April 27 – Sacrifice of Fools

April 27 – Sacrifice of Fools

Ecclesiastes 5:1  Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 

Keep thy foot while going to worship God. This is the thought of Moses and Holy ground. This is the idea of reverence and respect for the idea of meeting God here. Fruitful and acceptable worship is what is under consideration here. Would this mean that God does not accept any way we desire to worship God? Absolutely, a serious study of worship in the Old Testament and the New Testament is needed to find God’s way of worship. To keep your foot means to be careful of your conduct when coming into the presence of God. A place of worship is a sanctified place because of the presence of God. If we were meeting outside under a tree, the very presence of God demands a reverence because His presence sanctifies that ground just as much as the ground at the burning bush.

Hear the word. Be ready to draw near with great desire to hear and obey the call of the Lord in salvation, surrender, and service. The Word is precious indeed and much needed today. The inward devotion of the spirit will direct our outward worship in a manner that is approved and loved by God. The Word should convict us as to the worship that is acceptable, not based upon our desire but based upon what the Word has revealed to us about the character of God and the desire of God for a proper and acceptable worship.

The sacrifice of fools would be a sacrifice that is unacceptable to God. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were not to be sick, lame or blind. What are we offering that comes under the heading of “the sacrifice of fools? Some offer out of ignorance, others out of convenience, and yet others offer out of emotion. Knowledge of God’s Word should guide our sacrifice of worship to God.

A reverent sincerity is always appropriate. Obedience is always acceptable.

TRANSFORMED BY God; Not Conformed to the World

Romans 12:1-4

1. The Living Sacrifice.

   1. I Beseech you: – Paul appeals to our Will. God calls us to make a choice about the way that we live for Him.

   2. Therefore brethren. – Paul begins this letter with a strong doctrinal section and follows with exhortations to Christian living. Paul begs Christians to live a certain way in light of what God did for them.

      1. Paul is saying that the Christian life is dependent on the great Bible doctrines.

   3. By the mercies of God.

      1. Reminds us that we do this because of the mercy shown to us by God.

      2. We are only able to offer ourselves to God as He works His mercy in us.

      3. God commanded us to do this, and He makes it possible for us to do it.

      4. The heathen sacrifice in order to obtain mercy.

      5. Biblical faith teaches that the mercy provides the basis of sacrifice as our reasonable response.

      6. Think of the mercies of God Paul has explained to us so far:

         1. Justification

         2. Adoption in Jesus and identification with Christ.

         3. Under grace not law.

         4. The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

         5. Help in all affliction.

         6. The certainty of coming glory.

         7. The confidence of no separation from the love of God.

         8. Total confidence in God’s continued faithfulness.

   4. Present your bodies

      1. Spiritually speaking, our bodies are brought to God’s altar.

      2. Present your bodies means God wants you not just your work.

      3. The WILL is to control the body, not the body control the will.

   5. A living sacrifice.

      1. The sacrifice is living because it is brought alive to the altar.

      2. The sacrifice is living because it stays alive at the altar; it is ongoing.

   6. Holy, and acceptable to God

      1. Holy, acceptable to God, not what we think is acceptable to us.

      2. Leviticus I:9; An offering made by fire a sweet aroma to the LORD.

      3. Whole burnt offering – completely yielded to God.

      4. Holiness; we are make Holy in Jesus Christ and should be determined by our will to live a Holy life.

   7. Reasonable Service

      1. Under the New Covenant, we have far greater mercies, so it is reasonable to offer a far greater sacrifice than just an animal.

2. Being transformed we are not to conform

   1. The popular culture and manner of thinking is rebellion against God.

      1. We are not to be conformed to it.

      2. It is an ungodly pattern.

      3. This process must be resisted.

      4. Let us be very clear on this.

         1. Provocative dress is conforming to the world. – I Timothy 2:9

         2. Tattoos are conforming to the world – Leviticus 19:28

         3. Multiple face piercings and gaping holes in ear lobes and cheeks is conforming to this world.

         4. Cursing is conforming to this world. – James 5:12

         5. Partaking of alcoholic beverage is conforming to this world. – Proverbs 23:29-35

   2. Be Transformed.

      1. By renewing of your mind.

      2. To many Christians live based on feeling so are only concerned about doing.

      3. The life based on feeling is ruled by emotion and ignores the renewing of the mind.

      4. The life based on doing is not interested in Theology but is looking for some one to give them the four points for this or that and never know the transforming power of God and therefore ignores the renewing of the mind.

      5. God wants us to be passionate and doers yet our feelings are insufficient foundations for the Christian life.

      6. The first questions cannot be “How do I feel?” or “What do I do?” Rather, it must be “What is true here? What does God’s Word say?”

