Introduction:
Isaiah 12:3 - With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
CONTROVERSY – 2 separate disputes:
- "Gen Pop": Believers vs Lazy Researchers (John 7:40-44)
- Authorities: Haters vs Seekers (John 7:45-52)
Knowing the Living Water (John 7:37-52):
- Living water flows Into thristy people. (John 7:37)
- Thirst
- Come
- Drink
- Living water flows Out of quenched people. (John 7:38)
1 Corinthians 12:7 - To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Peter 4:10 - As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another...
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Open up your Bibles with me please to John 7.
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And we'll be picking up in verse 37.
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Several years ago, we took a little family trip to Erie, actually up to Presque Isle where they have this long biking trail.
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And I got on my bike, and we had one of those little carts where you pull your kids behind you, right?
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So I had our two boys They were much smaller back then.
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I was pulling them and their little cart on my bike, and Erin was riding on her bike.
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And we went the whole way around that bike trail.
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And when we got near the end, Erin said, "I must be really out of shape because this was so hard biking today." Well, when we stopped, I looked at her bike and saw somehow the brakes were on and locked, but not tight enough to completely stop the wheel, but the brakes were on to stop it from moving freely.
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So Aaron biked the entire Presque Isle trail with the brakes on.
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And at one point near the end of this biking trip, obviously Aaron was so unbelievably thirsty.
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It was warm and it was a long trip, even with a functioning bike.
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And we pulled up and saw there was a little water fountain that was on the beach.
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Well, Erin saw that and ran to the water fountain, and when she got there, she took a big, long gulp of water.
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But the water was contaminated, and it tasted like dead fish.
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So after Erin took that giant drink, she spun around, and there were two girls that were were just sitting there on the beach, and she spewed the dirty fish water all over the beach.
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Just blech!
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I got permission to tell that story, by the way.
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And you know, there are two girls to this very day that I'm sure are still telling that story.
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Today, we're going to talk about thirst.
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We're going to talk about how to quench your spiritual thirst.
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We're going to talk about how to know that you have.
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As we get back into John 7, just to remind us where we are, Jesus had showed up privately at the Feast of Booths, not how His brothers wanted Him to.
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And Jesus was teaching Him at the temple.
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And He was met by so much confusion.
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Is this the Christ?
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Is this not the Christ?
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Is He a deceiver?
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Who is this guy?
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And we saw last week that Jesus warned the people that they would not have Him forever, and they couldn't come where He was going.
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Look at v. 37.
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It says, "On the last day of the feast..." The great day.
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We're going to stop right there because I need to explain what's going on because it helps us understand what's happening in this passage.
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Remember, we said Jesus here is at the feast of booths, the Feast of Tabernacle, to remember the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
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And this feast, this holiday, lasted for eight days.
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And each day, the high priest would lead a procession to the pool of Siloam.
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And the high priest would, at the pool, take this golden pitcher and fill it with water, and then the procession went back to the altar where they would pour the water from the pool onto the altar.
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And while the high priest did that, the people in their booths on the streets, on the rooftops, the people that were in their booths would shout and wave palm branches and they would sing Psalms 113-118 and they would recite Isaiah 12:3 which says, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." That's what they recited.
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"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." The last day of the feast was called the Great Day.
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And on the Great Day, the people would actually march around the altar seven times.
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Does that sound familiar?
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This was to remember Jericho.
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Jericho was sort of the unofficial ending of the wilderness wandering.
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So why would they do all of these things in this Feast of Tabernacles?
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What was the symbolism here?
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This was to remind Israel that in the wilderness, God provided.
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Specifically, this was to remind Israel when God provided water from a rock.
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And with this backdrop, at this moment, Jesus shouted these words.
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Verse 37 says, "Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
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Whoever believes in Me, "As the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Verse 39, sort of an editor's note from John.
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He says, "Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified." See, at this point in Jesus' ministry, The Holy Spirit had not yet come to indwell all of God's people upon belief.
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After Jesus ascended - we get to Acts 2 - the Holy Spirit comes and indwells everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.
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So John's little editorial note here, this is for us.
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What Jesus is saying here is something specifically for those of us that live on this side of Pentecost.
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As usual with Jesus, His words were deemed controversial.
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And also as usual, Jesus put people into two camps.
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Let's talk about controversy.
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Now, there are actually two separate disputes happening here.
