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Topic: The Need for a Sacrifice
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The Need for a Sacrifice
**The blood of Christ was indeed sufficient. http://tmdevotionals.com/men/2006/09/18/the-need-for-a-sacrifice/
Please open your Bible and read:
(Hebrews 10:1- 4)
Have you ever read about animal sacrifice in the Old Testament and wondered what it was for? Hebrews 10:1-4 describes God’s purpose for the sacrificial system. He gave His law as a foreshadowing of a future life of glory. In essence, He was saying, “If you live the way I’m telling you to live, then you will have a rich, abundant life of blessing.” However, the law itself was not the way to this full life; it was only a shadow.
In that system, people had to offer animal sacrifices to God regularly in atonement for their sins. The Bible clearly attests that the only payment for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) However, in His grace, God allowed people to offer animal sacrifices as a substitute - He accepted the blood of animals as a payment for the massive sin - debt. However, it was only a temporary solution and therefore had to be repeated annually.
In order for mankind to be eternally freed from the guilt of sin, a completely pure sacrifice was required. What’s more, the acceptable once - for - all sacrifice could not be an animal; after all, the guilt belonged to man. Therefore, a perfect and sinless man was needed, and yet, this was impossible. What were we to do?
Only man should have paid the price, but only God could have done so. As a result, the one possible solution was Jesus Christ, wholly God and wholly man. Unlike the blood of bulls, the blood of Christ was indeed sufficient.
It is by the blood of Christ alone that we are saved. Have you thanked Him lately for the sacrifice that He made on your behalf?
About the Author
This devotional was written by Dr Charles Stanley. Read more about him here: http://www.tmdevotionals.com/men/authors/charles-stanley/
Posts: 16 | Registered: Apr 2006
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helpforhomeschoolers
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Member # 15
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I have a major problem with this article.
quote:
In that system, people had to offer animal sacrifices to God regularly in atonement for their sins. The Bible clearly attests that the only payment for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) However, in His grace, God allowed people to offer animal sacrifices as a substitute - He accepted the blood of animals as a payment for the massive sin - debt. However, it was only a temporary solution and therefore had to be repeated annually.
Regarding the bolded part: Did HE????
I dont think so. The blood of animals cannot pay for sin now and it could not pay for sin then!
The Lamb of God that was crucified before the faoundation of the world paid the debt of every sin that debt was ever paid for. What God did was accepted act of giving the sacrifice in obedience to the WORD, as an act of Faith in HIM and HIS word on the part of the giver and to that faith he extended grace and gave forgiveness based on the sacrifice of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation!
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Posts: 4679 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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bought@paid4
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Beautiful article.
Thank God for the blood of Jesus!!!!!!!!
Homeschoolmama is right though that the animal sacrifices could not pay the debt. What it did provide was a covering until the real thing happened- Jesus the lamb of God!!
But I can ignore that since it points to the Savior in the article as the source of our eternal salvation from sin. Very foundational to Christianity, yet so seldom fully understood and recognised. Nothing but the blood of Jesus!!!
Posts: 26 | From: Missouri | Registered: Sep 2006
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Eden
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Hi, helpforhomeschoolers. You said:
“The blood of animals cannot pay for sin now and it could not pay for sin then!”
Eden here:
I beg to differ with that statement. The Israelites had sinned and their consciences were affected and dirtied by their sins.
Their consciences of the Israelites needed cleansing, and for this sufficed the death of a living animal who otherwise had “done nothing to nobody”.
An Israelite had to lay his hand on the living animal’s head, and the Israelite knew that this animal was going to die for that Israelite’s sins.
And because this was a living animal, something precious died for me and what died was big enough to cleanse the Israelite's conscience for a REAL time, let's say a year, from the Day of Atonement to the Day of Atonement.
And BECAUSE “something precious had died for these sins, the sins were truly paid for, and teh conscience was cleansed again for a period of time.
However, as the Bible says, a living animal’s death was only good for at most a one-year cleansing, and so animals had to continue to die for the sins of the Israelites to cleanse their conscience, which WERE cleansed by the death of that animal, say for one year. This was not just a theoretical cleansing, but a REAL cleansing of the conscience.
Helpfor, you said above: “The blood of animals cannot pay for sin now and it could not pay for sin then!” I beg to differ with you.
Now, if Jesus had NOT come as the Lamb of God who takes away sins for a LIFETIME, those animals would still have to die to cleanse our consciences.
But now Jesus has come once as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world for an entire LIFETIME, because He is THAT PRECIOUS in God’s mind, and in our CONSCIENCE’S MIND.
We who believe He was the Son of God realize that Jesus was extremely PRECIOUS and VALUABLE and SUFFERED IMMENSELY FOR US ON THE CROSS, and as a result Jesus is able to be a Lamb of God who suffices to cleanse the CONSCIENCE for one's whole lifetime.
