Taught That We May Teach

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And the Man said to me, Son of man, behold with your eyes, and hear
with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you; for
to the intent that I might show them unto you are you brought here:
declare all that you see to the house of Israel." Ezekiel 40:4.

WE learn from this text something concerning Ezekiel himself. He was
certainly one of the greatest of the Prophets. His visions remind us of
those of John, both for their brightness, splendor and number–and yet
this eminent Prophet was, nevertheless, styled, "son of man." He is
continually called by that name. The title is used over and over again
throughout the book of his prophecies–"son of man" to remind him that
even the Seer, the Prophet, the Inspired, the man who was indulged with
vision upon vision–was still only a man. The best of men are men at
the best! Those eyes that are strengthened to behold the cherubim and
to gaze upon the stupendous wheels of Providence are still only the
eyes of a son of man!

The title was used to teach him humility and also to remind him of the
condescension of God towards him and to fill him with awe and wonder
that he should be chosen from the rest of mankind, though no more than
they, to see such wondrous sights withheld from other eyes. To us this
wears a very promising aspect, for if God can reveal Himself to one
"son of man," why not to another? And if God can speak, as He did
speak, so wonderfully through Ezekiel, one son of man, why not through
you? Why not through me? For we, too, are sons of men! We have no
worthiness or fitness and neither does Ezekiel claim any. He is
reminded of his descent–he is still one of the sons of men. Oh, be of
good comfort, you who think that God can never use you–you who are
poor in spirit and wish to serve Him–but deeply feel your own
insignificance!

Remember that God is able to do for you exceedingly abundantly above
what you ask or even think! He can yet reveal His Son in you and
Himself to you and by you, after such methods as you have never dreamed
of! And, possibly, the painful experience through which you are
passing, even now, may be preparing you to stand upon yet loftier
mounts and to behold visions of God which in happier days you shall
tell to the house of Israel and by which multitudes shall be blessed
through you!

This is our present subject–we will speak upon the manifestations with
which God favors certain of His servants. Then, secondly, we will dwell
upon their responsibility while they are enjoying such
manifestations–they are bound to behold with their eyes and hear with
their ears and set their heart upon all that God shall show them. And
then, thirdly, we will speak upon the objective which God has in giving
these manifestations to His more favored people. It is that they may
declare all that they see, that the whole house of Israel may, as it
were, see by these favored eyes and hear by these chosen ears and may
set their hearts upon the Word of the Lord because another has first
done so.

I. First, I shall have a little to say upon THE MANIFESTATIONS WITH
WHICH CERTAIN OF GOD'S SERVANTS ARE FAVORED. The Lord Jesus Christ
draws near in a very special manner to some of His people. He did to
Ezekiel, for I take it that the Man mentioned in the chapter, whose
appearance was like the appearance of brass, is none other than our
Divine Lord, who, though a Man, yet exceeds all men in the brightness
of His wondrous Person. It was He, doubtless, who appeared to Ezekiel.
Long before Christ came on earth to die, He appeared to His servants in
different ways. He sojourned with Abraham as a Wayfarer, for such He
found the Patriarch to be.

He wrestled with Jacob at the brook Jabbok, for Jacob was wrestling
with a sore trial. It was He that revealed Himself to Moses when the
bush was burning and it was He that stood by Joshua's side as the Man
having a drawn sword in His hand. In different ways and forms He proved
that His delights were with the sons of men. Before the Word appeared
in actual flesh and blood, He communed here and there with His chosen
servants. He will show Himself to any of you who

seek Him. He will unveil the beauties of His face to every eye that is
ready to behold them. There is never a heart that loves Him but He will
manifest His love to that heart.

But, at the same time, He does favor some of His servants who live near
to Him and who are called by Him to special service, with very
remarkable manifestations of His Light and Glory. These revelations are
not incessant. I suppose that no man is always alike. John was in
Patmos I know not how long, but he was "in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day" on one occasion and he specially notes it. I do not suppose that
Daniel or Ezekiel saw visions every night, or beheld the glories of God
every day. Humanity is scarcely capable of the incessant strain of a
perpetual manifestation of God! These things are, as we shall see,
"like angels' visits, few and far between." There is a fellowship that
can always be kept up, but the flood tide of manifestation–a noonday
revelation–will not last on continually.

Ezekiel enjoyed a special manifestation and he tells us when it was,
for men do not see God's face without remembering it. He knew the date
and recorded it. "In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in
the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the
fourteenth year after that they city was smitten." Days of heavenly
fellowship are red letter days to be remembered so long as memory holds
her seat. Yes, and it is noteworthy that the occasion of these
manifestations was one of great distress. Five-and-twenty years of
captivity must have been enough to wear down the spirits of God's
servants. Hence, He whose feet are as fine brass as if they burned in a
furnace, comes and manifests Himself to His people, burning like brass
in a furnace, giving them their times of comfort after 25 years of
captivity!

He says, too, that it was 14 years after the city had been smitten,
after it had been laid as a ruinous heap. Then God appeared. Oh,
Beloved, when you have been long sorrowing, you may expect bright days!
The coal-black darkness will brighten, after all! Nights do not last
forever. Whenever you have much joy, be cautious–there is a sorrow on
the road. But when you have much sadness, be hopeful–there is a joy on
the way to you–you can be sure of that. Our blessed Lord reveals
Himself to His people more in the valleys, in the shades, in the deeps
than He does anywhere else. He has a way and an art of showing Himself
to His children at midnight, making the darkness light by His Presence.
Saints have seen Jesus more often on the bed of pain than in robust
health.

There were more manifestations of Christ in Scotland among the heather
and the hills in the days of bloody Claver-house than there are now.
There was more seen of Christ in France, I do believe, in the days of
the Huguenots than ever is seen now. I fear that our Master has come to
be almost a stranger in the land in these days, compared with what He
was once, when His people wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,
destitute, afflicted, tormented–for then He was meeting them at every
turn and corner. Let us hope that if days are gloomy, now, and we,
ourselves, are in trouble, our Beloved will come and manifest Himself
to us as He does not to the world!

It appears, in this case, that the manifestation to Ezekiel was made
when he was put into an elevated condition. He says, "In the vision of
God He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me up upon a very
high mountain." God has ways of lifting His people right up, away,
away, away from mortal joy or sorrow, care or wish, into the spiritual
realm. And then, when the mind has been lifted above its ordinary level
and the faculties are brought up by some Divine process into a
receptive state, He reveals Himself to us. These times come not always,
but blessed are they to whom they come at all! When on the mountain
alone with God, their spiritual nature asserts supremacy over the body
till they scarcely know whether they are in the flesh or not–then the
Lord reveals Himself to them.

When He had elevated Ezekiel thus, it appears that He conducted him to
certain places, for He says, "For to the intent that I might show them
unto you are you brought here." God's children are brought in
experience to unusual places, on purpose, that they may get clearer
sights of the love and Grace and mercy of God in Christ than they could
obtain elsewhere. I have sometimes been puzzled to know why I underwent
certain states of mind. I have found out the reason,
occasionally–perhaps as often I have not. I remember preaching to you
one Sabbath from the text, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
and if ever a minister preached from that text fearing that it was true
of himself I did! I was under an awful darkness all the while and I
could not tell why.

But on the Monday evening there came to me one who, by his very
appearance, I could see was not far from madness. His eyes were
starting from his head. His face was full of terror–and when he was
alone in the room with me, he said, "You have delivered me from
self-destruction. I am a man that God has forsaken and no one has ever
spoken to my soul or my experience till last Sunday night." By God's
great Grace and infinite bounty we were able to pilot that Brother into
smoother waters and I hope that he now lives to rejoice in God. I felt
thankful to the last degree that I had been

dragged through all my depression because I was able to help him.
Sometimes our experience is for the good of others and sometimes it is
for our own good. You cannot see the beauty of certain gems unless you
place them on black velvet. When you have something black behind, then
you see their luster.

