Jesus Christ's unique divine and human nature is explored in John 7, highlighting his ability to protect himself until his appointed time, as seen when officers were unable to arrest him. The sermon contrasts his power with his vulnerability, referencing instances where he could have summoned angelic legions but chose not to, emphasizing his submission to God's plan. It further illustrates his unique authority and message by examining his interactions with crowds, his cleansing of the temple, and his eventual apprehension, culminating in the understanding that his power is perfectly aligned with his Father's will. The message concludes by connecting Jesus' unique personhood to the offer of living water, representing the Holy Spirit, which satisfies the deepest spiritual thirst.
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I want you to notice John, chapter seven, and notice first, first, chapter seven. And the world cannot hate you, but me, it hates us, because I testify of it that the works that are of our evil. Lindsay, do you have your recorder going back there? Where's Lindsay? This thing doesn't seem to want to work. I don't know what's wrong with it.
Pardon? Well, that's all right. So many want these things. That may come quickly. We can't depend on them. The world cannot hate you, but me it hates us, because I testify of it that the works are off about evil. He says, Go ye not up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto the feast, for my time is not yet come. I want to know that my time is not yet come. Over to verse thirty. Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him. That's a strange statement.
No man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. Now, notice verse thirty-two. The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees said, as the Pharisees, and the chief priests sent officers to take him. want to arrest them. Verse thirty-three or forty-three. So there was a delusion among the people because of him, and some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
The officers answered, Never man speak like this man. Now back to our lovely text in verse thirty-eight and thirty-nine. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, Doubt of his inward part shall flow rivers of living water, but this state he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. an amazing thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is that dual personality. In other words, there's something about him that he could protect himself, and no one could lay a hand on him.
No one could kill him until his time was come, and there were other occasions when he could be apprehended. And it's wonderful to trace these amazing experiences in the life of the Lord Jesus. The President of the United States has his guards, his spiritual service. You couldn't walk up and lay your hands on the President. And Brezhnev in Russia, no one could walk up and lay their hands on that man. He's so guarded and protected. But here's the Lord Jesus, the Creator of the universe. And he mingled with the crowd. He has no servants.
He has no guards. He has no servicemen watching him. And yet the Lord Jesus, they hated him. They wanted to kill him. And yet they couldn't take him. This is an amazing thing when you consider the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a God man. His Godhood is evident. He is co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. Yet you see his manhood. You see his strength, but you see his weakness. You see his might, but you see his weakness. Where he wanted to display his might, he could go into the temple and make a whip or a small forge, and he could drive that crowd out and throw all the furniture out after them.
Then on other occasions, they could walk up and take him. His might and his weakness. There are several scriptures that I think are amazing. His words at times, they just paralyze the multi-tree. And yet, here he was at times, and they could walk up and just lay home. Two men came and they got him, and they nailed him on a tree that he made. He's the creator. And yet, eventually, he was put to death. The moment that incident over in Luke chapter four, he came to his hometown, Nazareth, where he'd been brought up.
He had just been tempted of the devil, and he got that victory. And he went into a synagogue at Nazareth, the people that know him for thirty years. And he stood up to read in the prophecy of Isaiah. And then he applied his message. These Jews were very prejudiced. They felt that God couldn't bless anyone but them. The Gentiles were gone. But the Lord Jesus, he says in the times of Elias the prophet, there was a famine in the land for three and a half years. There was no rain that fell. And he said, when God wanted his servants to get some attention, some care, He sent Elijah over to Sidon, to Sarepsa, in Sidon, to a widower woman.
And she wasn't a Jew, she was a Gentile. And then he said, you remember that the case of Haman, or in the case of the leper, he was a man who was a Syrian, a Syrian. And at that time, this leper, the leper, He was a Gentile. And there are many lepers in Israel, all kinds of them, hundreds of lepers in Israel. But God sent his servant Elijah outside the camp of the Jews all the way over, and this leper got saved.
He was healed, and he came to a knowledge of the living God. And when he mentioned those two instances, how God left his people Israel with all their formality and ritual, and he went outside their camp, and he blessed these two Gentiles. A widow, and there were plenty in Israel when he did not. And this leper, Nehemiah, and there were plenty of lepers inside Israel. This infuriated those people in this town. At first, when they heard him preach, they marveled at their gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. But how soon the human heart can change from love to bitterness.
