A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, January 2, 1876, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.  

For who makes you to differ from another? and what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it? [1Co 4:7]

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1. Pride grows vigorously like other bad weeds. It will live in 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 proud, 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 necessary 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 themselves under separate banners: the followers of this man thinking themselves better than the followers of that. So the body of Christ was divided, and all kinds of bad feeling, jealousy, rivalry, 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.

2. 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 asks it three questions 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 do you have that you did not receive?” Thus he dug deeper and undermined pride. It had forgotten altogether the receiving of those gifts from God; therefore, by bringing that fact to mind the apostle cut pride right under the root, and that is always the best way to destroy 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 use; but to go deep down and tear up the root is effective: this Paul did with pride by reminding the conceited Corinthians that the gifts which they possessed were no basis for boasting, because they had received them as alms from the charity of God.

3. 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 encounter: if it legitimately and logically leads a man to boast about 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. What puffs up is not from God, but what lays the man low, and exalts Jesus Christ, has at least two of the characteristics of truth. What glorifies man cannot have been revealed by God, for he has said that no flesh shall boast 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 test it whether it is from God by the test which is suggested here. 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 foghorn to warn you of danger. Say to every doctrine which fosters pride, “Get behind me, Satan, for you do not savour the things that are from God and truth, or you would not speak so well of me.”

4. 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 makes you to differ from another? and what do you have that you did not receive?” secondly, a question to be answered with shame “Now if you received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?” and then, thirdly, I shall occupy your attention for a few minutes with other questions which these questions suggest. May the Holy Spirit graciously bless the word.

5. I. In a twofold 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 makes you to differ from another?” our answer is immediately, “God by his grace has made us to differ” and if we are asked, “What do you have that you did not receive?” we reply, “We have nothing but our sin; for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.”

6. We are all the more glad to hear Paul say this, because he was what is nowadays called 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 scarcely receive him; his name was a terror rather than a pleasure, but Paul, with that high spirit, that consecrated ardour, that indefatigable industry, that wondrous courage of his, backed, of course, by the grace of God, came to the forefront until he could honestly claim, without egotism, that he was “not a whit behind the very chief of the apostles, though,” he said, “I am 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 exerted all his powers in the struggle of life, and laboured with persistent energy year after year. When he persecuted the saints of God he did it ignorantly, in unbelief, and thought he did God a service; and all his lifelong 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 lifework by which the church is still affected; and yet Paul himself had nothing for which to boast about. His testimony to his own indebtedness to God’s grace is so plain, and given so many times over, that we cannot be mistaken about it. He says distinctly, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” He valued his own righteousness as worthless, and only desired that he might be found in Christ, arrayed in the righteousness which is from God by faith. Do we address today any self-made man, as the world calls men who have risen from the ranks? Have you taken credit for yourself, dear friend, for your success in life? Do you plume yourself upon your having risen by your own exertion? Then cease from such boasting, and in the spirit of the apostle ask yourself the question, “Who makes you to differ, and what do you have that you did not receive?”

7. Our question is easy to answer, whether it is 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 ascribed 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 say. It may be we were born to Christian parents, and that pedigree is one for which we shall always be thankful: we would 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 about godly ancestors, for we did not choose 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.

8. From their birth some derive physical strength. It always seems to me to be a very insane thing for a man to boast in his brute strength, 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 too much. Though the Lord does not take pleasure in the legs of a man, yet some consider it a very wonderful thing that they can outleap or outrun their fellows. Oh athlete, though you are as strong as Samson, or as swift as Asahel, what do you have that you have not received? If you had been born with a tendency to consumption, or with some other hereditary weakness, could you have prevented it? And now that you are strong, are you to be praised for that any more than a horse or a steam engine?

9. The same is true for beauty, which too frequently is the cause of vanity. Beauty is often a snare on this account. What if your features are delicately chiselled, what if your eyes are bright as the morning, and your countenance fair as the lily, what if there is a charm in your every glance; what do you have in all these for which to praise yourself? Jezebel also was fair to look at, and is she to be praised? Is not your beauty the gift of God? Bless your Creator for it, but do not despise those who are less attractive, for in so doing you will despise their Maker. How often do we hear a laugh raised behind their backs against people who are somewhat grotesque, or may be deformed, but God made them, and who is he who shall dare to taunt the Maker with what he has done? What do you have, oh you fairest among women; what do you have, oh you most handsome among the sons of men, but what you have received? Cease, then, those mincing airs and tossings of the head.

