John's Gospel and the seventh
chapter. Now here in this passage from
verse 32 onwards we have recorded here the last public preaching
of Christ before He was crucified. This is autumn, this is September,
it's the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem and after the winter
the following spring at Easter time which our Easter time but
was the Feast of the Passover He was the Passover Lamb. Christ,
our Passover, was crucified for us, as Paul says to the Colossians.
Christ, our Passover. It was the following Passover,
but here it was September before the Passover, the last public
preaching. There's lots of more dialogue
recorded in the Scriptures, in the Gospels, as to what Jesus
said and did, but that was to relatively small groups of people.
This is the last time He stood in Jerusalem and proclaimed in
Jerusalem, the gospel of His grace. And we've already seen
that there was a polarized response to His preaching. To some, they
heard the same words, the same words of life, and to some, they
were the savor, the taste, the scent, the aroma of life. And to others, those same words
were the stench of death. They were the aroma of death.
To some, a savor of life, and to some, of death. And who is
sufficient for these things, says Paul. This is all in the
grace of God. You see, they heard the same
words, and we know the reason why. Look at John 10, verse 27. You only need to turn a page
or two. When Jesus was speaking to them again, He says, My sheep
hear My voice. Well, look at verse 26. Ye believe
not, because ye are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
That's because they're His sheep. They're His sheep from before
the foundation of the world. But others, in John chapter 8
and verse 47, He that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye therefore
hear. And not of God, they couldn't
hear His words. They were blind. to His words.
But those that do, those that do hear, those that do sense
the Word of God speaking to them, the Word of Christ speaking to
them, they do so because of sovereign grace. And many believe, verse
31 of chapter 7, many believed on Him and said, when Christ
cometh, will He do more miracles than these which this man hath
done? Could He possibly do more than this? No, of course not.
And the Pharisees were incensed 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, to have
him killed, to get rid of him. So why didn't they? Why didn't
they just go and arrest him? Here's one man, and they've got
a legion of soldiers, Roman soldiers and others around them, the officers
of their religion. Why didn't they just go and arrest
him? It would be very easy, wouldn't it? It wouldn't take many people
to arrest me. I mean, I would think it would
take one and him not particularly fit and that would do to arrest.
Why didn't they just go and take him? Look down at verse 46. Down
at the bottom at verse 46. The Pharisees said to the officers,
why haven't you brought him? And the officers answered, never
man spake like this man. We've never heard words like
this. From the lips of somebody who looks like an ordinary man,
we've never ever heard words like this. Why? Because the sharp
two-edged sword of the Word of God that's what Hebrews 4 verse
12 calls it a sharp two-edged sword that cuts to the heart
cuts to the soul cuts right to the core that the sharp two-edged
sword went out of the mouth of the Word made flesh Christ was
the Word made flesh the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us and that sharp two-edged sword of the Word went out of the mouth
of the Word made flesh and they couldn't arrest him never man
spake like this man The best preaching you will ever hear
will only ever be a pale reflection. None of them has ever proven
to be true. Right down to this day, they've
never found Messiah. You shall seek me and you will
not find me. And they've been totally frustrated in their search
for him on earth. You won't find him on earth.
Nor can you go to heaven to find him there. They couldn't follow
him to heaven. And nor can any of us in our
natural state. Do you see what he's saying?
You cannot come. Thither ye cannot come. Do you
know that? You and me. as people. We know
that we're going to die one day. However young you are, you know
you're going to die one day. Where are you going to go? What's
going to happen? Do you remember Margaret saying to her grandchildren,
she said, what do you think is going to happen to me when I
die in a few weeks? She said, I'm not just going to stop existing,
you know? That isn't going to happen. You're
not just going to stop existing. So what's going to happen? Jesus
has said in your natural state, where he's going, which is heaven,
There you cannot come. Do you know why you cannot come?
