Drinking from a full cup
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· 45 viewsWe keep searching for what we know we have where we know we can't find it. We need to drink from the Fountain of Life, Jesus Christ, instead of the dirty, broken, and sludgy water tanks.
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Drinking from a full cup
Drinking from a full cup
Drinking from the Fountain of Life instead of a dirty, broken, and sludgy water tank
The Whole Works of the Reverend John Flavel, Volumes 1-6 The Fountain of Life Opened up: Or, a Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory
O black sun and moon; but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers, and black lilies and roses; but O fair, fair, ever fair Lord Jesus! O all fair things, black, deformed, and without beauty, when ye are set beside the fairest Lord Jesus! O black heaven, but O fair Christ! O black angels, but O surpassingly fair Lord Jesus.
O black sun and moon; but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers, and black lilies and roses; but O fair fair, ever fair Lord Jesus! O all fair things, black, deformed, and without beauty, when ye are set beside the fairest Lord Jesus! O black heaven, but O fair Christ! O black angels, but O surpassingly fair Lord Jesus. - John Flavel
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
Proverbs 8:25-
25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”
O all fair things, black, deformed, and without beauty, when ye are set beside the fairest Lord Jesus!
5 Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
Excerpt From: John Flavel. “Fountain of Life Opened Up.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/8YrRx.l - John Flavel
Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the LORD.”
Excerpt From: John Flavel. “Fountain of Life Opened Up.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/8YrRx.lO all fair things, black, deformed, and without beauty, when ye are set beside the fairest Lord Jesus! - John Flavel
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem,
b Speech Thus says the Lord,
c Pronouncement “I remember the devotion of your youth,
d Elaboration your love as a bride,
Supplied how
e Elaboration you followed me in the wilderness,
f Elaboration in a land not sown.
3 b Topic (a) Israel
Supplied was
a Status holy
c Benefit (a) to the Lord,
d Characterization (a) the firstfruits of his harvest.
e Topic (f) All who ate of it
f Event incurred guilt;
g Emphasis (h) disaster
h Event came upon them,
i Parenthetical declares the Lord.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Je 2:2–3.
Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?”
Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?”
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 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.
Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols!
The heavens are shocked at such a thing
and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
says the Lord.
“For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!
“Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 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.”
1 “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” 3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
,
“‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage. “‘I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me. Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.’”
“If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, and if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives, ’in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
,
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." 11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.
A lesson from the past
A lesson from the past
12 A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 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.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and 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.’” 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.
6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
Forsaking the One who loves us
Forsaking the One who loves us
2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”
In the book of Jeremiah, beginning in chapter 2, we see how God is like a husband to his people (). God poured out his love upon them. He brought them out of captivity in Egypt, then out of the wilderness, to a great land.
But instead of living in love and gratitude toward her husband, they have rejected Him. But for what? The gods and goddesses of other nations! This is astounding. Why? Because the idea of changing out one god for another is utterly preposterous.
5 Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 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.
But instead of living in love and gratitude toward her husband, they have rejected Him.
5 Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
But instead of living in love and gratitude toward her husband, she rejected Him. She left her loving husband who was worthy of love and went after other things. What things? Worthless things.
The things that we chase after, that we admire, that we pursue are the things we love. The things that we love and pursue are the things that we resemble. For we become like the things we love and seek.
Israel pursued
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
Israel pursued other gods, gods that were made by humans. The gods and goddesses of other nations! These gods have a mouth without the ability to utter words, eyes without sight, ears without the ability to hear, noses without a sense of smell, hands without the ability to feel, and feet without the ability to walk. These gods are worthless, and because Israel loved and pursued them, she became like them and became worthless herself.
Taking His people to court
Taking His people to court
God is bringing a lawsuit against Israel () because of their infidelity to Him.
9 Therefore I again bring a lawsuit against you,” declares Yahweh, “and with your children I bring a lawsuit.
God is bringing a lawsuit against Israel () because of their infidelity to Him. God’s people have traded their glory () for something worthless and unprofitable.
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 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.
This is astounding! The idea of changing out one god for another is utterly preposterous. Why? Even the idolatrous nations that surrounded Israel were more faithful to their man-made gods then Israel was to the true and living God who poured His love out upon them, who was their husband. The pagans were loyal to their gods, but Israel forsook their glory (God and His covenant of redemption with them). This is unnatural and shows ingratitude toward God.
Two evils
Two evils
God is bringing a lawsuit against Israel (Jeremiah 2:9-13).
