Praise for the Gift of Gifts
(No. 2247)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 13, 1892.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
27, 1890.
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15.
IN the chapter from which my text is taken, Paul is stirring up the
Christians at Corinth to be ready with liberal gifts for the poor
saints at Jerusalem. He finishes by reminding them of a greater gift
than any they could bring and, by this one short word of praise,
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift," he sets all their hearts
a-singing! Let men give as liberally as they may, you can always
proclaim the value of their gift. You can cast it up and reckon its
worth, but God's gift is unspeakable, unreckonable! You cannot fully
estimate the value of what God gives. The Gospel is a Gospel of giving
and forgiving. We may sum it up in those two words and, therefore, when
the true spirit of it works upon the Christian, he forgives freely and
he also gives freely. The large heart of God breeds large hearts in men
and they who live upon His bounty are led by His Spirit to imitate that
bounty according to their power.
However, I am not going, on the present occasion, to say anything upon
the subject of liberality. I must get straight away to the text, hoping
that we may really drink in the spirit of it and, out of full hearts,
use the Apostle's language with a more intense meaning than ever as we
repeat his words–"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." I
shall commence by saying that salvation is altogether the gift of God
and, as such, is to be received by us freely. Then I shall try to show
that this gift is unspeakable. And, in the third place, that for this
gift, thanks should be rendered to God. Though it is unspeakable, yet
we should speak our praise of it. In this way you will see, as of old,
preachers used to say, the text naturally falls apart.
I. We begin with the thought that SALVATION IS ALTOGETHER THE GIFT OF
GOD. Paul said, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." Over and
over again we have proclaimed that salvation is wholly of Grace–not of
works nor of wages–but it is the gift of God's great bounty to
undeserving men! But as often as we have preached this Truth of God, we
shall have to keep on doing so as long as there are men in the world
who are self-righteous and, as long as there are minds in the world so
slow to grasp the meaning of the word, "Grace," that is, "free favor,"
and as long as there are memories that find it difficult to retain the
idea of salvation being God's free gift!
Let us say simply and plainly that salvation must come to us as a gift
from God, for salvation comes to us by the Lord Jesus and what else
could Jesus be? The essence of salvation is the gift of God's
Only-Begotten Son to die for us, that we might live through Him. I
think you will agree with me that it is inconceivable that men should
ever have merited that God should give His Only-Begotten Son to them.
To give Christ to us, in any sense, must have been an act of Divine
charity. But to give Him up to die on yonder cruel and bloody Cross–to
yield Him up as a Sacrifice for sin must be a free favor–passing the
limits of thought! It is not supposable that any man could deserve such
love. It is plain that if man's sins needed a sacrifice, he did not
deserve that a sacrifice should be found for him. The fact that he has
a need proves his demerit and his guiltiness. He deserves to die–he
may be rescued by Another dying for him–but he certainly cannot claim
that the eternal God should take from His bosom His Only-Begotten and
Well-Beloved Son and put Him to death! The more you look that thought
in the face, the more you will reject the idea that, by any possible
sorrow, or by any possible labor, or by any possible promise, a man
could put himself into the position of deserving to have Christ to die
for him! If Christ is to come to save sinners, it must be as a gift–a
free gift of God. The argument, to my mind, is conclusive.
Besides that, over and over again, in God's Word, we are told that
salvation is not of works. Although there are many who cling to the
notion of man's works as a ground of salvation, yet as long as this
Book stands and there are eyes to
read it–it will bear witness against the idea of human merit–and it
will speak out plainly for the doctrine that men are saved by faith,
and not by works. Not only once, but often it is written, "The just
shall live by faith." Moreover, we are told, "Therefore it is of faith,
that it might be by Grace." The very choice of the way of salvation by
believing, rather than by works, is made by God on purpose that He
might show that Grace is a gift. "Now to him that works is the reward
not reckoned of Grace, but of debt: but to him that works not, but
believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness." Faith is that virtue, that Grace, which is chosen to
bring us salvation because it never takes any of the glory to itself.
