Tonight I want to read a very challenging
statement made by our Lord.
But I want to take a special note
off and put it in its proper setting,
and I think you'll appreciate it better.
The statement is found in John chapter 7.
The Gospel according to St. John, chapter 7,
verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of
the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If
any man thirst, let him come unto me,
and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.
But this say he of the Spirit, and
the Spirit of course is catalyzed, which they
that believe on him should receive, for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because the
Jesus was not yet glorified.
Our Lord was a great user of parables.
He was a great user of figures.
Figures and illustrations and parables are like windows,
they let in the light.
And our Lord was a great storyteller, and
each story, each parable had a very, very
definite and very wonderful meaning.
Now, he is using figure here.
I'm not supposed, and I don't suppose that
you suppose, that he had a large container
of water.
And made it his purpose at the last
great day of the feast to say, Now
come, if you're thirsty, and I'll give you
something to drink.
I don't think that for a moment.
We have to spiritualize this.
He is using a figure.
Thirst denotes unfulfilled, unsatisfied human desires.
Many, many times in the Bible, our Lord
Jesus Christ uses the figure of thirst to
show us our need of him, and how
he himself can satisfy that thirst.
And that thirst is a very real thing,
because we know what thirst is.
It's a longing desire, and there's nothing that
will satisfy when you're thirsty except a drink
of cool, cool water.
Or something similarly refreshing.
Now, our Lord Jesus here, on this last
great day of the feast, makes this wonderful,
wonderful statement.
If any man thirsts, let him come unto
me, and drink.
Now, we know this is not literal, because
of what follows.
He that believeth on me, Scripture has said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water.
Now, you know this is not literal.
And then we're told what he means, that
this sake is the Spirit, which they that
believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given,
the cause of Jesus was not yet glorified.
Now, this last great day of the feast,
now we're going to relate this to the
context.
We're going to tell the story.
And it will enhance, I think, the meaning
of the Lord's Word.
It will make them more important to us.
This was the Feast of Tabernacles.
At the beginning of this chapter, we read
verse 1, After these things Jesus walked in
Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry,
because the Jews sought to kill him.
Now, the Jews' Feast of Passover, of Tabernacles,
I'm sorry, I'm going to mention the Feast
of Passover, but we're not ready for it
yet.
Now, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at
hand.
His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence,
and go into Judea, that thy disciples also
may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything
in secret, and he himself seeketh to be
known openly.
Didst thou do these things, show thyself to
the world, for neither did his brethren believe
on thee.
Then said Jesus unto them, My time is
not yet come, but your time is already
ready.
The world cannot hate me, hate you, but
me it hateth, because I testify of it,
that the works thereof are evil.
Go ye unto this feast, I go not
yet up unto this feast, for my time
is not yet full come.
When he had said these words unto them,
he abode still in Galilee.
But when his brothers were gone up, this
is significant, then went he also up unto
the feast, not openly, but as it were
in secret.
This was the Feast of Tabernacles, the last
feast day of the year.
The holidays in Israel's history were called Feast
Days.
We begin with the first feast of the
year, which was in April, was of the
Passover.
Following that was the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Then there was the first Feast of the
Firstfruits, when the first grain became ripe.
Then there was the Feast of Weeks, fifty
days after that there was the Feast of
Pentecost.
Then that ended the feast in the spring,
in the fall.
Then the feast began again on October 1st,
which was the Feast of the Blowing of
Trumpets.
And then on the tenth day of that
seventh month, which is our October, there was
the Day of Atonement.
That was a tremendous day in the history
of Israel.
They call it Yom Kippur now.
And then on the fifteenth day of October,
there was the Feast of Tabernacles, this feast
of which we are talking this evening.
The Feast of Tabernacles, and it lasted seven
long days.
Quite a feast day, quite a holiday.
Now, this was a time of year when
all of the people of Israel went up
to Jerusalem.
They were commanded by the Law of Moses
to all of the males, at least, go
up to Jerusalem three times a year.
One of them was at the Feast of
the Passover.
And then they were to go up at
the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost.
And then they were to go up at
this time of year, at the Feast of
Tabernacles.
And the reason that they called it Tabernacles
was because they built booths.
This was strange, but I think it must
have delighted the children, absolutely delighted them.
Because they built little booths out of branches
and trees, and they dwelt in them.
And this was to remind them that at
once in their history they were a pilgrim
people.
