John 7:37-52
Notes
Transcript
Open your Bible to John 7:37. I’ll be preaching through the longest set of scriptures I’ve ever preached through. We might be here a while…we might stop at 39 and just do three verses. we will see how it goes.
Introduction: I just got back from...
What I learned is that I need to be more bold! We are dealing with eternity here. I have to warn people and proclaim the Good News of Jesus...
Let us read our text:
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. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 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.
When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Prayer:
Here we are at the LAST DAY OF THE FEAST of Booths. Every day men would bring water from the Pool of Siloam and carry it into the temple. A ram’s trumpet was blown as they passed through the Water Gate. Everyone was singing the Hallel Psalm 113-118. At the end they would shout “Give thanks to the LORD” THREE TIMES as they cut into a piece of fruit signifying the harvest…and as soon as that was said THREE TIMES…the water was poured out on the alter by the priests.
This ritual signified 3 things:
it reminded them of God providing water to Israel by making water flow from a rock.
it reminded them to give thanks to God for the harvest and the harvest and rains for the next year
It looked forward to the prophecy of Isaiah from the coming Messiah in Isaiah 12:3
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
and it was here…while all of this was going on that we read what Jesus says in verse 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. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
Remember, when a Rabi taught, he taught sitting down and everyone would gather around him.
here we see “Jesus stood up”
He “stood up” and “cried out”…with a loud voice, yelling, pleading with these people…and look what he says:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Lets look at this for a minute:
Who is he offering this invitation to?
the wealthy?
the ones who live a perfect life?
the ones who do good things for other people?
Nope. He is offering it to ANYONE…who thirsts.
So here is the qualification…the only qualification for you to become a Christian. Because Christ only offers to these people...
It is for those who THIRST!
And think about what THIRST IS
its a feeling you hate, it is miserable to be absolutely thirsty
your mouth is dry…your lips are cracking… you would do ANYTHING for a glass of water
And don’t think that everyone thirsts.
the religious do not thirst for Christ…we will see that in a minute
the religious have no thirst for all that Christ offers.
the religious may thirst for some of Christ but they do not thirst for all of Him.
the religious do not want to drink what Christ has to offer because they do not really TRUST Him.
And let me be completely clear with you…it is scary to come to Christ. It isn’t easy coming to Christ and drinking from Him.
There are only two guarantees that Christ offers you…and it isn’t
Health
Wealth
Prosperity
Supernatural knowledge
Here are the only TWO Guarantees you will get:
to believe
to suffer (Phil. 1:29)
Watch The Chronicles of Narnia with your family…and you will see this scene in the movie. The girl approaches a stream of water and on the bank is a LION.
the question is…do you trust the Lion enough to go get a drink
or do you not...
Do you THIRST for Christ?
Do you have something in you that you know nothing in this world will satisfy?
money will not satisfy this thirst you have inside of you...
being looked up to and admired by others doesn’t satisfy your thirst...
Your job/career doesn’t satisfy you...
Your Instagram and Facebook ‘likes’ doesn’t satisfy you...
If you know that absolutely NOTHING in this world will satisfy that thirst you have deep in your heart then COME…Come to Christ and DRINK.
Does your soul THIRST for forgiveness. Does your heart THIRST to be made new. DOES your heart THIRST for acceptance by God to cleanse you of your GUILT AND SHAME?
DO YOU THIRST LIKE THIS? Then COME to Christ and DRINK!
Are you willing to come to the Lion and drink?
Trey, are you telling me I don’t have to “DO” something? There must be some ‘process’, some ‘formula’ I must do...
NO…BELIEVE THE WORDS OF CHRIST AND COME…COME AND DRINK!
Look at verse 38
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
Does your soul THIRST for what Christ offers you? THEN COME AND DRINK.
Come to Christ in Faith, believing in Him and what He has accomplished for those who would believe in Him.
And look what He does for you when you come and drink because of your soul is thirsty for Him..
He gives you a heart that will FLOW Rivers of living water!
This living water does not come from within us…but it comes from Him. It comes from Him as we DRINK from Him.
He puts something in us that fills our hearts so much that it is overflowing out of us into our families, into our marriages, into our children…into our workplace…into our schools...into our community…AND IT NEVER STOPS FLOWING!
Why?
Because we continually come to Him and we continually DRINK from Him..from His Word.
Remember what he told the woman at the well in chapter 4?
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Look at verse 39 of chapter 7:
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.
So this river of living water that flows out of the believer is talking about the Holy Spirit.
Look at John 14...
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
So Christ offers salvation to those who THIRST.
Those who THIRST...COME and DRINK.
It is those who come by FAITH to Jesus Christ who receive the Holy Spirit when they BELIEVE in Him as the Scriptures has said.
And a RIVER OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW OUT OF THEM…and that water that is flowing out of every believer pours out on everything around us...
again…starting in our homes
flowing out of our houses into our community
to our friends and neighbors
It started off with just a few in Jerusalem, then it grew into Judea and Samaria and now it is growing all over the world and it will continue to grow until it covers the whole Earth.
You Believers…are a big deal! God is using you to grow His Kingdom and take back what was corrupted by sin and death. Christ has come to make all things new again…and He is a conquering KING!
Look at this prophecy again with me…in Ezekiel 47
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.
Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
Turn to Acts 10 and look at verse 43 with me and lets look at something
Here we find Peter sharing the gospel… and at the end of his presentation he says this:
To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Now look at what happens:
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
And we see in chapter 11 here as Peter is giving a report to the Jewish Christians what happened with the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit:
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
We will finish the rest of the chapter next week but I want to point out one thing real quick...
Go back to John 7
What is the next section titled?
DIVISION AMONG THE PEOPLE
Because of Christ and His message people divided...
We will go more in depth on this next week but let me point this out...
So there was a division among the people over him.
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Many will tell you that you have to do this or that to receive what you are longing for from God.
The message of Christ has always divided people!
Christ divides people.
The division is between those who believe His Word and those that DO NOT.
So believe the Words of Christ this morning...
You DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANY OF THOSE THINGS TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN...
You just have to be thirsty in you soul and come to Him in Faith and He will give forgive your sins, take away your guilt and shame. He will give you His Holy Spirit and out of your heart will flow RIVERS OF LIVING WATER!
If you are Thirsty…Come! Come to Christ and LIVE!