Faith is simply the hand that takes. When the beggar receives alms, he
does not bless the hand that takes, but blesses the hand that
gives–therefore we do not praise the faith that receives, but the God
who gives the unspeakable gift! Faith is the eye that sees. When we see
an object, we delight in the object, rather than in the eye that sees
it–therefore do we glory, not in our faith, but in the salvation which
God bestows! Faith is appointed as the porter to open the gate of
salvation because that gate turns upon the hinges of Free Grace.
In the next place, be it always remembered that we cannot be saved by
the merit of our own works because holy works are, themselves, a
gift–the work of the Grace of God. If you have faith, joy and hope,
who gave them to you? These did not spring up spontaneously in your
heart. They were sown there by the hand of Love. If you have lived a
godly life for years. If you have been a diligent servant of the Church
and of your God, in whose strength have you done it? Is there not One
who works all our works in us? Could you work out your salvation with
fear and trembling if God did not first work in you both to will and to
do of His good pleasure? How can you, then, claim a reward which is, in
itself, the gift of God? I think the ground is cut right away from
those who would put confidence in human merit, when we show, first of
all, that, in Scripture, salvation is clearly said to be, "not of
works, lest any man should boast." And, secondly, that even the good
works of Believers are the fruit of a renewed life, for, "we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has
before ordained that we should walk in them."–
"All that I was, my sin, my guilt,
My death–was all my own.
All that I am, I owe to You,
My gracious God, alone."
Further, if salvation were not a free gift, how else could a sinner get
it? I will pass over some of you who fancy that you are the best people
in the world. It is sheer fancy, mark you, without any truth in it! But
I will say nothing about you. There are, however, some of us who know
that we were not the best people in the world–we who sinned against
God and knew it–and who were broken into pieces under a sense of our
guilt! I know, for one, that there would have been no hope of Heaven
for me if salvation had not been a free gift of God to those who
deserved it not! After ministering among you for nearly 37 years, I
stand exactly where I stood when I first came to Christ–a poor sinner
and nothing at all–but taking Christ as the free gift of God to me, as
I took Him at first, when, yet but a lad, I fled to Him for salvation!
Ask any of the people of God who have been abundant in service and
constant in prayer, whether they deserve anything at the hand of God.
And those who have most to be thankful for will tell you that they have
nothing that they have not received! Ask these, whom God has honored to
the conversion of many, whether they lay any claim to the Grace of God,
whether they have any merit, and whether in their hand they dare bring
a price and seek to buy of God His love– they will loathe the very
thought! There is no way to Heaven for you and me, my Friends convinced
of sin, unless all the way we are led by Grace–and unless salvation is
the gift of God!
But, once more–look at the privileges which come to us through
salvation! I cannot, as I value those privileges, conceive for a minute
that they are purchasable, or that they come to us as the result of our
works! They must be a gift–they are so many and so glorious as to be
altogether outside the limit of our furthest search and beyond the
height of our utmost reach! We cannot, by our efforts, compass any
salvation of any sort! But if we could, it certainly would not be such
a salvation as this! Let us look, then, at our privileges.
Here comes, first, "the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
His Grace." He that believes in Christ has no sin! His sin is blotted
out. It has ceased to be. Christ has finished it and he is unto God as
though he had never sinned. Can any sinner deserve that?–
"Here's pardon for transgressions past, It matters not how black their
cast! And oh, my Soul, with wonder view,
For sins to come, here's pardon, too!" Can any sinner bring a price
that will purchase such a gift as that? No! Such mercy must be a gift.
Next, everyone that believes in Christ is justified and looked upon by
God as being perfectly righteous. The righteousness of Christ is
imputed to him and he is "accepted in the Beloved." By this he becomes
not only innocent, that is, pardoned, but he becomes praiseworthy
before God. This is justification. Can any guilty man deserve that?
Why, he is covered with sin, defiled from head to foot! Can he deserve
to be arrayed in the sumptuous robe of the Divine Righteousness of
Christ and, "be made the righteousness of God in Him"? It is
inconceivable! Such a blessing must be the gift of infinite bounty, or
it can never come to man.