The VALUE of Jesus can cleanse our consciences for an entire lifetime, not just for one year anymore like the animals could do. But those animals also suffered a lot to cleanse the Israelites' consciences in that time.
Hebrews 9:13-15 (King James Version)
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh,
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 10:1-3 (King James Version)
1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Helpforhome, the animals were good for a year's cleansing, were they not?
Be blessed, everyone.
Eden
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bought@paid4
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Eden, the blood of animals only covered. They were not the Messiah. They could not take away sins as Hebrews declares bellow:
Hebrews 10: 1- 14
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a rememberance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou has had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo I come [in the volume of the book it is written of me] to do they will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Posts: 26 | From: Missouri | Registered: Sep 2006
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Eden
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Hi, bought@paid4. You said to Eden:
Eden, the blood of animals only covered. They were not the Messiah. They could not take away sins as Hebrews declares.
Eden here:
Only covered? Only covered? And a good job of covering they did for a year, lest God had to kill them for their sins.
What Jesus did also "only covered"; there is no difference in the quality of the covering for sins, only in the duration of the covering.
Jesus was so great a Lamb of God that in God's eyes Jesus sufficed for all the lifetimes of anyone who ever accepted Jesus's work on the cross as covering.
But in both cases the covering was very real and equally effective, lest God had to kill them for their sins.
Be blessed.
Eden
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Eddie
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Animal sacrifices could not "pay" for sin, they were only a covering. A stop-gap measure, if you will, until Christ's death and resurrection could provide a perfect and final payment for all sins, past, present and future. After Christ's death and resurrection, the sacrifice of animals at the temple no longer worked. Jesus had completed God's plan for the salvation of believers.
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James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
Posts: 6 | From: St. Joseph, MO. | Registered: Oct 2006
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becauseHElives
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I want to add an important thought to this thread….
Romans 12 and the following chapter contain some very practical instructions for our life and walk. These are introduced with an emphasis once again on consecration. In chapter 6:13 Paul has said: “Present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God”. But now in chapter 12:1 the emphasis is a little different: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service”. This new appeal for consecration is made to us as “brethren”, linking us in thought to the “many brethren” of chapter 8:29. It is a call to us for a united step of faith, the presenting of our bodies as one “living sacrifice” unto God.
Spiritual Sacrifices for Today
Does all this mean that Christians need do nothing but believe in Christ? That no offerings or sacrifices are necessary in this day and age?
Obviously not.
Believers confessing faith in Yeshua is expected to make many sacrifices: but they are sacrifices of a different kind: sacrifices which call for self-discipline, good communications, generosity, praise, thanksgiving, obedience and holiness (separation from the world). These sacrifices are often harder to make than people imagine. The Most High is now calling upon His people to make these sacrifices.
The following passages will explain this fact more fully:
• Praise / Thanksgiving / Brotherly love
Hebrews 13:15 ": By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16: But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
1 Peter 2: 5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ...
9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
• Holy living (Separated Living from the world)
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
What do these texts mean? They mean that believers living in this generation do not need to offer animal sacrifices for redemption, pardon, cleansing or sanctification. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the missing records of Aaron's line and the sacrifice and blood of Yeshua Messiah all mean that the sacrificing of animals is not only obsolete, but illegal. Instead, new covenant believers are expected to surrender and offer the Almighty the following spiritual sacrifices:
• Our love of Luxury
• Our spare Time
• Faith
• Praise
• Thanksgiving
• Brotherly-love
• Meekness
• Generosity
• Hospitality
• Kindness
• Mercy
• Purity
• Obedience
• Holiness etc.
These are the living sacrifices the Almighty is looking for: because they alone prove that our love for Him is genuine and our faith alive. And, strange as it may seem, it is only by the power of the Blood of Yeshua that we can ever hope to present such sacrifices and win the Almighty's favour. The blood of bulls, rams, goats, lambs and birds can never in a million years do this. Are you dear reader able to grasp the enormity of this truth?
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Strive to enter in at the strait gate:for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ( Luke 13:24 )
Posts: 4578 | From: Southeast Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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Eden
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Hi, becauseHElives. You said:
Spiritual Sacrifices for Today
Does all this mean that Christians need do nothing but believe in Christ? That no offerings or sacrifices are necessary in this day and age?
Eden here:
I agree with you. I do think that offerings and sacrifices are necessary as bornagain Christians. Like I said elsewhere, we are now adopted sons and daughters of God and are in the Family of God, but we don’t just stand around like lazy sons and daughters like wallflowers along the wall….no, good sons and good daughters help out in the Family of God, just like “good” sons and “good” daughters helped out while they were yet in the Devil’s world.
God does not want a bunch of lazy adopted sons and daughters! Like I said before, God gives us the help of the Holy Spirit, but if in the end we are still lazy adopted sons and daughters, I think He SWEARS that He will appoint them a place with the unbelieving hypocrites, Amen?
Be blessed.
Eden
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