John 7:37-39 If Anyone Thirsts

Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 8,284 views
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

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

The Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration.
Remembering how they, the Israelites, had wandered in the desert for forty years.
God had tabernacled with them.
They celebrated God’s miraculous provision 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 had provided water for them in the desert.
After these 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 were bustling about on this day of celebration. It says that Jesus stood up & 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.
Transition: Today we are going to observe three things about what Jesus cried out to the crowd: the Call , the Invitation, and the Promise.

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

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. We often don’t recognize our physical thirst

a. I’ve read that we don’t often experience thirst until we are already getting dehydrated.
b. We need to be repeatedly told by Doctors, dietitians, health and wellness experts, and workout coaches, “You need to drink more water!”
c. Signs of physical dehydration:
i. A parched mouth
ii. Hunger pains
iii. Feeling fatigued or lethargic
iv. Sunken eyes
v. Irritability
vi. headaches and brain fog that are caused by your brain shrinking and pulling away from your skull
vii. Need I go on?
d. There are things that awaken your thirst:
i. Creating thirst: (POUR GLASS OF WATER)
a. “Excuse me for a moment. I’m sorry. Do you ever get really thirsty during these worship services? Sometimes I just get parched. (pour glass of water). If you weren’t thirsty before, are you now?
b. Maybe the sight of a someone pouring a cold glass of your favorite drink on a hot summer day and watching the glass sweat and the drink sparkle is what gets your thirst going. Smelling donuts may get your hunger rolling, or how about the sound of fajitas sizzling in the skillet?
Transition: 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...

ii. We don’t recognize our spiritual thirst without the Lord revealing our need

a.
John 4:13–14 ESV
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.”
b. The unbeliever needs to be awakened
c. Signs of spiritual dehydration:
i. Anger and bitterness
ii. Selfishness, pride, & arrogance
iii. laziness
iv. gluttony
v. lack of compassion & good works
vi. loneliness
vii. heartache
e. Jesus is calling out to you today. Do you realize that you need spiritual water?

2. An Invitation to Drink:: “Let him come to me and drink.”

Transition: 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 are thirsty doesn’t mean you can do anything about it.
Example: Sophia got so ill that she couldn’t take in any water even though she wanted to. Eventually she was so dehydrated that she became severely lethargic, couldn’t walk, and was becoming unresponsive. She needed water, but she couldn’t do anything about it. We needed to pick her up, carry her to the car, and bring her to the emergency room so that she could get an IV of water. I saw that girl go from facing death to springing back to life, all because of her need of water.
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 need 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.
Jesus says in John 6, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
Speaking tenderly/wooing like in Hosea“Here kitty kitty”, “here boy!”, twinkle in His eye, gentleness, love, and sincerity in His voice,The Running Father
“To me” (Jesus): John 3/4:14
Right location is important:
AA leader - saw my title for this sermon as I was preparing to preach and it was “If anyone is thirsty come & drink.” He chuckled and said, “Yeah, except for my guys, right!” Come & drink. Where we go to drink is important! Jesus said “come to me and drink.”
Commercials for beer and soda promise to quench your thirst.
Right thirst quencher:
not mucky/contaminated water;
not a diarrhetic/dehydrator;
not harmful or damaging but healing and bringing life.
Not a mirage but an oasis, a well,
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 of His spiritual, heavenly water will never be thirsty again.
John 4:7–15 ESV
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
All the other wells are corrupted, the cisterns dried up,He invites you so he won’t turn you away
To y’all: you who are dried up and needing God’s blessing, he is inviting you now. Come to Jesus and drink.
Isaiah 55:1–2 ESV
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
You don’t need to come with money or Good works or personal righteousness
He calls you to come as you are. He is calling out to the sick, the broken, the sinful, the thirsty

3. A Promise of Living Water: “Whoever believes in Me (comes to me and drinks), as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

a.k.a. coming to Jesus and drinking
to the believer (“he that believes” -explanation of coming to Jesus to drink)
a. The water is coming from inside of you (the Holy Spirit)
not just a drink from a fountain or a fuel up of gas, but the source being placed inside of you.
aoristic coming and drinking
born again (born once physically & once spiritually)
John 3:3–5 ESV
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 12:3 ESV
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
b. will flow rivers of living water
Ezekiel 47:1 ESV
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.
c. The water is flowing OUT (to/for others)
Promise:
Spring: one time; never runs out
Rivers: abundant and flows to other places
Living: healthy, fresh, clean, no adverse side affects, life!
Out: (unexpected! Drink and then the source is in your belly) to the ends of the earth (great commission; Acts
For other people
More than you need - my cup overflows
God uses us in His mission to save the worldNot supposed to end with you
Heart/Belly:From one sip comes a never ending stream and many rivers

Further explanation (context): Connection to Pentecost & pouring out of the Holy Spirit (v.39; Acts 2:4, 33)

(who is the source of the rivers of living water)

Isaiah 55:1–5 ESV
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Revelation 22 ESV
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Ezekiel 47:1 ESV
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.

47:1 water was issuing from below the threshold. Water is the symbol of life-giving blessings flowing in the channels of divine grace (cf Ps 65:9; Is 33:20–21; 43:20; see p 1369). When, as here, it emanates from the temple where the reconciled God resides, it prefigures the restoration to life in the new covenant (cf Jn 4:14; 7:37–38; Eph 2:1–10; Col 2:13–15; Rv 22:1–2). The flow of this water never stops.

Brainstorm:

Thirst:
people try to quench their thirst with endless amounts of soda or liquor
at the local bookstore I saw all these books on spirituality
Dalai Lama,
searching for peace
Living water: (THE HOLY SPIRIT)
NOT stagnant
stagnant water:
moving
fresh
drinking from a fire hose
the source/headwaters (the Holy Spirit & Word
Flowing out:
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more