Proverbs 6:22. The Talking Book
A Sermon (Number 1017) Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, October twenty-second, 1871 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon.
*"When you awake, it shall talk with you."*—Proverbs 6:22.
It is a very happy circumstance when the commandment of our father and the law of our mother are also the commandment of God and the law of the Lord. Happy are they who have a double force to draw them to the right—the bonds of nature, and the cords of grace. They sin with a vengeance who sin both against a father on earth and the great Father in heaven, and they exhibit a virulence and a violence of sin who show contempt for the tender obligations of childhood, as well as to the demands of conscience and God. Solomon, in the passage before us, evidently speaks of those who find in the parents' law and in God's law the same thing, and he admonishes such to bind the law of God about their heart and to tie it about their neck; by which he intends inward affection and open avowal. The law of God should be so dear to us that it should be bound about the most vital organ of our being; braided about our heart. That which a man carries in his hand he may forget and lose, that which he wears upon his person may be torn from him, but that which is bound about his heart will remain there as long as life remains. We are to love the Word of God with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; with the full force of our nature we are to embrace it; all our warmest affections are to be bound up with it. When the wise man tells us also to wear it about our necks, he means that we are never to be ashamed of it. No blush is to cover our cheek when we are called Christians; we are never to speak with bated breath in any company concerning the things of God. Manfully must we take up the cross of Christ; cheerfully must we avow ourselves to belong to those who have respect for the divine testimonies. Let us count true religion to be our highest ornament; and as magistrates put upon them their gold chains, and think themselves adorned thereby, so let us tie about our neck the commands and the gospel of the Lord our God.
In order that we may be persuaded so to do Solomon gives us three telling reasons. He says that God's law, by which I understand the whole run of Scripture and especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be a guide to us:—"When you go, it shall lead you." It will be a guardian to us: "When you sleep"—when you are defenseless and off your guard—"it shall keep you." And it shall also be a dear companion to us: "When you awake, it shall talk with you." Any one of these three arguments might surely suffice to make us seek a nearer acquaintance with the sacred word. We all need a *guide,* for "it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." Left to our own way, we soon excel in folly. There are dilemmas in all lives where a guide is more precious than a wedge of gold. The Word of God, as an infallible director for human life, should be sought by us, and it will lead us in the highway of safety. Equally powerful is the second reason: the Word of God will become the *guardian* of our days; whoever listens to it shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Unguarded moments there may be; times, inevitable to our imperfection, there will be, when, unless some other power protect us we shall fall into the hands of the foe. Blessed is he who has God's law so written on his heart, and wears it about his neck as proven armor, that at all times he is invulnerable, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
But I prefer this morning to keep to the third reason for loving God's word. It is this, that it becomes *our sweet companion:* "When you awake, it shall talk with you." The inspired law of God, which David in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm calls God's testimonies, precepts, statutes, and the like, is the friend of the righteous. Its essence and marrow is the gospel of Jesus, the law-fulfiller, and this also is the special solace of believers. Of the whole sacred volume it may be said, "When you awake, it shall talk with you." I gather four or five thoughts from this expression, and upon these we will speak.
I. We perceive here that *the word is living*. How else could it be said: "It shall talk with you"? A dead book cannot talk, nor can a dumb book speak. It is clearly a living book then, and a speaking book: "The word of God, which lives and abides forever." How many of us have found this to be most certainly true! A large proportion of human books are long ago dead and even shriveled like Egyptian mummies; the mere course of years has rendered them worthless, their teaching is disproved, and they have no life for us. Entomb them in your public libraries if you will, but henceforth they will stir no man's pulse and warm no man's heart. But this thrice blessed book of God, though it has been extant among us these many hundreds of years, is immortal in its life, unwithering in its strength: the dew of its youth is still upon it; its speech still drops as the rain fresh from heaven; its truths are overflowing founts of ever fresh consolation. Never book spoke like this book; its voice, like the voice of God, is powerful and full of majesty.
From where does it come that the word of God is living? Is it not, first, because *it is pure truth?* Error is death, truth is life. No matter how well established an error may be by philosophy, or by force of arms, or the current of human thought, the day is coming that shall burn like an oven, and all untruth shall be as stubble before the fire. The tooth of time devours all lies. Falsehoods are soon cut down and they wither as the green herb. Truth never dies, it dates its origin from the immortals. Kindled at the source of light, its flame cannot be quenched; if by persecution it is for a time covered, it shall blaze forth anew to take reprisals upon its adversaries. Many a once venerated system of error now rots in the dead past among the tombs of the forgotten; but the truth as it is in Jesus knows no sepulcher and fears no funeral; it lives on, and must live while the Eternal fills His throne.
The word of God is living because *it is the utterance of an immutable, self-existing God.* God does not speak today what He meant not yesterday, neither will He tomorrow blot out what He records today. When I read a promise spoken three thousand years ago, it is as fresh as though it fell from the eternal lips today. There are indeed no dates to the Divine promises; they are not of private interpretation, nor to be monopolized by any generation. I say again, as fresh today the eternal word drops from the Almighty's lips as when He uttered it to Moses, or to Elijah, or spoke it by the tongue of Isaiah or Jeremiah. The word is always sure, steadfast, and full of power. It is never out of date. Scripture bubbles up evermore with good matters, it is an eternal Geyser, a spiritual Niagara of grace, forever falling, flashing, and flowing on; it is never stagnant, never brackish or defiled, but always clear, crystal, fresh, and refreshing; so therefore ever living.
The word lives, again, because *it enshrines the living heart of Christ.* The heart of Christ is the most living of all existences. It was once pierced with a spear, but it lives on and yearns towards sinners, and is as tender and compassionate as in the days of the Redeemer's flesh. Jesus, the Sinner's Friend, walks in the avenues of Scripture as once He traversed the plains and hills of Palestine: you can still see Him if you have opened eyes in the ancient prophecies; you can behold Him more clearly in the devout evangelists; He opens and lays bare His inmost soul to you in the epistles, and makes you hear the footsteps of His approaching advent in the symbols of the Apocalypse. The living Christ is in the book; you behold His face almost in every page; and consequently it is a book that can talk. The Christ of the mount of benedictions speaks in it still; the God who said "Let there be light" gives forth from its pages the same divine fiat; while the incorruptible truth which saturated every line and syllable of it when first it was penned, abides therein in full force, and preserves it from the finger of decay. "The grass withers and the flower thereof falls away: but the word of the Lord endures forever."
