Outcome of the Income — Roy Hession

Prayer for Revelation and Grace

Let us bow our heads in prayer. Lord Jesus, we thank Thee once again for the thrill of meeting Thee as Thou really art again, as we sit under Thy Word. We thank Thee, Lord, for this means of grace of sitting under Thy Word.

Lord, it's not grace, but it's a means by which grace so often comes to us. It's that thing which Thou dost use for the perfecting of the saints, Thy holy Word and the truths within it. And we ask, Lord, that the Holy Spirit this morning may shall give us an understanding, a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Thee.

O Lord, these things are not understood by puzzling them out, but by revelation. Give us just that. May it be all over the place, people seeing what they didn't see before, understanding, making application.

And Lord, we thank You for the love that does apply Thy Word to us, that pinpoints our need and position and the provision You have made for them. Lord, it's sometimes quite astonishing how Thou dost fit message to need.

The needs are so many, and yet the message can be made to apply to every one of them. So Lord, do it for us this morning. Lord, I'm particularly dependent on Thee. I haven't been able to sort it all out as much as I'd like, but You've sorted it out.

That's really all that matters, and You're here with us. Make this a precious time. Indeed, the whole remaining hours we're going to spend together, may they be something more than we've ever tasted before.

We're expecting this of Thee, it's characteristic of Thee, to keep the best wine till the end. Lord, we thank Thee for this. Thou hast said, I will do better for you at your end than at your beginnings.

And Lord, some of us have had quite a time on the Christian pathway. But Lord, You determine that there shall be something better at our end even than at our beginning. So, bless us to that end, we pray Thee, as we open Thy dear word.

We ask this in Thy name. Amen. Amen. Well, I wanted to read to you two passages which are familiar, but in the most familiar passages there's always new light to spring forth from us. May that be so this morning.

Living Water in John 4

I'm reading the two passages in John's Gospel, in which the imagery of living water is used. The first is in John 4. We shall begin at verse 5. John 4, verse 5. Then cometh Jesus to a city of Samaria, which is called Syca, 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 thus on the well. And it was about the sixth hour, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

And Jesus answered and said in words that are very special, wonderful words, Dear woman, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

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? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. And I make a little alteration here, cowled from the American Standard Version and various others, it's a little more accurate.

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him, not a well, but something better than a well, a spring, that's what the word is in the Greek, a spring of water leaping up into everlasting life.

That sounded good to the woman, didn't quite understand, but it was something to be desired, and so she said, The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thus well said I have no husband, for thou'st had five, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in that saidst thou truly.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Jesus is said to be, in scripture and in our hymns, prophet, priest, and king. You understand what his priesthood meant. You can understand what his kinghood means, and will mean, for he was a prophet.

And here is Jesus the prophet. She herself said, Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. And that's his work as being the prophet. He tells you all things that ever you did.

And nothing authenticates him so much as when he does that. You see, this is the real Jesus, who can tell me all things that ever I did. And this came out, as a result of her asking, that she should be given this living water, that Jesus was speaking of.

Rivers of Living Water in John 7

And then over in John 7 is the second passage, where this imagery of living water is used. Verse 37, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his inner man shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

There are these two places, where what Jesus has to give us, is spoken of as living water. That's a figure. And we are told what that figure means. At the end of the second passage it says this, Spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

And that word of explanation applies just as much, to the first passage as to the second. And so Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well, about the Holy Spirit, in the same way that he was speaking about the Holy Spirit, later on in John 7.

And these two passages together, give us two sides, of the work of the Spirit among us. In chapter 4, the story of the woman at the well, we have the Holy Spirit referred to as, under this phrase, in him, the man who is drunk, a spring.

In him, a spring. In you, a spring. And then in chapter 7, out of him, rivers of living water. John 4, in him a spring. John 7, out of him, living waters. In John 4, that spring is something for you, by means of which, and by means of which alone, you are going to live the Christian life.