So there are promises of God in which you never will discover their
very brightest meaning unless they are set against some dark
soul-trouble. Much of faith's education may be called black-letter
learning. Very black the letters are, too, and very ugly looking, and
they must be peered over. You cannot see the stars in the daytime–you
must wait till the sun has gone down. Many promises of God you cannot
see till you are in the dark and when the soul is in gloom. It may be
that the Lord allows it to get there that it may gaze upon the starry
promises and value every ray of light that streams from them. So you
see, dear Friends, God leads His people from one place to another of
Christian experience, along hills and dales, ravines and
precipices–all in order that their minds, being elevated, they may be
prepared to see bright visions of Himself and know Him better, love Him
better and serve Him better.

However, it is not outward circumstances that can affect the Divine
purpose–there must always be a movement of the Divine Spirit. In the
third verse you read, "He brought me there." When you get home, look
through the chapter and see how this is repeated. "And He brought me to
the inner court and He brought me to the north gate and He brought me"
to this and to that. We never learn a Truth of God inwardly until God
brings us to it. We may hear a Truth; we ought to be careful that we do
not hear anything but the Truth of God, but God must bring that Truth
home. No Truth is known well until it is burnt into us as with a hot
iron. Some doctrines we can never doubt. "Oh," said one to me, failing
to convince me of some new theories, "no one could get a new idea into
your head except with a surgical operation." That witness is true if
the new idea is contrary to the old-fashioned Gospel!

The things I preach are part and parcel of myself. I am sure that they
are true. "Are you infallible?" you ask. Yes, when I declare what is in
God's Word. When I declare God's Truth, I claim infallibility–not for
myself, but for God's Word. "Let God be true and every man a liar." It
will not do to be saying, "These are our views and opinions." Why, if
the Doctrines of Grace are not true, I am a lost man! If they are not
the very Truth of God, I have nothing to live for! I have no joy in
life and I have no hope in death if they are not the Truth of God! May
God bring you, dear Friends, into a Truth of God and I will defy the
devil to bring you out of it! If God brings you to it. If He writes it
as with His own finger upon your soul, you will know it with solemn
certainty.

People may say, "Where is your logic? And how does this consist with
the progressive development of human thought?" and all that. I reply,
"You can go and fiddle to what tune you please. As for me, these things
are part and parcel of myself and I have made them my own." I have
gripped them and they hold me fast. I have no choice about them. I do
not choose to believe in Free Grace–I believe it because I cannot help
it! When one was asked whether he held Calvin-istic doctrine, he
answered, "No." "Oh," said the other, "I am glad to hear that." "Yes,"
he said, "but Calvinistic doctrine holds me." There is a great
difference between holding the Truth of God and the Truth of God
holding you.

You will not hold the Truth of God aright unless you can say of it,
with all your heart, "The Lord brought me into it." "He brought me
towards the south. He brought me into the inner court. He brought me
forth into the outer court. He brought me to the Temple." He did it
all. "All your children shall be taught of the Lord" and there is no
teaching like it, for He that is taught of God is taught Infallibly!

Thus I have spoken upon the manifestations with which God favors
certain of His people.

II. Now, secondly, let us notice THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THESE CHOSEN MEN
WHILE THEY ARE THUS FAVORED. "The Man said to me, Son of man, behold
with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all
that I shall show you." Did He not mean this–"Use all your senses, all
your faculties, all your wits to understand Divine Truth"? When the
Spirit of God favors you with Light, mind that you see and, when there
is a sound of Grace, mind that you hear. Be not one of those forgetful
hearers who behold their likenesses in a glass and then go their way
and forget what manner of men they are.

Oh, how much more we would understand of God's Word if we gave our mind
to it! We tell our children to learn their lessons "by heart." If we
put the full meaning into that expression, that is the way to learn the
things of God! Learn them all over–take them into yourself by every
faculty you possess! Strive, as God shall help you by His Spirit, to
get at their innermost meaning by every power that is given you. First,
He says, "See with your eyes." What are the eyes for but to see with?
He means this–look, pry, search with your eyes. Do not let the Truth
of God flit before you and then say,

"Yes, I have seen it." No! Stop it! Hold it by meditation before the
mind's eyes and see with your eyes. Look, look, look into it! Remember
what is said of the angels–"Which things the angels desire to look
into"–not, "to look at," but, "to look into."

