So I want to look at verse 23 again, where we're in Hebrews.
And it says in verse 23, it was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these,
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
And the title of my sermon this evening is Better Sacrifices, Better Sacrifices.
Now, Hebrews has some portions of it that are a little bit deeper.
They're definitely talking about some subjects
that are not necessarily easily understood right on the surface.
But one of the beauties of the book of Hebrews is trying to explain to us
a lot of what the Old Testament means.
And the Old Testament had a lot of different ordinances and services.
You know, it says in verse number one, then barely the first covenant
had also ordinances, divine service and a worldly
sanctuary.
So the Bible is telling us and is explaining to us
what the Old Testament was about, what the tabernacle is about,
what the sacrifices were about and how they were simply a picture
of the real sacrifice that Christ was going to ultimately fulfill
and how there is better sacrifices
than the sacrifices that were done in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament was an inferior sacrifice and lots of different ways.
Now, when we think about the Old Testament, there's not just one sacrifice.
There's all kinds of different things that are going on in the Old Testament.
I mean, they've got lambs, they've got bulls, they've got bread,
they've got doves.
I mean, there's all kinds of crazy things going on.
We have to understand every single one of those sacrifices
and their own unique way pictured the sacrifices
that Christ himself was going to
experience for us.
And so that's why it says here there's better sacrifices,
because all those sacrifices back then were inferior to the true
and the better sacrifice that Christ was going to fulfill.
And so what I thought would be a good idea is to go through a lot of the examples
that we have in the Old Testament and show how that relates
to what Christ was going to do for us, go if you would to
Leviticus, chapter number one.
Let's go to Leviticus, chapter one for a second.
And we're kind of keeping it with this theme of better sacrifices.
Now, in Leviticus, chapter number one, the Book of Leviticus is really
why it's titled Leviticus is because it's really specific to the Levites.
Now, the Levites are the priests of the Old Testament.
They're the ones that are going to perform this service,
this divine service that was talked about in the Book of Hebrews.
They were specifically picked out.
It was the tribe of Levi.
Now, of the tribe of Levi, they had a few different families,
the Kohathites, the Moraiites and the Girishites, and they were divided
in all the different aspects of this service and what they're going to do
and the fulfillments they're going to have.
But Leviticus in the first few chapters is going to describe all the sacrifices.
OK, and there's a lot of overlap here, but there's
a lot of things that are in this first chapter here
that are illustrating what Christ is going to do for us.
Look at what it says in verse number one.
And Lord called to Moses and spake on them out of the tabernacle,
the congregation, saying, speak unto the children of Israel
and say unto them, if any man of you bring an offering under the Lord,
you shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock.
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish, he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door
of the tabernacle, the congregation before the Lord.
Now, in the Old Testament, the only priests were the Levites.
So if you are not a Levite, you couldn't be a priest legitimately.
That doesn't mean that there weren't people calling themselves priests
that weren't a Levite, but it's just saying legitimately
the only true priests were the Levites.
Now, it's saying that they are the ones that are going to be performing
the sacrifices for other people.
OK, so the children of Israel, if they want to make a sacrifice unto God,
they have to have a literal priest perform that sacrifice.
They can't just do it on their own.
We see in the Old Testament a few times where somebody tries
to perform a service or a duty that the priest would do.
But the Lord rebukes them, rejects them, even a king.
There's a particular king who tries to offer a sacrifice to the Lord,
and he's not allowed to do it.
He's not allowed to burn incense or these things.
And you say, what's the picture of that?
Well, the picture is I can't get to God on my own.
I have to have a priest, but here's the thing.
I'm not Catholic, OK, because I'm not Catholic.
That priest is not a man on the earth today.
That priest is the priest in heaven, which is Jesus Christ,
because he's a better priest because we're talking about better sacrifices.
And now I don't have to go to a physical priest and offer some kind of a sacrifice.
I go to the Lord Jesus Christ and he's my priest, and he is the one
that accepts my sacrifice or does my sacrifice on my behalf before the Lord.
Now, in the Old Testament, they adopt after offer a sacrifice often.
OK, because not only it's not a once for all sin offering you sin,
and then it's like sacrifice and then you said again.
And it's like another sacrifice.
And he said, again, you lose a lot of cows quick.
OK, you lose a lot of sheep quick in the New Testament.
Praise the Lord.
The Lord Jesus Christ had a once for all sacrifice.
He doesn't have to constantly offer himself.
So there is going to be differences, but a lot of these sacrifices point to Jesus.
Look at what it says here in verse number three. It's a male
that's picturing Jesus Christ.
Now, keep your finger here because we're going right back.
Go to First Timothy, chapter number two.
So just like I said, they have to go to this priest
to make this kind of an offering.
We, too, have a mediator.
We have someone as a go between.
That's what a mediator is between us and God.
Look what it says in First Timothy, chapter two, verse number five.
But there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself
a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
So notice we have the man Christ Jesus and notice they were offering a male
bull offering, right?
They were off for what? Because it's the man Christ Jesus.
And also, we see that mediator pictured here
as Christ of the New Testament, whereas in the Old Testament was a literal man.
It was a literal Levite.
That was that mediator.
And obviously, he was never the official mediator.
It was really a picture, a symbol of the fact that Christ
is that go between from us to God.
Go back and look at verse number three again.
Notice what it also says in verse three, a male without blemish.
So not only was it a male, it was without blemish.
This is also to signify Jesus Christ.
Go to Hebrews, chapter four.
And we're going to be comparing a lot of old the New Testament.
So just get prepared.
You're used to doing a Bible study on Thursday nights, right?
So let's study the Bible. All right.
And let's learn some of these better sacrifices.
Some of this is pretty simple, but it's great to be reminded.
The Bible says he was without blemish.
Look at Hebrews, chapter four, verse number 15.
The Bible says this for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are.
Yeah, without sin.
So the Bible is unequivocal
and the assessment of the fact that Christ never sinned a single time.
It's not possible for him to sin.
He's God manifest in the flesh.
The truth can never be a lie.
The Lord is holy, so he could never be filthy.
He could never be with sin.
It's impossible for him to sin.
And even though he was in all points tempted,
he went through all the same experiences that we go through.
He grew up. He was a baby. He was a child.
He had the same temptations.
He had the same opportunities to sin or to do wrong.
Yet he never did a single time.
Go to John Chapter 19, if you would, for a moment.
Go to John Chapter number 19 for a moment.
