THEME: "PERFECT GIFT” – The Precious Blood Of The Lamb. James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable- ness, neither shadow of turning."
Christ's blood is heaven's key. This is the gift of God: It is a preserva- tive against the greatest evils. Life and Immortality through His blood.
KEY VERSES: Rom 12:1-2, "And I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye pre- sent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
LESSON-4: "BEHOLD, THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB"-PRESENT YOUR BODIES, Believer's Best Gift to God.
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. There is an act of reason in it; for it is the soul that presents the body. The presenting of the body to God implies not only the avoiding of the sins that are committed with or against the body, but the using of the body as a servant of the soul in the service of God. It is to glorify God with our bodies.
QUESTION: What will you do with the Lamb of God? A body sincerely devoted to God is a living sacr- ifice. The sacrifice was to be slain, but you may be sacrificed, and yet live on," an un-bloody sacrifice (no blood was shed). The barbarous heathen sacrificed their children to their idol-gods, not living, but dead, a slain sacrifices.
Please be reminded, "we are not of our own," as we are bought, by the precious Blood of the Lamb. So glorify God in our body, to show the worth of Christ by the way we use our body.
I. INTRODUCTION:
God has been merciful to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of Christ, those who believe in him are justified by faith, & reconciled to God, & have the hope of everlasting joy. "Who is to condemn?" Christ our LORD of glory! As he was manifested in the flesh, who died in our place to take away our sins and in him is no sin.
More than that, He who was raised in the power of His resurrection, & sat at the right hand of God. Who indeed is interceding for us? He is there, not unconce- rned, not forgetful, but making intercession.
He is an advocate to answer all accusations from the devil, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom 8:1).
II. TOPICS TO BE DISCUSS:
A. BY THE MERCIES OF GOD. A life of mercy. Build our lives on this mercy & our brand new life in 2021 will flow out with mercy. Show mercy with cheerfulness and let love be genuine as we sink our roots in the mercies of God.
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1. What about the roots? This new Christian life is rooted and grounded in love. It is a life of being merciful, "By the mercies of God." Sink our roots here and our fruit will be Christian fruit. a) We are all debtor. In Rom 1:14, 16, "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, & to the unwise. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; -
b) Heart surgery. Rom 2:29, "But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." c) There is none righteous, no, not one. Rom 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" -
d) More than conqueror. Rom 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall trib- ulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" -
e) Beautiful feet. Rom 10:15, 17, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." -
2. A Life of Worship. Before we think that the Christian life has everything to do with being merci- ful to people, realize that it has everything to do with being worshipful toward God. -
a) Paul appeals to the brethren. "By the mercies of God, to present our bodies as a living sacri- fice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
b) First thing first. Before we give ourselves away in mercy to man, we give first ourselves away in worship to God. This is very important for all of us to see.
c) A warning. We must never let the Christian life drift into a mere social agenda. Let's be care- ful, because if God is left out, our mercy will be mere social agenda.
d) Worthless. If our good deeds are not expressing the worth of God, then our deeds are not worship, and in the end, will not be merciful.
e) Stop the hand of blessing. We stop God's hand by making people feel good, without the hope and the design that they see Christ in your good deeds, is not mercy.
f) Mercy must aim to make much of Christ. No one is saved who does not make much of Christ. And not to care about salvation of soul isn't merciful at all. "Before we give ourselves in mer- cy, we give ourselves in worship."
g) A lifestyle. Christian life as worshipful before we can defines it as merciful. A merciful lifes- tyle depends on a worshipful lifestyle.
B. WHAT IS THIS SPIRIUAL WORSHIP? Sacrifice to God. "Present your bodies as a sacrifice... to God." This is the language of worship from the Old Testament.
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1. In coming to God. The worshiper brought a sheep or a bull or a pigeon & sacrificed it on the altar as an offering to God. There were different kinds of sacrifices. -
a) Sacrificial worship. At the heart of it, sin demanded punishment, & a slain animal represented God's willingness to accept a substitute, so that the worshiper might live, and have an ongoing relationship of forgiveness and joy with God. -
b) Animals blood. All the OT believers knew that the blood of bulls & goats could not take away sin. They pointed beyond themselves to Christ, who was the final sacrifice for sin. -
c) Perfect Lamb. 1Cor 5:7, "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." That was the final sacrifice for sin, because it was perfect and sufficient for all who believe. -
d) For all time. Heb 10:12, "When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." So Christ brought to an end the OT sacrifices for sin. e) He finished the great work of atonement. His death cannot be improved on. All we have to do now is trust him for that great work. We do not add to it. -
2. Lifestyle of daily worship. So our worship to present our bodies as a sacrifice, doesn't mean, that we die and atone for our sins. What then does it mean? Let's take the four words Paul gives: first, a) Bodies. The offering of our bodies is not the offering of our bodily outlooks, but our bodily be- havior (heart looks). -
a-1) The body is not significant because of the way it outlooks, but because of the way it acts. -
Isa 53:2-3, "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and ac- quainted with grief." -
a-2) The body is given to us to make visible the beauty of Christ, which is the beauty of love, not the beauty of outlooks. His beauty was the beauty of sacrifice, not skin. -
a-3) God does not demand our bodies because he wants models for Mademoiselle or Planet Muscle. He demands our bodies because he wants models of mercy. -
b) Living. A life of visible, it is your living that is the act of worship. Let every act of your body in living be an act of worship.
b-1) The demonstration. Let every act of your living body be a demonstration that God is our treasure. -
b-2) Christlikeness. Let every act of your living body show that Christ is more precious than anything else. -
b-3) The death. Let every act of your living body be a death to all that dishonors Christ. c) Holy. Present you bodies as an instrument of righteousness. Rom 6:13, - "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life [i.e., a living sacrifice], and your members to God as instruments for righteousness."
c-1) All body members. A holy body means, give your members your eyes, your tongue, your hands & feet. Give your body members to do righteousness, not sin. That is what would make a body holy.
c-2) Not the outlook. A body is holy not because of what it looks like, but because of what it does. Is it the physical "instrument" of hunger for righteousness? Is it the physical instru- ment of meekness and mercy and peace? "The aim of showing mercy is showing God."
d) Acceptable to God. If the sacrifice of our bodily life is holy, then it is acceptable to God. What do these words add? It add God. It reminds, the reason holiness matter is because of God.
d-1) God is the center of worship. It remind us that all of these words are describing an act of worship, "which is your spiritual worship," and God is the center of worship.
d-2) To live a merciful life is built on the mercy of God in Christ. The aim that it's a worship- ful life. The aim of showing mercy is showing God.
d-3) The aim of having bodies is to make the glory of God more visible. And it does not shine through our muscles and curves, but through our merciful behavior.
III. CONCLUSION: I think we should pray that God's perspective on our bodies become imbedded deep in our sons and daughters, and in ourselves, as one very powerful antidote to the kinds of eating disorders that plague so many young women, and even now some men today. What God wants from us is a body that does mercy, not the body of Britney Spears or Mr. World.
God wants visible, lived-out, bodily.
Brethren, I close with two statements from Paul. First, his own testimony of desire in Phi 1:20, "It is my eager expectation & hope that... Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death."
Second, his exhortation to us from 1Cor 6:19-20, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." In other words, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy & acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
It meant to show the worth of Christ by the way you use your body.
ALLELUIAH! PTLGA & TGBATG