Teaching for the Outer and Inner Circles

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 16, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And with many such parables spoke He the Word unto them, as they were
able to hearit. But without a parable He did not speak to them: and
when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples." Mark
4:33,34.

OUR blessed Lord had two great objectives before Him in His ministry.
The first was to preach the Word to the outlying masses, that out of
them He might gather a people to Himself who should be His disciples.
This part of His work He carried on with great diligence and
perseverance, traversing the Holy Land from end to end and finding
here, one, and there, another, but never ceasing to preach the Gospel
to the crowds that flocked to Him. His second objective was to train
those who became His disciples, that having gathered them to Himself,
He might educate them in the Truth of God. He taught them concerning
the Father and His love. He taught them concerning Himself, His work,
His death and His Resurrection. And He taught them concerning the
Divine Comforter and His indwelling and all else that would make for
their progress and profit.

While our Lord was here, He gathered the men together who should carry
on the work after He was gone. He did not think it enough to make
converts–He wished to make disciples! He did not think it enough,
even, to make beginners in discipleship, but He would have them advance
in knowledge and in holiness, learning till they were able to teach
others. To this day this same double work is carried on by the Divine
Spirit through the ministers and servants of God. We are to preach to
the multitude who make up the outer ring, for our Lord has said, "Go
you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." We are
bound to evangelize all, making no distinction of rank or character. To
every person with whom we may come in contact, we are to proclaim the
Kingdom of God. That being done, however, the minister's work is only
begun, for He is now to go on to expound the mystery, to open up the
higher doctrine, to lead the dis-cipled ones into the deep things of
God that there may be fathers, instructors, and leaders in the Church.
And that the Church may, in all the generations yet to come, until the
Lord Himself appears, carry out the glorious purposes of God for the
building up of a spiritual house and the conquest of the world.

I want, this morning, to call your special attention to the way in
which the Lord spoke to the outside gathering and, then, afterwards, to
the way in which He spoke to the inner circle of His own disciples.
From His conduct we may learn our own. Soul-winners and soul-helpers
may here see their double work set before them in pattern. We shall see
how Jesus first fetched home the prodigal sons and then made music and
dancing inside the house for them–how He went after the lost sheep and
brought them back upon His shoulders–and how He, afterwards, folded
and fed the sheep which He had saved. There must be much in all this to
instruct those of us who work for Jesus.

I. First, let us study our Lord's conduct towards THE OUTSIDE
GATHERINGS. Kindly read these verses–"And with many such parables
spoke He the Word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without
a parable spoke He not unto them." First, when our Divine Lord preached
to the outside multitude, He always spoke "the Word" to them. You see
here what He preached–He spoke "the Word" unto them. This is a very
short description, but it is intensely full of meaning. It has much
more of fullness in it than I can show you just now. He always spoke
"the Word"–that is to say, whatever sort of congregation gathered to
Jesus, He had only one grand system of Truth to set before them. He
preached "the Word," which of old was prophesied by men of God and was
written upon the roll of Inspiration.

The term, "the Word," shuts up into a small compass the glorious
Revelation of God which He has shown to us by Christ Jesus. "The
Word"–here is unity–He preached not two gospels, but one. His Word
was not yes and no. It was a special message–not a word, but the
Word–the special speech of the Father. Jesus had received one weighty,
all-important message from God and this He delivered whenever He had
opportunity. It was never His objective, when He was addressing the
people, to speak to them upon subjects of merely temporal interest–He
preached the eternal Word of

God. He did not come to instruct them in geology, or astronomy, or
jurisprudence, or politics–His one business was to win their souls by
proclaiming the love and mercy of the Father.

He did not even come to open up a fresh system of morals, though of
necessity a system of morals grew out of His central teaching. He came
to preach the Gospel and He preached nothing else! He spoke it in
various ways, yet He always spoke the one thing–"the Word." "He spoke
the Word unto them"–to publicans and harlots, or to Pharisees and
Sadducees. He declares to the blinded Jews, "I speak that which I have
seen with My Father." "He whom God has sent speaks the Words of God."
What a lesson this is to all of us who try to do good in the world by
teaching! We have only to preach "the Word!" Some fancy that they have
to preach the thought, the deep thought, the wonderful thought of
modern times. I have heard that expression, "modern thought," till I am
sick of it! It is a cant phrase smelling strongly of self-conceit!

