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JOHN 7:37-39

"TORRENTS OF LIVING WATER"

Intro: "Great day of the feast." Feast of Tabernacle celebrating the preservation of their
       fathers in the 40 years of wilderness wanderings.

I. "IF ANY MAN THIRST."
        A. Jesus not talking of physical, but spiritual thirst.
                1. Man is an inferior trinity; body, soul and spirit.
                        a. So integrated that it is difficult to separate for whatever effects
                           one part of me effects all of me. (Illustration)
                        b. Each part has its own needs.
                                1. Body drives: air, thirst, hunger, etc.
                                2. Soul or mind; love, security, needed.
                                3. Spirit : God.
                        c. Fallacy of trying to fill the spirit need with a physical or
                           emotional experience.
        B. This thirst is universal, every man has experienced it.
                1. We may seek to sublimate it, we often try to substitute.
                2. Dr. Henry Drummond, "There is within the very protoplasm of man the little
                   tennacles reaching out for Father God.
        C. This thirst created by God. Romans 8:20.
                1. Only He can satisfy it.
                2. To woman at well Jesus said, "Drink of this water and you will thirst
                   again."
        D. This thirst by physycology has been called frustration.
                1. An awareness that there is something more to life.
                2. An inability to achieve full satisfaction.

II. "LET HIM COME UNTO ME AND DRINK."
        A. You need a meaningful relationship with God. "Come unto me and drink."
        B. This is the gospel in its simples and purest form.
                1. All the garnish and trimmings are man's inventions.
                2. Jesus laid it out simple and straight -

III. WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT? "OUT OF HIS BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER."
        A. God is never satisfied in just filling your thirst.
                1. His desire is that you are not just full, but running over.
                2. "My cup runneth over."
                3. He looks at you first subjectively to see what He can do for you.
                4. But He is always looking objectively to see what He can do through you.
        B. There is one area of man that never remains satisfied, always demanding more.
                1. Out of this area will flow, Greek word is gush, torrents of living water.

IV. "BUT THIS SPAKE HE OF THE SPIRIT."
        A. Notice the parenthesis, this is John's personal commentary as he writes his gospel
           with the advantage of years of hindsight.
                1. As he stood there and listened to Jesus he probably wondered, "What's He
                   talking about?"
                2. When He received the empowering of the Holy Spirit, He said, oh this is
                   what He was talking about.
                3. As we talk about a joy, a fullness, a satisfaction, a peace you probably
                   wonder "what are they talking about?"
                4. When you have come to Jesus and experienced then you say, "Oh, this is what
                   they meant.
                5. You must experience it to experience it.
        B. You have a need, an emptiness in your life that can only be satisfied by a
           meaningful relationship with God, if you will come to Jesus Christ, not only will
           the emptiness be filled but your life will overflow.