In this present world we are in a mixed condition, and however truly we
may be walking with God, there is the old man and the old nature left.
It is just the same with us as it was of old with Canaan. Israel had
taken possession, but the Canaanites were still in the land. So, even
when the Lord Jesus has taken possession of the heart, there are sins
still abiding there—tempers, lusts, covetousness, selfishness, pride, and
a thousand others—some prevailing in one character and some in another.
Now of all these the Christian man must be prepared to make a
sacrifice—his temper, his pride, his ambition, his covetousness, his
self-love; he must be prepared to bring all to the altar, without mercy
and without reserve. Thus, in Col. iii. 5, St. Paul addresses those who
are risen with Christ, and says, “Mortify therefore,” or put to death, or
sacrifice, “your members which are of the flesh: fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry.” There is no occasion to be shut up within the walls
of a nunnery for this; nor will the walls of a nunnery in the least help
us to it, for they are just as effectual in shutting sin in as in
shutting it out. Here is work for home life, and for all classes in home
life—for husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants:
we all have our great temptations, so we all have to throw ourselves
heart and soul into the great struggle, and with an unsparing hand deal
resolutely with besetting sin.
2. But the sacrifice goes farther, and involves the dedication of our
powers to the Lord’s most sacred service. The text implies this when it
says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.” There is clearly, therefore, to
be service,—a service involving the active use of human powers. In some
cases the body has been actually surrendered to bleed, or burn, in
martyrdom. Many a noble man of God has given his body to be burnt rather
than acknowledge the doctrine of the Mass. To this, however, we are not
called. But still there may be sacrifice without martyrdom, dedication
without death, and such a surrender of the living powers as may
correspond to the description, “That they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them, and
rose again.” This is the secret of the missionary spirit; this it is
which has led some of the noblest young men in our Universities to
abandon all home prospects, and to devote their whole lives to the great
work of proclaiming Christ in distant lands. This, again, is the spirit
that at this present time is stirring thousands of our own people at
home, devoted men and devoted women, to spend their lives labouring for
God, helping the poor, comforting the afflicted, nursing the sick, and
striving in every possible way to make known the sweetness of the sacred
Name which has brought life and peace to their own souls.
3. Once more: the sacrifice involves the free gift of money. Money with
most men lies very near the heart. Open the heart, and you open the
purse. Let the heart become dull, lifeless, cold, and unfeeling, and the
purse soon closes. Thus the sacrifice of Self is almost sure to lead to
the offering of money. Cold hearts give little; but when the heart is
full the offerings flow freely. The men of Macedonia were poor people,
but no sooner had they given their own selves to the Lord than “the
abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches
of their liberality.” Now these offerings are described in the
Scriptures as a sacrifice to God. St. Paul alludes to them, in Philip,
iv. 18. It is not perfectly clear whether he alludes to a contribution
towards his own maintenance, or to the collection in which he took so
deep an interest for the poor saints in Jerusalem; but, either way, he
describes the offerings as an odour of a sweet smell, a “sacrifice
acceptable, well pleasing to God.” This gives a delightful view of
contributions in a right spirit for the service of the Lord. It shows
that the free and generous giver thereby offers a sacrifice well pleasing
to God. It rebukes at the same time the niggardly and parsimonious
spirit, the spirit that gives reluctantly, and complains of many calls.
Yet I verily believe that to give freely can scarcely be called a
sacrifice, for no money gives so much pleasure as that freely offered to
the Lord’s service; and no people enjoy property so much as they do who
are free and open-hearted givers. I have not the slightest hesitation,
therefore, in appealing to you for free and generous offerings, for I can
say as St. Paul said (Philip, iv. 17), “I desire fruit that may abound to
your account;” and I am thoroughly persuaded, that no person who is
induced to give freely will ever repent of “a sacrifice acceptable and
well pleasing to God.”
II. We may turn, then, to our second subject, the relationship of this
sacrifice to the great and perfect sacrifice offered once and for ever on
the cross.
One thing is perfectly clear, that these sacrifices are not a supplement
to the one great sacrifice for sin. They are not intended to supply any
deficiency in the great work of our Blessed Lord. There is no deficiency
there; and if there were, nothing that we could do would supply it.
