Robert Morris - Water
This weekend, the title is "Water". We saw how that the Bible is our bread. It is nourishment to us. I want to show you how it's water. Now, just to use an analogy, bread represents food, and we know it's the Word of God, so this is our nourishment. How long could you go without food? Well, most experts say 40 to 80 days. How long could you go without water? Most experts say, depending on physical conditioning, 7 to 14, some have said 7 to 21 days. But somewhere in that range, 7 to 21 days. If the Bible is food and water, how long spiritually can you go without this book?
Now, I know that our spirits are saved and sealed, saved by the blood, sealed by the spirit, but I think we have a lot of malnourished Christians. I don't think they're eating their bread and drinking their water daily like they should be. I want to pick up on where we were two weeks ago about bread from heaven. He said God gave Him bread from heaven, but the true bread is Jesus, and we know Jesus is the Word, but I want to just show you how God ties bread and water together meaning the Word of God. All right? So Psalm 105:40 says, "The people asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven". But then it says, verse 41, "He opened the rock, and water gushed out".
Now, there was literal bread, manna, but it represents something in the spiritual. Is it possible that the rock represents something in the spiritual? As a matter of fact, there was a literal rock, there was literal bread, there was literal water. Water came out of a rock. But it actually says that this rock followed them. I don't know if you have ever seen a rock following anybody, but that would scare you as much as a bush burning that didn't burn up. There are things that you can think all day, you're not going to be able to understand it because our God's a supernatural God. But I just want you to know, this book is the spiritual book. This book is a spiritual book (listen to me carefully, or you'll never understand the Bible) written by a spiritual being to spiritual beings. Because I'll show you the Scripture later, the natural mind can't understand. It could only be spiritually discerned. Okay.
So there are so many spiritual meanings in this book, spiritual meanings, that. boy, if you ever get in it, and you see the spiritual meanings, you won't be able to put this thing down. I promise you. This series, you know my goal for this series is to get you reading this book, and come on, let's just face it. You're Christians, sooner or later you're going to have to read this book, okay? But I want to make it exciting for you because it is exciting. It's not a history book, it's not a literature book. It's an autobiography from God. God Himself gave us this book, and I want us to read it. So, we've got that he opened the rock and water gushed out. Now we have a New Testament Scripture. And I'm saying the rock has spiritual meaning, and water has a spiritual meaning. And I'm not reading it in Scripture, but the one right before what I'm going to give you says that even bread has a spiritual meaning.
Okay, but let me show you this. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, "And they all drank that same", what kind of drink?, "spiritual drink," but they drink literal water, but he says it's a spiritual drink, watch, "for they drank of that", what?, "spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ". And by the way, the cloud that went before them by day and the fire by night was the Holy Spirit. The cloud and the fire, read how many times cloud and fire represent the Spirit. Okay. "That rock was Christ". So, water represents the Word. I'm going to show you a lot more Scripture on it. But let me tell you what is going on in the world and in your life every day. It's a war of words. It's a war of words. And whose word are you going to believe? Because God is telling you what actually happened and what's true, and Satan is saying, "Did God really say that? Do you really think that's true? Don't you think God's holding out on you"? It's a war of words.
So, I'm going to show you the war of words. I've got three points, but let me just tell you this, so you can kind of get three words in your mind that begin with the same letter. Satan wants to famish us, he wants to flood us, first of all, flood. He wants to flood us with his words, he wants to famish us from the Word of God, and God wants to fill us with His Word. So Satan wants to flood and famish and God wants to fill. All right? So here's point number one: Satan tries to flood us. Satan is trying to flood us with words. All right? So, Revelation 12, if you're there, just watch how easy this is to know who it's talking about. I know there's some verses of Revelation that are hard to understand, but there are many that are very easy to understand. This is one of the easy ones. Verse 9, "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan,", okay, that's not really hard to figure out who he's talking about, is it? The Devil, Satan, dragon, serpent, okay, "who deceives the whole world, he was cast out and the angels were cast out with him".
So the serpent is the Devil. Everyone agree with that? We just read it, serpent, called the devil, and Satan. I just want to make sure. Everyone agree with that? The serpent is the Devil, right? Okay. Now watch what the serpent does, and I want to bring in one other type and shadow for you, and that's the woman, and the woman represents the church. But watch what he does, verse 15, "So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood". Okay. Listen to me. What comes out of your mouth? Words. Satan spews water, words, out of his mouth after the church to cause you to be carried away.
Let me say it another way. You ever had a flood of words come against you? "You're not going to make it. You're going to die early. People in your family die early. You have this disease in your family. You're not going to make it, you are not going to make it, you're not going to make 50. You might not even make it 'til the end of this sermon". Just a flood. "You married the wrong person. You're in the wrong marriage. You're in the wrong job. God doesn't like you. Tithing doesn't work". There's a whole, it's just a flood coming against you. Here's one, I don't know if you ever heard this, maybe I'm the only one. You all are going to think I'm weird, I know. But you ever hear, "You're crazy"? And you know what you think sometimes? "I know". And then this is what he says to prove it. "You're talking to yourself right now". "I know". Actually, you're not talking to yourself. He's talking to you. "God's getting you back for your sin".
