Jeremiah chapter 17. We're going
to begin our reading in verse 24. And it shall come to pass, if
you diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no
burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but
hallow the Sabbath day to do no work therein. And you know
what he's saying here is this is the picture. If you rest in
Christ, if you don't try to do any work to add to yourself,
if you rest in Christ, then shall there enter into the gates of
this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David,
riding in chariots and on horses. They and their princes, the men
of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city shall
remain forever. If you rest in Christ, you remain
forever. And they shall come from everywhere, from the cities
of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem, from the land
of Benjamin and from the plain and from the mountains, from
the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and meat offerings
and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise under the house of
the Lord. But if you will not hearken unto
me to hallow the Sabbath day, you will not listen to me, you
will not rest in Christ and not bear burden, even entering in
at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then will I
kinder a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the palaces
of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched. God help us. to rest in Christ and to bring
the sacrifices of praise into the house of the Lord. So on
that note, let's lift up a sound of praise as Mike leads us in
singing our call to worship. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, Jehovah said, When free grace awoke me, my
life from on high, Then legal fear shook me, I trembled to
die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I seek, Jehovah's in King. my savior must be. My terrors all vanished before
his sweet name, My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came. To drink at the fountain, life-giving
and free, is all things to me. Thank you. You may be seated.
Let's turn now in our hymnal to page 443. 443. Let's sing
the chorus after the even verses only. 2, 4, and 6. There is no name so sweet on
earth, no name so sweet in heaven. The name before is one whispered
to Christ the Savior given. T'was Gabriel first that did
proclaim to his most blessed mother that name which now and
evermore we praise above all. We love to sing of Christ our
King, and hail Him, blessed Lord Jesus. For there's no word here ever
heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. And when He hung upon the tree,
they wrote His name on it. That all might see the reason
we forevermore must So now upon His Father's throne,
Almighty to release us, From sin and pain He ever reigns,
The Prince and Savior Jesus. We love to sing of Christ our
King, and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever
heard So dear, so sweet as Jesus. O Jesus, by that matchless name,
Thy grace shall fail us never. Today as yesterday, the same,
Thou art the same forever. To Jesus every knee shall bow,
And every tongue confess Him, And we unite with saints of light,
Our only Lord, to bless Him. We love to sing of Christ our
King, And hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word, dear, ever
heard So dear, so sweet as Jesus. Let's turn over to 454. 454.
We'll just sing the first three verses. Christ has for sin atonement
made, What a wonderful Savior! We are redeemed, the price is
paid, What a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Lord. I praise Him for the cleansing
blood. What a wonderful Savior That
reconciled my soul to God What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful
Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Lord. He cleansed my heart from all
its sin. And now he reigns and rules therein. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus. Jesus my Jesus, what a wonderful
Savior is Jesus my Lord. Our pastors ask that we read
Psalm 54. Psalm 54. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear
to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God
before them. Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is with them that upholdeth
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice
unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine
enemies." Let's pray. Our God, Father in Heaven, Lord,
we thank Thee for this opportunity to once again gather in this
place. Lord, that you've called us to this place this morning. Lord, a time to sing hymns of
praise. Lord, to hear thy scriptures
read. Lord, a time to hear thy word
preached unto us. Lord, we pray you'd bless us
with your presence here this morning. Lord, bless our pastor
as he stands in this place to preach thy word. Lord, that you
would take that which you've laid upon his heart, Lord, that
which he studied. And Lord, bless him in preaching
here this morning. Lord, that you would be pleased
to speak through your servant this morning. And Lord, bless
us with ears to hear. Lord, give us a teachable spirit.
Lord, bless us to receive thy word. Lord, that Christ's name
might be exalted in this place. And Lord, that we might truly
worship thee. Lord, we thank thee that thou
art God, that besides thee there is none else. Lord, that thou
art sovereign in all thy ways. Lord, we thank you for these
young ones you've blessed us with. Lord, we pray you'd bless
them. Lord, that in your time you would
reveal Christ to them, Christ in them. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of heaviness, in a time of sickness and trouble, Lord, we pray your blessing.
We pray your strength. We pray your grace upon them. Lord, that you would comfort
and strengthen your people. And Lord, cause us in all things.
Lord, not lean on this arm of the flesh, which we're so quick
to, but Lord, that we might rest in thee, knowing that thou doest
all things well. Lord, knowing that all things
work together for good. Lord, to them that love thee,
to them that are called according to your purpose. Now again, we
pray you would, Lord, bless our worship service here this morning.
