[0:00] John chapter 7, verse 37 through 52.
[0:17] ! Let him come to me and drink.
[0:33] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit with whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
[0:52] When they heard these words, some of the people said, This really is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
[1:04] Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
[1:19] The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, Why did you not bring him? The officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees answered them, Have you also been deceived?
[1:32] Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?
[1:50] They replied, Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word.
[2:00] Would you please be seated? Most of us are aware when we are hungry and thirsty. Our bodies send signals to us that we are in need of nourishment and that if we don't respond to those signals soon, it will have a negative effect on us.
[2:21] We become agitated, uncomfortable, and angry. And there's a new word now, hangry. So hungry that I'm so angry at the world until I eat.
[2:35] And truly, it's really hard, isn't it, to focus on anything when you are famished and or dehydrated. However, there is another kind of hunger and thirst that I believe that we are aware of and that we seek to satisfy, but the ways in which we seek to satisfy and quench this other kind of hunger and thirst leaves us only hungering and thirsting for more.
[3:09] This other kind of hunger and thirst that I speak of is a spiritual hunger, a spiritual thirst. It's an eternal hunger and an eternal thirst.
[3:19] In Ecclesiastes 3.11, Solomon writes about this very thing. There, speaking of God, he says, He has made everything beautiful in its time.
[3:34] Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to the end.
[3:46] St. Augustine once observed, and I've quoted him before, this sentence that he is well known for because it's so profoundly true, and I'm sure I'll quote it again.
[4:00] He said, Of God, in a prayer, You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.
[4:12] You see, God has put eternity in your heart. He has put eternity in our hearts. Within each and every one of us exists an inconsolable longing.
[4:29] A longing that is inconsolable so long as it seeks satisfaction in anything other than God Himself. We try to satisfy this hunger, this thirst, this longing, with things like scenic vacations, accomplishments of creativity, stunning cinematic productions, sensual exploits, hallucinogenic drugs, aesthetic rigors, managerial excellence, and we could go on and on and on, but the longing still remains.
[5:12] Isaiah explains it well in Isaiah 55, 5, 2 through 3. Talking about how we search for satisfaction in this world and we waste our time and lives doing it.
[5:29] He writes, Why do you spend your money on that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.
[5:43] Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. And I will make with you, God says, an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David.
[5:57] Jeremiah likewise observed in chapter 2, verses 12 through 13, Be appalled, O heavens, at this. Be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord.
[6:11] For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
[6:29] Now this may describe some of you this morning. Your soul is hungry. Your heart is thirsty. You have a longing, a restlessness.
[6:42] You're aware that there is something missing in your life. The grass always seems greener than the ground that you're presently standing on.
[6:54] Jesus Christ is calling you. He's calling you to turn from your pursuits of temporary, unsatisfying pleasures.
[7:06] To turn away from the thrill of lustful pursuits that leave you feeling guilty and lonely afterwards. To turn away from drugs and drunkenness that have ruined many of your relationships, no doubt.
[7:19] to turn from the pursuit of material possessions that bring joy for a time but that eventually you become bored with. To turn away from making idols out of the performance of your children and grandchildren in the classroom and on the sports field.
[7:37] God is pleading for you to stop. To stop drinking from the broken cisterns of this world. To come to Him.
[7:49] C.S. Lewis said, If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I have been made for another world.
[8:01] Have you experienced that? Have you experienced trying to pursue the treasures of this world to satisfy the longing in your heart only to realize that they aren't capable of doing so?
[8:12] because we've been made for something greater. In the heart of every person there is an eternal hunger. A hunger and a thirst that only God can satisfy.
[8:28] Our passage today begins with an invitation from Jesus. It's an invitation to come to Him.
[8:39] To trust in Him. To receive from Him the salvation, the forgiveness, the purpose, the meaning, the redemption, the contentment, the peace, the satisfaction that you're angry and hungry or you're hungry and thirsty and it could be angry.
[9:00] Soul craves. How will you respond? How have you responded to this invitation?
[9:12] The main idea for this morning's sermon is that every parched and famished soul that comes to Jesus will be eternally satisfied.
[9:27] Every parched and famished soul that comes to Jesus will be eternally satisfied. In our text today Jesus extends an invitation.
[9:41] That invitation is for anyone who recognizes their thirst to come to Him with the promise being that when they do they will be eternally satisfied.
[9:56] In this passage John presents us with three different kinds of responses to this invitation. And so if you're an unbeliever this morning listening to this let me tell you that Jesus is inviting you to continue to listen.