There is no command given in Scripture for us to go and preach our own
thoughts! We are always commanded to preach "Christ" and to publish His
Word. "The Word" is the summary of God's thoughts, or rather of such of
God's thoughts as He chooses to reveal to men–such as He regards it
important for them to know. The Lord has spoken already all that we
have to speak. Our message is prescribed, our testimony is written. As
to the saving Truth of God, we have no room for invention. We have no
scope for discovery–our range is specified, our course is mapped out.
We have to go and preach "the Word" which is laid down by the Holy
Spirit in this Book and has been taught to us, personally, by the Holy
Spirit sent down from Heaven. Our Lord's mind was thoughtful, His
genius profound and yet He kept to "the Word," even as He said, "He
that sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I
have heard of Him."

If He had pleased, He might have told us many things hidden from before
the foundation of the world. He might have opened up deep mysteries and
profound secrets which He knew as the Son of God, for He is the Wisdom
of God. But instead of that, He concentrated His ministry upon that
which God had revealed and He preached only "the Word." "The Word" is
an utterance from the mouth of God and Jesus was God's mouth to
men–all His teaching was the Father's Word in one way or other. He
confessed, "The Words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself." He
said, also, "As My Father has taught Me, I speak these things." "The
Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me."
Originality of doctrine finds no sanction in the Savior's
ministry–true ministers repeat what they are told, they do not
fabricate for themselves–they are not spiders to spin a web out of
their own insides.

Now, beloved Brothers and Sisters, let us remember this whenever we are
trying to win a soul for Christ. Souls are won by "the Word." It is the
Word of God that is "quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword." It is "the Word" which is "the living and incorruptible Seed
which lives and abides forever." Therefore we must stick to "the Word."
"Oh," say some, "there are many that have been sitting under the
old-fashioned Gospel for years and they are not converted." What do you
propose to do? Do you propose to preach another Gospel? Look, Sir, if
they were not saved by the Truth of God, they will not be saved by a
lie!

It seems, practically, to be conceded that during revivals you may get
a little beyond the Gospel. When there is an excitement upon the
people, you may say things which are not strictly accurate and you may
set yourself right, afterwards, when the desirable effect has been
produced. This will never do! Not so the Savior–He spoke "the Word"
unto them, whoever they might be, and He never altered that Word of
God! I know of no condition of the human mind which can justify me in
stirring, by the breadth of a hair, from what God has revealed! The
Gospel is good at all times, in lukewarm times, or in fanatical
times–and, blessed is he that moors himself to it, or rather is held
fast by it and has no wish to go beyond it.

To deliver "the Word" is a plain, simple and easy process, for when we
have a soul to deal with, the medicine is prescribed and we have only
to hand it out. The meat, drink and medicine of souls is before us. We
have not to consider from our own brain a salvation that will fit this
sinner or that–God has already given us the salvation, the doctrine
and the Truth which will suit all sinners who will accept it. Your
judgment and your careful thought will be needed to select the fitting
portion of the Truth. Your heart will be needed to pray over that
portion that God may bless it. Your responsibilities are still great,
but happily you are delivered from the more tremendous task of
manufacturing a Gospel!

I see the modern-thought workmen with their bellows full of wind and
their fire of very small coal. They are puffing away at a great rate.
And now they take to hammering! See how the sparks fly! They are
fashioning they know not what! Neither do their people know what they
may next forge upon the anvil. As for us, we invent nothing, but
testify what we

have seen and tasted and handled of the good Word of God! God has
promised that His Word shall not return unto Him void and, therefore,
we feel sure of a happy issue. We stand upon blessed ground when we
determine to speak to the outside world the revealed Word and nothing
else. Within the circle of "the Word" lies life, healing, peace, joy,
holiness, Heaven–what more do sinners need? Oh that they would
"receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save their
souls."

