this morning. That's the first thing. That's a beautiful remote control and I have no idea what it does. Good to see you this morning.
It's good that we would not live in fear. There's one thing that I think that Christians should not be characteristic of is that to live in fear. We live in difficult times in which there is much fear in society. Some of it I do believe is...
Is this one here? Okay, I'll bend that a little bit. Some of it I believe I have to say I think is manufactured. It is when one reads in Revelation about the love of many growing cold.
Is it not possible that fear would contribute to that? I think so. That's entirely possible. Let not fear characterize our lives.
That is not a... That would not be a Christian phenomenon, would it? Perhaps we can... This morning I have a grand total of about eight slides and one of Nicholas's professors at Bible School, Dr.
Doherty, he said once in a while a man in the pulpit might do a topical Bible study and then he should repent. Interesting, very interesting. I'm going to do one anyway and it is on this concept of refreshment in the Bible. Shall we pray?
Our Father, we thank you that we indeed know of a higher reality, which is your reality, which is the reality. The reality of Christ in us, the hope of glory. We thank you that we can be those who know and worship the Savior of the world, the God of heaven, the one in whom all our hopes reside. And as we look to the future this morning, help us Father to be grounded in your spirit and in your word.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Refreshment, I was reading in Acts 3 and I came across Peter's statement, his appeal. He said, that times of refreshment might return.
And that somehow struck me on I thought about the word refreshment and whether or not we as believers walk into our daily situations in life and those around us go, wow, that... he's refreshing. You know, you want to be the kind of person that walks into a room, walks into a discussion, walks into a situation. And to be characteristic of Christ, well, there's a challenge because Christ, of course, as the perfect Son of God was multi-faceted and in the perfection and beauty of his character.
And in some small way, we should always try to reflect Christ, to remind people somehow of someone and that someone is Christ. And I thought that this idea of refreshment is a wonderful idea. We sometimes say, you know, he was like a breath of fresh air, you know, that the discussion had become dim and dark and negative. And another one is, you know, that was just like a glass of cold water.
And it's interesting how in the Bible, we do have, throughout the Bible, from the beginning to the end, the idea of refreshment via water, via water. We love to be refreshed. From Genesis chapter 2 in Eden, until the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, you have the idea of water and refreshment. So it must be an important theme, it must be an important subject or topic.
We see in Eden, a very interesting thing. I was going to say if anybody's interested in my lectures in hydrology started a week from Wednesday, but on second thought, Genesis chapter 2, but there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground, verse 10, and a river went out of Eden to water, the garden, and fence, it was parted and became into four heads. The idea that in an idyllic setting, that is idyllic because of God, because it is the design of God, that that is a source of water, it is a source of refreshment. And it just speaks to me that this is God's intention, that in a place where we have communion with God, the benefits of that spread out, they spread out, refreshment is intended to spread out.
Let's move ahead, thousands of years to approximately the year 1452 BC. This is actually not the first time this has happened. In Exodus 17, you can read the first time that it happened, this is the second time that it happens, although it is not identical to the first time. And but before I read this passage, we have a great deal that has transpired.
Adam and Eve have been expelled from the garden. They are no longer in that place of perfect refreshment and of communion with the God who created them, they are expelled and they cannot return to that place, that beautiful and perfect place of refreshment with God. And they have children and those children have children, and a man named Abraham in chapter 12 is promised by God that he will be the origin of an entire nation and that nation eventually ends up in bondage in a place called Egypt. And the children of God on earth are in bondage, they are in slavery, the children of God on earth in slavery, that's not supposed to be what, not supposed to be, we are not supposed to be slaves to anyone, except God.
And so they were in this bondage and God redeemed them, redeemed them in the sense that he brought them physically out of that place of bondage. And he, oh that was good, don't know what induced that, I didn't touch the pulpit before I lose the rest of it and put the cat back on just for it. And as you will remember from your Bible, they were brought to the promised land and they had no faith to enter that place of rest and of victory. And God says you're going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and now you have the earthly children of God in the desert.
I think the desert is just about the most opposite of Eden that you can imagine. Desert is a place of death, a place of death. And yet when you think about the image of the children of God wandering around a wilderness, a dry place, something that's devoid of life, that isn't so different from us. Do you gain refreshment from the world around you?
I think what the world offers is largely escape from reality, not reality. My son this morning mentioned in his prayer, they are emotions, match reality. I would maybe modify that and say, may our emotions match higher reality, God's reality. This world out there is a dead wilderness as far as any spiritual benefit to you is concerned.
