The Source
(No. 2897)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 6,
1876.
"The woman said unto him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?" John 4:11.
THIS was a sensible and very important question. May the Holy Spirit
graciously enable us to answer it aright! Our Lord's great objective in
His talk with this woman at the well was not to convince her of His
oratorical power, for He spoke to her as simply as one would speak to a
child. Many sermons are far too elaborate in their construction–they
are evidently intended to display the preacher's own powers. But if we
would imitate the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Preachers, we
would not strain after effect–and we would get a better effect without
any straining–by taking the living Truth of God and telling out, as
simply as possible, the story of salvation.
Jesus Christ's sole objective in talking with this woman was to bring
her to salvation. That is also my objective with regard to my hearers
and readers and, my dear unconverted Friends, if you shall agree with
me in that objective and shall breathe the prayer, "Lord, help the
preacher to speak to my soul that I may find Christ," there will be joy
among the angels of Heaven over sinners repenting and returning to the
Lord!
Our Savior, in seeking to win this woman to Himself, was completely
successful. He hit the mark He aimed at. His shot struck the very
center of the target. Only one sermon was preached to her–no, it was
hardly a sermon–just a brief talk with her and the woman received the
Living Word! Alas, there are some of you who have had a great many
affectionate talks from godly mothers and fathers, or from earnest
ministers, teachers, or other Christian friends–but, so far, they have
not been as successful as Jesus of Nazareth was on this occasion! You
have heard many sermons–you cannot tell how many you have heard–and
some of them have produced some effect upon you, but, up to the
present, you have not been slain by the sword of the Spirit, nor
quickened by Jesus Christ the Life-Giver. I hope the Lord is about to
do what has not been done before! And, with the accumulated
responsibility upon you of having heard the Gospel so often in vain, I
think you should the more earnestly breathe the prayer to God, "O Lord,
let this be the effectual time of speaking to me! Call me as You did
the Samaritan woman. While the preacher is speaking and I am listening
to Your Word as it shall be proclaimed, graciously grant that Jesus may
be revealed to my soul and that He may say to me, 'I that speak unto
you am He.'" If you are brought to pray that prayer from your heart, I
believe that it will be answered and so, as I have already said, there
will be joy in the Presence of the angels of God over you! Our Lord
aimed at this woman's conversion by simply instructing her and bringing
the truth home to her conscience. Let us see whether if we do the same
thing, trusting in the same Spirit that anointed our Master, similar
results will follow here as followed at the well of Sy-char.
First, then, I am going to expound the teaching which preceded the
woman's question and suggested it Then, secondly, I will answer the
question. And thirdly, I will draw some inferences from it
I. First, then, WHAT WAS IT THAT LED THIS WOMAN TO ASK OUR SAVIOR THE
QUESTION, "Where then do You get that living water?"
Jesus Christ had told her that had she known Him, she would have asked
of Him and He would have given her Living Water. There was Jacob's
well. They were, both of them, close to it and they could look down
into it. There was some
water in it, but the well of Sychar was not a well of "living water."
You probably know that the expression which is translated, "living
water," refers to water that springs up from a fountain. But the well
of Sychar is not a well of that kind. The water in it is surface
water–the gathering of the neighboring hills–land water, not spring
water. Jesus Christ seemed to draw His illustration from that
fact–"The water in that well runs into it and is drawn out from it.
But if you had asked Me, I would have given you water that bubbles
up–water that is full of life, very different from this well
water–water from the great deep that 'couches beneath.'" You know the
difference between those two sorts of water. I have illustrated it
before by the two wells which are in the courtyard of the Doge's palace
at Venice. One of them has its copper or bronze margin worn with holes
cut by the string by which little cans are let down to fetch up the
water that wells up from the spring. It is so precious because it
springs up from a living fountain. The other well, which looks very
much like the one I have mentioned, is not worn at all. Very few people
care to draw from it–and the reason is because it is simply filled
with water brought into the city. It is flat, dead water, not "living
water" at all. So Jesus Christ had used this illustration in speaking
with the woman–"You have come here to draw this water out of the
well–the mere rain water that runs into Jacob's well. But if you had
asked of Me, I would have given you water of a far better sort– water
with life in it–water which would be life to you–water which would be
in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
The woman caught the figure, though she did not at first understand its
spiritual meaning. Its spiritual meaning is this–that Jesus Christ has
Grace in Himself–Grace to give to sinners–Grace to give to those who
ask Him for it, for He said to the woman, "You would have asked of Him
and He would have given you Living Water." In the Lord Jesus Christ,
then, there is a deep fountain of Grace always springing up within
Himself. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell."