Lord, set aside the thoughts and cares of this world, those
things that so quickly entangle us. Lord, let us see Christ. For it's in His name we pray
and give Thee thanks. Amen. I'd like you to help me on the
chorus of this song. I know you don't know it as well. It's a song by Don Fortner. But
the chorus should be learned. It's a good chorus. It's not
by my works. nor by my will, but by grace
alone. God has saved me, and I will
praise Him. Praise my God alone. Not by my
works, nor by my will, but by grace alone. God has saved me,
and I will praise Him. Praise my God alone. Depraved in heart, in thought,
indeed, I could not cease from sinning. the fallen wretch of Adam's seed. My will was bound by sin, not
by my works nor by my will, but by grace alone. I will praise Him, praise my
God alone. My God in love, eternal love,
electeth me. I to God for His free grace will
all the glory give. Not by my works, nor by my will,
but by grace alone I will praise Him, praise my
God alone. In the due time, God sent His
Son, Christ's blood has full atonement
made, He fully paid my debt. Not by my words nor by my will,
But by grace alone. God has saved me, and I will
praise Him, praise my God alone. In time the Holy Spirit came,
and He called me by the Word By grace that I could not resist,
He drew me to my Lord. Not by my works, nor by my will,
But by grace alone. me, I will praise Him, praise
my God for all. Now I'm secure in Christ's own
hands, I'm kept by Sovereign believing Him, I'll persevere
and ever give Him praise. Not by my works nor by my will,
but by grace alone All right, if you would now open
your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13. titled the message this morning,
Well-Pleasing Sacrifices. Read our text beginning in verse
15 and come back and make a few comments. Hebrews 13 verse 15. 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." And here we're talking about, the writer is
talking about some sacrifices. But Hebrews 10 verse 26 says,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. There's no more need
to offer any sacrifices for sin because Hebrews 10 verse 14 says,
for by one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. There's no need for another sacrifice
to be offered. God's people are already perfect. God's already satisfied by the
sacrifice of Christ. So we don't need to offer any
more sacrifices for sin, do we? And if we try to do that, if
we try to add to Christ, add to to His sacrifice, add to His
obedience by something that we sacrifice in the flesh, something
that we give up, that our flesh finds pleasant. You know what
we've done? All we've done is pollute the
sacrifice of Christ. If we lift up our tool upon the
altar, we looked at that altar a few weeks ago, all we've done
is pollute the sacrifice. If we try to add our works to
the sacrifice of Christ, All we've done is make the sacrifice
of Christ to be of no use to us. And on top of that, as if
that's not enough, we have insulted God Almighty. No true believer
wants or needs any other sacrifice other than the sacrifice of Christ. That's so, isn't it? But this
is also true. A believer lives a life of sacrifice
in this world. Our Lord said in Matthew 16,
verse 24, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. He's got to sacrifice something.
He's got to deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. Now, a believer must live a life
of sacrifice, denying ourselves. And we've got to begin with this.
We've got to deny ourselves our works. We've got to deny ourselves
any work that we would do that would bring us any glory or credit
for salvation. We deny that. We deny ourselves
that. But a believer also must deny
ourselves our convenience, our comfort, our time, our money,
our use of those things in God's kingdom, because faith without
works is dead. There must be a life of sacrifice.
Look at the book of Romans, chapter 12. The apostle Paul tells us that that
sacrifice is just reasonable. After everything Christ has done
for us, that's just reasonable, isn't it? Romans chapter 12 verse
1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. Believers are to sacrifice our
bodies, not as a burnt offering or anything like that, but we're
to sacrifice our time in this body, the activities in this
body, just like I told you in the In the class this morning,
you know, when you choose to come here on Sunday morning,
you're choosing to come here to identify with this gospel,
aren't you? Well, if you're doing that with your body, with your
time, you're sacrificing to be able to do something else with
it, aren't you? We're to sacrifice those things in the service of
the Lord. Look at the book of 1 Peter. Here, Peter tells us
why we're able to offer sacrifices. Remember in the Old Testament,
the only one who could offer a sacrifice was the high priest,
wasn't it? Well, God's people have been made priests. That's
why you're able to offer a sacrifice. First Peter chapter two verse
five. He also is lively. Living stones
are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices. And you're not talking about
offering up blood sacrifices or the spiritual sacrifices that
are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. See, every believer has
been made a priest unto God, and the job of the priest is
to offer a sacrifice. So you don't need a man on earth
who calls himself a priest, who dresses up in a costume similar
to what the high priest used to wear on the Day of Atonement,
and calls himself a priest. You don't need a man to do that.
In the Old Testament, Israel needed Aaron to represent them
before God. But now Christ has come. Christ
has fulfilled that picture, and you don't need that. The Lord
Jesus Christ, by his sacrifice, has enabled his people to come
into the very presence of God anytime they want. Even Aaron
could only come once a year, couldn't he? Not without blood.
