Part 1 (2/2)
There is another kind of christian, an utterly different kind, spoken of and ill.u.s.trated in this same Gospel of John, and I doubt not many of them also are here. It is _Jesus' ideal_ of what a christian should be.
Have you sometimes wished you could have a few minutes of quiet talk with Jesus? I mean face to face, as two of us might sit and talk together. You have thought you would ask Him to say very simply and plainly just what He expects of you. Well, I believe He would answer in words something like those of this seventh chapter of John. It was at the time of Feast of Tabernacles. There was a vast mult.i.tude of Jews there from all parts of the world. It was like an immense convention, but larger than any convention we know. The people were not entertained in the homes, but lived for seven days in leafy booths made of branches of trees. It was the last day of the feast. There was a large concourse of people gathered in one of the temple areas; not women, but men; not sitting, but standing. Up yonder stand the priests, pouring water out of large jars, to symbolize the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the nation of Israel. Just then Jesus speaks, and amid the silence of the intently watching throng His voice rings out: ”If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink; he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith, _out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water_.” Mark that significant closing clause. That packs into a sentence Jesus' ideal of what a true christian down in this world should be, and may be. Every word is full of meaning.
The heart of the sentence is in the last word--”water.” _Water_ is an essential of life. Absence of water means suffering and sickness, dearth and death. Plenty of good water means _life_. All the history of the world cl.u.s.ters about the water courses. Study the history of the rivers, the seash.o.r.es, and lake edges, and you know the history of the earth.
Those men who heard Jesus speak would instinctively think of the Jordan.
It was their river. Travelers say that no valley exceeded in beauty and fruitfulness that valley of the Jordan, made so by those swift waters.
No hillside so fair in their green beauty, nor so wealthy in heavy loads of fruit as those sloping down to the edge of that stream. Now plainly Jesus is talking of something that may, through us, exert as decided an influence upon the lives of those we touch as water has exerted, and still exerts, on the history of the earth, and as this Jordan did in that wonderful, historic Palestine. Mark the quant.i.ty of water--”rivers.” Not a Jordan merely, that would be wonderful enough, but Jordans--a Jordan, and a Nile, and a Euphrates, a Yang Tse Kiang, and an Olga and a Rhine, a Seine and a Thames, and a Hudson and an Ohio--”_rivers_.” Notice, too, the _kind_ of water. Like this racing, turbulent, muddy Jordan? No, no! ”rivers of _living_ water,” ”water of _life_, clear as crystal.” You remember in Ezekiel's vision which we read together that the waters constantly increased in depth, and that everywhere they went there was healing, and abundant life, and prosperity, and beauty, and food, and a continual harvest the year round, and all because of the waters of the river. They were veritable waters of life.
Now mark that little, but very significant, phrase--”_Out of_”--not _into_, but ”out of.” All the difference in the lives of men lies in the difference between these two expressions. ”Into” is the world's preposition. Every stream turns in; and that means _a dead sea_. Many a man's life is simply the coast line of a dead sea. ”Out of” is the Master's word. His thought is of others. The stream must flow in, and must flow through, if it is to flow out, but it is judged by its direction, and Jesus would turn it outward. There must be good connections upward, and a clear channel inward, but the objective point is outward toward a parched earth. But before it can flow out it must _fill up_. An _out_flow in this case means an _over_flow. There must be a flooding inside before there can be a flowing out. And let the fact be carefully marked that it is only the overflow from the fullness within our own lives that brings refres.h.i.+ng to anyone else. A man praying at a conference in England for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit said: ”O, Lord, we can't hold much, but we can overflow lots.” That is exactly the Master's thought. ”Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
Do you remember that phrase in the third chapter of Joshua--”For Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest.” When there was a flood in the river, there was a harvest in the land. Has there been a harvest in your life? A harvest of the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, long-suffering; a harvest of souls? ”No,” do you say, ”not much of a harvest, I am afraid,” or it may be your heart says ”none at all.”