And it does dwell in Him! To Him, the Spirit has been given without
measure! There is no meager supply of Grace in Christ. He has an
abundance and I might almost say a redundance forever springing up
within Himself. And this He has on purpose to give away! He has it not
for Himself, for He needs it not. Almighty and ever-blessed as He is by
Nature, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, He
needs no Grace for Himself–what He has is all to give away! He came
into this world to open up channels by which He might distribute all
His Grace to thirsty souls!
And He gives it all away far the asking–Almighty Grace to be had for
the asking! No human merit can demand it and no performance of any
earthly ceremony is required in order to obtain it. Here it is in a
nutshell–" You would have asked and He would have given." "If any man
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God." And if any man lacks pardon, let him
do the same. If any man lacks anything that is essential to his purity,
to his happiness, to his present life, or to his future life, it is
stored up in Christ and it can be had from Him for the asking! "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things?"
The teaching of the text to you unconverted people is this–if ever you
are saved, it must be by the Grace of God. That Grace is in Jesus
Christ. It has been put into Jesus Christ not because He needs it
Himself, but that He may distribute it–and He does distribute
it–whoever asks it of Him receives it from Him. "For everyone that
asks receives and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall
be opened." And when you receive this Grace, it will remain in you. It
will not be like ordinary water which you drink and which then is done
with, but it will live in you. It shall turn into a well of Living
Water! Inside your soul there shall be an ever-springing Well of Life
which never shall cease to flow, either in summer or in winter and
which, in Glory, shall enable you to understand what that eternal life
was which Jesus gave to you and of which He said to His Father, "This
is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom You have sent."
II. Now, secondly, I am going TO ANSWER THE QUESTION THAT THIS WOMAN
PUT TO CHRIST. Her question was, "'Where then do You get that living
water?' How did You come to have it? If You have living water, how is
it that You have it? It is not in that well. And even if it were there,
You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep: 'Where then do You
get that living water?'" What an important question this is to put in a
spiritual sense! Lord Jesus, we hear that You have an abundance of
Grace treasured up in You which You freely distribute among those who
ask You for it, but where did You get it? How is it that You have this
Grace? In what way did it come to be stored up in You? 'Where then do
You get that living water?'"
While I am asking this question, I pray every unconverted one who
desires to find peace with God to say to himself or herself, "I am now
to hear how it is that Christ can save. I am now to learn why it is
that He is the Giver of Grace to the guilty." Perhaps, dear Friends,
while you are listening you may see something in Christ which you never
saw before and faith may spring up in your soul almost insensibly to
yourself–and before you go out of this place, you may be able to say,
"I cannot fully explain this great mystery, but I know enough of the
Lord Jesus Christ to believe in Him. I cannot but believe in Him, now
that I see how it is that He is so mighty to save!"
The first answer to the question, "Where then do You get that living
water?" is this–He has it in His very Nature. Jesus Christ is able to
save because He is Divine. "With God, all things are possible" and
Jesus Christ is God, so all things are possible with Him! "God is Love"
and Jesus Christ is God, so He, too, is Love! God possesses all things
and Christ is God, so He has all things freely to distribute among the
sons of men! Jesus of Nazareth, as He sat on the well at Sychar, seemed
to that woman, at first, to be only an ordinary Jew and she wondered
that He, being a Jew, should even speakto her, a woman of Samaria. But
veiled under the form of that Son of Mary, there was God, Himself, made
flesh and dwelling among men! Oh, it is glorious to think that He who
has come to redeem you is no mere man, but over all God blessed
forever!