After he applied the words, and it went home, they hated it. And what does it tell you? You can read it in verse twenty-eight of Luke four. And all day in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust them out of the city and led them onto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might pass them down headlong, but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. It seems incredible that a mob would suddenly lose its power over this man, and that he should possess a power You just turn around when they got into the browser here, ready to push them over, something of remarkable change.
The mob lost their power. He got the power. He turned around. He walked through the midst of that infuriated mob. And they couldn't do a thing. There you see how the Lord Jesus manifested his power. He had it. And they couldn't. put him to death. He says, My hour is not yet come. Then there was another incident you want to read about over in Matthew, chapter six. That's a very interesting one. Here come Judas and his crowd to apprehend the Lord Jesus. First of all, he says, whom seeked you?
Then he said, Jesus of Nazareth, and he flashed his power, and they went back and fell to the ground. Then He said a second time, Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus, and they came and took him. You remember what Simon Peter did? He drew out his sword, and he cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. And the Lord Jesus turned to Simon Peter, because they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. And he touched the man's ear and healed. He said, Simon, I can call twelve legions of angels.
If I want protection, I could call twelve legions of angels, and then with casement of my side, a mighty best. But there was nothing to think of twelve legions of angels. A legion back in those days in the Roman army was six thousand soldiers with it. their horses and weapons. Six thousand. That was a legion. Then you remember the Lord said, I can call twelve thousand, twelve legions. That's seventy-two legions of angels. Seventy-two legions of angels.
And if you return over to the book of Kings and Second Kings, you'll find that one angel slow a hundred and eighty-five thousand assyrians. Just one angel. Now multiply a hundred and eighty-five thousand with seventy-two thousand angels, and that means seventy-two thousand angels could kill over thirteen billion human beings, twice the number of the world population today. Christ had that power at his command, Simon, he just put up your sword.
They can't take me unless it's my time. That's the power that was resident in the person of Jesus Christ. What a unique man he was. Then you have other occasions. Why, they were coming near Jerusalem. And you remember on this occasion, well, he was going before Pilate, first of all, and Pilate wanted to put him to death. And the Lord Jesus says, though you don't have any power over me at all unless it's given me from above, but all the power of Pilate, all the power of the Caesar, was behind Pilate.
And yet the Lord told him, he says, You can't touch me unless it's given me from above. Whoever has committed me unto you has committed the greater sin, and that was the priest, the high priest, and has done that. When you start to think of how the Lord Jesus in his mighty power, he manifested it when it was necessary. He says, My time has not come. And you can't touch me until it does come. There's a remarkable passage that I'm going to read this to you over in Revelation chapter five. Revelation chapter five and verses four and five.
This is a majestic passage in the New Testament over in Revelation chapter five and four. the New Testament has very thin leaves. Five and four. And here John, one of the elders, if you're loaded, and I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither looked at all. Here is Christ taking the title deed, the birth from the father who's on the throne. That means a day is coming when he's going to take the title deed.
He's going to open that book and release the seals there are. And that begins that twenty-one consecutive experiences of judgment that are going to fall upon the earth. Seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials. And when we think of what's coming upon the earth, and John got a glimpse of it, and John left. Why, he said, unless someone comes with the prerogative and with the power and the authority. To deliver this earth, what's going to happen to us? It will be convictly turned over to the devil." And we were boasting that day. Now notice these amazing words, verse five.
And one of the elders, there were twenty-four of them, saith unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, The root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to Luke with seven seals of office. John, draw your eyes to this hope that if one who's going to deliver this cool world, he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. The lion. Do you know what the lion is? And a name always is associated with something that immediately comes to your mind.
If you use the word elephant, you think of a huge elephant. If you use the word dog, you can immediately know what a dog is like. Or a cat. But a lion, it speaks of majesty. The king of the fox. John, the wolf. The lion of the tribe of Judah. It would have had in this situation. Now when John turned to look, what did he see? In verse six, And behold, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four least of living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth unto all the earth.
The seven horns speak of concentrated power. When a bull charges, if it weighs a ton, that one ton of muscle and meat is concentrated in its horns. Yes, seven horns. Seven eyes, concentrated perception, perfect perception. Jesus Christ has concentrated power. And concentrated perception, he knows it. It's strange to see a lamb like that, isn't it? When the elder turned, he saw a lamb. But when a redeemed soul, John turned, he saw a lamb.
