Address—Dn. Spence
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General Meetings, Des Moines, May 1982. Gospel by Dan Spence.
Let's begin this meeting tonight by singing #19.
Oh Christ and thee, my soul hath found and found in thee alone the peace, the joy I sought so long, the bliss till now unknown. I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, but the waters failed. Even as I as I stooped to drink, they fled and mocked me as I wailed.
Now none but Christ can satisfy none other name. For me there's love and life and lasting joy Lord Jesus found in thee #19.
Oh Christ standing.
I saw.
Joy, I thought.
Lovely tilde of unknown.
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Bow our heads in prayer.
The Blessed God and our.
Like you to turn together with me to a well known book and a well known chapter.
Gospel of John.
Chapter 4.
The Gospel of John, chapter 4 and verse one.
When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John?
Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again and into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Saikar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.
And it was about the 6th hour. There cometh the woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink, for his disciples were gone away into this unto the city, to buy me. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, ask us drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living Water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our Father Jacob, which gave us the well?
And drank thereof himself.
And his children, and his cattle, Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up, and do everlasting life.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither Come, hit her to draw, Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband, and come hit her. The woman answered, and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband in that.
Says thou truly the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive this hour to profit. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. And ye say, in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when he shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father he worship he know not what we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father.
In spirit and in truth, For the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ, when he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her eye, that speak unto thee.
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Am He and upon this time His disciple, His disciples.
Came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman. He had no man said, What seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
Well, here's a chapter that we're all of us perhaps familiar with. Perhaps there's some here tonight that have never read this chapter before.
But what the burden that I have on my heart tonight is those of you in the audience who are yet without the Lord Jesus Christ.
And who are seeking after something in this world to fill and satisfy your soul?
Now we're not going to cover this whole chapter. We couldn't in the.
Hour or less that we have. We're just going to talk about a few of the verses in this chapter, but I wanted to read it so that you would get the continuity of the whole story.
Now notice that first of all we have a man. This man is the Lord in Jesus Christ. Secondly, we have a woman. Her name is not given. This woman has a need. This woman is a Sinner. This woman has a heart that is unsatisfied and unfulfilled. And last of all, we have a will, a well of water that has been drawn from many times.
And yet could never permanently satisfy the thirst of those who've come to it.
Jesus, the Son of God, a woman who is a Sinner and a well of water. And at the end of the meeting, perhaps we'll turn to talk just about this man, the Lord Jesus Christ and you and a well. But first of all, let's notice that Jesus is God's Son. Now that is of utmost importance as we begin this meeting.
Jesus, the Son of God. This book of the Gospel of John just starts out like as if God were to say, I want you to know who my son is. And so it starts out in this manner. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In other words, God says I'm introducing my son as the word.
As if to say I want to fully express myself in my beloved Son, He goes on to say that all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. He identifies him as the Creator, not only as his Son, but as the Creator, and as we read through this book of the Gospel of John.
One thing that is impressed upon everyone who reads it.
And that is who Jesus was. He was God's Son, the one who existed back into eternity as far as you can see. The one who lives in the glory today, the one who, as we will find out in the end of this book, dies upon Calvary's cross. Jesus the Son of God the Creator, standing there by a well of water.
Tired and thirsty.
Our beloved friends. This tells us a message all in itself, that Jesus was really a man.
Jesus, the Son of God, became a man. He came down in the form of human flesh, apart from sin, with no evil nature. But he was God, manifest in the flesh, and here he stands by this well of water, weary and thirsty. I wonder for a moment if you could picture for me this little scene. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sitting down by that well alone, the disciples have gone.
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Into the town to buy some food.
There Jesus sits, wishing for someone to come and draw him a drink from that well. And then, as the sun begins to set, a woman alone comes up the pathway from the city.
Alone to draw water by that well the shame of her sin impressed upon her.
Wishing to be alone, not wanting company, there she meets Jesus at that well of water.
All my friends, you know the Lord Jesus speaks in such wonderful and simple ways to the.
Unbeliever. And we'll try to do the same tonight. Sometimes, you know, Jesus just draws a picture. Sometimes you'll find him using a field of grain. Sometimes you'll find him using a little child. Sometimes you will find him using a rich farmer. And all of these things Jesus just uses to draw a simple picture that we're going to seek to do tonight.
