Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 2nd, 1876, by
C.H. SPURGEON,
At the [1]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Corinthians 4:7
PRIDE GROWS APACE like other ill weeds. It will live on any soil. In
the natural heart it flourishes, springing up without sowing, and
growing without watering; and even in the renewed heart it all too
readily takes root when Satan casts abroad a handful of its seed. Of
all creatures in the world the Christian is the last man who ought to
be proud; and yet, alas, we have had mournful evidence both in past
history and in our own observation, and worst of all in our own
personal experience, that Christian men may become lifted up, to their
own shame. Paul set himself very earnestly to deal with this disease
when he saw it raging among the Corinthians. He felt it needful to do
so, for it was leading to other mischiefs of the most disgraceful kind.
Pride and self-conceit had led the members of the church in Corinth to
choose for themselves distinct leaders, and to arrange them selves
under separate banners: the followers of this man thinking themselves
better than the followers of that. Thus the body of Christ was divided,
and all sorts of ill feeling, jealousy, emulation and envy sprang up in
the church of God where all ought to have been mutual helpfulness and
loving unity. Paul therefore earnestly, and with great wisdom, assailed
the spirit of pride.
Paul was well aware of one fact, namely, that pride is shallow and
superficial. It cannot endure honest questioning, and so Paul tried it
by the Socratic method, and put it through a catechism. He puts three
questions to it in this verse, and these three all called upon his
friends to go a little lower in their contemplation of themselves than
their pride had before allowed them to go. Pride said, "I have such and
such gifts"; but Paul replied, "what hast thou that thou didst not
receive?" Thus he digged deeper and undermined pride. The receipt of
those gifts from God it had forgotten altogether; therefore, by
bringing that fact to mind the apostle took pride right under the root,
and that is always the best way to destroyer a weed. To cut off the
green top, and leave the crown of the root so that it may spring up in
the next shower, or the next sunshine, is of no avail; but to go deep
down and tear up the root is effectual: this Paul did with pride by
reminding the vainglorious Corinthians that the gifts which they
possessed were no ground of glory, because they had received them as
alms from the charity of God.
Another truth is also illustrated by Paul's procedure, namely, that
pride is always inconsistent with the true doctrine of the gospel. You
may use this test concerning any preaching, or teaching that you meet
with: if it legitimately and logically leads a man to boast of himself,
it is not true. Our chemists use litmus to discover the presence of
acid in any liquid submitted to them, for the paper then takes a
reddish tint; and you may use this as your test, that when a doctrine
makes you red with pride it contains the acid of falsehood. That which
puffs up is not of God, but that which lays the man low, and exalts
Jesus Christ, has at least two of the tokens of truth. That which
glorifies man cannot have been revealed by God, for he has said that no
flesh shall glory in his presence. Such teaching may appear very
lustrous with affected holiness, and very fascinating, with pretended
spirituality, and there may be much in your fondest desires which
inclines your heart towards it, as there always is in the novelties of
the present day, but try it whether it be of God by the test which is
here suggested. If with a sleek hand it brushes your feathers the right
way, and makes you feel "What a fine fellow I am," you ought at once to
flee from it. The very fact that it flatters you should be to you like
a fog horn to warn you of danger. Say to every doctrine which fosters
pride, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things
that be of God and of truth, or thou wouldst not speak so well of me."
My object this morning shall be to attempt to do with our own pride
what Paul sought to do with that of the Corinthians, namely, to go a
little deeper than we generally go when measuring our own abilities;
and then I shall try to use the silver spade of the doctrines of grace,
so that this hemlock of pride may be taken up by the roots. Looking at
the text I notice, first, a question to be answered with ease "Who
maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst
not receive?" secondly, a question to be answered with shame "Now if
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not
received it?" and then, thirdly, I shall occupy your attention a few
minutes with other questions which these questions suggest. May the
Holy Spirit graciously bless the word.
I. In a two-fold form the apostle gives us A QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED
WITH EASE. There may be some who would be puzzled with these questions,
but I do not suppose there are any such people present; at any rate,
there are no such members of our church. When we are asked, "Who maketh
thee to differ from another?" our answer is immediately, "God by his
grace has made us to differ" and if we are asked, "What hast thou that
thou didst not receive?" we reply, "We have nothing but our sin; for
every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights."
