How Does God Define Our Living Sacrifice?

Brother, before you know it, we are going to be at the time of the year where we'll have Passover in the Days of Unleavened Bread. We'll be very thankful for that period of time. By that period of time, the winter will be in the rearview mirror. It's been a tough winter, to say the least. Last to Sabbath, Mary and I were over in Beloit. When we left our home in Yorkville, the ground was bare, no snow on it. By the time we got to Beloit, there was at least a foot of snow standing on the ground that had been there.

It's been accumulating, but probably even more than a foot of snow. And of course, they've also had quite a bit of ice up there. Tough winter, tough winter, but we're looking forward to Passover in the Spring Holy Days. Today is going to mark the first of four sermons I'm going to give, getting us ready for the Passover in Days of Unleavened Bread. The Book of Isaiah is going to take a back seat for a while until after the days of UB. So we do want to start today looking at the Passover in Days of Unleavened Bread.

I've got a certain thing I want to accomplish this year, beginning with today's sermon, and then the next three sermons after that. I'd like you to begin by turning over to 1 Corinthians 11. Here we've got a chapter that deals with our keeping the Passover. Various instructions here and information here. 1 Corinthians 11. And verse 28. But let a man or a woman examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

We are to examine ourselves. We understand that. We know that. That's nothing new to any of us in the room here. We are to examine ourselves and then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. We don't examine ourselves with the idea that we should we or should we not go to the Passover service. We have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We need to be at Passover. We want to be at Passover. Now, when the Bible here is talking about examining ourselves, there's a couple of thoughts here in mind.

We examine ourselves because we want to make sure we are fully aware and reinforce in our minds the tremendous need that each of us have for the Passover. We are sinners and we have a tremendous need for forgiveness. We examine ourselves to make sure we fully appreciate that. Secondly, we appreciate the fact that even though we are sinners and we're heading towards God's kingdom, not as people who want to sin, but people who are repenting of their sins as a way of life, the provision has been made by God the Father in the personage of Jesus Christ.

Provision has been made for us. And so we examine those things, we think about those things, we take those things to heart. Now, let's refine this a little bit further by going to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. I'm going to drill down here a little bit on this idea of examining ourselves.

2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Now, what does that mean, whether you are in the faith? Well, this scripture begins to give us some answers to that. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? So when we are examining ourselves, when we are testing ourselves to see if we are in the faith, the key thing we are looking for is Jesus Christ in us. Jesus Christ in us. Now, I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes, if you want a complete set of notes, you might jot down John chapter 3 and verse 30.

I've quoted this on a number of occasions. John chapter 3 and verse 30, where John the Baptist, in giving spiritual counsel, says, He must increase, but I must decrease. John the Baptist is talking about how Christ needs to increase in His life and in His endeavors, but He, John the Baptist, must decrease. And that is certainly true for us. And as we are thinking about the coming of Passover, as we are examining ourselves, that short sentence, He must increase, but I must decrease, should be very much in our hearts and minds.

I would like you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Again, this is a very profound scripture. I enjoy quoting this on a regular basis. Ephesians chapter 4. I think last week, I know last week John Bratton Sivak and I both quoted this scripture in the message that we gave in Beloit. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith, the unity of the faith, unity with God the Father, unity with Jesus Christ, this Passover season, that's very much what we want.

We want to be accomplishing that in our lives. I want to be accomplishing that in our lives. And I want to be accomplishing that in our lives. Now, knowledge here doesn't just mean an academic knowledge. Knowledge here represents knowledge that we have because we have employed the truth of God in our lives. Truth isn't just something to some abstract that we understand from an academic sense. Truth is something we live. Truth is something we live. So we come to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So once again, we see this idea that Jesus Christ is a measure of our faith and where we stand in our faith, as we saw in 2 Corinthians 13.5, that Jesus Christ is in us. We need to be examining and testing ourselves to make sure that is the case.

Now, the Scripture that a lot of this sermon today is going to be hinged on is the next one. You know it very well. Romans 12. Romans 12.

