Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?
(No. 1792)
Delivered on Lord's-Day Evening, May 11th, 1884, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At Exeter-Hall.
"And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias,
and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I,
except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would
come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was
this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb
before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his
judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his
life is taken from the earth." Acts 8:30-33.
HOW THIS NEGRO CHAMBERLAIN of the Queen of Ethiopia came to be a
proselyte we do not know. The book which he was so fond of reading may
have been the means of leading him to worship the God of Abraham,
certainly it has answered that purpose thousands of times. At any rate,
he followed the light he had, and though he had not yet come to the
full glory of Christianity, it was more than probable that he would do
so, because he was evidently prepared to follow truth wherever her
flaming torch should lead the way. Oh, that there were more candour
among men in these latter days, and less of the prejudice which puts
scales upon the eyes of the mind!
Be true to truth as it comes to you. If God gives you only common
candle-light, make good use of it; and he will trim your lamp till it
shineth like the sevenfold golden light of his holy place. Those who
are willing to see God by the moon of nature shall soon be illuminated
by the sun of revelation. Instead of complaining that you have no more
light, make good use of what you have. Many groan over their
inabilities, and yet they have never gone to the end of their
abilities: this is sheer hypocrisy.
Having become a proselyte to the faith of Israel, the eunuch made a
long and perilous journey to Jerusalem. After he had enjoyed the solemn
feast he returned; and while he traveled along, he read the word of
God. The book of the prophet Isaiah was the portion chosen or his
meditation. Does it not strike you as being remarkable that he should
be reading at that moment the best text that Philip could have
selected? He had reached a portion of Scripture from which, without the
slightest digression, the evangelist preached unto him Jesus as the
slain lamb, the willing sacrifice for guilty men. The like conjunction
of providence and the Holy Spirit constantly occurs in conversions.
What the man has read in the book, the preacher is often moved by the
Spirit of God to declare from the pulpit, for God has servants
everywhere, and his secret directions are given out, so that all these
servants, though they are little aware of it, are led to work together
for the same predestined end. How often have the talks of young men by
the wayside been reproduced by the preacher, and such singular
coincidences have struck their attention, and been the means of
impressing their hearts! God grant there may be something of that kind
to-nightI know there will be. Into this hall years ago there strayed a
wild young man; he heard me preach, he believed in Jesus, and he has
long been an honored deacon of a suburban church. Are there not other
men here to whom the like salvation shall come?
This eminent nobleman is reading. That is a commendable occupation:
reading is in itself somewhat of a hopeful sign. In these days we need
hardly exhort young men to read. "Give attendance to reading," said the
wise apostle Paul, and that was excellent advice for Timothy. Let all
Christian men be reading men. But, then, Philips question contains
these words, "what thou readest," and that suggests a necessary
enquiry. I am afraid much that is read nowadays had far better be left
unread. Multitudes of books are fruits of an accursed treethe tree of
evil knowledge, which is watered by the rivers of perdition. The fruits
of this upas-tree will yield no benefit to the minds that feed thereon,
but much of solemn damage; by perverting the judgment, or polluting the
imagination. Souls have been ruined to all eternity by reading a vile
book. Count it no trifle to have heard bad language; but count it a
more serious evil to have read a bad book which has wounded your soul,
and left a scar upon your conscience. The writer of an evil book is a
deliberate poisoner, secretly pouring death into the wells from which
men drink. The printers and publishers of such works are accomplices in
the crime. Young men, you will readwho among us would wish you to do
otherwise?but take heed what you read! As one who has read more
greedily than most men all sorts of books, I bear my testimony that the
best of reading is the reading of the best of books. The more we read
the Bible and volumes that lead up to the understanding of it, the
better for us. I do not like to see in a lending-library all the works
of fiction needing to be bound two or three times over, while the books
of sober fact and solid teaching, and the works that speak of eternal
things, have never been read, since they have not even been cut. I fear
that this is the general if not the universal rule. "Understandest thou
what thou readest?" is a question I should hardly put until a man has
made up his mind that he will not read mere rubbish and falsehood, but
will with deep attention read that which is accurate, truthful, devout,
and ennobling. Read; take heed what you read; and then seek to
understand what you read.
It was a very sharp-pointed question that Philip put to this gentleman.