We are the more glad to hear Paul say this, because he was what is
nowadays styled a "self-made" man. It very frequently happens that a
man who makes himself has very great respect for his maker. Is it not
natural that he should worship his creator? Paul was a man who, as far
as the Christian church is concerned, at any rate, had forced his way
up without aid from others. He began in that church with no respect,
but under very much suspicion. The brethren had heard that he
persecuted the saints, so that at first they would scarce receive him;
his name was a terror rather than a pleasure, but Paul, with that high
spirit, that consecrated ardor, that indefatigable industry, that
wondrous courage of his, backed, of course, by the grace of God, came
to the front until he could honestly claim, without egotism, that he
was "not a whit behind the very chief of the apostles, though," said
he, "I be nothing." Paul was a man who had not been borne upon the
crest of the wave into an eminent position, he did not wake up one
morning and find himself famous, but he had put forth all his powers in
the struggle of life, and labored with persistent energy year after
year. When he persecuted the saints of God he did it ignorantly, in
unbelief, and thought he did God service; and all his life long for him
to know a thing to be right was to strive after it. He had been kept
from self-seeking and deceit, he had been an intensely active,
strong-minded, high-souled man, and he had done a grand life-work by
which the church is still affected; and yet Paul himself had nothing
whereof to glory. His testimony to his own indebtedness to God's grace
is so plain, and given so many times over, that we cannot mistake it.
He says distinctly, "By the grace of God I am what I am." He counted
his own righteousness as worthless, and only desired that he might be
found in Christ, arrayed in the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Do we address to-day any self-made man, as the world calls men who have
risen from the ranks? Have you taken credit to yourself, dear friend,
for your success in life? Do you plume yourself upon your having risen
by your own exertions"? Then cease from such boasting, and in the
spirit of the apostle ask yourself the question, "Who maketh thee to
differ, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?"
Our question is easy to answer, whether it be applied to natural gifts
or to spiritual ones. There is a tendency to boast in natural gifts,
but if questioned concerning them we must give the self-evident answer
that any natural gifts we possess are not to be set to our credit, but
were bestowed on us by God. Some gifts come to us as the result of
birth, and of course in that matter we had no hand. It may be we were
born of Christian parents, and that pedigree is one for which we shall
always be thankful: we had sooner number our parents with the saints of
God than with the peers of the realm: but truly, brethren, we should be
foolish to boast of godly ancestors, for we had not the choosing of
them Children of pious parents, you cannot look with disdain even upon
those who are basely born, for you did not cause yourselves to be born
any more than they did.
From their birth some derive physical strength. It always seems to me
to be a very insane thing for a man to glory in his animal force, for
there can be no merit in it; yet there are some who do so. In the
strength of those brawny limbs of theirs, and those powerful muscles,
some vaunt themselves abundantly. Though the Lord taketh not pleasure
in the legs of a man, yet some count it a very wonderful thing that
they can outleap or outrun their fellows. O athlete, though thou be
strong as Samson, or swift as Asahel, what hast thou that thou hast not
received? Hadst thou been born with a tendency to consumption, or with
some other hereditary weakness, couldst thou have prevented it? And now
that thou art strong, art thou to be praised for that any more than a
horse or a steam engine?
The same is true of beauty of person, which too frequently is the cause
of vanity. Beauty is often a snare on this account. What if thy
features be delicately chiselled, what if thine eyes are bright as the
morning, and thy countenance fair as the lily, what if there be a charm
in thine every glance; what hast thou in all these for which to praise
thyself? Jezebel also was fair to look upon, and is she to be praised?
Is not thy beauty the gift of God? Bless thy Creator for it, but do not
despise those who are less comely, for in so doing thou wilt despise
their Maker. How often do we hear a laugh raised behind their backs
against persons who are somewhat grotesque, or it may be deformed, but
God made them, and who is he that shall dare to taunt the Maker with
what he has done? What hast thou, O thou fairest among women; what hast
thou, O thou comeliest among the sons of men, but what thou hast
received? Cease, then, those mincing airs and tossings of the head.
The same is true with regard to the rank which comes of birth. Some men
are born according to heraldic arrangements noble. In what way is a
new-born babe noble? Can true nobility arise out of anything but
personal character? They are, however, born with the repute of
nobility, and are at once regarded with respect. Are they not our
future rulers? Through no deed or desert, or talent or heroism of their
own, some are as it were by accident, or rather by the sovereign
ordinance of providence, placed above others, wherefore then should
they glory in what is so purely a matter of gift? O thou who art great
and honorable amongst men, what hast thou but what thou hast received?
