Sermon # 421 Leviticus Sermons

Title: “It Shall be Perfect to be Accepted”

Text: Leviticus 22:21

Subject: God’s Requirement of Perfection

Introduction:

How many times have you heard someone use this statement to justify their behavior—“Well, nobody’s perfect”? How many times have you used it yourself? Of course the statement is true. None of us are perfect. What an understatement! We are all sinners. – Sinners by birth! – Sinners by nature! – Sinners by choice! – Sinners by practice! – Sinners at heart! In the very core of our being we are sin, nothing but sin, a constant, growing mass of iniquity, transgressors in all things and at all times (1 John 1:8-10). The Bible does not only tell us that we make mistakes, that we are less that perfect, and that we have sinned. The Word of God declares, and (if any honesty can be found in us) we must acknowledge, that we are sin, and that there is never a time when we are not sinning. So long as we live in this body of flesh, we sin and we are an ugly, hideous mass of sin.

(1 John 1:8-10) "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

That being the case, our text this morning ought to rivet us to our seats and rivet our ears to what God has to say to us. You will find my text in Leviticus 22:21.

(Leviticus 22:21) "And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein."

Ceremonial Worship

During the days of legal ordinances, under the ceremonial law, the children of Israel were taught to exercise great care in coming to the house of God. The law and the sacrifices and ceremonials associated with divine worship were meticulous, and designed to inspire reverence for the holy Lord God, while reminding the worshipper of his sin and pointing him to Christ as his only, all-sufficient hope before God. No religious games!—No religious entertainment!—God demanded the most solemn reverence.

Nothing was to be done thoughtlessly. In every detail the Lord God showed himself to be God and declared, “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” He said, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.” “Profane not my holy name.”

The glorious perfections of the infinite, thrice holy God demand reverence. No Israelite could come to the God’s altar aright who did not carefully consider what he was doing and how it was to be done. No doubt, much fear was involved in the worship of those ancients.—The Fear of Carelessly Omitting Something.—The Fear of Bringing An Unacceptable Sacrifice.—The Fear of Intruding Where He was Not Permitting.—The Fear of Putting His Hand Where He was Forbidden. If he would worship God, he must exercise great care. Of every ceremony and every sacrifice, of every act and every work, it is written, “It must be perfect to be accepted.” That was the law, and God would not budge from it.

Proposition: The holy, perfect Lord God cannot and will not accept anything less than absolute perfection.

Lesson

This is no easy lesson to learn; but learn it we must. I fear that in our worship we are usually terribly thoughtless. How careless, how indifferent, how half-hearted we are[1]!

· In Preparation!

· In Prayer!

· In Singing God’s Praise!

· In Reading and Hearing The Word of God!

· In Preaching!

· In Seeking God’s Presence, God’s Power, and God’s Blessing!

· In Our Dress! – “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”—“Ye are the temple of the living God.”—“An Habitation of God through the Spirit”—“The Spirit of God dwelleth in you!”

The glory of God, his grace toward us, and love for him ought to make us whole-hearted in worship. When we come to this place, when we gather here with God’s saints, in the presence of God, we ought to behave ourselves as men and women in the immediate presence of Jehovah. We ought to strive with the utmost watchfulness of holy care to honor God or Savior. Our God requires and deserves our best (Mal. 1:1-14).

The Priest

The priest who stood for the people before God (representing Christ) must be himself in bodily presence the perfection of manhood (“No Blemish”). 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. On the Day of Atonement, for glory and beauty he appeared in all the glory and radiance that the purest gold and the most precious stones could put upon him.

The Sacrifices

The sacrifices that were offered (representing the Lamb of God) must be without blemish (“No Blemish”—Not a Stranger’s [v. 25]—An Uncastrated, Whole Male [v. 28]). How often we have seen this in the Book of Leviticus! Every sacrifice offered to God for atonement had to be rigidly examined before its blood was spilt.—“It must be perfect to be accepted.”

Blood

Under the law the guilt of sin and the need of atonement were constantly before the eye. If you stepped within the holy place, everywhere you saw the marks of blood. If a man went into the tabernacle he would see the floor, and the curtain, and the altar, and every piece of furniture stained with the blood of slaughtered lambs, and calves, and doves. Blood was poured by bowlfuls on the floor, and sprinkled on almost every holy thing. Everywhere you looked, you would be compelled to read and hear the Word of God—“Without shedding of blood there is no remission!”

There can be no approach to a thrice-holy God without the remission of sin, and that remission of sin must be obtained through the atoning blood. The Israelite, if he thought about what he was doing and what he observed, must have been keenly aware that he worshipped a God who is terrible in holiness, a God who hates and must punish sin, and a God who will by no means spare the guilty, or pardon man without atonement. As he observed the unblemished sacrifice, with its blood gushing from its slit throat, he could not help hearing God speak from heaven, “It shall be perfect to be accepted.”