In him a spring, the dear Holy Spirit. But in John 7, it is something for others, out of that man, who has received the spring, there is going to be something, not merely for himself, for others, rivers of living water, that they may be blessed, that they may have their thirsts slaked, and that they may enter into.

The Outcome of the Income

Now that last one, he that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his inner man shall flow rivers of living water. Now that passage for long challenged me. I couldn't quite get the hang of it, or certainly I couldn't get the experience of it.

I knew I had the spring, but what about those rivers that flowed out to others? I didn't feel God was causing them to flow to others through me. I wasn't really being fruitful in the blessing of other people.

And I longed that I might be. And I longed that there somehow or other, it should be fulfilled in me, out of me, would flow to others, rivers of living water. It says, he that believeth. Well, I believed.

Was there something defected in my believing? Was there a new sort of believing, that I needed to have, if this was to be experienced? Or was there another second blessing, or third blessing, that I had not received, which is here referred to, but because of which, thereafter, rivers would flow to others through me.

And then one day, I can't remember how it came to me, I really saw what it was. And I saw it wasn't a separate blessing. It wasn't a separate experience. It was simply the result of the first. And as I looked at the passage, I saw it.

Jesus said, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water. Coming to Christ, and believing on him, are virtually the same. And so I began to read it differently.

If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink, and out of the inner man of such an one. What one? Who's come to me and drink. There will, as a simple consequence, flow to others, rivers of living water.

That which he has drunk, from him will go the opportunity to others to do likewise. In other words, John's heaven is simply the outcome of the income. If you're a man, who's really knowing what it is to come unto Jesus and drink, and if you keep coming and you keep drinking, out of such a man, Jesus says, there's going to flow, quite without effort, rivers of living water to other men.

The outcome of the income. And if there's something defective in your outcome, it's probably because there's something deeply defective in the income. We may not altogether know what it is to come unto him and drink.

And so really you've got two sermons here, but I'm going to spend most of the time available on the first, the income. Because it's only as there's a blessed, full and continuous income, there's going to be an outcome to other people.

The Woman at the Well and the Coming Revival

And so we go back to that story of the woman at the well. There was Jesus, sitting by that Jacob's well, weary with his journey, and there comes the woman that he was waiting for. He especially made the detour he did because of one woman.

He knew that she was going to be the key to all the men and women of that district. Indeed, revival came to Samaria and this is how it all began. You don't know amongst no things revival to a church, to another person, to an area hinges.

And Jesus made a special journey because he knew there was a needy woman going to meet him there. And sure enough, bang on time, she turns up. And Jesus opens the conversation by saying, give me to drink.

That surprised her because Jews would have no dealings with Samaritans. And by the way, the unsaved still feel you won't have any dealings with them. And you and I might well do what Jesus did. He asked her for a favour.

Why don't you go to that unsaved neighbour of yours and ask him if you can borrow his mower or something like that. Ask him if he won't do you a favour. Oh dear, the Christians mustn't ask them to do us a favour.

Why not? Do you know when you ask another man to do him a favour, do you a favour, it's a compliment. And he doesn't dislike it, he rather feels gratified. Well that's how Jesus made his first approach.

He asked her for a favour, give me to drink. And she was surprised as I suggest at him ever asking such a thing and touched and only too ready to give him to drink. And I imagine, here I'm using a little sanctified imagination, I hope you'll think it's sanctified.

I want to imagine that she did try to give Jesus to drink. I do hope you don't think I'm too fanciful and thinking so, well listen to the rest of what I've got to say. But the more I look at this verse, the more legitimate I think this little imaginary incident is.

Give me to drink Lord, gladly. And so she took her water pot from off her head and hitched it on to the hook at the top of the well and she let it down. And then she began to turn and crank on the wheel.

She was going to give Jesus to drink. Well it was a hot day, it meant a bit of effort and perspiration. And it was a deep well. And she laboured away and she got the water pot to the top only to find there was nothing in it.

