But the part of the chapter that I wanted to focus on was there in verse 24 where the
Bible says,
He shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut.
Neither shall you make any offering therein in your land.
Neither from a stranger's hand shall you offer the bread of your God of any of these.
Because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them, they shall not be accepted for
you.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat is brought
forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam.
And from the eighth day, and thenceforth, it shall be accepted for an offering made
by fire unto the Lord.
And whether it be a cow or you, ye shall not kill it, and are young both in one day.
And when ye offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord, offer it at your own will.
On the same day it shall be eaten up, and ye shall leave none of it until tomorrow.
I am the Lord.
And the title of the sermon tonight is Sacrifices of Thanksgiving.
Now when we think about the word thanksgiving in today's culture, we think about a lot of
things.
A lot of people have a lot of different emotions.
People think about family, they think about the fall, they think about food, they think
about their friends.
But what does the Bible mean when it talks about thanksgiving?
What is the Bible's definition of the word thanksgiving?
Well it's interesting that the word think and all the variations of it are found in
the Bible 139 times and 134 verses.
So we're not going to be able to look at every single place where the Bible even talks
about thanks or thanksgiving or all those things.
But why don't we go and look at the first mention, which is actually just a couple chapters
to the left, Leviticus chapter number 7.
We'll look at the first time the word think or any of its variations are used.
And then Leviticus chapter 7 and verse 11, the Bible says, and this is the law of the
sacrifice of peace offerings, which ye shall offer unto the Lord.
If ye offer it for a thanksgiving, then ye shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
And unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes
mingled with oil of fine flour fried.
Besides the cakes, ye shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice
of thanksgiving of his peace offerings.
And it shall be offered one out of the whole oblation for a heave offering of the Lord,
and it shall be the priest that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings.
And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten
the same day that is offered.
He shall not leave any of it until the morning.
But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten
the same day that he offerth his sacrifice, and on the morrow also the remainder of it
shall be eaten.
But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.
Now the interesting thing, he talks about thanksgiving a lot of different times in this
chapter.
And we know in the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus is written unto the Aaronic priesthood,
to those of Aaron, those that are of the descendants of Aaron, it was written for the priest to
know what to do.
And they were to offer sacrifices unto the Lord.
And we see the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the first part, it said, of your own will.
So I want to point out a couple things about this sacrifice.
Why is this so significant?
Why do we have all these sacrifices?
What is God saying in this passage?
If we look in verse 12, he says, and then, then he shall offer it with the sacrifice
of thanksgiving.
The Bible makes this very clear over and over, that if you're thankful, that if you want
to show thanksgiving, that it comes with a sacrifice.
It comes by making some type of sacrifice to show your thanksgiving.
It doesn't come just free.
It doesn't come just by you deciding, hey, I'm just going to give you thanks, but it's
not going to cost me anything.
No, there's a sacrifice involved.
And so if you're truly thankful, if you truly want to show your thanks, you will have a
sacrifice of some sort.
And if you look in verse 14, it says, and of it, he shall offer one out of the whole
oblation for a heave offering unto the Lord.
Now heave offering is kind of an interesting phrase there, but turn just to one book over
in Numbers chapter 6.
Just one book over, and we're looking at chapter 6 and verse 19, the Bible says, and the priest
shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram and one and eleven cake out of the basket,
and one and eleven wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after the hair
of his separation is shaven.
And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.
This is holy for the priest with the wave breast and the heave shoulder.
And after that, the Nazarite may drink wine.
Now the interesting thing is the priest is literally supposed to take the sacrifice and
wave it unto the Lord.
It's supposed to lift it up and heave is to like lift up, lift up the sacrifice so that
people can see it.
And it's like, what is that representing?
Why is that so significant?
Why is God telling this priest to make this heave offering?
Well it reminds me of John chapter 3 verse 14 where the Bible says, and Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So every part of this sacrifice, the cool thing about this sacrifice is it points to
Jesus Christ.
