Life Is About Sacrifice

Let's pray Lord Jesus Thank you for your many blessings. We thank you for the word that you give us We pray that that word would perform its work in us We could live by it Lord you said we shouldn't live by bread alone, but by every word of God Let's pray that that word would perform its work over that it would bear and would produce And that we would be conformed into The image of your son Jesus. Thank you father. Amen I was dropping off my son at a baseball game this morning and as we were driving He was he was late and We had a talk as we were driving and I said, you know something son you need to learn something about sacrifice Because a lot of people make a lot of sacrifice that you can do the things and give you opportunity in your life And he said well, I'm not I wasn't late. I I'm on time. I But you're not on time According to what other people's commitments are and then I said you you left rice laying on the table There's rice all over the floor. Your bedroom. I'm sure is unclean And you didn't prepare yourself to even deal with your own mess. Let alone To be a blessing for others and I went on to explain some things to him. We had a devotion. We had some prayer And a lot of times when we're young Might even be part of the family of God. It's all about what's in it for me What can I get out of it? I've had over the years people come to the church and say well, you know, we don't you don't have a good children's program You know, we're just not really edified because of the children's program at the church Or you know, we don't see that there's a Sunday school or you know What what about during the week like where is the this or that? You know what in all situations? You're gonna be able to find fault There's a problem with every place where you go Some people go to a church because they have all these wonderful programs, but they're devoid of the Holy Spirit And so you'll say well, you know, the Holy Spirit's not there, but they have wonderful programs. And so it's good for the kids Why don't you be the person to make it better? Rather than say well, you know what? I'm gonna leave because it's not good here. You say hey, you know life is about sacrifice I don't know any mother Who doesn't make a sacrifice for their children or a father This is also part of our talk on the journey So, you know what? there's a lot of sacrifice that's gone in and when I hear things about what's in it for me and is there more for me And I'm gonna be the first one. I want to be first Then we fail as parents to do our job You see obviously you don't understand that being a Christian is all about what you can give not what you can take It's more blessed to give than to receive It's not about sucking out what as much as what you can It's about how can I be a blessing because God has done so much for me. I want to be a blessing to others And when we're young in the Lord and children Lord, we don't understand that principle, but it's a life of sacrifice And I went on to explain to my son I says listen we make sacrifices for all of our kids We've made them for years. We've we've gone without doing our own interests Taking care of our own desires. I said we could be out on the golf course with membership golfing doing our own thing We could be going on vacation spending our money on all these other things rather than Investing in you guys, but we've chosen to make sacrifice I've seen it around the table where not quite enough food has been made or some guests have stayed and I see my wife go without eating. I Don't know how many you know, but everybody participates and we're grateful for it But sacrifice is made to make it happen so we can have fellowship You know what fellowship is important, but it doesn't happen without sacrifice. I Said son, I have to get back because I need to prepare Because I want to share a word that comes from God and if I don't hear from God, how can I share? And so we need to leave a little early We need to make a little extra sacrifice so that we have something left to give We don't just want to come all spent and just say well here I am here I'm spent and there's nothing to give When Jesus came he didn't come just to give a little he came to give everything He came to make the ultimate sacrifice. I want to read here in John chapter 15 in Verse 12 John and chapter 15 and verse 12. It says this is my commandment to you a new covenant Commandment not the ten from the Old Covenant But a new covenant Commandment. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you That's the commandment love from a pure heart Dan shared about having a good conscience and from sincere faith toward God Greater love verse 13 has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends and Jesus said you're my friends if you do whatever I asked I Was talking to my son on the way and I said listen, you know My dad was the best dad that he could be But he was only working with the tools that he had and I can find fault with him But I said I asked you to go pull nails out of boards and if I don't give you a hammer How are you gonna perform that task? I says he's just working with the tools he had and he's going by the dad He had and I started to have a little cry and I said, you know I'm working with the tools that I have and I said I'm looking to Jesus to teach me and To to love you not the way my dad thought best to love me but the way that Jesus laid his life down and Gave himself as a ransom and so we have to be willing to make sacrifice When you come to the Lord, it's all in it what's in it for me, what's Jesus gonna do for me? I thought you know, I'm gonna add Jesus to the package and I was gonna be able to prosper naturally even more I started buying all kinds of property thinking that I was going to prosper I thought all these blessings were gonna chase me and overtake me But I want to tell you something every single one of them was going bankrupt You want to know why because my desire for