Through he lens of John Chapter 7, we explore the transformative truth that our deepest longings can't be satisfied by worldly pursuits, and how embracing what Jesus refers to as 'living water' is the key to true fulfillment.
This message will take you on a journey through the temptations of seeking satisfaction in the material and the importance of desiring what is eternally nourishing. We'll reflect on the reasons we follow Jesus, challenging you to find a profound connection with God beyond the allure of material gain.
In the spirit of true transformation, we celebrate the living water that, once received, makes us vessels to carry and share the inexhaustible love of Christ. We wrap up with an invitation to carry this message forward, beyond the church walls, extending a heartfelt prayer for our congregation and those who are still searching. Join us and be inspired to not just embrace the living water for yourself, but to also become a beacon of its power to the world around you.
Through he lens of John Chapter 7, we explore the transformative truth that our deepest longings can't be satisfied by worldly pursuits, and how embracing what Jesus refers to as 'living water' is the key to true fulfillment.
This message will take you on a journey through the temptations of seeking satisfaction in the material and the importance of desiring what is eternally nourishing. We'll reflect on the reasons we follow Jesus, challenging you to find a profound connection with God beyond the allure of material gain.
In the spirit of true transformation, we celebrate the living water that, once received, makes us vessels to carry and share the inexhaustible love of Christ. We wrap up with an invitation to carry this message forward, beyond the church walls, extending a heartfelt prayer for our congregation and those who are still searching. Join us and be inspired to not just embrace the living water for yourself, but to also become a beacon of its power to the world around you.
The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2:John, chapter 7, we're going to begin in verse 37. When you have it, if you would stand to your feet, if you're ready, say amen, amen. John, chapter 7, beginning in verse 37. On the last day of the feast, the great day, jesus stood up and he cried out If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now, this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet, the spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. It's the word of the Lord, and you may be seated. Well, in the July I've told this before, and sorry, cheryl and John, but in July of 2006,.
Speaker 2:In July of 2006, my stepfather and I drove from Winchester, kentucky, miles and miles and miles to Tucson, arizona, was hired by a church there as an associate pastor, and so we made the long trek to Arizona. Now, I'm used to hot weather Kentucky gets hot but when I pulled in the parking lot of the church, we stopped there before we went to my house. They were actually black, fresh blacktop. They were blacktopping the parking lot. It was 114 degrees on that blacktop and I got out of that truck and I thought, dear Lord, this might be a glimpse of what hell's going to be like. I grew to love Tucson actually one of my favorite places but man, it was hot. But I got out of the car and people would tell me, don't. I said, man, it's hot, don't worry about it, it's a dry heat. 114 degrees is 114 degrees beloved, all right. I just just saying 114 degrees is 114 degrees beloved, all right. I'm just saying you could not drink enough water. You couldn't drink enough water. I mean, you had to just stay hydrated. So forget the bottles. We got probably a dozen five-gallon jugs of water delivered to our house every month and I'll tell you this if you have ever been extremely hot and dehydrated, how many can? Just in your mind right now, you can feel the relief of that first swig of cold water. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?
Speaker 2:We all know what it's like to be thirsty and to have that thirst quenched. Well, in our text today, jesus invites the thirsty to come to him. In John, chapter 4, we find this same language. You might be familiar with the story of the woman at the well and Jesus. As she's getting water.
Speaker 2:Jesus says hey, I've got water, and if you drink of the water that I have, you will never thirst again. Never thirst again. You know, if you're thirsty this morning and you drink a bottle of water, you're going to have to drink another bottle of water when you leave here, and another one tonight, so on and so forth, because one bottle of water is not going to quench your thirst forever. You've got to continually be hydrated. Jesus said listen to the woman at the well. He said you come to me and drink, you'll never thirst again.
Speaker 2:Here Jesus is not speaking of quality H2O Some of you will get the reference If you do repent. He uses instead water as a really powerful metaphor. Just as our body thirsts for water, our souls are thirsty. You know what's really interesting about? When I moved to Tucson, I was dehydrated quite a bit in the beginning. But what's interesting with the dry heat is that you don't necessarily realize you're dehydrated. You don't feel thirsty like you do here in the humidity for whatever reason, and you know what.
Speaker 2:The world is thirsty, but they don't know what they're thirsty for. We live in a dry and barren land. The world is thirsty. They don't know what that thirst is for. So they try to just guess and try to quench the thirst with many different things, and you know this, we talk about this a lot. They look to money, or even charity, relationships, power, education, career, music, sex, on and on and on to quench that deepest or fulfill that deepest desire to satisfy their hearts, but they always come up short. Those things may at some, some level bring temporary satisfaction, but how many know they will never satisfy your heart. They can't.