Notice next, that our Savior, having no difficulty about His matter,
but always speaking "the Word," spoke it simply. He never affected
profundity or obscurity. Our Lord has said many things so deep that
they are lower than the abyss and He has spoken Truths so high that
they are higher than the highest Heaven. But still He aimed at being
understood. Some divines are like the cuttlefish, which, when it
descends into the sea, often opens its ink bags, darkens the water, and
hides itself from all observers. It cannot see itself amid the clouds
which it purposely creates! Too many preachers are endowed with these
darkening ink bags! When they have simple Truth to preach, they
surround it with an atmosphere of blackness, darkening counsel and
involving simplicity in mystery! They are as the west wind, which
brings clouds. They must be profound if they are anything.

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ had it in His power to be more profound than
any man, for He knew all things. Yet He never veiled the Truth, but set
it forth before the people with clear light and overcoming evidence.
His speech was always plain as the sun at noon. See how your children
will read the parables of Jesus and remember them. What is the best
book to put before a child when it is learning to read? Why, the New
Testament, for if there are difficulties in the sense, there are none
in the words! What a multitude of monosyllables we have in John's
Gospel! The Lord Jesus did not carry a gold pencil case with Him, that
whenever He met with a word of 12 syllables He might write it down and
say, "That goes into next Sunday's sermon, and so the people will know
what a superior Person I am."

No, but He looked about to find homely similes and instructive emblems
by which to make the Truth of God plain as a pikestaff to those who
wished to understand it. Of course the brightest light is lost on blind
eyes, but Jesus never withheld that light. He was all simplicity, so
that the children gathered around Him, clambered to His knees and loved
to listen to the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth! The
parable was the most effectual way of conveying the Truth of God and,
therefore, He used it often. And though it did hide the Truth from
those who were hardened, yet that was their fault, and could not be
laid at the door of the parable, which, in itself, is a right royal
method of instruction–a method which throws the labor upon the teacher
and makes it easy to the learner. Let us learn from our Lord's example
and remember that we must do the work for those whom we would bless. We
must make attention an easy matter for them by clearly setting forth
the Truths of God which we teach.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, when you are teaching others, take care that
you, yourself, understand that which you would communicate! Whenever a
man preaches so that you cannot understand him, the secret of it is
that he does not understand himself, for if he knew what he meant to
say, he would, probably, be able to say it and you would know what he
meant by it. But he who is not clear in teaching, in all probability
does not know what he means. Therein, full often, lies his pretended
wisdom–you, perhaps, look up and wonder at this superior man, when, in
fact, he is an inferior man swollen with pretense! It must be so. If he
were better taught, he would teach better. When a man has studied the
subject so that he gets a grip of it, he is able to set it out to
others. But when it passes over his head like a bird of the air, he has
not seen it and cannot describe it–and neither can any others learn
from his language. Our Lord and Master taught in the plainest words and
if His Gospel was hid, it was hidden only to the blind in heart.

Our Lord also spoke very suitably. He adapted His language to the
ignorance or knowledge of His audiences. He knew that they would not
receive abstract truth and, therefore, He seldom dispensed it. He
wished to instruct rather than to amaze. On the occasion which Mark,
here, records, "But without a parable spoke He not unto them," it would
have been unsuitable to have spoken in any other fashion. Do you notice
Mark's expression, "With many such parables"? "Parables" and many "of
them"–priceless illustrations were abundant with Him. But Mark says,
"such" parables– that is, simple ones, full of the Light of God, for
the parables in this chapter are particularly plain. The Truth of God
seems to lie upon the surface of them and, "with many such parables
spoke He the Word unto them."

