"In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."
I will use the last part of this verse for the text for my message - Spiritual Thirst.
Thirst can be a terrible thing if you are unable to quench that thirst. The result is death. This is true both physically and spiritually. But, Jesus said if any man thirst for spiritual satisfaction, there is a place to quench that thirst. Jesus is the place. You need not die...come unto Him and drink and you shall live. You shall live abundantly and out of your inner most being...out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.
There are a few things I would like to share with you about THIRST. We will take what is true naturally and apply it to the spiritual.
**Thirst is an instinct.
If it were not, the human race would not exist. As soon as a baby is born it begins to thirst. It has an instinct of suck. The instinct is automatically there. As new born babes thirst for their Mother, so the soul of man thirst for it's maker...and can never truly be satisfied without Him. Spiritual thirst is an instinct. In Psalm 42:1, David said, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Later, in Psalm 63:1, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirtieth for thee, my flesh length for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;" Actually, everyone is thirsting for something that will satisfy the deep longing of their soul. That satisfaction cannot be found in ourselves or in the world or in the things of the world. Jesus is the only fountain of true satisfaction. He said, "Come unto me......"(Matthew 11:28)
In our scripture text - **Jesus is speaking about a thirst that is intense.
A profound spiritual craving - a craving for the spirit of God. In this modernistic, materialistic, permissive and perilous age - how much do we really crave the things of the spirit of God; the spirit of the living God? In the natural there is a condition called dehydration. It is an abnormal pathological condition due to deficiency of water. Without the water of the spirit we become spiritually dry - spiritually dehydrated - parched and shriveled in our souls. Oh how we need to drink of the springs of living water! Oh how we need to continually come to Jesus and drink....to experience those rivers of living water from deep within.
Then, Jesus makes it clear that ...**thirst is individual.
"If any man thirst let him come unto me." The spiritual life and spiritual fullness is a private affair. It is as private as a drink. No one can drink for us. We have to do that ourselves.
Jesus tells us that if we want spiritual fullness and spiritual power - the condition is thirst. We must drink. We appropriate His supply by drinking. Matthew 5:6 tells us, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Believe - Accept - Receive. Yielding to and partaking of the spirit of God. It is up to us individually. If we crave for the spirit we can have of His fullness. His supply is limitless - measureless and inexhaustible! He promises that you will receive.
If we are to cause the world around us to thirst for spiritual things, our family, our friends, neighbors and our children...if we want them to crave for the things of God we must be full and overflowing ourselves. We can create a thirst in others around us. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:13, "Ye are the salt of the earth:..."
Salt creates thirst. I wonder, are we craving things of God and are so salty and full of Him that other people around us are watching and saying, "I want what they have?"
Jesus talked about a thirst that is **Instinctive
**Intensive
**Individual
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