Fountains of Living Water 

John 7:37-39:  “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’ (But this He spoke of the Spirit, which those who believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.” 

 Jesus was speaking of those believers who were to receive the indwelling Spirit from Pentecost onward, after Jesus had been glorified. When anyone is born again, the Spirit of the glorified Son comes into his innermost being, his spirit, and there abides: “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (I Pet. 1:23); “Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The believer has in himself “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). 

Notice that the Spring of the Indwelling Spirit produces RIVERS, plural, more than one River. I want to suggest to you what some of those rivers might be. I don’t claim that this is precisely what Jesus had in mind by “rivers of living water,” but I think we can find blessing in the following application.  

First of all there is A River of Peace.  Peace for the Christian is that ‘shalom’ of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is more than just the absence of strife, though it includes that. It involves also a kind of serenity, spiritual harmony, rest of soul. It is the power to rest in Christ’s faithfulness in the midst of life’s inevitable troubles.

It’s not like the world’s peace, which depends on the absence of strife; as Jesus said: “My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled.... Believe in God and believe in Me” (John 14:27, 1). The song, “It Is Well With My Soul,’ expresses this peace well. 

When peace like a river, attendeth my way;/When sorrows like sea-billows roll;/ Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,/ ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul.’ 

My sin, Oh, the bliss of this glorious tho’t:/ My sin, not in part but the whole,/ Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more:/ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. 

Peace is Faith at rest in God’s faithfulness. If you don’t have that River of Peace flowing in your soul, then please realize that it should be an invariable result of your salvation; you’re meant to have it. Don’t let sin, or Satan, unbelief, or an incomplete surrender stop up the flow of that River. 

Akin to the River of Peace is the River of Satisfied Longing. The great Augustine once said: “Oh Lord, our souls are restless until they rest in You.” We have all felt with David the incompleteness of our experience of God: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." Even Paul could say, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”  Indeed, this place of exile can be very unwelcome at times, and a part of us would like to be at Home right now. For now we live in a kind of twilight, but “then we shall see face to face.” 

But I want to suggest to you that we can have something that David did not have: We can have wonderful, sweet fellowship with God at all times, even here in this exile. For we have the Living God dwelling in us. James encourages is to walk in that experience when he said: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James is not telling us to find a church, chapel or sanctuary. He isn’t telling us to become “God Chasers,” and follow after dramatic experiences and phenomena. He is telling us to draw near in our hearts, to draw near inwardly; and that we can do any time and any place. David did not have the indwelling Spirit; we do. We do not need to pant after God; we can dwell in His presence always. We don’t have to chase after God, or even work ourselves up with music, though spiritual music is a great blessing. Our present reality is well expressed by the following: 

"All my life long I had panted,/  For a draught from some cool spring;/ That I hoped would quench the burning/ Of the thirst I felt within./ But Hallelujah! I have found Him/ Whom my soul so long had craved,/  Jesus satisfies my longing:/ Through his blood I now am saved." 

It’s common to hear people say that they want more of God. I believe they can have all of God that they truly want. But they seem to mean they want to feel God more. I worry a little about such people. What do they want that they don’t have? If we are not satisfied with what we have of God, then all we have to do is to give Him more of ourselves. If we hunger and thirst for more righteousness and holiness, we will be satisfied. We walk by faith, not by feeling. If we seek more holiness, more likeness to Him, more desire to make His Will our food and drink, we will not, I think, do much pining and panting. We will always experience God, and our lives will be so busy with God’s business that we won’t be in any hurry to go to heaven either. We will be swimming joyously in the River of Satisfied Longing. 

Fountains of Love and Submission flow together, along with the Fountain of Surrender.  I have suggested above that the way we can have more of God is for Him to have more of us. There is a kind of loving trust which says, “not my will, but Thine,” and “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” There is a kind of submission that says, “My desire is to do Thy will, O God,” and “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work.”  Love and Submission go together. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.”  

All that God requires of us is a holy heart. Jesus prayed, "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them." His love expressed itself in perfect obedience: “I only do what I see the Father doing.” 

I contend that the totally sanctified life will be totally satisfying, totally full, and will leave no feeling of emptiness and loss.  Does that mean that we shouldn’t sing those songs of David about longing for God’s presence in the sanctuary? Of course not. It’s perfectly natural and right that David’s words of desire for God’s presence should resonate in our own souls. We feel our exile; we realize our need. And quite frankly, we don’t know yet how to enjoy the kind of fellowship Jesus had, because we are not fully surrendered. May God help us to surrender totally! 

But the point I am making is this: the Rivers of Living Water are already flowing if the Glorified Son of God lives in us. No one needs to go up to heaven to fetch Him; no one needs to go down to Sheol to find Him. For He is very near to us, even in our mouths and in our hearts. The only limiting factor to the intimacy and fellowship we can enjoy is our own lack of holy consecration. May the prayer uttered in these two popular hymns be ours, and may it be fulfilled in us. 

All to Jesus I surrender,/ Lord, I give myself to Thee./ Fill me with Thy love and power,/ Let Thy blessing fall on me. -----

Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;/ Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store;/ Take myself and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee! 

My prayer for you and for me is that all of God’s “rivers of living water” will flow freely and abundantly in us.  Amen