If you would, turn to John chapter
7. And well, I'm just going to read
one verse to start with, but then go back into the account
that led up to that one verse. John chapter 7 and verse 46. The officers answered, never
man spake like this man. Now the man they're speaking
of is our Lord Jesus Christ. Because our Lord is God. The scriptures are clear about
this. Man, the natural man, is not clear about this. But sometimes
even the natural man can see something and understand at least
this one certain thing that this man was different. And that's the case here. Because
this chapter starts in verse 1 with Jesus in Galilee, because
he would not walk in Jewry. He wasn't going to walk amongst
the Jews. Why? Because they sought to kill him.
And it wasn't his time. But then he does go to the Feast
of the Tabernacles, which is where this account takes place.
He goes to Jerusalem. Now he goes secretly, not openly. But he doesn't stay secret. Now why did he do this even though
they were trying to kill him? He was obeying the law, keeping
the Feast of Tabernacles. He must go to Jerusalem. And how do I know that? Well,
I know that because he did. Wherever Christ was, was where
Christ needed to be. Now man may see things that Christ
has said as things that make no sense. In the natural man,
this is especially so. Because the natural man does
not understand the things of the Spirit of God, neither can
he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. That's just the truth. But these men found out that
never man spoke like this man. So he confounded these men. And everything he says that they
heard that is recorded here in the scriptures, it's in four
verses, and it's two very short statements. You know, this is
not the Sermon on the Mount, which is just line after line
after line after line of glorious truth. This is four verses. It's two statements. But yet
that was enough to confound these men that were, and it says here,
the Pharisees heard that the people murmured and such things
concerning him and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers
to take him. That's verse 32. That's who these
men were. They were officers. Now I am
assuming It doesn't specifically state it, but it seems to be
that they are Jewish officers. They didn't send Roman soldiers.
This was the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they sent
people of the temple, guards of the temple, whatever, to go
get Jesus and to bring him to them. That's what they wanted.
It says they sent officers to take him. That was the plan. Unfortunately for them, It wasn't
God's plan. And guess what? God's plan always
overrides man's plans. Every single time. But in these
two short statements, It was enough to confound these officers
that A, they didn't take him, and B, they went back and told
these chief priests and the Pharisees this, never man spake like this
man. And they got upset with him.
Are ye also deceived to have any of the rulers of the Pharisees
believed on him? But this people who knoweth not
the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, That's
the same Nicodemus that came by night. He that came to Jesus
by night being one of them. Doth our law judge any man before
it hear him and knoweth what he doeth? They answered and said
unto him, art thou also of Galilee? Search and look for out of Galilee
ariseth no prophet. And every man went unto his own
house. And Jesus our Lord was not taken
by these men. They made this statement, never
man spake like this man. Now, Walter, when I read this,
I was tempted to just basically list a bunch of wonderful things
Christ said that confounded people. Because there's so much that
we have in the scriptures that is confounding to the natural
man, spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ. But then I just said,
well, I'm gonna look at what it is, and I looked at this,
and this is what we have. This is what confounded these
men. Two statements. It's in John 733 and 34, and
then in John 737 and 738. That's all it took. Four verses,
two statements. The first statement is this. Then said Jesus unto them, yet
a little while am I with you, then I go unto him that sent
me. Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and whither I am
thither ye cannot come. He said, I'm here, but I'm not
gonna be here for long. And I'm going to the one who
sent me. And to him you cannot go. Ye shall seek me and shall not
find me. Now the people talked amongst
themselves after he said this. It said, whither will he go?
