Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1879
“It must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.” Leviticus 22:21.
THE Ceremonial Law, as ordained by the hand of Moses and Aaron, called the worshippers of God to great carefulness before Him. Before their minds that solemn Truth was always made visible, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” Nothing might be done thoughtlessly. Due heed was the first requisite in a man who would draw near unto the Thrice-Holy God, whose perfections demand lowly and considerate reverence from all those who are round about Him. The spirit must be awake and on the stretch if it would please the great Father of Spirits. There were little points—I may truthfully call them minute—upon which everything would depend as to right worship and its acceptance with the Lord. No Israelite could come to the tabernacle door aright without thinking of what he had to do and thinking it over with an anxious fear lest he should, by omission or error, make his offering into a vain oblation. He must draw near unto the Lord with great carefulness, or else he might miss his aim, spend his money upon a sacrifice, cause labor to the priest and go home unaccepted. He might duly perform a large portion of a ceremony and yet no good might come to him through it because he had omitted a point of detail—for the Lord would be sought according to the due order—or He would not be found by the worshipper. Of every ceremony it might be said, “It must be perfect to be accepted.” There was the rule and the rule must be followed with the most careful exactness. God must have the minds and thoughts of men, or He counts that they are no worshippers!
This is no easy lesson to learn, dear Friends for I am afraid that in our usual worship we are not always as thoughtful as we ought to be. Mark well our singing. Do we join in it with the heartiness, the solemnity and the correctness which are due to Him who hears our Psalms and hymns? I may not judge, but I have my suspicions. Look at the way we pray. Is it not to be feared that at times we rush into God’s Presence and utter the first words that come to hand? Are not liturgies repeated with minds half asleep? Are not extempore prayers uttered in the most formal manner? I refer both to public and private prayer. Moreover, look at the style in which some will even preach. With facility of language they will deliver themselves of their own thoughts, without seeking the anointing from on high and the power of the Spirit of God! I do not say that any of you ever go into your Sunday school classes without thought. I do not say that any of you ever take your tract district and go from door to door without seeking a blessing. I will not say that any of you ever come to the Communion Table without examining yourselves and discerning the Lord’s body. But if I do not say it, I may think it and possibly that thought may be true!
O, my Brothers and Sisters, let conscience sit in judgment and decide this matter! We need to think a great deal more about how we come before the Most High! And if we thought more and prayed more, we would become more certain of our inability to do anything as we ought to do it—and we Would be driven to a more entire dependence upon the Spirit of God in every act of worship! This in itself would be a great blessing.
I do not know, however, that the Ceremonial Law did make men thoughtful since, for the most part, it failed of its designed effect through the hardness of men’s hearts. Earnest heed was the design of it, but superstition and a spirit of bondage were the more usual results. Brethren, without a multitude of ceremonies which might become a yoke to us, let us, by other means, arrive at the same and even a better thoughtfulness of heart! Let love to God so influence us that, in the least and most ordinary matters, we shall behave ourselves as in the immediate Presence of the Lord and so shall strive with the utmost watchfulness of holy care to please the Lord our God.
The Ceremonial Law also engendered in men who did think, a great respect for the holiness of God. They could not help seeing that God required everything in His service to be of the very best.
The priest who stood for them before God must be, himself, in bodily presence, the perfection of manhood. When old age crept upon him, he must give place to one who showed no such sign of decay. His garments must be perfectly white and clean in his daily service. And when once a year there was a joy day, then for glory and beauty he shone in all the radiance that the purest gold and the most precious stones could put upon him!
The victims that were offered must all be without blemish. You are constantly meeting with that demand and it was carried out with rigid care. You meet with a stringent instance in the text, “It must be perfect to be accepted.”
Under the law of Moses, the guilt of sin and the need of atonement were always most vividly brought before the mind of the worshipping Israelite. If you stepped within the Holy Place, everywhere you saw the marks of blood. Our very delicate-minded friends who raise the silly objection that they cannot bear the sound of the word, “blood”—what would they have done if they had gone into the Jewish tabernacle and had seen the floor, the curtain and every article stained like a shambles? How would they have endured to worship where the blood was poured in bowlfuls upon the floor and sprinkled on almost every holy thing? How would they have borne with the continual spattering of blood—all indicating that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin?