Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Mark chapter 4 and verse 10. And it is particularly the first
part, the words, when he was alone. The whole verse reads,
and when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve
asked of him the parable. Mark 4. And verse 10, and obviously
from the context, he was not completely alone. You're told
that there were those about him and there were the 12 there as
well. But it is a comparison between
the first verse where we read that there was gathered unto
him a great multitude. till that he entered into a ship
and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the
land." So he's not exactly alone, but a comparison with the great
multitude, there's very few that were there. And yet there were
times that the Lord was completely alone. And there are times when
the people of God also are alone. They may not be completely alone,
but comparatively so, the situation is the same. And yet this time
here, when they were alone, it was joined to when they had many
that were there. And yet it was a time that was
a prospering time, because really they had the meat, they had the
blessings, They had the best that was reserved for when there
was just the few that were gathered there. In many breaths it promises,
in the Word of God, that the Lord will always be with His
people, even when they are two or three gathered together in
His name, there am I in the midst. And He has promised that, lo,
I am with you, all way even unto the end of the world. And we
know where Mary stayed at the tomb, where she'd gone and the
disciples went away again to their own home. And she was there
weeping all on her own. And the Lord came and met with
her, revealed himself to her. A very special time that began,
which must have felt very desolate, very alone. All the disciples
gone, the empty tomb, had Jesus gone. No wonder he said unto
her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? But one word
to, you know, she said, They've taken away my Lord, I know not
where they've laid him. And one word, a name, changed
that sorrow into great joy. He now therefore have sorrow,
but I see you again, your heart shall rejoice in your joy, no
man take earth from you." Really, the two on the way to Emmaus,
they were alone, the two of them together, then the Lord drew
near and walked with them. The disciples, they were constrained
at one time to get into a ship, and the Lord saw them toiling
and rowing, they were alone, the Lord was not with them, but
then he came to them, even in the fourth watch of the night. And we have these promises. We
know the Lord is always with his people. The Psalmist David,
in Psalm 139, he speaks of that there is no place where one could
go and the Lord be not there. He is everywhere and especially
he is with his people. Thou knowest, he says, my down
sitting, mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off, if he should ascend into heaven out there or descend
into hell out there. Wherever he should go, even to
the utmost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me. And we have the Apostle speaking
to those in Acts 17 of the very close presence of the Lord. In
him we live and move and have our being. We have his presence. And yet there are those times
that The people of God with our Lord Jesus Christ. He walked
a lonesome path, they walk a lonesome path. It's a blessed thing if
we could say it is alone with the Lord. And that's what could
be summed up in our text here. They were alone with the Lord. Those that were with them and
the 12 with the Lord. On to look with the Lord's help
this evening. Firstly, the question, how alone? In what circumstances that the
Lord and his people are found alone? And then, as we have here,
step four, that which was done when they were alone, things
that were done when they were alone. And then, lastly, the
prospect of heaven, Great contrast the other way around to the lonesome
path that Lord's people often walk here below. But before we
come to these points, I just want to notice a couple of things
from this passage and the context here. As our Lord is speaking
in parables, it is a reminder of the sovereign, distinctive
way that the Lord does minister the word and even in these gospel
days many will hear the outward word they will hear the parable
they hear what literally is said but they do not have a hearing
ear a spiritual ear and so we read in the verse before our
text he that hath ears to hear let him hear and i just want
to highlight what a wonderful blessing it is and do not pass
from it if the Lord has given you a hearing ear. If you hear
things and you discern others have not noticed the same. They've
heard the same sermon, but they haven't heard what you've heard.
They haven't received the message that you've received, maybe with
power in the heart. They haven't had profit from
the word that they've heard. This is the same word that is
spoken after each of the letters to the seven churches in Asia
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. So don't pass over that blessing.