Verses 1 and 2. Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. You and I can't number the times we have quoted this verse. We've quoted this verse so many times, and rightfully so. It's very important. We present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So the question I have for us today, brethren, I'm hoping to answer. If you're taking notes, you want to jot down a theme statement, or a question that I'm using as a theme, the question is this. How does God define our living sacrifice? What does it mean to be a living sacrifice? How good a job are you and I doing at being a living sacrifice? As we think about Passover and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what lessons are there for us to learn as we're making our preparations for the Passover in the Days of Unleavened Bread? At the end of 2017, I gave a couple of sermons going through three of the five major Old Testament sacrifices. This was on November 11 and December 9 of 2017. On November 11, I talked about the burnt offering on December 9, 2017, the grain and the peace offerings. Today, we're going to look at all five offerings. We're not going to look at every last little detail. That would take too much time. We want to take a look at all five of these offerings with an eye to what God wants us to learn from those sacrifices. Because the way those sacrifices are built tells us something about the sacrifices we need to be making as sons and daughters of God and brothers of Jesus Christ. So again, we're not going to be hitting all the various details here. We're going to be going through kind of in survey form, looking at the highlights and answering the question, hopefully, how does God define a living sacrifice? Let's begin our journey by going over to Leviticus chapter 1. Verse 1, Leviticus 1.1, Now the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring of your offering of the livestock of the herd and of the flock. If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord. So the first sacrifice, the thing that we want to take a look at first, as God is defining our spiritual sacrifice, is the burnt offering, the burnt sacrifice. The burnt offering symbolized the individual worshippers' total surrender to God.

Total surrender to God. God accepting that sacrifice with a view toward renewing and sanctifying that individual. So here we have, in summary, brethren, the idea, how does God want us to be a living sacrifice? Total surrender. And as you and I are examining ourselves, as we're thinking about our life, we need to be asking ourselves, you ask you, I ask me, how am I doing? How are we doing in terms of being a total sacrifice, totally surrendering ourselves, yielding 100% as much as we possibly can. Now, the phrase burned offering in the Hebrew is OLA, O-L-A-H, meaning ascending as smoke, ascending as smoke, because the offering was totally and wholly consumed. Again, a question for us to ask ourselves, in our worship of God, in our obedience to God, are we totally consumed in our worship of the great God? Let's take a look a little further. Just again, hitting the highlights here, dropping down to chapter 1 here, verse 8. Then the priest, heir and son, shall lay the parts, the head, the fat, in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar, but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water, and the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

These first three offerings don't deal with sin. These first three offerings are a sweet aroma to the Lord. Sin is not the thought here. The thought is, in this particular offering, about being totally consumed in our love and our worship of the great God. Notice here, in verse 8, it talks about the head and the fat, the head and the fat, representing our minds, our thoughts, representing our eyes, our ears. The fat represents our vigor, our health, represents the wholeness of what we are. Again, all of this was burnt, all of this was totally consumed. And again, we can ask ourselves, as we're thinking about this particular sacrifice, as it reveals to us how we should be worshiping God, where are our hearts? Where are our minds?

Where is our vigor? And so forth. Now, in verse 9, it talks about the entrails, or the innermost parts of the animal, with its legs. Here, I talked a moment ago about the heart, but here, this is more specifically talking about the feelings, the emotions, the affections.

Again, we ask ourselves, how are we doing along those lines? And of course, the legs represent our path in life, the way we walk. Are we wholly committed? Are we totally dedicated, you know, as we are examining ourselves this Passover season? If you want to put in your notes Mark 12 and verse 30, I'll read this for you.

Mark 12.30, and you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength. This is the first commandment. That's Mark 12.30.

Mark 12.30 very much goes along the same lines as Leviticus chapter 1 verses 8 and 9.

Talking about the head, the fat, the entrails, the legs.

But Mark chapter 12 discusses it from a New Testament perspective.