It's because you're barred by your sin. We're all barred by
our sin. Isaiah 59 and verse 2 says this. This is God speaking. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. And your sins have
hid His face from you that He will not hear. He will not hear. Your sins have hid His face from
you. And in Revelation 21 and verse 27, This is what is said
about heaven. And there shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth. That's me by nature. Neither
whatsoever worketh abomination. That's me and you by nature. Or maketh a lie. That's me and
you by nature. Thither ye cannot come. Do you
realize how dreadful those words are? Think of eternity. Think of the shortness of your
life. You might live 70, 80, 90 years. Think how short your
life is. And then, it's appointed to man
to die once and then the judgment. And Jesus says to the natural
man, where he's going, the bliss of eternal glory, you cannot
come. You cannot come. Because you're
disqualified. You're forbidden. Your sins have
separated. You cannot go there. you cannot. Does that alarm you? Does that
cause you to think, how can I be right with God? How can I avoid
that? Does anyone thirst for righteousness? Because Jesus said in the Sermon
on the Mount, blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled. And what is this righteousness
that we're talking about? Are we talking about the righteousness
that you do and I would do through the works of the law that we
do? No. Paul says to the Romans, by the works of the law, no flesh
shall be justified in his sight. That isn't the righteousness
that God requires. But he goes on to say, Romans
3, 21 and 22, he says, but the righteousness of God is revealed
from heaven. The righteousness of God, this
is what we need. The righteousness of God, which
is by faith of Jesus Christ. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
There is a righteousness which alone God accepts. And it is
the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ. And through
experience is by faith in Jesus Christ. We experience what He
has done through His faithful work. Does anyone thirst for
that righteousness? Do you thirst for that righteousness?
Do you thirst for that as the answer to that question I keep
raising it, how can a man, how shall a man be just with God?
How shall he be accepted in eternity? How shall he get there? Through
the righteousness of God. Well, where is it? Where do I
find it? Where do I get it? It's a rare thing. We look around
and we see so few. We see so much religion. So much
superstition. Jesus said this. He said, When
the Son of Man comes again, shall he find faith in the earth? In
other words, the implication being it's a rare thing. Shall
he find faith in the earth? There's a need for salvation.
A desperate need for salvation. If your soul is crying out, what
must I do to be saved? Oh, praise God for that. Praise
God for that. That He's made you sensible of
eternity. He's made you sensible of the
fact that by yourself in your nature, thither ye cannot come. You cannot come there by yourself
because you're disqualified. We're all from birth by nature
as children of Adam, disqualified. But then he stands up in verse
37. They're puzzled by his saying.
We won't spend time on that, but we come to verse 37. And
we see secondly, the means of salvation. The means of salvation. There's a need of salvation because
by nature we cannot go there. But there's a means of salvation.
It was the last day. Look, 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, and he that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water." The means of salvation. This
is the Feast of Tabernacles. It was an eighth day feast. An
eight day feast. And it was the last day of the
feast. And it was what was called that great day. Why was it called
that great day? It was because the Jews had added
their own superstitions. to the stipulations of Scripture,
the clear teachings of Scripture. They'd added their own teachings
to it, and their own practices. They'd added their own liturgy
to it, of their own invention. As you see in religion all around
the world, man always makes up his own superstitious liturgy
to add to the truth of God. Do you know, the basis of Roman
Catholicism is the truth of Scripture, but it's so distorted now, it's
just absolutely full of the corrupt inventions of man. And so it
goes with virtually every religion you see around you. It's exactly
the same today. Just empty religious form. What
they'd done was they'd added on a ceremony. Because it was
autumn and they were about to go into winter, in these Mediterranean
countries you need a lot of rain in winter so that the crops will
grow in the spring and the summer because it's very dry in the
spring and the summer. So they rely on the winter rains to build
up groundwater which will irrigate the crops. And so they went through
this ritual that they'd added on to the end of the Feast of
Tabernacles. They would go down to the River Shiloh outside Jerusalem
with their buckets and they'd get buckets of water and they'd
bring them in a parade up into Jerusalem and they'd pour them
out over the altar. We know this because of historical
writings at the time. We know that this is what they
used to do. They'd added this on. And they might have. The best you can say is that
they were looking at scriptures like Isaiah 12 and verse 3, which
talks about drawing water from the wells of salvation. Drawing
water from the wells of salvation. That's the best you can say about
it. I'm much more inclined to the opinion that it was no such
thing. There was no scriptural basis. This was superstition.