Speaker 2:Jesus shows us and reminds us in this text that the only remedy that can quench our spiritual thirst is Jesus himself. Those of us who have received that living water. We can attest to the fact that he is the one who can truly satisfy our hearts. Are you with me? Can anybody help me this morning? I hope you believe that and know that and what this text teaches us as well. This is just mind-boggling to me still, that those of us who have received this living water become channels of living water for the dry and barren land around us. It's like we carry a canteen around with us that never runs dry. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2:So look at verse 37. Let me just quickly unpack this. On the last day of the feast, the great day, jesus stood up and he cried out if anyone thirsts, let him come and drink. So you'll see, this feast is mentioned on the last day of the feast. Well, what feast is that? Well, if you go up a little bit in the chapter verse 2, you'll see that this is the feast of Booth, b-o-o-t-h-s.
Speaker 2:It's also called the Feast of Tabernacle, one of the most important Jewish festivals, the top three, all right. And this feast was. It was a harvest feast, it took place in autumn and it was celebrated in Jerusalem for eight days. It's quite a feast, and it was referred to as the Feast of Booths because the men would live in booths made of branches and leaves to commemorate God's faithfulness to Israel in the wilderness. It would be like pop-up tents everywhere. So for these eight days, the men would stay in these makeshift tents. So it's really significant. It's really significant here that Jesus refers to thirst, and here's why, listen to me, one of the miracles that would have been commemorated during the Feast of Booths is found in Exodus, chapter 17.
Speaker 2:Now, this is profound. Here's what was happening. Okay, the Israelites were camping in the booths, right? They were camping at Rephidim and there was no water for them to drink. They wake up and they're thirsty and they can't find the water. Now understand God has just delivered Israel out of Egypt. He's parted the waters, he caused all these plagues. He delivered them out from under the hand of Pharaoh and the strong arm of Egypt, but now they don't seem to have a source of water and instead of just praying and asking God, they began to rebel and complain, so much so that Moses began to fear for his life, and ultimately, this was distrust and rebellion against God.
Speaker 2:So Moses cried out to God in the story, and the Lord instructed him to take some of the elders, the leaders of Israel, and he said I want you to go up to Oreb and I want you. There's going to be a rock there. And he said here's what happened the Lord's manifest presence was on this rock. We don't know what that looked like, but God was somehow manifestly present on that rock. And here's what God commanded Moses to do Anybody he was commanded to strike it, to strike it with a rod, and here's why that's so important. What happened when he struck it with a rod happened when, when he struck it with a rod, yep, water began to just gush from it. Now, what is the significance of that story. Why is that detail included in the Bible? Well, I'll tell you why because it points forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not a stretch. Paul makes that connection in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. So listen to this. This is so cool.
Speaker 2:In Exodus 17, it was the grumbling and rebellious Israelites who deserved the rod Right, deserved to be spanked, so to speak. Right, they deserved that rod. By the way, it represents judgment, judgment, punishment. The israelites deserved it over and over and over. They deserved it, and so the people are the ones who deserve to be struck. But instead, here's what happened.
Speaker 2:God's presence was upon this rock and while his presence was upon the rock, god told moses strike it. Do you get this, are you with me, this rock? And while his presence was upon the rock, god told Moses strike it. Do you get this? Are you with me? God took the blow that the Israelites deserved, and then the people received the benefit of that substitution. I guess Water began to gush from the rock.
Speaker 2:Now. This is significant because how many of we have all sinned and fall short of a holy God? We all deserve the rod of his judgment. I know it's not a popular message today, but it's the truth, judgment. I know it's not popular message today, but it's the truth. And Jesus, who is the rock of our salvation, took the blow that was due us at Calvary as he was beaten and whipped and crucified. He took the blow of judgment due to us and because of that we get to drink and because of that we get to drink. We get to drink the living water that Jesus offers. Because of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, we get this spiritual water that our soul desperately needs. So what is the water that Jesus promises? Look at verse 38.
Speaker 2:Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, jesus says out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And now this he has said about the Spirit Capital S. This is the Holy Spirit Whom those who had believed in him were to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given Because Jesus was not yet glorified. Okay, so at this point in the story, jesus has not yet gone to the cross. The rock, so to speak, has not been struck, yet been struck. But Jesus said listen, you come to me, and when I am glorified In other words, after his resurrection resurrection and then his ascension he promised to send his spirit. And he says that's the living water you need. It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates us. We can't be saved if we're not born again, and it's the Holy Spirit who does that work. It's the Holy Spirit, the very presence of God himself that indwells every believer.