Now, in all of these sacrifices, obviously Jesus Christ is front and center.

But as I was putting my thoughts together for the message today, kind of rebamping some of the notes from before, thinking about the idea of a total sacrifice, thinking about being totally dedicated, totally consumed in our zeal for the great God, for God's ways, for God's will. We obviously can talk about Jesus Christ, but my thought came to the Apostle Paul. In your notes, you can write down—I'll read this for you—or you can turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23 through 28.

Now, here's an example of somebody who was a burnt sacrifice, a burnt offering, the Apostle Paul, totally dedicated, totally consumed in zeal for God and God's ways.

2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23.

Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In laborers, more abundant. In stripes above measure. In prisons, more frequently. In deaths, often.

Now, remember, the Apostle Paul was working according to God's will.

Just because we are living according to God's will doesn't mean we aren't going to have our share of trials and tribulations and heartache.

Difficulties. We'll talk more about that later when we get to the peace offering.

Verse 24. From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes, minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeys, often, in perils of water and of robbers, of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils of the city, in perils of the wilderness, perils of the sea, in perils of false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness, often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often, in cold and nakedness. Besides these other things, what comes to me daily, my deep concern for the churches. Now, we read 2 Corinthians 11, those verses, we see a man who was totally consumed, totally dedicated to God and his way of life. Nothing stood in his path. Nothing stood in his way.

And as I was thinking about this in terms of my personal reflection, I was thinking about my relationship with God. As I take a look at the fine example the Apostle Paul set, as I examine myself, as I think about my faith and my being in the faith and how I'm preparing and where my level of zeal is, Paul sets a very high bar. Something for us to consider.

Let's take a look now at the second offering that was given, the grain offering. Now, the burnt sacrifice, I forgot to mention this, but the burnt offering, the first one, emphasized commandments number 1 through 4, our love for God. The grain sacrifice emphasizes commandments number 5 through 10, 5 through 10, our love for our fellow man.

The grain offering symbolized man's duty to his fellow man.

Together, the burnt offering and the grain offering were very complementary. Together, they represented all 10 commandments, love for God, love for our fellow man. And often, in your notes you might want to jot down, I'm not going to turn to this, Numbers chapter 28 verses 12 and 13, and Numbers 29 verses 2 and 3, often these two sacrifices were offered together, one on top of another, the burnt offering and the grain offering. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 2.

Leviticus chapter 2 and verse 1, When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be a fine flower. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. So what is God telling us as we take a look at the grain offering, the grain sacrifice?

Notice that in this sacrifice no life is given here. Animal is not sacrificed here.

The claim here goes another direction. It goes toward our fellow man. The various emblems we see, what man owes his fellow man. We see flower, we see oil, we see frankincense.

What does that tell us? Again, as we think about this New Testament times, our times, our relationship with the great God, what do these emblems represent for us? Flower. Here is a symbol of grain that is beaten very fine, beaten very fine into a powder, representing suffering, representing deep suffering, representing that Christ was our ultimate example of suffering, and yet true to his calling, true to being everything that he was sent to be. Let's take a look at 1 Peter. We'll be reading this on Passover evening. 1 Peter 2.

1 Peter 2, verse 21. For to this you are called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example.

Now, explicitly, the example he's leaving us is the example of suffering, is the example of this flower beaten fine, that we should follow his steps, who committed no sin, or was the seed found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return. No, he lived the way God would want him to live. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. So in verse 23, we see Christ committed himself to God. In verse 23, he committed himself to live for righteousness, and part of that was being willing to suffer in our service for our fellow man.

You and I can ask ourselves, how are we doing with that?

Are we willing to suffer in our love for our fellow man? Or we just put our fellow man at arm's length? Do we build those walls I was talking about the other day?

Oil, going back to Leviticus chapter 2, verse 1, oil is symbolic, obviously, of God's Holy Spirit.

If we are going to be the kind of sacrifice that God wants us to be, that God is defining for us in these offerings, in these sacrifices, we must use God's Holy Spirit. We cannot do this on our own.

