Guidelines for Growth - Part 3 — J. Vernon McGee

The Spirit of God as the Teacher

May I say to you, I saw a layman when I was pastor and have been pastor here in Southern California. I've seen several laymen that have lost their zeal for the things of God, men that I found out I couldn't depend on.

There was one man who came to me as he began a new business, and he said, I'm going to support your radio. And he did for a while until he became very successful, and then he quit supporting radio. You think I'm going to pray for that man to be more successful in business?

No, my friend. May I say to you, Paul did not pray that the Ephesians would become wealthy. Well, you say, well, what in the world did he pray for? He prayed this. He says, wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

Now what in the world is Paul going to pray for? Listen, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, but the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

That's Ephesians 1, 17, 18. Did you notice he didn't pray for anything physical? He prayed that they might have wisdom in the revelation of the knowledge of him. That is, that the Spirit of God might be their teacher, opening the Word of God to their hearts and lives.

And may I say this to you, and I'm saying it very sincerely and very candidly. I trust you will pray for this radio ministry. I trust you'll pray for the financial part, because I'll be very frank with you.

We live in a very cold-blooded world today as far as business is concerned, and that even among Christians. You don't pay your bills today, you're in trouble. And we have to pay for radio, and we do depend on our listeners.

Now, that's putting it just brutally frank, but that's the way it is. And I do encourage people to pray for the ministry. But let me tell you something, most of all, and especially as we begin this five-year program, will you pray that this poor preacher might have his eyes opened, and as we go through this book, that the Spirit of God might be the teacher?

I confess to you very frankly, we're not going to get anywhere at all. If the Spirit of God is not our teacher, this is a closed book. And it's the reason today that so many just don't get anything out of it, it's simply because they're not letting the Spirit of God teach them.

Now, Paul makes it very clear that he was praying for that, and this is his first prayer for these people, that they might have a wisdom and an understanding of the revelation of the knowledge of him, and the revelation is in the book here.

Now, he wanted them to know the Word of God. He wanted their eyes, their understanding, to be enlightened. And you will recall that he also said to the Corinthians that, I hath not seen, therefore your eyes got to be open if you're going to see it, and that your ear hath not heard.

And it just can't come through the ear gate even on the radio. And I have discovered this after quite a few years of being a minister. I find out that some people hear a message and they just turn the radio off.

They say, that poor fellow, he's not saying anything. Then somebody else, why, they find in it great blessing. What's the difference? Well, the difference has to be not in the message because it has to be either one or the other.

But the very interesting thing is, it's both. To the man who said it was foolishness unto him, well, it was foolishness unto him. It actually was. And to the man, frankly, that it was a great blessing to his heart, well, isn't that what Paul said again to the Corinthians?

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us that are saved, it is the power of God unto salvation. Now isn't that an amazing thing? That one person, he hears one thing, and another person hears something else.

What is the difference? The difference is the fact that the Spirit of God is the one that does the teaching. And that's the reason we ought to always, before you begin the study of the Word of God, friends, you ought to begin with prayer.

Ask the Spirit of God to open your heart that you may hear the still small voice of the Son of God. You remember that crowd there that day, a voice out of heaven said, this is my beloved Son, and he says, I've heard you and I'll hear you again.

And there was some that was standing there, and you know what they said? They said it thundered. It was natural. And somebody else, they heard the Spirit of God speaking to the Son of God. May I say to you, it makes all the difference in the world today.

And again, we're handling a supernatural book. Don't forget that. It's a human book. It's got in it all kinds of things that deal with us human beings, because it was written to us, and God wanted to communicate to us, and he gave us this.

And he speaks our language. He speaks right to our hearts. He speaks to meet our needs today, and that's so important to see. Now Paul writes to the Corinthians, and he says this. We've looked at this before.

Now ye have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Now, you see, that's the reason that the Spirit of God must be our teacher, because we could never know the things of God unless the Spirit of God were our teacher.

