Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 through 10. Hear now the word of the Lord. For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? Since the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings. You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These are offered according to the law. Then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You may be seated. Our second script reading is found in 1 Peter 2, verses 4 and 5. In the hardcover Bibles, it's page 1294. 1 Peter 2, verses 4 and 5. Hear now the word of the Lord. as you come to him a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Now may Jesus, who is the living word, speak to us this morning from this passage, which is his written word. You may be seated. Before I have the kids come up, let us pray. Father, I do thank you that we have this just wondrous privilege to gather as your people and to learn from your word that we can behold your glory in these words you've left us with Until you return, it is a wondrous privilege. I pray that your spirit would be active and present in each one here, and even these little ones of my own. Lord, all ages here, we just ask that you would touch them. You would speak to them. As we discuss your word, that it would come alive, cut to the heart, and that we would be prepared as living sacrifices for you. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright kids, you may come on forward here. Alright. Well, that passage I just read in 1 Peter 2.5 is an interesting one. It says, you yourselves like living stones. Do you know what a stone is? It's another name for a what? A rock. It's just a rock. And you could build these stones into houses. Right? In fact, you could build it into a house for God, like the temple. Right? That's what he's got in mind here. He's like, you're like God's new house. You, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, where the Holy Spirit will live. Where the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us, we are His house. Isn't that neat? We're where God lives. Isn't that kind of neat? But he goes on, he says, we're also a holy priesthood. You know what the priest did in the temple? That's right, prayers and sacrifices. They served God in His house. So we're not only the house, but He says we're also the people who serve in the house. Hey, guys? We're the people also, we're the holy priests that serve in God's house. So, are we God's house? Yes. Are we the people who serve in God's house? Yes. Alright, but there's more! to offer up spiritual sacrifices, because that's what the priest did, right? Spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So we offer spiritual sacrifices. Do you know, have you any idea? I bet you don't, because I wouldn't know just by reading this verse. What's a spiritual sacrifice and how do you offer one up to God? Any ideas? Any guesses? Becca? That's a good guess. It's a very good guess. Well, what we're going to be learning today, and I'll give you a little preview, a little introduction, is that the sacrifices God wanted were not animals that were cut up and prepared on the altar, but were our lives that were wholly given over to God. You know who showed us that? Becca. Jesus. Because did Jesus live any of his life for selfish reasons? Did he do anything to serve his own ends or his own pleasures? No, He served His Father and He served us. He served His Father by serving us, even when that meant going to a painful death on that cross. So He showed us what the real way of the sacrifice was. So the spiritual sacrifices are lives lived for Jesus. Lives lived for Jesus. Now, so Jesus is asking us here to give our lives away to the people around us. Now who lives around you guys? Who do you see most often? Yeah, and who else? Yes. Okay. And every Sunday you see the people here, right? We're supposed to give our lives away to these people. Now what kinds of things can you give away? To your brother or sister, to mom and dad, to somebody here. What kind of things can you give away? Toys? Right? You could share your toys. That's exactly right. What else? You could read the Bible to each other. Sure. What else? Our money. Yes, that's right. We could share our money with each other, couldn't we? Those are all excellent ideas. Yes, you could talk about God with each other. You could also give away your time. Instead of playing the game you wanted, playing what somebody else wanted, right? Or, instead of saying, oh, I don't want to clean up now, Mom and Dad wants me to clean up now, and I'm going to give that away to Mom and Dad. Right? We give our lives up for Jesus. That's what He's called us to do. Now, here's another interesting question before I let you go. Do you usually want to give these things away? No. That's the problem, isn't it? It's fine to know these types of things and that we could give these things away to each other, but apart from Jesus, none of us really want to. That is our problem. We want to keep these things for ourselves. We want to play the game we want to play. We want to play with the toy ourselves. In fact, when I see my brother or sister having fun with another toy, I want to play with that one, and I want to play with it now. And you know what? We're all like this, apart from Jesus. This is why So you know that experience in your own heart, don't you? Instead of giving our lives away, we keep trying to take things from other people, don't we? We want to have things for ourselves. This is why we all need to be what Jesus said at one point is called being born again. Is given new life by Jesus. Now, if you want to know this joy of giving your life away, instead of always trying to take life from others, you talk to Jesus about it. He can give you new life in your heart, and you can start