Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Here is a word of counsel for young men who have their eye on the ministry. If you take my advice, you will not make your sermons from random texts, but will preach straight through a book of the Bible. I believe that what this country needs is the Word of God. There is no book that will draw people in like the Bible. One of the professors at a university in Chicago gave some lectures on the book of Job, and there was no building large enough to hold the people. If the Bible has a chance to speak for itself, it will interest the people. I am sick and tired of moral essays. It would take about a ton of them to convert a child five years old.
A man was talking about a certain church once, and he said he liked it because the preacher never talked about politics and religion, but he just read nice little essays. Give the people the Word of God. Some men only use the Bible as a book of texts. They get a text and away they go. They start out by reading a verse or two from the Bible, and then they start talking about their own topics and never get around to preaching what God’s Word says. They talk about astronomy and geology, add some news or entertainment, and next Sunday they go on in the same way, and then they wonder why it is that people do not read their Bibles.
I used to think Charles Spurgeon was about as good a preacher as I ever knew, but I would rather hear him explain the Scriptures than listen to all his sermons. Why is it that Dr. John Hall has had his congregation so long? He opens his Bible and expounds. How was it that Andrew Bonar kept his audience in Glasgow? He had a weak voice and people could hardly hear him, yet thirteen hundred people would file into his church twice every Sabbath. Many of them took notes, and they would go home and send his sermons all over the world. It was Dr. Bonar’s custom to lead his congregation through the study of the Bible, book by book. There was not a part of the Bible in which he could not find Christ. I preached five months in Glasgow, and there was not a ward or a district in the city in which I did not find the influence of that man.
I was in London in 1884 and a respected lawyer had come down from Edinburgh. He said he went to Glasgow a few weeks before to spend a Sunday there, and he was fortunate enough to hear Andrew Bonar. He said he happened to be there the Sunday Dr. Bonar got to that part of the epistle of Galatians where it says that Paul went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days (Galatians 1:18).
Dr. Bonar then let his imagination roam, the lawyer told me. Bonar said that he could imagine that Peter and Paul had been very busy one day and they were tired, and all at once, Peter turned to Paul and said, “Paul, wouldn’t you like to take a little walk?” And Paul said he would.
So they went down through the streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron, and all at once, Peter stopped and said, “Look, Paul, this is the very spot where Jesus wrestled, and where He suffered and sweat great drops of blood. There is the very spot where John and James fell asleep, right there. And right here is the very spot where I fell asleep. I don’t think I would have denied Him if I hadn’t gone to sleep, but I was overcome. I remember the last thing I heard Him say before I fell asleep was, ‘Father, let this cup pass from me if it is Your will.’ And when I awoke, an angel stood right there where you are standing, talking to Him, and I saw great drops of blood come from His pores and trickle down His cheeks. It wasn’t long before Judas came to betray Him. I heard Him say to Judas so kindly, ‘Do you betray the Master with a kiss?’ And then they bound Him and led Him away. That night when He was on trial, I denied Him.”
The next day Peter turned again to Paul and said, “Wouldn’t you like to take another walk today?” Paul said he would. That day they went to Calvary, and when they got on the hill, Peter said, “Here, Paul, this is the very spot where Jesus died for you and me. See that hole right there? That is where His cross stood. The believing thief hung there and the unbelieving thief there on the other side. Mary Magdalene and Mary, His mother, stood there, and I stood away on the outskirts of the crowd. The night before, when I denied Him, He looked at me so lovingly that it broke my heart, and I couldn’t bear to get near enough to see Him. That was the darkest hour of my life. I hoped that God would intercede and take Him from the cross. I kept listening and I thought I would hear His voice.”
Andrew Bonar pictured the whole scene, how they drove the spear into His side and put the crown of thorns on His brow, and all else that took place. Bonar continued, saying that the next day Peter turned to Paul again and asked him if he would like to take another walk. Again, Paul said he would. Again, they passed down the streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron, over the Mount of Olives, up to Bethphage, and over onto the hill near Bethany. All at once Peter stopped and said, “Here, Paul, this is the last place where I ever saw Him. I never heard Jesus speak so sweetly as He did that day. It was right here where He delivered His last message to us, and all at once, I noticed that His feet didn’t touch the ground. He arose and went up. All at once, there came a cloud and it received Him out of our sight. I stood right here gazing up into the heavens, hoping that I might see Him again and hear Him speak. And two men dressed in white dropped down by our sides and stood there and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11).
My friends, I want to ask you this question: Do you believe that picture is overdrawn? Do you believe Peter had Paul as his guest and didn’t take him to Gethsemane, didn’t take him to Calvary and to the Mount of Olives? I myself spent eight days in Jerusalem, and every morning I wanted to slip down into the garden where my Lord sweat great drops of blood. Every day I climbed the Mount of Olives and looked up into the blue sky where Jesus went to His Father. I have no doubt that Peter took Paul out on those three walks. If there had been a man that could have taken me to the very spot where the Master sweat those great drops of blood, do you think I wouldn’t have asked him to take me there? If he could have told me where I could find the spot where my Master’s feet last touched this sin-cursed earth and was taken up, do you think I wouldn’t have had him show it to me?
I know there is a class of people who say that kind of practical preaching won’t do in this country. “People want something grandiose.” Well, there is no doubt that there are some who want to hear fancy, flowery sermons, but they forget them inside of twenty-four hours.
It a good thing for a minister to have the reputation of feeding his people. A man once made an artificial bee, which was so like a real bee that he challenged another man to tell the difference. It buzzed just like the live bee, and it looked the same. The other man said, “You put an artificial bee and a real bee down there, and I will tell you the difference pretty quickly.” He then put a drop of honey on the ground and the live bee went for the honey.
It is just so with us. There are a lot of people who profess to be Christians, but they are artificial and they don’t know when you give them honey. The real bees go for honey every time. People can get along without your theories and opinions. Thus saith the Lord – that is what we need. Give them the Word of God.