   3. Transformed

      1. From the Greek – metamorphoo – describing a metamorphosis.

      2. The same word used to describe the transfiguration of Jesus. – Mark 9:2-3

      3. This word, transformed is used in – II Corinthians 3:18.

      4. This transformation and renewing of our minds takes place as we behold the face of God, spending time in His glory, His Word and in Pray to Him.

   4. Prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

      1. As we are transformed on the inside, the proof and evidence is reflected outwardly, so that others can see it.

      2. Some call this legalism which is evidence that they have not experience that renewing of the mind and are in rebellion to God.

Prayer of the Upright

 

Proverbs 15:8, 9

 

“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight,” Proverbs 15:8.

 

 

 

The prayer of the upright considers God’s will in any matter. The sacrifice of the wicked is fraught with selfish motives. God looks on the heart of every worshiper. Jesus declared that what comes from the mouth is dredged up from the heart. How many of our prayers are from a heart of selfishness?

 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass.” However, He knew what He came to earth to do. The human side of Jesus was deeply distressed; He was preparing to go to the cross. Finally, after three prayers, He willingly accepted the will of His Heavenly Father. Where does that leave us? How many prayers will it take for us to accept God’s will for our lives?

 

In Matthew 6, Jesus said the Father already knows what we need. In Romans 8:26-28, Paul told us that the Holy Spirit groans toward God for His will in our prayers. With mediation like that, we can relax with thanksgiving, knowing God will do something, and it will be in His perfect will (Phil. 4:6-8).

 

When we pray with selfish motives, not considering God’s will, it is the same principle at work that caused the sorcerer, Simon, to try to buy from Peter the power to dispense the Holy Spirit on whomever he wished. The praying Christian’s character must match his heart.

 

 

 

 

 

JUST SAYING

 

The heavens are brass when a worshiper’s heart is steel.

 

 

 

Robert Brock

 

160 – June 09 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Imprisoned three times

 

The story of John Corbley is one of sacrifice and heroism. Born in Ireland in 1738, he came to America at the age of fourteen, settling first in eastern Pennsylvania, but later moving to Virginia, where he was soundly converted under the preaching of James Ireland. Shortly thereafter he became a Baptist preacher, and preached with such power that the Episcopal Establishment in Virginia considered him worthy of imprisonment, rewarding him shortly thereafter with a cell in the Culpeper jail. On the very site of that old jail there stands a thriving Baptist church today. When brought into court, John Corbley conducted his own defense, and was acquitted of all charges in 1768, although he suffered much abuse and physical violence later.

 

John Corbley was known as the ablest preacher of his day. For thirty years he directed the planting of Baptist churches in western Pennsylvania. Imprisoned three times and married three times, having buried two wives, these experiences of sunshine and shadow served only to deepen his spiritual life and magnify his usefulness. Active to the very end, he entered into rest June 9, 1803, his funeral sermon being preached by Elder David Phillips, pastor of the Peter’s Creek Baptist church. His mortal remains lie buried in the cemetery within the shadow of the old Goshen church, Whitley, Pennsylvania.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 237.

The post 160 – June 09 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

 

Atonement

kāpar
Woven into the very fabric of Scripture, and a key to understanding the OT concept of forgiveness of sin, is the word atonement. The Hebrew is kāpar (H3722), from which is derived kippūr (H3725), as used in the name of the well-known Jewish feast Yôm Kippūr (“day” of “atonement” in Leviticus 16).
The root kāpar, as well as its Arabic equivalent, means “to cover over or pacify,” but not in the sense of simply trying to conceal something. “It suggests the imposing of something to change its appearance or nature.” In Isa_28:18, for example, it refers to a covenant being “disannulled” (i.e., “written over”). It also appears in Gen_6:14, where it is translated “pitch,” a substance put over wood to make it waterproof, that is, to change the appearance and nature of the wood. To illustrate further, painters often paint over an existing picture they no longer want and create a new one. The old picture is still there, but has been covered over in such a way as to change its appearance.
This fundamental meaning tells us the true nature of OT atonement: It was a covering for sin not simply to conceal it but to change its appearance and nature. It didn’t remove the sin totally, as Christ’s sacrifice would do, but it did “paint over it.” As mentioned earlier, that is exactly what it means in Gen_6:14 (which actually is the very first occurrence of kāpar). While it’s rendered “pitch,” this is not the usual word for this bituminous substance. Moses’ infant basket, for example, was waterproofed with “pitch,” which is zepeṯ (H2203), what we think of today as “tar” (Exo_2:3). “Whatever the exact nature of this pitch [in Genesis],” writes Henry Morris, “(probably a resinous substance of some kind, rather than a bituminous material), it sufficed as a perfect covering for the Ark, to keep out the waters of judgment, just as the blood of the Lamb provides a perfect atonement for the soul.”
So while “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb_10:4; cf. Heb_10:10), which was only an atonement, our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross did just that. “This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Heb_10:12). While the OT priests never sat down, since the work of sacrifice was never complete, our Lord was the Last Lamb.
Scriptures for Study: Read the following verses, noting what Christ’s sacrifice accomplished: 1Jn_1:7; 1Jn_2:1-2; 1Jn_4:10.

