This study was first taught on July 17, 2012

Topic: Come … and Drink (1)

No audio available for this study.

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Background
The last time we met, we saw that after people had seen the benefits of the living water promised by the Lord, some of them are very eager to immediately drink thereof. However, we saw that there are certain issues in our lives that may disqualify us from partaking of the living water, unless we deal with them; and this is the reason why we must first come to the Lord as the initial step before we can even begin to drink of the living water.

When the woman at the well expressed her desire for the living water the Lord was offering her, He immediately pointed to her sinful living, which though, was not necessarily frowned at in her day and culture, was a major hindrance to her drinking of the living water. When Simon the sorcerer wanted the experience of the Holy Spirit upon the believer, his own inordinate desire for the power to control people, was subject to the Lord’s scrutiny, and the deep-seated bitterness in him was exposed. When Peter and his friends had toiled all night without a catch and the Lord entered Peter’s boat, and enabled him to make a great catch of fish, their dependence on their own abilities, was exposed as a hindrance to experiencing the fullness of God’s abilities in their behalf. When Martha gave priority to serving the Lord, rather than sitting at His feet to receive what can never be taken away from her, her wrong priorities was exposed as a distraction that was preventing her from receiving spiritual truth from the Master, which would have given her rest. For the Ethiopian Eunuch who had gone with countless thousands to Jerusalem for a religious gathering, it soon became clear that he had not encountered the Lord, until Philip came to open his eyes to spiritual truth, and then he was able to enter into the experience of baptism into Christ!

As with all the above examples, the Lord Jesus always confronts people who express a desire for more of God and Himself, by pointing to issues in their lives which they may have thought was insignificant, but which really, are a hindrance to their ultimate experience of God and Jesus Christ in a very real and fulfilling sense. We noted that the Lord is so particular about getting rid of impediments to His people entering into a true spiritual experience in Him because, He wants to ensure that His people, who by such an experience, will become carriers of His life as a result of the living water coming into them, are clean and sanctified! Such cleanliness and sanctification makes it impossible for God’s people to contaminate or corrupt the people they are supposed to influence and impact with the life of God springing forth from within them!

Scripture Text(s)
John 7:37
We shall now turn our attention to the matter of drinking the water being offered by the Lord. May God grant that we all drink of His fullness by His Spirit, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Having established our need for the Holy Spirit, and the prerequisite that is essential if we are to qualify to partake thereof, we shall be looking at the other half of the invitation, “come … and drink”.
Genesis 2:7; John 6:48-51; Ephesians 5:18-19; Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-35; Genesis 9:20-27; 1 Samuel 19:18-24; Isaiah 55:1-2; John 4:6-15; Jeremiah 2:13; Genesis 26:18-22; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16; Romans 8:5-9; Hebrews 10:16-25; Philippians 4:10-13; Ephesians 3:16-20.

Conclusion
The Lord’s invitation to us is not just that we come to Him, but that we also come to drink. We have seen that we are not invited to come and inhale air or breath, neither are we being invited to come and eat food, nor are we invited to come and shake; but we are invited to come and drink. And in drinking, not to drink of intoxicating wine that makes a person drunk and unable to figure out what is happening to him; rather, we are invited to come and imbibe the Holy Spirit or living water.

This ‘water’ is freely given, not purchased with money; and it fully satisfies every yearning and longing a man may have for God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not natural water, but spiritual water which is representative of the Holy Spirit within the believer in Christ. It is not water that is fetched from a natural well, as representative of a religious gathering which has all the trappings of the flesh; neither is it a spiritual experience that requires that you undertake a ‘pilgrimage’ in order to receive a short-lived refreshing, and hence the need to return many times to the same well; nor is it water from a man-made well, which can be blocked by men, or even destroyed by the elements.

The ‘water’ the Lord is inviting us to come and drink of, is the Holy Spirit, Who truly brings satisfaction, fulfilment, and contentment to the life of the believer in Christ. The Holy Spirit, when imbibed begins to work within us, reinforcing us with spiritual or miraculous power, enabling Christ to dwell richly in us by faith, bringing revelation knowledge of God unto us, and enabling all that God wants to do in us to become possible.

As we drink tonight, may all that the Lord has for us begin to form within us in all His fullness.

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