Looking to the Lord for His help and blessing, we'll turn again to John chapter 7 and read the words in verse 37, these words of Christ. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." You'll find in these words of Christ that there are basically three things that we will look at here after setting the words in their immediate context. If any man thirst, Let him come unto me and drink." There are those who thirst, if any man thirsts, and secondly, let him come unto me and drink. And thirdly, there is a promise involved when Jesus says, drink. It is interesting to note that at this point in our Lord's experience, the Jews who had, at least to a degree, been quite favorable towards him, now sought to kill him. You may wonder, well, why was that the case? What was it that happened that turned the Jews against the Lord? Well, Jesus explains in the chapter what it was. He had healed a man on the Sabbath day. You go back to chapter 5. Earlier on in the Gospel, according to John, you find that Jesus had healed a man who had been ill for some 37 years. He healed him on the Sabbath day. And this is what the Jews were very displeased about. In their eyes, Jesus had broken the Sabbath. He shouldn't have healed the man, they thought, on the Sabbath day. And yet Jesus, in this chapter before us, chapter 7, he rebukes the Jews. He tries to expose the foolishness of their reasoning. He says, you'll circumcise a man on the Sabbath day so that you don't break the law. But you want to kill me because I've made a man whole. I've healed a man on the Sabbath day. So what's the difference? What's more important? healing a man or circumcising a man. Jesus puts them into a corner, a corner they can't get out of because they've got no answer. The Lord is exposing to these Jews something that we could refer to as their legalism. We mustn't confuse legalism with Keeping God's law, there's quite a difference. Someone who's a mere legalist like the Jews were, they were concerned simply with what was on the outside. As long as everything on the outside looked the part, what was on the inside didn't matter. All they were concerned about was keeping what was external. Though they neglected what was internal. You go to chapter 5 and there on in Matthew's Gospel you know there is the Sermon on the Mount. When you read in chapter 6, what you find the Lord doing is exposing, in other parts, exposing the true nature of sin. The Jews had this mistaken idea, and you and I are maybe in danger of falling into this, that sin is simply something on the outside. So long as we don't commit the act of adultery, we might think we're not adulterers. So long as we don't actually steal something, we're not thieves at heart. Jesus had to expose this and show that the law doesn't simply deal with actions, It deals with the heart. That means that though someone hasn't committed the act of adultery, though the person looks at another with lust whom they shouldn't look at and lust after, Jesus says they've committed adultery in the heart. The Jews were missing the point completely. They were legalists. And friends, we should be very careful of falling into this. You know, Christians even can fall into this kind of attitude. We can confuse strictness. That's something we must never confuse. Being strict as far as walking in the ways of God. We mustn't confuse that with legalism. We sometimes fall into the other, and what happens is that we'll be looking and we'll be straining at a gnat, as Jesus says. We'll be looking at other people, not ourselves. We'll be looking to see if they fit our box. We'll have this box that everyone we think should fit into. Not the box God has in his Word. We can bring it down to particulars that God doesn't. And if they don't fit our box and tick our boxes, then somehow we think They're not living as they should. Legalism, we must always avoid, will fall into traps. Our Lord had to expose this. You see the folly, friends. Here are these religious people, and here they come face to face with God himself in your nature and mine. And they want to kill him because he's broken the Sabbath. You see, the folly, the foolishness, the madness. How must the Lord have felt? Here were his own covenant people, the Jews. Privileged as they were, yet they didn't have a clue. Having a Bible and everything, they didn't have a clue what the law was all about. And here they are, they're wanting to kill the Savior himself. They were legalists. But how did the Lord react? He knows that the Jews are wanting to kill him. What did he do? Did he just walk in into the midst of them without taking a thought about himself? It's very interesting, friends, to notice how the Lord shows himself to be master of his own destiny, never the victim or the prey, as it were, of circumstances. He knew the Jews wanted to kill him. So what he did was avoid them. You find that in the beginning of the chapter. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. For he would not walk in Judea, that is, because the Jews sought to kill him. He was wise. He was not going to put himself into circumstances that he shouldn't. You notice that one of his sayings, the Lord says, it's in the chapter here, it's often found, I think it's only in John, that the Lord refers to his hour having not yet come. And what he says here in the chapter, he has his own brothers, They've come to understand what the Lord is saying and teaching, and they're saying, well, if you really want the world to receive and believe in you, then you should go up to the feast and tell them everything. Show yourself to the world. But Jesus says, My hour, My time has not yet come. He is in absolute control of His life, unlike you and me. And He knew when His hour would come. You go forward to chapter 17 in this Gospel, and what do you find the Lord say there in prayer to His Father? He says, Father, the hour has come. This is just as He's about to go to the cross. to lay down his life, to die for his people. That was the hour that his life was going towards. And until that hour, he wasn't going to, as it were, jeopardize his life. He stayed in Galilee. He wouldn't go in to Judea. Even though his brothers, who didn't believe in him, tempted him to go up. So here he is, friends. The Lord is hiding himself from the Jews. But you notice that the chapter is dealing with a certain feast. His brothers are speaking about the feast. He reads in verse 2, Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand, and his brothers were wanting him to go up to Jerusalem and to show himself to everyone else at the feast. And the text we're going to look at in just a moment, verse 37, In the last day, that great day of the feast, what was this feast all about? That this feast in Jerusalem was the feast of tabernacles. It was something that the Lord had appointed way back in Leviticus 23. It was to be a commemoration of the Lord's dealings with Israel in the wilderness, the provision that he made of water in the wilderness. We sung of that in Psalm 78, and we'll go back to that in just a minute. It was to be a commemoration of the Lord's provision in the wilderness. But it was also a time, just like we have our harvest thanksgiving service, this was a A seven, maybe eight day long period of thanksgiving, round about our September or October time. Now it's interesting that Christ went up to this feast. He didn't go up with the rest, he went up secretly, but he went. Now you might wonder, why did Christ do this? The answer would seem to be that it's the same as when he came to John the Baptist to be baptized. When John the Baptist saw Christ come to him, you remember that John said, I've been made to be baptized by you and you're coming to me? What did Jesus say? He said, Suffer it to be so now, for all righteousness must be fulfilled. In other words, it was obedience on Christ's part that brought him to be baptized by John the Baptist and likewise brought him up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles. Here is an instance, in other words, of what we refer to in these terms as the active obedience of Christ. When we speak about the righteousness of Christ, we might think of it in a concept that's somewhere out there and we can't really grasp. The active obedience of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, What Jesus is here doing is obeying the law of God in the place of his people. This is one of these things the Lord was doing in obedience. This is righteousness. And our Lord was so meticulous. He wasn't, as we just noticed, a legalist like the Jews were, but he was a law keeper. He wouldn't deviate and couldn't deviate in the least degree from God's law. Even down to a ceremonial feast like this, he went in obedience. What was this feast really all about? They just mentioned it was a commemoration. It was something the Lord had appointed. And every Jew that could was commanded to go up. It's interesting, friends. Here are people obeying a command of God, and yet they haven't got a clue what it's all about. Here they come, so religious, looking the part, speaking the right kind of way, and here they come to Jerusalem, to the temple. But it's one of these things, the way we speak of, they couldn't see the wood for the trees. What they were doing, friends, is using this feast as a basis for acceptance with God. They thought if we go to the feast, if we do everything the law of God prescribes, then we have a basis for acceptance with God. They were self-righteous. If I do this, God will be pleased, God will accept me. And you know, there's nothing new in this sense. I'm sure there are some of you here tonight who are even here under that same presumption. We presume, well, if I come to church, if I come and meet with God's people and sing the Psalms and listen to the Gospel, then God will accept me. If I do something that God requires me to do, then I'll be saved. What we're doing, friends, is using God's law as a basis for acceptance. That is the opposite of the gospel. Have you ever wondered what Galatians, the New Testament epistle, is all about? It's all about refuting and overthrowing this very idea. There were some people coming into the church and were saying, in order to be truly saved, accepted by God, you need to be justified and you need to be circumcised. You need Christ and circumcision. The New Testament, the Gospel, is completely opposed to any notion of being accepted by God on the basis of things that we do. We're accepted by God through accepting and receiving Christ as the basis for our acceptance. But here were the Jews going up, so religious, so self-righteous, thinking God was pleased. But here Christ is rebuking them so clearly for all that they had to do. And they were very jealous for the traditions of the fathers. There were these things added on to God's law that were sort of interpretations And these Jews accepted the interpretations of the Fathers and put them on the same level as the Word of God itself. Friends, we can do this too. This is something we must never... well, didn't they say this 60 years ago? It's maybe something someone said. And we can speak of that as though we're on a par with the Word of God. That's what's wrong with the Roman Catholic Church, isn't it? There is tradition put on the same level as the Word of God. Beware of that, friends. Christian friends as well. Let the Word of God alone be our standard. Not what any man thinks. This is the point Jesus