Jesus was what I could get out of it How I could prosper from it When I was young in the Lord, I started real zealous for Jesus and I had a guy but my son's worked for him Teagan And he called me up and he says how far are you gonna go with this Jesus thing? And I says all the way I'm going with Jesus all the way and he says You still gonna work with all those shed full of stolen tools that you got there Because I had bought all these Stolen tools over ten thousands of dollars where the stolen tools I'd bought in my old life and I was working with them with Jesus And I thought wow, my goodness all the stuff was engraved on him I knew exactly where they came from from easy rent at center in Langley And I thought oh, I'm gonna get all this joy And so I made a big old heap and I poured gas on it and I burnt I got all this joy Because I didn't want to go to jail Because I knew I was buying stolen tools That's what it was when I was young in the Lord when I got older in the Lord I got conviction because we did a break and enter when I was Just married and I got an insurance claim and that thing the devil hounded me in my mind every time I would preach for about 15 years 10 years You're a liar. You're a thief You're gonna make that right you're preaching about making things, right? You're gonna make that right and I said, well, there's no condemnation in Christ and I try to I try to pray it off Finally, I said, you know what? The Bible says if I confess my sin He's faithful and just to forgive me of my sin cleanse me of unrighteous So rather than confess it to any of the brothers in the church. I Called a good brother from Alberta. I call him the Kodiak Dale Drager And I knew that he was far enough away that I could be accountable but not too accountable So I called him and I confessed and he said well praise God you confess but you know what you got to do boy I said, yeah, I'm doing it He says restitution. Oh I've made so much restitution already. What do you mean more restitution? And I said, I can't I'm gonna get a criminal record. I'm gonna go to jail insurance companies. There's no mercy with them He said boy this thing you're never gonna be free from this thing until you make restitution Till you open up that checkbook. I Said well, we're in our line of credit. It's gonna cost money. I wrestled with God. I wrestled with that council I tried to find every other loophole And then I realized you know what? It would be easy for me just to give the 10,000 to the poor Or the 15 or whatever. It was that I wrote the check for It was hard to humble myself And to call up that insurance company and tell him I'm a thief and I'm a liar And I was teaching Sunday school at the time and we did this thing. I Was a deceiver and an antichrist the biggest of them all That was a testimony to the insurance man He said listen, you just write that check and we'll call it square. But you know what when you're facing Prison and you're facing accountability and consequences. It's never easy But I'm gonna tell you something. There's no more condemnation anymore for me Because whenever I preach the devil doesn't keep throwing that thing in my face yes, it was true those things that I did but you know what I faced him and I said this is true and By the grace of God, whatever I'm able to do I'm gonna be able to make it right and the devil's never thrown it in my face And I'm grateful for that because we have to learn something about humility. I was probably getting real proud preaching the gospel all them scriptures and pointing my finger at others and and Telling them they need to make things right. And you know what the Lord said you still got some things to make, right? no better way to humble yourself than when you're facing prison and Saying you know what Lord I throw myself at your mercy. I deserve prison, but I'm pleading for your mercy It doesn't commend you to God, but if the Holy Spirit puts it on your conscience you need to obey God You'll never outdo and right all the wrongs But if the Holy Spirit brings you conviction you obey the Holy Spirit and if the devil's accusing you get the condemnation off There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ But if you're hiding your sin and you're covering over unconfessed sin, then I'll tell you there's a lot of condemnation There's a way to get rid of it come to the light Let your deeds be exposed Let the Lord deal with these things It's a life of sacrifice. I want to read something in Romans in chapter 5 Acts Romans Chapter 5 Therefore having been justified by faith our righteousness doesn't come by making amends But that prepares the way for the Lord This guy's willing to humble himself and he really wants to be serious in his walk with God he wants to change You know, it's hard to go and keep stealing if you've had to go and ask somebody forgiveness for stealing You say man, I don't want to do that again put some fear in you Imagine you go and steal from somebody and then Two months later you stole from him again. You got to go and ask forgiveness again Well, Jesus says seven times 77 you gotta be willing to forgive that's not a good testimony So I'm one of the king's kids I'm just a liar a thief in us and I steal You know, that's who we were but you were washed But you were justified by the blood and now he's changing us sanctification By the power of the spirit That's not who we are anymore. That's who we were We once were darkness, but now we're light in the Lord. We're to walk as children of light and We're to learn thereby It says having been justified by faith in Christ we have peace with God there's no condemnation there there's peace Through whom we have access by faith into this grace You're not going to get access into the power of his grace except by faith in Jesus Christ To him who believes it says he's precious But to the disobedient the one who keeps stumbling into sin The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. You keep stumbling at the word Thus