 

Altar

mizbēach
Integrally attached to the OT offerings was the altar, the raised structure on which blood was sprinkled and the fat of animals was burned. The Hebrew mizbēach (H4196) is derived from zāḇach (H2076), the word for sacrifice. Mizbēach appears about 400 times, about half of which are in the Pentateuch.
Early altars were made of earth and stone (Exo_20:25), but God later commanded the people to build altars of better materials, such as wood and metal (Exo_27:1-8; Exo_30:1-10). This impressed upon the people that they must worship in God’s prescribed way and that such worship demanded quality. It’s noteworthy that mizbēach is also used to refer to pagan altars, which must be torn down and destroyed (Exo_34:13).
One of the most vivid examples of an altar is the one on which Abraham placed his only son Isaac in readiness to sacrifice him according to God’s command. (Isaac’s place was taken by the ram that God provided [Gen_22:1-19]). Here is, of course, the clearest OT picture of the future substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat_20:28; Joh_1:29; 2Co_5:21).
So is there an altar today? Not in the strict sense, for the “final altar” was the cross (Heb_13:10-13). Our sin was laid there and paid for once by Christ (Heb_10:10). First, we don’t lay ourselves on an altar for salvation, for Christ was the Lamb on that final altar.
Second, neither must we daily place ourselves on some supposed altar for sanctification, that is, “crucify ourselves daily” for holiness, as some misinterpret Rom_6:6 : “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” In fact, every verb tense in Romans 6 that refers to our identification with Christ in His death refers to that identification as having been completed in the past. Our “old man,” therefore, “[was] crucified with [Christ]” so that now “we should not serve sin.” That is sanctification. We can now live holy because Christ died on that final altar.
Scriptures for Study: Read Romans 6 and rejoice that you have been freed from the bondage, the control, of sin.

 

Burnt Offering

The word usually translated burnt offering in the OT is ‘ōlāh (H5930). Interestingly, it is derived from a root (‘ālāh, H5927) that while sometimes rendered “to burn,” as in the burning of a lamp (Exo_27:20), actually means “to go up, to ascend,” or “to move from a lower place to an upper.” Its first occurrence (Gen_2:6) is most interesting, where were we read that in the Garden of Eden “there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” Other images include the flight of an eagle (Isa_40:31, “mount up”) and plants coming up (Isa_34:13, “come up”).
The burnt offering is the first offering mentioned in the Levitical system (Lev_1:3-17; cf. Lev_6:8-13), no doubt because this type of offering is the first mentioned (excluding Cain and Abel’s) in the biblical record (cf. Gen_8:20; Gen_22:2). The meaning in the Levitical system, of course, went deeper. Its purpose was “to make atonement” for the sin of the offerer (Lev_1:4) and to demonstrate—as illustrated by the term “whole burnt offering” (Psa_51:19)—his complete consecration, his total dedication to God.
All this demonstrates the true nature of the OT burnt offering, which we could even call the “ascending offering.” As the flames consumed the animal, the offerer could watch the smoke and sparks ascend heavenward and know that God had accepted him as he identified himself with the sacrificed animal.
The first application we see in all this is in the Lord Jesus. His complete dedication is evident as He prayed in Gethsemane, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Mat_26:39). Knowing what lay ahead, namely, the ultimate burnt offering that He would become, our Lord was willing to be that sacrifice (Mat_26:39-44; cf. Php_2:5-11).
The second application is that this again illustrates for the NT believer that we each are a “living sacrifice” (Rom_12:1), that all we do ascends heavenward to God. “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” (Heb_13:15).
Scriptures for Study: Read Heb_10:5-10, noting Christ’s willingness to become the burnt offering for sin.