Speaker 2:And here we find the essence of Christianity. Hear me, christianity is not mainly about liturgy and religiosity. It's not primarily even about doctrine, or it's not primarily about being a better person or or having a higher, you know, moral compass. All of those things are good. But primarily, christianity is about knowing god. It's about communing with him, being restored to him, worshiping him, being made right with him, being filled with his spirit. Because we Christians are reconciled to God, the Father. Through Jesus we get the spirit Every one of us.
Speaker 2:We've heard it a lot, but let's not take it for granted. 1 Corinthians, 12, 13,. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, jews or Greeks, slaves or free, all made to drink of one spirit. So, whether you realize it or not, this is the greatest craving of the human heart. It is this need for the spiritual living water, the very presence of god himself. Saint augustine said this many years ago. He says you, oh, lord, have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Jesus is saying to the people listen, I know you're thirsty, I know you're hungry, I know you're barren, but I've come that you may have living water. I've come that your hungers can be satisfied. I am what did he say? The bread of life we can feast upon him. So the water that Jesus offers is free, but there are a couple of conditions if we're going to receive that living water. Jesus says if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Everyone is thirsty for something, Everybody's thirsty for something, but if you're going to receive the living water, you've got to be thirsty for the right thing. Let me just tell you how this has worked in my life.
Speaker 2:I'm going to shock some of you all here in Kentucky, but I grew up on sweet tea. How many of y'all had sweet tea before church this morning? Tell the truth. All right, that's what I thought. A few of you at least. How many going to have sweet tea after service today? All right?
Speaker 2:So here's the thing I grew up drinking not a ton of sweet tea, but I grew up, you know, if we made tea it was sweet. Then I fell in love with the new form of sweet tea, and it was in the form of a Chick-fil-A cup, right. So like, I was like, yeah, emotionally attached to Chick-fil-A sweet tea, large with extra ice, and I used to drink it like nobody's business. But then, as I've shared before in Colorado, started having some health issues and I realized that probably a cup of sugar in every you know cup of tea is probably not the best for my health. And so I did something crazy, and this is where the shock comes in.
Speaker 2:Did something crazy, and this is where the shock comes in. I removed all sugar from my tea, gasp right. But here's the deal. At first it was awful. It was awful, I mean awful. I thought what in the world? What am I? This is not going to work. I mean, I've lived a good life. It might be worth just to go out a little early for this, put some sugar in, right, so. But no, I was committed to stick to this. And here's what I realized the more I drank it, the more I realized that actually it's not that bad. And then, not only was it not that bad, I began to crave it, I began to crave the right thing. Now God's honest truth. If I take a swig of tea and it has any sugar in it, I want to spew it out of my mouth. So like, if you're out to eat with me and just maybe don't sit across from me in case they accidentally put sugar in my tea. Right? If a person is going to experience the soul-satisfying presence of God, they cannot be looking to created things for that satisfaction. They've got to look to God alone. Thirst for the right things.
Speaker 2:If you go back one chapter, if you want to flip with me to John, chapter 6, we find Jesus giving his bread of life discourse. Verse 25 says John 6, 25. He says when they, the crowd, found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them. Truly, I say to you you're seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, jesus. To give you some context here, jesus had just fed the 5,000. You know that story. And the crowds were looking to him again.
Speaker 2:And the implication in these verses is that the crowds are not seeking Jesus because they've seen these signs and believe he's the Messiah, that he could save them from their sins. Why are they seeking him? They want more sourdough, right. They want him for just the material benefits. They don't want him. In other words, they would say oh Jesus, here we are, we believe, but they're not after Jesus and his living water, they're after some fringe benefit. And you know multitudes of people in our country and even around churches today. They're seeking Jesus for that very thing. They're in a jam and man, that's what they want.
Speaker 2:And then you have this pervasive American gospel which uses Jesus as a means to make our dreams come true. Beloved, can I just be real with you today? Jesus didn't come to make our dreams come true. Beloved, can I just be real with you today? Jesus didn't come to make your dreams come true. He came to shatter your dreams so that you might walk in his dreams, that you might quit walking for your glory and live for his glory.
