Unquenchable Thirst
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Famed British explorer, Sir Samuel Baker who served his country as a Major-General, and Governor General of the Nile Basin, which is today known as Southern Sudan, relates the following incident: “Many years ago, when Egyptian troops first conquered Nubia, a regiment was crossing the Nubian Desert [on their way to battle). The men, being upon a limited allowance of water, suffered from extreme thirst, and, deceived by the appearance of a mirage that exactly resembled a beautiful lake, they insisted on being taken to its banks by the Arab guide.
It was in vain that the guide assured them that the lake was unreal, and he refused to lose precious time by wandering from his course. Words led to blows, and he was killed by the soldiers, whose lives depended upon his guidance.
At length the delusion vanished—the fatal lake had turned to burning sand! Raging thirst and horrible despair! The pathless desert and the murdered guide! Lost! lost! all lost! Not a man ever left the desert, but they were subsequently discovered, parched and withered corpses, by the Arabs sent upon the search.
Everyone is thirsty for satisfaction. Do you sense that longing when it’s quiet and you are left to your thoughts? An old hit song says, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” How could Mick Jagger, someone who has it all, wealth, fame, etc. sing such a song? By exploring John 7:37-39, we will see how this deep-seated thirst that we all have can be satisfied.
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”
39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Introduction
Introduction
The festival referred to in John 7:37 is the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated at the agricultural harvest, the last of three annual Jewish feasts. The first two feasts were Passover and Pentecost. The Feast of Tabernacles was the most spectacular and important next to Passover. The feast lasted a total of eight days. No one was to work on the first and eighth day. According to Numbers 29, drink and food offerings were offered each day,
17 “[ . . .] twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old—all unblemished—18 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.
Numbers 29:17–18 (CSB)
The feast consisted of seven days of feasting and a very solemn convocation on the eighth day. The festival was a memorial of God’s provision and protection of the Children of Israel during their forty years of travelling in the wilderness after the great Exodus from Egypt.
During the Feast of Tabernacles, the people stayed in little booths to commemorate how their ancestors lived in the wilderness. They recalled how their forefathers lived in tents for forty years and were kept safe by the mighty hand of God.
5 I led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes and the sandals on your feet did not wear out;
Deuteronomy 29:5 (CSB)
Seven Days of Festivities
Seven Days of Festivities
A long procession proceeded down the Valley of Kedron each day at dawn. When the party arrived at the pool of Siloam, the same pool mentioned in John 9, a giant golden pitcher was filled by one of the priests. The procession then returned to the temple, four hundred priests walking up Mount Moriah shouting, “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem” (Ps 122:2). The people prayed, “Save us, we beseech Thee O God.” The priest responded, crying, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
When the procession reached the temple, the water was poured into funnels at the base of the altar in the court of the sanctuary. This ceremony commemorated the Lord’s provision of water from the rock that quenched the thirst of Israel when in the burning desert after the Exodus.
The water ceremony was also an acknowledgement of the people’s deep thirst for deliverance. However, their focus was salvation from Rome. The people longed for the days when their great kings like David, Solomon, and Hezekiah ruled, and they were crying out for deliverance from their enemies.
The 8th Day
The 8th Day
At the conclusion of the feast, the eighth day was a day of peculiar solemnity.
35 “On the eighth day you are to hold a solemn assembly; you are not to do any daily work.
36 Present a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old—all unblemished—
37 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.
38 Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.
There was no long procession on the eighth day, no shouting, no water ceremony, no shouts from the people or the priests about God’s promises. On this day, the High Priest lifted an empty pitcher toward the heavens as a mournful appeal that spoke volumes about disappointed hopes and unfulfilled promises. By the eighth day, the people were exhausted; there was no more excitement. Unfortunately, after hundreds of years, the Jewish festivals had become empty. Year after year, the people went home dejected, longing for the day the significance of the feast would be fulfilled.
However, on this particular day referred to in John 7, there was someone in the audience who remained unnoticed until he cried out,
37 [ . . .], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
John 7:37 (CSB)
The people were undoubtedly astonished; I believe their hearts leaped within them. Some people remembered what Jesus said, which is recorded in Luke 4.
Luke 4:18–20 (CSB)
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Acknowledge Your Thirst
Acknowledge Your Thirst
John 7:37 (CSB)
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
The first thing that the people had to do was acknowledge their thirst. They had to admit that they were not satisfied with life. They had to confess their longing. Such an admission might have been easier for the regular folk but would no doubt present a major challenge for the Pharisees, Scribes, and Lawyers who had everything.
