“What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?”

“What shall I render (give) unto the Lord for all his benefits?” In the world they say one good turn deserves another. If a man does something for you, you are thought little of if you do not return the favor. If a man helps you, and then he gets in a hard place, you should help him. That looks good in the eyes of the world, and David writing in the Psalms looks over everything God has done for him.

He sees his throne and his kingdom. He thinks of the victories he has won under God. He brought the children of Israel into a powerful place. They had more land, soldiers, money, power, they were more of a nation under the leadership of the shepherd boy than they were under any other king. David, of all the other kings of Israel, was the closest one to being a real Emperor. His kingdom was a real kingdom and looking over it all, his mind went back to the time he was called away from keeping the sheep.

You all probably remember how Samuel went down to get a king for God from among the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite. God told Samuel, “Fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons.” Samuel went to Bethlehem and said, “Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, “Surely, the Lord’s anointed is before him.” He was a tall fellow, muscular and fine looking, and Samuel thought, “This one will make a wonderful king,” but “the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” The next son passed before him, and Samuel said, “Neither has the Lord chosen thee.” The next one was called, but the same answer, “Neither has the Lord chosen thee,” until all seven sons passed before Samuel. There were no more, and everyone that had passed, God had rejected, until Samuel might well have wondered whether or not he had heard God’s voice, and whether the King would really come from among Jesse’s sons. “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep, (he is young and we do not have him present on occasions like this).”

The things that do not count with man are the things that often count with God. The trouble with the Christian church is they are taking count of too many things that count with man, but do not count with God. God has chosen the weak and the foolish in order that they might confound the wise, and the things which are mighty.

Samuel said, “If you have one more son we will not sit down until that boy comes to the feast.” They sent for David. The Bible says, “He was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to.” He came up to Samuel and God said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him and from that day the Spirit of the Lord came upon David, and from that day forward, everything that happened to Israel was to set that shepherd boy on the throne. God had given His word and put His hand to the plow, and when He does, He never turns back. He made that boy king. They tried to kill him and he was hunted for his life. One day he went out to a cave. Men came out to him who owed money, or who were distressed, or discontented, and David became their captain. They kept coming until they were a band of about four hundred men. At last Saul died, and David became king and reigned over Judah for seven and a half years, and then he was made king of all Israel for thirty-three years.

Looking back over it all, David said, “God has done wonderful things for me, now what can I do for Him?” It seems strange for a man to ask what he can do for God. God who made the sun, moon, stars, and the ocean, and all the rest of it. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the silver, gold, everything in this world, yet this man was asking God what he could do for Him.

There is a story told to the children about the lion and the mouse. The lion was going along through the jungle one day, when suddenly he heard a weak cry, and when he looked, there was a little mouse. The little mouse said, “Do not tread on me.” “All right,” said the lion, and he stepped aside. The mouse was very grateful and said, “Some day, I might be able to help you.” The lion laughed and said, “How could you?” “You do not know,” said the mouse, “Something might happen so that I can help you.” Years rolled by, and the hunters came looking for wild animals for the circus. They captured the lion and bound him head and foot so that he could not move. He roared and struggled to get free until the jungle rang with his roaring. If he could have gotten free, he would have destroyed everyone around him, but he was bound tightly. Then, he heard a little voice that said, “I will help you,”—and, when he looked, there was the mouse. It began to gnaw at the rope until at last one of those powerful paws was able to wrench itself free from the rope, and that was enough. In a very short time he was completely free, and bounded away into the jungle. Such a little mouse could set the great lion free!

