370: Stephen Whitehouse - Exhortation: Present Your Bodies a Living Sacrifice

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:03

   Welcome to good Christophian talks. Thank you for. Joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk.

2. 0:27

   More about this week’s talk. Hello everyone, this is brother Simon, new from the Whammy or Anaclesia in Queensland, Australia. I’ve also been given the privilege to help out on the Good Chris Selfie and Talks podcast. This week’s talk is that the title Present Your Body’s Living Sacrifice by our brother Stephen Whitehouse. Brother Stephen takes us back to Genesis 22 where Abraham goes to offer Isaac as God asked and shows how Isaac was the first living sacrifice recorded in the Bible. He highlights the change that needs to happen within us that affects the way we live and act every day to allow God’s Word to transform us to be more like Christ. Brother Stephen challenges us that true worship is what we become, not what we do.

3. 1:24

   So here is our brother Stephen’s Exor. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. Well, good morning brothers and sisters and young people. If I were to use the word worship, I want us to think about that word for a moment. If I were to say the word worship, what does that bring to mind for you personally?

4. 1:49

   Well, of course, we, we, we think about our, our hymns and our prayers and, and coming to the meeting, maybe that’s the first thing that we’ll think about. But that’s all about what we do. And when you look closely to the scriptures, you, you find that worship is all about what we become. Want you to think about that.

5. 2:12

   It’s not what we do. Worship is all about what we become and it presents to us a a huge challenge because the closer we look at the word worship in Scripture, it talks about a change, a transformation that comes from within and it is continual. And it’s the apostle Paul for inspiration who presents that idea this morning as a living sacrifice. And that’s what we’re going to base our exhortation on this morning, the idea of a living sacrifice. So can we open up the God’s Word now? And let’s have a look at Romans chapter 12. And it’s lovely, isn’t it, that it came in the announcements, it came in Brother Gunk’s prayer, and now here in verse one. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Now just to imagine for a moment how that would have felt to the brothers and sisters at Rome here as they they read these words for the first time.

6. 3:15

   A living sacrifice. That would have been a shocking phrase, wouldn’t it? Because sacrifice was all about death. But this was something very different, wasn’t it? Paul says here that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice. If you look at the Greek, the idea here is worth picking up a pencil because we’re going to pick out a few little phrases and and and quotations and cross references this morning.

7. 3:42

   The idea to present your bodies is the idea to stand before. That’s the idea in the Greek. Think about that. It’s the idea of standing before. Then the obvious question is in front of whom?

8. 3:59

   God. Now suddenly it becomes very direct, doesn’t it, That as we live our life, we are standing before God and he is watching, he is observing all things. And I want to just just give you an idea of how this word is used in Scripture. We’re going to come back to Romans chapter 12. I want to just by way of illustration, use that word. Come with me to Luke chapter 2.

9. 4:23

   And you know this, this is about Mary who presents the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus as a, as a child here in the temple. And he picks up the very same word. And it gives us an idea of what this presenting as a living sacrifice is all about. So here then in Luke chapter 2, verse 21, we read these words, these well known words.

10. 4:42

    And when 8 days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the Angel, because before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the Lord Moses were accomplished, here we are. They brought him to Jerusalem. Two, there you are present. It’s the same word.

11. 5:04

    Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. And here Jesus was presented. Now why was he presented at this point of time? Because He was the first born of Mary. And under the Law, the first born of any family needed to be redeemed to remind every single Israelite that they were redeemed by the precious blood of the lamb when they came out of Egypt.

12. 5:29

    Can you see the point? So it’s worth just putting in your margin there Numbers 18 verses 15 to 16, because this is what it’s taking our minds back. It’s talking about deliverance from Egypt and, and, and the ritual in the family was that every father needed to pay 5 shekels for their first born son to remind them that under the law they would have lost their son without the shedding of the precious blood of the lamb.

13. 5:59

    So suddenly in our brothers and sisters, we’ve got this little connection, haven’t we, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. It’s reminding us, you and me this morning that we have been redeemed. Do you feel it? Brothers and sisters, there was a lot of energy in the hall this morning. We, we do, don’t we? Redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I.

14. 6:23

    And we’re going to see this theme come out loudly this morning. We came out of Egypt, we were saved. We are precious in God’s sight. And so therefore, then we need to respond in thankfulness.