Notice first of all several things. In verse seven there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. In other words, he begins right down on her level. He establishes a contact with her, and that's the purpose of our meeting tonight. Not that you and I may come into contact, but that you and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Might come into contact notice then in verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would have given thee living water. In other words, he arouses her interest by introducing her to a very wonderful, wonderful gift.
Then notice in verse 14.
In verse 13 Jesus answered and said unto her.
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
In other words, he speaks of the need of her heart, but he doesn't condemn. And then, last of all, we go down to verse 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that thou saidst truly.
In other words, he brings out her sin. He brings out her sin.
And then he goes on to introduce her to himself in the remaining verses of this story. Now, I want to speak a little bit to each of you tonight, and I think that perhaps we'll be speaking to those of you who are in the teenage area of life and on up. Perhaps there'll be some children here tonight too, who have never accepted the Lord Jesus as their savior.
I like to speak to a little bit tonight.
On the wells of this world, here was this woman who was coming continually to this well every day. She had this painful journey out there to the well alone. No one wanted to be with her every day. She carried this pot of water back to her home. Every day she drank of the water from that pot that was taken from that well.
And every day her thirst continually came back to her.
Well, you know, Jesus is using that well to picture a thirsty soul. And if I were going to entitle this little message tonight, I would call it something like this.
Soul Thirst for not only is there a thirst of the body.
But there is a thirst of the soul, A thirst of the soul that would love to be quenched. Now this woman had tried to quench her thirsty soul by finding a man, as we noticed.
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She was perhaps a teenager when she fell in love for the very first time. She thought that this man would be so wonderful that he would meet every need of her heart. But as time went on, she found herself disappointed in this man, and for one reason or another she left him or he passed away or something, and she went on and married someone else.
And thinking that perhaps he could better need meet the needs of her soul. And she found in him the same disappointing thing that that man, no matter how different he was, could never meet the needs of her soul. And so she went on to #3 and #4 and #5 and found with each the same disappointment and the same emptiness.
She could not find satisfaction in marriage, and so she then turns to what the world is turning to today for satisfaction outside of marriage. She's living with a man who's not her husband, and for this she brings down upon her head the shame of that city. Well, she's looking for something that satisfy her soul, and the Lord Jesus is able to look right down into that heart and know.
The depths of sorrow, the depths of dissatisfaction, and the depths of thirst that man can never fill. All my friends, I wonder if you to night perhaps, are looking for satisfaction in a boy friend or in a girlfriend in a young man or a young woman.
I wonder if there's any in this room tonight who, like this woman, are looking for satisfaction outside of the marriage time. We're living in such an immoral, degenerate world. I was traveling on the bus over the Rocky Mountains just a week ago and we were leaving a little city called Glenwood Springs, and there was a young lady who got on the bus at Glenwood Springs and sat down.
Beside me and I.
Said hello to her and we went on our way and I was noticing the beautiful scenery outside the window. But she was reading a magazine, She was reading a magazine for young people. And so as time went on, I began to get a little nosy and glance at what she was reading. And she was reading this magazine for young people that was recommending that young people not getting married, but that they live together.
And try things out before marriage. So.
Sat there for a while, not knowing what to do or what to say, if anything, And after a while I looked over to her and I said, I said, do you agree with this article that you're reading? And she said, well I guess I would have to say yes. She said did you see that boy back at the at the bus station? And I said I did. She said that's my boyfriend and I'm living with him.
I said tell me one thing, how is it working out?
She paused for a moment and she said terrible, terrible, I said to her, I said I could have told you that. She said it started all right in the beginning, but she said it ended up terrible.
My friends, he could not find happiness in that kind of a thing. And yet the whole world tonight is going after it, you know, I began to open up the scriptures to her and speak a little bit and she said something like this, she said.
Well, I was raised in a very religious home, but she said, you know, I don't want to be put in a box. I don't want people telling me what to do. And I said to her, I want to show you something. And I took out from my pocket my wallet and I said here's a couple of pictures of my family back in California. I said there's my two boys and my daughter. And I said, you know, I have a very wonderful wife and.
I said I'm heading for a Bible conference in Des Moines, IA. I said, Now tell me, do you think I would have anything to gain by being unfaithful to my family and to my wife? And she said absolutely nothing. I said, would you recommend it to me? She said absolutely not. I said, would you say that I'm in a box if I'm faithful to this family?
