CONSECRATION TO GOD - A SACRIFICE:
V. - THE SACRIFICE: ITS MOTIVE.
"I beseech you, by the mercies of God. " - RoM. xii. 1.
It now only remains for us to advert a little to the motive by which
Christians are to be animated in their discharge of the office of their
priesthood, for which they are consecrated to God. As it is a sacrifice of
praise and gratitude that they are to present, they are fitly adjured and
implored to do so "by the mercies of God."
The adjuration, the entreaty, is
very earnest. "I beseech you," says the Apostle. I make it a matter of personal
request, as if I were asking you to do me a personal favour. I may well thus
appeal to you; for the motive which I have to urge is one which I have had good
reason myself personally to feel. "The mercies of God" have been very abundant
towards me. But it is not from myself, or for myself, that I speak. I speak as
an ambassador of Christ. I call to mind what these mercies of God were to
Christ, - what they were in his eyes and in his esteem, - when, as the great
High Priest, he went about the business of presenting his sacrifice of
atonement.
What were they to him? What were they in his eyes and in his
esteem? - These mercies of God
Go back in imagination, to the unfathomed
depths of that unbroken eternity, before the world was, wherein the Son is
alone, with the Spirit, in the bosom of the Father. There are mercies in that
bosom, throes of pity, yearnings of kindness and love unquenchable. A guilty,
lost and ruined race is before him; a race of beings who are miserably to fall,
under the temptation of an evil spirit more powerful and more knowing than
themselves. The great Father's heart is moved; his bowels of compassion are
stirred: his mercies are overflowing. But alas I there is a barrier; a great
rampart of righteousness; a holy law; a righteous rule of government ; - that
keeps these mercies back; pent up, barred, restrained so that they can find no
vent or channel through which they may reach their miserable objects. Is the
Father's heart to hold these mercies in, through reverence of sacred justice,
until, if we may dare to say so, it shall burst or break?
Lo! the Son,
moved by these mercies thus struggling to find a vent, comes forth, and by his
own sacrifice of himself, becomes himself their vent, the outlet and channel
for their effusion. He opens a door, a door of righteousness, through which
these floods of richest love may freely flow,until they reach and revive and
renovate even the guiltiest of the guilty, the chief of sinners.
Now by
these mercies, no longer pent up in the bosom of the Father, but gushing in
full stream through the rent veil, - the veil rent by that offering of his body
once for all which the great High Priest makes, - and coming in, through the
Spirit opening the door of your hearts, into the deepest recesses of your
souls, and pouring life and gladness, peace and hope, through your whole inner
man ;. - by these mercies of God, thus issuing from the bosom of the Father,
thus coming home to your bosoms, is as you believe on Him who is the way, the
truth, and the life, "I beseech you, brethren, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, and holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
service."
Some practical applications of the views which have been
given on the subject of the Christian's sacrifice of praise may be briefly
stated : -
I. If any of you who are called to be priests feel that. there
is something vague and shadowy about the sacrifice of praise which you are here
called to present, and that you would like to have materials more tangible to
offer, - or at least to have some more definite instruction as to what is meant
by offering yourselves, - will such scriptural intimations as these afford you
any help? First, hear what David says (Psalm ii.), in the depths of his sorrow
for his grievous sin, after he has sought interest anew in the sacrifice of
atonement, offering th prayer of faith, "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be
clean," "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God." He looks about for a fitting
sacrifice of praise, to seal and witness his appropriation of the sacrifice of
atonement. And he finds it, not in any external acts of worship, but in his own
sense and experience of the evil of his sin; "For thou desirest not sacrifice;
else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices God
are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not
despise." Next, hear what the Lord himself testifies (Ps. 1.) when He pleads
with " his people, who have made a covenant with him by sacrifice," - by faith
in the sacrifice of atonement ; what sort of sacrifice of praise the Lord
desires ; - "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine,
and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of
goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: and
call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
me." Or again, hear the words which the Lord so graciously puts into the mouth
of penitent Israel (Hosea xiv.) ; - " Take away all iniquity, and receive ils
graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips." Or once more, hear the
exhortation of the Apostle writing to the Hebrews (ch. xiii.), when, having
spoken of Jesus, who, that he might sanctify or cleanse the people by his own
blood, suffered without the gate, he adds; - " By him therefore let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to com municate forget not: for
with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
Here is a choice of materials
for a thank-offering; a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart; the
payrnent of your vows, calling upon God in the time of trouble; the calves of
your lips, the fruit of your lips, confessing and praising the name of Jesus;
good deeds, good gifts; all or any of these things may be sacrifices of praise.
