If you would, please turn to
Ephesians five and verse two. Excuse me, verse one and two.
Ephesians chapter five. Verses one and two. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. And walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God For a sweet-smelling savor I'm just gonna stop right
there What I want to talk about today
is an offering and a sacrifice Now, of course, this letter by
the Apostle Paul, being the letter to the Ephesian church, churches,
people, is written to believers. Now, I say this a lot because
it seems to be almost an unknown thing in our day. We preach publicly. Matter of fact, if it's 6.30
in the morning on a Sunday, this might be on the CW. on television. We preach, but we do understand
from God's word that the only people who will profit from God's
word, actually understand God's word, actually believe God's
word, are the ones that God has given faith. I mean, that's just,
that's just the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. But Paul didn't stop there, he
says, to everyone that believes. Because if you don't believe,
my words are of no value to you because his word is of no value
to you. Now it's not saying his word
is of no value, it's saying it's of no value to you if you do
not believe him. Because there's nothing wrong
with his word. Nothing at all. There's plenty wrong with us. But Paul starts here in verse
one. Actually, he's continuing on
from chapter four, and we'll look at that in just a second.
It says, be ye, be ye, therefore, followers of God, as dear children. Be ye. Walter, this is like that
be ye reconciled to God. This is a state of being. Be
ye followers of God. Now, how do we follow God? Well,
take a look just in this particular case, back at Ephesians four,
verses 31 and 32. Well, 30. And grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed under the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil
speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Then those next words, be
ye followers of God. How do we follow God? Put away
bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil, evil speaking, and malice. What, we have that? I thought
we were good people. Aren't we saints? Believers? Yes. But do we have this? Yes. Yes. We have the old man
and we have the new man. Now unbelievers just have the
old man. But we still have the anger and the malice and all
that. Put it away. You can't put it away if you
don't have it. It's in you. Put it away. Mortify therefore the members
of your body. That's a daily thing too. Put
these things away. The reason Paul said put them
away is because he knew they were there. Even in believers,
we are still earthen vessels. Be ye followers of God. Put these things away and be
kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving one another. What's that mean? Love the brethren. love the brethren, love your
brethren, love the family of God. What? As dear children. Those who believe are to know
they are the children of God. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters may squabble
and fight, and they will, But brothers and sisters are to love
one another. Are kind to one another and forgive
one another. Why? Because I need to be forgiven
because you need to be forgiven. Don't hold a grudge. Because the one who holds the
grudge is the one with a problem. Now I'm not saying they're not,
haven't been a victim, haven't been offended or anything else,
but if you hold a grudge against another brother or sister in
Christ, it's damaging to you. Been there, done that. Don't
want to do it anymore. That's one of the things I need
to put away. And if, perchance, You might be the kind of person
who has a tendency to give offense sometimes, and I will raise my
hand here. Because sometimes I speak a lot
faster than I think. Stop it. I know the tongue's
an unruly member, I've got one. But be mindful of your brethren.
Why? As dear children, be ye followers
of God. They are your brothers and sisters
in Christ. And if you do offend, apologize
and mean it. What I'm saying is just be as
dear children, followers of God. Now this next verse, and walk
in love. Ephesians five two, and walk
in love As Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for
us for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Paul, you read it this morning,
walk. Paul writes it here, walk in love. As Christ also hath loved us You know, some people might think,
for grace people, we talk a lot about walk, and thank you, because
we're trying to get that point across also. Paul's epistles are perfect examples
of this, because his epistles are usually laid out this way.
First, doctrine, second, walk. Because if Christ's doctrine,
the apostolic doctrine, the doctrine of scripture doesn't influence
your walk, you haven't heard it right. He will put in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. And you will will and do his
good pleasure. I said it a few weeks ago, you
may not do it very well. You may not do it really consistently.
but you will do it when he wants it done. And you'll be happy
about it. You may not understand it, but
you'll be happy about it. There is a walk for the people
of God. Be ye therefore what? Followers
of God. What's it mean to follow? That
means you go after. Guess what? You walk as dear children, you
walk in love, in love. Guess who love is? Our Lord Jesus
Christ. We walk in him. We walk because
of him. And we walk in love as Christ also has loved us. In some places, Paul's doctrine
and walk seem to overlap a bit. In some places, they overlap
a lot. Because the doctrine, I said it just a minute ago,
the doctrine is for your walk in this world now. Now, we are to grow in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To
him be the glory. now and forever. Therefore, walk
in love as Jesus Christ loved us. We are not saying, and by God's
grace we will never say, you are walking to get grace. I know there are people that
are walking aisles, they'll walk aisles today. Thinking they'll
come up and pray the prayer and God will give them grace. No,
if you're coming to Him, He's already given you grace. And
mercy, and faith, and love. Grace comes first. You can't
walk in love unless you are a recipient of God's grace. As Christ loved
us. Grace always comes first. Grace comes before faith. Grace
comes before believing. Grace comes from God Almighty. We walk in love because of His
love and His grace, which He has given to us. Then it says this, and hath given
Himself for us. There's that conjunction, and. That's the little word in this
case that connects these two things. And this word is actually
and, is connecting, and it completely ties together these two thoughts
of the Apostle Paul. Christ has loved us and hath
given himself for us. You understand, Paul completely
ties together here. The fact of Christ's love for
his people means that he gave himself for his people. And you
can't separate those two things. He gave himself, what? For us. Why? Because it said he loved
us. We love him because he first
loved us. And we do love him. because he
first loved us. And because he loved us, he gave
himself, what? For us. And with that little
conjunction in, it puts those two things together and you can't
take those two things apart. I know man has tried. You can't
separate his love from his giving of himself. You can't separate
his giving of himself from his love. Now the world gets in trouble
with this. Preachers of the world's religious
societies get in trouble over this because they say, oh yes,
God loves everyone. God gave himself for everyone. It's not true. It's not true. Because this is speaking of where
he hath given himself This is speaking of his high priestly
work. You understand? We don't give
Christ to God. He gave himself for us. We have
nothing to do with it. He gave himself for us. What? While we were yet sinners?
