The Fountain of Youth

If possible, show picture of the Fountain of Youth and ask if any of the men know what it is and the story behind it.

I know when I was a small boy, my parents took my sister and I, along with some other family members, to St. Augustine, Florida and we went to the Fountain of Youth, along with other historical places that are found in the “oldest” city in the United States. (MENTION THE OLDEST SCHOOLHOUSE)

People have always been enamored with the thought of some mystical pool or body of water that has the power to reverse aging and to restore youthfulness for all time!

That is the legend and allurement that brought, the Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, to discover Florida, back in the 16th century, in 1513.

Although there are a couple of problems with Ponce de Leon’s famous discovery:

Elderly visitors, even today, who drink the sulfur-smelling waters from the spring, don’t begin to revert to their youth again.

Many historians now think he came ashore about 140 miles farther south, near present-day Melbourne, Florida, and thus, never even stepped foot in St. Augustine, as has always been taught.

Mankind, in general, has been pursuing the “fountain of youth” ,(per se), for centuries. Or at least, they have been fascinated with the ability to forgo aging and retain the gift of YOUTH, indefinitely!

It was Mark Twain who said, "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18."

I read this exert from a National Geographic article on about the issue of eternal youth, that said, “The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age "loathsome," and William Shakespeare termed it "hideous winter." Oscar Wilde's character Dorian Gray even preserved his youth by aging only in a painting, to hideous effect.

So it's not hard to understand why there have always been hopes and rumors that something soon to be discovered—magic waters, say, or maybe stem cell research—will do away with old age.

Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before he died around 323 B.C., may have been looking for a river that healed the ravages of age. During the 12th century A.D., a king known to Europeans as Prester John supposedly ruled a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth.”

My point is, that people have desired throughout the centuries and millenniums, to retain the gift of eternal youth and life.

Some, in more recent years, have tried to elude aging through the wiles of modern surgical interventions!

Have you seen what some people have done to themselves?!

Just a side note here, on aging. We should not begrudge the process of aging, nor deny it the ability to serve the Lord God. It is a design for our natural bodies, that God established and that He governs. We should embrace the life that He gives us, each day in thankfulness and gratitude! The Psalmist doesn’t say, “This is the day that the Lord has used to make me even older; I will begrudge and be miserable in it!”

We should embrace whatever stage in life we are and turn it over to the Lord in sweet service. This, alone, will forever change our minds about aging.

The now, late Dr. Billy Graham, said this in reference to our aging, “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice. Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture is filled with examples of men and women whom God used late in life, often with great impact - men and women who refused to use old age as an excuse to ignore what God wanted them to do.”

So, this morning, I am going to look at this very subject, that is, eternal youth.....eternal life, and I am going to do so, by focusing on the very thing that men have dreamt of and searched for throughout the ages, that gives us this gift.............a source of WATER that you can drink of that forever preserves youth and eternal life!

You know, the Bible has much to say, with regard to the subject of water for the spiritually thirsty, or, “living waters”, as it is called within the Word.

, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

, “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.”

, “And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”

, ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

, “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.”

These verses are all from the Old Testament, but the reality is that they are all speaking (ultimately), of a finality, of a source of “living waters” that will one day flow for all time and for all who come to drink from it’s life giving source.

Jesus, Himself, spoke about the imagery of “living waters” that would restore and heal and give eternal life!

In john chapter 4, we read of the encounter of a certain woman and Jesus, that took place as Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee.

This is the very familiar story of Jesus and woman from Samaria at the well of Jacob.

In this story, as many of us know, Jesus asks the woman at the well for a drink of water.

She acknowledges that Jews do not usually have anything to do with Samaritans and so, why was He asking her, a Samaritan, for a drink.

To this, Jesus responds, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

To this, the Samaritan woman questioned Jesus, by pointing out that He had no bucket to draw water with and she also questioned His position, or authority as to how we was able to offer water better than that of Jacob, himself!

It is here, that Jesus gives the woman the life altering answer for her life and for every life that would listen to it from that point forward and for all times!

It is here that the “true and faithful” map was given that yields to its reader the directions to the treasured “fountain of youth”. Ponce de Leon and others throughout the generations, could have saved themselves a lot of grief and trouble, if they would have just followed this one map that leads to eternal youth/ eternal life!

New Living Translation Chapter 4

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

Jesus, again, in said,

John 7:37–39 NLT

On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ ” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)

Jesus was telling the Samaritan woman at the well, that anyone who would come to Him and believe in Him and who He was and what He was come to do, would never spiritually thirst again. (They would eternally be satisfied; quenched of spiritual thirst!)

Then, in , Jesus declares that anyone who truly believes in Him may come and drink of and be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, that would soon be given to all true believers. And from these Holy Spirit filled believers, Jesus tells us that “Living water would flow from their heart!”

This same image of the living/healing waters is portrayed in the prophecy of with the stream that Ezekiel sees flowing east from the temple, that brings life with it and then also in , John is shown the image of the river flowing from the throne of God, that has the trees of life growing on each side of its banks.

Within the Revelation passage, we see a beautiful site, which is the Holy Spirit along with the bride (the church) declaring together, “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”

You and I, if we are believers, are filled with this living water! (As Jesus said in , “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink”) this word “believe” in the Greek has the understanding of a firm conviction of truth. That is, it means that you are convinced that what you believe in is absolutely true and you will not be convinced otherwise!

This is magnified by the statement that Jesus made to the father of the possessed boy in Mark’s gospel, where the father says to Jesus, “But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

To this, Jesus says, “If You can? echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”

If we truly BELIEVE what we say that we do, then this same “living water” flows through us.

We truly then have, “rivers of living water flowing from us”!

We are like sponges that are placed in the water. (What happens to a sponge once it is placed in the water?)

We are, (as men of the Christ), like islands that are submersed in this living water and it supports us and sustains us.

And yet, as the old poem says, “No man is an island entire of itself”, we are not separate from one another, but we are to be connected as a one functioning body, IN THE WATER!

And from us, this “life bringing water is to flow!