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2:12That is a metaphor that is used throughout the Bible, but is picked up pretty heavily by John, and it's picked up early on in his gospel. And you can tell John wrote the Gospels, the Gospel of John, and then the letters of John, and then Revelation, because this theme just keeps coming up, and he uses the same terms. So, what is this ministry of the Holy Spirit? And certainly reflected in this image of the water of life. Look at Revelation chapter 22 and verse 17.

3:00And the brides say, Come, and let the one who hears say, Come, and let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. It's the last real invitation: come, take of the water of life. Of all the metaphors, it ends with this one: water of life. If you back up to verse 1 of the same chapter, 22, verse 1, John sees this river of the water of life in the new Jerusalem. 22, 1 says, Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

3:51The water of life. And just start thinking about this metaphor. I want to spend some time tonight just really thinking about this metaphor and relating it to passages of Scripture and the development of scripture in various ways describing the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Because I think there's a lot of confusion over the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And the ministry of the Holy Spirit is one of these, you don't see the Holy Spirit, you see his effects, you see what he does, and relating that sometimes can be challenging. But just if we just take this metaphor, look at water of life.

4:30What is water of life? Well, we know something about water. It's essential for life. Water, essential for life. And in this context, we certainly know that man is going to live forever in the new Jerusalem with God. He is going to be both body and spirit. He's going to be, we are unities. We're body, soul, spirit. And so there's a spiritual component and a physical component. And water of life is an emblem that is necessary for both.

5:09Notice that it's clear as crystal. If you're just thinking, and I believe this is a physical water, by the way, I do think what is there, just like the tree of life, I think it is a literal tree of life. And same with the water of life. It is literal water. But it is also emblematic of God's Spirit. Water of life, it's essential, both physical and spiritual life. But notice that it's clear as crystal. It's radiant. It glistens. It sparkles. It's pure. It's completely unpolluted. Water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God. Notice the source. It's from the throne of God and the Lamb. So, this water of life from God and the Lamb.

6:08All who are in the book of life, as we've already went through in Revelation, all the people who are in the book of life have access to the water of life. They are supplied both physically, spiritually, and so they have access to it. In the new heavens and the new earth, there is going to be no death. We've already seen that. Revelation 21:3, there will be no death. There will be nothing that causes decay. The water itself has no impurities that would cause physical decay. But also, nothing unclean is going to enter into it, nothing that would ever break union with God and the Lamb. It's going to. So, nothing of a spiritual polluted nature is going to enter in, and neither is anything of a physical polluted way. So, it's this water that is coming from the throne and going out to the new through the new city and earth, the new earth, it's coming from the throne. He didn't see a sea in it, but this water. So, no matter where you are in the new heavens and new earth, this water comes.

7:30Seems to come directly from the throne. But it is pure. And the point is that those who are there will ingest the purest spiritual water with no impurities of thought, no inclinations, no dispositions that diminish spiritual union with God. They are in complete accord in spiritual union with God. As we know, physical water is essential for physical life. That's easy to understand. We can also easily understand that God's Spirit is necessary for spiritual life. It's easy to understand that God's throne is a source of both. You remember in the Garden of Eden, there was a river that came up and out and went into four different rivers. So you have something like that in the new heavens, the new earth, eternal spring.

8:36So on the surface, these metaphors are very simple. But now, drawing these parallel to the work of the Spirit is a little more difficult. I've spent a lot of time thinking, tracing this metaphor throughout Scripture and specifically. In John's writing, trying to get in what was in John's mind, because early in his gospel, he starts writing about this concept: water of life. How does God use the water of life metaphor to relate to the ministry of the Holy Spirit?

9:20And then, how do we drink from his Spirit? And so, what I want to do tonight is just take this time, and I cannot begin to unpack what this touches upon, but hopefully, you will leave here with a better understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how this metaphor, specifically as this metaphor, communicates to us. So, here's the outline. Tonight, we're going to be looking at Adam's deficiency, Israel's apostasy, Christ's supply, and then our sufficiency in Christ. So, quickly, Adam's deficiency. What was Adam's deficiency? He had no internal spirit of obedience, at least nothing that was permanent. And he was in Eden, he was in paradise. He had everything. He had every reason to obey God, to listen to him, and to continue to walk with him. But the temptation came, and death came. What we can say about Adam is that he had no inner principle within him that would cause him to receive, embrace, obey, and hold on to the truth and remain in the truth. That principle holding him there wasn't there.

11:02Yes, he was innocent. He was sinless when he was created. But he was not created in a state of confirmed holiness. He wasn't created in a state of confirmed union with God. That would come later, depending on how he responded to the truth that God had given him about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he failed. He sinned. And you know the story, death. You see, to be confirmed in holiness, man has to be confirmed in union with God's Spirit. For us to be confirmed one day in the eternal state with God forever, there must be an inner principle within us that keeps us holding on to the truth. Something that Adam Was deficient in.