Speaker 2:Paul didn't sit around and dream one day about being in prison, snake bitten, shipwrecked, left for dead, losing friends and finances and everything else, but he said oh, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ in me. And Paul said, in not so many words, you know, remember, he talks about every. He counts everything but loss according to what he's gained in Christ Jesus. But here's what Paul was saying there he's saying, listen, I gave up a lot, I had it all, but I would trade it again and again and again and again, because I've got living water. I've got living water. To receive living water, we've got to thirst for the right thing. And then we've also there's one other condition here we've got to have repentant faith.
Speaker 2:Look at verse 38. Jesus says whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow living, live rivers of living water. How does a person become indwelt by the Spirit? How does someone receive this living water? Well, jesus says you've got to believe in Him. We use the word faith, which the Bible uses often as well.
Speaker 2:So what is this belief? We know from the context here and and the context of the whole bible, that belief is not just intellectual faith, but it is a heartfelt faith, that that is coupled with what we call repentance. It's a change of mind, a change of heart that says oh, I lord, I'm getting off the throne of my own life and I want to turn to the Lord Jesus and his lordship. He's on the throne, he's now my Lord. It is to repent, to turn from sin and to turn to God and to walk now in obedience to his word. That's what saving faith looks like.
Speaker 2:So I often ask people hey, where are you at with the Lord? And they might say something like this well, I believe in Jesus and every once in a while I might I say a little prayer to the man upstairs. You hear that all the time. Okay, you believe that Jesus died and rose again, good. My question, my follow-up question, is so what have you done about it? Because it's not just enough to know and the reason.
Speaker 2:I know that I could turn to several places in the Bible, but a really clear place where we see this principle is found in the book of James, when James says oh, you believe, you have faith. Good job. So do the demons in hell. They believe and they shudder in fear. So if you have intellectual faith, the best you have is demonic faith. You might not even have the level of demonic faith because you know or you think you know, but you don't shudder in fear like they do. It's not even become as real to you as the demons Think about that.
Speaker 2:So if you're going to have this living water, salvation, holy Spirit that Jesus offers, you've got to thirst for the right thing and you've got to repent and turn to the Lord, jesus Christ. That's what faith is. Now, what are the results of? There are many, but I'm just going to name a few. What are the results of receiving the Spirit, receiving this living water, being born again. Well, with the Holy Spirit, with the indwelling of the Spirit, comes the assurance of salvation.
Speaker 2:Ephesians 1.13,. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, jesus, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of your inheritance Until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. You know there's nothing worse than wondering every day if you're saved or not. You know there are many people who think they're earning their way to God and they can't sleep at night Because they're always thinking has the good outweighed the bad? I can probably tell you the answer to that no, it hasn't.
Speaker 2:When you come to God and you receive his grace and his mercy and his righteousness is imparted to you. You are given, by faith, the deposit, the seal of the Holy Spirit, which is a guarantee of your ultimate salvation, eternal life, the new heavens and new earth. That's what it is. So you get assurance with the Spirit. You also get fruit. All right, not strawberries and grapes, so you might get that as well.
Speaker 2:But Galatians 5, 22 tells us that the fruit of the spirit is this love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And how many y'all know? As I read that you, some of you were thinking man, my neighbor, needs a little more of the spirit. Kindness, love, goodness, self-control, all of those things. He, he. It's so amazing. The spirit transforms us, makes us Part of this new humanity, Restored purpose.
Speaker 2:Then we have spiritual gifts. We know this. That's 1 Corinthians 12. We have gifts within the church that we can use to glorify God and to help one another. And then, because of the spirit, we know how to glorify Christ, we know how to follow Christ. In John 16, 13,. Jesus said when the Spirit of truth comes, holy Spirit, he's going to guide you in all truth, for he will not speak on His own authority, but whatever he hears, hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. You know what the spirit does. He spotlights jesus for us. You want to know how to glorify god. Listen to the spirit, read the word in the power of the spirit, and then then, finally, the last one I'll point out. What do we get? Get Well, with the Spirit of God, here it is, we get lasting satisfaction. We will never thirst again. Now.
Speaker 2:I've quoted this song many times, I think even last week or the week before, but it's worth quoting again here. You can pretend that you don't know this if you'd like, but Mick Jagger sang it, rolling Stones. I can't get no satisfaction. I try, and I try, and I try, and I try. How many are singing that in your head right now? All right, here we go. All right, here we go. Now. The reason I want to quote those lyrics again is because, if you think of Mick Jagger, I mean he had it all. I told you a few weeks ago, my mother and stepdad got off a cruise ship in Jamaica and the first massive home that they were confronted with right there as they got off the boat was Mick Jagger's home.
Speaker 2:He has money and fame and power and women, success, talent, I mean everything the world says you need to grasp if you want to be happy. He has it. But I think this song could serve as his mantra I can't get no satisfaction. Nothing this world has to offer will satisfy me. But here it is. When you're born again by faith and you receive the Holy Spirit, your heart will finally be satisfied. It's amazing. So there are individual benefits to each one of us. You have the spirit, you have salvation man. You greatly benefit.
Speaker 2:But here's how I want to close. It's not just we who are saved that benefit from the presence of God's spirit within us, it's the dark and lost world around us. Verse 38,. Out of his heart, those who come to him, out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water, the joy and the peace, and the peace and the love In us, the fruit of the spirit. The power of the spirit Is not supposed to just stay tucked away, pastor Ben, is supposed to overflow At the checkout line in the supermarket, in your cubicle or office or factory line, in the hospital, in your neighbor's yard, everywhere you go. The presence of God is not meant just to flow to us, but through us.
Speaker 2:I was so comforted this week Nadia's delivery got a little bit precarious for a little bit. She had to be taken for an emergency C-section and you feel out of control but by God's providence Carol was there. My wife abandoned me, but Carol is is a nurse there and luckily she she manages, so she could just step away and and she just was there at the right time. And I'm just telling you, it's just amazing how God's spirit on God's people helps us, helps us, and here's what I believe Carol ministered to me. But there are a lot of lost people in that waiting room too and I just believe that the Spirit, as we prayed, and I hope it, made a difference in somebody's life. There is a lost and dying world.
Speaker 2:Have you noticed how miserable people happen to be today? It's because they're thirsty and they can't get any satisfaction. The good news is this we who are indwelt by the Spirit of God can point them to Jesus, can be conduit of God's presence that flows from us. We can bring refreshing by the power of God to their lives. We can show them the way to Jesus who can give them living water. If you've today not experienced salvation, if you've not ever come to Jesus, for that living water man, I hope today is the day of salvation. We're going to invite you down in just a moment and pray with you. If that's you, if you're a Christian here today, I just want to ask you are you experiencing still the overwhelming satisfaction of the Holy Spirit, god's presence, his salvation?
Speaker 2:I want to quote quickly Charles Spurgeon, late preacher, charles Spurgeon. Here's what he said. Listen closely to this. He said this God's people do not always know the greatness of his love to them. Sometimes, however, it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which he has given unto us. Now listen, he writes.
Speaker 2:Some of us know at times what it is to almost be too happy to live. The love of God has been so overpoweringly experienced by us on some occasions that we've almost had to ask for a stay of the delight because we could not endure it anymore. Spurge is essentially saying this Listen, there's times in Christianity when we're so overwhelmed with this living water, the joy that it brings, the glory that it brings, that we almost have to say God Almost too much, because my heart's going to burst with joy. It's almost exhausting. Have you ever been that happy? Actually, that happened to me this week with the birth of my granddaughter Almost too happy because it exhausted me.
Speaker 2:Now, as I read that from Spurgeon, does that sound like the same God that you serve, the same Christianity that you have? We need to ask the Lord today to help us to enjoy the living water that we have. We need to ask the Lord today to help us to enjoy the living water that we have. Okay, finally, is the living water flowing from you? Who have you shared Christ with this week? Who have you had compassion on this week, showing the love of God? Who have you preached the compassion on this week, showing the love of god? Who have you preached the gospel to this week? Rivers of living water are meant to flow from you. Final quote nancy spielberg writes this on the daily bread.
Speaker 2:As we close, thinking about this living water, she says this Lord, I crawled across the bareness to you with my empty cup, uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. Here's what she writes. If only I had known better. Here's what she writes. If only I had known better, I'd have come running with a bucket.
Speaker 2:Beloved God doesn't just want to give you a drop of his presence today. Rivers of living water are available for your thirsty soul. Stand with me as the praise team comes. Oh Lord, we humbly come before you today, first asking or thanking you for the living water that we have received, are thanking you for the living water that we have received. I pray for any in here who are watching online perhaps that don't have that water that today would be the day of transformation as they come to you in faith. Lord, help those of us who have that living water to enjoy it, to take advantage of it, to drink daily of the fountain, from the fountain of your presence and God. Today, I pray today for the lost and hurting world outside of these four walls. Oh God, may we take your presence to them. We pray these things in Christ's good name.
Speaker 1:Amen, with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, kentucky. We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 1045 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.