JOH 7:37 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.

As we left Jesus last week He was teaching in Jerusalem on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And as you’ll remember it was during this week of celebration that each morning, according to Jewish custom, there was a practice called water-pouring where the priest would take a gold pitcher and gather water from the pool of Siloam and then pour it out on the altar.

This was a reminder to the Jews of how God supplied the precious water of life for them and their crops, and the blessings which resulted from His water of life.

On the last day of the feast there was no water-pouring, only a prayer for water. It was at this time in which Jesus pronounces that He is the water of life. This would not have gone unnoticed by the Jews and they would have made the connection that Jesus was claiming to be a water that only God can supply; in this case a spiritual water springing up to eternal life.

Again, try and put yourself in the place of these Jews. They were listening to a man who was claiming to be God. They were listening to a man, who looked like any man, who was essentially saying that if they would only believe on Him that they would receive the life that God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This is either the height of insanity, or Jesus is who He says He is. But keep in mind that Jesus is not just making these wild claims, He is also backing up these claims with the power only God can demonstrate. He is miraculously healing the sick, and doing wonders and signs which only God could do.

His life was one of truth and action. And as such, He is our perfect example of what it means to live for God in the power of the Spirit. Or as so many have put it today, He not only talked the talk, He walked the walk. And when He spoke He spoke words of life.

JOH 7:37 ..... "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."

Now, in case anyone missed what it was that Jesus was trying to convey, (and there were certainly some of these Jews who did miss it), the apostle John gives us a little commentary as to exactly what our Lord meant as we come to our text.

JOH 7:39 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.

What Jesus meant by the statement found in verses 37 and 38 is explained here in verse 39. By this He meant the Spirit. And then it goes on to explain how the Spirit had not yet been given to those who believed.

Well, if this is the explanation of what Jesus meant in verses 37 and 38, what in the world does this really mean? Was Jesus simply talking about the role of the Spirit after He would be crucified and then resurrected from the dead, or was there more?

Keep in mind the context. The context has to do with Jesus Christ claiming to be the Messiah. Therefore, it also has to do with offering to these Jews, and by implication to all mankind, that there is salvation only through Jesus, who is sent from the Father to redeem mankind.

And so, when Jesus says, "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," He is not simply talking about the future permanent indwelling of the Spirit of God to those who believe, but He is talking about the gift of eternal life. He is talking about salvation itself.

ISA 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

And so, Jesus is making a connection between this salvation that He is offering through Himself, and the work of the Holy Spirit who brings this salvation. He is saying that it is the person of the Spirit of God who is responsible for bringing life to people. It is the Spirit of God who is responsible to open the eyes of the spiritually blind so that they can see their need for such water and receive Jesus Christ who is that water of life.

Again, this is what our Lord said earlier in this gospel and what we touched on last week as He spoke to the woman at the well.

JOH 4:14 "....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."

This is a figure of speech for salvation. And so, when Jesus speaks of drinking water, He simply means believing on Him. When He talks of a water which will become a spring welling up to eternal life, He simply means eternal life, or salvation.

But the point He is making in our text is that it is the Holy Spirit who is the agent, if you will, who makes that salvation effectual in the life of a person as He enables that person to see and believe.

We ended last week’s message with a passage from the book of Revelation which clearly states the Holy Spirit’s involvement in calling people to salvation.

REV 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

The Spirit say’s, Come. But the Holy Spirit does more than invite people to Christ as He pursues their love. He also changes their hearts to be able to come into this relationship by faith.

ROM 2:29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.

This is what the prophet Ezekial meant as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write of the future of the nation of Israel as the Spirit of God will change the heart of that nation, and as He does for individuals in that nation and all the world.

EZE 11:19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

This is what Paul had in mind when he spoke of the circumcision of the heart. It is a work of the Holy Spirit.

ROM 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

This is why it is so important that we ask the Spirit of God to do a work in the hearts of those we share the gospel with, because only the Spirit can take that word and make it come alive in the heart and mind of that person as they see their need for the Savior, Jesus Christ, and embrace Him by faith. And then the truth of having a spring of water welling up to eternal life will become a reality for them, as it has for us.

But having said all of this, which is related to the Spirit’s involvement in us coming to Christ, it is also true that the Holy Spirit’s role in the life of a New Testament believer is somewhat different from that of the Old Testament believer in a couple of respects.

The major difference is the way in which the Spirit now resides with believers, according to our text.

JOH 7:39 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.

The end of verse 39 tells us that the Spirit of God will have a special relationship to people in the future. And the future being spoken of in our text is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is described with the words, "had not yet been glorified."

