boring thing you can think of. It's bitterness. Bitterness, isn't it? Janet says, I tell on myself
a lot. I'm going to tell on myself. I remember being a boy. I loved
Henry Mahan. I mean, I loved him. But I can't
tell you how many times I thought, when is he gonna sit down and
shut up? How long can this man talk? I remember, I mean, I loved him,
but I just thought, my goodness sakes. Bitter, wasn't it? You know why
it was bitter? He was hearing words without
faith in the subject of the words. That's what it was. See, that's why false religion,
They have so much music and so many ceremonies and so much smoke
and mirrors, you know, to keep people busy, because you've got
to do something to keep the flesh interested, to keep people coming,
to keep them sitting there, you know. Well, you don't keep them
sitting there if you've got them up and running around being busy,
but you've got to do something to make the flesh feel good about
itself, don't you? You at least gotta make them so busy that
they're not really paying any real attention to what you're
saying, you know, so they don't find out that there's no real
water here. These waters are bitter. If you
keep somebody busy enough, maybe they won't notice, you know. But to the flesh, nothing can
be more boring than having to sit quietly and listen to a man
preach Christ. I have no question, somebody
here this morning feels that way. Well, I'm gonna give you some
hope. Hearing the gospel preached, just the simple preaching of
the gospel, it'll be bitter to you. It'll be boring, and you'll
wonder, what is the big deal? Until you see Christ, and you
believe on Him, and suddenly the bitter will be made sweet.
Suddenly, you'll find yourself Oh, I need to get to that midweek
service. I've been three days in the wilderness
without water. I need some water. Suddenly,
you'd be so happy Sunday morning. Oh, this is the day I can go
worship the Lord. This is the day I can hear Christ
preach. This is the day that I can come
drink of Him. This is the day to hear the Gospel. This is the day to be reminded
Christ died for me. Christ died for me. My eternal soul hangs upon Him
and His faithfulness, not me. I need some rest. I've been trudging
through this wilderness for several days now. I need some rest. Come
to Christ and rest. Suddenly, the bitter will become
sweet to you. See, our preaching is sweet, and the hearing of
the gospel is sweet, if the subject is Christ. If it's His obedience,
not mine. If it's His work, not mine. If
it's His blood, if it's His love and His faithfulness, not mine.
The gospel is sweet if I hear the Savior cannot change. I change from second to second.
He never changes. I can rest in Him. What we're
doing right now, you know, if somebody was just looking at
a camera thing, that looks pretty boring. Everybody just sitting
there doing nothing. One man, you know, what we're doing right
now. is so sweet to you if you need
Christ. If you need Christ. Now remember the question we're
looking at is what should we drink? I opened the service reading
that passage where the Savior said on that last day of the
feast, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Now
what are we going to drink? Friend, the question is, Are
you thirsty? Do you need Christ? The question
is not do you understand the biology of the cells of your
body that if you drink water, you don't feel thirsty anymore.
Now, my mouth is not dry anymore. My body doesn't feel thirst because
I just took that drink of water. I don't understand how that works.
I don't understand the biology of that. The question is not
do you understand the biology of all the cells of your body
taking water in you know that after you drink it. That's not
the question. The question is not do you understand the chemical
makeup of H2O, how you put hydrogen and oxygen together to make water.
That's not the question. The question is not the cup that
the water's in. That's a pretty fancy cup. Janet keeps down here in case
of emergencies a plastic bottle of water. That bottle doesn't
look near as nice as this cup, does it? But the water in both
will quench my thirst just the same. Just the same. The question
is not the cup. The question is not the ceremony.
The question is not the hand that picks up the cup. The question
is this. Are you thirsty? It's not everything
else you know. Do you know you're thirsty? Do
you know that you need Christ? If you do, come and drink. Come
and drink. of him, come hear him preached. It'll be the sweetest taste you've
ever put in your mouth. Sweetest taste you've ever put
in your mouth. Now come drink of him. Our brother Donnie Bell
say one time, he said losing weight's real easy. He said put
something in your mouth and it tastes good, spit it out. You
put this gospel in your mouth, you'll never spit it out. You'll
never spit it out. Now come drink of him. Let's
bow again. Our Father, how we thank you
for the sweet waters of eternal life, the sweet waters of your
grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray you'd make us
thirsty. I pray you'd salt us and make us hunger and thirst
after Christ and give us the faith to come to him and drink,
to trust him as our all in all. Father, I pray you take your
words that's been preached tonight or this morning and cause it
to redound to your glory. Let us see the glory of Christ
in it. Praise to his precious name.
For his sake we pray, amen. Now we're not, remember, having
service on Wednesday, so if some of you men would set up the tables
here in the back in the vestibule for us to get ready to feed folks
at the conference after we sing, I'd appreciate it.