Well, good morning to all of
you. It's good to see you. I thought I was going to be on
vacation today and listen to Gary, but he's working and I'm delighted
to work here. I esteem him so highly for the
gospel sake. And I give thanks to God for
your pastors. He's a faithful servant of the
Lord, as you know. And I want to say how thankful
I am to God also for this congregation and for your faithfulness to
the gospel of God's free grace. Not a lot of churches this morning
preaching the gospel, but there are a few. And God's not left
Himself without a witness. And this week we've been at least
soaking up the sun a little bit, relaxing. We've intended to come
by here and worship with you today. Even as we are worshiping
with you today, I just thought I'd be sitting where you're sitting.
But in the providence of God, it worked out this way, and so
we give thanks to God. It's written in the book of Proverbs. And by the way, I want you to
turn to John 7. John 7. Proverbs, there's a statement
there that says, As cold waters to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from afar country. Such is the gospel. It's refreshing water, good news
for thirsty souls from afar country. Even from God our Father who
is in glory. The Gospel is glad tidings of
good things. It's good news. It's a good report. The Gospel is the good news of
the grace and favor and goodwill of God toward sinful men and
women. It's the good news of the selection
of a Savior. God called Him, I am elect. There was a pastor this morning
in his radio broadcast talking about God's electing grace. The
very first one chosen was our Savior, and we were chosen in
Him before the foundation of the world unto salvation. The
gospel is the good news then of the appointment of the Savior
And that is Christ our Lord, and we were chosen in Him before
the world ever began. We were loved with an everlasting
love. That's like cold water to a thirsty
soul, isn't it? God's electing grace. If we've been instructed by the
Spirit of God to know a little bit of our depravity, a little
bit of our sinfulness, we know if He hadn't chosen us, we would
never have chosen Him. Anybody who realizes something
of the truth of total depravity will have no argument with, no
problem with God's election of grace, God's sovereignty as pertaining
to His grace and to His love. We'd never loved Him if He hadn't
loved us. We'd have had no thoughts toward
Him unless He had had thoughts toward us. This gospel, this
good news of glad tidings of good things, it's the gospel
then of the good news of the election of grace. And it's the
good news of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
God. who's come down here. We got
ourselves in a mess in the garden. We fell in Adam. Somebody said,
how far did we fall? All the way to the bottom and
broke our necks. We died. And if God had left us there,
we'd get just exactly what we deserve. But, oh, listen to this
good news. God sent His Son. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. John said, we beheld its glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. This is the
good news that the Lord Jesus has come. It's the good news
that redemption has already been accomplished by our Savior. I
don't stand before you this morning Gary doesn't stand before the
congregation in Albany, Georgia this morning. Bill doesn't stand
before the congregation in Almont, Michigan this morning. We don't
stand before you saying, sinner, do this and do that. But rather
our message is, it's done. It's finished. The Savior on
the cross, by Himself, offered to God the sacrifice that finished
the work of redemption. It was a sacrifice of Himself.
Christ died in our stead. That's good news from a far country.
God the Father has left on record the fact that He gave His Son
in our stead, in our place, In our room, He died as our substitute
to satisfy divine justice. That's why He came. He came to
die. He didn't come to merely be an
example as to how men should live in this world, or as to
how men should be forgiving toward one another. He didn't die to
be a martyr. He didn't die to start a new
religion. He died that God might be just
and justify the ungodly. He died to satisfy divine justice. And the record of the book of
God is this, it is finished. It's finished as God Himself
would have it to be done. And our sins have been put away.
And everlasting righteousness has been brought in through the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what good news from a far
country. And we know the matter has been
settled, for He ever lives to make intercession for us. He
has been exalted by God the Father to the very right hand of the
Majesty on High. And there He sovereignly reigns
over all things, even this morning. Jesus of Nazareth is King of
Kings, and He is Lord of Lords, and all things are in His hands,
and all things fulfill His will, and all things redound to His
glory. Oh, what good news from a far
country! And it's the good news that the
Spirit of God does a mighty work within spiritually
dead sinners, granting us repentance toward God and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is repentance? We turn from
everything. Faith is turning to Christ. We
turn from our old religious works. We turn from our old gods. We
turn from our old righteousness, our self-righteousness. We turn
our backs on it. We actually take sides with God
against ourselves, and we look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
And we see in Him everything that God demands and everything
that we need. He is all and we believe Him. Oh, what a wonderful gospel we
have to declare. It is like cold water to a thirsty
soul. In fact, if you this morning
are thirsty in your heart for the living God, You're drinking
right now, aren't you? You're drinking right now again
from the fountain. The fountain that never runs
dry. And so your soul is being refreshed. Oh my friends, we know there
is nothing that refreshes like the gospel of God's great grace
in Christ Jesus. You live in the world. You work
in the world. The world beats up on you. You've
got problems. You've got cares. There are distressing
things going on out there. There's no good news in the world.
