Message 45
Scripture Reading: Exo. 17:6; John 4:14; 7:38; Rev. 22:2
In the Bible we see that the drinking of the water of life and the flowing of the water of life go together. The drinking is connected to the flowing, and the flowing is one with the drinking. In John 4:14 the Lord Jesus says, “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.” Here we see that if we drink the water of life, this water will become a spring within us welling up into eternal life. This welling up is what we mean by the flowing of the water of life. We find the same principle in John 7:37 and 38, where the Lord Jesus said of the one who believes in Him and drinks of Him, “out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” The drinking and the flowing are thus two aspects of one thing.
Without the flowing of the water of life, our drinking is in vain. In fact, if we do not flow, we shall not be able to continue drinking. Drinking is nullified by the lack of flowing. The genuine drinking of the water of life depends on the flowing.
Let us use a water hose as an illustration. On the one hand, the hose takes in water from the faucet; on the other hand, it flows out water. Both the inflow and the outflow are necessary. The receiving and the flowing take place simultaneously. If we do not drink, we cannot flow; and if we do not flow, we cannot continue to drink.
It is a serious matter to have our drinking nullified by the lack of flowing. Of the many genuine believers in Christ who have drunk of the living water, not many experience the flowing of this water. Eventually, this causes their drinking to cease. If there is no outflow from within you, you cannot continue to take in the living water by drinking. Only the flowing can keep the inner current moving. It is not the drinking, the taking in, that keeps the current going; it is the outflow of water which does this. Many Christians either do not drink at all or find that their drinking avails nothing. The reason for this is that, even though they may drink, they do not flow. The lack of flowing causes the drinking to be of no avail. This is very serious. Therefore, in this message I am burdened to point out that concerning the experience of the living water the flowing of the water is even more important than the drinking of it. Yes, our experience of the living water begins with drinking. But if there is no flowing, there is no way for us to continue drinking. If the flowing does not follow our drinking, our drinking will stop. Our experience testifies that this is true.
Furthermore, the lack of flowing may cause our thirst to disappear. Before we first drank of the living water, there was a thirst within us. It is very good to have such a thirst, but it is dreadful to lose it. The proper gospel preaching is not mainly to minister the water of life to others; it is to stir up a sense of thirst within them. When people are thirsty, it is easy to convince them to drink. Good salesmen know how to arouse in people the aspiration and desire to buy the product they are selling. Without such an aspiration or desire, people will have no interest, even in the most precious items. This illustrates the fact that thirst is crucial.
By the Lord’s mercy we have been made thirsty for Him through the preaching of the gospel. I can never forget how my thirst was aroused through hearing a certain gospel message more than fifty-five years ago. I was so thirsty that I could have drunk an ocean of water. One message created a thirst within me that has lasted even until now. Although fifty-five years have passed since I heard that marvelous message, I still thirst for the water of life.
We need to be impressed how crucial it is to flow the water of life. If the flowing stops, our drinking will stop; and if our drinking stops, we shall lose our thirst. Then, before our thirst can be revived and recovered, we shall have to pass through a period of spiritual death. After passing through such a time of dryness, we shall be stirred up by the Lord in His sovereign mercy to repent and return to Him. Our thirst will revive, and we shall begin to drink once more. I am deeply concerned about the degree of our thirst. Many among us have had the experience of losing our thirst. If we wish to maintain our thirst, we need to keep flowing and to keep drinking.
Doctrinally speaking, in order to flow the water of life we must have our thirst quenched (John 4:14). This means that if we are not filled with the living water, there cannot be any overflow. The flowing comes from the overflow, and the overflow comes from having our thirst quenched. From the point of view of experience, however, we need not wait until our thirst is quenched in order to flow.
Since we have already begun to drink of the Lord to quench our thirst, we need to pay attention to the flowing. Many of us started drinking the water of life a long time ago. Our problem is related much more to flowing than to drinking. In preaching the gospel to unbelievers, I would emphasize the importance of drinking, but in ministering to believers I would emphasize the importance of flowing. As believers, we have already begun to drink of the living water. Our particular need is for the flowing of the water.
It is difficult to tell whether or not someone is drinking, but we can easily tell whether or not a person is flowing. Let us refer again to the illustration of the water hose. We cannot see the inflow of the water, but we can see the outflow. Likewise, I cannot see the flow of the living water into you, but I can see the flow of it out of you. We may not know whether or not the water is flowing into us, but we surely know when it is flowing out of us. Such an outflow is evident to everyone.
Perhaps you are wondering what it means to flow the water of life in a practical way. The flowing can be compared to flushing out something with water. To flush out a pipe is to flood it with water for the purpose of cleansing; it is to wash it out by a sudden rush of water. As Christians, from our inner being there should be a flushing of the living water. In order to have this flushing out, this strong flowing, we need to call on the name of the Lord Jesus and pray. It is also helpful to sing to the Lord.