But we need to be careful not to think that prior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ that the Spirit of God was not active or working out His ministry of drawing people to Christ.

In most of our bibles it says that the Spirit had not yet been given. The words "not yet given" might be misconstrued as to being absent, as though the Holy Spirit has not been involved in the life of believers.

In fact, in the Greek there are only four words which the English translates into an entire sentence. The NIV puts it, "Up to that time the Spirit had not been given..." The literal Greek says, not yet was the Spirit. Not yet was the Spirit what?

Not yet was He on the scene? Not yet was He working in the lives of people? Not yet was He opening the eyes of the spiritually blind? No. He was doing all of these things. What this passage is alluding to is, "not yet was the Spirit permanently indwelling believers."

To suggest that the Spirit of God was not yet actively involved in the life of people prior to Christ rising from the dead is to miss the role of the Holy Spirit of God.

And by the way, this was true not only of the disciples of Christ, but it was also true of every Old Testament saint who ever believed on the Messiah. What was true of the hearts of people during Paul’s day, for example, was true of all men prior to Christ coming into the world.

And the truth is that all men are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:1. Well, if we are spiritually dead in our sin, who makes us spiritually alive? The Spirit of God. And that’s true of both Old Testament and New Testament saints.

Unless the Spirit of God had illumined the hearts of Adam and Eve, after they rebelled against God in the garden of Eden, they would still be lost. But we know that they believed the message of God and the hope He set before them as He said that He would send a Savior through the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent, or defeat Satan’s victory over man as man was tempted to sin against God.

The Spirit of God has always been involved in the lives of people to open their eyes to this truth. We’re told that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. It was the Spirit of God, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, just as Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, who did this work in Abraham’s life.

And just as the Spirit of God is opening eyes today, He did so with all people who have embraced the Messiah by faith, many years before the Son of God took on flesh as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin in Bethlehem.

Praise God the Holy Spirit’s ministry hasn’t changed in that respect. And praise God the Holy Spirit was working in the lives of Old Testament saints like the prophet Isaiah.

ISA 59:21 "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.

In fact, what is interesting about what John says in our text regarding the work of the Holy Spirit parallels with what Jesus later tells His disciples in this same gospel.

JOH 16:7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Part of what Jesus means is that His ministry, which would come to an end in one sense, when He died for our sin and then entered into glory after He rose from the dead, would actually continue on as the Spirit was now to play a special role in the lives of New Testament believers.

Apparently, the Holy Spirit of God did not take up permanent residence in the life of an Old Testament believer in quite the same way as He did in the life of New Testament believers. And yet this doesn’t mean He didn’t indwell Old Testament believers in one sense.

This is why, for example, that David could make the statement he did in Psalm 51.

PSA 51:11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

David understood that without the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life, that he would continue to seek his own hard heart and not follow after the Lord in a way that would please God, and so He begs the Lord to continue to let the Holy Spirit do His work so that David would pursue holiness before the Lord.

But, if the case is that this is an apparently new work of the Holy Spirit with New Testament believers, how does this effect us today?

Well, to answer that we need to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ’s disciples before and after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. You’ll remember that early on in the ministry of Jesus Christ He called twelve men to follow Him. These were the 12 disciples, eleven of whom would go on to be His apostles, the twelfth, Matthias, being added later to replace Judas who betrayed Christ and who subsequently committed suicide for the shame he had for betraying the Lord.

But we know that the Holy Spirit had to be involved in their lives from the very beginning by the fact that they believed on the Lord as they followed Him, though Judas never really did believe.

We know that the Spirit of God was involved in their lives since only He can open the spiritually blind eyes of people. We get a glimpse of this when Jesus asked His disciples who the people think He is.

MAT 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Now, how did Peter arrive at this conclusion? Well, some might suggest that he arrived at it logically since he saw the miracles of Christ and sat under His teaching. And yet, Jesus makes it clear that it was a spiritual illumination in the life of Peter for him to arrive at this conclusion.

MAT 16:17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

Well, Jesus says the Father revealed it to Peter. But since we know that it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reveal the Messiah to men, Jesus was saying that the Father revealed it to Peter through the Spirit of God.

Now, keep in mind that neither Peter or the rest of the disciples had been permanently indwelt with the Spirit of God at this time and yet they were still able to believe on Christ as the Spirit enabled them.

It would be later that the Holy Spirit would come inside of them, so to speak. And this would be after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

JOH 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

The Holy Spirit had already been with the disciples, but now He was to be in them. And this brings up the issue of the different ways the Holy Spirit has always worked in the lives of His people. There are three words in the Greek which describes how the Spirit accomplishes this. The three words are para which is our English word with, en which is Greek for in, and epi which is the Greek word for upon.

