1942. Salt For Sacrifice

No. 1942-33:41. A Sermon Delivered By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, January 23, 1887.

And you shall season every oblation of your grain offering with salt; neither shall you permit the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering: you shall offer salt with all your offerings. {Le 2:13}

1. It is taken for granted that all true Israelites would bring many oblations and offerings of different kinds to God. And so they did who were truly devout and really grateful. I am sure that, if the Lord has set our hearts on fire with his own love, we also shall be frequently saying, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” It will be the habit of the Christian, as it was the habit of the devout Israelite, to be continually bringing oblations to his God.

2. How is this to be done? There is the point. Each of us needs to say with Paul, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” and we may add another question, “How will you have me to do it?” for will-worship is not acceptable with God. If we bring to God what he does not ask for, it will not be received. We must only present to him what he requires of us; and we must present it to him in his own way, for he is a jealous God.

3. I call your attention to the fact that, in this verse, the Lord three times expressly commands that with the grain offerings and all other offerings they were to offer salt. Does the great God who made heaven and earth talk about salt? Does he condescend to such minute details of his service as to enact that the absence of a handful of salt shall render a sacrifice unacceptable, and the presence of it shall be absolutely necessary for its being received by him? Then, my brethren, nothing in the service of God is trifling. A pinch of salt may seem to us extremely unimportant, but before the Lord it may not be so. In the service of God the alteration of an ordinance of Christ may seem to be a pure matter of indifference, and yet in that alteration there may be the taking away of the very vitals of the ordinance, and the total destruction of its meaning. It is yours, and it is mine, to keep to the letter of God’s Word, as well as to the spirit of it, remembering that it is written, “Whoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men to do so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” It is not for the servant to say, “This order of my master is unimportant, and the other is binding.” The servant’s duty is to act in all things exactly as he is told. Since our Master is so holy and so wise, it is impossible for us to improve upon his commandments. Yes, God enters into detail with his servants, and even makes orders about salt.

4. If you will read through the chapter, you will notice that other things were needed in connection with the sacrifices of the Israelites. Their sacrifices were of course imperfect. Even on the low ground which they occupied as symbols and emblems they were not complete; for you read, in the first place, that they needed frankincense when they offered their sacrifice to God: God did not smell sweet savour in the young bull, or the ram, or the lamb, unless sweet spices were added. What does that teach us except that the best performances of our hands must not appear before his throne without the merit of Christ mingled with it? There must be that mixture of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, with which the garments of our Prince are perfumed, to make our sacrifice to be a sweet savour to the Most High. Take care in your sacrifices that you bring the sacred frankincense.

5. Another thing that was constantly required was that they should bring oil; and oil is always the type of the blessed Spirit of God. What is the use of a sermon if there is no unction in it? What is unction except the Holy Spirit? What is prayer without the anointing that comes from the Holy Spirit? What is praise unless the Spirit of God is in it to give it life, so that it may rise to heaven? What goes to God must first come from God. We need the oil: we cannot do without it. Pray for me that I may have this oil in the sacrifice of my ministry, as I do pray for you that in all that you do for the Lord Jesus your sacrifice may continually have the sacred oil with it.

6. Then came a third prerequisite, namely, salt. If you read the preceding verses, you will see that the Lord forbids them to present any honey. “No grain offering, which you shall bring to the Lord, shall be made with leaven: for you shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in an offering of the Lord made by fire. As for the oblation of the first-fruits, you shall offer them to the Lord: but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet savour.” Ripe fruits were full of honey, full of sweetness; and God does not ask for sweetness, he asks for salt. I shall notice that as we go on further. Not honey, but salt, must be added to all the sacrifices which we present before the living God.

7. What is the meaning of all this? We may not pronounce any meaning of the types with certainty unless we have Scripture to direct us; but still, using our best judgment, we do, first of all, see that the text explains itself. Observe, “neither shall you permit the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering.”

8. I. It appears, then, that salt was THE SYMBOL OF THE COVENANT.

9. When God made a covenant with David, it is written, “The Lord gave the kingdom to David for ever by a covenant of salt” — by which was meant that it was an unchangeable, incorruptible covenant, which would endure as salt makes a thing to endure, so that it is not liable to putrefy or corrupt. “The salt of the covenant” means that, whenever you and I are bringing any offering to the Lord, we must take care that we remember the covenant. Standing at the altar with our gift, serving God with our daily service, as I trust we are doing, let us continually offer the salt of the covenant with all our sacrifices. Here is a man who is doing good works in order to be saved. You are under the wrong covenant, my friend, you are under the covenant of works, and all that you will gain in that way is a curse, for “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” “Therefore,” says the apostle, “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” Get away from that, and get to that other covenant which has salt in it, namely, the covenant of grace, the new covenant of which Christ is the Head. We must not come to God without the salt of faith in Christ, or our offerings will be a kind of antichrist. A man who is trying to save himself is in opposition to the Saviour. He who thinks of the merits of his own good works despises the merit of the finished work of Christ. He is offering to God what has no salt with it, and it cannot be received.

