Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. I'd like for us to consider verses
15 and 16. Hebrews 13, verse 15, the scripture
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. Let us pray together. This evening we thank you for
this privilege to assemble ourselves together in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Lord, we ask your blessing upon
the Word. We ask that you would cause us
to hear, give us understanding. Lord, help us to worship. We
ask these things for Christ's sake. Amen. If there is anything that a believer
truly desires, what he needs, what he actually wants, and what
he truly does, is he wants, number one, he wants to worship God. He wants to worship the Lord.
He wants to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to bow. And he wants to know what pleases
God. What pleases the Lord? He's a just God. Holy. Merciful. Long-suffering. Fair. God. I know that He will in no wise
clear the guilty. I know that Almighty God is going
to deal with sin. But tell me what pleases God.
Tell me how the Lord Himself has set forth to His people what
He is pleased with. I know this, that we are in ourselves
sinners. And I know that without Him,
we can do nothing. I know that we have no confidence
whatsoever in our flesh. I know that Almighty God is going
to have to deal with our rebellion as we were born in Adam. Thanks
be unto God, verse 10 says, we have an altar, whereof they, that is, those
that are of the works of the law, have no right to eat which
serve the tabernacle. Our altar is the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. And I know this. I know God is
pleased with him. I know that. He said that at
his baptism. He said that on the Mount of
Transfiguration. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. You hear Him. Well, knowing that
we have an altar, and that altar is pleasing before God Almighty,
I want to know this. What are we to do? The Scripture
says in verse 13, ìLet us go forth therefore unto Him.î Without
the camp, without the camp of this worldís religion, bearing his reproach, this world
hates him. This world and its religion hates
sovereign grace. They hate the God of all grace. We're not all working for the
same thing. We're not all part of one big
wheel and a lot of different spokes and it all goes to the
hub. No. We ought to come out from
among them and to be separate, saith the Lord. We don't hear
this world's religion So we go unto Him, the One whom God Almighty
is pleased. And now, we see in verse 15,
by Him, that is by our altar, by the One who has borne the
reproach of His people, 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. Now here, the Holy Spirit sets
forth that which is acceptable and pleasing, a sacrifice. Two sacrifices spoken of in these
two passages right here. Two sacrifices of which God is
pleased with in His people. But I want you to notice now,
let's just be real clear why. God is pleased with the sacrifices
of His people by Him. By Him. You take those two words
out, and there's not a thing in the world we can say. God
is not pleased with any man born in Adam apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ. By Him, who is our altar, who
is our sacrifice, who is our priest, let us offer the adoration
of our hearts and the devotion of our lives to God in Christ,
frail creatures as we are. And we admit, Jared, of ourselves,
we know what we are. Paul the Apostle says, I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing
but in Him. In Him. Let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. Offering that sacrifice of praise
in our heart Blessing and praising the God of all grace continually. What do you mean? I mean in good
times and bad times. What we call good times and bad
times. In adversity, affliction, reproaches, persecution, we ever
have reason to bless the Lord. To thank Him. He's the one that
never leaves. Never forsakes. Psalm 51, verse
17 says, "...the sacrifices of God." Now this is what God is
pleased with. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite, crushed heart, that is, over
the presence of sin, over what we see in ourselves. This is
what God is pleased with. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, Thy will not despise. You will not disesteem. The Lord made that heart. God
Almighty gave that new mind, that new heart, that new spirit.
And when we experience the pain of indwelling sin, and we behold
by faith the payment made for that sin, the sacrifice paid
by the Lord Jesus Christ in His shed blood. And by that same
God-given faith, we lift our souls unto Him in thanksgiving
with that. God is well pleased. I know that
every believer in this room tonight would readily admit I don't thank
him as I should. I don't thank him as I desire
to. And I know I don't thank him
as I will. But a believer thanks him and grieves over his lack
of thanksgiving. Is it not so with you? A heart
crushed because of indwelling sin is a fragrant heart to the
Lord. Mr. Spurgeon said this, never
yet has God spurned a lowly, weeping penitent. Never. This is the life of a
believer. They grieve over indwelling sins. So we truly offer by Him and
to Him The sacrifice of praise. He, by grace, has granted a divine
knowledge of what we are as being born in Adam. Paul, in Romans
chapter 7, thanked God that the Lord had revealed that to him.
I thank God. That in me, that is, with my
mind, I serve the law of God, but in my flesh, he was still
thanking God. I thank God that I know that
I serve the law of sin. God makes His people to know
what they are. He came into this world to save
sinners, and He's going to reveal to them that that's what they
are. The Lord Himself has washed us from the guilt from our debt
of sin by His own blood, sealed us by His Holy Spirit, robed
us in His righteousness, and shall surely bring us to Himself
to eternally live with Him. Oh, the praise that is due His
name. Psalm 50.23 says, Whoso offereth
praise, that is, adoration and confession and thanksgiving. When we talk about praise, That's
those three words right there. Adoration and confession. Whoso confesseth these sins,
there's not a person in this room tonight that can confess
them all. But here's what we do. We admit what we are. Adoration, confession, and thanks.
