Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 7. The title of the message this
morning is, Are You Thirsty? Are You Thirsty? Now, the first twelve verses
of our text, we see a sad description of man and his false religion. The first thing we see here is
man's religious reasoning that contradicts itself and contradicts
God's Word. Verse 25, then said some of them,
Jerusalem, is not this he whom they seek to kill? The Lord,
he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the
rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit,
we know this man whence he is. But when Christ cometh, no man
knoweth whence he is. Now, some people who were of
Jerusalem did know that Pharisees were plotting to take and kill
our Lord. And they said, well, here he
is. This is the man they want to kill. And he's speaking openly. He's not hiding from them. But
they're not taking him. Could it be they changed their
mind and they realized this is the Christ? No, that can't be. That can't be because of what
we know. We know this man. We know his
family. We know where he comes from.
We know where he grew up. He can't be the Christ because
when Christ comes, no man knows whence he is. See, they're contradicting
themselves. And they're contradicting God's
Word with what they know, what they think they know. God's Word
tells us that Christ would be born Bethlehem, that he'd be
born of a virgin. God's Word tells us how to recognize
Christ when he appears. He fulfilled all those pictures,
all those types, all those prophecies. But they wouldn't seek him because
of what they know. They wouldn't seek Christ by
faith. They wouldn't seek Christ by believing God's Word. So they
use this religious reasoning that contradicts itself and contradicts
God's Word. They'd rather believe that than
God's Word. Which leads us to the second thing we see. We see
man and his religion and his willful ignorance. Look at verse
28. Then cried Jesus in the temple
as he taught, saying, You both know me, and you know whence
I am. And I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true,
whom you know not. But I know him, for I am from
him, and he has sent me. Our Lord says, you think you
know who I am. You think. But I'm not the son of Joseph
the carpenter. I'm the son of God. And in your
heart of hearts, you know that. You've seen the miracles. You
know I'm no mere man. But you're willingly ignorant
of what's right in front of you. Not only are you blind by nature,
you don't know the Father, so you're blind by nature, but you
refuse to see. Now, there's none so blind as
those who refuse to see. And that's what they're willfully
ignorant. And man hasn't changed, has he? We see the same thing
in our day. The gospel of grace, the gospel
of substitution that we preach, it's not hard to understand.
Every child in here understands the basic ABCs of the gospel. We understand substitution. That's
not difficult to understand. The reason people don't believe
the gospel is not because they don't understand it. It's because
they do understand it and they refuse to believe it. They refuse
to bow to it. That's the problem. They're willingly
ignorant. And they remain blind because
they are willingly ignorant. Third, in man's false religion,
we see false faith. Look at verse 30. Then they sought
to take him, 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? The Pharisees heard that
the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees
and the chief priests and officers to take him." Now, obviously,
the faith that the Pharisees professed is false faith. I mean,
here they are, they're trying to take God's Son and kill Him.
And ultimately, God will let them. Ultimately, God will put
His Son into their hands and let Him. But let them take our
Lord and put him to death. And they show their false faith
because they wouldn't be humbled. They wouldn't give up the glory
that they get from their false faith and they wouldn't be humbled
before this man, Jesus of Nazareth. They just will not humble themselves. None of us will either. That's
just too humiliating to humble ourselves before this man, Jesus
of Nazareth, unless God's given you faith. That's the only way
we'll ever bow to him, is God gives us faith to see him. Now,
other people, I mean, it's easy to see the false faith of these
Pharisees. Other people, though, they said, we believe him. We
believe he's the Christ. But that's false faith, too,
because why did they believe him? They believed from the head,
not the heart. They believed what they could
see, what they could understand with the natural mind. Look over
in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. If we believe just what we can
understand with our natural mind, that's not faith. That's not
heart faith. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 20. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Doth not God make foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that and the wisdom of God, The world by its wisdom
knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believed. But the world by its
wisdom knew not God. True faith is a gift of God. It's not something we can understand
with the natural mind. It's a gift of faith in the heart
from God. Now, if we're honest, even the
natural man will say, this gospel just makes sense. I mean, it
makes sense. All these other so-called gospels,
none of them make sense. Christ died for people who go
to hell anyway. God loves people who go to hell anyway. That just
doesn't make sense. This gospel makes sense. But
that's not why I believe Christ. Not at all. I believe Christ