Walk in lowly gentleness, and live with true nobility of character, and
so make thy rank a blessing.
Brethren and sisters, how much all of us owe in the matter of birth for
which we sometimes take to ourselves credit. We have never fallen,
perhaps, into the grosser immoralities, but should we not readily have
done so if we had been huddled together in chambers where decency
struggles for existence, or been compelled to take our walks abroad
where blasphemy and vice contend with law and order, and are not to be
subdued? If the worst of examples had been before us instead of the
best, what might we not have become? We have sinned enough as it is,
but very much of the fact that we have not sinned more must be laid
rather to the account of our having commenced life under favorable
circumstances than to any meritorious conduct of our own. In this
respect, what have we that we did not receive? You have been honest,
thank God for it: but you might have been a thief if your father had
been so. You have been chaste and modest, be glad of it: you might not
have been so had you been encompassed with other surroundings. You are
at this time respected and reputable, and you carry on business in an
upright manner; had you been as poor as some, you might have been
tempted to as dirty transactions as they are chargeable with. In these
common matters of morality we cannot tell how much we owe to birth, and
how little to ourselves. Certainly self-applause ceases as we hear the
question, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?"
In the matter of talent there are very great differences. One man will
very soon make his way in the world where others fail. Put him where we
will, he will make his fortune; and his friends laughingly say that if
he were transported to the desert of Sahara he would sell the sand at a
profit. But who gave him that talent? What has he that he has not
received? Another can study an art or a science and become proficient
in it in a short time; as a boy he is a leader at school, and as a man
he is eminent in his sphere; still, are not his wisdom and insight
gifts from heaven? Another man has the gift of eloquence, and can speak
well, while his fellow has the pen of a ready writer. In either of
these gifts a man may take so much content as by-and-by to become
vainglorious, but the truth taught in our text ought always to prevent
that folly. "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" That which
God gave to thee he might have withheld, and the man whom thou
despisest might have had thy gifts: he would have been foolish to
despise thee if thou hadst been without them, and thou art foolish now
to despise him.
What differences there are, too, as to what men are helped to make of
themselves by education. Now-a-day there is a better opportunity of
education for all ranks and conditions of men, for which I am earnestly
thankful, and hope that true religion will be connected with the
advantage; but all boys trained in the same school do not leave it
equally educated. One is quick, and another dull; one manages to place
himself foremost, and another is doomed to be in the rear. Whether the
difference be in the original conformation of the man, or be the result
of different teaching, the result must alike be subject for
thankfulness to God, for whether it be natural talent or excellent
education, both are received.
Equally so is it with wealth. I may address some one to whom God has
given large substance; but, my dear friend, in the course of the
accumulation of that substance you have had plenty of evidence that "it
is God that giveth thee power to get wealth." There was a time when you
had little enough, and it was a singular providence which put you in
the way of rising. There have been times, too, when a little turn of
the scale would have sent you into bankruptcy, but the markets went the
other way, and you were made. You have seen others who were ahead of
you in the race of prosperity left far behind, and though God has
prospered you I know there have been anxious moments when you have had
to lift up your eyes to the Most High, and beseech him by his
tenderness and mercy to help and deliver you. Well, inasmuch as this
wealth is a blessing if you know how to use it rightly, ascribe the
possession of it to God, who has made you his steward. Do you tell me
that you have had a keener eye and exercised more industry than others,
as well as a better judgment? True, but who gave you the judgment, and
who gave you the health with which to be industrious? Many another man
has been as industrious, and yet has failed; many another has been as
willing to work, but he has been disabled by sickness; many another man
has had as keen an eye, but alas, his judgment has been baffled by
misfortune; another man began life with as clear a brain as you, but
now he is confined in the asylum and you still are in possession of all
your faculties. O sirs, never sacrifice to your own net and drag, and
say, "We brought up these treasures from the deep"; but bless God who
gave you all that you have of earthly things, for what have you that
you have not received? I would that you felt more than you do that you
are only stewards, that your possessions are lent to you to be used for
God's glory and the good of others, and neither to be squandered nor
hoarded for yourselves.