While we were ungodly? While we were without strength?
He gave himself. He did it. The high priest makes
the offering and the offering in this case is himself. He gave
himself to God, not to us. The world tries to separate it. but the world can't separate
the word of God. It can't be done. They can lie
about it, they can deny it, they can fight against it. I've fought
against it in some places, but I lost. Thank God, praise God. I've fought against scripture
before and I got whipped. I fought against
John chapter six. I didn't like that, that you
can't come to God unless God gives it to you. But if you understand him, if
you've met him, he's gonna show you what he showed Peter. Lord,
to whom shall we go? No matter what you say, it's
true. Why? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And the words here are, he gave
himself for us. And then it says, how? How? This is the one, Jesus Christ,
he gave himself, he's the mediator of the one God. And he's the
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. but it
says here plainly by the Apostle Paul writing, hath given himself
for us, what? An offering and a sacrifice. Now please, we gotta make this
clear at the beginning. Jesus Christ was not an offering
and a sacrifice to you. He was an offering and a sacrifice
to God. I know it sounds simple, But
boy, people mess that up all the time. It is about the most profound
thing there ever was. The gospel is not an offering
to you. The gospel is the good news,
the proclamation of what he has done. He gave himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God. to God to God the gospel
is the proclamation of his work and the question is do you believe
it do you believe him Paul wasn't writing here and
I want to make this clear if I can where it says an offering
and a sacrifice Paul was not did not write that he gave himself
for us, offering himself as a sacrifice. He says he gave himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice. I have to separate these two
things to talk about them. But we've got that word and right
there in between them. You can't separate them. You
can't separate them. First of all, an offering and
a sacrifice are not the same thing. Both of these things happened
at the same time in the same person. He gave himself an offering
and a sacrifice. They're not the same thing. They're
in the same person. They are the same person. Christ
is the offering and Christ is the sacrifice. And before that,
he gave himself. He's the offerer of the offering
and the sacrifice. Now, I know this might be considered
in some places nitpicking, and maybe it is, you know, a real
fine theological point, but Paul writes it here, and I'm stuck
with it, so so are you. An offering, an offering is a perfect
thing. offered to God. When you did
that Passover sacrifice, it was to be a firstling of the flock
with nothing wrong with it, no blemish, not even a spot. It's a perfect thing. The offering
to God must be perfect. You give the first fruits to
God, not the last dregs of the garden, Mac. You give the first
fruits, the best fruits, The best animal, the best lamb, the
best cow, the turtle dove, whatever the sacrifice is going to be,
whatever this offering is going to be, excuse me, the offering
has to be a perfect thing to offer to God. Because the offering
has to be acceptable of itself. And in this case, our offering
was acceptable in himself. because he is our offering. He gave himself. A sacrifice
is basically for a sin bearing atonement. Sins are laid on to
a sacrifice. The priest would lay hands on
a lamb or a goat, the scapegoat, perfect thing. The high priest
would lay his hands on it and put on the sins of the children
of Israel and then they'd send it off into the wilderness. A sacrifice has to have the capability
to take the just punishment for sin. And we believers have to have
both a perfect offering to God and a perfect sacrifice for sin. And that is what Paul is writing
here. He gave himself for an offering
and a sacrifice. His perfect righteousness made
him the perfect offering to God. And his human blood, he was a
man, Christ Jesus, had to be shed as the perfect sacrifice
for sin. And we have to have both. A perfect offering can't help
you if you're still in your sins. And a sacrifice for sins can't
help you if you're unrighteous. We've got to have both to stand
before a holy and just God, who says, the soul that sinneth shall
surely die. And he also says, be ye holy,
for I am holy. And our Lord Jesus Christ gave
himself, the offerer, as an offering and a sacrifice to God. We have to have both. There's
that conjunction, I said it, and. The offering and the sacrifice
cannot be separated. because they are one in Jesus
Christ our Lord. The perfect offering and the
perfect sacrifice for sin. We need to be able to stand before
God. We have been given both in our
Lord Jesus Christ. The forgiveness of sins in a
standing before God in Him. In Him. And here's the kicker. He hath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. I thought about this this morning,
Walt, while you were on the TV on Song of Solomon, talking about
those fragrances and the Song of Solomon myrrh and frankincense,
the good stuff, you know? For me, it's, you know, honeysuckle
and wild roses in my yard in the springtime. I can go out
in my yard and it's just like, man, when that breeze comes down
that holla, it just blows through those flowers and it blows right
over you. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
burnt offering to God. Now it says, when you talk about
the burnt offering, it says it's an atonement for you. But it's
a sweet smelling savor unto God. It's an offering, it's an offering. There is the sacrifice for sin.
