Knowledge. Worship. Gratitude.
A Sermon
(No. 1763)
Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
So that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.'Romans 1:20, 21
THOSE who boast of their knowledge betray their ignorance. Knowledge is
not a possession to be proud of, since it brings with it so great a
responsibility that a nurse might as well be proud of watching over a
life in peril. Knowledge may become good or ill according to the use
which is made of it. If men know God, for instance, and then glorify
him as God, and are thankful, their knowledge has become the means of
great blessing to them; but if they know God, and fail to glorify him,
their knowledge turns to their condemnation. There is a knowledge which
does not puff up the mind, but builds up the soul, being joined with
holy love. Did not our Lord say, And this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent'? But for men to know God, and not to glorify him as God, and to
be unthankful, is according to our text, no benefit to them: on the
contrary, it becomes a savour of death unto them, because it leaves
them without excuse. Our Saviour could plead for some, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do.' But what plea is to be used for
those who know what they do, and yet do evil; who know what they ought
to do, and do it not? These have the light, and close their eyes; or,
to use another figure, they have the light, and use it to sin by. They
take the golden candlestick of the sanctuary into their hands, and by
its help they perform their evil deeds the more dexterously, and run in
the way of wickedness the more swiftly. Accursed is that man who heaps
to himself knowledge till he becomes wise as Solomon, and then
prostitutes it to base ends by using it to aggrandize his wealth, to
pamper his appetites, to bolster his unbelief, or to conceal his vices.
A man may by knowing more become all the more a devil. His growing
information may only increase his condemnation. It is clear, then, that
knowledge is not a possession of such unmingled good that we may grow
vain of it; better far will it be if the more we know the more we watch
and pray. Go on and read, young man. Go on and study with the utmost
diligence. The more of knowledge you can acquire the better; but take
care that you do not, like Sardanapalus, heap up your treasures to be
your own funeral pile. Do not by a rebellious pride curdle the sweet
milk of knowledge, and sour your precious blessing into an awful curse.
It is soon done, but not so soon undone. It was the fruit of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil the eating of which brought all this evil
upon us which ye see this day. Ye may eat of that tree still, if so it
please you; but if ye taste not of the tree of life at the same time,
your knowledge shall only open to you the gates of hell. Knowledge of
itself alone is as land which may either become a blooming garden or a
howling wilderness. It is a sea out of which you shall bring pearls or
dead men's bones. Life and death, heaven and hell, are here: if it was
said of old, Take heed what you hear,' I also say, Take heed what you
know.'
The people mentioned by Paul in our text fell into two great evils, or
rather into two forms of one great evil'atheism: the atheism of the
heart, and the atheism of the life. They knew God, but they glorified
him not as God, neither were they thankful.
We will first consider the first sin mentioned here, and then the
second. I shall not look at these two evils as if you were Romans,
because I know that you are not, but I shall adapt the text to your own
case, and speak of these sins, as Englishmen are too apt to commit
them. Thirdly, let us view the consequences, or, what comes of men not
glorifying God, and not being thankful. Then, fourthly, let us fly from
these sins immediately, God helping us. O Holy Spirit, help the
preacher now, for all his help is in thee!
I. At once, then, let us look at this first sin, a sin very common in
these days. THEY KNEW GOD, BUT THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD. Even in
old Rome, with all its darkness, there was some knowledge of God: how
can the creature quite forget its Creator? Of course the people had not
that spiritual knowledge which the Holy Ghost communicates to the
renewed heart, for the carnal mind cannot know God spiritually: its
fleshly ideas cannot come near to his holy spirituality. But Paul means
that they perceived the eternal power and Godhead of the Great Former
of all things; and they might have perceived much more of his divine
character and glory if their foolish hearts had not been darkened by
their evil passions. When you go among the heathen, whether they are
Pantheists or Polytheists, or whatever they may be, there is still a
notion in the background of all their mythology of some one great
superior being, elevated above those whom they call gods, some serenely
just father, preserver, avenger, and rewarder of men. The most debased
of mankind are still found to have some measure of knowledge of the
great Creator: they hold the truth, though they hold it in
unrighteousness. They can as soon shut their eyes to the sun, as
completely blind their mind to the fact that there is a God. Some among
the heathen no doubt attained to a very considerable knowledge of God,
or at least they walked upon the borders of marvellous discoveries of
the Godhead. We are greatly surprised at the language of Socrates, and
Plato, and Seneca, and others: such men have lately been held up as
patterns; but if their lives are studied, they will be found to be
sadly defaced with what Paul fitly calls vile affections.' These were
wise men, but the world by wisdom knew not God; they were great
thinkers, but a clear revelation of God was not in all their thoughts.
