IF ANY MAN IS THIRSTY

IF ANY MAN IS THIRSTY

                There are some who claim that Jesus never said that He was God. There are others who claim that Jesus was just a good teacher or prophet. These tend to place Jesus in a line of other “Ascended masters like Buddha or Confucius, or Plato. But if one has ever honestly read the words of Jesus, even though He was not running around saying “I am God, I am God” He nevertheless speaks as God. The authenticity of His words tells us that He must either be God, or the greatest blasphemer that ever lived.

                Only one who is equal to God in authority could ever say to the world: “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” No one less than God could ever say that. And what about the line that follows? “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said,” From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”

                John then goes on by way of explanation to say something that is a major revelation. We can miss it, if we are not careful. Here John divulges the difference between Old Testament saints and New Testament saints. He said:

                “But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:39

                This text lets us know that even though the Holy Spirit is spoken of freely in the Old Testament, His operation was different in the Old Testament than in the New and it was that difference that Jesus came to bring to us in person.

                Jesus Himself brought clarity to this point in John 14:15-17 saying: “If you love Me you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides WITH you and WILL BE IN YOU.

                These few texts are so very pregnant with meaning and they speak volumes to those who have the Holy Spirit to teach them.

                What they teach us is that before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit could not dwell inside of men. He had to dwell in the Most Holy place in the temple behind the veils. And He dwelt in the tabernacle as a template of what Jesus would do in man when He came to earth and then sent down His Holy Spirit at Pentecost. A holy God could not come into direct contact with sinful man. Holiness and righteousness are not just ideals… they are the very power of God and love is another one of those forces by which God both created and upholds all things.

                The Holy Spirit was with men and could come upon them to anoint them as kings or priests or prophets, but He could not dwell inside of mankind until Jesus died in our place and took our sins and applied His blood to them so that we could receive the Holy Spirit.

                Now the next point being made that so much of Christianity does not understand for various reasons is this:

                Many teach that the law was done away at the cross. Still others say that we must keep the Law as Christians. Both groups are wrong.

                The Law of God is eternal in principle and Jesus Himself told us that not one jot or tittle shall pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. Well, earth’s sinful history is not finished yet so the Law is still in jurisdiction over us as long as we are alive.

                But here’s where some people miss it. The catch in the above sentence is “…as long as we are alive.” But this is why Jesus died for us and then called us to enter into His death by faith. In Him we literally die to this world and that takes us out from under the jurisdiction of the Law. The Bible tells us that the Law only has jurisdiction over a man while he is still alive. But it doesn’t do away with the Law, for everyone who has not died to this world through the cross is still under the Law. Death through the cross is our only escape from Satan’s kingdom.

                This is why Paul says: “For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live unto God.” Gal 2:19. It is the Law that condemns us and brings us to the foot of the cross. Once we enter into death with Christ, the Law has finished its work and from now on we will live by the power and presence of Christ in our lives. This is exactly what Gal. 2:20 says: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”

                In this text we see that something far greater than the Law is now empowering our lives and causing the Law to be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:4. So we are no longer under the Law and because the Spirit of Christ now dwells in us, the fruit of the Spirit will flow from our innermost being like rivers of living water. The Law is fulfilled in ultimate love for God and ultimate love for each other and Galatians 5:22 shows us love as it is expressed in the nine different fruits of the Spirit.

                So the Law is not done away as some say, for it still holds jurisdiction over everyone who is still alive in this fallen kingdom and the only escape from this evil kingdom is to die in Christ and to be resurrected into His kingdom.

                So both those who say the Law was done away and those who say that we must continue to obey the Law as it is on stone are wrong.

                But here’s the problem as I see it. We don’t take the fruit of the Spirit seriously enough. That is to say that if we do not live by the fruit of the Spirit, then we come back under law, for we are breaking the laws of love and only love can fulfill the Law.

                We tend to think of the fruit of the Spirit as nice little party favors. We like grapes and strawberries, but we don’t like watermelon or Cantaloupe so we pick and choose the fruit we like. We like love, joy and peace, but we don’t like patience and we certainly don’t like self- control (That is temperance) so we over indulge on a good many things in life and think nothing of it.

                But the Bible has a good deal to say about over indulgence, gluttony, greed, abundance of riches, addictions and so on and well- meaning church members fall victim to these things and do not even consider them to be sin, or sinfulness.

                Others will wave off all responsibility to the fruit of the Spirit by saying, “Well, I’m just not the patient kind. I am a type A personality and God is just going to have to understand.

                But listen to me. If you have died and Jesus Christ is your new life, then how can it be that sin still has power over you? Jesus conquered sin and death… so if He is your new life can you not live in victory?

                The bottom line is that we have taken the plan of salvation too lightly. We have picked and chosen the parts of it that we like and winked at the rest and as such we are not truly preparing as a Bride for her Husband.

                Paul said in Romans 6:11-13: Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

                I have observed over the years how each denomination has its own flavor and personality based upon which biblical dots they have connected and which dots they have left out of the picture. If the picture is a picture of Christ; then some have left out the head while others have left out the feet, or the hands or the stomach or the heart, or the Spirit and so on. Whatever part they have left out is generally what makes each denomination look different from another.

                As the hopeful Bride of Christ, we desperately need to come into the full picture of Christ. The promise is that when we see Him we will be like Him… and Paul tells us in 1 Thess. 5:23

                “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul then goes on to assure us that Jesus is faithful who calls us to also bring it to pass.

                Again it is a matter of connecting the dots for one may concentrate on the spirit and ignore the body, while another may concentrate on the intellectual properties of the soul, while ignoring the spirit and yet others will be obsessed with the body while ignoring the spirit and so on.

                But Jesus is looking for a Bride that has come into maturity, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head even Christ.” Ephesians 4:13-15.

                As the aspiring Bride of Christ we need to come into the fullness of the Gospel of salvation, for it is much more comprehensive than we have thought. It involves the spirit, soul and body and most Christians are completely ignoring or missing one aspect or the other.

                Now you may do a mental inventory and begin to think that burdens have been placed on you which you cannot bear. There are things that you have never been able to change. Living the Christian life at any level beyond a casual level seems most impossible… and that is why many Christians choose to remain casual about it, because to go deeper means crucifying the flesh and that just gets too personal.

                But if we have truly been crucified with Christ, the He is living in and through us and He has already overcome the world, can we not live in that victory? We do not need to allow sin to rule over our mortal bodies for indeed it is Christ living His life in us. And Paul says in Ephesians 3:20: “Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works WITHIN US.

                As we contemplate the harvest and the end of the age, we must also contemplate coming into mature adulthood as the Bride of Christ. We need to connect the dots so that our lives begin to form a picture of Christ that is not distorted and misshapen.  To make excuses for our weakness is to admit that we are living by the flesh and not by the Spirit, for” I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

                Paul is not telling us to try harder. What he is saying is that we must be “Renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ephesians 4:23, 24. In many ways, we have worn Jesus like a button on our lapel, rather than the functioning engine of our new life. So as the hopeful Bride of Christ, we must now enter into the fullness of His salvation so that He can make us into someone after His own kind.

                Are you thirsty? Then let us come to Him and drink, so that out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water.