Come and Drink

On Pentecost Sunday, we explored Jesus’ invitation in John 7:37–38: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” This sermon traces the movement of the Holy Spirit through Scripture — from Sinai to Pentecost — and reminds us that God fills those who come thirsty, empty, and ready to receive His life.

Transcript

According to John, chapter seven. The Gospel of John, chapter seven. And when you have found John seven, go ahead and stand with me for the reading of God's word. This is John 7:37. Only two verses here.

Notice these words. This is the word of God.

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water. Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive. For as yet, there was no spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations. Amen. And you can be seated.

Well, perhaps an interesting Gospel reading for us this morning about being thirsty and where that might fit. But before we get there, it's only interesting because today is Pentecost Sunday, which, in fact, we read from in Acts, chapter two. Now, in some sense, Pentecost does not begin on the day of Pentecost, if that makes sense. Now, Pentecost just means 50th. Okay, so we're talking about 50 days from what?

Well, from Passover. Right. So you're roughly dealing with seven weeks from Passover. And, of course, this was an ancient festival. It was a harvest festival.

In fact, it was one of three harvest festivals that were celebrated in the Old Testament, which was the Feast of First Fruits, which was a thanksgiving to God. You remember the first fruits and the different things they were supposed to do. In other words, if you planted a garden. Did anybody try that this year, by the way? I only tried one thing, which was lettuce, and I think it stopped growing last week.

So it's over, I guess, which, maybe it's just too hot, I don't know. But it did. Okay, right. So, so basically it would be this. If you planted your lettuce, then the first time it bore fruit, when it was time to cut it, you didn't eat any of that.

Now, you did all that work, you know, preparing the ground, planting, et cetera. And then you get to the point where, hey, now we get to finally. Nope, that's off limits, because this is God's in other words, the first fruit that comes out is always God's son. Same thing with your animals. If you would have gotten horses, let's say, or cows or whatever, then the firstborn was given to God.

Now, that symbolism, we could go down that track for some time. We won't this morning, but just keep that in the hopper. It's very, very interesting, this idea of first fruits. Pentecost in some sense celebrates the first fruits that are given. What is that?

Well, I am glad you asked about that. Which is this? The first fruits of resurrection. Who is that? Jesus.

Right. We're actually told that he is the first fruits of resurrection. In other words, he is the first to rise from the dead. Truly, in resurrection form. Lazarus did not.

Lazarus is a resuscitation, technically speaking. Resurrection, remember, deals with not only coming back to life, but with a glorified body. Proper resurrection must have a resurrected, glorified body united for all time, never to be separated again. Remember, death is over now. Death, remember, being the separation of.

Of body and soul that is now brought back together and reunited, glorified as our Lord's body was. This is not just a spiritual thing. It is a spiritual, physical phenomenon. This is resurrection. So he's the first fruits of resurrection.

He's also the first fruits of a new creation. How is this new? But because he's the new Adam. Remember, Adam, in Adam, all die and all are sentenced to death. But in the new Adam, all can have life and are resurrected.

He's also the first fruits of a final harvest, bringing God's kingdom to culmination. He's the first fruits of the church, the first fruits of communion, of creation itself, and so on. And the Spirit also is said to be the first fruits of the foretaste of the future. So in other words, the future is brought present in us now and not yet. That may sound a little odd, but Jesus often does this.

Does. He says, the kingdom has come. And then you'll hear him saying, the kingdom will come. You say, hold on, there's more, there's more. Okay, so we already, because of God's Holy Spirit in us.

For those who are born again, born of the Spirit, we already have a foretaste of what is to come. In other words, the true life that will resurrect us one day. We're still in this broken body, this broken world. And yet, here's what Paul says. We have treasure in an earthen vessel, just like this earthen vessel here.

There's something inside of it that is worth something. So too with us. But one day, the vessel itself also will be repaired. You see, God begins internally and moves out externally and will one day completely heal and redeem all the way down to where there is no more death. And even the body itself is healed because of him.

