People Of Resource

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends, how in the world are you? Thank God we can be in the world, but not of it. You don’t have to be tarred with the world’s brush. You can live clean in a dirty world. “You who are kept,” says Peter, “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” So when I say, how in the world are you, you know, don’t you, what I mean. Nice to be back with you, and we’re doing a little reviewing, recapping, hitting the high spots before we leave the Gospel of John. We’ve gone through it verse by verse, and now I’m just sorta recapping some of the main points that stick out, at least to me, as I look at the various chapters. Still, in Chapter 7, there’s this blessed passage starting in 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, spake He of the spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.'”

“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” Now, here’s the “if” of desire. If any man thirst. How much do you want God to work in your life? It is a fact that we go through periods of spiritual longing. There are sometimes when your soul feels as dry as the desert, and other times when you just long for God to come and touch you. All of this, I think, is part of His providential provision. God draws us to Himself. He allows circumstances to nudge us, and sometimes, drive us to our knees. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,” Paul says in Romans. The fact is, however, that blessing in your life is directly proportional to whether or not your thirsty, longing for God. “As the hart,” that’s a little deer that was native to Bible lances, “the hart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, oh God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger, and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” So I have to ask myself the question, how hungry am I for God? How much do I want His working in my life?” And the answer, sometimes, is quite revealing, if one were to be brutally honest. The answer might well be, “Well, I want God but I want my own way, too.”

How about you, friend? Hasn’t that been true sometimes? I guess so. Now, what do you do about all this? Jesus said, “You can be satisfied. The thirst of your soul can be satisfied if you come to Him.” Now, we haven’t even gotten to the results of that yet, we’ll get to that in a minute. But He says, “If you’re thirsty, come on.” What do I do about this? Number one, if your soul is dead and dry, do the one thing that will refresh you, and that is, take the Word of God, read it and pray, and read it and pray. And wait in the presence of God until you are aware of His touch on your life. It takes a little while sometimes. But I can guarantee you that there will never be a dry time in your soul, that will not respond to waiting on God. “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He shall strengthen,” and that word strengthen has in it the idea of refreshment, as well as new power, “strengthen thine heart.” Wait before God. I think the thing that illustrates this the best for me goes clear back into 1949, I suppose, it would have been. And I was a guest in lovely home in California. I had a series of appointments in Southern California in the Los Angeles area. Oh, by the way, somebody wrote me a letter and said, “You shouldn’t say Los Angeles, you should say Los Angeles.” Well, if you give it the right Spanish pronunciation it’s Los Ángeles.

You do whatever you want. You know what I’m talking about anyway, don’t you? That place there in Southern California. I was a guest in this beautiful home, and the dear people had moved out of their master bedroom, and they were sleeping in junior’s room. And he was downstairs sleeping on a sofa, not too happy about it. It was an interesting household. Everyone talked at the top of his voice, a noisy house, loving, full of love, but noisy. They had four parakeets and all of them would yell at the same time. [chuckle] I soon learned that if I was gonna get anywhere with God, I had to get up before the family did, and have my devotions. And so I would set the alarm clock, put it under my pillow, and when it went off, I would shut it off, get up and go and kneel down in the clothes closet of this master bedroom. Now, the clothes closet was about the size of my dining room back home. So I would kneel down there amongst the minks and other things, and have my devotions. [chuckle] Can you see the picture? [chuckle]

Well, on this particular morning I was getting nowhere. My soul was as dry as dust, and I knew that I had nothing to give out that day, and I had six or seven appointments. And by appointments, I mean different kinds of meetings, where I had to say a few million words, and somehow convey some blessing and inspiration, to businessmen and pastors, and young people and all the rest. And oh, I was just groaning with desire, but nothing was happening. In those days I was reading, and studying, and praying in the book of Luke. Then I heard the little boy get up and walk down the hallway, and I heard his father’s voice in stentorian tones, “Quiet! Don’t you know brother Cook wants to sleep.” Well, I tell you that rattled the windows, and it certainly would have awakened me had I been sleeping. But I remember praying, “Oh, Lord hurry up, there isn’t any time left.” And dear friends, just as I prayed that desperate prayer, that whole passage there in Luke opened up to me. It opened up, I mean to say in terms of what God was actually saying to my soul, and I quick… Wrote it down and my tears smeared the pages. I wrote down the things that God had said to me in that moment. And I prayed them back to God and my heart was fresh and blessed. And I came out of that clothes closet with the blessing of God.