He saw that, just then, the minds of the people were feeble by reason
of ignorance–they were as sheep not having a shepherd and needed
careful tending. Though He did, sometimes, deliver the Truth of God
without a parable, so that they cried, "Now speak You plainly, and
speak no parable"–yet for the general, when dealing with the mass of
those

whose minds were darkened by the Rabbinical teachers of the period, and
by their own indifference to the Truth–He did continually use the
simplest parable that could be found. Let us try to do the same. I
heard a gentleman once say that he found it very difficult to bring his
mind down to the capacity of children. But the fact was that he had no
mind of any consequence! He thought himself great, but this was a clear
sign of littleness! He had something which he mistook for a mind, but
it was an error on his part to talk of bringing it down–it needed
raising up!

Those who clearly know the Truth of God will find children to be a
congenial auditory. They will pick up similes as pigeons pick up seeds
and their little eyes sparkle as they catch your meaning. Therefore,
"many such parables" let us speak to them! If they do not always care
for the moral, they are, in this, like the people to whom our Lord
addressed Himself, but He put the Truth in such a form that even if
they did not care for it, they cared for the picture in which He set it
forth and listened earnestly to His Words–and so the Truth of God was
introduced to their minds.

Dear Friends, notice, again that our Lord spoke considerately. "With
many such parables spoke He the Word unto them, as they were able to
hear it." What wisdom there is here–"As they were able to hear it."
Some of us are not so considerate as we ought to be and drench those to
whom we would give drink. Our Lord was not too long in His
discourses–He never wearied the people by a sermon till midnight, as
Paul did. It is always better to send a congregation away longing than
loathing! Our Lord knew that earnest attention involves effort and
tends to exhaustion. True hearing lays a strain upon the mind which
cannot be overly long endured. None of us have more than a certain
quantity of attention and when we have used up that certain quantity it
becomes tiresome for us to hear more.

We are like narrow-necked vessels and he who tries to fill such a
vessel all in a moment will spill the most of the fluid. The filling
must be done gently; the water must be poured in as the vessel is able
to receive it. So did the Savior, with short parables and sententious
utterances, pass on from Truth to Truth, as the people were prepared to
receive His instruction. He moderated the quantity, so that they might
not be oppressed with too much. He taught "as they were able to hear
it"–that is to say, He did not puzzle them with deep doctrine when He
wished to save them–for it is poor work to confuse a man when you want
to convert him. This Master Teacher gave forth such a quantity of Truth
as His hearers' hearts could take in and the matter was so chosen as to
be on the level of their comprehension.

As for His style, it was so pleasing that they who did not believe in
Him, nevertheless confessed that, "Never man spoke like this Man." They
were held as with golden chains by His enchanting manner, for He spoke
with an evident love to them and with an anxious desire that they
should receive the Truth of God and should be saved by it. Oh, dear
Friends, if you want to be useful, be careful to speak considerately!
If you go into a sick chamber and the person says, "Would you read me
the 23rd Psalm?" do not bawl it out, but read in gentle tones suitable
to the poor pained ears and weary brain. If you have to speak a word
for Christ, let it drop like the gentle dew from Heaven and do not hurl
it out like a hard driving hailstorm! You cannot bully a man to
Christ–you will be wise never to attempt it.

Load the camel as he is able to carry and the mind as it is able to
bear. Hearts are drawn, not driven. We are not to teach as we are able
to speak, but as the people are able to hear. We must not exhaust the
hearer by our attempt to exhaust the subject. Never overdo a good
thing, lest it be spoiled and rendered of no effect. To conclude this
matter, our Lord's address to the outside world was such that if they
did not receive the Truth, the fault lay with themselves. It is true
the mass of His hearers never saw beneath the surface, for they had no
heart towards the Truth of God and so the parable did tend to their
blindness–yet this was not the natural effect of His parable, but the
misuse of it by slothful and carnal minds. Their foolish hearts were
darkened.

Jesus made the Truth of God so clear that their bleary eyes could not
bear the light! The difficulty with them was that there were so few
difficulties–the Truth was hard because they were proud! Had they been
taught of the Father, they would have come to Jesus and delighted in
the plainness of the Word–but their pride blinded them, even as He
said, "How can you believe that receive honor, one of another?" They
rebelled against the Light of God and this was their condemnation! They
were indignant at being forced to see what they did not wish to see and
so they resolved to stop in the outward letter of the parable and go no
further! Let us imitate the Lord Jesus in His endeavor to win souls by
speaking in such a style that if they are lost, it shall be no fault of
ours.