Forsaken Yahweh
Forsaken Yahweh
Israel has committed a sin of omission (Bible Knowledge Commentary). She has forsaken her God. The husband of her youth. She forsook the One who carried her on eagle’s wings from her captivity and delivered her safely to the Promised Land. She abandoned the One who promised to send His own Son to pay for their sins. They left something undone that was required. Israel was to love Yahweh with her whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. She was to give herself to her husband in faithfulness and accept his provision and delight in her. It is in this command that the greatest delight and joy of humanity can be found: loving God and clinging to him.
Replaced Yahweh with another
Replaced Yahweh with another
Israel has committed a sin of commission (Bible Knowledge Commentary). She has replaced her true God with false gods. As Thomas Chalmers said in his sermon entitled, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, it is not possible to simply remove something, in place of it is a vacuum that must and will be filled. Israel committed a sin of omission, forsaking her God, and now what they have filled the place of the true God with is false gods that have consumed her, a sin of commission.
To ensure that Israel understood what was said, Jeremiah uses imagery that every Palestinian would understand…water. According to the ESV Global Study Bible, there are really only three sources of water in Palestine. The best source, most desirable, is fresh running water. This would be water that flows from a spring or stream the Hebrew Scriptures call this “living water” (). Another source, the next in the list of desire, is ground water. This would be that which might be found in a well. The last source, not desirable unless necessary, is runoff water. This is water that collects in a cistern. A cistern is a pit that is cut from limestone and then plastered to prevent leakage.
So, Jeremiah, through striking imagery, is telling Israel of their utter foolishness. They had “living water”, God Himself, and they traded it (Him) for not just the second best source, but the worst source of water. They traded “living water” for runoff water that comes to rest in a broken container. Thus, their water is now simply sludge…a mixture of moisture and dirt. It is contaminated. It is not life-giving.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
This unfaithfulness is more than just ungrateful and unnatural (ESV Global Study Bible), it is completely foolish. Who would make such a trade as this?
What now?
What now?
1 “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” 3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
5 Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
God loves His people. He does not want His bride to live in this foolishness. He calls her to repent. To turn from her foolishness and come back to Him (see the book of Hosea). Because of their lack of water, their broken cisterns, they have no water to drink, no water for their souls. Just as a land without water loses all vegetation, and begins to crack, so has Israel become in her heart: broken, cracked, and hardened.
She needs to turn from her foolishness. She needs to open her heart to the Good News of God’s forgiveness and redemption. It is not simply a change of behavior she needs, but a change of heart. The dry and empty heart of one who has traded living water for broken cisterns is in need of a renewal.
Affections that have been set upon the world have drained what little remains of the water that ran from “living” streams. Pursuits of things that are not evil in and of themselves, but have become loves, greater than God have stopped the streams. Time has been spent digging out cisterns, plastering them to hold water, but the sun, the scorching heat has cracked the weak plaster. It is a sorry excuse for a cistern.
Time has been spent trying to catch run-off water for this cistern. But, when it does rain, the dust and troubles of life leave residue of dirt in the cistern. As the water drains out, all that is left behind is sludge. Thinking that this sludge is all that there is to drink, we reach in with our dirty hands, take cup-fulls of sludge and tell ourselves that we have satisfied our thirst. While the reality is that our thirst has not been satisfied, and we keep going back over and over again to our broken cisterns trying to find something that will satisfy our desperate thirst.
God has set forward to his people a way out. He never tells us that we have gone to far. He never tells us that it is too late. He reaches out His hand and tells us to come back home (again, see Hosea). Though we have prostituted ourselves to the world, though we have forsaken Him time and time again…there He stands holding his hands out to welcome us home (see the story of the Lost Son).
Knocking and Calling
Knocking and Calling
The church at Laodicea had got herself caught up in wealth and prosperity. They had become consumed with the love of the world and had become lukewarm. Not cold, or not hot, but lukewarm. Cold water refreshes someone when they are thirsty. Hot water is good for cleaning and purifying things, even medicinal use, yet they were neither. They had become worthless. We might think that God would reject them, but no.
18 My advice is that you buy gold from me that has been purified by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothing to wear so that your nakedness won’t be shamefully exposed, and ointment to put on your eyes so that you may see. 19 I correct and discipline those whom I love. So be earnest and change your hearts and lives. 20 Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me.
Revelation 3:18-
Though a child of God wanders, goes after other loves, is caught in the world, and caught up by the world, here Jesus stands. He stands at the door of our hearts. He is knocking. He is calling. He wants us to open the door to let Him in. This is a picture of a spouse who loves His bride, and will always take her back. He is knocking, He is calling. Are we listening?