He saw in the necessity for a perfect sacrifice a declaration of the holiness of God. He must have felt that his sin was no trifling matter. — God required the blood of a perfect sacrifice before it could be removed and forgiven. A life had to be sacrificed. Blood had to be shed. The life and the blood had to come from a perfect, unblemished victim.

The Law

God’s holy law was constantly ringing in the ears of his people in those days, declaring incessantly, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!” The law…

· Showed him his sin.

· Exposed his guilt.

· Condemned him for sin.

The sacrifice showed him a door of hope, but hope altogether outside himself, for “it shall be perfect to be accepted.”

Yes, we preach the law. It is holy, just and good. We do not preach the law as a rule of bondage. We preach the law as God intended it, to shut sinners up to Christ. I pray that God the Holy Spirit will lay his holy law, like an axe, at the root of all our self-righteousness and cut it down. I pray that he will make the law a mirror to us and make us see ourselves in it as we really are, exposing all our warts, and spots, and blemishes, and all the inward foulness of our hearts and souls. Then, and only then, will we be driven outside ourselves to Christ for cleansing. God always…

· Kills before he makes alive.

· Wounds before he heals.

· Makes us lost before he saves.

· Shows us our foulness before he cleanses.

· Strips us naked before he clothes us.

· Makes us miserable before he comforts.

· Abases before he exalts.

That is the purpose of our text; and that is the purpose of my message. God says, “It shall be perfect to be accepted.” That unbending declaration shuts you and me up to Christ altogether. As I wrap this message up, may God now enable me to speak his Word to your heart. “It shall be perfect to be accepted.” I want you to hear this word from God for the rest of your life. When you rise in the morning and go to God in prayer, when you go to work, or school, or go about your daily employment, when you come into your home, when you bow with your family before the throne of God at your table, when you lay down to sleep, when you come to the house of God to worship him, when you leave to serve him, I want to hear him speaking these words to you—“It shall be perfect to be accepted.”

I want grace and power from God the Holy Spirit to put my finger right into your heart. I want to shoot this barbed arrow directly into every heart here. I speak with utter plainness and simplicity because I want you to hear me. If I had the ability to be an orator, I would deliberately refuse to exercise it. I preach for the glory of God, not the applause of men. Your immortal souls are at stake. Eternity is too important for the game of eloquence. Eloquence, oratory, and rhetoric are as out of place in the pulpit as blasphemy. Oh, how I wish that all who stand where I stand today would preach the gospel of Christ and preach it with such coarse simplicity that no word spoken could be missed!

Let me show you two things, briefly, and I will be done.

I. First, The holy, perfect Lord God will never accept anything or anyone that is not perfect. He says, “It shall be perfect to be accepted.”

The Lord God would not have a blemished priest before his altar or a blemished sacrifice on it. He demands perfection. “It shall be perfect to be accepted.”

(Leviticus 21:21) "No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God."

(Leviticus 22:20-21) "But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you. (21) And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein."

Your Refuge

Put this plummet to your wall and see how straight it is.—“It shall be perfect to be accepted.” That fact shuts out all those faulty offerings by which multitudes hope to find acceptance with God. It totally nullifies any hope you have of attaining acceptance with God by something in you or something done by you.

A. Salvation cannot be attained by good works, no matter how good they appear to be.

For a work to be good the person performing it must be good. And the Book says, “None is good but One and that is God.” Because we are all corrupt, we are all without ability to do good. “There is none that doeth good, no not one.”

(Job 8:20) Bildad said, "Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers."

(Job 9:1-3) "Then Job answered and said, (2) I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? (3) If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand."

(Job 9:20) "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse."

(Job 9:30-32) "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; (31) Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. (32) For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment."

(Job 14:4) "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one."

(Job 15:12-16) Eliphaz is speaking here. "Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, (13) That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? (14) What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? (15) Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. (16) How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?"

(Job 25:4-6) Bildad speaks. "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? (5) Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. (6) How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?"

Let me show you something about the bed on which you are resting and the covers in which you wrap yourself.

(Isaiah 28:20) "For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it."

B. Your imaginary “good works” could no more commend you to God, give you acceptance with him, and save your soul than adultery, rape, or murder.

(Isaiah 65:2-7) "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; (3) A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; (4) Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; (5) Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. (6) Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, (7) Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom."

Religious Goodness

God will not accept the worship, service, or sacrifice of any man who has any pollution of iniquity, and blemish of infirmity, or any stain of sin upon him.

(Isaiah 1:11-15) "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. (12) (Worship)When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? (13) Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. (14) Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. (15) And when ye spread forth your hands (In Prayer), I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood."

