Church Sermon - July 28, 2002

OUR NEED TO DRAW WATER FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATION

Rev. Harry Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Romans 8:28-30
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 13:44-52
Sermon Text; John 7:37-38

In the name of Jesus, our Christian Brothers, our text takes us (interestingly enough) to the celebration of The Feast of Tabernacles, at the Temple in Jerusalem. This was during the last year of our Lord’s great, visible, messianic ministry, before His sufferings and death, upon the altar of the cross, for our salvation. It was in the fall of the year, with about 6 months remaining before His crucifixion, death, burial and His mighty resurrection from the dead, as our victorious Savior and Lord.

In about the middle of the weeklong Feast, He arrived in Jerusalem, from His ministry in Galilee. On the days following His arrival, we see Him in the temple, powerfully teaching the multitudes who were there for the Feast. Already now, the Pharisees and the Chief Priests wanted to take Him and kill Him, but many of the people were greatly impressed by Him and intensely interested in Him, and no one dared to lay hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.

Each morning during the week-long Feast, at the time of the sacrifice, a priest proceeded to the fountain of Siloah, with a golden pitcher, filled it with water. And, accompanied by a solemn procession, bore it to the altar of burnt sacrifice, pouring the water, together with the contents of a pitcher of wine from the drink offering, into two perforated flat bowls. The trumpets sounded, and the people sang Isaiah 12:3,

"Therefore with joy you will water from the wells of salvation."

Now on the last day of the Feast, Jesus cried out a very important cry to the crowds in relation to that important verse from Isaiah 12. As our text says,

"On the last day,

that great day of the Feast,

Jesus stood and cried out, saying,

let him come to Me and drink.’"

The crowds, surging to the temple court, made it necessary for Jesus to seek some prominent place where He could stand above the people, be generally seen and to lift up His voice, so that as many as possible might hear Him. And having located just such a place, He now, with strength, cried out this cry of His, in relation to those words of

Isaiah 12:3,

"Therefore with joy

you shall draw water from the wells of salvation."

Those wells are none other than God’s Wells. Verily, they are none other than the Wells of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He identifies them as His, with His cry,

"If anyone thirsts,

let him come unto Me and drink."

Even as they are the Wells of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, so they are also the Wells of Jesus, God the Son, who became incarnate for us men and for our salvation. They are the Wells of the Triune God, the only true God. They contain His gracious, saving Gospel. They contain Jesus and all He is to us and has done for us! They convey Him and all His saving benefits to all who come to Him and drink of those wells in truth - that is, with hearts repentant and trusting in Him.

They were His wells, the day He cried out in our text,

"If anyone thirsts,

let Him come unto Me and drink,"

They are the wells, the waters of which flow out from God’s Word and Sacraments. They flow out from God’s Word and Sacraments, working saving faith and spiritual life in the hearts of those who draw from these wells and drink from them in a salutary manner.

They are the wells from which flow, for us poor sinners, the refreshing waters of pardon for our sins, through Jesus our beloved Savior. They are the wells that satisfy our souls, which thirst for this pardon.

They are the wells from which flow the refreshing waters of peace with God, for us, through our Lord Jesus Christ. They are the wells that satisfy our souls, which thirst for this peace.

They are the wells from which flow the refreshing waters of life, which spring up in the believer unto everlasting life! They are the wells that satisfy our soul’s thirst for everlasting life with our God!

The Psalmist says, Psalm 42:2,
"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,"

And so it is with every believer. St. Augustine says with related strains,

Indeed, God’s wells, our Lord Christ’s wells, with which He quenches our soul’s thirst and gives rest to our souls are indeed the wells of this Word and Sacraments, from which thus at Christ our Savior’s call,

Not all men do so, however. Vast numbers do not. The unconverted world does not do so. For the unconverted world does not know God, nor does it perceive the refreshing, life giving waters which flow from these wells of salvation. Unconverted men need to be converted, brought to the knowledge of God and of the blessedness of drawing from these wells of God, if they too are to joyfully drink from these wells to their soul’s health and salvation, and thus find rescue from damnation. Thus, for their conversion let us pray, and let us labor, and let us give. We need to work for their conversion with earnest endeavor.

It, of course, is not only in foreign lands that men need to be converted. Though there are vast numbers of them there, but also in our own land. Great are the numbers in our own land, too, all around us, who also do not drink of these wells, but are seeking to drink of other wells, which however cannot satisfy their spiritual thirst. As it was with the wayward people of Judah in the days of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, of whom God had to complain through Jeremiah,

"My people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken Me,

the Fountain of Living Waters, and

hewn themselves cisterns -

broken cisterns that can hold no water,"

So our God must also complain about a great many also in our land, as well as throughout the world. They have forsaken Him, the Fountain of Living Water. They are seeking to drink of cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water, and can never quench their spiritual thirst.

