The First, Last–And the Last, First

The First, Last–And the Last, First

(No. 2221)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
12, 1891.

"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first." Matthew
19:30.

"So the last will be first, and the first, last." Matthew20:16.

We must be saved if we would serve the Lord. We cannot serve God in an
unsaved condition. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." It
is vain for them to attempt service while they are still at enmity
against God. The Lord wants not enemies to wait upon Him, nor slaves to
grace His Throne. We must first be saved–and salvation is all of
Grace. "By Grace are you saved through faith." After we are saved and
as the result of salvation, we serve. Saved–we serve! He that is saved
becomes a child of God and then he renders a child-like service in his
Father's house. That service is also all of Grace! He serves not under
the Law of the old commandment, "This do, and you shall live," for he
is not under the Law, but under Grace. Therefore, sin shall not have
dominion over him, but Grace shall have dominion over him– and he
shall seek to serve the Lord and please Him all the days of his life.
When we are saved, we must never forget that we are saved that we may
serve–made free from sin, that we may become servants of God. David
says, "O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant and the son
of Your handmaid: You have loosed my bonds." Because our bonds are
loosed, we are under new bonds, bonds of love which bind us to the
service of the Most High.

Now, when we come thus to be servants, we must not forget that we are
saved men and women, for if we begin to fancy that while we serve, we
are working to win life by our merits, we shall get upon legal ground.
And a child of God on legal ground is going backwards–he is departing
from his true standing before God. But remember, "You are not under the
Law, but under Grace." But if you begin to forget your indebtedness to
your Savior, not only for eternal life, but for everything you are,
have and do, you will be like the Galatians who began in the Spirit,
but sought to be made perfect by the flesh. You will be like the young
man whose question we have just read–"What do I lack?" You will be
like Peter, who puts in a sort of claim for reward–"Behold, we have
forsaken all, and followed You; what shall we have therefore?" You will
be like the men who had worked in the vineyard from early morning and
who murmured because the penny was given to those who had only worked
for a single hour.

Christ will not have His servants under bondage to a legal spirit!
Wherever He spies it out, He strikes it on the head, for both the
service and the reward are all of Grace. The service, itself, is given
us of God and God rewards the service which He, Himself, has given! We
might almost speak of this as an eccentricity of Grace. God gives us
good works and then rewards us for the works which He, Himself, has
given! So all is of Grace from first to last and must never be viewed
with a legal eye. Into this subject I want, on this occasion, to
conduct you.

I dare say that you have heard sermons from this text, but probably not
preached from it in its connection. I like to take the text as it
stands and get from it a bit of exposition for my own heart, which I
may pass on to you, for, remember, although the text away from its
connection may be true, yet it is not the truth which God there
intended to teach us and it becomes us to look about us to see what
comes before the text and what comes after, in order that we may catch
the exact meaning of the Holy Spirit in giving the words.

I. I shall begin by dwelling upon this remark–IN THE SERVICE OF OUR
LORD FREE GRACE IS MANIFESTED. It may not strike you as being upon the
surface of the text, but it lies on the very surface of the whole
connection–in the service of our Lord, Free Grace is manifested. Think
that over.

It must be so, in the first place, because, although it is rewarded,
all our service is already due to God. Under the Law of God we are
bound to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all
our mind and with all our strength. There can be nothing beyond that.
All that we can do, we are already bound to do under the Law. Works of
supererogation must be impossible, since the Law comprehends all
holiness and condemns every form of sin. When we have done all, we are
unprofitable servants–we have done no more than it was our duty to do.
Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, if there is a service to which we are
called, and for which a reward is promised, it must be a service of
Grace. It cannot be any other. Under the Gospel, the same thing is
true–all that we can do is already due. "You are not your own; for you
are bought with a price." There is no faculty, there is no capacity,
there is no possibility of your nature which is not redeemed and which
does not belong to Christ by virtue of the ransom price which He has
paid for it!

You will gladly and gratefully acknowledge the obligation to do all
that lies in you for Him who loved you and bought you with His precious
blood–

"Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow."

surely they are all already due to my Lord in repentance and gratitude!
All the zeal of missionaries, all the patience of martyrs, all the
faith of confessors, all the holiness of godly men is Christ's by right
and, therefore, there can be no reward for them, seeing that they are
already His due! If there is a service for which a reward is given to
us, it is a service granted to us of Grace, that we may receive Grace
thereby.

