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Series Code: SSOS
Program Code: SSOS190006B
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00:01 Welcome back...
00:02 before the break, we took a look at a sacrifice 00:05 in Leviticus chapter 1 00:06 and it was the sacrifice that was the burnt offering 00:11 in which the entire animal was burned on the altar 00:15 and we noted that this was a sweet aroma to the Lord. 00:19 As a matter of fact, there is another part in the Bible 00:23 that describes this same offering 00:25 in Leviticus chapter 1 verse 12 through 13, 00:28 "And he shall cut it in pieces with its head... its fat... 00:31 the priest shall lay them in order on the wood 00:34 that is on the fire upon the altar: 00:35 But he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water: 00:39 then the priest shall bring it and burn it on the altar: 00:43 it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, 00:47 a sweet aroma to the Lord. " 00:51 The different parts of the animal 00:53 were placed in order on the altar... 00:55 the head... the inward parts... 00:57 the legs and one scholar noted that these parts represent 01:01 the different parts of the human entity. 01:04 The head represents the mind and the intellect... 01:07 the inward represents the will and the emotions... 01:10 the legs indicate the walk... 01:12 which represents the conduct and the lifestyle. 01:16 In other words, the significance of this particular offering 01:21 was that the person bringing the animal 01:24 and placing the animal upon the altar... 01:28 and the entire animal... the head... the inward parts 01:32 and the legs were burned up upon the altar 01:35 which was a sweet aroma to the Lord 01:37 typified this idea 01:40 that the sinner was placing himself on the altar. 01:44 It was a symbol of total surrender to God. 01:49 Not one part of the animal was left back 01:52 and it was the response of the individual 01:56 saying, "Lord, because of what you have done for me, 02:00 I will give you all of me. " 02:03 Now, in our human relationships 02:07 especially our most intimate human relationships 02:11 like marriage... 02:13 we go to weddings all the time 02:17 and I do not find individuals that are there 02:21 weeping and mourning because this is a terrible event 02:26 in which the husband and the wife 02:28 unreservedly give themselves 100% to the other person, 02:34 you don't see people say, "Oh, what a travesty... 02:37 this person is surrendering all to the other individual 02:40 for the rest of their life... " 02:42 radical thing... marriage is 02:43 because in saying, "Yes" to the person 02:46 you are saying "No" to everyone else, 02:48 you are giving all of yourself 02:50 and marriage in its most ideal form 02:54 is so beautiful 02:55 because you have the giving of all to each other. 02:59 The most intimate relationship this side of heaven 03:03 that we can have amongst ourselves is marriage 03:06 and why is that? 03:08 Because of total giving of yourself 03:10 to the other individual. 03:12 Oh, God is no different... 03:14 God wants to have a relationship with us 03:18 and this relationship... we cannot expect 03:21 to be any less than our human relationships 03:25 ideally speaking in terms of marriage. 03:28 When we think of our relationship with God, 03:31 God says, "Look, I give you all... " 03:33 and the freewill response of the individual 03:36 is to give all in return to God 03:40 because of the love of God that has touched our hearts. 03:43 This is what motivates the individual. 03:45 Now, the important thing about this offering 03:48 was that it was not mandatory, 03:50 in other words, it was voluntary. 03:52 The person was not forced to bring this animal 03:55 and bring it before the Lord, 03:57 the person came 03:58 because their hearts were overflowing with love 04:01 which means that every sacrifice we give to God, 04:04 really comes from this motivation of saying, 04:07 "Lord, I surrender all to you because I've been touched 04:11 by the love of God. " 04:12 The is from the book, "The Sanctuary Service" page 90, 04:16 "The offeror placed himself symbolically on the altar, 04:19 his entire life wholly devoted to God. " 04:23 Sanctuary Service, page 90, 04:24 And he was saying, "All that I am is Christ. " 04:29 Romans chapter 12 verse 1 says, 04:31 "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, 04:34 by the mercies of God, 04:36 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, 04:40 holy, acceptable to God, 04:43 which is your reasonable service. " 04:46 So, this idea or this notion of giving ourselves to God 04:50 as a sacrifice typified in the burnt offering 04:53 is not just a New Testament motif... 