Do you hear what God says about the most devout services of self-righteous men?

(Isaiah 66:3) "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations."

God demands perfection (vv. 16-17). “It shall be perfect to be accepted.”

(Isaiah 1:16-17) "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; (17) Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."

That is what God demands, but I cannot do it. I cannot give it. “It shall be perfect to be accepted.”

“It shall be perfect to be accepted.” It is not written, “It shall have no great and grievous blemish;” but “There shall be no blemish therein.” That is the standard, absolute perfection! God will not budge from it. Let the plummet hang straight, and see whether you can build to it. By this standard see the walls of that house you have built upon the sand of your own works. It is but a bowing wall and a tottering fence, altogether out of the perpendicular as tested by God’s uncompromising requirement. — “It shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.”

Why do you continue to look for salvation by what you do? You cannot be saved by your works (what you do, what you feel, what you experience, what you know). Your nature at the very first is tainted! God’s Word assures well that it is so. There is evil in your heart from the very beginning; so that you are not perfect, and are not without blemish. This sad fact spoils all at the very beginning. You are yourself blemished and imperfect. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. If the fountain is tainted, can the streams be pure? Do you think it possible that you, who are a fallen man in your very parentage, in whom there is a decided bias toward evil, can possibly render perfect service unto the holy Lord God? Your hands are foul; how can your work be clean? A sour tree cannot produce sweet fruit. Darkness cannot produce light. Sin cannot produce righteousness. Death cannot bring forth life! If we are (And we most assuredly are!) rotten at the core, how can your thoughts, and words, and ways, be perfect? And yet all must be perfect to be accepted.

As for this poor excuse for a man who now preaches to you, I dare not claim that the best deed I have ever done, or the most fervent prayer I have ever prayed, could have been accepted in and of itself before God. I know that I have no perfection in my best things, much less in my worst. My best deed, my best prayer, my best preaching, my best thought, my best feeling, my best emotion, my best love, my best faith, my best aspiration, my highest devotion, my most costly sacrifice, my most useful service is utterly vile and forbids my acceptance with God upon the basis of it! God says, “It shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein!” Do you hear him? “It shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.”

· Our faith must be bathed in the blood of Christ!

· Our repentance needs to be repented of!

· Our righteousness must be washed in Christ’s blood!

Are we without hope? Is there no hope for a sinner? Oh, blessed be God there is good hope through grace. There is no hope in ourselves; but there is hope such sinners in Christ. That is the second thing I want you to see.

II. This word from God – “It shall be perfect to be accepted.” – shuts us up entirely to Christ.

Go back to the Book of Isaiah. After telling us how vile we are, how utterly repulsive and helpless we are in ourselves before him who demands perfection that we can never give, the Lord God bids us come to him for grace and find perfection in his darling Son.

Has what I have said caused you to tremble before God? God says, “It shall be perfect to be accepted.” If that doesn’t make you tremble, I don’t know what will. But he also says this—“To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word.”

(Isaiah 1:18-20) "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (19) If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (20) But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."

(Isaiah 45:20-25) "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. (21) Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. (22) Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (23) I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. (24) Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. (25) In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."

I call you now to come to Christ and find in him that perfection that God requires, that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. If I had the tongues of men and of angels, I could never adequately tell you of him who offered himself without spot unto God. He is absolutely perfect. There is no blemish in him!

His Nature

He is perfect in his nature as God and man. No stain defiled his birth, no pollution touched his body or his soul. The prince of this world himself, with keenest eyes, came and searched the Savior, but he found nothing in him. “In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” There was not the possibility of sinning about the Savior, — no tendency that way, no desire that way. Nothing that could be construed into evil ever came upon his character. Our perfect sacrifice is without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

His Motive

As he was perfect in his nature, so was he in his motive. What brought him from above but love to God and man? You can find no trace of ambition in Christ Jesus. In him there is no thought of self. No sinister or sordid motive ever lingered in his breast, or even crossed his mind. He was purity and holiness in the highest degree. Even his enemies have nothing to allege against the purity of the motive of Jesus of Nazareth.

His Spirit

As his nature was perfect, so was his spirit. He was never sinfully angry, nor harsh, nor untrue, nor idle. The air of his soul was the atmosphere of heaven rather than of earth.

