We open our Bibles to John chapter
7. The book of John chapter 7. This is certainly a beautiful
portion of Scripture that we will look at this evening and
I just want to direct your attention to three verses in John chapter
7, and I'll speak to you on this subject, the great day of the
feast. The great day of the feast. And so we'll read John 7, 37,
38, and 39. The Word of God says, in the
last day, that great day of the feast. And you could even read, it's
the last feast day of the year. On this great day of the feast,
Jesus, our mighty Savior, stood and cried, The prophet of God. And this is what he said, if
any man thirsts, thirsts for salvation, thirsts for forgiveness, thirsts to be accepted by a holy
God. If any man thirsts, The Savior
said, let him come unto me. Don't forbid him, but let him
come and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. And then John puts this in But this he spake of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, that is, given in his fullness. The
reason is because Jesus was not yet glorified. As we look at these three verses
of Scripture. I do speak to those of you who
are thirsty. I know there is a sense in which
our thirst has been already quenched in the Lord Jesus, who is the
water of life. But there is another sense in
which we are always thirsty for the Savior. We never grow weary of drinking
from the fountain of God's salvation. And as we come to the fountain,
even again this evening, and as we consider these three verses,
what I'd like to do is raise four questions which I think
will enable us to more fully understand and grasp what's being
said in these three verses. So without further introduction,
number one, here's the first question. Where were these words
spoken? Our Lord is in Jerusalem and
He is at the temple. This is Jerusalem. This is the,
as the Old Testament scripture says, this is the holy city. This is a city separated by God. This is Jerusalem. This is the
city of David. This is Jerusalem. This is the
city of peace. This is Jerusalem. This is the,
unfortunately now, It had become the stronghold of ritualism and
empty ceremonialism. This is Jerusalem where God's
law was studied, God's law was memorized. This is Jerusalem
which we might say is kind of the headquarters for religious
studies. These words were spoken in Jerusalem
at the temple where the priests ministered about the things of
God as God instructed them to do many, many, many years before
this ever happened. But there is no spirit in their
worship. It is just ritualism is all it
is. These words were spoken in Jerusalem
and at the temple where the sacrifices were still being offered in accordance
with the will of God, but they had altogether forgotten about
the purposes of the sacrifices and they had forgotten about
the one to whom the sacrifices all pointed. Our Lord is at Jerusalem. He
is in the temple where the high priest went into the Holy of
Holies once a year in sprinkled blood on the mercy seat. In fact,
our brother read to us there from Leviticus. And in the book
of Leviticus, we are made to understand this feast of the
tabernacles, it began on the 15th month, or the 15th day of
the 7th month. Go back five days before that,
The seventh month, the tenth day, that's the day of atonement. This is at the Feast of Tabernacles. Five days before this, the high
priest went into the Holy of Holies. He went in, sprinkled
the blood on the mercy seat. He went through all the ritualism.
He went through all the ceremonialism. And yet his heart was empty of
worship for God and love for God. Because he is, religiously
speaking, an absolute pagan. He is one of the works mongers.
This is where this is taking place. This is Jerusalem. This is the home of the Bible
scholars. These are where the studies of
the Old Testament were wrought out by the priests. and the old rabbis. This is in
Jerusalem in the temple where people came from all over the
world to learn about God. But when they came to learn about
God, they didn't learn about God. Just empty, empty formality. That's all it was. This is Jerusalem
which could rightfully be called the capital city of religion. In this religion, originally,
as God gave it to them, it is the absolute truth. Because in
this was substitution. Innocent animals dying for the
guilty. In this was satisfaction. Because
God's law demanded death for sin, animals died. They died
in Jerusalem. They died at the temple. But to these men who were the
officers of the temple and the overseers of the worship of the
temple, those men were empty hearted and absolutely vile. That's where these words were
spoken. Second question is not only where were these words spoken,
but at what location or especially when it was that these things
were spoken. At what event? That would be
a better way to express it. It is the last day of the Feast
of the Tabernacles. It's one of the most important
and vital festivals for the Jewish people. In fact, there were some
who said in a sense it was more important than the the Feast
of the Passover. You know, the Jewish males were
required to attend the three feasts, three big feasts during
the year, Passover, 50 days later, Pentecost, and then this one,
the Feast of Tabernacles, or as you read, the Feast of Booths.