Dear Mr. Whitefield sometimes cried out, "O Sinners, if you are lost,
it is not for lack of being prayed for, nor for lack of being wept
over, nor for lack of an earnest anxiety on my part to bring you to the
feet of Jesus." Make a point of being able to say the same! In your
class teaching, in your private talks with individuals, so speak that
you can say, "I am

clear of your blood. if you do not receive 'the Word' it is because you
willfully refuse it. I have not concealed the Word of God, neither have
I embellished it so as to confuse your mind." Oh that every worker here
might say, "I have strived to commend the Truth of God to every man's
conscience in the sight of God." Let it be so plain that he may run
that reads

it.

It is better to speak five words which are understood than a thousand
which merely dazzle the eye of the mind. Use earnest, hearty,
entreating words. You cannot chill a man into Grace. I do not believe
that anybody ever rode to Christ on an iceberg–frost and winter play
but little part in opening the flowers in the King's garden. If icicles
hang from our lips, we shall not melt men's hearts. Cold hearts must be
thawed by the warm, genial influence of a sunlit soul. May Heaven's
light of love rest upon us. It will if we are truly taught of the
Savior. And now, you that are outsiders, see what trouble the Savior
takes with you, for what He did for men of His age, He does for men of
every age–He longs that you should come to Him! He puts the Truth of
God so that you may see it and He preaches it persuasively and
affectionately.

Alas, that men should require such trouble to be taken with them! If
anyone were giving away gold and silver, he would not need to go down
on his knees and entreat men to accept the precious metals. But when we
have to preach "the Word," how must we entreat, implore, beseech men to
come, or else they will not come at all! Nor even when we have implored
and besought will they lend a listening ear and a believing heart
unless the arm of the Lord is revealed. See you to this, you
outsiders–let the reflection of this make you ashamed and cause you to
resolve that from now on, having ears to hear, you will hear–and when
Jesus pleads, you will bow to Him! May God the Holy Spirit make it so!
Thus have we set forth the manner in which our Lord spoke with the
outer circle.

II. Secondly, let us see how Jesus dealt with THE INNER CIRCLE when He
addressed Himself to His own disciples–"And when they were alone, He
expounded all things to His disciples." A most precious text! I wish I
had the whole time for a sermon upon it. Notice, first, then, that the
Lord Jesus Christ opened up to them the inner meaning of the Word of
God. Never yet did a man desire to learn of Jesus whom Jesus refused to
teach. When men did not want to learn, He drew back and did not force
Himself on them. He kept the exposition of His own teaching for those
who were prepared to receive it and who really thirsted to obtain
it–"When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples."

Come now, dear Friends, do we not wish to learn? Shall the Word be to
us a mere husk with its kernel gone? Are we not anxious to know the
inner meaning of the doctrine? Shall we be content to observe the
outside structure of the Truth of God, in the parabolic form, and not
to enter into its secret chambers and live and dwell in the Truth of
God, itself? If you desire to have all things expounded, note well that
those to whom Christ expounded all things were His own disciples! You
must become a disciple of Christ if you are to know Christ's Truth. A
disciple of Christ is one who accepts Christ as his teacher and himself
becomes a learner. A disciple, however, is more than that–he is one
who receives Christ as his leader and Lord.

"You call Me Master and Lord, and you say well," said Jesus. Christ the
Rabbi, the Master, is also Christ the Lord–the Teacher and Leader are
one. If we are to be His disciples, we must do what He bids us, as well
as believe what He tells us. Unless we are willing to tread in His
footsteps and follow His example, we cannot be His disciples. And until
we are such, He will not expound all things to us. Do you want to
understand the Scriptures? Do you long to understand the deep things of
God and the high mysteries of the Word? Then, first, become Christ's
disciples! "If any man shall do His will, he shall know of the
doctrine." The teaching of Christ is spirit and life. The rabbis taught
the letter, but Christ teaches the life and if we submit ourselves to
Him, to receive His life and to make Him our way, He will, only then,
be to us the Truth of God!