becoming like Jesus, who always gave His life away. Yes, by the way. Yes, you're right. That's right. And you can talk to Jesus about that, because He can come into your heart. So then you'd be the house of God, and you'd be the priest of God, and you could offer spiritual sacrifices, which means giving your life away to others for God. And Jesus can help you be that. Okay? But only Jesus can help you be that. Alright. You little ones may go downstairs, you older ones can go sit. It's not true, it's not the what usually that stumbles us up, it's the how. It's how to get there. We know we're supposed to be servants, but how do we get there? That's always the challenge, and it's always by the life of the living God. It's always miraculous. that we learn to be servants. Well, this has a lot to do with the sacrifices. I hope for those of you who have been coming throughout this series, you're beginning to see how that's so, especially last week as we tried to give an overview of what an Old Testament believer was supposed to grab hold of, and how that all profoundly points at the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Even just rereading that passage in Hebrews chapter 10 underlines that point. The Old Testament believer was supposed to understand from the sacrifices that their lives were to be sacrifices. They were supposed to be like the things they offered. They were supposed to be cut up and prepared on the altar so that they could draw near to God, because drawing near to God was the ultimate goal. And they were to offer up their full lives as burnt offerings to the living God. And when they stumbled up, they should get purified from the defilement of sin. So again, they could draw near to God. They needed the debt paid and make it right on a horizontal level as much as possible. Because again, they brought these sacrifices so that they could draw near to God again. That's the point. If you start treating these sacrifices as just a system where now I can get God's favor and I don't have to change my life at all, you're missing the entire point of the worship. The reason you would bring these sacrifices is because you're thankful that God is providing a way for you, wicked sinner that you are, to get clean so that you can draw near to the living God. And you wanted that. It is a life of repentance that's being promoted here in the Old Testament worship system of sacrifices. You were to become like the thing you offered. And of course, it was never about the animals. The animals were always pointing at Jesus. And the offer of Hebrews quoting Psalm 40 brings that clearly to light. Jesus saying, this is not what you ultimately wanted. I'm what you wanted. My body offered up. my body as a sacrifice, first a living sacrifice, and then unto death on the cross. It is Jesus' whole life, birth, obedience, life, death, that he offers up to God. And that's the way of sacrifice. And I like that phrase, and I got that phrase from Jeff Myers in his book, the Lord's service. It's an interesting read. I don't know that I agree with all his conclusions, but he has really great reflections on the sacrifices and how it impacts our worship. Even what we're doing here on a Sunday morning, but that's a bit beyond the scope of where I'm going today. But I got that little phrase, the way of sacrifices. It's not just the death, although giving up your life unto death is prominent. but living toward God, living to draw near to God, and then ultimately trusting God even to death. Even to death. If we had time, we could work all our way through the arguments in Hebrews which are very relevant. I mean, Abraham himself was brought up. as an example, he trusted God for the promises of inheriting the land and to be a blessing to all nations. Now, when did he inherit that? When Christ came. And now, he's still inheriting that promise. Right now. So he went unto death trusting in the promises. It's always been this pattern of faith and confidence in God and his word. Now, God gave some encouragement to Abraham along the way. He actually had the son, Isaac, and got to probably see his, I think if you do the math right, he got to see his grandson, Jacob, inherit the promise. But nonetheless, you get two kids, certainly not a multitude beyond counting, and a blessing to all nations. That's happening now. At any rate, all these sacrifices were meant to point to these things. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10.18, it says, Consider the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? This is pointing at a truth that they were meant to grab hold of as Old Testament believers. When you offered up your sacrifice, at that altar, you are participating in that altar. And the altar was a symbol of being caught up in the fire of God, going up in the smoke into God's mountain. The tent was a picture of Mount Sinai, and up into the holy place, where the prayers of the saints symbolically added there, the altar of incense, and it would all go up into the Holy of Holies, and you would have communion with God through that sacrifice. That sacrifice was turned into smoke, and that smoke got to dwell with God. And you, having been the one that brought the sacrifice, are participants with that. You're participating with that. You're entering in to what that sacrifice is symbolically doing. You're participating with it. So when you offer the burnt offering, and that whole entire animal was burnt up, that's you! That's you, all in, single-minded commitment to drawing near to God. Or the grain offering, offering up your life and labor. That's you! Offering up your life and labor to God. or the peace offering, you have now been put at peace with God, you now have fellowship with God, you get to eat a meal with God, that's the dominant extra