Do You Know Him? 2
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II. Secondly, let us DRAW CURTAIN AFTER CURTAIN WHICH SHALL ADMIT US TO KNOW MORE OF CHRIST. Different Ways of Knowing Christ...
1. When we recognize him
2. When we know him by practical experience and acquaintance with what he does
3. When we are on speaking terms with him
4. When Christ has entertained us with some rare visits from his gracious presence
5. When we experience our marriage-union and intimacy of love with Christ
6. When we suffer with, and sympathize with Jesus
Did you ever visit the manufactory of splendid porcelain at Sevres? I have done so. If anybody should say to me, "Do you know the manufactory at Sevres?" I should say, " Yes, I do, and no, I do not. I know it, for I have seen the building; I have seen the rooms in which the articles are exhibited for sale, and I have seen the museum and model room; but I do not know the factory as I would like to know it, for I have not seen the process of manufacture, and have not been admitted into the workshops, as some are."
Suppose I had seen, however, the process of the molding of the clay, and the laying on of the rich designs, if anybody should still say to me, "Do you know how they manufacture those wonderful articles?" I should very likely still be compelled to say, "No, I do not, because there are certain secrets, certain private rooms into which neither friend nor foe can he admitted, lest the process should be open to the world." So, you see, I might say I knew, and yet might not half know; and when I half knew, still there would be so much left, that I might be compelled to say, "I do not know." How many different ways there are of knowing a person- and even so there are all these Different Ways of Knowing Christ; so that you may keep on all your lifetime, still wishing to get into another room, and another room, nearer and nearer to the great secret, still panting to "know him." Good Rutherford says, "I urge upon you a nearer communion with Christ, and a growing communion. There are curtains to be drawn by, in Christ, that we never shut, and new foldings in love with him. I despair that ever I shall shall win to the far end of that love; there are so many plies in it. Therefore, dig deep, and set by as much time in the day for him as you can, he will be won by labor."
To begin with. We know a person when we recognize him. Do you know the Queen? Well, I do. I recollect seeing her, and if I were to see any quantity of ladies, I think I should know which was the Queen and which was not. You may say honestly that you know her to that extent. Beloved, every Christian must in this sense know Christ. You must know him by a divine illumination so as to know who he is and what he is. When Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Whom do you say that I am," he said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God;" and the Lord replied, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjonas, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you." It is an early step in this knowledge of Christ to know and to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord; to know that Christ is God, divine to me; that Christ is man, brother to me- bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh- that as such he is a sin-subduing Savior; that he is for me an intercessor, pleading before the throne; my prophet, priest, and king- in this sense I trust that most of you know him. If you do not, breathe the silent prayer now, "Lord, help me that I may know him." But this knowledge of recognition is comparatively a low attainment, one of the lowest rounds of the ladder of light.
In the second place, a believer knows Christ, to a higher degree when he knows him by practical experiment and acquaintance with what he does. For instance, I know Christ as a cleanser. They tell me he is a refiner, that he cleanses from spots; he has washed me in his precious blood, and to that extent I know him. They tell me that he clothes the naked; he has covered me with a garment of righteousness, and to that extent I know him. They tell me that he is a liberator, and that he breaks fetters, he has set my soul at liberty, and therefore I know him. They tell me that he is a king and that he reigns over sin; he has subdued my enemies beneath his feet, and I know him in that character. They tell me he is a shepherd: I know him for I am his sheep. They say he is a door: I have entered in through him, and I know him as a door. They say he is food: my spirit feeds on him as on the bread of heaven, and, therefore, I know him as such. You know if anyone says, "Do you know doctor So-and-so?" It is a very satisfactory answer, if you can reply, "Oh, yes, I know him, for he attended me the last time that I was ill." There is more knowledge in that, than if on could only say, " Oh, yes, I know him: he wears such-and-such a hat or he is a man of such-and-such an appearance." So, Christian, thing is a second and higher step to know Christ, because You Have Experienced in Your Own Soul That He Is Just What God Has Revealed Him to Be.
