In this section of scripture, John records for us, at first glance, the highlights of what transpired on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and in that context, a few seemingly disconnected declarations of Christ and various remarks from those in attendance. And though it might be possible to give a running commentary on those disparate statements and try to tie them together into a sermon of sorts, I wanted instead to focus on primarily one statement of Jesus found in vs.37-39, which I believe is the main point of this section of scripture.
In this declaration, Jesus stood up in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths and shouted out this statement in a loud voice. Now this was a shocking thing that Jesus did at a very strategic moment. But in order that you might get the full import of what happened, let me tell you a little about the Feast of Tabernacles which will help us to understand the context.
There were three great feasts which were mandatory for every male in the vicinity of Jerusalem to participate in; the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is described in Leviticus 23. That feast occurred in the 7th month, and began on the 15th day, and lasted 8 days, from Sabbath to Sabbath. In this feast, the Jews were required to make huts or booths or tabernacles from green leaved branches, and to dwell in them during the week, so that they might commemorate the deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, when they wandered in the wilderness. It was to be a joyous feast, a time of rejoicing.
One of the special ceremonies involved in the feast was on the last day, the priest would go to the Pool of Siloam, and dip a golden pitcher in the water and bring it back through the water gate to the altar. As all the people gathered together, the trumpets would sound, and He then would pour the water into a basin which would run down through pipes to the altar. This was to signify the water which flowed from the rock when the Israelites suffered from thirst in the wilderness.
It was at just this point, when all the people are gathered together, and the trumpets had sounded, and the priest lifted the pitcher of water and the water gushed down upon the altar, that Jesus stood up and shouted in a very loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
Now that certainly was guaranteed to get everyone’s attention, wasn’t it? I can imagine that everyone stopped and turned and stared incredulously at this person shouting out in the middle of this ceremony. So I want to examine this incredible declaration this morning and see what we can learn from it and how we can apply it to our lives. Because, though the context of Christ’s statement was in reference to the Feast of Tabernacles, the truth of His words are just as relevant for us today.
The first phrase that I would make note of this morning is “if anyone is thirsty…” The correlation between the murmuring of the Israelites in the desert when they became thirsty for water and Christ’s invitation at the Feast should be apparent. God led the Israelites into the wilderness, and fed them with manna from heaven in the morning, and quail in the evening. He provided a cloud to guide them by day and a pillar of fire by night. He gave them victory over their enemies, and delivered them from slavery. And yet He allowed them to become thirsty so that they began to cry out.
Why did God allow the Israelites to become thirsty? I would suggest that it was to make them to desire God and to recognize their total dependency upon God. I would remind you that Israel is a picture of the church. And sometimes God allows us to suffer thirst as well. I would go so far as to suggest that if there were not difficult times in our life, then there would be little if any times of spiritual growth. Though the grace of God provides all things for us to enjoy, and gives us life, and breath and health and many such things which we all too often take for granted, yet God allows us to remain thirsty for that which satisfies the soul.
Men and women are continually seeking that which can never satisfy, which can never quench the burning thirst that all men feel in their soul. We may try to satisfy our soul’s thirst with physical things, material things, but nothing on earth can satisfy the longing of our heart. Pascal, the philosopher said there is a God sized hole in our hearts that only He can fill. And Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11 identifies that vacuum by saying that God has set eternity in their hearts.
It’s interesting that when Jesus said “out of his innermost being,” or literally, “out of his belly” He used a word in the Greek which is “koilia”, from the root word “koîlos" which means hollow, or cavity. St. Augustine spoke of this very thing, when he said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
And yet still man does not seek for that which satisfies, but seeks to slake his thirst on things which can never satisfy. In Isaiah 55, God says, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” The world today is eagerly seeking for something that will fill the void in their life, something that will satisfy the thirsting of their soul, and yet as the old country song says, they are “looking for love in all the wrong places.”
I would suggest that is because mankind does not naturally seek the Lord. Romans 3:10-11 says, “as it is written,’THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD.’” Unless God stirs the heart, unless God brings conviction, unless God brings a person to a place of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, then man will continually seek to fill that void with things that can never satisfy his soul, and if he should die without the water of life in him, then he will be forever spiritually dead.
