The Invitation

 

TEXT:  St. John 7:37: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirsts, let him come unto me, and drink.”

 Vs 38:  “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

St. John, the fourth Gospel, presents Christ as “Son of God”, “Shepherd of His Sheep”, and  as the Heavenly One that “is come already”, the eternal Son of the Father made flesh and dwelling among men.

TOPIC: “THE GREAT INVITATION, attached with a promise!”

An invitation is a summons, call, request asking someone to do something or go somewhere.

A promise is a declaration, pledge, guarantee, to take an oath, or to tell the truth.

·        Numbers 23:19: God is not man that He should lie…hath He said and shall He not do it or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?

Our text message contains one of the mighty sayings of Christ.  In the first few chapters of John, Jesus was widely accepted and praised, but beginning in John 6 and John 7 we see a rising tide of resentment to His ministry and message:

 

·          John 6:66: From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

·         John 7:1: After these things Jesus walked in Galilee:  for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him: 

·         Vs 19-20: “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law?”  “Why go you about to kill me?”  The people answered and said, “Thou hast a devil”:  “Who goeth about to kill thee?” 

·         Vs 25: Then said some of them of Jerusalem, “Is not this he whom they seek to kill?”

 

He was beginning to disturb the status quo and ruffle the religious feathers of the Jewish leaders.

 

The setting of the feast was in Jerusalem which was the metropolis of Judaism, and the stronghold of priests and scribes, of Pharisees and Sadducees. We know this group was oppositional to Jesus’ teaching. So, the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” (John 7:2, 10-11).

 

In chapter 7, we see our Lord’s ministry in Galilee was now over, though He still remained there, because the Judeans sought to kill Him. The annual Feast of tabernacles/Feast of booths was at hand, and His brethren were anxious for Christ to go up to Jerusalem, and there give a public display of His miraculous powers. Our Savior, bids His brethren to go up to the Feast, but excuses Himself on the ground that His time was not yet fully come.

 

His brethren (those that didn’t believe in Him) began to challenge Him, Matthew 10:36, “A man’s enemies/foes will be those of his household. Nothing can be more grievous and cut more than sufferings from family and friends. It’s sad but so. Yet Jesus suffered persecution at the hands of his brothers. They had a difficult time believing in Him and were embarrassed by Jesus for many years. They were carnal minded because they were completely blind to His Divine glory. You see, His brethren were men of the world and they adopted its ways, spoke its language, and employed its logic.

 

Listen to His brethren, in John 7:4 “For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” Go up to the Capital, where people are better qualified to judge. Better still, go up to the Feast, and there display your powers, and if they will stand the test of the public scrutiny of the leaders.

 

In fact, “Show thyself to the world” meaning, work some miracles before the great crowd, make yourself the center of attention, and convince everybody you are the Messiah.

 

Sounds familiar? Isn’t that what Satan said to Jesus in Matthew 4:4 “If thou be the Son of God, then command these stones to become bread.” Jesus appealed to the scripture, “It is written.” Folks, as followers of Christ, we have to appeal to the scriptures when the tempter comes. 

 

 How ignorant they were of the mind of God and the purpose of His Son’s mission! This is the “pride of life” displaying itself. I John 2:16: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” It’s still in existence today. What does it look like? It is Evangelistic campaigns and Bible conferences that draw the crowds.

 

So, his brothers left Christ for the feast! How tragic is this? How many times have you left Christ for the Feast? They preferred a religious festival rather than fellowship with Christ. We still witness that today. What zeal we put into religious performances, for forms and ceremonies and how little heart for Christ himself.  After their departure, He abode still in Galilee. But very shortly after, He, too, goes up to the Feast; as it were a secret, He didn’t say He wasn’t going to the feast, He just wasn’t going with them. He didn’t want to needlessly expose Himself to danger because, “His time to go had not yet come.”