To love God the way we need to be loving God, to love our fellow man, the way we need to be loving our fellow man, that takes God's Holy Spirit. We don't have it in us to do it properly.

We have to have the gift of God's Spirit to do that properly, to allow Christ to live his life in us. Frankincense, the other part of the grain offering, is a very precious perfume.

Frankincense is most appreciated when flame is brought to it, when you light fire to it.

In other words, we at our most fragrant as we are obeying God and being a proper kind of living sacrifice, even in the worst of trials. It's never easy to be obedient to God, but when we're under trial, when we're under duress, when we're under strain, you know, you can have somebody at work who's really troubling you or a next-door neighbor or any number of scenarios you can imagine, it is difficult for us to be the grain offering under those kind of circumstances. Yet, Jesus Christ set us the example. Being a Christian is not for weaklings, but we by ourselves are weak.

That's why we need the strength of God. That's why we need the strength of God's Holy Spirit. So here's the second aspect of defining a living sacrifice, our love for our fellow man.

Let's turn over to see a couple examples here. Philippians chapter 2.

We've got two very, very wonderful examples really close together here, both in Philippians chapter 2.

Mr. Bradford is going through, I believe, the book of Philippians right now.

You know, it is a prison epistle. We believe that Paul was writing this just shortly before he was released from prison. Keeping that in mind, keeping in mind that being in prison in those days, being in prison in any days, is not any fun. Probably most of us have gone and visited prisoners in prison. You know, I've done it on any number of occasions. I'm always, I'm always breathe a sigh of relief when they let me out. You know, they normally stamp your hand with one of these little markers that, you know, you've got to be seen in the light, right kind of light.

And I'm always saying, you know, I hope that they see that thing when it comes time to leave, because I definitely don't want to stay there any longer than I have to. I want to see the inmate, but when that's done, I'm out of there. So Paul was in that kind of a situation. And you know, here we're going to see Paul as a, as a grain offering, a grain sacrifice, his love for the brethren. Philippians chapter 2 verse 19. But I trust in the Lord Jesus and send Timothy to you shortly. That I might be, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. Now Paul would have loved to have Timothy stay close to home, have somebody to talk to, have spiritual conversations with. But Paul, as a grain sacrifice, as a grain offering, said, but you know, it's better that I send him to you. Verse 20. For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state.

Someone like-minded, minded like Jesus Christ, a person who cared for the state of his brothers and sisters, and would work very hard for his brothers and sisters. Going above and beyond the call of duty. In your notes, you might want to jot down Acts chapter 16 verses 1 through 3.

I'm not going to turn here, but in Acts 16 verses 1 through 3, you've got Paul coming to Timothy's hometown. The people there speak very highly of Timothy. Paul wants to use Timothy. He sees something in this young man. But Paul was, I mean, Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father.

To help the ministry along, help Timothy's ministry along, Paul asked this young man to be circumcised. Now, we're not talking about Timothy as a little boy, eight days old. We're talking about a young man. And for all we know, he could have been a young man in his early thirties. But to be circumcised at that time in life, most men are probably squirming right now. You know, not a pleasant thought. And yet, Timothy, as well as Paul, are showing themselves to be grained sacrifices, loving their fellow man, doing whatever it took to show the proper kind of love and respect. Verse 21, for all seek their own, not the things which are of Jesus Christ. Timothy was selfless, selfless in his desire to serve his fellow man. Whatever it took, he could have said no to Paul, but he didn't. Whatever it took, he was going to do. Verse 22, but you know his proven character that as a son with his father, he served with me in the Gospel.

Shoulder to shoulder, through all the difficult times, through the hard times, through all the heartache, Timothy was there. A tremendous example of a grain sacrifice. And again, you can ask yourself, I can ask myself, how do we stack up with that in our service for our fellow man? Going down into chapter to verse 25, here we see another fellow by the name of Epaphroditus, Epaphroditus. Yet I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, and notice how Paul refers to this man, Epaphroditus. My brother, my fellow worker, fellow soldier, your messenger, the one who ministered to my need. So here was a man, Epaphroditus, who was also a fine example of a grain sacrifice. Somebody who was willing to be there for his brothers and sisters in the faith.

