Lars Larson Live Stream

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And Jason will come and read and then pray for us. Hebrews chapter 4,
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Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
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For good news came to us, just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
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For we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said, As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
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For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all
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His works. And again in this passage He said, They shall not enter My rest, since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.
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Again He appoints a certain day, today, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
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Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest,
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God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered
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God's rest has also rested from His works as God did from His. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
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For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
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And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
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Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
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Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
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Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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Let's pray. Our gracious Father, we thank
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You for Jesus Christ. We thank You for His life.
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We thank You for His death on the cross. We thank You for His resurrection, that You accepted
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His sacrifice. We thank You for His ascension. We thank You that He is reigning in heaven now with a name above every name.
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And Lord, we are Your children. We have been predestined to adoption as sons and daughters in Christ Jesus.
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And Lord, we are so thankful for this privilege. We are thankful for this blessing. We are thankful,
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Lord, that we can draw near to the throne of grace because of what Christ accomplished.
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And Lord, we pray that as we continue to worship You through the study of Your Word, help us,
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Lord, to see these truths. Help us to have a better understanding of Your character, a better understanding of the
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Gospel. Help us, Lord, to apply these truths to our lives. We pray that You would strengthen
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Pastor Lars' voice so that he might get through his sermon. We pray that we wouldn't be distracted by anything.
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Help us to focus on Your Word. Thank You, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, let's turn in our
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Bibles, please, to John 7. Jason just read
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Hebrews 4, which speaks about the Israelites after they came out of Egypt and the
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Exodus. Although they had the Word of God proclaimed to them, it did not bring them any benefit because they did not have faith in what
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God had told them. It's the Scriptures, the Word of God, that God uses to work grace in our souls, to give us salvation, to give us eternal life.
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And so when we open up God's Word, we understand that it's a word from heaven granted through a human voice, but it's a word that we should embrace in faith.
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We should believe it as God's Word, and then we will receive benefit. Otherwise, if there's no faith on your part, there's nothing that we're going to say in the time that we have allotted that's going to bring any benefit to you at all.
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In fact, it's only going to aggravate your condition as you are in unbelief.
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And so may the Lord help each of us to be believing God's Word that is set before us.
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Now, we had considered on this Easter Sunday to find a passage that perhaps would clearly address the theme at hand,
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Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But when reading the passage here in John 7 that is before us, it seemed really we could do little better for today than to give attention to what is before us in this 7th chapter of John.
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Here our Lord spoke prophetically of the events of His Passion, which were about six months off, as He gives a promise to those hearing
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Him of God's great blessing if they embrace Him in faith as their
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Lord and Savior. And so here we have words of our Lord that allude to His Incarnation, to His Crucifixion, to His Resurrection, to His Exaltation, all within these verses.
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Now, they're rather veiled, but they're there, and we'll attempt to explain them. And so we'll read
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John 7, 32 through 39. The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the
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Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him, or to arrest
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Him. And then Jesus said to them, I shall be with you a little while longer, and then
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I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.
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And then the Jews said among themselves, Where does He intend to go that we shall not find
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Him? Does He intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the
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Greeks? What is this thing that He said, You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come?
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On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,
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If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the
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Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this
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He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the
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Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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This is not an easy passage to understand readily, and so we must give our attention and focus on these matters to clarify in our thinking exactly what is being expressed to us.
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Now, the verses 37 and 38, the words of grace of our Lord Jesus in these two verses are particularly precious in their richness and in their potential to bring blessing to the one who believes on Him.
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It's one of those golden expressions of our Lord Jesus that tend to be remembered well, the words of which can almost be recited when hearing someone reading them.
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J .C. Ryle, the Church of England preacher of the 19th century, wrote of these words.
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He gave an entire chapter in his classic book entitled Holiness on assuaging thirst based on these two verses, and he wrote this.
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The text which heads this paper contains one of those mighty sayings of Christ which deserve to be printed in letters of gold.
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All the stars of heaven are bright and beautiful, and yet even a child can see that one star excelleth another in glory.
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All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. But that heart must indeed be cold and dull, which does not feel that some verses are particularly rich and full of such verses.
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This text is one, and he's absolutely right. Verses 37 and 38 is a very rich expression of the
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Lord Jesus of not only His own work, His death, His resurrection, but also the blessing of the
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Holy Spirit to empower and transform lives. And so we want to continue the consideration of the context of this chapter that we've been,
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I believe this is the fourth Lord's Day that we've been in John chapter 7, and then we'll attempt to see how these words fit into the context, and then we'll attempt to understand the implications of these words for us this morning.
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And so, now Lord Jesus had been teaching the people in the environs of the
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Jewish temple in Jerusalem through several days of the annual feast of the tabernacles which was held every autumn in Jerusalem.
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Jewish pilgrims from all over the world were there to celebrate this feast. These foreign
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Jews, in other words, they were not Palestinian Jews, but they were Hellenistic Jews from the
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Roman world, traveled great distances to be here in Jerusalem on this occasion.
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And so these Jews scattered all over the Roman world, and they had been for a number of centuries since the judgment of God fell upon Israel.
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These Jews were known as the Jews of the dispersion. God had dispersed them throughout the world, or the word commonly used to describe where they were was the diaspora, the dispersion.
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And so this festival was a great celebration that these Jews of the diaspora would have viewed as anticipating a future gathering, final gathering of Israel when the
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Messiah would arrive to deliver his people and establish their nation. And so this festival was an anticipation of this future event that they knew one day would occur.