Now, this is hammered in from the scriptures.
The fact that Christ was a
lamb, spotless lamb, or in this,
you know, example, it's really a bull, but it's still, again, without blemish.
Is it not? Now, it has in John Chapter 19.
It's interesting because the Bible is going to tell us things that happen.
And what you have to understand is
sometimes we think of the fact that like the Old Testament
is before the New Testament, and that's true.
It's not like that's not true.
But when God was setting up all of these sacrifices,
it was not so that Christ would have to do that.
It was because he knew what was going to happen.
And they're picturing what's going to happen.
Well, what's going to happen?
Well, look at John Chapter 19 and look at verse number four.
Pilot, therefore, went forth again and say unto them,
Behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
And Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man.
When the chief reached, therefore, an officer saw him, they cried out,
saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
Pilate saith unto them, Take him and crucify him,
for I find no fault in him.
Now, this is a very important portion of scripture.
Why? Because if Christ had been crucified
for any wrongdoing at all, anything he had done wrong,
he could not have been our substitute.
He had to be perfect.
He had to be spotless, just like that bull had to be without blemish
to picture the fact that when Christ comes as our sacrifice,
he is going to be without blemish.
He's going to be without spot, and he is going to bear our sins.
If he went on the cross for his wrongdoing, even if it was just minor,
then he would no longer be our substitute.
He would be paying for his sins.
But Christ didn't pay for his sins because he doesn't have any sins.
He's paying for our sins and notice Pilate's making it unequivocal
there's nothing wrong.
There's no there's nothing wrong with this man.
There's no reason to do anything wrong to him.
They want to crucify a perfect, spotless lamb here.
The Lord Jesus Christ, go back to
sorry, verse number three.
Let me show you another thing out of here.
Not only is he a male, not only without blemish,
it also says he shall offer it of his own voluntary will
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.
Now, when it says he,
it's talking about the person that's providing the sacrifice
under the Levite, OK?
So it's saying the Jew or the Hebrew that wants to do the offering.
He is offering this of his own voluntary will.
That's yet another very important point.
Go to Acts Chapter number 13, Acts Chapter 13.
I don't know how a Calvinist could even understand that verse,
because Calvinists don't even believe in free will.
Yet the Bible uses the word free will 17 times.
First of all, second of all, it uses the word if tons.
I don't even know how many times use the word if.
But to understand if indicates a choice.
Now, anybody that does software development, they know what the word
if means because it has a lot of consequences to it.
And the reality is God gives us the choice
of all of our lives to do all kinds of things.
He set before us life and death and he says, choose life.
What kind of a God?
The Calvinist God says choose life is like, ha ha.
You can't choose anything.
I think, you know, one of their points is unconditional election.
You know, and their tulip total depravity, unconditional election.
Unconditional means it's based on nothing.
It's predicated on nothing.
Election means to be chosen.
And the Bible is basically telling you you have an option to choose life.
The Calvinist is saying you have no choice if you're going to be saved or unsafe.
It's just it's just unbiblical what they believe in.
Now, look at Acts chapter 13, look at verse number 26.
The Bible says men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham
and whosoever among you fear of God to you is the word of this salvation sent
for they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not.
Nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day.
They have fulfilled them in condemning him.
And though they found no cause of death in him,
yet desired they pilot that he should be slain.
Now notice again, we're hammering the point that they had no cause of death in him.
So there was no spot.
He's perfect.
But notice what also says in verse 28 yet desired day.
So whose will was it that Jesus would be killed?
It was the Jews will.
It was of their own voluntary will.
They wanted Christ to be killed, just like the sacrifice of the bull
had to be of their own voluntary will as that sacrifice.
Gove you would to verse 29.
Same chapter. Look at verse 29.
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.
But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of them,
which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are his witnesses under the people.
And we declare on you glad tidings, how that the promise
which was made into the fathers, God fulfilled the same unto us,
their children, and that he had raised up Jesus again,
as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou art my son.
This day have I begotten thee.
And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead.
Now no more to return to corruption.
He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
Wherefore, he sayeth also in another psalm, thou
shall not suffer thy holy one to see corruption for David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on a sleep
and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption.
But he whom God raised again saw no corruption, be it known in you.
Therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
on you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe
are justified from all things from which he could not be justified
by the law of Moses.
So they're reiterating the fact that Jesus Christ was slain.
He rose again and it was
testified it was prophesied in Psalm two, where he says this day have I begotten me,
which is a picture of what the resurrection of Jesus Christ
when Jesus Christ was risen again from the dead.
And he's known as the first born.
He's also known as the first begotten from the dead.
That's why he has that title.
That's why he has that that the nomenclature is the fact that he was risen
from the dead and he's the only begotten of the father,
because the Bible teaches that we're going to be risen by the sun.
OK, the son will call out, will hear his voice and we risen again.
The only begotten of the father, the only be risen again
from the dead by the father is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he gets all the preeminence.
You know, he's the first born to be risen again.
And what's also interesting is verse number 39.
He makes the clarification that justification comes from faith in him.
He says, which you could not be justified by the law.
So does all the Old Testament sacrifices.
They didn't justify anybody when it comes to going to heaven or hell.
Now, obviously, to you had to follow God's commandments at any point in time.
There's never been a point in time where we shouldn't be following God's commands.
And at that point in time, to follow God's commandments,
you had to offer sacrifices.
So in that sense, yeah, you need to be following God's commandments.
But if you're going to go to heaven or hell was not predicated on
if you follow those sacrifices perfectly or not.
It was whether you had faith in the coming Messiah
or now in the New Testament, if you have faith in that Messiah that came.
OK, so it's always been faith in Jesus Christ.
It never was anything other than faith and never will be anything other than faith.
It's always been simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves us.
Go view it to Psalms chapter number two.
That just destroys any dispensational view.
Dispensational is that we'll say especially hyper dispensational.
So we'll say, oh, there's different gospels and then there's different ways to be safe.
I've even seen a meme where someone claimed
that Jesus preached a different gospel than Paul.
He said Jesus preached a work salvation
and that if you lived at the time of Christ, you had to believe in works.
You had to have works in order to be saved.
But now it's just faith.
And what and what is according to Paul or something like that's blasphemous.
That's wicked.
OK, there's not a different gospel.
The apostle Paul made it clear if anybody preached any other gospel
and you let him be accursed.
How could Paul say that with a straight face
when he knows that Christ taught a different gospel?