[10:12] Jesus is inviting you to come to Him. And your likely response to that invitation will be one of three that we see in this scripture today.
[10:23] My hope obviously would be that the Holy Spirit draws you. That the Holy Spirit opens your heart to the response that saves.
[10:36] That out of your heart then will flow as Jesus said rivers of living water. For believers we know that we are commanded to share the gospel.
[10:50] Our Lord calls us to be disciples who make disciples. And as you're obedient to that call you will encounter those who respond to Jesus' invitation in one of these three ways.
[11:04] And so here this passage provides us as followers of Christ with an awareness of what these responses may and will be.
[11:16] Scripture teaches us then how best to interact with these different kinds of responses that we receive from people as we share the gospel with them.
[11:26] But first let's look at the invitation that Jesus extends found in verses 37 through 39. Jesus makes an invitation, gives an invitation.
[11:39] first of all as we've studied John we understand that this is not the first time that Jesus has extended a public invitation to believe in him.
[11:50] Remember back in John 3 when Nicodemus a Pharisee a man who we see in John chapter 7 a man who then identified Jesus as a great teacher someone who must have been sent from God Jesus identifies him as this great teacher of Israel but Nicodemus comes to him at night having again have heard Jesus teaching and seeking further explanation from this man that he understands is different.
[12:27] He expresses that he understands that Jesus again is at the very least a teacher sent from God and then Jesus goes right into explaining to him the necessity of the new birth in salvation.
[12:41] He says in Nicodemus in John 3 verses 12 through 18 I have told you earthly things and here we see the invitation here and you do not believe how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven the son of man and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God so there we see an invitation then again in John 5 24 after Jesus has healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years on the sabbath day he was challenged by the
[13:54] Jewish authorities for breaking their sabbath tradition in responding to that challenge Jesus again extends an invitation to those who are listening to him in John 5 24 truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life then again in John 6 we've been here recently Jesus feeds the crowd of 20,000 by miraculously turning five barley loaves and two fish into a bountiful feast Jesus addresses the crowd the next day who sought him once more for that physical nourishment and they ask him what must we do to be doing the works of God and Jesus responds in verse 29 again with an invitation he answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent and so here in
[15:01] John 7 we have another invitation from our Lord and John begins by giving to us explaining to us the context in which this particular invitation was given look at verse 37 again John points out that this invitation was given on the last day of the feast which is the great day now remember the feast that he's talking about here is the feast of booths or the feast of tabernacles it's not clear in this invitation if it was given on the seventh day of the great feast or the eighth but whatever the case may have been Jesus was using imagery here in his invitation that was fresh in the minds of those who were listening to him look at verses 37 and 38 Jesus stood up and he cried out if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink whoever believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water and so on the seventh day of this popular feast what would happen then is that a golden flagon was filled with water from the pool of
[16:27] Siloam and was carried in procession by the high priest back into the temple in Jerusalem as the procession approached the water gate which was located on the south side of the inner court of the temple there would be three blasts from a so far a trumpet a horn and then when that sounded the people would rejoice this was a joyful occasion when they heard the blasts of the trumpet they would recite Isaiah 12 3 which says therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation then the priest would march with the flagon around the altar while the temple choir sang the hillel which was psalm 113 through 118 before finally the water was poured out as an offering to God and so this is fresh on the minds of these people either they experienced it that day or the previous day and so
[17:27] Jesus uses that imagery as a backdrop against which he explains again if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink he was inviting their thirsty souls to come to him this ceremony which they had seen was a picture of who he is of what he supplies he was inviting them to come to drink to come and have their thirsty souls nourished by the living water that he can supply and so here we see Jesus invitation contains three words that summarize his invitation summarize his gospel summons to them first is thirst the first key word is thirst again Jesus says if anyone thirsts and so before we continue on we must look there and see that this invitation is for anyone anyone it isn't necessary that you clean yourself up before you come to
[18:35] Christ it doesn't matter your age your gender your race your economic or social status anyone is invited to come who recognizes their thirst having realized the longing of their heart for more than what this world can supply more than what this world can give who see in Jesus the answer to their endless problem if they are to find relief they must recognize their thirst and then secondly come they must come to Jesus the only source of living water but as we've seen in scripture not all who acknowledge their need and approach Jesus have their thirst quenched for example the rich young ruler remember he eagerly scripture says ran up to Jesus and knelt before him and asked him good teacher what must
[19:47] I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus points out the true God of his life which is his wealth and his riches which he's not willing to sacrifice to follow Christ he's not willing to take up the cross and follow him as our Lord commands his disciples to do and so he went away sorrowful his thirst still unquenched because he was unwilling to take the critical third step which is the thirst to come and then to drink to drink and here what Jesus means by drinking is that you must repent of your sin acknowledge your need come to Christ repent of your sin turn away from your sin and trust in Christ repentance means more than feelings of remorse for sin it involves an acknowledgement again of the deeper thirst recognizing your personal guilt for the sins that you have committed against a holy