Hey, there's a good flood from the enemy. You ever heard that one? "God's punishing you for your sin". And I've told you this before, please hear me, theologically, God can never punish you for your sin if you've accepted Jesus because He already punished Jesus. You can't punish two people for the same crime. "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I've come into deep waters where the floods overflow me". Verse 14 and 15, "Deliver me out of the mire, let me not sink, let me be delivered from those who hate me", that's his enemies, "out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up. Let not the pit", which represents hell itself, "shut its mouth on me". And if you don't think the floods are, we're talking about the words of the enemy, watch this verse, and try to explain it some other way. Psalm 93:3, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice".
See, they can talk. The floods represent the words of the enemy. The floods lift up their waves, but watch verse 4, I love it, "But the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters than the mighty waves of the sea". It says, "The floods have lifted up their voice". And then it says, "Yeah? But His voice is louder than their voice". See, they can talk. The floods lift up their voice. The floods are trying to get me carried away. I tell you when you start seeing this stuff in Scripture, so many things come alive. Okay. Now, God can talk, Satan can talk, but we got another problem. You can talk.
Let me ask you it this way: Has your mouth ever gotten you in trouble? I'll take that as a yes. Okay. I'm telling you deep waters, floods, represent words, right? We need to know the Word of God is a fountain. It's a word, it's the Word, it's water of life, Jesus called it. Floods, deep waters represent the enemy's words, but watch, I'm going to tell you, your words are water also, and you can drown yourself. Watch, I'm going to show it to you. Proverbs 18:4, "The words of a man's mouth are deep waters". You can talk yourself into falling. "The words of a man's mouth are deep waters". Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue". Okay. I thought about that for a long time. "Death and life are in are in the power of your tongue".
Does that mean I could speak and someone could die, and I can speak and someone else can live? No. Here's what it means: God speaks words of life, Satan speaks words of death, and I have the power to agree with one of them. I can agree with the One who speaks life over me, or I can agree with the one who speaks death over me. And now death and life are in the power of my tongue. And there's only one thing that can defeat the floods, and let me read it to you. Isaiah 59:19, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift a standard against him". This is the standard. This is the standard. Three times that we know of, and probably other times, but three times we have recorded, Satan came in like a flood. Jesus had fasted 40 days. He told them turn the rocks into bread. That's a pretty good temptation after you haven't eaten for 40 days.
Three times, listen, this is so important. Three times Jesus quoted Scripture to overcome temptation. "It is written. It is written. It is written". Okay. I have a question for you: If the Son of God uses the Bible to overcome temptation, how much more do you need to use the Bible to overcome temptation? The Son of God Himself, when He gets tempted says, "Let me tell you how I'm going to come against this temptation, not with my own intellect or my own thoughts, I'm just going to quote the Bible. 'It is written. It is written. It is written.'" And the tempter left. So, number one: Satan tries to flood us. Here's number two: Satan tries to famish us. He tries to famish us, he doesn't want us to hear the Word of God because that's what will deliver us, that's what will save us.
Amos 8:11, watch, remember what we're doing, we're talking about bread and water. Okay, watch. "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, 'that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread,", that was the message two weeks ago, "nor a thirst for water,", that's the message today, watch, "but of hearing the words of the Lord". A spiritual famine. See, again, all through the Bible, there are two conversations going on. There's a natural one and a spiritual one, and most people are missing the spiritual one. He said, "I'm going to send a famine on the land, not a natural famine, I'm going to send a spiritual famine". By the way, notice it said, "of hearing the words of the Lord". It did not say, "a famine of the words of the Lord".
Let me explain it to you. There are plenty of words of God. The problem is us hearing them. As a matter of fact, when you think about it, if this book really can do what the Bible says it can do, Joshua 1:8, "The person who meditates on it be successful in everything he does," everything he does. Psalm 1, "The man who meditates on the Word of God will be like a tree planted by the water whose leaves don't wither and whatever he does prospers," whatever he does prospers. And don't get the hyper-prosperity definition there that you're going to get a bunch of money and drive a certain car and have gold chains and all that. That's not what it is. The Hebrew word "prosper" has two definitions. One is, a person who has a burden, and you get behind that person and help that person carry the burden up the hill, and the other is you actually take the burden off the person and carry it for him.
When God prospers you, He takes your burden and carries it for you. That's pretty good. Whatever he does prospers: marriage, family, children, health, finances, career. If you meditate on the book, day and night, whatever you do will prosper. If we believed that, it would change our habits. We'd be meditating on this book a whole lot more. Wouldn't we? Okay. So, he said, "There's going to come a famine, not for bread and water, literal bread and water, but for spiritual bread and spiritual water". And that's the Word of God, hearing the words of the Lord. Mark 4:14, "The sower sows the word". This is Jesus explaining the parable of the sower and the seed, "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown when they hear", it's all about hearing the word, "when they hear Satan comes in a week", what? It doesn't say in a week? "within 24 hours", Oh, immediately, "and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts".
