“To Be a Living Sacrifice” is the title of today’s sermon.

When I was a young man, the people who made Timex watches had a series of commercials that had great impact.  To this day, I remember some of them very well.  The theme behind the commercial was it is the watch that takes a licking and keeps on ticking.  They would show these watches going through incredible abuse and then show the man or woman’s wrist.  After being dunked in the water, dropped in the sand or driven on by a car they would take a look at the watch, and it would still be ticking.  Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of a human being who kept on taking a licking and continued ticking.  He never quit and never gave up.  It was obviously His purpose in life, and one that He took very seriously, to never stop moving forward.  He was unalterable and unstoppable in His purpose.  He was that way until His last breath.

CHRIST WAS A LIVING SACRIFICE
With His life, Christ became the ultimate perfect sacrifice.  We know the story about His last hours on the last day of His life.  We won’t look at all of the scriptures, but we know He was beaten terribly.  He was spit on.  He was mocked.  They put a sign over the cross where He was dying reading “King of the Jews.”  They put a crown of thorns on His head to mimic a king’s crown.  We understand that thorns represent sin, so they were mocking Him.  Mostly Jesus was mocked by Satan saying, you are just a king of a bunch of sinners.

Christ was stripped naked of His clothes a couple of times.  He was hung in the sun.  People gaped at Him as He hung there, suspended on iron nails.  Finally, He was stabbed with a spear.  This is what we think of when we think of Christ’s sacrifice.  It was the ultimate sacrifice.  That took a number of hours before He died, but His entire life was a sacrifice.  That is what I want to talk about today.

Christ’s entire life was composed of 33 years in the physical flesh.  He endured and sacrificed for that entire 33 years, remaining absolutely perfect and absolutely pure.  Imagine the effort that it took to stay pure for 33 years!  That is what He accomplished.

More than anyone else who has ever lived, Satan wanted Christ to fail.  We all have had trials and temptations, but Satan wanted the big prize.  He wanted Christ to fail more than any of us.  So you can imagine the intensity of the persecution and the temptation that Christ endured.

If you turn to Hebrews chapter 4, we find that Satan did tempt Christ, and life itself tempted Christ in every way just as any other human being would go through for those 33 years that He lived.  In Hebrews 4 it is speaking of our High Priest.  Verse 14:  “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

We have a High Priest who understands what it is to be human, because He was tried and tested in every way that you can imagine.  He was not tested just in the final half day or so from about midnight on when He was beaten, scourged, had the crown of thorns put on, mocked and hung on the cross.  His life was an entire lifespan of trial and testing in which He remained perfectly pure.

Back up a page to Hebrews chapter 2.  Verse 10:  “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren…”  He is not ashamed to call us brethren, and He went before us and suffered as the captain of our salvation.  Of course, we also have sufferings.  But He understands those.  When we go to Him and beg for help, He knows exactly what it feels to be tested, to be tried and to suffer.

Continue in Verse 12:  “…saying, ‘I will declare Your name to My brethren [meaning His Church]; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.’ And again:  ‘I will put My trust in Him.’  And again:  ‘Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.’”  We (the Church) are the children that God intends to give Him.  We are His heirs.  We are His brothers and sisters in the faith.

Verse 14 of Hebrews 2:  “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil…”  Because we are physical, He became physical.

Verse 15:  “…and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.  For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.  Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted [and who do suffer].”

Jesus Christ knows we fear death.  He knows we fear suffering and that we are tested and tried and many times we stumble.  He knows these things.  He said, I must become physical to provide them a captain of their salvation.  I must suffer and be tested as they are, so that I can be a good High Priest who can tell them, I sympathize with your trials.  I sympathize with your sufferings.  I sympathize with the fact that you fall sometimes when you are tempted because I have been there.  I did not sin, but I certainly suffered.  I certainly was tried and tested.  We have a High Priest that we can go to knowing He understands what it is to be a physical human being.