A brother, a co-worker, a soldier, a messenger, one who ministered to the apostle Paul. Verse 26, since he was longing for you all, longing, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. He was sick. He almost died. But he was thinking more about the brother and worrying about him, being concerned about him. His mind was outgoing, outflowing. He was a grain offering, a grain sacrifice. Verse 27, for indeed he was sick almost unto death, but God had mercy on him. He didn't die. And not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

Paul didn't want to see this man die. This man was helpful to Paul. He was a friend of the apostle Paul. They shared a lot of things together. So again, we see Paul as a grain sacrifice, along with Timothy, along with Epaphroditus here. Verse 28, therefore I send him the more eagerly, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful.

Again, Paul's thinking about the brethren being less sorrowful because they now see their brother is alive. Paul's thinking about their needs, even as he is in jail, even as he would like to have had Timothy and Epaphroditus sticking around so he can enjoy their company. He sends them out because he is a grain sacrifice, working as a grain sacrifice. Verse 29, receive him therefore in the Lord with all galandas and hold such men in esteem, because for the work of Christ he came close to death. There we see shades of the burnt offering again. For the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

So how does God define our living sacrifice as a burnt sacrifice, totally consumed, as a grain sacrifice, loving our fellow man, giving our all for our fellow man?

We continue with the third sacrifice, the peace offering, the peace sacrifice.

The peace offering, sometimes referred to as the fellowship offering, pictures something very beautiful. The peace offering pictures God and Jesus Christ and man at one. God, Christ, and man at one.

Leviticus chapter 3, verse 1, Leviticus 3, 1, Leviticus 3, 1, When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he should offer it without blemish before the Lord.

Again, these were without blemish, representing Christ.

This was given as an offering to God. Verse 5, And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire, as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. Again, sin's not thought of here. It's a sweet aroma to the Lord.

But notice here in verse 5 that the peace offering is burnt upon the burnt offering.

And remember, the burnt offering was often done together with the grain offering.

So you have the burnt and the grain offering. That's been burnt. And now on top of that, you have this other sacrifice, the peace offering, showing that the burnt offering and the grain offering were foundational.

They were foundational for there to be this peace.

Loving God, loving our fellow man, foundational for peace. The Nelson Study Bible says this, and I quote, The Hebrew word for peace means wholeness, completeness, soundness, health. When a person has this in all of its dimensions, that person is at peace. The peace offerings were at times of feasting, drinking, talking, singing, and enjoying salvation as a great gift from God. Paul describes Jesus Christ as our perfect peace offering in Colossians 1. If you would turn over to Leviticus 7, where more of this offering is discussed, Leviticus 7, we saw in chapter 3 and verse 1 that the peace offering was offered to God.

So in this offering, God is satisfied.

Here in chapter 7, verse 31, And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons.

Aaron and his sons. So the priests and the priest's family also are satisfied by this offering.

The priest's family is symbolic of Christ's family, the Church of God.

In Leviticus 7, going back to verse 16, something very unique in these offerings to this point. Very unique. Leviticus 7, 16, But if the sacrifice of his offering is a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice.

But on the next day, the remainder may also be eaten.

Here we see in verse 16 something we don't see in the other sacrifices, where the worshipper is also allowed to partake of the offering. So God is satisfied. The priest and the priest's family is satisfied. And the offeror himself is satisfied.

The offeror himself is satisfied.

Because there is atonement there.

I would like you to turn over to John 14.

As I said earlier, Jesus Christ is the epitome of all these sacrifices. Let's take a look at his example here.

John 14.

John 14. In verse 27.

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

So Jesus Christ here, a short time before he's going to go through his crucifixion, all the mental torment with all six of those trials, three by the state, three by the religious authorities, six trials in all.