15. 6:37

    So the apostle Paul says, then think about this, think about Egypt, think about coming out that you’ve been redeemed by the precious blood of the the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about that, brothers and sisters. And so he says then, then it is your reasonable service. Poor translation really. In the KJV it is your reasonable service and the word reasonable, you’ll see in your margin is spiritual but better. It is the word logica with AK logica. And that word logica got passed down to the Romans and they called it logica and we call it logical as you think about what God has done for you and me.

16. 7:19

    And This is why the exhortation is so lovely, isn’t it? As we reflect upon our own salvation, It is the logical response. It’s not an emotional response. It is the only rational thing in this irrational world. It is the only rational thing that you and I can do. Now, isn’t that amazing? Because this world is, is based upon logic. Yet here the apostle Paul under inspiration, is using that word and logic, real, true logic.

17. 7:56

    Is offering yourself as a living sacrifice. Totally illogical in this world, isn’t it? Totally illogical. But under Scripture, it’s logical. We’re special brothers and sisters. We’re very special in God’s sight. Come back then to Romans chapter 12. So then, then with this with this logical response here, the the apostle goes on to say, and I and I love the way that brother Phil emphasized these words here in verse 2 and be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your warrant mind.

18. 8:32

    And and and I’m sure you know that that word transformed. It’s a very special Greek word. It’s Metamorphu. It’s the metamorphosis. It’s the word that’s used in Matthew 17 and verse two of the Lord Jesus Christ who was transfigured in front of his three disciples and he was altogether brilliant. In fact, it says there in Matthew 17 and verse 2 that he’s faced did shine as the sun and his raiment was as light. Can you see the point, brothers and sisters, as as we go through this life with God’s Word working within us, we become beautiful in God’s sight.

19. 9:07

    We are transformed, but the transformation takes place through God’s Word within. It’s not without. It starts within metamorpho. Be ye not conformed, but be ye transformed now. Now the idea of conformed is, is something that is convenient. It’s something that requires no energy, no input at all, no time, no sacrifice.

20. 9:38

    But be ye transformed requires time, effort, prayer, pouring over God’s Word. Brothers and sisters, this is a huge challenge for you and me as we sit here on a Sunday morning.

21. 9:58

    Is God working in your life in such a way that you can feel you can feel transformation? Or are you merely conformed, standardised, consistent with everything around you? What a challenge that is. Brothers and sisters, for you and me in the Ecclesia without, it starts with God, God’s Word working within our lives. Now if we just reflect for a moment and we, we just pondered that phrase, living, sacrifice, it’s a paradox, isn’t it? It’s a contradiction.

22. 10:37

    And the reason why it’s a contradiction is because it brings together, it pulls together 2 ideas, living and sacrifice, life and death. And it’s a contradiction, isn’t it, brothers and sisters? But it’s not. And what I want to show you now, something I believe here that the apostle Paul under inspiration is taking our minds back to a principle, an example. I believe all of this in Romans chapter 12 is based upon one particular scriptural example or principle, I should say a blueprint.

23. 11:16

    And then it’s illustrated by two examples. And if we haven’t seen this, I only discover this in my own studies here. If you know this, that’s wonderful. It’s just so wonderful when I discovered it. Let’s have a look then at Genesis chapter 22. We’re going here to see where the whole idea of a living sacrifice is rooted, brothers and sisters. So we’re going to do a little bit of exposition, but then it’s powerful excitation.

24. 11:41

    It’s so moving. Genesis chapter 22 then. So what we’re trying to do now is discover this idea of a living sacrifice. And I believe here this event lays out the Bible principle. So Genesis chapter 22. I don’t need to introduce this chapter to you, do I? First one. Then it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Behold, here am I.

25. 12:09

    And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering unto one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. So there’s a few little things I want you just to observe here. First of all, let’s just pick out the word offer. You see that there in verse 2 offer. And that’s an important word.

26. 12:34

    It’s a a frequently used word. It’s an important word. It’s the word Ola with an O Ola. And it’s the whole idea to ascend, to bring up. And the emphasis is that it’s a movement towards God from where you are. It’s a movement towards God, towards heavenly places. And the whole idea is underpinned by the principle of surrender. Surrender.

27. 13:06

    Now the other word I want you to pick out here is the burnt offering. It’s one Hebrew word there at the end of verse 2. It’s related to Ola. So, so we’ve got a Hebrew here and they’re connected and we don’t want to make this overly academic, but it’s, it’s the word. So we’ve got Allah.

28. 13:21

    Sorry, I should have said there for offer and Ola here for the burnt offering, right? And that means to sacrifice holy, to be consumed by fire, total devotion. So sorry, the the first word is Ola with an A and it’s to ascend to heavenly places. And the other word, the burnt offering is Ola, which means to devote holy.