He whoso offereth praise glorifieth. That is, continually honors me. Great is the Lord. and greatly
to be praised. For our sakes, Almighty God,
God the Son, took upon Himself the form of a servant made under
the law, bore our guilt in His own body, forsaken of God for
us, suffered, died in our stead by Him, because of Him. for His sake, for His honor,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise. He is the way. He is not a way. He is the way. The truth and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by Him. I tell you, a believer can
no more approach Almighty God without Christ than an unbeliever
can. That's what He told His disciples. Without Me, He was talking to
His own. You can do nothing. His mediation. We looked at this. Turn with me again to Revelation
8. I think this is one of the most
precious passages of Scripture. Why you struggle. And you that know Him, I know
you do. I know you do. You struggle to
pray. You just try. You try to pray. And I said a
few weeks ago, in that feeble effort, you wonder, am I even
praying? Mind wanders. You're ashamed. You think back, where was I? I thought in my mind, I come
back to this scripture so many times, Lord, if you should mark
iniquity, Lord, if you counted this to my charge, who could
stand? Here is his mediation. Revelation 8 warning, when he
had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about
the space half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which
stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood
at the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto
him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of
all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of
the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Whenever we as His people approach
God desiring to pray, wanting to pray, needing to pray, and
whenever we approach God in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, Realize that in our frailty, His intercession
is mingled with the prayers of the saints. And by Him, Almighty
God accepts our petitions. He hears us for Christ's sake. He is in reality taking the sacrifice
of our praise and presents it to the Father in the sweet fragrance
of His merit and His perfection. And we are heard. God Almighty
hears. By Him, back in Hebrews, our
sacrifice of continual praise is accepted. By God. You know, when you stop and think
about that, you think, what do I have to be proud of?
In myself, nothing. Nothing. I am a frail creature,
but oh, the One that speaks for me. The One in whom I am found. By Him. Let us offer sacrifice
of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name. You know, Isaiah 6-5, Isaiah
was in the year the king Uzziah died. Isaiah said, I saw the
Lord. And Isaiah revealed that he lived
in the midst of an unclean people. His lips were unclean, not fit. or willing to give thanks, praise,
and adoration unto the Lord. Isaiah said, Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm a man of unclean
lips, defiled and polluted. That's a believer's admittance. That's what a believer will say.
This is the way I am. I know what my mouth is like.
And we are made sensitive in regenerating grace by God's mercy
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ just as that seraphim came, took
the tongue, took the coal, that cinder off that altar and touched
Isaiah's lips, setting forth the application of the blood
of Christ, the knowledge of being cleansed by the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ and being assured that our debt had been
paid and that there was peace before God Almighty, and being
assured that our iniquity has been pardoned, sin has been purged. Isaiah spoke with lips of praise
and thanksgiving. Let us, therefore, by Him, Give
thanks for that which we never asked for, never thought to ask
for. Electing and redeeming and regenerating
grace. What sinner ever thought of that
before God Almighty gave him a new heart? We've got reason
to thank the Lord. By Him, we give thanks to His
name. Secondly, verse 16, but to do
good and to communicate, forget not. But with such sacrifices,
God is well pleased. Now, this last verse deals with
ministering to one another. Verse 15 was our giving thanks
and praise and adoration unto the Lord by and in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks for that which
He has done for us. This second sacrifice here has
to deal with our dealings with believers, other people in this
world. It's the conduct that God's people
have with one another. as the Spirit of God has wrought
mercy and grace in their heart, to do good and to communicate. What do you mean? Talking? No, no. To do good and communicate,
it's to say, be not forgetful to impart to others according
to their need. This communication right here,
it's not just talking to one another. that it is to see and
to share and to help with those that God has caused to cross
your path. What the Lord has blessed His
people with is still the Lord's. You know, we've got this attitude,
well, I've worked hard for this and that's good. We ought to. I work hard for this and this
is mine. I've earned this. And I deserve this. Well, let
me read you this verse, Psalm 24, verse 1. The earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell
therein. We just sang a song, Gary, talking
about as long as you lend me breath. I thought about that
when we sang that. as long as the Lord lends me
breath. He just loaned me a breath of
air. And I'm telling you, the moment
He withholds His air, I'm gone. I'm standing here before you
and you're sitting there listening by the grace of God. We have
what we have by God's grace. Now, this is what's pleasing
to the Lord. that we not forget to communicate
and to do good toward others. For with such sacrifices, God
is well pleased. Almighty God has made His people
to be that way. He has given them a heart to
thank Him and to communicate to others the love of the brethren.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. You have
love one for another." 1 John 3.17. Last passage here. 1 John
3.17. We talk about loving the Lord, and God's people do. 1
John 3.17. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his vows of compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him." Sacrifices, my
beloved, that God is well pleased with. He is well pleased with
the sacrifice of our lips, the giving praise unto the Lord by
Christ. And also by Christ, by Him, not
forgetting to be mindful, to do good, and to communicate, to share, to be aware. Our Lord
was the one Scripture revealed that said it is more blessed
to give than to receive. That is His nature, the nature
of giving. The Lord calls us to be mindful
of these sacrifices in which you are well pleased, for Christ's
sake. Amen.