because I must believe him. I don't have a choice. If God
gives you faith, you must believe him. I believe Christ secondly
because I need him. He is everything I need. That's why I believe him. I believe
Christ because I see. God's given me eyes to see. I
see him to fulfill everything. Everything that I need. Everything
God requires. Everything I need. I believe
Christ because I see Christ the righteous one as all my righteousness. I see the blood of Christ as
the only way my sin can be cleansed. I see faith in Christ as the
only way I can lay hold upon salvation, because I know this
about myself. There's nothing I can do to save
myself. If I'm going to be saved, Christ is going to have to do
it. I have to lay hold upon Him by faith. I see the power of
Christ as the only way I can be kept from falling. I must
believe Him. Well, only true faith can see
that. You don't believe that because of what you understand
with your head. That's heart faith. Fourthly, in man's false
religion, we see here the futility of man's religion and the futility
of all the religious activity of the flesh. Look at verse 33
back in our text. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet
a little while am I with you. And then I go unto him that sent
me. He shall seek me and shall not find me. and where I am thither
ye cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves,
Whither will he go? Where is he going to 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, He shall seek me, and shall not
find me? and where I am thither ye cannot
come?" Now these are very sobering verses of Scripture. Our Lord
says there is coming a day when you will seek me. But you won't
find me. You won't be able to find me.
Because you cannot come where I am. Now, the Jews scoffed at
that. I mean, that frightens me. It
didn't frighten these people. The Pharisees, our Lord was talking
to, they scoffed at Him. These are the very scoffers and
disputers that the Apostle Paul wrote about, we just read about
in 1 Corinthians 1. They scoffed. They said, where
is He going to go that we can't find Him? Where He can go, we
can go too, you know. Maybe he's going to go someplace
we refuse to go. Maybe he's going to go to the
Gentiles. We refuse to go there. Let the Gentiles have him. I
hope he goes there and let them have him. Isn't that exactly
what happened? That's exactly what happened.
One of the most frightening things I can think of is for the Lord
to give me exactly what I want. I don't know what to pray for
as I ask for all the wrong things. I don't want God to give me what
I want. He knows best. I want Him to
give me the faith to bow to Him and the grace to bow to Him.
He gave those Jews exactly what they wanted. And to this day,
that nation is in judicial blindness. Because He gave them what they
wanted. But now all is not lost. Now this is not just a negative
statement our Lord makes. There is a bright side. And there
is a dark side to this statement that our Lord makes. The bright
side is this. Sure, salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, I'm just going to be
here for a little while, just a little while. Then he's going
to be accepted back where he came from. He's going to be accepted
back to the father and he'll be accepted back there because
he's accomplished everything the father sent him to do. Once
he accomplishes the salvation of his people, he's going to
be accepted back to the father. That's sure salvation for God's
people. But there's also this. Because
our Savior suffered, He's gone to send Him back on high. Every
believer has just a little while until we join Him there. It's
just going to be a little while. And it'll be just a little while
because He's gone to prepare a place for us. Look over a few
pages in John chapter 16. It won't be long. In John 16, verse 16. Our Lord
says, a little while and you shall not see me. And again,
a little while and you shall see me because I go to the Father. It just be a little while and
we'll have what we long for and every believer longs for the
redemption of body and soul. That's the bright side of this
statement. Sure salvation for God's elect,
but the dark side is sure damnation for everyone who refuses to believe
on Christ. You know, people refuse to believe
on Christ all their lives. And one day, maybe towards the
end of life, something happens. They, you know, get scared and
they begin to seek God somehow. But our Lord says, you won't
find me. You'll seek, but you won't find
me. And of course, they won't find Christ. They won't find
salvation because they're looking for Christ in the wrong places.
They're looking for him in their own deeds. They think, well,
if I do this, he'll be pleased with me and he'll come save me.
If I do this God will save me. You'll never find Christ there.
That's not where he's at. Second, they won't find Christ
because they sought him too late. They waited until the day of
grace is over and then it's too late. Our Lord says once that
day of grace is over you will not find me. Now sinful man thinks
this poor little Jesus and who can blame him because this is
who they hear preached. This poor little Jesus, he'll accept
me anytime, anywhere, you know. So there's no hurry. Who can
blame him for thinking that? That's the Jesus, little J, they
hear preached, isn't it? Was that really true? Will he
accept anybody at any time? Look over in Proverbs chapter
one. Even these Pharisees who were
there should have known this. This is not just a New Testament
truth. This is an eternal truth written about in the Old Testament.
