SATISFACTION WITH CHRIST
D. Robertson
John 4: 10; 9: 35–38; Luke 10: 38–42
These are well known passages of Scripture, beloved brethren; we might say that they speak of well known persons, the woman of John 4, the man of John 9, and Mary of Bethany. What I wanted to speak of is how these persons were maintained as being satisfied with Christ. It is a wonderful matter to be satisfied with Christ, and it is an important one. It settles many issues, and many things that arise in your life. I am sure we have all known persons who have been satisfied with Christ, and we have marked the manner of their lives. What we are speaking about is not a theory, it is not something that is merely mentally assented to, but it is a very real thing, it is a substantial matter to be satisfied with the Lord Jesus. We referred to Paul in prayer, and possibly what he says is one of the most testing scriptures that any one of us can read, “for me to live is Christ”, Philippians 1: 21. How far reaching that is! How many of us could say it, if any of us? We may be able to speak of a partial satisfaction with Christ, but how many of us could say, “for me to live is Christ”? And yet is there any one of us who could deny the blessedness that is involved in it?
So I speak simply of these persons; first of all of the woman in John 4, and how the Lord speaks to her, He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God”. Think of who was speaking to this woman. One who had come to make known the heart of God. It says in this gospel, that He came from God, and was going to God; He came out from God to make known the heart of God. Think of the wonder of that, “If thou knewest the gift of God”. Do you know it? Do you know the gift of God? Why should you not? Why should there be any one in this room who does not know the gift of God? Then He
says, “and who it is that says to thee”. Do you know who the Lord Jesus is? It was in the Lord’s mind that the woman had to know, and you have to know who He is. Of course, He is
“over all, God blessed for ever” (Romans 9: 5), and always will be. Nothing changes the glory of His person, not even His stoop into manhood changed that; He remained what He ever is and ever will be in coming into manhood. But in the setting here He says, “and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. That is who He is, the Giver of living water. Have you got the living water? You cannot get it from anyone else, you can only get it from Christ. He is the Giver of living water. Has everyone here got it? It is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit, and the One who can give you the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ. O that everyone might know Christ as the Giver of living water. It reminds me of what God says in Jeremiah to His people Israel,
“For my people have committed two evils—they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters”, Jeremiah 2: 13. I wonder if there is any Christian here like that, who has known the blessing and turned their back on it, and then He goes on to say, “to hew them out cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water”. What a terrible thing for Christians to be hewing out for themselves broken cisterns that hold no water, when living water can be theirs. I want to make this simple appeal, beloved brethren. Are you really satisfied with Christ and what He can give? Do you know Him as the Giver of the living water, the Giver of the Holy Spirit?
It says later in the chapter, “Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again” (John 4: 13), that was the well that the woman had come to draw from; but “whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever, but the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life” (v.14). Have we got it? Are we in the joy of it? It is a fountain that is springing up. The Lord is
really providing her, in the Spirit, with a new source of affection. This woman in her affections had drunk from the corrupt streams of this world, and so have many of us, but He is delivering her from the power of sin and the source from which she sought to satisfy herself, by giving her a new source of affection in herself. “Shall become in him”, it is like what the proverb says, “Drink waters out of thine own cistern” (Proverbs 5: 15); that is, the believer is delivered from being dependent on this world and what this world can give.
Whether it be sport or any other thing, the believer is completely delivered from it, and he is given a new source of affection, which provides full satisfaction. Living water is a most attractive figure of the Holy Spirit, operative in the soul, operative in the heart, reaching the inner recesses of the moral being, and satisfying it thoroughly. What do you know of it? Why do you turn to other things? What do you know of this living water invigorating the whole of your moral being? Where do you stand as to knowing the Giver of the living water?
I do not want to go into the detail, although it is beautiful detail and important, but she is made a thoroughly satisfied person. The Lord meets the moral side. She had five husbands, and the one she had was not her husband. That really refers, of course, to the illegality of Israel’s position today. They are living in the light of not really having a husband, the one they have is not their husband. They will be recovered to their true Husband, but in the meantime God is operating in grace to bring you to know Him in all His greatness, “who it is that says to thee”, the Giver of living water. The woman’s need is met to such an extent that the Lord is able to introduce to her the idea of worship. There is no person who ever worshipped God unless their heart was satisfied. It we are murmuring and discontented, if we are not satisfied, we can have no part in the worship of God. The worship of God flows from a fully satisfied heart, and she is so satisfied by the living water that she is brought to the point of worship. It says, “the Father
seeks such as his worshippers” (John 4: 23). You may say, what does the word ‘such’ mean?
Does it mean her history? The word ‘such’ there is nothing to do with her sinful history. It is a person who really has been brought into the wonderful radiancy of divine affections. Her own being is filled with it, filled with the satisfaction that the Lord has provided.