But we know a man in a better sense than this when we are on speaking terms with him. "Do you know So-and-so?" " Yes," you say, I not only know him by name, so as to recognize him; I not only know him as a tradesman having dealt with him, but I know him because when we pass each other in the morning, we exchange a word or two; and if I had anything to say upon matters- any request to make- I should feel no difficulty about asking him." Well, now, the Christian knows his Lord in this sense, he has every day official communication with Christ, he is on speaking terms with him. There may he persons here, perhaps, who know the Queen in a sense in which I do not know her- perhaps they speak to her. They have so done; I have never done that; they go beyond me there.
But you see, dear friends, this is not a very great thing because you may be on speaking terms with a man, but you may not know much of him for all that. So you may be in the habit of daily prayer, and you may talk with Christ every morning and every evening, and you may know exceedingly little of him. You are on speaking terms with him; but there is something beyond this, very far beyond this. As I might say that I know a man merely because I meet him every day, and ask him for what I want, and understand that he is kind and generous; but how shallow is such an acquaintance, for I do not know his private character nor his inward heart. Even so a believer may have constant dealings with Christ in his prayers and in his praises, and yet for all that, he may have only gone a certain distance, and may have need still to pray, "That I may know him."
But you are said to know a person better still when he invites you to his house. At Christmas time there is a family party and a romp, and he asks you there, and you are one of the children, and enter into all their sports around the fire-side, and you indulge as they do in the genialities of social life. You are asked again; you go there pretty often; in fact, if there is a happy evening in that house they generally expect to see friend So-and-so there. Well, now, that is better. We are getting now into something like knowing a man; and I do trust there are many of you, beloved, who have got as far as this with regard to your divine Lord. Christ Has Entertained You with Some Rare Visits from His Gracious Presence. He brought you into time banqueting-house, and his banner over you was love. When he manifested himself, he did it unto you as he did not unto the world. He was pleased in the majesty of his condescension, to take you aside and show you his hands and his side. He called you "Friend;" he treated you as such, and permitted you to enjoy the sweets of being one of the family.
Ah, but you may go into a man’s house as a constant visitor, and yet you may not know him- that is to say, not in the highest sense. You speak to the man’s wife and say, "Your husband is a marvelously charming man; what a cheerful, joyful, spirited man he is; he never seems to have any depressions of spirit, and experiences no changes whatever." She shakes her head and she says, "Ah! you do not know him, you do not know him as I do;" because she sees him at all times and at all hours; she can read the very heart of the man. That Christian has grown much in grace who has advanced not only to be the friend of Christ, having occasional fellowship with him, but who comes to recognize his marriage-union with the person of his Lord, and of whom it can he said, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant," Now we have theintimacy of love, with its perfect frankness, nearness, sweetness, joyousness, and delight. The rending away of every separating veil makes the communion to be as near as it well can be this side the black river; but a Christian may get farther than this.
Even the spouse may not know her husband. The most loving wife who ever entered into the cares of her husband, must have discovered that there is a something which separates his experience from her powers of comprehension. Luther’s wife. Catherine, was of all women the wife for Luther; but there were times in Luther’s gigantic tribulations, when he must leave Kate behind. There were extraordinary times within him; times both of ecstatic joy, when like a great angel, he stretched his mighty wings, and flew right up to Heaven, and of awful misery, when he seemed to sink down to the very depths of Hell; and in either case, no other heart could keep pace with him. Then it was himself alone who had communion with himself. And a Christian may so grow in grace as to become identified with Christ, a member of his body; not so much married to him as a part of him, a member of the great body of Christ, so that he suffers with Christ, sympathizes with Jesus, his heart beating to the same dolorous tune, his veins swollen with the sumac floods of grief, or else his eyes sparkling with that same gleam of joy, according to the Master’s Word, "That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy may be made full."
Well, have not you waded out of your depth some of you? I have certainly got out of my own. I feel as if the Master might come on to this platform, look round on many of us, and say, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip?" for truly even in the minor sense, though I trust we are saved, though we have believed in Jesus, yet we have not reached time height of this great text- "That I may know him."