They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and so they
remained steeped in loathsome vice which we dare not mention, for it is
a shame even to speak of the things which were done of the most
enlightened of them in secret. They had knowledge, but they forgot its
responsibilities: they knew God, but they glorified him not as God,
neither were they thankful.
We may now let all the heathen go, for it is more true of us than it is
of them, that we know God. Those to whom I am speaking to-night dwell
where the name of God is familiar, where the gospel of God sounds like
a trumpet in their streets, where the character of God is painted with
the finger of light upon the blessed pages of the Bible, and where the
Spirit of God takes care that the consciences of men shall be
enlightened. We know God, but I am afraid that there are many thousands
and millions of our fellow-creatures who glorify him not as God; let us
see to it that we do not ourselves belong to the unhappy number.
Those do not glorify God as God who do not trace all their good things
to God. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,' but many
ungrateful hearts forget this truth, and receive the blessings of this
life with dumb mouths and cold hearts. In the old time there were those
who traced everything they saw to what they called Chance'; that
misformed deity has been laid aside, and on its pedestal men have set
up another idol known as Nature.' Nowadays swarms of people attribute
everything that is great and wonderful to Nature':' they talk for ever
of the beauties of Nature,' the grandeur of Nature,' the laws of
Nature;' but God is as little spoken of as if he were not alive. As to
laws of Nature, these occupy with moderns much the same place as the
deities of Olympus with the ancients. What are laws of Nature but the
ordinary ways in which God works? I know of no other definition of
them. But these people attribute to them a sort of power apart from the
presence of the Creator. One standing up in the street, venting his
infidelity, said that we could not do better on Sunday than go abroad
and worship Nature. There was nothing that was so refining and
elevating to the mind as Nature. Nature did everything. A Christian man
in the crowd ventured to ask, What is Nature?' And the gentleman said,
Well, Nature'well'it is Nature. Don't you know what it is? It is
Nature.' No further definition was forthcoming; I fear the term is only
useful as enabling men to talk of creation without being compelled to
mention the Creator. I find nowadays that people talk about
Providence,' and yet discard God. Among the vulgar and the ungodly this
is another subterfuge to avoid the ascribing of their blessings to the
Giver of them. A farmer, whose crops had failed a second time, was
consoled by a clergyman, because he suffered from the hand of
Providence. Yes,' said he, that Providence is always treating me
shamefully: but there's one above that will stop him.' The poor soul
had heard of Providence till he thought it an evil power, and hoped
that the good God would curb its mischievous influence. This comes of
not speaking plainly of God. For what is Providence? Can there be such
a thing without the constant working of the Great Provider? Men talk of
Foresight.' But is there any foresight without an eye? Is there not
some living eye that is watching for our good, some living hand that is
following up the eye, and providing our needs? Man does not like to
think of his God. He wants to get away into a far country, away from
God his Father; and he will adopt any sort of phrase which will help
him to clear his language of all trace of God. He longs to have a
convenient wall built up between himself and God. The heathen often
attributed their prosperity, to fortune'; some of them talked of
chance;' others discoursed of fate.' Anything is to man's taste rather
than blessing the great Father, and adoring the one God. If they
prospered, they were lucky'; this was instead of gratitude to God. They
looked into the almanac to find lucky days; this instead of faith in
the Most High. They were superstitious, and ask their priest to tell
them what would be a fortunate time for commencing an undertaking; this
instead of resting upon the goodness of the Lord. Have we not some now
who bless their good luck, and still talk about their fortunate stars?
God, whom they know they do not honour as God.
Yes, and we have among us men who talk neither of fortune' nor of
Nature,' but of themselves. They are styled self-made men,' and they
are very prone to worship the great self who made them: they are never
backward in that cult. Their adoration of themselves is constant,
reverent, and sincere. Self-made men,' indeed! Infinitely better is it
to be a God-made man. If there be anything about us that is worth the
having, it must be from him from whom every good gift and every perfect
gift has evermore descended; let us therefore give Him thanks. There is
no other sun for our sky than your sun in the heavens: there is no
other source of good but the ever-blessed God, who has made himself
known to us, whom with all our hearts we now adore.
