I'm reading from the Gospel of
John chapter 7. John chapter 7, if you would
like to follow along in your Bible. John chapter 7, verses
37 and 38. 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. End of quote. I am looking for
someone who is thirsty this morning. This message is for someone who
is dissatisfied with this world, with themselves, with religion. Someone who perhaps goes to church
or perhaps looking for church, as so many say, but is unhappy,
someone who is unhappy, someone who is unsatisfied, dissatisfied
in all that you see and all that you hear. It leaves you empty. It does not meet your needs. I hope that your need is a genuine
thirst for the knowledge of God, a genuine desire to know God,
to know what the Bible says about God, to know the truth. The Lord
Jesus Christ Himself here in this chapter did something He
rarely does. He stood publicly and cried out
to everyone. Most of the time He sat and spoke
to His disciples and those who came to hear Him. But here in
John chapter 7, He is in Jerusalem. He was just in the temple teaching,
preaching. in Jerusalem, and this is the
last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, it's called, in Leviticus 23,
34. This was an eight-day-long feast. People came from all over, a
religious gathering, a religious time where people from all over
would come, and there was much going on. There was much activity,
singing, reading, preaching, food. Much like modern revival
meetings today. There was much activity, much
music, singing, much talk. Many men had many things to say,
but something was terribly missing. God was not in all of this. The
Son of God was not a part of their feasts and their ceremonies. And it's the same with most religion
today. That's why it leaves most people
empty. In verse 37, it says, in the
last day, the last day, the eighth day, people were going home. And the Lord Jesus Christ stood
and cried, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me. Anyone,
he is saying, anyone, after all that you've heard, after all
that you've seen, all the activities, all the music, All the singing,
all the reading, all the talking and so-called preaching, everything
you've heard all around you. Is anyone thirsty? Is anyone
going home dissatisfied? Is anyone leaving who came to
receive something but is going home empty? You got nothing from
all of this. Anyone. Anyone thirsty, he said,
let him come unto me and drink. Now before this, he sat on a
mountain. It's called the Sermon on the
Mount. It was to his disciples. His disciples came and he taught
them. Others sat in on it and listened. But he taught his disciples,
saying in verse 6 of Matthew 5, Blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed,
blessed of God are those who thirst, hunger and thirst. Hunger and thirst are signs of
physical life, a sign of physical health. If there's no hunger,
no thirst, no appetite for food, that person is sick, dying, or
dead. Spiritual life begins with God
creating in a dead center life, and that life is first seen,
or known, felt by this hunger and thirst, a desire, a need
that he said was for righteousness. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, he said, for they shall be filled. Righteousness is a word seldom
heard in religion, always heard where the truth is proclaimed.
Righteousness is found in the Bible, some form of the word,
five hundred times, 500 times, over 500 times. In this same
chapter, in Matthew 5, the Lord said in verse 9, verse 10, blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. Then he said in verse 22, I say
unto you, accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven." He was telling his disciples that you
need to have a better righteousness than the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, the most devout, the most devoted, the
most consecrated, the most outwardly moral, seemingly, religious people,
the most knowledgeable, morally outwardly moral people of that
day. He said, except your righteousness
exceed theirs, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. My, my,
what is righteousness? Well, righteousness belongs only
to God. The natural man, scripture said,
is unrighteous. The scripture says there's none
righteous. No, not one. Righteousness means
holiness, purity, Perfection, beauty, absolute beauty. It means
equity, justice, truth, true and honest, clean, undefiled. That is righteousness. God is
holy. Man is sinful. Man is sinful,
full of sin in thought, word, deed. His motives are wrong.
