A PERSONAL TRANSACTION WITH JESUS
A.B.Parker
The verses read from John 4 give an instance when the Lord Jesus dealt with a person alone, and continued speaking until a remarkable result was reached. How intimate Jesus was in speaking to that Samaritan woman! I have not read the entire section because it is so well known to us. My concern is that, in some way, through the preaching, we may have to do, personally and directly, with the Lord Jesus. We are not here for entertainment, nor just to hear and forget, but that the Lord may speak to us in such a way that there will be change with us. We could not have a private interview with the Lord and not be changed. As long as we are left here there will be need for change. Soon our bodies will be changed - a glorious matter that will be effected in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and it will be complete - but the moral change which suits the body of glory usually takes a lifetime to work out in detail.
The Lord Jesus has committed Himself to speak with us, that is, exercised persons, privately and intimately in this present period of church history which is characterised by Laodicean conditions. Such conditions have been contributed to by us to our sorrow. The way out of such conditions is by overcoming. However, it is to exercised persons in Laodicean conditions that the Lord, in His word to John at Patmos, committed Himself to have to say to, if they will hear His voice and open the door to Him: "Behold I stand at the door and am knocking; if any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me", Rev 3: 20. That supposes a personal, private interview with the Lord Jesus. Have you had it? Have you let Him in? Oh, do hear His knock, do hear His voice, and let Him in! "The Father loves the Son". He who is supreme in love's economy loves the Son "and has given all things to be in his hand". We want to catch the feeling of this word which prefaces the story of Jesus speaking personally and privately to the Samaritan woman of John 4. The Spirit of God tells us this, and then goes on to indicate that the Samaritan woman was a part of the "all things". Do you not want the assurance that you, too, are included in what is in His hand? Open to Him and let Him come in. Tell Him that you, too, want to have a personal, private interview with Him like this woman had. Just say to Him now, in your heart, Lord Jesus, speak to me. You or I are not too small to be in His hand. There are millions of needy persons on this earth at this very moment; nations are in great distress; violence and corruption are increasing worldwide; the world economy seems to be on the verge of collapse. Yet from God's side everything is in the hand of Christ and will work out for God's glory. And you are not too small to be in the hand of the Son for blessing. Ere long the earth will have served its purpose. The whole order of things that has continued since Adam's day will soon be folded up, but not before it becomes an expression of the mighty triumph of God, through Christ. What a wonderful triumph the Millennium will be! God will be vindicated through Christ's glorious administration before He brings in the new heavens and a new earth. He has made no mistake in placing all things in the hand of Christ. And you are not too small to be included in what is in His hand!
"He that believes on the Son has life eternal and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him". Are you subject to the Son? This appeal is the preface to this occasion when, I trust, the Lord will speak to you personally. Have you seen life in this aspect? If you are not subject to the Son you will not see it. Is it possible that the wrath of God is abiding upon you? Oh, you say, I was converted years ago. But I am not raising that question; I am raising the point as to whether you are subject to the Son. In grace He is seeking you now; let Him knock at your door (I trust He is doing it now), let Him in and have a private, personal interview; let Him go into matters with you which relate to your eternal salvation so that the wrath of God will not abide upon you and you may see life.
The Lord Jesus when here in the path of God's will "must needs go through Samaria". Geographically, in order to reach Galilee from where Jesus then was, it was necessary to go through Samaria. A look at the map will indicate this to be so, but the Spirit of God, I believe, is telling us more than geography. He is telling us that there was another reason why Jesus went that way. There was a "must needs". Could one lone woman be a "must needs"? The Lord may do very great things to bring blessing to one soul. In Luke 15 He tells us about one lone person in whom heaven was interested and to secure him a whole country was plunged into famine. Philip the evangelist was called from a great work, which was proceeding in Samaria, to meet and bring blessing to one lone Ethiopian as he journeyed. And if you are in God's thoughts for blessing, who can tell what heaven will do even now? In order to redeem Israel from Egypt and have them for Himself He gave Egypt for their ransom. Pharaoh's servants said "Egypt is ruined" (Exod 10: 7), but that was not the whole story, for after that He destroyed Egypt's army in the Red Sea.
What is God prepared to do to secure you? What has He done? He has spared not His own Son but has delivered Him up for you, not only to secure you for eternity. great and wondrous as that is, but that you may be brought into subjection to the Son now, so that wrath will not abide upon you and you truly may see life. This is a very real matter. The Spirit of God alone can bring it about, but you must not resist Him; so say within yourself, I want to hear what God is saying to me; I want to be subject to the Son.