showing what you're not right with the Lord You keep falling into the same areas of sin. You're not right with the Lord and You don't have confidence But it says that when we come before him, we'll have confidence at the judgment We want to have confidence when we meet the Lord And so don't leave any rock unturned if the Holy Spirit's convicted you make some amends as John the Baptist Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his path straight It's not what saves you. It's what shows the Lord that you're serious about change Lot of us want change. We want to ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, which I did a hundred times and nothing changed Until I started to deal with sin till I started to humble myself There's not righteous not one You don't have to look too far in your past to see that your righteousness is filthy rags. Nothing good Oh, I gave some money in the box You gave some of your money a sacrifice of money praise the Lord The next thing is a sacrifice of time The third thing is a sacrifice the ultimate sacrifice of giving your life for the Lord You're not your own. You've been bought with a price To lay your life down he goes on from here Through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God We don't see the glory of God in our life yet. We see a glimpse of it. We see a bit of it We see some love there But we don't see it manifest the way that we ought to see it. We don't have that sweetness of the fruit We have some fruit. We have some some say hey, you're a good brother For a good man, someone might dare to die right for a good brother We want to become like Christ Oh Oh Taste and see That the Lord is good Have you tasted of the goodness of God if he tasted of his kindness towards you? He tasted of his mercy and his compassions in your life. And if you said because what he did for me and made the ultimate sacrifice I Have to change. I don't know how to change but I'm coming now I'm coming Verse 6 it says when we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Goes on to say for almost no righteous man will anyone die in the world, but perhaps for a good man. Someone might dare to die But God demonstrates his own love for toward us In the Good Friday service of the cross Now while we were still sinners Christ dies for the ungodly Good Friday 1998 that's the time when My dad didn't know how to be a dad One thing he did know is he knew how to pray and he fasted 40 days. He didn't eat for this hard-hearted sinner That he could somehow find repentance Wasn't for a good man that he died on the cross Wasn't for a righteous man. It was for me and it was for you He gave the ultimate sacrifice So that we could live while we are yet sinners he demonstrates his love towards us Christ died for us greater love has no one than this to lay his life down Not just only for his friends but for his enemies that's something that we have to learn To give to people who are unthankful To be generous with our time to people who are unloving unholy Who are takers? It's not easy, but that's what Jesus did toward us. He gave us an opportunity to be reconciled He built that bridge in one Weekend so to speak reconciling a way for us to be reconciled back to God and read something from Leviticus and 16 Genesis Exodus Leviticus There was a time when I Mean God's very particular. He's written. He's holy Just because he's merciful. It doesn't mean he's not hold Sometimes we confuse the fact that he's holy with he's merciful and we say well You know God just turns a blind eye to sin because that's just he's that good We look at the priests in the Old Testament There was Moses and Aaron and Miriam and Moses are Aaron's sons and There was a time when some proud men rose up and challenged Moses and said we hear from God also Korah He was one of those Men of renown one of those proud men Who heard from God who had a call of God on his life? And he rose up and challenged Moses and Dothan and Abiram were there Aaron's sons 250 Levites were there who had the priesthood And they were they put profane fire on their sensors and they held it up to God and there was a challenge there You know what Moses did he knew what was gonna happen The proud don't stand before the Lord. He got on his face And he said Lord you do what you got to do and fire came from heaven and destroyed all those priests Burned them all up including Aaron's two sons The ground opened up and swallowed up those rebels Who heard from God swallowed them up and now here God is speaking to Aaron He told him you don't grieve you don't weep over them sons them sons were rebels along with the rest of them Don't you shed one tear for those boys? That'd be tough. You know, we have got a lot of loyalty to family We need that loyalty to the Lord It says in 16 1 now the Lord had spoken to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron When they offered profane fire before the Lord and they died the Lord is holy He's merciful and he's compassionate, but he's also holy and The Lord said to Moses you tell Aaron your brother not to come into this tabernacle just any old way You want to come to Christ? You got to prepare the way You got to come according to his way Otherwise don't come because it's a fearful thing If you're not right before the Lord and so he says When he comes into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat He has to come in a certain way before the ark lest Aaron die God says I'm gonna take Aaron out if he if he don't come reverently and in the right way Aaron's gonna die He warns Moses about it and he says this is the way he says I'm gonna appear in a cloud before the mercy seat in the in the tent And that's Aaron shall come this way into the holy place he's coming with blood He's got to come bring in the blood of the sacrifice of the bull He needs to have a sacrifice for himself and then he's gonna bring two goats and he's gonna have a sacrifice for the people and One goats gonna go free and you tell him