This is a scripture they had. Proverbs 1, verse 24, Because I have called, and ye
refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded.
But ye have said it not on my counsel, and would none of mine
reprove. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when
your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish come upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I'll not
answer." It doesn't sound like this fellow we're here preaching
today. He says, you'll call, but I won't answer. They shall
seek me early, and they shall not find me. For that they hated
knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would
not of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled
with their own devices. For the turning away of the sinful
shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall
be quiet from fear of evil." See, they won't find our Lord,
they won't find salvation because they sought Him when the day
of grace is over. Now, that's the black backdrop
of The futility of man's religion. Just a few days from this conversation,
this conversation took place in the middle of the feast, about
the fourth day, eight day long feast. Just a few days after
this conversation, the feast is going to be over and the Jews
have this big processional. They have a big parade and they
parade, this parade, this processional, everybody just dressed up in
their finest, you know. This is the most important part
of the Feast of Tabernacles to the Jews, is this ceremony, this
parade that they go through. They call it the pouring out
of the water. And they have a big parade down to the pool of Siloam. And they have one of the golden
vessels from the tabernacle, from the temple, and they fill
it with water. And they all parade back to the temple, and they
pour this water out upon the altar. And that ceremony is the
highlight of the feast to the Jews. That's why that day, that
last day, is the great day of the feast. Oh, this is the spiritual
highlight of the feast, this parade that we all go through.
Now, in the midst of this failure, the failure of man's religion,
the failure of religious debates contradicting God's Word, the
willful ignorance of man, the false faith of man, the mocking
of God's promised judgment, this religious ceremony that's full
of the flesh, it's just pomp and circumstance of the flesh,
empty of all spiritual worship of the Lord, Now the people are
going home and they're leaving just as empty as when they came.
They went through this ceremony, made the flesh feel good. Oh,
the flesh felt so good, so puffed up. But they don't have any spiritual
life. They poured out the water and
they're impressed with the ceremony. They're impressed with the parade,
pouring out the water, but they're dry. They're thirsty for spiritual
life. And with that black backdrop
of man's nature, This black backdrop of man's lost condition against
this backdrop of people thinking about water. Water's on their
mind. They just went through this ceremony of pouring out
of the water. In the midst of all this, our Lord does something
so wonderful. Now, everything He does is wonderful,
isn't it? His name is wonderful. Everything
He does is wonderful. But look what our Lord does,
and this is so wonderful. Verse 37, in that 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. Now, our Lord stood in a prominent
place. They've gone through the ceremony.
Everybody's going home. He stood in a prominent place
where all these travelers beginning their journey home would seem,
and he cried. Now, he cried because he has
an urgent message. Nothing is more urgent for you
and me than to hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This
is urgent. This is not just a. Convenient
time, you know, we gather together, really nothing else is going
on on Sunday morning, so we get together and see our friends.
Brethren, this is urgent. Nothing more urgent. for you
and me than to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing is more
urgent for you than to hear the gospel and to believe on Him.
