We'll turn in the Old Testament scriptures to Jeremiah chapter two, Jeremiah's prophecy chapter two, and then to John's gospel chapter seven. First, Jeremiah chapter two, we'll read verses 11 through 13. Has a nation changed its gods which are not gods? But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. And now to John's Gospel chapter 7 beginning with verse 37. 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. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. By this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, truly this is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the seat of David and from the town of Bethlehem where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him. Now some of them wanted to take him, but no one laid hands on him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, why have you not brought him? The officers answered, no man ever spoke like this man. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God abides forever. And let us pray together. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we pray now that as we turn to your holy word that you would send us the power and the presence of your Holy Spirit, that indeed you would, as you have promised in your Word, that you would pour water on those who are thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, that you by your Spirit would pour out the blessing of spiritual understanding, of light and life, of drinking from the well of never-ending supply of water in our Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of your Spirit. Hear our cries. Deliver us from our natural thirst. Satisfy our parched tongues and give us eyes to see the beauty and the glory of Christ above all. In His precious name we pray. Amen. We're turning tonight to John's Gospel, chapter 7, for an occasional sermon, as it were, a standalone sermon from this short text, John 7, verses 37 to 39. One of those places in the Scripture that we see many of them in John's Gospel, those times when our Lord Jesus Christ so plainly and so clearly calls sinners to Himself, when He offers Himself freely in the Gospel. And it's my privilege and great joy tonight to preach Jesus Christ and to offer Him again to you in the Gospel, this great and simple statement and call of our Savior. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." Here is living water for thirsty souls. Is your soul thirsty? Are you, to borrow the words of Isaiah's prophecy, are you with joy drawing water from the wells of salvation? Do you know what it is to taste of that life-giving water that Christ alone gives by the power of His Holy Spirit? Is your soul thirsty? Think sometimes of our physical thirst, of our need for water. Maybe this is something that almost becomes subconscious to you. If you're a parent with young children, very young children, and many of you are, you almost have a subconscious reflex that as your children come to you and ask for something to drink, Mommy, give me some water, please. Give me something to drink. Almost without thinking about it, you fill their water cup and throw in some ice and hand it back to them to give them water to drink. Perhaps in these long and hot summer months, you've been more mindful of your thirst and of the need to drink water. But I'm certainly not here tonight to encourage you in drinking physical water. I'll leave that to others. But I'm here to ask you and press upon your conscience a much more pressing matter, much more urgent matter. And that is the matter of spiritual thirst. Is your soul thirsty? Tonight, do you know what it is, by the grace of God's Holy Spirit, to drink deeply of the wells of salvation in Jesus Christ. I want to study together with you, meditate upon these words of our Savior. this offer of himself as the giver of life-giving water, of life-sustaining water, rivers of water that will never run dry by his Holy Spirit. Very simply, we'll approach the text this way. We'll first seek to understand something of our thirst, of thirsty souls, what that means. And then the nature of this living water that our Savior promises. And then lastly, the urgent necessity of drinking, by faith, of that water. The nature of thirst, the promise that our Savior makes of living water. And then the urgent necessity of drinking this water. So Christ offers Himself here, standing up and crying out on that last day, the great day of the Feast. This is the Feast of Tabernacles. We'll come back to that in a moment. Our Savior offering Himself. If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. a very similar statement, a similar offer of Christ that Christ makes of Himself as He makes often throughout the Gospel of John. Perhaps most clearly and poignantly, you know the words of John 3.16, that, "...for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And then, just a chapter over, the promise and the statement of our Savior to the woman at the Samaritan well. The Samaritan woman, whoever drinks of this water, as our Savior points to the physical water that the woman's drawing up out of the well, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. You might think as well of Christ's offer of Himself in John 6.35. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Or perhaps the words of John's Gospel, chapter 10. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. These short statements of our Savior's sufficiency, of His glory, of His exclusive nature as the only Savior of sinners. The only one who can satisfy the cravings of the hungry and the sinful soul. The only one who can pour water on the one who is thirsty. the only one who brings forgiveness of sins and life everlasting to ruined sinners. And of course, this free offer of the gospel and these short statements made by our Savior in his preaching ministry go beyond John's gospel. Even think of Matthew's gospel, chapter 11, and that simple and blessed statement of our Savior. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You might even think of the Old Testament scriptures echoing the same grand truth. Isaiah chapter 55, a well-known statement of calling sinners to come and come and and taste and see that the Lord is good. Isaiah 55, 1, ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. So you see that the scriptures are abundantly full of such clear gospel invitations to come to Jesus Christ, to come taste and see, to come drink of the living water, eat of the living bread, and find rest for your souls. And already there's much for us to think and meditate on. at the very beginning here as we meditate on Christ's offer of himself as the living water. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. We're gathered tonight, nuts. merely to hear information, to have information dispensed, as it were, some sort of lecture. Preaching is much more than giving you advice on how to live, or entertaining you, informing you, filling your minds with information, or passing the time in any other way. My responsibility as a minister of the gospel is to call you to Christ, is to continually point you to the one who is the bread of life, to call you, to summon you, to press upon your heart and your conscience the urgent necessity of faith in Him, of true repentance, and of how the Christian life begins. and saving faith in Christ. It's your responsibility as a hearer, and not merely to receive information, but to hear, to believe, to the saving of your soul. And this all is urgent, as we see so clearly in our Savior's proclamation, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Physical thirst, left unquenched, will kill you. You can only go, experts say, perhaps two, maybe three, or perhaps a little bit longer, three days, without water, without physical water, you die. Without taking hold of Christ as He's offered to you in the Gospel, you will die. And we all need to hear this. This is something, this clear and pointed call of our Savior, something for all of us, even those of you who have been walking with the Lord for many years, drinking of the water of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His Spirit within your heart. May your heart always rejoice to hear Christ proclaimed. And may the Lord always increase your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hearing the gospel once again, may it become more and more sweet as you hear it time and time again. We all need to hear the clear summoning of our Savior. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And this call is for thirsty souls, for those who know something of their need, who know something of their spiritual poverty, of their great thirst. It's significant that our Savior here stands up and cries out and offers this living water on the last day, the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles. If you're familiar with this feast, you know that it's one of three significant feasts observed by the people of God, observed by Israel. throughout their history. This is really a week in which the people of God, as it were, went camping, dwelling for several days, in fact, a whole week, in booths or structures perhaps analogous to our own tents, leafy structures, for a week, remembering the wilderness wanderings of the people of God. for those 40 years in the wilderness. And some of you went camping this week, and some of you perhaps were in campers, some of the braver ones and adventurous ones were in tents all week, or perhaps hammocks. And you're reminded of perhaps something of the experience of the people of Israel as they go to Jerusalem once a year for their seven days, the seven-day feast. as they remember God's gracious provision to their fathers for those 40 years in the wilderness. And significantly, in that history, those 40 years of wilderness wandering, the people of Israel and even the Jews here in Jesus' day are recalling to mind the provision of manna in the wilderness and the provision of water. That time in the history of God's people Israel, when they were thirsty, when they experienced parched tongues and the need of physical water. And they complained, but yet the Lord through Moses provides water for them to drink, water out of the rock. And so there's something in the Feast of Tabernacles of remembering the grace of the Lord, the long-suffering of Jehovah and his patience with his often complaining and murmuring people. his provision of water. In fact, back in Nehemiah chapter 9, when the exiles return to the promised land and again celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, it's significant that we read it during that celebration, these words, as the people praise the Lord and Yet in your manifold mercies you did not forsake them, speaking of the fathers in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from them by day to lead them on the road, nor the pillar of fire by night to show them light and the way they should go. You also gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. And so there's a remembrance, a commemoration in this Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles of God's gracious provision of water and manna for the people of God. in the wilderness. But there's also a looking ahead during this feast to the promise of the Spirit, those Old Testament