John 4:11-12 The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water?… I. WHENCE IT COMES TO PASS THAT TRUTH WHICH SEEMS SO NECESSARY FOR EVERY MAN TO KNOW, SHOULD YET GENERALLY BE SO DIFFICULT FOR ANY MAN TO COME AT. 1. It has been an ancient complaint among philosophers that truth hath lain in so deep a pit that they have never been able to discover the bottom of it. The like complaint we meet with in Scripture (Job 28.; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Ecclesiastes 8:16). 2. This is true — (1) Of the knowledge of the works of God in the power of nature. (2) Of the works of God in the moral world (Psalm 72:2, 15; Jeremiah 12:1; Ecclesiastes 4:1). (3) Of practical duty itself. 3. This arises from the following facts:(1) There is necessarily in the nature of things themselves some difficulty, and in our understandings much imperfection. Some things are entirely above our capacities, and others we can only attain to by labour and study. Some things we can only know as probable at best. And those things which are most level to our understandings have at the bottom some subtle intricacies which limit the degree of our knowledge. In the clearest prospect there is a distance no eye can reach, and in the most intelligent parts of the works of God there is a depth which no finite eye can penetrate. But then these secrets are no part of that truth which it is necessary for us to know, and with care sufficient may be known of truth as is necessary to salvation. (2) Men perplex themselves by aiming at things not necessary to be known in regard to Christian practice, or at such degrees of knowledge as are not possible to be arrived at. Those persons are at a great distance who, while they have lost themselves in the labyrinth of an imaginary secret will of God, have neglected to obey His positive commands. Under this category come the Jewish doctors and the speculative philosophers and divines. (3) Prejudice and prepossession arising from custom of education and from men's depending on the opinion and authority of particular persons without examination. (4) The wickedness and perverseness of men, who for their own interests sometimes conceal it on purpose. II. BY WHAT MEANS EVERY SERIOUS AND SINCERE PERSON MAY YET CERTAINLY OBTAIN TO SUCH A DEGREE OF TRUTH AS IS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION. 1. He must take care that he in the first place resolves to do the will of God, then he shall know of the doctrine (Psalm 25:14). 2. He must be firmly resolved never to be deluded into the persuasion of anything contrary to plain and evident reason, which is the truth of God's creation; contrary to the attributes of God, which are the truth of the Divine nature; or contrary to the eternal differences of good and evil, which are the truth and foundation of all religion in general. Had men kept to this "candle of the Lord," men even of the meanest capacities could never have believed — (1) Impossibilities such as transubstantiation, or contrary and unintelligible explications of true doctrines such as the subtle and empty speculations of the schoolmen, which are contrary to the truth of God's creation. (2) Nor that God absolutely decreed men to everlasting misery, which is contrary to the primary truth of the Divine nature. (3) Nor that cruelty and persecution should be set up for His sake, who came not to destroy but to save. Nor that any other wickedness should be made part of religion, which are contrary to the very foundation of religion. 3. He must diligently study Holy Scripture as the only authoritative guide in religion, so as to obey its plain precepts and believe its plain doctrines, and not be contentious or uncharitable about those he does not understand. (S. Clarke, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? |
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