And if you don't believe it, just pick up the newspaper and
they'll tell you there's nothing good going on. And they'll try
to fill you with fear. And then you come in to the house
where we worship the Lord. And we're reminded again, God
sits on the throne. God rules all things. And everything
is about the salvation of God's people. What's God doing today? He's saving His people. He's regenerating. He's bringing
in the lost sheep. The brother prayed a while ago
concerning the sheep of the Lord. They're scattered throughout
the world. And the Shepherd is drawing them. And He draws them
as we lift Him up. He said, and I, if I be lifted
up, will draw all to Myself. When He was lifted up at the
cross in effectual grace, He drew all of His people to Himself. And when we lift Him up, and
that is our duty, and that is our honor, to lift up the Lord
Jesus Christ. As we lift Him up, He draws His
people. Effectually, irresistibly, sweetly,
in love, He draws His people. And He makes us willing in the
day of His power. I'm not an unwilling believer,
are you? I'm not an unwilling believer.
I will to believe. I want to believe. We confess
the weakness of our faith, the feebleness of our faith, but we do believe. We do believe
because He has wrought a work within us and we see the Lord
Jesus Christ to be our all. He's everything to us. It doesn't
make Jesus a part of your life. He is our life. He is our all. He of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Brother, that
covers it all. That according as it is written,
He that glorious Let Him glory in the Lord. This is the one
we believe, and we drink again this morning from the well of
salvation. We're like thirsty pilgrims. My grandmother and grandfather
used to have an old-fashioned pump. out back and had a dipper,
a ladle. We pumped it into the bucket
and there was a ladle. And that water come down cold,
deep down in the heart of the earth. And you'd draw some of
that water up in the bucket, dip that dipper down in there
and drink. Oh, how cool and refreshing. Oh, how it soothed. Doesn't the
Gospel soothe you? Doesn't it make you mean? Oh,
how delightful it is to drink again from the well of salvation. And I want to show you a Scripture
this morning where our Lord addresses this very thing. In John chapter
7, in verse 37. John 7, verse 37. And this is
one of the most beautiful Scriptures in the Bible. For the Son of
God speaks to thirsty sinners, like you and me. Thirsty sinners. Not only sinners
who are thirsty for salvation, and we are, and thirsty for forgiveness,
and we are, but thirsty for the living God. We thirst for Him. We thirst for Christ who is Himself
the water of life. And the Master speaks these words.
You know them well. John 7.37, 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. And then verse 39 is a parenthetical
verse, and John does this, and as you've studied throughout
the book of John, you know that the Spirit of God inspired John
to quite often do this, to just give us a little bit more information
about what's going on, or what has been said. And John, by the
direction of the Spirit of God, says this, because we wonder
in verse 38, what's he talking about? He that believeth on me,
as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water." What is he talking about, John? And he gives
us a commentary right here. And we know the best commentary
on the Bible is the Bible. We thank God for the writers
who've written Scripture and gone into the original languages
and explained things and commented on things, but a lot of times
they just leave us confused. Listen to how the Spirit of God
comments on what's just been said. 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
the Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, I want to show you four
things, and I don't even remember what time I started, so it won't
matter. You only have one service today.
Is that right? You don't need a clock in here
then. Just preach until you get finished and then go home, right?
I have a clock and I have a stopwatch because our broadcast, or I should
say our service is videoed and then we put it on television
the next Sunday. So I'm confined by time somewhat. I'm free here? Wow. All right. Well, let's get down
to work here. Delightful work. Here are four
things. that I want to show you in this
passage of Scripture. Four things are absolutely essential
to understanding this. So what I'm going to do in this
message, and I'm going to entitle this message, Good News for Thirsty
Sinners. Good News for Thirsty Sinners.