In resurrection, there won't be any getting old. There won't be any, you know, I made. I missed one step when I was going. You know, there's always, like steps going down to the beach. I missed one step and I was like, oh, boy, that's going to hurt for days.

One step. There will no longer be this bodily pain. And this is one of the reasons the tears will be wiped away. No more death, no more suffering, no more darkness and night. That's the picture in Revelation, we get, what a day that will be, brothers and sisters.

We must hold on all the way to the end. Death itself, Paul says, is our last enemy. In this way, that won't be dealt with until the resurrection. But it will be dealt with. And in some sense, in a real sense, it already has been dealt with, because Christ destroyed death by dying and then being the first fruits, you see, of resurrection.

And so it's very appropriate that 50th Pentecost is celebrating a type of first fruits. Now in the first century, we know that in Judaism, it had actually become very popular to remember also at Pentecost, Sinai and the giving of the law. This also is appropriate for us to think about. This morning you say, well, why is that? Because the prophecies all over the Old Testament are.

Are about the law no longer being written on tablets of stone externally, but instead being written on the human heart by the Holy Spirit. So you get a lot of the same imagery, don't you? Think about it. They go up the mountain in Exodus 20, and they go up the mountain. And, well, Moses goes up the mountain.

He goes up the mountain. And what does the mountain do? It. It's shaking, it's quaking, it's on fire. The wind is crazy.

It's a wild thing. And the speech of God is coming to man externally on tablets of stone. What's happening at the day of Pentecost? Do you remember? They go into the.

Not lower room, but the upper room. They ascend, going to the upper room. And what happens there? Tongues of what? Fire, wind, speech.

You see, all of that imagery should be coming back to us because now the Holy Spirit is being given to all people. Not select people in the Old Testament that he comes to rest on, but now given and poured out for all mankind. That's what Pentecost is celebrating today. Wind, fire, speech, the breath of God, the very life of God in this way.

But notice this comes not individually. In other words, it wasn't everybody separated and somehow the Spirit comes to them in that way. No, it was. They were all gathered in one place. You remember, same thing at Sinai.

They were all gathered in one place. Same thing with our numbers reading. Do you remember this? And he gathered the 70 elders together. Brothers and sisters, I would just want to remind our community there is something unique when we gather as his body.

There is something unique when we gather as the family of God. That is not available when you're individual and alone. Now, can the Spirit speak to us? Of course. Nobody's limiting the Holy Spirit this morning.

Let's get real. However, it's Christ himself who tells us to gather both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Do not fear, forsake the gathering of yourselves together as the manner of some is. And he actually says, as the day approaches, all the more should we gather. And so today we're gathered here, we're gathered as his body.

And in the gathering is when the descent of the Holy Spirit happens here. And it is at this gathering and at this gathering that that kind of thing available to us, this opportunity to receive the Spirit comes upon them. And notice what happens next, both in numbers and in Acts 2 is they begin to prophesy. As soon as the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they begin to prophesy. And you remember Eldad and Medad.

That's the way I like to say it, like the Spanish version, odad. And then Medad, they both start prophesying. And you remember Joshua's like, oh, somebody comes and says, hey, they don't need to be doing that. Like Moses, you and Joshua are the select people here in the 70, right? But then Moses says something profound and very humbling.

He says, would it that everyone was a prophet of God. And you know what? That day is coming. And and now is here that because of God's Spirit when he comes in, we can't help but have fiery testifying language of God's goodness. That's what he does when he comes into our life is gives us a testimony of his good news to share with the world.

And we must share is our not only right to share. It is what the Spirit compels us to do because of the love of God.

You know, I often reference a difficult time in my life. And one of the things that always accompanies that difficult time, those who showed Me, love and care. And every time I share it, I bring them into it because I'm testifying to the good news that happened there. It's the same way with the Lord when he comes into our life. We have good news to share, and we must share it.