He made honest and earnest use of a rare opportunity for reaching one
of the upper ten. We find it tolerably easy to put questions to a man
who is poor, but how shall we approach the rich? We have sermons for
the working-classes, and it would be a fair and useful thing to have
sermons for the House of Peers, and evangelistic addresses for the
Commons! Are there any bigger sinners anywhere than you might find in
those two chambers? The rich are neither better nor worse than the
poor: the various classes have bad and good in each of them, in much
the same proportion. I am persuaded that there are noble lords and
honorable gentlemen who would be all the better for a little teaching
upon the things of the kingdom of God: for instance, it might do many
of them good to hear a plain sermon from, "Ye must be born again." Why
is it that we are so apt to be plain-spoken with working-men, and not
with their employers? I admire Philip for his outspokenness to the
royal treasurer. This gentleman keeps a carriage. Look at his retinue
and his brave display! He is a very important personage, and yet
Philip, who is nobody in particular, only a poor preacher of the Word,
runs up to the chariot, and solemnly asks, "Understandest thou what
thou readest?" Young men, never be irritated by plain questions from a
servant of Christ, or else you will not be as noble as this Ethiopian
chamberlain: and, young men, when you know the Lord, do not be ashamed
yourselves to put important questions to other people. Bold enquiries
often give less offense than the more politic and indirect address
which timidity suggests. I fear the world can seldom charge the church
with being too violent in its appeals. Look at what the ungodly will do
to us. Where can you live in a street of London, especially in this
part of the town, without having night made hideous with their loud
licentious songs and shouts? They force upon us their irreligion: may
we not introduce our religion in return? If we go up to a man straight
away, and speak to him in the name of Christ, perhaps he will say, "You
intrude." Well, we are not the only people that intrude, for many
intrude their filthy tongues upon us as we go down the streets, and
force their infidelity upon us in the daily prints. The world sets the
fashion, and if we follow its customs it has no right to complain. When
the wicked grow so delicate that they are afraid of hurting our
feelings by their unbelieving speeches, we may take into consideration
how we can go delicately also. Meanwhile, is there anything which a man
of God has not a right to say if it be the truth, and if he be
earnestly aiming at the salvation of his fellow-men?
This was the question, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" Ah, my
brothers, you and I have need to understand the Bible. I will suppose
you read itlet me hope I am not mistaken; but when you read it, do
labor, above all things, to understand it. The Book was written to be
understood. It is a book which speaks to us about our lives (for the
soul is the true life), and about the bliss eternal, and the way to win
it. It must be so written as to be understood, since it were a mockery
for God to give us a revelation which we could not comprehend. The
Bible was meant to be understood, and it benefits us in proportion as
we get at the meaning of it. The mere words of Scripture passing over
the ear or before the eye, can do us little good. I heard a person say
once, concerning a great doctrine which I hold to be very plainly
taught in Scripture, that he had read the Bible throughI think he said
six timeson his knees, but he could not find that doctrine. I replied,
"Brother, that is an awkward position in which to read the Bible. I
should have sat upon a chair, and studied the page in a natural and
easy posture. Moreover, I should not have galloped through it at the
rate at which you must have raced over the chapters. I should rather
have read a little at a time, and tried to understand it."
"Understandest thou what thou readest?" that is the question. "I read a
chapter every morning," says one. Quite right; keep that up, but
"Understandest thou what thou readest?" "Well, I learn the daily text."
Yes, but "Understandest thou what thou readest?" That is the main
point. The butterflies flit over the garden, and nothing comes of their
flitting; but look at the bees, how they dive into the bells of the
flowers, and come forth with their thighs laden with the pollen, and
their stomachs filled with sweetest honey for their hives. This is the
way to read the Bible: get into the flowers of Scripture, plunge into
the inward meaning, and suck out that secret sweetness which the Lord
has put there for your spiritual nourishment. A thoughtful book needs
and deserves thoughtful reading. If it has taken its author a long time
to write it, and he has written it with much consideration, it is due
to him that you give his work a careful perusal. If the thoughts of men
deserve this, what shall I say of the supreme thoughts of God which he
has written for us in this Book? Let us bend ourselves to the Book; let
us ask for increased capacity, and let us use what capacity we already
possess to reach the inmost soul of the Word of God, that we may
understand it, and be fed thereby. The Bible can be understood, I do
assure you. I will not say that any man here understands all of it. I
do not believe there is any man alive that does. I could not myself
believe in it if I could understand it allfor I should imagine that it
came from my equal, and not from that supreme Master mind, whose
thoughts must be above our thoughts, even as the heavens are above the
earth. All that is right, all that is fundamental, all that is
essential to our soul's eternal good, can be understood by the help of
God if we desire to understand it. Digest the word, I pray you. Be
prepared to answer this question, "Understandest thou what thou
readest?" Desiring to press that matter upon you, I am going to speak
upon three questions somewhat briefly. The first is, What is most
essential to be understood in this Book? secondly, What is the test of
a man's understanding it? and, lastly, What can be done to obtain such
a desirable understanding?