promises of the Spirit, the one who would come and pour water on the dry ground and floods upon the parts of the Spirit who would come and sprinkle clean water upon the people of God and remove their filthiness and their idols from them. Even the words of Zechariah 14, that out of Jerusalem would come and would flow out living waters. So in this feast, this seven day celebration of the people of God, again significant that our Savior's sermon comes on the last and great day of that feast. In the minds and fresh on the consciences of the people of God has been God's provision of water in the past in the wilderness and the promise of the Spirit who will be poured out upon the people of God in living water in the future. And now as our Savior stands up on this last great day of the Feast, He's proclaiming all of these promises All of this blessing, the pouring out of the Spirit as floods upon the dry ground, all of this is fulfilled in me. The feast is fulfilled in our Savior, the dispenser of this life-giving water, the one who will indeed, by His Spirit, sprinkle water and deliver His people from their filthiness and remove their idols of the one who would pour out his spirit as floods upon the dry ground, who would make the living water flow from Jerusalem by the grace and the coming of his Holy Spirit. We'll get to that in a moment. So water, significant as our Savior calls sinners to himself. He's saying, forget the rituals that you've made. I'm the fulfillment, the substance of all that this feast points to. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me. And he calls those who are thirsty. those who are spiritually thirsty, those who have a sense, even as we confess together from the shorter catechism, those who have a sense of their sin and their misery, those who know what it is to be spiritually dry, needy, and condemned. Do you know something of this spiritual thirst, not just the sensations and the cravings of physical thirst, as poignant as those are, but do you know what it is to thirst spiritually? Do you have a sense of your own need for Christ, your sin and your misery, your thirstiness by nature? With the high school class, high school Sunday school class this morning, we studied the end of Romans chapter three. And there, as Paul's building his argument and bringing all the world into condemnation, he brings our sins and miseries, our spiritual thirst upon us, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Martin Luther said of the spiritual thirst that it consists in a distressed, wretched, and terrified conscience and a despondent and frightened heart which longs to know in what terms it stands with God. A conscience that's awakened. to your own sin and misery, an expectation of, apart from our Lord Jesus Christ and the living water that he offers, even the terror of judgment, the condemnation of God's holy law. Do you know what it is to thirst? Do not ignore that thirst. There are various ways that you might seek to evade or put to rest this spiritual thirst. And one way is to ignore it. Even as you hear the word tonight, to let the word pass you by, as it were, to push it away, to harden your hearts, to deny your need, your sinfulness, pangs of conscience, the reminder of your sin and your guilt and your shame, of the parched nature of your own heart. There are other responses as well. You might attempt to quench this spiritual thirst in a whole host of ways, in a whole host of sinful ways. You might do what we read of the people of Judah, what the people of Judah did in Jeremiah's day. You might forsake the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and make for yourself broken cisterns or broken buckets that hold no water. What am I referring to in our lives now? perhaps accruing for yourself material possessions, more money, a larger house, more possessions, constantly tracking the stock market or other investments, building for yourself money and pleasure here in this passing scene. There are other ways that you might seek to quench this thirst. You might seek to quench this thirst with the comforts of this present world. We live in a I was reminded of this just the last few days. We live in a very comfortable place, a place of peace and prosperity. Where not much that's truly hard is demanded of us. And you might seek to quench that thirst by the comforts. even as you grow a little older, embracing the comforts of this world and seeking satisfaction in them, or pleasure and the endless pursuit of sexual pleasure, of pleasures that God has forbidden, of looking for one pleasure craze after another to, as it were, to quench this deep spiritual thirst within your soul. But rest assured that all of these False ways, all of these manners of quenching physical, of spiritual thirst will end in disaster. They will end, these are broken buckets that can hold no water. This is a thirst that only Christ and only the gift of His Holy Spirit will ever satisfy. Follow your heart. your pleasures, your comforts, your material possessions, and you will die. This is the solemn yet urgent message of the scriptures. It's only in Christ and in Christ alone that this deep spiritual thirst can be quenched. And indeed, as Christ calls, as our Lord Jesus calls sinners to himself, as he calls the thirsty, he offers them living water. What is the nature of this living water for thirsty souls? If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, the one who himself is the giver of this living water. Verse 38 tells us more of the promise of our Savior, of this life-giving water. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. What precisely does our Savior mean? That for the one who comes to Him, for the one who takes Him by faith, who embraces Him as He's freely offered in the gospel, what does He mean? That out of His heart will flow rivers of living water. In fact, there's not one particular scripture here that is fulfilled, but perhaps a whole number of them, scriptures that I've already referenced. Isaiah 44, verse 3, that the Lord will pour water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. That He promises the gift of the Spirit, the one who will sprinkle clean the people of God from their uncleanness, their filthiness, who will satisfy them. The one who will bring living water to flow at the last day from Jerusalem. Our Savior promises such life-giving water, that out of His heart, out of the one who believes in Him, this living water will flow. Perhaps most helpful as we seek to understand what our Savior is getting at are those words I've already referenced, that He, the proclamation of our Savior to the Samaritan woman, another conversation about thirst and about water. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well that day that whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. What is our Savior referring to? He's referring to the gift of his Holy Spirit, the one who he will send from heaven, floods upon a dry ground. The one that even as he reveals a little bit later on in our text that he speaks and declares this promise regarding the Spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. He's proclaiming these words of the Holy Spirit, the one whom He would send upon His return triumphant to glory. It would indeed be the particular role of the Spirit of God to work in the hearts of believers, to grant them living water. The One who takes away the parched heart of stone and in its place, Grant a heart of flesh, the one who takes our dry, parched and thirsty souls and makes rivers of water flow within them. The purchase and the gift of Christ to his church, the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is living water for the one who is thirsty, the gift of the Holy Spirit of God. for all those who come to Christ empty, thirsty, and needy, calling upon him in faith and drinking of that life-giving water found in Christ and in the precious gift of his Holy Spirit. And think much of how this promise is played out in your life and all those who have come to Jesus Christ and tasted and seen that He indeed is good, who have had your thirst quenched, who have drunk deeply, who have drawn out of those wells of salvation found in Christ and of His Holy Spirit. Think of the work of the spirits, the one who even pictured in baptism, cleanses us from our sin and filthiness, who washes us with the water, not mere physical water, but with the cleansing power of regeneration, who grants us new hearts, all that baptism points to and signifies, the one who quenches our thirst, and brings us to Christ, and shows us more of His glory, so that in Christ we see all that is blessed and glorious and beautiful, and nothing but blessedness and glory in Christ. But there's even more, I believe, that our Savior means as He proclaims that for the one who believes in Him, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, never-ending abundance. Not only having your thirst quench, your spiritual thirst quench, but spiritual life and abundance. The promise here is of deep abundance, that the believer will drink from a spring whose fullness will never be exhausted. Perhaps the words of Isaiah chapter 58 help us the most in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit here and pouring out this living water deep within our hearts. and is the promise in Isaiah's prophecy of the work of the Spirit, that the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. The picture here is of verdant pastures, of a well-irrigated garden, of, as it were, the fruitfulness, the fruitfulness of a well-irrigated place, that the believer's heart and soul is transformed from that which is empty and parched, sinful and wicked, into something that is fruitful. that is abundance, that is pouring forth in life and in blessing. This is the work of the Spirit of God to grant this kind of life and abundance. is the work of the Spirit to produce the fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, even as we've heard from Galatians 5 in recent weeks, cultivating our hearts, transforming us. What Christ is promising here is certainly having our thirst quenched, having our sins forgiven and washed away, but even more, the blessed work of the Spirit day by day in our hearts, so that even from us might flow those rivers of living water. Life, everlasting life and abundance. All this accomplished by the gracious Spirit of God. And you see, don't you, something here of the close relationship of Christ and the Spirit together. The Spirit bringing all glory to Christ and our Lord Jesus in delight and joy. pouring out the Spirit upon His church. We might think of what our Savior will tell His disciples in a few chapters, that indeed it's better for you if I go away, if I go away and ascend to my Father, I'll give you another comforter, the one who will be with you always to guide you into the truth. This is the gift of Christ to his church, the spirit, the one whom Christ purchased for us by the shedding of his blood on the cross of Calvary, the blessed gift to the church, the one who indeed transforms our hearts so that living water will flow from them. This is the accomplishment of our Savior. Certainly, it's true that the Spirit was at work greatly, even in the Old Testament, that