A LIFE-LONG OCCUPATION

“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.

Introduction

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!

I. Describe His Sacrifice

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.

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.

II. Examine the Substance of the Sacrifice

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?

III. Commend the Exercise of Praise

Praise 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.

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.

IV. Commence at Once

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. O 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.

Charles Spurgeon