I leave that word with us, beloved brethren, and go on to the man of John 9, a most interesting man; in fact the whole chapter is a wonderful chapter. I suppose everyone here has read it. Is there one here who has never read John chapter 9? What about you children, you go to school and you are able to read, have you ever read John chapter 9? You young men and women in your teens, have you read the chapter from beginning to end? I would encourage you to do so. You see a man, not only delivered from his blindness, but secured in order that the works of God might be manifested in him, a remarkable man. Every true believer on the Lord Jesus Christ has been secured that the works of God might be manifested in them. How far it is true is a challenge. How far is it true of us that the works of God are manifested in us, that God has wrought in us? It was true of this man, and because of his faithful witness to Christ and to the truth he was cast out of the synagogue. It is a great privilege to be cast out of the world for this reason, and it is a great salvation. It says, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him”. Think of the Lord finding this man. The man was of interest to the Lord Jesus, and He asks him a most remarkable question, “Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?”
I want to draw attention to one or two simple points here. The Lord makes no reference to the man’s previous history. He makes no reference to his experiences in this chapter. You might have thought He would. I think the man had got the full gain of his experiences, and the Lord knew that. But the Lord had seen that the man had
another need. If you are delivered from the world you have a need. You might say, Well what is the need? The need is that you might not go back into it. The Lord had seen that need, and He brings in what the man needed. The Lord Jesus has His eye on you and He knows what you need. I am speaking of this very moment, the Lord Jesus knows what you need and He would be prepared, in this meeting, to bring in the touch that you need. This man needed the presentation of the Son of God; that is, One who was the Sun and the Centre of another world, another system. If the man is to be kept from going back to the synagogue (there is always that danger), he had to have the light and the joy of another world filling his soul.
That is what the Lord Jesus would do with you today. He would introduce you to something that is great enough to keep you from going back into the world. I wonder how we would fare if He asked us this question, “Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?” How would you fare if the Lord Jesus actually asked you that question today? What could you say? The man had said many wonderful things about Jesus. He said, for instance, “A man called Jesus made mud and anointed mine eyes “(John 9: 11), and, “He is a prophet” (verse 17). He was a believer thus far, but he had not heard of the Son of God. What do you know about the Son of God? What do you know about the One who is the Head and Centre of a system that will operate eternally for the pleasure of God? One who is abiding there in living relationships before God, He is the Son of God.
This man is being brought into the light of that, and the Lord Jesus would long to bring you into the light of it, into the knowledge of Himself as the One who is the Centre of another world. That will keep you from any desire to go back into this world. How would you answer if He asked you the question? This man says, “who is he, Lord ...?” He knew Jesus as his Lord, and I trust you know Jesus as your Lord. It is a great step to the way of blessing if you know Jesus as Lord. And so he says, “who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” And
Jesus said to him, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he”. Think of what the man discovered, that he was in the very presence of the Son of God. It is a wonderful matter to be consciously in the presence of the Son of God. I wonder if you have reached that in the experience of your soul. Do you know Jesus as the Son of God? If you do, this world’s glory is superseded. One said of Him,
‘Marvel not that Christ in glory,
All my inmost soul has won;
Not a star to cheer my darkness,
But a light beyond the sun’.
What a thing it is to know Jesus as the Son of God. And then it says, “I believe, Lord—and he did him homage”. He comes to the point of worship. Nathanael was also in the presence of the Son of God, but it does not say of him that he worshipped. It says of this man that “he did him homage”. I would like to ask the question in affection for every soul here, Have you ever really consciously been in the presence of the Son of God? I am speaking of your individual links with Christ. Have you ever consciously been in the presence of the Son of God and worshipped Him? That is, that His glory is occupying your whole being; He is filling and satisfying you. There is nothing more you can ask. It is like the queen of Sheba, it says, “there was no more spirit in her”, 1 Kings 10: 5. Her whole being was occupied with the glory of Solomon. That is like this man here, he was fully occupied with the glory of the Son of God.
What I am speaking of is a great test as to whether we are really satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. I think there is a great danger of the world overwhelming us, overwhelming the Christian position. I am not speaking only of ourselves, I am speaking generally, but I am including ourselves. I think there is a great danger of the world and worldly things overwhelming us. The only way to stay clear of it and to be preserved from it is to have something better, something infinitely greater, and that is the knowledge of the Son of God.
What
could the world give you in comparison with Him? What could it offer? Tell me, What could it give you in comparison with what I am speaking of, the glory of Jesus as the Son of God?
O may the light of the Son of God shine in our hearts today in its brilliance and in its purity.