But now, brothers and sisters, this is very emphatically true as to our
spiritual gifts, and I invite you to consider this truth "What hast
thou that didst not receive?" There has long been a great doctrinal
discussion between the Calvinists and the Arminians upon many important
points. I am myself persuaded that the Calvinist alone is right upon
some points, and the Arminian alone is right upon others. There is a
great deal of truth in the positive side of both systems, and a great
deal of error in the negative side of both. If I was asked, "Why is a
man damned?" I should answer as an Arminian answers, "He destroys
himself." I should not dare to lay man's ruin at the door of divine
sovereignty. On the other hand, if I were asked, "Why is a man saved?"
I could only give the Calvinistic answer, "He is saved through the
sovereign grace of God, and not at all of himself." I should not dream
of ascribing the man's salvation in any measure to himself. I have not
found, as a matter of fact, that any Christian people care seriously to
quarrel with a ministry which contains these two truths in fair
proportions. I find them kicking at the inferences which are supposed
to follow from one or the other of them, and sometimes needlessly
crying to have them "reconciled;" but the two truths together, as a
rule, commend themselves to the conscience, and I feel sure that if I
could bring them both forward this morning with equal clearness I
should win the assent of most Christian men. At this time, however I
have to confine myself to the statement that all the grace we have is
the gift of God to us, and I trust none will, therefore, suppose that I
deny the other side of the question. I believe assuredly that we have
nothing good in us but what we have received. For instance, we were
dead in trespasses and sin, and we were quickened into spiritual life:
my brethren, did that life spring out of the ribs of death? Did the
worm of our corruption beget the living seed of regeneration? It were
absurd to think so. God be praised for his great love wherewith he
loved us, even when we were dead in sin, which led him to quicken us by
his grace. We have been forgiven our great sins wholly forgiven;
through the precious blood of Christ we have been made clean. Did we
deserve it? Does any man who professes to be a Christian say for a
single moment that he deserved the ransom paid by Christ, and deserved
the pardon of his sin? It would be monstrous blasphemy even to imagine
such a thing. Oh no; "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man
should boast." God forgave us freely; there could not possibly have
been any quality in sin which could have called forth forgiving love.
He had mercy upon us because he would have mercy upon us; not because
we could claim anything at his hand.
Everything, dear friend, that makes you to differ from the common
sinner is the gift of God's grace to you. You know it is. You have
faith in Christ: yes, but did not the Holy Spirit work it in you? Do
you not cheerfully subscribe to the doctrine that faith is of the
operation of God? You have repentance of sin, but was the repentance
natural to you? Did you not receive it from him who is exalted on high
to give repentance? Is not your repentance his gift? "Truly," one will
say, "but then the same gospel was preached to others as to us."
Precisely so. Perhaps the very sermon which was the means of your
conversion left others as they were. What made the difference then? Do
you reply, "We willed to believe in Jesus." That is true; an unwilling
faith would be no faith: but then who influenced your will? Was your
will influenced by some betterness of nature in you so that you can
claim credit for it? I for one reject with abhorrence any such an idea.
Do you reply, "Our will was influenced by our understanding, and we
chose what we knew to be best." But then, who enlightened your
understanding? Who gave you the light which illuminated your mind, so
that you chose the way of life? "Oh," say you, "but our hearts were set
towards salvation, and the hearts of others were not." That also is
true, but then who set your heart that way, who was the prime mover?
Were you or God? There is the question, and if, my dear brother, you
dare affirm that in the matter of your own salvation you were the prime
mover I am at a loss to understand you, and I hope there are few of
your creed. Jesus is not Alpha to you. You do not love him because he
first loved you. You were evidently not converted, or turned at all,
but you turned yourself. You are not a new creature, but are your own
new-creator. Do you look to see the same thing in others? Why, then, do
you act as you do? Why do you pray the Lord to turn others if you
believe that he did not turn you? Do you pray the Lord to convert your
children? Why do you do it? If it is left entirely to them to be the
prime movers, why pray to God about them? "Ah," says one, "God must
treat all alike." I ask again, why do you pray for your children? You
ask God to do a wrong thing in blessing your children in preference to
other people, if it be true that he is bound to treat all alike. When
you go practically to work these sentiments do not hold water. The man
who knows that the Holy Spirit was first in his operations upon the
mind, and who calls Christ Jesus the Alpha and the Omega of his
salvation, is the man who can fairly go to the Lord, and pray for the
conversion of this man or that; and he too is sure to give God all the
glory of his salvation, and magnify and bless the grace of the Most
High.