So our Lord cried. And look what He cried. If any
man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. If any man. I am so glad He said, any man. Jan and I are signing up for
new health insurance. This thing changing over, you
know, at the beginning of the year. And I was getting everything
set up, and I called the woman, because I thought maybe something's
not right here. So I called the helpline. And
she said, Frank Tate. She gave his address. I said,
no, that's not me. I live in Russell. She said,
well, how about that? There's two Frank Tates in Kentucky. I'm
glad the Lord didn't say, Frank Tate, if you thirst, come to
me and drink. He could have meant that other fella. He said, any
man. If any man thirsts, salvation
in Christ is for Any man. Anyone. Now, hear what I said? Anyone. Salvation in Christ is
not for everyone, but it is for anyone. The only qualification
our Lord gives here is thirst. Thirst. Now, thirst is a sense
of a lack of something that's inside of us. I get thirsty for
water. I don't have enough water. in
my body. My mouth gets dry. As I'm saying
it, my mouth's getting dry. My cells feel dehydrated and
I drink water. It tastes good. It's refreshing. You know why? I didn't have enough
water in me. Now I do. That's why it's refreshing. It answers the need of what's
inside my body. Now, during this big ceremony,
the great day of the feast, They went through this big procession,
they poured out the water, and they also prayed for rain. Now,
why did they do that? Because they know they can't
live without water. It's essential to life. Now,
when water was on their mind, what did our Lord do? He cried,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. See how the
wisdom of our Lord. He preached to people right where
they're at. When they're thinking about water, He showed them Himself
the water of life. He showed us that He Himself
is the answer to our every need. Now, our Lord, the thirst He's
talking about is spiritual thirst. Spiritual thirst is a lack of
something inside us. A sense that I don't have in
me what I need. Now, let me ask you, are you
thirsty? Are you spiritually thirsty? Spiritual thirst is realizing
I don't have any righteousness in me that God requires. I need
righteousness. Somebody's got to give it to
me. Spiritual thirst is realizing I don't have any knowledge. I
don't have any knowledge of God. I don't have any knowledge of
the truth of salvation in Christ. I need somebody to give it to
me. Spiritual thirst is realizing I'm full of sin. I don't have
any reason for the forgiveness of sin in me. I need the forgiveness
of sin. I'm completely empty. I'm completely
hollow. I'm lost. I'm going to hell. And that's exactly what I deserve.
I need the forgiveness of sins. Thirst is a craving because you
don't have what you need inside of you. Now, is any man thirsty? Are you thirsty? Do you have
a craving for righteousness? Do you have a craving for the
forgiveness of sin? Do you have a craving for the
Savior from your sin? Well, if you do, and I hope you
do, the only way that thirst can be quenched is by coming
to Christ. He's the water of life. We thirst
because of sin within. And what we need is grace for
sin from without. And that can only be found in
our Lord Jesus Christ. So come to Christ. He will quench
your thirst. Our thirst is quenched because
Christ, our substitute, took our thirst on Calvary's tree. One of the great sayings of our
Lord from the cross, He cried, I thirst. You know why He did
that? To show us in Him we'll never
thirst again. He took our thirst. He took our
emptiness and gives us His fullness. Now our Lord's speaking to you.
To you. Any man, He says. It doesn't
matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you've
been or what you've done or what you haven't done. If any man
thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. And you know, so our
Lord says here, let him. Let him come to me and drink.
Allow him to come to me and drink. Every obstacle has been removed
by Christ Himself. Christ has lowered every mountain
and raised every valley. So the way to Him is easy, plain
and straight, smooth and clear. God requires righteousness to
be in His presence. I don't have any. Christ has
removed that obstacle. He is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord,
our righteousness. He meets the need. God requires
sanctification to be in His presence. Well, that's the opposite of
me. Then come to Christ. He's our sanctification. That's
no obstacle because He's removed it. He is our sanctification.
God requires sin be paid before I can be in His presence. I have
nothing to pay. Come to Christ. He's the sacrifice
for sin. His blood washes sinners as white
as snow, pays for every sin of all of His people. Christ has
removed every obstacle by meeting the need Himself. He personally is He fills it. Come to Christ. Because you feel
that you're empty, He'll fill you with His fullness. Come to
Christ. Even though you're empty by nature,
even though you lack everything God requires, even though you've
come short of everything God requires, you come to Christ.
You'll be complete in Him. And listen to me. Come to Him
now. Right now, where you sit, you
come to Christ. Don't wait. Don't think, well,
straighten things up a little bit. I'm empty. I'll fill things
up a little bit to make myself more savable. Then I'll come
to him. Brother, if you wait for that, you'll never come and
you'll die on your sins. Right now, where you sit, you
come to Christ because he's all you need. Come to him. Now, what
does it mean to come to Christ? There is an answer to that question.
It's simple. There really is a simple answer
to this question. What does it mean to come to
Christ? I'm afraid that we preachers often muddy the waters in this
thing. Let me see if I can make this simple. Coming to Christ
is simply this. Believing him. What does our
Lord say? Come, let it come unto me and
drink. He that believeth on me. Coming to Christ is believing
him. Believing he is who he says he
is. Believing he did what he said he'd do. It's just believing
Him. And if you believe Him, you'll
trust Christ to do for you everything you need. It's just trusting
Him. But now, this is a command. Come to Christ. That's a command.
