5 Ways Jesus' Sacrifice Changes Your Life | Leviticus 1-7

What if understanding an ancient book could transform your spiritual life today? Join us as we embark on "Set Apart," a new sermon series that delves into the book of Leviticus, often overlooked but incredibly rich in meaning. We explore the profound concept of holiness and how being set apart for God's purposes can reshape our journey with Christ. Through touching stories and biblical insights, we challenge you to see holiness not as perfection, but as your position in Christ.

Discover the deep connections between Old Testament sacrifices and Jesus Christ's ultimate sacrifice. We unpack the significance of the five different animal offerings, starting with the burnt offering from Leviticus. Learn how these ancient rituals are physical representations of spiritual truths foreshadowed in the New Testament. We draw a poignant parallel between the Israelites giving their best to God, even in scarcity, and Jesus's ultimate offering for our sins. You'll be inspired to give your all to God, just as He gave His best in Jesus.

We then explore the peace offering's role in fostering community and its inspiration for the Lord's Supper. The significance of communal meals in building relationships within our church community is highlighted, promoting peace and unity. Reflecting on Romans 5:1 and 1 John 1:7, we discuss the joy and support found in Christian fellowship. The episode concludes with a celebration of new believers and a call to live a life set apart in holiness, worshiping God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Embrace forgiveness and deepen your worship as we journey through these spiritual insights together.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:01

All right, put your hands together this morning. If you're happy to be in church this morning, you're ready to get into the word of God. This morning, god's gonna speak into your life. I believe that. First of all, just a quick announcement we do have, coming this Saturday, a meet and greet with our choir and orchestra worship pastor candidate, who is coming in this coming weekend. So the meet and greet it's gonna be at 2 pm this coming Saturday in this coming weekend. So the meet and greet it's gonna be at 2 pm this coming Saturday in this room. And we invited all of our 9.30 service. You are invited to come as well, if you would like to. It's gonna be a Q&A with him. You get to meet him, meet his family Again. He would be the choir and orchestra worship pastor in our sanctuary service and then he is going to lead worship in the 930 next Sunday. You are always welcome to attend if you would like to. You can watch it on your way in. You can watch it in your connection group class, whatever you want to, we'll have a vote at the end of the 930 only, at the end of the 930 only. So if you want to be a part of the service or be in the vote. You are more than invited to be a part of all that, but we will still have this service in here, so don't make me come here alone. Okay, you'll be here too next Sunday for our 11 am service.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we love you. God, your word is so good. God, you are so good. Father, I pray in Jesus name, as, as all these people got up and got ready and got out and came here, god, I pray that you would have a word for them from your word life-changing God, as we believe that your word always does. God, I pray that if anyone came here unsaved, that today would be their day of salvation, that you would move people, that maybe they need to be baptized, maybe they need to overcome a sin in their life, maybe they need some just spiritual fruitfulness, maybe they just need to be encouraged this morning to know that you love them and maybe they have someone to share the gospel with. God, I pray that you would just speak to us all, change all of our lives, starting with me. God, we love you and we pray all these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen. Well, I want you to see that we are in a brand new series. We'll see if our TV works.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Today it is called Set Apart. Everybody say set apart. So we are today starting in the book of Leviticus. You've heard me say before this is the place where devotions love to go to die. This is literally probably the hardest book in the entire Bible, but often the hardest thing in our life can often be the best thing for our life. If you believe that, say amen. Sometimes the hardest thing in your life can be the best thing in your life for you.

Speaker 1: 3:39

This is one of those books that obviously, honestly, pastors dodge, pastors avoid. We don't like to get into it. It can be very confusing. We don't understand all there is because God doesn't explain all of it, but that does not mean that we should skip over it. Amen. I believe, as a pastor, that all of the word of God is profitable for your spiritual life. So I don't want to dodge, I don't want to avoid anything that God has given you that is good for you, and so we're going to go through the book of Leviticus just this month, in the month of July, and I am really looking forward to diving into it with you. I'll be honest with you, it's very difficult to study. So, if you don't mind, pray with me during the week. Think about me, because I'm probably studying my Bible. Whatever you think about me trying to figure out break the code of Leviticus.

