The Purging of the Conscience
(No. 1846)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 21, 1885,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:13,14.
SOME of you may remember that six years ago I preached from this text,
principally dwelling upon the type of the red heifer. "The Red Heifer,"
No. 1481, Vol. 25. We then tried to show how, in these ashes of the
heifer, laid by in store and applied to the unclean with water, God
gave to His people in the wilderness a purification of the flesh
whenever they had defiled themselves by touching any dead thing. This
was the great instrument by which they were delivered from a ceremonial
quarantine under which they were kept apart till they had been
purified. I am not going to enlarge upon that type today. I felt, when
preaching upon it, that I had not reserved due space for the latter and
more important part of the text–it is my purpose to make amends this
morning. May we be helped by the Spirit of God to yield our earnest
attention to the deeply important subject now before us. The red cow
may roam out of notice and the Christ of God shall, alone, be seen!
"To serve the living God" is necessary to the happiness of a living
man–for this end were we made–and we miss the design of our making if
we do not honor our Maker. "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy
Him forever." If we miss that end, we are terrible losers. The service
of God is the element in which, alone, we can fully live. If you had a
fish here upon dry land, supposing it possible that it could exist, yet
it would lead a very unhappy life–it would scarcely be a fish at all!
You could not tell of what it was capable. It would be deprived of the
opportunity of developing its true self. It is not until you put it
into the stream that the fish becomes really a fish and enjoys its
existence.
It is just so with man–he does exist without God, but we may not
venture to call that existence, "life," for–"He shall not see life;
but the wrath of God abides on him." If he lives in pleasure, yet he is
dead while he lives. He is so constituted that to develop his manhood,
perfectly, as God would have it to be, he must addict himself to
fellowship with God and to the service of God! Many ways have been
tried by men to make themselves perfectly content, but they cannot find
satisfaction out of God. When a man gets to serve God and, in
proportion as he thoroughly does so, he is peaceful, restful and happy.
Man is a fallen star till he is right with Heaven! He is out of order
with himself and all around him till he occupies his true place in
relation to God. When he serves God, he has reached that point where he
serves himself best and enjoys himself most. It is man's honor, it is
man's joy, it is man's Heaven to live unto God!
God's idea of what a nation should be was set forth in the camp in the
wilderness. If God's command had been fully carried out, the desert
would have exhibited a scene of highest blessedness. We would have seen
a holy people surrounding the central abode of the Holy God–a people,
everyone of whom was a servant of God and a priest for His worship– a
people whose ordinary everyday life was sanctified by the Presence of
God. We would have seen a people whose shadow by day was God in the
cloud and whose light by night was God in the pillar of fire–a people
to whom God was Leader, for whom God was the vanguard and for whom God
brought up the rear. There would have been a people who lived upon the
Bread of Heaven–a people who drank of water which leaped by Divine
power from the Rock–a people having God to be their glory and their
defense. Happy had they been if they could have carried out the Divine
ideal! It would have been well with them in the highest degree.
Alas, they were always seeking to be as the evil nations around them!
They could not rest till they had descended to the level of the common
mass of mankind! If only they could have risen to God's intent, so that
the Divine purpose of love had been fully carried out in them, they
would have been the happiest of all the sons of men! We, ourselves, as
a Church, if we can fulfill the type–if we live with God in the midst
of us, if He is our dwelling place throughout all generations, if we
fetch our supplies from Him, if we move only at His bidding, if we
intensely love Him–we shall be a people to be envied by all who know
us!
But, alas, a great difficulty comes in the way–and of that I am going
to speak this morning–in order to the removal of it. Our text very
plainly points out the sad hindrance in the way of our service–we need
that our conscience be purged from dead works or else we cannot serve
the living God. Secondly, our text leads us to consider the true
purgation from this evil–if the blood of bulls and of goats purged the
flesh of men so that they could draw near to the visible Tabernacle of
God, much more shall the blood of Christ purge our conscience from all
that spiritual defilement which prevents our heart-worship of God! When
these two things are spoken of, I shall ask you, in the last place, if
time does not fail us, to consider the kind of service which we ought
to render if we have been cleansed by such a costly purification and
purged from all conscience of dead works. Oh, living Spirit, help us,
now, to think living thoughts and so to carry on the worship of the
living God while we are hearing Your Word!
