That song was from Isaiah chapter
53, and Isaiah was writing some 700 years before the crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus, and he said, with his stripes, we are healed. He said that 700 years before
it took place. With his stripes, he didn't say
we will be healed. He said with his stripes, we
are healed. And when Peter quotes this in
first Peter, chapter two, he says, by whose stripes you were
healed. Isn't that glorious? I've entitled this message, The Sacrifices of the Christian. The Sacrifices of the Christian. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse
17, God says concerning the sins
of his people, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more." Now, where remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin. And don't dare try to bring one. Where the remission of these
is, There is no more offering for sin. Now, how is it that
these sins were remitted so that they are not remembered by God?
Look at Hebrews chapter 8, verse 12. For I will be merciful. And that word is actually propitious. The idea of mercy is certainly
involved, but he's saying, for I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness. I will be appeased. My justice
will be satisfied. I'll put away that sin so that
it is no more. I'm doing something about that
sin, and consequently, their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more. Look in chapter 10, verse 11. I want you to notice the contrast
here. And every priest There are a
lot of them, standing, daily ministering, and offering, oftentimes,
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, we had many priests, but this
one man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, They
offered oftentimes the same sacrifices. He offered one sacrifice for
sins forever. He sat down. Now, these other
priests, it says, standeth. They're always standing. They
never sat down because their work was never finished. But
this man who had offered his one sacrifice for sins sat down
on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Now these other priests, their
sacrifices, verse 11 says, can never take away sins. The sins
are still there. But what did he do? By that one
offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. What
a beautiful contrast of our great high priest. Now, verse 15 of
Hebrews chapter 10, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness
to us. This is what he bears witness
to. He bears witness to our conscience
that the blood of Christ makes us clean. Oh, bear witness to my conscience,
come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove. And teach me that Christ is my
cleansing. This is what he bears witness
of. For after that he'd said before, this is the covenant
that I'll make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll
put my laws in their hearts and in their minds while I write
them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is. There is no more offering for
sin. If Christ put away my sin by
the sacrifice of himself, you know what that means? It means
I have no sin. And I'm not going to insult the Lord by trying
to offer up something for sin when my Lord offered up a successful
atonement to the Lord. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Now having therefore
brethren, boldness. Now this is every believer's
privilege. Every believer. The youngest believer, I don't
care if someone has only been a believer for two seconds. This
is the heritage of the thief on the cross. This is the heritage
of Moses. This is the heritage of every
believer. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
confidence to enter into the holiest, the very presence of
God, how? By the blood of Jesus. That's
the only way I come. By the blood of Jesus, by anew. That word means a freshly slaughtered. You know, with the Lord, His
blood that was shed some 2,000 years ago, it's just as if it
just happened in God's sight. And it's a living way, not a
dead way. We're not offering up a dead
sacrifice. He's alive by this new and living
way, which he had consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh and having a high priest over the house
of God. Let us draw near. Right now. Right now, with a
true heart in full assurance of faith. being fully assured
that what Christ did is enough to give me this boldness. And I can come into his presence
right now. Really? Really. Right now. Having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. Now, because of his sacrifice,
I'm not going to dare offer up some kind of offering or sacrifice
for sin. I'm going to do it by His grace.
Christ has already offered that up, and I need nothing else. And because of His sacrifice,
you and I are called upon to live lives of sacrifice. Now, when you hear of the sacrifice
of Christ, if you believe what this says, it'll make you want
to live a life of sacrifice for him. Now, a religion without
personal sacrifice is worthless. It's worthless to you. It's worthless
to God, and it will be seen to be worthless on Judgment Day. Every believer is called upon
to live a life of sacrifice. Look in 1 Peter 2. Verse 5. You also, as lively stones, are
built up and spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices. This is not talking about sin
sacrifices, the blood sacrifice, but the believers called upon
to offer to God spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, well pleasing
to God, by Jesus Christ. Now, the only way they're well-pleasing
to God is through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
every believer is called upon to offer up these sacrifices. Turn to Romans chapter 12. Paul says in verse one, I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies. That's everything about you.
