A Life-Long Occupation

A Life-Long Occupation

DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 14, 1888,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"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."
Hebrews 13:15.

IT is instructive to notice where this verse stands. The connection is
a golden setting to the gem of the text. Here we have a description of
the Believer's position before God. He has done with all carnal
ordinances and has no interest in the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law.
Brethren, as Believers in Jesus, who is the substance of all the
outward types, we have, henceforth, nothing to do with altars of gold
or of stone–our worship is spiritual and our altar spiritual–

"We rear no altar, Christ has died;

We deck no priestly shrine."

What then? Are we to offer no sacrifice? Very far from it. We are
called upon to offer to God a continual sacrifice. Instead of
presenting in the morning and the evening a sacrifice of lambs and on
certain holy days bringing bullocks and sheep to be slain, we are to
present to God continually the sacrifice of praise. Having done with
the outward, we now give ourselves entirely to the inward and to the
spiritual. Do you see your calling, Brethren?

Moreover, the Believer is now, if he is where he ought to be, like his
Master, "without the camp." "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without
the camp, bearing His reproach." What then? If we are without the camp,
have we nothing to do? Are we cut off from God as well as from men?
Shall we fume and fret because we are not of the world? On the
contrary, let us the more ardently pursue higher objects and yield up
our disentangled spirits to the praise and glory of God.

Do we come under contempt, as the Master did? Is it so, that we are
"bearing His reproach"? Shall we sit down in despair? Shall we be
crushed beneath this burden? No, verily–while we lose honor ourselves,
we will ascribe honor to our God. We will count it all joy that we are
counted worthy to be reproached for Christ's sake. Let us now praise
God continually. Let the fruit of our lips be a still bolder confession
of His name. Let us more and more earnestly make known His Glory and
His Grace. If reproach is bitter, praise is sweet–we will drown the
drops of gall in a sea of honey.

If to have our name cast out as evil should seem to be derogatory to
us, let us all the more see to it that we give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. While the enemy reproaches us continually, our only
reply shall be to offer the sacrifice of praise continually unto the
Lord our God. Moreover, the Apostle says that, "Here we have no
continuing city." Well, then, we will transfer the continuance from the
city to the praise–"Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually." If everything here is going, let it go. But we will not
cease to sing. If the end of all things is at hand, let them end. But
our praises of the living God shall abide world without end.

Set free from all the hamper of citizenship here below, we will begin
the employment of citizens of Heaven. It is not ours to arrange a new
Socialism, nor to set up to be dividers of heritages. We belong to a
kingdom which is not of this world, a city of God eternal in the
heavens. It is not ours to pursue the dreams of politicians but to
offer the sacrifices of God-ordained priests. As we are not of this
world, it is ours to seek the world to come and press forward to the
place where the saints in Christ shall reign forever and ever.

You see then, Brethren, that the text is rather an unexpected one in
its connection. But when properly viewed, it is the fittest that could
be. The more we are made to feel that we are strangers in a strange
land, the more should we addict ourselves to the praises of God, with
whom we sojourn. Crucified to the world and the world crucified to us,
let us spend and be spent in the praises of Him who is our sole trust
and joy. Oh, to praise God, and still to praise Him–and never to be
taken off from praising Him–let the world do what it may!

This morning my great business will be to stir you up, dear Friends, as
many of you as have been made kings and priests unto God by Jesus
Christ, to exercise your holy office. I shall, to that end, first,
concerning the Christian, describe his sacrifice. Secondly, examine its
substance. Thirdly, commend its exercise. And fourthly, commence it at
once.

I. First, then, concerning a Believer, let me DESCRIBE HIS SACRIFICE.
"By Him, therefore,." See, at the very threshold of all offering of
sacrifice to God, we begin with Christ. We cannot go a step without
Jesus. Without a Mediator we can make no advance to God. Apart from
Christ there is no acceptable prayer, no pleasing sacrifice of any
sort. "By Him, therefore"–we cannot move a lip acceptably without Him
who suffered without the gate. The great High Priest of our profession
meets us at the sanctuary door and we place all our sacrifices into His
hands, that He may present them for us.