The Spirit Reveals the Things of God

Now I want to begin today with a very interesting verse of scripture. I have read now from 1 Corinthians 2 on two separate occasions when we were looking at the book, and now since we have been considering this matter of always begin with prayer, but I bypassed one verse.

I read before this verse, I read after this verse, but did not read it. I'd like to read it today, and that's verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 2. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him?

Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now that puts in a very succinct and certainly in an understandable manner of why the Spirit of God must be our teacher, because you and I understand each other, but we do not understand God.

That is normally and naturally. Only the Spirit of God can reveal the things of God to us. Now I mean that you and I understand each other. I believe that today that it's perfect nonsense to talk about that we've got a generation today that we can't communicate with.

We have the generation gap today. I recognize that's always been true, that it's difficult for an older person and a younger person to see eye to eye, but that's no reason why they can't communicate one with the other.

We can communicate one with another because we're all human beings. We understand each other, but I frankly don't understand God unless it's revealed to me. I don't know how God feels. I've often wondered, at least I used to wonder, well, I wonder how he'd feel at a funeral.

Well, go with the Lord Jesus. He went to several funerals. He always broke up a funeral, by the way, but I find him there at the funeral of Lazarus saying, Jesus wept. I know how he feels today. I know how he feels about many things because the Spirit of God and the Word of God has revealed this to us today.

No man knoweth the things of a man, for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him. When I was Pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, I got up one bright morning and looked out my window and during the night about five inches of snow had fallen and had covered up all of the ugliness that was around, the trees that had lost their leaves, the grass that was dead.

It was all covered with a beautiful white blanket. I sat upstairs in my study looking out over the scene and right across the street from me, that is the same side that I was on, but directly across where the back end of his house was the same way mine was.

I hope I've made that clear. And I noticed this elder of mine who lived there, he came out on his porch and he had two coal scuttles filled with ashes. He was going out to the alleyway to empty them there in a place that was put there for that purpose.

And I saw him stop and look over the landscape and I just smiled because I knew how he felt. You know how he felt? Just like I felt, looking out on that snow that had fallen during the night. And when he started down the steps, though, he slipped and fell.

And he didn't want to, you know, spill the ashes, so he just held them out. And I want to tell you, he hit one of those steps with a real bump. And I watched him and I couldn't help but laugh. I guess if he'd broken his neck, I would have laughed.

But I noticed that he looked around and he was satisfied nobody had seen him. So he got up with great satisfaction and he started out again. You know, he got about halfway out on the sidewalk and we had a repeat performance.

Only this time he fell much farther because it was all the way to the sidewalk. And it looked to me like he bounced when he hit. And this time he really scanned the landscape. He didn't want anybody to see what he had done, you see.

And I knew how he felt. I'd feel the same way, be embarrassed. And so I laughed. I couldn't help but laugh. He got up and he looked over the landscape. He went out and emptied his ashes and he started back and he got back to the porch and he looked over the landscape again.

And I don't think anybody had seen him fall, at least twice. And so I didn't say a word until Sunday morning. And when he was sitting in church, when I came in, I went right by where he sat. And I leaned down and I said, you sure did look funny yesterday carrying out the ashes.

And he looked at me in amazement. He said, did you see me? And I said, yes. And he said, well, I didn't think anybody saw me. And I said, I thought that. I said, I knew exactly how you felt. You see, he had a human spirit.

I have a human spirit. We understand each other and you and I understand each other, you see. And I don't think there's too much of a generation gap anywhere because I think human beings understand each other.

But who can understand God? Well the point is, Paul says, the Spirit of God. And that's the reason that the Holy Spirit teacheth us comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now, Renan, the French skeptic, he made an attack on the Word of God.

I'm sure many of you have heard that, know that. Did you know that he wrote A Life of Christ? And his book is divided into two sections. One is the historical section. The other is the interpretation of Christ.