10. The same is true with regard to the rank which comes by birth. Some men are born — according to heraldic arrangements — noble. In what way is a newborn babe noble? Can true nobility arise out of anything except personal character? They are, however, born with the reputation of nobility, and are at once regarded with respect. Are they not our future rulers? Through no deed or deserving, 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, why then should they boast in what is so purely a matter of gift? Oh you who are great and honourable among men, what do you have except what you have received? Walk in lowly gentleness, and live with true nobility of character, and so make your rank a blessing.

11. Brothers and sisters, how much all of us owe in the matter of birth for which we sometimes take credit for ourselves. We have never fallen, perhaps, into the grosser immoralities, but should we not readily have done so if we had been huddled together in places 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 begun life under favourable circumstances than to any meritorious conduct of our own. In this respect, what do we have 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 if you had been placed in 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 do you have that you did not receive?”

12. 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 wherever we wish, 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 does he have 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 companion has the pen of a ready writer. In either of these gifts a man may take so much satisfaction as eventually to become conceited, but the truth taught in our text ought always to prevent that folly. “What do you have that you did not receive?” What God gave to you he might have withheld, and the man whom you despise might have had your gifts: he would have been foolish to despise you if you had been without them, and you are foolish now to despise him.

13. What differences there are, too, concerning what men are helped to make of themselves by education. Nowadays there is a better opportunity for 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 is in the original makeup of the man, or is the result of different teaching, the result must equally be subject for thankfulness to God, for whether it is natural talent or excellent education, both are received.

14. It is equally so with wealth. I may address someone 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 who gives you power to gain wealth.” There was a time when you had little enough, and it was an exceptional providence which put you in the place of prosperity. 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 had it made. You have seen others who were ahead of you in the race of prosperity left far behind, and although 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 properly, 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 man has been as willing to work, but he has been disabled by sickness; many another man has had as keen an eye, but sadly, his judgment has been baffled by misfortune; another man began life with as clear a brain as yours, but now he is confined in the insane asylum and you still are in possession of all your faculties. Oh 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 do you have that you have not received? I wish 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.

15. But now, brothers and sisters, this is very emphatically true concerning our spiritual gifts, and I invite you to consider this truth — “What do you have that you did not receive?” There has long been a great doctrinal discussion between the Calvinists and the Arminians concerning 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 by 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 clarity 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 no one will, therefore, suppose that I deny the other side of the question. I assuredly believe that we have nothing good in us except what we have received. For example, 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 create the living seed of regeneration? It would be absurd to think so. May God be praised for his great love by which 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 — entirely 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 for his sin? It would be monstrous blasphemy even to imagine such a thing. Oh no; “By grace you are 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 demanded forgiving love. He had mercy upon us because he would have mercy upon us; not because we could claim anything from his hand.

16. 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 create it in you? Do you not cheerfully subscribe to the doctrine that faith is the result 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 betterment of nature in you so that you can claim credit for it? I for one reject with abhorrence any such 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,” you say, “but our hearts were inclined towards salvation, and the hearts of others were not.” That also is true, but then who inclined your heart that way, who was the prime mover? Were you or God? There is the question, and if, my dear brother, you dare to 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,” one says, “God must treat all equally.” 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 is true that he is bound to treat all equally. 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 honestly 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 for his salvation, and magnify and bless the grace of the Most High.

17. 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 except 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 concerning your joy, and remember, that if your joy is true joy you received it from 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 along 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 who always fears.” 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.

18. Now we must pass on briefly to think of the second point.

19. II. THERE IS A QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED WITH SHAME. “If you received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?” If any of us have fallen into conceit, and we all have more or less done so, let us answer this question with confusion of face. Brother, sister, have you boasted in anything you have received? Then remember how wrongly you have acted, for you have robbed God of his honour. To boast in man is altogether inconsistent with glorying in God. Depend upon it every particle of praise we take for ourselves is so much stolen out from 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.

20. When we boast we also leave our truthful position, and every Christian ought to be ashamed to stand anywhere except 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 least amount of praise to myself, I stand in a lie. May the Lord have mercy upon us if we have dared to act falsely in his presence.

21. Let us remember, too, that whenever 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 you to buy from Jesus gold tried in the fire, and fine linen by which you may 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.

