This morning we have witnessed the baptism of one of Jesus Christ's little ones. This baptism, this ritual that we have seen is a biblical ordinance that goes back 2,000 years as water is drawn and water is applied to one who has been welcomed into the Church of Christ through that covenant, the everlasting covenant. Now this morning what I would like you to do is to consider the water. Consider that water that ran down and has saturated the concrete before you and that pooled up and filled little Della Mae's ear as it ran down her forehead. Consider that water and consider what that water is pointing you to. Think about and meditate on the beauty and the purpose in all of this. This morning I want to consider with you Isaiah chapter 12 verse 3. Isaiah chapter 12 verse 3 where the prophet there says, therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. Isn't that beautiful? What a great text. Therefore with joy you will draw waters out of the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12 verse 3. I want to unpack that with you some this morning and we're going to begin with our first heading which we're going to call the wells of salvation. The wells of salvation. Isaiah uses this language of a well And you know what a well is. I'm assuming you know what a well is. It's literally a hole that is dug into the ground. And there's a structure that is built up around that hole. And it is so that there is access to the underground flow of water, the water supply providing fresh water to the land. And we know that that is necessary for land to be habited, isn't it? We need water. We need wells from which to draw water. This is one of the great successes of the 20th century for making Los Angeles even a place where people could live. There was not enough water. The Colorado River, I mean the Los Angeles River, not able to supply, so in part bringing water down from Owens Valley, in part bringing water over from the Colorado River makes it a place where habitation can be and develop and grow. So these wells, these places of water are needed. And Isaiah uses this language here of the well, this need for access to water, and he connects that to salvation. He says, the wells of salvation. You see, Isaiah is not Just pointing you to a well He's not just pointing you to to water like the water that we saw that that ran down upon Adela's face But in this prophetic word, which some refer to as a song Isaiah is looking ahead to that time when the messiah would come remember this is a bc it's an old testament and Book and he is looking ahead to that time when the messiah would come And the people of god and the nations Would have access to salvation They would have access to the wells of salvation where they could come and they can drink these wells of salvation to which you have access and to which Della Mae was even able to have a taste of this morning. These wells are that which center and focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are told that there is one name under heaven by which we must be saved. and to have access to those sweet waters from which you all desire to drink. That means that we must come and we must drink deeply from the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that throughout all the pages of of the scripture by way of what is called the covenant that promise that is repeated time and time again that promises for you and your seed that promises for you and your seed that promise is for you and your seed And all of these promises, all of these wells of salvation are able to look directly in to the heaven of heavens and see the face of Jesus Christ. And we have access to that. As we're gathered here today, we have access to that through what we call the means of grace. Those means by which we come and we participate together in coming before the presence of God. Isn't that interesting? You want to know God. You want to drink deeply from that well that I have described. And we see that there is no magic key that gives you access to that well. There is nothing where you have to go out into the desert and seek some ephemeral experience over and over and over again. There is a simplicity to having access to that well, and it is found in the means of grace. Acts 2 42 describes the early church coming together and drinking deeply from that well of salvation. And it says, and they devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching and fellowship to the breaking and bread of bread and of prayer. Friends, there is a great simplicity to the wells of salvation. A great simplicity for having access to God and being able to come and to find Jesus Christ. You don't have to go out into the deserts to Las Vegas and go to land that is owned by the Bureau of Land Management and try to dig and find water that will refresh your soul. You have access in the Word of God. You have access through prayer. You have access through the singing of these songs that we bring before the Lord. We have access as we see this experience of receiving the sacrament, something visual. We have access through other means of grace like the sacrament communion or through the prayers of the people or through the fellowship of the church as you gather together in your homes and you fellowship These give you access to the wells of salvation Teaching and preaching and the Word of God and sacraments and fellowship and prayer meetings and worship These are these wells of salvation from from which you are able to come and over and over again you are to have your souls quenched. Friends, I