I. _These wells of salvation have been opened for the supply of human
needs;_ not for God's benefit, but for ours. What wells are to
travellers through a desert, these are to us in our pilgrimage to
Zion. II. _Men should come to these wells for the purpose of having
their needs supplied;_ not from habit, not that we may set a good
example, &c., but that we ourselves may be refreshed and
strengthened. III. _No frequency in coming to these wells can be in
any sense meritorious._ Expose the mistake of the Pharisee and the
Ritualist. The oftener we avail ourselves of them, the more we
increase, not our claims upon God, but our obligations to Him; and
the more should increase, not our pride and self-righteousness, but
our thankfulness to God for His goodness in providing them. IV. _The
wells are nothing: the water in them is everything._ A dry well,
however deep it may be, or whatever historic associations may cluster
around it, is worthless; and so are all religious ordinances apart
from the Spirit of God. We must ever remember that they are _means_
of grace--channels through which the God of all grace will satisfy
the soul's thirst of those who seek Him in sincerity and truth.
V. _Nevertheless we are not to stay away from the wells, nor despise
them._ That is a false spirituality that disparages divine
ordinances. We are not to trust in the wells, yet neither are we to
refuse to draw water out of them:--1. Because GOD opened them, and to
neglect them it to charge Him with foolishly providing what we do not
need. 2. Because it pleases Him to give us water through them; and we
are to accept the blessing in whatever way He chooses to impart it to
us. Naaman (2 Kings v. 11-13); the blind man (John ix. 6, 7).
3. Because we need refreshment and reinvigoration day by day (Isa.
xl. 31; Ps. lxxxiv. 7; H. E. I., 555, 556, 3866-3876). 4. Because our
Master in the days of His flesh used the means of grace; no true
Christian will seek in this respect to be above his Lord. VI. _God
has opened_ WELLS _of salvation;_ not one, but many; none needlessly.
We must use them all. Their benefit lies in their conjunction. For
the production of a harvest, the sun and the rain are both needed;
the sun alone would make a desert, the rain alone a swamp. No bird
can fly with _one_ wing, &c. We must read as well as pray, &c.
CONCLUDING LESSONS.--1. _Why God sometimes leaves the wells dry._ His
people sometimes come so to delight in the means of grace, that they
forget they are only _means,_ and then He withholds His blessings,
that they may be taught that He alone can satisfy their souls (Ps.
lxxxiv. 2, lxii. 5). 2. _Why, when there is water in the wells, some
are not quickened and refreshed._ (1.) Water revives the living, not
the dead. (2.) Some forget to bring their buckets. They have no real
desires after God, not true faith in His power and willingness to
bless them, and to each of them we may say, "Sir, thou hast nothing
to draw with, and the wells are deep" (John iv. 11).