Looking to Christ will save you, but it is looking into Christ that
gives joy, peace, holiness, Heaven! Look into the Gospel–let your eyes
be intent and steadfastly fixed upon every Truth of God–especially at
choice times when God favors you with the noontide Light of His face!
Then be doubly intent upon His Word. And then He puts it, "Hear with
your ears." Well, a man cannot use his ears for anything else, can he?
Yes, but hear with your ears. Listen with all your might! You are to
spy out the meaning with the mind's eyes but, besides that, try to
catch the very tone in which the promise or precept has been uttered.
Treasure up the exact words, for though cavilers call it folly to speak
of verbal Inspiration, I believe that we must have verbal Inspiration
or no Inspiration.

If any man shall say to you, "The sense of what your father said is
true, never mind his words–you would reply, "Yes, but I would like to
know precisely what he said, word for word." I know that it is so in
legal documents. It is not merely the sense that you look to, but every
word must be correct. God's Word, as it came from Him, came in such
perfection that even to the syllables in which the sense was clothed,
there was Infallibility about it. When I get God's Word I would desire
to hear it with my ears as well as see it with my eyes–to see its
sense and then to love the expressions in which that sense is conveyed
to me! He cares little for the sense of the words who is not jealous
over the words which convey the sense!

Oh, Brothers and Sisters, whenever God does, by His Word, open His
heart to you, do not lose anything! Do not lose a sound–a syllable!
The Lord demands something more. "Set your heart upon all that I shall
show you." Oh, but that is the way to learn from God–by loving all
that He says–feeling that whatever God says, it is the thing you need
to know. It is well "when your whole heart comes to know" the Truth of
God and, when it knows it, encompasses it about with warm affections so
that it may be like a fly in amber, the Word in the midst of your
heart–encased there, enshrined there–never to be taken away from you!
Set your whole heart on the Word of God! Some people like to read so
many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice,
but I would rather lay my soul soaking in half a dozen verses all day
than I would, as it were, rinse my hands in several chapters.

Oh, to bathe in a text of Scripture and to let it be sucked up into
your very soul till it saturates your heart! The man who has read many
books is not always a learned man, but he is a strong man who has read
three or four books over and over till he has mastered them. He knows
something! He has a grasp of thoughts and expressions and these will
build up his life. Set your heart upon God's Word! It is the only way
to know it thoroughly–let your whole nature be plunged into it as
cloth into dye. The Lord bids us do this towards all that He shall show
us–"set your heart upon all that I shall show you!" We are to be
impartial in our study of the Word of God and to be universal in its
reception. Brothers and Sisters, do you pick over God's Bible? I pray
you, give up the habit!

I have known professors who would not read certain chapters. Never read
another till you have read that passage which now displeases you! Learn
to love it for if there is a quarrel between you and a Scripture, it is
you that is wrong, not the Scripture! And if there is any part of the
Word of God of which you can say, "I differ from that," the Word of God
will never change–the party to change is yourself! Try to follow the
Lord fully, even though it should cause the revision of cherished
sentiments and even the alteration of your denominational connections.
"Are we to be so particular in little things?" asks one. Yes, it is in
little things that loyalty comes. A loving and obedient child obeys his
father without saying, "This is a great thing and this is a little
thing."

"Whatever He says to you, do it." The habit of trifling with little
duties grows, very soon, into a seared conscience about larger matters.
"Oh, but we need not be so particular," says one. Indeed, we must be!
"Why are you so precise?" said one to a Puritan. "Sir," he said, "I
serve a very precise God." "The Lord your God is a jealous God"–mind
that– and He would have us to be a jealous people as to all His Word,
whether of doctrine, or of precept, or of promise. Oh, for Grace to be
willing and ready to see all that He would have us see and to hear all
that He would have us hear–and to receive into our heart all that He
would have us receive!

