Rivers of Living Water John 7:37-39 Introduction: This time of the year it is not too unusual to get a couple of weeks with no rain, and suddenly the lawns and grassy areas begin to turn brown. Every now and then you will still see a lawn that is beautifully green. No matter what the rainfall, our neighbor directly across the street has grass that is always green. At his own expense, he installed a sprinkler system, and the grass is well-watered. If you are a gardener, you know the need for irrigation. Water means life . If that is true in Philadelphia where we have over 40 inches on average of annual rainfall, it is much more urgently understood in the arid climate of the Mideast. That imagery was prevalent in the biblical world since those societies were dependent on agriculture. In fact, the blessings and curses of the Covenant included the promise of rain in season if the people remained faithful. The OT also picked up on water imagery to speak about spiritual life and bl...
The Case for Christ John 7:25-36 Introduction : As the gospels were written, in the decades after Jesus’ death, the writers had an apologetic challenge: if Jesus really was the Messiah of the Jews, how could it be that He was not recognized by His own people, how is it possible that not even the religious leaders saw who He was? The same questions sometimes come up today. The Gospel writers are showing us that everything that happened was in accordance with the plan of the Father. The rejection of Jesus was not a failure, but had in fact been predicted in the Scriptures, and the precise fulfillment of prophecies vindicated His claim to be the Messiah. John emphasizes that as the plan of God unfolded, Jesus, the Son of God, was in control, no one would take His life, He would lay it down of his own accord. This is one of those paragraphs in the Bible where we see the mystery of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit (God willing, we’ll cover 7:37-3...