She hadn't let it down deep enough and she was really embarrassed. She said, oh I'm sorry about that Lord, I'll try again. I'll give you to drink, make no difficulty about it. And this time she made sure it really did get down to the bottom and she could feel the very weight of the water in the pot.

And so she begins to strain and work on that wheel. Only to discover when it got to the top there was no water in it. On the way up I want to imagine it had knocked against the side of the well. And by the time it got up it was empty.

Once again she was embarrassed. I'm sorry about that Lord. It doesn't often happen but I'll make sure this time it really is going to happen. And I want to imagine that when he asked her to give him to drink she busied herself about this matter of trying to give him to drink.

And I want to imagine she did so at least at first without any success. And then as she was doing it and feeling a bit embarrassed at her lack of success Jesus uttered these great and glorious words If you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water.

And I somehow feel that that very text justifies in some measure my little bit of imagination. She was wanting to give him to drink. He'd asked her to do it but he said if you only knew who it was who'd asked him you would have given up your tent to give him to drink.

You would have asked him to give you to drink. If you only knew who it was who's asking you if you only knew what that gift was. And so it seems to me that Jesus only asked her to give him to drink in order to provoke her to ask him to give her to drink.

From Trying to Serve to Receiving Grace

Now our first encounter with Jesus with God with Jesus is invariably hearing him say give me to drink. He comes to you and he asks you give me to drink of your service give me to drink of your love give me to drink of your days and hours in devotion.

That seemed to be the first impression we got from him. Sometimes the preacher virtually said it. And what came to us from the pulpit was a call from God to give him to drink. You know we don't always get much of the message of grace from the pulpit.

And the sinner doesn't always get it. And the saint doesn't always get it. What seems to come over to us is a call for us to try and give him to drink. And our first response was, was it not an attempt so to do.

Give you to drink Lord? You want to drink of my poor life? Of my days? Of my love? Of my service? What a privilege! And maybe you walked the aisle and your intention was to make a vow you were going to give Jesus to drink.

That might have been what happened when we made our first stand. It could well be what really happened when we wanted something further in the Christian life. We've heard him saying to us Christians, give me to drink.

And our response has been to decide to do just that. And so we try to give him to drink of our love. Of our devotion. Of our prayers. Of our service. Of our holiness. I don't want to give Jesus vinegar to drink like they gave him on the cross.

I want to give him water to drink. Real love. And so we try to produce those things. With no more success than I imagine that woman had. Again and again we try to give him to drink. We crank on the wheel.

We're really going to be different. Now we've faced it, the Bible, this is it I'm going to give him to drink. Come on now. And you go home with such bright ideas of what you're going to do for him. How you're going to satisfy his heart with your love and your service.

But what's the result? The good that you would, you don't do. And the evil that you would not and said you wouldn't do again, that you did. And you found, try as you will, you didn't succeed. And again and again the water pot was presented to him empty.

No one cranked harder on the wheel than Paul. He tells us about it, how he tried to give God to drink. And who shall deliver me? Now why should this be such a common experience? And it is. It's been alluded to already in this rally.

Well I believe that the well from which we're trying to draw water is an empty well. What well are you trying to draw from? Your love, your service, your prayers, your witness, etc, etc. Where are you going to get it from?

Well you say of course from myself. That's why you don't succeed. Because the well called self is absolutely barren of holiness, barren of spirituality, even in the converted, even in those that might be called sanctified.

It's made no difference to the well of the old man, what Paul calls in another place the flesh. The flesh can have very good intention. But when it comes to it, it just doesn't succeed in getting it. Paul said that.

I know that in me, that's in my flesh, that dwelleth no good thing, listen to this, for to will is present with me. I'm willing. But how to perform that which is good, I find not. I try, but there's just nothing in that old well.

Failure, the Flesh, and the Need for Grace

But we don't believe it at the beginning, to start with. And we've got to learn by failure that this is true. Oh, the blessed ministry of failure. How good it was that Peter fell flat on his face and denied the Lord.