But there's nowhere in the Bible that Jesus preaches a works based salvation.
Jesus Christ taught to believe in him.
He has the greatest verses.
John three sixteen, who separate believe in him should not perish
whenever everlasting life.
He didn't say who's ever believes and follows all the commandments.
Fyi. No, it was just faith in Jesus Christ.
That's the only gospel that's ever existed.
Now let's go to Psalms two where it was quoted
and let's see another essence that's that's brought up in Psalms Chapter two.
It says in verse one,
why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves.
That sounds like voter, you know, fraud there to me.
And it says, And the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their courts from us.
So in Psalms Chapter two, when we have the famous quote
that was already quoted in verse seven, where it says, Now my son,
this day have we got me?
It's also bringing up the point and verses one and two that the heathen are raging
and the kings of the earth and the rulers.
They took counsel against the Lord and they wanted to slay him.
OK, they want to break his bands.
Now, this is important because if you go back to acts
and then we're flipping around a lot, but we're just we're doing a Bible drill.
All right. What was the point that I brought up in Leviticus
that the offering had to be of their own voluntary will? Right.
And we saw the Jew.
Well, here's the thing.
They all of their own voluntary will wanted to kill Jesus Christ.
Now, this is also quoted in Acts Chapter four, Psalms two.
Look what it says in verse twenty three.
And being let go, they went to their own company,
reported all the chief priests and others had said to them.
So this is Peter and John.
They'd been threatened to not preach in the name of Jesus anymore.
Now they go back in there and they're basically talking with their own people.
Verse twenty four.
And when they heard they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said,
Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea
and all that in them is
who by the mouth of thy servant David has said,
Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy child.
Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together.
Notice this for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determine
before to be done.
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and granting thy servants
that with all boldness they may speak thy word.
Now, what's interesting is Psalms two is interpreted for us
and it tells us exactly who it was when talks about the kings and the rulers.
It was Herod.
It was Pilate.
And it was the religious leaders of the day, the Jewish religious leaders.
Who's the Gentiles? The Romans.
So we have all of those parts put together here.
And they were all there to determine to do what?
God's will. But, you know, it's interesting.
They thought it was their will.
Isn't it interesting how God is so beyond our intelligence and understanding?
He can tell people what they're going to do,
and they don't even realize they're going to do it.
He's saying like, you guys are going to kill my holy child, Jesus.
But in Acts chapter 13, which we read, they were ignorant of the prophets.
They didn't read it in the Bible and think like, oh, that's what I'm going to do.
They just did it.
And then later it's like, hey, this is what you guys did.
That would be eerie
if you did something today and I showed you in the Bible,
like here was written exactly what you're going to do today.
And you're like, oh, like, that's a little bit interesting.
Yeah, it's been written for thousands of years.
But what's important is this.
It was of their own voluntary will.
They killed the Lord of their own voluntary will.
And now if we go back to Leviticus, chapter number one, again,
you do have to understand this, that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life.
So he allowed them to take his life.
He allowed them to crucify him.
He allowed them to mock him and scourge him and ridicule him.
And he took all that chastisement and he took all that pain.
And he was our sacrifice for us.
And it was their will to kill the Lord Jesus Christ.
Exactly why we have this picture here.
Why would they have to get this bull?
And it's a male is without blemish.
And it's almost because picturing what Christ is going to do.
And it's picturing what they're going to do as well.
The fact that they're going to be the ones to kill the Lord Jesus.
Look at verse number four now.
And he should put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering
and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
Now, in other portions of the Bible, it elaborates on what this means
when it says it's putting his hand on him.
But specifically, it'll say that they're going to put their hand.
They're going to confess their sins.
Keep your finger here because we keep coming back to this,
but go to Exodus 29 for a moment, just go back a few chapters.
Exodus, Chapter 29.
And we see it elaborating a little bit on this.
Says in verse number 10, and now shall cause a bullet
to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation, and Aaron
and his son shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock,
and thou shalt kill a bullet before the Lord
by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Now, they have another portion here
where it's kind of talking about this same sacrifice.
And if you study again, I don't have time to go through all of them.
But just if you look other places up, it'll say as they put their hand,
they were confessing their sins to, you know, they'll put their hand
on the head of the animal.
They'll confess their sins.
And it's like that animal is taking your sins upon him.
You're putting your sins upon the head of that beast or of that animal.
And then they're going to kill it.
It says in verse number 12 here in Chapter 29,
it says, And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock
and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger
and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.
And so we have a lot of important things that are happening here.
But go, if you would, to Romans chapter five.
And then I'm going to kind of explain a lot of what we just read
as the better sacrifice.
But if you go to Romans
in the New Testament and look at chapter number five.
Now we're going to receive atonement, the Bible says that
while they receive a a type of an atonement through this sacrifice,
there's a better atonement because that atonement is a limited,
temporary atonement of being right with God.
But here's the thing.
The atonement for your sins to go to heaven is only through the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ.
Now it describes this atonement.
Romans Chapter five.
Look at verse number eight.
The God committed his love toward us
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
much more than being now justified by his blood.
We shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his son, much more being reconciled.
We shall be saved by his life.
And not only so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement.
Now, the word atonement is only found in the New Testament one time.
OK, it is mentioned other times in the Old Testament.
He's only mentioned one time in the New Testament.
And this is your mention.
OK, now some people make a huge deal
about only the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
And there is a biblical doctrine called the blood atonement.
Now, that phrase is never found in the Bible. OK.
But I do believe in the doctrine of the blood atonement.
The blood atonement teaches that it's Christ blood
that saves us and it gives us the forgiveness of sins.
But we have to understand about the blood atonement is it's the blood
that was taken from the cross and it's applied onto the altar in heaven
that gives us that sack, that that atonement.
And the only way for the blood to go from the death on the cross
all the way up in heaven is Christ had to rise again from the dead.
And then when he rose again from the dead, he ascended up into heaven
with the blood and he sprinkled the blood on the altar.
So we also are saved by his what? His life.
I wish I had a verse. Oh, yeah.
Verse 10, we shall be saved by his life.
Yeah. Now there's this wicked false teacher.
His name is Manly Perry.
And you may have heard of him before, but he preaches.
He preaches a church called Old Path Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas.
He he's like falsely accused me so many different times
and preached all kinds of weird heresies, but specifically on this doctrine,
he said that everything was done on the cross
and that the resurrection was the receipt of payment.
Now, let me explain something to you.