 

The Feast was a thanksgiving festival and celebrated at the end of September and the beginning of October. It commemorates Israel’s divine guidance granted during the nation’s wandering in the wilderness. The observance began on the fifteenth day of Tishri or Ethanim (September/October). There was a holy assembly on the first and eighth day and the Israelites lived in booths of palm trees to commemorate the wilderness wandering.

 

These festival times were God's idea, God's agenda, His "appointment calendar" so to speak. He is explicitly describing how He is to be worshiped in these festivals, all of which were practical in nature, in that they brought the Israelites together for rest, worship, praise, and thanksgiving; and prophetic in nature, in that they were a "shadow" (Col ossians 2:17) of God's divine plan of redemption. They all pointed a "divine finger" to the Messiah, the Christ, the Holy One of Israel!

 

 However, the feast continues on today, under the New Covenant. While there are appointed times, the time is always appropriate for offerings to God. The writer of Hebrews says "Through Him (Christ) then, let us continually (the appointed time) offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips that give thanks to His name: and do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:15-16).

 

To summarize, the Feast of Booths was a time of thanksgiving for the harvest. It was a happy time. Devout Jews lived outdoors in booths made of tree branches for seven days as a reminder of God’s provision in the desert during the wilderness wanderings.  Each morning there was a solemn procession from the temple mount to the pool of Siloam for a pitcher of water. A priest would fill a gold pitcher with water as the people sang together from Isaiah 12:3. The procession would return to the Temple Mount with trumpets blasting and great fanfare; there the priest would pour the water into two silver bowls by the altar of burnt offering each day for the first seven days.

 

Our text states, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, had now arrived.” The word “last” is not referencing the end of the world, or that great getting up morning as religion would have us to believe. It comes from the Greek word, “eschatos”, meaning, final, coming, at the end, closing, finished.

Keep in mind Jesus has not yet given His life on the cross, but was pointing to His sacrificial death on the cross. So, the “last day”, is that this Great Festival was coming to a close. You see, according to the Jews “the last day” was great because it was the most attended of all days when the temple courts would be thronged with unusually large crowds. In reality, the Jews didn’t know that in fact, it was the greatest day, because the greatest Person would issue the greatest invitation ever offered to sinful men. Briefly stated, Jesus would proclaim to them the “good news”, the Gospel of their salvation!

As they celebrated the seven-day feast, our text states, “In the last day, that great day of the feast,” Jesus stood or literally translated "was standing" which portrays Him standing and watching the ceremonial proceedings.

So, He stands and cries out with a loud voice. I can imagine, His standing and crying out (making a proclamation) surely must have arrested the attention of the crowd.

This was not the first cry for thirsty people, Isaiah 55: 1: “Ho! Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat:  yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

An essential prerequisite for salvation is a genuine spiritual hunger and thirst for forgiveness and for a right relationship with God.

He cried in John 4:14: “But, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

In John 7:37-38: In the “last day”, that “great day of the feast”, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”  “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” 

John 19:30: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”:  and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.  Vs 31: The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day).

The same word, for “great day of the feast” in John 7:38, is used here in John 19:31, for “high day”, which is the day Jesus cried or said on the cross, John 19:30, “It is finished”.  Finished here is the Greek word tele’o, meaning to end, complete, execute, conclude, discharge (a debt); fulfilled, accomplished, make an end / tel’os, the point reached aimed at as a goal of accomplishment. It’s the briefest and yet the fullest of Jesus’ seven cross utterances. He had finished (completed; fulfilled) all things which the law of God required. 

As one writer put it, this cry from the cross wasn’t a despairing cry of a helpless martyr. It wasn’t an expression of satisfaction of His sufferings that was now reached. It wasn’t a gasp of a worn-out life. Oh no, but a declaration on the part of a Divine Redeemer that all for which He came from heaven to earth to do was done. This finished work will continue. And He bowed His head and gave up the ghost (John 19:30).

On the last day of the festival when the last of the water-pouring ceremonies was performed amid much singing and rejoicing, it was at this time, “Jesus stepped out on the scene and cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.”  “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38).