When the Lord passed through Samaria He came to a place where something had happened centuries before in the ways of God. Jacob had given a portion of land to his son Joseph. It is like "The Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in his hand". The disposition of God has not changed, nor will it change. He has put everything into the hand of the Son. Then it says "a fountain of Jacob's was there". Should it not read, a fountain of Joseph's was there? No! Joseph held it forJacob, and the Lord Jesus is doing just that. The Father has given all things to be in His hand; He had given this woman into His hand and the Lord is about to cause a fountain to spring up in her to the Father. That is just what He did, and He did it quickly. Before He completed His personal talk with her He had won her for the Father, and she begins to ask about worship. He settled her matters quickly; He told her all things that she had ever done. Will you not let Jesus in? Are you making it difficult for Him to get your ear?
Something happened here in Plainfield years ago. There have been witnesses here to the fact that the Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand. There has been territory in this place which the Father gave to Christ, and He has maintained in it a response to the Father. Will it continue? Are you going to be available for the lord to give you "living water" which will spring up into eternal life? Are you going to be a worshipper who worships in spirit and in truth? We are identified with an area in which the Lord is working. There are many areas in which He is working. Who can say what is the extent of His labours? But we speak of what we know, and we would not hesitate to say that the Lord wants the fountain in this place to spring up with greater definiteness and satisfaction to the Father's heart. He is looking for worshippers who worship "in spirit and in truth".
Do you enjoy eternal life? Do you know the difference between life and eternal life? Do you know the difference between what men call life in this world and eternal life? Do you know the difference between newness of life and eternal life? that one is life in the wilderness and the other life in the service of God in the assembly? The Lord Jesus would say to you, I am knocking; I want to come into your personal circumstances on the most friendly terms; I will sit down with you and sup, and as we sup, I will speak to your heart - first of all about your matters, and after that about what I am maintaining for the Father's heart; and I want you with Me in this.
So Jesus took this woman in hand. He knocked on her door when He said "Give me to drink". She could have paid no attention to Him, for she was a Samaritan, and Samaritans have no dealings with Jews. But she asked Him "How dost thou, being a Jew, ask to drink of me who am a Samaritan woman?" Will she open the door to Jesus? Jesus said to her "If thou knewest the gift of God, 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". If you could only realise who it is that is knocking! You may say, It is just A.B.P. That may be so, but who is really knocking? Can we not say that Jesus again is knocking at your door? What could be greater than to be wanted by Jesus to become a worshipper? The woman said "the well is deep; whence hast thou living water?" Will you not just throw your doubts aside? Will you not cease to hesitate? Will you not say, Lord, I will open the door? The woman opened her door when she said "Give me this water". Then Jesus began to speak about her matters, saying, "Go, call thy husband". What a word that was! She may have thought that no one knew about her private affairs. What about you? Is there something in your life which not even your parents know? Are you afraid that it will come out if you confess the Lord? But think how much of a relief it will be to know that whatever it is, it is washed away by the blood of Jesus. He knows all about it; He bore it in His body on the tree and He wants you free from the guilt of it, whatever it is. Jesus knew the woman's moral state, and He knows yours.
And so we could go through the details of the interview with this woman, how the Lord Jesus skilfully won her confidence, telling her all things she had ever done, but in a way that she emerges from the interview with her heart purified by faith and a blessed Man filling it. And this is just what He wants to do with you. He wants you to cease covering up matters no need like this woman to go out in the heat of the day so that you will not be known, but in liberty to speak to everyone because another Man is filling your heart. Such was Paul. Think of his history, but he could say "we... have been manifested to God" (2 Cor 5: 11), and again, "it is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of man's day... He that examines me is the Lord", 1 Cor 4: 3,4. What a joy and peace there is in believing, and in confessing, knowing that everything has been adjusted and settled - He "told me all things I had ever done". But this is not all; He will take us over to His side of things; we will sup with Him, and hear of things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared (see 1 Cor 2: 9). Not only are they to be revealed to us by the Spirit, but the Lord Jesus, as we sup with Him, will open heavenly things up to us. Think of how He spoke to the two on their way to Emmaus, telling them from all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. This is the end toward which He is working in our day. He wants to bring us into the understanding of heavenly things, not only that we may see life, but may really live to God in the joy of sonship.
Divine things are so vast and so glorious, and the time left for our formation in them so brief, that we cannot afford not to open the door to Christ and give Him full access to our hearts. May we do so and spend the rest of our time to the will of God.
PLAINFIELD
17 November 1974