They didn't have their stone houses as they
did later in the land of Canaan.
And this was to be observed.
They all went outdoors.
It must have been a happy time, and
the children must have delighted in it, and
they camped out.
They built these tabernacles, or these booths, at
the Feast of Tabernacles.
And they would be out there for a
whole week.
And that was to remind them that they
were pilgrims.
That they didn't have, they really didn't belong
to this earth, that they weren't just pilgrims.
And this was that feast.
Now all of Israel, and often times, the
ladies went along.
Now on one of those occasions you will
recall, when they went up to Jerusalem, our
Lord Jesus went with his parents at the
age of 12.
The only time his wife is touched upon,
between the time he was a baby in
the manger, or not a baby in the
manger, he was in the house, we see
him after that.
We see him going to Egypt and back
to escape the wrath of Herod.
At the age of 12, he went up
with his parents to Jerusalem.
I don't know which feast it was, but
they went up, and Joseph and Mary, his
foster father and his mother, returned and they
made a day's journey out of Jerusalem, going
back home.
And they looked around among their relatives, and
the lad Christ was not among them.
He is buried behind in Jerusalem.
Now they had gone a whole day.
This will give you some idea of what
took place on those pilgrimages.
There were so many relatives and so many
children, and they were having such a good
time, that they just supposed that he was
tagging along back with the children.
But he wasn't.
He was in Jerusalem talking with the doctors
of law, asking them questions and profounding questions,
and they were amazed at his wisdom.
Now this gives us a hint.
This was on one of these pilgrimages, three
times a year, when they went up to
Jerusalem.
Now that would be a joyous occasion, to
meet your family and your friends, and get
together on one of these feast days three
times a year.
I think probably the nearest holiday that we
have that corresponds to this, is a real
family day, Christmas.
My people do like to get together at
Christmas time.
It is a family holiday.
Strangely enough, there are more suicides at Christmas
time than any other time of the year.
Poor, lonely people feel the lack of love
and human companionship so much, at the end
of their lives.
This is a statistical fact.
Now it would be a time of joy
to go up to Jerusalem with your family.
How soul satisfying it is to be with
loved ones, especially those of mutual interest.
And they would be going up for a
definite purpose, to worship the Lord.
They would have everything that would bring joy
that we think of as being soul satisfying.
To see loved ones.
And it is pleasurable to see them.
And this would be a definite time of
pleasure for these people.
Is it possible that there could be a
thirsty heart after all those family reunions?
Would it be possible that somebody had a
felt need in their soul that wouldn't be
satisfied by family relationships?
The Lord Jesus stood the last day, the
great day of the feast.
Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man
thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
Yes, it would be possible.
Now this was after the vintage.
This was in October.
All of the crops would be in.
Do you know the scripture speaks of the
joy of harvest?
And there is a real joy of seeing
the grain come in and seeing the fruits
of the garden come in.
I recall in my days, this will date
me, but so be it.
I'll tell the story anyway.
I remember when my folks, when my wife's
folks lived out on the farm, they had
what they called the cave.
It was a fruit cellar.
And they didn't have supermarkets in those days
like we have today.
You bought your sugar out of a barrel.
And they packed it and waited for you.
And you didn't have the supermarkets that you
have today.
And I realized how so satisfying it was
to go into that cave and smell those
apples.
And to see the potatoes piled up in
one corner.
And to see the various pumpkins and squash
piled in their places where they were nice
and cool.
And you knew when the snow was flying
that the path would be beaten to the
cave.
And you would draw out those good things
and they would be jars upon jars upon
jars of canned tomatoes and the different things
the ladies take pride in.
And there they would be on those shelves
all ready for the winter.
How so satisfying is a harvest?
Harvest is a wonderful time.
I remember helping my prospective father-in-law
in those days with his potato harvest.
I was going with my wife and they
were kind enough to invite me out.
So I helped him with the potato harvest.
And I really derived a good deal of
pleasure from seeing those nice potatoes come out
of the ground.
They had a potato plow that shook the
potatoes, the dirt that was in the potatoes,
and spread them out on the side.
And I could see that raw potato there.
I thought it was pure delight for me
to pick up potatoes.
Can you imagine that?
Anybody finding pleasure in that kind of thing?
I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it full and I worked hard.
I was trying to make an impression, I'll
admit it.
But they got production out of me, believe
me.
But I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the harvest time.
And to go down there, and now of
course you don't have that pleasure.
