The Source of Living Water

Good morning! If I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you my name is John Lee and I serve as one of the pastors here at Mission Church. Our mission and vision is to partner with God to see His kingdom come in Las Vegas as it is in heaven.....and we believe that we will accomplish our mission as we love Jesus, live like Jesus, and lead others to Jesus.

Now, I am excited and honored to be with you this morning…..especially in this context as we continue our current sermon series entitled. “I Am.” The main intention of this series is for us to pause and behold Christ…to sit at His feet and to just be with Him.....you see…following Jesus is so much more than obtaining facts about what He has done or checking off the boxes of what He has told us to do…in other words…why would we want to settle for simply knowing about Jesus when He has invited you to actually know him? So…with that in mind we are intentionally studying each of the I AM statements of Jesus.... with the prayer ...that God will soften our hearts..... so that we might have a greater understanding of who He is and subsequently experience a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him.

Now…this mornings text is not classified as one of the 7 “I Am” statements…but what Jesus says about Himself is profound and its a continuation of His proclamation from last week about being the Bread of Life....you see…Jesus not only invites the hungry to eat…but…as we will see this morning.... he also invites the thirsty to drink. This text also sets the stage and the context for Jesus’ next I Am statement..... “I am the Light of the World” …which we will study next week.

So….If you have a Bible please turn to John 7:37…if you don’t have a Bible we have free Bibles right outside the door….please feel free to get up and grab one if you need…and as always the verses will be up on the screen. When you’re there and if you are able …please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

John 7:37–43

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. 40 When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David lived?” 43 So the crowd was divided because of him.

This is the word of the Lord. Let’s pray. You may be seated.

Last week we talked about steak…and this week we’re talking about Hamburgers! I don’t know about you but I love hamburgers! I love everything about them and I think about them and crave them often. If my wife asks what I want to eat for lunch or dinner it’s usually followed by my answer….uh…I want hamburger….the other night we were up late watching T.V. and I randomly blurted out… “Man…I want a hamburger!…Let’s go get some In N Out”

Right now …even….as I talk ….I can’t help but long for a double double…animal style…from In N Out….. now…we can sit here and debate what restaurant has the best hamburger….but growing up in Oklahoma …my favorite burger was from a place called Whataburger…. I moved to las vegas in the summer of 1998 …and I remember longing for and craving a Whataburger burger…..nothing could satisfy that desire….not fatburger…not Burger King….not In n Out…definitely not mcdonalds….and I finally had a chance to return to the midwest and all I could think about was getting a burger from Whataburger……At last I sat at the table…..I swear that there was an angelic glow around the tray as the server brought me the long awaited …. Whataburger Burger…..I unwrapped it …thanked Jesus for it…and took the biggest bite out of the most ……incredibly…….mediocre burger I had ever had…..and it was in that moment I longed for and craved In N Out!!!! Tell me……Have you ever longed for…craved….desired something only to be left still wanting and completely unsatisfied?

I remember when my wife was pregnant….she had a different…. strange….an weird craving during all 3 pregnancies…I remember running to the grocery store to retrieve these weird cravings during all hours of the night…..only for her to realize that she was still unsatisfied and still longing for something…..most of the time…she was unsure of what she was actually craving. The truth is we all crave and long to be satisfied…and the reality is this doesn’t stop with our stomach….we all crave to be satisfied in the deepest longings of our inner most being and we look for fulfillment and satisfaction in a number of different places….and sometimes come to the realization that we really don’t know what it is we are longing for.

So tell me………are you satisfied? Are you content on the inside? …….If you’re like me and you have days in which your answer is no then what’s the noise that goes on inside of you. Just think about this for a second?…(pause)……Where do you go to quiet the cravings and longings of your soul? …What is it that you run to …to quiet your busy… obsessed…… and on edge mind? Are you craving acceptance? Longing to be successful? Longing to be heard…or seen…or comfortable? You see…….All of these emotions, longings, and craving of heart, soul, and mind………simply point to the fact that you and I are discontent…..It points to the fact that we are running to the wrong wells to satisfy our thirst..……and quiet the longings of our soul… And what we see in our text this morning is an invitation to drink from the only source in which we will find true and lasting…contentment and satisfaction. Let’s look at v37

John 7:37 (CSB)

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Now…if we are to grasp the weight of what Jesus is saying ……..it’s imperative for us to understand the context in which He says what He says….Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem to celebrate one of the great feasts…one of the nation of Israel’s great festivals...And this particular festival…the Feast of Tabernacles was one of the most anticipated events of the year ! At this festival, they celebrated a time in Israel’s history when they wandered the desert wilderness for 40 years …and how...... during that period of time.....despite how unfaithful they were to God……God still protected them, preserved them, gave them food to eat and water to drink. You see…this celebration ....this festival was a beautiful reminder of how faithful God was to preserve His people despite their unfaithfulness.