He discovered there was nothing in his well. He discovered what Paul discovered. In him was no good thing. And if there's going to be any real Christian life emanating from him, it would have to be on another basis than merely noble attempts to do more and be more.

Because that's ever the way of failure. And all the time that we're trying so hard to give Jesus to drink, he's standing by and sadly saying, but if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that's been saying to you, give me to drink, you would have quit trying to give me to drink, and you would have allowed me to give you to drink.

And I believe Jesus only asks us to give him to drink in order to provoke us to ask him to give us to drink. And there's another sort of Christian life than merely an attempt to give him to drink. There's a Christian life which knows it can't be done.

But it made the discovery of grace. It's made the discovery that the only Christian life that's the real thing is not me trying to give Jesus to drink, but me in my emptiness consenting to let him to give me to drink.

It was Spurgeon who said great saints were only great receivers. They weren't great doers, they weren't great achievers, they weren't great prayers. They'd learnt that in them was nothing, and they'd learnt to let Jesus give them to drink, and what they had of holiness had been received.

It didn't emanate from themselves. And you know, if you were near enough to some of the people, perhaps you have put on a pedestal. And if such people are deep men of God, and they almost certainly are, you'd find the truth.

There was nothing special in them. They were the first to confess that in them there was no good thing. They were all the time coming with emptiness to Jesus, and letting Jesus give them to drink. And even their activities, even their outward activities, was not the product of their efforts for him, but was even him there giving him to drink.

Emptiness as the Qualification for Fullness

Oh, I tell you, I do try and give Jesus to drink. I go through a terrible trauma. I think I've been in some of that in my spirit in these days. I've felt, dear me, I've come from England. They're going to expect something awful good from me.

And I haven't got it, Lord! And I've tried to find it! And there have been times of worry. I've had to go back to the old stance which I've known before. And I would have known better not to have slipped into the old ways of coming in my helplessness.

Indeed, seeing my helplessness as a positive advantage, as my title to be filled. Did you know? Emptiness, rightly understood, is your title to fullness. But when we find ourselves emptiness, we get empty, we feel so worried, we feel I've got to make up for what's lacking.

Instead of really seeing that is my title, that is my qualification. And then there's another sort of life, not where I'm trying to give him to drink, where it's all Jesus giving a poor empty saint to give him to drink.

Even his service is not his effort, it's him. There's a lovely hymn by Charles Wesley. The image is a little difficult. He's talking of the Holy Spirit as fire, and not as water. But the truth is the same.

O Thou, who camest from above, the pure celestial fire to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart. Dare let it for Thy glory burn with inextinguishable blaze and trembling to its false return in humble prayer and fervent praise.

Why the very humble prayer and fervent praise is the leaping up of that flame, the leaping up of that spring. And even that is not me, but him. There's another sort of Christian life. That lived under law or that lived under grace.

That which is trying to give him to drink from the empty well, only bringing us despair and failure. And that is which is letting him to give me to drink. And so it is, the Holy Spirit is not even a well from which you've got to draw water by means of much effort, cranking on the wheel.

No! He's not a well. He's a spring and there's literally a well and a spring. A well sort of collects water from around. But a spring is a source of it. An artesian spring that leaps up. Spring thou up within my heart.

Rise to all eternity. You all know the name of C .S. Lewis. Indeed, strangely, folks over here have, in the nature of the case, got to know his works rather later than we did in England because, well, we were waiting for each book as it came.

And it took a little time for it to come over here. But what a blessing have the writings of C .S. Lewis been over here. Do you know so much, is it so much in vogue that I understand Wheaton College have a chair in C .S. Lewis.

And you can get your degree in C .S. Lewis. Well, why not? People get their degrees in all sorts of crazy things. Well, this is precious. And all he does is to point in a new way to Jesus. And he wrote some poetry.