On the day appointed, the day of atonement, that's the only
day he could do that. You who believe, you can come anytime
you want, into the very presence of God, through the blood of
Christ, in Christ, our high priest. You who believe, you've been
made a priest unto God. And you know, you have a better priesthood
than Aaron did. Aaron offered sacrifices at an appointed time
for a little while. Believers offer sacrifices to
God continually. That's what our text says, to
offer these sacrifices continually in every circumstance, in every
day, sunny or cloudy, stormy or beautiful, time of trouble
down in the valley, time you're up on a mountaintop, continually
offer these sacrifices of praise to God. Now, these sacrifices
that we offer, this has to be stressed, they're not legal sacrifices. They're not sacrifices offered
to atone for sin. Christ already did that, didn't
he? He already atoned for the sin of his people by his sacrifices. So our sacrifices we offer are
not legal sacrifices to atone for sin. The sacrifices we offer
today aren't even pictures of the atonement. We're not doing
something that pictures the atonement. We don't need that, do we? We
have Christ. We have the real thing. So there's
no more need for the picture. The only pictures that we have,
and they're not sacrifices, they're pictures of Christ's sacrifice,
are the two that the Lord gave us. Believer's baptism, which
pictures his death, burial, and resurrection, and the Lord's
table, which pictures his broken body and his shed blood. But
those things that, you know, that's not a sacrifice to observe
the Lord's table, it's not a sacrifice to confess the Lord and believe
His baptism. Those are pictures of Christ.
Those are ways we confess Him. And we don't offer animal sacrifices
to please God, nor do we sacrifice, give up pleasures of the flesh
trying to please God. I mean, do you really think that
God will be impressed with you if you sacrifice eating meat
for a few Fridays a year? I mean, really? I mean, really?
Something that's just going to go off into the sewer? You think
that's going to please God? You think it's going to please God
if you give up eating chocolate for a month or, you know, however
long that lasts? I mean, that's absurd. That's
just absurd. God's only impressed by Christ. The only sacrifice He will accept
is the sacrifice of Christ. So what sacrifices do we offer?
What sacrifices do believers offer? And first, we've got to
see this. How do we offer these sacrifices? You know, the manner
in which these sacrifices are offered are critical. Since God
is only impressed by Christ, he's only impressed with the
sacrifice of Christ, the writer tells us we offer these sacrifices
by Christ. He says, by Him therefore, by
Christ therefore, let us offer these sacrifices. Now the key
to understanding the two verses in our text are the two words
found in this phrase, by Him, by Him. Come to God by Christ. Now this is something I tell
you, I don't plan to, but it just seems like it comes out
in every message. I'm going to tell you one more time. I'm going
to stress to you one more time. You come to Christ. Come to Christ. Everything spiritual is found
in Christ. We cannot be saved. We cannot
be saved from our sin except by Christ. We cannot be made
righteous except by Christ, by his obedience to law for us,
not our obedience. We cannot have forgiveness of
our sin except by Christ, by His blood. We cannot come to
God in prayer and praise and thanksgiving. We cannot come
to appear before God but by Christ, who is the only mediator between
God and men. We cannot worship. We've come
here together today to worship. You know, we cannot worship God
except in Christ. Can't be done. We can't pray. We can't preach. We can't do
anything without Christ. If we would have anything spiritual,
we must come to Christ. So to you here this morning who
have not yet believed Christ, I tell you right now, I mean
right now, without delay, right where you sit, you come to Christ. You come in your heart. You submit
yourself to Him. And you who have believed Christ, Don't stop now. Don't stop now. You keep believing Him. I love
the way the Apostle Peter wrote to us and said, to whom coming? Constantly coming. Let us continually
come to Christ. Come to Christ. Now this little
word by, we offer these sacrifices by Him. That little word by has
a huge meaning to our text this morning. It has several meanings.
I'll give you just a few of the meanings I found for this word
by in the lexicon, the Greek and Hebrew lexicon, has this
meaning. First of all, this word by means
through, through. Let us come to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let us come to God through Christ's
obedience. And that simply means this, pleading
Christ's obedience is my obedience, not pleading any obedience of
mine, but pleading Christ is my obedience. Let's come to God. God's holy. God cannot accept
us in our sin. He can't look on us in our sin. Then let's come to God for forgiveness
of our sin through Christ. Through His blood that cleanses
us from all sin. Let's come to God through faith
in Christ. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Then let's come to God through
faith in Christ. And I know that that might sound
confusing. What is it to come to God through
faith in Christ? You know, it's really very simple.
It simply means this. Come to God, believing that Christ
is all it takes to save you. Come to God, believing that Christ
is all it takes to make you accepted by the Father. Come to God through
faith in Christ, through Christ. The second meaning of this word
by is with. Let's come to God with Christ. A believer comes to God with
Christ. Whenever Christ comes before
the Father, we come to the Father with him because we're in him. We're in him. We do what he has
done. I remember when Janet was, she
was talking yesterday about being pregnant. Specifically, she was
talking about being pregnant with Savannah. You know, when
she was pregnant, Savannah did everything she did. So he ate
everything she ate. She went everywhere Janet went
because she's with her. She's in her. That's the way
the believer comes to God with Christ in him. Let's come to
God because we're one with Christ. Now, how does a person become
one with Christ? Well, the father put them in Christ in divine
election. We become one with Christ by
faith in Christ being joined to him by faith. So the believer
is one with Christ. We're in Him. We're with Him.
