Jentezen Franklin - A Cup Or A Well
Psalms 116:12. I feel like preaching now. Psalms 116. "What will I render, verse 12, to the Lord for His benefits toward me"? Listen to these words: "I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord". He said I'm going to take up the cup of salvation. The analogy in the scripture, there are two. There's a cup in the Old Testament, and there is a well in the New Testament in John 4. It talks about the woman at the well. And Jesus said, if you will drink the water that I offer you, you will have a well of living water that will never run dry, and you'll never thirst again.
So I want you to see that you have, in the old covenant, a cup of salvation, but in the new covenant, we have a well of salvation. But you have to decide. Do you want to drink out of a cup, or do you want to have a well? You see, there's a difference between Old Testament salvation and New Testament salvation. In the Old Testament, the blessings of God, the salvation that He offered, was referred to as the cup of salvation. God served His salvation by the cup. That's why David said in Psalms 23, my cup runneth over. That's why Psalms 116 said I will drink of the cup of salvation.
There was just enough salvation through the blood of an innocent animal. One day a year, the high priest would roll the, and they wouldn't wipe the sins away. Just roll them over to the next year. And you could drink that cup. It was just enough to cover you from judgement. Salvation by the cupful is the Old Testament language. But in the New Testament, He promised a well of living water. Don't go around all the time with a cup, hunting for a spigot. You can have a well. I love the story of the woman at the well because the Bible said when she found Jesus, and Jesus said follow me, she left her water pots, the Bible said. She traded her cup and her water pots in, and left with a well.
Did you know that you can leave your cup and your water pot here, and you can leave with a well this morning? Because Jesus said that's what I came to offer you. The Old Testament cup of salvation was one of drudgery. It speaks of drawing, and working, and laboring. Trying to somehow get just enough to quench the tremendous thirst. And it was never enough. The Bible talked about that they had to draw. The woman at the well said, I can't give you, when Jesus asked for water, she said how can I draw water? I don't have anything to draw with. The only kind of salvation you could have is what you had to, with drudgery and work, conjure up. The little cupful. Jesus said, I am offering you a well of living water.
Now listen to me carefully. The cupful in the New Testament, the cup in the Old Testament was the cup of salvation, and the well is in the New Testament. But now I want you to see, according to the Bible, the New Testament trials are referred to by the cup. See, Jesus so changed things on the cross that now all we get in this life is a cup of trials. That's why He said if it be possible, in the Garden of Gethsemane, let this cup of trials pass from me. So I want you to see it. The New Testament trials are referred to by the cupful. Let this cup pass from me. It's the trials of life, but there's nothing more than a cupful of them. But when He offers us blessings, He offers us a well full of blessings.
So life will give you a cupful of trials, but Jesus says I offer you a well full of blessing. Now are you able to drink from this cup? This cup of trials? Because there's more than a cupful of blessing. That if you will bear, and not fall, and not fail, and not quit, and deal with your cup of trials, and sometimes we need to get rid of our cup mentality of, you know, we kind of reverse that around, and we think we have a well of trials and tribulations and just a cup of blessing. But Jesus reversed that thing, and He says you have a cup of trials compared to the well of blessings I've given you. Even this morning, no matter what you're going through, here, in Gwinnett, anybody watching me, I'm telling you that if you look at your life, you may have a cup full of trials, but you have a well full of blessings. And you ought to be thankful.
The enemy wants us to think that we get troubles by the well full and blessings by the cupful, but that concept is not our New Testament experience. Our New Testament experience is we get trials by the cupful, and these light afflictions, Paul said it's just a little cupful, are not worthy to be compared with the well of blessings that God has stored up for those who love and honor Him. I don't know what you're going through, but the good news is that if your cup is full of trials and troubles, your well is full of blessings. And God is not going to leave you with a cup. He's going, your story's going to end with a well of blessing. I thank God today that we can clean out our well. The problem is, a lot of people don't enjoy their salvation because their well gets clogged up with so much from the world.
The Bible talks about in Genesis how that Abraham dug wells. And then the next generation Isaac, came and tried to to drink from those wells. But the Philistines, the Bible said, plugged up those wells with filth. And I'm telling you today that we need to remember that there's a well that we have. But if we're not careful, the world will plug that well up. The cares of life, the carnality, and sin, and the filth that we see, and the filth that we hear, and the world that we live in, and the negative stuff that we see and feed on, it clogs up the well of salvation. And you have to do what Isaac did. Isaac, the Bible said, cleaned out the well. What we have to do is get the junk out of the well. I tell you, if you let it, the world and all that's going on will just oppress you, and it will keep the well of living water and joy, and you'll go around just focusing on your cup of trials and forget you've got a well of blessing and goodness that's following you all the days of your life.
