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When I visited the city of Rome and

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toured the excavated ruins of that ancient civilization,

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I pondered on the brevity of life in

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this world, that no matter how powerful a

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certain government is at a particular time in

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history, it can all turn to rubble within

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a generation.

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So it was with the once powerful Caesars

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who ruled the world with an iron fist,

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but today Rome's not a superpower, but a

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spectacle to visit.

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And what caught my attention in that eternal

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city, as it is called, were the beautiful

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fountains that are so plentiful throughout the city

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of Rome.

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Now some of you who have visited Rome

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know about those lovely fountains of which I

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refer to, and perhaps you visited the ruins

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of the Colosseum where the early Christians were

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tortured and butchered and torn by wild beasts,

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and I'm sure you'd agree it is sobering

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to behold to think that it meant something

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to be a follower of Christ back then,

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that it was either Caesar's Lord or Jesus's

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Lord.

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And if you renounced Caesar and proclaimed Jesus,

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your home was ransacked, your family members arrested

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and put in prison, and some put to

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death for the sake of the gospel.

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Both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter

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were martyred in Rome for their faith in

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Christ Jesus.

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The blood of the martyrs was the seed

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of the early church, that their blood was

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poured out for the sake of Christ and

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the gospel made them like their master who

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poured out his own blood on a tree

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for sinful man.

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How his very blood was like a fountain

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as it flowed down that rugged cross on

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Calvary.

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I can't think of that without contemplating the

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hymn of William Copper, There is a Fountain

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Filled with Blood.

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Its original title was Praise for the Fountain

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Opened.

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A few sing it today.

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A few teenagers in the church have ever

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even heard it.

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It's a shame.

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It needs to be brought back again and

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sung in our sanctuaries for it's a vivid

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description of Christ's redemptive work on the cross.

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That man in his sins is alienated from

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God and he's unjustified.

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His sins are unpardoned and he's unreconciled.

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And what a tragic and dangerous position man

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stands in apart from Christ.

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How at any moment he can die and

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enter another world quite unprepared for it.

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How man's life is but a vapor that's

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here for a little while and then it

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disappears.

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Life in this world is severed by death

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and eternity is entered upon.

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Either peace with God in heaven or misery

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in a place called hell.

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Unless a person is under the blood, unless

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that person's sins have been washed in that

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fountain of blood, they are lost forever.

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The title of my message this morning friends

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is Christ the Fountain.

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Allow me to read us the hymn of

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William Copper.

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I have it before me.

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You can look in your hymnals.

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It's hymn number 196.

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There is a fountain filled with blood drawn

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from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that

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flood lose all their guilty stains.

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The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain

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in his day and there may I, though

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vile as he, wash all my sins away.

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Dear dying lamb, that precious blood shall never

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lose its power till all the ransomed church

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of God be saved to sin no more.

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E'er since by faith I saw the

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stream of that flowing wound supply, redeeming love

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has been my theme and shall be till

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I die.

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When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent

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in the grave, then in a nobler, sweeter

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song, I'll sing thy power to save.

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Friends, in that hymn is the gospel of

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the Son of God.

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That gospel has power to save, but one

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has to come to that place of crucifixion

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and behold that bloody cross through repentance and

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faith of poor sinner kneels there and sinners

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plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty

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stains.

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Not self-righteous man, I do not come

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to that fountain as a self-righteous man,

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but no, I see myself unworthy.

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In fact, I see myself as vile as

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that thief on the cross and God in

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his electing love will bring every one of

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his ransomed church of God to himself to

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sin no more.

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But listen, friends, the very thing that takes

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away my guilt, that gives me pardon, that

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justifies me in the sight of the Father

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is the blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins.

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He was the sacrifice for sin.

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He paid my sin debt, which I could

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never pay on my own.

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Jesus, as a slain lamb, took the wrath

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of the Father on my behalf.

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I deserved hell, but I was shown mercy.

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I came to that fountain filled with Christ's

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blood.

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Where would I be without Christ the fountain?

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But let me ask you, friends, why is

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it necessary to be plunged beneath that flood

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as the hymn writer says?

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And this is where I want to camp

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out this morning on two aspects of Christ

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the fountain, why we need Christ and who

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are the ones who will seek him.

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First, we need pardon to be reconciled back

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to God because we've transgressed God's holy law.

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We're guilty rebels.

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We're lawbreakers because of sin.

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And we stand beneath the weight of those

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sins that must be punished.

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That sentence must be carried out against us

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unless we are people who've been pardoned for

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without pardon, God comes upon the sinner and

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requires the debt of punishment because the sinner

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did not pay the debt of obedience.