That term “tempted” where it states “Christ was tempted in all points such as we” is an interesting word.  In the Greek it is peirazo which means to test, an endeavor, to scrutinize and entice, to assay and examine.  So it is to assay one’s character to see if they can remain pure and if they love the truth and God’s way of life.  It comes from the word peira which means a piercing test or experience.  Of course, Christ had many piercing tests and experiences.  Peirazo is the basis for the word peirasmos which means to experience provocation and adversity.  He definitely experienced intense provocation and tremendous adversity.

Christ’s final hours were definitely filled with many piercing tests, but it is important to remember that His entire life was filled with many tests, many trials and much sorrow.  He was tempted many, many times.  Let’s go to Luke chapter 4 for the account that we often feel is the biggest test that any human being ever faced who beat Satan.  It is the temptation on the mountain.  Luke chapter 4 is where Christ beat Satan and qualified to take his crown (his position) away.

Luke chapter 4, beginning in verse 1:  “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted [there’s that word again] for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’  But Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”’  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, ‘All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.’”

Christ knew this meant that if He agreed to this, He would obviously not have to go through any more suffering.  But He knew to depose Satan He would have to go through with the rest of His life and suffer.  He could not succumb to this temptation.

Verse 8 of Luke 4:  “And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”’  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”’  And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘It has been said, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”  Notice it says, “until an opportune time.”  This was not the end of the temptations.  He kept coming back after Christ until the moment He breathed His last on the cross.

For a moment, I want you to imagine what it was like going all the way back into Christ’s childhood.  He used to fall down and skin His knee and get hurt.  He used to get picked on.  I bet you often times He was picked on as you goodie two shoes!  You can just imagine the other kids saying, you are just so good.  You just never will partake of this or that.  You just think you are better than us.  They were constantly provoking Him to sin.  They did not know, of course, they were doing Satan’s will.  But that is human nature to tease the good kids.  It always has been.

I can imagine as a builder and a carpenter many times He hit His thumb with a hammer or got a sliver or something in His eye.  Or He had to work in extreme heat or cold.  I imagine He and His dad were cheated sometimes by customers.  It has happened to me, and I am sure it happened to Him because He was tempted in all points just as we.  Yet He would never retaliate and never take God’s name in vain.  No matter how hard He hit His thumb or how hot the day or no matter how badly they were cheated and working without pay, He remained perfect for 33 years!

Of course, during His entire ministry He was persecuted.  In John chapter 8 we are going to look at several of the ways that He was persecuted and tried.  Let’s go to John chapter 8.  He was slandered.  That is one of the ways He was persecuted, tried and tested.  John 8, verse 48:  “Then the Jews answered and said to Him, ‘Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?’”  A Samaritan was a low life to them back then, and of course saying that Jesus Christ, the Son of God had a demon would have been horribly insulting and offensive.

Verse 49:  “Jesus answered, ‘I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.”  They were slandering His name.

Verse 50:  “‘And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.   Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.’  Then the Jews said to Him, ‘Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, “If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.”’”  He was slandered as being demon possessed and being a Samaritan which was an unclean low life position on this earth to hold at that time.  Let’s go back to Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12, verse 22:  “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’”

They said not only does He have demon trouble, He is working for Satan!  He works for the chief demon!  How horrible to say this of the Son of God, yet He took it.  He took these persecutions.

They often tried to trap Christ and to trick Him.  Go to Luke chapter 20.  We cannot read all the examples of these things, but we will read a few here and there.  They were always trying to trick Him in some legal technicality or get Him in trouble by His words.  Read Luke 20:1-8.

They were trying to trick Him into giving some answer that they could then say, “Look, He doesn’t know what He is talking about!  He doesn’t have authority.  He can’t really be doing these things because God said so.  He is just a man.”  But He said, no.  I am going to ask you a question.  Who was John the Baptist?  Was he Elijah or not?  Where did he come from?  Was he sent by God or not?  They were then trapped.  They knew if they were against John the Baptist and His teachings and said he was not from God, then the people would get angry because the people knew better.  If they said he was from God, then they knew they would be trapped for denying the work that John was doing in preparation for Jesus Christ.  They were constantly trying to trick and to plot against Him.  They wanted to get Him stuck in a situation.