But, next, there is this reflection–all our services is in itself
unacceptable. When all comes to all, it is still, in and of itself, a
thing so mean and poor, so imperfect and defiled, that it could not
claim any reward! Job was made to feel this in the day of his
humiliation. He said, "If I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me
perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would
despise my life." If it were possible for us to stand before God in any
merit of our own, we feel so certain that we have come short of the
Glory of God and that in many things we have offended, that we would
tear off our righteousness from us and throw it away as filthy rags,
even the best of it! "I count all things but loss," says Paul, "that I
may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ; the
righteousness which is of God by faith." If, then, we are so conscious
of our failures, shortcomings, and transgressions–and if we have to
cry for mercy even on our holy things and to confess sin in them–how
can we suppose that any reward that may be given can be otherwise than
of Grace, seeing that the whole service, itself, must be of Grace?

Think again. The ability to serve God is the gift of God's Grace. I
refer not only to mental ability, but to the capacity which men of
substance have to help the cause of God by their generous gifts. It is
God who gives the power to get wealth, as it is He who gives the brain
to think and the mouth to speak. "What have you that you did not
receive?" If any here present are serving God with gifts and graces, I
am sure that they must acknowledge that those were given to them. They
did not win them themselves. Or, if some of them are acquirements, yet
the power to acquire was given them of Him from whom comes every good
gift and every perfect gift. Thus the ability to serve God is the gift
of Grace!

Beloved, the call to serve God in any special way is also of Grace. If
we are called to the ministry, remember how Paul puts it–"Unto me, who
am less than the least of all saints, is this Grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." If
our kings put upon their coins, "Dei gratia"–kings, by the Grace of
God–well, well, let them say so–but we can put it on our lives.
"Sunday school teachers, by the Grace of God." "Street preachers, by
the Grace of God." "Students in the College, by the Grace of God."
"Preachers of the Gospel, by the Grace of God." It is God who calls us
to our several sacred employments! Our ordination, if it is an
ordination at all, is from that great Shepherd and Bishop of souls who
went up into a mountain and called unto Him whom He would and made them
to be His first messengers. Before He left them, He gave them that
great commission which is still binding upon all His followers, "Go you
into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."

It is of Grace that we are put into any sphere of service! And what a
Grace it is to be permitted to do anything for Him! His shoelaces we
are not worthy to unloose! His shoes we are not worthy to bear. Though
it is a menial's work, it is

a monarch's work to do anything for Christ! Blessed be His name if He
will let me be anywhere in His service, though it were but as a
dishwasher in the kitchen! The kitchen is in the palace and Christ's
kitchen maids are maids of honor! He that serves God, reigns. To serve
Him on earth is to be glorified! To serve Him in Heaven will be a part
of our endless glory. Surely this, then, is by Grace!

Still further, every opportunity of serving God is a gift of Grace. I
am sure that when I have been shut out from the pulpit by sickness, I
have thought it a great Grace from God to be permitted to creep into
the pulpit once more. When one's hand has been unable to hold a pen, we
count it a Grace to be able to write, again, some loving words that may
be blessed to men. I think that it is God's Grace that puts people in
your way to whom you may speak privately. It is God's Grace that brings
those children to the Sunday school to you, that you may teach them. If
we were wide awake, we should see, all day long, opportunities of
usefulness–and we should be saying, "Blessed be God who puts me, by
Providence, where I can be of some little service to Him and bring
forth some fruit to His praise!" It is all of Grace! These Providential
openings and the spirit and the power to avail ourselves of them, come
as gifts from God!

