JOHN 7:37-39 OVERWHELMED BY THE SPIRIT2007 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: John 7:37-39 Overwhelmed By The Spirit

You're listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2007. This passage in John chapter 7 is probably somewhat familiar to you, especially if you are normally attending this fellowship because as Calvary Chapel Living Water, this passage is the theme verse for the church.

John 7, 37 and 38. In fact, it's on the front of the bulletins that you receive, and it's something we refer to quite a bit. But as I was meditating on this portion of Scripture, with the understanding that God wants to overwhelm us with His Holy Spirit, He began to speak to my heart and draw out four things that we want to look at this morning. Four steps to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit.

If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, these are the steps that you need to take. These are the steps that I need to take that God can do the work in us that He wants to do. The first step is to have a thirst or to recognize our thirst. The second step is to drink of Jesus. The third step is to believe in Jesus. And the fourth step is to glorify Jesus Christ. We need to thirst first.

to drink, to believe, and to glorify. We'll see that this morning here in this portion of Scripture, but before we start digging into the passage, I wanted to give you a little bit of background on this portion of Scripture because I think it's very insightful in the things that we'll be looking at. First of all, verse 37 says, "...on the last day, that great day of the feast."

What feast is being referred to there? Well, we might think of the Passover feast. That's a very common feast to us. We know that Jesus, in giving us the Last Supper, was a part of the Passover feast, and we're familiar with that. That's when he was crucified, and we know that feast. We're accustomed to it. But this feast is not the feast of the Passover.

In verse 2 of here in chapter 7, it says, Now the Jews' feast of the tabernacles was at hand. This was not the feast of Passover, but the feast of tabernacles. It was one of the three feasts every year that all the Jewish men who were eligible or able were to come to Jerusalem to celebrate and participate in this feast. It was something that God had commanded them to participate in.

Now, since it's not a feast you're very familiar with, if you'd like to read a little bit more about it, in Leviticus chapter 23 and Numbers chapter 29, you can find God's command and description of the feast. That is Leviticus chapter 23 and Numbers chapter 29. But here's a quick summary. The feast is described of being seven days and then...

a final day, an eighth day, which is really the climax of the feast. It's the end of the celebration where they rejoice even more than they were the previous seven days.

During this feast, it was given instruction by God to offer many, many sacrifices. There was lots of offerings that they would make each day, and you can read all about that in Numbers 29. All the different sacrifices and specific things that they were supposed to give and offer each day of the feast. Also during this feast, during these eight days, they were to dwell in booths or booths.

The feast is called the Feast of Tabernacles, which we might know as tents today. They would set up these booths or these tents all around Jerusalem, and they would dwell in these tents for eight days because the feast was a reminder of what God did in taking them out of Egypt into the wilderness where they were protected for and cared for by God, where they were provided for by God. And

And the booths or the tents were a reminder of that time in the nation of Israel's life when they were out there in the wilderness dwelling in tents and where God was providing for them and protecting them. In Leviticus chapter 23, God describes the feast as being a joyful event. He commands them, in fact, in verse 40, that they shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

And then in verse 43, he also tells them, not only are you to rejoice before the Lord, but the whole point of the feast is that your generation may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths or tents when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. It was to be a time of rejoicing and remembering. They would rejoice in what God had done and provision, rejoice in how God was...

taking care of them in the wilderness and remember what he did and how that was and the wilderness experience there. They were also to rejoice in what God was doing currently. They would take different branches from the trees and fruit from the produce of that harvest of that year and they would hang it all around the booths to remind them of what God was doing and providing for them currently.

And so it's in this context, the Feast of Tabernacles, that Jesus was there, that they were remembering the wilderness, remembering how God provided for them and took care of them. They were rejoicing in the work of God, past and present.

It was a wonderful time. In fact, the historian of the Jewish customs, Josephus, he spoke of this feast as the greatest of Jewish feasts. This was when the most people would come and the greatest celebration would take place here at the Feast of Tabernacles. And so it's here that the Jews are and that we find Jesus in verse 37 says, on the last day, that great day of the feast,

Jesus stood and cried out saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. It says it was on that great day of the feast. The great day of the feast was the last day, the eighth day. It was the ultimate celebration for the feast. They've already celebrated seven days, but they've saved some of it. They've saved some of their energy and their shouts and their rejoicing and even their dancing for this eighth day.

