Sweet Savor
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 29, 1866, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I will accept you with your sweet savor." Ezekiel 20:41.
GOD does not cease to observe the sins of His people. As the eyes of
Moses never waxed dim, so the eyes of God do not grow dim with regard
to the sins of His chosen. We may learn this from the recapitulation of
those offenses which we find in the chapter before us and in many other
places in Scripture. He looks down from Heaven and beholds their
wanderings, the hardness of their hearts, the stubbornness of their
will, their daily and continual violations of His statutes and
commands. Mercy has some other source than that of laxness in the
memory of God. He knows the sins of man and He hates the sins of His
people just as much as the sins of other men. No, if there are sins
which are worse in God's estimation than others, they are the sins of
His own elect.
But, notwithstanding this severe strictness, and although God must have
a much clearer view of the evil of sin than any of us ever can, He
freely pardons those whom He reserves. He casts their sins behind His
back and remembers not their iniquity. He blots out their transgression
like a cloud, and their iniquities like a thick cloud. He has a time to
chasten but He has also a set time to bless. He afflicts, but He does
not afflict from the heart. And when He turns in a way of Grace to His
people, He then seems to be flying on the wings of the wind for He
comes with all His soul most heartily and richly to display His favor
and His love toward the objects of His choice.
One would have thought that the persons described in this chapter never
would have been acceptable to God. They had so thoroughly defiled
themselves, and after so many trials had been so desperately
incorrigible, that one would have supposed the chapter would have
concluded with thunderbolts of vengeance and a terrible voice
condemning them to be driven forever from the face of the Most High.
Instead of this it concludes with mercy! The trumpet ceases its loud
swell, and the melodious tone of the harp is heard in gentle notes of
melody. The thunder and the lightning are over, the storm is past, and
the still small voice, in refreshing calm, proclaims the infinite
pardon that proceeds from a tender Father's heart.
Our text seems to me very full of fatness. Its savor will be doubtless
passing sweet to those who have grace to appreciate it. We shall
contemplate it in two lights. First we have a promise that the persons
of His people shall be accepted as a sweet savor. Sinners are accepted
through the merits of Christ: "I will accept you with your sweet
savor." I cannot accept you otherwise, but I will accept you thus.
Then, secondly (which is more consistent with the context), we are
assured that our offerings shall be accepted–"I will accept you with
your sweet savor." I will not only love and receive you, but I will
also receive your worship and your service.
Your sweet savor, those same things which once you offered to idols,
you shall from now on bring as an offering to Me and when I have
accepted you and you are reconciled to Me, then I will accept your good
works and your prayers, and your praises, too.
' I. First of all, as being the fundamental evidence of Divine Grace,
THE LORD ACCEPTS THE PERSONS OF HIS PEOPLE THROUGH THE SWEET SAVOR OF
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. The merits of our great Redeemer are sweet savor
in the nostrils of the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or
passive righteousness of Christ there is alike an overpowering
fragrance. Such was the merit of His active life by which He honored
the Law of God and exemplified every precept like a precious jewel in
the pure setting of His own humanity.
Such, too, the merit of His passive obedience as He endured with
unmurmuring submission, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness–and with
the ever-deepening stream of sorrow–and at length yielded to that
unknown agony when He sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane. And
then when He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that
plucked out His hair. He stretched His hands to the nails and was
fastened to the cruel wood that He might suffer the wrath of God on our
behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High, and for the
sake of His doing and His dying, His substitutionary sufferings and His
vicarious obedience, the Lord God of infinite Justice accepts us with
the sweet savor of Christ.
There are many sweet savors mentioned in the Old Testament. One of the
first is the sacrifice of Noah where the word is used which is implied
here. As soon as Noah came out of the ark he offered up clean beasts,
and it is said, "the Lord God smelled a sweet savor of rest." That is
the very word here–a sweet savor or a savor of rest. And Noah obtained
a Covenant made with him and with all creatures on the face of the
earth–that a flood should no more destroy the earth–that Covenant
being given partly as the result of the sweet savor of rest. In like
manner there is a Covenant made with the chosen seed through our Lord
Jesus Christ who is unto us a sweet savor of rest because God delights
in Him as our blessed Substitute and Representative.
