Living Water

The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus

This morning, we are beginning a new series called “The Mystery Made Known.” This is a series that is focused on bringing clarity around the Spirit. Now, anytime we do a study on the Holy Spirit, I think of of two types of people.

The first, are people who get a little freaked out. When then they think of the Holy Spirit they often associate Him with mystical beliefs that even seem a little spooky at times.

There is some reason to this because if we swing the pendulum to the other side we see that the second set of people are so Spirit focused, that nobody ever really knows what they are talking about or why they are acting the way they often do.

Now, I am being a little facetious. But there is a reality that several of you may have tensed up a little when you saw this series..... and others of you got really excited.

Conceptualize

Personally, I am excited. I believe there are so many misconceptions and poor teachings around the Holy Spirit. There is some reason for that. When we study scripture, it is easy to see teaching about God the Father and for us… its pretty easy to conceptualize Him.

It’s also easy to conceptualize Jesus because He became a man. In fact, He is the easiest one for us to relate to and begin to wrap our minds around.

But the Holy Spirit can seem a little mystical. We don’t really have a category for Him in our mind and we have ways that we imagine He works and maybe even how we can connect with Him. Of course, we are a little bias and have a tendency at times to let our imagination run.

In this series, my hope is that we can collectively gain clarity and perspective about who the Holy Spirit is, what His role is, How we interact with Him, and generally aim to know Him better.

The Holy Spirit is not:

An Element - earth, wind, fire, water

Not a force - like gravity or star wars “The Force.”

He is not a feeling.

He is not a Ghost.

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal power. Sometimes you hear people say things like “The universe didn’t want me to.” As if there is a removed power that somehow has influence in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is not a electrical power or something that charges you up like a battery.

The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the third person of the trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Meaning, that when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we are talking about the Lord. Because God is beyond us, we can’t comprehend all of who God is, we have to simplify it. We say things like: the Father is the creator, Jesus is the redeemer, and the Spirit is the re-newer. But here is the problem, we are talking about one God. The Bible clearly teaches that God is one but in three persons. Meaning that we can attribute creation to just the father, redemption to just the son, or the work of renewal to just the Spirit. The theological term for this is Inseparable Operations of the Trinity. Where one is at work, they all are at work. For example, if someone were to say that the Father is the creator, we need to stop and ask, but who else was there? Who else was involved? Because Colossians 1 says, “The Son, through Him all things were made.” But we also see that the Spirit was there hovering over the waters.

So we can’t divide the operations of the work of God and list them as separate from each member of the trinity.

You might be inclined to ask, “What about when I feel the presence of God in my life? Am I feeling and coming to know the presence of Jesus or the presence of the Holy Spirit?” and the answer to that question is yes.....

We experience and know the love of the Father through the Spirit, we encounter Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Today, as we study the person of the Holy Spirit we are considering His work in the life of Jesus. Now that may seem strange to you, why would Jesus need the work of the Holy Spirit in His life? He is the Son of God, the second person of the trinity. The reason Jesus needed the work of the Holy Spirit in His life is that He chose to become a man. When He took on flesh, he took on every form of what it means to be human, except for sin.

Pray

John 7:37–39 “37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

The promise of Jesus to us as believers is that our advocate, the Holy Spirit, will flow with living waters.

The question becomes, what does that mean?

That is the question we are going to be answering today. But in order to answer that question, we really need to have a stronger grasp of who the Holy Spirit is.

As we consider how the Holy Spirit is involved in the life of Jesus we learn a lot about what it means that living waters will flow out of our hearts. Because without question, Jesus impacted every person He encountered. No matter when, where, how, or what mood He was in, Living water flowed out of Jesus as He was filled and led by the Spirit.

We are going to look at a number of passages today in order to gain understanding of what this living water can look like as it flows out of the depths of the heart of Jesus. This will not only help us to understand the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit but will also give us an example of what it looks like to have living water flow out of someone.

We are mostly going to be working through the book of Luke and we are starting in Luke 3:21-22.