a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable, well-pleasing
unto God, which is your reasonable service. Is anything short of
this reasonable that you not give yourself, that I not give
myself, lock, stock and barrel in every way to Him? Is there
any sacrifice too much for His sake? Now, remember, a sacrifice costs
you something. If there's no sacrifice involved,
it's worthless. If my religion has no personal
sacrifice, it is a worthless religion. You can just write
that down. Now, I'm not talking about offering
up a sacrifice of sin sacrifice. You know that. But if My love
for Christ doesn't cause me to sacrifice certain things. I really
have no love to Christ. I remember, I think of when a
man tried to give David over in 1 Samuel, or 2 Samuel 24,
the animals for that sacrifice. He said, I don't want you to
pay for them. He said, here they are. I'm giving you the animals
and I'm giving you the wood for the burnt offering. It's all
yours for free. And you know how much David He
said, I will not offer to God that which cost me nothing. I won't do it. He refused and
he paid for those. And a believer is called upon
to a life of sacrifice. Don't you want to? For his sake. Our Lord said, if any man will
come after me, let him deny himself. There's some sacrifice involved
in that, isn't there? Let him deny himself. Let him take up
his cross. There's some sacrifice involved
in that. And let him follow me. There is sacrifice involved. And if my religion doesn't have
personal sacrifice, I repeat, it's worthless. It's worthless
to me if I won't sacrifice for it. It's worthless to me. It's
worthless to God, more worthless to God. And on Judgment Day,
it will be seen to be worthless. James said, faith without works
is what? Dead. Being alone. And we can just as truly say,
faith without sacrifice. is dead, being alone. Turn to Acts chapter 20 for a
moment. Acts chapter 20. This gives us some idea what
this looks like. Verse 22 of Acts chapter 20.
Paul says, And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem.
Not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the
Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me. Now, put yourself in Paul's place.
He knew wherever he went, he was going to preach. He was going
to tell the gospel. And you know what they were going
to do? They were going to arrest him. And they were going to beat
him. And they were going to put him in stocks. And there he would
be in prison for a time until they let him out. He'd go to
another city. Same thing. He'd preach the gospel. He'd get whipped. He'd get beaten.
He'd get thrown into jail. They'd let him out. He'd go to
another place and preach. They'd stone him, take him up
for dead. He'd get out and go on. He knew that was going to
happen everywhere he went in preaching the gospel. Now, there
was some sacrifice involved there, wasn't there? There was real
sacrifice involved. But look at his attitude about
it. Verse 24, But none of these things move me Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God." Now, that's what that looks like.
That's what that looks like. In Hebrews chapter 13, verses
15 and 16, our text. Notice the use of the word sacrifice. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, nonstop, that is,
the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, but to do
good and their sacrifice involved
in doing good. And to communicate, give, there's
sacrifice involved in giving. To do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. Now, in
that, those two verses of scripture, we read of three sacrifices that
the believer is called upon to offer up to the Lord. And I love
the way he begins in verse 15, by him, therefore, by him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Now,
any sacrifice I offer up, I know this, it's no good in and of itself.
It's really not. If my flesh is in it, it's no
good. And the only way we offer up
the sacrifice is by Him. We dare not bypass Him. We come into the Lord's presence
through Him, by Him, where He presents that miserable sacrifice
to the Father and is well-pleasing and acceptable to God. But this
doesn't merely mean that we come by him, knowing that the only
reason that we'll be heard is because of him, although that's
true. But that's really not all it means. I think what the Lord
said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to
the father, but by me. What he means by that is this.
When I come to the father, everybody in me comes to the father. And
that sacrifice I offer up is acceptable to the Father for
one reason, my union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He
comes into the Father's presence, I do too. Hebrews 7.25 says,
Wherefore, He is able to save them to the uttermost. I love
that language, don't you? He's able to save them to the
uttermost. that come to God by Him. By Him. Now, these spiritual
sacrifices that we speak of, by Him, let us offer up the sacrifice
of praise continually. By Him. By Him. Oh, we never get past that, do
we? By Him. Now, he says, by Him, let us
offer the sacrifice of praise Continually, praise to God. Now
what is praise? Well, praise is admiring Him.