His Obedience

Look at his life of obedience, and see how perfect that was. Which commandment did he ever break? Which duty of relationship did he ever forget? He honored the law of God, and loved the souls of men. He gave the character of God perfect reflection in his human life. You can see what God is as you see what Christ is. He is perfect, even as his Father who is in heaven is perfect. There is no redundance, or excess, or superfluity in his character. There is nothing omitted in any point. Christ is perfect

His Sacrifice

Look at the perfection of his sacrifice. (Infinite!—Meritorious!—Effectual!) He gave his body to be tortured, and his mind to be crushed and broken, even unto the death-agony. He gave himself for us a perfect sacrifice. All that the law could ask was in him. Stretch the measure to its utmost length, and still Christ goes beyond, rather than falls short of the measure of the requirements of justice. He has given to his Father double for all our sins. He has given him suffering for sin committed, and yet a perfect obedience to the law. The Lord God is well pleased with him. He rests in the Son of his love. For Christ’s sake he smiles all the upon multitudes of sinners who are in him and represented by him.

My heart rejoices as I think of Gethsemane, and Calvary, and of him who by one offering hath perfectly sanctified all who put their trust in him. He cried, “It is finished!” And finished it is forever! Our Lord has presented a perfect sacrifice. “It shall be perfect to be accepted.” And it is perfect. “There shall be no blemish therein!” And there is no blemish in it. Glory be to God Most High, forever and ever!

Our Sacrifice

Come with me now to God. Bring this perfect sacrifice to God. By faith take it to be yours. You may. Christ belongs to every believer. If you trust him, he is yours. Poor guilty soul, whether you have been a believer fifty years, or ten years, ten seconds, if you believe on the Son of God, you may now come with Christ in your hand, and say to the Father, “O my Lord, you have given all that your law requires — a perfect sacrifice; there is no blemish in it. Behold, I bring it unto you as my own!”

With that God is satisfied. What joy! God is satisfied! The Father is well pleased! He has raised Christ from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places in token of that satisfaction. Let us be satisfied too. That which contents God may well content me. My soul, when your eyes are full of tears because of sin and your heart is disturbed by countless infirmities and imperfections, look away, look away from yourself “to the full atonement made, to the utmost ransom paid.” Christ is perfect; and Christ is accepted. His atonement is perfect; and his atonement is accepted. His righteousness perfect; and his righteousness is accepted.—“”When I see the blood!

Perfect And Accepted

Now, hang on to your seat. Christ has made us perfect in himself; and in him we are accepted, “Accepted in the Beloved!” He was manifest to take away our sins; and he has done it. He came here to bring in everlasting righteousness for us; and he has done it. He came here to make us holy, unblameable, unreproveable, and utterly without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle before God—PERFECT! And he has done it!

· Colossians 2:9-10

(Ephesians 5:25-27) "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (26) That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (27) That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

(Hebrews 10:10-14) "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. (14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

(Jude 1:24-25) "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (25) To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen."

When the Israelite sprinkled the blood on the lintel and the two side-posts. Then he shut the door. He was inside. He could not see the blood any more. The blood was outside upon the posts. He could not see it. Was he safe? Oh, yes. God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

It is God’s sight of the blood of his dear Son that is the everlasting safeguard of all who are in Christ. It is precious and sweet beyond expression to me to look at that blood once shed for many for the remission of sins. I look upon it with delight. Yet, if ever there should come a dark night to me in which I cannot see it, God still sees it; and all is well. I am safe. I am saved, because it is written, not “when you see it,” but “when I see the blood I will pass over you.” It is the perfection of the sacrifice, not our perfection of sight, which is our safeguard. It is the absence of all blemish from the sacrifice — not the absence of blemish from our faith — that makes you to be “accepted in the Beloved.”

“Nothing, either great or small, Nothing, sinner, no;

Jesus did it, did it all, Long, long ago!

When He, from His lofty throne, Stooped to do and die,

Everything was fully done. Hearken to His cry: -

“It is finished!” Yes, indeed, Finished every jot:

Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, Is it not?

Weary, working, plodding one, Why toil you so?

Cease your doing, all was done, Long, long ago!

Till to Jesus’ work you cling, By a simple faith,

Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death.

Cast your deadly doing down, Down at Jesus’ feet!

Stand in Him, in Him lone, Gloriously complete!”

James Procter

God will never accept anything any sinner does for him until he is accepted by the merits of a perfect, unblemished sacrifice. But once he has accepted us, by the perfect, unblemished sacrifice, he accepts even our blind, maimed, broken, scurvy, scabbed, superfluous, lacking sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving as sacrifices holy and well-pleasing to him (Lev. 22:21-23; 1 Pet. 2:5).

(Leviticus 22:21-23) "And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein. (22) Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD. (23) Either a bullock or a lamb that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted."

(1 Peter 2:5) "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

Illustration: Rowland Hill’s Dream

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name! Now, in Christ, the Lord God looks upon this old sinner, Don Fortner, seeing what no mortal can see; and in the day of judgment he shall truthfully declare of me what he did of Job, that which no mortal can see—“He is a man that is perfect and upright, who holdeth his integrity, and sinneth not!”

[1] I will not even mention the froth, foam, and frivolity that is common in this day of religious profanity.