You go to the supermarket, and we have
a lovely supermarket in Greenfield.
And you go up and down those aisles
and look at those beautiful displays and you
say, what in the world am I going
to have to suffer?
You didn't have to worry so much in
those days.
But harvest is a time of joy.
And particularly for the children of Israel, it
was a time of joy.
And the scripture speaks of it.
I could turn you to a psalm and
speak of the joy of harvest.
It was a real joy.
Now is it possible that a child, one
of the children of Israel, after reaping his
harvest and leaving a few servants at home
to take care of the things at home,
that he could go out to Jerusalem knowing
that he had plenty to eat all winter
long and still there would be an antenna
in his heart that could be defined as
thirst?
Do material things satisfy?
No, they don't.
Material things do not satisfy.
I once read of a man who committed
suicide because his personal fortune had shrunk to
20 million.
And he couldn't face his friends.
He must have had a lot to begin
with.
Material things don't satisfy.
It was on the last day of the
feast, the Lord says, you still thirsty?
Come unto me and drink.
I've been satisfied.
It was a wonderful time of year.
It was a religious time of year.
Now when all the male went up to
Jerusalem at this time of year, they were
not to go off empty.
They took up their tithes to Jerusalem.
They took up their sacrifices.
They performed the Jewish sacrifices and they had
the satisfaction of doing what God had told
them to do, as good Jewish people.
They would go up there with their sacrifices
and with those tithes and present them to
the Lord.
And that must have brought them a good
deal of satisfaction.
Religious observance.
Is it possible that religious observance will bring
satisfaction?
Well, I think we all appreciate being good
once in a while to other people.
Helping old ladies across the street.
Pardon me, that is Boy Scout language.
Assisting elderly ladies across the street.
You feel like reaching up and adjusting your
halo.
Doing nice things for people.
It does kind of bring satisfaction, doesn't it?
Don't you like to be nice?
Do little favors for people.
It's nice, isn't it?
Well, that's what they did.
They took their tithes up at this time
of year to Jerusalem.
They went through all the Jewish rites and
rituals.
If religion could satisfy them, they should have
been satisfied.
And yet it was on the last great
day of the feast that the Lord stood
and cried, If any man thirsts, let him
come unto me and drink.
There is that need of the human heart
that is not satisfied with human relationships, however
beautiful they may be.
There's something still unfulfilled.
There is the joy of harvest, the joy
of plenty.
And we like it and we have it
in America, thank God.
But that doesn't always satisfy.
Religion may satisfy for a while, but religion
will never satisfy the human heart.
I recall in my religious days, before I
really come to know the Lord, Now you
may think that that's rather a paradox, but
it isn't.
It's the truth.
I didn't know the Lord.
I wasn't saved.
I was religious, but I didn't know, did
not have a personal relationship with Christ.
Most of my knowledge was academic.
It was not an experience of conviction.
Now, I know as well as you do,
that there was a lot of satisfaction in
that.
But it really doesn't satisfy the heart.
There is a thirst that we have that
only the Lord himself can satisfy.
He's made us thirsty so that he might
meet our thirst, our soul's need.
I remember the story of a little girl
on one occasion.
Her mother left her with her auntie.
Maybe you've heard me tell this story before.
If you have, don't stop me.
She went up and stayed with her auntie.
And her mother was gone a long time.
And the little girl became a little concerned
for her mother.
And she went to her auntie and she
said, auntie, I'm thirsty.
And her auntie said, well, darling, you know
where the faucet is.
Go get yourself some water.
So she disappeared.
She came back after a while.
And she says, auntie, I'm still thirsty.
Well, did you go to get a drink?
Well, no.
Well, my dear, go get yourself some water.
She disappeared.
She came back and she said again, auntie,
I'm still thirsty.
And her auntie became quite out of sorts
with her and chided her.
She was bothering her.
Why don't you do what I tell you
to do?
Oh, auntie, she says, you don't understand.
I'm thirsty for my mom.
She had it pegged, didn't she?
She would have understood what the Lord was
talking about.
She had an unfulfilled desire in her heart.
And as a child, she was intelligent enough
to recognize I'm thirsty for my mama.
I heard of Ixchep by a fine young
man once at a youth camp where I
was speaking out in New Mexico a number
of years ago.
We had a young people's conference in camp
and we had a boy that came to
the camp under some very unusual circumstances.
There were two boys.
We had a very fine young counselor that
rode to the camp on a bus, a
Greyhound or whatever it was, a railway.