But I prefer to confine your attention this morning to one figure
peculiarly instructive. These words, "sweet savor," appear to me to
contain an allusion to the incense which was commonly offered in
religious worship and particularly to the incense which was used in the
Jewish tabernacle, of which you will find a description in the
thirtieth chapter of the book of Exodus. In order that the sweet merits
of the Lord Jesus may be the more fragrant to your understanding, I ask
you to turn to that chapter and let me refer you to some points in
which the holy incense brings out clearly before our eyes the qualities
and excellencies of the merits of Christ.
You will read at the thirty-fourth verse–"And the Lord said unto
Moses, Take unto you sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum,
these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a
like weight: And you shall make it a perfume, a confection after the
art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: And you shall
beat some of it very small, and put of it before the Testimony in the
tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with you: it shall be
unto you most holy. And as for the perfume, which you shall make, you
shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof; it
shall be unto you holy for the Lord. Whoever shall make like unto that,
to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people."
Now you observe that this incense was sweet unto God–so, too, are the
merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, as a Spirit infinitely and
exclusively holy, delights in holiness! As a truthful Spirit He cannot
be satisfied with anything that is untruthful. As a most just, and yet
loving Being, He finds in the Person of Jesus Christ an expiation which
was in every way honorable to Justice, and a revelation of Grace
according to the goodwill of Divine love which is precious to Himself
beyond all expression, and admirable to all holy creatures far beyond
all blessing and praise. Whenever the great God contemplates His own
dear Son, He feels an intense delight in surveying His Character and in
beholding His sufferings.
You and I, so far as we have been taught of God, must find infinite and
unspeakable delight in the Person and work of Christ. But alas, we are
like common people who look upon a fine picture without a cultivated
understanding in the art of painting–we cannot perceive the whole
beauty–we do not know the richness of its coloring and the wondrous
skill of all its touches. Who but Jehovah understands holiness? Who
like God knows what great love means? Or who save the Lord can
comprehend justice and truth to perfection?
Therefore it is that as He gazes upon that matchless masterpiece of
Love and Justice, of Truth and Holiness, embodied in the Person of His
dear Son, He finds that infinite satisfaction which our faith is
perpetually struggling by small degrees to realize. There is no doubt a
discipline by which every faculty may be educated. If I may use so
homely an idea, the nostril of one man may be refreshed with a coarse
perfume which would disgust another man of finer taste. The educated
nostril may be able to discern between this and that savor till it is
only to be gratified with something exceedingly refined and delicate.
Adhering to the metaphor of the text, the Lord our God is so holy, and
just, and true that the coarser virtues of mankind–the best of all
that we can bring–might disgust Him! But when He looks upon His dear
Son there is such a rarity of sweetness in the sacred confection of His
blessed Character that He takes delight in it and the savor is sweet
unto Him. We love Him, we delight in Him when we think of His
Character. In our inmost souls we feel that there is nothing we could
find fault with, but everything to admire and adore. And the most holy
God finds even greater satisfaction!
The merits of the Savior are so sweet a savor to Him that we strive in
vain to reach the knowledge of it. The sweetness of the incense in the
Temple was meant to set this forth. The incense, however, was not the
result of one sweet drug, but of several mixed together. We have four
mentioned. The Talmud says there were eleven–we do not know whether
there were or were not–we are content to believe, as the Scripture
tells us, that there were four. Many ingredients, then, are mixed and
mingled together to make up the one surpassing sweetness of this
incomparable perfume.
And, Brothers and Sisters, it is certainly so in Christ Jesus. If we
take the characters of other men, however excellent they may be, they
only excel in some one, or possibly some two points. But when you
contemplate the Savior you find all the virtues enshrined in Him. Other
men are stars but He is a constellation! No, He is the whole universe
of stars gathered into one galaxy of splendor! Other men are gems and
jewels but His Character is perfect and matchless.