Here are four things that I think will help us to understand this
passage. And so I'm going to raise four
questions and try my very best to answer them. All right? Question
number one, where were these words spoken? Where were they
spoken? Well, they were spoken in Jerusalem,
no doubt at the temple. Jerusalem. That place which was called the
holy city. Jerusalem, the city of peace. Jerusalem, the stronghold of
ritualism and ceremonialism. This happened at Jerusalem where
the law was memorized and studied. Jerusalem. This is the headquarters
for religious studies. These words were spoken in Jerusalem
at the temple Where men, the very priesthood, ministered about
the things of God. In Jerusalem, at the temple,
where sacrifices were offered every morning. One early in the
morning. One at three o'clock in the afternoon. The morning sacrifice and the
evening sacrifice. All done in accordance with God's
will. At the temple where one man,
the high priest, went into the Holy of Holies once a year, and
then not without blood, and would sprinkle blood on the propitiatory,
on the mercy seat, according to the command of God. Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the home of the Bible
scholars. Jerusalem, where people from
all over the world came to learn about God. Jerusalem, where the everyday
topic of conversation was religion. Jerusalem, which could rightfully
be called the capital of religion. He's not in an irreligious place. He's not in a place that never
heard about the Bible. Okay? This is what I'm trying
to emphasize. He's not somewhere where people
are ignorant of Moses or the prophets or the Psalms or David. Those names were well known. Jerusalem at the temple. Second question, and don't think
that the last three are going to be as short an answer as the
first one, okay? Second question, when were these
words spoken? Well, they were spoken at the
Feast of Tabernacles. Now, you know that From your
studies in the Scriptures, every Jewish male had to attend the
three main feasts during the year. Passover, Pentecost, and
Tabernacles. And every one of them pictured
our Lord Jesus, though these religious people were ignorant
of that. Okay? Remember where this was
spoken. In this religious city, in the
temple, Where religion was the everyday topic of conversation. Where people observed the Passover
and Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
If they weren't religious, the whole city wouldn't have been
filled right now. But the city was filled. People came from
all over. The Jews were required to attend
this feast. Passover. That picture is Christ
our Passover who sacrificed for us. And then seven weeks out from
that, plus a day, fifty days, thus Pentecost. Pente, fifty. The Feast of Weeks was another
feast at the beginning of the end gathering of fruits and vegetables
and the harvest and such. That picture is our Lord who
gathers His people unto Himself. In the book of Acts, it was on
the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God was given in His
great power. And what was the result? A great
ingathering. Three thousand souls were gathered
in. Gathered into what? No, not gathered
into what? Gathered unto whom? Gathered
unto Jesus Christ. He did the gathering and they
all came to Him. The Feast of Weeks. Christ, our
Passover, His sacrifice for us. What's the result of His sacrifice? An ingathering. People are drawn
to Him. People are effectually pulled
in. And then the Feast of Tabernacles. And it was the last feast of
the year. And in our text, in verse 37,
it's the last day of the last feast. So this is the last day
of the last feast of the year for the Jews. It's a very important
day. And all the Jewish males were
there. Now we know this, that of all the feasts that were observed
by the Jews, more sacrifices were offered at the Feast of
Tabernacles than in any other feast. And some Jewish writers say to
the Jew, this was the most important of the feasts. The Feast of Tabernacles. It commemorated the 40 years
in which their forefathers had lived in tents, tabernacles,
booths, And God miraculously provided for them all through
their wilderness journey. But we also know the Feast of
Tabernacles pictured something else. It foreshadowed the incarnation
of our Savior who would tabernacle in human flesh. The Word was
made flesh. John 1.14. The Word tabernacled. That's the Word, isn't it? The
word tabernacled in the flesh. He dwelt in the flesh, John said. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. So here the Jews all come together
from everywhere. And I mean to tell you, they
saved up during the year. This was a big deal to them.