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And to God. And she said. I couldn't say it.
All my friends, salvation through Christ does not put you in a box, but it sets you free from the dungeon of your sins to be free for the first time in your life. All my friends, Christ alone can set you free. You know, I had a knock at my door one night and a young man came and he said.
I want to talk with you for a little while. He sat down in my living room and he talked and finally he got to the point of his message. He said I'm tired of everybody trying to run my life. He said, you know, I'm just, I see the world out there with all that it has to offer. And he said I don't want the brethren telling me what to do.
And I said to him well.
Let's just get the brethren out of the way.
Let's just get the brethren out of the way. If you want to do it, you can leave your little meeting from where you've come. You can walk out the door, say goodbye. You don't have to deal with the brethren. But one thing I want to ask you, and I'm going to miss, apply this verse. Does not thou fear God?
And friends, I'd like to ask you that tonight as the well of immorality.
That is everywhere prevalent in the world tonight presents itself to your soul as something that can satisfy.
Dost not thou fear God? Aren't you afraid of a lost eternity? Aren't you afraid of the Judgment seat, the Great White Throne standing before a thrice holy God? All my friends, that young man said, yes, I do, Yes, I do. Well, this woman was involved in the Well of immorality and found it.
Founded a well that could not satisfy her poor longing heart.
There's other wells in this world. There's the well of education, and I certainly am not against education. I highly recommend it. But no one can find satisfaction in this well of intellectual attainment. You may become the valedictorian of your class. You may have a straight 4 point average. You may have won all kinds of.
Academic awards. But my friends, education will never, never satisfy your soul. It cannot satisfy the longing soul. There have been many who have tried it. You know, I was looking at a plot of the knowledge of this world and.
It goes something like this. If you were to look at time going along, starting with Adam and Eve, it stays pretty level occasionally. Like it will go up a little bit as we look at the Egyptian dynasties and the Roman Empire. It takes a dive into the Middle Ages. But all of a sudden in the late 1800s and the 1900s, that curve of knowledge begins to bend upward. It goes up and up and up.
Until today, it's almost going straight vertically.
Because the knowledge of this world is doubling every ten years or more.
Printed material is doubling every 15 years, so if you come out of college today with a degree that has specialized you in some field, you'll find that in 10 years your knowledge will be obsolete.
Yes, the knowledge of the world is a deep will, but it can never satisfy. I remember when I was going to school at Iowa State University, there was a young man who went all the way. He went all the way. He got his bachelors degree, he got his masters degree, he got his doctor's degree, and then he went into his room. He took his gun out of the desk and he put it to his head.
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And finished his life. And you know that among college and high school students today.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death. Why? Because education can never never satisfy your heart. Never. You may go all the way into it, but it can't satisfy the thirst of your soul.
And what about entertainment? We're living in a world that is very entertaining.
A world that is full of entertainment that will entertain you from the moment you get up in the morning to the moment you get in go to bed at night. You know, they say that the average high school student who graduates from high school today has watched 15,000 hours of television and observed 18,000 murders. And at the heart of this television industry is.
A place out in California called Hollywood. You know, there was a young lady, perhaps tending toward middle age, whose name was Natalie Wood, and this young lady had gone to the top.
She had been in the entertainment industry for many, many years. She had married several times, and she had married the man that she felt would be the person that could satisfy her. They had, for a while, a very happy marriage. They bought in Beverly Hills, a beautiful grand estate. They had a yacht that was very large. They traveled around the world they were in.
All kinds of movies.
And, you know, they found that they, their hearts were empty. You know, I read a statement from this young lady, Natalie Wood, just before she ended her life by accident out on Catalina Island. And she said something like this. Her marriage was on the rocks and she said, I don't know why I've married the most wonderful man. I've got the most wonderful home.
My children are happy, but, she said. There's an emptiness and a longing in my heart that nothing has ever filled.
And then she found herself in those very trying moments, those last moments.
Before her death, things that were so evil that I could not even mention them, she found herself there, over on Catalina Island, about 20 miles off the coast of California, with her husband and with another man.