It was a great celebration, time of great joy, of shouting, of laughter, of dancing and jubilation.

On this day, the eighth day, all the sacrifices are done. All the sacrifices prescribed during those seven days and the final ones for the eighth day, they've all been accomplished. It's all taken care of. They've rejoiced. They've remembered. But what Jesus is dealing with, he's saying to them, look, you guys, you've rejoiced, you've remembered, you've celebrated, but you are still empty. And Jesus begins to talk to them about their thirst. It's on this day.

that he begins to speak to them about their need, their lack. He says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And we know he's not talking about water. He tells us in verse 39, he's not speaking about water, but he's speaking about the Holy Spirit. He's talking about a spiritual thirst and not a physical thirst. Now, I think the picture would be very clear in the minds of the people who heard Jesus speak today.

Because one of the other things about the Feast of Tabernacles that was different from the other feasts was that every day of this feast, as part of the celebration, as part of the routine or ritual of the feast, the priest would go down to the Pool of Siloam there in Jerusalem and he would fill a golden pitcher with water.

And as he filled the golden pitcher with water, he would head back to the temple and there would be kind of a parade behind him of worship, of celebration. And they would take that up to the temple and they would pour out that water before the Lord as a reminder of how God brought water forth from the rock and provided water to the children of Israel there in that wilderness time.

Two times we read about that in the Old Testament as they were wandering around in the wilderness and they came to Moses saying, hey, we thirst and how God provided water from the rock. They would pour it out and remember and as they poured it out, it would be the time of the ultimate celebration and they would light these candles and the priests would perform kind of a dance ceremony or a celebration dance.

and everybody would be so excited. And it was probably at this moment, at this time, as on the eighth day, the final day, they're pouring out the water and remembering what God had done in providing and quenching the thirst of the children of Israel. It was at this time that Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Now this is the first step of what we will see this morning.

If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, by His power, by His work in your life, then first you must thirst. He's not talking about a thirst for water. Verse 39 tells us it's about the Holy Spirit. This is a spiritual thirst Jesus is talking about. And here's the truth of the matter. We've been dealing with this on Wednesday nights as we go through Ecclesiastes. The reality is, as Jesus was speaking to them,

They all had a thirst. They all thirsted. Just like Jesus in speaking to us this morning, the same is true. We all have thirst. It's not really a question of if they thirst, but the real question is, will they recognize and admit their thirst? See, they had been celebrating, rejoicing, remembering for seven days up to this point.

These were people who loved God, who were devoted to God. But at the same time, Jesus recognizes there is a need, there is a thirst, a lack.

On the outside, everything looks great. I mean, they're rejoicing. They're doing what they're supposed to. They're following what God laid out and keeping the feast. And they're having a great time and remembering how God provided for them. They're thanking God for His current provision. On the outside, you and I may look at them and say, Hey, no problem. Look, they're devoted to God. Everything's perfect. But Jesus sees beyond all of the outward and He sees their hearts just like He sees your heart and my heart. And He says, Look, there's a thirst there.

There's a lack, there's a need. You have all the outward stuff and things look good on the outward, but there's a need in your heart, there's a need in your life. This speaks directly to us today, especially for us as a body, where we're at. As we admitted together, we confessed and we stood and we said, we're overwhelmed. To say that I'm overwhelmed is another way of saying, I thirst, I have need, there's lack in my life.

To the Jews at that time, Jesus is saying, look, you thirsted in the wilderness, but you still thirst today. It's good that you're remembering that and rejoicing, but understand and recognize you still thirst today. All the sacrifices are done at that time in the feast. You've rejoiced it and remembered, but you still thirst. It hasn't satisfied and quenched your thirst. To you and I today, Jesus is saying, look, you've thirsted in the wilderness.

That's why if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you first made a commitment to Him. That's why you received His promise and His invitation to be your Savior and Lord. Because you thirsted, you had a need, and you believed that He would meet that need. The sacrifice was done, just like the sacrifices were done on that day of the feast.

Jesus Christ paid it in full. He took care of it upon the cross. You've rejoiced throughout your time with the Lord. You've remembered all that He has done for you and what He has brought you out of. But this morning, perhaps, you still thirst. There's a need. There's a lack within your heart. And Jesus says, if you thirst, I have an answer for you. If you thirst, that's okay. It's okay to thirst.