If a man were to tell me that he was going to take the world upon his
shoulders, I would distrust his power to bear such a burden, even
though he were as strong as Samson! But Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
cannot only bear up this world, but the entire universe in His hand,
for all fullness of power dwells in Him! If any man were to say that he
would take upon himself the sins of the whole world, I would be even
more diffident than if he proposed to play the part of Atlas and to
bear the world upon his shoulders. But when Jesus, who counted it not
robbery to be equal with God, takes upon Himself the form of a Servant
and yet has the iniquity of us all laid upon Him, I can understand how
He can bear the tremendous load, for He bears the earth's huge pillars
and spreads the heavens abroad! When we think of Jesus as Divine,
nothing seems to be impossible to Him! The strength of sin, which is
the Law, is not too great for Him who made the Law and kept it, too!
The sting of death, which is sin, shall certainly not be able to
destroy, or even to resist the Almighty Power of Him who has the keys
of death and of Hell!
If you commit your soul, my dear Friends, to the keeping of a man, or
of an angel, you will have made a fatal mistake! If all the angels in
Heaven were to band themselves together to save a soul and were to ask
me to be the soul that they would seek to save, I would have nothing to
do with them! Nobody who is less than Deity can save sinners! But Jesus
is "mighty to save" because He is God as well as Man! This is a basis
upon which the soul's hope may well be founded and established forever.
If the interposing Mediator is, indeed, "very God of very God"–and He
is–we see from where He has this Living Water and we can come to Him
with the utmost confidence, knowing that He is able to save unto the
uttermost all that come unto God by Him!
Another answer to the Samaritan woman's question is that Christ has
this Living Water by the Divine Purpose and Appointment. It was the
Divine Plan that Jesus Christ, the second Person of the blessed Trinity
in Unity, should be appointed to be the Treasury of Grace for all His
elect ones. In the council chamber of eternity it was ordained that the
Son of God should, in due time, come into this world and take upon
Himself our nature and also our sin. And He was set apart, in the
eternal purpose, to do so and, in the proclamation of the Gospel, that
decree of the Lord is published to the sons of men! The Lord God has
set forth His Son Jesus as the one Propitiation for the sins of men! He
is authorized by God to be a Savior and He comes here, by Divine
appointment, to bestow upon us the blessings of His Grace. When an
ambassador comes to this land from another country, he brings
credentials to prove that he is duly accredited by the authority that
he represents–and our Lord Jesus Christ comes to men with credentials
which prove that He was appointed by God to this service before all
worlds were made–and that He will be Divinely sustained in that
Appointment till time shall be no more! And then, having completed His
mediatorial work, He will surrender the Kingdom to His Father– and God
shall be All-in-All. So now, as Mediator, He stands, appointed by the
Most High to distribute the blessings of His Grace which is the Living
Water of which our text speaks!
To me, this Truth of God is inconceivably sweet, for, when I trust in
Jesus Christ to save me, I rejoice to know that He is no amateur Savior
who has come on His own authority and at His own bidding. But, behold,
the Father Himself has sent Him! He is the Messiah, the Sent One, the
Anointed, the Christ of God! God must accept His Son, for He sent Him
into the world for this very purpose. If I bring to God the blood of
Jesus as the Atonement for my sin, He must ac-
cept it, for He Himself ordained it as the medium of reconciliation! My
blessed Savior, if I hide in You, I cannot be either dragged or driven
from You, for God has set You apart to be the City of Refuge to which
my poor soul may flee for protection and shelter! God has appointed
Jesus "to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins." It seems to me that these are two grand answers
to the question of the Samaritan woman, "Where then do You get that
living water?"–first, from His own natural and essential Deity and,
secondly, as the Mediator appointed and sustained by the eternal
Father!
But, thirdly, the Lord Jesus could give a further answer to the woman's
question by referring to the anointing which He had received from the
Holy Spirit. On the day of His Baptism in the Jordan, the Spirit
descended upon Him like a dove and sat upon Him. He could truly say,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach
the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord." He was anointed by the Holy Spirit for the work of
distributing the Living Water to the sons and daughters of men. He was
God's CHRIS-TOS–God's "Anointed." Those are two very precious titles
which are often put together, Jesus Christ–the Anointed Savior–they
describe both His office and His qualification for that office. Well,
then, behold Jesus Christ, with the fullness of the Spirit abiding upon
Him, coming into the world endowed with all those Divine gifts which,
as Mediator, He needed, that He might be able to carry out the work
which the Lord had of old appointed Him to do! The Spirit of God is
still with Him and He gives the Spirit to those who seek Him. This,
then, is the third answer to the woman's question, "Where then do You
get that living water?" He has it because the Spirit of God is upon
Him.