[21:00] God your creator realizing then also that there is nothing that you can do to avert his just judgment for your sins which you've committed against him and then seeing that you must fully rely upon the sacrifice of Christ Jesus his son as payment for your sins affirming and acknowledging Jesus as your only savior your only hope for salvation confessing that with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord in this way you drink the living water that Jesus provides which Jesus says becomes in the person who drinks a well of water which continually springs up to eternal life look at what
[22:00] Jesus says in verse 38 John 7 there again he says whoever believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water notice here also that Jesus doesn't describe this living water as a pool of water in the heart of believers neither does he describe it as a pond of stagnant water the imagery here is of a flowing river a flowing river believers are to be channels through which rivers of flowing water are sent to the rest of the world because the spirit has revealed to us our desperate need our thirst the spirit has drawn us to christ as the solution for our need and so he's drawn us to come and then he's led us to repent by drinking so now we go into the world as ambassadors for christ crying out to them as our lord did too for those who thirst to come and to drink then in verse 39 john adds a footnote of sorts by saying now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive for as yet the spirit had not been given because jesus was not yet glorified now here scripture interprets scripture we understand that john is not suggesting that the holy spirit was not present or active at that time or during the time of the old testament what he was saying is that there was to come for believers a giving of the spirit by which unique power would be provided for their ministry and evangelism that these living waters would flow as we go and share the good news of jesus christ he's looking to the day of pentecost after the ascension of jesus christ when his disciples again would be uniquely empowered for service and for witness and guided by his understanding of the word as we apply it to our lives and teach it to one another and declare it to the world if you are recognizing your thirst today if you understand your need to be saved christ invites you to come and drink repent turn to him if you've already come to christ and drink then understand that you must go share the gospel there are living there are waters of there are rivers of living waters flowing from you the lord wants you to go that that you would share the good news that this truth that you know that jesus christ is the way the truth and the life would flow out of you into those who are around you saturating wherever you are with gospel truth biblical truth charles spurgeon said there is nothing that fills the heart of man except the trinity god has made man's heart a triangle man have been for centuries trying to make the globe the world fill the triangle they cannot do it so we must go we must declare we must make people aware of their thirst by talking
[26:01] to them about sin their sin against god who is holy talking about what the just punishment for that is that they would see their thirst that we would invite them to come to christ who is the only solution the only way that we can have peace with god because he has lived and died and risen again that they would drink that they would repent of their sins that they would turn and trust in christ that they would be a disciple who makes disciples we must be giving that invitation regularly next here in this passage we see the responses that we'll encounter as we do this now the ultimate question that everyone must eventually face the most crucial question that anyone must answer in their life is who do you say that Jesus is you will face no greater question because no greater question has more greater consequences that come with it how have you responded to that crucial question
[27:07] Jesus has extended the invitation to you how will you respond well here again we see three different kinds of responses the first response we see is that of skepticism skepticism skepticism is derived from the Greek word skeptikos which means inquiring or to look around the skeptic requires evidence before claims are accepted by them as fact now oftentimes we view skepticism in a negative way but skepticism isn't always a negative thing sometimes it's good to be skeptical a healthy skeptic of the information that you're reading or listening to it's not always bad to be a skeptic as long as you are seeking for the truth and weighing the evidence all of the evidence that you have before you in the beginning of verse 40
[28:20] John says that when they heard these words some of the people said this is the prophet so these skeptics heard Jesus teach they probably saw or witnessed reports of his great miracles and then concluded he was the prophet this thought came from their understanding of Deuteronomy 18 15 through 18 where there they correctly applied Moses prophecy to Jesus but at this time for them there was still misconception as to who that prophet would be some saw this prophesied prophet as being the forerunner of the Messiah others as we'll later see correctly understood that this prophet that Moses spoke of was in fact the Messiah himself who was Jesus the Christ but here we see that their skepticism stops short of proclaiming
[29:24] Jesus to be the Christ in verse 41 the end of verse 41 it says their questions it lists their questions is the Christ to come from Galilee has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem the village where David was so again we see these skeptics had convincing evidence but at least to this point they had not done enough digging to realize that Jesus was born in Bethlehem to realize that he was a descendant of David that these prophecies had in fact been fulfilled in Jesus now jump down to verse 45 that was one group of skeptics now we come across another skeptical group these were the temple guards who had been sent by the chief priests and the