I. First, then, let us briefly consider THE SAD HINDRANCE WHICH LIES IN
THE WAY OF THE SERVICE OF GOD. In the camp in the wilderness, the Law
was that if a man touched a dead body, he was made unclean by that
touch. No, if he only stepped upon a dead bone in his daily walks, he
was polluted by his accidental contact with death. If any person died
in his tent, all the family and the tent, itself, became at once
defiled–and they must undergo purgation before the inhabitants could
mingle with the rest of the congregation, much less could go up to the
holy place of assembly. My Brothers and Sisters, we are all under the
ban by coming into contact with spiritual death. The Apostle does not
say, purge your conscience from evil works, because he wanted to turn
our minds to the type of defilement by death and, therefore, he said,
"dead works." I think he had a further motive, for he was not
altogether indicating willful transgressions of the Law, but those acts
which are faulty because they are not performed as the result of
spiritual life. I see a difference between sinful works and dead works
which we may, perhaps, be able to bring into light as we go on. Suffice
it to say, for the moment, that sin is the corruption which follows
necessarily upon spiritual death. First, the work is dead, and soon it
rots into actual sin.
Upon our consciences there rests, first of all, a sense of past sin.
Even if a man wishes to serve God, until his conscience is purged, he
feels a dread and terror of God which prevent his doing so. He has
sinned and God is just and, therefore, he is ill at ease. The Law is
not to be trifled with–it is sent into the world armed with terrible
sanctions–and the conscience, when awakened, makes us know that we
cannot sin with impunity. "God is angry with the wicked every day, if
he turns not, He will whet His sword; He has bent His bow and made it
ready." The sinner, knowing this, asks, "How can I serve this terrible
God?" He is alarmed when he thinks of the Judge of all the earth, for
it is before that Judge that he will soon have to take his trial. He is
as a man in chains, reserved unto the hour of terrible execution–how
can we serve this dreadful God?
We tremble in the Presence of an angry God, for that anger threatens us
with destruction! Sin, like a dark cloud, darkens our spirit and shuts
us out from joy. It is impossible for any man to rightly serve God with
a living, loving worship while he is conscious of guilt. Therefore,
Brothers and Sisters, we need the atoning Sacrifice of Christ to purge
the conscience, for the Lord will not be served by convicted criminals,
neither can condemned rebels wish to serve Him. He cannot look upon the
rebellious with any pleasure till their iniquity is put away and their
sin is covered. You see, then, that the first hindrance to holy service
is our sense of guilt and from this we must be wholly delivered–we
must receive a new consciousness–a consciousness of perfect pardon and
complete reconciliation, or else we cannot serve the living
God.
On the back of this comes the consciousness that we, ourselves, are
sinful and inclined to evil. We say, and say rightly, "Who shall bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." How can we, whose will is
obstinate, whose judgment is darkened, whose affections are depraved,
whose desires are selfish, whose thoughts are evil–how can we stand in
the Presence of Him before whom angels veil their faces as they cry,
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty"? Men who know that they are
forgiven, are yet, nevertheless, seized with trembling in the Presence
of the Divine purity. They cry,
"Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips!" How shall we bear the
vessels of the Lord if we are not clean? And we are not clean by
nature. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand
in His Holy Place?"
