Come And Drink Series

Erwin Lutzer once described a man who walked into a psychiatric hospital where a staff member took him on a tour. On the tour, they saw a man in a padded cell, who was beating his head against the walls. He kept saying, “Linda, how could you do it? Linda, how could you do it?” The staff member explained that the man had been in love with Linda, and Linda jilted him. It drove the man crazy.

They went to the next cell, and there was another man saying, “Linda, Linda, how could this happen? Linda, Linda.”

The visitor asked, “Who's he?”

The staff member replied, “He's the man who married Linda” (Erwin Lutzer, “Learning to Love,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 99; www.PreachingToday.com).

What you think may satisfy could drive you mad, or at the very least leave you feeling empty.

Some time ago, AARP magazine interviewed singer and poet Bob Dylan. He talked about his music, life on the road, and true happiness. Dylan said, “OK, a lot of people say there is no happiness in this life and certainly there's no permanent happiness… I'm not exactly sure what happiness even means, to tell you the truth. I don't know if I personally could define it.”

The interviewer asked Dylan if has ever touched and held happiness. To which Dylan replied, “We all do at certain points, but it's like water—it slips through your hands. As long as there's suffering, you can only be so happy. How can a person be happy if he has misfortune?” (Robert Love, “Bob Dylan Does the American Standards His Way,” AARP The Magazine, 1-22-15; www.PreachingToday.com).

That’s a good question, because life is full of misfortune. So how can you find a true and lasting happiness? How can you enjoy true contentment and satisfaction in a world full of disappointment? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 7, John 7, where Jesus describes how to find rivers of living water in a dry and barren world.

John 7:1-5 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him (ESV).

They grew up with Him, but they didn’t believe in Him. In the same way, a lot of people grow up going to church, but they have no genuine faith. They don’t really believe in Jesus. They don’t really trust Jesus with their lives.

But that’s where true satisfaction starts. It starts with true and genuine faith in Christ. If you want to enjoy lasting contentment and satisfaction, you must believe in Jesus. You must trust Him with your life. You must…

SURRENDER TO JESUS.

For that’s what genuine faith is all about. It goes beyond just knowing about Jesus. It is a sweet surrender to His will for your life, trusting that He knows what’s best for you.

Jesus’ brothers thought they knew what was best for Him. They urged Him to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles.

It was one of the three annual Jewish feasts, starting with the Feast of Passover in the spring, then the Feast of Pentecost in the early summer, then the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall. At the start of each of these feasts, Jews from all over the world made pilgrimages to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts. So Jerusalem would be full of people, providing a great place to gain world-wide recognition, especially if you performed a few miracles there.

Jesus’ brothers were telling Him, “Leave the small, rural towns of Galilee and go to Jerusalem where you can become real popular real fast.”

John 7:6-9 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee (ESV).

Jesus remained in the far, out-of-the-way region of Galilee, because His “time had not yet come.” That is the time when God would glorify Jesus by His death on the cross (John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1). The last time Jesus was in Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders threatened to kill Him (John 5:18), but this was not His time to die. That time would come later when Jesus would die for the sins of the world.