It is the same with us. It is in the power of men and women to move the God of the universe. You here tonight, are able to make Him happy or sad. Could I make the rich of this world happy or sad? No. If I would die tonight, they would not care. If we would all go, it would not make any difference to them, but there isn’t a man, woman, or child here that God doesn’t know. He has known you ever since you came into this world. He knows everything you do, and everything you ever will do. He knows your trials, your trouble, the thoughts that go through your mind, even those that you never tell to anyone, not even your closest friend. He has made for us a way of escape. He has given us that which we need. When you get up in the morning, you are well and happy. You go to work, and just take everything as a matter of fact. How little you think of God! How little you think what a blessing it is to have a healthy body! To be able to sit down and enjoy your meals. How many really thank Him? How many realize the blessing it is to have teeth to eat with? Get a bad tooth on each side of your mouth, and see if you do not realize then what it means to have good teeth. You open the window in the morning, and breathe the fresh air. Very few think of it as coming from God. How many count it a blessing? The beautiful sunlight is given to us by God. We are given wonderful blessings, wonderful things. Everything good we have comes from God. Every piece of bread you put in your mouth, every breath of air, every night’s sleep, every drink of water, everything that makes a man’s heart glad, God gave it. Man thanks the devil for those things, but God gave it to him. The devil never put enough fresh water here to wash your face. He never gave enough clothes to cover an infant. Every piece of clothing that is on the children of Hell tonight, was given to them by God. Every bit of air that keeps them alive to blaspheme His name, was sent by God. Why does God treat the ungodly so well?

Take two farmers in the country. One loves God and the other does not. The one lives to himself, never goes to church, does everything he can to break God’s heart, yet when a shower of rain comes down it falls on this one’s farm the same as on the one who loves God. The sun shines on both, the wheat looks about the same when it comes up, and that is what many people cannot understand. They say, “That fellow doesn’t think of God, and God blesses him, so why do I need it?”

There were ten lepers who came to Jesus, and He healed them. They went away. One turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, but the other nine kept on going and did not return to give thanks. If God would get the glory for what He does, His praises would be ringing up and down every street in Baltimore City, on every farm they would be resounding, every city in the world would be ringing out the praises of God for the blessings He gives the children of men. But, people cannot understand why He treats the unjust so well. Why is it? He loves them. It isn’t hard to be kind to those who treat us well, but it is hard to be kind to those who do not treat us well. God loves men and women so much that the ungodly man finds rain on his crops too. His children are well. There is money to pay the bills. But, what does he do with those blessings? Because God blesses him, he often takes it for evidence that there is no God. He looks up into His face, and says, “I do not believe there is any God. I am as well off as the fellow next door.” But, he doesn’t measure by the spiritual measure. You might have as much money as the man next door, your children might go to the same school, but there is something in the heart you know nothing about. If God has given bread and meat, air and sunshine, water and life, and all the wonderful things, it is but to lead us to pray so He can give us something more wonderful.

When God begins to reveal to your heart that His Son died for you, and convicts you of sin, God wants to really bless you. He might have given you health before, clothed you, fed you, but the real evidence of God’s love to this world was shown when He gave them the Gift that surpassed all other gifts, even Jesus Christ our Lord. One day with Jesus is worth a thousand years of the temporal blessings of this world without Him. One meal from the bread of Heaven is worth all the bread of this world. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

You have been wonderfully blessed, and there arises the question, if you are honest, “What must I do? Surely I have a part. There are two to every bargain. God has done such wonderful things for me, what shall I do for Him?” What does He want from you? He wants your heart and life—nothing else will satisfy Him and nothing else, not even the wonderful natural blessings of which I have spoken, will satisfy you.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. The invitation to men and women is to look at the thing fairly. To see what God has done for them and what you can do to please Him. Come and receive His Son’s blood as an atonement for your soul. You have nothing to give that is worthwhile.

Jesus once went to a Pharisee’s house to eat bread, and while He was talking to them, one of them who sat at the table with Him said, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Then Jesus said, “A certain man made a great supper and bade many. The day of the feast came around, and when all was ready, the master said to his servant, “Say to them that were bidden, come for all things are now ready, but they with one consent began to make excuses. The first said, I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excused, and the next said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go prove them, I pray thee have me excused. Another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” The servant went back to tell the master, and the master was angry because he had been insulted. Those, who had been bidden, insulted the master by their absurd excuses. When the first one said, “I am going to see my piece of ground tonight,” it was an insult, an absurd excuse. No one goes to look at ground at night. When the second said, “I am going to try my oxen tonight,” the servant knew nobody bought oxen without trying them. The next fellow married a wife, and she would probably have been glad to have gone.

