Welcome Again,
I will of course begin with the main scripture reference for this on going study. those of you who have been following this weekly message should pretty well have this memorized by now. For those who are here for the first time don’t feel bad for not knowing because I try to post it here to start with every week.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
I am still zeroing in, here now, on part two of this scripture reference. “...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” This week the characteristic of Jesus I want to discus is how through His daily conversation He used His gospel message to save those who heard Him would be saved from an eternity of the fiery pits of Hell. We have all heard the expression of “selling ice water in hell” or “people in hell want ice water”. Well Jesus used His message of gospel to quench or put out the fire of hell from your very life.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
I want to begin here with probably the most known verse in the bible. Nearly everybody has learned as a child in Sunday School, or have seen signs during sporting events “John 3:16“. I want to point out that although this verse is the most quoted it also comes complete with more when used with its context. What a great thing it is to know God loved us all enough to send Jesus to save us from a life in the eternal pits of hell. Unlike the message preached by some, Jesus did not come here to condemn us. We all were already condemned because of the way sin had entered into the world through Adam and Eve. Sin had been incorporated as a natural order of our lives from the beginning.
Jesus did not come here to condemn us through what has been in our nature from birth. Instead he came to save us from the fire that has been burning inside us all from birth. By belief in the very name of Jesus as God’s son, His blood is the ice water that has used to put out the fire that has been burning within your very life. Jesus came as a Spring of Life to quench the thirst of the world. Just as Jesus spoke and taught the Samaritan woman while drinking at the well, of a new way to worship God. A new way that for all who thirst could have their thirst quenched and all throughout the world would be able to come to God in the same way.
John 4:5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “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.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 “Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 “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.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Jesus is offering His life to us as the water from the spring that never runs dry. He is offering His life to us as a drink of water that quenches an unquenchable thirst. And He is offering His water to everyone in the world, not just the chosen children of Israel from the old testament of the Bible, but to everyone who will call on His name.
Water is a necessity of life. Everything here on this earth depends upon water as a life giving force. From the ground to produce grass for cattle, to the very same cattle to become the beef on your dinner table. Just as fish depend completely on water we also have to have water to sustain our lives. Jesus is offering to us water that quenches thirst for eternity.
Just right the opposite of life giving water is the eternal consumable fire that awaits the devil and all evil. Throughout the bible, there are scripture references of how God will use fire to cleanse the world of evil. The burning of the chafe after the wheat has been separated, the casting away of unfruitful branches after being pruned from the vine. I would like to share with you a parable from Jesus:
The Parable of the Tares
Matthew 13:24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 “but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 “But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 “So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ “
After all the crowds had left, His disciples asked Jesus to explain what was meant by His Parables
The Parable of the Tares Explained
Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 “The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Our enemy the devil has nothing more to do than to place temptation, evil, and self gratification within our lives.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
He is after your life to spend the eternity that awaits him and his in the eternal lake of fire. He knows his fate, he knows Jesus arose from the grave with the keys of life and death. He knows he has been defeated, but he wants to take you and as many others as possible with him.
Still for you and me there is hope. There is away to have the eternal fire that awaits you to be extinguished. All it takes is to drink from the life giving water which flows from Jesus Christ. All it takes is to do as He had said:
John 14 “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.
The ice water sent to quench the thirst that is within us all.
*All scripture quotes are from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible unless otherwise noted
© 2006, 2007, 2008 Tommy Harmon www.thepathseeker.com