Are You a Thirsty Horse?
You’ve heard the saying: You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
What does that mean? There are a lot of people that you can talk sense with and even though you’ve talked sense with them, and given them good advice, they still go and do ill advised things. !They know better but they still do them anyway! I had a roommate like that. He would ask advice and I’d give it, and he would go and do the opposite almost every time and regret it!
A cowboy was walking to the barn and another cowboy was sitting on the porch and asked, “Where ya goin?”
The first one said, “I’m going to go ride that new horse!”
The cowboy on the porch said, “Hold your horses! Shouldn’t you say, God willing, you’ll ride that new horse?”
The first one said, “No way, I’m determined and going to go ride that new horse!”
The cowboy on the porch said, “Oh, OK!”
A while later the first cowboy was limping the other way looking sort of ragged holding his arm.
The cowboy on the porch said, “Now where are you going?”
The cowboy said, “God willing, I’m going to go see the doctor.”
You know what’s the hardest thing about learning to ride a horse? The ground!
Has anyone ever given you good advice that you wish you would have taken and regretted it?
The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Jesus’ time. They were lovers of money!
They thought that if you were rich, then God approved of you (Blessed) and if you were poor then God did not approve of you (not Blessed). Seems simple enough, right?
Is that always true, tho? Is it true at all?
The Pharisees were getting the cart before the horse, so to speak.
Instead of being blessed by God, they would get money (ill gotten) and thereby act as tho they were blessed of God. Then those who were poor, instead of helping, they would just snob and say they were not blessed, so their logical conclusion was that they didn’t need helping either.
Is this how we should be? Jesus called out favoritism of the rich and dishonoring of the poor in James 2:1-9 where the Pharisees would give the rich the places of honor at the table and the poor had to sit on the floor by the footstool.
If God blesses someone and they become rich, then great. However, you can’t make yourself rich and then expect God to favor you because you are rich. This is where the Pharisees got it wrong and backwards. Being wealthy doesn’t matter for God’s favor or salvation.
Luke 16:19-31 Rich man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Here we have two fellows, one rich and one poor. Which does God love more? It doesn’t say. The Pharisees would say the rich man was blessed so God loves him more. But is it true?
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
So here we see that Lazarus, the poor man, went to be in paradise by Abraham’s side, but the rich man went to the torment of Hades. Now which do you say was blessed? Obviously the rich man was lacking something serious!
Matthew 19:23,24
And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
For the rich man, his riches didn’t help keep him out of H.E. double hockey sticks. It wasn’t true that his riches showed his approval with God. In fact, riches are a distraction and distract people from turning to God. Rich people think they don’t need God, they have riches! Don’t be that person who puts faith in money rather than God or else your money will burn up with you! The rich man’s faith in wealth was worthless, Lazarus believed in God which was priceless!
Continuing with Luke 16:19-31
24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
Here we see that the rich man is in agony in fire! Wow! Heed this warning! You do not want to go there! He begs for just a drop of water on his tongue! That must be some serious agony to just beg for one drop of water! Wow! And I thought it was hot in Texas! Salvation comes through faith in Jesus, not from being wealthy or by doing good works. Christians should do good works (the fruit of a saved life) but good works does not save you.
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Imagine, people all over the world are given the Gospel that they can read from the Bible or go to a church or even hear sidewalk preachers. What do they do, they ignore them, they reject them, they see no value in anything they say! When they pass from this life into the next, do you believe they will see that they should have listened?
Abraham said that even if one were to rise from the dead they would not listen. Name one person who rose from the dead? Jesus, in this story, was talking about himself! Jesus rose from the dead!!! Did they listen to what Jesus said? They would not believe him or even listen to him! Imagine ignoring and not listening to the almighty God incarnate!
Imagine a guy crawling through the desert crying for water and he reaches water, and it's good and tasty pure water, yet the thirsty man doesn't drink it, and just sits there until he dies of dehydration. Why would anybody do that? It's the same with Jesus. If you know Jesus died for your sins and is the Savior of the world why not put your trust in him and be saved? Jesus even rose from the dead, now when that happens people should sit up and listen you’d think, but did they, no!!! Incredible! Jesus was a real historical figure, we have books, even those besides the Bible, to prove what occurred back then but do people sit up and does that get their attention? Nope! What does he have to do to make people wake up and realize that they are on the wrong road of life! Are you that person that you’re bee boppin and doing a little shangalang down the road of life not knowing the destination is the fiery furnace and you’re missing all the exits that could save your life?
John 4:9-15 Woman at the Well
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, if she knew him she would ask of him and he would give her living water. That same thing applies to us!! Do you know him? Do you know he’s the Savior? You could be saved by just asking of Him and He would give you living water (salvation)! It’s free for your thirsty soul that is in desperate need!
For us, our commission is to share the Gospel with people that won’t listen! How sad that is! Why won’t people listen to God’s warning, and to His loving offer - a cure for their sins?
Isaiah 6:8-13 Here am I! Send me! How long, Lord?
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
We share the Gospel with others, even if they won’t listen because we love as God as loved us and we don’t want to see anyone perish. To us God’s Word is Quick and Powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword and we know it is the cure that people need!
1 Corinthians 1:18 Power of God!
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Are you hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Jesus satisfies! There is no sin in heaven. Imagine when you die and go to heaven and it's a sinless wonderland. Here on this earth we groan waiting for the day when Jesus will come back and make things right. (Romans 8:22-24 - see below) And still people reject that. They would rather go to H.E. double hockey sticks. It just doesn't make sense. Take a drink of the living water, that is to say, Jesus's salvation, and be saved! I beg you to take a drink! Don't be like a horse that you lead to water and won't drink! It's incredible when someone presents the Gospel of salvation in Jesus and people just walk away and don't think about it at all. They don't make a decision at all and go away lost! It just doesn't make sense to me! Are you like that thirsty horse? Are you standing before a nice clean pure pool of water and dying of thirst but won't drink? Jesus wishes that none should perish and that all should come to repentance! He wants to save you and take you to heaven where it's wonderful! Why would anyone say no to that especially knowing the alternative of not accepting this wonderful gift. Don't be a thirsty horse! We present to you the living water, salvation in Jesus! Please take a drink, trust in Jesus and be saved!
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Romans 8:22-24
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
