This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day five of our look together through John chapter
seven and daily drive time devotions. You remember that we've been looking
through the ways that we try to quench our spiritual thirst and we've seen in
this chapter that political answers don't work, human strategies, philosophical
answers don't work, human ideas, popular answers don't work, looking at the
voice of the crowd, religious answers don't work, trying to control God through
my religious rules or ideas or my religious themes. What does work?

Well, you've known the answer all week long, but let me read for you the answer.
Verses 37 to 44. 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 whom those who believed in him
were later to receive. Up to that time, the spirit had not yet been given since
Jesus had not yet been glorified.

On hearing his words, some of the people said, surely this man is the prophet.
Others said he is the Christ. Still others asked, how can the Christ come from
Galilee?

Does not the scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and
from Bethlehem, from the town where David lived? And thus the people were
divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on
him.

Who can satisfy our inner thirst? What can satisfy our inner thirst? Only Jesus.

Only Jesus. Now, let me tell you how dramatic this picture really is of what
happened on that day, the last and greatest day of the feast. Each morning of
this feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, just after dawn, the high priest would
lead a celebrating parade of worshipers from the temple down to the nearby Pool
of Salon.

And there he would fill a golden pitcher with water, and he would carry this
golden pitcher back through the south gate of the temple, which was called the
Water Gate, by the way. And the people would recite Isaiah chapter 12 verse 3,
"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. " Besides being a
prayer for the rain of the harvest, this offering that was going to be given
also served as a reminder of God's promise in Joel chapter 2.

Joel 2, 28-29, God promises to pour out his Spirit on all mankind. So imagine
this scene from John 7. Jerusalem is filled with worshipers who packed the city
for this celebration.

And with this ceremony that had happened every day on everyone's mind, perhaps
even at the dramatic moment when this pitcher of water is to be poured out,
Jesus's voice raises above the crowd. And Jesus says, Jesus shouts, "If anyone
is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. " Do you see how shocking that is?

He was claiming to be the fulfillment of all their hopes, all their dreams. It
would be like someone standing up against the backdrop of the 4th of July
fireworks show and shouting, "If anyone wants true freedom, let him come to me.
It is found in me.

" Jesus is claiming to be able to fulfill us as nothing else can. "Come to me,"
Jesus said. "Neither deny your thirst nor focus on your thirst, but recognize
your thirst and come to me.

" You were created with a thirst for God. You and I are thirsty people,
spiritually. One of the most important questions I face, you face, every day of
your life is this.

Where am I going to get my spiritual thirst quenched? Satan comes and tempts you
with all kinds of answers. Financial gain, sexual sin, higher position.

Those will quench that inner thirst. Philosophy, politics, opinion, they're all
lies. And you know they're lies, but Satan keeps telling the lie.

Even the positive things in our lives cannot quench this thirst. As important as
our relationships are, as wonderful as a moment of relaxation can be, as
significant as living out the purpose of ministry can be, they cannot quench the
thirst, the need of a connection with God. That day, amidst the sounding
trumpets, the shouting of the rejoicing multitudes, and the pouring out of the
water, Jesus is giving them a picture.

Remember that the pouring out of that water not only symbolized the pouring out
of the water, it was also a reminder of the rock. The rock in the wilderness out
of which water had poured to fulfill the needs of the thirsty people as they
headed towards the promised land. That rock, that rock pictured something.

The Bible tells us what it pictures. First Corinthians 10, three to four. They
all ate the same spiritual food, and they all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them. And that rock was
Christ. The Bible makes it clear.

Are you thirsty? Do you have spiritual thirst? Then choose to believe.

And Jesus says, "For those who believe, if you will believe in me, the result
will be not just water flowing in, but streams of water flowing out, enough
water that it not only flows into my life, but flows out of my life in joy. "
That is the ultimate thirst quencher. Not Gatorade or Powerade, but the Holy
Spirit.

That quenches this inner thirst that we all have in our lives. Now, before we
move on to say more about how God quenches our thirst, I just want you to note
verse 39. This verse, this one verse has a whole history of truth in it about
the Holy Spirit.

There are a lot of questions that people have when they read that the Spirit is
a Spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time,
the Spirit had not yet been given. What is this talking about?