Over and above all this, *the Holy Spirit has a peculiar connection with the word of God.* I know that He works in the ministries of all His servants whom He has ordained to preach; but for the most part I have remarked that the work of the Spirit of God in men's hearts is rather in connection with the texts we quote than with our explanations of them. "Depend upon it," says a deeply spiritual writer, "it is God's word, not man's comment on it, which saves souls." God does save souls by our comment, but still it is true that the majority of conversions have been wrought by the agency of a text of Scripture. It is the word of God that is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. There must be life in it, for by it men are born again. As for believers, the Holy Spirit often sets the word ablaze while they are studying it. The letters were at one time before us as mere letters, but the Holy Ghost suddenly came upon them, and they spoke with tongues. The chapter is lowly as the bush at Horeb, but the Spirit descends upon it, and lo! it glows with celestial splendor, God appearing in the words, so that we feel like Moses when he put off his shoes from his feet, because the place whereon he stood was holy ground. It is true, the mass of readers understand not this and look upon the Bible as a common book; but if they understand it not, at least let them allow the truthfulness of our assertion when we declare that hundreds of times we have as surely felt the presence of God in the page of Scripture as ever Elijah did when he heard the Lord speaking in a still small voice. The Bible has often appeared to us as a temple of God, and the posts of its doors have moved at the voice of Him that cried, whose train also has filled the temple. We have been constrained adoringly to cry with the seraphim. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts." God the Holy Spirit vivifies the letter with His presence, and then it is to us a living word indeed.
And now dear brethren, if these things be so—and our experience certifies them—let us take care how we trifle with a book which is so instinct with life. Might not many of you remember your faults this day were we to ask you whether you are habitual students of holy writ? Readers of it I believe you are; but are you searchers? for the promise is not to those who merely read, but to those who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate therein both day and night. Are you sitting at the feet of Jesus with His word as your school-book? If not, remember, though you may be saved you lacked very much of the blessing which otherwise you might enjoy. Have you been backsliding? Refresh your soul by meditating in the divine statutes, and you will say with David, “Thy word hath quickened me.” Are you faint and weary? Go and talk with this living book: it will give you back your energy, and you shall mount again as with the wings of eagles. But are you unconverted altogether? Then I cannot direct you to Bible-reading as being the way of salvation, nor speak of it as though it had any merit in it; but I would nevertheless urge upon you unconverted people great reverence for Scripture, an intimate acquaintance with its contents, and a frequent perusal of its pages, for it has occurred ten thousand times over that when men have been studying the word of life, the word has brought life to them. “The entrance of thy word giveth light.” Like Elijah and the dead child, the word has stretched itself upon them, and their dead souls have been made to live. One of the likeliest places in which to find Christ is in the garden of the Scriptures, for there He delights to walk. As of old, the blind men were wont to sit by the wayside begging, so that if Jesus passed by they might cry to Him; so would I have you sit down by the wayside of the Holy Scriptures. Hear the promises, listen to their gracious words; they are the footsteps of the Saviour; and as you hear them, may you be led to cry “Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me!” Attend most those ministries which preach God's Word most. Do not select those that are fullest of fine speaking, and that dazzle you with expressions which are ornamental rather than edifying; but get to a ministry that is full of God's own Word, and above all learn God's Word itself. Read it with a desire to know its meaning, and I am persuaded that thereby many of you who are now far from God will be brought near to him, and led to a saving faith in Jesus, for “the Word of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
2. If the text says, “When you awake, it shall talk with you,” then it is clear *the word is personal*. “It shall talk with *you.*” It is not written, “It shall speak to the air, and you shall hear its voice,” but “It shall talk with *you.*” You know exactly what the expression means. I am not exactly talking with any one of you this morning; there are too many of you, and I am but one; but when you are on the road home each one will talk with his fellow: then it is truly talk when man speaks to man. Now the word of God has the condescending habit of talking to men, speaking personally to them; and herein I desire to commend the word of God to your love. Oh! that you might esteem it very precious for this reason!
“It shall talk *with you,*” that is to say, *God's word talks about men, and about modern men;* it speaks of ourselves and of these latter days as precisely as if it had only appeared this last week. Some go to the word of God with the idea that they shall find historical information about the ancient ages, and so they will, but that is not the object of the Word. Others look for facts upon geology, and great attempts have been made either to bring geology round to Scripture, or Scripture to geology. We may always rest assured that truth never contradicts itself; but as nobody knows anything yet about geology—for its theory is a dream and an imagination altogether—we will wait till the philosophers settle their own private matters, being confident that when they find out the truth, it will be quite consistent with what God has revealed. At any rate, we may leave that. The main teachings of Holy Scripture are about men, about the Paradise of unfallen manhood, the fall, the degeneracy of the race, and the means of its redemption. The book speaks of victims and sacrifices, priests and washings, and so points us to the divine plan by which man can be elevated from the fall and be reconciled to God. Read Scripture through and you shall find that its great subject is that which concerns the race as to their most important interests. It is a book that talks, talks personally, for it deals with things not in the moon, nor in the planet Jupiter, nor in the distant ages long gone by, nor does it say much of the periods yet to come, but it deals with us, with the business of today; how sin may be today forgiven, and our souls brought at once into union with Christ.
Moreover, this book is so personal that *it speaks to men in all states and conditions before God.* How it talks to sinners—talks, I say, for it puts it thus: “Come, now, and let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as wool; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as snow.” It has many very tender expostulations for sinners. It stoops to their condition and position. If they will not stoop to God, it makes, as it were, eternal mercy stoop to them. It talks of feasts of fat things, of fat things full of marrow; and the book, as it talks, reasons with men's hunger and bids them eat and be satisfied. In all conditions into which the sinner can be cast there is a word that precisely meets his condition.
And certainly, when we become the children of God, the book talks with us wondrously. In the family of heaven it is the child's own book. We no sooner know our Father than this dear book comes at once as a love letter from the far-off country, signed with our own Father's hand, and perfumed with our Father's love. If we grow in grace, or if we backslide, in either case Scripture still talks with us. Whatever our position before the eternal God the book seems to be written on purpose to meet that position. It talks to you as you are, not only as you should be or as others have been, but with you, with you personally about your present condition.
Have you never noticed how personal the book is as *to all your states of mind,* in reference to sadness or to joy? There was a time with some of us when we were very gloomy and sore depressed, and then the book of Job mourned to the same dolorous tune. I have mourned over the Lamentations Jeremiah wrote. It mourns to us when we lament. On the other hand when the soul gets up to the exceeding high mountains, to the top of Amana and Lebanon, when we behold visions of glory and see our Beloved face to face, look! The word is at our side; and in the delightful language of the Psalms, or in the yet sweeter expressions of the Song of Solomon, it tells us all that is in our heart, and talks to us as a living thing that has been in the deeps, and has been on the heights, that has known the overwhelmings of affliction, and has rejoiced in the triumphs of delight. The word of God is to me my own book: I have no doubt brother, it is the same to you. There could not be a Bible that suited me better: it seems written on purpose for me. Dear sister, have you not often felt as you have put your finger on a promise, “Ah, that is my promise; if there is no other soul whose tearful eyes can bedew that page and say, ‘It is mine,’ yet I, a poor afflicted one, can do so!” Oh, yes; the book is very personal, for it goes into all the details of our case, let our state be what it may.
And, *how very faithful it always is.* You never find the word of God keeping back that which is profitable to you. Like Nathan it cries “You are the man.” It never allows our sins to go unrebuked, nor our backslidings to escape notice till they grow into overt sin. It gives us timely notice; it cries to us as soon as we begin to go aside, “Awake you who sleep,” “Watch and pray,” “Keep your heart with all diligence,” and a thousand other words of warning does it address personally to each one of us.