What is particularly helpful to bring about the inner flowing is speaking to the Lord, by the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord, and with the Lord. The more we speak in this way, the more we shall flow. If there is no one to whom we may speak, we should speak to the things in our room. Speak to the desk, the door, the walls. Speak to anything and everything. If you have a pet in your house, speak to it. Speak to the dog, the cat, the birds, or the fish. Some may regard this practice as ridiculous, but I can testify of the difference it makes to speak. Christians should not be dumb, silent. On the contrary, we must be those bubbling and welling up with life. We all have something to which we can speak. We can speak to the windows, to the doors, and to bricks and stones. When we speak, something of the Lord Jesus flows out. By speaking we are like a water hose which has both the inflow and the outflow.
The amount of inflow is in proportion to the amount of outflow. The quantity of water which flows out of us determines how much water can flow into us. In other words, how much we flow determines how much of the living water we can drink.
Some of you may be very dry, even dried up. The reason for your dryness may be that you do not speak. Because you do not speak, you do not let the living water flow out. I encourage you to flow the living water by speaking. This may sound rather peculiar, but I can testify that it is practical and very effective.
We need to speak in a number of ways. First, we need to preach the gospel to unbelievers. Then we need to speak the truth to believers, to fellow Christians. We should also speak in the meetings of the church. Because I speak so much in the ministry, I have followed the practice of being somewhat quiet in the meetings. My intention in doing so has been to give others the opportunity to speak. For example, during the last forty-five years, I have not once in the Lord’s table meeting gone up to the table to offer thanks and praise to the Lord in taking either the bread or the cup. This does not mean, however, that I have not been burdened to do so. Sometimes I have been strongly burdened concerning this, especially when the saints were dormant in spirit, and the meeting was so slow that the proper time to distribute the bread and the cup passed without anyone moving to do anything about it. In such a situation, the time for the sweet enjoyment of eating passes by, and the opportunity is lost. When the bread is finally passed, most of the pleasure of eating is gone. Many times in the Lord’s table meeting we have failed to pass the bread and the cup at the right moment. Sometimes no one even thanks the Lord for the bread or for the cup. Rather, everyone is slow and silent. Recently I have come to regret the restriction I have imposed on myself, even though my reason has been to give opportunity to the saints to function by speaking and praying. Like anyone else, I need to flow forth praises and thanks in the church meetings. By doing this we release others to flow with living water. We all need to be liberated in the meetings. Do not sit around waiting for others to function. Instead, function actively to speak for the Lord, and take every opportunity to flow with the living water.
A number of times saints have come to me with complaints about the meetings. These saints have told me that the meetings are too low, too poor. Usually when I hear such complaints and criticisms, I do not argue. I may not even reply. However, I would like to take the opportunity now to point out that those who complain about the level of the church meetings must themselves bear part of the responsibility for this. Perhaps the meeting was poor because they were silent, not willing to release the flow of living water. We all have many opportunities to speak in the meetings. Even in meetings that are devoted to the ministry of the Word, there is opportunity to speak both before and after the message is given. Also, we all can pray in the prayer meetings and offer praises and thanksgiving in the Lord’s table meeting. All the meetings of the church are open to the saints. We need to function by flowing out the water of life. According to Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16, Christians should be continually speaking, singing, psalming, and giving thanks.
When we remain silent and refuse to speak, it is rather easy for us to become angry or to lose our temper. However, if we are continually speaking, singing, and giving thanks, it will be difficult for us to lose our temper. This indicates that the flowing of the water of life is a repellent which drives away the negative things, all the “flies,” “scorpions,” and “gophers.” The Christian life is a life of fighting. Day and night, we fight against the negative things which seek to influence us and drag us down. We need a repellent to chase away the “bugs.” Speaking is the best repellent.
Suppose I travel by airplane to visit the church in a particular city. If during the flight I remain silent, not praying, praising, or calling on the Lord Jesus, I shall be troubled by negative or distracting thoughts. The “scorpions” may come not singly, but in hoards. Negative thoughts may swarm in my mind, thoughts concerning certain brothers or perhaps concerning the way my wife treated me a few days earlier, or about the way my children have apparently been ignoring me. If I fail to repel these “scorpions,” these negative thoughts, by speaking, I shall have no heart to minister for the Lord when I reach my destination. I may not even sense any burden within.
Suppose, however, my situation is the very opposite. Instead of remaining silent, I continually speak by praising, praying, thanking, and calling on the name of the Lord. Because I speak, the living water flows within me continually. As I am greeted by the brothers, I shall spontaneously say, “Praise the Lord!” Furthermore, I shall be burdened to minister life to the church there.
When we are spiritually dry, it is easy for us to be irritated or angry. When we are not flowing the water of life, we easily lose our temper with our husband or wife. However, when we are overflowing with the living water, our irritation, anger, and temper are flushed away. What a difference it makes to be flowing the water of life!