But may I not be addressing some who, at this moment, do not bow before
God, and bless him for their prosperity? They attribute it to their
industry, and to their good luck. Oh, sirs, you come under the head of
those who know God, and yet do not glorify him as God; neither are you
thankful. The Lord help such to confess this sin, and may his grace
wash them clean of it, for indeed it is a great and heinous sin in the
judgment of the Most High. Justice makes a black mark against those who
do not ascribe their good things to God, from whom they flow with such
sweet constancy of kindness.
But we can also commit that sin, in the next sense, by not feeling any
obligation laid upon us through partaking of the divine bounty. Are
there not many rich men to whom it never occurs to feel bound to serve
the Lord who gave them power to get wealth? Are there not many healthy
persons, sound of limb, and strong in constitution, who yet do not
praise the God who has kept them from sickness and death? Are we any of
us sufficiently grateful for our talents, our faculties, our friends,
our daily provisions? Do we not all receive a large amount of blessing
for which we do not render praise to God? The fact that every mercy
brings an obligation with it, and we that receive most ought to render
most; for we receive nothing from God without being thereby naturally
and of right laid under bonds to return to him the glory due unto his
name. We are tenants, whose rent is to be paid in service and praise.
It is a very blessed obligation! It is a happy bond to be bound to
praise and bless God! Praise is no more a burden to a true heart than
song to a bird, or perfume to a flower, or twinkling to a star.
Adoration is no taxation. God's revenue of glory comes from myriads of
free-will offerings, which gracious spirits delight to present to him
all their days. Yet there are some who know God, but they glorify him
not as God: they rob him of that which it should be their life to
bring. They seem to say that they are their own, and not God's: they
may live as they please; they may serve themselves. God is not in all
their thoughts; and, as to spending and being spent in the service of
him who gave them being, it has not yet crossed their minds. God's
complaint concerning them is a just one,'Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up
children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doeth not know, my people
doeth not consider.' God grant us grace to avoid this cruel
provocation, and may we glorify God as God by practically owning the
obligation under which his mercy places us.
Many may be met with who know God, but never glorify him as God,
because they never adore him, and worship him, with the love of their
hearts. They go to church or to some place of worship regularly, and
sing psalms and hymns, and they may even have family-prayer at home;
but their heart has never adored the living God with living love. Their
worship has a name to live, but it is dead. They present to the Lord
all the eternal harvest of worship, but the corn is gone, only the
straw and the husk are there. And what is the value of your husky
prayers? your prayers without a kernel, made up of the straw of words,
and the chaff of formality? What is the value of professions of loyalty
from a rebel? What is the worth of professed friendship to God when
your heart is at enmity against him? Is it not a mockery of God to
present to him a sacrifice where not the heart is found'? When the Lord
has to say'They come as my people, and they sit as my people, and they
sing as my people, but their heart is far from me,'can he take any
pleasure in them? May not God thus complain of many? Oh, let it not be
so with you! I know that there are some here against whom that charge
would lie if we preferred it'that they know God, but they do not
glorify him as God, for they do not love him. The name and service of
God are much on their tongues, but they do not delight in him, they do
not hunger and thirst after him, they do not find prayer and praise to
be their very element, but such service as they render is merely
lip-service, the unwilling homage of bond-slaves, and not the delighted
service of those who are the children of God. Oh, my brethren, if we
accept Jehovah as the living God, let us give him the utmost love of
our souls. Will you call a man brother, and then treat him like a dog?
Dare you call God your God, and then act towards him as though he were
not worthy of a thought. With what joy does David cry, I am thy
servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds'!
This is the kind of spirit with which to deal with the Lord. Oh, to
rejoice in God all the day, and to make him our exceeding joy! Thus,
and thus only, do we glorify him as God. Without the fire of love no
incense will ever rise from the censer of praise. If we do not delight
in God we do not fitly adore God.