I mean when we think about the ultimate sacrifice, we think about the ultimate thanksgiving,
it's from Jesus Christ himself.
What could we be more thankful for than the Lord Jesus Christ?
And when you look at these Old Testament sacrifices, the reason why God is giving us all these
specific applications, all these specific rules that they should do is just to point
to Jesus.
It's to point to the significance of his death on the cross.
And so when he just talks about the heave offering, you say, why is he doing that?
It's to point to Christ.
Everything that's in Leviticus is just a way to help us see what Christ was going to do
in the future.
And if we kind of go back to Leviticus number 7, we'll see in verse 14 it continues to go
on.
It says in verse 14, and it shall be the priest that sprinkled the blood of the priest's offerings.
So not only are they supposed to make a sacrifice, not only is the sacrifice supposed to be a
heave offering, but they're supposed to sprinkle the blood.
And in Hebrews chapter 12, you don't have to turn there, the Bible says, and to Jesus
the mediator of a new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things
than that of Abel.
Jesus Christ sprinkled his blood for us, just like it's talking about this Levitical sacrifice.
The sacrifice of thanksgiving is supposed to sprinkle the blood to signify Jesus Christ.
And in verse 15 it says, in the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving
shall be eaten the same day that it is offered.
He shall not leave any to others until the morning, but if the sacrifice of his offering
be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offered the
sacrifice on the morrow.
Also the remainder of it shall be eaten.
So we see that Jesus Christ is saying, you have to eat this sacrifice.
And when he's talking about the Levitical law, he's like, you have to eat this.
And again, it reminds me of John chapter six.
Why don't you turn there in your Bible, New Testament, John chapter six, and we're going
to see Jesus Christ say another thing.
And I'll start reading in verse 53 says, then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say
unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you.
However, eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day.
For my flesh is made indeed and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him.
So why is God, why was Jesus Christ saying this?
He's pointing back to the Levitical priesthood.
He's pointing back when they're eating these sacrifices and it all fits together so perfectly.
And when you're reading the Old Testament, you can just see Jesus Christ on every page
and you say, why did God have us eat the sacrifice?
Why did God have us sprinkle the blood?
Why did God have him do the heave offering?
It was all the point to Jesus Christ.
It was all the point to the sacrifice that he made and help us understand what it means
to be truly thankful.
But we'll look at one other place in verse 17, Leviticus seven, it said, but the remainder
of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.
Not only to Jesus Christ, you know, was he a sacrifice?
Not only was he perfect, without blemishes it talks about, having no sin, not only was
he lifted up, not only was his blood sprinkled, not only was his flesh consumed, but he had
to go to hell to be punished for our sins and to suffer.
And the Bible says in Acts chapter two, verse 31, he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul is not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrifice and all the things in the
Levitical priesthood point to Jesus Christ and what he did for us.
And I think when we think about being thankful, when we think about what it means to be thankful,
how can you do that without the knowledge of what Jesus Christ did for us?
I mean, if you don't understand the fact that he was this perfect sacrifice, the point that
he suffered on the cross for our sins, the fact that he went to hell for three days to
suffer eternal punishment, I mean, to be thankful, you have to understand those things.
And when we look back at the Old Testament sacrifices, it kind of helps us give a better
description of what all the things that happened unto Jesus Christ, how there's so many things
going on, sometimes we talk about the bread being unleavened, sometimes we talk about
the bread being leavened.
That's because Jesus Christ was perfect, but the Bible says he became sin so that, you
know, he bare our sins and his own body on the tree is what the Bible says.
So the point of going through that is just to make sure that when we think about what
it is to be thankful, that we know what we're being thankful for.
So we're going to look at what the Bible has to say about being thankful, but you say,
well, being thankful, does that mean I have to offer a sacrifice?
Does that mean that I have to go and get this perfect lamb and follow these Levitical priesthoods?
No, the Bible makes it clear that that's changed.
So let's go to Hebrews chapter 7, we're going to walk through Hebrews for a minute, and
we're going to understand, well, how do I do a sacrifice of thanksgiving?