His actions are wrong. His words are wrong. God is righteous. Man is wrong. Man is unrighteous. He is wrong in all that he thinks,
does, and said. Now this is what the scripture
says. And if anyone whom God works on, they first begin to
feel this. Something is wrong with me. Dead
wrong. God is pure. Man is filthy. In Genesis chapter 6, right before
the flood, this is what God said when he looked upon mankind.
says, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually every day. Tell me, do you have to teach
children to lie? Do you have to teach children
to be selfish? Do you have to teach children
to do wrong? No, you try to teach them to
do right because they're born all wrong. They're born in sin. In sin, David said, did my mother
conceive me? I was shapen in iniquity. He
said, we all come forth from the womb, speaking lies. Man is corrupt. He is depraved. His nature is all wrong. In Genesis
8, after the flood, the Lord said the same thing about man.
Now, those whom God has chosen to save is elect. That's a Bible
word over 27 times. God chose the people to save
them because they are so depraved and corrupt. They will not choose
God. They will not call on God. There's
none that calleth for truth. Isaiah says, none seeketh after
God, none. But God, rich in mercy, God in
love and grace and mercy seeks some. He calls on some. He chose
some to save them, to give them life. The first thing he does.
This is the first operation of God, is he convicts of sin. He convicts of sin. In John chapter
16, verses 8 through 11, that's what Christ said of the Holy
Spirit, that he would come and convince or convict the world,
or that is a people out of the world, of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. That sin is only put away in
Jesus Christ, not put away by our good intentions, by our resolves,
by our penance, by our works, but only in Christ. The sin substitute, the sin sacrifice,
the sin offering. And God begins to make a person
that he has chosen, make them feel their sinfulness, make them
feel their guilt before God, make them feel unclean. He convicts
of righteousness, the second thing. That we don't have one. We don't have any. We're unrighteous. We need it. We want it. We can't
produce it. We can't achieve it. Only are we made righteous in
Christ. In Christ. And judgment. There's a judgment to face, to
stand before a holy God. We must be perfect. We must be
holy to stand in His presence. Psalm 24 says that. Who shall
ascend unto the holy hill of the Lord? He that hath clean
hand, a pure heart, who never lifted up his soul unto vanity
or sworn deceitfully." And that's no one I'm speaking to this morning.
That's not this preacher by nature. The only way to stand in the
judgment someday is to stand in Christ. Stand made righteous
by Christ in Him, having His righteous robe covering your
sins. In John chapter 4, there was
a woman, Christ came to meet a sinful woman with a water pot
at a well. The first thing He did was make
her feel her guilt, make her feel her guilt, her sinfulness,
and make her thirsty for righteousness. She said unto Him, after the
Lord spoke to her, after He preached the truth to her, she said, Sir,
give me this water that I might drink and never thirst again.
And our Lord said, I am. I am the water. The water that
I give thee shall be a wellspring, springing up, you'll never thirst
again. The Spirit of God through the Word of God preached convicts
of sin, gives thirst, gives a need, gives a longing for forgiveness
of sin, for holiness, for righteousness. There was a leper one day that
came down from a mount where Christ was and said, Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. If any man thirst, If
your religion hasn't helped you, if your resolves, your attempts
to do better haven't helped you, if all things people tell you
to do haven't helped you but only made you worse. If any man,
Christ says, thirst, come unto Me. Any leper, I'm the great
physician. Any sinful person, He's the Savior
of sinners. Any dead, He gives life. Any
unrighteous, He's the Lord, our righteousness. He's the one that
gives righteousness. was made sin for His people that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And what the Lord
says, He says to truly thirsty, those who thirst for truth, Christ
said, I am the truth. Those who thirst for knowledge,
Christ in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Those who thirst for God, well, God is with us in the person
of His Son. If any man thirst, Christ said,
Let him come unto me, and out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water." This is the Word of God. This is the Spirit
of God that takes up residence in a child of God. Spirit of
God. If any man thirsts for truth,
for understanding, for the true knowledge of God, the way to
God, the truth of God, the life of God, life with God, come to
Christ. Come out from among the religious
mess and the masses. Go forth unto Him, Hebrews 13
says, without the camp. Leave the world, leave religion
that leaves you thirsty and come to Christ. Go where Christ is
preached, the water of life for the thirsty. May the Lord make
you thirsty. Amen.