There is another way of not glorifying God as God, and that is by never
recognizing his omnipresence. Have we not among us those who on Sunday
feel some kind of reverence of God, but during the six days of the week
are godless? When they are in a place of worship they have some sense
of God's being there; if they do not fear and tremble, yet they behave
with decency and respect; but in other places they dare to act as if
they were out of range of God. Do they fancy that God is not in that
secret chamber where they follow out their passions? Do they imagine
that he is not in that ribald company where they make mirth of sacred
things? Do they imagine that out of man's sight is also out of God's
sight? Do not some men so act and live as if God were either dead, or
else were blind or deaf, utterly oblivious to everything that is done
on the face of the earth? How blind must they be, who think God blind!
May we never fall into this absurdity! May we feel that we cannot
anywhere consent to sin for God is there. The whole earth is God's
house: shall we abuse the King in his own palace? The skies are the
roof of his temple, and beneath God's blue sky we ought not to find a
place to sin in. Nowhere in time is there space for evil, nor in the
universe is there room for sin. Yet, alas, how few recognize, Thou God
seest me,' as being a death-blow to sin? They know God, but they
glorify him not as God,' but think that he is absent either in person
or in mind, and that in some great secret places they can hide away
from him, and with impurity follow their own desires.
Are there not some again, and many, who do not admit the true glory of
God because the idea of his sovereignty is very horrible to them? I lay
this charge against many professing Christians'that their God is not
the God of the Bible, and that they have no notion of Jehovah, the true
God. The one God of heaven and earth is Jehovah'that God who said of
old, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion.' Certain professed followers
of Jesus will not have this God, but they make to themselves a god who
is under some degree of obligation to his sinful creatures, of whom
they say that he is bound to treat all alike. These are guilty of
robbing Divinity of its most majestic attribute, namely, sovereignty.
They are for dictating to the King of kings, and tying the hands of
infinite compassion, lest the supreme will of God should have too much
liberty. I know of no such God as that: the God I worship can never do
other than right, yet is he under no bond to his creatures, but
ordereth all things according to the counsel of his own will. I believe
that if the Lord had denied me mercy, I had so sinned that I could
never have impugned his justice. When I see him save a sinner, I look
not at it as a deed which he was bound to do, but as a spontaneous act,
free as the air, full of his own goodness which arises entirely from
himself. He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth.' I, for one, am perfectly satisfied
with everything that God does, whether of power, justice, or mercy. My
heart says, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.' I could
have sung the song of Moses at the Red Sea, when all Egypt was drowned,
and found in the drowning of the foe a deep background of joy, because
I should have seen in it the carrying out of the divine will, the reign
of righteousness, and the avenging of cruel tyranny. I make bold to say
that I would have praised God as the waves went over Pharaoh; for the
Lord did it, and he did right. I would have cried with Moses, I will
sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea.' I expect to be among the number,
though some seem as if they would decline the service, who shall for
ever bless God for all his dealings with mankind'the stern as well as
those that seem more tender. The Lord God, even Jehovah, the God of the
Old Testament, is the God whom I worship. I do not know this new god
that has lately come up, who they say is all tenderness and has none of
the stern attributes of righteousness and wrath. The God of Abraham, of
Isaac, and of Jacob is the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, and in him my soul delights. Let him sway his sceptre even as
he pleases. His will be done on earth even as it is in heaven. Again
will we say Hallelujah, when all his everlasting purposes shall have
been fulfilled, and the wicked shall be punished, and the righteous
raised to their Father's throne. To know God, and to glorify him as
God, is to regard him as supreme, ungoverned, the Arbiter of all
things, whose will is law. I believe in God on his throne, God giving
no account of his matters, but doing his own pleasure as God over all.
Short of this I could not glorify him as God.
There are some others who know God, who fail to glorify him as God,
because they do not trust him. In revelation God has presented himself
as the object of trust to his creatures, and he has promised that all
who trust in him shall be forgiven their transgressions through the
atonement of his Son, Jesus Christ. Such as trust him he declares shall
be saved; and he sends out a messenger of mercy to all mankind,
proclaiming'He that believeth in him is not condemned.' He bids sinners
come and trust under the shadow of his wing; and he declares that none
that come to him will be ever cast out. Revealing himself in Christ
Jesus, he pleads with guilty men. Asking nothing of them, he entreats
them to accept his mercy, which he freely presents to them without
money and without price. Making no distinction in the gospel-call, he
bids men come to him, saying, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye
ends of the earth; for I am God, and besides me there is none else.'
