Sermons

The Spirit Quenches our Hearts-Thirsts

John 7:37-39

Let’s say I am thirsty.  Really thirsty.  And I am sitting here suffering from thirst – but right next to me there’s not just a bottle of water, but a whole flat of bottled water.  And yet here I sit, really thirsty, suffering from thirst.

That’s a picture that’s true of all of us some of the time.  And it’s true of some of us all the time.  But Jesus says it does not need to be true of any of us any of the time.

That’s what Jesus says in John 7.  Let’s turn to John 7:37-39.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring one to you.  John 7 is on page 893 in the Bibles we are passing out.

We are on week two of what will probably be a 10 week series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  And this morning I want us to see from John 7 how the Holy Spirit quenches our heart thirsts.  Look at what Jesus says, starting in v.37--

37            On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

38            Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

39            Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

So what’s the setting for Jesus’ words?  Look again at v.37 –

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Jesus spoke these words on the last day of the feast, the great day.  It’s the feast of tabernacles, which was celebrated by the nation of Israel every year.  This celebration lasted for a week, and had to do with God’s people asking God for rain for their harvests.

So every morning, for seven days, a procession would travel through the streets to a certain fountain, where a priest filled up a golden pitcher with water.  As he did this, the choir repeatedly sang the words of Isa 12:3 – “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

And then the procession went to the Temple, as the priest carried this golden pitcher filled with water.  And when they got there, the priest poured out the water.

This happened in Jerusalem year after year after year.  But this year, something very different happened.  Every day the procession had traveled to the fountain, where the priest filled up the golden pitcher with water, and then they traveled back to the temple, while the choir sang over and over again “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

But this year, on the last day, maybe right as the procession was passing by and the choir was singing “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” Jesus stood up and shouted loudly so everyone could hear – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

I imagine the procession stopped, jaws dropped, and every eye was fixed on Jesus.

So who is Jesus talking to?  Read v.37 again –

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 

So Jesus is talking to anyone who thirsts; everyone who thirsts.  Is that you?  Are you thirsting?  It’s clear that Jesus is not talking about physical thirst; he’s talking about heart-thirst.  What does that mean? 

Think about what’s going on when your heart is not thirsting.  When your heart is not thirsting it’s content, satisfied, peaceful.  But when your heart is not content, not satisfied, not peaceful, it’s thirsting.

Maybe there’s something coming up this week that’s causing you fear.  That’s heart-thirst.  Maybe something happened this last week that’s left you empty.  That’s heart-thirst.  Maybe something happened that made you discouraged.  That’s heart-thirst.

Heart-thirst includes frustration, guilt, despair, depression, worry, boredom, things like that.

So how many people are thirsty?  Everyone.  Everyone is thirsty.  So when Jesus stands up and shouts out “If anyone thirsts,” he’s talking to everyone, because everyone thirsts.  He’s talking to you, because you thirst.

So what does Jesus promise thirsting people?  Read vv.37 and 38 --   

37            On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

38            Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

In v.38 Jesus says that what he’s talking about is taught in the Old Testament Scriptures.  He’s not quoting any one specific Scripture.  But he’s referring to many Old Testament Scriptures where God promises one day to pour out His Spirit like water to thirsty people.

For example, there’s Isaiah 44:3 –

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

So in the Old Testament God said the time would come when He would pour out the Holy Spirit like water to thirsty people.  And what Jesus is saying is that this time is now. 

Now is the time when God will so pour out His Spirit that thirsty people are not only filled up – but they have rivers of living water that flow out.

Now don’t miss the power of this picture.  There’s a before picture in v.37; and an after picture in v.38.

The before picture is of thirsty people.  Can you remember a time you were thirsty?  Really thirsty?  I remember backpacking with my brother and we were following a trail guide, which said we would soon be coming to a river.  So as we hiked, we looked forward to drinking from that river.  But when we got there, it was a dry river bed.  No water.  And we were thirsty.  That’s the before picture – a thirsty person.

And then Jesus gives us an after picture in v.38 -- a person so filled with rivers of living water that these rivers pour out of his or her heart.

There’s water in this picture – that’s what thirsty people need. 

And not just water, but living water -- this water is not stagnant, pond-water, like they were used to in an arid climate.  No, it’s living, flowing, always fresh, always new.

And not just living water – but rivers of living water.  Not a few drops.  Not just a stream.  Not even just one river.  But Jesus gives this thirsty person rivers – plural – multiple rivers of living water.  Jesus gives this person so much living water that not only is his thirst completely quenched, but there’s overflow -- “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Now this is stunning.  Jesus shouts to humanity -- if you are thirsty, come to me, drink from me, believe in me, and I will completely and abundantly and overwhelmingly satisfy all your heart thirsts.  You will never have a heart-thirst that I can’t completely and abundantly and overwhelmingly satisfy.

And how does Jesus do this?  By giving us the Holy Spirit.  Look at v.39, where John tells us what Jesus means:

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

This living water is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity – fully God, equal to God the Father and God the Son.  He is a person, who, like the Father and the Son, thinks and feels and wills and acts. 

