If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Just to let
you know I have thoroughly enjoyed the study of this book with you. I've thoroughly come through
this and I'm glad the Lord has given me patience and given me
endurance so that I can go through this book with you and we can
study it together. And here in this portion of Scripture
tonight, we'll be looking at verse 15 and 16. And the title
of the message is, A Christian's Sacrifice. A Christian's Sacrifice. 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. Now here the apostle continues
his manner of exhortation. He exhorts us who are believers
in Christ to give the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving. And we are to give these as sacrifices
because of the trials and difficulties in this life. While we are in
the midst, while we are in the middle of trouble, As mostly
our case is, we find that to be true, most all of our Christian
life is to be a life of suffering. And yet in this suffering, we
are to offer a sacrifice. And it is the sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving. As we go to our Lord Jesus Christ
by faith in Him, as we go in hope and assurance, as we are
accepted by His blood, as we go unto Christ, even now, this
evening, as we go in love and affection to our Savior, as we
are longing for His presence, and as we love Him because He
loved us first, and this coming to Christ. This coming to Christ
is obviously a rejection of the world. It is a forsaking of this
life for the salvation that is only found in Christ. When we
come to Christ by faith, hope, and love, we are in instance
turning ourselves away from and forsaking this life. To come to Christ is to turn. It is to repent. And what is
repentance? It is a turning from something
to something. We are turning from the world,
from the camp, from this life, and we are turning to Christ
by faith, hope, and love. And as we do this, as we are
coming to Christ by faith, we are seeing Him that is crucified
without the camp, Seeing he was despised and rejected, that his
person was despised, his gospel was despised, his witness was
despised, and the Lord said, don't expect anything different. If you are a follower of Christ,
we should not expect anything less than what our Lord received. The Lord Jesus being our Master.
If our Master, if they called Him Beelzebub, what do you suppose
they will call us? They will call us the same. If any man is to come to Christ... Again, this is my sales pitch. Y'all know my Christian sales
pitch. Here it is. If any man is to come to Christ,
he is going to suffer. He's going to suffer. I want us to see this. Go to
Matthew chapter 10. This is just a few. I'm going to give you
a few references here. Matthew chapter 10, verse 32. Matthew chapter 10, verse 32.
Whosoever. Well, who's that? Well, that's
whosoever. Whosoever, whosoever therefore shall confess me before
men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him I also will
deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am
come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall
lose it. And he that loseth his life for
my sake shall find it. That is very clear words. Jesus Christ must be and will
be first. If we are believers in Christ,
He will take preeminence and we will confess Him to be preeminent
among all men. He will take precedence over
all. Go to Matthew chapter 16. Go
over a few pages to Matthew chapter 16 verse 24. Jesus said unto his disciples,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. For what is a man profited if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what will a
man give in exchange for His soul. Profound. Those who will keep their life,
if you will keep your sin, if you will keep your family, if
you will keep all of these things and you will hold them dearer
than Christ, you will lose your life. But all of us who believe
in Christ gladly let these things go. We turn our backs to these
things, and we are continually going toward Christ by faith. We are continually marching toward
Zion. We are continually walking by
faith in Christ, and count these things but done, that we might
win Christ. Is there any greater goal in
our life but to behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ? There's
nothing more that we have in this life that is of any value
to us other than Christ, the Lord Jesus, our Savior. Go over
to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. The Lord here reveals not only taking
up our cross, but how often. How often are we to forsake this
life? Luke chapter 9 and verse 23.
He said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross daily. Paul said, I die daily. Daily. Faith in Christ is an ever-present
thing. It is always now. We confess Him in all things. Go to Acts chapter 14. Like I
said, I can give you a whole bunch more, but let's just go
to Acts chapter 14. Acts chapter 14, verse 22. Let's read verse 21. And when they
had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many and
returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming
the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in
the faith, and that we must, through much tribulation, enter
into the kingdom of God." This matter of Christianity is a matter
of suffering. It is a life of suffering. Paul
said to the Thessalonians, not be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that
we were appointed thereunto." These afflictions of a believer,
they're not by accident. They're appointed. They're appointed. And so when someone is bearing
their load, someone is a believer and they're bearing their cross,
and you look at them and you say, well, man, their cross is
a little lighter than mine. That sure looks easier for them. Well, that's not for you. You have your own. And it is
appointed to you. Your amount of suffering is allotted
to you. The Scripture says in Philippians
1.29, that it is not only given to you in the behalf of Christ
to believe, but also to suffer for His namesake. Do you know
that's a gift? Your suffering is a gift, just
as your faith is. Your faith is a gift of grace.
