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.
1. Why have I asked such an obvious question? I want you to
consider that we have a marvelous capacity to rationalize, to justify our sins. We classify our sins. We point to a myriad of others who commit sins far worse than the ones we commit.
2. We are usually anesthetized by this reasoning and are completely
unaware of the claim Satan has made on our lives. Before we realize it, we have given him real power over us. We are startled at the reality of it. ?How did I get into this prison cell? How did I get addicted? Why can?t I just stop?? Others who care for us may ask the same question: ?Why don?t you just stop??
3. You know if I could run your life, and you could run mine, I think we
would both be better off. But when we are in the driver seat, making decisions the right ones don?t seem very gratifying or thirst quenching.
4. What I?m talking about today are sins that Christians, or non-
Christians habitually commit?our pet sins. ?But Scott, I?m not an alcoholic! I?m not a crack addict. I?m not an addict at all!?
--If this thought just ran through your mind that was likely the voice of
the devil speaking in the first person again.
5. What are you reaching for to quench the thirst that the day
creates? What is it that you confess to God, sometimes with tears and great sincerity saying, ?God I really won?t, don?t even want to, do that again!? But days later your doing it again.
6. You know, that poison water is very ingenious. It doesn?t kill you
right away. At first, few even feel the slightest bit ill?maybe a little guilty. But that is easily removed by confession and prayer. The first effect is that those heart felt prayers of repentance become ritualistic. Then there is the gradual increasing of the distance between God and us. We may have had close communion with Him for years but now we no longer hear the sound of His gentle voice.
7. Stilled saved, but tortured. The poison divides, then it conquers.
We are separated from God, where healing and peace abound, only then do we begin to feel sins painful toxic effect.
B. Please hear this?Don?t you want your freedom back? Maybe you?ve
never really known freedom. Don?t you want victory over this, which has caused you such great pain? And consider what you have lost.
1. It is likely that you have lost people and things, which are very
precious to you. Has it really been worth it? We both know the answer to that one don?t we?
2. And, don?t you want to get closer to God? You have observed the
joy and peace demonstrated by some. It has been so appealing to you has it not. How many times have you secretly pined, ?I wish my life was more like that.?
TS. I come bearing good news today. You don?t have to walk another
step before you can begin satisfying your thirst with water that is poison free. For there are?
III. TWO KINDS OF WATER
A. We are told of a woman who came to a well day after day, year after
year to get water that seemed to satisfy for a short while. But she had to keep coming back for more.
1. Jesus met her at a well known well and He used the literal water
the woman was drawing to illustrate the course her life was taking and the poor decisions she was making in her quest to satisfy her thirsty life. Jesus informed her that there were two types of water?were speaking figuratively.
2. Please allow me to read the story to you: John 4:6-306-8The well
that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus’ disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well. Jesus asked her, "Would you please give me a drink of water?" 9"You are a Jew," she replied, "and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?" 10Jesus answered, "You don’t know what God wants to give you, and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life." 11"Sir," the woman said, "you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? 12Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?" 13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life." 15The woman replied, "Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again." 16Jesus told her, "Go and bring your husband." 17-18The woman answered, "I don’t have a husband." "That’s right," Jesus replied, "you’re telling the truth. You don’t have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn’t your husband." 19The woman said, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20My ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to worship." 21Jesus said to her: Believe me, the time is coming when you won’t worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans don’t really know the one you worship. But we Jews do know the God we worship, and by using us, God will save the world. 23But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him. 24God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth. 25The woman said, "I know that the Messiah will come. He is the one we call Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26"I am that one," Jesus told her, "and I am speaking to you now." 27The disciples returned about this time and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her. 28The woman left her water jar and ran back into town. She said to the people, 29"Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?" 30Everyone in town went out to see Jesus.
3. This woman was thirsty. She thirsted to be loved. She thirsted for
someone to really be interested in her. She thirsted for companionship. She would drink anything to quench the thirst?even if it meant drinking poison water.
4. She entered into one sexual relationship after another. Maybe the
next one would satisfy! Each time she took a drink of that poisoned water, certainly she hoped to be her last. Please satisfy my thirst. Give me what I need. In turn she gave men what they wanted. And each time she felt a little emptier, a little more worthless. Each time she hated herself a little more.