I mean, am I supposed to get this lamb, am I supposed to, you know, offer a perfect lamb
unto some Levitical priesthood?
Am I supposed to have the blood sprinkled and the heave offering and eat the flesh?
Is that how I'm supposed to offer a sacrifice unto God?
Well, in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 11, the Bible says, if therefore perfection were by the
Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there
that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after
the order of Aaron?
For the priesthood being changed, there is made a necessity a change also of the law.
So has the priesthood changed according to this verse?
Yes, the priesthood has changed.
There has been a change in the law of necessity.
So skip down just a few verses to verse 24, the Bible says, but this man, talking about
Jesus Christ, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that came unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them.
For such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners
and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer
up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this he did once when
he offered up himself.
So Jesus Christ is saying he was the sacrifice and he did it one time, not as the Levitical
priesthood had to do it over and over and over, but he did it one time for the sins
of the whole world.
So he was the sacrificial lamb.
Go two chapters over to Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine.
So why were they doing these sacrifices?
Why were they doing this?
To purge their conscience of their sin, to cleanse themselves from sin so they could,
you know, stand before God, so they could enter in the tabernacle of God.
But we look in Hebrews chapter nine verse, look at verse nine, it says, which was a figure
for the time then present in which he offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make
him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which did only in meats
and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time
of reformation.
So before Jesus Christ came, you know, they had to offer all these gifts and these sacrifices
unto the priests.
But after he's come, after the time of reformation, those things which stood in meats and drinks
and divers washings and cardinal onuses are done away with because the priesthood has
changed.
There is no Levitical priesthood that's there.
And it says in verse 14, 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.
Look, if you had, if you could think that this land being sacrificed was going to make
you feel better towards God, how much more the blood of Jesus Christ could purge your
conscience from your sins is what the Bible is saying there.
Let's keep going.
Let's go.
I just want to go through a few more of these to lay down a foundation.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 12, the Bible says, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down in the right hand of God.
So God offered at one time and then he sat down in the right hand of God.
He's done.
All the, all the payment for sin is done according to the Bible.
In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 4, one more chapter over, says by faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
Why is Jesus Christ's sacrifice more excellent?
Because it's by faith.
Go to Hebrews chapter 13, look at verse 15 and says 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 say, well, Jesus Christ has offered the sacrifice.
If all the payment for our sins is done, if even purging our conscience is done by the
blood of Jesus Christ, what sacrifice does God wants us to make for Thanksgiving?
What sacrifice can I make unto God to show that I'm thankful?
How can I show God that I'm thankful?
Well, right here in verse 15 it says 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.
But to do good and to communicate, forget not.
For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.
So is God still pleased in somebody that would offer a ram on some altar?
No.
That will never placate God.
That will never please God.
So I was going to look at, I feel like there are three things that are the best ways to
offer a sacrifice unto the Lord as far as a Thanksgiving, as a way to show your Thanksgiving
towards God.
And the first one right here is praise.
Praise is one of the best ways to show your thanksgiving unto God.
It's just to tell him how great he is, to just tell him how wonderful he is.
That's one of the best ways to show that you're thankful.
We're going to look at a lot of verses.
Go to 1 Chronicles chapter 16, back there all the way towards the, in your Old Testament
towards the front.
1 Chronicles chapter 16, and I'll read for you in Psalms 107, the Bible says, Oh give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.
The Bible says in 1 Chronicles chapter 16, look at verse 7, it says, Then on that day
David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord, and to the hand of Asaph and his
brethren.
Give thanks unto the Lord.
Call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people, sing unto him, sing songs
unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works, lure ye in his holy name, let the heart of
them rejoice that seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord in his strength, seek his face continually, remember his marvelous works
that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth.
What should we think about?
We should think about God's marvelous works.
We should think about what he hath done.
We should think about his wonders.
We should think about the judgments of his mouth.
When we're offering praise unto God, it's all about him.
When you look at Leviticus chapter 22, when you look at Leviticus chapter 7, it's all
about Jesus Christ.