Real water
Real water
It is clear from Scripture that God is the only One who can satisfy our thirst. He is the Living Water. Streams of life flow from Him. All that we could ever need, all that we could ever want (with correct desires) can be found in Him.
This is why Jesus when speaking to the Samaritan women told her that that he provides water that will satisfy our thirst. It is also why Jesus cried out at the festival that he will provide drink. He will pour out the Holy Spirit upon His people and satisfy them with the presence of God in their lives. Jesus is the living water. Nothing else can provide this, and no one else can give it to us.
13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. 14 Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
37 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” 39 (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
37 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.”
This is why Jesus when speaking to the Samaritan women told her that that he provides water that will satisfy our thirst. It is also why Jesus cried out at the festival that he will provide drink. He will pour out the Holy Spirit upon His people and satisfy them with the presence of God in their lives. Jesus is the living water. Nothing else can provide this, and no one else can give it to us.
Why do ye lavish away your precious affections upon vanity: None but Christ is worthy of them: when you spend your precious affections upon other objects, what is it but to dig for dross with golden mattocks?
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
More than likely, we are no better than the Israelites at the time of Jeremiah or the Laodicean Christians. We have forsaken Christ, we have replaced Him with another.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
Perhaps we have become consumed with: a TV series, movies, a video game, electronics, a sport, a hobby, our spouse, our children, our profession, a business, a dream, our future, our retirement, our ministry and service in the church, politics, social justice, or any other thing. Have we forsaken our first and true love for any of these things, or anything else. Has He been replaced by something that cannot and will not hold water?
Are we going back over and over again to a cistern that is broken? Are you in the middle of building a cistern right now that won’t hold water?
25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 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.
6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
Why do we search for our love in another?
Why do we search for our love in another?
More than likely, we are no better than the Israelites at the time of Jeremiah or the Laodicean Christians. We have forsaken Christ, we have replaced Him with another.
Perhaps we have become consumed with: a TV series, movies, a video game, electronics, a sport, a hobby, our spouse, our children, our profession, a business, a dream, our future, our retirement, our ministry and service in the church, politics, social justice, or any other thing. Have we forsaken our first and true love for any of these things, or anything else. Has He been replaced by something that cannot and will not hold water?
Are we going back over and over again to a cistern that is broken? Are you in the middle of building a cistern right now that won’t hold water? Why do we do this? What is wrong with us?
Maybe we want something tangible, something we can see. Maybe we want someone to tell us “good job” or to hear the words audibly, “I love you.” Maybe the sin that is so prevalent in us pulls us down. Maybe it is
Why do ye lavish away your precious affections upon vanity: None but Christ is worthy of them: when you spend your precious affections upon other objects, what is it but to dig for dross with golden mattocks? The Lord direct our hearts into the love of Christ. O that our hearts, loves and delights did meet and concentre with the heart of God in this most blessed object!
Why do ye lavish away your precious affections upon vanity: None but Christ is worthy of them: when you spend your precious affections upon other objects, what is it but to dig for dross with golden mattocks? The Lord direct our hearts into the love of Christ. O that our hearts, loves and delights did meet and concentre with the heart of God in this most blessed object!
Why do ye lavish away your precious affections upon vanity: None but Christ is worthy of them: when you spend your precious affections upon other objects, what is it but to dig for dross with golden mattocks?
Why do we search for our love in another?
Why do we search for our love in another?
Is Jesus at the door of your heart? Is he knocking? Is he calling you?
I tell you, if you would set your love to sale, none bids so fair for it as Christ.
I tell you, if you would set your love to sale, none bids so fair for it as Christ.
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”
More than likely, we are no better than the Israelites at the time of Jeremiah or the Laodicean Christians. We have forsaken Christ, we have replaced Him with another.
Perhaps we have become consumed with: a TV series, movies, a video game, electronics, a sport, a hobby, our spouse, our children, our grandchildren, our profession, a business, a dream, our future, our retirement, our ministry and service in the church, politics, social justice, or any other thing. Have we forsaken our first and true love for any of these things, or anything else. Has He been replaced by something that cannot and will not hold water?
Are we going back over and over again to a cistern that is broken? Are you in the middle of building a cistern right now that won’t hold water? So all that is left is sludgy water to drink. Why do we do this? What is wrong with us?
Maybe we want something tangible, something we can see. Maybe we want someone to tell us “good job” or to hear the words audibly, “I love you.” Maybe the sin that is so prevalent in us pulls us down. Maybe it is more than this...