[30:25] Pharisees back in verse 32 of John chapter 7 to arrest Jesus and so here they've arrived and when they arrived to carry out their task to arrest Jesus to pull him away to the Pharisees to the chief priests who wanted him they were confounded by what they heard look at what what they report in verse 45 the officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees who were upset said why did you not bring him and the officers answered no one ever spoke like this man now these officers weren't your average run-of-the-mill security guards these were Levites these were religiously trained men they had knowledge of the scriptures and as they went to hear
[31:34] Jesus or as they went to arrest Jesus they heard him teaching they heard him preaching and they were stunned by what they heard while they did not accept him at least at this moment as the Messiah neither did they reject him they didn't know what to do with him the crowd didn't prevent them from arresting Jesus but what happened was that Jesus had arrested them with his words they didn't know what to do they were caught between the power and the grace of Jesus and the hatred and the scorn of the chief priests and the Pharisees whom they were serving and so they were paralyzed into inactivity all they could think to do was
[32:37] I guess we'll go back this man is amazing they must have the wrong person then in verse 50 we come once again to Nicodemus who again had met with Jesus before look at Nicodemus in verse 50 another skeptic at this time Nicodemus who had gone to him before and who was one of them addressed them addressed the chief priests and the Pharisees who were upset they wanted Jesus to be arrested now again earlier remember Jesus as I said described Nicodemus as the teacher of Israel meaning that he was a very prominent if not the preeminent teacher at the time the most notable the most respected right the one whom all the churches would call to have him come do their revival oh we got Nicodemus people are going to come he's such a great teacher
[33:40] Nicodemus though I believe was a healthy skeptic he was still watching searching analyzing what he saw and heard from and about Jesus in comparing that with what he knew in scripture and so he speaks up in the assembly of the chief priests and Pharisees and this takes a lot of courage to do by the way a lot of courage they were blood thirsty and he stands up and he offers a defense for our Lord reminding his colleagues does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does here Nicodemus points out that even the despised Romans were not so harsh as to condemn a person without first giving them a hearing when we share the gospel with unbelievers when you share the gospel with unbelievers you will encounter skeptics what should we do what should you do when that is the case well we look at what scripture says 1st
[35:05] Peter 3 15 for example but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord is holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness!
[35:26] and respect! We can utilize apologetics with skeptics to make convincing arguments for the existence of God we can look to history to secular historians who live during or close to the time of Christ and make arguments that Jesus was in fact a real life person very convincingly that also his claim was that he was the son of God that he truly did die on a cross we can share our testimonies and we can give our reasons for the hope that we have in Christ however we must remember that it is the Holy Spirit who causes the new birth the Holy Spirit causes the new birth he may use our arguments as we communicate the gospel to redeem and regenerate the lost soul that we are speaking to but we must keep in mind that our arguments are not effective in saving anyone unless the spirit is at work in that person whom we are speaking to
[36:38] John made this clear John chapter 1 verses 12 13 of those who receive him of those who acknowledge their thirst come and drink but to all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood salvation doesn't pass through the blood stream to Christians have a children it doesn't guarantee that that children by a result is going to have Christian genetic code wrapped up in their DNA that's not how salvation occurs nor of the will of the flesh it's not something you will or drum up inside of yourself apart from the spirits working within you nor of the will of man so I and we want people to be saved it's my will that those who I share the gospel with will be saved but ultimately we see it's not according to my will but of
[37:39] God it's God who does it from beginning to end but he uses us and he wants to use us and so we go and we extend that invitation continually to those who are skeptical because look at what happened with Nicodemus now we can't say with certainty But I feel confident in saying that one day I believe that we will see this skeptic in heaven because he was saved he'll show up again later in this gospel in John chapter 19 verses 39 through 40 where there he joins Joseph of Arimathea after Jesus has been crucified to take his body and prepare it for burial Nicodemus brings these precious spices this is costly this is a lot of money that he is giving for the burial of Jesus this man who was afraid to be seen with him during the day when he was alive now has no fear of being seen with his dead body as he takes it to the tomb why
[38:47] I think he was a healthy skeptic but all along it was the spirit who was drawing him and eventually he came I believe can't say so with certainty but I feel like we'll see Nicodemus in heaven so don't grow weary don't give up they have good questions and at the time you may not have the answer and it's okay to say I don't know but I'm going to find out I want to talk with you some more and then you go and do that research don't give up on those who are skeptical for perhaps God may be at work in their life and he will save them the next response is cynicism cynicism when we think of skepticism often what we are thinking is really cynicism but they're different cynicism is different in that those who are cynical are distrustful they're hostile and they have a scornful outlook despite what the evidence suggests or reveals to them the cynics in this passage are obviously the
[40:08] Pharisees and the chief priests who in verses 48 and 49 and 52 ridicule anyone who believes in Jesus or expresses any kind of healthy skepticism about him they attack the Levite officers they attack the crowd they attack Nicodemus look at what they've said here the Pharisees answered!