Perhaps, my dear brother, there is a difference between you and other
saints. I am sure there is reason for some saints to eclipse others,
for some professors are very poor things indeed. Well, brother, you
have a great deal more faith than others; where did you get it? If you
received it from anywhere but from God, you had better get rid of it.
Dear brother, you have more joy than some, and possibly you feel
ashamed of your fellow Christians who are so doubting and sad: beware
that you do not become vain of your joy, and remember, that if your joy
is true joy you received it of the Lord. Are you more useful than
others? You cannot help looking at certain professors who are idle, and
wishing that you could stir them up. I know I do; I would put a sharp
pin into their downy cushions if I could: but for all that who gives us
activity, who gives us usefulness, who gives us zeal, who gives us
courage, who gives us everything? If you, dear friend, get into such a
condition that you begin to whisper to yourself, "I have improved my
gifts and graces at a very noble rate, and am getting on exceedingly
well in spiritual things," you will soon have to come down from your
high places. If you register yourself A 1 at Lloyd's I will not sail
with you, brother, for I fear your proud barque will tempt the tempest.
I would rather sail with some poor Christian man whose weather-beaten
vessel would go to the bottom if Jesus were not on board, for I am
persuaded he is safe. "Blessed is the man that feareth always." Blessed
is the man who lies low at the foot of the cross, and who, concerning
everything that he has, whether temporal or spiritual, ascribes all to
the Giver of all Good.
Now we must pass on briefly to think of the second point.
II. HERE IS A QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED WITH SHAME. "If thou didst
receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" If
any of us have fallen into vain glory, and we all have more or less
done so, let us answer this question with confusion of face. Brother,
sister, have you gloried in anything you have received? Then bethink
you how wrongly you have acted, for you have robbed God of his honor.
To glory in man is altogether inconsistent with glorying in God. Depend
upon it every particle of praise we take to ourselves is so much stolen
out of the revenues of the King of kings. Will a man rob God? Will a
redeemed man rob God? Will a poor sinner snatched from between the jaws
of death and hell by undeserved mercy, rob God? Lord have mercy upon
us.
When we boast we also leave our truthful position, and every Christian
ought to be ashamed to stand anywhere but in the truth. When I confess
myself to be weak, helpless, and ascribe all I have to grace, then I
stand in the truth; but if I take even the remotest praise to myself, I
stand in a lie. The Lord have mercy upon us if we have dared to act
falsehood in his presence.
Let us remember, too, that whensoever we prize ourselves highly we are
sure to esteem our Lord less. Do you see any spiritual beauty in
yourself? Then it is because you do not know what true beauty is? Do
you say, "I am rich and increased in goods"? Then you know nothing, or
very little, of what true wealth is. You have mistaken gilt for gold,
and rags for raiment. I counsel thee buy of Jesus gold tried in the
fire, and fine linen wherewith thou mayest be clothed. Depend upon it
our judgment is very much like a pair of scales: if Christ goes up self
goes down; and if self rises Jesus falls in our esteem. No man ever
sets a high price upon self and Christ at the same time.
"The more thy glories strike mine eyes
The humbler I shall be,"
is a rule without exception.
Besides, if you and I have gloried in what we possess we have
undervalued our fellow Christians, and that is a great sin. They are
very dear to Jesus, and he accounts even their deaths precious. "Take
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones that believe in me";
but if we over-estimate ourselves the natural consequence is that we
under-estimate others. Have I ever thought, "I am a rich man; and these
poor people, though good Christians, are nobodies compared to me: I am
of far more consequence to the church"? Have I conceived, because I
have a measure of talent, that those holy men and women who cannot
speak for Christ are of no great account? Or have I, because I happened
to be an old, experienced Christian, snuffed out the young ones, and
said "They are only a pack of boys and girls"? Is this the way to speak
of those who were bought with the blood of Christ, and are members of
Christ's body? It will not do for us to despise the meanest saint. I
believe there are many who are now pushed into the background and
shoved into any hole and corner whom Christ looks upon with special
delight, and will place first when he comes. Verily I say unto you,
"There are first that shall be last, and there are last that shall be
first."