We probably don't realize how important it was to the Jews
The Feast of Tabernacles. This was a time when all the
crops are now in. The harvest is over. It's in
October. There's a little bit of an autumn
chill in the air. And now that all the crops have
been harvested, everybody takes a few days off to go to Jerusalem
to worship God. That is, that's what they should
have been doing. Worshipping God, giving thanksgiving to Him,
and honoring that One who would come in the flesh, Messiah, the
Christ, the only Savior of sinners. And throughout this week, these
eight days, Feast of Tabernacles, sacrifices galore were offered. In fact, look back in Numbers
29. Let me just show you this. Look at Numbers chapter 29, I
believe it is. And from verse 12 through verse
38, we have the commands of God concerning all the sacrifices
that were to be slain and presented to the Lord all of these sacrifices,
I remind you, were to the Lord. They were offered to God. They
were offered in the stead of the people, but they weren't
offered to the people. It was the sacrifice, the blood
before the Lord, wasn't it? the blood before the Lord. And
it's like today, I hear preachers preaching, not anybody that we
love and respect, but we hear some preachers on TV and on the
radio and they say, accept what Jesus did for you. What He did
is not offered to you. It was offered to the Father.
That God might continue to be just and holy and righteous and
without the least compromise to His holy character, show grace
and mercy to you and me." That's the righteous obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's the blood before the Lord.
All of these sacrifices were offered to God because Christ
offered Himself to God. To God. Now look at Numbers chapter
29. And I don't have the time to
read all of these verses, but here we have the commands of
God concerning all of the sacrifices that were to be killed and were
to be presented for the Lord during the days of the Feast
of Tabernacles. Alright, now look at day 1. And
I'll just identify them by days. Here are the 8 days. And remember
in John 7, on the 8th day, the last day of the Feast. Okay?
So we're going to go from day 1 to day 8. And we'll just see
here in kind of a capsule form in Numbers chapter 29 what happened
in John chapter 7 leading up then to the 8th day. Now look
at verse 12 of Numbers 29. And on the 15th day of the 7th
month ye shall have an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work. You shall keep a feast unto the
Lord seven days." You don't do any work. No servile work. This is not your labor. It's
not about you. It's not about what you do for
God. It's not about what you present to the Lord. It's not
about you. laboring and serving and working
for God. No. Do no servile work. For you see, salvation is by
grace. It's not of works. And it's all
through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is His work. Salvation is His work. Redemption
is His work. Is it not? From first to last. He's Alpha and Omega. He's the
beginning and He's the end of salvation. And you don't lift
even one little finger anywhere in between. You make no contribution. Are you interested in that kind
of salvation? I am. I'm interested in the salvation
that requires nothing of me. Everything's been fulfilled by
my Mediator. So He says, no servile work.
Now look at verse 13. He says, You shall offer a burnt
offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the
Lord, thirteen young bullets, two rams, fourteen lambs of the
first year, and they shall all be without blemish, because our
Lord Jesus was without blemish and without spot, the sinless
sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice. And their meat offering or meal
offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three-tenth deals unto
every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two-tenth deals to
each ram of the two rams, and a several-tenth deal to each
lamb of the fourteen lambs, and one kid of the goats for a sin
offering, beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering
and his drink offering." What's the continual burnt offering?
The morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. In other words,
they still continue. So this whole procession of animals
that die will begin in the morning with the morning sacrifice. And
then all of these animals will die during the day. And then
finally, at the end of the day, at three o'clock, the evening
sacrifice will die. Of course, all of them pictured
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, on day one, Thirty-two animals
were to be sacrificed if you add them up. You've got thirteen
bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs, a goat for a sin offering,
and then the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. You've
got thirty-two animals on day one. Now look at day two, verse
seventeen. And on the second day, you shall
offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the
first year without spots. Drop down to verse 19. One kid
of the goats for a sin offering besides a continual burnt offering. You've still got the morning
sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. Don't forget those. And the meat
offerings and the drink offering. So on the second day, you've
got thirty-one animals dying. Look at day three. And by the
way, it goes down one each day because there's one less bullet
offered every day. Now look at day three, verse
20. And on the third day, eleven
bullets, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish,
Verse 22, one goat for a sin offering, and then the continual
burn offering. Again, it still starts with the
morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. So on day 3, you've
got 30 animals. On day 4, and I'm not going to
read all of these, verses 23 and 25, you've got 29 animals.