If the Lord has given you a hearing ear, if that mark is with you,
my sheep, they hear my voice, they follow me. What is spoken
to them, it has an effect, the Word has an effect, brings forth
fruit. The other thing is to mention
concerning the parable of the sower. Our Lord said in verse
13, He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? And how then
will ye know all parables? He emphasizes that the Lord's
people in themselves, the disciples, those who are with Him, had no
more ability in themselves to know what that parable was than
any. And we need to remember that. That revelation, that opening
up, comes from the Lord and not from ourselves. Again, it is
not to pass by a blessing when the Lord has opened things up
to us and think, well, that's just natural. Others would understand
that as well. This doesn't need to come from
heaven. The Lord emphasises that by nature the natural man receiveth
not the things of God, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. So then he says, how then will
ye know all parables? So he's obviously looking upon
this parable as a key parable, and indeed it is a key parable,
because all of the parables concern hearing, concerning fruitfulness
upon hearing, concerning ground, hearers that are counted as either
wayside, stony ground, thorny ground, or good ground hearers. Really it comprises all of the
hearers of the Gospel. If those of the disciples didn't
understand that key concerning hearing, how would they understand
anything? Because all that comes to thee,
Church of God, it comes through hearing. Mine ear hath he opened,
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. It is a key parable, a key interpretation,
really, that gathers in all that hear the word, and is an interpretation
of why. Why some suddenly receive it,
and then it all falls to the ground. Why some even make a
profession, and then give it up. The reasons why. and why
there is a bringing forth of fruit is to realize that there
is prepared ground. And we would remember, and it
struck me as reading it, you know, the real work of grace
is not a sudden work. It is like a seed that is sown,
that sometimes lays for a long while hidden in the ground before
it then starts to germinate, and it brings, and it goes in
a steady place. It doesn't suddenly spring up. It is gradual. And the Lord taught
his disciples as they were able to bear it. And it is precept
upon precept, here a little and there a little. Do be encouraged. Those of you who feel, well,
the work is very gradual with me. I don't seem to be progressing
much. It doesn't seem to be any fruit
yet. No, not yet. There is not with
a plant either, until sometimes, in some cases, several years. But it is a blessing thing to
still be continuing, to be growing, to be profiting from the Word,
and to not be classed in those three types of hearers that would
never bring forth fruit, though be encouraged if You are those
that do want to hear more than others. You ask the Lord for
that opening up, and you listen. You listen to the services. I
believe there'll be some of you that have gone many years, and
you might have attended the house of God, but you didn't listen.
You didn't listen to what was being said. You didn't take it
on board. You weren't concerned whether
you profited or not. You weren't bothered whether
the Word was blessed to you or not. But I trust that that is
different now, and if it is, that honour and glory is due
to the Lord. It is the blessing of the Lord
that makes a difference and puts us with His people and with the
Lord here in our text. When He was alone, they that
were about Him with the Twelve asked Him of the parable. We'll want to look then at these
three points. Firstly, how alone. And I want to look at five ways. Firstly, personally alone. Our Lord taught this. It was
in contrast to the Scribes and the Pharisees who made a great
show of their religion in praying in public and in the corners
of the streets, and for a pretence made long prayers. And he said
to them that when thou prayest, go and enter into thy closet,
and when thou art alone, pray unto thy Father, which heareth
in secret, and he shall reward thee openly. And the Lord directed
his people, he directs us for that closet Worship, that gathering
alone. Now maybe we think, wow, it's
a wonderful thing. We can gather in multitudes.
We can gather in a nice church, a nice people, have lots of people
around us, and get that good feeling of worship. And yet,
never have closet worship. Never are alone with the Lord. Never sit at his feet like Mary
did. because we are so cumbered about
with much serving or it may be that we substitute a public worship
which is right and proper and good in its place and is to be
encouraged and certainly gathered together in a public way to glorify
and to worship God. But if that is all we have and
we never have an alone worship then it is a solved thing for
us personally. We think of the case of dear
Jacob, and it was when he had the trying times, when he was
fleeing from Esau, that he's found alone, stones for his pillow,
that then the Lord met with him there. Or when Esau was coming
with 400 men, he put all his family and all his goods over
the brook, and he was alone. There wrestled a man with him
until the breaking of the day. I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me. There is then that alone, which
is literally alone, and yet the Lord with his people. I've thought
sometimes what it must have been for poor John Baptist. I say
poor, he's greatly blessed. But you think at the end of his
life, there shut up in the dungeon, all on his own, he's hearing
about what is happening to others, hearing about the Lord's miracles,
brought so low that he even sends his disciples and he says, out
thou he that should come, all that we for another. And in that
low place, that was where he died. Well, what a sacred thing, if
though he was alone, personally, yet the Lord was with him. Our
text says when he was alone. That is, the Lord was alone,
but there were people with him. Alone with the Lord. When was the last time you and
I had such closet worship when it could be said we were alone
with the Lord. The second way I'd look is being
alone with his people away from the world. Now the contrast here
with this great multitude at first and then just with the
twelve and those that were about him. We read in the Psalms that
in his temple everyone shall speak of his glory. In the world
they don't, and there's some places we could go in the world
where you certainly wouldn't hear anyone speak of his glory. And if you spoke of the things
of God, no one would want to hear at all. But it's a blessed
thing when we are and able to gather with the people of God.