I. WHAT, THEN, IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN THIS
BOOK? I do verily believe that it is contained in the passage which the
eunuch was reading. It is a very singular passage. A section of the
Bible begins at Isaiah 53., and goes onward through several chapters. I
will read you a verse or two out of that part which the eunuch would
soon have read had he continued to peruse the words of the prophet.
Already he had noted the words,"All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all." There was something for him, for he had gone
astray, and knew his lost estate. Go on to chapter 54., verse 3, and
read this, "Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left;
and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited." He might have thought, "I am one of the Gentiles, and
therefore I am of the nations that shall be possessed by the seed."
When he reached the fifty-fifth chapter, how his eyes would sparkle as
he began to read, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters"! And this, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near." Here, too, he would hear the voice of God
inviting men to come to his Anointed, and he would mark that promise,
"Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God." He
would rejoice to see that the Ethiopians were included in those who
knew not the Christ, but should, nevertheless, run to him.
I beg you to look at the fifty-sixth chapter and the third verse. I
fancy the eunuch had aforetime read the portion; it must have been a
favourite passage with him, for it runs thus: "Neither let the eunuch
say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus said the Lord unto the ennuchs
that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take
hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house, and
within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of
daughters." Was not that pointedly personal, and full of consolation? I
do not wonder that he liked to be found reading near such a choice
promise, wherein he saw the tender compassion of the Lord for beings
who are usually despised.
The passage from which Philip's text was taken contains the most
essential thing for every young man to know. Let him know and
understand the sixth verse of the fifty-third of Isaiah; it begins with
"all" and ends with "all;" therefore carry it in your memories"All we
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." What is wanted
is that we first understand that we have all gone astray. He who does
not know that he has gone astray will not care for the Shepherd who
comes to fetch him back again. A humbling, heart-breaking sense of our
personal wanderings from the Lord is a main force by which the heavenly
Father leads us to the Lord Jesus and his salvation. I want every young
man here to know and understand the truth, that salvation is the gift
of divine mercy to those who are guilty, and is never the reward of
human merit. Christ did not come to save you because you are good, for
you are not good; nor because you have merit, for you have no merit. He
would not have come to save you if you had possessed merit. Why should
he? There would have been no need. I hear the doctor's brougham
rattling down the street at a great pace, and I wonder where he is
going. It never occurs to me that he is rushing to call upon a hale and
hearty man. I am persuaded that he is hastening to see one who is very
ill, perhaps one in dying circumstances, otherwise he would not drive
so fast. It is just so with Jesus Christ. When he is hurrying on the
wings of the wind to rescue a child of man, I am sure that the soul he
visits is sick with the malady of sin, and that the Physician is making
haste because the disease is developing into corruption and death. He
came not "to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
"Who rightly would his alms dispose
Must give them to the poor;
None but the wounded patient knows
The comforts of a cure."
Jesus will not waste his grace on those who are already good. "He hath
filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty
away."
Oh, that you would also understand the second half of Isaiah's verse,
"The Lord hath laid, on him the iniquity of us all"! There is more
philosophy in that statement than in all the teachings of Aristotle,
there is more truth worth knowing in that one sentence than in all the
books of the Alexandrian Library. The Lord Jehovah lifted up the sin of
man, and deliberately laid it upon his dear Son. His Son, willingly
bearing that load as our Substitute, went up to the tree, and there he
bore what was due for all that weight of sin, even the penalty of
darkness, desertion, and death. By bearing the chastisement he put away
sin, and hurled it into his own sepulcher, wherein it is buried for
ever. Now, every man who believes in Jesus may know that his sin was
laid upon Christ, and borne by Christ, and put away by Christ. A thing
cannot be in two places at one time. If my sin was laid on Christ, it
is no longer laid on me. God cannot exact two penalties for the same
offense: if he accepted Christ Jesus as my substitute, then he cannot
punish me. God's justice cannot twice demand the penalty
"First at my bleeding Surety's hand,
And then again at mine."
