Thirst Relieved

This is the thirst which many of the greatest servants of God seem to have felt, when light first broke in on their minds. Augustine seeking rest among the Manichean heretics and finding none, Luther groping after truth among monks in Erfurt Monastery, John Bunyan agonizing amid doubts and conflicts in his Elstow cottage, George Whitefield groaning under self-imposed austerities, for want of clear teaching, when an undergraduate at Oxford—all have left on record their experience. I believe they all knew what our Lord meant when He spoke of ‘thirst’. And surely it is not too much to say that all of us ought to know something of this thirst, if not as much as Augustine, Luther, Bunyan or Whitefield. Living as we do in a dying world; knowing, as we must do, if we will confess it, that there is a world beyond the grave, and that after death comes the judgment; feeling, as we must do in our better moments, what poor, weak, unstable, defective creatures we all are, and how unfit to meet God; conscious as we must be in our inmost heart of hearts, that on our use of time depends our place in eternity, we ought to feel and to realize something like ‘thirst’, for a sense of peace with the living God. But alas, nothing proves so conclusively the fallen nature of man as the general, common want of spiritual appetite! For money, for power, for pleasure, for rank, for honor, for distinction—for all these the vast majority are now intensely thirsting. To lead forlorn hopes, to dig for gold, to storm a breach, to try to hew a way through thick-ribbed ice to the North Pole, for all these objects there is no lack of adventurers and volunteers. Fierce and unceasing is the competition for these corruptible crowns! But few indeed, by comparison, are those who thirst after eternal life. No wonder that the natural man is called in Scripture ‘dead’, and ‘sleeping’, and ‘blind’, and ‘deaf’. No wonder that he is said to need a second birth and a new creation. There is no surer symptom of mortification in the body than the loss of all feeling. There is no more painful sign of an unhealthy state of soul than an utter absence of spiritual thirst. Woe to that man of whom the Savior can say, ‘You know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’ (Rev. 3:17).

 But who is there among the readers of this message that feels the burden of sin, and longs for peace with God? Who is there that really feels the words of our Prayer Book confession ‘I have erred and strayed like a lost sheep, there is no health in me, I am a miserable offender’? Who is there that enters into the fullness of our communion service, and can say with truth, ‘The remembrance of my sins is grievous, and the burden of them is intolerable’? You are the man that ought to thank God. A sense of sin, guilt and poverty of soul is the first stone laid by the Holy Spirit, when He builds a spiritual temple. He convinces of sin. Light was the first thing called into being in the material creation (Gen. 1:3). Light about our own state is the first work in the new creation. Thirsting soul, I say again, you are the person that ought to thank God. The kingdom of God is near you. It is not when we begin to feel good, but when we feel bad, that we take the first step towards heaven. Who taught you that you west naked? Whence came this inward light? Who opened your eyes and made you see and feel? Know this day that flesh and blood has not revealed these things unto you, but our Father which is in heaven. Universities may confer degrees, and schools may impart knowledge of all mysteries, but they cannot make men feel sin. To realize our spiritual need, and feel true spiritual thirst, is the ABC in saving Christianity. It is a great saying of Elihu, in the book of Job ‘God looks upon men, and if any say, “I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not,” he will deliver his soul from death, and his life shall see the light’ (Job 33:28). Let him that knows anything of spiritual ‘thirst’ not be ashamed. Rather let him lift up his head and begin to hope. Let him pray that God would carry on the work He has begun, and make him feel more. 2. A remedy proposed. ‘If any man thirst,’ says our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, ‘let him come unto Me, and drink.’ There is a grand simplicity about this little sentence which cannot be too much admired. There is not a word in it of which the literal meaning is not plain to a child. Yet, simple as it appears, it is rich in spiritual meaning. Like the Koh-i–noor diamond, which you may carry between finger and thumb, it is of unspeakable value. It solves that mighty problem which all the philosophers of Greece and Rome could never solve ‘How can man have peace with God?’ Place it in your memory side by side with six other golden sayings of your Lord; ‘I am the bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst.’ ‘I am the light of the world he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ ‘I am the door, by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.’ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life no man comes unto the Father but by Me.’ ‘Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ‘Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ Add to these six texts the one before you today. Get the whole seven by heart. Rivet them down in your mind, and never let them go. When your feet touch the cold river, on the bed of sickness and in the hour of death, you will find these seven texts above all price (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:9; 14:6; Matt. 11:28; John 6:37). For what is the sum and substance of these simple words? It is this. Christ is that Fountain of living water which God has graciously provided for thirsting souls. From Him, as out of the rock smitten by Moses, there flows an abundant stream for all who travel through the wilderness of this world. In Him, as our Redeemer and Substitute, crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification, there is an endless supply of all that men can need pardon, absolution, mercy, grace, peace, rest, relief, comfort and hope.