29. 13:46

    And they’re related. Think about that, to surrender, to go to heavenly places and to devote yourself entirely to God. So they’re interrelated. This whole idea of offering and burnt offering. OK, so with that in mind, then pick out these key phrases here. Verse 2, thine only son. See that? Verse 12 thine only son at the end of verse 16 thine only son. So this is all about this whole chapter is all about thine only son.

30. 14:20

    It’s it’s a chapter of father and son, isn’t it? And what’s really lovely, if you’ve not noticed this, that phrase thine only in the Hebrew, it’s picked up in Psalm 22, which is a messianic Psalm, a Psalm we know so well, which talks about the feelings of the Lord Jesus Christ and the feelings of the Father. And the phrase is picked up in Psalm 22 and verse 20, and it’s translated, my darling, isn’t that lovely? So here then, thine only son, in Psalm 22, it is my darling. This is how God sees thine only Son. Can you see that?

31. 14:53

    Can you see the connection there, my darling? This was Abraham’s only son through Sarah. There it is, Psalm 22, my darling. And then also hear some phrases, verse 8. God will provide. I want you just to notice that God will provide. And where’s God providing? Let’s just put the picture together. Where’s God providing at Moriah because he’s ascending about Moriah, and Moriah means chosen of Yahweh.

32. 15:32

    So God will provide on the mound that God has chosen and what is he going to provide there in verse 8A, Lamb. So you can see all these wonderful messianic connections here as as a Moses under expression wrote these words 1400 years before the Lord Jesus Christ would walk this earth.

33. 15:55

    But we’ve not established that it’s a living sacrifice. So I want you now to go to Hebrews Chapter 11. I don’t know whether you’ve ever noticed this, but what happens in Genesis chapter 22 becomes a blueprint, an example. The Greek is a parable. So Hebrews Chapter 11. And here in this wonderful catalog of the faithful of old, let’s just see what happens here concerning the Genesis 22 account. Verse 17.

34. 16:36

    Then by faith, Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac and he that had received the prophets offered up His only begotten son. So you can put there by the side of his only begotten son. Genesis 22, verse 2, verse 12, verse 16, three times it’s mentioned in Genesis chapter 22. It is his only son. And the writer of the Hebrews, he is picking up that, remember he’s saying to the reader, this was God’s only son in figure. And then verse 18, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

35. 17:11

    So here we’re being told that Abraham was told that Isaac would be the son of promise. Therefore then Isaac had to live. That’s the point being made. Now verse 19 is the all together important verse here accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. So this is Abraham. He believed in the resurrection.

36. 17:30

    He believed that his son would live again from whence also he received him. In figure you may have a another translation. If you look in your margin, you may have by the word figure a parable.

37. 17:49

    In other words, after this event in Genesis chapter 22, it became, it became an indelible mark in the minds of the the people of God that they remembered here that Isaac died and he lived. That he died and he lived because as a substitute here in Genesis chapter 22, the blood of the ram, which was a burnt offering, was given.

38. 18:26

    So through this blood of another burnt offering, because Isaac was supposed to be the burnt offering, Isaac was spared and this became a parable. He became a living resurrection. He became brothers and sisters. The 1st in Scripture, the first living sacrifice and under inspiration. This is where I think Paul is taking our minds to think about the Father and Son relationship here in Genesis chapter 22.

39. 19:01

    Now, now, if you think about that, having made that connection, what is that connection? It’s a wonderful connection, isn’t it? It’s about the intimacy of a father and son. I send you the mount that Yahweh has chosen, which is anticipating the work that the Lord Jesus Christ would do at the very same mount with His Father.

40. 19:19

    But if you were to stand back and look at that mountain, you were to reflect and examine what took place on that day. What was it? Brothers and sisters?

41. 19:30

    It was faith, the faith of Abraham, and it was the surrender of the Son. And I think these two ideas lock in what a living sacrifice is all about. I want you to think about that. It is about faith and surrendering your life. Now there’s two illustrations that bring this to to life for us.

42. 19:55

    Let’s just quickly go there. Leviticus chapter 14. So there’s two, there’s two sacrifices or two festivals here under the law that I believe bring to life what took place on Mount Moriah in Genesis chapter 22. It was the blood of the ram. In Genesis chapter 22 as a burnt offering in the replacement of Isaac.