Is it hard to tell why? Has there been a flood-tide in your heart, a filling up from above until the blessed stream had to find an outlet somewhere, and produce a harvest? A harvest outside means a rising of the tide inside. A flooding of the heart always brings a harvest in the life. A few years ago there were great floods in the southern states, and the cotton and corn crops following were unprecedented. Paul reminded his Roman friends that when the Holy Spirit has free swing in the life ”the love of G.o.d _floods_ our hearts.”[2]
Please notice, too, the _source_ of the stream--”out of his belly.” Will you observe for a moment the rhetorical figure here? I used to suppose it meant ”out of his _heart_.” The ancients, you remember, thought the heart lay down in the abdominal region. But you will find that this book is very exact in its use of words. The blood is the life. The heart pumps the blood, but the stomach makes it. The seat of life is not in the heart, but in the stomach. If you will take down a book of physiology, and find the chart showing the circulation of the blood, you will see a wonderful network of lines spreading out in every direction, but all running, through lighter lines into heavier, and still blacker, until every line converges in the great stomach artery. _And everywhere the blood goes there is life._ Now turn to a book of physical geography and get a map showing the water system of some great valley like the Mississippi, and you will find a striking reproduction of the other chart. And if you will shut your eyes and imagine the reality back of that chart, you will see hundreds of cool, clear springs flowing successively into runs, brooks, creeks, larger streams, river branches, rivers, and finally into the great river--the reservoir of all. _And everywhere the waters go there is life._ The only difference between these two streams of life is in the direction. The blood flows from the largest toward the smallest; the water flows from the smallest toward the largest. Both bring life with its accompaniments of beauty and vigor and fruitfulness. There is Jesus' picture of the Christian down in the world. As the red stream flows out from the stomach, and, propelled by the force-pump of the heart, through a marvelous network of minute rivers takes life to every part of the body, so ”he that believeth on Me”--that is the vital connecting link with the great origin of this stream of life--out of the very source of life within him shall go _a flood-tide of life_, bringing refres.h.i.+ng, and cleansing, and beauty, and vigor everywhere within the circle of his life, even though, like the red streams and the water streams, he be unconscious of it.
An Unlikely Channel.
What a marvelous conception of the power of life! How strikingly it describes Jesus' own earthly life! But there is something more marvelous still--He means that ideal to become real in you, my friend, and in me.
I doubt not there are some here whose eager hearts are hungry for just such a life, but who are tremblingly conscious of their own weakness.
Your thoughts are saying: ”I wish I _could_ live such a life, but certainly this is not for _me_; this man talking doesn't know _me_--no special talent or opportunity: such strong tides of temptation that sweep me clean off my feet--not for me.” Ah, my friend, I verily believe you are the very one the Master had in mind, for He had John put into his gospel a living ill.u.s.tration of this ideal of His that goes down to the very edge of human unlikeliness and inability. He goes down to the lowest so as to include all. What proved true in this case may prove true with you, and much more. The story is in the fourth chapter. It is a sort of advance page of the Book of Acts. A sample of the power of Pentecost before the day of Pentecost. You and I live on the flood-side of Pentecost. This ill.u.s.tration belongs back where the streams had only just commenced trickling. It is a miniature. You and I may furnish the life-size if we will.
It is the story of a woman; not a man, but a woman. One of the _weaker_ s.e.x, so called. She was ignorant, prejudiced, and without social standing. She was a woman of no reputation. Aye, worse than that, of bad reputation. She probably had less moral influence in her town than any one here has in his circle. Could a more unlikely person have been used?
But she came in touch with the Lord Jesus. She yielded herself to that touch. There lies the secret of what follows. That contact radically changed her. She went back to her village and commenced speaking about Jesus to those she knew. She could not preach; she simply told plainly and earnestly what she knew and believed about Him. And the result is startling. There are hundreds of ministers who are earnestly longing for what came so easily to her. What modern people call a revival began at once. We are told in the simple language of the Gospel record that ”_many believed on Him because of the word of the woman._” They had not seen Jesus yet. He was up by the well. They were down in the village.