It's all about the sacrifice of him.
We shouldn't look at all with the lambs and the goats.
It's all pointing to Jesus Christ and if we're going to be thankful, we have to look to him
and we're going to praise him for all the things that he's done.
That's one of the best ways to be thankful.
Turn if you went to Psalms 119, Psalms 119, and I'll read for you a couple more places.
The Bible says in Psalms 116, Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant, and the
son of thine handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts
of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Bible says in Psalms 35, I will give thanks in the great congregation.
I will praise thee among much people.
God likes it when you get in church around a lot of people and you praise him.
When you lift up your voice and you're singing praise to him on God's people, he really loves
that.
In Psalms chapter 50 verse 14, offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the
most high.
In Psalms chapter 69 it says, I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify
him with thanksgiving.
You want to offer thanksgiving unto God?
You want to tell him that you're thankful?
Praise him.
Sing songs unto him.
Talk about his wonderful works.
Talk about, you know, why should we read the, why should we sing songs that are based on
what the songs say?
Because they talk about his wonderful works.
They're not at all about themselves, they're not about some weird thing that a lot of contemporary
music sings.
It's about Jesus Christ.
We should sing songs that are glorifying unto him.
The lyrics should not be about us or about our struggles, it should be about him.
And if we looked in Psalms 119, this is something really interesting that I found, I think it's
pretty cool.
Look at verse 57, it says, Thou art my portion O Lord, I have said that I would keep thy
words.
I entreated thy favor with my whole heart.
Be merciful unto me according to thy word.
I thought of my ways and turned my feet into thy testimonies.
I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
The bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten thy law.
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts.
Now look at verse 62, it says, At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee.
Now that's a really interesting phrase.
Why don't you turn to the book of Acts, chapter number 16.
Turn to Acts chapter number 16, there in the front of your Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John, Acts.
And I'll read for you, it says in Psalms 147, Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing
praise upon the heart unto our God.
The Bible says over and over to sing unto the Lord.
It even said there at midnight will I rise and give thanks unto thee.
Look at Acts chapter 16 verse 23, the Bible says, And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison.
Charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge, thrust
them into their prison and made their feet fasten the stalks.
And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard
them.
So there's two guys and at midnight they sing praises unto God and he breaks their bonds
loose and they have some guy fall at their feet and they get them saved.
But look, it came there in Psalms 119, it says, At midnight I will rise and sing praises
unto you.
How awesome is that?
I think that they probably thought of that verse.
They probably knew, hey, at midnight, hey, it's midnight, let's rise up and just praise
the Lord.
Why don't we just sing a praise unto Him?
And then God performs some great miracle because of their thanksgiving, because of their love
towards Christ.
I don't think that's a coincidence for a second.
I mean, why in the world would you, this is so amazing.
When you look at the Bible and every parallel just fits together and there's so many things.
Turn if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
1 Timothy, it should be in the right of your Bible, a few more chapters, and I'll read
for you in Psalms 107.
It says, Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works
to the children of men and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare
His works with rejoicing.
Now I got the title of my sermon from this verse where it says the sacrifices of thanksgiving.
It says and declare His works with rejoicing.
When we're praising God, when we're singing unto God, we should be rejoicing.
I mean, the things that Jesus Christ did for us are so great.
The free gift of eternal life, to become a son of God, to dwell with Him forever.
I mean, these are great things to be excited about.
And if you want to offer thanksgiving, many times we have to think, what did Jesus Christ
do for me?
You know, sometimes when you get saved in that first rush, you're just so excited
and it's so great and you have that great feeling, but we should oftentimes go back
and read the Bible and think about what Jesus really did for us and the sufferings that
He did to help us have a heart of thanksgiving, to help us want to sing with rejoicing.
So the first point, the first way to show sacrifice unto God I think is praise.
And doesn't that just make sense, that you could just tell somebody how thankful you
were?