In Israel’s case, they had known the goodness of the Lord, and as a type of the church, we might say that they were a picture of the saved, believers if you will. But yet they turned back to the worthless and elemental things, they lusted after those things which they had been delivered from in Egypt, and as such God was not pleased with them.
I cannot leave this first question, without asking you this morning - what are you thirsting for? Does your soul thirst for God? Can you say like the author of Psalm 42, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?” The question, “are you a believer” or “are you a Christian,” is much overstated I am afraid. I think the answer is better evidenced than spoken. And if you are not thirsting for God, for the living God, the living water, if you are not coming to appear before God at every opportunity, whether corporately or privately, then I would suggest that the evidence shows your desire is set on things of earth and not things of heaven.
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” If you find yourself in that state of the prodigal son, having grown tired of the husks and pods of the world which cannot fill the need of your soul, then Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” That is the next phrase I would like to think about for a moment. Let him come to Jesus.
Listen, all the thirsting of your soul cannot be slaked in anything, nor in anyone but Christ. He is the Living Water, which as He said to the woman of the well in chapter 4; “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Coming to Jesus is the same as believing in Jesus. If the sovereign call and conviction of God causes the spirit of man to thirst for righteousness, then coming to Jesus is the response of man. No man can come to God unless the Lord draws him, but yet man must believe. This is the doctrine of both the election of God and the responsibility of man. Both are necessary.
So if you are thirsty, you must come to Christ. The reason that nothing else can satisfy the longing of the soul but Jesus is because He is the source of life; John 1:3, All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. He is the sustainer of life; Hebrews 1:3, “And He is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” And thirdly, He is the Spirit of Life; Romans 8:2, 9-11 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ... 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
This is what Jesus had been trying to make clear to the people gathered in the temple that day. He began by saying that He was teaching the word of God in vs.16, that He was sent from God in vs.28, that He knows God because He is from God, in vs.29, and in a little while He is going back to the Father in vs.33. So to come to Christ is to believe in Him, that as John says in chapter 1, He was in the beginning with God, and He was God, and all things were made by Him, and He came into the world, and the world did not receive Him, and after He rose from the dead He ascended back into heaven to sit down at the right hand of God. So in effect, Jesus is restating the same message He gave in Galilee in chapter 6, vs. 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." And that believing in Him is equated to coming to Him. Vs. 37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
This idea of coming to the Messiah as the source of life is found in the Old Testament in Isaiah 55:1 "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” This is the invitation of Christ to all men everywhere and at every time as stated in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Let me ask you a question this morning - are you tired yet? Are you tired of the rat race, are you tired of searching for peace, are you tired of searching for what might satisfy your soul? Come unto Jesus. Unload your burdens at His feet. Let Him have your sins and your sorrows. Let Him bear your burdens. And He will give you rest. He will give you rest when you finally reach the place where you are ready to surrender fully to Him. Don’t hold anything back. But lay it all down, all your sins, all your striving, all your works, all your life, lay it down at the cross and find that Jesus has paid it all, and provided all that you will ever need. And in Him you will find rest for your soul.
There is one more important element though in Jesus’ invitation. And that is drink. Come to Him and drink. And I suggest that to drink of Christ is to trust Christ. That means to follow Him, to live for Him, to leave all that you have in order to be His disciple. You could realize this morning that you are very thirsty. And I could offer you a glass of water. You could believe that I have a glass of water in my hand. But until you drink of it, you will not be satisfied. Drinking of Christ is the same idea as we saw in the last chapter with eating His flesh. It is appropriating what is true about Christ for yourself and acting upon it. Listen, saving faith is active faith. Abraham believed God so he left Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing where he was going, and he went out to the place God told him to go. Abraham believed in the promise of God that He would produce an offspring from Isaac through whom the world would be blessed, and so he offered his son upon the altar. There is no separation between active trust and faith.
As I have said before, there are three aspects of saving faith; notitia, knowledge; assensus, assent or agreement; and fiducia, trust. And we see all three in this invitation; knowledge that you are thirsty and cannot find satisfaction, assent is coming to Jesus, believing that He is the source of life, and trust, drinking from the fountain of life which is Christ, being willing to submit to His will and renounce your own. That is saving faith. Not just intellectual. Not just knowledge of a few Bible facts. Not just believing that He lived 2000 years ago. But believing that in Him is life. And then entrusting your life to Him, even if that means forsaking all that you hold dear, all that you hold onto for security. Trusting Him and obeying Him.