Go to Luke chapter 22.  Read verses 1-6.  Behind Christ’s back was all of this scheming going on to have Him betrayed and killed.  Christ knew that.  That is why at the Passover He said to Judas, what you do go do quickly.  He knew what was going on, but how it must have hurt Him to be betrayed!  The scribes and the Pharisees and one of the beloved twelve were people who knew better, yet they were conspiring at night in dark rooms to sell Him for a few pieces of silver and to betray Him.  This went on, and He took it in order to be a sacrifice.  Then He was, of course, betrayed.  They knew better, and they did this anyway.

Turn to John chapter 3.  Verse 1:  “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’”  They might not have fully understood at this time that He was the Messiah, but they knew He was sent by God.  The miracles He was performing attested of this.  He was proclaiming the truth that He was the Word of God sent by God.  That was one of the things that attested to the Pharisees and the Sadducees that He was a teacher from God.  The Pharisees understood that they had a very special Man on their hands, but it did not fit with their plans.   It did not meld with their particular program.  They liked the power and the glory that they received from the people.

Go to John 7:45  “Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you not brought Him?’”  They had sent out men to capture Jesus Christ and get Him.  “The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!’  Then the Pharisees answered them, ‘Are you also deceived?’”  Have you been tricked by this Jesus Christ?

Verse 48:  “‘Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?’”  Of course, we know Nicodemus did, so they had many discussions about Christ.

Verse 49:  “‘But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.’  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, ‘Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?’”  So Nicodemus witnessed to them by saying wait a minute, even our own law says we have to be fair.  We need to listen to this man and observe what He is doing.

Verse 52:  “They answered and said to him, ‘Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.’”  They had the scriptures that they could twist and pervert to their own purposes to rationalize what they wanted to do, but they knew they were dealing with a very special Man.  Yet they continued to plot against Him, and they continued to try to trick Him.  Eventually they did succeed in having Judas betray Him.

GOING TO GETHSEMANE
Let’s go to Luke chapter 22 where there is the famous incident on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed.  Verse 39:  “Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”  Pray that you not fail your test here.

Verse 41:  “And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, ‘Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.’”  In other words, you need prayer (you need strength) like what I just did to endure what is about to happen.

Verse 47 of Luke 22:  “And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.  But Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’”  Christ knew all this plotting was going on.  He knew He was going to be betrayed by an act of love.  It should have been an act of love, but it was treachery.  He knew He was being betrayed.

Leading up to this, He was praying, asking if there was any way to avoid all of this suffering.  If there was any way that sin could be dealt with, without Him having to die this excruciating death, He asked the Father to take the cup from Him.  He prayed so hard that His sweat was like drops of blood.  You can just imagine.  This took place in the Garden of Gethsemane.  That word itself is very interesting.  Gethsemane means the place of crushing, in particular the place for crushing olives to obtain olive oil.  So even where He chose to allow this to occur was a place that had great symbolism, because olive oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and of God’s healing power.  In order for Jesus Christ to give the Spirit to the Church and eventually to the entire world, He had to die as a sacrifice.  He had to get crushed.  It also means the place where they crush grapes.  When you crush a grape it bleeds.  The juice comes out.  He knew He was preparing to be crushed.  His body would be given to mankind, so His sweat was like blood symbolizing crushing the grapes.  It was symbolizing making olive oil and the grape juice that becomes wine.  The wine was a symbol of the Passover, so this was to be something very spiritual that He was about to do for the benefit of all mankind.  In the garden Jesus Christ submitted to the Father’s will and said I am willing to be crushed for mankind.  That is exactly what He did.

Turn to Acts chapter 8, verse 26 where it is speaking of Christ’s sacrifice:  “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, ‘Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’  This is desert.  So he arose and went.  And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning.  And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.  Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake this chariot.’  So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’  And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’  And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.  The place in the Scripture which he read was this:  ‘He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.’”  So Jesus Christ went as a sheep to the slaughter, willingly sacrificing Himself.