But the second point, look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, it says, Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
the prophets and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience
seared with the hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which
God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it were received with thanksgiving,
for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
So you know, a lot of people say thanks right before they eat, but where do they get that?
Is that just some vain tradition?
Is that just something that they made up?
No, the Bible says that we should thank God, that we should sanctify our food with prayer.
And I think the second way to offer thanksgiving unto God is by praying.
It says right here, it says that it received with thanksgiving, it says that it received
with thanksgiving.
You look at what God's given you, and you just pray unto God and you give him a thankful
prayer.
You say, Thanks God for giving this to me.
Look at, go to Mark chapter 8, flip back a couple of chapters in your Bible, Matthew
chapter 8.
I'll read for you, it says in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus often thanked the Lord, or thanked
the Father.
It said in Matthew 11, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and has revealed them unto babes.
In Matthew 26, Jesus said, And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them,
saying, Drink ye all of it.
So when Jesus was there at the Last Supper, he was giving thanks.
He was thanking the Lord for the food, for the drink, and look at Mark chapter 8 verse
6, And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves,
and gave thanks, and break, and gave to the disciples that set before them, and they did
set them before the people.
So we just take that for granted sometimes, we just read over and give thanks, okay.
But one of the best ways to offer thanks unto God is by prayer, is by just opening your
mouth and thanking him for the things that he gave, flip it if you would to Ephesians
chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, I'll read for you a couple more places.
In Acts chapter 27, it says, And when he had said thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks
to God in presence of them all, and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
So even Paul, when the Bible's talking about Paul eating, he gave thanks unto the Lord.
In Colossians 4, 2, it said, Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
So, you know, I could pray to God, but that doesn't mean that it's with thanksgiving.
If I just pray and it's just some vain thing, or maybe I'm just chanting something, or I'm
just repeating something, God wants you to offer thanksgiving from your heart.
He wants you to understand what God gave you, he wants you to actually be thankful, and
one of the best ways is by prayer, but you obviously have to mean it.
And in John chapter 11, the Bible says, Then they took away the stone from the place where
the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me.
And in Ephesians 1, where I had you turn, in verse 15, the Bible says, Wherefore art
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
So you see, another place where Paul is talking about praying for people, praying for things,
not just food, but he's saying, Thank you God for these people, for this church, for
these saints that love the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm just going to pray for them, and he gave
thanks.
You know, you can give thanks for something even that you need, or something that you
want.
In Philippians chapter 4, the Bible says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
Think about, you know, every situation with a father and mother and a child, are the parents
more likely to give their child what they want if they're thankful?
I mean, I know many times my mom, she would reprimand me very hard if I would just add
something but I wasn't very grateful.
But when you're, when you have thanksgiving, when you're thankful for the things that your
parents give you, when you're thankful for things that people bless you with, they're
more likely to bestow those onto you.
The same with the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wants you to ask for stuff, but he wants you to ask with thanksgiving, keeping in mind
what he's done for you, keeping in mind the things that he's given you, keeping in mind
all the stuff that you have to be blessed for, all the things you have in your life
that have blessed you.
So I think the first way to offer thanksgiving unto the Lord is by praise, and another way
is by prayer.
But let's look at the last way, Romans chapter 12, turn with me if you would, Romans chapter
12, and in verse 1 the Bible says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God.
So I think the third way is by presenting your life as an offering unto the Lord, presenting
it as a sacrifice, but a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
When God's done everything for you, when he's given you life, when he's given you eternal
life, when he's given you this Bible, when he's given you everything, he says, look,
I mean, as much as Jesus has given unto me, I should just give him my life, that's my
reasonable service, I mean, he's given me everything.
So I should just give him my life, I should just serve the Lord with all my heart as my
reasonable service.
And that's the second way, the third way to give thanksgiving unto God.
So if you turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2, and I'll read for you Romans 16, it says
in verse 3, Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life
laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of
the Gentiles.
So when Paul was talking about two of the saints in another church, he said these people
were so, they had so much love towards me, they were willing to lay their life down for
me.