And then the physical torture that he's going to go through, the crucifixion, all of that.

And here Jesus Christ, just a few little time before that, is talking about his peace.

His peace.

And please remember, something I said earlier, something that you know, but we need to continually make sure we remember this.

Jesus' peace does not guarantee an absence of trouble.

He's giving them his peace, but he's about to go through the worst hurt any human being ever went through.

Jesus Christ faced excruciating spiritual, physical, and emotional struggles.

And yet he's talking about his peace because of his relationship with God. Notice what Christ says. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you.

The world has a sort of peace that they want to offer, a false kind of a peace, a freedom that comes from distraction. You know, you can play the various people can play their various games and so forth. They can watch movies, watch TV, get their minds off of things, or at least try to. They think they're having peace. They're not having any peace.

It's an escape, and that's not peace. That's false security.

Jesus Christ offers real peace, real peace.

And brethren, as we are following those sacrifices in our lives, we also, as a living sacrifice, want to make sure we are doing everything we can do. To be at one with God, to be at one with Jesus Christ, to be at one with our fellow man.

We want to be a peace offering. We want to be that kind of living sacrifice.

We can ask ourselves, well, we have issues with, we can talk about our spiritual issues and, you know, we're weak and sinful and so forth. How do we, what do we need to do, be doing to conquer that? But perhaps more, and my thinking is, I'm thinking about this.

What do we have with other human beings?

Where are we not having peace with other human beings? What can we do about that?

Now, sometimes, brethren, there's not much you can do. Let's be honest about that. Sometimes, you can give it 100%, and the other person gives it 0%.

Sometimes, there's just not much you can do. Sometimes, there's just not much you can do.

Over the course of my ministry, I've known of any number of people who have been abused.

And their abuser is dead.

There's no way for reconciliation. There's no way to go back to the person and try to understand or make things right or get apologies or anything like that.

The person's dead. The abuser's dead. But the person who was abused, the person who was hurt, they've got to employ forgiveness.

Forgive is not meaning that they say, what was happening to me was okay. It wasn't okay. It was sinful. It was hurtful. It was awful. But we forgive because we want to drain ourselves of those poisons.

If we don't forgive, you know, Christ talked so many times about, you know, if you want your own sins forgiven, you've got to be able to forgive. We've got to drain the poisons where we say, you know, I'm just, they hurt me awful, hurt me really badly, but I'm not going to allow that to sour me and make me go off to be a person I don't want to be.

And so in that sense, in that sense, we look for that kind of peace that we have through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit working in our hearts and minds, that allows us to overcome those those hurts. Put them put them behind us. We think about those, put those behind us. Let's not dwell on those things.

This brings us now to the offerings we think of most often. We think of the sacrifices we think about these last two. And it's really interesting because we're trying to take a look at God's view of the sacrifices. When God views the sacrifices, He does it as we see in the scriptures here, burnt grain peace. God's mind, our mind is we think about the sin offering and a trespass offering. That's where we go to first. That's understandable. We're sinful human beings.

We know we need help. We know if we don't get that help, we're going to be dead for all eternity. So it's understandable, but I think we need to understand God's thinking on this.

The sin offering, the trespass offering, are wonderful offerings. We very much love those. But how do those enter into our being a living sacrifice? We can understand being a burnt offering and our being totally dedicated, consumed. We can understand a grain offering about how we need to whatever it takes to love our brothers and sisters with God's Holy Spirit, of course.

We can understand how we can be a living sacrifice by wanting to have oneness with God and Christ and our fellow man. But how about these other two? How do we take a look at those in terms of our being a living sacrifice? What's the difference between a sin offering and a trespass offering? What's the difference? The sin offering, which we're now going to focus in on, the sin offering focuses on man as a sinner, not the specific act of sin itself. Man as a sinner.