And as far as the first part is concerned, there probably has never been written a more brilliant life of Christ by any person. But his interpretation of Christ is positively absurd. I'm of the opinion that a 12-year-old Sunday school boy could do better.

Now what's the explanation of that? Well, the Spirit of God doesn't need to teach you history, doesn't need to teach you facts that you can dig out for yourself. A very clever mind can dig all these out, and that's exactly what he had done.

He'd made a real study. But the interpretation is altogether different. The Spirit of God has to do the interpreting, and he alone must be the teacher to lead and guide us into all truth. We must have the Spirit of God to open our eyes to see.

The story is told of Holman Hunt, the great artist, who, by the way, was a Christian. And he had one time a one-man art show, and he had there a painting of a sunset. And it was a brilliant thing, a beautiful thing.

A lady came by. She was rather a country bumpkin. And she looked it over, and it was a startling thing to her, too. But she made this comment. She said, whoever saw a sunset like that? And Holman Hunt, who was there, just happened to overhear what she said.

And he replied. He said, Madam, don't you wish you could see one like that? You know, there are many folk today who look at the Word of God, they read the Bible. They don't really see anything. They marvel and wonder how anyone could be interested in it.

You find today many people. I had a member of my own church make the statement, my, I wouldn't waste my time coming to Bible study on Thursday night. I'd have to drive 15 miles. Well, that party will drive more than 15 miles to see the Dodgers play or the Lakers play in a game.

And they go much farther than that for some little silly party that they put on. But no, not for Bible study. May I say to you, only the Spirit of God can reveal the wonders of the book to you. And that, by the way, makes you wonder about some of our church folk.

I take the position today that the Bible is the real test of a believer. And his attitude and relationship to the book is very important and should be taken in consideration. Now, again, let me read a passage of Scripture that's very important, only I'm going to read all of it this time.

In this connection, it's John 16, 12 through 16. The Lord Himself made this statement, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He'll guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He'll show you things to come.

He shall glorify Me, He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine. Therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see Me.

And again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father. You see, the Lord Jesus is saying that we're to ask. He has many things for us, and He wants to reveal these things to us by the Holy Spirit.

And He said in John 14, 26, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I've said unto you.

Now the Holy Spirit is the teacher, and He must be the one to lead us, and to guide us into all truth. If you ever learn anything, my beloved, through this Bible study program that we're beginning now in just a few days to initiate, it will not be because this poor preacher is the teacher.

It'll be because the Spirit of God is opening up the Word of God to you. And you know what? We're going to depend on Him to do just that. This is the first guideline. Begin with prayer. Ask the Spirit of God to be your teacher.

Read the Bible Repeatedly

Now the second guideline may seem just a little oversimplified, and that is, read the Bible. Read the Bible. Someone asked a great Shakespearean scholar years ago, says, How do you study Shakespeare? And his answer was very brief and terse.

Read Shakespeare. I'd say to you, read the Word of God. You want to know what the Bible has to say? Read the Bible. And may I inject this also? We have already suggested to you to listen to the broadcast, to get the notes, and to read the passage under consideration.

Let me come back now and say, regardless of whether you get the notes or regardless of whether you hear the broadcast, it's all important to read what the Bible has to say, and it's very important. It is said of Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, and he, I think, has written some very wonderful and helpful books on the Bible, he has a series of books called Living Messages of the Books of the Bible.

It's on each one of the 66 books of the Bible. When I started out as a student, I know of nothing that had more influence on my study of the Word than these books. Now it was said of him that he would not put a pen to paper in writing these books until he had read a particular book of the Bible through 50 times.

Think of that, my friend. So don't be weary in well-doing. Just read the Word of God. If you don't get it the first time, read it the second time. If you don't get it the second time, read it the third time.

And if you don't get it the third time, just keep on reading it. And let me say this, you'll not be wasting your time. You and I are to get the facts of the Word of God. And what you and I can dig out for ourselves, I don't think the Spirit of God is going to reveal to us.