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Now, Jesus had come to the feast from Galilee, but he had not made himself known until about midway through the feast.
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The feast was seven days in length, generally, although there's an eighth day that we'll comment about. And the people in Jerusalem, of course, they were all anticipating to see
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Jesus. He was well known. His reputation preceded him, but nobody could find him.
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But everybody was looking for him. And so they were divided in their assessments that some were looking for him because they believed on him in a measure.
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Others, of course, were looking for him because they felt threatened by him and wanted to destroy him.
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And so we read of the response of the people to Jesus in the verses we addressed last Lord's Day, verses 25 through 31.
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Now some of them from Jerusalem said, Is this not he whom they seek to kill? But look, he speaks boldly, and they say nothing to him.
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Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? However, we know where this man is from, but when the
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Christ comes, no one knows where he's from. Then Jesus cried out as he taught in the temple, saying,
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You both know me, and you know where I am from. And I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you do not know.
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But I know him, for I am from him, and he sent me. Of course, referring to God his
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Father. And as a response, therefore they sought to take him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.
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And many of the people believed in him and said, When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than these which this man has done?
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And so now we come to the passage that we want to address today, verses 32 through 39, which we've already read.
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We read of the concern and reaction of the Jewish leaders to the attitude and assessment of the people of Jerusalem.
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Verse 32 reads, The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him, and the
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Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. We read here the
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Pharisees and their interaction with the chief priests. The Pharisees and the chief priests.
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These two groups did not normally work very well together. In fact, there was generally quite a bit of hostility between the
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Pharisees and the chief priests. The Pharisees were the leading religious men that lived and served just about everywhere there was a
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Jewish community. There were Pharisees throughout the Roman world. And they were very much appreciated and valued by the
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Jewish people. They were the local teachers, pastors, as it were, in the synagogues wherever they were located.
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The chief priests, however, were residents of Jerusalem who were rather isolated and insulated from the people at large.
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They would probably have been aligned with the Sadducees, another group different than the
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Pharisees. The Sadducees, who were largely represented by the priestly community living and serving within the temple at Jerusalem, and the priests in Jerusalem were for the most part of the party of the
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Sadducees. Yes, there were some Pharisees living in Jerusalem, but probably not many.
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And there were a few Pharisees who would have had a part, a place on the board of the
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Sanhedrin, that group of 70 Jewish men who basically were the leaders of Judaism at that time.
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In fact, you might remember the Nicodemus that we considered back in John chapter 3 was a Pharisee, but he was a ruler of the
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Jews. Nicodemus would have been in the minority. He was a Pharisee, and yet he was on the board of the
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Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. But again, these two groups, the chief priests and the
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Pharisees, did not get along with one another. In fact, later in the book of Acts, we see this illustrated quite clearly.
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The Apostle Paul used it to his advantage. When he was brought before the
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Sanhedrin and accused, and they were hoping, of course, to prosecute him and have him killed.
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And so we read of Paul and how he pitted these two groups against one another, and in doing so, he actually spared his life on that occasion.
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And so Acts 23 .1 describes this. This is some years later after the crucifixion and resurrection.
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Paul then looking earnestly at the council, and that would have been the Sanhedrin, said, Men and brethren,
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I've lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
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And then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall, for you sit to judge me according to the law, and you command me to be struck contrary to the law.
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And those who stood by said, Do you revile God's high priest? And Paul immediately apologized.
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I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.
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By the way, just to throw in my two cents worth, I think this probably is a little bit of evidence to reinforce that Paul had some real difficulty with his eyesight.
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And he mentions to the Galatians, Hey, when you were first converted, you would have gladly plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
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And he just may not have been able to see clearly and maybe didn't recognize this man as the high priest when he reacted to him in this manner.
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But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees, here it is, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council,
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Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead,
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I am being judged. And so he immediately went to the issue which these two groups were divided in their understanding.
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And immediately the hostility arose. When he said this, a dissension arose between the
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Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, no angel or spirit, but the
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Pharisees confess both. There is a resurrection, and there are angels.
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But the Sadducees, interestingly, most of the priests, Jewish priests in Jerusalem, did not believe in a future resurrection, did not believe in the existence of angels.
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They just didn't get along with one another, the Sadducees and Pharisees. And yet again, there was a small group of Pharisees, a larger group of Sadducees, on the sin he drank.
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And so there was a large outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying,
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We don't find any evil in this man, but if a spirit or angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
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And so you can see how the Sadducees wouldn't have put up with that at all. And so when there arose a great dissension, the commander, this would have been a
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Roman commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down, take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.
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And so Paul escaped yet another very volatile situation where his life was threatened.
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But here in John 7, 32, we read that the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take
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Jesus. Here we read they were cooperating with one another. When they proceeded, they had a common threat to their power and prestige.
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They would work together to put to death to Jesus. The people in the streets had not been speaking forthrightly about Jesus because they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue by the
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Jewish leadership. But they were speaking quietly. The New King James Version says they were murmuring about Jesus one to another.
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And here, by the way, the word whispering would probably be a better English translation rather than murmuring.
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They were whispering one to another about Jesus, but they were afraid to speak out forthrightly because they were threatened to be put out of the synagogue if anyone was in favor of Jesus.
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So the action taken by these men in verse 32 was the official action taken against Jesus.
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And actually, by the way, this is the third group, that John describes in their reaction to Jesus.