in the burnt offering, but there's the offering to God of that perfection,
and it goes up to God as a sweet-smelling saver, and that's what our Lord
Jesus Christ did. He goes up before God as a sweet-smelling
saver. It's not that I smell good. He
does. You know what? I don't have to
smell good. He does. But in God's sight, And in God's
nostrils, I smell good. In God's nostrils, you smell
good if you're in Christ because he's the sweet smelling savor
to God. It's not a sweet smelling savor
to us, although we do like it. This is talking about a sweet
smelling savor to God because we can't get it the way God can
get it. The way God does get it. The
way God understands it. The way God perceives it. We
barely see anything. We see through a glass darkly.
Later, face to face. But right now, we see through
a glass darkly. But our Lord, the Father, sees the Son exactly
as He is, in all of His perfection, in all of His holiness, in all
of His righteousness, in all of His obedience, and in all
of His willing sacrifice, taking our sins upon Him. And He goes
up as a sweet-smelling savor, and guess what? We, believers,
are in Him. And in him, we are a sweet smelling
savor to God. He gave himself, what? For us. And you understand, this is the
result of he gave himself an offering and a sacrifice. It's a sweet smelling savor.
Now, how Can anyone separate you from
the love of God which is in Christ? It can't be done. I can't separate
myself. In God's nostril, I'm a sweet
smelling saver. He don't smell me, he smells
his son. In God's sight, you're a sweet
smelling saver. Why? If you're in his son. Who's gonna separate the father
from the son? It ain't gonna happen. It's not
going to happen. And see, this is the point where
you run into that problem when these people are running around
us all the time saying that God loves everyone, Christ gave himself
for everyone, well then they're sweet smelling savor. So why
is anyone going to hell? It don't work. It doesn't work. It never has worked. It's the
lie of the devil from the start. You understand? That's what it
is. It's just a lie. We can call it hermeneutical
eisegesis, but it's just a lie. People are lying about God because
you can't separate as Christ loved us from hath given himself
for us. And you can't separate, hath
given himself for us from an offering and a sacrifice. And
you can't separate the offering and the sacrifice from a sweet
smelling savor. Because if he loved you, you're
going to be a sweet smelling savor unto God. He's going to
see to it. It ain't you. It's not me. He's
going to see to it. Why? It says it right here. This
is my conclusion. This right here, chapter five,
verse one and verse two of Ephesians, as one thought from the Holy
Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul to us. If he loved you,
you're gonna be a sweet smelling saver. It goes right through
it. And, and, and, four. You can't separate any of this.
We have to separate it a little bit to talk about it. Paul wrote
it in two verses. And I've spent 30 minutes talking
about it, and I haven't even scratched the surface. You can't
separate his love from us from his giving himself to God for
an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet smelling savor to God.
This is it. If he loves you, you're in him. You're going to be in him. You
were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. For those that say different, I give the words of Christ. This
is John 17 and verse nine, I'm just gonna read it, where he
says, now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast
given me are of thee. This is Christ speaking of his
father, speaking to his father. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have
known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed
that thou didst send me. He's talking about believers.
those that you gave me believe. I pray for them. Now isn't that
just wonderful? Well keep reading. This is what
the world won't read. I pray not for the world. But for them which thou hast
given me, why? For they are thine. I'm gonna tell you something. If he loves you, you're his. And you're the father's. And who can separate us from
the love of God? No one and nothing. Why? Because he is a sweet smelling
savor unto God. In Christ Jesus, in Him, we,
believers, can say, in Christ, we are perfectly acceptable to
God. We are perfectly pleasing to
God. In Christ, in Christ alone, not
in ourselves. We've got to be clear about that.
but we are perfectly acceptable and perfectly pleasing to God
in Jesus Christ. Why? He hath loved us and gave
himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savor. I like that, I do. Our Heavenly
Father, we are thankful for all that you've done for
us and for all that you're doing. And thank you, Lord, that we
have been put in your son. You have accepted us in your
son as a joint heir, an heir of God and a joint heir with
Jesus Christ. Be with Walter now as he comes
to preach and speak. and open our hearts to receive
your word. In Christ's name we pray, amen.