We left off last time with Jesus’ mastery of image language. To set us to thinking in
terms of image language I shared that John's gospel is replete with image language.
As a matter of fact not only John's gospel but the Scriptures themselves are chocked
full of image language, particularly the Proverbs.
Proverbs 25:11-14, 18-20, 25, 28
In John 7, you will remember that Jesus is attending the Feast of Tabernacles. The
Feast itself is an image. In fact all the feasts in the Bible are images.
THEY ARE IMAGES OF JOYFUL VOICES, FESTIVE MUSIC AND DANCING AND
ABUNDANT FOOD.
The feasts provide occasions of fellowship with one another and with the Lord to
remember and to celebrate what wonderful things God has done. Each feast was
celebrated by refraining from the usual work of the day, by assembling together in
fellowship and by eating a festive meal of meat, grain and wine that had been ritually
offered to God.
These special sacrificial offerings renewed fellowship between a holy God and His sinful
people, expressing the covenant relationship between them. Because of God’s
goodness, these days were to be celebrated with great joy by everyone living in the
land, including men and women, boys and girls, servants, widows, orphans and even
foreigners.
In those times when God’s people turned away from Him to idolatry, the feasts became
painful remembrances of the broken covenant.
Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate this Feast at the temple.
As if He could not contain Himself, Jesus stood on the last and greatest day of the feast
and cried out:
“IF ANYONE IS THIRSTY, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK”
Jesus knew they were thirsty, He knew they were not satisfied. Is Jesus not standing
and crying out to us from His word today?
Isn’t He saying to those of us who have gathered together to celebrate His fulfillment of
these feasts by His death and resurrection “come to me and drink?
He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of
living water”
Jesus commandeers another image of flowing rivers of water.
An earlier text that spoke of Jesus as the quencher of our thirst, cf. John 6:35 can help
us. John 6:35 focuses on our satisfaction and contentment. It says that if we drink of
Jesus our cup of satisfaction will always be full to the brim.
“We will not feel the need to fill up the cup of our need with some worldly pleasure or
achievement.” (Piper)
John 7:37-38 repeats and explains John 6:35. The promise is not only that we will be
satisfied, but that we will be satisfying. He promises not only that our cup will be full, but
also that it will be overflowing. We will become “rivers of living water”
You see if we read John 6:35 in isolation, we will come to the conclusion that our
satisfaction in Jesus is all that matters, we would all be nothing more than stagnant
ponds only good for receiving we would only be receptacles.
But in 7:35 we are much more than receptacles; Jesus promised that if we drink him into
our hearts, he will flow out from us with rivers of living water.
Two things will begin to happen when we drink of Jesus, (drink, v. 37 = believe, v.38).
1. We will cease to thirst as we gain full satisfaction, that full satisfaction is experienced
as:
2. We overflow as rivers of blessing for others.
Keep in mind texts like Acts 20:35, "It is more blessed to give than to receive", and
2 Corinthians 8:1-5.
Fullness of satisfaction and blessings arrive in and because of our giving to others. The
overflow of our hearts for the good of others is an essential part of our contentment.
Our deepest soul-thirst is not just to be a receptacle but to be a river.
If our hearts are not rivers of love and praise, then all our religious experience will
become a murky pond.
PIPER:
“This is Christ's holy magic: when a drop of his water falls on the parched land of our
soul, it doesn't make a puddle; it makes a spring. And from the spring there flows a
river. And when that river of blessing touches the heart of another person, then, and
not until then, do we experience the climax of joy. Not until then is our deepest thirst
quenched…So the sequence is: drink in Christ by faith, pour Christ out in praise and
love, and never thirst again.”
CONCLUSION:
JESUS SAT UPON THE WELL AND INVITED HER TO DRINK.
John 4:10-14, 25-26, 28-30
JESUS SPOKE ON THE SIDE OF THE SEA AND INVITED THE CROWDS TO COME TO
HIM AND DRINK. John 6:35
JESUS STOOD AT THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM AND INVITED THE CROWDS TO
COME TO HIM AND DRINK. John 6:37-38
JESUS STANDS HERE RIGHT NOW IN VERNON HILLS AND HE IS INVITING YOU TO
COME TO HIM AND DRINK/BELIEVE.
YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU HAVE INDEED COME AND HAVE INDEED BELIEVED
AS YOU OVERFLOW WITH PRAISE FOR HIM AND LOVE FOR OTHERS.
terms of image language I shared that John's gospel is replete with image language.
