Good morning, brethren. Let's
turn in our Bibles to John chapter 7. And we've seen how that the Lord's
own brethren after the flesh did not believe Him. So the rulers
in Jerusalem didn't believe Him. And we're still at this Feast
of Tabernacles. When our Lord got finished speaking
with the rulers, He said in verse 24, Judge not by appearance,
but judge righteous judgment. We have another example here
of judging by appearance. After He spoke to the rulers,
verse 25, it says, Then said some of them of Jerusalem. These
were those that lived there and had come up from around there.
You got a picture of this now. multitudes of people at this
feast. And those of Jerusalem said, Is not this He whom the
rulers seek to kill? But lo, He speaketh boldly, and
they say nothing unto Him. Do the rulers know indeed that
this is the very Christ? Judging by appearance, and because
the rulers didn't say anything when He spoke so boldly to them,
now they think, well, do the rulers now believe on Him? Are
they believing on Him? But then they exalt themselves,
they exalt their knowledge of scripture. And it was a superficial
knowledge, it was just in the letter. Verse 27, he said, how
be it we know this man whence he is. We know this is Joseph's
son. But when Christ cometh, no man
knoweth whence he is. They were taking this from the
scriptures. They were saying no man knows
his generation. Nobody knows where he's coming
from, where his conception will be a mystery. Well, that was
true. But they're saying these rulers may be fooled, albeit
we're not fooled. We know He came from Joseph.
We know He's from the carpenter. He's not born of a virgin, as
the Scriptures say He will be. We know He's an imposter. That's
what they're saying. Now you know the Lord said back
up there in verse 17, He said, If any man will do his will,
any man that do the Father's will come to Christ, he shall
know of the doctrine. whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. He'll know the Father sent me,
Christ said. He'll know I glorify my Father. He'll know that I'm no imposter. There's no unrighteousness in
me. I'm not an imposter. I'm the Christ. And they were
boasting here they knew the scriptures. Well, the scriptures said when
Christ comes, He shall not judge after the sight of the eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of the ears, but with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek
of the earth, for his people, his people poor in spirit, meek
trusting him. He will judge righteously. And
it says he shall smite the earth with the rot of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. The earth
or the carnal, they're the those men sitting here who think they
know from their carnal understanding. And our Lord does just what He
said He would do in the Scriptures. He judges their hearts. And He
speaks the word right here, verse 28. Then cried Jesus in the temple
as He talked, saying, You both know Me and you know whence I
am. Most think this was irony or He was saying, You think you
know Me. You think you know whence I came
from. He says, And I have not come
of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him, for I came from
him, and he has sent me. This is the sent one of God the
Father. This is the mediator. This is
the Word. This is the salvation that God
sent for His people. He said, I have not come of myself,
but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. They said they
were making their boast of the scriptures. And He says, God
my Father is true. His word is true. Our Lord said
way back in Genesis, He promised the seed of woman. And Christ
is as much saying to Him, here I am. Here I am, the seed of
woman. But He also promised this. He
said the devil's seed would be enmity against the promised seed. And Christ has much said that
to him too. He said, here I am and there you are opposing me. Now, the wise thing would have
been to come to Christ. He said, if any man comes to
me, he'll know the doctrine. He'll know, he'll be taught of
God and he'll know. And that would have been the
wise thing. He sat there and said, I am sin of God. But instead, what did they do?
Verse 30, then they sought to take him. They sought to take
him. They wanted to kill him too.
But no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet
come. And many of the people believed
on him and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles
than these which this man hath done? Whether this was true faith
or not, we don't know. But look at the reaction. The
Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning
him. And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to
take him. Then said Jesus unto them, yet
a little while I'm with you. And then I go unto him that sent
me. You shall seek me and shall not find me. And where I am,
thither you cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves.
Now again, what would have been the wise thing? To come to him
and ask him. To come to him for understanding.