Day 5, verses 26 and 28, you have 28 animals. Day 6, verses 29 and 31, you
have 27 animals. Day 7, verses 32 and 34, you've
got 26 animals. Now, look down at verse 35. And before I read this one, I'll
remind you of what I read in John 7, 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast. Last day, great day of the feast. Jesus stood in Christ saying,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Now here in
Numbers 29, beginning with verse 35, we read about the last day,
the great day of the feast. Now verse 35, on the eighth day,
here we are now. This is the day that our Lord
stood and cried what He cried in John 7. On the eighth day
ye shall have a solemn assembly. Ye shall do no servile work therein. This eighth day was always treated
as a Sabbath. But ye shall offer a burnt offering,
a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord,
one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish,
Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullet,
for the ram and for the lamb shall be according to their number
after the manor. One goat for a sin offering besides
a continual burnt offering. You still got the morning sacrifice
and the evening sacrifice and the meat offering and the drink
offering. Twelve animals died on the eighth
day. Now, here we go. Day 1, 32 sacrifices. Day 2,
31 sacrifices. Day 3, 30. Day 4, 29. Day 5,
28. Day 6, 27. Day 7, 26. And Day 8, 12. 215 animals died during
the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles. 215 animals. 215 animals. Rivers of blood. Don't preach
to me a bloodless gospel because a bloodless gospel is no gospel
at all. This is a gospel of substitution. This is the gospel that says
the innocent must die for the guilty if the guilty are to go
free. And my friends, that principle
is instituted by God Himself in Genesis chapter 3. When God, and I believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, I believe the Son of God in Genesis 3, because
God is not going to speak to nor be spoken to by any son or
daughter of Adam except through a mediator. So who was it then
that spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden? Christ, the Son of
God. Our guilty parents stood before
the Lord, scared to death, and rightfully so, because they had
broken God's law, and expecting judgment to fall, and the sword
of justice to be drawn forth, and they would be executed. But
the Lord comes in the cool of the day and He kills animals
in their stead and robed them in the garments of another. And they lived to see another
day because These animals, altogether innocent of transgressions against
God, died in their stead. That's the gospel. Substitution
and satisfaction. And so on this great occasion
of the Feast of Tabernacles, all of these animals died. But
we know this from Hebrews chapter 10, they didn't put sin away. Not one. Well, they weren't intended
to. They couldn't. They prefigured
one who would do the job to the satisfaction of God. We still
sing every once in a while, what can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. So go back to John 7 then. Now
we understand where these words were spoken
first of all, and when these words were spoken. They were
spoken during the Feast of Tabernacles on the last day, the great day
of the Feast. And I do want you to remember
one other thing before I move on here. I want you to remember
that when our Lord came to this world, The Jews' religion had
degenerated into nothing but outward forms and ceremonies
and bore very little resemblance to the worship God established
by the hand of Moses when he gave his servant the pattern
of the tabernacle. They retained much of the outward
form. They retained the holy days and
the feast days and the great convocations required by law,
but they knew nothing of spiritual worship. So much so, that look back in
chapter 7, the second verse. Now, the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand. Not the Lord's feast of tabernacles,
but the Jews'. What rebuking words! This blessed
ordinance of divine worship had so degenerated that it was no
longer observed as a time of worship, but rather merely as
a custom and a religious tradition. That's all it was. Well, during this Feast of Tabernacles
on the eighth day, They had a very solemn ceremony. Some of the old Jewish writers
talk about it. Very solemn procession. The Jewish
priests would go down to the pool of Siloam and dip buckets
of water. Actually, I think it was two
pints of water. They would come back up and All
the people would be singing Isaiah 12 and verse 3 with joy, shall
you draw water out of the wells of salvation. They'd take their
water containers and pour them out on the altar while everybody
rejoiced and while everybody was singing. And they were having
a grand old time. But at that time, the only one who can give forth
the water of life Stood and cried. What timing? What timing? Which brings me to my third question.
Who spoke these words? This is the Christ. The son of
the living God. This is the one of whom the temple
police would, in just a few minutes, would say to the Pharisees and
chief priests, they would say, never a man spoke like this man.