A different picture. A different picture. Yes, John, this is the one who's going to deliver the world, not in the capacity of a lion yet, but a lamb doesn't fight. You never saw a lamb fight yet. But the lamb did something. He suffered. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, kneeled from not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shears as down the field from not his mouth. The Lord Jesus was as meek as a lamb.
In other words, before he can exercise his power as a lion. And he's going to do it. He must be seen as the Lamb. The Lamb of God is taken away from the Lord. Here you see these lovely opposites in the person of Christ, and yet how wonderful they are. Sometimes in this world, God does use The Lord Jesus does exercise some of his power as a lion. Men today, and it's a strange thing recently, in the last couple of months, I've been able to lead some souls to Christ because of heart attacks.
It seems that God has a way of attacking the heart. In heart attacks. Men won't listen to the gospel. just the plain gospel as a preacher. But the Lord says, maybe I'll use a little of my lying characteristic and I'll attack that which man lives for, that body. All a lot of people are looking for and living for is this body and its desires, its passions. God says that body is standing in the way of that soul being says, I lay my hand on the body. God will destroy your body to reach your soul, because your soul is of more importance.
And God wants to save your soul. Only in the last month, a man, I don't think he came to this chapel only whether it was a funeral or a wedding, a number of his family. He had the privilege of taking the funeral and performing the wedding, but not him. A hard man recaped the gospel. He had a heart attack about a month ago. Only a few days ago we had the joy of leaving him to Christ. And how happy he is. That would never have happened if God hadn't put his hand on his body.
There's a lady sitting right here this morning who was saved through a heart attack. And just about six weeks ago in North Carolina, another man took a heart attack that I was trying to win for Christ for years. But now, you say, we're living in a day when God's going to a heart attack. God will attack the heart. Because that brings man to his senses and calls him to come to Christ. Oh, you say, God's truth. He isn't. God loves. God so loves your soul. He wants to save us from an eternal death.
If necessary, he'll put his hand on the body in order to reach the precious soul. And this will happen. I could mention another name in the hospital right now and the beginnings of the faith. because they're allowing that thing called the body and its passions and desires to keep them from Christ. But the Lord Jesus wants you to come to him as the last. He last. When you stop to think of him, how unique the Lord Jesus is in his dual characteristic. It says, never man spake like this man, man.
We read that in verse forty-six, and we did last week. His preaching was unique. Never man spake like this man. He changed the lines and hearts of these hardened soldiers. He came to apprehend them, and they were hard men. But these hardened soldiers came with their spears and and their shields and their armor. And they listened to this man's priest, that so much commotion had been caused about him by the high priests and the people of the days.
And they listened to him talk. It was a nice to have been there and noticed the expression on their faces. Why, this man is saying wonderful things. We've heard a lot of Roman orators We've heard a lot of rhetoric, but never man speaks like this man. And they went back to the high priest, and they said, Have you brought him? No. We never heard anybody preach like this man. This man is not doing harm. He's doing good. Never man speaks like this man. This man spoke forcefully. He was sincere.
He was fearless. He spake of God, eternity, pardon, eternal life. He spake God's peace. He spake of joy. He spake of death. He spake of death. He spake of judgment. Never man spake like this one. And of all the great orders in time, in the thousands of years of the human race on earth, never man spake. like this man. Another thing about this man of which he was unique, not only did he change the minds of those soldiers, the time came when he was to ride into Jerusalem.
He didn't command a chariot, he could have. He didn't ask for a horse. That speaks of war. He rides the horses of Revelation in judgment. He knew there was a little coat, a massive coat. A little creature, the Bible says, is unclean, and it was unbroken because it says, we're on never man's face. And that little creature came, never a man's face like this man's And never man had sitting on the back, had sat on the back of a rebellious little animal until the Lord Jesus did, upon which never man sat.
And if he changed the minds of the soldiers, he changed the attitude and nature of that animal. The nature of that animal is to repair. It's a covenant with But somehow the Lord Jesus had no difficulty. He tamed that animal. Isn't that wonderful? The uniqueness of the Lord Jesus. And he's tamed many a rebellious individual, too. He'll take the scotch out of your calling. He'll tame you. He'll get the power to do it. He'll break your will upon which never man stepped.