And he says, oh, if you deny that, you don't believe in the blood atonement.
Well, if you believe that you don't believe in the blood atonement.
OK, now let me explain something to you.
If you go to a restaurant right now and you buy dinner,
can you walk out without a receipt?
And say, I paid for dinner.
Yeah, it's done.
Do you need the receipt to have paid for it?
No. So the receipt is not necessary to have paid for it.
But here's the reality.
If you don't have the resurrection, your sins are not paid for.
You don't have that atonement.
The resurrection is not a receipt that it was already paid.
It's part of the payment process.
It's you walking up to the register and putting the money on in the clerk's hand.
Now, here's the thing.
Who's the clerk? That's the altar in heaven.
And what's the money? That was your blood.
I'm not denying the fact that the blood isn't what pays it.
What I'm telling you is if you don't walk up to the clerk
and put that money in his hand, you ain't paid.
You can have the money in your wallet and they're not going to say you paid.
Oh, I paid for it.
I got 50 bucks in my wallet.
Well, it's like you got to give me the 50 bucks.
You know, somehow that 50 bucks has to get into my hand.
And here's the reality.
The blood of Jesus Christ had to get to God
and had to get to the altar, which is in heaven.
OK, and you know who took it up there?
The only one that could the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we read that in Hebrews, chapter number nine.
We read that in Hebrews, chapter number four, that there's only one
that could enter into the holiest.
That was Jesus Christ.
And he did not he didn't come with the blood of bulls and a ghost.
He came with the blood of himself.
That's how we get the blood atonement.
OK, so don't sit here and falsely accuse me by saying,
because Jesus had to die and rise again
in order for us to be saved, that I deny the blood atonement.
If you say that the the resurrection is the receipt of payment,
you don't believe in blood atonement.
You're the one that's confused, buddy.
Now, look what it says in verse number 19.
Romans, chapter number five, verse number 19.
The Bible says, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners.
So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous knows again
that it's the obedience of Christ that saves us.
It was one person's obedience that matters when it comes to who goes to heaven.
Christ, not your obedience.
You know, some people think, oh, you have to obey in order to go to heaven
or you have to follow God's commandments to go to heaven.
Nowhere does Bible teach that the Bible teaches the obedience of one.
I'm righteous because Christ was righteous,
not because of anything that I've done, not by not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but by his mercy, he saved us is what the Bible says.
And so we have his righteousness.
We have his blood.
The Bible says the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
OK, and we were talking about that atonement that you see
by putting your hand on that animal.
He's taking our sin.
We're taking his righteousness.
We're taking his perfection upon us.
So that's what's called imputed righteousness.
Go to the first John chapter number five.
Let's continue with the idea about the blood, OK, and talk about
what's going on in heaven.
The Bible references this blood because they said after they put their hand
in the beast, they shed that blood of the enemy, killed the animal.
And the blood was on the bottom of the altar. OK.
Now, the bottom of the altar is this.
That's the blood that was shed on earth.
That's not the blood that's on the altar in heaven.
OK, now, first John, chapter five, look at verse seven.
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness in earth,
the spirit and the water and the blood.
And these three agree in one.
Now we have to understand about first John chapter five, seven through eight.
What is the context?
The context is this.
The witnesses of the gospel.
OK, if I go to heaven, there are three independent witnesses
that can give me the gospel.
The Father, the word, which is Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost,
they can all three give me that.
Now, what were the witnesses of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection on earth?
Do we have Jesus Christ on earth to give us that witness? No.
Well, we have three witnesses, the spirit, what's the spirit, the word of God.
We have the Bible.
The Holy Ghost is our witness of that.
What's the other two witnesses?
The water and blood that was spilt out of Christ's side
that is in the earth and never left the earth.
That's like the blood that sprinkled at the bottom of the altar.
OK, go to John chapter 19.
Let me prove this to you.
Go to John chapter number 19.
So we have three witnesses in the earth.
And what are what is the Bible?
The water from Jesus body and the blood of Jesus body all prove
the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If I go to heaven, what would all three of them tell me?
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And if we if we
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
OK. And so we have several witnesses here that are testifying
and out of the mouth of two or three witnesses.
So every word be established. OK, now, John chapter 19.
Look at what it says in verse number 34.
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced aside
and forthwith came out blood and water,
and he that saw it bear record.
And his record is true.
And he knoweth that he say it true that he might believe
for these things are done, that the scripture should be fulfilled.
The bone of him shall not be broken.
And again, another scripture say they shall look on him whom they have pierced.
And so the Bible is talking about all the scripture being fulfilled here
in this moment.
But what's other scripture that's being fulfilled?
The water and the blood.
And he's saying he that bear witness, his witness is true.
That's the spirit and the spirit and the water and the blood.
These three agree in one.
Jesus Christ died.
But you know what?
There's a problem with only believing the death.
There's no body.
You know why there's no body of Jesus Christ?
Because he rose again and then he's in heaven.
He's alive. Think about it.
The the most iconic person in all of human history.
He's not here.
There's no existence.
There's no anything of a physical realm, you know, resemblance.
So there's nothing tangible for us to put our hands on of Christ's existence here,
except for the water, blood and the spirit.
Yet he's the most iconic person of all human history.
And you say, where is he?
He's in heaven. He's alive.
We don't serve a dead savior.
We serve a risen savior is what we sing the songs about.
And we have this witness here testifying.
And so a picture of the blood being sprinkled at the bottom,
the altar is a picture of Christ's blood being spilled here
at the cross being fulfilled in scripture.
So we have all kinds of different things.
Then also other blood is going to be sprinkled on the altar,
which is going to be the inevitable picture of him
also going into heaven and sprinkling his blood on the altar.
Go if you would.
Now, go back, if you would, to Exodus 29.
OK, and I know we're kind of jumping around a little bit here,
but I think we're kind of building this this context
and we're going through Leviticus one a little bit.
Look at Exodus 29, verse number 13 now.
So they poured out all the blood beside the bottom of the altar, right?
Says in verse 13.
And thou shalt take all the fat that is that covers the inwards
and the call that is above the liver and the two kidneys
and the fat that is upon them and burn them upon the altar.
So the Bible says that when they would take these animals, they'd kill it.
Then they would filet it or they would basically take all the meat out.
But then they would also take all the fat out.
And when they took the fat, they had to burn the fat presently
there on the altar, and it was a it was part of the burnt offering.
OK, they say, what is that picture?