Such an exaction would be a strange confusion and destruction of both
love and justice. Such injustice can never be. This is how you are to
get rid of your sin. You cannot bear it, but Christ bore it; you are to
accept Christ as your Sin-bearer, and then you may know that your sins
have gone, that the depths have covered them; that there is not one of
them left. I sometimes think if men did but understand this they would
be sure to accept the Lord Jesus. I heard of a minister in Edinburgh
who went to visit one of his poor people. He heard that she was in deep
poverty, and therefore he went to take her help. When he came to her
house, he could not make anybody hear, though he knocked loud and long.
Seeing her some time after, he said, "Janet, I knocked at your door
with help for you, but you did not hear me." "What time did you come,
Sir?" said she. "It was about twelve o'clock." "Oh," she said, "I did
hear you, Sir, but I thought it was the man calling for the rent." Just
so. Men do hear the calls of Christ, but they are wilfully deaf,
because they think be wants them to do something. But he does not want
anything of you; he wants you to receive what he has already done. He
comes laden with mercy, with his hands full of blessing, and he knocks
at your door: you have only to open it and he will enter in, and
salvation will enter with him. Say, "Come in, thou Traveller unknown!
What hast thou in thy hands? I gladly accept what thou dost bring."
Will not some young man here, who has thought religion to be a hard
exaction, change his mind, now that he understands that it is a
bountiful boon? Salvation is a gifta free gift of God. "Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely." The Savior lifts sin from
men to himself, and then makes an end of that sin once for all by his
death upon the cross. Oh, hear you this, ye guilty ones: there is fall
salvation presented to you in the word of Godsalvation from every sort
of evil! You shall be helped to overcome every bad passion, to conquer
every evil habit, to be masters of your own minds, and lords of your
own spirits. The Lord Jesus Christ, if you accept him, will come into
your heart, and turn out his enemy and yours, and he will reign in you
from this time forth and for ever, until he has made you perfect, and
fit to dwell with himself in glory. Oh, that you understood this vital
point; "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all"!
II. WHAT IS THE TEST OF A MAN'S UNDERSTAXDING HIS BIBLE, AND OF
UNDERSTANDING THIS PASSAGE IN IT?
I answer that the test of a man's understanding this important part of
Scripture is that Jesus Christ is everything to him: for Philip, who
did understand it, when he explained it, preached unto the eunuch Jesus
and nothing else. I try with all my might to preach my Lord Jesus
Christ, and I love to meet with people who delight in this theme.
Certain critics call upon us to preach something fresh. This also will
I do, for I will preach Jesus, and he is always fresh: there is nothing
stale in him, he has for ever the dew of his youth.
It may be said, "But new doctrines are brought out continually." Yes,
but they grow stale in a month; they are a poor kind of Covent Garden
stuff, and need to be carted away quickly, else they decay. I have
lived to see a score or more sorts of modern theology; they all come
and go, but Jesus Christ remains the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever.
If you have Jesus Christ, you have everythingtop, bottom, and middle
as well. Have Christ and nothing else but Christ. You will not be in
safety if you rest without having a firm hold of Jesus, the divine
Savior. "Well," says one, "but what do you make of Socinians and
Unitarians?" I come to the same conclusion about them as did an old
Baptist minister, who was greatly grieved to see a Socinian chapel
erected opposite his own. One of his deacons said, "This is a dreadful
thingthis opposition shop that has been opened on the other side of
the road!" "I don't call it opposition at all," said the minister. The
deacon exclaimed, "Why, they are Unitarians; they don't preach the
Godhead of Christ!" The old man said, "If you kept a baker's shop, and
another man were to open an ironmongery business opposite you, that
would not be opposition, for he would be in quite another line. Those
who do not preach the deity of Christ are in an altogether different
business. If you want ironmongery you may go to them, but if you want
the bread of heaven you must look to the Lord Jesus, the Son of the
Highest." So if you want to understand the Scripture, test yourself by
this: Is Jesus Christ everything to you?
"You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of him."
You understand the Scripture if you make everything of the Lord Jesus
Christ; if you believe on him with all your heart, and then yield
yourselves up to him in his own way.