It does sound like a very sweet invitation if you're thirsty,
doesn't it? To a sinner. Oh, you've never
heard sweeter words. Come unto me. But it is a command. And it's simple to understand.
Every person here knows what it means when I say, come here.
Every one of you knows what that means. It's simple to understand.
You know, I love our children. I mentioned this Wednesday night.
I'm a hugger. I like to hug, hug y'all. I hug our children
because I want them to know this. This is important. I want them
to know I love them. I care about them. You children,
I care about you. I do. And I hold out my arms
to one of them. They know what that means. It's
very simple. It means, come here, give me
a hug. And if I hold out my arms to them and they run away, there's
just very few reasons why they do that. Number one, could be
because they're bright. None of our children are that.
Now, I mean, I'll show you why I said that in a minute. There
is a point to this. None of our children are that. But could
be they don't trust me. They won't come to me because
they don't trust me. Well, then I got to get to know them so
they'll know I'm trustworthy, right? Then they'll come to me.
Could be if they won't give me a hug because they don't know
me. That guy's a stranger. Well, who can blame them, right?
Well, that guy gets to know them. So they'll know, come give me
a hug. And I'll give you a perfect example of this. At the conference
in November, that's what it was, Tod's Road. I came into the fellowship
hall one evening, the place was packed with people. Everybody
talking, loud and boisterous. And I saw a little Amelia Barty
in there. And I went up to her to give
her a hug. And she just shrunk back, kissed her mama, you know,
she turned her head in. She didn't know me. She's overwhelmed,
all these people and all this, you know, and I was out of my
place. She didn't know me. And Kayla told her, you know,
Frank, he goes to church with us. Amelia's skeptical. She looks at me. And her eyes
flew open and she just gave me a big hug around the neck. Oh,
just made my day. I told Shannon about it. Oh,
it made my day. Why the change? She recognized me. She said,
I know that guy. Now, why don't you come to Christ? There are very few reasons why
a sinner won't come to Christ. It could be because you're a
brat. You're a rebel. And that's a fact. That's why
we come into this world rebels and we refuse to come. You know
what it means to come to Christ, but you refuse because your nature
is rebellious. Could be you won't come to Christ
because you don't think He's trustworthy. Maybe He needs your
help and you don't think He's trustworthy. And that's the very
reason we preach Christ and Him crucified over and over and over
again. Because the moment that you know
Him, the moment He reveals Himself to you and you see Him as He
is and you know Him, you'll throw your arms wide open and you'll
run to Him, begging Him for mercy, begging Him to accept you. And
you know what? He will. What did he say here? Let him come. Let him come. Now, I know this about coming
to Christ. Let me give you three or four things. First of all,
if you're going to come to Christ, you're going to have to leave
where you're at. You have to turn your back on where you're
at and you have to come to Christ. You have to turn your back on
everything that you used to trust in and come to Christ. You're
going to have to turn your back on your self-righteousness and
all your goodness and leave it behind and come to Christ. Secondly, if you're going to
come to Christ, you must come empty-handed. Now, it's for anyone
who will come to Him empty-handed. The gate's narrow. You can't
bring anything with you. Come naked. Come as you are.
Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling.
Sir, you come to Christ when you realize this. You don't have
any other place to go. Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. You only come to Christ when
you are shut up to Christ. You have no other hope other
than him. So you come to him. You'll come
to Christ when you realize I need a substitute. You'll come to
Christ when you realize I need an intercessor. You'll come to
Christ when you realize I need mercy and grace. What's found
in him, I'm coming to him. That's when you'll come to Christ.
And fourthly, I know this about coming to Christ. It's not a
one time act. You know, people say, I came
to Christ, you know, 35 years ago. I was 14. I came to Christ.
Everything settled. I doubt it. Coming to Christ
is not a one time act. You come to Christ continually. When did you first come to Christ
or why did you first come to Christ? We came to him for salvation,
didn't you? Came to Him for forgiveness of
sins. Came to Him to be complete in Him. Well, you know what? You keep coming to Christ for
the same reason. I keep coming to Him for salvation.
I'm coming to Him right now. I keep coming to Him for righteousness.