There is no deficiency, for by the “one offering He hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified.” And if there were deficiency, how could
man supply it? Is there not something dreadful in the thought of a
patchwork atonement, partly by the Son of God and partly by man; partly
perfect, and partly imperfect; partly pure in all the infinite purity of
God, and partly defiled with all the defilements of a fallen and sinful
manhood? No! the propitiation is perfect, unmixed, and undefiled for
ever. It is the sacrifice of the Son of God, and it stands alone for all
eternity.
Nor, again, is this sacrifice the means whereby the great sacrifice is
applied to the soul. This is a more common idea than the other, and one
prevailing among many who are thoroughly opposed to Popery. It is in
harmony with human nature to suppose that we must make our sacrifice in
order to gain a share of the blessings of His. Thus people will
sometimes give up, first one thing, and then another, hoping by these
sacrifices to find peace through the blood of atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They have no idea of being saved through anything but the great
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ; but they consider that they must make
their sacrifice in order to secure the application of his work to
themselves. This is the principle of almost all self-imposed
mortifications. People hope through them to be partakers of
reconciliation through the great atonement. Yet none of these things
satisfy the soul. I have myself known persons who have resolutely made
the effort, but utterly failed. They have become anxious about their
soul, and set to work to reach the cross of Christ by personal
self-denial. They have given up their different pursuits one by one; but
at length they have found that nothing has done them any good. They have
been just as far from the peace of reconciliation as they were the day
they began. None of these sacrifices had helped them in the least. No,
and none could help them. Nothing could help them but a free
justification through faith, and faith alone; and that, thank God! at
last they have found sufficient. And so will every other guilty sinner
who throws himself in utter helplessness, to be freely forgiven, and
freely saved, by the great grace of God in Christ Jesus. Let none
suppose, then, that any sacrifice which we can render can ever make us
partakers of the great salvation once purchased by the one sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation is given on altogether different
terms. It is given as a free gift to those who can produce nothing; a
gift bestowed in unfettered mercy on those who can only say, in the
language of the hymn:—
“Nothing in my hand I bring:
Simply to Thy cross I cling.”
What, then, is the relationship between our sacrifice and His? and how
are they connected? There can be no doubt on this subject if we turn to
the text, where we read, “I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.” It is, therefore, the
deep sense of unmerited mercy that is to call out the willing sacrifice
from a saved and thankful people. This is just how it stands in our
Communion Service. We first come with the confession of sin; we then
partake of the sacred feast; and seek, by God’s grace, to realise in
living faith the body broken and the blood shed for our sins; after
which, but not before, we “offer and present to Him ourselves, our souls
and our bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto Him.”
Our sacrifice, therefore, is the result of our deep sense of unmerited
mercy shown in His perfect sacrifice on the cross. It is a sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving. It is the willing offering of those who have
found mercy, and are most deeply and humbly thankful for it.
This, then, being the case, we see at once why there is not more
self-sacrifice for God. The reason clearly is, that there is a want of
the deep sense of mercy. The sacrifice of Christ is not sufficiently
realised, and the result is that the self-sacrifice is withheld. I fear
there is a great want of self-sacrifice even among those who hold the
truth. Surely there are many whose religion never costs them any real
personal self-denial. They pass through life easily and respectably, but
refer matters more to their own inclination than to the call of God.
They are more ready to pay others to work than to work themselves, and
are prone to stand aloof from distasteful service, if, as they say, it
does not suit them; or, as they might say, they do not like it. So,
again, but few deny themselves in giving, and though many are liberal,
there are few whose personal comforts are really diminished by their
liberality. Now, why is this? and how is it that the great salvation has
not more power over us? Is it not that the salvation itself is not
enough felt and appreciated? It is true of us, as it was of the
Corinthians, that “we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who,
though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His
poverty might be rich.” But though we know it, we do not deeply feel it.
It is like paint lying on the surface, but it is not burnt into us, so as
to become part and parcel of ourselves. Everything may be correct; our
doctrine scriptural, and our principles sound: but neither one nor the
other has gone home to the inmost soul with such power that we have
learned to “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus our Lord.” What is it, then, that we want? What must
lie at the root of all? A more powerful sense of mercy, a deeper
conviction of need, a clearer perception of what Christ has done for us,
a more thorough appreciation of His perfect sacrifice; and when that is
given, we shall be better able to understand the appeal,—“I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.”