hope your souls are being quenched. I hope there is not a dryness deep within But these simple things, these things that often I've called vanilla Presbyterianism, these simple things, I pray that they are watering your soul. All of this watering done according to the Word of God as these things, these means of grace, as we call them, point you over and over and over and over again to Jesus Christ. Remember the Apostle James uses the idea of wells to describe false teachers. Do you remember that? He calls them dry wells. See that because we understand that the wells of salvation are available in the means of grace. They are available to you. But what I want you to notice for our second heading this morning is that this isn't something that we just look at. We say, yeah, that's interesting, Pastor Nathan. I'll check that box in my mind. We see, secondly, that there is a drawing from the wells of salvation. There is a drawing from the wells of salvation. You see, we come to these wells and we have access, but that doesn't mean that we're drawing water from them. It doesn't mean that we are drinking from them. Just because you're at a well doesn't mean that your thirst has been quenched, does it? We can think of John chapter 4, where this Samaritan woman who is there at Jacob's well and the Lord Jesus comes up to her. And he asks her for a drink, asks her to get him water. And you remember what she says? She says, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. We need to draw from this well. Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. The congregation, you have something for which you may draw that water. You have something with which to draw. You have that bucket that the Lord Jesus provides for you. And that is a bucket that is provided for all of those that would believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and would live What is that bucket? Maybe you're saying pastor Nathan. What do I draw with from from? What do I draw? Hebrews 4 2 says for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them But the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in Them that heard it Faith is that from which you will draw from that well. You look to Christ by faith and you draw out from that well. You look and you say, here is my faith and I come and I see a baptism and what use is this? What use is this without faith? It's just water that my wife got out of the sink, let's face it. But by faith we look and we see that water and we think of the cleansing that is provided. We think of drinking deeply from the wells of salvation. We look beyond that silver bowl and that water and its simplicity and the stool on which it sits and we look to Jesus. And the same is true for all of this. We have this ancient book, and you literally pay somebody to tell you what a 2,000-year-old book says. And we have songs that were written 3,000 years ago, and we sing those songs, and we bring bread together, and wine, and we break, and we drink. And the world may look on and say, it's all crazy. What does that even mean? But friends, by faith we look past those things to Christ. And I'm not devaluing them. I'm saying it's simple and it's beautiful. But we have this bucket from which we are able to draw from the wells of salvation. And we drink deeply and we look to Jesus together. Are you drawing from those wells? as you come here week after week and you see baptisms and the Lord's Supper and you have access to the Word of God and as you hear the Word of God read and you hear the Word of God preached through a cheap speaker system, do you look past those things and look into the eyes of Jesus Christ by faith? Because it is that well from which you draw the wells of salvation are provided and we're given access to them by faith we can't just look down and say sir i have nothing for which to draw water and the well is deep by faith you must come and by faith you must drink The profit from this well and the drinking from this well comes by faith. Romans 10 tells us that preaching is of no value unless there is faith. Faith comes by hearing. Are you increasing in faith? Are you trusting in Jesus Christ? Are you resting in his finished work? Are you drinking deeply from that salvation that your soul may be nourished? Are you confessing that at that well you are in need of both cleansing as well as nourishment? Do you bring your parched mouth to the well by faith and do you drink deeply? Do you draw with what Christ has provided by faith? Now, some of you might think, well, Pastor Nathan, I cannot draw. I have faith, but I cannot draw because it is not enough faith. And I have to work on conjuring more faith before I'm able to draw. I get nothing out of worship. I get nothing out of visualizing the sacraments. I get nothing out of singing the Psalms. I get nothing out of hearing the Word preached. I get nothing out of hearing the Word read. I must increase the bucket of faith so that I may draw. I can't draw until it's grown. Jesus says the faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. I don't know how big your bucket is. I don't know how much faith you have. But the scriptures hold out great promises for those who have little faith. Is your bucket small? Is it broken? Is it damaged? Draw with it. Drink deeply. Friends, if you were thirsty and you only had a broken bucket from which to draw from a well, what would you do? You would draw from that well, wouldn't you? If your faith is small, If your faith is frequently damaged, if your faith is often broken, if you would