[40:28] them the officers! have you also been deceived have any of us have any of the Pharisees we who stand above you we who are more knowledgeable of you than you have we believed but this crowd they're cursed then to Nicodemus they said to him when he gives his defense are you from Galilee too search and see no prophet comes from Galilee but in fact a prophet had arisen from Galilee Jonah for example which shows their actual lack of knowledge and their willingness to truly look at the evidence before them but they hated Jesus they hated Jesus so much that it blinded their eyes despite the tremendous evidence that was there before them that they ridiculed him and anyone who would follow him anyone who was not cynical like they were and so basically what they're saying is this only stupid people only dummies only idiots would believe that
[41:51] Jesus is the Messiah and you know that's effective isn't it on us many of us we take pride in our intelligence we don't want to look like we are out of touch or out of date or unknowledgeable and so it's effective that's why kids do it right because it hurts our feelings I'm not dumb I don't want people to think that I'm dumb but that's what they're saying are you from Galilee this is Jerusalem this is where it happens those are people out in the podunks the boondocks they're uneducated you're going to believe you're going to fall in line with them we're the elite you join us if you're smart you'd be like us and so they used their elite social status to belittle anyone who opposed them how do we share the gospel with those who are cynical
[42:57] Matthew 7 6 I think gives us some insight Jesus speaking sermon on the mount do not give dogs what is holy do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn and attack you the dogs and pigs that Jesus speaks of here symbolize those who respond to the priceless message of God's kingdom with adamant hostile unbelief Jesus instruction here is that his disciples must discern as they've extended that invitation that message the gospel to them and as they've been met with obstinate resistance from those who they've sought to share it with when that happens it may be that the Lord wants you to stay and endure whatever persecution that you are going to experience at their hands or it could be that it's time for you to leave that conversation where it is and leave and pray for them because here's the thing
[44:10] I have dogs I don't have pigs but I've seen pigs one thing I've noticed about my dogs and pigs is that they love the mud don't they they find the mud they wallow in the mud they cover themselves in the mud and it stinks and it gets everywhere and it ruins my day whenever I have to clean them up right but they love to wallow in the mud and that's what cynics do they love to wallow in the mud of conflict they like to fling mud at anyone within shot of their dirt balls and they love to wrestle around in it not looking for any kind of solution but just to be in conflict they live for it and so there may come a time when it's time for you to walk away and pray that
[45:16] God would unharden their heart and after all we see here in verse 43 that we're called to go and as we go we experience that Jesus creates division division between the skeptic and the cynic says there was a division among the people over him and this should not shock us because Jesus said that this would be precisely the case but even still our job is to share the gospel though we will be met by skeptics and cynics because the third response some will be saved salvation and John puts it in there real small verse 41 others said this is the Christ they acknowledged their thirst as they heard
[46:17] Jesus they responded to his invitation to come and they drank and as a result they boldly proclaimed in the midst of that division this is the Christ and they boldly proclaimed it because they experienced the nourishment that their parched and famished souls were lacking in Jesus they were eternally satisfied some years ago I guess now many years ago in my church in Leavenworth a friend of mine who was attending the seminary that I went to he and I just had a desire to share the gospel with a apartment complex not far from where our church was a little bit of a rougher neighborhood but for whatever reason you know we knew we should share the gospel and we thought well let's just go into that neighborhood and knock on every door there that's just the goal that we set for ourselves let's just go and knock on every door now I know that's not always an effective way of evangelism as culture changes but we just wanted to do something and so we knew that
[47:48] God was calling us to go over there and just interact with our neighbors and share the gospel with them and invite them to church and as we did so we encountered cynics who slammed the door on our faces we encountered skeptics I'll never forget a lady who was going to a universalist church we had a good conversation with her and we prayed with her and I'll remember that as we were coming to the end of our knocking on every door our goal that we and a lot of times people just wouldn't answer the door which was no surprise and so we knocked on a door and there was no answer and we were polite we didn't just sit there and knock or ring the doorbell even though we knew somebody was at home we would just knock wait leave and so we knocked on this door and as we were walking across to the next apartment and these were like townhomes there was a window open with a screen and we heard a lady scold us the door that we just knocked on she scolded us you know you're not supposed to be here you know that what you're doing is wrong you know that I can call the managers and they'll call the police and they'll escort you off of the premises and so we were polite and said well we understand you know we'd like to talk with you no no no no