So everything He did, everything the Lord Jesus did in His earthly
ministry, you did too if you believe Christ. When the believer
is with Christ, in Christ, when Christ obeyed the law, so did
we. We obeyed it with Him because we're in Him. When Christ pleased
the Father, so did we who are in Him because we're with Him.
When He pleased the Father, When Christ died to satisfy the law,
so did we who are in Him. That's how we're dead to the
law. That's how the law has no claim on me because I already
died to the law. I already satisfied it with Christ
by being in Him when He died. And when Christ arose from the
dead, so did we who are with Him. Believe Him. When He arose,
we did too because we're in Him. Then let's come to God because
we're one with Christ. See, Christ is the head and we're
the body. Well, everywhere the head goes, the body goes, doesn't
it? We go with Him because we're one with Him. So when Christ
ascended back on high and sat down on the right hand of the
Father, so did you, if you believe Him. That's right. Right now,
where you sit in these pews, if you believe Christ, you're
seated in heavenly places. And believers are so much one
with Christ, you're already seated in heaven. That's what the Apostle
Paul said, Ephesians 2 verse 6, God hath raised us up together
and made, past tense, made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. The only way that's possible
is you're with Christ, in Him. It means with Christ. The third
meaning of this word by is on account of. Now the only reason
a sinner can possibly come to God is on account of Christ,
on account of who Christ is and on account of what Christ has
accomplished for his people. I can't come to God in anything
I've done, but I can come to God and be accepted on account
of what Christ has done for me. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
savior of sinners. And the transaction is done.
He has already accomplished full, free, complete salvation for
sinners. So sinners come to God on account
of Christ. on account of His sacrifice for
us. We come to God on account of
He commanded us to come. That is your permission to come
to God in Christ. He commanded you to. We come
to Him on account of His commandment. Sinners come to God on account
of Christ. On account of Christ is everything
I need. On account of He's everything
that the Father requires of me. So I come to God on account of
Christ. Now, the fourth meaning of this
word, by, is for the sake of. We come to God by Christ. With
this confidence, the Father will accept us for the sake of Christ.
Not for the sake of anything we've done, but for the sake
of Christ. In this meaning of the word, by, for the sake of,
this is where the manner in which we offer these sacrifices comes
in. Do you think about those legal sacrifices that they offered? You know, I read on the days
leading up to the Day of Atonement, that high priest went over. I mean, he just dedicated himself
to doing nothing but going over and going over and going over
and going over again the instructions for the Day of Atonement. You
know why he did that? Because he's afraid if he made
one misstep, God would kill him. And he thought that because that's
what God said. Those legal sacrifices, those animal sacrifices offered
under the law, the motivation to offer those things was so
God doesn't kill us. I mean, God said, you know, if you don't
offer this sacrifice, I'll never accept you. I'll never accept
your worship. There's got to be a blood sacrifice for sin. So the high priest offered those
animal sacrifices because God told him he had to. He had to.
And that's a picture. God's going to send us to hell.
He's going to send you and he's going to send me to hell unless
we have a blood sacrifice to atone for our sin. It's got to
be the right blood. It's got to be the right sacrifice,
the sacrifice that God will accept. Well, I've already showed you
Christ offered the sacrifice for sin. Did he already put away
the sin of his people? So the sacrifices, the writers
talking about here, they're not legal sacrifices and they're
not offered in the same manner that those legal sacrifices were
offered. The sacrifices the writer is telling us about here are
sacrifices of praise. They're sacrifices of thanksgiving. Now, you just have to offer a
sacrifice of praise with a much different motivation than one
of fear, don't you? You have to. A sacrifice of thanksgiving
is not something that you have to do. It's what you want to
do. We offer these sacrifices in
thanksgiving to God, and they're offered by Christ. They're offered
for the sake of Christ. We offer these sacrifices on
account of what Christ has done for his people. We offer these
sacrifices on account of what Christ did for his people at
Calvary. And we offer these sacrifices
on account of what Christ has done for us in our hearts. We
offer these sacrifices for the sake of Christ, for his glory,
and for the sake, for the benefit of his people. Now we don't offer
animal sacrifices, and we don't sacrifice, give up pleasures
of the flesh. So what is it we sacrifice? Now
we've seen the manner in which we make these sacrifices, offer
these sacrifices, but what is it that the believer sacrifices
to God that is well-pleasing? There's something we can offer
that's well-pleasing to God, because that's what our text
says. Well, the writer lists three sacrifices that are well-pleasing
to God. And these sacrifices are sacrifices
God's people offer continually. Now, you may as well start trying
to find the book of Hosea. Find Ezekiel, Daniel, and Hosea. Here's the first sacrifice that
we offer. It's the fruit of our lips. It's
the giving thanks to the name of Christ. Now, Hosea tells us
about this. He found in Hosea chapter 14, Verse 1, I believe this will
be a blessing to you. I want you to see this. He says,
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen
by thine iniquity. Now there's a problem here. There's
a separation here. We've fallen by thine iniquity. Our sins have separated us from
our God, haven't they? There's a problem. We've gone
away from God, but he's telling us to return. And he tells us
how. Verse 2, take with you words. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord, say unto him, take away all iniquity and receive
us graciously, receive us in your grace. So will we render
the calves of our lips, the fruit of our lips. Now, again, don't
offer these sacrifices like you're denying yourself something, you
know, trying to make up for your sin. Think God's gonna be pleased
with that. Don't do that. God's told us how to come to
Him. He told us the way that He'll
accept us. He said, bring with you words.