Speaker 1: 4:31

So this morning this series is going to be called Set Apart, set Apart. And the reason that's so important is because the word holy means set apart. Everyone say holy, holy. Holy means to be set apart. Did you know that the book of Leviticus says the word holy more than any other book in the Bible? The book of Leviticus says the word holy 80 different times and just in the first seven chapters that we'll be studying this morning it says it some 14 different times. The word holy means to be set apart.

Speaker 1: 5:09

When God calls you and I, his people, to be holy, he's not calling us to be perfect. God's expectation on your life, hear me, is not to be perfect. He knows that you cannot be perfect on your life. When he calls you to be holy, it doesn't mean perfection, listen. It means that your position is he has set you apart to live for him. Yes, we need to work and strive towards obeying God in all things, but set apart is more about your position in Christ is who God has made you to be. He has set you apart listen to me from every other people in the world. He has set his children apart from every other people in the world for his worship and for his service, and we understand this because you have things that are set apart in your house.

Speaker 1: 6:03

I have things that are set apart in your house. I have things that are set apart in my house. I can remember growing up and learning what those things real quick from my mom that were set apart, such as like the fine china the fine china, right, and so it's so funny listening to. I remember listening to mom try to explain the fine china, as she would be like well, these are the best dishes in the house and so we save them for people who come over, but, mom, we never pull them out. Yes, I know we never pull them out, but they're the best dishes in the house and we save them for special occasions. We would probably use our fanchana about once every decade. Can I get an amen? Pull it out about once every 10 years.

Speaker 1: 6:40

Then we had a room in our house it was called the dining room and we did not eat. We did not dine in the dining room, we dined in the kitchen, right? We didn't dine in the dining room. What was the dining room for? It was for when special guests would come over. That's what the dining room was for. We would eat in the dining room about once every 10 years.

Speaker 1: 6:58

And then we had in our house.

Speaker 1: 7:00

We had a den and a living room. But guess what? You don't go and live in the living room. No, no, no, you don't live in the living room. You go to the den. That's where you watch TV, that's where you hang out, that's where you bring your friends. The living room was off limits. It's when special guests come over and you walk them through the living room, for whatever reason, and then you go sit in the den.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Can I explain it? I don't know, but I kind of learned a little bit when Michelle and I got married. So right before we got married, she would take me to all the stores and we had our registry and it finally all made sense that, oh, the reason we don't eat from our fine china is because we don't pay for it. We put it on a registry and somebody else pays for it. I love it. I love it, so you save it, the people that paid for it. Now it all makes sense.

Speaker 1: 7:42

That's the same thing for your life. You have been set apart, but hear me, it's different. You've not been set apart for God to use you every decade, for God to use you every 10 years no, no, no. God sets you apart because he wants you to worship him. He wants to use you every single day of his life. We're going to look at the Israelites, and out of all of the nations in the world, they were the one nation that were set apart from God, and the only thing that made them different was God. The only thing that makes you different from the rest of the world is God, but he makes you so different. You can just sit there and you can just feel it for a second that God has made you different from the world. God has given you his joy. God has given you his hope. God has given you his peace. God has given you his purpose. God has given you his forgiveness.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Because what is God doing? God is drawing people to him. He's drawing people to him, and so we get to see something really brilliant in the book of Leviticus that normally people don't understand. Typically, people think the book of Leviticus is all just about God's laws and how hard it is to get to God, or all of these hoops you have to jump through to get to God. But that's not what's going on. Here's what God is doing.