Well, the history of the work of the Holy Spirit is that prior to Jesus coming
into this world, the Holy Spirit did come into people's lives, but just for a
time, just for a specific purpose. After the coming of Jesus, after what
happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came to
indwell believers. That's what this is talking about here.

Empowering Spirit before Jesus, he would come to empower people for a time.
Indwelling Spirit after Jesus, that's the door that Jesus opened up. Same with
Acts chapter 2.

Now the truth here is that God has sent his Spirit to quench this inner thirst
through what Jesus has done in our lives, for our lives. And the question is,
how do I drink? How do I drink of this living water?

And Jesus answers that question. Those who believe, whoever believes in me in
verse 38, you believe. You let his life flow into you and then through you.

Are you thirsty, spiritually thirsty? Maybe you've never believed in Jesus.
You're listening through this Gospel of John because you want to understand what
it means to believe in Jesus.

This is Jesus shouting to you, "Are you thirsty? Come to me. I'll quench that
thirst that you have.

" As a believer in Christ, are you thirsty? Have you been looking to other
things, maybe even good things, to quench that thirst that's in deep within you?
Are you thirsty?

Instead of trying everything else first, why not start with belief? Jesus
doesn't promise here to give us perfect circumstances. He does promise to quench
our inner thirst.

If you're thirsty for a relationship, believe. If you're thirsty for financial
security, believe. If you're thirsty for inner peace, believe.

If you're thirsty for significance, you believe. You see, in the details of our
life, the relationships of our lives, the inner heart that we live with, the
significance that we need in our lives, the secret to it all is you start with
belief. Don't hope that somehow finances are going to quench that thirst or even
that somehow ministry, as great as it might be, is going to quench that thirst.

It will not. Only a relationship with Jesus Christ will. You see, you do
ministry out of the quenching of your thirst that comes from your relationship
with him.

If you try to do ministry hoping it will quench your thirst, you become more and
more thirsty even though you're serving God. Now, there's a way we think about
this that I want to be careful of. When we think about Jesus quenching our
thirst, meeting our needs, we think, you know, if I pray, then Jesus will give
me what I want and then my thirst will be quenched.

I want you to see to not miss the fact that there's something much deeper here
than that. Jesus will quench your thirst and he will quench your thirst so
deeply that whether or not you get the thing you want, you still will have your
thirst quenched. It's okay to talk to God about the things that you want.

You should. You should. It is not okay to look to the things that you want to do
what they can never do, what they were never meant to do, to quench your deepest
thirst.

The thing that you want can take its right place when you begin with your
relationship with Jesus Christ. And notice that when Jesus said this, "Anyone
thirsty, come to me," that this statement divided people. Some said he was the
Christ, the prophet.

That refers to Moses' prophecy of the coming Messiah. It means the same thing as
the Christ in their terms. And some instead asked questions about how this could
be.

And some wanted to lay their hands on him and arrest him. Some had their
spiritual thirst quenched that day. Others stayed thirsty.

When we think about our spiritual thirst, I'd like to pray. And for some of you,
this may be one of the most significant prayers that you've ever prayed. Just
simply look to Jesus Christ and say to him, "Jesus, I'm tired.

I'm thirsty. " Because I've been looking to everyone else and everything else to
have my thirst quenched. And with all my effort, I am still thirsty.

I'm thirsty. I, I come to you. I pray that you would quench my thirst.

I pray that you would teach me to do this throughout the day, every day. I come
to you. You promised, Jesus, if you will come to me, if you believe in me.

I'm not asking you to make every circumstance in my life perfect. I know we're
on earth, not in heaven yet. And I know you haven't promised to do that.

But I know that you have promised to quench this deepest thirst in my heart, in
my soul. I'm tired of going to other places and staying thirsty. I come to you
and I pray that as you promised, not only would you quench my thirst, but out of
me would flow streams of living water and encouragement to my life and the lives
of all that are around me.

Quench my thirst, Jesus, I pray. I pray it in your name. I pray it in the name
of the living water.

Amen. Join us next week. We're going to continue together in our study of the
Gospel of John, looking together at John chapter 8.