And here's a poem which is very little known of his. But, do you know, it touches me when I read it. Let me read it to you now. They tell me, Lord, that when I seem to be in speech with you, since but one voice is heard, it's all a dream, one talker aping two.

Sometimes it is, yet not as they conceive it. Rather, I seek in myself the things I hope to say, but lo, my wells are dry. Then, seeing me empty, you forsake the listener's role, and through my dumb lips breathe, and into utterance wake the thoughts I never knew.

Seeing me empty, he forsakes the listener's role, and through my dumb lips breathe, and into utterance wake the thoughts I never knew. It's only when he sees me empty that he begins to cause that spring that had been there all the time to leap up.

I don't think he's referring a bit to when he talks about thoughts I never knew, words I never knew. I don't think he's referring to the gift of tongues or anything like that. I'm not sure I covet that gift.

I want to know what the Holy Spirit is preaching through me. And sometimes when I'm praying, I find, hey, what am I saying? I say, wait a minute Lord, that's too good to miss, and I do forget, and I drop down.

And then I say, now Lord, before I interrupt you, continue. And I find myself praying, and I find myself getting revelation, and sometimes when my wife's praying, I say, isn't that a beautiful thought?

And though I don't ask her to stop praying, I get a little penciled out very quietly, and I drop down and thought, I'm going to go into that. Oh, it wasn't the product of our efforts. Our wills were dry.

But all the grace of this wonderful God, when he sees you in that condition, dear man, he perceives the listener's role, and through your dumb lips, breathe, and into utterance wake the thoughts you never knew, and there's worship, there's praise, there's prayer.

And even that prayer isn't your efforts for him, but him through you. And that spring is beginning to leap up into everlasting life. Different sort of Christian life. Maybe it's not understood and entered into in a moment.

There's no quick formula, it's got to be revealed. Maybe God is using this very word to help you see this sweet message of grace to the needy believer. This is the only way in which there's going to be an outcome.

The Holy Spirit as an Inner Spring

Because of this blessed income. In me, a spring. Now, of course, every believer, when he believes on the Lord Jesus, it is born of the Spirit, receives the Spirit. And therefore, potentially, the spring is there.

But not in every believer is it an experience of spring. What I think most of us begin by thinking is, what I need is a draft of living water. I'm so dissatisfied, I'm so empty. When you were first saved, oh, for a draft of living water.

There's a lovely chorus we sometimes sing in England, the well is deep, and I require a draft of the water of life, for none can meet my soul's desire for a draft of the water of life. And that's what we think we've got.

We came to Jesus, as we were, and we got that draft, and my was it good. And in other special occasions, when in our special need is believers, we've come for a draft. But what Jesus said to that woman was this, the water that I shall give you shall become a spring.

It appears at first sight to be a draft. But it's got to become more than a draft, one big, long, deep drink. It's got to be a spring, all the time available, all the time leaping up. And you know, you might well ask, well, how in the world, for me, is the draft going to become a spring?

Well, I think, first of all, by learning more deeply, there's nothing in the old well. And then realizing that my qualification for what Jesus has for me is emptiness. Now, when I feel empty, and I have big demands upon me, I'm in a bad way.

I feel this is terrible. I haven't got what it takes. But I've got to see that that very emptiness of which I'm conscious is my qualification. And I go to Jesus, I say, Jesus, is it a fact that you specialize in empty Christians?

Is it really a fact that this is a qualification for grace? He says, it sure is. I'm at my best with people who haven't got what it takes. Why don't you acknowledge that fact, that that's where you are and make that your plea?

Make that your title. And I want to tell you, He always answers. Because confessed emptiness, confessed failure, makes you a candidate for grace in a way that a wonderful victory and so on and wonderful experience doesn't.

Do you know, as you seem to go on and get so much better in the Christian life, you grow out of grace rather than into it. You have no need of grace. That is undeserved. But if I can see myself as one full of ill-desert, I become a candidate.