In fact, it's good to thirst or to recognize your thirst if you will come to Jesus to quench it. We need to recognize our thirst. To admit, to confess, to agree, I am overwhelmed. You need to recognize that you are lacking. Sure, everything might be good on the outside. The person next to you might not know the difference, but you know your heart. And you would say, yes, I'm lacking. Maybe in strength. Maybe in strength.

And the issues that you face in just the day-to-day routine, there's a lack of strength or perhaps a lack of hope or a lack of love or a lack of joy. There's a thirst for those things. Or maybe you're weak and you feel empty. Again, maybe you're just overwhelmed by all the things that are taking place and the heartaches and hardships in your life.

Maybe, coming from a different angle, maybe it's a struggle that you experience. A struggle with temptation and sin. Maybe you're dealing with anger or pride or lust or greed or some type of sin that you just continually battle with and struggle with and fall short in. It's a lack. It's a thirst in your life. It's a need that you have. Jesus, He sees beyond the outward.

And He sees our hearts and He says, I know you thirst. I know everything looks good and you rejoice and celebrate and remember, but there's something lacking in your heart. There's a thirst and you must recognize that. If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, this is the first step. You must thirst. You must recognize and confess and admit your need to Him. You must thirst and recognize.

I don't have what it takes. I'm not complete. I'm not fulfilled. I don't have what I need. Now, of course, Jesus does not just leave us there thirsty. All right, now you're thirsty. You recognize it. You know you fall short. Now just sit there and be miserable. No, Jesus doesn't do that. He gives us the answer now. He says, okay, finally, finally you'll recognize your thirst. Finally you'll recognize, Lord, I need you. There's something missing.

I'm a Christian, but I'm still thirsty. There's still this need. I just, I can't explain it. And Jesus says, okay, you recognize your thirst. That's good. That's the first step. Now, here's the answer. If anyone thirsts, he says, let him come to me and drink. And this is the second step this morning. If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit in your life, you must satisfy your thirst with Jesus Christ.

You must drink. You must come to Him and drink. It's very specific who you are to go to. It's very direct who you're to turn to and who is to satisfy your thirst. When you have a thirst, when you have a lack, when you have a need,

Make sure that you satisfy it with Jesus and not something else. That's our tendency to try to quench that thirst and meet that need and fulfill that void with something else. So I have this issue. Man, I know, I think Dr. Phil talked about this last episode. Let me go see if I can pull that up online and find out what he was talking about and what he said. Okay, this is how I'm going to meet that need and deal with this situation. Or I have this other thing and

and so and so says this, or if I just do this, or I get this other job, or buy this place, or this house, or whatever, if I do these things, nothing will satisfy that thirst. If you're thirsty, if you recognize there's a lack, if you need strength, or hope, or love, or joy, if you're empty, or overwhelmed, if you struggle with sin, your thirst is there, and it needs to be satisfied, and it can only be satisfied with Jesus Christ.

And you might be thinking, but I've done that. You know, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. I've been born again. But God this morning is saying, I want to take you deeper in your relationship with me. If you thirst, come to me and drink. As a Christian, as a believer, we will thirst. We will continue to thirst. And we need to know that

It's not enough just to say a prayer and receive Jesus and say, okay, praise the Lord, now I'm going to try to fill my life and satisfy myself with all these other things. No, we need to recognize He is the only one. He is really what we desire. He is what we are thirsting for. See, Jesus was speaking to very religious people. They could have been thinking, and picture just for a moment,

They've been feasting and celebrating for seven days. This is the eighth day. The priest comes up. He pours out the water. Everybody starts dancing and shouting. And then they start hearing someone else shout. Probably the hush went over the crowd. What's going on? And Jesus stands there and says to everybody, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Probably a blasphemous thought in their mind.

As they're celebrating, God quenched our thirst. He met our need. He satisfied us. Jesus stands up and says, hey, that's nice that you're remembering that. It's nice that you're thinking about that. It's good to rejoice. But if you're thirsty, come to me and drink. The crowd could have thought, you know,

We're just remembering when God satisfied our thirst. We're not saying we're thirsty now. We're just remembering what He did and how He did it. And how can you present yourself as being able to quench thirst better than God? And we're not even saying we are thirsty. We're just remembering that we were once out in the wilderness. As Christians, we can say the same thing. I have been born again. I received Jesus Christ. He took me out of the wilderness. I remember that. He satisfied my thirst. But God sees your heart.

