By the time our Lord Jesus came
into this world, the Jews' religion, Judaism was the Jews' religion
now. By the time he came into this
world, the Jews' religion had degenerated into nothing but
an outward form. It bore very little resemblance
to the worship of God that was established by the hand of Moses
when the Lord God took him and showed him the pattern in the
heaven for the making of the tabernacle and the ordinances
of divine worship. They retained much of the outward
form. The holy days. Their holy convocations. Well, we love that kind of stuff,
don't we? Holy days and holy convocations. They required these
things by the law and the Jews practiced them with great meticulous
care. But they knew nothing of spiritual
worship. And really, they didn't care
anything at all about the meaning of the ordinances they practiced.
They just did them. They retained what they wanted. They observed the things they
enjoyed. They practiced those aspects
of religion by which they gained something. Everything else in
the book of God, they totally ignored. Everything else, they
just ignored it. Just ignored it. So thoroughly
did they ignore it that they forgot the meaning of things
given by the law and given by the prophets. Much like most churches I've
been in my life. Much like most the religion I
see going on around me. Much like most churches in Boyle
County, in the state of Kentucky, in the United States, and around
the world. They retain what they want. They observe what they enjoy. They practice that which gives
them gain. and everything else they just
ignore, just ignore it. In addition to that mockery of
God and their religion was now an utter mockery of God, the
Jews had more religious traditions and more customs of purely human
invention than a dog has fleas. They were covered up with religious
customs and traditions that they had invented more in number than
the laws given by God and more important to them than the laws
given by God. During the Feast of Tabernacles
on the eighth day of the feast, that is the last day of the feast,
it is that which the Jews considered to be the great day of the feast.
They read the last section of the law And then there was a
climactic finish. You won't find it in the book
of Leviticus, and you won't find it in the book of Deuteronomy,
but there was a climactic finish, the most solemn part of the Feast
of Tabernacles. Purely human invention, but it
must have been impressive. They read the last section of
the law, and as they were reading the last section of the law,
They made a great, impressive procession from the temple down
to the River Shiloh, carrying buckets. I think about this, and I think
about, it gets to be Christmas time, and churches around here,
they're going to have grown-up human beings. Grown-up human
beings. I'm not talking about the kind
in the nuthouses now. I'm talking about grown-up human
beings have a living Christmas tree and hold a little candle.
And it's so sweet, isn't it? It's so good. It's so stupid. So insane. Call it worshipping
God. They have their processions and
their plays and their skits. You see, folks have their observed
various holy days, different religions, and see grown men
put on costumes. I wouldn't be caught dead in
entertaining my children as a clown. And they call it a procession
of religious activity. Well, these fellows, they made
a great procession, carrying their buckets down to Shiloh,
and they would scoop up a bucket of water and carry their buckets
full of water back up to the temple. And in the solemn conclusion
of the Feast of Tabernacles, they'd take the buckets and give
them to the priest and the priest would go over and pour it on
God's altar and pour it on the floor around the altar until
the whole temple floor is covered with the waters of Shiloh. And
as they did, the people would sing with joy. Shall you draw water out of the
wells of salvation? That's exactly where we are in
John chapter 7, verses 37, 38, and 39. The Jews had been up
to their annual Bible conference at the Feast of Tabernacles in
Jerusalem. They'd been there for eight days
now. They'd gone through all their rites, performed all their
ceremonies, done all their sacrificing, given all their gifts, made all
of their social contacts, and now they're on their way home.