And he's like, I give thanks, and one of the best ways to show your thanks for someone
is to be willing to lay down your life for them.
Now a lot of times when you use that kind of language, people think, well, does that
mean just in a life or death situation?
No, a lot of times when the Bible's saying that when you lay down your life, it's laying
down your desires, it's laying down your personal ambitions, your personal wants for the other
persons.
You know, the best way to illustrate it is in marriage.
When you think about a marriage, you're trying to serve that other person.
You're wanting to lay down all of your selfish ambitions to love the other person.
You know, of course, in a marriage, we should still have God first, but then second should
be our spouse, and then our kids, and then, you know, maybe our work, and like last should
be your personal hobbies and desires.
But unfortunately, a lot of people like to put those first, and when the Bible says laying
down your life, it's talking about giving up all your selfish ambitions, giving up all
the things that you want.
I mean, when Jesus Christ walked on this earth, how many hobbies did he have?
How many selfish desires did he go seek out?
No, he labored for the Lord with all his life, with all his might.
Day and night, he laid down his life for the church, and just as a husband should lay down
his life for his wife, and a wife should be a servant under her husband.
The Bible pictures Jesus Christ as the ultimate servant, and that's the perfect illustration
of marriage, is that we should serve one another, we should love one another by laying down
our lives.
Not just for death, but even just in everyday life, every circumstance.
Should I, you know, just try to do what's going to please my spouse?
What's going to please me?
Am I going to lay down my ambitions and my selfish desires, and am I going to do what
my wife wants, or am I going to do what I want?
Look at 1 Peter chapter 2, let's look at verse 1, it says, Wherefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile, and hypocrisies and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word, they even grow thereby.
If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also as living stones, are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also as contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
blessed, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded, unto you therefore
which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the
builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,
a rock of offense, unto them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, of peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light.
Look, God's saying you are the priesthood.
We looked at the beginning about the Levitical priesthood, and they were the only ones to
offer up the sacrifices unto the Lord.
They were supposed to do the heave offering and the sprinkling of the blood, but he's
saying in the New Testament, no, you're a priesthood, you're a peculiar people, and
we should be the ones offering sacrifices unto the Lord.
But should we be getting a goat, or getting a lamb, and offering that?
No, God wants us to offer the sacrifices of praise.
He wants us to, you know, with thanksgiving in our prayers, he wants us to present our
lives as a living sacrifice unto the Lord.
If you want to show thanksgiving unto the Lord, don't go buy a goat and give it to
some, you know, Jew, no, you should offer a sacrifice of praise, offer a sacrifice of
prayer, offer us, offer your life, laying down your life.
What does that look like?
What's the best way to offer your life unto the Lord?
Why don't go into church three times a week?
Why don't you go out soul winning?
What the Bible says in Mark chapter 16 verse 15, and he said to them, go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now how can I preach to every single person on this planet and still fulfill all of my
selfish desires?
I mean, that's impossible.
I'm going to have to lay down my personal desires, lay down my life, and offer my life
unto the Lord as a living sacrifice.
If I'm really thankful for what God gave me for eternal life, for all the blessings
that he'd given me, who am I to go out and serve him?
Who am I to go out and preach the gospel like he said to every creature?
You want to be thankful?
You want to tell God that you're thankful for what he's done for you?
Go out and preach the gospel.
Go and do what he said.
In Matthew 28, the Bible says, Jesus came unto them saying, all power is given to me
in heaven and earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, Amen.
Jesus Christ wants us to go out and be ambassadors for Christ.
And when you do that, it shows your thanksgiving unto God.
It shows how thankful you are unto him.
And one of the best ways to show your thanksgivings is presenting your life, saying, I'm going
to just choose to serve you with my life.
That's one of the best ways to show your thanksgiving.
And go to Ephesians chapter 5, this is where we'll finish.
Ephesians chapter 5.
I'll read verse 2, it says, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
So the way you should be walking in love is Christ has loved us.
And Christ has given himself an offering and sacrifice.
The ultimate sacrifice was Jesus Christ.