12:04We need to be confirmed in holiness, and so we need to be confirmed in union with God's Spirit for that to happen. Well, that was Adam's deficiency. Let's talk for a minute about Israel's apostasy. Israel's apostasy. The Old Testament uses this image of the fountain of water to describe God's supply and also to describe God Himself. Listen to Psalm 36:9. For with you is the fountain of life. With you, life flows from, with you. It is with you, that fountain of life.

12:46But it's also a metaphor for God Himself. Listen to Jeremiah 2:13. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. They have forsaken me, says God. The fountain of living waters. Not only is it something he supplies, but it is something that he is. He is the fountain of life. He is life. All of it proceeds from him. He is the fountain of living waters.

13:31So he says this again in Jeremiah 17, 13. Listen to this. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame. Those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water. So the Lord Himself is drawing a connection between a fountain of living water and himself. That is the metaphor describing God Himself, one who is giving that which is necessary for life, essential.

14:18And so what Israel's apostasy was, is they left this fountain, this source, God's supply, for a cistern, a broken one. Now what a cistern, a broken cistern is, it's something you would hew out of a rock and catch water in. And what happens if, and then what happens to the water that comes in there? It's stagnant. What happens to stagnant water? It gets polluted, doesn't it? Now, think about this. If you've got a cistern that collects water, and then it has cracks at the bottom, Bottom. Slowly or rapidly, what happens to the water?

15:07Yes, so the difference between a cistern and a flowing well are pretty easy to understand. A cistern is limited and it's polluted. A flowing well, something that would be an underground, like an artesian well, something connected to an underground supply, it is unlimited and it is unpolluted. That's the difference. And then so, what Israel's apostasy is, is they left God. They left the source of pure holiness, goodness, supply, unlimited for their own way of life, their own way of thinking, their own supply, which was limited, corrupt, polluted.

16:08Well, next, I want to look at Christ's supply. Christ's supply. First of all, think about Christ's sufficiency as a person. He doesn't have Adam's deficiency. There is something in Christ, a spirit of obedience, not like. Adam. There was something that was connected to God, and no matter what. You remember where Christ's temptation took place? It took place in the wilderness. After fasting 40 days, he was brought to the low point of human existence. And that's where the temptation came. Adam was tempted in paradise. The second Adam, Christ, tempted in the wilderness with nothing. And yet you know the account. Nothing could break the union. No temptation known to man and most extreme form could cause him to hesitate. It couldn't break the union between he and his father.

17:34Christ possessed an inner principle within himself that caused him to receive God's truth, to embrace it, to obey it, and to hold on to it no matter what. There was something uniquely different about Jesus Christ. There was a permanent union between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Spirit. This is seen in the Holy Spirit's ministry to Jesus Christ. You remember, first you see this in, obviously he was prophesied, he had been orchestrating all of these events, but just picking it up at his conception, it was the Holy Spirit who conceived part of that conception, that conceiving ministry to Christ. See the Holy Spirit's descent upon him for ministry at baptism. And just as you go through, and I won't take you to all the places, but the Holy Spirit had anointed him, had empowered him. Holy Spirit was leading him. The Holy Spirit was aiding him in offering himself up as a sacrifice. This is what Hebrews makes clear. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit.

19:02Spirit was there raising him from the dead. So Jesus shows us what a life in union with the Spirit looks like. In life, he showed us what that looks like. In death, he shows us what union with the Spirit looks like. Even through the grave, he shows us what union with the Spirit looks like. Like, and guess who we're followers of? We're followers of Christ in life, in death, and through the grave. We're followers of Him. We don't cease on this side of the shore. We're followers with Him all the way into the eternal city.

19:49For all you pilgrims to the celestial city, He leads us all the way. But one thing that John makes very clear in His writings is that Jesus is also the one who brings others into union with the Holy Spirit. He's the one who does this. Think about all the things that Jesus said and did and went to do. He didn't just show us what life in union with the Spirit looks like, but He did so to bring us into union with the Spirit of God. John 1:33, remember John the Baptist's testimony said this: I saw the Spirit descending and remaining upon him. And God told him, This is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist is looking and he understands the one whom the Spirit descends upon and remains upon, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. That is, he is what he has, born of the Spirit, in the Spirit, conceived, led, all that. He is going to immerse, plunge people into union with His Spirit. John 3:34, John the Baptist again says this, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. It's going to be connected to his words again. You're going to see this again and again in John's writings, but this is what Jesus does: he gives the Spirit without measure.