The sacrifice also depicts sin to have been perfectly atoned for through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So now, going back to my question I asked just a moment ago, how does this help define us as a living sacrifice? Brethren, we must always be fully aware as we are examining ourself that we as human beings are sinful human beings. We need to always make sure we've got our spiritual bearings. Our spiritual bearings are that we, you know, we're sometimes at our best state a thought away from sin. Let's go back to Leviticus chapter 4 or over to Leviticus chapter 4.

Verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord and anything which he ought not to be done, and thus any of them, if the anointed priests sins, bringing guilt on the people, let him offer to the Lord for a sin which he has sinned a young bullock without blemish as a sin offering.

Notice we're sinning against the commandments of God.

The individual spoken of here is the priest, the minister. They sin too. Verse 22.

When a ruler has sinned and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord is God and anything which should not be done and is guilty. So here we see people who are in rulership capacities. Another classification of people. You've got the priest, you've got people in rulership capacities. Verse 27. If anyone among the common people sins unintentionally, verse 27. By doing something against any of the commandments of the Lord, anything which ought not to be done and is guilty. So here you've got another class, the common person. Every class of person is spoken of here, whether you be a commoner, a ruler, or a priest. Breaking the law of God.

Then the sin offering is what takes place. There is a book that I made mention when I gave those sermons about a year and a half ago by Andrew Jukes. It's a fairly well-known book regarding the offerings. His book is entitled The Law of the Offerings. In explaining the difference between the sin offering and the trespass offering, he says this. I quote now from Jukes, With our shortsightedness, our inability to see beyond the surface, we naturally look at what man does rather than what man is. And while we're willing to allow that he does evil, we perhaps scarcely think that he is evil. But God judges what we are as well as what we do. Our sin, the sin in us, as much as our trespasses. In his sight, sin in us, our evil nature, he says here in Romans 7, is as clearly seen as our trespasses, which are but the fruit of that nature. He needs not wait to see the fruit put forth. He knows the root is evil, and so will be the buddings. Thus, in the sin offering, no particular act of sin is mentioned, but a certain person is seen standing confessibly as a sinner in the trespass offering. Certain acts are enumerated, and the person never appears. So again, as you and I are preparing for the Passover, as we're thinking about being a living sacrifice, as we are examining ourselves, just because we're baptized members of the church and going to the Passover, doesn't mean we have arrived. We're sinners. We're thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Let's turn to Romans chapter 8. This is not just true for us before we were baptized.

We fight these things every day. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

We are working to overcome this mind. We have got the mind of Christ, but that doesn't mean this other mind goes away. That's why we struggle. That's why Paul wrote what he said in chapter 7 here in Romans. Things he doesn't want to do, those are the things he does.

Things he really wants to do, sometimes he can't find a way to do it.

We understand that. We relate to Romans chapter 7. And so again, in our preparations for the Passover, not just the Passover, all of these offerings, brethren, this is a way of life.

All five of these are a way of life for us at all times. Jeremiah chapter 17.

Jeremiah chapter 17. verse 9.

Of course we do. Isaiah chapter 66.

Isaiah chapter 66 and in verse 2.

This is what we are fighting, this is what we're striving for.

As you and I think about the sin offering.

You know, the next three sermons I'll be giving, I'll be going through the main portions of the Passover service of a sermon on the foot washing, a sermon on the bread, and a sermon on the wine.

As I go through those three messages and the three times I have before the Passover, there's a thought that I'm thinking that I want to cover with each of those sections.

As an example, with the foot washing, there are so many tremendous lessons that God has for us with the foot washing, with humility. Now understand, the Greek mind, Greek thought has shaped our Western civilization. And to the Greek mind, humility was something to jettison, to get rid of. They didn't like the concept of humility. They would fight that concept.

One of the things I'm hoping to accomplish as we discuss humility in my next sermon here is what a tremendous blessing humility is. Every aspect, the foot washing, the bread, and wine, they are tremendous spiritual blessings for you and I. So many different ways that being humble is a blessing for us. We're going to enumerate some of those things and think about the beauty of what it means to have the attitude of frame of mind of washing feet and how that should work with how we live all year long. Last offering, the fifth one, is the trespass offering.