is stressing here. Here are these Jews. And what's happening here? They've come In verse 37, to the last, the great day of this feast, a week-long time of sacrifice, but it had one significant thing that Jesus used, as it were, as the platform for this ceremony preached. Throughout this feast, the priest would go to the pool of Siloam and he would draw water out. He would carry the water to the altar. and pour it out on top of the altar, commemoration of the provision God had made of water from the rock in the wilderness. This was a very symbolic, very significant thing, a clear reminder of drawing of water that was provided by God. So here are all the Jews so religiously observing this and watching it. You can almost picture them. The water has poured out. The feast has come to an end. They're all about to go home to wherever they came from. And Jesus takes the opportunity. He's watching all of this. He's been reasoning with the Jews. But He's not happy. Our Lord couldn't look upon these multitudes and just let them wander away in their ignorance. In that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. We sometimes think, if only we could have heard Christ preach, our ears would have been ringing afterwards. The meek and the mild and the lowly Jesus, he was a preacher, friends. Jesus stood in front of this great multitude. Jerusalem would have been overflowing with people. Jesus found the place where everyone would see Him. He stood up and He cried. He wanted everyone to hear Him. What does that say to us, friends? Our Lord had an intense passion for souls. He wasn't the kind of preacher who would simply stand and theologize about the things of God. He realized the state of souls in front of him and he preached accordingly. He was seeing this multitude going their way, observing a feast they didn't understand. He stood and he cried, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. What's the significance? The water has just been drawn and poured out. And Jesus is saying, if any man thirsts, let him come to Me. He's pointing this whole ceremony right round and back on Himself. What is He saying to them? He's saying, I am the rock smitten back in Exodus. Out of which the water flowed. Paul makes it clear in Corinthians, the rock was Christ. Out of which the water flowed. Jesus is saying, I am the one who has the life-giving water that you are commemorating here, but you don't realize. If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. If any man thirsts, And when Jesus is saying thirst here, it's of course a spiritual thing he's talking about. But as our Lord, He often spoke in the language of the common people. You would never hear Christ preach in a way that you wouldn't understand. That's one of the amazing things. God Himself coming down, dwelling among us, tabernacling among us, and the common people, the uneducated people, could understand Him and heard and receive Him gladly. He would use concepts that were common. Thirst, We know what thirst is all about. You've maybe felt the extremity of thirst, how raging it can be, the length you would go to to satisfy it. But Jesus is speaking not about the physical, but the spiritual. And he's crying out to this crowd in front of him, if any man thirsts, Let him come to me and drink." What is this thirst all about? What does the Bible mean by spiritual thirst? It means two things. You'll find the Bible speak in two ways. The first you find referred to a couple of times most clearly in the Old Testament. The Lord through Jeremiah the prophet. He reasons with those that the prophet is speaking to. He says, My people have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and have gone and hewn out. They've made a fashion for themselves, cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. They're thirsting, but they're looking for their satisfaction somewhere other than in God Himself. What a vivid picture, isn't it? But notice what the Prophet is saying. There are cisterns, men and women fashion and make, trying to fill them with what will hold and satisfy their desires. This is the picture of the world. Here is God, the fountain of living waters. Here are men and women going the other way, hewing out for themselves broken cisterns that will hold no water, forsaking the Lord and going away into the world. Now, what does that speak of? Thirst. but looking for satisfaction for thirst in the wrong place. And you know, friends, every single one of you is thirsting tonight. But this is a thirst that is not realized. You could put it this way. Your thirst can be proved by the fact that you haven't come to Christ. You're still looking somewhere else. And you haven't found what you're looking for. And you never will. Every Christian has come to know this. You can go as far as you want into the world, and you can be brimful with everything, but Jeremiah is saying, back in his prophecy, chapter 2, verse 13, these cisterns, these pleasures, this life you're trying to hold everything in, it's like a broken cistern. The water's coming out the bottom. Pour in as much as you like. It's all going to drip away. And in the end, you'll have nothing. You find Isaiah says the same thing back in chapter 55. It's so clear, friends, that there is a spiritual thirst referred to. Oh, he says, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Now how does he qualify this thirst? Look in verse 2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? This is a thirst that's driving people away from God. Spending money for what isn't bread and laboring for what doesn't satisfy. It's what Solomon in Ecclesiastes speaks of as our Bible has vexation of spirit. You could also have that. Grasping for the wind. Running away