This man became isolated, he was cast out, he was solitary. Beloved Mr. Stoney said he was in the solitude of light (Vol. 5, page 315). These other persons remained in the company of darkness, but he was in the solitude of light. I trust you have arrived at that in your soul, that as far as this world is concerned you are in the solitude of light. The Lord Jesus says in this very gospel, “he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”, John 8: 12. Is the light of life shining in your heart? It is not shining in the world. What pervades the world is the darkness of death, not the shining of the light of the Son of God. O
may it be, beloved brethren, that the glorious brilliance of the light of the Son of God might shine freshly in our hearts today and deliver us from the world. The test in older times was, Christ or the world, but the danger today is, Christ and the world. You cannot have both, they will not mix. May we be able to face the challenge of the Lord’s question, “dost thou believe on the Son of God?” I am not speaking merely to the young people, I am speaking to all of us, to the old people too; because if we take on habits that are wrong you can be sure that we will defile the young people, they will see no harm in them either. I appeal to the brethren to face the matter, and face the Lord’s question, “dost thou believe on the Son of God?”
Now I want to speak about Mary. It was obviously Martha’s house and the Lord came into it.
I am always very thankful, when I think about Martha, that we have John’s record. I think there is something very attractive about Martha, but she is burdened by much service.
Nevertheless John shows that she is completely adjusted. If it were left to Luke’s presentation alone, she would be
shown up in a very poor light; so there is hope for all of us who are like Martha. But I want to speak about Mary. It says, “And she had a sister called Mary, who also, having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word”. Did you ever do that? Do you do it? I suppose some here may be thinking that this is a very pointed word. I do not mean it in that way, but I trust it is a faithful one, and I do trust that it will be heeded. Do you take time to sit at the feet of Jesus? What are your private links with Jesus like? Are they healthy? Are they real? A brother recently gave me two books of some old correspondence. One was between Mr.
Bellett and obviously a very ill sister for over a period of years. What shone through in those letters was their knowledge of divine Persons and their appreciation of that knowledge.
Beloved brethren, how much does that mark us? Do you think we have become a bit professional? Do you think we have departed a bit from reality? Do you think we are bordering on the world? Do you think our Christianity is as vital as it once was or it ought to be? What really is the state of our links with the Lord Jesus? Are they healthy? Are they being maintained? Do you sit at His feet and listen to His word? There is one thing about those who listen, to the words of Jesus, they are learners. You will learn at the feet of Jesus.
That is what the sister said, was it not?
‘Low at Thy feet, Lord Jesus,
This is the place for me;
Here, I have learned deep lessons,
Truth that has set me free’.
Beloved brother and sister, how much time do you spend in the company of the Lord Jesus Christ? I have the impression that there is a very great matter here in this verse, and I tell you why. I think she was really in the company of the Apostle of our confession. Hebrews speaks of the Lord Jesus in that way as the Apostle of our confession (Hebrews 3: 1), the One who came out from God and spoke for God. Think of what it must have meant to the Lord Jesus to have had a rapt listener, an
attentive listener sitting at His feet! Think of what He would pour into those ears of Mary, wonderful glories of the new system which God was inaugurating! That is what the Apostle would tell her. He would fill Mary’s heart with the glories and greatness of this new system.
That is, I think, the greatness of what is conveyed in this verse. The next chapter is the Priest.
The Lord Jesus is praying in Luke chapter 11; He is not only the Apostle but He is also the Priest. The Apostle speaks for God, and the Priest speaks to God. Unless you keep up your links with the great Apostle of our confession, your speaking to God will be very sparse, it will not be very rich. But if you are one who sits at the feet of Jesus, I think you will be able to pour out your heart with real wealth towards God.
Well these were the things I wanted to speak of; they are very simple and direct. I trust that the brethren will receive them in the spirit in which I have sought to minister them, the spirit of affection. I believe we are in grave days, and one makes no apology for saying that. I believe the devil is seeking to use the world to make inroads into the very circle which is precious to the heart of Christ; and I believe the only antidote to it is to be truly satisfied with Christ. I ask again, Are you really satisfied with Christ, or do you want Christ and something else? It never works that way and never will. So at the end He defends Mary, saying to Martha, “but there is need of one, and Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her”. That is a beautiful touch, “the which shall not be taken from her”, it is the good part. I commend the thought to the brethren to go in for what is good. It is a great thing, I think, to go on with what is good. The good part is to learn what it is to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His word. You remember it says in Colossians, “Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly”, Colossians 3: 16. That is what you will hear at the feet of Jesus, you will hear the word of Christ. The great end in view is that it might dwell in you richly, to find a
lodging place in your soul, in your heart, and enrich your moral being so that you are satisfied. I believe there is a great need to be satisfied with Christ and I believe it solves many things, beloved brethren. I trust we are all convicted as to that, and that we shall all go in for it and seek the help of the Spirit of God, so that we might be sustained and maintained truly with a clear and pure taste for Christ. And not only that, but that we might share in some way in God’s appreciation of Christ, because that is the wonderful grace God would bestow upon us, that we might be drawn in to share His own appreciation of Christ. May it be so for His name’s sake.
Address at Glasgow
16 December 1995