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THE PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD

It is a great thing to get a right idea of christianity in its true meaning and power, and I am looking at this time at christianity in that sense — I mean, as the work of God. Of course, we may look at christianity in connection with the faith of man, because christendom has been formed by the faith of man; it is made up of those who profess to believe on Christ. A great many now have been born into it, but still in a general way christendom has been made up by the faith of man. But there is another side to the truth, the work of God; and the true power of christianity lies not in the faith of man — though not apart from it — but in the work of God. I do not think anybody would be prepared to gainsay that. That is what I want to dwell upon now, because I think it is of the greatest importance that all of us should understand the nature of God’s work. It is presented to us in Scripture that we may know it in its character and effect.

We get remarkable instances presented to us in Scripture of the work of God and of its effect. One instance given to us is that of the woman of Samaria, and I have taken it up to give you, if I could, an idea of the work of God and its effects in the soul.

And let me say this, that what God does He does alone; nobody else interferes; it is God’s work from beginning to end, and He produces the result that He intends. A servant may have a certain idea of what he intends to produce, or would produce if he could, but he may fail in it. There are very few servants of the Lord, I think, that do not encounter disappointment in that way; they fail of their object. But God never fails of His object. He sets Himself to accomplish a certain purpose, and He does accomplish it without fail. That is as certain as that God is God.

^[p. 2] I read the passage at the end of Luke 10 because it presents to us the attitude of a person who recognises the work of God. That is what we see in Mary. She was not active or bustling or excited, but wanted to get the word of Christ. I think she is an advance, in a certain sense, upon what we have in the preceding incident, the man that fell among thieves. She represents to us what would be the proper attitude of a man to whom Christ had become a neighbour. If I find Christ to be my neighbour, then I want to hear the word of Christ. I feel that Christ has something peculiar to say to me which no one else can say, and I want to hear what He has to teach me. It is a great point for all of us to be attentive to hear what Christ has to say to us. If Christ has healed our wounds, set us on His own beast and taken care of us, that does not close His dealings with us. He has something to say to us, and it is a great thing if our ears are open to what He has to say. We need to hear the word of Christ. And what is that? It is really the expression of Himself.

Now I take up the case of the woman of Samaria because I think she represents in a very remarkable way the work of God. It is a sample or representative case. There are two parts in it. The first is the subduing power from without, that brings her down completely and the second is the source and spring of power within, which springs up into eternal life. I want to bring before you the extraordinary forces which are thus brought into operation in order that grace may effect its work. In the world men comprehend what great forces mean, and they understand how to concentrate natural forces to accomplish a particular object; but I want you to see the forces which are brought into operation that Christ may effect His purpose. This is a typical case. There is first the outward subduing power which brings the woman down to nothing, which breaks down all her ^[p. 3] self-confidence, and puts aside all her thoughts and ideas. The effect is very much like the case of Mary at the feet of Jesus. She is subjected or subdued by the word of Christ. But that is only one side. There is an equivalent force within the woman which springs up unto everlasting life. I want just to speak of these two sides of the work of God.

Christianity consists, I think, in two things — on the one hand man’s complete deliverance from all that to which he is in bondage by reason of sin, and on the other hand the formation of new relationships and of the affections which are suited to those relationships. I have no doubt at all that there is many a believer in Christ, as Lord, who knows very little indeed about the true power of christianity. I want to bring before you these two things: first, the emancipation of the man (who is very much in the position naturally of a bond slave, whom grace comes in to set free), and then the formation of new relationships and of the affections suited to them.

If you were to ask me what constitutes a man, the answer I should give would be this: I judge man to be made up of body and mind, relationships and affections. I think if you take that in, you will admit the truth of it. It is true whether we speak of the old man or of the new. God made man thus at the beginning. He made him body and mind, and set him in certain relationships, with affections suited to those relationships. The same is true of the new man. Grace sets us in certain relationships and forms affections which are suited to those relationships. But at the same time there is the complete deliverance of the man from all that to which he is naturally in bondage.