III. Having taken you so far, let us take a few minutes and consider WHAT SORT OF KNOWLEDGE THIS KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST IS-
1. A very vivid knowledge of his personality
2. A personal knowledge
3. An intelligent knowledge of Christ’s offices, attributes, works, shame, glory
4. An affectionate knowledge
5. A satisfying knowledge.
6. An exciting knowledge
7. A happy knowledge
"That I may know him." Then it is clear, if I know him I shall have a very vivid sense of his personality. "That I may know him." He will not he to me a myth, a vision, a spirit, but a person, a real solid person, as much real as I am myself, or as my dearest friend can he to me. My soul, Never Be Satisfied Within a Shadowy Christ. My heart, be you never content until he has embraced your soul, and proved to you that he is the lover of his people. This knowledge, then, must he a knowledge of him in his personality.
Then, beloved, it must he a Personal knowledge on our part. I cannot know Christ through another person’s brains. I cannot love him with another man’s heart, and I cannot see him with another man’s eyes. Heaven’s delight is, "MY eyes shall see him and not another." These eyes shall behold the King in his beauty. Well, beloved, if this be Heaven, we certainly cannot do without a personal sight of Christ here. I am so afraid of living in a second-hand religion. God forbid that I should get a biographical experience. Lord save us from having borrowed communion. No, I must know himmyself. O God, let me not he deceived in this. I must know him without fancy or proxy; I must know him on mine own account.
Then these few thoughts upon what sort of knowledge we must have. It must be an intelligent knowledge -I must know him. I must know hisnatures, divine and human. I must know his offices -I must know his attributes -I must know his works -I must know his shame -I must know hisglory; for I do not know him if it be merely a subject of passion and not of intellect. I must let my head consciously meditate upon him until I own something like an idea of him, that I may "Comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, amid length and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge."
Then I must have an affectionate knowledge of him; and, indeed, if I do know him at all, I must love him. As it is said of some men, that there is such a charm about them, that if you once get into their company you cannot criticize any longer, but must admire; so you feel with Christ. It is said of Garibaldi, that if you are in his society he charms all, so that even malice and slander must he silent in his presence. Infinitely, supremely so is it with Christ. Being near him, his love warms our hearts, until we glow with intense love to him.
Then I shall find, if I know Christ, that this is a satisfying knowledge. When I know Christ my mind will he fall to the brim-I shall feel that I have found that which my spirit panted after. "This is that bread whereof if a man eat he shall never hunger."
At the same time it is an exciting knowledge; the more I know of Christ, the more I shall want to know. The deeper I plunge the greater the depths which will he revealed. The higher I climb the loftier will he the summits which invite my eager footsteps. I shall want the more as I get the more. My spiritual thirst will increase, though in another sense it will he entirely quenched.
And this knowledge of Christ will he a most happy one, in fact, so happy, that sometimes it will completely bear nine up above all trials, and doubts, and sorrows; and it will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than "Man that is born of a woman who is of few days, and full of trouble ;" for it will fling about me the immortality of the ever-living Savior, and gird me with the golden belt of his eternal happiness. To he near to Christ, is to he near to the pearly gates of the golden-streeted city. Say not, "Jerusalem, my happy home, my labors have an end in you;" but say, "Jesus, you are my rest, and when I have you, my spirit is at peace." I might thus keep on speaking in praise of this knowledge, but I will not.
Only permit me to say, what a refreshing, what a sanctifying knowledge is this- to know him. When the Laodicean Church was neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, how did Christ seek her revival? Did he send her precious doctrines? Did he send her excellent precepts? Mark it, he came himself, for thus it is said, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me." That Is A Cure For It All, you see. No matter how lukewarm, though God may say, "I will spue you out of my mouth," yet, if Christ comes, that is the cure. The presence of Christ with his Church takes away all her sicknesses. When the disciples of Christ were at sea in a storm, do you recollect how he comforted them? Did he send them an angel? No. "It is I, be not afraid;" and when they knew him, then they had no more fears. They were assembled one night, "the doors being shut for fear of the Jews" how did he comfort them? Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said, "Peace be unto you." There was Thomas, full of doubts and fears. How did Jesus Christ take away his doubts? "Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side." Oh! It Is Christ, It Is Christ Who Cures All!