And this is the worst world we'll ever know. All the trials are in this world. There's a cup of trials, but when we get to Heaven, there'll be a well of blessing. Streets of gold. Gates of pearl. And not just in Heaven, but there's blessing here on earth. If you believe it, give God a shout of praise. Clean out the well. Clean it out. I thank God for the well that my mom and my dad dug. I watched them dig that well spiritually, and as a child, I would drink from that well. I can remember, just as a child, just feeling the presence of God, and experiencing the presence of God. Sometimes, I'm sure there's always somebody, like probably in Isaac's day, who said why are we re-digging your father's well? Why don't we just dig a new well?
And I'm sure he had to tell them, you don't understand. You ought to taste that water. If you taste that old stuff that old water in there is so good, no new well can compare. And I just want to say that we need to go back and re-dig some of the wells that our fathers dug, and taste that water again, and clean out our wells. The problem is, our wells are so full of worldliness, and the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, that we are so consumed with this present world, we don't enjoy the living well of water inside of us.
I remember the night I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was something else. I was in a little Pentecostal church. My mom and some of them were praying for me. My daddy was praying for me to receive. I had those women in my ears. One of them screaming, hold on, hold on. One of them screaming let go, let go. They were, my mom used to, they didn't believe in cutting their hair much, and she would put her hair way up, up, up, up, up, up. Higher than the Tower of Babel. And she would get to shouting sometimes. You need to shout like that. She would shout, and shout her hair down. It would be a horsewhip. Just, the women's hair, and they would dance and, let go. Hold on. I didn't know, what in the world is going on here? But I got a taste of that well.
You can make fun of me. You can laugh at me. You can say I'm crazy. But I'm going to tell you something. This well will give life to your marriage. It'll give life to your children. It'll keep your family in the 21st Century. It'll bless your home. It'll bless your life. There's nothing the world can offer you that can compare to living water. Woo! Hallelujah. Now I'm trying to calm down, but I feel like shouting right now. I just have a cup of trials, but I've got a well of blessings in my life. Take a praise break, and I'm going to keep preaching. Woo. Clean the well up. There's a lot of carnality. There's a lot of frustrations, and burdens, and family problems that can clog the well up. Clean it out. Get back to God this morning. It's up to you. You can leave here with a cupful of blessing. Another sip that will last you another week. Or you can leave your cup here and walk out with a well.
The woman at the well, He said if any man thirst. She had a thirst. Jesus began His ministry with hunger for 40 days. He ended His ministry with thirst on the cross when He said, I thirst. He went the whole spectrum for you and I. He hungered, and He thirsted so that He could say with conviction, blessed are they that hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled. Do you hunger for God? God-hungry men. God-hungry women. God-hungry men find God. God-hungry women find God. Blessed are the hungry and the thirsty, for they shall be filled. You have to hunger for more. Paul said in Ephesians 5, do not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe we're so full of the intoxicating things of the world that there's no living water in the well anymore. So clogged up, and we need to be cleaned out.
And He said don't be drunk on wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Speaking to yourself in hymns, and songs, and spiritual songs. Singing. Making melody in your heart and to the Lord. In other words, you're in love with Jesus again. The Bible said that the living water would spring up in us. God's language is up. God's language is up. God's language is always up. That's why the Bible said stir up the gift, and stand up, and we'll be called up, and look up, your redemption draws nigh. Because God's language is always up. Jesus was preparing for the Last Supper, and He told His disciples, go to the city, and you'll see a man there who has a pitcher on his head. An empty pitcher. He'll be carrying it on his head. Follow him, and he'll take you to an upper room. And you rent it and buy it, and I'll meet you there, and we'll have the Last Supper.
And so they go, and they watch, and they look for a man with a glass pitcher on his head because that's how they do it over there. What are you following him for? Because he knows where the water is. Well, you and I are supposed to be pitcher bearers. God has called us to be the ones that a thirsty world looks at. And if they want to know where the water is, they see us, and they know that if I follow them, the thirst that I can't get quenched anywhere else, I can get it quenched if I follow them. They know where the water is. John 8. The Feast of Tabernacles goes for seven days. They would read from Isaiah: He that is thirsty, let him come and drink freely. And right in the middle of that reading of that scripture, a tall Galilean by the name of Jesus steps up, and He says these words with a thundering voice: If any man thirst, let him come unto me. And out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. And this spake He of the spirit which they had not yet been given.
The Old Testament experience was a cupful, and it always left them thirsty. One priest, with one cup a year, would reach into the Pool of Siloam, and he would pour it out, signifying the Feast of Tabernacles was over. And that was it. If any man, now it was only a priest that could do that ceremony. But Jesus says if any man thirst. And then He says these words. He says, out of your belly will flow rivers. It's plural. Not a cup. Not one river. But rivers. And this spake He of the spirit that you and I can have rivers of living water. Not just one river, but multiple rivers, flowing in every area of our life. Flowing into every aspect of our life. This well is the Holy Ghost flowing out of us.