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The first was in verse 30, which reads, Therefore they sought to take him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
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Who was this group of people? Well, this seemed to be a spontaneous effort on the part of some who were standing there listening to Jesus teach.
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Some of them wanted to immediately grab him. A second group is described in verse 31.
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And many of the people believed in him and said when Christ comes, will he do more signs than these, which this man does or has done?
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And by the way, some people think that this statement was not a flattering one, that they were actually being rather ironic and sarcastic, but I don't think that is the case actually.
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And then we have this third group in verse 31. Again, we have the
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Pharisees along with the chief priests sending officers to arrest
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Jesus. And so three different groups of people described by John with three different reactions.
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The first group were clearly hostile to him, but unable to capture him, verse 30. The second group, some of the
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Jews, were quite persuaded he was the Messiah, but they really didn't know what to do with the matter. Their knowledge was not that great.
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They were not that informed. And then the third group are these Pharisees who went to the chief priests who together sent officers to take him.
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Now who were these officers whom they sent to arrest Jesus? They were not
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Roman soldiers, but rather they were a kind of Jewish policemen whose responsibility was to keep order among the
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Jews, principally with respect to the temple and the environs, the grounds. They were like a
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Jewish security police force who would have been supervised by the Sanhedrin under the watchful permission of the
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Roman authorities of the city. And so these officers were overseen by the chief priests, which was actually a small enclave of influential priestly families who seemed to control everything that took place in Jerusalem and the temple.
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F. F. Bruce, a very good commentator, wrote of them, the chief priests were the members of the most wealthy and powerful priestly families from whose ranks the high priest was regularly selected.
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They were the dominant figures in the party of the Sadducees, the majority party in the Sanhedrin. The temple police were responsible for the maintenance of law and order within the temple precincts.
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They were a picked body of Levites, and their commander, the captain of the temple, was an official wielding high authority, next only to the high priest, and he too was usually drawn from one or another of the leading chief priestly families.
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And so a handful of people were really in control of the situation there in Jerusalem.
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Now we read of Jesus' reacting to the ones sent to arrest him, verse 33 and 34,
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Then Jesus said to them, I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to him who sent me.
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You will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come.
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Now you and I are capable of understanding this. When he said these words to them, they must have been clueless.
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What in the world was he saying? The Jewish leaders were seeking to arrest
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Jesus in order to have him prosecuted and killed, but in this statement the Lord indicated that he would not be among them much longer, that he was to return soon to God the
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Father who had sent him. Here then, Jesus is once again speaking of his incarnation, he who sent me, the eternal
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Son of God, assumed a human nature, was sent by the Father into the world to redeem his people.
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But he also mentions his death, I go to him. Now again, they were coming, trying to kill him, but he basically said, no, the time's soon coming that I'm going to go to him or return to him.
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What's being suggested here, the point that's being made, is that whatever transpires, and we know what transpired,
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Jesus was arrested and crucified, ultimately it was being determined by him and God his
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Father, not by them. He indicated, yeah, soon I'm going back to the one who sent me.
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And so he was not afraid, they were not in control, everything was going according to the purpose and plan of his
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Father. The Father sent him, and before long, it would be within six months, he would return to God, the
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Father who sent him. But what did Jesus mean when he said to them, you will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come.
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He was speaking of the time, I believe, after his resurrection from the dead, having returned to the Father. It would then occur that they would seek him, but not find him.
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And what this intimates is that after these Jewish unbelievers hear of Jesus' resurrection from the dead, after he's raised from the dead, they hear he was raised from the dead, they would make effort to find him, perhaps to see for themselves that the rumor were true, but still with the intention to discredit him or even destroy him.
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They would later attempt to kill Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, because there were a lot of people believing on Jesus when they saw
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Lazarus. This is the man who was dead. We all knew he was dead. Now he's alive. Jesus raised him from the dead.
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We believe on Jesus. So they tried to kill Lazarus. And it may be when they heard that Jesus was raised from the dead, they were seeking him to kill them all over again.
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But Jesus said, at that time, when you look for me, you're not going to be able to find me.
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I think that's what he's saying. Jesus told them they would be unable to find him after his resurrection.
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And we know, of course, that although the risen Lord Jesus showed himself to a few unbelievers, and as I started thinking about that,
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I know of two. There were two guards at the tomb who saw him and were afraid and ran away. Apart from them,
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I believe, his post -resurrection appearances were only to his disciples, both men and women.
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The Romans never did find him, even though they were probably looking for him for that period of time after the resurrection.
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Jesus also declared to them, and where I am, you cannot come. In these words, he was telling the
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Jewish men that they would not be allowed or welcomed into heaven. He's going back to his father, and he's saying, you're not going there.
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He would be dwelling and reigning after his resurrection in his glorified body, but they would not go there.
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As one aptly wrote, these words plainly refer to the fact that Jesus had but a short time left before the completion of his earthly mission and his return to his father, but they are, as so often, misunderstood by his hearers.
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We, of course, understand them better because we know the sequel, as the people in the temple court naturally could not.
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If those who looked for him before he arrived halfway through the festival week had difficulty finding him, and if his opponents had such difficulty in resting him before his hour had come, they would have even less chance of finding him when once he had returned to the father.
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They wouldn't find him. And again, these men were clueless as to what
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Jesus was saying to them. We read of this in verses 35 and 36. Then the
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Jews said among themselves, Where does he intend to go that we shall not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the
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Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that he said, you will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come?