And on this bus, he met two young
men that were just traveling over the interstate.
They were from Minnesota.
One of them was Swedish.
His name was Odin Engelking.
And if that isn't Swedish, I've never heard
of a Swedish name.
Odin and his buddy were traveling over the
United States.
When they would run out of money, they'd
stop and work a while and make some
money and then they'd go on.
They were on a lark.
They were just seeing the country.
Well, they got to talking together on the
bus and this counselor said, look fellas, I'm
going up here to a youth camp.
And he said, why don't you come and
go along with me?
Now there'll be a lot of sports, a
lot of, there'll be Bible instruction.
There will be things that you will be
able to appreciate.
There will be swimming.
They have a nice pool up there.
And you will enjoy it.
Then they looked at each other and they
said, well, what can we lose?
They were out for a good time anyway.
And so they agreed to go to the
Bible camp.
Well, Odin, this fine Jewish boy, he was
in the University of Minnesota.
And he was just during the summer vacation.
Seeing the country.
Well, Odin sat under the ministry that week
and he paid attention.
He was intelligent.
He paid attention.
We had a 15-year-old boy that
in the camp was one of the best
ping pong players I ever saw.
I couldn't hold a candle to him.
And neither could anybody else incidentally.
And neither could Odin Engelking.
And Odin was a proud young man.
And I never knew that a boy could
play ping pong for the Lord before, but
he did.
I could see Odin Engelking losing his self
-esteem.
And the Word of God was helping a
little too.
He found out from the Word of God
that he wasn't all that he thought he
was.
And the Word of God told him some
very plain things about himself.
And Odin began to wilt.
At the end of the camp, we had
a campfire service.
And all of these young people were around
the campfire.
And they told of their personal experiences, how
they come to know the Lord.
Odin Engelking got up.
And I thought, what next?
He was arrogant.
And I thought, we're going to get something
now.
But nobody told him he couldn't take the
floor.
He says, I have something to tell you
people here.
He said, when I came to this camp,
he said, I didn't know what was going
to happen up here.
I thought, we're going to catch it.
He told the circumstances of how he came
to the camp.
And he said, it's been my ambition to
see the United States of America.
And I have not denied myself anything.
If I wanted to see a certain site,
I wanted to see it.
But he says, I have had an experience
this week in this camp.
And he said, it's remarkable.
He says, after I have fulfilled all my
ambitions in seeing the places that I wanted
to see, he said there was always an
emptiness inside.
I've achieved my goal.
What next?
He says, I want you people to know
that this week that empty space has been
filled.
That sounded good to me.
I went to him after the campfire and
I said, now I'm going to find out
what's happened here.
And I said, Odin, I was so struck
by what you said.
Now you didn't use the nomenclature that we
use, you didn't use the language that we
use.
And I said, I just wanted to know
what took place.
And I said, Odin, can you say that
you are saved because you know that Christ
died for your sins on the cross.
And that he did everything that was necessary
to take you to heaven.
Do you know that, Odin?
He says, I believe I'm saved.
And then he thought, that isn't exactly the
way I want to put it.
He says, I know I'm saved.
Well, I began to become a believer in
him as well as he was in the
Lord.
And I said, you're sure that you're going
to heaven now?
I believe I'm going to heaven.
No, he says, I know I'm going to
heaven.
I said, how do you know that?
He said, God tells me so in his
word.
So if I place my faith in his
son, my sin will be forgiven and I'll
be in heaven.
I said, Odin, that's nice.
He wrote home and told his mother, mom,
I found God.
Not very good theology.
God had found him.
The good shepherd had gone out after the
one sheep that was lost leaving the nighting
and night in the wilderness.
And the good shepherd had found the sheep
that was lost.
But that was the old way that Odin
put it.
And I'm not going to quarrel with him.
Mom, I found God.
The remarkable thing was the three weeks later
when he was going from his aunt's house
in Albuquerque to the plane to get the
plane home, he was involved in an automobile
accident and he was killed.
Three weeks in Christ.
Nobody knows how important that chance was.
But the empty place had been filled.
He'd been to the Lord.
I had another remarkable experience with a fellow
forecaster in the U.S. Weather Bureau.
In Salt Lake City, we were together there
in the forecast office a number of years
ago.
I hate to tell you how many.
But he was a very strong Mormon boy.
He was a very fine person.
And he had been in the temple which
was as high as a Mormon can go.