10. We need this salt of the covenant in all that we do, in the first place, to preserve us from falling into legality. He who serves God for wages forgets the word — “The gift of God is eternal life.” It is not wage, but gift, by which you are to live. If you forget that you are under a covenant of pure grace, in which God gives to the unworthy, and saves those who have no claim to any covenant blessing, you will get on legal ground; and, once on legal ground, God cannot accept your sacrifice. With all your offerings you shall offer the salt of the covenant of grace, lest you are guilty of legality in your offering.

11. The covenant is to be remembered also so that it may arouse gratitude. Whenever I think of God entering into covenant that he will not depart from me, and that I shall never depart from him, my love for him overflows. Nothing constrains me to such activity, and such zeal in the cause of God, as a sense of covenant love. Oh, the gratitude one feels for everything which comes to us by the covenant of grace! Remember the old Scottish wife, who thanked God for the porridge, and then thanked him that she had a covenant right to the porridge, since he had said, “Truly, you shall be fed.” Oh, it makes life very sweet to take everything from the hand of a covenant God, and to see in every mercy a new pledge of covenant faithfulness! It makes life happy; and it also inspires a believer to do great things for his gracious God. Standing on covenant ground we feel consecrated to the noblest purposes.

12. This tends to stir up our devotion to God. When we remember that God has entered into covenant with us, then we do not do our work for him in a cold, chilly, dead way; neither do we perform it in a nominal, formal way; for we say, “I am one of God’s covenanted ones.” He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; therefore my very soul goes after him, and what I am about to do, though it is only to sing a hymn, or to bow my knee in prayer, shall be done intensely, as by one who is in covenant with God, who is, therefore, bound to serve with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength. Covenanted service should be the best of service. The covenanting saints of old did not stop at death itself for him to whom they were bound.

13. My time will not allow me to enlarge, but I do urge the people of God always to keep the covenant in view. That covenant will claim the last accent of our tongues on earth. It shall employ the first notes of our celestial songs. Where are you if you are out of covenant with God? You are under the curse of the old covenant if you are not under the blessing of the new; but if the Lord Jesus Christ has stood as Surety on your behalf, and made the covenant sure to you, you will serve God with alacrity and delight, and he will accept your service as a sweet savour offering in Christ Jesus. That is the first meaning of the text.

14. II. But, secondly, salt is THE SIGN OF COMMUNION. In the east, especially, it is the sign of fellowship. When an Oriental has once eaten a man’s salt, he will do him no harm.

15. Whenever you are attempting to serve God, take care that you do it in the spirit of fellowship with God. Take care that you do not allow this salt to be lacking from your grain offering. Offer it in fellowship with God.

16. And this is a very important point, though I cannot dwell upon it at any length. Beloved, we never serve God properly, joyfully, happily, if we get out of fellowship with him. “His servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face”: there is no serving God acceptably unless you see his face. Once you feel your love for God dying out, and the presence of God withdrawn from you, you can live by faith, but you cannot work with comfort. You must feel a sweet friendship with God, or else you will not so heartily give yourself to God’s service as the saints of God ought to do. I want you to live always in the sense of God’s nearness to you. Live always in the delightful conviction that God loves you. Never be satisfied to have a doubt about your being one with Christ, or that you are dear to the heart of God. You cannot sing, you cannot pray, you cannot teach a Sunday School class, you cannot preach in a fit and proper manner, if you lose this salt of communion. You may limp, but you cannot run in the ways of God if your fellowship is broken. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Have plenty of this salt of fellowship to heap upon every oblation.

17. Then, feel fellowship with God concerning all his purposes. Does God wish to save souls? So do I. Did Christ die to save souls? So would I live to save them. Can you say that? Does the Holy Spirit strive against sin? So would I strive against sin. Feel all this. Endeavour to run in parallel lines with God as far as the creature can keep pace with the Creator; and when you do so — when all your purposes and intentions are the purposes and intentions of God — then, brother, you will plough, and you will sow, and you will reap, with joy and gladness of heart. There must be this fellowship with God in his purposes; this is the essential salt of sacrifice.