Furthermore, Beloved, remember that "now we are the sons of God." Can
you realize that Truth of God? As others are not, Believers are the
sons of God! He is their Father and the spirit of adoption breathes
within their heart. They are the children of His family and come to Him
as children come to a father, with loving confidence. Think of being
made a son of God, a son of Him that made the heavens! A son of Him who
is God over all, blessed forever! Can any man deserve that? Certainly
not–this must also come as a gift!
Sonship leads on to heirship. "If children, then heirs; heirs of God
and joint-heirs with Christ." My Brothers and Sisters, if you are a
Believer, all things are yours–this world and the worlds to come!
Could you ever deserve all that? Could such an inheritance have come to
you through any merits of your own? No, it must be a gift! Look at it
and the blaze of its splendor will strike blind all idea of merit!
Further than that, we are now made one with Christ. Oh, tell everywhere
this wonder which God has worked for His people! It is not to be
understood–it is an abyss too deep for a finite mind to fathom. Every
Believer is truly united to Christ, "For we are members of His body, of
His flesh and of His bones." Every Believer is married to Christ and
none of them shall ever be separated from Him. Seeing, then, that there
is such a union between us and Christ, can you suppose that any man can
have any claim to such a position apart from the Grace of God? By what
merit, even of a perfect man, could we deserve to become one with
Christ in an endless unity? Such a surpassing privilege is out of the
line of purchase! It is, and can only be, the gift of God! Oneness with
Christ cannot come to us in any other way.
Listen yet again. In consequence of our union with Christ, God the Holy
Spirit dwells in every Believer! Our bodies are His Temple! God dwells
in us and we dwell in God. Can we deserve that? Even a perfect keeping
of the Law of God would not have brought to men the abiding of the Holy
Spirit in them! It is a blessing that rises higher that the Law could
ever reach, even if it had been kept.
Let me say, furthermore, that if you possess a blessed peace, as I
trust you do, if you can say–
"My heart is resting, O my God, I will give thanks and sing! My heart
is at the secret Source Of every precious thing!"
That Divine peace must surely be the gift of God. If there is a great
calm within your soul–an entire satisfaction with Christ your
Lord–you never deserved that precious gift. It is the work of His Holy
Spirit and must be His free gift.
And when you come to die, as you may–unless the Lord comes, as He
will–the Grace that will enable you fearlessly to face the last enemy
will not be yours by any right of your own. If you fall asleep, as I
have seen many a Christian pass away, with songs of triumph, with the
light of Heaven shining on your brow, almost in Glory while yet you are
in your bed, why, you cannot deserve that! Such a deathbed must be the
free gift of God's almighty Grace! It cannot be earned by any merit!
Indeed, it is just then that every thought of merit melts away and the
soul hides itself in Christ, and triumphs there!
If this does not convince you, look once more. Let a window be opened
in Heaven! See the long line of white-robed saints. Listen to their
hallelujahs! Behold their endless, measureless delight! Did they
deserve to come there? Did they come to their thrones and to their
palms of victory by their own merits? Their answer is, "We have washed
our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!" And from them
all comes the harmonious anthem, "Non nobis, Domine"– "Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us; but unto Your name give Glory, for Your mercy and
Your Truth's sake." From first to last, then, we see that salvation is
all the gift of God. And what can be freer than a gift, or more
glorious than the gift of God? No prize can approach it in excellence,
no merit can be mentioned in the same hour. O my Brothers and Sisters,
we are debtors, indeed, to the mercy of God! We have received much and
there is more to follow, but it is all of Grace
from first to last! We know but little yet at what a cost these gifts
were purchased for us, but we shall know it better, by-and-by, as
McCheyne so sweetly sings–
"When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glaring sun;
When I stand with Christ in Glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know–
Not till then, how much I owe!
