Sermon Central
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Living Jesus
Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Nov 22, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: God’s will for us is to enter into His amazing plan and purpose to have great joy in His presence and in His grace. Now how we respond to this invitation, is very important!
Opening illustration: Suppose you are rushed to the hospital, where a physician examines you and informs you that you are critically ill. He says you’ll die unless you have proper treatment. He then prescribes medicine and says, “If you will take this, I can assure you with absolute certainty that you will get well.”
Now, what should you do? Should you just lie there on your sickbed and believe that the doctor has diagnosed your illness correctly, and that the prescription will surely make you well? No, that’s not enough. To live, you must take the medicine.
It’s the same with salvation. You may believe everything the Bible says about Christ - that He died for your sins and rose from the dead. But if you refuse to “take Him” - that is, to trust Him and His work on the cross in your behalf - you will be just as lost as if you had openly and blatantly denied Jesus.
Saving faith, you see, is not simply acknowledging that certain facts about Christ are true. It is reaching out to personally accept God’s remedy for sin. It is entrusting the destiny of your soul to Him for eternity. It is saying, “Save me, Lord Jesus. I believe that You can and will.” That’s “taking the medicine” - that’s receiving Jesus Christ! Have you done that? If not, do it right now. (Richard De Haan, Our Daily Bread)
Introduction: When we read Jesus’ narrative of the banquet invitation in Matthew 22 we wonder where did He really pick it up from? After reading Isaiah 55 we get Jesus’ point. It was God’s intent for us to feast at His banquet table. In fact He had invited everyone but only the poor and needy showed up at His banquet. He willingly desired us to drink the living water so that we would thirst no more, eat the living bread so that we would hunger no more, we would heed to His Word and grow in Him thus seeking His profound presence in our lives so that we develop and grow in an intimacy with our creator.
The invitation shows us the grace of God that He invites us to a feast and celebration that He has prepared not because we deserve it but because God wants us to celebrate with Him. God’s will for us is to enter into His amazing plan and purpose to have great joy in His presence and in His grace. Now how do we respond to this invitation? Refusal of such an invitation is a great insult, to the honor and person of both God and His Son, Jesus. All of the refusals mentioned in Matthew 22 are trifling when compared to the importance of the celebration. Do we let possessions, business, ambition, earthly relationships or other excuses get in the way of our relationship with God?
How could we live Jesus every day of our life?
1. Drinking the WATER OF LIFE (v. 1)
He Offers Water – Water is one of the most important substances to us humans. Our bodies are comprised of 60-70% water and it takes a lot of it to keep us alive. The average human can live three days without water. We have to have water to live.
Water in the Bible is often a picture of the new birth. When Jesus talked with Nicodemus in John 3:5, Jesus said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” It is a picture of the Gospel message; the very message that must be received by faith in order for a person to be saved.
Jesus promises complete contentment to everyone who will drink of the water that He offers. Unlike physical water, which one must drink again and again, the spiritual water that Jesus offers will forever satisfy the soul who will take just one drink of it. Jesus makes this offer throughout the Bible, John 7:37; Revelation 22:17. His offer of soul-satisfying water still stands today.
Bonus Offer: (a) He Offers Wine – In biblical times, wine was just as important as water. Most of the water was not fit to drink, so wine was added to the water. The wine killed the bacteria and made the water drinkable. In the Bible, wine is often used as a picture of joy, Psalm 104:15. It was used at times of feasting and happy celebrations. Wine is also a picture of the Holy Spirit, Who enters a child of God at the moment of salvation and allows the redeemed one to experience “joy unspeakable and full of glory”, 1 Peter 1:8. God doesn’t just save us; He also fills us with His joy. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that gives us peace and comfort as we travel toward glory, John 14:16-18.