Never heard anybody talk like this before. Who spoke these
words? This is the one that all the
215 sacrifices offered over the course of these eight days. They
all pointed to Him. And none of the people realized
it. Isn't it astounding? So many
people, as it were, going to church, if I could use those
words for this. Here they all are in church. And they've got priests working
and laboring and sacrifices being offered and water poured out
commemorating the fact that God gave them water from a rock.
They had no idea that rock was Christ. They had no idea that the fount
of every blessing was standing right in front of them. Absolutely
blind to His glory, blind to His beauties, blind to His majesty,
there He stood, the very Son of God. He is the One who spoke. And he spoke boldly. Look at
back verse 32. You see, the temple police had
been sent to arrest him. Look at verse 32 of John 7. The Pharisees heard that the
people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the
chief priests sent officers to take him, to arrest him. And
he knew those enemies were there. And he knew they were armed. But he was bold. For you see,
his hour was not yet come. It wasn't time. Things don't move according to
man's timetable, but according to God's timetable. And that's
not only in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That pertains
to absolutely everything. All things move according to
His timetable. This is our Savior speaking then.
This is the Lord of glory. This is the One who has the water
of life, who is the water of life for thirsty souls. The Speaker is divine. Look at
verse 40. Who is He? Some said correctly,
of a truth, this is the prophet. This is the prophet spoken by
Moses, the prophet greater than Moses. And in verse 41, others
said, this is the Christ. That's what Peter said. Back
in John chapter 6, when myriads of people had forsaken the Savior,
many disciples said, we're not going to follow Him anymore because
these are hard sayings. And the Savior looked at His
disciples and said, would He also go away? And Simon Peter said, Lord, to
whom shall we go? We believe and are sure, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's who speaks. That's who speaks. The Speaker
is divine. Well then, finally, what did
he say? First of all, note the manner
of his speech in verse 37. He stood and cried saying. He stood and cried saying. On
other occasions, he sat and spoke, which was the general posture
of a speaker, right? It was kind of the opposite than
it is today. Back then, the speaker would
sit and the listeners would stand. But on this occasion, he's standing.
No doubt watching the people as they were ready to leave.
And they were going home just as empty as they were when they
came. just as spiritually lifeless
as when they first arrived. He stood probably on the porch
of the temple in some prominent place to be heard and to be seen. And he cried. He cried. He spoke with a loud voice. So
loud that all the people could hear him. And there was intensity
in his voice. There was an earnestness in his
tone. He is the only hope of salvation. And he says, if any man thirsts,
I say he said it, he cried it, so that all these hundreds, yea,
thousands of people could hear, if any man thirsts, He didn't say, let Him go to
the priest. He didn't say, let Him go to
the high priest. He didn't say, let Him get religion.
He said, if any man thirsts, let him come to Me. What a statement! How daring of Him! That's what
the Pharisees would have thought. How dare He say something like
that! Who does He think He is? He's the Son of God with glory.
And He speaks with authority. He speaks with a voice that even
wakes the dead. Come to Me. Come to Me. And in order to come to Christ,
you know what? You leave everything else. You
can't come to Him unless you leave where you are. You leave
your old self-righteous rags behind. Leave all your prayer
life and your Bible readings and your good works and all those
things that you have been relying on. Leave them all. Leave them! And come to Christ. Paul said
in Philippians 3, he said, I look at all that I did in my past
Jewish life and I count it but done. I turn my back on it. Christ only. He enough for you? He's enough for me. I can't answer
for you. He's enough for me. He's enough
for me." Oh, he stood and cried. You see,
I'm the sinner who's thirsty. I need the water that He gives.
He says, come unto me and drink. Drink. He's talking to thirsty people.
Now, everybody there wasn't thirsty. And if they weren't thirsty,
he's not talking to them. You say, well, I'm not thirsty.
