“Our God Is Able” (John 7:37-39)
“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 been given, since Jesus
had not yet been glorified” (NIV)
The Unbelief of Human Nature
Now we are on John 7. In this
chapter the first thing we observe is the
unbelief of human nature. We see the unbelief of the crowds, the unbelief
of those in authority, and even the unbelief of Jesus’ brothers. But that’s not
the point. The main point is, in spite of us –
our unbelieving and hardened heart,
our God is able to save. Today’s
passage tells us God’s way (the scripture
way) of salvation.
Prevenient Grace: “If anyone is
thirsty…”
First, our Lord Jesus says, “If
anyone is thirsty…” This thirst is of
a spiritual kind – desire of pardon of sin, longing after peace of conscience, longing after rest for the soul. The Jews who heard Peter preach on the day of Pentecost were cut to
the heart and said, “What should we do?” The
jailor who heard the gospel from Paul and Silas said, “What must I do to be
saved?” Both of the cases echo the same word: “thirst.”
It is all God’s grace to have this kind
of spiritual thirst. John Wesley called it “prevenient” grace. God’s amazing
grace is already at work before we become a Christian. Prevenient grace makes
us thirsty. Prevenient grace helps us
to realize that we are lost and we
are blind. In many cases, this
eye-opening, thirst-quenching process is a gradual
one. For example, for John Newton, it took 34 years for his thirst quenched. It
took 34 years for him to say, “I once was lost, but now I am found. I was blind
but now I see.” For me personally, it took about 26 years. But our God is
patient. And our God is able. Are you thirsty? Then, you are blessed. Because
Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they will be filled” (Matt 5:6).
Justifying Grace: “Let him come
to me and drink”
Secondly, we hear Jesus gives us a remedy for our thirst. Jesus says, “Let
him come to me and drink.” He declares that he is the fountain of life. But
unfortunately, our “default” (fallen) human nature is to try to quench our
thirst from wrong places – money, pleasure, honor, fame, self-indulgence. In
Jeremiah 2:13 God says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken
me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns
that cannot hold water.” It’s like drinking sea water. The more we drink, the
thirstier we become.
But here is good news. God’s
redeeming grace is more powerful than our sinful nature. God’s grace makes us thirsty for Jesus Christ. It’s called
“justifying” grace – the grace that leads us to Christ who makes us have peace
with God. Zacchaeus is a great
example for this. He had thirst. He
was rich. He had a stable social status, as a chief tax collector. But still,
he had thirst. Not only that, he had thirst for
Jesus. He really wanted to see who Jesus was, hoping that he might help to
quench his burning thirst. Since he was a short man, he ran ahead and climbed a
tree to see him. When Jesus saw him, he said, “Zacchaeus, come down! I must
stay at your house today.” Later, Zacchaeus said to Jesus, “Look, Lord! I’ll
give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone on their
taxes, I’ll pay back four times as much.” Then, Jesus said, “Today salvation
has come to this house, because this man is also a son of Abraham.” From
Zacchaeus story, we learn that there is
no one who is beyond God’s redeeming grace. God’s grace is active,
powerful, transforming. By his grace God makes us thirsty for Jesus. When we
come to Jesus, our sin is forgiven, assurance is given, and a new life begins!
Sanctifying Grace: “Streams of
living water will flow from within him”
But this is a just beginning. There
is more! Jesus says, “(If you come to me and drink), streams of living water will flow from within you.” This promise is
directly from our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus came for this – to give us
abundant life, a rich and satisfying life. And it is possible by God’s grace –
God’s “sanctifying” grace – the grace that changes us from the inside out and
makes us holy more like Christ himself.
Today’s passage says that this
living water refers to the Holy Spirit.
In other words, when we come to Jesus and believe in him, the Holy Spirit comes
into our life. A wonderful change, a real change begins to happen. We begin to
become a new kind of person, with different wills, hopes, and goals. But here,
we need to remember that it is one thing to receive
the Holy Spirit. And it is quite another thing to stay filled and overflowing
in the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is always active in our lives. But we ought to respond to Him. We ought to say “Yes” to the Holy Spirit. We ought
to say “Yes” to God’s grace.
What does it mean by that? Let me
give you an illustration. Robert Coleman, my seminary professor, once shared
his story. He was working in the garden on a hot summer day, and sweat was
pouring off his body. His little son saw him working hard outside, and decided
to bring him a glass of water. He went down to the kitchen, pulled up a stool,
and managed to reach up to sink. He picked up a dirty glass laying in the sink,
filled with lukewarm water, and brought it out to his dad. Robert commented,
“The glass was dirty, and the water warm, but it was brought to me in perfect love.” That’s what it means
to say “Yes” to God’s love and His grace. Our life might be broken and stained
with all kinds of sins like dirty glass, and our best efforts like lukewarm
water. But when we bring it to the Lord with
love, he takes it, and calls it “perfect love.”
The Invitation
God’s grace is available for all of us. Not just that, God’s grace is already and
always active in our lives. Then,
where do you see God? Where do you see his grace in your life today? And more
importantly, how do you respond to his grace? Jesus still invites us today,
saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him
come to me and drink.” So wherever you are in your life journey today, come,
drink, and live!