I just don't believe that. I think that the Bible is a divine book. But remember, I also said it's a human book. And if you are going to learn certain things about the Bible, you will just have to, if you please, you're just going to have to study those things.

You're going to have to read. You're going to have to read the Bible and read it sometimes again and again. Here's a very interesting statement that I've lifted out of Nehemiah. It's back in Nehemiah 8, the first three verses.

And it's that great Bible reading that took place when they put up a pulpit before the water gate and Ezra read there. Let me read this to you. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate.

And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both the men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month.

And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday before the men and the women and those that could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive under the book of the law.

And the very interesting thing in this connection is that he put out among the people certain men. They were of the tribe of Levi. And these men went among the people and they explained the Bible. I assume from the way that the account is given that what actually took place was that these men were stationed in certain areas, and then Ezra would read a certain portion, and then he would stop.

And the people that had listened, they would be given an opportunity to ask questions. That is, of these that were stationed out there to explain the Bible to them, you see. And we're told, I'm reading now verse 7 of chapter 8 of Nehemiah, these caused the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place.

Now verse 8 is a very important verse. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. May I say to you, I used to teach a group of young theologues, young men studying for the ministry, homiletics.

That is, how to preach. And one of the things I told them, learn to read the Bible distinctly and that this was the greatest lesson that there is. Read in the book of the law distinctly. I hate to hear anyone get up to read the Bible and they start in like this, you don't know whether it's Chinese or whether it's from Manchuria, that you do not know where it's come from.

They don't sound like they're reading English at all. We are to read in the book of God distinctly and to give the sense. Now that is very simple, you see, but it's very important that God's people understand the Word of God.

Therefore we should read the Bible. Now they caused the people to understand and we need to read the Bible. And there's so many distractions today from the study of the Word of God. I suppose the greatest distractor that we have is the church.

The church today is made up of committees and organizations and banquets and entertainments and promotional schemes to the extent that the Word of God's not even dealt with in many churches today. And many churches have disbanded the preaching service altogether.

I notice that even our cosmopolitan papers here in Los Angeles have played this up, that certain churches no longer are going to have a preaching service, they're going to have a time in which the people will be able to just express themselves and say what they are thinking.

And I can't think of anything that will be more puerile, more nonsensical, more waste of time than that. And may I say it's a fine excuse for a lazy preacher who will not read or study the Bible to get out of preaching.

And after all, I've always felt that liberalism will waste their time preaching anyway. They didn't have anything to preach, if you please. And I say that, I trust, kindly today. But somebody needs to say these things that God says, that it's by the foolishness of preaching He's going to save man.

And that means preaching and teaching the Word of God. And that was the thing, you remember, Paul gave us this one song to a young preacher, to preach the Word. It's the Word of God, my friend, that needs to be given out.

And I quote Psalm 36, 9. This is a marvelous psalm. This is a marvelous verse. For with thee is the fountain of light. In thy light shall we see light, you see. And it's by reading the Word of God, which is light.

And then, if we don't understand it, the Spirit of God's our teacher to lead us into all truth. So that we have now these two things that are all important. Begin with prayer. Second, read the Bible. And now, third, study the Bible.

Study the Bible Diligently

And again, let me quote Dr. Morgan. For years ago, someone said to him, you speak as though you are inspired. And Dr. Morgan said, inspiration is 95 perspiration. Now, may I say to you that the Bible needs to be studied.

I had, many years ago, several hundred students in classes in Bible. And these students were made up of all kinds of young folk. And among them were a few very pious individuals. And I understood these young people very well after a period of time.

I must confess, I didn't understand them at first. They acted very pious. But that covered up a tremendous ignorance and vacuum relative to the Word of God. And some of them would not study the night before an exam.

They always would give an excuse that they were busy in a prayer meeting somewhere or a service. And I would always be rather hard-boiled with them and say, the Lord sent you here to study the Bible, and that's primary.