And he recognizes and he knows there's a thirst, there's a lack, there's a need. And he wants to take you deeper than you are right now. Christianity is not a religion. It's a saying you're familiar with, I'm sure. It's not a religion, it is a relationship. It's a relationship. Now you know that, but you need to practice it. It's a relationship. And relationships must grow.

They must develop. If a relationship does not grow, instead of a relationship, it just becomes a routine. You come, talk about the same things. You know, I love all of you guys, but I don't have deep relationships with every one of you. I can't. It's impossible. God can. That's why you need to go to Him. But understand and compare for those that you don't really have super close relationships with. And think about this with me.

Maybe I'm the only one, but when you're with someone that you're not too familiar with or you don't spend that much time with, you don't know that well, don't you kind of pull out your checklist of things to talk about? All right, the weather. So, man, how about this weather? It's been crazy, huh? Hot one week, cold the next week. What's the deal with that? You know, what's going on there? How are you enjoying the weather? Okay, I already talked about that. Work. So how's work been going for you? Is your family doing well? Oh, good, good, good, good.

Hey, is that a new car? You know, we got just like the kind of list of things and then when we're done with that list, we go, all right, well, nice talking to you. I'll see you later. And we go, you know, start the list over with someone else. How's the weather? Kind of crazy, huh? I mean, it's all warm. It's nice, you know. I went to the beach the other day. You know, it's just the list of shallow, meaningless things that we talk about. No, it's not bad. It's

But you can't have a relationship off of that. You know, the next Sunday we see each other again. Hey, how about that weather? Did you see the Dodgers won? You know, it's our list of things that we... And the relationships don't grow beyond that. And so it's not really a relationship. It's not much of a relationship. It's just more of a routine that we go through. We go, we talk about the weather, we talk about the Dodgers, and work, and business, and family. Same thing can happen in a marriage.

Obviously, to get married, you go beyond the normal list and you begin to talk about other subjects. You begin to develop your relationship. You begin to develop the intimacy that you have.

But the same thing can happen at any point if you stop growing in that relationship. So you've been married for a few years, but it just starts to become a routine. You kind of talk about the same things every day and kind of get the usual update of the day. But if there's no growth in that relationship, it just comes to where you just start a cycle where you do the same thing every day or talk about the same things every week.

relationships must grow. They must develop. They must be getting more and more intimate. They must be growing. Otherwise, they just become routine. Now, if you compare that to your relationship with God, yes, we have a relationship with God. We thirsted. We came to Him. We responded to His invitation. He satisfied our thirst. But we can't just stay there in that same state.

We need to grow in our relationship with Him and go deeper in our relationship with Him. But at any point in our Christian walk, if we stop growing deeper in our relationship with Him, then it becomes again just a routine. Or perhaps we would better equate that to a ritual or a religion.

Where we come to the Lord, but we have the same conversations, the same checklist of things. There's no real growth. There's no growth in depth. There's not more intimacy. It's just the same five things that we always talk about. We come, we worship, we hear, we read our devotions, we pray. But it's just the same things over and over. The routine over and over again. Yeah, you may be born again. You may have received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

but you thirst. And it's because you need to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ. If you're overwhelmed, if you lack, if you have need, you need to satisfy your thirst with Jesus and receive more of Jesus in your life. This morning, I'll take worship as an example. Now, worship includes a lot of things. It's really how we live and not just the time we gather together to sing.

But let's just take the example of the time we gathered together to sing this morning. When you gather together to worship here, give yourself wholeheartedly to worship, completely to worship Jesus Christ. He is worthy. Are you growing in your worship of God? Is there more depth and meaning to your worship than there was before? Do you just sit there during worship while others are singing, others are worshiping?

You're just kind of there. Or perhaps you're not even here yet for worship. Or do you just sing but there's no real meaning behind it? You're reading the words off the screen and singing along with everybody else, but there's no meaning. There's no passion. There's no purpose. You need to drink deeply of Jesus. Come to Him and drink. He has what will satisfy you. He will meet your need.