Well, so is your suffering. So is your suffering. Suffering
is appointed. The Word of God is clear that
all who will not suffer, who will not bear the reproach of
Christ, who will not forsake their sin or this world to bear
the cross of the hatred of this world, they cannot be His disciples. Friends, I am often found in
a very melancholy state. I find myself in in great difficulty
time, more times than not. I'm cast down, at times I'm confused,
I'm overwhelmed with trials and temptations and troubles and
afflictions. Are you? Are you overwhelmed
at times? Do you feel overwhelmed by these
things? Do they not come in in a moment
and just overrush your soul to where you can't help but feel
like you're cast down as though God has forsaken you and despair
has come into you? Have you afflictions, trials,
temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? and let us go forth unto Him. Continue to go forth by faith
in Christ. And not only continue to go forward
to Him by faith, but look at our text. It says in verse 15, by Him. Go forth to Him. How? By Him. By Him. Now this word, by, it means a
channel of an act. A channel. It means through,
or because of. It means by reason of. Let us
continue in faith, hope, and love because of Jesus Christ. If you lack, you will find many
reasons in yourself not to go forward. My faith is weak, my
love is weak, my hope is weak, everything I am is sin. There's
all kinds of reasons in ourselves not to go forward to Christ.
Not to go by faith, walk by faith daily in Christ. There's a lot
of reasons to turn back in ourselves. That's why we don't look in ourselves
for any strength. We go forth by Him, because of
Him. Let us continue in faith because
of Jesus Christ. Because of what He has done. Because of what He has accomplished. He has accomplished all our salvation. Is that not reason to go to Him?
Is that not strength to cause us to take another step of faith
toward Him and away from this world? Yes. We should continue
because He accomplished our salvation. And through Him, we come to Him
and have access to God for help. I know this, if you're in trouble,
you need help. If you're in difficulty, you
need help. If you're in temptation, you
need help. I need help. And we are not just
one time help. We don't need just help one time.
We are in constant need of help. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 22. It says, Let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water,
let us hold fast the profession of faith without wavering, for
He is faithful that promised." He's faithful. I can go forward
by faith because He is faithful. He is faithful that promised.
We can go forth with assurance. Friends, we have a great hope.
We have a great hope, a great confidence because our Savior
that died for our sins has been risen for our justification.
We have a good hope because our Savior, He sits on the throne
of heaven ruling all things. He was raised from the dead.
And we may come to Him by love because He has first loved us. He first loved us and gave Himself
for us. Our Savior is a very present
help when in trouble. He's always a present help in
trouble. When we suffer, our first fleshly
desire is to Use logic. That's just the first instinct
we have. Man, how am I going to get myself
out of this mess I got myself into? Well, if you didn't have
enough sense to keep yourself out of it to begin with, what
makes you think you're gonna have enough sense to get yourself
out of it? Two words. Two words that every
one of us who are believers can remember. Two words. If you don't
remember anything in this, remember this. Help, Lord. Help, Lord. When you can remember nothing
else, you can remember this. Help, Lord. Help. This reminds me of the disciples.
And they were commanded to row across the sea. And the Lord
stayed on the land and He was praying up on a mountain. And
the Scripture says that He saw them. I like that. He saw them. He had His eye always
on His disciples. Believer, He always has His eye
directly on you. As though you were the only person
on the face of the earth, you are so watched by your God that
His eye is constantly on you. He knows everything about you,
everything that's going on with you. He knows your thoughts.
He knows the innermost parts of your motives and your being. He knows everything you go through.