Someone's paying your tuition. So the thing for you to do is, when an exam is coming up on the morrow, that you will know it's not the Lord's will for you to spend the night in prayer. Do it the night afterward, but not the night before.

Because He wants you to study the Bible. And I had a feeling that we had some that felt like they could sort of put the Bible underneath their pillar. And that during the night as they slept, that there would come up through the duck feathers the names of the kings of Israel and Judah.

But I used to tell them, it won't come up through the duck feathers, and it won't come up by you ducking it either. You're going to have to knuckle down and study the Word of God. One fellow I never shall forget in a Bible class when I was in college, he said, Doctor, you've given us a section that's very dry.

And the professor, without even missing a step, he said to him, then dampen it a little with sweat from your brow. May I say to you that the Bible should be studied. And it's very important that we see that.

And that we remember that there is certain knowledge that the Spirit of God's not going to give to you. I do not think that He's revealing truth to lazy people. If you read the Bible and don't understand, and then study the Bible.

And that it must be studied. After all, you must put it in a category with any other book. You'd never learn logarithms or geometry. You can't learn Greek by just reading a chapter in it right before you go to sleep at night.

By the way, you may be shocked when I say what I'm going to say about devotional reading of the Bible, our devotional reading. And may I say that I do not encourage that type of reading at all. Because I've learned over a period of years that a great many people who are very faithful at what they call devotional reading are very much ignorant of the Bible.

To begin with, devotional reading is generally done at a time in which it ought not to be done. I stayed with a family for over a week when I was holding meetings in a place in Middle Tennessee. And every morning at the breakfast table we had devotions.

And unfortunately, breakfast was always a little late. And Susie and Willie were rushing to get away to school. And I'm confident they didn't even know what was read. And Dad was wanting to get away to work.

And he generally made it a very brief reading. And always he'd say, well, I'll read this familiar passage this morning. Because we don't have much time. And believe me, we didn't. By the time that the reading was over, these two children, they went away from the table like they were shot out of a gun.

And he got out of there almost as quickly as they did. And Mother was left with the dishes. And I wondered whether she had really heard whether anything would be read. I determined right there and then that in my home we wouldn't have devotional reading.

I've always tried to encourage the members of my family to read the Bible on their own. That's the only kind that is profitable. When I was brought up, that's not the way that we studied mathematics. My dad didn't get the family around in the morning at the breakfast table and say, now we're going to have some devotional reading in mathematics.

And then he'd take up the lesson that we had for the day. I give you my word, I don't think we'd have learned much in the way of mathematics. And I don't think you learn history that way. Now somebody's going to say, but I have my devotions at night after the day is over.

Well, now really, don't you have it right before you go to bed? You've got one foot in bed already, one eye is already closed. And again, you turn to a passage of scripture and you read it. I've made a point never to read the Bible at that time of night.

Now I wake up sometime at night, have difficulty getting back to sleep, and I read the Bible and I find out, friends, it'll put you to sleep. And if it won't, one of my books will. But may I say to you, I don't think it ought to be read at times like that.

I think that you ought to read it when you have time, when you can give time to it. And if you can't give time, you ought to make time. And you ought to set apart 30 minutes or an hour. And if you do things haphazardly like I do, then you will find out that one day you're going to read 30 minutes, the next day 5 minutes, and the next day 2 or 3 hours.

I find out that's the best way to do it, that is, to fit into my program. And I put down no particular rule, but I think each person ought to read it for themselves. I think that that is the thing to do to encourage boys and girls to read the Bible.

And I was delighted to find out when my daughter went away to college. And she got pretty far away from us and from other things. But I was told by a roommate that she got her Bible out and read it because that's the way we had done it in the home.

I believe that is true. Now, I know that's going to shock some folk and say, oh, I think we ought to have our devotional reading together. Well, fine, if that's the way the Lord leads you to do it, you do it that way.