Besides, all this honoring of ourselves generally puts us off from the
right course as to our gifts, and makes us forget that these things are
only lent us, to be used for our Master. It is required of stewards
that they be found faithful, not that they vaunt themselves and deck
themselves in their Master's goods. We have too much to do to afford to
boast. Look at yonder young soldier who has just received his armor and
his helmet. He has just entered the service. Look with what pleasure he
sees his comely face reflected in his breastplate; how much he admires
his plume, he thinks how grand he shall look in such gear. My dear
fellow, all this while you have forgotten that to wear these things in
the thick of the battle, where they will bear the dint of the sword, is
what awaits you, and you do not consider that, not your gallant
appearance, but your velour is what we want to see. When a man exalts
himself because of what he possesses he does not act as a soldier of
the cross should do.
Here we will insert an illustration or two. There is a tendency in some
to exalt themselves because God has placed them in office. They are
ministers, deacons, elders, superintendents, or something. What mighty
airs they give themselves! "Honour to whom honor is due" they seem to
have learned the text by heart, and to have seen a personal reference
in it. Have you never seen the footmen of princes when they are playing
the great man? What wonders of nature and art they often are. I was
admiring one of them the other day, with all the reverence due. The
vision of his pomp quite staggered me, for he was so gorgeous to look
upon. I feel sure that his royal master was nothing like so striking,
and certainly could not have been more pompous or aristocratic. While I
was looking on with due wonder and reverence, somebody cruelly
remarked, "What a flunkey!" a most irreverent observation, and yet
very natural. My brothers, whenever you and I, because we have our best
clothes on, and are ministers, or deacons, or elders, act as if we were
very great men, somebody or another is sure to call us flunkeys too;
not perhaps exactly in so many words, but in language to the same
effect. Do not let us expose ourselves to such contempt, and if ever we
have done so, let us be rebuked at once by the thought of what we have
seen in others.
Some persist in boasting about their experience. This also is vanity.
Suppose a man here, who is a great pedestrian, has been over the Alps
and traversed Europe; here is his walking stick, and it boasts, "I am
the most traveled walking stick in creation, I have smitten the craggy
brows of the Alps and bathed myself in the Nile." "Well," says one,
"but wherever you have gone you have been carried by a power beyond
yourself." So let the man who boasts in experience remember that in the
paths of peace he has gone nowhere except as the Lord's hand has borne
him onward; he has been nothing but a staff in God's hands, and while
he should be grateful he should never be proud.
I was in a beautiful garden the other day, upon the rocks, where the
choicest of flowers and tropical plants are growing: while all around
the rocks are bare, with scarce a trace of vegetable life Now, suppose
that garden were proud, and boasted of its fruitfulness. The answer
would be, "Every basketful of earth had to be carried up to you, and
you would not bear fruit now if it was not for the stream of water that
is turned on, and tracked through many little mazes, and brought to the
root of each plant you bear; you would be a rock again in a few months
if you were left to yourself; therefore let the former of the garden
rejoice in his work, but the garden itself may not glory." That is what
the most fruitful believer would be if God let him alone a barren
rock, a wilderness.
Suppose I address some Christian who is happy, and joyous, and
cheerful, and has such dainty bits sent home to him out of the
promises, such precious words from Scripture applied to his heart. Dear
friend, are you apt to think that there is something specially good
about you because you get all these remarkable enjoyments? Then let me
disabuse your mind. It is your weakness which gets you these favors.
When you are living in a hotel you will remark that certain persons
have their dinners sent upstairs. What for? Oh, that is because they
are ill. If you are well you must go down to the table d'hote with the
rest; but if you are ill they will send it upstairs, and pay you extra
attention. These very comforts that God gives you ought to make you
enquire whether there is not something amiss with you, and instead of
thinking you are strong and well you should search and see if there is
not some weakness which the Lord in his mercy intends to remove by the
double comforts which he gives to you. Nothing in the world ought to be
a cause of self-exaltation; nothing that our God gives us ought to make
us think highly of ourselves. Lower down, brother, lower down, and so
you will rise. The way to heaven is downhill, not uphill. As Christ
went down to the grave that he might come up again and fill all things,
so must you go to the cross, and down to the grave of self and be
buried with Christ, and learn the meaning of your baptism, and make it
true that you are buried with him to all the world, and to yourself
also, for so only can you rise into the fullness of the new life.
III. OTHER QUESTIONS WHICH THESE QUESTIONS SUGGEST shall now, in the
third place, occupy our attention. What are they?