I don't know whether you know anything about
the Mormon faith or not.
But that temple on Temple Square in Salt
Lake City is off-limits to everybody.
But the very best of Mormon people.
And he had ambition as being raised in
the Mormon family to be in that temple.
And he worked.
And he earned the respect and the confidence
of the Mormon people until he was indeed
permitted to go into the temple.
Which is something for a Mormon.
And I said, Charlie, I said, how did
that, did that meet a need within you?
Well, he said, I think it did.
At the time, I said, are you still,
do you still have that enthusiasm?
And he said, no, I don't.
I said, Charlie, why not?
Well, I achieved my goal.
And he'd cooled off ever since that time.
Now, I think I can identify with him,
though I'm not a Mormon.
But I think I can identify him with
my own experience.
It does not satisfy me.
Religion does not satisfy the Lord.
The Lord Jesus, telling these earnest Jewish people
who had met all the requirements of Moses,
said that on this last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried
saying, if any man thirsts, let him come
unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.
It didn't satisfy.
Charlie welcomed them.
Religion did not satisfy.
Now, I could go on multiplying stories, and
I don't think I will, about people who
have had, oh, there's one more I will
tell.
Suffer one more, please.
We were hiking in the Rocky Mountain National
Park in Colorado one time, and we saw,
my wife and I, I think you were
among our visitation, we saw a cabover truck,
a cab trailer, you know, that you'd sleep
in.
I'm not calling it the right name, but
you know what I'm talking about.
These people were from all places.
Hope County.
I knew the 77th.
They were from Hope County.
We had been hiking up along South St.
Drain Creek in that lovely, lovely setting.
It was Wild Basin Inn.
We came back, and those people were sitting
in the same place, I think, when we
began our trip.
Up the canyon.
They had traveled out from Des Moines.
And I have no doubt that they were
the envy of their friends as they pulled
out of the driveway in Des Moines, headed
for Colorado.
You lucky people.
Headed for beautiful Colorado.
It is beautiful.
I lived there for 30 years.
You're going to start adding up numbers here
in a minute.
There they sat.
They were there.
I suppose they had walked up along the
trail and come back.
Well, what were they going to do now?
Skip?
There they were.
Hours later, sitting in the same little camp
stool.
They weren't even coming.
Sitting outside of their trailer.
I suppose watching other campers.
The envy of the people back in Iowa.
Here they are out there.
Nothing to do.
They've achieved their goal.
There they are.
How many people have had the same experience
on their vacations?
They have worked all year and thought, oh,
I'm going to have a wonderful vacation.
And they go out and they keep the
ants and everything else.
And they say, what did I work all
year for in the first place?
It didn't turn out quite like they thought
it was going to turn out.
You know, they say pleasure is like all
gold.
It's divided in three parts.
Anticipation.
Realization.
And rumination.
All pleasure is really, I'm serious about this.
All pleasure is divided into three parts.
Anticipation.
Realization.
Rumination.
The greatest part of it is anticipation.
The realization falls short.
You know what vacations is.
Or don't you?
To make you glad to get home and
work for 50 more weeks so you can
go on vacation again.
There's one source of satisfaction for human work.
Christ.
He's the only satisfaction of the human heart.
If any man thirsts, let him come on
to me and drink.
He's that never failing source of satisfaction.
The creator, the architect and creator of the
universe.
The painter of the sunset.
The architect of the flower.
The one who died on Calvary for you
and for me.
He is the one that brings satisfaction to
the heart.
It's a matter of coming into a personal
relationship with the Lord Jesus.
He says, if any man thirsts, let him
come on to me and drink.
No middlemen here.
No middlemen.
I've dealt with children.
I drew and taught for children for so
many years.
And I've dealt, I suppose, with hundreds of
them.
I never used to keep track.
But in seeking to lead a child to
the Lord, there comes a time when the
evangelist has got to step out of the
picture.
You can lead a child along just as
far as you want to lead him.
And those last few steps to the Lord,
he makes all by himself.
I'd like to be able to take their
hands and I'd like to be able to
lead them over to the Lord and take
the Lord's hand and put them together, but
I can't do that.
Each of us has that meeting alone, by
ourselves.
Children are very, very intelligent.
Don't ever underrate the child.
I learned that once by experience.
I talked with a lad that I would
say about 10 years of age, and he
was a raw heathen.
I say that.
That's not very charitable.