This is a powerful reminder to us as well….think about it….this is good news…How many times have you and I been unfaithful to God, but yet He still remains faithful to us?!?! Praise God that His faithfulness is not dependent upon our ability to be faithful to Him! Amen!? And so….we find ourselves in the midst of a ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles …a ceremony that included both a water-pouring ceremony and a beautiful candle lighting ceremony….and it’s during this ceremony that Jesus reveals how both the pouring of the water and the lighting of candles pointed to Him.

Now... these ceremonies were taking place in the temple courts…and there were thousands of people participating ….including Jesus and his disciples……and as the festival reached the anticipated ceremonial pouring of the water in celebration of their deliverance and the salvation of God…as they were celebrating how God graciously provided water for their ancestors in the wilderness ………Jesus dramatically turns everyone’s attention to himself and he passionately shouts … “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”

Can you imagine the look on everyone faces!?!? This scene is awkward…it’s emotional…..it’s surprising and it’s exciting…..Jesus is essentially saying….look….this festival…is pointing you all to me….in fact.... the very water that God provided for your thirsty ancestors was pointing you to the living water that I am offering your thirsty soul. You see....Jesus is inviting thirsty people to come to him and drink.

Now….when we hear this invitation to come and drink….I don’t think that we get how important it is. We’re spoiled by our unlimited selection of beverages….. I mean the other day I stood in front of those new Coke machines debating which of the 100 choices I was going to settle on……..it was exhausting! But when Jesus says he’ll give the thirsty water…. It’s imperative that we understand the gravity of the situation. Remember Jesus is saying this on the final day of the Festival celebrating the time they were stuck in the desert. Think about this for a second…..those who are thirsty in a desert are dying. In a desert water means life. We know this…we live in a desert……if you are thirsty in a desert and have no water….well…..you’re dying. So….Jesus is inviting the dying to come to him for life…..So…tell me….Are you dying? Well....consider Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23 (CSB)

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

..and a few chapters later we see the end result of our sin….

Romans 6:23 (CSB)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And……in John 7:37 Jesus is inviting us….He’s inviting the dying……. He’s inviting the one in the desert with his strength fading….. struggling to go on……He is inviting you to come to Him! Friends we need to hear this promise of water and understand that this promise is our only hope. Church…..our only hope is Jesus. Only Jesus can give you water that will fully satisfy your thirsty soul. Only Jesus can give you life. In fact…….There is no satisfaction for the thirst of the human soul other than Jesus.

In one short sentence Jesus lays out for us the Gospel message… Look back at v37 and see three words that stand out—"thirst," "come," and "drink."

This first word…THIRST….. speaks to a recognized need. Thirst, like hunger, is something of which we are acutely conscious of……..I mean….tell me…..Have you ever been thirsty??…I mean really thirsty? A dry mouth, cracked lips kind of thirsty?

It reminds me of when I took my family to the movies and the kids wanted popcorn…..so I ordered a giant tub of popcorn…I didn’t get drinks….and ill be honest…I didn’t order drinks because I didn’t want to take out a second mortgage on my house. But by the time the previews were over…before the movie had even started…..my mouth was all dried out from the salt and the butter…… and the kids were all fussing for something to drink……

The truth is we all get thirsty, don’t we?!?…….Our body has this internal alarm alerting us to the fact that we need something…..and the truth is we spiritually have this too. We have a holy longing. Our souls long to be satisfied….our hearts long to be filled. And……because of this …..all of us are looking for something or someone to fill us and satisfy us. You see…this thirst..…this longing…this craving ….speaks to the fact that we need something that we don’t actually have. I mean……lets just be honest….we all thirst….. but that doesn’t mean that we all thirst for God…….the heart breaking truth is that so many of us are thirsting for and longing for that which will never satisfy us.

We thirst for and long for the things of the world….we crave…. pleasure, money, fame, comfort…. self-indulgence……….Maybe for some of you…. you’re looking for a relationship that will complete you….or maybe you’re looking to find satisfaction in your career….…but no matter what it is …….you find yourself longing to be filled ….longing to be satisfied…… searching for something to quench your spiritual thirst…..and no matter who or what you run to…..the reality is……you’re still thirsty.

And Jesus warns us of this in John 4:13

John 4:13 (CSB)

13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.

Yet..... despite this warning we continually run to the salt waters of the world…..leaving us not only still thirsting….but still dead. You see….. Jesus is pointing to the only drink that will eternally quench your thirst and give you life…Himself!! Brothers and Sisters....If by God’s grace ….you are experiencing a conviction of your sin and you desire cleansing…If you are currently being weighted down with the awful burden of guilt and you desire forgiveness, if you are fully aware of your weakness and helplessness and you long for strength and deliverance, if you are overcome with anxiety and stress and you crave peace and rest,—then Jesus says, "Come to me."

