Attributes of God

Held to Personal Account

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them…For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. – Matthew 25:19,29

The man who has many talents requires much hard labor to use them all. He might make the excuse that he found five talents too many to put out in the market at once; you have only one; anybody can lend out his one talent to interest-it will cost you but little trouble to supply that; and inasmuch as you live, and inasmuch as you die, without having improved the one talent, your guilt will be exceedingly increased by the very fact that your talent was but little, and, consequently, the trouble of using it would have been but little too. If you had but little, God required but little of you; why, then, did you not render that? If any man holds a house at a rental of a pound a year, let it be never so small a house for the money, if he brings not his rent there is not one half the excuse for him that there would be if his rent had been a hundred pounds, and he had failed to bring it. You shall be the more inexcusable on account of the little that was required of you. Let me, then, address you, and remind you that you must be brought to account…In the day of judgment thy account must be personal; God will not ask you what your church did-He will ask you what you did yourself…Remember, it is not what your brethren are doing, but it is what you do that you will be called to account for at the bar of God; and each one of you will be asked this question, “What hast thou done with thy talent?” All your connection with churches will avail you nothing; it is your personal doings-your personal service towards God that is demanded of you as an evidence of saving grace. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0175.cfm

God’s Glory from Man’s Littleness

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability… – Matthew 25:15

God gives to men two talents, because in them very often He displays the greatness of His grace in saving souls. You have heard a minister who was deeply read in sacred lore; his wisdom was profound, and his speech graceful. Under his preaching many were converted. Have you never heard it not quite said, but almost hinted, that much of his success was traceable to his learning and to his graceful oratory? But, on the other hand, you have met with a man, rough in his dialect, uncouth in his manners, evidently without any great literary attainments; nevertheless, God has given that man the one talent of an earnest heart; he speaks like a son of thunder; with rough, stern language, he denounces and proclaims the gospel; under him hundreds are converted. The world sneers at him. “I can see no reason for all this,” says the scholar; “it is all rubbish-cant; the man knows nothing.” The critic takes up his pen, nibs it afresh, dips it in the bitterest ink he can find, and writes a most delightful history of the man in which he goes so far as to say, not that he sees horns on his head, but almost everything but that. He is everything that is bad, and nothing that is good. He utterly denounces him. He is foolish, he is vain, he is base, he is proud, he is illiterate, he is vulgar. What says the man himself? “Even so, O Lord; now must the glory be unto Thee for ever, inasmuch as Thou hast chosen the base things of this world, and the things that are not, to bring to naught the things that are.” So it seemeth that out of the little God sometimes winneth more glory than He doth out of the great; and I doubt not that He has made some of you with little power to do good, with little influence, and with a narrow sphere, that He may, in the last great day, manifest to angels how much He can do in a little space…Surely if in the little, man can honor himself as well as in the great, the Infinite, and the Eternal, can most of all glorify Himself when He stoopeth to the littleness of mankind. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0175.cfm

A Beautiful Variety

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places. – Psalm 135:6

It was said that order is heaven’s first law; surely variety is the second; for in all God’s works, there is the most beautiful diversity. Look ye towards the heavens at night: all the stars shine not with the same brilliance, nor are they placed in straight lines, like the lamps of our streets. Then turn your eyes below; see in the vegetable world, how many great distinctions there are, ranging from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall, or the moss that is smaller still. See, how from the huge mammoth tree, that seems as if beneath its branches it might shade an army, down to the tiny lichen, God hath made everything beautiful, but everything full of variety…I doubt not it is the same, even in heaven, for there there are “thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers”-different ranks of angels, perhaps, rising tier upon tier. “One star differeth from another star in glory.” And why should not the same rule stand good in manhood? …Should minds, then, be alike? Should souls all be cast in the same fashion? Should God’s creation dwindle down into a great manufactory, in which everything is melted in the same fire and poured into the same mould? No, for variety’s sake, He will have one man a renowned David, and another David’s unknown armor bearer; He will have one man a Jeremy, who shall prophesy, and another a Baruch, who shall only read the prophecy; one shall be rich as Dives, another poor as Lazarus; one shall speak with a voice loud as thunder, another shall be dumb; one shall be mighty in word and doctrine, another shall be feeble in speech and slow in words. God will have variety, and the day will come when, looking down upon the world we shall see the beauty of its history to be mightily indebted to the variety of the characters that entered into it. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0175.cfm

“I will give to this man…”