Verse 33:  “‘In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation?  For His life is taken from the earth.’”  Jesus Christ gave it all that day, but His entire life was one of sacrifice.  The day He died was the ultimate humiliation in which He paid the ultimate price as a lamb led to the slaughter.  That is what He was willing to do.  At the Garden of Gethsemane, He knew He was agreeing to be crushed (to become olive oil and to provide wine for the Father) in the garden.  By doing this, He became a perfect sacrifice to replace Satan.

Once Christ had lived that perfect life and died, He qualified to take Satan’s crown.  But the time had to be deferred just for a little while.  That was 2,000 years ago.  For God that would be like two days ago in time, but for us it was 2,000 years ago.  That reward has been deferred.  He has His crown, but He does not have His inheritance yet (the earth).  He does not have His kingdom on the earth.  Why?  Because there have to be more living sacrifices.  There is an entire Satanic government that must be replaced.  Therefore, there are saints who must be other living sacrifices.

These saints cannot take away sin, but they can certainly grow in holy righteous character to qualify to beat the demons that are now ruling the earth.  Just as Christ qualified to take Satan’s crown, the saints must qualify to beat the demons who are over this earth and who have it divided into principalities.  They rule with such harshness and cruelty.  So Jesus Christ called for more sacrifice.  He asked the body of Christ to follow Him.  What did He tell them so many times?  If you want to follow Me, pick up your cross.

Turn to Matthew 16:24.  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.’”

Brethren, each of us must come to the place in our life where we are in a proverbial Garden of Gethsemane.  We need to say to God, my life is full of trials, testing and suffering.  I would like this cup to pass from me, will You do it?  If the answer is that we are to continue to suffer and grow, that is what it takes, because it is by our trials and our tests (what we endure) that we grow in holy righteous character to follow Christ.  It is not an easy thing to do, but that is why He said, pick up your cross and follow Me.  We do not pick up a physical cross and carry it.  It is a way of life.  It is a way of giving. It is a way of taking it on the chin.

BEAR YOUR CROSS
Turn to Luke chapter 14.  Verse 25:  “Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother [which means to love them less], wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.’”  We must love Jesus Christ and His way of life more than anything else.

Verse 27:  “‘And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.”  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able to with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.’”

We have to be willing to lay it all on the line.  That is what Christ did when He bore His cross.  He was willing to lay everything on the line to be a perfect sacrifice.  Then He says, pick up your cross and follow Me.  So life is not a bed of roses.  There are a lot of trials, tests and tribulations in life.  It is how we take them and how we endure them that determines whether we are growing in character or not.  It determines whether we are an acceptable sacrifice to God.  It determines whether we are able to take a position from a harsh, cruel demon and eventually rule over that territory to bring peace to this earth (a beautiful Millennium) and to be able to teach all mankind.

Turn to Romans chapter 8 please.  Paul understood a lot about suffering, and here is what he had to say.  Verse 18:  “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope…”   We look on creation at the people in the world, and we see suffering, privation, and destitute poverty that so many are living in.  We see anxiety and depression.  They are suffering, waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.

Verse 21:  “…because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  They will be set free from these tyrannical evil demons and set free to the liberty of the children of God. We are trying to grow in character so that we qualify to bring them this liberty.

Verse 22 of Romans 8:  “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.  Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”  We groan.  We all have aches, pains, sufferings and difficulties, trials and tests, but we are doing it for other people just like Christ did.  We are doing it for others.

CHRIST PRAYS FOR US
Verse 24:  “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Even when we are at wit’s end and do not know what to pray for, Jesus Christ picks up the slack and prays for us through the Spirit.  He prays to help us to have the strength.  So many times people go through trials and say, I don’t know how I endured that. Sometimes others look at trials we are going through, and they say, I don’t know how you are managing.  Jesus Christ is there praying for us.

Continuing in Romans 8:27:  “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”   Do we really believe that?  All the tests, trials, tribulations and the piercing sorrows that we endure work for the good if we allow them to do so.

