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. THE WAY OF OBTAINING TRUE RELIGION. 1. It must come to us as a gift. There is no suggestion — (1) Of digging; it is freely handed to us. (2) Of purchasing; it is presented without price. (3) Of fitness. The woman was a sinner.The Divine life is not in us by nature, cannot be produced by culture, nor infused by ceremonies, nor propagated. Wisdom cannot impart it, nor power fashion it, nor money buy it, nor merit procure it; grace alone can give it. 2. It is a gift from Jesus. All its details are connected with Him: redemption, forgiveness, deliverance from the power of sin, instruction, example. He is our all in all. 3. It is a gift that must be received. When we drink water it enters into us and becomes part of us: even so must we receive Christ into our innermost self; not professing to believe in Him or admiring Him; but so trusting Him, loving Him, living in Him that He becomes one with us. II. THE SATISFYING POWER OF TRUE RELIGION. 1. Grace relieves our soul thirst as soon as received. A man once startled from sinful indifference finds an "aching void" within him. He tries riches, but money cannot satisfy him; he seeks after knowledge, but study is a meanness; he dazzles his fancy with fame, charms his eye with beauty and his ear with music, but "all is vanity." But he who has received Christ has received at-one-ment with God, and God delights in him. 2. Grace continues to quench our thirst — though it strives to return it is always met by the well within. 3. This is a matchless blessing and averts a thousand ills. What should we have been without it? III. THE ABIDING CHARACTER OF TRUE RELIGION. 1. It is "in Him." Here is a man trying to write poetry, but it is not in him, and it cannot come out of him, so he rhymes his nonsense, but a poet he never becomes; but if a man has it in him who can take it away? So with art and education. Much more with religion. 2. It is in him a well of living water, always there as an operative force as permanent as Jacob's well which was there in the patriarch's day, and is there now. True religion is like a well, because it is independent of surroundings and circumstances. In summer and winter does it flow. The pond overflows because there has been a shower of rain, but the deep well is full in the drought. So the believer is not exalted by wealth nor crushed by poverty. 3. It is a well that is springing and never ceases to flow. The great motives which set a believer working at first are as forcible in old age. 4. It springs up into everlasting life. Grace blossoms into glory. IV. THE PRACTICAL OUTCOME OF ALL THIS. 1. Where did you get your religion? From your Father, or is it of your own manufacture? 2. What has your religion done for you? Has it quenched your thirst? 3. Does your religion abide with you or do you remove it with your Sunday hat? 4. Does your religion spring up within you by the energy of the Holy Spirit? (C. H. Spurgeon.) 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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