But you need to come to Him to drink. When you come here to worship, come to Him to drink, to worship Him, to honor Him, to praise Him. Give yourself wholeheartedly. Sing with all of your heart. Mean the words that you sing. Let it be an expression of your life, of your heart. Raise your hands in praise and surrender. Worship God with all your heart. Don't just sit there. Don't just sing. But instead, drink deeply.

And we can take that and we can apply it to our time in prayer. Corporately or individually, take your pick. Apply it to everything.

The time of the Word, of you personally in reading God's Word and spending time with Him. You as you're gathered here, drink deeply. Don't just come and just kind of get through the service. Drink deeply. Don't just sit through and get through your devotions. Drink deeply. Let God satisfy your thirst. Dig deep and allow Him to minister to you. In your fellowship of the body of Christ,

Another important element of our Christian walk. Drink deeply of those that God has placed around you. Open yourself up and allow yourself to be encouraged. Allow yourself to encourage and edify others around you. We need to drink deeply of Jesus Christ. He was very specific. If you're thirsty, come to me to drink.

And if you are thirsty as a Christian, you need to come to Jesus and drink. Even if you already have, there's a greater degree of depth, of intimacy that God wants to bring you into. And so he says, come to me and drink. Give yourself wholeheartedly. Give yourself more. Not necessarily that it has to be more time, but more of you.

in your time of worship, of prayer, of the Word, of fellowship, in your relationship with God. There needs to be growth in those areas. There needs to be growth in your heart and relationship with Him. Otherwise, it's just a ritual, a routine, a religion. One of the interesting things about thirst is that when you are thirsty, it means that you are already dehydrated. It's not that you're thirsty because you're about to be dehydrated.

No, you're thirsty because your body has already begun to be dehydrated. Now it can get worse and that's why you get thirsty so that you recognize that.

But understand the picture here. Even as Jesus is saying, come unto me and drink. If you wait until you're thirsty to drink some water, your body has already been dehydrated in the same way. If you are thirsty spiritually, it's because, not because of this situation that you're facing and the circumstances that you're experiencing, but it's because already back here,

There's been a lack. There's been a need. And it hasn't been fulfilled. And so now you're already dehydrated spiritually. And your body is warning you. Look, your spirit is warning you really. There's a need. There's a lack. You need Jesus Christ. You need more of Him. You need to go deeper. The fact that there is a thirst is the proof that already there's been a lack in your spiritual life.

First you need to recognize your thirst. And then you need to come to Jesus and drink because you're already lacking. If you're thirsty, understand it's because you're not drinking enough. You need to drink deeply of Jesus Christ. Five minutes in the Word, occasionally from time to time. If you barely pray, hardly worship, it's no wonder that you're overwhelmed because you haven't been drinking deeply.

If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, you need to come to Jesus to drink. And even if you feel that you have a good relationship with Him, if you thirst, understand that God is taking you deeper. He wants more of you. He wants to be closer to you. We cannot impact the world for Christ if we're spiritually dehydrated.

You know, if we're spiritually dehydrated, if we just kind of dive in here, dive in there, but there's no consistency in our relationship with God, instead of becoming a torrent or a river of living water, which is refreshing, which is impacting, instead we just become an irritating squirt gun. It's like we dive into the things of God and out comes something, you know, and poke someone in the eyes. What was that for, man? Where did that come from? It's not refreshing, it's irritating.

As you suddenly exclaim some pronouncement of faith or something or rebuke someone with something when the rest of your life is just dry and barren. It's not refreshing. It's irritating. There needs to be the consistency of our relationship with God that we become a river of living water that from us continually flows because we've drank deeply of Jesus Christ. If you want to be overwhelmed by the Spirit...

Drink deeply of Jesus. Look at verse 38. It says, He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. This is the third step. First, thirst. Second, drink. Third, believe. You might say, well, I already believe. That's why I'm here at church. I believe in Jesus. To believe, it means to think to be true, to be persuaded of, or to place confidence in.

And if you follow the steps, if you follow the train of thought here, first you need to recognize your thirst. Then as you recognize your thirst, you need to satisfy that thirst by drinking deeply of Jesus.

But you also must, as you drink deeply of Him, you must believe in Him. You must believe that He is who He said He is. You must believe that He will do what He promised to do. You must believe that He is the way, the truth, and the life. You must believe that He is the bread of life. You must believe that He is the Good Shepherd. You must believe that He is everything that you need.