Bring with you the fruit of your lips. And don't think, well,
I've got to make up some words. Here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to tell God, God, if you'll bless me, if you'll save
me, I'll quit doing this, that or the other. Don't tell God
that. Because it's a lie. It's a lie. The fruit of our
lips that's well-pleasing to God, that's a word to bring to
Him. God told us what to say. You don't have to think up what
to say. God told us what to say. Come to the Lord and say, Lord,
take away my iniquity. Take it away. It's my iniquity,
my guilt, it's my fault. My iniquity has separated me
from God. God, would you take it away from me? I can't take
it away, but you can, by the blood of your Son. Lord, take
away my iniquity. Lord, I know I've separated myself
from you, but would you receive me? Lord, would you accept me
graciously, because of your grace? Would you accept me in Christ,
for Christ's sake, because of Christ's sacrifice? You know
God will accept that. That's well-pleasing to God.
Because nothing pleases God more than begging for mercy for Christ's
sake. Those are well-pleasing words to Him, because nothing
pleases Him more than a sinner begging for mercy for Christ's
sake. And God will have mercy on us. Nobody's going to teach us these
words. They'll come naturally. They'll just come from our lips
naturally. This will be the natural fruit
of our lips. You know why? Because out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speak. When God gives you
a new heart, you'll know these words. Just inherently, you'll
know these words. How to say, thank you, Lord,
for saving my soul. Oh, thank you, Lord. Give thanks
to God. for everything that he's done. Let that be the fruit of your
lips. Thank you, Lord. Thanksgiving to God is at the
very heart of worship. You can't worship without Thanksgiving,
can you? It's impossible to worship God
without being thankful. And if God's given you a new
heart, you'll be thankful. You'll worship. And if he hasn't
given you a new heart, it's impossible to be thankful. You can't worship
him. God, I love how simple, Is that in this week's bulletin?
Where do I put my bulletin? Isn't there an article in the
bulletin about, yeah, by Pastor Todd Nyrear? Complex but not
complicated. Oh, the gospel's complex, isn't
it? But it's simple enough any of
these children can understand it. It's not complicated. God
removes all the complication. He tells us what to say. I love
that. He tells us what to say. But,
you know, you don't have to take these exact words and memorize
them and repeat them like they're some sort of magic spell, because
that's not going to work. Come to God using your own words. Come to God pouring out your
heart, the need of your heart. Express your need to God. Express your need for the forgiveness
of your sin. Just pour your heart out before
God will be pleased with those words. He sure will. And you
don't have to worry. You think, well, I'm not articulate
enough. My words won't be good enough
and so God won't accept me. You don't have to worry about
that. You come to God by Christ. He'll give you the words to say.
Now you think that sounds good. Is Frank just making that up?
No, I'm not. Look in Isaiah chapter 57. You
come to God by Christ. He'll give you the words to say,
and he'll accept them. Isaiah 57 and verse 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness
was I wrong. God's angry with the wicked.
He's angry with sin. And God said, I smote him. I
hid me and was wroth. And he went on forwardly in the
way of his heart. God said, I've seen his ways.
I've seen him going on forwardly in the way of his heart. I've
seen him going on. I've seen him. But this is my child. God said, I've seen his ways
and I'm going to heal him. I'll lead him also. I'm going to restore
comforts unto him and his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips.
He's going to come back to me begging for mercy because I put
those words in his heart. I create the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace to him that is far off and him that is near, saith
the Lord, and I will heal him. I'm going to heal him. He's going
to come begging for mercy because I'm going to put the words in
his heart. And he's going to say, I'm going to give him the
words and I'll accept him. And if you look at Psalm 51, probably the clearest example
in scripture I can think of, But what the writer is talking
about, what Isaiah was talking about here, is the example of
David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and he
had her husband Uriah killed and he was going on forwardly
in the way of his heart. He thought he got away with it.
