If Anyone Thirsts

The Scene: “on the last day of the of the feast, great day”

The Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration.

Remembering how they, the Israelites, had wandered in the desert for 40 years. God had tabernacle with them. They celebrated God’s miraculous provisions of food that fell from the sky and water that came pouring from a rock when Moses was commanded to strike it.

The “last day of the feast,the great day”was the eighth day.

For seven consecutive days they would take a golden pitcher and go down to the pool of Siloam and fill it with water and bring it into the Temple to ceremoniously pour it out. They were remembering how God provided water for them in the desert.

After the seven days was a day of celebration!

On this eight day we now find Jesus, likely standing near the pool and crying out to the crowd of people who are bustling about this day of celebration. It says that Jesus stood up and cried out! Normally a teacher or Rabbi would sit down and teach, but Jesus was standing and crying out. He was making an announcement, crying out to this busy crowd of people.

To day we are going to observe 3 things that Jesus cried out to the crowd:

1.The Call: He cried out,“If anyone thirst”

How Odd to be standing next to a pool of reputably fresh drinking water and asking people if they are thirsty.

Why would he call out to the thirsty like this? Were the people at the festival really thirsty? I’ve read that we don’t often experience Thirst until we are already getting dehydrated. that is why we need to be repeatedly told by doctors, dietitians, health and wellness experts, “That you need to drink more water”.

But Jesus was crying out to the people about a different kind of thirst and drawing their attention to a different kind of water. Just as we don’t always recognize our physical thirst.

We cannot recognize our spiritual thirst without the Lord revealing our need.

John 4:13-14

The unbeliever needs to be awaken. These are signs of spiritual dehydration.

anger and bitterness, selfishness, pride, arrogance, laziness, gluttony lack of compassion and Goodworks, loneliness, heartache.

The Lord is making a call out today. Do you realize that you need spiritual water.

2. An invitation to Drink: “let him come to me and Drink”

But if you don’t know you are thirsty, you won’t do anything about it. The only problem with this is that just because you realize you were thirsty doesn’t mean you can do anything about it.

This is no ordinary invitation! It is the invitation of God. When God graciously calls and invites a person he draws them to himself with his own strength and ability. It’s a good thing too, because it is the sick who need a doctor, the poor who need help, the broken who needs fixing, the unable to be cared for. That is our God. He is a God who comes to the needy, the thirsty and draws them to himself.

John 6:44

Jesus is the only one that can quench your thirst, the only one who can save you from your spiritual famine, when Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well in John 4 he told her that whoever drinks of physical water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the spiritual, heavenly water will never be thirsty again.

John 4:7-15

All the other wells are corrupted, the cistern dried up, he invited you so He won’t turn you a way.

To all of us who are dried up and needing God‘s blessing, he is inviting you now come to Jesus and drink.

Isaiah 55:1-2

you don’t need to come with money or good works or personal righteousness. He calls you to come as you are. He’s calling you out to the sick, to the broken, the sinful, the thirsty.

3.Promise of living water.

John 7:38