Before we dive in, lets ask the Spirit to guide our time in His word.

Luke 3:21–22 “21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””

In this passage, Jesus is preparing to enter full time ministry. John the baptist is given spiritual eyes to see what is happening as Jesus comes forward to be baptized. After coming up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended on Him. Meaning, that in this moment, there is a sense that there has been some form of shift. Or at least, that it is now made known to John that this truly is the Son of God. But from this moment forward, we see implications of the Holy Spirit with Jesus.

Luke 4:1 “1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”

Here Jesus is now described as FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is a term that we will talk about later as we see the disciples receive the Spirit and throughout the book of Acts, in key moments for the gospel to advance we see this line, that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Not only was Jesus filled by the Spirit but He was also LED BY THE SPIRIT. Mark’s gospel is a little more emphatic about this leading as he writes “The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness.”

There is a very real sense in which Jesus is now moving wherever the Spirit leads him because He is filled. In other words, Jesus has functionally surrendered to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit in His life.

Now, this is important to understand, the reason Jesus went to the wilderness was to do two things.

To fast and pray for 40 days.

To be tempted by Satan personally.

When we look at the whole of the story of the Bible, Jesus is the new Adam. Adam and eve were personally tempted by Satan and failed. They feel into sin. In order for salvation through Christ to be a reality, Jesus would need to come as a man, be sinless in every way, and then die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sins. But what is key for us is this, that Jesus went into the temptation filled and guided with the Spirit. Its the Holy Spirit in Him that empowers Him in the midst of temptation.

Take a look at

Luke 4:14 “14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.”

So Jesus overcomes temptation, comes back and is now noticeably different. He is carrying a power that is easily recognized by people. Its so noticeable, that Jesus returns from this 40-day fast, and the next line is that a report about Him, about his power, His authority to teach the word spread throughout the region. Mark’s gospel is emphatic about Jesus’ unique authority in teaching, and all four gospels continually demonstrate that Jesus was a man who had great power.

So far, we have seen that in the life of Jesus the Holy Spirit:

filled Jesus

Leads Jesus

Empowers Jesus

But there is more, just a few verses later, Jesus goes to the synagogue to worship, stands up to read from Isaiah and then sits back down and says that this prophecy of the coming savior is now fulfilled.

Luke 4:18–19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.””

This is an interesting passage because Jesus, first attributes the work of His earthly ministry that is about to happen to the Holy Spirit being present in His life and having anointed Him. Secondly, He is claiming to be the Christ. In the middle of those two things, what we read is that His ministry that is enabled through the Spirit is to

Proclaim the good news of the kingdom

Which is a proclamation of liberty to the captives

To heal the blind - Where he offers both physical vision as well as Spiritual vision

To offer liberty to those who are oppressed

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus is effectively attributes broad strokes of His earthly ministry to power, work, leading of the Holy Spirit in Him. In short, we could say, that Jesus attributed His earthly ministry to the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

In addition to the Oppression that Jesus seeks to deliver us from, we also see Him cast demons out of people. In Matthew 12:28 Jesus makes the claim that it is by the Spirit that He is able to cast demons out of people.

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Luke 10:21 “21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

There is an appropriate place for emotions. Not just for emotions generally speaking but there is a very real sense that as we live a life filled by the Holy Spirit we will experience emotions in the Holy Spirit. I believe that this is where we could talk about the joy of the Lord or if we swung the pendulum, we could look at John 11:33

“He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” Meaning that the emotions we experience in the Spirit and what Jesus experienced was all the way from joy to grief.

In Jesus’ life, we see the spectrum of human emotions but we now recognize that the Holy Spirit may at times bring them upon us or meet us in them. I think a huge draw back to our society is that there have been generations of men that were taught to suppress and ignore their emotions. As we understand the gospel, the person of Jesus, the role of the Holy Spirit, we find that God is inviting us to be more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit coaches and leads us as we pray, as we study, as we worship, as we enter into ministry. What we learn is that emotions are not to be suppressed, hidden, pushed to the side. They are meant to be met by the Holy Spirit.

