June 26, 2022 Sunday Worship Service (Roy)

Thank cheese for that fun reading. Appreciate it.

Rivers of Living Water. That's what we're talking about today, talking about that. Last giving water that Jesus has provided Mankind and for all those who are willing to accept that water but we'll be looking at John chapter 7 beginning versus 3739 that we just read. But as we think about the context, we have to go back to the background of from where this passage comes from. In Bible class, we talked about chapter 6, a little bit and John chapter 6. Jesus told the people that they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to follow him and have everlasting life. And course he wasn't talkin, literally was talking about everything that you want in. Jesus Christ, you want to have in your lives, devote yourselves to him, have him be a part of your lives and you'll go to heaven, but they didn't understand it that way. And it's so they thought it literally, and so they were disgusted by it and they walked away. So Jesus lost multitude of disciples that day. And prior to that, even his own brothers, and family had rejected him, even the beginning of his ministry, thinking that he was out of his mind for what he was saying and up. And of course, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, and all of the leaders in the Jewish World had rejected him immediately. now, we coming to John Chapter 7, And we find that. There's rejection so much that the Jewish leaders want to kill Jesus. And we read about that and John chapter 7 and verse one. And of course, going back to Jesus's family and talking about his hometown, you remembered, and Luke chapter 4, we discussed some time ago, that Jesus had walked into his community into his own family, synagogue, if you will back in his hometown of Nazareth and he began reading from the scriptures and he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel, to the poor to give recovery of sight, to the blind, to heal the brokenhearted, to the, to the Proclaim Liberty to the captives. And this is the acceptable year of the Lord. And so what he was saying was, I came to give life, I Came To Give You freedom, I came to call you out. Darkness into light and all of those metaphors that we could use to describe what he just said there. But then his hometown rejected him. Is Hometown rejected him. In fact, they wanted to kill him that day too. And so they follow him up to the top of the mountain but somehow he escaped their threats, So Jesus is being rejected, slowly, but surely, and as we coming to chapter 7, we find more rejection, we find absolutely more rejected rejection. And so, the ones think about the fact that Jesus is talking here in chapter 7, about shutting of a door, shutting of the door. You know, sometimes we can follow to a situation where a door could be shot. If we can't get back in what Jesus is making that point spiritually to these Jewish leaders said, if you don't follow me, you're dying your sins. If you don't come after me, you will die in your sins. If you do not think that I am the Son of God, the Messiah, you will surely die in your settings. And so, Jesus over and over again, is telling them that they will die in there. Says that, they do not accept him as the Messiah. And so, hell is a place prepared for those who were absolutely confused about Jesus. That's still true today. By the way, hell is a place prepared for people who are confused about who Jesus? And so we have the scriptures, Jesus has given us the scriptures. And in those scriptures, we can find out who Jesus is. And so, some of them from Jerusalem said, is this man, he who may seek to kill But look, he speaks boldly, and they say nothing to him. Do the rulers know, indeed that this was truly the Christ. However, we know where this man is from. But when the Christ comes, no one knows where he is from. And so they understood that the leaders of the Jews wanted to kill Jesus or two groups of people hear the leaders of the Jews and the normal everyday Jews. All right? Yeah. The leaders in the follower and what was going on here was that the people understood that the leaders wanted to kill Jesus. And they were confused about the whole situation because they thought he was the Messiah. But now since the leaders, don't think he has them. He's a messiah. But they want to show him the next think to themselves. Well maybe our leaders are right, maybe he's not the Messiah. We know where he comes from, is what they said, but they didn't know. They wanted to Proclaim. They knew who Jesus was, but they didn't know him. There's a lot of us like that in our lives. Sometimes we Proclaim. Jesus. And we act, as if we know him, when we don't That's all that's called hypocrisy. You see? Sometimes we can fall into that, well of hypocrisy, and we can act like we know Jesus. When in fact, we don't because of the things, we said, because of the things we do and this is what was going on with the people of Jesus is dead. and so again, In Bible class we said they could have checked the Temple Records to find out who Jesus really was. They would have known that he was born in Bethlehem rather than Galilee rather than Nazareth and a no one took the time to check. No one took the energy to find out the truth. And so again, we're we are sometimes we get lazy after a long day at work or maybe a long day of doing nothing and rather than just the scriptures rather than read our scriptures would rather turn on that. Little thing, we call the TV while I just click, right? And we can we try to escape Your TV is just another form of escapism. It's how we get away from the, the trials of life in the, the struggles of the day. And we kind of entering to Fantasyland. Then we wander away into the TV Land. But Jesus keeps calling us to reality. Jesus has come back and search. My scriptures, come back and read my word come back and fill your heart with my word is what he says. And so we need to understand that when we walk with Jesus, it is a walk about studying. It's a walk about reading, it's about a place and it's also about living, what we read. Sometimes we read and we don't do. Sometimes we read, we don't follow through. So we read, go into all the world and preach the gospel. