The Fountain of Life.
Psalm 36:1-12; Isaiah 62:1-5–Drummondtown Baptist Church. Jan. 20, 2019
David R. Denny. Ph.D

Introduction:  Our four texts today shine with unusual brilliance. On this second week past Epiphany, the Lord moves among us with sensitivity and love.  He wants nothing more than to restore your life, to lift you from any difficulties and to shower you with love. These are the themes of today’s readings and I have reveled in them all week.

The four readings flow with such grace and passion:

Isaiah (Isa 62:1-5) takes us back to the return of the captives from Babylonian captivity.  So dejected and worn they scarcely know how to live anew in their old city.  But God tells them their restoration will be like a glorious wedding with God as the groom.
David (Psalm 36) tells us over and over in his beautiful Psalm that God loves us in a thousand ways and leads us to the Fountain of Life.
John (John 2:1-11) in our NT readings describes a marvelous wedding in which the Savior turns water to wine and lifts the spirits of a wedding turning sour.
Paul  (1 Cor. 12:1-11) and in the Corinthian letter shows us all how we too can lift those around us with unique gifts of the Spirit that He bestows upon us all.

Let’s turn our focus on the Psalms this morning and the Fountain of Life that God gives to His children.

*Elixir of Life—Just a few years ago, construction on a brand new 22 story glassy hotel began.  But before anything could start, archeologists were called in to dig through the ground.  And what they found was fascinating.  On this parcel of land, they found a history of drinking, easting and lodging and potions for good health.
One such find was a small 200-year-old bottle that fits into the palm of the hand.  Scrolling around the length of the bottle in embossed glass lettering were these words: ELIXER OF LONG LIFE.   Anyone who drank the contents of this bottle would surely live forever with the greatest of health.  The company overseeing the excavation project traced the contents of the bottle back to Germany and found it in an old medical guide.

           I’m going to reveal to you the very ingredients in this potent at the end of the service today so you too can run out to the pharmacy and have this very life-altering potion ground up for you.

1.  God’s Love Overcomes Evil: Ps 36:1-4. The theme David presents to us this morning is such a hopeful one.  He tells us in v.9 that God is our Fountain of Life.  He is the Elixir that everyone is searching for in this world.  But before he unfolds this dramatic statement before us, he steps back and sees the world as it really.

The world he tells us is filled with evil.  His portrait of evil is chilling and reads like the evening broadcasts that are so filled with horror and pain.  David tells us that before I bring you to the Fountain of Life I want you to know that I too live in a dark world.  I see misery every day.  I see those who have no fear of God.  I hear them bark and spew wicked words against God.  I know people who lay upon their beds each night planning the next crime spree.  I live in a dark and troubled world just like you do.  I want to say this before I lead you to the Fountain so you will know I am not some flake living in a false utopia.  I know the pain of the real world.  And so God’s people experienced this pain in the captivity of Babylon.  And so you too today here this morning might find your life surrounded by anguish and hurt.

2. God’s Love Reaches out to us all, all the time even with a backdrop of the darkest strokes. This is what David really wants to talk about this morning.  First, he paints the canvass with black and gray.  He understands the world as it is.  But now he moves on to the joyful side of life. God’s love is real and it reaches from the highest places to the lowest.

The poetry of verses 5-6 is so spectacular!  READ TEXT—God love reaches to the heavens and then to the skies below them and then to the mountains below them and then to the great deep.  Do you see how God’s love and oversight of our lives encompasses all there is about us?  From the heavens beyond our view, to the skies that drift, heavy with clouds and bright with sunshine above us, to the mountains that dot the landscape where we live, and then even to the deepest places upon the earth—From the highest to the lowest God’s love is there.

*Several years ago Russian scientists found life buried in the permafrost of Siberia back when the Mammoths lived.  They discovered little living bacteria on Mammoth Mountain, some in the permafrost and some in the brains of a frozen mammoth.  They found that when they inserted these organisms into mice or small rodents that were quite old and lethargic that they began to dance and skip about.  The hope is that one day we might all get a little dose of these creatures and we too will soon be dancing and singing again.  But David reminds us that God’s love reaches from the heavens to the deepest deep of the ancient permafrost.

The bacteria were originally found on Mamontova Gora – Mammoth Mountain – in Siberia’s Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, in 2009. Pictures: Sergei Goltsov

3. God’s Love is the Fountain of Life. Psalm 36:9. For with You (God) is the Fountain of Life.”  What does this mean?  It means that God gives life meaning and purpose and that God knows how to give us life forever. Our favorite verse of the Bible tells us this:  John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave us His son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have—EVERLASTING LIFE.

*People have tried through the ages to stay young forever.  Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt bathed every day in a donkey milk bath to her skin milky white and free of again.  She kept a stable of 700 donkeys so she could maintain her daily routine.  Nero’s wife too followed this regimen as well as Napoleon’s sister.

But David tells us that the truest fountain of Life is found in our relationship with God.  Bathe in his love, David tells us and you will find a youthful secret that many miss out upon.

*Tuck Everlasting—children’s novel.  Rated in the. Top 100 of all time. I taught this to my si graders one year. A young man named Jessie Tuck drinks from a secret fountain in a place called Tree Gap Tennessee  He never ages….

Conclusion:  This morning God is calling you.  He wants to give you life everlasting.  Just trust him with your life and watch yourself grow younger each day.

Elixir ingredients found in the old bottle:  Aloe, which is anti-inflammatory, gentian root, which aids digestion, as well as rhubarb, zedoary, and Spanish saffron.