18. I especially would have you have fellowship with God in Christ Jesus. Does God love Jesus? So do we. Does God desire the glory of his Son? So do we. Does God determine that his Son shall put down all power, and authority, and rule, and be King? We too wish him to reign over us, and over all mankind. “Your kingdom come” is our prayer, even as it is God’s will that the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.

19. Now, if you can always work in fellowship with God, what a grand thing it will be! For lack of this, many workers do not know their position, and never reach their full potential. We are labourers together with God. If we are in our right state, we take a brick to lay it on the wall, and a divine hand has lifted that brick. We use the trowel, and it is the great Master-Builder who grasps the tool. We wield the sword, and the Captain of the Lord’s host is strengthening our arm, and guiding our hand, so that we may do valiantly in the day of battle. What an honour to have the Lord working with us, and by us!

20. But oh, beloved, do not get out of fellowship with God; and if you have done so, before you do another stroke of work for him, go and get into fellowship with him. If I were captain of the host, and I saw that you were out of fellowship, and yet you were marching to the battle, I would say, “Brother, go back.” When we bring our sacrifice, we are to leave it until we are reconciled to our brother; and how much more must we leave it until we have a sense of being reconciled to God. I cannot go on serving God if I do not know that I am his child. I cannot go on preaching to you if I have any doubt about my own salvation. At any rate, it would be very wretched work to preach about freedom while I am in chains. He preaches best who is at liberty, and can personally tell the captives how Christ makes men free. When you know that you are in covenant with God, and when your heart feels a blessed friendship to him, it is then, dear friends, that your oblation will come up acceptably before him, and you can do your work as it ought to be done before him.

21. III. But I must get your minds to another point. Salt is the EMBLEM OF SINCERITY. “With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” There must be an intense sincerity about all we do towards God.

22. I told you to notice that you were not allowed to present honey before the Lord. I really wish that some of our brethren who are overdone with honey would notice that. There is a kind of molasses godliness which I can never stomach. It is always, “Dear this,” and “Dear that,” and “Dear the other,” and “This dear man,” and “That dear woman.” There is also a kind of honey-drop talk in which a person never speaks the plain truth. He speaks as familiarly as if he knew all about you, and would lay down his life for you, though he has never set eyes on you before, and would not give you a halfpenny to save your life. These people avoid rebuking sin, for that is “unkind.” They avoid denouncing error; they say, “This dear brother’s views differ slightly from mine.” A man says that black is white, and I say that it is not so. But it is not kind to say, “It is not so.” You should say, “Perhaps you are right, dear brother, though I hardly think so.” In this way some men think that our sacrifice is to be offered. If they hear a sermon that cuts at the roots of sin, and deals honestly with error, they say, “That man is very narrow-minded.” Well, I have been so accustomed to be called a bigot that I by no means deny the charge. I feel no horror because of the accusation. To tell a man that, if he goes on in his sin, he will be lost for ever, and to preach to him the hell which God denounces against the impenitent, is no unkindness. It is the truest kindness to deal honestly with men. If the surgeon knows very well that a person has a disease in him that requires the knife, and he only says, “It is a mere trifle: I dare say that with a little medicine and a pill or two we may cure you,” a simpleton may say, “What a dear kind man!” but a wise man judges otherwise. He is not kind, for he is a liar. If, instead of that, he says “My dear friend, I am very sorry, but I must tell you that this mischief must be taken out by the roots, and, painful as the operation is, I implore you to summon courage to undergo it, for it must be done if life is to be saved.” That is a very unpleasant kind of person; and a very narrow-minded and bigoted person; but he is the man for us. He uses salt, and God accepts him: the other man uses honey, and God will have nothing to do with him. When honey comes to the fire, it turns sour. All this pretended sweetness, when it comes to the test, turns sour; there is no real love in it. But the salt, which is sharp, and when it gets into the wound makes it tingle, nevertheless does sound service.

23. Whenever you come before God with your sacrifices, do not come with the pretence of a love you do not feel, nor with the beautiful nonsense of hypocrites; but come before the Lord in real, sober, earnest truth. If you are wrong and feel it, say so, and out with it; and if God has made you right through his Spirit, do not deny it, lest you are denying the work of the Holy Spirit, and so dishonouring him.

24. What is meant is that in all our sacrifices we ought to bring our hearts with us. If we sing, let us sing heartily as to the Lord; not only with our voices, but also with our very souls. If we preach, let us preach with all our might: we have such precious truth to handle that it ought not to be dealt with in a trifling manner. If we try to win a soul, let us throw our whole strength into the work. Though we would not scheme, like the Pharisees, to make a proselyte to our sect, yet let us encompass sea and land to bring a man to Christ, for we should do that.