When I stand before the Throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own;
When I see You as You are,
Love You with unsinningheart;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then, how much I owe!" II. Now I would try to lead your
thoughts in another direction as we consider that THIS GIFT IS
UNSPEAKABLE. Do not think it means that we cannot speak about this
gift. Ah, how many times have I, for one, spoken upon this gift during
the last 40 years! I have spoken of little else! I heard of one who
said, "I suppose Spurgeon is preaching that old story over again." Yes,
that is what he is doing–and if he lives another 20 years and you come
here, it will be "the old, old story" still, for there is nothing like
it! It is inexhaustible–it is like an Artesian well that springs up
forever and ever. We can speak about it, yet it is unspeakable! What do
we mean, then, by saying it is unspeakable? Well, as I have said
already, Christ Jesus our Lord is the Sum and Substance of salvation
and of God's gift. O God, this gift of Yours is unspeakable and it
includes all other gifts beside!–
"You did not spare Your only Son,
But gave Him for a world undone,
And freely with that Blessed One–
You give all."
Consider, first, that Christ is unspeakable in His Person. He is
perfect Man and glorious God. No tongue of seraph, or of cherub can
ever describe the full Nature of Him whose name is, "Wonderful,
Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace." This is He whom the Father gave "for us men, and for our
sakes." He was the Creator of all things, for, "without Him was not
anything made that was made," yet He was "made of flesh and dwelt among
us." He fills all things by His Omnipresence, yet He came and
tabernacled on the earth! This is that Jesus who was born of Mary, yet
who lived before all worlds! He was that Word who "was in the beginning
with God, and the Word was God." He is unspeakable! It is not possible
to put into human language the Divine mystery of His sacred Being,
truly Man and yet truly God. How great the wonder of it! Soul, God gave
God for you! Do you hear it? To redeem you, O believing man, God gave
Himself to be your Savior–surely, that is an unspeakable gift!
Christ is unspeakable, next, in His condescension. Can anyone measure
or describe how far Christ stooped, when, from the Throne of Splendor,
He came to a manger to be swaddled and lie where the horned oxen fed?
Oh, what a stoop of condescension was that! The Infinite becomes an
Infant! The Eternal is dandled on a woman's knee! He is there in the
carpenter's shop, obedient to His parents! He is there in the Temple,
sitting among the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. He
is there in poverty, crying, "The Son of Man has not where to lay His
head." And He is there, thirsty, asking a sinful woman for a drink of
water! It is unspeakable that He, before whom all the hosts of Heaven
veiled their faces, should come here among men and among the poorest of
the poor! That He who dwelt amidst the glory and the bliss of the Land
of Light should deign to be a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief,
passes human thought! Such a Savior is an unspeakable gift!
But if unspeakable so far, what shall I say of the fashion of Christ in
His death? Beloved, I cannot speak adequately of Gethsemane and the
bloody sweat, nor of the Judas kiss, nor of the traitorous flight of
the disciples. It is unspeakable! That binding, scourging, plucking of
the beard and spitting in the face! Man's tongue cannot utter the
horror of it. I cannot truly tell you the weight of the false
accusations, the slanders and the blasphemies that were heaped on Him!
Nor would I wish to picture the old soldier's cloak flung over His
bleeding shoulders and the crown of thorns, the buffeting, the mailed
fists, and the shame and sorrow He endured as He was thrust out to
execution. Do you wish to follow Him
along the streets, where weeping women lifted up their hearts in tender
sympathy for the Lord of Love about to die? If you do, it must be in
silence, for words but feebly tell how much He bore on the way to the
Cross–
"Well might the sun in darkness hide, And shut his glories in.
When God, the mighty Maker died For man, the creature's sin."
Oh, it was terrible that HE should be nailed to the Cross! That HE
should hang there to be ridiculed by all the mob of Jerusalem! The
abjects flouted Him, the meanest thought Him meaner than themselves.
Even dying thieves upbraided Him! His eyes are choked. They become dim
with blood. He must die. He says, "It is finished!" He bows His head.
The glorious Victim has yielded up His life to put away His people's
sin. This is God's gift to you–Divine, unspeakable–O you sons of men!