describe your bucket in ways of distress or disrepair or disaster, my encouragement to you is still to draw, to go to the wells of salvation and draw and be quenched. Because faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. Surely a small or damaged bucket can quench your souls. And you think, well, Pastor Nathan, you say that the bucket doesn't need to be large, but you know, I just don't really think I have the ability to conjure up faith and I don't have money, I don't have anything with which to bring to the Lord. And I want more faith, but I can't do this, and I want more faith, but I'm hungry, and I don't have the ability to feed myself, or I'm thirsty, and I don't have the ability to drink. I come empty-handed. I come penniless to the Lord. Isaiah says later in his prophecy, he says, Everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. He that hath no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently to me, eat what is good, delight yourself in rich foods, incline your ear, come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. Congregation, is your bucket broken? Draw. Go to the well and draw. Or is the bucket non-existent and you say, Pastor Nathan, I don't have a bucket and I need a bucket. God says, come to me and purchase from me. You don't have money, that's fine. It will be provided for you. Friends, by faith, come. Come and draw thirst for Christ. Come to the waters. Drink deeply. Christ will satisfy. Do you thirst? Drink. Incline your ears to Him by faith. Pick that up and draw. Because I promise that in that drawing of water you will find the deepest satisfaction for your souls. That drawing from the wells of salvation comes by faith and I want to encourage you to come and to draw and to drink. And what will you find as you do that? I want you to look at the text again, Isaiah 12, 3. Thirdly, we see the joys of the well. You will find joy. with joy the prophet says with joy you shall draw the hebrew word for that is gladness or mirth or rejoicing It is the heart and mind of the one that has come to the waters, the one who's come to this well and has drunk deeply, the one who has parched lips and has drunk and found that satisfaction that is available to you. The one who has been refreshed is the one that has received joy And why do you receive that joy? It is because you are in the presence of God. You think about that as you come and gather and worship and drink. Do you think about being in the presence of God? God speaks to you. Sometimes when you hear people say that you might think well that sounds a little crazy God speaks to you But God does speak to you Doesn't he and what God is saying to you today is to drink And to have joy renewed and to draw deeply and to find that deep-seated joy and gladness in your soul. And why does that joy come? Isaiah says in Isaiah 40 that God's Word does not return void. And what that means for you is that when you drink, you have the promise that you will be revived. That you will be refreshed. That you will be renewed. God's Word doesn't go forth to fall flat. It goes forth to pierce your soul. and it goes forth to satisfy the deepest longings of your heart that joy is that you will drink and you will drink and you will not be left thirsty and you will come and you will drink again and you will find satisfaction because salvation comes to those that look to Christ by faith. God is found by those that will seek Him. Glory will come to all of those that are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We sang this morning, all earth with joy to the Lord come, with loud voices ringing, with gladness serve the Lord, to Him joyfully singing. You see, that is the heart of the one who comes to the well. The heart is one that is filled with joy and with gladness. Friends, you should have joy in that. You should have joy as you draw and you drink deeply from the means of grace And that joy is not only there because you have faith. It's not joy that you have somehow produced within yourself. It is a fruit of the Spirit that God has placed upon you. Jesus says in John 7 that rivers of flowing water will flow out of you because the Holy Spirit has come. Friends, draw and drink and have joy. Know that Jesus Christ is the one that will satisfy deeply and quench your thirst. He says in John 4, again going back to the woman at the well, he says everyone who drinks of this water, meaning the water in the well, will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life. You see, Christ is that water, isn't he? Christ is that one that will provide you with that satisfaction. Jesus is the one that provides living water as he is the living water. And you will drink deeply from Jesus Christ. And you will have joy. That is what is there in that well, that living water that is provided, that living water that will allow you to never thirst again. In that you will be satisfied and you will find joy and gladness that comes by faith. The woman at the well said, sir, give me this water that I will not be thirsty. Set your prayer. Lord, give me that water that I may not be thirsty. Fill me with joy and satisfaction, for these are the wells of salvation. Wells that are filled with Christ and filled with joy Wells that make this promise that you will drink and never thirst again If anyone comes after me let him drink We look to Jesus And we find those wells, those rivers of water that never end. Friends, long for this and reach out by faith. Therefore, with joy, you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation. Amen.