22. Besides, if you and I have boasted in what we possess we have undervalued our fellow Christians, and that is a great sin. They are very dear to Jesus, and he considers even their deaths precious. “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones who believes in me”; but if we overestimate ourselves the natural consequence is that we underestimate 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 thought, 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 lowliest 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. Truly I say to you, “There are first who shall be last, and there are last who shall be first.”

23. Besides, all this honouring of ourselves generally puts us off from the right course concerning our gifts, and makes us forget that these things are only lent to 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 that young soldier who has just received his armour and his helmet. He has just entered the service. Look with what pleasure he sees his handsome 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 valour 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.

24. 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 honour 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 handsome to look upon. I feel sure that his royal master was not nearly so striking, and certainly could not have been more pompous or aristocratic. While I was looking on with due wonder and reverence, someone 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, someone or other is 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 we ever have done so, let us be rebuked at once by the thought of what we have seen in others.

25. Some persist in boasting about their experience. This also is vanity. Suppose a man here, who is a great hiker, has been over the Alps and traversed Europe; here is his walking stick, and it boasts, “I am the most travelled walking stick in creation, I have struck the craggy brows of the Alps and bathed myself in the Nile.” “Well,” one says, “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.

26. 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 scarcely a trace of plant life. Now, suppose that garden were proud, and boasted about 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 trickles 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 creator of the garden rejoice in his work, but the garden itself may not boast.” That is what the most fruitful believer would be if God left him alone — a barren rock, a wilderness.

27. 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 especially good about you because you receive all these remarkable enjoyments? Then let me straighten you out. It is your weakness which gets you these favours. When you are living in a hotel you will notice that certain people 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 reason for self-exaltation; nothing that our God gives us ought to make us think highly of ourselves. Go lower down, brother, lower down, and so you will rise. The way to heaven is downhill, not uphill. Just as Christ went down to the grave so 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 only by this can you rise into the fulness of the new life.

28. III. OTHER QUESTIONS WHICH THESE QUESTIONS SUGGEST shall now, in the third place, occupy our attention. What are they?

29. 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 ask, for I remember 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 particular doctrines of grace; and I remember very well sitting down and thinking to myself, “I am renewed in my mind, I am forgiven, I am saved: how did that come about?” and I traced it to this, that I had heard the gospel, but since 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 come it blessed 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 for 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 who made the difference,” and having got that one thought into my mind, the doctrines of grace followed as a matter of course. Only by experience 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 very little of; but true theology makes God the very sun of the system, the centre, 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 in it. To know the doctrines of grace will be much to your comfort, will stabilize you, and will also lead you to seek the glory of God.

30. The next question is this — Do I have the spirit of humble gratitude this morning? 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.

31. 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 is the case it is a sad lot for me. You know they used to make, and do still make, in the north of England, china piggy banks for the children. You can put what you like in, but you cannot get it out any more until you break the piggy bank; and there are people of that kind among us. Some have died recently, and their estates have been reported in the Probate Court. There was plenty put into 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 piggy banks, 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 out 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.

32. 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 constrained in him, you can only be constrained in yourself. Try to remove those hindrances, and ask the Lord to give you more grace.

33. One other question — If all that Christians have they have received, sinner, why should you not receive as well as they? If it were true that Christians got these good things from 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, does not have anything except what he received, why should you not 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 who could not receive. Try it right now. Let it be a thousand pounds, and see how many among us would be unable to receive. If there is a person around who would not receive, I tell you who it is — it is the man who thinks himself to be 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, he gave power to them to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his name.” Open that empty hand, open that empty heart: May 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 fulness we have all received, and grace for grace.”

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Ps 103 1Co 4]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 103” 103 @@ "(Version 1)"]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Work of Grace as a Whole — ‘Grace Reigns’ ” 233]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Work of Grace as a Whole — All Due To Grace” 235]

At this season of the year, when friends are giving presents, Christian people may bestow a great blessing upon newly married friends by presenting them with Spurgeon’s “Interpreter,” which contains Scriptures selected for every morning and evening in the year. This volume is a very handsome one. Cloth, 25s; best morocco, £2 2s. Passmore and Alabaster, 4, Pater Noster Buildings, and all booksellers.

