Sermon Cloud

Quench your Thirst

Christ, and only Christ, satisfies our need to be pure, holy, and godly.

Today’s theme is “hosanna, please save us”

Save us from what?

From problems beyond our control?

From problems with the people around us?

From ourselves?

²⁴ This is the day the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and be glad today! ²⁵ We beg you, O Lord, save us! We beg you, O Lord, give us success! ²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the Lord's house. Psalms 118:24-26 (GW)

A few days later, The same Jesus of Nazareth hung on the cross.

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 (ESV)

“to fulfill the Scripture” Which scripture?

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Psalms 69:21 (ESV)

It was the song of someone who wanted to be saved, rescued, from his enemies. He had cried so much, he had dried up.

And his still cried out to God.

Do you think that sour wine was satisfying? If Jesus had stayed alive another hour, another day, would he have been thirsty again?

But this same Jesus, the Christ, offers drink that satisfies our thirst—forever.

Woman at the well:

¹³ Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14 (NIV)

A time to remember God leading the Israelites through the desert.

A feast to celebrate the bountiful harvest God had provided.

And they added: celebrating God bringing water from the rock.

Feast of Tabernacles, early autumn:

³⁷ 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. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39 (NIV)

Christ promised

The night Jesus was betrayed:

¹⁵ "If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17 (NIV)

What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

FRUIT is amazing stuff. You can eat it, but you can also PLANT it.

Fruit grows more fruit plants, and fruit plants produce more food—and more seeds, to produce more fruit plants!

So the spirit is fruit—food and seeds. And the spirit is water—fresh, running, never-ending water.

No wonder the Bible says that

One person plants (the seed)

And another person waters

But God gives the growth! (1 Corinthians 3:6)

When streams of living water flow from you, you have plenty to drink. What about the person next to you? What about the people around you?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 (NIV)