But if we refuse Him; if we will not yield to Him; we shall remain in
darkness with all the rest of the outer circle– hearing, we shall hear
and not understand–seeing, we shall see and not perceive. Oh, my
Hearer, instead of trying to untie all knots and unravel all
difficulties, first of all yield yourself to Christ! If you would know,
believe and obey! You must trust Christ, first, and yield yourself up
wholly to Him and then shall the Divine Light of the Holy Spirit come
streaming into your soul to open up to you the things hidden from the
carnally wise! First, we must be, in very deed, the Lord's disciples.

Some versions have, here, the word, "own." Tischendorf reads it, "To
His own disciples"–to those whom He acknowledged as truly belonging to
Him. Our Lord will surely teach His own. "When they were alone, He
expounded all

things to His own disciples." If we claim to be His disciples, we must
cultivate a desire to learn. No man in holy lore learns more than he is
willing to be taught. Certain ones who call themselves disciples of
Christ have no wish to learn, but they have a great wish to teach
before they have learned anything. See the many who run away
half-hatched, with the shell on their heads and yet they try to crow!
They cannot teach and they will not learn. If they would wait a little
while and be instructed, their time might come–but they are so anxious
to fight that they will neither put on armor nor gird on a sword!

They are eager to give drink to the thirsty but they cannot spare time
to fill the cup. How can they sow if they have no seed in the basket?
Can a man have anything which he has not received? And if he has not
learned it of the Father, how can he go with any power to tell it unto
others? We must be anxious to learn. Observe how our Lord Jesus prompts
His disciples to learn. When He has given them a parable, He says,
"Have you understood all these things?" He comes near to them when the
crowd has dispersed and He says to them privately, "Have you understood
all these things? The crowd knows nothing, but they are gone. They have
been pleased with My parables, but they have not entered into the soul
of My teaching. Have you understood all these things?"

Now, at the end of a discourse that is full of Christ, this is exactly
what Jesus says to you and to me–"Have you understood all these
things?" Have you entered into the essential Truth of God and not been
content to lie sleeping on the doorstep of the mere letter of it? The
Savior wishes us to be inquisitive, searching into the meaning of "the
Word." "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst" to know the meaning of
His Words, for they shall be instructed, for, as I have said before,
never did a heart hunger to learn and find the Lord unwilling to teach.
We are to be His disciples and anxious to learn–it follows, in
consequence, that we must confess that we do not know.

Many a man might have known if he had but been aware that he did not
know. A sense of ignorance is the doorstep of the palace of wisdom.
These men that needed to be instructed by Christ and to have all things
to be expounded to them were the very pick of the saints–out of them
came the Apostles and the 70 disciples–and these formed the first row
of living stones laid upon the foundation to build up a spiritual
house! And yet these admirable persons needed that they should be alone
with Jesus to have all things expounded to them! Oh, Brothers and
Sisters, let us not be so wickedly self-conceited as to fancy that we
know everything!

Are there not some who think that they carry the Gospel and all the
doctrines of it in their pockets as if it were a five-sided lozenge?
They have condensed the infinite into a pentagon! If anyone knows more
than they know, he is denounced as a heretic, hopelessly unsound! Let
it not be so with us, for we dare not boast of such perfect knowledge.
What do we know, my Brethren? If what we do know and what we do not
know were put together there would be such a difference in the size of
the volumes that they could not be bound to match! What we know is so
little compared with what we do not know that we might safely take up
the language of Isaac Newton, probably the greatest of human
intellects, when he said that he had been like a child playing on the
beach who had picked up, here and there, a beautiful shell, while all
the great deep of the ocean still remained unexplored.