And there grace is put within me this spring. And I want to tell you, never does he fail. But if I'm struggling and striving, what I feel happens is this. I feel empty, I feel needy, and here's a big demand made upon me.

And do you know I go back to striving and cranking on the old well to try to get water out of that. When all the time if I'd only recognized afresh the gift of God and who it was that was putting these demands on me, I would have asked of Him and He would have given me living water and I would have brought my very inabilities to Jesus.

Do you know when people begin to live under grace, they pray the most extraordinary prayers. They're almost cheeky and they thought, I've never felt so down in all my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Why feeling down makes you a fit candidate for Jesus?

He wants you to know within you there's no good thing. You ought not to have needed those new experiences to show it. But we do need them. And I want to tell you, that blessed draft is seen to be a spring that leaps up into eternal life.

Thus it is, the filling of the Spirit is continuous. There are many, many transactions. Many, many transactions. When you begin to be filled with the Spirit and the beginning of a path like this, your weakness and His fullness meeting.

There are times when you will for the moment be in despair and you will be tempted to go back to struggling on that old wheel again. But the Holy Spirit will show you in you a spring. And you'll find that from within.

The feeling of the Spirit is not to be regarded as like filling a cup at a faucet. But it is this picture of the spring inside. We are filled from within. We are filled by the One who's been there all the time but who's not been drawn on.

That we've been striving. And that blessed One leaps up within our hearts. Well now, this sounded good to the woman. And she said Sir, give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to drink.

Confession, Forgiveness, and Clearing the Debris

Jesus said do I understand you rightly? You want this living water? You may not understand too much about it but whatever it is you want it. Yes what I do. I'm not a happy woman. This sounds as if I'm going to become one.

He said alright you can. But why just you yourself? What about your husband? Why don't you both enter in? She said go and call your husband. And Jesus knew he'd touched on a sensitive spot. And you know really it is a sensitive spot.

You know today even in church if a woman is coming to the meetings alone you really mustn't ask too many questions. Where's your husband? Terrible thing we face. And what's so terrible? It's got into the saints.

It's got into the church. This light view of the marriage time. If it doesn't work out it's very simple. Instead of going to the cross as we heard our brother and sister did, the usual thing is to go to a lawyer divorce court.

It's just standard procedure. And alas what's gone wrong? In this evangelical awakening and there is one in America and it's coming in England. There's one fly in the ointment. This thing. The moral majority will invade against a lot of things.

Do they invade against this loose attitude to the marriage time? They can't mention it because some of their own supporters are involved. You don't know where you are today. And this woman was like that.

And when Jesus touched on that point, he knew it was a sensitive point. Oh, she said, I haven't got a husband. No, said Jesus, you haven't. You've had five. And he who thou now hast is not thy husband.

And he touched on that point. And said, go call thy husband because he knew if she was going to receive this living water, there was something in her life that needed forgiveness. And it's the same with us.

It may not be along the line of matrimony and faithfulness or playing with sex in a wrong way. Maybe something else that the moment we start getting hungry for the living water, Jesus says go call that thing.

And he begins to show us something in our lives which needs divine forgiveness. Which forgiveness cannot be received save as it is confessed. The sin is confessed. Go call thy husband. You know, it's really as if though the spring is there, if you're a believer, debris has fallen into the spring.

And that's why it's not become a spring in living experience. There are rocks. There's debris. And if that living water, that spring is going to leap up, I've got to let God show me what the debris is.

Things that need his forgiveness, which I must confess. And so he's ever the prophet to us. The faithful witness. And he doesn't fail to show us what the debris is as he did for this woman. Now it's very interesting to see what the debris was for this woman.

You might think that she was just an oversexed woman. I don't think she was. It was not until I heard an African, Bishop Fester Cavendry, speak on this that I understood a little more. He was so sympathetic toward her.

Most of us are very condemnatory. And he said she was simply a woman looking for happiness. It wasn't mere sex. It was happiness she wanted, like everybody wants. And when she first met that man, she said this is the way for happiness.