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. ITS DONOR. Yonder poor man who asks for refresh-ment — 1. Professes to have this water. 2. Is able to supply it. 3. Was appointed to give it. 4. Has the disposition to do so. 5. Has never denied it. II. ITS RESIDENCE. "In Him." 1. The internal principle of religion is not to be opposed to external practice: works must evidence experience. 2. Yet Divine things must be known and felt before they can govern us. God begins with the heart. 3. The religion of some people is all external. (1) That of some depends on external occurrences, like a stream produced by a storm instead of being supplied by a spring. Sickness, poverty, etc., make some men religious for a time. (2) That of others consists in external performances. Obedience is not enjoyed as their meat, but as their medicine. (3) The religion of a third is found in their connections. They leave it to their ministers or parents to think for them. (4) The religion of a fourth is all in Christ. They ridicule the very notion of a work of grace in us. III. ITS ACTIVITY. 1. Real Christians are everywhere represented as active — husband-men, reapers, warriors, racers. 2. The design of the gospel is to produce a people zealous for good works. 3. The graces of the Holy Spirit are not dormant, but active. 4. All the images of the gospel imply the same thing — leaven, fire, force of vegetation. IV. ITS TENDENCY. 1. It weans us from the world. 2. It sets our affections on things above. 3. It promotes the heavenly life below. (W. Jay.) 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? |