Trespass comes from the Hebrew word asham, a-s-h-a-m, asam, meaning fault.

The view here is not the individual but a specific sin, a specific sin that brings injury.

Let's go back to Leviticus chapter 6 or over to Leviticus chapter 6. Leviticus chapter 6 verse 1, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, if a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor. So here's a very specific instance that is talked about, about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, stealing another very specific sin being spoken of, or if he is extorted from his neighbor, or if he's found what was lost in lies concerning it and swears falsely. So a number of different, one of the commandments being spoken of here specifically, and any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins, then it shall be because his sin and is guilty that he shall restore what has been stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he's found. So here we've got specific acts of sin that are enumerated, and injury or damage has taken place.

Chapter 5, verse 15, Leviticus 5, 15.

If a person commits a trespass and sins unintentionally in regards to the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring to the Lord his trespass offering or ram without blemish from the flocks, with your evaluation in shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuaries, that trespass offering.

Interesting. Here we've got the shekels of the sanctuary being spoken of here.

What does that have to do with anything? Verse 17, if a person sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden and to be done by the commandments of the Lord, the law of God, though he does not know yet he is guilty, he shall bear his iniquity. And third time for emphasis, verse 19, it is a trespass offering. He has certainly trespassed against the Lord. So here we see where specific sins are enumerated. Damage has been done.

Restitution needs to take place. But something else is also happening here. We're going to get to that in just a moment. Let's turn to Romans chapter 6 before we get to that.

I'm just getting ahead of myself here a little bit. Romans chapter 6.

Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, for the wages of sin is death. Sin brings injury. In this case, permanent injury, death. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We drop back to chapter 5 of Romans. Romans 5 verse 6, for when we were still without strength, when we really couldn't think properly because we didn't have God's Holy Spirit, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man one would die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having now been justified by His blood, passions have been forgiven by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of a son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. We don't worship a dead Savior. He was resurrected sitting on the right hand of God. He is our high priest. Verse 11, not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received the reconciliation. The reconciliation. Brethren, when the Bible there was talking about those shekels of the sanctuary, I don't have the time to go through that now. You can look in Exodus chapter 30, Exodus chapter 38, Leviticus 27, other locations where it talks about the shekels of the sanctuary. They were an appointed standard by which God's rights were measured, how God measured things.

Okay. They represent the truest measure, God's standard, by which He weighs all things. So when people sinned at trespass, and they needed to have a trespass offering, the more was due than was originally lost. You had the animal sacrifice, but then you had these shekels of the sanctuary. So what we see here is the thought that more was required.

More was required. What more could be required? 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Verse 19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? You are bought with a price. As it says in verse 20, for you are bought at a price. Now, what's the extra? What is the extra, as represented by those shekels of the sanctuary? The end of verse 20 here. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So not only do we have the Passover for our sins to be forgiven, but we also have the days of unloving bread. God expects us, yes, our sins have been forgiven, but we don't just stay there. God expects us to live a certain way of life. He expects holiness from us. He expects righteous living from us. And that's what's represented by those shekels of the sanctuary. And so far as our being a living sacrifice when it comes to that particular sacrifice, yes, we are ecstatic. We are so happy that we've got the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But that sacrifice also says there's something more. Repentance. Walking the right way.

Following and obeying God. Those are things that are also to accompany the fact that we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So, brethren, in this Passover season, we want to appreciate fully what it means for us to be a living sacrifice. I thought one of the best ways to do that was to take a turn by going into the Old Testament. A section of the Scripture so many people today feel are not needed at all. How many millions of Bibles have been printed with just the New Testament? Maybe they've got the Psalms. Or maybe the New Testament plus Psalms and Proverbs. People just don't need that Old Testament. And yet, when you take a look at what God has in those five sacrifices that we've covered today, we very much see how God defines what it is for us to be a living sacrifice. It lets you and I be about our Father's business and be living sacrifices.