They'd come up empty, and they're going home empty. They'd come
up thirsty, and they're going home thirsty. They'd come up
needy, and they're going home needy. They came up hungry, and
they're going home hungry. They had practiced and practiced
and practiced religion and their religion left them thirsty. And the Lord Jesus could hardly
stand the sight of these poor souls headed back home with nothing. And he found some conspicuous
place, some elevated place as the folks came out of the temple
and headed home down the hill where they could all see him
and hear it. Verse 37. In the last day, the great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. That is, he lifted up
his voice and spoke loudly enough that men could hear him everywhere
saying, if any man thirst. Walking through puddles of water,
he says, if any man thirst, walking away from religious activity
that involved using lots of water. 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. But this spake he 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. Are you thirsty? Now are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Oh, Brother Don, what I wouldn't
give to have a drink of that water. Are you thirsty? You're welcome
to it. You're welcome to it. But that's
nothing. Is there a thirst in your soul
for peace with God? For righteousness? For ease of
conscience? for joy in your heart, for forgiveness
of sin. Are you thirsty? The Lord Jesus
stands before you in the gospel and says to every thirsty sinner,
come to me and drink. Are you thirsty? Let me talk
to you for a minute about this thirst. If any man Thirst. Thirst is something that won't
go away. It just won't go away until it's
quenched. You can try to ignore it, but
it won't go away. You can try to pretend it's not
there, but it won't go away. The thirst our Savior speaks
of here is a spiritual thirst, a thirst of the soul and of the
heart. It's that anxiety of soul created
by the spirit of God when he convinces a man of sin, that
desire that he puts in a man's soul for pardon, for a sense
of freedom from guilt. a longing for peace of conscience,
arising from the dread of judgment and the terror of hell. Do you
feel your guilt, your iniquity? Well, brother, I don't go on
feelings. Me neither, but I promise you,
you'll never seek forgiveness until you feel your guilt. It
won't happen. Are you sensible of your soul's
need? Do you want help? Do you want relief? If so, the
Savior's words for you. If any man thirsts, The Jews
who heard Peter preach on the day of Pentecost were pricked
in their hearts. They began to thirst. They said,
sirs, what must we do? The Philippian jailer, who was
terrified that Paul and Silas had escaped, having heard the
things that Paul and Silas talked when they said to him, don't
harm yourself, we're here. He said, sirs, what must I do
to be saved? He was thirsty. Are you thirsty? The fact is, Very few people
are. Most people are thirsty for every
vain thing there is in this world. Thirsty for money. Thirsty for
fame. Thirsty for property. Thirsty
for recognition. Thirsty for lots of things. Thirsty
to be accepted people. Thirsty for folks to recognize
who they are. People thirst for everything
vain, everything meaningless. Few people thirst for mercy. I'll give you proof. See the
empty seat sitting here? Few people thirst spiritually. Few people thirst for God's salvation. Oh, but blessed are those who
know something by experience of the spiritual thirst. This is where Christianity begins. This is where. This is where
things began in this blessed life that God, the Holy Spirit
gives us. Turn to Matthew chapter five, I'll show you. Until you know you're lost, you
can't be saved. Now, you can do with that what
you want to, but that's a fact. The very first step toward heaven
is to be thoroughly convinced that you deserve to go to hell
and that you're going right now. That sense of sin which sometimes
alarms a man, that sense of sin that makes
a man think that of all cases, His is the one that is hopeless. That sense of sin that makes
a man or woman aware that is hopelessly lost, utterly undone. The best thing on this earth
happened to you. Best thing on this earth happened
to you. My good friend, Brother Harry
Graham, I've told you this so many times. I was sitting on his hearth one
night. We were talking about Holy Spirit conviction. And he
said to me, he said, Don, when the Holy Spirit comes on a man,
begins to work in a man, if you could see what was going on,
you'd say to yourself, I wouldn't treat a mad dog like that. I
wouldn't treat a mad dog like that, because the Spirit of God's
going to rip a man apart. He's going to lay open his heart. He's going to lay him in the
dust before God. This is what our Savior says.