You do not wish it to be otherwise, I am quite sure. If you could do
anything without Him, you would feel afraid to do it. You only feel
safe when He is with you and you are "accepted in the Beloved." Be
thankful that at the beginning of your holy service your eyes are
turned towards your Lord. You are to offer continual sacrifice, looking
unto Jesus. Behold our great Melchizedek meets us! Let us give Him
tithes of all and receive His blessing which will repay us a
thousand-fold. Let us never venture upon a sacrifice apart from Him,
lest it be the sacrifice of Cain, or the sacrifice of fools. He is that
Altar which sanctifies both gift and giver–by Him, therefore, let our
sacrifices both of praise and of almsgiving be presented unto God.

Next, observe that this sacrifice is to be presented continually. "By
Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually." Attentively treasure up that word. It will not do for you
to say, "We have been exhorted to praise God on the Sabbath." No, I
have not exhorted you to such occasional duty. "Continually," says the
text and that means seven days in a week. I would not have you say, "He
means that we are to praise God in the morning when we awake and in the
evening before we fall asleep."

Do that, my Brethren, unfailingly. But that is not what I have to set
before you. "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually"–"continually"–that is to say, without ceasing. Let us
make an analogous precept to that which says, "pray without ceasing,"
and say, "praise without ceasing." Not only in this place or that place
but in every place, we are to praise the Lord our God. Not only when we
are in a happy frame of mind but when we are cast down and troubled.
The perfumed smoke from the altar of incense is to rise towards Heaven
both day and night, from the beginning of the year to the year's end.

Not only when we are in the assembly of the saints are we to praise
God, but when we are called to pass through Vanity Fair, where sinners
congregate. Bless the Lord at all times. Not alone in your secret
chamber, which is aromatic with the perfume of your communion with God.
But yonder in the field and there in the street. Yes, and in the hurry
and noise of the Exchange, offer the sacrifice of praise to God. You
cannot always be speaking His praise but you can always be living His
praise. The heart once set on praising God will, like the stream which
leaps down the mountain's side, continue still to flow in its chosen
course.

A soul saturated with Divine gratitude will continue, almost
unconsciously, to give forth the sacred odor of praise which will
permeate the atmosphere of every place and make itself known to all who
have a spiritual nostril with which to discern sweetness. There is no
moment in which it would be right to suspend the praises of God–let
us, therefore, offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. This
should be done, not only by some of us–pastor, elders, deacons and
special workers–but by all of you.

The Apostle says, "Let us." And therein he calls upon all of us who
have any participation in the great sacrifice of Christ to go with Him
without the camp, and then and there to stand with Him in our places
and continually offer the sacrifice of praise unto God. You see, then,
that the two important points are–always and always through Christ.

The Apostle goes on to tell us what the sacrifice is–the sacrifice of
praise. Praise, that is, heart-worship, or adoration. Adoration is the
grandest form of earthly service. We ascribe unto Jehovah, the one
living and true God, all honor and glory. When we see His works, when
we hear His Word, when we taste His Grace, when we mark His Providence,
when we think upon His name, our spirit bows in the humblest reverence
before Him and magnifies Him as the all-glorious Lord. Let us abide
continually in the spirit of adoration, for this is praise in its
purest form.

Praise is heart-trust and heart-content with God. Trust is adoration
applied to practical purposes. Let us go into the world trusting God,
believing that He orders all things well, resolving to do everything as
He commands, for neither His

Character, nor His decrees, nor His Commandments are grievous to us. We
delight in the Lord as He is pleased to reveal Himself, let that
Revelation be what it may. We believe not only that God is but that He
is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek Him–let us so praise
Him that we shall not be baffled if our good work brings us no
immediate recompense. Let us praise Him for we are satisfied that He is
not unrighteous to forget our work of faith.

Let us praise Him by being perfectly satisfied with anything and
everything that He does or appoints. Let us take a hallowed delight in
Him and in all that concerns Him. Let Him be to us "God, our exceeding
joy." Do you know what it is to delight yourselves in God? Then, in
that continual satisfaction, offer Him continual praise. Life is no
longer sorrowful, even amid sorrow, when God is in it, its soul and
crown. It is worth while to live the most afflicted and tried life, so
long as we know God and taste His love. Let Him do what seems Him good,
so long as He will but be a God to us and permit us to call Him our
Father and our God.

Praise is heart-enjoyment. The indulgence of gratitude and wonder. The
Lord has done so much for me that I must praise Him, or feel as if I
had a fire shut up within me. I may speak for many of you, for you also
are saying, "He has done great things for us." Brethren, the Lord has
favored you greatly–before the earth was, He chose you and entered
into Covenant with you–He gave you to His Son and gave His Son to you.
He has manifested Himself to you as He does not to the world. Even now
He breathes a child-like spirit into you, whereby you cry, "Abba,
Father."