As a matter of fact not only John's gospel but the Scriptures themselves are chocked
full of image language, particularly the Proverbs.
Proverbs 25:11-14, 18-20, 25, 28
In John 7, you will remember that Jesus is attending the Feast of Tabernacles. The
Feast itself is an image. In fact all the feasts in the Bible are images.
THEY ARE IMAGES OF JOYFUL VOICES, FESTIVE MUSIC AND DANCING AND
ABUNDANT FOOD.
The feasts provide occasions of fellowship with one another and with the Lord to
remember and to celebrate what wonderful things God has done. Each feast was
celebrated by refraining from the usual work of the day, by assembling together in
fellowship and by eating a festive meal of meat, grain and wine that had been ritually
offered to God.
These special sacrificial offerings renewed fellowship between a holy God and His sinful
people, expressing the covenant relationship between them. Because of God’s
goodness, these days were to be celebrated with great joy by everyone living in the
land, including men and women, boys and girls, servants, widows, orphans and even
foreigners.
In those times when God’s people turned away from Him to idolatry, the feasts became
painful remembrances of the broken covenant.
Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate this Feast at the temple.
As if He could not contain Himself, Jesus stood on the last and greatest day of the feast
and cried out:
“IF ANYONE IS THIRSTY, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK”
Jesus knew they were thirsty, He knew they were not satisfied. Is Jesus not standing
and crying out to us from His word today?
Isn’t He saying to those of us who have gathered together to celebrate His fulfillment of
these feasts by His death and resurrection “come to me and drink?
He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of
living water”
Jesus commandeers another image of flowing rivers of water.
An earlier text that spoke of Jesus as the quencher of our thirst, cf. John 6:35 can help
us. John 6:35 focuses on our satisfaction and contentment. It says that if we drink of
Jesus our cup of satisfaction will always be full to the brim.
“We will not feel the need to fill up the cup of our need with some worldly pleasure or
achievement.” (Piper)
John 7:37-38 repeats and explains John 6:35. The promise is not only that we will be
satisfied, but that we will be satisfying. He promises not only that our cup will be full, but
also that it will be overflowing. We will become “rivers of living water”
You see if we read John 6:35 in isolation, we will come to the conclusion that our
satisfaction in Jesus is all that matters, we would all be nothing more than stagnant
ponds only good for receiving we would only be receptacles.
But in 7:35 we are much more than receptacles; Jesus promised that if we drink him into
our hearts, he will flow out from us with rivers of living water.
Two things will begin to happen when we drink of Jesus, (drink, v. 37 = believe, v.38).
1. We will cease to thirst as we gain full satisfaction, that full satisfaction is experienced
as:
2. We overflow as rivers of blessing for others.
Keep in mind texts like Acts 20:35, "It is more blessed to give than to receive", and
2 Corinthians 8:1-5.
Fullness of satisfaction and blessings arrive in and because of our giving to others. The
overflow of our hearts for the good of others is an essential part of our contentment.
Our deepest soul-thirst is not just to be a receptacle but to be a river.
If our hearts are not rivers of love and praise, then all our religious experience will
become a murky pond.
PIPER:
“This is Christ's holy magic: when a drop of his water falls on the parched land of our
soul, it doesn't make a puddle; it makes a spring. And from the spring there flows a
river. And when that river of blessing touches the heart of another person, then, and
not until then, do we experience the climax of joy. Not until then is our deepest thirst
quenched…So the sequence is: drink in Christ by faith, pour Christ out in praise and
love, and never thirst again.”
CONCLUSION:
JESUS SAT UPON THE WELL AND INVITED HER TO DRINK.
John 4:10-14, 25-26, 28-30
JESUS SPOKE ON THE SIDE OF THE SEA AND INVITED THE CROWDS TO COME TO
HIM AND DRINK. John 6:35
JESUS STOOD AT THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM AND INVITED THE CROWDS TO
COME TO HIM AND DRINK. John 6:37-38
JESUS STANDS HERE RIGHT NOW IN VERNON HILLS AND HE IS INVITING YOU TO
COME TO HIM AND DRINK/BELIEVE.
YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU HAVE INDEED COME AND HAVE INDEED BELIEVED
AS YOU OVERFLOW WITH PRAISE FOR HIM AND LOVE FOR OTHERS.
| Sunday Morning, April 22, 2007 Sermon Outline RIVERS OF WATER THAT SATISFY John 7:37-39 |
New Life Fellowship Church
John 7:37-39
John 7:37-39
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