This is verse 35, that we shall not find him. Will he go unto
the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles? What
manner of saying is this? Ye shall seek me and shall not
find me. And whither I am, thither ye cannot come. Jesus Christ was going to leave
this world after the death of the cross. He knew why he was here. He knew
what he came to do. Man does not understand the ways
of God. That's a simple fact. It's a
simple fact. And whether I go, ye cannot come. You'll seek and you won't find
me. Because where I am, I am, I am,
ye cannot come. And the second thing he said,
in verse 37, starts, 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 has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Amen, indeed. Jesus stood and he cried aloud. He came secretly to the feast,
but he spoke openly. This was not done quietly. This
was not done secretly, because there is no secret gospel. Now,
CNN and the History Channel, to the contrary. There is no
secret gospel. Our Lord came and preached aloud
and publicly. He had no secret ministry. The
world wants to think that. The world does want to think
that, but the world is wrong. Now, granted, I will tell you
this. He explained things more thoroughly
to his disciples than he did to some others. But it wasn't
a different message. It was the same message. He explained
the parable of the sower. And he told them, unto you it
is given to know, but unto them it is not given. Therefore he
spoke in parables so that some would not understand. But what
he explained was what he said in the parable. And he said at
the end of most parables, he that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. There's no secret gospel. And
besides that, the reason we know that is because his disciples
wrote it all down. what he told them afterwards
and what he told them when he explained things more fully to
them, because they were men also, and they didn't always understand. But there is no secret to this. Our Lord cried openly. And he
cried openly, the one gospel that there is, and it's his gospel. He did tell him sometimes not
to broadcast some things until after I'd be gone. He also told
him that the Holy Ghost was gonna bring to remembrance what I said
to you. And he did. Now what did he cry? If any man thirst. If any man thirst. He cried this
aloud, like I said, this wasn't a quiet press conference. He
cried this aloud, if any man thirst. The reason he cried it
aloud is because that statement right there is very important.
This was a spoken qualifier by our Lord Jesus Christ. He's only
talking to the thirsty here. Why? Because if you're thirsty,
you got a need. If you're thirsty, you know you're
thirsty. Our Lord came not to call the
righteous. He came to call sinners. What? Unto repentance. But he
came to call sinners. Now there are none righteous.
No, not one. Paul's very clear about that,
but there are those who think they are. Henry Mahan used to
say, I don't know who he was quoting, but he used to say,
a sinner is a precious thing because the Holy Ghost has made
him so. We don't naturally know we are
sinners, not true sinners, because see the world has a tendency,
the natural man has a tendency to come with this idea, because
we sin and do things wrong, we are sinners. That's not correct. That's getting the cart before
the horse. We sin and do things wrong and commit iniquities and
trespasses and everything else because we are sinners. And that's who our Lord came
to call, sinners unto repentance, not those who think they're righteous. This is a qualifier. Thirsty
people have desire. And this other thing, thirsty
people will act. Sated people, people who are
satisfied will not. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Don't come to the law, come to
me. And guess where he was at? He's
at the temple. Don't come to the temple, come to me. Imagine some of those Jews might
get a little upset about something like that This is what our Lord
cried out at the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles Come unto me if you're thirsty
Come unto me and drink and drink Come unto me. Don't come to the
law. Don't come to the temple because the law can't help you
Although the only thing the law can do is condemn you And the
temple can't help you. Because the blood of bulls and
goats never took away one single sin. Ever. Even when it was required by
the law in the Old Testament. And they were offered day after
day, two burnt offerings every day. Start in the morning and
start in the evening. Because in the evening and the
morning is the first day. You had a burnt offering. but those
burnt offerings never took away one single sin, but they pointed
to the one who was here. They pointed to this one and
he says, if you're thirsty, come to me, come to me. And I can
tell you this, if you're thirsty, you will come to him. If you
know you're a sinner, you will come to him. But here, being thirsty is the
same as being a sinner. It's not a natural thing. Somebody's gotta let you know
you are thirsty, just as somebody has to let you know you are a
sinner. The temple can't help you, the
sacrifices can't help you, and they never could. He just told, and this is the
funny thing here when you think about it, at the end of John
chapter six, he just told them, no man can come unto me except
that we're given him of my father. And a multitude of them went
back, went backwards, and walked no more with him. But he qualifies this. If you're
thirsty, come unto me. Well, I'm putting two and two
together here, but I think this is correct If you're thirsty it's because
it has been given to you of the father That's what it is It's
not a natural thing because the thirsty will come and drink See, it's not enough just to
come. You've got to drink. Or you're still going to be thirsty. And the thirsty come to Him and
they drink. What does that mean? They partake
of Him. He gives Himself to them. And this is the work of the Father
and the Son and the Spirit. It is not the work men Because
like I said, he just told him no man can come unto me except
the father which has sent me draw him no man can come unto
me unless it be given to him of my father and They left him
and here he's telling them come to me, but he said If you're
thirsty if you're thirsty Come unto me I'm gonna tell you something
You can't stop the thirsty if they know there's water. Just
get in their way and see what happens. You know, they say you
can't lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
Well, if he's thirsty, you better get out of the horse's way. The next thing he says is, he
that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. come unto me, and drank. What? He that believeth on me,
as the scripture hath said. As the scripture hath said. See,
this is where we think it starts with
men. That's not where it starts with
God and Christ. But this is where we come to know some things.