Speaker 1: 9:10

God, out of his love and his holiness and his wisdom and his power, is making a way for people to draw near to him, because it is impossible for a sinner to approach, to draw near to him, because it is impossible for a sinner to approach, to draw near to God. It would be like a piece of tissue trying to draw near to the sun. It's impossible, right, because of the sun's heat, because of the way that a toilet tissue would not even last in its presence Because of our sin. We would even last in its presence Because of our sin. We would not last in the presence of God. But because, hear me, god is a loving God, he loves you, and so he has come up with a way so that you can experience him, because God is a holy God and we are separate from God because of his holiness. God then enacted his wisdom and he devised and he came up with a plan so that we can draw near, so that we can approach, and out of his power he enacted the plan. See, god's whole heart for you, hear me, is for you to draw near to him. His heart for you is to be with him. His heart for you is to experience him. Why? Because he's the best thing that you could ever experience in your life. The closer you get to God, the happier you are. The closer you get to God, the more peace you have. The closer you get to God, the more hope you have. The closer you get to God, the more that life makes sense to you.

Speaker 1: 10:39

So I want to show you this morning about the Old Testament sacrifices. That's how Leviticus kicks off. It's the first seven chapters. You can open up your Bible to Leviticus, chapter one, and I'm actually going to walk you through the five Old Testament sacrifices. But I don't want you to get bogged down in this, because here's why, hear me, you ever thought about this.

Speaker 1: 11:01

The animal sacrifices were not the purpose of the animal sacrifices. In fact, we'll see a little bit later. The New Testament says that our sins cannot be forgiven by the animal sacrifices. In other words, the animal sacrifices points us to Jesus' sacrifice. So when we look at the five different Old Testament animal sacrifices. We are not just learning Old Testament history, instead, what God did? God gave them physical pictures in the Old Testament for spiritual truths that we believe from the New Testament. He gave them physical pictures in the Old Testament for spiritual truths that we get to believe in the New Testament. So the five different Old Testament sacrifices are gonna teach us five ways that Jesus's sacrifice changes your life. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Number one is the burnt offering. The burnt offering I want you to see this in Leviticus 1 and in Leviticus 6, the burnt offering. It says God said to Moses speak to the people of Israel and say to them. He says say to them when any of you brings and, by the way, that word bring is in the Hebrew is karav. Everyone say karav, karav. You didn't know you'd be speaking tongues in a Baptist church this morning, did you Karav? The word karav means not just to bring. In the Hebrew it means to draw near. In other words, for the Israelite, the only way for them to draw near to God was to bring an animal sacrifice to his tabernacle, to his temple, and that was the way in which that they were allowed, by God's grace, to draw near to him Today. The only way that you, that I, that any human being can draw near to God is through our sacrifice, jesus Christ. If you believe that, say amen.

Speaker 1: 12:50

When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock from the herd or from the flock. Remember, they are in the wilderness. They don't have an endless supply of things. They're traveling through the desert from Egypt to the promised land. They're stopped here for about a year at Mount Sinai, receiving all of these laws from God, and so when God says for them to bring some type of animal from their herd or flock, they are giving up something. There's only a limited supply, so they're bringing something from their family herd, from their family flock. It is food that they are giving up, their very sustenance, their very way of living. It hurt them to give up a sacrifice, but they are called to trust God. This was an animal that they were going to feed their children with.

Speaker 1: 13:38

He says if his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. Now, obviously that's very easy. That points us to Jesus. He's saying don't bring your worst of your flock or herd. Bring your best. Why? Because God gave us his best. He gave us his only son to be the sacrifice for our sin. Can I get an amen, jesus? God gave us his best. He gave us Jesus.

Speaker 1: 14:03

He says you shall bring that sacrifice there to the entrance of the tent of meeting. In other words, they would go to the entrance. Remember we talked about the tabernacle two weeks ago. If you missed it, go back online, watch it, listen to it and normal everyday people like you and me, we could not go in. You would bring your animal sacrifice to the entrance of the tent and the priest would get it and take it from there.

Speaker 1: 14:26

It says that he may be accepted before the Lord. Why do you bring your sacrifice? Because you want so desperately for the Lord to accept you. So often we talk about salvation as man, I accepted Jesus into my life. I heard a pastor one time say Jesus does not need our acceptance, we need his Amen. So when we are being saved by God, when we're drawing near, we are seeking his acceptance in our life through.