And they all had to attend this. But many people said this was
the most vital because this was the one where more sacrifices
were offered to God than the other two. Look with me back in the book
of Numbers chapter 29. If you would, Numbers chapter
29. You know, we have been made to understand
that the Old Testament is in the New Testament fully set forth. Whereas the New Testament in
the Old Testament is indeed contained. Well, we see here from the Old
Testament the things that happened during
the time of the Feast of the Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths.
And then we understand from the New Testament what these sacrifices
all picture. And Numbers chapter 29 from verses
12 to 38, we have the commands of God concerning all of the
sacrifices that were to be offered during the Feast of the Booths,
the Feast of the Tabernacles. On the very first day, look at
Numbers 29 and starting verse number 12. And on the fifteenth day of the
seventh month, you shall have a holy convocation. In other
words, all of you come together in a solemn, serious worship. Then he says, you shall do no
servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. Don't do any servile work. In
other words, work as servants do. Because all of these sacrifices
that are going to be set forth in the next several verses, they
picture salvation by the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have nothing to do in that. We just observe. We just stand
back in wonder and in amazement. But we don't lift one finger
in this sacrifice to God, in this satisfaction of God's justice,
nothing is left for us to do. So the Lord, before these sacrifices
are even begun to be offered at the Feast of the Tabernacles,
the first thing the Lord says is, all of you come together,
be serious about this now. Boy, I wish I could find more
people who are serious about worship. He said, don't do any
labor, don't do any work. Because in this matter of salvation,
the Lord Jesus did the work. The work is finished. The work's
already been done. And we do indeed receive the
Savior, but that's not an act of our hands or an act of our
flesh. It's God giving faith. Faith
to believe Him. So He said, the first thing,
let's understand this, first of all, He says, stop working. Stop working. Because by grace,
you say, through faith, even that's not of yourself, it's
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So
don't work. After all, salvation is all to
the praise of the glory of God's grace wherein He made us accepted
in the Beloved. All right, then He begins to
set forth all of these animals that have got to be sacrificed
to God. First day, look at verse 13.
You shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire of a
sweet savor unto the Lord. Watch this. Thirteen young bullocks. Then two rams, fourteen lambs,
of the first year they shall be without blemish. Look down
at verse 16. One kid of the goats for a sin
offering, besides the continual burnt offering, his meat offering
and drink offering. In other words, on the very first
day, thirty-two animals have got to be killed. Thirty-two
sacrifices. Day 2, look at verse 17. On the second day, ye shall offer
not thirteen, but twelve, because the number is reduced each day.
So on the second day you are offered twelve young bullocks,
and two rams, 14 lambs of the first year without spot. Verse 19, one kid of the goats,
that's for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering
and the meat offerings thereof and their drink offerings. Third
day. 11 bullocks and then two rams, 14 lambs of the first year
without blemish, verse 22. One goat for a sin offering beside
the continual burnt offering and his meat offering and his
drink offering. Fourth day, verse 23. On the
fourth day offer 10 bullocks and then two rams and 14 lambs
of the first year, all of them without blemish. Do you notice
how that's always emphasized? Why is that? Because our Lord
Jesus was without spot and without blemish. He's got to be a spotless,
sinless Savior. All of this repetition. Look
at verse 25. One kid of the goats for a sin
offering, beside the continual burnt offering, which is the
morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice, by the way. His meat
offering and his drink offering. That's for the fourth day. Look
at day five, verse 26. On the fifth day, nine bullocks,
two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot, verse
28. One goat for a sin offering beside
the continual burnt offering and his meat offering and his
drink offering, verse 29. 6 day, 8 bullocks, 2 rams, 14
lambs of the first year, without blemish, verse 31, 1 goat for
a sin offering, besides a continual burnt offering, that's the morning
sacrifice and the evening sacrifice, his meat offering and his drink
offering, verse 32, on the 7th day, 7 bullocks, 2 rams, 14 lambs
of the first year, without blemish, verse 34, 1 goat for a sin offering,