It wasn’t a cry of tears, but this word “cry” is from the Greek word “Krazo” (krad’zo) meaning, to call aloud [exclaim; entreat].  It was a vocal urgent tone, a “shouting cry”, pleading with people to come and drink the living water.

What was Jesus saying! He was declaring in the words of a song by Sam Cooke, “A change is going to come.” Jesus said, “You have tasted the last that religion and ritualism has to offer.”  The seventh day of this feast is the last day a pitcher of water will be carried from the Pool of Siloam. This is as good as it gets folks! If you are still thirsty and if you don’t find all of this ritual satisfying, then come to me and drink. Here, Jesus is presenting Himself symbolically as the water of life with a promise. The promise that all who come to Him for salvation, will receive the Holy Ghost.

The main issue in life is Jesus Christ. It’s not politics, race relations, economics or health, but first centered in a person, Jesus the Christ, and not a water-pouring ritual.

In the natural water is essential for life. It’s found everywhere on Earth and wherever it flows on this planet, you can be sure to find life. Spiritually, water represents life. Jesus is not speaking of physical thirst but spiritual thirst.

·         Amos 8:11: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

 

By analogy our greatest spiritual need is for Jesus and the new birth His Spirit brings about when we place our faith in Him.

 

Notice, He introduces the invitation indicating a condition with the conjunction “IF” meaning, a choice. Here's the Gospel in a single short sentence based on three words that stand out, and bares emphasizing “THIRST,” COME” and “DRINK.”

 

These are conditions that were based upon human need - if anyone is thirsty.

THIRST, like hunger, is something of which we are acutely conscious. It is a craving for that which is not in our actual possession. There is a soul thirst as well as a bodily. What’s so pathetic is that so many thirst for that which cannot satisfy them. Their thirst is for the things of the world: pleasure, money, fame, ease, self-indulgence, and over all these Christ has spoken imperishable (not subject to decay) words, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall never thirst again” (John 4:14).  Here in our text, Christ is referring to a thirst for something infinitely and grandeur, speaking of Himself and only that which the Spirit of God can create in the soul.

Keep in mind one reason for the Feast was to celebrate God's good provision of "living water" during their 40 years of "wilderness wanderings." It is notable that the Old Testament descriptions of the "wilderness wanderings" state very clearly there was "NO WATER." (Read Exodus 15:22, 17:1; Numbers 20:2, 21:5, 33:14; Deuteronomy 8:15).

No water in the wilderness meant certain physical death in only a few days. You can live longer without food than without water. God saw their physical need and provided for their physical need, showing His desire and ability to provide for every man's spiritual need that they might not remain spiritually dead throughout eternity!

Moses summarized the dry, desert times of Israel's wandering, writing “He (Jehovah) led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you (supernaturally) out of the rock of flint." (Deuteronomy 8:15).

Here's the mystery, no one seeks for God, (John 6:44) “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him”. So,  any thirst for the things of God a sinner may feel, that’s God working on their hearts to prompt that holy desire! In short, Jesus was offering something brand new in the history of the world, a complete inner transformation by means of the Holy Spirit.

It demands a personal response - LET HIM COME TO ME.

 

COME is one of the simplest words in the English language. It signifies our approach to an object or person. It expresses action, and implies that the will is operative. To come to Christ means, that you do with your heart what you would do with your feet were He standing in bodily form before you and saying, “Come unto me.” It is an act of faith. It demonstrates that you have turned your back on the world, and have abandoned all confidences in everything about yourself, and now throwing yourself empty handed, at the feet of the incarnate Grace and Truth. Make sure that nothing is substituted for Christ. It is not, come to the Lord’s Table, or come to the waters of baptism, or come to the priest or minister, or come and join the church, but come to Christ Himself, and to none other.

IT's offered without restriction – IF ANYONE

 This is a promise folks! This promise is open to anyone! So, no one is too bad to be lost, even as no one is too good to be saved. No one is too guilty, too miserable, or too bad to come. If they sense their soul is dry (dead) and parched (spiritually), they are simply to come and drink. 