 

Sacrifice

zāḇach
Another crucial word in the context of the offerings of the OT, of course, is the word sacrifice. The Hebrew is zāḇach (H2076), which means “to slaughter, to kill, to offer, to sacrifice.” While at times it refers to killing an animal simply for food (Deu_12:21; 1Sa_28:24), it is used mainly for the slaughter of animals for sacrifice, either to the true God or even a false one (Jdg_16:23; 2Ch_28:23).
Why was sacrifice required? Because the result of sin is death (Rom_6:23; Jas_1:15), and the only thing that can pay the price of sin is blood—“without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb_9:22; cf. Lev_4:20). It was, therefore, the Lord Jesus who was the focal point of the entire sacrificial system. Everything pointed to Him, for He would be the perfect “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh_1:29), it was He who would “save his people from their sins” (Mat_1:21). It was, in fact, the OT Passover itself that pointed to “Christ our passover” (1Co_5:7), whose “precious blood” is “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Pe_1:19).
What has happened to the old system? Heb_8:13 declares, “A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Chapters 9 and 10 detail how the Mosaic system, from symbols to sanctuaries to sacrifices, vanished. In fact, that system began to decay when Israel rejected Christ (Luk_19:37-44) and finally disappeared with the destruction of the temple in AD 70. The Mosaic system was but a “shadow of good things to come” (Heb_10:1, emphasis added), but Jesus is the substance.
Does all that mean there is no kind of sacrifice today? No, but all sacrifice we offer to God is living. No longer is there the dead sacrifice of the Old Covenant, rather the dynamic sacrifice of the New. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom_12:1) and what Peter referred to as he wrote to Christian Jews, As “[living] stones, [you] are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1Pe_2:5). Our entire lives now—all we do and say—are living sacrifices to God.
Scriptures for Study: Read the following verses, noting what kind of “spiritual sacrifice” each emphasizes: Rom_15:16, Eph_5:2, Php_4:10-18, Heb_13:15-16; Rev_8:3.

 

Hebrew – Love

’āhaḇ
The most often-used Hebrew word for love in the OT is ’āhaḇ (H157), which speaks generally of desire, affection, or inclination, “a strong emotional attachment to and desire either to possess or to be in the presence of the object.” ’āhaḇ has an extremely wide range of meanings, so wide, in fact, that its some 250 occurrences cover just about everything from “God’s infinite affection for his people to the carnal appetites of a lazy glutton.”
Unlike the Greek words philos (G5384, “esteem, tender affection”) and agapē (G26, “selfless, sacrificial love”), which differentiate kinds of love, Hebrew does not do this quite as clearly. While other words do show somewhat differing ideas—dôḏ (H1730), for example, speaks strongly of sexual affection (Pro_7:18; Son_1:2; Son_1:4; Son_7:12)—for the most part Hebrew words for love are general.
Like the word faith, therefore, the real crux of love (’āhaḇ) lies in its object. A man can love “pleasure” and “wine,” for example, but these will bring him to poverty (Pro_21:17). Likewise, it can refer to sexual lust, as Absalom had for his sister Tamar (2Sa_13:1). The prophets spoke of the wrong object of love when God’s people committed spiritual adultery with pagan gods (Jer_22:20; Jer_22:22; Eze_16:36; Eze_23:5; Hos_2:5-13).
On the positive side, examples of good love and affection include: a father for his son, such as Abraham had for Isaac (Gen_22:2); a husband for his wife, such as Elkanah’s love for Hannah (1Sa_1:5); and one friend for another, as was true of David and Jonathan (1Sa_20:17). Certainly one of the greatest objects of love in our lives should be wisdom: “Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee” (Pro_4:6). Another is truth coupled with peace (Zec_8:19).
Still another, and most notably, is God’s Word. ’Āhaḇ appears no less than twelve times in Psalms 119 to demonstrate the psalmist’s love for the Word (Psa_119:140). It was his “meditation all the day” (Psa_119:97) because he loved its commandments (Psa_119:47-48; Psa_119:127), law (Psa_119:97; Psa_119:113; Psa_119:163; Psa_119:165), testimonies (Psa_119:119; Psa_119:167), and precepts (Psa_119:159). We should also interject that He loved God’s name (Psa_119:132).
This should encourage us to be conscious of the objects of our love.
Scriptures for Study: What are the objects of love (positive or negative) in the following verses: Psa_4:2; Psa_11:5; Psa_26:8; Psa_40:16; Pro_22:11?

 

Kingdom Restoration

 

Amos 9:11-15

 

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old,” Amos 9:11. 

 

 

Adam lost the kingdom to Satan. Therefore, God created His Son to restore the kingdom back to God. This Son would be His Prophet, Priest, King and sacrifice. As the sacrifice, He would redeem mankind back to God. As God’s Prophet, He would bring God’s truth into the world of darkness. As God’s Priest, He would make the atonement and ask forgiveness for mankind’s sins. As God’s King, He will return on a conqueror’s war horse, wearing a golden crown, crush all the powers of darkness and set up God’s physical kingdom on the earth.

 

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:11-16). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Rev. 21:3).

 

 

Just Saying

 

God’s King can make all things new for anyone in the New Year . . .  if one will let him.

 

 

Robert Brock