Now I would suggest before I leave this point a little self-examination as healthful for each of us. Does the word of God after this fashion speak to my soul? Then it is a gross folly to lose by generalizations that precious thing which can only be realized by a personal grasp. What do you say, dear hearer? Do you read the book for yourself, and does the book speak to you? Has it ever condemned you, and have you trembled before the word of God? Has it ever pointed you to Christ, and have you looked to Jesus the incarnate Saviour? Does the book now seal, as with the witness of the Spirit, the witness of your own spirit that you are born of God? Are you in the habit of going to the book to know your own condition, to see your own face as in a mirror? Is it your family medicine? Is it your test and tell-tale to let you know your spiritual condition? Oh, do not treat the book otherwise than this, for if you do thus to it and take it to be your personal friend, happy are you, since God will dwell with the man that trembles at His word; but if you treat it as anybody's book rather than your own, then beware lest you be numbered with the wicked who despise God's statutes.
3. From the text we learn that *holy Scripture is very familiar*. “When you awake, it shall *talk with* you.” To talk signifies fellowship, communion, familiarity. It does not say, “It shall preach to you.” Many persons have a high esteem for the book, but they look upon it as though it were some very elevated teacher speaking to them from a lofty tribunal, while they stand far below. I will not altogether condemn that reverence, but it were far better if they would understand the familiarity of God's word; it does not so much preach to us as *talk* to us. It is not, “When you awake, it shall lecture you,” or, it shall scold you;” no, no, “it shall *talk* with you.” We sit at its feet, or rather at the feet of Jesus in the Word, and it comes down to us; it is familiar with us, as a man talks to his friend. And here let me remind you of the delightful familiarity of Scripture in this respect, that *it speaks the language of men.* If God had written us a book in His own language we could not have comprehended it, or what little we understood would have so alarmed us that we should have begged that those words should not be spoken to us any more; but the Lord in His Word often uses language which, though it be infallibly true in its meaning, is not after the knowledge of God, but according to the manner of man. I mean this, that the word uses similes and analogies of which we may say that they speak humanly, and not according to the absolute truth as God Himself sees it. As men conversing with babes use their broken speech, so does the condescending word. It is not written in the celestial tongue, but in the *patois* of this lowland country, condescending to men of low estate. It feeds us on bread broken down to our capacity, “food convenient for us.” It speaks of God's arm, His hand, His finger, His wings, and even of His feathers. Now, all this is familiar picturing to meet our childish capacities; for the Infinite One is not to be conceived of as though such similitudes were literal facts. It is an amazing instance of divine love that He puts those things so that we may be helped to grasp sublime truths. Let us thank the Lord of the word for this.
How tenderly Scripture *comes down to simplicity.* Suppose the sacred volume had all been like the book of the prophet Ezekiel, small would have been its service to the generality of mankind. Imagine that the entire volume had been as mysterious as the Book of Revelation: it might have been our duty to study it, but if its benefit depended upon our understanding it we should have failed to attain it. But how simple are the gospels, how plain these words, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved”; how deliciously clear those parables about the lost piece of money, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. Wherever the word touches upon vital points, it is as bright as a sunbeam. Mysteries there are, and profound doctrines, deeps where Leviathan can swim; but where it has to do immediately with what concerns us for eternity, it is so plain that the babe in grace may safely wade in its refreshing streams. In the gospel narrative the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err. It is familiar talk; it is God's great mind brought down to our littleness that it may lift us up.
How familiar the book is too—I speak now as to my own feelings—*as to all that concerns us.* It talks about my flesh and my corruptions and my sins as only one that knew me could speak. It talks of my trials in the wisest way; some I dare not tell, it knows all about. It talks about my difficulties; some would sneer at them and laugh, but this book sympathizes with them, knows my tremblings, and my fears, and my doubts, and all the storm that rages within the little world of my nature. The book has been through all my experience; somehow or other it maps it all out and talks with me as if it were a fellow-pilgrim. It does not speak to me unpractically, and scold me, and look down on me from an awful height of stern perfection, as if it were an angel and could not sympathize with fallen men; but like the Lord whom it reveals, the book seems as if it were touched with a feeling of my infirmities, and had been tempted in all points like as I am. Have you not often wondered at the human utterances of the divine word: it thunders like God and yet weeps like man. It seems impossible that anything should be too little for the word of God to notice, or too bitter, or even too sinful for that book to overlook. It touches humanity at all points. Everywhere it is a personal, familiar acquaintance, and seems to say to itself, “Shall I hide this thing from Abraham my friend?”
And how often the book has *answered inquiries!* I have been amazed in times of difficulties to see how plain the oracle is. You have asked friends and they could not advise you; but you have gone to your knees, and God has told you. You have questioned, and you have puzzled, and you have tried to elucidate the problem, and lo! In the chapter read at morning prayer, or in a passage of Scripture that lay open before you, the direction has been given. Have we not seen a text, as it were, plume its wings, and fly from the word like a seraph, and touch our lips with a live altar coal? It lay like a slumbering angel amidst the beds of spices of the sacred word, but it received a divine mission, and brought consolation and instruction to your heart.
The word of God then, talks with us in the sense of being familiar with us. Do we understand this? I will close this point by another word of application. Who then that finds God's word so dear and kind a friend would spurn or neglect it? If any of you have despised it, what shall I say to you? If it were a dreary book written within and without with curses and lamentations, whose every letter flashed with declarations of vengeance, I might see some reason why we should not read it; but O precious priceless companion, dear friend of all my sorrows, making my bed in my sickness, the light of my darkness and the joy of my soul, how can I forget thee—how can I forsake thee? I have heard of one who said that the dust on some men's Bibles lay there so thick and long that you might write *—Damnation—* on it. I am afraid that such is that case with some of you. Mister Rogers of Dedham on one occasion, after preaching about the preciousness of the Bible, took it away from the front of the pulpit, and putting it down behind him, pictured God as saying “You do not read the book: you do not care about it; I will take it back—you shall not be wearied with it any more.” And then he portrayed the grief of wise men's hearts when they found the blessed revelation withdrawn from men; and how they would besiege the throne of grace day and night to ask it back. I am sure he spoke the truth. Though we too much neglect it, yet ought we to prize it beyond all price, for if it were taken from us we should have lost our kindest comforter in the hour of need. God grant us to love the Scriptures more!