And we may say, in comparison to the world about us, we're
alone with His people, gathered with His people. That is a sacred thing, when
we have union with the Lord and with His people. The disciples,
when they were persecuted, Then being let go, they went unto
their own company. It was when they were in this
situation, and the Lord blessed them there. But thirdly, there's
alone and forsaken of men. You read concerning our Lord,
that they all forsook him and fled. The apostle Paul, He says,
and no man stood by me. There's a sense of being completely
alone. He spoke this morning of David
going to Himalaya. Why aren't they alone? Fleeing
from Saul. Where were his men? His men weren't
with him. And there he was found alone. And so, Forsaken of men, the
people of God will find often this path that they have to walk. And they find that they walk
in that path of which the Lord said, Blessed are ye when all
men shall forsake you and say all manner of evil against you
falsely for my sake. for great is your reward that
is in heaven." Our Lord knew that path and the
people of God will know it as well. But then in the fourth
place we can be alone in the midst of men. Jeremiah felt like this, as if
he was the only one left the same as Elijah. He didn't know,
Elijah didn't, that there were 7,000 that had not bowed the
knee to Baal. But he felt and he said, that
I only am left alone. And Jeremiah seemed to be the
lone voice, the only one that spoke for the Lord, that prophesied
in the Lord's name. A lonely path, cast into the
dungeon at one time, And yet they had the country around them,
many around them. And yet the path that they were
called to walk was a lonely one. Job was in this path. Job, he
had his friends. Miserable comforters are ye all. Even his wife, cursed to God
and die. And that path that he walked
even felt that the Lord was not there. Oh, that I knew. where
I might find him, that I might come even unto his siege. We find David there with Ziklag. He's got his 600 men around him. But they come there and the city
is burnt with fire, it's razed to the ground, their wives, their
children taken captives, and those that were with him, they
spake of stoning him. But we read that David encouraged
himself in the Lord his God, alone in a multitude, one on
its own, with not an arm of flesh to rest in, but a God to go to. And that may be our case, that
may be your case. You might say that, well, no
man understood the path or the way that I walk, that I go in. It was so in a literal way. with
those we've mentioned. But then in the fifth place,
there's alone spiritually. The word speaks of being alone. There's a sparrow alone upon
the housetop. And we know what that is when
we can look and there is the housetop. There is just one little
sparrow and he's all alone. And sometimes the people of God
feel like that. the Lord's dealings with them.
The hymn writer says, sometimes the darkest paths, we must walk
alone. And it is that we do have dealings
with the Lord. The Lord is with us, but it is
a lonesome path. You might think, well, no one
understands my case. Try and tell it to a minister,
try and tell it to someone else, and they can't understand, and
they're not able to help. You know the path of the Syrophoenician
woman who had a sick daughter. You might have those that are
sick, those that bring you with urgent cases to the Lord. And
she brought her daughter's case to the Lord. The disciples, they
tried to steer her away. The Lord didn't answer her at
all. They said, send her away, she crieth after us. They couldn't
understand her case and the Lord used this to try her faith. Later he commended her faith
as she kept coming back and back again until the Lord gave her
what she desired. But many discouraging things
first, not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
not meant to take their children's bread and to give it unto dogs,
but then she says, but the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from
the master's table. And she was having those dealings
with the Lord, but who could really enter into her path? Every heart knoweth its own bitterness,
but a stranger intermendleth not with his joys. The path that
is an inward path and the work of grace is the work of the heart,
And the heart is known to God, but not known to men. We can
see the outward path that one is walking in, and think that
we can understand it. How many? You start to tell them
an outward path, and immediately it triggers, and we can be guilty
of that. No doubt I've been many times. It triggers a memory from
the past. Oh, well, I know about that.