Speaker 1: 14:54

Jesus says that you shall lay your hand on the head. Literally, they would lay their hand on the sacrifice's head as a symbol of passing their sin into this animal, so that the animal would be able to die for their sin. And it said then it would be an atonement for him. The word atonement means cover, in other words that the blood of the animal would cover the altar, just like the blood of Jesus, when you trust in him, covers all of your sin. And that's the beauty, because, see, they would take these sacrifices and they would bring these sacrifices day in, day out, sometimes multiple times a day.

Speaker 1: 15:37

And it goes on to talk about here Is this going to work for me? Hello, hello, hello. Can y'all switch that for me? I don't know what's going on. Oh, it is me, it is me, it is me, it was me. Here we go and it goes on to say then he shall kill the bull before the Lord and Aaron's sons. The priest shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting verse nine and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. This was this whole burnt offering that they would bring the animal and it would be killed, it would be slaughtered, it would be burned up. There would be nothing left. It would truly be a sacrifice for these people.

Speaker 1: 16:15

And it is God saying look at how I have sacrificed my son, my only son, and all of him. He bled out for our sin and he said I gave all of him for you. Here's what he's saying Because I gave all of my son for you, you can give all of yourself to me. See, god does not ask you for anything that he has not already given you, but Everything that we're able to give to God is only things that we have received from God. And the Bible says that when they offered it up as a burnt offering, it was like a pleasing aroma to the Lord If you can just imagine the smoke from the offering from the altar going up into the air. And the Bible is saying that it would reach the nostrils of God in heaven, that he would breathe it in and he would be pleased. And what is the point? The point is that he is pleased with Jesus's sacrifice for your sin. The whole point is you are forgiven. And it might sound a little sick, it might sound a little twisted, like why would a sacrificed animal on an altar that is on fire. How could that be a pleasing aroma to the Lord?

Speaker 1: 17:25

You ever been around a steak on a grill? Can I get an amen? Man, we do this all the time. You walk into Texas Roadhouse and your nostrils flare up and your stomach automatically gets hungry and it starts growling right. Or you go over to a cookout and, man, you can smell the steak grilling up. You go to your favorite Mexican restaurant, which I'm going to today, and the fajitas come out of the kitchen. You have a worship moment. You know what I'm saying? Everything is sizzling, it's smoking and you have a Jesus moment right then, right there.

Speaker 1: 17:54

Well, that's exactly what God is experiencing that he gives us this ability to love smells, and he says that he loves the smell. Why this is fascinating? Ephesians 5 too. He loves the smell. Why this is fascinating? Ephesians 5, 2. God says walk in love, as Christ has also loved you. He has given himself for us, for you, how, as an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet, smelling aroma. In other words, jesus's sacrifice in your life is how you smell sweet to God If you believe in Jesus. Here's what he's saying that God is pleased with you. You know, god is not pleased with you because of your righteousness, not because of your own holiness, not because of what you do or what you don't do. That would be impossible, because even our righteousness, the Bible says, is of filthy rags. No, god is only pleased with you through the sacrifice of Jesus, which means if you believe in Jesus, god's pleased with you. See, often what happens in life is that we live our life and we work our life, even as a Christian, to please God and try to get for God to love us, and try to get for God to for God to love us, and try to get for God to bless us and for God to give us his favor. But we don't understand. No, god already loves you, he already blesses you, already gives you his favor. Why? Because you trust in Jesus and he sees you through the blood of his son. Number two, very quickly, the grain offering. The grain offering Leviticus 2, 1 through 2, says when anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. So this is actually an offering that is not meat, it's not an animal. They would bring fine flour or they would bring bread or they would bring grain. And this wasn't even for sin. This offering was just to thank God and just to praise God that they had the opportunity to know God, that they had the opportunity to worship God. It said that he shall pour oil. What is oil? Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. In the scriptures we know that Jesus was anointed like oil, with the Holy Spirit. He is our anointed Messiah, savior in sacrifice, and put frankincense on it. Frankincense was one of those spices that they brought to Jesus at his birth. Frankincense is a sweet smelling spice On it and bring to Aaron's sons the priest, and he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of oil with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing there. It is again a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a pleasing aroma to the Lord that God is loving. The smell of grain of bread, of fine flour. It is like driving past a bakery or walking into the bread section of the grocery store. Or again, texas Roadhouse, with the rolls and the butter. It's like a glimpse of heaven. Texas Roadhouse, that's where we love to go. And it's got the rolls and it's got the steak, it's got it all and God is saying that he loves this smell. He loves the smell. Why he loves it? Because he is pleased with the sacrifice. You ever noticed this before? 2 Corinthians 2, verse 15, for we are. We are the aroma of Christ to God, to those who are being saved. So, in other words, because God is pleased with Jesus in your life. Now we are to walk around with this sweet aroma of Jesus. Again, this is a.