I keep coming to Him for forgiveness. That's why Peter said, to whom
coming? It's a continual act coming to Christ. And last, coming
to Christ. It's a movement of soul. It's
not a movement of body. It's a movement of heart. Our
Lord said in verse 38, out of his belly, out of his inward
being shall flow rivers of living water. Salvation is an inward
work. It's a heart work. It's a giving
of a new heart. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. It doesn't require movement of
body. It's an inward work, the work of God's mercy and grace.
And when a sinner comes to Christ, he doesn't just get a bucket
of water, he gets living water. Now certainly that's life-giving
water, isn't it? Living water. But it means more than that.
This term, living water, that's the way the Jews referred to
a river, a flowing water. When a sinner comes to Christ,
you don't get a bucket of water. You get a river of living water. And he calls this a river of
water because God's grace is abundant, like a mighty flowing
river, where sin did abound, Grace did much more bound. Flowing
river. And when you're full of living
water, a river of water flowing, you can't help but get some on
people around you, can you? It's a river of water out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now, our Lord
says here, as the scripture has said, where's it say that? Look it up. See if you can find
it. There was a man asked, Henry
had questioned one time, his fourth Sunday school class, about
where something was found. And Henry looked for it. He said,
I can't find it. He said, Frank, we've got time. Run over to the
study. Get a concordance. See where that is. So I ran over
and got the concordance. I looked and looked. I came back
to him and said, it's not there. He said, really? He said, sounds
like it ought to be, but it wasn't there. Well, where is this in
scripture? There's not one specific reference.
Our Lord quotes. You can't find this. What's that
mean then as the scriptures have said? This is the message of
all scripture put together. These are the springs of waters
and the rivers in the desert that Isaiah wrote of. This is
the well of living waters Solomon wrote of. This is the waters
pouring out of the temple that Ezekiel wrote of. All the scripture
together gives us this message. on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Come to him and drink, and out
of your belly shall flow rivers of living water." He gives life
because he is life. And that's the message of the
Holy Spirit. It is today and always has been. Look at verse
39. But this make 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. Now what does that mean? Holy
Ghost is not yet given. Well, we know this. The Holy
Spirit is eternal. He's the Godhead. He's eternal
as the other two members of the Godhead. And he's always been
on the earth. The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the water before creation. So he's always been
on the earth, even before it was created. The Holy Spirit,
we know, is in the Old Testament prophets, inspiring them to write
the Word of God, wasn't he? So he's always been on the earth.
So why is John right that the Holy Ghost was not yet given?
Well, because the Holy Ghost was not yet given in this sense.
The Spirit wasn't given then like he is now, because at that
time, the Lord Jesus was not yet glorified. Now he has been. And the Holy Ghost points to
the finished work of Christ. Now, he's always pointed to the
finished work of Christ, hasn't he? Always. That's always been
his message. But he does so more clearly now.
than in the Old Testament times. In the Old Testament times, the
Holy Ghost prophesied of the finished work of Christ in type
and shadow. Now his message is the finished
work of Christ in the open light of Christ crucified, risen from
the dead and ascended back to the Father. Salvation in Christ
is the message of all the scripture and that message is preached
more clearly today than it's ever been preached before because
Christ has been glorified. He's been crucified and glorified,
and we're without excuse. We see in clear light that Christ
meets our every need. Now, why don't you come to Him?
Are you thirsty? Are you empty of everything God
requires? Are you empty of life? Are you
empty of righteousness? Do you need the forgiveness of
your sin because you're full of nothing but sin? and come
to Christ and drink. He'll satisfy. That thirst is
quenched in Him. All right. Well, I hope the Lord
bless that to you. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how thankful
we are for this precious portion of Thy Word that we've just read. And we pray that You would salt
every soul here, that You'd make us thirsty. for the Lord Jesus
Christ and cause us to run to Him and drink. To run to Him
and find Him to be everything we're not. Everything that we
need to have life. The forgiveness of sins in Him.
What a blessing of Your grace that You would tell guilty sinners
such as we are, come and drink. Come have the forgiveness of
sins in Him. how we do thank Thee for the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You for this gospel that
You've given us to preach. What a blessing. And we beg of
Thee that You grant faith to believe, faith to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, Him and Him alone. For His precious name
we pray.