A little boy 10 years old received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in children's church. And his mother asked him, what was that like? And he said these words: I got a tiger in my tank. And I like that because that's really the only description. There's a difference between walking down, and shaking the preacher's hand, and signing a confession card, and getting a tiger in your tank. And what this generation needs is more than a handshake and a card filled out. We need to get a tiger in our tank called the Holy Spirit. Come on, somebody. Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. I'll pour water upon him that is thirsty, Jesus said. David said all of my springs are in you. That's what you call an innerspring. That's why we bounce so much. The only experience that ever brought dissatisfaction in Heaven is recorded in the Book of Peter when it says, "With the Holy Ghost He has sent down from Heaven, which things the angels desired to look into".
In other words, there's been only one time when the inhabitants of Heaven became dissatisfied with the glory that is in Heaven. And they saw something on earth that made them dissatisfied with what they had, and they said we desire to look into that. And guess what it was? It tells you what it was. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church, the angels said we're dissatisfied with this. We want some of that. And we go around with a cup, barely making it, barely even thinking of God, when we're supposed to be a well of living water, full of the Holy Spirit. With joy, the scripture said in Isaiah, we draw from the wells of salvation. The cup experience is over. The well is flowing.
Do you understand that? Don't lose your excitement. Clean out the well. Clean out the junk. The thing about this well is He said he that drinks of this water will never thirst again. Here's the difference. One sin always calls for another sin. Sin is always thirsty. One drink calls for another drink. One drug calls for another drug. One affair calls for another affair. One lust calls for another lust. It's always unsatisfied. But he that drinks of this water will never thirst. I don't know what you came to get out of this service. I would say a lot of people just came to get a little cup. Here's my cup, Lord. But why settle for a cup when you can have a well? Why don't you exchange and throw your cup down like the woman at the well? She left her pots at the well, at that natural well, she threw her pots down and took the well home with her: Jesus.
And I'm saying to you that if you're thirsty, there is a river that is available to you today. There is a source of joy that the world cannot offer you. There is something that only Heaven can satisfy in you, and it's the river of living water. Lift your hands up high, open your mouth wide, and go to praising God for about ten seconds. Hallelujah. Oh, Jesus. There's somebody here so thirsty. There's somebody here who just needs the river of living water. Rivers. God has so much more. He's missed you. He told me to tell you, come home. Come home. If you're weary, come home. You've trodden the path of sin too long, come home. Maybe you've just been busy with the cares. Maybe the well, you know it's there, but it's been clogged up with the things of this life. Come home.
I wonder, I want to give a little different altar call this morning. But I wonder how many of you would say Pastor Franklin, I would love for the river, I would love to exchange my cup for a river this morning? I'd love to leave my cup here and take a well home. I'd love for the dry spell to be over, and I'd love to get a fresh taste of Heaven. Of living water this morning. You don't have to do it. It doesn't mean you're not spiritual if you don't do it. But if there's a hunger and a thirst for more, get out of the seat and come stand as close as you can get to this platform this morning. Come quickly. Come quickly. Why don't you come trade your cup of trials in for your well of blessing this morning?
Come on. Hurry. There's more. There's more. There's more. Get in here. Get in here. God's going to bless you when you move on a word. Let's lift our hands toward Heaven. And if you know you're far from God, come home. He's calling you home. Pastor, pray for me. You're preaching and talking to me right now. Boldly raise your hand right now. Now's the moment. If you know you're backslid, you're not right with God, and you want to get right with God, raise your hand high right now. Raise it high and unashamed. Beautiful, beautiful. Hands all over this room. All the way up in the balcony. Raise them high. Raise them high. Raise them high. Everybody who has a hand raised, I want you to keep your hand raised, and I want you to look around you. And if you see someone with their hand raised, reach over and put your hand on their shoulder. And let's pray this prayer together. Miracles of salvation. Miracles of cleansing. Miracles of forgiveness. Brand new cleansings. The well is being unplugged today. Pray this prayer.
Lord Jesus, wash me. Cleanse me. Forgive me. I receive your forgiveness. I believe you're the Son of God. You are the Lord. There is no other name whereby I can be saved, and I receive you. Take me back. Open wide your arms of love. Lord, I'm coming home. Now fill me with this well of living water. I'm trading in my cup for a well, and I'm going to take you home with me. In Jesus' name. Fill me so full that none of the other things will be able to destroy me. In Jesus' name.
I want you to give the biggest cheer of the morning to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.