This was a sort of a religious rain dance. That's all it was.
They were doing a ceremony because they thought the ceremony would
make it rain. Just like the Israelites at times
in the past, when they'd gone away from the things of God,
they thought the Ark of the Covenant was like a good luck charm that
would help them in their battles and their dealings with other
nations. Not at all. And Jesus saw this. Jesus the
man saw this. He saw what they were doing.
You know that erroneous practices of false religion often stimulate
preaching of contrasting truth. I often, if I hear something
on a religious radio broadcast, the service on Radio 4 on a Sunday
morning, if it happens to be on, and I'll hear something and
I'll think, a message needs preaching on that. That was error. A message
of truth needs preaching. If I ever see anything on things
like the God Channel, which I don't, I don't have it in my repertoire
at all, and I wouldn't touch it with a proverbial barge pole,
absolutely not. You see things there which are
so blatantly contrary to the Word of God and to the truth
of Christ, that they often act as a stimulus to preach the truth.
And so it was with Christ. He stood and preached. Look,
in that last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and
cried. He stood and proclaimed loudly. And what did He proclaim? His
normal pattern was to sit, but this time He stood. It was His
last public preaching. It was the last public declaration
of the Gospel from the lips of the Word of God, the Son of God.
And He said, if any man thirst. Here's the water being poured
out in superstitious ritual. Here's the water religiously
being poured out because it might do you some good. And you know
those people are so well intentioned and they only intend good. And
there he saw this evil superstition being added to the truth of God.
And he says, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. If any man thirst. If any man
thirst. What is this thirst that he's
talking about? Obviously, the allusion is to
water and physical thirst. But what is the thirst he's speaking
of? If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He didn't
have flagons of water to give people. What is he talking about?
He's talking about soul thirst for peace with God. Thither ye
cannot come. Oh, I long to be at peace with
the living God. Thither ye cannot come. Oh, I
long to spend eternity with God. You are barred. Thither ye cannot
come. Your sins have separated between you and me. Nothing that
defiles will be allowed in there. Oh, I long to be there. This
is soul thirst for peace with God. This is anxiety over guilt
and sin. Anxiety that we must face a God
who is just and holy. We must answer for what we are,
for we're responsible. In the judgment of God, we're
responsible. shall the clay say to the potter why have you made
me thus? He is God and he is holy and we are sinful and the
evidence yes we're born in sin but the evidence do we not commit
sin every day in thought word and deed yes we do this is soul
thirst for peace with God this is hunger and thirst for the
righteousness of God to be accepted by God this is the thirst for
cooling water do you remember the parable of the rich man and
Lazarus And the rich man is in hell. And there's Lazarus who
suffered all his life. And the rich man in hell says,
send to my brothers and tell them about these things. And
Jesus says, if they won't hear Moses and the prophets, they
will not believe though one should rise from the dead. We have the
word. We have the more sure word of
prophecy to which we do well to take heed. Believe this word.
Read this word. Ask God for understanding of
it. For if you will not believe this, you won't believe though
any number of miracles be done. And then he says, well, send
somebody just to dip his finger in cooling water and put it on
my tongue because I am sorely tormented in the heat of this
flame in hell. These are the words of Jesus,
my friend. These are the words of Jesus about eternity. Send
that somebody might just dip his finger in water to soothe
the agony that I'm in at this moment. This is thirst for cooling,
for cooling water. It's thirst to soothe the parched
soul that dreads sin, that dreads death and that dreads judgment.
That parched soul that can find no refreshment in its own works.
For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified.
It's what the Philippian jailer said. He knew soul thirst in
that moment. He knew he was going to die imminently
because the prison had been broken open. And he thought the prisoners
had gone. And he knew that he was going
to die And he said, what must I do? Sirs, what must I do to
be saved? Don Forton has written this,
and I think this is very good. Do you know what the very first
step toward heaven is? Oh, I'm going to reform my ways,
and I'm going to turn over a new leaf, and I'm going to stop doing
that practice, and I'm going to give up that, and I'm going
to start doing all this. Is that the very first step towards
heaven? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. The very first
step toward heaven is to be thoroughly convinced that we deserve hell.