There is another answer which may convince some who have not been
comforted or enlightened by the previous ones. It could not have been
given to the woman, at the time she put the question, except by way of
anticipation. But say that Christ has this Living Water because His
redeeming work is finished. He had it, virtually, during His life on
earth, in foresight of the work which He had undertaken to finish.
Hence it was that multitudes of souls went to Heaven long before Christ
had paid the ransom for them. His pledge and promise being a guarantee
that the great deed would surely be accomplished. Think of this–that
the Son of God whom the holy angels worshipped without ceasing, should
have come here in the form of a Baby who nestled in a woman's arms that
He might save us! Oh, let the joy-bells ring as we think of God in
human flesh! Does not the thought of Christ's Incarnation bring hope to
the lost? May not sinners see, in it, how the Living Water finds a
channel in which it can flow down to them in the Person of the
Incarnate God–"Emmanuel, God With Us"? "Unto us a Child is born, unto
us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The
Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." He lived for 30 years in this
world, a quiet, humble life, working out a righteousness for all His
people, fulfilling all the relationships of life into which He was
brought and so, when He came to be baptized, He openly revealed the
work that He was doing all His life, namely, fulfilling all
righteousness! Throughout the whole of His earthly career He was living
for us and working for us–and the merit of His unique life stands to
the credit of all who believe in Him.
At last the time came for Him to die, for, "without shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins." The Living Water could not come to us
unless Christ's heart was opened to let it out. He must give His life a
ransom for many or else there could never be any ransomed souls. You
know the sad, sad story. Jesus goes forth from the place where He had
instituted the memorial supper. He enters Gethsemane's garden, utters a
series of agonizing prayers in the course of which a shower of His
precious blood falls upon the earth where He kneels. He rises from the
ground, meets His betrayer and receives the cruel traitor kiss. He
thrusts aside the sword with which His too eager disciple would have
defended Him and He is led like a lamb to the slaughter. And like a
sheep dumb before her shearers, He opens not His mouth to answer His
accusers. He gives His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that
pluck out the hair. He hides not His face from shame and spitting. Yes,
though He is Lord of All, He voluntarily yields Himself up to a felon's
death and gives up His immaculate body, which had never been stained by
sin, to be pierced with the nails and every bone to be dislocated by
the jar as the Cross is first lifted up and then hurled down into its
place!
He hangs in the burning sun, parched with fever. He has no friend or
comforter, for even God has forsaken Him while He is bearing His
people's sin! His enemies mock and laugh at His agonies. He yields up
His soul unto death without a murmuring word. He knew that the price of
pardon was His blood, but His pity never withdrew and, until He could
say, "It is finished," He held on to life. When it was finished, He
submitted Himself to death–and the Lord of
Glory was laid in the new tomb in the garden. Now, if you ask me, from
where, then, has Jesus of Nazareth, God Incarnate, got that Living
Water, I answer in three words–"Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Golgotha." Put
these three together– the place where He sweat great drops of blood,
the place where He was scourged and the place where He died–and you
can comprehend why He has this Living Water!
Another answer to the woman's question, "Where then do You get that
living water," is that He has it in the reward which His Father
promised to Him for His mediatorial work "He shall see of the travail
of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My
righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities"
God's only-begotten and well-beloved Son is to receive a full reward
for all that He endured–and all that He has so far received of His
Father is not for Himself–for He needs nothing–but He has received it
that He may distribute it among the rebellious children of men! The
Psalmist truly sang, "You have ascended on high, You have led captivity
captive: You have received gifts for men; yes, for the rebellious,
also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." And this is where He
got that Living Water! Poor Soul, groping in the dark and trying to
believe in Jesus, ought not this to enable you to believe in Him?
Christ has lived, loved, bled, died and now there is a reward due to
Him which can only be met by the salvation of all for whom He died!