If I look at Peter, I admire the crown imperial, where every jewel
glitters–other men finish but a part of the picture, and the
background is left–or else there is something in the foreground that
is but roughly touched. But he finishes the whole, not the minutest of
which is his courage. If I look at Paul, I am amazed at his industry
and devotedness to the cause of God. If I look at John, I see the
loveliness and gentleness of his bearing. But when I look to the Savior
I am not so much attracted by any one particular virtue as by the
singular combination of the whole. There are all the spices–the
stacte, and the onycha, and the galbanum, and the pure
frankincense–the varied perfumes combine to make up one perfect
confection.
Still more remarkable is the perfect balance of the Savior's Character
as typified to us in the exact proportions of these spices. You observe
they are to be of equal weight. If you look, there is not to be so much
stacte, and then but half as much of galbanum, but each one in its fair
proportion–they are to be of equal weight. So is it in Christ. It is
difficult to get a fully-balanced character. You can see in some men
indomitable energy, but you cannot see at the same time any delicate
tenderness. You will see in another an exceeding tenderness which
degenerates into effeminacy through want of some sternness to modify
it.
Who among you would wish to imitate Elijah? He is sterling in his
integrity, a noble specimen of humanity, but the gentleness which
should temper his fiery courage is so far lacking that much as you
admire him you cannot love him. Even Moses–though I may venture to say
that among those that are born of women there has never been a greater.
There has never been one beside himself who could have his name
ennobled in the same song with our great Prophet–the song of Moses,
the servant of God and of the Lamb–yet, as you look at Moses,
beautifully balanced as his character is in most respects, that
condescending loveliness which glistens in the Savior you cannot detect
about the glory even of the Hebrew lawgiver.
Brethren, the Savior's Character has all goodness in all perfection! He
is full of Divine Grace and the Truth of God. Some men, nowadays, talk
of Him as if He were simply incarnate benevolence. It is not so. No
lips ever spoke with such thundering indignation against sin as the
lips of the Messiah. "He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's
soap. His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor."
While in tenderness He prays for His tempted disciple, that his faith
may not fail, yet with awful sternness He winnows the heap and drives
away the chaff into unquenchable fire!
We speak of Christ as being meek and lowly in spirit, and so He was. A
bruised reed He did not break, and the smoking flax He did not
quench–but His meekness was balanced by His courage–and by the
boldness with which He denounced hypocrisy. "Woe unto you, Scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! You fools and blind, you serpents, you
generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of Hell?" These
are not the words of the milksop some authors represent Christ to have
been. He is a man–a thorough man throughout–a God-like man–gentle as
a woman, but yet stern as a warrior in the midst of the day of battle.
The Character is balanced–as much of one virtue as of another. As in
Deity every attribute is full orbed–justice never eclipses mercy, nor
mercy justice, nor justice faithfulness–so in the Character of Christ
you have all the excellent things, "whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are true, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are of good report," you have them all. But not
one of them casts a shadow on another–they shine each and all with
undimmed splendor!
Turning to the incense again, I shall want you to notice that all the
ingredients of this incense were of the very finest kind–pure
frankincense. And then again in the thirty-fifth verse, "pure and
holy." And then the thirty-sixth verse–"most holy." So all the virtues
of Christ were the best forms of virtue. His love was not love in word
but in deed. His faithfulness was not the faithfulness of cynicism,
which criticizes and finds fault–it was the faithfulness of a friend
that loves at all times. Select any one trait in the Redeemer's
Character, I mind not which it is, you shall find that in that respect
He will surpass the greatest master of that virtue, be he whomever he
may!
Take His faith in God–I do not think we sufficiently admire the faith
of Christ–that faith never wavers even in the time of His strong
crying and tears. As David so richly describes it, He still trusts in
God, rests on Him–appropriates the Divine name, "My God, My God," and
which adoration exclaims, "You are holy, O You that inhabits the
praises of Israel." Oh that mighty faith of His! You shall take
Abraham's faith and put it side by side with the faith of Jesus and you
find the Patriarch failing here and there, though he was the father of
the faithful. But the faith of Jesus was steadfast and immoveable.
Did it seem to stagger once when He said, "O My Father, if it is
possible let this cup pass from me"? Oh, it never failed! His
steadfastness was never more illustrious than when He thus spoke,
"Nevertheless not as I will but as You will." Or, again,
"Your will be done." Was not that faith exercised in purest submission?
