How Dry I Am

TITLE: ?How Dry I Am?

TEXT: Isaiah 55:1-3 If you are thirsty, come and drink water! If you don’t have any money, come, eat what you want! Drink wine and milk without paying a cent. 2Why waste your money on what really isn’t food? Why work hard for something that doesn’t satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will enjoy the very best foods. 3Pay close attention! Come to me and live. I will promise you the eternal love and loyalty that I promised David.

I. IT?S DRY IN THAT DESERT

A. The feeling has been documented by countless contemporary

songs. They are more than rock songs; they are anthems because

they have struck a cord with the masses. It is a sensation that everyone enjoying the affluence of this great nation has encountered. The Rolling Stones sang, ?I Can?t Get No Satisfaction.? U2 Sang, ?I Still Haven?t Found What I?m Looking For.? Another very recent song, probably still in the charts sings, ?I want something else, to help make through this?(fill in the blank)?

1. We are all looking for something, something to satisfy this thirst we

feel on a daily basis. It is intensified daily. It is intensified by grief, by loss, by hard times and sometimes just by shear boredom?too much time on our hands.

2. Sometimes this thirst is intensified by rejection. Some of us here in

this room have been rejected by others so often that we have discounted our value in our own hearts and minds?deep down, we think, ?I?m worthless!? Many have gone on long sprees of self-loathing. All of this intensifies the thirst that the Bible again and again identifies.

3. Incidentally, it?s amazing that when Satan speaks to us, he usually

does so in the first person. He whispers to our spirit notions such as, ?I?m so stupid.? ?No one likes me, in fact they hate me.? ?I can?t do that.? ?I?m a real jerk.?

a. All of these demonically implanted ideas parch our soul. We feel

we need something to cover the pain.

b. We are thirsty! We are restless! We need satisfaction!

4. You see Satan?s objective is to see you die of this thirst, or?ever

the cunning thinker, Satan has discovered if he can create the thirst, now he can sell you the drink that is certain to sooth, certain to satisfy. ?Oh yes, here it is!? says Satan the master liar.

5. He leads us to a watering hole. The drink is quite tasty. Our first sip

causes us to think, ?Wow, that is the best I?ve ever had. I?ve never tasted anything like it!?

6. For a brief moment then we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

All of us have heard Him speak at this moment, warning us not to drink it?not even to put it next to our lips.

ILL. He?s like that strong friend depicted in a hundred westerns. Two cowboys have lost their horses in the middle of the desert. They are trekking with a boiling sun blazing over-head. No water in their canteens. After a day or so their lips are chapped, their faces pealing. It seems by some miracle, they stumble upon a watering hole in the middle of the desert. One cowboy falls on his belly and begins to lap the water like a dog. The other (the Holy Spirit) grabs him as yells, ?Stop! Don?t you see them there carcasses? This water is poison!? The cowboy stops long enough to see the skeletal remains of cattle, of desert varmints, and yes other once equally thirsty cowboys. What will he do, will he continue to satisfy his thirst, knowing that it will mean a certain, and probably a very painful death? Many continue to drink.

7. The drink Satan offers to satisfy the thirst he has created in our

lives is always poison. His watering hole is littered by the carcasses of millions who have gone before us.

8. But many are so thirsty they continue to drink. Satan implants

another notion, (speaking again in the first person) ?I?ll be the one guy who drinks here and lives. One drink won?t hurt. I?ll just quench my thirst with in this one time. Tomorrow I am certain to find fresh water. But I need this today.?

TS. I know we have some smart people who are thinking right now,

?Scott, I know what you are talking about. You?re talking about sin! I?m a Christian, so I can turn you off right about now because you are talking to lost people today. Well here?s a news flash for you?

II. CHRISTIANS SIN

A. I don?t often ask for a show of hands, but how many people sinned

this week? Those people who failed to raise their hands are likely either lying or they spent the week in a coma.