Now, this Scripture right here, I could never figure out one thing. Here's what it said, "Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts". And that's Jesus talking. Okay, here's what I couldn't figure out. You mean Satan can take the Word out of my heart? And that scared me. "Thy Word have I hidden in my heart", hidden, "so that I might not sin against you". So I've got Jesus saying that Satan can take the Word out of my heart, so how could he take the word out of my heart? So this week I'm studying and praying, I come to Scripture and I say, "Lord, you know, it's been years, and I've never understood that Scripture". And it was like, okay, and He gave it to me, just like that.
So how can Satan take the word out of your heart? Okay, remember, God speaks and Satan speaks, and we can speak and all of our words either agree with God's Word or Satan's words. But when you speak, guess from where it from where you speak. "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". So God sows the Word, someone speaks the Word, he preaches the Word, teaches the Word, you read the Word, and the Word is sown in your heart. Satan, what he does, is immediately tries to get you to speak something in opposition of the Word you just heard, and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and when you speak it out, it leaves your heart. That's the problem. So, when God speaks something to me, I have to immediately hide it in my heart, I have to meditate on it, I have to memorize it, I have to hold onto it, I have to ponder it like Mary did when the angel came, I have to hold onto that word, hold fast to the Word that you've received.
So, Satan tries to flood us and he tries to famish us. And here's point three: Jesus wants to fill us. He wants to fill us with the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 2, I quoted this a while ago, but let me just, it's worth reading, verse 13, "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God". Don't let it surprise you when people who don't know Christ argue against the Bible. "They do not receive the things of God, for they are foolish to them nor can he know", this Greek word for "know" means "understand", he can't even understand them because they're spiritually discerned". Okay.
So, we're talking about two conversations: natural and spiritual. And people who read the Bible just with natural eyes, we're never going to understand it. You have to read it with spiritual eyes. It's a spiritual book written by a spiritual being to spiritual beings. So let me show you a conversation, and watch the natural and spiritual conversation happening, all right? This is the woman at the well, John 4:7, "A woman of Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink,' for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, 'How is it that you being a Jew ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans?'"
By the way, 2000 years ago, that's racism right there. And racism is older than that, but there is racism right there. Verse 10, "Jesus answered and said to her", listen to this, can you imagine Jesus saying this? ,'If You knew the gift of God'", I love this, 'and Who it is Who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.' Can you imagine Jesus, that he says, "If you just knew who you were talking to right now, if you just knew that I created the whole universe, and I hold it in the palm of My hand. I measured the universe all by the span of My hand. If you want to know how big the universe is, it's this big right there in God's hand, the whole thing, that's how big it is". And he's thinking, "If you just knew who was talking to you right now".
I just love that. Okay. So, there's the spiritual conversation, right? He's talking spiritually. Now watch her go right back to the natural conversation. "The woman said to him, 'Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.'" In other words, logic says, science says, "The well is deep, and you have nothing to draw with". And then I like this, 'Where did you get that living water?', watch this, 'Are you greater than our father Jacob,', duh, yeah, He is, 'who gave us this well and drank from it himself as well as his sons and livestock?' Jesus answering said to her, 'Whoever drinks this water, this natural water, will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the spiritual water, the water that I give, will never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become a fountain of living water, springing up into everlasting life.'"
Do you see the natural and spiritual? See, don't let anybody talk you out of this Bible is the Word of God because if they're natural-minded, if they haven't come to Christ yet, if they're not reading this book with spiritual eyes, this is how foolish their argue with me. Well, you don't have anything to draw with. How are you going to get the water out"? And Jesus says, "I'm not talking about natural water. I'm talking about spiritual water". Are y'all following me? It's phenomenal. So, He says it will become a fountain on the inside of you. Satan wants to flood us, but Jesus wants put a fountain inside of you. By the way, here's what's great, the fountain washes from the inside out. We always try to take care of the outward things in our lives instead of reading the Word to get in the fountain and letting the fountain wash is. Okay. This book will wash you.
It says in Ephesians 5, I just have to read it, I just can't pass it up. I just have to read it. "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her then he might sanctify and cleanse her, cleanse, with the washing of water by the word". Okay, so our spirits are cleansed by the blood, but our souls are cleansed by the Word, and you know where the war is? It's in your mind, will, and emotions. If you're having a problem with thoughts and you say, "I just can't overcome these thoughts of pride or greed or bitterness or anger or lust or whatever it is," it's because you're not washing with the Word. Let me say it another way: You're not taking a bath. You read this book every day, it will cleanse, it will sanctify and cleanse your soul.
There's a flood, there's a famine, and there's a filling. In other words, Satan wants to flood us with the wrong words. He wants to famish us with God's Word, he doesn't want us to know God's Word. But Jesus wants to fill us with the Word of God. Just think about, we couldn't go very long without water. I want to encourage you. I think one of the number one attacks of the enemy is to keep us out of God's Word. So set aside some time this week, spend some time in God's Word, read God's Word, let God's Word wash you and cleanse you and refresh you.