Take any other of the virtues (I have not time to do so this morning,
nor is it necessary that I should, but), wherever you fasten your
meditations you shall see Christ excels there– His gold is the gold of
Ophir–His jewels are of the first water–His wheat is the finest of
the wheat–the fat of kidneys! And when He lays Himself upon the altar
it is not as the lean bullock which of old Israel would bring to God,
but as the fatted one offered with the whole strength and perfection of
every part of Him unto the Most High! Every component part, then, of
the incense was pure, and so was every part of the merit of Christ.
You will not fail, also, to observe that there is no stint as to
quantity. In some other parts of the temple service quantities are
given, as, for instance, in the twenty-third and the following verses
of this chapter. You have the quantities of each ingredient for making
the anointing oil, yet here you have no quantities whatever for the
incense. The anointing oil had five hundred shekels worth of one
principal spice, and two hundred and fifty shekels worth of
another–but this is to be made without limit–as if to indicate that
the merits of Jesus Christ know no bounds whatever!
Oh, when that sacred box of precious ointment was broken on the Cross,
who knows how far the merit of it extended? It perfumed the earth to
its utmost bound so that God has had patience with it. It acted as a
salt to all creation so that it might not be destroyed, and the sweet
perfume went up to Heaven. The angels knew it and returned their harps,
and God perceived it, and with benignant smile looked upon the human
race–
"Oh the sweet wonders of that Cross, Where God the Savior loved and
died! Her noblest life my spirit draws From His dear wounds and
bleeding side." There is no end to the merit of Jesus! You lost
Sinners, you need not think that it cannot avail for you. However great
your sin its ill savor can all be quenched through the sweet savor of
His perfect merit! And though your sins should be so many and so
numerous that it should seem impossible but that the swift witnesses as
avengers of blood should follow you up with their clamors, yet God
regards more His Son than He does the sin of man, and has an eye to the
merit of the Savior as well as to the demerit of the sinner. The first
is greater than the second, so that He passes by transgression,
iniquity, and sin, and remembers not the transgression of His people
because His mercy in Christ Jesus endures forever. It is without stint
or quantity.
I hope I shall not weary you, but this seems to me to be a rich vein. I
would observe that all through this incense is spoken of as being
peculiarly holy, most holy unto God. The entire dedication of Christ's
life and death to God is most remarkable. You can never see a divided
aim about the Savior's action. When but a child, He said, "Know you not
that I must be about My Father's business?" To the very last He was
still consumed with the zeal of His Father's house. He never had a
thought of fame. It is really wonderful how little Jesus Christ seemed
to notice what people thought of Him.
There used to be an idea that Christ did a great many things to prevent
people from forming such-and-such erroneous impressions of Him. For
instance, it was supposed that He was anxious, after His Resurrection,
to make it clear that He was Himself and that He was not an impostor. I
do not think such a motive ever entered into His mind. He was so simple
and childlike that He acted out His whole self not perpetually guarding
against misconstruction, nor restricting Himself because of the
adversary. His Character was too transparent, and His actions were too
unvarnished to admit of His continually locking up that loophole, or
stopping up that gap. Not He! His life was clear, without a spot of
defilement–His whole soul drifted right on to this one thing–the
glory of God through the salvation of man.
He was not deluded for a moment by the golden apples that were cast in
His pathway. They would have made Him a king, but He was a King too
great to stoop to an earthly crown! As temptation could not attract
Him, so neither could trials and difficulties restrain Him. Like an
arrow from a bow that has been drawn by a strong archer, He sped right
onward to the great goal of His existence–the accomplishment of the
work that God had given Him to do. "I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened until it is accomplished!" He set His
face to go up to Jerusalem–He never turned His face away until He
could look up to Heaven and say, "It is finished!" and then He gave up
the ghost. Christ's merits are most holy, purely offered unto God–no
selfishness, no worldliness–everything Divine.