Another thing I know–when you have the call to a work and the
opportunity, still it is a gift of Grace to be in a right state of mind
to do your Lord's service. Do you ever feel sluggish and dull? Would
you not always be so if His Spirit did not quicken you? Are you not
sometimes frostbitten so that your soul seems like a great iceberg?
Would the waters ever flow unless the Spirit came with melting power?
Do you not thank God, dear Brother, that you have had gracious
occasions in which the Lord has made you like Naphtali, "a hind let
loose"? When you have given forth goodly words, from whom has come the
unction? Where did the power come from? You have spoken–ah, that is a
poor thing! But God has spoken through you–ah, that is a grand thing!
Is not that wholly the work of Grace? Every tear of sympathy that the
preacher sheds when he is wooing men to Christ. Every heartthrob and
all the anguish of his soul when he would gladly compel them to come
in–the whole bearing and carriage of a Grace-taught minister or
teacher–all this is of Grace and unto God must be the Glory for it. It
is not under Law that we are working, for the Law of God provides no
strength, no tone, no savor. It is Grace that makes us work, for it
gives us the strength with which to work. "God has spoken once; twice
have I heard this, that power belongs unto God. Also unto You, O Lord,
belongs mercy: for You render to every man according to his work." You
give him strength proportioned to his need and the guidance necessary
because of the difficulties of his task. Here is Grace! Is it not so?

You will be sure to join with me in the next point without a single
objection–success in holy service is wholly of the Lord. If we were so
wicked as to attribute to ourselves the sowing, and to ourselves the
watering, apart from Grace, yet we would not dare to attribute to
ourselves the increase! "I have planted," said Paul. "Apollos watered;
but God gave the increase." Would a single persuasion of ours prevail
with man's hard heart if the Holy Spirit did not convince him of sin
and make him repent? Would the preaching of the Gospel in our poor way
ever enlighten a single eye if Jesus Christ were not seen in His own
light? Could we comfort the broken-hearted, could we proclaim liberty
to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound if
the Spirit of God were not upon us? Why, if we did make the
proclamation, would it not fall flat to the ground, apart from the work
of God, who does all things through us and by us?

We are laborers together with Him. We lift our hand and God lifts His.
We speak and He speaks. We would gladly lay hold of men's hearts, but
He does lay hold of them! We would weep them to Christ, but He brings
them weeping to Christ and saves them to eternal life! Blessed be His
name! After many years of prophesying in His name, dare any of us say
that we have made the dry bones to live? After having long given the
invitation, do we say that we have persuaded one to come to the wedding
feast apart from the Lord's Divine working? Do we take any of the glory
of a saved soul to ourselves? It were treason! It were blasphemy! We
dare not commit such a sin. Our work, if it succeeds at all–if it is
worth calling a good work–is all of Grace!

And if, my dear Friends, any of you are called to suffer for Christ's
sake, the honor of suffering is a special gift. If you have been
reviled, if you have lost position, if you have suffered those moderate
martyrdoms which are possible in a free country like this, then, "Unto
you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him,
but also to suffer for His sake." "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for
great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets
which were before you." But take no credit to yourself. You are
elevated to the peerage of suffering–it is your King who brought you
there. You have His gracious permission to pass through great
tribulation. That were nothing to you if you had not washed your robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

You owe your patience, your courage, your steadfastness, your all to
the Spirit of God. You would have long since been carried away by the
fear of man, which brings a snare–you would have long since been a
traitor to the Truth of God and to your Lord if He had left you. It is
your duty to be faithful. When you are faithful, it is not in yourself
that you are so. He works all our works in us and He must have the
praise of them. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
Work it out to the very fullest! Be thorough with it. "For it is God
which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." "Be
you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."
God will reward you, but your steadfastness, your diligence, your
patience–all these are the work of the Grace of God and you know it!
If you, indeed, possess them, you ascribe them all to Him.

Now, then, we have established this, I think, beyond all contradiction
among spiritual men–that in the service of the Lord, Free Grace is
magnified.

II. So we take another step and we say, as our second head, THEREFORE
THE LORD HAS HIS OWN WAY OF

MEASURING WHAT WE DO. You see that in the case of these persons who had
toiled in the vineyard, their master measured their work after his own
fashion. He did not go by the regular way of pay as so much an hour,
but, inasmuch as it was all of Grace, this great householder made the
reward to be after his own measure–a penny for one hour and a penny
for 12 hours! He made the last equal to the first! So shall it be–"The
last will be first, and the first, last." This is because we are
dealing here, not with a legal paymaster, but with a God of Grace who
measures our service, which itself is all of Grace, by His own
measurement, and not by ours.