But it is not all. Christ is unspeakable in His Glory. When we think of
His Resurrection, of His ascending to Heaven and of His Glory at the
right hand of God, words languish on our lips! But in every one of
these positions, He is the gift of God to us–and when He shall come
with all the Glory of the Father, He will still be to His people the
Theo-dora. the gift of God, the great unspeakable benediction to the
sons of men! I wish that the people of Christ had this aspect of the
Lord's Glory more continually on their hearts, for though He seems to
tarry, yet will He come again the second time, as He promised–
"With that blessed hope before us, Let no harp remain unstrung! Let the
mighty Advent chorus Onward roll on every tongue. Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come!"
To me, one of the most wonderful aspects of this gift is Christ in His
chosen. All the Father gave Him, all for whom He died–these He will
glorify with Himself and they shall be with Him where He is! Oh, what a
sight will that be when we shall see the King in His beauty and all His
saints beautiful in His Glory, shining like so many stars around Him
who is the Sun of them all! Then, indeed, shall we see what an
unspeakable gift God gave to men, when, through that gift, He makes His
saints all glorious, even as He predestined them, "to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn of many brethren."
But we do not need to wait until we see His face to know His Glory!
Brothers and Sisters, Christ is unspeakable as the gift of God in the
heart here. "Oh," you say, "I trust I have felt the love of God shed
abroad in my heart!" I rejoice with you, but could you speak it? Often,
when I have tried to preach the love to Christ, I have not been able to
preach it rightly because I did not feel it as I ought. But more often,
still, I have not been able to preach because I have felt it so much! I
would gladly always preach in that manner and feel Christ's love so
much that I could speak it but a little. Oh, child of God, if you have
known much of Christ, you have often had to weep out your joys instead
of speaking them–to lay your finger on your mouth and be silent
because you were overpowered by His Glory! See how it was with John–
"When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead." Why did you not preach,
John? If John were here, tonight, He would say, "I could not
preach–the splendor of the Lord made me dumb. I fell at His feet as
dead."
This is one reason why the gift of God is unspeakable, because, the
more you know about it, the less you can say about it. Christ
overpowers us! He makes us tongue-tied with His wondrous revelations.
When He reveals Himself in full, we are like men that are blinded with
excess of vision. Like Paul, on the Damascus road, we are forced to
confess, "I could not see for the Glory of that Light." We cannot speak
of it fully. All the Apostles and Prophets and saints of God have been
trying to speak out the love of God as manifested in Christ, but they
have all failed! I say, with great reverence, that the Holy Spirit,
Himself, seems to have labored for expression and, as He had to use
human pens and mortal tongues, even He has never spoken to the fullest,
the measure and value of God's unspeakable gift! It is unspeakable to
men by God, Himself! God can give it, but He cannot make us fully
understand it. We have need to be like God, Himself, to comprehend the
greatness of His gift when He gives us His Son!
Though we make constant effort, it is unspeakable, even throughout a
long life. Do you ministers who have been a long time in one place,
ever say to yourselves, "We shall run dry for subjects, by-and-by"? If
you preach Christ, you will
never run short! If you have preached 10,000 sermons about Christ, you
have not yet left the shore–you are not out in the deep sea yet! Dive,
my Brother! With splendor of thought, plunge into this great mystery of
Free Grace and dying love! And when you have dived the deepest, you
will perceive that you are as far off the bottom as when you first
touched the surface! It is an endless theme–it is unspeakable!–
"Oh, could I speak the matchless worth,
Oh, could I sound the glories forth
Which in my Savior shine!
I'd soar and touch the heavenly strings,
And vie with Gabriel while he sings
In notes almost Divine." But I can neither speak it nor sing it as I
ought, yet would I finish Medley's hymn and say–
"Well, the delightful day will come When my dear Lord will bring me
Home, And I shall see His face! Then with my Savior, Brother, Friend, A
blest eternity I'll spend, Triumphant in His Grace."