you better not come in there without the blood We've been justified because of the blood of Christ Therein lies our salvation But we have to come in a certain way not just any old way Otherwise, it's a fearful thing if we are practicing sin to fall into the hands of the Living God He says you tell him to come with the blood the young bull as a sin offering Also a ram for a burnt offering and he shall put on holy linen tunic He should put on the linen trousers for his body and he shall gird himself with a linen sash Put on a linen turban on his head These are the holy garments he needs to be dressed in a proper way Clothed with the righteousness and he shall wash his body with water and then he should put them on Why does God say this you say? Oh, that's old Testament There's symbolism there It says husbands wash your wives with the water of the word He talks about being sanctified by the word to the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit We need to allow the Word of God to wash us So we come the right way in the presence of God to choose the fear of the Lord He says this is the way Aaron better show up This way with blood he shall take verse 5 he shall take from the congregation the children of Israel two kid goats as a Sin offering one for a ram burnt offering Aaron shall offer a bull sin offering. That's for himself and To make atonement for himself and for his house. There's children and he shall take two goats verse 7 and Present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting and Aaron shall cast lots For the two goats you got the two goats and he's casting lots which one's gonna die which one's going free Which one is going to be sacrificed as a sin offering for the people which one is escape goat gets to go free Today we have a different understanding of scapegoat, but the scapegoat and the Old Testament was an escape goat one that would get to go free and Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offered as a sin offering for the people But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat Shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and to let it go as a scapegoat into the wilderness Why am I reading this? Because it says in John in chapter 11 after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead they gathered together the chief priests and the high priests they were there and he prophesied not by himself but by the Spirit and he said it is expedient that one man die Because the Romans are gonna come and take away our place and they're gonna take away our authority here over the Jews If this guy because everybody's following him and nobody's gonna follow us and we're gonna lose our place We're gonna lose our promise we're gonna lose our position and so it's it's imperative that one person dies so the nation can go free and he spoke this by the Holy Spirit and That's why Jesus came that Jesus would become God's goat God's lamb That would take the punishment for the nation. So the nation could go free Of which you and I not just the Jews only but also the Gentiles and all as many as it would come to him To receive him they would receive that right to become children of God. I want to finish here in John chapter 18 to read a little bit about Jesus and what he did for us and I know it's Resurrection Sunday, but it's also important for us to understand the sacrifice that was made because There has to first be a death before there can be a resurrection from the dead The first has to be a penalty paid for sin before we can experience freedom from sin The blood has to first be applied in order for us to be as white as snow Without the sacrifice. There's no resurrection and John's in the process of denying the Lord the cocks crowing now Rather Peter is in the process of denying the Lord and the cocks crowing now We read here in John in chapter 18 verse 14 now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people and So it happens that they come and they bring Jesus Before the high priest and the high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching and Jesus answered I spoke openly to the world. I also taught in your synagogues in the temple Where the Jews were meeting and in secret I've said nothing Why do you ask me those things? Ask those who hurt me what I said and when he had said these things one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand and Said you're answering the high priest just like that. I don't know I'm Nepal and Jesus answered and said He didn't answer like Paul, but he said this if I have spoken evil bear witness to the evil I've spoken But if I've spoken well, then why do you strike me then Annas? Sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest now Simon stood there. He warmed himself and there he denies the Lord again and immediately the rooster crows then Jesus From Caiaphas he went to the Petroleum. It was early in the morning, but they themselves didn't want to go there Lest they should defile themselves because they wanted to eat the Passover So here we see they that Jesus was now becoming defiled going to the Petroleum But they themselves were righteous and they didn't want to be defiled But they wanted Jesus to die and they were Consenting to his death, but they themselves wanted to remain clean so that they could eat the Passover. Some people just absolutely missed the fact of What's going on here and we just claim the blood of Jesus and We hold to self-righteousness and we absolutely missed the sacrifice You know some of you if you're bored, or if you have time listen to Zach Poonin's video called 50 characteristics of a Pharisee The last time I listened to that I found about eight things that were true in my life See how many you find Because that's the other ditch brother Zach talks about That thousand foot pit that you don't realize that self-righteousness and pride will take you to hell If you're a sinner at least, you know, but these Pharisees These scribes these high priests. They