He will reward every worker, but not as we judge. He will do no man any
injustice, even in the Omnipotence of His Grace. He will be able to say
to every worker, "Friend, I do you no wrong." He will do no wrong to
any of His servants, whoever they may be, rest sure of that, but still
He will reply, "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with My own?"
And He will reward His workers in His own royal, yet gracious way.

So, then, He will not reward us as according to the time spent, or
surface covered. Some may be Christians for 30 or 40 years and may
never be among the first. It is not the length of your service, good as
that is, that will be God's gain! There may be some who shall come to
Christ and go home to Heaven in a single year and yet shall bring great
honor to their Master. It is not the length of time in which you are
engaged in the lord's service. Neither is it the space that is
apparently covered. Some seem to do a great deal, skimming over a wide
surface, but it is not this that the Master measures– neither by the
hour, nor yet by the acre. That might be a loyal way of measurement,
but His gracious way of measurement is not so.

And He will not measure out the reward according to our ability,
whether it is mental ability, ability of substance, or ability of
opportunity, for some of us might come in for a large share and others
might come in for a very little if this were the rule. But this is not
the way the Master measures! If to one man He gives the gift of speech,
to another the great gift of diving deeply into the meaning of His
Words, to another experience and so on, yet the reward to the persons
holding these various gifts will not be in proportion to the gifts they
have, but after quite another rule.

The reward will not be according to the judgement of men. A Brother has
served God in his way, and his brethren think much of him and appoint
him to an office. He is a deacon, or an elder, or, perhaps, he becomes
a pastor. It is a high reward to be allowed thus to increase our
opportunities of usefulness, but we shall not, at last, be rewarded
according to the height of office. That is not the standard in this
Kingdom where Christ rules.

Above all, no man shall be measured by his own judgement, otherwise I
know some friends who would have a very grand reward. They are free
from sin! They are perfect, they say, but their Master knows, if they
do not, whether that is true or not. Another says, "I have done this
and I have done that." But it is not what you say that you have done,
that will gauge your Master's reward to you. There are some that speak
very loudly of what they have accomplished. I do not think that their
brethren, for the most part, think the more of them for thinking so
much of themselves. I believe that those who have lower opinions of
their own capacity and usefulness are much more honored in the presence
of the saints of God. No, our self-judgment, our tall talk, our loud
profession and so forth, will not be the measure with which we shall be
rewarded, otherwise those who said, "We have borne the burden and heat
of the day," would have had twopence, at least, if not three-pence, or,
perhaps, even a shilling in proportion to those poor creatures whom the
master made equal to them, though they had only come in at the 11th
hour!

Our reward will not be according to the impression made among men. We
may have made our mark upon our age, neighborhood and surroundings.
Some men's names will go down to posterity. Others have no fame at all.
It will be found of some men that their lives are written and
emblazoned everywhere. Others will live in the little circle of their
family, but not beyond that narrow range. But God will not measure so.
The godly housewife, with four or five children trained for God in her
cottage, may be reckoned of God among the first. And the able speaker
in his pulpit, who has thousands hanging on his lips, may be reckoned
of God among the last. God has His own ways of measuring up men's
works.

But let me add that we shall not be rewarded even according to our
success. To some men, success is meted out in large measure–that
success which really is not their own, but is the fruit of other men's
labors. A man preaches the Gospel with many tears for years and sees
little fruit. He dies. Another man, of earnest spirit, follows him and
gathers in the old man's sheaves. The former man planted; the other man
entered into his labors. To whom shall the reward be given? The success
is not due to him who seems to have achieved it. You remember that old
Romish legend which contains a great truth? There was a brother who
preached very mightily and who had won many souls to Christ and it was
revealed to him, one night, in a dream, that in Heaven he would have no
reward for all that he had done. He asked to whom the reward would go
and an angel told him that it would go to an old man who used to sit on
the pulpit stairs and pray for him. Well, it may be so, though it is
more likely that both would share their Master's praise. We shall not
be rewarded, however, simply according to our apparent success.