That is what we are called to do. The Spirit descends on this day. And the way the Scripture talks about the Spirit's descent is that of being poured out. Now, we didn't make up that language, so it's by design. What does this language mean, but that the Spirit is, if you will, liquid.

That's the idea here, at least analogically, right? I mean, you tell me, poured out. What other sense could that be? Thinking. Think about this one.

I'll give you another. Filled. This language of pouring and filling has to do with liquidity in some sort of way. And when you think about, say, the most basic form of liquid is, let's just say, water. Well, isn't that replete through the Scriptures, like you begin in Genesis, and what do you get?

You get water, and the Spirit of God is. Is hovering over the waters. Then you get a flood. That interestingly matches the language of the prophets, both in the minor and major prophets, where the valleys are filled up. Think about it.

And the mountains are then brought low. That's what water does. Water also, always. If you've ever had a problem at your house, you'll know this. It always goes to the lowest point, doesn't it?

You're like, how did water get here? I don't know. But that's the lowest point in this room. I tell you that when you walk outside, because we don't have just the best parking lot in the whole world, you're going to see low spots where the water is pooling. You say, what's your point, Pastor?

My point is this. If you want to be filled with God's spirit, you. You got to get low. You can't be proud. You cannot be full of yourself and expect to be filled with God's Holy Spirit.

There's no room for that. No, to be filled with the Spirit, you must be emptied out. And this language, too, is found in the scriptures, not an emptying out so that we lose out on life. No, no, no. And emptying out so we can receive more life.

In that difficult time in my life after the fact, because when I was going through it, you know, we all ask the same question. So it's the same question Job asked, the same question Joe's friends ask, and anybody else who ever suffers, and it's this question, why? Why? Why me? Why them?

Right? This is what we always ask. And although we may never come to that sort of reason, on the other side of difficult times, I mean, deep cut valleys, we often can look back and say, goodness, that emptied me out down to the base, down to what really mattered. Anybody ever been there before? Where?

I mean, that crisis cut you to the core. And things that you thought mattered, things that you had elevated to perhaps be worshiped or followed, were cut to the quick. They were cut down just like Israel's pride was cut down in the Captivity. But notice the cutting down is not the end. No, it's a new type of beginning.

And what I found on the other side of suffering in that way was a deeper ditch to be filled with his love. I had been dug out, but because of that, the Spirit filled it up and I had more love for people I didn't beforehand. Anybody ever been there before? You see things a little different. We feel pretty bulletproof when we're young.

When you get old, not so much. Even a step can do you in.

The point is, water always runs down. And if we want to be filled with God's Holy Spirit, not pride, not a do it yourself attitude, but a desperation, a cry. I am thirsty in a desert and if I don't get water, I will die. That's the kind of language Jesus is using here, different feast day to say all who are thirsty. And could I say all of us are thirsty for something.

We can't always put our finger on it. And we grope around and we guess at life at times of what will fill us up. I can save you the time.

It's Jesus. It's God. He is our deepest longing. He is who we're truly thirsting at. If we're chasing beauty, if we're chasing pleasure, if we're chasing fame, if we're chasing recognition, if we're chasing wealth.

Listen, none of them will fill you up and satisfy you. Not one. You'll just keep drinking and drinking and drinking. That's why we look at other people, say, why are they not happy? They're rich.

Why are they not happy? They have a good family life. Because happiness at base does not reside in those things, but in something higher, nay, in someone higher. Who is God? He's the One who gave us those very desires.

And our hearts will be restless until they rest in Him. And the language, by the way, of the Holy Spirit's coming to us of Pentecost is that of resting us. Now we call it the Descent of the Dove, right? Now, have you ever been around birds? Like, if you make a certain movement or whatever, what do birds normally do?

Oh, yeah, that's the place I want to land. No, of course not. They're gone, right? So what does that mean for us? We need to settle down and rest in Him.

Now, I get it. When things go bad, the first thing we want to do is get busy and frantic, don't we? When we're anxious, we get frantic. We need to slow it down and get down to what matters. Like, literally down in worship.