Praise is adoring Him for who He is. We admire and we adore
all of His glorious attributes. Now here's what praise is. God
is sovereign, and I'm glad He is, and I praise Him for it.
I wouldn't want Him to be any other way, would you? Aren't
you glad He's sovereign? In your heart of hearts, when
God looks in your heart, does He know that you're glad that
He is sovereign in control of everything? I'm glad He's holy. I'm glad He's just. I praise
Him for His justice. However He is, as He has revealed
in His Word, I love Him that way, and I wouldn't want Him
to be any other way. And I praise Him for who He is. Now that's what praise is. You
praise God for who He is. It's not just, we had a praise
service. What's that mean? That means
we celebrate who He is. And we love who He is. Quit thinking about your love.
Just quit thinking about it right now. I'm thinking about Him.
Think about Him. Think about His sovereignty, His justice,
His holiness, His grace, His mercy, His love. You love Him
for that. You love him for who he is. That's
what it is to praise him. Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise continually. Where there is praise, there
is a childlike trust, there is real joy, there is real thankfulness,
and there is real zeal for his glory. Where there is true praise,
and this praise is to be continual, you know what that means? That
means at all times, that means under all circumstances, no matter
how painful that circumstance might be, you really believe
that the Lord is the one in control of that. And you praise Him for
who He is and what He's done. And you really believe that whatever
He does is right. You really believe that. I think
of what A.D. Muse used to say so often. I've
heard this, God is sovereign and will be thankful. And that's
praise. God is sovereign and will be
thankful. Now, he says regarding this praise,
By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually. That is, he's more specific,
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Now, that word giving thanks
is actually the word that is usually translated confessing. Now, here's what it is to praise
him. It's to confess his name. When I confess his name, I praise
him. Let me show you what that looks
like. Turn to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Verse 1, And as they spake unto
the people of the priest and the captains of the temple, and
the Sadducees came upon them being grieved. that they taught
the people and preached to Jesus the resurrection of the dead,
and they laid hands on them and put them in hold until the next
day, for it was now eventide, albeit many of them which heard
the word believed." And the number of the men was about 5,000. And
it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers, and elders,
and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John,
and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high
priest, were gathered together in Jerusalem. And when they had
set them in the midst, they asked, By what power or by what name
have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, You rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all
and to all the people of Israel, but by the name of the God of
Israel, the God of heaven, the God of creation, the God of the
scriptures, God did this. Would he have been telling the
truth if he said that? Yeah, he would have been. God did do this. But would he
have been compromising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Look what Peter says. Be it known unto you and to all
the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
him doth this man stand before you whole. This is the stone
which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the
head of the corner, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved." Now that is confessing his name. Now, when they saw the boldness
of Peter, John, and they perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men, these fellas didn't have anything going for them.
They marveled. And they took knowledge of Him
that they had been with Jesus. Now, this word confess. It translates
as giving thanks here, and indeed, that's part of the idea. Aren't
you thankful for His name? That name whereby you must be
saved. That name that makes you acceptable before God, yes, we
give thanks to that name, but it also means we declare that
name. We confess guilty of charge to believing His name is the
only way we can be saved. The word means to speak the same
thing. We speak the same thing with all of God's people. His
name is the only name whereby we will be saved. We really believe
that His name. In confessing His name, I'm obeying
Hebrews 10.23 when it says, Let us hold fast the confession of
our faith. Let us hold fast the confession
of our hope. What is my confession? What is
it that I confess? I confess that He is my salvation. I confess that by the grace of
God, I am willing to die for this. He is all. in my salvation. And that's what
it is to confess His name. And you know what? This confession
may cost you your property. It may cost you your family.
It may create all kinds of problems for you. It may even cost you
your life. But is that too much of a sacrifice? Not at all. Not at all. He says in our text
in Hebrews 13 15. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips confessing his name. Then in verse 16, he says, but.
To do good. And to communicate. Forget not. Don't forget about this. For
with such sacrifices. That's what he calls them, sacrifices.