We feel that we have not that perfect purity of heart and cleanness of
hands which would fit us for the Holy Place. Nor can we ever be saved
from this fear so as to take up our heavenly priesthood and serve God
till the precious blood of Christ shall be applied to the
conscience–nor until we feel that in Christ we are accounted
righteous. Happy are we if we are Believers in Jesus, for He has washed
us and we are clean every whit! Even our feet, though travel-stained,
are now made clean because He has taken the ewer and the basin and has
washed our feet and has said to us, "you are clean." We may now enter
into the Most Holy Place without the slightest fear, since the Great
High Priest of our profession has, Himself, purified us! We are
accepted in the Beloved–"Christ is made of God unto us righteousness."
But, besides this consciousness of sin and sinfulness, we are conscious
of a measure of deficient life. About us there is a body of death. Dead
works are the things we most require to be purged from. Dead works need
not be, in themselves, works of willful sin. As the renowned Dr. John
Owen has said, there were many things that the Jews would have to do
about the dead which could not be censured, but, on the contrary, were
to be praised–and yet, even these acts brought ceremonial defilement.
A person is dead. Someone must lay out the corpse. Someone must array
it for the funeral. Someone must lift it into the coffin. Someone must
dig the grave and cover up the poor clay with its fellow clay. These
last offices must be attended to, yet they defiled all who performed
them! Although they were works of humanity and of necessity, yet,
according to the Law, all who performed them were, thereby, rendered
unclean.
Without going into what the world calls actual sin, you and I may come
into contact with spiritual death, no, we carry death about us, from
which we daily cry to be delivered! For instance, in prayer. Our
prayer, in its form and fashion, may be right enough, but if it lacks
earnestness and importunity, it will be a dead work. A sermon may be
orthodox and correct, but if it is devoid of that holy passion, that
Divine inspiration without which sermons are but mere pomp– it is a
dead work! An alms given to the poor is good as a work of humanity, but
it will be only a dead work if a desire to be seen of men is found at
the bottom of it. Like the almsgiving of the Pharisee, it will be a
mockery of God! Without a spiritual motive, the best work is dead! I
confess that I never appear before you without a fear that my preaching
may be a dead work among you. It must be so, as it comes from
myself–its life must depend upon the spiritual power with which the
Lord clothes it.
Do you not think that very much of common Christian conversation is
dead, or very near to it? You stand and sing, but your hearts do not
sing! You bow your heads in prayer, but you are not praying! You read
the Scripture, but it is not inspired to you, so as to breathe its own
life into you! Even our meditations and thoughts about God's work may
be mere intellectual exercises and so may be devoid of that power
which, alone, can make them living works, fit for the service of the
living God. Beloved Friends, we need the precious blood of Christ to
purge our consciences from this death and its working–and to lift us
into holy and heavenly life! God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living! God accepts not the dead sacrifice, but the living sacrifice.
Even of old there were no fish presented on His altar because they
could not come there, alive–the victim must be brought alive to the
horns of the altar, or God could not receive it. We must not bring our
dead faith or our dead words as an offering to God! Our prayers without
emotion; our praises without gratitude; our testimonies without
sincerity; our gifts without love–all these will be dead and,
consequently, unacceptable. We must present a living sacrifice to the
living God, or we cannot hope to be accepted–and for this reason we
greatly need the blood of Christ to purge our conscience from dead
works.
Do you not, sometimes, fear concerning your services that they have
been altogether dead? When we are lukewarm, we hold the golden cup to
our God, but He receives it not when our service is dead and chill.
Indeed, He says of us when we are lukewarm, "I will spue you out of My
mouth." The Lord cannot endure a worship which is half dead! All
worship must be presented at blood heat–the warmth of life must be
there. Do you not fear that even when, as a whole, it is alive, large
parts of our service may be dead? Even in the living body of our
prayers, may there not be a dead bone? Even in the living body of our
praise, may there not be mortification in parts? God help us! What poor
creatures we are! Is there one good thing about us? Are we not
imperfect in our best works? Are not the sins of our holy things
glaring before our consciences this day? Unless we are purged of this,
by the blood of Christ, who offered up Himself without spot to God, how
can we serve this living God and be as priests and kings unto Him?