Well, I'll submit to you that the fat here is a picture of sin.
OK, now I want to prove this in a couple of different ways.
All right. Go if you would to Leviticus chapter four for a moment.
Skip over to the right.
And let's see a picture here that's talking about the same thing.
Leviticus chapter number four and look at verse 26.
The Bible says, and he shall burn all his fat upon the altar
as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings.
And the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin.
And it shall be forgiven.
So this is in context of the sin offering.
And there's other aspects here.
But we kind of see that fat being emphasized in the sin offering specifically.
And he's saying that the fat was supposed to be burnt on the altar
and they were not supposed to eat any of the fat or blood
when it comes to the offerings of the Lord.
Now, go if you would to first Samuel chapter two, go to first
Samuel chapter number two.
Now, there's some priests in the new in the Old Testament,
the sons of Eli, and they were very wicked.
The Bible says they were they knew not the Lord.
They were sons of Belial and they did all kinds of evil things.
They committed a lot of fornication.
They lay with the women assembled at the door as the Bible describes it.
But they also didn't do the offering of the Lord correctly.
OK, now look what it says in first in chapter two.
Look at verse number 12.
Now, the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.
They knew not the Lord and the priest custom with the people was that
when any man offered sacrifice, the pre servant came
while the flesh was in seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand.
And he struck it into the pan or cattle or cauldron or pot.
All of the flesh had brought up the peace took for himself.
So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
Also, before they burnt the fat, the pre servant came and said
to the man that sacrifice give flesh to roast for the priest.
For he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
And if any man said in him, let them not fail to burn the fat presently then
and then take as much as they still desire, then he would answer him.
Nay, but thou shalt give it me now.
And if not, I will take it by force.
Wherefore, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord.
For men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
So Eli sons, Hoffman and Phineas,
they're taking the meat offering and they're taking these portions with fat
before the fat gets burned and they're eating it
and they're making men abhor the offerings of the Lord.
And now what's one of the consequences of this?
Well, look what it says in verse number twenty nine.
Wherefore, kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering,
which I have commanded in my habitation and honor as thy sons above me
to make yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings
of Israel, my people.
And so a picture here of, you know, eating these sacrifice doing things.
They were very fat because they're very self-indulgent.
They could not say no to the things of the flesh, which is a picture of sin.
And the fat, again, is a picture of that sin.
And why is it that they're supposed to burn all of this fat?
What's a purging of iniquity? It's a purging of sin.
And where's the where is sin punished and how
for the wages of sin is death.
Now, when you die, your soul goes somewhere.
OK, if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, then you have to go to hell,
which is called death.
Those that are dead, which is a state of being, are in hell.
And this is what I always say.
Death is a state of being.
Hell is his location.
If you're in hell, you're dead.
If you're dead, you're in hell. OK.
If one of those is not true, the other one is not true.
OK, if you're alive, you're not in hell.
If you're alive, you're either on earth or in heaven.
That's your two options. OK.
And if you're in hell, you're not alive.
OK, no one in hell is like.
In fact, the Bible says in death and hell delivered up the dead,
which were in them, as it says in the book of Revelation.
So where do the dead come from? They came from hell.
OK, so that's that state of being.
And we have to understand this sin concept.
Now, go if you would to.
Let's go to
Roman six now, and then I'm going to explain a few more pieces here,
but we're kind of building a context and we're trying to keep all these things
together. And it's nice when you compare spiritual
with spiritual, because a lot of things kind of come together.
But look what the Bible says in Romans Chapter six
and look at what it says in verse number eight.
Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more.
Death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died.
He died under sin once.
But in that he liveth, he liveth in the God.
Now, what I just taught you is that anybody that's dead is where?
In hell. OK, guess what?
Christ is not an exception here.
Christ noticed he was dead, so where did he go?
He went to hell.
And the Bible teaches, though, that death hath no more dominion over him.
So death literally had dominion over him.
He was a captive of hell.
Now, let me prove that very clearly.
Go to Acts chapter number two, go to Acts chapter number two.
The Bible makes it very clear that your Lord Jesus Christ had to go to hell.
And he went to hell.
The Bible says in Acts Chapter two says in verse twenty three,
him being delivered by the determinant council and for knowledge of God,
ye have taken and by wicked hands of crucified and slain,
whom God hath raised up, having lose the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holding it.
So again, the Bible says that he was killed, he was slain,
but then he was loosed from the pains of death.
OK, when? Well, it says very clearly
whom God hath raised up when he was raised up.
Now, if you're loosed from the pains of death,
that means you're experiencing the pains of death.
What's the pains of death?
Well, death is hell.
OK, so he was experiencing the pains of hell.
Hell had dominion over him.
But the Bible makes it clear that he was risen again
and he got victory over the grave.
He has victory over death.
Behold, I am he that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I'm alive forevermore.
And I have the keys of hell and of death. Amen.
How did he get the keys of hell and death?
How did he get victory over the grave?
By going there and defeating death and how.
Now you say, I don't know about that.
We'll get verse 31.
He's seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell.
Neither is flesh to see corruption.
So the Bible teaches that he was not left in hell
in order to not be left somewhere means you have to be there
and obviously had to go there.
Now, here's the thing.
What was the picture of the fat is burning on the altar? Right.
Now, what was bad again?
It was sin.
Well, go view it the Second Corinthians, chapter number five.
Go to Second Corinthians, chapter number five.
The Bible also had said in in Romans chapter six, if you remember,
he died under sin once.
I submit to you this, that if Christ died,
sin had to be involved.
Because without sin, he wouldn't have died.
The Bible says for the wages of sin is death,
but the Bible teaches that sin is involved.
You know, the Bible teaches in the Old Testament
that there was a stick that Moses would lift up
and he put a brazen serpent on this stick
and all the children of Israel that were bit by the serpent,
which is a picture of the devil abiding you with what sin.
OK, all they had to do is look to that brazen serpent
and says they would look and live.
OK, we sing a song.
Look and live, my brother, live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
So what are we singing about?
We're singing about how we get to transfer our sin to someone.
So why is it a serpent on a stick?
Because it's not like the devil was crucified for us.
Well, it's very clearly because in Second Corinthians, chapter five,
look what it says in verse 21.
For he hath made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God and him.
So just like they put the hand on the bull and they confess their sins,
their sins were transferred in a symbol in a symbolistic way
to the head of that animal, just like our sins were transferred
to Christ on the cross, he became sin for us.