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God requires perfection to get into his kingdom

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and no one's perfect.

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Save Jesus Christ.

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Listen, friends, our very best day can't save

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us.

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We can't come to God in our own

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merits for third, but filthy rags in God's

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sight.

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So we have a dilemma.

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We have a need.

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We must come to Christ and get under

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that fountain of blood.

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Ephesians one seven declares in whom we have

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redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,

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according to the riches of his grace.

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Listen to this offer of pardon that's found

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in Isaiah.

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Turn in your Bibles to the book of

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Isaiah in chapter fifty five.

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I want to read us verse six and

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seven for these verses speak of an offer

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to pardon.

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Seek ye the Lord while he may be

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found.

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Call ye upon him while he is near.

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Let the wicked forsake his way and the

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unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return

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to the Lord and he will have mercy

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upon him and to our God, for he

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will abundantly pardon.

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You see, friends, before our sins were pardoned,

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we were a Christless people.

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Ephesians declares that at that time you were

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without Christ.

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But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes

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were far off are made now by the

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blood of Christ.

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So Christ is the fountain where we come

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for mercy and pardon to have our sins

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washed away, as seen in Isaiah fifty five

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seven, which states and he will have mercy

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upon him and to our God, for he

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will abundantly pardon.

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That means reconcile us back to God through

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the forgiveness of sins.

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Our sin gets paid by the blood Christ

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shed on that cross.

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So the first aspect of Christ, the fountain

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is this.

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It's our need of him for without him,

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we are doomed and damned for all eternity.

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I know I'm a sinner and I need

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a sin substitute in the person of Jesus

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Christ.

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And so do you, friend.

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So do you now want to look at

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the second aspect of the gospel invitation of

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pardon, which is to whom is it offered?

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Surely the gospel is freely offered, but only

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certain individuals will partake of that offer.

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Who are they?

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The gospel is for the person who sees

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his need of a savior.

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Look at verse one in Isaiah, which states,

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oh, everyone that thirsts to come to the

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waters and he that has no money, come

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by and eat.

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Yeah, come by wine and milk without money

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and without price.

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Christ is the fountain open.

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He is for the person who is thirsty,

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who's hungry, who has a need.

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The gospel will never be received by a

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self-righteous person who has no need.

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There must be a plowing work done by

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the Holy Spirit, which shows man has lost

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condition apart from God convicts him of his

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sins and shows him his need of a

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savior.

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That person must be thirsty for Christ to

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come to Christ, the fountain of living waters.

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Listen to how Jesus dealt with a woman,

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the Samaritan woman at the well, as seen

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in the gospel of John and chapter four.

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In this passage, we see a weary Jesus

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take rest on Jacob's well, and he encounters

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a woman who is weary of her sins.

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Jesus tells her, whosoever drinketh of this water

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shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the

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water that I shall give him shall never

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thirst.

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But the water that I shall give him

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shall be in him a well of water

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springing up into everlasting life.

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Christ is the fountain of living water, and

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he deals with this sinful woman the way

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each one of us should deal with lost

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sinners.

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We should get them lost and get them

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thirsty.

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At first, the woman wants the water.

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She tells him, sir, give me this water

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that I thirst not, neither come hither to

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draw.

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But that woman wanted the water carelessly and

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casually to make her life a little easier

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so she won't have to come to this

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well every day and have her reputation precede

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her in that town.

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You can just picture her walking to that

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well each morning with her head down and

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her face covered with a scarf to hide

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her shame.

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When we present the gospel, we give this

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water out to freely to those who aren't

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really thirsty and they don't have a need

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of it, but they take it carelessly and

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casually because it's free.

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And they're like the stony ground hearers who

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take no root through a false profession.

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But notice how Jesus deals with this sinful

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woman by confronting her with her sins.

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He tells her, go call the husband and

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come hither.

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You see, friend, before a person can drink

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at Christ the fountain, they must first be

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thirsty.

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You can lead a mule to water, but

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you can't make him drink.

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You can offer Jesus and people all day

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long.

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But if they are not thirsty for him,

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if they do not see their need of

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him, they will not partake of that living

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water savingly.

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They're not thirsty.

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This is why modern evangelism has damned its

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millions by making false converts, by shoving a

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Jesus down their throats when they're not hungry

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or thirsty for him.

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So they take your Jesus casually and carelessly

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before they're brought to see their lost condition

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and convicted of sin like that woman was

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at the well.

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She first wanted that living water in a

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careless and casual way because she wasn't yet

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convicted of sin and showed her desperate need

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of Christ the fountain.