Matthew five. Verse three. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Not the poor. You can be just
as rich in your own opinion about yourself spiritually with not
a penny to your name as the richest man walking. Blessed are the
poor in spirit, that is those who are empty on the inside,
who've got nothing, nothing to commend them to God, who have
nothing They can offer to God nothing to silence a guilty conscience. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, who lament, who moan, who hurt,
who carry heaviness, grief by reason of what they are, for
they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek. The meek. Who are the meek? Meekness, Daniel, is not anything
at all like we observe men speaking of it as being. Meekness is not
a show of humility. It's not a pretense before men
that you're just sort of a doormat and you've got no character,
no backbone, no spine. Moses was a meek man and Pharaoh
was scared to death of him. Meekness is not something men
see and observe and applaud. Meekness is knowing who and what
you are before God Almighty. And if God Almighty ever makes
you know who and what you are, I promise you meekness will possess
you. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. They're God's elect. Blessed
are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. That's it. They shall be filled. How broad how inclusive these
words are. If any man thirst. Don't you like that? Any man. I never met another Fortner in
my life until I was pastoring in Lookout, West Virginia. There's
a fellow down the road by the name of Fortner. And then I moved
to Danville, opened up a bank account, and there was a preacher
in town. whose name was Fortner. His name
was Don Fortner. He was a little old bitty Armenian
Methodist youth director, pastor, senator. I met him one time,
looked like Ronald McDonald. And his bank account number was
one digit from mine. We closed the account and moved
elsewhere. Of course, I didn't want to be confused with him.
But I tell you what, I'd much rather read this word from our
Savior, any man. then hear him say, if Don Fortner
thirst, then come to me and drink. Because I happen to know there's
another Don Fortner around. And I would dead sure conclude
he was talking about that other fella, not me. Ah, but Skip,
he said any man. I qualify. Any man! Any of the human race! Any man. no matter who he is, no matter
what his name is, no matter what he's done, no matter where he's
been, no matter what he's been. Can you imagine that? Pastor, you don't know what I am. God
never saved me. You're just the fella I'm looking
for. Ah, but if you knew me, You wouldn't
have anything to do with me, you wouldn't let your wife speak
to me. You're the one I'm looking for. You're the one I'm looking
for, any man, any man. If you're thirsty, the invitation's
for you. No other qualification. Are you
thirsty? Our Lord doesn't say a word here.
Now, if you're thirsty and repent, if you're thirsty and you're
willing to make amends, if you're thirsty and you've been rightly
prepared. If you're thirsty and what is
it you said you know? If you're thirsty and your life
has taken a change. No, he says, are you thirsty? Do you feel
the weight of your sin? The weight of guilt pressing
you down to hell? Are you thirsty? If any man thirst,
let him come to me. I'll do this next line. The Savior
says, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Here's the fountain of life,
the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, the smitten rock
that gushes forth rivers of living waters, the well of salvation,
Here he is, he stretches out his hands to poor, needy sinners
and he calls thirsty sinners to come to him and drink. Because he's the supplier of
all spiritual necessities. Whatever you need. Whatever you need, cleansing
or comfort. Grace or guidance. Whatever it
is that you need for your soul, Christ alone supplies it. The church can't supply it. Baptism
can't supply it. The bread and wine of the Lord's
table can't supply it. And it's dead sure the preacher
can't supply it. Christ is the supplier. Christ
is the reliever of all spiritual needs. He calls all. who feel the heavy burden of
sin to come to him and find relief. These words, let him come unto
me are so simple. So I wonder who wouldn't understand
those words if they were used with regard to anyone else or
by anyone else. bring a baby up from the nursery
I've never seen in my life and let me sit down on the floor
or squat down there if I could get down and get back up again
and just most that baby come to me. He'll know exactly what
I'm saying. And he'll either stretch out
his arms and start trying to come to me or he'll draw back
and say, I'm not about to come to you. One of the two. He'll
understand exactly what I'm saying. What does this mean, come to
me? It means come to me. Come to me. Not to the preacher.
Not to the church. Not to doctrine, not to a religious
system, not to a changed way of living, not to a change of
clothes. Come to me! Let him come unto
me and drink. The words mean exactly this. Let him believe on me. Let him
trust me. Let him trust me, that child
that draws back. You know why they draw back?