Surely you must praise Him! How can you ever satisfy the cravings of
your heart if you do not extol Him? Your obligations rise above you as
high as the heavens above the earth. The vessel of your soul has
foundered in this sea of love and gone down fifty fathoms deep in it.
High over its masthead the main ocean of eternal mercy is rolling with
its immeasurable billows of Divine Grace. You are swallowed up in the
fathomless abyss of infinite love. You are absorbed in adoring wonder
and affection. Like Leah when Judah was born, you cry, "Now will I
praise the Lord."

Have you not, in addition to this, the praise of heart-feeling, while
within you burns an intense love to God? Could you love anyone as you
love God? After you have poured out the stream of your love upon the
dearest earthly ones, do you not feel you have something more within
which all created vessels could not contain? The heart of man yields
love without stint and the stream is too large for the lake into which
it flows so long as we love a created being. Only the infinite God can
ever contain all the love of a loving heart. There is a fitness for the
heart and a fullness for its emotions when Jehovah is the heart's one
object of love.

My God, I love You! You know all things–You know that I love You.
Instead of quibbling at the Lord because of certain stern truths which
we read concerning Him, we are enabled in these to worship Him by
bowing our reason to His Revelation. That which we cannot understand we
nevertheless believe and believing, we adore. It is not ours to arraign
the Almighty but to submit to Him. We are not His censors but His
servants. We do not legislate but love. He is good, supremely good in
our esteem–and infinitely blessed of our hearts. We do not consider
what He ought to be. But we learn what He is and as such we love and
adore Him. Thus have I gone roundabout the shell of praise. But what it
really is you must each one know for himself.

The text evidently deals with spoken praise–"Let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name." Or, as the Revised Version has it, "the
fruit of lips which make confession to His name." So, then, we are to
utter the praises of God and it is not sufficient to feel adoring
emotions. The priesthood of Believers requires them to praise God with
their lips. Should we not sing a great deal more than we do? Psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs should abound in our homes. It is our duty to
sing as much as possible. We should praise as much as we pray.

"I have no voice!" says one. Cultivate it till you have. "But mine is a
cracked voice!" Ah, well, it may be cracked to human ears, and yet be
melodious unto God. To Him the music lies in the heart, not in the
sound. Praise the Lord with song and Psalm. Some few godly men whom I
have known have gone about the fields and along the roads humming
sacred songs continually. These are the troubadours and minstrels of
our King. Happy profession! May more of us become such birds of
Paradise! Hear how the ungodly world pours out its mirth! Oftentimes
their song is so silly as to be utterly devoid of meaning. Are they not
ashamed? Then let us not be ashamed. Children of God, sing the songs of
Zion and let your hearts be joyful before your King. "Is any merry? Let
him sing Psalms."

But if we cannot sing so well or so constantly as we would desire, let
us talk. We cannot say that we cannot talk. Perhaps some might be
better if they could not talk quite so much. As we can certainly talk
continually, let us as con-

tinually offer to God the sacrifice of praise by speaking well of His
name. Talk of all His wondrous works. Let us abundantly utter the
memory of His great goodness. Let us praise the Lord for His goodness
and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Many whom you judge
to be irreligious would be greatly interested if you were to relate to
them the story of God's love to you.

But if they are not interested, you are not responsible for that–only
tell it as often as you have opportunity. We charge you, as Jesus did
the healed man, "Go home to your friends and tell them how great things
the Lord has done for you." Speak, and speak, and speak again, for the
instruction of others–for the confirmation of those who have faith and
for the routing of the doubts of those who believe not. Tell what God
has done for you. Does not our conversation want more flavoring with
the praise of God? We put into it too much vinegar of complaint and
forget the sugar of gratitude.

This year, when the harvest seems to have been snatched from between
the jaws of the destroyer, our friends say, "Well, things look a shade
better." And I am glad to get them up even as high as that. Hear the
general talk–"Things are very bad. Business is dreadful. Trade never
was so bad." When I was a boy things were very bad, never were so bad.
And I think ever since they have been so bad that they could not be
worse and yet somehow people live and even farmers are not all turned
to skin and bone. Surely, surely, we had better mend our talk and speak
more brightly and cheerily of what God does for us!