Once more–I told you that the Israelites were defiled by even touching
a dead bone–and this teaches us the easiness of being polluted. We
have to come into contact with evil in our daily dealings with ungodly
men. Can we think of them, can we speak to them, can we trade with them
without incurring defilement? Even if we grow indignant with evil
practices, may there not be sin in our indignation? And when we reprove
the custom of the trade, may we not become Pharisees in that very act?
We are seldom exactly right. In avoiding one sin we drop into
another–we flee from the lion and a bear meets us! To keep the middle
path of perfect holiness is difficult!
No, I go farther–do we, as Christian men and women washed by Christ,
ever associate with one another without a measure of defilement? Can we
meet together at our homes and feel, when we separate, that everything
we have said was seasoned with salt and ministered to edification? Is
there not some taint about our purest friends and does not the touch of
that corruption which still remains, even in the regenerate, tend to
defile us? Can we walk through such a morgue as this world without
being defiled, even unconsciously? Remember, under the Jewish Law, the
man who was defiled and knew it not was still under penalty! And when
he did discover it, he was made to bring his sacrifice. He needed the
blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer even for his sin
of ignorance. If we have heard an evil thing, or read an evil thing, it
has probably left some stain upon us though we perceive it not. All the
more surely it may be so because we do not see it, for that may but
prove that the judgment has been depraved and the heart infected. The
water of purification and the blood of Atonement are needed day by day.
Without these, we cannot hope to minister before the Lord our God with
acceptance.
II. Now, I want to show, in the second place, WHAT IS THE TRUE
PURGATION FROM THIS EVIL. Under the
Law there were several methods of purification, but the Apostle was not
of a mind, on this occasion, to speak particularly of any one of them
and, therefore, he summed them all up in these words–"The blood of
bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh." These things did purify the
flesh, so that the man who had formerly contracted impurity might mix
with his fellow men in the congregation of the Lord. Now, if these
matters were so effectual for the purifying of the flesh, well does the
Apostle ask, "How much more shall the blood of Christ purge our
conscience from dead works?" Why does he say, "How much more?"
First, because it is more truly purifying. There was not really and
truly anything of purification about the blood of bulls and of goats.
Speaking very literally, the blood of bulls and of goats might defile a
person! Falling upon any man, it splattered his garments. Who cared to
have a smear of blood upon his brow, or on his hands? It was not, in
itself, a thing that could actually purify. All the prescribed
purifications were types and shadows of the true Propitiation for sin.
Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself our human nature and
lived a life of perfection–and then made an offering of Himself in
death, as the Just for the unjust–then there was a real Sacrifice made
unto the Most High God. When the Lord Jesus gave His body, soul and
spirit. When, in His entire Nature, He made Himself a Sacrifice for
sin, "being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree"–then in that deed there was a real Atonement
made–a true and effectual Expiation was offered. Therefore James says,
"How much more?" If the shadow cleansed the flesh, how much more shall
the Substance cleanse the spirit?
Moreover, our Lord Christ offered a much greater Sacrifice. Why does
the text, here, show the term, "Christ"? The Apostle Paul uses the name
of our Lord with considerable variety. It is sometimes, "Christ,"
sometimes, "Jesus," sometimes, "our Lord Jesus," sometimes, "our Lord
Jesus Christ," sometimes, "Christ Jesus." But there is a reason for the
use of each name wherever it occurs. It would be an instructive study
for you to try to find out why, in such a place, our Lord is called,
"Christ," and not, "Jesus," or, "Jesus," and not, "Christ." In this
passage the name used is, "Christ." One reason why the precious blood
has such power to put away sin is because it is the blood of Christ,
that is, of God's Anointed–God's Messiah–the Sent One of the Most
High. Our Lord came not as an amateur, but He came with a commission.