when you believe on Him. But you know something before
that, because you come to Him. You call upon the name of the
Lord and you shall be saved. This is where it starts for us,
in experience. Now it started before the foundation
of the world with God and the Son, in election. That's all
true. But here's where it starts with
us. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Faith in Christ is not new. Because he says, he that believeth
on me, what? As the scripture has said. That's Old Testament. One of the reasons, it's actually
from what I, And what I can gather, what everyone's got down as a
reference is Deuteronomy 18 verse 15. And I'll get to that in just
a second. But one of the reasons we have
the books that we have in the Old Testament, and actually it's
the best reason we have, is because Jesus Christ quoted from those
books. There's a reason you'll notice in some, and I know it's
in the Catholic Bible, I know it's in some others, there's
a section of books called the Apocrypha. There's a reason it's
not in the King James Version, because it's not quoted in the
New Testament anywhere by Christ or any of his apostles. So there
may be some truth in them. I have not studied them. I don't
have enough time. But that's why they're left out.
But here it is. We are constantly, by Christ
and by his apostles, referred back to the Old Testament. Because
the Old Testament told the story that this one, this man, this
God-man, was coming. As the scripture sayeth, believeth
on me. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 15,
it says, these are the words of Moses, writing, the Lord thy
God will raise unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee. Thy brethren
Here's the key phrase like unto me That's the Lord saying it
through Moses like unto me Unto him unto him ye shall hearken You're gonna listen to him and
I'm here to tell you today that Men will listen to him if he's
made them thirsty for him. As the scripture has said, they're
gonna hearken to him. They're gonna believe him. You're
gonna listen. And not only listen, you're gonna
wanna listen to his words. Why? How? Because God will change
your want to. There was a time I didn't want
to be here, Matt. There was a time I didn't want
to be bothered by this stuff. There was a time I wasn't bothered
by this stuff. But one day, the Lord got a hold
of me and I knew it. I don't know how I knew it, not
then. I don't know how it happened. All I knew is that things about
my soul bothered me. And I hearkened unto the one
who was speaking to me. Why? Because that is the work
of God. No man can come unto me except
it were given unto him of my father. When he gives it to you, you
will come. If you're thirsty, come unto
me and drink, partake, because he that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said. To him, unto him, ye shall hearken. You'll listen. And what is it? Out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. Now there's no need for me to
explain this. Because John tells you what it means in the next
verse. Walter and I had a discussion
yesterday, a little bit, about this. Talking about the way some
people talk about, well, the way you interpret scripture is
with scripture. In a sense, that's true. In a
sense, it's not. We're not really in the interpretation
business. Because we're given the interpretation
right here. We are to expound upon, we are
to exhort, we are to rebuke. With all long-suffering and doctrine.