How can we offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually if we
perpetually rail at His Providence? Christian men, if you are ever
driven to a murmur, let it be the momentary mistake of your extremity.
But come back again to contentment and gratitude which is your proper
and acceptable condition. Hear the word of the Lord, which says,
"Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed
of the destroyer." Praise means this–that you and I are appointed to
tell of the goodness of God just as the birds of spring wake up before
the sun and begin singing and singing and singing, all of them, with
all their might.

Become the choristers of God. Praise the Lord evermore, even as they do
who with songs and choral symphonies, day without night, circle His
Throne rejoicing. This is your office and it is a holy and a privileged
one.

"Well," says one, "I cannot force myself to praise." I do not want you
to force yourself to it–this praise is to be natural. It is called the
fruit of the lips. In the Book of Hosea, from which the Apostle quotes,
our version reads, "The calves of our lips." Whether the word is
"calves" in the Hebrew original or not, is a matter in dispute. But the
translators of the Septuagint certainly read it "fruit," and this seems
more clear and plain. The Apostle, quoting it from the Greek
translation, has endorsed it as being correct. These lips of ours must
produce fruit. Our words are leaves–how soon they wither!

The praise of God is the fruit which can be stored up and presented to
the Lord. Fruit is a natural product–it grows without force–the free
outcome of the plant. So let praise grow out of your lips at its own
sweet will. Let it be as natural to you, as regenerated men and women,
to praise God as it seems to be natural to profane men to blaspheme the
sacred name of Jesus Christ.

This praise is to be sincere and real. The next verse tells us we are
to do good and communicate and joins this with praise to God. Many will
give God a waterfall of words but scarce a drop of true gratitude in
the form of substance consecrated. When I am pressed with many cares
about the Lord's work I often wish that some of my Brethren would be a
little more mindful of its pecuniary needs. I should be much relieved,
if those who can spare it, would help different portions of our home
service. It should be the joy of a Christian to use his substance in
his Master's service. When we are in a right state of heart we do not
want anybody to call upon us to extract a subscription from us but we
go and ask, "Is there anything that needs help?"

Is any part of the Lord's business in need just now? The great works,
such as the Orphanage and College, are provided for. But I often sigh
as I see lesser agencies left without help, not because friends would
not aid if they were pressed to do so, but because there is not a ready
mind to look out for opportunities. Yet that ready mind is the very fat
of the sacrifice. I long to see everywhere Christian friends who will
not need to be asked, but will make the Lord's business their business,
and take in hand some branch of work in the Church, or among the poor,
or for the spread of the Gospel.

Brothers and Sisters, let your gift be an outburst of a free and
gracious spirit which takes delight in showing that it does not praise
God in word only but in deed and in truth. In this Church let us excel
in generous gifts. As the year ripens

to its close, see that everything is provided in the house of the Lord
and that there is no lack in any quarter. This practical praising of
the Lord is the life-office of every true Believer. See you to it.

II. We will, secondly, for a few minutes EXAMINE THE SUBSTANCE OF THIS
SACRIFICE. "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually."
To praise God continually will need a childlike faith in Him. You must
believe His Word, or you will not praise His name. Doubt snaps the
harp-strings. Question mars all melody. Trust Him, lean on Him, enjoy
Him–you will never praise Him otherwise. Unbelief is the deadly enemy
of praise. Faith must lead you into personal communion with the Lord.
It is to Him that the praise is offered and not to our fellow men.

The most beautiful singing in the world, if it is intended for the ears
of musical critics, is worth nothing. Only that is praise which is
meant for God. O my Lord, my song shall find You! Every part of my
being shall have its attribute to sing. I will sing unto the Lord, and
unto the Lord, alone. You must live in fellowship with God, or you
cannot praise Him. You must have also an overflowing content, a real
joy in Him. Dear Brothers and Sisters, be sure that you do not lose
your joy. If you ever lose the joy of religion, you will lose the power
of religion.

Do not be satisfied to be a miserable Believer. An unhappy Believer is
a poor creature. And he who is resigned to being so, is in a dangerous
condition. Depend upon it, greater importance attaches to holy
happiness than most people think. As you are happy in the Lord you will
be able to praise His name. Rejoice in the Lord, that you may praise
Him.

