Is Anybody Thirsty?
2004 : Week 2 | Website Version
Our good friend Jon Bricker is back with this week’s message. Jon has had several messages to share with our readers, and we invite you to read them in our Archives. Jon is a full time Minister for Jesus, and he has a God given passion to evangelize the lost. His divinely inspired passion for spreading the Gospel shines through in this message; we’re sure it will be a blessing to you.
Titus 3:4, as revealed by the Holy Spirit to Jon Bricker…
I
have a confession to make. I do not understand the ‘breadth and length and height
and depth of the love of God’ Paul speaks of in Ephesians 3:18-19. I often stand
paralyzed in unbelief at the door of the awesome promises God has made in His
Word to those who will believe and trust in Him. And instead of believing and
accepting and trusting and loving and exulting in the free grace of God, I often
find myself trying to work for the love and favor of God. In June of 1999, I realized my own sinfulness and inability to do enough righteous acts to earn God’s forgiveness for my sins. That is the day when I looked into my Savior’s eyes and found that what was impossible for me to earn had already been purchased for me at the cross.
But even though I know this is true, I still don’t get it. How could God love me enough to send His own perfect Son, whom the Bible says ‘He loved from before the foundation of the world,’ to die in my place? (John 17:24)
I have not trusted and loved and obeyed and treasured God the way Jesus did. When you read through the Gospels, you see that Jesus always did exactly what the Father wanted Him to do; even to the point of dying on a cross in order to take the place of people like you and me. Why, God? Why did You love me so much?
Listen very carefully. God loves me and saved me not because of my works done in righteousness but because of Himself: according to His own mercy. God is a never-ending fountain of mercy and loving kindness and goodness and grace and salvation to all who will drink from Him. The duty of a Christian is not to work to earn a spot at the fountain; the duty of the Christian is to delightfully enjoy the goodness of God in Christ.
If you have yet to experience the goodness of God through His Son, Jesus Christ, this is your invitation: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” (John 7:37 NASB) The Bible says you and I were created for Jesus, and if your soul is thirsting for meaning and purpose and forgiveness and a relationship with God today, Jesus simply says, ‘come’.
Enjoying God with you today,
Jon Bricker