When Jesus says, “Come to Me”…He’s pointing to an act of faith….He is speaking of you and I turning our back on the things of the world and abandoning of all confidence in everything about ourselves....and instead..... casting of ourselves completely and empty-handed at the feet of Jesus. Coming to Jesus means believing his claim to be the only Savior of the world…it means receiving Him as your own savior and trusting your self to His care…it means bringing your sins to his cross where his blood was shed for your forgiveness.

And finally, he says, “When you come to me…..DRINK!”

Think about it…..A river flowing through a country where people are dying of thirst does them no good unless they bend down…. stick their faces in the water and drink!! "Drinking" ….speaks to those who see their brokenness….who see their deep need for Jesus… who come to Jesus……and receive from Him the gift of His grace.

And understand..that to drink…is much more than an intellectual assent….but to drink speaks of a wholehearted devotion to Jesus….a wholehearted involvement and participation in the mission He has given us to make disciples.

So….. if you recognize your thirst…if come to Jesus and drink… Look at what Jesus promises us in v38.

John 7:38 (CSB)

38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

Not only will Jesus satisfy the deepest longings of your soul….. but he will put a river of living water in your heart! Think about it…..to those in the desert, a cup of water is great, but a river will change their lives…. And this is what Jesus promises us. If you come to him, he will give you unending life by putting his Spirit inside you…..and there’s no desert…there’s drought that can ever cause that river to run dry!

Now…maybe you’re thinking….. “But John…. this sounds too good to be true. I’d love some water. I need life, but I don’t have anything to offer Jesus. I don’t deserve it, and I’ve got no way to get it.” Listen to what God says to us in Isaiah 55:1

Isaiah 55:1 (CSB)

1 “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost!

Friend.....There’s nothing you can do to earn this living water…..you can’t even buy this living water….But rather God is inviting you to come to Him empty-handed…..to come with no money…to come with nothing…to come dying…… But…… You have to come to Him

Now….look back at John 7:38-39

John 7:38–39 (CSB)

38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Let’s just get real for moment…….rather than rivers of living water flowing out of us …if we were to be honest…..it’s more of a still ….stagnant…. mosquito breeding pond. The truth is….there are many of us who would describe our spiritual life as stagnant…murky....and uneventful..…and that’s because …though you might have water flowing in ….there is nothing flowing out.

Here’s the irony in this…….You and I may recognize our thirst….and we may even come to Jesus and drink…..but we will never experience the satisfaction we are meant too until our lives give satisfaction to others. This is what Jesus is saying. You see…..this verse describes the normal Christian life but how many of us can honestly say that this verse describes our lives? How many of us would be bold enough to affirm that out of our innermost parts are flowing rivers of living water? Very few of us…..Why? What’s wrong?

Well…..look back at v38 “The one who believes in me, …. ‘living water flow from deep within him’

Underline or make note of the phrase, “deep within”…this phrase is translated from the Greek word.. Koilias …which literally refers to one’s belly or womb…and it speaks to the deep well of emotions within you....it speaks to the part of us which constantly craves. That part deep within us that is never really satisfied…it’s the part of us that is constantly crying for something …or someone to satisfy us and help us find the ever allusive feeling of contentment.

And the remarkable thing that Jesus is offering us.... is that not only can we find satisfaction in Him but from our innermost parts will "flow rivers of living water”…..Think about this……from the very part of your being that is never satisfied….you will not only be satisfied but there will be a constant overflow of satisfaction and contentment.

Think about it like this……the water that flows to you when you come to Christ doesn’t stay in you. You’re not a bucket. You’re not a reservoir. No…you are meant to be an aquaduct…you are a fountain that becomes a river. You see…..not only do we drink and have the thirst of our soul forever quenched, but we become the fountain and the river of living water to others as it flows from us.....when we are faithful to serve the Church and obey God’s command to share the gospel.

Now, it’s true....let’s be honest....there are some in the room this morning who have become stagnant ponds......the water has flowed in but there is a clog in the pipe...... And the reality is .... you might need a dose of spiritual Drano to get the flow going.

Understand…it’s imperative for us to see that we will only find rest, peace, and lasting satisfaction when we come to a daily consciousness of our need for a savior …when we come to a daily longing for Jesus…… You see…….before the rivers of living water will flow out from your satisfied soul you have to receive from Him. So….listen to me…..if you are here this morning and you are experiencing a stagnant faith….drink up…..come to Jesus…in word…prayer…fasting… be a part of a serving team here at Mission Church…..be intentional about pursuing christian community. ……..In fact….Im going to challenge you…… why not let today be the day you get involved. Don’t leave here today without finding a place to serve others and use the gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given you. As you leave this morning… why not stop by the resource table??…..Courtney will be there waiting for you and is excited to help you find a place to serve.