Maybe there is something sinister going on. Perhaps it is the prince of this world, cheating us from true joy, trying to do as much damage as he can to us since he knows we are saved by Christ. Perhaps he is trying to rob us of the joy that is rightfully ours.
Perhaps it is a combination of the world, the flesh, and the devil seeking to devour us and devoid us of our intense communion with the Trinity. We must wake up and see what is happening to us and in us. We must head toward the sound of knocking on the door of our hearts, and the loving voice that is calling us. We must remember Israel, we must remember the broken cistern, and hear the call of Christ to come and drink from wells of living water.
Restoring the joy of our salvation
Restoring the joy of our salvation
It seems to me that the only way to restore the joy of our salvation is to listen to Jesus Christ as he tells us to come to him and find an unending supply of living water.
We need to abandon our broken cisterns, the sludge that we are drinking, and run to the streams of living water that are found in God alone. We must look to God in the face of Jesus Christ and behold his wonder and beauty in order to keep drinking from the constant flow of the rivers of living water.
All other loves are worthless. When we pursue them, we will become like them…worthless. There is only one love that will raise are soul higher and higher. There is only one who is worthy of our affection and worship. When we worship and delight in God, pursuing him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we become like him. We begin to reflect our Lord Jesus Christ in our thoughts, our speech, and our actions. We become beings that are worthy of the image of God that we bear. For as we worship and delight in God, we partake in the pleasure and delight of God himself, the Trinity. We experience the community and communion that we were designed to know, experience and demonstrate.
But this is a tall task. How do we who have drunk from the living water, so quickly start building broken cisterns? We are going to need some help to get our eyes fixed upon something that will satisfy the desires that we have which drive us back to the broken, sludgy cisterns.
To do this, we are going to get a little help from John Flavel and his sermon on .
30 I was beside him as a master of crafts. I was having fun, smiling before him all the time, 31 frolicking with his inhabited earth and delighting in the human race.
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
John Flavel attempts to show from , the essential and primeval (before all creation) Glory of Christ. He sees Jesus Christ as the fountain of God’s grace.
Is Jesus at the door of your heart? Is he knocking? Is he calling you?
Is Jesus at the door of your heart? Is he knocking? Is he calling you?
In John Flavel’s sermon on , he shows the essential and primeval Glory of Christ, seeking to show us that Jesus Christ is the fountain of God’s grace.
Join me for a moment as we look with him at this passage from Proverbs. In it we can see four things relating to Christ in his glory before any creature was made that was made.
In eternity, the Father, Son and Spirit delighted in each other and no creature knew this joy.
Second, the three persons of the Trinity delighted in the salvation of men, though the work was not even begun yet.
The Son was in a glorious condition, in the bosom of the Father (). There was dearness and intimacy. The Son was wrapped up in very soul of his Father, embosomed in God.
Second, that the three persons of the Trinity delighted in the salvation of men, though the work was not even begun yet.
The fellowship of the Father and Son is seen in a metaphor where Christ is said to be an artist, a master of crafts, in the creation of the world. In his creation work, Christ is compared to a delightful child, playing before his Father. The Son was rejoicing before the Father. This may even signify laughing or playing. As a parent delights to see their children playing before them, so the Father delighted in beholding this darling of his bosom.
Second, the non-incarnated Son of God was in a glorious condition. He was in the bosom of the Father (). This expression is to help us understand the dearness and intimacy that the Father and the Son had. The son was wrapped up in very soul of his Father, he was embosomed in God.
This delight was perpetual and uninterrupted. These great and glorious persons mutually let forth their fullest pleasure and delight, each in to the heart of the other. They lay as it were embosomed one in another, entertaining themselves with delights and pleasures that we cannot come close to understand.
Third, the fellowship of the Father and Son is seen in a metaphor where Christ is said to be an artist in the creation of the world. In this creation, Christ is compared to a delightful child, sporting before its Father. It says he was rejoicing before him, which signifies to laugh, play, or rejoice. This is as a parent delights to see their children playing before them, so the Father delighted in beholding this darling of his bosom.
Fourth, the delight is amplified farther as we see the perpetuity and uninterruptedness of it. These great and glorious persons mutually let forth their fullest pleasure and delight, each in to the heart of the other. They lay as it were embosomed one in another, entertaining themselves with delights and pleasures that we cannot come close to understand.
Thus, the condition and state of Jesus Christ before his incarnation, was a state of the highest and most unspeakable delight and pleasure, in the enjoyment of his Father.
Flavel then goes on to look at the state of Christ negatively, positively, and comparatively.
