WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:15.359 This morning we're kind of at the end of John 7, be closing it out and talking uh uh uh through the end of the feast of booze that Jesus has been at in Jerusalem and he's been teaching in the temple. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:24.879 Before we dive into the text, though, I want I want to talk about this kind of uh uh importance and centrality of a river. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:33.359 If you think about what rivers do for us as people, it really produces life in so many different ways. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:46.000 We can see kind of their central focus throughout the scriptures, but even through our own history as people, we see the centrality of rivers where we find our drinking water, right? 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:56.479 It's where natural irrigation takes place so that vegetation and fruit can just birth around us that we can have sustenance and sustainability. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.719 We see major cities built along rivers' edges, right? 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:06.319 Where community is shaped, transportation takes place, uh, economy is built. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.760 There is life around rivers. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:18.079 And often where we find the absence of rivers, we find the absence of life, or at least the scarcity of it around us. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:33.599 Jesus is gonna close out his time at the Feast of Booze with declaring to the people listening that if they come to him, he will make them a river of living water. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:42.640 And we're gonna hopefully discover what that means for us as God's people, and what it means for us is we live on mission for his glory and the good of all of those around us. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:43.519 Amen? 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:45.200 So let's dive in. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:57.840 If we look at the very first part of the text that we're gonna examine today, we're gonna be looking at John 7, 37 through 39, and we see this Jesus is the fulfillment of the feast. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:01.439 Jesus is the fulfillment of the feast. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.079 So, what's happening at the Feast of Booze, right? 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:18.080 We talked about the uh uh the meaning behind the festival itself, that when God had delivered Israel out of Egypt from under the oppression of Pharaoh, he caused them to wander through the wilderness. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:27.039 And in that, he called them to create these makeshift structures that they would live in called booths or tents. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:46.960 And they were to once a year at the end of the harvest season uh remember this time in the wilderness and remember God's deliverance for them, and they would construct these booths that they would live in and celebrate and reflect on God's deliverance for his people. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.400 This was the central purpose of the feast. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:03:02.080 They would also celebrate the end of a harvest, primarily of grapes and olives, and they would be praying for rain to come that God would bless them in their future endeavor. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:12.400 But there was also this part of the ceremony where in the first seven days of the Feast of Booths, a priest would go out to this pool. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.479 It's called the pool of Siloam. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:22.159 John also records a miracle happening at this pool, a man, a blind man receiving his sight by Jesus at this pool. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:26.479 And so these priests would go out to this pool and they'd scoop up water, right? 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:35.199 And in procession, they would march back to the temple, and there would be this series of ceremonies where they were pouring the water out. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:38.800 And there's kind of two things that they're doing in this ceremony. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:48.960 One is that they're looking back to God's provision, God's provision of water in the desert as they were wandering through the wilderness. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:57.199 You see, there's this uh aspect of their story where they felt like God had actually brought them out into the desert for them to die. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.560 They were hungry, they were thirsty, and they even wanted to go back to Egypt. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:16.800 And God spoke to Moses and he said, Take the rod of which you parted the Red Sea with, and strike this rock, and from that rock water will flow, so that my people may be satisfied. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:18.560 And they drank from that rock. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.199 It sustained them and it brought them life, right? 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:33.439 So they're in this ceremony of pouring of water in the temple, they're they're remembering God's provision, but they're also looking forward in anticipation of God's promises. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:46.720 Because God promised that he would bring a Messiah, and in that there would be the establishing of his forever kingdom, and God's spirit would be given to his people. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:54.160 We see one of these promises, these prophetic promises in Joel chapter 2, verse 28 and 29. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:05:07.199 Uh he says this, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.920 Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:26.240 So as the Lord poured water from the rock in the wilderness, in the midst of our own sojourning in the wilderness we discover ourselves in, God in a similar fashion would pour out his spirit upon his people. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:30.000 And that would be a sign that the kingdom has come. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:32.000 Joel 2, 28 and 29. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:43.120 But it was also a promise that God would cause these waters to pour forth from the temple, and that these waters would heal the nations. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.360 And we see two primary places of this prophecy, of this promise. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:50.639 The first one comes out of Zechariah 13, 1. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:06:00.480 He says, This on that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:07.759 So the first thing that these waters that come forth from the temple are going to do is going to clean the people, right? 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:11.279 It's going to wash them of their sin and iniquity. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:18.160 But then we see in Ezekiel 47 another prophetic promise about these waters that would come from the temple. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:28.560 Ezekiel says, Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:34.959 The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:35.839 Verse 8. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:43.600 And he said to me, This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah and enters the sea. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.000 When the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.839 So the sea that he's talking about here is the Dead Sea. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:56.160 I don't know if you're familiar with the Dead Sea, but there's a reason it has its name, right? 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:57.839 It wasn't just like, oh, what should we name this? 00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:59.040 Let's roll so No. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:02.480 The reason it's called the Dead Sea is because nothing can live in it. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:07.920 It is such bitter water, it's such full of salt that it has no life within it. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:15.040 In fact, its buoyancy is so high that you can just float within it because of all the salt that it contains within it. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.160 It's an uninhabitable place. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:29.920 What he's telling Ezekiel is that this water that's going to flow from the temple is going to enter into that dead sea and it's going to heal it and cause it to be fresh water. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:42.160 And if you read Ezekiel 47, 1 through 9, it talks about the ways that fish would be populated in there and plants and vegetation and that life would spring from this once dead thing. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:54.399 So this ceremony, this water pouring out ceremony in the Feast of Booths, was done in both remembrance of God's provision and in longing for the fulfillment of his promises. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:00.480 Now, where we find ourselves at in the text is on the eighth day of the feast. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:07.040 So John says that Jesus stands up on the last day, the great day, and cries aloud. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.319 What's significant about the last day? 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:13.920 There's no water ceremony on the last day of the feast. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:17.439 The festival's kind of wrapping up. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:29.839 And on the eighth day, there's no ceremony where the priests gather the water and they come back and they pour it out for the people to remember his provision and to long for his promises. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:40.080 And it's in this context, in the absence of this water ceremony, that Jesus stands up and cries aloud, raising his voice. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:45.039 If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:48.159 What's he doing? 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:54.639 He's establishing himself as the fulfillment of the feast. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:00.159 It's not something that they're remembering in ancient past. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:04.559 It's not something that they're hoping for in the far-off future. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:09.440 It's standing right in their midst in the person of Jesus. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:14.879 That if anyone there is thirsty, let them come to him and drink. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:19.279 We see it removed from the distraction of tradition and ceremony. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:30.559 Jesus presents himself as both the fulfillment of looking back to the split rock in the wilderness and looking forward to the promised kingdom of which he is inaugurated. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:38.639 In Jesus' proclamation, we hear the call that was similar made to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:48.240 In John 4, 13 through 14, Jesus speaking to the woman at the well says this Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:49.919 Speaking of the water in the well. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:54.799 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:01.360 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:10.799 Jesus has been making the call for people to come to him by faith and in faith to drink of him. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:16.960 That we would be fully and eternally satisfied in him alone. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:23.120 Can you imagine what it looks like to be fully and eternally satisfied in Jesus? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.759 I'm sure many of us have been thirsty before, right? 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.360 I'm gonna assume you're a human being and you've been thirsty. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.399 And you've you've taken like whatever's in front of you, right? 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:36.320 Sometimes I've taken the wrong thing, but it was the available thing. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:44.320 And I drank that down, and I might have not been thirsty anymore, but I became regretful in the near future, right? 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:55.279 Or even if we just guzzle down all this water and we kind of satisfy that initial thirst, eventually us are we are going to become thirsty again, right? 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.840 It's just who we are as people. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:08.159 And Jesus is drawing this parallel into our spiritual reality, that we are like that in the spiritual world, that we look for these things to satisfy our souls. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:19.279 And even if they actually offer momentary satisfaction, the problem is we'll continue to become thirsty over and over again. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:26.960 And so Jesus doesn't just promise that if we come to him by faith and drink of him, that we'll have that initial satisfaction. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.000 He promises that we'll never thirst again. 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.600 That the fullness of our soul will be satisfied forever in him. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:40.399 You see, all of this is about having him. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:48.320 All of this is about finding our identity, our purpose, our meaning, our delight, our pleasure in him. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.159 And Jesus is calling us to come and drink by faith. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:02.159 He says in verse 38, whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:06.159 Now, this he said about the spirit, who those who believed in him were to receive. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:12.240 For as of yet the spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.879 Jesus directly asserts himself as the one who fulfills the scriptures, right? 