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved and then a Matthew wearied go, therefore Make Disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things. I have commanded you well, are we doing that? We can read it. We can read it and then I can say, I know Jesus. But how I really know Jesus is, if I'm doing it, if I'm doing it, that's where the rubber meets the road. And so, that's why Jesus talks about the courts often from Isaiah, where he says, they're their lips. Say they like me, but their hearts are far from me, right? The lips want to serve but the heart really doesn't. So we got to have a heart into everything play play, like you mean it, you're going to study study, like you mean it, if you're going to play football, do that whatever you do, put your heart into it because serving God. Rather than the people that we might be working for playing 4 or whatever, whatever we do, we do it mightily, as to the Lord, he's our master and we want to please him and everything that we do. And so that makes us better students, that makes us better leaders. That makes us better workers, that makes us better people. Right? When we do the things that we need to do to the best of our abilities, giving it our, all giving it our heart, this is where the Jews were falling down. This is why they were worried. This was the point for why they rejected Jesus. You see, Jesus came and he was showing them their sin. That you were he says you were like your father's. You send like your father's. They didn't want to hear that. And so, because they didn't like the indictment that Jesus pronounced upon them, they didn't want him. And that's as simple as that. So Jesus, he's cries out in the words here for cry. It out, is Guild. He jailed on seven Asians. That's used regarding Jesus, he yelled. So why do people were discussing and talkin? You can just imagine Jesus turning to the crowd and say, Hey, listen up, And then he starts talking. But he cries out he says you both know me. You both know me. That's why we're talking about two groups of people, the leaders, and the regular folk right now, Jesus had encountered them again and Matthew chapter 15. And he was talking there about the leaders who were blaming his disciples for not following the traditions of the fathers. And so he says, you both know me, both you, the leaders and both you the everyday people. And in Matthew chapter 15, he describes both groups. Both are blind and the blind shall lead. The blind and both shall fall into the ditch now. that's, that's great. Teaching that propels us and compels us not to be blind or right? There's an emphasis there. We need to not be blind. We can't be blind guy. We can't be blind followers. We have to read and study is worth. That's what Jesus was pointing at. He was telling the folks that you have no information in your heart about me. Then your heart is not for me. But if that information, remember the words, the words that God has provided Us in scripture, have meaning and the words are chosen by God, and every one of those words has an impact upon our mind and heart. And so, when we taking those words, those words mean something to us and they affect us in a way that perhaps other words wouldn't. It's always take those words in and they move us and they drive us and they encouraged us and they admonish us and they bring us to make a decision. That's what these words are for. I told Jesus as you both know, me and you know where I am from, and I have not come of myself, but he was sent me is true. Whom you do not know, but I know him for, I am from him and he said me and I love how he says that because there are the the Proverbs writer Solomon talks about speaking boldly. Jesus, here was speaking boldly. And Solomon tells us that the righteous will speak boldly, the righteous will speak boldly. And so, as Christians, we do need to speak boldly completely when it comes to, Jesus, really comes to his church. When it comes to his word, we need to understand that it's about being balls. A lot of people don't like bold people when there is a discussion concerning salvation but Jesus demands that we all stand up and be bold when it comes to what Jesus said, concerning salvation. You know, it's easy for us to compromise and all because we don't want to offend people who know, we don't want to hurt people. We don't But that's why Jesus said my word is going to hurt you. Mark my words going to separate you. My word is going to divide families. Because of the truth. And so we do what this Holy Spirit tells us to do in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15 that we preach the truth in love, preach the truth in love and that's exactly the way Jesus preached the word, but as he was speaking boldly, what was he speaking boldly about? Well, he was speaking boldly about salvation about the Forgiveness of sins. He was speaking about repenting of sins, and the fact that because of what he had told them about the repenting of since, they didn't like that, That ain't like to be told that they were Sinners. You know. No one likes to be caught in a sin. No one does feel like it, you just let everybody down on you. You let yourself down you let God down. But it's a good thing to be caught in a send from this research respect and that is your being corrected for you were given the opportunity to change, you know, that's the way God corrects Us by using other people to correct us. The Bible tells us that God disciplines Those whom he loves and often that discipline comes from others. Someone comes inside Doug, maybe you shouldn't have said that I'm prone to saying dumb things. Right? Sometimes I need to be corrected, sometimes it's a little over-the-top or maybe I should be more bold and saying that whatever it is. We all need to accept the correction. It's called constructive criticism. It doesn't mean that people don't like you. It doesn't mean that they don't love you. In fact, that means they love you because they want you to do better. That's what it should be about. I guess when it's a said it's when they don't really care about you, but they still want to point it out. That's the problem.