besides a continual burnt offering, His meat offering, and His drink
offering in all of these animals. Now before I read what goes on
on the eighth day, let me just refresh your memory of that verse
there in John 7.37. In the last day, that's the eighth
day. The last day, the great day of
the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. And right here in Numbers chapter
29, beginning with the 35th verse, we read about the last day. This is the great day of the
feast. Verse 35 reads, On the eighth
day ye shall have a solemn assembly, And again it is repeated, ye
shall do no servile work therein. No labor. This is not about your
work, this is about Christ's work. This is not about your
efforts, this is not about your strivings, this is not about
your labors, it's about His labors even unto death. Now verse 36,
but ye shall offer a burnt offering, A sacrifice made by fire of a
sweet savor unto the Lord. One bullet, one ram. Seven lambs
of the first year without blemish. Verse 38, and one goat for a
sin offering. Besides a continual burnt offering,
that's the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. And
his meat offering and his drink offering. And here's what you
got. Day 1, 32. sacrifices. Day 1, 32 sacrifices. Day 2,
31 sacrifices. Day 3, 30 sacrifices. Day 4,
29 sacrifices. Day 5, 28 sacrifices. Day 6,
27 sacrifices. Day 7, 26 sacrifices. Day 8,
a dozen sacrifices. That adds up to 215, if my math's
correct. 215 innocent animals that died over
these eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles. They are innocent
of any transgressions against God. They died as innocent victims
in the stead of the guilty in order to set forth the substitutionary
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of it. The rivers of blood
that flowed. Blood everywhere. Over 8 days. 8 days. 215 animals died according to
God's commandment. Don't talk to me about a bloodless
gospel. A bloodless gospel is no gospel. A bloodless gospel means no salvation. A bloodless gospel means no righteousness. A bloodless gospel means no forgiveness
of sins. Without the shedding of blood,
no remission of sin. That's what the Word of God says. All of these animals die. I don't
know if they had any animal lovers back in those days. If they did,
they probably said, what a useless thing to do! Why are you butchering
all these animals? Because God said to do it. That's
why. God said to do it. And yet, you
go to Hebrews, over Hebrews chapter 10, the blood of bulls and goats
couldn't put away even one cent. And so, back to John chapter
7, it's the 8th day. It is the 8th day. These animals
have died according to the commandment of God. The Jews, they followed the laws
and the rules of God that He laid down for them hundreds and
hundreds of years before this ever happened. They followed
all the rituals. They followed the ceremonies
laid down in the law. But remember, these people are not worshiping
by the power of the Spirit of God. Their hearts are cold and
calloused. We've talked about the Jews,
the religious leaders. They didn't know God. The people
didn't know God. There were a few folks to whom
the Lord had revealed His gospel, but not many. They didn't understand
what we'd been made to understand by the power of the Spirit. What
can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
They didn't understand that. There was God's Lamb standing
right in front of them. And all 215 animals that died
on the Jewish altar, on the brazen altar, and their body was offered
up as a burnt offering to God, every single one of them pointed
to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and nobody saw that except
for just a few, those to whom God revealed His truth. So now we understand the answer
to the question when these words were spoken. It was during the
Feast of the Tabernacle. On the last day, the great day
of the Feast. The religion of the Jews had
degenerated into nothing but an outward form. It bore very
little resemblance to the worship instituted by Moses, When God
gave him the pattern of the tabernacle. Oh, they retained the outward
form. No heart, though. No heart. And, like happens so often in
religious environments, Not only did they continue to
practice the rituals and the ceremonies that God had implemented
back in the Old Testament, but they added some to it. They felt
free to add. And one of the things that they
added was on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles in very
solemn ceremony, men of the priesthood, they would
go down to the pool of Siloam with buckets and dip water from the pool of
Siloam and bring it up to the temple. And as those priests
emptied their buckets of water right in front of the people,
People would sing Isaiah 12 verse 3, Therefore with joy shall ye
draw water out of the wells of salvation. And of course that
was done in remembrance. God didn't tell them to do that.