4. Fourthly, and with brevity, our text evidently shows that *the word is responsive*. “When you awake, it shall talk with you,” not to you. Now, talk with a man is not all on one side. To talk with a man needs answering talk from him. You have both of you something to say when you talk together. It is a conversation to which each one contributes his part. Now Scripture is a marvelously conversational book; it talks, and makes men talk. It is ever ready to respond to us. Suppose you go to the Scriptures in a certain state of spiritual life: you must have noticed I think, that the word answered to that state. If you are dark and gloomy it will appear as though it had put itself in mourning, so that it might lament with you. When you are on the dunghill, there sits Scripture with dust and ashes on its head weeping side by side with you, and not upbraiding like Job's miserable comforters. But suppose you come to the book with gleaming eyes of joy, you will hear it laugh; it will sing and play to you as with psaltery and harp, it will bring forth the high-sounding cymbals. Enter its goodly land in a happy state, and you shall go forth with joy and be led forth with peace, its mountains and its hills shall break before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
If you come to Holy Scripture with growth in grace, and with aspirations for yet higher attainments, the book grows with you, grows upon you. It is ever beyond you, and cheerily cries, “Higher yet; Excelsior!” Many books in my library are now behind and beneath me; I read them years ago with considerable pleasure; I have read them since with disappointment; I shall never read them again for they are of no service to me. They were good in their way once, and so were the clothes I wore when I was ten years old; but I have outgrown them; I know more than these books know, and know wherein they are faulty. Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years. It is true it cannot really grow, for it is perfect; but it does so to our apprehension. The deeper you dig into Scripture the more you find that it is a great abyss of truth. The beginner learns four or five points of orthodoxy and says, ‐I understand the gospel, I have grasped all the Bible.” Wait a bit, and when his soul grows and knows more of Christ he will confess, “Thy commandment is exceeding broad, I have only begun to understand it.”
There is one thing about God's word which shows its responsiveness to us, and that is when you reveal your heart to it, it reveals its heart to you. If as you read the word you say, “0 blessed truth, thou art indeed realized in my experience; come thou still further into my heart. I give up my prejudices, I assign myself, like the wax, to be stamped with thy seal,”—when you do that, and open your heart to Scripture, Scripture will open its heart to you; for it has secrets which it does not tell to the casual reader, it has precious things of the everlasting hills which can only be discovered by miners who know how to dig and open the secret places, and penetrate great veins of everlasting riches. Give yourself up to the Bible, and the Bible will give itself up to you. Be candid with it, and honest with your soul, and the Scripture will take down its golden key and open one door after another, and show to your astonished gaze ingots of silver which you could not weigh, and heaps of gold which you could not measure. Happy is that man who, in talking with the Bible, tells it all his heart, and learns the secret of the Lord which is with them that fear Him.
And how, too, if you love the Bible and talk out your love to it, the Bible will love you! Its wisdom says, “I love them that love me.” Embrace the word of God and the word of God embraces you at once. When you prize its every letter, then it smiles upon you graciously, greets you with many welcomes, and treats you as an honored guest. I am always sorry to be on bad terms with the Bible, for then I must be on bad terms with God. Whenever my creed does not square with God's word, I think it is time to mold my creed into another form. As for God's words, they must not be touched with hammer or axe. Oh, the chiseling, and cutting, and hammering in certain commentaries to make God's Bible orthodox and systematic! How much better to leave it alone! The word is right, and we are wrong, wherein we agree not with it. The teachings of God's word are infallible and must be reverenced as such. Now, when you love it so well that you would not touch a single line of it, and prize it so much that you would even die for the defense of one of its truths, then, as it is dear to you, you will be dear to it, and it will grasp you and unfold itself to you as it does not to the world.
Dear brethren and sisters, I must leave this point, but it shall be with this remark—Do you talk to God? Does God talk to you? Does your heart go up to heaven and does His Word come fresh from heaven to your soul? If not, you do not know the experience of the living child of God, and I can earnestly pray you may. May you this day be brought to see Christ Jesus in the word, to see a crucified Savior there, and to put your trust in Him, and then from this day forward the word will echo to your heart—it will respond to your emotions.
5. Lastly, *Scripture is influential*. That I gather from the fact that Solomon says, “When you awake, it shall talk with you”; and follows it up with the remark that it keeps man from the strange woman, and from other sins which he goes on to mention. When the word of God talks with us it influences us. All talk influences more or less. I believe there is more done in this world for good or bad by talk than there is by preaching; indeed, the preacher preaches best when he talks; there is no oratory in the world that is equal to simple talk; it is the model of eloquence; and all your rhetorician's action and verbiage are so much rubbish. The most efficient way of preaching is simply talking; the man permitting his heart to run over at his lips into other men's hearts. Now this book, as it talks with us, influences us, and it does so in many ways.
It soothes our sorrows and encourages us. Many a warrior has been ready to steal away from God's battle, but the word has laid its hand on him and said, “Stand on your feet, be not discouraged, be of good cheer, I will strengthen you, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.” Brave saints we have read of, but we little know how often they would have been arrant cowards; only the good word came and strengthened them and they went back to be stronger than lions and swifter than eagles.
While the book thus soothes and cheers, it has a wonderfully elevating power. Have you never felt it put fresh life-blood into you? You have thought, “How can I continue to live at such a dying rate as I have lived? Something nobler must I gain.” Read that part of the word which tells of the agonies of your Master, and you will feel—
“Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count my loss; My former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to His cross.”
Read of the glories of heaven which this book reveals, and you will feel that you can run the race with quickened speed because a crown so bright is glittering in your view. Nothing can so lift a man above the gross considerations of carnal gain or human applause as to have his soul saturated with the spirit of truth. It elevates as well as cheers.
Then too, how often it warns and restrains. I had gone to the right or to the left if the law of the Lord had not said, ‐Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you.”
This book's consecrated talk sanctifies and molds the mind into the image of Christ. You cannot expect to grow in grace if you do not read the Scriptures. If you are not familiar with the word you cannot expect to become like Him that spoke it. Our experience is, as it were, the potter's wheel on which we revolve; and the hand of God is in the Scriptures to mold us after the fashion and image which He intends to bring us to. Oh, be much with the holy word of God, and you will be holy. Be much with the silly novels of the day, and the foolish trifles of the hour, and you will degenerate into vapid wasters of your time; but be much with the solid teaching of God's word, and you will become solid and substantial men and women: drink them in and feed upon them, and they shall produce in you a Christ-likeness at which the world shall stand astonished.
Lastly, let the Scripture talk with you and it will confirm and settle you. We hear every now and then of apostates from the gospel. They must have been little taught in the truth as it is in Jesus. A great outcry is made every now and then about our all being perverted to Rome. I was assured the other day by a good man with a great deal of alarm, that all England was going over to Popery. I told him I did not know what kind of God he worshipped, but my God was a good deal bigger than the devil, and did not intend to let the devil have his way after all, and that I was not half as much afraid of the Pope at Rome as of the Ritualists at home. But mark it, there is some truth in these fears. There will be a going over to one form of error or another unless there be in the Christian church a more honest, industrious, and general reading of Holy Scripture. What if I were to say most of you church members do not read your Bibles, should I be slandering you? You hear on Sabbath day a chapter read, and you perhaps read a passage at family prayer, but a very large number never read the Bible privately for themselves; they take their religion out of the monthly magazine, or accept it from the minister's lips. Oh, for the Berean spirit back again to search the Scriptures whether these things be so. I would like to see a huge pile of all the books that were ever written, good and bad; prayer-books, and sermons, and hymn-books, and all, smoking like Sodom of old, if the reading of those books keeps you away from the reading of the Bible; for a ton weight of human literature is not worth an ounce of Scripture; one single drop of the essential tincture of the word of God is better than a sea full of our commenting and sermonizings and the like. The word, the simple, pure, infallible word of God, we must live upon if we are to become strong against error, and tenacious of truth. Brethren, may you be established in the faith, rooted, grounded, built up; but I know you cannot be except you search the Scriptures continually.