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This is a fascinating statement if you think it through in what's being said and why the
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Holy Spirit moved John, the gospel writer, to record these words. They thought when
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Jesus said, I'm leaving, you're not going to be able to find me, oh, he must be planning to go out into the
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Roman world to the dispersion and even teach and preach the Greeks.
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Now to us, the Greeks might seem to be a rather narrow term that refers only to those from the nation of Greece.
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This would be incorrect. For the entire Roman world at that time, the
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Roman Empire had been formally ruled by the Greeks having been conquered through Alexander the Great who died in 322
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B .C. And when Greece ruled over the known world, its culture, the
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Greek culture, became predominant. And this is why the Roman world was often referred to as the
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Hellenized world. And Hellenized is just another word, it's like an adjective for Greek.
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The Hellenization of the Roman Empire mean that they embraced the Greek culture. And although Latin was the official legal language of the
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Roman world, Greek was the common language of the people and the popular culture was largely shaped by the
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Greeks. And so here, when these Jews referred to Jesus going among the Greeks, they were referring to the
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Gentile occupants of the Roman world. Is he going out to the Diaspora? Where the
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Jews are scattered throughout the Roman world, the Greek world, and even preached to the
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Greeks, the Gentiles? Now, here the Jews who had sought to arrest
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Jesus referred to him as going to the dispersion. Again, this was a reference to the
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Jewish people who dwelled throughout the Roman Empire. They had been relocated by the
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Assyrians and the Babylonians after they had conquered Judea in the 8th and 6th centuries B .C. And so there were
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Jewish communities everywhere throughout the Roman Empire. And so what these Jewish men were asking, was
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Jesus going to go to the Jews of the dispersion and there to teach the Gentiles also?
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Now, please understand the attitude of these people who asked this question. When they asked this question, these men were not simply inquiring what
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Jesus meant by his words. They were being derogatory and sarcastic toward Jesus. This was a put -down in their mind.
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The idea or thought of going to teach the Greeks was viewed by them as a very worthless and silly endeavor that no self -respecting
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Jew would undertake. What's he going to do? Go out to the dispersion and teach the Greeks too? That was a big put -down in their mind, as one wrote.
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Thus, the Jews mockingly suggested that Jesus will also be teaching Gentiles, an abhorrent idea for the
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Jews. And this comment serves as a further rebuke and rejection of the ministry and message of Jesus.
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If this final statement was intended to suggest Jesus would work with the Gentiles, it serves less as a judgment and more of a prophecy.
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Think about that. What they deemed to be too fantastic a possibility that any
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Jew, and surely not the Messiah, would intend to go and teach the Gentiles, in other words, the world, is exactly what
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Jesus and his disciples, the church, intend to do. And that's what they did, isn't it?
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By the way, interestingly, later on in John's Gospel we're going to see certain Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. We read of that in John 12, 20.
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Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast, and they came to Philip.
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Philip had a Greek name. He was a Hellenized Jew, one that they would have resonated with rather than a strict
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Palestinian Jew. They came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him, saying,
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Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
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But Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
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And he's talking about his crucifixion there. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.
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But if it dies, it produces much grain. When certain Greeks wanted to see Jesus, Jesus immediately said,
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It's now time for me to be crucified. And through my crucifixion, Greeks all over the world are going to be able to come to me.
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They wanted to see Jesus. And they would see Jesus and even be embraced fully upon his crucifixion.
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And so it was then that Jesus would say, according to John, Now is the judgment of this world.
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Now the ruler, that's the devil, of this world would be cast out. He has no more power or authority to prevent the gospel from going to the
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Gentile world. And if I be lifted up, referring to his crucifixion, from the earth, will draw all people,
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Gentiles, to myself. This he said, according to John, signifying by what death he would die.
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And so there's a prophetic element here that these
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Jews who were talking to Jesus, even though they spoke these words, they were clueless.
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They were being sarcastic. And they were putting down Jesus, but in actuality, they were setting forth the reality of what would transpire in the future.
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And so Jesus was indicating that his death on the cross would open up the gospel to the people of the world, not just Jewish people, but Greeks too, could freely come and be welcomed as citizens of his kingdom.
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Since this would be what Jesus would actually do to send his disciples into the world to proclaim and teach the gospel to the
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Gentile world, we see that these Jewish leaders who were bent only on capturing and destroying
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Jesus and his influence who mockingly proposed that he would go teach the Gentiles of the dispersion, were actually unwittingly portending the purpose and plan of God.
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And so these verses before us in John 12, 35, should be 7, 35 and 36, are therefore another example of what we spoke of last week,
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Johannine irony. Remember that? Johannine irony. Here's another example.
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Leon Morris wrote of this. Notice that they speak of going to the dispersion, but of teaching, not the dispersion, in other words the
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Jews, but the Greeks. This would seem to mean going to the Jewish synagogues and making them the springboard for a mission outward to the
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Greeks. It is, of course, the method, according to Acts, the first Christian preachers actually employed.
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These Jews, however, dismissed the method as too fantastic to be considered a proper activity of the
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Messiah. This is another example of John's irony. It is not without interest that John has recorded a misunderstanding as to the origin of the
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Messiah on the part of some. We know this is where he's from. He's from Galilee. But when the
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Messiah comes, we don't know where he's going to come from. And then now he matches it with a misunderstanding of his departure.
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They were clueless. And it's then that John recorded the great event on the last day of the feast when the
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Lord Jesus stood forward and gave forth His gracious and glorious invitation, verses 37 -39, to record
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His words along with an explanation of meaning provided by John, the gospel writer.