With such sacrifices, God is well pleased. The sacrifice of doing good,
literally well doing, you know, it'll cost you and I to do well. For instance. You're here tonight. hearing the gospel. It might
have cost you something. You might be able to be making
money doing something else. But it costs you because this
is more important. Hearing the gospel. It may cost
you to give. It may be that in giving, it
keeps you from going on vacation this year. Or it prevents you
from doing something else in giving. But is that sacrifice? Is that too much? It may cost
you to be his witness. It may cost you your job. It
may cost you a friend. But if there's no sacrifice involved,
it's no good. Simply doing the right thing
will cost you. There's sacrifice involved in doing the right thing,
but we're to do the right thing regardless of the cost and leave
the results in the Lord's hand. Trusting him to take care of
us. How many times just in, say,
in business, somebody producing something, they're producing
something and they set out what we want to do. We want to give
the best product there is. We want to make the best car.
We want to make the best radio. We want to make the best TV.
That's our mission statement. We want to make the best product
there is. And perhaps they do. But somewhere
during that time, the mission changes. We want to make the
most money. We want to become the biggest.
We want to become the most well-known. What happens? Well, shortcuts
are taken. Sacrifices no longer are made
to make that best product because the mission changes. You know,
I was thinking this in preaching. My job, my job, my only job is
to fill this pulpit. That's it. To fill this pulpit
with the Word of God. And if I seek to fill these pews,
you know what's going to happen? This is going to be a very empty
place. Now, your job is to fill these
pews. My job is to, by the grace of
God, is to seek to fill this pulpit with the word of God. May that only be my mission. And if my mission changes, we're
in trouble. Y'all need to get rid of me if
my mission changes. Turn with me to Mark chapter
14 for a moment. To do good, literally well doing. Verse 7, For you have the poor with you
always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good. There's
the word. But me you have not always. Now,
what led the Lord to make this statement? Verse 3, now, what
is very interesting about this passage of Scripture This is
the only time the Lord Jesus Christ ever commends something
as a good work. And that does not mean there
were not other good works, but this is the only one that he
publicly commended as a good work. And what is so interesting
about it is all the disciples criticized it. Every one of them
had criticized it. That lets us know something,
doesn't it? Let's read about this. Verse three. And being
in Bethany, In the house of Simon the leper, as he said at meet,
there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
spikenard, very precious, very costly. And she broke the box. I believe I probably would have
wanted to keep the box as a memento to my generous deed, but she
broke it. She broke it. And she poured it on his head. Right off the bat, I see that
this is something that was done with personal sacrifice. They
said this was worth 300 pence, it was worth a year's wages.
I mean, wasting all this for a smell? Come on! She did it. A great personal
sacrifice. And another thing that I think
is glorious about this, she didn't say a word about it. We don't
hear one word she spoke. Verse 4, And there were some
that had indignation within themselves, saying, Why was 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, not just Judas, they,
the disciples, murmured against her. They criticized her for
what she did. I mean, this could have been
used in a much more pragmatic manner. It could have been used
to feed people. And for a smell, this is wrong. Verse 6. And Jesus said, let
her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. Now there's a good work. It's
done on him for his glory out of gratefulness to him. She hath wrought a good work
on me. For you have the poor with you
always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good. But me
you have not always. Here's what she did. She hath
done what she could. We always think about what we
can't do. Well, what can you do? What can
you do? She hath done what she could. And she did this in faith. She
hath come aforetime to anoint my body to the burial. She knew
what she was doing. You know the Lord told all the
disciples, I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to lay in a grave three
days, and after the third day, I'm going to walk out. He told
them all that. How many of them were there waiting
when our Lord walked out? None of them but this woman. She believed what he said. And
she was anointing his body before for the burial. Now that is a
good work. She did it in faith. By grace
he is saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
you know what? The Lord God of glory was well
pleased with this sacrifice that this woman made. we're called upon to a life of
sacrifice. And it's a good thing, isn't
it? And then he says in Hebrews chapter
13, back to our text, but to do good, forget not. For with
such sacrifices, God is well pleased and to communicate. Forgive not, forget not. You
know, here are things that, you know, it's pretty easy to forget
to do well, isn't it? And to forget to communicate,
to forget to give. That's what the word means when
he's talking about communication, share or give. I think of that
scripture, God loveth a cheerful giver. Someone who actually enjoys
and finds it a pleasure and a privilege of grace to give. Not someone
who's saying, well, I could use this money for something else.
