Sermon Services John 7:37-53 Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Welcome to First Community Church at Home.
We are so glad that each and everyone of you have joined us this delightful morning to worship the Lord is Spirit and in Truth.
Here at First Community we go through books of the Bible, one verse at a time, line upon line, precept upon precept.
But because we are in unusual times we have changed things up a bit.
We are still going verse by verse, through different books as the Holy Spirit leads us.
Thanks to all our frontline workers who continue to lay down their lives for their communities.
Prayer
Read John 7:37-53
Review
Review
Last week was more of a history lesson about the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths if you may.
According to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, the Feast of Tabernacles was the most popular of the three major Jewish feasts.
We learned that all males were required to attend three feasts a year:
“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
This was also known as Sukkot (soo·kowt) in Hebrew, and we learned that God wanted the Israelites to observe this festival by living in temporary shelters for seven days as a reminder that when their ancestors were in the wilderness, God provided them booths to dwell in. Again, The Israelites lived in booths to remind them of God’s care for them in the wilderness, when He provided manna and water from the rock.
4. Getting back to the feast , we learned that on each of its seven days there was also an important water ritual.
That ceremony was not prescribed in the Old Testament, but had become a tradition in the centuries just before Jesus’ time.
It commemorated God’s miraculous provision of water during Israel’s wilderness wandering
Church, Each day of the feast the high priest drew water from the pool of Siloam and carried it in a procession back to the temple.
At the Water Gate (on the south side of the inner court of the temple), three blasts were sounded on a shofar (a trumpet made out of a rams’ horn) to mark the joy of the occasion. Isaiah 12:3
(“Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.”) was also recited.
At the temple the priests marched around the altar while the temple choir sang the Hallel (Pss. 113–118).
The water was then poured out as an offering to God.
It was against the backdrop of the last pitcher being poured out that the scholars believe Jesus stood and cried out, or shouted in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jesus made a claim that no other man had ever made! Can you imagine the Pharisee’s countenance? The anger that was brewing inside of them?
Let’ pick back up where we left off last week:
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
Like I had shared, we are at the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, scholars believe that the priests just finished pouring out the last pitcher of water out as an offering to God. This was remembering how God supplied water in the midst of the wilderness, but not just water, but He had supplied manna as well.
This was not prescribed in the Law, but was an added ritual to this festival.
The Pharisees, believed that the Law that God gave to Moses was twofold, consisting of the Written Law and the Oral Law—i.e., the teachings of the prophets and the oral traditions of the Jewish people.
What we have here was an oral tradition that was handed down from generation to generation.
READ MARK 7:1-8???
I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE SEE JESUS STOOD AND CRIED OUT!
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
Rabbinic tradition was that the Rabbis would stand for the reading of the Torah, it was a Sacred time because they did not have great access to Bibles like we do today. The Rabbi would stand to read the scroll that was on a table and the people would stand for the reading of God’s Word.
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
After the scriptures were read the speaker would sit down to offer his commentary and interpretation on the passage.
By sitting down the people would know the reading of scripture was finished and the words spoken from that point originated with the speaker, not from the prophets and writers of old.
I share all this because of the setting here in John 7.
Jesus is in the Temple teaching and preaching:
Read John 7:25-31
Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
We see Jesus crying out here in verse 28.
What is the significance between these two verses? It is two-fold:
Jesus cried out Church!
Cried out- kra-zo- to call out, to shout, to bawl
The verb “cried out” (7:37) means that Jesus Christ was using a very loud and emotional voice.
Church, this is not quiet, soft-toned wimpy sharing, this is loud, emotional preaching and teaching with great power and authority.
Jesus’ preaching and teaching has authority.
It is interesting to me he cries out twice in this text, but only stands once.
I’m guessing his heart was breaking for the people because God was standing among them, but yet they did not see and hear.
His heart was breaking and so extended great grace when he said:
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Jesus extends an invitation here church and I think it is important that we look at it.
There are three mini messages here:
If anyone THIRST church: This covers everyone, both Jew and Gentile alike!
Do you think the Pharisees were steaming when Jesus said this?
This is a conditional statement which means that although Jesus is willing to quench the thirst of all people, we first must have a THIRST
And believe me Church, we all thirst for something, the question we must ask ourselves is:
What are we thirsting for? Do we have the thirst that Jesus is talking about here? Or are we thirsting after others things, like the Pharisees?
2. Come to Me: Jesus says that if you Thirst, come unto him. Church Jesus is saying that if you thirst, come to Him and he will quench your thirst.
Jesus Christ promises a person a full and abundant, satisfying life if he comes to Him.
If you are tired of looking for meaning and fulfillment, go to Jesus Christ for He will fulfill what you are looking for.
The criteria at stake for going to Christ is recognize the thirst.
This is precisely the problem with the Jews - they did not recognize how sinful they really were.