Broken cisterns of hedonistic pleasures in abandonment from God, such as illicit drugs and illicit sex and other fleshly gratifications.

Broken cisterns of earthy treasures, earthly goods, wealth, possessions - counting these their highest good, rather than God.

Broken cisterns of educational pursuit without God, of political, economic thought and action without God.

Broken cisterns of sociological ideas, of psychological schemes, of philosophical systems, all apart from God.

Broken cisterns of Post-Modern Thought, of New Ageism, of the cults, of witchcraft, of the pagan religions of the world (some of which are experiencing wide-spread resurgence, notably for instance, Islam, which has been on rapid increase also in our land, and being embraced by many, as all of us must be aware).

Such are the broken cisterns from which vast numbers of our fellowmen are seeking to drink. But these cisterns can never satisfy spiritual thirst, nor give spiritual and eternal life. They only leave those who drink thereof, spiritually thirsty and empty, spiritually dead, and on their way to eternal death and damnation in Hell.

Have we ourselves sometimes, foolishly and wrongfully sought to drink from some such broken cisterns in the past? Have some of us been doing so, perhaps even in this present time? If so, now is the time for heartfelt repentance, to turn from such waywardness, with all our hearts fully to

God,

the Fountain of Living Waters

for the life-giving waters of

forgiveness,

salvation, and

spiritual and eternal life

which flow freely from Him,

pure,

clean,

unfailing waters!

And, henceforth let us earnestly guard our hearts, so that we do not seek to drink of any of these broken cisterns, rather than from God, the Fountain of Living Waters.

We are, indeed, in need of such council. For our old, sinful flesh seeks to lead us away from God to such cisterns, as also the world and the Devil seek to do so. As the whole world would perish without fresh water, so the human soul will perish, if it does not drink from God, the Fountain of Living Waters, and if its life is not then replenished on a continuing basis, till death, by the life that comes from God.

Our gracious God earnestly desires to satisfy the soul of man, with the waters of eternal life. Thus we can say to Him confidently with the psalmist, Psalm 36:9,

In Christ, this abundant life of God has come down to earth. In His wounds, a Fountain has been opened for thirsting men. Look to the cross, where He offered His life unto death for us and shed His blood to obtain forgiveness of sins, salvation, and life for us! In His wounds, I say, a Fountain has been opened for thirsting me; thence flows the waters of life and is channeled into our souls through Word and Sacraments. Whoever truly drinks of it shall never thirst. Here is truth, and here is reality, indeed.

Thus we hear our Lord Christ, in John Chapter 4, say to the woman at the well of Sychar, (whom He had asked to give Him a drink from the water of that well)

"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water…whoever drinks of this water (that is of the well of Sychar) will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

Thus also, sometime after speaking those words to the woman at the well, we hear Him here in our text in John Chapter 7:37 and 38, at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, cry out to all (and that includes also us),

To which He adds,

"He who believes in me,

as the Scripture has said,

out of his heart shall flow rivers of living waters."

And here, in these last words, He is speaking of us who believe in Him – speaking of us working diligently to bring this Living Water, that is in Him, to others who need it even as we, the Holy Spirit working through us. Yes, He is here speaking of our earnest efforts to bring this living water to our fellowmen who are still seeking to drink from broken cisterns, which can hold no water, which cannot satisfy their thirst, nor give them life. They indeed need to be converted and brought to the knowledge of God and of the blessedness of drawing from the wells of salvation, so that they too may joyfully drink from these wells, and enter into life with God with us. And for their conversion let us pray, and let us labor, and let us give, as before said.

In our text, our Lord sees us who believe in Him, fired up by the Holy Spirit working with energy and zeal to bring the water of life to others, indicating that out of our hearts shall flow rivers of living waters, not just a trickle. As for us here assembled, let us ourselves earnestly drink of these wells of salvation by a most faithful use of the Word and Sacrament, by no means neglecting these Means through which our Lord supplies us with the Living Water. And at the same time, let us be very diligent and zealous about bringing the Water of Life to others, and to this end be strongly committed to the support of the Holy Office of preaching and teaching the Word and administering the Sacraments far and near, so that the water of salvation may flow freely and abundantly to men both far and near.

We close with these appropriate related words from Psalm 46:5-6,

"There is a river

the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God:

the Holy Place of the Tabernacles of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her;

she shall not be moved:

God shall help her, and that right early."

Amen.

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