The master said, “All right, they will not come, but there will be guests at the feast. I am grieved.” He had everything he could wish for, plenty to eat, clothes, money, land, but he was not beyond the place where he could be wounded, and he was wounded by the replies he received from the ones he had invited.

He said to the servant, “Go out into the streets, and lanes of the city. I do not care what the people are like, whether they are black or white, rich or poor, bring them in. Bring in the halt, the maimed, the poor and the blind. Bring in everybody, I am going to have a feast.” The servant went out, and came back with the people following him. They were blind ones with their sticks, lame ones with their crutches, beggars in their rags. A mob was following the servant, and as they smelled the good things that quickened their pace. The servant said, “I have done as you commanded me, but there is still plenty of room for more.” The master said, “Go out into the highways and hedges, go up every little lane, behind every hedge, and every man, woman and child you find, bid to the supper.” The servant went out and found another crowd. He brought them from off the farms, out of the fields, from the highways and hedges. “Come right along, just as you are, you have to get there soon or the food will be cold.” They all sat down and had a wonderful time, eating and drinking. The master said, “None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

“WHAT SHALL I RENDER UNTO THE LORD FOR ALL HIS BENEFITS TOWARD ME?” Now, that is a personal question. There isn’t a person who cannot remember, leaving general blessings aside, some particular blessing in his life, and some may remember a half dozen or more. God has blessed you in many ways, you, who are outside of Christ. Now, what will you do for Him for His wonderful benefits to you? The only way to make His heart glad is to make your heart glad. The only thing that will make you joyful is to take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

Men and women who are lost without Christ and hope, do not have to be. You came into this world in sin, you were born in it and shapened in iniquity, but you do not have to go out that way. The invitation has come to you. Many who have been bidden have refused to come. I ask you, what is your excuse? As the call comes to you, all things are ready. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. What is your excuse? I am afraid your excuse is as foolish as those men’s excuses, and as insulting.

There are excuses and there are reasons. Sometimes the excuse is the same as the reason, but most times the excuse is a different thing from the reason, but God knows the reason and so do you. You may give me an excuse. If you are an honest man or woman it will be the same as the reason, but my experience has been, the excuse is very seldom the reason, and those foolish excuses that were given to the ruler were not the reasons. That man did not stay away because he wanted to see his land, or the other man to try the oxen, and the other because he was married. They stayed away because they did not love the one who was giving the feast, and did not care for his company. You may excuse yourself. Your excuse may be “I can’t keep it,” or “I will come some other time,” or “I do not feel well tonight,” but your reason is, YOU LOVE YOUR SIN BETTER THAN YOU LOVE YOUR SOUL.

“What will a man give in exchange for his soul? What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?”

May there be those here that will make their peace with God before it is too late. Let God have right of way. Many times I know I have done things that have grieved the heart of God. God is not some great giant, or a burly man, or a big rough fellow, but He is the most tender, loving, easily grieved person you could ever imagine. Things that would make no impression upon you or me, hurts God’s heart. Things that you may think little of, are terrible in the sight of God. There is no man or woman here would go home and hurt his or her mother, or anybody you loved in the family, or outside of the family, but your very best loved one doesn’t love you anywhere near the way God loves you. It is a hard man or woman who can return hate for love. It is a cruel person who makes life difficult for another who loves them dearly. It takes a harder man or woman still to harden the heart or stiffen the neck and wound God’s tender heart. I pray you will find Him tonight. As the question comes to you, “What shall I render unto the Lord?”—may you answer with David, “I WILL TAKE THE CUP OF SALVATION,”—“And CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD.”

God grant this night might mark your taking the cup of salvation and calling on the name of the Lord. He has said, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Amen.