Neither shall we be put down as one of the last because of no success.
God intends that some men shall never succeed, according to the rule of
success that appertains among men, for He sent even His servant Isaiah
to go and make the people's hearts hard and their ears dull of hearing!
And He sent Jeremiah to weep over a nation to whom his tears brought no
repentance and no reformation! He may send you, like Noah, to preach
for 120 years and never got a soul beside your own family into the ark!
But if you are faithful, that is well pleasing in His sight. Here lies
the good pleasure of God. I do not suppose that it will happen that you
are to do all the plowing and all the sowing and there should never be
an armful of sheaves for you in all your life–though, if it should be
thus, and you shall have been, at the last, found faithful to the
commission that your God has given you, verily, I say unto you, you
shall have your reward! But the reward is not measured out according to
man's rule of success.

Let me tell you what I think is a rule with God. It is a many-branched
kind of rule. Some men stand first because of their strong desire. Oh,
they would have saved the people if they could! They would have
persuaded men to be Christians if they could. They would have laid down
their lives to do it! They preached their very hearts out in their
desire for their Hearers' salvation. Their souls ran over at their lips
while they talked with men. God knows their desires and He takes the
will for the deed and, "so the last will be first."

God also measures proportions. The Brother never had more than one
talent, but he did as much with it as some with ten, yet it did not
seem to come to much in his eyes. He was always mourning because he was
so little. He thought that he was like one of those coral insects at
the bottom of the sea, just making a little bit of coral which never
came above the waves–but it was part of a great whole that would
afterwards rise into a fairy island of the sea! Our Lord will measure,
not according to what a man has not, but according to what a man has.

And here is one who has little to commend him except his spirit. He
waits upon God. He is very gracious. He trembles at God's Word. He
speaks with His whole heart very reverently, very tenderly, desiring
always to be silent if God would have him silent, and only to speak
when God would move him to speak. His delight is to do the Lord's will
and nothing but the Lord's will–and he is quite content to be nothing.
Indeed, he cries for that–

"Oh to be nothing, nothing, Only to lie at His feet."

Now, God may put that man among the first, whereas the self-contained
man, who works sincerely for God, may, nevertheless, have to go into
the back rank and be among the last.

Here is one, again, who, whatever he does, does it with thoroughness.
He does not attempt many things, but he does one thing. It is all that
he can do and he throws his whole soul into it and works at it like
some Eastern artist working at a cameo for a prince. All his life is
put into that little bit of a thing and, it may be, that our great King
will count him

first, while another who did much in a slovenly, slurring style and was
thought to have done a great deal, will have all his work rejected, for
it is not up to the Prince's mark and He will not adorn His palace
therewith.

I think, dear Friends, that God will measure our work very much by our
thought of Him in it. If we did it all to Him. If we did it all for
Him. If He was always in our mind in the doing of it and we did not
think of our friends, nor of our own reputation, God would be more
likely to honor us, for He will put those who think much of Him among
the first, and others among the last. "Them that honor Me," says the
Lord, "I will honor."

And especially, again, if all that we do is baptized with love. Why,
see that woman who brought her alabaster box, and broke it, and poured
the precious ointment of spikenard upon Christ's head! She is put among
the first and Christ makes honorable mention of her wherever the Gospel
is preached! Some that did much have to go among the last, for they had
not such love as she had.

Some work for God with great faith–and the Lord loves to see us
working in faith. To do a great deal of work with a great deal of
unbelief is to do very little, after all, for if a prayer that is
unbelieving does not prosper, preaching or teaching that is unbelieving
is not likely to do so. Put faith into your work and, maybe, you will
be among the first.

I am sure that God measures much of our work ac cording to the prayer
we expend over it. Oh, yes, it was a fine sermon! You could tell how
the preacher had worked at it–you could see how he had polished up
that phrase and how he had cut that sentence into dice-pieces to make
it sound great–but you could also see that he had never prayed over
it. A sermon that is prayed over is worth 10,000 that are merely
prepared, or copied, or that spring out of a man's mind without being
worked by the Holy Spirit in his heart. Oh, to pray down the sermon and
then to pray up the sermon and pray it all over, resting upon God,
alone!