How could he even die?
Because he became sin for the wages of sin is death.
Now, what happens to sin?
Well, they take all that fat.
They take the call, the liver, and they take these elements
and they burn them on the altar as a picture of the fact
that Christ is going to go down into hell, taking our sin for us,
taking the punishment for us and becoming sin and dying and going down into hell.
All these pictures are fitting together perfectly.
Now, if you would, the Hebrews chapter 13, go to Hebrews chapter 13.
Now, I've heard this and it's kind of interesting.
But people that would would deny the fact that Christ went to hell,
which if you're if you believe the King James Bible is the word of God,
I don't know how you can do that.
I mean, the King James Bible is very clear.
You know, even Jesus Christ himself said for his Jonas was three days
and three nights in the world's belly.
So shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
You know, and unless you believe the weird like Abraham's
bosoms down in the center of the earth or something, I mean, something weird,
you know, obviously the center of the earth is hell, OK?
And Christ went to hell.
And even in the book of Jonah, Jonah says out of the belly of hell, cried I.
You know, and he said it was talking about the affliction that he was in.
And and so obviously for Jonah, it was a metaphor.
He wasn't literally in the belly of hell, but it was like that.
I mean, I can't imagine being in a well's belly.
OK, but for Christ, it was literal and he was prophesying of what Christ would do.
And he was prophesying of Christ, you know, praying unto the father.
And then the father finally raising him up from the dead.
But they'll say, oh, well, all the burnt sacrifices in the Old Testament
that pictures him dying on the cross.
And I'm like, what? What are you talking about dying on the cross?
And I don't know how they got they got to go to Hebrews 13.
OK, now I'll explain this.
OK, verse number 10 says we have an altar
where they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle
for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for the first sin are burned without the camp.
Wherefore, Jesus also that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood suffered without the gate.
Let us go, therefore.
Let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp bearing his approach.
Now, here's the thing.
This is very clearly lining up some Old Testament
pictures with what Christ would do.
But this is a very intellectually dishonest comparison to say
this proves that all the burnt sacrifices only picture the cross. OK.
And let me explain why.
First of all, it says they were burned without the camp.
Now, in verse 12, it's going to tell us what that compares it to.
It says suffered without the gate.
Notice there's no comparison to the burning, though.
It's not mentioning the burning.
It's not mentioning that aspect.
It's just saying the fact that they would take the animal outside the camp
and then burn is a picture of how Christ was going to be taken
out of the city of Jerusalem and he was going to be hung on the cross.
OK, and that's very true.
But we haven't finished the sacrifice.
OK, we haven't finished all of the pictures of the sacrifice.
Go back to Exodus 29.
Let me explain what's happening with the burnt part then. OK.
And what's interesting about the burnt offering is the burnt offering
is done in two parts.
Now, if you want to say that the burning
of some of the aspects of the burnt offering picture Christ
dying on the cross, I believe that's true and I believe I can prove that.
But here's the thing.
It's also true that it pictures him suffering in hell.
Now, the fat being burned at the altar was what?
That picture of sin being in hell, which is a picture of Christ's soul
going down into hell, taking that punishment for us.
But let's read verse number 13 and 14 again.
OK, we'll read 13 again and we'll read 14.
And thou shalt take all the fat that covered the words in the call
that is above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat
that is upon them and burn them upon the altar.
But the flesh of the bullock and his skin and his dung
shout thou burn with fire without the camp.
It is a sin offering now.
Here again, we're talking about the offering and we're saying
they burn the fat on the altar, then they take the rest of the animal
and they burn them without the camp.
But what part of the animal are they taking without the camp?
Well, let's let's read that again.
But the flesh and his skin and his dung. OK.
Now, what part of Christ would you say suffered on the cross?
Wouldn't it be his flesh and his skin? OK.
Now, what was burnt on the altar before, though?
The inward parts, the fat.
And see, here's the thing.
What suffered in hell? Was it his flesh? No, it was the inward part.
It was the soul, because that was the sin that was going down into hell.
So it's both. Right.
But you think it's intellectually dishonest.
Then tell me every burnt sacrifice in the Bible
has nothing to do with Jesus Christ going to hell.
That's just complete, just exaggerated lie. OK.
Obviously, I can hey, I can prove, yeah, the burnt sacrifice
also pictures the fact of him suffering on the cross.
But you know what?
The burnt sacrifice is also a picture of him suffering in hell for us.
And the Bible confirms this and prove this over and over again.
Now, I want you to go to Leviticus.
Or I'm sorry, let's go to verse number 23 here.
But we're staying in excess twenty nine for a second.
So we've looked at a lot of different pictures.
What do we we've pretty much gone from what they picked the lamb.
He was a male. He was that blemish.
Then we see the transfer of sin.
We see the death. We see the burial. OK.
We also have other pictures of this.
Look at verse number twenty three and one loaf of bread
and one cake of oiled bread and one wafer out of the basket
of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord.
And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron in the hands of his sons
and shout, wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.
So they take bread and they take an unleavened bread.
Now, this is pictured in the Lord's Supper.
Jesus Christ has unleavened bread and he says, This is my what?
Body which is broken for you.
Now, here's the thing. Why do you think they lifted up his body?
Well, if they lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
he's also lifted up as a picture of him being crucified.
So we have the wave offering is a picture of that bread
being lifted up the way he was going to die,
picturing how he was going to suffer his crucifixion.
We have the death in hell.
Now go to Leviticus twenty three.
And I know I'm kind of cherry picking a little bit here,
but I'm trying to go through a timeline of like his Vince here.
One thing that we haven't really talked about is the resurrection.
OK, but guess what? All the sacrifices has everything.
We have every single aspect of what Christ is going to do for us.
And this one's really cool.
In my opinion, it's really special.
But I'd preached the whole sermon on the timing of the Passover.
And I believe it's it's very clear
when studying the Bible that he died on Thursday.
It is Good Thursday.
And that he was in
hell for three days and three nights, as the Bible actually clearly teaches.
It wasn't Friday.
Can't get three days and three nights from Friday, OK?
And it's very clearly on Thursday.
Now, what you have to understand is the feast day,
which is to be enjoyed immediately after killing that Passover lamb,
which would be the 15th day, is supposed to be a holy convocation.
It's supposed to be a Sabbath day.
So a Thursday is the day he died at even then as he would transfer
into that next day, that next day would be a Sabbath day would be Friday.
