God Wants To Quench Our Thirsty Souls Series

God Wants to Quench Our Thirsty Souls

The Gospel of John

John 7:37-39; Leviticus 23:33-43

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - December 7, 2016

(Revised August 27, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 7:37. Tonight we will look into the glorious truth that God wants to quench our greatest thirst: the spiritual thirst in our souls. By this time, Jesus was in the third year of His earthly ministry, and He was at the annual Feast of the Tabernacles in Jerusalem.

*The religious rulers of the Jews had been wanting to kill Christ for months. They claimed that Jesus deserved the death penalty because He violated the Sabbath Day. But Jesus never disobeyed God's Law even once in His whole life. The Jewish rulers also accused Jesus of blasphemy, because He said God was His Father, and that made Him equal with God (John 5:18).

*The Lord was telling the absolute truth when He said God was His Father. And in John7:7, He gives us the real reason why those rulers wanted to kill Him. Speaking to His unbelieving brothers, Jesus said, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."

*In John 7, Jesus was only 6 months away from the cross. And here at the Feast of the Tabernacles, He offers to quench our spiritual thirst forever. Let's begin by reading John 7:37-39:

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.

38. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart (or belly) will flow rivers of living water.''

39. But 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.

MESSAGE:

*Have you ever been thirsty? Really thirsty? Think about being so thirsty that your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth, and all you can think about is water.

*Joey Mora found out what it's like to be that thirsty. In 1996, Joey was a young marine standing on the platform of an aircraft carrier patrolling in the Iranian Sea. Then in a shocking accident, Joey fell overboard, and incredibly, he wasn't missed for 36 hours!

*A search and rescue mission started but was abandoned after another 24 hours. They thought no one could survive 60 hours in the ocean without a lifejacket. Joey's parents were notified that he was "missing and presumed dead."

*The rest of the story is a miracle! Four Pakistani fishermen found Joey Mora about 72 hours after he had fallen from the aircraft carrier. He had taken off his pants, tied a knot in both legs, and trapped some air in them. That was the only thing holding Joey up, and he was floating in his sleep when the men found him. Joey was delirious when they pulled him into their fishing boat. His tongue was dry and cracked, and his throat was parched.

*Two years later, he told his story to Stone Philips of NBC Dateline. Joey said it was God who kept him struggling to survive. And the most excruciating thing of all was the one thought that took over his body and pounded in his brain: "Water!" (1)

*That is the kind of spiritual thirst God wants to quench in our souls.

1. SO HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO US.

*God has a great desire to reveal Himself to people. And the greatest way that God ever reveals Himself is through His Word: God's written Word, and the living Word, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

*Remember what John wrote about Jesus in John 1:14-18:

14. . . The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15. John (the Baptist) bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'''

16. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

17. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

*Also remember what Hebrews 1:1-3 says about Jesus:

1. God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.

2. has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;