He came with an appointment and unction from the Holy One! If,
therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ is offered as a Sacrifice for us, He
is appointed to that end by God Himself and, therefore, He must be
accepted of God. There is no will worship about Christ. He says, "Lo, I
come to do Your will." He did not come to do His own will, but the will
of Him who sent Him and, therefore, there is a peculiar purifying power
about all that He did because He did it as Christ, the Anointed of God.
Notice, it is not put concerning Christ that His life is purifying,
though it had a wonderful relation thereto–nor is it said that His
prayers are purifying, albeit everything is ascribable unto the
intercession of our risen Lord–nor is it
said that His Resurrection is purifying. The whole stress is laid upon
"the blood of Christ," signifying thereby death– death with pain,
death as a victim, death with reference to sin. "The blood is the life
thereof" and, "without shedding of blood there is no remission." It is
by the blood of Christ that you and I have our consciences purged from
dead works! Rejoice in Christ in Glory, but put your trust in Christ
Crucified! Look with longing hope to His Second Coming, but for your
purification, rest upon His first coming! See in His agony and His
death your joy and life! It is the blood of Christ that, alone, can
make you fit to serve the living and true God!
Note what it was that Christ offered and be sure that you lay great
stress upon it. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the Eternal Spirit offered Himself!" What a splendid word that is! Did
He offer His blood? Yes,
but He offered "Himself." Did He offer His life? Yes, but He specially
offered "Himself." Now, what is "Christ"? The
"Anointed of God." In His wondrous complex Nature, He is God and Man.
He is Prophet, Priest and King. He is–but time would fail me to tell
you what He is–whatever He is, He offered Himself. The entire Christ
was offered by Christ! "He offered Himself" You cannot put it so
strongly by the use of any other word. "He, His own Self, bore our sins
in His own body on the tree." "Christ loved the Church and gave Himself
for it." Not His life on earth; not His life in Heaven; nor His
abilities and His thoughts and His works–but He gave Himself. This is
the alabaster box which was broken, the precious ointment of which
perfumes both Heaven and earth and makes the saints sweet unto the Lord
their God–who smells upon them a sweet savor of rest in the offering
up of Christ. He offered "Himself"! Dwell much upon that word.
It is said in our text that this offering of Himself was "without
spot." The sacrificial act by which He presented Himself was a
faultless one, without spot. There was nothing in what Christ was,
Himself, and nothing in the way in which He offered Himself that could
be objectionable to of God–it was "without spot." Now you see,
Brothers and Sisters, why it is that it has such purifying power for
us. God sent the Christ–this Christ offered up Himself–and He offered
Himself without spot. And so we, for whom this wondrous Christ was
sent, for whom He made this matchless offering, for whom He made that
offering without spot, we, I say, are accepted in the Beloved made
perfect in His perfection!
Further, it is added that He did this, "by the Eternal Spirit." This
does not refer to the Holy Spirit, otherwise the Apostle would have
said, "by the Holy Spirit." It says, "By the Eternal Spirit"–and the
meaning is this–that His eternal Godhead gave to His offering of
Himself an extreme value which otherwise could not have been attached
to it. He, by the power of His Godhead, offered up Himself without
spot!
Observe, then, the Sacrifice was a spiritual one. You must never look
at Christ's Sacrifice in a carnal way, as though the mere drops of
literal blood, as a material substance, could have virtue in them for
the purging of sin. Do not know Christ after the flesh. Be no longer
children, but understand spiritual things. It is true that our Lord had
a material body and poured forth material blood, but the essence of His
Sacrifice lay in His will, intent, motive and spirit. I once heard a
dissertation upon what became of those drops of blood which fell to the
ground on Calvary. I felt that it was foolish talk! By the blood of
Christ, we mean His suffering unto death, the obedience which made Him
yield His life–and especially the will of His soul to suffer–and the
object of His mind in suffering. When the bullock was brought up, its
blood was poured out. But the bullock could not be a sacrifice in
spirit–the bullock had no intention to die and no understanding of the
reason of its death. The bullock was not willing to die and, therefore,
it presented no sacrifice by the spirit. But Christ knew what He was
and why He was there–and why He must die. And He gave His willing
assent. He entered with His whole heart into the Substitution which
involved obedience unto death. "For the joy that was set before Him, He
endured the Cross." It was by His spirit that He offered up a true and
real sacrifice, for He says, "I delight to do Your will, O My God; yes,
Your Law is within My heart."
