Don't Obey Your Thirst
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: Don't Obey Your Thirst---------------------------- Date: 6/16/2000
Keywords:
"death" "hell" "inheritance" "life"
"thirst" "water"
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to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual
temptation.
Passage: Revelation 21:6-8*
6. He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from
the spring of the water of life.
7. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and
he will be my son.
8. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the
sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars -- their
place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. faith.
Questions
1. In your life as a Christian, you may hear many
exhortations to "count the cost," to "make the sacrifice," to
"pay the price." What is the cost of the water of life?
2. What is the prerequisite for a drink from the
spring?
3. What is the inheritance mentioned in Verse 7?
4. If those who inherit God's good gifts are the
overcomers, who are those who end up in hell?
Practical help
This passage can be very disturbing and sobering, and well it should
be. The matters being spoken of are life and death, and not just one death, but a second
one. If the first death isn't enough to kill, the second one must be pretty horrible. It
is clear that God is a respecter of persons, in the sense that there is a clear dividing
point between those who will receive his gift of life and those who will be denied it.
But wait a minute. What's all this about a gracious, forgiving God?
Maybe not all of us are guilty of murder, witchcraft or idolatry, but who among us hasn't
found themselves in the category of cowardly, vile, or liar? Even the really good ones
among us still mess up from time to time. Verse 8 seems to point us all to hell. Sounds
pretty bleak.
The question is made more interesting by that verse sandwiched in
the middle. "He who overcomes," he's the one who will receive his inheritance.
That seems to say all the more that our ticket to heaven is dependent on our good deeds,
which flies in the face of other scriptures such as John 3:36: "Whoever believes in
the Son has eternal life...".
It's important in a passage like this to consider the context. John
had just witnessed the vision of a new heaven and a new earth, with a new Jerusalem
descending straight down from heaven. It was to the backdrop of this awesome scene that
God referred as the inheritance for his saints. These good gifts aren't the same as
eternal life, but are meant to give a glimpse of what eternal life is all about. Not just
a long worship service (ugh!), but endless exploration of the goodness of an infinite God.
It is clear from other scripture that the dividing line between heaven and hell is based
on just one thing -- the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ -- and not on our ability to
toe the line.
So what does this mean to your struggle with pornography? Just this
-- take a drink from the free fountain of life. The water is sweet and is there for the
taking, "without cost". If you want to truly live life to the fullest, both now
and in eternity, it's not enough to just turn your back on the evil you're tempted with.
You must quench your thirst with living water, Christ the Son of God. Otherwise, you'll
end up as the soft drink ad says: obeying your thirst.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.