And in fact, are they not all comprehended in your presenting yourselves a
sacrifice? So Paul seems to teach when writing to the Corinthians (2 Cor.
viii.), he stimulates their zeal by quoting the example of the churches of
Macedonia ; - " How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their
joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to
their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of
themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and
take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints." A fact like this
- such abundance of joy in great affliction, such abundance of liberality in
deep poverty, requires explanation. The Apostle feels this, and accordingly he
furnishes the explanation when he adds, "And this they did, not as we hoped;
but first gave their own selves to Lord."
THEY FIRST GAVE THEIR OWN
SELVES TO THE LORD.
Ah! this solves the riddle: this accounts for the
mystery. No wonder their joy abounded in a great trial of affliction; no wonder
the riches of their liberality abounded in deep poverty. And no wonder your joy
in your religion is marred by gloom, and your liberality straitened by
selfishness, if you do not first give your own selves to the Lord. That you may
rejoice right heartily in God your Saviour, that you may be always abounding in
the work of the Lord, "I beseech you, brethren," that you first give your own
selves to the Lord "that ye present your bodies, a living sacrifice, and holy.
II. And let the deed of gift, the act of presentation be thorough and
unreserved. There is no reserve on the part of Christ, when he presents himself
a sacrifice atonement. Let there be no reserve on your part, when you present
yourselves a sacrifice of praise. Let your surrender of yourselves be as
complete as Christ's surrender of himself was. Through the Eternal Spirit, he
offered himself to God; his whole self: himself whole and entire. Through the
same Eternal Spirit, offer ye also yourselves to God; your whole selves:
yourselves whole and entire: mind and body, heart and soul. That is what as
Christians you profess to do: let it be what you really do. Sin not as Ananias
and Sapphira sinned; when wishing it to be understood that they were giving
their all, they kept back a part. Remember how it was not the amount withheld
that was the measure of their guilt. Even their offering of what they gave was
vitiated. they lied to the Holy Ghost. Grieve not thus the Spirit. Let no
portion whatever of yourselves, - none of your affections, faculties, powers,
energies, resources, - be held back from God. Be it ever so little, the holding
back of anything mars your whole sacrifice; its life and holiness are gone; it
is dead and dull; it is hollow and insincere; it is a cheerless, joyless,
routine of duty; not a glad service of love. If that be your religion, it may
well weary you and repel others: you neither glorify God, nor do good to man;
no, nor even gain contentment for yourselves. Follow the Lord wholly; give your
all to him; if you would be really Christians, and happy, as well as useful, in
your Christianity.
III. Finally, let it be always by the mercies of God
that you are moved to present yourselves a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him.
"The mercies of God! " How precious is the very phrase! How sweet its sound!
"The mercies of God :" how great is their multitude! How manifold are they!
New every morning, fresh every moment, coming down as rain upon the mown
grass, as showers that water the earth! Only let your eye be open to see them;
your hand to take them; your mouth to sing of them all the day long; above all,
your heart to keep them in its inmost shrine. Thy mercies, Lord, in Christ,
flowing in upon me through Christ, - if I would declare and speak of them, they
are more than can be numbered. First and chiefest of them all is Christ
himself, whom thou, 0 Father, givest to be mine; my Saviour, brother, friend.
And in his train what troops of mercies! - mercies of all sorts, for soul,
body, spirit: if I am wearry, rest; if I sin, forgiveness; if I have sorrow,
comfort; if I am weak, strength; if I am wayward, chastening; if I am dying,
hope! - mercies for all times and places; songs in the night; a table spread in
the wilderness; bread and water sure; oil to anoint the head; a cup running
over! - mercies always, mercies everywhere! Thy tender mercies, Lord, are
great: thou crownest me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. What shall I
render to thee for them all? Wilt thou take myself, 0 Lord? Wilt thou suffer me
to give myself to thee? Wilt thou enable me to give myself to thee? Wilt thou
make me thine? thine alone, thine altogether, thine for ever?
But what
if thou art disqualified, 0 sinner, for presenting a sacrifice of praise at
all? And art thou not disqualified if thou hast not embraced the appointed
sacrifice of propitiation? En such a state, unbelieving, unforgiven, think not
that any offering of thine can avail thee with God. I move, for thee, the
previous question. I beseech thee, brother, to let Christ wash thee in his
blood, arid present thee to his Father. Think not that whilst thou continuest
in thy present state, thou canst bring into God's house any offering that he
will accept as thy reasonable service. Thou art dead; thou art unclean. Thou
canst not present any service or sacrifice that will at all avail thee for
averting the Divine wrath or winning the Divine favour. But see, 0 Sinner,
there is a sin-offering lying at thy door. And it is thine, if thou wilt but
have it to be thine. Why shouldst thou continue in so sad a condition as to be
debarred from offering songs of praise to thy God? Nay, it is a condition
which, if thou continuest in it, must extort from thee, ere long, instead of
songs of praise, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth! But thou needst not
continue in it, no, not for an hour. Accept now in faith the sacrifice of
atonement, and thereupon present the sacrifice of praise. First, be reconciled
to thy God; then come and offer thy gift.
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