She was an ignorant woman, of formerly sinful life. But there is the record of the wonderful result of her simple witnessing--they believed on Jesus because of the word of that woman. There is only one way to account for such results. Only the Holy Spirit speaking through her lips could have produced them. She had commenced drinking of the living water of which Jesus had been talking to her, and now already the rivers were flowing out to others.
What Jesus did with her, He longs to do with you, _and far more_, if you will let Him; though his plan for using you may be utterly different from the one He had for her, and so the particular results different.
Now let me ask very frankly why have we not all such power for our Master as she? The Master's plan is plain. He said ”ye shall have power.” But so many of us do not have! Why not? Well, possibly some of us are like Nicodemus--there is no power because of timidity, cowardice, fear of what _they_ will think, or say. Possibly some of us are in the same condition spiritually that Lazarus was in physically. We are tied up tight, hands and feet and face. Some sin, some compromise, some hus.h.i.+ng of that inner voice, _something_ wrong. Some little thing, you may say. Humph! as though anything _could_ be little that is wrong! _Sin is never little!_
A Clogged Channel.
Out in Colorado they tell of a little town nestled down at the foot of some hills--a sleepy-hollow village. You remember the rainfall is very slight out there, and they depend much upon irrigation. But some enterprising citizens ran a pipe up the hills to a lake of clear, sweet water. As a result the town enjoyed a bountiful supply of water the year round without being dependent upon the doubtful rainfall. And the population increased and the place had quite a western boom. One morning the housewives turned the water spigots, but no water came. There was some sputtering. There is apt to be noise when there is nothing else.
The men climbed the hill. There was the lake full as ever. They examined around the pipes as well as possible, but could find no break. Try as they might, they could find no cause for the stoppage. And as days grew into weeks, people commenced moving away again, the gra.s.s grew in the streets, and the prosperous town was going back to its old sleepy condition when one day one of the town officials received a note. It was poorly written, with bad spelling and grammar, but he never cared less about writing or grammar than just then. It said in effect: ”Ef you'll jes pull the plug out of the pipe about eight inches from the top you'll get all the water you want.” Up they started for the top of the hill, and examining the pipe, found the plug which some vicious tramp had inserted. Not a very big plug--just big enough to fill the pipe. It is surprising how large a reservoir of water can be held back by how small a plug. Out came the plug; down came the water freely; by and by back came prosperity again.
_Why_ is there such a lack of power in our lives? The reservoir up yonder is full to overflowing, with clear, sweet, life-giving water. And here all around us the earth is so dry, so thirsty, cracked open--huge cracks like dumb mouths asking mutely for what we should give. And the connecting pipes between the reservoir above and the parched plain below are there. Why then do not the refres.h.i.+ng waters come rus.h.i.+ng down? The answer is very plain. You know why. _There is a plug in the pipe._ Something in us clogging up the channel and nothing can get through. How shall we have power, abundant, life-giving, sweetening our own lives, and changing those we touch? The answer is easy for me to give--it will be much harder for us all to do--_pull out the plug_. Get out the thing that you know is hindering.
I am going to ask every one who will, to offer this simple prayer--and I am sure every thoughtful, earnest man and woman here will. Just bow your head and quietly under your breath say to Him: ”Lord Jesus, show me what there is in my life that is displeasing to Thee; what there is Thou wouldst change.” You may be sure He will. He is faithful. He will put His finger on that tender spot very surely. Then add a second clause to that prayer--”By Thy grace helping me, _I will put it out_ whatever it may cost, or wherever it may cut.” Shall we bow our heads and offer that prayer, and hew close to that line, steadily, faithfully? It will open up a life of marvelous blessing undreamed of for you and everyone you touch.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] John 3:1. 7:50. 12:42 with 9:22. 19:38, 39.
[2] Rom. 5:5.
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