25. And when we bring our heart, and throw it intensely into the service of God, which is one form of the salt, let us take care that all we do is spiritually performed; not done with the external hand, or lip, or eye, but done with the soul, with the innermost heart of our being. Otherwise it will be mere flesh, and without salt it will be viewed as corrupt, and rejected at God’s altar.

26. When you attempt to pray, and rise from your knees feeling that you have not prayed, then do not leave the mercy seat, but pray until you pray. When you are singing a hymn, and do not feel quite in tune for singing, sing yourself into tune. Do not leave an ordinance until you have tasted the salt of that ordinance. I admire that resolution of John Bradford the martyr. He said that he made a rule that he never ceased from a holy engagement until he had entered into the spirit of it. Too often we treat these things slightingly. There is no soul in them, and yet we are satisfied with them. We eat our unsavoury devotions without salt; but the Lord rejects them. We have had a few minutes in prayer in the morning, and perhaps just a few weary minutes at midnight, we have run through a chapter, or perhaps we have taught a class on the Sabbath afternoon, and taught it perfunctorily without any life, and yet we have been content; or we have preached, but it has been a mere saying of words; there has been no life or vigour in it. Oh, do not do so! Do not bring to God your unsalted sacrifices, but let the salt of sincerity savour all. It is better to say, “I did not pray,” than it is to say, “I did pray,” and yet only to have gone through a form. It is better to have to confess, “I did not sing,” than to follow the tune when your heart is not in it. You had better stop the external form than keep it up if your soul is not in it, lest you are found to mock the Most High God. Pile on the salt! Let it season your entire sacrifice through and through. Be sincere before the heart-searching God.

27. IV. Lastly, salt is THE TYPE OF PURIFYING POWER, and with all our sacrifices we need to bring a great deal of this salt.

28. The salt eats into the meat; it drives away corruption; it preserves it. We require a great deal of this. Brethren, if we come before God with holy things while we are living in sin, we need not deceive ourselves, we shall not be accepted. If there is any man, of whom it can be said that he is a saint abroad and a devil at home, God will estimate him at what he is at home, and not at what he is abroad. He may lay the sacrifice upon the altar, but if it is brought there with foul hands, and an unholy heart, God will have nothing to do with it. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” and, certainly, without holiness no man can serve the Lord. We have our imperfections; but God’s people will not indulge known and wilful sin. God keeps them from this. As soon as they know a thing to be sin, and their attention is called to it, what they have committed in inadvertence causes them grief and sorrow of heart, and they flee from it with all their souls. But do not be deceived. You may be a great man in the church of God, and hold office there, and even be a leader; but if you lead an unholy life, neither yourself nor your sacrifice can ever be accepted with the Most High. God abhors that his priests should serve him with unwashed hands and feet. “Be clean you who bear the vessels of the Lord.” I constantly preach to you free, rich, and sovereign grace, without the slightest condition; and I preach the same at this time; but remember that the grace of God brings sanctification with it, and that the gift of God is deliverance from sin; and that, if we continue in sin, and remain in it, we cannot be the children of God. We must, dear friends, bring with all our oblations that salt in ourselves which shall purify our hearts from inward corruption, and which shall have a power about it to purify others. Do you not know that the saints are the salt of the earth? And if we are salt to others, we must have salt in ourselves. How can we conquer sin in others if sin is unconquered in ourselves? How can we give a light we have never seen? How can we have seed as sowers if we have never had bread as eaters? You know what the woman said concerning the well, — “Father Jacob,” she said, “gave us the well, and drank from it himself.” You cannot give other people wells if you do not drink from them yourself. You cannot benefit a man by grace if you are not first benefited by grace yourself. Can anything come out of a man that is not in him? There must be a holy, sanctifying power about the child of God, making him to be as salt, or else he cannot act upon the putrid masses all around him as the salt ought to do.