The time is coming when we shall all fall asleep in death. Oh, how blessed it will be to find when we awake that the word of God will talk with us then, and remember its ancient friendship. Then the promise which we loved before shall be fulfilled; the charming intimations of a blessed future shall be all realized, and the face of Christ whom we saw as through a glass darkly shall be all uncovered, and He shall shine upon us as the sun in its strength. God grant us to love the word and feed thereon, and the Lord shall have the glory forever and ever. Amen and amen.
A Sermon (Number 1017) Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, October twenty-second, 1871 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon.
"When you awake, it shall talk with you." — Proverbs 6:22.
It is a wonderful blessing when the commandment of a father and the law of a mother are also the commandment of God and the law of the Lord. Happy are those who have two forces drawing them toward what is right — the bonds of nature and the cords of grace. Those who sin against both an earthly father and the great Father in heaven sin with a particular ferocity, showing contempt for the tender ties of childhood as well as the demands of conscience and God. Solomon, in this passage, clearly speaks about those who find their parents' instruction and God's law to be the same thing, and he urges them to bind God's law around their heart and tie it about their neck — meaning inward devotion and open confession. God's law should be so dear to us that it is bound around the most vital part of our being, woven around our heart. What a person carries in his hand he may forget or lose; what he wears on his body may be torn away — but what is bound around his heart will remain there as long as life remains. We are to love the Word of God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength; with the full force of our nature we are to embrace it, and all our deepest affections are to be bound up with it. When the wise man also tells us to wear it around our necks, he means that we are never to be ashamed of it. No blush should cover our cheek when someone calls us Christians; we should never speak in hushed, apologetic tones about the things of God in any company. We must boldly take up the cross of Christ and gladly declare that we belong to those who honor God's testimonies. Let us count true religion as our highest ornament — just as magistrates put on their gold chains as a mark of honor, so let us tie around our neck the commands and the gospel of the Lord our God.
To persuade us to do this, Solomon gives three compelling reasons. He says that God's law — by which I mean the whole of Scripture and especially the gospel of Jesus Christ — will be a guide to us: "When you go, it shall lead you." It will also be a guardian: "When you sleep" — when you are defenseless and off your guard — "it shall keep you." And it will be a dear companion: "When you awake, it shall talk with you." Any one of these three reasons should be enough to make us seek a closer acquaintance with the sacred Word. We all need a guide, for "it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." Left to our own way, we quickly excel in foolishness. There are moments in every life where a guide is more precious than a wedge of gold. The Word of God, as an infallible director for human life, should be sought by us, and it will lead us on the path of safety. The second reason is equally powerful: the Word of God will become the guardian of our days; whoever listens to it will dwell safely and will be free from fear of evil. There will always be unguarded moments — times when, due to our own imperfection, we will fall into the enemy's hands unless some other power protects us. Blessed is the person who has God's law written on his heart and wears it around his neck like proven armor, so that at all times he is protected, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
This morning, though, I want to focus on the third reason for loving God's Word. It is this: the Word becomes our sweet companion — "When you awake, it shall talk with you." The inspired law of God, which David in Psalm 119 calls God's testimonies, precepts, statutes, and the like, is the friend of the righteous. Its essence and heart is the gospel of Jesus, the one who fulfilled the law — and this is the special comfort of believers. Of the entire sacred volume it may be said, "When you awake, it shall talk with you." I see four or five truths in this expression, and these are what we will explore.
First, we see here that the Word is living. How else could it be said, "It shall talk with you"? A dead book cannot talk, and a silent book cannot speak. It is clearly a living book and a speaking book: "The word of God, which lives and abides forever." How many of us have found this to be absolutely true! A large portion of human books died long ago and have shriveled like Egyptian mummies; the passing years have rendered them worthless, their teachings have been disproved, and they hold no life for us. Entomb them in your public libraries if you like, but from now on they will stir no one's pulse and warm no one's heart. But this richly blessed book of God, though it has been among us for hundreds of years, is immortal in its life and unwithering in its strength; the freshness of its youth is still upon it; its words still fall like rain fresh from heaven; its truths overflow like ever-fresh springs of consolation. No book has ever spoken like this book; its voice, like the voice of God, is powerful and full of majesty.
Where does the living quality of God's Word come from? Is it not, first, because it is pure truth? Error is death; truth is life. No matter how firmly an error is established — whether by philosophy, by force, or by the current of human thought — the day is coming that will burn like an oven, and all falsehood will be as stubble before the fire. Time devours all lies. Falsehoods are soon cut down and wither like green grass. Truth never dies; it traces its origin to God Himself. Kindled at the source of light, its flame cannot be put out; if persecution covers it for a time, it will blaze forth again and overcome its enemies. Many a once-honored system of error now rots in the dead past, forgotten among the tombs; but the truth as it is in Jesus knows no grave and fears no funeral — it lives on, and must live as long as the Eternal fills His throne.
The Word of God is living because it is the utterance of an unchanging, self-existing God. God does not say today what He did not mean yesterday, nor will He tomorrow take back what He records today. When I read a promise spoken three thousand years ago, it is as fresh as if it fell from His eternal lips today. The divine promises carry no expiration date; they are not private property belonging to any one generation. The eternal Word drops from the Almighty's lips as fresh today as when He spoke it to Moses or Elijah, or delivered it through Isaiah or Jeremiah. The Word is always sure, steadfast, and full of power. It is never out of date. Scripture continually wells up with good things; it is an eternal geyser, a spiritual Niagara of grace, forever falling, flashing, and flowing — never stagnant, never stale or polluted, but always clear, crystal, fresh, and refreshing; and therefore always alive.
The Word lives, again, because it holds the living heart of Christ. The heart of Christ is the most alive of all that exists. It was once pierced with a spear, but it lives on, yearning toward sinners, as tender and compassionate as it was in the days of the Redeemer's earthly life. Jesus, the sinner's Friend, walks through the avenues of Scripture just as He once traveled the plains and hills of Palestine: if you have opened eyes, you can still see Him in the ancient prophecies; you can see Him more clearly in the Gospels; in the epistles He opens His inmost soul to you; and in the symbols of the Revelation you can hear the footsteps of His approaching return. The living Christ is in this book; you see His face on almost every page — and so it is a book that can talk. The Christ of the Beatitudes still speaks in it; the God who said "Let there be light" still sends that same divine word from its pages; and the incorruptible truth that saturated every line and syllable when it was first written remains in full force, protecting it from decay. "The grass withers and the flower falls away: but the word of the Lord endures forever."