Speaker 1: 21:38

The grain offering was an offering of praise, of thankfulness. It's walking around and it's not complaining, but it's giving thanks to God. It's walking around, not, it's not complaining, but it's giving thanks to God. It's walking around not being bitter, but praising God for who he is and what he's doing. We pray about what we don't have. We thank God and we praise God for what we do have, and we get the opportunity, as a church, to be different. All you have to do in our surrounding counties is just walk around with a smile on your face and people will think you're crazy. There's something going on. I want what they want. I want what they got right. So we walk around with joy, we walk around with thankfulness, we walk around just praising God and thanking God because of who he is and what he's done, and he says that we do it with those who are being saved. We walk around with one another and we're just loving towards one another, and we walk around those who are perishing and those who do not yet know the Lord and we share with them just how good God is and how thankful we are.

Speaker 1: 22:46

One of the most powerful things you can do in your life is talk about the hardest parts of your life, the most painful parts of your life, the most confusing, the parts of your life that you do not understand. But yet still give God the glory and still show God. Show them how thankful you are for him and show them how thankful you are for all that God is doing in your life. I want you to see the next one, the number.

Speaker 1: 23:14

The third offering is the peace offering. Everybody say peace. I want to make sure you're with me. Everybody say peace. The peace offering. The peace offering is really different. The peace offering is actually where we get the Lord's supper from. The peace offering is again. It's not just bringing an animal because of your sin. The peace offering he says in Leviticus 3.1, if his offering is a sacrifice, of peace offering. If he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. If you study this offering more deeply, you understand that either an individual or a group can bring this peace offering. Here's what they're doing they're bringing animals to the priest to sacrifice and then that group will sit down and they'll eat the animal together. They'll eat the cooked meat together. The priest will eat along with them. The Bible says that as the meat is cooking and the smoke goes up into the heavens again, it's a pleasing aroma to the Lord and God is eating with them.

Speaker 1: 24:21

It's the importance of seeing that the secret to your marriage, the secret to your family, the secret to your family, the secret to your friendships, the secret to your relationships in life, is Jesus, that Jesus is the peace between families. Jesus is the peace between spouses. Jesus is the peace between parents and children. Jesus is the peace between spouses. Jesus is the peace between parents and children. Jesus is the peace between coworkers and all we can do is up into ourselves that we can live peaceful lives. The Bible says with one another. It shows us the importance of eating together as spouses, just going out on dates together and having conversations, eating together around the table as families, eating together with your group, your connection group or your Sunday school class. Getting together for a meal without a lesson and just fellowshipping and talking together. Eating together with other brothers and sisters, christians in your home or their home, eating together when we have fellowship meals together as a church. And on Sunday, july 28th, the last Sunday of this month, we're gonna have this meal. We're gonna have the Lord's Supper together, taking of the bread and taking of the juice, because we are getting to celebrate that Jesus has died, jesus has risen from the dead and he is our peace.

Speaker 1: 25:50

Everyone say peace. We see here just from the peace offering. Romans 5.1. It says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have everyone say it peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you've been saved, no matter what the devil tells you, god's not against you. God is for you. No matter what temptation says to you, god is not trying to hold you back. God is lifting you up. God is there for you. He loves you. He's blessing you in 10,000 ways. He's working in your life to bring about his purposes. You have peace with God through Jesus because of his sacrifice. 1 John 1, 7, if we walk in the light as Jesus, in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Speaker 1: 26:45

I'm convinced that Christians who are surrounded by Christian community are the most joyful, happiest, loved, prayed for people on the planet. When you're a part of a community, when you're a part of a group, when you sacrifice that one time a week, that you get together with other Christians and you study the word of God and you pray together and you find out that you're not the only one in the group who's crazy, you're not the only one who feel like you're about to lose it. You're not the only one in the group who feels like that you've got a really bad rap in life and you feel like you're not alone. Those Christians who are in those communities, who are in those small groups, together they get to experience something special that God is offering the peace offering in his life, that we get to have peace with him and we get to have fellowship with one another and even through that, as God is continuing to forgive us of our sins Very quickly.