They would not come, because they had things are figured out.
What is interesting is that the invitation is to “any” person who thirsts for life.
It doesn’t matter who the person is or what the sin is, if one recognizes the spiritual lack and sin in one’s life, one may go to Christ.
Christ stresses that life is only found in Him.
So a key to being drawn to Christ is that a person recognizes a thirst or hunger to be right with God.
Church, do you want to be right with God? Are you right with God?
3. Believe in Jesus: He will quench your thirst:
The key to having life is to believe on Jesus Christ.
Believes- pisteuo- to entrust, to trust, to be firmly persuaded, put faith in, to be reliable, to rely on, to be faithful and permanent.
The participle “believe” is present tense, meaning one who has truly believed on Jesus Christ will continually believe that Christ is the only way to have life.
Believing upon Jesus means to entrust our spiritual well being to Him, to surrender our live fully to Him! It means to be firmly persuaded that he is Messiah, to trust in Jesus!
To summarize the invitation let’s review the three things he invited the Jews to do and us:
Jesus said, If anyone Thirst: Jesus is saying that if you have a Thirst, the only question is what are you thirsting for? If anyone is conditional, but the invitation is not only for the Jews, but for us today.
Jesus said, Come unto Him: Jesus said, If you thirst, come unto Him. Turn away from the world that does not quench, but leaves one high and dry!
Jesus said, Believe on Him. He has invited us.
Thirst>>Come>>Believe to receive living waters.
Let’s continue in the text:
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Note: as the Scripture has said, not as I have said. We must come to Jesus on His terms and not ours. His terms are simple church:
He simply said Come!
He didn’t say, “If anyone is thirsty, let him join the church, get baptized, take communion, do penance, give money to the church, clean up your life, and attend church every Sunday!”
Jesus simply said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”
“Me” implies that it is a personal relationship with Jesus, not a bunch of religious rules or rituals.
What could be more simple? You’re outside working in the yard on a hot day and your wife comes out with a pitcher of ice cold lemonade and says, “Come and drink!” It doesn’t take a lot of effort or will power or a college degree to come to her and drink.
Church, To come to Jesus is to come to the One who loved you so much that He came to this wicked earth and suffered the horrors of the cross to pay for your sins, if you will believe in Him.
That’s what drinking of Jesus means, as the parallel comment in verse 38 makes clear: “He who believes in Me ….” (John repeats “believe” in the clarifying statement of verse 39).
To receive the living water that Jesus offers, come to Him and drink, or believe in Him. Make Him your own by faith. Appropriate what He did on the cross for your sins.
A river running through the desert does you no good if you don’t drink from it.
If you feel thirsty, ask Jesus to satisfy your thirst with His abundant, free salvation.
So the person of the promise is Jesus, the eternal God in human flesh, who gave Himself on the cross for our sins.
The condition of the promise is that you must be spiritually thirsty.
The simplicity of the promise is that all you have to do is come to Jesus and drink”
What could be more simple?
Just as water satisfies thirst and produces fruitfulness, so the Spirit of God satisfies the inner person and enables us to bear fruit for His glory and for His Kingdom here on earth.
I would like to Note John’s commentary on verse 38-39 here:
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Did you see that?
John shared what the living water is
But he spoke this concerning the Spirit whom those believing would receive.
We must believe upon Jesus to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Greek text is literally, “the Spirit was not yet,” but clearly John does not mean that the Holy Spirit did not yet exist!
As early as Genesis 1:2 we meet the Holy Spirit, moving over the waters in creation.
There are repeated references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament :(e.g., Ps. 51:11; Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1; 63:10, 11).
Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Rather, John means that the Spirit was not yet manifested on earth as He would be on and after the Day of Pentecost, after Jesus was crucified, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven (“glorified”).
In the Upper Room on the night He was betrayed, Jesus said to the eleven (John 14:16–17), “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (See, also, John 15:26; 16:7.)
Then, after Jesus was raised from the dead and just before He ascended, Acts 1:4–5 reports, “Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’”
On the Day of Pentecost, they all were baptized with the Spirit who came on them with power, they spoke in tongues, and they became powerful witnesses for Christ.
Church, today I believe that Jesus is calling us all to a relationship with him.
He is tired of us playing church
He desires us to come to Him so we will stop trying to quench our thirst with things that will never satisfy.
He desires to give us living water today>
Are your ready? Do you desire that living water that satisfies?
Prayer
Announcements
I apologize for the inconvenience I caused those who came to our virtual prayer meeting Wednesday.
We will try again this Wednesday
Let us keep our eyes on Jesus
This week we learned about the invitation, next week we learn about how people respond to Jesus.
Remember when it comes to Jesus and the Gospel you cannot reamin neutral: You will either accept Him or reject Him. Next week we will take a closer look at this.
Benediction
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission starts now!
Have a wonderful week!