[49:17] I think you should leave and so we went to the very next door and I'll tell you that I was angry because here me and my friend had taken time away from our families to come on Sunday afternoons to knock on these people's doors because we cared about their eternal souls more importantly because God cared and we just wanted to share the gospel with them and so I was angry with that response and then we knocked on the next door and it was opened by a young large African American man named Warren who was home by himself he was probably 18 years old and I'm about six foot one and he towered over me and my friend was shorter than I so we talked to Warren we shared the gospel with Warren he didn't say much but as my friend was presenting the gospel to him
[50:32] Warren was looking intently at him until a tear streamed down his face he asked Warren do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and he smiled and he said yes we talked more to Warren about what it means to follow Christ we expressed to Warren a desire to be a part of his life we wanted to continue to disciple Warren and at the very end what must have looked like a really odd picture to anybody who was out in that community area this big large human being wrapped his two huge arms around us both and pulled us to his chest and we just embraced just a lot of like back slapping back slapping back slapping oh so thank you for coming thank you for sharing oh Warren we're so happy for you thank God for you don't give up don't stop sharing the gospel you may come across skeptics you may come across cynics
[51:40] God will save sinners he will bring them to faith in Jesus Christ and he wants to use you to do that so do it let's look at our three application questions and then I'll close in prayer and we don't have or we have a business meeting tonight so we won't be able to go through these questions together but I've I'm encouraging you to do that by yourself with your spouse with a friend as a family go through these things and so there's a little bit more to it I've got some homework for you read Matthew 5 through 7 Sermon on the Mount especially as an unbeliever I encourage you to read those chapters and answer these questions what warning does Jesus give to those who reject him what promises does he make those to those who come to him what promises does he make to those who come to him next application question if you are skeptical or cynical of
[52:51] Christ's claims have you thoroughly examined the evidence that there is concerning him and again speaking to an unbeliever you're listening to this you may be at home streaming our service if you're skeptical have you thoroughly examined the evidence that there is concerning him and I invite you I want to have a conversation with you to present that evidence to you at the very least to answer your questions so please reach out to me and and finally as Christians we are called to continually extend Christ's invitation today why should we not fear the divisions that may be created as a result of our sharing the good news why should we not fear the divisions that may be created as a result of our sharing the good news read Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 through 39 declare the good news of Jesus Christ Christ that those who are thirsty would come and drink despite whatever divisions it may create we know that
[53:56] God wants to use us to save sinners so let's go and share the good news of Jesus Christ let's pray heavenly father we thank you that for those of us whom you have saved you through the working of your spirit through a follower of Christ through the reading of your word through the communication of your gospel you brought to our attention the deep thirst that we had and through that we heard your invitation to come and to drink from Christ Jesus our Lord as a result of that Lord you've promised that now we have rivers of living water flowing through our hearts that must flow out of our hearts to those who are around us and so Lord we pray for our church we pray for
[54:58] Christians that wherever you have us to go when we're in church when we're in our homes in our neighborhoods in our workplaces that that area that we are in would be saturated with the gospel as it's pouring out of our heart through our conduct and through our words and through our love and through the grace and mercy that we extend to others ultimately declaring the good news of Jesus Christ to them Lord we know that as you were met with skeptics and cynics so also there will be those who hear as we go and be saved Lord we know that the results are yours but we have been commanded by you to go and so I pray Lord that we would and I pray that as we go Lord God that you would make us disciples who make disciples for you and that you'd be glorified from what results and pleased with it these things we ask in Jesus name amen