The first is this. Have I ever given to God his due place in the matter
of my salvation? a question that I may very well put, for I recollect
when I was converted to God, and truly converted too, but I did not
know that it was the work of the Spirit in my heart; I did not
understand that it was the result of special grace. I had heard the
gospel generally preached, but I had not learned the peculiar doctrines
of grace; and I recollect very well sitting down and thinking to
myself, "I am renewed in my mind, I am forgiven, I am saved: how came
that about?" and I traced it to this, that I had heard the gospel, but
as I knew that many never had an opportunity of hearing it, I saw
special grace in my having had the opportunity to hear it. But then I
said, "There are others who have heard it, but it was not blessed to
them: how came it to be blessed to me?" and I cogitated for awhile
whether it could be something good in me that made the gospel useful to
me, for if so I deserved to have the credit of it. Somehow the grace
which God had given me made me fling that theory to the winds, and I
came to this conclusion, "It must be God that made the difference," and
having got that one thought into my mind, the doctrines of grace
followed as a matter of course. Only by experimentally knowing that
there has been a special work of grace in your own soul, will you be
likely to place the Lord where he should be in your creed, for some
provide a very inferior place for the Lord in the matter of their
salvation. With them man is very great, and God is made little of; but
true theology makes God the very sun of the system, the center, the
head, the first, and chief. Have you done so? If not, correct your
views, and get a clearer view of the gospel of grace. May the Holy
Spirit help you therein. To know the doctrines of grace will be much to
your comfort, will tend to your stability, and will also lead you to
seek the glory of God.
The next question is this, Have I this morning the spirit of humble
gratitude? How do I feel? Do I take God's mercy as a matter of course,
and view my own gifts without thankfulness? Then I act like the brutes
that perish, but let me pray this morning that humble, lowly gratitude
may daily rule my spirit. Such gratitude will make you cheerful, it
will make you earnest, it will in fact be an atmosphere in which all
Christian graces will grow by the blessing of God's Spirit.
Next, seeing I have been a receiver, what have I done towards giving
out again? It cannot have been intended that I should receive and never
give out, for if that be the case there is a sad lot for me. You know
they used to make, and do still make, in the North of England,
earthenware saving boxes for the children. You can put what you like
in, but you cannot get it out any more until you break the box; and
there are persons of that sort among us. Some have died lately, and
their estates have been reported in the Probate Court. There was plenty
put in to them, but you could never get anything out, and consequently
they had to be broken up. I only hope when they were broken up the gold
and silver went the right way. What a pity to be like money boxes, to
be of no good until you are broken up. One would like to get and give
at the same time. We ought not to be as a stagnant pond, a Dead Sea,
which receives from rivers all the year round, but gives forth no
stream in return, and so becomes a stagnant, putrid lake. Let us be
like the great lakes of America, which receive the mighty rivers and
pour them out again, and consequently keep fresh and clear.
The next question is Since what I have had I have received by God's
grace, might I not receive more? Come; brothers and sisters, with
regard to gracious things I want you to be covetous. Covet earnestly
the best gifts. If you have had faith, why should you not have more? If
God gave you hope, joy, experience, why not more? You are not
straitened in him, you can be only straitened in yourself. Try to
remove those hindrances, and ask the Lord to give you more grace.
One other question If all that Christians have they have received,
sinner, why should not you receive as well as they? If it were true
that Christians got these good things out of themselves, then you, poor
sinner, might despair, for you know you have no good thing in you; but
if the best of saints, the best Christian in heaven, has not anything
but what he received, why should not you receive? To receive, you know,
is never a difficult thing. I warrant you that out of all the people in
London there is not a man but what could receive. Try it on the present
occasion. Let it be a thousand pounds, and see how many among us would
be unable to receive. If there be a person about who would not receive,
I tell you who it is it is the man who thinks himself so rich that he
does not care to have any more. Even so the proud, self-righteous
Pharisee cannot receive; but you poor, good-for-nothing, empty sinners
can receive; and here is the mercy "to as many as received him, to
them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to as many as
believed on his name." Open that empty hand, open that empty heart: God
grant they may be opened now by his own divine Spirit, and may you
receive, and then I know you will join with us in saying, "Of his
fullness have all we received, and grace for grace."
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON Psalm 103 and 1 Corinthians 4.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 103 (Vers. 1.), 233, 235.
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A God Ready to Pardon