There must also be a holy earnestness about this. Praise is called a
sacrifice because it is a very sacred and solemn thing. People who came
to the altar with their victims came there with the hush of reverence,
the trembling of awe. We cannot praise God with levity. He is in Heaven
and we are upon the earth–He is thrice holy and we are sinful–we must
put off our shoes in lowly reverence and worship with intense adoration
or else He cannot be pleased with our sacrifices. When life is real,
life is earnest–and it must be both real and earnest when it is spent
to the praise of the great and ever-blessed God.

To praise God continually, you need to cultivate perpetual gratitude,
and surely it cannot be hard to do that! Remember, every misery averted
is a mercy bestowed. Every sin forgiven is a favor granted. Every duty
performed is also a grace received. The people of God have an
inexhaustible treasury of good things provided for them by the infinite
God and for all this they should praise Him. I pray you, be not only a
little grateful but overflow with it. Let your praises be like the
fountains of waters which are abundantly supplied. Let the stream leap
up to Heaven in bursts of enthusiasm. Let it fall to earth again in
showers of beneficence. Let it fill the basin of your daily life and
run over into the lives of others and from there again in a waterfall
of glittering joy, let it still descend.

In order for this kind of praise you will need a deep and ardent
admiration of the Lord God. Admire the Father– think much of His
love–acquaint yourself with His perfections. Admire the Son of God,
the altogether lovely One. And as you mark His gentleness, self-denial,
love and Grace, suffer your heart to be wholly enamored of Him. Admire
the patience and condescension of the Holy Spirit, that He should visit
you and dwell in you and bear with you. It cannot be difficult to the
sanctified and instructed heart to be filled with a great admiration of
the Lord God.

This is the raw material of praise. An intelligent admiration of God,
kindled into flame by gratitude and fanned by delight and joy, must
ever produce praise. Living in personal converse with God and trusting
Him as a child trusts its father, it cannot be difficult for the soul
continually to offer the sacrifice of praise to God through Jesus
Christ.

III. I have been very brief upon that point because I want, in the
third place, to COMMEND THIS BLESSED EXERCISE.

"Offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually," because in so doing
you will answer the end of your being. Every creature is happiest when
it is doing what it is made for. A bird that is made to fly abroad
pines in a cage. An eagle would die in the water, even as a fish that
is made to swim perishes on the river's bank. Christians are made to
glorify God. And we are never in our element till we are praising Him.
The happiest moments you have ever spent were those in which you lost
sight of everything inferior and bowed before Jehovah's throne of light
with reverent joy and blissful praise.

I can say it is so with me and I doubt not it is so with you. When your
whole soul is full of praise you have at last reached the end that your
heart is aiming at. Your ship is now in full sail–your car is on the
tram-lines. Your life moves smoothly and safely on. This is the groove
along which it was made to slide. Before, you were trying to do what
you were not made to do. But now you are at home. For the praise of God
your new nature was fashioned and it finds rest therein. Keep to this
work. Do not degrade yourself by a less Divine employment.

Praise God again, because it is His due. Should Jehovah not be praised?
Praise is the rent which He asks of us for the enjoyment of all
things–shall we be slow to pay? Will a man rob God? When it is such a
happy work to give Him His due, shall we deny it? It blesses us to
bless the Lord. Shall we limit God in the measure of His Glory? He does
not limit us in His goodness. Come, my Brother, my Sister, if you have
become sorrowful of late, shake off your gloom and awake all your
instruments of music to praise the Lord! Let not murmuring and
complaining be so much as mentioned among saints. Give unto the Lord
the glory due unto His name. Shall not the Lord be praised? Surely the
very stones and rocks must break their everlasting silence in
indignation if the children of God do not praise His name.

Praise Him, dear Brethren, continually, for it will help you in
everything else. A man full of praise is ready for all other holy
exercises. Such is my bodily pain and weakness that I could not have
forced myself to preach this morning if I had not felt that I must come
here to bid you praise God. I thought that my pain might give emphasis
to my words. I do praise the Lord–I must praise Him. It is a duty
which I hope to perform in my last moments, the Holy Spirit helping me.
So you see praise helps me to preach. Whenever you go forth to any
service, even though it be not better than taking down the shutters and
waiting behind the counter, you will do it all the better for being in
the spirit of praise and gratitude.

If you are a domestic servant and can praise God continually, you will
be a comfort in the house. And if you are a master and are surrounded
with the troubles of life–if your heart is always blessing the Lord,
you will keep up your spirits and you will not be sharp and
ill-tempered with those around you. Come, Brethren, this is both food
and medicine–this praising the Lord. You birds of Heaven, strange to
say, this singing will plume your wings for flight! The praises of God
put wings upon pilgrims' heels, so that they not only run but fly.