To come to him to know. But instead they said, whither
will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go into the
dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles? What
manner of saying is this that he said, you shall seek me and
shall not find me? And where I am, thither you cannot
come. So we have this whole scenario
here. The rulers and the people of
Jerusalem and the multitude that came up And they're engaged in
this ceremony, this Feast of Tabernacles, week long, and there's
Christ in the middle, speaking, and nobody's coming to Him, asking
to know Him, to really know Him. But now look what He said, this
is our text, verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He stood up and he cried, if
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Life is Christ
alone. He is life alone. And coming
to Him, believing on Him is how we're given this everlasting
eternal life through faith in Him. Now when did this happen? He says, verse 37, it says, in
the last day, that great day of the feast. Now this feast
of tabernacles had gone on for a whole week. And they've been
engaged in this the whole week. And they're at the last day.
Now the rulers didn't know Him. Those that were the teachers,
they didn't know Him. He declared that plainly to them. Spiritual
life is not coming to a preacher, it's not coming to an earthly
priest, it's not coming to any man in this earth. Every other
man is a sinner. They came to these rulers empty
and they went home empty. The people of Jerusalem didn't
know Him. They knew some scripture, thought they did, but everything
they knew was wrong because they didn't know Christ. They didn't
see Christ in the scripture. He said, search the scriptures,
in them you think you have life. And life's not in just searching
the scriptures. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. There he stood, life, and they
wouldn't come to him. Spiritual life, cleansing, forgiveness
of sins, acceptance with God is Christ. It's Him alone and
Scripture says, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sin. In Christ alone we have redemption. He's the one that came of God,
God's own Son that cleanses His people from all sin. And then
those that were there going through this, the rest of the multitude,
none of them had life from religion either. They come up there and
go through this whole form. Life's not in the mechanics of
religion. It's not in the outward form
of going through the motions of religion. They were observing
the law and they were doing what was written in the law and what
they saw in the scriptures. But the law is given to declare
us guilty and to show, foreshadow Christ the Lord who is the righteousness
of God. The law is given to say every
man that's under the law. That's me and you and all of
us by nature. Everybody that's under the law.
Any man that still wants to come to God under the law, the law
says guilty. Shuts our mouth, declares us
guilty, will not let us speak before God. Just guilty. But
that law also showed Christ. He's the high priest. He's the
lamb. He's the mercy seeker. He's everything
God has to say. He's the only way God will receive
a sinner is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The righteousness God's
provided. And so Christ is the end of that
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Think of this
picture here. They're going through all the motions of the law, this
feast of tabernacles. They've been doing it for seven
days. They've been offering sacrifices, shedding blood. They've been
doing everything just like the law said. And here is Christ
who is the end of it all. He's the fulfillment of it all.
And just by coming to Him and believing on Him, they would
have fulfilled the whole law. Because He's the fulfillment,
He's the end of it. So you have Christ, the whole
purpose for which He was given, the end of the law for righteousness,
and then you have this great multitude ignoring Him and going
through all this, trying to keep the law and doing these things
to try to come to God by that. And there He stands, the One
who is the righteousness of God, the One that, the only way to
come to God, there He is. So it's the last day of the feast.
Now they had this vain tradition that was not of God. God had
not ordained this, but this tradition was, and they probably got this
from the smitten rock. The smitten rock, you know, rock,
Moses smoked the rock with the rod, a picture of the lost mighty
Christ in place of his people, and from it the waters gushed
out. Well on this last day of the feast they decided this would
really be good to end this feast by going and taking buckets of
water and they would pour this water on the altar or on some
rock or something and it would go washing down and everybody
would shout and say hallelujah and so all this water flowing
down, you know. So that's the scene here that's
going on. And what did Christ declare?
At the pouring out of this water and them all getting ready to
leave this feast, He says, If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me. If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me. He didn't call all to come to
Him. He didn't call all there to come
to Him. He said, if any man thirst, let
him come to me. If any man thirst. Now, what
kind of thirst are we talking about here? He's not talking
about physical thirst. You remember the woman at the
well came up there and she's getting physical, carnal, earthy
water. He said, you drink this well,
you're going to thirst again. Drink this water, you're going
to thirst again. He's talking about spiritual thirst. Spiritual
thirst. Real third, being made to know
we are sinners. Being made to know we can't fix
it, we can't put it away. I mean, just a guilt and the
judgment of God weighing on you and knowing that there's just
no acceptance with God. You can't find it anywhere. You
can't find it in your religion. You can't find it in reading
the scripture. You can't find it in doing the things the scripture
says to do. You can't find this, quench this
thirst anywhere. Spiritual thirst. David said
in Psalm 42, as the heart, the thirsty deer panteth for the
water brooks, my soul panteth for the living God. My soul thirsteth
for the living God. To be thirsty for God. To be
thirsty for Christ. That's what he's talking about.