Every young man, when he believes in Jesus, should give himself to
Jesus, heart and soul, for ever. "That's the kind of young man for my
money, for he is O and O." So spake a certain person, and when he was
asked what that meant, he replied, "Out and out for Jesus Christ." Such
a man is precious in these days; yes, precious as the gold of Ophir.
Jesus was out and out for us, he loved us, and gave himself for us:
there should be no half-heartedness in our dealings with him. If we
have read Scripture aright, we have not received the kind of
Christianity which sanctifies us on Sunday, but enables us to be
dishonest throughout the week. True saints have a religion that has
entered into their very blood, changing their nature, and permeating
their being, so that it is part and parcel of themselves. Practical
Christianity is the only real Christianity. If your religion can be
laid aside I would advise you to get rid of it; for a real Christian
could no more lay aside his godliness than he could unscrew his head.
I like this eunuch for proposing that he should be baptized. He was not
advised to do so, but he proposed it himself, and gave himself up to
his Lord and Master to do the Lord's bidding at once, the providonce of
God having provided water that he might there and then fulfill his
Master's command. Young man, whichever way the Scripture bids you
dedicate yourself to God, set to work about it, and let it be done at
once. Find out what is the scriptural way, and then follow it without
delay, surrendering yourself wholly to the Lord: you have not read the
Scriptures with understanding unless you do that.
The next thing is, if you have read the Scriptures with a clear
understanding, they have made you glad, for this eunuch "went on his
way rejoicing." The man who gets up from reading his Bible, and says,
"I am a believer in Jesus; what a solemn thing it is!" and then goes
forth with a pious resolution that he will make everybody as miserable
as he can all the day long, wants converting again. The faith of the
Scriptures leads joy by the hand, and chases away despair. When true
religion coupes, its tendency is to make us rejoice in the Lord always;
and though we are not as happy as we ought to be, that is not the fault
of our faith, but of our unbelief. Fair flowers of Paradise spring up
where Faith plants her feet; but thistles grow where doubt abides. Our
indigestion, or some other malady may depress us; but faith should make
our songs abound even while we are travelling through the wilderness.
Joys unspeakable may be ours before we
"Reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.'"
You have not read your Bible so as to understand it to the full, unless
you have learned to be happy by a sweet resting in Jesus.
I think you have not understood the Bible unless it makes you care
about the salvation of others; for this Ethiopian nobleman, when he got
home, I have no doubt, spread the gospel throughout his native land: he
was, probably, the founder of the Abyssinian Church. If any young man
reads this Book aright, he becomes large-hearted, he cannot hold his
soul within the narrow bound of his ribs, but his great heart looks out
to see where it can scatter benefits. If thou canst let another man be
damned without an effort, I fear that such will be thine own end: if
thou canst be quiet when thou believest thy brother is on the brink of
eternal ruin, I fear thou art on the brink of ruin thyself. One of the
holiest instincts born in a renewed man is that of longing to save
others. Being saved, we wish to co-operate with the Savior in his
gracious work. A missionary enthusiasm is the natural result of a clear
perception of the true state of matters in reference to the world,
which lieth in the wicked one. The heathen die without hope: shall it
be always so? Will no young man rescue the perishing? I put it to you
from the deeps of my soul, will you not cry, "Here am I, send me!"?
You have read this Book so as to understand it, if your message to
others is what the message was to youChrist, Christ, Christ, Christ.
You have nothing else to employ as the means of good, except the
salvation of Jesus, and there is nothing else worth telling. I heard of
a congregation the other day that was so very small that hardly any one
came to listen to the preacher. Instead of blaming himself, and
preaching better, the minister said he thought he was not doing much
good by sermons and prayer-meetings, and therefore he would found a
club, and if the fellows came in, and played draughts, that might do
them good. What a lot of that sort of thing is now being tried! We are
going to convert souls on a new system,are we? Are we also to have a
substitute for bread?and healthier drink than pure water? We cannot
save men by faith in Jesus Christ, and so it seems we are going to try
new dodges of our own. We shall reap small, scant sheaves from such
wretched seed. If you can do good anyhow, do good anyhow; but to hope
ever to bring sinners to holiness and heaven by any teaching but that
which begins and ends in Jesus Christ is a sheer delusion. None other
name is given among men whereby they can be saved. If you have to deal
with highly learned and educated people, nothing is so good for them as
preaching Jesus Christ; and if the people be ignorant and degraded,
nothing is better for them than the preaching of Jesus. A young man
said to another the other day, "I am going down to preach at So-and-so,
what sort of people are they there? What kind of doctrine will suit
them?" Having heard of the question, I gave this advice,"You preach
Jesus Christ, and that will suit them, I am sure, if they are learned
people it will suit them; if they are ignorant it will suit themGod
blessing it." When the great Biblical critic, Bengel, was dying, he
sent for a young theological student, to whom he said, "I am low in
spirit; say something good to cheer me." "My dear Sir," said the
student, "I am so insignificant a person, what can I say to a great man
like yourself?" "But if you are a student of theology," said Bengel,
"you ought to have a good word to say to a dying man; pray say it
without fear." "Well, Sir," said he, "What can I say to you, but that
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin?" Bengel said, "Give
me your hand, young man; that is the very word I wanted." A simple
gospel text is the word which every man needs who is in fear of divine
wrath, and he may be sitting next to you at this moment, or he is in
the same house of business with you, and needs that you should tell him
about Christ. Do that, and bless his soul. May you all understand the
Scriptures in this way, and may God make you a great blessing to those
around you.