Just because they don't trust me. These children don't know
me. Oh, they don't draw back. They're
anxious to come. But, oh, I'm not sure I can come
to you. Not sure I can come to you. The Savior says, come to
me and drink. Simple as these words are, they
settle a question that all the wisdom of the Greeks and the
Roman philosophers could never settle. I'm not trying to think about
what I'm going to say, I'm trying to get you to think about it. What question is that? How can
I have peace with God? How can I have peace in my conscience? How can I have peace in my soul?
How can I have peace? I take pills for that, Brother
Dodd. You better keep taking them, because as soon as they
wear off, they'll be gone. How can I have peace? Come to me. These words tell us that peace
is to be had by trusting Christ alone as our Savior, our Mediator,
our God, our King. He says, come. Believe on me. To come to him is to believe
on him. To believe on him is to come to him. It's not talking
about something physical. You know that. Not talking about
getting up and walking out of your seat. You can't get to Christ
by getting up, Frank, from where you are and walking down here
to where I am. You can't come to him that way. Nobody ever
did. Nobody. Coming to him is a spiritual
act. It's an act of the heart. It's an act of your soul. Coming
to him is To cast yourself on Him. Commit yourself to Him. Believe Him. Receive Him. Embrace Him. To come to Him is
to receive all grace from Him. To come to Him is to receive
the adoption of children. To come to Him is to receive
the blessings of grace. It is to receive power from God
to be called the sons of God. To come to Him. is to receive
the atonement, to come to Him, is to receive all the gifts that
He gives to sinners. And the saints of God in every
age have been and are still men and women who drink at this fountain. Drink here by faith and find
relief. You who are yet without my Savior,
will you look around this room here this morning? Here are Here
are some many women, old and young, who've been drinking at
this fountain for a while. They'll verify everything I'm
telling you. These many women have experienced this thirst
of soul and the relief of their soul's thirst by the quenching
waters of grace in Christ the fountain. We felt our guilt. and emptiness and thirsted for
deliverance. We heard of all the full supply
of pardon and mercy and grace in Christ Jesus for all who trust
Him. And we believed. We cast aside every confidence
in ourselves, every former hope we had. Everything on which we
once leaned. And coming to Christ, we found
relief. Coming to Him daily, we live. And coming to Him, we hope to
die. That's to whom coming? To whom
coming? Life begins coming to Him. Life is continued coming to Him. And life ends in this world,
coming to Him. This fountain is Christ Jesus
the Lord. He says, come unto me and drink. That is, come to me and freely take. Freely take. Come to me and freely take everything. everything in me. Free to take
everything your soul needs. Take cleansing, peace, and forgiveness,
and justification, and righteousness, and sanctification, and wisdom,
and redemption. Take from me everything. Come to the fountain and drink. But this fountain's good for
more than drinking. You can bathe in this fountain.
Bathe and bathe your soul clean. Day after day after day. Bathe
in the fountain of Christ Jesus. Ralph Barnard had been driving
to a meeting out west and he and his wife Mabel were going
through Yellowstone National Park, and they came to that fountain,
geyser out there, Old Faithful, they called it. And Barnard had
had trouble with his car and had been working on it, and he
stood there for a little while, and then he got his handkerchief
out, where he'd wiped grease off of his hands. He reached
over there and washed that handkerchief in his hands in that geyser. And as he's washing, he began
to sing, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. And he didn't notice
somebody behind him. And they said, can we join you
on the second verse, preach? Bathe in this fountain and swim
in it. enjoy it, drink, bathe, and swim
in the fountain. Now look at the promise in verse
37. The Lord Jesus promises life
to all who come and drink, but he promises more than life. Can
there be more than life? More than life? Look at it. Here's
a promise that every thirsty sinner who comes to him and drinks
shall have life in himself, a river of life flowing out of his belly. He will have life and life will
flow out of him. Look at verse 38. He that believeth
on me as the scripture has said, As the scripture has said, well
that refers to believing on him or does that refer to out of
his belly? Yeah, that's what it refers to. Believe him. As the scripture has said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. All who come
to Christ by faith find in him abundant satisfaction. and the believing sinner coming
to Christ, finding infinite, complete satisfaction
in Him, that believer becomes a fountain of life to others.
