Satisfying Jesus’ Thirst

You, parents, aren’t you glad when your children tell you they love you? Aren’t you? Why, sure. Yes. Of course, you could put it on a tape recorder and play it over. Every time you feel hungry for some of that, you could just turn on the tape recorder and hear somebody say, “I love you,” and that would take care of it, wouldn’t it? No, it just wouldn’t be quite the same, would it? No. It wouldn’t be the same at all.

The response of a loving heart that does not have to respond, the love of a human soul that can choose whether or not it will give love: that, friends, is the priceless gift. This is of such value to God, that life to Him is not worth it unless He has that. This is the meaning of Calvary. He will risk His life rather than lose your love forever. He will give His life that He may not only pay your debt, cancel your sins, but win back your love.

Oh, yes, friends: As we discussed in our previous lesson, He has nothing to draw with in your heart. He can’t make you love Him. Love can’t be forced. Only by love is love awakened. And as He sits there by the well of your heart, thirsty, will you give Him to drink? Will you tell Him, Oh, yes Lord, I do love you. If this is what You want, to come all the way from Heaven to Sychar’s well, yes, Jesus, here is some water. Here is some love. Here is some sympathy. Here is some appreciation. Here is some understanding. Here is some fellowship. If this is what you want,  Lord, here is all I have.

Let’s take another picture of it. Revelation 3:20. You remember that in Revelation 2 and 3 there are seven messages to the seven churches. The last one is for Laodicea. That is you and me, the Remnant church. Now, let’s see what His message is to you and me, down here in the last generation:

“Behold, I stand at the door, and …” What? “… knock” Revelation 3:20. Who is it? Jesus. Where is He? At the door. What does He want? Well, what do you want when you knock at a door? You want to come in, don’t you? That’s what He wants. “Why doesn’t He come on in? Isn’t He strong enough?” Oh, yes. But that isn’t what He wants.

“If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Ibid

How easy it is to look out the window and see Jesus there at the door, and say, “I wonder what He has for me, anyway. I wonder if it is worthwhile having Him come in. I am afraid if He came in, He might want to make some changes, and I am not sure that I want Him too. What is in it for me, anyway?”

But friends, today, let’s put all that aside, and let’s see what He is coming for. He is coming for supper. Isn’t that what He says? “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will …” What? “… sup with him.” {Ibid} What does sup mean? Well, it means to drink, to eat. In other words, we are going to have a meal.

If I were to come to your house and you decided to invite me in for supper, who would furnish the supper? Would I furnish it, or would you furnish it? Would you feed me? I believe you would, friends.

And Jesus has come to Laodicea. He has come to your heart, and He is hungry. He knocks at the door. He says, “Would you open the door and let Me come in, and let’s have supper together?” Have you enough to feed Him, friends, or is it all you can do to take care of your own problems? Have you enough love to give Him any, or are you using it all up just on yourself?

You remember that widow who the Lord sent Elijah to? The water had run dry over there in the brook Cherith, in Gilead. And the dear Lord said, “Elijah, I have another plan to take care of you now. The ravens have been feeding you, but I am going to send you over to Zarephath. There is a widow over there with her son. They are going to take care of you.”

He got over there and found the woman out there by the city gate, hunting for a few sticks of wood to build a fire. And she had just enough meal and oil left to do what? Make one cake, just one little pancake. And who was going to eat that? She and her son. And then she said what was going to happen next? They were going to die.

I want to tell you something: If you take all your love and use it just for yourself, you will die, too. You will starve to death. There isn’t enough. There isn’t enough to keep you alive. And there is many a starving heart that is thinking, “Poor me. Oh, I wish I had somebody to love me. Poor me, poor me. I wish I had somebody to love me. Just enough to feed myself, and then I am going to starve and die.”