But they did it in remembrance of what the Lord had done when
He brought forth water out of the rock when He told Moses to
strike the rock and water would come out. And we know from 1
Corinthians chapter 10, the Apostle Paul said that rock was Christ
Jesus. The rock of ages who was smitten
by the rod of divine justice. And because of His death, the
living water, the water of life flows out to sinners like you
and me. And God the Spirit gives us a
thirst for that water and we drink. We drink. So the water
had been poured out on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The people have been there for eight days. You know, you read
to us about the Lord said, cut down the boughs of trees, and
they had all these fresh limbs that had been cut, and built
these kind of very crude tents or tabernacles. They did that
eight days before, and now everything is withering. Everything is dying. All these new booths that they
had built eight days before this, the leaves are shriveling up
and they're getting ready to pack
up and leave and go home right after this is over. But their religion was leaving
them thirsty. You see, they had gone for eight
days. They had gone through all the ceremonies. They had done
all these things like the priest told them to do. And they knew
what they needed to do. After all, they did it every
year. Every year. They knew what to do at Passover
time. That's in the spring. They knew what to do at Pentecost,
50 days after Passover. And they knew what to do at the
Feast of Tabernacles, which would be about our late September,
early October. Therefore, it's also called the
Feast of In-Gatherings. After they had gathered their
crops in, then they held this feast, beginning on the 15th
day of the seventh month. They knew all these. They knew
all these things in their heads. And there stood in front of them
the very One that's the fulfillment of all these sacrifices, the
One who is the water of life, the One who is the rock to be
smitten by the rod of God's justice. And they couldn't see Him as
the only Savior. I'll tell you, we've got to have
the revealing, regenerating grace of God. before we can see Christ. Which brings me to the third
question. Who spake these words? This is Christ Jesus, the living
Lord. This is the one that all the
215 sacrifices offered over the course of those eight days. It
all pointed to Him and the people didn't even realize it. When
they brought the water up, when the priests brought the water
up, and those priests poured the water out, nobody realized,
except for just a few true believers, nobody realized the water of
life was standing right in their midst. The rock of God, the only
sure foundation for everlasting salvation, stood right before
them and they didn't recognize it. Well, here's the fourth question,
what did he say? What did he say? Note first of
all the manner of his speech. In verse 37, he stood and cried
saying. On other occasions he sat. And
the scripture says he spake, but this time he's standing and
he's crying. No doubt watching as the people
are packing up ready to leave. They are going home just as empty,
just as spiritually empty as they were when they came. Going
home just as lost as they were when they arrived. He stood most
likely on one of the porches of the temple in some very prominent
place where He could be seen and where He could be heard.
And there was intensity in His voice. He stood and He cried. He cried with a loud voice, so
loud people could hear Him. There is an earnestness in His
tone. He means business. He is serious. He wants everybody to hear. I hope we are earnest and intense
too. I hope you are earnest about
these things. I prayed to God, I'll be even
more earnest and even more intense. He stood and cried. Oh, the only hope for sinners
is Jesus Christ the Lord. We've got to drink of the living
water. The Lord has addressed this subject
back in chapter 4 with the woman at the well. You drink of the water that I'll
give you, you'll never thirst again. Now note his words. First of
all, he spoke about thirst. The thirst he's speaking about
is a spiritual thirst. It's a thirst of the soul. It's
a thirst of the heart. It's an anxiety that arises within
the heart of somebody convicted of their sinfulness in the light
of God's absolute holiness. This is a desire for forgiveness
in the light of awful guilt. This is a longing after the peace
of conscience. The peace that you seek for and
you long for after the Spirit of God has begun to show you
what an awful rebel you are. It's the peace that the Spirit
of God alone can give you and He'll give it to you, but He'll
give you the peace only after He disturbs you. You get disturbed. It's always God's way. He kills
and then He makes alive. He strips and then He clothes.