Everything. He saw them. And what did He
see? He said, He saw them toiling in rowing. For the wind was contrary
unto them. Imagine this. They began out
at about six o'clock in the afternoon. The Lord tells them, boys, get
in the boat. I want you to go over to the other side. And they're
obedient. They come in that boat and they
begin to row. And these were not just common
people who didn't know how to handle a boat. These were strong
fishermen. They knew exactly how to handle
a boat in the sea. And the wind was blowing indirectly
opposite from where they were supposed to go. But notice their
determination to obey. They were determined to obey
and they continued toiling and rowing. And the scripture says about
the fourth watch of the night, 3 a.m. in the morning. From 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., they were
rowing and going nowhere. Who feels like that? Who feels
like that? as though they're rowing, they're
obeying, they're trusting, they believe, and they just seem to
go nowhere. Our Lord's got His eye on you. You just keep rowing. You just
keep rowing. And notice this, He came unto
them, walking upon the sea. The thing that was causing them
the most trouble, the Lord walked on, as though it was nothing. Twelve men rowing in a boat and
going nowhere, where one man walking on the sea and about
to pass them. What trouble you have, know this,
the Lord walks on. He's so far above them that they
have no effect on Him. He comes to them and He'll come
to you. And when they saw Him, what did
they do? They cried out. They cried out. I like it. It says here that
He was as though He was about to pass them by. He was walking. He had His eye on them the whole
time. Was walking as though He would pass by the boat. And they
saw Him. And they cried. Did He keep going? No. He wanted them to see Him. He came to them. Friends, cry out for help. If
you're toiling and rowing, Cry out for help. And you know what
he did? He got in the boat, and they
made it through safely. They made it through safely. Are you toiling and rowing? Does
it seem as though Christ would pass you by? Cry to Him, and He will give your heart a word
of comfort. Usually if we're toiling and
rowing, it's because we have a hard heart. These disciples,
the scripture tells us plainly they were doing this because
they did not. They had a hard heart concerning
what the Lord did with those loaves. And what did our Lord say to
them? Did He abrade them when they asked for help? Did He say,
You should have looked when I told you about the... No, He didn't
abrade them. He said, Don't be afraid. It's
Me. Don't be afraid. It's I. He said, I sent you. I will keep
you. I sent the storm. I designed your troubles. They're only for your good. God
designs our troubles to make us dependent on him. Do you realize
the great depravity of our nature that if we had no troubles, we
would not seek him? That's sad, isn't it? But that's
just so. He designs these troubles so
we would depend upon Him. Designs these troubles to break
our heart so that we might call out. The Apostle said, Humble thyself
under the mighty hand of God and He will in due time. When is due time? Whatever time
that is. Whatever time He appoints, He'll
exalt you in due time. He'll raise you up in due time.
How can we endure such troubles, such rejections and afflictions?
How is it that we can make it through these storms that are
so troubling to us? How? By Him. By Him. By His grace. By His salvation. By His mercy. By His love. Do we need help? Then by grace,
cry out help. I like the psalmist. He said
in Psalm 70, Make haste, O God. Make haste, O God, to deliver
me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. He said, I am poor and needy.
Make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer,
O Lord. Make no tarrying. May the Lord come quickly and
help. May the Lord come quickly to our aid in our troubles. Believer
in Christ, what has been your experience concerning times of great difficulty
and trouble? Has he not always helped? How do you suppose we've made
it thus far believing on Christ? By his grace. by his grace. And if we continue
in faith, it will be by his grace. By his grace. How many times has our soul been
on the brink as though we would be cast off forever and yet he
has always been there to give us his word. He said, I will
never leave thee nor forsake Never. And by Him, by Christ,
God has redeemed us, adopted us, called us, saved us, and
now we come to Him through the midst of all of this suffering.
How? We come by Him, because of Him, through Him, because
He is our Savior. By His Word, by His grace that
says, My grace is sufficient for thee. Lord, I have a lot of trouble,
my grace is sufficient for thee. A lot of thorns, my grace is
sufficient for thee. His grace is sufficient. Therefore,
we are exhorted, we who are believers, who are exhorted In our midst
of our troubles, in the midst of our pains, in the midst of
our temptations, by Him, because of Him, we are exhorted to offer
to God a sacrifice. Not a sacrifice of blood. That
blood sacrifice has already been offered. We offer no more blood
sacrifices. No more. Jesus Christ's blood
has accomplished salvation forever. Brought in everlasting righteousness.
We don't add one thing to it. But God does call us to sacrifice,
to sacrifice this, the sacrifice
of praise. Let me ask you, is that not just
reasonable? Is that not just reasonable?