Before Christ rose from the dead the Spirit of God was with [para] the disciples in the sense that He came along side them and worked with them in a spiritual sense, opening their eyes to the truth of the Messiah. This is how the Spirit worked with all Old Testament saints.

But after this in John 20:19-22 we’re told that the Spirit would now come in them as they received the Holy Spirit. This is a unique New Testament permanent relationship the Holy Spirit has with all believers today.

And this, by the way, is why every believer can be assured that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Why? Because we are sealed by the Spirit for the day of redemption, as Paul tells us in Eph. 4:30.

But there is a third way in which the Spirit works in the life of a believer. The Greek word epi explains this. The word epi in the Greek is our English word upon. And this is where the Spirit of God comes upon those New Testament believers who already have the Spirit in them.

When this word is used of the work of the Spirit it is indicative of the power of the Spirit working in the life of a believer. Keep in mind that the disciples were indwelt with the Spirit of Christ very shortly after the resurrection of our Lord. When He came to His disciples on the evening of the first day of the week we’re told that Jesus breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

And yet, it was after this incident that Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

ACT 1:4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Well, wait a minute. They already had the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had been with them as He lead them to believe on Christ and follow Him. And then right after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus the Spirit was received by the disciples as He came in them. What is this waiting on the Spirit in Acts chapter two?

This is the upon, the epi, or the longer version found in the book of Acts, eperchomai, in which the Spirit of God would empower them. And in fact, this is exactly what Jesus told them to wait for.

ACT 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Jesus had been with the disciples for forty days after His resurrection teaching them many things. And this is evidently one of the last things He taught them before ascending back to the Father, because right after He tells them about this aspect of the Spirit’s ministry in their lives He leaves them.

ACT 1:9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

It would be a short few days before the promise Jesus made, just before He ascended back to the Father, would be fulfilled in their lives.

ACT 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

This was in fulfillment of what the prophet Joel said concerning this work of the Spirit.

JOE 2:28 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

In fact, Peter himself quotes this very passage from Joel in Act 2:16-18 as he explains what the Spirit of God was doing.

What is fascinating about this whole incident of the Spirit coming upon them in power was that even though the Spirit of God was with them and had now indwelt them their ministries never began in earnest until this time of the Spirit coming upon them on the day of Pentecost.

In fact, the best the disciples could do after the resurrection and before Pentecost, was to literally go fishing. And they didn’t do a very good job of that as Jesus, on one occasion had to tell them which side of the boat to lay their nets and when they did they couldn’t haul them all in.

It was during this time in which Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to shore to meet the risen Master and have breakfast with Him along with the rest of the disciples who joined them after they rowed into shore.

About four or five weeks after this incident we see the disciples being empowered by the Spirit of God. This is not to suggest that when we become believers that the baptism of the Holy Spirit will always be a subsequent or later work of the Spirit of God, but it may be.

We may be empowered from day one. But the point is that the disciples were told to expect this empowering and then to walk in it. I believe that many true Christians, who by the way, are all indwelt with the Spirit of God, may not be looking for this empowering.

There are many Christians who are simply content to be in the Kingdom of God without expecting to be empowered to do God’s work. And by the way, we need to look for and pray for this empowering.

EPH 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

The word in Greek for "be filled" means to be filled continually, which suggests that we seek the Lord and His strength which the Holy Spirit gives us. But this filling or baptism of the Spirit is not meant to empower us to impress people but to be empowered to do God’s will as we go forward with the gospel and His work in the body of Christ.

If you seem to lack power in your life to accomplish God’s will, pray for His filling that the Spirit would come upon you and use you to glory of the Father.

If your life as a Christian seems without direction, pray for the filling of the Spirit who will always direct you back to Christ and His will, according to His word.

And if your life as a Christian seems to be without a zeal to be like Christ pray that the Spirit would fill you and encourage you to manifest the kind of fruit the Spirit has.

GAL 5:22 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.

But as with any aspect of the Christian life trust Christ, and then obediently walk after Him. Don’t be waiting on the Spirit as though you’re waiting for a bolt from heaven. You already have the Spirit. Just faithfully do the things of the Spirit and you’ll see His power working in and through you.

Praise God we have the Holy Spirit who continually comes along side us as that Comforter, who will always indwell us as He seals us for the day of redemption, and who desires to fill us that we work the works of Christ to the honor and glory of the Father.

What a great salvation. Let’s grow in it as we seek the Lord who provides all that we need to accomplish that. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What a great God!

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