The Provision Of The Spirit. Series

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

By this he meant the Spirit... John 7:37-39

It’s interesting that God would use water to symbolize His Spirit.

In the beginning (when God created the Heaven’s and the earth) water was about all there was. It wasn’t until the 3rd day of creation God caused “dry ground” to appear (Genesis 1:9)

To this day - about 70 percent of the Earth is covered by water.

Water was one of the main elements God used in creation.

For example:

If you were to go outside and look at a tree in the field, that tree is made of at least 75 percent water.

If you go down to the local KFC, their chickens (when they were alive) had 75% water.

And the common pineapple has 80 percent water in it.

Then of course… there’s you

• Water comprises more than 60 percent of your body,

• 70 percent of your brain,

• 80 percent of your blood

• And nearly 90 percent of your lungs.

And water – on our earth - is seemingly everywhere.

The total water supply of the planet is estimated at 326 million cubic miles. To help visualize that vast amount of water, imagine if all of the planet’s water was poured onto the United States…it would create an ocean 90 miles deep.

That’s a lot of water - but not all of it is useful to us.

Fully 97 percent of the Earth’s total water supply is salt water found in oceans and seas. And most of the remaining 3% of fresh water can be found frozen in glaciers & ice caps.

(Philipp Harper)

We could not exist without water and yet most of the water on our planet is inaccessible to us.

Like I said … it’s interesting that God would use water to symbolize His Holy Spirit.

APPLY: The Bible tells me that God is omnipresent.

Like water He’s everywhere.

In fact, there’s no place that we could go to get away from His Spirit.

David wrote:

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10

Like water, God’s Spirit is everywhere.

And yet, that Spirit isn’t accessible to everyone.

Jesus teaches us that ONLY those who believe in Him will have this fountain of living water within them.

Roman 8:9 tells us that

“… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9

God’s Spirit is everywhere - but Jesus tells us only we have access to it.

And just like water, God’s Spirit has been given to us so that our thirst can be satisfied.

In John 4:13-14, when Jesus talked with the woman at the well, He said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

In John 6:35 Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

In our text this morning Jesus stood in the Temple courts and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” John 7:37.

And at the very end of our Bibles, Revelation 22:17 declares:

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

So, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is given – in part – to satisfy our thirst. But, what am I thirsty for. What kind of thirst does God’s Spirit satisfy?

ILLUS: Robert Louis Stevenson was one of the greatest authors of his age. He wrote numerous short stories and poems but he’s best known for his novels (Treasure Island; Kidnapped; Strange case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde). Many of writings are still required reading.

But most people are not aware of the depth and strength of the faith he had in God.

As a child, he was raised in Scotland in a very strict Calvinist home. But once he left home and began attending college, he rebelled against the teachings of the church. He called Christianity "the deadliest gag and wet blanket that can be laid on a man," and adopted a thoroughly worldly lifestyle. He called himself a "youthful atheist."