It's a soul thirst. A thirst for Pardon from guilt,
a thirst to be justified, a thirst to have your conscience purged
and know that God receives you and God accepts you and there
is peace with God. A thirst for Christ Himself. Blind Bartimaeus had this. He
had this thirst. Mark 10.47 says, When he heard
that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He had this thirst. The leper was thirsty. He knew
there was no cure for him. There was no healing him. He
came to the Lord and he bowed down before the Lord and he said,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. The publican had this thirst.
The publican in our Lord's parable, it was common the Jews would
lift up their eyes to heaven when they prayed. And scripture
says he would not even so much as lift up his eyes to heaven. He smote upon his breast and
said, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. That thief on the
cross had this thirst. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Remember me. That's the thirst
a sinner has when he knows he's really, really a sinner. Really a sinner. Everything is
sin. The nature's sin, the deeds are
sin, the best deeds are sin. Why do we pray? Why at the end
of our prayer do we say in the name of the Lord Jesus? Why do
we pray in His name? We don't even want our prayers
to come up to God. from us because they're sin.
We want Christ to intercede. We want God to receive our prayer
in Christ because we're sinners. Christ calls true sinners. He receives true sinners. Sinners
is somebody that doesn't have one good thing in them. Nothing good. And our Lord said
to the Pharisees, I did not come to call the righteous. I didn't
come to call the right. I came to call sinners to repentance. I'll have mercy, he said, I'll
have mercy. It came to cause sinners. Well,
what do you do if you have this thirst? What do we do if you
have this thirst? The Lord said, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. Besides thirst, He didn't put
a limit on this. He said, if any man, the scripture
says, whosoever, Whosoever believeth on Him." Whosoever. He said,
if any man thirsts. He's not keeping anybody back.
There's this great multitude. And this is the message going
forth today. He's not keeping sinners from
Him. He said, if any man thirsts, let him come unto Me. He may
be speaking this to those Pharisees because there were some people
there that at least in some way believed on him. And they were
saying, they were trying to keep them from believing on him. And
he said, if any man thirst, let him come to me. Let him come
to me. Isaiah, he said, O everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, he that hath no money. Come ye,
buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Come freely. Come with nothing. Come come owning ourselves to
be sinners. That's the only way He'll receive
us. But He says, let him come to Me and drink. Now if we're
thirsty, He says, come to Me and drink. Our Lord Jesus is
the fountain of life. He is the fountain of living
waters. He's the fountain spoken of in
the Scriptures, open for sin and uncleanness. He's the fountain. We're sent forth to do one thing,
just point sinners to the fountain. There's the fountain. We can't
wash, we can't cleanse ourselves. We're telling sinners, he's the
fountain. He's the fountain. He's the true smitten rock. He's
the one who went under the law in the place of his people and
God smoked him and the waters gushed out. Life came from him. the well of salvation. That's
still going on this morning. If any man thirsts, he says,
let him come to me. There was a bunch of folks there.
They thought they knew God. They thought they knew who He
was. And he spoke to them and said, you don't know my Father. And he stood up and he said,
if any man thirsts, let him come to me. Let him come and drink.
What is it to come to Christ? How do I come to Christ and drink?
Our Lord just said this so simply. Look at verse 38. He that believeth
on me. That is exactly what it means.
He that believeth on me. Everything Christ is and everything He gives
is obtained one way. Simply believing on Him. Simply
believing on Christ. It's not by our works. It's not
something you got to do to get yourself prepared to be able
to come to Him is simply believing on him. It's
not a certain degree of knowledge you have to have. It's not switching
from one doctrine to another doctrine, from one system to
another system. That's not coming to Christ.