Beyond all this, the Holy Spirit has a unique connection with the Word of God. I know He works through the ministries of all His ordained servants; but I have generally noticed that the Spirit's work in people's hearts happens more in connection with the Scripture texts we quote than with our explanations of them. "Depend on it," says one deeply spiritual writer, "it is God's Word, not man's comment on it, that saves souls." God does save souls through our commentary, but it is still true that most conversions have been brought about by a specific text of Scripture. It is the Word of God that is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. There must be life in it, for by it people are born again. As for believers, the Holy Spirit often sets the Word ablaze while they are studying it. The letters were before us at one moment as mere letters — but then the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with power. The chapter is as ordinary as the bush at Horeb, but the Spirit descends upon it, and suddenly it glows with heavenly splendor, God appearing in the words — and we feel like Moses when he took off his shoes because the ground where he stood was holy. Most readers do not understand this and treat the Bible as an ordinary book; but if they do not, let them at least acknowledge our sincerity when we say that hundreds of times we have felt the presence of God in the pages of Scripture just as surely as Elijah heard the Lord speaking in a still, small voice. The Bible has often felt to us like a temple of God, its doorposts trembling at the voice of the One crying within, whose glory filled the temple. We have found ourselves compelled to cry out in worship with the seraphim. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts." God the Holy Spirit fills the letter with His presence, and then it truly becomes a living word to us.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, if these things are true — and our experience confirms them — let us take care how we trifle with a book so full of life. Might many of you be reminded of your failure if we asked whether you are regular students of Holy Scripture? I believe you are readers of it — but are you searchers? The promise belongs not to those who merely read, but to those who delight in God's law and meditate on it day and night. Are you sitting at Jesus's feet with His Word as your textbook? If not, remember — even if you are saved, you are missing much of the blessing you could otherwise enjoy. Have you been drifting spiritually? Refresh your soul by meditating on God's commands, and you will say with David, "Your word has given me life." Are you exhausted and worn out? Go and talk with this living book: it will restore your energy, and you will soar again as on eagles' wings. But are you not yet converted at all? Then I cannot point you to Bible reading as the way of salvation, nor suggest it has merit in itself — but I would still urge every unconverted person to hold Scripture in deep reverence, to become familiar with its contents, and to read its pages often; for it has happened countless times that when people were studying the Word of life, that Word brought life to them. "The entrance of Your word gives light." Like Elijah lying over the dead child, the Word has stretched itself over people, and their dead souls have been made to live. One of the most likely places to find Christ is in the garden of the Scriptures, for that is where He loves to walk. In the old days blind men would sit by the roadside begging, so that if Jesus passed by they could call out to Him — and in the same way I would have you sit down beside the road of Holy Scripture. Listen to the promises; hear their gracious words — they are the footsteps of the Savior; and as you hear them, may you be moved to cry, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Attend most the ministries that preach God's Word most fully. Do not choose those that dazzle you with fine speaking and ornamental language rather than true instruction; instead, find a ministry full of God's own Word — and above all, learn God's Word itself. Read it with a desire to understand its meaning, and I am convinced that many of you who are now far from God will be drawn near to Him and led to saving faith in Jesus, for "the Word of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Second, if the text says, "When you awake, it shall talk with you," then it is clear that the Word is personal. "It shall talk with you." It does not say, "It shall speak into the air, and you shall hear its voice" — but "It shall talk with you." You know exactly what that means. I am not truly talking with any one of you this morning — there are too many of you and I am only one; but on the road home, each of you will talk with a companion, and that is real talk: one person speaking to another. The Word of God has this gracious habit of talking to people — speaking to them personally — and for this reason I want to commend it to your love. May you prize it dearly for this very quality!
"It shall talk with you" — meaning God's Word speaks about people, and about people today; it addresses us and our times just as precisely as if it had been written this very week. Some come to God's Word expecting to find historical information about ancient times — and they will find that, but it is not the Word's primary purpose. Others look for facts about geology, and great efforts have been made to bring geology in line with Scripture, or Scripture in line with geology. We can always be sure that truth never contradicts itself; but since no one yet truly knows the full story of geology — its theories being largely speculation — we will wait until scholars settle their own debates, confident that when they finally discover the truth, it will be entirely consistent with what God has revealed. In any case, we can leave that matter aside. The main teachings of Holy Scripture are about people — about the paradise of unfallen humanity, the fall, the decline of the human race, and the means of its redemption. The book speaks of sacrifices and priests and cleansing rites, pointing us to the divine plan by which people can be lifted from the fall and reconciled to God. Read Scripture through and you will find that its great subject is what matters most to the human race. It is a book that talks — talks personally — because it deals not with the moon or distant planets, not with ages long past or ages yet to come, but with us, with the business of today: how sin may be forgiven now, and our souls brought immediately into union with Christ.
Moreover, this book is so personal that it speaks to people in every spiritual condition before God. How it talks to sinners — talks, I say — for it puts it this way: "Come now, and let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as wool; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as snow." It has many tender appeals for sinners. It comes down to their condition and position. If they will not rise to God, it makes eternal mercy stoop to them, as it were. It speaks of feasts of rich food, full of marrow; and as it talks, it appeals to human hunger and invites people to eat and be satisfied. In every situation a sinner can find himself, there is a word that meets his exact condition.
And when we become children of God, the book talks with us in wonderful ways. In the family of heaven, it is the child's very own book. The moment we come to know our Father, this dear book arrives like a love letter from a far country, signed by our Father's own hand and full of His love. Whether we grow in grace or drift into backsliding, in either case Scripture continues to talk with us. Whatever our standing before the eternal God, the book seems written precisely to meet that standing. It speaks to you as you are — not only as you should be or as others have been, but to you personally, about your present condition.
Have you ever noticed how personally the book speaks to every state of your mind — whether in sadness or in joy? There was a time for some of us when we were very gloomy and deeply depressed, and then the book of Job mourned along to the same sorrowful tune. I have mourned over Jeremiah's Lamentations. It mourns with us when we are lamenting. On the other hand, when the soul rises to the highest mountains — to the peaks of Amana and Lebanon, when we have visions of glory and see our Beloved face to face — look, the Word is right beside us. In the beautiful language of the Psalms, or in the even sweeter expressions of the Song of Solomon, it speaks everything that is in our heart, talking with us like something that has been in the depths and on the heights, that has known the overwhelming weight of affliction and has rejoiced in the triumphs of delight. God's Word is to me my own book — and I have no doubt, brother, that it is the same for you. There could not be a Bible that suited me better; it seems written on purpose for me. Dear sister, have you not often felt, as you placed your finger on a promise, "That is my promise — if no other soul has ever claimed that page with tearful eyes and said, 'It is mine,' then I, a poor afflicted one, can surely do so!" Yes, the book is very personal, for it goes into every detail of our situation, whatever our condition may be.
And how faithful the Word always is. You will never find God's Word holding back what is good for you. Like Nathan, it cries, "You are the man." It never lets our sins go unrebuked, nor our backsliding escape notice before it grows into open sin. It gives us timely warning; the moment we begin to drift it cries, "Awake, you who sleep," "Watch and pray," "Guard your heart with all diligence" — and a thousand other words of warning, addressed personally to each one of us.