Thus I have spoken upon the manifestations which God gives to some of
His servants and the responsibility under which they are placed by
them.

III. But now, thirdly, what is the practical design of all this? WHAT
IS GOD'S REASON FOR MANIFESTING HIMSELF TO HIS SERVANTS? The objective
is this–"Declare all that you see to the house of Israel." First, see
it yourself, hear it yourself, give your heart to it yourself and then
declare it to the house of Israel. I have lately heard of a minister
who said in the pulpit, "The doctrine of Atonement–I have heard a
great deal about it, but I do not understand it." He is going to take a
holiday that he may solve some of his doubts. If he does not solve his
doubts, soon, I would recommend he extend that holiday for the term of
his natural life!

He who does not understand the doctrine of the Atonement should read
"The Shorter Catechism" and pray God to enlighten him. That is a book
written for the young and ignorant–and it might be useful to many
ministers. God grant us Grace that we may know what we do know and not
attempt to declare to others anything but that which we have seen and
heard and taken into our own hearts. But that being done, we are to
tell the Truth of God to others, especially to those whom it concerns.
Ezekiel had seen the form and vision of a temple and a city–he was to
speak of this to the house of Israel.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, you cannot tell who it may be to whom you
are to speak, but this may be your guide– speak about what you have
seen and heard to those whom it concerns. Have you been in gloom of
mind and have you been comforted? The first time you meet with a person
in that condition, speak about the comfort. Have you felt a great
struggle of soul and have you found rest? Speak of your conflict to a
neighbor who is passing through the same struggle. Has God delivered
you in the hour of sorrow? Tell that to the next sorrowing person you
meet. There is such a thing as casting pearls before swine–that can
easily be done by an imprudent talkativeness–but when you find people
who are hungry, give them bread! When you find people that are thirsty,
offer them water. When you find that they need a blessing from God,
tell them of that which has been precious to your own soul.

Yes, but still this is not your only duty. God has shown us His
precious Word that we may tell it to the house of Israel. Now, the
house of Israel were a stiff-necked people and when Ezekiel went to
them, they cast him aside–they would not listen. Yet he was to go and
teach the Word of God to them. We must not say, "I will not speak of
Christ to such a one because he would reject it." Do it as a testimony
against him, even if you know he will reject it. Go, my Brother, and
sow your Seed and remember that in the parable the sower did not only
cast a handful on that fair spot of ground that was all ready for it,
but he sowed among thorns and thistles–he even cast seeds on the
highway–from which the birds of the air soon removed it.

"Give a portion to seven and also to eight." "In the morning sow your
seed and in the evening withhold not your hand, for you know not which
shall prosper, this or that, or whether it shall be alike good." Go and
tell what God tells you. Remember what we read just now. "What I shall
show you in secret, that reveal you in the light. What I have spoken to
you in closets, that reveal you upon the housetops." "Are we all to be
preachers, then?" Yes, all that have been taught of God are to teach.
"Are we all to stand up in public?" asks one. I did not say that, but
somewhere or other–perhaps in the pew where you now sit, or on the
steps as you go out, or by the roadside, or in the shop tomorrow
morning–you can all put in a word edgeways for Jesus Christ. Drop a
sentence or two for the honor of His name!

"I do not know what to say," says someone. Do not say it, then,
Brother, Sister. I would recommend you not say anything if you do not
know what to say. But if you have seen with your eyes and heard with
your ears and received into your heart–then you know what to say! And
the first thing that comes to hand will be the best thing to say, for
God, who knows the condition of people's minds, knows how to fit you to
their condition and make your experience as a Christian to tally with
the experience of the man or woman who needs the aid of your light. Go,
and the Lord be with you!

If there are any here who have never seen the Lord, if they have any
desire after Him, if they have any sense of sin, if they have any wish
for the eternal Light, let them remember those gracious Words–"Him
that comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out," and that precious
invitation, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest." May the Holy Spirit bring you to trust in Jesus
at once and to the name of the Lord be the praise forever and ever.
Amen. Amen.
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Roads Cleared