A SERMON
DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 28, 1870,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
– 1 Peter 1:3-5
The best I have reserved for the last. Out of the seven treasures of the Christian the last comprehends all, is better than all, though what I have already spoken be everything—it is A BLESSED GOD.
We left this to the last, though it comes first, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is joy to have heaven, it is joy to possess a new life to fit me for heaven, but the greatest of all is to have my God, my own Savior’s God, my Father, my own Savior’s Father, to be all my own. God Himself has said, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” He has not given you earth and heaven only, though that were much, He has given you the heaven of heaven—Himself. Herod spoke of giving the “half of his kingdom,” but the Lord has not given you the half of His kingdom, nor even the
whole of His kingdom only, but His own self the blessed God has in covenant made over to you. Will not this make you rejoice? I think you may go forth with those that make merry and rejoice before God with a joy that knows no bound, “Sing unto God, sing praises! sing, unto God, sing praises!” “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.”
Brethren, the practical point is, show your gratitude and your joy by blessing God. You can bless Him with your voices. Sing more than you do. Singing is heaven’s work, practice it here. At your work, do if you can, quietly raise a hymn and bless the Lord. But oh! keep the fire on the altar of your hearts always burning. Praise Him, bless Him. His mercy endures forever, so let your praises endure. Bless Him also with your substance. He is a blessed God. Do not give Him mere words, they are but air, and tongues but clay. Give Him the best you have.
In the old superstitious times the churches used to be adorned with the rarest pearls and jewels, with treasures of gold and silver, for men then gave mines of wealth to what they believed to be the service of God. Shall the true faith have less operative power upon us? Shall the “lively hope” make us do less for God than the mere dead hope of the followers of Rome? No, let us be generous at all times, and count it our joy to sacrifice unto our God. Let us give Him our efforts, our time, our talents.
Bless the Lord this afternoon, you Sunday school teachers. Teach those dear children under a sense of your own obligations to God. You, who go from house to house this afternoon, you, who will preach in the streets and lift up your voices in the corners of the thoroughfares, preach as those who are begotten unto a lively hope by the abundant mercy of God. Preacher, live you more intensely and ardently than you have ever done. Deacons, serve the church more thoroughly than you have done as yet. Elders, give your whole souls to the care of Christ’s flock, which He has redeemed with His blood. Each one of you workers for Jesus Christ work not for Him after an ordinary sort, as men do for a master whose pay is no larger than he can be compelled to make it, but work with heart, and soul, and strength for Him who loved you to the death, and poured out His soul to redeem you from going down into hell. Thus prove that the divine nature is truly in you, and that you possess the “lively hope” implanted by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The Lord bless you all, for Christ’s sake. Amen.
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