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On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
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He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.
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For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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That's a rich statement of our Lord. These verses, verses 37 -39, are really the climax of the entire episode of John chapter 7, which sets forth
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Jesus here at the Feast of the Tabernacles in Jerusalem. We mentioned earlier that the festival was seven days in length, and in a technical sense this is true, in that the same ceremony was repeated each day by a priest collecting water and a pitcher at the
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Pool of Siloam, and every day they would ceremonially march up to the temple and they would pour it at the altar.
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However, there was an eighth, final day of the festival when that ceremony was not repeated.
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Water was not drawn from the Pool of Siloam. And there is some confusion.
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Seven days or eight days? And again, Leon Morris wrote from Deuteronomy 16, it would appear that the feast at one time went for seven days, but Leviticus 23 makes it plain that there was an eighth day.
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It's not quite clear whether it was the seventh or this eighth day, which was the climax of the whole celebration of which
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John speaks as the great day of the feast. I found this description of a more full idea of what this whole festival of tabernacles was like during these seven or eight days.
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And Leon Morris put it forth. And I want to read this. I know it's a lengthy quote, but I think it gives us a good flavor of the atmosphere and what
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Jesus was seeing and watching when he stood forward on this last day and made this pronouncement.
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Tabernacles was a festival rich in symbolism and popular appeal, and the symbolism forms the background to our
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Lord's saying. The principal features of the observance in addition to the setting up of the leafy bowers in which people camped out, they made little huts, as it were, and offering of the sacrifices appeared to have been these.
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The people carried with them bunches of leaves called lulobs. There was apparently a disagreement between the
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Sadducees and the Pharisees over the correct interpretation of Leviticus 23. And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and bows of thick trees, and willows of the brook.
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The former, all right, this would have been the Sadducees, the former took the words to refer to the material out of which the booths for the observance of the feast were to be constructed, while the latter, that would be the
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Pharisees, held them to mean that the worshipers were actually to carry branches of the trees named as they entered the temple.
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The Phariseic interpretation prevailed among the people, and accordingly each worshiper, as he marched in procession, would carry the lulob in his right hand and a citron in his left.
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That was a form of fruit. The lulob symbolized the stages of the wilderness journey, marked by different kinds of vegetation, and the fruit of the goodly land that God had given to his people.
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As certain psalms were recited, the worshipers shook their lulobs. The rejoicing was marked further by the flute playing and dancing that went on for most of the feast, and by bringing in young willow branches and arranging them around the altar.
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The tops were thus bent over the altar, forming a leafy canopy for it. The reciting of the words,
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Save now, we beseech thee, O Jehovah, O Jehovah, we beseech thee, send now prosperity, is proudly to be understood as a prayer for rain and fruitful season.
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We've mentioned in the past that this festival of tabernacles, yes, celebrated the wilderness wandering, but also it was done at the end of the growing season and became a celebration of the harvest and a celebration of gratefulness for God having provided rain.
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On each of the seven days of the feast, the priest drew water from the pool of Siloam in a golden flagon and brought it in procession to the temple with the joyful sounding of the trumpet.
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And there the water was poured into a bowl beside the altar from which a tube took it to the base of the altar. Simultaneously, wine was poured to a similar bowl on the other side of the altar.
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These symbolic ceremonies were acted thanksgivings for God's mercies in giving water in past days, probably looking right back to the smiting of the rock in the wilderness and then on to the giving of rain in recent years.
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They were also an acted prayer for rain for the coming year. It also is significant that the words of Isaiah are associated with these ceremonies.
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With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. The Jerusalem Talmud connects ceremonies in this scripture with the
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Holy Spirit. Why is the name of it called drawing out of water? Because the pouring out of the
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Holy Spirit according to what was said. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
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So that kind of fills out maybe a picture in our minds of what was taking place during those seven days.
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Well now I think we can better consider our Lord's words recorded in verse 37. On the last day, that great day of the feast,
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Jesus stood and cried, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
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Water had been ceremonially drawn and carried to the temple on each of the previous seven days, but on this eighth and final day this was not done.
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This makes Jesus standing forward and making His bold claim all the more remarkable. He took the entire feast and gave forth its true meaning as portraying
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Him and His ability and willingness to satisfy the soul longing for salvation.
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Who desired to experience true life lived out before God. It was an invitation.
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Come unto me and your thirst will be assuaged. So this was an amazing event as one described it.
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To impress upon the reader this significance, the narrator describes not only the potent words of Jesus, but even
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His intentional action. Jesus stood up and cried out. In a moment hard to fathom in the presence of such a sacred feast and ceremony,
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God Himself stood to address the people. Such a statement is not mere speech but can only be described in the language used of the prophets of God.
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For the first time, a prophet did not preface his address with, Thus saith the
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Lord. For this prophet was the prophet. The Word of God become flesh.
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And this feast and water -drawing ceremony belonged entirely to Him. He basically stood up and owned it and said it all pointed to Him.
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And He in turn offered life to people that would believe on Him. And so Jesus said,
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If anyone thirsts, the whole festival involved the idea of thirsting and being satisfied with water drawn.
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If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. An invitation that's quite similar to what
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Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria, at Jacob's well, the Samaritan woman.
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We won't read that, but basically He told her that He had water to offer her that would have completely satisfied her and she would never thirst again.