As Jesus was talking to them. And they rejected him, he said to them. They said to him, where is your father in Jesus replied? You know, neither me nor my father, if he had known me you would have known my father also. And so Jesus makes it a point to show that he came to explain who the father was. In fact, the word there is a exegesis his father that is to interpret his father. He came to interpret his father to the Jews and to you and me for the world, he interprets the father. So when people say, who is what is God like, Well, if you turn to the scriptures and you read this gentleman by the name of Jesus, you get to know who his father is like you get acquainted with the father by being acquainted with Jesus. That's what Jesus was saying. And he said because you don't know me. You don't know him, but you didn't know him from the beginning there for you don't know me. So they claim to know him but they really didn't. They didn't know him because they kept saying that he was From Galilee. And from Nazareth, meaning that's where his home place of birth was, but it wasn't his place of birth. We all know, it was bad for him and so they didn't know him like a train to the people that they knew him. So Jesus had to remind them that know you don't. For if you knew me you would have known that little piece of history about me. But they didn't care to check and I didn't care to know because they didn't want to know. And so what you think about knowing him, I want us to think about this. I think it's important. I think we're all guilty of it but I think if we say we know God, And even the slightest things that we, we might think our minor things. Well, those minor things can be very serious, for instance, you know, if you make a mistake or something you say,

Who do we all say that? Right from time to time if you might say God. And so, what do we do instead of saying God, you saying gosh. Read. So we know what we're saying is we're taking the lord's name in vain right? You hear it all the time, you can hear the Hmong people in all people will say Jesus Christ in a very, very bad way. They will say God. And God damn, they will say all sorts of ways to use the lord's name in vain, it's all right. From the beginning, we understand the Bible tells us not to use the lord's name in vain, and that principle is brought forth in the New Testament, not to use his name in a vein way, not to, not to minimize him in any way, but you put it in such a shameful lie because of someone's anger. And because of someone's foolish, talk is just not proper for our Lord, especially our God. Until I want to think about why this happens, why people reject Christ. Now, a lot of people think they believe in Christ, that they believe in him, but they don't follow him. And here's why. Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, he says for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is Manifest in them, for God has showed it to them. So when people look at the world around them, they see God. They see God in the trees. They see God in the mountains, they see God in the rivers and the oceans and the Seas. They see God everywhere and creation. Creation God says, and know that I exist. And of course, David rights and Psalm 14 verse 1. The full has said in his heart, there is no God, a fool says that with all the evidence around them, but that's General revelation. God revealed himself generally through creation, but he also has a special Revelation called his word called the scriptures. And what she has revealed his own heart, his own mind, his own soul as it were to you. And to me, and he says, here's here's what I am, like, here's what I want from you, and here's what I desire of you.