See, then, how He has the Living Water and come and trust Him to give
it to you freely!
There is one other answer to the woman's question, "Where then do You
get that living water?" It is this. Because of His intercession at His
Father's right hand in Glory. Jesus, the God-Man, the Mediator between
God and men, ever lives to make intercession for us. "Therefore He is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him,
seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them." Look at Him, my
Brothers and Sisters! The risen Christ at God's right hand! If you can,
see Him standing there in His robes of glory and beauty, for He is no
longer a sacrificing Priest, for His one Sacrifice in which He offered
up Himself is finished forever! Now He has put on the royal robes of
the High Priest, for He is both a Prince and a Priest–and there He
stands with our names engraved upon His breastplate–each glittering
jewel dear to the eyes of God. Wherever He moves, the bells and the
pomegranates upon His glorious garments pour forth sweet music in the
ear of the Most High, for Christ is altogether lovely in the eyes of
His Father and He is always dear to the heart of His Father.
There He stands as the great Representative Man, fully acceptable to
God–no, more–dearly beloved of God and, for His sake, God looks upon
all who are in Him with Infinite Love and Divine Complacency! Some of
you may know what it is to have a beloved son away in America or
Australia for many years. By-and-by he comes home and he brings his
wife. You have never seen her, but you love her for his sake. Possibly
he also brings home a dozen children. Well, that is a large addition to
your family, but you welcome them all for your boy's sake, do you not?
I am sure you do! And you seem to see his image in them all! All who
belong to him are dear to you for his sake. So, the ever-blessed God
looks with unspeakable love upon the whole family of Christ because of
the love which He bears to their Covenant Head, Lord and Surety. This
eternal life that is in Him–this boundless love that God gives to
Him–this intercessory power that He has with the Father and that He
uses on our behalf–this is from where He got that Living Water!
III. Now may God the Holy Spirit especially aid us while we briefly
notice, in the third place, THE INFERENCES TO BE DRAWN FROM THIS TRUTH
OF GOD. If this is from where Christ got this Living Water, then He is
still able to bless the children of men.
If He had received Divine Grace from some temporary source of supply,
it would have been exhausted long ago. But, since He received it from
His own Divine Nature, from the purpose and plan of God, from the
anointing of the Holy Spirit, from His own finished work and from His
ever-living power and infinite merit–since all these fountains of
Grace are as full today as they ever were and since they always will be
just as full–the stream of Grace will continue to flow from the same
Source! If the deeps from which a well draws its water are always the
same, then depend upon it, the supply in the well will always be the
same! If, therefore, the great deeps from which Christ draws the Living
Water cannot be supposed to be lessened, the Living Water is in Him, at
this moment, as much as it was 1800 years ago!
The remembrance of this Truth should bring consolation to the soul of
anyone who may have said, "I wish that I had lived long ago when Christ
was upon this earth in visible form." You should not speak so, for you
may as readily receive Grace from Christ as did the woman of Samaria.
The very words which Jesus spoke to that poor fallen creature, He also
addresses to you, "If you knew the gift of God…you would have asked
of Him, and He would have given you Living Wa-
ter." Ask and you shall have, even as she asked and received! It is
abundantly clear that there is an ample supply of Grace stored up in
Christ Jesus for all who trust Him.
It is equally clear that He needs nothing from us. If He had drawn the
living water out of the well at Sychar, He would have wanted to borrow
the woman's water pot. He would have said, "Now, Mistress, you must
lend Me your rope and your water pot, for, otherwise, I cannot get at
the water in the well." But, as the Living Water comes only from
Himself, He needs nobody's water pot or rope! This is a very important
matter, because you, Sinners, will persist in bringing your water pots
and your ropes to help Christ. You want to aid the Lord Jesus Christ,
in some way or other, in His work of saving you. "Ah," you say, "I know
that He is a Savior, but then I must…" Well, what "must" you do?
"Oh," says one, "I must do this," and another says, "I must do that." I
will tell you all, the "must" there is about your case–you must be
willing to benothingand let Christ be everything! You must be the
emptiness and He must be the fullness. You must be the poverty and He
must be the riches. You must be the poor miserable beggar and He must
be your great Enricher, your All-in-all. That is all that is needed.