In James chapter 1 verses 5 through 8, James is talking about a similar situation. He says, if any of you lacks wisdom,

If any of you lacks or thirsts, James says, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. If you come to Jesus and drink, you will receive, you will be satisfied. But he goes on to say in verse 6 of James 1, but let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James says, look, if you lack, if you thirst, ask God. He will fulfill. He will satisfy. He will meet that need. But he says, when you ask, let him ask in faith. Or what Jesus is saying, you must believe. You must believe that he is able to satisfy that area of your life and meet that need of your heart.

You must believe that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the I Am who has everything. It says that he will give liberally and without reproach. He has plenty. He's not lacking. He has what you need. But you must believe that he is able and will provide and meet your needs. He says if you doubt, you're like a wave tossed in the sea, driven to and fro, tossed by the wind, just...

Something happens over here. Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? And then something else happens and you're knocked over here. Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? He says, no, ask in faith. Believe you're going to receive it from Jesus Christ. Don't suppose you'll receive anything from the Lord if you don't believe that He can meet your need. If you don't believe that...

He can meet your need. It says that you're a double-minded person, unstable in all your ways. Double-minded, that means, oh, Lord Jesus, please meet my need, satisfy my thirst. I need you, Jesus. Okay, what do I have over here? You know, there's this issue I need to deal with. Okay, I'm going to work on this, and Oprah says this, and Dr. Phil, and then over here, oh, man, there's this other situation. What am I going to do? And I'm relying upon my own strength, and, well, Mom said this, and Dad always taught me this. No, Jesus says, look, it's not just about you.

ask of me, come to me and drink and you will receive, but you must believe that I'm able to provide and you must rely upon me and not upon anything else. You must allow me to meet those needs of your heart in life. You say, well, I have a need, you know, I need a spouse, I need a boyfriend or a girlfriend. You need Jesus. You can try to meet that need with that person, but you need Jesus. They will not satisfy you. They will not meet your needs. They will not quench your thirst. We can apply that financially.

Apply that to your marriage. You know, if they would just change, if I could just get them to take care of this issue or do this for me, then that would satisfy my thirst. Then my marriage would be fulfilling. No, you need Jesus. Whatever issue you're facing, whatever you're dealing with, the issue is, if you have a thirst, it's because you're not drinking enough water and you need to drink deeply of Jesus Christ and you must believe Jesus.

that He will meet your need, that He will satisfy you. If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit and His work in your life, you must believe in Jesus Christ. Finally, verse 39. He says,

Here we find the fourth and final step if you want to be overpowered or overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit in your life. The fourth thing is that you must glorify Jesus. What does that mean to glorify Jesus? Well, look at what the verse is talking about. First, he's just a quick commentary. Hey, he's not talking about water. He's talking about the Holy Spirit whom those believing in him would receive. But he says the Holy Spirit was not yet given.

And why was the Holy Spirit not yet given? Because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus was not yet glorified. What is John talking about there when he says that Jesus was not yet glorified? Well, here from John chapter 7, Jesus will continue on in his ministry to the point that he is crucified for your sins and my sins. He is buried and three days later he's risen from the dead. He spends...

about 40 days with his disciples, and then he ascends to his Father and resumes the throne in heaven. In John chapter 17, as Jesus is praying, right before he is about to be betrayed and crucified, he says to God, Father, glorify me with the glory I had before the world began. Jesus laid aside his glory to become a man, to die for us. But when that was accomplished,

He ascended back to the throne, to the right hand of God, to be glorified with the glory that he had before the world began as King of kings and Lord of lords, as God Almighty. When John says Jesus was not yet glorified, he's saying Jesus has not yet ascended. He has not yet returned to the throne. He is not yet back in his rightful place.

And it wasn't until Jesus was back in his rightful place that the Holy Spirit would come. In John chapter 16 verse 7, Jesus tells the disciples that. He says, hey, it's better for you if I go away because if I go, then I will send the Holy Spirit to you. And so he ascended. He sat down at the right hand of God. And the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church. And Jesus said, it's better for you

that I go away. Now that's hard for us to believe sometimes. I think many times I would rather have Jesus physically here with me. Okay, Jesus, tell me what to do. Okay, Jesus, give me strength for this. Okay, Jesus, help me in this area. Take care of that situation. But Jesus says, no, it's better for you that I go away because there's a greater work I want to do in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. And when I go away, when I resume my role, my position, when I'm glorified, I will send the Holy Spirit

to you. The Holy Spirit is essential in the life of a Christian. Vital. But it can only take place when Jesus Christ was glorified. When Jesus resumed his rightful place. And I would challenge you this morning with that. Is the Holy Spirit not overwhelming you because Jesus has not yet been glorified?