III. Now in a few words I want to answer the question, WHAT CAN BE DONE
TO OBTAIN SUCH A DESIRABLE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SCRIPTURES? "I read the
Bible," says one, "and get a great deal puzzled over it." Let me advise
that when you read a passage in the Scriptures which you do not
understand, you should read it until you do. "I should have to read
often." Well, that would not hurt you. "But suppose I never do
understand it?" Keep on reading it all the same. "Can passages of
Scripture which we do not understand do us any good when we read them?"
Yes; they gradually filter into our souls: by long considering them we
get light out of them. Here is a little boy whose father is an artisan,
and uses a great many technical terms when talking about his work. The
boy is apprenticed to the trade, and wants to know all about it, and
therefore he listens to his father, and when the day is over he says to
himself, "I heard my father say a great deal, but I do not understand
much of it." "But you did understand a little of it?" "Oh, yes." To
that little he is faithful, and day by day he adds to his store of
information, learning more by the help of that which he already knows.
He hears his father talk again the next day, and still he does not
understand much; but at last, by hearing the terms often, and by
meditating upon them, light breaks in, and at length he can talk like
his father, using the same words with understanding. So I have found
it. When I do not comprehend a chapter, I say,This is probably
comprehensible, I will therefore hear my great Father speak, even if I
do not understand at first what he may say to me, and I will keep on
hearing him until at last I grasp his meaning. I fear we do not
understand some passages because we have not read them often enough,
nor thought upon them with full concentration of mind. Once or twice
they pass before the mind and produce no impression; let us observe
them yet again, and then their effect will be deep and permanent. Do as
the photographer does, when he allows an object to be long before the
camera until he obtains a well-defined picture. Let your mind dwell on
a passage till at last it has photographed itself upon your soul by the
light of God.
The next bit of advice I would give is, always read with a desire to
understand: always have the crackers with you to crack the nuts, that
you may feed upon their kernels. Some may say, when reading the Bible,
"That may be a very blessed passage, but I don't in the least know what
it means." Be not content to leave the text in that condition. Weep
much because no man can open the book, and loose its seven seals. Pray
over the words, and study them again and again, till at last you come
at the essence of the text. Reading with that view, it is wonderful how
soon you will obtain the understanding you seek after.
Next, be sure to pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. If you
want to understand a book, and you find difficulties in it, do as I
have done on several occasions with my contemporarieswrite and ask
them what they mean by their language. I have in this way obtained much
valuable information. Can we do that with the Bible? Assuredly we can
if we know how to pray. The Author of the Bible is never more pleased
than when we go directly to him to ask him what he means. He puts
himself at the disposal of every earnest student to open up by means
known to himself those Scriptures which he hath himself dictated. "I
consulted a learned commentator," says one. Very well; at the same
time, to go to a commentator upon a book is not half so certain a mode
of procedure as to go to the author of the book. Seek instruction of
the blessed Spirit by humble prayer.