That's the very first step. To be thoroughly convinced that
by nature we deserve hell. Have you ever thirsted for this
water, this soul satisfying water of Christ? Do you thirst for
it now? Do you thirst to have peace with
God? Do you thirst to know that it
is well with my soul? Well, if you do, hear Christ's
words. and come to him to drink. If
any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. If any man thirst. And in drinking, you'll experience
the quenching of your soul's thirst. Did you notice how broad
an invitation there is here? If those that know they're the
elect, come unto me. No, he doesn't say that. He says,
if any man thirst. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me." There's no other qualification. Oh, he doesn't say, let those
that are feeling repentant come. No, he doesn't say that. He says,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me. He doesn't say, if any
man has already turned over a new leaf and resolved to live for
me, let him come. No, he says, if any man thirst,
let him come to me. No other qualification is stipulated.
So you might say, Well, surely this is contradicting what I
constantly go on about, about election and particular redemption
and the purposes of God before the beginning of time and how
they're unchangeable and how every one of the people that
the Father gave to the Son before the beginning of time will come
to Him and will be saved and will be drawn and brought and
taken to glory and He shall not lose a solitary one of them.
What about election? What about sovereign grace? Surely
this whosoever contradicts that, doesn't it? Surely this, if any
man, any man, surely it contradicts that. Not in the slightest. Not
in the slightest. Turn back a page. You might have
to turn back two pages. John 6, 37. John 6, 37. All that the Father
giveth me, says Jesus, all the people that the Father gives
me shall come to me. All of them shall. Not one of
them shall be lost, he says. And listen, second half of that
verse. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. How do I know whether I'm one
of those that the Father gave to the Son from before the beginning
of time? And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast
out. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Come to him. And then Revelation
22. You know these were the last words of Jesus publicly preached,
other than his ministry to smaller groups. Publicly preached. Well,
they're nearly the last words in the Bible. Revelation 22,
verse 17. Just three or four verses from
the end. You can turn to it if you want to, but it's so easy
to look up later. Revelation, listen, these are the last words
that the scriptures say. The only thing after these is
the injunction not to add anything or take anything away. And Revelation
22, 17 says this, say come and let him that is
a thirst come and whosoever will whosoever wants to let him take
of the water of life freely. It's just exactly what John said
in 8 47 as we looked up earlier. He that is of God heareth God's
words. He is that drawing. It's just
exactly what he said in John 6 44. no man can come to me except
the father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him
up at the last day if you are thirsty if you will to come to
God if you want that soul peace with God it's because God's spirit
has made you thirsty and the reason he's made you thirsty
is that you're among those whom the father gave to the son from
before the beginning of time I still reckon that there's a
hymn somewhere but I cannot find it that talks about the grace
whose fears alarmed me and woke me from my slothful ease. The
grace of God alarms us and causes us to seek for salvation and
to sue for mercy and to come to Christ. This is how God draws
his people. This is how the Father draws
people to the Son and without it None of us will ever naturally
thirst for peace with God. This is it. He draws his people.
But what is it to come? That's what the thirst is. What
is it to come? It's to believe. It's to believe
that Christ is the substitute for his people. It's not just
to believe that Christ came or that there is a God. The devils
believe all of that. The devils believe that and they
tremble. No, no, it's not just to believe the facts of scripture.
but it's to believe and sense that Christ is my substitute
before that broken law of God that I need to live perfectly
and righteously and I need to pay the full penalty for my sins
and I did in my substitute for He is my federal head this is
what it is to come to Him it's to believe Him because this is
what He said it's to believe Him that He is the substitute
it's to believe that I am so united with Him so that all He
did I did in Him. I did it. I'm declared righteous
because I was righteous in Him. I'm declared sinless because
all of my sins were paid for in Him. So who shall bring any
charge that will stick in the courts of divine justice against
me? Because He died in my place and He bore my sins. He who knew
no sin bore my sin. He was made sin. He was made
sin. he didn't just take responsibility
for my sin he was made sin and as a he was never a sinner but
bearing my sin he was counted guilty in the judgment of God
of my sin and God justly punished him God could not punish somebody
who was not guilty Jesus was made sin Christ was made sin
for his people and therefore righteously and justly suffered
the full penalty of the law in the place of his people And that
sacrifice was accepted. And God raised him from the dead.