21:46So he is somebody, Jesus Christ, is the one who brings other people in union with the Spirit of God. And this is evident. Just as you start going through John's gospel, you remember John chapter 4, you remember he met a woman at the well? He met this woman at the well in John 4:10, and he says this, if you knew the gift of God, he says this to the woman, and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

22:20And Jesus goes on and says, Look, everyone who drinks of this water is, guess what? Going to be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water, I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. And he's going to say this again. John 7:37, now on the last day of that great feast, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. And he says this, he who believes in me, as the scripture says, from his innermost being will flow rivers of water. But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. But the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Cross resurrection had to take place before we really get a full picture of who Christ is. But he says, if you will believe in me, everyone who is thirsty, if you will come to me and drink. Now, what is drink? Take in. If you think about a metaphor of drinking, drink water. That's taking in, ingesting something by swallowing. Think about that in a spiritual context. What does that look like? Taking something in by faith, by understanding, believing. That's the same metaphor. Drinking is taking something into the body by drinking.

24:00Believing is taking Christ in through faith. And that's what he's saying. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture says, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Now, this is where it's hard for me hydraulically to understand. This is where my schooling and all my studies of water go beyond or are strained to where I can't go any further. Because I can understand digging a hole, tapping into an underground source. I can understand Artesian water. I can understand a lot about water movement. What I can't get my mind around is how you drink, take a cup of water, and all of a sudden that becomes a fountain. That strains the metaphor, or my understanding of water. But that's what it's saying. And so, what Jesus is saying is: if you will believe in me, take in who I am, guess what that's going to produce? It's a fountain because who Jesus is is connected to God Himself. He is God in the flesh. He is the fountain of living waters. And so, when you take in by faith who Christ is, and you receive him as Christ in your life, and you really take him in and believe.

25:30You have the whole fountain source of all human existence with you, in you. It's hard to get your mind around. But that's what Christ is saying. Now, how do you start taking this in? And I'd like to spend some more time here. But living water depicts the ministry of the Holy Spirit and Him. It depicts the Spirit, and it depicts His ministry. And this is a whole key concept in John's whole pneumatology. And I don't have time to go through all the verses how John develops this. But you get this point here in John 15:26. He's been promising the helper is going to come. He tells them that over and over. The world cannot receive the helper because it does not see him, cannot believe him, did not accept the testimony that it was the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ that was testifying to who Christ was, is. But in John 15, 16, Jesus speaking to his disciples, says, When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

27:00The helper, the spirit of truth. The spirit of truth, and what does the spirit of truth do? Testify. And guess what happens when you receive his testimony? You drink in. And so the spirit of truth is inextricably linked to the truth that he communicates. So you, when you receive the truth of God's word, you receive the spirit of God's word. You cannot separate the two. In fact, this becomes even more definitive in John's writings in 1 John 5:6. So now he's written his gospel and he's writing more letters to the churches. But then he says this: this is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. See what John's saying here? The Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth.

28:30So, truth connected when you, that's why we must give ourselves to truth. Because to give ourselves to truth is to give ourselves to the Spirit of truth and to be in union. That's what truth does. I'd love to spend some more time on this, but the Holy Spirit's ministry to the world is going to be to convict the world. The Holy Spirit's ministry to his disciples are going to be to guide, to satisfy, to relate. And the Holy Spirit's ministry to Jesus is going to be to glorify him.

29:11John develops it: Christ's supply is inexhaustible, and it is uncorrupted, unpolluted. And that's why those who come to him not only get a new heart, they get a new spirit put in them. This is exactly what the new covenant promised: a new heart and a new spirit. Well, let's talk about our sufficiency. Our sufficiency in Christ. Now, unlike Adam, we who are in Christ now have a permanent union with God's Spirit. Not only do we have this new heart, but we have His Spirit.

30:01And this applies to all of us. All of us. Listen to what 1 Corinthians 12, 12 says. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek, whether slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one Spirit. See how this metaphor just permeates so much of the New Testament? We were all baptized, for in one Spirit we were all baptized, immersed, plunged, spiritually, thoroughly.

30:53And we were made to drink of one Spirit. This applies to all of us who are in Christ. And because we have been put in this permanent union with God's Spirit, we are no longer of this fleshly disposition. Listen to what Romans 5:5 says. Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. You can't love unless you have the Spirit of God. You can't love like God unless you have the Spirit of God.

31:30Spirit given to us. Romans 7:6, we now serve in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. Romans 8:5. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. We have a sufficiency in Christ. No longer are we connected to the fleshly disposition. We're free from that fleshly disposition. We're in union with Christ, and life becomes about distinguishing between the good and the evil, and choosing the good, and remaining, and keeping, and staying in step with the Spirit. And when we sin, we confess it. We have sufficient sacrifice. And we get up and we go and we continue going. The law had sacrifice.