04:56 it's actually... or I should say, 04:58 it's not an Old Testament motif, 05:00 it is a New Testament idea as well 05:02 because Paul here says that in response to the love of God, 05:07 we give our bodies... 05:09 and notice what he says, "As a living sacrifice. " 05:14 Notice the word on the screen, it says, 05:17 "I beseech you, therefore... " 05:19 up to this point, Paul has been elaborating 05:22 and establishing the grace and the mercies of God 05:27 That's why he says, "Therefore... " 05:29 now whenever you see the word, "Therefore" 05:30 they say, "Ask what it's there for... " 05:32 in other words, it's a concluding statement. 05:34 You have, "premise... premise... premise... therefore... " 05:37 so in chapters preceding this chapter... chapter 12, 05:41 Paul has spent an exorbitant amount of time 05:44 talking about the mercies of God... 05:47 the love of God... 05:48 the grace of God... 05:50 and then he says, 05:51 "In light of all the mercies of God, 05:54 I want you to present your bodies a living sacrifice. " 05:58 In other words, when you're touched by the love of God... 06:02 when you're just filled with that heartfelt response 06:08 to what He has done for you, 06:10 you say, "Lord, I give myself as a living sacrifice. " 06:14 This is what's typified in the Altar of Burnt Offering 06:18 or the Burnt Offering Sacrifice on the brazen altar 06:21 and notice what Paul says at the end of this verse, 06:24 "You present yourselves a living sacrifice, 06:27 holy acceptable to God... " 06:29 and in the last part he says, "which is reasonable. " 06:34 In other words, this is not unreasonable, 06:36 this is not something that is incomprehensible, 06:40 this is not something that's irrational, 06:42 Paul says, "In light of everything 06:44 that God has done for you, 06:45 when you give yourself back to Him 06:48 and say, "Lord, all that I am... all that I have is Christ... " 06:52 Paul says, "Look, this is reasonable... 06:55 this is rational... 06:56 this is something that makes sense 06:59 in light of everything that God has done for us. " 07:01 Now, in Leviticus chapter 2, 07:03 there's another sacrifice that the Bible mentions 07:06 and it is the meal or the food or the grain offering 07:09 and the Bible says, 07:10 "When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, 07:12 their offering is to be of the finest flour... 07:15 they are to pour olive oil on it, 07:17 put incense on it 07:19 and take it to Aaron's sons... the priests... 07:21 "The priest shall take a handful of flour and oil, 07:24 together with the incense... " 07:26 This was a meal offering 07:28 and they were to burn it as a portion 07:31 on the altar... 07:32 the food offering... an aroma pleasing to the Lord, 07:34 the rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. 07:38 It is a most holy part of the food offerings 07:42 presented to the Lord. 07:43 "By this burnt offering... " according to Leslie Hardinge 07:46 "the worshipper affirmed 'all that I am is Christ's' 07:50 and then on the basis of this dedication, 07:53 further declared through his meal offering 07:55 'all that I have is Christ's. '" 07:58 Now, the unique thing that connects 08:00 Leviticus chapter 1 and 2 08:02 is... chapter 1, you are placing yourself symbolically 08:06 on the altar. 08:08 In chapter 2, you are giving up your possessions... 08:12 or of your food and placing it on the altar. 08:15 Leviticus chapter 1 was saying, "All that I am is Christ's... " 08:20 and Leviticus chapter 2 was saying, 08:22 "All that I have is Christ's. " 08:25 This is an important distinction to make. 08:28 In other words, it's one thing to say, 08:30 "Lord, all that I am is Christ's 08:33 but you can't have anything that I have... " 08:35 no, the second part logically follows the first part. 08:39 In other words, if you accept Jesus as your Savior, 08:43 it indicates that all of your possessions 08:46 belong to Him as well. 08:49 Jesus is Savior and Lord of your life. 08:53 Matthew chapter 22 verse 37, you have this idea 08:57 of loving God with all your heart... 09:00 with all your soul... 09:02 and with all of your might. 09:05 This is reasonable... this is rational... 