thing added into the peace offering, that you, the worshipper, get to eat with the living God, symbolizing you are now communion with Him. And that is, you're not only the one eating, you're also the sacrifice, because we'll come back around to that. But the sin offering, getting clean from your sins, the guilt offering, paying the debt for your sins. You had to pay on a horizontal level, but you'd also bring the sacrifice that would be your compensation. And what's your compensation? I belong to you now. I've been bought with a price. I've been ransomed. I'm yours. And so the worshipper was meant to identify with the sacrifices. And I have a little bracket there. Why bring these? I've already said it. I've already stated it out there plainly. To draw near. That's the point. The point is to repent of living your life for all these other reasons that you have, all these other agendas you have, and simply to now want to draw near to the God who made you. You're seeing that this is what's most valuable. This is where true life is found. And nowhere else I want to draw near. All these offerings, like the first three were plain and simple free will offerings. They're not commanded, they're saying, when you draw near, bring these offerings. This is how you were to draw near. So if you had a desire in your heart to draw near to the living God, you had to bring these offerings. And then the last two, if you got into sin unintentionally, or even in the guilt offering, when you realized your guilt, you would turn and come. Why? I mean, on the horizontal level, nothing happened to you yet! Nobody knew! Why bring the sacrifices? Because you wanted to draw near to God, you wanted to turn from your sin, and draw near to the Holy Living God, and be restored, so that you could offer the other three sacrifices, and have peace with God. Jesus is getting at this reality, and there were some in Israel that got it. You see this interchange with Jesus and the scribe in Mark 12. In Mark 12, Jesus is having this interchange with the scribe about the greatest commandments. He's asked what the greatest commandments are, and you know what they are, right? The familiar passage, love God, love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law is summarized in these things. And the scribe recognizes that Jesus is is saying something that is profoundly true. This is not new to the scribe, in a certain sense. He says, you are right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. You see, he's making the connection. The sacrifice of the burnt offerings and the sacrifices of the symbol, but to do it in reality is more. The whole life that loves God with everything you've got, and loves your neighbor as yourself, is the summary and in fact more significant than the symbol. It's the reality, he's getting a hold of that. And then of course Jesus responds, I saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Because Jesus is saying, you're getting it. That's the point. That's the real point. This is the way of the sacrifice, you see. The way of the sacrifice is a life lived to draw near to God, and to draw near to God one has to be like God, which means I'm going to draw near to you and love you. I'm going to give my life away to you. Why? Because God's like that. And if I'm going to be righteous, I'm going to be holy, I'm going to be like God. If I'm going to be godly, I need to be like God. And God graciously, generously gives himself away, self-sacrificing gives himself away, and we are to do that also. So as we're restored to the image of God, we love others. And that is the way of the sacrifice. That has always been the point. Now, in Matthew 9.13, Jesus quotes Hosea 6.6, which we read for preparation. It's interesting, too. Let's read it, though, first. Then we'll see it, compare and contrast a little bit. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Now, in Hosea, if you go look it up, the Hebrew is translated into English as steadfast love. It's the word hesed. Steadfast love, which is sometimes translated mercy. But it's interesting to think about steadfast love and mercy being somewhat interchangeable ideas. But do you see, as it functions in the life of Israel throughout history, God promised to save them and to make them a blessing. And did they deserve it? No. Steadfast love ends up being the same thing as mercy. He has mercy on us because of his steadfast love. And because of his steadfast love, he has mercy on us. So the ideas are very closely related, aren't they? And he says, if you would understand what this verse means in Hosea 6.6, that I desire steadfast love or mercy and not sacrifice, you'd understand that I came not to call the righteous, but the sinner. He wants us to be like God. He wants us to be particularly kind to people who least deserve it. That's what God's been like towards us. But I quote that, just that what we're doing is we're using, they're using the language of sacrifice in here to grab hold of a large theme that God spent many years developing. I mean, starting at Mount Sinai, but then through the prophets and trying to help his people understand the way of sacrifice, the way of sacrifice, the way of sacrifice. And now it's coming to a point in the life and ministry of Jesus. And I hope light bulbs start going on. It has for me, even as I revisit these passages. And you get what it means, but now you get a little more fully what this means. That God is like this, and so we need to be like this. And Jesus, of course, in Hebrews 10.1, the law is a shadow. It's not the true form of these things. But note there at the end that the whole idea of drawing near, year in and year out with these sacrifices, was to draw near. And in Hebrews 8-10, we'll just read through it again, we've already cited it, but let's just read through it again now with understanding. When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These are offered according to the law. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your Will. What you really desire God, I've come to do. Didn't really desire the death of these animals. He desired the life lived toward God, the drawn near to God, the life that was God centered, God serving, God loving, God obedient, and therefore self-sacrificing and loving toward others. He does away with the first in order to establish the second, and by that will, by that doing of what God really desired, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So, it is on the basis of Jesus truly fulfilling what the sacrifice is about, that we have now been made holy. That's what sanctified means. to be set apart for God's special use. So now we're turning an additional corner here. Since Jesus is the true sacrifice, we are now set apart for His special use also. Again, to quote Jeff Myers, I know it's a little bit repetitive from last week, but we're going to really build on this, and I want to make sure it's clear. Every time I try to summarize it again, I think I get a better handle on how to do it. But he says in his book, The Lord's Service, God did not ultimately take pleasure in animals slaughtered, chopped up and turned into smoke on the altar. Did he? No. God really delights in the sacrifice of his people. This is why we say that the foundational sacrifice of Christ has not simply put an end to all sacrifice and offering, but instead has manifested, that means revealed, its true meaning. Jesus shows us the way of sacrifice, true human sacrifice, in His life and self-giving death on the cross. He shows us the way, and He's the way. He's the way. Just any way you can think of that phrase, He is that way. He's the way that it gets into our life, and it's also the pattern that we're to follow. He's the means, the source, the substance of our ability to do these things, and he is also the model. So, first key idea, the obedient life and death of Jesus is the pleasing aroma, the fragrant offering to God, spoken of in Leviticus 1-6. That's another way to summarize it. He's why God is pleased with the smell. He was smelling the life and death of Christ. That is the pleasing aroma. Why the worshipper was accepted and able to draw near to God was always because of the sacrifice that Jesus was going to offer, and then now, in our position, has already offered. Why we draw near with confidence? Because he has offered up the pleasing aroma to God, so that we smell good to God. And because he has offered up what God truly desired, we have also been set apart for God's special use. It's where we are so far. And of course, I don't think that I'm, at this point, making a dramatic move, I think you know exactly where I'm going. We're called to imitate Jesus. We're called to be like Jesus. Ephesians 5, 1-2 says, imitators of God, therefore we should be imitators of God, his beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Make sure I turn that on. My wife likes to keep up with these. So, we're called to be imitators. And so, as imitators of God, we're imitators of who? Jesus. Walk in love. And what is love again? Taking time and trouble for people. If I'm going to love my brother or my sister, I'm going to take time and trouble for them. I'm going to love my kids, I'm going to take time and trouble. I'm going to love my parents, take time and trouble. Walk in love as Christ loved us. Now nobody took more time and trouble than Christ for us. He gave His whole entire life as a fragrant offering to us and then He went resolutely to that cross. That agony of that cross, the agony of being forsaken by His Father for us. That is the model of love. That is the picture of love. And we're to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Again, that language is sacrifice. Because this is the way of sacrifice. The way of the cross is the way of sacrifice. This is one and the same. Two phrases to refer to the same reality. Now, how and why we offer our lives to God. How and why. And by how, I'm driving at the same question I began with with the children. It's one thing to know that our life is to be a sacrifice, it's another thing to do it. How? How do we get there? And Romans 12, 1-2 is a good place to start. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present." What? Present your bodies as living sacrifices. So, the same idea there, presenting your bodies as living sacrifices, same theme, isn't it? I'm going to present my living sacrifices, my life as a sacrifice. So, this is a key verse. By the mercies of God to do this. By the mercies of God to do this. Now in Romans, if you study Romans, you get to chapter 12, you see it as a key turning point. Up until this point, you've been describing the many, well, first the trouble and plight we're in and our sinfulness, but then the grace of God. Salvation comes through grace alone, through faith alone. That Jesus has been that perfect substitute for us. He has gone to the cross for us. He has died in our place. We receive this by faith. So this is the steadfast love, or the mercy, that Hosea was talking about. Or that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 9 when he's quoting Hosea. This is the mercy. By these mercies. By these mercies. Through these mercies. You can translate it either way. Through these mercies, that I've been talking about for all these chapters, through the mercies of God, then, present your bodies as living sacrifices. Do you see the way to that? This is the means by which you do it. This is how you do it. You do it by the mercies of Christ. Now, it may be difficult here, and I don't think I went back to 1 Peter, but it does connect very well with the passage here in 1 Peter 3. It talks about we've been provided everything we need for life and godliness. So I don't have it here in my notes, but in fact, turn your Bibles here. It may help what I'm trying to drive at. Oh, 2 Peter. See, that's why I went there. I thought I might be misleading. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. Yes, there it is. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We've been talking about this verse on Wednesday nights. Through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence. Do you see the point there? The way we get to that life and godliness that he's provided is through knowing his great mercies. See, this word that we have, this book is unlike any other book. through knowing the message of Jesus Christ and what he's achieved for us by his life and his death and his resurrection. And now he's sitting at the right hand of God as the eternal high priest, interceding for us. That as we know these truths, we start participating in these truths. We start participating in Christ. This is where he goes in his passage, that we actually participate in the divine nature. Notice step by step how he lays this out for us. So start again in verse 3. His divine power is granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Life and godliness. So being alive and being righteous. Okay? Life and godliness. Through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence. So God has a glory and excellence that we're being called to. And we're called to it through knowing Him. By which, by His own glory and excellence, He has granted to us His precious and very great promises. So God is so excellent and so glorious that He provided these wondrous promises. And then He goes on from there, so that through them, through what? Promises. I mean, memorize this verse and meditate on this verse, it's wonderful. Through these promises, through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. And so it's, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. So, how do we get from here to there? As we know the promises of the living God, we actually somehow, and I don't pretend to understand how, but we participate in the divine nature. The Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us so that we trust these promises and are changed by these promises. More like our Savior. I am the foggiest how He does it. I just know that He promises to do it. That as we commune with Him through His Word, and His promises in particular, the promises of His mercy, by these promises, then we are equipped to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Because we're participating in the divine nature. It is miraculous. And you know what, quite frankly, that is the experience in my own soul. as I learned the truth and grabbed hold of the truth, as I was studying even the passages relating to the way of sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit worked in me that these things are true and exciting and wonderful. And there were several days this week where I could see the switch in my soul from, ah, it's hard, it's a grind, to, you know what, my life is not my own, it's His. Do what you will with me today. Again and again, as I come back to these truths, these truths change me. And you probably face the same battles I face. I was telling my wife, even this morning, that here I am, I'm going to need to present the life, the life of sacrifice, the life of giving your life away, not living for yourself, and I don't want to do it. You know, my soul at that moment this morning, I kind of want to run and hide. You know, things come heavy and weighty and, you know, quite frankly, the mortality of life is dreary and oppressive. You know, the news with your family, the losses of our sister Katie Rose recently, the death of my uncle just now this week, and on and on it goes. It's not like this is new or novel things, right? You know, everyone here has had a taste of this to one degree or another. And, you know, in my folly, and that's what it is, it's folly, I think I can protect myself or I can hide or I can, as if I'm going to do a better job. Instead of saying, my life is yours. Brother and I were talking about this on Wednesday. What about the Israelite who was born in year 200 of the Egyptian slavery? Was his life, the life, we presume we'll pick a brother that had faith. Faith in the promises of Abraham, that's all he had. Right? He had faith. Born in slavery, died in slavery. Is God pleased with that? Yeah. We like to list in Hebrews chapter 11 of all the victories won, the battles won, the Joshua's that conquered the promised land. Those are the life of faith that we all want to live. But the list is also chock full of people that died in obscurity, or in pain, or in agony. In faith. In faith. And you know what? We are at his disposal. That is the life of sacrifice. And glory be to God, even as I speak these things, it has an impact on me. I start wanting these things again. This is the glory of God's power. So, go back to Romans 12 in my notes, page 3. Let's re-read that. Now we have the background in verse 1. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. See, we're being restored to true worship. We've all started as idolaters, false worshipers, worshiping something. We all worship something, we all treat something as ultimate, as something most worth having. And we, in Christ, figure out that it's God. So drawing near to God is our chief purpose. So we want to draw near to God because where else would we want to be? And where else is life to be found? Nowhere else. And so, giving our lives as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable God, is our chief end. This is our spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Isn't that what we're talking about here? As we see the life of Christ, self-sacrificing life of Christ, and we start getting it? Yeah, that's right! God's like that! I want to be like that. My mind changes. So that, by testing, you may discern what the will of God is. Or, what is the will of God? What is good and acceptable and perfect? And that's our more constant preoccupation as God's Spirit works in us. What is God's will? Because that's what I want to be about. And I want to test it. I want to be careful. You know, there's two types of carefulness. And one is despicable, and one is godly. There's the carefulness of the Pharisees that was hypocrisy, that was self-justifying, that was careful so that you could save yourself. It was fearful and careful and was rigid and just set up your rules and like, well, now I'm right. I did what you said. I did what you said. I've offered the right sacrifice. I did what you said. I did what you said, God. And God's saying, you missed it. I want mercy, not sacrifice. I want steadfast love. You're missing the main point for the pictures. You get the outside, you know, the pictures, and you're missing the point of the pictures. So there's a carefulness born of hypocrisy that misses the main point, that we are saved by grace. We are saved by a steadfast love of a creator who promised he would do it. And drawn here using the way he's provided, which is the self-sacrifice of his son, which shows perfectly who he is as God. And now with that, now with that, we turn around and we want to be like him and we want to carefully be like him, but not because we're afraid, but because we love him. And his ways are wonderful. Think of it this way. Trying to please a tyrannical boss. That's a bear to work for. Well, you fearfully are careful. Or, lovingly wanting to find that perfect gift for your wife or your husband. Finally, you got it right, you remembered the date, and you have a great idea, and you want to get it exactly right. Because you love them. That's the picture of being detail-oriented for God. that we are testing, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Because that's what you love now. So here's the main key idea for this morning. Jesus takes our place as our perfect sacrifice, so that when we draw near to God, we are accepted as perfect. That's where it starts. The big key idea this morning. So, for starters, he's our sacrifice that we bring, and we're accepted as perfect before God because of Jesus. At the same time, Jesus also unites us to himself, enabling us to serve God as living sacrifices ourselves. Our lives being continually conformed into the likeness of Jesus. That's also happening at the same time. So we draw near here every Lord's Day, and we draw near with full assurance of faith that Jesus paid it all. All to Him we owe. Sin has left us crimson stains, washed us white as snow. So we smell good to God right now because of Christ. We draw near with that confidence. But with that confidence, our love for God is growing, ever growing, and we are being transformed into His likeness. And so more and more careful about our lives. That they are Godward and serving others. So what kinds of things should we give away? Here's a couple of examples, Philippians 4.18, not meant to be exhaustive, just meant to stir the pot a little bit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, Paul says, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sense. He calls them a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God, using sacrifice language, for the material gifts that they gave to Epaphroditus to give to Paul. So I'm well supplied, so don't think you had to do this, but what you gave to me was a pleasing aroma to God. The life of sacrifice, generosity, that was a pleasing aroma, a fragrant offering to God. Or Hebrews 13, 15-16, through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of the lips. that acknowledge his name. So when we acknowledge Christ, for starters in this verse, when we acknowledge Christ and praise who he is, as I acknowledge Christ even this Lord's Day and say, is it the way of sacrifice that Jesus perfectly demonstrated, wondrous? Well, that's the sacrifice of the lips. I am exalting Christ with my lips and I'm giving testimony to it. And when I share that with somebody out there who doesn't know it, and I say, no, this is wondrous and amazing, whether you get it or not, nonetheless, it is wondrous I am exalted, and that's the sacrifice of the lich. Sacrifice of praise. Then verse 16, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Again, same sort of sacrificial language woven in here. This is the life of sacrifice. He's just alluding to it. So, with this sort of paradigm in mind, as we give our lives generously, our time, our money, our resources, our skills, we are offering a pleasing aroma to God. Not to save ourselves, but to start participating in the perfect offering that we're now united with, Jesus our Savior. I mean, you could go to 1 Peter 2, 13-25, and in 1 Peter 2, I read that verse just a few minutes ago. for our scripture reading, where it talks about us being, and I started it with the kids, you can go back to page one, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So clearly the metaphor of the temple slash tabernacle and priests and sacrifices is in view, and then just, you know, go back later on to verses 13 through 25 and see the Life that that then gets expressed in Be a time we do it this morning, but there's so much rich material there It's worth reading through slowly and prayerfully and saying this this is what I'm being made into This is why I've been called out of my old life of self-service Into a new life offered up to God and this is what a life offered up to God looks like worth doing But there's