The work of God is a great work. Nothing can be more amazing than God’s work with regard to a poor soul, and the wonderful character of the forces which He employs to carry it out. I think if you apprehend ^[p. 4] it you would understand the immense value of a single soul in the sight of God. Here in John 4 it is not a preaching of the gospel to masses, but a simple case of the work of grace with regard to one single individual, though this case is no doubt a typical one. The same forces have been brought to bear upon each one of us, and with the same object: emancipation and subjection on the one hand, and the formation of affections suited to new relationships on the other.

There are two great thoughts of which I am going to speak in connection with the passage referred to in John 4: first, the way in which Christ presents Himself to the soul, and next, the well of water, the spring which the Lord would communicate to this poor woman or to any believer: “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. May God give me grace to show to you what it is that subdues the soul: the presentation of Christ Himself; and on the other hand, what it is that springs up in the believer; and if you put these two things together, I think each one would be prepared to admit that there is not very much of you and me left. What is of us is subdued, and what springs up is entirely and completely new; it is the effect and fruit of what Christ is.

I speak first of the subduing, and I think it contemplates this, that a soul has really come to Christ. I do not think you would understand it without first seeing that the soul has really come to Christ, having received the gift which Christ gives. And I would ask if this is true of all of us. Have you really come to Christ? You may have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you may confess Him as Lord, and yet keep Him at a distance. If I think of Him as Lord, He is very great, He is at the right hand of God, I have not sensibly come very close to Him. But there is another light in which Christ may be apprehended: as the Giver of the ^[p. 5] living water; and when you begin to apprehend Him in that light then you get near to Christ, and are conscious of having received from Him the gift of the living water which springs up in you unto eternal life. I judge it is the soul’s apprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ as the blessed Son of God. I think we all begin by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ — because the testimony is of the Lord Jesus Christ — and the confession of Him as Lord; but there is an advance on this, and that is the apprehension of Him in the soul as the Son of God who gives the living water. “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”, Revelation 22: 17.

Now let me say a word here about the death and resurrection of Christ. What was effected in the death of Christ? I do not speak at present about righteousness, or in regard to the sacrifice, but of the death of Christ as the revelation of God. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom — God was revealed. The resurrection of Christ, on the other hand, is not exactly the revelation of God, but the setting forth of God’s pleasure in regard to man. I want you to apprehend this thought and to meditate upon it. The death of Christ is the revelation of God. It is there that we learn God’s love: “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”, Romans 5: 8. And the rending of the veil was the significant witness on the part of God, that God was fully revealed in love to man. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. That was brought to light when the Son of man was lifted up. The Lord Jesus could say, “It is finished”, and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. What was finished? Well, I have no doubt the will of God was completed, but at the same time there was a full revelation of God in His love to man. He never ^[p. 6] came out fully till the death of Christ, not even in the presence of Christ in life on the earth. Consequently all that system which the veil represented came to an end, for God was no longer hidden, but was in the light of the full revelation of Himself But in the resurrection of Christ we have, as I have already said, not so much the revelation of God as the setting forth of God’s pleasure in regard to man. So we read that Christ was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification (Romans 4: 25). This was God’s pleasure in regard to man, that man should be justified. And we are justified by faith “on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead”. There was the setting forth of God’s pleasure, not only in regard to Christ but in regard to man. I think if you take in the two thoughts I have mentioned, you will be convinced that the death and resurrection of Christ are great subjects for the contemplation of the believer, and if one contemplate nothing else there is a vast deal to be learnt there.

It is on the ground of the death of Christ that the living water is communicated. “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. That is to say, the intimation made here by the Lord to this woman is that He is the Giver of the gift of God. That is what marks Christ. Therefore you can understand that it necessarily follows that He is the Son of God. Certainly no man, however exalted, could give the gift of God. No one could give the gift of God except One who is Himself God. The One who on the cross glorified God, and in whom God was perfectly revealed, is the Giver of the gift of God. It was the One of whom Jesus had spoken to Nicodemus in the previous chapter (verses 16), and He comes out in this chapter, not as the Son of man lifted up, but as the Giver of the gift of God.