And He's not going to give you peace until He gives you some
anxiety in your heart about your wretchedness and your sinfulness. These are the Savior's words.
There are many who thirst after the vanities of this world, but
few that thirst after the things of Jesus Christ. Few who thirst
after the Savior. Are you thirsty? Blessed are
those who know something about spiritual thirst. Spiritual thirst. Second, he spoke to anyone who
was thirsty. He said, if any man thirsty,
it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you've
done, this is for anybody who's thirsty. I know there's a sense
in which we can say there's no qualification you have to meet
for the gospel. And in a sense that's right,
but in another sense that's not right. Because who is it that's
going to drink? Somebody who's thirsty. Somebody
who's thirsty. You can set a glass of water
out and say, well, I'm not thirsty. I don't need it right now. And
this is the Gospel. We said before men, the banquet
of God's mercies in Jesus Christ, the golden elixir of salvation,
the water of life. Who's going to drink it? Only
those who are thirsty. Now, somebody's got to create
that thirst. Lord, create that thirst. And I mustn't go on until I mention
something about the fact that this, you know, the Savior on
another occasion, He talks about thirst. His own. When He was dying, He said, I
thirst. What was He thirsty for? Well,
there was a physical thirst, but there was also a thirst for
the Father's presence, and the Father had forsaken Him. What
was the reason for that? Because our Lord Jesus had taken
upon Himself the sinfulness, the guilt, the debt of all the
transgressions of His people. And the Father turned His back
on Him. And I tell you, He thirsted for the presence of God. There
hadn't ever been any division between the Godhead before. There
have been any forsaking of the Son of God by the Father? I thirst! I thirst for my Father! And I
believe He also thirsted for the salvation of His people. He was thirsty for our salvation. And He drank the cup of damnation
dry. And then he gave a command, let
him come unto me. He's the fountain of life. He's
the fountain opened up for sin and uncleanness. Let him come
unto me. If you're thirsty, let him come.
That's what the Savior says. Let him come. Let him come. He
speaks to Satan and says, let him come! Take your hands off
of him. He's one of mine. I've created
the thirst within. Let him come! He says to every opposition of
a sinner coming to Himself, let him come. And I'll tell you,
if the Savior says concerning thirsty sinners, let him come,
you can come. You can come. Just come on! Come on! Well, to whom shall
we go? He said, if any man thirsts,
let him come unto Me. Well, what about this coming?
What kind of coming is it? It isn't a physical coming. It's
a spiritual coming. But it's as real as a physical
coming. If I said to you, to Joe, I'm
coming over to you, it would be an actual movement of my body.
The Savior is real and I'm coming to Him, but I'm not going to
move a muscle. I'm coming in my heart. I'm coming
in my soul. I'm coming in my mind. I'm coming
to Jesus Christ. To come to Christ is to believe
Him. To believe Him is to come to Him. It's to cast your soul
upon Him. It's to commit yourself to Him.
It's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as He's revealed Himself
in the Word. And then fourth, He gave a promise. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. All who come
to Christ by faith find in him abundant satisfaction. This water of salvation will
refresh you. It will renew you with spiritual
vigor and energy. The grace and the mercy and the
love of God will just continually bubble up in your soul. That's
right. Out of your innermost being because
He puts His grace in you. He puts life in you. He puts
light in you. And it just bubbles up to help
you and to help others too. Out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. And then he says this in verse
39, and I'll touch on this and quit. But this he spake of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now the Spirit of God was given
in the sense that nobody would have been saved apart from the
work of regeneration of the Spirit of God. The Savior said He must
be born again, but He hadn't been given in the fullness of
His power. When would that happen? When
Jesus was glorified. Well, when was Jesus glorified?
In His death and in His resurrection. There's His glory. That is His
glory. His greatest glory is His death,
the hour of substitution and satisfaction. There is His glory. In the glory of His resurrection,
in the glory of His ascension, and then based upon His glory,
He would send the Spirit in the fullness of His power to bring
sinners unto Himself. Anybody thirsty? Anybody thirsty? Let him come
unto the Savior and drink. Well, let's sing 294.