Is the Spirit not yet given because Jesus has not yet been glorified in your life? Has He not been given His rightful place in your life, in your heart? His rightful place is Lord, Master, King. In other words, are you being disobedient? Are there areas that He's speaking to you about that you're not surrendering to Him in? Is there issues that you're rebelling against Him?

Or have you glorified Him? Have you given Him His rightful place in your life? If you want to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, you need to give Jesus His rightful place, the throne of your life, of your heart. This morning, as many of us confessed and recognized, we're overwhelmed. Understand, God sees your heart. He knows your need. He knows your lack.

If you're overwhelmed, if you're struggling, if you're dealing with situations and issues, recognize that you have a thirst, you have a need, you have a lack. And as I've been meditating on this and preparing for this, everywhere I turn, the Lord has been reminding me, see, look, here's an area where you have a lack. And I say, you're right, Lord. Overwhelm me in your Holy Spirit.

You have a lack in your marriage. You have a lack in the way that you work and the witness that you have there. You have a lack in dealing with this difficulty of strength, of hope, of joy. You have a lack or issues in these different areas. And God says, look, recognize your need. Recognize your thirst. Recognize that you need me. And then come to me and drink. Drink deeply of Jesus. Let Him satisfy you.

Develop your relationship with Him. Give yourself wholeheartedly to knowing Him, to loving Him, to hearing from Him. And believe that He is able. Believe Him at His word that He is able to meet your need and satisfy you. And as you thirst and drink and believe, you need to make sure that also you give Him His rightful place. Glorify Him as He speaks to you, as He directs you. Be obedient.

Be surrendered. Receive from Him. Let Him be the Lord of your life, no matter what the cost. And no matter what you may perceive the cost to be, it's not as great as the danger, as the error of not letting Him have His rightful place in your heart. As you take these steps, as you move in this direction, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will be poured out. Rivers or torrents of living water

You'll be refreshed. You'll be filled. You'll be satisfied. But not only that, you will be used just as you would take a glass and pour water into it. As it's filled, if you continue to pour, it overflows and continues to overflow and affects everything around it.

The same thing is true of you. God says, look, as you take these steps, as you recognize your thirst, as a Christian, you will still have thirst because God always wants you to be going deeper and developing your relationship with Him. As you drink deeply in Jesus, believing,

Him at His word and believing that He will satisfy you. As you give Him His rightful place in your life, He will fill you. He will overwhelm you. And He'll use you to minister and meet the needs of others and draw them to a refreshing and filling relationship with Him.

Now, does that mean as soon as you take these steps, as I'm sharing these things, as we pray in just a moment, okay, I thirst, I drink, I believe, I glorify. Now it's like, you know, trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant and your head's blown off. No. It doesn't mean that God's just going to like wipe you out with the overwhelming of the Spirit this instant. Think about what Jesus said in verse 39. Did they receive immediately what Jesus had promised? No. They didn't and couldn't receive it until he was glorified.

There was a process that was taking place. It is a promise. Wait for it. But it's more like it builds up. It's not an instant torrent. You know what starts? Maybe like a trickle. Turning into a small brook. Into a river. And then finally into torrents of living water.

There needs to be that constant flow, that consistency of thirsting and drinking and believing and glorifying that as He's working this in our heart, in each issue, in each area, in each circumstance in our lives, as we continually draw upon Him and rely upon Him and grow in our relationship with Him, the water that is poured out, the water that gushes forth will continue to increase as we're able to handle it and to receive it.

But there needs to be that constant flow, that continual relationship with Him. One last example before we close in prayer. It's found in 2 Kings 4. You don't have to turn there, but I'll just summarize it for you. It's verses 1 through 7. There's a situation with Elisha the prophet. A widow comes to him. Her husband has just died, and he has left behind his wife, his kids, and a great amount of debt.

And they're not able to pay the debt. And so the widow comes distressed. I'm not able to fulfill this debt and they're going to take everything I have and I'm not going to be able to provide for myself. And so Elisha says, well, what do you have? She said, well, at the house, all I have is a jar of oil. That's all I own. That's all I have. And so Elisha told her, okay, here's what I want you to do.

