Eyes Opened

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

Genesis 21:19

And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

I. Taking HAGAR'S CASE first, I shall address myself to certain unconverted ones who are in a hopeful condition.

1. 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 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 punting, dying child!" And so with you; if I were to propose to you the question, "Are you willing to be saved?" you might look at me in the face and say, "Willing! oh, sir, I have long passed beyond that stage I am punting, groaning, thirsting, fainting, dying to find Christ." 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.

2. In the second place, mercy was prepared for Hagar, and is prepared for those in a like state. The water was near to Hagar; and so is Christ near to you, my dear friend, this morning. The mercy of God is not a thing to be sought for up yonder among the stars, nor to be discovered in the depths; it is nigh thee, it is even in thy mouth and in thy heart.

3. We pass on, then, in the third place, to notice that although Hagar was prepared and mercy was prepared, yet there was an impediment in the way, for she could not see the water. There is also an impediment in your way. Hagar had a pair of bright beaming eyes, I will be bound to say, and yet she could not see the water; and men may have first-rate understandings, but not understand that simple thing — faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Simple trust in Jesus has this difficulty in it, that it is not difficult, and therefore the human mind refuses to believe that God can intend to save us by so simple a plan. What blindness is this! So foolish and so fatal. The main reason I think, however, why some do not attain early to peace is because they are looking for more than they will get, and thus their eyes are dazzled with fancies. Again, I am afraid some persons, with the water at their feet, do not drink it because of the bad directions that are given by ministers.

4. I feel certain that there are some here upon whom the Lord intends to work this morning; so we will speak, in the fourth place, upon the divine removal of the impediment. Hagar's blindness was removed by God. No one else could have removed it. God must open a man's eyes to understand practically what belief in Jesus Christ is. But while this was divinely removed, it was removed instrumentally. An angel spake out of heaven to Hagar. It matters little whether it be an angel or a man, it is the Word of God which removes this difficulty.

II. Oh that the Spirit of God would give me power from on high while I try to talk to the saints from THE SECOND CASE, viz., that of the apostles in Luke 24:31. This is no Hagar, but "Cleopas and another disciple." They ought to have known Jesus for these reasons.

1. They were acquainted with Him, they had been with Him for years in public and in private, they had heard His voice so often that they ought to have recollected its tones.

2. They ought to have known Him, because He was close to them; He was walking with them along the same road, He was not up on a mountain at a distance.

3. They ought to have seen Him, because they had the Scriptures to reflect His image, and yet how possible it is for us to open that precious Book and turn over page after page of it and not see Christ.

4. What is more, these disciples ought to have seen Jesus, for they had the Scriptures opened to them.

5. There was another reason why the disciples ought to have seen Him, namely, that they had received testimonies from others about Him. Now what is the reason for this? Why do we not see Him? I think it must be ascribed in our case to the same as in theirs, namely, our unbelief. They evidently did not expect to see Him, and therefore they did not discover Him.

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