In Matthew 5:6 NLT we read, “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.” In John 7:37-38 we read, “Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him/her keep coming to Me and (let him/her keep drinking). He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his/her innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
What a powerful thought that we can be so totally united with Christ, that we can be rivers of living water. Christ refreshes us so that we in turn are refreshing to others.
Have you ever felt like, “I would like to have more of the LORD in my life?” The key is totally surrendering yourself to Him. It’s inviting Him to abide in every room of your life. There is no way that you can have just part of Jesus in your life. If He is not LORD of all, then He is not LORD at all.
Years ago, I was speaking at a Bible Conference in Filer, Idaho. At the end of one of the services, a lady came forward during the invitation. A counselor knelt alongside her in a desire to help her find peace with God. After some time, the counselor came and asked for my help in dealing with the lady. I asked the lady how I could help and she said, “I want enough of Jesus in my life so that when I die, I will go to heaven.” I said to her – “It doesn’t work that way. You can’t have just part of Jesus. He gave His all for you and He wants all of you.” She finally yielded her heart and life to Him and then she found real peace.
In Isaiah 55:1-3 NLT, God cries out and says, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink- even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk – it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.” What a promise!
Notice several things in these verses –
1. The word ‘everyone’ expresses the fact that the gospel is for the whole world.
2. We cannot buy with money, what we need to satisfy the thirst of our souls. Salvation is a free gift for anyone who will receive Jesus Christ by faith as their Savior.
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus gives this invitation – “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” In Romans 10:13, the Apostle Paul declared, “For everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”
In his letter to Titus, Paul wrote (3:4-5), “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, HE SAVED US, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy – through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, we read in John 19:28 where He said, “I thirst.” We should not be surprised. When you consider all that, He had endured in the way of abuse, we shouldn’t be surprised that He was thirsty. The loss of body fluids would make Him thirsty. It is interesting that in spite of the excruciating pain from the flogging and hanging on the cross, He was fully conscious of everything that was taking place.
We read in John 19:28, “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I THIRST.’ They gave Him a sponge filled with sour wine and we read in verse 30, “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘IT IS FINISHED!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His Spirit.”
Have you ever wondered what the worst part of all that Jesus endured was? I think the answer is found in Matthew 27:46 where we read, “And about the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ That is, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” I believe it was at that moment the weight of the sin of the world was placed on Him, the Holy, sinless son of God and it was worse than the flogging or the nails in His hands or feet. The reason I think this is earlier in Matthew 26:36, we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying and we read, “Then Jesus came with them to a place call Gethsemane”…in verse 39 we read, “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Think of all the different kinds of sin that have ever been committed. Jesus saw the contents of that cup with all the sins of all the people in the world and He was repulsed by it, but He accepted it and on the cross, all of the sins of the world were placed on Him and it was crushing and that is why He felt abandoned or forsaken. My sin, your sin, and the sin of the whole world were placed upon Him and He experienced the wrath of God because of our sin. But in due time, He was able to declare, “Mission accomplished!” He took the penalty for all our sins. The Bible says, “The wages (penalty) for all sin is death…” (Romans 6:23) CHRIST DIED IN OUR PLACE so that by trusting in Him and what He did for us, we can be forgiven of our sins and accepted into the family of God.
I pray that everyone reading this has already welcomed Christ into your life as Savior and LORD. If you haven’t, won’t you do so right now? How could you possibly reject such love?
I close with one of God’s greatest promises. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).
Jesus thirsted for you and me. Do we thirst for Him?
For His glory,
Pastor Leonard