But we should also want to offer sacrifices unto God, with our mouth, with our prayer,
with our lives.
And you know, this application can be in any part of your life, to any person.
If you want to show thanks unto somebody, praise them.
You know, pray for them.
How about, give your life unto them.
I talked about marriage, let's get down to verse 20, it says, giving thanks always for
all things unto God, and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting
yourselves to one another in the fear of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church,
and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore if the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 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.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man never yet hated his own flesh, but
nourished it and cherished it, even as the Lord of the church.
For we are the members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the
wife see that she reverence her husband.
You know, on Thanksgiving, I've noticed one thing's pretty common, that a lot of, mostly
the women work really hard during that day.
They usually work really hard in the kitchen, they're preparing this great feast, and if
you really are thankful, what are you going to do, you're going to offer praise unto them,
you're going to tell them how great it was, you're going to say, oh man, I love this that
you made, you know, I love my wife's roles.
They're some of the best roles I've ever had, and if I'm really thankful, I'll tell
her, I'll be like, man your roles are so great, and they taste so good, and I love just how
you make them, I mean that's one of the best ways to offer Thanksgiving is to just tell
them.
You know, if you're really thankful for somebody, you'll pray for them.
You know, if you're really thankful for your spouse, even after you've received it, even
after you've been married, even after, you know, all the things that God's given you,
just give thanks and say, thank you God for giving me such a great wife, thank you for
giving me such a great husband, thanks for giving me such a great church, thanks for
giving me all the blessings that I have, thank you for letting me grow up in a godly home,
thank you for giving me the King James Bible, one of the ways to offer Thanksgiving is just
to pray unto God, and just tell him that you're thankful.
Not only just singing it, but praying it, and then giving your life.
If I'm truly thankful for my spouse, if I'm truly thankful for my family, for my friends,
I'm going to do things for them.
I'm going to sacrifice myself, and the only way to offer sacrifices we read in the very
beginning was of your own will.
If I just do something for my wife just because she told me, is that me being thankful?
If she just says, hey, I want you to do this, and I just go do it, is that me being thankful?
No.
The Bible's saying even if God, it's of your own will.
When you're offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving, it's of your own desire, saying, I really
love you, I'm really thankful for you, so I'm going to offer this sacrifice of my own
will.
I'm going to give you an extra hour of my time.
I'm going to give you an extra time just telling you how great you are.
I'm going to give you an extra time just being with you, doing things for you, blessing you.
That's the best way to be thankful.
That's what the Bible's talking about when it's talking about thanksgiving.
It's not just sitting around giving lip service to God, but it's meeting it out of your heart.
Singing praises unto him, living a life that's showing your sacrifice unto God.
If you're truly thankful, you'll live that life that's showing you.
So I'll just read for you a couple more verses, because ultimately this can be applied to
anything, but most importantly unto God.
And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, but thanks be to God which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why am I not going to hell?
Because Jesus Christ gave me the victory.
Why?
Through him, through his sacrifice, through what he's done, and we give thanks to God.
2 Corinthians 2 says, now thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ
and make manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
2 Corinthians 8, but thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of
Titus for you.
And in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 the Bible says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
The gift of God is so great, you can't even with words describe it.
So this is my challenge, for the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're truly thankful for him,
think of some way that you can offer a sacrifice to him that you aren't going to do.
But make sure that it's of your own will, that's what God wants.
So of your own desire say, hey I want to do this for the Lord.
I want to show my thanksgiving by doing this.
Maybe your spouse, maybe your family, maybe your friends, think of somebody that you're
thankful for, and on thanksgiving say, I want to make a sacrifice for that person.
That's the best way to show that you have your thanksgiving.
Let's close and pray.
Thank you Jesus for giving us this chapter.
Thank you for all that you've given us.
Thank you for your unspeakable gift.
Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross.
Thank you for this Bible that just so clearly points to you in every way.
Thank you for this church, thank you for everyone in this room, and I just pray that you would
just bless this evening's refreshments and fellowship.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.