In the life of Jesus the Holy Spirit:

Spirit came upon Him

filled Jesus

Leads Jesus

Empowers Jesus

Enables ministry

Performs miracles

casts out demons

And even His emotions were in the Holy Spirit.

I want us to go back to that first verse that we read, John 7:37-39

John 7:37–39 “37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

We have been focused on the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus as a example of a heart that has living water flowing from it. This passage has a few contextual keys that help us to see this whole subject on a deeper level.

(37) Jesus Stood and Cried Out - Rabbis, teachers, would customarily sit as they taught. The standing alongside the comment that He cried out helps us to see his passion in this moment. That this was not just a casual conversation or teaching, but Jesus was making a scene. He wanted everyone to hear.

“If anyone thirsts, let Him come to me and drink.” - That is a curious message to be passionate about.... to us. But given the context, this would have made total sense. It was the last day of the feast of Booths, also known as the feast of tabernacles. This feast lasted 8 days and commemorated Israel’s time wandering in the desert. They celebrate how God provided booths and tents for them to live in when they had no home. They celebrated that God provided food. Most importantly, when you are in the desert, what do you need? Water! So they celebrated how God graciously provided water for them while they lived in the desert for 40 years!

Part of their ritual ceremony was to pour water in different bowls and they would sing: Isaiah 12:3 “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

You see for 8 days, the people had been doing religious rituals, singing songs, thanking God for His specific provisions while they were in the desert and the most significant need was water.

Jesus was proclaiming that He is the gift of life. That He has the living water that will satisfy the souls of all who come to Him. He passionately cried out to the people and said, “IF ANY OF YOU ARE THIRSTY, IF YOU HAVE ANY INKLING OF SPIRITUAL NEED, IF YOU FEEL DRY, WITHOUT PURPOSE OR VOID OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE, COME TO ME!!! I WILL GIVE YOU THE LIVING WATER THAT WILL SATISFY YOUR SOULS FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.

Jesus passionately cried out, because He genuinely loves everyone. He genuinely desires for all people to come to Him. There is not a person who He has desired to cast into hell. Rather, His longing is to offer life more abundant than we could ever live without Him.

He offers that to each of us. He is still passionately, affectionately calling. He is asking you to really consider the grace of God. The free gift of eternal life that was provided by Jesus going to extreme measures on your behalf.

You see Jesus came to teach about the kingdom of God, to further reveal the heart and love of God for all people. More than that, Jesus’ functional role in coming to earth was to die for your sin. The sacrifice for man had to be perfect. It had to be a sinless savior which meant it had to be God in the flesh. The reality of life, is that we find ways to satisfy ourselves. That we are far more selfish than we would ever admit. It doesn’t matter what you pursue, what you use.... however it is that you satisfy yourself or look for purpose in life, it will fade. Because it fades, many will ignore and reject a feeling within that there is something more. That they are missing something in their life. Some will aim to renew their purpose or find a new hobby. Others will turn to numbing agents like alcohol, drugs, or a specific form of entertainment. Instead of turning to God we continually reject the idea that there is something more.

The offer of Jesus is simple. If you are done running from God. If you are done aiming to define your own purpose in life. If you are tired of trying to pretend like you are everything that you need to be..... come to Jesus. Choose to trust that He came to save you. That His love for you is so great, that He not only died for your sin, but also promised you His Holy Spirit to live in you.

There is only one truly satisfying water. It is the living water that Jesus gives to those who put their faith in Him.

If you have heard Jesus calling you this morning. If you are thirsty and your ready to receive life giving water, please come up to the front to pray and receive what God wants to give you.

Closing

One of the beautiful truths about being a Christian is that as believers, whether we know each other, whether we are friends, whether we live in two totally different places of the world..... We have the Holy Spirit in us. Which means we as the church are bound together by the mission to reach this world. As we gather, we know that we are gathering in His name. As we worship, we gather together to worship His name. And here at Grace, our desire is to work as members of the family of God to be unified in our mission, to know Christ and to make Christ Known.