We are of yesterday and know nothing. Like children, we need teaching!
Therefore let us be constantly coming to Christ. I do not mean you
youngsters, only, but the graybeards, the most experienced and most
advanced among us! Let us be sitting at His feet with Mary, listening
to that heavenly voice which alone can expound all things to us! I beg
you to observe carefully that these folk, whom Christ instructed in the
inner sense, had to be separated from the multitude. "When they were
alone." When they had got together as birds of a feather should. When,
like sheep, they were penned in the fold–then the Great Shepherd fed
them and not till then. Come you out from the world if you would learn
the deep things of God! The more conformity to the world, the more
shall we abide in darkness!

It is amazing what Light of God will come to a man when he learns to
walk the separated path. There is a way which is narrow as a razor's
edge–along which none can walk but those whom Christ upholds–but if
they are willing to walk there in strict integrity, keeping themselves
from the temptations of the world and rising above the customs of
society, they shall know the mind of God! "When they were alone." When
they formed themselves, as it were, into a Church and the rest of the
congregation went to their own homes–when they distinctly acknowledged
themselves to be Christ's own disciples–then He expounded the Truth of
God to them.

More than this, I will go beyond my text–if you and I wish to know the
heart of our holy religion, we must get alone–even from the Church,
with Christ. This is the pith of it–they were alone with Christ. If
they had been alone

and Jesus had not been there, they would have learned nothing. But they
were alone with Him. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, let us practice more
meditation! We are, none of us, as much alone as we ought to be in
these busy days. I do not mean merely to pray and read, but to sit
still and ponder and consider. More of that blessed silence, "frost of
the mouth and thaw of the soul," is what we greatly need! I find it
good, in devotion, occasionally to cease praying and look up, gazing
into the invisible. The heart kindles into admiration of the Person of
Christ and the soul begins to speak to Him as to a friend, while all
the inner man is still.

Do you know what it is to say, "I sleep, but my heart wakes"? Then it
is that the Lord expounds unto us the Scripture! A good commentary is a
great help, but communion with the Lord is better! If you want to
understand a book, there is nothing like asking the author, "Pray, Sir,
what do you mean by this?" And if you will hasten away to the Author of
Scripture, how often you will understand what He meant, though the
words perplex you! I believe you might go the round of all the
ministers and divines now alive and say to them, "What does this mean?"
and they could tell you what the letter meant–but after having done
that, or without doing it–if you would ask the Lord Jesus, He would
more clearly show you the sense of it.

Scripture is often like Gideon's fleece, wet through with the heavenly
dew, but you need to know how to press out the moisture and preserve
it. The Lord Jesus can show you how to wring it till your bucket is
filled! We get a precious text, sometimes, and hammer away at it, and
it does not break up at all. But when we ask the Lord Jesus about it,
He puts power into our arm of thought and the stone flies to shivers
the next time we tap it, and we say, "Here is something I never thought
to find! Here is a mass of gold within this quartz! Here is a diamond
concealed within this common pebble–how came it there?" Lord,
enlighten our darkness! Put Your fingers on these eyes, that they may
behold wondrous things out of Your Law.

You know the old Arab story of the Muslim who crossed his eyes with a
magic ointment and straightway, instead of the common house in which he
lived, he saw a palace sparkling with diamonds, radiant with rubies,
adorned with emeralds and gold! After such manner the Lord opens up to
us a passage of Scripture, by anointing our eyes with eye-salve that we
may see! What sights have we beheld in the Word of God! We have been
lost in wonder, love and praise! But the Lord does this to us when we
are alone with Him. "When they were alone, He expounded all things unto
His disciples."

Now, Brothers and Sisters, I leave this part of the subject and
conclude when I notice that, in order to get this precious exposition
from Christ, we must regard Him as being the ultimate and final
Interpreter. "He expounded all things to His disciples." Those men had
settled it in their hearts that they would believe whatever He said.
His ipse dixit was to stand to them instead of argument–He, Himself,
was to them the Word of God, the Revelation of the Most High, the
mystic glass into which they looked and saw the Truth of God in all its
Glory! When they were willing to have it so, they were instructed. The
key of Scripture is Christ! The only Infallible Interpreter of "the
Word "is Jesus, the Word! Him we may follow in every case with the
utmost safety. There is more Truth of God in the Person of Christ than
there is in all the books that have been written! We hear and read of
this and that, "body of divinity"–but there is only one body of
divinity–and that is the body of Jesus Christ!