Congratulating themselves, look how sacrificially I'm giving.
You know, that's an offense to God. God loveth a cheerful giver. How the Lord delighted in watching
that woman, that poor widow, give all her living. It's just
too much. But you know what the Lord said
about what she gave? He said she gave more than anybody
else. He watched the rich cast in their gifts, and he watched
that poor widow cast in all her living, and he was well pleased. You see, Giving, as Paul tells us, proves
the sincerity of our love. And giving sacrificially is truly
giving if there's no sacrifice involved. Something's wrong. You know, it's easy to give sacrificially
somebody you love, isn't it? It's easy. If you love them,
it's easy to give sacrificially. Somebody says, why are you spending
that much money on them? Because I love them. I enjoy
it. Well, what about 10 percent?
I get it all if I want. You know, that's the attitude of love. It's no sacrifice. It's enjoyable. And don't forget to confess,
don't forget to do good, and don't forget to give, for with
these sacrifices, God is well pleased, and we're the ones who
benefit in these sacrifices. Most folks think, well, if you
sacrifice, that means you lose something. No, if you sacrifice,
you gain something. Every time. And offering up this
sacrifice, we answer the end of our being, his glory. In offering up these sacrifices,
we give him his due. Nothing else is reasonable, is
it? In offering up these sacrifices,
we're the ones who are blessed. Didn't the Lord tell us it's
more blessed to give than to receive? And in offering up these
sacrifices, it preserves us from many evils. You know, if our
employment is praising, doing good and giving, it's going to
make us a high quality of life. It's going to save us from many
evils. And this is the means of usefulness. The example I thought about,
Paul the Apostle in Acts chapter 16, he confessed Christ and he
got thrown in prison for it. He was doing what he needed to
do. He confessed Christ. He exercised that demon-possessed
woman, made the demon get out. And they were upset. They thought
that their means of gain was gone. So in doing what he's supposed
to do and confessing Christ at that time, it cost him. He was
thrown into prison. He was beaten and he was hurt. And there he is in those stocks
at midnight, him and Silas in prison. It's cost him something.
But you know what they were doing? Scripture says they were praying
and singing praises to God. And all the prisoners heard him. And because of that sacrifice,
he's there in the prison, and God sends an earthquake. And
that keeper of the prison who treated Paul so violently and
cruelly now says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul gave us those glorious
words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And with me, he preached the
gospel and that man's whole house was saved. Now, that's all a
part of God's adorable providence. But look at the good that came
from that one sacrifice. He knew what was going to happen
when he did what he did. He knew I'm going to get thrown
in prison. He was used to it. I mean, it happened to him everywhere
he went. What happened to that sacrifice? Oh, that the Lord
would enable us to live lives of sacrifice. Is there any sacrifice
too much for his sake? There's not, is there? If you
believe His sacrifice for you. Now, that's what we're going
to close thinking of his sacrifice, not our sacrifice, but his sacrifice. What he sacrificed for you. You know, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That though he was rich. Yet
for your sake. Put your name in there, believer.
He had you on His heart. This wasn't some kind of generic
thing. He had your name on His heart. When my Lord died, He
was thinking of me. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though He was rich, oh, how rich He was. Rich in praise. Rich in righteousness. rich in possession, he's gone. Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes, he became poor. And who can describe his poverty? As he hung on the tree, stripped,
naked, knowing nothing but the wrath of God, bearing the sins
of His people, He became poor in praise. Everybody was laughing
at Him, making fun of Him. He became poor in righteousness. He was made sin. Oh, He became
poor. Who could describe the depths
of His poverty that you, through His poverty, might be rich? As we observe the Lord's table,
we're doing this in remembrance of His sacrifice for us. Let's pass out.