Remember that you can also go to the Maker of your mind, and he can
open it to receive the truth. Your mind is out of order, and it is no
wonder, considering its serious damage by the Fall, and the atmosphere
of sin which surrounds it in this present evil world. My mind, I know,
is very likely to be in a disorderly state; it has for fifty years been
always at work, and I think it must by this time be like an old clock
that has grown rusty or dusty. I find my brains want clearing out a
bit; and I believe that this is the case with you young men, too. You
are either very busy, or else very careless, and the dust of care or
neglect spreads over your brain. Who can set the brain right? The
Creator who made the brain. The Holy Spirit has a wonderful power in
clearing the intellect. You shall study for a month and make no
headway; but you shall pray to God about a spiritual truth, and it
shall be clear to you in a minute. There are multitudes of instances in
which men have turned dark problems over and over again in their minds,
and have never solved them by their own mental efforts, but one flash
of Divine light has made everything bright as noonday. Wait, then, upon
the Author of the Book, and then wait upon the author of yourself, and
say, "Lord, as thou openest the Scriptures, so open my understanding
that I may perceive their meaning."
I would earnestly entreat every man who desires to understand the Bible
to consider at this moment the vital point of his natural condition,
and the nay of salvation from it. You are lost, dear friend. If you are
an unconverted man you are still lost, and you cannot save yourself; it
is impossible that you should. You may have heard the story of that
philosopher who was once on the roof of a house, when suddenly behind
him came a strong man with a huge whip, and told him to jump down to
the ground. Certain death would have been the result. The man was a
lunatic. The philosopher perceived that terrible fact in a moment, and
so he very wisely said, "Well, you see? any fool can jump down, the
grand thing would be to jump up. Let us go down, and jump up." They
went down, but they never jumped up, for the gentleman thus escaped.
Are there not some here who are jumping down? some young men who are
taking a desperate leap to one sin or another? Any fool can jump down;
but if any of you are already down, I defy you to jump up again. No,
you need a greater power than your own before you can ascend the
heights of holiness. If you have tried to jump up, I know, young man,
you have fallen back in despair. Easy is the descent to hell, the
gravitation of our nature tends that way; but to retrace our steps,
this is the work, this is the difficulty. Turn that over in your mind,
and say, "If there be salvation to be had, since I cannot work out my
own rescue without divine grace, I will trust in Jesus." Oh, that you
would seek his grace at once!
I tried to preach the gospel just now; let me again put it simply. A
negro worded it thus, "Christ die, me not die," and that is the gospel;
Christ dies that you may not die. Only trust him, and you are saved.
When you are about it, dear young friend, I beseech you to trust Christ
out and out. A homely parable will illustrate what I mean. A father, it
is said, had to go one night along the top of a rugged and very
slippery precipice. His two boys were with him, and when he started,
one boy said, "Father, I will take hold of your hand." He did so, and
it seemed a very wise thing to do. The other boy said, "Father, take
hold of my hand," and, as it turned out, that was a much more prudent
course; for the first youngster clung to his father's hand until he
grew weary, and when they were in a very frightful place he failed to
hold on, and down he went, but the other trudged along right merrily,
for he was not dependent upon his hold of his father's handall
depended upon the father's hold of him. Now come, young man, and begin
as you mean to go on. Put yourself right into the hand of the Lord
Jesus for him to keep you. When I was a lad I heard a preacher say that
Christ gave to his sheep eternal life, and that they should never
perish, for he would keep them to the end. This charmed me. I longed to
find this sure salvation. I thought within myself, "I know James
So-and-so, and Tom So-and-so, who went up to London, and who were about
a year older than I, and they, within half-a-dozen years, were as far
gone in vice as well could be. They were better boys when they were at
school than I was, and yet they went to the bad. I may go and do the
same thing as they did unless I get this eternal salvation. I may lose
my situation, or be found pilfering, or something of that sort, for I
have as bad a heart as they have." I looked upon salvation as a
spiritual insurance, which would guarantee my character. So I tried the
promise and now, at the age of fifty, I place myself under the care of
the Lord Jesus as I did at the age of fifteen; he has kept me to this
day, and I believe he will never let me go, however long I may live.
Oh, young man, give yourself up to that dear pierced hand wholly and
heartily! Let your motto be, "Jesus only." Trust Christ a little, and
yourself a little, and, like a man who plants one foot on the rock and
the other on the quicksand, you will go down. Trust in him alone, and
he will hold you fast. If Jesus does not save me, I shall be lost, for
I cannot save myself. It is his business to save me, for both by name
and office he is Jesus, the Savior; and I rest quite happily in him.
When we meet in heaven we shall praise the Lord for making us
understand what we read. God bless you all, for Christ's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMONActs 8:26-40.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"478,483,486.