But then you must not forget that this spirit was Divine–"by the
Eternal Spirit." The spirit of Christ was an Eternal Spirit, for it was
the Godhead. There was, conjoined with His Deity, the natural life of a
perfect Man, but the Eternal Spirit was His highest Self. His Godhead
willed that He should die and concurred in the death of the Manhood, so
that, by the Eternal Spirit, He offered Himself. The blood which He
shed was the blood of God, for thus we read–"Feed the Church of God,
which He has purchased with His own blood." Of course, "blood," as a
physical, material thing cannot be the blood of God. But viewing it as
what it means–His suffering, His grief, His woe–these were consented
to by the Divine Spirit of Christ and so, by the Eternal Spirit, He
offered Himself to God.
Because He is the Second Person of the adorable Trinity in Unity, the
suffering and death of His humanity had in them a potency of purgation
by which He cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living
God. Brothers and
Sisters, I never feel it hard to trust my sinful soul with the great
Sacrifice of Christ. I feel, on the contrary, that if I had all your
souls within my body and all your sins heaped upon me–and all the sins
of all the redeemed blackening my con-science–I could now readily
trust to that Divine Sacrifice for the taking away of all that guilt!
What limit can you set to the merit of One who, by the Eternal Spirit,
offered up Himself? What limits can there be to a Divine Sacrifice? You
can no more set a limit to our Lord's Sacrifice than to the Godhead,
itself!
Once more, I must call to your notice the use of that word,
"eternal"–"who by the Eternal Spirit"–for it gives to the offering of
Christ an endless value. It can never cease to operate, for He offered
up Himself by the "Eternal Spirit." There is as much purging power in
the death of our Lord, today, as in that hour when, for the first time,
He appeared in the Presence of God for us. The blood of the bullock was
a temporary thing. The "ashes of an heifer" could not last forever. But
the merits of Christ are the merits of One who always lives! His merits
always abide, for they are the merits of an Eternal Person who, by His
own Spirit, offered Himself up as a Sacrifice for sin.
Now, all this tends to make us feel how clean they are who are purged
by this Sacrifice which our Lord offered once and for all to God. Need
I call your attention to the fact that He offered Himself, "to God"?
Yes, I must, for of late some have blasphemously said that the
Sacrifice was made to the devil! To mention such profanity is to
condemn it!
Once more upon this point–as I have shown you that the Sacrifice of
Christ was more real and greater, so I want you to notice that it was
better applied, for the ashes of an heifer mixed with water were
sprinkled on the bodies of the unclean and the blood of bulls and of
goats was sprinkled upon the flesh–but neither of them could reach the
heart. It is not possible for a material thing to touch that which is
immaterial! But the sufferings of Christ, as I have explained them,
offered up through His Eternal Spirit, were not only of a corporeal but
of a spiritual kind–and they reach, therefore, to the cleansing of our
spirit!
That precious blood comes home to us in this way. First, we understand
somewhat of it. The Israelite, when he was purged by the ashes of the
red cow, could only say to himself, "I am made clean by these ashes
because God has appointed that I shall be, but I do not know why." But
you and I can say that we are made clean through the blood of Christ
because there is, in that blood, an inherent efficacy–there is in the
vicarious suffering of Christ on our behalf, an inherent power to honor
the Law of God and to put away sin. Because we can somewhat understand
the cleansing given us in Christ, it has a greater power upon our
conscience–and that better prepares us to serve God.