Here is the good news for the worst of sinners. Christ turns no one away.

Here is good news for the homosexuals trapped in their sin.

Here is good news for the murderers and adulterers and liars and thieves and cheaters. Here is good news for angry men and women.

Here is good news for the defeated, despairing, discontented souls who feel like giving up. Here is good news for those ruined by drugs/alcohol. Here is good news for prisoners and for all who are trapped in the prison of sin. If you are thirsty come and drink the Living Water.

 

It invites personal participation - TO DRINK

It is here that so many seem to fail. There are numbers who give evidence of an awakened conscience and a conscious need of Christ; and there are those who appear to be seeking Him, and yet stop short at that. But Christ didn’t just say, “Come unto me”, but added, “Drink.” Meaning, one is receiving spiritually that which refreshes and strengthens the soul, making Christ your own. Christ is the means of being joined to God and receiving the benefits of His life. When we feed on Him through faith, we become partakers of the divine nature that is eternal.

A river flowing through a country where people were dying of thirst would avail them nothing unless they drink of it. It calls for action on our part. James 1:22 instructs us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers only.

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” Let’s not forget where these words were first uttered, Jesus wasn’t in the penitentiary, but in the Temple. He was addressing a religious crowd who were observing a Divinely-instituted Feast! Brother or Sister Preacher, do not take anything for granted. Do not suppose that because those you address are respectable people and punctual in their religious exercises that they are necessarily saved. Heed the work of your Master and “preach the gospel to every creature.” 

John 7:38, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of their belly shall flow rivers of living water.” “River” symbolizes life giving, abundance of God’s blessings and provision that flows from God Himself. For those who believe in Him, Jesus offered a perpetual (never ending/changing) river of living water out of His innermost being. This fountain of living water perpetually flowing will never dry (Isaiah 58:11) The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought. And strengthened your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Understand, the Bible reveals that the God of the universe is a flowing God. He desires to flow out as the water of life to reach man, enter into man, and fill man with Himself so that man might express Him, the God who is life.

This divine flow can be seen beginning in Genesis 2:10 and continues throughout the entire Bible until it reaches its consummation in the river of water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22:1, which we are.

God’s eternal intention to be life to man was intercepted by Satan, through the serpent deceiving man in Genesis 3. The Man, created by God to express Him, became fallen, sinful, corrupted and deadened. What was the unique factor of man’s fall? It was that man forsook God Himself, the unique fountain of living waters.

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Leaving God as his unique source of life, man became independent from God, choosing knowledge rather than life. Man lost God as his enjoyment and resorted to many vain replacements for God, “broken cisterns,” which could never satisfy man.

God’s intention could not be deterred. God in His wisdom flowed into humanity in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Christ, the living waters reached man. Man’s deterrent was his belly.

What is the belly? It signifies the heart of man. It is the part of man that constantly craves. It is that part which, in his fallen condition, is the natural man’s god. (Philippians 3:19) “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly”, because it receives the most care and attention. The belly is that part of man that is never satisfied, for it is constantly crying for something else to appease its cravings.

Jesus did not speak of only something coming into a person, also something flowing out of them as well (living waters). It was not only a blessing received, but also becoming a source of blessing as well. The living water can quicken deaden souls; drooping saints can be revived and comforted.  The living water can bring about spiritual life in them which will maintain and support them springing up and issuing in eternal life.

Although the waters are free, Isaiah 55:1 says that we must come to the waters and drink. Herein is the price and it’s not money, but ourselves. See, the great plan of salvation is offered/urged by the mercies (benefits given as Christians) of God.  When we obey Romans 12:1:“I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”  

Guess what? The price we pay to get these living waters is ourselves. That is, we must come to the Lord Jesus, O come to the fountain of life. Then, we must open ourselves, our heart, to let Him in, and our mouth and call on His name and He will answer!

Evangelist Brenda Hansley