But, even then, Christ will still be in Heaven forever a gift
unspeakable! Perhaps we shall have another talk together, Friends, on
this subject when we get there. One good woman said to me, "We shall
have more time in eternity than we have now," to which I replied, "I do
not know whether there is any time in eternity. The words look like a
contradiction." "Oh, but," she said, "I shall get a talk with you,
anyhow. I have never had one yet." Well, I dare say we shall commune up
there of these blessed things when we shall know more about them. As we
are to be there forever and ever, we shall need some great subjects
with which to keep up the conversation–what vaster theme can we have
than this? Addi-son, in one of her verses, says–
"But, oh! Eternity's too short To utter half Your praise."
And I have heard simpletons say that the couplet was very faulty! "You
cannot make eternity short," they say. That shows the difference
between a poet and a critic! A critic is a being all teeth, without any
heart, while a poet is one who has much heart and who sometimes finds
that human language is not sufficient to express his thoughts. We shall
never have done with Christ in Heaven! Oh, my Lord, Your Presence will
make my Heaven!–
"Millions of years my wondering eyes,
Shall over Your beauties rove!
And endless ages I'll adore
The glories of Your love."
This wondrous gift of God is an utterly inexhaustible, unspeakable
subject!
III. Now, lastly, I come to this point, that FOR THIS GIFT THANKS
SHOULD BE RENDERED. The text says, "Thanks be unto God for His
unspeakable gift." By this the Apostle not only meant that he gave
thanks for Christ, but he thus calls upon the Church and upon every
individual Believer to join him in his praise. Here do I adopt his
language and praise God on my own behalf, calling upon all of you who
know the preciousness of Christ, the gift of God, to unite with me in
thanksgiving! Let us as with one heart say it now, "Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift."
Some cannot say this, for they never think of the gift of God. You who
never think of God, how can you thank God? There must be, "think," at
the bottom of, "thank." Whenever we think, we ought to thank! But some
never think and therefore never thank. Beloved Friend, what do you
think? That Christ should die–is it nothing to you? That God "gave His
Only-Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." Is that nothing to you? Let the question drop
into your heart. Press it home upon yourself. Will you say that you
have no share in this gift? Will you deliberately give up any hope you
may have of ever partaking of the Grace of God? Are you determined,
now, to say, "I do not care about Christ"? Well, you would hardly like
to say that, but why do you practically declare this to be your
intention, if you do not want to say it? Oh, that you might now so
think of Christ as to trust Him at once and begin to raise this note of
praise!
Some, on the other hand, do not thank God because they are always
delaying. Have I not hearers here, tonight, who were here 10 years ago,
and were rather more hopeful, then, than they are now? "There is plenty
of time," you say, but you do not say this about other matters! I
admired the children, the other day, when the teacher said, "Dear
Children, the weather is unsettled. You can go out next Wednesday, but
do you not think it would be better to stop a month, so that we could
go when the weather is more settled?" There was not a child that voted
for stopping a month! All the hands went up for going next Wednesday!
Now, imitate the children in that. Do not make it seem as if you were
in a no hurry to be happy, for as he that believes in Christ has
eternal life–to postpone having it is an unworthy as well as unwise
thing to do! No, you will have it, I hope, at once! There is a man here
who is going to be a very rich man when his old aunt dies. You do not
wish that she should die, I am sure, but you sometimes wonder why some
people are spared to be 90, do you not? You are very poor, now, and you
wish that some of this money cold come to you at once–you are not for
putting that off! Why should you put off heavenly riches and eternal
life? I beseech you to believe in Christ NOW–then you will be filled
with thankfulness and joy.
Some cannot say, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift," for
they do not know whether they have it or not. They sometimes think that
they have, but they more often fear that they have not. Never tolerate
a doubt on this subject, I implore you. Get full assurance. "Lay hold
on eternal life." Get a grip of it. Know Christ! Trust Christ wholly
and you have God's Word for it–"He that hears My word, and believes on
Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." Then you can say,
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."