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But here in John 7, Jesus presents Himself not only as the provision for the thirsty soul, but He's also the provider.
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He provides satisfaction to the thirsty one. And here He identifies the water with the life -imparting, life -transforming, life -enhancing of the
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Holy Spirit that He would give to those who have faith in Him. And this offer of spiritual, life -giving water was a prominent theme in the
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Old Testament, particularly in Isaiah. You're familiar with the verse, Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
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And here Jesus is standing, basically saying the same thing. If you're thirsty, come unto
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Me and you'll never thirst again. Your spiritual thirst will be completely assuaged.
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You'll be satisfied. You'll never thirst again. And if you do so, you'll encounter and receive what
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Isaiah said were the sure mercies of David. And what that is is salvation by grace through faith as David put his faith in the
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Lord. But whereas Isaiah declared God's words, come to the waters, the
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Lord Jesus gave a personal invitation to Himself. If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
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And so we see the Lord Jesus offering Himself to the people as the way of salvation if they're thirsty.
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And so in a development to what Jesus had said to the Samaritan woman that she would never thirst again if she came to Him in faith, here
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Jesus declared that the one who believes in Him will himself become a source for satisfying the spiritual thirst of others.
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This is Jesus' promise to you if you're a Christian. Not only did you come to Jesus and have your spiritual thirst satisfied, but you then will in turn be able to provide living waters to other people that you encounter.
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This is incredible. He said in verse 38, He who believes in Me, as the
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Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. The one who comes to Jesus in faith becomes one who can bring the soul -satisfied, soul -enriching message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to others.
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And so the idea of water bringing forth life to the world is set forth in the Scriptures in many places.
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And so often, however, these passages, particularly in the Old Testament, for the last 150 years or so, have been interpreted literally, so -called, rather than Christologically.
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And I think this is very, very unfortunate and very errant. Here's a few examples.
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And even as we read some of these, you think, man, you're interpreting those spiritually, aren't you?
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Absolutely right. We're interpreting these Christologically. We would argue you don't interpret the
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Old Testament literally, but rather the Old Testament is filled with Christ.
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And everything in the Old Testament points to Christ and salvation in Christ. And these passages speak of the salvation that's coming through Jesus Christ.
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And so, for example, we have a passage in Zechariah of the life -giving properties of the
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Messiah when He reigns. In that day, that is, in the day of the Messiah's reign, it shall be that living water shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, half of them toward the western sea.
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And both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day it shall be the
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Lord is one and His name is one. And most evangelicals, well -intentioned, good people, by the way, will say you're supposed to interpret that literally, and that's a reference to literal water, providing water for the earth in a future thousand -year
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Jewish millennium. We would argue, no, that this is a prophetic declaration that the waters of salvation will go forth from Jerusalem, which they did through the
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Lord Jesus and through His church and through all the world. Ezekiel wrote of life -giving waters, which should be understood as God giving spiritual life through the coming
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Messiah. Then He brought me out. Ezekiel is speaking about an angel escorting him.
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He brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east.
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From the front of the temple faced east, the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple south of the altar.
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He brought me out by way of the north gate. He led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east, and there was water running out on the right side.
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And when the man went out to the east with a line in his hand, he measured 1 ,000 cubits. He brought me through the waters, and the water came up to my ankles.
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Again he measured 1 ,000, brought me through the waters, the water came up to my knees. Again he measured 1 ,000, brought me through, the water came up to my waist.
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And again he measured 1 ,000, it was a river that could not cross, for the water was too deep, water which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed.
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He said to me, Son of man, have you seen this? And then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.
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And when I returned there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other.
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And when he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, enters the sea.
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When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed, and it shall be that every living thing moves, wherever the rivers go will live.
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And again, many evangelicals argue you're to take that literally. It speaks about a future river flowing out of literal
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Jerusalem in the future thousand year millennium that's going to water the earth and refresh the earth.
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But we would argue, no, this is a prophecy of the life -giving water of the gospel that goes out throughout the world.
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And to show you that I'm not being too creative and fanciful in setting forth this interpretation, consider the words of Matthew Henry.
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Everybody loves Matthew Henry. They would have suspicion of me, but they would embrace what he says.
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What did he say about this Ezekiel vision of Ezekiel 47? Most interpreters agree that these waters signify the gospel of Christ, which went forth from Jerusalem and spread itself into the countries about, and the gifts and powers of the
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Holy Ghost, which accompanied it, and by virtue of which it spread far and produced strange and blessed effects.
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Ezekiel had walked around the house again and again, and yet did not till now take notice of those waters, for God makes known his mind and will to his people, not all at once, but by degrees.
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He saw this prophecy of the gospel that comes through Jesus Christ. And then here are the comments on Ezekiel 47 from an old
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Methodist commentator, Adam Clark. He's kind of flaky in some things, but in eschatology
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I really liked his comments. And so after describing the setting of the passage of Ezekiel 47, he wrote these words.
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Taken in this view, I shall proceed to apply the whole of this vision to the effusion of light and salvation by the outpouring of the
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Spirit of God unto the gospel dispensation, by which the knowledge of the true God was multiplied in the earth, and have only one previous remark to make, that the farther the waters flowed from the temple, the deeper they grew.
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With respect to the phraseology of this chapter, it may be said that Saint John had it particularly in view while he wrote of his celebrated description of paradise in Revelation 22, the trees on either side of the river and whatnot.
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The prophet may therefore be referring to the same thing which the apostle describes, in other words, the grace of the gospel and its effect on the world.