Under the influence of alcohol, going out in the middle of the night, slipping, slipping as she got into her little boat to go out there into the middle of the ocean and think it over about that soul that thirsted and had never been filled. She fell into the waters and never was able to get out.
Sad story, the well of entertainment can never.
Never satisfy your heart. And there's other wills. There's the well of attainment. You know, you may you may have life before you. You may think of all of the things that you're going to do in life. But all my friends, none of those can ever satisfy your heart. You may think about that home. You may think about that car, that swimming pool, that real estate, those new dresses and all. You may think about the stock market and all of those kind of things.
But my friends, attainment in this life will be an empty well that will never satisfy your heart. Never.
One night some time ago, my family and I went to a travelogue by.
A man who had sailed down the Congo River called it the Congo from stem to stern, and he had a little presentation that night.
Of all the things that he had done in life, you know, when he was 15 years old, he set out for himself 125 or so goals in life, things he wanted to accomplish, Things like climbing the highest mountains.
Going to the bottom of the deepest seas, traveling on the world's fastest planes, Hang Gliding, parachuting and all of those things, He set out 125 goals, and he said that he had accomplished about 115 of those goals, and as he was talking about all of his goals and the attainment of them, a little boy.
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Sat at my side and said dad, he said, do you think he said that that man's happy. And I said, I don't know. He said, you know, I think that man has missed the greatest thrill of all. And I said what is that? He said the thrill of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior.
Oh my friends, that's what we want to present to you tonight.
Just to cover for a few moments some of the wells that this world has to present, wells that are empty, wells that are never satisfying, and to ask you at this moment of the meeting to turn from that well of pleasure that you have looked into.
And turn and directly face a man, the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ.
All my friends, I want to present to you in the remaining moments of the meeting that well of everlasting life in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This world has poisoned springs, poison springs that will result in eventual death.
That will result in eternal judgment for you.
And I want to encourage you now in this meeting to turn from the wells and from the polluted springs of this world.
To face a man, to face the Lord Jesus Christ who loves you and who gave himself for you on Calvary Cross, I want you to just lay aside the cloak of religion. You know, as the Lord Jesus brought out to this woman her sin. He did it in a very quiet way, not in a condemning way. Did this woman have to stand up in front of the disciples and say, I have sinned?
Ah, no. Where does she say it? She doesn't say it publicly. She just eventually concludes that here is a man that knows all about her. She quietly admits in her soul that she sinned. And all my friends, as we come to this very important point of the meeting, as you turn from that well that can never satisfy. Think of your sins for a moment.
We're not going to ask you to stand up here and admit them to anyone, but just quietly, as this woman did, sit in your seat and confess that I have sinned against the thrice holy God. Well, when you come to that point, now you can turn to Christ, and you can find in him one who can eternally satisfy your heart.
You can find in one in Him who can eternally give you the everlasting delight of your soul, You can find in one in Him who not only will satisfy you right now at this very moment, but will take you on into the unending ages of eternity and satisfy your soul forever and forever. Now you may have met met some disappointed Christians, or some Christians who are under trial in some way.
Christians who have had difficulties or troubles of one kind or another. But my friends, one thing that you have never met is a Christian who's said that Christ has never satisfied my soul. All my friends, He is the source of every blessing, He is the source of every joy. He is the source of every satisfaction. And he stands tonight at the at this point in the meeting.
Before your never dying soul knocking at your door, presenting himself as the one that would love to come in and give you a drink of that ever lasting water.
Well, notice this woman.
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In verse 14 again.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Jesus is offering to this woman something that is free. He's offering to this woman something that will cost her absolutely nothing, something that she does not need to work for. It's a gift, and it's something that is living.
It's going to spring up within her into everlasting life. How is it, my friends, that Jesus can offer water like this? How is it? Can he offer this water to you tonight? Oh yes, but how is it that Jesus can offer this water?
All I'd like to look for a few moments toward the end of this book, The Gospel of John, Chapter 19.
John chapter 19 and verse 16.
Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified.
And they took Jesus and led him away, And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him, and two other with him on either side, one and Jesus in the midst.
And now let's look at verse 28. After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith I thirst now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished.
And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, the Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for the Sabbath was in high day besought Pilate, that their legs might be broken.
And that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and break the legs of the 1St and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already.
They break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side.
And forthwith came there out blood and water.