Now, dear Friends, let me ask you to join in this exercise. Let us
first unitedly thank God for this gift. Put out of your mind the idea
that you ought to thank Christ, but not thank the Father! It was the
Father that gave Christ. Christ did not die to make His Father love us,
as some say that we preach. We have always preached the very opposite
and we have quoted that verse of Kent!–
" 'Twas not to make Jehovah's love
Towards the sinner flame,
That Jesus, from His Throne above,
A suffering Man became.
'Twas not the death which He endured,
Nor all the pangs He bore,
That God's eternal love procured,
For God was love before."
He gave His Son because He already loved us! Christ is the exhibition
of the Father's love and the Revelation of Christ is made because of
"the love of the Spirit." Therefore, "Thanks be unto God"–the Father,
the Son, the Holy Spirit–"for His unspeakable gift."
While you saved ones, every one of you, raise your note of gratitude,
be very careful to thank only God. Do not be thinking by whose means
you were converted, and begin to thank the servant instead of the Lord
whom he serves! Let the man who was used as the instrument in God's
hand be told, for his comfort, of the blessing God sent you through
him, but thank God, and thank only God, that you were led to lay hold
of Christ who is His unspeakable gift! Moreover, thank God
spontaneously. Look at the Apostle and imitate him. When he sounded
this peal of praise, his mind was occupied, at the time, about the
collection for the poor saints. But, collection or no collection, he
will thank God for His unspeakable gift! I like to see thanks to God
come up at what might be an untimely moment. When a man does not feel
just as happy as he might be, and yet says, "Thank God," it sounds
refreshingly real. I like to hear such a bubbling up of praise as in
the case of old Taylor, of New York, when he broke down in the middle
of a sentence. Looking up at the people, he said, "There now! The
nominative has lost its verb, but, hallelujah! I am on the way to
Glory!" And then he went on again! Sometime we ought to do just like
that. Take an opportunity, when there comes a little interval, just to
say, "Whether this is in tune or not, I cannot help it–thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift."
Lastly, as you receive the precious gift, thank God practically. Thank
God by doing something to prove your thanks! It is a poor gratitude
which only effervesces in words, but skirts deeds of kindness. Real
thankfulness will not be in word, only, but in deed, too–and so it
will prove that it is in the Truth of God.
"Well, what could I do that would please God?" you ask. First, I should
think you could look for His lost children. That is a sure way to
please Him. Go, tonight, and see whether you cannot find one of the
erring whom you might bring back to the fold. Would you not please a
mother, if she had lost her baby, and you set to work to find it? We
need to please God. Seek the lost ones and bring them in.
If you want to please God, next, succor His poor saints. If you know
anything of them, help them. Do something for them for Christ's sake. I
knew a woman who used to always relieve anybody that came to her door
in the dress of a sailor. I do not think that half of those who came to
her ever had been to sea at all, but, still, if they came to the door
as sailors, she used to say, "Ah, my dear boy was a sailor. I have not
seen him for years. He is lost somewhere at sea, but for dear Jack's
sake, I always help every sailor that comes to my door." It is a right
feeling, is it not? I remember, when I first came to London from my
country charge, I used to think that if I came across a dog or a cat
that came from Waterbeach, I would like to feed it. So, for the love of
Christ, love Christ's poor people! Whenever you find them, say, "My
Lord was poor, and so are you, and for His dear sake I will help you."
If you want to please God, next, bear with the evil ones. Do not lose
your temper. I mean, by that, do not get angry with the unthankful and
the evil. Let your anger be lost in praise for the unspeakable gift!
Please God by bearing with evil men as He bears with you. But if you
have a very bad temper, I hope that, in another sense, you may lose it
and never find it any more.
And lastly, if you want to please God, watch, like the Thessalonians,
"for His Son from Heaven." The Lord Jesus is coming again, in like
manner as He departed, and there is no attitude with which God is more
delighted in His saved people than with that of watching for the time
when "unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time,
without sin unto salvation."
Beloved, may God help you thus to magnify His Son and to Him shall be
all the praise! Let us again lift up our glad hallelujah–"Thanks be
unto God for His unspeakable gift." Amen.
Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon–2 Corinthians 9.