And let the Spirit of God rest on us. That's where he descends to, is those who are resting in him in the upper room. And so now we see Jesus. We finally come to John 7 here making this cry. He raised his voice, you know, which I feel like, you know, I feel a little better sometimes when I get fired up, like, I'm not yelling at anybody.

I'm just crying out in the same way that the prophets cried out, in the same way that the best prophet ever cried out. Let anyone who is thirsty to come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.

Your marriage can never satisfy you. Your job can never satisfy you. Your possessions can never satisfy you. Your children can never satisfy you. You can never, never satisfy you.

It takes some of us longer than others to realize that. But the sooner the better, brothers and sisters. Only Christ, only the living God, only His Holy Spirit in us can ever give us satisfaction. Can we ever find rest in this life? And here's it's a funny thing that happens when we pursue pleasure, we never get it.

But when we pursue God, we get pleasure.

It's funny how this works. When you pursue wealth, you'll never get it. You'll never be satisfied with the end of it. But when you pursue God, you find wealth in your life. You say, are you preaching a prosperity gospel?

Only if we mean wealth beyond money.

Many of us are rich people in the eyes of others because of what we have. Family wise, what we have, gift wise, health wise.

Yes. When we pursue the Lord, everything else is thrown in. But when we pursue everything else, we lose it all.

On this day, we're told on this Pentecost Sunday to be thirsty, to be empty, so that we can be filled with His Holy Spirit and then notice. Notice John's Little John's famous for this in his Gospel, by the way, his little commentary about what he's writing, about what he's remembering, even again, assisted by the Holy Spirit, he says this now. He said this, Jesus said this about the Spirit which believers in him were to receive, because why? Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water. You see, this is not actually just about us being filled up, satisfied, but instead, what really gives joy in one's life.

And again, I'm one who came to this very late in life, in my life, is this joy comes not from receiving, but from giving. In fact, the scripture tells us it is better to give than to receive. And so when we receive his precious gift of the Holy Spirit, we then give that gift to others by allowing his love to flow out of us. In other words, just an overflow. He doesn't just give us a little.

A little dip here, I'll fill you up just a little bit, you know. No, the cup overflows. And that's a good thing because this is not some stagnant pond, but rather living water, which means moving water. And this living water that we receive flows out of us just like the image in Revelation. Do you remember this image where all of a sudden, at the very threshold door of the temple, there comes out water.

And remember, Jerusalem is up on a mountain. So then where does the water go? It goes down, and it goes down into the valley, down into the dry places. And then what springs up is a harvest.

The very thing that was being celebrated, Pentecost. And this harvest leads to a river. Remember the river of life. This idea of water, this idea of the person of the Holy Spirit filling us up, is our central idea. This is why in Revelation 21, here's what it says.

Nearly the next to last chapter in the whole Bible says this. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with humanity. He wants to live in us and us with Him. And this reaches back, doesn't it, over the past few weeks where his dwelling place is, where he is bringing us to is this tabernacle that we are the very tabernacle of God. And he wants to dwell in you.

Do you have the Holy Spirit this morning? Have you been born anew? If not, today is a wonderful day to worship Him. And that term, worship, look this up on your own time. Worship means to get low.

It's literally to bow before him.

Are you low in your life or are you proud? Is there pride? God forbid, we need to get low. We need to be emptied out of all the things that are temporal, that we'll never fill, be filled with His Holy Spirit. Now, if you are a believer, you are born again.

Good news. It's not all just a past thing. He continues to fill us anew and afresh. He is continuing to do his work, to shape us and to transform us. Are you allowing him to do so?

Do not quench the Holy Spirit in your life.

Do not grieve God's Spirit. No. Instead, receive him today and let rivers of living water flow through your life to your children, to your co workers, to your neighbors, to the world. Because the dwelling place of God is with man. May it be so of us in this room, O Lord.

Descend upon us, holy dove. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Total Duration 00:29:06