But I'll guarantee you, you won't be an intelligent Bible student after 20 years by doing it like that. You have to study the Word of God. The Bible must be studied intelligently. You remember that Ethiopian eunuch?

He was reading the scriptures, and he didn't know what he was reading. And the Spirit of God got Philip to go down and join himself to the Ethiopian eunuch. And then he asked him, do you understand what you are reading?

And the man was very honest. After all, he was the treasurer, and he was an honest man. And he said what I think a great many people ought to say today. Well, how can I? I need somebody to help me here.

I don't know what he's talking about. Is Isaiah talking about himself or some other? I feel that there must be this study of the Word of God, or there'll be no understanding of it. Now, I have been deeply gratified to find that across this country and in other places, literally hundreds of Bible classes have been organized in homes where people can study the Bible, and many pastors have put in this Through the Bible program.

They themselves have found it's been a blessing to them, and they have put it into their churches and asked people to study the Bible. That is very important. It was said of John Wesley that he was a man of one book.

Well, then what made him a man of one book? Well, I'll tell you what made him a man of one book. He got up and read the Bible at 4 and 5 o 'clock every morning. I'm told that he read the Bible in five different languages.

Believe me, he studied the Word of God, and you and I today need to study the Word. We need to get the meaning of the Bible, and that's very important. Now, that leads me to the fourth very important guideline for the study of the scriptures, and that is meditate on the Bible.

Meditate on the Bible

Meditate on the Bible. Meditation is something that God taught his people. The Word of God was to be before the children of Israel all the time so that they could meditate on it. And let me give you that passage of scripture over in the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, verses 6 through 9.

Listen to this very carefully. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. You see, the Word of God was to be kept before them.

It was to be written in their homes on the doorposts and the lintel over the door. It was to be that which they talked about when they ate and that which they talked about down at night and probably had a little difficulty getting off to sleep.

And this is the most amazing statement that so far we've considered that the Lord has given. He told them to write the Word of God everywhere. And it would be burnt into their hearts and lives. Now, today we've forgotten about that.

Oh, every now and then you see a verse of Scripture stuck up, and unfortunately today it's written in a way that's difficult to read, and it's not presented in a dignified way. Somebody comes down the street in an automobile, an old beat-up jalopy, and a verse of Scripture written on it.

You can hardly read the thing. I always feel humiliated when I see that. And then I look at the liquor advertisements. My, how dignified they are given out. And I rode out Wilshire Boulevard with a friend and called his attention to the number of billboards that are liquor signs.

That's all they are. And I said, no wonder so many people in Southern California drink. This thing is burnt into their minds and hearts. Everywhere they turn, why, here it is, right there before them.

Drink this, drink that. And it all adds up to one thing. There is something wrong with if you don't drink liquor. That's what they're trying to tell you. They give you the impression that the intelligent are the ones who drink, and the oddballs do not.

Now, when I was growing up as a boy, it was the opposite, that there's something wrong with the drunkard. Today he's just sick. He's not a sinner at all, and that he just needs a little revamping of a few of his axons and dendrites.

And then he'll be in a position to drink in a normal sort of way. And after all, what is normal drinking? This is something that I think is very important to see. Meditate on the Word of God. And there was the man that was formerly in my church down in Cleburne, Texas.

And this man, he owned the Coca-Cola plant. He owned it there and in two other places in Texas. And one day I was riding across the square in our little town, and I was going down to his place. And I went over to him, and I said to him, you know, I said, I counted 13 Coca-Cola signs on the square.

I said, do you have to tell people 13 times on the square about Coca-Cola when everybody already knows about it? And then he said this to me. He said, when was the last time you saw a package of Arbuckle coffee?

Well, I said, I don't recall of seeing a package of Arbuckle coffee since I was a boy. He said, that's it. He said, years ago, Arbuckle coffee was advertised as much as Coca-Cola. And then the people who made the coffee thought, well, everybody knows about Arbuckle coffee, and they quit talking about it.