What I should say is he didn't know
the first principles about Christianity.
Never heard anything about it.
Perhaps that's a little rough calling him a
raw heathen, because he was a rather nice
boy.
He was intelligent, I'll tell you that.
And so I talked with him.
He said, let's talk.
I got a signal and I said, all
right, let's talk.
So he says, let's go over here and
sit on the log and talk.
I want to talk.
It's hard to be touched.
So we talked.
We talked about the Lord and about how
that we were sinners.
That God loved us, it's the same, and
he wanted us in his heaven.
But there was the problem of our sins.
So he sent his son down into the
world to assume the responsibility of our sins,
and as our substitute died on the cross
for us, so that our sins debt could
be paid.
So that we could be forgiven, that God
wouldn't compromise his character, his holiness, in forgiving
us our sins.
After all, sin's debt was paid by my
Redeemer, the one who died for me.
Oh, I told him everything.
Well, I said, now this boy has got
quite a load.
I'm going to let him bear it for
a while.
So we broke up.
I had to let it soak in.
Well, the next day he come along, he
says, let's talk.
I says, all right, let's talk.
So we got over and I started going
over some of the same ground again.
I wasn't sure what he's taking.
He says, oh, you wore that out yesterday.
I said, this boy's a little farther along
than I thought he was.
He had seen it.
I hope to see him in heaven.
I don't know just exactly what was accomplished.
But believe me, when the Lord Jesus says,
if any man thirsts, let him come unto
me and drink.
He meant that.
Now he's available to each and every one
who can talk to him.
And believe me, the line will be open.
The line will be open.
But we've got to meet him for ourselves.
We've got to meet him alone.
But he says, come to me.
I want to come to you.
And drink.
Satisfy your soul's thirst.
And then he said something very remarkable.
He says, he that believeth on me, as
the scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water.
Now, what is taught by this figure?
Out of his belly, after he's come to
me and drank, then he will be a
fountainhead himself.
Out of his belly will flow rivers of
living water.
What answers to that?
How shall we explain it?
This is the way I explain it.
That after we get saved, after we come
to know the Lord Jesus, and how wonderful
it is to know that our sins are
forgiven thanks to his dying love, and thanks
to my faith and my reliance on that
fact, and you don't rely on the Lord
and get let down.
Now, when I rely on that fact, and
that brings peace to my soul, I can't
speak to myself.
I've got to tell others.
And that refreshing, refreshing living water, it's my
privilege to be the fountainhead then, and tell
others about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Out of his belly.
If the person who comes to him and
drinks, he that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water.
Out of his innermost beings.
I don't know how the translations of today
translate this.
This is the authorised.
I understand what it means, though the language
isn't quite as acceptable.
Perhaps it was in 1611 when the authorised
version was translated.
But it means out of his innermost being
there is refreshment for others.
What is the refreshment?
Christ.
Telling others about the Lord Jesus.
That's the refreshment.
And we become a fountainhead.
We become a source of refreshment to others
as we tell them about the Lord Jesus
Christ.
This is faith of the spirit, which they
that believe on him should receive that the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that
Jesus was not yet glorified.
Now the Holy Spirit is the source of
this refreshment.
We come to the Lord first of all.
We believe on him.
And then according to the rest of the
chapters in John's Gospel, the Lord sends his
spirit into our beings and into our hearts.
I've got the spirit of God inside of
me.
Well, Paul says that.
It's the teaching of the scripture.
Know ye not that your bodies are the
temples of the Holy Spirit?
God and the word of God.
The moment that I believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and the spirit of God helps
me believe it, he enters into my life.
And he takes up his good within me.
And he is a source of refreshment that
never, never ends.
This is all so wonderful when you really
start to think of it, what it all
means.
But I do appreciate these scriptures as I
read them over and over and over and
over.
Down through the years, how can you be
more dramatic?
How can you be more explicit?
How can you be more plain than the
Lord himself?
If any man serves, let him come unto
me and dream.
Now we have that privilege.
And we can come and we can talk
to him.
We need to get together with the Lord
Jesus and tell him how we feel.
And I challenge everybody here tonight, tell the
Lord how you feel about the fact that
he died for you on the cross.
I'm sure he'd like to listen to a
conversation like that.
It would cheer his great heart with love
to know that one appreciated the fact that
he died for them and that he was
putting his trust in that wonderful, wonderful work
of the cross.
Father Carl, would you please close with a
word of prayer, please?