God will often look upon our work in giving, not according to how much
we give, but I think that the Lord's rule is to take notice of how much
we have left. That woman who gave all her living, gave more than all
the rich men gave, because she had nothing left. It was but two mites
that make a farthing, but then it was all her living and so she goes
into the front rank! My lord has given a thousand pounds and we are
very much obliged to him. He must go into the back rank, for all that,
for he has so much left.

And then, it may be, that they will take the first place who did not
get any reward for what they did. Our Lord tells us that when we are
making a feast, we should call in the blind, and the halt, and the
lame. Why? "For," He says, "they cannot recompense you." He speaks of
the Pharisees, again, and says, "Verily I say unto you, They have their
reward." You will not be paid twice! If you have done something for
Christ–for instance, defended the faith–and you are denounced for it
and traduced for it, very well, you have not had your pay for it. There
remains the recompense for unrewarded services. It is a grand thing
when, by the Grace of God, you have something standing in God's Book,
not of law, but of Grace! You helped a poor man and he was not
grateful. Oh, be so thankful that he was not grateful, because if he
had been grateful, maybe you would have had your reward!

When those you relieve are very kind afterwards, and speak well of you,
and do you some good service in return, it is very nice. Of course it
is. Well, but you are paid. But those who have done good and suffered
for it. Those who, for the best thing that they did have had the worst
return–who have rendered kindness and have only received unkindness as
the result–it may be that the Lord will say of them, "These were last,
but they shall be first." Whereas many that stood first in men's esteem
and in the gratitude they received, will have to go last.

III. Now, my time almost fails me, but you must bear with me on my
third head, for here is the practical part of Free Grace in our
service. Therefore WE HAVE INSTRUCTIONS AS TO OUR SPIRIT AS WORKERS. If
the work is all of Grace and if God has a way of measuring up that
work, which is not at all according to the Law, but of His own Grace,
then there are two things to be observed. First, do not be proud.
Secondly, do not be discouraged.

Do not be proud, for many that are first shall be last. Suppose, my
dear Friend, that you really are first and are doing a great deal for
God–will you be proud? Why, you are only a greater debtor! You owe all
the more to that Grace which has enabled you to be of some service in
the Kingdom of your Lord! Lie low at your Lord's feet and be very
humble.

Next, remember that though you may think that you are first, you may,
even now, be among the last. Your assessment of your service may not be
the Divine assessment at all. You may think that you are "rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing," but, in God's repute,
you may be, "Wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

Your work may be like very big trusses of hay, loads of straw and
stacks of stubble! And yet, when God comes to try it, it may be all
burned down to a handful of ashes, whereas the friend, of whom you
think so little, may only have built a small portion, but he has built
it of gold, silver and precious stones. Let us also remember that, even
if it is true that we are among the first, we may, if we get proud of
it, find ourselves among the last. Oh, how some of God's greatest
servants have been shriveled up when they began to swell out with pride
and vanity! God blessed them as long as they were feeble, weak and
leaned upon His strength, but when they were strong and relied on
themselves, there came a dreadful failure.

There is one thing which is absolutely certain. If you are among the
first, you will reckon yourself to be among the last. He that is best,
thinks himself worst. What a description Paul gives of himself in the
7th Chapter of Romans! "Oh," says one, "I heard a person say that Paul
was not a converted man when he wrote that!" Let me tell you that he
had been in the third Heaven when he wrote that bit of deep experience.
He had so much likeness to his Lord that he excelled every other man
then living, except, perhaps, John! And if it had not been for his
extraordinary holiness, he would never have been able to pen those
tremendous groanings wherein he says, "O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

The man who thinks that he is holy has never seen the holy God. If he
had–if he had ever beheld Him, he would say with Job, "I have heard of
You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eyes see You. Therefore I
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." The superlative perfection
of the Lord God and the absolutely perfect example of our Lord Jesus
Christ are such that if a man has ever had communion with these, he
shrinks into nothing in his own esteem! He that is really first is
always the man who is willing to be accounted last. Paul, though he is
not a whit behind any of the Apostles, yet calls himself less than the
least of all saints and describes himself as having been the chief of
sinners. Ah, Beloved! A low idea of self is one of the labels with
which God marks the best of His possessions! Therefore, do not be
proud.