Most of us here have never missed a meal, though things are getting tougher; most Canadians do not live in so-called third-world conditions. Many put on a façade that everything is OK. Life is a bed of roses, and we could not be happier. But there is a “God-shaped hole”- a place inside of [the] hearts of every man, woman, boy and girl that only God can fill, and only Jesus can fill that hole. Depression and suicide rates increase dramatically after holidays and vacations because people are empty. I want to suggest to you that the emptiness often misunderstood as depression is really a deep-seated longing for Jesus—an acknowledgement of spiritual poverty.
Jesus said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Matthew 5:3 (CSB)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:6 (CSB)
The people had to drop their pride and realize that they were spiritually bankrupt, unable to save themselves, and they had to acknowledge their thirst. Everyone there was thirsty: the High Priests, the priests, the dignitaries–everyone down to the lowest person in the society. Likewise, everyone is thirsty for something more. Addictions, whether narcotics or something as seemingly harmless as chocolate or sugar, are a clear sign that we are thirsty.
As Jesus spoke, their hearts thrilled with expectation and conviction because no man had ever spoken like this. He was indeed the long-awaited Messiah.
The announcement that Jesus made was clear. He was making His boldest proclamation yet- a fulfillment of prophecy. Salvation had come. The long-awaited promise was fulfilled. The longing of every heart was now to be satisfied. The Messiah who would open the way into the promised land was in their midst. But not an earthly promised land but a heavenly home. Yet, this was Joseph’s son, the carpenter from Nazareth!
Everyone is thirsty and longs to receive what they know you do not have, but will you make the same mistake that the proud Jewish leaders made and lie to yourself? Will you leave this place telling yourself you are happy with your life and content and fulfilled? Will you leave here empty, saying, “This is just another Sabbath” or, “This is just another sermon,” or will you acknowledge your thirst for Jesus?
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
John 7:37 (CSB)
37 […], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
If the people admitted their thirst, they had to respond to the Spirit’s call and come to Jesus. It was not enough to admit their thirst; but they had come to Jesus. He was the only one who could satisfy their thirst. Likewise, He is the only One that can satisfy your thirst.
The call to come to Jesus is extended not only to the irreligious, but to the religious. In Jn 5:39-40, Jesus said,
39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.
40 But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
The Jewish leaders were studying, praying, fasting, tithing, etc. But to no avail, for they refused to come to Jesus. Likewise, there are religious folks in our churches who read their Bibles, return a faithful tithe, and have their shoes shined, and clothes all ironed out before the Sabbath but are empty. The purpose of the Word of God is to draw us to Jesus. It is only in coming to Jesus that we can have life, and life eternal that begins right now–life that begins the moment we receive Him by faith.
Jesus is inviting you to come with your baggage, come with your defects, come with your addictions, come with your sin, come, come to Jesus.
The Bible says,
“Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; […];” (Isaiah 49:8, NKJV).
God had heard the cries of the people, yet it was the deeper cry that emanated from deep within that God responded to. Jesus hears your heart cry, He has seen your tears, He knows the longing of your soul, and He invites you to come to Him. He says,
[…] Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2, NKJV).
Drink
Drink
John 7:37 (CSB)
37 […], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
There is no use coming to a well to just look at it. We gain nothing by theorizing about a well and its content. When we are thirsty, we must drink from the well. The people were rubbing shoulders with Jesus, the Well of salvation; they were in His very presence, but this was not enough. They had to receive what He was offering; they had to drink what He was offering. The word in the Greek drink, πινέτωis in the present continuous tense. In other words, the call was to drink and keep on drinking. Drink continuously.
If they kept on drinking, they would never thirst again. Equally, as long as we keep drinking, we will never thirst for another.
But you may ask, “Drink what, what am I to drink?”
John 7:38–39 (CSB)
38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”
39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
The Lord is dying to fill you up with his Spirit, for it is written,
10 I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10 NKJV).
Receive by faith what He has promised, his sweet Holy Spirit. The infilling of God’s Holy Spirit will satisfy that deep-seated crater, that longing for something more.
We should pray as earnestly for the descent of the Holy Spirit as the disciples prayed on the Day of Pentecost. If they needed it at that time, we need it more today.--5T 158 (1882).
The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church is looked forward to as in the future, but it is the privilege of the church to have it now. Seek for it, pray for it, believe for it. We must have it, and Heaven is waiting to bestow it.--Ev 701 (1895). {LDE 188.4}
Yes, friends, today can be the first day of your life, a new life in Christ. Jesus invites you to admit your thirst, come to him, and drink, yes, receive the promised Holy Spirit.