To praise God for what He has done? Yes. Because He has accomplished our
salvation, because He is our help in trouble, because He has
purposed all things for our good, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise continually. Continually. I'm so thankful that I can offer
this sacrifice of praise because He's given me a heart to. Do you have a heart to praise
God? That's a great gift. It's another one of His graces.
If we can praise Him, it's because of Him. In Jeremiah 33, it talks about
Jerusalem being a desolate place. And he said, there's coming a
day when When their people will come and inhabit that land again,
there'll be joy and there'll be singing. And he said, we offer
the sacrifice of praise in the house of the Lord. Friends, we
were desolate by nature. We were devoid of any praise
of God. The only thing we had in our
mouth was cursing and bitterness. All we had was sin. But now that
God has come and given us a new heart, our heart is full of praise,
full of thanksgiving to God for all that He has done for us. We bring the sacrifice of praise
into the house of the Lord. What is this praise? Look at
your text. He said, By Him, therefore, let
us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. What is it?
That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Praise
is the fruit of our lips. In other words, whatever is in
the heart is going to come out the mouth. That's just so. Whatever is in
here is going to come out here. It's going to show itself. Jesus
talking about a tree, very simple. It's not hard for us to understand.
You have a tree and you plant it, and it's a bad tree. It's
going to bring forth bad fruit. But you plant a good tree, a
good seed, and it's going to bring forth good fruit. Well,
that's what happens in the heart. When God gives us a new heart,
what comes out of our mouth is different than what that old
nature had. Now comes out of our lips praise
and thanksgiving to God. Praise and thanksgiving. Have
you ever said, Lord, thank you for my trouble? God, I'm so thankful for my trouble. I'm so thankful for your help
to sustain me in my trouble. I know this. If you didn't love
me, you wouldn't chasten me. And He does. And I should be
thankful for His chastening hand. I should be thankful when I'm
rebuked of Him. I should be thankful when I'm
chastened of Him. I should be thankful when He
gives me a heart that hates my flesh and hates this world and
loves Him. I should be so thankful. I should
not have one murmuring thing to say. I should be so content with whatever
He gives me. Because of all He's done for
me, I should be a very thankful man.
God gives us a heart after His own heart, it will be a heart
of praise. Are we offering words of praise
and thanksgiving or are we always complaining? Complaining. You can't praise
and complain at the same time. You can't be thankful and complain
at the same time. It's either one or the other. I like this quote, Christ himself
must be the grand object of our heart and the trinkets of the
world will not possess much attention from us. If he is the object of our hearts,
these trinkets and things will not possess our attention. Let us by Christ, because of
Christ, offer continually the praise and thanksgiving of our
lips. I like that song, while all our
hearts and all our songs join to admire the feast, each of
us cries with thankful tongues, Lord, why was I a guest? Why was I made to hear Thy voice
and enter while there's room? while thousands make a wretched
choice, and rather starve than go. For this cause, we should, the
apostles said, for this cause also we thank God without ceasing,
because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of
us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. This matter of the Word of God
working effectually in the heart. The Apostle says not only offer
the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving with your lips, but he says, but to do good and
communicate, forget not. To do good and to fellowship,
don't forget it. in the midst of your troubles,
be thankful with your lips and with your feet, do good. Whenever God gives you an opportunity
to do good, do good. Don't forget, we get so caught
up with our own problems that we don't think to do good for
our brethren. Don't forget to love and serve
each other. Don't forget to fellowship with
one with another. Isn't that something we have
to be reminded of that? That we would forget, but we
will. That's why I'm saying it now.
Don't forget. Don't forget. Be good to one
another. Even in your trouble. Thank God
for his mercy. And don't forget the fellowship
and listen to this. For with such sacrifices, God
is well. I mean, I I can actually do something
that's well pleasing to. Yes. Yes. Well, pleasing to God. Don't you have the righteousness
of Christ? Yes. Your works are accepted. They're
accepted in Him. They're not to be trusted in.
But know this, they're well-pleasing to God. Isn't that something? God is so gracious to us. Help us, God, then to be gracious
to each other. Help us to remember Christ, to
look to Christ, to cry out to Christ. I pray that God blesses to your
heart. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.