You wait on God and you determine that you’ve got to have a word from him, and I’ll tell you, He’ll never disappoint you. Oh, by the way, I had six or seven meetings that day, and shared that same passage with people everywhere I went. And we had people saved in meetings where they weren’t supposed to be evangelistic, but we had folk coming to Jesus all day long. Well, Hallelujah. [chuckle] “If any man thirst, let him come up to Me and drink.” Get with your Lord today, open the Word, that’s how He speaks to you, from his blessed, inerrant, infallible Word, the Bible. Get with your Lord in the Word, and wait on Him until He speaks to your heart with blessing. Now, what happens He said, “He that believeth on Me,” and that’s commitment isn’t it? That’s not just a mental attitude, that’s making Jesus the Lord of your life. “He that believeth on Me,” commits himself to me as as his Lord, “as the Scripture hath said, out of his innermost beings,” from within him that means, “shall flow rivers of living water.” God makes you a resource person when you let Him satisfy your thirst. Our Lord Jesus said the same thing to the lady, who was no lady, I guess, at the Ancient Jacob’s well at Sychar. She had come to draw water and there was this byplay of communication there, He said, “Give Me a drink,” she said, “Why are you talking to me? You’re a Jew. I’m a Samaritan.”

The only reason why anybody would do that, is the oldest reason in the world. “Is that what’s on your mind Mr.?” He said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says, ‘give me a drink,’ you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water in Jacob’s well, 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.” God not only satisfies your need, but he makes you a resource person. So many Christians are leaners. They depend upon others for their spiritual sustenance. They depend on the Pastor, and his sermons, and his occasional pastoral call. They depend upon close friends for sympathy and encouragement. Their spiritual life goes up and down depending on the circumstances around them. Too many of us, I fear, are leaners. Instead we ought to be resource persons. And we can be, that’s the good news. “He that believeth on me… ” Absolute commitment to Jesus as Lord, that’s what that means. Believe on Me means absolute commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

He said, “Out of from within him, shall flow rivers of living water.” Every now and then you meet somebody who has that refreshing touch of God upon his life. And what a delight that is to move into a situation, and sense the presence of God in somebody’s life. It’s great, isn’t it? I said to Cyril Thompson, as I met him for the first time in Calcutta, many years ago. We had driven in from the airport in an ancient Oakland touring car that someone had imported, and used as a taxi. Had that rubber ball brass horn on the side of it, and no side curtains or anything, because it was very hot and dry. So here we were in that ancient Oakland touring car 1928 model, I think I remember it was. And we finally got into the center of the city to the offices of Youth for Christ, got out of the car, and Hubert Mitchell or Ed Riley, one of them paid the taxi driver the amount we had previously agreed upon at the airport. Oh, incidentally, when you travel, always fix the taxi fare before you get in the taxi, because the meter probably isn’t honest.

So after we paid off the taxi man, then we turned, and here I met Cyril Thompson. And I met him and was introduced to him as a missionary who was working there in Calcutta and I said, “Well, brother, how are you?” He stood there, strapping six foot one or two Britisher, and he said, “Brother, I am full of the joy of the Lord!” And you knew that he was. I learned later that he didn’t have a rupee to his name, because his support check hadn’t come in at all. There he was stony broke, but full of God’s presence, bless him. Hey, that’s what I want for myself and for you. Rivers of living water, the presence of God just flowing out of our lives. The Holy Spirit does that. That’s what the next verses says, “This spake He of the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, who indwells the believer, will do that for you. Trust your Lord today. Father God today, may we be resource people. Not dependent upon circumstances or others, but upon Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. I ask in His name. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!