Are You Thirsty?
Notes
Transcript
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.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
39 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.
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43 So there was a division among the people over him.
44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
As we turn to our text, the question that comes to mind is, “How important is water?” Have you ever been thirsty?Depending on conditions you can make it 2-3 days without water.
Several times in my life I have been in medical danger because of dehydration and I didn’t even realize it. I just did pay attention and when it was happening wasn’t even in tune with what was happening.
Drag Race
Beach
So with the understanding of just how important water is to our existence, we are going to begin looking at
What does our passage say about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit with verse 37-38
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.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
I need to establish some context before we dive into the flow of living waters.
Remember that the context of John 7 is the feast of Sukkot and on the last day there was a special ceremony. Listen to how One for Israel describes it on the website.
This was called the “Simchat Beit Hashoavah” – the water-drawing festival.
The priests would go down to the pool of Siloam in the City of David (just south of where the Western Wall is today) and they would fill a golden vessel with the water there. They would go up to the temple, through the Water Gate, accompanied by the sound of the shofar, and then they would pour the water so that it flowed over the altar, along with wine from another bowl. This would begin the prayers for rain in earnest, and there was much rejoicing at this ceremony.
One of the names for this special day of Sukkot is “Hoshana Rabba”, which means Great Salvation.
This ceremony is tied back to the Old Testament. Look at Isaiah with me:
2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
What does our passage say about humanity, about us?
We default to lean on our own understanding don’t we?
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43 So there was a division among the people over him.
44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Do you see the confusion? Why are they confused? Did Jesus hide who He was? NO! The problem was He didn’t fit into their understanding. We looked last week at verse 31 and Jesus’ own words to John the Baptist.
Let’s first look at verse 31
31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
They knew the Messiah would perform miracles and when John the baptist asked Jesus if He was the Messiah what was HIs response?
20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ”
21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.
22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Listen to the disciple John and what he had to say about the number of miricles
25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Let’s take a Quick Look at how deceived the Pharasee’s were leaning on their own understanding and their own traditions and teachings.
John 7:45–48 (ESV)
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.”
SO their argument is the people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah are tricked because they don’t know Torah. They don’t know the Word. Then something very interesting happens. Look at verse 50
John 7:50–51 (ESV)
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?”
So Nicodemus who knows the Torah stands up to defend Jesus and what is the Pharisees response?
They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
So what hope do we find in our passage?
Are you thirsty?
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
ADVERTISEMENT