^[p. 7] The gift of God I take to be the living water, but Christ is the One who gives it and I think that many persons have received the gift of the Holy Spirit before they are conscious of having received the gift from Christ. It is only perhaps when one apprehends Christ as the blessed exponent of the love of God that the soul is conscious of having received the gift which Christ gives. If I apprehend the Son of God, and the gift which He gives, there can only be one effect, I am subdued in the presence of the love of God. It is such a wonderful thing that the Son of God should have come forth from God to be the Giver of the gift of God, that the soul of man is completely subdued before Himself. Do you think that any soul naturally believes that God “gives”? No, I think the natural thought is that God “expects”. It is a new light entirely in which to apprehend God, that He gives, and that the Son of God has come forth to make Him known and to communicate the gift of God.

It is perfectly blessed to see the way in which God has been pleased to express Himself, so as to make Himself known to man. The One who came here to make God known, and who went to the cross that God might be fully set forth, as He never could have been in any other way, is the One who gives the gift of God. And I desire for every reader, that your soul might be in the presence of the Son of God. I want you to apprehend the moral greatness of the Son of God. There, and there only, I think you will learn your own exceeding littleness. But I pass on to another point in connection with the passage.

If you look at verses 15 - 26 you get another light in which to regard the Son of God, the Giver of the gift. He is now the prophet. And how? Because He is the mouthpiece of God. And in connection with Him as prophet we have a most important truth, that His word searches the conscience of man. The woman felt herself brought by the word of Christ into the ^[p. 8] presence of God; she became conscious that she was in the presence of One whose word searched her conscience. Now I think we have all to enter into the same thing. There is fulness of grace in the Lord Jesus, but at the same time if you have come into the presence of the Son of God you have become alive to the fact that His word searches your conscience. It is in the presence of Christ that we learn our own contrariety. He makes known to us what is of God, and it is in the light of that that a man learns himself. It is in the presence of love that you learn what the will and life and heart of man are. Never till a man is brought into the light, to learn what God is, does he really learn what he himself is. The darkest picture of man in the whole compass of Scripture is found perhaps in the epistle to the Ephesians. The Ephesians had come into the light of God and so the darkness of man’s heart was fully manifested.

A christian may go on for many a long day before he really finds out what the springs within him are, but a day comes when he gets a revelation of what is there. And how? The light of Christ searches his conscience and makes him aware of the dreadful contrariety and perversity of the human heart. Look at the best of men in regard to God, and what is he? His heart is contrary and perverse; its very springs are diametrically opposed to the springs in the heart of God. Do you know the difference between love and lust? Lust gratifies itself: if a man loves drink, for instance, he will sacrifice everything, his friends, his family, his health, for the gratification of his lust. Love on the contrary seeks not its own gratification, but the gratification, the happiness, of its object. God seeks the good, the blessing of the objects of His love. I quite admit it is for His own ultimate joy and satisfaction, but that is found in the object of His love being completely blessed and satisfied.

^[p. 9] Now I would dwell a little on this truth: that the Son of God who communicates the gift of God is the Prophet whose word searches the conscience and makes a man know what is in himself. It is a very great moment when a man learns what he is in the sight of God. He comes to this: “I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing”. How does a man find that out? By the light of God. The light makes my contrariety manifest, and I learn this more and more every day as I go on. I come to the conclusion that in me good does not dwell.

But now another point of view comes out from which to regard Christ. He knows all the will of God. The woman begins to talk about worship, and raises the question whether Jerusalem or mount Gerizim is the true place; but she is immediately stopped by Christ, who tells her that it is now neither the one nor the other; and He reveals to her God’s will in regard to worship. He is the Prophet who searches the heart of man, but He is at the same time the One who knows all the will of God, even in regard to worship. The woman now comes to this point, “I know that Messias cometh, ... when he is come, he will tell us all things”, and the Lord immediately answers, “I that speak unto thee am he”. And He has told her as to worship: “The hour cometh, ... when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth”. He could tell her what the Father was seeking, and also what was suitable morally to God. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”.

