But drinking is not once for all. We do need to take care of our drinking. We have to drink. Drinking solves all problems. The whole Bible ends with a promise and a call. The promise is in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” The call is in Revelation 22:17. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” The Bible closes with these two things. The promise is for eating and the call is for drinking. We must eat Jesus as the tree of life, and drink Him as the river of life. If all the Christians would forget their doctrines, opinions, and concepts, and only take care of the eating and drinking of Jesus, the whole world would be overturned.
For example, how can a young couple be one? I can guarantee that if they don’t eat Jesus and drink of the Spirit, they could not go three days without disputing. If they would simply drink of the Spirit, there would be no problem. It is so simple, and it is altogether not something of religion. If this young couple would drink of Jesus as the life-giving Spirit, they would be one. If they do not drink of Jesus, regardless of how much they talk about oneness, they could never be one.
Our God became a man, and then He became the life-giving Spirit. Today for our application, appropriation, and enjoyment, God is the life-giving Spirit. We may believe that He became man to die on the cross as our Redeemer, and yet we may still fight with our wife. It is wonderful that He is our Savior, but we need to apply Him as our life. The only way is to drink of the water of life. Drinking of the living water not only quenches our thirst, but also dispels all the problems. In John 7 such a Spirit was not yet, but today we can say that such a Spirit is here. Our Triune God is not a doctrine, neither is He a religion, a form, or a ritual. He is the life-giving Spirit, so available for us to drink.
Teaching will never work. I knew some good Christian teachers that really knew the Bible. One among them was called the living concordance of the Bible. But after he had taught for an hour and a half, he would have to smoke. When I was young I appreciated his teaching, but I was really bothered by his smoking. He knew the Bible so well, yet he could not give up his smoking. This was because he had the Bible knowledge, but he did not have the drinking. All the Bible knowledge in the world cannot overcome your bad habits. But to drink of Jesus as the life-giving Spirit solves all our problems.
I knew some other people who were considered to be very spiritual. One among them was thought to be a very spiritual person. But I put a big question mark on that kind of spirituality. After many years, there is hardly anything left. So I came to a conclusion: no teaching avails, and nothing is spiritual. It is not a matter of declaring that we are for spirituality, and then we are spiritual. That will never work. Only one thing counts. Day by day, hour by hour, we must drink of the one Spirit.
Regardless of how much we know the Bible, if we do not drink for seven days, we will need a funeral. I don’t care how spiritual you are. Those who do not drink will die. I saw these so-called spiritual ones dying. They claimed to be spiritual, yet they were so dead. Only one thing avails. We must all learn to drink of the one Spirit. The dispensing God today is the very Spirit for us to drink. He is so available and so drinkable.
Suppose you have a problem in your family. If I come to teach you, I will only damage you. But if I come to help you drink, I do believe your problem will be solved. It is so simple. By this drinking day by day, we get more of Christ into us. This is the indwelling. The indwelling comes out of our drinking of the one Spirit. The Lord Jesus today is the one Spirit, who is good for drinking. This one Spirit is the life-giving Spirit, who has passed through much process. He is our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Father, our Lord, our Master, and eventually our life-giving Spirit. We must be drinking of Him all the time. I do know what I am talking about. I have tried all the Christian ways, and nothing works but drinking.
Some people say that we must deny ourselves. I would ask you to try. Try to deny yourself. Eventually, you will have a stronger self. I know that the Bible tells us to deny ourself, but it is not in the letter. It must be in the Spirit. We must drink of the Spirit in order to deny ourselves. The whole context of the Bible indicates that we must walk in the Spirit and drink of the Spirit. The Bible does not end with the words, “Deny yourself.” It ends by saying, “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely!”
In any kind of writing, the final word is the main thing. Matthew starts, but John closes. He gives the final word in the Gospels, the Epistles, the New Testament, and the whole Bible. Matthew started with putting us into Christ, and John closes with the drinking of Christ. This drinking is for the indwelling. We all must drink of Jesus as the life-giving Spirit. Even after reading this message, if we do not practice drinking, the reading avails nothing. We all must learn how to drink of the one Spirit all the time.
How do we drink of the Spirit? Praise the Lord that He has shown us the way. It is by calling on His name. “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” John seven speaks about drinking, and Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 also talks about drinking. He tells us that we all have been made to drink of one Spirit. At the beginning of this book, he tells us how to drink. “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2). To call is not simply to pray. The calling in chapter one is the drinking in chapter twelve. And the drinking Spirit in chapter twelve is the life-giving Spirit in chapter fifteen. The life-giving Spirit is the drinking Spirit, and the way to drink is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Whenever we call, “O Lord Jesus,” we are drinking of the one Spirit.
Many times when we try to pray, it is difficult to get through. We pray about this, and we pray about that, but we are thirsty within. This is not the kind of prayer that quenches our thirst. We must learn to say, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, You know the situation. I need You Lord, O Lord Jesus.” Whether our prayer will be answered or not is secondary. The primary thing is that we are drinking of the Spirit. I can testify that only this one thing avails. We must learn to call deeply from within, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” This is the way to be filled with the indwelling Christ. John closes the whole Bible with drinking, and this drinking continues for eternity. Hallelujah!