IT IS FINISHED
(RIVERS OF LIVING WATERS PART 2)
MF Blume
June 30, 1997 PM
John 4:6-10 Now Jacob's well was
there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to
draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were
gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto
him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman
of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered
and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water.
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head,
and gave up the ghost.
- It was finished that day for the woman of Samaria -
her old life of sin and ugliness.
- Notice that she had five
husbands and the one she was with was not her own.
- She lived common law with
five men, most likely, and the last man she was with was another's husband
since he was not her own.
- BUT JESUS DID NOT DEMEAN
HER FOR THAT.
- SHE WAS IN SIN, AND HE
CAME TO RESCUE HER.
- I LIKE HOW JESUS DEALS
WITH OUR PROBLEMS SO LOVINGLY AND THOUGHTFULLY.
- Last week we discussed how
Jesus indicated our lives would change at the well of living waters.
- Sychar, where Jesus spoke
to the Samaritan woman about living waters, was where Jacob bought land
and made his first altar ot God.
- It was precisely where
Joseph's bones were buried when finally Israel came into the promised land.
- It was where Joshua told
Israel all things must change if they would serve God - no idols, no living
as they had been.
- And here, Jesus made the
woman realize that receiving the living waters would change her life only
if she truly understood what it was all about of which he was speaking.
(John 4).
Chapter 7 shows us that the
living waters are the SPIRIT - the Holy Ghost
John 7:37-39 In the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake
he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not
yet glorified.)
- On the last day of the
feast of tabernacles, the Jews drew water and poured it out before the Lord.
It is supposed that Christ alluded to this. If any man desires to be truly
and for ever happy, let him apply to Christ, and be ruled by him. This thirst
means strong desires after spiritual blessings, which nothing else can satisfy;
so the sanctifying and comforting influences of the Holy Spirit, were intended
by the waters which Jesus called on them to come to Him and drink. The comfort
flows plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear
down the opposition of doubts and fears. There is a fulness in Christ, of
grace for grace. The Spirit dwelling and working in believers, is as a fountain
of living, running water, out of which plentiful streams flow, cooling and
cleansing as water. These streams have flowed from our glorified Redeemer,
down to this age, and to the remote corners of the earth. May we be anxious
to make them known to others.
- Jesus Christ spoke out loud
on the cross, when He died. IT IS FINISHED.
- And from His side came
water and blood.
- Since blood is LIFE of
the flesh, we see a picture of living water coming from His side.
- When the Holy Ghost comes
into your life, everything about your old ways is finished.
- You have decided to serve
God and serve none else.
- You are finished on two
counts.
- You are dedicated to Him.
- And your life is changed
by God.
- When you come to the well
of living water, and believe, you will never be the same again,
Every instance in the Bible
where it is finished, or it is done, is spoken by God, we see a note of the
RIVER OF LIFE.
- ...because you cannot change
unless God's Spirit is in you.
- I met folks who merely
repented and their lives were freed from alcohol and other things, yet they
themselves were not changed as to their very beings.
- We can become religious
and attend church, whcih we need to do, but we must go past that and receive
God's Spirit to CHANGE "US".
DANIEL
Daniel 12:5-7 Then I Daniel looked,
and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of
the river, and the other on that
side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen,
which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it
be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was
upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and
his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it
shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished
to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished.
- When we see a river in Daniel,
and Jesus speaking, we hear Him say IT IS FINSIHED.
- THE RIVER IS THE SYMBOL
OF A FINISH AND AN END.
- The man upon the river
said, "all these things shall be finished."
- The end of the age is referred
to.
- The end of all things.
- God's Spirit shall flow
and those redeemed shall experience eternity with the Lord.
Rev 21:4-7 And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all
things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
- YOU HAVE TO WANT IT.
- Be thirsty.
- ALPHA AND OMEGA.
- Beginning and ending.
- From Genesis when the River
of Life flowed, to Revelation, when all sin is removed, Jesus was both in
the beginning and at the ending.
- The old world with the
original River, fell into sin.
- God reckoned that whole
creation "OLD".
- The Bible calls anything
of the world of sin "OLD".
- He makes all things new
again.
- A river of life flows again.
- A new garden of eden stands
for the sons of God.
- Adam was put aside and
Jesus became the last man Adam.
- People must get out of
Adam and get into the new Adam.
- Everything and anything
that matters is in Jesus alone.
- He is the beginning and
the ending.
- Throughout Bible, the older
brother represented the OLD, and the younger brother, the struggle against
the old to do God's will.
- CAIN AND ABEL, ISHMAEL AND
ISAAC, ESAU AND JACOB
- They show this struggle
of flesh against Spirit. Thsi struggle occurs involving OLD CREATION and NEW
CREATION.
- God knew what would happen.
- He knew man would sin before
man sinned.
- But He did not CAUSE man
to sin.
- And back then, as God saw
Jacob and Esau's actions before they were born, and said Jacob have I loved,
He looked upon creation and said, THE NEW CREATION HAVE I LOVED...
- While the old existed and
became wrong, the new came into being.
- The old fought against
the new.
- God cast Cain out of the
land after he killled Abel.
- God cast Ishmael away from
Isaac in Abraham's house.
- God separated Esau from
Jacob and blessed Jacob.
- Each one of us had to face
the old when confronted by the new.
