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QUENCHING YOUR THIRST.
I. THE LAST DAY, THE GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST. VERSE 2 LETS US KNOW THAT IT WAS THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
A. It was one of the three important feasts in the year where attendance was mandatory.
1. As Passover, it was a memorial feast.
a. The passover feast had many symbolisms to remind them of the hardships their fathers endured during the days of slavery in Egypt.
1. The salty water to remind them of the tears.
2. The pasty dish to remind them of the mortar between the bricks.
2. The Feast of Tabernacles reminded them of the hardships their fathers endured during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
a. They would build little thatched sheds beside their homes and during the eight days of the feast the family would live in these little sheds.
b. At the temple mount the priests would daily make a solemn procession down to the pool of Siloam with water jugs on their shoulders.
c. They would come up the many steps to the temple mount and pour the water on the pavement to symbolize the water that God provided out of the rock.
d. On the last day, the great day of the feast, because it was a special sabbath, they did not make the procession to the pool of Siloam with the water ceremony. This too was significant for it acknowledged that God had kept His promise, and had brought them into the land that was well-watered, and flowed with milk and honey.
e. It was on this day, that Jesus stood and cried to the multitude.
3. An interesting note. Paul tells us in
1Cor. 10 that they all drank of the same spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
a. Here is Jesus the Rock from which the water of life flowed to their fathers in the wilderness, standing before them and crying, "If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me and drink."
II. THE THIRST THAT JESUS WAS REFERRING TO WAS A SPIRITUAL THIRST.
A. Man is a threefold being, sort of an inferior trinity. Made up of body, soul, and spirit. Man is a spirit, dwelling in a body, possessing a consciousness.
1. We are so integrated that it is next to impossible to separate the three parts.
a. Whatever affects me physically, affects me emotionally and affects me spiritually.
b. Whatever affects me emotionally, affects me physically and spiritually.
c. Whatever affects me spiritually will affect me emotionally and physically.
d. The Bible tells us that the word of God is able to discern between the soul and the spirit. Many people have had great emotional experiences that they interpreted as spiritual experiences.
e. Sometimes a person will have a great spiritual experience that others will interpret as only an emotional experience.
2. On the other hand, they are such distinct entities that the Greek language had words that recognized the distinct differences.
a. Love on the physical level. Eros.
b. Love on the emotional level. Phileo.
c. Love on the spiritual level. Agape.
B. When Jesus said, "If any man thirst," He was speaking of that universal spiritual thirst that man has for God.
1. We all understand the physical thirst. Inasmuch as the body is made up of 70% moisture, it must maintain a high moisture content. God has designed a monitoring mechanism that lets the brain know when the moisture level is getting low, and the brain responds with thirst.
2. Man has a thirst on the emotional level. The thirst for love, security, attention, to be needed.
3. There is also a thirst on the spiritual level for a meaningful relationship with God.
PSA 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
PSA 42:2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
ROM 8:20 For the creature was made subject to emptiness not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope,
C. We see here the gospel in the simplest form. Jesus is calling to those whose spirit is thirsting after a relationship with God, and saying, "Come unto Me and drink." I can satisfy your thirst for God.
III. THE RESULT OF COMING TO JESUS AND DRINKING. "HE THAT BELIEVETH ON ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE SAID, "OUT OF HIS BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER."
A. Perhaps Jesus is referring to the scripture in,
ISA 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: or possibly,
ISA 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. or maybe a combination of both.
B. The Greek language here is intense. Out of his innermost being will gush torrents of living water. The picture is not just a gentle flowing stream, but a flood, a torrent gushing and cascading down the mountain canyon.
C. John here adds his own commentary as he is writing years later with that wonderful advantage of hindsight. "This spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive."
1. What did He say of the Spirit? It would gush forth out of your life like a torrent of living water.
2. I want you to look at your life today, and honestly consider, if the Spirit is gushing forth out of your life like a torrent of living water?
3. Is your life so filled with the Spirit that there is an overflow?
4. Is the Spirit trickling out of your life, or gushing like a torrent of living water?
D. If you do not have this mighty overflow of the Spirit from your life then I would like to suggest to you that God has something more for you, that I would encourage you to seek.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