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We're going to look at this quickly.
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Letter A, let's talk about Gen-Pop.
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general population, the crowds.
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They were really divided into two camps, and we're going to call them believers versus the lazy researchers.
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Look at verse 40.
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It says, "When they heard these words, some of the people said, 'This really is the prophet!' Others said, 'This is the Christ!' But some said, 'Is the Christ to come from Galilee?'" Hasn't the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?
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So there was a division among the people over him.
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Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
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Stop here. Again, this is gen pop.
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We have believers, we have lazy researchers.
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Some people believe.
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Some people were like, "Well, this is obviously the prophet that Moses talked about." Deuteronomy 18.15.
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Others were like, "Yeah, this is obviously the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
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Obviously, this has to be Him." But some people didn't believe because they were willfully ignorant.
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Did you see that in the text?
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They're like, "No, no, wait a minute. The Messiah, He's supposed to be the offspring of David.
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He's supposed to come from Bethlehem.
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This can't be Him because He's from Galilee." Well, they were wrong. They actually could have checked the temple records to see that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
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They would have been able to see that Jesus had David on both sides of his family.
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But they didn't check.
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And we talked about this last week, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.
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But here's the bottom line.
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If you want your sin more than Jesus, you'll find an excuse to suppress the truth.
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So that was one camp, but let's look at another camp here, or another group, rather, of people divided over Jesus.
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Another group of people divided over Jesus, we're just going to call them the authorities.
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We're going to see the two camps that they fall into.
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Haters versus seekers.
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And this passage is actually kind of funny.
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Look at verse 45.
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"The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, "I said to them, 'Why did you not bring him?' The officers answered, 'No one ever spoke like this man.'" Stop there. The officers - these were like the temple police, so to speak.
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And they were sent - we saw back in v. 32 - they were sent to arrest Jesus Christ.
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And they returned empty-handed.
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Did you ever go into a room and forget why you went into the room in the first place?
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Has that ever happened to you?
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If that event was an Olympic competition, I would be gold medalist.
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I am constantly doing that.
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Walking into a room and, "Wait, I came in here for something.
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What is it?
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Anybody else?" That is so me.
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And that's exactly what happened to these officers.
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They were sent to do one thing - arrest Jesus - and they show up and they're like, yeah, we kind of got so wrapped up in what He was saying, we kind of forgot to arrest Him.
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Look at v. 47.
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"The Pharisees answered them, 'Have you also been deceived?
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Have any of the Pharisees believed in Him?' This crowd that does not know the law is accursed.
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See what the Pharisees do?
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They sort of play into the officer's pride, right?
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The Pharisees basically - to sum up what they said - the Pharisees were basically saying to these officers, "You surely aren't that stupid." I mean, you're siding with these uneducated people?
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Seriously? That's who you're siding with?
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"They don't know anything." Verse 50, "Nicodemus, who had gone to Him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 'Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?' They replied, 'Are you from Galilee too?
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Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.'" Remember Nicodemus from chapter 3?
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He knows that their plans to kill Jesus is just the absolute lowest form of evil.
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And Nicodemus defends Jesus by appealing to the law.
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Nicodemus is saying, "Hey, you know what guys, you better be careful because you're about to break your own law in what you're about to do here." I think it was really Nicodemus' way of trying to protect Jesus from them.
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And the Pharisees' response, they said, "No prophet arises from Galilee." Did you see that?
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Well, that's just incorrect.
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Jonah, Nahum, Hosea, they were all from Galilee.
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But you know what?
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When you're really emotionally charged up, when you're angry, you don't really need facts, do you?
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Then and now, whether you're in the gen pop or you're someone in a high place, you're going to see that Jesus Christ always divides.
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We've talked a lot about the controversy, the hatred, and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on that today.
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Instead, I want us to take a few moments to look at two sentences that Jesus literally shouted according to the text.
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sentences that truly describe what it means to come to Jesus Christ.
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And what it looks like when you have.
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The amazing thing is Jesus explained the most profound spiritual truth using the simplest thing that man has ever known.
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The very focus of their parade.
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So two things today.
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As you're taking notes, knowing the living water is the heading.
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There's two points, and here's the first one.
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Number one, living water flows into thirsty people.
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Look at verse 37 again.
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"Jesus stood up and cried out..." Look at what Jesus said.