So what is it to come is to believe Him. To believe that we're united
with Him. It's trusting that He's satisfied
justice for us. That He has paid the sin debt.
That He's blotted out, as the Scriptures say, blotted out our
sins. That in that record of the dealings
of mankind, which will all be opened in the day of judgment
when the books will be opened read it at the end of Revelation
the books will be opened and everybody will be judged according
to the deeds that they've done against the strict justice of
the law of God but those who are written in the Lamb's book
of life they're judged in Christ we must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ to give an account and this is what you
believe if you're his child you believe this that when you're
called before that judgment seat of Christ before your mouth is
ever opened, in response, you hear this voice coming, and it's
the voice of Christ saying, I lived like this, and I did this, and
I bore those sins, and they're paid for. And that's what it
is. As a believer to stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
that's what it is. That's what it is. The charge
is read out, and the voice comes, and it's the voice of Christ.
I stood in His place. I lived in His place. I bore
His sins. I established His righteousness.
Let him go free. I found a ransom, says the scripture.
Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what it is to believe. That's what it is to come to
Christ and drink. That's what it is to have your
soul thirst quenched. He's paid the sin debt. He's
blotted out the sins. He's left nothing of which anyone
can justly charge God's elect. there is therefore says Paul
Romans 8 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus no condemnation no condemnation now I dread Romans
5 verse 1 therefore being justified by faith and it's the faith of
Christ it's the faithfulness of Christ that justifies us it's
believing in Christ that brings us to the apprehension and the
experience and the knowledge of this situation being justified
by faith we have peace with God is that not soul satisfying is
that not soul quenching is that not good to say yes we're all
going to die I'm going to die I know that it's appointed for
me to die once but then comes the judgment and no condemnation
now I dread no condemnation because I'm in Christ and he has forgiven
me and saved me and bore my curse the curse that that cursed tree
he bore it in my place for cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree
and then Romans 15 verse 13 Paul says this to them now the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace peace with God in believing
And thus the sinner's thirst for that same peace is quenched
in Christ. Come and drink, and what stops
you? It says somewhere else in the
scriptures, why will ye die? Why will ye die? Do you not hear
the Son of God pleading? If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. Do you not hear him say, and
let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is a thirst
come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life. freely. Oh, what great salvation. What
a glorious gospel. We are saved to the uttermost
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so then thirdly, what are
the consequences of this salvation? Look in verse 38. He says, Let
him come to me and drink, and he that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. What's he talking about there?
Rivers of living water. Come to me and drink and out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He's talking
about this. The soul that believes the Holy
Spirit plants a new man inside. That same old sinful flesh is
there and will be until the day it's laid in the ground. Until
it returns to dust. But the Holy Spirit puts a new
man inside. He gives new sight. He gives
new hearing. that whereas before we were not
of God and couldn't hear the things of God, He now gives that
hearing and that sense. And the natural man which cannot
receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
to him, He gives him the mind of Christ so that he does see
them and know them and experience them. And what flows out is that
man of the Holy Spirit, that new man which is the creation
of God. And that new man is an inexhaustible reflection of Christ's
character. And you say, what me? No, not
me. I've been a believer for years
and I don't see that. When have I ever given you a
cup of cold water? When did we ever visit you? And
the children of God are totally unaware. Totally unaware. They're not strutting around
ticking up bonus points and gold stars on their card for heaven
because of all that they do. But it does. It flows out. It's
the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. You
see at this time of year the blossoms are coming out and they're
absolutely beautiful. Now if you go down to where they
grow apples in Kent and Somerset and all around there, you won't
see the farmers, whatever you call apple growers, you won't
see them going out preaching at the apple trees to bear apples
in the autumn. You won't see them going out
berating the apple trees that unless they behave in a certain
way they will be cut down and berating them that if they don't
bear fruit they will be thrown away. No. They're apple trees. And being apple trees, they'll
bear apples, and the pear trees will bear pears, and so on. And
they'll bear that fruit of the Spirit. That's what this is. That's what this living water
flowing out from inside, it's the fruit of the Spirit as Galatians
5.22 says, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
all of these things, all of these things against which there is
no law. The flesh still sins. The flesh
is still selfish and inconsiderate. You know that. That's my experience.