Never says in there that we're to interpret. Never. And when you're doing it from
Greek to English, that's translation. That's not interpretation, that's
translation. You're just translating words. What word did Paul the
Apostle use? What word did John the Apostle
use? But John does this, and I really
love it because it saves me a lot of trouble. You got John's commentary
on the previous verse. He says in verse 39, but this
spake he 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. So, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water, is the spirit of God. in the believer. That's what Christ was speaking
of. I don't have to interpret that. John just did. The rivers of living waters flowing
is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit, however, at that time
was not yet. Now he is. When John wrote this,
he is. Because Jesus, our Lord, right
now, is glorified, sitting at the right hand of the majesty
on high. And the Holy Spirit is now. He
was not yet, but now he is. It's not that he was created,
it's just that he has come to indwell the people of God and
out, out. Out from you flow rivers of living
water. The spirit of God resides, dwells,
abides in every single child of God. How do we know it? If we believe. If we were thirsty
and we come to him and we believe. If we hearken to him, out of
you shall flow rivers of living water. I can tell you this, this
is the exact same thing he told that Samaritan woman at the well.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. If I go, I'm going to send you
the comforter. And our Lord is glorified now. that believes Faith is the gift
of the spirit. It's the fruit of the spirit.
Yeah, it's the gift of God not of works lest any man should
boast There is a time element in the
salvation of the people of God Election is not salvation it
is unto salvation and Because in the fullness of time,
God sent his son. And in time, the elect of God
are brought into Christ Jesus. They are thirsty. They become thirsty. And they
come to him, and they partake of him. They drink. God manifest in the flesh has
been glorified God manifest in the flesh Jesus Christ our Lord
is glorified and Jesus Christ our Lord shall always be glorified And the Holy Spirit comes and
dwells in every child of God in time Because the elect brought into
Christ Other sheep I have what? Them I must bring He's bringing
them in now He's bringing them in now. Why he must I Had said
it. He said it. Of course. I said
it, but I just repeated what he said. I Must bring them in
What's he doing? He's bringing them in and they
become thirsty, and they come to him, and they drink, and they
follow. To him ye shall hearken. Because if you thirst, if you thirst, come to him. If any hunger or thirst after
righteousness He's blessed. If any man hunger
and thirst after righteousness, blessed are they, for they shall
be filled. It's the gift of God to hunger
and to thirst after righteousness. It's not natural. It's not natural. The world doesn't want it, the
world won't have it, the world doesn't like it. They don't even
like people to talk like this. Because we now, if you believe,
have been given the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. For he has been made unto us
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And these fellows went back,
and I believe you can almost say this, I don't think there
was ever a truer word spoken. Never, never, never man spake
like this man. And that's why they wanted to
kill him. It was because of what he had
been saying. Oh, gee, we don't need to go
to church. We don't need to hear preachers.
Well, some preachers, yeah, you don't need to hear, trust me,
okay? A lot of preachers you don't
need to hear. But you need to hearken unto
this man. You need to come to this God man. And if you hunger
and you thirst after righteousness, you're gonna be filled. You're
gonna get so much more than you can handle that you're only gonna
get it in little dribs and drabs. And you gotta take it line upon
line and line upon line and precept upon precept and precept upon
precept. Because you can't handle it all.
I can't handle it all. No one can handle it all. Except him. Because he is all. He is all. all and by him all
things consist what consists everything he created every single
thing but he has his sheep and they're already his and he's
calling them out and making them thirsty and they're gonna come
to him and they're gonna drink and out of their belly shall
flow rivers of living water they're gonna have something to share
with someone else Walter It will leak out on you what he does. Our father, thank
you. Thank you so much for everything
you have done. Thank you most of all for our
Lord Jesus Christ who came and gave himself for his people and
save them from their sin. and is now bringing in many sons
to glory. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach your word and be with us as we go forth from here into
this world. Thank you, Lord, for all you
have done and all you are doing and all you shall do. In Christ's
name we pray.