Verse 29:  “For whom He foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  Didn’t He suffer?  That is exactly right!  He was persecuted, tried and tested in all points such as we, and we are to be conformed to that image and bear the cross that we have been given.

Verse 30:  “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.  What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies.  Who is he who condemns?  It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”  As that High Priest, He is there to help us.

WE ARE TESTED TO BE PRIESTS
Continuing in Romans 8:35:  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written:  ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We are killed all day long.  We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Brethren, why?  Because that is what it takes to follow Christ.  That is what it takes to grow in holy righteous character.  Just as our Priest, Jesus Christ, understands and sympathizes with our weaknesses because He was physical, we can sympathize with people in the world because we suffer, too.  We are tried, and we are tested.

If we were somehow placed in a cocoon at baptism and never had another trial or test, we would not be a good priest in the Millennium or any time thereafter.  Because we would be self-righteous, and we would not understand what these people are going through.  We would be too willing to point the finger and say, what is wrong with you?  Why do you take drugs?  Why did you become an alcoholic?  Why did you drive too fast?  Then we would punish them instead of forgiving.  Christ watched the men put the nails through His hands and forgave them.  He forgave the men who whipped Him.  He said, they do not know what they are doing.  It is Satan who knows what he is doing, and Satan has inspired these people to do this to Me.  It is Satan that I am going to take the crown away from.

We are doing the same thing to the demons that bother us.  By following in Christ’s footsteps and not retaliating against the people who hurt us, we understand that there is a greater power that moves them to hurt us.  By not retaliating against our brothers and sisters on the planet earth, we qualify to beat the demons.  Then we bring peace and liberty to all of mankind.  It is God’s system.  It is a system based on love and forgiveness, and it is a system based on living sacrifices.  This is why it says in I Peter chapter 2, we are to be living sacrifices.

SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES
I Peter 2, beginning in verse 1:  “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

We are to be spiritual sacrifices on the road to becoming a spiritual priesthood and a spiritual house to bring liberty to this suffering planet.  That is our job!  It is an enormous job, but God said, I will be there to help you.  When you are struggling and do not even know what to pray for because you are at your wit’s end, I will even pray for you.  I will pick up the slack.  I am there!  But what I need is a body to work through, the body of Christ.  I need grapes willing to get crushed.  I need more olives willing to get crushed to produce the olive oil, so the rest of the world can see our light and understand what I am trying to do to help them.

This term “spiritual” in “spiritual sacrifice” comes from the word pneumatikos like air. The Holy Spirit puts air into us.  That means non-carnal, ethereal and divinely supernatural.  It is humanly ethereal.  That is what we are.  We are physical human beings.  If I pinch myself, it hurts.  I am physical.  But there is an ethereal quality about anybody in the Church of God with the Holy Spirit, and that is Christ dwelling there.  It is the divine Spirit dwelling there.  So though we are physical, we have an ethereal quality, something supernatural about us!

The term “sacrifice” comes from the Hebrew zebach which means to slaughter, that is, the flesh of an animal, a sacrifice, the victim or the act.  So a spiritual sacrifice is a human being with a divine quality who is willing to be a victim.  They are willing to be slaughtered.  That is why the scripture in Romans 8 says we are slaughtered all day long.  It is our job to get kicked around, so to speak.  It is what we are here for.

In the New Testament in the Greek the term “sacrifice” also means the same thing.  It means to sacrifice, the act or the victim, literally or figuratively.  We do not have to get hung on a cross physically to lay down our lives.  We have been crucified with Christ from baptism.  Galatians 2:20 says “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”  He lives in us because we have died with Him.  When we were baptized, we were symbolically crucified.  We have already given our life.  Now we have to keep our hands on the plow and keep being willing sacrifices.

The term thusia means to sacrifice by extension, to immolate or to slaughter.  So that is the purpose of the body of Christ (the Church).  It is to get slaughtered.  That is why we do not pick up weapons and go to war.  It is why we do not retaliate and kill people.  But it is much bigger than that.  It should be our entire life.  It should revolve around being a willing and living sacrifice acceptable to God.