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The Bible is full of very rich metaphors and prophecies that people are just blind to because they fail to interpret the scriptures of the
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Old Testament Christologically because they think that they are doing right saying, no, we need to interpret literally.
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If you interpret the Old Testament literally, then you'd have to conclude that the Jews and their anticipation of the kind of kingdom they wanted when
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Jesus came was a right interpretation, but it wasn't because they interpreted the scriptures wrongly.
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Well, we next read in verse 39 of the apostle John's explanation of the manner in which he will give spiritual life to those who believe on him.
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But this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive, for the
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Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. The Holy Spirit is the third person, of course, of the blessed
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Holy Trinity who imparts spiritual life to ones that God saves through Jesus Christ.
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Here, however, the Lord is not speaking so much of the grace of regeneration. When the
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Holy Spirit causes a sinner to be born again, rather he's speaking of the gift of the
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Holy Spirit that sanctifies all those who come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
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The reason we can say this is because all people throughout history, from Genesis all the way through the
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Revelation, everyone who's ever been saved, both Old Testament and New Testament believers, were brought to salvation by the new birth, by the regeneration of the
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Holy Spirit who caused spiritually dead people to come alive to spiritual life.
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But here, the Scriptures say that the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. This is a clear reference to the day of Pentecost when the risen and thrown
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Lord, King Jesus, would pour out the Holy Spirit on every one of his disciples. And this gift of the
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Holy Spirit would empower his people for witness of the Gospel and also would enable them to increasingly live holy lives.
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This gift of the Holy Spirit is a particular gift associated with the New Covenant that you and I enjoy in this
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New Covenant age. And so where the Holy Spirit came upon individuals in history in the
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Old Testament, sometimes empowering them to do mighty physical feats, the prophecy, of course, the prophets declared when the
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Messiah came, salvation to the Messiah, he would give the Holy Spirit to every true
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Christian and transform them and enable them to live holy lives.
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And so, the gift of the Holy Spirit was prophesied in the Old Testament and here in John 7,
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Jesus' foretelling of this life -changing, life -transforming gift and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to every true
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Christian whose repentance of sin has placed faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus gives the gift of the
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Holy Spirit which enables him or her to live as a Christian. In other words, a holy life, not a perfect life, but a holy life in obedience to the law of God under King Jesus.
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Jesus was announcing those who came to faith in him would receive this transforming, life -changing power of the
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Holy Spirit, enabling them to live as his disciples in a fallen world. And again, we're not going to cite these passages, but it's proclaimed in the
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Old Testament that when salvation comes under the new covenant through Jesus Christ, the
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Lord would give the Holy Spirit and cause them, enable them to walk according to God's commandments,
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God's law. And every true Christian in this church age for these last 2 ,000 years has been able to live as a
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Christian because of the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus said he would give to everyone who believed on him.
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Every true Christian is someone who lives for Christ, walks with Christ, is a disciple of Christ.
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No, he's not perfect, but he's different. Salvation, true Christianity is not just we're forgiven of our sins.
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We're forgiven of our sins and we're being sanctified. We're being made more like Christ.
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And if you claim to be a Christian and you're a Christian, you claim to have become a Christian 10 years ago, and you're no more like Christ today than you were 10 years ago, you're not a
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Christian because the power of the Holy Spirit transforms people. He just does that work.
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And you and I can take no credit for it, of course, it's a work of God's grace in the soul, produced in us by King Jesus, who saves us, sanctifies us, transforms us.
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And so the Lord's words of promise that he gave then are true today as well. When he spoke them to the
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Jewish people in the temple of Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus essentially stands before you today and says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
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He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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This invitation, in a sense, is presented to all without distinction, if anyone thirsts.
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But in another sense, it's a limited invitation, isn't it? The invitation is qualified.
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It's quite limited. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts. And here to thirst is to desire and long after truly knowing
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God and to desire to experience life that he gives through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Our Lord's invitation is not one that only offers the forgiveness of sins, although the gospel certainly does that.
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Here spiritual thirst is the desire to experience new life in Jesus Christ, to know
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God and to walk with God, to know and believe in Jesus Christ, and to be one of his followers, one of his disciples.
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It's transformative. To thirst spiritually is to sense one's own need and to have the desire to know and live before God.
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To spiritually thirst is the desire to part from one's life of sin and loneliness, a life characterized by defeat, disappointment, regret, remorse, alienation from the true life that's in God.
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To thirst spiritually is characteristic of the one who desires to be freed from the bondage of sin, to have one's conscience cleansed from guilt of sin and condemnation before God.
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In short, to thirst spiritually is to see one's own desperate need for what only Jesus Christ can give, which he's promised to everyone who comes to him in repentance of sin and faith in him as Lord and Savior.
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And so ask yourself the question, have I known or do I know what it is to spiritually thirst?
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Has that been your experience? It is a sad thing that relatively few can say they have truly felt and known this deprivation of soul.
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One of the surest evidences of the sinfulness of man is his inability and unwillingness to see his spiritual need that can only be satisfied in Jesus Christ.
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He thinks he can go to church, thinks he can go to confession once in a while, mass once in a while, and that'll take care of matters.
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No, we need new life in Christ that only he can impart through giving us the
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Holy Spirit to transform our desires, the things we delight in, the things that we desire, that he places within our souls that weren't there before.
