A Short Sermon by H. A. St. John

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 7, 1913

A Short Sermon

By H. A. St. John

The Teacher

H. A. ST. JOHN

"Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly." Luke 20:21.

WITHOUT question or hesitancy, we pronounce Jesus the greatest teacher the world has known. In a preeminent sense he was a teacher sent from God, and the words he spoke and the doctrines he taught were not his own, but the words and doctrines of his Father, who sent him. He never attended the school of the learned of earth, but was ever taught of God in all things necessary for his work and mission. And it will be observed that his teaching was almost exclusively devoted to one great science, the science of salvation, the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was constantly using the simple objects and transactions around him to impress his hearers with the great truths of his gospel. He would sometimes stop in his discourse and ask, "Whereto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?" Then he would begin, "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower;" the parable of the mustard seed; the

parable of the leaven; the treasure hid in a field; the man seeking goodly pearls; the parable of the net, gathering both good and bad, but in the end the bad were thrown away and only the good were saved. Thus he would go on illustrating his great subject by parables, and hanging his important lessons of the kingdom of heaven on objects and transactions familiar and everywhere visible, that the truths taught might the more easily be remembered.

Frequently on the Sabbath day he taught in the synagogue, sometimes in the temple courts, but more frequently by the wayside, the mountainside, and the seaside. His school was ever open and free to all.

Praise God, the school of Christ is open to us all now. Without money and without price, we may even now sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of him, though we cannot see his face. What a blessed thought that we may walk and talk with Jesus, and by our words and lives we may teach that we have been with Jesus and learned of him.

Sanitarium, Cal.