Then again, we appreciate and approve of this way of cleansing. The
Israelite could not tell why the ashes of a red heifer purified him. He
did not object to it, but he could not express any great appreciation
of the method. We, as we see our Lord suffering in our place, fall at
His feet in reverent wonder. We love the method of salvation by
Substitution! We approve of expiation by the Mediator. No Truth of God
charms my own spirit like the Truth of Atonement by vicarious
suffering, that suffering presented together with His death by our Lord
Jesus Christ. I feel my conscience is quieted by every drop of that
blood! The method of Federal Headship commends itself to me! I see
righteousness and Grace commingled in it and thus I am helped to serve
the living God.
Further, Brothers and Sisters, it comes home to us this way–we read in
the Word of God that, "He that believes in Him has everlasting life,"
and we say to ourselves, "Then we have everlasting life, for we have
believed in Him!" We read, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses
us from all sin," and our conscience whispers, "We are cleansed from
all sin!" Conscience finds rest and peace and our whole consciousness
becomes that of a forgiven and accepted person with whom God is well
pleased! Our conscience, instead of condemning us, perceives the
justice of the way by which we are absolved and leads up our peace of
heart into full assurance of faith. So you see, Brothers and Sisters,
that what the blood of bulls and of goats could not do, the blood of
Christ has done! It has passed beyond the flesh, which, indeed, it has
never touched in our case–and it has sanctified the heart and calmed
the spirit–thus preparing us to serve the Lord. The blood of Christ
has purified us to the center! It has purged the core of the heart! It
has cleansed our spirit, our mind, our memory, our thought, our
intellect, our affections–and we are clean! And, therefore, we are
meet to exercise a holy priesthood before the living God!
III. This brings me to my last head, which is this–consider THE KIND
OF SERVICE WHICH WE NOW RENDER. After so much preparing, how shall we
behave ourselves in the House of God?
I am not speaking to you who have never been purged from dead works by
the application of the precious blood of Christ, for you cannot serve
God–you are forbidden to come into His Presence or to stand among His
saints. You are in
quarantine, even as lepers put forth from the camp. Go home and set a
red cross upon your door and write over it, "Lord have mercy upon us."
That would best befit your unclean condition! As Joshua said to Israel,
even so say I unto you, "You cannot serve the Lord: for He is an holy
God; He is a jealous God." You must be born again before you can be
acceptable unto Him, for as you are, an infection is upon all your
works and you may not hope that He will accept anything at your hands.
But to you who have had that blood applied to your conscience by the
Spirit of God, to you I speak. You should present unto the Lord the
constant worship of living men. You see it is written, "Purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God." You are not, at
this day, likely to die in order to prove your love to God. But if you
are ever called to it, you must be prepared to lose your lives for
Christ's sake! But what you have to do is to "present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." Now, a living sacrifice
is much more difficult of presentation than a slain one. I believe
there are thousands of men who could go to the stake and die, or lay
their necks on the block to perish with a stroke, for Christ, who,
nevertheless, find it hard work to live a holy, consecrated life. The
act of one moment, however painful, must be much easier than that
service which is to run through a series of years until life, itself,
shall close. But if the Lord Jesus gave Himself for you, will you not
give yourselves for Him? If He died for you by His Eternal Spirit, will
you not live for Him by that new Spirit with which He has quickened
you? Are you not under bonds to serve Him? From this time, forth, you
should not have a pulse that does not beat to His praise, nor a hair on
your head that is unconse-crated to His name, nor a single moment of
your time which is not used for His Glory! Yes, Brothers, Sisters, it
must be a lifelong sacrifice that we now present unto Him that lives
forever!
Should not our service be rendered in the full strength of our new
life? Let us have no more dead works, no more dead singing, no more
dead praying, no more dead preaching, no more dead hearing! "Oh," said
one, when he heard a sermon, "it was very good, if it had been alive."
