“And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water” (Genesis 21:19).
“And their eyes were opened, and they knew him” (Luke 24:31).
The fall of man was most disastrous in its results to our entire being. “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” was no idle threat; for Adam did die the moment that he transgressed the command-he died the great spiritual death by which all his spiritual powers became then and evermore, until God should restore them, absolutely dead. I said all the spiritual powers, and if I divide them after the analogy of the senses of the body, my meaning will be still more clear. Through the fall the spiritual taste of man became perverted, so that he puts bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter; he chooses the poison of hell and loathes the bread of heaven; he licks the dust of the serpent and rejects the food of angels. The spiritual hearing became grievously injured, for man naturally no longer hears God’s Word, but stops his ears at his Maker’s voice. Let the Gospel minister charm never so wisely, yet is the unconverted soul like the deaf adder which hears not the charmer’s voice. The spiritual feeling by virtue of our depravity is fearfully deadened. That which would once have filled the man with alarm and terror no longer excites emotion. Even the spiritual smell with which man should discern between that which is pure and holy and that which is unsavory to the most High has become defiled, and now man’s spiritual nostril, while unrenewed, derives no enjoyment from the sweet savor which is in Christ Jesus, but seeks after the putrid joys of sin. As with other senses so is it with man’s sight. He is so spiritually blind that things most plain and clear he cannot and will not see. The understanding, which is the soul’s eye, is covered with scales of ignorance, and when these are removed by the finger of instruction, the visual orb is still so affected that it only sees men as trees walking.
Our condition is thus most terrible, but at the same time it affords ample room for a display of the splendors of divine grace. We are naturally so entirely ruined, that if saved the whole work must be of God, and the whole glory must form the head of the Triune Jehovah. There must not only be a Christ lifted up of whom it can be said, “There is life in a look at the crucified One,” but that very look itself must be given to us, or else in vain should Christ hang upon the cross; there shall be no salvation by his death to us.
Taking Hagar’s case first, I shall address myself this morning to certain unconverted ones who are in a hopeful condition.
Taking Hagar’s case as the model to work upon, we may see in her and in many like her a preparedness for mercy. In many respects she was in a fit state to become an object of mercy’s help. She had a strong sense of need. The water was spent in the bottle, she herself was ready to faint, and her child lay at death’s door; and this sense of need was attended by vehement desires. It is a very hard thing to bring a sinner to long after Christ: so hard, that if a sinner doth really long and thirst after Jesus, the Spirit of God must have been secretly at work in his soul, begetting, and fostering those desires. When the invitation is given, “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” you can honestly say, “That means me.” That precious Gospel invitation, “Whosoever will, let him come,” is evidently yours, for you do will it eagerly and vehemently. The Searcher of all hearts knows that there is no objection in your heart either to be saved or to the way of being saved; nay, rather you sometimes lift your hands to heaven and say, “O God! would that I might say, ’Christ for me!’ “ You know that the water of life is desirable; you know more than that, you pine with an inward desire to drink of it. Your soul is now in such a state that if you do not find Jesus, you never will be happy without him. God has brought you into such a condition that you are like the magnetized needle, which has been turned away from the pole by the finger of some passerby, and it cannot rest until it gets back to its place. Your constant cry is, “Give me Christ! Give me Christ, or else I die!”
This is hopeful, but let me remind you that it alone will not save you. The discovery of a leak in a vessel may be preparatory to the pumping of the ship, and to the repair of the leak; but the discovery of the leak will not of itself keep the bark afloat. The fact that you have a fever it is well for you to know; but to groan under that fever will not restore you to health. To desire after Christ is a very blessed symptom, but mere desires will not bring you to heaven. You may be hungering and thirsting after Christ, but hungering and thirsting will not save you; you must have Christ, or your salvation does not lie in your hungering and thirsting, nor in your humblings, nor in your prayings; salvation is in Him who died upon the cross, and not in you.
Like Hagar you are humbled, and brought to self-despair. There was a time when you did not admit your need of a Savior; you found comfort enough in ceremonies, and in your own prayers, repentances, and so on. But now the water is spent in your bottle, and you are sitting down with Hagar wringing your hands and weeping in despair-a blessed despair! God bring you all to it! Self-despair is next door to confidence in Christ. Rest assured, until we are empty Jesus will never fill us; till we are stripped he will never clothe us; until self is dead Christ will not live in us.
It is quite certain that in Hagar’s case, the will was right enough with reference to the water. It would have been preposterous indeed to say to Hagar, “If there be water are you willing to drink?” “Willing?” she would say; “look at my parched lips, hear my dolorous cries, look at my poor panting, dying child! How can you ask a mother if she is willing to have water while her babe is perishing for thirst?” And so with you: if I were to propose to you the question, “Are you willing to be saved?” you might look me in the face and say, “Willing! oh sir. I have long passed beyond that stage, I am panting, groaning, thirsting, fainting, dying to find Christ. If He would come to me this morning I would not only open both the gates of my heart and say, ’Come in,’ but the gates are opened now before he comes, and my soul is saying, ’Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might even come to his seat!’ “ All this is hopeful, but I must again remind you that to will to be rich does not make a man rich, and that to will to be saved cannot in itself save you. Panting after health does not restore the sick man, though it may set him upon using the means, and so he may be healed; and with you your panting after salvation cannot save you, you must get beyond all this to the great Physician himself.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