the Spirit came upon leaders, kings and prophets and priests. What our Savior is not saying that he's not saying that the Spirit has not been active up to this point. but that in Pentecost there would be a fullness of the Spirit brought in, that even that day as Christ has ascended to the right hand of the Father in power and glory, that in the pouring out of the Spirit, even 3,000 souls will be swept into the kingdom of Christ, granted the gift of faith and repentance. brought to taste and see and drink of the living water found in Christ. And now that the gospel would go forth to the nations, that thirsty sinners would be called to come to Christ to drink, to find in Him living water in abundance. Our Savior is pointing ahead, telling us of that better fullness of the Holy Spirit yet to come in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. For thirsty souls, Christ gives the Holy Spirit that out of our hearts might flow rivers of living water. And all this brings us to the urgency of drinking. A simple picture, a very simple picture, but one that I press upon your conscience. Have you come to Jesus Christ and have you drunk of that life-giving water? You know your thirst. You recognize the promise that our Savior makes that out of the heart of the one who believes in him, the Holy Spirit will make living waters flow in abundance. The picture here is simple. It's a faith in Jesus Christ. Simple pictures used throughout John's gospel of entering by the door, of eating the living bread, our Lord Jesus Christ. And now the picture here of drinking that life-giving water. Have you come to Christ and have you quenched, slaked your thirst in the life-giving power of his Holy Spirit? Or are you, yet even tonight, attempting to quench that thirst some other way, by filling your mouth full, as it were, with the pleasures of this world, the sinfulness and the deceptiveness of a world that is opposed to God and to His ways? Are you ignoring this spiritual thirst? I call upon you to come to Christ and to drink, to find in Him and in Him alone the water, the water of life, the gift of His Holy Spirit, your thirst quenched, your need met, your sins forgiven, and life in abundance in Him. And certainly there's, beyond this, A lesson for all of us on satisfaction and contentment in Christ. It, again, was the great sin of the people in Jeremiah's day, that they had forsaken the fountain of living water, and they had made for themselves broken cisterns, those broken buckets that could hold no water. Where are you looking, believer, for life, for contentment, for rest, for every spiritual blessing in Christ or in the things of this world and the fading pleasures of sin? If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. For those who are outside of Christ and have never tasted of this life-giving water, I call you again to lay hold of Christ as He's offered to you in the Gospel. And for those of you who believe, who have found in Christ life-giving water, continue to drink. Continue to drink deeply of this gift of Christ by His Spirit. How do you do that? How are you to appropriate for yourself this promise of living water that our Savior gives us? Take up the Word. It is the Spirit's delight to put the spotlight on our Lord Jesus Christ, to make the rivers of living water flow out of your heart as you behold more the beauty and glory of Christ, the one who is himself the fountain of life. to pray and to ask the Lord to indeed show you His glory in the Word for more of His blessing, for more of His abundance given to you in the Word. You can pray that the Lord would increase your desire for worship, that even here in worship the Spirit would make these rivers of living water flow as you hear the Word, as you embrace the promises of God, and as you delight in Christ more and more. And then, as you look for the better day. The new heavens and new earth, of which we read in the book of Revelation, flows in that place a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. hunger more and more Christian for heaven, for the full blessing of communion with the triune God there, for the river, the water of life that flows in abundance, delivering you from all of your thirst, bringing you into the full presence of God and delight in his presence of endless worship forevermore. May the Lord indeed grant you grace that out of your heart will flow rivers of living water. Let us pray. Our blessed God and Heavenly Father, we praise you for the streams of life-giving water that you promise us in Christ by your Holy Spirit. We ask that you would grant us faith and grant us the help of your Spirit, that we would not forsake you, the fountain of living waters, that we would refuse the temptation to make for ourselves broken cisterns, broken buckets that hold no water. Enable us with joy to draw water out of the wells of salvation and to look forward to that day. when we enjoy full communion with You, Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, the river, the water of life flowing in abundance of everlasting joy and communion with You. Forgive our sins. Deliver us from reaching and grasping for the things of this world, and grant us contentment in Christ. Enable us in our thirst to come to you and to drink. And grant for any who are yet outside of Christ, still in their sins, that indeed they would hear your word, and that by your Spirit they would embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered in the gospel. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. go with the blessing of our triune God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. Amen.