Saturday would be a Sabbath as well. OK.
Because you have these double Sabbaths in a row,
you have this special timing of what's called the the the first fruit offering.
Now, does anybody know about wheat harvest? OK.
You can do a wheat harvest where you plant in the fall.
You can plant I think it's in November even.
Don't quote me on that. I'm not I'm not an expert.
I just did I know a little bit just from banking and dealing with these loans.
But you can plant in the fall and you can reap in the spring a wheat harvest.
OK. And a lot of times people, they'll plant that
and then they'll have like a summer crop, too.
So they kind of have two different crops throughout the year.
So that's interesting about harvest.
Well, they have a first fruit offering, which would be the first,
you know, reaping of the field from that planting season that they had.
And then they would wait basically 50 days to then have the true harvest.
We have to understand is the day of Pentecost.
The word Penti is for 50. OK.
The day of Pentecost is when that would fully come.
Well, the first fruit offering is described here in Leviticus 23.
Look what it says in verse number 14.
And he shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears
until the same day they brought an offering unto your God.
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and all your dwellings.
And you shall count on you from the morrow after the Sabbath,
from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.
Seven Sabbath shall be complete
even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath show you number 50 days
and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
So he's he's bringing up the fact that there would be a time
when you would wait until after a Sabbath to then do this first root offering.
Well, since he died on Thursday, it couldn't have been on Saturday
because it's also a Sabbath, so you had to wait this double Sabbath.
And even and I don't love bringing this guy up,
but the historical writer Josephus, he even documents this,
that the children of Israel would do their first root offering
and it would either be the 16th or the 17th day of the month Abib.
And he said the only reason it would ever be the 17th day
is if they had a double Sabbath.
Well, when Christ was crucified, they had a double Sabbath.
So it would have been the 17th.
Now, what is that first fruit offering picture?
It's picturing the first the first right.
What is Christ picture at the resurrection?
The first fruits, he's the first begotten of the dead.
So they would literally take the sheep and they would wave it
as a picture of what the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Because why every offering is picturing Jesus Christ
and the sacrifice that you do is death, burial, resurrection, all of it.
And then you have the 50 days, which is the day of Pentecost,
which is recorded in Acts chapter number two.
When what happens?
Thousands get saved on one day.
Why? Because of the picture of that huge reaping,
that huge harvest that's coming in.
God didn't just be like, hey, I just think randomly just pick seven weeks
and then just do your harvest is because it sounds good.
He's not picking all these.
It's all exactly what's going to happen as a fulfillment of Christ.
Death, burial, resurrection of the harvest that's coming.
Everything just fits together like a perfect glove.
Go back to Hebrews chapter nine now.
And I showed you lots of different sacrifices
that were done in the Old Testament.
But you know what? The better sacrifice was what Christ did.
Hey, you have that cool lamb offering and you have the sheave offerings.
You have these festivals, you have this.
You know, it's really cool that Christ did that.
What was the better sacrifice was Christ was the man
that Christ was spotless,
that Christ was crucified by their own voluntary will,
that Christ's body was lifted up on the cross, that Christ became sin for us,
that Christ suffered in hell for us, and that Christ rose again from the dead.
And he's that first begotten from the is the better sacrifice.
Now look at Hebrews chapter number nine.
And let's look at verse number fourteen.
Mm hmm. How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Now, that's a powerful verse, and I think it's one you kind of skip over.
But think about it.
He's writing to the Hebrews.
And he's saying,
you know, understanding how Christ has fulfilled all of these sacrifices,
then we should have our consciences
purged from dead works to serve notice this the living God.
OK, because Christ is alive.
All right. He's in heaven. He's the risen savior.
What is the dead works?
The dead works is that sacrifice system.
It's meaningless. It has no value.
There's no purpose to it.
And he's saying your conscience should be purged,
meaning you don't feel bad that you're not offering a land.
You don't feel bad that you're not offering the bull.
You don't feel bad that you're not partaking in these sacrifices anymore,
because Christ was the better sacrifice.
And we need to be serving the living God,
not doing these animal sacrifices anymore.
So he's trying to get these people to get off of the Old Testament
sacrifice system, get off of the Judaizing,
getting off of being justified by the works of the law to what?
Accepting Christ and serving Christ.
Now, in a modern vernacular, you know, I don't think anybody
you're struggling with the idea of like Pastor Shelley.
I got a lamb in the backyard.
I've been waiting to sacrifice this week, you know,
like I'm about to go sacrifice my goat or my my ramp.
I don't think any of you are worried about that.
And in fact, I think everybody here is probably saved as well.
So, you know, one application would be the fact that you need to stop
trusting in your works to get you to heaven
and go ahead and accept the better sacrifice, which is Christ,
because your sacrifices are dead, your sacrifices are meaningless.
They do nothing in regards to getting you to heaven. OK.
But as you get saved, OK,
we still have sacrifices that we can perform.
Go if you would do Romans chapter number 12.
Let me give you a little bit of practical application here,
because I know I've done a little bit of Bible study.
Let me give you a little bit of practical application.
We finished this evening.
Look at Romans chapter number 12.
Verse number one, the Bible says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
You know, the sacrifice that you need to be offering is yourself.
Now, I'm not saying to get to heaven.
Obviously, we've already established beyond any shadow of a doubt.
It's by the obedience of one that many were made righteous.
It was by his sacrifice that we get to go to heaven.
But here's the thing.
Now that I'm bought and paid for, it's my reasonable service
to then spend the rest of my life as a living sacrifice
and serving the Lord to the best of my ability.
Go to first Peter, chapter two, go to first Peter, chapter number two.
The Bible teaches that
in the Old Testament,
the priests were the only ones allowed to offer sacrifices, OK?
But what's unique about the New Testament is
we don't have a Levitical priesthood.
We have a different priesthood.
And the priesthood was changed in the Hebrews.
It talks about this.
And to be a priest in the Old Testament, you had to be born
into the into the priesthood.
You had to be born as a Levite, OK?
But in the New Testament, the same thing.
You have to be born into being a priest.
So I have good news and bad news. All right.
You have to be born.
That's kind of the well, I'll give you the bad news, the good news.
The good news is that you're a priest.
The bad news is you're a priest, whether you want to or not. OK,
so it's kind of like in the army, you know.
Hey, you're drafting the Lord's army whether you want to or not.
I guess that's good or bad.
You can look at it that way.
But it's obviously good.
Now look at first Peter, chapter number two.