Go around to your neighbors, to your friends, to your family, everywhere you can, anybody you can think of. Get as many vessels and containers and pots and pans. Get as much as you can and take it into your house. And then close the door behind you and fill all of those things that you collected with the oil from the jar that you have. And God miraculously, supernaturally provided as she would pour and one vessel would be filled.

They would set it aside. Her sons would hand her another one and it would continue to pour and it would be filled and they would set it aside and they went through all. She's filling up the last one and she says, okay boys, hand me the next one. And they say, there is no more. All of them have been filled. And she was able to sell that and provide for themselves and pay off the debt that was owed. In the same way, there's debts, there's lack in our life. And God essentially is saying this, look,

as much as you bring to me, I will fill. If there was more vessels in that room with them, they would have been filled. If there was less vessels, only those vessels that were there would be filled. And so I would ask you, I would challenge you, how much are you presenting to God to fill, to overflow, to be overwhelmed with the Spirit?

As you thirst and drink and believe and glorify, what are you presenting to Him? Where are you thirsting? And what issues are you allowing Him and asking Him to fill? Is it just this church time? Sunday mornings? Okay, here's this little vessel. Okay, fill that. And God will fill that. He's good. He's gracious. Okay, well, here's Sunday morning. Let me add in Wednesday night. And God will fill that. But what about all these other vessels? What about the rest of your life? What about your family?

Are you presenting to God your time with family, your role as a family member? Are you presenting to Him your family to be filled, to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit? What about your work? Will you present to Him yourself as an employee to be filled, your time at your workplace to be filled? What about your free time, your hobbies? Are you presenting to Him? Will you present to Him

Your whole life completely and wholly. Everything about you. Your finances. Your marriage. Your children. Whatever it may be. Will you present yourself completely and wholly to Him? As much as you present to Him, He will fill. He will satisfy. He will overwhelm with the working of the Holy Spirit. The refreshing of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't mean we won't have problems, but we'll be full. We won't be dehydrated spiritually.

If we lack, if we need, if we hurt, if we struggle, if we're empty, it's because we're not drinking enough. We need to drink deeply of Jesus and present to Him every area of our heart, every area of our life to be filled and satisfied, to be overwhelmed by Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we sit before You this morning, Lord, we do recognize our thirst. Lord, we need You.

There's so many areas of our hearts and lives, God, where we are lacking, where we fall short, where we're struggling, where there's difficulty, where we're overwhelmed. And so, God, right now we come to you to drink deeply. We ask, Lord, that you would help us in our relationship with you to grow. Lord, help us to develop our intimacy with you, to give more and more to you. God, I pray as we do, as we drink deeply of you,

Lord, that you would help us to believe, God, that we would have confidence in you, that you are able and willing to meet our needs, to satisfy us, to fulfill us. And Lord, as we believe and as you speak to us, help us to glorify you, to give you your rightful place in our hearts and lives. Lord, that we would be obedient to you as our Lord and Savior, as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Lord, may we honor you above all others.

may we worship you and no one else and nothing else god may you be our god and as we do these things god we invite you we present ourselves to you as empty vessels lord we present our whole heart our whole life in every aspect of our life to you and we ask god for you to fill as you promised you would fill us lord completely meet our needs

Lord, fill us to overflowing that we might be used to meet the needs of others. God, we look to you for the rivers of living water, for the torrents would overwhelm us by your Spirit, by how much you're doing and how great you are, how good you are. Overwhelm us, God, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. This morning, one last group to address. Maybe there's a need, there's a thirst.

Because you've never really committed yourself to Jesus Christ and made a personal commitment to him. I would invite you. There's going to be people up here. Jesus made it easy. He paid the price fully for us upon the cross. All we need to do is receive what he has done for us. Come forward in just a moment and allow us to share with you what it means to receive what Christ has done and to walk with him and have relationship with him.

If there's something else upon your heart in an area where God wants you and is speaking to your heart to come forward for prayer, for whatever it is, we'd love to agree with you and take that issue, that matter, before the Lord that we might drink deeply of Him. God bless you. You're dismissed. There's soup and fellowship outside awaiting. So drink deeply and fellowship with one another.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.