And so we have the mind of Christ in the word of scripture. But notice is he continues. He says for since the creation of the world his invisible is invisible. Attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and divine nature so that they are without excuse because although they knew God they did not glorify him as God. I know it's kind of similar to what's going on here. You see the Jews, new God, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But they also send against God. It's so many ways through the generations that now they've come to God In the Flesh. Jesus Christ whose now upon the scene and are still sending against him and they're still rejecting him because of their sins because they knew God, they did not glorify him as God in the moment, we stop glorifying God.

Is the moment we stop knowing god. That's what Paul saying. It's so if we continue glorifying God, we continue knowing god, it all goes like a hand in a glove together. Notice it Parker. He says, nor were they thankful? They were not thankful for God. How many here go to a restaurant?

And I'm thankful for the food that you eat so much, so that you say a prayer because of the food that you're going out to eat. That's like a lost practice these days, but I think we still need to continue to do that. Now, I would glorify and God, we're also giving him thanks for everything. We're thankful for the food, but for the community, we live in for the country, you live in, for the people that we associate with, for the people that are in our lives.

Bee stings. We ought to be thankful for thankful, for Mom and Dad thankful for grandparents, thankful for grandchildren and great-grandchildren thankful, for all these things. These are washing their gifts from God thankful for them. So when we stopped being thankful, we stopped knowing god. That's exactly the point that Paul makes here notice what it says, God became futile in their thoughts and in their foolish Hearts because their hearts were darkened, We can darken our hearts because we forget God. We don't honor God. We don't glorify God. And we are not thankful for God. Look at what we just portrait gov. Talk about the bread in the blood talk about the fruit of the vine, just think this is what Jesus has done for you and for me that you're thankful for it. Did you honor him this morning? Did you give him glory? That what you richly deserves and say, thank you God. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for all that you have done. My goodness, what a thing he has done for you and me.

To give up his wife because of your sins and my sins. That's an amazing thing. But to think that, not only that, he's thrown our sins, into the depths of the sea, but he's also forgotten them. He's forgotten them, cleanse them, forgotten him and therefore that releases the guilt that we might get from sin. All the lovely remedy of forgiveness found in Jesus Christ and what he has done for you and me and as we consider that we get to the second part here. If I can get there, he says on the last day that great day of the feast and yelled saying, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. Do you believe in me as the scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow, rivers of Living Water?

Go back. He says, if anyone thirst let him come to me and drink when I read that. There's three words that pop right out. What are those three words?

Thirsts. Come. Drink. Jesus. There is describing what Biblical faith is. All about biblical, faith means this I hear the gospel and I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. Because I find My predicament. I understand that I am in need of a savior and my thirst quickly consumes me. Picture yourself in a desert with no water. That's what this is like. You can't quench your thirst but there is a fountain. There is a river of water that can flow over you and in you and out of you, and that's Jesus Christ. So he says, if anyone thirst let him come, let him come to me. Coming to him. I want to read a scripture going back to John chapter, 6, beginning, and verse 44. if you have your Bible, John chapter 6, beginning of verse 44,

It didn't make sense to me because I was in Mark so John chapter 6. Let the preacher get there.

Who starred in first?

Verse whatever, cuz I can't meet 3 that the Jews, then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven and they said is this whose father and mother, we know how is it? Then that he says, I have come down from heaven. Jesus, therefore answered and said to them, do not murderer amongst yourselves. No one can come to me. Unless the father who sent me draws and I will raise him up at the last day. So in order to come to Jesus, the father has to draw you, but how does the father draw you to him?