To know that all we have to do is to pick up our cross and follow Christ is not enough. We have to understand that it hurts.  We have to understand how He did it and how He endured.  When they spit on Him, mocked Him, whipped Him, put the crown of thorns on, we read in scripture that He stood there silently and took it.  Therefore, we have to willingly suffer without lashing back and without attacking.  That is our job.

BLESSINGS WHEN PERSECUTED
Turn to Matthew chapter 5.  We won’t read all of The Beatitudes, because we just did that recently.  Let’s start in verse 11:  “‘Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’”  It is an honor to be persecuted for Christ’s sake.  It is an honor, and it is what the Church has been called for.

Verse 13:  “‘You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?’”  Salt is a preservative.  We are here to help preserve this earth for a Millennium and take it from the demons who are persecuting mankind.

Finishing verse 13:  “‘It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’”  It takes crushed olives to make olive oil to make the lamp glow.  It takes a willing sacrifice to get crushed to produce the olive oil that keeps our light glowing.

Now let’s drop down to verse 38 of Matthew 5:  “‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.’”  Lend to those who need a loan.  Forgive those who abuse us.  Turn the other cheek when we are insulted, kicked or put down.  If someone wants to sue you, ask what they want and willingly give it up to keep peace.

Brethren, it is not easy.  We hear, pick up your cross and follow Me, but that is what Christ did.  He said if you want to qualify to beat a demon and to bring liberty to this suffering earth, we have to be like this.  We cannot retaliate.  We have to be a willing victim.  We have to be willing to suffer abuse and offenses.  So the lesson we need to learn that to be a victim requires abuses and offenses.  We cannot be victims if we will never allow ourselves to get taken.

THERE MUST BE OFFENSES
There was a song not too long ago called “The Rose.”  There were a few phrases I remember, and I will paraphrase.  In the song it says he who is not willing to be hurt cannot love.  If you are not willing to ever get hurt, you cannot love.  If you are never willing to be taken, you cannot give.  If a person refuses to ever get beaten in a deal, they find they cannot give either.  They always have to beat the other guy.  This is what we have to learn in a spiritual sense.  We have to be willing to take abuse and offenses.  To be a living sacrifice acceptable to God requires that we take these things like Christ did and turn the other cheek.  That is hard when someone slaps you in the face, or spits on you, or calls you a name, or slanders your name, or steals your wallet and takes your credit card.  It goes on and on and on.  We have to be willing to forgive.  These people are moved by Satan, and they do not know it.  They are suffering, and they are groaning waiting for the children of God to be revealed (the sons of God).  So offenses must come, and Christ says that as well.

Go to Matthew chapter 18.  We will read what Christ says just preceding talking about how to patch things up between brothers and giving us an actual formula.  Verse 6:  “‘But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.  Woe to the world because of offenses!’”  Offenses bring woes to the world.  “‘For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!’”  He goes on to say if it is your foot that causes offenses, cut it off.  If it is your hand that causes offenses, cut if off.  Because you see there must be offenses, or there are no victims.  We have to understand that.  We have to understand that going into being a Christian, there have to be offenses to have victims, but woe to those who cause the offense.

Christ could not have been the perfect sacrifice without a Judas, but does that mean what Judas did was good?  No.  Christ had to be betrayed.  There had to be a plot to get Him, but by the same token, woe to that person who did the plotting and the betraying.  The same is true for the rest of the brethren.  Christ said there must be offenses.  There must be troubles.  Otherwise how are you going to learn to forgive?  How are you going to take it on the chin?  How are you going to learn to turn the other cheek?  How are you going to learn not to take revenge?  He says, still I keep track of these things, and woe to the person who causes the offense.