This will preserve us from many evils. When the heart is full of the
praise of God it has not time to find fault and grow proudly angry with
its fellows. Somebody has said a very nasty thing about us. Well, well.
We will answer him when we have got through the work we have in hand,
namely, praising God continually. At present we have a great work to do
and cannot come down to wrangle. Self-love and its natural irritations
die in the blaze of praise. If you praise God continually, the
vexations and troubles of life will be cheerfully borne. Praise makes
the happy man the strong man. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Praising God makes us to drink of the brook by the way and lift up the
head. We cannot fear while we can praise. Neither can we be bribed by
the world's favor, nor cowed by its frown. Praise makes men, yes,
angels of us–let us abound in it. Brethren, let us praise God because
it will be a means of usefulness. I believe that a life spent in God's
praise would in itself be a missionary life. That matronly sister who
never delivered a sermon, nor even a lecture in all her days, has lived
a quiet, happy, useful, loving life–and her family has learned from
her to trust the Lord.

Even when she shall have passed away, they will feel her influence, for
she was the angel of the house. Being dead, she yet will speak. A
praiseful heart is eloquent for God. Mere verbiage–what is it but as
autumn leaves–which will be consumed in smothering smoke? But praise
is golden fruit to be presented in baskets of silver unto the dresser
of the vineyard.

Praise God, Brethren, because this is what God loves. Notice how the
next verse puts it–"With such sacrifices God is well pleased." Would
we not do anything and everything to please God? It seems too good to
be true that we can impart any pleasure to the ever-blessed One. Yet it
is so, for He has declared that He is well pleased with the praises and
the gifts of His children. Therefore let us withhold nothing from our
dear Father, our blessed God. Can I please Him? Tell me what it is, I
will do it straight away. I will not deliberate but without reserve
make haste. If I deliberate, it shall be that I may make the service
twice as large, or perform it in more careful style. For if I may
praise Him, it shall be an honor, yes, it shall be Heaven to me.

To close this commendation, remember that this will fit you for Heaven.
Our hymn expresses a frequent aspiration– "I would begin the music
here and so my soul should rise." You can begin the music here–begin
the hallelujahs of glory by praising God here below. Think of how you
will praise Him when you see His face and never, never sin. Exceedingly
magnify the Lord even now and rehearse the music of the skies. In Glory
you may rise to a higher key but let the song be the same even here.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him more and more! Rise on rounds of
praise up the ladder of His Glory till you reach the top and are with
Him to praise Him better than ever before.

Oh, that our lives may not be broken but may be all of one piece–one
Psalm, forever rising, verse by verse, into the eternal hallelujahs!

IV. I have brought you thus far and so I come to the closing point,
which is, LET US COMMENCE AT ONCE. What does the text say? It says,
"Let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually." The Apostle does
not say, "By-and-by get to this work, when you are able to give up
business and have retired to the country, or when you are near to die."
But now, at once, he says, "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise."

Listen! Who is speaking? Whose voice do I hear? Ah, I know, it is the
Apostle Paul. He says, "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise"! Where
are you, Paul? His voice sounds from within a low place. I believe he
is shut up in a dungeon. Lift up your hand, O venerable Paul! I can
hear the clanking of a chain. Yes, Paul cries, "Let us offer the
sacrifice of praise. I, Paul the aged, in prison in Rome, wish you to
join with me in a sacrifice of praise to God." Amen. We will do so.

Paul, we are not in prison and we are not all aged and none of us are
galled with chains on our wrists. But we can join heartily with you in
praising God this morning. And we do so. Come, let us praise God–

"Stand up and bless the Lord,

You people of His choice;

Stand up and bless the Lord your God,

With heart and soul and voice." You have heard Paul's voice, now hear
mine. Join with me and let us offer the sacrifice of praise. Brothers
and Sisters, we have known each other for many a year and we have
worked together in different ways for the Lord. As a Church and people
we have received great favors from the Lord's hand. Come, let us join
together with heart and hand to bless the name of the Lord and worship
joyfully before Him. With words and with gifts let us offer the
sacrifice of praise continually. If I were to select certain of the
members and call upon them one by one, I should say, "Come, Brother
So-and-So, let us offer the sacrifice of praise." I am sure that the
Brother would get up and unite with me very cordially, as in a
brotherly duet we praised the Lord our God.