And John says that those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.  At the time Jesus spoke, the Spirit had not yet been given in all His fullness, because this would not happen until Jesus was glorified in the Cross and the Resurrection.  But after the Cross and the Resurrection, the Spirit was poured out upon believers in all His fullness.  Which means that today we can have the Spirit poured out upon us in all His fullness, and when the Spirit is poured out upon us in all His fullness, all of our heart thirsts will be completely satisfied.

But how?  How does the Spirit quench our heart-thirsts?  Notice what Jesus tells thirsty people to do.  In vv.37 and 38 Jesus tells thirsty people to come to him and drink of him and believe in him.  So it’s Jesus – the person of Jesus Himself – who quenches our heart thirsts.

So what does the Holy Spirit do?  He shows us Jesus in God’s Word.  He reveals Jesus to our hearts through the Scriptures.  You can see that in Ephesians 1:16-18.  This is how Paul prays for all the believers in Ephesus – and how Paul would pray for us:

16            I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

17            that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [= the Holy Spirit giving us wisdom and revelation]  in the knowledge of him,

18            having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…

Paul talks about the eyes of our hearts.  We all have two sets of eyes – eyes of our heads, and eyes of our hearts.  The eyes of our heads see the facts; the eyes of our hearts feel the facts.  The eyes of our heads can open this book and see the facts about Jesus.  But our sin has darkened the eyes of our hearts, so we don’t feel the truth of Jesus – we don’t worship Him, we don’t trust Him, we don’t love Him.  It’s like cataracts of sin have grown over the eyes of our hearts so we won’t see Jesus as He is.

And we saw last week that in great mercy God did not leave us in that condition.  Through Jesus’ death on the Cross, by the Holy Spirit, God birthed a new heart in us which does want to see Jesus.  It’s like he cut away those cataracts of sin that kept us from seeing Jesus.  And so for the first time we saw Jesus – and repented of our sin, and trusted Him – and were saved.

But as we live life – even though we have been saved – sin still has a tendency to grow those cataracts back up over the eyes of our hearts.  And so every day we need the Holy Spirit to cut away those cataracts, enlightening the eyes of our hearts, so we can see Jesus as He is, and when that happens we will love Jesus, worship Jesus, trust Jesus.

That’s what Jesus is talking about in John 7.  Jesus calls all of us thirsty people to come to Jesus and to believe in Jesus.  So we open up God’s Word, and read truth about Jesus, and set our hearts upon the truth of Jesus.  And as we do that, the Holy Spirit will enlighten the eyes of our hearts, cut away the cataracts of sin, so that we see Jesus for who He is – and love Him, trust Him, worship Him.

And when this happens, when you see Jesus for who He is, every heart thirst will be quenched. 

Do you have a heart-thirst of fear?  That fear will be quenched, as you see Jesus in Mark 4 calming the wind and waves with a word, and know – and feel – and trust -- that He is standing with you in your boat, and that He is in total control of the wind and waves you face.  And such peace will come that the fear will be quenched.

Do you have a heart-thirst of guilt?  That guilt will be quenched, as you see Jesus on the Cross, really see Him, paying for all the guilt of all your sin, and that when He says, in John 19, “it is finished,” he is saying that the debt of guilt you owe has been paid in full.  And such assurance will come that the guilt will be gone.

Do you have a heart-thirst of emptiness?  That emptiness will be quenched, as you see Jesus as Jesus – the wonder of His mercy in forgiving the prostitute, the glory of His power in feeding the 5,000, the justice of His wrath in throwing the money-changers out of the temple, the beauty of His wisdom in shutting the mouths of the religious leaders, the goodness of His love in dying on the Cross for you, His victory over sin, death, and Satan in rising from the grave.  And such worship will come that your emptiness will be filled.

When you see Jesus for who He is – every heart thirst will be quenched, so much that you will be overflowing with rivers of living water.

I can speak from experience.  Jesus has never failed me in this.  I have failed Jesus by not seeking Him.  But Jesus has never failed me when I have sought Him.  Every time I have had heart thirst and come to Jesus and believed in Jesus and cried out for this work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit has opened my eyes to see Jesus and I have had my thirst satisfied.  Every time.

This would be a powerful truth to share with your neighbor, or with someone at work.  Tell them what we talked about this morning, about how Jesus promises to quench every heart thirst in Himself, if we come to Him, drink from Him, believe in Him.  And share with them how you have experienced this.

Picture it like this.  Whenever we have heart-thirsts, there’s water immediately available.  It’s right at your elbow, like this water bottle.  So we don’t need to thirst with worry, or boredom, or frustration, or insecurity – because there’s water here.

Whenever we have heart thirsts, water is available.  And if we will stop, and come to Jesus, drink from Jesus, believe in Jesus, as the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus our heart thirsts will be so satisfied that it will be like we have a river of water flowing from our hearts.

So every time your heart thirsts – as soon as possible turn to Jesus.  Think of a memorized verse.  Open up your Bible.  Call someone in your home group and ask for a verse.  Turn to Jesus in the Word, and drink.