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But Jesus brings this woman to a place

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of conviction of her sins, and then she

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gets to the place where she has a

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need.

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She's conscious of her need and she's thirsty

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for Christ and weary of her sins.

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That's the kind of person who can say,

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what must I do to be saved?

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As soul winners, we need to be busy

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to get lost sinners to that place of

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a conscious need for that living water and

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then show them the pearl of great price,

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Christ the fountain of living water.

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I like what the Puritan Bible commentator Matthew

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Henry has to say about this passage from

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the Gospel of John.

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I have copied his words for you this

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morning.

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Listen to what he has to say for

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it is the real gospel friends.

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The next subject of discourse with this woman

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is concerning her husband.

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What Jesus had said concerning his grace and

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eternal life, he found made little impression upon

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her because she had not been convinced of

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sin.

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Therefore, waving the discourse about the living water,

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he sets himself to awaken her conscience, to

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open the wound of guilt, and then she

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would more easily apprehend the remedy by grace.

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How discreetly and decently Christ introduces this discourse,

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how industriously the woman seeks to evade the

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conviction and yet insensibly convicts herself and before

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she is aware admits her fault, she said,

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I have no husband.

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How closely our Lord Jesus brings home the

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conviction to her conscience, how mildly Christ tells

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her of it.

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He with whom thou livest is not thy

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husband, and then leaves it to her own

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conscience to say the rest.

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That's conviction of sin, friends.

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Old Matthew Henry knew what he was talking

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about in the way to bring a person

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to Christ, to shut them up to God

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and get them lost, get them conscious of

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their need of a remedy for sin.

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Then that sinner can come to the fountain

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filled with blood and partake of that fountain

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of living water.

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Christ the fountain, Christ the redeemer who satisfies

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that thirst, but sin has to be pardoned

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before we're saved.

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God's and we stood at a distance.

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God was our enemy and we were his

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enemies.

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There's a mountain of sins which separate us

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and him.

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But oh, I thank God, friends, for that

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fountain filled with blood that washed my guilty

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sins away.

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I'm thankful for Christ, the fountain of living

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water that never runs out, that always satisfies.

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So these two aspects of Christ, the fountain

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must be addressed in our day of a

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diluted gospel and false professions.

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As soul winners, we must bring people to

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that fountain filled with blood and let them

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know that such a fountain exists and tell

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them about Christ crucified for sin.

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Then we are saved by his death and

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with his blood who we must repent of

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our sins and get under that blood.

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And once we exercise repentance toward God, we

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can come to that fountain of living water

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and drink through faith.

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But we must first get lost.

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There must be a need for a savior

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from sin that the invitations of the gospel

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are for the hungry, the weary and the

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thirsty.

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Are you hungry for God?

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Are you weary of your sins?

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Are you thirsty for Christ?

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Then come, ho, everyone that thirsteth.

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Come ye to the waters and he that

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hath no money.

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Come ye, buy and eat.

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Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money

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and without price.

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And Jesus gives the gospel invitation in Matthew

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in chapter 11.

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He says, Come unto me all ye that

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labor and are heavy laden and I will

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give you rest.

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Take my yoke upon you and learn of

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me, for I am meek and lowly in

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heart, and ye shall find rest unto your

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souls, for my yoke is easy and my

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burden is light.

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And in the gospel of John, chapter 7,

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we read, In the last day, that great

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day, the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,

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If any man thirst, let him come unto

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me and drink.

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He that believeth on me, as the scripture

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hath said, out of his belly shall flow

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rivers of living water.

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But the problem was, friends, when Jesus stood

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up in that vast assembly that day, he

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was addressing Pharisees who weren't thirsty.

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They saw no need of him.

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They not only had no need of him,

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they wanted to kill him and rid the

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world of him.

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It was as if when Jesus said to

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them, If any man thirst, let him come

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unto me and drink, the Pharisees responded by

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saying, We're not thirsty.

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And Jesus came back and said, I wasn't

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talking to you.

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I was addressing that poor sinner standing next

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to you who has a need, who's hungry

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for the bread of life and thirsty for

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the living waters.

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That whosoever will of the gospel invitation is

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true, friends, but nobody will come unless they

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are first thirsty.

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But listen to the good news of the

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gospel.

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If you're thirsty, you're invited to come and

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the spirit and the bride say come and

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let him that hear it say come and

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let him that is a thirst come and

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whosoever will let him take the water of

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life freely.

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Dear friends, the gospel is for the hungry,

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00:19:26,010 --> 00:19:27,930
the weary and the thirsty.

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Are you thirsty?

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Then come, come to Christ the fountain for

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sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their

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guilty stains.