I want you to put these things together. I am sure I have presented them poorly, but my object is to press that it is in the presence of Christ that we are completely subdued. You are never completely subdued till you come to close quarters with Christ; and christians are often not subdued because they are content with believing on Christ as Lord, and never ^[p. 10] come to close quarters with Him. If they did they would have no more spirit left in them, they would have a subduing sense of His greatness, and would know Him as the Giver of the living water, as the One whose word searches the heart and makes known everything there; and at the same time He makes known perfectly what the mind and will of the Father is, and what is suitable to God. I was only recently reading a psalm which is no doubt familiar to all of us: “Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me”. That is just what the word of Christ does.

Now I am going to speak a few words on the other side, but I desire first that every one should have a true apprehension of Christ, that you may be brought to close quarters with Him so as to be completely subdued in His presence. Nothing will really subdue a man but the apprehension of what Christ is as giver, and of what He knows on your side and on God’s side. When the queen of Sheba saw the grandeur of Solomon, of his house, his servants, the magnificence of all his appointments, there was no more spirit left in her; and it is as we see the moral grandeur of Christ, the Son of God, who gives the living water, whose word searches the conscience, and who knows and reveals all the will of God, that there is no more spirit left in us. I would that my own and every other soul were really in the presence of His greatness, and completely subjected by it. I daresay you remember a verse in Philippians 3, which speaks of our looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, “who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body”. But now mark the rest of the passage: “according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself”. Angels and principalities and powers are made subject to Him, but there is at the same time a spiritual subduing, which is going on now in souls, and which will take effect even in regard to the body,

^[p. 11] when it will be fashioned like unto Christ’s body of glory.

But I want to come back for a moment to the well of water which Christ gives. I have been speaking of the force which acts upon us from without, that is what is presented to us as objective, what Christ is, His greatness as the Son of God. Now I want to speak of the other side: the water which He gives. It is a well of water springing up into everlasting life. What are you and I between the power of Christ on the one hand, and the well of water springing up on the other? We are not of very much account, except in the eye of God. There is not much of us left standing. All a man’s self-confidence and self-importance is completely subdued and broken down by the greatness of Christ. A man does not think very much of himself when he apprehends the Son of God. He may have had a certain standing and importance previously in the world, but all this is broken to pieces in the presence of the greatness of the Son of God, and the revelation of God’s love, and the gift of the living water.

Christianity, in the true power of it, as I said before, consists in relationships and affections. The grace of God has set us in the place of children before Him, the Father. We have that truth in the first chapter of this gospel: “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”. But there is not only the fact of our being put in the place of children, but also the formation, the springing up, of affections which are suited to the relationship in which we are placed. Take any house in the world, the greatest and grandest you like, what is it without the affections which are suited to the relationships which exist there? I am afraid there are houses where those affections are lacking. If a person comes to my house I do not want his attention to be occupied with the surroundings,

^[p. 12] the furniture and the like, I want him to see me at home; and the true adornments of my house are the affections which are proper to the relationships which subsist there. You have been in houses perhaps where the appointments are all that could be desired, but where there is a great lack of the affections which are suited to the relationships subsisting in the house. I should not like to have a fine house and gardens and all the surroundings perfectly in keeping, and everything inside the house in moral disorder. The true adornment of a man’s house, as I have said, is the affections proper to the relationships which exist there; and a man is not fit to be an overseer in the house of God if he has not got his own house in order. I say again, and I think every one here will agree in it, that the real adornment and attraction in every well-ordered house are the affections suited to the relationships subsisting there.