This incense, although little is said of it, was, of course, compounded
when the ingredients were all brought together. It had to be compounded
with great care, according to the art of the confectioner. Now, there
certainly is great art and wondrous skill in the composition of the
Savior's life. Why there is wondrous skill about the record of it, for
those who have denied the authenticity of the evangelists ought to
accept a challenge which has often been put to them. Are there four
narrations written? Would somebody who believes these to be forgeries
kindly forge a fifth? Would somebody be pleased to write another which,
though as much a forgery as any of the other four, should be consistent
and have something new to recommend it?
I would even venture to say if somebody attempted to make one new
miracle, or write the fabulous record, they would find it as impossible
to write a miracle on paper as to work the miracle–for there are some
traits and points about the miracles of the Savior which betoken their
genuineness, since to describe or imagine them were not possible! We
could easily prove our point if this were the time, but it is not
necessary. There is a matchless beginning in the life of the Savior and
a matchless ending. In what is not done there is as much that is
characteristic about Christ as in what is done. If you have ever read
those spurious gospels which profess to contain the early life of the
Savior, the protevangeleon, you will see that this absurd, ridiculous,
preposterous composition never could be harmonized with the life of the
Savior.
What is not there even in the record is as wonderful, I say, as what is
there! The whole life is a compound of the confectioner. But it seems
that when compounded it had to be all bruised and broken. "You shall
beat some of it small," says our version. Look at that "some of it."
How did it get there? "You shall beat of it." Not "some of it," but
"all of it." "You shall beat of it small, very fine." Now, certainly
the whole life of the Savior was a process ofbruising Him very fine. He
begins with grief. He concludes with agony. "Foxes have holes, and the
birds of the air have nests," but He has not where to lay His head–and
at last He has not a rag to cover Him–but hangs naked to His shame
upon the Cross.
His very grave is borrowed, just as was the manger in which He lay as
an Infant. Altogether the whole sweetness of the life of Christ is
brought out by the exquisite griefs which He is made to suffer. I
question whether anybody knows anything about the sweetness of
Christian Grace till he has been tried. We are told that when the ships
are floating near Ceylon they can smell the perfume of the cinnamon
groves–
"What though the spicy breezes Blow softly on Ceylon's isle."
But navigators tell us that the perfumes are only smelt in poetry–you
never smell them there–in fact, cinnamon does not smell! And that we
might wander through all those groves without knowing that they were
odoriferous. But take the cinnamon and begin to grind it–begin to
pound it, above all begin to burn it–then it is that you get the
sweetness!
And the good man's goodness is not known so much in his days of
happiness and pleasure as in his times of sorrow and of grief. We must
be put into the mortar. We must feel the weight of the pestle to get
the sweetness from it. And the Savior's whole life was just that
pounding beneath the heavy hammer of human wrath and at last of Divine
anger against sin–and then the sweetness came forth. But this incense
was most sweet to God when it came to the burning. It was put upon the
altar amidst the hot coals and then the sweet perfume went up. So,
Beloved, the very preciousness of Christ in its most extreme and best
degree is to be seen when He is put upon the hot coals in Gethsemane,
Gabbatha, and Golgotha.
However, I need not tell you the tale over again. You loving hearts
have learned it well. Your tender souls have wept all along the Via
Dolorosa up to the Cross and through the hours of grief and suffering.
You know what a sweet savor that must have been when the thrice holy
Savior offered Himself as a holocaust to God that He might put away the
ill savor of human guilt. Thus I have run through the whole. You will
observe I do not stop to say a word about the four ingredients. It is
very easy to spiritualize, and more especially the most difficult
passages, because then you can say any nonsense you like. I have,
however, omitted to do so. I do not really think there is anything to
be said about them except just this–the stacte appears to have been a
form of myrrh which dropped from the myrrh tree without cutting, and
therefore was highly esteemed.
The voluntary sufferings of Christ, in that He gave Himself and laid
down His life–no man taking it from Him– does certainly render His
sufferings peculiarly delightful both to us and to God. As for the
onycha there is a great dispute about it. The word seems to be allied
with another signifying a distillation–and the Savior's blood is a
marvelous distillation from His body, and His grief from His soul. The
galbanum appears to have been a very bitter drug and it has been
thought, therefore, by commentators, that it could not have been used
as a sweet perfume. I think differently. It is well known that many of
the most bitter tasting drugs are sometimes the sweetest smelling when
they come to the fire. And honey, which is so sweet to the taste,
becomes sour when laid on the flames.