Speaker 1: 27:50

Number four the sin offering. Everybody say sin, the sin offering. Leviticus 4, one through three, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel, saying if anyone sins unintentionally, this is not just for sins that were committed, these are for sins that were committed. These are for sins that were committed and they didn't even know it. You realize we commit thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of sins against God and we don't even realize it. And Jesus's death, like the sin offering, even forgives us of all of those sins that we are unaware of. It's amazing how he says unintentionally just I was giving Brooklyn and Cruz our five-year-old and one-year-old a bath the other night and they were splashing, playing water, going everywhere.

Speaker 1: 28:36

It was dad time. You know what I'm saying. They can do whatever they want to do. We're just having fun. And so they're splashing, playing, and I think Brooklyn went down to splash the water and her fingers went across Cruz's back and she scratched him like a cat, like a tiger. I was like you know, I saw Cruz and he lunged at her, like at her throat, and I'm like what is going on right now? And I turned him around. He's got these two big scratches and she didn't mean to do it. She hurt him. Sometimes people hurt us. They don't mean to. Sometimes we hurt people we don't mean to.

Speaker 1: 29:09

The Bible says in 1 John 1, verse 9, that if you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us. To forgive you of your sin, hear me and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He even forgives you of the sin that you don't even know about. Isn't it amazing that God doesn't hold grudges. He doesn't hold your sin against you. He looks at you and when he looks at you, he's saying to you over and over and over again through Jesus, you're forgiven. Through Jesus, you're forgiven. Through Jesus, you're forgiven. See, the devil wants to work in your life and he wants to hold you back. He wants to hold you down. He wants you to feel all the guilt. He wants you to feel all the shame, that thing that you did, that you thought that you would never do, that season of life, that you backslid away from God. Or maybe thinking to yourself God could never forgive me. Hear me through Jesus. When God looks at you, he says you are forgiven. That's our position with God in Christ.

Speaker 1: 30:32

He goes on to say 2 Corinthians 5, 21,. For our sake, god made Jesus to be our sin. Jesus became. How can he forgive you of all sin. He became your sin on the cross. Jesus, who knew no sin. He was that acceptable sacrifice without blemish, so that in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus took all of our sin and he gave us all of his righteousness. It was the greatest trade to ever take place. So God looks at you and he says because your sin was in Jesus and you have trusted in him, you are fully forgiven. You can only find forgiveness in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 31:25

The guilt offering. The guilt offering was actually the only offering to which they said I did something I sinned. Offering was actually the only offering to which they said I did something I sinned, and so therefore, I need to offer this animal Leviticus 6, 7, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord and he shall be forgiven, and he shall be forgiven. There's something that every single one of us share in common in this room sin, and the devil works in me, just like the devil works in you. He works his guilt, he works his shame. We think that we could never do anything for the Lord. We think that we're ruined, we think that we're stained, we think that we're tainted, but God shows us in Leviticus that he has provided a sacrifice for us so that we can know what true forgiveness is. This is unbelievable.

Speaker 1: 32:38

You ever seen this? Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 11 and 12, and every priest stands daily at his service. The Old Testament priests would just stand there at the altar and people would just be in lines holding animals, bringing animals sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice for all of their sin, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices over and over again. And those sacrifice can never take away our sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, it was over, it was done and he sat down at the right hand of God, which means you don't need to keep confessing that sin that you committed over and over and over and over. It's finished, it's done, it's forgiven. He gives you power over it. He says in Romans 12, one.