Then, once more, since this Living Water comes to Christ from His
essential Deity and all the other grand things of which I have spoken,
it is not exhausted at this present time. There is an abiding fullness
in Christ since the Living Water comes thus to Him. Millions of happy
spirits are now in Heaven who have drunk of this Living Water, but
Christ is just as able to save millions upon millions more! Your sins
cannot exhaust Christ's fullness! I remember when the thirst of my soul
was so strong, by reason of my acute sense of sin, that I compared
myself to behemoth, of whom the Lord said to Job, "He trusts that he
can draw up Jordan into his mouth." Well, now, if your soul's thirst is
so great that it will take more than Jordan to satisfy you–and the
rivers of Abana and Pharpar after that and Kishon after that. And the
Mediterranean Sea after that and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans after
all those–if you could drink up all that is good in the whole universe
and still thirst for more–if you will receive Grace from Christ, He
will fill you to the full, yet He will still be just as full of Grace
as He ever was!
There was a sailor, who, if I remember the story rightly, once called
at Lubbock's Bank to cash his pay notes. I think he was to draw £50, so
he said to the clerk, "I don't like to be hard on anybody. As you have
to pay out all this money, I will take ten pounds now and I will call
again another day for some more, as I don't want to break you up." Of
course, you may imagine how they smiled at the simplicity of the man
who thought that he might break the bank by drawing out such an
enormous sum of money as fifty pounds all at once! You smile at the
illustration, yet that is just exactly how many sinners treat the Lord
Jesus Christ. They seem to think it is too much to expect to receive
from Him the full and free forgiveness of all their sins. They imagine
that it is too much for Christ to give all at once, but they do not
know that the Lord Jesus Christ has already pardoned enough sinners to
make Heaven as bright with redeemed spirits as the sky is with stars!
And yet He has as much pardoning mercy left as He ever had! After you
draw from a perennial fountain as much water as you need, it still
springs up as copiously as ever and so is it with the Living Water
which is stored up in Christ! And you may have it, poor thirsty
Soul–as much as you need. I will not underestimate the greatness of
your sin. It is, indeed, enormous. But since Christ has borne it in His
own body on the tree, He knows its weight and all about it. And as soon
as you trust in Him, you will realize that He has put it all away
forever!
So I think that the final inference to be drawn is that we should all
take of this Living Water which Christ so freely gives. "Ah," says one,
"I bless God that I drank of it years ago." Never mind, Brother. Never
mind, Sister. Come and drink of it again! Keep on receiving Jesus
Christ again and again, continually looking unto Him as the Author and
Finisher of your faith. Let us all go to Him–saints and sinners, saved
and unsaved–this very moment. May the Holy Spirit draw us and may we
all, as one man, say, "I give myself up to You, O Savior, to save me;
and I trust You to cleanse me from all my sin and to present me at
last, faultless, before the Presence of Your Glory with exceeding joy.
I am nothing, and I have nothing that I can bring to You to merit Your
esteem. I am nothing but a mass of sin and misery–not even feeling my
sin as I ought to feel it. Look upon me, O Savior, in love and mercy,
and give me the Grace to drink of the Living Water this very hour, if I
never drank of it before. And if I did drink of it long ago, let it
spring up within me just now, and may I be conscious of its power to my
own comfort and to Your praise and Glory!"
If this is your prayer, my Brothers and Sisters, God will bless you!
And we shall meet in Heaven, by His Grace, still to drink of the Living
Water forever and ever! And to His blessed name we will ascribe all the
praise and glory for our salvation, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN4:l-34.
Verses 1-4. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard
that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus
Himself baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judaea, and departed
again into Galilee. And He needed to go through Samaria. And, surely,
not only because it was the more convenient way, but because He had
designs of love for some souls there that His Father had given Him.
There are many needs in Divine Providence because of the needs of
Divine Grace!
5, 6. Then He came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near
to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's
well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat on
the well: and it was about the sixth hour. Wearied and needing rest,
yet there was no rest for Him except that He found His sweetest rest in
winning immortal souls unto Himself!
7. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her,
Give me a drink. That is practically what Jesus still says to the sons
and daughters of men–"Give me a drink." He asks for your love, for
your trust, for your confidence. It is His food and drink to bless your
soul and to give you the blessing that you need–and it is a
refreshment to His spirit when you give Him the opportunity of thus
blessing you.
8. (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food). It was
a great mercy that the disciples were out of the way just then. Had
they been there, they might have tried to keep this poor woman from
speaking to the Savior and, sometimes, Brothers and Sisters, it may be
well for us to be laid aside. God may do more good without our presence
than with it. Who can tell?
9. 10. Then the woman of Samaria said unto Him, How is it that You,
being a Jew, asks a drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? For the
Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If you knew the gift ofGod, and who it is that says to you, Give
Me a drink; you wouldhave asked ofHim, andHe wouldhave given you living
water. See, then, the evil of spiritual ignorance! And also see how the
chain of Grace works, "If you knew.. .you would have sought.. .and He
would have given." When God gives the knowledge of Christ to the soul,
then there comes the spirit of prayer–and then consequent blessings!
11, 12. The woman said unto Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with and
the wellis deep. Where then do Youget that living water? Are You
greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? She took the
Savior's figure literally–and there are still many who cannot see the
spiritual meaning of God's Word and run their heads against the hard
stern letter which kills–instead of seeking and finding the inner
living spirit which gives life. These are the people who build their
hopes of salvation upon outward ordinances and who impute saving power
to "sacraments." Would God that they knew better!
13-15. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whoever drinks of this water
shall thirst again: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said
unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here
to draw. She was still unable to see the inner meaning of the Savior's
words! The outward sense still held her fast. She needed to have her
conscience aroused, for that would prove to be the way into her heart.
Christ has different doors for entering into different people's souls.
Into some He enters by the understanding. Into many, by the affections.
To some, He comes by the way of fear. To another, by that of hope–and
to this woman He came by way of her conscience.
16-19. Jesus said unto her, Go, callyour husbandand come here. The
woman answered and said, Ihave no husband. Jesus said unto her, You
have well said, Ihave no husband: for you have had five husbands; and
he who you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly The
woman said unto Him, Sir, I perceive that You are a Prophet Something
had come home to her conscience through what the Savior said to her, so
she began to speak about what He was, not about what she was! This
often happens when the preacher is enabled, by Divine Grace, to come
home to the conscience. The result is that the hearer says, "What a
wonderful preacher he is!" But that will do no good–that is not the
point at which we are aiming. "The woman said unto Him, Sir, I perceive
that You are a Prophet," and off she goes, on a tangent, to enquire
about various forms of religious observance! Evil as she was, she was
still a person who wished to be re-
garded as a religious woman! And it is strange how often a certain
religiousness will flourish even in the most depraved heart–not true
godliness, however. So she propounded this difficulty to the Savior–
20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and You say that in
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. "There are so many
sects, can You tell me which is the right one?" That is the question
which men often put to us when we begin to touch their consciences.
21. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour comes when you
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father This question is of very temporary interest. The hour comes when
neither of these places, nor yet any other, shall be considered sacred!
22-24. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. No longer is any
consecrated building necessary to true worship! Indeed, no building can
be consecrated. No longer are we to be confined to canonical hours. No
longer is God to be sought with the sensuousness of sweet music or of
fragrant incense–He is to be sought with the heart, soul and spirit!
25, 26. The woman said unto Him. I know that Messiah comes, which is
called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things. Jesus said
unto her, I that speak unto you am He. This great Truth of God burst
upon her with all the forge of a Divine Revelation–and faith came with
the information! The words that had gone before had prepared her to
expect this manifestation of Christ to her soul.
27-34. Andat thispoint His disciples came andmarvelled that He talked
with a woman: yet no man said, What do You seek? Or, Why do You talk
with her? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the
city, and said to the men, Come, see a Man who told me all things that
I ever did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and
came unto Him. In the meanwhile His disciples urged Him, saying,
Master, eat But He said unto them, I have food to eat that you know not
of Therefore said the disciples, one to another, Has any man brought
Him something to eat? Jesus said unto them, My food is to do the will
of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work