And maybe you’re thinking….“John, I’m already so busy……my life is so hectic”…Let me say this…Is it possible that your life may be too busy because you have filled it with the wrong things? As a Christ-follower we should give our lives to Christ and the church. Why? Because the church is the only thing that will stand the test of time….all these other things, they may not be bad things…they may even be good things….but they aren’t eternal things. “But John! My life is so overwhelming, you don’t understand!”…Trust me I do! When life gets overwhelming for us you know what typically happens….The first thing we let go of is the church……..I hear it all the time….“My life is overwhelming I need to step away from serving”…. or…. “I need to step away from church for while.” When life is overwhelming church is often the first thing we let go of….Why?!? It’s crazy….it’s counterproductive.

Let’s just be honest…..You’re not going to come to Jesus if you don’t believe him. If you believe he’s God, if you believe he’s the only source of life, if you believe he will give you his Spirit, if you believe he loves you, if you believe he’s gracious and merciful, if you believe he’s the fulfillment of all God’s promises, then you’ll come to him. If not, then you won’t. But.....maybe you’re her this morning and you’re wrestling with whether to believe, you’re not alone…in fact…..in the final verses of this chapter we see 2 distinct responses to Jesus’s invitation…..and they are the same 2 responses that lay before you this morning. Let’s take a look John 7:40-43

John 7:40–43 (CSB)

40 When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David lived?” 43 So the crowd was divided because of him.

1. The first response to Jesus is belief….you see…. the first group are those who are convinced….They believe and received the truth that Jesus is who he says he is…they believe that Jesus is the prophet that Moses talked about back in Deuteronomy 18…they believe that Jesus is the Messiah…..they believe that Jesus is the Christ…..They believed that Jesus is the one they’ve been waiting for....they received the gift of faith when they heard the words of Jesus…they were convicted of sin…and they came to Jesus and drank from the eternal well of living water.

2. The second response to Jesus is to reject him. Look back at v41….

The second and the only other response to Jesus is to reject him. There is no in between…there is no grey area….you either recognize Him as savior and surrender to him…..or you reject Him…The Pharisees had already decided how they were going to respond to Jesus..they rejected him, and there was no amount of evidence that was going to change their minds. You see……They didn’t believe Jesus because they didn’t want to believe Jesus. Their unbelief was rooted in an unwillingness to discern the truth.

And maybe this is you….. maybe you’ve already decided you don’t want to believe in Jesus….and if that’s the case…..then you’ll find every excuse not to come to the well and drink. [PAUSE]

Is Jesus the Messiah? ….Friends…..this is the most important question you will ever be faced with…and consequently this question will always cause division. Some said that Jesus was the Christ…the messiah….and others said that He’s just a man!…….that He’s no one special……And Jesus knew that his words would cause division. Think about this…….as you look at the culture we see this more and more…… The very mention of Jesus brings division……. Next time you’re sitting in the break room at work …..start talking to people about Jesus and see what kind of reaction you get. Some may be open to it…..some may even come to Jesus and receive Him…..but the rest will reject Jesus…they may even be hostile towards Jesus…and as a result they will reject and be hostile towards you too.

And……listen to me…….This is to be expected……listen to what Jesus says in John 15:18

John 15:18 (CSB)

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.

Brother’s and Sister’s following Jesus comes at a cost…those who follow Jesus are going to find themselves subject to increasing pressure and alienation………You see……The lines have been sharply drawn……and as a result ....Jesus will either be everything to you or he will be nothing to you……so ..tell me….which side of the line are you on?

Church……every invitation requires a response….Jesus’s invitation to come and drink is no different! How are you going to respond? There are only 2 answers……. You’re either going to go to Jesus and find the satisfaction that your soul is longing for….or you will reject him. And hear me friends…..those who continue to drink from the salt water fountains of the world will be unfulfilled, empty, and dead…..forever longing ….forever thirsty… But those drinking from Jesus will find life and they will forever overflow.

Jesus’s is extending this invitation to you today. He’s inviting you to come, to drink, and to be satisfied. He is inviting you to recognize your thirst and your emptiness…..inviting you to admit that nothing you have within yourself will save you….the invitation to admit that you are a sinner….to throw yourself upon Jesus, and realize that Jesus is the Christ……..and ask him to fill you daily, and then by faith grab hold of the life of Jesus, through the Spirit of Christ, within you. Then we you be filled ….then you will find peace…..then you find rest in him. So…..Come…….drink….and be satisfied.

Let’s Pray