It is not a place of refreshment. Now, as you will remember as far as protein goes, there were quail that came to them. As you will remember, mannequim to them, I guess that would be largely carbohydrates. And when you read going back into Exodus and into numbers, the wanderings, you don't read about the stopping at regular oases, but it must have been so.
It must have been so. It also must have been so that the climate in those days was quite different from the climate in that part of the world today. The Jordan River, for example, was a rather intimidating river sometimes in the border between Jordan and Israel today. It's not today, it's not today when the Jordan River is in its relatively low flow, which is most of the time.
I wonder whether you could jump over it if you got a good run at it. It's really a little stream, but it actually was a daunting flood on times in the Old Testament. One has to think hydrologically, there would also be oases in that time. The Bible doesn't mention God leading the children of God from oasis to oasis, but you can only last about three days without water.
They say that when a man is dying of thirst, one of the things that he can experience is pretty close to insanity. So that if you are in a life raft and you are dying of thirst, you know in your head don't drink the sea water. Don't do it. But as you become delirious, it has happened many times that men in life rafts could not resist drinking the sea water and hastening their own deaths and making their own deaths more horrible.
You can only last a few days without water. So it must have been that God was leading the people around the wilderness from oasis to oasis, providing them with quail, providing them with manna. But sometimes, I would say, on purpose, God led them to a place where they were deprived. They were deprived.
So now I'll read this. And there was no water for the congregation and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chowed with Moses past tense of chide. I'm not sure.
And spake saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord? And why have he brought us? Why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness that we in our cattle should die here? And Moses lifted up his hand in verse 11.
And with his rod he smoked the rod twice. And the water came out abundantly. And the congregation drank and their beasts also. As you know, he wasn't supposed to strike the rock even once.
I think he was mad. And he struck the rock twice. And as a result of that, he himself would never set foot in the promised land. He would see it from the top of a mountain where he would die.
But when we think about this, the children of God being in a wilderness, and we think about the onset of thirst. And we are reminded, as I have reminded you this morning, that God had provided for their needs. God had provided for their needs. Isn't it like a human being to say, the first time I am experiencing physical discomfort, I am going to get mad.
The first time I feel deprived, I am not going to pray. I am going to get mad. I just feel that that is so us. That is so human.
That in our lives, when we begin to feel some measure in some way, not necessarily physical, of discomfort, of dissatisfaction, of unwellness, not necessarily physical, although that contributes sometimes I think. That the first thing we need to do is not the thing that we need to do. The first thing that we need to do is to bring our need to the Lord. Has the Lord met your need before?
Yes. Then why are you getting angry? But this is what happened. The Lord had been meeting their needs.
And when they felt a sense of deprivation, they didn't remember Exodus 20 culturally. Here they are again in the same place. This does not appear to be a frequent event, but they are in a place of deprivation. Maybe it's a test.
Of course it's a test. And what is the first thing that they do when a little test comes along, they get mad at their human leaders. This is not helpful. Rather than getting down on their knees and saying, well, the Lord has met our needs.
If we have a need, we should take it to the Lord. No, we are going to get mad at our leaders. That is a very human thing to do. May we not do that.
May we in any need and in all needs turn, first of all, to the Lord. One might say that goes without saying. Well, in my life, it hasn't gone without saying. And I forget.
And that's why we have the Bible. And that's why we have fellowship. And that's why we have the various ways in which God's grace comes to us through prayer, through study, through listening, even through singing. To be spiritually strengthened, singing songs, and spiritual songs.
In your hearts to the Lord, as it says, as Paul writes in Ephesians. And so sometimes in spite of all of these possible blessings and resources that we have, including the resource of going to God Himself, we forget, and we get mad and we lose perspective and we get discouraged. So in 2021, let us remember this, that when we need refreshment, there is a way to get it. There is a source.
There is an ultimate source for refreshment, the refreshment that we need in our lives. And if that characterizes our lives, then when we walk into the room, we will be like that glass of cold water to the discussion. We will bring into the room or into that situation, godly grace and spiritually directed words, and a demeanor that speaks of the fragrance of Christ. Here are some verses that I memorized in university, and I'm just going to have this morning three of them from Psalm 84.
And David's life, King David's life, if you look at all of the lives in the Bible and the Old Testament, what a rollercoaster of a life was the life of King David? Well, that should be an encouragement to me because I have ups and downs and you have ups and downs. But I guarantee you, I really doubt that there is anything on the scale of the rollercoaster that King David experienced. And yet this man knew how to get through it.
That little image there in searching for little supporting images is not from the Middle East. It's not Baca or any place close to that. It's actually part of Mexico, where you have in a dry area pools. And you can see that there are intermittent pools.