Genuine revival is a matter of flowing, of bubbling. Let us read John 4:14 again: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.” A characteristic of a spring of water is that it flows unceasingly. Anything that does not flow cannot be a spring. It may instead be like the Dead Sea, which does not have any outflow. When we drink of the living water, it becomes in us a spring of water welling up into eternal life. The phrase “welling up into eternal life” is difficult to understand. I do not believe that any Christians, even among us, fully understand this. What does it mean to well up into eternal life? Does this refer to the present or to eternity? It refers to both. But what does it mean to say that the living water flows up now into eternal life? This is mysterious. The flowing of living water, the welling up of this water, always brings us into a situation where there is the fullness of life. According to my experience, whenever the water of life flows within me, I am brought into a situation that is filled and flooded with life. This is what it means for the living water to well up into eternal life.
Suppose I visit a brother in his home. However, in every way I am dumb, dry, cold, and dead. If this is my condition, there will be no welling up into eternal life. Instead, this brother and I will be dragged down lower and lower into death. But if as I am on my way to this brother’s house, I flow the living water by speaking, the water will be welling up in me into eternal life. Then as I visit with him, the living water will continue to flow. By the flowing of the water of life, we shall be brought into a condition that is flooded with life. In a practical way this is what it means for water to well up into eternal life.
The more we speak, the more we are brought into a state where we are flooded with eternal life. This should be our experience in our daily life and also in the church meetings. Otherwise, our meetings will be like performances in a theater. We do not come to the meetings to perform; we come to testify, to express, to exhibit, the flowing out of the living water we experience day by day.
Regarding the flowing of the water of life by speaking, today’s Christianity is far off the mark. The fundamentalists insist on certain formalities. These formalities bring people into death, not into eternal life. In Pentecostalism, on the contrary, there is a certain amount of speaking. Even though much of this speaking is ridiculous, it is better than no speaking at all, and it may even afford a little spiritual benefit. Nevertheless, there is no need for us in the Lord’s recovery to speak like those in Pentecostalism. Instead, we have much to say about Christ as our life and about all that has been brought forth through the ministry of the Word. How much we have to speak about to one another! Let us be neither like the fundamentalists nor like the Pentecostalists. Instead, let us come together to flow the living water by speaking.
This flowing, this flushing out, which comes through speaking will bring in life. It will produce the welling up into eternal life. The more speaking, singing, praying, and praising, the more flowing there will be among us. Let us seize every opportunity to flow in the church meetings. Let us not waste time in dumbness, in silence, but use every minute to flow the water of life. Such speaking will not only bring us into a situation where we are flooded with life, but also bring us into the fullness of the Spirit. The more we speak, the more we shall be brought into the fullness of the Spirit.
If we would flow the water of life, we also need to be identified with the smitten Christ (Exo. 17:6; John 7:38). The smitten rock signifies the incarnated Christ in His crucifixion. In a previous message we pointed out that on the cross Christ was smitten by God. We need to be identified with this smitten One. This means that our human life, our natural life, must be smitten so that the living water may flow. There is no need, however, for us to try to smite ourselves. If we simply are one with the smitten Christ, identified with Him, we shall experience the crucifixion of our natural life. Then as Christ’s divine life flowed out as living water through the smiting of His human life, we also shall experience the flow of the water of life through the smiting of our natural life. Only when our natural life has been smitten will the divine life flow out from us.
If we speak without being identified with the smitten Christ, our speaking, even our praise and prayer, will be natural. We need to be one with Christ in a way that is actual and practical. Then we shall experience the smiting of the natural life which took place in Him and with Him at the time of His crucifixion. If we are identified with the smitten Christ in such a way, the water of life will flow not in a natural way, but in a way that is pure, without mixture. Whatever issues from us in prayer, praise, or testimony will be the flow of the divine life in its purity.
When we are identified with Christ in His death, our natural, human life will be put to death. Then whatever flows out of us will be the very life of God, the divine, eternal life. This life is the water of life. If we are identified with the smitten Christ, what flows out from us will be pure. There will not be the mixture of the divine life with the natural life.
Furthermore, this flow will bring us into a situation that is flooded with eternal life. According to Revelation 22:1 and 2, the supply of life is in the water of life, for the tree of life grows in the river of life. When the water of life flows within us, we are richly supplied. Moreover, the whole church will receive the rich supply of life. Oh, how we need such a flowing!
I encourage you to pray about the flowing of the water of life and to put what you have heard in this message into practice. However, we need to leave behind the traditional teachings and practices of Christianity. We all need to forget the influence of our background in Christianity. What we have been speaking in this message is according to the pure Word of God, not according to the tradition of Christianity. What we need is not Christian tradition, but the flow of the water of life. If we practice this flowing by speaking and by being identified with the smitten Christ, we shall have not only one river, but the rivers spoken of by the Lord Jesus in John 7:38. Rivers of living water will flow out from our innermost being.