I'm not interested in all this. Well, it's not for you then. But I believe there are some
folks here who are thirsty. I know who creates the thirst
and I know who quenches the thirst, who satisfies the thirst. The
same one who gives the thirst. By the way we're born, we're
thirsty for all the things of this world, materialism, prosperity,
good health, all these things that can't satisfy. But the Spirit of God does the
work of grace in a man's heart. He comes in and we get thirsty
for Christ in. Thirsty for Christ. Say, I don't
want anything else. I don't want to hear anything
else, do you? I don't want to hear any other message. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. I'm thirsty to hear that message,
and I'm not going to drink from any other polluted fountain,
are you? It's not going to stand for it. Thirsty. You know, when our bodies
need water, there's a merciful providence
that creates a desire, a pang, which leads us to drink. You see, thirst, the way God
has made us, thirst kind of rings an alarming bell within us and
says, you need to drink. You need to drink. God the Spirit kind of rings
an alarm bell within us. You need to drink. It's not something
that we muster up. This isn't something that's natural
to us. It's the Lord who stirs us to
thirst after Him. That's what David said in the
Psalms. My soul thirsts for God. My soul thirsts for the Lord.
Yes, I thirst for salvation. I thirst for forgiveness. I thirst
for righteousness. I thirst for pardon. Listen,
we thirst for Him. For Him. And all these things
are in Him. He says, if any man thirsts.
And only the thirsty know what thirst is. You can't describe
thirst. To a man who's not thirsty, you
can't... Well, how do you put that into words? Well, it's when
you really want something to drink. Well, can you explain
it a little further? Well, all I know is if you're
ever thirsty, you'll know what I'm talking about. And isn't
that the way it is when we hear the Gospel? You run into people
who say, I don't want to listen to that. And all you can say
is, well, I'll tell you what, if you ever get thirsty, you
will. If you ever get thirsty, you'll drink. And to drink is
simply to believe. is to come to the Lord Jesus
Christ drinking, drinking. He spoke to those who are thirsty. And He says, come unto Me. He said that in Matthew. Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you
rest. It's not come to the front. It's not come to the preacher.
I have people sometimes after service say, I want to talk to
you. I say, well, I tried to do all my talking from the pulpit.
I mean, if there's something I need to clarify, I hope I clarified
everything from the pulpit. The one you really need to talk
to is the Lord. You need to come to Him. I'm
the messenger who conveys the message. But I can't give you
the water of life. I can't give you any peace. I
can't give you hope. I can't give you salvation. Only
one who can give those things is the Lord of glory. You've
got to come to Him just like I did, just like I do. See, this
matter of saving faith, it's not a one-time thing. To whom? Coming. We're all time coming. I'm coming to Him again this
morning, Joe, aren't you? I'm coming again with thirst
in my soul for Him, for the living God. Not for religion. It's empty. I've tried that. I've been down
that road. But for the Lord of glory. Oh, and when you drink from the
well of salvation, how delightful, how wonderful, how refreshing
to the soul. And then he says, and I'll just
briefly talk about this, he said, out of his belly, he that believeth
on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. What's he talking about? The
Spirit of God who comes to us. And there's a product of the
Spirit of God being within us. Love and joy and peace. You know
what? We'll be a blessing to one another
due to the presence of the Spirit of God within us. I hope I've been a blessing to
you this morning. I know when I came in and you
greeted me and hugged me and had warm words of affection toward
me, I'll tell you, that helped me. You know why you're like
that? Because of the presence of the
Spirit of God. Take the Spirit of God out of any of us, somebody
will say, we're worse than the devil. The only good in us is the Spirit
of Christ. Is that right? You know that's
right. You know that's right. And he
says the Holy Ghost was not given because Jesus was not yet glorified. You see, the Spirit of God was
given on the basis of and upon the successful redemptive work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He existed already, of course.
But He'll be given in His fullness. There'll be a great harvest of
souls on the day of Pentecost when He's given in His great
power. You know what the gift of the Spirit is? It's God's
declaration. The gift of the Holy Spirit is
God's declaration that redemption has been accomplished. It's God's
declaration that Christ has been enthroned. It's God's declaration
that salvation has been finished. It's God's declaration that the
surety has been accepted. It's God's declaration that the
covenant of grace has been sealed with the blood of the Son of
God. Are you thirsty? Come to the water of life. and drink freely. Come to Christ. I'll leave you with this. It's
kind of a sad note really. You notice he says, if any man
thirsts, let him come unto me. I don't read of anybody coming
to him. What I do read in verse 53, and every man went. That's sad. They went. I don't want you to just go home. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Look to Him. Drink abundantly,
freely of the water of life. Amen. I don't know whether you
have a close in him or... No? Okay. Well, I'll just say God bless
you. You're dismissed then. Is that all right? All right.
Thank you for having me.