I recently saw in the media someone making reference to this phrase that's right here. You know, the person said, we need to go from strength to strength. And I thought to myself, do you even know where that comes from? That's from your Bible.
I wonder if you even know where that original thought comes from your Bible. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee and in whose heart are the ways of them, who passing through the valley of Baca. Make it a well. The rain also fell off the pools.
They go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appear as before God. I memorized it in another version. Going from strength to strength until you actually appear before God is actually a daunting task, an impossible task if you are proposing to do it by yourself and on your own.
Very, very daunting. This is a wilderness. Make no mistake. You will not be getting your, I hope, or thinking you can get your spiritual sustenance from this world.
That is not God's intention. And that is not a realistic or correct expectation. Your substance, your sustenance, your empowerment comes from God. And in going from a place of refreshment to finding another place of refreshment, you will and you can go from strength to strength until you finally appear before God.
Isn't it interesting how this theme of refreshment and water keeps coming up through the Bible? You all know that in John chapter 3, I'm not sure who was interviewing who whom, but as you know in John chapter 3, there was a discussion between a very learned man who came at night to talk with the Lord Jesus. And his name, as you know, was Nicodemus, Nicodemus. That man in his, if you read the words in that conversation carefully, you will find that he is exhibiting real humility.
He would have had the equivalent of a PhD and he went to the Lord, albeit at night because he was a fearful man of those in authority, his colleagues. Imagine that. A professor being afraid of his colleagues. I'll guarantee you there's lots of those around.
And he went at night and he had to find out about this man. And he had a wonderful conversation with this man and he humbled himself. He doesn't understand good. I'm glad that he was able to admit I don't understand.
It's tough for human beings to do that. The more educated there are, the tougher it is for them to admit it. A spiritual leader, a religious leader, an educated man, I don't understand. What do we find in John chapter 3 as compared to this?
We find the essentialness of being born again. Do you want to know the grace of God? You must be born again. What does that mean?
I think everyone in that room, in this room, knows what that means to be born again. To trust in Christ for your eternal salvation. To trust in the Lord Jesus for your eternal life and the redemption of your soul. We sang this morning about the arm of redemption.
Isaiah said to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? That arm that is in action of salvation to bring about the salvation of your soul. To you I hope the arm of salvation has been revealed to you in your soul and in mine so that we are born again. And that is a wonderful thing.
And it is an absolute necessity. The grace of God is an absolute necessity. And then we come to the next chapter. And we have the only record of a conversation that took place between a woman in Samaria, near a very famous well, attributed to Jacob and the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 413, Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst. Whoever, whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Isn't that a wonderful picture of the goodness of God? We have the necessity of the grace of God in chapter 3. And here we have the Lord Jesus. You might say witnessing, witnessing to a woman who knows nothing about the grace or goodness of God.
And the jumping off point appears to me to be in these key verses 13 and 14. The Lord Jesus is challenging this woman. Do you know anything about the goodness of God? Do you know anything about the refreshment that comes from God?
It's inextricably linked to salvation. And if you have it, you actually have everlasting life. You have your own source of refreshment. This well may dry up one day.
And then what will you do? And I'm not speaking of physical water. What about the need for salvation? What about the need for refreshment in the soul?
The Lord Jesus is indicating to this woman that that is actually what you need. You need a source of water at that level and that it must come from God. And she tried to divert the conversation a little bit by getting into, I suppose, what that might correspond to today might be denominational details. But the Lord straightened those out and moved on and established the necessity of faith in himself as the Messiah, only one Messiah, only one Messiah through all human history.
Looking back, looking forward, the God of heaven has only identified a single person as the Messiah. And that person was the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth who spoke to this woman in this place at this time. Within a few years would be gone from this earth, by resurrection and ascension. He alone was and is the Messiah of God.
He alone is the only one who can give you and I that water of life within ourselves. That I might say you can draw on at will, at will. Are there dry places between those pools in Baca? Are there dry places when you're wandering in this wilderness?
Of course there are. But if you have the water of life within yourself, upon whom you can draw at will, you will appear before God. You will. And this is the place in the chapter which puts the thought in my mind, times of refreshing.
Going back to Isaiah 28, you find this refreshing and that God wanted, as per even Eden, God wanted to bring refreshing to his earthly children and they would not. It's like the Lord Jesus grieving over Jerusalem. How often would I have gathered you under my wings? And you would not.
The human will. The human will, oddly, to actually refuse the refreshment of God. Don't want it. We who enjoy that refreshment of God, we look at those who don't want and refuse the water of life.
We don't understand it. Why in the world would you turn away from the refreshment of God? Why would you not want that? Well, that's because we're speaking on the inside.