Imagine that. Imagine that. A fountain of life
to others. Do you remember what the Lord
promised Abraham concerning his seed? He said, I will bless him
and make him a blessing. I will bless you and make you
a blessing. That's the promise. Oh, what a fountain of life Christ
is. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Once far from God and
dead in sin, no light my heart could see. But in God's word
the light now shines and Christ liveth in me as rays of light
from yonder sun the flowers of earth set free. So life and light
and love come forth from Christ living in me. Oh, what a salvation this that
Christ liveth in me. What peace. what joy, what delight
I find with Christ in me, the hope of glory. How'd you get
that? I've been drinking. He's mine. He's mine. Christ lives in me. And I can't tell you Anything better than this about
my Redeemer? In myself, I found nothing but disappointment. Nothing but disappointment. In my Redeemer, I've never found
disappointment. Never. Never. what a blessing Christ in me
is and what a blessing my God has made his people to me. Same
sinners constantly have rivers of water,
living water flowing out of their bellies. There's lots of ways to explain
that and I guess I read Every good way there is to explain
it. But we're kind of simple folks. That means if your cup's
full and you move, some of the water's going to slosh out on
me. It just can't happen. Now, if it's not full, if it's
not full, that's not going to happen. But if your cup's full,
and if you drink of this fountain, your cup is full. And the water
is going to flow out to me. What do you mean? Your love. engaged for my help, your quickness
to forgive my offenses, your readiness to supply the needs
of others, your eagerness to see sinners to hear the gospel
and come to know the Savior, your zeal for the gospel, the
glory of God, and the kingdom of God. Only in the day of judgment
When all things are revealed in their true light, well, we
know the good that God has done for each believer by other believers. Oh, what good God does for his
people by one another. We have a church family. Merlin, nothing like this in
the world. There's just nothing like it. There's nothing like
it. God's sheep assembled together,
united together as one in Christ, walking together in Christ, drinking
from the fountain, bathing in the fountain, and swimming in
the fountain. Some do good while they live by their deeds, by their speech,
by their prayers. Some do good when they're dying. Stephen, oh, what good he did
when he was dying. I suspect he's the man from whom
Paul first heard the gospel. That penitent thief, Oh, I wonder
how many millions have heard the gospel from his limbs. What
good he did in his dying. And some do much good long after
they're dead. Some of you have been reading
with Shelby and I for the last several years, Hawker's Daily
Portions. Man has been dead since 1827.
We have his commentaries out. may have been dead for nearly
200 years, and I suspect more influential now than ever been
in his life. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters. Perhaps like me, when you read
these words, he that believeth on me, as the scripture has said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, you just think,
well, I'll find out where it says that. start to look back
in your concordance and I don't have that here. So you
pull down straws and you look and it's not there. You got a computer
program, you type it in and look. Well, it's not there. Well, where
is it written in scripture? Nowhere and everywhere. It's not an exact quote. It's
a declaration of that which is written throughout the scriptures.
Therefore, with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of
salvation. Listen to this. Then shall the
lame man leap as in heart and the tongue of the dumb seeing
for the wilderness shall waters break out and streams of the
desert and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty
land springs of water in the habitation of dragons. where
each lay shall grasp with reeds and rushes. 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. I will pour water upon him that's
thirsty, floods upon the dry ground, I'll pour my spirit upon
thy seed and my blessing upon thy offspring. Turn to Zechariah
14. The Lord God says He will guide
thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought and make
fat thy bones that thou shalt be like a watered garden, like
a spring of water whose waters fail not. And look at Zechariah
14 verse 8. And it shall be in that day that
living waters shall go out from Jerusalem. What day? What day? Look at verse 16. And it shall
come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which
came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year
to worship the King, the Lord of hosts and... What? Keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
And here stands the Son of God in human flesh. the last time
the Feast of Tabernacles was ever kept. And he says, many
men thirst, let him come to me and drink. And in that day, living
waters flowed out of Jerusalem and they shall not cease to flow
until Christ comes again. Now, give me just a few minutes
to work on verse thirty nine. There's a difficulty here, Brother
Larry. Brown asked me about it last week. I'm reluctant to mention
it. But when you read it, you're
going to see it. But this spake he 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. Brother Larry
said to me, what does that mean? The Holy Ghost was not yet given.