Turn to I Corinthians chapter 11, verse 17 where it is talking about the Passover:  “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.  For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.  For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.”  Notice that.  There must be factions.  It says I know there are divisions in the Church.  That sure applies to our day and age.  There are divisions and separations all over the map!  We are being told, I know there have to be factions.  I know there have to be divisions.  I know there have to be offenses.  How else are we going to see who is approved?  How else are we going to see who forgives?  How else are we going to see who is generous, kind, compassionate, and who cuts slack to their brothers and sisters?  And the worse offenses come from physical family and Church family.  It’s just the way it is.  Christ said there must be offenses.  Paul said there must be factions and I believe it.  That is the way we show ourselves to be approved, but woe to those who bring the offenses and cause the trouble.

DISCERN THE BODY OF CHRIST
Dropping down to verse 23:  “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:  that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”  He said My body was crushed for you.  I want you to keep the Passover in remembrance of this.

Continuing in I Corinthians 11, verse 25:  “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood.  This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”  This is a big obligation to do that properly every year.

Verse 27:  “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”

We need to learn how to do this right.  We need to discern the Lord’s body, because if we do not properly examine ourselves, we do not discern the body.  We must look for our own guilt, cut slack and show forgiveness toward our brethren.  If we do not, we do not discern the body.

The body of Christ is composed of many people.  And what are we doing today?  We are whipping each other, slandering each other, suing each other, being unforgiving toward one another, dividing the body in ever smaller pieces.  This is destroying the body of Christ.  What does He say?  We do not discern the body.

Peter says we stumble over the body (over Christ) when we do not discern the body.  Isn’t that an awful thing to realize?  When I do not forgive somebody or if I cause a terrible offense and I do not try to fix it, I just stumbled over Jesus Christ!  It happens.

Go to I Peter chapter 2 again.  This time we will start in verse 4 instead of at the top. “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’  Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient [showing that we are talking about brethren here], ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’  They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”

We can be disobedient to these principles.  We can find ourselves being the offender and not forgiving.  We can find ourselves not turning the other cheek but rather seeking vengeance.  Jesus Christ is our cornerstone all right.  But we are stumbling over Him because we are tripping over the body of Christ!  We are not being an acceptable sacrifice.

VERY LITTLE TIME REMAINS
We all fall short on this from time to time, so let’s not beat ourselves up.  But let’s realize we are short on these things. We have room to grow and practice growing.  There is still time before Jesus Christ returns to get this right and be an acceptable sacrifice.  But there is precious little time, very little time.

Verse 9:  “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.  Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.  Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance…”

He goes on to talk about submitting yourself to the government.  Be a good citizen.  Submit yourselves to your masters and your bosses.  Wives submit to your husbands.  Husbands love your wives.  It goes back and forth.  By doing these things under the difficult circumstances of living a physical life and if we do these things well, we become an acceptable living sacrifice to God.  We are bearing our cross and following the example of Jesus Christ.

The reason the Church is in so much trouble today is because so few understand what it means to be a living acceptable sacrifice.  There is an unwillingness to suffer.  There is an unwillingness to be put down and to be hurt.  There is way too much willingness and anxiousness to defend, to hit back, to strike back, to sue, to slander.  All of that puts out our lights, brethren.  It is the opposite of producing olive oil.  It is snuffing out our light. We need to trim our wicks and get our act back together so that we can glow brightly. We do that by being a willing sacrifice, willing to be crushed in our own garden.  God is the farmer and we are the garden, and He is farming in us.  We are to produce a crop 30, 60 or 100 fold by following in Christ’s footsteps and bearing our cross.

To those of you who are tired and weary, I want to tell you we are all getting tired and weary.  This has gone on a long time in human terms.  In God’s terms it has been a short trial.  Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong has been dead for 21 years.  The Church keeps breaking up.  But I encourage you to hang on, because this is going to wrap up very quickly!  Jesus Christ is going to take us by surprise.  So continue to persevere and hang on.

Understand that to be a willing sacrifice is an honor and a privilege.  It is what the world is groaning for and waiting to see revealed.  They are waiting to see the living sacrifices who will be their kings and priests who will minister to their wounds.  They will understand what it is to suffer.  They will understand what it is to be tempted, tried and tested.  But we will love them and help them through it.  This is what we are working on.