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"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." The whole process of salvation - you know, sometimes we make things so complicated, and Jesus took the whole process of salvation and boiled it down into three words.
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Thirst, come, drink. Right?
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Let's talk about thirst for a second.
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Do you know thirst is the most powerful drive known to man?
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More than food, more than sex, more than anything.
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Thirst is the most powerful drive.
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Jesus was pointing out here by talking about thirst, you have to be aware of your condition.
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Did you know that most people are physically thirsty?
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And they don't even know it.
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Did you know that?
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I read this week, 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
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And I did some reading on symptoms of dehydration, and the list is long.
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Dehydration causes fatigue, foggy memory, cognitive function stress, anxiety, irritability, and the list goes on and on.
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All of these symptoms that people face simply because they're thirsty.
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And church, this is a spiritual truth too.
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People have all kinds of painful spiritual symptoms because they're spiritually dehydrated.
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That's a long list too.
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People face worry and anger and envy and hatred and discontent.
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"What is wrong with me?" You're dehydrated.
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Spiritually.
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That's what's wrong with you.
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And Jesus cries out for anyone.
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Did you see that?
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Anyone thirsts.
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Anyone who has rightly diagnosed their spiritual deficiency.
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Anyone who thirsts.
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This is where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to start.
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Are you thirsty?
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Are you spiritually dry?
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Are you lost?
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Do you realize your sinful and guilty condition?
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Are you thirsty?
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It has to start with recognizing that.
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Jesus says thirst.
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He says, "Come. Come.
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Turn your back on the world and all the things that you tried before." The Bible calls that repentance.
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We try everything to satisfy our spiritual thirst.
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It can be money, some new gadget, things, people.
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We try all of these things that we think are going to satisfy us, and we get them, and we use them, and we find out that we're still spiritually thirsty.
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But you have to see here, that Jesus doesn't tell you, "Hey, get your act together, and come to Me." Because we can't.
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He just says, "Come." And you see the only qualification is to thirst.
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That's who Jesus is calling, and that's what He says to do.
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Are you thirsty? Well then come.
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And finally, He says drink. Drink.
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Water isn't helpful until you drink it.
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You're like, "Well, I'm learning all kinds of profound spiritual truths today." Think about it. Water isn't helpful unless you drink it.
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What did Jesus mean "drink"?
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Well, He means to take Him in. Right?
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Like we saw in John 6, Jesus said you have to feed on His flesh and drink His blood.
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He was saying you have to receive Him.
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You have to consume Him.
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You have to take Him in to yourself.
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with the living water. Water isn't helpful until you drink it. That doesn't really need explain does it? Just grab an athlete coming off the field and show him a picture of a waterfall. Hold up a Gatorade bottle full of water and explain hydration to that athlete and explain why water is important.
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That does the athlete no good.
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It does the athlete no good to know about water.
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He needs to drink the water.
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And in the same way, church, everyone who's listening to this, in the same way, hearing a sermon, going to Bible study, mouthing words to a worship song, sitting in a church, watching a church online, knowing all about Jesus does not satisfy your spiritual thirst.
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You need to go from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
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Have you done that?
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Because according to Jesus, it's not that complicated.
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It's hard, but it's not complicated.
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"Thirst, come, drink." Living water flows into thirsty people.
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Check this out. Point two.
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Living water flows out of quenched people.
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I want you to look very closely at what Jesus said.
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The result of believing Him.
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The result of thirst, come, drink.
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I want you to look very closely at what He says.
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In verse 38, Jesus said, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said..." Like Ezekiel 37, different passages in Isaiah.
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He just sort of summed up some Old Testament concepts with this statement.
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But look at this statement.
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"Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Did you see that?
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"Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." You know, no matter how many times I've read the Gospel of John, every time I get to this passage, my mind wants to read this passage, and my mind wants to remember this passage as saying this, "Into his heart will flow rivers of living water." I have like this mental block that I think that's what it says.
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Into his heart flow rivers of water. Into his heart...
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But did you notice that's not what it says?
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Jesus said, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." The point is this, the water doesn't stay in you.
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Christians, you are not a bucket.
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But many Christians sure act like one.
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Like yes, Jesus is the living water, and I'm His bucket.
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The Christian life is about me being blessed.
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Pour into me, Jesus.
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Bless me. Give me. Make me happy.
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Now listen, does that happen?