09:07 in our relationships with one another, 09:10 we expect... especially in the marriage relationship 09:13 even in the secular world, 09:14 we want the total heart of the other individual 09:19 in response to our love. 09:21 Jim Elliot, a missionary to South America, 09:24 who died as a martyr, notice what he said, 09:27 "Father, let me be weak 09:29 that I may lose my clutch on everything temporal. 09:33 My life, my reputation, my possessions, 09:37 Lord, let me loose the tension of the grasping hand. 09:40 How often I have released a grasp 09:43 only to retain what I prized 09:46 releasing all that I may be released... 09:48 so let me release my grasp. " 09:53 I found, in my Christian experience, 09:56 there are certain areas of my life 09:59 that I find a whole lot easier to let go of than others. 10:04 Do you find it the same way? 10:05 Do you find that there are areas of your life 10:07 that you're like, "Lord, you can have it all... " 10:08 and then other areas of your life, 10:10 you're like, "No Lord, I want to have a little bit more control 10:12 of this area of this life... " 10:14 and here, Jim Elliot, who died as a missionary 10:16 to South America says, 10:18 "Lord, let me loose my grasp on these things. " 10:22 Now, this is not to say that God is calling us to go out there 10:25 right now to sell everything that we have, 10:27 but what it is saying is to hold on to entities 10:31 whether they be physical or... or things in our own lives 10:34 hold on to them loosely... 10:37 so that if God ever calls us to surrender... 10:40 specially our possessions... 10:41 we can say, "Lord, whatever it is you want me to do, 10:45 I will do... " 10:46 and this is a prayer that we can pray. 10:48 Clifford Goldstein in his book, "Bestseller" 10:52 describes how his dream was to be a novelist. 10:56 He went to a Kibbutz in Israel 11:00 and dedicated his life to writing this novel 11:03 and this is what he said, 11:04 "One night, the Lord came to me and just said to me, 11:07 'You've been playing with Me long enough, 11:10 if you want Me tonight, burn the novel... ' 11:12 and in that instant the Lord showed me 11:15 that the novel was my God 11:16 and nothing else in the world meant more to me than that book. 11:20 That book was everything to me 11:22 but then, it's fascinating 11:25 because I had this back and forth 11:27 and then finally at one point, I surrendered... 11:30 I said, 'Okay God, I want You, 11:33 I want truth more than I want this novel... ' 11:36 and once I made that choice... 11:38 I made that surrender... 11:40 all the turmoil and all the struggle... 11:43 everything lifted. 11:45 I've never been sorry. 11:46 My life radically, radically changed 11:49 and that night I became a born again believer. " 11:55 Here Clifford Goldstein is... 11:57 he's struggling because he's holding on to this novel, 12:00 this novel was his life 12:01 and he said, "Lord, I want You more than I want this novel. " 12:06 There are times in our Christian experience 12:09 when we can come to God and kind of be fakey... 12:11 we say, "Lord, everything is fine, I'm not struggling... " 12:14 but the authentic communication that we can have with God 12:18 through prayer is saying, "Lord, I love this thing, 12:20 help me to hate it. " 12:22 You see, surrender is not something 12:25 that we have to fabricate, 12:26 surrender is not something that we have to 12:29 just get from our own bootstraps 12:31 or pull ourselves by our own bootstraps 12:33 and say, "Lord, I'm going to surrender to you 12:35 and just grit it out. " 12:36 No, the reality is that even surrender 12:39 is a God-given gift. 12:41 You can say, "Lord, help me to be willing to be made willing, 12:45 change my heart because I can't change myself. 12:48 I'm holding on to this idol in my life 12:51 help me to let go. " 12:54 Won't you surrender to Jesus today? 12:56 Won't you say to Him, "Lord, help me to be willing 13:00 to be made willing. " 13:02 Won't you say, "Lord, I love this thing... 13:04 change my desires... 13:06 help me to desire. " 13:08 God is willing and able to change your heart. 13:12 He's not asking you to fabricate surrender, 13:15 He's asking you to come to Him 13:17 just the way that you are 13:19 and ask Him for the gift of surrender. 13:22 Won't you surrender to Him today? 13:24 Join us again next time as we study 13:27 the sanctuary, salvation and our Savior. |
Revised 2019-10-08