Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1488
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, August 10, 1879
“For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whoever has not, from him shall be taken away even what he has.” Matthew 13:12.
Two great general principles are conspicuous in the Gospel. The first is that God gives of His Grace to the empty— “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” The second principle is that where God has given a measure of Grace He is known to give more—“He gives more Grace.” There is no stint with the Lord of Love and no limit to the abundance of Divine Grace which those who come to Him may receive. He gives Grace to those who have none and more Grace to those whom He has already favored. These two principles do not contradict each other, but help to make each more complete.
In their proper order they exhibit both sides of one Truth of God and give us instruction as to the Lord’s dealings with two different stages of spiritual condition. Each principle has its own range. Are you as yet unsaved? Then the principle which you have to do with is this, that God will fill the empty and feed the hungry. You have to go to Him with nothing of your own except your needs and ask for everything at His hands. Your wisdom is to hasten to the Savior just as you are, tarrying not to gather a price which you may carry in your hands, but coming empty-handed to the generous Lord. In all your sinfulness you must look to Him for pardon. In all your nakedness you must fly to Him for clothing. In all your weakness you must cry to Him for strength. Yes, in all your death you are to look to Him for life, even as He has said, “Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”
Take care that you are quite clear upon this point, for unless your eyes can discern this, your whole soul will be full of darkness. Grace is for the undeserving, the guilty, the needy—otherwise it would not be Grace. The Gospel is not the Law and, therefore, it does not demand a holy character as a condition of receiving its blessings. It comes to sinners as they are, casts on them an eye of pity, forgives their sins and makes them new creatures and holy creatures. In dealing with the sinner, God acts on the principle of undeserved love and unmerited favor. Trembling Sinner, you have to go to Him with your empty bucket that He may fill it out of the deep well of His overflowing love!
When a man has received Grace, or when he professes to have done so, he comes under the second principle. He must take care that he has, indeed, and of a truth received that which God in the Gospel presents to him, for if he does not at the very beginning really and truly receive the true Grace of God, he will begin with falsehood and end in shame. He must see to it that he has the beginnings of Grace or he cannot have the increase. If there is a mistake as to the actual receipt of Christ into the heart, there may be an appearance of having Christ and this appearance may last for a while, but as there is really nothing commenced, there will be no addition.
While I am like the unsown soil, I am simply to receive the Seed when it is scattered. But after the scattering of the Seed, if I think I have received it, I must see to it that I am not deceived. I must watch that the Word of God does really lodge in the furrows of my soul, for unless that is the case, beyond all question—so far from obtaining growth in Grace, I shall, by-and-by, lose what I think I have and I shall be openly proven to be barren and unfruitful. If I have received the light of Heaven into my soul, however small its beginnings, the Lord will add a gracious increase. And as I follow on to know Him, I shall be as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day. If I am a mere pretender, I shall fade away, but if I am a sincere Believer I shall become brighter and brighter.
I shall endeavor to use this last principle at this time for our warning and instruction. May the Holy Spirit greatly bless it to our hearts so that those who profess to be the people of God may make sure that their profession is founded on the Truth of God and may those who are mere hearers of the Gospel be disturbed in their consciences and awakened from the sleep of death!
I. First, we shall study this principle as IT IS ILLUSTRATED IN THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. YOU will not fail to observe that this saying of our Lord occurs in three Evangelists in connection with the parable of the sower. Besides our text, you will find it in Mark 4:24 where it is at the close of the parable of the sower. You will meet with it again in Luke 8:18, still in connection with the same parable. The principle must be very important, or else our Lord would not have taken care to have it recorded by three Evangelists. And He must have intended that we should read it in the light of the parable, or He would not have connected it with it.