This and this happened, and you've blot out what the poor person's
trying to say, and you relate all your case as if that's going
to be a help to them, but it may be a help outwardly to know
that you walk the same path. It's how it's walked, what is
the burden, what is the exercise, what is the promises, what are
the fears, what are the doubts, what are the temptations in that
path, those things that are joined to the outward path. Many times
in the Psalms, you think of Psalm 34, And we're told over the top
of that psalm that that was when David was alone before Ahimelech
or Achish. When he feared for his life,
they recognized him. He had Goliath's sword in his
hand, and he could easily have lost his life. He made out that
he was mad. The Lord delivered him out of
their hand. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him, delivered him out of all his sorrows. We read
in Psalm 34. In the accounts, in the narrative
accounts, you cannot discern them. You read in the books of
Samuel and you can't see what is really going on in his heart
until you come to the Psalms. You think again of Psalm 51 and
David's adultery and murder, the path outwardly that he'd
walked. And the Lord met with him and
through the parable Here we have another parable that was spoken
to him through Nathan. He was brought to conviction
of sin. We read about that as an account. The Lord hath also
forgiven thy sin, thou shalt not die, put away thy sin. But then we have in Psalm 51,
the great sorrow, the repentance, the grief against thee, the only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And there he is,
alone. What soul knows that? What soul
knows what he's going through? His heartache, his sorrow, the
pain, that is between him and the Lord. He carries it alone. And this is alone spiritually,
alone with dealings with the Lord, in a path that men may
think, yeah, we know that path. We've been there. We've been
in that path. but actually they've no idea
of what one is actually going through and the many things that
are going on in the heart and the temptations, the trials,
the doubts, the fears, the errands to the throne of grace, the feeling
of such poverty in prayers, the lack of faith, so much unbelief
that comes in all the time and the tossings to and fro, one
moment down in the depths, the next minute, raising up with
some little hope. And that is a path that the scriptures
say, the vultures' eye hath not known. It's a path that few know. But the Lord leads his people
in paths they have not known. I'll bring the blind by a way
that they have not walked. But he won't forsake them. He
won't just desert them. He will be with them. He will
be with them in those paths, even though they may feel to
be quite alone. Yea, though I walk in the valley
of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. May we really notice those
tokens? They may be very small ones,
but they're the May we have the Lord with us
in His Word as well, not walk outside the narrow path, not
walk outside of the compass of the Word of God. It's a sacred
thing where we find that though we may be alone as far as outwardly
with men, yet there are passages in the Word that we can walk
in. and have fellowship with the
Lord and his people in those passages in the Word that before
we, they were dark to us, we didn't understand them at all.
And so there are these ways. How alone? These several ways. When he was alone, they that
were about him with the Twelve asked him of the parable. in many aspects then, which we
could even add further, whether completely alone or whether comparatively,
as in the context here. But the most important thing,
the blessed thing, is to have the Lord with us. Many years
ago, I forget what years it was, the house of God here. I think
it was possibly in the years of the pastorate of Jesse Tandy. And the calls got very low. And men deridedly asked him how
many, how many were gathering. And he said, well, there were
four of us. He said, there's me, and there's
the father, and there's the son. and there was a Holy Ghost, and
that's how he put it. He was alone, but he testified
of having the Lord's presence with him. Well, may we, whether
we have many or few, have that blessing of Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. I want to look then secondly
at the things done when they were alone. The text says, when
he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked
him of the parable. The Holy Inspired Word of God
specifically speaks of those things that were done when they
were alone. In the midst of the multitude,
we read how that he preached, he taught them many things by
parables. But here it is when they come
alone, now it comes to a further deepening, a blessing, as we
said at the beginning, that was the real crux, the real fruit
of what had been taught. And it began with asking. They that were about him with
the twelve asked of him the parable. And may we
be really encouraged in that. Sometimes we can be very discouraged
if we read a portion of scripture and we don't understand it. Or
if we hear a sermon, and this is what this was. In effect it
was a sermon, it was a parable, it was a public speaking of this
parable. And they had the privilege afterwards
to be with the Lord. It would be like one that had
been in an assembly of the Lord's people and you knew the preacher. And afterwards you went to the
preacher's home and you said to the preacher, now that sermon
you preached and the text you preached from, I didn't understand
that. What did you mean by that? And could you explain it more? And you get the privilege because
you're able to meet them afterwards, you can speak to them personally
of the things that have a second benefit. And the blessing comes
from that asking. Now, of course, where there's
a smaller congregation, you may be able to do that. Where the
large congregation, our dear brethren in Holland, When you've
got over a thousand in a congregation prayer, it's very difficult.
You may not know your ministers very well or even have access
to them. And yet with the Lord, we can
do that. We can go from the house of God
and with our questions. When was the last time you went
from the house of God and the Lord had given you something
to ask Him? Sometimes we might convey and
say, I don't know what to pray for. I don't know how to pray.
And yet the Lord gives something to pray here that at first you
might say is a mark against us. I've heard a sermon, I don't
know what it means. I don't understand it. And you
need to ask the Lord. And he shows in, he unfolds in,
and makes it clear. So may that be a helm. There
be a following from the preaching of the word. We spoke about Jacob. Jacob when he was alone. There was much done there. The
Lord revealed to him God and man thus wrestled with God and
with man and has prevailed. The name of Israel, the name
of that whole nation, was given at that point when he was alone. And also he had the deliverance
from Esau. He escaped from his hand. In
fact, they were friends when they met. There was much done. when he was alone, wrestling.