29. With all your oblations, then, bring this salt. May God give it to us! Let us cry to him for it. I bless God for this church that God has made you a power in the neighbourhood — that God is making you a power all over this country. Those hundreds of ministers who came up this week, whom we have educated here, and whom all of you have helped to educate, are these not a purifying salt? Our brothers and sisters by thousands are scattered all over the world. Not a week passes without some of our number going far away; and I always say, “Yes, go, dear brethren. Salt should not remain in the box. It ought to be scattered all over the meat. Wherever you go, take care to be salt, so that people do not say, ‘Is this one of the Tabernacle people? He is a poor, lukewarm creature.’ ” Do not have it so, but now that God blesses you so greatly, take care that the salt is in you all. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”; and I have no greater sorrow than this — that there are some among you who are no credit to your profession. There are some among you who do not live even as well as the world expects you to live. I mean not only poor ones, but rich ones among us are a dishonour to us. There are a few of all degrees among us who are not spiritually-minded but are worldly and carnal: they come to this place, and sit among us, with their faces turned towards heaven, while they themselves are going the way of the ungodly. They know what I mean while I speak it. May God grant that they may bear the rebuke, and repent, and turn to the Lord! They are looking one way and rowing another — trying to be the people of God, if they can, and yet at the same time acting as common sinners act. May the Lord bless you, beloved, by making you all holy! And if you will not be holy, may he take that great fan into his hand, and blow the chaff away! If it cannot be that this shall be a pure heap lying upon his floor to his honour and glory, then may he still continue that great purging which is always going on in every church where he is really present! Brethren, we must be holy. We must be holy, or else cease to be what we are. May God bring us to this — that with every oblation we may offer huge handfuls of salt! May we always be accepted in Christ, accepted with our sweet savour: holy, acceptable to God, because his Spirit has made us holy, and keeps us right before him. May the Lord bless you for evermore! Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Eph 4]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — Jesus” 386}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Conflict and Encouragement — Life Of The Soul” 623}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — Blessed Be His Name” 435}

Letter From Mr. Spurgeon

Dear Friends, — The severe weather in England has induced the officers of the church at the Tabernacle to persuade me to remain in this sheltered place for another week. I was reluctant to do this, but, at length, feeling myself very weak, I judged it to be the best economy to take the further rest. The little meditation at the Lord’s table, which is here given, will be followed by a similar one next week, and after that I hope to deliver the word from my own pulpit. Again I ask for my readers’ prayers so that I may return strong for service, anointed for high enterprise. With kindest regards to the thousands of my brethren,

                          Yours to serve,
                          C. H. Spurgeon
Mentone, January 16, 1887.

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
386 — Jesus
1 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
   In a believer’s ear!
   It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
   And drives away his fear.
2 It makes the wounded spirit whole,
   And calms the troubled breast,
   Tis manna to the hungry soul,
   And to the weary, rest.
3 Dear name! the rock on which I build,
   My shield, and hiding place;
   My never failing treasury, fill’d
   With boundless stores of grace.
4 By thee my prayers acceptance gain,
   Although with sin defiled;
   Satan accuses me in vain,
   And I am own’d a child.
5 Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
   My Prophet, Priest, and King;
   My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
   Accept the praise I bring.
6 Weak is the effort of my heart,
   And cold my warmest thought;
   But when I see thee as thou art,
   I’ll praise thee as I ought.
7 Till then I would thy love proclaim
   With every fleeting breath;
   And may the music of thy name
   Refresh my soul in death.
                        John Newton, 1779.

The Christian, Conflict and Encouragement
623 — Life Of The Soul
1 When sins and fears prevailing rise,
   And fainting hope almost expires;
   Jesus, to thee I lift mine eyes,
   To thee I breathe my soul’s desires.
2 Art thou not mine, my living Lord;
   And can my hope, my comfort die,
   Fix’d on thy everlasting word,
   That word which built the earth and sky?
3 If my immortal Saviour lives,
   Then my immortal life is sure;
   His word a firm foundation gives —
   Here let me build, and rest secure.
4 Here let my faith unshaken dwell;
   Immovable the promise stands;
   Not all the powers of earth or hell
   Can e’er dissolve the sacred bands.
5 Here, oh my soul, thy trust repose;
   If Jesus is for ever mine,
   Not death itself, that last of foes,
   Shall break a union so divine.
                           Anne Steele, 1760.

Jesus Christ, His Praise
435 — Blessed Be His Name
1 I bless the Christ of God;
      I rest on love divine;
   And with unfaltering lip and heart,
      I call this Saviour mine.
2 His cross dispels each doubt;
      I bury in his tomb
   Each thought of unbelief and fear,
      Each lingering shade of gloom.
3 I praise the God of grace;
      I trust his truth and might;
   He calls me his, I call him mine,
      My God, my joy, my light.
4 In him is only good,
      In me is only ill;
   My ill but draws his goodness forth,
      And me he loveth still.
5 ‘Tis he who saveth me,
      And freely pardon gives;
   I love because he loveth me,
      I live because he lives.
6 My life with him is hid,
      My death has pass’d away,
   My clouds have melted into light,
      My midnight into day.
                     Horatius Bonar, 1863.