If Anyone Thirsts

Introduction

Use Ed Suro’s testimony, working with homeless and needy population.

Contrast their thirstiness with ours.

1. Too Satisfied to Come John 7:32-36

I. The Setting

John 7:32 “32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.”

First we had the visiting crowd confront Jesus, then the crowds from Jerusalem, and now finally the Pharisees and Sadducee. Once again, the leaders send for officers to go get Jesus. This happened before John 7:30 “30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”

II. Jesus’ Bold Statement and The Mocking Response

John 7:33 “33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.”

John 7:34 “34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.””

(SAVE APPLICATION FOR LATER)

First, Material: Jesus is going to ascend to heaven. These past three years they have searched the festivals for Jesus to harass Him. Now, they won’t be able to.

Second, Spiritual: Jesus is going to heaven. They will not.

John 8:21 “21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

John 8:24 “24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

This is for the people arguing with Him right now. Jesus is an evangelist that calls all who would hear. Yet, this particular crowd He knows will not. He speaks in the absolutes of an omniscient being.

John 7:35–36 “35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?””

III. The Sin of the Sadducees

We’re familiar with the Pharisees, how they added to God’s law. Yet, the Sadducees had done just as worse. Temple rulers were known to be corrupted by Roman Rule at this time. They worked hand in hand to maintain their order over the temple, and Rome’s authority over them. The Temple leaders had 400 officers but their real authority was the threat of calling in the gentiles. Roman Guards had no legal or religious constraint like the temple leaders, and could kill whoever they were told.

During Jesus’ life, there was even an event that demonstrated this. Apparently at some point between a.d.6 and 30 Roman Soldiers were commanded to kill all the Galileans in the upper courtyard of the temple complex.

Jesus mentions this in Luke 13:1 “1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.”

IV. You Cannot Come

John 7:34 “34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.””

This is the Spiritual side- Jesus is going to heaven, where they cannot come. Why? Because they will die in their sins.

Those who are satisfied cannot come to Christ.

Psalm 73:3–6

[3] For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

[4] For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

[5] They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

[6] Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them as a garment. (ESV)

Satisfaction is a killer of men. These rulers are satisfied in their education, their knowledge, their power and their wealth. This poor Jesus from Galilee of all places was nothing to them. When we have all that we need, we seek God very little. It’s no surprise that Christianity is growing in poor countries and disappearing among the wealthy. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

Satisfaction gives us the pleasures of our pride here on earth, so as to never thirst for heaven.

Billionaires in the news are building bunkers, taking supplements, doing everything they can to live for as long as possible. But I’ve known many saints who say “I can’t wait to go home”.

Jesus speaks to a crowd that He knows will never thirst, and never want Him.

When we preach the gospel, we have to show the desolate nature of their situation. This is not fear, it is reality. No one thinks they need 1000 bottles of water until they hear about a hurricane. No one thinks they need saving if they believe they are safe.

Our religion isn’t nice decoration. We have the last boat.

2. Too Thirsty to Stay John 7:37-39

I. Setup

John’s Gospel, Hebrews–Revelation The Last Day of the Festival (37–52)

Every day during the feast, a procession of priests would go to the south border of the city to the Gihon Spring (which flowed into the Pool of Siloam)..... There a priest filled a golden pitcher as a choir chanted

-Gary M Burge

This was actually an addition that came around through tradition. Not in scripture. Even so, Jesus appropriates it to refer to Himself.

II. The Invitation to Drink

John 7:37 “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.”

The cry- loudly, is an invitation for everyone to hear.

Anyone- “The invitations of Jesus were always open, always unlimited” - John MacArthur

Thirst- requires a lack. No one thirsts is satisfied. “The only qualification is thirst”

Let him come and drink. The offer is to partake of Jesus.

Very often, religious people don’t feel the thirst. We get cynical.

John 7:38 “38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ””

Belief- To thirst and come and drink.

Two interpretations here, as it is not clear whether that flowing water comes from Jesus “His heart” or ours the people who believes in Him.

If I landed on one side, it would be that the flowing waters come from Jesus. The quotations around the phrase in your bible are there because Jesus is picking up language from several places, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 2:13 might help us clear up the metaphor. God is called the fountain of living waters. Jesus, God pierced for us.

John 19:34 “34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

Jeremiah 2:13 “13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Transitional Statement Below. Read Slowly

Furthermore, the condemnation is of the broken cisterns which cannot hold water. Cisterns are meant to hold water, meaning the water proceeds from the heart of Christ, to fill His people. .

What is this living water? It is the Spirit.

John 7:39 “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.”

Acts 2 is when the Spirit is poured out, given from Jesus to all believers.

III. Doctrine of the Spirit:

A. All Believers Have the Spirit

Back to John 7:39 “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.”

This is a prophecy of Jesus.

John 14:16 “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,”

Ephesians 1:13 “13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

Romans 8:9 “9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

From these three verse , I would hope all Christians everywhere would understand this:

“From Christ, all believers receive the Spirit. He will be with us forever and He is our seal.”

B. Who the Holy Spirit is Not

Story from Lifeway. Guy buying a CD. I suggested an artist and he said, “That man is a baptist. I don’t listen to baptists. They don’t have the Holy Spirit.”

Now, this is comical but it is also sad. Where did this man learn this from? Well, he probably heard it from someone who believed the Holy Spirit is only present in places that emphasize spectacular gifts. Perhaps at his church they are they do all the signs the apostles could do.

Perhaps as in 1st Cor 13, they speak in tongues of men and angels, have prophetic powers to know all things. Perhaps they’re the ones who cause earthquakes and move mountains, and perhaps many of them have given up their bodies to be burned.

Or perhaps, they just look down on Christians who don’t look how they look. By the way, Paul says if you do all those but do not have love, you are a clanging symbol.

1 Corinthians 13:1[1] If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (ESV)

I know we use this scripture at weddings, but you know the immediate context is for the church (brothers and sisters), right?

You might look at the more buttoned up church and say the same, they don’t move or raise their hands. But that isn’t a sign of true conversion, it’s just stylistic.

And that is because they believe that is what the Holy Spirit does. He is an invisible essence, an ether, a ghost, that fills a room and makes people emotional. “Holy Spirit, you are welcome here, come fill this place with your atmosphere”. Is poetic, but also very very wrong.

Atmosphere is a gas, and the lyrics invite Him to join a church.

The assumption is that He is one outside of us, and two that His atmosphere (His spirit essence) also changes the atmosphere (the feeling of the room).

This is closer to pagan cult practice than it is to Christianity. Christians don’t gather in a room, turn down the lights and invite spirits to join us.

Christians are FILLED with the Spirit! He is not a source, He is a person of God. And we have Him- Jesus already sent Him, and He dwells in all who have thirsted and drank of Jesus.

So if that’s not what the Spirit does, what does He do?

C. Who the Holy Spirit IS

So if that’s not what the Spirit does, what does He do?

John Owen wrote: "The Spirit is the immediate presence of God to us, working on our hearts, and we cannot approach God in any other way but by the Spirit. The Spirit is the means of communion with God, who brings Christ to us, and we cannot have fellowship with the Father and the Son except by Him."

Practically, the Holy Spirit is God present with us.

By the Spirit, we pray (Romans 8:26), read Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:12), grow to be like Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), have power (Ephesians 3:16) receive gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7), and show fruit (Galatians 5:22).

To ask what He does is like asking what water does for a fish. Acts 17:28a: "For ‘in him we live and move and have our being’…" He is how we live, breathe, move, act, rest; live the life we live in Christ. He is the personal presence of God.

IV The Division of the Crowds (Application)

John 7:40 “40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.””

John 7:41 “41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?”

John 7:42 “42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?””

John 7:43 “43 So there was a division among the people over him.”

Pay attention to this crowd. An amazing division is going to appear among them.

John 7:44 “44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.”

John 7:45 “45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?””

John 7:46 “46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!””

Ref: John 10:27 “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Twice these officers were sent to arrest Jesus. John 7:30 “30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”

Why couldn’t the officers lay a hold on Jesus? It seems like two answers: 1.They were amazed by His teachings. and 2. It was not His time.

Yet, those are really the same reason. The same words that that annoyed the leaders, inspired the guards. Jesus says this phrase “Let He who has ears, listen”. The guards are amazed and cannot arrest Jesus, because it was not God’s time.

In other words, everything in this whole scene is contingent on God’s timing. Everything in existence is.

John attributes the reaction of the guards to the sovereign will of God. GOD IS IN CONTROL. The guards may have felt it was natural, but scripture corrects that thought- their inability to harm Jesus was supernatural.

The officers found themselves unable, amazed, perhaps even thirsty. Some others in the crowds admitted (v40), “This really is the Prophet” Even Nicodemus is beginning to believe

A. The Other Side: Pharisees

John 7:47 “47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?”

John 7:48 “48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?”

John 7:49 “49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.””

B. The Law Correctly Understood

John 7:50 “50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,”

John 7:51 “51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?””

John 7:52 “52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.””

Nicodemus, one of the leaders, makes a case from the Torah. Finally! The Law is not opposed to Grace, the Law lives with Grace and expected it.

Application for Christians:

Stand firm in the truth of the Gospel. Lean on the Holy Spirit by whom you live and breathe and have your being. The guards were unable to grab Jesus, by the power of God. That same power lives within you.

Stand firm. Scoffers, gossipers, intellectual elites, wealthy, adulterers, inventors of evil do exactly this. Christians, they will do their best to challenge you in every way.

Application for Unbelievers:

Jesus doesn’t whisper- He cries. Events in your life may be that cry. Deaths, sickness, job loss may be that cry. It may be that God, as difficult as it is, has made you understand how thirsty you are.

After all, He’s in control isn’t He? Have you found your life unsatisfying? Do you know that death is always a surprise, but salvation is a gift you can receive today?

John 7:37

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”