Negatively
Christ was not in a low condition before his incarnation
Christ was not under the law
Christ had not experienced any of the pain and sorrow of humanity
Positively
Christ had matchless happiness in the delight and enjoyment he experienced because he is an infinite and eternal being
Christ had intimacy and dearness with the Father in a near and sweet communion
Christ had intimacy and dearness with the Father in a near and sweet communion
Christ had a pure delight in his relationship with his Father
Christ had constant delight, it was never interrupted
Comparatively
Creatures delight in each other...how much more the delight between the infinite?
God delights in his creatures through Christ...how much more so does he delight in Christ himself?
Creatures delight in God, and Christ, though in an imperfect way, how much more would the perfect delight of God be?
never did any child he so close to a parent’s heart, as Christ did to his Father’s; and yet he willingly parts with him, though his only one, the Son of his delights, and that to death, a cursed death, for sinners, for the worst of sinners
Inferences
You would be loth to leave a creature’s bosom, a comfortable dwelling, a fair estate for the best friend in the world; your souls are loth to leave their bodies, though they have no such great content there; but which of you, if ever you found by experience what it is to be in the bosom of God by divine communion, would be persuaded to leave such a bosom for all the good that is in the world?
What an act of love, for the Father to give the delight, the darling of his soul, out of his very bosom, for poor sinners!
Adore, be astonished at the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners; that he should consent to leave such a bosom, and the ineffable delights that were there, for such poor worms as us ()
Adore, be astonished at the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners; that he should consent to leave such a bosom, and the ineffable delights that were there, for such poor worms as us ()
Interest in Jesus Christ is the true way to all spiritual preferment in heaven. Do you covet to be in the heart, in the favour and delight of God? Get interest in Jesus Christ, and you shall presently be there
How worthy is Jesus Christ of all our love and delights? You see how infinitely the Father delighteth in him, how he ravishes the heart of God; and shall he not ravish our hearts?
If Christ be the beloved darling of the Father’s soul, think what a grievous and insufferable thing it is to the heart of God, to see his dear Son despised, slighted, and rejected by sinners: verily, there is no such cut to the heart of God in the whole world.
Is Jesus at the door of your heart? Is he knocking? Is he calling you?
Is Jesus at the door of your heart? Is he knocking? Is he calling you?
O that you did but see this lovely Lord Jesus Christ! Then would you go home sick of love: surely he is a drawing Saviour, John 12:32. Why do ye lavish away your precious affections upon vanity: None but Christ is worthy of them: when you spend your precious affections upon other objects, what is it but to dig for dross with golden mattocks?
He stands at the door and knocks, calling out to us, for us to simply look upon his face. He wants us to see him in all his glory so that we can come to know the beauty and delight that surpasses all other delights. He wants us to come and enter into this delight. His desire is that we stop going back to broken cisterns which are filled with sludge that will never satisfy. He desires that we enter into the delight, the communion and communication that is found within the Trinity. The Holy Spirit has been given to us, the life of God is in the soul of man, and Christ tells us to drink deeply of it.
The way that we can drink of it is to know more of Christ, to know more of who he is, what he left, what he did, what he is doing, and what he will do. We need to get a glimpse of the living waters in order to deplore the broken cisterns that we keep returning to.
If Christ lay eternally in this bosom of love, and yet was content to forsake and leave it for our sakes; then:
We should be willing to forsake and leave all the comforts we have on earth for Christ
We should have confidence in our prayer: If he, that has such an interest in the heart of God, intercede with the Father for us, then never doubt of audience and acceptance with him; surely you shall be accepted through the beloved, .
Let this confirm your faith in prayer: If he, that has such an interest in the heart of God, intercede with the Father for you, then never doubt of audience and acceptance with him; surely you shall be accepted through the beloved, .
We should be impatiently waiting to see Christ and be in that bosom of love where Christ came
Let this encourage thy heart, O saint, in a dying hour, and not only make thee patient in death, but in a holy manner impatient till thou be gone; for whither is thy soul now going, but to that bosom of love whence Christ came?
Study to know Christ more intensively, to get the experimental taste and lively power of his knowledge upon your hearts and affections: This is the knowledge that carries all the sweetness and comfort in it. Christian, I dare appeal to thy experience, whether the experimental taste of Jesus Christ, in ordinances and duties, has not a higher and sweeter relish than any created enjoyment thou ever tastedst in this world? O then separate, devote, and wholly give thyself, thy time, thy strength to this most sweet transcendent study.
Revelation
6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.