There's nothing Supernatural about it. Nothing mystical about it. Jesus explains it. In the next verse, He says it is written in the prophets and asked you all be taught by God. There for everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. You want to come to the father, you have to learn. You have to hear you, have to put Jesus vile words in your heart. That Jesus is grounded, in one's heart, and the heart is your mind. Jesus is grounded in the mine. Through the word, God has provided the words by which God draws you and me to Jesus. Why? Because the words that Jesus said they are spirit. And they are like, they are the life-giving power. The gospel is the power of God to Salvation, Paul said. And so we find here at this drawing attractions through the words, the perfect words. The only words that could have been used in chosen by God are here, chosen for you and me to read and to put in a heart in mind, those are the very words. And so we come to Jesus, we come through teaching, we come through learning, we come through, applying those things, those truths in our lives. And so, Jesus said, truly, you are my disciples. Truly, you are my disciples.

Truly, you are my disciples, if you abide in my word that is if you continue reading, studying applying making your life, based upon the words that he has provided, he says, then if you do, if you do that, you are true. And you are my disciples. You see if there are disciples and then there are true disciples. Now, which ones you think Jesus is going to accept? The ones who think they are. The ones who tell everybody that they are or the ones who truly are, right? So that makes a difference and so if anyone thirst let him come to me and drink and drink is simply this appropriate, the things that he wants us to do. I read that word appropriate, appropriate this morning and it was funny because it was coming from a denominational preacher and he says we have to appropriate things in life things that Jesus gives us an order for have a living faith. But the thing about it was rejected baptism. So you appropriate repentance and you were appropriate appropriate confession but we don't appropriate baptism. Doesn't make a lot of sense. Absolutely not. And what does appropriate mean? It's another easy way of saying obedience we have to obey. All right. There's no other way around it. I remember one time I was a couple had come to me, they wanted to get married and they were telling me the preacher telling me what they wanted me to say, for their ceremonial ceremony and they said we don't want you to say anything about

And I said, well then you go. Go get yourself. A Justice of the Peace. You don't have to use me. Because I'm not going to change my wording for you. The wording is there for you and for others because those simple, the simple idea is submit It's simply another word for all day, that's all that that means. So to say you want to say submit rather than all day, if I show them the language that show them, the Greek Ram, it's the same word, it's the same word all day. So we have to obey, that's what it means to drink of Jesus Christ. It's if you have all the water in the world before you and you don't want to drink it to quench your thirst. That makes no sense. And so Jesus says he that believes and is baptized shall be saved. And what's he saying? He's saying drink of me. Drink of what I just told you that you can do. That's drinking Jesus metaphorically. That's eating Jesus metaphorically. That's following Jesus. That's dealing with Jesus says. So if anyone thirst let him come to me and drink. Do you believe in me as a scripture that said, out of his heart will flow, rivers of Living Water, will close out here and we'll get back to the second part of this next week but this is important. He says, out of his heart will flow, rivers of Living Water.

Are you Christian? If you're a Christian Jesus says you are not a late. You are not a reservoir. You are not Lake Tenkiller. You are to be a flowing river. That is Jesus has come into you. I know you have to go out of you. And you can't keep Jesus to yourself. You have to have that flowing river where you're are sharing Jesus with others. That's the entire process. You are important to Jesus. You are important to him because he loves you and he saves you. But at the same time, you're also important to other people. They don't know it. But you are important to other people by your actions, by your examples, and by sharing Jesus with them. That's how important you are. That's how Jesus saves people through you. And through me, we need to consider these things are vitally important. And as we think about having Jesus in our lives, again he that believes and is baptized shall be saved. That's an eternal truth and eternal principle that says if you trust me to do what I say, obey me. And so he says, you need to be baptized for the Forgiveness of your sins. In order to be saved, you can do that today. If you please, do you want to put Jesus on a baptism? Ready to do that today? On the other hand, perhaps you've done that already, but over time you stopped drinking, if you stopped at the water's edge, and he haven't stooped down to Dre and you just haven't found it in yourself to continue obeying him in. Jesus says, repent of your sins and come back. You can do that today by face as together. We stand