New Eyes New Heart New Tongue

I'd like to begin by reading the passage that Brother Williams already read from John 7, starting at verse 37. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.

Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were about to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. When we gathered here on Good Friday, we came here to remember an event which happened only one time.

Jesus' crucifixion was once and done. It broke the curse. It never needed to be repeated again.

When we gathered here, we came to remember an event which happened only one time. Jesus' resurrection was once and done. He stepped out of the tomb in the gray hours of dawn on Easter day, and the earth for the first time saw the firstborn of the new creation.

In that sense, the kingdom of God touching the earth with unusual power. Now the kingdom is here. Earth, sea, and sky are witnesses to it.

This event never needs to be repeated. But today, as we celebrate Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon believers for the first time, we are not looking back on an event which was once and done. We are looking at a river which continues to flow.

It flows in our midst. We can drink from it. We can jump in.

Pentecost is not something we look back on, but something that we enter into. What happened on the day of Pentecost is still happening. We can be part of it.

And even if we've had a personal Pentecost in our lives already, as many of us have, we need to keep entering in, repeating that, experiencing it, renewing it over and over again. Reading from Luke 3, starting at verse 15, As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John the Baptist, whether perhaps he were the Christ. John answered them all, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. What's John talking about? He's talking about an outpouring of light coming down upon us from heaven as a baptism, an anointing of the Holy Spirit coming down, God the Holy Spirit coming in the person of the Holy Spirit as an anointing like holy oil coming down upon the priesthood in the Old Testament. He's talking about a river from which we can in fact drink, something that can happen to us and make changes in our lives and help us.

Jesus came into this world in order to give us the Holy Spirit. His death on the cross was to remove the sin which stood in the way. His resurrection was by the power of the Spirit that raised him from the dead, and this is the Spirit he now gives.

But there must be a point at which it in fact starts to happen in reality in our lives and is continuously renewed. And so we read in the book of Acts chapter 2 verse 1, When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And this happened to a group of people, and we flip over to chapter 4, this was chapter 2, same group of people, and we read, They are praying now, same people.

Now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant Thy service to speak Thy word with all boldness, while Thou stretchest out Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed in the name of Thy holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. Same people, it happens again.

It happens again and again and again. Now the danger with a fellowship like ours, where we may feel that we have some acquaintance with the ins and outs of what is called the charismatic renewal, or we may feel that we've been into this Holy Spirit teaching for a long time and we know quite a bit about it, is that we tend to think we have it now. And we close ourselves off.

And here the river flows right through the midst of the fellowship, and we rejoice in it, we see it, and we point others to it and encourage them to drink, but the Lord God says to us, Don't forget to drink from it yourself. Paul was a much older man than Timothy. And yet Paul had a strength and a resilience which Timothy, the younger man, seemed to have lost.

Because Paul, on a daily basis, would get down to this river and he would drink. He would renew himself in the life of the Spirit. Whereas Timothy did what many of us tend to do.

Timothy turned himself into a kind of poor guy. And he would show others about this. And he would describe it and would encourage them to drink.

But he would stand on the bank of the river and watch, no longer drinking himself. So Paul has to rebuke him and exhort him and tells him, Stir up the gift which is within you through the laying on of my hands. Drink from the river, Timothy.

Renew yourself in this. And that's what we need to do. What happens to a person when they drink from this river? Three things which make a fantastic difference in the way we live our daily lives.

First of all, we get a new pair of eyes, new eyes. Secondly, we get a new heart. And third, we get a new tongue.

New eyes, new heart, new tongue. First thing that happens to a person when this person drinks from this river, receives the Spirit, is that this person gets a new pair of eyes. They begin to see God, His hand working in their circumstances.

They begin to see God in the Scriptures as they never did before. They begin to see Jesus standing alive from the dead in the midst of His people. Back to Paul.

When he was Saul of Tarsus, and he met Jesus for the first time on the outskirts of Damascus, you remember the first thing that happened to him was that he went blind. And for three days and three nights he was without sight. A believer in Damascus was directed by the Lord to go to Paul and lay hands on him that he might regain his sight.

Ananias was hesitant and frightened, but he obeyed. And we read in Acts chapter 9 verse 17, So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.

When those scales fell from Paul's eyes, it was a sign that the Spirit had come to him. And now he has new eyes. He sees a new world, a world with Jesus at the center.