I think the bitterest form of galbanum would be the most significant if
that is what is intended, for it would then express the bitterness of
His griefs to His own taste, but the sweetness of the savor of these
bitters to the Most High. Frankincense, especially, you know is
exceedingly bitter tasting, but extraordinarily sweet when laid upon
the hot bars of iron or upon hot coals. There were many sorts of
frankincense–there was one which was very rare and highly esteemed
which appears to have been the pure frankincense intended here. But
whatever each of those drugs may have been, or may not have been, it is
certain they made a compound which God reserved to Himself and enjoined
that it should never be used by men for any sort of purpose. It was
reserved for Himself to set forth the holy merits, the inimitable
perfections, the transcendent glories of the Character of the
sufferings of that precious Redeemer of whom God says to us, "I will
accept you with your sweet savor."
Now for two or three practical words before I pass on. Do you feel your
need of this sweet savor? How can you hope to be accepted before God in
yourselves? I think that the word "loathing," which occurred in our
reading just now, is what we must feel with regard to our sinful
selves. There may be some of you, very much growing in sanctification,
who possibly look upon yourselves and congratulate yourselves on the
progress that you have made. But I confess, if I know anything of the
Divine life, that while I do feel myself more consecrated to Christ
than ever I was, yet I do feel my unworthiness to be permitted to say
so.
My utter powerlessness to do anything as of myself is a present
pressing and overwhelming thought with me–one that lowers me into the
dust and ashes and makes me sometimes wonder that Christ should even
touch such an one–and yet at the same time to hope that if God,
foreseeing all this evil, could nevertheless look upon me, He will not
cast me away. Brothers and Sisters, do you not feel that you cannot be
accepted unless it is through this sweet savor? Well, then, when you
feel this, will you, in the next place, prize that sweet savor? Speak
of it in the highest and most eulogistic terms!
You cannot exaggerate when you speak of the virtues and merits of the
Redeemer. Set a high store by His Person! Prize His life, and like St.
Bernard you may say–
"Jesus, the very thought of You With sweetness fills my breast."
Brethren, what a preciousness must there be in Him to overcome our want
of preciousness! What a savor to put away our ill savor! What a
cleansing power in His blood to take away sin such as ours! And what
glory in His righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be
accepted in the Beloved!
And if you have gotten so far as to prize it, the next exhortation I
would give you is never come before God without it. Turning back to
that passage in Exodus you notice that the Lord says in the
thirty-sixth verse, "You shall beat some of it very small, and put of
it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I
will meet with you." Oh, never assay to meet God without that precious
incense! Never think of such a thing! As the Apostle tells us, "Our God
is a consuming fire." Give Him this incense to consume, that He doesn't
consume us! Bring Him this merit lest our demerit should compel Him to
smite us as He did Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire
before the altar.
What a blessed thing, then, to stand in prayer and feel that you are
offering up again the blood of Jesus! What a delightful exercise in
praise to feel that your praise comes up accepted because of the
incense which He offers! Oh, to live under the shadow of the atoning
Cross! Brethren, we do not experience enough of this. I confess,
sorrowfully, the wanderings of my own spirit away from Calvary. May the
Master bind us to the horned altar where His blood was shed and may we
never venture again to go away from that blessed spot! Do not attempt
to meet God, except through the merit of this sweet savor.
Take care, dear Friends, that you never doubt your acceptance when you
once have it. You cannot be accepted without Christ. But, when you have
once gotten His merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all
your doubts and fears, and sins, Jehovah's gracious eyes never look
upon you in anger. Though He sees your sin and perceives it since He is
Omniscient–He looks at you through Christ and sees no sin–for He
answers the prayer of that hymn–
"Him, and then the sinner see, Look through Jesus' wounds on me." You
are always accepted in Christ, you are always blessed and beloved,
always dear to the Father's heart!
Therefore lift up a song and as you see the smoking incense of the
merit of the Savior coming up perpetually before the sapphire throne
let the incense of your praise go up also–
"Now to the Lamb, that once was slain, Salvation, glory, joy remain!"