When proud man replies, No, I shall trust in myself, trust in my own
works, trust in my own prayers, but I shall not trust in Christ,' then
he knows God, but he glorifies him not as God, and when he perishes he
will be without excuse. What kind of God is that whom we will not
trust? How do we honour him when we refuse to believe him? Do we accept
his Godhead, and yet refuse his mercy? This cannot be.
The counts are many against men, but this one more must be
mentioned'many know God, but they never glorify him as God by
submitting themselves to him, and yielding up their members to be
instruments of his glory. If I glorify God as God, then I desire to
obey God's commandments, to spread his glory, to magnify his name. I
desire in all things to please him, if indeed I treat him as God should
be treated. If I know God, and yet live for my own profit, for my own
honour, for my own comfort, then I do not glorify God as God. Oh, sirs,
when the Lord is glorified as God, we yield ourselves to his control
without a murmur. He may take what he will away from us, and we say, It
is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.' He may remove every
comfort from us, and cover us with sore boils and blains, but we shall
sit down with Job upon the dunghill, and say, The Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' Knowing him as
God will make us submissive to suffer, and quick to act. We shall feel
the force of Elijah's cry, If the Lord be God, follow him.' We shall
rouse ourselves to the utmost energy to serve him when he stands before
us as really God. If we serve man and are faithful, we do the best we
can for our master; but if God be our Master, oh, what service we are
bound to render to him! What enthusiasm ought to be kindled in our
breast by the belief that we are God's servants! I am thy servant,' is
our happy claim, our honoured challenge. This it is that makes a man of
a man, and something more than man. Oh, to learn this lesson, and to
practise it! To glorify God as God will make us akin to angels! Even
you Christians may feel that this is much beyond you yet, but towards
it you must ever fly. I shrink before my Lord in speaking of him, but I
desire what I have not yet attained'that I may truly glorify him as my
Lord and my God.
II. Now we come to consider the second sin. May the word which I may
have to say about it, be blessed to many of my hearers by the power of
the Holy Spirit! The second sin is NEITHER WERE THANKFUL.' Did you
know, dear friends, that unthankfulness was such a sin as this? Have
you ever thought of it in this light before'that men were without
excuse because when they knew God they were not thankful?
Unthankfulness is a sin for which there is no excuse if it be attended
with knowledge. I fear there are thousands who call themselves
Christians, who are not thankful, and yet they never thought themselves
very guilty on that account. Yet you see these sinners were without
excuse, because they were guilty of a great sin before God, and that
sin was unthankfulness. I tremble both for myself and you when I see
want of thankfulness thus set in the front rank of sins.
How is it that we may be thankful?
I answer, first, there is in some a want of gratitude for mercies
possessed. They receive many blessings without making a note of them,
or even seeming to know that they have them. Their daily mercies seem
to come in always at the back door, where the servants take them in,
and never tell their master or mistress that they have arrived. They
never receive their mercies at the front door with grateful
acknowledgments; but they still continue dumb debtors, daily owing
more, but making no attempt at a return. The Lord continues to bless
them in things temporal, to keep them in health and strength, ay, and
to give them the means of grace and spiritual opportunities; and they
live as if these things were so commonplace that they were not worth
thanking God for. Many professors are of that kind'recipients of
countless mercies, but destitute of such common thankfulness as even
beast might manifest. From them God hears no song of gratitude, no
chirp of praise, though birds would charm the woodlands with their
minstrelsy: these are worse than the dumb driven cattle, or the fishes
in the brook, which do at least leap up, and mean their Maker's praise.
Some show this unthankfulness in another way, for they always dwell
most on what they have not got. They have manna, and that is angels'
food; but then they have no fish, and this is a ready theme for
grumbling. They talk very loudly of the fish we did eat in Egypt,' and
lament those ample feasts provided by the muddy Nile. Moreover, they
have none of those delightful vegetables'the leeks, and the garlic, and
the onions. They have none of these rank luxuries, and therefore again
they murmur, and call the manna light bread.' They put this complaint
over and over again to Moses, till Moses must have been sick of them
and their garlic. They said that they could not get leeks, and
cucumbers, and onions, and that they were therefore most hardly done
by, and would not much longer put up with it. Thankless rebels! And
have I not known some of God's servants say that they enjoy much of the
presence of their Lord, but they have no riches; and so they are not
among the favoured ones. Over their poverty they fetch a deep groan.