I mean, he thought he got away with it. Just God hit him. This is frightening. God hit
himself from him for what, eight, nine months? David didn't know
it. Didn't know it. And then Nathan came to him and
laid him out. I mean, Nathan laid David out.
He laid the king out. He said, David, you're the man.
He exposed sin. All that sin made David so angry.
David said, you show me that man. I'm going to kill him. I
mean, right now I'm going to kill him. Nathan said, you're
the man. Total depravity is another matter
when I'm totally depraved, isn't it? This is what will cry with
David. Verse one, Psalm 51. O have mercy on me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly for mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest. God, you'd be right to damn me,
and clear when thou judgest. Behold, I have shaped an iniquity.
And in sin did my mother conceive me. Oh, I'm so wicked. This is
the only nature I have, such a wicked sin nature. Behold,
thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop. Apply the
blood of Christ to me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Nobody had to teach David how
to beg for mercy, did he? No, when God showed him his sin,
it came naturally. Look what he says in verse 15.
Oh Lord, open down my lips and my mouth to show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice,
else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. You're not going to delight and forgive my sin because of
the burnt offering of an animal. The sacrifices of God are broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not
despise. And God accepted him, didn't
he? And God opened his mouth and wrote this psalm and all
these other psalms for us to read. God opened his mouth. God
accepted him. See, God broke his heart, didn't
he? And then God accepted the words that came out of that broken
heart, broken over sin. God gave him the fruit of his
lips and God accepted it. So we give thanks to God. We
give thanks to God. by Christ, on account of who
Christ is and on account of what He did for me. And we also give
thanks for the sake of God's people so they'll hear, so they
can hear of Christ and they can believe on Him and be encouraged
and fed and blessed by Him. God gave David these words to
encourage us to come to God and say, God, have mercy on me. Have
mercy on me. Isn't that a blessing? That's
the fruit of His lips. God accepted it. All right. The
second sacrifice back in our text, Hebrews 13, the second
sacrifice that is well pleasing to God is doing good. He says
in verse 16, but to do good, to do good. Now don't ever be
mistaken about this. Believers do good works. Believers are full of good works.
Now these works are not works we do in order to be saved. If
you're doing some work in order to be saved, it's an evil work,
it's a wicked work and God will not accept it. These are not
works that we do in order to be saved. These are works that
we do because God has saved us. See, believers do good works
by Christ, by his enabling power and on account of what Christ
has done for us and in us. It's just the natural response
to God's grace to do these good works. And there are a couple
of definitions here of good works I want you to see. Number one
is this, good works. These are works that are done
in thanksgiving and praise for who God is, because he has saved
us by his sacrifice. Now these works, good works,
they're not done to impress men. If you are doing something to
impress men so they'll think highly of you, that's an evil
work. God will not accept it. Men might
be impressed, but God won't. And do you know often works that
are truly good works don't impress men at all? That's right. Now
I can show you that. Look at Mark chapter 14. Often
good works are works that don't impress men at all, but yet they're
still done by Christ. on account of Christ our Savior
and His sacrifice for us. And here's a beautiful illustration
of this. Mark 14, verse 3. And being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious.
And she break the box and poured it on his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves and said, why is this
waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than 300 pence and had been given to the poor. And they murmured
against her. My soul, they murmured against
her. Men often are not impressed by
good work, are they? And this was a good work. And
read on. I'll show you why I know this is a good work. Verse six.
And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work. The Lord said, this is a good
work. She wrought a good work on me, on me. You fellows are
murmuring against it, and this is a good work. For you have
the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, whenever
you want to, you may do them good. But me you have not always. She hath done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint
my body to the burying. Now see, here's this good work.
She's doing it because of the sacrifice of Christ. Somehow
this woman knew the Lord's getting ready to be crucified. He's going
to die. They're going to take his body
away and I'm not going to be able to get to it. You know,
at that time they anointed the body, you know, before they buried
it. And she thought, I'm not going to be able to get to it.
Somehow she knew something about the sacrifice of Christ. She
knew it was imminent. and she came to anoint his body.
This good work was done because of the sacrifice of Christ. Do
you see that? And look what the Lord says here in verse nine.
Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached
throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall
be spoken of for a memorial of her. This work she did gave such
a clear declaration of the gospel of Christ. Everybody who ever
preaches the gospel is going to say the same thing she did.