didn't know that the day of their visitation. They didn't understand what was going on. And so it happened verse 30 that they answered and said to him If he were not an evildoer He said to Pilate then we wouldn't have delivered him to you and Pilate said You take him and judge him according to your law and they said it's not lawful for us according to our law to kill somebody They were trying to get somebody else to do it and he goes on from there and Jesus He said are you a king and he said are you asking or you asking for somebody else? And he said am I a Jew? And Jesus answered him if you're speaking for yourself about this or did others say this concerning you and he said am I a Jew And your nation your own nation and your own chief priests have delivered you to me What have you done and Jesus went on to say my kingdom is not of this world But if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight join that for a few minutes My kingdom or this world my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews But now my kingdom is not from here Pilate then said are you a king? And he said you say rightly that I am a king and for this cause I was born No, don't miss this for this cause. I was born into the world that I should bear witness to the truth everyone Who is of the truth? Here's my voice Are you of the truth are you hearing what God is singing to your heart this morning Pilate was hearing You know what he did right after that Pilate said to him what is truth and he just looked in the face of Jesus Doesn't say Jesus said anything He went out to the Jews and he said listen, I find absolutely no fault in this guy at all. I Find no fault in him you kill him. I don't want nothing to do with it But you know what they used tactics of intimidation they used fear they said hey if you don't kill him You're not a friend of Caesar Then he goes on from there in three nine and he says but you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover a scapegoat Should be released at the Passover. This is your custom Do you want me therefore to release to you the king of the Jews Then they all cried out again saying not this man, but give us Barabbas Now Barabbas was a robber he was a thief And they all cried out give us Barabbas Barabbas shall be our scapegoat and what they were saying is our sin be upon him Jesus You know what we see a picture here from the Leviticus and 16 of the scapegoat Being Barabbas being you and being me We're deserving of death I heard some testimonies here about thieves this morning Aline shared about being a thief Dan shared about being a thief. I've confessed to you about being a thief Whether we've stolen money or we've stolen time from God or we've we've held back from him and our tithes and our offerings How we've robbed God yet. Jesus died for us while we were yet ungodly Praise God for his kindness and his compassion toward us that he didn't kill us He should have killed us But he's had mercy on us because mercy triumphs over judgment There's opportunity for us to be part of the resurrection of Christ To know the power of his resurrection along with the fellowship of the sufferings sacrifice If any man desire to come after me It's not an easy road the gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life and this you find it Will you be one who strives for the narrow gate? Or do you want the easy way? The wide road leads to destruction many go in on it, but narrow is the way and difficult Is the way that leads to life? Few find it Jesus is the gate to the to the sheepfold enter by him You have to come according to the word If we come in some other way, we're a thief and we're a lot a robber We deceive ourselves We have to be genuinely born-again We can't lie to ourselves. If there's all this bad fruit that we see in our life Then what do we say? We have to say it's a bad tree and When we come to the Lord and we say Lord, I am no good. I Am a bad tree. I have bad fruit have mercy on me Therein lies the forgiveness of sins You can't come any other way To Christ but that way here I am a sinner have mercy on me We see ten lepers The lepers were the uncleans People were staying away from them Jesus didn't stay away from the uncleans It's a picture not of someone who has a disease It's a picture of someone who's practicing sin And when we go to the creek we go to the uncleans When we go to Wagner we go to the uncleans and when we go out on the street or wherever we are We we come among the uncleans That perhaps we might win one Where are the other nine? Well Success rate not too good not with Jesus neither But then there's one who comes back There's one who comes back then you might be that one one who comes back and Thanks the Lord for having mercy on him You see well, it's not worth it our success rate is 10% in a school we would flunk every time But not with God because God is always looking for the one He left the 99 to find the one that was straying that was going astray Always watching for that one son But waiting for his heart to turn to say I've sinned against heaven and against you Will you be the son today that says I've sinned against heaven and against you Just say it to God And to call your father and say it to him And allow the Lord to come and bring time to refreshing again into your life When I came I didn't know how I was going to do it And the devil said you're never going to make it and I said devil doesn't matter whether I can make it What matters is that I obey right now And I humble myself Because he opposes the proud but he gives his grace To the humble therefore humble yourselves under the heavy hand of conviction So he can lift us up Now may the God of all peace strengthen you and establish you and perfect you and settle you And may the peace that passes understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ And may he do exceedingly and abundantly more for you than you can ask think hope or imagine Make your peace with God In Jesus name be blessed