Speaker 1: 33:43

So therefore I appeal to you, brothers by the mercies of God, what do we do now? Once we're forgiven, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. You might just feel so grateful and so thankful. God, you've sent your son. He died for me. I believe you've forgiven me of all of my sin. Now what do I do? He says just live as a sacrifice before me. I believe you've forgiven me of all of my sin. Now what do I do? He says just live as a sacrifice before me, just live in worship, just live in obedience. I've set you apart for my worship and for my purposes. Just live with me and just live for me. Sometimes we think that, man, what if God ever calls me to die for him? I can just be honest with you what an honor that would be to be in a situation that we would have the opportunity to die for the Lord. But there's only one thing that would be harder than to die for God and it's this to live for him all your days.

Speaker 1: 35:04

There was a man from Rwanda, country in Africa, and he was facing his execution the next day. He was being martyred for his faith. He would not recount, he would not denounce Jesus as his Lord and Savior. They told him if you don't tomorrow, we're gonna kill you. That night he sat down and he wrote a poem called the Fellowship of the Unashamed that I wanna read for you. He said I'm a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed that I want to read for you, he said. I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made.

Speaker 1: 35:44

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, chintzy giving and dwarf goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I now live by presence, I lean by faith, I love by patience, I lift by prayer and I labor by power. My patience is set, my gate is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few. My guide is reliable. My mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, work until he comes, and when he comes to get his own, he will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear.

Speaker 1: 37:16

I'm gonna ask us all to bow our heads and close our eyes. With every head bowed and every eye closed, here in this room, right here, right now, I just wanna ask you one question. If you're a believer, I have one question for you, and that is are you continuing to trust in the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin? This morning, you might just need to praise him. You might just need to thank him. You might need to confess some things over to him. We don't confess our sin to him to be saved over and over again. We confess our sins to him because he has saved us once and for all. You may be here this morning and you need to give your life to Jesus. Now's the time. This is your morning.

Speaker 1: 38:07

The Bible says this is your day of salvation. Maybe you've been holding back. Maybe people around you don't even know that you're unsaved, but this is the morning that everything is just finally making sense for you and you want to give your life to Jesus, because he gave his life for you, right here, right now. I can't pray this prayer for you. I can't save you, but I can lead you through this prayer and I believe, if you pray this, if you believe this with all of your heart, that you will be saved. That's what the Bible says Right here, right now, you can say God, I believe in you and God, I need you, I'm desperate for you.

Speaker 1: 38:47

You can say, god, I believe in your son, jesus, who is the sacrifice for my sin, who is the sacrifice for my sin. I believe that he died for my sin and I turn away from my sin and I turn and I give my life to you, god, I pray it and I ask that you would forgive me of all of my sin. And from your own heart and your own words, you can say God, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, he's alive, he's real. God, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, he's alive, he's real and I want a relationship with him. I want him in my life. I call him to be the Lord of my life. Jesus be my Lord. And the Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And, god, we believe that. We thank you for that and we pray all these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said amen.

Speaker 1: 39:41

Would you put your hands together right now for anybody who prayed that prayer and gave their life to Jesus? We just wanna say thank you, to welcome to the family. It's what it feels like to be forgiven by God. God is so good. I'm gonna ask us all just to stand together right now, and I want us to. We're gonna sing one last song. I'm gonna pray one more time. We're gonna sing one last song During that song.

Speaker 1: 40:01

If you need to grab a next step card, you need to fill it out. Maybe God has laid something on your heart, a prayer request or a decision you need to make, and you can bring it to me here up front after the service. If you have a decision to make, or you can take it to our Next Step station, then you are able to do that right here after this service. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we love you, god. We thank you so much for the book of Leviticus.

Speaker 1: 40:27

God. We thank you that you've showed us what it looks like, what it means, that Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. Thank you for your grace, thank you for your love. Thank you for making a way that we can draw near to you. Thank you for setting us apart, jesus, thank you for being our sacrifice. We thank you for your continued forgiveness. We pray that we would live as set apart in your holiness. We worship you right now with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength, with all of ourselves, because you gave us all of you. In Jesus' name, amen, let's sing together.