And look what it says in verse number three or five.
He also has lively stones are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So in the New Testament, we are now the Levites.
We're the spiritual Levites.
We're the spiritual priests today, and we don't have to offer
any kind of a physical sacrifice to get to heaven.
We already have the better sacrifice, which was Christ.
All those things that were sacrifices.
We have the better sacrifices that Christ already fulfilled.
But now that we're saved,
we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
And now that we are priests of God, we offer up spiritual sacrifices.
Now you say, what do those look like?
Go to Hebrews, chapter 13, last place of your turn.
Hebrews, chapter number 13.
Well, it'd be nice if the Bible told us everything we need to do.
Oh, yeah, it does.
It's great about the Bible.
Now, here's here's the difficulty you have to compare spiritual
spiritual sometimes you have to kind of flip around a little bit.
But you know what the Holy Ghost will lead you in all true.
Now, since we're priests of God and we need to offer these sacrifices,
what kind of sacrifices are they? What do they look like?
Well, look what it says in verse number 14.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come 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.
So you want to know one of the sacrifices you can do
instead of offering a physical animal?
You know, we do.
We just open our mouth and we praise the Lord.
Now, I didn't cover this, but the Old Testament, you had to also burn incense.
And the Bible and the Book of Psalms tells us that incense is like prayer.
And so instead of lighting some kind of incense in our house
and constantly burning that, what we're supposed to do is pray without ceasing,
which is, let me tell you something, a better sacrifice.
God is more pleased with us praying than lighting incense.
OK, and obviously the incense was a sacrifice, but you know,
it's the better sacrifice us praying on a continual basis,
just like Christ is that better sacrifice, a better sacrifice
that we can do is a prayer.
And you know what?
Some people undervalue prayer, but the reality is prayer takes faith.
If you get on your knees in your closet by yourself and you're praying to God,
that has no benefit unless God's going to hear your prayer.
And you know what that takes? It takes faith.
But without faith, it's impossible to please him, is what the Bible teaches.
And God loves it, that people have so much faith in them
that they'll get on their knees by themselves where nobody else will hear
and they'll pray to the Lord.
And you know what? We need a lot of prayer.
There's a lot of people in our in our church that need prayer.
There's a lot of lost people that need a lot of prayer.
And you know what? Prayer changes things.
I've seen lots of things.
There's been tons of times in my life where I've honestly looked at a situation.
I've looked at something going on.
I thought that's never going to happen.
Like I, I'm not saying like in the defeated attitude.
I'm just thinking like.
I really don't believe that's going to happen.
Like, you know, I'm just thinking like I don't see how it's going to happen.
But you know what I did?
I just went and prayed for it anyways,
believing that the Lord could possibly do a miracle, and then he did.
You know, I've seen people's hearts change.
I've seen all kinds of things happen.
And you know what?
It'd be nice if we still had prayer on a continual basis
where we actually believe the Lord can can do miracles and can do wonders.
And so, you know, we need to get on our knees
and we need to pray to the Lord on a regular basis.
Look at verse number 16.
But to do good and to communicate, forget not,
for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.
So notice God is going to be pleased with us
when we're offering these spiritual sacrifices, getting on our knees
and praying, doing good and communicate
is in reference to giving money.
But, you know, I think the emphasis here is, again, just
we need to be a living sacrifice.
It's not just it's not this is a replete list.
OK, I'm emphasizing prayer because it's emphasizing prayer.
But every part of our life should be a living sacrifice.
We should be dedicated to serving the Lord.
You know. The people in this world, they they just harken to lies all day.
I mean, the news media, CNN, all it does is lie.
And you say, why watch Fox News?
It just lies differently.
OK, well, I you know, I listen to this Republican liar.
You know, I listen to this Democrat liar.
And obviously, hey, the Democrat Party is like literally of Satan.
OK, I get it.
And obviously, sometimes the Republicans actually tell the truth.
But I'm telling you, there's just so much lies out there.
There's so much deception out there.
There's so much evil out there.
And we get to come in here and we get to hear the great mysteries of God
expounded to us.
You know, incredible truths that most people have no idea about.
They can't even comprehend.
And when we read about these these great sacrifices, you know,
it should motivate you to start living for God and being a sacrifice for God.
And, you know, very few people are going to do it.
But let me tell you what, very few people are pleasing to God.
There I said it.
You know how many people God is pleased with? Very few.
There is even a point in the scripture where the Bible says
God's eyes are going to and fro throughout the whole earth.
And he's looking for one man to make up beds.
And he says, I found none.
He says, I found none.
Isn't that sad?
Wouldn't it be sad if God in 2021 was looking down from heaven
and he said, Hey, I just want to find one guy,
just one person that will serve one person that will pray
one person that will do something for me.
He's like, I can't find any.
And Cameron sang a song this evening with us
called Little as much when God is in it.
And, you know, he's talking about, you know, I want to go that verse.
I can't I don't have memorized for the 397.
I love the second stanza.
It says in 397.
Does the place you're called to labor seem so small and little known?
You know, you could be, oh, we're in Oklahoma City.
Well, you know what?
Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, there is in the midst.
And, you know, people that have an attitude that say,
oh, this is too small to do anything for God.
No, you're too small because you know what?
Just one person getting their heart right towards God can make a huge impact.
And God is well pleased.
He didn't say he's well pleased when tons of people are serving him.
He was pleased with one person, one person that's a living sacrifice.
Hey, by the obedience of one, many were made righteous.
And obviously, we're not in comparison to Christ.
But here's the thing.
By the obedience of one soul winner.
Many can be made righteous.
And let me tell you what, you know, many people it takes for you to get saved.
One. You can be that one person
to make the difference in somebody's life, and you know what?
These are the better sacrifices.
Let's go in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for the word that you gave us, for
the sacrifice of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all the pain and the torment that he went through for us.
I pray that as we read about Lord Jesus Christ in every page of the Bible,
that we would see the sacrifice that he did for us.
And it would motivate us to be willing to sacrifice ourselves
and the sacrifice of our time, our effort and our energy,
and that we would seek to be well pleasing in your sight, that we would pray,
that we would do good, that we would not forget to communicate,
that we would go out and preach the gospel.
And I pray that we'd have a heart and mentality that says no matter where I'm at,
no matter how many people are with me, I can serve the Lord
and that I can be used by God greatly.
And I pray that you would just multiply our efforts
and that you would just allow us to be zealous for you.
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.