into the world, away from God. Trying to find satisfaction you'll never find. Friends, is that you tonight? Any man thirst. Are you aware of this? Or are you trying to fill your cup full with this world? Be sure of it, friends, it won't last. It won't last. But there is another kind of thirst. And this is a thirst that is realized. The first one with people away in the world, They don't seem to fully realize that it's actually a spiritual void and emptiness they're trying to fill. But there's another kind of thirst, where there is a realization of what's taking place. This is a thirst for pardon, for peace, for acceptance with God. This, in other words, is awakening by the Holy Spirit to a sense of one's need of Christ. And here Christ is looking over this vast multitude. He sees some of them trying to satisfy themselves with an empty religion. The bare externals of what had become a Pharisaic ritual But yet, he sees others there who are truly aware of their need of himself. You find even the way that they reasoned among themselves. Some of the Jews, they were listening to Christ, they were watching him, they were aware that this is the Christ. Others were saying, this isn't the Christ. The Christ doesn't come from Galilee, it comes from Bethlehem, the city of David. So you had a mixed multitude, but some of them, some of them, their ears were being opened. You even see the officers that were sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to take Christ. And these would have been big men, make no mistake about it, you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of these men. They were sent to take Christ, they came back empty handed. The chief priests, the Pharisees said, why have you not brought him? What did they say? Never man spake like this man. They were arrested by the words of Christ. There may be not so much in this category of being spiritually awakened to a sense of thirst, but they were certainly touched by the Word of Christ. And you tonight, friends, you might come into this category, you might be aware of spiritual thirst, you might realize I need to be saved. You might realize I need to be at peace with God. You might even be searching. You might even be here tonight craving that peace, that sense of pardon. But you know, friends, though that's wonderful, it's not enough. There's a danger of stopping short and just resting there. You know that many people can be awakened to a sense of spiritual thirst and never be saved. Some people don't believe that's possible. Some people believe that the Holy Spirit never works in a soul without saving that soul. That's not true, friends. You go to Hebrews chapter 6 and you'll find people there who to all appearance were saved. They had every experience, as far as certain issues are concerned, that the next man had. They tasted, they experienced the realities. If you looked at them, it's very likely you wouldn't know the difference. But they weren't saved. The proof that they weren't saved is that they subsequently fell away. Went away back into the world. They became blasphemers of Christ. But at the point of their awakening, you and I would probably have been overjoyed. The Lord has saved this man or saved this woman. Awakening, friends, is not enough. Spiritual thirst isn't enough. If any man thirst, Jesus says, let him come to me and drink. You see the next vital step, moving on from awakening, is receiving Christ as He's freely offered to you in the Gospel. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Now, there's a few things involved there. Make sure that it's Christ that you come to. Backtracking a wee bit. Make sure it's not simply coming to God's house, wick by wick. Make sure it's not simply reading the Bible and praying. Make sure it's not even unburdening yourself to a Christian about your state. Make sure it's not any of these things, but make sure it's Christ you come to. Make sure, friends, you have a personal acquaintance with Christ. A personal committing of yourself to Him. And a personal receiving of Himself. Make sure it's Christ you come to. Let Him come unto me and drink. But as well as that, be sure and come to Christ by faith. Yes, come in your felt need. Come with true repentance, brokenness of heart, but be sure that you receive Christ. Don't stop short of Him, friends. And realize as well that this coming to Christ, that this faith, faith is a receiving grace. You come with empty hands, with nothing to give, and you receive all in receiving Christ. Faith is like the hand that takes a cup of living water to the lips, to the mouth, to drink. Faith gives nothing, but receives everything. If any man thirsts, let him come unto me. Come to Christ. Receive Christ, he's saying. And what's implied here, friends, is that Christ will receive you. No one ever came to Christ who was turned away. No one who comes to Christ will ever be turned away. He puts nothing in your way, friends. Be sure that you come to Him. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Friends, if only we could hear something, even an echo of the passion of Christ in this sermon. He's confronted with the gross ignorance of these people. And what He's saying to them is, I am the one that you are commemorating here. I am the rock smitten. I am the one soon to go to the cross, to be smitten with death, to be broken to pieces in order that this life-giving water, you read in the next verse or two, in order that this life-giving water would flow. If any man thirst, Jesus says, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. That doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit wasn't then active in the world, or had not been active in the world. before that time spoken of, the glorifying of Jesus, His going to heaven, His sitting down at the right hand of God, His sending of the Spirit into the world, the Pentecost. That's what's being referred to here. The Spirit being given in the fullness of His grace and of His power. That hadn't taken place. It would take place. What Jesus is saying is the Holy Spirit is that river of life-giving water, typified by the water that flowed out of the smitten rock in Exodus. And I, he says, am the rock soon to be smitten, out of whom that water will flow. If you thirst, he says, come to me and drink. There's something so ironic about the whole picture. These people just haven't got a clue, and here is the one who fulfills the whole thing. Are you seeing Christ, friends, in the Gospel? Are you hearing Him calling to yourself? Come to me and drink. He's giving you the assurance here, let Him come unto me and drink. But when you drink, you will no longer thirst. He will satisfy this thirst that you've got. You will find everything in Christ, and you'll find more in Christ than you ever believed. You know, friends, when we're living in the world, and we're in the far country, and we're away living life to the fullest we think, There are Christian men and women who've been in the same place and further away than maybe you are tonight. And all that they can think of is only you understood what is really in Christ. Everything that we're craving in the world and a million times more we find freely given to us in Christ. He promises, friends, to satisfy The thirst that you've got. Go a few chapters before to chapter 4. John chapter 4. You remember the encounter Jesus had with a woman at Jacob's well. Jesus used the occasion. He was thirsty. She was coming to draw water. And he reasoned with this woman about the water that she was drawing. Whoever he said drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst." Now, what Jesus wasn't saying, friends, is that you'll never thirst again. What He's saying is, you will never thirst for anything other than Me. When someone comes to Christ and drinks of the water of life that He gives, they never thirst for anything other than Him. We find everything in Christ. But the more we drink of this water, the more we want of it. Isn't it true? We can never have enough of Christ. The more we drink, the more He satisfies that thirst, the deeper that thirst gets. It's not that we never thirst again. It's that we never thirst for anything else other than Christ. You know friends, even in heaven, this is how it will be. John loves this image of water. He loves it. You read throughout the gospel here, you go to the book of Revelation, this picture of heaven, what does he say? What is taking place in heaven? The lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, he says, shall shepherd them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water. Here is heaven. We will forever thirst for Christ. And He will forever satisfy that thirst. Even in heaven, friends, even being brimful beyond what we can even imagine, we will still thirst for more of Him. And that thirst will be forever satisfied. There is promise, friends, of life here in receiving Christ. But you know, Verse 40 and following. It's always the case. Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Oh, but truth, this is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh at the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem when David was? So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him. It's unbelievable, isn't it? Here is Christ, the Saviour of sinners, preaching the Gospel, calling sinners to come to Him. And there are some listening and they want to kill Him. You might all here think, that's outrageous. But which of you tonight, listening to these words of Christ, saying in your heart, away with Him. You're hearing, but you're saying no. You're doing nothing better. You don't want Christ anywhere near you. There are some here who have embraced Him and they want more of Christ. There are others, and they want rid of Him. Where do you stand tonight, friends? The Savior is again calling you to come to Him, assuring you that if you come and drink, you will be satisfied. You will be forever satisfied with Himself. But you know, embedded in this glorious Gospel call of the Savior Himself is another thing. Whenever you read, and I read, a promise in the Bible, there's an opposite always implied. If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Jesus is promising that the drink will fulfill and satisfy. But at the same time, he's saying, if you don't come, you will never drink, and you will never be satisfied. You know, the Bible brings us a step further in Luke, isn't it? Where Jesus tells us of the rich man and Lazarus. And here's a picture of the rich man, and he's in hell. And what's his complaint? thirst. He calls Abraham, Father Abraham, he says, send Lazarus that he might dip his finger in water and but touch my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. There is a thirst, a raging, raging thirst in hell that will never be quenched. And you know what makes it so terrible, friends, is that you know fine what you're missing. And when you've heard the gospel, time and again, to end in that place of woe, and like the rich man, to be beside him, lifting up your eyes and realizing this will never end. And you know the madness about it, friends. The gospel is free. All you do is receive Christ. You will find life in abundance in Him. Let us pray. Gracious God, bless Thy Word, inscribe it on our hearts. Awaken us and draw us to Thyself. Be glorified in the salvation of men, women, and young people, here and throughout the world. Be glorified, Lord, for Thy name's sake.