Before I move on, I want to suggest a brief moment of honest self-examination for each of us. Does God's Word speak to my soul in this way? If so, it is great foolishness to lose through vague generalities a treasure that can only be grasped personally. What do you say, dear friend? Do you read the book for yourself, and does it speak to you? Has it ever condemned you, and have you trembled before it? Has it ever pointed you to Christ, and have you looked to Jesus, the incarnate Savior? Does the book now confirm, alongside the witness of your own spirit, that you are born of God? Do you go to it to understand your own condition — to see your own face as in a mirror? Is it your family medicine? Is it your measure and indicator of your spiritual condition? Do not treat the book as anything less than this — for if you take it as your personal friend, you are truly blessed, since God will dwell with the person who trembles at His Word; but if you treat it as just anyone's book rather than your own, then beware, lest you be counted among the wicked who despise God's commands.
Third, our text shows us that Holy Scripture is wonderfully familiar. "When you awake, it shall talk with you." To talk signifies fellowship, intimacy, familiarity. It does not say, "It shall preach to you." Many people hold the book in high regard, but they approach it as though it were some elevated teacher speaking down to them from a high platform while they stand far below. I will not entirely dismiss that reverence, but it would be far better if they understood the familiarity of God's Word — it does not so much preach to us as talk with us. It is not "When you awake, it shall lecture you" or "it shall scold you" — no, "it shall talk with you." We sit at its feet — or rather at the feet of Jesus in the Word — and it comes down to us; it is familiar with us, as one friend speaks to another. And here let me point to the delightful familiarity of Scripture in this respect: it speaks the language of ordinary people. If God had written to us in His own language, we could not have understood it — and what little we did grasp would have alarmed us so much that we would have begged for those words to stop; but in His Word, the Lord often uses language that, while infallibly true in its meaning, is expressed not as God in Himself knows things, but in ways that fit the human mind. I mean that the Word uses comparisons and pictures of which we might say they speak humanly, not according to the absolute truth as God Himself sees it. Just as adults speaking with young children use simple words, so does the gracious Word condescend. It is not written in the celestial tongue, but in the ordinary speech of this lowland world, coming down to those of humble condition. It feeds us on bread broken down to our capacity — "food convenient for us." It speaks of God's arm, His hand, His finger, His wings, even His feathers. All of this is familiar, picture-language suited to our childlike capacity — for the Infinite One cannot literally be described by such images. It is a remarkable expression of divine love that He frames things this way, so that we can grasp sublime truths. Let us thank the Lord of the Word for this.
How tenderly Scripture comes down to simplicity. Suppose the entire sacred volume had been like the book of Ezekiel — it would have been of little use to most people. Imagine if the whole Bible were as mysterious as the book of Revelation: it might have been our duty to study it, but if our benefit depended on understanding it, we would have failed. But how simple the Gospels are — how plain are the words, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved"; how wonderfully clear are those parables about the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. Wherever the Word touches on what is most vital, it shines like sunlight. There are mysteries and deep doctrines, waters deep enough for great creatures to swim in; but where the Word deals directly with what concerns us for eternity, it is so clear that even the newest believer can safely wade in its refreshing streams. In the gospel narrative, even the simplest traveler need not go astray. It is familiar talk — God's vast mind brought down to our smallness, so that it may lift us up.
How familiar the book is too — I speak now from my own experience — in all that concerns us. It speaks of my flesh and my failures and my sins as only someone who truly knows me could speak. It speaks of my trials in the wisest way; some I dare not tell anyone, yet this book knows them all. It speaks of my difficulties — some people would mock them and laugh, but this book has compassion for them; it knows my tremblings and fears and doubts, and all the storm that rages within the small world of my own nature. The book has been through all my experience; somehow it maps it all out and speaks with me as if it were a fellow pilgrim. It does not speak impractically, scolding me and looking down from some lofty height of stern perfection, as if it were an angel unable to sympathize with fallen people — but like the Lord it reveals, the book seems touched by a feeling for my weaknesses, as if it had been tested in all the same ways I have. Have you not often marveled at the human tenderness of the divine Word? — it thunders like God and yet weeps like a person. It seems that nothing is too small for the Word of God to notice, and nothing too bitter or even too sinful for it to address. It touches humanity at every point. Everywhere it is a personal and familiar friend, seeming to ask itself, "Shall I hide this thing from Abraham my friend?"
And how often the book has answered questions. I have been amazed in times of difficulty at how clearly it speaks. You have gone to friends for advice and they could not help — but you went to your knees, and God told you. You have puzzled over a problem, trying every angle to solve it — and then, in the chapter read at morning prayer or in a passage lying open before you, the guidance came. Have we not seen a text lift its wings and fly from the Word like a seraph, touching our lips with a live coal from the altar? It lay like a sleeping angel among the fragrant beds of the sacred Word, but it received a divine mission and brought consolation and direction to your heart.
So the Word of God talks with us in the sense of being intimate and familiar with us. Do we truly grasp this? Let me close this point with one more word of application. Who, finding God's Word to be so dear and kind a friend, would ever spurn or neglect it? If any of you have despised it, what can I say? If it were a grim book written through and through with curses and lamentations, every letter flashing with declarations of vengeance, I might understand why someone would not want to read it — but O precious, priceless companion, dear friend of all my sorrows, comforter on my sickbed, light in my darkness, joy of my soul — how can I forget you? How can I forsake you? I have heard of one who said the dust on some men's Bibles had lain so thick and long that you could write "Damnation" in it. I am afraid that is the case with some of you. Mr. Rogers of Dedham, after preaching on the preciousness of the Bible, once took it away from the front of the pulpit, set it behind him, and pictured God as saying, "You do not read this book; you do not care about it; I will take it back — you will not be burdened with it anymore." Then he portrayed the grief in wise people's hearts when they found the blessed revelation withdrawn from them — and how they would besiege the throne of grace day and night, begging for it back. I am sure he spoke the truth. Though we too often neglect it, we ought to prize it beyond all price — for if it were taken from us, we would have lost our kindest comforter in the hour of need. God grant us to love the Scriptures more!
Fourth, our text clearly shows that the Word is responsive. "When you awake, it shall talk with you" — not to you. Talk with a person is not all on one side. To talk with someone requires a reply. Both people have something to say when they talk together. It is a conversation to which each contributes. Scripture is a wonderfully conversational book; it talks, and it makes people talk back. It is always ready to respond to us. Consider what happens when you go to Scripture in a particular spiritual state — you will notice, I think, that the Word answers to that state. If you are dark and gloomy, it will seem as though the Word has put on mourning clothes to grieve with you. When you are on the ash heap, Scripture sits there with dust and ashes on its head, weeping beside you without the harsh criticism of Job's so-called comforters. But come to the book with eyes bright with joy, and you will hear it rejoice; it will sing and play to you with psaltery and harp and the sound of loud cymbals. Enter its good land in a happy state, and you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; its mountains and hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
If you come to Holy Scripture with growth in grace and a longing for even higher attainments, the book grows with you and deepens for you. It is always ahead of you, cheerfully calling, "Higher yet -- press on!" Many books in my library are now behind and beneath me. I read them years ago with real pleasure, but read them again with disappointment. I will never pick them up again, because they have nothing more to offer me. They were good in their time, just as the clothes I wore at ten years old were good then. But I have outgrown them. I know more than these books know, and I can see where they fall short. Nobody ever outgrows Scripture. The book widens and deepens with our years. It is true it cannot really grow, because it is already perfect -- but it does grow in our understanding. The deeper you dig into Scripture, the more you find it is a great abyss of truth. A new believer learns four or five basic points of the faith and says, "I understand the gospel -- I have grasped all the Bible." Wait a little while. When his soul grows and he knows more of Christ, he will confess, "Your commandment is exceedingly broad. I have only begun to understand it."