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 103 (Version 1)
1 My soul, repeat his praise,
      Whose mercies are so great;
   Whose anger is so slow to rise,
      So ready to abate.
2 God will not always chide;
      And when his strokes are felt,
   His strokes are fewer than our crimes,
      And lighter than our guilt.
3 High as the heavens are raised
      Above the ground we tread,
   So far the riches of his grace
      Our highest thought exceed.
4 His power subdues our sins;
      And his forgiving love,
   Far as the east is from the west,
      Doth all our guilt remove.
5 The pity of the Lord,
      To those that fear his name,
   Far as the east is from the west,
      He knows our feeble frame.
6 He knows we but dust,
      Scatter’d with every breath;
   His anger, like a rising wind,
      Can send us swift to death.
7 Our days are as the grass,
      Or like the morning flower;
   If one sharp blast sweep o’er the field,
      It withers in an hour.
8 But thy compassions, Lord,
      To endless years endure;
   And children’s children ever find,
      Thy words of promise sure.
                        Isaac Watts, 1719.
 

Psalm 103 (Version 2)
1 Oh bless the Lord, my soul!
      Let all within me join,
   And aid my tongue to bless his name,
      Whose favours are divine.
2 Oh, bless the Lord, my soul,
      Nor let his mercies lie
   Forgotten in unthankfulness,
      And without praises die.
3 ‘Tis he forgives thy sins;
      ‘Tis he relieves thy pain;
   ‘Tis he that heals thy sicknesses,
      And makes thee young again.
4 He crowns thy life with love,
      When ransom’d from the grave;
   He that redeem’d my soul from hell
      Hath sovereign power to save.
5 He fills the poor with good,
      He gives the sufferers rest;
   The Lord hath judgments for the proud,
      And justice for the oppress’d
6 His wondrous works and ways
      He made by Moses known;
   But sent the world his truth and grace
      By his beloved Son.
                        Isaac Watts, 1719.
 

Psalm 103 (Version 3) <8.7.4. />
1 Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
   To his feet thy tribute bring!
   Ransom’d, heal’d, restored, forgiven,
   Who like me his praise should sing!
      Praise him! praise him,
      Praise him! praise him,
   Praise the everlasting King!
2 Praise him for his grace and favour
   To our fathers in distress!
   Praise him still the same as ever,
   Slow to chide and swift to bless!
      Praise him! praise him,
      Praise him! praise him
   Glorious in his faithfulness!
3 Father-like he tends and spares us,
   Well our feeble frame he knows;
   In his hands he gently bears us,
   Rescues us from all our foes.
      Praise him! praise him,
      Praise him! praise him,
   Widely as his mercy flows.
4 Frail as summer’s flower we flourish;
   Blows the wind, and it is gone;
   But while mortals rise and perish,
   God endures unchanging on.
      Praise him! praise him,
      Praise him! praise him,
   Praise the High Eternal One.
5 Angels, help us to adore him;
   Ye behold him face to face;
   Sun and moon bow down before him,
   Dwellers all in time and space.
      Praise him! praise him,
      Praise him! praise him,
   Praise with us the God of grace!
                     Henry Francis Lyte, 1834.
 

The Work of Grace as a Whole
233 — “Grace Reigns”
1 Grace! ‘tis a charming sound!
      Harmonious to the ear!
   Heaven with the echo shall resound,
      And all the earth shall hear.
2 Grace first contrived the way
      To save rebellious man;
   And all the steps that grace display
      Which drew the wondrous plan.
3 Grace first inscribed my name
      In God’s eternal book:
   ‘Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
      Who all my sorrows took.
4 Grace led my roving feet
      To tread the heavenly road;
   And new supplies each hour I meet
      While pressing on to God.
5 Grace taught my soul to pray,
      And made my eyes o’erflow;
   ‘Twas grace that kept me to this day,
      And will not let me go.
6 Grace all the work shall crown,
      Through everlasting days;
   It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
      And well deserves the praise.
                  Philip Doddridge, 1755;
                  Augustus M. Toplady, 1776.
 

The Work of Grace as a Whole
235 — All Due To Grace
1 All that I was, my sin, my guilt,
   My death, was all mine own;
   All that I am, I owe to thee,
   My gracious God alone.
2 The evil of my former state
   Was mine, and only mine;
   The good in which I now rejoice
   Is thine, and only thine.
3 The darkness of my former state,
   The bondage — all was mine;
   The light of life in which I walk,
   The liberty — is thine.
4 Thy grace that made me feel my sin
   It taught me to believe;
   Then, in believing, peace I found,
   And now I live, I live.
5 All that I am, e’en here on earth,
   All that I hope to be,
   When Jesus comes and glory dawns,
   I owe it, Lord, to thee.
                     Horatius Bonar, 1856.