Talk about the sacrifice of Christ. That's a good work, a work done
for the glory of Christ, out of the motivation of His sacrifice
for my sin. And second, good works are works
that are done for the sake of Christ, for the sake of His body,
which is His people. You remember in Matthew chapter
25, the Lord put the sheep on His right hand, the goats on
His left, and He separated them. And He started talking to them,
didn't He? And the Lord told His people, on His right hand,
He told them about all their good works. And they didn't even
know they did them. They didn't even know. They said,
Lord, when do we see you hungry and feed you? When do we see
you thirsty? I never saw you thirsty when
I give you a cup of water. When do I see you a stranger
and take you in or naked and clothed you? When were you in
prison and I visit you? I don't ever remember doing anything
like that. And our Lord said, in as much as you've done it
to one of the least of these, my brethren, You've done it to
me, to my body. Now, good works are works that
you do to help one another right here. That's a good work to help
the body of Christ. And, you know, we have visitors.
We're going to have a Bible conference here before too long. We have
visitors. We're going to be so happy to see them and and take
care of them. Take care. We have we have a
visiting preacher here. If I'm gone somewhere preaching
or on vacation or something, we have a visiting preacher here.
And you take care of that man. You take care of his family.
You make sure his needs are met. Usually I try to make sure, you
know, I ask somebody, can you take him out and make sure they
got something to eat? If old Frank forgets, just do it. Just make
sure they're taken care of. But I tell you what, don't wait
till the conference. Don't wait till you see some visitors here
today. Here you are. Take care of one another. Take
care of one another. Find it a joy to take care of
God's children. That's a good word. That's well-pleasing
to God. Just take care of one another.
And the third sacrifice, as well-pleasing to God, is communicating. The
writer here says, but to do good and to communicate, forget not.
Don't forget to communicate, for with such sacrifices God
is well-pleased. This word communicating, it means
to give. It means to have fellowship and
share with one another because we're one. Now Christ our Savior,
he set the example here. Hasn't he communicated to his
people? He's communicated so he has fellowship with us. You
think the Savior right here, right now, where his gospel is
being preached is right among us, having fellowship, communion
with us. He's communicated his righteousness
to his people by giving his obedience to his people. So his obedience
is their obedience. Believers are partakers of the
divine nature. because we're one with Christ.
That's what Christ has communicated, what he's done in his people.
So by Christ, by Christ, on account of what Christ has done for us,
let's communicate to one another. Let's give of our money. Let's
give of our time and our talents to support the gospel. And do
it, not because you're trying to get something from God, but
because God's already blessed you. Do it be God of a thankful
heart on account of what Christ has done for us and in us. And
if you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8, I'll show you an example
of this. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Verse 1. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit, we want you to know, of the grace of God bestowed
on the churches of Macedonia. How then in great trial of affliction,
here they're under great trial of affliction and Paul's saying
God's grace has been so richly bestowed upon them, yeah. How
then in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and
their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality.
For their power, their ability, I bear record, yea and beyond
their power they gave. They were willing of themselves
to give, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive
the gift and take upon us the fellowship. That word fellowship
is the exact same word translated communicating in our text, that
they would take upon us the fellowship, the communicating, the giving
of the ministering to the saints. They told Paul, let us have a
part in this. Let us have fellowship in this,
in communicating, taking up this offering, to give to God's people
who are in worse shape than we are. They're in more need than
we are. Yeah, we're in trouble. We're in deep poverty. We're
taking up this offer. We want you to send it to them.
We want to communicate, to give to them, to help them. And you
know what? They did that. They gave that
gift by Christ, on account of Christ. Because look at verse
5. And this they did. This is how they gave. Not as
we had hoped. I mean, Paul said we kind of
expected them to take up an offering, but nothing near like what they
gave. Here's why they did that. First,
they gave their own selves to the Lord. I mean, they gave their
selves to the Lord. If I give myself to the Lord,
all my money is His, all my family is His, all my food is His, all
my everything you've got in the kitchen is His. It's not as hard
as it is. But we've given ourselves to
Him. See, they gave that on account of Christ. For Christ's sake,
And God loves a cheerful giver just like that, who gives to
support the gospel, who gives not just money, but also time
and talents and effort to help the brethren, to do what he can
so others could hear the gospel. Now, if you're going to live
like that, you're going to live a life of sacrifice like that,
you're going to have to sacrifice. If you're going to give money
like that, you're going to have to sacrifice buying some other
things. You just got a finite amount of money. You got a finite
amount of time. If you're going to give your
time to the tenants of the worship service, and that fellowship
with other believers, well then you're going to have to sacrifice
doing something else. I mean, you've just got a finite amount
of time. And the only way you can live a life like that, a
sacrifice like that, is by Christ, by Him. 2 Corinthians 8 verse
9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. that ye through
his poverty might be rich. He became poor of righteousness
when he was made sin for his people. He became poor of union
with his father. The father turned his back on
him. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He became poor
of life, dying the death that his people deserve. Why did he
do that? That you, his people, through his poverty might be
made rich. If that doesn't motivate you
to want to give, and take care of one another, nothing will.
Nothing will. I want to give you an example
in closing. Maybe this will kind of help you remember and be helpful
to you. I remember when our girls were
little, and you know, you might think, okay, well, these sacrifices.