Now my friends, here we have.
A very, very strange picture. The Son of God.
The one who is that source of everlasting water, We see him condemned. Condemned for something he did not do. We see him led away to a place called Calvary, a throng that is mad.
With envy and hatred, A throng that wants to cast him out, crucify him, get rid of him. We see there the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, his hands and feet nailed to the cross, in the midst of two thieves, those thieves suffering for things that they did, and he suffering for being the sinless, perfect one.
And then we see, as time goes on, in the midst of all of this suffering, and after the three hours of darkness, he says, I thirst.
Now I want to think about that, and I want you to think about it for a few moments.
You know back in the book of Genesis, Chapter 7, Chapter 7 and verse 11.
It talks about that arc where Noah and his family was all safe within it, and it says that the fountains of the great deep were opened up. The windows of heaven were opened up, as if to say there's a drenching rain that comes down from heaven upon this arc of safety, as if to say there's a gushing water that comes out of the deep of the earth and comes upon this ark.
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And all my friends in a little, just a little way.
This is a picture of what happened during those hours of darkness when Jesus suffered for my sins, when he bore them in his own body on the tree and suffered that infinite pain that no human soul can ever imagine.
This is what Jesus suffered. All that judgment that came down from above, and all of that judgment that came up from underneath, that came in upon his soul, there in those hours of darkness that caused him to cry out, my God.
My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Oh, you know, sometimes I read that verse.
In the book of Lamentations, but it seems to be a pleading word to the Sinner.
It says, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. And then it says, For from above he has sent fire into my bones, as if to say, God cannot in human language ever describe the suffering that the Lord Jesus Christ went through on Calvary's cross.
He uses the drenching rains, the floods from underneath. He uses the fire coming down from above, as if to say, I can't express it any, any better than that in human language. But let's imagine for a moment that fire of judgment, my friends, that perhaps you deserved coming down upon that sinless soul of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, And then think of these words.
I thirst.
I thirst. I am sure that he was describing his physical thirst, for the thirst of the cross was extremely great. But I want you to know, my friends, that Jesus thirsted upon Calvary's cross. He thirsted upon Calvary's cross, that you might take a drink of that everlasting well of water, of eternal life.
And one drink of that water will cause you never never to thirst again. All my friends, Jesus loves you. He loves you. He loved you when He died on the cross. He loves you from the glory. Tonight, He loves you as He stands outside your soul and asks if you would be willing to take a drink of that water. Would you? Would you, as this meeting comes to a close, be willing to drink of that water?
My friends, that alone will satisfy your heart. Notice as we read down through these verses that there as Jesus dead body hung upon Calvary's cross, a soldier came along and pierced his side, and out of it came, could we say, a spring of water and blood that will cleanse and wash away every spot?
Every stain, every record of sin. And you know when you read in the Old Testament of your sins.
Being buried in the depths of the ocean, in the depths of the sea. Just think of it as being buried in the depths of the sufferings of Christ. You know, this world is a polluted place. And I've noticed as they get more polluted and with the nuclear generators and so on, they begin to look for places to get rid of these poisonous waste. And so they've taken some of them and they've put them in containers.
They take them way out into the ocean and they drop them in to the ocean, hoping that they will never get broken loose.
Well, you know, it's possible that they might, and that worries a lot of people. But you know, when your sins are buried in the depths of the suffering of Calvary Cross all my friends, they are safe forever. Never will they be brought up in judgment against you. Never. They'll never be brought up at the judgment seat. You'll never stand before God and see one sin.
Ever brought to condemn you to an eternal hell? Never.
All my friends, Jesus suffered on the cross, he said. I thirst that's you tonight might have your thirst eternally satisfied in partaking of him as your own personal savior.
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I'd like to turn just to look at a man in the book of Luke, A Couple of Men, chapter 16.
One man who was thirsty eternally, and the other man who is.
Not Thirsty Luke, Chapter 16 and verse 22.
I'll start right in the middle of this story, and it came to pass that the beggar died.
And was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich men also died.
And was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou and thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things.
But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Notice here was a man who drank at the rivers of the pleasures of this world. He's in eternity. He's suffering from thirst, A thirst that occurred over 2000 years ago and is going on tonight. He wished that.