32:30God knows that in our progress into loving the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we're going to grow and we're going to get things wrong sometimes, but we're going to sin. And yet, we don't feel the same way about sin anymore. We have a sacrifice for sin, so we keep going into conformity, Christ's likeness. We are not of the fleshly disposition any longer. Another thing that's very clear about this is that his Spirit is sufficient for life.

33:09Everything we need. Think about this. What does water, the metaphor of water, do? Well, water washes. It washes us externally. Think about that, but it washes us internally. It washes us. Water gives life. Water sustains life. Water empowers life. It causes things to flourish. Water doesn't just keep things alive. It's necessary to flourish. Same is true with God's Spirit. Listen to Titus 3:5. He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Lord. His Spirit is sufficient to wash, to cleanse, to give life, to sustain life, and to empower life, to cause our lives to flourish in Him.

34:13So, another element and final thoughts I have on this evening is really our sufficiency as how God has prepared us to be conduits, conduits. Of life to others. This fountain of life imagery also applies to people. So you think about what's happened as he has put us in union with his Spirit, with God, the Father, Son, Spirit. He's put us in union with Him. If you have Christ, you have all that Christ is connected to, with.

34:52Proverbs 16, 22, understanding is a fountain of life to the one who has it. So understanding itself becomes a fountain of life to yourself, to others. Proverbs 14, 27 says, The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to you. Proverbs 10, 11, the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. Think about that. You who are in step with the Spirit, who walk, who've been saturated in his truth, who think his truth, who speak his truth, you become a fountain of life to others. The mouth itself of the righteous is a fountain of life. Proverbs 13, 14.

35:49The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life. The teaching, to turn aside from the snares of death. The metaphors. Of this, just keep going on. But you get the idea of our sufficiency in Christ. Sufficiency that it's all, it's for all of us, are sufficient in Him. It's sufficient to remove us from this fleshly disposition. It is sufficient for washing, for cleansing, for renewing, for life-giving, for life-sustaining, and causing life to flourish. And it is sufficient to make us conduits of life to others.

36:38So, this metaphor, think about what we've looked at tonight: Adam's deficiency, Israel's apostasy, Christ's supply, and our sufficiency. Really, a lot of it tied to the water of life in this whole imagery. Questions, thoughts, observations? Those are good observations. Well, anybody have any questions? We got to, oh, in the back. Go ahead, yes, sir. Do you think the water in Ezekiel 47 is also the matter of the Holy Spirit? Well, yes, again, I think that it is literal water. Well, you know me. Yeah, I see it as a literal. Literal in Ezekiel 47. But yeah, I think it's also that same emblematic that life that comes out, flows out of Jerusalem and it flows out and it waters out, you know, it makes the Dead Sea itself to be alive. And so, but again, emblematic of God's supply, certainly in that context, physical supply. But yeah, if it was just in that one place, and just like if Revelation, like the tree of life, you see the tree of life in Genesis 3, and then you don't see it again until the end. But this water of life is a metaphor that just seems to just be picked up throughout Scripture. And so I do think it's emblematic, even though I believe it's physical, just like I would say here. Yes, sir.

38:21Do you believe that misunderstanding of this metaphor is part of the reason why some falsely believe in baptismal regeneration? Okay, say that again. I'm not sure. I have to think about that. Does this metaphor lend itself to baptismal regeneration or a misunderstanding of it? I'm sure it could. Does anybody have a, I don't, nothing's coming to my mind how that, but probably. Probably so. I mean, you can find connection, but I'm not. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about this metaphor. And it is a little bit difficult. In what exact way is he using this metaphor and Christ's supply, the Spirit, no question, the Spirit, and drinking in the Spirit, and that Spirit is also the Spirit of Truth. And so we drink in by taking in who Christ is and all that He says. And so I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes to that.

39:47Other thoughts? Well, then let's go home. Heavenly Father, thank you for all your goodness to us. And Father, as we just leave this study of Revelation and really all that this touches upon, Father, we want to be people who take you up on this final invitation to come to you to drink in. And Father, we understand that to mean we believe who you are. We believe you're God of God. Come to earth. Went to the cross, God of God, who suffered and died in our place and took upon flesh to lay it down, to resurrect it, and to resurrect all those who follow in his footsteps. And so, Father, we have believed in your Son, and we take him in by faith. And, Father, we want to drink in everything, every good thing that you have for us, Father. We want to internalize it and for it to characterize us. And we want to be these people who love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And we know we can't do that without the heart that you give us or without putting your spirit in us. And so, that is exactly what we ask for. Thank you, Father. Go with us this week, and may you be exalted in Christ's name. Amen.