II. It is certain from the connection that the text means that THE LORD
WILL ACCEPT THE OFFERINGS OF HIS PEOPLE WHEN HE HAS ACCEPTED THEIR
PERSONS. He will not only receive them into His love but all that they
do for Him He will likewise receive. Before a man is accepted his best
works must be unacceptable–they come from a fountain that is
impure–and they are defiled. Moreover, a man who is not reconciled to
God offers nothing to God.
He may seem to do so, but he has always some sinister motive which
renders all his doings selfish. He has something to gain thereby or
some misery to escape, and therefore he does not serve God out of a
pure motive.
But as soon as the man knows that he is saved, being reconciled to God
by the death of His Son, then God becomes his God and he worships Him
as such–and his offerings are really presented to the Most High. These
are accepted. Those things which we offer to God must be such as He has
appointed. The sweet smelling savor must not be made of cassia and
cinnamon, and calamus–it must be made of stacte and onycha, and
galbanum and frankincense. Many persons serve God sincerely, but from
lack of serving Him according to His ordained method their services
cannot be accepted.
God has given us a Statute Book, let us follow it. Let us not bring
before God, as the Papist does, works of superstition, or works of
supererogation–but let us bring such as are commanded–for to obey is
better than sacrifice, to hearken, than the fat of rams. Let our lives
be lives of obedience, not lives of fancy, superstition, and inventions
of our own. Prayer, praise, consecration, giving, holy living–these
are all ordained. Let us be diligent in the mixing up of these sweet
savors. We must bring before God, if we would be accepted in our works,
something of all the virtues. It must not be all galbanum nor all
stacte–not all intrepid courage without any subdued reverence, nor all
the simplicity of affection without any of the sublimity of faith–it
must not be all self-denial though there must be some of it.
Gravity itself must be tempered with cheerfulness. There must be
something of every form of virtue to make up the blessed compound! We
must endeavor to bring something of all exercises–not prayer without
praise, nor works without prayer–not mental energy without spiritual
gifts, nor gifts without holiness–it must be a mixture, a compound of
the whole. We must bring something of all our powers–not all
intellect, not all heart. It must be something of intellect in judgment
and understanding–something of the heart in enthusiasm and
joy–something of the body, for the members of the body are members of
Christ.
It must be much of the soul, for the soul's service is the soul of
service. We must bring to God a compound of excellencies from all the
powers which He has renewed and consecrated to Himself. Oh it were
matchless if God the Holy Spirit should graciously enable us to imitate
Christ in this that we might have some of all the Divine Graces, not
lacking in any respect, but as a man of God thoroughly furnished unto
every good work! We must, above all, pay great attention to small
things. "You shall beat some of it very small." If we would bring a
holy life to Christ we must mind our fireside duties as well as the
duties of the sanctuary. We must be attentive as servants to our
service, as masters to managing the household.
We must look to our private devotions. We must look to our hearts'
secret longings–there must be the ejaculation as well as the long
prayer. There must be the grateful spirit as well as the song of
praise. Oh, that we could bring to God a life beaten small so that even
in little things the Holy Spirit might be manifest, working in us to
will and to do according to His good pleasure! We must take care that
this sweet incense of ours is not made for man nor used by man.
Accursed is that life, however good, which lives only for man to gaze
upon! But blessed is that life which is lived for God's sake and for
Christ's sake–for higher motives than man's eye could suggest–and for
a nobler reward than man's hand can ever give.
To be holy unto God is the grand thing, my Brothers and Sisters! To
truly feel that you are not living for self, that you are not even
living for your country nor for your fellow man so much as you are
living to the Most High God–the marks of whose ownership in yourself
you desire to bear in your body and in your spirit! May it be yours and
mine to have a life which, both in its prayer and praise, its giving
and its ordinary living shall be redolent with the fullness of the
Spirit of God–a perfume that may make our life like walking through a
garden, a fragrance that may make us like the king's storehouse where
all manner of precious fruits are laid up, and all manner of sweet
frankincense stored away!
You will say, "But there will be so much imperfection notwithstanding."
Ah, that there will! "There may be much defilement when we have done
our best." Ah, so it is! The best of men are still men at the best. But
the word comes very sweetly–"I will accept you with your sweet savor."