May we remember that. We spoke about Mary, what blessings
she had when she was alone, and the two on the way to Abias. Who knows a second benefit? A benefit that could be, put
a parable to the clean bees that chewed the cud. They went away,
they sat, and they chewed over what they had eaten before. The
Bereans, they heard Paul preached, and then they searched the Scriptures
daily whether these things were so. Therefore, many of them believed. May we never despise the blessings,
the profit, that the Lord is pleased to give alone. There's one time there we read
that there was so much coming and going there's no leisure,
so much as to eat. The Lord said, come ye apart
and rest a while. They came apart. The multitudes
did follow them. Then they came and they sat.
On the green grass they heard the word. All that coming and
going, all that bustle, all that clamour. Blessed thing when We
come like Elijah, and he had to come alone, he had to come
into the cave. And it wasn't to be the wind
and the earthquake and the fire, but a still small voice, the
Lord's voice. What doest thou hear, Elijah? The Lord knew where he was, and
the Lord blessed him, and the Lord gave him there a fresh charge,
and told him how many there were that still feared his name and
had not bowed to Baal. But the Lord chose to do it not
in the midst of Israel, but right away to Horeb with the children
of Israel. They couldn't worship the Lord
in Egypt. They must separate. They must
go alone as the people of God alone again to Horeb. And there the Lord gave them
his law and blessed them. and gave the beautiful types
of the ark and his presence. The apostle says, they drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. The Lord was with them. But as
far as the world and other nations, they dwelt alone. That was part
of the blessing of Balaam. The Lord called them alone, and
they dwelt alone amongst the nations and God's people. are a people that are gathered
out, brought out, chosen, redeemed, separated from the world unto
Christ, drawn unto God. So the things that were done
alone, I wonder how many of us can think back to blessings that
we have had in the closet when we've been alone, when we maybe
have gone to a lonely spot and just with our Bible and in the
car or on a bench seat, when we've been in places where the
Lord has met with us. You know, sometimes with those
of big families, some of the obituaries that you read, when
the Lord began to work in their hearts, in order to get alone
with the Lord, they went out into the hedgerows into the woods
and into places where they could get away, be on their own, even
away from their families, away from the multitude, and be with
the Lord. Well, there are things done when
we are alone. When they were alone, they were
here. When he was alone, they that were about him with the
twelve asked him of the parable, and there he spoke to them and
made these things. known to them. I want to then
look lastly and think just briefly of the prospect of heaven. No one alone there. There's a
picture of a great multitude. We've spoken of those that are
alone spiritually. But there every one of them shall
see eye to eye. They shall all be as one. No
misunderstanding there. The Lord himself shall be there,
his name shall be in their foreheads, he shall have all the honour
and glory, his on the throne. No more Satan, no more pride,
no more the worlds, no more conflict amongst the people of God, but
all one, and such a multitude that no man can number, out of
every nation and kindred, and tongue, and they are gathered,
for the most part, one by one. Yes, you might say, well, there
are cases where the Lord's people, whether in persecution, like
in the martyrs' fires, that they have died together. But there
are those, for the most part, when they die, they die alone. And though they might have many
people around them, many people looking on, no one can take their
place. No one can walk with them in
it. They must die alone. But to put it this way, they
are gathered alone. And the Lord says that He makes
up His account and that He is the first and with the last. If he goes and prepares a place
for his people, he says, I will come again and receive you unto
myself that where I am, there ye may be also. They do not walk
alone. That last step over the waters
of Jordan of death, they may be alone as far as man is concerned. As far as those are looking on,
they cannot enter and walk with them through that path. The blessed
soul is known sometimes in their lives when they have been alone
and the Lord's made it a blessed place and the Lord is true near. And so when they come to that
last valley, they've known that path before and they know the
promises of his presence and they know that by faith he will
be with them and He will land them at last, safe above, gathered
one by one out of every nation, kindred and tongue." You know,
it's spoken of as the sand of the sea. You imagine trying to
make a great heap of sand and you're doing it one grain at
a time. But the Lord knows where His
people are and He makes up His account and he chooses them,
he takes them, two of a family, one of a city, and he brings
them unto Zion. And a blessed thing to be amongst
that number. That passage, that text, I used
to so puzzle over when I was a child, thinking as a child,
how could you have two of a family, but only one of a city? Because
a child thinks the family is always together, They'll never
be alone. But then the Lord scatters, and
He scatters amongst the nations, and though there may be two of
a family, they end up being one of a city. But what a blessed
thing to be amongst those that are the Lord's, and to be gathered
to heaven at last. What a prospect. For the Lord
blesses here below, We've been found in our text with the Lord,
alone with the Lord. And when He was alone, they that
were about Him with the Twelve asked Him of the parable. The Lord bless the Word. Amen.