The company of Christ is the only thing which a Christian needs. I will undertake that if his heart be like an iceberg, as soon as Jesus comes, it shall flame like Vesuvius. His spirit shall he dead and like a rotten corpse; but if Jesus comes he shall leap like a deer, and become strong as a young unicorn. Your presence makes me like the chariots of Amminadab. Now, do not think I am talking what I do not know. Do not imagine that I am talking mere fanatical slip-slop which I cannot prove. I do assert (and God who searches all hearts, knows how true this is), I do assert that, from the depths of doubt, of dullness, of worldliness, I have leaped in one moment into love, and life, and holy enthusiasm, when Jesus Christ has manifested himself to me. I cannot describe the difference between my heart- water- logged, worm-eaten, ready to sink to the bottom without Christ; and that same heart, like a strong stanch ship, with sails full, with favorable wind, speeding into harbor, with a golden freight. Like you poor little bird which some cruel boy has torn from the nest and almost killed -it is not fledged yet, and cannot fly, and it lies down to die, trampled in the mire in the streets- that is my heart without Christ. But see that other bird! The cage door is opened, its wings vibrate, it sings with all its might, and flies up to talk with the sun- that is my heart when I have the conscious presence of my Lord Jesus Christ! I only bring in my own consciousness because I do not know yours; but I think I will now venture to say that every believer here will admit it is the same with him-
Midst darkest shades if he appear
My dawning is begun;
He is my soul’s bright morning star,
And he my rising sun.
IV. I shall close by urging you, dearly beloved, who know the Lord, to take this desire of the apostle to know Christ and make it your own. "That I may know him." I wish I had time this morning- time will fly- I wish I had time to urge and press you, believers, onward to seek to know him. Paul, you see, gave up everything for this- you will be seeking what is worth having. There can he no mistake about this. If Paul will renounce all, there must he a reward which is worthy of the sacrifice. If you have any fears, if you seek Christ and find him, they will he removed. You complain that you do not feel the guilt of sin; that you cannot humble yourself enough. The Sight of Christ Is the Very Best Means of Setting Sin in its True Colors. There is no repenting like that which comes from a look of Christ’s eye- the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly. So it is not a sight of the law, it is the sight of Christ looking upon us which will break our hearts.
There is nothing like this to fill you with courage. When Dr. Andrew Reed found some difficulties in the founding of one of his orphan asylums, he sat down and drew upon a little piece of paper the cross, and then he said to himself, "What, despair in the face of the cross?" and then he drew a ring round the cross, and wrote in it "Despair of nothing" and took it for his coat of arms. Oh, there cannot be any despair in the presence of the cross. Dear dying Lamb, did you endure the cross, despising the shame, and shall I talk of difficulties when your glory is at stake? God forbid! O holy face, bedewed with bloody sweat, I pledge myself in your solemn and awful presence, that though this face of mine should he bedewed with sweat of the like sort, to accomplish any labor upon which you shall put me; by your will and in your strength, I will not shrink from the task. A Sight of Christ, brethren, Will Keep You From Despondency, and Doubts, and Despair. A sight of Christ! How shall I stir you to it? It will fire you to duty; it will deliver you from temptation; it will, in fact, make you like him. A man is known by his company; and if you have become acquainted with Christ, and know him, you will be sure to reflect his light. It is because the moon has converse with the sun, that she has any light for this dark world’s night; and if you talk with Christ, the Sun, he will shine on you so gloriously, that you, like the moon, shall reflect his light, and the dark night of this world shall he enlightened by your radiance. The Lord help us to know him.
But I do seem, this morning, to have been talking to you about him, and not to have brought him forward. O that I knew how to introduce you to him! You who do not love him, O that I could make you seek after him! But you who do love him and have trusted in him, O that I could make you hunger and thirst until you were filled with him! There he is, nailed to his cross, suffering- oh! how much! -for you; there he is, risen, ascended, pleading before the throne of God for you. Here he is: "Lo, I am with you aways, even unto the end of the world." Here he is, waiting to be comforted with your company, desiring communion with you, panting that his sister, his spouse, would he no longer a stranger to him. Here he is, waiting to be gracious, saying, "Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Come, Christian, come, let this be your desire, "That I may know him."
And you who do not know him, and have not loved him, I beg you, breathe this prayer with me, "Lord, he merciful to me a sinner." O sinner, he is a gentle Christ; he is a loving Savior, and they that seek him early shall find him. May you seek and find him, for his name’s sake. Amen.
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