Well, obviously, The Holy Ghost existed before this. He's the
eternal third person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal Godhead.
Equally obvious is the fact that in the Old Testament, prior to
the glorifying of the Lord Jesus, that is, His resurrection and
His exaltation on high in human flesh, prior to that, the Holy
Spirit worked in this world among men, performed the same works
then that He performs now. How did men know Christ in the
Old Testament? by the revelation of the Spirit. How did men have
life in the Old Testament? They were born again. How did
they live by faith? By the gift of the Spirit. How
is it that they obtained grace from God? The Spirit of God brought
grace to them. We read in the book how that
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Enoch walked with
God in sweet communion and spoke by the Spirit of prophecy about
the second coming of Christ. Abraham believed God. David cried, take not thy Holy
Spirit from me. And the Holy Spirit did the same
work in the Old Testament that he does now for chosen sinners. In fact, we read that holy men
of old wrote the book of God as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. Well, then what does this mean?
The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Christ was not yet
glorified. Let me back up again. Did Christ
walk on this earth before he came into this world? He sure
did. He walked with Abraham, and he
walked with Adam, and he walked with David. He showed himself
to Manoah and his wife, didn't he? He's the angel of the Lord
who came and spoke over and over again. The Old Testament spoke
to Moses out in the bush. He's that one who stood by as Joshua,
the high priest, was being stripped of his dirty clothes and clothed
again. He's that one who rebuked Satan because he said the Lord
rebuked them. Christ was on the earth before
he came in human flesh. You mean he was not? Yeah, he
was, but he hadn't come yet. He had not openly and manifestly
come in the flesh and had not openly and manifestly accomplished
our redemption, dying in our stead at Calvary, showing himself
to be king by his enthronement in glory when he was raised up
from this earth and exalted, carried up into
heaven in his flesh after 40 days walking on the earth after
his resurrection. Now, there he sits. Turn to Psalm 68. How
do we know that Christ the Messiah is on the throne of David? How
do we know that the Messiah has come and that he's taken his
seat in heaven as the king? That God has given Christ the
man rule and power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given him. We know it because now Joel's
prophecy in Joel 2 has been fulfilled. And we now, Gentiles, have received
the promise of the Spirit, the blessing of Abraham. Look here
in Psalm 68. God's gift of the Spirit, when
He poured out His Spirit manifestly on the day of Pentecost, was
God's declaration that redemption is accomplished, that Christ
is enthroned, that salvation is finished, that the surety
is accepted, and the covenant is fulfilled. Psalm 68, verse
18. Thou hast ascended on high. This is talking about our Lord
Jesus. We know so for many reasons, but you can just read it in Ephesians
chapter 4. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity
captive. Everything that held your people
in bondage, you've taken into bondage. That includes death,
and hell, and the grave, and Satan, and the law, and curses,
and condemnation. Thou hast received gifts for
men. Not gifts that you can have,
but gifts to give to men. Thou hast received gifts to give
to your people. Yeah, and I'm so glad he put
this word in there, David, for the rebellious also that has
received gifts, even for rebels like me, that the Lord God might
dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits out of his belly. shall flow rivers
of living water. Even the God of our salvation. Are you thirsty? Come to Christ and drink away your thirst. Thirst no more. God give you
grace to believe on his side. Amen.