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. In its SOURCE. 1. It is a gift. Human nature is an arid desert, unproductive of a single drop of water. 2. It is a free gift. Water is one of the freest gifts of nature. You charge for milk, you give water. Christ gives liberally, and upbraids not. He is too rich to sell, we too poor to buy. 3. It is a free gift, which only Himself can give — not His apostles or their successors. 4. A free gift to whomsoever desires it. He has enough to quench the thirst of all mankind. II. In its NATURE. 1. It is personal. Christian nations do not make Christian individuals, but vice versa The former one a great blessing, the latter a greater. 2. It is inward. (1) "Our life is hid with Christ in God"; that is, our objective or justification life. (2) God's life is hid with Christ in us; that is, our subjective or regenerate life. 3. It is Divine — the same in kind as in God. "All my springs are in Thee." III. In its OPERATION. 1. It is active. It varies in feeling; but let us not forget that it is first principle — a well of water, not necessarily hot water. You may adopt means to make it hot, but hot or cold it is water all the same. 2. It is cleansing. (1) Hercules turned a river through the filthy Augean stables; Christ turns the river of Divine grace into the sinner's heart. Springs in soft soils carry up particles of sand in order to carry them away. So grace, as it bubbles up in the heart, disturbs the sands of defilement. (2) It cleanses society, and has washed away unnameable sins, and will go on with the work of refinement till the face of the earth is made like the face of heaven. 3. It is satisfying (Psalm 36:8). IV. In its DESTINATION. 1. It is aspiring. Christianity is aspiring, but not satiating, not inconsistent with hope and effort. The believer wants nothing but God, but more of Him. 2. It will at last reach everlasting life. The life implanted in regeneration will continue for ever. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) 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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