When God accepts you, He accepts what you do for His sake. He sees you
no longer as a mere fallen man but as a man renewed by His Spirit. He
counts you a vessel to honor! He puts these sweet things into you and
loves them as He sees them in you. I know the prayer is broken, but it
is the prayer of His own dear child–and therefore He whom we call
"Abba, Father," accepts it! I know the praise has little of music in it
to the tutored ear, but it is the praise of one whose heart loves God,
and He hears no discord there.
I know your gifts to His church and His poor are necessarily but
little, for yours is the poor widow's portion perhaps, and you can give
only your two mites. But I know that as they fall into the treasury,
Jesus sits over against the treasury and hears sweet sounds in the
dropping of your gifts. I know your life is such that you mourn over it
every day, but still you serve God in it, and you long to serve Him
more–and that love of yours is written in the Book of the King's
record and you shall be His in the day when He makes up His jewels–and
your works shall be His, too, for your works shall follow you to the
skies when you rise in Jesus–and your reward even for a cup of cold
water shall be as sure as it will be gracious! And your entrance into
the joy of your Lord shall certainly be bestowed upon you according to
the Divine Grace which is in Christ Jesus by which He has accepted you.
Desire, dear Friend in Christ, to be such a savor! Make it your grand
ambition that your life really may be fragrant to the Most High. Do not
be satisfied to be an unbroken alabaster box. Do not be willing to be a
flower that "wastes its sweetness on the desert air," or "a gem of
purest ray serene" that is hidden in the caverns of seclusion. Seek to
do something–seek to serve Christ! Pray that you may be a sweet savor
of Christ unto God in every place where Providence may cast your lot.
And if you are such a sweet savor, rejoice that you are so–rejoice
that your name is written in Heaven!
What? Though men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
Christ's name sake, rejoice that you are numbered with the honorable
multitude who have suffered for Jesus' sake! And though you are not
knights that ride first in the battle, be thankful that you may be as
the esquires that follow at their heels, willing for the fray and able
to bear the buffeting which the Lord may appoint you! Care less and
less for man's esteem. Remember that your holiness will never shield
you from calumny. Rest assured that the most strict walking will never
preserve you from the envenomed tongue of slander.
If your life should be as pure as the crystal river that springs from
beneath the throne of the Most High, there will be found some that will
muddy that stream and mire it with their feet. Coals of juniper, hot
coals of juniper shall be given unto you, O you false tongue! But as
for you, Believer, care not for that tongue, though it is sharp as a
razor, and though every cut of it is poisonous as the poison of an
adder. Bear it! Bear it! For do you not understand that your incense
was never meant for man's approbation, but for the Most High? It must
be for God, and for God only! And if man cannot smell it, or appreciate
its savor, what shall I say but, though it was meet that my pearls
should not be cast before swine, if they have happened to be where
swine may trample on them, the swine acts but according to its nature,
and the pearl is not hurt by the swine's feet–it is still a pearl when
trampled in the mire–a pearl that God's eyes will see and fetch out,
notwithstanding all.
And oh, dear Friends, bless the Lord Jesus day by day that your works
are made accepted with yourself through Him! When you have done
anything that is right, and good, and pure, bring it and lay it at His
feet! Come here, you that toil with holy industry, and bring your
sheaves to store in the garner of your Boaz whose fields you have
reaped. Come here, you that have found jewels diving into the depths of
human sin to bring them up, and lay these pearls at the feet of
Solomon, who is master of the seas into which you have dived. "The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that
dwell therein." And especially are we, the blood-besprinkled ones, the
sacramental host of God's elect ordained as priests to offer sacrifices
acceptable unto God.
Oh, let us praise the love that bought us, the blood that redeemed us,
the power that sustains us, the Grace that smiles upon us, the
righteousness that covers us, the arm which supports us and the whole
Redeemer who is able and willing, and before long will receive us to
Himself and to our great reward! May we all look to Jesus and to His
merit, and then go forth, for the love we bear His name, to show Him
afresh in our own persons to the sons of men! The Lord accept this
morning's offering for His name's sake. Amen.