5. How do I know? Because like you, I can relate to her. The human
condition hasn?t changed in thousands of years.
6. Jesus gave her the good news that there was another type of
water: "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life."
7. Her response is classic: "Sir, please give me a drink of that
water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again."
8. Isn?t this what you want too? The woman, having made the
connection with God?with Jesus the Savior, the Messiah, took her first few sips of living water?water without poison?water that satisfied?water that was a medicine to heal the life she was in process of destroying.
TS. She did something that I?m going to encourage you to do this
morning...
IV. LEAVE THE JAR
A. (V 28) 28The woman left her water jar and ran back into town.
1. This passage is rich with symbolism. Some might read these words
and think is just trivial information. I believe John adds this detail because this is exactly what we must do. We need to leave the water jar from which we?ve been drinking. We can?t go on trying to drink living water and poison water. That never really worked anyhow.
2. Friend?you have to leave that old jar of bad water with Jesus. I
wish I could say that is an easy thing to do, but I would be lying to you. You see you?ve likely had that old jar of water with you for some time. As much pain and destruction as it has caused you, it still brought you gratification?though no satisfaction.
3. You like that old jar. You like the way it smells, you like the way it
tastes. You don?t know really if you can live without it. Though you know that you will not live long with it. You know too well it?s destructive effects.
TS. You have a choice to make. I invite you to leave the jar with Jesus.
That sounds so trite, so easy. But I know it?s not. So for the remainder of our time together this morning, I want to share with you how to leave the old water and begin drinking the new.
V. BE AN OVERCOMER
A. I want to challenge you today to become an Overcomer. We meet on
Thursday nights. I can almost promise you that you will never overcome that sin, you can never stop drinking that water hiding in the shadows hoping one day God will just zap you and miraculously remove the desire to do that thing?remove your thirst.
1. You need to come and be brutally honest with yourself and with
others who are making the same transition for poisoned water to living water. You need to do so in an environment of confidentiality, an environment of grace, an environment of accountability.
2. You?re not the only one who has that problem. If you will take this
challenge you?ll prove yourself only to be one of the few that has the courage to do something about it.
3. An Overcomer is more than an alcoholic or a drug addict who is
trying to clean up. An Overcomer is one who is trying to get loose from sin (in all it?s forms) grip.
4. An Overcomer is one who is learning to fill their days with activities
that improve life rather than destroy it?simply Overcomers are learning to drink the water that Jesus gives?water that flows like a fountain and gives eternal life.
B. How can I become an Overcomer? There are many steps that an
Overcomer must take to gain victory?to really get to the point where they never thirst again. It is odd that one of the first and most important one is learning to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You overcome through surrendering.
1. Many of us in this room are the very ones Jesus spoke of when He
said, (Mat 7:21-24 NIV) "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
2. We call Him Lord, we even willing to spend time pursuing noble,
religious, even spiritual endeavors. But when it comes to that poison water, we just can?t turn it down.
3. Surrendering, is more than white knuckling, saying to yourself over
and over, I?m not going to do it, I?m not going to do it, I?m not going to do it. And all the while allowing the thought of it to dominate your thoughts bringing on a horrible form of torture.
4. Surrendering is when you say, ?God I give up any right to feel that
way, to engage in that activity. Take the notion of it from me. What ever it is that I am looking for to quench this thirst I feel?please help me find it in my relationship with you.
5. Praying constantly is crucial to surrendering.
C. When you learn to surrender you are tapping into a power source that
is nothing less that miraculous.
1. When you surrender you put yourself in a place to see what God
can really do. People can pray for you all day long, they can anoint you with oil, They can attempt to cast demons out of you. But until you surrender, their efforts will have little effect.
2. But when you begin that process of surrender?look out. God is
going to begin that change in you for which you have long hoped.
VI. CHALLENGE
A. An Old Testament prophet puts his finger on our problem, (Jeremiah
2:13) You, my people, have sinned in two ways you have rejected me, the source of life-giving water, and you’ve tried to collect water in cracked and leaking pits dug in the ground.
1. Another prophet places before us the challenge I wish to place
before you this morning: (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.