That Abraham would send Lazarus down with one drop of water, as if to say, I know he has plenty to drink, I know he's satisfied up there, but if he could come down and relieve this burning pain that I have, oh, I would be so happy. Just a drop of water. But that prayer was never answered. So these two men, both of them go on in there. This, this one man.
Goes on in his suffering and Lazarus goes on enjoying drinking at that well of everlasting life.
All my friends, I want to impress upon you. I want to impress upon you the realities of hell. The realities of hell. I want you boys and girls tonight to think of it a place of eternal suffering.
Where no one can ever hear your prayers. Hell, a place where your tongue will be parched, where your where your mouth will be scorched, where you will suffer on and on. I want you to think of heaven for a moment as that place, as the Book of Revelation describes it. A place that has a river of water flowing through it with a tree of life.
A place where you are eternally satisfied. I want you to think of those two places and then think of Jesus as He suffered on Calvary cross and said I thirst, that you might never thirst.
Oh, let's turn back for just one more look in the Gospel of John Chapter 4.
Notice the simplicity of verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Notice the simplicity if you knew.
If you knew the gift of God, heaven, everlasting life, and if you knew who it was that spoke to you, the Son of God, then all that you had to do was ask and he would have given you living water. My friends, it's just as easy as taking a drink from this glass. It's just as easy as taking a drink from this glass is free.
And God is offering it to you tonight. Just partake for a few moments of the Lord Jesus Christ. Invite Him into your soul to wash your sins away in His precious blood. Invite him into your soul that is never been satisfied by the things of this world. All my friends, I highly recommend him. I was saved many years ago, almost 40 years ago. Saved.
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Saved by the grace of God and by the power of His precious Blood. And I've never been unsatisfied yet, and I never will. I want to recommend to you right now to night.
As this meeting comes to a close, to just surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, let him into your life. Invite him into your heart. Ask him to wash those stains of sin away and he'll do it. At this moment I was thinking tonight of those over in the Falkland Islands, that little group of Argentinians that is surrounded by the British, perhaps, if they're still there, surrounded and things look so grim for them.
Oh, if they just surrender, I thought if they just surrender, if they just surrendered two or three weeks ago, they could have saved all of this bloodshed. And I was reminded of a little story that happened in the Second World War. There was a German general on the continent there in the country of Germany, and the Allied forces had his little village surrounded. And, you know, this German general was extremely stubborn.
And so he would not give up. The odds were very great against him. And so they flew into this little village, all kinds of little leaflets, pamphlets like gospel tracts. And they said, please surrender, come out with your hands up. We'll let you live. We won't. We won't put you in *******. We'll let you live. We'll set you free. They said, you know, if you don't surrender. The planes are now on the runways. Their engines are started, Their engines are warm. Their their bays are filled with bombs.
Please listen to this message and surrender. And you know that stubborn German general would not give up. And they moved in on that little village with all that they had and they totally destroyed every house, every every building, every person. Those men went down because they wouldn't surrender against very great odds. And all my friends, tonight I ask you at the close of this meeting.
To consider the odds of your sins, to consider this well that you've been seeking satisfaction from and justice. Realize that Christ alone can satisfy the need of your heart, that he loves you and wants to do so. Tonight, just before I left the little girl, about 16 years old, I had noticed her across the room and had not met her. I'd been gone for a while.
And her name was Laurie. But I could tell by that smile on her face that something was different. And I went over and I said, Laurie, why is this big smile on your face? And she said, I got saved. I said, that's wonderful. When did you get saved? And she told me about it. You know, just before I left, we had all of the young people over at our house for a little thing. And Laurie said, could I talk to you for a few moments? And so.
Someone else joined me. We went to a room and we talked for a few moments, and Laurie said, I'd like to tell you something. I'd like to remember the Lord Jesus in death as soon as possible. And I hope, my friends, as we close this meeting tonight, that you have that desire to. It's a normal desire once you've come to him. And we didn't have time to talk about those wonderful verses that talk about worshipping God in the Spirit, but Lori knows what that means, and she wants to do that.
And now, as we close, let's just sing #12. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. And if there's anyone in the room who's not saved, just let this be the prayer of your heart as you're as you sing. Perhaps you don't know the words to use while they're written down in this little hymn.
Just for you.
Just as I.
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Wore me.
I love you. I have all day.