It's coming to him believing he's all. I have no other hope
but him. He is all. Did you read that
quote in the bulletin A life I didn't live, a death I didn't
die. That's all, my hope. That's coming
to Him, believing on Him. Everything is in Him. He said
in Mark 16, 16, He that believeth and is baptized should be saved,
but he that believeth not should be damned. He said in John 3.15, Whosoever
believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Whosoever. Whosoever. Whosoever believeth
in Him. Simplest thing in the world when
He's given you a heart and a willingness is believing on Him. You can't
do anything else. You see there's nothing else
you can do. And it's the easiest thing in the world to know, I
trust Him. He's my salvation. Everything
I need, He is. It's the easiest thing in the
world when He's given you the heart to do it. But until He
gives you that heart and that willingness, you can't drop all
the garbage that we are trying to bring and give to him just
came. A sinner cannot not do something. He says, I feel like I have to
do something. The Lord has to give us the heart
to see. He won't receive anything from us. It is him. This is the will of Him that
sent me, Christ said. Everyone that seeth the Son and
believeth on Him may have, freely have, everlasting life. And I'll raise Him up at the
last day. He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth
on Me hath everlasting life. That's what it is to come to
Christ. To drink of Christ is to believe
on Him. is to believe on Him. Now, let's
hear what Christ says about those who come believing on Him. He
says here, As the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. With this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
He's saying this is an inward work worked in the sinner. It
comes out of his belly. It's within. The Holy Spirit
makes a sinner willing within. Now, repentance is a heart work. Faith is a heart work. It's being
given a new nature, a new heart, a new mind, a new willingness. Now, every sinner saved from
the beginning to the end is saved by the Holy Spirit regenerating
us and giving us life. That's not what he's saying here
when he said the Spirit had not yet been given. He's just simply
saying that until Christ was glorified, the Holy Spirit was
not given to the Gentiles. It was not made manifest that
He had Gentiles as well as Jews and began regenerating Gentiles
as well as Jews. But everybody that's ever been
saved, Old Testament, New Testament, is saved by the Spirit of God.
And he's not saying here that by coming and believing on Him,
that's how you're born of Him. He's simply making a point here
that when he spoke of this river of water flowing out of the belly,
he's talking about the work done inwardly by the spirit. When
you come to him, and believe on it. He's already done a work
in you to make you do this. But when you come to him and
believe on it, that's when he makes you to know you have peace
with God. That's when he makes you know
you have this pardon with God. It makes you know you have this
free forgiveness with God. It makes you come into communion
with God and really know this in a vital, living union with
Him. He makes you know this. And that's
what He's talking about here. When you've committed it all
to Him, out of His belly, He said, within, the Spirit bears
witness with our spirit that we're children of God. Christ
said, if any man's willing to do the Father's will, come to
Christ, bow to Christ, believe it on Christ, he'll know the
doctrine. And that's basically what He's
saying right here. Any man come to Me and drink, He'll know. Out of His belly will flow this
river of living water. He'll know. It's an inward river
through faith in Christ. whereby He makes us to know.
And it's going on to know Christ more fully by His grace, continuing
to know Him. It's a flowing river. It never
stops flowing. It's an ongoing knowing Him,
having Christ for our life. It's that satisfaction, knowing
He's your satisfaction with God, and you're satisfied in your
heart, and you're not looking for something else. You've found
the pearl of great price. knowing we have mercy and grace
and pardon and peace through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing without a doubt that He is your strength and your
wisdom and your holiness and your redemption, that He's all. And He's that river of life and
it's continual. He said, out of His belly shall
flow rivers of living water. It's not just a a little trickle. It's not just a little stream.
Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water. He's the never-ending,
ever-flowing fountain of life. And by the Spirit, we have Christ
formed in us. Rivers of living water. A never-ending
supply of grace and comfort, knowing Christ. What does He
say in Philippians 4.19? My God, shall supply all your need according
to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. It's this endless supply. He said, He that spared not His
own Son but delivered Him up for all His people, how shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? It's a never-ending
supply. Grace upon grace. Paul said in
2 Corinthians 9.11, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness,
which calls it through us, thanksgiving to God. Living water. It's living water. We didn't
have life before. We didn't have spiritual life
before. But when the Spirit enters, you have life. And when He brings
you to Christ, He makes you know you have life. Living water,
everlasting life, eternal life. He that believeth on me hath
life, he said. All that remains for a believer
is to put off this body of death. We look at death and we're fearful
of death and there's natural reasons, we are, we don't, but
we shouldn't be. Because it's just a shadow for
a believer. And it's just entering into the glory of God. Well, where do the Scriptures
say this? He said, as the Scriptures say.