One thing about God's Word shows how it responds to us: when you open your heart to it, it opens its heart to you. If, as you read the Word, you say, "O blessed truth, you are indeed real in my own experience -- come still further into my heart. I lay down my prejudices and give myself, like wax, to be stamped with your seal" -- when you do that and open your heart to Scripture, Scripture opens its heart to you. It has secrets it does not share with the casual reader. It holds precious things from the everlasting hills that can only be discovered by miners who know how to dig and uncover hidden places and penetrate vast veins of eternal riches. Give yourself to the Bible, and the Bible will give itself to you. Be honest with it and sincere about your soul, and Scripture will take out its golden key and open one door after another, showing to your astonished eyes silver beyond weighing and heaps of gold beyond measuring. Happy is the person who, in talking with the Bible, tells it all his heart and learns the secret of the Lord, which belongs to those who fear Him.
And consider this: if you love the Bible and express that love, the Bible will love you in return! Its wisdom says, "I love those who love me." Embrace the Word of God, and the Word of God embraces you at once. When you treasure every line of it, it smiles upon you graciously, greets you with many welcomes, and treats you as an honored guest. I am always troubled to be on bad terms with the Bible, because then I must be on bad terms with God. Whenever my beliefs do not line up with God's Word, I know it is time to reshape my beliefs. As for God's words, they must not be touched with hammer or chisel. Oh, the chiseling, cutting, and hammering in certain commentaries, trying to force God's Bible into their systems! How much better to leave it alone! The Word is right, and we are wrong wherever we disagree with it. The teachings of God's Word are infallible and must be honored as such. Now, when you love it so deeply that you would not change a single line, and value it so highly that you would even die to defend one of its truths -- then, just as it is dear to you, you will be dear to it, and it will hold you close and unfold itself to you in ways it never does to the world.
Dear brothers and sisters, I must leave this point, but let me close with this question: Do you talk to God? Does God talk to you? Does your heart rise to heaven, and does His Word come fresh from heaven to your soul? If not, you do not yet know the experience of the living child of God, and I earnestly pray that you may. May you today be brought to see Christ Jesus in the Word, to see a crucified Savior there, and to place your trust in Him. Then from this day forward, the Word will echo in your heart and respond to your emotions.
Fifth and finally, Scripture is influential. I draw this from the fact that Solomon says, "When you awake, it shall talk with you," and then follows it with the observation that it keeps a person from the immoral woman and from the other sins he goes on to describe. When the Word of God talks with us, it influences us. All talk influences us, more or less. I believe more is accomplished in this world for good or bad through conversation than through formal preaching. In fact, a preacher preaches best when he simply talks. There is no eloquence in the world equal to plain, direct talk. All the trained orator's gestures and fancy language amount to little by comparison. The most effective way to preach is simply to talk -- letting the heart pour over through the lips into other people's hearts. Now this book, as it talks with us, influences us, and it does so in many ways.
It soothes our sorrows and encourages us. Many a warrior has been ready to slip away from God's battle, but the Word laid its hand on him and said, "Stand on your feet. Do not be discouraged. Be of good cheer -- I will strengthen you, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness." We have read of brave saints, but we little know how often they would have been outright cowards if the good Word had not come and strengthened them, sending them back to be stronger than lions and swifter than eagles.
While the book soothes and encourages, it also has a wonderfully elevating power. Have you never felt it put fresh lifeblood into you? You have thought, "How can I keep living at such a dying rate as I have been living? I must reach for something nobler." Read the part of the Word that tells of your Master's agonies, and you will feel --
"Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count my loss; My former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to His cross."
Read of the glories of heaven that this book reveals, and you will feel yourself running the race with renewed speed, knowing that so bright a crown is glittering before you. Nothing can lift a person above the pull of material gain or the craving for human praise like having a soul soaked in the spirit of truth. It elevates as well as cheers.
And how often it warns and restrains us! I would have gone to the right or to the left if the law of the Lord had not said, "Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your gaze be fixed before you."
This book's consecrated conversation sanctifies and shapes the mind into the image of Christ. You cannot expect to grow in grace if you do not read the Scriptures. If you are not familiar with the Word, you cannot expect to become like the One who spoke it. Our experience is like the potter's wheel on which we spin, and the hand of God works through the Scriptures to mold us into the shape and likeness He intends for us. Spend much time with the holy Word of God, and you will become holy. Spend your time with the shallow novels of the day and the trivial distractions of the hour, and you will waste away into someone who fritters away their life. But spend much time with the solid teaching of God's Word, and you will become solid and substantial men and women. Drink it in and feed on it, and it will produce in you a likeness to Christ that will astonish the world.
Finally, let the Scripture talk with you, and it will confirm and settle you. Every now and then we hear of people who have turned away from the gospel. They must have been poorly taught in the truth as it is in Jesus. Every so often there is a great outcry that we are all going to be drawn over to Rome. A good man told me recently, with considerable alarm, that all of England was going over to Popery. I told him I did not know what kind of God he worshipped, but my God was considerably bigger than the devil and had no intention of letting the devil have his way -- and that I was not half as afraid of the Pope in Rome as I was of the Ritualists at home. But mark this: there is some truth in these fears. People will drift into one form of error or another unless the Christian church begins reading Holy Scripture more honestly, diligently, and consistently. What if I were to say that most of you church members do not read your Bibles -- would I be slandering you? You hear a chapter read on Sunday, and perhaps you read a passage at family prayer, but a very large number of people never read the Bible privately for themselves. They take their religion from a monthly magazine or accept it from the minister's lips. Oh, for the spirit of the Bereans to return -- searching the Scriptures to see whether these things are so! I would gladly see a huge pile of every book ever written -- good and bad, prayer books, sermons, hymnals, and all -- burning like Sodom of old, if reading those books keeps you from reading the Bible. A ton of human literature is not worth an ounce of Scripture. One single drop of the essential substance of the Word of God is better than an ocean of our commentaries, sermons, and the like. The Word -- the simple, pure, infallible Word of God -- is what we must live on if we are to stand strong against error and hold firmly to the truth. Brothers and sisters, may you be established in the faith -- rooted, grounded, and built up. But I know you cannot be unless you search the Scriptures continually.
The time is coming when we will all fall asleep in death. How blessed it will be to find, when we awake, that the Word of God will talk with us then too, remembering its ancient friendship! Then the promise we loved before will be fulfilled. The beautiful glimpses of a blessed future will all be realized, and the face of Christ, whom we saw as through a dim mirror, will be fully uncovered. He will shine upon us like the sun in full strength. God grant us to love the Word and feed upon it, and to the Lord shall be the glory forever and ever. Amen and amen.