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?- Romans 9:20,21

The Lord God will have men know that He has a right to do what He wills with His own…The worm is not to murmur because God did not make it an angel, and the fish that swims the sea must not complain because it hath not wings to fly into the highest heavens. God had a right to make His creatures just what He pleased, and though men may dispute His right, He will hold and keep it inviolate against all comers…”I will give to this man,” He says, “a mind so acute that he shall pry into all secrets; I will make another so obtuse, that none but the plainest elements of knowledge shall ever be attainable by him. I will give to one man such a wealth of imagination, that he shall pile mountain upon mountain of imagery, till his language seems to reach to celestial majesty; I will give to another man a soul so dull, that he shall never be able to originate a poetic thought.” Why this, O God? The answer comes back, “Shall I not do what I will with Mine own?” “So, then, the children being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was written, the elder shall serve the younger.” And so it is written concerning men, that one of them shall be greater than another; one shall bow his neck, and the other put his foot upon it, for the Lord hath a right to dispose of places and of gifts, of talents and wealth, just as seemeth good in His sight…Oh! I would meekly bow my head, and say, “My Lord, hast thou given me one talent? then I bless Thee for it, and I pray Thee bestow upon me grace to use it rightly. Hast Thou given to my brother ten talents? I thank Thee for the greatness of Thy kindness towards him; but I neither envy him, nor complain of Thee.” Oh! for a spirit that bows always before the sovereignty of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0175.cfm

God-made Differences

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, Sovereignty of God 5 Comments

And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. – Matthew 25:15

You very often hear men speak of one another as if God had made no mental differences at all. One man finds himself successful, and he supposes that if everyone else could have been as industrious and as persevering as himself, everyone must necessarily have been as successful. You will often hear remarks against ministers who are godly and earnest men, but who do not happen to have much attracting power, and they are called drones and lazy persons, because they cannot make much of a stir in the world, whereas the reason may be that they have but little talent and are making the best use of what they have, and therefore ought not to be rebuked for the littleness of what they are able to accomplish. It is a fact, which every man must see, that even in our birth there is a difference. All children are not alike precocious, and all men certainly are not alike capable of learning or of teaching. God hath made eminent and marvelous differences. We are not to suppose that all the difference between a Milton and a man who lives and dies without being able to read has been caused by education. There was doubtless a difference originally, and though education will do much, it cannot do everything. Fertile ground, when well-tilled, will necessarily bring forth more than the best tilled estate the soil of which is hard and sterile. God has made great and decided differences; and we ought, in dealing with our fellow-men, to recollect this lest we should say harsh things of those very men to whom God will afterwards say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” – C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0175.cfm

The Great Fountain

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. – James 1:17

And I was afraid and went and hid Thy talent in the earth: lo, there Thou hast that is Thine. – Matthew 25:25

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” All that men have they must trace to the Great Fountain, the giver of all good. Hast thou talents? They were given thee by the God of talents. Hast thou time? hast thou wealth, influence, power? Hast thou powers of tongue? Hast thou powers of thought? Art thou poet, statesman, or philosopher? Whatever be thy position, and whatever be thy gifts, remember that they are not thine, but they are lent thee from on high. No man hath anything of his own, except his sins. We are but tenants at will. God hath put us into His estates, and He hath said, “Occupy till I come.” Though our vineyards bear never so much fruit, yet the vineyard belongs to the King, and though we are to take the hundred for our hire, yet King Solomon must have his thousand. All the honor of our ability and the use of it must be unto God, because He is the Giver. The parable tells us this very pointedly; for it makes every person acknowledge that his talents come from the Lord. Even the man who digged in the earth and hid his Lords money, did not deny that his talent belonged to his Master; for though his reply, “Lo, there thou hast that is thine,” was exceedingly impertinent, yet it was not a denial of this fact. So that even this man was ahead of those who deny their obligations to God, who superciliously toss their heads at the very mention of obedience to their Creator and spend their time and their powers rather in rebellion against Him than in His service. Oh, that we were all wise to believe and to act upon this most evident of all truths, that everything we have, we have received from the Most High. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0175.cfm

Our Privilege

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” – Mark 8:35

There was a young man who said, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,” but Christ gave him a cool reception: and there was an older man who said, “Though all men shall forsake thee yet will not I,” and in reply his Master prayed for him that his faith should not fail. Now, you must not promise as Peter did, or you will make a greater failure. But, beloved, this devotion is what Christ expects of us if we are His disciples. He will not have us love father or mother more than Him; we must be ready to give up all for His sake. This is not only what our Master expects from us, but what He deserves from us.

This, also, is what the Lord will help us to do, for He will give us grace if we will but seek it at His hands: and this it is which He will graciously reward, and has already rewarded, in that choice word of His in the twelfth of John, where He says of His disciples in the twenty-sixth verse, “If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” Oh, to be honored of God in eternity when He shall say, “Stand back, angels; make way, seraphim and cherubim; here comes a man that suffered for the sake, of My dear Son. Here comes one that was not ashamed of My Only-begotten when His face was smeared with the spittle. Here comes one that stood in the pillory with Jesus and was called ill names for His sake. Stand back, ye angels, these have greater honor than you.” …O brothers and sisters, snatch at the privilege of living for Jesus; consecrate yourselves this day unto Him; live from this hour forward, not to enrich yourselves, nor to gain honor and esteem, but for Jesus, for Jesus alone. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1512.cfm