43. 20:23

    So you have two sacrifices here in Genesis chapter 22. One was going to live Isaac, the other one was going to die. The ram caught in the thickets. Leviticus chapter 14, then again, and, and we’re just trying to bring to mind what that phrase, that loaded phrase, a living sacrifice is all about South. Leviticus chapter 14 is interesting because this chapter is all about how a leper was cleansed. And you might be thinking why we’re going here. It’s going to become very clear in a moment. Let’s just read verses 4 to 6.

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    Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed? So this is the leper. He’s he wants to be cleansed and what does he have to do? He has to offer two birds alive. That word alive there is Shay, which means life, vitality, renewal. There is no mistake that these birds are alive and they’re well and they’re healthy. That’s the point being made, the two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop, and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in earthen vessels over running water.

45. 21:31

    If you look at your margin by running water, you might have living water. That’s a that’s an echo of John 4 verse 10, isn’t it? The woman of Shechem at the well, living water, it’s repeated again in verse 6 as to the living bird, he shall take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop and shall dip them.

46. 21:51

    And by the living bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water, again in your margin, living water. What’s the point of all of this? You have two birds, one alive and the other alive. 1 was going to be killed, the other one was going to be set free.

47. 22:06

    But interestingly, the one that was to be remain alive was dipped in the blood of the one that had died, the one that had been killed, the one that had been sacrificed. In other words, life was given to the other bird through the death of another. Can you see that this was very unusual. There’s only two sacrifices under the law that have two animals, a living and a dead and brothers and sisters. Why is Paul then using that expression, living sacrifice? Because you, however nice you look Sunday morning in your best.

48. 22:47

    We don’t like thinking about it, do we? We were lepers. Lepers. That’s hard, isn’t it? That’s an inconvenient truth. You and I had leprosy and we were out of fellowship with God

49. 23:11

    and through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been cleansed, we have been purified, and we have been brought in fellowship with God, His Son and His family. You and I, brothers and sisters, are sitting here this morning about to take of the emblems because you’ve been cleansed, purified and sanctified. You were a leper.

50. 23:37

    I was a leper. The worst of the worst. And we’ve been set free and we can enjoy the freedom and fellowship that God has provided to himself. Now, brothers and sisters, we’ve got to take that on. We’ve got to accept that. We’ve got to. We’ve got to embrace that idea. None of us like thinking like that, do we Eppers? That’s what Paul is saying.

51. 24:03

    You are a living sacrifice. Remember, brethren and sisters, you were a leper, A leper, a leper. I’ll show you the other example. It’s just two pages on Leviticus chapter 16, the Day of Atonement. Look at this. Two goats, one alive, 1’s going to die. Look at this verse ten. I’ve got these all highlighted, so it’s easy.

52. 24:31

    The words jump out for me. Verse 10. Can you see just a few lines down alive, really emphasizing here alive. And you can you can see again, just a few lines down verse 21, alive, alive goat. And the live goat is named and you see that the end of verse 8 scapegoat. I’ve got all these highlighted.

53. 24:54

    The end of verse 10, scapegoat at the beginning of verse 26, scapegoat. So the live goat is called the scapegoat. It’s named, it’s called a scapegoat. And if you look at the first time the word scapegoat is used in verse 8, you may have a little thing in your margin that says the Greek or the Hebrew.

54. 25:10

    There is azazel, which means there dismissal. It’s the idea of something that is removed entirely and what was removed entirely by the Skaker. Well, look at verse 21.

55. 25:31

    The high priest was to confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat. You can put there the live goat or the Azazel. So the live goat was going to take away all the sins and the iniquities and the transgressions of the children of Israel. All the the sins that have built up that past year was going to be placed upon this scapegoat.

56. 25:56

    And the scapegoat, well, we see what’s going to happen there. Verse 22, it’s going to go into a wilderness, a land not inhabited. Of course, we can make the connection, the Lord Jesus Christ upon him, the iniquities of us all were placed Isaiah 53 and now sits at the right hand of the Father, a land that is not inhabited by man.

57. 26:20

    We can see the wonderful connections there. But the point I want to note is verse 15, there’s another goat and the goat there is killed. I’m sure you knew that there were two goats there on the Day of Atonement. The Azazel, the scapegoat that was going to be set free in verse 15, the other one was going to be killed.

58. 26:41

    Now, now of course we know that, but there’s a lovely little detail here. There’s huge emphasis that upon the goat that was going to live all the transgressions and the you imagine that moment, all the transgressions and the iniquity of God’s people are placed upon this scapegoat and off it goes into the distance as they see their transgressions and their iniquities all go off, taken, hidden away.