another place I wanted to go, so I decided not to go there, commend it to you for later on. And that's answering the question, what if we wish to simply keep serving ourselves? That should be if, not is. What if we should wish to simply keep on serving ourselves? And I don't mean for you that have the sensitive conscience out there, like I was talking about this morning. This morning I felt, I wished, to keep serving myself. I knew it for folly, though, and it scared me a bit." Well, if you think, fearfully, that what I'm about to say might apply to you, good. It means it probably doesn't. Okay? Because there's a terribly severe warning here in Hebrews chapter 10. It starts off with a positive, but then it gives just one of the scariest warnings in the Bible. says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. All sacrifice language, particularly the burnt offering, because everything was offered up on the altar, including the dirty parts which had to be washed with water first, and then they were offered up. That's a picture of the life of our lives. We offer up everything, even the dirty parts which need to be washed first, and then offered up. But we offer our lives up, and says verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. And remember in their context, there was severe pressure to go back to Judaism. It solved a lot of cultural problems for them in that mix at that time in their lives. So there was pressure not to meet as Christians at this time in their lives, very heavy duty pressure. So, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. In other words, the sacrifice of Jesus is no longer available to you. You see, this has always been the danger. In ancient Israel, and even in Jesus' day, there were those that were technically bringing the right sacrifice, and missing the whole point. They're trying to work the system. I want God's pleasure. For that matter, it's not a new problem, is it? Remember Cain and Abel? Abel was accepted. Why? It tells us in Hebrews, because he came with faith. Well, then what was Cain doing there? He was there to work the system. Why did he get so angry with his brother? Why knock out his brother? I want to have the blessings of God. Now, this is a misguided attempt to get them, right? But he wants the favor of God, but doesn't want God. and doesn't listen to God's words and God's warnings. It's a very ancient problem. And so too with the real sacrifice that was prepared for by the Old Testament system. The Old Testament system prepared for the real thing. The real thing is Jesus. And if it's true in the old system that you would be in big trouble if you just tried to work the system. So too with the New Covenant. If you just try to, well, I'm going to be forgiven, so I'll just keep on sinning and get forgiveness, you've missed it. If you don't want desperately to get pure, to get clean, you have troubles. Does that scare you a little bit? It should. But if it does, that's good news. If that scares you a little bit, you've got life in you. Right? Because this is talking about the one that's saying, no, I know the system. I prayed the prayer. I did the thing. I got the baptism. I did the steps. I took the steps. I'm done. I'm still living for me. I'm not taking any steps to draw near to God. I have not repented from my sin one bit. But, well, I confess my sins. I ask forgiveness. I'm good. No, the person that deliberately goes on leading their life the way they've always led it, no longer a sacrifice for sins available to that man or woman. That is scary. Not that, no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but, verse 27, a fearful expectation of judgment. and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the spirit of grace? When you know the way of sacrifice, And you are called to take up your cross and follow Him. And you think you're going to get the benefit of the blood of Christ and not take up your cross. This passage is for you. I hope that that scares everyone in here. Because that means this passage isn't for you. See, this is not a sub-plan. This is not like this for the holy Christians. The way of sacrifice is for Christians. For all who are given new life in Christ, this is what we've been called to. We're called to give our lives, in their entirety, to Christ. For Christ. And in giving them to Him, what does He tell us to do? Give them to each other. Keep them out there. Take time and trouble for everyone you meet. High calling? Yes. Yes, indeed. It drives us back to the cross for the grace and strength we need. Because on a daily basis, I often just don't think I've got it. And you know what? I don't just think I've got it. I don't have it. But in Christ, then, I am more than a conqueror. And that is a reality that keeps being proven true in my life, day in, day out. I can be more than a conqueror, day in, day out. I can get my eyes off myself again and fix them back on Christ, the author and perfecter of my faith, and give my life away another day. And He can do it for each of us. Let's pray to that end. Father, would you Protect us from growing hardened and callous with your promises. Protect us from such a thing as this. A warning such as this is meant to guard us against us. I pray that it would have that effect on us. That we would be appropriately warned. we would pick up with renewed vigor this week, this day, the life of sacrifice. Not as a way to earn something, but as an expression of love. Would you renew in our hearts a clear vision of the glory of Jesus, that we would love Him and wish to follow Him. If we find ourselves Getting dead, dull, a lacking in zeal. Lord, might we be quick to confess that before you and run to you for help. You surely bring it. You give it. Help us, Lord Jesus. It is in your name I pray. Amen.