Christ Jesus is our divinity. We hear of theology, sometimes. What is
it? Theology, that is the Word of God, and what is that but Christ?
Get, then, to be familiar with Him as with a friend, and you shall know
what He means. I have heard of a wise man of whom they said in his
biography, that to be acquainted with him was a liberal education. That
if you went and stayed with him, you might put all your books away, for
he was a walking encyclopedia. I can hardly think that of any mere man,
but I am sure it is true of Jesus! Communion with Him is illumination!
He is that choicest book in the Christian's library which has more
teaching in it than all besides! The hem of Christ's garment is better
than all the robes of philosophy!

There is more to be learned from His footprints than from the most
profound reasoning of the most learned men. I commend to you, Brothers
and Sisters, and to myself, also, that we continually sit at Jesus'
feet. Remember, it was of this that Jesus said, "Mary has chosen the
good part." She chose to be a learner. She chose to learn from the lips
of Christ, Himself. May this good part fall to our lot, for if we are
such learners as this, then our salvation is sure. He that is taught of
God is taught aright and taught savingly! By such teaching our joy and
pleasure will be greatly increased. There is little joy in the bare
externals of the Truth of God–the joy lies within.

Many a man has come to the Truth as poor children in the street on a
Christmas night. They come to a house and look through the window and
see the fire blazing merrily upon the hearth, but the snow is deep and
their little feet are pinched with cold. If they could enter that cozy
parlor, they would have warmth and comfort, but in the street all is
miserable. O you that are outside the Truth of God, peering through its
windows, you get none of the joy of it! Pass through the Door, which is
Christ, by a loving faith, and then its entrance shall give you light!
The joy and mirth of the Truth of God are with the family of God who
bask in the light of His Countenance! It is for your salvation! It is
for your delight!

It is for your security, too, for He that knows the Truth will triumph
over temptation. He who has been taught of Christ can meet the
objections of the ungodly. There is more argument for the Gospel in
Christ, Himself, than in all Apologies and Evidences that were ever
written. Many defenses of the Gospel have now been prepared and we are
thankful for them–but if you get to Christ, Himself, you do not need
such protections! It is to me an unnecessary work when I read defenses
of Inspiration and of the Gospel. Confirmed Believers do not require
them! I know the Gospel to be true! I am assured of it in my inmost
soul! If anybody were to write a book about the excellences of my
mother and ask me to be a subscriber, I should say, "I know more about
it than you do. I do not need to read, or listen to arguments. I am
quite beyond it, for I know her loving care for me." The love of Christ
shed abroad in the heart is its own evidence! Do they tell us there is
no Christ? No Christ? Then all life must be a dream, for we know Him
and have seen Him with the mind's eye!

Sometimes they say there is no Heaven, as Atheist did in Bunyan's,
"Pilgrim's Progress." "What?" says Christian to his companion, "Did not
we see it from the top of Mount Clear when the shepherds lent us their
optic glass?" Thus the Lord brings eternal things and especially His
dear Son so vividly before our consciousness that we laugh to scorn the
wisdom of the skeptic, which is but folly! Let us be earnest to get
heavenly instruction from Christ, for then we shall be useful–and that
is the end we aim at. If you do not know the inner Truth of God, what
good can you do? Here you live in this world among blind men and they
say, "Lead us!" But if the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall
into the ditch.

No! No! You must get your own eyes opened and must know Christ and be
known of Him–then you can help the poor blind sinner and you can guide
Him to Jesus! No one knows of what usefulness you will be capable of
when you have been taught of the Lord! God do so unto you, for Jesus'
sake. Amen.
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One Lion, Two Lions, No Lion at All!