- Face ourselves.
- Face our old lives.
- The part of us that became
the NEW when we accepted God's Spirit had to be prioritized and the OLD
ways of drinking and carrousing and sinning had to go.
- The woman at the well had
five husbands and lived with one who was not her husband but another's.
- That lifestyle had to end.
- The pleasures of life are
like cisterns.
- They hold only so much.
- Someone told me they seen
the pleasures of life as temporary.
- You enjoy it while it occurs,
but when it is over the joy is gone.
- Muddy waters and broken
cisterns at best.
- But God's joy is a river
of living water.
Rev 22:1-3 And he shewed me a pure
river of 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 bare twelve [manner of]
fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree
[were] for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse:
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall
serve him:
- From the throne of God and
the lamb, as from the cross, flowed a river of life.
- The streams of the world
are muddy and give you ilness and death.
- FROM THE THRONE OF GOD AND
THE LAMB comes a river clear as crystal.
- Over and
again we see the dual aspects of the river flowing from God and the Lamb.
as seen in the following verses.
John 14:16-18 And I will pray the
Father,
and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
[Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I
will come to you.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
John 16:7-15 Nevertheless I tell
you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto
you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come,
he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to
my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this
world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you
into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall
glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you. All
things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take
of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.
Acts 1:4 And, being assembled
together with [them], commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which, [saith he],
ye have heard of me.
IN ACTS 2, WHEN THEY RECEIVED
THE HOLY GHOST, PETER SAID:
Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the
right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
- Ezekiel seen rivers coming
from the temple.
Ezek 47:1 Afterward he brought
me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from
under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house
[stood toward] the east, and the waters came down from under from the right
side of the house, at the south [side] of the altar.
- And we read the following:
Reve 21:22 And I saw no temple
therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
- God and
the Lamb are the temple, from which flowed the River, just as God and the
Lamb possessed a throne and the river came from the throne.
- The Holy
Ghost is the River which comes from God and the Lamb.
- Ezekiel
seen a vision representing God and the Lamb issuing forth the Holy Ghost.
Jesus said, He is a well of
living water for those who believe, when He spoke to the woman at the well.
- But He also said that well
would BE IN US!!!
John 4:14 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.
THE FATHER AND THE LAMB ARE
IN US WHEN WE HAVE THE SPIRIT IN US
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said
unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
- THAT IS WHY A WELL WOULD
BE IN US.
Reve 16:16-17 And he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh
angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of
the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
- OUT OF THE TEMPLE, WHICH
ACTUALLY IS GOD AND THE LAMB, COMES A VOICE SAYING IT IS FINISHED.
- WHENEVER GOD SAID THAT,
WE READ ELSEWHERE OF A RIVER.
- THE VOICE ISSUES FROM THE
THRONE LIKE A RIVER.
- GOD'S ANOINTED PREACHING
IS THE RIVER OF LIFE, ALSO.
- IT IS FROM THE THRONE SAYING
IT IS FINISHED, FROM WHICH THE RIVER FLOWS IN REV 22.
Reve 16:18-20 And there were voices,
and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as
was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so
great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of
the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island
fled away, and the mountains were not found.
- ...JUST LIKE THE MOMENT
JESUS DIED, AN EARTHQUAKE OCCURRED
Matt 27:50-52 Jesus, when he had cried
again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did
quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of
the saints which slept arose,
- (THE OTHER GOSPELS TELL
US WHAT THE LOUD VOICE WAS)
- "IT IS FINISHED"
- A battle wages in your soul
when you come to the well.
- Armageddon occurs in every
life - the showdown between good and evil - when one comes to the River
with a thirst the world cannot quench.
- A battle occured on the
cross.
- Jesus won the vicrtory
and died, saying IT IS FINISHED.
- A battle of ages - for
your soul and mine.
- SIN and DEATH and HELL
and SATAN were conquered.
- For all those who would
THIRST, the NEW has won out and you are guaranteed victory and a change of
life if you take the NEW.
- The battle is waged when
you hear about the Spirit of God.
- Armageddon came one day
for that little woman of Samaria.
- The battle waged as she
did not fully accept Jesus' words that day.
- Jesus said she needs the
well.
- She said, "Let me have
this water so I do not have to come here anymore."
- Jesus said "Go bring your
husband."
- She said, "I have no husband."
- Jesus said, "Correct. You
had five and the one you're with now is someone else's."
- She said, "But we worship
here in the mountain and you worship in Jerusalem."
- Jesus said you must worship
in spirit.
- She said, "But we will
hear all things from the messiah".
- Jesus said, "I am the messiah."
- FINALLY JESUS WON - she
became a follower.
- WHEN JESUS SAID IT IS FINISHED,
A SOLDIER OPENED HIS SIDE AND OUT CAME LIVING WATER.
- When He sees your true repentance,
and see that your old life really is finished with you, the river flows
to you giving eternal life.
- You will not receive the
Holy Ghost if you are not honest with God.
- If you pity youself, and
complain about all your problems, God sees you're not thirsty enough - you'd
rather have pity that life.
Psa 114:7-8 Tremble, thou earth,
at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; Which
turned the rock [into] a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
- The God of JACOB turned
rock into standing water.
- Jesus at Jacob's well.
- Jacob's God was Jacob's
well.