Well, I'd like to give, but I don't have anything to give, and what
I have to give is so little, it's so childlike, it's just
so fee, boy, God can't be pleased with anything I can give. Well,
you remember that woman that brought that alabaster box of
ointment? What did the Lord tell His disciples? Don't you murmur
to her. She did what she could. You just do what you can. I don't
care if it's childlike. I don't care if you think it's
small. You do what you can. Here's my illustration. I remember when
our girls were little things, especially like primary school.
I guess they still do this. They would run on holidays. Christmas
or Father's Day and Mother's Day, and they set up these little
stores in the school. You know, everything in there
cost 50 cents or a dollar or something. And it was their class's
day to go shop, you know, with this thing. And Mommy and Daddy
were going, so we'd pull out money and we'd give them money
to go to this store to buy us something. They bought it, a
gift for us, with our money. It cost a dollar. It cost 50
cents. And they'd wrap those things Christmas time, they'd
wrap them themselves, they'd put them under the tree. Oh,
they're so excited, just they could not stand to wait. So they
give us a gift. And that little gift, it cost
a dollar or so. Oh, it was well pleasing. I was so well, I was
well pleased with every single one of them. Colleen went to
one of those little stores one day. She's a little thing she
bought. It couldn't cost much. This is about that big. It's
a tape measure. It says the world's greatest uncle. Colleen, I have
it in my desk. Every time I open my drawer,
I see that. And I just, every time I got to measure something,
you know, right there, I just use that because I'm so well
pleased with that gift that little girl gave me. And it's not the
amount of money that was spent on it. It was the motive. They were so excited to give.
Our girls are grown now. They got husbands. They all got
pretty good jobs, you know. And come Christmas time, they
buy a More expensive gifts. Aaron and I have talked about
this. Aaron, we just don't even buy us nothing. We just, save your
money. Use it to build your life. But they always take that, buy
us something, you know. And those gifts are nice. They're
useful. They cost a whole lot more money,
you know, what they did when they went to primary school.
I'm not more pleased today than I was then. Because it's not
how much money they spend on it. It's not. They're still excited
to give. And that's well pleasing to daddy.
Well pleasing to mama. The motivation of what you give
in your heart. That's what God sees. That poor
widow woman put in two mites. The Lord stood there watching
her. I put their ties, their offerings, whatever in. She put
in two mites. Nothing. Worthless. Other people
put in great big old checks, big amounts of money. And the
Lord just told his disciples, see that woman? She didn't want
all. He was so well pleased with that
because her motive. Her motive. It was from the heart.
It was by Christ, on account of Christ, for His sake, for
the sake of His people, for the sake of His glory, and God was
well pleased. So let's offer the sacrifices
of praise, the fruit of our lives, giving thanksgiving to God. Let's
do good. Let's communicate with such sacrifices. God's well pleased when they're
offered for Christ's sake. All right. I hope the Lord blessed
that to you. Let's bow together. How we thank you for your word.
How we thank you for your clear instruction to your people. How
we thank you for a clear declaration of the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ that has put away the sin of his people. And Father,
we're thankful. And Father, I pray that you give
us a heart that would believe Christ and love Christ and enable
us to act upon that love, offering these sacrifices of praise and
thanksgiving. Let us never forget to stop and
say thank you. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy. Thank you, Lord, for all
your provision of this life. Everything we have, you gave
us. We're thankful. Enable us to do good, to serve and help
one another for Christ's sake because of what Christ has done
for us. Cause us to communicate, to give and help and have fellowship
one with another for Christ's sake. Father, we thank You. Bless Your Word, I pray, to Your
glory and to the hearts of Your people. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for His sake, we pray and give
thanks. Amen. Mike, you come lead us
in a song, if you would. Well, I stand to sing 464 in
our great hymns of faith. 464. We'll do the chorus after
the odd verses this time. One, three, and five. When I saw the cleansing fountain,
open wide for all my sin, I obeyed the Spirit's wooing when He said,
Will thou be clean? I will praise Him, I will praise
Him, Give Him glory, O ye people,
For His blood can wash away each stain. Though the way seem straight
and narrow, All I claimed was swept away My ambitions, plans,
and wishes At my feet in ashes lay Then God's fire upon the
altar Of my heart was set aflame I shall never cease to praise
Him Glory, glory to His name I will praise Him Praise the Lamb for sinners slain
Give Him glory, all ye people For His blood can wash away each
stain Blessed be the name, Lord Jesus I'm so glad He took me
He's forgiven my transgressions. He has cleansed my heart from
sin. Glory, glory to the Father, Glory, glory to the Son Glory,
glory to the Spirit Glory to the three in one I will praise
Him I will praise Him Praise the Lamb for sinners slain,
Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each
stain. I'm getting there.