We enjoy it. We know it. We can't imagine life without it. The world knows nothing of it.
Isaiah the prophet could see that that was what needed and that that was what Christ was going to bring. What did Peter say? Repent ye therefore and be converted. How about that for a word?
Be converted. Obey the gospel. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out that times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Indeed.
A man was calling out and you know what Peter said. I give you not something for myself, but I give you of the Lord and the man stood up. That's a wonderful thing and that's the principle. When we are sharing in this dry world from our own well of the water of life and of refreshment, we didn't make that water.
We are not the origin of that well. It is him. Always keep in mind that if you want to go into that room and be refreshing, where is your own source of refreshment? Know where it is.
Draw on that well. It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And I can't help but think that in the same way that Isaiah was speaking to a people. Here we have Peter speaking and quoting from Isaiah 28 and saying times of refreshing.
There's a corporate sense to that. He was preaching to all of the people there on the steps. He's telling them times of refreshing. This is for the people of God too.
We as the children of God should corporately as the body of Christ together show that we know about refreshment. If we know about refreshment, God can use us to bring about times of refreshing to this dark and dry and impoverished world. That is his purpose. May the Lord use us without.
Before I come to Revelation 22, I want to just point out a couple of things that the Apostle Paul said, and I did do a little bit of looking into the meanings of the words and so on. Let me read them first. Philemon verse 7. For I have had great joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, Brother.
Verse 20. Yes, Brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 2 Timothy 1 verse 16.
The Lord grant mercy to the household of an Esophorus. For he often refreshed me and was not afraid or ashamed, not ashamed of my chains. Now, the Lord used the Apostle Paul, mightily, mightily. I borrowed a book from the library some years ago and the title was something like the 20 most influential people in history.
Apostle Paul was in the top five. I didn't expect that. So here is a man, a very learned man again, a man who the Lord had revealed himself to him visually and specifically and tasked him specifically to reach out to the Gentiles. And he had had experiences and had had revelations and had knowledge of the Scriptures that would not have, you wouldn't find anyone else.
There would be no one on par with him in that day in terms of his grasp of the Old Testament and what it means to the new church. So I'm trying to portray a picture of a very spiritually powerful man, a unique man. And yet, what does he say? Refresh me.
You can refresh me. I love that because it made that humility to be able to say, you know, for all my learning and for all my revelations. He didn't say that, but it's as if he's saying, for all my learning and for all my revelations, and for all my spiritual experiences and God's leading, you can refresh me. Somebody that we hardly know anything about.
In other words, some ordinary person. Ordinary Christians can refresh mature Christians. That's why we need you. That's why we need each other so that we can refresh each other.
It's actually a part of this is in Philemon is a refreshing in the sense of giving a deep rest, the idea of a Sabbath, a deep rest of heart. This world is full of trials and of effort. Can you bring a sense of rest into the heart of another? You can.
You can. The Greek word is actually spleen. Dear spleen. But that's because of the word bowels and that is the general sort of concept that the inner life is not up here, down here somewhere.
We often, of course, think of the heart, and that's what these translators use. But there is a deep sense of refreshment that we need. That ordinary people can provide to other ordinary people in the end. We're all ordinary Christians in the end.
And that is essential. That is so essential and so necessary. Even the apostle Paul needed that. Keep that in mind.
From Genesis 2 to Revelation 22 and actually the first chapter of the first book, Genesis, lots of water in there too, by the way. But we read about that water coming out of that place to refresh all around it. And then we come to the end of the book, skip to the end as they say, find out how things are in God's heaven. And he showed me a pure river of the water of life clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there will be no more curse. The throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it.
And his servants shall serve him. A very lovely part of that part of scripture there is that the source of that water, of life, water of life. Who is it? The lamb, the lamb.
That is a very profound fact and truth and reality, a higher reality. I hope that for you, the Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus in every way, and most especially for you and for me, that he is the lamb, the lamb that was slain. As we remember this morning who shed his blood on the cross, the slaughtered lamb. Revelation, I saw a lamb as if it had been slain.
Says John, the lamb, the lamb of God. He is the one who worked a redemption. He is the one who can put within you a well that springs up to everlasting, everlasting life. And he is the one that we will be singing hymns like the hymn of the ages to for all eternity.
All refreshment in all life comes from him. As you go out in 2021, I would challenge you and I challenge myself to always remember where refreshment comes from. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you for the panorama that your word gives us in showing us your works in history, your work in hearts, and your plan for the future.
These things, Lord, are all in your control. Help us as we go out into 2021 to know that you are in control. Help us to draw upon the one who is our water of life, who is our refreshment. In his name we pray, amen.