Now the same thing is true in God’s family. We are put into the place of children, but besides that we are formed in the affections which are suited to children, and that is the work of the Spirit which you have received from Christ, the Son of God. The Spirit we have received is the Spirit of God’s Son, and therefore you could never have received that Spirit except from Him. And the Spirit of the Son of God in the believer cries Abba, Father, the first indication and expression of affection. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us” (Romans 5), and your first response to that love is in crying Abba, Father. But that is the beginning only. It is one thing for the Spirit in me to cry Abba, Father, it is another thing for the well of water to spring up in me into everlasting life. The Spirit of God does all the work Himself. The effect of the springing of the well of water in the believer is so to control him as that affections may spring up in him. Affections of which ^[p. 13] God is the source spring up in the believer, and they reach to eternal life. It refers to the whole system and framework of affections formed in the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit. It would be useless to talk about relationships unless there were affections suited to those relationships. Then also you have your loins girt about with truth, all your affections regulated by the light of God, the revelation of God, and of His blessed will, brought home to the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Man, as I said before, consists of body and mind, relationships and affections; and God has been pleased to place us in relationship to Himself as children, in relationship to Christ as brethren, and in relationship to the saints. We are the objects of the Father’s love, Christ loves us, and we love one another. Where do these affections spring from, whose affections are they? They are your affections. The Spirit of God forms them, and in a sense He keeps Himself in the background. In the epistle to the Romans, where everything is fundamental, you get a great deal about the Spirit of God; in Colossians, which carries you a little further, into the great reality of the christian circle, the Spirit is scarcely mentioned. You get the saint formed in divine affections and sensibilities, and the Spirit of God is behind it all. The well of water has sprung up into everlasting life.

If Christ is the object of our hearts there will be the subduing on the one hand, and on the other there will be the well of water in the believer which springs up into eternal life. The question of eternal life has been very much talked about and debated recently, and I have observed that the people who have been most ready to talk about it, and have insisted most on it, knew little about it except in terms. It is easy enough to know these things in terms, but that is not christianity. I repeat that the power of christianity consists in the relationships in which it has pleased ^[p. 14] God to set us, and the affections which are proper to those relationships. And in the beginning of things, where everything is fundamental, where you have the foundations presented, the Spirit of God is prominent; but there is a certain process goes on, and when the work of the Spirit is effectual in the saints and suitable affections are formed in them, the Spirit of God, so to speak, holds Himself in the background.

Let us go back for a moment to the mighty forces which have been brought to bear upon poor things like you and me. There is the mighty ^[p. 15] subduing power of the Son of God without, and the energy of the Holy Spirit within. The great point for us is to submit, and not to set our puny silly wills against the Son of God. You may suffer the deprivation of some things that you would like down here, but accept the subduing, and do not set up your will against the greatness of the Son of God, and you will then get the blessed power of the Spirit of God in you springing up into eternal life.

I will tell you the secret of happiness. Happiness is what people of all sorts pursue according to their various ideas, without knowing the secret of it. Happiness is in the full exercise of holy affections in perfect rest of spirit. That will be your eternal portion in heaven. You will have part in divine affections and in divine rest. God will rest in His love. And what a work God works in us to bring us into a scene of perfect rest, and at the same time of the fullest and freest exercise of spiritual affections. We love God, we love the Father, we love Christ, and we love the saints.

That is the result that the Lord put before this woman. The Lord brings her between those mighty forces, and what becomes of her? She is nothing. Nicodemus might have been put between those mighty forces, and Nicodemus would have been nothing. Nathanael, or you and I, become nothing between the subduing power of the Son of God on the one hand, and the mighty power of the Holy Spirit within us on the other. But at the same time you get the springing up of those blessed affections which reach to eternal life in a scene where there remains nothing for the heart to desire — a scene of perfect rest.

May God give us to know something of His work. I feel for many christians, especially for the young — if my heart goes out to anybody in this world it is to young christians — in that they suffer the loss of some things to which they might think themselves entitled. I have seen it in my own children. They go out in desire after certain things in the world that they think themselves entitled to. I would be sorry to deprive any one of anything to which he might think himself entitled in this world, but you can get full compensation in the knowledge of the love of Christ, in the blessed relationships into which He brings you, and in the spiritual affections which are the proper accompaniments of those relationships. You may well be content to be deprived for a moment down here of things which you naturally like, for the sake of the compensation. Nothing is more painful to me than to see a person who has apparently made a great surrender for the sake of the truth and has failed to get compensation. I cannot think that anyone could make any sacrifice for the truth’s sake to whom Christ would not give the most ample compensation.

May God give us to feel and know that if we suffer a little deprivation, yet we have manifold more in this present time and in the world to come eternal life!

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