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Absolutely, for sure it happens.
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But that is only where it starts.
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You see, it's like saying the Kentucky Derby is all about opening a gate for a horse.
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That's only where it starts.
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So it is with the Christian life.
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Yes, we drink.
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Yes, He pours in.
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And some people think that's the end game.
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But it's not.
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Jesus pours into you so He can pour out of you.
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In Christ, we become a river to others as living water flows from us to them.
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In other words, Christ flows through you to become a blessing to other people.
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And this verse certainly isn't an isolated example of this teaching, right?
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1 Corinthians 12.7, Paul said, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Why do you have the Holy Spirit? For the benefit of others.
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1 Peter 4.10, Peter says the same thing.
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"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another." He pours into you, but the purpose ultimately is to pour through you.
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So Christian, your concern is not, "Are my needs being met?" In Christ, as the living waters flow, our concern becomes, "How can I meet other people's needs?" "How can I minister to them?" "How can I share Christ with them?" "How can I encourage them?" "How can I bless them?" It becomes an outward, focused life.
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And when that happens, when that living water, you're drinking of it, and it is flowing like rivers out of you into the lives of other people, when that becomes your default way of living, it's proof that your own thirst When I was preparing for this message, I did a Google search for stories about thirst.
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And read some articles, and this article I read just really stuck out to me, and I wanted to just share this story with you.
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But several years ago, a man by the name of Dave Buschow, age 29, paid over $3,000 to go on a wilderness survival exercise in the deserts of Utah.
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It was like one of those, what do they call them, the Spartan races, the Iron Man, those kinds of things.
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like that but even more intense. It was about testing mental and physical toughness. On the second day, this crew hiked for 10 hours without water and 100 degree temperatures.
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At one point, Dave Habushaw had stopped at a place where there was water and he stooped down to get a drink, but the guides who lead them on this survival expedition, the guides discouraged him from doing that.
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Tough it out.
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Keep pressing on.
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Well their destination was this cave that had water.
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That was sort of their checkpoint finish line.
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We're going to rest here, we're going to drink here, but that was the finish line.
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And the crew, including Dave Bustschow, was less than 100 yards away from the cave when Dave collapsed and died.
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It's a tragic story.
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What I'm about to tell you makes it even more tragic.
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His guides had water the whole time.
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His guides were carrying water with them for emergency.
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But they didn't give the water to Dave because they "didn't want to ruin the experience for him." The tragedy of this story with Dave Boushchow is he died of thirst with water all around him.
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And I read this story and I thought, spiritually, this tragedy, it's happening every day.
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There are people spiritually dying of thirst.
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All around us, while we carry with us the living water.
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So I just want to ask you, church, what are you going to do about it?
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Are you going to be like the guides?
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I have the water, but I'm keeping the water, and I'm not giving the water, and I'm going to watch people die knowing that I could have prevented it.
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Or, will you save a life by giving the living water of Jesus Christ that flows through you?
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Let's pray.
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Father in Heaven, we thank You so much for Your Word.
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It clears up any doubt as to who You are, what You require from us.
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What You've required, Father.
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Jesus made it very clear.
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We thirst, we come, and we drink.
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And when we do that, we let those rivers of water and give a thrust to others.
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Father, I just pray simply for my brothers and sisters who are watching this, that we would be people who come to Jesus Christ for the satisfaction that only the living water can give.
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That Father, we would find our fulfillment and identity in Him.
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Father, I pray that we would be people who are just so constantly blessing others and looking to the needs of others because we are just so flowing with the water.
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Father, we're sorry for our selfishness.
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We're sorry for the times that even as Christ-followers, we start to look for satisfaction in other things.
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By Your grace, Father, by the power of Your Spirit, let us once again recognize our thirst.
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Let us once again come to Christ.
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Let us once again drink the water that He gives.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 7:37-52
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
How does someone recognize they are thirsty (John 7:37)? If you are a believer: how did you recognize YOU were thirsty when you came to Christ to drink? How can you recognize when someone else is thirsty, and needs Christ?
What are some things people try to find satisfaction in, when what they really need is Christ? What are some things that you tried?
Read John 7:38. Explain, in your own words, what Jesus is saying. How do you know when you are “quenched”?
Breakout
How “outward focused” have you personally been during the COVID season we are in? Pray for one another to be RIVERS, not BUCKETS, of living water.