In another remarkable statement about his burial over in John nineteen, they laid him in a grave where never man had been laid. He bore a lot of things. He bore a boat across the river. He bore a penny. He didn't have a penny. One he used in illustration. He bore a penny. And he bore the coat. And he borrowed a grave. Never man had ever laid in that tomb. Joseph was keeping it for his own, said he, and he was a rich man.
You see, never man's faith like him. Never man sat on that pulpit that he did. And never man had laid in that tomb until Christ occupied him. How unique the Lord Jesus Christ is! This is the one who says in that remarkable work, the remarkable work, on that last day, that great day of the feast. He says, if any man, what authority, he says. If any man thirsts, let him come on to me. I am that unique character. I am the God-man. I am.
If any man thirsts, let him come on to me. And we mentioned our subject is finding the well, finding the spring and filling the well and flowing water. What did he mean about this well and this river and this spring? Well, you find the spring in John chapter three in the streets of life. Notice what he says when he talks about the water in his verse. This spake he of the Spirit. Now, he wasn't referring to living water for this thing. Nor was he referring to drinking the water out of the well.
It had a spiritual significance. When he speaks about this living water that he wanted to give people, he says, this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. In chapter six, as we noted, he says, I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eats of the dead, he shall live forever. It doesn't mean eating that little bread. He was speaking metaphorically or spiritually. Receive this. Eat that bread. Take it in. Swallow it. Drink this water. In other words, if you're thirsty, you'll believe what I'm telling you.
and I'll slate that verse with a spiritual life." And here was poor Nicodemus. Poor Nicodemus was looking for this spring. He was a ruler of the Jews, the leading expositor of that day, and the Lord knew it. And he wasn't saved, and he wasn't satisfied. Yet he knew the Old Testament scripture, the very moral, respectable, upright, religious man. Yet he wasn't satisfied. Why did he go under the cover of night to the Lord Jesus?
He didn't want to be seen by others, possibly, that this religious man thought Jesus Christ had just something that, without me, with all my knowledge, of the Old Testament scriptures, the law and the prophets, I don't have. He came to Jesus by night and he slipped from doorway to doorway, not wanting to be seen until he finally found where Christ was. And he met Christ. He was seeking for the spring. And he says with his flowing introduction, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, when no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with us. The Lord didn't beat around the bush.
He laid the axe to the root of the tree. He said, Nicodemus, you must be born again. You need to be born again. You need that new life. And that's what I have come into the world to give. You need life. And Nicodemus received that life. Here's the beginning of the spring. Have you found the spring? Nicodemus found it. Have you found this spring? Oh, what a wonderful spring. It's springing out there. It speaks of the Holy Spirit. Just speak He of the Spirit. What does the Spirit do?
There are a number of things the Spirit does. The first thing He convicts. That's why He came into the world, according to John's sixteen, to convict the world of sin. Now, what is the sin? He comes into the world or came into this world to convict, not murder, not idolatry, idolatry, or adultery, not stealing, not lying. Man's conscience knows that's wrong. He doesn't need to be convicted of that. What did the Spirit of God come into the world to convict? Christ said of sin because they believed not only.
The sin of unbelief is what the Spirit of God came into this world to convict man of. And that's what you need to be convicted of this morning. You may be a church member. You may be active in the church. But you haven't yet believed unto salvation. You haven't yet discovered you're a lost sinner and you haven't drank of this spiritual light, this spiritual water that Christ came to us two days. And here. How wonderful this spirit is. He convicts and he quickens. You have he quickened in Ephesians two. After you acknowledge you're a sinner, the spirit has convicted you of that.
Then he quickens you into new life in Christ. And then he steals you. That's the third thing. He steals you until the day of redemption. He doesn't steal you until you make a mistake. He seals you unto the day of redemption. The next thing he does, he unites you to Christ the body. By one spirit, all are we all baptized into one body. That's what the spirit does. Also, he embraces your body, becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. And also, he empowers you. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up its hand as against us.
For the more he leads you, when you come to know Christ, you've got a leader that will never lose his way to the Holy Spirit. Where will he lead you? When that rock was flitten in the wilderness, the water flowed out, and it followed the children as we right through the world. They drank of that spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ in the New Testament. If they wanted to get back to the rock from whence the water came, all they had to do was follow it back. And the water speaks of the Spirit, and if you want to know where a satisfaction comes from, and who saved you, the Spirit will lead you back to the source, Christ.