59. 27:14

    Verse 15, What about the other goat that was killed? Was there any announcement made? There were any sins uttered? Not a word, you see that the goat that was killed, not one single sin was uttered. The scapegoat, a loud pronouncement of all the transgressions of God. Can you see the contrast here, brothers and sisters?

60. 27:52

    And isn’t it amazing? Again, Moses under inspiration, recording these words. And here in Leviticus 16, you’ve got another wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

61. 28:05

    He had no sin, yet He died for you and for me. Can you see that? Isn’t that amazing? This this graphic Technicolor of how the Lord Jesus Christ was going to redeem you and me? So this other then connection with living sacrifices, all about how your sins and my sins were taken away. Living sacrifice goes back to Genesis 22, the Father and Son. We are the children of God, faith and surrender. That’s a connection.

62. 28:45

    Leviticus 14, whether you like to accept it or not, brothers and sisters, you and I were lepers, lepers in God’s sight. But we’ve been clanced and brought into fellowship with God and his Son and one another. What a wonderful, what a wonderful rejoicing moment that is.

63. 29:06

    And we’ve got to believe it, that your sins and my sins have been taken away. We shouldn’t, brothers and sisters, be weighed down by the weight of past guilt. We are free, our sins were forgiven when we entered the waters of baptism, and we can go to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and have any sin that we utter forgiven.

64. 29:40

    So finally then, brothers and sisters, I just want to take you through a little section here. We’re going to be very brief. I believe that that’s the connection of a living sacrifice. So in the final few moments, they will just be the final few moments. I want you to see how this is brought to life in your lives and mine. Come back to Romans chapter 12 and we’re going to just quickly go through some verses.

65. 30:03

    And I want to have this as a litmus test. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Let’s just see this as like an examination on ourselves this morning as we prepare ourselves for the bread and the wine. And, and I don’t mind. You can tell me after. I don’t mind if you feel uncomfortable because I felt uncomfortable when I was reading through these things. What kind of living sacrifice are you? Because here the apostle Paul brings out two aspects of living sacrifice.

66. 30:28

    You can you can mark here verse 3 to verse 13 is all about how we love our brothers and sisters. So the living sacrifice, we’ve made the connection back to Abraham. The living sacrifice is all about how you love your brothers and sisters. And then verses 14 to 21, how we’re good in the world.

67. 30:42

    And I’m just going to read some phrases and you can think about how you’re getting on in life, how you’re serving the Lord. Let’s just catch these hard hitting phrases together. Verse 3. Then we’re just going to run through the words. Verse three, If you’re a living sacrifice, this is what’s seen in loving your brothers and sisters. Verse 3, Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

68. 31:05

    OK, that’s one thing. Verse 9, Let love be without dissimulation or brother Phil read hypocrisy. Verse 10 be kindly affectioned. 1 To another with brotherly love, real love, real I felt it this morning, real love with one another. Verse 10 in honour, preferring one another. Verse 13 distributing to the necessity of the Saints. So a living sacrifice is all about how we treat one another. Do you, brothers and sisters, do you love in action or do you love in words?

69. 31:45

    It needs to be action, doesn’t it? And then verses 14 to 21 is all about how we’re good to the world. Feel the weight of these words. Verse 14, you think about this. It’s not just about being a living sacrifice in the ecclesia. It’s every aspect of your life. Verse 14. Bless those which persecute you. Verse 17 recompense to no man, evil for evil. Verse 17 provide things honest in the sight of all men. Verse 19 dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. In verse 20 if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.

70. 32:19

    So being a living sacrifice is how we behave all of the time. Are we different to the world or are we simply blending in? Are we being transformed from within or are we conforming to those without? And so as we come to the bread and wine now, brothers and sisters, as we’ve looked at that living sacrifice and how it’s brought to life, we have seen as we reflect upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that a living sacrifice is not a, is not a single moment of devotion.

71. 32:52

    It’s not a single moment of devotion. It’s a life given in surrender. It’s about God’s Word working within ourselves and and being transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not what we do, it’s what we become. It’s it’s not how we are on a Sunday. It’s what we’re like every day,

72. 33:22

    brothers and sisters, as we think of the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a living sacrifice is all about what you are like in reality. It is the real you. So finally then, I pose this question to you as we all try to be living sacrifices to the best of our abilities. This is a good time, isn’t it?

73. 33:50

    This is a good moment now, just now. So think about the one thing, the one thing you know, you haven’t given up. Let’s make the change now.

74. 34:23

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75. 34:52

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76. 35:08

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