Some live in the presence of God, so they tell us, and they are full of
divine delights, but yet they are greatly afflicted with aches and
pains, and all the dolors of rheumatism, and therefore they murmur. I
admit that rheumatism is a dreadful pain enough, but at the same time
to dwell always on the dark side of things, and to forget our mercies,
is a sad instance of ingratitude. We are few of us as thankful as we
ought to be; and there are some people who are not thankful at all, for
instead of a song concerning their mercies, their life is one long
dirge for their miseries. Must we always hear the sackbut? Is the harp
never to give forth a joy-note?
Some show their unthankfulness by fretting under their supposed ills.
They know from Scripture that even their afflictions are working for
their good, yet they do not rejoice in the prospect, or feel any
gratitude for the refining process through which the Lord is passing
them. Heaven and perfection are left unsung, but the present processes
are groaned over without ceasing. Their monotonous note is always this
pain, this loss, this burden, this uncomfortable sensation, this
persecution from the world, this unkindness from the saints, and so on;
all this goes to show that, though they know God, they do not glorify
him as God, neither are they thankful.
We can be guilty of unthankfulness, also, by never testifying to the
goodness of God. A great many people come in and out of your houses; do
you ever tell them about God's goodness to you? Did you ever take up a
single ten minutes with the tale of the Lord's lovingkindness to you?
Oh, what backwardness there is to testify to God as God, and to all his
goodness and love! Our mouths are full of anything rather than the
goodness of the Lord. Shame on our wicked lips!
Some fail, also, in their singing of God's praises. I love to be
singing in my heart, if I may not sing with my tongue. Is it not a good
thing for you house-wives, when you are about the house, to sing over
everything? I remember a servant that used to sing at the washtub, and
sing in the kitchen; and when some one asked her why she was always
singing, she said that if it did not do anything else it kept bad
thoughts out of her mind. There is a great deal in that; for bad
thoughts are bad tenants, who pay no rent and foul the house. I knew a
dear old Methodist preacher, who is now in heaven, who when he came
downstairs of a morning was always tooting a bit of a hymn over, and he
did the same in the barn, and the field. I have passed him in the
street, and noted his happy melody: indeed he was always singing. He
never took much notice of anybody, so as to be afraid of being
overheard. Whether people heard him or not did not make much difference
to him. He was singing to the Lord, not to them; and so he went on
singing. I do not think he had much of a voice, or an ear for music,
but his soul was made up of praise, and that is better than a musical
education. God does not criticize our voice, but he accepts our heart.
Oh, to be singing the praises of God every minute of our lives, and
never ceasing therefrom! Do you not think that many fail in this
respect? They are not preparing for heaven, where all is praise, or
they would take up the joyful employment at once.
It is plain that many are not thankful to God, for they never praise
him with their substance. Yet when the Jew was thankful, he took care
to give a portion to the house of the Lord: before he would eat of his
corn, he would send his sheaf to the sanctuary. If we are grateful to
God, we shall feel that the first thing to do is to give of our
substance an offering of thanksgiving to the Most High. But this does
not strike some people, whose religion is so spiritual that they cannot
endure to hear of money, and they faint at the sound of a collection.
Their thankfulness rises to singing a hymn occasionally, but it never
goes as far as giving a button to the cause of God. I am afraid their
thankfulness is not worth more than what they pay to express it: that
is to say, nothing at all. God deliver us from such a state of heart as
that; and may we never, in any of these senses, be found amongst those
professors, of whom it is said that, when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, neither were they thankful.
III. Listen to me now carefully for two or three minutes while, in the
third place, I mention, very briefly and solemnly, what was THE RESULT
OF THIS.
They knew God, but they glorified him not as God, neither were they
thankful. And the first result of it was that they fell into vain
imaginings. If we do not glorify God, the true God, we shall soon be
found setting up another god. This vain-imagination business is being
done quite as extensively now as in Paul's days. Depart from the
inspiration of the Bible, and from the infallibility of the Spirit of
God who wrote it, and where will you go? Well I cannot tell you where
you will go. One wanders into one vain imagination, and one into
another, till the dreamers are on all sides. I expect to see a new
doctrine every day of the week now. Our thinkers have introduced an age
of inventions, wherein everything is thought of but the truth of God.