That's where He leads you to. Read this book and the Spirit will lead you to Christ. He shall not speak of himself. He speaks of Christ. Also the Spirit of God will teach you. He will teach you always. Furthermore, he'll comfort you when the comforter is come. That's the righteous. And then the Spirit is the one who is going to quicken your body on the resurrection morning. And if you don't have the Spirit in your heart now, you won't be raised in the resurrection of the gospel. What does it say in Romans verse eleven?
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. And if you don't have the Spirit in your heart this morning, if you hadn't been born by the Spirit, except you had been born of water and of the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom heaven, if Christ were to come now, you'd be left sitting right where you are. For if you were to die in your sins, you wouldn't be raised at the coming of the Lord, because the ones who preach about that resurrection of your body, the quickening of your body and resurrection, is not in you.
That's what the Bible says. He was the one who raised Christ from the dead, and he was the one who raised every scripture from it. Then the well. The spring and the well are bubbling wells. A bubbling well speaks of a well that's full. It speaks of the fullness of the spirit. And then the river. The river speaks of abundance. The outflow. Blessing to others. Yes, the Spirit comes in in John three. You found the stream. And in John four, the well is bubbling up.
That's your personal satisfaction. Your enjoyment of salvation. The Spirit is bubbling up within your heart. Amen. The run is over. Rivers of living water. In other words, you're passing on the blessing to others. Others are being reached through you. And so you have his invitation. For any man thirst that has come unto me and this. He that believeth on me as the scripture hath sent out of his inward part. The inward part speaks of your own satisfaction with Christ.
Your own enjoyment with Christ Out of his inward parts shall flow rivers of living waters to others. You know your Bible closes. There are a couple of lovely texts that went over in Isaiah fifty-five. One, for everyone that thirsteth, he that hath no money, let him come. Let him buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isn't that a lovely text? For everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. In those days, evidently the water carrier also had wine to sell. You paid for your water. The water carrier came through.
You could find water. You could buy wine. And you could buy other things. Milk, he said. And eat some of the bread. But it's a story one time of an Arabian prince who became seriously ill. And they didn't forget every color. But he did. And when he recovered, he wanted to show his gratitude for his restoration to health. He wanted everybody to know. He went to the waterman, and he said, how much do you get for your supply for this village? When you come, he said, and sell the water, the wine, and the bread, and the milk.
What is it that he said? And he told him, he says, here, I'll pay it all. I want the dinner space. I want to celebrate. I want this village to move. But I've got my house back. And I want to celebrate. I'll pay for the whole business. That's why you read this text. For everyone that thirsteth. And this is what the man said he peddled the waters through the clouds. For everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Be that hath no money. Come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money. Without Christ. It's all faithful. All faithful.
And that's true of this living water. Another wonderful text in the last chapter of your Bible. And what does it say? And the spirit and the bride, they come. And let him that heareth they come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will let him take the water of life to him. And God's salvation is free. You can't work for it. This living water in all its abundance and freshness and clarity and purity. You can't buy it. You can't work for it. It's free. God's too rich to sell it and you're too poor to buy.
All you can do is admit, I'm thirsty. I'm not satisfied. There's something in the A need that hasn't yet fit in that. That's why he says, He that believeth on me as the Scripture has can. There's only one thing you can do with that is believe it. Whether it's drinking the water, coming to Christ, believing the word, it means the same thing. It's a spiritual act on your part. Nothing material. It just means inside me there is a need. A man would never go and drink water unless there was something inside said, you need it, you thirst it.
But inside me, there's a need. There's a void. There's a lack of something. There's something I want, but I don't have it. But Jesus Christ has it all. And all I've got to do is come. Come. As a poor, lost, greedy, empty sinner. I just come to Jesus Christ and I accept Him. But what would you do? He'll save you. It's just that simple. When you this morning come to these living waters, the very word living speaks of life.
You need a new life in Christ. Will you come? Come now. Not join the church. Although after you accept Christ, They'd like to come up and tell us. It'll make the water flow a little further if you can set it up. Will you come to Christ? That's all our messages and invitation. What a wonderful invitation. How unique the Lord Jesus was in his invitation. If any fan says, come unto me and him. Will you receive Christ? You receive him right now. I will not turn you down. He'll meet your needs. And you'll be saved. You will be satisfied.
Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come before thee. We thank thee for our Savior. How wonderful he is. And may he become precious to some heart. In this morning's meeting, we commend thy word to thee. Through, say, precious souls we ask in Christ our Savior's