1 will not at this present call upon any of you–but if I did say,
"Sister So-and-So, let us offer praise to God," many of you would
reply, "Ah, Pastor! if nobody else can praise Him, we can and we will."
Well, well, kindly take it as done, so far as the outward expression is
concerned. But inwardly let us at once offer the sacrifice of praise to
God by Jesus Christ. Let us stir one another up to praise. Let us spend
today and tomorrow and all the rest of our days in praising God. If we
catch one another a little grumbling, or coldly silent, let us, in
kindness to each other, give the needful rebuke.

Grumbling and silence will not do. We must praise the Lord. Just as the
leader of an orchestra taps his baton to call all to attention and then
to begin singing, so I this morning beseech you and bestir you to offer
the sacrifice of praise unto the Lord.

The Apostle has put us rather in a fix–he compels us to offer
sacrifice. Did you notice what he said in the tenth verse? He says, "We
have an altar." It is not a material altar but a spiritual one. Yet "we
have an altar." May the priests of the old Law offer sacrifice on it?
Answer–"Whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle."
They ate of the sacrifices laid on the altars of the old Law but they
have no right here. Those who keep to ritualistic performances and
outward ceremonials have no right here. Yet we have an altar.

Brothers and Sisters, can we imagine that this altar is given us of the
Lord to be never used? Is no sacrifice to be presented on the best of
altars? We have an altar–what then? If we have an altar, do not allow
it to be neglected, deserted, unused. It is not for spiders to spin
their webs upon. It is not meet that it should be smothered with the
dust of neglect. "We have an altar." What then? "Let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually." Do you not see the force of
the argument. Practically obey it.

Beside the altar we have a High Priest. There is the Lord Jesus Christ,
dressed in His robes of glory and beauty, standing within the veil at
this moment, ready to present our offerings. Shall He stand there and
have nothing to do? What would you think of our great High Priest
waiting at the altar, with nothing to present which His redeemed had
brought to God? No, "by Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually." Bring here abundantly, you people of God,
your praises, your prayers, your thank offerings and present them to
the Ever-blessed!

Well may you do so if you will read the connection. For the passage
brings before you many things which should compel you to praise God.
Behold your Savior in His passion, offered without the gate! Gaze upon
His five bleeding

wounds, His sacred head so wounded, His face so full of anguish, His
heart bursting with the agony of sin! Can you see that sight and not
praise God? Behold redemption accomplished, sin pardoned, salvation
purchased, Hell vanquished, death abolished and all this achieved by
your blessed Lord and Master! Can you see all this and not praise Him?
His precious blood falling on you and making you clean, bringing you
near to God, making you acceptable before the infinite holiness of the
Most High! Can you see yourself thus favored and behold the precious
blood which did it and not praise His name?

Yonder in the distance, seen dimly, perhaps, but yet not doubtfully,
behold "a city that has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
White-robed, the purified are singing with their golden harps and you
will soon be there. When a few more days or years are passed, you will
be among the glorified. A crown and a harp are reserved for you. Will
you not begin to praise God and glorify Him for the Heaven which is in
store for you? With these two sights so wonderfully contrasted–the
Passion and the Paradise–Jesus in His humiliation and Jesus in His
Glory, and yourself a sharer in both these wondrous scenes–surely if
you do not begin to offer the perpetual sacrifice of thanksgivings and
praise unto God you must be something harder than stone. God grant us
to commence this day those praises which shall never be suspended
throughout eternity!

Oh, that you who have never praised God before, would begin now! Alas,
some of you have no Christ to praise and no Savior to bless. Yet you
need not so abide. By faith you may lay hold upon Jesus and He then
becomes yours. Trust Him and He will justify your trust. Rest in the
Lord and the Lord is your rest. When you have trusted, then waste no
time but at once commence the business for which you were created and
redeemed and called. Fill the censer with the sweet spices of gratitude
and love, and lay on the burning coals of earnestness and fervency.

Then, when praise begins to rise from you like pillars of smoke, swing
the censer to and fro in the presence of the Most High, and more and
more laud, bless and magnify the Lord that lives forever. Let your
heart dance at the sound of His name and let your lips show forth His
salvation. The Lord anoint you this day to the priesthood of praise,
for Christ's sake! Amen.