We do not want these novelties. We are satisfied with the word of God
as we find it. But if we do not glorify God as God, and are not
thankful to him for all his teachings, then away you go into vain
imaginations.
And what next? Well, away goes the mind of man into all sorts of sins.
The chapter describes unnatural lusts and horribly fierce passions. Men
that are not satisfied and thankful'men that have no fear of God before
their eyes'it were a shame for us to think, much more to speak, of what
they will do. A heart that cannot feed at God's table will riot
somewhere. He that is not satisfied with the cup that God has filled
will soon be a partaker of the cup of devils. An unthankful spirit is,
at bottom, an atheistic spirit. If God were God to us, we should not be
unthankful to him. If God were glorified in our hearts, and we were
thankful for everything that he did, we should walk in holiness, and
live in submission. And if we do not thus behave ourselves, the
tendency will be for us to go from bad to worse, and from worse to very
worst. This has been done on a large scale by nations, whose downward
course of crime began with want of thankfulness to God. It is done on a
smaller scale by individuals, to whom departure from God is the
beginning of a vicious career. Get away from God, and where have you
gone? If you do not love him, and delight in him, whither will you
stray? May the Lord tether us fast to himself, and even nail us to the
cross.
It seems that these people, of whom Paul wrote, fell into all kinds of
bitterness, such as envy, murder, deceit, malignity, whispering,
backbiting, hating of God. They became spiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, and so forth. Well, if your spirit is not
sweetened by the adoration and the love of God, it will grow bitter. If
love does not reign, hate will rule. Look at unthankful people. Hear
them talk. Nobody's character is safe. There is no neighbour whom they
will not slander. There is no Christian man whom they will not
misrepresent. The very angels of God would not be safe from suspicion
if they lived near to people of that kind. But when you glorify God as
God, and are thankful for everything'when you can take up a bit of
bread and a cup of cold water, and say with the poor Puritan, What, all
this, and Christ too?'then are you happy, and you make others happy. A
godly preacher, finding that all that there was for dinner was a potato
and a herring, thanked God that he had ransacked sea and land to find
food for his children. Such a sweet spirit breeds love to everybody,
and makes a man go through the world cheerfully. If you give way to the
other order of feeling, and do not glorify God, but quarrel with him,
and have no thankfulness for his mercies, then you will suck in the
spirit of the devil, and you will get into Satan's mind, and be of his
temper, and by-and-by his works you will do. Oh, brothers and sisters,
dread unthankfulness! Perhaps you did not think that it was so bad, but
it is horrible! God help you to escape from it!
IV. And that you may escape from it, let us finish up by this
exhortation. LET US FLY BY THE HELP OF GOD'S SPIRIT FROM THESE TWO
SINS. Let us glorify God, as God, every one of us.
Oh,' says one, I am full of sin.' Come and glorify God, then, by
confessing it to him. Oh, but I am not pardoned.' Come and glorify him
by accepting pardon through the blood of his dear Son. Oh, but I am of
an evil heart.' Come and glorify him by telling him so, and asking his
Spirit to renew you in your mind. Come, yield yourself to his sweet
gospel. May his blessed Spirit incline you so to do. Come, take him now
to be your God. Have you forgotten him? Remember him. Have you
neglected him? Seek him. Have you offended him? Mourn before him. Say,
I will arise, and go unto my Father.' Your Father waits to receive you.
Glorify him as God.
And then, next, let us begin to be very thankful, if we have not been
so before. Let us praise God for common mercies, for they prove to be
uncommonly precious when they are once taken away. Bless God that you
were able to walk here, and are able to walk home again. Bless God for
your reason: bless him for your existence. Bless God for the means of
grace, for an open Bible, for the throne of grace, for the preaching of
the Word. You that are saved must lead the song. Bless the Lord, O my
soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.' Bless him for
his Son. Bless him for his Spirit. Bless him for his Fatherhood. Bless
him that you are his child. Bless him for what you have received. Bless
him for what he has promised to give. Bless him for the past, the
present, and the future. Bless him in every way, for everything, at all
times, and in all places. Let all that is within you bless his holy
name. Go your way rejoicing. May his Spirit help you so to do!
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Romans 1:1-22.
HYMNS FROM OUR OWN HYMN BOOK'103 (First version), 1032, 699.