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:26.320 He he says, he says, anyone who comes to me, whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:32.399 He is the fulfillment of the scriptures, of the promises that God's people have been longing for. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:45.759 And he declares that through faith, through belief in him, the one believing will be transformed from a dry and parched land to a river of living water. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:55.039 You see, in our natural state, uh we are these dry, parched wilderness lands. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:55.759 Right? 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:01.440 Ezekiel kind of helped us understand this when God showed him the valley of dry bones. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:12.159 What he was showing us was our natural state apart from him, that we are dead dry bones, this parched land that has no life within it. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:19.600 We see in Ezekiel chapter 40 37, one through three, this vision that the Lord gives to the prophet. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:27.360 It says, The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, and sent me down in the middle of the valley. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:28.879 It was full of bones. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:36.080 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:40.720 And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:44.639 And I answered, Oh Lord God, you know. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:14:00.000 You see, this is our story, this is the narrative of our own life, that we find ourselves as these dry bones in a dry desert land. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.279 Without water, without life, without hope. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:17.519 And what Jesus is saying is that if you come to him by faith, you'll drink, and rivers of living water will pour out from you. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:24.799 Not only will you find life in Jesus, but those around you will find life in him also. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:47.039 That's the natural flow of what Jesus is helping his people understand is that not the work of the Spirit, the work of the gospel, is not just to make you alive, who was once these dry, dead bones, but it's to pour forth out of you a river of living water that those around you might live also. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.240 This is what the kingdom looks like. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:55.759 It doesn't just make dead men alive, it makes those around us alive as well. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:04.159 It's through belief in Jesus that these dry bones are made to live, but not just live, but become a river of life. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:11.919 Jesus said that he's talking about the outpouring of the Spirit that was still to come because he had not yet been glorified. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:19.120 All throughout the Gospel of John, we see that Jesus' glorification is multifaceted, right? 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:32.399 It's not that he's just glorified in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, but he's first participating in his glorification as he ascends to the cross and suffers in our place. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:40.960 He's buried and then he's gloriously resurrected on the third day, and then in glory he ascends to the right hand of the Father. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:44.080 It's the fullness of the glorification of Christ. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:54.000 And Jesus was gonna have to first ascend the cross before he would ascend back to home in heaven. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:59.200 And it's then that the Spirit would be poured out upon his people. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:04.320 In verse 40 through 52, we see no one ever spoke like this man. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:06.960 No one ever spoke like this man. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:16.720 In the first three verses, 40 through 43, we see a ton of division still and confusion among the people who are around Jesus, right? 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:22.799 He kind of finishes up teaching in the temple, and there's all this muttering that's taking place in those present. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.000 And some are saying, Man, is this guy the prophet, right? 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:31.120 Kind of kind of the same thing they were declaring back at the miracle, the feeding of the 5,000. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.399 Is this the great prophet of whom Moses said would come? 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:36.240 Some say, oh, is this the Christ? 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:42.240 Maybe this really is the anointed king of Israel who will rule and reign on the throne forever. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:45.279 And then some say, But isn't this dude just from Galilee? 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:45.840 Right? 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.919 Isn't don't we know him? 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:52.559 Isn't the Christ supposed to come from the line of David from Bethlehem? 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:58.960 And so we see this continued confusion and speculation about who Jesus is. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:01.279 But there's this group, the officers. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:08.000 And they were the ones who were actually sent into the temple to arrest Jesus by the chief priests and the Pharisees. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:17.519 And they come out of that temple and they make this declaration as they're questioned about, hey, uh guys, you're kind of forgetting someone. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.119 You're supposed to arrest Jesus. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:20.240 Where's he at? 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.720 And they just respond no one's ever spoken like this man. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:32.240 They're in such awe and wonder uh of the authority of Jesus' teaching. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:34.480 That's the root of what they're talking about. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:36.480 The authority of Jesus' teaching. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.519 You see, Jesus' authority is self-evident within him. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:54.640 To establish authority as a teacher in Israel, you would have to pull from outside sources to be able to establish what you're saying as both true and authoritative. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:57.519 And so no one ever stood on their own authority. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:04.720 Everyone who was a teacher within Israel stood on the authority of others because they had nothing self-evident within them. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:09.680 They had to pull from all these other places to be able to establish any sense of authority. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:11.519 But Jesus didn't have to do that. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:20.640 Jesus was able to speak on his own authority, and these officers never heard anyone, anyone who had spoken like this man before. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.400 And it leaves them in awe and wonder of who he is. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:27.759 And you gotta look at the Pharisees' response. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:31.519 Verse 47 Have you also been deceived? 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.920 You're seeing what in this man? 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:45.599 Because they go on to say, they believed in him, the crowd does not know the law and is accursed. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:58.240 These people who are following and who are believing in Jesus, their only explanation, the Pharisees' only explanation is that they're being deceived and tricked into following, because obviously they don't know the law. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:07.119 If they knew the law like we did, who are not being deceived, who are not believing in him, then surely they would not also follow after Jesus. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.359 But what did Jesus tell them? 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.440 Jesus said, You're the ones who don't know the law. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:17.440 If you knew the law, you would know me. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:24.160 Because it's the law that speaks of me, it's the law that declares me. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:27.759 And so they're still stuck. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:45.599 They're still stuck in the assumption that their knowledge in the law is leading them to truth where Jesus has already declared to them, and they're witnessing in the lives of people around them that if they actually did know the law, then they would be declaring Jesus as Lord. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.240 And then here comes this man named Nicodemus in verse 50. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:54.319 We've been introduced to Nicodemus before in John chapter 3. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:20:03.519 He's actually one of the religious leaders, and he comes to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask him about the kingdom of heaven. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:13.039 And Jesus shows Nicodemus that you can't see, nor can you enter into the kingdom of heaven unless you are born again by the Spirit. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:22.559 It takes a newness of life that only the Spirit can give to us for us to be able to see and enter into the kingdom of God. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:30.079 But Nicodemus here, I love the irony of what he brings forth in front of these Pharisees and religious leaders, the chief priests. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:31.759 Here's what Nicodemus says. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:43.759 He says in verse 51, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.640 You see, they're the one that said, These people are cursed because they don't know the law like we do. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:54.960 And then Nicodemus comes in and says, Hey, bud, doesn't the law say that we should do these things? 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:06.720 What Nicodemus is doing is he's affirming the very thing Jesus called out in John 7.19 as he was standing before these same religious leaders, he declares, Has not Moses given you the law? 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:10.000 Yet none of you keeps the law. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.559 So why do you seek to kill me? 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:16.000 He calls out their hypocrisy. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.519 They can't hear his words. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:22.960 A word like no other man has ever spoken. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:28.880 Yet many around them are being brought in to faith in Jesus. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:32.319 They're drinking from this well of life. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:41.200 So our main idea this morning is this Jesus makes us rivers of living water. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.279 Jesus makes us rivers of living water. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:55.680 Here's what we're gonna do we're gonna try and take two parts of the Gospel of John and Jesus' teaching and shape them into one truth for us as his people. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.759 The fascinating thing about a river is a river. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.359 Don't just magically appear. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:07.519 I don't know if you didn't know that, but just in case you didn't, uh they don't magically appear out of nowhere. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:08.880 They have sources. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:13.359 Every river has a source for its water. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:20.640 And let's look at what Jesus is calling this woman at the well when he says of her to come and drink from him. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:24.400 Verse uh 13 and 14 of chapter 4 of John says this. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:28.799 Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:33.279 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:38.079 The water that I will give him, right here, will become in him a what? 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:42.640 A spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:46.079 A spring of water welling up. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:59.519 Jesus is saying, Not only do I satisfy, not only do I bring life where there was once death, but the water that you drink from me is gonna create a source. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:03.839 It's gonna create a well that is gonna build up within you. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:07.839 And that source produces a river. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.920 And that river flows out of us as his people. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.880 Through the Spirit, rivers of living water will flow from us. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:18.799 John 7, 38 through 39. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:20.400 Let's revisit this together. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:27.759 Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:32.000 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:37.440 For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:38.880 What does Jesus say? 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:43.359 If you come to me and drink, I'm gonna create in you a spring of living water. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:50.319 And when I pour out my spirit upon you, there's gonna be a river of life that flows from out of your heart. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:56.960 See, we as the New Testament church, we are after the glorification of Jesus. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:01.279 We are after the sending of his spirit upon his people. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:03.359 And here's what we're being called to. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:11.519 We're not being called to be a people who simply just come to life because we put our faith in Jesus and we've received his spirit. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.640 We're being called to be a people who have come to life. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:28.480 And when we step into a space, when we step into the gates of our city, when we step into our homes and into our workplaces and our relationships, that life starts pouring out of our chest and it starts affecting those around us. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:32.160 Where there was once death over here, now life starts to come up. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:38.640 Where there was a broken marriage here, we see reconciliation, where father and child was that animosity with one another. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:45.039 We see restoration and healing where there was sickness and disease, where there was lostness and there was death and decay. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:52.640 Life starts coming forth because we've stepped into a space filled with the Spirit, bringing life where we go. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:55.119 That's what we're called to as the church. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:25:11.440 We're not called to just be stagnant, we're not called to just fill ourselves up with this water, but it's supposed to pour out of us and along its banks, life and cultivation and community and all of these things are to flow along it. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:24.640 You see, Jesus becomes the source of this water as we drink from him by faith and by the Spirit we all become these rivers of living water that pour forth from our heart. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:34.160 The world around us should receive life, it should experience healing, it should be restored and be fruitful by the Spirit flowing out of us. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:43.119 We are rivers of living water because life is to be known and experienced from our engagement with it. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.799 I mean, look, look, look at what this looks like in Acts 2. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:47.359 All right? 00:25:47.599 --> 00:26:02.799 In the book of Acts, it's an entire book recorded by the physician Luke of what it's supposed to look like when the Spirit gets a hold of God's people, when the Spirit uh fills them and pours out of them. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:04.799 This is the effect of it. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:12.160 We see the apostles going forth and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus and thousands being saved. 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:24.559 We see community take shape where the ostracized and marginalized and oppressed of the city can come together and be known and be cared for and loved on in the biblical community. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:29.920 We see people getting healed, we see people being restored into cultures. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.319 We see all of these things happening. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:32.720 Why? 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:42.160 Because the spirit didn't just fill these apostles and these faithful 120 in the upper room, but it was pouring out of them wherever they went. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:44.480 That's what Acts is supposed to look like. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:47.200 That's what the Christian life is supposed to look like. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:51.599 And and look at what preceded Acts 2 and the falling of the Spirit. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:52.480 What were they doing? 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:57.599 It was 120 in the upper room, drinking from the well that was Christ. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:59.920 They were committed to be patient and wait. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:03.119 They were praying to Jesus, send us the Spirit. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:12.559 They were drinking from this well, and bam, as soon as it comes, it's flowing like a river, and thousands are experiencing the life of the king. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:20.720 On the day of Pentecost, Acts 2, Peter says, This is the fulfillment of Joel 2, 28 and 29. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:21.440 Let's read this. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:24.880 Acts 16, uh 2, 16 through 18. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.839 Peter standing up, full of the spirit. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.160 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:43.039 And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:47.599 Even on my male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:48.559 And what's the result? 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:51.039 They shall prophesy. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:52.880 What was the fulfillment of Joel? 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.920 What was the expectation of the sending of the spirit? 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:58.799 Prophecy would flow from the church. 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:21.839 The declaration of the gospel for the healing of the nations would come forth from the church, not just from men standing behind pulpits, but from women entering into society and declaring the truth of God's word, from them sharing the gospel in their homes as they're caring and discipling for their children, as they're entering into their workspace and sharing the truth and the love of Jesus. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:23.759 That's what was supposed to happen. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:29.599 It wasn't just reserved for the paid clergy, it wasn't just reserved for those who had M-Divs from seminary. 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:33.279 It was for every son and daughter, male and female. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:34.079 It didn't matter. 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:41.359 The spirit was going to come and it was going to fill them and flow out of them, and it was going to be life eternal that would be impacted. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:44.000 That's the expectation. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:51.519 And man, many many of us were teaching this class, and uh, the first part of it's on the Holy Spirit. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:54.720 And we talked about like, how is this hard? 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.839 How is this difficult for us as Christians? 00:28:58.160 --> 00:28:59.680 And here's what happened. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:02.960 We got a lot of feedback, that uh opinion or thought. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:11.039 Man, I just don't know if the Spirit moves in the same way today as he did in that apostolic age. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.359 I don't I don't see it. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:15.920 I just don't know if he still does it. 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.319 Let me tell you something. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:26.319 All around this world, where Jesus is the well that his people are drinking from, they're still experiencing the same thing. 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:35.440 They're still experiencing prophetic utterances, healings, miracles, signs and wonders, life coming to dead bones. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:36.480 They're experiencing. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:51.359 Here's the sad part of the Church of America is that we have taken our responsibility and we've abdicated it as we drink from bitter wells and undead waters, and we've blamed God for not moving. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:54.799 How dare we do that? 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:59.599 How dare we flip this on God as if it's Him who's the one not moving? 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:07.279 We're the ones not drinking from the well of Christ, we're the ones not stepping out in mission and proclaiming boldly the truth of the gospel. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:09.680 We're the ones not laying hands on the sick. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:16.640 We're the ones that are still sitting here in apathy and then blaming God for not moving. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:19.519 Church, it's our fault. 00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:22.480 It's our fault. 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:32.240 Many of us in the church struggle to believe the reality of the Spirit actually moving through his people. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.799 A river of living water that's bringing life and healing to the nations. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:41.920 And it causes us to doubt the work of the Spirit in and through us. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:44.240 Man, some of it's just bad theology. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:48.720 I'm sorry for the church you grew up in or whoever taught you that the spirit doesn't move. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:49.920 Shame on them. 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:53.519 Some of it's bad theology, some of it's apathy. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:03.359 Some of it is you just don't wake up and consciously invite the spirit to fill you and move through you in that day. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:09.599 You're not in situations where you're asking Spirit, do something right now because I can't do anything in my own strength. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:11.039 Right? 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:16.480 Our theology has got to match our Christian discipline. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:21.440 And I bet you we're gonna see things in the spirit that we've never thought imaginable before. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.960 But some of us here in this room, some of us we're rivers of bitter water. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.759 We are rivers of bitter water. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:31.279 What did we talk about earlier? 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:36.319 Every river has a source, every river has a source. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:43.599 Jesus says, when you come to Him and drink, that's when rivers of living water will flow from your heart. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:46.720 But many of us we're drinking from bitter wells. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:51.359 Our source is water that cannot produce life. 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:53.680 But we're gulping it down. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:59.359 And then we're wondering why all around us we're seeing death perpetuated. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.559 Why am I seeing my relationships falling apart? 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:05.200 Why am I seeing my job falling apart? 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:09.920 Why am I seeing people around me growing in greater animosity against the gospel? 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:12.880 Why am I not seeing anyone come to faith in Jesus? 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:18.960 What why is it when I step into places this dry and parched land finds no relief? 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.160 You're drinking from bitter wells. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:30.319 That's your source, and the river that's coming out of you is undrinkable and unsatisfying to those around us. 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:34.640 Many of us were drinking from the well of power and success. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:39.279 We're drinking from the well of riches and comfort. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:57.359 We're drinking from the well of the Daily Wire or the well of NPR, or we're drinking from the well of pornography or therapeutic philosophy, or we're drinking from the well of comparisonism on social media, but we're drinking from bitter wells that are creating rivers of bitter water out of our heart. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:02.319 And then we're scratching our head, wondering why we're not seeing life around us. 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:08.319 The first mention of bitter water in the Bible is in Exodus 15. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:12.880 As the Israelites traveled into the wilderness, they came to this spring of water. 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:16.720 Imagine the joy that they filled their heart. 00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:24.799 They're in the wilderness desert, they see the spring off in a far distance, and they must have just ran to it to try and quench their thirst. 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:26.079 But what happened? 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.000 The water was bitter. 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:30.880 They couldn't drink from it. 00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:37.440 They named the place Mara, which means bitterness in Hebrew. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:39.119 They planted a flag. 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:41.119 This water is undrinkable, it doesn't bring life. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:45.599 It'd be like us trying to drink salt water to sustain what's in us. 00:33:46.319 --> 00:34:03.119 When we say we're Christian, when we present ourselves as a stream of water, and the thirsty around us in society come to try and drink, are they tasting that bitter water? 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:12.880 Is the hope and joy that they have seeing that from the distance just destroyed as they try to drink from what you're offering? 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:26.960 When our source is something other than Jesus, the water that flows from us becomes undrinkable and unable to produce life. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:31.440 Some of us, though, we're stagnant reservoirs. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:33.679 We're stagnant reservoirs. 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:38.000 Man, I've seen this in the church too much. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:40.480 People who, man, they pray. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.599 They pray for hours, like they pray for hours, right? 00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:44.639 In their prayer clause. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:47.840 These people pray more in tongues than I knew. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:50.639 There were hours in a day to do that, right? 00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:57.119 They're worshiping up front in the most expressive, passionate worship you've ever seen. 00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:00.079 They're reading their Bible constantly. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:01.119 But what are they doing? 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:03.920 They're just storing up all this water. 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:20.320 And the funny thing is, often the people that I've seen most passionate in those areas that don't pour out that water in mission, but become stagnant reservoirs are some of the most unhealthy people I've ever met. 00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:27.840 Because where water stays stagnant, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. 00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:30.880 It itself becomes undrinkable. 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:36.960 You see, Jesus didn't call us to be filled with water so that we alone could experience life. 00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:43.519 He called us to have water flow out of us so that those around us might experience the same life we found in Him. 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.719 It's being filled and being poured out. 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:49.360 That's the rhythm of the Christian life. 00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:59.920 But many of us, we just hold on to this, and this water remaining within us becomes undrinkable as well, just like the streams of bitterness. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:11.679 And here's the problem: both of these realities, both the bitter stream and the stagnant reservoir, are detrimental to the people around us. 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:15.840 What's our two greatest aims in this life? 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:21.039 To love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself. 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:22.960 This isn't about us. 00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:31.920 We are great beneficiaries of the eternal life that Jesus gives us through his death and resurrection, but it's not meant for just us. 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:44.320 People whose souls are like the desert land in the wilderness in so desperate need of water, come to us and they're unable to drink. 00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:48.559 You see, this was our own state. 00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:54.320 You and I, before Jesus, we were like the wilderness land. 00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:59.679 Dry and parched, dead bones laying on the ground. 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:05.440 But Christ became the living water that you and I so desperately needed. 00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:11.679 Because Jesus was struck to provide us living water. 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:21.199 The rock that Moses struck in the wilderness was just a type and shadow of what was to come for God's people. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:47.440 As we would find ourselves in our own natural wilderness desert with no sign of life around us, the authoritative rod of the Father would be lifted against his son, and he would be struck that water would pour forth for the nations to know healing and life and restoration forever. 00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:51.360 Jesus is the fulfillment. 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:59.679 Jesus is the rock that was crushed so that we might have this living water. 00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:10.000 And my hope for us, church, is that we would run to that well and drink. 00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:13.599 And be satisfied. 00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:25.519 And be filled up and have this spring rise up within us as we continue to just drink from Jesus by faith. 00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:31.599 And in that, that rivers of life would flow from us. 00:38:33.679 --> 00:38:36.000 Can you imagine a church like Acts? 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:59.199 Can you imagine you drinking from the well that is Jesus and daily having to pour that out of you in the proclamation of the gospel, in the laying hands of the sick, and prophesying to the people to see the spirit move in such a powerful way? 00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:07.039 We are not going to be a church who blame shifts why we don't see the spirit moving anymore. 00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:10.480 We're not going to point to God as if it's his fault. 00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:17.039 We've got to be honest with ourselves and ask, what well are we drinking from? 00:39:18.960 --> 00:39:26.320 How are we believing that the Spirit is able to work in us and through us for the good of those around us? 00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:32.400 Because here's what our church should look like it should be like this little picture of heaven. 00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:48.559 Jesus prayed that our prayer should be on earth as it is in heaven, in Sinsi as it is in heaven, in Mason, Westchester, Morrow, Mainville, Fairfield, Hamilton, as it is in heaven. 00:39:49.519 --> 00:39:51.760 And this is what it's going to look like for us. 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:54.880 Revelation 22, 1 through 2. 00:39:55.199 --> 00:40:12.639 Jesus unveiling the beauty and glory of heaven to John says, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and through the middle of the street of the city. 00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:19.199 Also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. 00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:23.760 The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:25.920 This is what heaven looks like. 00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:29.199 So what's that mean for us? 00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:36.800 When we step out into these streets, that river pouring out of our heart. 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:42.320 And what's happening on the banks of that river, fruit is being birthed out. 00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:46.079 Lives are being saved. 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:48.079 Healing is coming. 00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:56.239