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It's an imparting of spiritual life. As one wrote, all ought to feel it, and all would feel it if they were wise, sinful, mortal, dying creatures as we all are with souls that will one day be judged and spend eternity in heaven or hell.
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There lives not the man or woman on earth who ought not to thirst after salvation, and yet many thirst after everything almost except salvation.
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Money, pleasure, honor, rank, self -indulgence, these are the things they desire.
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There's no clearer proof of the fault of man and utter corruption of human nature than the careless indifference of most people about their souls.
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No wonder the Bible calls natural men blind and asleep and dead when so few can be found who are awake, alive, and a thirst about salvation.
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Oh yes, some have known that thirst, but everyone who ever has known that thirst has had their thirst assuaged through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Every true Christian had spiritual thirst granted in varied degrees, but the result of this keen awareness of need resulted in them coming to Jesus Christ who could alone satisfy their thirst.
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As, again, the words of J .C. Ryle, happy are those who know something by experience of spiritual thirst.
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The beginning of all true Christianity is to discover that we are guilty, empty, needy sinners.
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Until we know that we are lost, we are not in the way to be saved. The very first step toward heaven is to be thoroughly convinced that we deserve hell.
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That sense of sin which sometimes alarms a man and makes him think his own case desperate is a good sign.
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It is, in fact, a symptom of spiritual life. Blessed indeed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, said the
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Lord Jesus. And so we have before us in these few verses, these golden verses, a very simple remedy for this desperate spiritual condition that every human being has but that which only a few have been made aware.
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The Lord Jesus says to that thirsty one, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
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And what he meant to drink is to believe on him fully and only for new life that only he can impart to fallen people.
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Jesus Christ is the true and the only fountain of all life. He's suitable to the need of sinners as drink is suitable to the one who's thirsty.
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As one wrote, There is in Jesus a suitable remedy for every disorder. Here the dead soul may have life, the blind light, the naked a garment, the poor riches, the scorched soul refreshment, the pained ease, the weak strength.
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Whatever be their case in life, death, time, eternity, prosperity, or adversity, there is everything suitable in him.
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He is able to supply all your wants or needs, however great they can be. Sometimes people meet with a loss that they think will never be made up again, but Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him.
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Are you all over filthy? There is water here to wash you. Streams, Isaiah 35, 6.
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A fountain, Zechariah 13, 1. Rivers, Isaiah 41, 18. A sea and depths of the sea,
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Micah 7, 18. Is there misery with you? Mercy is with him, a multitude of mercies.
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If one mercy will not do, mercy shall be built up. So great is his mercy toward us that he delivers our souls from the lowest hell.
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Are your sins as high as heaven? The Lord's mercy is in the heavens. Christ is a fountain that shall never run dry.
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Christ is a fountain that will serve you at all times, in all cases, through time and eternity.
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And in conclusion, let us say a word about our Lord, making everyone who truly comes to him useful to others.
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The one who is spiritually thirsty who comes to him has his thirst satisfied, but then he in turn becomes a source of this same water to others.
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Jesus said, He who believes in me, as the scripture says, said, out of his water will flow rivers of living water.
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The one who has had his thirst satisfied becomes the source of satisfying others who are now thirsty as he was once thirsty.
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One who comes to Christ will tend to influence others to come to Christ. I would like to thank that I and our church today is being used of God to cause living water to flow forth through our witness and our personal testimony.
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Consider this. With regard to the testimony of every true Christian, have you ever found a true
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Christian, true Christian, have you ever found a true Christian who is truly disappointed in the
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Lord Jesus? You cannot find one. They would say if their evidence could be collected that when they came to Christ by faith they found in him more than they expected.
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They have tasted peace and hope and comfort since they first believed which with all their doubts and fears they would not exchange for anything in this world.
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They have found grace according to their need, strength according to their days. In themselves and their own hearts they've often been disappointed but they've never been disappointed in Christ.
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Find one if you can, a true blood -bought, Holy Spirit and dwelt Christian and there you will find one at rest in Jesus Christ.
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Regardless of what trials or troubles that soul is enduring in this fallen world, he has his hope fixed on a future day when he will leave this world and depart to be with Christ and Christ's people and he will dwell eternally with those of like faith and most importantly he will dwell with his
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Savior in a far better world, even in new heavens and earth, eternal in nature, perfect in every way and may that day come soon.
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May each of us go forth from this place this morning as believers having come to Jesus Christ in faith.
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He is a crucified Savior to atone for our sins. He is the risen Lord who applies the benefits of his death and life to us through faith in him.
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He's the one who gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to every believer which is transformative.
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If we had time and you had the patience I could name you names of people here that have come to Christ in just recent weeks and months who've experienced transformation due to the grace of God, due to the power of the
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Holy Spirit. Why would anyone not desire what so freely is given through Jesus Christ to thirsty people and that's the need.
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Are we thirsty? If you've never been may the Lord create this thirst in you that you will never be satisfied until you receive your satisfaction through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Amen? Let's pray. Thank you Father for your word. Thank you for the glorious passages that we have in your word that speaks to this wonderful way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
01:07:38
Help each of us our God to consider these things. Help each of us our Lord this day in particular remember and rejoice that Jesus Christ came forth from that grave and that he ascended up into your presence our
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Father and you gave him all authority in heaven and earth and he sat down on your throne and he's there as Lord of Lords King of Kings and our
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God we believe on him and trust him and help us our Lord as a church and as individual
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Christians to be able to pass on this living water to others that we encounter through our witness and our testimony for we pray in Jesus' name.