Dead-and-alive Christianity is poor stuff! No dish ever comes to table
which is so nauseous as cold religion! Put it away! Neither God nor man
can endure it! Let us have cakes hot from the oven, manna fresh from
Heaven, Living Waters leaping from the Rock! Stale godliness is
ungodliness. Let our religion be as warm, constant and natural as the
flow of the blood in our veins. A living God must be served in a living
way.
Are we, therefore, to be excited,? Yes, if need be. What can excite a
man like the grand sublimities of eternity? But if you are not excited
with any carnal excitement–if principle rules rather than passion–it
will be so much the better. Yet let it be living principle–principle
alive with love. There is such a thing as an excitement which is
spiritually dead. The fury of the flesh is not the life of God. Energy
of mind is a distinct thing from being strong in the Lord. We need a
steady, healthy pulsation of spiritual life to keep us to such service
of the Lord as becomes saints and is worthy of our high calling. This
comes only from having our conscience purged from dead works.
And, dear Friends, keep in mind that you are, henceforth, to "serve the
living God." You that are acquainted with the Greek will find that the
kind of service here mentioned is not that which the slave or servant
renders to his master, but a worshipful service such as priests render
unto God. We that have been purged by Christ are to render to God the
worship of a royal priesthood! It is ours to present prayers,
thanksgivings and sacrifices. It is ours to offer the incense of
intercession. It is ours to light the lamp of testimony and furnish the
table of showbread. You that are the sons of God are all the sons of
Levi this day–yes, you are the true seed of Aaron! The priesthood is
with you, even with you who worship God in the spirit and have no
confidence in the flesh. You that believe in Christ and are made pure
by His blood, it is for you to live as if you wore the snow-white robes
of the priests of the house of Aaron–your garments should be vestments
and your conversation a perpetual priesthood unto God!
I close by noticing how this precious blood of Christ will work all
this in us. It will operate upon us thus–when our conscience is
perfectly pure from sin and we know that we are forgiven and accepted
in the Beloved, then how happy we shall be! And there is no service so
acceptable to God as that which is joyfully rendered. When it is a joy
to us to serve Him, then it is a joy to Him to be served! When it is a
delight to us to honor God, then God delights in such honor. He seeks
not slaves to grace His Throne! When we know that we are perfectly
forgiven, then we are full of gratitude–we then feel that we must
serve God, not because of anything we are to get for it, but because we
long to do so. This unselfish service He gladly accepts! To give play
to our emotions, we feel that we must glorify Him–then we truly serve
God, for that which is born of love is living! Loving works are living
works! When His glorious name is honey in the mouth and music in the
ear–and Heaven in the heart–then we worship Him in the manner which
He accepts, even in the same
manner as the angels in Glory who see His face and do His commandments.
It is the cleansing blood which brings us near enough to do this.
This precious blood of Christ has now given us perfect peace with God
and, therefore, we can serve Him without fear. You cannot serve an
enemy–while you hate him, you cannot please him. But our enmity to God
is slain–He is our Friend, our Father and our God. His will is our
will, His designs are our designs. As far as the little can keep pace
with the great and the minute with the infinite, we run parallel with
God! And if we ever quit the lines, for a moment, we are in misery till
we get back again! What the Lord aims at we aim at. What He desires we
desire. Is Christ's coming God's ultimatum? So it is ours and we cry,
"Even so, come Lord Jesus!" Shall "the kingdoms of this world become
the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ"? It is our last, best,
highest prayer! Thus are we truly serving the Lord.
See you not, then, how the washing of the precious blood has made us
partakers of the service of Heaven? How close it has brought us to God!
In what amity and accord we walk with Him! With what sympathy we enter
into all that He does! With what intense delight we joy in Him through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we also have received the Atonement! How
I wish that every soul here believed in Jesus! O that you would do so
at once. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Hebrews 9:1-28; 10:1-22.
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