This man was familiar with the Scripture, but now he sees Jesus in the Scripture as never before. He sees Jesus in these people who show him such kindness. Wherever he turns, wherever he goes, Paul sees Jesus.

Now this is exactly what happens to us when we drink from the river, when we renew ourselves, when we repent of our attitude saying, I got it, I don't need that anymore, I know all about it. When we repent and say, Lord, fill me. We get new eyes.

We begin to see. We get a vision of Jesus, and that vision of Jesus becomes the light of our life. It becomes the center of everything for us.

We become obsessed with him. We see him and rejoice in him. And he leads us on.

The second thing that happens to a person who drinks from this river, who receives the Spirit, is that this person gets a new heart. Reading from Ezekiel 11, verse 19. And I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them.

I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them, and they shall be my people and I will be their God. A heart of flesh for a heart of stone. A tender heart for a hard heart.

A heart which now is suddenly tender toward God. And the proof that the heart has become tender toward God is that it begins to pray. It prays in a way it was never able to pray before.

It trusts God. It loves God. It believes God.

It draws near to God like a child to a father, and listens and asks and receives. Reading from Romans chapter 8, verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought.

But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The Spirit helps us to pray.

Every time we turn and open our hearts to the Spirit, the first thing the Spirit does is come down in here, soften the heart and help it to pray. When we open our hearts to the Spirit, we find ourselves being lifted on a stream of prayer that has been going heavenward for centuries and centuries. And we pray and find ourselves in the company of the apostles and the prophets and the martyrs and praying saints of God from all time.

We don't know how to pray as we ought. Paul said that after he'd been praying for a long time. He was utterly dependent upon the Spirit of God to teach him and show him how to do that.

And that's what happens with us. When we drink of this river, prayer becomes our life. We could no more survive without prayer.

And the third thing that happens when we drink, a tongue which is able to bear witness to Jesus with supernatural power. From this change, the Spirit comes. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And when they prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. When the apostle Paul got his vision, the first thing he does is go to the synagogue. For several days, he was with the disciples in Damascus.

And in the synagogue, immediately he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed. He goes right into the synagogue and starts talking about Jesus.

This is exactly what happens to us. We get a new tongue. This tongue, which is the unruly member of our body, this tongue which has caused such grief, which has brought such pain, which has done such damage, which has ignited so many unholy fires, this tongue now becomes, under God, an instrument of healing and grace and peace and hope.

This tongue becomes a servant of God to preach good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who were oppressed, to bring the acceptable year of the Lord's favor, to the hearing of those who need to hear this. This tongue, which was bound, now is set free and God's strength is made perfect. In this tongue's very weakness, life begins to flow out.

And so the river of life from which you drank now becomes in you rivers of life flowing from your new heart across your new tongue to bring blessing and healing and life to the ones. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.

Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now Jesus has been glorified, the Spirit has been given, and this river is flowing. Anybody, anybody, who thirsts for the life of God, who longs for more, can receive from this river, can come to Jesus and drink, exactly as it says.

What it means is that I come to Jesus and I open my heart and I say, I'm thirsty, I need your help. It means that I repent of my hardness of heart, I repent of my attitudes, I repent of saying, I got all the answers, I know what this is all about, don't tell me. And I say, Lord, I'm nothing, I need your help.

It means for those who perhaps have never been baptized, that you decide, you make up your mind, I'm going to be baptized, because baptism is a commitment to Jesus, even after death. It means you turn yourself over to him. Lord, I give myself to you, I've been going my own way long enough, here I am, take me and fill me with your Spirit.

And the result will be, not just goose pimples, and hooting and hollering and jumping up and down, the result, the proof, that the Holy Spirit, not just emotion, but the Holy Spirit of God, will be free, clear, everywhere around you, but especially in the Scriptures, for which you will get a thirst and a longing that you never had. Your heart will soften, and you will begin to pray with a freedom and a power you never had before, and your tongue will be set free to bear witness to Jesus with an authority which comes. God will be glorified in your life, and the life of God will flow out of you like rivers of living water for the blessing and the healing.

Let's take a little time in silence and just open our hearts and respond to Him, and cry out to Him, and for the fullness of God's mercy to refresh, drink from the river today. Let's wait upon God in silence.