And hurtful. All of those things. But the
new man is repentant. The new man is sorrowful. The
new man is peacemaking. The new man is loving to all,
but especially to those who are of the household of faith. The
new man is considerate. The new man is helpful. The new
man is well-meaning. The new man is thoughtful. And all of these things are rivers
of living water flowing out that Christ speaks of here in verse
38. And so we're constrained. How are we constrained? Not by
law as the rule of life. The law is not the believer's
rule of life. The law is that which justly
condemns the natural man. We're not constrained by the
law as the rule of life. We're not constrained by fear
of loss and punishment. But by the love of Christ. For
the love of Christ constrains us. Perfect love drives out fear. We're not under law, but under
grace. And the new man bears the fruit of the Spirit. So do
you thirst? Will you come? Will you see and
trust and rest in our Lord Jesus Christ? Will you follow Him and
find life? This is no new gospel that Christ
is preaching. This wasn't something new. He
says, as the Scripture hath said in verse 38, As the Scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Now you can look up in your concordance all you like or your online Bible
and you will not find those words anywhere else in the Scripture.
So where did he mean? Was Jesus being a bit liberal
with his use of quoting the Scripture? Well no, of course not. Of course
not. He was preaching the Scriptures.
I'm convinced that when Christ preached we have here a tiny
proportion of what he actually said but I'm convinced that what
he did was he expounded the scriptures for these are they which speak
of him turn back to Isaiah chapter 12 and we'll just look at the
ones in Isaiah because our time's just about gone Isaiah chapter
12 I want to show you that this is nothing new that Jesus was
saying that this is exactly as the scripture has said Isaiah
chapter 12 and look at verse 3. Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. With joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Turn over to chapter
35. Isaiah chapter 35 and verses
6 and 7. You could even start in verse
5, "...the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears
of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as an heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters..." Wilderness is a dry, parched land. There's
no water there. But in the wilderness, spiritual
wilderness, of the dryness and the drought of the human soul
as it is before God, "...there shall waters break out." and
streams in the desert. Is your soul a desert in terms
of the knowledge of God and peace with God? Then in this gospel
of grace in coming to Christ waters shall break out, streams
in the desert, the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty
land springs of water. Then chapter 41 and verse 18
chapter 41 and verse 18 God says, I will open rivers
in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs
of water. Chapter 44 and verse 3. For I will pour water upon him
that is thirsty. If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. I will pour water on him that
is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. And I will pour My
Spirit on thy seed and My blessing upon thine offspring." And then
probably the best known, chapter 55. Look at chapter 55 and verse
1. Is this not Christ speaking?
On that great day, that last day of the feast? Ho, everyone
that thirsteth. Verse 1 of chapter 55. Ho, everyone
that thirsteth. Come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, what does it say in Revelation? Freely
take of the water of life freely. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Everyone that thirsteth." This
is why the Scripture says these things. What about verse 39? I'll just say this in closing.
In brackets there you'll see, He spoke of the Spirit. Rivers
of living water. He spoke of the Spirit which
they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was
not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Does that
give us a problem? No, He's speaking of Pentecost.
He's speaking of Pentecost that would follow His crucifixion
and resurrection. It wasn't that nobody had the
Holy Spirit. Of course David had the Holy Spirit. Psalm 51
verse 11, David prays, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Of course
he had the Holy Spirit. The patriarchs had the Holy Spirit.
They knew the Spirit of God, but at Pentecost. After redemption
was accomplished in time. Yes, He was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. but he had to come in time and
accomplish salvation when when redemption was accomplished in
time the spirit was fully outpoured and that's what he's talking
about it was great blessing to the gentiles previously it had
been confined to that little nation that little nation on
earth the least of all the nations so now we who believe have the
spirit and if any man have not the spirit of christ he is none
of his because he is come and he is given. If any man thirst,
let him come to me and drink. Amen. We're going to sing Joseph Hart's hymn,
Come ye sinners poor and rich