Where do the Scriptures say this? Well, they don't say, out of
the belly shall flow rivers of living water. You're not going
to find that in the Scripture. It doesn't say that. But it says,
the essence of that, everywhere. Look at Isaiah 12.3. I'll show
you a few places. Isaiah 12.3. He says, let's read verse 2,
Behold God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Look at Isaiah 35.
Isaiah 35 and verse 6. He says, then shall the lame
leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the
wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert.
That's in you and me, who are just dry desert parched ground. In the wilderness shall waters
break out and streams in the desert, and the parched ground
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water,
and in the habitation of dragons where each lays shall be grass
and reeds and rushes. Look at Isaiah 41, verse 8. Let's see here. Verse 28, maybe. Well, He says this, I'll open
rivers in high places. I think I wrote it down wrong.
Yeah, verse 18. I'll open rivers in high places,
fountains in the midst of the valleys. I'll make the wilderness
a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. This is what
he's saying. Our Lord is giving us the commentary
on this and saying this is what I'm doing in my people. It's
what I'm doing in my people. Zachariah, we'll look at one
more. He says in Zechariah 14.8, it
shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem. There he is standing in Jerusalem.
He is the living water. Water shall go out from Jerusalem,
half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward the
hinder sea. I think he is speaking of Jew and Gentile, his elect,
in summer and in winter shall it be. This water is not going
to dry up for his people. Well, the multitude that day
didn't come to Him. There He was and they did not
come to Him. And they went home. They went
to that feast, they went through that whole ceremony that week,
they went through the whole thing and made all those offerings
and those sacrifices and debated one another about the Scriptures
and argued and all the stuff folks do in religion and they
went home as empty as they came there. They were like that Ethiopian
eunuch. He had been up to a feast, remember? He was on his way home and he's
out in the middle of the desert somewhere reading Isaiah and
the Lord sent Philip to him and Philip said, Do you understand
what you're reading? And he said, How can I? I've been up to this
feast and I'm as dry as this desert. I've got nothing. And
the Lord gave him the word and said, This is speaking of Christ.
and he opened up rivers of living water. He brought him to Christ
and he drank and he had rivers of living water and he said here's
water what hinders me from being baptized. These folks went home
empty. I pray, I pray that the Lord
would make us drink of Christ. We need to drink of him. come
and believe on Him constantly. We need to hear Him constantly
say, come to me and drink. In every trouble, in every trial,
in every good time, prosperity, before we get lifted up, we need
Him to say, come to me and drink. Or when we're cast down, we need
Him to say, come to me and drink. And He keeps drawing you to Him,
He keeps bringing you to Him, He keeps making you come to Christ
and drink, and He keeps this fountain of living waters within
us. I'm going to read part of Joseph Hart's hymn. He said,
Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love and power.
He is able, he is able, he is willing, doubt no more. Ho, ye
thirsty, come and welcome. God's free bounty glorify. True
belief and true repentance, every grace that brings us nigh, without
money, without price, come to Jesus Christ and buy. Let not
conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the
fitness he requireth is to fill your need of him. This he gives
you, this he gives you, tis the spirit's rising being. Come,
ye weary, heavy laden, bruised and mangled by the fall. If you
tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. Not the
righteous, not the righteous. sinners Jesus came to call. I pray we come to Him. Let's
stand together. Father, we thank You for Your
Word and thank You for sending Your Son. Lord, make us truly
come to Him and make us believe on Him. send your Spirit and cause these
living waters to flow within us. Make us truly see that having
Christ we have all. Father, thank you for all the
rich bounty and blessing and grace upon grace upon grace that
you continually give in Christ. Thank you for our brethren. Thank
you Lord that you've called us and made us to see, believe and
trust you. Made us really know Christ is
everything. Lord, we thank you and we ask
you to please forgive us our sins and our unbelief and our
trying to find water in this dry desert. Help us to keep coming
to Christ. Lord, we ask you to hear this
and not even hear it from these lips. We ask you, Lord, to hear
our prayer in Christ our intercessor. Hear him and look upon him and
receive us in him. Thank you, Father. Amen.