In the next place, do not be discouraged. If you feel that you are
last, God's measure is not yours. Though you may think that you are
last, He may not think so at all. Though you say, "I am not worthy to
be an Apostle," yet He may think you worth putting into the
apostleship. God's idea of your worthiness and your own may greatly
differ–and His estimate is the true one!

Besides, suppose that you are last, yet "He gives more Grace." Christ
has come, not only that we may have life, but that we may have it "more
abundantly." Do not be content with what you have! "Covet earnestly the
best gifts." Covet still more the best Graces. God is able to do for us
"exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Go in for great
things. Has not the Lord said, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill
it." I spoke to a man of God this morning and I told him how God had
graciously enabled me to draw near to Him in prayer and of the glorious
way He had granted my requests. My Friend said, "Yes, and He has made
your mouth bigger than it used to be." Is it not so? The faculty of
believing prayer grows by being used! The more you ask, the more you
may ask and the more you have asked, the more you will ask. The
capacity to receive is increased by receiving. God grant that it may be
so with us if we are last!

Remember, too, that if you really are among the least useful, yet a
right spirit may compensate for your poverty and make your little
service very precious. If you cannot get a wide sphere, do not want it.
A young minister said to an old one, "Ah, Sir, I preach only to about
100 people. I wish that I could get where I could gather a thousand."
His friend answered, "Young man, a hundred people are quite enough for
you to be accountable for. And if you faithfully discharge your duty to
their souls, you have quite enough to do." Wish for a larger sphere if
you are capable of filling it, but remember that the best preparation
for greater usefulness is to be faithful in your present position.

My last word to God's children is this– what does it matter, after
all, whether we are first or whether we are last? Do not let us dwell
too much upon it, for we all share the honor given to each. When we are
converted, we become members of Christ's living body. And as we grow in
Grace and get the true spirit that permeates that body, we shall say,
when any member of it is honored, "This is honor for us." If any
Brother shall be greatly honored of God, I feel honored in his honor.
If God shall bless your Brother and make him 10 times more useful than
you are, then you see that He is blessing you–not only blessing him,
but you! If my hand has something in it, my foot does not say, "Oh, I
have not got it!" No, for if my hand has it, my foot has it–it belongs
to the whole of my body. If my mouth alone eats, yet it does not eat
for my mouth, alone, but it eats for my brain, my hand, my
backbone–for every part of me.

So, when you get to feel your oneness with Christ, and your oneness
with His people, your only thought will be, "Let God be glorified; let
Him be magnified. It does not matter whether I am first or last." You
will stand up and say, "That

Brother who was converted only a week or two ago, got his penny and I
am glad of it." Here is another, who has done very poor work, but you
will thank God that he got his penny. He is one of the family. It all
comes from the same hand and it will all come home to the same house.
We are something like men in a great shop where there are different
people serving. One young man has a counter where ladies come and he
serves them–and he takes a lot of money in the day. Another
counterman, at the back, sells goods that take a deal of trouble to
dispose of and upon which there is but a trifling profit. Does the
master praise the men of the shop according to the quantity of money
each takes? The one who is put in the back place and sells poor goods
is just as diligent and just as worthy in his master's sight as the
others! Suppose that they are all members of one family–when they meet
at night, one will say, "I took in so much." Another will say, "I took
10 times as much as that," but they are all glad because it all goes
into the firm–it is all a part of the same concern. Go then, dear
Brothers and Sisters, and work away for Christ! And do not envy one
another, but all be glad to be permitted, in this work of Grace, to
take any part or any portion for your Lord.

One thing more, and I am done. I have only been talking to God's people
all this while because you that are not saved cannot serve Him. What a
miserable position yours is! You are out of the pale of service. God
will receive nothing of you till you come to Christ. The only way to
bring sacrifice is to bring it through the great High Priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ! "Except you be converted, and become as little children,
you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Much less shall you be
accepted as servants there. I beseech you, by the thought of the Grace
of which I have been speaking, to rest not until you can say that
Christ has saved you, made you a partaker of His Grace and sent you
forth into His royal service. The Lord bless you! Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Matthew 19:16-30; 20:1-16.