Then what is the promise for those that know that they are thirsty, come to Jesus and drink of His fountain? The answer is found in vs.38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this is an interesting statement. Jesus has just likened Himself to a stream of living water which gives eternal life to all who drink of Him. And now He is saying, that to those who believe in Him, they also shall have living water springing up out of their soul. Now how shall we interpret that?
Well, to start with look at the next verse. John gives us some commentary in vs.39 so that we might know what He is speaking of. “But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” So we know that the rivers of living water that flow from the believer will be of the Holy Spirit, which at that time was not known because Jesus had not ascended into heaven and sent to the saints His Spirit.
In John 15:26 Jesus tells the disciples prior to His crucifixion, that "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” And Jesus elaborates on that statement further in the next chapter, John 16:13-14 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
So what Jesus is promising is that for those that believe in Him unto salvation, He will give them the Spirit to live in their soul, so that we might know the words of Christ, that we might do the works of Christ, and so that we might be like Christ. That is the goal of our salvation, is it not? That we might be united with Christ, so that we might do the works of Christ, and that we might be conformed to the image of Christ.
O ladies and gentlemen, do not be deceived by those that misrepresent the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He came to give us life, and without His indwelling presence, we have not life. Romans 8:9, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” We cannot be saved unless we are born again by the Spirit. We cannot have life unless the Spirit of Life gives us life. And we cannot do the works of God unless we have the power of Christ that flows from our innermost being.
Listen to the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:24-27 "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
The Spirit of God not only is the agent of regeneration, but He is the agent of activation, whereby we desire to do the works of God. So that we are able to walk in His statues, and keep His ordinances. He is the power filling us and flowing from within us which empowers us to do the will of God. So that we become the channel by which the living water is spread to the world.
The maturity of a believer is marked by becoming a channel by which the gifts of the Spirit are used for the edification of the body of Christ. For the building up of the body. For the water of life that flows from you to those who are thirsty, even to those who are lost.
Listen, the goal of Christianity isn’t so that you are set up for success, and have all your material needs met, and fulfill all your physical goals, so that you are fulfilled and satisfied. No, the goal of maturity in Christ is coming to a place where the gifts of the Spirit are utilized to bring life to the world around you. That you become like Christ, doing the work of Christ. Reaching the lost with the water of life, refreshing the body with the water of Christ which flows through you and out of you. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that you might dam up the water and keep it all to yourself, but so that it might flow from Him to you, through you, to another and so spread to all the world. You are to be a conduit for the flow of the Holy Spirit, not a culdesac.
I’m not going to prolong the sermon this morning expounding the remainder of the text. I believe that it is fairly straightforward and as such is easily understood. But I do want to leave you today with an admonition, to consider what you are thirsty for. What is your soul thirsting for? Is it thirsting for material gain, or for physical fulfillment, are you searching this world over for things that will never truly satisfy? I hope not. I hope that someone here today recognizes perhaps for the first time that they are thirsty for righteousness. They long to be forgiven, to know freedom from the burden that they are carrying. And for that person I say, Come to Jesus. Drink from the living water. He will give you rest. He will satisfy your longing and give life to your soul.
And also a word to the saints, to those who already have claimed to come to know Jesus, and have believed on Him. I would remind you of the Israelites who murmured and complained in the wilderness because they were thirsty. God supplied all their needs, and delivered them from so much, and yet they found themselves thirsty because they turned back in their hearts to the flesh pots of Egypt, and so God brought them to a place of thirst.
My question for you this morning believer; are you thirsting once again for things of the world? Have you lost your first love, and turned back to those elemental things from which you were once delivered? They could never satisfy you then, you think they will satisfy you now? Are you not supposed to be growing in the grace of God so that the living water flows out of you and brings life to others who are thirsting? Has your appetite for the world overshadowed your usefulness as a channel for God? I hope that you will reconsider your appetites. David prayed for the Lord to renew a right spirit within Him. A broken and contrite heart He will not despise. Present your bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice, and He will once again cause your innermost being to flow forth with rivers of living water, that you might be the source of blessing to others, even as Christ is the source of all blessing for you.
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